> Fangs: The Order
>  by Sapphic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Light in the Dark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A thick and cozy blanket of darkness covered Canterlot, with the only beacons being the lights from inside the occasional house and the bright, full moon looming above. Though even the moon, in all of its white glory, seemed a bit dark this night. Almost all of the streets sat quiet at this hour, enough to make me take a second glance at some of the alleyways I passed. You would expect me to be over a fear of darkness at my age, but I guess some things are just hardwired into pones' brains and not even many years of trying can change them.

It was indeed a dark night.

There was a bit of light however, though not a street lamp or house or stars or anything like that. This one wasn't visibly bright, though in a few ways I guess she could be, but she was more of a metaphorical bright. It was more of her demeanor that brightened things, or even just the mood she carried about her; it was like an aura of some sort.

I blinked.

I stood outside a tall building, windows dimly lit with cheap lighting that gave off the impression of flickering candle light to the average passer by. The stone that scaled the exterior of the building was colored a dim black thanks to the effects of time, but had the occasional green vine twisting out from a small crack.

The building looked a bit intimidating, as age could make many things look, but it was quite possibly my favorite place in the world. It used to be one of the only places I could relax, which led to my fondness of it, though I've since then found alternatives. Though I guess the main reason I like the building was because of the many memories of the place, some of tears and others of smiles and everything in between, but regardless of how I felt before entering; in the end I was happy.

It was my confession booth.

The only other reason I could think of that would rival my first was what the building gave to me; a gift that came in a form of neither good nor service. It was a gift that took a bit of fighting for, which I guess may not make it classify as a gift, but I just like to think of it that way. 

The gift was the light I spoke of earlier..

Admittedly there was some confusion with the gift at first, whether or not I should keep it, but I guess my curiosity got the better of me. It was for the better though, as that gift had since filled a void that even I hadn't realized I had - it had been there so long that I eventually just learned to distract myself from it. But now it was different, and that was what mattered.

Now I wasn't lonely; she was my gift.

I turned around to take another peak at her, not stopping my stride up to the building, and catching her small grin that seemed ever present on her at all times while her head twisted and turned to admire the scenery.

She sure was bright.

I turned back to face a vaguely familiar stallion standing near the entrance of the building.

“So nice to see you again Miss Melody, I was beginning to think you had stopped coming to the theater.” The stallion greeted, eyes widening ever so slightly at the sight of her at my side.

“And I see you brought a guest with you?” He continued, eyeing me for a nod of confirmation, which I gave, before smiling a little.

I hoofed him over a small bag of bits for two tickets into the theater, the price escaping my mind but he didn't bother checking how much was in it; I assumed it was the weight of the bag.

"Keep the change?" The voice behind me asked both cheerfully and rhetorically.

The stallion was shaken for a moment before smiling and sliding to the side.

I'm sure he thought she was bright too.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


“Wow Tavi! It's huge in here!” She said in awe, getting a few glances from the few dozen ponies in the theater.

She had made the exact same remark when she saw the lobby of the theater, the lounging room of the theater, and even the restrooms of the theater. I had never taken notice to the size of the building and it's rooms until she had pointed them out, simply glossing over them as if they were normal.

I smirked at her amazement and chuckled as she bounced over to the isle and rushed up the stairs to one of the top seats, I didn't give a second thought in following her up; not even bothering to see if my favorite seat was even taken or not.

Now my favorite seat was an energetic, and mobile, one.

She settled on a pair of seats on the last row and patted on the seat beside her, which I took without a second thought. She was some might call a softy, which seems almost crazy when I thought about just who she was at heart.

She was something from a myth, a legend in the flesh, and was something that I always thought was just a tale to tell around a camp fire to scare others. As it turned out, her and her kind were real - very real - and they were far from the legends. They had drastically varying personalities and control over their urges and thirst.

She was a vampire.

And not only that, but she was one of the most upstanding ponies I had seen even among regular ponies; a fact which shocked me at first but I had since gotten to.

I stole a brief glance at her, taking just a moment to admire her in her glory, and I could only smile as we slowly faded into a comfortable silence.

Whether it was out of habit of what I normally did when I was in the theater, or just for one reason or another, I began to reflect on times as of late.

It had been about two months since we all settled back into our normal lives, the lack of tension being somewhat difficult to get used to, and as much as I hate to say it, it felt even a bit boring to not have anything going on. I mean, I was happy that we were finally out of harm's way, but not having it sneaking around somewhere seemed almost a bit strange. I wasn't sure if I was the only one who felt this way, but Vinyl said she 'didn't really think much of it' and I hadn't bothered to go and ask Shakes and her sister.

Speaking of the barmare and her sister, they should just be finishing up the bar's repairs around now if I knew the two well enough. That, and the local paper had announced that the bar had finally announced that it's reopening was scheduled for tomorrow.

"Maybe we could go visit them after the show, I doubt Vinyl would protests." I thought, taking a look at Vinyl, who's eyes were starting to droop slowly.

"Vinyl?" I asked quietly.

She shook a bit, as if being awoken on the inside, and looked at me.

"H-huh?" She stammered.

"Have you talked to Shakes recently? I planned on checking up with her after this."

"Nope, haven't seen her much ever since the castle." She said, her hoof going to her chin as she looked away, "Should probably drop in to pick up my stuff..." She mumbled.

I was about to ask her what she could possibly have there when the lights dimmed and aimed themselves towards the stage as the musicians made there way on stage; rendering the audience quiet.

It was time for the show to start, and look to my side showed me that Vinyl seemed surprisingly attentive.


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Would you just make a move already? I'm starting to get grey hairs over here." My sister whined.

"Shut up Sweeps." I said curtly and calmly, taking my time to analyze my options of attack.

There were too many variables, too many unknowns, it was just too risky to make a decision with haste with these kind of possibilities. On one hoof I could take a wild guess and easily get the drop on the game, but it would take an ability to perfectly predict my own sister. On the other hoof, I could rush myself and miss entirely, leaving myself wide open to attack from any direction. I would have to take my time, regardless of how hard or many times my sister taunted me; I wouldn't fold that easily.

"Would you hurry up!" She shouted suddenly.

"Fine!" I screamed back.

I guess I folded a bit easier than I thought.

"B-7." I said calmly.

"Miss." She responded with annoyance. "See? It wasn't that hard, was it?"

I groaned and simply got up from the booth me and my sister sat in, done dealing with such a chance based mind game. My sister didn't seem to stop me from getting up and I just assumed she was done dealing with me taking my time. She began packing the game back into its small case with her magic while she got up and began following me to the bar stools.

"I still don't see how we couldn't just open tonight..." I mumbled as I slumped into the seat, my head hitting the counter with a decent thud.

"Well it is what you told the press." My sister said casually as she sat down beside my and sparked her horn up again.

A bottle and two glasses danced up from behind the counter, settling in front of us and pouring itself.
"Still, can't we just, you know, open?" I asked her, moving one of the drinks closer to myself.

"Well, we can but nobody would know. We might get one or two ponies to come in but I doubt that would suite your boredom." She said, downing her own drink before eyeing me a bit.

"You did a good job with the bar though, so I'm sure when we do reopen we'll get plenty of customers." She said with a bit of care.

I'd spent the last days putting in countless hours into fixing up my bar, which was no easy task. Do you know how hard it is to make a gaping hole in the wall look like an accident? Well, it's actually surprisingly easy when you just say "unicorns", but that isn't the point, the point was that I had put a lot of time, and not to mention money, into re-opening the bar.

But I'd be lying if I said it didn't look great.

It looked nearly the same, though we took Vinyl's old DJ booth and used the records to help add a healthy variety of music to a sort of jukebox type machine I had bought; we also ended up turning the booth itself into a "meeting" room; despite me, my sister, and the occasional Vinyl and Octavia being the only ones who would go in there.

All in all, it felt like mine now.

"Well, I did want it to feel like it was mine in the end." I said with a bit more interest.

"I just wish those two would come visit to see it too." I mumbled.

"Yeah, I agree, but you know Vinyl is fasting again and giving her drinks will only tempt her to break that." She added sagely.

"Yeah yeah, I know; I'm honestly a bit surprised she hasn't fed more off of Octavia yet. Impressed even." I snickered to myself.

"I might have to a bit of fixing about that." I added mentally, laughing a bit more louder, only to get a knock on the head from my sister.

"Fine," I said simply, understanding that she knew what I was thinking. "but if they come in on there own it's not my fault, okay?" I asked, getting a roll of the eyes as my answer.

"Whatever..." I mumbled, slouching my head onto my hoof.

Silence started to settle before I decided to ask my sister one last question.

"Wanna play Scrabble?" I asked, my face unmoved.

She sighed.

"I'll get the board." She said simply before hoisting herself up.


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


When the last piece finally came to an end, I found myself feeling a bit tired, but I blamed it on the time it was. But I wasn't sleepy enough not to notice how awake Vinyl was, she seemed hooked on the music until the last note, and whether it was because of how she was more nocturnally based than it was or if she was actually that into the song was anyone's guess.

We silently got up, not even muttering a word, and making are way back down the isles and into the lobby for the second time before leaving the building.

It was about as dark outside the theater as it was inside it, the moon somewhat like the spotlight as it shone down on us so that we all could see just enough to make out the outline of objects on the sidewalk and streets.

"We are still going to the bar, right?" I asked, getting a firm nod from the white mare behind me who seemed to be mulling on something.

I let her think for awhile until I eventually couldn't stand the silence that had built up, and decided to try and strike up something to talk about on our way to the bar.

"So how did you enjoy the theater Vinyl?" I asked simply, a bit eager to hear what she thought about my confession booth.

She smiled at he question and I sighed internally.

"The place was huge! And it looked so old too!" She cheered.

I sighed again, but this time for a different reason.

"I was talking more about the performance Vinyl." I said, like a foal's teacher explaining something.

"Oh," She smiled sheepishly, "that was great too."

"Oh? So you liked the music?"

"No, the music was horrible." She replied nonchalantly, as if her answer made sense.

I blanked on that one.

"Wait, what? But you just said you liked it?"

"I said the performance, not their music." She said simply, somehow boggling me even more than before.

She must have sensed that in my tone, because she immediately elaborated.

"They were passionate about it, that's what I liked." She said again, this time with a bit of awe in her voice.

"So, the practice makes perfect?" I asked with genuine confusion. The ponies of this town that I, and most others, would call the experts of music had always bashed this idea, calling it "fluffy" and not true. They said practice made permanent, and I believed that too.

But Vinyl had shown me her rather keen ears and talent for the classic genre a couple of times before, which blew me away frankly, so I knew her word carried at least some weight. I had always been taught that playing it right was simply playing it right; you started off bad at something and then became better at it over time. I was still making strides to this day, despite not going to a real practice in a long time.

"It's more like 'passion makes perfect'. You can be the best music-y person in the world, but it doesn't matter if you don't like it." She said, throwing her hooves up in the air at the mention of "world" and leaving me in a more deeper internal conflict than she probably meant.

It lasted me the whole way to the bar, Vinyl eventually taking the lead so I wouldn't accidentally hit the local street poles, and all the way up to Vinyl opening the bar's door where something finally shook me from my thoughts. A shame since I had almost settled with my thoughts for once.

"Q-U-O-R-P is definitely not a word Shakes." Said a familiar voice.

"You'll just have to quorp with it." Shakes responded without a single spark of emotion before her bored eyes wandered over to us both and then seemed to warm up.

I had never seen Shakes as being the 'Lovey Dovey' type, but she was certainly beginning to push it when she wordlessly got up and hugged both me and Vinyl. Of course, that could very well be because of out previous isolation from one another; in fact, I had half expected her to jump up and try to tackle us both.

"It's good to see you two." She said with calmed joy.

"Same here." Vinyl smiled.

"I figured we could maybe get a sneak peak at the bar before you two opened up tomorrow." I smiled, returning the brief hug Shakes offered as she chuckled a bit.

"Speakin' of the bar..." Vinyl began, taking a look around at the scene, wandering around and glossing over most everything in sight before settling back near the Shakes, me, and Sweeps.

"It looks great!" Vinyl cheered.

Shakes just smiled some more, and it was starting to look a bit odd on her, but it stopped as a light went off in her head.

"I actually have some things for you..." She mumbled, running to the back before dragging a box back with her that was loaded to the brim with something and covered with a tarp.

She wordlessly removed the tarp to reveal numerous amounts of gadgets, many of which brought back a few memories.

"There was quite a few of these back in the closet with the phone, I was gonna ask you about them but I figured that I wouldn't and just give 'em to you." She smiled.

Vinyl hesitated before smiling and thanking Shakes, but I was almost too deep in thought to notice.

The Vampire Hunters

I was sure the small group of them I had met in the forest hadn't been all of them, and I was a bit worried about what might become of them. Shakes had been somewhat rumored, by Bigs, to be one of the said hunters and in all honesty I could see that being true. More than anything I was curious about them.

I might just have to ask her about her history, but for now I would let it rest.

But it was definitely going to be coming up later.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


> Rumors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Sunshine danced through two windows that sat in front of me, stretching up the wooden floor and stopping just at the foot of the desk where I sat. I stared longingly at them, like two gateways to another world that I had yet to see in its entirety. 

My days working as a desk mare seemed to blend together in an unnerving fashion; daylight becoming something I observed more than experienced while I worked in the shade and only left the office once it had turn to pitch black outside. I asked myself a few times if this was what Vampires lived like, though I suppose they were used to it.

Even the overwhelming silence had become a normality; now it was something making a sound that became an awkward moment. The only manner of sound came from either me clicking my pen repeatedly, or Rose flipping a page in the newspaper or taking a sip of her coffee and putting it back on the table.

My head was propped up against my right hoof while my left was busy prodding at a paper ball with the end of a red pen. I had made a sort of system in the meantime where I alternated jobs between the two hooves; once the one holding up my head began to go numb from the awkward angle it was bent at it would switch with the other and begin poking with the pen.

Rose, the only other pony I had been around in for some time now, said I was beginning to turn into a classic secretary like herself and suggested I try some coffee and read the paper to start fighting the monotony of the job I was given.

I mean they didn't even have a board game or something to keep me the slightest bit entertained.

I didn't want this position, and I don't think anyone would, but I really wasn't suited for this. I was trained to be a field solider in my brothers hunting pack; not some desk mare trained to pick up a phone that never rings and watch a door that never opens. I'm sure that Rose was trained to fight as well, and probably felt the same way as I did, but she seemed too far gone to help anymore.

It's a sad day when the highlight of it was that I got to stack the papers in the back room.

I had been plotting against this position for a while now actually; trying to come up with some sort of elaborate way to convince Rose to either let me go have some fun or get her to come along with me. Though I was pretty sure she would be against it since it was probably against some regulation to leave the desk with the phone unattended. 

Either way, I was going to give it a shot.

"Hey Rose?" I called out, not bothering to look up from my game of makeshift soccer I was now playing.

A grunt was my only response.

"Could we do something?" I asked, almost pleading in my monotonous tone.

I heard a shift in the paper to my side, signaling that she had either flipped the page, or was now looking at me.

"Like what? You wanna clean the bathroom this time?" She asked.

I couldn't tell if what she suggested was sarcasm or a genuine suggestion; which was a fact that scared me a little bit, but otherwise encouraged me to press on.

"No, like go get lunch." I said.

I would start small with my things, and work my way up. That way, it didn't seem that big of a deal at first and, over time, I could work up to bigger things.

There was a silence for awhile before she spoke up, but only after her paper crinkled and the sound of something hitting the trashbasket rang out in the silence.

"Sure, lets go." She said with ease, getting out of her chair.

I nearly slipped out of my chair.

"W-what?" I stammered.

I hadn't expected this to be easy.

"Let's go. I'm getting tired of reading last week's paper anyways." She smiled, trotting around her desk and towards the door, with me stumbling right behind her in an anxious attempt to get out of the cramped office space.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


It was like a breath of life when the air of the outdoors hit my face; stopping me dead in my tracks and forcing me to take a deep breath of the fresh outside air. It smelled nostalgic, another disturbing fact, and alive compared to what I normally breathed; which was normally either the crisp air of night or the air conditioning of the office. Not only that, but everything seemed saturated with color as I looked at it, colors popping out in ways I hadn't thought possible.

Maybe it's just me, but I think the night smelled different than the day.

I took a quick glance at Rose, who seemed to be doing the same thing as me but not on the same scale. Figures she wanted to get out too; I guess she just needed a partner in crime who was a bit more eager than herself.

"So where do you want to eat at?" I asked, still taking deep breaths.

"There is a cafe about a block from here, just after a pawnshop - if you're looking for convenience that is. If you're out for quality I'd recommend a family owned diner about three blocks that way." She said quickly, jesting a hoof down the street.

"I'm guessing this isn't your first time doing this?" I asked with a small glance and a smirk.

"Do you really think I would sit in that office all day without succumbing to the temptation of the door not but fifteen feet away?" She asked rhetorically.

Rose was a very interesting character, as I had learned from my recent abundance of time with her, to be around. Despite her boring job, she had plenty of stories on all kinds of things; things that would have still surprised me even if an adventurer had been the one telling me. In a way, she was kind of like a grandmother; always having something to say about everything. And all it took was one simple question about a part in the story to send her into another one.

Her outward appearance was a near opposite of her true self; her coat a rather dulled down red that one would call burgundy and her mane was styled into a simple bun that had the occasional spare strands of hair spring from it and fall down into her eyes.

She'd probably hit me if I told her that though. Well, the grandma part at least.

We settled on the diner -- I was in no rush to get back to my match of paper soccer -- and got through the walk with relative comfort thanks to another one of her infamous stories. This time it was about how the vampires supposedly came to be, though she made it clear that she was going off purely rumors.

The restaurant we arrived at could have fooled me for just another brick house in the urban area of Canterlot we were located at, the only thing giving it away was a small sign that stuck out not but two inches from the wall with the words "Diner" emblazoned on it. Even the words seemed a bit sketchy; some of the paint was scratched off to reveal the tan, splintered, wood underneath. 

"So this is it?" I asked hesitantly.

"Don't let the outside fool you, the ponies who own this place are nice and the food is good; what more could you ask for?" She said with a sage tone.

I simply shrugged and let her take the lead before we entered the building.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The inside of the building had the rustic mood that one might expect a country store or your grandma's house to have; old rocking chairs off in the corner, hoof woven tablecloths on hoof built tables, even a wood fueled fire place set off to the side with a couch and loveseat to catch the warmth.

A perky stallion met us the second we entered, practically pouring a welcoming feeling out of his body and into anyone who dared enter. He was about seat us until another, much older, stallion patted him on the shoulder and sent him off to service the other tables. He did so without a complaint or even a second of hesitation.

"Good to see you still get out of the office Rose." The elderly stallion said, curling his mouth into a wrinkled smile.

"Well it isn't that lonely in there now a days." She said as she gestured to me.

"I can see." The stallion smiled, nodding to me and picking up two menus.

We were sat back in a corner booth, where we were engaged in some more small talk with the stallion until a waitress brought us two glasses of water and asked for the stallion's help; and were then left alone to each other. After that, we were on our own.

My first logical thought was to ask Rose about anything.

Though I could have gone onto any subject and gotten a good thirty minutes of talk out of it, I decided to push another issue that had been lingering on my conscious for a while.

"Hey Rose?" I asked.

She hummed in response as she drank some of her water.

"Who exactly is Vinyl Scratch?"

She tensed, but I pretended not to notice and went on.

"You kinda freaked out when our last customer signed her name on a contract, and it's been bugging me for a good while what exactly makes her such a tender topic to you." I elaborated, giving Rose some time to get her thoughts together.

"W-well..." She stammered, putting her glass down with a bit of a shake that I ignored.

"She's....an interesting topic." Was the only thing she said.

"Coming from someone like you who can make doors an interesting topic, she must be quite the specimen." I commented playfully, ignoring Rose's cautious tone.

"Yeah..." She said simply.

I gave her a glance with a raised brow, and encouraged her to continue, but she stood firm on her silence.

"Mind entertaining me with a bit about her?" I asked.

"She..." Rose hesitated, as if to collect her words. "she was a case that was first signed awhile back, and who had some of the Order's best operatives put on her time and time again."

"So she is renown for her elusiveness? Fighting ability?" I pressed.

"Uhm, no. Well, not exactly."

She inhaled.

"We never actually got any reports back from the operatives we sent out and when we sent a retrieval squad for our missing operatives they went silent too. She is known for not really being known about, and not being able to have information gathered on her; in other words, she is known as a variable in the order." She hesitated on her sentences all throughout the small speech, making it clear as day that she wasn't too comfortable about the topic.

I ignored it again and pressed on.

"Well she can't be the only variable. What makes her so special?" I asked.

"You're right about her not being the only variable, we get new cases on vampires all the time which gives The Order a lot of variables to deal with. What makes her special is that she is one of the hoof-full of variables that have managed to stay a variable with a good amount of resource put into learning about her."

"Wait, so we know literally nothing about her?" I asked, doubting her to be a total mystery.

"Only that they are probably a vampire, and probably a mare." She said, taking another sip.

A shy looking waitress walked up silently and asked for our orders in the midst of the conversation. At first I worried she would get curious about the whole 'vampire' thing we had been spouting, but Rose played it off well by asking the mare if she had seen a play with such a scene before ordering our food.

She was definitely quick witted.

The waitress scampered away and I immediately got back on track.

"So you can only say 'Probably' on if she is a vampire?" I asked.

"Well, we get plenty of calls about ponies just being a bit creepy and being confused for vampires, so we can't even eliminate the possibility of her just being a normal pony."

"So why is to not looked into more severely if she is such an enigma?" I asked.

"I just told you, everything we send at her disappears." She said curtly.

"Then we just dropped the case?" I was beginning to get frustrated.

"Well, no. The reason we dropped the case was because of her relative silence in general before we got involved; the only time things happened to our soldiers where when they were sent after them. All the cases filed weren't even violence cases, just 'potential threat' cases; so we thought it best to just leave it alone in the hopes that she left others alone in return."

"Wait, if ponies reported the cases, why didn't they describe her appearance?" I asked, sensing a hole in her explanation.

"You really have never looked at the report section on those contracts, have you?" She chuckled. At least she was getting more comfortable.

"We don't typically ask for details from the pony who signs the contract, and simply pass on the name to the operative and let them deal with gathering details. They usually get most our information from local sources like bar owners or gossipy nobles who are typically safe since someone would notice if they went missing. The problem arose for Vinyl's case when ponies gave descriptions that never matched others - the only consistent detail being the it was almost always a mare that was described." She said, taking another sip before continuing.

"She is either a true master at keeping herself out of the public eye, or she really is just an enigma. Because we have been sent on some very elaborate chases because of her that all ended in dead ends." She said in almost admiration.

It puzzled me how this Vinyl Scratch was such an unknown, and it made me want to research into the topic even more. Though I figured if multiple others before me couldn't do it, I couldn't either. I mean, we couldn't even truly identify her gender, much less her status as a vampire.

Luckily the food arrived in my thoughts, saving us the trouble of coming up with an excuse. I hadn't even gotten to order my own food - Rose ordered for me without my notice - but I didn't really seem to mind as I unconsciously ate my food. The old stallion also brought along a newspaper towards the end of the meal, and exchanged it with Rose for a sack of bits which I assumed covered the meal.

I wanted to press Rose more, but she managed to speak up before I could.

"We should probably get back soon." She said quickly, getting up from her seat.

I briefly wondered if she did that on purpose to avoid my prying mind, or if she just was uncomfortable with being away from the office. Either way, I didn't protest; this was a baby step process after all.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


We strode back towards the small, tucked away building that was out office with a bit of regret, but we knew that we had to do it. Rose seemed in a bit more of a better shape than me, but that was probably because she got a new paper to read for the next week or so. Or at least until I managed to get her to get out again.

We did notice something strange though.

We saw that the door wasn't completely shut when we came close enough; pushed in just far enough so that a crack of the wooden floor inside could be seen.

We looked to each other, Rose shrugging, before pressing inwards with a bit more caution than before.

The room was just as we had left it: completely empty. Even my desk side soccer game was in the same position as before. We creeped in a bit farther before something stopped us.

"Well, well, well."

Both me and Rose yanked our heads to the voice that called out, and let out two different reactions simultaneously. Her's was more of panic; her eyes wide and mouth open as if waiting for the words to climb in and form a sentence. She even dropped the paper that she had been carrying since the diner.

Mine was more of an annoyed sigh, as if I was let down by the sight in front of me. My eyes rolled away as I simply continued to walk in as if the figure wasn't even there.

A slim stallion was leaned up against the wall of the office,  his dark blue coat nearly making him invisible up against the dark side of the wall and his white mane tinged a dull grey. It was the reason we hadn't immediately picked up on him when we entered.

"I see you're adapting well to the secretary position."

"Can it." I shot back.

"You should really be more respective to your senior officers. Sis." My brother sneered, only to have a pen tossed at him from where I sat at my desk.

"It's okay Rose, he's not someone to worry about." I spat, calming the panicking mare slightly.

"You wound me so." He mocked in a dramatic tone.

"What do you want anyways," I spat. "I'm busy here."

He took a look around the empty office.

"Clearly." He said simply before trotting over and taking a seat on a small couch sat off to the side of the room.

"If you want to get down to it, I'm actually here to say you've been requested back at base for some questioning. It's about that last contract that was signed; I'm assuming you can guess the one I mean considering how...spacious this office is. The intelligence department has got a few things to talk about with you." He said bluntly.

"Both of you." He added, looking to Rose.

"Like what?" I questioned instantly.

"I don't know; they didn't give me specifics to go off of but I can only assume it's important since they're calling in a few favors about this one case." He shrugged.

Me and Rose could only look at each other after that much.

	
> Brought Back
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


A gentle breeze flowed through, pushing just hard enough to skew my hair off to the side and annoy me in the slightest. The breeze was complemented by the comforting shine of the rising sun in the distance that gave my body just enough shade to be completely covered. The  sky itself was filled with warm colors that all seemed to blend into a single shade that circled around the glowing sun. I myself was sitting under an umbrella outside of a cafe, simply staring off into the painting worthy scene that I could have watched for an hour or so.

Bu that wasn't going to happen.

I hadn't come here on a whim; last night when I got back from the bar, someone had apparently came by my apartment looking for me and gave a note to the desk mare. When I myself got the note I found it was from Beauty, asking me to come meet her here in the morning for something that she called "too urgent to write down".

Admittedly I was worried at first, but Vinyl managed to calm me down with a bit of effort. She said that it couldn't have been anything bad, as I hadn't done anything directly to Beauty. True as it was, most of my worry wasn't for my sake, but for Vinyl's.

Despite Beauty having gotten to the point that petty insults were no longer a commodity, I doubt she would be willing to drop Vinyl's case  as my roommate so easily.

I stopped myself from thinking on it and let out a shaky sigh.

"There she is." A familiar, masculine, voice piped, startling me slightly.

I turned to see Harpo leading the way over to my table, smile shining, with Beauty following close behind him.

"Well if he's here I know that Beauty won't go too far. I thought, letting out a small smile at the sight of the two.

I got up and gave them both hugs before they settled down at the table with me. Harpo seeming to carry the mood for both of them while Beauty sat surprisingly silent; only adding into the conversation when called on. At first I ignored it, but as the conversation grew and she continued to stare at seemingly nothing I began to get a bit curious as to what could be rendering her so silent.

"So Beauty," I started, waiting for the jump of her brows as a sign of attention.

"you said we needed to talk? Something that was too urgent to write down?" Despite my questioning tone, it was more of a statement.

"Oh, yes." She said plainly.

I briefly wondered on what it was that could have gotten her this worked up - enough to put her so far off her typical mood that she was thinking hard enough to not talk. Had she found something out about Vinyl? Was I right to have assumed the worse? Or maybe it was something not quite as extreme; maybe she had only found rumors of Vampires.

"It's about your involvement with the Symphony." She said suddenly.

"What?" Was all I could say; I hadn't expected that of all things to be the topic.

"W-what about it?" I stammered, cautious of the waters I was now treading into.

"Well," She seemed to turn meek and began prodding her hooves together while avoiding my gaze. "it's just that you haven't really came to practice in more than the two weeks of sick and vacation days available to you and the conductor was beginning to get a bit annoyed by just leaving the seat open."

She stopped her prodding and her gaze dropped even more.

"He even announced that he was considering removing you." She mumbled.

I was frozen at this point, I couldn't even think of a way to react.

She finally raised her head to meet my eyes.

"I managed to get him to hold off his decision yesterday and told him I would try to get you to meet him this afternoon at one." She said solemnly.

It was eleven as of right now.

Thank-" I began to thank her, but she cut me off.

"Don't thank me. I don't care that you aren't showing up to practice - if you wanted to quit I would be fine with that and wouldn't stop you - but I know that the reason you're not showing up is because of that mare." She was beginning to get venomous, and Harpo but his hoof on her shoulder to calm her.

It worked; her nostrils flaring as she inhaled sharply in a vain attempt to calm herself.

"I'm not going to argue about this; show up or don't, I did this because I still have respect for you despite your dumb decision to house that pest."

My eyes narrowed on her.

I began to realize that not everyone had seen what Vinyl had done in the forest; it was limited to me, Vinyl and Shakes and her sister. In Canterlot's eyes she was still some lowly, forgettable street mare. It was angering, but I knew I had to keep quiet about it for all of us. She had saved me, but was still considered a pest.

Beauty got up after that, not another sentence muttered except for "I'll be waiting outside".

Once she had left, Harpo let out a sigh and turned to me.

"Sorry about that, she's still a bit torn up about that mare. I'm a bit amazed to tell you the truth; be happy she isn't putting as much effort into making her miserable as she is finding out new insults for her." He smirked.

"I see." I said curtly.

"Still, you should honestly consider seeing the conductor this afternoon; most of the orchestra is coming to see if you show...and if you don't, to take your place." He said gravely, letting his words sink in before getting up and heading towards the door himself.

A sigh of my own drifted from my mouth. It was too early for this nonsense, I hadn't even ate breakfast and I already had blackmail placed on me. And now with that blackmail, I wouldn't get any breakfast; assuming I was going to make sure I was still first chair suitable in two hours.

"Miss?"

In all honesty though, she didn't have to be so offensive about Vinyl; I hadn't even spoken to her much this morning and she was already on that case again. I had hoped she had grown up and let it pass by now.

"Miss?"

Speaking of Vinyl, I still had some questions for her from last night since Shakes was a bit evasive of my prying mind. I had brought up The Order once to her, but she seemed to laugh it off and escape me by drinking with Vinyl until she was too drunk to tell her left from her right. Either way, I was sure Vinyl would be a bit more inclined to tell me.

"Miss!"

I shook a bit as I turned to face one flustered looking barista.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry. I was bit a lost in thought..." I trailed off, not bothering to speak too much.

"That's fine, but I'd just like to know what you would like to order." She said simply, obviously still a bit annoyed, as she readied her pen and notepad.

I smiled sheepishly.

"I've actually got to be getting somewhere. Thank you." I said curtly, getting out of my chair and making for the door before she could form a comment.

I could only imagine her either dumbfounded or angered look.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"She said what?" A voice from the living room asked, tired and slurred slightly.

I sighed at having to repeat myself again.

"She said that I need to be at the orchestra today at one or else I'll lose my place as cellist. Which also means I'll lose my income." I said, placing a bag of tea inside a batch of boiling water before trotting into the living room to see the collapsed white form that was Vinyl.

She actually sat up after she hear me say that, maybe that time it actually got through to her.

"Sounds like fun! I've never gotten to see you preform that much, so this'll be a treat; When is it?" She asked, the excitement rising in her voice by the second.

"A-are you sure about that Vinyl?" I stammered, imagining what might happen if Beauty met with Vinyl again. I thought back on the first time, when Beauty actually managed to make her run off into the streets for a day or so.

I shivered at the thought of that happening again.

"Of course I'm sure. I'm pretty much the reason you're even at risk of you're spot aren't I?" She asked, almost sounding rhetorical for once.

I mustered a smile.

I sighed and took a seat next to her, thinking hard as silence began dominating the room.

"I was worried at first she had found out about you..." I spoke suddenly.

She raised her brow at me, cocked with perplexity.

"About my what?"

Her innocence had yet to stop amazing me and brought a small smirk to my face.

"You being a vampire Vinyl, what else?" I asked, not realizing how broad that question could have been.

"Well, that would've sucked if she did..." She said, ending it at that; but I took this as the opportunity to bring up another question.

"Would she have sent those ponies after you?" I asked, my tone had lost most of it's amusement by now and seemed to be as slate as stone.

"Who?"

I could tell she knew who I was talking about.

"Those ponies that we saw in the forest; the ones you attacked before almost attacking me. The ones that were called "The Order" or something along those lines." I thought my knowledge of them would have at least put Vinyl off int he slightest, but she only put her hoof to her chin as if trying to remember them.

"Or maybe she doesn't" I inwardly sighed.

"Oh yeah!" She said, proud of herself for remembering. "She may have though, I'm not really sure how popular she is on the streets."

The room went silent again; my eyes burning into her, begging her to say more about them. But she simply stared at the wall with the smallest of smiles on her lips. I hadn't a clue why she was smiling.

I decided to give her a moment of respite and go get my tea.

As I went into the kitchen and climbed up on my hind legs to get to the top cabinets where the tea cups lie I found my mind was rather set on finding out more. Vinyl seemed reluctant, something she normally isn't, and I was pressed to find out what could make even her a bit nervous to talk about. But more than anything I was starting to get a bit agitated with asking and I honestly think it was beginning to take a toll on my mood. Ever since Shakes avoided me I had been acting this way and I didn't want to take that out on Vinyl.

I grabbed the cups and brought them down to the table, pouring two cups, and walking back out to find that Vinyl hadn't moved an inch with the willingness to try and make gaining this information more of a privilege.

"Tea?"

"Can we do this after your performance thing? I'd rather not have this eating at you during that." Was she whining? On top of that, she gave me this look that was almost pleading, and I just couldn't find the will to say no.

Not only that, but she managed to read my intentions exactly.

"Fine," I sighed. "but you better tell me after that." I said, trying my hardest to sound happy with that as I picked up my tea cup.

She chuckled.

"You're cute when you get flustered Tavi." She smirked, seeing right through me.

I blushed a little and my grip unconsciously tightened on the cup in the slighest as I tried to avoid her gaze, despite it being hid behind her glasses. Though I may have gripped it a bit too tightly.

My hooves collapsed in on the cup, crushing through the delicate exterior, followed suite by the sound of shattering echoing through the room while pain shot through my hooves.

"Wh-what?" I stammered, cringing through the pain, looking to Vinyl for confirmation.

Her head peaked up from behind the couch that she now hid behind, only going up high enough so that the top rims of her glasses were showing. She had actually gotten scared enough from the sound to run for cover.

"H-how did.... I didn't-" I stammered more, only to be interrupted by Vinyl.

She chuckled, but stayed behind the couch like a filly hiding in a pillow fort.

"W-what?" I said, keying in on her laughter.

"Well, remember back at the castle? When the stallion gave you some vampiric traits?"

I nodded. I could remember it in bits and pieces, and fill in the places that I couldn't with what Vinyl had told me about it. I had always been a bit curious about that - with what that stallion was trying to do. He had said something about making new vampires and I wondered if I were his experiment.

"Well, I tried to get most of that stuff out of you. You kinda passed out though so I wasn't sure if it worked or not and I didn't want to drain much more or else you would've died."

"He said something about pure bloods being the only ones to make new vampires, right? So what was he doing?" I asked.

"Well, he's right on that one I think. I'm not really an expert on that stuff but from what I know it's that pure breeds are the only ones that can turn other ponies into real vampires. It looked like he was trying to get past that rule when he somehow transformed you; kinda like a pony with vampire traits."

"I wouldn't be too worried about a little bit of extra strength though, it might just be the last of the venom her messed with getting out of you and it should be over with by maybe a few days from now. That stuffs likes to stick around. He also said that your blood was still the same, so your still pony. If you started growing fangs, then we should probably be worried."

"So what about me?"

"Well, you basically just got a big dose of vampire tier steroids."

I was hardly even holding the tea cup as was, simply letting it rest on my hooves for the most part, but the second I had applied a little pressure the cup had broken.

I looked back at the shattered remains of the tea cup in my hooves, catching sight of the piece of porcelain caught in my hoof with a bit of red rimming around it. I pulled it out quickly, watching as the stream of red seemed to pulse from the wound.

I realized what exactly had happened and quickly looked to Vinyl, who seemed to not have picked up the scent. Either that or she was good at masking it.

"Hmm. We'll probably have to get you in control of that sometime soon; unless you're fine with breaking somepony's spine next time you pat them on the back." She said, looking at me as if I was considering it, only to be turned away by a quick shake of the head.

"Thought so." She murmured.

A thought hit me square in the face.

"Vinyl, how am I supposed to play? I'll break my cello!" I said, beginning to panic as I looked at my hooves that housed the remnants of my cup. "I-I'm going to lose my place in the orchestra..."

I felt a hoof on my back and found that Vinyl was beside me, leaning her head down with a big smile.

"Guess you're going to have to take me now." She gleamed.

"B-but how would that-"

I was cut short as she simply pointed to her horn.

"I'll play for you with my magic, you just rest your hoof on top of your string thingy and I'll make the music while your hoof just enjoys the ride." She said smoothly.

"String thingy? You mean the bow?" I asked.

"I guess." She shrugged, her nose twitching a little before she turned away and plopped back on the couch.

I looked at her for a while, sitting dumb founded at my sudden situation.

"Might wanna go get that cello of yours if you wanna make this look realistic." She said, smiling joyfully at me. "Try not to break it when you get it out."


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The extent of my "strength" wasn't as extreme as I thought, though I knew that I wouldn't be able to play my cello without ruining all the strings of the bow with my first few pulls. Though it was significant enough to make getting onto my back two hooves easy enough that I fell on my back a few times. I suppose if I had actually been practicing for my Orchestra I would have noticed these strengths sooner, assuming they had been present since then. Vinyl also suggested not leaning too heavily on my cello at the fear of having it break under me.

Vinyl, as I found out, could be just as delicate and precise with her magic as she could be destructive; she matched the bow up with my hoof and moved it along in a way that looked at least somewhat normal.

She could also play very well considering the circumstances; though she never really played an actual piece of music since most of the time from when we began to now had simply been me adjusting my posture and balance so that holding my bow and my cello looked natural. I also noticed that standing on my hind legs hadn't rendered my sore despite doing this for nearly an hour and a half now. I was still unsure the extent to what Vinyl could do, or how she would hide her magical intervention from the others that were going to be present.

Vinyl herself had simply remained on the couch the entire time, seeming to nearly fall asleep every now and then while I adjusted. I guess she wasn't really supposed to be up at this hour by Vampire standards; though she wasn't exactly the average Vampire. Not to say I'm an expert though, so I wouldn't really know.

She finally let out a yawn and smacked her lips together.

"I think we're about done here, time to see if it was worth it." She said, raising up from the couch and trotting over to me with her horn sparking.

Her nonchalant attitude about this was almost unnerving.

She packed my cello and bow up with her magic, making quick and safe work of keeping them unscratched.

As I fell off my back hind legs, hitting the ground felt normal - like I had no extra strength at all. Vinyl said that I wouldn't have noticed since I was walking all the time, and I suppose that would make sense, but I would have at least expected to feel something different about how I walked. Like feeling lighter on my hooves or something.

As for my injured hoof, I had completely forgot about it. I had let it slip my mind in the confusion, but it didn't seem to harm anything but the neck of my cello, though blood can be washed off easy. And by now, the bleeding had stopped and a trip to the bathroom hid my hoof as if nothing had happened at all.

Vinyl levitated the case onto my back and made sure it was secure before trotting over to the door with me not far behind. My stomach was churning a little in nervous anticipation.

"Don't worry Tavi," Vinyl said suddenly, opening the door. "it's too late to worry, unless you'd rather just not go." She tempted, most likely knowing that I was still going to go regardless.

"You're not the one with your job on the line." I mumbled, closing the door as we stepped out into the hall.

"Well, maybe after this we can be jobless together." She said with authentic happiness.

"You're not helping Vinyl."
> Reserved
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	My stomach had gone from simply tying itself into knots all the way to making a noose out of itself. I was practically sweating by the time me and Vinyl had arrived at the practice building, the relatively silent walk through the sides of streets and back alleys serving to do nothing more than let my mind wander - a dangerous thing when I'm under stress.

I asked Vinyl why we didn't just teleport here to save time, simply not giving me time to worry would have been a good way to go, but she simply smiled at me and let out a small giggle while saying something about me worrying.

I had even bumped into her when she stopped to look up at the building's exterior, covering herself with the shade from a tree nearby.

"And here we are!" She said with great enthusiasm, head turning and giving me a toothy smile.

"Y-yeah." I muttered, looking back down.

"Being a downer isn't going to get you anywhere now Tavi; we're here now and there's no going back."

"Are you sure?" I asked, looking up, and honestly considering retreat.

She only dipped her glasses down to show the true spark of determination in her eyes that also seemed to hide another motive behind them. They seemed to waver, lingering on the edge of an entirely different intent; but I didn't notice that, her eyes seemed to pacify me every time they looked at me, drowning out my senses with just a stare.

"You've helped me a lot Tavi, so just let me help you out this time." Just the tone of her voice then was enough to send a shiver down my spine, and that combined with her eyes were plenty more enough to convince me to go ahead with this plan.

I trusted her.

"Alright." I sighed in defeat, lifting my head up just in time to see her hopscotch her way between her shadows until getting up to the door, waving her hoof like a filly for me to follow.

I snickered a little.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Vinyl had let me enter the building first for one reason or another, only to let me find that the building was packed with just about a third of the orchestra, or more specifically, all of the string section and my friends. I guess it would be expected they show up considering this was a possible first chair audition as well as a performance check. They all adapted different looks when I entered - some with a look of relief that I was still alive and others with a look of anguish that I had showed.

I felt the sweat from before begin to return, just the simple stares of the string section was enough to put me on edge, and the conductor hadn't even entered the room yet.

"So she lives yet." A stern voice spoke up, making me cringe.

"Of course ." I thought, turning my head to the side to see my conductor sitting in a chair pulled off to the side.

Knowing him, he had probably been sitting there since yesterday just to catch me at this particular moment.

"H-hello condu-" I began only to be interrupted by a certain follower.

"Oh wow, the outside of this place is really deceiving! It looks great on the inside!" Vinyl's cheery voice shot through the tense room with a tone that all froze at; it even caught the conductor off guard as his eyes widened slightly.

She trotted in, head on a swivel, with her nose to the air as she looked at the building's interior with an offset look compared to most others. I knew that wherever Beauty was, in the building or not, she had just cringed a little.

"...and I see you brought a guest with you?" He asked rhetorically, taking a second to look at Vinyl up in down in what I could only guess was judgment.

His eyes widened a bit and the bitter look on his face seemed to momentarily fade.

"You're that mare from the contest yes? The one who dueled Fredric and his friend on the piano?" He questioned, gaining the attention of Vinyl who had since wandered over to the crowd and was prodding at a mare's violin in curiosity. The poor mare seemed just as curious about what Vinyl was doing as Vinyl did about her instrument.

Though Vinyl's ears perked at the mention of the contest.

"That'd be me." She said, giving him a friendly nod.

"And you're here with Miss Melody?"

"If you mean Tavi, then yeah." She said, a bit confused by the use of my formal name.

The conductor shot me a glance.

"'Tavi'...how quaint." He said, earning a few snickers from the crowd before turning back to Vinyl.

"I've heard enough from your performance back then to know that you most certainly aren't clueless when it comes to the art of playing...despite your looks; so I thank you for coming." He said with a tone of appreciation, albeit small.

A figure rose from the crowd of musicians, anger in her voice when she mumbled.

"I'll be in the back." She said, hastily trotting towards the restrooms.

I inwardly sighed when I saw that the figure was none other than Beauty.

"So Octavia," The conductor said, snapping my attention to him. "what might be your excuse for not showing up to practices as of late?" He asked, brow cocked and waiting for my answer.

"I- uh" I stammered, searching for an answer.

"She was practicing with me." Vinyl spoke randomly, getting a shocked look from both me and the conductor alike.

"Really now?" He asked slowly, turning his head to me for confirmation and receiving a sheepish nod.

"She really has improved if I say so myself." Vinyl boasted, now full on toying with the stunned violinist's instrument.'

"Well I can't wait to see." The conductor said slowly, obviously eager himself to see if the statement checked out.

I gulped.

"Oh," Vinyl paused, putting down the violin and hopping up. "I don't suppose you all have a bathroom do you?"

"Last door on the right." The conductor said curtly, moving to his podium. "I suppose you want me to wait until you get back for your 'student' to perform?" He asked.

"Nah, I believe in her." She beamed, trotting off to the back where Beauty had stamped off to.

I could only gasp in an attempt to form words. Was this her plan? To simply lead me here after all of this training just to leave me on my own while she went off to the bathroom? It wasn't like her to pull some kind of prank when things were this serious.

While I remained dumbfounded, the conductor cleared his throat to gain my attention.

"If you would, Miss Melody." He gestured to a music stand set up no more than fifteen feet in front of him with the entire string section at my front.

"O-of course." I stammered, trotting over to the seat and laying down my case before pulling out my bow and cello as delicately as I could.

All of their eyes seemed to burn into me and I felt a bit of sweat form on my brow. I hadn't practice for this aspect of performing, just the physical part.

I raised onto my hind legs shakily, nearly falling but looking somewhat smooth; though a little slow to be considered normal. I steadied on the cello, my hoof's grip on the neck near nonexistent as I raised the bow up towards the strings. My hoof was practically shaking as I looked at the strings as if they would move themselves, by Vinyl's magic, but they just sat there making it ever more clear that I was on my own.

"Miss Melody, I haven't all afternoon." The conductor said sternly, his tone growing evermore impatient.

"M-my apologies." I stammered, letting out a quiet sigh as I knew I had to try playing myself.

Though when I tried to move the bow, it refused to budge.

When I looked down I saw the thinnest sliver of neon blue was wrapped around the bow, holding it in place. I took a chance glance back at the way to the restroom, but Vinyl was nowhere in sight. She must have hid herself well then, or maybe she had some kind of invisibility spell she knew, either way I was comforted at last.

"The rest of the string section will follow you along in their head to search for any mishaps that I may miss." He said simply, somehow registering that I was ready, and signaling for me to start.

I gulped and gave the bow a small tug.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Rose...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I flipped a page of the newspaper that filled my vision, moving on from the political section to the entertainment section with the satisfying sound of paper wrinkling following the motion. There was a small squabble in the nobility as of late that centered around the safety of their homes because of the recent rise in numbers of citizens of lower social classes; I didn't think anything of the issue, just that it was simply nobles being nobles.

"Rose would you please stop reading that paper just for a second and help me?" Maple called, her voice reflecting her struggle as she attempted to pry something from her brother.

"Give me a second." I mumbled, only half paying attention to what they were fighting over.

A lot of ponies said I got a bit too absorbed in the paper, and a lot of them seemed to distance themselves from me because of it, but why would I not get absorbed in an article that told me what was happening around me? It was just common sense to want to know what's around you.

"You said that minutes ago!" She whined, giving one final tug and pried out her prize, whatever that might have been.

Though in the same process, she lurched back and thumped into my side, her horn making a hole straight through the paper and ripping it clean in half when she struggled to get it off.

"H-heh...sorry." She said meekly, scooting back over to her seat.

I only sighed, folding up my paper.

I was currently inside of a carriage traveling somewhere; the only thing I knew is that we were indeed heading back to the main head quarters of The Order, but they had tinted the inside of the windows pitch black. Maple's brother said it was something about security protection, but what good was having a base if only the ponies there and the drivers knew where it was. What if I had a message for a captain, but a vampire had ambushed the carriage and killed the driver?

"Well then you'd best learn how to play dead or start running fast than the next guy." Is what Maple suggested, getting an approving smile out of her brother.

She was a near mirror image of her brother; her coat a lighter shade of blue that I would dare to call navy and her mane also a lighter grey than his. The only difference between the two being their gender and the small difference of shades in their coats and mane, but their similarities in wits was uncanny.

I had been a bit panicky on the way to HQ, so they stopped and bought me a paper to calm me down.

Now it was nothing but a waiting game with a countdown that no one could even guess, not even Maple's brother could give a solid estimate. He even said they took different routes each time they traveled just to eliminate the possibility of being tracked. And now with my paper in ruins - it having been my only way of passing the time - I was stuck to the silence.

Well, I thought I was.

"Hey Rose? You mind telling a story?" Maple asked out of the blue. Maybe she did it to try and make me forget my paper; and it worked too.

My ears perked up.

I loved stories, everything about them was perfect even if the story itself was bad. The act was nothing more than a conveyance of the past or a tale to stir the hearts of others. In my eyes, there was no act more nobler that to spin a lie for another's amusement at the sacrifice of one's own credibility. Then again, credibility was only called into question if the story wasn't good enough.

Some could call me a bard, though I could hardly accept such a title. Mainly because lots would laugh at it.

I started a story I had picked up at a bar a while back, one that involved the princesses themselves and a quick witted, silver tongued changeling that nearly breached the royal chambers. They both seemed interested, the brother not so much at first, but he came around after it began to pick up and at about halfway I could tell I had them hooked.

I wasn't sure exactly how long I was talking, but my mouth ran dry plenty of times while the story went on.

Well, until the carriage stopped that is.

It was awfully abrupt as well, as if we had hit something in the road rather than reaching out destination, though when the coach driver came around and opened the door for us my suspicions were dashed.

We piled out of the carriage, nearly stumbling over ourselves as we went to stretch our legs.

"Wow." Was the only thing that Maple said, staring at the large building in front of us.

It was huge, stretching up high enough for one to strain their neck to see the top; high enough to convince me that there was at least thirty or forty floors above ground. The walls themselves were made of largely glass, crystal clear as well, and revealed various ponies on the inside of the building going about their tasks. It branched off into other buildings that flanked the left and right of what I would dub the 'main building', each of them pertaining the style of the first. 

The walkway we stood on had an elaborate flower arrangement gliding along the sides of it with a few fountains of light grey stone accenting it here and there with exquisite looking statues as the source of the water. The grass itself even seemed to be saturated compared to the grass I had seen back in Canterlot. Then again, I had a desk job.

A quick glance back revealed a large wall that was placed quiet a ways back, rising up maybe seventy or so feet with watchtowers littering the top. Just over the edge of the wall I could see the tops of trees, suggesting the "fort" was in the middle of a forest.

Truly a story worthy scene in my eyes.

"The Information Committee has already been gathered to come up with a plan to deal with the contract, with you two being the last to arrive." The carriage driver said stoically, walking back around to the front of the carriage and hooking himself up.

"Wait," Maple asked, turning to face the carriage driver just as he turned to face the wall off in the distance. "where do we go?"

"Where do you think? You've got one giant building full of ponies or a wall, you pick which one sounds like it has 'The Information Committee' in it." He said sarcastically, gesturing to the large building before setting off quickly, not bothering to give Maple a chance to reply.

We all turned back to the building, glass exterior reflecting enough sun to make all of us squint.

"Well," Maple's brother spoke first. "best not keep them waiting. You two are the guests of honor." He smirked, getting a chuckle from me and a scoff from his sister before we began walking towards the entrance.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

> General Assembly
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Rose...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The inside of the building was just about the same as the outside; plain and modern. White tiles lined the floor and the only splotches of color came from the desk where a mare sat and the couches that were placed in the corners of the waiting room. A few potted plants and a magazine shelf also helped provide some life to the otherwise white room. Surprisingly enough, the room was rather empty, a change from my outside observations of the hustle and bustle near the windows.

It reminded me a lot of a hospital.

The mare at the desk peeped up and noticed us three walking in aimlessly.

"I take it you are the guests for the Information Committee's gathering?" She said, spying at me and Maple. 

She looked quite professional; dark green man done up in a tight bun, a pair of fashionable wire frame glasses. Her top half was covered in a formal looking office attire consisting of a blazer, white blouse, and red tie.

"Yeah, sorry we're a bit la-" Maple began to apologize, but was swiftly interrupted.

"Good, they have been waiting for you both. Your friend will have to wait here." She said, lifting herself from her desk and moving off to the side where she stood by a door with a clip board.

She was quite to the point.

Me and Maple looked to each other, and then to her brother, before walking over to the mare and following her through the door. I noticed Maple take a quick glimpse over her shoulder, most likely at her brother; she looked a little sad that her brother couldn't come along with her.

The walk was silent at first, but the mare leading us began to speak out of nowhere in a professional tone.

"I suppose you two know what this gathering is about?" She asked, not even bothering to look back at us.

"Um, about the contract we were given?" Maple guessed.

"Good, that's all you two need to know right now - the Committee will fill in more details." She said curtly before moving onto the next topic.

"There is also rumor that the generals may be showing up to the meeting as well." She said nonchalantly.

My heart froze.

"T-T-The generals?" I stammered.

"Yes. The generals. So I ask you two be on your best behavior." She restated, taking a sharp right and heading down a long corridor.

As to be assumed from their titles, the generals were the highest ranking personnel currently in service of The Order. They had the final say of every operation that went on, and could easily stop one if they deemed it fitting; that was the reason there were more than one of them. If all that power rested on one pony's shoulders they would surely lead The Order to ruin. They also weren't appointed either, the rank was earned by show on the battlefield and a vote was held once a spot cleared up. All in all, they were not someone you would want on your bad side, which served as moral boost to other troops when one of them went on a "field trip" to the front lines.

"Really?!!" Maple asked with almost awe.

"Yes...well, they are all gathering because they all seem to recognize the significance of this threat in the past. Some are even rumoring that they may be sent to deal with the problem personally, though I doubt they would start the operation by sending one of them out. A mission has never been ranked high enough to be assigned to a general's rank alone. I myself don't know why we don't mobilize them more often, it would definitely make my job a lot easier." She said, coming out of her professional shell for a brief moment just before stopping in front of a pair of double doors.

I noticed there was a small sign above the doors, reading off in finely worked cursive:

2A: Information Committee Meeting Room.

The mare in front of us stepped to the side and faced us with her same flat gaze and gestured for us to walk in, at which I gulped. Maple seemed just as hesitant to go inside as me, and I think the mare that had led us here noticed that as well. She let out a small smirk, turning towards the door and pushing them open, walking through and stopping on the other side and holding it open.

Me and Maple began to panic and, out of pure confusion, stumbled through the doors unceremoniously. My hoof tripped over Maple's, and hers over mine, and we eventually just simply fell onto the floor; nothing but silence around us as we struggled to get up.

I heard a small chuckle from the mare at the door just as she left.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So it seems our guests of honor have finally arrived." A stallion's voice boomed.

I peaked up from the ground and saw that a marsh green stallion clad in what looked like a judge's robe sat with his head propped up on hoof. The expression on his face could only be summed up in the word "annoyed",  but despite that he still seemed to carry an aura of importance around him, just like that mare. I briefly wondered if everyone was like that around here.

"Do you mind removing yourself from each other and standing? If you don't mind, I would like to get this meeting underway and over." He huffed, watching in mild amusement as me and Maple untangled ourselves.

The meeting room was assembled rather oddly, looking awfully similar to a room that one could see in a college. The judge stallion that had talked to me earlier was sat in the front of the room at an ornate wooden desk while the door we had entered from was off to the side of him. Rows of chairs rose in front of him until the back of the room, each one filled out with a different pony that was bound to be in charge of something within the building.

He pointed weakly to two open seats near the front rows and we quickly took our seats.

He sighed and spoke up, this time his voice loud and orderly.

"As some of you older members know, we are here to revisit the case of a vampiric nuisance located in the district of Canterlot, one that has seemed to make all investigators sent sent out disappear. The only alias, and solid piece of evidence frankly, is that the name of the target is one 'Vinyl Scratch'; we are able to confirm this based solely on the fact the disappearances only occurred when the name was reported." He said, his face looking bored.

"Anyways, we are resurfacing the report since another report of her presence has surfaced. Though this time, it seems we have the full support of the generals themselves, and we will not stop until it is resolved." His eyes snaked to the side towards four figures in hid away in the corner.

Each of them were cloaked with what looked like a piece of burlap, though the look of each cloak was different. The most notable of all of them was one that covered a huge looking pony, stretching up nearly twice as high as the other ponies.

The next one, the pony directly beside the mammoth of a pony, had their cloak covered in splotches of black and looked burnt near the bottom. I realized that the splotches must have been burn marks, most likely from unicorns.

The last two stood out the least.

One was simply a dull looking silver instead of the burgundy brown of the others, and also looked like it might have been made out of a more expensive and softer material.

The last one was quite literally just a piece of burlap.

I wasn't quite as shocked as I thought I would have been, mainly because of their lack of exposing themselves, which I guess was the point of cloaks to make sure everyone stayed on topic.

"We weren't able to gather anymore concrete information on 'Vinyl Scratch', even with our expanse of resources; giving off the impression that the target is extremely elusive and most likely...disposes of anyone whom could give a solid report." He chose his wording carefully.

Murmurs broke out around the room, whispers of the lack of evidence surfacing when the committee who headed gathering evidence came up short. It seemed impossible to them all, and myself included. The Information Committee had access to things that not even the guard chiefs of cities had; they were in essence a bank of information on any city that spanned their wide reach. In other words, if the committee was a library, Vinyl Scratch was a big blank book with nothing but her name on it.

"However, we plan to neutralize the threat immediately." He took a glance at the four cloaked figures off to the side. "With the consent of the generals of course.

They didn't move, but the judge took it as a sign of approval.

"Very well then." His eyes jutted to me and Maple.

"Miss Maple, since you seem to have been the latest mare injured in the Canterlot region before the report was filed, you will be assisting personally in the operation. Regulation states that you aren't allowed to return to your unit within a certain frame of time, so we are simply sending you to a different squad, formed as of today, that will be spearheading the investigation. You will be briefed by them upon meeting them." He said flatly, glossing over his manipulation of the loose wording of the regulation nonchalantly and evoking a gasp from Maple.

"Your friend, Rose I believe, will be returned to her job as desk mare at the outpost in Canterlot with the privilege of visiting you since she is head of the region. We ask that you only converse during the day, as the target may be suspicious with the fore coming spike activity; please keep this as quiet as possible."

I was pretty indifferent about that verdict, I came in expecting to just be sent back to my desk job, but getting the privilege of leaving officially was more than I could have hoped for.

His speech ended with nothing but silence from all, though no one moved as he had not used his gavel - the signal for the end of a meeting.

"Very well, keep in mind that this target is of an unknown strength, but has managed to silence even platoons of soldiers. They are most likely extremely violent, clever, bloodthirsty and adept at killing even our most highly trained personnel." He said, raising the gavel and bringing it down with a slam that broke the stunned silence of the crowd.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Beauty...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I opened my mouth, my face pressed up near the mirror of the bathroom as I scanned the inside for where I had bit into.

The second I heard that mare's voice I wanted to scream, spew more than a few curses and insults her way, or do something just to get her to leave. But I held my tongue, I had an image to keep up and I didn't think getting Octavia upset with me again would be the best idea, but I may have held it a bit too hard. 

When I was watching that white menace I unconsciously tightened my jaw in a building anger. Just the way she walked, talked, and frankly lived made me want to go off on her. It was about that time I felt a warm flowing sensation in my mouth, then the taste of something metallic, and had to excuse myself. Even when I spoke to excuse myself, I just couldn't hold the hatred out of my voice.

She was the definition of what I hated; a poor and 'drifter' style pony that contributed nothing to society but the inspiration that one could make it without having to work. And that inspiration did nothing more but draw other beasts with the same mind set; it was nothing but a vicious cycle of downfall that would ruin my city. I had grown up seeing the poor, many of them had genuine excuses for being the way they were, but then there was that mare's breed. The type who obviously didn't make an effort to contribute, and that was what I couldn't understand.

When I found out that one was mooching off of my friend, it was only natural that I reacted with a bit of hostility. Not only that, but the mare's record was a scarce as what her job history probably looked like; she probably got it wiped multiple times somehow.

And now I was in the bathroom looking into my mouth at a small cut on the side of tongue, small pulses of blood flowing freely.

"Stupid Octavia...I told her to get rid of that damned mare before. She was lucky that Harpo managed to calm me down before." I mumbled, prodding at my mouth and flinching at the bit of pain that came from it.

I exhaled though, getting mad at Octavia wasn't the way to resolve this conflict. She was, after all, the one I was trying to help here; I even helped save her position in the orchestra, and I'm sure was thankful for that. Though if she really wanted to show it, she would try and make me happy in return. 

My ears perked up as I heard her hit a high note from the outside, something that managed to draw my attention away from my thoughts and focus on her playing for a moment. I listened on, my ears on edge as I hummed along to the melody in my mind, but she seemed to not be going with same song as I.

"What is she playing?" I asked, leaning up close to the door to try and hear her playing better.

I knew the song we were playing, I had memorized it long before this meet up, and she was definitely playing something along the lines of it. The muse seemed to dip down or perk up here and there but the song seemed to flow just as smoothly as if that was the original beat anyways. The original would be played every now and then as she went on, but she would always gradually drift off track, as if to show that she did know what she was playing but that she thought she could have wrote it to sound better.

And in all honesty, it did.

I remembered that the mare had said she had been teaching Octavia and my jaw tightened again - dangerously close to gashing the already open wound in my mouth.

My mind flared at the thought of the mare being musically inclined, enough to actually get me to scuff my tongue again and send a fresh pulse of blood through my mouth.

"Damn her, worthless pile of filth." Was all I could mutter as I spat into the sink.

A sudden knock rang out on the door, bringing to mind that I had been here in the bathroom for nearly all of Octavia's performance. Others probably needed to go as well.

"J-Just a second please!" I called out, making my way over to a roll of tissue and taking some to put in my mouth.

A second knock rang out, the suddenness of it being enough to make me drop my paper to the floor. I shot my eyes at the door, and bent down to pick up the paper - a small bit of blood dripping from my mouth and landing on the floor.

"I said just a second!" I said again, beginning to get flustered as I struggled to pick up the paper and clean up the blood at the same time.

It was when the third knock sounded that I lost it.

I spun to the door and marched up to it near instantly, pulling it open hard enough that I nearly hurt myself in the process.

"What is it that is so import-" I paused at what I saw.

Nothing.

There wasn't a soul outside the bathroom door and the same went for the straight hallway leading to it. It was impossible, according to the buildings layout, for someone to knock and dash away that quickly based on how fast I opened the door in correspondence to the third knock. I lingered there a bit, looking and waiting as if someone would just come into view.

Of course no one did.

"Hello?" I called out, silence being my only response.

Was I hearing something? No, it happened thrice; I couldn't just mishear the same imaginary sound three times one after another like that. My head lingered in the hallway as I closed the door, my heart beating a little bit faster for some reason. I began to try and brush it off as no more than rodents or something along those lines in an attempt to calm myself, and it seemed to work.

I shut the door and looked at myself in the mirror as I leaned up against the door, my head falling back and bumping up against the door lightly. I could only sigh as my eyes closed in an attempt to clam myself, my thoughts finally collecting and falling onto a single mare.

"It's all her fault for this; I wouldn't be in here if it weren't for that stupid, low life, goof for nothing, brat." I mumbled in anger.

"Who?"

My eyes shot open and my head looked up, only to take in a sight that nearly made me pass out.

A white mare, mane colored two tones of blue that contrasted with her coat like a blemish. The eye sore of a hair color was only brought out more by a pair of cheap looking purple sunglasses that most likely covered a pair of ragged looking eyes. The horn that stuck off the front of her head was lit dimly for some reason, an outline of a faded, bright, blue hazing around it. Most likely how she got in here without my notice. 

She stood in the center of the rather small bathroom, no more than three of four feet away from me.

"W-what?! Why are you in here?! Get out!" I screamed at the sight of her, a pang of pain coming from my mouth as my teeth brushed my tongue which only served to make me angrier.

She flinched a little at the sound of my scream, filling me with a little warmth of satisfaction.

She soon got her bearings however, and looked back up to me with a small smirk on her face - a smirk that made me want to beat it off of her - though she managed to beat me to moving.

She took a step forward, beginning to close the gap between us.

At first I assumed she was going to the door behind me to leave, so I gladly began to get out of the way and readied myself to shove her out.

However, I found myself unable to move.

I looked down to see a hazy blue color wrapped around my hooves and made the connection to the villain in front of me immediately. I looked up to find that she was now face to face with me, or more precisely, nose to nose. She just sort of hovered there, her nose giving the occasional twitch as she stared at me (I think) through the wall of purple that covered her eyes. She seemed to size me up, taking me into full consideration by only looking into my hateful eyes.

She finally spoke up.

"It's not very nice to call ponies names, you know." She said, sounding innocent as a foal as her smile widened mischievously.
> Stones
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Beauty...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


She now stood over me with a twisted looking smile on her face, her glasses dipping onto the bridge of her nose just high enough to not show her eyes, as she stared down on me. She had drag me to the center of the floor and pull me to the ground, the magical bonds stronger than metal.

I spat insults at her the whole time, but she kept going as if the room was silent. Eventually my drive began to fade and I simply just began to question her.

"Why?" Was one of the most common of them and silence was the most common answer.

But the most recent time I had asked it got a different response.

She lowered herself onto me, straddling my stomach and pinning me to the ground even more. She lowered her head down to mine so that we were near eye level with one another, her tangled wreck of a mane dropping down like a two tone curtain around us.

"Tavi says you don't like me..." She said with enough sultry to make my cheeks flush pink.

"No, I don't." I said simply. Why was I holding my tongue?

"Well, that doesn't matter. You made her happy, so I'm happy too." She said, moving towards my neck and hovering over it before speaking in a tone that sent shivers down my back.

"But I think you can make me happy too." She cooed.

I felt something well up inside me and did the only thing I could to get out of this situation and used the only thing she hadn't restrained with magic or her body.

I bit her.

Right at the neck I jerked forward and bit down, hard enough for her to yelp and lose enough concentration for her magical focus to waver, though not enough for it to completely fade away.	I also seemed to snap her out of the 'mood' she was in, and she pulled her head back and brought her hooves to her neck.

"Ow! What the heck is wrong with you?!" She yelled with a different voice than before.

"As if I'd let someone like you take advantage of me." I taunted, gurgling up a wad of spit and letting it loose just to show my hate for her.

The red tinged spit flew and hit her square on the upper lip just below her nose, taking her by complete surprise and even managing to make her freeze up.

"Not so cocky now, are you you bint?!" I gloated, erupting in laughter as she simply sat there stock still.

Eventually I calmed myself, my laughter dying down into small bursts of giggles as she finally came back from her dumbstruck mindset by lifting a hoof and wiping the spit from her face and staring at the hoof it was wiped onto.

"Don't you see now you dolt, you're nothing more than a-" I was cut short by a sharp pain coming from my limbs that caused me to yelp.

I looked to the side to see that the bonds of magic had tightened significantly and pressed my hooves hard into the ground. On top of that, a new bond had been formed just around my neck and tightened to an uncomfortable degree so that it was nearly choking me.

I turned back to face her as she lowered her head down in front of me one more time, the glasses dropping from her face and bounding off to the side after hitting my body.

She stared at me with muddled looking red eyes filled with a strange hunger that would have normally scared me senseless, but there was something about the look of her eyes that froze me in place. They were piercing yet soft, making me feel comforted but at attention at the same time.

Her tongue snaked out and grazed over her top lip, wiping the red stain clean.

"Wh-what are y-you-." I stammered through my lack of breath, genuinely scared of this white mare now.

"Bitter." She said simply, lust back in her voice as she trailed a hoof up to my face before leaning forward with her head as she closed what small of a gap there was between us. I felt my face began to heat rapidly.

"W-Wh-?" I stammered, confused by her claim, only to be cut off.

She lunged forwards, lips pressing into mine with a probing tongue as my eyes widened to the size of saucers. I was too surprised to stop her, but shivers went down my spine as her tongue seemed to dance through my mouth and finally grazed onto my wound, getting a gasp out of me.

She noticed and pressed the assault, grazing the wound more and forcing it to pulse blood.

She suddenly pulled off of me, spitting a glob of red saliva off to the side, and looking deep into my eyes.

"You taste bitter, not nearly as good as Tavi; she taste sweet." She said simply while my eyes widened even more at her implications.

"Y-you did this t-to O-Octavia?" I stammered.

"And then some. I'm only trying to make her happy, and you just stress her out." Her voice sounded genuine, but I wouldn't belive her. She then pressed her full body into me, placing her mouth right beside my ear.

"So if you don't accept me as her friend, I may just have to make you." She said with a dangerous, yet still hungry, tone. Who knew that such a beast was hiding inside of this mare?

"Understand?" She asked, tightening the magical bonds that were splaying me out spread eagle.

"Y-yes. I-I'm sorry." I stammered, tears beginning to well in my eyes thanks to my lack of breath.

The bonds faded and she sat up straight with a sweet smile on her face, not the lusty smile from before, but an innocent looking one that could only be described as joyous.

"Thank you so much!" She said genuinely.

"H-huh?" I stuttered at her sudden change in demeanor.

"I'd like to thank you more, but I should probably get going, Tavi's performance is already over and she might be waiting for me." The mention of her thanking me anymore made me blush.

She removed herself from my body and gave me a quick smile before prancing out the door with glee and leaving me dumbstruck on the floor in the same position.


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I felt the magical guide finally slid my hoof home to the final note, lingering before the grasp faded away completely and let me have control back over my hoof. I looked up to see that most of the other were simply staring at me with a look on their face, others just staring down at the book and not bothering to look up. The conductor however, was not so reserved.

"Well," He began. "that was...something." He said plainly and I felt my heart skip a beat.

"I-I apologize for not sticking to the reading conductor, I simpl-" My excuse was interrupted by the raise of his hoof.

"I asked you to play the music in front of you, and you did not. Simply having the ability to play a melody is much more simple than reading music."

Heads raised, some in hope and others in shock, at the sentence. My own heart began to wretch in my chest at the position I was in.

"Whatever the case, the music you played here in front of me was one of the best sounding compositions I've heard in all my days as a conductor. You showed a prowess to take melody and tune them and bend them to how you see best, and the result was a marvel of a performance and a treat of a song." He said flatly.

I felt my heart lighten as I began to smile at him, though he did not return it. But I expected that much.

The crowd seemed to acknowledge this as his choice, and some sighed with frustration and others with relief; it warmed my heart a little to see that some of these ponies I didn't even know respected me.

"But." He said.

"As I said before, you were asked to play the piece. And you did not. That is simple." He said sounding almost sad.

"If you cannot play the piece assigned and go off into your own melody, you will ruin a performance. I cannot have that happen, and as a result I..." He hesitated.

"I'd recommend getting a job as a composer or artist rather than a first chair cellist."

The room was silent as his voice dominated the room, every pony present in total shock, myself included.

I wasn't the best at accepting bad news, and most said I tended to under-react to it, which would check out in this case. I felt empty in a sense, but I wasn't going to show myself off to be unprofessional now in my darkest hour in the orchestra. If I was going to leave with one thing, and it not being my job, it could at least be my pride - what little it counted for.

"I...I understand your decision." I said simply, my voice intentionally stony.

"You have tale-" He began, but I stopped him there.

"Please, save that speech for someone who would think better of themselves after hearing it." I came off as harsher than I intended, but it was the truth. I knew I had talent, but I knew that hearing that kind of speech would only serve to frustrate me. I'd rather have silence.

I dropped from my position and began to place my cello and bow inside its case carefully as the rest of the room remained deathly silent. I would have felt awkward, but I just didn't. As soon as my things had been packed I slung the case over my back, my unconquered and awkward new strength nearly toppling me over, and began to head to the door.

I realized I still needed to get Vinyl out from the back, whatever she may be doing, but didn't feel like changing my course suddenly with all the eyes that were bound to be burning into me. I also was beginning to feel my nostrils burn and my throat begin to swell as I walked out, so I deemed turning towards the crowd a bad idea and just kept walking for the exit.

The last thing I heard before walking out the door was the sound of a single chair sliding backwards, as if somepony was getting up, though I could never guess who it could be.


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I walked down a long corridor, Rose trailing beside me with a rather odd looking face on her, with my thoughts racing. I was finally getting to get back into action, no more sitting at that boring old desk and doing nothing, and on top of that I was getting a new team formed today so I might even be getting a promotion and lead some younger troops!

I was giddy, and Rose seemed happier than usual as well - probably from her provisional pass to see me during the day; she'd now look up to me too! I was going to be commanding troops now, oh man I was going to tease my brother so much. He always flaunted his position to me and took full advantage of putting me to mindless tasks.

My new task was to go back to the desk mare and get the room number I would be going to to meet up with my new unit, the judge pony said that she should have it.

We had reached the main lobby in no time, finding my brother off in a corner with a magazine in hoof; he took a glimpse up when he saw us and rose slowly while I trotted over to the desk mare.

"Room 6B, just follow the signs and you should be fine. If you get lost just ask someone and they'll point you in the right direction." She said curtly, not even bothering to look up from her desk when she spoke.

I simply shrugged before practically skipping over to my brother, ready to flaunt my position with full passion.

I arrived to see him reading magazines with Rose, who was also nose deep in paper.

"Hey brother~" I called in a sing song voice.

A grunt was all I got, but I wanted more attention so I pressed my face over his magazine to make sure he saw my full face.

"Guess what?"

"You got moved to a new squad and are hyper because you have the possibility of being able to lead a squad so you can finally get rid of me taunting you. And you now feel the need to poke fun at me in a vain attempt to mock me in a similar way?" He asked flatly.

"H-How di-?"

"Rose."

I shot the mare a glance and only got a sheepish shrug from her.

"Meanie." I said, sounding a bit childish.

He got up with a sigh and put the magazine down, poking Rose a little and getting her attention before nodding to the door. She sighed and picked up two or three more magazines and stuffed them in her mouth before getting up herself.

"Well, we'll be heading back now captain. Maybe we'll get assigned on a mission together sometime, assuming your unit stays together after this is all over." He said flatly, moving to the door.

"H-hey..." I stammered, stopping him.

I wasn't ready for him to leave, I mean, he may not be my favorite pony in the world to be with but he was my brother. This wasn't how I'd expect him to act either, he'd either be happy for me in a brief moment of brotherly love or at least try to mock me some, but he was just blowing it off as something trivial this time. It made me feel uncomfortable, like something was secretly bothering him about it.

"What?" He almost spat, and I recoiled a bit from his tone.

"Uh," I froze, I don't know why I had stopped him and I didn't have an excuse. What I wanted to do was just take the first thing that popped into mind and put it out there- to sound like an idiot and maybe just get a raised brow - but what I ended up doing was a bit worse to a certain extent.

"I, uh, am gonna miss you."

I froze and my heats began to heat as I realized how sappy I sounded. He could hear it too, and he snickered at it.

In a way, I was somewhat relieved he cracked a smile. On the other hoof, I felt like an idiot.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get put back in my unit. We can get you back to making lunch for the boys quick then." He said with a chuckle before trotting out the door with Rose before I could even think of a response, leaving me dumbfounded.

It actually took the intervention of the desk mare to snap me out of it - I was stuck there watching as the loaded into a carriage that had pulled up sometime or another.

"Miss," She coughed, snapping my eyes to her. "Room 6B is down the right hall. It'd be best not to make a bad impression." She said, clearly disturbed by my presence.

"I-of course." I said, stumbling my way to the hallway right of her and down a line of doors, still inwardly wanting to kick myself for what I had said.

"Stupid..." I mumbled to myself, wandering down the halls and only occasionally glancing up at the signs.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~*


I finally managed to bump my way over to room 6B, the room on the furthest side of the right wing of the building where the appearance of other ponies grew sparse. The only ponies I found were janitors and the occasional squad captain roaming about. I figured this must've been the captains wing, which would make sense of it being empty since most captains were with their unit at almost all times.

Room 6B was pretty well hidden away too, being the last door on a dead end hallway.

I composed myself outside the door, exhaling and inhaling as I readied myself; I had always feared public speaking more than anything. Face to face conversations were much easier since you could almost read their opinion of the statement - and since there was no majority it was fine if they disagreed - but when it came to a crowd it was an entirely different story. Crowds could boo, they could easily influence themselves, and all it needed was one pony raising their voice and the whole building could come crashing down.

But this was different, to a certain extent. I was the superior and they the underlings. They would get in trouble from others if they turned rowdy on me; I had authority.

I placed a hoof on the door, sighing one more time before pulling the door open to face them all.

Except there weren't any.

Well, there was one, but that was it.

A single mare was laying on a small, yet decorative, couch with her head propped on an arm. She stirred at the sound of my entry and sat up immediately while rubbing her eyes.

"Um," I stammered, not expecting their to only be one mare here. You'd think that rookies would take their job more seriously; or at least show up before my wandering self did.

"Oh, hey." The mare said simply.

Her appearance was definitely unique compared to what I expected to see on a rookie.

Her coat color was an ash colored grey that went almost too well with her burgundy colored mane, which also seemed to have a personal flair to it. Half of her mane was straight and fell down past her chin, the other half - separated by her hair line - fell only just above her eyes and was layered slightly. It gave her a look that stood out dramatically, making her look like her own pony. Her eyes were a dark orange, almost brown looking.

"Um, hi..." I murmured, shaking off the bazaar lack of ponies. Maybe she knew. "Is anyone else on the way?" I asked, getting a quirked brow in response.

"Yeah, give 'em a minute. Speed ain't exactly a strong suite in this case." She said, getting a chuckle out of herself before readjusting on her couch.

I was a bit confused by her choice of wording but decided to just brush it off as nothing more than another one of her "different" traits. What was important was that there were more on the way.

I spent a few minutes sort of just sitting on the couch across from the mare and struggling to look her in the eyes. I cast glances up every now and then because I wanted to inspect her appearance further, but every time I brought my eyes up I only saw her own orange ones staring me dead in the eyes. She seemed to be smiling, and the smile grew larger every time I refused to look her in the eyes; like she knew I was too meek and loved it.

Finally, the door slid open once again and a pony walked in.

Well, I think it was a pony.

The stallion was huge, standing nearly three times taller than me, and had to hunch down just to fit into the room. His coat was a dark blue and his mane a sleek black; he was also one of the few ponies that I had ever seen have facial hair. And I don't mean just a small mustache or something, this stallion had a full fledged beard on his face. The beard was weird as well, being fairly straight until it came down down to the last inch where the bundles of hair bent into different directions; giving him a lumberjack look.

"Bout time ya got here." The mare beside me mumbled as she got up from the couch beside me and trotted over to the behemoth of a stallion.

The stallion looked down and gave a gritty smile at the sight of the mare before loosing a hearty laugh that shook me to the core.

"Can't beat yah anywhere now can I?" He said, his tone deep but not as deep as I would have expected.

They conversed for a bit, each of them laughing heartily before the mammoth pony turned to me.

"And who's this?" He grunted with a smile as he looked me over with striking yellow eyes.

"This is our third." The mare responded.

"We should probably greet her then?" He said, getting a nod from the mare before turning to me.

"Slandered greetin' then?" He smiled to me, signaling for me to start us off.

I gulped.

"Maple Wood; first lieutenant." I said proudly, finally gaining back some of my confidence.

He laughed heartily and gave me a pat on the shoulder, one that nearly threw me to the ground and dislocated my shoulder at that.

"Atta girl, ain't so hard to talk now is it?" He joked before introducing himself.

"I be Stone Wall; General. Though most just call me Stone." He said nonchalantly, smiling toothily.

"And I'm Flint Steel; General. Most us generals go on a first name basis with everypony, so we kinda expect the same in return." The mare sang in, looking at me with a fiery look in her eyes.

My eyes went wide and my jaw fell low enough that I could have hit the carpet below if I wanted to.

"G-general?"

	
> Plan A
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I trotted along the sidewalk slowly, head hanging slightly low and eyes seemingly glued to the pavement. I didn't feel sad, though I couldn't bring myself to act happy. Even though on a regular basis I didn't act particularly ecstatic, I at least acted stoically; I was acting a bit mopey now and I just couldn't figure out why. I wasn't that hung up on the orchestra was I?

Vinyl had came out of the back a bit more cheery and lively than usual, I assumed she hadn't heard the conductor's decision but figured I wouldn't bring it up to her. She'd probably take it harder than I would. She also was acting a bit more touchy and clingy than she had been earlier, hugging up to me more than usual as we trotted through a number of back alleys.

The walk was relatively silent for the most part, only until we got about a block away from my apartment building did Vinyl ever say anything. And what she said shocked me.

"Hey Tavi?"

"Hm?" I grunted, my throat still a bit swollen from the orchestra. Was it allergies or something?

"Mind if we go out for dinner tonight?" She asked.

"I don't see why not." I said stately, though she didn't seem to notice or care.

"Oh, and can we invite along that friend of yours too?" She asked excitedly.

"Who? Harpo?" I asked in return, using the only other pony Vinyl was on good terms with.

"Oh yeah! Him too."

"Too?"

"Yeah, I was talking about that mare. Wasn't her name Fruity or something?" Vinyl pondered, nuzzling into my shoulder.

"B-Beauty?" I stammered in shock.

"Yeah! That was it!" She said with glee, going back to silence and leaving me rather dumbstruck.

We finally arrived at my apartment building , the desk mare eyeing me and Vinyl only for a moment before going back to her coffee. She had gotten used to me coming in with Vinyl hung around me in some way, and also used to me coming in with a blush across my face trying to push Vinyl off me. Believe it or not but she still managed to make me blush just as well as she did when she first started pulling these kind of things. It personally amazed me to an extent.

It was when we had gotten up to my room that Vinyl finally seemed to pick up on my apparent sadness.

"Tavi?" She asked cautiously as I dropped my cello off and took a seat on the couch.

"Yes Vinyl?" I replied flatly.

"Is something bothering you?" She asked innocently. This pretty much confirmed my suspicions that Vinyl was unaware to the conductor firing me.

"Well, it's just that..." I trailed off, my throat swelling a little and my eyes somewhat tearing up.

This only seemed to press her on to find out what it was. She came over and sat on the couch with me, pressing up to me and asking once more what was bothering me. The concern in her voice was enough to show me that she was on the edge of tearing up herself.

"You didn't hear the conductor...did you?"

She gasped a little at the mention of the conductor.

"Did he..." She trailed off, the implications obvious. Her eyes dropped a little and she couldn't seem to meet my eyes.

"Yes..." I agreed solemnly, my own gaze trailing off.

I suddenly felt her hooves wrap around me and a feeling washed over me, one of relief, but not a good kind. It was as if something snapped, the last string holding up something big inside of me finally giving out under the weight pulling it down. I felt my throat swell once more, bigger than ever, and my nostrils burned while my eyes began to water. I tried to speak, but the only thing that came out was a choking sound and that was when I finally realized what was happening.

I was crying.

It had been some time since I had cried like this, genuine tears from something important lost to me. I hardly cried over anything.

I ducked my head down, hitting firmly against Vinyl shoulders and pressed inwards in a dumb attempt to hide myself as if some kind of audience watching me. It was when I actually hit her shoulder that I stopped trying to hold it back and simply let my tears roll, choking sounds coming more frequently than before. The tears matted her shoulder and my face, with warm tears as my jaw clinched for some reason; something hurt. What it was, I didn't know, but I knew that it was aching.

I felt a hoof come up and rest on my head, Vinyl's hoof, and simply lay there in comfort. It only seemed to make me cry harder.

I couldn't tell how long we sat there, at least a half hour, but all the way Vinyl stayed there patting my head and not muttering a word. I guess she wasn't that good at comforting ponies, either that or she knew the best remedy for tears was silence.

When we finally parted the air was cold against my eyes, them having gotten use to being pressed into a shoulder matted down with tears.

"T-Thanks...Vinyl." I said awkwardly.

Hardly anyone had ever comforted me like that before; not my parents, not Wilfred, not Beauty, nor Harpo, or anyone. They had comforted me on smaller things, like a hoof on the shoulder with a sympathetic smile, but never a caring hug whilst I cried. Then again, I didn't cry that much.

"Tavi?" Vinyl asked for my attention.

"Yes?" I said with a sniff, looking to her to find that her glasses had been thrown off at some point during my sobbing.

"I'm here for you. Okay?" Her eyes showed earnest, what she said was true; even a socially illiterate mare like me could see that.

"O-Okay." I stammered at her conviction, her passion for me. It was...well it was staggering frankly.

She smiled greatly at my answer, the joy flickering through her eyes and shining out through her teeth. She seemed happy from my happiness and well being, and sad when I got depressed or harmed in some way or another. One might call her disregard for her own sake unnatural, but it wasn't that in the slightest.

"So, what 'cha wanna do til we go out for dinner? We'll probably have to talk to your friend at some point..." She mumbled, beginning to unravel herself from my hooves.

Something inside me moved my hooves forward and grabbed her rising body.

"I'd..." I trailed off, shocked at my own actions.

"Hm?" She hummed.

"I'd-I'd rather sit here...for a while." I felt my cheeks blush at how silly I sounded.

Vinyl didn't seem to see that at all, she simply and wordlessly sat back down and pressed her back into my stomach and let me handle how I would wrap my hooves around her. I struggled with that as well, not quite sure where to go, but she took care of that as well by grabbing my hooves and guiding them to rest over her stomach; hugging her from behind while we rested out heads against the arm of the couch.

Her eyes were closed and a smile graced her lips while I felt one tugging at my own mouth, but my brows seemed to be bent in caution of how she felt. Was she comfortable right now?

Her eye peaked open and she looked up at me with a smug smile, making eye contact just before snugging back into me.

"I think I could get used to this." She said with a sigh.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So," Flint chirped, dropping a number of papers and maps onto the table that she, Stone, and I were crowded around. "anyone have a suggestion for a first plan?" She asked casually.

"Nothing solid here." General Stone bellowed.

"No surprise there..." Flint snickered, getting a laugh out of Stone as well.

It amazed me how ponies of such a rank casually threw insults at each other and just interacted with themselves in general. They even incorporated me into a few conversations, as if we were just casual acquaintances with each other rather than a soldier to a superior officer. I brought it up to them and they both gave each other this sort of look before bursting into laughter that shook the room.

"Ho," Stone cried. "we don't know why you younger ranks think us Generals some kinda machines. We be just as pony as you or the next stallion or mare. Just cause we happen to be a veteran means we can't talk to our soldiers?" He said, bursts of chuckles still popping up in his sentence.

I actually felt kind of stupid after asking it, everything he said was completely true, it's not like they didn't feel anything. They were just as pony as I was.

"Heh, there's probably some other soldiers in the ranks that are better suited for the jobs of generals than me or Stone here; we'd much rather be hunters again, which is why we jumped at the opportunity to get our hooves dirty for once. Most action I've gotten was from sparring the recruits, and now even they're coming in fewer numbers to throw down." Flint said, sounding sad at being treated the way she did.

"Anyways," Stone said suddenly. "what we need to come up with is some sort of way to find this shifty vampire 'for she causes some more ruckus inside the city of the princess."

The room went silent for a moment, all of us thinking of some sort of idea to find what hadn't been found for a few years.

"Bartenders?" I suggested. I already knew the information committee had failed to come up with any solid evidence so I ruled our archives out immediately.

"Tried them 'for, they weren't much more use than asking a brick." Stone said bluntly, his black, bushy brows furling in thought.

We all died down into silence, deep in thought, until Stone spoke up suddenly in his gruff voice.

"Hm, well in that case we can make a plan of action when we get to the city itself; though we still have many a problem about stayin' nice and quiet about this whole thing." He said sagely.

"Like?" I asked.

"Fitting in as citizens and not vampire hunters - me and Stone are kinda like icons to those who have the slightest clue about The Order and will most likely run on sight or cause a scene to get away. That also means that the target could tell others, and the word could quickly get out of hoof and not a vampire could be in the city within two days. We also have the issue of finding housing to use as a base of operations." Flint said nonchalantly.

"Aye, they gave us plenty a' funds but not really anywhere to use them when we get there. Flint suggested renting an apartment and maybe getting jobs to help get a local lay of the land and the ponies 'round town while also saving money. Said we might finda' fella or lass who knows of this slippery vampire's whereabouts." Stone added, mammoth form shifting on the couch.

"Wow. How long do you two plan on stretching this mission?" I asked.

"As long as it takes." They replied in unison with their eyes burning into me with enough passion to make me slink back into my chair, an overwhelming response despite being made by only two ponies.

"Either way," Flint said, leaning back in her chair. "since we're gonna make a plan later, the only thing holdin' us in this buildin' is a place to set up."

"So our next move?" I asked.

Stone turned and pulled a tall pile of magazines from under the coffee table with a single hoof and dropped them on the table with enough weight behind it to give me a fear the table might break.

"We look at houses." Flint said cheerfully, clasping her hooves together in glee.

At first I felt useful in browsing the magazines with them, looking at houses and apartments and the like, but I quickly found out that I was wrong. Every idea I suggested was shot down immediately by one of the two generals, sometimes even both of them at once. Their reasons were odd and almost dumb; things like the kitchen not looking good or not having enough walking room. I also found that even they weren't free from their disagreement, one general shooting down the other just as quickly as the other found an idea. It went on for at least an hour or two, I personally quit after the first, and began to lose it at the second.

"Find anything?" I asked with a huff, dropping the tenth magazine back onto the coffee table.

"Nothing really catches my eye, everything I'm finding is just too expansive or a box with windows. Nothing cozy and spacious at the same time." Flint murmured, flipping another page with her eyes fixed intensely on the houses.

"Aye, nothin' that's old with a modern touch; needs to be big as well to fit me and myself, but not big enough that it would feel empty if only one of us was there." He agreed with Flint.

I was still slack jawed at how these two rumored machines-of-war were sitting over here discussing kitchen designs instead of loading up a carriage with weapons to try and get the mission over with.

"Oi! This one looks nice." Stone said, Flint rushing over and staring at the home.

My ears were perked with interest at the two indecisive generals having maybe found a house that fit the both of them.

"Hm," Flint hummed. "well it does fit the heights we want, as well as space. And is even in the area we were going to start the search. Heck, it's a pretty fair price as well! Two bedrooms and a living room built in with the kitchen. One bathroom, which might be a bit straining, but I think we can manage that. And look at that, pre-furnished!" Flint seemed to be building excitement as she went down the list.

"Aye, I think it's the one!" Stone seemed to match her excitement at the apartment building. It was rather odd to a stallion of his size get excited over such a small thing.

Their eyes turned to me with an expectant look, and I replied with an eager nod even without looking at the house or apartment they chose. I just wanted to get things moving.

"Well, with that out of the way. can head out once we're all packed. Maple if you'd like to head down to the armory and pick up what you might need, if they ask you tell them two of the generals sent you. Me and Stone here will swing round back and get a carriage ready for transport to the city." Flint said, getting up and stretching her hooves and cracking her neck. Stone soon followed her suite.

I was almost shocked at her sudden change to a professional manner, it managed to trigger my professionalism as well.

"Yes ma'am." I replied almost automatically, turning on my heels and heading out the door and back to the lobby. 

The armory was stored in two different places. One was the on scene training armory that was on the outside of the building, located around back where the carriages were loaded and morning routines were held. The second one was much more extensive, it was the real armory. It was about three times as big and stored about two floors underground; it was also the field testing location for all the new weapons The Order came up with. Though new weapons were usually a rarity since almost all of our equipment was optimized to its fullest extent by the engineers that lived here.

Well, at least that's what Rose told me after she read the booklet the desk mare gave her. Though something seemed off about the orders she gave me.

"Have you already packed, or did you want me to..." I began to trail off once their hysterical laughter hit my ears; my cheeks burned with embarrassment, and I didn't even know what I was embarrassed about.

"Sorry 'bout that lass, but no, me and Flint are already good to go. Take your time and meet us when you're ready." Stone said between giggled. Flint was in the same shape, having fell to the floor during her fit of laughter.

I chuckled a little bit to myself in an attempt to make me appear less shocked by there laughter; I think it only slightly worked before I decided to just up and leave to go see the desk mare and inquire about the armory and how to get there.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The walk to the armory was a lonely and silent one, the only sound I heard on my entire trip there being the sound of others conversation and the light hum of both the lights and air conditioning.

The armory itself was just as big as I had played it out to be, about the size of a warehouse, and filled to the brim with all kinds of things. Isles practically dedicated to one type of weapon and all its variations. Of course, I wasn't skilled in practically any of them so my choices were quite limited. The ponies at the check out counters didn't really seem to mind me taking things, and I didn't even have to mention the generals to get there go ahead for taking what I wanted. 

What I ended up walking out of with was a hoof crossbow modified with a foldable sight, plenty of arrows, blood vials, a silver hoof blade,  and a small jar of poison to dip the arrows in. 

The venom couldn't actually kill a vampire by just hitting them with it alone thanks to their stronger bodily systems, but it could definitely cause some unpredictable effects based on where you shot one. It would essentially cause that part of the body to momentarily numb or shutdown or cause it to overwork itself and overload the vampires senses on that particular region - short term hypersensitivity.

The checkout clerk admired my choices, especially the venom and stated that it was a rather underused item of the armory.

After coming out of the armory and heading back up to the surface, I headed outside and followed a narrow, cobble, path around to the back of the main building where I found a large station full of carriages. They were divided up into sections of destination, matching the style of the carriage of that area.

I kept walking and looking for the Canterlot carriage, but ended up finding the red mane of General Flint first; I guess their unique appearances had an advantage after all, though I was somewhat embarrassed I missed General Stone since he was about the size of a normal carriage.

She smiled to me and her hoof snaked around to the back of her head sheepishly. I wondered breifly what she could be shy about, but discovered it soon enough.

General Stone was stuck halfway through a door to a carriage with about three stallions and two mares trying to pull him out, each of them with a determined and strained look on their face.

"I told him he wouldn't fit. Boulder for brains never listens to me." She said with a snicker.

"I heard that ya hot head!" A muffled voice called from inside the carriage.

It took them a total of seven members to eventually give up and break out a saw to cut out the edges of the door around Stone's massive figure. Flint and I giggled the whole way, though Flint was more or less rolling on the ground when she saw the saw come out.

Stone took it in good spirit though, joining in with out laughter as the team of now eight hunters disbanded and called for another - much larger - carriage to come pick us up.

And larger it was.

About twice as long and half wider than the first one, this time holding double doors to enter the passenger area. 

"No wonder they've had trouble keeping things quiet before...." I thought to myself as Stone went into the back seats with much more ease with Flint and I following close behind.

The passenger area was now seated in a circular fashion that was similar to how a limo was laid out, though a bit more bunched up than that. Though it didn't make much difference since Stone easily took up half or three quarters of the space back there, which left me and Flint rather squished. Though she didn't seem to mind nearly as much as I did.

I also noticed that there was three stallions pulling us this time.

The doors shut quickly and we soon began moving, I knew this because the windows on this carriage weren't tinted and I could see right through.

Stone was quick to spark up a conversation.

"So, I was thinking, since this ride's gonna be quite the long one, why don't we brainstorm for an idea on how to search for the target?"

"Aren't so hard headed now are yah?" Flint commented, getting a chuckle out of Stone.

"Shame those bartenders are out of the equation, probably the most informed and well known ones in town." I said sadly.

"Aye, cheer up lassy! We'll still stop by and give 'em a visit for a drink or two!" Stone said with enthusiasm.

A light bulb seemed to go off in Flint's mind as something struck her. Hard.

"Well hold on a minute." Flint interrupted. "There might be one who can help us out. A good friend of mine who I think would be perfect for lending a hoof." She said, reaching around Stone's leg and rummaging through a bag that I hadn't seen before that looked like it held multiple folders and maps in it.

She finally pulled out a small folder and spread its contents across an open section of seat. In particular, she pulled a picture of a mare with a light blue coat and dark red mane; striking aqua blue eyes filled with excitement stared at the camera that took the photo.

Stone stared heavily at the photo.

"And how do we know she won't lie like the rest?" He asked.

"If I were the one asking, I know she wouldn't." Flint replied quickly.

"Friend of yours then?" I asked.

"Yep." She nodded.

"She gotta name don't she?" Stone asked, picking up some of the contents of the folder and sifting through them slowly as his eyes read from side to side down the page. He leaned his hulking hooves over a bit and let me read on with him, I was lucky I was a faster reader than him.

"Shakes. Soft Shakes." She said simply.
> Dinner before Dessert
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Are you sure she'd be okay with that? I mean, she doesn't have to come with us; it was just a request Vinyl made and I'm sure she can go without it." I stammered to one smiling stallion.

"Oh no, if one of them is hoping to be friends with the other then it's up to us to make sure the other agrees. Besides, she hasn't said a single thing against Vinyl ever since your performance and I think now would be the perfect time to take advantage of that." Harpo said with a bright smile.

I had come to where the two of them lived and rang the doorbell with the intention of fulfilling Vinyl's request; it was the least I could do after her comforting me. She decided to stay home and sleep some more before getting ready for dinner.  Of course I wouldn't be satisfied with just this being her payment, she deserved more and I was determined to find a way to pay her.

"I know but...well, what if they don't get along at dinner. I could play out plenty of scenario's where one of them ends up getting hurt." I said with a hint of caution on my voice. 

My main concern was for Beauty if Vinyl got hungry during the meal; she had been fasting for a while now and I had begun to notice that even the mention of blood got her acting twitchy. I was lucky enough that she had such astounding self control, though I knew there was more to come in time until she was out of the thick of it.

"Well then I'll take Beauty home and we would still be in the same position as before." He said matter-of-factly.

"That's...true, but I-" I began to protest further, but he seemed dead set on making this happen.

"Octavia, in order to make progress you need to take risks. Who knows, this could be the first step of many to get Beauty to stop bickering about her. If that manages to blow over I'm sure we'd all be a bit more relaxed." He chuckled. I also noted his specifications that it was exclusively Beauty who was bickering.

I sighed in defeat.

"Fine. Vinyl and I decided that we'd meet at the bar near the theater." I said, finalizing the deal.

"Oh? The one that was just rebuilt?" He said, sounding a bit excited.

"That is the one." I replied, taking note of his apparent knowledge of the bar.

"Perfect. I'd been wanting to go there ever since I saw it in the paper. I'm amazed I've never seen it before with how...acquainted I am with the bar scene." He said with a sheepish smile and chuckled before we parted and I was on my way back to the apartment to tell Vinyl the great news.

Her motives for this whole meeting were a mystery for me. I mean, she hadn't shown any interest in making friendly with Beauty prior to the concert and she seemed quite content with that. But of course, she was still a mystery to me when it came to motivations for things; somethings she did on a whim as if they were instinct and others revealed that they had motives of all scopes behind them. She wasn't simple, despite her appearance and how she acted.

I sighed.

"I still wish she was more readable than a blank sheet of paper." I mumbled, my head staring down at the concrete with some my mane falling into my sight.

I normally brush it when I go out, but I didn't feel like it this time. I just blamed it on my release from the orchestra and that I was just "sad and mopey" as Vinyl had described it.

Regardless of whether or not I was sad, I wasn't ready to go and let something like getting fired ruin a night for me and Vinyl. Not by a long shot.


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Man it's a slow night..." I mumbled, slumping up against the wood counter and sighing at the lack of business.

There was a total of three ponies here tonight, a few of the loyal ones who had came along when the bar first popped up, and they looked positively bored out of their minds. It seems like Vinyl was the life of this place. And so when she left, so did the business. Not to mention even after the renovations and the introduction of the jukebox, ponies still weren't coming.

"Was there ever a fast one after Vinyl left?" Sweeps asked me, laying her broom up against the bar. She had been sweeping the same spot  over and over again and I guess she got scared that she might sweep the wood right off.

"Nope. I still didn't expect that she was the sole reason they came." I sighed, eyeing a bottle of booze behind me.

"The few I asked said they would come back even if she wasn't performing. I guess it was literally just her." Sis agreed with me, slapping my hoof as it snaked towards the booze.

"Come on, just a little." I whined.

"If you pay for it." She said sternly.

"Awww." I sighed in defeat.

Seconds began to tick as silence came over us, the only sound being the tink of ice when one of the three ponies in booths and chairs took a sip.

I sighed again.

"Gimme the stupid booze." I mumbled, opening it with frustration.

Me and my sister drank off the single bottle for a few minutes with the complete intent on drinking til our hooves went numb and the last few ponies in this bar left because of how rowdy we'd get. That is, until someone interrupted us.

The door swung open and in stepped a white mare with an even whiter smile.

"Hey Shakes!"

It was Vinyl.

"Thank Celestia." I mumbled, watching as she walked towards me with her glasses glinting. 

I also got a great view of the three ponies in the building turn their heads on a swivel at the sight of the mare who'd they'd been yearning for to return. It must've been like something close to a miracle for them, but I knew it was one for me. She got a few calls and welcomes from the small crowd, and waved to each of them with a warming smile as if she had known them for years.

She didn't even know them.

"Oh thank Celestia you're here Vinyl." Sweeps sighed in relief.

"Yep!" She chirped.

"So what brings you down here, I'm very busy you know." I said, gesturing to my crowd of three.

"Well, I'll be quick then." She said genuinely, the sarcasm going right over her head while I inwardly hit myself.

"No...we're not busy Vinyl." I murmured, but she didn't hear me.

"Me and Tavi are gonna be coming in a bit later with a few of her friends, but she might seem kinda down because she lost her musical job in the orchestra. Just giving you guys a heads up so you don't ask her what's wrong." She said, sounding sympathetic towards Octavia.

"Well that sucks." I said honestly.

"Yeah, that must've devastated her." Sweeps added.

"Kinda, she held it together at first but I knew that wouldn't make it better. So, I got her to cry and get it out of her system." She said, sounding proud.

"Got her to cry?" Sweeps asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah, didn't take much more than a hug before the dams broke." Vinyl responded, getting a sigh from me and my sister.

"Wait," I said, the pieces coming together. "that's how she made money right? The Orchestra?" I asked.

Vinyl nodded.

"So she's unemployed?"

Another nod.

"Man, that rent money might be hard to get like that." I said, scratching my chin in thought.

"Yeah. If it comes to it, I thought of getting a job too." Vinyl said slowly.

Me and Sweeps stopped everything at the mention of that and whipped are heads towards the white mare who stammered backwards at the sudden gazes. She was what? Thinking of getting a job? I mean come on, she was a potentially a homicide waiting to happen; if she came into the slightest contact of blood after her feedings not to long ago she could go full blown feeding frenzy. What was even scarier is that she could easily mask it once she was feeding. And all it took was a drop, even if it was diluted.

"Vinyl, you can't be serious." I deadpanned.

"I am."

"You know what could happen right? Remember what you did to the castle? You leveled the place because you got mad. You know how mad a boss can make you? Vinyl if he set you off we may have a potential war on are hooves." It was dramatized a little sure but it definitely wasn't off the 'stuff that could happen if Vinyl lost it' list.

"If it helps Tavi, i'll do it."

"I'll get the boards." Sweeps sighed, going off into the back and taking her broom with her. Was she seriously going to get the planks and nails?

I turned to Vinyl, who was already looking at me, and looked dead into the pools of purple that sat over her eyes. I thought hard about it. She couldn't get a day job for obvious reasons so she was limited to the night shift. She had plenty of strength but maybe not the sharpest wits so any brainy work was out of the question. That left her with the shady jobs, ones where she could easily cause some big trouble, so she would need a job where she was within sight at all times. And finally, her innocent personality crossed out any sort of sales because of how out going and manipulable she was.

"Hmmm..."

I pounded my hoof on the bar table as the idea finally came to mind.

"I got it!"

Vinyl only tilted her head.

"I'll let you work here!"

Her head tilted even more, but I noticed the few heads of the customers lean out and look at me at the mention of Vinyl coming back.

"I thought my records and stuff were in that box thingy." She gestured to the jukebox.

"They are, but that's not what I'm working at. You won't be performing here, you'll be waiting here." I explained.

I heard the sound of dropping wood and I turned my head to see my sister standing in the doorway with a hammer in her mouth and a pile of planks at her hooves. She looked at them and then to Vinyl before spitting out the hammer and sighing again.

"Hmmm," She hummed, brows squinting. "Gonna need more wood." She said before trotting off again.

Vinyl turned back to me.

"But I hate waiting!" She whined, the wrong type of waiting in mind.

"No, no, no, no that kind of waiting. Like taking orders waiting. You go to the customers and ask them what they want to eat and talk to them and stuff, then give me the orders and I can make them what they want!" I explained with glee.

Having Vinyl back would not only make my job easier and put some more options on the menu, but also bring some life back to this dead joint. She was perfect! Outgoing and friendly with a great smile and a knack to befriending ponies whether they liked it or not. It would take someone sinister to drive that mare away, and even then it would be a great challenge.

"'Waiting'..." She said slowly, pausing to think on the job for a few minuets which did a number on my suspension, but it was all worth it when she finally looked up with an answer. 

"I can try it!"

"Great. You get paid depending on how much money we make. Tips are all yours for the keeping." I said.

"Oh! Can I start tomorrow? I'd better get home to meet with Tavi so we can get back over here for dinner. It's almost dark out too, but I might waste a bit of time til it's dark." She said, eyeing the window.

"No problem, just get here tomorrow around sun down tomorrow and I can get you started.

"Alright, I'll be back in a sec." She said happily before walking towards the door and exiting.

I turned and giggled to myself at the thought of her being a waitress, and my waitress no less! She'd bring me money and make my job easier all in one package; not to mention bring in some more customers just for her service. And thanks to these three witnesses here, this decision could get out soon and I might be back in business by as early as tomorrow. 

"Good job Shakes." I said, giving myself a mental pat on the back as I turned to see the three ponies with their heads still stuck at where Vinyl had left.

"Very good job."


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So, she's n-not home?"

"No, she wasn't home when I came back myself. I assumed she was sleeping or something along those lines, but when I looked around I couldn't find a trace of her." I replied to Beauty, who breathed an instant sigh of relief.

I had been waiting around my apartment, finding that Vinyl wasn't home like I had thought, and had ended up waiting long enough for Beauty and Harpo to arrive. I had wondered where Vinyl was, but it hurt my head a bit more than I preferred. I was amazed that Harpo had managed to convince Beauty to come, but what amazed me more was Beauty's oddly nervous demeanor; definitely not what I usually saw from the typically strong willed mare.

"So, any idea when she'll be back?" Harpo asked, the clear eagerness to drink obvious in his tone.

Seemingly on cue a door opened from the hallway and all heads swiveled to look at the bathroom door open with a disheveled looking Vinyl stepping out.

"Vinyl?" I gasped.

I hadn't checked the bathroom, but then again that was just my manners getting the better of me.

"Hey." She sounded exhausted.

I noticed Beauty seize up a little at the sound of Vinyl's response.

She trotted into the living room and took a quick survey of the small crowd gathered in my living room, giving both Harpo and Beauty a smile. She even trotted up to Beauty and laid a hoof on her shoulder, smiling warmly to her before she spoke. 

"So nice you could make it."

Beauty looked almost terrified at Vinyl.

"Y-yeah..." She mumbled.

"Well, I didn't mean to keep you guys waiting too long. But if you're all ready to go than so am I." She said, prompting Beauty and Harpo to rise. I did as well, but took into consider Vinyl's looks.

"Vinyl, do you not need to run a brush through your hair?" I asked, getting a giggle out of her.

"It's a bar Tavi, not a grand ball." She laughed, Harpo joining in.

I blushed a little before meandering towards the door, behind Beauty and Harpo. Vinyl seemed to linger behind and wait for me to get up to her before beginning to move. She pressed up close and whispered.

"It's sweet of you to worry about my looks...Tavi." She whispered, sending a small chill down my spine as she nudged me out the door and down the hall.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


We got to the bar with little event. Me and Vinyl had taken the lead with Harpo and Beauty hanging behind us and making small talk with each other and sometimes us. Vinyl pressed up next to me about halfway to the bar and began nuzzling into my neck while shivers rocketed down my spine. I felt a blush cross my face as she did it, tried to push her off, but she just kept latching onto me. I asked her what she was doing, but my only response was a giggle. What had gotten into her?

I swore I felt her turn back and look at Beauty and Harpo at some point, but I didn't dare look down at her or much less back at the two guests we were carrying.

When we finally got to the bar I managed to pry her off me long enough to get through the door. She, for some reason or another, decided to hold open the door and follow in after Beauty.

"Hey there!" Shakes called with cheer to me.

"Nice to see you too Shakes." I said with a small, but warm, smile.

"Ah," She sighed. "well, I'm pretty happy!" Her tone proved her claim.

"Any reason why?" I asked.

"I would tell you, but that'd ruin the fun of it all." She said vaguely, getting out from behind the bar and guiding me and the group to a small booth. 

Me and Vinyl piled into one side while Beauty and Harpo into the other with Vinyl and Beauty on the inside seats across from each other; me and Harpo got the outside seats. She took are drinks and left; Me and Beauty getting a water while Harpo went straight for the alcohol and earned a chuckle from Shakes. Vinyl declined and got a look from me and Shakes, but we both dropped it.

Shakes came back with a menu just as we began small talk; apparently they were now serving food here?

"Well, with Vinyl's dance floor being turned into more sitting space, I decided to push out some walls in the back and install some kitchen area. Nothing serious can be made, but we can make basic stuff. Well, Sweeps can; I can't cook for my life." She chuckled sheepishly before trotting away and getting back to the bar counter.

"So Octavia," Harpo said after opening his first. "sorry about what happened to you at the Orchestra. I had half the mind to go argue with him, but Beauty talked me out of it."

I felt a pang of sadness, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as before. I guess crying really does help.

"It's no problem, my main concern is income. Without that job I'm back onto the job floor to try and find something." I said, mustering a smile.

"Hm. I'm sure you of all ponies could find something." He said with care as he took a sip.

I noticed that Vinyl wasn't contributing to the conversation, and neither was Beauty, and decided to take a chance glance at the two. What I found, was Vinyl staring at Beauty with a small smirk while Beauty had her head down and failed to meet the gaze save for a few glances up at her every now and then.

I was about to say something until Harpo continued his topic.

"Heh, maybe you should go solo. Or find a label and start making your own music. You've got the talent for it you know." He said, his first bottle half way done already. "Need something stronger..."

"Oh, uhm, I'd rather not go independent; it's a chance game that I'd rather not take right now. It's a bit too risky for my current predicament." I mumbled, getting back to looking at Vinyl and Beauty, but Harpo was a persistent.

"Maybe join a band then? You can certainly read music - best pony I know for that matter."

And so a cycle began.


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I trotted back to the bar and began wiping off the bar counter again; by now it was showing my reflection better than mirrors. I took occasional glance over at the booth with Octavia and Vinyl, but for the most part stuck to wiping and waiting for them to finish deciding. It looked like they planned on chatting a bit before getting down to ordering, so I relaxed a little.

I did manage to pick up on something at the table; there were only two voices in conversation. And one of them wasn't Vinyl.

The fact the mare was quiet got my attention quickly and I took a bit longer of a glance over at the table.

Vinyl was staring into the face of a terrified looking mare that was failing to meet her gaze; I felt sorry for the mare, but was even more confused on what Vinyl was doing. The look on her face suggested she didn't have a problem with the mare, and actually gave me more of the feeling that she was entertained by the mare's reactions. Octavia seemed to be glancing at them too, but the stallion talking to her kept her from doing anything about the two - her manners wouldn't allow her to interrupt him. I decided to take the situation into my own consideration and give my assessment of the scene.

"Hmm." I hummed at her actions.

I had observed Vinyl for awhile, and this wasn't totally unnatural of her, but ever since Tavi came into the equation she seemed devoted to her. I assumed she still was, so Vinyl's affections weren't the things in question here. It was something else. I considered the possibility of Vinyl doing this to toy with Octavia, and even though it seemed to be bothering her, it wasn't making her blush so it wasn't Vinyl's style. Vinyl typically took a more direct approach if it was to tease.

"Maybe...No." I dashed the thought from my mind, but yet it lingered.

"Couldn't be that." I decided, removing myself from the bar and trotting over to the table with the intent of getting better idea of Vinyl's mindset. If it was what I thought it was, Sweeps may have been justified in getting those boards.
> Begin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Shakes where are you taking me?" I asked, puzzled.

Shakes had come up to take our orders like I had expected, but what I hadn't expected her to do was ask if she could talk to me in private. I was going to deny her, out of courtesy of my guests, but the look in her eyes suggested it was something quite important. Something else I noticed, or rather felt, was the gaze that Vinyl was giving me. Her eyes were glued to me as I upped and went with Shakes, I couldn't see her of course, but I just had a feeling she was watching me as I walked away.

"Just a little further." Was the only answer I got.

I sighed a little but held my tongue, I still owed Shakes for all she had done so the least I could do was go and hear out what she had to say.

We had walked past the bar and down a hallway, the one that led to the back ally, and soon took a turn down a hall that we were currently walking down. The lights in this hall were largely spaced, suggesting that customers typically didn't come back here.

We finally turned to the door at the end of the hall, Shakes lifting up a small painting to the side of the door and emerging with a key that she stuffed in the lock. She opened the door and gestured me in, which I did, before following me in and closing the door with a click of the lock.

The inside of the room was as bland as they came, nothing but a wooden floor and three chairs put close together around a round table. A single lamp sat on a small table sat between two of the chairs, while the other was pushed out towards the darker side of the room. I also saw a small packet meant for holding playing cards on the round table, but paid no mind to it and waited for Shakes.

She sighed and gestured for me to take a seat.

I did so and took one of the seats near the lamp while she sat in the other one close to the lamp, it was then that I noticed the true look in her eyes. It was one of faint fear, lingering on the edge of what could only be called concern.

"Shakes?" I asked.

"Hm." She grunted.

"May I ask what you need? And also why we needed to come back here?" I was curious, not angry.

She sighed again.

"Well," She began. "I need to ask you a few questions."

My brow rose.

"It's about Vinyl." She said simply.

I realized that was what her concern was and my ears perked at attention in preparation to listen. If it was about her then it was most likely to concern me as well, not that I thought that I was build to Vinyl's problems but rather I wanted to help her after all she had done.

"Yes?"

"Well...has she been acting odd recently?" She sounded unsure in her question herself, and quickly tried to reword it.

"I mean, I know the way she acts isn't exactly the most consistent by any means but I just wanted to know if she had been acting odder than usual." She corrected.

"Like how?" I asked.

"I'd rather you say from your own experience without my influence. That way I know it was significant." She said simply.

I put a hoof up to my chin as I thought back on any of the times Vinyl had acted oddly recently. She had been a bit clingy if anything, but she had been more clingy at other times. She had also been a bit more daring and flirty too, though I wouldn't put her beyond the acts by any means. She had been acting fairly normal in my eyes.

"She's been acting fairly normal around me." I said firmly.

"Hmmm." Shakes hummed. "No, something isn't right. She's acting a bit differently." She said, equally firm.

She turned to me.

"So you're sure she's been acti-" She stopped talking and her ears perked.

"Wha-" A hoof hit my mouth faster than I could react, the hoof belonged to Shakes.

It was silent for a while, but slowly the sound of hoof steps came into earshot. They got louder and louder until it must have gotten to Shakes, as she turned off the lamp between us with the softest click and darkness enveloped us both; the only source of light was a sliver of light coming from outside the door which my eyes drew to immediately.

Shadows moved as if somebody was outside the door, accompanied by the loud sound of hooves stopping just outside of the door. They were instant in turning around, most likely Harpo looking for the bathroom after all those drinks; it would explain the heave hoofed nature of the steps.

Shakes didn't seem convinced and waited another half a minute before removing her hoof and turning on the lamp.

She sighed.

"Something is wrong with her, and I have an idea but I don't like it. She's been going through withdrawal of her last feedings with you from the past, so temptation is definitely there. Just the smallest amount of blood could send her into a frenzy and we could never know." She said, ignoring the fact that there were hoof steps outside the door.

"Like I said, she isn't acting that oddly considering it is Vinyl we're talking about." I said.

"Vinyl's odd, but this isn't her type of odd. She isn't the type to turn to mockery." Shakes sighed, getting up and stretching her legs before trotting over to the door and looking back at me with an almost sad look.

"I know something is wrong with her. Maybe you'll see it soon too, but I hope you don't." She said sagely before turning back and opening the door and exiting.

She left me in the darkened room as silence began to creep over me. I was almost dumbfounded by her actions and claims, it wasn't like I didn't believe Shakes and what she said about Vinyl - it was clear she knew more on the topic of Vampires than I - but I thought that I could at least tell be able to judge Vinyl's actions based on personality. I had, after all, observed her for a good amount of time and thought I could at least see her intents.

"Who said it's mocking?"

A voice sounded from seemingly right behind me and shook me to the core, not because of the tone that was used; a tone that was rather sweet and innocent on the outside, but on the inside it held the venomous edge of the otherwise kind tone. The voice's owner was what surprised me.

"Vinyl?" I yelped, looking behind me only to find the room empty.

Silence was my answer.

I got up from the chair with a feeling I hadn't felt in awhile.

Fear.

I found myself rushing to the door like a foal would when they turned off the lights before exiting a room, the feeling of panic building the farther I went without turning to look behind me. It was only half way to the door that the feeling got the best of me and I looked back, the same empty chairs and table resting as they were before.

I shook my head and closed my eyes to rub them. Was it just my ears deceiving me? I was sure I had heard her.

"Tavi?"

I yelped again as I turned my head quickly towards where the voice had come from.

The door was wide open with Vinyl standing in it, her brows cocking over the edges of her sunglasses as she looked at me with confusion. I found myself feeling both relief and fear at the sight of her, but the relief outweighed the fear easily as I let out a sigh.

"You scared me Vinyl."

"Heh, sorry." She said, her hoof snaking back and rubbing the back of her head as she let out a soft chuckle.

"Uh, what exactly are you doing in here Tavi?" She asked, looking into the room from her place in the doorway.

"Uhm, got lost?" I lied a little, the pang of fear from before sparking up and forcing my speech in reflex.

"Really? You too? I guess Shakes' changes were a bit bigger than I thought." She said.

"You were lost Vinyl?"

"Yeah, I came back here looking for the bathroom." She chuckled. "Might wanna get back to your friend out there though, he's starting to really feel it." She giggled, prompting to move past her through the doorway and back to Harpo.

I still couldn't shake the voice from before from my head, it sounded just like her. But if it was then how did she get in there? We would've seen a flash if she had teleported in and she couldn't have gotten past both me and Shakes in the hall without us noticing. I couldn't help but think that Shakes might be onto something, but I wouldn't just jump on board with that idea until I had actual evidence to back it.

Either way, only time would tell. But in the mean time, I would keep a closer on Vinyl regardless.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I came back to find that my food had already arrived, as well as Harpo on the verge of passing out. Beauty had apparently ordered it while I was away.

"I was going to wait, but you were taking awhile. I figured you would've ordered a salad anyways." She said, and it was true too, I would've picked the salad; it was about all I ate.

I noticed that her tone now returned to somewhat normal since Vinyl wasn't around, but she went back to her meekness the second that Vinyl came back and sat down. I did notice that Vinyl was acting more reserved as well, not staring down Beauty like before but just keeping to herself and her food.

Harpo didn't get any food; his only goal was to get wasted and he had well accomplished it.

The meal passed in relative, uneventful, silence from that point on with the only sound coming from the idle chatter between me, Vinyl, and Beauty while Harpo moaned every so often with his head face down on the table. Beauty and Vinyl even exchanged a few words with each other, though it was literally only a few - maybe three in total if I counted right. I found that I had finished quicker than I thought, and so had everyone else, which prompted Shakes to come by and drop off the check. She took a glance at Vinyl, but seemed to have cooled off a bit since our talk.

I turned and found Beauty nudging Harpo as he grunted with every prod.

"If you want to start heading home, I can handle the bill." I offered, but Beauty looked almost offended by the idea.

"Octavia, you just lost your job. It's perfectly understandable if we at least chipped in." Beauty offered, but I smiled slightly and shook my head.

"No, no. I offered to take you out and it's only right that I pay for the meal." I stood firm. She looked as if she were ready to argue more, but her eyes glinted to the side and her eyes drifted towards the ground as she ceased her protests.

"Vinyl, if you'd help Harpo and Beauty out the door?"

She nodded and took to the door, Harpo and Beauty trailing behind at a slower pace while I took the small slip of paper that was the bill. The price was reasonable for the four of us, excluding Harpo, to eat and I noticed Shakes had marked down the prices on the bill.

I took it up to her and smiled slightly, taking out a few bits I had brought with me. She was just as wordless as she took the bits, but I thought I could see a bit more ease in her attitude.

"It was very good." I said awkwardly, but I wanted to at least try to spark some conversation.

"You can thank my sis, she's the cook of us two." She chuckled. "She's been stepping up a lot lately since Vinyl stepped down as manager."

My mind popped to another topic, and I kept the conversation going as she counted up the change.

"Speaking of Vinyl, you could have at least spoken to her in the hall on the way out of that room. Or at least left the door open for her; she scared me senseless when she came through the door after you left." I chuckled softly.

"Huh?" She looked confused.

"When Vinyl came down the hall looking for the bathroom. Just after you left that room?" I clarified, but it didn't seem to help her.

"Octavia, no one was coming down the hall when I left." She said slowly.

I was struck silent by her words as she gave me my change.

I could only turn my head slowly and look back at Vinyl, who was at the door helping Beauty lug Harpo out of the door as he drooped off of Beauty's back. She was smiling and chuckling lightly at the limp form of Harpo, and Beauty looked as if she was holding back her own laughter as she used her head to nudge Harpo's body out the door. She looked innocent.

I turned back to Shakes, only to get a small shrug and a look that said "go ahead, but be safe".


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Beauty had lugged Harpo's sleeping form off in an opposite direction once we left the doors of the bar and were met with the chilling night air. Me and Vinyl both smiled and waved them off before turning towards my own apartment and heading off in silence, though the reasons for our silences probably differed. I, myself, was silent as I thought about what she was thinking: Did she know that I knew? Did she have any other plans past this? Was something actually wrong with her?

Was she going to be okay?

Finally, I managed to work up the nerve to speak out into the silence and I nearly startled myself what came out.

"Vinyl, are you okay?" My voice was questioning and concerned.

"Yeah." She sounded a bit unsure herself.

"You seem kind of...out of it." I chose my words carefully.

"Fine." She insisted, her voice was a little shaky.

I stopped my protesting after that; Vinyl, as far as I know, hadn't ever lied to me if she was herself and even when she did it was usually to try and protect me. Though I couldn't help but feel conflicted, she wasn't acting as "lusty" as she did when she was hungry though she definitely wasn't acting like her normal self at this point. 

I ended up spending the rest of the walk home wondering what was going through her head; whether she was in the feeding mood and that version of her had found a way to act normal or if she was sick with something else.

Once we got to my apartment she began acting out a bit more.

I had gone to the couch once we had walked through the door while Vinyl lingered in the doorway for a few seconds before deciding to join me. She sat down not but a few inches away from me with tired look, her heavy breathing softly resonating through the room while she looked deep in thought. She seemed a little distressed, worried; something I had never seen her before and my natural curiosity got the better of me.

"Vinyl you seem worried, are you sure everything is alright?" I asked.

Her head turned slowly to me with the same look on her face. It sent chills down my back for some reason, but I persisted.

"Vinyl what it the matt-" She stopped me mid-sentence and lunged forwards suddenly and pressed me back into the couch with her front hooves on my shoulders.

I tried to voice a complaint, but she stopped it with a rough kiss. It wasn't like her first ones from before, this one wasn't gentle; it was a passionate one that seemed to be controlling her more than her controlling it. It was aggressive.

When she finally did stop, her heavy breathing came much quicker and louder than before; heaving would be a word that came to mind.

"V-Vinyl?" I stammered.

"So long..." Was all she muttered as she bent her head down to meet me nose to nose, a twisted smiled curling on her face.

"J-Just a taste. Please..."
	
> A Familiar Situation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"P-Please? Just a little..." There was desperation in her voice, a voice that shot a pang of pity and sympathy through my heart, though it was somewhat countered out by the situation we were in.

My first instinct to her wanting to feed on me was to push upwards with my hooves. Which, to my surprise, ended up effectively lifting her up from me despite the pressure she was applying. She whimpered as I lifted her up, with some effort on my part of course, like a dog might. She even clinched me slightly when I tried to set her down, her grasp pleading as it slipped but she made no attempt to try anything to forcefully stop me.

The second couch hit mare she huddled up into a ball with her head tucked in and ears flattened. It was beginning to get questionable how dog like she could act.

"Please..." At this point she sounded pained as she nestled her head into her shoulders while her hooves snaked over to cover her head up.

"Vinyl..." Was all I could mutter in pity as I looked at her crumpled form. 

"Is there something I can do to help?" I blurted. It sounded about as awkward as I thought it would.

Her ears perked up in attention at her name and a single, bloodshot, eye peeked up at me with a glimmer of hope in its eye.

I realized what she was hopeful for - she was hoping I was going to voluntarily offer up my blood to her - and I slowly and sadly shook my head. I may have considered it if she wasn't acting so depraved for it, it was almost feral.

Her hoof closed back over her eye and she went back to her single pony huddle, her hooves seeming to clinch around her head even harder. It looked like she was having a massive head ache.

"Shakes..." She panted.

"Shakes?" I mused with her.

Shakes would be the go to in almost any circumstance like this one, so it would make since to go to her. Maybe she could make another one of those drinks that took Vinyl out of this kind of mood. Not only that, but her sister could help as well with her magic. I settled on this suggestion and nodded.

"Do you want me to go get her?" I asked.

She nodded shakily from her position on the floor.

I was hesitant to go at first, but I turned slowly and trotted to the door, taking a glance back at Vinyl before heading out the door and rushing down the hall quickly. I wanted to help her this time, I hated debts.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I felt awful for just uping and leaving Vinyl on the floor whimpering, and it wasn't admittedly the first time I had done it either, but I had no other idea on how to go and get Shakes without leaving her. The only other option was to carry her on my back where her head would have laid tempting close to my own neck and I wasn't going to put that temptation on her. Mainly because I had a good idea on whether or not she would give into that temptation.

I found myself rushing down the sidewalks of Canterlot with hooves that were going numb from the impact they made onto the cobble. I had to stop running every so often as to not incapacitate myself. Then who would get Shakes? I never thought about it, but I was lucky that the bar was somewhat close to my apartment; it definitely made getting advice from the one pony educated on the subject of Vinyl an easy task.

I happened upon Shakes and her sister on the way out of the door of the bar, both of them chuckling lightly to themselves while Sweeps levitated the keys to the door to lock them shut.

Shakes happened to see me and tapped her sister on the shoulder and pointed to me with a look on her face that spelled concern.

As I approached I slowed down, trying to catch my breath so I could speak to them coherently rather than heaving out every word like a fool.

I found myself delivering a hybrid of both.

"Octavia?" Shakes greeted me with a questioning look on her face.

"Shakes, it's-" I found myself breathing in, sounding much like I was in panic. It seemed to spur her suspension as she eagerly pressed me to continue.

"Yes?"

"Vinyl, she's- I don't know but she-" I breathed in to try and get out at least one sentence.

"She wanted me to get you." It came out better than expected.

The two sisters looked to each other before Shakes turned back to me.

"Is she 'hungry'?" She asked.

I nodded.

She smirked and turned back to her sister with an expectant look, resulting in a deep sigh from Sweeps who then pulled out a small satchel and tossed it to Sweeps lazily while mumbling something under her breath. There was a jingle as the pouch moved through the air and a more punctuated one as it landed in Shakes' hooves.

'Did they...? Did they bet on this?' I asked internally.

Shakes smiled widely before turning back to the door of the bar.

"Guess we should start making the drink then. Octavia, you might wanna sit down and take a breather." She said, pushing open the door and holding it open.

I walked into the bar with worn and aching hooves, a fact that expressed itself every step with a pulse of pain in every step, and made my way over a booth as Shakes had suggested. I scooted into the seat and found myself pressing back into the seat with my full weight. I would have tried to keep my composure, but the run over here had really taken it out of me for some reason.

I decided to watch as Shakes and Sweeps began to bring a variety of bottles and lay them out on the bar counter; some of them from the shelves behind them and others requiring one of them to rush into the back to get. They put up some small talk occasionally and began to mix the drink slowly, the nose burning smell of several bottles of alcohol filling the room and almost bringing tears to my ears.

As my breath began to even out my mind began to slink back to the thought of Vinyl. I didn't have any solid idea of what she might be doing right now, but if I had to guess then I would say she was in the same place. It still mad me feel a bit guilty of how I had left her curled in a ball on my living room floor while she was shivering, but I had to do something and I figured if I was left to my own devices then I would only end up getting fed on. Still, it felt pretty bad.

"Think that'll do it?" I heard Sweeps ask and I tilted my head back up to look at the two.

"Maybe. I like my liver so I wouldn't know." Shakes replied, putting a lid on the silver shaker she was using.

"So you don't use this stuff for anyone else other than Vinyl?" Sweeps chuckled.

"I'd probably have a few murder charges if I let it go public. It really doesn't have any other purposes anyways." She said, turning to me.

"You ready Tavi?" She called over.

I nodded and got up from the booth, heading over to them. The burning in my nose increased dramatically as I neared them. Shakes smiled at my reaction.

"Lead the way, I'll let sis hang back on hold the drink with her magic so are sense of smell isn't gone by the time we get back to your place."

I nodded and started out the door again, this time going at a slower pace both to pace myself and not lose the two sisters.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I was surprised to see the desk mare in the lobby at my apartment and wondered if she ever left her position, she seemed to be in the same place every time I came in. She gave me a brief raise of an eyebrow, eyeing me and the two sisters following close behind me carrying the drink shaker like it was a bomb. She simply disregarded us after that.

Shakes made a few comments on it as well.

"Cheery mare down there." She mumbled, covering her nose as the smell of the drink shaker began to fill the confined space of the elevator.

"She's normally like that, I haven't bothered to ask her why. I'm not quite so sure I want to know either." I said curtly. As rude as it sounded coming from my mouth, it most definitely was the truth.

The door to the elevator opened and Shakes gasped for fresh air the second she near fell out into the hallway. Her sister gave her a chuckle but I simply moved past her and to my apartments door. The thought of Vinyl had been mounting in my mind for the last half of the trip back here and I found myself anxious.

I nearly burst through the door, the sisters following close behind with what I assumed was a similar feeling.

I trotted over around the couch to find a disturbing sight.

Nothing.

Nothing was there but a small damp area from where I had assumed Vinyl had been laying, other than that there was not a single sign anyone had been there in the first place. 

I was struggling to wrap my mind around the sight when Shakes finally spoke up.

"So where'd you put her? Your room?" She asked, glancing around the room.

"She was...right here." I said, rubbing my eyes in the vain hope Vinyl would be there when my eyes opened.

Shakes seemed to be taken aback.

"So you just left her in the floor?" The question sounded rhetorical.

"I did."

"A blood hungry, unstable, unpredictable, magic capable unicorn vampire. And you just left her?"

"Yes." I was turning a bit meek at this point.

"And you never, not once, though to put her in your room and lock the door?"

"I-I didn't."

The sound of her hoof hitting her face was astoundingly loud, like if you hit a wall with your face. And even more impressive was the sigh she let out, I would be willing to bet that you could hear it during a hurricane. Her hoof slid down her face slowly, revealing the deadpanned look of Shakes who took deep breaths.

"Alright, we'll look around and see if we can find where she may be hiding -  assuming she's hiding and left. Octavia you can look in your room since it's, well, yours. Me and Sweeps will check the other places." She said, still sounding a bit annoyed.

I nodded and head down the hall to my room while the two sisters spread through my living room, kitchen, and even to the bathroom.

I found that my room was untouched for the most part, all my music notes and furniture were in the same place as they had always been. 

Almost.

An open window stuck out like a sore thumb in my room.

I found myself walking over to it as my mind pieced it together, sticking my head out the window and peering off to see if I could somehow catch the fleeting sight of Vinyl. I wondered, well it was more of a heavy assumption, if she had just simply hopped from the window and went out into the city. I guess she planned on feeding one way or the other and with me no longer there she was going to go for the next best thing.

Anything.

I felt a bit betray, and a little hurt, by the quick abandon of her and found myself gazing out the window still as if she would appear somehow.

I didn't see anything.

A gentle tug at my back hoof got my attention and just as I turned to find the source it turned to a violent pull that took my off my hooves and crashing to the floor with a loud thud. I looked back at my hoof to see a familiar haze wrapped around it that made my eyes go wide just before the pulling returned and sucked me under my own bed.

I was pulled under the dimly lit bed and slid to a stop with big red eyes in my face, a hypnotic look in Vinyl's eyes that left me speechless. I briefly wondered how exactly she ended up on top if I was the one sliding under the bed, was she floating? And also, how was my bed big enough to fit two grown mares underneath it?

The light of her horn lit her smile - a loving one, but loving in a different way. Diluted eyes stared at me with an unreadable plan behind them. I snapped out of it and was about to speak, but her hoof shot up and pressed over my lips while her head shook gently.

The sound of hooves came into ear shot as Shakes and Sweeps entered the room.

"Octavia?" They asked in sync.

There was a brief silence before one of them spoke again.

"Horse apples." I heard Shakes mutter as she rushed over to where the window was open.

"What is it?" Sweeps asked with concern.

"Well... I think Vinyl might have abducted Octavia." Her pitch rose a tone or two when she said 'maybe'.

"What!?" Sweeps recoiled.

"Yeah..." Shakes murmured awkwardly.

Was this her plan the whole time? To make us think she had ran away only to take advantage of our hope that she was still around. Well, now that I thought about it, hiding under the bed would be Vinyl's first hiding place if she had to hide; I guess she also accounted for us over thinking her since she was such a...character.

I began to speak into Vinyl's hoof to let them know that I was under the bed, but the feeling of something sharp on my neck silenced me before speaking. She had somehow managed to get a fang up to my neck and patiently waited for me to go on with my call for help, as if challenging me.

I couldn't work up the nerve.

Shakes and Sweeps paced through the room for awhile, Shakes muttering curses before they wordlessly walked out the door and shut the door behind them.

"Are we just leaving?!" I heard Sweeps call just before the sound of a door closing from the living room.

'A-are they really just leaving me?!' I screamed at them internally.

Vinyl didn't seem to have a problem with their decision and I could almost feel her smile innocently as her hoof lifted from my mouth and went up to pet my head. I was oddly comforted by the strokes of her hoof, not to mention she was already snug against me to the point where the warmth of her body was almost overwhelming.

Her hoof seemed to slowly be tilting my head to the side, my neck becoming more and more exposed to her sharp fangs. I didn't exactly realize her doings until the light pressure of something on my neck shot a numb pain through my neck, though I didn't exactly react to it and found myself letting it happen. A gentle burn ran through my neck as I let out a small moan from the sensation.

She leaned back from my neck and smiled warmly at me, a comforting feeling seeming to force itself over me as I found myself smiling back for some reason. My mind seemed to be operating in increments; only processing a short bit of the situation before forgetting about it and going on to process the next part. It was like short term memory loss to the degree of a gold fish.

"It was so mean of you to leave me so vulnerable Tavi, who knows what could've happened if a burglar happened along and found me while you were gone?"

My first reaction to her claim was that I would have a new red carpet at the most, but the sound of her voice echoed in my head until I felt bad for doing it.

"S-Sorry." My voice was in shambles.

"Aw Tavi, it's okay." She cooed, the gaze in her eyes tuning to a comforting one as she leaned in close to me.

I felt her plant a small peck on my cheek.

"We all make mistakes." She whispered reassuringly.

"T-Thank you, V-Vinyl."

Why was I thanking her again? It felt a bit wrong.

I was drawn back to the situation at hoof by the gentle tickle of her warm breath on my ear as whispered something into my ears.

"Of course, I could take some compensation for your little offense to me." She said, her head dipping slightly and her nose grazing across a familiar spot on my neck.

"O-Okay..." I agreed, not exactly knowing what I was agreeing to but the burning in my veins was screaming that it didn't matter.

	"Might need some more... I thought I heard her mumble into my neck.

The breath of her voice on my neck tickled, sending an astounding feeling through my body and forced me to turn towards her. My mouth seemed to run directly into the course of her going towards my neck, resulting in an unintentional kiss. I melted into it, an odd substance in my slightly numbed mouth that seemed to trickle constantly.

Vinyl recoiled slightly as the liquid stopped flowing and she pulled back a little. This only served as a means to drain the liquid from my mouth and into hers. She coughed a little, small droplets of whatever it was that was in our kiss and flinging them onto my coat.

"Uhg!" She sputtered. "So that's what that tastes like?" She said in disgust.

'What what tasted like?'

She groaned a little more, trying to lift up from me but hitting her head on the bottom of my bed and recoiling rapidly.

"Jeez this is...feels so...weird." She complained, her hooves shaking a little as if stressed by her own weight before she collapsed onto my body.

Her impact registered as the feeling of pins and needles while I found my eyes drooping a little, a feeling of tiredness washing over me as I found my spot under the bed more and more comfortable. Vinyl seemed to be feeling the same way, already pressing into my shoulder with a small groan and the mumbling of something about feeling sick.

She moaned a little as she tried to move, the feeling of her coat against mine sparking like electric. I felt a little concern wash over me at her suddenly odd acting and it somehow managed to stick in my mind.

"V-Vinyl?" I mustered.

She just moaned, rubbing against me and I felt a blush run through my cheeks. Though her movement slowly began to die down up until the point where she wasn't moving; her breath had evened out the way it did when she had fallen asleep.

I wondered what it was that had made her fall asleep, she had seemed fine. Or had she? It hurt to try and remember.

I tried to remove her body from mine, only to get the feeling of pins and needles through my entire stomach. I let out a small gasp at the feeling and quickly let her back down, the impact again shooting through my body.

I think I tried to remove her twice more, only to be met by the same result of her limp and sleeping form hitting my own.

It eventually got through to my head that I should just give up, lest Vinyl wake up. She looked so peaceful while she was sleeping, a small amount of drool coming from her mouth as she laid limply on my chest.

I smiled at the sight and managed to move my hoof onto her head, the mere feeling of wind managing to send the same feeling from my body through my hoof.

I finally let my eyes close, sleep encompassing me quickly as I drifted off.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

> Knocks on the Door
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My eyes opened slowly, only to be met by muddled darkness thanks to my blurred vision that always seems to greet me every morning. I tried moving my hooves up to rub it from my eyes, but they seemed to heavy to move and I quickly gave up. The thought occurred to me that I had nothing to do today anyways; I was out of my job and not exactly ready to go job searching after being let go so quickly.

I considered the thought of practicing, but shrugged that off as I snugged into the warm covers that blanketed my body.My bed felt odd this morning, a bit stiff if anything, but then again I didn't exactly feel that normal to being with.

'I wonder what I could get a job in?' I mused.

'Something outside of music would feel odd to me, and probably just end up proving a problem for others, so I ruled out the idea of basically everything.' My face turned to a frown at my thoughts.

I was sure there was hope, though it was probably in the distance somewhere. I'd have to get to it, but that was expected to achieve anything.

I felt a small smile tug at my lips for some reason, the blanket above me tickling my mouth as it adjusted.

'I could ask Vinyl. She did strike me as the type that might be able to find a fix to this problem. Not to say that she would be experienced with being unemployed, she had owned that bar for awhile on what I could assume. She just seemed she might be smart on the topic.' I internally defended myself.

I tried adjusting the covers again, finding the weight of them oddly heavy.

A noise sounding akin to a grunt sounded itself while my covers moved on their own, the warmth of them wrapping around me without my doing.

My eyes opened again, a bit faster than last time, and my vision had cleared just enough for the things within a close vicinity to be clear as day.

It seemed my blanket was alive. And a bit upset thanks to an unfortunate hoof that had found its way right under its jaw.

Vinyl was laid over me limply her nose scrunched up in a slight discomfort thanks to my hoof having poked into the part of her jaw just behind her chin ever so slightly. She looked on the verge of tears and I stifled a giggle at the scene and gently removed my hoof from her face and tucked it to the side.

She seemed to be relieved at the removal of my hoof and a cheerful smile graced her lips soon after as she cuddled back into me. Her movement was fluent enough to surprise me, no hesitation in pressing her face close to mine. However, it took me by surprise and I found my head trying to lurch back away from her; my eyes were wide and I could feel the pink filling my cheeks.

My bed did not give way and a quick glance to my side confirmed another interesting fact of the morning.

I was at my bed, just not in it. From the looks of it I was underneath it.

I was confused why exactly I was under my bed and tried to think back, only to have a headache come rushing. I tried again once more, only to receive the same treatment. I decided, for the betterment of my well being, that I would try again later. Out from under bed preferably.

I nudged on Vinyl.

"V-Vinyl?" I whispered.

"Hmm?" She nuzzled.

"Can I get out?" I asked again.

A giggle was my response, soon followed by a gentle kiss on the nape of my neck.

I let out a sigh, followed it with a gulp, and set myself to the task of untangling myself from the steel shackles that was Vinyl's grasp. It crossed my mind that she was hardly putting in any effort at all to keep me busy for a good five minutes of prying and only once I had worn myself ragged that I felt her loosen her grasp, giggle, and not stop my next attempt to shimmy away from her and out from under the bed.

Raising up off the floor quickly gave me the feeling of dizziness, though it felt like it was bit more than that involved. I shrugged it off as the fact I had been sitting underneath my bed for some amount of time; it still hurt to try and remember.

I stumbled through the door to my bedroom, hugging onto the wall and sliding my way across the wall until lurching over to the bathroom door. I barely caught it, my entire weight falling onto the doorknob alone though I eased up at the sound of wood creaking.

I fumbled into the bathroom and gave the mirror a quick glance, gasping at the sight that I took in.

A pair of bloodshot eyes looked back at me, a lack of bags under the eyes revealing to me that a lack of sleep wasn't the cause. A disheveled mane, hair sticking out like black, stretched out springs; the cause probably being that the floor was my pillow. Patches of my coat also seemed to be matted in areas, which I had no answer for.

I figured a shower was in order, regardless of whether or not I was going out today.

I fumbled over to the shower, my knees managing to buckle this time around as I soon found myself spread eagle against cold tile which served as a good motivation to get up quickly. I pushed myself upwards and all but punched the handle for the hot water as the sound of water came hissing in as a dropped back down to the tile, the chill of its surface no longer too much of a concern of mine.

I waited on the floor a bit longer as the water warmed, until the point where steam began to cloud my vision.

I did a sort of roll to get into the shower, letting the beads of water tickle my stomach for a while before sitting up with a heavy head. It was odd that I felt so lazy all of the sudden, maybe my blood getting moving around my body wasn't a good thing after all. The more I seemed to be active the worse the feelings got, so I figured maybe being a bit of a minimalist today wasn't such a bad idea.

I was slow to attend to upkeep in the shower, and even slower when moving out to dry off. I would  have stayed admittedly longer, but with my current state in the job world the water bill was going to be a pain.

After running a brush through my hair, I took another look in the mirror and smiled at my appearance. Not stunning, but attended to.

I walked out of the bathroom with shaky steps, still running the brush through my hair just to be sure all the abnormalities were cleaned up, when the sound of gentle, yet curt, knocking came from the door. It seemed like the dizziness was fading at last.

I raised a brow at the sound.

'Who could that be?'

I made my way over to the door, placing the brush on the kitchen table, and opened to a sight that made my eyes widen.

"M-Mother?" I stammered at the appearance of my mother in the doorway, smile on her face with presumable excitement at seeing me.

It had been ages since my mother had last paid me a visit, we typically met up at some form of eatery and talked for a good while before leaving and going on with our day; she hardly ever approached me directly such coming to my house.

"Octavia!" She squealed, lurching forwards and wrapping me in a hug that took me by surprise.

My mother was a very energetic mare, the dividing line between us being near exact copies of each other where simple things like mane styles and fashion choices; though her attitude and demeanor definitely took first. She was cheerful at all times, almost sickeningly so, and always kept her chin up in most situations. She got upset and angry at times sure, but who doesn't?

"H-Hello." Was all I could stammer as I returned the hug. "P-please, come in."

She didn't hesitate to trot in and look around my apartment, admiring it from what I could tell. I don't really think it would've mattered what it looked like, she would've said it looked great. Though she wouldn't just make the statement relative, she would actually manage to find something that she actually liked. I could be living in a box and she would compliment the color of it. I just took it as her best-of-every-situation attitude shining.

"So what, um, brings you here mother?" I asked, still a bit taken aback by the visit.

"Oh don't worry Octavia, I'll be out of your mane quickly. I was just stopping by." She chuckled. "Your mane looks lovely this morning by the way."

"T-That's not what I-" I began to correct her assumption.

"Oh I know sweety, just pushing your buttons."

I looked down at my bowtie and eyed the buttons.

"Just a saying dear." She added, stifling a laugh.

My mother seemed to like teasing me more than anyone, save for maybe Vinyl.

'Vinyl...' I mumbled internally, my eyes widening as my mind slowly realizing that my mother was around and so was Vinyl.

"Anyways, me and your father are asking that you show up to dinner tomorrow. Believe it or not but it was my idea, he was tough to convince but I managed as I always do." She seemed proud of the fact that she beat my father into submission with her dinner idea.

It seemed fine by me, so I agreed.

She was overjoyed by my agreement, but quickly took on a malicious smile.

"Oh, and word is that you're finally seeing someone." She waggled a brow, scooting close to me.

"W-What?!" I said with shock.

"Oh don't be so shy from your own mother Octavia, I'm glad that you're finally coming out of the shell of yours and getting to know ponies on a more...intimate level. So I'm asking that you bring your little stallion friend to dinner over at our house so your father and I can meet him." 

I was still reeling from shock.

"But-" She put a hoof up to my mouth and stopped my protest.

"No buts. You already said yes." She said playfully, prancing around me and over to the door.

"I would love to stay longer dear, but your father and I are meeting some nobles in town today. Ta ta!"

And with that she left me, the door shutting gently behind her, leaving me wide eyed and speechless. But more than anything, who in Equestria told her I was seeing somepony? And if so, who was it? Maybe it was just harmless gossip, nothing more than rumors getting stirred around. Yes, that's what it was; nothing more than weightless words. After all, the only pony I've acted even be considered acting remotely "intimate" with was...

My eyes shifted to the hallway that lead to my bedroom.

"Oh my..." Was all that I could utter, my voice only but a whisper.

My mind was quick to come up with an explanation.

'B-But she said stallion, so she must have heard nothing more than gossip.' My mind relaxed a little bit at that much, but there was still a reason to panic.

My mother had just invited me over to her house for a chance to meet the "stallion" I had been seeing. And thanks to my hasty acceptance of said offer, I was now stuck with the problem.

'I could go with nopony and risk the emotional breakdown of my mother feeling sad for me.'

I shivered at my thought, rejecting it, and deciding that I had to show up with a 'date'.

That left me with the option of convincing one of my stallion friends to come with me and pose as my date; which meant my two options where Harpo and Fredric. Harpo being an option was entirely reliant on Beauty being willing to let him, I was sure he had no problem getting treated to a free meal from my family. As for Fredric, I hadn't seen him around at all lately - not even at practice - and figured asking such a favor of him after said silence would be a bit of dare that might not be worth taking.

I turned my mind to the task of convincing Beauty to let me barrow Harpo as an excuse.

'I could just tell her.' I thought simply, lingering on the slimmer of hope that Beauty had undergone a change of heart overnight.

The sound of hoof meeting wood resonated for a second time throughout my home.

'What the?' I asked internally, a single visit this early in the morning was unnatural. Two was just ridiculous.

Luckily, I was near the door already thanks to my mother and her startling pop in, and was able to simply reach out and turn open the door.

I felt a strange sensation of déjà vu as my eyes widened at the second sight of the pony who stood in my doorway.

It was Beauty of all ponies.

She looked a bit taken aback and the first thought that came to mind was if my mother was sarcastic with her comment on how I looked. It never did occur to me that it was maybe the fact I had opened my door the instant she had begun knocking.

"Hello." I said awkwardly.

"H-Hello." She stammered, just as awkwardly, shaking her head a little to be sure she wasn't seeing things.

We stood at the doorway in silence for a few seconds before she took the initiative to speak.

"I, ah, just came by to see how you were doing. You know, now that you're...unemployed." She sounded a bit offended by her own sentence. 

Though I'm no stranger to awkward phrasing, and decided to look past the wording and see the thought behind her visit in general. I honestly thought she would have just gone on without even thinking of seeing if I was okay after my relief of duty yesterday. Instead, here she was in my doorway, awkwardly fidgeting and staring at the ground after asking me how my unemployment was going. I half considered telling her it was going splendidly, but decided teasing the one I would soon be asking to barrow her stallion for the night wasn't the best way to start out with her.

"The extra sleep and lack of pressure are quite nice." I said chuckling, getting a broken one out of her in return.

I remembered my manners.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Please, come in." I took this as the oppertunity to ask, seeing as she was in a bit of a meek mood. 

"I hate to admit it but I have a favor to ask you that you may or may not be comfortable with granting." I said, sliding to the side to allow her entry.

She gave me an oddly hopeful look, as if this was a chance for her to redeem herself in my eyes. Of course, she hardly needed redeeming since she was the one here to offer condolence. But this may have very well been the only chance I got.

"What kind of a request." She asked slowly, inching her way towards the door.

"My mother has invited me to come to her and my father's home for dinner tomorrow night. The only problem is that they expect for a sta-"

"Octi~" A sing-song voice rang out from the hallway, sounding much like a playful whine thanks to the way all the vowels were stressed.

Me and Beauty both stopped dead in our tracks.

I looked at Beauty to see that her eyes were wide and she had stopped mid-step with a hoof hovering in the air. She looked like she was frightened.

I turned once more to look back at the hallway to see if Vinyl was coming into the living room, but after a solid fifteen seconds of nothing I determined that she wasn't. No telling what kind of disaster would have happened if she did come through, Beauty might have lost it and went on another rant about her.

I turned back, only to find that Beauty was not standing in the doorway anymore.

"Wha? Where did she go?"

The only way she could have gone was down the hall, so I decided to stick my head out into the hall and take a quick look.

There she was, trotting quickly in place in front of the elevator with an anxious look on her face. She was biting her lower lip as well, her eyes looked wide with panic as she waited for the elevator to arrive.

"Beauty?"

She jumped at the sound of my voice, turning to look at me as if ready to run for her life.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"S-Sorry, Octavia. I, ah, forgot I had to do something! Uhm, buy dresses...or something." She said, fumbling for an excuse.

I was fine with her leaving, but I hadn't asked her if I could barrow Harpo yet.

"Oh, Beauty! Could you let me bar-"

The elevator bell dinged and the doors opened, followed by the mare feverishly rushing inside while the sound of a hoof slamming against buttons followed shortly as the doors shut just as quickly as they had opened. I found myself hung mid sentence, turning my request for her into a defeated sigh as I turned and went back into my apartment with my head hung low.

As I shut the door behind me, a familiar voice called out.

"Octiiii~" She sounded a bit more frustrated this time, thought undoubtedly still playful in tone; probably from me not coming to her on the first call.

I let out a second sigh as I trotted back into the bedroom, my mind brewing once more on how to find a plan to deal with the upcoming dinner. Some say that my rapid thinking process was a bit inconsiderate and odd thanks to the fact I never really questioned why I was doing something, but rather how I was going to do it. Shakes had told me that it was similar to how Vinyl thought, but that mine was much more rational when it came to finding the actually solution.

'Funny, I'm usually less active on a day that I had my job than I am today.' I thought, pushing open the door to my bedroom.

"Yes Vin-"

Vinyl was on the floor, stomach facing the floor, and about halfway emerged from the bed; she had stopped just short of a sunny spot coming from the room's windows. She had a dopey grin about her, her eyes unfocused as she stared up at me with an entertained look on her face. Her hair had a feathered texture to it and came down her face like a series of rivers to cover up parts of her glassy eyes. Her top half was sprawled across the floor, front hooves sticking out in front of her as if she were reaching for something. The one thing that raised my brow was the gentle look she had about her. I'm not sure what exactly evoked this sort of aura from her; but it was definitely there.

I found myself wordless at the sight while she simply smiled at me and waited for me to continue my sentence. It took a minute, but I was back on track.

"Y-Yes Vinyl?"

"Can you shut the blinds for me? I can't go very far with them open." Her request was reasonable enough so I replied with nod.

"Oh!" She began again.

"I'm kinda cold, can you get me a blanket too?" She asked sweetly.

I raised a brow at that request as my eye traveled up to the bed, eyeing my comforter. I took a few steps forwards and place a single hoof on it but jumped a bit when the feeling of a soft cheek ran across my leg, making me step back in instinct.

This motion managed to bring the comforter off the bed, letting it fall and pile up in a ball on top of Vinyl.

I was beginning to move forwards and pick it up off of her, but her own hooves wrapped around the thick cover and brought it into a tight hug with what I guessed was her face.

"Thank you!" Came the muffled sound of her voice from beneath the mountain of cover.

I let out a small giggle at her behavior, ignoring the familiarly glassy look her eyes had about them and moving over to my blinds and shutting them before heading out the door once more. A brief look back at the bed showed me that Vinyl was sort of moving around in an attempt to get out from under the bed.

I smirked once more before moving to my living room to shut my other blinds.

Most of them were already closed since it was Vinyl's typical place to rest around my apartment, a stray one or two were off in the corners from where Vinyl didn't venture. I also decided to a bit of cleaning while I was at it, straightening up the couch and fluffing the arm pillows. I was in the middle of picking one of said pillows, using the ground as a sort of support to fluff them, when a something happened.

My ears twitched at a sound.

My head straightened up in disbelief, a small twitch running through my left eye as I turned back at the door.

The door opened on its own this time, Shakes trotting inside with a casual grace about her with a complete disregard for the fact she just entered without permission. Not that I minded, normally I wouldn't quite care if she came in on her own; but three guests within such a small period of time was doing a number on me. I shivered at the thought of what nobles had it like; they had to go through this everyday.

She smiled at the sight of me as she used her hind leg to gently push the door shut.

"Hey, good to see you're okay." She said with a relieve tone. 

As to why she was using such a tone? I had no idea.

My head ached a little as memories of last night tried to surface on their own, only small patches coming through while the main piece remained foggy. What I could remember was that Shakes and Sweeps were a bit concerned over where I was for some reason.

"Yes, fine." I replied curtly. "Just a bit of a headache."

Silence.

"So, uh, where were you?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I was here of course, why would I not be at home? The only other place I was at last night was at the bar eating dinner, though after that it got a bit hazy; I did remember coming home though. I couldn't quite fine a reason as to why my memories would be hazy, but thinking of the reason only hurt.

It was her turn to look confused.

"Well you kinda disappeared on us last night, you know, with Vinyl. Gave me and Sweeps a heck of a scare."

"I...I don't seem to recall anything like that." I said truthfully.

"Well where did you wake up?" She asked simply, smiling at me gently.

"Under my bed."

I think it was the fact I had said the answer to her question so nonchalantly that took her off guard and left her silent with a blank face. Thought it could have just as easily been the answer itself being rather bazaar. A combination of the two? Maybe, but either way she was left staring at me with a poker face that could rival stone.

"Riiight." She said slowly.

"Um, anyways, I just came by to~"

There was that phrase again. 'Just came by to'. Beauty had used it as well and I gave a brief wonder to how many more times I would here it today. If I was lucky, none. But knowing how my luck typically runs its course the princesses themselves would be showing up at my door with the 'just came by to' saying and some random activity following. Though I should hardly jinx myself.

"~see if Vinyl was still going to stop by tonight to see about that job position."

My mind snapped back to attention at the mention of Vinyl.

"I would not know myself. I'll be sure to tell her you stopped by to remind her." I said curtly, a bit anxious to get the third house guest of the morning out of the door quickly. Not that I hated Shakes, I just hated visitors to my house.

"That'd be appreciated." She said, lingering a bit more in my home.

'Leave, please. Leave, please. Leave, please.' My mannered inner thoughts chanted.

"Sorry 'bout kinda barging in and leaving, but I've gotta get back to the bar to open it. Gotta air the place out from all the drinking my sis has been doing."

The second Shakes turned towards the door my mind rejoiced silently.

I walked her to the door to see her off - and to look down the hall if anypony else was coming to pay me a visit. Walter too maybe? - and she gave me a quick hug. Why she did, I didn't know, but it seemed like it was out of relief. Maybe it was because I was okay, who knows. After that it was the single word 'Bye; and she left. I let my eyes follow her down to the elevator and she gave a brief wave before entering and leaving my sight.

Not a pony in the hall, the coast was clear.

I shut the door and felt my knees give as I slid down to the tile floor, using the door as a support of sorts.

"Finally." I muttered to myself, eyes closing in happiness at the sound of silence.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I had stayed in my downed position at the door for at least a half an hour and maybe more. Believe it or not, but sleeping on the floor was quite a change from sleeping on a mattress; it left me feeling tired with a small crick in my neck that I couldn't seem to get out no matter how I stretched. Another reason might have been me camping out the inevitable next pony to come to my door with something to say or something to do. Of course, I was silently praying that that didn't happen.

About fifteen minutes in I began to hear these weird knocks coming from the hallway, I could also feel something bumping into the wall with enough force to shake me awake. It felt like it would of had to have been furniture, what with the weight it was carrying behind it when it hit the wall.

Vinyl, for some reason, had come mulling through and asked me why I was on the floor.

I told her it was a long story.

She simply shrugged it off before asking me to use the shower, to which I nodded, and she had been inside the shower ever since. I began to wonder why exactly she liked to take long showers, and how they would soon affect my bills, but decided that if she wanted to take long showers then she could do so.

I could hear the muffled sound of the shower from where I sat against the door, and it began to lull me to sleep.

Knock.

My eyes jolted open.

Knock.

My head got a brief moment of air time thanks to the force they were packing behind their knocks.

Knock.

"W-Why..." I whispered to myself, before struggling to pick myself up off the floor and turning to face the door for the fourth time this morning. I was a bit annoyed at this point, and found myself grumbling under my breath as I opened the door.

"What is i-" My breath caught at the sight I took in.

"Oh my..." Was all I could mutter.

Two mares and a stallion stood at my door, a small company of ponies, but that wasn't the reason that I was left wordless. One of the mares was blue with a gray mane, she looked oddly familiar to me but for some reason I couldn't seem to recall her at all. Nothing much to be surprised at, but her company was  composed of quite the characters.

The second mare had a coat similar to mine, though hers was a more darker grey than my own. Her mane was a brownish orange, cut short on one half of her head - about to cheek level, while the other stretched down past her chin. She had a smokey smell to her, not unpleasant but definitely noticeable. Her smile was disarming enough, and her orange eyes went well with her whole look. She looked a bit odd to be around Canterlot, but then again Vinyl was in my home as well.

The last one took the cake.

A huge stallion, having to duck down just to get his green eyes below the top of the door frame. He had a lumberjack beard, full and flaunting, that bent around his hardy smile. He himself was a dark blue, making his black hair a bit of a task to make out, but it was achievable nevertheless. I couldn't help myself from staring at him, he was the largest pony I had seen to date, and seemed like a sore thumb in the Canterlot society and was more fit to be living in a cabin in the Everfree.

"Heya Neighbor!" The ashy mare said happily.
> An Opening
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Neighbor?" I was wide eyed by the claim. I hadn't even know the apartment across from mine was open.

The ashy colored mare smiled at me.

"Yep! We saw this apartment in a magazine and couldn't resist moving in, it's perfect!" She was definitely the excitable type; she would probably get along with Vinyl in that aspect. She also seemed to understand the perfection of the apartments here, so that gave her some approval from me as well.

"Nice to meet you all." I managed to suppress my awe of the rock in front of me and smile.

"Oh! I almost forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Flint Steel, call me Flint though."  She chirped, turning to the mountain beside her and nudging him.

The mountain smiled gently at me before speaking.

"Stone Wall. Nice ta' meet you." His voice was higher than I expected, but not high by any stretch.

"Octavia Melody. Nice to meet you."

The last mare seemed a bit too shy and got somewhat out-shadowed, literally, by the other two. I still couldn't, for the life of me, remember the mare's name.

"So you all alone in there? No offense, but it seems like an lotta' space for a single pony." Miss Flint mumbled.

True, it was a lot of space for a single pony - and I had actually lived alone for some time so I knew perfectly well just how much extra space there was. But now that Vinyl was living here, the space wasn't too extreme.

"Oh, no. I've a roommate in the bath right now. I could fetch her if you'd like to meet her." I smiled.

"No need, we don't mean to bother." The giant spoke.

"It's no problem at all, it's about time for Vin-" I was about to finish my sentence when a crash came from the bathroom that drew all of our heads towards the hallway.

"Sounds like she might need some help herself." Miss Flint chuckled, getting a massive elbow from her side that seemed to knock the wind out of her for the moment. I was personally amazed she wasn't on the floor from the gesture.

"We'll be headin' on Ms. Melody. Pleasant meeting ya'." The mountain groveled before turning and walking away with Miss Flint being dragged along by a hoof. The other mare gave me a brief smile before turning to trail behind them.

Well they seemed nice at least; the giant one also seemed to have some manners about him as well. He seemed to be mannered to me like most nice nobles around Canterlot were to mares. Then again, he did elbow the one beside him with an elbow that probably could've broken my door down with ease. He was probably at the "playful harm" stage with that mare though. They could've been in a relationship. Married maybe? Was the familiar mare with them their child?

I decided to stop making assumptions, as my mind usually took me down a highly unlikely and dramatized road.

I turned my attention back to the hallway and began a hasty trot to the bathroom where the crashing sound had come from.

I walked up to the bathroom door and gave it a few knocks. I noticed the sound of running water was still audible so I figured she was still showering

"Vinyl?"

"Yeah?" Her voice sounded dreamy.

"Is everything alright in there?" I wasn't going to try going in there, it only ended in awkward situations in the past. She didn't respond however, and I began to worry for her.

"Vinyl?" I called again.

No answer.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"You didn't have to hit me so hard." Flint whined.

"Ya' shouldn't have poked fun at Ms. Melody." Stone shot back.

"What, all I did was say her friend might have needed her help. And why are you being so defensive? Got a crush on her or something."

"Not at all, just don't like you being disrespectful to neighbors. You didn't grow up like me so I don't expect you to understand my morals." Stone said.

We had since dragged Flint back to our new apartment; though I was sure she could walk on her own, Stone decided to just drag her along the ground for the short walk across the hall. Stone had even tossed her inside like she was weightless as a sort of punishment for her, though she seemed to enjoy the airtime. The landing was a different story.

"Maple you seemed a bit shocked back there, something bother you? Flint asked, getting up and dusting herself off.

She was right. I had been a bit shocked at who had answered the door because it was that mare from the forest. She was snooping around our camp at night and my brother had found her. We thought she was a vampire, so we decided to detain her. As it turned out, she wasn't, but soon after she got in one began attacking the entire camp until luring my brother and the rest on a wild chase, leaving me and Octavia alone at camp. It turned out there was two of them, and one was in the camp with me and Octavia, snooping around somewhere. Octavia had found it, I think, and I went to check on her.

And that's where the memory stops. After that there was a gap, presumably the vampire had knocked me out. Though it didn't make sense because I was still alive when I woke. A vampire would have feasted immediately, but I didn't even have any bite marks. I thought that maybe Octavia had saved me, but I thought it unlikely given the idea I got of her on the short time we talked.

She didn't seem to recognize me, which was good, but I couldn't shake the awkwardness of the whole situation off.

"No." I said flatly.

"Really?" She pushed.

"Nothing, I'm just not that good with meeting new ponies." I said, ending the discussion. I was obviously dodging her at this point but I figured I could work the angle of us not knowing each other that well to my advantage.

"You seemed pretty easy meeting me and Stone. And from what I've heard where kinda intimidating." She said back, proving an excellent point.

"Let 'er be Flint, we still have to talk about what we're gonna do about those bedroom curtains." Stone interrupted, saving me from spilling my personal encounter with the grey mare to Flint.

"Yeah, blue on white is too abrasive for me. Beige would've worked far better." Flint agreed.

I still couldn't get over what fashionistas these two were. I'd expected them to be cold and calculating ponies with only the drive to kill the vampire, yet here they were talking about how the curtains didn't go with the wallpaper. I, the lower ranking soldier, was turning out to be the one trying to lead us to completing the goals.

"What about finding the vampire?" I suggested.

"Let us have our field day, I'll stop by Shakes' tomorrow once I get the address of the bar and something proper to wear so we can maybe get our first lead." Flint said, waving her hoof as if trying to fan away my suggestion.

"To wear?" Stone raised a bushy brow.

"I want to surprise her, it's been awhile since we've talked." She replied in good spirits.

"Aye." Was all stone said back.

After that the two got down to business with renovating the place, doing everything from moving furniture around to simply throwing some of it out. They took sheets from rooms and swapped them with other sheets from other rooms, pillows got the same treatment. They took down the blue "abrasive" curtains and put them in a pile of the other things that they didn't like. I decided to simply sit on the couch in the living room, since it seemed to be untouched by them.

The home was simple, a kitchen and living room combined together with a hallway leading off to the left that had three doors down it. One was to the bathroom and the others to two bedrooms. It was generically painted with a few miscellaneous paintings here and there to try and provide some color, but it didn't work in the slightest.

As they finally finished, they came back to the pile of "useless" things they had found throughout the apartment and scooted them into the middle of the floor.

"Flint?" Stone said suspiciously as my curiosity rose.

"I'm doin' it, just gimme a minute." She said, tilting her horn down towards the pile of clothes, a menacing and vibrant orange circling around it.

It sort of looked like my own magical color.

'So she's teleporting the pile away? Seems a bit excessive, especially since we'll have to pay the apartment building in property damage. Though money doesn't seem to be a problem with them and I don't think they would qualify their tampering as property damage to begin with.' I thought, watching as Flint's horn charged ever more.

Suddenly, the pile began to glow orange itself as the teleportation spell reached its peak.

Well, at least that's what I thought.

The pile actually just burst into bright orange flames, flames that reached upwards and almost touched the ceiling. I felt the heat from the flames forcefully embrace me, like being held near a furnace.

I panicked.

My eyes went wide and I reeled back from the flames as I charged my own horn out of instinct; though I didn't know how to teleport. The most I could do was form a small, air tight, barrier around the flames and watch as the fire died down. What was left of the pile was nothing more than a new, black, pile of burnt wood, cloth and ash. 

I heard the maker of the flames let out a disappointed "Aww."

As I regained my senses I looked at Flint.

"Why would you do that?!" I screamed, forgetting this was my senior officer I was talking to - a general no less.

"Seemed like the best way to get rid of it." She shrugged, still calm despite my yelling.

"Burning it?!"

"Yea." She said simply.

"B-But...Why!?"

"Well, my name's Flint and flint makes fire. What'd you expect? For me to water them away?"

I couldn't believe she was talking to me like I was the crazy one here. She had just, in an attempt to get rid of something, set it on fire and watched it burn to a crisp. Not to mention that the rather large pile had burnt both easily and quickly, suggesting the heat was immense.

"You could've easily just-" I began, only to have a deep and gruff voice intervene.

"Oi, stop it you two." He did make my voice drop from screeching, but I wasn't dropping this that easily.

"What if she burnt the house down?!" I said in a louder-than-inside-voice tone.

"Pfft, it's a magical fire not an actual one. Though I could start a real one if you wanted me to."

"But-"

"Drop it both of ya', what's done is done. Either way the pile is taken care of. We can get a broom and sweep up the rest." Stone sure was being lenient to the fact she had just committed arson.

The room went quiet at the mention of sweeping.

"Maple-" Stone began.

"What?! No way, I didn't burn the pil-" I interrupted him only to have it done onto me.

"Maple! As your senior officer I'm giving you an order to sweep up my ash pile!" Flint's firm voice rang through my ears.

"That's not fair!" I said, sounding foalish.

She simply stuck her tongue out at me and trotted away.

I turned to Stone for his input, for a nod or shake of the head, but all I got was a tilt of the head to the side towards a broom and dust pan in a corner of the room.

My head hung low in defeat as my horn sparked up and brought the pan and broom towards me.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Vinyl, if you could lean your head back a little..." I requested to Vinyl, who complied by leaning her head back into my chest with a dumb smile.

"A-A bit too far Vinyl."

She pretended not to hear me. Or maybe her selective hearing was impeccable, but either way I persevered.

I found myself on the edge of my own shower with a small sponge in hoof, on my haunches, leaning in towards the stream of water coming down onto Vinyl. I was trying to not get myself wet, but it wasn't exactly working out for me. At all. How exactly I ended up in this position I wondered myself. I had began to worry when Vinyl hadn't answered me the second time at the door of the bathroom and ended up coming in against my better judgement. 

What I found was Vinyl on the floor who, when I asked her, said she had slipped.

I asked if she was okay, and she replied with:

"Can you wash me?"

I went silent at that request and just gave her this look that I could only imagine was wide eyed, a red blush that could challenge Vinyl's eyes, and my mouth in a small "o" shape. 

She, of course, wasn't phased by the awkwardness of her request and I don't even think my reaction registered in her head.

And now here I was, teetering on my hind legs scrubbing her mane with a sponge.

The process would've been far less painless if she didn't begin slowly inching forward unconsciously every time I began to actually start scrubbing. I had to ask her to scoot back every minute or so and the result was a wet patch on my chest where she would go back too far and hit me with her wet mane. She seemed more clumsy that usual, and not in the way where she was teasing me with it; she seemed genuine with it.

I decided some conversation might be a good idea to break this silence that only I seemed to mind, and I had a perfect thing to say.

"Vinyl?"

She was silent, but I went on anyways as I got under her ears and she began inching forwards again.

"Shakes stopped by awhile ago asking if you were going to be stopping by the bar later tonight for that job offer she mentioned to you."

I felt a bit offset by the thought of Vinyl being the one bringing home money for the rent of my home. Not only was rude of me since I was the owner of this apartment, but it was a bit damaging to my pride. I felt uncomfortable with reliance on somebody for something that was within my control; I felt like that took away the title of ownership from me.

"Hmm..." Was all she gave to me as a response, nothing more.

"...so do you plan on going to meet her?" I pressed.

"Maybe..."

'I guess I'll have to take her, I wouldn't feel comfortable with her going like this on her own. I don't mean to sound motherly over Vinyl, but she was about as easy to convince of doing something as a drunkard at the offer of a drink. You'd really expect vampires to be wise creatures, but I guess that only rang true with some.'

"Vinyl, could you sit back up please?" I asked again, somehow just as kind toned as the first time I had asked her to sit up.

Her reply  to my request was simple grunt of approval as her body stayed at the angle it was currently at.

"Vinyl, washing you is challenging enough as is. You leaning forwards only makes it-"

Her leaning body suddenly gave out under my scrubbing and she fell forwards onto her stomach, her chin hitting the tile floor of my shower with a bone chilling sound; she didn't seem afflicted by it however. The sudden removal of her body - which was the support for my own - sent me forwards and tumbling on top of her, into the stream of shower water.

I had been trying to avoid the inevitable "second shower" that I was bound to get when I agreed to help Vinyl wash herself off, but now that it had happened there was pretty much no reason to be upset. If anything, washing Vinyl would be a lot easier now since there was nothing to risk since my mane was already re-wetting itself.

I could only let out a sigh.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My eyes glanced up to a small clock set up on the shelf behind the bar, it was about eleven o'clock now and Vinyl still hadn't shown up. I wasn't that worried about it since she wasn't renown for being on time anyways, but that was the whole reason behind my visit to Octavia's apartment; to make sure that Octavia knew about Vinyl knowing about needing to come to the bar. She was a bit more reliable.

The bar also had a noticeable amount of ponies showing up tonight because of Vinyl supposedly coming here, so a no-show would be a bit damaging to morale.

The door swung open suddenly, letting two ponies walk into the bar that the small audience of others gasped at. One was Vinyl, the other was Octavia; one was cheery looking, the other looked tired.

They walked through the crowed like the crowd wasn't even there and made their way up to me, ignoring the quiet murmurs of the five or six who watched them with excited eyes from booths throughout the bar.

"Well, look who's here."

"Hello!" Vinyl answered joyously.

My ears perked up instantly and my eyes narrowed in on the sound of that voice. Why did she have that voice? And why did she have to be here of all places when she had that voice!

"Hello." Octavia chimed in, much less enthusiastic than Vinyl's voice.

Something about the way they looked was off.

"Are...are you two wet?" I asked, pressing a hoof onto Vinyl and feeling the dampness. I had also done that to check her body temperature, which was a bit warm if anything but not as high as it gets when she is gets hungry.

"Vinyl had...troubles in the shower." Was all Octavia said.

It went silent.

"Well, uh, that's sad to hear." I chuckled awkwardly, my eyes falling back on Vinyl.

I needed to get more information on Vinyl as soon as I could because I didn't want her loosing it in here with the small crowd of ponies and painting my new wooden flooring red - blood stains are a pain in the flank to clean, not to mention the amount of air fresheners I would have to buy. I figured Octavia was my best bet, assuming she had remembered more since this morning about last night, and I had the perfect plan to get her alone.

"Hey Vinyl, can you go in the back real quick?"

"Sure!" Vinyl responded, trotting away happily to the back of the bar.

Flawless.

I craned my head, watching until Vinyl was out of sight completely and then closed the gap with Octavia and instantly began pressing her.

"Octavia how long has Vinyl been like that?" I could tell my voice sounded desperate and in all honesty, I was.

"Like what?" She sounded halfway oblivious to my question, but she also sounded like she knew a little about what I was talking about.

"Like 'a-little-bit-too-playful' or something along those lines."

She put a hoof up to her chin in thought, her eye closing to give her face a look of strain. It was a bit disconcerting that it took this much effort to remember if Vinyl had been acting weird throughout the day. While she had her head dipped down slightly, I scanned her neck for the obvious sign of why she might not remember and sure enough, I saw them. Two small holes, hardly notable thanks to her naturally dark coat, but I spotted them out nevertheless.

"Octavia, check your neck."

She looked at me oddly at first, but then followed my instructions and probed around her neck with her hoof. I could tell when she hit the two small marks thanks to her eyes going wide like saucers.

"W-Wha-? She was beginning to look a bit panicky, but I had to know the answer about Vinyl before I could even consider helping Octavia out.

"Octavia, try and remember something about last night. Anything about why Vinyl might be a bit wonky today." I was hard pressed for time.

"Sh-She took me under the bed when I wasn't looking and...injected something. She tried doing it again but...missed somehow and ended up swallowing some herself." It took all of about three minutes for her to say those two sentences alone. But what she had said in those two sentences was enough to peak my curiosity and concern.

"Wait, ingested it herself?" I asked, I had to be sure that was what had happened.

I wasn't an expert on Vampiric anatomy by any stretch of imagination, but I did know a little bit about how they worked thanks to a bit of field work. A few select - and by few I mean few - vampires had this sort of venom that worked as a sedative to help make the feeding process on prey a much more easy thing to do. In fact, I've heard of rumors where it is somewhat like an addiction for the prey and they offer their blood willingly in exchange for getting hit up with the venom. I don't know how Vampire fangs are built but I'd assume if they held a substance similar to this 'subdue' venom then it would be fatal for the vampire to expose itself, even on a mild level, to the venom. So, the fangs would either store it in a way that it can't escape into their body, or they simply make it on demand.

If it were the case that Vinyl had taken in some of her own venom, assuming she even made venom, it would be bad. Even if it were just a few drops it could be horrible; not to mention something like a mouth full. Vampires make the venom from local stuff inside their body with the idea of injecting it into another body in mind. The immune system of the 'other body' or prey would help fight this type of drug and minimize the effects of it; I suppose that vampires made the venom with this in mind, so the 'watered down' version of the venom was just the right amount of dopey that Vampires wanted. 

If the person who made it drank it, the venom wouldn't be picked up by the immune system of the Vampire since the stuff was made locally in the first place and wouldn't do anything to minimize the effects. It would be like giving someone a really watered down drink versus a drink coming straight from the source; only the watered down version was already enough to get someone wasted.

What the end results of such a situation was, I was both curious and fearful to see.

"Yes, I think so." She sounded a bit more confident, but I was really pulling for the chance she was wrong. "Shakes you seem a bit nervous, what's the matter?"

"It's just that-" I looked at her in the eyes and saw what I could only say was fear, though it was expertly suppressed by her outward demeanor.

"Nothing." I said bluntly. It was an obvious lie, but sometimes a small lie is better than a heart straining truth. I realize how cliche it sounded, but it was still a true statement under circumstances like this.

She raised a brow at me and attempted to speak.

"Shakes, what is going on?" Her panic was now beginning to escape her facade, like the crumbling of a dam. I wanted to stay and at least give her some form of comfort, but Vinyl's situation raised too many questions and risks to leave her alone for too long. I needed to check up on her. Now.

"Look, I've gotta go get Vinyl ready for her job. You just stay here and get some rest okay? You look tired." I said, giving her the best comforting smile I could make before turning around and trotting off to where Vinyl had wandered.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


> Motivations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The walk down to the back section of the bar was probably the longest walk I had ever gone through. Vinyl was a special case in almost every regard. For starters she was a vampire that seemed to be intent on starving herself rather than succumbing to the urges provoked by instinct, quite literally going against nature. And even despite that fact - one which would more than likely weaken her exponentially - she managed to be an intimidating force to odds that almost certainly had victory. I was worried that, with this recent feeding she was doing, that she might get uncontrollable after a certain point.

Something would have to give if this kept up, and it would definitely not be her.

Now if I could only find her.

"Vinyl?" I called out, but no answer came. I remembered that I didn't give her a specific place to go when I told her to go back here and felt the urge to hit myself for not bothering to go into greater detail.

I searched from room to room, opening every door including the bathroom and storage closet. It was on the final stretch of the hallway that I noticed that the lights behind my office door were turned on. I hadn't turned them on. I trotted up to the door and opened it slowly, peaking my head in and looking around.

She was inside, sitting in one of the spinning office chairs I had on the 'visitor' side of the desk and staring off into seemingly nowhere with a tiny smirk on her face. I had often wondered if that was her default look - if she was just naturally smiling - or if she always had something to be smiling about. She was swiveling the chair from side to side and I found the corners of lips tugging up as well..

"Hey Vinyl." The way I said it could have been registered as both calling her name and as a greeting.

"Hm?" She hummed, still swiveling.

"So, listen,"

This was my first approach: talking it out. I was going to see if, by some stroke of a miracle, I could see if I could reason her into not feeding anymore. Though the first step was getting her to admit that she was feeding and then to not have her get upset at me requesting she stop. It wasn't like I was expecting her, but I knew well that she could level the building if she wanted to.

"I wanted to ask you a few things."

"About the job thing?" Her tone was curious.

"Uhm, well, sorta. I wanted to ask if you had done a bit of drinking yourself." I hoped she would get the metaphor and I hoped that I hadn't came off too sudden.

"Hmm." She put a hoof up to her chin, as if it was what allowed her to remember. "No."

A lie.

"Really? No feeding at all?" I asked casually, as if it was my first implication, while taking a seat in the chair next to her.

She stopped swiveling in her chair at the use of the word 'feeding' and I could tell she finally got the message.

"No?" She wasn't sincere in her tone and her voice was barely above a whisper; it was easy to tell with her. You could read her like a book on certain things like lying but when it came down to it she could seem like nothing but nonsense.

"Vinyl," I let out a sigh and looked at her with a bit of sympathy. And hope. "I know you've been feeding on Octavia. She knows it too and I've seen the marks on her neck."

She was silent.

"Vinyl, have you fed on her?" I normally wouldn't bother treating anyone else with this amount of care, but like I said Vinyl was a special case. If she wanted to, she could probably level this bar if she wanted. She did level a castle.

"Yeah..." She finally admitted, her ears going flat and disappointment filling her face.

She sounded more disappointed in herself than I was with her. Though I wouldn't really call it disappointed so much as unprepared on my end. I had figured she would give in one day or another, I just hadn't expected it since she had gone so long without breaking. And for all I knew, she was still unbroken in will; just not solid in mind.

"Vinyl, we both know that you can't be doing that." I felt like a mother at this point, scolding a foal for taking a cookie or something.

The room went silent after that, she seemed to be in a state of self scolding while I could only watch on in pity. Vinyl didn't waste much time feeling sorry for herself or others because of her progressive mindset, but when she was taking it out on herself or others it was always bad.

I had come to a conclusion while watching this.

"Vinyl, I don't think you should take the job. At least, not right now when you're a bit hazy in the head." I thought back on the venom theory. Was this the result?

"I know that I promised you would get it, and I still hold that promise true, but I think we can both agree that you aren't built up for it right now. I mean, think of the casualties there might be if you slip up, even a little."

She was still motionless and silent and I took that as a silent agreement, but I decided to make it clear verbally since she wasn't the best at getting metaphors. Or anything non-explicit really.

"Okay?"

"No."

It was amazing how much weight a single word could carry, but when Vinyl said 'No' I could feel myself get goosebumps. The sound of her voice wasn't dangerous like it was if she were fighting, but a different type of dangerous. Her gaze was forward at the wall, and her smile had faded away to be replaced with a stoic look. I saw her jaw clinching and her brows squinting a few seconds later - as if she were conflicting with herself. She then shook her head and seemed fine.

"Vinyl-" I tried to protest, but she apparently wasn't done.

"I'm taking the job. I have to. Tavi's worrying again; I can smell it. I can't stand it"

I was a bit, well, shaken by the statement. That voice hadn't gone away entirely, but it had shifted subtly enough to show that there was more behind her words than the venom right now. It shifted the atmosphere completely. I had known Vinyl to be selfless but the fact that her motive included 'the house smelling bad' was a bit unexpected. Not to mention her look; it was serious, and serious was something Vinyl normally didn't have. Yet, despite all this, my gut just couldn't sit right with her going on the serving floor like this.

"Vinyl, please..."

She took off her glasses and looked at me.

I had seen her without them, but they always seemed to take me off guard and they never seemed to get old. I could see why Octavia kind of 'mushed' up whenever Vinyl looked at her without her glasses on. Who wouldn't?

The look they had was one of harnessed confusion if that makes any sense, like having no idea why you're doing something or what you would get out of it, yet still going in that direction with a whole lot of motivation. Even she didn't know why she wanted to get the job so badly, even if it would help out Octavia big time; it's not like her parents wouldn't step in if they ever caught wind of her being booted to the streets.

I let out a sigh, my decision finally in my head.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So she gave you the job?" Was the first question out of my mouth as the door shut behind me.

"Yeah, she said I don't work til' a few days though." Vinyl said, trotting ahead of me.

We had arrived back at my apartment before I had worked up the nerve to ask Vinyl if she had gotten the job, she didn't seem happy on the walk home but didn't seem to be sad either. She expressed no signs of emotion, which was odd on it's own from her, but I wondered if she had been turned down and decided not to press her until we got off the streets. 

I also noticed the lack of playfulness in her voice from before, and figured that Shakes must have done something about it when she went back to talk to her. It looked like I was worried for nothing though. 

I still couldn't help but still feel a bit worried, there was still much I had to be worried about.

Vinyl seemed to pick up on this instantly with a twitch of her nose as she stopped dead in her tracks. She looked back at me and almost seemed annoyed with me, her lips turned downwards in an odd looking frown.

"What is it?" She asked out of nowhere.

"Huh?"

"Something's wrong." She added.

"W-What?" How could she know? It wasn't like she could read minds was it? Or was that also some Vampiric trait?

"You smell; what's wrong?" She was worded it so bluntly yet with concern in her voice.

"B-but I took two showers just this morning. How could I smell?"

"Come on Octy, you've got that worried smell on you again. Somethings bothering you." She said it in good spirits, but it was still a bit brash.

There were a lot of questions to raise about this claim. The first was that Vinyl could apparently smell emotion and the second was that she could tell what type of emotion it was just from the smell. She hadn't looked at me until she turned to claim to me that I was worried. And the last one was that she was correct.

I decided there was no point in not telling her. The dinner was going to happen either way so i'd be best to have Vinyl know about it.

"Well, this morning my mother stopped by and invited me to dinner at her house tomorrow night." I was a bit hesitant about telling Vinyl the issues.

Vinyl looked curious.

"Is that it?"

"Well, no. They expect me to bring a date."

"So that's it."

She turned and walked deeper into my apartment, taking her place on the couch with a content sigh. I was confused by her sudden change in attitude, but figured there was nothing wrong with it and started walking again myself.

I decided to take a seat across from Vinyl, hugging the other end of the couch in a comfortable silence.

"So when are we going?" She asked suddenly.

"W-What?" I must have misheard her.

"Well, if we're doing this whole dinner thing then I've gotta know what time it's going to be. Or do you wanna just surprise me when it's time to go?"

"We?" I asked her in shock.

"Yeah! Unless you're dating someone other than me." She smiled, though she didn't sound rhetorical in the last part of her sentence.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I was sitting on my couch alone, Vinyl was in my bedroom trotting in place. She went in there after she noticed how her fidgeting was bugging me a little; it was odd having a nocturnal pony around.

I couldn't help but let my thoughts wander. It was an old habit and it didn't even show habits of dying. Not to mention dying hard.

One of the most common of these thoughts, was of Vinyl.

After what Shakes had said I seemed to be at a revelation: that Vinyl had forcefully fed on me. Again. I knew that she, from what Shakes said, took her denial of blood very seriously and the fact that she had fed on me had me a bit concerned for her. It was somewhat stupid how I was worried if she was okay after she all but drugged me, but I couldn't help but shake the feeling something was wrong with her. I had the holes to prove it.

As worried as I was, I couldn't help but feel a little offended by the whole thing. She had done this before, and I seemed to get mad at her every time she did it. It would seem more than rational if I told someone about it, but to me it seemed like a bad thing to get angry at her and I felt offended at myself for doing it. A vicious cycle.

Another was about Shakes. I had assumed that she had something to do with the order, but how deep it ran was the new question. She had pulled out that box of hunter gear a day or two ago at the bar and I had been skeptical over it ever since. I had planned on talking to her about the gear, but I could never seem to find a convenient time to do it.

And the last one was of the dinner with my parents. Vinyl was now my date, not entirely by my choice either, and was now on a crash course to meet my parents. I guess I should have seen this as inevitable from even before the mention of the dinner to my parents, but I guess I had never even thought of my parents coming into contact with Vinyl. I wasn't sure exactly how my parents thought of filly fooling, I had never though o asking them about it, but regardless of that it was going to be a bit awkward to explain Vinyl to them.

I would imagine that they would have expected me to at least find another upper crust mare if anything, but Vinyl? Well, she wasn't exactly upper crust. I know that they want the best for me, and typically know that I know what is best for me, but they did have standards as well.

Not to mention that the single time I had talked about her to my father, he was visibly shaken by just the mention of her name and my involvement with her. His health would be seriously at risk if I told him that I was dating her.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I let out a sigh of relief, my magic releasing its grip on the broom and dust pan as they landed in the corner of the room. I had spent about all day trying to get the soot and char out of the carper and had only now just finished. I thought it would have been an easy task, I still didn't feel it was fair that I was stuck doing it though, but it looked like I was wrong.

When I had tried to sweep up the first part of ash pile, the entire structure had crumbled underneath the brooms touch and sunk down into the carpet deeper than I though possible. As a result, I was stuck getting most of the black out of the carpet by hoof and some magic.

Stone seemed to have some sympathy for me, casting the occasional glance my way that showed his feelings. He was on the couch reading a newspaper.

Flint had gone out somewhere.

When I had asked Stone where she went he said that she felt a little bit bad about how she was making me clean up all the ash, and had gone out to try and get some information on the mission in an attempt to make it up to me. He also said that she should be back any minute with her findings, if she got any.

Sure enough, she came in not but a half hour later.

"Honey, I'm home!" She was ecstatic, trotting in and putting a small, single, saddle bag on her back down onto the floor.

I didn't bother to say hello, but Stone lowered his paper.

"Aye." He grumbled.

She didn't seem that phased by our lack of enthusiasm of her return, but instead trotted over and took a seat on the couch across from stone. Though with Stone's stature they were practically right next to each other.

"So how'd the scavenge go?" Stone said, not bothering to look up from the rather small newspaper compared to his own size. It looked like the size of just a plain sheet of paper in his hooves.

"Well, bad for the most part." Her voice didn't seem to agree with what her mouth was saying, the optimism still slightly present.

She decided to continue while I took a seat on the newly cleaned space on the floor.

"I searched everywhere logical - late night businesses, asked a few street bums - but they all didn't have much of an answer."

'Logical' I thought in my head, mocking her idea of logical.

"Though, one of the bums suggested going to guards if I wanted to find someone. "

"So did you?" Stone asked.

"So I did." Flint replied.

"They were hardly any help, saying that finding a pony without some sort of valid reason wasn't permitted. Of course I couldn't tell them that we were looking for a potential killer either, that would have brought on too much attention."

"The effort wasn't worthless though; I did manage to overhear some of them talking about one of their guard stations going dark. They said that none of the guards down there where reporting in anymore."

Stone dropped his paper at the sound of that.

"So you went?" He asked, sounding more and more critical the farther Flint went on about her search for information.

"Yeah, I thought that maybe the reason it had went dark was because Vinyl Scratch had attacked them and then escaped the city; that we had been found out."

"And what did you find?" I jumped in. Flint's face twisted a little bit n discomfort as she began to speak again.

"Well, when I went over there I did find the guards."

"So that was a dead end too?" Stone asked, leaning forwards.

"In a way. The guards I all found were near dead when i got there." She sounded sad about it, her optimism had faded.

"What?" I asked, shaken by the claim.

"They were scattered around the station; two out near the gate, one near the door to the guard house and the last one I found in the broadcasting room. Looked like he was try send out a message before whoever it was got them. But one thing they all had in common was the blood scattered around them."

We were all dead silent as she spoke.

"Find anything else while you were there? Stone asked, his tone matching his name.

"Yes."

She took a shaky breath.

"I took a look at their bodies. The first thing I looked for was any cuts or signs of what weapon whoever did it was using. I didn't find any cuts, but I did find puncture wounds. Each of them had two fang marks on their neck, obvious sign of vampires."

"Vinyl Scratch?" I suggested.

"Not likely, the guards around Canterlot may not look like it, but they can definitely hold their own against one of them. It would've had to have been a group of many to over power all of them." Stone said sagely, though Flint seemed to have more to say.

"That's what I thought too, but when I looked at the one in the broadcasting room I found something else."

Me and Stone were listening intently.

"The stallion in the broadcasting room was sending out a message before whoever it was got him and it looked like he finished the message, but never managed to send it." She began.

"The letter described the situation leading up to it all. Why this stallion would feel the need to write out the entire summary of the night was beyond me, but it was helpful for me. Maybe he knew he wouldn't make it and made the letter for someone to find."

"It said that it was single figure that wore a cloak and came from the outside of the gate. Said that the voice of the figure confirmed it was a mare. They also noted that she was attempting to enter the city to 'find Vinyl Scratch'. They denied her entry because she didn't have any papers and that's when she decided to attack them. There isn't much talk of how she got to all of them, and that's where the letter ends."

We were all in shocked silence.

"So it was one vampire?" I stammered.

"Aye." Stone said gravely. "But why is a vampire after another one?"

"Not sure, but one thing is certain," Flint joined in, her voice almost boiling with a hatred that was indirect.

"Is that we aren't the only ones after Vinyl Scratch."
> First Impressions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"What do you mean, 'aren't the only ones'? Who else would be after her?" I asked.

It was, of course, logical that anyone could be after her for the exact same reasons we were, but the least they could have done is been clean about it. Barging into the city to kill monsters was one thing, but beating down the ones who defend that city to do so is another. Not to mention that it was apparently another vampire that was doing it, which to seemingly all of us was something borderline unheard of.

"No idea. The fact it's a vampire makes it even more odd." Flint mumbled, her moment of rage finally simmering down.

"A rouge?" Stone suggested.

"Possibly. Maybe Vinyl Scratch's audience wasn't too specific when it came to whatever it was she did to get so much attention from us." Flint mused.

"Not that I think it, but it coulda been a rouge hunter as well. I know of some arrows of other Orders that have tips shaped like crescent moons that could look like fang marks if you stabbed someone with 'em. I believe that it was the Manehatten section who was fond of 'em." Stone added in, thinking of all possibilities.

I had never seen, heard or even thought about Vampires hunting each other. I had heard of them having scuffles over whether the prey they caught was their's or not but never something as extreme as 'hunting' one another. I assumed that the way this worked was something along the lines of teams; it was us, The Order, versus them, the Vampires. Though I guess every team has its traitors, but from what Stone and Flint were saying they were guessing that this was more of a wild and individual hunter. And based off of what it did to a few trained Canterlot guards, it could spell trouble for both us and Vinyl Scratch.

Whoever it was, it was clear that they really wanted to get Vinyl. Almost as much as we did.

"Anyways," Stone continued. "find anything else while you were at it?"

"Yep." Flint seemed to cheer up a little.

"I did a bit of digging around in the guard station when they weren't looking and went through this section of Canterlot's event history. Found a report filed on the destruction of a bar not too far away from here which just happens to have what I'm looking for."

"What you're looking for?" I asked, wishing for some elaboration.

"Yep, turns out Shakes' bar recently got beat up pretty bad and she had to fix it up. Also looks like the bar had a change of management recently, but I couldn't find anything on the previous owner though." She said, a bit depressed on the last part. I was a bit curious about it.

"I can probably meet up with her tomorrow night before it closes down, but sleep should come as a first priority to us right now." She was sage in her tone and got the nod of Stone's approval.

I didn't really have much of a choice in the decision but I would've agreed anyways.

As it turns out, they hadn't really thought much about sleeping inside the apartment and, as a result, we only had two beds and the couch. None of us seemed to keen on using it and they both were definitely getting a bed.

"I'd offer ya a place in mine, nothing personal of course, but my size doesn't seem to like the idea of sharing beds." Stone said with a small chuckle, though I could tell his offer was genuine.

We both looked over to Flint.

Silence.

"What?" She asked, oblivious to what we were expecting. I didn't plan on taking it any further than that and just settling on the couch for the night, but it looked like Stone had other plans.

"Care to offer our team mate a place to rest that ain't the floor?" Stone asked.

"You mean you want me to share beds with her?" Flint asked. I couldn't quite make out whether her tone was insulting or genuine, but I decided to let it pass.

"Aye." Stone nodded.

She was silent for a while, but soon enough a big smile formed on her face.

"Sure! I haven't shared a bed since academy days!" The way she worded it made it sound like she was doing this more so for the memories of academy days than she was for me having a comfortable place to sleep at night, but I didn't care. All I knew was that I wasn't on the couch tonight and that she was okay with that.

We walked back down a rather narrow hallway, though that may have just been because Stone was ahead of us and his sides would brush the sides of the hallway if her moved too far in a single direction.	 Mean while me and Flint walked side by side behind him and I couldn't help myself from glancing over and looking at the excited look on her face while she dreamed about something.

We eventually split into the two doors opposite from each other in the narrow hallway; Stone going into the left one while me and Flint turned right into our own.

The room was nothing special, about as standard as I could imagine them coming, but the important thing I looked at was the bed. Though I found myself waiting for Flint to lay down first for some reason. I guess it was mostly out of both respect and manners that she got to lay down first, since it was technically her room.

She looked around the room a little, poking around at smaller things like wood carvings on the night stand and the sheet colors of the bed before finally managing to lay down. I think it was about 15 minutes she spent just prodding at things.

Either way, I found myself laying down on the bed beside her - keeping as much distance between me and her - and curling up underneath the covers.

It wasn't long until blinking became a task, one that kept getting harder the long I persevered. My eyes eventually closed up for the last time for the next few hours.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My eyes jolted open and I vaguely made out the sound of my own breath catching.

I was slow to look up, a horrid crick in my neck making itself known to me as my eyes began to focus. My surroundings were unfamiliar to me and I found myself scanning around, only to find out I was actually in my living room. I guess I had fallen asleep on the couch.

I looked around a bit more, my eyes drifting to a pair of closed curtains that had a dim orange light shining through them. The sun must just now be rising, which meant that I had only gotten a few hours of sleep. Though I guess that didn't matter, I still had nothing else to do today except worry about the upcoming dinner tonight.

Hoofsteps shook me from my thoughts and my head turned to the left to see Vinyl emerging from the bathroom. She gave a glance my way before smiling and trotting over.

"Morning Vinyl." I greeted, though I could hardly say it sounded the way I wanted it to.

"Hey Tavi." She said curtly, a small yawn breaking the warmth of her smile before it returned once more. She lifted a hoof up and rubbed her eyes as well.

I guess she was on her way to bed.

"You look a bit tired Vinyl." Was all I said, mechanically, though she didn't pick up on it.

"Yeah, just a little. I was gonna sleep in your room if that's okay." She said. It sounded like she actually wanted my permission to sleep.

"Of course." I nodded, watching as she turned an began to make her way back. 

Normally she would slip onto the couch and use me as a pillow or blanket when she slept, but she made no signal of doing so. I guess it was because of the feeding frenzy she had done and that she was now "scolding" herself by sleeping separate from me. Of course, she could be doing this as insurance that she doesn't feed on me as well; by distancing herself from me, waiting until I was awake to go to sleep - it was all rather thoughtful of her, but not normal of her.

I could hear her hoofsteps as she made her way to my room before the door shutting gently cut off the extent of my morning hearing.

After that it was dead silent.

Believe it or not, but Vinyl was probably the cause for most of the drama in my apartment; a fact that I have many takes on. The biggest thing that she has done is brought "color" in this house in the form of action. Whether or not it be good or bad action, it was still a good break from what I had become accustomed to during my years living in this very apartment. However, this was also the downside to the same point. The action she brought was never guaranteed to be good and in fact almost never was. Regardless of what it was, I had a sort of respect for the change in atmosphere she would bring to places when she got there.

That same atmosphere might very well make my parent's night go wrong.

My day seemed to tick on at the speed of paint drying, though I guess literally it would have been even slower than that. The biggest event of it had consisted of using the bathroom and making some tea. Both of which I tried to drag out for longer than what they would normally taken, but I always found myself realizing it was pointless.

Though, slow as it went, the day did indeed go.

The sun made its way upwards, hung there, then came back down which is where I currently was; about sun-down as the last bit of light began to disappear from view..

Vinyl would be getting up soon, which also meant we would be leaving for my parents house soon.

During my day I had found my inner self arguing about the hole 'dinner' predicament, one side saying that lying to my parents would have been better than showing them a potentially disappointing truth while the other side said the opposite. In the end, I took an aspirin.

I heard a bit of a shuffle come from the hall, and figured it was Vinyl finally awake.

"Hey Tavi!" The sound behind her voice proved that a good night's rest was all it took to reset her.

"Good evening Vinyl, did you sleep well?" That question was odd for a number of reasons that I thought to be pretty obvious. Then again, most things would sound odd out of context.

"Great!" She said excitedly, her smile wide. I got a glimpse of her small canines when she did it, but it was easily out-shadowed by her smile.

She let out a small yawn to show her discomfort of getting up so late. Or was this early for her? I had no clue what her sleep schedule was now that I thought about it. She seemed to sleep through the night just as much as she would sleep through the day with the curtains drawn.  Sometimes I'd even have to draw them for her or risk her going in the sunlight, which I still had no more idea of what would happen other than what she had told me.

This wasn't the time for that however, I had other things to attend to. Specifically, one dinner with my parents.

"Vinyl...are you sure you wish to accompany me to meet my parents? I'm sure they would understand if I just told them that whole dating thing was a rumor." It seemed desperate to try and squirm my way out of it now, but I found myself doing it.

"But...we're dating right?" She sounded on the verge of tears. She sounded confused by my question. She sounded like she was hurt by it.

I guess everyone has feelings.

"I - Y-yes, but -  they don't quite think that you are who I'm dating." I stammered. I really didn't want her to be sad or upset with me just before this.

"Well, then how else will they learn that it is me?" She had a fairly good point and I found myself struggling to come up with an answer. 

She didn't seem to quite wrap her head around the point I was making about my parents now knowing that I was a filly fooler, but it also seemed pointless to attempt and explain anything to her as it would only result in her feelings being hurt.

I sighed.

"I guess we'll need to leave soon..."

Her face lit up at my words, her ears even going to the extent to stand at attention. She smiled childishly at me, though she seemed to have a comment.

"No need to rush, I can just teleport us there, Tavi." She offered.

'Could she teleport us there without actually knowing where it is?' I found myself thinking before shaking the thought away.

"I'd rather walk." That way I could think of a plan.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


It seemed like the nights had been even colder recently, the temperature of the pavement and the fact my breath visualized itself before me after I left my apartment was more than enough proof of that. I sort of hunched myself into myself in an attempt to keep warm, finding my shoulders reaching up to my jaw line and my face clinching tightly.

Vinyl apparent found that quite amusing and let out a giggle.

I shot her a glance and she only stifled her laughter before letting out a bit more.

She showed that she cared though, walking a bit closer to me so that at least one of my sides was warmed. I found that she was a rather good source of heat, and I ended up unconsciously etching a bit closer to her in an attempt to keep warm on the walk to my parents home. She didn't seem to mind it, and the few times I looked over at her she seemed to be swaying her head back in forth to a rhythm I couldn't hear with a dopey grin on her face.

Before I knew it I found myself at the gate of my parents home, the darkness serving to only make the lights off in the distant building make the home look rather large.

"Wow." Was all Vinyl could mutter as she looked at the home.

I found myself nervous yet calm, smiling at Vinyl's awe as I cast a glance to the buzzer for the gate. The last bit of reluctance fled from my body at that moment, giving me more room to worry, and I broke free from Vinyl's presence and made over to the gate. The buzzer crackled to life as I pressed a small button and then let go.

"Octavia? Is that you?" I could make out my mothers voice through the loud crackles.

I pressed once more. "Yes Mother."

"Oh! Come in, come in!" She said joyously before a loud crackle came through the speaker and I heard the latch of the gate unlock.

I trotted back over to Vinyl and stood at her side, catching a brief glance of her curious face as she studied the gate while it opened. I nudged her forwards and she began to slowly pedal forwards, through the gate and up the winding path to my parent's door.

The walk to the door seemed oddly calm for me, I didn't feel scared as I had earlier. I found myself smiling as I thought back on the memories of Vinyl, a mare that I had only met a few months ago, and just how she had changed my life so drastically. It was similar to how ponies had described what happens before death - how memories of their life flash through their eyes.  Though mine was much slower.

I felt a nudge from Vinyl and shook the thoughts from my head and looked to her. She nodded forwards.

We were at the door.

She had stopped just before the light of the windows hit her directly, about twenty feet or so if I had to guess. I gave her another brief glance, in which she gave me a warm and reassuring smile, before walking forwards and placing my hoof up to the door. I hesitated, gulped, then gave the door a solid three knocks.

I only got about two in before my mother whipped open the door, a spark of anxiousness and joy in her eyes.

"Octavia!" She cried joyously before moving wrapping me up in a hug that knocked the breath out of me.

She held the hug for about five seconds before releasing me and looking into my eyes deeply, her smile wide enough to make me question if she was sane or not.

"Sooo..." She began.

"Where is he at?" She asked.

I turned my head about halfway backwards, about half of it facing my mother while the rest was looking back at where Vinyl had sort of slinked away into the shadow; hiding behind a small pillar that was at the start of the stairs up to the door. Was she nervous?

I finally saw Vinyl emerge enough to be seen, giving an enthusiastic wave, putting her entire body into the greeting, and putting on her best smile.

I felt a sheepish smile creep across my face as I turned my gaze back to my mother, the look on her face turning from excited to confused and then a bit sheepish herself.

"Oh my..." She whispered.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My mother let us into our home's lounge, she made sure to hold the door and eye Vinyl heavily once she passed by her. She didn't make a comment - not to me or even herself under her breath - but it was fair to say that she was making plenty of internal comments. Her face didn't suggest it either, she even managed a small smile, but I could see through that just as well as she could see through my own stoic gazes.

She shut the door silently just as Wilfred walked into the room humming softly with clothes folded over his back.

"Ms. Melody, a pleasure to see you as always." He smiled, using the way of talking he used around my mother to show his professionalism. I noticed he was taking note of Vinyl.

"And you brought a guest as well." He smiled. There was no bitterness in his tone and I appreciated him for that.

The room went silent, save for a gentle tune from Wilfred as trotted off into the dining room and began to set out the silver ware and napkins in a sort of rhythm.

My mother still stared at Vinyl intently while the mare she was watching obliviously let her gaze wander around the room in amazement, her mouth actually agape as she took in just the lounge of my parent's home. My mother then cast her gaze over to me and jerked her head in a "come here" fashion.

I obliged and began to walk over, until I was saved by the sound of Wilfred ringing the dinner bell.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I stood at the bar, clinking a few glasses together as I cleared them off of the counter. There had a been a few more customers than usual and I blamed it on Vinyl's agreement to work here, but I couldn't risk her working here right now. I had to let her little "spell" pass before I could even think of letting her get a job interacting with a lot of ponies in rapid succession.

I heard the front door to the bar open up behind me and and the sound of hoofsteps coming in.

"Bar's closed. May as well head home." I said curtly. 

"Is that how you greet your old friends?"

I felt my body freeze up and my eyes go wide. 

I looked up slowly to see an ash colored mare with a distinct mane about her, she had a smug smile on her face as she walked further into the bar. She had a small cowl surrounding her body, the hood folded backwards but the rest of her body was covered from neck to just above her hoof.

"W-Why..." I was at a lack of words at her sudden appearance in my bar,  my stomach was twisting in knots to the point where it felt like someone had just punched me in the gut.

General Flint Steel; heavily renown field solider and the general of offensive tactics. She gained her reputation through the use of magically induced fire used to bake the enemy alive, resulting in a bunch of horrible nicknames centered around fire, though there were a few good ones. She had a tendency to get worked up about things, which resulted in her burning almost all of them to nothing more than ash - which she would also burn for awhile. Her history involving me is one that I would rather forget, and have tried to for a while.

But why the hell was she here?

"Well, I just came to pop in and say hello, see what you were up to." She chuckled, leaning onto the bar counter to look me in the eyes with no reluctance.

"Get out."  I said firmly.

She put her hoofs up in the air.

"Woah, woah. No need for the hostility." She said, coming back down to lean in close to me. "I think we both know why I am here."

The only reason I could think she was in Canterlot was that there was a contract; and a big one. Most contracts get settled by grunts and sometimes captains, only the biggest threats even get to have a general look into them. The reason I'm guessing is to cut back on property damage; the generals weren't too big of fans of "leading by example" of what most Hunters get trained to act like.

"I've got a contract. Well; Me, Stone, and some other mare do at least."

My eyes widened again.

Stone as well? Last time I heard, sending more than one general on a mission was overkill. Her voice called me back to her statement.

"And I need some help finding them."

I remained silent, glaring daggers at her.

"I need help finding Vinyl Scratch." She said slowly.

I couldn't help my eyes from widening, something that she picked up on instantly thanks to the fact she'd been looking into the for the duration of the conversation to pick up on things like this..

"You know something." She said quickly.

"I know she's trouble." I said curtly, determined not to say more.

We stared hard at each other for a few moments before she closed her eyes and chuckled lightly.

"Alright, alright. I can see that you need some time to think about my offer."

The word 'offer' wasn't quiet what I'd call this.

She got up from the bar and turned, making it only a few steps before stopping and turning to me again with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Almost forgot to tell you the offer." Her fake, playful tone was lined with intention.

"You can either help me and Stone bring in this 'Vinyl Scratch' together and she can live and be a prisoner." Her eyes narrowed into slits.

"Or you can watch me drag the body out of town."

Shivers went down my spine as I knew that she could probably make good on that promise. I knew that Vinyl was nothing to mess with, but the spot of general wasn't simply hoofed out to just any soldier. Flint was a debatable case to call fit for the spot so it'd be understandable to send her on this kind of thing, but if Stone was working on it as well then it meant that this was serious.

Her voice shook me back to reality.

"I expect an answer by tomorrow. That's when we make the first move."

And with that she walked out, leaving me with a horrible decision to make.
> Assumptions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Silver platters were spread across the table in a coordinated fashion, each of them varying in size with different sets of silverware sat around them. The table wasn't very large - the actual dining table was somewhere deeper in my parent's  home - and as a result was filled in every place possible with something to eat other than the seats where we would be sitting.

There were four seats all together around the table, which only ran about twenty feet from front to back. Mother took a seat on one side while I took the end of the table. Vinyl took the seat across from my mother, leaving the head of the table open for whenever my father was going to arrive. A good play on Vinyl's part, but maybe she just wanted to sit close to me to be as comfortable as possible.

My mother still stole the occasional glance across the table to Vinyl, despite her attempts to hide it, but otherwise managed to refrain herself. I was beginning to think that these glances weren't judgmental ones in the slightest, but more of curious ones; it was only natural she be curious in the date I had brought, regardless of gender. A mare just threw her off.

The room was relatively silent as well all sat there, the sound of some stumbling around in the back from my parent's chefs working to prepare some kind of second course if it were to be required. My mother looked at Vinyl still, silently judging her actions while the mare under observation was oblivious to it. 

She was enraptured by her reflection in the silver platter.

A voice finally broke the silence.

"The mister will be in shortly to join us; he is just spiffing himself up." Wilfred chimed, standing in the door way of the dinning room.

That was the code for "father was filling out some paper work" around the house, something only used when guests where around.

"He has asked that you not hesitate on his arrival to begin dinner." Wilfred continued, moving to take the covers off the platters, but mother stepped in.

"Nonsense, we will eat as a family." Her voice said that she had not made up her mind on Vinyl, which was understandable.

If I had to guess mothers current assessment of Vinyl, it would come in two sections with two still missing. 

The first was appearance, which for Vinyl would be highly questionable for her since this was a first impression dinner. 

The second was actions, which right now was Vinyl leaning close to the platter then backing her head away with the occasional funny face; so that could go anywhere right now, but I hope it was an innocent impression at the least.

The third one would be etiquette, which I knew Vinyl wouldn't excel at, but she wouldn't pass with flying colors either. She wouldn't know what spoons were which - I didn't bother with them either - and probably wouldn't be that impressive manner wise either. She could still keep it modest though, I was confident in that much.

The last, and the one that carried the most weight, was stance; Vinyl's opinions on things. This was the one that I had no idea on, as Vinyl's thoughts on current issues were a total blank to me. Did she even know about current issues? Probably not. And even if she did, what would she think about them.

I knew my mother well though, and she wouldn't start a conversation to judge somepony without a second - neutral - opinion to compare to; which in this case was father. We were safe until he got here.

Though that wouldn't be forever.

Sure enough, the sound of vaguely heavy hoofsteps came from outside the room and my father walked in.

He had a friendly look about him in general, and still did, with a faint smile and a sort of 'pep' about him. He was levelheaded and probably the smartest pony I knew when it came to ethical and moral choices; his opinions matched mine is probably the best way to describe it.

"Sorry all, it wasn't my intention to stall your dinner." He said almost sheepishly. He had a knack for acting.

He trotted over and took his seat, finishing the action with a content sigh.

This was when he finally took notice of the unknown mare sitting at our table.

"Oh my, not sure how I missed that." He chuckled, looking at Vinyl. 

"And who are you?" He asked gently.

Vinyl opened her mouth to answer, but my mother was quick to interrupt. I wasn't sure whether or not it was on purpose or not.

"That would be Octavia's date." Her tone was slate, no side reflected in her voice.

My dad was the coolest stallion I knew and not in the sense of him being interesting. He simply acted well under pressure, regardless of the amount, and for that I respected him immensely. He went along with whatever happened as if it where all an elaborate set up to some great puzzle; like everything happened because it would come together at some point to make perfect sense.

A good example of this would be the way he reacted to being told Vinyl - a mare - was my date.

He didn't hesitate in his reply to the statement; his attitude didn't change, his body didn't fidget, his smile didn't falter, his breath didn't catch and not even his eyes moved to show any sort of rejection or acceptance to the claim. Not even his sense of humor fled the room.

"Well it's good to see that I'm staying stallion of the house this evening. I'm sure I'd lose if I had any competition." He said chuckling.

My mother and I didn't laugh at all, not even a snicker. My mother did it because of her seriousness and me out of nervousness.

Though one pony did.

Vinyl let out a chuckle that was just loud enough for all of us to hear. Her laughter was genuine and it got a look from my father, who seemed pleasantly surprised that he had an audience for his jokes and let out a bigger smile to show it.

Well played Vinyl.

My father clapped his hooves together and Wilfred came in along with two other - a mare and another stallion - who served as personal assistance to my mother and father.

It was originally thought that I would be living with my parents for most of all of my life until I took over as head of the house, therefore my parents hired Wilfred to be my personal aid just as they had hired their own. However, I left the home to become more independent and self reliant, so Wilfred's job was in question despite being just as important as my parents in my upbringing through foal hood. 

He had grown on my parents over quite the span of years; long enough that I was able to watch his mane go from a flawless, dark brown to a lighter shade that was streaked with slivers of grey. My father said it was stress that had him look so much older so fast, and that he was in fact still quite young. But he ended up getting to stay with my parents and help with chores around the house.

I found out that he soon became my father's second opinion on things thanks to their similar life views and that my father gave his first assistant to my mother so that she could get a stallion and a mare opinion on clothing.

They trotted around setting out of all the silverware for dinner in a complex fashion that I could never understand the ordering for.

They placed a single plate in front of us a perfect inch from the table, followed soon by two forks of different sizes placed on the left of the plate with a napkin to finish the left side. A knife was place on the right, blade facing the plate, followed by a spoon and a single knife. They took care to place a single glass filled with water directly above the spoon, followed by a glass of wine to the direct right of that glass.

Vinyl looked perplexed at the sight of red wine and seemed to study it with an odd intensity. Did she think it was blood?

They then removed the tops of the silver platters, much to Vinyl's sadness at seeing her reflection disappear. 

Maybe I could get her a warped mirror for her birthday. Speaking of which, when was that? Or better yet, how old was Vinyl anyways?

I was drawn back to attention as they all finished removing the platter's tops in sync, as if it were a routine that they practiced regularly. It probably was.

The platters were all filled with extensive amounts of salads and vegetables prepared in all sorts of ways I hadn't even thought possible. My parents have an unnatural love for salad, which I guess is where I got my like for the dish from, but nobody made it quite like they did. My mother actually liked to partake in the creation of it so the chefs got it just right.

They gave an expectant look to father, whom nodded, before turning and taking their leave out of the room. Most likely going to their break room.

As soon as they had left, we all turned back to the table; half the occupants of the dining hall with flat looks and the other half with faint smiles that never seemed to fade unless things were truly worrying.

"Dig in" My father said, already making a move for a bowl of vegetable soup.

My parents may have had butlers and maids, but they still liked to do things themselves; like preparing their own dinner.

We all began to slowly gather our select vegetables with the small talk of asking someone else for a bowl just out of reach. 

I noticed Vinyl refrained from use of her magic. Maybe out of note of the fact that she was surrounded by earth ponies, but I had noted that she tended to do things in a harder way than normal; getting a stool to reach the top shelf just like I did, getting up to go get things rather than using levitation, even choosing to walk places rather than teleporting.

We finally had everything gathered - we ll had just about one of everything so our meals all looked vaguely similar - and my father finally made a move for a utensil. That we the signal we could do so ourselves.

I took a fork, not really caring which one I grabbed, and slowly began to eat at the silent table. Everyone else seemed to follow the same path as me, until my father's unnatural dislike for silence at the dinner table got the best of him.

"So Octavia," He began.

I nearly jerked at the sudden break of tension.

"Y-yes?" I stammered only slightly.

"I heard you lost your orchestral position. Such a shame." He was genuine with his care.

"Not too much, I had hardly been going to practice as of late anyways." I said nervously. My mother loathed me not going to practice with a passion.

"And why is that?" My mother asked with a raised brow. I knew this question was coming, yet still couldn't find a way to lie to my mother, though it seemed I didn't have to.

"That was my fault." Vinyl said apologetically.

We all seemed a bit shocked by her sudden intrusion, though I was heavily thankful and my mother even more curious. My father seemed to have regarded the fact and stared at Vinyl heavily for a moment as if he had seen her from somewhere, a little strain to try and remember flickering in his eyes, though he shrugged a moment later and gave up on his attempt.

"Yeah, I kind of messed up her practice a lot. I don't know much about music, but I know that it takes a lot of time to get where she was. I guess I was a bit too needy." She said, sounding saddened.

Lies.

All of it.

She hardly messed up my practice, if anything she had helped me get there more than a few times. Even more of a lie was about her lack of knowledge in music; she had ears that could pick up the smallest fluctuation or difference in the intended tone for any piece I could play as if she herself had written the piece herself. She also could play the piano well enough to beat both Fredric and a unicorn whom had devoted most their life into the practice in an almost disturbingly easy manner. Not to mention she had done that while she looked like she hadn't slept in days.

Speaking of that, thank goodness they didn't recognize her from that. I assumed that was where my father was trying to remember her from, but I've found that Vinyl has a way of being forgettable if she wants to.

My mother looked a bit sorry for her and was quick to speak.

"Oh don't be saddened dear. Another thing about music is that you almost can't forget how to do it." She sounded sympathetic, but her intentions were still the same as before.

Vinyl smiled a little bit.

My mother juggled the conversation a bit longer.

"So, Octavia, does your companion here have a job?" It was odd she would ask me that, or ask that all frankly, but I guess it was because she could tell if I was lying to her.

My father's eyes flickered up from his soup that he was blowing on and stared at me with small curiosity as well, making me get choked up on an excuse.

"Nothing."

My mothers eyes went wide and turned on a swivel back to the source of the voice who was currently prodding at vegetables. I was just as shocked as her to hear Vinyl answer the question without a second thought, not to mention honestly as well.

"N-Nothing?" My mother stammered.

"Nope, not a thing." Vinyl repeated to my mother happily, not bothering to look up from her plate as she smiled while pushing her vegetables around. This wasn't going well.

The room was silent.

"Um, why, might I ask, have you not had a job?" My mother's tone was critical and I could tell that she was judging Vinyl heavily on this response.

"I kinda stopped working once I met 'Tavi?" Vinyl blabbered on, no hesitation to reveal the rather bad sounding situation.

My father giggled before muttering 'Tavi' to himself and going back to his soup.

My mother's gaze hardened at Vinyl, her eyes squinting and her pupils narrowing at her to show her dislike of Vinyl. Her face somewhat twisted into a grimace, though it looked like I was the only one who noticed.

My mother was a very kind and loving mare, but she would turn into just the opposite at the mention of somepony doing me wrong. I appreciated it, but this was much more complicated than what she though. They didn't know I had let her into my home as payment for Vinyl saving my life, nor did they know that Vinyl had already planned in advanced to give her job away to Shakes. Vinyl also knew she couldn't tell my parents this, so why was she digging her grave so eagerly?

The table began to fade back to silence as we all ate, I myself hardly eating at all while Vinyl hadn't even ate anything.

"You don't seem to be eating anything dear." My mother said dryly at the notice of Vinyl's lack of apatite.

"I don't really like veggies." She said with a giggle and a sheepish look.

That probably just put her on my mother's 'kill' list.

"How can you tell with those thick glasses on? I'd imagine you could barely see anything with them." My mother said, not insultingly, just genuinely.

My father nodded.

Vinyl let out another chuckle as her hoof found her way to the back of her neck.

"I, uh-" She stammered. It seems even she was at a loss on this one. I felt the compulsion to help her out in someway, but what was I to say? She was highly sensitive to light? Well, I suppose that would have worked if I had been so clever to think of it in time.

Vinyl cast her glance to me, mother and then to father and finally back to me. She looked stressed, but gulped and started going up for her glasses, sliding them off slowly. She set the piece of plastic down on the table and seemed to shrink under our gazes as both me and mother looked on intensely for different reasons.

I heard my mother gasp.

A familiar red filled my gaze, the wine next to me not even coming close in comparison of beauty and color to Vinyl's eyes. They were practically sparkling with emotions of all shapes and sizes, and we seemed to pick up on that. It was a sight that truly never got old.

She fidgeted under the attention.

"...My..." My mother whispered.

The room was silent, the only sound being of my father asking Vinyl for some salt as if the eyes weren't visible to him. I noticed that he hadn't bothered to look at them, his food was more important. Vinyl happily obliged, the request probably being a breath of fresh air from our prying eyes, and hoofed him the salt; at which he gave her a casual thank you while my mother and I were left awestruck.

However, his thank you ended rather shortly as he hit a mysterious brick wall.

"Oh my." He began, coming to a realization. "I can't believe we could have forgotten something so common and simple." He turned to Vinyl.

"What's your name Miss? I just realized we hadn't even shared names and here we are eating together." He seemed embarrassed of himself.

Now I would have normally made a move to stop this exchange, as it was the main fear of the night, but I found myself equally as hypnotized as my mother as we stared at Vinyl's eyes. Words seemed muddled to me, and I only managed to snap back to reality as the words left Vinyl's mouth as casually as ever.

"Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch."

The room finally went completely quiet as my father's silverware 'clinked' with his bowl.

There was something about seeing my father grow cold and panicked that sent shivers down my spine; it was like seeing something that you had assumed to be unbreakable for many years suddenly crack. All my life I had never seen him fret, panic, or even sigh in distaste over anything but the two times the name "Vinyl" had come up with him and it was beginning to truly scare me.

Though this time it was much scarier than the first, and I'm guessing it was because talking about something that worries you is much different than seeing it up close and personal.

His eyes seemed to dim at the mention of her name, and I was worried he would tell her to leave and never come back, but he simply slumped back in his chair as a darkness seemed to sweep around him and cover his eyes from view. It took him a bit longer, but he eventually got up from the table and left without a word.

"Dear?" Mother questioned with worry, getting half way out of the table before turning back to me with a look that I couldn't quite make out. We locked eyes for a split second before she trotted hastily out the door my father had stumbled out of.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

.
The silence was overwhelming after they had both left; Vinyl had sunk down in depression while I could only mull over how horribly this was going. I wanted nothing more than to make my parents happy, but I also wanted them to be happy for me. Rather than me simply trying to impress them, they could be impressed by me simply doing what I would've done naturally. I had operated like this for awhile, acting on my own whims, and having them judge those whims.

Though now it seemed that might have back fired.

"Tavi, I don't think your dad likes me." Vinyl sighed, her eyes cast down at the plate where she had done nothing but move the contents of it. It was hard not to pick up the depression in her tone.

I wasn't too sure either, but I couldn't say that to her. Actually, I wasn't quite sure what to say after my father wordlessly got up and left after Vinyl gave him her name.

"I'm sure he... just... had to use the bathroom." I said with a distinct lack of truth.

She seemed to honestly believe me.

"Well...I hope he's okay. His eyes got all weird looking and I think I saw him sweating a little." She commented, now concerned for my father's digestive system and its safety.

I felt compelled to find my parents and talk to them. Vinyl had done nothing more than be honest - despite lying for me a little bit - and said her name. This was no way to treat a guest and I especially wouldn't stand for it if it were Vinyl. I was determined to find my parents and tell them a little story.

"Vinyl." I said firmly. I assumed she could hear it too as she bolted to attention at the sound of my voice.

"Huh?"

"I'm going to go see if thy're okay. Will you be fine by yourself for a little while?" I felt a bit silly sounding like a caretaker, but she nodded meekly and I got up myself.

I turned and trotted to the door, running into Wilfred on the way out.

"Miss Melody, are you too going to the study?" He asked.

Perfect, now I knew where they were.

"Yes, I am."

He seemed concerned.

"Very well. Will you be needing anything?" He asked diligently.

I turned back towards the dinner table and saw Vinyl sitting there by herself obediently. Her head had sunken down far enough that her nose was level with the table and she had a droopy and depressed look in her eyes. She must have felt like this was her fault somehow.

"Actually Wilfred, I think I do have a small request." I mused.

His eyes widened in anticipation.

"Of course."

"Keep Vinyl company please." I said.

To his credit he only hesitated for a moment before nodding and turning towards the dinning hall. I watched him long enough to see him sit down at one of the chairs at the table. Vinyl's eyes looked up like a small dog would, her head unmoved but her eyes filled with a new emotion that wasn't sadness.

And that was good enough for me.

I turned and walked on, my parents now my target.
> Decisions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The further I went into my parent's home the more I began to resent the way they reacted. I still couldn't understand my father's my reaction to Vinyl, which was something I aimed to find out at the end of all this, but my mother's reactions were just plain rude. She was normally tolerant and outgoing to everyone, but tonight she seemed rather edged. I guessed that it was because of Vinyl's appearance and gender, but that shouldn't reflect her treatment as a well behaved guest.

My steps seemed to become  louder and the  halls began to get darker. I seemed to be focusing intently on how I would go about dealing with my parents and it didn't seem to end well in most of my imagined scenarios. I trashed the 'too good to be true' ones as well for obvious reasons.

I began to feel something entirely foreign to me.

I think I was angry at my parents.

I had never been mad at them as I had never had a reason to be. They had always been kind and supportive and it was almost sickening how much I remembered about them being that way.

I finally reached the study, my head raising up from the tilted position it had been in as I walked down the halls in thought.

I heard vague voices from the inside; loud enough that I didn't even have to stick my ear up to the door to hear them.

"...run out like that?" The voice was my mother's.

"Dear, that mare is nothing but trouble to anything she comes into contact with. I knew that Octavia had come into contact with her, in fact that mare has actually done a great amount of good for her, but I had never imagined that it had progressed to this." This voice was my father's, ragged.

"So why are you so panicky? If she's good for Octavia then what is your problem?"

"Panicky? No. Scared? Yes." This was the first time I had heard my father describe himself as scared.

"What does the word matter? Why?" My mother pressed, sounding concerned.

"The mare's records are wiped on an almost daily basis by a source that is beyond even the head of the guard. I had to make a call to him, who then had to make a call to the outposts across Canterlot, who then had to call the local businesses, who had to check their rosters just to find where she was on that one night. They were lucky enough that she went to a club that had a list, if she had gone to an anonymous bar we wouldn't have found her. She has the ability to stay off the radar that would be envious of every criminal in history."

The words from my father made me angry. More of this nonsense about her past, focus on her present if you want to judge; not what is behind someone. It was just illogical to do otherwise.

"Are you saying she is a criminal?" My mother asked with an edge to her voice. She seemed to pick up on my father's assumptions as I had and seemed to have an equal stance on it.

"No." My father replied darkly.

"You know how I feel about assuming things." My mother's tone was dangerous, and it made me happy that she was standing up for Vinyl, even if it was just solely on a belief basis.

"Yes yes, I know how you feel about it. Which is why I'm not judging her on just that."

Oh?

"I first found about this while on one of our lunches with the captain's family. He was telling me of some of his interesting past experiences whilst in the guard when he brought up a local disturbance a few years back. A suspicious group of ponies had been snooping around town, looking for someone it seemed like, and it seemed that they found...something-"

There was a pause in their conversation.

"-Here, read this."

I gritted my teeth as I decided it was time to enter the room, I just wouldn't stand for this plotting against Vinyl. Being suspicious of her on your own was one thing, but swaying someone else into it was another. It was hard for me to believe my father of all people was the person piling evidence against her.

I opened the door almost violently as I entered the room, hard enough that the door hit the inside of my fathers study. Their eyes snapped to me with shock upon entry, a look that I wasn't used to seeing from them.

"O-Octavia?" My mother asked, clearly taken aback by the rather unorthodox entry.

I was silent. It looked like I did it for effect, but in all honesty I was doing it because I had forgotten how I was going to go about talking with my parents.

"What's the matter dear?" My dad asked calmly.

How dare he play ignorant.

"'What's the matter?' How could you ask that?" I snapped at him, getting widening eyes as a reaction but nothing more.

"I've looked up to you two my entire life, the two of you have always been my role models. But why in Equestria would you two treat a guest like that?" 

Maybe it was my own manners speaking, but I was more angry about this than about their rude table manners. Though I guess this reason did make it out to look like I wasn't eavesdropping on them, so I guess it was an accidental win on my part.

My mother seemed to see my point and sadness washed over her previously shocked face while my father remained motionless, a look of thinking on his face.

"Octavaia,  I don't think you knw-" My father began, only to make my agitation grow. He was going to bring up the exact same thing he did to my mother in an attempt to sway me against Vinyl as well.

"Know about Vinyl's past? I know plenty; plenty more than you do Father." I snarled. Although it might not have been about Vinyl's past, I most definitely knew more about her than my father did. It didn't matter how many documents my father found in the darkest sections of the guards storage, nothing could tell more about someone than knowing them.

He seemed mildly shocked about me knowing that, but didn't say anything more.

"Even if her past is questionable, is that really a reason to treat her so rudely after she had been nothing but kind to you both? Shouldn't that count for something?"

My mother stepped in.

"She was rude herself Octavia, did you not hear her-" I cut her off just as easily I had cut off my father.

"Be honest with you? Try her hardest to make a good impression to you two? It may not look like it to you but she told me just before I left to talk to you two that she only was being honest to you two."

I grew a bit meek.

"She's...different." I said simply.

That was enough to render my mother in a stunned silence. 

I had never so easily cut off my parents while they were speaking and seemed to have an impact on them both. They must have realized how big of a deal this was to me.

My father seemed to think hard on my words and it bring a certain type of satisfaction to see him listen to me. My mother was more or less in the same way of thinking at this point, I could see that much in her eyes.

It was a minute or so later when father finally got up from his desk and let out a big sigh.

"She's right." He said firmly. His voice showed no sign of backing his statement,

My eyes lit up.

"R-Really?" Me and my mother stammered in unison.

"Yes, on one thing. She is our guest and we have an obligation to treat her as one. You don't know who you are dealing with Octavia, but I can't stop you from hanging around with her. You're level headed to say the least and it seems as though you're on good terms with her, considering we're all still alive." He said darkly.

He looked up to me, a look of struggle in his eyes. He looked scared for me, but also agitated in me for what was most likely my persistence to peruse a mare that he was disturbed by.

"Be careful." He added.

He turned to my mother.

"Come. We have a guest to entertain and apologize to as well." He said playfully, grabbing my mother by the hoof and pulling her towards the exit of the room. My mother could only mumble with a dumbfounded look on her face.

I smiled as I watched them leave, laughing internally at my father's antics. He had taken the mood of the room and thrown it away and then replaced it with something more comfortable to him; I had no idea if this was the reason he succumbed to my protests or if he was actually doing it because of his affection for me. Either way, I was happy.

Well, I thought they left, but it seemed as though my father had lingered at the door.

"Oh, and Octavia."

I turned to see him standing in the door with a look that I couldn't describe on his face.

"When I said 'be careful' I meant it. I've got the strangest feeling that some ponies might be after that -" He stopped and shook his own head at his rudeness.

"My apologies. After Vinyl."

I nodded dumbly, not quite knowing what he meant. Who would be after Vinyl?

With that his face melted into a kind smile before he nodded and practically skipped out the door, heading down towards the dining room once more.

I felt something come over me again after he left. This time, it was curiosity.

I turned my head back towards my father's desk, the smile on my face fading quickly as my eyes locked onto the papers sitting idly on his desk. I tossed my head over my shoulders and looked at the door, checking if my father had come back for me once more. He hadn't, so I made my way slowly over to the desk; as if somepony would pop out to ask me what I was doing.

A small folder was out on my father's desk, its front open with a small, but fair, stack of papers on the inside with the top one skewed ever so slightly from where Mother had been looking at it. Considering when I had barged in, I'd imagine she hadn't gotten too far into the paper.

I raised a brow at the bold casing of the title of the top paper and turned it around so I could read it proper.

"Local group discovered traumatized from unknown causes. Guards and Store Owners alike report nothing matching group's claims." I read aloud, my curiosity growing as I moved the top paper off of the stack to look at the one underneath.

My stomach churned at the sight.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The door to the apartment slammed shut, gaining my attention as I played with a crumpled piece of newspaper Stone had given me to entertain myself with. He hated the sports section, so I got it. I was laid down on my back facing the ceiling with my hooves in the air tossing the paper around and dropping it down to my hooves occasionally. Stone was, as far as I could tell up to now, a very relaxed pony; not really getting worked up over anything that came across him.

Flint trotted into the room with a dumb smile spread across her face, clearly happy with something.

She didn't even bother to give me a raised brow.

"Someone is happy." Stone murmured from behind his wall of newspaper. He seemed to read them a lot.

"Of course I am! I was right on my assumptions!" Flint cheered.

"What assumptions? On whoever it was being there?" I asked, dropping the paper ball.

"Yep, she was there in the flesh. It's been awhile since I've seen Shakes."

"Hm, how's she doing?" Stone mumbled, a small amount of care surfacing in his voice.

"Fine, I think. She didn't seem to happy about my visit; maybe even a little bit angered by it. I guess she's mad about me taking her kill." Flint giggled.

The more they went on and talked about this 'Shakes' pony, the more and more I got curious about her. If the generals were extending to her for some help then she must clearly by someone, right?

"Who is Shakes anyways?" I asked casually.

Stone folded his paper at that and Flint got all dreamy eyes.

"She...she was something is for certain." Flint said slowly.

I raised a brow at that.

"Care to elaborate?" I asked.

"She's a member of the order, or at least we think she is." Stone said simply.

Think she is?

"Shakes came up in The Order some time before I showed up. In fact, she was around the rank of commander when I was first getting my bearings for hunting. She was my platoon leader for a while too."

"Wow, really?" I stammered. To be looked up to by the now-general Flint was rather impressive for me considering her feats since becoming general.

"Yep, she was real nice too."

"Not to mention her abilities." Stone added, showing almost equal admiration for the mare. Stone had been a general for far longer than Flint had, so I figured that this mare's respect was well earned.

"Oh yeah, she was really good at her job. Much better than I am now even with her disadvantage of being an Earth pony."

"Wasn't she in line to be general hadn't she off and disappeared?" Stone asked.

"Yep. Definitely would've gotten it too, not quite sure what happened to her though. I knew she wasn't dead though." Flint replied.

Wait what? She would've been a general, but just left? No way anyone would've done that.

"What happened to her? Seems a bit odd somebody with a bright future would just up and leave." I said.

"That's what everyone said and still does when she comes up in what few conversations she does. Around now shes more of a myth to the veteran ponies around The Order - only the oldies like me remembering her; a legend if you would." Stone stated, respect brimming his voice.

'Veterans' of The Order were considered members of two years of service or more. The number of years was so short because most ponies didn't make it through boot camp; followed by the cut of ponies who realized how violent and bloody this job could get; then there were the ones that fell on the field; and even after that most ponies only served for around a year before leaving. I myself had only been serving for about a year, my brother not that much farther ahead of me.

"She got assigned a mission to inspect a disturbance around Canterlot and headed out with her select few to take care of it. About seven of them went out with her included; only three of them came back and had to all be submitted into the mental trauma section of HQ."

"That...that's horrible." I said in barely a whisper.

"Yes, it is. Shakes was one of the ones to not return and many claimed her KIA - though definitely MIA - but I could never believe that." Flint said solemnly.

"One of the reasons she was eager to gather records from the guards and most likely took this mission all together." Stone chuckled.

"Bingo." Flint chuckled back. "Don't care how violent it got in here, it'd take a lot to drive her out of here. I personally believe that she is still here on that contract, and think that shes gonna make her big return someday." She said, saying her predictions the same way a filly would talk about Santa Hooves.

"I honestly don't much care about credit for this kill, and I'm willing to give it to her just out of respect. I'm still happy that I got to see her after so long." She said honestly.

"Aye." Stone nodded with a smile.

"Speaking of the kill," Flint began again. "a local group of hunters have offered up to take their first stab at getting at Vinyl Scratch. Made a bet that they could find and get her before we did." She stifled a laugh.

"I love a good gamble." Stone hummed.

"I said they were good to go by tomorrow night after I get my answer from Shakes." She smiled.

"You're not worried about them taking the kill and credit?" I asked.

Stone scoffed.

"If Vinyl Scratch is any sort of a threat this group should be a breeze to scare off. I'd be disappointed if those lads one."

I began to see that this really was nothing more than a field day for them; something of an excuse to let loose and have fun as opposed to their normal duties around HQ.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Knocks rang out from the door to my room.

"Shakes, you okay in there?" Sweeps asked. She didn't sound concerned, but I knew she was.

I didn't answer, I was still shaken from earlier tonight, and tried to curl into the covers harder than I already was.

I managed to hold it together up until Flint had left, but afterwords I almost broke down in the bar. I had drank enough for my sister to need to come pick me up from the bar but not even that could get me to stop thinking about the decision I had to make. If I didn't respond I knew that she wouldn't hesitate to start, she wouldn't give me more time either. She was determined, I could see it in her eyes.

The door creaked open, my sister's head poking in just enough for me to see her face. It was confused and worried, one brow raised high over a set of eyes filled concerned.

"I'll take that as a 'no'?" She asked.

I clinched my eyes shut as she trotted farther into the room.

"Look, you're not going to get any better - from whatever it is - if you don't talk about it." I felt my bed sink in around my hooves and assumed that she had sat down on the bed.

I sighed.

"It's about Vinyl." I muttered sadly.

"What about her?" She pressed, glad to be getting somewhere.

"Someone is after her again."

"Since when is that new? Seems like somebody is always after her." She muttered with a small bit of amusement.

"Well, usually I'm not worried about her either. But this time the person after her can actually do something. We got lucky with that sicko back in the forest; these guys could actually kill Vinyl." I said with a lack of emotion.

My sister was silent.

"Well, I'm sure she'll be fine."

"She won't."

"Not with that attitude." My sister chuckled. "How'd you find about somebody chasing Vinyl?"

"They told me."

"Really? That's a first. Saves us the trouble of finding out who they are."

I sighed.

"They said that if I don't chose to rat her out, they guarantee they'll kill her. If I do tell them who's helping them then they said they will keep her alive." I said flatly.

Silence.

"And how can you be sure they won't kill her anyways." My sister sounded more serious now.

"I can't." It was true, there was no way I could be sure they wouldn't kill her. Though if I accepted, I could be included in their schemes against her and be there when they captured her - what a moment that would be. I could at least make sure they wouldn't kill her while I was around if I accepted.

I could practically feel my sister's eyes narrow on me.

"You're not honestly considering helping them get Vinyl are you?" She asked. Her words carried weight, and I could tell that my answer to this question would heavily influence my sister's opinion of me as both a friend of Vinyl and a sister of hers.

"I am."

It was the sad truth of the matter, but above all I didn't want Vinyl to get hurt - much less get killed - and if helping in her capture would prevent that, then so be it. It sounded wrong in concept, I should be on my friend's side right? Well, that would make sense if it was someone I didn't know had the ability to both find and capture her on their own. And with someone else who was either on par or better suited to do the same job helping out, it was a definite that they would get her.

Of course, there was the side of me that held strong against those two. That Vinyl could somehow best them; something that she may very well have a chance of doing if I stood with her. I knew the two more than the average person did, maybe I could help Vinyl with my knowledge of how they worked and fought. Friends help friends? I was sure I was Vinyl's friend so shouldn't it be out of the question of whether I should help her or not? 

Both sides were equal in their stances against one another, if one would give a push then the other would surely would crumble and my mind would be made up in an instant.

It's just that neither side seemed to be willing to give.

I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the hardening look of my sister as she looked down on me. It was a bit easier to deal with it that way.

"Really?" She asked in a voice that made me grit my teeth and clinch my eyes tighter to the point where it hurt.

I nodded. I couldn't respond with words.

"Alrighty." She said, the malice gone in her voice as I felt her weight get off the bed.

I popped an eye open to see her heading for the door and opening it halfway, where she lingered for a second before speaking again.

"I don't know much about Vampires and hunting them and stuff, but I know you. And if I know one thing about you is that you'll know what the right choice is." She said, not looking back at me but rather out the door.

And with that, she left to my silence.

I was stunned by that. It was one of the few times my sister got 'deep' with me and they always seemed to leave me more self conflicted than I was to start with. I felt the sides in my head fill with renewed vigor by my sister's words, each one fighting hard enough now that I could feel my head pulsing.

I pressed my head back into my pillow once more.

Back to square one.
> Strange Times
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I headed out of my father's study with the intent of leaving my parent's home soon. Not that I didn't mind staying longer, but more so that fact that my parent's had an apparent grudge against her. Well, my father mostly. My mother, I'd imagine, wouldn't care that much about Vinyl being around her after I had explained Vinyl's odd way of respecting others.

Well, there was another reason.

The things I had seen inside that stack of papers and their implications were quite disturbing to say the least. 

I shook my head a little. Not wasn't the time for those thoughts, that was for after the trip back to my apartment; I feared that talking about it anywhere other than my own home might attract some unwanted attention from others. And after my father's revelations of how far he would go to collect even the smallest detail about Vinyl, I was especially paranoid. He'd probably hire a team just to find out her favorite color.

"I wonder if he'd be brighter about that than I..." I pondered, remembering the time I had asked Vinyl some questions about herself.

'...and still so many unanswered ones I have to ask. Maybe we could sit down some time and have another one of those sessions.' I thought.

I was surprised to see my parents huddled around the door to the dinning room on my way back. Everything below their neck was still in the hallway before the dinning room while their heads were peaking around the door frame. They looked like children.

I approached silently, a brow cocked up in what most likely looked judgmental. I had been told to have that problem.

"Mother, Fath-" My mother's hoof was quickly on my lips, shushing me.

This happened far too often to me, a grown mare.

She looked back at me and gestured forwards with her head in a come hither movement that I soon obliged.

What my father and mother where looking in on - that they were apparently enraptured about - was Vinyl and Wilfred sitting down inside the dining room. All the plates and bowls had since been moved off the table and all that was left were the glasses of water, piles of silverware and the table cloth itself.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a packet for small deck of cards sitting beside Wilfred, who's back was to us.

I guess this was what he was doing to keep Vinyl company. Wilfred loved cards, almost religiously from what Father had told me a few years ago. He used most of his spare time, what little that was, to practice everything from simple games of Solimare to harder things that required multiple players. My mother and father apparently were the other players, as well as some of the other staff.

They hated it, mainly because they never won apparently. Wilfred knew his cards most likely better than he knew himself.

On another note, Vinyl seemed oblivious to the crowd of three all stuffed inside of a single doorway despite having her body facing us. She also seemed to be aggravating Wilfred.

"Have any twos?" She asked.

"Ms. Scratch, for the third time, we aren't playing Go Fish." Wilfred sighed, taking Vinyl's cards and quick reshuffling the deck before passing her more cards.

She smiled.

"Heh, sorry."

"It's fine." Wilfred said honestly.

We watched on - well, my parents did - in judgement as the game went on as the two played a small game of what I could only guess was poker as I assumed by the pile of silverware that I guessed had to be the 'pot'. They both seemed oddly calm and collected, though Vinyl seemed a bit oblivious to the situation judging by the look on her face and how she kept squinting at the cards. Wilfred was simply sitting, nothing more.

We watched for about fifteen minutes before I began to get impatient. I had stopped looking at the game after I figured out what they were doing and simply stood in the hall behind my parents and admired the fine craftsmanship of the wood trim on the tables that were stuck around the halls.

I finally decided to say something.

"Mother, Father?" I whispered.

They looked back at me.

"I think I'll we'll be heading out now."

They both nodded at each other before moving out of the way and entering the room together, with my self shuffling behind them.

"Keeping our guest Wilfred?" My father asked with a smile.

Wilfred looked behind himself and at the sight of my father turned professional again and rose from his seat all in a single motion.

"Of course, sir."

"Please, drop the act. I don't think our guest here will mind." My mother added in, giggling as Wilfred's shoulders slack instantly and he let out a deep sigh.

"Thank you, madame." He sighed.

My father chuckled a bit before piping in.

"I believe Octavia was about to take her leave and head home, if you'd like to see her out."

His eyes went wide with what I could only see as excitement. I guess he still took a bit of joy out of interacting with me, maybe it was those years of me living here and growing on him showing off.

"It would be my pleasure, just let me clean these-" He turned only to see a packed deck of cards floating in front of him with a hazy blue aura floating around them.

Vinyl smiled, her sunglasses already back on.

"T-Thank you, miss." Wilfred stammered, the words sounding foreign coming out of his mouth. He almost forgot to add 'miss' to the end.

"Any time." Vinyl said happily, a warm smile on her face at Wilfred's reaction. She must have seen the significance in the action as well.

Wilfred stood there and looked at her for while before shaking his head and putting the cards down on the table, looking as if he had just awoken from a dream, before looking back to me.

"I-If you'd follow me please." He said cheerfully.

I gave m parents a quick hug each, my father lingering a bit and whispering a 'be safe' into my ear before trotting over to where Wilfred was station at the door. Vinyl was standing beside him, looking intensely at his bow tie and then back at mine, as if comparing them.

He led us down the hall into the large room before the exit, opening the door and letting Vinyl walk out into the outside, giving her a friendly smile as she left and mouthing a 'thank you' he thought I couldn't see.

I walked up to him as well, giving him a big hug before backing up.

"That mare, she's yours correct?" The way he said it made it sound possessive, but it was true.

"Yes, did she scare you as well?" I asked, getting a bit critical.

Wilfred laughed at that.

"Scare? Heavens no, shes easily the nicest guest I've ever had the pleasure of serving in this house. Not that half-bad of a card player as well." He said with happiness.

I felt relief wash over me that at least Wilfred liked her.

"I imagine she didn't best you thought?" I said jokingly.

"You might want to ask her on that one; as I said, quite the card player." Now his tone was of admiration and it shocked me a little. Not his admiration, his implications that Vinyl beat him.

"She may play dumb, but she knows what shes doing. I think, I've no idea what goes on that mare's head. I imagine if I saw what was in there I'd only be left with more questions that answers." He said. It was amazing how Wilfred had read Vinyl almost instantly, I blamed it on his years of serving guests and how after awhile that would give him the ability to eyeball a personality.

"I'm glad to hear that, it seems like Father thinks otherwise. Mother I'm not to sure about." I said quietly.

"The madame and mister may think what they will, but that mare has a heart of gold if I've ever seen one." He said almost as if it was fact.

'My word, I can understand a good impression, but this may be a bit much. Just what did they talk about while I was talking with my parents to give Wilfred this impression on Vinyl?' I thought in response. Thought I wasn't upset with the impression, good was good, it was just my curiosity speaking at this point.

"Well, I won't hold you and your friend any longer. Take care Octavia." He said with a smile.

I returned the smile and trotted out of the door to a patient Vinyl.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The walk back to my apartment was much less talkative then I thought it was going to be, silence overwhelming me and Vinyl after a few questions. I wasn't quite sure what to talk about after my mind began to return to what I had seen in father's study, the stack of papers and their implications. 

They were, well disturbing to say the least.

I also didn't feel like talking to Vinyl about them on the walk home for a few reasons. One of which was the paranoia that there was somepony watching us. It seemed a bit silly, but after realizing that there were people intent on gathering information on Vinyl - one of them being my father himself - I figured I would wait until my home to ask Vinyl herself anything direct. I knew she wouldn't lie, and that was dangerous sometimes.

The other reason - a much less significant one - was that it just seemed impractical to get into a deep discussion on the way down the sidewalk.

I did manage to think of one thing. Wilfred had mentioned asking Vinyl about the card game, so I figured that was my best bet for now.

"So, um, Vinyl?" I began awkwardly.

"Hm?"

"Wilfred said you were quite good at cards? He actually told me to ask me about your game with him." I brought up, hoping that she would continue the conversation.

It worked.

"Oh yeah! That was pretty fun. He's probably played for awhile hasn't he?" She asked.

"From what Father said, he has. Have you?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Kinda, I played it for awhile." She shrugged.

'Well, there goes that conversation.' I mumbled internally.

The silence came back and almost taunted me until we made it back to the apartments. It almost bothered me sometimes how quiet Vinyl and me could be around each other despite being what I think what we would both consider friends - she didn't seem to mind that though. I guess it was just me that it bothered, but if she was content with it then I had no reason to protest. It was almost weird how I based most of my own decisions on others, but I guess if it made the room more comfortable then it was alright.

I wonder if Vinyl operated the same way? Most likely not, shes expressed it more often than not that she comes first almost before anything. 

Almost.

Before I knew it, I was shutting the door to my almost darkened apartment, the only source of light being that which came through the opened curtains that gave the room an almost ethereal glow to it. Vinyl especially seemed to thrive in the moonlight, her white coat shining bright enough to make her look ghostly.

She sighed as she took off her glasses and laid them down on the couch, stretching her neck back and forth before letting out a sigh on top of the bone crunching sounds of her stretching.

My curiosity had built over the course of the silence, and I couldn't help myself from wanting to ask her. My only problem was wording the question so that I didn't sound weird when I asked it.

"Vinyl..." I began with knowing it, the words just going straight from my head and right out of my mouth.

She turned attentively to me, a bit of an odd reaction. I guess it was how I sounded.

"Yeah?"

"Uhm." I stuttered, I hadn't exactly come up with a way to ask it yet. But I guess it was too late for that, so decided to just go out and ask it anyways. I'd imagine Vinyl had gotten used to my particular type of awkwardness.

"Have you ever..."

She raised a brow and an ear at my quickly softening voice.

"...killed anyone?"

What I had found in my father's little 'collection' wasn't anything directly sinister at all, mainly just highlighted quotes as well as a few articles from other newspapers all around Canterlot all jumbled up together. Similar to that of a puzzle. What was sinister was the implications of the papers.

It reminded me of scenes in movies where a detective linked everything together with string, going from one article to the other and highlighting similarities between all of them. My father had done a sort of miniature version of this in a list like fashion on the second page of the stack. I had looked through the rest quickly, as they were mostly just pictures or articles I had no interest in reading.

They all highlighted things in the area where the bar was located and in surrounding areas as well, mostly things along the lines of disappearances and signs of scuffles. The things that disturbed me were the articles with killings in them; one of them was even an obituary with ponies circled. My father had highlighted things that witnesses had reported about the culprit and things taken as evidence; most of them were skewed and extremely vague descriptions of Vinyl herself.

One of them even got her glasses spot on.

Vinyl was hesitant for a moment, though it looked more like a hesitance of recollection rather than one of reluctance. Her eyes were squinted in what looked like strain. This was one of the few times Vinyl had ever hesitated like this when I had asked her a question, though it was a rather serious and dark question. Something was going through her head right now; something interesting.

I almost seemed to lean in in anticipation of her answer.

"Yeah... I think I can remember a few." She said. Her voice was oddly normal for discussing something so serious.

"R-Really?" I stammered in shock.

I had trouble believing this. This claim to be someone responsible for ending the life of another. If I had known anything about Vinyl is that she is considerate of others if anything, and the thought that she had come to the conclusion of taking away someone's privilege of seeing another day just didn't add up to me. The idea that someone had done something so sinister and evil was a thought that I thought impossible.

Well, there was the whole castle thing that truly revealed the extent of what she would go to.

She must have spotted my thoughts somehow, because she spoke up.

"I try not to, I really do!" She sounded like she was hard pressed to convince me she wasn't a killer. At least that showed she was considerate of what I thought.

"But...well, you can only teleport a pony away so many times before something has to give. I guess I gave a few of those times, and it was horrible each time." She sounded sad herself, accompanying it with a pitiful chuckle.

"Vinyl..." Was all I could muster.

Silence enveloped us and I felt the need to leave. I didn't want to, staring at her crumpling form as she sunk down to the floor with a sad expression on her face gave me an almost primal instinct to comfort her. But right now I didn't know.

"I...I think-"

"You can go. I understand." She said, not bothering to look up at me.

I gulped and felt the guilt begin to bear its weight down on me, giving me the choice of either leaving now while I could or letting the weight fully press down on me.

I chose the former.

I turned slowly and trotted back into my room, taking a single and lengthy look back at a depressed mare that I had a new spin on; a new light shining down on the innocent and childish mare I had lived with for awhile now.

I imagine I looked like I was in a trance I slipped into my bed, the odd feeling of loneliness at my side continuing to tug at my mind while I lied there. It was almost like shock, denial; things along the lines of that. It was hard to cope with such a sinister fact, a fact that I wanted to disprove; but when the accused admits something it's hard to disprove them.

One thing emerged in the depth of my head, one thing that I knew was fact.

I wouldn't be sleeping tonight.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My eyes slowly closed and opened again, the bright light of the sun almost burning my eyes as I almost didn't bother to look away from. I guess all my attention was in my head and my body was taking the most punishment.

Well, my head was still hurting from the decision I still hadn't made, but I had almost gotten used to it.

Though once my brain began registering the sun, I felt like a student waking up on the day a project was due after not working on it for a few solid weeks. I felt panicky now for some reason, more panicky than I had a few hours ago when the choice I had to make really was haunting me, yet right now I didn't even feel like bothering with it.

A knock at the door barely registered to me.

"Shakes? You up?" My sister chimed. Well, at least she slept well.

Silence was my answer.

"Well, I'll take that as a yes. You better get ready, bar opens up in about an hour and I know how you like to take inventory of the booze in before opening." She continued before the sound of her trotting of registered to me.

I sat up, my upper body feeling like it was filled with lead. I teetered a bit when I sat up full and my vision went dark a little as colors filled struck out in the darkness like lightning before my eyes refocused.

Getting up was no easier of a task and neither was staggering to my bedroom door like a drunk.

My sister was sitting on the couch when I stumble in, looking down at the floor with a look of thought on her face before looking up at me and smiling hopefully.

"Well, at least you're moving this time. Care to speak?" She was gentle for once this morning. A rarity.

"Yeah." I said simply, my voice rugged for some reason.

"Well, that's all I can ask." She said with a widening smile.

A looked over to the door and felt my stomach churn. That was my next stop, though I myself still had a long way to go before I was done.

Flint was coming tonight, that was unavoidable. She was going to get an answer, that too was unavoidable.

What was avoidable was my sister's involvement. I didn't want her getting involved with this, it wasn't worth the hell it would raise for both me and her. Hopefully she would understand me wanting her to stay home.

She would have to.

I began to move for the door and she started getting up, but that's when I stopped moving and gave her a sad and tired look.

"You stay here today." I didn't bother making an excuse for it.

"But-"

The look in my eyes must have shown her not to argue with me on this one. Whether it was the probable sadness or the assured dismay was up to anyone to choose. I imagine I looked horrible, Sweeps says that I get this look on my face when I don't sleep in company with the common bags and shaggy mane. I guess all that put together would give me a heck of a look.

"O-Okay." She stammered, sitting back down again.

I went back to going towards the door.

"It's about Vinyl, ain't it?" She asked just as my hoof reached the knob.

I paused.

"Yeah."

There was a hesitation in the air before I began to turn the know.

"Be smart." Those, I could tell, were her final attempts to stall. They carried the weight of her as a sister; I was amazed I was still standing after that one.

"Yeah."

I opened the door and began my walk to the bar.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


When opened the door, I made sure to dig around the bottom of the nearest booth for the "Sorry, We're Closed!" sign and hung back up on the outside of the door. It wouldn't stop Flint from walking in, but it would give me some more peace and quiet. After that, I made my way to the bar booth and pulled out two bottles from off the shelf - the brand didn't matter to me at this point - and a single glass. The ice was underneath the bar counter in a small freezer we kept down there for convenience, so I got few cubes.

After that it was a straight shot to the drinking.

I wasn't the type to drink in order to take away hard times, but I made an exception.

I found that the more I poured the more memories of Vinyl came back to me.

A smile graced my lips, recalling my first day on the job here at the bar and I found myself chuckling by my lonesome. I was more than a nervous wreck, trembling at the hoof quite literally, and I was practically sweating standing outside the door. I was lucky my sister was in close with the manager. After that, logically, came the memories that this old place had brought to me. I had no idea if the bar was actually that old or not, but it sure did feel like it.

I took a sip.

And of course there was the new things that came around after I joined it. Bigs came along, then Octavia of course, and then all that stuff back at the castle happened. Those were great times now that I looked back on them.

"Man, Octavia would hate me for capturing Vinyl." I mumbled to myself.

"Not to mention Bigs too, if he found out somehow. Wonder how he's managing that castle out there? Might have to got take a visit some time sooner."

I took another sip.

Not to mention Vinyl of all ponies. I had a hunch that I'd never forget her even if I moved countries and got amnesia. Hell, she'd probably track me down if I moved.

I felt a blush running across my face as I took another sip.

"Damn unicorns. Seems like all of 'em know about teleportation these days. Not to mention all the other things they can do. Oh well, jokes on them." I laughed, not really knowing what the 'joke' was that was on unicorns.

Time passed in what seemed like seconds for me, maybe I feel asleep at some point and forgot about it, but before I knew it the memories had ate away at my day and the inside of the bar began to darken from the lack of sunlight coming in from the outside. It came to me that I needed to choose quickly as Flint had a tendency to be impatient when their was action to be had. Well, that's the most I could remember at least.

Another drink, marking my fifth one so far. Odd, I thought I had drank more.

My ear flickered as the sound of the door opening registered and the sound of hooves entering followed it. I didn't bother to look and see who it was, it was pretty obvious.

"Good to you see that you're getting nice and drunk. Didn't realize it was this big of decision to you." Flint snickered, the sound of her hooves hitting the floor stopping just short of what I would guess to be six or seven feet behind me.

I turned to her with a wide smile. It might've been a drunken one or a genuine one, I had no idea. I just felt like smiling at Flint.

"I expect my answer." She was still smiling, but I could tell she was hard pressed for the information she had come here for.

I smiled wider.

I guess the joke was on her, because I had my answer in mind and it was clear as day to me now.

I opened my mouth and took a shaky breath, exhaling an even shakier one and admiring the chilling sensation air had on my teeth. A little pressure was all it took to get my voice to cooperate with me and for my answer to come out of my mouth.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

> First Contact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


A look in the mirror revealed my own face, baggy and bloodshot eyes went well with my hair that seemed to want to defy gravity. A splash of water helped wake me up despite the cries from my eyes.

My night had gone by at a snails pace, my eyes fixed on the window as I watched the moon slowly crawl across the sky. If I had to guess I had gotten maybe three to four hours of sleep at the most.

As expected, I had taken a new piece of information about Vinyl with practiced professionalism.

"Uhg." I grunted, prodding my hoof lower and pulling open a memorized drawer before pulling out a bleak looking comb. Running it though my mane shot streaks of pain through my head, making me immediately ease up and take it slowly. It was still painful to do, but I admittedly got through it with time.

A knock on the bathroom door got my attention.

"Vinyl?"

The door opened slowly and she poked her head in, her eyes glued to the floor, and stood there. Was wasn't smiling either, it was more of a tired frown this time.

'Was she waiting for permission?'

"You can come in as well Vinyl, there is plenty room." I murmured.

She took that as approval and trotted slowly into the room, standing next to me at the mirror. She soon enough went down to the running faucet. An odd slurping noise came next and I cocked my brow almost instinctively.

"Vinyl, we have drinks in the-" I caught my own tongue.

'Ah, yes. I'm jobless.' I thought internally, sighing.

Vinyl looked up from the faucet and stared at herself in the mirror for a brief moment.

Her eyes were bloodshot to the point that the blood vessels in them began to seamlessly integrate with her irises, giving them an almost 'cracked' look. It was an uncomfortable at say the least, but it was more concerning to me at the time.

"Vinyl, are you okay?" I had stopped combing my own mane and looked at her questioningly.

"Withdraw." She mumbled, rubbing her eyes. She blinked a few times once she moved her hooves, staring back into the mirror at her own bloodied eyes.

'Withdrawl? From feeding? So this was one of the side effects of refraining from lack of blood?' I thought, my brain making a connection between this and the other purpose her glasses might serve.

"O-oh."

I really had nothing else I could say about the subject; asking her if she needed help was redundant since that would simply involve her feeding, which was the entire point of fasting in the first place.

"Would resting help?" I asked. Maybe resting physically would aid her mentally? It seemed like mentality was the entire battle from the looks of it since her body was used by her mind to a certain extent.

"Yeah," Her frowning face smiled briefly.

"Wanted to be sure you were okay with me staying first."

"You ran away once Vinyl, do it again and I don't think I could forgive you." I said. It was a serious tone despite my attempts to make it joking as to not make our first exchange awkward.

I was still serious with my claim, her running away would almost be unforgivable.

"Thanks." She said simply, turning from the faucet and trotting out of the door.

Her word choice seemed to be on the curt side this morning. Another affect of the fasting? I myself had no clue what exactly the full extent of it other than what Shakes and Vinyl had told me.

I lingered on the door for a moment before returning to brushing my mane.

'I wonder what I'll do today?' I wondered.

'Maybe go to the market if I have any money. If not then I'll simply have to make it without today, hopefully Shakes will get back to Vinyl with that job offer.' I thought, looking myself over in the mirror.

I peaked my head out the door and peered into the living room, spotting Vinyl already passed out on the couch belly up. She was spread eagle with half of her limbs up in the air against the back rest while the others hung off the side of the couch, her legs giving off the occasional twitch.

I smirked a little.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So how'd it go?" Stone asked as I walked into the living room rubbing my eyes, the smell of an intense coffee already brewing. I could tell he was talking to Flint, most likely because she hadn't gotten back in time to tell us about her results meeting with "Shakes" until later last night.

Me and Stone had been up until three last night.

Whatever happened, the two had definitely exchanged something.

"Well." Flint said, the sound of her slurping on a mug following her curt reply.

It didn't sound like it did.

I finally caught glimpse of Flint and saw that her already burnt looking coat had a few more burn marks on it since I had last seen her. Stone seemed to see this as well and had the nerve that I lacked to make a comment about it.

"Seems ironic to see that you got burned." He said nonchalantly as always.

Flint choked a little on her drink.

"Alcohol and fire never went well together. Heh, now I remember why I stopped drinking." She said with an almost lifeless chuckle.

Her demeanor was a near perfect opposite of what it had been yesterday, making it clear what the answer was from her request to the apparent ex-captain. It also appeared that it had turned to physical confrontation, with the ex-captain showing that she still had a bit of bite left in her. I expected the general to crack a smile and say something awe inspiring like "Yeah, well you should see her." but that didn't happen, she just kind of sat there and looked into her coffee.

I saw Stone give her a long glare before shrugging and going back to his newspaper. Was that the same one from yesterday?

"So what about Vinyl? Thought of how we are going to get her yet?" I asked cautiously. Flint didn't seem like she felt like joking right now.

Flint's ears perked up just a little and Stone peered over his paper at the burnt general.

"Well, we still have the hunters I put on queue to track her down. I told them they were off my leash at lunchtime." Flint said reassuringly, though the statement seemed to be more directed at Stone than me.

"What time is it now?" I asked.

"'round 'leven right now." Stone answered.

"Hm, so they should be getting ready right about now. Hopefully they come up with something. I imagine if we had put all our time so far into getting the mare's descriptions we'd already know fully what she looks like and maybe have her address as well. Hopefully they aren't far behind that." Flint said, going to take another chug of coffee that visibly was smoking. The fact her mouth wasn't scalded yet amazed me.

Stone suddenly lifted from his place on the couch, the sound of the wooden frame creaking as he raised. It scared me unintentionally and even got the eye of the mopey looking Flint. He placed his paper back on the couch and stretched a little before wordlessly heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Flint asked.

"Breakfast, 'bout time I got something proper to eat 'round here. So far we've ate only what we had packed from HQ and you know how disgusting that slop back there is." Stone replied, not bothering to break his stride until he got to the door.

"Any takers?" He looked back at us.

I shook my head, not wanting to ask my higher up for food, even though his claim was all too true.

Flint seemed to notice my motives, raising a brow at me, then looking back to Stone.

"Yeah, we'll both take some of...whatever it is you end up getting." She said, some of her old voice coming back.

He nodded and left without another word, leaving me with the hopefully recovering Flint. She didn't seem all to moved about this fact, and immediately managed to strike up some conversation with me no more than a few seconds after Stone had left the room.

"Well, looks like he's going on his own search for info." She mumbled, moving up to her mug for another drink only to find it empty. She even turned the mug upside down and looked up into it, as if the drink was hiding from her.

"Not food?" I asked.

"Well, yeah, he's going for that. Just saying, it's like him to get a bit... off task when he has a mission that he can't get done quickly." She said, frowning as she realized there was, in fact, no coffee left.

"Hmm." I hummed approvingly. I didn't bother to hesitate with my next question.

"So did your bar mare actually turn you down?" I asked, expecting some reaction out of her.

I didn't get anything.

"Like I said, don't wanna talk about it." The tone wasn't threatening, but it was insisting. She also hid any facial confirmation to my questions expertly, her eyes not even so much as dulling in thought.

"Yes ma'am." I replied, respecting the senior officer's request. "But what about your 'leashed' hunters? Are you confident that they have gotten a lead?"

"Well, they were local so I have no idea how reliable they are from personal experience. But judging from all that boasting they did in front of me even after I shared my rank, it'd be a shame if they didn't find a single thing." She said, moving to the kitchen and putting her mug away.

"Why did you leash them anyways?" I asked.

It was a bit of a questionable decision to hold back someone who was apparently so eager to help.

"Oh I didn't. They've been free to attack ever since the get-go. I just gave the guess that it would've taken them up until now to get any solid leads."

"Wait what? So you lied about it?" I asked.

"Oh no no no...." She paused.

"Well, yeah. But not to hide it from you. Stone kind of gets a bit antsy if he doesn't think we have our resources under check so I kinda  bent the truth a little - trust me, it's not worth the hassle."

She paused once more, peering up in thought before smiling devilishly and looking back down.

"In fact," She looked at her wrist as if a watch was on it. "If those hunters did any backing of that confidence, I'd say they'd be following through with one of their leads in..."

"...three..."

"...two..."

"...one..."


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


A knock at the door caught my attention from the couch, i had been sitting at the end where Vinyl's hind hooves were settles and reading a music book I had gotten from my room.

I set down the book and got up from the couch, making my way over to the door with a bit of wonder about who it could have been.

'Beauty? My parents? Harpo? Shakes? My list ends about there but it's still a bit of room for wonder.' I told myself.

My hoof extended outwards to the door knob, only to have a small interruption stop me.

It started with the sound of creaking wood, my apartment door groaning for some reason. I leaned in close to it to be sure it was the door. Once my ear got close enough, the door came off its hinges with a loud explosion of wood as the wood ripped from off the hinges, pushing inwards with a large amount of force and knocking into me with enough power behind it to send me about ten or so feet back into my apartment.

I fumbled over my own hooves and fell down, the door falling down onto me and managing to hit me square in the nose. The next thing I felt was the stinging pain that coursed through my head thanks to the door.

I did manage to remove the door from off of my body and tip it over where it landed beside me. I only had to use a single hood, the other was too busy comforting my nose. My eyes were also shut tightly, tears welling.

The next thing I felt were multiple pairs of hooves grabbing me and picking me up roughly. They proceeded to throw me into the wall, giving me just enough time to begin falling backwards from the impact before they were already on me, pinning me to the wall with their hooves.

I also felt a cold and sharp metal point press into my temple and I froze up.

"Stay still." Was all the voice told me. It was male and smooth, not horrible matured either.

I obliged, as I wasn't in any position to protest what with something akin to a spike against my head.

I finally managed to open my eyes, my head at just the right angle to see the two stallion behind me that had their hooves pressed into the back of my neck. One of them was doing the actual pinning while the other presumably held the spike, I couldn't quite tell since his hoof was out of view.

The spike raised off me suddenly, only to have his voice speak up again.

"Hooves behind your back, please." I was surprised by his courtesy considering our position.

I obliged and felt a coarse material wrap around my hooves before tightening. I assumed it was rope.

After this he apparently felt safe enough to ease up off of me.

"Bring her over here." This voice was feminine.

My eyes drifted over and I saw that there was indeed another along with them.

A unicorn mare with a black coat and green mane had walked progressively into my home, her eyes scanning the inside as she got closer and closer to the center of the room.

'And the couch...' I cried internally.

The stallion followed her order and began to march me over to where the mare was at. 

She had walked in front of the couch, though her eyes kept locked with my own. I could also feel the two stallions staring hard at me as the dropped me down a few feet in front of the coffee table. The three then lined up with each other, all with their backs facing Vinyl and all their eyes looking hard at me.

'Did...Did they actually not see her? And how is she still asleep after that door busted in?' I asked myself, amazed at their apparent blindness.

"Hm." The mare grunted.

"So is this them?" The stallion who had tied my hooves asked. I noticed that he had a familiar looking crossbow strapped to his right hoof.

"It has to be, they're the only one in here." The other stallion said. He was unarmed.

What was this with calling me 'they'?

"You two stay here while I look around and make sure that there is only one in here." She said, giving me a highly condescending smirk as she turned around.

I didn't see it, but I could tell her eyes went wide at the sight of the somehow still sleeping Vinyl.

"Gah!" She yelped rather femininely, loosing her atmosphere of superiority.

The two others looked behind themselves instantly and practically leaped away from the couch and almost landed behind me. This movement of the two gave me a good look at how Vinyl was still sleeping, mouth wide open and hooves splayed in the air in a wacky fashion.

The mare looked closely at Vinyl, thinking that this had to be a joke or something. I knew that was what she was thinking, I had thought the same thing at many times.

She scoffed at Vinyl next and reached to grab her.

A twitch in Vinyls back hoof managed to slap her own hoof away, taking her by surprise once more. She then tried again and got the same result despite going in from a different angle.

"What the-" She started before stopping herself.

She looked back at the two stallions, who only gave a shrug in response. She looked thoroughly disappointed in their lack of an idea for a second or two, but then a look spread across her face that practically screamed 'idea'.

"I'll just wake her up." She said simply, happy at her idea, before looking back to Vinyl.

"I don't-" I began, only to have a crossbow pointed at my head.

I went silent.

The mare leaned in close to Vinyl's ear and took a deep inhale and then an exhale as sort of a practice round; her idea was apparently to just scream into Vinyl's ear until she woke up.

'This will go well.' I giggled internally.

She then took an even bigger inhale and opened her mouth to scream.

Only to have a white hoof quickly and accurately press against her lips.

"Shhhhh." Vinyl said soothingly, her eyes still shut and her legs still askew.

We all seemed surprised at the sudden movement from the sleeping mare, but what followed definitely shocked all of us.

Unconsciously taking advantage of the mare's state of shock, Vinyl used her two front hooves and some magic to levitate the mare into the air before laying her down in front of her while her hooves then snaked around and hugged the mare like a stuffed animal.

The mare was now blushing furiously, her own two front hooves folded up in what looked like a begging position on a dog. Her eyes were wide in what I couldn't decipher; I was torn between horrified or embarrassed. Emboriffied? Horrifarased? I'm sure their wasn't a word for what she looked like.

The two stallion also looked disarmed by the chosen move to take.

I however felt a bit angry at the mare. I had never seen Vinyl do anything like that with anyone unless she was feeding, but she had made it clear just an hour ago that she was in withdrawl - the exact opposite of feeding for her. I felt like that mare shouldn't be there, it wasn't her spot.

'Am I...jealous?' I asked myself, my eyes going wide at the thought of being jealous over something so little. Well, I guess it wasn't little to me if I was thinking on it so hard.

The mare was quick to recover from being cuddled, though when she began to struggle it seemed as though Vinyl's hooves were impossible to move. She gave her efforts about a half a minute as me and the two stallions watched on in both confusion and amusement, though out fun was quickly ended as she sighed and went limp.

"You know, we probably should have looked up more than just where the target lived. Seems like we have two possibilities and knowing which one was which could really save our ass right now." The unarmed stallion said to the other.

"You kidding? We were lucky that someone sent us the place that she was at, we could barely even find anything but her name before." The armed one replied.

"Yeah, I just assumed that she lived alone being what she is and all. But since there are two here we can't shoot anyone without getting ins serious trouble back at HQ or from the general."

"You kidding? We can totally shoot 'em both, the target would defend themselves. And if we hit the wrong one then we could just blame it on the target." The armed one said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah but that's mean though." The other replied.

'What an odd way to describe the act of murder.' I mused just before the mare shouted.

"Will you two get me out of this?!" She interrupted.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry captain." A stallion responded.

The armed one went up close to Vinyl's ear.

"Since she can't get me, now I can wake her up." He said, taking a deep breath.

"Wait! What if she's the targ-" The mare began, but it was too late as his chest compressed and she cringed for the results to come.

Silence.

The stallion, for some reason, had stopped short of yelling into the ear of Vinyl and I could tell both me and everyone but him was confused.

A closer look at him revealed the single, cracked open eye of Vinyl looking dead into his own eyes. He seemed paralyzed by the simple fact that she was looking at him and I thought I could see him shaking.

"I'm trying to sleep." She said, her tone lacking any amusement.

The stallion didn't respond but simply staggered backwards from her, still not breaking eye contact, and raised his crossbow hoof up and taking aim at Vinyl.

Vinyl seemed to disregard the gesture and looked down at the mare wrapped in her hooves, a look of confusion crossing her single open eye.

"You're not Tavi." She muttered, her hooves opening and the mare toppling off the couch with nothing left to hold her. 

She fell with coordination however, and her hooves made a b-line to Vinyl's horn and knocked against it with enough behind the punch to make Vinyl's face twist in pain, both of her eyes clinching.

My brief moment of warmness for what Vinyl had said was quickly dashed by the sound of the stallion's crossbow going off. I hadn't even seen the bolt go through the air until I looked at where he had previously been aiming.

What the bolt had ran into was the raised hoof of Vinyl, piercing into the outer part of her hoof while blood had already began pulsing from the wound.

I felt my heart twist a little at the sight of Vinyl getting hurt and found myself trying to get my hooves out of the ropes, but they were apparently tied by the pony whom must have invented knots.

The stallion immediately began loading another bolt with the efficiency of an expert, intending to deliver another shot to Vinyl while she was stunned.

Vinyl's eye opened again, raising her hoof up to her eye and looking at it with a dead look in her eye that went along horrifyingly well with her deeply bloodshot eyes.

A blue glow wrapped around the bolt seemed to struggle for a moment before pushing the claw tipped arrow fully through her hoof and out the other side. She then dropped the bolt into her wounded hoof and examined it closely, tossing it up and down a little as if to test the weight.

The sound of another bolt going off resonated forcefully through my ears and I felt even more horror race through me.

Vinyl flicked the bolt in her hoof in the same direction of the stallion and a violent spark occurred in the space between the two before two bolts fell to the floor.

The fact that the bolts had collided in the dead middle between the two suggested that Vinyl had thrown the bolt even faster than the crossbow had shot it.

The stallion put on a cocky and smug look.

"Well, I think we've found the tar-" His voice was cut short by a sight that shocked him.

Vinyl had gotten up to his face to look him eye to eye with no more than an inch between the two. Her eyes were squinted in a way that suggested that she had just woken up, though the look in them was that of amusement, as if she had heard that plenty of times before.

Even I was shocked at the speed of her this time.

The stallion attempted to get some distance to most likely shoot another useless bolt.

Vinyl didn't bother to move.

He managed to get another bolt loaded in and shoot if off just in time to see the bolt wrap in blue, stopping short about an inch away from the crossbow.

Vinyl smirked.

She turned the bolt around and moved it slowly to the stallion, who backed up until he hit the wall and stared the arrow dead in the face.

It suddenly dropped low and began lightly poking him around his abdomen just enough to make him yelp every time it hit him. He began squirming to get away, but the bolt was relentless in its pursuit.

He let out a frustrated sound and snatched the bolt with his teeth, breaking Vinyl's magical hold and breaking her smirk just as well. He quickly loaded the bolt and aimed the crossbow down at me with a devilish look on his face.

Starring down the end of a crossbow was quite a new experience to me since I knew it would catch up to me faster than I could move to avoid it. Its travel time may as well have been instant in this situation.

I saw the mare from before lurch out at Vinyl and again go for her horn just as soon as I heard the clang of the bow. 

I clinched my eyes in preparation for the pain. If Vinyl could take a hit for my sake then I would take one for her.

The only problem is that the pain never came.

I opened my eyes to see Vinyl standing in front of me.

She turned and looked back at me with a weak smile on her face and a bolt sticking out of her chest. She looked happy for my safety, scanning over my body to be sure that I wasn't harmed.

She then gave me a nod and turned to face the stallion once more.

I heard the click of another bolt loading, and then the sound of magic floating the bolts from the center of the floor most likely over to the stallion.

The room went still for a moment as I peaked around Vinyl's body to look at the stallion, also looking up to see Vinyl's now frowning face.

"Heh, I'll make you a deal, monster." The stallion said, his bow already aimed so that if Vinyl moved to avoid a shot it would hit me.

Vinyl didn't respond.

"Come with us and I'll be sure your little thrall behind you gets a quick and painless death." His voice was shaky, but not because of fear. It was like he was shaking from loving this too much, his adrenaline most likely pumping.

My cover placed her injured hoof onto the bolt sticking from her chest and ripped it out with not a single flinch. I knew it had to have hurt and Vinyl's ability to take the pain amazed me.

The stallion's face twisted into a grimace at Vinyl's refusal to back down.

"Fine by me, " He spat. "they didn't say I couldn't bring back a body. The general would understan-"

His voice was interrupted by a pair of white hooves grabbing his head from behind and pulling backwards so that he began to tilt up. He shot his bolt most likely out of reflex, which flew and stuck into the ceiling above.

Despite the successful disarm of the stallion, the hooves didn't stop there and actually started speeding up tremendously after the bolt was fired. The stallion went up onto his hind legs and was then slammed into the ground with enough force to knock my music book off the glass table. Judging from how the impact looked to have been mainly on the back of his head, he wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

Vinyl looked down on him with a sad look on her face while the two remaining looked at her with wide eyes.

The mare gulped a little before her horn ignited just as a pair of white hind legs crashed into her and sent her back into the couch with enough force to slide the piece of furniture to the doorway.

All eyes landed on the last standing stallion, who hadn't moved throughout the entire exchange. He shrunk at the sight of one of the pairs of eyes and quickly looked away.

Vinyl walked over to him slowly, horn sparking violently.

"V-Vinyl..." I whisper, my voice not cooperating with me as I saw the intent behind Vinyl's eyes. A murderous look coming from the weak looking eyes.

She didn't hear me and continued to walk towards him until stopping just a few feet as her horn began to become a pain to look at thanks to its brightness.

"Vinyl." My voice worked out this time just as she tipped her horn towards him and a bright flash went off.

The stallion who had been standing up was gone when I looked back,

Vinyl was already over at the couch where the mare was slumped against the cushions, giving me just enough time to look at her bright horn before another flash went off and forced me to look away.

She was gone this time.

I instinctively looked over to the first one to have fallen, seeing that Vinyl was knelt down and fiddling with the crossbow on his hoof. She ripped it off his arm with ease and tossed it backwards towards me. She stood back up and sent out one final flash as the stallion disappeared.

The room was eerily silent after that, the only sound being Vinyl's hooves as she lazily walked back over to the couch that was barring the doorway. She slowly climbed over it and into the hallway, using her head to begin pushing it back into the center of the living room.

After that she levitated the door off the floor and propped it up against the doorway. If someone were to knock it would simply fall inwards into the room.

That seemed to be the extent of her damage control as she trudged back over to the couch and fell down onto it. I felt worry arise.

"Vinyl, what about your..." I stopped myself as I spotted what should've been her wounded chest and hoof now perfectly fine, no sign that an arrow had even pierced and not to mention be ripped out.

"...wounds." I finished, my eyes drifting over to the crossbow Vinyl had ripped off.

I picked up the horribly twisted piece of machinery, glossing over the fact that the rope supposedly holding my hooves behind my back had been cut somehow.

The device was unmistakably familiar. I had seen them in the forest before, used by what I could only assume was The Order. The implication of seeing this was that they were after Vinyl - and maybe me by association. I wondered briefly if Vinyl had ripped it off the stallion to show this to me, or if she had done it just to rob him of his weapon.

A snore from the couch stole my attention, Vinyl had fallen back asleep already.
> Damage Report
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"What do you mean don't go?! It sounded like a bomb went off over there!" I all but screamed at Flint, her body firmly blocking the door.

She was oddly calm despite this, showing her experience with field work.

The first slam from across the hall had sent both me and Flint silent with both of our ears perked at attention, listening for the slightest follow up sound. I assumed that maybe someone had fallen hard or something, but when consecutive ones came afterwords was when I made a move for the door.

And right into Flint.

"I mean don't go across the hall into the neighbors apartment. I can't make it much simpler that that." She looked at me with daggers for eyes. I felt the impact of them, but a worry for the grey mare kept bothering me.

"You heard it too, something is happening over there."

Why exactly I was worried for her was beyond me, something just ticked in my head when the loud sounds started coming from the room across the hall. The sounds of course got my attention for the most part, but I also felt an odd feeling from across the hall - sort of like a tugging feeling coming from my horn just after the loud crashes had stopped. I'd heard about magic being able to detect magic, but I had never trained in that sort of magic as it seemed useless to me. My only guess was that a lot of magic went off at once - enough to make even an untrained magic user feel it. This got my attention, with the grey mare being an earth pony it spelt something odd.

She said did say she had a roommate. Was this her roommate?

She seemed to see the look of defiance in my eye and went over over her options.

"What is their business is theirs, not ours. We've already exposed ourselves to that Octavia mare, no need to keep on drawing attention to us." She said sagely.

A look in her eyes showed a critical side to her normally cocky attitude. It was clearly bugging her just as much as I was, but why wasn't she wanting to go investigate? I was sure that she too felt the tugging from across the hall.

"Cover shouldn't be a concern when the ponies across the hall could have just been killed for all we know." I said, calming down but still eager.

She seemed to be getting more and more convinced to go with me. She had been holding up against me for the past few minutes ever since the loud noises began and had also been holding me back from investigating. I had spent those minutes yelling at her.

"Just let me go knock on the door then. I don't have to barge in, if they don't answer then so be it." I said anxiously, watching as her eyes got softer as she finally caved in.

She sighed heavily.

"Fine, but that's it." She almost spat.

Her voice was a fleeting one, as I was half way out our own door when I had heard the beginning of the word "fine". I could tell she was following me at her own pace.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I all but slammed into the side of the hallway as I turned the corner from my door to look down the hall and at my neighbors door. It was bout five feet forwards from our own door. I gave it a look over to see if there was any signs of forced entry, but nothing showed up from the front of the door.

It had been silent for a while now.

I felt a bit more assurance at the sign of nothing wrong on the surface, but I still had to give it a knock or two to be sure.

"Well, go on then." Flint grumbled from behind me at our own doorway.

I gave her a nod and trotted forwards hastily, arriving at the door and giving it another close look. I was looking for anything at this point, scratches on the door, magical marks, anything on the surface that could show signs of struggle.

I sighed at the sigh of nothing and cleared my throat.

I raised my hoof up and gave the door a solid knock, the corners of my eyes seeing Flint approaching. I lingered a little bit and waited for her to get as close as she would, then knocked.

A single knock rang out, and even though I drew my hoof back for another, I found that I only hit air when I tried to knock again.

The door slowly leaned into the home, finally falling down with a loud bang.

Both my eyes and Flint's were wide and glued to the door as it fell.

I looked up and saw Octavia standing up, peering at me from behind the couch inside the room. She seemed just as surprised to see us as we did to see her, though I think one of us was a bit more justified in our shock. Unless she didn't know that her door lacked hinges.

I felt Flint stick her head in the doorway.

"Uhm-" I cleared my throat. "A-are you okay over here? We heard a lot of banging from over here and well..." I said, attempting to regain my composure while my eyes drifted down to the door again.

"Oh, uh - Yes, I'm fine. I just uh..." She cast a look down at the couch, her eyes lingering a moment before speaking again.

"...slipped." She said.

"Wow, musta' been quite a fall." Flint butted in, her head craning and looking around the interior of the apartment. I also heard her whisper something about their wall's paint color - despite it being hardly visible thanks to the room's lighting - but she was silent after that.

"Oh, don't know if you knew this, but it looks like your door is broken." Flint added, her head slipping out of the doorway and back into the hallway.

I turned back to Octavia just in time to see a small fidget coming from the couch, a hoof hovering behind and peaking just above the back of the couch.

"Oh, is that your roommate?" I asked, a bit anxious since I hadn't seen the pony before.

I began trotting in without consent, going towards the couch at an eager pace to get a look at whoever it was. I really just wanted to see if it was a unicorn, that maybe this was the reason behind the small 'hiccup' in my magic earlier.  Well, that and I hadn't even had a look at her roommate.

A hoof landed on my shoulder and jerked me to a stop.

"I don't remember hearing her invite you in, unless I'm going deaf." Flint said with a forced smile.

"I, uh-"

"The words you're looking for are 'was just leaving'." She said dangerously, pulling me back from the room with surprising amounts of strength.

"Oh, it's nothing really, you're both welcome to come in if you-" Octavia began, only to have the other grey mare of the room interrupt her.

"Oh no, we don't mean to intrude, do we?" Flint asked, her grip tightening and beginning to make my shoulder burn with pain.

"N-No!" I stammered, just before the hoof jerked me back out of the room and into the hallway.

"I believe you opened the door didn't you?" Flint asked me rhetorically, gesturing to the downed piece of wood.

My horn lit up as I picked up the door with a bit of effort, beginning to feel like I was being treated like a foal, and placed it back into the door frame. 'Closing the door' in a different sense than the term was usually used in.

Flint sighed once the door was in place, her grip loosening and her hoof slumping off my shoulder. The pain continued to throb in the place where the hoof had been, despite this being only a disciplinary hold. I'd hate to see it if she actually had intended to hurt me.

"Man, you suck at spy work don't you?" She sighed, her hoof going up to her forehead.

"I was only going to look at her roommate. We haven't even seen her yet and it's starting to bug me." I replied.

"And you're never going to see her if it comes to it. We're operating on blending in here, not trying to invade the privacy of others dummy." She looked at me, scolding and serious yet somehow slightly playful.

I didn't really have much to say after that, she was right in how these types of missions work. And to add to that, I had never been on one of these to begin with.

She sighed a little, her face turning apologetic though never saying anything to directly apologize to me.

"Look, it's whatever. Just try and be more careful?"

I nodded.

"Good." She smiled.

"Lets head back, Stone should be back in a little while with breakfast." She offered, turning and heading back towards the apartment building.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The door creaked open as the sound of heavy hooves entered, signaling that Stone had finally made his return. I tossed my eyes over to see his bulking form coming through the door with his head bent down and a small plastic box gripped between his teeth and resting on his beard. It had been about fifteen minutes since me and Flint had come back inside from across the hall, making it about twenty five since he first left.

Flint seemed to see this.

"Back so early? I wasn't expecting you to be back for about an hour..." She sounded obviously curious, but also a bit worried as well. I guess it wasn't normal to see him come back so early from one of his 'expeditions'.

"Well, I was plannin' on snooping 'round for awhile-" He said through clenched teeth as he set the plastic bag down onto the counter near the kitchen.

"-but I ran into quite the sight on the way down."

I found the idea of Stone 'snooping' anywhere funny. It was like trying to sneak a boulder into town.

"Oh?" Flint raised a brow.

"Aye', quite the sight indeed." He said, trotting over to the couch and plopping down on the couch beside me. I was lucky I hardly took up half the cushion, because he took up almost all the rest of it.

"Well don't keep me waiting."

"Aye, aye." He grumbled, leaning back into the couch.

"Was walking down to the city, takin' a bit of a side road to get there according to one of the guards I talked to, and walked past an entry to an alleyway and I thought I saw something. Flash of some kind, bright blue I think."

Flint and I were silent and listening intently.

"Well, went back there to look 'round and found two lads and a lass flat on the ground, two of 'em out cold." He said sounding grave.

"Walked up to the lot of 'em and asked the conscious one if he was sittin' right. He apparently recognized me and turns out they were the little patrol working with you Flint." Stone's voice had gotten colder and more serious than ever despite his laid position.

Flint was visibly serious as well.

It was weird how they had, for the most part, joked about the vampire being beaten by the squad earlier.

"Any casualties?" She asked.

"Nah, luckily the conscious one was the medic of the bunch and was able to treat 'em. Said he chose not to fight by choice though you could see the fear in his eyes. Lass had some broken ribs and bruising at most, the other lad was messed much more. Some cuts on his body, but the worse part was the concussion that almost broke the lad's skull. Doc said that any more force and it woulda' been lights out for good."

The room was deathly silent after that, but Stone wasn't done.

"I asked him 'bout what happened, and you could see he was shaking 'bout it."

"Lad said the mare was faster than anything he'd seen, 'parently able to dodge arrows without teleportation - either that or her magic color is pure black and can turn bright blue on a whim. He also said she was rather unpredictable, she was playful for some of the fight and then turned grim and scary in an instant. Took a few bolts voluntarily and didn't even flinch ripping 'em out or pushing 'em all the way through. She apparently kicked the lass into a couch hard enough to launch the couch back into the wall with a single, effortless, buck; then slammed the lad's head into the ground hard enough to almost kill him."

This was, at the very least, disturbing. I had never quite come across something like this - a vampire who played with pray by shrugging off attacks and being playful with them just to show it was useless. Though if that was the case, why didn't she kill them? Stone said that she kicked the mare into the couch and back into a wall with an 'effortless' buck so killing them couldn't have be that much harder? Did she mean to let them live?

"He also said that she was the one who teleported 'em away."

"That's strange..." Flint murmured.

"She may have been protecting something if she didn't go for the kill." I suggested.

"Nah, she would've especially gone for the kill if she was protecting something." Flint mumbled, rubbing her chin in thought.

"Well, she sounds like something to live up to the legend of those contracts from the past. Shame she didn't go easy on the patrol though." Flint continued, sounding sad.

"Their alive. That's much more than going easy on them." Stone said, his tone reflecting his many years with The Order shining in just a few words.

"Did he say where the place was?" I butted in.

"No, said he had trouble remembering the location but could for some reason remember the events perfectly. Oddly enough, he also said he couldn't remember how the mare looked either, only that she was a mare."

"Well she's a unicorn then if she teleported them away. That also might be the reason they can't remember." I pointed out.

"Aye. That, or he was traumatized." Stone nodded.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So, anything happen while I was gone?" Stone asked, his hulking form hunched over the table as he ate some of the food he had brought back.

Flint shot me a glare, so I decided to let her do the talking.

"Neighbor's were having some work done on their door, made a bit of noise, but that was about it." She said smoothly.

Why wouldn't she want Stone to know anyways?

"Hm." Stone grunted.

"So what's our next move to get the target?" I almost blurted.

Despite Stone's report I was more than ready to do some field work myself. This 'Vinyl Scratch', if she is the one the group ran into, must b quite the spectacle to see if she is so capable of beating squads within an inch of their life so easily.

They both turned to me, then to themselves, then Stone to his plate, then Flint to me.

"Well, sending another group after her is an idea. Not much else we can do as of now since we don't have much info to go off of." Flint explained.

"Wait, why can't you guys look for her as well?" I asked. It seemed like these two would be the best ponies to send out to sniff out a vampire.

"Well, we have ponies set out in towns for this specific reason. They are more familiar around these places than we are, and two random strangers looking around a town is bound to catch someone's eye."

"Well, I guess that makes since..." I mumbled.

When I had first found out that I was going on this mission I was expecting lots of action, not sitting around waiting for others to give us something that we had to piece together and then go in for one grab of the target. It seemed really dry compared to regular field work, but these two seemed to be really enjoying it. Wasn't I supposed to be doing something?

"Well, you were assigned on the mission since you were part of the most recent incident in the area prior to the contract of Vinyl Scratch being placed. Shockingly recent actually." Flint explained.

"We guessed that you would be the most relevant since you may or may not have been the last one to be in contact with Vinyl Scratch. You were also sent along to keep us two in line, that and regulation says you can't go back to your original squad just yet.." She answered with a hoof behind her head, rubbing it sheepishly.

"Aye, we tend to be a little bit... careless." Stone chuckled with a voice deep enough to shake my own chest.

That's about the exact opposite I was expecting the reasoning to be behind me coming with them. Well, the keeping them-in-line part at least.

"But to answer your first question, we will probably send in one more squad to test her - this time with priorities on getting information - before we finally get serious about this. If the second squad comes in with no info then one of us will be going with the next hunting party after her." Flint began again, gesturing to her and Stone who was finishing off his plate and slowly inching his hoof over to Flint's.

"Not quite sure how the first group found her and then weren't able to give us any information about her appearance or location, but if that happens again we'll make sure that's where it ends." Flint's eyes were back to having a look of fiery, orange, determination.

I wasn't quite sure what Flint thought of the troops below her, whether she saw them as expendable or as equals and would go to any extent to avenge them. She seemed to flip between the two on a whim.

"Send in some ponies with a bit more experience would ya? I was lucky to stumble upon those poor folks by chance but I fear next time we provoke whoever it was they ran into it'll be a bit more messy than some cuts, bruises and a concussion." Stone asked lazily.

"Sure, I'll see if I can't meet up with the local top squad." Flint said with a dangerous look in her eye.

"I want to see what she can really do."


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

> Found
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"And you're sure that you can catch her?" Flint asked a gruff looking pegasus with a bushy mustache and eyebrows to match, under one of these said eyebrows was a monocle.

Flint decided that she was going to meet with the "Local Veterans" early in the morning, and for some reason decided to take me along with her. It was the crack of light  - the sun just bright enough to light up the sky - and here I was sitting in an uncomfortable office chair in a pitch black room. The only things that were lit was the white, plastic table we three sat at with the light provided by an over hanging lamp.

It was the day after the run in with the neighbors, yesterday I spent most of my time wandering around town with Stone. He told Flint it was to get a lay out of the land, but in reality he used it as an excuse to get me out of the house and to 'bond' with me in general. He seemed to have realized I didn't exactly like hanging around the house all day, so it at least showed he was taking note some of the time.

"Yes ma'am, I'm sure that we can get the job done." He said. His voice reminded me of one you might see on a safari trip, someone who decided to do something outrageous in their free time - like boxing or alligator wrestling.

"I assume you have something to go off of? It's fine if you guys don't but I'm kind of on a schedule here..." Flint said casually. She was surprisingly relaxed in this so called 'meeting' we were having.

"Ma'am, the second you brought up that name my team began digging for anything we have on her. I've been here for some twenty years - I was here when that name first began to get some weight behind it. Much like the others in the area, I did my fair share of looking for her. And just like the others, I gave up after awhile. But if it is your will general, I will stop at no expense this time." He sounded determined beyond belief. I guess Flint was an inspiration to some.

Flint seemed to notice the passion burning in his eyes.

"Good." Was all she simply said.

The squinted brows turned to me.

"And you said she was a unicorn, bright blue magic, possessed astounding strength and speed even by vampire standards, had a tendency to play with prey, changed attitudes quickly and also seemed to be protecting something?" He asked, reciting all we knew about Vinyl Scratch.

I nodded.

He smiled, though the smile seemed to not be from the information he had gotten from me. Maybe he just felt happy for me to have contributed to the conversation.

"Well, the magic will probably be our main clue..." I heard him mumble while he rubbed at his chin.

He stood up from the table with a sudden movement, his hoof extended.

"Ma'am I swear to you that we will find this mare and bring her to you."

Flint got up and met his hoof.

"Good. Try and bring her back alive as well," Flint's face turned dark for a moment. "I want to see the face that hurt my hunters."

"Have faith in me ma'am, I know of plenty in the area whom were also looking for missus Vinyl Scratch; plenty of whom know how to take down vampires in the most effective and efficient manner. She will be alive, though I cannot promise you unharmed." He said.

"Harmed is fine - beat her up all you want - just don't kill her." Flint said with a devious smile.

They seemed done and let go of each others hooves, Flint turning and heading towards the door while the stallion straightened out a stack of papers that had been on the desk. I got up quickly and followed behind Flint, turning back enough for me to take notice the surprising bulk in his form - he may not have been tall, but he was big.

Just as we reached the hallway that the room was connected to, I heard some yelling come from the room.

"Sharp!" The voice of the mustached stallion called out, receiving a meek 'Yes sir?!' in response.

"Get as much blood as you can and pack it all into jars - the bigger the better. We're using the location Madam Flint gave us of the last group that was attacked and will be distributing blood into the alley ways and back streets every few blocks away from that in a one mile radius in every direction." He said sagely.

He was smart as well. I had never even thought of something like that - if you don't know all of what she looks like just lure in a bunch of her kind and use the process of elimination to get rid of all the others until you arrive at the real deal. Simple and efficient. Sounded like his hunting party was going to be much larger as well if he was going to cover all of those jars.

Another 'Yes Sir!' replied to him, followed by the sound of rampant hoof steps. The last bit that I managed to make out was, once more, the voice of the mustached stallion.

"Better get the boys back together, been awhile since we had a good hunt."

So that was his weird hobby. Well, I guess I did it as well in a sense, but I imagine his hobby had started up way before joining The Order.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Flint was particularly silent on the way back home, just staring almost vacantly into the distance with a squinted look of something that could pass for strain. Her eyes looked almost angry.

She did provide a break in this look once though, turning to look at me with forced gentle eyes.

"Wanna get breakfast?" She asked suddenly.

"Uh, sure." I replied, taken aback a little by the sudden shift in her demeanor.

We walked into a small coffee shop - one of the seemingly infinite supply of them that littered this city - and Flint ordered us something light. She immediately went back to sulking after that, staring unconsciously at my chest intensely.

I decided to say something.

"Hey, uh, Flint?" I asked.

No response.

"Flint?" I asked again, knocking on the table to no avail.

I decided to push the part on her head just below her horn, finally managing to snap her out of her little trance.

"Huh?" She asked.

"What's wrong? You got all vacant after meeting with that guy." I pointed out, and in response she let out a massive sight that blew up the long side of her mane.

"Meh, lotta things on my mind right now..."

"Care to expand on that?" I raised a brow.

"Hm, sure." She answered, getting comfortable in her seat.

"Well, between the first wave of casualties we got within a few days of getting here and then putting that mustached stallion in charge, I'm beginning to get a little worried about all the ones who might get hurt in this stupid little assignment we're on."

"That's it? But you're a general - shouldn't you be used to casualties?"

"That may be true, but just because I'm used to 'em doesn't make it any less easy to deal with those reports..." She said solemnly.

"My main issue is this big escapade that vet is about to go on; he's got a sizable number of hunters with him, and I know you were also listening in on the plan he shouted so you should know about all the ones he's going to be sending out."

I was a bit shocked about her also listening in on the plan that stallion had shouted, but even more so about her knowing that I was also eavesdropping.

"Regardless of how he plans to spread them out to cover all those blood jars, there are going to be more rookies than hardened hunters on this mission facing down some kind of... monster. And that's coming from someone who's job is to kill vampires."

"Well, I guess at a certain point it was impossible to avoid casualties."

"Yeah, right when I accepted this mission." She mumbled in response.

The waitress arrived back at our table with two cups of coffee, a glass of juice and two biscuits. Flint gave a smile as she sat them down, changing attitudes on a whim as the waitress walk away.

"Well, whatever happens I can only hope for the best." She said, in a tone that I would guess to be cheerful if it weren't for the conversation we had just had.

I gave her a serious look, wondering about just how stressful her position was, before looking down to the juice she had pushed towards me. The two cups of coffee were for her.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My eyes turned to the couch once again - I had lost count at around twelve or so - and looked at the still sleeping form of Vinyl. She had been sleeping for more than twenty four hours at this point, excluding the quick fight she had dealt with that had made my night more than uneasy to say the least. 

It was around late afternoon at this point, the sun was falling over the horizon and giving way for the oncoming night.

I was beginning to get worried for her, whether or not she was going to wake up at all, though she definitely still seemed to be aware of her surroundings somehow. I had given an experimental walk through the space between the couch and coffee table - where her hind legs were residing - and they moved almost on their own out of my way. I did it a second time and got the same result.

I tired waking her once or twice, though it ended in two different scenarios. The first involved her nibbling on my hoof when I put it near her nose in an attempt to poke her while the second involved something similar to what she did with the mare from the encounter - wrapping me up somehow and using me as a body pillow of sorts for a few hours.

It wasn't until around lunch time that she moved with the intention of getting up rather than adjusting to a more comfortable position.

I was in the kitchen when I saw her body teeter up from the couch, her hair ruffled and matted as she sat up. She put her front hooves above her heads and stretched them each individually, letting out small grunts as she did so.

"Vinyl?" I asked experimentally. Was she sleep walking?

"Huh?" She mumbled, turning to look at me with a faint smile and rugged eyes. Was she still tired after a near full day of sleeping?

I didn't really have a formulated response at this point, believe it or not. I had been prepared for her to sleep longer than this, yet still hadn't thought of something to say when she woke up. Though the one thing I did do was smile.

"Nothing, just glad to see you awake." I said almost instinctual.

She replied with a yawn, looking around the room until something finally caught her eye.

"Hey Tavi, what's that?" She asked pointing up at the ceiling.

I followed her hoof up to the bolt still firmly planted in my ceiling.

"Do you not know?" I asked her. It somewhat sounded like I myself didn't know, though I was asking her since she was the one who indirectly had it put there.

She shook her head at me before continuing to look around the room, this time looking for something else since it occurred to her that something had happened. Her eyes finally landed on the twisted piece of metal that was the crossbow laying a few feet in front of her near the closed blinds.

She then picked herself up off the couch, her legs wobbling just a little, and made her way over to the object. She picked it up and looked it with a look that soon turned to curiosity before turning to me.

"Who's is this? Shakes'?" She looked back at the device. "Man it got messed up."

"Um, no." I replied, trotting to the edge of the tile from the kitchen.

She looked a bit confused for a second, but her head seemed to piece together the implications of my response, the bolt in the ceiling and the crossbow.

She let out an annoyed sigh.

"Did someone come while I was sleeping?" She asked, her voice a lot more bland than before. Lacking an emotion, though not serious.

"Do you not remember?" I asked. I hated how evasive I was sounding, but I wanted to know if she had indeed forgot.

"No, so did they?"


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I took all of about thirty minutes of telling her about the group of ponies that had come in and attacked. We moved over to the couch at my request, since I figured it might take awhile. Her face stayed the same throughout most of the talk, despite me telling her things that I thought would at least upset her slightly. The only times she did make a face was when I told her about me getting tied up - where she frowned - and the times when she was shot with bolts - where she cringed. She even looked at her hoof when I spoke of her pulling the bolt straight through.

After I had finished, I had hoped for a reaction a watched her closely.

I did get one.

After a bit of time, she leaned back into the couch and let out a sigh the lifted a puff of mane up into the air. Her eyes went cross eyed as she followed the clump of hair go up and come back down.

"Vinyl?"

"Thanks for protecting me, Tavi." She said suddenly, her eyes still facing forwards.

"W-What?"

'Did she not hear me? I was tied up and helpless for all the fight while she took multiple bolts for myself. If anything I should be thanking her. ' I thought to myself, followed by voicing said thought.

"Heh, you can protect people in more ways than you'd think." Was all she said, turning to me with a smile and look of admiration. She sounded like she didn't even believe herself when she said it.

"What do you mean?" I asked, perplexed.

"I tend to be a bit more emotional when I get woke up early. My head's kinda still sleeping even though I'm awake, so feelings get a bit out of hoof then." She said with a giggle.

'So she works more off emotion when she wakes up early? Well that could certainly explain some situations in the past. It would also explain why Vinyl attacked them so quickly, as it usually took a bit more to provoke her.' I thought.

Even getting shot with a bolt might not be enough to get Vinyl to attack them as hard as she did. She might use magic to dispose of them, like teleporting them away, but it usually took something more for her to use physical violence like how she had slammed the stallion. 

Though that still didn't explain why she was thanking me for 'protecting' her.

"Well, from what you told me I did, I imagine if you weren't there at the time some... things might have happened that I wouldn't have done if I was thinking right." She said sincerely.

I felt a bit warm at that statement, despite still not knowing why she was thankful of me. Maybe she was just saying this to make me feel a little better about not being able to do anything when she needed me, but it was working.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So you want me to go why?" I asked.

Flint sighed.

"Look, I don't half believe any of those recruits the mustached guy is sending are competent enough to handle the vampires that come that aren't Vinyl Scratch. I also believe that they believe they are competent enough to handle her, and are just going to get hurt trying to follow those dumb orders." She huffed.

"Aye, that stallion sounds like a good strategist, but he over estimates the abilities of those he is commanding. Good orders don't count for nothin' when you don't have men who can follow them." Stone agreed.

I gave them another look.

"And we believe that you will know not to try and engage her, so we're sending you in in the off chance to get a glimpse of her." Flint said again.

Man they were desperate at this point. Well, Flint seemed to show it, I wasn't so sure about Stone. It must have been really getting to them if they were desperate enough to send me out to one of the tens of squads that were being deployed to find Vinyl Scratch. What were the chances that I would find her and get away to tell them.

"We know the chances are low, but thanks to the implications that she can make those who see her forget we need someone who knows to get away from her. Not some blindly loyal rookies." Stone said sagely.

"Not that we don't have faith in them... well, actually that is what it is." Flint admitted.

"But isn't the reason I was sent here to be sure you two weren't left alone?" I asked. That is what they had told me.

"Yeah, but our reason for being here is to get Vinyl Scratch. One has a different - higher - priority than the other, right?" Flint said. I could tell when she used 'our', she meant me as well.

I hesitated for a moment, before looking back at them and nodding.

She was right on that one, and her orders we're technically the only ones given to me. The Order didn't tell me I was supposed to stay with them, and even if they did she was the one who decided those orders anyways.

"Great." Flint said with contained joy, her eyes brightening at me consent. Even Stone had a smile on at my response.

Despite not exactly looking at them as the generals they were, it did feel good to have such higher ups look at me and thank me like I was an equal to them.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So the generals want you to join in on my mission?" The mustached stallion asked.

I was back inside the same building I was in when Flint had talked with this guy. I went out on a guess to assume that he was still here and had the others setting up the traps.

"Yes sir." I replied.

"Any particular reason why?" He asked.

"They said that you would be rather spread out with this mission and said you could use all the help you could get." I recited the reason Flint had given me.

He hummed a little at the response.

"Good to see they are thoughtful ponies. I've already sent out a few groups to set up the blood jars and they've been ordered to open and pour them at roughly eight thirty." He said.

It was eight right now.

"You can go..." He took a moment to look at the map that was to his side, scanning over it thoroughly and adjusting his monocle before planting his hoof on a spot.

"Here." He said.

I leaned in and look at the spot he had pointed out, a small alleyway about a block up from a theater. It looked like it was set out to be behind a bar, so that should be easy to find.

"You should get there just in time for the hunters to begin pouring, so you won't miss any action if you hustle." He said.

I nodded to him.

"Good, get going." He said, turning back down to the work set out in front of him.

I took that as my queue to leave and got up from my chair, exiting out of the door and turning down a familiar hallway only to hear a familiar voice call out again.

"Sharp!" The mustached stallion called out, not waiting for a response this time around.

"Get my gear ready. We'll need to hurry if we wish to get to our spot." He said loudly.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I wandered up the streets for around fifteen minutes since I had left the secluded building where I had talked to the troublesomely loud stallion with a monocle. If the map he was using anything close to what the guard had told me about, the bar I was using was called 'The Cozy Colt'. I had already found the theater that was near it, and had been wandering up the street for a few minutes.

It was close to being night, so I figured I needed to hurry up before the other hunters poured and Vampires started coming to investigate, or else I'd be in deep trouble.

'Wasn't this bar in the papers somewhere?' I asked myself, looking at a what I could only guess was a drunk passed out on the sidewalk underneath the a street light. 

I never thought that I would take drunks as a good sign.

I spotted a small building in the distance, different looking than the others and slightly newer looking. As I approached, it became clear that this was the bar that I was looking for.

"Now to find where those hunters are..." I mumbled to myself, walking towards the bar and scanning the rooftops as that tended to be a place where people went to hide and watch others.

My eyes narrowed in on a group of poorly hidden ponies on the roof, which I could only assume was the rookies that I was supposed to be meeting up with. My eyes looked around them and found a rusty looking fire escape, which I guess they had used to get up there in the first place.

It was a bit of a rough trip getting up there, but when I did I was greeted by the surprised look of three ponies. They each had crossbows strapped to their hooves, which confirmed my suspicions of them being the hunters I was looking for. They scrambled to load a bolt in after a second of looking at me.

"Woah!" I said, hooves up.

They stopped.

"I'm here to help you guys out. That monocle guy sent me."

They all sighed in relief.

"Thank Celestia." One of them sighed as I noticed a distinct lack of a jar full of blood around them.

I asked them about it and they all pointed to the rooftops across the way were two stallions sat, one with the jar by his side. I hadn't even seen them from the streets. They sat on opposite sides of a space between rooftops, the gap which I assumed was the alleyway of the bar.

"They're the two most experienced of all of us." One of the mares said from behind me.

'Five ponies on one position? Just how many ponies did that stallion have under his command?' I asked myself, settling down on the roofs on a different spot than the other three.

"Oh, you guys can be seen from down there by the way." I added, the three looking to each other before scrambling over to where I was.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


After settling down, I spend a few minutes exchanging names with the three. They all seemed a bit reluctant to be there judging by the tone they used.

After that, we got a sharp whistle from the two stallions across the roofs, who then poured the jar out into the alleyway below before hopping down into the streets and making their way over to us. They gave me a brief look when they arrived, but shrugged it. Probably because I hadn't chowed down into the three others just yet.

"So you got sent here by the monocle guy too?" One of them asked me.

I nodded.

"Man, he must really think this will be the place that vampire comes to. Hes got single ponies on other places. The stallion said who poured the jar said.

"Yeah, well unless we want to get ate by the ones that do come here we best start being quite." The other stallion who had been across the roofs replied.

We all nodded to that and quickly shut our mouths.

It was roughly forty or so minutes before the two stallions crawled up to the edges of the roof to peer over to the alleyway. The rest of us stayed where we were.

My haunches were aching, it was blistering cold tonight for some reason, and I hadn't ate anything before I came to this spot. I began to regret caving to Flint at this point, considering that the bar across the street was looking more and more appetizing by the second. The others around me must have been in a similar predicament, because they all seemed miserable.

Finally, after maybe another half hour of miserably waiting on the roof, the stallions came back to us.

"Anything?" One of the ones beside me whispered.

They nodded together.

"Only one though." He said.

"Well a vampire is a vampire is a vampire, so let's get moving before it drinks all that blood." The other stallion said.

We started down one by one, each of us taking the same rusty fire escape slowly as to not make any noise. It worked for the most part, even the rookies not making much of a peep. After that, we all gathered in a group at the bottom, the stallion nodding after the last set of hooves hit the ground, and making his way to the edge of the alleyway.

He motioned for us to make a sort of wall at the exit of it to be sure it didn't rush past us.

We nodded, and finally moved.

We made the formation perfectly, all the ones with crossbows having them raised and aimed at the form of the vampire down the alleyway.

I could now see that the pony was wearing a rugged looking cloak. They were bent down at where I thought the jar had been poured.

"Hey, what's that pony's name again? The one we are looking for." The lead stallion asked.

"Vinyl Scratch!" I yelled myself.

The cloaked figure froze and raised up.

The others around me stiffened and retook aim.

The pony turned around and looked at all six of us, a white horn sticking out of the hood of the cloak. I could also manage to make out the mouth of the pony, flat and lacking in any blood covering it.

'Was she not drinking it?' I asked myself.

A disturbing smile began to cross the vampire's face as she looked at us six, despite the position she was in. At the same time, I felt an odd feeling come across my entire body. It came in the form of chills as I saw that smile, my mind begging me to turn and run but my body refusing to budge an inch.

I felt hunted.
> Second Contact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The vampire's horn ignited in a red flare, bringing a sinister glow to the alleyway, and making her calm smile look all the more scary. Though I myself seemed to be paralyzed by the sight, it seemed that the others beside me didn't share that stance.

A bolt launched just past my head and flew at the cornered figure, though it went harmlessly past her and bounced off the cobble walls behind her. I managed to twist my head around to see that it was one of the rookies whom had taken the shot, though thanks to their shaking hooves they had missed their mark by a mile.

The way the others were set out around me almost made me look like I was supposed to be protected. The two supposedly experienced stallion's were on my left and right just in front of me and the other three were flanking both sides with one coming up directly behind me. Despite this protected position, I felt the most exposed.

The mare's smile flickered as her horn sparked a little, the ground just in front of us beginning to glow.

"She's going to try and throw dirt. Cheap..." The stallion to the front-left of me murdered, preparing for the dirt to come flying up towards his eyes.

The vampire's head tilted ever so slightly, as if she was confused by his actions, though the smile never faded.

I managed to catch it out of the corner of my eye, a faint red glow from the side of the building.

At first I was confused, but it quickly dawned on me what was happening.

A chunk of brick was ripped out of the building nearest to the stallion whom was preparing and slammed into the unprotected side of his face.

He quickly fell and for good reason. He was apparently hit hard enough that the chunk of bricks split, the cement not able to withstand the force, resulting with the single clump turning into individuals that went into the air.

The others, myself included, looked at the sight with horror.

But it was far from over.

With another spark from the vampire's horn, each individual brick that had been tossed into the air came to a stop and hovered inside of a red glow. The ends of them soon began readjusting, facing the rest of us.

My eyes widened just as the bricks began to barrage down at us at a ferocious speed.

They came down in a curved fashion, confusing us of what their true flight path was, and as a result they managed to crash into two of the ponies behind me. Just hearing the sound of the impact made me shiver a little.

The numbers of the group were quickly dwindling, the only ones left being myself, one of the newer recruits and the last standing experienced hunter. I wanted to help them, I really did, but every time I tried to channel magic into my horn the image of the disgusting sneer of the vampire in front of me threw me off. Even when I closed my eyes to do it it came as a haunting image that made my eyes bolt open. 

Not to mention how degrading the fact was that she had just wiped out half of us with no effort what so ever.

The nostalgic sound of metal hitting metal brought me back as two bolts were fired at the hooded figure, with their mark being dead on this time around.

They came close, but once a familiar red glow pulled them to a halt just inches before their target was met, the small hope faded from inside me.

The bolts both slowly bend into a "U" shape, then dropped onto the ground with a clatter.

This time around, the vampire didn't bother to hide her attack, apparently confident that we didn't stand a chance whether we knew her true attack or not. Her horn made a quick winding sound as a bolt shot out and towards the stallion in the front.

The stallion, to his credit, dodged the bolt of magic flawlessly.

Well, he did at first.

The vampire's horn moved slightly to one side, and the bolt took a sharp left into the stallion's stomach. It hit him back into the wall with an audible thud accompanied by the breath leaving his lungs.

I thought that was the end of it, but the mare moved her horn to the opposite side and the stallions body was dragged off the wall and around me, right into the last of the rookies, slamming both of them into the other wall with another audible thud. Her magic released from them and they dropped to the ground where the others were now at, leaving the me the last one standing.

It was eerily quite as I stared at the face of what I may as well call death, her smile now calming itself down into what I could now call a reserved one. It was never big to begin with, but the size didn't necessarily matter when that kind of intention was being portrayed through a look.

I was still seemingly frozen, staring down that smile just as I was when the five around me where beaten down like they never had a chance to begin with. 

And in all honesty, they probably didn't.

After a few minutes of silence, she did something I didn't quite expect.

She gestured for me to come to her, beckoning with her hooves as her horn lost its red glow.

'Does she want me to come to her for my death? Does she think she won't even need magic to beat me?' I thought, disgusted.

I found my hooves staggered over to her on their own, not necessarily of my own will but not necessarily against it either. As I saw it now, it was over for me one way or another, so their was no use in trying to run away from her. Flint had warned me to run when I first caught sight of the mare, though I guess the numbers we had gave me a bit too much hope.

As I got close enough, around a few feet away, she spoke.

"What do you know about Vinyl Scratch?" Her voice was calming and soothing, despite who it was coming from.

'Was this rhetorical? Or was she offering to spare me? Maybe if I said I didn't know anything, she would just let me walk away.' I asked myself. I knew that if she wanted me on the ground with the others then she could easily do just that, so why not?

"N-nothing..." I stammered.

Her smile frowned a little at that, her horn lighting up again as another chunk of brick was removed from the building with a disturbing amount of ease. 

I felt my heart skip a beat.


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


A sudden light flooded the alleyway.

"What the hell?!" A sudden, slurred voice called from the light.

'An angel?' I asked myself, craning my head to look where the light was its brightest.

I wasn't quite sure why an angel was the first thought that popped into my mind, but I guess in the face of what I would call 'evil', a sudden shining light is usually a symbol of angelic intervention.

My eye caught sight of what actually turned out to be a drunken looking mare standing in the entry of a doorway to the alleyway. It was hard to tell what exactly she looked like since the red glow of the vampire's horn was near my eyes and obstructed her coloration.

"What the-" I began to stammer, but a chuckle from the vampire behind me reminded just what a position I was in.

She took a few shaky steps forwards, taking care to keep a hoof on the wall of the alleyway. The door fell shut behind her, and the light that I had thought was hope suddenly went out. 

The drunk made her way over to the missing section of brick that the vampire had just ripped from the wall. She prodded around the hole, as if expecting a hidden switch to be where the chunk of brick had just been.

She let out an annoyed sigh.

"Coome onn, I jusst replacced this." She whined, her intoxication showing.

So this was my last sight huh? A drunk staggering into an alleyway clueless and whining about the brick missing from a building that was about to have some bonding time with my skull. I guess I would be a bit more depressed if this situation hadn't crossed my mind a few times before. I had always had a sneaking suspicion that this was how I would die.

I heard another chuckle and turned back to see that the piece of brick the mare was whining about was being quickly readjusted and aimed at her. She had just enough time to look up at the chunk and widen her eyes before it was thrown at her head at a dizzying speed. I wondered if the mare had managed to annoy the vampire, as this throw seemed to have a bit of effort packed into it.

The drunk luckily tripped, moving just out of the way of the brick as it smashed into the wall and shattered. Again, to her luck, the body of one of the fallen five was there to cushion her fall. I also thought I could make out another drunken mumble, something else about the wall.

Well, I thought she was going to fall.

I felt a pair of hooves give me a harsh shove, pushing me roughly into the wall at the side of the alleyway. The unexpected push made me close my eyes instinctively, making the pain from the fall a bit more bearable. The sound of shattering glass also managed to make itself know as I fell.

Did the vampire throw me away to focus on this mare more?

When I opened my eyes, I found a sight I hadn't quite expected to see.

The mare had apparently moved up far enough to push me out of the way and shove the vampire mare up against the end of the alley. Up against a dumpster to be more specific, and even grabbed and broke a bottle to use as a weapon to press against the vampire's neck.

The vampire still smiled, despite her apparent position. In fact I think it might have widened. She even looked like she was enjoying this sudden shift in power. Was this what vampire's enjoyed seeing? A potential threat to them? Was this what they had to see to have a good time?

Either way, the drunk mare also seemed to be enjoying this just as much.

I managed to catch her dulled eyes look closer at the hooded figure. Though that dulled down, drunken look in her eyes was quickly replaced with shock as her eyes widen and the smile turned into a slack jawed look.

She seemed to doubt herself for a moment, before finally opening her mouth an asking,

"Vinyl?" She slurred, the bottle's sharp edge letting off of the mare's neck just a little bit.

Her smile paused, and weakened.

"Let me go, please." She said in her still calm and soothing voice, though the danger lurking beneath was just as obvious.

"Why are you talkin so weird Vinyl?" The drunk slurred, her eyes squinting at the hooded figure.

How did this drunk even know Vinyl Scratch to begin with?

A whining sound pierced my ears and brought me back to the matter at hoof as the red magic from the mare's charged up to the point where it began to turn white at the center of her horn. 

The drunk seemed to register the seriousness of the upcoming use of magic and released the vampire instantly. She turned to me and picked me up roughly, hauling the both of us to the exit of the alleyway with a surprising amount of strength. I managed to get a good glimpse of her face when she did it, showing a pair of sharp, aqua eyes despite the clear intoxication of the mare.

The second we turned the corner she dumped me onto the sidewalk and toppled on top me.

I looked up past her just in time to see a torrent of magic erupt from the alleyway, enough power behind it to make the front hairs of my mane blow backwards as if a gust of wind was hitting them.

Thankfully, it dissipated a few feet into the street - a result of not enough of focus being put into the blast - but did manage to singe through the edges of the alley it came from. I shivered at the thought of what might have happened if she had focused it, most likely the building next door ceasing to exist.

One last blip of magic rang from the alleyway, most likely the unicorn teleporting away. The drunk on me seemed to register it as well.

"Heh," I heard a chuckle from the mare atop me. "close one."

Only a single question floated through my head.

"Who are you?" I asked.

A mare that stumbled into an alleyway, clearly drunk as can be, managed to - on her own - subdue a vampire that had wiped the floor with six others whom were trained to deal with them. Not to mention, we were armed where as she had made due with a broken bottle and probably could have done without it as well. She had also managed to save my own life.

She pushed herself off me and fell backwards as a result, sprawling over the sidewalk in a goofy looking fashion. I heard a drunken hiccup come from her before she answered.

"Sh-Shakes." She muttered.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Vinyl? Can you at least tell me what it is you're after before you go barging out the door like that?"

It had been not but a few hours before Vinyl's awakening before she had already gone back to more suspicious behavior. This time, she had froze up mid-speech and wordlessly gone to the door. Not to mention that it was dark enough that she could anywhere she pleased, which forced me to follow her with the fear that she would get lost otherwise.

"Smell." She murmured, nose to the cold night air.

"Smell?" I repeated, shivering from the same air.

"Smell." She said again, as if to confirm it.

'Well...progress is progress.' I mumbled internally.

"Could you perhaps tell me what exactly it is you smell?" I asked further.

She took a sudden right onto a back street and didn't bother to reply. I decided to not press any further, as it looked to be a fruitless effort.

She trotted on for another five minutes or so before arriving at a dead end area that was placed out of the way of even the back roads. It was shaped like a circle, stone walls erected a few meters high and a distinct lack of any form of pavement - nothing but sandy dirt to comfort ones hooves. Only one exit and entrance, the one that me and Vinyl had just entered.

In the center of the circle, lit by moonlight, was a dampened spot in the dirt.

Vinyl made a b-line to the spot and sniffed attentivly.

"Vinyl, would you please tell me what it is you smelled? Is that it there?" I asked her, trotting up beside her and staring at the dark spot, beginning to get a bit annoyed at her lack of response.

I noticed a pungent smell in the air.

"I believe it is the substance that goes by the name 'blood'." I haughty voice replied to me, causing both my head and Vinyl's to swivel.

A rather big stallion stood at the entry way to the small circular structure me and Vinyl stood in. He wasn't tall entirely, more of a hulky and well built stallion.

He put on an alarmingly disarming smile.

"Greeting young ladies, my name is-" The stallion began with a bow, only to be interrupted.

"Tavi! Look! It's him!" Vinyl squealed, trotting in place to express just how excited she was at whomever this stallion was. A friend of hers I hadn't heard about?

I raised a brow at her.

"Do you know him?" I asked.

"It's the guy of the game you were showing me! The one with the small houses and..." She mumbled off, looking to the sky with a hoof to her chin.

I gave the stallion - who was looking as confused as ever - a once over and it finally clicked. Vinyl and I had been trying to find a way to pass the time at my apartment and ended up running across an old box of things I had stored up over the years. When I first saw them, I was a bit embarrassed to have Vinyl look at them. Though when she looked at them in the same light as a child would, her eyes light up in excitement and I found myself having a little pride in them.

One game in particular caught her eye and she had wanted to learn how to play it.

"Monopoly?" I guessed.

"Yeah, that!" Vinyl chirped, almost shivering with excitement to meet the stallion on the front of the box

I gave a bit of a sheepish chuckle at her accidental rudeness.

"Vinyl, I don't think that he's th-"

"Yeah, you're right." She cut me short, her neck craning to look closer at the stallion.

"He looks more like the one from the can of chips. But this guy's got the eye glass thingy. " She nodded, as if it was what I was going to say in the first place.

I gave her a deadpanned look.

The stallion cleared his throat and brought our attention back to him.

"If you two are quite done?" He asked, raising a bushy brow and eye up to look at us.

We looked to each other.

Vinyl gave me a shrug.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Good." He said, his smile returning.

"I am the local leader of a small group - whom is part of a bigger group by association - who enjoys to hunt a select group of ponies for...fun." He said, pacing back and forth as he spoke.

"The name 'Vinyl Scratch' has caught some attention in the past few decades and, as a result, I have been given the simple task of including you into one of these lovely games. And thanks to the confirmation of you, my dear lady..." He gestured to me and I realized I had addressed Vinyl earlier.

"...I now know this is the mare I seek." He said, looking at Vinyl with an almost lusty look in his eyes. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

"However, you will not get time to run and hide like you might imagine. The hunt began when I was given this task, whether you agree to the terms..."

He readied a device on his arm I couldn't make out; judging by the sound it made, it couldn't be good.

"...or not."

It went eerily silent before Vinyl spoke up in response.

"You're part of that order thing, right?" Vinyl asked.

"Indeed. It seems the prey is more versed in its predators than I thought." He said, giving a sneering grin.

Vinyl giggled.

"Is this about that group I apparently hurt? If it is, I'm real sorry about that but-"

The stallion interrupted her with a sharp tone.

"This is not about that!" He suddenly shouted, his head dipping down enough to hide his face in the dark of night.

"You are prey. That is the reason you are hunted." His voice had grown dark and a sinister look overtook his form.

Vinyl's smile wavered at the harsh tone, her ears flattening at the sudden outburst. However, it quickly found itself back on her face; it looked hurt, but still hopeful.

"Look, I don't like fighting you guys. And from how most of you all end up getting hurt, I'm sure you all don't either." She protested.

The stallion slowly walked up to her, his body almost a shadow that loomed over us, and stopped just short of Vinyl.

"Perhaps..." He began, his voice gruff and disgusted.

One of his hulking hooves shot out from the darkness of the night and all but smashed into Vinyl's throat. She made a breathless and pained sound at the impact, clearly not expecting it. My eyes widened as his hoof clenched and lifted her high into the air with ease, leaving Vinyl dangling in the air with her hooves off the ground. Vinyl's hooves went to her neck and clawed at it, but to little avail.

The stallion's face finally lifted up to meet her glasses, an angered squint to his eyes as he looked at her.

He raised her a bit higher before slamming her into the dirt below, hard enough to kick the dirt up and to disorient Vinyl enough for her to cease her struggles to remove his hoof.

He leaned his head down and hovered his mouth right next to Vinyl's ear.

"...or perhaps you have never met someone who truly wants to kill you."
> Exposure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Are you sure you're fine? You still seem out of it."

"If you're asking if I'm still tipsy, then yes. If you're asking if I'm fine, then no. If you're asking if I can handle myself, then maybe."

"I'll... take that as a yes?"

I had managed to bring Shakes inside, almost dragging her inside the bar while she gave me drunken blabberings of directions on which way to go to get into the front door. Of course, I did this after checking to see if the five left in the alley were alright. They were, thankfully the beam of magic had gone right over them. Though a few still had some singes on them, but nothing more.

"Why are you... here anyways?" She asked through a hic. They seemed to be coming slower and slower as time passed, a sign of her sobering I hoped.

My mind found itself conflicted.

If this really was the Shakes that Flint had talked about, she was still a superior to me and a potential ally to us. Then again, Flint had never said just how their meeting went, so I couldn't be sure.

I hoof waved in front of my face.

"Hey, you still home?" Shakes asked.

"Oh, uhm, yes." I stammered.

"So why're yah here?" She asked again.

"Well, I was out doing business for someone." I said.

'Perfect.' I thought.

I couldn't tell her stance on the current mission - whether she was spiteful towards me and Flint for taking up what she couldn't do or if she was actually willing to aid us - so I wasn't giving her any clues on what I was really doing here. She admittedly probably knew I was from The Order at this point, but that didn't matter too much.

"Ah," She smiled. "so you're Flint's little playmate huh?"

"H-How..." I said meekly.

"I didn't." She chuckled before continuing.

"So, I'll ask one more time, what were you doing?" She asked, hoof stretching across the bar counter in a vein attempt to get a hold of another bottle.

"Well, I was..."

I paused again.

"Any day now. Hey you're a unicorn, get me that bottle up there would you? Second on from the left on the top shelf.

I sparked my horn and brought the bottle down gently to the table, my mind made up on whether or not to tell her. She immediately began prying at the bottle's top.

"Well, Flint told me to pair up with this, uh, stallion to try and get some information on a mare you probably know. Her name is Vinyl Scratch, you supposedly were after her as your last mission?" I said all at once, a bit surprised at my eagerness to say all of it.

She froze up and hesitated for a moment.

"So, she sent you out to get some dirt on Vinyl, huh?" She asked, a bit more sober sounding.

"Y-Yes." I responded. The atmosphere seemed to shift after I had mention 'Vinyl'. Maybe I hit a nerve?

"Hm." Was all she had left to say.

The room began to go quietly, and I jumped at the opportunity to learn a few things about her.

"So Flint said she asked you to hel-"

She cut me off.

"Say..." She was left hanging.

"Maple." I filled in for her.

"Maple. Ever think about why you hunt? Or, why you're in The Order in the first place?" She asked, her eyes looked distant.

"I, uh..."

I had never really thought about why I did this whole "hunting" thing. I guess one reason would be the pay, since it was pretty good and what wasn't paid to me was given in benefits. I guess the main reason would be to hunt down Vampires - despite the public knowledge of their existence, or lack there of. I mean, nothing that actively seeks the death of others as self sustenance could be that good.

"I guess to help get rid of Vampires? They don't seem that good of things for society." I answered, the lack of confidence in my answer making itself known.

"Hm." She hummed, taking in the information. Despite her drunkenness, if you could call it that at this point, she was quite sober sounding.

"Well, do you think hunting them is the best way to go about it?" She asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, maybe a contract or treaty or something. Social Contract where they have to behave themselves around us and we to them? Heck we could make a market for blood at that point. It'd be like groceries for them and we could pay ponies for it." She mumbled. She seemed to have gotten excited over the idea, and in the same notion got me thinking.

It was an idea, though the problem with it is just that. It was an idea, not the reality. Even if we could get them to stop and listen to us for a moment, the current status of them being hunter would make some of them doubtful; they would keep hunting us as we did them.

"Yeah, you got me there." She admitted when I voiced my thoughts.

"Still, I don't think treating all of 'em cause of the actions of a few is that solid of a logic. It's like treating you like an alcoholic for my addictions." She laughed, was that sarcasm?

"Ah, anyways, you wanted something?" She said, having given up on opening her bottle.

It took me a moment, but I remembered.

"Oh, uh Flint said that she stopped by a while ago and asked if you wanted to help us get Vinyl? She never really told me anything about how it went, so I'd like to hear it from you."

"I take it you saw some of her new patches?" She asked smiling, her eyes finally meeting mine.

I assumed she was talking about the burn marks on Flint, so I nodded.

She laughed, sounding almost sad. It was around this time I noticed that the edges of her eyes looked matted, almost as if she'd been crying.

"Heh, well I actually ended up-"

A bright flash cut her short and caused both of our eyes to clinch, the sudden light being shortly followed by a heavy sounding thump.

"What the-" She muttered, something cutting her short.

When I opened my eyes I found myself still looking at her, though she had this look on her face that I couldn't quite explain. It had the look of surprise, though something lingered yet that said the exact opposite. This look faded into an odd looking smile.

I turned to see what she was looking at, and found myself unintentionally gasping.

A broken monocle sat on the floor a few feet in front of the crumpled form of a bulky looking stallion in the fetal position. I rubbed my eyes, though he didn't disappear despite my assumptions that he was just an illusion; he actually unfurled just enough for a familiar mustache to be visible. I noticed the his stomach was burnt pretty badly.

My blood ran cold at the sight of him.

Even Stone had admired the stallion, and I was sure Flint at least saw his physical state as well as his wits thanks to has rather well thought plan. For someone to send him here as what looked like a show of rebellion made me a bit worried for my own well being. Still, who could have-

"Heh, I take it he was one the ones out looking for Vinyl with you all?" Shakes asked.

"T-The local veteran..." I found myself choking on my own words.

She laughed.

"It will take a bit more than smart thinking and brawn to get Vinyl to go quietly. Right now I can only think of two ways to get her to agree. One of them is suicidal, and the other she would never let happen." She laughed to herself once more.

Is it even possible to touch this mare? Not to mention harm her?


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Well, it would might help if you got off of me, Vinyl."

Vinyl had, for a lack of a better term, 'taken care' of the stallion who had approached us. She seemed a bit helpless at first, but I had failed to see a case yet where Vinyl couldn't just magic or buck her way out of something.

"I just want to be sure." She said in a caring tone.

"I assure you Vinyl, it didn't hurt that much."

I had also gotten a bit scuffed from the encounter, after rather foolishly trying to aid Vinyl by pushing the stallion.

Well, it had more of a result then I had ever expected, tipping him over just enough to the point of where he had to move his legs to keep steady. I half expected my own self to be tipped off balance, though I guess I had some sort of luck this time around. Even his eyes had widened a little in surprise of the fact I moved him.

Though my victory was short lived as he gave a rather hard shove to me myself and pushed me backwards. Dumbly enough, it was myself that had caused myself to fall. I had a tendency to trip over my own legs when I was nervous or worried, and I guess when it lined up the way it did it made the stallion out to look like he had hit me.

Vinyl...didn't take that well.

As a result, there was now a bit more blood in the dirt than when we had first arrived, and Vinyl was now feverishly checking me for injuries of any size.

"Vinyl please." I protested, to no avail.

She had used the brief amount of leverage I had given her to break from the stallions grip and escape quickly. The stallion had shot out a flurry of bolts in protest, though a volley of blue magic that was turning darker by the second met each each arrow and then some. The stallion, to his credit, stood strong against the magic and was ready to fire another volley at Vinyl in what looked like an instant.

Well, if it weren't for Vinyl's hooves coming crashing down on his skull after teleporting above him.

She didn't seem sated by that for punishment, so she walked up to him, aimed her horn to his stomach, and fired yet another volley of magic into the stallion at point blank.

I actually had to yell her name a few times to break the savage beating she was giving him.

She then rushed over to me, and here we were now with her feverishly looking over me for scuffs. I had even adopted a rather deadpan look by the foal like treatment.

She seemed to have the maternal instinct of a mother of one that hadn't realized I was sentient.

It took her a few minutes, but she finally seemed satisfied with my state of well being.

"I swear," She sighed. "these 'Order' guys are getting really annoying." She air quoted 'order' as if it were a conspiracy.

"I wonder what they're after." I realized how stupid and redundant that question sounded the second it left my mouth considering the brief conversation that stallion had just had with us not but a few minutes before hoof.

"I've got a few ideas..." Vinyl said, sadness lingering on her voice.

It occurred to me that this would be an ideal time to comfort her.

"Vinyl please... don't do anything you might regret." I said, though it came out sounding more like a question. I still wasn't the best at comforting someone, but I dare say that I had improved.

She smiled at me, and nodded.

It felt nice to see her smile, despite the fact she was still straddling me and not showing a sign of getting up, leaving me pinned.

Though that feeling was short lived, as a shiver ran through my spine and an odd, uncontrollable, feeling of dread washed over me in an instant. I felt cold now, and if it weren't for Vinyl being a top me I was sure I would have begun to start seeing my own breath with every exhale. It was a unnervingly familiar feeling, one of me being watched by a pair of eyes I couldn't see.

I craned my head from side to side, though no one was inside the simple stone circle with us; even the rooftops that stretched above the tall stone walls were empty.

"Vinyl, do you mind if we head home? I feel..." I paused, trying to think of a word for how I felt.

"Watched?" She said with a comforting smile.

My eyes widened at her.

"Yeah, I feel it too Tavi." She said simply.

She straightened her back and turned to a spot behind her, the feeling suddenly disappearing the second she began the motion.

Vinyl then lifted up from off me, helping me get up in a caring way - apparently still not convinced that I was fine.

"Lets get going."

I had never quite heard a tone of such...seriousness used with Vinyl. She almost sounded worried, scared even, though she still kept it expertly masked. I guess we did have the whole "masking certain emotion" thing in common after all, but that didn't detract from the fact she was actually using it. Vinyl never did that, and it left me speechless for a moment

"O-Okay."


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Hey Tavi."

"Yes?"

"I gotta second stop I gotta make, mind if I drop you off and go on my own?"

Me and Vinyl had been walking towards my home for a few minutes by now, a comfortable and brisk stroll thanks to the air of the night. Though I was thankful for the fact that the feeling of being watched hadn't come back; though if it did come back, it wouldn't have been to that much of a surprise to me.

Though Vinyl's question, was a bit worrying.

I still hadn't forgotten about that feeling of eyes burning down onto me, and in fact had ended up thinking too much about it. What if whoever it was planned on targeting us when we separated?

"Are you sure you have to Vinyl?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think I do." She mumbled to me. She sounded firm on her decision, though I still wasn't convinced. If she wanted to go alone, it most likely meant something bad for her.

I paused.

"Alone?" I asked hopefully.

She shrugged.

"Heh, well I guess you could come along. But do you mind waiting outside when we get there though? What I have to deal with is kinda... personal." She said sounding sheepish.

"Of course, I'm just worrying a bit too much is all." I admitted with an awkward chuckle.

"Thanks."


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Rose...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I let out a sigh, my eyes buried deep into a book I had managed to snag from a vendor during one of the increasingly normal lunches where I left this depressing office. Of course there were not many repercussions since I was my own supervisor and no one bothered to come while I was away anyways.

Well, there were a few, though they were all my own fault.

One of them I could mention was the downside of going out to eat; the service I had gotten at the restaurant was horrible. So the book I got was more of a motive to help cheer me up. And that 'book' now had me leaned back in my office chair, as my eyes skimmed meaninglessly along the lines. It was an extremely dry book, something about the many uses of snails.

It hadn't been quite as interesting of a read as the title had suggested and it was beginning to become more of a pain to read than not.

Not that many ponies knew of the vampires, so I guess that was good, but I wouldn't be lying if I said that made my job a heck of a lot more boring.

'One more chapter, then we'll stop.' I muttered internally.

Suddenly, the ring of the doorbell pierced the silence of the room.

Normally I would have been shocked at the sound of the bell, but at this point I was just a bit annoyed. A horrible lunch, a horrible gift meant to cheer me up, a horrible self reflection on my job; needless to say it wasn't that helpful to my cause.

"Hello?" A voice called out, confused.

I waved a hoof into the air, signaling them.

I heard the sound of their hooves approaching. They were hasty and precise.

"Um, is this the place where you..." She mumbled off.

I sighed.

Never thought that I would still be hating my job even when I actually get to do it for once.

"Contracts. Yes." I replied, looking past my current page to check how far off the next chapter was so that I might be done with this goal.

"Great!" She said happily.

"So could I place one?" She asked.

Another heavy sigh left my lips. Hopefully whoever it was was getting the message.

"Sure." I said, my hoof going down and pulling open the cabinet full of contract forms without my eyes leaving the page. I had memorized this whole process during my first days of the job, in the vein hopes that I would meet a lot of others.

I pushed the contract forwards to her, taking the pen that rested on my ear down and placing it on the paper as well.

The sounds of slow and deliberate scribbling went on for a few minutes before the sound of the pen hitting the desk signaled her being done. 

"If that's all, we'll be sure to take care of your-"

I stopped myself short as I looked over the paper that had been filled out  - in unnaturally neat hoof writing - and noticed the conflicting  writing in two boxes. In fact, the two most important ones.

One was the name of the target, the other being the one who assigned the contract. Though the latter was optional, so that wasn't too big of a deal, but since the two conflicted I'd have to bring it up anyways.

Admittedly I didn't actually read the boxes since my brain had just about hardwired that I skim over things, these seldom used contracts included, and check and see if anything didn't work. The most I had made out was the shape of the name, and saw that it was also used in another field.

"Miss, I believe you-"

"Is there a form to fill out on descriptions?

"I- um." I paused for a moment at her interruption and then pulled out a scrap sheet of paper.

In all truth, we didn't have a form for descriptions. Though mother always said to get the description if someone is offering to give one.

"Go ahead."

"Well, for starters they're a mare. A unicorn mare. A white coat and this dumb looking, spiky, two toned, blue mane. One is a dark blue while the other is really bright blue; can't miss it."

"Anything else." I said, finishing the last scribble of her description.

"Yeah, she's always wearing these big, plastic, sunglasses that are purple. Oh! She also has this really dopey looking smile too."

'Well, this is really accurate. Finding whoever it is will be just a matter of waiting it out.' I thought to myself.

"Good, looks like everything is in order." I said, taking the contract and preparing to store it away and mail it off later.

"Though, there is still the matter of the two boxes you filled out."

"Hm?" She hummed, confused.

"Well, you filled out two of the boxes with the same name on accident it looks like." I said, mulling over her descriptions one more time.

"I did? Where?" She asked.

I lifted the sheet up to her and let her mull over it once more.

"No, it looks good to me."

I huffed.

"Miss, are you tell me that you are and placed a contract for-"

My eyes locked onto the name of the target for the first time and I felt the temperature of the room drop significantly.

Vinyl Scratch

My eyes widened as they slowly traced their way down the paper to the name of the one whom filed the contract.

Vinyl Scratch

I looked up.

A white unicorn mare stood in front of me, a pair of purple glasses reflecting the light of the lamp beside me, with a shaggy looking mane hanging over the corner of the glasses. The mane had an odd coloration in it, one half being a deep and vibrant blue while the other was a lively neon.

'T-This...has to be a prank. Right? N-No way that she w-would just show up to this place and give a full description of herself to m-me.' I thought to myself, a bead of sweat making its way down my brow. I even found myself stumbling over words in my thoughts.

A friendly smile crossed her lips, the small ends of what could have only been fangs sticking out for me to see.

That was all the proof I needed.

"N-No..." I choked.

"Are you okay?" She said, her voice filled with concern. She made a motion with her hoof towards me and I found myself recoiling to get away from it.

"S-Stay...away..." I found that my tongue felt thick for some reason, making words come out slower.

I finally felt my head getting dizzy as the world began to go black, and my body began to go limp.
> Friend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Flint hummed in thought.

"So the monocle guy got beat up..." She rubbed her chin with a hoof and closed her eyes.

"Gotta say, I saw it coming." She murmured, letting out a sad sigh as she opened her eyes back up to face me.

"Well, did you at least learn anything? See anything worth mentioning?" She asked.

The first thing my mind snapped to was the encounter with what I assumed was Vinyl Scratch, the hooded figure in the alleyway that Miss Shakes had saved me from. The next thing that arose was just that, Shakes saving my life and just meeting her in general. Apart from that, there was not much I had to go off of.

I decided to go with the less risky option of meeting Shake, and maybe lean into the encounter if Flint and Stone took it well.

"Well, I did come across that mare you were mentioning when you first got here. The one with the bar?" I said, playing dumb. I figured maybe if I came across as distant to the issue she would be less critical with me if it was a sensitive issue.

Her face remained indifferent.

Stone, however, perked up at the idea.

"Really? How was that?" He asked, oddly sounding involved.

"She was...well, really nice." I figured that was the bare minimum I could give her for saving my life.

Stone smiled.

"I guessed so." That seemed to be the extent of his input, himself leaning back into the couch with a content look on his face.

"Anything else?" Flint said suddenly.

I guess there was nothing else to fall back onto, and she didn't look particularly mad, so I guess I could bring it up.

"I do think I struck lucky though," I began.

Flint raised a brow and leaned in.

"Go on." She said.

"Well, I do think I came across what you two sent me out to find." I said evasively.

"Vinyl Scratch?" She asked, her eyes widening in anticipation just before she let out a breathy, and almost nervous, chuckle.

I gave a slow nod, debating whether or not to tell her that I had no idea that it was Vinyl Scratch or not.

"Nice, I knew you were good for the job. I'm guessing you managed to find her and get out of there unscathed? I'd imagine if she had caught you we might not be talking to you right now." She said, happy at what she thought was my success.

"Well, not entirely." I said, growing sheepish.

"Oh?"

"Well, I did get caught."

"So...how are you..." Flint began to mumble in confusion.

"Ah! You must've actually managed to fight her..." She trailed off when she saw the look on my face.

"Shakes did."

She seemed surprised at that.

"So is she..." She asked herself in a whisper before abruptly getting up wordlessly and walking to the door.

"Flint-" Stone began, only to have the fiery maned mare interrupt him.

"I've gotta go meet someone." She said, her face looking a bit dark and her voice having an edge to it, as if she were about to go fight the mare who saved my life.

Even the way she shut - or slammed rather - suggested something was agitating her.

"Hm." Stone hummed after she had left.

"Wonder what's got her all worked up." He sighed.

"I think I've got a few ideas." I admitted, though Stone didn't push the issue at all.

"You know, we aught to have someone over sometime." He suggested.

"What we do that for?" I asked, the ideas flowing through my head.

Interrogation of suspects, gaining connection and influence throughout the area, getting more eyes in other places to expand our search. So many possibilities could come from gaining allies.

"Well, I was thinking lunch or so. I can try again for the market tomorrow, assuming more ponies land in an alleyway this time." He said nonchalantly.

'Well...I guess that's a reason too...' I thought, having completely forgotten that this was more of a vacation for Stone to this point. Even Flint had somewhat gotten involved with the mission at this point; Stone was more or less coasting.

"Well, that might be nice. Flint's kinda been scaring me lately." I commented.

"Ah, you haven't seen her serious much have you? She's usually lax, though when she gets going...well, she gets going." He chuckled warmly.

"So, I was thinking of inviting the mare from across the hall, what say you?" He continued.

"What about Rose?" I asked.

It'd been a while since I had talked - or even seen - Rose. In fact, I hadn't ever since I got sent to go with the generals on this mission. It'd be nice to see her again, and if Stone consented to it, then she pretty much had an excuse to get off of work.

"Fine by me, the more the merrier." Stone chuckled.

"Great! But what about Flint? Shouldn't she be apart of this whole decision thing?" I asked.

"Bah, I've as much power as she. It'd be nice to see her cook again." He said almost dreamily.

"Flint cooks?" I asked, amazed.

"Aye, don't know why people'd think that her hot hotheadedness would only have one use. She makes a mighty fine stove if you get her angry enough. Add a bit a' water to a bowl, some potatoes and carrots, and you've got yourself some fine stew." He chuckled, his mouth almost seeming to salivate at the meal he mentioned.

I wasn't quite sure how to think of the idea of intentionally provoking Flint so that she might throw fire at us in an attempt to use said fire to cook dinner.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So Vinyl, if you don't mind me asking, what was it you were doing inside that building?" I asked, staring down and watching my left hoof go in front of the right as we walked down the sidewalk.

"Just saying hey to someone." She said simply.

"Oh? Someone you know?" I asked.

"Nah."

I raised a brow at that, but decided to not press further. She didn't sound like she was annoyed by my questioning, or in any sour mood frankly, but I decided testing to see if that was actually true would get me nowhere but potentially on her bad side. Assuming she had one. Despite all of our time spent together, she never seemed to get mad at me, even if I had clearly wronged her in some way or form. Her typical response to something like that was smiling to me and nodding, as if she understood why I was mad at her, and then letting me cool off on my own.

It was inspiring, yet also aggravating at times.

As much as I hated to admit it, I'd kind of like to see her get mad at someone who wrongs her. It occurred to me just the other day she had never once gotten mad at someone unless it involved someone else she held dear - such as me. I was beginning to think her self worth was non existent in her eyes, and whether or not said fact was good or not.

The rest of the walk home was silent, consisting of me shooting a few glances towards the ever-smiling mare and thinking back onto the whole situation with the stallion Vinyl had attacked.

I soon found us entering my apartment building, only to have the desk mare who normally greeted me with a solitary nod call out my name.

"Miss Melody?" She called.

Not used to the sound of my name coming from her, I found myself looking back at her attentively.

"Y-Yes?" I stumbled over my words, not used to meeting her dead looking eyes for any continued conversation.

"One 'Shakes' came in asking for you and..." Her eyes drifted over to Vinyl.

"...her, to come and meet her. She said you'd know where." She finished, punctuating the end of her message with raising her newspaper wall to us.

"Thank you." I replied, not really thinking to much of it and walking over to the elevator and calling it to our floor.

Upon stepping into the elevator and the door closing, Vinyl finally spoke up.

"What'cha think Shakes wants with?" She asked.

"I haven't a clue. Though I don't know why she wouldn't just stop by my home and meet us in person, seems like she's beginning to evade us." I 'joked' with Vinyl, who admittedly laughed a little.

An idea popped into my head.

"Oh! Maybe it's about that job she had offered you." I suggested happily.

"Maybe." Vinyl smiled hopefully, stepping out of the elevator door as it hit our floor. "We can check tomorrow. Those guys might still be after us." She said.

Odd, she sounded almost... cheerful?

"Oh, Vinyl?"

"Hm?"

"Could you tell me now who you met with?" I asked hopefully.

She looked at me with a blank face before breaking down into a small smile.

"You could say she was a local fan." She said vaguely.

I could only raise a brow to her as she got up and wordlessly trotted down the hall towards the bathroom.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Her eyes were piercing. They carried just about the same amount of emotion of another pony I knew; eyes that could, if you willed them, bring someone to tears - either tears of love and joy or fear. Though I was a bit used to eyes at this point in my life, and as weird as that sounds coming out, it was definitely true. It didn't matter how fiery her eyes were.

"So, I heard you saved a local hunter recently from a vampire?"

I smirked.

"So she was yours."

Her nostrils flared and she suddenly slammed her hoof down onto the bar table, her voice whipping up like a raging wild fire.

"Look, I don't care how passive you want to be with this issue. But at least tell me this: Was the one you saved her from Vinyl Scratch? This search is getting boring, and I'm debating whether or not to just go door to door and set things on fire until either someone rats her out or there's nothing left but ash." She threatened.

"I don't even know if that'd get her. Well, I have no idea what she would do if you did that..." I mumbled, giggling to myself as I envisioned Vinyl's head popping out of a sea of ash, blinking twice as if she didn't know what had happened.

The sound of burning got my attention, my eyes looking at her hoof and the now charring counter. Her hoof pressed deeper and harder into the counter, burning it straight to the char without a flame in sight. It was as if she completely skipped the actual burning of it, simply going right to the ash left after the burning.

"Please, answer me." She said, her voice practically biting at me.

I closed my eyes.

"I hope you plan on paying for that counter, it ain't cheap you know?"

Her eyes narrowed as the counter began to char even faster.

I sighed.

"Fine, tell you the truth I have no idea if it was her or not. I didn't even know someone was out there until they started tearing out the wall of the alley."

She seemed to ease up a little, the sound of the flickering embers from the counter slowing down.

"And how are you sure it wasn't her."

"You really don't get her, do you?" I asked.

She looked at me with a blank stare, getting a huff out of me.

"Fine, look. What happened back there wasn't...her...style. But her style is, for a lack of better words, no style at all. See, it doesn't make sense at all for her to do anything, but at the same time it isn't beyond her to do something like that."

She looked more confused than ever.

"I don't know. That's my answer." I sighed, rewording it once more.

She lifted her hoof from the counter, revealing the still simmering sight that was my bar counter.

"Fine. I won't bother you anymore." She said, her eyes looking at the floor as she turned and made for the door.

Though she stopped just as her hoof hit the door.

"I hope you make the right choice here, Shakes." She said solemnly.

Her words hit pretty deep for how random they were. The main reason being how they reminded me of a certain sister of mine and what she had told me not too long ago.

The door slamming shook me from some thought.

I rubbed my eyes, yawning a little as water began to swell at the edges of my eyes. The reason for the tears, even I was unsure on. Though one thing I was sure on was how comfortable the bar counter was beginning to look.

I found myself pressing my cheek onto the bar counter, the heat from where Flint had begun burning the wood serving as a rather nice neck warmer.

My eyes closed, thoughts swirling and trying to keep me awake, thought it was a one sided fight from the beginning.


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Her eyes were calming. They carried an amount of emotion that no other pony could; eyes that could, if you willed them, bring someone to tears - either tears of love and joy or fear; though their wielder almost never wanted the latter to occur. Even though I was a bit used to eyes at this point in my life, this pair always seemed to always get me no matter how much I boasted to myself that I was over them. It didn't matter how dull her eyes were, they always softened me up a bit on the inside.

"Vinyl?" I murmured, my lips picking up the faintest feeling of drool on my mouth.

"Yeah?" She replied attentively.

"Uh...Hello?" I said, the grogginess of sleep preventing my body from processing fully the mare in front of me.

"Hello!" She replied cheerfully, closing her eyes briefly for the greeting before opening them back open and looking at me again. She looked almost expectant. 

Well, either that or she was just staring at me for an uncomfortably long amount of time.

I was pretty sure I sat there and stared at her for around a minute or two, neither of us moving away or breaking eye contact. I personally was doing it to see how long she herself would do it, just how long it would take to make her feel the slightest bit awkward, though that time didn't come.

"Shakes? Vinyl?" A familiar voice called.

Both me and Vinyl turned to see Octavia staring at us both with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah." We said in unison.

"Um, not that I don't enjoy the sight of you two having a staring contest, but could we at least get the matter that we were assembled for out of the way first?" She asked.

It just now clicked to me that I had requested they come here. A bit awkward thinking about it in hindsight that the most I would do to waking up with Vinyl's face in front of my own would be to just look at her. Though it wouldn't be the first time.

"Yeah." I said, sitting up from my spot on the bar and gesturing for Octavia to come over.

She sat down just in front of the charred spot on the counter, trying her hardest to not question it.

The reason I had called them here was to be sure they were still okay. I knew Flint was starting her search already - her little apprentice or whatever already having gone out in search for Vinyl - so I knew it wouldn't be long until Flint herself would start raising hell to find her.

Or even worse, Stone.

"Well, I asked you guys over here to ask you guys a few questions." I said simply.

Octavia nodded and Vinyl span around on the bar stool happily.

"Well, I'm not sure about this myself, but have you two noticed anything...odd lately?" I asked them.

"Like?" Octavia asked.

"Like those guys trying to beat us up probably." Vinyl suggested, finally coming to a stop from her original spin.

"Which ones?" Octavia asked.

My eyes widened as I realized they had already been attacked multiple times.

"That's...that's all I need to know. It's clear you know whats going on. Well, I know you do Vinyl." I suggested.

Octavia raised a brow.

"What?" She asked simply.

"We're getting hunted." Vinyl replied, stuffing a hoof under her glasses and rubbing at her eyes, most likely from a lack of sleep.

"W-What?" Octavia stammered in surprise.

"Well you don't think those people who barged into are apartment and tied you up were business partners do you?" Vinyl suggested.

"I...I guess not. But are we really being hunted?" She asked, stiffening up as an idea popped into her head as she bent her head down and put a hoof close to her mouth.

"Is it The Order?" She said, whispering.

I chuckled.

"Yeah, you don't have to whisper about it here though."

"So why'd you call us again?" Vinyl asked.

"Well, I wanted to help you guys out." I said cheerfully.

"Help us out?" Octavia repeated slowly.

"Yeah, no doubt there looking for Vinyl - and any associated to her - by name. I know they don't know about you yet Octavia, and they definitely don't know Vinyl's looks yet." I repeated, hoping they wouldn't pick up the implications in that sentence.

"Uh-huh." Vinyl nodded.

"I...guess that makes sense." Octavia said.

"Great, so now onto my plan!" I said, reaching under the desk and pulling out two blank sheets of paper and a pencil.

I had thought of this genius plan last night during my conversation with Flint. They only knew Vinyl by name, so that was pretty much their only lead. And if my assumptions on people's logic was correct then no one that wasn't Vinyl Scratch would admit to the name.

So the answer, shockingly simple, would to just be to tell Vinyl to go by a different name.

I picked up the pencil and scribbled down Vinyl's full name on one sheet and Octavia's - with a little help with her on spelling - on the other.

"What are you-" Octavia began, but I held a hoof up to shush her.

I folded the papers right down the center, going through the small space between their first and last names before ripping the sheets in half and swapping two of them out.

The new 'pieces' of paper formed the names "Vinyl Melody" and "Octavia Scratch".

I tossed them a cocky look, knowing they'd be impressed with the genius of the plan.

"Wow Shakes..." Vinyl said in what sounded like awe.

"I know I know..." I said, waving them off.

"Is this seriously what you called us for?" Octavia dead panned, but I knew she was just jealous of how impressive my plan was.

"Yep, just go by these names and you two will be fine from most ponies."

"But we've already been attacked - what? Two? Three times already? How will changing our names now help us."

"Simple, just don't go out that much. The only ones that knew you guys found you by strokes of luck." I suggested.

"You can't be serious." Octavia deadpanned again.

"You'd be amazed at how dumb The Order is Tavi, take it from me." Vinyl said, backing me up.

She seemed to hesitate for a moment, but came around to the idea eventually.

"If you two say so, I still think this is a foolish idea." She said.

"Trust me, you two will be fine." I tried assuring her.

They wouldn't.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Are you sure Shakes' plan is a solid one Vinyl? I mean, it's about the smallest possible difference." I commented as we walked back into my apartment, the time only mid day at this point. We had managed to scrounge up enough bits to afford a meal at a restaurant Vinyl managed to persuade us a discount with.

"Heh, I'm not too worried about them." She said.

"Is that because you choose to, or actually don't?" I asked, knowing the distinct difference between the two.

"A little of both I guess." She replied simply.

I question popped to mind.

"What exactly is your involvement with-"

I was interrupted by the sound of a dainty knock at my door.

Sighing a little at the interruption, I trotted over to the door and opened it.

A hooded figure stood at my door way, a brown looking, tattered, cowl draped over most all of their body and head. The only that was visible was the lower half of their face, which was curled up in a calm, warm smile that almost forcefully disarmed me. I did notice their horn sticking through the top of the cowl.

"Hello? Can I help you?" I asked the figure, who giggled at my question.

"Does Vinyl Scratch happen to live here?" They asked, the sweetness in their voice almost intoxicating.

My eyes widened as I recalled the conversation with Shakes.

"Uh- I-" I began to stammer for an excuse.

They laughed warmly at my comment.

"Of course she is." They said, confirming their own suspicions but not daring to make a move forwards.

"Care to call her for me?" They asked.

I began to attempt and shut the door, but a familiar voice chimed in from behind me and I felt myself seize up.

"Who is it Tavi?" Vinyl asked, trotting up beside me and spotting the figure.

She leaned her had forwards as if to look more closely at her, even tipping up her glasses to reveal her squinting crimson eyes. It seemed to take her a second, though they eventually widened at the appearance. It was the first time I had seen a reaction like that from Vinyl, who typically met something with a mischievous smile or grin; this time she looked shocked, maybe scared even.

And if she was scared, I felt like it was almost necessary for me to be as well.

"Finally recognize me?" The figure asked Vinyl.

Vinyl stammered a little, odd for her.

"Mom?"
> Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Mom?" I repeated the words of Vinyl, not quite wrapping my head around the idea.

The figure seemed to ignore me, reaching their hooves up to their cloak and beginning to remove it. The first to go was the lower half, which upon being removed revealed a sleek, pure white coat that seemed to almost shine despite the lack of light currently inside the room. 

The next, and last, was the hood.

She pulled it off slowly, having to pull it upwards thanks to her horn being in the way, though when she did it was quite a sight. Her hair was similarly styled to Vinyl's, though at the same time not at all. It was swept off to a single side, like Vinyl's, though where Vinyl's hair was feathered her mane was sleek and wavy. It wasn't long necessarily, only coming down to the back of her neck, though she wore it in a way that made it look longer. Though I guess the biggest difference between the two's manes was the coloration; Vinyl's being two toned as it was while this mare's was a solid, dark blue.

Though the one thing that, quite easily, caught the majority of my attention was how young this mare looked.

Vinyl had mouthed "Mom?" to her so I assumed it was her mother, but this mare could easily pass for Vinyl's sister of the same age. 

She looked nearly as young as I was.

I noticed one other detail about her. She seemed to be keeping her eyes shut, though she wasn't clenching them tightly or seemingly intentionally at that. It looked like the type of closed eyes you'd expect to see on someone sleeping. I wondered briefly if she kept them shut for when she was taking off the hood, though after a few seconds I decided that wasn't the reason. And also that I should just not question it.

The figure took a calm step forwards.

Vinyl took a disbelieving step back.

A surprised look crossed the mother's face, as if she had seen everything Vinyl had done despite her shut eyes. Even her brows jumped up higher as if her eyes would have widened. Her mouth had gone into an 'o' shape as well.

"Still don't believe me?" She asked.

If there was thing motherly about her, it was her voice.

I turned back to see Vinyl almost feverishly shaking her head. She seemed suspicious at this point, though I could still see the faint pulses of panic go through her narrowing eyes.

The figure looked to me.

"May I?"

I was still in too much shock to make a coherent response, so she simply smile warmly at me. It was an oddly comforting feeling that filled me after that.

She walked forwards, and I found myself moving out of the way.

She walked past me and closer to Vinyl, who had at first backed up at a pace equivalent to the mare, though her pace slowed down until she she was stopped while the mare closed the gap.

They were oddly close to each other, Vinyl's acclaimed mother putting her hooves on Vinyl's shoulder and holding her in place while she leaned her face closer to Vinyl's.

I wondered briefly if they were going to kiss - a rather perverse thought now that I think about it - but to my relief the mare stopped just short of Vinyl's muzzle.

I watched Vinyl's face closely, and it was currently that of a powerless child looking up at the mare in front of her. 

A word didn't exchange between the two, though something was.

Vinyl's face quickly melted from that of scared and almost frightened, to a positively excited look.

"Mommy!"

I was completely stumped as to what it could be they exchanged without the use of their hooves.

The sudden cry from Vinyl was followed by her lurching forwards and wrapping the mare - that I guess was now actually her mother - into a massive hug that brought the both of them down onto the floor. They toppled backwards, Vinyl's mother's head coming just a few feet away from my hooves. Vinyl was pressed as tight as possible against the mare's chest, a euphoric smile on her face.

Her mother had a face that could only be just that. It was kind, loving, and everything about it screamed maternal. She gently patted Vinyl's mane, ever proving the point of her apparent stance over Vinyl.

"W-What?" Was all I could stammer.


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"S-So you're Vinyl's mother?" I asked, what for the second time.

I had currently sat down with Vinyl and the new guest of my home in the living room. I had served up a bit of tea for the lot of us, though she didn't seem particularly keen on drinking it, and neither did Vinyl.

She seemed to have an astounding sense of manners - a near polar opposite of Vinyl in fact - and sat on the couch with in a lady like manner. Though, Vinyl's head served to make it a bit of an awkward process, what with being in her lap and all. She had went after the mare like a cat might to its own if in search of a good spot to sleep.

"Yes, that would be right." She repeated, not really caring about my apparent disbelief about her maternity claim.

"Wow." Was all I could say.

"Oh!" She yelped, doing the thing with her eyebrows jumping again.

She gently nudged Vinyl's ear, waking her from what I had failed to see as slumber.

"Huh?" Vinyl questioned, looking clueless.

"Mind introducing me to your friend here dear?" She asked sweetly.

"Oh yeah!" Vinyl said, raising from her mother's lap.

She trotted over to me, gesturing to me like one would at show and tell.

"This is Tavi." Vinyl said simply.

"Um, Octavia." I corrected.

Vinyl chuckled sheepishly.

"Yeah, I just call her Tavi though. It's a lot easier." She said, trotting back over to the couch and this time sitting in a proper position, though still close to the mare.

A silence began to sweep over, though the two sitting on the couch had the same content smile about their face as it began.

'I guess that's one thing they have in common.' I mumbled internally.

"I never quite caught your name either." I suggested, a bit curious about what this mare's name was.

"Oh, of course." She said happily.

"It's...uh, let's see..." She mumbled off, her eye brows furrowing as if she went into deep thought.

'Does....Does she not know her own name?' I asked myself, a bit concerned for this mare's mind.

"Ah, I - uh - can't seem to recall it. That won't trouble you too much will it? I apologize deeply." She gave up, "looking" dead at me with her closed eyes and a sincere looking brow line.

"I - uhm - of course." I admitted.

'This might be troubling.' I mumbled internally through my outward smile.

We spent the next few minutes - and by we I mean solely myself - introducing ourselves. I basically gave the gist of what I did, my hobby of music and composition, and Vinyl had served to go ahead and tell the story of the castle to her mother. She had treated it like a child telling a story to a mother, adding in little "Oh?"s and "Really?"s every here and there, though one thing in particular seemed to strike her a little wrongly.

The second the mention of "the master" had come up and how she had treated both me and especially Vinyl she seemed to lose the faint little smile across her face. It turned to a small frown, similar to how Vinyl would frown whenever something didn't exactly work with her. Though unlike Vinyl, where it didn't look right, on her mother it just looked downright chilling.

Vinyl seemed to pick up on it.

"Clam down Mom. We're fine now." Vinyl, for once, sounded a bit worried of what might happen if her mother didn't calm down. She said it with a nervous laugh as well.

She looked at Vinyl and her frown melted back into a smile.

"Of course. I'm sorry dear."

We continued on, speaking a bit more about me and Vinyl's relationship - at which she seemed to be paying extensive attention about the details. She seemed happy, well her outward appearance seemed to suggest it at least, as Vinyl seemed to take over the story telling about a few other things that had happened. I smiled at Vinyl's descriptions of the events, though I felt the cups of tea beginning to take their toll on me and decided to excuse myself.

"I'll just be a moment, please excuse me." I said, choosing a good point to not be too much of a nuisance.

They nodded to me, and I began my journey to the bathroom.

I made quick work of what I had to do, leaving the bathroom just in time to see the door to my bedroom creak open slightly.

'Odd.' I told myself.

I knew that there wasn't much inside of my bedroom - draft from windows and all - that could move that heavy door. Not to mention that it opened outwards, so a draft from the hallway would be illogical anyways. I wasn't too worried, considering I had both Vinyl and now her mother sitting in the room not but a few yards away from me, and decided to give it a quick look.

I tossed a quick glance towards the living room, catching both Vinyl and her mother sitting on the couch still. I couldn't help but smile at the sight, seeing Vinyl with a smile like hers was just simply infectious.

I turned once more and made my way to the room.

Logically, the room was dark thanks to the curtains being drawn, though I seemed to be able to see a little bit thanks to the light from the hallway. I made out the faint silhouette of my cello case laying on the ground. 

So it was the culprit.

Thankfully I only used my cello case when I was going somewhere and I needed to take my instrument and left my actual cello on its stand, so my cello wasn't inside the case for the fall.

'It's still odd that it fell though, I usually prop it up at the back wall and not so close to the door.' I thought to myself as I picked it up and walked a bit further in and propped the case back up against the back wall.

I gave it a brief look over to be sure it was propped steadily enough, and gave an unconscious nod of approval.

The room got suddenly darker as the shutting of a door rang out - though thanks to the time of day I could still faintly make out the figures of things around me.

One of which, made my stomach twist.

I had turned over towards my bed in the attempt to see if I could make out a lamp or something of the sorts that might let me see. Thought what I did see, was a pony standing stock still at the corner of my room, from what I could tell, looking at me. They were separated from me by my bed, which was almost impossible to get to from the door without making a noise, and simply looking at me from the opposite side of the room. I couldn't see the reflection of eyes though, and I felt my heart rate begin to rise the longer I looked at it and the longer it remained silent as it seemed to watch me.

I had never been this scared of something doing nothing. Though I guess that's what scared me. It wasn't doing anything, only watching me, judging me maybe.

I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out was the strangled beginning to some sentence.

After my failed attempt to speak, one thing did shine out from the figure, even through the dark room.

A faint smile.

"So you're my daughters new...companion, aren't you?"

The disturbingly calm voice and the implications of the sentence led me to believe that the figure in front of me was Vinyl's mother.

The sound of hoof steps rang out in the dead silence as the figure began to walk around the bed.

I couldn't even breath at this point.

Her face became clear as she came within an inch of my own. Despite herself being a little bit shorter than me and having to "look" up just a tad to meet my eyes with her shut ones, I felt like I was the smaller of us two.

"I....I...." Was all I could manage.

"Tell me..." She said, raising her hooves to my shoulders and forcing me onto my hind legs, gently pressing into the wall with just enough strength to let me know that she could very well put me on the other side of it if she so pleased.

"...what are you really after?" She asked.

'What is she talking about? What I want?' I asked myself internally.

"W-What?"

She chuckled at me.

"Don't think I haven't seen your type before. You know of my daughter's condition, stick around; what do you hope to use her for?" She asked again harshly.

"U-Use her?" I asked her.

I heard her grind her teeth a little.

"If you've even paid attention to my daughter for more than a few minutes you'd know she's a bit....simpler than others. She's easy to take advantage of. And is almost - no, is blindly loyal, which doesn't boast well with her 'gift' of making 'friends' so easily." She continued, pressing the rest of her body into mine.

"Wh-What are you do-" I stammered,blushing before being shushed by a quick hoof.

"My daughter doesn't bond with people over looks. She's past that. But she really did manage to get one that's easy on the eyes." She said, taking on a whole new tone with me that made me blush harder.

She got closer to my ear and whispered huskily,

"I'm assuming she's fed off you?"

Her tone sent shivers down my spine and made me gasp sharply.

I all but felt her smile.

"Lucky you."

I felt soft lips hit a familiar spot on my neck and an involuntary moan went into the mare's hoof, effectively muffling it.

I heard her laugh lightly.

"How adorable. I'm guessing that's another reason she likes you." She cooed.

"P-Please..." I began to beg through a muffled hoof, only to have another light kiss be plant on my neck and silence me.

She did this teasing for a solid minute or so, serving to do nothing but frustrate me more and more, before she finally made a move.

I felt something sharp press into my neck, not enough to break the flesh, though enough to let me know it was there.

"V-Vinyl..." I tried and call out, though it was hardly loud enough for myself to hear. It was more like a prayer in a way.

"She won't hear you dear. Don't think I can't put my own daughter to sleep. I'm her mother after all." She said, dashing what small hope I had left.

I whimpered a little.

I knew it wouldn't end here - well, I guess hoped would be a better word than knew - but couldn't help but think otherwise. Vinyl's mother, from the small implications Vinyl's treatment had given off, was in complete control over what she did. Neither me nor Vinyl could stop her, even if we truly wanted; I couldn't do it because I physically couldn't, Vinyl couldn't do it because of her relation.

I felt the sharp point begin to press deeper into my neck.

I clinched my eyes for the puncture, and the inevitable drain that would follow.

And waited.

And waited more so.

"You can ease up now." A soothing voice spoke to me.

I peaked a single eye open to see Vinyl's mother in front of me, smiling almost cockily.

"Wh-What?" I stammered. Was she not even going to do anything? Just scare me senseless. Not even feed, which she had so heavily implied she was going to do,

"Oh? Were you expecting this to go further?" She asked, giggling at me and making me feel stupid; as if I was the one whom was stepping out of line.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that we will get to know each other much better. Unless you plan on kicking your lover's mother out onto the dangerous streets of Canterlot?" She asked innocently, as if she couldn't handle the streets at night despite being a mythological being of blood lust.

I couldn't even stammer an answer and just stood their with a slack jaw.

"Though so." She said cockily, lifting off me and dropping down to the floor, wordlessly heading towards the door as I slide down the wall and onto the floor.

She spoke as she walked.

"I may not trust you, but I'll give you a chance. If my little Vinyl picked you out you're definitely not outwardly manipulative and evil. And you seem to be intimate with her, so you can thank her for the blood still coursing through that delightful little neck of yours." She cooed.

I still couldn't come up with anything to say, so I simply just kept looking at her with what had to have been a dumbfounded look on my face.

Her tone suddenly changed to one of deathly seriousness as she stopped in her tracks. Yet it also had this sound of distance, though of care at the same time.

"But know this,"

I felt a cold chill run across my skin.

"So much as breath the wrong way at my daughter and I will make sure you don't get the chance to do so again."

I felt myself tense at just her threat.

She turned back and and looked at me with shut eyes, brows squinted and a small smile running across her face.

"Do I make myself clear?" She asked intensely.

I realized she expected and answer, and began nodding dumbly.

Her face broke into a cheery smile as she turned away, opened the door, and left.

I was left to my thoughts after that, and only one thought could make itself surface.

"Vinyl's mother is scary."


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


It was about thirty minutes or so before I managed to shake the effects that Vinyl's mother had on me. It was as if I had watched my life flash before my life - quite literally in some instances - and lived to think about it. A scrape with death one might say.

Now I was walking out of my bedroom with trembling legs as I looked into the living room, spotting only one resting Vinyl.

Though I could hear voices.

"Ah, so you just arrived here too?" One was deep, gruff, and belonging to a stallion - so something was already out of place. Only mares lived here.

"Yes, just coming into town to see my daughter. I was lucky enough to get stay with her as well." This one was already well recognized by my conscious as that of my personal grim reaper: Vinyl's mother.

The stallion's voice finally registered in my head as the large stallion from across the hall.

I began to creep through the hallway, making my way up and peaking around the edge to look out into the living room at Vinyl's mother who had answered the door in my temporary shock.

"Well, good to know I'm not the only one in unfamiliar territory here. Anyways, I was just coming to ask your daughter and her roommate if they'd like to accompany us to a late lunch. You're welcome to come along."

Vinyl's mother seemed to turn the second my eyes met her body, turning and looking at me with her ever shut eyes.

I felt my heart jump first, then my body as I dove back into the hallway and into safety.

There was some hesitation before she began speaking gain.

"I'm sure she'd love to." She said, somehow I felt like she was talking about me.

"Aye, I guess we'll come get you lot when it's time." The stallion said.

"It was a pleasure to meet you."

"Same to you." The stallion replied.

I heard the door shut and the sound of dainty hooves make their way back inside of my house. Vinyl's mother came into my view as I saw her sit down at the couch and place her hoof over what I could only assume was Vinyl and began almost petting her. If one thing was certain about her, she was very protective and caring of her daughter.

I took a chance and made my way into the living room, slowly creeping back over to my seat at the table. I only imagine I looked like a dog whom had done something bad, and quite honestly I felt like that.

Vinyl was sound asleep, her mother smiling as she slept and I couldn't help myself form joining her as Vinyl's legs twitched ever so slightly.

"It seems as though we have lunch plans now." Vinyl's mother said softly.

"We do?" I asked innocently.

"Yes, and they also seem to be under the impression that I'm your mother." She smirked.

"What?"

"Yes, so I hope you can behave yourself at lunch daughter." The way she said it gave me the impression that there was going to be consequences if I didn't behave myself, yet I also couldn't seem to shake the feeling that she would dish out those same "consequences" whether I acted well or not.

Not to mention that this mare had all but taken control over my love - and now some of my social - life within an hour.
> Dining with Devils
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I tapped my hooves together idly as I looked downwards at the floor, for a few reasons I guess. One would be that I was scared to try and look up and steal a sneak at Vinyl - which was oddly compelling to me right now - with her mother right beside her. And the other was that I might accidentally meet Vinyl's mother's closed eyes.

Gods it was scary to look at her.

I was amazed by the fact she walked around and located things so precisely despite having her eyes shut at all times, though at the same time I was really disturbed by it. I mean, despite the oddness of it, it looked good on her. Fitting, I suppose, would be a way to describe the look.

I took a choice glance up and saw that she wasn't looking at me, but down at Vinyl with a loving smile that I seemed to catch on her face every time she looked at her daughter.

Maybe some conversation wouldn't be too horrible, if it would get rid of this silence in the process. After all, I had - what I assumed - was a practical encyclopedia of information on Vampires. Assuming that Vinyl's mother was well versed in her species, and for some reason I guessed she was.

"Um," I began, her head going from Vinyl to me and loosing her smile in an instant.

"Yes?" She said curtly.

"Do...Do you know anything about Vampires?"

I felt like face hoofing myself the second the words left my lips.

Her brow raised up at my question.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm just a little bit..." I mumbled off.

She giggled slightly.

"You don't need to be nervous dear." She smiled kindly, getting a small blush out of me. 

"What would you like to know?" She asked, leaving her true knowledge of her species up to mind to ponder.

And ponder it did.

Enough questions to write a book with flooded my mind, questions that had been pent up ever since I had first met Vinyl. Not to say that she was a bit uninformed, but Vinyl wasn't the greatest source of information on vampires. She seemed to not necessarily care about what she could do or the powers she had, simply "going with it" as she had told me. 

She had even admitted to me that she had forgotten that she was a vampire a few time.

The first question, that I had wondered for a long time now, was their age.

"How long do vampires live?" I asked, excited to know the answer.

Though what I got was what I hardly expected.

"No idea." She said simply.

She seemed to pick up the disappointment in my eyes, somehow, and decided to elaborate.

"Well, think of it this way. If mythology and rumor is true about us living forever, how would anyone be able to verify it? If we lived forever, they couldn't document a case of us dying of old age. We might live forever, though we might not. We might just live for a really long time, and never know it." She admitted, surprisingly logical about the situation.

"So not one of your kind has died of age yet?" I asked.

"Not that I know of. Most of them died because of other reasons."

"What about you? How old are you?"

"Have you no manners? A lady never speaks her age." She said in a mocking tone of someone with etiquette, though it was hard to distinguish.

"Ah, sorry..." I mumbled.

"Oh lighten up dear. Any other questions then? I know you must have a mountain of them after living with my daughter." She said cheerfully.

"What about blood then?" I asked.

It had been a common thing that vampires were after, I might as well bring up the way that some of them mention the taste of it.

"What about it?"

"That stallion brought up something about 'the same taste as a regular with the advantages of a vampire' or something along those lines. What did that mean?" I asked.

"Blood taste wouldn't change. It's just that natural born vampires typically have a more bitter tasting blood to other vampires. Though some times it taste good as well."

"The hunt of the vampire is not limited to just non-vampires dear. Blood is blood, plain and simple."

"Um, well what about turning?" I asked. Vinyl and I's retelling of the castle story had brought back my interest about the whole "turning one into a vampire" process.

"It's a lot simpler than you might think, dear." She said, taking a breath.

"Turning is...well, it is not at all common thanks to the requirement of a rare gift that is necassary to start it. The more common practice to imitate the turning process without actually turning one into a vampire. Fangs and all, just not an actual vampire. The gift I mentioned is the only way to essentially make a purebred vampire from a mixed or non-purebred vampire."

"How it works is basically rewriting your body as a vampire. It's extremely taxing on the body of the one being turned, has a potential to have a negative pay out with the risk of unwanted side-effects, and is not generally accepted by the vampiric community save for under strict standards. It is to us what marriage is to you."

"So what makes being a pure breed so special if vampirism is easily replicated then?" I asked.

"Well, purebreds are quite a gap ahead of half-lings in physical and magical prowess. As well as in blood lust." She said.

"So that's what the master was after then? Make an army of pure breed." I mumbled to myself, quiet enough to be almost be considered thinking.

A fit of giggles came from the mare in front of me, scaring me. What I found was that Vinyl's mother was almost crying from laughter, and I had no idea why.

"I...I'm sorry dear but that stallion was an idiot. Making an army of pure breeds using turning? It would take years maybe, the fluid isn't an abundant one by any stretch; not to mention that not everyone can handle the process either." She said, wiping a tear from her eye and still letting out the occasional chuckle.

"Did he also think that it only took a drop to turn someone too? The more fluid, the more potent and reactive the change would be. Mass producing them would lead to them eventually being just a hair better than a regular half-ling. From what you two told me, it makes since that someone so power hungry and desperate would want to bring up an army of them so quickly."

"A pure breed in good shape would have no problem wiping out has laughable excuse of an army." She said confidently.

That comment got me thinking on how Vinyl seemed to have struggled immensely with just the master. I brought this up with Vinyl's mother, and I saw her visibly stiffen at the mention of her daughter.

"She's... different." She said simply.

I raised a brow to her. I knew very well that Vinyl was "different".

She must have picked up on this, and decided to reluctantly elaborate.

"Well, I'm sure my daughter has explained fasting to you yes?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Fasting, is quite easily the dumbest thing any vampony can do. It puts a vampire in their weakest state after going through the immense blood lust that it provokes; fasting for long enough could even make them seem weak by regular pony standards. Why my daughter does it beyond even me."

So did she have no ideas whatsoever?

"I still have my own questions about my daughter you know. One of them being how strong she might actually be if she kept herself fully fed. Sometimes I wonder if she's even aware of how strong she could be, and maybe denies herself that power deliberately for some reason. Maybe to keep things interesting for herself? Give others a fighting chance against her? For fun? I've no idea myself. It's one of the few things I can't answer about my daughter." She almost sounded sad as she admitted that fact.

Another major thing clicked in my head.

"What about Vinyl's magic? Why does it change color?"

"Change...color?"

I explained to her that Vinyl's magic would occasionally change blackish or deep blue whenever she was feeling mad or something of the likes, and she looked genuinely surprised.

"I've no idea...that sounds quite odd." She hummed.

"Though for the mood changes, I might want to tell you that Vampires are quite emotional creatures. They are hardly ever in control of how they feel, and often end up letting emotion control their actions. Most vampires never see the night that they are masters of their own body."

"Instability?" I asked.

"Somewhat. It is often expressed in random bursts of either strength or magic. In simple terms, the emotions take up to much space in their head and their body seems to vent it automatically through a random spell where they can't control how much strength or magic they put into a task. It typically doesn't last that long, but it happens."

It looked like she had forgotten something.

"It can also make them as emotionally and physically sensitive as a filly going through puberty."

She giggled.

"It's why I come visit my daughter from time to time."

She 'looked' down to Vinyl with a warm smile.

"Anything else dear?" She asked, not looking up.

"No ma'am." I replied.

I still had questions of course, you couldn't simply not have them with what went on in my recent life, but I understood that it was somewhat rude to ask my apparently permanent guest too many questions.

Vinyl let out a small yawn, fidgeting around a little before readjusting and snuggling back into her mother's lap, much to her mothers delight.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Your mothers quite... odd, isn't she Vinyl?" I said, peering down the hall to make sure that she wasn't still lingering in the hallway. I was lucky enough to get some time to talk to Vinyl alone thanks to her mother going to the bathroom.

"Mom? What about her?" She asked.

"Well..."

A brief memory of myself pushed up against the wall of my bedroom with her breathing heavily down my neck flashed through my mind.

"Ah....nothing." I said, flushing red at the memory. "She is quite nice though." I said, admitting to the kind nature she had after threatening my life.

"Yeah. Mom's real nice." Vinyl chirped.

I remembered one of the points Vinyl's mother brought up, and decided to ask her about it. Specifically, the one thing Vinyl's mother couldn't explain about her daughter's habits.

"Vinyl, why don't you feed?"

Vinyl kind of stiffened up a little at the question, but remained still quite lax all things considered. 

I wondered briefly, because of the way Vinyl reacted, if any of her mother's thoughts were the answer. She might be bit stiffened up at finally being found out that she could be so strong, or if any of her true motives were really found out; or at least now under question.

"You really wanna know?"

She sounded somewhat serious, so I nodded eagerly.

"Well, I kinda don't like how blood tastes." She admitted sheepishly.

'What.' I thought, my jaw slacking open at the idea of a vampire not liking the taste of blood.

I heard the vague sound of someone falling from somewhere back in the bathroom.

"Yeah, in all honesty your blood is the best I've tasted. Probably the only blood that I've wanted seconds." She said, blushing a little and twiddling her hooves. It was an adorable sight to see her get a bit nervous about something. A bit of a shame she didn't do it that often.

"W-Well....I-I'm glad you like it." I said, sounding stupid as ever whenever a something serious comes us.

She looked up at me with a bright smile, still a bit red form blushing, though still filled with a look of almost determination to be happy. It was odd to say the least, almost challenging something to try and make her sad.

"Oh my, been a while since I've seen that look in her eyes." The voice of Vinyl's mother chimed in from behind me.

I wondered how she saw it, but decided it be best if I didn't. It would only end in a headache.

She came in and joined me and Vinyl, allowing me to keep the position on the couch near Vinyl as she settled for another spot. I couldn't shake the feeling she was judging me, somehow.

"Our host will be arriving soon to take us out to lunch, wherever that might be." She said slowly.

I nodded.

Vinyl, despite having no knowledge of this agreement, nodded happily as well.

I noticed a grin growing on the face of the Vinyl's mother. It was different than a normal grin; not one of happiness or something similar, but similar to one of having the upperhoof in something.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So, you two are from out of town as well?" Vinyl's mother asked the hulking stallion and dusky mare that had invited us to dinner. If I recalled correctly, the stallion's name was Stone and the mare's Flint; the other mare went by Maple - an oddly familiar name - and stuck in the back of the group with me and Vinyl as we walked along the shady sidewalk.

We were currently in the back alleys of town, a business nowhere in sight, so it was needless to say they were taking a scenic route to wherever this restaurant was.

At least Vinyl's mother seemed to have fun toying with the two others in front of us. Even I could hear the flattery and flirtatious tone she was using in an attempt to make the two blush.

And she was surprisingly succeeding.

The bulky stallion seemed to laugh off all of the suggestions of Vinyl's mother, though the smaller mare seemed to take them a lot more personally.

She went on and on with this show for the entirety of the walk, and by the end of it the dusky mare was beet red and flustered beyond what I thought possible.

The restaurant wasn't much to comment about, a low down cobble building with big windows to show of the wooden interior lit with candles. It hadn't a name anywhere on the outside, though that wasn't exactly uncommon to see around Canterlot's restaurants in this side of town. Dad had told me about this part of town plenty of times, mainly sighting that it was either full of the hardworking or the corrupt. Sometimes both.

The mare beside us rushed up past Stone, Flint and Vinyl's mother all of the sudden. She went through the door quickly, and thanks to one of the windows allowing me to see in, met up with another mare which I supposed was going to be joining us as well.

The group in front of me and Vinyl followed her in at a slower pace, leaving just me and Vinyl to enter.

Though a hoof stopped me.

"Vinyl?" I looked back, seeing a conflicted look on her face.

She seemed to realize what she had done and quickly retracted the hoof.

"Ah! Nothing, sorry!" She apologized, going ahead of me and into the building quickly.

I gave her an odd look as she walked away, though passed it off as one of those 'emotion' things that her mother had told me of.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I gave Rose a brief hug, it had seemed like it had been a long time since I had seen her. It had looked like she had already picked out a table for us, which was conveniently large thanks to our unintentionally large party. It was somewhat of a booth, going in a U shape with easily enough space for a group of seven to fit in. Though with Stone we might have to squeeze a little.

"Thank god you're here," She said, giving me a tight hug as if she had been scared recently.

", you won't believe what happened to me. I think I may ha-" She began, releasing from the hug and looking at me with almost desperate eyes.

I was intent on listening, as the tone sounded dire, but the sound of another voice rang out louder.

"Maple! I don't remember hearing about a guest." Flint said sternly, coming up behind me.

Though Stone was quick to defend me.

"Oh lighten up. I told her t'was fine." Stone groveled.

"Oh my! Are all of the mares in this city so adorable?" The blue maned mare that had talked to the generals the whole way here blurted out.

'How the heck could she even know how we look? Does she even have eyes?' I asked myself before a pushing from besides me drew me back to Rose.

"Maple, I really need to tell you about what happened. That mare you we-" She suddenly cut herself off as her eyes widened in what looked like horror as she watched something.

"Rose?" I asked, following her gaze to the two other mares joining us. The one with the odd glasses and the haughty looking grey one from the forest that seemed to have forgotten about me.

"Rose?" I asked again, waving a hoof in front of her face.

She seemed to partially be broken of her trance, and stammered out a few words.

"I-I need to u-use the b-athroom." She choked.

"Well the stalls are somewhere over-" I began, only to have her hooves rip me from my seat and all but drag me off with her.

As it turned out, she knew perfectly well where the bathroom was and, feverishly breathing as she did it, shoved me into the first open stall she could fit us both in. She wasn't done panicking when we got in their either as she began to trot back and forth inside of the stall despite how cramped it was. I could see beads of sweat running down her as well as wide eyes of panic. It was odd to see her like this, and almost just as disturbing.

I tried my best to calm her, but it was quite difficult.

"I-I can't... th-that mare- she's-" She was mumbling almost like an insane person.

"Rose. Please. Use words." I said, a bit annoyed at her lack of coherent sentences.

"Th-That mare. W-With the blue hair and glasses." She said, taking deep breaths as if she were about to pass out.

I recalled the mare, noting how well she seemed to be getting along with Flint and Stone. She was a bit of an air head if anything, but it worked with her. Though the one beside her, with the closed eyes, kind of scared me a little. Was she blind or something?

"What about her Rose?" I asked.

"Th-that's-" She sucked air in sharply.

"Words Rose."

"That's Vinyl Scratch." She blurted, almost fainting as the words left her mouth. Though it also seemed like a burden was lifted from her when she did.

My eyes widened.

"Her?" I asked again.

She nodded feverishly.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

"Sh-She came in and told me. Even flashed her fangs to me as proof. S-She wrote out a contract with her name in both the target and signer of the contract with her description and everything." She stammered.

'That's the so called infamous mare that's been being hunted for so long? An friendly airhead of a mare that had a hard time frowning?' I thought to myself.

It was hard to believe, but Rose wasn't exactly one to deliver false information.

"I....I guess I'll tell Flint." I said solemnly.

It almost felt bad to tell on the mare, as I knew how Flint would react, though my orders were my orders. I was to help Flint and Stone get rid of Vinyl Scratch, and that included telling them who she was.

Rose looked relieved at the idea of telling Flint, and nodded with reassurance as we exited the stall.

It was a bit awkward getting back to the table, and we were lucky enough to make it back before they ordered, but I had the sneaking suspicion that there wouldn't be much eating once I broke the news to Flint. She had a tendency to act rather... hot headed.

We took out seats, mine next to Flint, and were silent as the others continued talking.

I took another glance at the white mare who was apparently Vinyl Scratch.

She was sitting there with content painted all over her face, laughing at Stone's stories and adding in her own occasional joke from time to time. She seemed close with the grey one, moving her head a little in her direction and seeming to smile wider at the sight of her. She was happy.

I felt a nudge from beside me and knew it was Rose.

I looked at the mare as I tapped Flint on the side and brought her ear close to my mouth and whispered almost regretfully what Rose had told me.

"Vinyl Scratch is here." I said shakily.

She seized up and paused. Then nodded.

"Mare with the glasses at our table. Rose said she came into the office and gave a contract with a description of herself and flashed her fangs as well. The name on the contract was Vinyl Scratch." I whispered.

I felt a faint heat come from Flint. A steadily increasing heat at that.

She then turned to me, a deadly look in her eyes with brows knitted and nodded to me. I caught the sight of the silverware in her hooves slowly beginning to sloop over as it began to melt.

This might get bad.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I honestly hadn't expected this whole lunch thing with the neighbors to go so well. In fact, it had went flawlessly save for the other grey mare having a small silverware malfunction. Vinyl seemed to be comfortable with the group thus far, her mother certainly was able to keep a conversation going, and Stone and Flint served as an excellent audience.

Though Flint did seem to be trying to burn a hole in Vinyl with her eyes.

I just passed that off as nothing, though in hindsight I probably should have seen something wrong with, and continued to eat.

Though, suddenly, the mare spoke up with a different tone than one that should be used at the table.

"Say," She said, speaking to Vinyl.

Vinyl perked up with a smile.

"Hm?"

"Mind if we talk a bit in private? I know it sounds a bit odd as a request, but I got something I'd like to tell ya. Just between me and you." She sounded a bit awkward, though made out a sort of visage that she wasn't entirely comfortable with herself.

It was pretty adorable.

Vinyl's ears perked up.

"Like a secret?" She said eagerly.

The mare smiled.

"Yeah, something like that."

	
> Motherly Initiative
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Flint...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


You might think that you could read people pretty easily by judging their body language, interactions with others, speech pattern of choice, or a variety of other things that are too long to list; in the end it all comes down to one thing and that's the truth.

I hadn't expected an attractive looking mare with a friendly and care free aura who had done nothing but entertain me for the past few minutes to be someone that an order of trained experts had been after for a couple years on account of her apparent extremely violent nature and ability to wipe out droves of people on a whim.

Real shocker.

Well, I guess reality is nothing if you keep your eyes is closed. Might be why that mare inside there keeps them shut. Can't say I blame her with how things typically turn out for me.

I pushed open a door that led out the back of the building into a spacious looking back street that ended with a dead end. The way the restaurant was set out was so that the front was on the street, but the back was part of a dead end strip of space littered with fire escapes and trashcans.

I held the door open for the mare with my back hoof.

She gave me a smile and thanked me before stepping out into the alley with me. I noted she stopped just short of the sliver of the lowering sun.

I gave her a fake smile. It was the most I could do.

"So, what was it you wanted to tell me?" She asked innocently.

I wasn't sure if it was a charade that she was about to drop and reveal an appetite for blood that could only be akin to a monster or if she was actually innocent.

Either she was actually oblivious to my reasons, or she was a damned good actor.

"Well, there was something that I wanted you to tell me first." I asked cheerfully.

"Shoot." She replied, ears perking up.

"Well, there's been some rumors going around town that some bad people are on the loose." I said slowly, like talking to a child.

And in a few ways I was.

Her face looked saddened and shocked by the news.

"That's horrible." She said.

Was that genuine? Ah, who knows.

"So what was it about them that you wanted to know? I haven't really heard all that much about bad people around here..." She said honestly, looking a bit scared for... was that herself?

It looked like she wasn't exactly scared about herself when I told her the news, her head tilting back towards the restaurant briefly before returning her attention to me.

I chuckled under my breath and turned away from her.

"Well..."

Heat welled in my chest as I felt my heart rate begin to speed up.

"...rumor has it..."

The heat grew, a familiar feeling running from my hooves, down through my body, and settling around my hooves as I began to hear the damp surface of the ground begin to sizzle gently.

I turned back to her.

"...it's you."

Her face was stoic from what I could see, her eyes were hidden behind a wall of purple, as she somewhat looked at me.

I smiled at the realization that I had checkmated her. She knew I was on to her, and now she figured she would drop the act. There was nothing left to back pedal to; no body language that she could throw out, no tone of voice to convince me, nothing. She was caught, and she knew it.

I smirked as the heat began to spike again.

I loved this part.

I began a walk towards her, heat building ever further with ever step.

"So, do you admi-"

"Are you sure they were me?" She blurted out to me, as if she hadn't seen me approaching or the crackling ground beneath me.

Though it was enough to stop me dead in my tracks. Just the sheer randomness of the question. Did she not understand the inference?

"Ah, uh, yeah. Pretty sure." I said in response, beginning my walk towards her again.

"Thanks!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

'Again with the stopping me? It's beginning to get a bit irritating.' I though in irritation. Though, yet again, she had taken me off guard with some random action.

"For what?"

"Well you told me what they look like. Now I can be sure to look out for them and avoid them too!" She said cheerfully, honestly and thankfully.

I felt my face scrunch up in some sort of combination of anger and confusion.

"Look, I don't think you're understanding what I'm implying here." I said with a chuckle that clearly reflected how short my fuse was getting.

"Implying what?"

"I'm saying that you're the bad person."

"Huh?"

"You. You're the bad person I'm talking about."

"Really?"

"Yes. Really."

It went silent as she lifted a hoof and stared at if for a solid ten seconds before looking back up to me. Her nose seemed to scrunch up in some form of confusion.

"Are you sure?"

I felt something in me snap. Perhaps it was my tolerance.

"You know what. Whatever, I'll just find out myself." I said with a snicker.

I couldn't help but laugh, I was finally about to take on the menace that had gotten fame and renown around the camp over the years. It was like fighting a legend, only this legend was some obliviously cute mare that seemed to not quite understand how sentences and other basic literary tools worked. I mean come on, it was like talking to a damned child.

Heat welled up in my horn as I began to concentrate on the mare in front of me who seemed to just be studying me at this point.

"and I really hope that you aren't. And if you are I really hope you've got a fire extinguisher on hoof." I mumbled at just above a whisper.

Her staring didn't stop, though she almost looked concerned.

For herself? I didn't know, though it didn't looked that way. Similar to how she looked worried for someone else when I brought up bad people around town.

Though this time she looked concerned for me.

I stopped looking at her to make it easier on me.

The door suddenly opened.

I gasped as I stopped focusing and looked up in alert at who could have entered the alley. If it was a civilian then I'd have to protect them above anything for this monster.

The only thing I found was the mare with shut eyes from the restaurant. The one who had been flirting with me and Stone through almost all the walk here.

She looked a bit distressed, though she eased up the second she laid eyes on the vampire. A look crossed her face that looked loving at the mare, and a realization struck me.

They were lovers.

It made since when I thought about it. A similar charisma between the two, only serving as a natural attraction to the other. Of a near mirror age of each other. Similar looks so that they could cutely pretend to be the other. A little bit of mane dye, a comb and switching the glasses and they would could easily pass for the other.

It was perfect.

I felt a new, different heat begin to rise in me, though I shook it off as I remade my list of priorities.

"Miss, you should back away from her. She's a-"

"A what?" She looked at me, and if her eyes were open I knew there would be daggers coming at me.

Ah, the lovers defense over the other. I should have anticipated.

"Ma'am, I don't think you know what exactly she is." I said to her.

A confused look crossed her face.

"What is she then?"

"A..." I realized I couldn't just tell her what she was, she wouldn't believe me and only protect Vinyl Scratch with a renewed vigor from 'that crazy mare in the alley'.

The frustration of my constraint began to get to me.

"Look, she's bad. Just trust me."

I realized how dumb a request was as I looked back over it. Though if she wouldn't let me protect her, then I guess it was up to me to protect her whether she wanted it or not.

"Are insulting her?" She sounded threatening.

That pissed me off.

Here I was trying to protect this dumb bint and she was doing nothing but threatening me.

"Look, just get out of the way you dumb bit-"

A voice tickled my ears, coming from behind me.



"Please keep your language appropriate around my daughter."



I felt a brief cold spot in my heated body as I jerked my head around at the familiar sound of the voice. Though what I found was nothing but the alley.

My eyes widened in realization as I placed the owner of the voice.

I turned back just in time to see the mare walking back into the restaurant, leaving me and Vinyl Scratch in the alley by ourselves. Though she left the two of us with some parting words.

The cocky grin of the sightless mare met my alerted gaze and I realized just what I was messing with. Though it should have been pretty obvious from the start, I now realized that if Vinyl Scratch was a legend of a threat on her own, her mother must be a hell of a lot worse.

I slid my hoof to the side and dropped down to a defensive stance, horn bent at the ready and my own orange flare encompassing it wildly.

"Of course Stone wouldn't be here."

I swallowed hard.

I might have been a general, though that bit of expertise came with a downside that balanced it out. The more experience you gather, you'd obviously rely more on it and then the job would get easier. Practice makes progress. Though after awhile, when you reach the level of experience I have, foreign waters are unheard of.

Needless to say, the fact I didn't know how strong these two were was a bit worrying.

'Keep on the offensive, don't give them a chance to get a rhythm.' I said inwardly.

The first one to pick off would be the weaker, to insure there would be no assaults from two directions, and that meant to incapacitate or kill Vinyl Scratch.

I focused briefly on the trash piled behind her, setting it ablaze in an attempt to distract the two.

It worked, both of them recoiling at the sudden burst.

I took that chance.

I strained slightly, simply aiming forwards, and letting a gout of fire spill from my horn down the alleyway. I knew that the mother was particularly fast, so aiming wide was a good idea.

Well, I thought it was.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So, you had a job in the music business?" Stone repeated, nodding approvingly.

Thanks to the lack of ponies at the table - Vinyl, Miss Flint and Miss Scratch all absent - the conversation became a bit more demanding of me. I guess I felt like I should be able to keep up some conversation, I had previously been more of an audience to the others but now Stone was taking his time asking some simple questions to avoid silence.

Though the way the two other mares kept glancing back to where Vinyl, her mother, and Flint had exited, it came down to be more of a conversation with just me and Stone.

"Well, yes. I had one." I repeated.

"Aye, so you lost it then?"

"Yes, though I guess it couldn't have been helped." I said, a bit quieter than normal.

"Oh? Whys that?" He asked, a bit curious by my response.

I wasn't very good about making up lies on the spot, as I had found out it typically ended up with a nonsensical and non-believable story, and as a result I was a bit more trained with simply telling the truth on the spot. Not to say I couldn't lie, just not elaborately.

Of course, it had to have been about a topic I was trying to keep quite.

"Well, my relationship with a roommate of mine sort of kept me busy. Though its still my fault entirely for not being responsible." I said, a bit ashamed of my ability to cave so quickly.

"Ah, so she's in a relationship too?" He chuckled, leaning in a bit more.

I felt a blush rising as I suddenly found my hooves oddly interesting.

"Ah, well yes."

I realized now that his question wasn't even really taken from my statement, as a relationship could have been a friendship as well, but I guess it was a tease from him that I ended up taking literally. At least it was more of a habit to me now.

"So who's it with then? Some nice inner-city stallion? A business owner maybe? Maybe a lawyer or even a musician? Knowing the looks about you you could just about manage anyone." He complimented, not helping my blush at all.

Though I found it a bit weird that he wondered who it was. Did he not see that me and Vinyl were a couple? I mean, we had kissed and done... other things. I thought that was about it.

"It was actually that mare that Miss Flint left with." I informed him.

He seemed surprised at that.

"Ah, into mares then? Seems to be a growing thing round these parts. Beginning to get scared for the lads 'round here." He chuckled, getting a laugh from me as well.

"Though, I gotta say. That mare that went with Flint was yours? I had assumed that she belonged to that other mare with the shut eyes. She didn't quite seem your type." He said, looking to me for some confirmation.

"Ah, that's her mother...actually."

His eyes were wide as I ended that sentence.

Even the other mares around the table had turned and looked at me with wide eyes. Though those two looked more scared than shocked.

"That's...interesting." Stone said slowly, ending it with an awkward chuckle.

The sudden vague sound of a thump caught my attention, though it apparently alerted no one else.

Where was Vinyl at?


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Flint...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Another mortar of a shot hit the ground where I had briefly been standing, the mother of the two had recently been taking pot shots at me after she had teleported up to the top of the roofs. She had been giggling madly as she shot down at me just often enough to keep me moving. Some of the shots didn't even make full contact, dissipating a few yards in front of her on her own will; she was doing it to try and fake me out and catch me off guard.

What I had manged to do was send Vinyl Scratch back into a dumpster somehow. She was still struggling to get out of it, though she was managing.

She finally tipped the can over and pulled her head out of it. Luckily it was relatively clean.

Her glasses were a bit tilted, revealing a set of crimson eyes. The color of the devil, of course.

She was a bit dazed, though when she focused on me as I dodged another pot shot, her eyes widened.

Though her eyes seemed to get a new shine to them as she looked at me, enough to keep me entranced long enough for the mother up top to take advantage and send a stream of red hurdling at my face. It was aimed up perfectly to match my bodies current path, that was unalterable since I had to jump to dodge the last one.

I braced, it was all I could do.

Well, that and complain.

"Oh come o-" I began, though a sudden force that wasn't magic struck me hard enough to send me to the ground and skid across the alleyway's cobble.

Some scrapes I could deal with, more than a magic mortar that's for sure, though I was already confused about what else could have hit me.

I opened up my eyes to see a pair of purple glasses covering my eyes, and through them was the face of the mare I had previously been entranced by.

She suddenly called out loudly.

"Mom!" She whined, drawing out the 'o' in the word.

The sound of her mother from atop the building responded.

"Yes sweety?!" She called out innocently.

"Stop shooting at her!"

My eyes widened a bit at the request.

"Let mommy do business honey! Just get off the mean mare so mommy can fire some more magic at her!" She cooed.

"You do this every time you come to town and you just embarrass me!" Vinyl whined in response, ignoring the fact her mother was talking to her like she was around the age of two.

"Vinyl Scratch, you get back in that trash can this instance and let your mother shoot that mare!" Her mother demanded.

"But mom-"

"No 'buts'!"

The mare atop me let out a big sigh and turned back to me, her eyes surprisingly not suggesting that she was annoyed with her mother's desire to kill me. Her eyes caught on me, a bit surprised at first, but then she let out a smile.

"Wow, you look pretty good with these on." She said, taking the glasses off and putting them on her own head, using her horn as a sort of prop.

"Real sorry about my mom by the way. She's kinda protective." She chuckled, scratching the back of her head.

It was odd to see her without those glasses, despite having only seen her for around ten minutes or so, but she just seemed more lively with emotions flowing through her eyes.

"But thanks for the warning about the bad people around town." She smiled brightly.

I was beginning to wonder if this mare did have something wrong with her. Was she this dense?

"Vinyl!" The mother called once more.

Vinyl turned her head back to her mother before looking to me once more.

"Sorry, mom says I gotta get off. You were doing really well dodging though!" She said happily before hopping off of me and even helping me up off the ground.

She gave me one more smile before turning and trotting away.

Needless to say, I was still left stunned by the mare. So much so, that I didn't even hear the sound of the alleyway door opening.

My eyes began to drift, going upwards towards the glowing red of Vinyl's mother atop the roof. Her horn was already on the verge of firing, but that wasn't going to stop me.

Though suddenly I couldn't see her anymore.

I shook myself a little and realized that someone had stepped up to me.

"We're headin' out. You three decided to go an miss dinner, so shame on you." Stone groveled, looking down on me with a bit of a stoic stare.

A look of stone if you would.

The vague sound of the mother's horn discharging made it into my ears, though when I started to say something it was too late.

A crash of red hit the back of Stone's bulky neck, a much larger blast than what the mare had been shooting at me. Though Stone didn't move, not even a single flinch from him as the magic actually washed over his neck. It was as if he was a pillar, and the magic cast down on him nothing but a gentle flow of water.

I cast a brief look to both sides of me to see the two chunks of earth ripped out of the cobble. A result of the magic splitting over Stone's neck.

He cast his bored looking gaze backwards, up at the rooftops.

"I'd love to stay 'round and have a good spar, but you know what they say about exercise after eating. Wouldn't want to cramp up." He said dangerously. It was that of what a true general was made of. He made it explicit that if a brawl was to begin then someone was going to be getting hurt.

And judging by how her just took a concentrated blast of magic that was strong enough to uplift cobble and cement - not to mention the earth under it - he was not going to be the one getting hurt.

I was stunned to say the least. I mean, I knew Stone had earned his name for a reason, but I didn't expect him to be the point where he would just voluntarily take blasts of magic.

I wonder if he ever felt it.

I wonder if he even feels.

I watched as Stone's gaze shifted from the roof tops to the hard at work mare in the alleyway. She was in the process of backing herself into the can in which she had fell out of, her tongue sticking slightly out of her mouth in concentration as she settled down. Her front hooves were settled at around her face. Though once she finished and caught Stone's stare, she let out a grin that was disarming to say the least, even to someone like Stone, and could honestly have been genuine.

She really was following her mother's order.

"So you're Vinyl Scratch then?" He asked.

She nodded happily, without even a second of thought, her ruffled mane bobbing up and down with her and almost hitting the inside can.

Stone smirked at her.

"Well, it's nice to meet ya' then. Quite a shame we could't introduce ourselves at the table properly, though that mare friend of yours was kind enough to introduce you."

Somehow, the mare's smile only widened.

"Yeah, Tavi is really nice." She said.

Stone chuckled.

"That she is. Keep her close, she's a one of kind." Stone said.

The mare nodded happily.

Stone returned his gaze to me.

"Like I said, we're leaving." He said simply, walking around me and towards the exit of the alleyway.

My words returned to me.

"J-Just like that?"

"Just like that." He repeated.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Vinyl, you smell a bit..." I paused as I searched for a word to describe it while still being somewhat polite.

I hadn't noticed it on the way home, but once we all got in the elevator I noticed that she had somewhat of a stench to her. It wasn't bad to the point where it would make you gag, but it was noticeable. Vinyl's mother also had a smell about her, though hers was more along the lines of burnt garbage and was to the point to make you gag.

Though I didn't say that to her, as I probably would have regretted it if I did.

"Like a trash can?" Her mother suggested, sounding a bit sour.

"Well, yes." I agreed, waiting for an explanation.

Though the two of them went silent.

"Uh, might I ask why?"

"Mom told me to." Vinyl said, bobbing her head from side to side in sync to some imaginary beat inside her head. She didn't seem to mind the stench at all, and in fact was still smiling despite it.

That was one thing that Vinyl and her mother had in common, the fact that a smile was always on their face, though Vinyl's mother seemed to have far more than Vinyl did. I had found that Vinyl had two types of smiles, the first and most common one being the genuine and innocent smile, and then the far less common smile that typically made people want to leave the room.

And not slowly either. It was a "I would rather bust a hole in the wall or jump from a window" speed.

For once, I wasn't the one opening my door, Vinyl actually just opened the door without a care in the world despite how sure I was that I had locked it.

I was a bit curious about it, though I was more surprised about what I found inside my apartment.

A familiar bar mare, sitting down and looking at me, Vinyl and Vinyl's mother as we entered the room. The small glint of moonlight off of a silver surface caught my attention.

A small, familiar looking, silver shaker.

She gave a weak smile to us, though something about her was rather dark.
	
> Betrayal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Put me the hell down you bastard!" Flint roared as she attempted to pry herself from the grasp of Stone, who walked along the streets as if Flint wasn't even there.

"Are you going to behave?" Stone asked.

"Screw you!"

Stone sighed.

"Guess we'll have to round the block a few more times before she'll be tuckered out." He said to me.

"Why is she so mad now anyways? She walked away from them without a complaint just a while ago." I asked.

When we had been walking away from the scene of the fight, Flint suddenly seemed to realize that this counted as a defeat for her and immediately was set on raising hell to fix that. She was destined to have gone out and burn a few buildings and people to go find the two mares and fix her record.

Well, she would've if Stone hadn't thrown her over his shoulders the second he caught the glimpse of anarchy in her eyes.

Now we were circling the block as we waited for Flint to calm down; we had circled it enough times to have my hooves aching and my eyes drooping, yet somehow she was still raging and flailing about.

"Well, you might'a figured it out already, but Flint ain't the type to take loss that well. But if she doesn't know it's a loss she don't mind. Though you also might'a noticed that she ain't the brightest when it comes to puttin' two and two together." Stone said, taking the relentless battering of Flint as if it were a young child hitting.

He sighed and shook his head.

"'Tis a vicious circle."

"We're also circling 'round to be sure that Miss Melody and Vinyl Scratch and her mother get home well before we do."

"Gods I hate that bint!" Flint screeched into the air, followed by pounding at Stone with a renewed vigor.

Even just the mention of her name was driving her to blind rage.

"You didn't even fight 'em you over grown foal! You just let her hit you and then let them walk away you coward!" Flint said, taking a pause in her thrashing to insult Stone before going back to her tantrum.

"You know perfectly well she would've wiped the floor with you two yah' hard headed mare. Don't think I didn't see Vinyl Scratch save your sorry Flank from her mother. Heck I even saw your blush with how bright it was." Stone said smoothly, a small smile crossing his face as the words left his lips.

"Shut up!" Flint said, trying to push herself out of Stone's hold.

"Did she really save Flint?" I asked, bewildered by Stone's casual statement.

"Surprisingly enough. Don't know what was goin' through her head, but I saw it clear as day through the window on the back door."

It was a bit startling to learn that Flint had been saved by Vinyl from her own mother. It was a rare happening to see the prey save the predator, and even more rare to disobey their parent to do so.

Believe it or not, but I think that if every person's mother came along and scolded them, just about every fight and war would stop. 

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

"Finally cooled down back there?" Stone said, walking at a steady pace.

I, on the other hoof, was trudging along at a snails pace. We had been walking for upwards of half an hour, and Stone showed no signs of stopping -- a fact that scared me. I was honestly considering crawling atop his back and simply riding him.

Luckily, Flint seemed tuckered out as well.

"Yeah." She grumbled.

Well, she had more just gotten bored with walking around in a circle. Though either way she had stopped flailing, and was now propping her head up with her hoof and using Stone as a table of sorts. Her expression was still sour, her nose crinkled, but she had at least calmed down, which meant we could go home.

"Are you going to go fight Miss Scratch?" Stone asked again, like a lecturing father.

"No."

"Is that a lie."

A pause.

"Yes."

Stone sighed.

"Do I need to make a few more laps then?"

Flint and I both went wide eyed at that.

"No!" We shrieked in unison.

Stone smiled contently.

"Good, we can go home then." He said happily, turning on his hooves and heading off to the apartment.

I suddenly recalled that we now knew who Vinyl Scratch was, and that she was living right beside us.

"Are we actually going to go back to the apartment? I mean, you know, the people we're hunting are kinda living right across the hall."

"Aye. I don' think they're gonna bother us, 'specially because of Miss Scratch's protective nature over Miss Melody. If anything, it'd be out fault that they come after us."

"So what's our next plan then? This was kinda the build up and climax of things, wasn't it?" I asked.

"Well, it was hardly a brawl, so probably not. As for what we're gonna do, that'd be up to our pouty little mare here." He said, slumping and raising his shoulders to give Flint a jiggle.

"Flint?" I asked.

"Hell if I know. If it were up to me we'd be busting down their door with about twenty people and pummeling them," Her voice suddenly took on a mocking and whiny tone.

"But you won't let that happen, will you Stoney?"

Stone laughed at the impersonation.

"I don't think they'd be letting it happen either." He said, most likely choosing to avoid the mention of Flint's loss directly.

"As if you could get any farther." Flint huffed.

"Heh, I ain't one to jump on a 'beat the enemy into the submission' wagon like you are Flint."

Flint grumbled about something and Stone chose to stifle his chuckle this time around as we rounded the corner, the outline of the apartment building now in full view.

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

The sound of water hissing from the apartment across the hall give me the assurance that they weren't planning to attack. Either that, or it was a diversion, though I wasn't too keen on it.

Stone heard it too, though he made no motion to change his posture; it wasn't that defensive or cautious anyways so there really wasn't any way to change it. Thought I did notice him tighten his grip ever so slightly on Flint, to which she sighed in annoyance.

"Can't believe you let that desk mare see me like this." She grumbled.

"Think of it as punishment for loosing." Stone said, pushing open the door and letting us all in.

He waited til I shut the door behind us to put Flint down, and even when he did that he held her from under her shoulders -  her hind legs dangling limply in the air while her face was as dead panned as ever - and set her down like a child.

Surprisingly, she didn't hit him or even say how good it was to be off his shoulder, though the dead panned look persisted.

I decided to try and break that look, it was just uncomfortable looking.

"Ah, Flint?"

Her eyes slowly drifted from Stone to me.

"So...do we have a plan? Or are we back to square one on trying to get her?" I asked, desperately hoping for the latter to not be true.

She sighed heavily, getting off the ground on onto her hooves before answering me.

"Hate to say it, but I think we are back to the drawing board with this one."

The room went silent at the news, as if we were paying homage to the deceased. Well, I guess it was paying homage to the deceased, if the deceased included ideas.

"Don't know what else we can do. Unless Stone plans on helping me out with this, I don't think we have the power to force Vinyl Scratch to come with us." Flint said downheartedly.

"And even if I did, this is their turf. They could pretty easily give us a run for our money." He said seriously, not used to the threat of himself and another general having odds of loosing. Not only just odds, but decent odds.

"Coulda brought Silver. She'd clean this up right quick." Stone continued.

"Yeah, but if she hates one thing more than vampires, its traveling."

"Aye."

'Silver? Is that another general?' I thought to myself, then realized the implications of the talk of her. They apparently claim she could do this on her own? And quickly at that?

The three of us stood around for a minute or so longer before giving up and deciding to sleep on it. Though I imagine with the task at hoof, not many of us would be getting much sleep anyways.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Shakes?" I asked, curious why the bar-mare was here of all places.

"Hey." She said, keeping things oddly curt. I raised a brow at just that, though decided not to press it.

Vinyl's mother gave both me and Shakes a glance and her brows seemed to raise in realization, though I wasn't sure what about. She must have "read the mood" or something like that; Harpo had told me all about "reading the mood" though it never quite got through to me. Though, whatever the case, Vinyl's mother acted on something.

"Vinyl, let's head to the bathroom. I think your friends would like some...alone time." She said, carefully choosing her words.

Vinyl, though clearly as oblivious to the rooms tension as I was, decided to go with her mother.

I wondered briefly what they history between the two of them was, and how long it went back. I figured they had to be close, obviously, but the way that Vinyl's mother treated Vinyl like such a child was confusing. What was more so was how Vinyl seemed to just go along with it.

They left the room quickly, Vinyl's mother ushering her daughter into the bathroom, and shut the door punctually. The room was quite as soon as they left, eerily silent.

Though I decided to see what was wrong with Shakes, even someone like me could see that something was on her mind.

I sat down on the couch, looking at her and her averted gaze. It was down on the shaker that was cradled in one of her hooves while the other idly circled its surface. Her face was deep in thought, though at the same time, sad.

"Shakes?" I asked.

She didn't answer.

"Was there something you needed?" I asked again, hoping for a response the second time around.

I got one.

She sighed heavily, shutting her eyes and appearing to collect her thoughts, before looking up at me.

"Octavia, we haven't exactly known each other for that long, but I guess I gotta tell you this."

She placed the shaker on the table, the silver surface lightly reflecting in the dim lit room.

"I'm about to do something that you aren't going to like. Like, you're going to hate me for doing it, but I have to do it and I hope you''ll understand. I mean, this is probably going to be the worst possible thing that I could do to you."

I wasn't exactly sure how to respond, and at first thought she was joking, though when the silence settled in I understood that there was no joke to be had.

"Okay."

"Thanks, and sorry in advance." She said.

After that, she went back to sulking and we simply sat there in silence. I considered trying to do something, but with the "mood" she had just set, there really wasn't anything that I could do to lift the mood.

Do something that I'd hate her for? Worst possible thing? More importantly, why would she do this? She said that she'd hope I'd understand, but that's a bit hard when you give me no reason why I should be understanding.

Vinyl's mother came out a bit later and told us that Vinyl was taking a shower first, and Shakes looked happy for a second or so, but her smile quickly faded away as soon as it came about. I was beginning to get genuinely concerned about her, though her brief smile at the mention of Vinyl got me hoping that Vinyl could cheer her up.

Vinyl's mother, to her credit, made a dent in the atmosphere. She managed to toy with Shakes a little, calling her "cute and adorable" and managing to get a few blushes out of the sulking bar mare. But it faded away all too soon, as Shakes would simply go back to depression the second Vinyl's mother had to take a breath.

Though things began to look up as the sound of a door opening was heard.

We all looked back, Shakes included, as a wet maned Vinyl danced out of the bathroom and did stretched a little. We all had different reactions to the sight. Mine being a small blush at the sight, Vinyl's mothers being an audible coo, and Shakes' being an even deeper frown.

'Well this might be interesting, Vinyl's smile versus Shakes' frown.' I thought, almost scowling at her sadness at this point.

Vinyl walked into the room with a towel draped around her neck, using the ends of it to wipe her glasses clean. I ignored the fact this was implying she even showered with her glasses, and focused on her eyes. They gleamed with a sort of vigor, but they then met with Shakes and turned to a look of concern.

Vinyl's mother was out of the room pretty quickly, the sound of the door slamming punctuating her exit, and left two pairs of eyes staring at each other.

It was quite the sight from my angle. Shakes on one side with eyes looking up, full of sadness and a yearning for something. Was it forgiveness? On the other side of this staring contest was Vinyl, looking down at the seated Shakes with attentive and caring eyes that wanted nothing more than to lift the pain of the other.

I felt goosebumps rise up on my neck.

"Hey Vinyl." Shakes said quietly.

"What's wrong?" Vinyl asked immediately, though her caring initiative only made Shakes turn away in what looked like pain.

"I... Nothing." She lied.

Vinyl's eyes narrowed at the lie, though she kept quiet and took a seat.

Another staring contest took place, though this time Shakes was eager to escape the endless pool of blood red that was Vinyl's eyes. She actually squirmed under the prying gaze.

"Wanna talk now?" Vinyl asked again, clearly intending to do this for however long it took.

Shakes sighed at the same realization.

"I guess..."

Silence.

"That usually means you're supposed to start, Shakes."

"Vinyl, who would you rather get hurt, you or someone else?" Shakes asked.

"Me." Vinyl answered the second that Shakes stopped speaking.

Shakes took that answer and reflected on it from the looks of it. It looked like she considered it the wrong answer from the look on her face.

"Why?" She asked.

Vinyl laughed a little despite the serious question and atmosphere.

"Live long enough and you'll realize just how small you are and just how big others thinks they are."

"Whats that mean?"

"It means I'd rather save them the pain and deal with it myself. It might sound a bit egoistic, but I know I could take it better than they could." She somehow managed a smile despite what she said..

I had never expected something philosophical to come out of Vinyl's mouth, ever, and much less a sort of outlook on how she viewed her life.

"Take one for the team then? Even if you don't like the team?" Shakes asked.

Vinyl nodded.

Shakes managed a sad chuckle of her own.

"Then I've gotta say, I'm sorry."

"I forgive you." Vinyl said without hesitation, sympathy riddled into her tone.

I realized Shakes hadn't even told her what it was about, much less why Vinyl should forgive her.

Shakes stared at Vinyl for a moment, in complete and total admiration. You would've had to have been blind to not see it.

Shakes wordlessly pushed forwards the silver shaker, not even raising her eyes to meet the object.

"Wanna drink? I made something special for you." She said sadly, though I thought I could make out a small, sad, smile on her face.

Vinyl perked up and smiled.

"Sure!"

Shakes opened the top of the shaker and my nose was flooded with the smell of berry. Not a subtle and enjoyable smell either, it was almost aggressive with the scent. It was as if you forced the berry smell onto the drink.

Vinyl's nose twitched, but she seemed to like the smell.

She then took the drink and gave it a cautious sip, a taste test. She smacked her lips once as the taste settled, then perked up and began to drink more. Eventually, her head was tilted backwards with the shaker upside down as she drained the last of it.

"Good?" Shakes asked.

Vinyl nodded, smiling brightly.

Though the smile faltered.

She suddenly looked queasy and unsteady, dropping the shaker suddenly to the ground.

"Vinyl?" I asked.

Vinyl suddenly went limp and fell down into the couch, breathing steadily.

"Viny-" I began to yell in shock at the unfamiliar sight of her falling down, though a hoof found its way onto my mouth and stopped me dead in my tracks.

I followed the hoof to the body of Shakes, who wore a grimace. She turned her eyes to me, and I felt my own involuntarily widen at the look in her eyes.

I then followed her body down to her other hoof which was cocked backwards.

The last thing I saw was her hoof hurdling at me before white pain splintered through me. Though after the pain came a blackness that took over.
> Capture
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


A hard knock rang through the inside of the apartment building.

My sleep driven stupor passed it off as Stone turning in his bed. He had done it before, and fell off the bed as well, and made a thump around the same sound as this one. It woke me and Flint up with a start, mainly cause we thought something had fallen through the floor, but this thump was different. It was from farther away, not Stone's direction.

Another knock rang out, part of a longer sequence of knocks that hit my ear drums like the sound of a cannon.

I cracked an eye open from my spot on the bed, looking towards the open door of our bedroom out towards the living room where the knocks were coming from. My eye drifted over to Flint, who had risen up slightly and peered at the door herself.

"Who is it?" I mumbled, curling back into the bed.

"Don't know. Get up." She said simply.

She sounded serious, so I begrudgingly obeyed and raised up, trying my hardest to wipe the sleep from my eyes.

Flint continued to usher me through the process of waking, despite the ungodly hour, and eventually had me tailing behind her into the living room. I managed to make out the bulking shadow of Stone, who had already risen and was standing near the door.

He looked prepared for something.

"Who ya' think it is?" He whispered.

"Don't know." Flint repeated.

"Vinyl?" I suggested.

Flint soured and tensed at the same time.

"I hope so. I'm more than ready to get a bit of one on one with that mare. And her mom will be next." She said, already up in arms at this unholy hour.

Stone sighed.

"Then I'd better go get someone to patch up back together after they tear you apart."

"Shut up Stone."

"Face it Flint, ya' lost and based on how things were going during that fight you'd be dead if Vinyl hadn't stepped in or I got there. If not dead then wounded enough to send you back to HQ." Stone said, one of the first times I saw him get a bit agitated by Flint.

He turned his head back towards the door.

"That magic isn't something to mess with." He said, being the only one with enough experience. After all, he let it crash over his neck so he must have some sort of feel for the magic.

"I could beat her." Flint mumbled, more quiet than before.

"Can we open the door please?" I asked, trying to hurry things along in an attempt to get back to the calling bed.

They both exchanged a glance before nodding and facing the door.

The knock rang out one more time before Flint twisted the handle and opened the door.

A stunned silence overtook the two, light from the hall shining through and highlighting the looks on their face.

I was curious at first, though the mare that walked through the door answered my question as quick as it came up.

A mare walked through the door with her head hung low, a limp body slung over her back. A familiar, shaggy, two toned mane marked just who the body was.

"I-Is t-that?" I stammered, the sight being plenty enough to wake me up.

Vinyl Scratch was placed on the ground in front of us as the light turned on to illuminate her downed form. She was out cold, though there were no scuffs or marks on her to suggest a struggle or even physical contact which suggested that something else had taken her down.

I stole a brief glance up at the mare who had brought her in and gasped.

"Shakes?" Flint stammered, apparently just as shocked as I was at the appearance of the mare.

Though Shakes didn't respond, and in fact never even looked up. Her eyes were glued to Vinyl Scratch's limp body with almost a burning hatred in her eyes.

Though it was hard to see just what that hatred was aimed at.

"How did you-" Stone began, only to have himself be interrupted.

"Doesn't matter. Get packed. Now." She said, her voice authoritative and dangerous. It was clear that she would eagerly snap on either three of us.

And the fact that she had brought in a target neither of us had managed to nab yet was enough to make me and Flint back down. Stone wasn't exactly going to oppose her, but it would have been interesting to see just how he would have went about it.

When none of us moved, all of us still a bit shocked, she decided to elaborate.

"Her mother doesn't know yet, but you can expect to deal with her when she does. So I suggest you all get moving."

That was all that Flint and Stone needed to begin quickly packing, and it was far more than enough to get me moving.

I didn't exactly have any belongings to pack with me all things considered, so I simply decided to stay in the living room with Shakes as the two generals moved about the apartment and picked up whatever it was that they had brought along with them.

Shakes had since sunk down onto her haunches near Vinyl, her head hovering over the white mare's own and staring at her eyes despite them being closed. I also took note that her purple glasses were missing. I had the idea of pressing what exactly she had done to subdue Vinyl Scratch without a weapon or force, but figured that if I did ask her that, then she might be all to happy to demonstrate that on myself.

I wondered what kind of blackmailing Flint would have had to do in order to leave Shakes so beat up and depressed looking.

Well, I'd have plenty of time to ask her on the long journey back to HQ.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Ironically, it was raining out side. Suiting, I guess considering the current mood that Shakes had around with her. I didn't know why she was so saddened or depressed or whatever she was by bringing this mare to us. Maybe she had grown to like the mare, something along the lines of a friendly feud; fighting each other for fun to get through their day to day lives.

She had Vinyl Scratch draped over her body as she walked in front of me and behind Flint and Stone, having refused to let anyone but herself carry the body. I guess she was nervous about us being credited with bringing in Vinyl Scratch.

"Did you call for a cab?" Flint asked Stone.

"Aye. Stopped by a local station and had a unicorn send a note to base. Said they'd send one over as soon as possible. Should be just outside the gates. Should be gettin' there within an hour or so." Stone nodded.

"That fast?" Flint asked in awe.

"I may or may not have mentioned we had Vinyl Scratch with us." Stone chuckled.

I wondered why Flint didn't send it herself, but put it to rest just as quickly with a mental shrug. Maybe she felt above sending messages herself.

It was around this time that I noted just how far away the gates were from the apartment, my hooves beginning to hurt with every step as we shuffled along. It'd make sense vampires would set up shop around these parts, important places were so far spaced from each other.

As we moved along, the gates came into view.

And so did some guards.

I began to get a bit worried about the fact we were about to tote a body through an official checkpoint, though as we closed the gap with them they made no move to stop us. In fact, they hardly even batted an eye at us. I began to feel two ways about the situation: either the guards of Canterlot were in cahoots with The Order and knew Flint and Stone were on business, or that there was a serious lack of security around even the pauper areas of town.

And this was a pretty rich part of town from what I could tell.

I mean, it piratically looked like we committed murder.

After we passed through the gates, the group took a sharp left and wandered along the side of the wall for a few yards then abruptly stopped.

Flint slid to her haunches and Stone visibly relaxed while Shakes took Vinyl off her back and placed her gently on a grassy patch near the wall so that she wouldn't get rained on as much.

I gave everyone a bit of a look, the way everyone was acting was reminding me vaguely of how an actual unit of Hunters worked when setting up camp.

And just like camp, most of the time was going to be spent doing nothing but waiting.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My eyes were blurred as they opened up, a crick in my neck making itself known as I lifted up off of the ground with shaky hooves. My head throbbed with a dull pain, enough to rival past migraines I had had.

While placing my front hooves on the ground for some footing, I landed on something cold and plastic feeling that managed to get my attention.

As my eyes began to focus, the color purple began to register in my head as I looked to the hoof where I had felt the object. The dark lighting of the room did make it a bit difficult, though I eventually did manage to focus my sight to the point of registration of edges.

My eyes widened as I saw them.

A pair of purple sunglasses that never seemed to leave a certain white mare, with white mare nowhere to be found.

My memory came back to me in an instant. Finding Shakes inside my house when i got back from dinner. Her sour mood and depressing demeanor. Vinyl's mother trying hard to cheer us up. Shakes offering Vinyl a drink.

Vinyl falling.

A hoof hurdling at my head.

My eyes widened at the realization.

I looked up and turned my head from one corner of the room to another corner, looking for any remote sign of white in the hopes that Vinyl was somehow still here.

"Vinyl?" I called out hopefully.

No answer.

The sound of running water that I hadn't realized before suddenly shut off, and soon after, the sound of a door opening followed.

My ears perked and I turned quickly, hoping that Vinyl was taking a shower, only to find Vinyl's mother coming out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her neck and using one end to dry her ears. She was oblivious to the fact her daughter had been abducted, and quite frankly that could be a good thing. Though she was bound to find out sooner or later.

But informing Vinyl's mother was my second most priority right now. This first one was finding Vinyl.

I felt my muscles tighten as I got up and ran towards the door, slinging it open and racing to the elevator. Needless to say, slowly going down that elevator was the longest event I had been through in my life.

Though once the brass doors opened and the door to the building was insight, I was out them just as quickly.

Ran hit my face like small bullets as I rushed through the street, though it may as well have not been raining at all. I couldn't feel the drops hitting my face, neither could I feel the throbbing pain going through my head, nor the burning sensation as my hooves hit the ground far too hard and far too fast than they were used to.

I couldn't feel the warmth of my tears mixing with the cold rain.

I couldn't even hear myself as I screamed Vinyl's name to the passing alleys.

Eventually I stopped moving, my chest feeling as though it was about to collapse on me as I took heavy and fast paced breaths.

I didn't know what to do. I hadn't ever been through having something important to me being taken. Not even my job came close to this, I could deal with that and I could understand losing it. This. This I could not understand.

Why?

Why did it happen?

Where was Vinyl?

I looked down the alleyways around me feverishly, just on the small one in a million chance that Vinyl might be in one of them. And in one I did see a white mare with a blue mane, though it wasn't the one I was wanting to see.

"Mind telling me why exactly you bolted out the door when I stepped out of the shower?" Vinyl's mother asked calmly through the downpour.

She took steps closer, not minding the rain, and spoke in a low and dangerous tone.

"And where my daughter is."

Despite the sickly sweet sound of her voice, I could tell that this wasn't a question from her to me, it was a demand of me from her. One that I wish I could answer myself, because if I did know then I wouldn't even be talking to her.

Her voice was one of the first sounds too actually make itself known to me, making her already warning voice even more impacting and I found myself blurting the truth.

"I...I don't know."

Her face was void of emotion; she clearly wanted more than a simple 'I don't know' from me.

"I-I was knocked... unconscious and I think..." The adrenaline was finally beginning to fade away, and I found myself breathing heavily.

"I think Shakes took her." i blurted, looking at her with fear for my life. I wasn't sure if she'd blame me for not stopping the abduction of her daughter, though right now I did as well, but more so I wasn't sure how she planned to cope with the news.

For once, she looked dumbfounded, her mouth slightly agape and her brows raised.

Though as the information began to process, a more defined reaction began to surface.

Her eyelid twitched, shooting up briefly and revealing the whites of her eyes. Though she shut them just as quickly. I wasn't one to make blind assumptions, but I was beginning to think that her eyes seemed to have a relation to her mood. A fact that made me all the more fearful for the fact that it took this much to see them open slightly.

I was genuinely fearing for the day when she finally opened her eyes.

"T...Took her?" She repeated. It was the first time I had ever heard her break that motherly tone she constantly kept, now she sounded confused. As if she couldn't exactly comprehend the idea that someone took her daughter.

I barely managed a nod in response, my body suddenly feeling weak to the point where I sunk to my haunches with my head hung low.

The sound of a sudden boom was enough to bring even my tired head up to see what happened.

I found it was suddenly a bit darker than usual, the result of the street lamps suddenly turning off. I also found that a series of large cracks branching out from the hoof of Vinyl's mother, spreading across the street and - conveniently - right under the lamps that had turned off. I noticed the way she was gritting her teeth, giving her a look of restrained rage as she began to walk closer to me.

I felt like running, though my body had given up on movement and the most I got out of the attempt was stumbling backwards.

She hovered over me, her horn sparking up to only increase the scariness of the situation.

I closed my eyes and lugged my hoof in front of myself in a vain attempt to defend.

I felt a hoof gently push my own away, to which my hoof easily obliged and fell limply to the side. I opened my eyes cautiously to see that Vinyl's mother had dropped down to her own haunches and hovered in front of me with a new found smile on her face. It was disturbing to see her sudden change in emotion. It reminded me vaguely of Vinyl, and how she would commonly smile at the enemy as either a scare tactic or from pure enjoyment.

In all honesty, I found her gritted teeth to better than this option.

"M-M-Miss Scratch?" I stammered.

"Let's get out of the rain dear." She said kindly, a street lamp behind her flickering in a vain attempt to turn back on.

I had no words, but she didn't need an answer. She simply leaned her horn closer to my face as a white light blinded me.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Within a blink I found that the rain had stopped and the coldness of the Canterlot streets had faded away, replaced with the comforting feeling of room temperature of my apartment.

I felt the wet form of Vinyl's mother raise up from me, and a brief look up showed that she had gotten up and was smiling oddly.

"So, dear, I believe I'll be heading out soon to go retrieve my daughter."

"A-Are you not scared? I mean, they did manage to take her in the first place." I blurted out before clamping a hoof over my mouth as the impact of the statement came to mind.

Though she only laughed sadly.

"Fear is something that I haven't felt in a long, long time dear. I dare say I'd be delighted to get some sort of fear out of this, though I don't think I will." She said softly, unwrapping the towel from her neck and levitating it into the air, folding it gently, and setting it down in the kitchen.

She wordlessly turned and started towards the door, and in the same moment I felt something arise in myself. It was something I wouldn't describe as an eagerness, though it was a yearning for something at the same time. Like a debt of sorts; not necessarily wanting to pay but having to anyways.

"L-Let me help." I choked out.

She stopped, and turned.

"'Help' dear? I don't mean to be blunt deary but I don't think someone such as yourself could do much to help me get my daughter back. Though-" She sounded almost hollow with her statements, for once in the short time I had met her sounding cold and detached from the situation.

I found myself blurting again.

"But I want to....please." I found myself struggling to speak.

"Y-Your daughter is... well she's-" I took a second to find my words.

She chuckled briefly at me.

"So that's how it is then." She said simply.

She turned back around and came closer to me once again, kneeling down on her haunches and hanging her head low. The wet strands of her man had begun to cause her hair to fall around her face, giving her a sort of rugged look.

"Take care not to interrupt your elders dear, it's just rude." She said kindly, and I found myself blushing as I realized that I had interrupted her.

"S-Sorry."

"Don't fret dear, but let me finish what i was saying."

"I was saying that you wouldn't be much help for me getting my daughter back. Though that only means some changes are in order. I haven't made a decision whether or not your love for my daughter is true, though at this point I don't have many other options." She said vaguely, making me feel a little nervous.

I ignored the last part and focused on a single word she had used.

"C-Changes?" I stammered.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

> Beast
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"C-Changes?" I stammered to Vinyl's mother and her menacing form.

She chuckled and nodded.

"Yes dear, changes. As I said before I'm lacking any allies around these parts other than my daughter, who is obliviously not around, so I think that I'll need to make one."

What did that mean? Did vampires have an ability to materialize others out of thin air? Well, I suppose that the phrase "creating something from nothing" would apply here though that was a strictly art based theme, but I wouldn't put it beyond them. After all, vampires were real. I found myself oddly forgetful of the fact that the beasts of legend were real. Not to mention that one actually lived with me.

Well, did live with me. She was abducted now, but Vinyl's mother seemed pretty keen on retrieving her daughter.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, curious as to how she was going to go about it.

I considered "the master" from the forest as an example. Maybe she planned on "recruiting" some other vampires.

"Well, do you remember me telling you about vampirism? That special little thing my daughter has about her that she can inject?"

I nodded.

"And, do you remember what I told you about turning others into vampires through that serum?" She said again, smile widening.

I nodded again, still following along.

We both went silent after that, though I was silent as I had assumed she was going to elaborate on her point, though it appeared she was done.

She sighed, hoof meeting face and rubbing slightly.

"Perhaps I should be more direct..." She muttered to herself before looking up to me.

"Octavia." She said, her tone enough to make my back straighten.

"Y-Yes?"

"You love my daughter, yes?"

I felt a blush.

"W-Well, yes but-"

"And you want to help her?" She interrupted.

"Yes." I said firmly.

"Well, might I ask what you'd be willing to give up for her?" She asked.

I went into thought at that question.

I had assumed I'd be willing to give up a lot for Vinyl, which sounds rather dumb since I had only known her for a few months, but I did honestly feel a bit of an attachment to her. Well, that and she did save my life; though I did save hers as well, but I'd hardly call myself even with her. After all, she had done lots more than save my life. She had befriended me, even loved me with open arms.

I guess we were in a similar boat, both of us being quick to react and attach to someone who showed us interaction, though I suspect for two entirely different reasons. My own reason was because of my lack of it for a long while, lack of relationship with someone that was as intimate as I'd call mine with Vinyl.

Though what would I give up for her? Well, most everything I suppose. It'd be only fair since she gave me just that.

"A lot." I responded.

"Even your life?" She asked, her voice much more serious.

I thought briefly. I had thought about it before, and rejected it before. Though someone talked me out of that stupid choice of greed. Then again, that same someone just knocked me unconscious and stole Vinyl, so needless to say I was a bit conflicted.

"Yes, I think I would." I answered shakily.

"What about your mortality?" She asked again this time taking me aback.

'Mortality? As in my ability to die? Why would she ask if I'd give that up? Dying? I could understand that being a weighted choice, but my ability to die? Why would she ask that?' I though.

"I suppose." I said warily.

She clapped her hooves gleefully at my response.

"Oh my! How delightful! We can get started as soon as possible then!" She cheered, coming closer to me.

"Wait, started doing what? Saving Vinyl?" I asked, confused by her sudden outburst of joy.

"Oh no, but that will come soon after." She said, sinking down to her haunches and coming oddly close to me.

"Then what were you tal-" I started, though I was quickly interrupted by Miss Scratch throwing her body onto me and forcing me to the ground with her on top.

"Oh, I think you'll find out soon enough." She whispered huskily into my ear.

I gulped.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The carriage bumped harshly, sending me up into the air briefly before landing back into my uncomfortable seat. It smelled like polish inside the wooden interior of the carriage, though it was also freezing thanks to all the windows inside. The rain did serve as a sort of way to calm me. A set of what looked like magically lit candles served to light the inside, making it look bright as day.

I let out a sigh at the situation, though kept quite as I knew complaining would only annoy everyone else.

Well, there was a single exception.

Indeed, our waiting had paid off and a carriage had arrived to pick us up. Though, instead of it being the prisoner transport carriage we had expected to get - a carriage that was designed just for the transport of vampiric prisoners - we received the same carriage me, Flint and Stone had arrived in. The limo.

Flint asked the meaning of it, though the driver told her just that.

We were apparently moved down on the list of priority to get transport carriages because the main headquarters had deemed Flint and Stone "plenty of security for the transport of a single prisoner. And that if they failed it was only their fault."

Needless to say, Flint was pissed. 

Enough to set a poor, unfortunate, tree ablaze half way down the road.

We ended up piling into the carriage in the end, as it was raining. Though we found out that they were considerate enough to send some shackles and a magical inhibitor for Vinyl in order to restrict her magic uses. Thank Celestia for that, if not I'm sure we'd get to see the nasty side of the white mare that managed to net her such a name in The Order.

But, we weren't all convinced that some shackles was enough of insurance of our safety. Even Stone was a bit bothered by the lack of safety precautions, and I could understand that too. I mean, it was a notorious criminal for us. The biggest actually.

The only one who seemed at ease was, surprisingly enough, Shakes. She seemed to have gotten past her total depression, and now just looked annoyed.

Flint picked up on it too, though she wasn't too keen on keeping quiet about it.

"Whats got you so calm, Shakes?" Flint asked suddenly, talking to the mare across the small isle of space between us.

Shakes had opted to sit next to Vinyl and let us three squeeze together on the other side of the carriage - to which we were all too happy to do. And maybe to flaunt her fearlessness even more, Shakes had even laid Vinyl's head in her lap.

Shakes smirked a little at that.

"Well, that drink should keep her out for at least another three minutes." She said.

"Three?! But we haven't even got her in shackles yet!" I shouted.

There was no way at all that I was going to be within three feet of a killing machine without anything to restraints on her. No way at all.

"Well, maybe two if you keep yelling like that." Shakes remarked, teasing yet still just as upset.

"Aye, we should shackle her up if she's goin' to be waking soon. Don't want her just teleportin' out of here. Or actually fightin' back." Stone said sagely.

"Agreed." Chimed in Flint.

We all looked to Shakes, who gave a glance to each of us before huffing in annoyance.

"Oh come on. She's not that strong. I mean, you guys are the generals, aren't you?" Shakes mocked.

We all returned her mocking with silent gazes, each of us a bit deadpanned at her complaining of locking up the most feared vampire in history for us all.

She gave us all another look before wiping her hoof across her face and sighing exaggeratedly.

"Fine." She said, almost whining about it.

She followed through with her promise and got the shackles from Stone. The way the shackles were set up made it so that every hoof was chained to the others - front left to back left, front right to front left and so on - as to get the most restricting and strongest bond possible. They were also roughly an inch thick, the chains themselves also nothing to laugh at either.

With a final click, Shakes let out a deep sigh and placed down the limp mare's hoof. She seemed to scan over her briefly, going over both the shackles and the magic inhibiting ring on her horn.

She then turned back to all of us.

"Happy?"

We all nodded and seemed more at ease. I know I was.

She huffed again before speaking.

"Don't know why you guys are so paranoid. I mean, she's been fasting for at least a few months at this point. Even a few drinks of blood would only make her stronger for a few minutes at most. It'd take a solid hour of drinking to see any real strength improvement." She said.

That also seemed to calm us down a little bit, restoring some lost confidence in Flint and reassuring what was already inside of Stone.

A sudden cute sound came from the sleeping mare, letting out a small and high pitched yawn that let her tiny fangs hand out just barely as she scrunched her face up. Small little tears formed on the edges of her eyes as she smiled and went back to cuddling into Shakes' lap.

I felt my heart wince a little at the sight, especially because she was in chains. Though I kept in mind that looks could be deceiving.

"Well, at least she ain't hard to look at. I was half expecting some kind of bulked up pony that could break steel, not some cutesy mare. Heck, I was fully expecting some kinda scars on them or some kinda testament to their strength." Flint chuckled.

Vinyl's nose scrunched up heavily and her face moved to something of displeasure. It looked like her little dream had turned into a bad one all of the sudden.

Her back hoof begin twitching a little, scratching the door just a little accidentally.

"She is pretty adorabl-"

Stone was interrupted as Vinyl's hoof winded up a bit farther than before and let out a small buck right against the door.

Though, that wasn't all.

The door ripped from its hinges and was tossed away from the carriage. From my vantage - and thanks to the brightness of the candles - I could make out how the door skipped across the landscape like a stone skipping on water, though rather than only going a few yards like a rock would, the door was moving dozens of yards every skip. It eventually disappeared out of sight.

I could practically hear all of our mouths would have hit the floor in an instant, each of us looking in either horror or amazement at the seemingly accidental and completely effortless removal of the door.

Flint looked back to me to make sure she wasn't seeing things, and I guessed my own slacked jaw was enough to tell her she wasn't. Even Stone and Shakes had a mouth agape.

It was around that time Vinyl let out another small yawn, stretching one of her hooves forwards and effortlessly snapping the chains from her hooves. There wasn't even a brief moment of resistance from the chains before they broke, it was as if they weren't even on her. She had just effectively broken out of all the chains we had put on her within a few seconds - the chains and restraints that got the job done on every other vampire we had placed them on.

At this point it was just adding insult to injury.

She then proceeded to cuddle further into Shakes' stomach with a sound of contentment.

"T-Those had t-to just be rusty...right?" Flint stammered, chuckling nervously.

"O-Of course." Stone agreed, stammering a little before he reached down and pulled out a much newer looking pair of chains and handing them over to Shakes.

Even she was a bit worried now, her hooves trembling a little as she put on a new set of chains onto the sleeping white mare just above the first pair.

Luckily, Vinyl seemed to be settled in now and didn't make anymore major movements to give the chains a run for their money.

Needless to say, we all were looking a bit differently at the white mare cuddling innocently into the stomach of Shakes.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My body felt groggy as I moved about, limbs not wanting to cooperate as I felt myself move about something hard and cold. Even my eyes were refusing the simple action of opening, though my mind was very active. Memories were still going through, particularly the one about Vinyl's mother forcing me to the ground and attempting to do something to me.

That was enough to get my eyes to cooperate, letting them snap open on their own as my back lurched forwards in order for me to sit up as quickly as possible.

My vision focused quickly, narrowing in on the dim light coming from the other side of the drawn curtains.

'Did...did I fall asleep? Or did she knock me out too?' I thought to myself. 

I heard the soft sound of something, like someone slurping from a tea cup.

A quick turn was enough to confirm my suspicion, as I took in the sight of Vinyl's mother sitting elegantly at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in front of her. She was nonchalantly going through with the motion of drinking it, as if she hadn't knocked me unconscious and attempted to subject me to an experiment of hers.

"Excuse me?" I said, sounding oddly meek.

She continued her drink though put the cup down soon after and turned to acknowledge me.

"Ah, so you're awake? How are you feeling dear?" She asked.

"A-A bit tired, but what exactly did you do?" I asked, having a good idea just what she did to me but wanting her to tell me directly as opposed to being dodgy about it.

"Do you really want to know dear?" She asked with an odd smirk.

I felt a chill run down my spine at her oddly compassionate and gentle smile despite the implications behind it.

I nodded.

"Well, I pinned you to the ground with the intention of turning you into an ally of mine that may actually be able to stand on their own. However, after maybe five or so minutes of teasing you and watching you blush oh so adorably, you proceeded to pass out." She said calmly, my face reddening as she went on.

"You then gripped me tightly and called out my daughter's name, to which I was surprised. That then led me to pry myself from your surprisingly iron grip." She continued, going back in for another cup of tea.

My face was surely red enough, and I felt hot enough that I could warmed up her cup of tea.

"O-Oh...I a-apologize." I said quietly.

"Quite alright dear. It was honestly the cutest sight I'd seen in the past few years, if that counts for anything." She said in what I took as an attempt to cheer me up.

"How long was I passed out?" I asked.

"Roughly three hours or so I'd say." She said, putting her cup back down.

I was a bit surprised by the length of time she said, though what I was a bit more surprised about was her apparent honesty with me. Not to say I had expected her to be a liar, but you'd think that someone who attempted to borderline force themselves on you would a bit less honest after the fact. Or at least have the consideration to not go and explain the situation in full detail to me.

"Oh, and there was more. Such as when your parents came over and-"

"I-I'd rather not know about that." I interrupted just at the mention of my parents coming to visit. Situations raced through my head of my parents walking in on another mare on top of me that wasn't the one I had presented to them. I had enough to worry about at the moment.

Specifically, one question.

"S-So did you..." I began to ask, this question being the biggest one I had in mind.

"Do what? Change you?" She specified.

I nodded.

"No, though I did plan to at first since you being unconscious would have been ideal for changing you deary. Though when you muttered my daughter's name, changing you became more like taking advantage of a sleeping pup." She said, swooning at the mention of her daughter.

I decided to gloss over the fact she had unintentionally just referred to me as a dog.

"Though I do wonder," She began to ponder.

"would you have let me go through with it? You said it yourself you were fine with diving up your mortality for my daughter." She asked me, clearly expecting an answer.

I was speechless at that, as I honestly didn't know. I mean, saying things were one thing; going through with them was an entirely different situation. Though what she said was true, I had said it, and I guess I would do it if it meant saving Vinyl. But at the same time I guess it would be like giving up some of myself at the same time. How would that change me? Would being a vampire change my personality?

Even if it didn't, I'd be becoming something that many would view as a monster.

"I...I think I'd need some more time to think about it." I admitted quietly. And in all honesty it was the truth.

"Fair enough." She said, smiling as she took another sip of tea.

"Though I did find something quite interesting while I was on you deary." She said, giving me a quirky smile.

"And that would be?"

"Well, you seem to have quite a high concentration of that venom still inside you. Dormant, of course, though it makes me wonder why exactly it isn't decaying as it would normally. It's going much slower than usual." She said, sounding honestly and truly intrigued by the fact.

"Needless to say, if this little trend keeps up and you do decide to take me up on my offer, you'd be quite a threat to even with little experience." She commented. The weight that had was considerably high since this was the mother of the most threatening mare I had seen ever.

Though that thought got me wondering. Vinyl's mother had mentioned already that she didn't know the full extent of her own daughter's abilities, which got me wondering if Vinyl's mother was even stronger than Vinyl. I'd be understandable if she weren't, but if she were notably stronger than Vinyl in just the magical aspect then I was talking with someone that I could consider borderline godlike.

The thoughts of Vinyl only brought me back to sulking. Despite her only being gone for all of a few hours, it felt like months or so since I had seen her. I mean, her mother was kind and all - despite trying to do exactly what Vinyl had done a few days after meeting me - though she wasn't nearly as emotional as I thought Vinyl up to be. She was kind and sounded loving at all times, but Vinyl's emotions felt somehow realer to me. Maybe it was because of my different opinions and relations with the two. Maybe it was because it was the truth.

Though one thing was certain. I wanted Vinyl back.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


We all felt sleepy, I was sure, but not one of us dared to close our eyes for too long. There was the matter of diligence of watching over a prisoner during a transport of course, but the primary reason was that said prisoner had just accidentally kicked the doors off of the carriage and broke through chains as if they were but twine.

That, was probably the reason none of us decided to go to sleep -- the fear that if we did close our eyes that they might never open up again.

Fortunately, and unfortunately as well to certain regard, Vinyl Scratch had kept asleep for a lot longer than hoped for. Shakes had brought up that the least she would be out was three minutes, and that was over three hours ago. 

Yet the beast still slumbered.

The unfortunate part of this situation was that we were still on edge about what her reaction to being abducted would be when she woke up. Most of us would assume outburst and rage towards us, though Shakes mentioned that Vinyl may end up hugging us when she woke.

She was apparently that unreadable.

But all that was nearing in end, just as our trip back towards head quarters was. Maybe it was our driver, but we were apparently making phenomenal time according to Flint. If we could get Vinyl Scratch out of the carriage and into the base, we'd be in the clear. Even if she did put up a fight with us, she'd be so outnumbered and out skilled that she'd be taken out before she could break her chains.

I found myself smiling at the idea of safety.

Though that smile was short lived.

The sound of an awakening went through the carriage and everyone visibly stiffened, a yawn managed to slap the sleep out of all of us and prepare us for the worst in all of a second or two.

The white mare in front us rolled off of Shakes, moving from off her lap and sitting herself up properly in the open seat across from Stone and beside Shakes.

She made a move to rub her eyes, obviously still tired from either whatever Shakes gave her or either genuine sleep, and rattled her set of both broken and still solid chains. She smacked her lips after that, as if she were waking up in her own bedroom, before finally noticing the change of scenery.

Her eyes opened to a considerably awoken size as she took in Stone's face, then shifting her gaze to Flint and then myself. She gave each of us a once over, not really giving off any emotion or signs of hatred towards any of us.

None of us dared to make a sound, either from the fear of setting her off or just from fear from her in general.

She finally turned to Shakes, giving her the same once over before her face twisted in a sort of odd fashion. She looked a bit nervous, though we all took this as anger and braced.

"Hey Shakes, where are my glasses?" She asked, patting her head with her hooves in an attempt to find her glasses.

"Probably back at the apartment on the floor." Shakes responded.

"Dang, my head feels weird without them." She said, her odd face returning again as she patted around her head for a second time to be sure she didn't gloss over them the first time.

After that she turned down to the chains on her hooves and gave them a brief look at. That was where I expected her to do something, though she only set her hooves back down and let out a deep sigh, as if she was only just annoyed.

"Can we go back and get them?" She asked genuinely.

"Probably not."

"Aww." She whined sadly.

The carriage turned silent after that.

Still no one dared to speak.

Vinyl seemed to begin looking around the carriage. At the ceiling, the walls; Stone, Flint and I, even sticking her head out the hole in the side of the cart she made by kicking the door off. Stone moved to stop her on that one, though she was too fast and he too slow. But she didn't move to jump out of the carriage, only sticking her head out and turning it both ways to look at the dark scenery before returning back to the carriage.

...

...

...

"Shakes?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"Are we there yet?"

Shakes sighed and put a hoof up to her head before rubbing, apparently not thinking much about the fact that Vinyl's response to being kidnapped, drugged and dragged to a place that she had no idea where it was, was 'Are we there yet?'.

"Vinyl if the carriage is still moving, what do you think?" She asked rhetorically.

Vinyl took a moment to think before opening her mouth to respond.

"No. The answer is 'No', Vinyl." Shakes said before Vinyl could say anything.

Vinyl turned her attention to the ground for a moment before speaking up again.

"Wheres Tavi?"

"Probably back at the apartment with that mare with the closed eyes."

"With Mom?"

That managed to get Shakes to react.

"That was your mom?" She asked in both surprise and what almost sounded like fear. She even made a little move to raise up out of her seat a little, straightening her back in alert.

Vinyl nodded.

"Aw man, Mom's probably gonna do something with Tavi." Vinyl said, sounding a bit sad.

"Are you seriously not going to do anything?" Flint asked out of nowhere, getting all of us to turn and see her almost fuming in her seat. Her eyes looked angry, her teeth were gritted and the candles inside the carriage were beginning to act up.

Vinyl cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"About what?" She asked both innocently and honestly.

"About being chained up and kidnapped you dolt!" Flint snapped.

Vinyl's ears lowered as a response to the sudden outburst and she visibly cringed.

I was shocked by the reaction to getting yelled at. Sure, maybe she could handle situations such as being kidnapped like this well - as remarkable as that may be. But typically being something along the lines of a superhuman and getting insulted didn't go too well together. I had at least expected some kind of voiced response to being yelled at.

Was this the beast that The Order had talked about only in whispers?

Was it even a beast?

We were all looking in stunned silence at the exchange between Flint and Vinyl when the carriage suddenly jerked around a little before coming to a violent stop.

"Driver, what's goin-" Stone began to speak, though the sound of a blood curdling scream interrupted him.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

	
> Dancing in Chains
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Blood.

Lots of it.

We had rushed out of the carriage to see what had caused our drivers to scream so horribly, only to find the two in quite the pickle. One of them was out cold, still hooked inside of his spot on the carriage to pull it, with the form of a pegasus perched on top of him with their back turned to us; blood dripped down his body, suggesting the driver had put up some sort of resistance. Either that, or the vampire was a sloppy eater.

The other had fared a bit better, but at the same time much worse. The second puller of the carriage had managed to slip out of his harness and begin to run, though he had apparently only made it roughly ten or so feet before falling with two other figures perched on top of him. Blood was just as present on this one, though it had since mixed with the dirt and rain and nearly disappeared.

"Oh bloody hell, why not." Flint said, causing me to look back to see her throw her hooves to the air.

"It's raining. Vampires are attacking our drivers. Our legendary prisoner turns out to be nothing more than some coincidentally fast and strong dolt with the brain of a child who kicked our door off. What else could go wrong?" She complained.

"We could be politicians." Stone suggested, only getting a fiery sneer out of Flint.

"Should probably help the drivers. Before, you know, they finish and come for us." Shakes suggested, tossing me a few bolt that I barely managed to catch in the darkness. I was a bit shaky loading them into the crossbow.

"Oh please. Three of these are jokes." Flint said, turning angrily to the pegasus mounting the driver still in the harness.

The darkness of the night suddenly got a lot less dark as the back of the pegasus lit ablaze without warning, causing the vampire to stop drinking from the stallions neck and howl.

Flint smirked cockily at the reaction and let the flame die down. She wasn't aiming to immobilize or wound the pegasus, just to get their attention. Which, she did splendidly.

They whipped around, the reds of their eyes shining through the re-darkened night.

Flint was ecstatic now as the sound of their wings flapping came into ear shot through the rain, her smile finally reaching a genuine quality. I suppose this was how she got her joy, through combat. I guess that was one of the reasons she got the spot as general, because if she got joy out of fighting, she was bound to do it often.

The sound of whistling came into ear shot as the pegasus stallion suddenly charged, moving at a speed that only a vampire could achieve.

That didn't get very far though, as they soon found themselves engulfed in a ball of fire that Flint had effortlessly sent out at a speed faster than their own; an effortless act that sent the pegasus to the ground without any attempts at getting back up.

Flint's ears flattened at that.

"Aw man, I was really hoping for a little bit of a fight."

"Well, you got two more over there if you wanna mess with 'em." Stone suggested, pointing towards the two hunched over.

They seemed to pick up on the conversation, and turned towards us all. The two were both unicorns, something that didn't exactly bode well for us. 

Out of all types of vampires, unicorns where the most inconvenient to deal with and it should be pretty obvious why. Conventionally, unicorns were a bit weaker physically thanks to themselves using magic to aid them in most tasks, but when vampirism is put into the equation and they become physically enhanced by regular standards, they become quite the nuisance. Even regular spells were annoying, and if they were a respectable mage then they along could handle themselves against quite a few troops of our own.

The two of them smiled devilishly at the sight of us all.

"This ought to be interesting." The first one hissed to the other.

"Indeed..."

"Oh piss off." Flint spat, hurdling a fire ball at the two of them.

Despite the speed of it, it was stopped a few feet in front of the two as it was encased in a ball of green magic. Though it was interesting to see the trade off, as the fire continued to burn inside the green sphere for a while before suddenly going out. I reckoned that a normal ball of flame would have died out slower than that, but I remembered that it wasn't a normal fire. It was somewhat interesting to think that the fires that Flint caused where almost an extension of herself, and that they could continue to burn without oxygen. Remarkable even.

"Sometimes I hate unicorns." Flint huffed.

"Bah, you're just not creative beyond your little fire balls, are yah?" Stone teased, getting another sneer out of the general beside him.

I decided to take a shot of my own while the two provided somewhat of a distraction, lining up my bow with what I assumed where the vampires and sending off a random shot.

I thought the blackness of the night might make it harder to trace the shot, and thus lend to a hit.

I was wrong, well kinda.

The bolt I had fired off suddenly set ablaze, which made it all to easy for the unicorns to form a small shield with their magic and block the flaming arrow.

I looked to Flint to see her smirking, either at managing to block me or for some other reason. I had assumed that she had tried to aid  me in my efforts, though it looked like she had only set us back to square one. Though, I wasn't that annoyed with it. After all, it was still square one.

Though I was wrong again.

A quick look back at the bold showed me the reason Flint had decided to join in with my attack.

The unicorns hadn't made a bubble to block my arrow, as using something flat would eliminate more risk to the arrow making it to them, and as a result hadn't contained Flint's fire.

The fire from the arrow moved off of the arrow, going around the square plate of magic as if it were alive and reforming in small ball of flame on the other side of the magical shield.

The two unicorns were surprised by the act, just as I was. And that brief moment of shock was all the time Flint needed to command the flames to jump forwards at the vampires.

The world almost went in slow motion as the flames jumped, the eyes of the vampiric unicorns widening at the flames about to engulf them.

The sudden sound of something falling came from behind us, loud enough to make us all look back to see if there was another vampire sneaking up behind us in an attempt to get a cheap blow in.

Well, we were partially correct.

Vinyl had fallen out of the carriage and down into the mud face first. She was raising herself up off the ground and wiping her face off as we all stared at her, though she didn't seem to register all the sets of eyes that were on her. I managed to make out the form of a plastic wrapped sandwich.

'Is that my lunch?'

I managed to make out the face of Flint as she made a realization and swiveled her head back towards the unicorns just in time to see them charging up a bolt of magic in unison.

A bolt of faint green blurred towards us, particularly aimed at Flint.

She jumped left in an attempt to avoid, though the magical missile only adjusted its course accordingly.

It was around that time that I saw what she was jumping towards.

The bolt of magic collided with enough force to knock the wind from my lungs and send me a few meters - from what I could guess as I flew through the air - off to the side. It apparently had an explosive property to it, as there were chunks of earth that fell on my face as I began to open my eyes and take in the sight of smoke.

My ears were ringing a little as I squinted through the smoke, though something seemed to be moving in it.

The smoke shifted abruptly to my right, then once again to the left. It looked like someone was waving their hoof in an attempt to clear the smoke, but they only gave one wave.

Either way, the smoke cleared.

What I saw was General Stone standing tall with a grimace on his face and smoking spot on his chest. General Flint was behind him, still in a braced position.

"I'm beginning to question what kind of a relationship we have with each other, Flint." Stone mumbled, half complaining and half giving Flint the 'all clear'.

"If it makes you feel any better, I've always seen you as a blast shield." Flint replied, coming out from behind him.

Shakes and Vinyl had been lucky enough to have been behind Stone as well, and apparently only I had been harmed by the blast, as it was pretty clear that Stone was fine as well.

"You alright Vinyl? You're a bit farther away from me than before that blast." Shakes said, taking note that Vinyl was in a different spot from where she had fallen into the mud before.

What was odd was that there wasn't any dragging in the mud from her current spot and her previous, as if she had been picked up and put down. I considered that she had maybe moved backwards, but her second pair of shackles were still not broken - so that was out.

She was also missing my sandwich, though I didn't much care about that. Not to sound disrespectful but Flint was a pretty bad cook anyways.

"Well, might as well take care of these two jokes-" Flint began, but stopped herself as she spotted something.

I turned and saw it as well.

The two unicorns that had previously been standing in front of us were now gone.

"Must've gotten away when the bolt hit. Retreat ain't exactly vampire nature though." Stone said, stretching his legs.

"Whatever, lets get those drivers inside the carriage," Flint said, moving towards the driver still strapped in his harness. "Maple you get the one out there. Watch for any more of those vampires though, they might be in a little pack."

I nodded and trotted out to get the driver, taking a moment to feel his pulse when he got there. He was alive. Bleeding pretty badly, but alive nonetheless.

I got back to the group to see Flint standing with the other driver propped up against the carriage. I was still a bit winded from the whole 'getting hit with an explosive' thing, so I was still a bit out of it. Luckily, Flint seemed to notice.

"Shakes, take the driver from Maple and help load him in. Make sure to keep the prisoner away from the carriage while we load them in though. Maple, you can watch her."

Shakes nodded and came over to me, lowering her body beside my own while I sort of shook the driver off my back and onto her own.

"Vinyl, wait behind the carriage." Shakes said, moving towards the open door with the driver.

Vinyl nodded happily and practically pranced towards the back of the carriage with myself following along slowly, roughly six or so meters behind her.

As I was about to come around the corner, I heard her talking and decided to stop and do a little eavesdropping. She was the prisoner after all.

"Alright, you guys should get outta here pretty quick if you don't want any more fireworks." She said quietly.

It sounded like she was talking to others, so I decided to peak around the corner to see who.

What I saw was the two unicorns that had disappeared from earlier, each of them propped up against the back of the carriage with a half sandwich shoved in their mouths as a makeshift gag to keep them quiet.

They both looked horrified as she spoke softly to them.

"I don't wanna see you guys making another attempt on this carriage again. I've got some friends on it, and I don't wanna see them get hurt. Got it?" She said, firm yet sympathetic.

The both nodded quickly.

"Thanks. Tell your friends too if you see them. I don't wanna see you guys end up like your poor fly-y friend out there." She said, sounding genuinely sad for the pegasus from earlier who met Flint's fire first.

They both looked to each other before motioning to her chains.

"Heh, don't worry about it." She said as they got up from the ground, sandwich in mouth.

"You can keep the sandwich." She said with a faint smile as the two of them quietly trotted away.

They tossed a look back, and Vinyl tried to wave but the chains began to groan and she stopped herself. Instead, she just smiled sheepishly at them as they began walking away again.

She began to turn back to supposedly come back around the carriage, so I slunk back around the corner and waited for her to walk around.

Though when she did, she left me with a comment.

"Thanks for letting me borrow the lunch, hope you didn't mind me sharing." She said casually and gratefully, showing that she knew I was eavesdropping.

I had no comment for that as I shambled back to the now fully loaded group.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Stone had tore the separating bar off of the carriage and decided to hitch himself into the driver position with a make shift harness that Shakes had scrounged together with the two regular sized pony harnesses. It was a pretty good idea since he was the only one among us with the strength to pull us along, and he would probably make better time as well.

Well, him and another pony. But she was in chains, though I doubted that they would stop her.

"Alright, everyone ready?" Flint asked, looking to me.

Me and Shakes nodded.

"Alright, load up." She said, motioning to the carriage.

We began piling in. Shakes climbing in first and taking her original seat, followed by Flint who took her place next to the two collapsed guards who were propped up against each other. I went in next and took the seat next to Flint, thankful for her taking the seat next to the two injured drivers. I'd rather not be getting blood on me with the cargo we were toting.

An alarm went off in my head at that thought.

"Flint are we honestly going to let the vampire ride in the car with two bleeding ponies?" I asked.

"Yeah, sadly. It's either that or letting her drive us, and I'm not letting that happen.

"Flint, I really don't think it's a good idea to do that." Shakes warned, looking a bit frightened herself.

"Well, like I said, we've got no other option." Flint replied, eyeballing Vinyl as she struggled into the carriage and sat next to Shakes.

"You got that? Try something and I'll catch you on fire." Flint warned, though Vinyl didn't respond.

She was too busy looking at me.

I was a bit uncomfortable by the oddly compassionate stare, though it was when she mouthed the words 'thank you' that I finally understood why she was staring.

It wasn't that I chose to not tell Flint, it had just slipped my mind somehow. Though I guess even if I had planned to, I doubt it would have done any more than get Flint more uppity about Vinyl anyways.

My thoughts were interrupted as the carriage suddenly started forwards, going just as steadily as the two drivers had been going. Though the sudden lurch forwards made the limp drivers jerk a little, causing a bit of blood to seep from their current wounds.

Me and Shakes turned to Vinyl, who was staring at the wounds with a blank look on her face.

"Vinyl..." Shakes said cautiously.

That seemed to snap her out of the haze, resulting in her shaking her head a little.

"Yeah...sorry..." She said, the affects of the blood already apparent on her consciousness.

Flint seemed completely at ease though, even slumping her head downwards and looking like she was in the process of taking a power nap despite the threat of the prisoner whom was clearly holding herself back going under the effects of blood lust. Even Shakes was getting a bit nervous now, and that was only serving to make me even more nervous.

Whatever was going to happen, I could only foresee something bad happening. And this time it would be coming from Vinyl, which was already a factor that whatever it was was going to be far worse than that rag tag group of three vampires.

Each bump in the road only served to make me more nervous, as it would gently send the incapacitated drives up a little and back down, causing the slightest amount of blood to pump out. They weren't going to die from blood loss at this rate, but we all might bite the dust from what that blood was going to provoke.

I could only hope Shakes had been right about Vinyl fasting.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So, she's gone again?" Harpo asked, propping himself forwards to show his concern.

I had decided to talk about the problem this time; Vinyl's mother suggested the idea, claiming that I was looking a bit pent up. I was a bit surprised that she would be okay with me talking about what happened, much less encouraging me to, but I decided to take her up on the offer and talk to Harpo.

He was about the only one that I could see as being level headed about the whole thing, since I knew Beauty wouldn't be all too interested in talking about it and Fredric would probably slap me if I even suggested it. He also seemed to take bad or surprising news better than anyone I knew, though that circle wasn't exactly an impressive one.

"Yes... though her mother is a lot more passive than I thought she would be. I half expected her to blow a hole in the wall." I admitted.

"You know, Beauty's been a bit more passive lately too whenever that mare of yours gets brought up. She used to go on rants, though now she just blushes or shudders at the mention of her." He said, obviously thinking about what could be causing it.

"Well, I suppose it's better than bickering." I said, still hopeful for Beauty and Vinyl getting along. They had shown some compatibility before, such as at dinner, though it'd most likely take more than just a dinner to bring them to terms.

"Anyways..." Harpo said, suddenly looking a bit more serious as he leaned in close to me.

"...I'm a bit worried about Fredric." He said grimly.

"Why? Did something happen?"

"Well, I'm not sure. He'd been really distant for a few months now and the only time I see him is at practice, but he leaves before I can even get a chance to talk to him. And not to put anything on you personally, but it all started around the time Vinyl came around. Kind of like Beauty was, but he kept it all bottled in whereas she let it out." He said, worry clearly present.

"I'm just scared that he might do something drastic, if he hasn't already." He said, looking down in thought with a sad frown on his face.

"I could talk to him." I offered, and he smiled a little at that.

"That'd be great."

We went on in silence for a good while, enjoying each others company, and staring out a window in the small coffee shop we had gone to. It was a different one that Harpo went to commonly, one that was up on the edge of a natural cliff with a splendid overview of the city. It was quite beautiful to look over the whole town in such a serene silence, though he decided to bring up the case of Vinyl again.

"So, you said her mother came to town recently?" He asked, giving me a look out of the corners of his eyes.

I nodded to him.

"Hm," He chuckled lightly. "wonder what she must be like, considering what a figure her daughter came out to be."

"You'd be surprised how different, yet similar, the two are." I said honestly.

In truth, they were very alike. Both were white, had a blue mane, a carefree nature to them and an astounding love for each other. Yet at the same time, they were so different. Vinyl's mother had a more calm and practiced aura to her, as well as being more conscious of using her manners while Vinyl was what you could call a "free spirit" through and through.

Gods I missed her.

"Really? Might have to meet her then. I'd be interesting to see how Beauty would go about it as well." He said, chuckling at the idea of Beauty meeting Vinyl's mother.

In all honesty, I wanted to see it as well. I had the distinct feeling that some drama might spark if the two met, and at this point I'd do just about anything to distract myself. Not to be rude but with Vinyl gone my home was almost dead, and definitely dry. Though I suppose it might have something to do without Vinyl's cuddling. Especially now in the colder months when using just a comforter didn't quite warm you enough.

'My lord, look at me. She was abducted and here I am complaining about the lack of cuddling I'm getting.' I thought, shaking my head.

"Well, at least you're missing her." Harpo said suddenly, getting a jump out of me.

"H-Huh?" I stammered.

He laughed a little.

"You might not notice it, but you kinda daze off when you start thinking. And you've been frowning a quite a bit during our little meeting here."

He adjusted himself, leaning in towards me with a kind smile on his face.

"I don't know where she is, but I'm sure she's going to be fine." Harpo said, taking on a tone vaguely resembling my father whenever he'd see me depressed.

Though the gesture did comfort me, the truth of the matter was very different for Vinyl.

I could only hope he was right.
> Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"You want me to do what?"

"Oh, nothing really dear, just perhaps...let me take a little, shall we say, sip?" Vinyl's mother asked, waving her hooves as if picking her words carefully.

My eyes widened a bit at the clarification of the request.

"B-But why?" I stammered.

"Well dear, if you haven't noticed yet I suppose it be as good a time as any to tell you I am a vampire. And though my sweet daughter starves herself, I prefer to drink." She said, almost mockingly.

"N-No, I mean why me? Can't you just go find some drunk off the street? I seem to recall you talking about it before." I replied.

It wasn't that I was entirely creeped out by the request to feed on me, but it was the fact it was someone other than Vinyl. It sounded out now that I think about it, but the only one I can remember feeding off of me was Vinyl, and I kind of held that as something special. Despite knowing that she was bound to have fed on other in her however-many-years she's been alive, it just felt special to me. I don't really know.

"Well, you're right about that. I could go run outside and find some drunk passed out in an alleyway and feed off of his rancid, alcohol ridden blood. Though... well, I won't lie about it; I've been curious about what your blood tastes like." She admitted, sounding somewhat sheepish for once.

"What my blood tastes like?" I repeated.

"Yes dear. I only think it natural that I be concerned over what my daughter fell in love with." She said, her sickeningly sweet tone beginning to wedge its way in.

"I-I..."

I hesitated, and finally found something that I had never seen in myself before. I was typically passive about most things, as I had been raised with the message "the world changes us, not the other way around" in mind, but was also always taught the importance of one's self. Though I think I found something that had been hidden in that message, something that I hadn't really seen inside the point before.

I found some resolve.

"I'd rather you not." I said, surprisingly firm.

"I won't force it upon you, unless my urges force it upon myself." She said sagely, though it did little to convince me she was done perusing her goal. If she were anything like Vinyl, this was far from the last I'd hear about it.

But for now, I wasn't going to let her. If anyone was going to do it, it'd be the person I'd let do it before. And so far, there was only one on that list.

"Anyways dear, I'd like to talk with you about something else." Vinyl's mother said, smiling warmly.

I cocked a brow, convinced she was just going to further pursue her previous goal but from another angle.

"Well, less of talking with you but more so...testing, for a lack of a better word." She said carefully.

"Testing?" I repeated, trying to use a tone to show my disapproval of the idea, though it ended up coming out more as confusion than sarcasm.

"Yes. I was thinking, ever since that little play date of ours..."

I shuddered a little.

"...and discovering that you still have quite a bit of vampire fluid still inside of you, if you could possibly still tap into the ability you and my daughter talked about when you two had a small tussle at the castle." She said.

"You mean when things began to move slowly?"

"Yes. Well, it's more like you processing things faster and choosing to see them slowly, but that's not the point. The point is, I want to see if you can still do it so that you might be of some ability when we go and get my daughter back."

"You seem oddly fine with your daughter being abducted..." I said suddenly. Though I meant every word.

"You'll learn someday - or maybe you won't, who knows? - that things happen, darling. And you'll also learn that stressing and worrying over those things will only make them a bigger obstacle to overcome." She said, getting up from the couch and making her way to the kitchen.

"Now, onto my little test..." She said, rummaging through some cabinets inside the kitchen.

"Do you need help finding whatever it is you're looking for? I could most likely help you-" I stopped short.

"What are those?" I asked her, worry building in my voice as I noticed the glinting objects she was holding.

"These dear?" She asked, holding up a large kitchen knife. "They're knives."

I found my legs moving back on their own as I made my way out of the kitchen, not daring to break eye contact with her form. I began to think that the small life lesson she had told me was a lie and she finally lost it because of Vinyl's abduction, though her posture was far to relaxed to be crazy.

"W-What are you going to do with them?"

"Well, I had the idea of seeing that if simulating danger would cause you to enter a state of panic, and jump start your sight ability. So, I'm going to throw knives at you." She said nicely.

'This mare is crazy.' I thought to myself.

"I-I believe there might be a better alternative to that other than knife throwing." I almost pleaded.

"Nonsense darling." She said, tossing a knife up and loosely catching it.

"Besides, surprise is the biggest aspect of it." She said, going silent and smiling lightly.

"Surpris-" I began to question her, though my back hoof hit something and caused me to fall backwards onto my back just in time to hear something whistle by me and thud somewhere behind me.

I looked back to see a sharp kitchen knife sticking out of the wall.

I turned back to Vinyl's mother to ask just what in Equestria was she thinking when she through that, though the crooked, motherly, smile on her face as she pulled out another kitchen knife wiped that thought immediately and replaced it with the yearn to run.

She arched her right hoof - the one with a knife - back as if she were going to throw it, though what she did was loose a knife from her other hoof within the same motion.

I managed to register the knife and moved just in time to dodge the knife as it whistled past me, actually managing to hit the handle of the first knife she had thrown.

"Well dear, is it working?" She asked genuinely.

"N-No!" I shouted, finally getting a moment to talk to this deranged mother.

Her motherly smile faded at the tone of my voice, going from her typically kind look to one of amusement and disappointment; an act that was enough to lower my ears and regret my outburst instantly - despite how warranted it was. Though that smile returned quickly as her horn sparked and other knives wrapped in a worrying, red aura began to float around her.

"W-Wait, I-I'm sorry -" I began, but she interrupted me.

"Oh, don't worry dear. It just means I need to try harder..." She said, the two knives behind me pulling themselves from the wall and floating over to join the others in the air, totaling for about seven knives in total.

I gulped.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


'Why hasn't she run yet?' I thought to myself, staring at Vinyl as she sat stock still with a far off look in her eyes.

Why hadn't she ran away, she had so many opportunities too and yet here she was. The smoke from before, during the ride when the door was blown off the side, when I sent her to the back with the weakest current link in the group, even now when we were riding with her nearest to the doors with Stone driving and Flint too far away to stop her.

Why?

This wasn't what I wanted. I wanted her to run, that's the only reason I did this to begin with. I figured that if I brought her in, I could avoid her getting hurt or killed by Stone and Flint and get them off her and Octavia's case at the same time. She could just get away after scaring them a bit.

Though if I had known Vinyl's mother was here, I would've held off. I mean, it's her mother; Vinyl's mother. She'd have to be scary, or at least strong enough to slow Stone and Flint down long enough for me to think of something.

Though with how Vinyl was, I was beginning to wonder if her mother would even be necessary. She had to have done some feeding with that kind of strength, right? I mean, she was prone to holding back, but was that a glimpse at what she could really do? I had known her for long enough to get a basic grasp on what I thought was how strong she was, but then again most of that observation was based on her magic -- which was scary.

But now she was just going along with it.

"Say, prisoner?" Flint said, eyeing Vinyl.

"H-Huh?" She stammered, shaking her head a little and a bit of drool as well.

"Why haven't you left yet? I mean you've had plenty of opportunities..." Flint asked, voicing my exact thoughts. I eyed Vinyl closely, wanting to know the answer as well.

She cocked her head a little in confusion.

"Do you want me to leave?" She asked, sounding almost passive aggressive in her what-could-be-considered a threat and or challenge.

"Well, no, but that's just me. You probably could've left and got away by now if you wanted to. I mean you're sitting right next to an open door with a big defense occupied, and me all the way over here. The only one who'd be able to stop you is Shakes, and judging by how you ripped those first shackles, you could push her off pretty easy." Flint explained.

"Well, I dunno." Vinyl said, getting an inward facehoof from me.

"Guess you guys would just come back after me if I ran wouldn't you. That'd probably put Tavi in danger to." She said, sounding sad at just the mention of Octavia.

"'Tavi'? Who's that?" Flint asked.

"Oh! She's my roomy! She's really nice to be around, and she's got this really cute little bow tie that she always wears, and..." Vinyl began, going on a small escapade about Octavia and everything that she liked about her.

"...but her friends were kinda mean at first, well two of them were. One of them was pretty nice, and his marefriend came around to me after awhile. Well, she mainly just blushes around me for some reason, but she doesn't insult me anymore!"

"Sounds like you really like her then.... Is she your mare friend then?" Flint asked, sounding ever so slightly nervous about the answer.

"Well, we kissed a few times. And I think she likes it when we cuddle. So I guess so." Vinyl said, sounding a bit doubtful in herself.

It was pretty fun watching Flint get a little sad at Vinyl's answer. It was even more fun watching her face change as she listened to Vinyl talk about what she'd been through ever since, going from angry at how some had treated Vinyl.

"Getting a bit comfortable with our prisoner, aren't we Flint?" Maple asked, half teasing and half serious.

Flint blushed a little, though her coat made it hard to see.

"Hey, she's interesting."

I kept my eyes on Vinyl for a moment longer, at first out of a sort of respect, but then it was when I noticed her eyes starting to get glassy. The eyes were the big sign for her "mood" to be approaching, but I knew it was almost unavoidable the second we put her inside with blood within a few feet.

Ever since she first met Octavia, her desire to fast had been slowly going down. She seemed to be embracing her vampiric nature more often than pre-Octavia times. She used to run away at the sight of blood, though back then she had the freedom to run as well. Lately, I'm hoping, she's been almost forced around blood with no option to run.

And when she can't run, she feeds.

But now it was coming. There was no stopping it unless we just flat out dumped the drivers on the road, but I couldn't see that happening.

It was just a matter of how long Vinyl decided to not feed. She had the willpower not to if she really wanted to, I'd seen her do things way more will testing than "don't touch this". She had control before blood touched her, though if a drop got into her system she loses most of that control.

At this point, I was wondering who she'd go after first. I was closest, and I had betrayed her entirely, so I was pretty sure I'd be first. Maple was the weakest link here, no offense intended, and Flint was pretty much the only obstacle. I don't think I could will myself to hurt Vinyl more than once in at least a month.

So, if she chose Flint, we'd be pretty much screwed if she succeeded.

Speaking of the fiery mare, she seemed to be digging around under the seat for something.

"Come on... where is it?" She mumbled to herself before finally pulling out what she had been looking for.

A flask.

'Oh god why...' I thought to myself, my eyes widening as she opened the top of the flask.

It didn't need much explaining why this was a recipe for disaster. Two bloody drivers, alcohol, and one Vinyl who was wanting to let go with every passing second was just about the worst thing that could happen about now. Well, that, or if Octavia was in danger, but that shouldn't be a problem since I got Flint and them out of Canterlot.

I wasn't quite sure which one I was more scared of. Angry Vinyl or drunk Vinyl. And may god have mercy on us all if they ever meet each other.

Vinyl's head tilted up, her nose in the air while sniffing.

"Flint, you might wanna put that up, I don't think-"

"Oh calm down Shakes, I need a drink after that little scuffle. I didn't get to sit down and have a drink while I was in Canterlot, it's only fair if I get a drink now." She chuckled.

"Yeah but..." I began, mumbling off as I saw that Vinyl had locked eyes with Flint.

"What?" Flint asked me, staring me in the eyes with some genuine concern.

I gestured to the side towards Vinyl, and her eyes followed.

She met Vinyl's half lidded, crimson gaze and she froze up. Her eyes were wide as she started at Vinyl, the whole carriage going silent as they stared at each other.

"Heh, uh... you looking for something?" She chuckled nervously. 

It was understandable, Vinyl had been really well behaved up until now. She hadn't harmed anyone, hadn't ran away - sadly- and hadn't even insulted Flint or Stone. To see her suddenly staring at you with a look of lust on her face would throw just about anyone off, Flint included.

"Y-Yeah." Vinyl replied shakily, her voice not quite at that stage yet, but it was definitely getting there.

She started to move, using her front hooves to move across the gap between the seats. Flint scooted back in her seat, squishing Maple into the wall.

The advance continued and so did Flint's retreat, moving to the point where Maple was forced from her seat and jumped into the spot beside me. We looked at each other briefly before looking back at the two to find that Flint had run out of room to run, but Vinyl still had room to get closer.

And closer she got.

But she decided to milk it, punctuating each movement forward as she closed in and began smiling with sultry. Flint was already blushing, but now she looked like she might catch fire at any given moment.

"Sh-Shakes?" Flint plead.

I simply watched on, curious to see how Vinyl would go about this.

Flint was visibly shaking when Vinyl got as close as possible, practically nose to nose with each other. Vinyl's dopey, half lidded look only made her look more like a predator with Flint being the prey. Even with Vinyl in chains, she looked completely in control.

Flint suddenly seemed to get an idea, and opened her mouth.

"Sto-" She began to yell for Stone, but that was about all she got out before Vinyl's hoof made it up to her mouth.

Flint's eye went wider than I had seen them been ever since the beginning of the trip, going slightly cross eyed as they stared down at Vinyl's hoof. I thought I could make out a faint blush on her face, but it must've just been the flickering lighting thanks to Flint's position.

"So loud..." She said, her voice now in full action.

Vinyl moved in closer, nuzzling into Flint's neck and bringing her mouth up to her ear and whispering something I couldn't make out. Though, whatever it was, it made Flint's eyes go from shocked to pleading. 

Vinyl finally decided to move things along, taking a move back to over look Flint before moving her hooves up to Flint's and pressing them into the wall of the carriage. It made Flint stretch herself wide from the waist up, giving Vinyl plenty of opportunity to lean down with her head and draw little circles along Flint's chest.

It took affect immediately as Flint shivered visibly.

"S-Stop..." Flint murmured.

Vinyl cocked her head and looked confused.

"Why? You look like you're liking it... Am I doing something wrong." She said.

Flint only blushed and looked away.

Vinyl shrugged a little and moved onto Flint's face once more, moving her moth back up to her ear again. Though, this time she gave it a small nibble instead of whispering, which seemed to have an even greater affect than the whisper as Flint began to arch her back as her cheeks notably got redder. She tried her best to muffle what looked like it was going to be a moan.

Both me and Maple at that point were blushing furiously.

I gave a bit of a cough, to show that we were still here.

Both Vinyl and Flint turned to look at me, Vinyl looking attentive as if I had called for her and Flint looking absolutely embarrassed. 

Though that look didn't last long, as Flint finally managed to make out enough resolve to push Vinyl away from her. She went from putty in Vinyl's hooves to agitated and rebellious with the flip of a switch.

"Weren't you just talking about a mare friend? How does she even respect you if you go all over ponies whenever you get a bit tempted? And how in the bloody hell does she-"

The sound of wood crunching interrupted Flint's scolding, a white hoof disappearing into the wall of the carriage right beside Flint's head.

A warning, and a serious one at that.

"Don't talk about her." Was all Vinyl said, a serious look flashing in her half lidded eyes as her smile faded briefly as she stared straight through Flint.

Flint stayed silent, clearly stunned by the sudden change Vinyl had.

Even I was in all honesty. Vinyl and her attitude weren't the only things that changed, the whole atmosphere changed when Vinyl got serious for a moment.

Vinyl's gaze drifted from Flint and over to Maple, her smile reforming as she locked eyes with her. I guess she found a new toy, and was intent on playing with it as soon as possible. Her chains creaked a little as she crossed the gap between the seats for a second time, heading straight towards the nervous looking Maple.

She looked like she wanted to draw her crossbow, but her hooves wouldn't respond to her brain's request.

Vinyl got close to Maple, about a foot or so, before I managed to see what Flint was doing.

Taking the opportunity of Vinyl turning her back to her, Flint was arching back a hoof aimed right at Vinyl's head. I began to move my mouth to say something just as her hoof came down, though it turned out I wasn't even needed in the first place.

Vinyl moved upwards and to the side slightly, enough for Flint's head-aimed hoof to land just about Vinyl's shoulder. She then grabbed onto Flint's hoof, pulled and turned; moving Flint from the seat, over Vinyl and hurdling down towards the gap between the seats with Vinyl on top.

The sound of Flint struggling died down quick as Maple made a sudden move and tried to pull Vinyl off of her.

Maple's efforts seemed useless at first, though after awhile Vinyl obliged to let off of the downed general. She even went as far as too help Flint get up, which Flint was surprisingly accepting to. Though I guess part of that was explained on her face - which had a scarred-for-life look to - as she was hoisted back up to her seat.

I guess it would be a bit scary for someone like Flint, a practically untouched general, to get tossed around pretty lazily by someone like Vinyl. Though Flint was still pretty young in the general position - not that I'm that old to begin with.

"General?" Maple asked, scooting back over to Flint's side when she didn't respond immediately.

"General?!" Maple said louder, shaking the stunned general.

Vinyl came back up to sit beside me, and when I turned to give her a look I found that she had gotten something in her little struggle.

A shiny metal flask.

She looked happily at it, smiling wide like a child getting a new toy, and held it close to her chest like a doll.

"Was that all you were after?" I asked her.

"Nah, but it was the second priority." She said, suggesting there was something else she was trying to get.

I gave Flint a once over, checking for a bite mark or a sign of bleeding, but didn't find anything.

"Not blood?" I asked Vinyl.

"Nope." She said, struggling with the lid of the flask. She ended up using one of her small fangs to pry it off, kind of ironic considering she had broken through iron shackles not but an hour ago.

"Did you get it?"

Vinyl gave Flint a look, looking at her stunned figure before smiling with satisfaction.

"Yep!" She said cheerfully, tipping the flask up and taking a sip.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The rain had finally began to come to a stop, as well as Vinyl deciding to take nap. Though, she decided that that she was going to sleep on someone else this time.

And that someone else, was Flint.

It was quite the sight to see in all honesty. An innocent looking mare curled up with her hooves near her chin and hind legs curled as well with her cure looking face laid in the lap of a mare that looked ready to scream at any given moment. It was like finding a spider on your nose, and not being sure whether to not scare the spider or scream like hell and hit yourself in the face.

Though instead of a spider, it'd be more like an unnecessarily strong caterpillar with fangs.

The carriage suddenly began to slow, gaining the attention of everyone but Vinyl.

Maple cast a look outside the door and saw the passing walls of what could have only been the main base of The Order.

I felt my heart wrench a little as I realized I had pretty much failed my intended goal, and was stuck on the team opposite of Vinyl for now unless I wanted to face death myself. Though I knew sulking wasn't going to help with anything, so decided against it. If anything it only get me more discouraged to do something.

The carriage came to a stop and shook a little, most likely coming from Stone unhitching himself.

The sound of multiple hooves trampling closer came from all directions, and the outside of the carriage lit up to an outrageous level of brightness.

"Bring her out!" Someone shouted.

We both turned to Vinyl, neither Flint or Maple wanting to touch her.

"Honestly." I sighed, picking up the empty flask and tossing it lightly against Vinyl's head.

Her eyes creeped open, red irises coming into view with a uncomfortable look in them

"Gotta get out Vinyl."

"Time already?" She asked, sitting up and stretching her hooves before getting up.

I briefly considered how easy going I was about imprisoning someone that I deemed as one of my best friends. It was a bit disturbing honestly, and sickening to even me that I actually followed through with this. I regretted it now. I should've just fought Stone and Flint like an idiot rather than over thinking it and making a stupid plan like this. I mean, look where it got us.

Vinyl's in vampire prison. And I'm to blame.

Vinyl cast Flint a glance, smiling sheepishly and thanking her.

"Y-Yeah..." Flint stammered in response.

Vinyl stepped out of the missing door frame, arriving on the ground outside while I trailed close behind her.

The first thing I noticed were the bright, magical, lights pointed at us by roughly ten unicorns. The second, were the uncountable amount of ponies circled around the carriage, each of them with either a hoof raised with a crossbow attached or a horn tilted down with magic flaring and ready to go.

'All of this for just Vinyl...' I said to myself.

I made out the sound of Maple and Flint getting out of the carriage behind me, each of them trotting past us and siding with Stone who was standing at the edge of the circle formed of hunters.

It was just me and Vinyl standing there now.

Suddenly, the sea of ponies parted, allowing a single stallion to walk forwards towards me and Vinyl. They were flanked by a group of three guards on each side, each one armed to the teeth. The stallion walked fearlessly towards Vinyl and I, a glimmer in their eye that gave off an odd feeling. They had a brown coat and a black man, and their eyes were a glimmering yellow.

As they finally arrived in front of us, they took in the sight of Vinyl's chains and the broken pair above them. he proceeded to smile at the sight, though it was a tamed one, as if he had expected nothing less.

"How was the ride?" He asked.

Neither Vinyl or me answered.

"You don't need to answer, your silence says everything. Though I will be introducing myself to the both of you." He said.

"My name is General Care. I'm here to lead you to your cell, though don't get to comfortable, the experiments will begin within the hour." He said, turning and beginning to head back towards the building he had came from.

Experiments?
> General Care
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Miss Scratch! Would you please be so kind as to stop throwing knives at me!?" I shouted as I popped out from behind the couch, only to duck back down as another red tinged knife hurdled past me and towards my wall.

Thankfully, she had stopped letting the knives hit the wall and damaging it. I would already have to buy a new couch thanks to Vinyl's mother's "innovations" to it, but walls were a bit more important than some like a couch. Not to mention much harder to replace. Though I was sure if she were aiming to kill me, she would have done so by now, but that didn't make the knife hurdling any less scary. Not to mention she probably would have just shot me with magic or threw me out of the window if she wanted to get me.

Sometimes, I truly was envious of unicorns.

"I will stop when I achieve results dear. I didn't get where I am today by listening to pleas. And don't try lying either dear, you're as easy to read as a picture book." She said, withdrawing the knife backwards to rejoin the floating arsenal she had amassed from my cutlery stand.

'Why do I have that? I have yet to use those knives for anything except cutting bread.' I thought to myself, regretting ever bringing sharp objects into my house.

Then again, if those weren't here she would have just found something else to hurl a me.

Like my cello, or the couch.

I dragged a hoof over my face and looked upwards as it came off, only to find a trio of knives floating above me, as if they had been listening into my internal monologue.

They came down like a guillotine, only to plunge into the wood in the space between my hoof and body. For some reason, this near skinning gave me the idea that it was time to relocate, this time to my room and behind a locked door. Although I knew she could just teleport in there, or rip the door off the hinges, or any number of ways to get to me, I was lingering on the slim chance that maybe she wouldn't.

I hopped up, trying my best to avoid the blades of the knives near my body and hooves, and began a full sprint towards my room. My limbs felt spastic, as if they were too full of energy for their own good, and helped me get moving quicker than I thought I could've moved.

Vinyl's mother seemed to enjoy my choice.

"There we go dear! Get into it and run!" She cheered, sending a few more knives my way and hitting the floor just behind me as I made it into the hallway and out of sight.

After that, I knew it would take her some time retrieve her knives. Enough time for me to get into my room, and consequentially into safety.

A red flash appeared in front of me, and my fears spiked as I assumed she was teleporting in front of me to cut me off.

To my surprise, both fortunately and unfortunately, it wasn't her.

Instead, a knife hurdled towards me nearly skimmed my cheek.

She was teleporting the knives instead.

Almost instinctual, I turned around to see where the knife would end up, and it turned out that Vinyl's mother had stuck her upper body into the hallway and caught the knife.

One look at that smile and her arching hoof was more than enough to speed me up.

I arrived at the door and slung it open, the feeling of something solid slamming into the side was more than enough to know she would've hit me if I hadn't opened the door. Well, that and when the knife's blade stuck through the other side of the door and nearly hit my nose.

I was quick to get inside and slam the door shut, my hoof nudging the lock just enough for it to click.

I placed my back against the door - avoiding the knife - and slid down it as I felt my heart thumping hard enough for my head to feel it. It was remarkably quiet after my final thump against the floor, quiet enough that even through the beating in my ears, I could hear her coming.

It was a steady pace, but a pace nonetheless. I looked up just as the knife embedded in the door began to glow red and removed itself from the door with a slide. I heard her suddenly stop outside of the door, not even her breathing was audible, though I did hear her horn charge lightly.

I found that the lights in my room suddenly turned on, and a quick turn towards the lamp showed the red glow culprit. And it seems that was just the beginning, as the sound of her horn charging came again.

A thunk came from around ten or so feet in front of me, a knife falling from mid air onto the ground. Followed by another, and another, and another until all seven knives were sitting on the ground in front of me. With each drop of a knife, I felt my heart rate going up ever so slightly, and then it suddenly spiked as the knives began to hover upwards on their own with each of their blades faced towards me.

I scrambled up from my sitting position and felt like screaming, but my throat seemed to disagree.

"Ready....dear?" I heard a voice whisper from the other side of the door.

I had enough time to think about responding before the knives set themselves in motion.

They came closer and closer, each inch of them closing in was enough to terrify me twice over. Despite what Vinyl's mother had said, I felt like I was going to die.

And that was what I assumed was going to happen. Out of reflex, I clenched my eyes tight to brace, only to have them almost forcefully open themselves again to stare at the knives. But when I looked at them after blinking, something odd had begun to happen.

They began to slow.

What had previously been feet traveled per second had soon become inches, and even that soon turned to centimeters. And it had also turned from many centimeters per second, to maybe two or so a second.

At first I was confused, but soon recalled what exactly the point of Vinyl's mother's experiment was. And it looked like it had worked, but I decided that this was not the time to question it or celebrate it.

The knives were already a few inches a way, but if logic was still in play then they would still be going just as fast as when they had been hurled. So grabbing them was out of the question.

Instead, I decided I would just push them enough to send them on a different course other than my face and torso.

My hoof moved slower as well, but I found that if I willed it I could move it fast enough to outrun the knives.

I gave one a cautious poke, watching in part awe as I saw it fluidly change courses away from me. After that, I had a bit more confidence when touching the others, giving them nothing more than a small poke to get them off the track to kill me.

As I poked the last one, I brought my hoof back to my sides to admire my handy work as the knives all steadily moved in a line towards the door frame and wall around me. I felt relieved at the sight, and found that that triggered things to begin speed up once more, a machine gun of thuds going off as each of the knives landed around me with enough force to plunge and inch deep into even the solid wood of my door frame.

The door behind me suddenly opened and I felt myself begin to fall back only to be caught by a pair of gentle hooves that wrapped me in a soft embrace, managing to easily turn my cheeks pink and rosy.

Vinyl's mother was looking down at me with a happy and warm smile, a drastic change from her previously insane look, but I wasn't complaining about it.

"See dear? All it takes is a little near death experience to wake you up." She said cheerfully, as if she hadn't just attempted to murder me.

"You weren't going to actually follow through with any of those knives? Were you?" I asked, watching as her face went sheepish.

"O-Of course not dear!" She said, rubbing the back of her neck.

She let me out of her grasp and ignited her horn, picking up each of the knives from out of my wall and letting them trail behind her as she trotted back into the living room. I decided I'd wait a little, and let her little following of knives go before myself.

"Well dear, I assume you used your eyes? Unless you were just hiding your ability to react that quickly and precisely?" She said, placing each of the knives back into the cutlery holster.

"I-I think so. If not, then time must have slowed for me." I said, trying my best to sound rhetorical.

"Good, but I think that you're going to need a bit more experience using it in order to get it to go on command."

"Does that mean you're going to try and kill me again?" I asked, half fearful and half rhetorical.

She smirked sheepishly, but her answer was the exact opposite.

"I prefer the term 'enthusiastic threats', but to each their own."

I sighed.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Looking at The Order's head quarters was kind of like looking at an army commander who's base was at a bakery. Everything didn't fit its true purpose, or the people working there. The building was way too exposed, way too modern and way too inviting to be the home of thousands of ponies who's job was to kill people.

It was crazy.

Not to mention how natural everything was, from the outdated magazines to the worn out and constantly exhausted secretary who seemed to not want anything to do with you despite it being her job.

We walked past door after door, the building's layout looking strikingly similar to a doctor's office, and towards an elevator. It was a bit crowded, since there was ten people crammed into a narrow hallway, and it managed to make everything seem more awkward to do. The guards flanking me and Vinyl looked ahead stoically while me and Vinyl stared at them with confusion.

The elevator dinged loudly and we all moved forward, like penguins huddled in a pack, and crammed into the elevator. The guards and their equipment didn't make scooting together any easier, unless you were game for an unintentional shanking. The most entertaining part was watching them trying to maintain their stony looks as they were forced to rub into both me and Vinyl.

The way down was quiet and hot, ten people using up all the air managed to make the elevator hotter than a sauna in a matter of minutes.

Once the doors opened up on the elevator, the entire look of the building changed from something of a law firm into something more fitting for a laboratory. The walls were a pristine white and just felt sterile, as opposed to the light grey walls from the upper area of the base.

The guards nudged me and Vinyl forwards, and parted as Maple came trough as well. The door then closed, turning into a dead end of cobblestone.

Apparently they were comfortable with just this general guy and Maple escorting Vinyl. A bit cocky, but I suppose they could afford it since we were god knows how far underground with no obvious means of escape.

We walked forwards for a bit longer, giving me plenty of time to notice the odd styles of the underground dungeon they had built here. It was a mashup of sorts, we walked by a long window at one point - which interested me since what view would someplace underground have? - only to look into something that looked like a different time period.

What I found was what looked like a dungeon fit for upwards of three hundred years ago. Dull cobble stone was the go to flooring and wall choice and naturally lit torches were the primary source of light.

"We like to keep a certain atmosphere for the prisoners here. That, and we still have a bit of honor for the original hunters from years ago. We did decide to update the metal and bricking for the cells though, to bring them up to the standards of withholding more modern vampires." Care noted, not stopping to even look out the window. I guess he had been through here enough to know the sight.

"Don't worry though, all of our testing equipment is up to date." He added, coming to a stop a minute or so later in front of a large set of iron double doors.

He pulled a key out of seemingly nowhere and shoved it into a socket on the side of the doors, the sound of numerous, heavy locks turning and grinding to unlock the room behind.

"But for our guest here..." He said turning to Vinyl.

"...we have high priority confinement."


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Vinyl's cell was in a place that was somehow even more dreary and dusty looking that the place that I had peered into. Walking past the cells - that were spaced out fifteen or so feet from each other to show the thickness of the walls - you could feel the stares on yourself. It was like walking through a graveyard.

Though hers had something the others seemed to lack.

A trough.

It was small and wooden, pretty simple and looking like it belonged to a farm more than any sort of violent organization. It looked pretty clean though, but I was still wondering why it was in there.

When I asked, Care seemed to answer honestly.

"Well, we were informed by a certain someone that she had been fasting for awhile. I decided to send a few people ahead to install this to compensate."

I cocked a brow, not following.

"If we're going to test on her, then we want her at her best." He reiterated.

I gave Vinyl a worried look as she trotted into the ratty looking cell, taking an examination of the cell before plopping herself down on her haunches on the worn bed they had. It lacked a mattress, consisting of nothing more than a thin one inch cushion and a ratty looking cloth.

She didn't seem to mind, having a straight and emotionless face as she let her eyes wander like they do.

"Care to come with us then? I'll brief you on your new job on the walk to the observatory." Care noted, walking back towards the exit.

I lingered a little at Vinyl's cell, my hoof had crept up to the bar on its own in the meantime as I looked at her. I was concerned for her. I felt horrible for myself no less, it was all my fault that she was in this pickle in the first place. I'd like to think that she would have went down fighting - if at all - instead of being held in a cell and fed through a trough.

A trough.

Like she was an animal.

She seemed to notice my conflict ion, and gave me a big smile. It was disturbingly genuine, despite me imprisoning, betraying, hurting her lover and completely using her. She was still grinning and bearing it. Not even that, it looked like she wasn't bearing anything, and it only made me feel worse. She seemed to want me to go.

I gulped and, ever so slowly, went to join Care at the exit.

Leaving Vinyl inside of a cell was the second hardest thing I had done since knocking her out. I'd say the third was punching Octavia. As a result, I was a bit quiet on the walk through the rest of the lab with Care and Maple.

"So, Maple, you will now be siding with me for the most part here. Serving as my 'unofficial assistant' as you will." Care said, walking down another indistinguishable hallway of the underground lab.

"Assistant?" She asked.

"Exactly! You'll basically just be helping me with the experiments that we put Vinyl Scratch through." He elaborated, seeming much more cheerful now that we were away from Vinyl.

"What might those experiments be?" She asked, catching my attention as well.

"Well, basic things for the most part. The first ones will consist of mainly physical tests; things like reflexes and strength ability while she recuperates to her actual strength. Afterwards, we'll move onto some more... less basic tests." He said, coming to a door and opening it while keep his head back to face Maple, apparently not needing to look at the door to unlock it.

Inside the door was a small station of sorts, over looking an expansive and bleak room with nothing inside of it at all. I assumed that was the testing room he had mentioned before. Sitting inside the station was a single unicorn mare with a light purple coat and a darker mane. She was set up at a small desk with panels set out in front of her, roughly three of them.

"How do you plan to get her back to full strength?" I asked.

"Simple, we feed her blood in excess. We give her more blood than a free and hunting vampire would get in a month, in an hour or so." He said matter-of-factly.

Care turned to the mare.

"Pull up the newest cell please." He asked.

The mare nodded and closed her eyes, sparking up a dark green magic on her horn and aiming it at the center panel. Her horn sparked a bit more before the panel began to shimmer, and an image appeared. From where I was, I could see a small white spec and knew instantly what I was looking at.

It was a live feed of Vinyl's cell.

I moved a bit closer and saw that she was still in the same spot that she was when I had left, but she seemed to be a bit more focused on something. Her ears were perked up and she was leaning towards one side as if she were listening to someone. Possibly another prisoner, and I had no idea what that conversation would've been.

"She doesn't really like indulging in blood you know, it might now work." I said, hoping that he might cancel it then.

But it was a fruitless effort.

"Nonsense. She may have fasted in the past, which is impressive, but no vampire can resist being in the vicinity of blood that she's at for long. She'll crack like an egg in a few minutes to thirty minutes." He said, confident in that assumption.

"The trough is on a schedule that should start within a few minutes and fill it to the brim with blood. Hers personally is going at a bit of a faster rate than the other ones we choose to feed regularly." He said, enjoying the live stream of Vinyl.

I felt my teeth begin to unconsciously grit as I saw his smug smile as he looked down on Vinyl, the urge to let him get a better, "closer", view growing with every second.

"Anywhere I can go in the mean time?" I asked, voice a bit strained but he hardly noticed.

"The whole base is, as far as I know, at your disposal since you're one of the acclaimed 'heros' who brought in Vinyl Scratch. The barracks might like seeing you; you're about as big a myth to them as she is. So long as you don't free any prisoners, you're good in my book." He said, mumbling under his breath about Vinyl's rather tame nature.

"Yeah..." I said, turning and heading towards the door.

"Maple, get ready to go have a conversation with Vinyl Scratch. I want to see how she reacts to prolonged conversation." I heard him say.

I shut the door a bit louder than intended.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"C-C-Conversation?" I stammered.

"Yes, yes. Don't worry, the cells are more than capable of keeping someone like her-" He said, though the mare at the table suddenly decided to interrupt for some reason.

"Sir?" She said, the concern in her voice enough to get the attention of General Care.

"Yes?" He said, walking over to her and looking at the make shift screen.

"It looks like shes had a change in demeanor. I managed to listen in a little bit before hoof, but the only thing I could make out is mumbles from the surrounding cells. I managed to make out her eyes widening at one point; one thing is for certain, she certainly isn't looking quiet as content with being inside the cell." She said.

"Hm. Interesting." Was all General Care had to say. "Has the blood began to pump?"

"No sir. It's expected to launch in roughly five minutes." She said.

"Perfect!" He said, turning to me.

"That's about all the time I want you to spend making conversation with her. I want you to see how she's doing, and if possible, the cause of her change in demeanor." He said simply, walking towards me and beginning to usher me towards the door of the room.

"W-Wait, I don't t-think this is a good-" I began to protest, only to be met with a door as he managed to get me out to the hallway.

"...idea." I finished.

I was left to myself in the silent hallway, looking both ways and trying to remember the way I had come from in order to get to the holding cell of Vinyl Scratch.

As I started to walk down the hall, I got to thinking about the prisoner. She wasn't doing anything to fight back, something I'm sure no one would have expected, but even more so she seemed to be happy. She was smiling, and it was gentle and kind. It was enough to make me start doubting the rumors of her story. How she was known for being ruthless and merciless. Right now she seemed to be the exact opposite of that description.

And even in the carriage, she seemed oblivious and innocent. Rather than jumping out of the carriage and getting away, she chose to stay on her own without us dragging her back. Rather than fighting and possibly killing Flint, she chose to flirt with her. Was she toying with us? Just giving us a false personality that we were more inclined to sympathize? If so, she was doing a good job.

I arrived at the door that she was supposedly behind and felt myself get on edge, but I was still laying true to General Care's promise that the cell was strong enough to hold her in.

I recalled General Care using a key to get in there, but an attempt to open the door showed that he hadn't locked it back.

The smell of old blood and filth assaulted my nose again as I went inside the medieval styled holding block. It was strong enough to make me clench my eyes, or maybe that was just me doing it to avoid the prisoner's stares.

I wasn't scared of vampires the likes that I fought, but the ones that got put in here would make just about anyone want to go home.

They were the ones that were violent enough to be separated from the regular holding cells because they were killing the other vampires. In a way they were our competition, but at the same time they were hunting us. They were, in a literal sense, the apex predators that we came across.

I arrived at the dead end of the holding cells, the cell where Vinyl was supposedly held, only to find that there wasn't anyone in there. I squinted my eyes and moved closer to the cell in an attempt to see if she were in the corner of the cell. It was like a wall of darkness about halfway into the cell, blocking off anyone from seeing the back wall.

The sound of metal hitting metal rang out loudly and I felt my heart attempt to jump out of my chest.

I whipped my head around to see nothing, no sign of what caused the sound.

I slowly turned my head back towards the cell to keep looking for her, my eyes lingering on the hall as if someone were going to jump out and run after me.

When I turned back to the cell, I felt my heart stop.

A pair of red eyes pierced through the darkness like a fire, the whites of the eyes and the red irises staring straight at me with an angry look in them. It was like the eyes of a devil were staring at me, something straight out of a nightmare was just a few feet in front of me. They gave off the impression that they were here of their own free will, and could leave at anytime. Something that didn't make me feel any more assured in myself.

I back away shakily, hitting the wall and sliding down to my haunches. I had instinctively raised my crossbow armed hoof at the cell, bolt loaded, but the eyes didn't flinch. They didn't even blink.

"See why she's scary now?" A familiar voice asked me.

I turned to see that Shakes trotting towards me.

I was still shaking when she got to me, and when I turned back to the cell I found that her eyes had gone away and now only darkness was inside the cell.

Shakes was at my side, helping me back onto my hooves, and said something that disturbed me a little.

"That's not the scariest thing about her either." She commented.

"W-What is it?" I stammered, my heart still racing as I attempted to calm myself internally.

"You haven't seen her smile yet."

I was confused, because I recalled her smiling a lot throughout the ride over here.

"But she was smiling all through the drive here..." I said.

"No, that was her friendly smile. I'm talking about her real smile, the one she uses when someone gets under her skin." She said, her tone warning.

"I'll just leave it at this. If you think her eyes are scary, her smile will make you wanna quit hunting for good." She said. Was that a hint at why she quit hunting?

She nudged me towards the door, going about halfway to the exit before letting go of me and walking back towards the cell of Vinyl Scratch. I turned and asked her where she was going, though she didn't even bother to turn back to face me when she answered. She also didn't seem intimidated by the cells and their possible inhabitants.

"I've gotta have a talk with her." She said, confidence oozing from her voice.

I was beginning to see why she was rumored to be a good hunter.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

> Preperation and Entry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Vinyl?" I called out, arriving at the end of the cell block at the seemingly empty cell Vinyl was supposed to be in.

At first there wasn't an answer, though when I leaned in closer to the cell bars Vinyl seemed to notice me. She looked up curiously at first, but then inched her way forward.

"Did I do it right?" She asked.

I smirked, knowing what she was talking about.

"Yeah, you did good Vinyl." I said, smiling sincerely.

I had taken a moment to come to the cell block a little earlier, after I had left the station Maple and the general were in, and asked Vinyl a little favor. I figured I knew the angle the camera was pointing at the cell well enough, and stationed myself just out of view before whispering to Vinyl the request of giving Maple a little scare. Then I just left and waited til Maple came through, only to tell her that the scare she just had was nothing compared to what could've happened.

Well, in a way I wasn't lying. Anyone who's seen Vinyl's hunting smile knows that it's nothing that you'd like to stare at for very long. It's like seeing something scary not do anything, only watch you; sometimes that's more scary than having something scary chase you. It, for the lack of better words, was a look into what I could only call real insanity. The only thing you'd see in that smile was your own death.

I hadn't seen it in a long time, but I can still remember when I saw it.

I shivered just thinking about it.

I shook my head a little and focused back to Vinyl. It looked like the plan to scare Maple had worked pretty well.

"So, how is it in here?" I asked, though I immediately felt stupid for asking a question like that considering she was literally in a dirty jail cell, though she managed to answer before I could retract my question.

"Heh, I've been in in worse." She said with a nervous smirk.

'Amazing.' I thought to myself, admiring just how level headed and passive she could be.

"Heh, sorry. I should probably get back to the station those two are at before that mare starts streaming your cell again." I said, planning to turn and leave, but Vinyl spoke out again.

"Actually, they found a way to mess it up." She said, smiling faintly.

I turned to her with a raised brow.

"Whos 'they'?" I asked.

Vinyl simply nodded her head to the left, gesturing towards the cell next to her own. I looked over at the cell, which I had thought to be empty, though ever so slowly I found that I was wrong.

A hoof, matted and dirty, stretched through the bars of the cell with what looked like a metal pipe in hoof. They raised the piece of metal, giving the cell bars a swift hit and making a high pitched ringing sound that made me clench my ears. As the ringing died down, I realized Vinyl was speaking to me.

"...said that it makes the person watching us stop cause her ears get hurt by the ringing." She said.

I gave her a look, then turned to the cell with a hoof reached out of it before giving whoever was in it an appreciative nod. I didn't know who it was, but if they were helping Vinyl then so be it.

The hoof, in response, just pulled back into the cell with the pipe dragging across the floor. I simply shrugged at the gesture, then turned back to Vinyl.

"Heads up though, they plan on force feeding you some blood outta that trough. Try hard not to drink it." I said, kneeling close to Vinyl and trying my hardest to give her a serious look.

She nodded her head.

"Alright, but I don't know how long I can do that. Those drivers from before still have me a bit eager to drink..." She said, patting her stomach with a sad look as if she hadn't eaten in a while.

"That's all I can ask." I said, getting up and heading towards the exit of the cells. I wanted to talk more to her, but I didn't know how long it would be until that mare got her magical link back up and working again, so I decided to not press my luck.

On my way out of the cells, I ran into the familiar fiery mare that I had traveled along with us to the base. The same mare that Vinyl had started having a field day with.

"Heya Shakes." She said, oddly kind sounding for herself.

I instantly cocked a brow.

"What are you up to?" I asked.

"Nothing, just came by to see how are prisoner was settling in." She said cheerfully, getting a bit closer to me as she ended her sentence.

"I always like to see how long they last on the first day. I've got high hopes for this one." She said, her voice twisting to something of malicious intent in a matter of seconds before walking past me, mumbling.

"Hmmm...maybe an hour or so..." She mumbled walking into the cell block and taking a right.

I decided, for the sake of both parties involve, to tag along and be sure nothing regrettable happens. I know Vinyl had shown off a bit to her, but Flint was nothing to mess with. I'd argue that she wasn't exactly anticipating Vinyl moving like that in the carriage, and if the two were to square off evenly, that Flint would definitely give Vinyl a run for her money.

"Hi!" A cheerful voice chimed loudly, shaking me from thought.

I looked up to see Vinyl at the edge of the cell, looking up at Flint cheerfully. Flint, on the other hoof, had sort of a condescending smirk on her face. Though Vinyl didn't seem to notice this.

"Settling in well? Prisoner?" Flint flaunted.

"Yeah. It's a bit stuffy in here, but it's not half bad." Vinyl said happily.

Flint's face twisted in disgust at Vinyl's contentment in the cell, and lit her horn with a wispy, fiery, magic.

"Look you, get it through your-" She began, speaking with anger in her voice.

Until something louder interrupted her.

Something crashed into the wall, dirt and debris coming from the place of impact that managed to make Flint back away and myself shield my eyes.

When the dust settled, my eyes rested on a metal pipe that was lodged halfway into the wall.

I turned to the cage beside Vinyl, the inhabitant still hidden in the darkness of the cell. Though that pipe was unmistakable, it was theirs.

Flint seemed to know this too, her eyes narrowing in agitation at the cell before she spoke.

"Been awhile since you've been moving like that, hasn't it?" There was more intrigue in her voice than anger, something that was interesting in itself.

Silence was her answer.

"Hm, so be it." She said, suddenly turning and heading towards the exit with an aggravated pace.

I watched her leave, knowing that I should leave with her, but I couldn't help but look back one last time at the darkened cell before turning and leaving myself. I couldn't help but wonder who was in there, and why Flint paid them any mind.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Could you at least tell me where we're going? Please?" I all but begged to Vinyl's mother.

She had woken me up in the middle of the night, after I had finally managed to get past the recurring images of knives flying towards my face and get some sleep, only to usher me towards the door without even saying why. She then trotted healthily out of the door, past the sleeping desk mare, and out into the night with me staggering behind her to keep up.

And now she was here, going down a back street, heading towards who knows where.

"As you wish dear," She answered suddenly.

"we're heading to a small place I managed to spot out while I was wandering around this city looking for my sweet daughter. I wanted to keep it a surprise, but if you insist on knowing, I'll be happy to tell you." She said happily, taking a sudden right onto an official street that looked like it was somewhere in the more shoddy side of town.

I turned just as sharply, and decided to press her for an actual answer.

"And where would that be?" I asked.

"Well, it's somewhere that I'd like to continue seeing just how far you can tap into that little internal storage of vampire you have. It's quite the interesting pass time to be honest with you." She said, steadily increasing her pace until she was almost sprinting.

Tavi and Vinyl's mom hit the gym

"Would you mind giving me a na-" I began, though my body colliding with what felt like a brick wall stopped me dead in my tracks.

After raising a hoof to my head to cradle it after the collision, I picked myself up off the ground to see that it was actually just Vinyl's mother that I had ran into, not a wall. What was more odd, was that she didn't have a remark for my collision like she normally would while she kept up her "mother dearest" act, if it actually was just an act and not how she was.

"Why did you stop?" I asked, still rubbing my head.

"Because we have arrived dear." She said simply, smiling back at me.

I gave her an odd look, then looked past her at a sign behind her with bright purple neon letters that were attached to building a couple dozen feet in front of me. It was sort of half built into the ground and wall of other buildings, kind of like an entry way to what you might expect a sewer to be.

"'Beef Testosterone's Gym.'" I said, my eyes following along with each letter as I read the sign.

My eyes widened as I realized just where she had taken me, and just what her plan to do at said place was.

Now don't assume that I don't like the gym, though I've never been to one, but I just don't enjoy the idea. A bunched up area where people judge each other on a raw ability like strength, it wasn't my taste and I could probably assume most people inside one would agree with me. Exercise was one thing, a gym was another. Not to mention the disgusting area you were put into; nothing more than a cesspool of sweat and other bodily fluids that I'd rather not thing about lest I lose my lunch.

"Miss Scratch I really don't think I'd fit in here." I said, smiling sheepishly as to not upset the pony whom had actively attempted to kill me not but an hour or so ago.

"Oh? Why's that dear?" She asked, sounding genuine.

I decided to tell her just what I had thought, and she listened patiently to all that I said and only responded when I was done.

"Well dear, give it one go and I promise you won't regret it." She smiled to me, hoping to convince me.

Despite her ever-closed eyes, she seemed to see instantly my look of disagreement.

"Or, you can not give it a go and I will make sure you regret it." She said, smiling again but this time much more devilish.

I nodded feverishly.

Her devilish grin turned to her signature motherly smile on a dime.

"Good girl." She said, turning and beginning to advance. Though, when she got a few feet and realized I wasn't tagging along, she looked back and gestured for me to follow.

I clambered up onto my hoofs and rushed to catch up, walking behind her as if she were a shield. As I have already said, I hate the gym, and I hate the judgment that comes from ponies when you enter one. If you're not rippling with muscle, expect to be picked on by the meat heads who dwell inside.

Vinyl's mother, on the other hoof, strode with confidence over to the gym.

Though, we didn't get very far.

We hadn't, or at least I hadn't, noticed two stallions slinking around the outside of the gym. They were big, burly looking ones too. They both seemed to take notice of the two, rather well off looking mares, approaching their gym and took an instant notice.

In the upper crust area of Canterlot, mares of high stature and of a respectful look were treated with that said respect they deserved. Mean while, someone like Vinyl who lacked the two was treated almost like a secondary species. In the lower income parts of town, it was the exact opposite. Mares who looked nice were given cat calls and were hit on frequently, if they were notoriously haughty then they were booed or had litter thrown at them. Ponies like Vinyl, in these parts, were met with a hoof bump and a hug.

Me and Vinyl's mother however, looked nice and not in the way Vinyl did. As a result, the two gave us lecherous stares and grins as we approached. Their perverted minds most likely going over what might happen here that I would not be going along with willingly.

"My, my! Look who's coming over! You ladies looking for a fun time or somethin'?" One of them asked as the two came out from the gym's entrance like insects.

"Of course!" Vinyl's mother answered cheerfully.

My eyes went wide and I hoped and I preyed that she was just dense with modern phrasing.

The two stallions were both just as taken aback, but only for a moment or so.

"Well, what kind of fun might that be then miss?" The other asked.

"Well, I was hoping that we might be able to use your gym there." Vinyl's mother answered, raising a hoof an pointing towards the gym behind the two.

This time when the stallions were surprised, it lasted a bit longer. Though, just like before, they broke out of their surprise; this time into heavy laughter.

Vinyl's mother remained smiling as the two laughed for minutes on end, patiently waiting for them to finish and give her an answer.

"Look...Look Miss, this gym is for ponies who are strong already. We don't carry no light weights in here, so if yer lookin' for someplace to get a sweat worked up I'd recommend one of them yoga classes you haughty folk are so fond of." They suggested between chuckles of laughter.

Vinyl's mother cocked a brow above one of her closed eyes before turning back to me.

"Octavia dear, what's a 'yoga class'?"

I remembered that Vinyl's mother most likely wasn't exactly up to date with most things as Vinyl was, such as the time where she attempted to break my kitchen light after thinking it was a small sun.

"It's a fancy term for a class where you stretch." I replied, deciding not to attempt to actually fully explain what yoga was.

"Ahh..." She said, turning back to the stallions and answering.

"No thank you, I don't think simple stretching is going to get the results I'm looking for." She said, referencing to her intentions of working me ragged.

The two stallions dropped their attitude, apparently fed up with our persistence.

"Look ladies, the answers no." They said firmly.

Vinyl's mother took on a pouting face, the effectiveness of it reminding me that she looked just as old as I did if not younger.

"Are you sure their is no way we could get in?" Vinyl's mother pleaded.

'You could just throw knives at them for an hour or so.' I said to myself, knowing fully well that Vinyl's mother could force entry if she so wanted to.

The two of them gave each other a look before forming a two horse huddle, whispering back and forth to each other feverishly. They both, at one point, looked back towards the both of us. Their gazes made me realize that I had since adopted the position of someone looking around a wall. Only that the wall in this case was Vinyl's mother.

'I really have to find out what her name is.' I said to myself, growing tired of referring to her as just 'Vinyl's mother' or 'Miss Scratch'.

The two of them broke the huddle and voiced their answer.

"Alrighty then, since it's a gym well do a test of strength." They said.

"Such as?" Miss Scratch inquired.

I saw one of them mouth something inaudible, getting a laugh and a hoof bump out of the other.

"Oooo, hoof wrestling sounds lovely!" Vinyl's mother cheered.

The two looked surprised that she heard it, but they shook it off and returned to their cocky attitudes. One of them trotted off into the shadows and rustled around in something before emerging with a heavy looking barrel in one of hooves. When he dropped the barrel down, I managed to feel the rumble of the ground from my position more than a few metes away.

Vinyl's mother approached the two of them with a sway in her step of the true nature of her boundless strength. I could practically feel her muscles tensing in preparation to put the two in there place, even though I was about a foot behind her in trailing distance. It reassured me that it would be a, somewhat, peaceful solution to get into the gym.

We arrived in front of the two, the dim light of the street lamp above us providing a perfect stage for the match.

"I assume that the winnings are simple then? We win, you grant us passage?" Vinyl's mother asked.

The two mischievously laughed to each other.

"'Course. You win, you get in." One of them agreed.

"But-" Chimed the other in a devious tone.

"-if we win, hows about we all head around back for a little... intimacy?" He asked lewdly.

I felt my face twist in disgust at the vile idea, and normally I most likely would have screamed at these two perverted jocks, but in this case there wasn't a chance at losing. So, I decided to stay quiet and let Vinyl's mother win.

"Deal!" Vinyl's mother chimed all too happily.

"Perfect." He said, propping his body up on the barrel and laying his hoof down.

It was about this time I noticed the true size of the massive appendage. It was huge, roughly the size of my neck give or take. Of course, I still had no doubts about the wonder, but the thought of Vinyl's mother not being the one to step up to the plate got me fearful briefly.

"Octavia dear, take a seat please." Vinyl's mother asked suddenly.

What?

"M-Miss Scratch, I-I can't d-do this with... with those terms you just agreed two." I stammered, wide eyed at her insane request.

"Sit. Down. Dear." She said, her tone turning dangerous enough for the two cocky jocks to actually give me a concerned stare. Stares with the question "are you being held against your will?" bleating across them.

I guess there truly was a small silver lining to even the most rancid of ponies.

Either way, the fear of being out done in a hoof wrestling match easily outweighed the fear of upsetting Vinyl's mom. That seemed to be the problem right now with her, me not knowing whether or not she'd follow through with a threat. And besides, even if I did loose, she wouldn't let them do... that. Not with me and Vinyl's relationship. I doubt Vinyl could be fine with that.

I gave Vinyl's mom a look, getting her steely gaze in return, then one to the two stallions. I followed it with a heavy sigh and propped myself onto the barrel.

The stallion across from me had regained his lewd and condescending smile as I met and wrapped with his hoof.

"Hmm. Don't worry, in a sorta way, you win either way." He said, eyes half lidded.

I cringed at his words.

The other stallion placed his hoof on top of our own and gave us a count down from five, at which my eyes were clenched shut at three. Regardless of my inevitable loss, I was going to at least try.

I often wonder how easily I'm swayed. I mean, just a moment ago I was ranting internally about how horrible gyms were and now here I was desperately hoof wrestling to get into one.

"Go!" The stallion shouted, and his hoof left my own.

I used all the force I could muster and pressed as hard as I could against the ton of meat that was this stallion's muscle.

To my surprise it moved. Effortlessly. Like moving a sheet of paper.

I opened my eyes to see that his hoof had hit the other side of the barrel with ease, and that he was actually shaking. I followed his eyes, that were narrow and frightened, back behind me to Vinyl's mother who was just innocently smiling.

'What did she do?'

I knew she did something, something enough to wipe the pride from someone. Something horrifying.

Vinyl's mother broke the stunned silence like it was nothing.

"Well! We win!" She said, trotting past the two stallions who looked dead on the outside. "Come now Octavia! We haven't much time." She said, opening the door and going inside.

I slowly got up and followed, passing the second stallion who had been standing away from the barrel, and I managed to make out a horrified whisper from him.

"E-Eyes..."

I didn't break stride, though I did break thought.

'What did her eyes look like if they could do this?'
> Testing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


When I entered the cell room once again, the smell of something distinct and pungent assaulted my nose. An unmistakable smell that I had become use to and could identify on a dime, even most untrained ponies knew this smell if they had enough time.

Blood. And lots of it.

My eyes widened as Vinyl came to mind.

I hastily trotted down the cell wall, hoof placed onto the wall to guide my way through the darkness. Thoughts and images of Vinyl face deep in the trough filled my head as I got closer, though when I finally got there I found that she was laying down with her head over her eyes with her ears tucked away. She was a lot closer to the front of the cell that before, a possible sign that she might have tried to be getting out.

Though if that was the case, why wasn't she out?

It was a sad sight, and I assumed it was just her self control conflicting with her instinct, but when I looked over to where the trough was, I found it empty.

'Why the hell's it empty? Are they not trying to feed her.' I thought, then a realization struck me.

They weren't trying to feed her. Yet.

Right now, they were trying to break her inhibitions before offering it to her. They were going to just let the sounds and smell of the others vampires feasting get to her so that when they actually offered her blood she would gorge on it instantly. This would make sure the blood was more potent in boosting her strength, thanks to being more fresh.

My eyes turned back to the huddled form of Vinyl, my heart wrenching as I took her in.

And judging by how Vinyl was looking right now, it would only be a little white before they fed her.

"Vinyl?"

Her eyes twitched and her back shivered at the sound of my voice, a sight enough to make me recoil a little.

Vinyl was like a spring when she was like this. A very unreliable and tightly coiled spring. She could occasionally loosen safely and slowly, though there were always the times that she would simple 'jolt' into a state of hunting. 

And Vinyl hunting, was not a good thing to see.

In fact, the only time I had seen her 'lose' while she was hunting was when me, Octavia and my sister managed to get her drunk and beat her in the horn with a stick a couple times until she passed out.

"Heh, Octavia'd probably make things interesting right about now." I thought aloud, not realizing what I had just said in front of who.

When I turned back down to her eyes from the space I had been staring off of in thought, I saw that she had raised a single hoof to reveal a wide eye that was staring at me.

I could tell clearly what she was thinking through that eye alone.

She wanted Octavia, because she wanted to feed.

Her love for her was still there, but it was mixed in with her hunger and lust to form a new sort of emotion. As if all three were bunched together and forced to be one.

"H-Hey...Uh, try not to, you know, drink it." I stammered.

It wasn't too hard to believe that I'd be a bit uncomfortable in front of Vinyl right now. I mean, I brought her to prison and now she was being pushed beyond the point of inhibition and self control. 

Not exactly two things you'd like to have going on at the same time.

The sound of the door opening behind me took my attention for a split second, causing me to give a brief look back to the entrance before returning my gaze to the now empty looking cell.

'Yeah, don't think my little speech helped her resolve to not drink any thing.' I thought to myself, turning back towards the entrance to see Care walking towards me.

"Salutations, cohort!" He cheered, reaching his hoof around to sleek it through his mane. It was around now I noticed the grizzled look he had, for his position.

Stone wore his beard well, a part of him, but Care's "beard" looked more like a lawn after getting mowed by a lawnmower with one wheel that was too big. It gave him a tired look, which went with the tone that he used to address everybody with perfectly. Tired and slightly sarcastic.

"A bit friendly today?" I asked, interested in his sudden change of demeanor from yesterday. He was a lot more casual.

"Indeed, a good nights sleep will do wonders for the body." He said, stretching his neck, "How's our guest settling in?"

"Well, I won't comment. But I will say you guys are really asking for it if you keep this depriving thing up." I said.

"Good. That's the point, but you probably knew that already."

"Yeah."

It went silence as we both stared into the empty looking cell of Vinyl's.

"She sure is a quiet one. Most the ones get in here are thrashing for a day or two." He commented.

"Are you ready?" I asked, interrupting him.

He turned to me and cocked a brow, though I kept staring at Vinyl's cage.

"For what, exactly?"

"For her mother and mare friend to come and try and get he back. Heck, sis might come join in too." I said.

"Three people? Well, her mother might be the biggest concern out of those three, her lover - from what I've been told from Flint and Stone - is still an unknown and your sister may be the least biggest threat; no offense." He said, taking a pretty levelheaded analysis on the spot.

Definitely the brains of the four so far. Then again, I hadn't really ever say down with any of them but Flint. Stone seemed pretty calm and rational, albeit a bit prideful. Care was definitely brains over brawn, and Flint was the exact opposite of that if you could consider magic a form of brawn.

And the last one, Silver, I had no idea. 

She was probably silver. 

That'd be pretty cool.

"Just saying, you can expect that 'thrashing' you're missing out on now to come when those three get here."

"I hope not. I'd like to see if I could get some out of her here in the next twenty minutes or so once this horrid smell gets to her." He said, sliding and letting me move past him, apparently wanting to remain there awhile longer. I noted his nose was wrinkled in disgust, staying true to his word.

"Just be careful around her. She's not that intelligent, but she's definitely smart." I said, leaving that as my final contribution to the conversation.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Say, Miss Scratch?" I asked as we walked down a hallway towards what could only have been the weight room.

"Yes dear?"

"Do you sincerely not remember your name?" I had been teetering on asking that question for a while now, though always thought the timing rude, but I couldn't take it anymore.

I needed to call her something else. With Vinyl it was fine because she constantly insisted otherwise, but with Vinyl's mother she actually preferred it and it was now reaching my etiquette limit.

She stopped mid-stride and put a hoof up to her chin in thought.

"Hmmm..." She hummed.

'Does she actually have to think about it? Did she actually not remember it?'

"I'd like to say Concierta, but I just can't say for sure." She said happily, resuming her stride and apparently considering that a feasible answer. Which it was, just not what I would have thought.

"So how does Vinyl remember her name so well then?" I asked, getting a giggle out of her.

"Do you assume that's her name?" She asked.

"Is it not?" I replied.

"How long do you think vinyl records have been around Octavia? Much less the art of scratching it." She commented.

A good as answer as any. And of course by that I mean I just had someone beat around the bush and change subjects as to avoid the actual answer to the original answer, yet I somehow still felt as though I received it.

I should just stop asking questions. It only wastes my time.

"Do you suppose this is the gym the mentioned?" Mother Scratch asked, shaking me from my thoughts and drawing my gaze up to a metal door with spots of rust.

"I'd suppose so. it's the only door around us." I said, taking note of the lack of any other doors.

"Perfect!" She said, opening the door immediately and trotting in without a second of thought or hesitation.

Sometimes I am truly jealous of the lack of consideration vampires have.

I hurried in behind her, not wanting to lose her, though from what I could hear coming from inside the room, I already knew what it was we were walking into.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Rock.

Heavy rock.

There is not much that I can say I truly despise in this world, but subsections of the genre of music known as rock is most definitely one of them. It may be thanks to the respect and care for my instruments that I picked up on my path of learning the cello in comparison to how most rock groups treated instruments, or it might just be a dislike for them in general, but something about them just... irked me.

Whatever it was about it, it wasn't just my opinion of it, my body physically can not cope with rock music..

And I don't mean all of rock, but just the certain types of rock. You know, the ones where they shave half their mane and then grow out the center part they didn't shave. Or the type where everybody just screams and it sounds like a trash compact with a bag of razors in it?

Yes, that kind of rock.

My stomach would wind up in knots and my head would begin to ache. I can recall that there was a time a few years ago that I actually broke out because of a street band nearby.

It just wasn't for me.

My friends called it the "barbarians muse", which I couldn't agree with more.

Luckily for me, that's exactly what was playing.

Joy.

The gym itself was about everything I had imagined it to be. Colorless, slate walls with mirrors spaced out every here in there so someone could admire themselves. Blue mats were placed in a few places, though the majority of the floor was composed of dark grey looking material. Florescent lights lit the place, making the majorly grey looking room look somewhat lively. Well, that and the inspirational picture hung up next to the mirrors.

Then there was the equipment. Each machine looking like a torture device of its own sorts, and each of them color blue with black accents.

There were a few ponies inside, almost all of them were stallions, though there were a hoof full of mares inside as well. I noted that each of the people inside almost all strayed to two sort of stereotypes. The first was the typical jock, meathead like the two we had run into outside. The second, quite simply, just looked like someone either just out of, or still currently in, prison.

As we walked further in, I noted that there was a stallion sitting behind a desk reading a newspaper. He had what looked like a cigar sticking out of his mouth, and was sitting in front of a refrigerator filled with an assortment of what had to have been energy and protein drinks.

As we walked by, he raised a brow and took the cigar out.

"How'd you two lasses get in here?" He asked, referencing to the two outside.

Vinyl's mother smiled and was prepared to answer, most likely with some sort of reference to the two outside, but the stallion suddenly changed his mind.

"Ah, know what? Never mind. We need some new faces in here. And if yah got past those two then you can't be too weak." He said, offering a smile before putting his cigar back in

I looked to Vinyl's mother, who's response was a simple shrug, and we kept on.

After getting towards the center of the gym, under the numerous lecherous, lewd, and judging looks of everyone inside the gym, Vinyl's mother suddenly turned to me.

"Alright, get on." She said, gesturing to a flat looking bench with a bar held over it.

"On that?" I asked, gesturing to the bench.

"Well I'm not doing it." She insisted.

"And what are you doing then?"

"Watching and providing excellent moral support." She said.

I could actually feel the deadpan in my face.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Get it open." One of the guards said, causing one of the other guards to begin fumbling through a key ring.

General Care had deemed it time to begin testing on Vinyl, and so I was sent down with a group of guards to help escort her to the room where they'd be doing it. All things considered, they probably only needed someone to come down here and just ask her nicely. Hell, they wouldn't even need to unlock the door if they asked Vinyl, she'd probably just bust them down.

I was starting to feel like a mother who just realized how much there kid had grown. I had never expected Vinyl to be as strong as she was back on the ride over here. She must've been feeding for a little, it was the only logical answer. Even back at the castle when she was fighting, she seemed more intent on using magic and speed to fight as opposed to raw strength.

"Is she in there?" One asked, moving a bit closer to the cell.

"She is." I answered.

Seemingly at the sound of my voice, Vinyl emerged from the back of the cell and came towards the door. Her head was hung low, letting her mane sag in front of her face just enough that her eyes were hidden but her mouth was not.

And on her mouth was a sad frown.

The guards seemed to get a bit uncomfortable at the sight of her, but quickly shook it off and opened the door, bows and daggers held at her.

Vinyl walked out of the cell as if they weren't even there. She actually seemed to play chicken with on of the guards, walking closer and closer towards one of the daggers until the guard backed up as to avoid stabbing her.

She seemed content enough with that reaction and came to a halt, waiting for someone to lead her.

'Somethings...wrong.' I thought to myself.

It was obvious, but this time was a bit different than her 'scary' moods. It just...was.

The only guard who had spoke so far took the lead and headed towards the exit, Vinyl meandering along at her own speed and I followed that speed. It was almost like she was daring one of the other guards to push her to go faster. Luckily, none of them did. I

Once we were out of the cell block, the guard stopped at a intersection and looked to me.

"General Care wants you in the observation deck. We'll take her from here." She said firmly.

I gave Vinyl a look, hoping for her to return one to me.

She didn't.

'Vinyl...' I said to myself.

I sighed and simply nodded before walking off to where I thought the "observation deck" was. 

What a stupid name. It was a room with a unicorn and some glass that looked over an empty room, not an "observation deck".

I gave the door a knock, getting a response composed of shuffling papers and what sounded like a cup breaking before the doors opened up with a disheveled looking Care in front of me. Even more disheveled than usual.

"Welcome." He said simply, moving aside and letting me enter into the room that looked slightly messy.

"Please excuse the mess, my assistant here spilled the coffee we had ordered." He said sheepishly, gesturing to Maple who was feverishly cleaning a brown puddle that was on both the floor and table.

"No problem." I said, sounding rather lifeless.

I found a comfy seat near the glass paneling at the side of the room opposite from the door, sitting there while I watched the general and Maple clean the stain up as a team. She seemed a lot more at ease around Care, which I guess would make sense a little since he seemed to be the least threatening outwardly. Stone was, well he was Stone, and Flint was as abrasive as always.

Care, on the other hoof, seemed a little bit clumsy and casual.

Thinking on the generals got me thinking about the still unknown fourth one, but I put it to rest as Care and Maple finished up their cleaning and got ready.

I noticed that the doors on the bottom floor opened up, Vinyl walking into the all white room and nearly blending in with the background. She probably would've been completely invisible if it weren't for her mane and the shadow around her.

"Well, it's good to know that she can take an initiative." Care mumbled, referencing that he hadn't signaled for the guards to let her enter.

"So, what exactly are these 'physical examinations' made up of?" I asked, getting a bit worried for Vinyl's sake.

"Well, I'll let you see." He said, nodding to the ever present unicorn mare who seemed to occupy the same seat, who then lit her horn.

I turned back to the testing floor and noticed a small panel on the ground that was wrapped in the same color as the mare's magic. The panel opened up, and an odd looking machine rose up from the ground. It had a rather thick looking barrel on it, about seven inches long and roughly an inch or two thick. The base of it was as sleek as the rest of the room -- pure white.

My eyes widened in realization.

I turned back to Care, eyes filled with the fear of him shooting what I assumed was a cannon at Vinyl.

He only smiled and pressed a button on the desk he was sitting at, a desk that was also pressed snugly up to the glass paneling of the room that looked more like the booth Vinyl sat in at the club back when she still had a booth.

"Miss Vinyl?" He asked politely.

I turned back to the ground floor and noticed Vinyl looking around in curiosity.

"We're up here, Vinyl." He said, waving his hoof and getting Vinyl's attention before continuing.

"We're going to be analyzing your physical abilities and prowess today, and to do that we are going to be putting you through a series of tests that we have devised. I hope that you are cooperative for both your sake and ours up here in the booth." He said, sounding surprisingly kind.

She nodded and took a seat on her haunches, and though it was hard to make out from my place up in the room, I could have sworn I saw a playful smile.

"Very good, we will begin now." He said, raising his hoof and inching it towards another button that I could only assume did one thing.

"No! Don't shoot!" I shouted, though it was too late. His hoof hit the button full on and the button lit up in a menacing red color.

I turned back to the ground floor just in time to see a vague yellow object fly from the machine's barrel and hurdle towards Vinyl. I could only clench my eyes shut and awaited the inevitable boom to come from the explosion.

Though it never came.

When I peaked my eyes open, I saw Vinyl sprawled across the ground, hooves clutching her head, and a yellow object nearby her that was slowly rolling off to the side.

"Owww~" I heard Vinyl whine from the floor below through what I assumed where the two way speakers.

I took my eyes off her and narrowed them on the yellow, ball shaped, object.

"Is that a..."

Two distinct made themselves known and my suspicions were confirmed.

"...a tennis ball?"

I turned back to General Care, not sure if this was a prank or not, and at a complete loss for word. Meanwhile, all he could do was throw his hooves up and huff in annoyance.

"Look, we're having budget cuts in the department okay? It's all we could afford in order to keep the labs in peak condition."

"But...a tennis ball machine?" I asked, still not believing that a group of trained assassins were using a piece of sports machinery to test the 'physical boundaries' of creatures of legend.

"'Ohhh~ A tennis ball machine, really? Wow.'" He said, mocking what I assumed was my voice before dropping to a deadpanned face and tone.

"Yes, it's a tennis ball machine. Get over it." He said, rolling his eyes back down to the testing floor and pressing the red button again.

"Miss Scratch? Are you okay?" He asked.

Vinyl got up and looked up at the booth, her face a vacant stare before her eyes landed on me. After that, her face turned to a drunken looking ecstatic one and she tossed a hoof up in the air in a heavy hoofed wave.

'Yep, somethings up with her.' I said to myself.

"Well, she didn't dodge the tennis ball, so I suppose I'll hold off on that test for now and go to the next one. We can come back to the agility test afterwards." I heard Care mumble to himself while rubbing his chin.

He pressed down on the button and spoke.

"Bring in the strength test." He said firmly, the doors of the lower floor opening as two ponies brought in a fairly large ball.

They didn't get too close to Vinyl, and instead laid the ball on the ground and rolled it towards her with a magical aura. Vinyl seemed mystified by the ball, and approached it like a dog would approach a new toy. 

I, however, had a different reaction when looking at the ball.

"The hell?" I asked.

"Is that a medicine ball?"

I heard an angry huff erupt from Care.

"Look. If you plan to make fun of me, please leave and I'll call you back in once the tests are over and we head down to my lab." He said, exasperated.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Up."

My hooves raised up, still grasping the metal bar.

"Down."

I lowered the bar respectively.

"Up."

As I began to raise it once more, I began to feel a bit of irritation build up. I had been doing this 'exercise' for quite some time and it was beginning to grow more boring than tiresome. Especially with the weight that I was given to lift.

"Miss Scratch," I pleaded. "If you insist on making me do this any longer, may I suggest we use some the weights provided by the gym?" I said, voice strained as I was mid motion going upwards with the bar.

"Why is that doll?" She asked.

"The weight is a bit... inappropriate for me." I said, choosing my words as best I could in the current position I was in.

"Octavia! Are you calling me...fat?!" She said, sounding taken aback.

"N-No!"

She wasn't by any means fat, she actually had quite the figure, but what I had meant by what I said was that the weight itself was inappropriate, and not in the sense of being too heavy. Vinyl's mother had, for all her years of whits and experience, decided that the best weight to choose for me lift was herself. Not a weight that she had personally picked or used for her workouts - if she did any - but her physical body.

She had, since the beginning of the workout, positioned herself on top of the bar I was lifting; letting the bar itself rest along her spine while she was facing towards the ceiling in a way you'd might see someone on a hammock.

And quite possibly the worst part was the her flank just so happened to be near my face.

I imagine it would account for the weakness in my hooves, since most of the blood was now in my cheeks as I blushed bright red. 

Luckily, it just looked like I was straining.

"Well, if you insist on leaving I'm not going to stop you." She said, moving off of the bar and hoping down onto the ground. A process that made me grunt as her weight shifted around on the bar.

"Thank Celestia..." I sighed, setting the bar on its supports.

"Well done dear, you aren't that physically strong but I will say you were remarkably determined. You also didn't bother asking when we were done, and asked it yourself; a sign of a job well done." She said, offering me a kind smile and a hoof on the shoulder as I sat up.

"Thank you." I said. It was a sincere thanks, as I found that her words did carry weight to me. Something that boded well for me and Vinyl's mother.

I found that getting up off the bench was harder than I thought, and harder than that was standing up. My legs were weak, despite Vinyl's mother only making me do lifting for our entire duration here, which was thankfully quicker than I had thought it was going to have been. Perhaps she didn't need too much time to make an observation of me. Or perhaps she already had one of me, and this was merely to mess with me.

As we approached the exit, we walked by a stallion lifting his own set of weights on a bar hoisted over his back. I wasn't exactly an expert on the ratio of size of the weight to the actual weight of it, but from what I could tell, he was lifting a lot. He had roughly four or so large discs on the each side of the bar he was holding.

It was a bit too much actually.

His legs seemed to give out and he fell down to the ground, the weight hanging in the air just for a second before it came toppling down after him, and with the bar being how it was, it was destined to nearly split him in two.

Though a single white hoof happened to catch the bar, halting the weight to a sudden stop as if it had the ground. The weight simply wasn't enough to even make the hoof give an inch.

"Consider learning your body's limits." She said, offering a friendly, closed eyed, smile to the stallion who was on the ground with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

I hadn't noticed it before, since I myself was a bit caught up in watching Vinyl's mother exercise her true strength, but the music playing in the gym had stopped and nearly every head had turned in our direction. Each of the people looking on had a similar expression to the stallion on the ground - slack jawed. Even the stallion who had greeted us had his mouth gaping, his cigar hanging onto his bottom lip for dear life.

Vinyl's mom moved her left hoof over towards the rack for the weight, hoisting it upwards and placing it effortlessly.

The room stayed silent as she went back to her trot, her goal the exit, and I followed mindlessly behind her.

It wasn't the first time I had seen something as supernatural as this, but I was still reeling from shock on the inside. It was the first time I had seen her preform an impressive physical feat, and even now she looked like it was nothing.

The brisk air of the outside world shook me from thought and shock, giving me the largest relief I had felt in a long time. I hadn't noticed, but the gym was extremely hot and humid.

I found my hooves moving on their own as I lifted my head back and took deep breaths of the outside air, smiling wide.

I didn't notice at first, but Vinyl's mother seemed to be smiling back at me at a certain point. Though when she saw me notice, she quickly turned away and faced forwards.

We kept this up for the remainder of the trip home until I neared a familiar bar.

It was around that time that my body seemed to catch up to my mind, tossing away the pleasant feeling of the late night breeze and replacing it with feeling of aching muscles and an upset gut.

Vinyl's mother seemed to notice it, though kept on walking. To her credit though, she did slow down a little so that it was a bit easier on me.

It was miraculous how quickly things changed. One second I was walking along fine, with a possibly numb body albeit, but I was still capable of moving efficiently. And within a half minute or so, I was now clenching my teeth as I walked up the steady incline of a hill up to my apartment.

I, at one point, asked Vinyl's mother if we could simply teleport home.

He response was not to my liking.

"Not on your life dear. You're still walking, so you can get their on your own." She said, a bit harsh for some reason.

I would've noted it a bit more and maybe investigated if it weren't for the unsteady feeling I had about me. I didn't have enough focus to question her, I had to focus on keeping up with her.

After a certain amount of time, things became a blur. At one point I was walking up the cobble sidewalk of the outside, next I was entering a building who's details didn't matter to me, and finally found myself opening a familiar looking wooden door and trudging towards a soft looking bed.

Even as I collapsed on the bed to rest, the upturned stomach feeling remained and I could only groan.

It was about that time I realized that the bed was mind.

I figured rest would be the best option about now, it only seemed natural. Even if I didn't want to rest, there wasn't any way in Equestria that I was getting off of this bed without someone else making me.

Although it was hard at first thanks to how I felt, I managed to doze off into a rather deep slumber after maybe half an hour of groaning, tossing and turning.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The pounding of wood rang out, going through my mind as the sound of a familiar white mare on the ground inside of my room. She was hunched on the ground with her hooves over her head and what looked like sweat coating her body. As another wave of knocks came about, she seemed to notice them to, and sat up slowly. As her head turned, the pounding amplified until she finally came full circle and looked at me with cold crimson eyes. They looked unfocused, but as an abnormally punctual knock rang out, her eyes widened and focused on me suddenly.

My eyes opened suddenly.

The sound of my own breathing made itself known as it came in heavy inhales and exhales.

I slowly sat up, holding hoof to my head as the image of those red eyes flashed through my mind every time I closed my own.

The sound of someone knocking on wood nearly gave me a heart attack, though a quick look to the side showed that someone was outside my door. I knew because of the two spots of darkness in the line of light that was at the foot of my door from the hallway lights.

"C-Come in." I said shakily, still a bit unnerved by the vivid images I had seen in what most have been a dream. It looked like Vinyl, but something about her was akin to a demon. 

She just felt evil in that image, and it broke my heart to admit it.

The door creaked open, and a white mare stepped in.

I felt ice run through my veins as I thought it was the mare from my dreams, though the sight of closed eyes relieved me as I realized it was just Vinyl's mother.

"Ah- Hello dear." She said, sounding oddly sheepish.

"Y-Yes?" I said, my voice making me sound feeble.

"Um... would you mind if I shared a thought with you?" She asked.

I was too sleepy to question the idea, so I simply nodded.

"Well, it's more of an idea but... I'd..." She seemed to stumble on her words.

It wasn't like her to do that, despite me only knowing her for such a brief time, but I could tell there was something bothering her.

"Well, I was having a bit of trouble getting to sleep... and thought that maybe I could..."

I began to wrap my head around what she was going to ask, but decided to wait and let her ask herself. And consequentially, she took a steady breath before 'looking' up to me with a bit of resolve.

"Could I possibly sleep in here tonight?" She asked.

I was pensive about the idea, recalling that she had, in the past, told me that she couldn't wait to get a taste of my blood. Though, something was different about her demeanor. She seemed just as on edge as I was after waking up from my dream -- or nightmare rather. And in all honesty, I wouldn't mind having someone else in the room.

"S-Sure. I happened to be having trouble sleeping as well." I said shyly.

She smiled, genuinely thankful for my approval.

As she crawled into the bed beside me, she took great care to keep her distance between me and herself. Though, despite the distance between us, it felt comforting with her in the bed.

As I closed my eyes again, the same set of eyes appeared again. Though, this time they weren't a threatening to me.

My thoughts wandered as I began to drift off, the most prominent one being the question of whether or not Vinyl's mother had the same dream as myself. Would she also be afraid of that depiction of her daughter? Was the reason that we were seeing this image of her because we were both missing her?

I heard her mumble something that was intended to be just to herself, though I managed to make it out as well.

"Perhaps my daughter did make a good choice..."
> 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.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

> Lost Sleep
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


If there is one thing this horrible place had going for it, it was the coffee they made. I wasn't even much of a coffee fan, but here I was in a break room sipping on my second cup with the feeling of bliss and relaxation almost forcefully covering my body. I felt, for the most part, content with myself; a bit of a rare feeling ever since I had gotten here after kidnapping Vinyl.

I hope they weren't too rough on her. She can get scared easier than you might think.

I heard the door creak open slowly and shut silently as Maple trudged in and shut the door behind her as quietly as possible.

"I'm guessing you found the pillows?" I asked her, knowing damn well how often they would starch their sheets.

Maple jumped instantly at the sound of my voice, pouncing backwards and slamming into the door with her hoof reaching for the handle of the door. Her face had a look of strained fear on it.

I didn't do much, admittedly, to try and calm her and rather just let her push at the door hopelessly until she fell to the ground pitifully. The odd part of the situation was that she was pushing on the door that, just two seconds prior, she had used to get into the room via pushing the door.

Something must've been bothering her.

"Ah...you alright Maple?" I asked, taking another sip of my coffee as she looked up to me.

A wave of relief washed over her face as she saw me, or rather, saw that it was me instead of someone else.

"Ha...sorry about this. I, uh, didn't get much sleep last night." She said, fatigue evident in her voice and the bags under her eyes.

"I'll say." I agreed, watching her closely as she moved up from off the floor and over to the coffee pot.

She was shaky as she poured a cup, coming close to dropping the pot more than once, and when she finally did pour the cup and put the pot back, she nearly dropped the cup as she came over to the table I was sitting at. Even a blind person could see something serious was bother her, just by seeing the way she was sitting and taking sips of coffee.

"Hey, uh..." She began, getting my attention. She mumbled off about half way through though, some hesitation to say what was on her mind.

"...you know that idea I offered to the general the other day? The one about using that Octavia mare or whatever to sort of black mail Vinyl?" She asked.

Indeed I did.

"Yep." I said curtly.

"I, uh.... think we should tell him to not go through with it." She said sheepishly.

I cocked a brow at her, confused by her sudden change in demeanor about the topic. It was about that time I started to realize something. Something oddly familiar and nostalgic about the way she was acting. It could have been a change of heart on her part, but that wouldn't explain her jumpiness and shyness.

My stomach twisted as I came to an assumption.

An assumption, that if true, was very bad.

"Sure. We can tell him." I said, offering her a smile that she seemed gracious to accept.

I set my coffee down and got up from my place at the break room table. Maple, despite just sitting down to drink her coffee, was up in an instant and ready to follow me. I noted her eagerness, which only furthered my suspicions as I walked towards the door of the break room with the full intent of convincing General Care out of the idea to capture Octavia upon her inevitable arrival. An idea that would save everyone some trouble.

Well, until a familiar pair of ponies met us on the way out.

"Aye, mighty fine mornin' Shakes." Stone said happily. He seemed more like a morning person.

"Yeah." I said mutually, waiting for them to come through so me and Maple could leave.

In all honesty, I was doing this just for her sake. I could have easily just let Care follow through with this stupid idea and let him test his luck with Vinyl. And, even though I knew the strength of The Order, I knew Vinyl could definitely put a dent in them if nothing else. If it weren't for the generals themselves she could possibly wipe out the entire order if she willed it.

Thankfully, she wasn't the type to act bashfully unless provoked.

And, well, she had a right to be bashful.

Stone was quick to enter and get right over to the coffee, casting Maple a concerned glance that she disarmed with a reassuring smile. He shrugged, not planning to force his help upon her.

"Maple, you look like shit." Another, more brash voice called out as they entered the room and moved past both me and Maple without casting but a single glance.

Flint, was most definitely not, a morning person. Nor a night person. So, I guess she was a 'strictly midday' person. Too early and she's kind of a huge pain, too late and she's also kind of a huge pain.

"Hey, you two wouldn't know where Care is at, would you?" I asked. May as well get some information out of the two to save me going off blindly and wasting time.

"Observation deck. Talkin' ta' Silver if I 'member right." Stone said, sighing as he smelt his coffee begin to brew.

"General Silver? The Sterling Silver?" Maple asked, looking a bit excited and nervous at the same time.

Silver, supposedly, was the strongest of all the four generals by a long shot. It wasn't by an official announcement or comparative event they held to see who was stronger, it's just what the other three generals admitted.Though they were supposed to be a compliment to the next general's weaknesses, such as Flint being lacking in defensive ability while Stone was plentiful with them, to form a cycle of sorts. A reason that they were so scary was because, if all four ever got together, they were unstoppable by even someone like Vinyl. Silver, however, had been regarded as a self sufficient general by more than a few in the past.

I watched closely as Maple gulped a little bit, clearly nervous. Considering she was already pretty much breaking down as is, this stress wasn't healthy at all.

Honestly, if it weren't for what I thought it was, I would have just called off this. But it would be much worse for her health if we didn't call of this plan.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The halls were silent as me and Maple made our way through the hallways of the base. It was still an ungodly hours - from what I could tell by how my body felt - and all the ones that were up were either above ground training already, or down here sleeping. Which, as a result, allowed me to hear the voice of General Care as we began to get closer to the observation room.

"...suggested using the partner of her to force her cooperation with us. So, I'll just continue with testing as normal until they finally do arrive. Hopefully, and judging by what Shakes seemed to hint towards, it will be pretty soon when they arrive. I've already sent word for the guards to bulk up during all times of the day and especially at night." I heard him say.

There wasn't much of a response when he finished, though the main reason was because of myself.

I found that I had began to lean in towards the door to hear better, and actually ended up slipping after leaning just a bit too far.

I tumbled over myself, and went straight into the door and began to slide down it just perfectly onto the handle, which opened the door and let myself fall into the room.

Luckily, I broke my fall with the edge of a desk that I nearly upturned before finally just giving up on not falling, and hit the ground full force.

The room was silent as I looked up, and came face to face with who I could only imagine was General Silver.

The face was feminine, and a fairly attractive one at that, and was matched with two bright grey eyes. They looked like they could pass for a blind person's, but the black pupil in the middle of those grey eyes was a sign that they could still see. Her coat was roughly the same color as her eyes were, only just dark enough to give her eyes enough of a color difference to truly show themselves. Her mane, unsurprisingly was a pristine white, styled back into a ponytail that had a small twine of loose hair coming down near her left eye. I also took note of a set of wings tucked tightly away.

"Hello." She offered, giving me faint smile. Her voice was about as attractive as her face was.

Not to say I had fallen in love with her at first sight, just that these features were a bit unusual with someone sporting the position as general. Take Flint as an example; she's tomboyish and won't hesitate to curse like a sailor. She's also got a few scars and burn marks here and there.

Yet, this mare's skin was unmarked - a sign that she had never been to a real battle, or had never been touched in one. 

I was betting on the latter.

"Uh, hey there." I said awkwardly.

Content with my greeting, she straightened up and walked towards the door and past Maple, leaving me on the floor with General Care, who was struggling not to laugh.

As I watched her, I noticed a pen rolling towards the edge of the table nearest to her. I was about to say something, though it was too late, and the pen began its fall to the floor.

Well, until a grey hoof seamlessly kicked it and bounced it back into the air, letting it fly upwards until it almost hit the ceiling before coming back down to land perfectly into a cup full of pens on General Care's desk.

As effortless as it looked, anyone knew that it had been intended, and could have had much more power behind it. She probably could've killed Care with it if she wanted to, which was pretty unnerving to think about. Imagine if it was someone trying to ambush her. She could've turned it around into an ambush on them without even looking their way.

"Quite a mare, isn't she?" I heard Care comment from behind me.

I looked back to see him with a look of pure respect on his face.

"Yeah..." Was all I could say as I picked myself up off the floor, ready to get back to the reason I had come here to begin with.

"Look, Care, me and Maple have been talking, and we think you should cancel the plan for blackmailing Vinyl." I said, Maple coming to stand beside me and nod her head in agreement.

"Well, truth be told it's a bit late for that. I've already given the board our plans to deal with her. Even if I wanted to change it now, there wouldn't be much I could do." He said before looking back to me and Maple.

"Is there a reason that you two might be wanting to change this plan?" He asked, brow raised.

"Look, I know Vinyl well enough to say I know what she's capable of, but what she's been doing lately is... well it's just too sketchy for me to sit comfortably by." I said simply.

"Are you implying she's been hiding her true potential for - what - years now? It's possible, but highly unlikely." Care detested, scoffing at the idea.

"Sir, she's not the average vampire." Maple suddenly spoke up.

"We are well aware of that, but the fact stands that she is still locked tightly inside of this facility. I am confident in our ability to handle a single vampire, the generals are proof of that much." He was beginning to take on a solemn and level headed tone, one of a person who was an expert at arguing and picking apart someone who was opposed to them, and I realized that this argument was becoming useless.

A sudden knock came from the door, and a nervous looking stallion came into the room. He must've been a new recruit from the looks of it.

"Uh, sir?" He asked, looking to the general.

"Yes?" Care asked.

"Uhm, we... we have a situation at the holding cells." He said.

Care's eyebrows rose up before his eyes shortly followed and he trotted out of the room at a brisk pace, leaving me and Maple looking at each other before trotting out after him.

There was a crowd of ponies near the holding cell doors, a crowd that split apart as General Care approached it, me and Maple tailing close behind. Though, we didn't have to go too far into the holding cells to see what the crowd was for.

A particular cell holding a particular white mare was currently undergoing some... 'renovations'. The metal bars meant to hold her inside were bent to the point that I thought they were never cell bars in the first place.

Inside of this cell, sat Vinyl, a small smile on her face as her eyes met my own.

Care wore an opposite expression.

"Move her to the observation room. That will be her new cell." He said simply, waiting for a set of guards to come and escort her to the room.

Though no one stepped forwards.

There were competent guards among the crowed, though being stationed in a place where no action went on - where everything typically went according to plan - had left them rendered incompetent at the face of something going against that perfect agenda they had gotten used to. They were used to moving someone to their cell, they weren't used to having to take them out of it after they broke it.

Instead, Vinyl raised off the ground and moved out of the cell herself.

The crowd parted once more as she walked past them all as if they weren't there to begin with, heading out of the holding area for a moment or two before sticking her head back in.

"Where's the observation room at again?" She asked.

The room was silent until Care broke it with a hopeless sigh, and a painful sounding face-hoof.

"Down the hall on your right, down the stairs, take a left at the bottom, and it's the big set of doors with a bunch of locks on them when you first step out." He instructed.

Vinyl nodded and smiled before leaving once again.

The rest of the guard looked silently to Care, who gestured for them to dismiss. Something that they did with swiftness, realizing they had failed to do their job.

"If there is one thing I can say for sure about that vampire," Care began. 

"It would have to be that she sure knows how to put people on edge."


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I felt myself begin to wake up from the hard night of sleeping I had gone through. My muscles were sore, I felt hot and groggy, and even worse I felt like my chest was collapsing in on itself. I tried squirming a little to attempt to ease the feeling in my chest, though found even that simple task to be near impossible.

It was around that time I noticed the weight I was feeling was from outward source.

Cracking one eye open quickly, I noticed that Vinyl mother had since moved from her spot on the other side of the bed to the middle of it. During this movement,  which had to have been a gradual over the the course of the night, she had also draped her front hooves over my body in the process. Hooves which felt more like lead than hooves right now.

I first tried moving her hooves with my own, though the way she had draped her hoof over my own pinned my hooves to my body and made moving hers impossible. I struggled a bit harder and managed to free a single hoof, which I then used to attempt to move her hoof, only to find it stuck as if it were welded there. Instead, I pushed up on her hooves and managed to pull my torso out of her iron like grip.

'Good god I don't need to be going through this this early in the morning.' I thought to myself, giving up on my efforts to remove myself.

I instead, just sat there and reveled in the horrid feelings I was going through.

It was a bit odd that I was feeling so bloody awful. I mean, I had 'worked out' last night, but I figured it wouldn't have lead to this much discomfort.

It was about time that I noticed that most of that horrible feeling was coming from my upper body. More specifically, my neck.

My eyes went wide with the idea that... that had happened over night, and my hoof shot up to my neck and began feeling around in search of two distinct bumps.

I felt my hoof roll across a set. Now, the set that Vinyl had given me had died down over time and had been nearly flat and unnoticeable last time I had checked.

This set, was fresh and protruding.

I turned to Vinyl's mother with a rising anger at her. I had trusted her to sleep in my bed without doing anything, and yet here she had gone and done just that!

I took my now freed hooves and moved them over to Vinyl's mother's sleeping form, but found myself hesitating.

The natural fear I had amassed of her getting mad at me, combined with the chiseled in etiquette I had been taught just left me thinking about a more polite way to wake her.

'To hell with that idea, she feasted on my blood. I don't need to pay her manners.' I thought to myself, gathering the courage needed to wake her up, then moved my hooves into position with preparation to jab her in the side.

"U-Uhm, Miss Scratch?" I said, slightly louder than an inside voice should have been, while gently nudging her side.

'Damn my manners...' I thought to myself, watching as Miss Scratch woke slowly and pleasantly.

The first thing she did upon waking, was swiftly unwrap her hoof from around me. The second thing was a sheepish smile to me as she sat up to meet me at eye level.

I felt my fear fade a little now that she had woken and there was no longer a risk of waking her up in a grumpy mood, and decided to crack down on her.

"What," I asked, leaning my head over and gesturing to the two bumps on my neck. "are these?"

She went pale at the sight of the two bumps, something I had never seen from the typically free caring and semi-egotistical vampiric mare until now,

She kept up her sheepish smile for a few second longer before letting it drop into a look of disappointment with a fitting sigh following along.

"I'm sorry dear." She said, sounding surprisingly disappointed in herself.

"I won't lie to you and say I didn't mean it. I fully enjoyed drinking a little from you. But I was sincere when I came here asking about sharing a bed and I didn't have the intention of feeding on you when I did so. It just kind of...happened." She said.

I wasn't exactly sure how to deal with this kind of intense honesty. Typically, with Vinyl that is, she would playfully and sheepishly deny things, which would give me an opening for some scolding. I simply wasn't used to someone flat out admitting what they did.

"I - uh - just..." I search for words that would fit the scolding more.

"Uh, but dear, I have another...confession, to make." She said, looking even more sheepish and scared than before.

I raised a brow.

"When I was...feeding... on you, I may or may not have accidentally injected you with a bit of vampiric fluid. Like, a lot of fluid." She said, her hoof sneaking back behind her head and rubbing it sheepishly.

I couldn't help but not see a little bit of Vinyl in her, which was probably the reason I was taking it so easy on her.

"W-What!?" I screeched, ignoring the rather interesting fact she had just admitted to me.

"Like I said dear, I injected you with a lot of-"

"I know that! B-But....how?!" I asked in panic.

I knew the effects of that stuff. It got me kicked out of my old job and had some other lasting affects on me that I wasn't exactly keen on going through. Needless to say, I was worried about Vinyl's mother injecting more of it.

"Like I said, it was an accident." She shrugged.

"But..."

I was pretty much at a loss for words. She was just so casual about it, and I guess I wasn't used to making something into a problem if the other person was convinced it wasn't a problem.

It was about that time, in between my mild depression, Vinyl's mother took on a soft look and tone and came to my shoulder.

"Look dear, I didn't mean to. I was half asleep when it happened and the half that was up was used to having a fresh source of blood next to me. I....I apologize deeply." She said, suddenly turning rather somber.

"I know you mean something to my daughter, so you mean something to me by association."

I felt a bit more reassured with that response, but still in a combination of shock and anger at the same time, to the point where I was simply speechless. She looked like she was in a similar position about something as well, a look on her face that looked like she wanted to tell me something but also one that showed that she didn't have a particularly good way of actually breaking it to me.

"C...Care to go get breakfast?" She asked suddenly.

A quick look over to her showed me a rather eager face, one that sincerely wanted to stabilize our relationship. Despite her closed eyes, I could tell by her eyebrows that this was important to her. I felt a bit sympathetic to her, it wasn't her fault I suppose, and I seemed fine as far as I could tell. That, and it meant quite a bit to see someone so eager to try and heal a shaky relationship.

And I was pretty hungry.

"Sure." I said, offering a smile to Vinyl's mother.

She looked thankful at that, her brows un-furrowing and just her whole body in general relaxing upon my agreement.

Though, seemingly as soon as we agreed, a hard knocking came from the living room, signaling someone was at the door.

It wasn't the first time someone had knocked on my door at an ungodly hour, but I had since spotted a correlation between "early knocks on the door" and "something significant happens or goes wrong", so I was already dreading opening the door.
> Camping
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


You might think I'd get used to seeing random people coming to my door after living with a vampire, being friends with a set of sister mares with some sketchy pasts and connections, as well as having gone through some life changing experiences I'd argue most people would never go through.

Well, you'd be wrong.

"Sweeps? Why are you here?"

Standing in front of me was one of mentioned sister mares with the sketchy pasts and connections, armed to the tooth with various looking pieces of equipment that looked oddly familiar to camping gear. Though, out of all the oddities she was wearing, the look on her face was easily the most odd one.

It was a mashup of looks, her mouth flat as if she was just annoyed at this point, yet her eyes looked at me with dead set determination.

"I could be asking you the same question." She said, sounding a bit disappointed.

'But...my name's not Sweeps...' I thought to myself, putting a hoof to my chin and averting my eyes to the floor in thought.

"Is there someone there Octavia?" The sound of Vinyl's mother called out from somewhere behind me, a voice that caused Sweeps' eyes to widen instantly.

She pushed me aside, rather easily, and rushed into my apartment before letting out a horrific sounding gasp not but a few seconds later.

"Octavia! I can't believe you!" She said, turning to my now downed form with a look of anger.

"Wh...What?" I asked, rubbing my head, genuinely confused at what in Celestia's name was going on.

Sweeps' only response was to throw her hooves up in the air, turn around and walk deeper into my home and grab something that I couldn't see thanks to my position on the floor, before coming back holding Vinyl's mother by the ear as she dragged her along like a stuffed toy.

"This!" She said, waving her hooves up and down, gesturing to Vinyl's mom.

I looked closely at Vinyl's mother, not spotting anything out of the ordinary. Her eyes were still closed, her mane was still blue and her coat was still white. There really wasn't anything else to her.

"...I don't follow." I replied.

"Is this why you're still here and not out looking for her?! Because you've already moved on to another mare?! Have you no shame?!" She screamed at me.

My eyes widened with realization at the huge misunderstanding that Sweeps had come to, though albeit a fairly reasonable one. She must have, thanks to the youthful age that Vinyl's mother still had, gotten the impression that I had moved on from Vinyl and was now dating her. She also must have thought that this was also the reason I hadn't gone out and tried to get Vinyl back.

I could only imaging what was going through Vinyl's mother's head right now.

Though, judging by the look on her face, she wasn't exactly used to it.

Thinking on it now, her response was a pretty reasonable one. It'd be like going up to an apex predator and toying with it like it was something harmless. They wouldn't have expected it, being the top predator and all, so they wouldn't know how to immediately react to it either.

"N-No! Th-That's not what I'm-" I began to explain, but she held a hoof up and stopped me mid-sentence.

"Save your excuses, I don't want to hear the reason you did it..." She began, looking off to the side with a sad expression.

"...I just can't believe you would go and off her like that." She said. Was that a tear?

She wiped away whatever it was that had formed in her eye, be it sweat from that massive bag she was wearing or an actual tear, and graced her face with a new look of determination.

"Whatever, I'll still go get Vinyl back. With or without you." She said.

This finally seemed to snap Vinyl's mother out of her trance like state, causing a smile to form.

"Oh! So you know my daughter as well?" She asked to Sweeps, sounding as happy and as chipper as ever.

Sweeps froze.

"D....Daughter?" She repeated, slowly looking down at the youthful face of Vinyl's mother, who smiled back at her with just enough of her teeth showing for her fangs to shine clear as day.

I saw Sweeps looking a bit pale after that, her eyes getting a bit unfocused as she began to stumble ever so slightly. She soon let go of Vinyl's mother, that hoof moving up to her head as if she was suffering from the headache of a life time as she stumbled over to the couch.

"Sweeps?" I asked, concerned.

She held up a hoof the moment I tired to make a move towards her, straightening up as if she were fine just before she fell backwards like a sack of bricks.

Vinyl's mother was quickly and easily able to understand what had happened, despite not seeing it at all.

"Well, she's unconscious now." She said, sounding like this was a common occurrence for her. And, in all honesty, I wouldn't be too surprised if it was.

"Shall we wait for her to come to?" I asked.

"It'd be wise. Her waking up with no one around her would probably only damage her mental health and make her think she was crazy. I can just go get some breakfast and bring it back here." She said, a red tinge already starting glow from her horn.

I made good use of my hooves and hid my eyes from the sudden flash that came from where she was sitting, then looked up to see that she was gone.

I sighed, getting up from off the floor and moving over to Sweeps' limp body and finally managed to get a good look at what was on her back.

It was a standard looking camping bag, though it was obviously overly packed judging by the strain the clips were currently under. Though, what was more intriguing was why she had come here with the pack. Had she planned on going camping somewhere? If so, why now of all times? I'm sure she knew just as well as I did that Vinyl was missing. I mean, she had pretty much just called me out on it.

I let out another sigh, something that I seemed to be doing a lot of recently, and began to attempt and un-clip Sweeps out of the massive bag.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So...you're Vinyl's mom?" Sweeps asked for the eighth or so time, taking a sip of tea Vinyl's mother had managed to bring back with her, along with some biscuits.

"Yes dear, I am her mother." Vinyl's mother answered for the eighth or so time, looking pretty bored this time. At first she had taken a sort of enjoyment from watching Sweeps' face twist in confusion, but now it was just an annoying look across her face.

Which was understandable, as it turns out, Sweeps was apparently incredibly hard to convince.

"So...why is this the first time I've even seen you? I mean, you'd expect Vinyl to talk about you a bit more. She's never even mentioned you to us." She said, not really thinking her question through and wincing as she saw the pang of hurt go through Vinyl's mother's face.

"I...I haven't always been around Vinyl due to some... shall we say, complications. It's the reason I care about her so much, because it's so rare that I get to spend a solid day or two with her." She said, a bit of anger bubbling in her voice. I watched her hooves clinch tightly against the couch.

I realized now just how much restraint Vinyl's mother had to not go mindlessly chasing after Vinyl when she was taken, and just how much she must have thought through chasing after her. I know I would've if it were up to me, though I also know that my efforts would have been effectively useless.

"Wow... so, uh, how old is Vinyl?" Sweeps asked, getting over the brief moment of awkwardness with impeccable ease.

Vinyl's mother's eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"Child, you never ask a mare her age." She said in a tone of scolding as she went in for a sip of tea, though that failed to even make a dent in Sweeps assault for information.

"Oh come on, we all know she has to be old. Is she, like, a hundred?" Sweeps offered.

Vinyl's mother suddenly sputtered her tea in a cackling laughter.

"A...a hundred?! Ha!" She asked, laughing hard enough to literally fall onto her side.

It took her roughly five minutes for her laughter to die down, only to have it re-erupt when she repeated the words "a hundred" to herself.

I myself had thought about the issue for awhile, though decided to stop pressuring Vinyl into answering it and simply decide that her age didn't really matter in the long run. She, for all intents and purposes, could have been thousands of years old with massive amounts of knowledge, thought that didn't seem very Vinyl-like to me. On the other hoof, she could have been only fifty or so years older than her actual appearance.

Though, judging by Vinyl's mother currently rolling on the floor in laughter, the answer was most definitely not one hundred years old.

After another ten or so minutes of cackling, Vinyl's mom finally settled down enough to carry out another conversation.

At this point, Sweeps looked as annoyed as she ever had.

"Care to give a hint then?" She said, as if the fifteen or so minutes of uninterrupted laughter hadn't occurred.

"S-Sure." She said, still giggling and finally getting more serious.

"Alright, so, to answer your question, I need you to answer one of my own. Sound fair?" She purposed.

Me and Sweeps looked to each other and nodded before turning back to her.

"Sure."

"Perfect." She said with a growing smile.

"When was the princess of the moon banished?" She asked, as if she didn't know.

Both me and Sweeps eyes widened at the implications of the question. The idea that Vinyl was over a thousand years old was almost unbelievable to me. The things she must have seen, such as the growing of both the country and the innovations of said country. And not to mention her mother, she was probably around when the princesses were born, whenever that was. Sure, we had expected a big number, but actually hearing the number being implied was different. And, in all honesty, I was more leaning towards maybe two hundred or so.

"Really, she's that old?" I asked in shock.

"No, she's not. I won't tell you her age, and I won't say mine either." She said with both a serious and playful tone somehow "If you really want to know, then get my daughter to tell you herself." She said, keeping her answer oddly vague.

'What a let down.' I said internally, dashed of a chance to learn another hard fact about Vinyl.

"Anyways," Vinyl's mother sighed. "don't we have another issue to address here. Such as your friend even being here?" She said, motioning to Sweeps.

My eyes followed her to Sweeps, and remembered that we still had no idea why she had come to my house with her massive camping bag.

"Of course. Ah, Sweeps? Why exactly did you come over here anyways?" I asked.

Sweeps' brows cocked in confusion.

"Was the bag not enough of a hint?" She asked.

I shook my head.

"Really? What'd you think we were going to do? Go camping?" She asked, clearly rhetorically, but it was - in all honesty - what I thought she was here to offer.

I nodded.

She face-hoofed hard enough for it to make a smacking sound that echoed through the room, and when her hoof came down from her face, a large red welt was already surfacing across her face.

She let out a big sigh, before looking back to me.

"We're here to go get Vinyl back." She said.

Vinyl's mother visibly tensed at the idea.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Any idea why she's so... well, docile?" Cure asked to Flint as he looked down into the sterile room at Vinyl, who was sitting on her haunches and looking around the all white room like she would always do when she was bored.

I had no idea what went on in that head of hers, or if she was even seeing the same world I was if she was able to look around a single room this much and still find it entertaining enough to make her smirk and giggle occasionally.

"Heck if I know, she's been like this ever since I met her. Only time I've ever seen her move fast is when she saved me from her mother." Flint admitted.

"Saved you?" Cure asked, pretending to clean his ears with his hoofs.

"Yeah. I've got no idea why she did it; maybe she wanted the kill at a different time." Flint suggested, visibly reassuring Care.

"Maybe she wanted a peaceful resolution for everyone." I suggested, getting two different glares from the both of them.

"Just sayin'." I said with a shrug.

We all turned back to Vinyl, who was in the middle of letting out a big yawn. She looked on the edge of sleep as was, a big contrast from her awestruck look from earlier. Maybe it was night time in whatever world she was in.

That seemed to be the finishing blow for Care, judging by the tired sigh he heaved out when he saw her begin to curl up into a ball in an attempt to sleep.

"I think we're done here for now. I won't deny that she's got something about her that suggests her true nature, right now all my recordings show that she is - in most regards - similar to a newer aged vampire. And a pitiful one at that." He said, rubbing his temples.

What he was referencing to was probably the dramatic shift observed in vampires based on the time period. 'Newer aged' vampires were a lot weaker than the ones around maybe a hundred or so years ago, mainly because of the evolution of ponies - their prey. Way back when, earth ponies were farmers, pegasi were all weather ponies, and unicorns... well, they were still about the same actually. Though, thanks to the first two, vampires had to adapt to dealing with the strength of a hard working earth pony and the speed of a raised-from-birth weather pegasus.

As an example, the "strong ponies" of today were roughly the strength of the average earth pony farmer maybe two or so hundred years ago. And, thanks to that, vamponies of that same age were about the as strong as General Stone was today; and that strength is more than enough to deal with hundreds of 'new age' vamponies in a row without breaking a sweat.

And the trend continued the farther back in history you went, in an exponential sort of way too. It actually, as far as I knew, got up to the point where vamponies looked and acted much more like the books depicted. Only difference was that they were hoofs-down the apex predator of their era thanks to their speed and strength.

Now-a-days, even some civilians can deal with a vampire or two.

Back in the old days, it would take the intervention of a princess of today to deal with those one or two vampires. Not to make the Princess's look weak or anything, they were strong as hell, but the vampires of a thousand years ago could definitely cause some trouble.

It's one of the reasons The Order a thousand years ago is considered the "golden age" of vampire hunters. Because they had to put up with - and they effectively did put up with - those kind of threats.

As for Vinyl, she was a wild card. I had only known her for a couple of years at most and she never really talked about her past before the bar.

'Damn...I think I forgot to turn the lights off.'

The sound of Flint speaking broke me out of my self taught history lesson.

"Would you mind if I go down there and try to get you some actual record-worthy....ah, records?" Flint asked, sounding a bit ashamed of herself for not coming up with a good synonym for records.

Care lifted a hoof in a shooing motion without taking his hoof that was rubbing his eyes away from his face.

"Try and kill her for all I care." He looked up after he said that. "Actually... don't do that. That's a bit uncalled for."

The room went silent as Flint turned away from Care and made her way towards the door. I could Care was thinking the same thing I was as we watched her leave, but he knew all too well how she would react if he said it. So, I decided to speak up for him.

"Better get Stone to go with you too." I suggested.

"Just to be safe." Care added on quickly, looking a bit nervous at the idea of Flint getting throwing a tantrum.

Flint gave us both a sneer and stuck her tongue out before walking out of the door, making sure to shut it extra hard to show her disapproval of the idea.

As soon as she left, Care turned to me with a relieved look on his face.

"Thanks for saying that. Like I said before, I'm not sure just what that mare down there is hiding, but she's hiding something from us." He said, casting a thoughtful gaze down to Vinyl, who had sprawled out across the floor - a sign that she had actually fallen asleep.

"Don't mention it. And these results you're about to see might be just as useless as the others in all honesty." I said.

"How so?" He asked.

"Just watch them. Knowing Flint, she'll keep Stone out of the fight. And knowing Stone, he'll be happy to sit back and watch."

"Hm, care to place some bets then?" He asked, reaching under the desk and bringing out a pouch that, after he shook it subtly, jingled with the sound of bits filled to the brim.

"Why...do you have that?" I asked.

"Well, me and Rosy like to spice up our time in this boring little square. So, we place bet. Turns out we're both horribly addicted to gambling." He chuckled.

"Ah, fine then. But I call Vinyl." I said.

Truth be told I didn't have anything on me in terms of money, so picking Vinyl was really the safest bet.

"Fine, fine. I've got a bit of faith in Flint. Let's say...twenty bits?" He suggested.

I felt my bar-mare side kick in, screaming at me to fix the price.

"Twenty? Jeez, I thought you said you were a gambler." I scoffed, my eyes widening at what I had subconsciously said.

"Alright, fifty?" He raised a brow.

'Fifty is plenty of money to bet. I mean, I don't have any to bet with to begin with, but if I win I can walk away with a clean fifty bits? And, I mean, it's Vinyl versus flint. Still, twenty was good enough. Don't need to go any higher tho'-

"Seventy." My mouth blurted.

"Deal." He said with a grin, bouncing the sack a little bit before placing it onto the table. He had visibly cheered up from before when he was sulking about the lack of results from Vinyl, but at what cost.

Well, it was seventy bits to be exact.

I sighed.

'Dammit.'


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Flint...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I grumbled as I walked down the hallway towards Stone's quarters. Ever since, the little stunt that Vinyl Scratch pulled by busting open the bars, all general's were now on the bottom floor with her by order of the board. Which sucked for all of us, because our beds were easily comfier than the "bed of nails" they call beds down here.

And it was all cause of her.

I mean, is it so much to ask to not burst through steel bars and put everyone on edge? Not to mention put us down in this hole they call a laboratory.

I turned the corner onto the hall that Stone's room had been placed at.

And as if I needed Stone to back me up with taking on Whitey. I had been having to hold back with her since we were in a residential zone back in Canterlot. The Order couldn't compensate for anymore wild fires because of my "recklessness" as they called it, so I had been put on probation - thus the reason Stone ever came with me in the first place.

I walked up to his room and gave the door a solid knock, and waited for him to answer.

"Aye?" Came a grumble.

I pushed open the door and found a giant lump covered in sheets, the legs of the poor bed bending under the weight of his body. His head was facing away from the door, but I could see his more-messy-than-usual hair sticking out of the top of the covers from where I was, despite it being black in color

"You up yet, care's wanting us to go spar with Whitey." I said. We had started calling Vinyl by the nick name Whitey for conveniences sake, Vinyl Scratch was a bit awkward to say after all. You'd have to be something real proper or real weird to call her by her full name all the time.

"Can't yah get someone else? I gotta sleep to yah know?" He grumbled.

I took a few steps into his room to answer.

"Well, I don't know anyone else that'd be ballsy enough to help me out. Maple seems a lot more freaked out around Whitey than usual and everyone else gets nervous around her after the cell incident." I said, not exactly expecting that to change his decision, but more just to say why Care and Shakes wanted him.

"I'll go." A voice said from behind me, faint and gentle.

I tensed up a little bit as the familiar voice registered in my head.

"Sterling, eh?" Stone groveled, not bothering to turn over to see if it actually was her.

"Aye, that'll do. Might give Care and Shakes a show to." He said, as if his approval was for Silver to fight Whitey.

"Thank you, Stone." She said, her tone sounding about as kind as anyone's mother.

I turned around to see a light grey mare behind me, bright grey- almost white - eyes full of compassion and understanding looked in on me with the faintest of smiles. However, in great contrast to the inviting look on her face, where tucked away at her sides. Tucked at her sides was her set of wings, but that wasn't the interesting part.

Gleaming silver plates that ran along the edge of her wing that I knew too well.

Silver had been planning this one.

She tilted her face in a slightly larger smile, giggling a little as looked to me.

"Come on Flint, we don't want to keep Care waiting." She said, turning and walking away at a comfortable pace that wasn't in any hurry anyways.

I started to go with her, but Stone's voice spoke up.

"Aye, Flint." He said, getting me to toss a look back at him.

"Don't let this get outta control, I don't wanna get out a bed this time, ya hear?"
> For The Record
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Flint...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Any reason you're wanting to do this?" I asked Sterling, taking good note of the cutesy little grin on her face. She was actually excited about this, wasn't she?

Truth be told I knew a lot of reasons Silver would wanna do this. She's top dog around here, it could be to keep that status alive and well by beating up the mare who busted out and gave everyone a scare, but I'd doubt she's as petty as that. She was doing this for herself, not for the guards around here. If I had to guess, she wanted a challenge.

"Well, even us General's hear rumors, no? I figured that if anyone can give me a good time, it'd be her, right?" She said, giving me a glimpse at her ever present smile.

Bingo.

We both got real quiet as we walked down the hallway, though Silver seemed too ecstatic too care.

Truth be told, I never really talked to Silver. No one really did. Not to say she was unapproachable or anything like that, she was easily the nicest mare around here in terms of appearance and attitude. Everyone else was either a grumpy stick in the mud, like most of the so called 'elite guard', or didn't give two craps like Flint did. Course there were exceptions like General Care and Maple, but Silver was the biggest stand out.

She was about as threatening as a lady bug.

Well, without her wings on at least.

Silver suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes going wide with a sudden look of... was that fear?

She looked back over her back, her eyes scanning her back with hawk like precision. She then lifted up and extended her wing, revealing the gleaming silver plates that were clad on them, and looked over them with the same narrowed eyes.

"Something wrong with your wings?" I asked casually. It wasn't that common to see her with such a look of worry on her face.

"Do you think I should have dressed up?" She asked, still looking over her body with a look of almost disgust.

"What."

"I'd like to make a good impression on her." Was her only response.

"Silver. She's a prisoner. She's a vampire. And she's also a bum." I began, listing off just what Whitey was, hoping to imply some reason for her to drop such a stupid idea.

"She's a prisoner too, no?" She said, her faint smile returning to her face as her eyes lost their focus. It was a clear sign she wasn't looking at her wings anymore, but was way off somewhere else and thinking about something else.

I guess a different approach was needed, and I felt my nose begin to burn as the words bubbled up on my tongue.

"I'm sure that whatever impression you make will be a good."

I felt like vomiting after saying something so cliche and cheesy. What a stupid idea. Impressions? For a prisoner? Why not serve her lunch while were at it?

"Oh! Do you think she'll be hung-" Silver began.

"No!"


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The second me and Silver - and by me and Silver, I mean Silver - even turned the corner of the hallway to the guarded doors of the testing floor, the guards stiffened up to the point where I began worrying for their backs. It kinda got me a bit envious of Silver's respect around here in spite of her actual personality.  

Well, at this point I guess now it was just Whitey's cell. We had never really thought it necessary to give the entire room as a cell for a single prisoner, but Care seemed pretty determined about it.

"Attention!" One of the four guards yelled, shaking me from thinking.

Silver was too busy smiling to herself to relieve the guards, so I had to.

"Knock it off boys. Silver's in a hurry to meet with the prisoner, so get this door open." I all but sighed.

The guards gave each other a nervous look, then a look to Silver's wings before feverishly rushing around and unlocking all the parts to the door, probably under the same assumption as me that Silver was pretty keen on showing the "white menace" just who she was messing with.

Though, in reality, Silver was closer to setting up for a date with her.

The doors were opened in an instant, requiring two of them for each door in order to open the massive double doors, and the bright white walls already made the entry almost blinding.

Silver pranced into the room with a child like pep.

The guards watched her intently, then turned their heads to me, all of them with a confused look on their faces.

I sighed heavily.

"She's... ah, real happy." I said simply, leaving it at that and trotting in behind Silver and watching as the door closed.

As I turned, I noticed Silver was already half way across the massive floor to get to Vinyl - who was near invisible thanks to the color of her white coat. 

I quickly followed, going a bit faster than her so I could catch up, and went ahead and lit my horn up with magic. I'd let this mare embarrass me once, and that was one too many times in my book. So now it was time for a bit of payback.

I didn't have to use restraint now, and I planned on using every bit of that freedom.

I felt my eye twitch unconsciously, more heat coming from my horn than usual; getting to the point where the bottom edge of the flames that wrapped around it came into view of my eyes.

I'd never been this excited.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So, how are we supposed to get her up?" Silver asked me, taking a position over the sleeping form of Vinyl Scratch. It was around this time that I noticed she was cuddling a hefty looking medicine ball like a filly would a teddy bear.

"Well..." I began, the flames surrounding my horn flaring even higher. "...I can think of a few ways."

Oh the ideas I could think of. Set her mane ablaze, or her tail and watch her chase it in circles like a dog. I could heat up the medicine ball and make it pop underneath her and give her the scare of her life time. Oh! Or, I could just torch her altogether! Engulf her in flames and wait for a scream before killing the fire out. Don't want her to die to early or else it won't be any fun.

I felt a bit wretched thinking of these kind of ideas while I admired how cute she looked all curled up.

It was about this time that I noticed Silver had already walked up to her and crouched down beside her, placing a hoof on her stomach and gently shook/rubbed her while whispering.

"Wakey wakey." She said gently, smiling as her white eyelids opened and a set of tired red eyes revealed themselves.

She almost purred as she adjusted her body to Silver's hoof, mumbling something about 'Tavi having wings' or something odd like that.

"Could you wake up for us deary? We need to give Mister Care some notes so he can stop being so cranky."

I cringed a little at the sentence, the flames on my horn also wincing at the sentence that came out of Silver's mouth. I knew I hadn't spent much time around her, but my god I didn't expect her to be so out of place for this job. We were here to beat her up, yet her she was trying to coax her to get up by 'rubbing her tummy'.

Whitey gave another mumble before letting out a big yawn and stretching her hooves out. Her eyes focused in on Silver and a look of disappointment and confusion crossed her face.

"Huh? You're not Tavi..." She said, looking hard at her wings as if to determine if they were fake before looking away in contemplation.

"...but those tummy rubs..." She whispered

Silver stood to attention and took a few steps back.

"Sorry about that, but I hope you'll still help us out by sparring with Flint here." She said, gesturing to me.

Vinyl looked to me and her eyes lit up as she realized who I was.

"Oh! Hey Ashy!" She said, waving to me happily.

"Don't get to comfort- wait, Ashy?" I asked, realizing the nick name she had given to me.

"Yeah. You're, like, really, ashy colored and Flint doesn't exactly roll of the tongue. So, I'm calling you Ashy." She said cheerfully.

'Well, Whitey, I guess we don't think to differently after all.' I thought to myself, still a bit surprised that she had bothered to think about my enough to give me a nick name. Or was it a pet name.

My cheeks began to flush at the thought.

"You alright Flint? You look a bit flush?" Silver noted, looking at me with concern.

I snapped back to the task at hoof and began to stammer for an excuse.

"My horn is hot!" I shouted defensively.

'Smooth.'

"Ahh, so that's it..." Silver noted with a nod, even getting Whitey to nod in agreement as they both admired my flaming horn.

"Well," Silver began. "If you wouldn't mind, Vinyl?" She said, clearly referring to us getting notes for Care.

I cast a gaze up to the observation room above and made out the silhouettes of both Shakes and Care staring down intensely. Through the tinted glass, I managed to see the worried looks of both of them. I assumed Shakes' was for Vinyl's sake, and Care's possibly was too since Silver was in here.

I was pretty sure Silver scared Care. Though I have no idea how.

I turned back to Whitey as she stood herself up off the ground and yelped suddenly. Her hoof shot off the ground and she hopped a little before steadying.

"Are you okay?" I asked a little too quickly.

"Yeah, hoof fell asleep." She said, chuckling sheepishly.

"Should we wait?" Silver asked.

"Nah, I'll be fine." She said, limping forwards a little.

I dipped down a little, flames pointed towards her ready to fire. Literally.

She grinned at me, placing her hovering down in a test, only to wince as it hit the ground before yanking it back up to it's old position.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So, Miss Scratch?" I asked, trying to strike up some conversation as the three of us walked along the cobblestone sidewalks of Canterlot. We, well I guess it was only me, were going towards my parents house before setting out to go find Vinyl.

Albeit, we had hardly anything to point us to where it was at; even Vinyl's mom had no clue where to find the main head quarters. And the only things we had packed were in Sweeps' bag, of which we had no idea what was included. But the one thing we were going to do was look. We'd find something I was sure, and if we didn't, I'm sure Vinyl would make enough noise after awhile to tell us where she was.

As for my parents, I wasn't going to leave Canterlot without telling them first. A few reasons were behind that reason; one of them being because the last time they couldn't find me resulted in half the guard storming the city. And another was that my dad was a pretty good source of info on almost everything nearby, so maybe he might know where we should go.

"Yes dear?" Vinyl's mom replied, shaking me from contemplation. She was using an umbrella in order to walk alongside me and Sweeps.

It took me a minute to remember what I was going to say.

"You were in the middle of telling me something before breakfast until our...uhm, guest arrived. Care to continue?" I proposed. She had seemed a bit shy about telling me then, but perhaps now she was a bit more encouraged. Well, Sweeps was here, so that might deter her from it, but it was still worth a shot to break the silence.

"Ah...about that." She said, her hoof snaking to the back of her head.

"Perhaps...in somewhere more private. Maybe when we get to your parent's home." She seemed nervous, though the look on her face gave the impression that she was more nervous about something that had already happened.

That confused me a little all things considered. Seeing Vinyl's mom look worried, from what I had seen in her so far, was about as uncommon as Vinyl grimacing -- whenever it happened, something serious was wrong.

What could possibly make an age old vampire worry? A vampire that had smiled joyfully through just about everything so far.

Something unnerving, that's what.

I watched Vinyl's mother closely for just about the rest of the walk, despite not knowing if she was looking back thanks to her closed eyes. Her face remained the same, absorbed in thought on a topic that was clearly worrying her.

"Say, Octavia?" Sweeps called, shaking me from thought.

"Hm?"

"Do you know who issued the first contract on Vinyl?" She asked.

First contract? What was that? I mean, I had a little understanding about what it could be, but as for what it actually was I had no idea. After I told Sweeps this, she seemed a bit relieved.

"I'll take that as a no then. A contract is something that people can place on someone and have a member from The Order observe them and, if they're a vampire, dispose of them. Well, that's what Shakes told me anyways." She said.

"Close. Typically there's no observation involved if someone has the connections to place a contract in the first place." Vinyl's mother added.

"Wait, so how do they tell if they're a vampire or not." Sweeps asked.

"Simple. If they, upon confrontation, show vampiric signs then they'll proceed to 'take care' of them. If they don't, they'll subdue them and look in their mouths for a sign of fangs." Vinyl's mother elaborated, showing her knowledge of The Order.

"So, you're saying someone placed one of these contracts on Vinyl then?" I asked, turning the corner onto the block where my parent's home was. Dusk was already on it's way, and now the shadows of Canterlot were beginning to show their faces.

"Yes." Both Vinyl's mother and Sweeps said in unison.

"Vinyl was really good at blending in with normal ponies. Especially when she was fasting. So, it had to take someone who had either known about her secret, or someone who had been watching her for awhile to know that she was a vampire and then report it." She paused to breath.

"I figured it wasn't you, but any chance someone you know who would've done it?" Sweeps asked.

I put a hoof to my chin and thought hard about it.

'I supposed it could've been Beauty, but I doubt Harpo would've let her gone through with it.' I thought to myself. Nobody else had really played to heavily a role with Vinyl, other than my parents but they had gotten acquainted with her now. I could ask them in a bit.

"Not of the top of my head, no." I said honestly.

Sweeps sighed heavily.

"Well, it was worth a shot." She said.

It wasn't too long after that that we were standing in front of my parent's home.

After pressing the button near the gate and getting Wilfred on the other side, the gate slid open slowly. I hadn't exactly mentioned Vinyl's mother or Sweeps to them, but I hope they were okay with it.

Especially Vinyl's mother, as I was looking forward to whatever she had to tell me about.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Aha,if it isn't my favorite-" Wilfred began as he opened the door to greet me, though he cut short when he saw the look on my face.

Even if we hadn't seen each other for years, Wilfred could spot when I was hiding something. We just stared silently at each other for a maybe two seconds or so before he dropped his act and cut to the chase.

"You brought guests with you again, didn't you?" He asked, one brow cocked with a deadpan voice.

My ears went flat as I admitted it.

"Yes..."

"Well, where are they? It's almost time for dinner so getting them plates might be a chore." He said, as if this was a common occurrence. It had only happened twice!

I turned to the bushes where Sweeps had opted they hide in until I had gotten the go-ahead from my parents to come in. I had half expected Vinyl's mother to outright refuse to do it, but to my surprise she did it without a moments hesitation; the only words coming from her mouth being: 'My how times change.'

They emerged quickly and quietly and made there way up to the doorstep where they faced the judgment of Wilfred.

"Wilfred, these are my two guests. Sweeps and Miss Scratch." I said, introducing the two.

"Hello." Sweeps chimed lightheartedly.

"A pleasure." Vinyl's mom said with a small curtsy.

Wilfred let out an almost ecstatic chuckle as soon as Miss Scratch had finished.

"My, my Octavia! Seems like your etiquette is rubbing off quite nicely on that mare friend of yours! I even see you got her to style her mane and abandon those glasses of hers." He said, admiring Vinyl's mother's manners.

'Mare-Friend? Oh! Looks like Wilfred is in the same boat as Sweeps was in.' I said, realizing that Wilfred had mad a similar assumption about Vinyl's mother and deciding to clear it up.

"Oh no. That isn't Vinyl." I said simply.

Wilfred looked a bit shocked.

"Really? But I could've sworn I heard you say 'Miss Scratch'. Unless this is a different one..." He said, a hoof sneaking to his chin whilst he thought about it.

"It is." I added, hoping he could draw his own conclusions.

"Oh? Then who's this one then?"

"It's Vinyl's mother." I said, deciding to drop the charade.

Now Wilfred's eyes lit up at that.

"No way...." He said, his gaze carrying over to Vinyl's mom, who only nodded.

"Unbelievable. Your mother's going to be dying to know her secret about stopping wrinkles you know? I mean, this madam looks as young as you do Octavia!" Wilfred said, surprisingly quick to believe the fact - quicker than I was admittedly.

He shook his head suddenly and stepped aside, allowing us to enter.

"Come in, come in. Your parents are in the living room. Dinner will be ready within the hour." He said, holding the door and smiling genuinely as he let us pass.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My mother and father were in the living room just as Wilfred had claimed, both of them occupying themselves with something small as dinner was being prepared. My father had the paper in hoof and my mother was talking with one of the maids about mane styles. She never could pick up knitting, claiming - much to my agreement - that it was 'boring as all hell'.

"Master and Misses Melody," Wilfred said with a polite clearing of the throat. ", your daughter has arrived, with two guests."

Mother and father looked up quickly, smiling as they saw me standing behind Wilfred, and to their credit kept smiling as Sweeps and Vinyl's mother walked in behind me.

After a quick exchange of hugs between me and my parents, we all settled in on the numerous seats available and began on introductions.

"So, Octavia, care to introduce us?" My mother piped, looking at my two guests with great interest.

"Ah, well, this is Sweeps." I said, gesturing to Sweeps, who for some reason decided to keep her massive camping bag on whilst she walked through the house. She opted to greet them with a simple hoof raise, looking a bit shy in the face of my parents.

"And this is...um, Miss Scratch." I said, preparing for the inevitable.

"Ah, so is this Vinyl's sister? Or is it another 'Scratch' of no relation." My father asked, looking at Vinyl's mother with a notable amount of interest.

It was probably her shut eyes. Still haven't exactly figured that one out.

"Ah, well..."

"I'm Vinyl's mother." Vinyl's mother interrupted me, getting a wide eyed look of shock from my mother and nothing more than a smile and a chuckle from my father.

"How old are you dear?! You look as young as my daughter! You simply must tell me y-" My mother began, but Vinyl's mother was quick to butt in.

"My secret to wrinkles, yes. Uhm, Octavia, dear, might we have that chat now? Perhaps in another room?" She asked me, her previous look of nervousness now turned to a look of full fledged guilt at this point.

"I - uh - sure." I stammered, turning to my parents and asking to be excused.

"Go right ahead dear. You can talk in my study if you'd like privacy." My father replied, his smile unmoved by Vinyl's mother's sudden outburst.

I thanked him and walked off to the side of the living room where a small hallway led down to the office door to my father's study. Vinyl's mother was right behind me as we went, actually looking eager to get whatever it was she needed to say off of her chest. After entering the room and shutting the door behind me, she let out a large sigh of relief.

"I'm terribly sorry about my manners just a second ago, but I couldn't let this weigh in my head any longer." She said, looking for my forgiveness but clearly not going to be affected if I didn't offer it.

"Look, dear, last night as you went to be and... well, you know what I did as I've already told you this part, but the part that I left out was arguably the more important part." She said, tilting her head down to avoid what would've been my gaze had her eyes been open to receive it.

"You can tell me, Miss Scratch." I said.

I honestly didn't know if she should. At this point I was acting more out of sympathy than rational thought.

She looked up to me with a said expression about her before trotting over to me and whispering into my ear. As the words left her lips I felt myself stiffen up and the hairs on the end of my neck stood at attention.

"What?!"
> By the Record
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"What do you mean changes?!" I all but screamed at Vinyl's mother.

She held her hooves over her ears as I did so, but that wasn't going to stop me. My head was struggling to pick which I should do first, look over my body to see just what had changed about me, or shout and confront Vinyl's mother further. As a result, I kind of just muddled the two together and screamed about half of a word while patting various places on my lower body.

She looked up at me with a sort of sheepish look on her face, which didn't help me calm down.

"D-Dear, if I may-" She began.

"May what?! Do something else to me?!" I shouted.

Some may call this kind of reaction a bit rash and random considering my demeanor just a few seconds prior to her speaking a sentence into my ear. I mean, most would say I was happy; what could cause me to shift so quickly to shouting?

Well, I'll just go ahead and say that I can put up with a lot, and that's not to sound prideful in thick-skin or flaunting that fact, it's just what I've been told by both my parents and friends.

But this was a new line.

Vinyl's mother had told me something simple, that after she had bitten me, I had changed.

The implications were, obviously, vampiric in nature. I had already checked my teeth for fangs growing in and ran over to a mirror to see if my eyes were turning red. Vinyl's mother had mentioned that red eye color wasn't a transformative result of vampirism, and I responded by throwing a bottle of wine at her from off my father's shelf he kept in his study.

"Dear, if you would-"

"No!"

I was mad of course. She had, after I offered her an act of compassion and trust, taken something that was most precious to me. I didn't want to talk to a thief right now.

What had she stolen from me? Well, that was just it. She had stolen part of me.

The change she had mentioned, whatever it may be, was her fault and that change - by definition - means something that just simply isn't who I am.

I propped my self on my father's desk, breathing heavy after shouting at her, and noticed that my mane had begun to get stringy with a bit of sweat. Not to mention how disheveled it must've looked. Going along with the scared look bound to be in my eye, I must've looked like I had just witnessed a murder.

And in a way, I did.

A murder of a part of myself, by a mare that I had trusted and been nothing but kind and understanding to. It was enough to anger me to the point where I failed to notice the gentle knocks coming from the door, but the voice that came after I knew well. And it was enough for me to cock my head back up and widen my eyes a little.

"Ah, Octavia dear, pardon me for knocking but I thought I heard screaming." It was the voice of my father, muffled by the door.

"Wilfred you'd call that screaming, correct?" I heard him ask, clearly not wanting for us to hear it but failing miserably.

"Yes sir." Wilfred agreed.

"Yes, screaming. Ah, are you two alright in there?"

How was I going to tell my father about this? What would happen to Vinyl's mom, and more importantly Vinyl, if they found out that I was becoming a vampire because of Vinyl's mom? They'd do something, though it would probably be something rational like stopping me from seeing Vinyl.

I turned my eyes to the mare who had her's closed, a glare of hatred in my own and an oblivious look on her face. I suppose she couldn't feel emotions.

"Dear, please don't look at me like that. I know what you're thinking and-"

Point proven.

"Be quiet." 

I spoke simply and calmly, getting just that out of her.

I raised from my father's desk and walked towards her, my teeth gritting as I looked at her more. This was the first time I had ever been angry enough to grit teeth, and arguably the only time I had ever been truly mad at someone. Even the crazed vampire out in the woods who tried to abuse me to get him Vinyl didn't compare to how angry I was.

I stopped just a few inches from in front of her, being sure to take a good few seconds to stare heavily at her before speaking.

"If you cause my parent's to forbid me from seeing Vinyl..." I began, ending at the part where I was supposed to issue a "if you do this" threat to Vinyl's mom.

But what could I say? That I'd fight her? What could I do to possibly hurt her. I was me, well partially at least, and she was her -- a vampiric, age old mare without a care in the world that wasn't about her daughter.

My eyes widened at the thought, then narrowed at Vinyl's mother.

"I'm telling on you." I said, my voice no more than a whisper at this point.

"W-What?" She stammered, lifting a hoof and recoiling a little bit.

"Hello? Octavia? I can hear you in there, is everything okay?" My father chimed in again, doing nothing to disrupt my stare down with Vinyl's mother.

"Sir, if I may suggest-" Wilfred began, though he cut himself short about as quickly as he began.

"Honey, please. It's a mare thing." I heard my mother say, followed by a barrage of hoof steps and "ouches" walking away, suggesting that my mother had grabbed my father by his ear and physically pulled him away.

After that, the sound of a single set of hooves coming closer was all that was heard.

"It's alright dear! I got your father, you two take as much time as you'd like!" My mother chimed happily, going off of what I could only imagine was some 'just mare things' idea that said that the shouting I had done was okay.

With the sound of my mother's hooves softening as she walked away from the door, me and Vinyl's mother got back to the matter at hoof.

"I'm telling on you." I repeated to Vinyl's mother.

"Telling on me? To who?" She asked, confused as ever.

I squinted at her.

"Vinyl."

Her white face somehow paled at the mention of that idea, and an open mouthed frown came about. She was stuck like that for maybe five or so seconds before she shook her head and began to stammer for an excuse of some sort.

"O-Octavia, you never let me explain what kind of 'changes' I was talking about." She said, this time pausing for my permission before continuing to explain to me. Perhaps it was to see if I was willing to listen with reason or if I was going to stay submerged in my angered ignorance.

I was really considering doing the latter, since I'd much rather not know what the changes were and pretend as if they weren't there, but I decided to let her talk.

"Go on." I said with a venomous sound in my voice that even I hadn't heard before.

"L-Look, the changes I were talking about aren't about you anymore. The ones I referred to - which I now see how you might have misunderstood - were during the night after my... er, feeding." She said, feverishly going about her explanation as if to prove something to me.

"Explain."

"The change was not in you physically - well, technically speaking it was, but that's not what I'm getting at. The change was simply in your personality. It...shifted from something not like yourself dear." She said.

"And quite honestly it scared me." She said, genuine in her tone.

"To the point where I felt like holding you down was necessary, so you wouldn't do something you regret." She added.

I felt my gaze soften at her admitting to being scared and that she had thought of what I might've done last night - whatever that might be. Though now my attitude was just a mix of mild anger and intrigue.

"Why? What happened?" I asked, curious about what would force her to feel like restraining me was necessary.

"You...you started acting odd. It looked odd on you thanks to your usual attitude, but this personality also suited you in a weird, twisted sort of way." She said again, doing nothing but saying what was already known in a new way.

I began to get a bit agitated thanks to her reluctance to give me a straight answer.

"How did I act? What did I do?" I asked.

"I assume you have, but have you ever seen Vinyl when she was hungry?" She asked.

My eyes widened at the mention of Vinyl's 'hungry' mood. Was that what she was saying I looked like? And if so, how in god's name did she take me seriously? She was clearly stronger than me; enough to detain me in my sleep with only a single hoof!

"I...I have." I said, letting her go on to explain it more before jumping to a conclusion.

"Well...it was arguably similar to it, though with your personal twist." She said vaguely.

"And what was this...'twist'?" I asked.

"Well, you just didn't have the playfulness that Vinyl has when she hungers -- the reason behind that being that it is just who she is, and even shifting to an almost other person entirely isn't able to get through that playfulness that's concreted into her personality. The only change when a vampire feeds is the...er, promiscuous attitude that they gain." She explained.

"So regular personality determines the 'hungry' personality of a vampire?" I asked, for clarification.

"Indeed." She nodded.

I thought about that for a moment, thinking about what Vinyl's mother would be like when she was hungry -- considering she was the one who fed off me. The only thing that I could think that was "concreted" into her personality was her overwhelming amount of motherly intuition and approach to people.

I shivered when I combined that with the lustful mood that came with feeding.

She let out a sudden sigh of relief.

"At least you don't look as angry anymore. Telling my daughter would ruin me..." She said with both a nervous and happy tone.

My eyes widened as I realized she was right. My interest in vampires and her information on them was able to overrule my anger with her; even though I was technically right about her invasive feeding and her changing me. I considered putting on an act of anger, but knew my acting skills couldn't fool a mare as versed as her. Instead, I went to the one thing I still had on her.

I began a happy looking trot, moving past her as she had her closed-eyes glued to me with suspicion.

"Don't worry..." I said, opening the door and turning around to her with what must have been the smuggest smile I had ever had.

"...I'll still tell Vinyl." I said, quickly shutting the door so she couldn't protest.

I pressed my ear up against the door to listen to her reaction, though was a bit disappointed when I didn't hear anything. Though, that disappointment quickly turned into glee as I heard her start feverishly stumbling towards the door in order to catch up with me. She was even speaking in a tone like someone wanting to bargain their way out of having someone tell on them to their mother, ironic considering she was the mother of the person I was going to tell.

I felt a burst of childishness come over me as I found myself racing down the hall, away from Vinyl's mom so that she couldn't bargain with me. 

I even giggled a little.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Flint...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Feeling better now?" Silver asked with a small chuckle, pushing the left hind leg of Whitey out to full extension and getting a groan out of her. 

She had been hitting all of Vinyl's vital spots with precision and speed I hadn't ever seen before. Though, despite the speed at which she moved her hooves, she still had the deliberateness as if she had thought of the motion an hour ago. It looked like she had planned what both she and Vinyl were doing, and it irked me in all honesty.

But then again, that was Silver for you.

"Y-Yeah." Whitey responded shakily.

Whitey had been turned to pretty much putty at the hooves of Silver at this point.

Meanwhile, I was sat off to the side of them near a wall but not quite on it. I had propped my head up a hoof as I watched the two. I had came here for a fight, yet her I was on the side watching nothing even close to a fight happen.

'Why is she doing this?' I asked, looking at her with a deadpanned and bored look on the outside, but annoyance on the inside.

I felt a theoretical - and probably literal - vein about to pop until I finally just out and shouted to the two.

"Can we please fight now!" I screamed.

For roughly thirty minutes or so now these two jokes of supposedly strong fighters had been doing goddamn yoga because Vinyl had said something about being tense. And Silver, being the weirdo she was, had offered stretching out Vinyl's joints for her. And Vinyl, being the weirdo she was, accepted gladly.

I was to shocked to object to it, and when I had recovered it was already too late since they were already doing a one-on-one class with one another on how to stretch. It had eventually gotten to the point where I just decided to go sit on the side of the room, about seventy or so feet from them so that they couldn't hear my grumbling. Why'd I even do that? They should hear my grumbling so they might stop sooner.

The two of them paid me no mind, Silver finally getting off of Vinyl and both of them rising to full extension and smiling at each other.

"Finally, took you two long enough. Stupid mares..." I said, closing my eyes and pursing my lips before blowing out a sigh so that it would gently levitate the longer half of my mane.

"Say again?"

My eyes went wide as I whipped my head around toward the voice that I had unmistakably heard behind me, only to find nothing but the wall there to greet me.

"What the-" I said, only to have a hoof tap me on the shoulder.

I turned around to see a white mare with an eager smile and wide, red eyes filled with glee as she arched a hoof back while keeping her other hoof on my shoulder so I couldn't move. She used her body weight to rock me into the ground, making pinning me down an easier task while also giving her hoof some extra momentum for a heavier hit.

I only had enough time to gasp before her hoof came hammering forwards, going right past my head with a few inches between the impact on the ground and my head. My mane brushed gently to the opposite side of where her hoof had hit, just the speed of her hoof and impact of the hit was enough to make a breeze. 

I was still stunned, mouth slightly agape and eyes wide.

"Heh, guess I missed." She said, giggling a little before un-straddling me.

She knew damn well she hit just what she wanted.

I heard the attentive hooves of Silver coming over to me, a bit of concern in them but overall still fairly lax. Soon enough she was peering down at me with concern, though it seemed to disappear when she realized I hadn't been hurt.

"Well, seems that she found your weakness to surprises." She said, offering a smile.

"Come on, no more beating around the bush." She said, offering a hoof and pulling me up to my hooves before we turned and faced the white mare who had taken the time of my recovery to put some space between us.

What the hell was going on anymore? Now Silver was telling me to stop horsing around.

'Heh...horsing.' I chuckled to myself.

"So, we know two things. She's fast and strong, but if you excel at one thing then you fail at others." Silver said, clearly trying to sympathize me.

"Everything can burn." I said simply, horn igniting again with the flare from before that I had lost while waiting for Silver and Whitey to finish their stretches.

"Remember thought," Silver said, her wings extending a little. "she's handicapped in this fight. She has no magic. If we struggle to much during this, we'll need all four generals to even hope of taking her down if that ring ever gets pulled off."

I narrowed my eyes and furrowed my brows at the mention of that.

How did we ever allow this vampire to get this far? You'd think the best strategy for beating vampires would be too beat them before they have a chance to get to their primes. Assuming this was even her prime. To think that in a couple hundred years she could be exponentially stronger and still growing. Even if she were to begin indulging in feeding like the reports suggested she abstained from, she'd be a threat much greater than now.

Yet she chose the solitary and humbled life over the one of tyranny. She could have, if she wanted too, built her own vampiric following and launched an assault on the castle with a fifty-fifty chance of winning.

But she fasted. A vampire, trying not to drink blood. What the hell was wrong with her?

"You keep her busy up close. I'll hit her from back here with fire." I said.

"Think she heard that?" Silver asked, the look on her face going from confusion to focus within an instant as she jumped behind me and extended one of her wings, covering me.

The sound of something light hitting the back of Silver's wing made itself known and was followed by the sound of hooves hitting the ground.

"I worked as a DJ, what good would I be if I couldn't hear stuff really good?" The voice of Whitey spoke up from behind the metal clad wings of Silver.

Silver's look stiffened again as she quickly retracted her wings and moved in front of me just in time to catch a white hoof just inches from my face, the sound of flesh hitting flesh resonated through the expansive training room.

Vinyl chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof, clearly not expecting Silver to catch the hoof.

Silver's looked darkened as she gave her wings a strong flap before lifting Vinyl off the ground and carrying her towards the wall farthest away at breakneck speeds.

I tilted my head up and began putting as much heat into a concentrated ball as fast as possible, resulting in a superheated ball hot enough to somewhat sear the ground it was hovering over.

I had seen Silver do this a few times sparring partners who weren't pegasi.

I watched her tilt upwards near the wall, letting go of Vinyl enough to where she was essentially riding the force she had put into Vinyl. After getting up to the point where she deemed it high enough, she used Vinyl's body as a sort of stool by speeding up until she was able to 'land' and placed both her hoof on Vinyl's abdomen.

The force was what I had assumed had kept Whitey from using her limbs to stop Silver, and even though now would've been the only time to do it, Silver was three steps ahead of that.

Silver's previously coiled legs extended out in a powerful buck that was only fueled more by the downward flapping of her wings, sending the white form of Vinyl blurring down to the floor. 

The impact was enough to kick up a pit of dust, the perfect way to hide what I was about to throw at her.

I strained forwards and sent the hefty mass of condensed flames hurdling towards the cloud of dust. It didn't matter if I hit her directly, though that would hurt a lot more, but the blast radius was more than enough to encompass the clouse.

Almost as quickly as the bright ball went into the dust cloud, I felt the ball rupture and begin to explode.

Concerned not to blow up the whole room, and to concentrate the heat even more on Vinyl, I strained and stopped the explosion from going out too far. It ended up looking like how the sun did in the sky, a perfectly rounded and grossly incandescent bright ball of pure heat.

I felt my knees give out after the explosion subsided, releasing my hold on the heat and allowing a cloud of ash to bellow from the crater.

Silver landed beside me and placed a hoof over my shoulder and helped me straighten my back out.

"Well, pretty good looking for two blocks and two attacks." She commented.

"Y-Yeah..." I said shakily, breathing deeply. I could feel myself steadying out with the passing seconds.

The heat I had used in the explosion wasn't anything too special for me, though the concentration and speed I had put into forming it was  much more intense than what I usually did. Though the concentration was necessary for the explosion effect since I knew I wasn't going to be able to hit her directly with her kind of speed.

"You think she's hurt enough?" I asked.

"Maybe. Like I said, she might've been fast and strong, but that would usually mean she isn't too durable. Kind of like how Stone is strong and durable, but not fast." She said again in a form of assurance.

Silver began trotting over to the rubble of our little combo of attacks, only to stop half way. Her ears seemed to perk up and I thought I saw the hairs on her mane stand up a little bit.

"Silver?" I asked, still breathing a little heavy.

She turned back to me suddenly with a look of mild panic on her face, beginning to move at me as fast as she could. Though I didn't know why at first, I soon found out.

I felt something wrap around my hooves, and after looking down saw another pair of white hooves clasping on mine. I had enough time to breath in to shout before the white hooves gave a mighty tug and pulled my own two downwards into the ground, embedding them there. It wasn't too long until the back two followed suit.

Silver stopped moving after that, instead choosing to give her wings a few flaps and hover in the air for a moment.

And after that moment passed, the ground a couple meters beside me erupted and a white mare popped through with sudden gasps for air. A shaggy blue mane shook violently to knock the rubble off, finally steadying and revealing the cheeky grin of Whitey.

She had figured there wasn't much escape from me and Silver in terms of during our attack, so must have used the momentum of Silver's throw to knock into the ground well enough that she could go deep enough and far enough so that my fire couldn't hit her thanks to my choice to restrain the explosion on both top and bottom.

"Heh, close one." She said, almost mocking us that she was alive.

That grin was getting seriously sickening to me.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


> The Journey Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So, what brings you here anyways deary?" My mother asked, reclining on the couch while my father laid back in his chair. He popped an eyebrow to me at the question, showing he was also interested in what the answer was.

"Well, believe it or not, but Vinyl's gone missing again." I said solemnly.

They both had similar looks of their own when I said it.

"Pity."

"A shame indeed... I suppose you're off to go find her then?" Father asked.

I nodded.

"Ah, of course. I trust you'll be safe with your two friends then?" He followed up, quirking his brow to me.

I looked over to Vinyl's mother, who was sat next to my own mother. She couldn't seem to stop staring at Miss Scratch's face, admiring her complexion. I then looked to Sweeps, who was simply looking down at the ground trying not to make eye contact with anyone.

"Yes, I'll be fine." I said.

Both Sweeps and Vinyl's mother were unicorns, already making them more useful than myself. Not to mention one was a vampire with unnatural strength and speed who managed to somehow live without using her eyesight. Did she use echolocation or something? That still wouldn't explain how she could make out the mood and appearance of people, but it was all I could think of.

"Well, it's good you stopped by to tell us then." My mother said with a bit of relief, taking a break from burning her eyes into Vinyl mother only to return the second she had finished talking to me.

Suddenly, a maid stuck their head through the open door leading to the dining room.

"Dinner will be out in a few moments."

"Octavia, I don't mean to be rude in any regard, but could we get ours to-go? I'd like to get a good start on walking, you know how I am in the sun." Vinyl's mother said, though I'd be more inclined to think that she just wanted to get away from my mother who was now hovering a hoof near her face in an attempt to touch it.

"Soup might be pretty hard to make 'to go', but I'll see what we can do." My father said.

"Oh, and I'd also like to talk to you before we go father." I said.

It had been proven pretty consistently that my father knew a lot about where he lived, which he took pride in. He knew the geography of the mountain side of Canterlot and also knew most things surrounding the castle for a few miles in every direction. If anyone knew where some would be, it'd be him or the map makers he hired.

"Of course. Dear, please stop trying to touch our guests." My father said as he got up, not bothering to look at my mother who hid her previously hovering hoof sheepishly behind her back.

I noticed that Sweeps got up too to come with us, not that I minded.

As we walked back to an all too familiar study in the back of my family's home, I noticed how suppressed Vinyl's mother was being about my previous threat to tell her daughter on her. I suppose she realized that if she spoke too much about her daughter into my family that she would eventually slip up and accidentally expose Vinyl's secret.

And then I'd really tell Vinyl on her.

As my father held open the door to let the four of us into his now cramped looking office, he immediately got down to business.

"So, what is it you three are looking to find out." He said.

"The location of an order of-" Sweeps began, only to have a white hoof smack over her mouth hard enough to be worried for the sake of her teeth.

"A place." Vinyl's mother said calmly.

"Oh? Such as...?" He said, opening a drawer behind his desk and rifling through what sounded like paper.

"Well...we're not quite sure actually." I admitted.

In all honesty, we we're all clueless to where the place was we were looking for. Last time we needed to find a place, we were lucky enough to have Vinyl show us - and we only found her because she was hunting me at the time. For all we know, they could have taken her right back into the room across the way, though I'm sure we would have heard something by now.

"Hm. Well that already makes it difficult." He said, pulling up a map and sprawling it across the blank surface of his wooden desk, an overhead lamp lighting up the surface well enough to make out every detail.

"Do you know if it'd be out of town? That would narrow the search significantly." He asked, not bothering to look up from the map as he scanned it intently with furrowed brows.

"Ideally." Vinyl's mother said.

"Well, I know most of the places outside of the city until it becomes mostly farm land. These are all mills and this is a bakery that the mills supply to." He began, pointing out all of the surrounding areas and what they were so that we could tell if they were the right place or not.

I was partially impressed with what he was doing, what with not questioning anymore than he did and letting us do most of the asking. I guess he could tell that we didn't want much getting out thanks to Vinyl's mother's hoof slapping Sweeps when she began to mention a bit more than we should.

"And this one-"

"What's this one?" Sweeps asked suddenly, now at the table as opposed to near the door where VInyl's mother had been.

I looked back only to see her shrug as to how she got away.

"Hmm. One of the few I have no idea. I never got around to seeing what it was." My father admitted while Sweeps dug through her bag and pulled out her own map and held it up for comparison.

Oddly enough, the location wasn't present on her map like it was on my father's.

"Who made this map?" Sweeps asked, noting the distinct lack of the building on her map.

It wasn't a small building either, taking up a good size in comparison to something as large as a plot of farmland - being almost twice the size of the acres of land that took up the Canterlot farms.

"I hired an out of town map maker to take a balloon ride and make his own map for me. I can't stand the lack of detail in the city offered one, and all the map makers in town all belong to the city." He said.

"Interesting." Sweeps concluded, packing up her map and walking back to the door without another word. She even picked up Vinyl's mom's hoof and placed it back over her mouth, much to said mare's surprise.

"Well, as far as I know these three places are your best bet for now. In the meantime, I'll go ahead and send Wilfred and Hammer out to the other places tomorrow. Me and your mother will check around town tomorrow as well." My father said, indicating this was as much as he could help.

"Thank you daddy." I said, trotting up and giving him a warm hug.

It had been so long since I had hugged my dad like this, but it was also a long time since I had asked so much of him. I knew it wasn't easy to be him, especially with what he has to put up with every day and night, and it amazes me that he can keep a steady smile the whole time.

'Heh...kinda like Vinyl.' I thought, my eyes widening suddenly as I realized just how similar Vinyl and my father were.

"Well, Wilfred probably has your food packed up and ready. Best not to keep him waiting." My father said, backing away and looking down on me with the same heavy smile. Only now I looked at this smile with so much more awe. It was like I was seeing him in a different light entirely.

He looked concerned when I stared at him for so long.

"Is there something on my face? In my teeth?" He asked, patting his head in search of whatever it was that was making me stare.

"Nothing. Just thinking." I said with a smirk.

He looked a bit confused for a second, though it quickly faded back into a smile.

"Atta girl." He smirked.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


It had been about an hour since we had left my parent's home, and we found ourselves walking along a gently curving, dirt road that served almost as a wall between two different worlds it seemed. On one side there were rolling hills with thick and healthy grass fields that flowed gently in the cool breeze of the night. The moon was in perfect view on this side, reflecting off of a large lake past the rolling fields. 

On the other was a thick and tall forest with every leaf and limb outlined in the darkness of night. The sounds of life came from this side in the form of bugs and the occasional bird reminding us that we were not by ourselves.

The three of us walked so that neither of us were excluded from the conversations we periodically had. Myself being in the middle, Sweeps being on the side with the open fields, and Vinyl's mother hugging the curve of the road near the forest.

It was during one of these conversations that Vinyl's mom preformed something I would consider rare.

She admired me.

"Octavia dear, if there is one thing I can say for certain, it is that your parents are well versed in pony nature." She said.

Well, it wasn't me, it was my parents, but either way I felt a swell of pride when she mentioned it. I didn't even have to ask her to elaborate on what she meant this time, because I felt the same way about them too. They knew how people acted; that the broad nature of people couldn't be simply summed up in a sentence. There were far too many personalities out there to do that, and so they had reached a point of not letting bias always influence their thoughts.

"You have one that is similar in a way. You dating my daughter is enough proof of that." She said, extending a compliment my way.

"Thank you." I said, closing my eyes and just smiling at the thought.

I wasn't sure why, but I just suddenly felt as if everything was so realistic. Colors had been looking more vibrant, despite being dark ones thanks to it being night; the air smelled fresher and every movement was just so visibly to me. I wasn't sure if this was because of vampiric fluids or whatever, but whatever caused it wasn't a concern to me at the moment.

But the rustling in the bushes was.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed both Sweeps and Vinyl's mother were looking over at the bushes as well, most likely for the same reason I was.

The rustling from the bushes didn't sound natural or instinctual the way that the ones of wild animals were, they sounded accidental and ceased suddenly once any major sound was made.

It was suspicious to say the least.

Vinyl's mother leaned in a little, then let out a light chuckle.

"It was a fallen bird." She said, shaking her head and beginning to move again.

Trusting in the fact she was a vampire and hunting was her forte, me and Sweeps both let out nervous chuckles of our own and began to move as well. 

We went on further down the road, to the point where the moon that was to the left of us was now behind us, before Vinyl's mother let out a girlish giggle. It was odd to hear it from her, but at this point I had learned to - much like Vinyl - expect anything from her. Though this chuckle somehow sounded... forced?

Though, this chuckle quickly ceased itself and her face twisted to a grimace.

I was beginning to wonder if she was insane.

"Disgraceful." She said simply.

Her hoof suddenly shot out to her right and directly into the thick brush of the forest fast enough for the plants to make a slapping sound with her fur.

Me and Sweeps were considering running at this point, though when she withdrew her hoof we could only go wide eyed and gasp.

She pulled her hoof out of the brush, and with it came a dark red pegasus who had a white hoof crushing into his neck with enough force to make him grit his teeth. Teeth that sported a noticeably large set of shining fangs.

"SImply disgraceful that you thought you could keep sneaking after that mess up. Did you think you could take three when you can't even sneak right, much less dodge?" She asked the pegasus as she began to raise him higher and higher off the ground until his legs no longer touched.

The stallion's only response was attempting to pry Vinyl's mother's hooves off of his neck, though it looked to be in vain as said hoof didn't even budge. I began to move forward to try and stop Miss Scratch from choking the poor stallion to death, but someone else beat me to it.

Well, technically lots of people beat me to it.

"Dammit." Sweeps deadpanned, just before the bushes exploded in a flurry of movement that looked like what one might expect a beehive to look like if they threw a rock at it.

One by one, figures shot out from the bushes and landed themselves in a circle around the three of us. Each of them had a dangerous glint in their eyes as they looked over the three of us over like nothing but food. After the last one hit the ground, from what I hope was the last one, they outnumbered us by exactly four to one with the one currently being strangled included.

Vinyl's mother had since turned her head from the still struggling vampire to the eleven behind her.

She scoffed before picking up the pegasus and throwing her over both me and Sweeps so that she landed with the semi-circle of vampires.

"Couldn't have made it through one good walk without getting jumped. Octavia, I think you might have some bad luck going against you." Sweeps said with a sigh, putting her massive backpack on the ground and opening up one of the zippers.

From her bag she pulled out a well used looking shovel, planting it firmly in the ground before zipping her bag back up and impressively managing to toss it off to the side. She picked up the shovel once more, giving it a practice swing before getting into a stance ready to fight.

Vinyl's mother moved forwards as well, putting a hoof across my chest and gently pushing me behind her in a protective fashion. Her horn sparked a devious red that was bigger and brighter than usual, lighting up the surroundings and making the crowd of vampires flinch in nervousness.

"You lot need to learn a few things about how sneaking works. For starters, don't blow your cover if one of you is caught unless you have the advantage in numbers." She said sagely.

"You really must be blind then lady, there's twelve of us and three of you." One of them snickered.

"As I said, unless you have the advantage in numbers." Vinyl's mother repeated.

A growl came from the same vampire, who jumped quickly at Vinyl's mother, only to be met by the ringing of metal and the face of a shovel. I was personally surprised how firmly Sweeps had stopped the vampire, apparently putting enough force into the shovel to completely cancel out the momentum of the vampire, whose hind legs had bunched up like you might expect in a cartoon when a character hit a wall a bit too hard.

"Looks like there's eleven of you now." Sweeps said, planting the shovel in the ground.

The remaining eleven turned to themselves and nodded, exploding in another flurry of movement as they all got into position.

The majority of them turned out to be pegasi, seven of them launching up to the sky and hovering right in front of the moon in a menacing way. The other four were composed of three earth ponies and one unicorn. As for which one was which, I still didn't know; they had crouched themselves down so that the moonlight didn't quite bathe them enough to see which one had the horn. It was clear that they had a tactic, which was to use confusing movement and bad visibility to throw the opponents off.

"Hmph," Vinyl's mother smirked. "I've been meaning to get in some target practice recently."

There was no response on the vampires part, they simply chose to begin their attack.

The pegasi quickly moved out of the moon light, and became almost invisible as our eyes had to adjust thanks to staring at the moon so long. As a result, two of the dive bombing pegasi managed to hit Sweeps on both sides, dragging her off a couple dozen feet away.

This must've been their plan, to use the blindness we'd suffer from the moon as a debilitation to separate us. Which, despite being an extremely clever plan, had a pretty big flaw in it.

One of the five pegasi heading for both me and Vinyl's mother was surprised to be met by a white hoof to the top of the head, a result of Vinyl's mother teleporting just above him and crashing down on him, and hit the ground hard. The other four quickly changed direction as they realized the stun hadn't worked on Vinyl's mother.

A perk of keeping her eyes closed constantly.

She pressed the advantage by shooting numerous bolts of magic randomly into the air, not aiming for any of them in particular, but more looking to just break their organization.

Vinyl's mom smirked as the barrage had an immediate and strong effect as the four of them scattered.

The sound of ringing iron came from behind me, causing me to turn and see Sweeps drawing back her shovel from the collapsed form of an earth pony.

"Might wanna watch yourself as much as you watch the battle." She said, no anger in her voice surprisingly.

She moved past me and towards the three grounded figures, laughing as they readied for her attack.

And attack she did, her casual walk turning to a full on sprint that did nothing to shock the three vampires who responded by charging her as well.

Though it seemed like this was what Sweeps had intended, as she instantly shoved the shovel into the ground with the face of it towards herself. This made her actually tumble over the shovel in an acrobatic sort of way, one of the hooves of her hind leg coming down on the surprised heads of the vampires and staggering them.

As another vampire rushed her downed form, her horn lit up and wrapped around the shaft of the shovel, helping her pulling it up and slapping a chunk of dirt into the face of the one charging her.

As the vampire spat out the dirt that had gotten into his mouth, Sweep's simply let her magic hover the shovel over to him and began to smack him on the head repeatedly.

It was around this time that a flash of dark purple came from behind the two, revealing the one unicorn of the bunch. Though when I looked towards where the flash had come from, I found no one there.

'Did she teleport?' I asked myself, looking both behind Sweeps and Vinyl's mother as they fended off the vampires.

"Don't move a muscle dear." A sultry mare's voice whispered into my ear around the same time that a pair of hooves wrapped around my waist and chest.

I had only enough time to open my mouth to gather the air needed for a scream before a flash of purple beat me.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The next thing I felt, surprisingly, was the feeling of heat - a great contrast from the chilled air of the night I was in not but a few seconds. Upon opening my eyes, I was met with the orange blaze of a large bonfire. Around the bonfire were a number of what looked like small huts, each of them expertly integrated with the surrounding brush of the forest.

It took my mind a second to process what exactly I was looking at. My mind was groggy, as if I was going through the beginning stages of a bad migraine. After a few blinks of my half lidded eyes, they suddenly shot open and I began looking around almost spastically as I realized what had happened.

At first I didn't see anything, but as I began to blink more and more, the view of a pair of eyes came into view.

And another set beside them.

And another.

And another...

I looked around as almost two dozen sets of eyes began to make themselves known, each of them looking at me from a distance away from the bonfire, letting only the reflection of the light make their eyes known to me.

One by one, I noticed that these sets of eyes took on a new feature that I could make out through the darkness.

Devious grins.
> Community
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


There is a very distinct feeling that comes with certain situations when you realize that, no matter what, you are screwed to the utmost highest calibre there is. A calibre which you thought impossible, where something that shouldn't happen, did happen. The kind of screwed where you think offing yourself would be a better alternative than facing what was about to come.

That feeling, for a lack of any better words, is horrifically terrifying.

This feeling came to me as I looked around at the growing number of grins coming from what I could only assume was a vampiric camp filled to the brim. When I focused too long on one specific group of them, the sound of another group of them rustling from behind me draw my attention, turning into a vicious cycle of yanking my head around as they slowly inched closer to me.

In an attempt to rationalize the irrational, I decided to stop following the advancing hoofsteps with my eyes, and just close them. It had occurred to me that the sight was what was confusing me - and by extension, scaring me - so what better way to stop it than to just close your eyes?

Previous talks with both Vinyl and her mother began to race through my head. Possibly the flashing of my life before my eyes, or some kind of message from my brain that I may have a fighting chance in this.

One of them was going to pounce regardless, and since I was the only illuminated currently, they'd know which way to pounce on me if I was looking around spastically.

The sounds from their hooves began to be slightly louder, allowing me to know which direction the sound came from, even if I didn't turn to look in the same direction.

'M-Maybe they're friendly?' I said to myself in a hopeless attempt to reassure myself.

The sound of hooves rapidly approaching from behind me answered my question.

I let out a shaky breath as the hooves grew closer, while the a scene from when Miss Scratch was attempting to kill me ran through my mind like a broken record. Knives slowing down to the point where I could adjust them mid flight to not hit me.

Hopefully I could do it again.

My eyes sprang wide open, the orange blaze of the bonfire in front of me now moving at the pace where I could watch each individual flame lick at the air before dissipating.

I turned slowly, facing the sight of a vampire mid jump with his fangs glaring at me. He moved ever so slowly, as if to remind me that it wasn't time control I possessed, just good eyes.

I began to move myself, going underneath the stallion and watching his eyes slowly follow me. I pressed my front legs into his torso, and my bottom ones firmly on the dirt before shutting my eyes and pushing him past me.

I felt things begin to move around me, including the weight of the stallion now altering and heading right towards a blazing bonfire.

I didn't have time to check too long, as the others took no hesitation in charging me.

The first ones to come were two from both sides of me, each springing from the darkness and took nothing more than good timing to deal with - an easy feat as I opened my eyes again.

One jumped high while the other did not, trying to mix it up for me.

I chose to wait, namely because I didn't have an idea on how to deal with the one who didn't jump, but eventually my eyes kicked in again as I began to panic. after a few extra seconds of thought, I finally settled on an idea.

The one on the ground slowed to a stop and raised his hoof to hit me, opening his soft belly up for me to punch. I had learned that, though vampires are much more durable, they still have similar weak spots to normal ponies. A gut was one such.

I turned around quickly and planted my front hooves on the ground firmly as I watched the jumping vampire close in on me, a pair of unseen wings springing from his back and giving a sudden push towards the ground. It managed to send him upwards, out of the way of anything I might be able to throw at him.

Instead, I dropped to the ground, turning my head backwards to see a hoof go past where my head had previously been.

I took the opportunity of the one vampire missing to go for his two hooves on the ground, kicking at one and causing him to trip and begin to fall on top of me.

As I was beginning to try and get out from under the falling stallion, a whistling sound got my attention, and I looked up.

The vampire from before was dive bombing down towards me, apparently too honed in on me to notice his friend was beginning to fall on me.

I smiled as an idea formed.

A look back at the falling stallion confirmed what I needed, so now I had to only wait for things to unfold.

I looked forwards at the darkened horizon and shut my eyes, waiting a few seconds before feeling the hefty body of the stallion fall on me. He was heavy, but nothing too bad.

What followed though, was enough to knock the wind from my lungs.

I gasped as the body of the stallion pressed into me to the point where I feared I'd pop, a sickening sound of two heads hitting marking the start of the impact.

Suddenly, the weight lifted and I sucked in a breath of fresh air.

I knew that the two of them had hit each other. And I also knew they were both unconscious because they had hit heads.

I smirked a little at my cleverness before grunting as I tried to pull myself out from under the two of them. I closed my eyes as I pulled myself out, sighing pleasantly as I got back onto my hooves, and then opened my eyes just in time to see that another vampire had taken advantage of my recovery.

He had gotten close, his body lifted up above me with both hooves aimed down. 

He was trying to stomp on me, that brute.

He had gotten a bit too close to me to actually dodge thanks to the momentum I knew he had; though, I did notice his tongue sticking out ever so slightly, and a grin began to form on my face while my hoof began to snake its way up my side and hovered steady near my face.

I waited it out as he began to fall down on me, and only when he was too far down to adjust his path did I suddenly step backwards, leaving my hoof outwards and watching as his jaw came crashing down onto it.

Wide eyed hunger soon turned to tears as my hoof knocked his jaw - and by extension, teeth - up onto the tip of his poor tongue and he quickly backed away while his hooves shot to his mouth to offer his tongue sympathy.

Well, until another vampire pushed him out of the way in another attempt to charge me.

I was beginning to wonder if they were smart enough to try something new, until I noticed a purple flare out of the corner of my eye.

I did manage to stumble back to avoid a bolt of magic, flying by me at walking speed even with my everything else moving at a snail's pace. Though I wanted to find who had shot it, I turned back to the advancing vampire who had himself ducked low as to not give me any way to alter his weight.

As I began to panic, I did something I think any rational person would do.

I looked for things to throw at him.

At first all I felt was dirt, though I soon also felt the heat from the bonfire and got another devious idea.

Grabbing one of the fiery logs, I pushed through the pain of the flames and wielded the ignited timber like a club. One swing was all I needed thanks to how slow he seemed to move, bringing the fiery log into his face and with enough force to cause it to shatter into bits of embers.

As the vampire screeched to a stop and began to to retreat, I realized it was only a matter of time before they would pin me in place, even if I could see their every move before they made it. They were going to overwhelm me at this rate.

I needed to go on the offensive, and to possibly push through them while they were still surprised that a mere earth pony was somehow holding her own against a horde of vampires who overpowered her easily.

So, I moved.

I shot up to my hooves, looking over my shoulder and back to the fire with a blaze in my own eyes that challenged its flames.

'I won't die here. Vinyl wouldn't be able to handle it.' I said to myself, looking at my already burned hoof before placing into the ground with a cringe of pain.

I leaned forward, coiling my back two hooves before putting all I had into a buck that went straight into the bonfire. Once I hit the pile, flaming chunks of wood were sent skywards - my buck apparently coming out a lot stronger than I thought possible. A result of the lingering traces of vampiric fluid? Or just adrenaline? Probably both.

I took quick advantage of the skyward bound, flaming, debris; and turned to run in the same direction of the flaming chunks of wood.

It was a simple strategy: use a distraction and get away. Though, in this case the distraction was ignited logs.

Oh well.

I charged into the darkness. My target, a set of eyes that were aimed upwards at the distraction. Though the eyes quickly figured out my plan, and looked down to me as I ran towards them, going wide as I approached. 

The vampire that these eyes belonged to must have locked up at the sight of being charged, something they probably weren't used to, because I approached they gave me a "deer-in-headlights" as I came at them.

There was no way around this one without potentially running into another vampire, so I figured a quick tackle and punch to the face would have to be enough before I would get off them and run for the forest. The forest: a dark area where vampires would most definitely have the advantage over me. Especially if they had been camping inside the forest for any significant amount of time and knew there way around it.

Again, oh well.

I clenched my eyes as I felt my body hit the vampire's - using my hooves to both push and latch onto them - and sending them sprawling onto the ground where I quickly straddled them. One of my front hooves went from their body over to the area beside their head to give me leverage while the other moved backwards as far as I could make it.

If I was going to dispose of a vampire with a single blow, I needed to make sure my punch hit as hard as it could and make sure it hit a spot that was fatal to even them.

My target was the nose. It was the closest, weakest, and most fatal spot on someone other than the neck. I had learned that from band class, after one of the students had the nose of a double bass fall on him and send him to the hospital. He had said that the doctor's said he was lucky, because if it had hit any harder on his, he would have died.

I figured I could probably punch a bit harder than a falling double bass, even if I had been raised in the upper crust life style.

I finally opened my eyes to make sure I couldn't miss.

Though the time it took for me to set up that one look was all the time needed for the vampire to stop me.

Time seemed to move forwards at its regular pace, the debris from the bonfire falling to the ground and hitting around me and the downed vampire, providing just enough light to make out the minor details of their face. Through the glinting light of the fire, I made out something in their eyes that I had seen perfectly when the debris was in the air; the thing that had brought me to a full stop.

Tears.

Tears were building in the corners of this vampire's eyes, something I hadn't seen from a vampire before. Not tears of pain, like the ones from the stallion I had made bite his tongue, but tears of genuine fear.

'Why...why is she crying?' I thought to myself, my hoof still cocked and coiled, ready to fire at the mare in a moments notice if this happened to just be a last ditch effort to trap me.

Though if this was an act, she wasn't dropping it.

My eyes went wide as the feeling of a slight weight hitting the back of my head, causing my head to dip forwards a little.

At first, I was concerned this was the hoof of another vampire about to knock me out. Though the wiggling of whatever it was on the back of my head suggested that it wasn't attached to anything like a hoof was to a body. No, this was something else.

A sudden feeling of nibbling came to my ear, nothing painful, just a gentle nibbling on the very edge of my ear along with the sound of light grumbling. It almost tickled.

I looked up to find the head and tips of wings, suggesting it was a small pegasus, no older than maybe four at most, giving its best effort to chew on my ear.

I moved my coiled up hoof over back over my head and to the small body, picking up the small filly and holding them up in front of me. I gave it a confused look, and it responded by giving me a squee, the efforts of its gnawing now gone and replaced with a happy grin as it must have found something enjoyable in my face.

As I looked back down to the mare in front of me and saw that her tears were only coming out even heavier than before as she looked up. Though she didn't look at me, but at the child nibbling on my ear. And not only that, but there was a new addition to her face along with the tears in her eyes.

A wavering smile.

She leaned her head back, her tears and wavering smile following, and simply laid there. As if she was accepting her fate.

Tears began to swell in my eyes as I realized something. I had just nearly punched a mother, with full intent to incapacitate at the least and kill her at the most, in front of her child that was trying to protect her; only to have its childish innocence betray it and smile at me as I hovered my hoof over its mother, a thought away from tossing the child and letting that hoof drop.

I shakily set the child down on the mother's chest, unstraddled her with a stumble backwards, and could only stare at her with a lack of words as she took her child into her embrace. An embrace that only solidified my realization.

Despite being surrounded by a hoard of people who gained sustenance by kidnapping and draining the blood of strangers, I was the only monster in this situation. 

She still had tears and a smile on her face as she hugged the happy filly.

I felt horrid, worse than I did at the beginning of this whole fight when I felt as though I was going to die. It was as if I had already died somehow, and to the tears of a mother and smile of a her child.

And on top of that, I was confused. 

I didn't want to die to a group of rogue vampires off in the forest and let Vinyl's fate be out of my influence, much less to never see Vinyl again. Though, at the same time, what had just happened had sapped all of my will to fight back out of me. I felt as if raising my hoof against them again would only hurt me.

My throat began to swell, my heavy breathing turning into choked attempts to keep breathing; and as a result turning into this half sobbing, half choking sound.

I must've looked like a monster now. I could feel how disheveled my mane was and how matted my fur was with dirt, soot and sweat. And a look down showed me that my bowtie was in no better shape than I was.

I hadn't even considered the miracle that a vampire hadn't taken the time to kill me whilst I was on top of the mother, much less right now as I sat here helplessly lost in thought. And I also hadn't even considered that they might have all been just as shocked as I was. Though I was sure that there reason for being shocked were far different than my own.

"Why's she crying?"

"No clue. She was kicking our asses awhile ago, why'd she stop?"

"Dunno. Did Breezy do something to her?"

"I didn't see them too well, did she?"

I heard the conversations spark up from behind and all around me. The we're circling me, or more likely I had just moved back towards the bonfire where they were already circled around me. I didn't care though. I thought I was willing to do anything to get Vinyl back to me safe and sound, but not this. I had never considered that they had families and such, and I felt horrible for that.

I sat and sobbed for a few moments longer until hoofsteps drew closer to me, coming from behind.

'Vinyl...I'm sorry...' Was all I could think as I waited for the final blow.

When it came, I was surprised; not by the fact that it came, but because of the surprisingly cozy and soft texture that came with it. And the fact that it wasn't final, or even a blow at all.

More like a constant prodding in an attempt to gain my attention.

I looked to my side to see a small pegasus filly, using its head to push into my side to get my attention. Only to look up and smile at me when it realized I had given it that attention.

I was wordless, staring at it with tear ridden eyes as I could only stare at it.

A hoof landed on my other shoulder, causing me to flinch and snap my head in the same direction, only to find myself looking up at a figure.

Their hoof was close enough to be illuminated by the dwindling bonfire, though they were also far enough away that the upper half of their face was hidden in darkness, only enough to show their mouth.

Their other hoof raised up into view, holding something that, after taking a look, I realized was a blanket.

I looked back to the figure's face and I saw a fanged grin. 

Though this time, there was a different meaning in that grin.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Sweeps...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap."

"Would you quit saying that dear? It's getting annoying."

"Annoying?! Octavia just got jacked by some vampires! Oh man, we're so dead..." I shouted, throwing my hooves up in the air.

"Don't you mean her? She's in the more danger here is she not?" Vinyl's mom asked back, raising a brow. I'd expect her of all ponies to know why we were dead and not Octavia.

"Of course not! She doesn't have to tell Vinyl that Octavia might have gotten killed by vampires!" I shouted back to her, dropping my shovel on the head on one of the vampires who kept trying to untie the ropes holding him together.

We had managed to tie up all the vampires with rope. Though the rope had no chance in holding them back if they so wanted, it was still comforting to me.

"You're...you're right." She said, finally seeing how horrible that was going to be, and getting up from the rock she had been sitting on for quite some time now.

"I suppose we should start interrogating them for where Octavia has gone." She suggested, turning and looking at the vampires.

I nodded, joining her in looking at the group of tied up ponies.

They all seemed to stiffen at our gazes, realizing that we needed a location they didn't want to give up and that one of us was going to have to cave in. And with the potential situation of having to tell Vinyl about Octavia looming over my head, it sure as hell wasn't going to be me that gave up.

Both me and Vinyl's mom turned away from the group and got our heads close together before speaking in a whisper.

"So how should we do it?" I asked.

"I say we kill one of them right of the bat to show them we mean business." She suggested, getting a bit excited when she said it.

"Kill them? I can't do that!" I protested.

"Not a problem, I can more than do it." She said with a shrug.

"No way, we can't kill them. Killing one of them is only going to send the message that we're the bad guys, we need to find some other way to convince them to tell us." I said.

Both of us turned back to the group of vampires, who had their ears perked up and their eyes wide as they looked at us with small traces of fear. It was understandable considering that, depending on which one of us got our way, some of them might be getting killed. They looked pretty innocent right now, despite being blood sucking monsters who had kidnapped our friend which was going to indirectly get us ourselves killed. They were rugged in a sort of "band of ragtag children" kind of way that, now that they were tied down, looked more cute than intimidating.

We turned away from them once more.

"You're right, we're going to need to kill at least three of them to get the point across." She said, scratching her hoof to her chin as if deciding to kill more of them was a hard calculation to make.

"That's not what I meant!" I silently shouted at her.

"Well what's your plan then?" She asked, both curious and annoyed.

"I dunno, just asking them?" I suggested.

"After killing the three, correct?" She asked again. What's with her and killing?

"No! Just asking them." I corrected

We both went silent as she gave me a deadpanned look for about five seconds before she sighed and crossed her hooves, looking the other way with her nose held high.

"Fine, but if we don't have an answer in two minutes at most, I start killing."

We broke our "huddle" and turned back to the group and began walking, myself in the lead while Vinyl's mom returned to her rock with a bit of sassiness.

As I approached, all of them looked up at me with wide eyes that were really starting to grow on me. I felt like a parent right now, and all of them being the smaller-than-me children.

"Alright guys, so I need to know where that one guy took-"

"A half mile into the forest from where we jumped out!" One shouted.

"Turn slightly left at the big oak, there should be a path from there that leads to the camp!" Shouted another.

"Wait, there's a camp-" I began, only to be interrupted by another one shouting the directions at me.

"He would have had to have taken her there!" Another said, getting the nods from all the others.

"We'll even show you the way if you untie us!" More nods followed this one as they all looked back at me with eager and desperate eyes.

I was too stunned to answer them, not expecting them to cave this quickly under any circumstance, and they seemed to take my silence as hesitation to accept their offer. But, since that was all they had to offer, the only thing left was simple begging.

"Please don't kill us." One of them asked with a sheepish and nervous smile that was currently on all their faces.

	
> Subjected to Change
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Sweeps...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"You know, I'm still amazed that they volunteered to show us where they took Octavia." I said for probably the third time.

"I still don't dear. For all we know, they could be leading us in circles." Vinyl's mom responded.

"I doubt it, considering you pretty much beat them all up practically on your own. Isn't that right guys?!" I called up to the group of vampires in front of us.

A few looked back with a sheepish chuckle to the two of us, one that I returned back to them - though mine was a genuine chuckle at their reaction.

After convincing Vinyl's mom that this was the only lead that we had to currently find Octavia, she reluctantly got off her rock and grumbled as we walked into the brush of the forest. She seemed to be really on edge with the whole situation, which was understandable considering they had just aided in both the kidnapping of a friend and attempted murder of us. But, like I told her, this was our best bet for finding Octavia.

Another thing that I noticed, was that they didn't hesitate at all in their shifts in movement, and that more than just one of them would move in the same direction. That meant that either, they had discussed this before plan in detail great enough to the exact moments and directions to turn, or they were being honest in their guiding.

Suddenly, Vinyl's mother abruptly stopped in her tracks.

I was the only one to stop moving, looking back at her with confusion, but the only response being the twitching of an ear and a look of nostalgia on her face.

I turned away to check on the vampire's guiding us, only to find them in the midst of stopping in their tracks themselves. They all had a similar stance to Vinyl's mom, ear's at attention with an odd look on their face.

I looked back between the two of them, wondering just what had caused them to stop, when it finally made it to my ears as well. A sound that didn't sound natural in the forest, one that was masked by the sound of the crunching leaves beneath the hooves of all of us.

Music.

My eyes went wide as I heard the gentle sound of strings somewhere off in the distance. The sound they made was full of heart and passion, a beautiful and rustic happy sound to the song as it ever so softly floated through the forest and around my ears.

It was a pleasant sound, but the fact it was even there to begin with - out in the middle of the forest - called some needed attention to it.

All at once the vampires scattered, leaping in different directions and out of sight. One in particular, simply darted forwards into the bush with the quickest spring out of all of them.

"Hmm..." The sound of a humming in thought made itself known, sounding a lot like Vinyl's mother.

A quick look behind me though, revealed that she was gone.

"...Pachelbel's Canon..." Her voice said again, this time from in front of me.

"...on a cello obviously; possibly birch..." My eyes narrowed in on the spot where the vampire had bolted forwards, a small rustling coming from the bushes in front of me.

I watched as a squirming vampire flailed about as she hovered above the ground and emerged from the bushes, Vinyl's mother holding them up by the scruff of their neck with a single hoof. She had a look of wonder on her face as she sighed happily.

"...in D major, the only proper way to play it. Especially impressive since a single cello is playing it. Must have taken months of practice to play it this smoothly." She said in what looked like pure bliss.

"Wait a secon-"

"Please don't kill me!" The vampire begged, interuppting me.

"Tell me why I shouldn't?" Vinyl's mother shot back. "I can tell where the music is coming from, and I could easily get there from here thanks to it. It was the only thing that was keeping you alive before, and after you and your little gang just fled, I see no reason to keep you now." She spat.

"P-Please..." She said, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes as she put in her last efforts to pry Vinyl's mother's hoof from her neck.

"Let her go." I spoke up.

Vinyl's mom turned to me with a scowl, only to have us both stare at each other. She could do what she wanted to since I was in no position to tell her otherwise, that went without question, but it was the most I could do. I had found out that vampires like herself are pretty social creatures and typically comply with requests pretty easy.

She dropped the vampire to the ground and turned away, grumbling.

I walked over to the vampire, helping her to her hooves and making sure she was alright.

"T-thank you." She said to me.

I offered a weak smile.

"Say, why did you guys try to run anyways?" I asked her. I was pretty confused why they would run just because some music started playing.

"T-The music came from camp. I'm sure the others were as concerned as I was." She said, still gasping for air and holding her neck.

"So?"

"W-Well, typically we only play music when we celebrate getting a catch." She said reluctantly.

"What, like beans? I'd say it'd be stupid to play music sense it might attract the unwanted, but you guys seem to be pretty good at handling yourselves." I said.

Vinyl's mother shot me a look.

"E-Except from her of course!" I quickly added.

"Ah, well, you guys said your friend got taken by us. I imagine the reasons that we had when we ran were different, but the biggest two were either so you guys wouldn't kill us if you figured out what the music meant, or to go and see if we could save your friend so you guys, again, wouldn't kill us." She explained sheepishly.

"We should hurry if we'd like to make it." Vinyl's mother said impatiently.

I looked back to the vampire with an idea.

"Hey, could you go do that?" I asked her.

Her eyes went wide with surprise and her ears flattened.

"W-What?" She asked.

"Could you go ahead and to your camp and see if you could at least stall them from eating Octavia? I'm gonna have to follow grumpy over there since I can't navigate or hear quite as good as you vampy types." I said.

It took her a second to register the question, most likely from either the randomness of it or the undoubtable glare Vinyl's mother was giving me from behind my back. I felt a bead of sweat break out just from the idea of it.

"S-Sure!" She said, hopping to her hooves and beginning to bolt.

Though she quickly screeched to a halt, taking great care in slowly walk around Vinyl's mom to make sure she wasn't going to be spontaneously strangled again. Vinyl's mom, luckily, decided not to strike out at her, letting the vampire get away and quickly bolt through the bushes towards the camp.

'I hope she's going to the camp at least. I know if I had just gotten almost strangled by someone like her, I'd be running to the next town.' I thought, looking at Vinyl's mom.

"Are you just going to stare, or are you going to start moving dear?" Vinyl's mom asked sharply.

I smiled and let out a little laugh.

"Coming mom." I said sarcastically as I began to trot towards her.

It was, for all intents and purposes, an attempt to cheer her up in the slightest so that she wasn't all grumpy for the rest of the walk. I had learned from Vinyl that everything about a vampire was usually bigger; especially the grudges and emotions.

"Only my daughter calls me that." She snapped back at me.

"What about 'mother-in-spirit'?" I asked.

She only sighed.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


As we got closer to the campsite, the orange light of what had to have been a campfire began to light the way for us - which let me put out the light spell that had previously been on my horn so that I could actually walk. Vinyl's mom didn't need one - not a surprise - and she even asked me to lower the brightness on it since it was apparently hurting her eyes.

The sound of the music had only gotten louder as we approached, now to the point where you could hear the flickering of the fire if you really focused on it.

"Finally, sure hope Oct-" I began to say, walking forwards past Vinyl's mom, only to have a white hoof almost knock me out with how hard it slapped my face.

Vinyl's mother stuck her head right next to mine from behind.

"I don't trust that mare for a second. As much as I'd like to charge in there and slaughter them all, I have no idea how many there are." She said silently.

I nodded, taking my own hoof and moving her's aside to speak.

"Does that mean-" 

"Yes."

"Spying." We both said in unison, different tones used in both of our voices. I loved recon, the idea of spywork was every kid's dream at one point in time. Vinyl's mom, on the other hoof, must have some hate towards the idea of not being able to just rush in and overpower others in every single situation she came across.

She let me go and we both ducked low, slowly creeping up towards the line of brush that kept us hidden from the vamp camp on the other side. We both had learned from the ones who tried to stalk us, making sure not to step on any notable brush below us that might give us away. Though, with the song being played, we had much more forgiveness if we did mess up.

As we parted the brush in front of us, we found that we were still far enough into the woods that the darkness from it would still cover us up.

I turned to Vinyl's mom, only to see her looking with her closed eyes, slightly above my head.

I looked up to see that a chunk of a bush had gotten stuck in my mane, serving to make my head look part bush.

We both wordlessly regarded the fact before turning back to the camp to see if we could see anything.

And see we did.

In front of us we made out the silhouette of a particular grey pony with a ruffled looking, raven black mane. A small white stripe on the back of her neck marked the collar of her bow tie, and the large wooden instrument beside her accompanied with the steady movements of her hoof showed us that she was the one playing.

I felt a hoof on my shoulder pull me back further into the forest.

I was met with the face of Vinyl's mother, who looked a mixture of pissed off and deep in thought. I wondered why she was the former, but I didn't have to wonder long.

"Those sick bastards." She muttered.

"What?"

"What do you mean 'What?', they're forcing her to play her own funeral! Those sick twisted vampires must have some sort of... music playing fetish, or something weird like that!" She silently screamed at me, sounding serious.

"I, ah, don't think that's what they're doing." I suggested, though I could tell it didn't do anything to persuade her.

"Of course it is, plenty of vampires develop particular quirks over time that please them the most when it comes to feeding. I've done weirder things back in the day, such as the time when I took a whisk and-" She began.

"Okay, I think we need some more spying!" I said quickly, darting my head back through the bushes so she couldn't continue whatever story she was about to tell me that apparently outranked a "playing-your-own-funeral-music-before-being-eaten" fetish.

I went back to looking at Octavia from behind, trying to look around her at what looked like numerous dancing couples of vampires.

I couldn't make out there faces, but from the looks of it I couldn't see anything immediately malicious like a big boiling pot with Octavia's name on it. In fact, it looked pretty normal from this viewpoint, to the point where I could pretty much believe that they had smoothed things over and Octavia was playing the cello in celebration of just being alive. Well, other than the ruffed up look about Octavia, but that might've come from something else like an initial struggle.

"So, what do you propose?" Vinyl's mother asked me.

"So you want to do my ideas now?" I asked, not sounding snarky, but more surprised than anything. She had scoffed at my ideas before.

"Well, I won't lie that you did a good job extracting the location of the camp from the vampires. It seems that you really know how to handle vampires well." She commented.

She must be really dense to think asking someone was a good way to extract information. Time and-or environment must have really taken their toll on her.

"Well, you might be right that they could be a lot of them who're looking for a fight. So, I was thinking we kinda just grab Octavia and run. Like, you go make a distraction, I go grab Octavia and teleport us out of the woods, then you do the same and we meet at the road." I suggested, looking at her.

She inhaled.

"And no we're not killing one of them as a distraction."

She sighed heavily in defeat.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I was honestly surprised that they had a wide array of musical instruments at their camp, an entire tent dedicated to holding and maintaining an instrument of almost every kind. Even more shocking was when one was a marvelous and high quality cello like this one. 

Though, the most shocking part was when they asked if I wanted to play something.

It had been a long time since I had played as well as I was right now, which was odd considering that it had been so long since I had practiced and that was still exhausted from the fight beforehoof.  Even looking back on the days of when I would wake up just to practice cello almost all day, then go to sleep. I considered myself a master back then, then it slowly became more of a skilled hobby, but right now I was playing in a way that outclassed even the times when I considered myself a master.

The vampires seemed to enjoy it too, a good number of them taking to dancing with one another while the others happily talked amongst each other.

The only complaint I had was the drinks they were serving. While some of it was brewed alcohol they had made locally, the other part of it was from a keg that dispensed an oddly thick, red fluid that I could only assume was blood.

'Better that than myself.' I thought, transitioning my last song into a new one with a similar mood.

"Octavia!"

For being a group of what could be considered outsiders, they had remarkably good tastes that could compare to even some of the upper crust of Canterlot. Though anyone could appreciate a song, it took an avid listener to enjoy it in the way these people were.

"Octavia!"

My nose scrunched a little as the sound of someone saying something got into my head, but I shook it off all while keeping my composure.

"Octavia!"

I peeked an eye open, looking up and scanning around the camp to see if anyone was calling my name. It'd be weird if they were, considering they never asked my name and I never gave them it.

"Octavia!"

I turned around behind me, finally realizing where the voice had come from, only to see the two faces of VInyl's mother and Sweeps sticking out of a bush a couple feet back from the camp. They were using their horns as flash lights of sorts to light up their faces so that I could make them out through the darkness.

"Don't worry! We're gonna get you outta there!" Sweeps said reassuringly.

My song wavered ever so slightly at the mention of that. I developed a sudden fear that these people would be attacked again, this time by someone much more competent and proficient in killing - someone like Vinyl's mother. 

"No, Sweeps-" I began, but the two heads disappeared back into the bushes.

My mind began a mental battle on whether or not I should get up and do something about the two of them. On one side, I was sure Sweeps could keep Vinyl's mother in check about murdering us all, but at the same time I doubted that. On the other side, stopping now and telling them would just alert Sweeps and Vinyl's mother, so they wouldn't show up, and I'd just look like an idiot.

Suddenly a crackling was heard in the woods a bit in front of me, getting the attention of a few ponies with myself included. As soon as we began to wonder what it was, getting a bit fidgety about an unknown noise coming from the woods, out questions were all answered with one swift, crashing sound.

A large tree suddenly fell from the forest, slamming down into the camp and bringing everything to a complete stop with a violent crash. Along with said tree came Vinyl's mother, straddling the log with an oblivious look on her face as she wordlessly sat on top of the log.

"Uhm, miss? Are you-" A few of the nearby vampires asked her.

"Sweeps! I couldn't quite get through it like you asked!" She suddenly shouted to seemingly no one.

An odd sound caught my attention and I turned behind me to find that Sweeps had emerged from the forest as well, her hoof having smacked into her face.

"I said 'to the tree' not 'through!" Sweeps' voice shouted from behind me.

"Ah, can we help you two?" A larger vampire asked. He had distinguished himself to me earlier as the leader of the camp, though he made it clear to me that the camp made its decisions together.

"I'm a distraction." Vinyl's mother said simply.

Sweeps slid her hoof from her face and turned to him, an annoyed look on her face.

"We're here for Octavia. A little group of yours from earlier came after us and took her; we want her back." She said, gesturing to me with her eyes.

The vampire's curious look turned to one of sheepish apology.

"Ah, terribly sorry about that. Feel free to take her if you'd like, though I'd ask for you to stay the rest of the celebration. We've ale and blood for plenty." He said happily.

Sweeps' face was one of pure disbelief.

"S-...Say again?" She stammered.

"Ah, yeah. Your friend there gave a few of our boys quite a run for their money before this little champ brought her down all on his own." He said, his hoof moving to shoulder the small pegasus that was chewing on my ears from before. I felt a little swell of warmth form in me just looking at the adorable foal.

"Octavia, dear, you're going to have to step up your game if a foal such as this brought you down." Vinyl's mother added in, still stradling her log.

The stallion smiled at Vinyl's mother before returning to Sweeps.

"Please, please, take a seat. Vibrato, give 'Octavia' here a break while we all talk." He said, a unicorn stallion jumping from the crowd and trotting up to me.

"You are truly masterful, madame." He said as he took the instrument into his magical grasp.

I blushed at his comment as he took my seat and began to play his own songs while Sweeps and I trotted over to the downed log Vinyl's mother was resting on.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"-we've stockpiled enough blood and ale to last us long enough without feeding for a while. And even when have to start that again, we only take them here and drain the bare minimum to knock them out. The we take them back to the road." The stallion explained to both Vinyl's mom and Sweeps.

The had seemed to have gotten more comfortable at the party, thanks to the help of both the ale and blood being served to them seemingly without limits. While sweeps was on her first mug of it, Vinyl's mother had already downed five tankards of blood in the time it took the head vampire to explain what they did.

"So why'd you attack us then?" Sweeps asked.

"Simple. We were worried about the increased activity The Order had been doing lately. A good number of us volunteered to stake out by the road and try to reduce their numbers. We figured that the vampires in Canterlot were getting the business, but needless to say we didn't expect you all to come along." He said, getting a sheepish look out of me and Sweeps while Vinyl's mother downed another tankard of blood.

"Heh, yeah. We're not with them by any means, but we are looking for their base, if you'd know where that is." Sweeps asked.

The stallion's face tightened at the mention of us going towards their base.

"Why would you all need to go there? It's a horrid place that'll be your downfall, even with all the skill you people have." He said sagely.

"We're looking for a friend." Sweeps said.

"My daughter." Vinyl's mother added, putting down the tankard.

The vampire put on a look of sympathy, but he seemed to still hold a similar stance. Even if he didn't tell us where the base was, we'd still go out and try to find it - we weren't going to stop until we either found VInyl or died trying. Hopefully he'd understand that and tell us anyways, but we couldn't ask anything of him considering the kindness he had already shown us.

I sighed.

"I really hope Vinyl is okay."

The sounds of music and dancing went dead silent, and a look around the camp showed me that everyone was looking dead at all of us. While me and Sweeps seemed to notice the change in atmosphere, VInyl's mother was too busy tipping up a tankard of blood to the sky. The silence went on for a while until the leader broke the silence.

"D-did you say Vinyl?" He stammered.

I nodded.

"No wonder The Order is working at full steam..." He said, snaking his hoof around his head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sweeps asked.

"Well..." He sighed heavily, looking around at all the 'edge-of-panic' faces that were on all the vampires in the camp before leaning forward.

"A lot of us come from a castle that was out in the Everfree. Not sure if you realize it, but Vinyl's a bit of a vampire and a strong one at that. I mean, she blew up nearly half of our castle because our leader got crazy and decided to lure her there. It worked, but she went off hunting and apparently got free of whatever it is he used to keep her on a leash. Think he ended up taking her marefriend or something, ended up costing us our home. Dumbass." He said, retelling a story everyone but Vinyl's mother had heard.

"Sounds about right for her." She commented, finally putting down her tankard.

"And you're her mother?" He asked.

Vinyl's mother set down the tankard and gave him a single, slow nod before picking the tankard back up and returning to her chugging.

"No wonder we didn't last long." He said.

He turned to Sweeps.

"So you're her friend? Mind if ask what she's like? Not to sound invasive, but she's been a topic around here for a while. Even the simple things like what she's like as a person." He said.

"Heh, might wanna ask her. That's that marefriend you were talking about." Sweeps said with sly smirk.

His eyes widened, along with the entire camp's, as they looked at me. A mix of emotions in their faces, ranging from overwhelming fear all the way to happy relief.

"Y-You're...her g-g-girlfriend?"  He asked.

I nodded, blushing in embarrassment at all the attention.

An overwhelming sigh could be heard from the camp as they all let out a breath they seemed to be holding. Apparently they were really nervous about something.

"Thank Luna we're so incompetent. If we actually killed you and Vinyl found out, she'd probably just level the entire forest we're in." He said, leaning back on the log.

"So...could you tell us where that base is?" Sweeps said, eagerness gracing her face.

"You know, even if I don't tell you, you'll just go looking for her anyways. You wouldn't happen to have a map would you?"

Sweeps already had hers out and pushed towards him, even having a marker in her other hoof. He took them both and quickly scribbled along the map before hoofing them back over to Sweeps. After that she quickly stuffed it into her pack and got up, ready to go. Vinyl's mother realized this and finished her current cup before putting it down and thanking the mare who had been giving her the constant stream of blood filled tankards. I realized that we were preparing to leave, and got up as well.

The stallion had an odd look about him when I looked at him closely, almost nostalgic looking in a way, though I made no move to ask about it.

"You all stay safe." Was all he said as Vinyl's mother's horn lit up in a red glow, and a flash soon followed.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Me and Care watched as Silver and Flint left the room, Flint truding a little bit while Silver just looked tired. The pure white room had been tinged red in spots where the harder blows had been dealt, and not to mention the countless other spots where the room had either been destroyed or charred. They had been fighting for roughly two hours at this point but it looked like the winner had finally been decided.

And it wasn't Vinyl.

Vinyl was sprawled out on the ground, her head laying limply to the side and some of her white fur singed from flames or ruffled from being hit by Silver.

"Well it was definitely...informative." Care said, his tone neutral.

I was still in stunned silence, looking at Vinyl's downed form.

She had never lost before, and I still refused to accept that she had lost time. Something wasn't right about this, she went down way to quickly and submissively for this to have been real.

"I'm going to check on her." I said, turning and heading towards the metallic sliding door.

"Hey! What about my bits-" He began, but by that point I was already out the door and halfway down the staircase.

I was brisk with my pace, pretty understandable considering I had just watched one of my, what I considered - and hopefully she still considered - friends get beaten up. I must've looked the part too, because the guards at the door just gave me a nervous look and moved aside to let me into the room where Vinyl was.

"Vinyl?" I called, trotting around the craters that littered the floor.

She didn't answer.

I got closer and kneeled down beside her.

"Vinyl?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

Suddenly, a red eye popped open.

Vinyl rolled over and hopped up, the spring in her step suggesting she had hardly been hurt at all. In fact, it looked to be the opposite - she seemed to be a bit excited.

"Sorry, had to wait till the lady up there left the room too." She said, pointing to the observation room.

I gave her a worried look.

Her body was moving with excitement, but her voice suggested the opposite. Something wasn't sitting right with her, and the look in her eyes proved it. Oddly enough, this was why I hated Vinyl's glasses. She had the most interesting eyes that would change, narrow and shimmer with whatever emotion she was feeling.

"What's wrong." I asked, though it was more like a command for her to tell me.

"Well, even though we looked like we really tried, everybody was holding back." She pouted.

"I knew after the first hit Silver threw that we weren't actually fighting, and well..." She trailed off.

"Really?" I dead panned.

"Huh?" She asked, oblivious.

"You're mad because they didn't fight as hard as they could?"

"Well yeah, that's why I decided to fall over. They weren't quitting and the fight was getting kinda boring." She explained, as if it was obvious.

"Vinyl, Flint practically threw a miniature sun at you, and you're calling it boring." I asked.

"It wasn't even that hot!" She whined.

"Still, Silver was really holding back - just about as much as I was - and I could tell Flint still had her trump card." She said, her voice sounding like a child who was describing something they had kind of already forgotten.

Vinyl seemed to sound like she thought they could have one if they had tried, but she was also forgetting she had the handicap of not being able to use her strongest aspect.

Her magic.

Vinyl was fast and unpredictable already, but when she started throwing teleports and magic into the mix is when things got really interesting.

I was about to mention that to her, but the loud clanking of the doors opening drowned me out.

Care walked in with a nonchalant look to himself, moving past the debris as if it wasn't even there, while he looked down at his clipboard and murmured silently to himself.

"Time for the lab." He said, stopping in front of the two of us and looking up. The look in his eyes showed how excited and happy he was, but in my case it made me nervous since I was sure it was going to involve Vinyl.

"I just met with Silver and Flint, and we decided what exactly we are going to do."

	

	
> The Doctor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Hey! Tell me what you 'decided' on! Are you even listening?"

"Yes, yes. I am listening to you, but telling you the plan with the subject right in front of us is about as stupid as telling the enemy your plan of attack, is it not?" Care shot back passively, finally acknowledging me.

I cringed in disgust at his response, but was understanding of it. At least the implication of it was that he was going to tell me once Vinyl wasn't on the scene anymore.

Speaking of Vinyl, she was going along perfectly fine with this, though her smile had dropped at this point. Her face was straight without any emotion, and her head was held low so her eyes were hidden from view - hiding my only way of reading her emotions. I had been surprised enough when she opted not to fight back when being locked up or what not, and even though she would smile, she had to have been feeling something. But even then she would smile, forced or not.

But now she didn't, I didn't know why, and it was actually scary.

A small room was our destination, though it wasn't a sleek white like the rest of the more modern looking parts of the building. This one had dull blue wallpaper with a few paintings hung up on the wall and a couple cabinets with labels on them with really big words that I had no idea the meaning of. The most prominent thing was the examination table in the center of it.

"Take a seat please." Care said, opening the door and letting Vinyl in.

He shut the door and opened a door directly adjacent to it, which lead into a smaller room with walls that lacked anything to cover the cement of the foundation. Inside this one was a few chairs and a couch, a small refrigerator, a window into the room that Vinyl entered - one sided window most likely - and one particularly interesting cabinet with warning labels on it. I assumed it was where the dangerous things that only Care could handle were at.

As I walked in, he simply stared through the one sided window. I stared at him in anticipation of an explanation, but one never came.

"Tell me."

"The plan?" He asked rhetorically.

I didn't answer.

He let out a sigh and rubbed his temples.

"I talked to Silver and Flint. Flint was panting heavily - a rare thing to see - and Silver was grinning. She said that she was holding back, and that she knew Vinyl was too." He said flatly.

I waited for an elaboration.

"Silver says that she doesn't want her being a threat. She picked up on the fact that she didn't have her magic with her, and that if she did then she would've been more serious. She's adept at getting a sense of someone's potential power, and she was visibly serious about Vinyl's." He said.

I scoffed.

"So what? You think she's just going to sit there while you try and kill her? I'm sorry but that's not happening." I said.

"You think she could actually break out of the bonds of the lab to stop us killing her? Even if she did, we could just get Stone to restrain her." He said turning to me, an almost sad look on his face.

I felt my jaw tighten and my teeth grit.

"Who said anything about her stopping her death?" I said dangerously, letting him know that I wasn't on his side in this situation. If it were just me, him and Vinyl right now; I would've freed Vinyl the second me and him were alone.

"Hm. Very well." He said, turning back to the window and watching as Vinyl struggled to get onto the padded examination table.

"The plan is simple. They told me to overload her sense of judgement and turn her more towards a primal instinct that Vampires of a more feral nature operate off of." He said.

"In english?"

"Basically, berserk her. Like turning a domestic house cat into a lion." He said without hesitation. I guess he had to explain things to others a lot.

I chuckled at the idea.

"You understand that you won't be the first to have tried to control Vinyl, right? Last guy who did it got knocked through two floors of concrete."

"We don't plan on it." He said, tone as cold and bland as rock.

"You say he attempted to control her - to alter her opinions and feelings of things against her will. We don't. We plan to simply remove them, or suppress them as much as possible, and resort her back to instinct. Removing something is much simpler than changing it." He explained.

I felt a cold chill come across my neck.

He was right about that.

We went silent for a minute or two, both of us soaking in the silent agreement we had both come to.

"You sound sad about that." I said simply.

"Would you not be?" He said back in an instant.

I tilted my head and raised a brow.

"I'm sad because you guys are about to, from what you're telling me, forcefully experiment on a friend of mine. You don't know her, why would you have a feeling in the matter?" I explained, getting a sad chuckle out of him.

"I've gotta say, it's hard to keep up the act of being sided with those people out there." He said, turning to me with eyes that reflected firmness.

I had noticed he looked a bit conflicted at times in the observation room and cells, but never to the point of thinking he was disgusted by it all.

"I'm a doctor first and foremost, don't ever doubt that. You think this is what I signed up for when I joined this 'order?' I joined this to provide medical aid to the hunters and vampires alike, not to perform experiments on people." He said pointing to Vinyl and air quoting the term 'order'.

I was surprised by what he said to say the least, my eyes going wide.

"I do it because if I refused, they'd have to either kill me, lock me up, or keep me under heavy surveillance at all times so I don't spill their secrets."

"This," he said, waving his hooves around to the cement room, "is the only place that I can truly think. It was a demand I made if they planned to keep me here. Nobody else is allowed in here, as I know exactly who they would go and tell."

He looked back to me, anticipating my question.

"Why do you think I let you in?" He asked sullenly. It could have passed for rhetorical.

Silence once more.

"Because I know you won't snitch, that's why." He said, answering his own question.

"Why don't you tell them you don't want to do it then? I'm sure you have control over what you do."

"You think I haven't? I've complained for almost my entire service here and the only results I've yielded are a few new policies loosely preventing torture - which may as well not even exist considering what goes on already - and a booth for hunters to use when they want to write a complaint." He said, looking back at me with an almost angered look on his face.

He didn't answer the second portion of the question, but I decided not to push the issue of why he couldn't be in control of his actions. I was sure he'd say it eventually.

"Why not run?"

He sighed sadly, all his anger gone in a flash.

"Because I fear that if I leave, someone much more crueler and harsher than I will take my place. At least with me I can do the bare minimum and pass it. Imagine it: getting some eager to impress medical madhat with some all too often heard traumatic backstory to make them despite vampires. They'd go above and beyond the call for torturous experiments and twisted endeavors to try and rise through the ranks to where I am now."

At this point I was silent from both shock at his answers and from a lack of questions. He was self aware of how deep down into a hole he was, and at this point he was just explaining it to me. Prior to this, he had put off an aura of, at the very least, easygoing - but I guess he had to vent some way or another.

His head was held low now, a dark look coming over him as he turned back.

"Either way, I don't want to do what I just told you, but I'm going to do it for both my own sake and hers. If I don't comply, they might let me off with a warning and then tell me to do it anyways. My second refusal and they'd think it was her fault, torture her until I couldn't bear it any longer and cave to their demands."

He waited a moment, as if to let what he just said settle with me, before walking over to an intercom on the side of the room. He pressed in the button, a quick buzz of static going off before silence settled.

"Bring down kit C-43: Heavy and Kit C-43: Heaviest."

I had no idea what those where.

In mere minutes, three ponies walked into the room in front of us, carrying with them two crates that opened up similarly to tackle boxes for fishermen. Inside each of them were maybe a dozen or so vials of colorful liquids and syringes.

Care waited for the group to leave before he started towards the door himself, not bothering to speak to me as he closed the door behind him. An odd sound followed with the door closing, though I didn't bear to listen to it as I simply stared at Vinyl.

It wasn't long before he entered the room in front of me, moving near the table where Vinyl was sat on top of.

He began a conversation with her from the looks of it, though when Vinyl began to speak back to him, his face went wide with surprise and what had to have been pain. I couldn't hear the words exchanged or even read their lips for that matter; whatever Vinyl had said in a brief sentence or two had shaken the already "dead inside" doctor back to life, and then killed him again.

After their little exchange of words, he didn't make a move to start another conversation, and instead went straight to the box of vials.

He pulled out two from the box that was labeled "Heavy" and one from the one labeled "Heaviest". Using those handy deduction skills I had picked up over the years, I figured that the "Heaviest" one was the heaviest and most concentrated dose of whatever in Celestia's name was in that syringe.

I thought of going into the room with Care and Vinyl, but figured that I'd just end up making things worse off for the both of them and possibly even myself.

Well, that and hitting on the door didn't look to be unlocking it.

Looking back into the room, I saw that care was hesitating with the injection, lingering the needle just above Vinyl's arm that had since been strapped down in resistant leather and clasps of metal. 

The point of those two bindings weren't to hold her down, but to stall her if she tried to escape the injection. If she had tried getting out as soon as they went on she could've, but Vinyl simply sat there for some reason. Typically they doped up vampires on medicines that make them pass out before doing anything, but I guess Care was confident enough with Vinyl.

His hesitation passed and he slid the needle into her arm, gently pressing down on the back of syringe as a colorless liquid began to go in.

Care removed the needle and began cleaning up the scene before walking out, nothing seeming to have happened.

Minutes seemed to tick by as Vinyl sat there without anything visibly happening to her, and I was beginning to think that her body had resisted it or that it was a dud.

I was quickly proven wrong.

Her eyes went wide and her pupils narrowed, her entire body stiffening up in one big, horrific motion. She didn't shout or scream like it looked like she would've, but the way she was moving suggested she was in pain. It was the first time I had ever seen Vinyl let on a hint of distress. She had typically been able to bear it and grin, but this time there wasn't a smile to be found on her face.

Her body, all at once, relaxed and she fell back down to the table, the metal clasps and leather straps having been long broken.

I felt like I was going to puke.

That combined with the overwhelming sense of guilt I had was more than enough to take the strength from me, causing my knees to wobble and give out.

The door opened again.

"She felt no pain, so don't think that. It was only her muscles tightening. The most damage done was in her head. She's borderline unconscious right now, and extremely suggestible."

A gurgling in my stomach and a pulsing in my head started up when he spoke, like a bad migraine.

"Shut up." I spat.

"It was not my preference to do this. I told you that the reason I was doing it was to protect myself and he-"

I felt my hooves spring on their own as I moved, through my eyes couldn't quite make out where they were taking me. The pain in my hoof that had just started to die down quickly lit back up again, and something warm now covered parts of it.

Looking down at it as my eyes started to catch up, I saw blood.

My eyes trailed over to General Care, who was now getting up after being knocked flat on his back. He had a trail of red coming down from his mouth, though his eyes didn't suggest that he was in too much pain.

"Too much strain on that hoof won't be good for it. It's already bleeding as is." He commented sadly.

I put the hoof back on the ground and walked over towards the window looking at Vinyl, a dull throbbing coming from it with every step, and found her limp still.

"Vinyl..."


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Well, according to the spot he marked on the map as the base, there is a part of it that's near the edge of the forest." Sweeps said, looking at the map with the help of her light.

We had opted to stay in the forest as we got closer to The Order's base, for both cover whilst getting there and as Sweeps had just said, because we saw that part of the woods were arguably right next to one of the walls that surrounded the base whereas the rest of the wall had an approach where there weren't any trees or cover. It looked a bit odd, carving out the rest of the forest so that you could see someone coming, yet leave the backend of the fortress covered with trees. It looked almost too good to be true for us.

I couldn't quite focus on her too much, my mind had started to wander as we walked through the forest. I wondered what had happened to Vinyl, if they had tried something horrible like the vampires at the castle did, or if Shakes had helped her enough to prevent that. There was also the possibility that Shakes was in just as much trouble, but I personally didn't want to imagine that the both of them were in trouble.

Vinyl's mother seemed to be in a similar situation, her face kind of scrunched up in a look of confliction. I wondered if she had thoughts similar to my own, but figured that if she was they probably wouldn't involve Shakes considering she hadn't met her.

"Hey, so, I know that the plan right now is to just find the place. But, what're we gonna do about getting into it? I mean, I doubt that they'll just let us in and I don't think sneaking in is going to work..." Sweeps asked, trailing off in thought at the end.

"When you have magic, everything is easier dear." Vinyl's mother said.

"Really? What's your plan then?" Sweeps asked genuinely.

"I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, now would I? I'll just say that magic takes practice. And when you live for as long as I have, you learn some pretty creative spells." She said vaguely.

That caught my attention.

I knew magic was a wide subject, but the kinds of spells you could cast were up to the imagination really. I had heard that time travel had already been done, and knew very well the uses of teleporting thanks to Vinyl. But what could Vinyl's mom know if she was older than even Vinyl? Well, I had actually only seen Vinyl use a few spells - the biggest being teleporting and a basic spell bolt with a few variations of it - so I didn't really know what could happen.

I found myself smiling a little bit as I thought of all of the little spells that Vinyl's mother might have hidden up her sleeve. Walking on water, invisibility, all kinds of things that you'd dream of having if you weren't, well, a unicorn.

"What all kinds of spells do you kn-" I began, only to have it cut short as I ran into something that felt like a wall.

I staggered back a little before looking to see that Vinyl's mom had stopped in her tracks and was looking off into the distance, a disturbed look on her face.

"Miss...Miss Scratch are you okay?" I asked, getting no response and catching Sweeps' attention.

"You okay? Looks like you've seen a ghost?" She said.

I trotted around to see said face, finding it hard to believe that something had scared her that much. But sure enough, her face was paler than usual with her eyebrows arched up and her jaw slack.

Me and Sweeps began to wonder if she had a heart attack or something, but the wonder only changed as her scared face turned to one of pure anger.

The angriest I had seen her ever since meeting her, her nose scrunched up and her nostrils flare while her brows threatened to tilt further inwards than ever before.

Her horn suddenly flared as she began murmuring under her breath.

She began moving forward once again, though with her came chunks of earth that were ripped from the ground and began to float with a red tinge before condensing in on themselves, Vinyl's mother squeezing them hard enough until turned to a fine, powdery substance resembling dust.

I was a little shaken at the sudden 'death march' she seemed to be going through, but more so I made an almost disturbing connection.

"Sweeps?" I asked.

"Hm?" She said, her tone suggesting she was just as confused and shaken as I was.

"Could you describe what Vinyl looked like back when she was marching on the castle? When she was 'shooting salvos of magic'?" I asked.

I hadn't been there for when Vinyl apparently lost it, but Shakes had described it to me soon after and it was strikingly similar to what I was seeing just in front of me.

Sweeps wordlessly raised a hoof to Vinyl's mother, now maybe three of four yards away.

> Walls
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I let out a big sigh as I looked off into the distance, looking over the courtyard and at the small forms of all the hunters training heavily. I was leaned up against the cold cobblestone that made up the small room of the watchtower I was settled in, looking through a small arch that served as a window while the darkness covered the corners of the room. Moonlight came down plentifully from the clear sky above. A cool breeze flowed gently through the air.

It was pretty calm out here all things considered. After visiting General Care about my little visit by Vinyl, he said it'd be best if I was put as far away from her as possible, for both of our sakes.

Though, being posted on the watchtower wasn't exactly what I had in mind, it was definitely peaceful.

"You can't do that ya dumb brat!" An elderly voice prattled.

"Can so, old geezer." An agitated, much younger voice said back.

Well, it was definitely peaceful when the other two watchguards who were posted in the same tower as me weren't bickering at eachother. And oh did they bicker a lot.

One of them, the older one, was one of the oldest members in The Order. His name was Sour Puss, I laughed a bit when I first heard it, but a quick hit to the head from his cane was enough to fix that. All things considered though, it was about as fitting as names come when you looked at his demeanor. One of his most notable traits was his eyebrows, which somehow managed to be so big and bushy that they covered his eyes. How he still managed to see was beyond me.

The other one, ironically one of the newest members of the hunt, was Tall Tale. He had a bad habit of lying, though he said he used to write fairy tales before he joined, so I guess it could be expected. He was also an apparent magnet for Sour Puss's cane, because it found its way onto the back of his head more often than not.

The two also had major conflict in just about anything. For instance, they were currently playing a game of tic tac toe, and they somehow managed to make conflict on whether a move was "legal" or not.

Seriously.

I quickly found that the only way to get the two to stop arguing with one another, was to talk to them both.

"Hey Sour Puss."

The old brown stallion raised one of his craggy brows, both him and Tall Tale stopping their bickering in an instant, giving me their undivided attention.

They both also seemed to posses an oddly strong sense of manners towards mares, which was pretty much the only thing that the two could agree on.

"Hah? What is it miss?" He asked, turning the chair he was sat in towards myself and leaning on his cane.

I figured, with him being so old, he might be the best bet to learn a thing or two about Vinyl's legend since he might've been around when it first came up.

"Have you ever heard of Vinyl Scratch?"

He put a hoof up to his chin and hummed for a minute, trying to see if he could remember it I'd guess, though Tall Tale instantly lit up at the mention of it.

"Oh! The one with that-" He was silenced by the swift whack of a cane.

"I don't quite 'member her askin' you, youngster." Sour said, looking back to me.

"'Course I 'member it. Ta reason that old captain Shakes quit." He said.

I looked back at Tall Tale, who was rubbing the already swelling lump on his head. It was a bit odd that even one of the newest recruits would know the story by name, - maybe with her being captured and all - though that was supposed to be kept a secret from most all of the base until they managed to detain her well enough so that she would stop bursting from the cages.

"How do you know about it Tall Tale?" I asked, getting a similar set of bright eyes out of him.

"Well, I mean, I wrote fairy tales enough to know when I see a good one! I overheard my drill sergeant talking to one of the captains about it, saying something about a vampire who sent three ponies to the psych ward and left another three missing, even getting a famous captain to retire. I asked old Sour Puss about it and he told me about it-"

The sound of solid oak hitting skull rang out for the second time in a few minutes.

"T'aint no fairy tale, boy!" Sour said.

"Can you stop hitting me you old loon!" Tall said back, rubbing his head.

"Know well that that 'fairy tale' is more real than ya give credit." Sour said, backing off.

"Oh sure, like I'm supposed to believe something like that is real?"

I sighed as the two began to argue again, planning on attempting to settle it so they could be quiet and let me enjoy my peace, only to catch something a bit out of place in the corner of my eye.

Looking out at the forest, it looked like a strange red glow was coming from somewhere inside of it. It was close to the back wall of the fort, maybe a couple dozen meters from it. A gentle red colored some of the tops of the trees, giving it an almost ominous look in the dark of night.

I squinted my eyes and leaned forwards a little in an attempt to get a better look.

"What...is that?" I whispered to myself, leaning far enough for the fear of falling out to start to become a real problem.

A strange whistling came too, only furthering my perplexion. I finally managed to narrow in on some thin object around where the red glow was coming from.

'Now that I look at it...it kind of looks like it's getting...bigger?' I thought.

The sound of something going incredibly fast went by me, crashing straight through the stone wall of the watchtower with enough force to make me stagger backwards, which let me see just what had happened.

Something had came straight through one of the walls of the tower, leaving a hole maybe an inch wide in the wall that I had been leaning on. Looking past the hole, the object had apparently hit Sour's cane mid swing and broken it at the midsection, went past that and stopped only at the other wall.

The only reason I saw it was because of the molten glow it had from how fast it must have been going.

After a brief pause of shock from the sudden crash and staring at the glowering whatever it was, Tall Tale let out a chuckle as he pointed at the broken cane of Sour's, only to have the upper half of the cane still come down and hit him on the head.

I moved off of the wall and walked over to it, examining it closely.

My first assumption was that it had been a magic bolt or something like that, but looking now it was much different.

"Is that...a rock?"


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Vinyl's mother walked forwards still, red clumps of earth rising from the ground one after another as she walked, only to be pressed in on themselves with such force and heat to turn them into solid rock in an instant. She would then aim them forwards, the more narrow ends facing away from me and Sweeps. A pulse of magic would go off around them before they would seemingly disappear from sight. The only way I knew where they were heading was from the way the leaves would suddenly part in the trees ahead whenever they seemingly disappeared.

We had actually found a pretty clear part of the forest at this point, rather than having to walk over fallen logs and upraised roots like before, we were now in a place where there was nothing but grass on the ground. Even the trees were scarce, rather than there being multiple small trees to form a canopy, there were now large trees spaced maybe ten or twenty feet apart.

This only made it easier for Vinyl's mother to pluck up dirt to throw.

"And to think she said that her daughter was stronger." Sweeps murmured as we walked behind her, making sure to keep our distance from her as to not get hurt.

I shivered at the thought as well.

All thought Vinyl had arguably done more destructive feats than slinging rocks, what Vinyl's mother was doing was more impressive. Sweeps had noted it to me, but it typically took many years of constant heat and pressure to turn dirt and soil into solid rock, yet here was Vinyl's mother doing it in mere seconds. 

Then again, though it was impressive, the actual impact that the shards of rock might have on the wall surrounding the base was questionable.

"Say, what do you think set her off so suddenly anyways?" Sweeps asked, looking to me.

I had no idea truly, only a few thoughts about it, though the one that I felt was probably correct put a sick feeling in my stomach.

"Possibly something with Vinyl." I suggested solemnly.

Sweeps twitched at that, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Vinyl's mother did too.

"What makes you say that?" Sweeps asked curiously, obviously sensing my feelings about the idea.

"Well, when I first met her, she had somehow managed to find her way to Canterlot from wherever she had been, without the use of any maps, or anything for that matter - and Vinyl from the way she acted, hadn't told her mother anything about where she was at."

As a mare who had trouble navigating her hometown at times, save for the three or four spots that I knew by heart, it was astounding to me that Vinyl's mother had found her way to Canterlot.

"Wow, really?" Sweeps asked, looking just as shocked by the fact before turning to Vinyl's mother. I noticed that her pace of attacking was slowly going down.

"You think that they have, like, some kind of link?" Sweeps asked, obviously feeling a bit silly with the idea, though at this point I considered it a real possibility myself.

"Possibly." I said, looking to Vinyl's mom just as she threw her last rock.

The glow of her horn died down gradually, the rocks in her magic's grasp falling, and a heavy sigh escaping her lips. Her head suddenly hung low, but not out of exhaustion, but what looked like sadness.

"You're right, this isn't going to get me anywhere." She said, still looking forwards.

Me and Sweeps looked to each other, confused as to who she was talking to, but not speaking. I had thought of that, though I hadn't spoke it at all, and as tempted as I was to ask who she was talking to, Sweeps and I were half scared she'd snap on us if we said something wrong.

She turned back to us.

"We're nearing the back wall." Was all she said before turning back and breaking out into a run, leaving me and Sweeps in a stunned silence.

We both looked to each other, me and Sweeps, before breaking into a run of our own in an attempt to catch up to the unnatural speeds of Vinyl's mom.

I had expected her to be fast, but it was still shocking to see just how fast she could move. I supposed that perhaps agility and speed ran in the family, as Vinyl really seemed to excel in it as well. Vinyl had been particularly fond of using it to play with people's heads, my own included considering the times where'd she'd quite literally run laps around me and confuse me. It looked like she was using magic, but without the flashes from the horn, and it was pretty much guaranteed to mess with anyone's head who didn't know the feats of vampires.

Not to mention the endurance they exhibited.

I was already breathing heavy, and though I knew I wasn't the fittest of people around, I could still consider myself "healthy". Though, at the same time, even Sweeps was breathing in a similar fashion as me - and I considered her to be much more fit than myself considering her sister's apparent previous occupation.

The wind stung a bit as I ran as quick as my hooves would carry me, though what hurt more was when I ran right into the hind of Vinyl's mother who had decided to stop conveniently just after a clearing of bushes that I had to go through.

All things considered, it was a pretty soft landing.

I looked ahead to see what had caused her to go full stop, and gasped myself as I saw it.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Well...it's certainly...big." Sweeps said, wide eyed as she stared ahead intently.

"I've seen bigger." Vinyl's mother added.

"Well, it's the largest I've ever seen." Sweeps replied.

"It's the only one I've ever seen." I said, blushing at the conversation.

"Really? You haven't even seen the ones back in Canterlot?" Sweeps asked. "Even I've seen a couple back there."

"I...I don't get out much..." I blushed.

We all stared up at the massive wall in front of us, my neck having to crane completely back just to be able to see the top of it. It was a solid grey color, most likely concrete from what Sweeps said, and the way that the concrete jutted outwards at the top suggested that scaling the wall was out of the question.

"Yep, it's one big wall alright." Sweeps said.

"So, how are we gonna be getting through this thing?" She asked, looking back at us.

Vinyl's mother wordlessly walked up and pointed her horn at the wall, her brows furrowing and her face scrunching up in concentration as her horn began to glow to the point of being almost white in color. As soon as it was about to cause temporary blindness, she touched it to the wall and the color faded in an instant.

I blinked.

"W-What happened?"

It had appeared that her spell didn't work at first, though after a second or so, the wall she had touched with her horn began to glow a faint red in the shape of a large circle. I watched in amazement as she moved a hoof up to the glowing circle on the wall and leaned on it slightly, the hard concrete of the wall crumbling to the point where it looked like it was nothing but sand.

"Pretty simple really, just a bit of tugging on the stuff holding it together and most anything will crumble like sand. Brute force is one thing, but hitting everything lightly can get similar results."

"But that was solid concrete that was at least ten feet thick! Even if you did get rid of the cement holding it together, the concrete would still be there." Sweeps said, poking the pile of sand with her hoof.

Vinyl's mother giggled and put a hoof up to her chin.

"I never said the cement deary, you just have to pull apart the concrete bit by bit on the inside. Like melting an ice cube from the inside out." She said, blushing a bit.

"Ah-hem."

We all three turned at the sound of someone clearing their throat, looking into the hole Vinyl's mom had created to see that dozens of stallions and mares were looking at us with very unamused looks on their faces.

Not to mention the particularly sharp weapons they were holding, ranging anywhere from sword and spears to bolts for crossbows.

"Heh, h-hey there guys! Wouldn't you believe the trip we've had." Sweeps laughed nervously, treating the hunters as if they were old friends.

A bolt flew by her face as a response, shaving by the edge of her face and ruffling her mane at the same time, her face unchanged from its sheepish grin.

"No welcoming gifts then?" She asked meekly.

"Now watch closely deary-" Vinyl's mother said from behind us both, causing us to turn and see that she had plucked the bolt from flight.

"-and I can show you how that magic trick from earlier can serve multiple purposes." She said, floating the bolt over to the pile of concrete dust and burying it inside it.

Everyone, even the hunters in front of us, watched intensly as the bolt was put in the dirt with no immediate results.

"Ohhh, yeah," Sweeps said observantly. ", it can also serve as our graves once we get murdered in cold blood!" She shouted.

"Well, that is another purpose, but I was referring to this one." She said, pointing to the pile.

Slowly, the concrete began to shift and stir as it slowly reformed into something long and narrow. It seemed to be shaped like a cone at the front, yet ruffled in the back, and at about that time, I realized just what it was.

It was a replica of the bolt shot at Sweeps, though much, much bigger; not to mention it was made of concrete.

"It can pick things apart just as well as it builds things back up." She said, smiling widely at the group of hunters who were completely starstruck.

A red glow wrapped around the massive bolt fit for a ballista, the stone groaning as it lifted into the air and hovered there.

Vinyl's mother's smile widened significantly as the glow saturated in color just as the hunters quickly dispersed from the hole. They most likely got away from the wall in general as well, as they had already seen Vinyl's mother melt a portion of it.

Though it seemed as though the vampire wasn't aiming for them at all, and instead pulled the bolt backwards a bit before she sent the chunk of stone hurdling forwards.

"I told you I had a trick or two left for getting into the building." She giggled disturbingly.

"You also said that skillfully approaching something was better than brute force." Sweeps said, brushing some dust from off of her after she had hit the deck.

Vinyl's mother clicked her tongue.

"Ah ah ah, I said brute force was one thing, but skill is another. Both are effective in most situations." She corrected.

"You'd make a horrible teacher."

"I disagree." She said cheerfully, the sound of a huge crash in the distance following her claim.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


After calming down a bit, Care had recommended I take some time to walk around, and I agreed for both our sakes.

I had never really seen much of the upper floors of the building anyways, well, not since a couple years ago at least. I had mostly been too absorbed with Vinyl to really explore the place where she was held.

Admittedly, I had been associated with The Order at one time, though it was too long ago to remember too much. I joined them pretty quick when I first heard, excited at the idea of hunting vampires and the "saving society" mantra that they really pushed when they sent out recruiters. I don't know why they bothered to approach me, since I was still a barmare back then too, but I didn't question it at the time.

I was really nervous when they said I was leaving immediately, and had to go quit my job the second I said yes. I didn't even get to pack my bags, but they said I wouldn't need any. My biggest concern was Sweeps, and they let me at least say goodbye to her before I left.

She was surprisingly supportive with me leaving, saying she'd be fine and that I shouldn't worry about her. As long as I'd write, that is.

I rose through the ranks pretty fast from what they said, but that's mainly cause they sent me out a lot, and I gave them result. When you work in a bar, you learn how people think thanks to how much more open they can be if you pry. You also learn how to deal with that one guy who really wants to fight.

I was apparently the fastest rising recruit they had seen in a good time, so I got quite a lot of recognition.

Though that changed pretty quick.

It was when I got my first mission in Canterlot, that I got to see a real vampire; not the ones I had been facing before where a few good shots with a crossbow were enough to immobilize them.

They said that someone had given some kind of tips of a potential vampire, and since it was in the city of the sisters, I got assigned to it with a group of six others.

I shuddered a bit at the memory.

The place had changed a lot since I had last been here, to the point where it didn't even look or feel like the same building as before. They had added all kinds of new things, like bathrooms.

Though what I was really interested in was the break-room ahead of me with what looked like small sandwiches and drinks.

I hadn't expected to see anything that looked like actual food here, half expecting them to eat a healthy mix of rocks and nails or something. I guess the staffing here needed food just as much as the actual hunters. I always did wonder what exactly they did here, other than maybe taxes and paperwork.

Though what I really hadn't expected was a massive explosion to come through one of the walls while I was walking towards that breakroom.

Must've been some new kind of security. Man this place was high tech.

As the dust around me settled to the ground, I found that I was fortunately backed against the wall, as I had come face to face with what looked like a giant, stone arrow. 

'Maybe one of the hunters had a misfired? Just what kind of things are they using these days if this is the kind of ammo needed to fire?' I thought to myself.

A secretary walked out of a room nearby, trotting over to the break room and taking a sandwich in hoof. The only acknowledgement of the massive arrow in the wall being a sigh.

"Hope they learn to not aim at the wall one of these days." She sighed, going back to her room.

This type of thing must happen a lot.

My ears perked up at the sound of something outside, or rather, someone.

"Sweet Celestia, you're crazy!" A familiar voice shouted.

My eyes widened as I recognized the voice.

"Sweeps?" I asked to myself, moving off the wall and going towards the gaping hole the arrow had left in the wall.

Looking outside, I saw dozens of hunters moving in on a group of three mares. I recognized all three of them save for the one that looked kind of like Vinyl; I remembered meeting her in Octavia's apartment, but I couldn't remember if we had been introduced. Probably not considering how quick I got out of there.

I gasped a little as a hunter tossed a spear at them, nearly hitting my sister.

I chuckled a bit to myself, stepping over and past the rubble of the wall and walking towards the group.

If they thought they could hurt any one of them, much less my sister, they had another thing coming from the "mare who brought in Vinyl Scratch". 

If I had one guess on what it was, it was a bit of betrayal of my own.
> Reunited?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Heads started turning when I approached, namely the hunters, though I also noticed the eyes of sis and Octavia widen when I got close. At first they looked hopeful, but that quickly turned to doubt when they remembered what I did. The group of hunters, on the other hoof, looked at me with giddy smiles; some looked smug, though a few of them were giving me almost confused looks. But my focus wasn't on them, it was on Octavia and Sweeps and the death glares they were giving me.

I couldn't really blame them, I'd have hated me too if I did what I did, and in hindsight I would've done it all different. Like taking Vinyl and hiding her rather than turning her over.

'What was I thinking when I did that?' I thought, mentally smacking myself in the head.

I let out a long sigh as I got to the middle of the group of hunters, closing my eyes in thought.

'Oh well... I guess now's the time to try and make it up to them.'

I opened my eyes and put on my best smile.

"Hey what're you doing out here? Shouldn't you be doing paperwo-" One of the younger looking recruits began to ask me, only to get jabbed in the side by one of his friends.

"That isn't a secretary, dummy. That's the person who brought in Vinyl Scratch, captain Shakes." He said, smiling nervously at me.

The stallion he had been talking to looked at him with shock.

"W-wait...that story's real?!" He stammered, looking back at me with a look of awe.

'They'll get proof of that soon enough.' I thought to myself, though on the outside I smiled at him.

I turned back to Octavia and my sister, to see that Octavia's face was filled with disgust. A glance to their side at the white mare that looked like Vinyl showed that her face was almost eager to fight with me. Though the face that struck me the most was on my sister, she looked almost hurt, but at the same time hopeful. She looked like she was about to break out in tears.

"Anyone got a spear?" I called out.

Sweeps almost recoiled when I said that.

"You can have mine!" One of them called out, tossing a spear my way.

I caught it firmly and tossed it a bit to get a good feel of its weight, ignoring the cheers and hoots from the crowd of hunters around me. Saying things like how I was gonna kill the trespassers, how doomed they were, and all kinds of things like that.

Heh, I guess me and Sweeps didn't have much sisterly resemblance.

One hunter was really pushing it.

"Just give up already! With a captain here, you guys are as good as dead anyways! We haven't even started, but the fight's already over!" He called out from beside me.

I tossed my eyes his way, my smile far gone by now, but he was too focused on taunting to notice it.

"Ha! I bet you're shiv-" He began, though he was cut short as the air drained from his lungs.

A lot of the group looked over at him, only to stare in stunned silence at the blunt end of a spear sticking into his side. I had felt a sickening crunch when I had hit his side, so I assumed I had broken maybe two or three ribs.

Serves him right for being so cocky, regardless of what side he was on.

They all looked at me, even that vampire that looked like Vinyl, shocked at what I had done, though not sure why I had done it. The hunters probably assumed it was an act of discipline, while my friends had probably gained some hope for me.

I felt a smile coming back across my face as I heard him cough and hit the ground, though I lowered my head in an attempt to hide it.

"So that's the discipline of a captain...she's harsher than most of the ones we have here currently." One of the hunters whispered.

"You guys wanna tip?" I asked, turning to the group of hunters behind me.

They all stiffened up meekly.

"Don't make an ass of yourself, until you know who's on your side." I said, cocking the spear up in a defensive manner.

They all looked shocked, and I felt like a badass for doing it.

Though my moment was short lived, because someone suddenly jumped on my back and toppled me to the ground. I tensed up and struggled at first, though when I saw the face of who it was I felt a sudden sense of relief and happiness.

"Dammit, you ruined my badass betrayal moment..." I mumbled, feeling the hooves wrapped around my neck in a gentle hug tighten.

"I can't believe you did a betrayal without me..." The voice of my sister said, her voice wavering but clearly happy to see me as she pressed her face into the back of my neck.

"Heh, yeah...it was pretty cool though." I murmured.

"'Cool' wouldn't be how I would describe it." Octavia said, walking into sight, an obviously upset and scolding look on her face.

"Heh, forgive and forget?" I suggested sheepishly, trying to use Sweeps as a way to hide.

"We can talk about it later. With Vinyl." She said, smiling smugly.

I cringed a little at the mention of Vinyl from Octavia, knowing what she didn't, then let out a sigh of defeat.

"Can I still switch sides?"

"I'll shovel you." Sweeps said in the same verge-of-tears voice, but a hint more dangerously.

I sighed in defeat, again.

"Oh! So this is the mare that kidnapped my daughter? Oh how wondrous to meet you deary!" I heard the shrill voice of another mare say just as the Vinyl look-a-like stepped into view and ducked down to be eye level with me.

'D-Daughter?' I stammered in my head. That seemed eerily familiar.

"Yes yes, we can have a long and thorough talk about it." She said.

I could pretty much feel her urge to strangle me then and there, though Sweeps was already two steps ahead of her.

The sound of a bolt being loosed caught my attention, and a quick glance up showed that the bolt was aimed at myself with pinpoint accuracy. I didn't have enough time to react to it, much less with Sweeps on my back nearly strangling me, and could only brace by moving my hooves up to cover my face. At least this way I wouldn't be killed by it, only wounded.

The sound of metal hitting metal sounded out, followed by the sound of something plunging into the dirt in front of me. After that came the sound of a someone clicking tongue followed it.

"I thought I taught you all better than to use silly things like this, what with a hole in the side of a building after you tried it last time." The voice of Vinyl's alleged mother chimed.

'So that's where that came from...' I thought to myself, taking another look at the massive arrow still sticking into the side of the building.

I uncovered my face to see that the bolt heading for me had taken a ninety degree turn towards the ground, sticking straight up.

At first I had thought that it had been the vampiric mare that blocked it - who was pretty good at hiding the fact that she was a vampire - but looking a bit closer, I saw that it was the end of a shovel that had blocked the bolt. Following up that shovel, I found that one of Sweeps's hooves were gone from my neck and was now grasping the shaft of the shovel.

Looking to the side, where Sweeps's face was, I saw that she still had a blissful smile on her face from where she had hugged me, unmoved despite the fact she had just blocked something that even I couldn't have blocked.

"Did you think it was gonna hit? Really? After all that we've been through?" She asked, unwrapping her hooves and standing tall.

I found myself hesitating to stand up, not because of doubt, but because of the pride and awe I was feeling just looking at my sister. She'd grown a lot, even though I hadn't really ever noticed it. I had always sort of been the big sister behind the scenes, despite how outwardly she seemed like the eldest thanks to how I acted.

I planted the spear in the ground and pulled myself to my hooves, standing tall beside her.

But now I'd say we're more like equals.

"Heh, kinda familiar eh?" I asked her.

"What? The whole thing how we're saving Vinyl again? Or how it's us paired up to fight numbers bigger than our own?" She asked, chuckling.

"Heh, guess it's both." I snickered back before turning to Octavia.

"You two go find Vinyl, she's somewhere in the lower levels of the place. Me and Sweeps' can handle it here." I said.

"Are you sure you can-" Octavia began.

"Good." The white mare interrupted, grabbing Octavia and trotting towards the hole in the wall.

I figured she must've had a plan to get by the hunters if she had the audacity to just walk at them, though if she was Vinyl's mom she might not afterall.

Though when she got close to them and a number of them started to swing at her and Octavia, her horn flashed quickly and they were near the hole in the wall in an instant; just teleporting past them in an effortless instant.

They started to give chase, though I cleared my throat and they all stopped in an instant turning back to the surely grinning face of me and my sister.

"Well, guess I can see if they've came up with any new tricks since I left." I said, giving the spear a little twirl to see if I could intimidate any of them.

"And I get to hit them!" I heard Sweeps say cheerfully.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The group of them, despite looking like nothing but newbies, quickly arranged themselves into a little formation of sorts. They had the earth ponies stand at the front in a V shaped pattern, each of them armed with spears or swords in their teeth and hooves. In the middle of the group were maybe four unicorns. And finally, in the air above the group, were a number of pegasi with loaded crossbows.

And in the other corner weighing in at a unicorn and an earth pony for two ponies total, was me and Sweeps; armed with a shovel and a spear.

I didn't intend to kill any of them either, the sight of blood made me sick to my stomach in all honesty.

"So, what's the plan?" Sweeps whispered to me, eyeing the hunters who were closing in on us.

"Heh, just follow my lead." I said assuringly.

She smiled and nodded with determination as she looked back to the group of them. I followed along and leaned forwards myself, tightening my legs and gritting my teeth, a grin spreading across my face as I prepared to put the plan into full effect.

Then, with all my speed, I ran.

Turned on my hooves and bolted straight towards the hole in the wall.

"Sh-shakes?!" My sister called, her voice getting quieter as I ran faster.

I looked back to see her looking at me with a confused look on her face, along with the entire formation of hunters. Most of them had their faces with an expression that read "is this seriously what a legendary captain's plan was?" as I ran.

I only giggled and shouted.

"The plan!"

I made it through the hole and jumped to the right of it, waiting for Sweeps to get here to.

A flash beside me signaled she done so.

"Shakes what the hel-"

I smacked a hoof to her mouth and looked at her, the adrenaline flowing through my veins assuring me that I must've looked crazy.

"Stay here." I said simply, tossing her the spear.

I leapt away from her and made a beeline for the trees, hopping onto the nearest one and beginning to feverishly climb it. The hardest part was the start, where there wasn't and limbs to use, but sis helped boost me up with her magic and I soon found myself nearing the top of the tree.

Then I waited.

I was still as I perked my ears up and listened for a sound that I was already beginning to hear.

The flapping of wings.

I peeked out through some of the branches and saw the pegasi that were in the air had taken the easy route and gone over the wall rather than going through the hole. They were coming down from the height they had to have reached, looking cautiously near the hole in the wall.

Though, where they weren't looking, was near the trees where I was stationed.

I felt my smile widening as a set of the flyers lowered slowly to an elevation just near mine. They started taking aim at what must've been Sweeps, when the cocky grins on their face faded.

"Where'd the other one go? I see her spear, but there's only one down there." They said, dodging a bolt from what must've been sis that made them come a little closer to me.

That's when I jumped.

I gripped onto the one closest to me, my heartbeat thumping in my head, and used his body as a makeshift stepping stone while I jumped to the second, who was too surprised to do anything.  I actually ended up giving him an accidental kick to the head when I jumped, dazing him enough to run face first into the trunk of the tree I had jumped from.

"What the-!" The second pegasi shouted while I hopped on him, quickly grappling around him so that I was on his back and out of the reach of the crossbows he had strapped on both hooves.

At that point it was only a matter of hugging him tightly so that his wings couldn't flap properly, and listening to him curse while we quickly descended to the ground.

When we landed, though it was more like us crashing, on the ground, a shovel quickly found its way onto his head, which then quickly found its way onto the ground.

I chuckled as I got off of him and started undoing the crossbows from his hooves and strapping them onto my own, taking his pouch full of bolts and placing them off to the side. While I trotted over to the base of the tree where the other pegasus had fallen, Sweeps started talking.

"Can you tell me next time? Teamwork is, like, our thing remember?"

"Yeah, and you did it perfectly by shooting that one guy towards me, and hitting the other one on the head." I complimented her, finally getting the bolt pouches off of the other one and putting them into the other pouches from the first one. 

The pouches were bulging with fullness, almost to the point where I couldn't close them, but it was something I was going to need if I wanted to bring down a lot of hunters without lethal shots.

"Mind strapping me up?" I asked, rolling onto my side and raising up my leg.

She gave me a deadpanned look at first, but after giving her my best puppy dog face, she rolled her eyes and lit her horn up, moving the pouches around my hind leg and pulling it up to snugly rub my flank. I rolled over, and she followed suit with the other side with the other pouch of bolts.

I hopped up to my feet to be met by another question from my sister.

"Why'd you think they only sent two pegasi? I saw at least four of them in the air, not to mention all the other ones on the ground." She asked.

I shrugged.

"Probably because I ran away and shouted 'The Plan!' back at them. If it wasn't that, I dunno." I said, giving my leg a few test shakes to see if the ammo pouches would hold.

"So, you think they'll come through?" She asked, looking up at the wall to see if any other flyers would be following the first two.

"Meh, if they do we'd just get overwhelmed. But if we wait too long they'll just leave and go after Octavia." I said, loading bolts into the two crossbows.

"Soooo....?"

"So, now," I said, grabbing the spear and giving her a wink, "we've gotta go on the offensive."

Me and her both walked over to the wall and lined up near the hole, letting me peek past in an attempt to see what they were doing, only to have to yank my head out of the hole to avoid the tip of metal that flew by my face and into the trunk of tree behind me.

"Care to tell me the plan this time then?" She asked, ignoring the near death experience I just had. It seemed like we went through them enough to shake the whole "nearly died just then" effect of it off.

I put a hoof up to my chin and started forwards, the words "The plan" on my lips, only to have her yank me back to her the instant I made any progress.

"Plan. Please?"

"Well, way I see it, we've only got one thing we can do, and that's to hold them off as long as we can and eventually make our way to regroup with Octavia and that white mare." I said.

"You mean Vinyl’s mom?" Sweeps corrected.

"Yeah, but for now, let's focus on the more immediate threat." I suggested.

She nodded.

"Good, wrap us in a bubble for long enough to get past the hole in the wall. Then you can drop it and we can try and break their formation, all right?" I said.

"Right." She said.

I lined up on the wall and was about to rush in when Sweeps' put her hoof on my shoulder and got my attention again.

"What is it-" I began, only to have a little kiss on the cheek interrupt me.

"Welcome back." Sweeps said warmly.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Vinyl's mother had taken to just carrying me at this point, as I was surprisingly a bit too slow to keep up with the supernaturally enhanced agility of a vampire believe it or not. I had ended up being placed on her back with my front hooves wrapped around her neck while she bolted through the large and industrial looking building.

It was doing quite the number on my mane.

"Where do you suppose they've held Vinyl?" I asked Vinyl's mother as she blurred down the hallway, taking seemingly random turns.

"Well let me just stop at one of the directories and look it up, dear."

"Oh! Do they have those here? They'd be extremely helpful." I said, looking around us to try and spot one.

"Unbelievable, that you have a harder time than myself picking up sarcasm. My daughter must see something in you that evades myself." She mumbled, though the passing wind made it hard to hear her.

A stallion walked out of a doorway, a cup of coffee in his hooves that he was taking plenty of care to not spill as he used his back hoof to shut the door behind him. He wore a jumpsuit of sorts, suggesting he was part of some sort of construction company -  a good a choice as any to find out where something might be. He looked up at us and went wide eyed at the sight of a mare, with another on her back to boot, barreling down a hallway at him.

"Let's ask the friendly stallion up ahead then, shall we?" Vinyl's mother suggested as the stallion hurriedly tried to reopen the door all while not spilling his coffee.

Vinyl's mother screeched to a stop and quickly shoved a hoof to the stallion's throat, dragging him up the nearby wall and sending his coffee skywards.

He looked desperately at it as it flew through the sky before smashing crudely into the ground, the soul in his eyes breaking about as harshly as the coffee cup.

"Where's my daughter?" Vinyl's mother asked.

"W-Who?" The stallion sniffled.

"I don't think he knows who your daughter is, Miss Scratch. Perhaps you should explain it to him?" I suggested, trying hard to fix my mane from the harsh whiplash it had received.

"S-Scratch? Like Vinyl Scratch?" He asked, still on the verge of tears.

"Yes, my daughter. Where is she?" Vinyl's mother asked, her clenched eyes shaping into the look of anger.

The stallion cast a glance down to the puddle and shards of his coffee that had since passed on to greener pastures, before looking back up to Vinyl's mother with a look of teary eyed vengeance.

"Like I'd tell you, you demon..." He began shouting, following it up with a string of insults all while Vinyl's mother's horn lit up in a bloody red color and took her hoof's place in holding the stallion against the wall.

His flurry of slurs came to a close as soon as a shard of the stallion's coffee cup came up to his neck, pressing down just before the point of breaking the skin.

"A...as if this would b-break me-" He began, holding onto his resistance.

"I wouldn't push her." I said, trying to help him out, but it seemed as though Miss Scratch's patience was thinner than ever.

The shard moved over a few inches before pressing down to the point where a yelp came from the stallion, and a trickle of blood ran across the white of the tea cup. When he didn't immediately tell us where she was, Vinyl's mother snorted and moved the shard half an inch to the left, opening the wound even more, resulting in more howls of pain from the thick and rigid shard.

"L-Look, I don't know where she is! I just do maintenance!" He said, a bit of blood rolling down his lip.

"Then you know the layout of the building. Where is she?" Vinyl's mother said tonelessly, not asking but commanding him to tell us.

"T-They only let me operate up here. If I'd guess, she'd be down below in the lower floors." He stammered, his voice wavering from blood loss.

I truly felt bad for him, and if it were any other situation then I'd opt to help him, but he was associated with the ones who took Vinyl - excluding Shakes of course - and that was something I was still a bit uppity about. I could actually feel my face twisting in discomfort as he bled out in front of me, what was I expected to do really? I mean, I know Vinyl's mother might be used to doing things like this, but for me this was just disturbing.

But I kept my mouth shut.

"Basement then. Would it be below us?" Vinyl's mother asked the stallion.

"Y...Yeah?" He said.

"Very well." She said, letting him go.

The next thing she did was rather odd, and it made her previous question seem very literal.

She turned her head to the ground and lit her horn, letting it charge up again as it had before when she was aiming it at the wall, and tapped her horn to the ground. The result, this time, was much quicker - possibly thanks to gravity immediately taking effect - as the ground in front of her simply collapsed in on itself and left a gaping hole that stretched downwards maybe twenty or so feet.

We both stuck our heads above the hole, looking down to see that the hole led to a pristine white room. It would have been impossible to tell how deep the room below went thanks to its pure white color, however, what looked like a crater was also in view, and gave a bit of perception as to how far down the hole actually was. 

From where we were at, it looked like that if we dropped from here, we'd plummet well over a hundred or so yards downwards into that white room before hitting the ground.

"To the youth go the opportunity." Vinyl's mother said, not looking up from the hole.

"Are you truly suggesting that I jump first?" I asked.

"...Possibly." She said.

"But...you're a vampire...and a unicorn as well. Could you not just teleport down? In fact, I bet you could jump down without worry. I've seen Vinyl do plenty of things more harming to the body without a scratch." I said.

"How about we both jump at the same time?" She suggested.

"You realize I'd die from this jump if I went first, or even at the same time, right?" I said.

"Okay, how about this, I hop on your back and then you jump, so that we both jump... technically?" She said.

I gave her a deadpanned look.

I wordlessly backed up from the hole and positioned myself behind her, coiled my legs, and jumped as hard as I could onto her back.

Though vampires may be able to stand their ground against thundering blows if they so willed it to; when they weren't expecting it, they were just as vulnerable to momentum as anyone else. As a result, my body weight going into the back of Vinyl's mother was enough to send us both over the ledge and down the hole, with myself gripping tightly onto her back.

Wind whistled past my ears as we dropped as fast as, well, two horses.

The impact was pretty small all things considered, despite Vinyl's mother implanting about a foot down into the room's floor. I half expected another crater to form when we hit, but the damage was actually fully contained to just Vinyl's mother.

Though, that didn't exactly take away the impact from hitting myself, knocking me fully off of her back and off to the side all while leaving me dazed.

Though when my eyes opened back up, my eyes blurry for some reason, I saw a figure standing tall and looking at me from about twenty meters away.

I cocked my head up, rubbing a hoof across my eyes and blinking a few times as my eyes readjusted.

A slender, white body with a two toned blue mane - one part electric blue while the other was neon - that rested across the eyes that must've been red as rubies.

"V-Vinyl?" I called out, pulling myself up to my hooves with a wobble.

I got a better look at her and felt my heart flutter at the sight of her, throwing caution to the wind and running over to her.

Her coat felt as soft as ever, something that I had missed ever since she was taken away. I nuzzled into it further, almost shivering at the feeling as I tightened my grip.

And I actually did shiver.

Though it wasn't from her soft coat, and it wasn't even a shiver of happiness either.

I could physically feel something wrong. Something wrong with Vinyl.

"V-Vinyl?" I asked looking up into her eyes only to feel my previously fluttering heart get wrenched.

Though her eyes weren't directly visible thanks to the failing lighting in the room as a result of Vinyl's mother turning some of the wiring into sand with her spell, I could make out an evil glow of red coming from her eyes. A menacing look for her, and one that sent fear running through my body rather than comfort.

I didn't have much more time to look at it, as I suddenly felt myself being jerked and stilled all in one motion.

I refocused my eyes and found that I was back at the spot where I had fallen in from, maybe twenty or so meters away from Vinyl, and this time cradled in Vinyl's mother's arms.

At first it was only curiosity that compelled me to look at Vinyl's mother, though the sight of Vinyl in such a shape overpowered that urge, but it was something that I felt that made me pry my eyes from Vinyl's figure, and over to her mother's.

She had a look similar to one that I might have after having seen the one when I had first told my father about Vinyl, one of absolute terror and that spoke volumes about how much this had hit her. I wasn't sure who had been shaken more, though from the looks of it, it was her. In all the time I had seen her she had kept a calm and unwavering attitude, also much like my father, but to see it broken only made that fact the more scarier. But there was something else that scared me, more than seeing her face twist in emotion.

She was physically shaking.
> Sisters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


Bolts of both magic and metal shuddered through the magic barrier surrounding me and my sister as we ran head first towards what could've passed as a small army. We were lucky that no reinforcements were coming yet, though I knew that it was inevitable once an observer caught wind of the fact that the fight out here was not a drill.

The first of the spears from the V-formation of earth ponies hit the shield, causing Sweeps to shudder to a stop, and me with her. I could already feel my heart beating fast, both from the effort of climbing that tree, and from the anticipation of the fight to come.

The beatings from the earth ponies came at the shield like drums as they broke part of the formation to have the front five ponies join in in an attempt to bust the shield.

But hey, we beat a smaller platoon of vampire guards, we could handle a few people designed to hunt even them, right?

I popped the spear into my mouth, holding it horizontally, waiting for Sis' magic to falter and fade.

I knew I couldn't handle the strength of their spears on mine with just my mouth, or even upper body for that matter, so the idea I had in mind was to use the muscles that possibly could.

My legs.

The haze in front of me faded, and I tossed my head up and let the spear go while I myself threw my back legs up to where my front ones were, leaving me in air with my back facing towards the ground. I guess I looked a little bit like a baby with they way I was situated, like, a mid-air fetal position.

The other spears hit my own, sending the wood from the handle down onto my hind legs, which sent my back down into the cushiony grass.

I gave them a little slack, feeling a burning pain in my leg muscles as it strained under the force, before giving a rampant kick that knocked all their heads back and sent them stepping back a few feet in recoil.

I took quick aim at the flyers above, not aiming at them with an intent to hit, but more to disrupt, and letting the force from the crossbows knock my hooves back to the ground as a shadow that I had been expecting began to approach.

A set of hooves landed on my own, using them as a stepping stone to jump over the earth ponies and into the unicorns behind them.

'Huh, guess Sis always did have a better butt than me...better start saying she needs to lay off the eating.' I thought to myself, my eyes glued to the rump of my sister as she jumped off of my hooves.

'That'll have to wait though.' I thought.

Now, the first thing I remember being taught in little, old, vampire hunting elementary school, was that you never let the enemy break up the synergy of the team, and they had already done that by letting Sweeps get the drop on them (literally). So, now they were supposed to attempt to divide themselves to hold both fronts.

Of course, they didn't know that, so I pushed the advantage as soon as they all turned to try and gang up on Sis.

A hit to the temple was more than enough to send one of them tumbling to the ground in a deep, hoof induced, sleep. And a few bolts into the back legs of a few others was enough to have three of the stallions out for the count.

Judging by the way Sweeps was wailing on one of the unicorns with her shovel, I could tell she was doing pretty good for herself.

Grabbing the spear that the now sleeping stallions had neglected, I grabbed the pommeled end and tossed it at the head of one of the ones I couldn't quite reach, knocking him to the ground in a daze before turning and backing up a couple yards.

Sweeps' horn let out a flash of light just before a spear dug into the ground from where she had been at, blinding the one who had thrown it, before she appeared right next to me.

She was panting heavily, a bit harder than I was, and put a hoof on my shoulder as a support while she took a breather herself.

My eye wandered off from the enemy, a bad habit I guess, and up to a stone looking watch tower where a familiar face was looking down at me. We locked eye for a second before she ducked down out of sight and disappeared, though I already knew where she was heading.

"Maple...damnit..." I said between pants.

"Huh?" Sweeps wheezed.

"Huh? Oh, well, uh, we mighta just been found out." I said, eyes turning down to Sweeps.

"What's that mean?" She asked, sounding like she already knew what it meant.

"Well...it's not that bad really. Just a few more dozen guys we've gotta beat up, maybe a few really strong ones, and that the generals probably know Octavia is inside." It hurt just to say that many words so quickly.

"Great." She said, taking in a deep breath and yanking her head up in attention before letting it all flow out. 

Despite the efforts of getting that kind of second wind out of that, she was still panting pretty hard.

Pegasi have a bad habit of being picked for archers because they can fly, which makes it so it's really hard for them to be attacked by ground soldiers. That fact gets them a bit cocky, so they spend a lot less time with their training, and end up not teaching themselves how to fly and aim at the same time with accuracy. So, they end up sitting still like idiots when they want to shoot someone.

So I shoved Sweeps away and dove quickly when I caught the sight of the flapping of wings in a single spot out of the corner of my eye.

The sound of the crossbows being loosed rang out four times just as I jumped away.

I felt the ground shake a bit beside my leg where one of them must've hit, and opening my eyes showed my that another one had hit just in front of my head.

"One...two..." I began counting, looking around and spotting another bolt sticking out of the grass where we had both been standing.

"...three..." I mumbled to myself, looking around and not being able to find the fourth.

I kept looking, knowing damn well I heard four shots go off, keeping my ears perked to hear if the pegasi were reloading, or if one of the others were charging.

'Did she really miss that bad?' I asked myself, beginning to question if the fourth had even come near us.

That was when a pained and suppressed groan came out slowly from somewhere, causing my ears to twitch as I zeroed in on the source of the sound. It was coming from somewhere behind me, which was odd, because the only person behind me was...

My eyes widened.

'Sweeps.'

I turned around to see her curling up into a fetal position from the pain.

'No. No no no no no no no no!' I began to frantically chant in though.

I quickly came to my sister's side, ignoring every other sound or movement other than her, and rolled her gently over to see that there was a thin piece of dark metal stuck firmly in her shoulder. No blood had come out yet, though I could see the red around the bolt from where it was about to.

There were a couple of reasons I quit this 'job', one of which was a chance encounter with Vinyl that left others too scared to go out at night.

The other was laying in front of me, whimpering in pain.

I'd always tried to be positive and see the positive, for everyone's sake, and especially for Sweeps'. She was pretty much all I had all things considered, her and Vinyl and Octavia. Despite working at a bar, I didn't get out too much otherwise. But that idea was something Vinyl taught me; that if things ever seem sad, there's only one person you can trust to change that and that's you. I'd held that as a motto for as long as I had ever heard it, because it spoke volumes to me.

But I was finding it a bit hard to do that right now, what with my sister being shot.

I clinched my teeth, accidentally biting the side of my mouth, though I didn't bother to stop and ended up cutting it open a little. The warm and metallic taste of blood came through my mouth and my eyes clinched hard enough for little flickers of light to dance across my eyelids.

With both those senses drowned out in anger, it made it all to easy to hear the trampling of hooves coming towards me from behind.

I jerked my eyes open, only to have them lock with Sweeps'.

They were in pain, but glimmering with something that told me that she was having thoughts like mine.

I took that as a go-ahead.

I let out a chuckle to myself, one that stopped the hooves coming from behind me.

"You're gonna pay for that." Was all I said, and was frankly all that needed to be said.

A snort came from behind me.

A whistling of wind was all I needed to know where the tip of his spear head was coming from, and a spin from my downed position was all I needed to knock one of his hooves of to the side.

But I wasn't stopping there, oh no. I'd let each and every one of these bastards know how it feels to get shot in the shoulder.

I gripped the hoof I had knocked away at the thick of his front hoof, using it as leverage to move forward and snake my hoof up his own, going up til about his shoulder, and becoming parallel with my other hoof.

I tilted my hooves back slightly, triggering the crossbows and sending two black bolts into his shoulders at around the same spot Sis had been hit.

Next came blackness and a dizzy spell that quickly faded, caused by the sudden ramming of my head into his own.

Two more bolts slid into the crossbows almost instinctually as my hooves left the falling stallion, reaching out and grabbing his spear on the way back.

My ears twitched at a whisper of a sound coming from behind me, faint as it may have been, it was plenty loud enough for me to know where to shoot a bolt in order to hit it out of flight.

My eyes never left the spear, using my one free hoof to plunge it at the ground in order to firmly grasp it while my other hoof arched in an opposite direction at the sound where the bolt had come from.

A burning in my lungs marked my fatigue, but that hardly registered as I turned my eyes around at the flying pegasus who had tried to shoot me while my back was turned.

I must've looked like a mad mare, because she nearly forgot to flap her wings when we locked eyes.

I ripped the spear from the ground with my one hoof, doing a full spin to get some momentum, and gave her another glance before the spear left my hoof.

I had resolved to show mercy, to make sure every throw and shot was non-lethal, and to not take a life during this little scuffle. I had even decided to make sure I knocked them out as fast as I could.

But that was before they hurt Sweeps.

Although I should've expected us to get hurt, or even killed, because I knew that they didn't play by a set of rules like we were, it still was only natural that I got mad.

So, I cut them a break.

They'd live, but they'd remember this - even if they forgot everything, they'd have the scars to remind them.

The spear hit the pegasi nearly as quick as the spear had left my hoof, plunging into the shoulder I had aimed at, which also shook them enough mentally to stop them from flapping their wings.

I wasn't sure which one had shot Sweeps.

'Oh well.' I smirked, breathing heavy as the mare hit the ground like a sack of bricks.

Their numbers were dropping faster than that pegasus had, even with two of the unicorns Sweeps had beaten on getting back up, and they seemed to know it.

And that only spurred me on.

But I managed to stop myself and turn back to Sweeps, who was sat up and wincing in pain as she prodded at the bolt in her shoulder.

I almost ran back at them all right then and there, but I walked over to her instead.

"You think you can still cast some magic?" I asked her gently, kneeling near her.

A breeze came through the base, chilling myself and blowing the grass around us. Not good for making a shot.

"It's about all I think I can do." She said, looking down at the bolt sadly. She had taken getting shot for the first time a lot better than I thought she would've, definitely a lot better than I did the first time around.

I felt a mix of calm and relief wash over me with her answer. I had been scared for a good little bit there, and I don't really do well with getting scared.

You could ask that stallion and mare with bolts and spears in their arms about that.

"How about teleporting?" I asked her, having a few creative ideas in store for the next few of them, as I jiggled one of the holsters for bolts off of my leg and onto the ground.

"I'm, ah, not too good at that kinda stuff." She said sheepishly.

"Hey Sweeps?"

"Huh?"

"What's you're favorite color?"

"I really don't see how that's important right- SHIT!" She shouted unceremoniously as I ripped the bolt out of her shoulder and quickly wrapped the leather straps from the pouch I had taken off onto the wound and pulled it as tight as I could.

"No reason." I said, smiling gently to her.

I turned around and lowered my back end, scooting up to her.

When she didn't crawl onto my back, and moved my back end backwards quickly, hitting her nose with one of my flanks.

"Get on lazy ass, don't think a little shoulder injury is gonna get you outta this. This ain't gym class."

Despite what I had said and how I was saying it, I was still pissed, and if that injury had been serious, not a single one of those hunters would be alive to tell the tale of how they fought with 'captain Shakes'. 

It was a bit arrogant in all honesty, to call themselves 'hunters', when in reality it could go easily both ways. They more so just handled grunts of vampires, whereas a real vampire would require someone like Stone to pin; and even then it was a gamble. The highest ranking people in this organization were really the only ones who could call themselves hunters, and even then it was still a fifty-fifty split on who really was the hunter.

I felt a pair of hooves wrap around my neck, squeezing my out of thought.

"So, what did you want me to do again?" Sweeps asked, almost weakly.

"Heh, a few things actually." I began, turning back to the dwindled numbers of the hunters.

"One of them is gonna be reloading the crossbows for me, I can do it quick on my own but I could focus more on aiming if you load."

Sweeps noded. Well, I think she did at least from the shaking on my back.

"The other is gonna be teleporting a few bolts around when I ask."

"But I already told you I can't teleport them accurately. Much less after you shoot them." She complained.

I turned back to her with a smirk.

"Well lucky you, I don't want you teleporting the bolts after I shoot," I turned my head forwards, "I just want you teleport them in the air, not even accurately."

We worked best as a team, and that's what made us deadly; the fact that we made up for one another's shortcomings equally and rounded out if we worked as one.

"We don't have the time to mess around with the welcoming committee. Octavia's gonna need us if we're gonna help Vinyl." I said solemnly.

I felt Sis stiffen.

"What happened to Vinyl?" She sounded scared.

"You'll see. Get ready to throw those bolts." I said, watching out of the corner of my eye as she drew a number of bolts from both the pouches and clumped them up together with the points facing downwards.

I resolved myself, letting out a calm breath of air before crouching a little. Sweeps' weight was enough to make the burning in my legs make itself known, but that wasn't going to hinder us once we got going.

"Toss 'em. And burst them apart with a bit of magic if you can." I said.

A flash came from beside me, which signaled me to start moving in a brisk trot towards the group. A second flash came from above them, causing them all to look up and this time signaling me to break out in a sprint towards them.

I had never really prefered doing something like this with arrows and such, as it wasn't exactly comfortable to do and also didn't really go with my prefered way of just shooting things, but I couldn't lie about it not being effective.

Bolts came down towards them like rain, each of them neatly spaced apart and with enough force from gravity alone to make them deadly.

The pegasus was the first to freak out, leaving her open to a pair of bolts to her shoulders, and then two more to the thighs as she fell to the ground. 

Sweeps was a good loader.

The next were the unicorns rushing along a spell to make a shield.

Tossing my hooves up mid stride was a bit difficult, but I managed to line up the shots to the point where raising my hooves was all I needed to hit spot on.

A bolt to each of their horns caused the growing magic shield to fade.

I grinded to a halt and watched with a grin as they tried to get out of the way, each of them scattering in every direction. Though I could've easily picked them off... 

I wanted to give them a show.

"Hey sis, send them a get well card, will you?" I said, aiming my hooves out in preparation.

"I'll try, but don't blame me if we end up getting hit with them." She said, charging her horn.

I shot them out, and thanks to a very similar mind set from Sweeps, the bolts teleported ahead of where the hunters were running, and conveniently aimed towards them as well. It ground them to a halt, but me and sis were just picking up steam.

She loaded them, I shot them, she teleported them; we were about as close to a factory line as it got, and soon enough the bolts were coming towards the hunters from virtually every angle. Admittedly, Sweeps missed a few times, but on a few of those missed, the bolt ricocheted into another and caused those bolts to hit.

They dropped like flies, the unicorns from the headache they were bound to have gotten and the earth stallions from either a back that looked like a porcupine from the bolts, or from the ones sticking from their hooves, shoulders and bellies - all of them dropping in one big, drawn out sweep as they just succumbed to give up and stop getting pelted.

I walked towards and past them, making careful to step past the black slivers of metal jutting from the ground, and making my way towards the hole in the wall. The heavy panting coming from around my back was enough to tell me that Sweeps had been exhausted like I had.

Though, looking back at the field of the fallen hunters, I could say I was happy with the results.

"Don't pant too hard now Sweeps," I said between heaves of my own.

"We still gotta save Octavia's ass."


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Miss Scratch?" I asked, my voice sounding hoarse for no apparent reason.

"Y-Yes dear?" She said shakily.

"I...I take it that you felt that too?" I asked, referring to the odd sort of aura coming from Vinyl.

When she didn't respond, I looked to her once more. Her face was still shaken, though now it looked like she was filled with denial as well. It was as if her emotions had been all contained in a massive bowl up until now, seemingly ever expansive to me since she had been through so much and not even show a sign of emotion towards it. But seeing Vinyl like this was enough to overflow even something infinite like that.

"Y-Yes dear." She said, letting me turn back to Vinyl.

She hadn't made a movement, and was just staring at us with her eerie red eyes. Thankfully, only one was visible through the curtain that was her bangs, though that one eye was more than enough to get a very specific feeling across. Something that was feral, yet honed to a specific task.

A killing intent.

Bloodlust.

It was overpowering in every regard, and if weren't for the fact that I knew what she was really like, I'm pretty sure that I would have fainted on the spot. Either that or started crying and running in terror.

It was odd, as I had never thought you could project something bordering on insanity through something as small as an eye.

I felt a pair of hooves gently squeeze themselves between my body and Miss Scratches, which at first didn't alarm me as much as it did when I realized that Miss Scratch still had me held in her own two hooves.

I blinked, and realized that Vinyl was now gently sat not but a few inches in front of me and her mother with her hooves both stuck between my body and her mother's.

Vinyl's mother noticed and began to move, but it was far too late.

Vinyl's hooves moved outward, each of them going in opposite directions, and I felt my body fly backwards with my mane stretched out in front of me - as if a huge fan was blowing towards me from behind and tossing my mane in front of me.

The next thing I noticed was the fact I was lying limply against the wall, looking forwards to see that Vinyl had tossed both me and her mother to opposite edges of the huge room. The things that caught my attention was how Vinyl's mother's impact had formed a crater, and how mine had not, save for the debris that was already there when I had landed. Though when I looked a bit closer at Vinyl's mom, I noticed her horn had a fading red color to it, as if it had recently been used.

Vinyl's head turned to me, and I felt a chill run through me to my core.

It was funny really, how she still maintained that particular grace to her even when she was trying to kill you. A blunt, yet admirable form that you could just see when she walked. Relaxed shoulders and a caved chest rather than a proudly puffed out one, her head just slightly held low as if her neck couldn't put in the effort to keep it up straight. Eyelids always just a little bit low, giving her a seemingly permanent tired look until they either raised or lowered to fit her mood.

By the time I snapped back to reality, she was already in front of me with her head craning down towards me to get a better look. 

I managed to make out her eyes this time around, the pupils trying to adjust but never seeming to settle to the light of the room. The irises more red than usual for some reason, while the whites of the eyes had small red cracks in them from where they were bloodshot.

An odd smell came from her hot breath, an oddly metallic smell that only took a second or two to pin down.

Blood.

"You've been drinking again, haven't you dear?" A voice said from behind Vinyl, oddly maternal.

Vinyl's head raised and turned, letting me see that it was her mother behind her.

I noted her clenched eyes beginning to twitch.

Then, they began to creep open.

Vinyl's defining feature, to me at least, had always been the red color in her eyes. Not many others had a color like her’s that shifted so drastically with her mood, and it wasn't hard in any sense to make her feel something. Whereas her mother was almost the exact opposite, taking something as shocking as a killing intent from her daughter just to get her shaking.

Almost as ironically opposite, were her mother's eyes.

They were an icey blue, a polar opposite of her daughter, though they still both shared the massive pool of emotions. Hers were sensitive to the light pouring into them, an understandable thing since she had spent so long with them clenched tightly, but now I could see that they were equally as captivating as Vinyl's.

A bit of a joke really, her mother's magic was red and her eyes were blue, while Vinyl's magic was blue and her eyes red.

"We both know how you feel about that." She continued, her eyes half-lidded and staring at the ground rather than her daughter.

They changed her whole appearance, whereas previously a frown from her just gave off the impression of sadness, with her eyes open it now gave off the sense of disappointment instead.

Vinyl finally turned the whole way around, the revealing of her mother's eyes apparently enough to completely get her attention.

Vinyl's mother lit her horn up, a brighter and more saturated flare than I had seen from her yet - like a bonfire of magical energy just spewing from her horn for show, and show alone. The contrast of it with her eyes made it look only brighter, though when her eyes finally raised up to look at Vinyl, the brightness of the magic gave way to a darker and more vibrant color of red, oddly similar to the current color of Vinyl's eyes.

"I had never thought I'd have to do this again..." Vinyl's mother murmured sadly.
> Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was odd to say the least, being so close to a pair of vampires that I had really no idea what the extent of their strength was. On one half, I'd never felt more insignificant than I did the moment that Vinyl and her mother looked at each other. Two extraordinarily powerful beings looking to each other while I could do nothing but sit there with a dumb, slackjaw look on my face - as if the sister princesses themselves were in front of me.

Though, on the other half, I could also be considered the center of attention. And that's not to sound egotistical at all, but when I thought about it, these two were fighting for me. One, Vinyl's mother, to defend me from the other, Vinyl, who was trying to get me from what I could tell.

To think that I was actually the object of desire of one of them - now that I think of it - was a true honor.

Speaking of the two, for being so immensely powerful and capable, they were doing nothing.

Vinyl's mother had been in a staring contest with her daughter for the most part, both of them looking at each other with an intense look in there eyes. But Vinyl's mother kept pouring magic into the air from her horn, as if to serve as a statement, and in all honesty it was working. I wouldn't even dream of thinking bad on someone with that kind of look to them.

It reminded me much of Vinyl when she got serious now that I thought about it, which I guess could be expected since it was her mother, but it was still an experience in and of itself.

Half-lidded eyes with a saturation of color coming from them, bright enough to make everything else look dark by comparison. It was a fact that made the grim look on her lips seem even more profound, straight for the most part but with a small dip down in them towards the end. And I had already observed her horn in all its glory, letting out magic energy like how a chimney would let out smoke.

But as for them staring at each other rather than taking action, I'd come to the conclusion a long time before this that one's eyes can speak for themselves, more so than the spoken word could, so I assumed they were having a conversation with looks alone.

Vinyl's mother was the first to break the silence.

"Very well..." She said silently, her eyes dipping down and gently shutting themselves.

The hairs on the back of her neck visibly bristled, muscles I had never seen on her tensing and bulging past her typically smooth exterior, grimace fading into a more familiar looking motherly smile and a single twitch from one of her ears.

She lifted her hoof upwards, holding it at eye level before it began to glow in a gentle red hue.

Her eyes opened again, a much different look in them from when they had first closed, this time with a very clear intent in them. A look that suddenly made her statement from before a bit more clear. There was a spark of crazy in it, which was a hereditary thing I assumed at this point, that was only made more clear thanks to the red color emanating from her hoof.

Vinyl didn't seem phased at all by the display, but she did do something that looked like it might have been considered a response.

She turned around, looking fully away from her mother, and down at me with what I could only make out as a mix of both lust and longing. 

I could have sworn I saw her lick her lips.

The sight was interrupted suddenly by a glow coming from my right, and a look to said right showed me that a familiar face had made its way over from behind Vinyl. 

And that familiar face didn't look particularly happy about being ignored by her daughter.

Her horn sparked once before a bright light overloaded my sights, though I made out the swift movement of a hoof just before that light overcame me.

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

Ironically, after the overwhelming light, there was an equally overwhelming dark that came over my sights. As if I had been put into the polar opposite of the area, where even the smell had taken a sharp contrast from just moments ago. A stingy smell filled my nose, oddly familiar yet just as oddly unique. 

I felt something like bricks against my backs and figured I was propped up somewhere, and that my first instinct was to feel around to attempt and figure out where "somewhere" was.

I placed my hoof away from my eyes and felt around on the ground, feeling a distinct feeling of slightly wet dirt on top of something solid like concrete. I moved my hoof back to feel what I was propped up on and felt something like rusty metal, and the adjustment of my eyes to the dark confirmed to me that it actually was rusty metal.

I looked around a little bit, finding that where I had ended up was just ever so slightly lit with a tint of an almost orange light that seemed to come from nowhere and favored no direction in general to light. Some places were dark and others dimly lit, but no one place was lit entirely. A steady trickle of water dropping completed the whole look, giving the place a rather eerie feeling to it.

That feeling didn't help when the sound of hoofsteps came gently into audibility.

The steps were gentle and coming from the left, following a pretty consistent pattern like most people did when they walked, but it also had some sort of oddness to it. As if every step had different amounts of care put into each other rather than just walking steadily; some steps sound heavier than others, but all of them sounding generally gentle in nature.

I tried to move away from the incoming steps, like most rational people would when they heard ominous steps coming towards them from the darkness, but a queasy feeling from what had to have been a teleport still held me down.

"One...two...one...two...one...two..." A calm voice said from the dark.

'And there we go, nothing quite completes this whole scenario like a good old fashioned voice from the dark saying something so vague it only makes you more nervous the more you think about it.' I inwardly ranted, but despite that inward annoyance with the situation, I was more than scared.

I began to force my body to move, resulting in myself trying to get up only to slump downward after trying to use my front hoof to push up from the floor.

Hoof steps drew closer, and as they did the voice became more obvious.

"One, two...one, two....one, two...one, two..." She said, her pace increasing.

I stopped my struggling to leave, instead pushing myself back up onto my haunches and leaning back against the wall, an uncomfortable feeling of dirty brick rubbing into my back.

I knew who it was, and despite that, I felt the feeling of fear fade slightly. Instead, my sympathy and kindness began to grow as if it were second nature. I'd realized whose hoof that was that moved upwards towards Vinyl's mother's horn at the last second and I also realized just what they had accomplished by doing that.

White hooves moved in front of me, stopping and turning towards me.

A gentle whisper invaded my ear, tickling slightly.

"You're heart's a bit fast Tavi..."

I didn't look up for some reason, which emotion told me not to was anyone's guess. Fear told me I wouldn't like the sight, anxiety told me I shouldn't see the sight. But sadness screamed that I'd regret the sight.

As soon as those emotions flowed through, I felt a pair of hooves gently pushing my body completely up against the brick. Following this was a white body coming down onto her own haunches, using me as support. After she finally got settled down, she continued pushing on my shoulder, keeping me pinned against the walls.

I made out her breathing, oddly loud all things considered, but I guessed it might've been in anticipation. Whatever the motive, they were oddly gentle and steady.

I wasn't sure why she was just staring at me, but then again I wasn't even sure what she was going to do anyway, so I guess this wasn't so bad.

Her head moved slightly, the feeling of her lips pressing down gently on my own, a sudden warmth coming from my body as I felt a little gasp come from my throat at the tender kiss. The second her lips left mine, she moved to my neck and opened her mouth.

I had expected her to bite down and drain me, but a sudden girly grunt came out instead, followed by her hooves being removed from my shoulders.

I looked over to see that she was holding her nose, her eyes crinkled up and tears swelling at the sides.

'So...this is what a feral Vinyl is like.' I thought to myself.

She got over it, sniffling slightly, and then readjusted my neck and her head before moving back down towards my neck. She trailed little kisses on the way there before finally reaching what seemed to be her favorite spot to feed on, and bit down all in one motion.

There was no hesitation like usual, where she would try and restrain herself. She just bit down without a second thought.

I thought I'd be feeling a bit more saddened to see the state she was in, but rather I wore a small grin. Though she did what I had hoped she wasn't going to do, she had also done something that I hadn't expected. Where she had looked feral, I had expected her to be akin to an animal with her treatment to others, but here she was showing affection. Then again, affection wasn't a limited emotion, so perhaps even her instincts were to show affection to people. But then why did she seem so hostile towards her own mother? You'd figure that'd be the most basic instinct.

Her mouth came off of my neck, a feeling of a little trail of warmth coming down my neck from where she let go. Though she didn't speak, seeming oddly content with the silence.

I felt the need to say something, and as a result a rather cheesy sounding sentence made its way out.

"I'm going to fix you Vinyl." I said, hoping that it'd get some sort of reaction, but none came.

Minutes passed on end, her body going more and more slack as time went on, to the point where I feared she might end up falling asleep on me. That wouldn't have been that bad honestly; I could've gotten her mother and we could have gotten out of here and tried to start fixing her.

But her ears suddenly pricked and she stiffened up.

She moved off of me, getting up and staring down the corridor where she had come from herself.

I noticed my eyes seemed to be a bit more adjusted to the dark, and also seemed to be registering things as if they were in slow motion again. I realized that it was Vinyl's presence that sparked it to happen, particularly from her calling out my heartbeat as she closed in.

A small flash sparked from the corner of my eyes, coming from somewhere far down the hallway, but I didn't take my eyes off Vinyl.

A second white figure suddenly entered the picture, a pair of ice blue eyes holding a look of determination in them. Her body was leaned back, leading with her back hooves that were cocked back in preparation to buck. She looked to be gently floating across the ground in my eyes, though she must've looked like she were flying in reality. Her eyes stayed locked with what had to have been Vinyl's as they closed distance with her until her cocked back hooves were only an inch or so apart.

My eyes looked to Vinyl for a final glimpse, one that showed her doing one thing and one thing only.

Staring off into space, like she didn't even notice her mother coming.

I blinked.

Vinyl was gone, the only thing left being her mother who had since landed on the ground. She was keeping her eyes forwards for a second or so until she turned to me quickly with a look of maternal tier worry.

"Are you hurt dear? What did she-" She began to ask, but she cut her questions short as she seemed to spy the gentle trickle of warmth going down my neck.

"I see." She said, turning back ahead. She sounded odd, where she had sounded concerned before, it was as if seeing that Vinyl had fed made her annoyed.

"You know dear...you really must've burrowed down into Vinyl over the time you've been with her, haven't you?" She asked, her voice hardly a whisper, but it was plenty loud for me to hear.

I was a bit too shocked by what had just happened to answer, but she seemed to know that I wanted an elaboration.

"Even her instincts are telling her to keep you alive." She said quietly. "That, or to just drain as much blood as she can from you."

It went silent as she simply stared down the hall, as if she was waiting for something to come down it, but the silence continued on until she broke it again with another question.

"U-Um, Miss Scratch?" I asked, a bit hesitant because of what had happened, as well as the fact she looked about as approachable as an executioner right now.

"Yes dear?" She said, almost snapping out of her half-lidded-eyes-intimidation-look and bringing her gaze over to me, her eyes now having a small spark of readiness.

I took note of her ability to change emotions seemingly on a dime, going from annoyed with me to concerned and ready to help in any way possible within the span of two words.

"What, um, what did you mean?" I began, but quickly realized that that was about as vague as anything and decided to elaborate.

"What did you mean when you said you'd hoped to never do this again?" I re-asked.

In truth, I had no idea as to what it was, but figured I'd waste less time getting an answer straight from the source rather than letting my mind build up on its own irrational thoughts fueled by emotions. Not to say emotion fueled thought is bad, just that it can sometimes skew perception and inflame anxiety.

"Oh yes...that." She said, sounding like she regretted saying it in hindsight.

"You'd say that...I have a very-" She paused. "-attached, relationship with my daughter, correct?" She asked.

I nodded, not needing any proof of that claim thanks to what I'd seen her already do.

"Well, as much as I love my daughter, there are times when even she needs to be set back in line." The pain of a memory blanketed her expression.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I've fought my daughter before Octavia." She said deathly void of emotion.

I stiffened up and felt my stomach tie itself in knots, the very idea of someone as maternally adept as Vinyl's mother ever coming to blows with someone as innocent as Vinyl being enough to almost make me call her a liar.

"She...it was one of the first times she had drank blood. It was a bit too much for her to handle and ended up sending her into a sort of frenzy the likes of which you've never seen before, and it is the reason she has been hunted by organizations such as this one for a long, long time now - to the point where most think she was a myth. And even they couldn't stop her on their own, which is why I decided to step in." She said softly.

It was a sad sight seeing VInyl's mother get choked up. It must have been truly nightmarish if it could make someone with as much emotional diversity as a motherly rock start to look like they were going to cry. 

"It's also the reason she decided to stop drinking it as much as she could. It seemed like a good idea to her at the time, but...well she didn't quite understand that the choice had consequences." She continued.

"It only takes a drop to get her frenzied thanks to all those decades of not drinking; a good way to look at it would be to imagine fasting for years, and then have someone offer you one of your favorite meals. Every bite would be much more filling than if you had that meal every day." She explained.

As hungry for knowledge of vampires as my brain always was, what she said wasn't a real priority to my right now. I couldn't help but be reminded of another question that had been floating around in my mind, one that I had thought had been answered, but had always denied ever since getting said answer.

"Did...she kill anyone?" I asked quietly.

Vinyl's mother actually looked taken aback by that, her somber mood partially shattered by the accusation.

"My daughter could never work up the nerve to kill someone." She said firmly.

I wanted to trust that, especially coming from Vinyl's own mother, but I just didn't know what to think anymore. I'd seen what Vinyl could do, and as much I would love to know for sure that she had the self control to stop herself, I don't think she could regulate her strength to that kind of degree. Maybe she didn't have the nerve to intentionally kill someone, but she must have taken at least one or two lives on accident.

Look at the Master for example.

Another thing, was that Vinyl's mother had made impeccable timing if this were the case. Why did she decided to come visit around the same time Vinyl started acting all weird?

I brought it up to her, and she seemed a bit relieved at the change of topics, but another emotion came over her face.

'She looks...oddly excited.' I thought to myself, getting a bit nervous.

"Octavia, are you familiar with the time period I believe you people refer to as 'heat'?" She asked, sounding genuine.

I truly had to admire myself after maintaining consciousness after having all the blood in body - including the stream of it rolling out of my neck - rush into my cheeks in the biggest blush I'd ever had.

Talking about going into heat, with the mother of a vampire.

"I-I, uhm, well...ah, yes." I stammered, obviously not expecting that to be the topic of choice.

"Yes, well, here's a little fun fact for you. Every decade or so, Vinyl goes through her own little 'heat' and I decide to pay her a visit to make sure she doesn't do anything drastic." She said, giggling a little bit before whispering.

I wasn't sure whether or not to be uncomfortable, disturbed, weirded out or all three.

Probably all three.

"Even if that means I have to restrain her. She makes the cutest little faces when she gets doped up on venom." She said deviously, not even checking me for a reaction at this point, just looking up at nothing with a blissful look on her face.

Definitely all three.

"Why does she, ah, go through this every ten years?" I asked, curiosity only barely beating out my desire to just stop the conversation there.

"Puberty of course. She's still such a young mare after all." She said, as if it were obvious.

I was just too confused to continue questioning, like the question that if she herself went through something similar to Vinyl. The reasoning behind that being that she had already short circuited my head with the idea that "even if we lived forever, we wouldn't know" and convincing me she just didn't age in general.

Her bubbly look faded slightly as she turned back to the darkness ahead, the smile still on her face, as she seemed to sense something.

"Speaking of her and her youth." She said, looking front and center as the sound of, well, something came towards us.

Vinyl's mother reared up, her hooves going up and coming back down only to hit another pair of matching ones.

I hadn't even noticed Vinyl arriving, practically just appearing out of thin air with her hooves locked into place with her mother's. There was no visible struggle between the two, as if they were just resting there with their hooves latched onto each other, but the second one of them budged it showed just how much force was behind those still hooves.

Vinyl crashed down to the ground, kicking up dust and making a cracking sound a the ground beneath her must've given way against the massive force.

Her mother didn't give her a chance to recover though, instead moving one of her hooves to the center of Vinyl's body and picking her right back up off of the ground and swinging her round once or twice before letting her go.

The poor wall didn't stand a chance.

Light flooded into the dark room, lighting it up as VInyl hurdled outwards and back into that blaringly white room.

"Mother loves you dear." I heard Vinyl's mother whisper before bending down and jumping after her, kicking up dust and leaving in an instant.

As the light flooded in, I realized just why the room smelled so badly.

Looking into the metal bars that I realized were now the bars of cells, I saw that there were splotches of dried blood in most of them. Matted beds and gritty looking floors marked where whoever landed here was supposed to sleep, and the splintery looking troughs marked where they were meant to eat and drink.

There was a brief feeling of guilt that ran through me at the sight of them, superstition running through my head to convince me that there were plenty of vampires who were raised here, whereas I had hardly experienced hardship in my life up until a few months ago.

I pushed it aside for now, as fixing this issue wasn't in my power, and pushed myself up off the floor. There were more pressing matters at hoof, such as the two forces clashing just outside the room.

Trotting slowly to stand in the hole in the wall, I peered out at the two mare's fighting; catching glimpses of the two throwing out hits, only to be blocked just as easily. Peering back to the cell block, I just shook my head before going back into the white of the room.

'Vinyl...what did they do to you?' I asked myself as I crossed the room, thought consuming me.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh came from just beside me, a force of wind erupting from it that was big enough to blow my mane to the side.

I turned quickly, seeing a hoof reached out to my face, and attached to this hoof was the body of Vinyl eagerly stretching out in an attempt to grab me, her eyes glazed over in a lusty look that had clear intentions. I guess that, if she was going off instinct, the urge to feed off of someone would be fighting with the urge to defend herself, but it looked like it didn't matter whichever one won that fight.

The figure of her mother was behind her, holding her by the nape of her neck just out of my reach.

Vinyl finally seemed to wrap her head around the fact that someone was holding her back, and decided to act.

Her outstretched hoof, turned rapidly and unpredictably, slapping away her mother's grasp on her neck. She then moved in closer, wrapping her hooves around her mother in a sort of bear hug before she used her back to send her mother head first into the ground behind her - or, from my perspective, right in front of me.

She only got about halfway before her mother's horn lit in a quick flash, teleporting her body out of Vinyl's grip. She ended up mid-air where she had been standing when Vinyl had grabbed her, her hooves already aimed and rocketing towards Vinyl's stomach. It made a sickening sound on impact, only a glimpse of Vinyl's body being propelled downwards a few feet before rubble made it impossible to see.

Though when it settled, you could easily see that crater formed where Vinyl had been at, not much of a surprise considering her mother hitting he had enough force to send me back a couple of meters. I kept my footing though, bracing from the wind before looking to see Vinyl in the crater on her back.

Something changed about her then, her smile fading slowly as she seemed to realize she had just been denied her snack. I felt the urge to run for some reason, despite nothing visibly changing about her other than her mouth's appearance.

Her hoof raised lazily, hovering in the air a little before coming down hard enough form a second, smaller, crater in the one she was already in.

She got up slowly, earth crumbling around her as if it were snow, walking up out of the hole and onto the solid ground.

She looked back to me briefly, her eyes no longer half-lidded, but now stretched to the point where one would call it normal - which by her standards was as wide eyed as it got. But it wasn't the wide eyes that were the most noticeable part, it was the fact that her pupils had gone from dilated like the typically where when she was all "lusty", to small dots barely noticeable from afar. The irises had seemingly shrunk as well, leaving the whites to over power their color.

It was a different look to her, the term "wolf in sheep's clothing" coming to mind with her eyes looking so drastically different. Another one would be "if looks could cut", because if they could, me and everything behind me for a few miles would have been pierced straight through.

She murmured something, silent enough to be considered a personal thought, but loud enough to be more than a warning.

"Hungry..."


	

> New Feelings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Hey sis?" Sweeps asked, bumping up and down gently on my back as we ran along one of the lookalike, industrial hall.

"Huh?" I asked between sharp inhales.

"So, do you know, uhm, where Vinyl is?"

Truth be told, I didn't. I only had two guesses: the place where Care had done that experiment on her, or back in that big white room where she typically stayed. If she wasn't in either of those two places, we'd have to ask one of the passer-bys who'd either call security, or be security. Either way, somebody would try and beat us up.

"I got two guesses, but honestly, no." I said.

"Is she alright?" She asked, leaning her body to the left while I turned right so I wouldn't fall over as we turned to head down another, near identical to the last, hallway.

"Eh, how do you mean?" I asked reluctantly

Personally, I'd rather Sweeps not know that Vinyl may or may not have gotten turned into, from what Care had described as, an "instinct driven, blood sucking, animal". For starters, it wouldn't exactly be the best of morale boosters - believe it or not but Vinyl being a possible opponent wasn't as spirit lifting as you might think.

"What do you mean'How do you mean?'?" She asked.

I couldn't exactly beat around the bush with such a straightforward question, so I tried the only other option.

Wait it out.

"Well, physically she's fine, but..." I mumbled off, pretending to focus hard on trying to find which direction to go.

"..."

"..."

"She's gone loony, hasn't she?" Sweeps asked, almost deadpanned in her tone.

"Yep."

"Celestia dammit." Sweeps sighed, her face hitting the back of my neck.

"Look on the bright side?" I suggested meekly.

"What could possibly be the 'bright side' of Vinyl being off her rocker again?" Sweeps asked sarcastically.

"At least she's not drunk." I said truthfully.

There was a brief pause where only my hooves against the metallic floor could be heard.

"Alright, fine. At least she's not drunk." Sweeps caved.

Despite how jokingly I had said it, it was the honest truth. Vinyl being a bit mental was one thing, but when she was drunk was a whole other, much worse, thing - and Celestia forbid they ever met. She'd built up an impeccable tolerance to alcohol - one of the reasons that I had to give her some of the hardest stuff I had to get her liver distracted enough for a sedative to slip by it when we needed to subdue her. 

Though the most I'd ever seen her is tipsy, I know because she had told me that she was still sober every time after we did shots. Even when she was just tipsy, she'd get unpredictable - more so than her arguably mentally unstable sober self.

For example, when Vinyl was a bit looney she'd commonly still react to things, like if you tried and hit her she'd either dodge or let it happen and laugh. Though, when she had been a bit drunk in the past, she'd actually just stop registering things - you could hit her in the back of the head with a shovel and she'd just carry on like nothing even happened. Well, implying you could actually hit her first, she gets real wobbly after drinking.

'If she ever actually got drunk...' I thought to myself, just before I felt a rampant shiver run through my spine.

"Hehe, don't worry. I already turned the place upside down to try and find some booze." I chuckled.

"Anything?" She asked.

"I wish. The closest I came was some green tea in the break room." I scoffed.

"That's...not close at all. Actually that's about the farthest thing from it other than, I dunno, water." She said slowly.

"I know! you've got no idea how boring it gets around here without anything to get-" I huffed, only to have my complaining be cut short by a bolt of magic razing by my head.

"-liquored up on!"

Oh yeah, we'd also been getting chased by about a dozen people ever since we got in the building. Weird how you can forget something that threatens your life so easily.

'Must be all this running...' I concluded in thought.

"Dammit, hang on..." Sweeps mumbled.

I didn't bother looking back, because I needed to focus on where I was going a bit more than who was shooting at me; not to mention that they were horrible shots to begin with. Though what did manage to catch my attention was when I felt Sweeps begin to struggle around on my back, but when I tried to look and see what I was going on, I was met with a hind hoof to my face.

"Sorry!" Sweeps chimed, plopping down heavily into place.

Her weight had shifted, from evenly distributed across my body, to a single spot that was now holding most of it.

I was a bit more cautious looking back this time, but I saw now that she was straddling my back with her body facing backwards.

"Sweeps, what're you doi-" I began, but her horn whinned up louder than my voice and cut me off.

A bolt of magic flung out, the recoil going from her horn all the way to my running hooves and causing me to speed up for a fraction of a second before going back to my normal pace.

The sound of a tumbling body came from behind me, so I figured Sweeps must've hit whoever it was. She was a bit better of a shot than the people following us since she probably wasn't delusional from so much running like we were. That and it'd be almost impossible to miss since there were so many of them following us.

Though she didn't stop.

Her horn kept whining and firing off bolts of her own magic back behind me, each shot sending the same recoil through me as we approached the next turn.

When I began to lean right, she instinctively followed along and leaned herself left slightly to balance us out. What I also got to do was jut my eyes to the side to see who was following us.

My eyes widened as I saw that the dozen or so ponies that had been running and flying after us had almost doubled in numbers, and that the unicorns had raised a barrier that covered the entirety of the hallway behind us - like a moving wall of magic. It appeared to be a one way wall as well, letting them shoot out at us while Sweeps' shots popped against it.

The more worrying thing however, was that the pegasi were gaining on us.

"Shakes?" Sweeps called out between shots of magic.

"Huh?" I struggled.

"We're gonna need to think of something-" She said, jerking to the side as a bolt of magic went flying over my head where she would've been.

"-cause this ain't gonna work." She finished.

An idea popped into my mind as I noticed a sign on the wall as I approached the next, and hopefully final, corner.

"Breakroom." The sign read, with a small arrow pointing to the right.

"Can you...make a bright light? Like one you'd make when you teleport?" I asked, looking back behind us to see that Sweeps had a small, round piece of magic floating near her that she was moving back and forth to block incoming shots.

"Yeah." She responded.

"Do it next time we turn, and get ready to hit the ground." I said, the next turn in sight.

"Alright..." She said hesitantly, obviously a bit confused as to where I was going with this idea.

I began to lean into the turn, body shifting enough for me to catch a glimpse back at Sweeps as she dropped her small shield and charged her horn brightly. I looked ahead next, spotting a door directly after the turn onto the hallway. I passed the corner, the sight of the dozens of hunters chasing us disappearing from sight for a moment as I reached up and pushed opened the door while a bright light flashed from behind me.

What followed was me practically throwing Sweeps into the room ahead of me while I tumbled in after, throwing the door closed with a kick from my hind leg.

It was surprisingly dark in the break room, so I ended up losing sight of Sweeps. But I had landed on a soft and warm body, so I assumed it was my sister and tossed my hoof up to their mouth so that they wouldn't make a sound -  I knew her wound might've made her yelp a little, which would've given us away in a second. 

Meanwhile, I tossed my ears up to listen to the hunters outside.

Dozens of hooves thundered to a stop, leaving only the flapping of a few sets of wings. I had hoped that their own noise was enough to overpower the sound of me slamming the door shut.

"Damn," One of them said. " must'a teleported." A deep, male voice said.

I barely contained my giddy laughter as they fell for it.

"Spread out! They might've just teleported somewhere else in the building! Each of you take a partner, we're dealing with Captain Shakes here, so expect some traps to be laid if you find her!" The same voice barked, the sound of those dozen hooves quickly beginning to move again.

I waited a few more seconds, and then silence was the only thing that could be heard.

I let out a heavy sigh.

"Thank god they aren't that bright." I said, chuckling lightly as the body under me began to squirm.

"Clam down Sis, gimme a second and I'll-"

Suddenly, the lights flipped on without either of the two of us on the ground moving. And a magic horn didn't light, so the only option was that someone else had turned it on.

I whipped my head around towards the door - which was where I had assumed the light switch was - only to find Sweeps standing near it with an odd look on her face, sort of a mix between worry and confusion.

"Sis?" I asked slowly.

Now I never did acclaim to be the best at coming to conclusions quickly, but it only took a minute for my head to wrap around the fact that Sweeps was either in two places at once, or that I wasn't on top of Sweeps.

I looked back down below slowly to see a familiar, ash grey coat, accented by a deep red mane and a set of fiery orange eyes staring up at me with a blush darker than her mane across their face and eyes as wide as saucers.

"Flint?" I, again, asked slowly.

I realized my hoof was still over her mouth, so that even if she had responded, she'd be muffled. I quickly took it off and she seemed to recover from the initial situation, putting on her 'tough mare' attitude and shoving me, albeit gently, off of her.

"W-What do you want? A-and why did you jump in here all of the sudden?" She asked, crossing her hooves and looking the other way

I froze.

A lot of things began to go through my mind on what to say, the two biggest ones being "Where is Vinyl?" and the other being "Have you seen Maple?". The way she was acting gave me the impression that Maple hadn't talked to her yet, and that she didn't know I had gone rouge, but I wasn't sure.

"Ah...tripped." I said quickly. "But why were you in here with all the lights out." I asked.

"Well I've gotta sleep somewhere, don't I? Hate the beds around here so I figured I'd set up here during the day and opt to take the night shift." She said, as if it was obvious.

When I looked at her as if she were crazy, she rolled her eyes before pointing over to a pile of paper towels in the corner of the room that looked like they were arranged into a makeshift bed. She also had a blanket that had character to it, so I figured she must've bought it and brought it back with her.

"And they just...let you do that?" I asked.

"Who's gonna stop me?" She shrugged, dropping her hooves and looking past me towards Sweeps.

"Who's your friend? Heard you say 'Sis' to her but I don't think I've seen her around here before..." She said, squinting as if she was trying to remember. "...actually, whatever. I can't remember half the people here anyways." She said, turning back to me.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding.

"So, what do you want?" She asked, getting defensive again.

I considered pressing her as to why she was being so defensive and assuming I had even been looking for her in the first place, but instead I decided to just roll with it. No point in lying where I didn't need to, Flint would catch word that I'd changed sides eventually, might as well get as much use out of not being discovered while I could.

"I was looking for Vinyl, you know where she's at?" I asked.

"Where she's been for the last week or so, down in that big ole white room of Care's." She said a bit obviously, giving me an odd look at the fact I was asking.

I smiled, getting all the confirmation I needed.

"Thanks, see you around." I said, getting off the ground and heading towards the door.

Until her hoof stopped me.

"What're you planning Shakes?" She said with enough confidence for it to be a fact to her that I was planning something.

"Huh?" I played innocent.

"I know that look in your eye, and I know that it means that your up to something. I wanna know what it is, and what it has to do with Whitey." She said, looking pensive. 

It was a bit offsetting to say the least to see that Flint had an almost maternal look to her face at the mention of Vinyl, what was more offsetting was to hear that she had already given Vinyl a pet name. She'd been pretty detached from vampires for the most part that I had known her, so it took me by surprise to see her concerned enough to ask me what I was up to seemingly only on the idea that Vinyl was involved.

"Well...I, uh, wanted to see how she was holding up after her visit with Care." I said quickly. Still figuring that there was no need to lie where I didn't need to.

Her eyes widened at the mention of Care's name.

"Care visited her?" She said, almost sounding panicked.

"Yeah, he said he was goin-" I began, only to be interrupted to by Flint grabbing and all but yanking me towards the door.

"Come on." She said curtly.

I was confused a bit at why she had gotten so instantly uppity about this, but I wouldn't know why since she seemed to not know about what Care had done - and apparently had not even known he had even visited her before me mentioning it. Though there was no denying that she was worried now.

I gradually got up off the floor and made my way over to the door, Flint leaving almost instantly after I got near the door.

On the way out, Sweeps gave me a confused and worried look, though it probably wasn't about the same reason as from before. I was guessing that it had shifted from worry about Flint catching me, over to the same thing I was trying to figure out.

'Why was she so worried?'


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My eyes fluttered, an unfamiliar darkness began to leave my vision. I hadn't remembered losing consciousness, the last thing coming to mind being Vinyl, but after that it was hazy. There was, however, a dull ache coming from my gut and jaw for some reason.

Looking down, there was nothing visibly wrong with my gut, but prodding on my cheek resulted in the most horrible pain I'd ever felt. After wiping the tears that had welled up, I prodded again - much more gently - and found something seemed a bit out of place in my mouth. My tongue gave a brief roll call, counting that all my teeth were still there, but something just seemed off.

A crash hardly registered from beside me, my ears twitching a little as I groggily turned to the side to see that Vinyl's mother had been planted into the wall.

Pulses of red shot out before she did, twirling around each other before breaking apart and taking their own paths to converge on a single target. Then their owner got out just as quickly as she had been planted there, looking forwards at something before speeding off towards it.

I followed her gaze slowly, finding Death staring at me from a distance.

I felt my heart run cold and my brain too shocked to tell me to scream. My eyes seemed to work though, registering that death was surprisingly more white than what I had pictured. They also seemed to have gotten their hair dyed two colors of blue, and looked really similar to Vinyl. 

The dull aches on my body seemed to resonate - in a painful way as well - with the sight, giving me the clue that their doer was in front of me.

'But that doesn't make sense...Vinyl wouldn't hurt me...' My brain protested, wracking itself with pain as it tried to think. 

It appeared that whoever had hit my jaw had hit a bit more than just the jaw.

I managed to make out Vinyl's mother fighting, though it was still a bit blurry, but it definitely registered.

Vinyl snapped her gaze from me as her mother finally got to her from where she had been beside me, her arm almost going to block her mother's hoof before she even registered it as even coming towards her. She followed the block with spinning round and hopping slight, sending her back hoof into her mother's waiting hoof.

Vinyl's mother grabbed the hoof, yanking her daughter off balance and winding around before throwing her like a discus towards the wall. She seemed to realize that that wouldn't do much of anything, and jumped after her in an attempt to follow up.

My brain seemed to realize the reason behind Vinyl's reaction timing this time round, where she'd typically take hits from her opponent in an attempt to demoralize them, she was actually blocking and dodging now. It struck me that she was going off instincts at this point, where she could previously override them to do as she pleased, she was now going back to them and putting more into her power and reflex instead.

It was a red flag already, that her mother was already at a disadvantage. Yet at the same time, she had the advantage of magic, which Vinyl seemed to be neglecting.

I pinned the reason on the small band around her horn, occasionally glowing whenever I imagined she'd be using magic.

I blast of red drew my attention back as Vinyl's mother poured a torrent of magic downwards onto Vinyl that crashed on her like a waterfall.

A bit of dust from the wall to the side of the beam caught my attention as Vinyl pounced from it and into the still form of her floating mother. She drove her into the ceiling with a crash before kicking out of the crater and back down to the ground, almost making another one from just the impact of her landing.

Vinyl turned and ran towards a wall just as her mother fell from the ceiling, bounding off of the wall with her back hooves aimed towards her mother's head as she neared the ground.

Her mother extended a hoof and lit her horn, stopping her mid fall until Vinyl flew by and stopped. Her hoof seemed to shake a little before looking at Vinyl and swinging it at her.

I thought the action looked a bit odd, as if she were trying to hit her from a distance with her hoof, but I soon watched as Vinyl recoiled back into the wall she was standing near.

Her mother began to swing her hooves with an increasing speed, small explosions of dust coming from the wall.

Was she...just, knocking air at her?

As soon as her hooves hit the ground, the dust blew up again as a white form jumped from it and into her. A pair of back hooves knocked right into her head, sending her across the room like a rag doll.

My ears perked as I registered the sound of hooves running towards me, and I soon realized that Vinyl was running at me.

The similar comparison of her and death came back much stronger as I struggled to move away, knowing it was futile but instinct driving me none the less. The throbbing in my gut caught me off-guard and caused my hooves to buckle, sprawling me on the ground as the hooves drew closer.

I looked up just in time to see a hoof coming down towards me, a set of truly feral eyes behind them.

A distinct feeling come along when you lose hope, like you hadn't eaten in a few days; a hollow feeling. You feel calm despite danger being right in front of you, almost as if you're welcoming it.

And I would've, if another hadn't stopped me.

A white body took over my sight, a set of bold blue eyes passing by briefly before they clenched tightly in pain. A sickening bulge came from where Vinyl's hoof had been, not exactly distending like one might expect, but the force of something great on the other side could definitely be seen through her abdomen.

She collapsed afterwards, managing to turn her body so that her back landed just beside where I was while her hind legs crossed over my own.

I heard her murmur something riddled with venom as her horn began to glow bright enough that her normal red hue turned into an almost pink one.

"Look at you now dear, attacking the ones you love." She said sadly, her eyes opening again to show a very cool set of eyes despite the gut wrenching pain she must've been in.

"Maybe this'll help." She said.

What looked like red whips came from her horn, stretching out wildly to the side before coming back together and going into Vinyl's form., causing her to almost disappeared from sight in an instant, the whips turning more or less into beams that stretched all the way across the room before a terrifying roar came over the room. They were bright enough to make the pure white room turn dark by comparison, most likely an effect of my eyes trying to compensate for their light while I stared on in awe.

The beams of magic lasted a few seconds before fading to nothing, the limp body of Vinyl's mother collapsing backwards onto me just as they finally faded away - as if she had put everything she had into it.

I took me a few seconds to get over the display of magic. I had known that she was quite proficient with magic before hoof, but never imagining it to a scale such as this.

I snapped from my awe, turning to Vinyl's mother with a deep sense of dread and concern for the exact same reason that I had been amazed.

She had put her all into this.

"M-Miss Scratch?" I said quickly, only to receive no answer.

I moved a hoof and shook her body a bit more violently than called for, but I couldn't quite help myself considering I was beginning to think that she was dead.

"M-Miss Scratch?!" I yelled, tears finally beginning to break through.

I shook her a bit more in an attempt to get a response. I guess my head couldn't quite process someone of her capabilities dying, so the only thing I could assume was that she was unconscious. But that sense of urgency was quickly overshadowed.

By, well, a shadow.

I looked up quickly, hoping to possibly see Shakes or Sweeps with medical supplies - maybe even Harpo or my parents by some stretch of the imagination - but ended up looking into the eyes of something that made my heart sink.

Vinyl.

She looked borderline the same as when she had been hit with the massive wave of magic her mother had put into her, only with a few new scratches here and there and a bit of blood coming from her cheek. We locked eyes for a moment, her letting me realize that even that wasn't going to stop her.

She raised her hoof again, slowly as if to let her intentions sink in.

Intentions that must've made my brain rack itself so much that it didn't hear the sound of hooves clobbering towards me.

Vinyl could survive and endure a lot of things, as shown by her shaking of a blast of magic with only a few scratches and a bloody lip, but she couldn't resist the fundamental forces of nature. A fact that presented itself when the body of familiar looking grey mare trampled into Vinyl and knocked her off balance.

As she got her bearings and lifted her head, one look at her eyes was enough to show that there was a fire brewing in them. She raced off to where Vinyl looked to have gone, quickly followed by what looked like Shakes and her sister.

"You know dear..." A ragged voice said.

My eyes widened as I looked down to Vinyl's mother.

An eyelid opened, showing a drained looking, dull blue eye.

"...I have an idea." She said.

Assuming that the idea revolved around subduing and or fixing Vinyl, I perked my ears and listened intently.

"Perhaps-" She said slowly, her eyes looking up to me, still just as piercing.

"-you should stop being dead weight."

I blinked.

'Dead...weight?' I asked myself.

I had considered that I might not have been quite as useful as someone such as herself or Shakes, but I hadn't considered myself to be dead weight.

Multiple situations popped into my head to disprove my thought, such as the times when I needed Vinyl's mother to save me. Or the numerous other times I had played the role as damsel in distress to the cause.

Maybe I was more of a liability than an aid.

Lost in thought, I didn't feel Vinyl's mother climb my body and make her way up to my ear.

A gentle feeling clamped down on my neck, managing to finally shake me from my self-scolding thought and look down to see her pressed firmly on the same wound Vinyl had made.

I thought she was going to drain me, but I quickly felt a sensation that was the exact opposite.

Something was flowing into me.

It felt warm and comforting at first, but as it continued to come it eventually devolved into a white, hot pain that had me struggling to not scream. It somehow continued to escalate in pain, until it finally seemed to reach a point where it couldn't get any higher, so the white hot pain turned into a cold chill on my neck as I found myself suddenly drowsy.

"I'll do anything for my daughter." She said gently, her voice nipping at my ear almost like a hungry animal.

"And I expect the same of you."

Something seemed to swell inside of me once her words made it to my ears, something I had never felt before from someone such as myself. The aching in my jaw turned down to a dull tickle, which enticed me to move my hoof up to it to investigate.

I touched it tenderly, not a single feeling of pain coming from it as I roved over it and applied pressure to see if that would give me some reaction. To my surprise, the small amount of pressure I put on it seemed to make it give way, causing a snapping sound to follow and the dull ache to suddenly cease. I couldn't even feel what had been the pain coming from my stomach anymore.

My senses seemed to realize things I hadn't realized or acknowledged before; like the gentle breeze flowing onto my body from the air conditioning, or the rhythmic thumping of my heart that seemed to be steadily calming.

I looked up and over to Vinyl, the blue of her mane and the red of her eyes seeming even more saturated than normal. I felt a smile tug at my lips as I watched her move, something about her so graceful as she effortlessly knocked around the three mares trying to subdue her. Though the smile didn't feel like a smile of happiness, more so like the smile a wolf might have before it jumped its prey.

I felt an urge tug at me, one that I had also never felt before. An urge to subdue her myself, and that I could actually do it as well. No, subdue wasn't the word to describe what my urges were telling me to do.

A more fitting word was dominate.

	

	
> An Exchange of Positions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My hooves felt light as I walked forwards, light enough that I felt I could probably take flight if I wanted to. Though, at the same time, the weight I had on the ground still felt the same. I guess I better way to envision it was to imagine that it was as if my legs were the host of someone who weighed much more than I - someone like a dragon- and were now on me.

I had propped Vinyl's mother up against a wall before I had gotten up, her body moving surprisingly easy. 

I wasn't even entirely focused on any one thing at the moment, more or less just looking around and admiring things in the scenery that I hadn't noticed before. Small cracks around the room, the individual hairs on my coat, the colors on all the other people in the room; it was all in such a high detail.

I had had moments before that were like this believe it or not, not to this scale of course, but a similar experience nonetheless. It would happen every now and again if I spent too much time inside and then went outside with a heavy conscious; looking at something that I might see everyday - like a tree or a park - and see it in a new light.

It was as if my mind was in a constant, observative state; looking into things more than just with sight.

I noticed I was wandering, eyes at my hooves, and sort of just walking in a direction that happened to be towards Vinyl fighting with her friends and that other mare.

I found myself wondering if Vinyl would like to get some tea after this, as if victory was already assured. At the same time I wondered if Vinyl was really the tea-type, as I had never really sat down and had a cup with her. I also wondered if she was alive when tea was invented, and if she had any tips.

I felt my body almost stumble to the side on its own, the vague sound of whistling coming from my ear as I did, before resettling almost just as instinctively.

I realized I had just dodged something, whatever it might have been, but my head kept on running through things I'd be doing afterwards.

Would Vinyl's mother be staying after this? Had I even become a vampire? You'd think becoming something so powerful and iconic would take more than simple bit and injecting. Would I have a guest bed ready for Vinyl's mother if she was staying, or would I give her mine and take the couch?

I knew Vinyl would probably want to sleep with me, so if I took the couch she'd probably come with me. Then again, knowing her mother, she might end up joining us anyways.

"Octavia, what are you doing?! Get back, Vinyl's not right!" A whisper warned me from beside, but thought easily drowned it out.

One of my hoofs moved up, touching something that felt like the hoof of someone else, and then pushed them out of the way gently. I hadn't even realized someone had touched me.

What ever happened to Bigs? He said he'd visit the bar sometime, but I hadn't seen him since the castle. Was he running the place now? DId his master ever die? It seemed like it, but if he was anything like Vinyl then it seemed unlikely that he would be so easily killed.

I noticed my hoof ran out of my view, going somewhere beside my head and hitting something solid. It felt like I had hit a wall, though without the pain of such an action, but my hoof certainly did stop as if I had hit one.

My eyes turned, peering up into pools of red that didn't quite understand why their own hoof had been stopped.

My eyes went back down.

I began to push forwards, the wall that my hoof had hit seeming to strain against my own until it finally gave out and my arm fully extend.

Silence made the sound of something crashing into rock easily hearable.

My hoof came back down to reunite with my other one, both of them standing parallel with each other while I admired the two before I decided to start walking forwards again.

Would I visit my parents? What about Harpo and Beauty? Maybe I could meet them both on the same day. Perhaps an early breakfast with Harpo and Beauty, possibly going to the theater to watch them gawk at Vinyl's criticisms of what was called "a good performance" these days, and then we could follow up by meeting my parents later for dinner. 

Yes, that sounded good. But where to go?

Vinyl would probably favor a bar, but I know she wouldn't complain wherever we went so long I had a good time. She was like that; selfless when it came to others enjoying themselves at the expense of herself. The only problem with a bar would be how much my father would like to have a drinking challenge with a mare who's liver knows no bounds. He was reserved in his household, but going out into the public was his time to be free - quite odd really.

I don't think my mother would quite like the atmosphere of the bars that Father would like. Vinyl was pretty easy to please, not really caring about how she was outwardly looked at by others and being fine with going just about anywhere, but mother would like to keep up appearance - something that didn't meld well with Vinyl's mentality.

Though, maybe if I coaxed her enough, Vinyl could act regal and eloquent for my sake.

'That would be interesting.' I giggled to myself.

Still, on the off chance begging Vinyl didn't work, I'd have to find a place where Vinyl and Father could drink peacefully, or competitively if the occasion arises, and at the same time a place where Mother could feel appreciated by the crowd.

I felt my nose scrunch up in frustration.

I turned and looked to Shakes, who I assumed would be the most informed on the topic, and asked her for advice.

"Shakes, do you think that your bar would be a good place to take my parents? If not, where would be a good place for my parents and Vinyl to drink and eat well together?" I asked.

Shakes herself was staring into my eyes as if she had never seen them before, but quickly shook that away and snuck her hoof up to her chin in thought. The ashy grey mare beside her and her sister on the other hoof, had a slack jawed look on their face as if they had just seen a ghost or something of that nature.

"Well, bar's been abandoned since Vinyl left, so you and your parents might help me get it back off the ground." She said, hoof rubbing across her chin while her brows furrowed. 

I noticed she kept sneaking glances up to my eyes, occasionally lingering a bit too long and ripping her eyes away by force.

"Do you think my parents would mind going to an empty restaurant? I'd think my mother would be entirely against it with her urge to impress others..."

"Could just tell 'em that you rented out the whole place to yourselves? I'm sure she'd get plenty of gawking on her way to the bar if anything. Damn drunks." She suggested, quirking her brows.

I smiled at that. Mother would love the idea of renting out a restaurant to herself, and the gawking from the homeless would be great for her ego. She was honestly a very humbled pony, just not when it came to appreciation of her style and looks - and even there she didn't care who exactly was gawking, just that they were. My father wouldn't mind so long as mother was happy, and Vinyl wouldn't mind either way. 

It was perfect.

"Hey, uh, Octavia?" Shakes called, snapping me out of thought.

"Hm?" I said, looking up suddenly, and getting her to recoil a bit when we made eye contact.

"As much as I appreciate the business you plan to be giving me, mind fixing up this whole, uh, Vinyl situation?" She asked, pointing off to somewhere behind me.

I turned eagerly at the mention of Vinyl, but tilted my head and cocked a brow when all I saw was a white looking mare stumbling up from a pile of rubble. She had the posture of a wet rag, and seemingly the support of one as well judging by how she teetered from side to side when she got up before finally evening out. 

She had the smile you might see on some sort of demon that lived off of others, grinning madly at receiving emotion regardless of what kind it was; as if she'd thrive off of hate and anger just as much as she'd thrive off of love and care - a true product of environment. I could imagine she might've had a preference between the two, but I couldn't tell from an outward look at that grin. 

And not to mention her feathered looking hair, streaks of two types of color running through it. No matter how much I looked at it, I couldn't quite figure out how the two managed to stay perfectly separate from each other all while looking like a mess. A darker looking and borderline brooding looking dark blue mixing so well with the playful and energetic look of the almost artificial looking neon blue.

It looked like Vinyl, outwardly at least, but she didn't have the mix of play and prowl that Vinyl did. Too much attempts at actually causing harm, and not enough playing around to show that she could cause said harm.

My eyes narrowed on the form that raised her head to look at me with a newfound grin that contrasted the confused look from before. It looked eager, but for all the wrong reasons.

She bent down jaggedly, picking up a piece of the rubble she had been shot into, her hoof arching back like you might see a pitcher in hoofball would.

There was an odd pause between the action and release, too short to call it a pause for dramatic effect and too long for it to be considered unintentional.

Then as it released, an odd explosion came from it as it exited - but there was no bright light as there would be from a magical one.

I lost sight of the rock as it left her hoof, but it came quickly back into view as it slowed to a near halt in front of my nose. Being so close to my nose gave me plenty of time to give it a good look over, admiring the deep running cracks and texture of the rock before dipping my head into my shoulder to let it continue to rocket past me.

An odd shift of the air caught my attention, my eyes opening and my neck straightening back out to see the Vinyl look-a-like had made its way to in front of me.

She was posted in the air, both of her hooves clumped together high in the air in an attempt to slam down on my and send me into the ground.

'Well, she does have the in general, occasional, and foolish unpredictability that Vinyl does.' I thought, admiring the odd position of her in the air before breaking out into a small smirk.

'It's a start, but we still have a long way to go before she's back in order.'

At this point, I knew the husk of Vinyl had the clear advantage of speed over me, but I also knew that I had the advantage of the time to think of a way to react around her speed.

So, I figured I'd test the waters a bit.

I took a sidestep, practically jumping to the side to just barely make it out of the way of the thundering hooves that came down and crashed into the floor below me.

Eyeing her with I could only describe as a hunger, I jumped back towards her, rolling my back onto hers and hooking my hooves around her neck in a grip as gentle as the smile across my face.

I couldn't wait to get Vinyl back.

I pulled on my hooves, Vinyl's momentum being enough to let me use her as a way to pull myself back. I rolled off of her back, the hooves that were near Vinyl's flank now planted firmly on the ground with my front hooves now in more of a headlock around Vinyl.

I'd never been a fighter, not even a strategist for that matter, but I found that my body was moving seemingly on it's own with the situation. As if there was someone else in my head who knew how to fight, and they would step in whenever they needed without me knowing.

Vinyl was just now recovering from the off setting of balance both me and herself had caused her when I began my own initiative.

I found myself pulling back on Vinyl, using my grip around her head along with my hind legs to actually lift her up off the ground, my own hooves latched around her neck so that she wouldn't go airborne.

We must have looked like opposites from afar, my grey body standing straight as I held her up in a headlock while her own white legs went straight up into the air.

We seemed to stay there, the two of us both straight up for a while, until we began a quick descent downwards.

Almost cinematically, time slowed as we began the fall, making the brief fraction of a second we would've spent falling turn into a rough minute - giving me plenty of time to think as it happened.

I found myself feeling mixed about myself as we fell.

There was this weird feeling of something not being right at the idea of causing harm to Vinyl, but a sense of need in doing this so I could get her back. Truth be told I hardly felt in control during this whole confrontation, instincts and urges seeming to make my body move before my mind could find out if they were okay or not.

I could swear I heard whispers in the back of my mind, saying ungodly things I'd never have thought of.

I closed my eyes to blink, time progressing in that small fraction of a second.

The impact of the ground came before I opened my eyes. I figured I had hit the ground, the only reason I wasn't totally sure was because I only felt the wimpy bump on my head from where it should've hit the ground. 

I knew that the impact wasn't as light as I felt it was, and opening an eye confirmed it. New cracks ran across the ground for a dozen or so meters outwards from where I landed.

But the most important thing was that Vinyl was still. I felt relieved that she had stopped moving as she was arguably the most threatening thing in a good hundred or so miles, probably more. It was actually odd to feel my body relaxing, my eyes settling with just staring upwards towards the ceiling.

A blue mane and a devious grin came into view, causing my eyes to widen and my body to stiffen just before a hoof gripped me by the nape of my neck and yanked me upwards

I had never been on a carnival ride before, but the way that I was whipped around reminded me off the descriptions that others had told me about riding one. Feeling completely out of control of where you go, your body getting whipped around with shutters and pauses before going very rapidly and fluidly in one motion.

That carnival ride feeling came off strong as I was whipped back and forth by her hoof before she let go of the nape of my neck and I felt myself fly.

I managed to get a glimpse backwards, seeing that Vinyl had already started following me after throwing me, her body lined up as to shove both of her hind legs into me as soon as I landed.

I had almost forgotten about pain, the physical feeling of it that is, as I had never really gotten into a situation that I could call sincerely painful. Or maybe it was all of this vampiric whatever-it-was coursing through me that made me think I had forgotten about it, but I guess I was lucky that Vinyl was so eager to remind me.

Hitting the wall didn't hurt too bad, it was the stop that was more uncomfortable since my head rocked back and into the walls that had to have been marble. And on top of that, there was the two hooves that shoved themselves into my chest before using it chest like a trampoline.

I would've fallen limp after that if it weren't for the being so embedded in the wall that it was able to keep me up.

It was oddly silent in my head, less thought this time around oddly, and more of just images flashing by in a subliminal sort of way.

Some of first meeting Vinyl, of when I first encountered her and watched her curled up on my floor trying to keep herself away from me, of the time where she played the piano against Fredric, and even of the time when I beat her mercilessly over the head with the leg of a barstool.

At first I smiled weakly at the images, finding a bit of comfort in them.

Then I opened my eyes, and saw what had become of Vinyl in front of me.

Then I felt anger with each passing image, muscles clenching at each passing picture. Teeth gritting to the point of where a dental checkup would definitely need to be in order after this. She wouldn't be proud of this.

I didn't notice the concrete crumbling, releasing me from my hung state and dropping me down onto the ground.

Vinyl took no hesitation in rushing up to me with hooves raised.

This really wasn't her at all.

Something ran across my face, leaving an intense stinging to my cheek and jaw area, and I realized Vinyl had punched me.

I looked up to her, no emotion running through my face, seeing another hoof had already raised itself and was ready to come down.

'Remember Octavia, you're doing this for her.' I thought to myself in an attempt to justify my coming actions.

Her hoof began its quick descent and I finally moved.

My hooves moved over and caught it, gripping around her limb. I pulled harshly on her limb and spun with it, leading her into the same concrete that I had been in previously with a smash that sent a cloud of debris out from where landed.

I paused briefly afterwards; a mistake.

A white hoof came out of the cloud as quick as it had gone in, Vinyl's grinning face and torso following at as it came into the same cheek she had hit before. After that came another, and after that yet another until I finally managed to get my hoof up and block it. Despite actually blocking it, she didn't seem to have any plans on stopping.

She was reckless about her punches, so I slipped a hoof around one - quickly followed by the other - and pulled her close. I hopped up a little bit and stuck my hind hooves up between myself and her chest, using my body to throw her off balance.

We fell to the ground and I let loose a buck that, thanks to my hooves being so close to her already, sent her skywards about fifteen or so feet.

As she fell back down, I prepared another buck to connect with her head. Despite the brutality of the action, I remembered that last time she was acting funny, blunt damage to her head seemed to fix her.

Hopefully it would again.

She fell back to the ground, head turning to look me in the eyes just before she made it within range of bucking, showing a mischievous grin and a new set of eyes.

Dilated.

She finally made it in range and I let my back hooves go, crashing towards her just as the symbols on the band around her horn glowed brightly.

Only this time her horn actually sparked.

She seemed to shimmer in air for a minute, becoming slightly transparent as my hooves seemed to go through her, before disappearing completely.

My eyes widened.

She hadn't been able to use magic thus far, and it was why I considered myself having a fighting chance this time around. I figured I had that band around her horn to thank for that, but it looked like it had failed?

A pair of hooves wrapped themselves around me, causing me to yank my gaze back down to the ground in front of me to find a giggly white mare lying on the ground below me.

She had her hooves around my neck, making pulling me down to the ground on top of her an easy task, and made an easy connection with my lips. I felt a shiver down my spine as she kissed me, a heat raging over my body in mere seconds while my heartbeat spiked. 

I guess my mind seemed to rationalize giving into her; after all, she didn't seem to be fighting me right now so I guess she wasn't exactly against me right now. But it still felt a bit suspicious for her to just change like that on a dime, despite her having a healthy history of doing that before this anyways. 

But just being back with her like this was enough to override that suspicion.

Just as I felt myself beginning to melt in her hold, something that I had missed for as long as she had been away, something in my head seemed to click.

'Stop.' A voice in my head practically screamed.

My eyes widened and I began to struggle as something that wasn't my own thoughts spoke from inside my head. It seemed to protest me giving in to Vinyl's advances.

Instead, a new urge began to rise after the voice had spoken, something very foreign to me. It made my head feel fuzzy and my eyelids feel heavy. They went about halfway down before they finally felt like I could hold them open.

I readjusted myself from atop Vinyl, going from lying limply in her grasp to straddling her; legs situating on both sides on the lower part of her torso so that she couldn't bend at the waist.

Vinyl was quicker than she was strong, not to say she was weak in any regard, but I knew that her strongest point was her mobility. And I'd need to take that away if I wanted her to stay still.

She seemed to pick up on this, her half lidded and dilated eyes going wide and beginning to struggle under me. 

People, as I've learned, often forget about the advantages they have when they are in the moment. A reward of having an overly active conscious that consistently over analyzes everything I do was that I didn't forget those advantages that I had. Vinyl knew she had the advantage over me from the beginning, so she went into this fight cocky and playful like she normally did.

She must've never thought that the dead weight would resist her advances.

I'd always been introduced to things by Vinyl since meeting her, many new things like bars, drinking, dating mares, and even pain; but it was about time that I introduced her to something.

Losing.

But not by brute force, dilated eyes Vinyl and force were a bad matchup for force. I figured if you wanted to beat someone typically unpredictable, you'd have to beat them in a way even they wouldn't predict. Vinyl's mother had already made a point of it, I was dead weight in almost every sense of the definition, and Vinyl most likely knew that too.

So I'd beat her how she had beaten me in the past.

As I looked down at her, her face screamed displeasure, that displeasure turning into the movement of one of her hooves towards my chest So I brought about an old trick, and lifted my hoof up to her horn and gave it a gentle tap at first. 

I smiled as she stopped squirming and curled her face up in disgust for a few seconds before opening her eyes and looking into my own, filled with displeasure and resistance at first. But when she followed my hoof up to her horn, the resistance faded quickly.

I bent a bit lower, looking deep into her eyes while hers attempted to avoid eye contact while she still twisted her neck in vain in attempt to shake me off her. But when her eyes eventually locked with my own, she suddenly stopped her struggling. Something seemed to change in those dilated eyes when they locked with mine, and her stillness only further proved it.

Submission.

I took a minute to admire her.

She'd always been somewhat of a bastion of independence ever since I had met her and looked into her. I mean, having the courage to come into a town as socially unaccepting of the lower class as Canterlot was something, but it was another to put up with everything that she must've went through and still be so innocent. She had the mindset of a child at most times, being bubbly cheerful and almost sickly sweet, but at the same time being more independent than anyone and intimidating as the guards. 

But here she was now, stock still and looking up into my eyes with her own wide eyed red ones. Looking like a foal in the presence of her mother.

Submission wasn't something she was used to, and if it was true that she was operating on instinct alone, then perhaps - judging by how she was reacting - submission was in her instincts underneath all that playfulness.

And, it made me feel a bit odd; hot for some reason, which was suspicious considering I was sure that it was the room was the same temperature as it was before.

I lifted up from her briefly, turning and looking around the room to see if I could find the source of the blasted heat.

I couldn't find anything thought, other than the stock still figures of Shakes, Sweeps, and the grey one. The heat persisted, but seemed to tame itself when I started looking around.

I turned back to the obedient red eyes looking at me widely, both of her hooves nestled into her chest, and found that the blasted heat had begun to spike up even more.

I began to get frustrated, and quickly as well. My body began to move and fidget restlessly, my legs straddled over Vinyl starting incessant twitching and shifting over her. It eventually escalated to the point where I felt helpless to the heat and dipped my head down, groaning in frustration right beside of Vinyl's head.

What was this damned heat? What was causing it? Was it whatever Vinyl's mother had put in me? It had to have been, there was nothing else that could be causing this.

The tickling of a twitching ear caught my attention, causing my eye widen. I paused for a second before raising up to look at Vinyl again before finally realizing what it was that urge from before had meant, and what this heat had meant.

The heat welled up again as I began to pry Vinyl's hooves away from her chest, pressing them into the ground leaving her spread eagle.

I leaned in close, my cheeks flushing as my mind told me how wrong this was, yet the flushing through my entire body was telling me the exact opposite. Vinyl looked so helpless for once, exposed and compliant unlike ever before where she had always been the one to have me pinned on the ground and at her mercy.

For once, Vinyl was completely at my mercy here, and despite how part of me wanted to deny it, it felt good.

And judging by that adorable look on her face, she knew it too.

I found myself staring up at one of Vinyl's ears, the one that had tickled my ever so gently before, and looked down to see that Vinyl seemed a little nervous by me gaze. I was confused myself at first, but decided that it was worth looking into if Vinyl got nervous about it.

I moved to her ear, watching as she strained her neck to try and keep it away from me, but it served no use as soon enough I was practically on top of it.

I had seen in plenty of corny romance movies that I had watched in my youth - it was a phase, we all go through it - that biting ears was supposed to somehow be sensual. I had never quite understood it, infact it sounded quite repulsive, but never questioned it because of how it always did end up looking sensual.

Perhaps Vinyl wanted me to go for her ears? Afterall, trying to hid something is one way to get everyone to look at it.

I awkwardly moved my mouth up to her ears, feeling quite silly about this, but a small moan coming from Vinyl already showing that it was working.

I moved my lips around her fuzzy ear, opting to use my lips rather than my teeth to tease around her ear, which made Vinyl begin to fidget wildly as a heat of her own started to be felt by my legs.

I actual giggled, coming out much more lewdly than I thought it would, a little at seeing Vinyl squirm so much.

I was too absorbed in the moment to hear the murmuring coming from around me.

"So...this is happening."

"Wow...didn't know Octavia had it in her."

"We're gonna just gloss over the fact that this grey mare, who was previously getting her ass hoofed to her, just reduced Whitey to puddy? Alright, whatever."

"Well, looks like someone is gonna get their ass hoofed in a-"

"Shakes! Not appropriate!"

I wasn't sure where things were going to go from here, as I also wasn't sure how much self control I could exhibit seeing Vinyl being toyed with by myself, but it seemed like I wasn't going to have a say in the matter.

The sound of locks unlocking came out loud enough to break me away from Vinyl, looking up from Vinyl - who's ragged breaths were still very audible - to see a large metal door opening up.

Four figures stepped through the door, two of them I recognized and the other two I didn't.

One of them was mister Stone and Maple from the apartment across the hall from mine. The other two consisted of a single silver looking mare and another stallion, much smaller and slimmer than Stone, who was dressed in a sort of lab coat.

The silver one just sort of stared at us with a bit of confusion while Stone moved his hooves over to cover the eyes of Maple, which peeked over his hoof shortly after, while the one in the lab coat looked on as if he were taking notes.

I sighed.

I didn't know why they were here, but knowing how Flint was related to Stone and Maple somehow, I knew that it wasn't going to be good.

I looked back to Vinyl, still breathing heavily, and smiled at her before bending down closer to her ear again. She flinched when I did, but I made no move to tease her physically anymore.

"We'll be finishing this when we get home."
> The Strength of the Generals
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


My body felt a bit uneasy when I pushed off of Vinyl, wobbling back and forth oddly similar to how she had been doing prior, before finally steadying out and looking over to the four figures crowded near the door. I must've looked unamused to them, because they all - save for the silvery one - changed their gaze to a more irritated one. Though the shift was small, it was noticeable, but I took no offense to their looks, because I certainly felt unamused.

My eyes wandered lazily over to the form of the grey, ashy mare who had been standing beside Shakes and Sweeps. Her name finally came to me -- General Flint, or more so just "Flint" if I recalled correctly.

She silently crept over to the crowd, situating herself right beside Stone. Her gaze was a bit different than theirs though, a bit more interested - as well as objective.

The first to break the silence, I hadn't noticed, was the mammoth of a pony she was standing beside of, Stone.

"Something's different 'bout her this time round." He mumbled under his breath, his eyes hardening as he looked at me with a bit more effort and judgement. His voice made it clear that he wanted what he was saying to be between just him and the others crowded near the door, but it came all too easily into my ears for me to ignore.

We finally made eye contact and his eyes narrowed even further before finally coming to a rest as he seemed to reach his conclusion.

"Got somethin' in those eyes that I never seen 'fore." He continued. "Least not in her anyways." He huffed, eyes wandering to Vinyl.

"She took out Whitey all by herself. Didn't look like Whitey was holding back much either..." Flint added, getting a glance out of the corner of Stone's eye, but nothing more.

I suppose Vinyl had had an impact on him as well? She seemed to do that with most people she met, even if she didn't mean to.

But on that note, I have to disagree with Flint. Even in the most painful blow Vinyl had dealt to me - the one where she shoved her hooves into my ribs - felt restrained in some way. It most definitely hurt, but for some reason there was the faint impression that it could have been much worse.

I'd also considered what Vinyl's mother had said about Vinyl's diet affecting her strength; and that this may be the one time that I say starvation did something good.

"I don't suppose you're here to try and take her away from me, are you?" I asked genuinely, though it ended up coming off as a bit rhetorical.

In hindsight, the question was just downright stupid. I mean, what other reason be here for? To throw me a party? Though, I suppose asking wasn't going to do anything inherently harmful.

"I suppose you plan on takin' her?" Stone asked, craggy brow raised.

"Yes. I do." I responded.

Stone let out a big sigh, his eyes closing before he stiffened up and craned his neck to both sides, a sickening crack coming out with each whip. Under the sounds that I never thought could come from someone's necks unless it was breaking, I heard the subtle mumbles of his deep and rich voice. Something about having swore to himself that he wouldn't wake up today for something silly.

Flint started looking a bit worried when Stone started stretching out his body before taking up what loosely resembled an offensive posture. Truth be told, he didn't really move much from before he had "gotten ready", but Maple and the stallion with a lab coat on seemed to get the same unspoken message and took a few steps back.

The only one who didn't move was the Silver one, who remained motionless and stone faced as she seemed to stare past me.

"As a forewarning, I'll say this twice to ya, Miss Melody. I'll never hit a mare." A low grumble said, coming from the hunched form of Stone. He seemed to understand that I could hear him, even it was a mumble, from this far away.

His shaggy black mane came down just over the tips of his eyes and left them shaded black, making his bristled coat and hulking form all the more menacing than it already was. His muscles strained hard, bulging out and becoming as chiseled as, well, stone.

'I wonder if his name being a pun was intended? Or perhaps he got his name from his muscles? But then how long has he been this muscular for?' I thought to myself.

My thoughts were instantly interrupted by the sound of something crunching, and looking up showed me a rather impressive sight of what had caused said crunching sounds.

Stone had moved slightly, but the cracks running from under his hooves were the more noticeable sight. He bent his front hooves slightly before pushing himself up onto his hind legs, his weight causing him to teeter at the peak of his height - leaving him roughly three times taller than I was standing - before he came back down.

He built speed fast, crashing into the ground with enough force to cause even more cracks to spread across the ground, the fear of the ground breaking apart becoming an actual concern.

Well, it was an actual concern because it had actually happened.

His hooves had hit the ground hard enough to finish the job the first set of cracks had started, chiseling out a chunk of the floor that was in the shape of an arrowhead; only much, much larger. As if it were on hinges, it sort of swiveled up from the ground and served as a huge shield that managed to hide even Stone's huge form behind it, if that served as any sort of comparison.

I was both impressed and confused by the feat; impressed by the fact he had done it so easily, but confused at why exactly he did do it in the first place. I tried to link it to his statement about not hitting mares, but couldn't really relate the two.

Until the wall of stone he had erected began to move.

Quickly.

Towards me.

I was almost hit by the moving wall, stunned by the fact it had began to move at me like a train at full speed, but reflexes eventually took over and sent me rolling to the side, quickly regaining my balance this time in a more prepared stance.

I glanced up to see Stone's hind hooves still in the air from where he must've kicked the chunk of stone at me.

I was too absorbed in admiring the feat, that I almost failed notice the fact that everything was slowly turning a light orange hue. Not only that, but the fact that things were beginning to get very hot.

Fortunately, I tripped over my own hooves and ended up sprawled back on the ground as the heat began approaching and becoming unbearable to the point where I felt my mane actually begin to singe.

Then it stopped.

I opened my eyes, padding around my body to find that I was still alive - hot to the touch, but alive.

When things began to look clear again, I noticed things were already moving slowly. Though it was blurry, there was an oddly orange light coming from the place where what must've been a fireball had come from that drew my attention.

It eventually came through, and I noticed it was Flint who had shot the fire ball.

'Then again, who else would have shot something like that.' I thought to myself, watching her as her head began to sink down towards the ground.

I raised an eyebrow when it got low enough to the point where her horn touched the ground.

I heard the shouts of Shakes suddenly, causing me to turn to her to see her with a look of panic on her face as she struggled to start moving towards me. I could only tilt my head at her, partly because I didn't know why she was so worried, and the other part was because her words came out distortedly slow.

Though I managed to make out one of the words she was saying.

"Below."

A bubbling sound caught my attention, and I looked down to see the ground beneath me turning molten as I finally made the connection between what Flint was doing.

I stepped backwards, watching a geyser of fire and liquid rock shoot up from the ground that made an actually quaint compliment with the white background of the room around it. It reminded me a bit of the modern art paintings you might see, starkly contrasting colors - that being said I always thought they were a bit of an excuse for big money for little effort.

Then again, there never was a hoof reaching through the modern art at those galleries mother would drag me to.

'Hoof?' I thought.

A hoof flowed through the molten rock as if it were mere water, the lava parting around it like it was a rock in a river as it kept stretching through and closing in with what I had to assume was my neck.

Then I saw who the hoof was attached to.

Stone's face was both a dark and calm angry, yet somehow didn't seem angered in the least. A better word would be determination, but that seemed to be an understatement. His mouth was dipped down at the ends in a small frown, his hair still covering up his eyes so that you couldn't quite see them.

Despite being fully capable of moving, I found that I simply couldn't.

"I told you, Miss Melody, I won't hit a mare." He groveled lowly, his torso finally beginning to make its way through the miniature volcano below him.

"But consider this the end of your warning, lest ya' get hurt next time." He said forebodingly.

Perhaps what he meant was the he'd give mare's two warning before actually attempting? It was honestly frustratingly vague.

His hoof was closing the distance between it and my neck when an arrow flew into view suddenly.

Despite being sharpened to the point of being a makeshift surgeon's scalpel, the arrow bent and harmlessly bounced off of Stone's hoof and into the fire behind it where it immediately disintegrated. Though it may not've pierced Stone's skin, it did have enough force behind it to knock his hoof off to the side past my face.

I took advantage of that, and quickly scooted my way back from the, now dwindling, geyser of flame.

I looked off to the side to see Shakes giving me a little salute, accompanied with a sheepish looking smile and a blush now that she realized that I realized it was her.

'What an odd reaction.' I thought, cocking a mental brow at her.

A smile crept across my face as I realized just how lucky I was to have friends such as these. Although Shakes went through that whole "knock me unconscious and steal my mare" phase, she seemed to be out of it now.

I couldn't forget how I met them either, that one fateful night at the bar where I almost fell victim to Bigs' thirst until Vinyl just happened by to take out the trash and scare him off. Not to mention the rocky and vast road that simply knowing and interacting with Vinyl has taken me down.

I'd considered myself a fair and level headed person, until I put myself near Vinyl by comparison and found that I was still a bit snobbish on some issues. But she also gave the impression that that was okay.

A hoof lightly slapping my face brought me back to the matter at hoof.

"Stop doing that." A voice said.

I looked to see that Shakes had somehow made her way over to me and was now staring at me with both her hooves pressing my cheeks together like that you might imagine a grandma would.

"W-What?" I said, voice distorted by how she was squishing my face.

"Doing that thing were just kind of stop moving for a few seconds. Your eyes get all foggy. It's weird." She said, letting go of my cheeks and turning back to Stone just as the geyser below him let out a pitiful last bubble before being completely worn. 

The sound of someone collapsing behind him became known.

He stood tall and dark, hardly a scratch around his underbelly and torso where he had reach through the fire after me.

"Well, I guess he's a little tough." Shakes complained, loading another arrow.

A shift of air came from behind me, causing me to turn and my eyes to widen.

The silver mare had somehow made her way around me and Shakes without making herself visible or even heard to either me or Shakes, which seemed impossible in theory, yet there she was.

She was looming over Vinyl, who was still curled up on the ground from where I had straddled her, with a look eerily devoid of emotion. and eyes that could almost be considered wide, but not quite. In fact, I think the fact she didn't have any kind of emotion on her face made her intents even more fearful.

I immediately started moving towards her, my pace more of a brisk trot than a flat out run, but when I got within a couple meters from her, she turned halfway towards me with her eyes now half lidded. They still lacked emotion, but seemed more piercing now.

I felt myself freeze at that gaze.

The white of the room seemed to fade into blackness as we locked gazes, the only color being her as she looked back into me. I was filled with more messages than I could process into a single statement, though I could definitely say most of them were warnings.

We must've stood there for seconds on end, but it felt like hours. I wasn't sure if it were my own eyes slowing things down that made this staring contest seem so long, or if was just the effect of her eyes.

Only when something else began to emerge from the make believe shadows did she move.

A limp hanging white head with a hoof raised.

It seemed like Vinyl to do something such as this, to get up and loom behind her before hitting her, but something about this didn't seem right. And it soon became evident why, as Vinyl was still laying down on the ground.

The hoof swung down fiercely, which made it surprising that the silver mare managed to dodge it.

On her way back from the dodge, she sprung her hooves out and quickly grabbed hold of Vinyl by the torso and began to lift her up.

I felt myself tense up and began to move towards Vinyl and the silver mare just as the white figure opened their eyes. They were blue enough to cool the room by a few degrees just by letting them be seen.

She lit a familiar red horn that let out a swell of magic in the shape of a red ball above her head before she swept her hoof up into the magic, reaching in and literally pulling some of the magic out and throwing it as if it were a liquid towards the silver mare.

I had always figured magic to be an untouchable thing.

Apparently I was wrong.

As the mare, who I assumed was one of the generals, moved out of the way of the liquid magic, I took it as an opportunity to close the distance between us; hoof prepped to head towards her lower back - the only thing facing me since she had backstepped - in an attempt to make her let go of Vinyl.

I, no we, had gotten this far. To lose now would be an impossibility.

She never turned around, and just as my hoof closed the gap to her back, her own hoof shot around and pushed mine out of the way. It ended up sending me into Vinyl, which I guess achieved the same results as trying to punch the silver mare and freeing Vinyl.

Fumbling for a second, I managed to straighten up and lock eyes with Vinyl, finding that they had an almost glazed look to them. She seemed so docile for some reason, it was almost worrying. She wasn't even being feral like before - which I would prefer to this version that just let herself almost get captured without any resistance.

She was just letting this all happen as if she were powerless to stop or influence the outcome. Why won't she fight back? Even if she couldn't, just small resistance could help out.

Why was she being so like me now that I was doing something? Was dead weight a prerequisite I hadn't heard about?

"Vinyl?" I found myself shouting, not actually having planned to do so.

The only response I got was the glowing of the runes from the ring on her horn and the same empty stare from her.

It seemed as if that "something else" in the back of my conscious was trying to take over again. Telling me to make Vinyl help, to force her to do something. I had managed to partially get ahold of myself after stumbling up from the debris earlier, but this urge was coming back with a vengeance. 

This frustration of denying these inescapable voices turned into a motion of anger, and it apparently had reflected itself in the form of my hoof cracking the ground as it landed. After my hoof hit came an odd case of heavy panting, not because I was tired in the slightest, but for some other reason. I felt sweat beginning to bead up as I continued to pant, heat welling up inside of me as well.

I considered that I might've gotten sick or something, but it seemed unlikely.

I managed to turn enough to see the silver mare effortlessly dodge bolt of both metal and magic from Shakes and Sweeps, seeming to know where they were going to hit before they were even shot.

I had seen plenty of things of the supernatural, such as a mammoth of a stallion walking through liquid flame as if it were a mere hot shower, but something about this was different.

Her eyes didn't even seem to be looking at the bolts when they flew at her, and when she did look at them it was only to confirm they had missed her.

Shakes had said each of the generals filled a niche that the other one lacked, but I was failing to see what this one's weakness was. Stone's was a mix of his conviction and speed, Flint's was her pride, the doctor one - who I assumed was the other general - must have been his weakness physically.

But this Silver mare was both capable physically - from her ability to pick up and navigate Vinyl's body so easily - and mentally from how she was able to predict movement.

What could her weakness be?

A hoof firmly stomping snapped me from thought.

I turned around to see Vinyl's mother standing again. She didn't seem to have fully recovered, but the snarl on her face was more than enough to tell me that that wasn't a concern to her right now.

I looked to see the Silver mare joining beside Stone in staring at us, her face back to being flat and void of emotion. She was obviously going to be an issue if we wanted to get out of here, but as far as I was concerned, we had Vinyl and that was all that mattered.

We also, at least I thought, seemed to have some hope that Vinyl would stop acting so docile and start fighting back.

I could always blame myself for that, she only stopped fighting back after I pinned her and flipped the tables on her in terms of who was on top.

Still, this wasn't the time for that.

"What happened to Whitey?" Flint asked nervously, prancing up and straining her neck around Stone and towards Vinyl.

"She seems to be in either shock, or just chooses not to fight back. As for which is the answer, I've no clue." The lab coated stallion chimed, stepping forwards and finally completing the line of Generals.

A flurry of hooves entered through the door behind them, what looked like dozens of hunters flooding into the room, parting to go around the generals, before settling in front of them.

"Shit, I almost forgot that these guys had an army." Shakes cursed from beside me.

I noticed that the first line of these hunters were all unicorns with their horns lit and apparently charging.

"Miss Scratch?" I asked, getting up and off of Vinyl and standing with her. "I'm not magically inclined, but I do believe I can feel something from over there."

"Yes dear, that would be the massive magical bomb they're preparing to use." She said, almost casually.

"The what?!" Both me and the sisters screeched.

"Yes, I do suppose there was a better way I could've conveyed that, but there isn't much we can do as of now other than brace." She said, staring dimly at the line of unicorns.

"Teleporting is always an option, but I fear I couldn't get us all out of here. And from the looks of your sister, she couldn't either." She said, making note of how rough a shape that Sweeps was in.

I scrunched my nose and thought hard, coming to no other options either. Teleporting only a few of us would split us for that old saying of "divide and conquer", so I guess the only option really was to brace for it.

The low whining, sounding oddly like a long note from a double bass, made itself known while a wavering ball of no particular color began to expand from in front of the line of unicorns. The ball was massive, spanning maybe fifty feet high and an equal distance in length; just the look of it practically screamed unstable and destructive.

"Look at it this way though." Vinyl's mother chimed in.

"With the power behind it, there isn't a way to avoid hurting themselves in the progress." She said, turning to me with a suspicious smile. 

"We've just got to survive it, and they'll probably defeat themselves. Save for those four from prior, they'll most likely live through it." She said, giggling at a time like this.

I didn't have time to turn when the low note from the ball stopped and a sudden force hit me.

It reminded me of going to the beach with mother and father, playing in the ocean until a large wave would hit you like a force you'd never felt before. Sweeping you to the bottom of the seafloor and leaving you powerless to stop it, only this time there was no water to slow movement, and I was sent hurdling towards a solid stone wall instead of sand.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


When my eyes opened up again, the entire room we had been in was now filled with what looked to be dirt mixed with dust. Not only that, but through this grit I could make out the faint outlines of massive chunks of rubble that had been torn from all parts of the room. Chunks of rock had been ripped from the ground, walls and even ceiling. 

The moving of rubble caught my attention, and I turned just in time to see Shakes pop out of a small cluster of rocks and gasp for air before coughing harshly.

"Shakes?" I asked.

She looked at me.

"Octavia?" She said, still coughing before getting up from the rubble and stumbling her way over to me.

I was fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to not be lodged inside of any sort debris and only be slung into the wall at breakneck speed. There was a new hole in the wall directly beside where I was situated, though I assumed it was associated with the explosion. This one was the only one to actually go through the entire wall and form a hole, where as all the other were just deeps scars into them.

"Where's Vinyl?" Shakes asked, getting a bit worried by not seeing her immediately.

I looked around and began to get worried myself. Being how docile she is now, her getting captured again was going to be easier than ever.

And I was not going to let that happen.

"I...believe she went through that hole right there." An intellectual voice chimed in between coughs from somewhere right beside Shakes.

Me and Shakes both looked to see the lab coated stallion emerging from rubble of his own, his previously, pristine, white lab coat now marked with dirt and scratches.

"Were there guards that way?" Shakes asked, surprisingly at ease with the stallion.

"No, no, just a few chemicals."

Shakes, in a surprising change of mood, gripped the stallion by the shoulders.

"Chemicals? What chemicals?!" She seemed to freak out at the word for some reason.

"Shakes." I started, trying to stop her from being so rough to this, up to this point, compliant stallion.

"Again, nothing much. Some Strychnine, a pesticide we use, some peroxide." He said, listing off a number of what must've been chemicals.

"The most notable one-" He finally said.

"-would be the magically separated, pure ethanol to cleanse some of the nastier wounds we encounter."

Shakes looked like she had seen a ghost.

"Is that a poison?" I asked, assuming that was why Shakes was worried.

"No no no, it's simply ethanol without all of the nasty stuff that's normally inside of it and concentrated to an even higher degree so that it is guaranteed to kill most bacteria in wounds. They told me it was over-kill, but I told them that I was the general." He said, trying his best to explain it to me.

Shakes suddenly dropped the alleged general, sending him falling to the floor before he quickly got back up.

"She's gonna drink it." Shakes said, barely a whisper.

"What?" I asked, not quite able to hear her from where I was.

Shakes head turned slowly, a look of pure fear in her wide eyes - one of them even twitching.

"She's gonna drink it." She said slowly.

"You can't be serious. Not even vampires can handle magically enhanced ethanol in high doses. It's the vampiric equivalent of hoof sanitizer. On steroids." The lab coated general said, scoffing at the idea.

"You don't know her liver." Shakes mumbled, ignoring the stallions comment, and beginning to stumble over to the wall I was at, using it as support as she leaned on it as if she had gone weak in the legs.

"Sweet Celestia. She's gonna get drunk."

> Two Kinds of Fire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Flint...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I popped an eye open, not knowing where I was or what the hell had even happened, and was met with the simple color black. I couldn't remember much for some reason, the only thing coming to mind being the unicorns charging something, but after that was a bunch of fuzz and headaches.

Dull pressure came from my flanks, but I found looking down didn't do anything; everything was still black unsurprisingly.

'I really should think of retiring.' I thought to myself, fidgeting my arms to find I had a bit of wiggle room.

'I could go do something with less explosions and rubble on me. Like be a baker. Yeah, bakers need fire, right?' I continued, laughing at myself for considering retirement even though I was barely old enough to drink.

I used the little bit of wiggle room to push whatever it was covering me, off of me.

Where I expected the black color from being under rubble to change, it only went from one shade of black to a slightly less black one.

Wherever I was at was poorly lit, a problem I could fix pretty easily with a bitta fire, but the other thing that was a problem was that I had no idea where I was -- and I had been here for years. I did find there was a hole to show where I had come from; but, unlucky me, it had been caved in as well.

This whole thing was weird.

I strained a bit and a little flicker of fire lit up, not meant to burn, but it did bring a bit of warmth with it.

Even after making fires for years, I still got a bit zoned out whenever I saw one that could pass as special. The little ball of orange light floated down into my hooves, not burning me where it would others, but feeling more pleasant than most people say fire should. Stone says staring at fire for too long causes blindness, but I've done it for a long time and I've still got twenty-twenty, so I think he's pulling my chain. But I just can't help looking at it, even a little ball of fire like this one was so pretty.

Like a little lightning bug.

I shook my head.

"Not the time..." I muttered to myself, pushing the fire up gently to help light wherever I was.

It was dark, duh, but most of the walls were naturally a dull, lead color, and felt rough like concrete. There weren't any obvious lights like most the hallways had, but instead had some of those really old torch stands - that I went ahead and led the little ball of light onto - that gave the room an almost romantic lighting to them in a weird sort of medieval way.

The room I was in was in was a large hallway at best, pretty narrow but still wide enough to fit maybe another me on either side, but thanks to the torch I could see that it opened up at what must've been the end of a hallway.

'Well, looks like the only way to go.' I figured, gripping the torch out of its holster and bringing it along with me.

I felt kinda giddy actually, even though I was in the middle of some climatic battle with some people trying to bust out Whitey. It was kinda fun to go through this place I'd never seen before - all dark and menacing, like some kinda dungeon.

"Hello?" I called out, partially to play into that whole dungeon crawler role, and to also see if anyone was actually there.

No one responded and I found myself smiling and trotting in place like a little foal.

I kept moving forwards, continuing to call out to see if anyone was there, and continued to be met with silence. I finally made it to the opening, preparing to call out for someone again, until I got stopped cold in my tracks.

Something answered.

Not a voiced answer, but a sound. The sound of what I would've guessed was something clanking together - either glass or a metal of some kind. My heart skipped a beat when I heard it, and so did the fire of the torch which I quickly dulled down to the point of being the orange glow of embers.

I could reignite it when I wanted, but I didn't want anyone to see the bright, glowing light of my torch - if there was anyone.

There were two downsides to putting out the torch. One was that I couldn't see for crap in the dark without it, and the other was that it made the occasional clanking sound ever more scarier.

I sort of played chicken with my hoof and moving forwards, moving my hoof forward to try and take a step into the room ahead, but pulling it back as soon as the clanking uncannily interrupted it.

I decided to relight the torch at a really dim light, letting me see enough to navigate the immediate area, but not bright enough to really be that noticeable unless you were staring at it.

I managed to creep around the room, figuring the dimensions were about fifteen by fifteen, and eventually found a sort of break away corridor - the only way to progress as well.

There was only one, tiny problem.

'Of course the damned clanking sounds are coming from this way.' I thought to myself, more or less ranting. That being said, I could make out that the clank sounded much more like glass now that I was close enough to hear it better.

I wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. Probably the latter.

I gulped a little and touched a hoof to the wall, dimming the torch again and beginning to inch my way down the hallway, ears flinching every time the clanking sounds rang out.

Eventually, I found light.

Not natural light either.

The color of the wasn't fire from torches or the light of bulbs or lamps, not even really fitting into a color, but it definitely was light. It came from what looked like another hallway adjacent from where I had entered the room.

I'd watched a lotta horror movies while I was here, kinda helped out with the scary stuff you’d see on the field and also makes as a great way to pass time and get the people who run the desks a good break - everyone loves movie night. 

Probably the worst thing about it was the shadow that was being cast on the wall inside the room I was in. I could tell that it was another person, so It wasn’t a monster or something like that, but considering I live in a facility where we hold vampires, I probably would've preferred it to be a monster.

'Woulda made my day a whole lot more interesting, that’s for sure...' I thought to myself, inching my way across the room.


When I got to the other side of the room, I guess something must’ve made some noise, because the shadow on the wall paused for a minute. The rummaging stopped and silence took over.

I immediately stopped everything, pausing just as the shadow had and waiting until whoever it was went back to their rummaging. It was about this time I noticed that, in addition to the sounds of glasses clinking together, there was an odd sound of liquid getting sloshed around.

'What the hell am I thinking?' I asked myself, letting out the breath I hadn’t known I held.

'This isn't a ghost movie...' I shook my head, figuring whoever was digging through the glasses must've been someone else who got blown away by the explosion.

And since I was on the side of the unicorns and hunters and stuff, it must've been one of them.

"Hello?"

The silhouette stopped moving in an instant, the shadow of a head peeking up and looking towards the door to the hall. It was a bit nerve racking, but I knew that they couldn't tell where I was in the dark - I had already put the torch out completely.

The shadow of the head seemed to move a bit before it fidgeted a little bit, leaving a sort of gap near where their mouth would be. Around the same time fortunately, the light from inside started to fade away.

I realized that that gap was a smile.

I felt a tingle creep up my spine while the urge to shout built, but I managed to push it back. Around that same time, the sound of something rolling across the floor caught my attention.

I looked down, the dull light of the torch coming back just enough to make out a bottle rolling up to my hoof and stopping as it gently tapped it.

In hindsight, I probably should've just blasted through the wall or something to get out of there, but I found myself picking up the bottle and holding it near the torch in an attempt to read the label. Why, exactly, I have no idea.

I couldn't make out what the words said. Not that I couldn't read the letters, but the word itself on the label looked like someone tried writing the alphabet without knowing which letter came first.

What was weird though, was that something in the bottle seemed to be moving.

Squinting and looking a bit closer, I saw some sort of shifting inside the bottle - like a tiny person walking.

I felt my heart freeze.

I lowered the bottle.

"Shit."

Something hit me with the force of a train, ramming straight into me from out of the darkness and knocking me into the wall hard enough send the air out of my lungs. Not to mention sending the torch far off to the side and out of reach.

I said that I hosted movie night to help deal with the kinda stuff you see here; that being said I usually dealt with that kinda stuff not so face to face and also not in the bloody dark. So yeah, I was a wee bit stressed that someone, or something, had gripped me by the shoulders and had me pinned to a wall. Care had always said that stress, anxiety and fear always find a way to surface somehow - and in this case I managed to keep those emotions from turning into a scream, but as a result it forced its way out in a different way.

Using the torch as an outlet.

The previously dulled and darkened torch off to the side of the room sparked to life in a blast of fire representing my current feeling of being bloody terrified for my life.

It turned from torch to bonfire in an instant, the fuel of magical flames not going out near as soon as a normal fire.

I made out a pair of lidded red eyes staring at me, a dull spark of something swimming around below their surface. Below those was a crooked smile that kept letting out giggles. 

"W-Whitey?" I stammered.

The only response I got was her closing the gap between my body and hers, turning what was me being pinned up against a wall into more of a drunk pony support system.

'Damn...she must be burning up on the inside...' I thought, feeling what seemed like a hot pan pressed up against me. 

I mean, it coulda probably been guessed that I was pretty fire resistant considering Stone and Care had called me a walking furnace before. That and how I always got picked to take things outta the oven at Hoovesgiving. The only time I had felt what I would call heat was from either fires that we made on patrol, or from when one of my spells backfired.

A wet feeling brought me back to reality.

I turned a little to see a tongue riding its way up my neck.

"Augh! What the hell?!" I shouted, trying my hardest to push her away, but I would've had better luck trying to move the wall I was pinned against instead of her hooves.

I figured the least I could do would be to try and use the only other thing that I had to get her off me.

My horn.

I gave it a go, straining a bit and letting a small ball of fire build up on the tip of my horn. I figured I'd have to put enough "umph" into it to knock her off of me, so I figured I'd need a small explosion at least.

She stared at the fire on my horn, confusion crossing her face as she strained her neck towards it and narrowed her eyes. After that she stopped straining and let out a giggle.

One of her hooves came off of one of my own, going up to her mouth and sliding across her tongue before making its way up to my horn. She gently placed her hoof on the horn, a sizzling sound hissing as the ball of fire suddenly dissipated.

"What the..." I said, eyes wide in awe as she put out a magical fire like it was nothing. I mean, what she just did shouldn't have even been possible.

She only laughed at me, giving a sick - and almost crazy - giggle.

Something was wrong with Whitey. She hadn't acted like this ever before when we were observing her and even when we took her, though it might be the explanation behind what Stone had told me when he found one of those rookies back in Canterlot in an alley all beat up. This might be the reason she's on the most wanted list here, and also why most people just think she's a legend. I know I wouldn't of believed those legends if I just saw Whitey. Hell, even if I knew her well I probably wouldn't believe those rumors. 

My eyes widened as I notice she had extended her hooves, bringing her head back in the start of a very signature position.

"No..." I began, sounding almost like a mother talking to a foal who was about to do something stupid.

Her head made its way all the way back, her front hooves fully extended and a dangerous look in her eyes with an even more dangerous look on her face.

"No no no..." I continued, getting a bit nervous she was actually going to do it. 

But she showed no sign of stopping, so I clenched my eyes and braced for impact. I knew she was going to pack a wallop with that noggin, I mean she broke through two sets of steel cuffs by pulling them apart, so there was no telling how fast and strong she could knock her head into mine. One thing was for sure though, I was going to be hurting in the end.

My ears twitched at an odd sound, like someone falling, and I noticed that her hooves had released from mine.

I looked to see that she had fallen backwards onto the floor, her left hind leg twitching a little bit.

'What in the ever loving hell is wrong with her?' I thought to myself, eyes wandering over to the bottle that had rolled up to my hoof.

'Musta been in that bottle...' I decided.

I turned back to Whitey to see that she had managed to get back up, leaning against the wall as a support with her head laying up against it, causing her cheek to squish up. I noticed that the magic ring was still on her horn, almost constantly glimmering, though faintly.

It was only supposed to light up when she tried to use magic, but this one seemed a bit different - 'cause it was lit up constantly. Must be some kinda counter magic or something.

Thinking of the ring brought me back to how lucky we all were that she had gotten that ring put on in the first place. If she hadn't, and she had had access to her magic in stuff, that grey mare probably would've lost that fight. Not to mention that she would've turned to us after that - and with that angry mother of hers, we'd probably be in a pickle.

Whitey began tapping the wall for some reason, making a small little beat out of it that made her chuckle.

Though that chuckling suddenly stopped, and her ears perked up. Even the smirk on her face got dashed, replaced with a stone face. It seemed oddly serious, but still kind of tipsy like before. Solemn would be the word that came to mind.

It was honestly worse than when she was acting scary. Before the idea that you should be scared was explicit, which was something we were all used to seeing in blood suckers, but this had an implicit fear hiding underneath the calm exterior.

She put her hoof and ear back up against the wall, tapping it one final time where she had been tapping before, before arching her hoof all the way back and hesitating briefly.

'What is she...' I began to think to myself, but the thundering sound of her hoof smashing into the wall interrupted me.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Ya okay?" A low voice asked, surprisingly filled with what passed for genuine care. 

Looking up I saw Stone looking down at me with concern on his face, his beard hiding his pursed lips, a surprising change from the grimace he was wearing just a minute ago when he was trying to hit me.

The room that we were in had been completely destroyed for the most part, most of the white of the room had been chipped away and replaced with the grey concrete that was underneath. That being said, it had made a lot of new holes in the ground, one of which had caused me to fall down and onto a rather sharp piece of rubble, causing me to yip a little bit.

"I - uh - yes, thank you." I stammered getting back up off the ground.

"Look, can ya just give in? Make this easy for everyone?" He asked suddenly.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"It's hard to do this Miss Melody. I'm just trying to subdue ya here, but when ya seem so fragile it's a bit hard to hit ya." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

I wasn't sure how to react to that, whether to be affectionate at his care, or angry at him calling me fragile. I had done good, or at least I thought I had, for the most part. He had hit my hooves a few time and it felt like a tickle, but now I wasn't even sure if he was hitting them in the first place.

"No, I can not." I said, tossing my head to the side with my nose turned up.

"Please? I mean, yer white mare is nowhere to be found right now, and we both know you can't keep this up forever." He said, trying to reason with me.

He was right, I had been getting tired ever since I had gotten back up after the explosion from before that sent everyone except me, Shakes, Care and Stone out of the room. Care was tending to the wounded unicorns scattered about the room and trying to evacuate them while Shakes had run off to look for her sister, leaving me with Stone.

I didn't quite know why we were fighting anyways, he probably should be helping with wounded too, but we were.

"I will not-" I began, but before I could fully state my apposition, a thundering crash came through one of the walls behind me.

I turned to see that there was a new hole right beside the one that Care had said Vinyl had been shot through, and along with it came a certain someone stumbling out of the hole.

I, and most likely everyone else, turned to watch as Vinyl stumbled out of the hole in the wall. She took a few steps out before falling down, her hind legs flailing occasionally as she tried to get off her back. Similar to a turtle, she eventually straightened her legs out and rocked them back and forth until she finally fell onto one side where she was able to get up.

"V-Vinyl?" I stammered.

General Flint came out behind her in what I could only call a death crawl, getting a certain distance away from Vinyl before finally getting up and stumbling over to the wall and taking a seat.

"F-Flint?" I heard Care stammer.

Stone seemed to stiffen a bit as he walked past me, disregarding me as a threat, and approached Vinyl.

Vinyl didn't seem interested in Stone at the moment, but I actually found her gaze looking at me instead.

I blushed a bit when I saw the... well, the intentions shall I say, in her gaze. She seemed to revel at that kind of reaction, but something in my head seemed to scream at me for blushing and shying away like that.

My ears perked a bit as they picked up a conversation of two familiar voices, one male and another female. I looked around and eventually at Flint and Care, who seemed to be talking to each other.

"She did what?" Care asked.

"She licked my face." Flint said, sounding a mix between disgust, embarrassment and the smallest hint of enjoyment.

I turned my eyes back to Vinyl, who this time seemed to shrink at my gaze.

'We are definitely going to have a talk when we get back.'
> The Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*



A piece of stone shattered against the back wall of where Vinyl stood, making me cringe a little at the unpleasant sound. The only reason it didn't hit Vinyl herself was because she had just so happened to stumble on another, much smaller, piece of rock and fall flat on her stomach.


I began to notice, the more I watched her while she was tipsy or drunk or whatever she was after drinking, the more I seemed to notice that she had that same dumb luck that seemed to haunt me. She tripped and stumbled, dodging fatal blows, eerily similar to me when I would stumble over my own hooves or something.


'Perhaps we aren't so different after all...' I thought to myself.


Vinyl rolled over, dodging another piece of stone that took a chunk of the ground out from where she had been lying, and pushed herself back off the ground.


She kept up this drunken teeter, slowly but surely closing the gap between herself and Stone.


A pair of hooves grabbed me, causing me to yelp a little and raise a hoof up in a rather frail defense, but when my eyes settled on the ashy color of a grey mare, I surprisingly felt myself relax.


"C'mon, get with the rest of us where it's safe." Flint said to me, oddly caring for my safety.


"B-but, I'm with Vinyl..." I began to stammer, but a roll of her eyes stopped me.


"I don't care who you're with. You're not a vampire so you're on my list of people I'm obliged to protect." She said.


'Was I still not a vampire?' I asked myself, looking at my free hoof while Flint began to pull my other one, leading me along the edge of the wall towards the small cluster of wounded ponies settled behind a fallen chunk of rock.


The rock was serving more or less as a barrier between the oncoming fight between Stone and Vinyl, and when we got closer I noticed that it was being headed by that other general that wasn't fighting Vinyl; Care I think his name was.


He struck me as a rather level headed stallion, if not a little bit socially awkward - though coming from me that was a pretty hypocritical remark. Nevertheless, he definitely took his job as a doctor serious, evident by his expression and the coolness he had about him as he casually addressed the wounded.


As I found myself being led into the makeshift fort, the free hoof that Flint wasn't dragging along suddenly latched itself onto the edge of the misshapen rock wall, keeping me in view of Stone and Vinyl as they played a game of dodgeball with boulders. Flint seemed to only give me a few weak tugs before giving up on me and letting me stay where I was.


"Girl's got a grip." I heard her mumble as she walked away.


Vinyl was still closing the gap, roughly halfway there by this point, and still seemed just as wobbly. Though, this time her wobbles back and forth seemed, for a lack of better words, elegant. Each movement seemed purposeful, and even ended up looking acrobatic.


On one of her movements up from off the ground, I caught a glimpse of her face, and found my heart both chill and warm at the same time.


It was a familiar grin, a tad bit too happy for the situation at hoof, but with enough cockiness behind it that you knew she was at least somewhat conscious of what she was doing.


'At least she's not fighting me anymore...' I thought, a smile coming onto my face as my eyes drifted to a more relaxed, half lidded state. 


'...whatever that is. To think it only took some - what was it? - ethanol?' I continued to think to myself.


My eyes widened as a grey blur came into view and I instinctively ducked, letting a slab of stone fly past me and crash against the wall, before popping my head back up again.


I looked back to the fight to see that Vinyl had evidently picked up the pace and closed the last gap between her and Stone, wrapping her hooves around his torso. Stone tried to knock her off with a swipe of his hoof, but Vinyl dodged by leaning back far enough to make you wince and wonder how her spine could bend like that.


Her eyes looked up at Stone from the ground, a devious smile coming across her face as her eyes seemed to narrow. For a second I thought I saw them spark a little bit from their glazed look.


She snapped back at Stone like a rubber band, her head knocking into his with the sickening clack that most headbutts have. As unconventional as it was, this seemed to yield oddly effective results.


Though Vinyl stumbled back a few feet, landing on her rump and rubbing her head as if she had a mild headache, Stone seemed to have taken the brunt of the damage.


He slid back a couple meters before coming to a stop, one of his knees wavering as a stream of blood came down from his forehead and between his eyes.


"She certainly likes playing up her role, doesn't she?" A voice said from my left ear.


I suddenly recoiled right, letting out another squeamish yelp as I curled up in surprise when I found Care's head stuck to the right of my own despite his body being on my left. He didn't seem to acknowledge my reaction, instead continuing to stare at Stone and Vinyl with a mock serious glare.


"With her natural durability and that ethanol in her system, she's arguably at the same durability as Stone is normally. Only difference is how fast she can move, which influences how hard she hits." He said sagely.


I gave him a cocked brow, but he either didn't see it, or he ignored it.


"Stone might actually be feeling some of these hits." He continued.


I settled back into my original spot, still uncomfortably close to his head, but the urge to watch the two fight overcame that.


"Do you think she will win?" I asked.


Once the words left my lips, I realized that this question was like asking someone if whoever they wanted to win was going to lose. The answer I got, however, was oddly different than what I thought.


"It can certainly be anyone's game right now. Whether she feels the pain is one thing, but how much her body can take is another. Right now, it's all a matter of persistence and willpower; whoever gets tired first." He explained sagely, wordlessly handing a strip of bandages off to a troop mid sentence as to not be interrupted.


I felt a swell when he said persistence and willpower, knowing full well that Vinyl probably had more of that than anyone alive.


"Vinyl's body can operate longer at a higher stress than Stone's, but Stone can wear down Vinyl's much quicker than Vinyl can wear down Stone's." He continued.


"Truth be told, I'm just as interested to see the winner of this fight as you are." He said, a small grin showing up on his face just before turning away and going back to tend to the wounded.


I kept my gaze on him as he walked away, my opinion about him both shifting and verifying itself about my assumptions of his character. Indeed, he was levelheaded, if not a bit awkward, but also seemed to feel indifferent about the people he worked with. He made it fairly clear that he wasn't in agreement with what went on, but did it nonetheless - most likely from blackmail since he was evidently one of the physically weakest generals.


My eyes turned back to Vinyl, weaving past Stone's hooves and continuing to hit him with painful looking blows that cracked the ground beneath him. At the same time, Stone had seemed to adapt to it, his initial grunts had stopped and all signs of pain were gone.



*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*



With every hit the two gave each other, the other seemed to revel in it. Stone would get hit hard and slide back a few inches before coming back and hitting even harder than before. Vinyl would get knocked onto the ground in every position possible, but would only seem to get up and smile before going back and hitting Stone harder as well.


But with every hit that landed on Vinyl, I felt something tick inside of my head. Something unexplainable.


Eventually, those ticks spread from just my head, down to my body, taking shape as a tingling spreading through my entire body every time Vinyl was hit. I guess my body eventually got fed up with the constant feelings, as I noted myself beginning to sweat despite hardly even moving, even my balance leaving me on my haunches with my front hooves being the only things keeping me up.


I felt like I should've told someone, as my childhood doctor had always said fevers were a sign of the body trying to get rid of illness, but needless to say the fact I was in arguably the most hostile building was a bit deterring from the idea of seeking help.




In this case, it was the hunters Care was caring for that were sitting maybe a few feet from me.

"Y-You...alright?" I heard the voice of Flint ask, wavering. She seemed to see that I wasn't feeling alright.


"F-Fine..." I stammered, but the way I winced when her hoof touched my back said otherwise.


It was a feeling of uncomfortable pain that spread across my entire back, enough to make it arch in an attempt to escape her touch. It reminded me of what carpet burn felt like, as if my entire back was raw for some reason.


My hoof began to move on it's own, weakly hitting the ground in a vain attempt to stop the feelings. I could feel sweat beginning to build in the crevice of my back where Flint's hoof was situated, also on my scalp as my mane began to stick to my back. And especially on my forehead that had since sunk down to rest on my other hoof.


A crushing sound caught my attention, making my ears flick up - sending their own odd feeling through them - and I raised my head just enough to get a single eye up to look towards the sound.


What I found, made my heart sink.


Vinyl was on the ground, Stone towering over her and drawing his hoof back from her body, and she wasn't moving.


My sight began to blur, and I blinked instinctively. When it ended I noticed Vinyl's head was now propped up. She was looking at me with an objective air about her, despite looking broken and unconscious a moment before.

Looking at her through my one open eye, my hoof, searching for something to stop this heat once and for all, stumbled across my bowtie. Somewhere between the delusional heat, my mind connected it to the bowtie, and urged me to take it off.


My hooves fumbled with the knot of the bowtie, but shaking as they were, I never managed to get a good grip on it.


A separate set of hooves seemed to see this, and helped me.


A sudden wave of cold washed over me, a stark contrast from the heat that had been covering my body for the past minute or so. Enough to make me jolt my upper body up and stiffen them to the point it hurt. My eyes were wide and my mouth was agape, and I found myself staring dead at Vinyl once more. But more noticeable than this feeling of chills, was the clarity that came with it.


I found myself thinking back on what that stallion had said. How this battle was more or less all about who got tired of it first.


Evidently, that was going to be me.


I was tired of seeing Vinyl being harmed. I was tired of not doing anything whenever she needed help.


So now, now I was going to do something.


Vinyl was silent, still looking at me from her battered position on the ground beneath Stone. She looked a bit confused for a short while, most likely at my sudden movement, but it turned into a gentle smile afterwards. I could've sworn that she was waiting for something before all this, even from when she first looked at me before she began fighting with Stone and even from when I looked at her just a moment ago before I took off the bowtie.


That smile was a sign that she saw it.


I felt my body get off the ground and begin to move towards her.


'Whatever that was, I had no idea.' I thought to myself.



*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Flint...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*



I withdrew my hoof from her back when she winced and stiffened at my touch. I was a bit scared that I had hurt her, but judging from all the sweating she was doing I'd say that me touching her back most likely wasn't what was bothering her.


She had keeled over with her head resting on one hoof while the other one was firmly on the ground. On another note, she used that free hoof to try and punch the pain away. A lot of people try that when nothing seems to work - just kinda hitting something for no reason other than to try and vent a little.


Though most people don't casually make a hole in the ground when they do it. Maybe she had just hit a weak spot in the ground.


I had already had doubts about whether Miss Melody was an actual pony or not, but that didn't matter right now. I knew that if she got hurt in some way, Whitey might actually start getting serious with us.


And that wouldn't end well.


That being said, it's a bit hard to protect her when she seems to actively get herself into deep shit every time she moves.


She had been fumbling with a knot on her bowtie and I decided to help her.


'What's the worst that could happen?' I figured.


Well, as it turns out this idiot got up off the ground and started walking forwards.


Towards the danger.


And here I was, hoof was still hovering in the air, stretched outwards in an attempt to stop that idiot of a grey mare from getting up to go help Whitey. 


She didn't know what she was getting into, but I sure as hell did. I had noticed the admiration Stone had when he met her; respect for some reason, and I never quite understood it until we finally realized that she had been harboring Whitey.


Stone probably had suspicions of it at first - and had probably pegged it soon after. He'd been in this game a much longer time than I had, and probably could've made that stay in Canterlot a hell of a lot shorter if he wanted to.


'I wonder if he did it for my sake?' My thoughts grumbled. It was a bit unlikely, but I knew that the big guy was a softy.


He had respect for her because she had resisted that temptation. The one that comes naturally when you're friends with a blood sucker. And seeing her begin to give into that temptation was really pushing him.


The effects were noticeable too; the rapid sweating, the ability to actually take a hit from Stone, both of them were signs of that vampire goo Care had told me about working it's magic. She still had time, and Stone seemed to be placing his bets on that sliver of time, and trying to beat Whitey quickly so he could do something to help her.


She didn't even seem notice herself get up and begin to move towards Whitey - her movement like what you'd imagine a sleepwalker would look like. Not to mention her blocking out my screaming at her.


"Sit down you idiot! This isn't your fight." I screeched.


When I stopped yelling, I was surprisingly able to hear her ragged breathing, and Care had noted the "rapid dilation and contractions" in her eyes, but it didn't seem to matter to her as she stumbled her way over to Whitey since nobody made a move to stop her. Their eyes were locked, and I saw a smile forming on both of the grey one's lips.


Stone didn't seem to acknowledge her, but instead began to raise his hoof up high with the clear intention of bringing it down on Whitey.


He didn't mean to end it, but he needed to atleast try and get Vinyl out of the equation to make dealing with the grey one easier.


Speaking of the grey one, I noticed an odd twitch coming from her hind leg.


I blinked, and found that she was sprinting towards Vinyl, running right in front of Stone and putting herself between Stone and Vinyl.


I wasn't quite sure how to feel watching Stone's hoof come down. It was like watching someone swing a sword at someone else. You'd heard all about what happens when something lethal hits someone, but seeing it was a whole different experience. There was a bit of indifference I guess, but I noticed my hoof stretched out farther and my voice began to bubble.


But I found myself speechless as Stone's hoof planted on her back, and she didn't budge.


"What the hell..." I found myself whispering.


She turned around slowly, a sly grin on her face.


"Please don't hit her." She said, coming off as surprisingly calm for her previous movements.


Stone's eyes widened for a moment, but they quickly narrowed again, and a weird look came to his eyes.


"You really have changed haven't ya?" He said sadly.


Her smile faltered, her head tilting in confusion.


"Change? How?" She asked genuinely.


Stone's demeanor quickly changed, going from the lumbering, level headed stallion he was to something more inline with an enraged bull. His eyes were wide again, but not in surprise this time, this time they were clear anger.


I felt my eyes widening as I realized he was going to lose it.


When I say "lose it" I don't mean in regular terms of just getting angry. Saying that with Stone would be like calling a hurricane "just a really strong breeze". I'd only seen Stone lose it once before, and the result was what was known as "the cave" here in HQ. It's basically an old mine that we made the base on, and what happened was Stone had a really bad day.


Now...well, let's just say you can't find the cave.


Because the cave doesn't exist anymore.


Because Stone had a bad day.


His hoof quickly retracted from Octavia's back, raising up again quicker than I had ever seen him move, before plummeting back down towards her. Octavia, in response, repositioned herself so that she was facing him with her own hooves.


"Is she... going to try and catch Stone's hoof?" I heard Care ask.


I nodded silently, mouth agape.


"I suppose I'll fetch the doggie bag." He said with a sigh.


She didn't seem to care that she was going to catch it, which was a bit surprising considering that there was a one ton hoof coming at her with the intention to deliver a punch that was going to have the force of approximately a mountain behind it.


Most likely more.


Stone's hoof hit her own, the upper half of Stone's arm connecting with Octavia's hooves while Stone's actual hoof hit Octavia's shoulder. The force coming from Stone's hoof alone was enough to cause Octavia's hind legs to break through the ground beneath her, making her a few inches shorter.


I realized she had caught it.


"Did she... actually just catch Stone's hoof?" I heard Care asked.


I nodded silently, mouth somehow even more agape than before.


She seemed to realize the greatness of doing that, even looking back to Whitey with a gentle smile.


But she didn't realize what I did.


"He doesn't just have one hoof!" I shouted, catching her attention just before her eyes widened, as she must've heard Stone's other hoof flying towards her side, though it was just too late. She only managed to lower one of her hooves to block a direct impact from the hit. And it was good she did, considering that her hooves - dug into the ground as they were - moved like she was weightless.


She practically flew, going far enough into the air that I had to tilt my neck to keep my eyes on her.


When she landed, it seemed like something inside of her also snapped, like Stone. Unlike Stone however, she didn't look angry. Her expression was flat, stoic even, which made the walk she instantly began when she landed all the more curious. She had shrugged off the blow as easily as it had hit her, turning the motion of crashing and tumbling on the ground into a casual stride back towards Stone.


Suddenly, her stoic expression turned into a different one. Her lips opened slightly, showing off her tightly gritted teeth while her brows furrowed in what passed as anger.


Stone turned to her in response, his eyes glowering with a mix of hesitation and his rage - both of them conflicting on what to do.


"Stay back, or you will get hurt." Stone warned, but it didn't seem like anything could stop the grey mare right now.


His eyes widened as a white figure stood up behind him, a devious and insanity-stricken grin forming. Sparks of dull blue came from the ring around her horn, which I was beginning to see as a measure of her drive or effort.


"I dare you to try." A surprisingly tipsy voice said, the warning in this one outweighing Stone's.


Stone turned back and arched his hoof, ready to swing with all his might to try and silence Whitey, but when he tried to send it forward, he found he couldn't because of a pair of grey hooves wrapped around it slowly.


I wasn't sure how she had close the gap so fast, but she did.


Stone turned around again, finding the serious face of a grey mare; amethyst eyes piercing at him with just as much warning as the insane smile from her partner behind him.


The two were both rising in defiance of Stone's attempt to hurt the other; a sort of cycle that fed itself and only got stronger with each attempt to stop one.


Whitey placed her front hooves on his head, regaining his attention just before she jumped and stuck her hind legs right up against Stone's lower jaw. Her weight and Stone's awkward position was enough to make Stone trip and fall downwards, where Whitey kicked her legs out.


The sudden change in momentum sent Stone backwards again, and in the motion of falling onto his back, his eyes connected with Octavia's and her upstretched hooves plummeting towards his face.


I don't think I had ever seen Stone in a position where my thoughts were 'Wow, that must've hurt', but the way Octavia had slammed her hooves onto Stone's neck on his way down were pretty convincing. 


The cracks that outstretched from the ground also backed up the idea, as well as the dust cloud kicking up after the impact.

A dark silhouette surfaced from inside the cloud, only to have it shoot out from the cloud right after. Judging from the size, it was definitely Stone.

As he crashed into the wall, I felt the need to help him begin to outweigh the urge to leave the fight be. He wasn't just another general, he was my friend; and I was fine with him going after Whitey by himself - because I was confident in him - but against her and Octavia was too much of crutch from him both mentally and physically.

I began to get up, charging up my horn and letting the ball of magic circling at the tip of my horn light ablaze as I aimed it towards the settling dust cloud.

I clenched my eyes, feeling a pain come from the center of my head as I realized that I was approaching the end of my magic's limit for now. So I'd better make this shot count, or else I'd be defenseless for the next day or so.

A hoof on my shoulder stopped me mid charge, causing me to lose concentration. I found that it was Care, with an expression I had never quite seen on him before. It was serious, brows furrowed and a certain look in his eyes that reminded me of a person who was dead inside.

“Not yet.” He said vaguely. “Stone needs to get it through his mind that he can’t hold back against her because he grew an admiration for her. He needs this to be able to actually fight back.”

I settled down, not quite used to Care being the one to order me around. That being said, what he said was true. Stone was holding himself back, and it was going to get him hurt if he didn’t come to a realization.

A smash drew both of our attentions.

We looked to see Stone swinging a slab of Stone like a baseball bat at the two mare's pouncing at him from alternate directions. Judging from the positioning, he had hit Octavia with it directly. Also judging from their positions, Octavia had blocked it with a single hoof.

Whitey took that time to slip around Octavia and slither her way onto Stone's back, taking advantage of his large size.

"What are ya- Damnit, get offa-" Stone said with obvious frustration before a grey hoof to the underside of his jaw stopped him.

Whitey then complied with Stone's demand, rolling off of his back and plopping onto the floor like a wet rag. She then twisted her body and spun her hooves so they crashed into the back of Stone's, causing them to buckle.

Octavia took full advantage of it and turned around, ready to buck. Her eyes were narrow and almost shimmering as she waited, Stone's head dropping inch by inch until she saw fit to buck.

Stone staggered back and up from the buck, going onto his back hooves and leaving his stomach exposed just as Whitey got back up with a hoof loosely arched and aimed at his gut.

The next thing I saw was another dust cloud coming from the wall Stone had been nearest to and the two mares walking out of it, Whitey trying her damn hardest to get on Octavia's back in order to not have to walk herself. She let out an adorable hiccup every now and then before she finally settled down on her back.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


“You really couldn’t have done anything to have prevented this?” I shouted, redoubling my efforts and wrapping my hooves around a white hind leg and giving it another pull.

The muffled sounds of Vinyl’s mother came through, barely audible, but clear enough to understand her.

“As I said dear, I could’ve, but it would’ve had consequences. It’s much more efficient this way.” She said, the irony in what she said being almost offensive.

I had run from Octavia to try and find Sweeps, also to maybe try and think of something to get us out of this mess, but mainly to find Sweeps. Looking back in hindsight, it was kind of a little bit of a mean move to leave just Vinyl and Octavia there to handle Stone and Flint, but I’m sure they would do fine until I could get back there.

I had hastily trotted through essentially the entire floor of the base I was in, going from room to room looking for Sweeps. I even ended up going through holes in the walls from the earlier explosion that had caused all this. 

Though, I eventually did run into her. She had apparently gotten up from wherever she had landed and had started to try and find her way back to me.

I’d never had hugged her so hard in my life.

“Put your legs into it Sweeps.” I said through gritted teeth.

“You’re a fine one to talk...” She grumbled, serving as a near mirror image of myself, hooves wrapped around the other hind leg of Vinyl’s mother.

We had also run across Vinyl’s mother on our way back.

Well, her back half at least.

She was stuck in a wall, basically halfway through with her waist being at about the same spot as the wall. How exactly she got sent this far into the base and still managed to end up halfway into a wall was a mystery to me

“Couldn’t you just, you know, magic your way out of this?” I said, straining harder.

“Well, if I could do that, I wouldn’t exactly still be here would I dear?” She said rhetorically.

“You could at least...be...a little...less...bit-” I began, but the sudden feeling of Vinyl’s mother giving way caught me off guard and sent both me and my sister down onto the ground with a set of white flanks following us.

It was more or less like getting hit by a marshmallow, but the feeling left as quick as it came thanks. Dashing as it was, it left me with a single thought.

‘Wonder what she does to get her butt like that...’

A hoof jerking me up made me realize I had been laying there dumbfounded after the chance encounter with Vinyl’s mother’s tush, but I soon found myself being borderline dragged along like a ragdoll as Vinyl’s mother pulled both me and Sweeps down the hallways.

“W-Where are we going?” Sweeps stammered as she dangled in the air, her tail pinched in a glow of red magic.

“Why, back to my daughter of course.” The motherly mare chimed, voice soft as silk.

Looking at the rooms passing me by, an idea finally sprung into my head about what we could do.

“Take a right.” I said, eyeing a familiar corridor with glee.

Vinyl’s mother looked back and gave me a look of confusion, but fortunately she turned without question.

I felt a smile form on my lips as we made our way down the halls, half from the idea I had thought of and half from telling Vinyl’s mother what to do. Sweeps seemed to get into her air suspended seat, and eventually struck up a conversation with me.

“Where we going sis?” She asked me, her hooves crossed as she was held upside down.

“Up to a room. I think it’ll help us out in the long run.” I said vaguely, but the shrug of her shoulder suggested she was either happy or used to the vague answer.

When we finally arrived at a familiar door, Vinyl’s mother letting me drop off of her back and slide up to the door, a smile grew on my face as I all but kicked the door in and viewed the numerous desks with small slabs that Care’s assistant had used before to look into the holding cells.. 

A huge hole was in the window in front of me and I could hear the sounds of stone breaking and blows being exchanged, but I ignored it and ran up to the slabs, scanning each of them for the one Care had seemed to linger on the most.

“Is that...Octavia?” Sweeps asked from in front of me.

“I believe it is dear.” Vinyl’s mother said.

‘Did she sound...impressed?’ I asked myself, looking up to be sure.

I looked up to see the two of them staring out the hole in the window, Sweeps with a look of awe and - sure enough - Vinyl’s mother with a look of both amusement and a hint of excitement.

As much as I would’ve loved to look down at it as well, we needed to get out of here quick. The sooner that happened, the quicker we could actually help Vinyl and Octavia.

I turned back to the room, roaming down the isles of slabs until I found the panel I had been looking for. I recognized it from the cup of pencils that I recalled when I had first met Silver.

Looking over it, I found the button I was looking for.

“Release.” I said quietly to myself, smiling widely as my hoof traced around the smooth button.

“Sis, come over here for a sec.” I yapped.

Reluctant to look away from the fight, it took her a bit to get over to me.

“Alright, focus some magic onto the button.” I told her.

“Not til you tell me what it does and what you’re planning.” She said, crossing her hooves.

“Come on...just, do it. Please?” I said, giving her my best set of puppy dog eyes.

Needless to say, she didn’t fall for it.

“In my knowledge, red buttons are usually bad. Tell me what it is.” She said.

“Fine.” I sighed.

“The button, as far as I can tell, controls the holding cells beneath this place that holds a buncha the vampires these guys consider dangerous.” I said.

“And….you-” She said, pointing to me. “-want to...” She hesitated.

“Release them.” I filled in.


> The Music Died
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Flint...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Do you two think you're doing something good through this?" A deep, lumbering voice asked from the cloud of dust.

The whole room seemed to chill by a few degrees.

Whitey seemed unphased by the question, but judging from what Care had said she drank, she probably wasn't hearing much of anything right about now. Octavia, on the other hoof, seemed to waver at the comment.

Stone got up quietly, his beard starting to look mangled and dirty from where he had landed.

"Do you think that we're the bad guys in all of this?" He continued, his sentiment causing Octavia to take a few steps back and hold a hoof to her head.

"We do what we can to make everyone feel safe at night, and most of 'em do because they don't know what's out there looking for them.  We've tried before - to leave the ones that didn't do much exempt from us - and I still do, but it doesn't work as well as you'd think." Stone's voice was sad sounding at this point, and I knew why too.

He was pretty much right about all that he was saying. I wasn't around when they had been doing the selective hunting, but I had heard that plenty of vampires just started acting innocent and moving to a different city to prey on. Spread the words to others, and just made finding the actually bad ones near impossible. It ended up leaving a bunch of bad vampires out on the street that were doing some borderline murderous acts.

Whitey, from what the board had told us, was one of the deciding cases of the evaluating vampires for capture. Stone said she'd been argued as an innocent, by himself no less, but the report that came back from attempting to get her said otherwise.

Three hunters missing, three others that made it back and had to spend a few months in the psychology ward.

Shakes had been one of the missing, but I had known she was alive. The other two, I had no idea.

As a result, we stopped doing that and went after all of them. Vinyl proved that they could be vicious, and that going in without the permission to use potentially lethal force was not an option. The results were positive, reports started coming in less and less because we got rid of all the chances. We didn't kill them, but we did jail them. 


We only give permission to kill when the threat is unable to be subdued - and the punishments for using it willy nilly were some of the worst out there, most of them were made by Stone himself. He never liked the permission to use lethal force, so he never did.

That's why he was a general.


Over the years though, we was made less and less involved with jailing vampires, and I personally think it just kind of broke him down over the years. His personality was the same, but he began to protest less and less after he realized he couldn't do much to stop it without directly going against The Order.


Most people thought we were harsh, but even Stone knew we were doing right somewhere. And we were.

Stone was back at his full posture, and he looked prideful with his chest stuck up as he looked down on the two.

Octavia had noticeably shrunk, which made Vinyl break from her drunken smile and stumble onto her haunches to try and console Octavia. She looked confused at what was wrong with her.

"You don't know what the bad ones do. I've tried to keep the innocent ones out of this place, but you can never tell who's a liar and who's not." Stone said, head lowering.


"I'm standing against you not because I think you're bad, but because of what you've done here. You've blown holes in the walls, more than hurt some of the people here, and more than anything, indirectly let some of the bad ones we keep here escape."

"And don't think that I will let you ruin other people's safety for your selfishness." He said, his voice raising up in defiance just before he smashed his hooves down into the earth, kicking up yet another cloud of dirt.	

I raised a brow, having never seen him do something like this before. The two mares seemed equally cautious about approaching it.

A hole parted from the cloud, something blurry shooting out and towards the two.

A drunken stumble from Whitey resulted in her driving her hoof up into the underside of what I now saw was a chunk of earth carved out into a massive spike. One that had been heading towards Octavia.

We all seemed to take a moment to realize that the spike had been delivered with intention to kill just before numerous other holes split from the cloud.

The two seemed ready this time though.

Octavia dodged them easily and elegantly, almost turning it into a dance as she weaved through the spikes all while keeping her hoof to her head as if she were in a moral crisis. Whitey took an opposite approach, sporadically choosing to either leapfrog over some, duck under others, or just simply punch and break them.

Some of the spikes began hitting the ground, kicking up even more dust as the sound of heavy hooves stampeding could've been heard from miles away.

A glimmer from out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, causing me to look up to see something that could be related to getting a royal flush in poker.

Where the observation deck usually sat, inside a hole that had been blown out from an explosion, stood a pegasus with her wings plated in silver. On her hooves were small makeshift claws, that also looked to be made of silver. Her coat was the color of a thunderstorm, and the force she carried was stronger than even that.

"Silver..." I whispered.

She waited patiently, watching the carnage Stone made as the stone spikes continued to pour out of the dust cloud like a machine with a passion.

The mares picked up the pace in response, Octavia even going to the point of slightly nudging the stone spikes just enough out of the way in combination with her normal dodging. Vinyl did something more similar, and simply started doing what she had been, but even faster - becoming more of a white blur with a mix of stone shards as she continued to break them with a single hoof hit.

I looked back up to Silver, and saw something glint off of her silver plated wings just before she coiled up into a sprinter’s stance.

And then she just disappeared. A small shockwave followed her disappearance, leaving a trail heading down to the floor I was on.

The next thing I heard was an explosion as all of the dust was pushed to the edges of the room and the sight of Silver pinning Whitey to the ground was revealed.

She had plunged in like a spear, somehow managing to hit Whitey even though she had been nothing but a blur to my eyes.

I also noticed Stone had stopped moving, revealing a dozen plus of the stone spikes he had been throwing at his side. He was breathing heavily for once, thanks to how fast he had been throwing them.

Octavia's eyes widened as she realized what had happened, quickly moving and trying to help Whitey.

"Big mistake." Care said, almost sadly.

Silver didn't move until the last moment before suddenly moving towards Octavia, pressing one of her back hooves into the back of Vinyl’s head and closing the distance between her and Octavia, effectively stopping any chance she had at attacking. Silver's hooves jabbed quickly, gently and precisely into a number of various places on Octavia's body and neck.

The next result was the kind that gives you goosebumps, seeing someone just drop limply to the ground as if they were unconscious. And Octavia could've very well have been.

She collapsed into Silver's arms.

Stone closed the gap between the two slowly, leaving his arsenal of stone spikes behind, and taking Octavia from Silver’s arms.

He then turned my way, walking over to me and handing her off to Care, who set to work rubbing her in places in what I assumed was to attempt an undo what Silver had done.

Stone seemed to hesitate, but spoke up after a while with his head held low.

“You know what comes now, don’t yah...” He said solemnly.

I nodded to him, hoisting myself up off the ground and following him out of the makeshift shelter and onto the broken and shattered battlefield. It felt odd, as if I shouldn’t be doing it, but I knew that if we wanted to succeed, we were going to have to gang up on Whitey.

Me and Stone walked slowly and solemnly, regret weighing heavy in each step.

As big a rumor as it was that when all us generals got together we were unstoppable, we really didn’t like to do it. All four of us took different stances on a lot of things, but we could all agree that overkill was, well, overkill. We liked to make a name for ourselves around the base, not as a group.

We only all got together when it was a crisis, and this could be considered one such. No one had ever gotten this far into the base before, not to mention actually “freeing” a prisoner.

Silver looked up and gave us both a nod, her hooves having since adjusted to keep Vinyl face down in the ground.

She slowly let up and eased off of Whitey, stepping back cautiously and joining me and Stone.

It took a few seconds, but Vinyl’s head slowly began to raise up, getting to the point where her eyes finally came into view.

The second that the red was visible, they were suddenly gone again as a heavy hoof slammed it back into the ground with a crunch. Stone didn’t hesitate to use his other hoof and grip Whitey by the nap of her neck, whipping her up into the air.

Silver flapped her wings, which I took as my cue to charge up my magic more sparingly. I didn’t have to do any real damage to Whitey, I just had to continue synergizing with Stone and Silver.

Silver flapped her way around and below Vinyl, cocking her hooves just as Whitey began to fall from the air.

She let out a buck that sent Whitey hurdling towards me, right at my horn as I strained, and right into a bellow of fire that sent her back towards Stone.

It was the cruel cycle, not that different from how a schoolyard bully might got about picking on a kid with his friends -- just push them around to your other friends.

Harmful and efficient.

Stone had popped another stone spike out of the ground, hoisting it over his shoulders and wielding it like a hoofball bat. I noticed the flaring of his nostrils and the steam that her let out just before letting out a shout and swinging it on Whitey so that she was smashed back into the ground.

Back to square one.

Silver landed beside me, hoisting herself on her back hooves with her wings arched for balance.

I nodded to her and began charging up my horn again, planning to let loose just enough ember to become a natural flame that could be easily fanned to life.

While we did that, Stone tossed aside the crumbling remains of his makeshift bat and went to pick Whitey out from the settling dust cloud.

I heard his breath catch.

“Watch it!” He said, looking up to me.

I blinked only for a second, concentration wavering as I looked up to see the world beginning to fade to black as a white hoof began to block out all the night, with a grin behind it.

Though the hoof disappeared just as quick as it had came. I looked down a little and saw a silver clad hind leg, connected to Silver who had used her wings alone to hold her entire body up. She had apparently snaked her way over to block the hoof, and to punch Whitey away.

Judging by the sound of Stone grunting a little from catching her, and the white figure he was holding in a full nelson, I had a pretty good idea who’s hoof it was she had blocked

As if there were a ever a doubt.

I had already build up all the magic needed, and sighed in relief as I let the ember go into the air beside me. It floated in front of the resituated Silver, whose eyes locked on it with the same awe I had when I looked at them.

She flapped her wings.

The magical ember burst into a wild fire at the feeling of air, sending torrents of flames over to Stone as he held Vinyl in place.

I felt my leg buckle, sending me down onto a single hoof as the fire raged on.

When it finally stopped, Stone opened his arms and let Whitey fall limply to the ground before walking slowly around her and back over to me and Silver.

I felt Silver’s hoof begin helping me up, remaining silent as she assisted me, but the look in her eyes conveyed her concern with how I was fairing.

In truth I still had quite a bit magic left to use - on a relative scale. But it was the fatigue I built up trying to separate what I had from what I was going to use. I was so used to just going all out on most attacks.

Stone made his way back over just as the sound of rubble churning caught all of our attentions.

A ragged breath left her mouth when she rose back up, heavy panting making the scratches and dirt covering her body all the more fitting.

“She ain’t givin’ up that easy.” I said, breaths almost as ragged as her own.

“Aye.” Stone said solemnly, teeth audibly gritting.

We were quiet for a moment, simply staring at Vinyl as she stared at us. It was honestly surprising how much could be said without words.

“You two hang back for a minute.” Silver said flatly.

“Huh?” Me and Stone said in unison, looking to her with confusion for two entirely different reasons.

“I’d like to test the waters some here.” Silver said, giving us both a small and honest smile before letting go of me and standing up, her white eyes glimmering.

She walked towards Whitey as if she could beat her on her own.

And, judging from how she defused both her and Octavia in a few seconds, I wouldn’t put it far past her.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So, just to be clear, this is what you wanted right?!" I heard my sister ask, rather rhetorically, to me in an attempt to make herself audible past the numerous mixing sounds of spells and explosions.

I paused for a moment, hanging my hoof in the air, and took stock of the situation.

We had released the vampires and, as was expected, they pretty much went crazy. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately however you look at it, we only managed to release a small portion of them. As it turns out, the place has security on most cells holding vampires save for the really old and low profile cells.

But hey, better some than none.

Only a rough a dozen, or five, vampires had been let out by the button press, most of them running rampant looking for blood to suck to try and revitalize, but some of them went fleeing from the base as quick as the doors opened.

I turned back to the vampire I held in my hoof.

The other part was that these guys really weren't with anyone. Some of them attacked other vampires, some of them - like I wanted - attacked the hunters. And finally, some of them, like the poor lass I had straddled and on the receiving end of my hoof, decided to attack us.

Luckily they were pretty weak, but the only real goal they were meant to achieve was causing as much trouble as possible.

And boy did they.

They flew through the halls, swooping close to other's heads and occasionally tackling ponies, while some were shooting spells in random directions after having gotten their rings off, and others fighting with the hunters sent to subdue them with their bare hooves. It really was just one big clusterbuck.

"Yeah, this is pretty much what I wanted!" I shouted, giving the vampire another light knock to the head. The punches were hardly deemed hard, but at this point she was whimpering in submission, so they really didn't need to hurt.

"Oh, dearies!" I heard a familiar, maternal voice call.

I turned to see that Vinyl's mother calmly striding through the chaotic hallway and walk up to me, her voice forcibly loud to raise it past all of the explosions and shouting.

"I think I've found a path that might lead us, well, anywhere else!" She shouted.

To her, this must've been like watching a bunch of foals fighting, so it made sense that she was able to just walk around and do as she pleased - anyone with a speck of common sense would know not to touch or go near her.

"Fine by me!" I said, giving the mare a gentle pat on the head for change, watching her flinch a little before getting off of her.

The three of us got close together just before Vinyl's mother, who led us down the hall for a few feet. She walked casually as if it were a stroll in the park while me and sis ducked and braced for any stray shots. That being said, the few that came at us were batted aside by a quick white hoof as if they were a toy ball.

We turned into a room, plainly decorated and honestly looked more like an unfurnished room with a rug and a few recliners sat in the corner. The rug, however, had been moved aside to reveal a panel of the flooring had been ripped up to reveal a narrow stairway leading down.

"How...how did you find this?" Sweeps asked, trotting over and looking down the dark staircase.

"I'll only tell if you let me show you, and use you as an example." She said.


Sweeps looked like she was ready to agree, but the quick lick of Vinyl's mother's lips and the look of hunger in her eyes as she scanned up and down Sweeps body immediately seemed to make Sweeps sheepishly reverse her 'ready to argue' stance.


"Ah, you know, it really doesn't matter how you found it so much as it does that you did find it." She said, hoof rapidly scratching the back of her head.


Vinyl's mother giggled a little before trotting over to the start of the stairs. She didn't seem the slightest bit intimidated at the dark and ominous feeling the stairs gave off, but then again she was probably used to being in dark and ominous places.


Me and Sweeps immediately locked eyes, both of us silently debating who'd be the first to go down the stairs.


"Heads or tails?"


"We don't have a bit Shakes."


"Rock, paper, scissors?"


"We have hooves Shakes."


"Got any straws?"


Sweeps looked ready to shoot down another one of my ideas, when a sudden red tinge lit up her horn and slowly picked her off the ground, levitating her towards the dark staircase by force.


"No! No, no, no, no, no!" She began shouting, flailing her limbs back and forth in a vain attempt to break free.


I smiled happily, almost skipping behind her as she floated down the staircase, closing the panel on the floor behind us.



*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*



It was pitch black heading down the stairs, save for the red glow of Vinyl's mom's horn and the glow around Sweeps' tail. I could tell wherever we were was in an old part of the building based on the feeling of the cobblestone beneath my hooves - the occasional feeling of a patch of moss further proved the point.


We did finally find a source of light coming from a doorway when we got to the bottom of the stairs.


"Jeez, how old is this place." Sweeps whispered as we walked through the doorway and into a long, cobbled hallway that was dimly lit by torches. The walls had grown to be an almost brownish color, complete with vines and mosses dominating them.


"Roughly one hundred and thirty judging by the accents around the sconces." Vinyl's mother chimed from ahead.

Both me and Sweeps went silent at an actual answer for a rhetorical expression, but figured that Vinyl's mom maybe didn't get the whole "rhetorical" thing. If we asked, she'd probably tell us when that was made too.


As we kept walking, the mosses on the walls slowly began to fade away and replace the old and unexplored look with one that was more of just a neglect to clean it. The moss faded and the let the brown cobble from before give the whole tunnel a more dungeon-like appearance. 


Almost ironically, the dungeon impression that the place gave off turned into an actual dungeon. The torches became more and more spaced apart and caused the already dimmed light dim even more. Black iron glinted as you passed it by, and a wild guess said that we were in one of the holding cells.


For some reason though, this place felt oddly familiar.


The cells all seemed oddly empty, at least in the darkness.


"Ah!" I heard Sweeps yip, suddenly falling onto the ground from her previously suspended state.


I went to help her get up, but the sight of Vinyl's mother caught my attention.


She was stiff, not necessarily tense, but the relaxed posture she usually had when she walked and talked was gone and replaced with one that looked much more on edge. There wasn't fear, but there was caution.


I leaned out to the side a bit to try and see what had cause her to freeze up.


Another pony stood across from her, maybe thirty or so feet away. She looked fairly plain all things considered, the only things that stood out was the dirt and grime matting her coat. Their build made them out to be a mare, but I could've been wrong in this type of lighting.  They wore a small frown on their face, pretty fair considering they had been in this place for Celestia knows how long.


The only other thing to note was the pipe they held in their hoof.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I couldn’t remember when I had gone to sleep, or what had happened before that for that matter, but it definitely didn’t feel like sleep. When you slept you felt comfortable, but here I felt indifferent -- weightless even.

A dull prod came through the darkness of it all, something that would’ve almost made me jolt if I could.

I couldn’t see what it was, but it was persistent in both its second and third times.

“Come on....” A voice murmured, on the verge of frustration.

I felt my eyes make the motion of looking around, but the same consistent darkness kept flooding my vision.

“Maybe...” The voice said again, followed quickly by another dull prodding sensation in my lower neck that seemed to send a feeling of a cool breeze across my body.

“Ah...there we are.” They finally said, one final pinch hitting my lower back before I both felt and saw the darkness that had been surrounding me begin to fade into light.

It was blinding at first, but my vision refocused to reveal the sight of a stallion’s face a mere inch or so from my face, eyes staring at me with a scientific curiosity. As I awoke, said eyes were filled with an equally scientific satisfaction.

“Ah, knew it was the lower back. She always hits that one in a pinch.” The familiar voice of Care said, backing away from my face and prying his hooves behind my back and lifting me up before setting me back down onto something rough.

Struggling to move my hoof around for feeling, I barely realized he had propped me up on a stone slab.

“W...What...” I said, even the back of my throat and lips feeling numbed.

“Well, you got the ‘Silver’ treatment is what happened. A dedicated study of pressure points, nerve endings, and anatomy combined with a seeming mastery of one’s body and pressure application will do that to you.” He said rather nerdily, but the impression of sage was also there.

My eyes, dull as they were, widened at the mention of the name Silver.

It was around this time, coincidentally, that I began to recognize the sound of flesh hitting flesh from somewhere near by.

I felt my body begin to lurch on its own, scrambling towards what my blurred and double-vision plagued eyes saw as an edge in front of me.

I stumbled a bit. Well, a lot actually. It felt as though I didn’t have any feeling in my legs and joints, leading to a bit of struggle on knowing when and how exactly to walk.

But I did reach the carved out piece of stone that I assumed had the fight going on behind it, using my numbed front hooves to grab onto and pull up on it so that I could lay on it.

I looked up, just in time to see Vinyl’s hoof being caught in Silver’s own, followed by the quick motion of Silver’s wing into Vinyl’s side.

Silver took full advantage of Vinyl staggering backwards, jumping up and using her wings to keep her in the air as she began to punch at Vinyl with all four limbs. 

But it wasn't the typical types of punches I had seen in the fighting thus far, it was different in a rather insidious way. Each hoof held a purpose in them - a lethal one that made itself known every time it connected with Vinyl's shrinking body.

While she used both her front and hind legs to punch with, and used her wings to begin and turn and spin her body in mid-air in order to build up momentum and make each punch hit even harder and faster.

Dull as my bones and muscles were, my eyes felt sharper than ever. The blur of Silver’s hooves slowed down into what it might look if she were to punch regularly.

But for now, I was focused on something else.

Counting.

"One...three...seven...twelve...twenty...thirty five..." I began murmuring under my breath, counting each hoof.

I could practically feel my pupils narrowing and straining as I struggled to keep up with the blur of hooves. Usually most things moved at slow motion when my eyes did what they did. Silver was moving as if nothing was slowed down at all.

Then, she went faster.

Her wings began to flap quickly, and I noticed her take a deep breath as she did it, just before her hooves began reaching the point where they became a slight blur to even my eyes. 

But I managed to keep count of the hooves making impact nonetheless.

"...seventy two...ninety seven..." I continued.

I noticed Flint and Stone out of the corner of my eyes as well, resolving themselves to not try and assist for the moment. It was understandable, considering with just how quick Silver was punching; they probably wouldn’t know who’d they be hitting.

And probably actually get hit as well.

Flint looked a bit pained at the sight, but seemed to relax herself despite the sounds of flesh hitting flesh coming from in front of me. 

I suppose these would be to her as the sound of an orchestra would be to me. She's used to this, and has perhaps found a silver lining in this rugged violence.

"...one hundred and twenty three...one hundred and seventy one..." I continued, making my words more deliberate as I felt a certain emotion building within me. I couldn't tell what it was, but it was something.

Silver seemed to be a rather clouded personality, in terms of readability atleast. She had very simple reactions to events, but the problem was that those simple reactions seemed to be to the events you might expect to get a different reaction. Like how she would smile at a difficult task, laugh at the serious -- things like that.

I suppose Vinyl's influence on me was probably apart of this thought, but I figured somewhere below those dull eyes was something that kept her going.

Not to mention her apparent knowledge of how to diffuse people, the dull feeling in all of my hooves a testament to that.

"...three hundred and forty six..." I continued, letting peripheral vision fade and my thoughts keep going even while counting.

The punches suddenly stopped, the sound of them stopping maybe a second after, and I watched as Vinyl was tossed into the air and plopped onto the ground with a thud. 

"...four hundred and seven." I said, voice no more than a whisper.

Silver suddenly collapsed, her hoof running to her mouth as a cough followed by a little blood stained her light grey mouth with a deeply contrasting red.

She was obviously in bad shape from that lack of breathing she did, but she was still standing and at least moving a little.

Vinyl wasn't.

"Do you think that white mare ever stood a chance against the general." The wounded unicorn beside me asked, breaking the silence.
I looked to find him looking at the sight with an almost cocky look to him.

Idiot.

"Why is that?" Care asked, giving him a raised brow.

"Well I know I'm not the only one who heard the grey girl over their; Silver just landed, like, five hundred hits on her within a minute. The white mare didn't even land one on General Silver." He said, now not as cocky but more logical. They're really one in the same at a certain point.

I felt my own cocky grin form.

"I wasn't counting for the General."

"Well..." Silver began, a quirky smile appearing, catchin all of our attentions.

"...guess it's my fault for being brash the second time around." She said, her legs all collapsing at once and barely managing to not fall down completely.

Vinyl decided to stay as an unresponsive white lump, but I played it off in my mind as one of her classical games.

That assumption quickly faded when I noticed the lack of a smile on her face.

There is a certain feeling that comes from thinking something and then said something not being correct. Not the feeling of being wrong, such as with something more trivial like a math problem, but a feeling of your hopes being dashed away.

I felt a knot swell up in my chest, making breathing an active chore, as well as the sudden feeling of butterflies in my stomach. A headache also began to swell as I was filled with something that regret and sorrow couldn’t quite do justice.

All when I saw that lack of a smile.

Care sighed in disappointment.

"Don't count Silver as the type to not come with a backup plan. She prepares for contingencies." Care said solemnly as he joined by my side, raising his hoof to point to Silver's wings and hooves.

I noticed, on the tips of the silvery platings of her wings, was a substance dripping slowly to the ground.

"W-What is it? Poison?" I stammered, feeling my heart begin to literally wither in my chest followed by a feeling of my skin running pale and a wave of dizziness.

"Not quite. Her liver is too strong for standard poisons, but right now those might work with how drunk she is. But what Silver is using a sort of toxin that attacks the nerves in order to subdue rather than kill." He began.

He took silence as incomprehension.

"Imagine that feeling you get when your leg falls asleep - pain that isn't quite pain. Now imagine it roughly ten times more powerful, and over your entire body." He said.

I shivered at the thought as I turned back to Vinyl, my previous feeling of almost cocky knowledge having withered down to deep concern.

"Even breathing right now must be excruciating for her." He said finally.

Silver trotted over to Vinyl, recovering a little from how many times she had been hit.

"I'd say something, but it won't mean anything to you - not like you'd hear it anyways." She said, kneeling a little until she got down to Vinyl's ear. “Guess it wouldn’t hurt though...”

She murmured something to her, but I couldn't quite make it out. I craned my neck up a little in an attempt to see Vinyl's face past Silver’s body, and to try and hear a bit better - but she was done speaking when I finally got situated.

Thought I did catch something else when I was looking. Something that both renewed and frightened my spirit when I saw it.

"What the hell is she talkin-" Flint said, beginning to advance on the two, but she was interrupted.

A white hoof lifted up just before a sickening crackle of an ominously familiar tar color sparked around it. It suddenly fell back to the ground, making a small explosion that left the crater it formed sparking with magic.

“V-Vinyl...” I said, voice nothing but a whisper.

The same color seemed to spark around her body as she got off the ground, finally standing up straight as she raised her head to look at Silver.

There was no smile. There was no giggling. There was no playfulness.

Vinyl was mad.

"Amazing." I heard Care whisper in awe, his jaw slacked and his eyes wide like a foal's.

“She’s going to hurt someone.” I said, voice quiet as a ghost as I took in the sight.

"It will be more than that." Care chimed in solemnly, eyes still wide and voice still awe stricken, pointing to her horn.

The band around her horn was bright as ever, and almost seemed to whine with stress until it suddenly broke anticlimactically.

"That band had been stopping her magic, but I now see how she broke it." Care began. "She had been sending a steady stream of magic to the band ever since it was put onto her. Think of it like a water balloon - only one way out and one way in - but when you seal it up and water keeps on wanting to escape, it builds pressure until it pops and it all comes out. In Vinyl's case, this is with magic.

I scrunched my nose as I tried to make sense of his words.

Care sighed.

"Her magic is going to come out harder than she intends it to, thanks to the massive amount of magic she had been putting into the band since it was put on her horn. At the same time, she doesn't have any control over how hard she wants her magic to come out. Right now, it's the perfect storm for her." Care said.

The sound of crackling caught my attention, and when I turned back to her, I gasped at her appearance.

Her body was tensed up with bolts of the tar black magic shooting from her body to the ground around her. Her eyes were furrowed in anger as she stared holes in Silver, Flint and Stone - who impressively managed to keep their cool despite what they were facing.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
	
	
	
	
> Not a War of Attrition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


This was the second time I had seen Vinyl’s magic turn pure black. There had been times when it had almost gotten there - turning to a deep and dark blue - but this time it had gone to a color as black as night.

It was also the first time I had seen her get, what I would call, angry. She had never truly went to a spectrum of anger with her mood, rather just the absence of the playfulness she usually had, which made her seem angry by contrast. But she furrowed her brows this time, gritted her teeth and tensed her muscles. The drunkenness might have faded from her, but if it hadn’t, her rage had pushed it aside for the moment.

A stillness built up in the room, and the idea of either side - Vinyl or the generals - attacking one another seemed impossible for some reason.

That being said, the reason I couldn’t imagine them fighting because I couldn’t comprehend it. The two sides were extremely strong, so much that it escaped my imagination how they would fight.

I jolted a little bit when one of the two sides moved.

Vinyl's horn tilted forwards.

"Watch it." Stone groveled.

All three of them tensed, jolting when a bolt of black shot out of Vinyl's horn - oddly tame despite what Care had described about how much magic she was going to be packing behind her spells.

The bolt even moved relatively slowly, maybe as fast as I could trot without sprinting if I had to compare it to something.

"I thought you said that her magic was going to be dangerously uncontrollable." I commented, eyes moving slowly across the field as I followed the bolt of magic.

"It is." Care responded curtly, not even bothering to look at the battle as he stretched out a piece of gauss for a soldier.

"So why is that bolt so tame and weak looking?" I asked, watching as all three of the generals easily step aside as the bolt drifted between them.

"It's not a magic bolt." He responded, again curtly.

Around the time he said that, the bolt jerked to the side quickly, hovering just above Flint's back before any of them could react to it. Following the sudden dash by the bolt, a dull flash came from where it had been - bright enough to make you squint, but the black hue of the magic kept it from being blinding.

When I opened my eyes fully again, I saw that Vinyl was now where the bolt had previously been, standing erect like a pillar.

She gradually began to fall as gravity took over, sending her down to straddle Flint's back - the direct anger in her face gone and replaced with more of a stern look that a mother might have when she scolds a child - stone faced if you would. She simply placed her hoof on Flint's back just as the three began to recover. 

They all three widened at the sight of her, just as her horn sparked, briefly turning the pitch black color coating her horn a pristine white for a second or two.

Flint was gone after that, not a trace of where she had gone and how she had gotten there.

"W-Where-?" I began to stammer.

"I doubt even Vinyl knows where she went. She probably didn't have a set location in mind when she teleported her. Most likely because she either doesn't care, or doesn't have the space to right now." Care swiftly answered, getting up from his work on the hunter's and coming over to lean against the broken slab of stone that was serving as a wall.

I questioned whether or not to ask him what he meant by 'didn't have the space to care', but figured it would only confuse me more than it already did.

With one of the three generals already gone in an almost too simple manner, the other two began to realize that she was going to be playing around this time.

At least, not in a way that would make this fight easy for her.

In an odd way, Vinyl being serious was easier to beat than when she was playing. She was always so unpredictable and creative when she wasn't serious, but she was much more deadly and precise when she was serious.

It was like two ends of a spectrum that she could travel back and forth between.

Silver spread her wings and gave them a strong flap, sending her a few dozen yards back and kicking up a gust strong enough to make my eyes squint from here. It let both her and Stone have a chance to escape, though I guess it really didn't.

Vinyl didn't move from where she had plopped down to after teleporting Flint away, the gust more or less just kicking up her hair as she stared down where Flint had been at a moment ago. A feeling of sympathy rang out when I saw the dead look in her eyes that had appeared in her eyes when she had taken Flint out of the fight.

The look didn't last long, oddly enough, but refaced itself with the steely and stern look she had from just before.

"Well, she's at least taken a lesson in letting the three of them work together." Care said, smirking ever so slightly.

By this point, Stone and Silver had more than distanced themselves from Vinyl.

"She was the nice one..." Vinyl whispered.

What that meant, I had no idea. Vinyl said a lot of weird and seemingly nonsensical things, though if experience had taught me anything it was that Vinyl was a very weird and nonsensical person. At the same time, she was a sage.

The single flap of a pair of wings caught my attention.

Vinyl's horn blinked yet again, her body disappearing just as a silver clad hind hoof swiping horizontally through where her head had been. She reappeared once the the hoof had swiped through, her hoof arched back.

I had realized, at this point, that Vinyl only raised her hoof back as a sort of warning that she was about to punch. As 'Vinyl' of a logic as it sounded, we all knew well that if she wanted to actually hit someone that she wouldn't raise her hoof back, she'd simply do it.

Silver knew this too.

She didn't retreat from the hoof, instead following through with her kick and spinning to kick with her other one. She seemed to be as analytical as I was when it came down to looking at how Vinyl worked cognitively. She knew she wasn't fighting someone normal, both mentally and physically, so she would have to fight in way that wasn't normal.

And it worked.

Her hoof knocked right into Vinyl's face, staggering her just as Silver landed in front of her. Silver's hooves quickly slithered around Vinyl's waste, giving a strong flap to her wings and pulling them both skywards at breakneck speeds. They quickly reached the end of the roughly fifty foot high room.

This was where Silver let go, sending Vinyl crashing into the roof of the room in a tuft of dust.

"Stone! Throw!" Silver said, quickly falling down from the cloud.

Stone had already made his spikes, picked one up, aimed in on the spot where Vinyl had crashed and begun to move his hooves forward to throw by the time Silver had told him to.

"Stop!" I shouted.

The two of them paused and looked at me, almost worried.

In truth, my own eyes were wide. Why had I shouted for them to stop? Or, better yet, why was this the first time I had intervened vocally with someone trying to hurt Vinyl?

We didn't have time to answer that question, as a whirring sound suddenly came from where Vinyl had crashed. We all looked up, eyes widening as a flurry of spiked and wiggling globs of magic came hurdling down from the ceiling towards Stone.

"That-" Care began, gesturing his head towards the oncoming splotches of magic. "- is what her magic bolts look like."

I watched the "bolts" close in on Stone, he himself stunned at the appearance of them. Even more stunning was the white figure traveling in the center of the pack of bolts. Each of the bolts matched with the stone spikes Stone had made - each exploding violently and kicking up enough shrapnel to make Stone cover his eyes.

Vinyl didn't hesitate to take full advantage of that choice.

Vinyl quickly slithered around and mounted Stone's back, her hoof raised in they same way she had done just before teleporting Flint to wherever Flint had been teleported.

Silver, realizing that this was going to really cripple their chance at winning, acted.

She swiped her wing quickly, sort of like punching with it, and sent out a flurry of glittering, silver feathers that had been the plates on her wings. It was odd to just now see her make use of them, but I guess she would've preferred to save them until she needed them before revealing them to Vinyl.

But it was too late anyways.

Vinyl's hoof hit Stone's back long before Silver's feathers got near the two, a familiar flash causing all of us to squint and cover our eyes. I even heard the sound of Silver's feathers hitting the wall that must've been where Stone had been.

Opening my eyes, expecting to see the fight now evened down to a one on one, but the only thing I found was the lone Silver with an expression just as dumbfounded as my own.

"Well, I guess that's another way to even the playing field." Care said, snickering a little bit.

I looked to him, confused.

"I think we all thought she was going to duke it out with Silver alone. But it looks like she was just aiming to separate the three and then take them all down one by one in random places."

Care hadn't really been wrong up to this point, and what he said did sound like something Vinyl would do, so I believed him. Silver also seemed to begin to believe him, after looking all around her as Care explained it to me and not finding a trace of the two.

'Where did you get to Vi-' I thought to myself, only to have it cut short.

I suddenly found my vision blinded by dust as an explosion shook the ground beneath my hooves and kicked up enough rubble to have it hit my hoof as it shielded my face. I hadn’t seen anything that would’ve caused it, but as the dust slowly settled and I opened my eyes, I found that reason.

Vinyl stood tall, looking down on the downed form of Stone as he slowly struggled to get up.

The fact that he even was getting up was impressive beyond belief.

"He's the wise one..." Vinyl said just as Stone managed to get back onto all four hooves.

"Well, I gotta say lassy..." Stone said, weakly chuckling.

"...those reports didn't do you justice." He said, letting out a long and shaky breath before stilling himself. He then raised himself up to his full posture, grunts of pain coming from him as he did.

Vinyl let out a single huff from her nose, her eyes narrowing and her brows furrowing, before she jumped to Stone.

Stone was quick to readjust despite the pain he must've been in after that kind of fall, rushing towards Vinyl and quickly turning around and positioning his hooves in what was going to be buck just as he was about to get in range of Vinyl.

Vinyl, oddly, looked like she was about to trade blows with Stone, Stone’s back hooves heading towards her while she lingered in the air with her own hoof cocked back ready to strike.

But with a sudden, dark, flash she was gone.

Stone’s back hooves hit nothing but air as another flash came from the opposite end of his hulking body, next right around where his face was where Vinyl reappeared, her hoof still arched back. She looked ready to actually hit him, but her horn said otherwise. With the lighting of her horn, two things happened.

The first was that Vinyl’s raised hoof began glimmer with a hazy black shimmer that seemed to linger at the slightest movement of her hoof, lagging behind before catching back up with Vinyl’s actual hoof position.

The second was the formation of a little black ball in her free hoof. It was, well, adorable - roughly the size of a grape.

It was around the time that she raised the little black ball to her side that I noticed Silver had closed the distance between them, ready to strike at Vinyl while she struck at Stone.

But the little ball had other plans, flitting out towards Silver in a little game of chase.

Silver, however, treated it as the most serious game of tag of her life. Her eyes went wide as if someone had a knife to her neck. She used her wings to back pedal at a pace that was hard to keep up with, leaving the ball almost saddened as it slowed to a halt.

Vinyl, content with the distance between them, now lowered her hoof slowly right onto Stone's neck.

At first I wondered if she had began to playfully fight again, prodding at Stone before going for something that might actually hurt him. I guessed this because Stone showed no obvious signs of pain, only a bit of surprise that Vinyl's attack didn't hurt.

We, however, were both wrong.

As soon as the hazy shimmer that had lingered behind caught up with Vinyl's hoof, Stone's head jolted as if he had been hit by a wrecking ball.

He skidded on his hooves maybe ten or so feet before teetering to a stop, a clear crick in his neck.

"W-What the..." I gasped.

Stone had hardly been moved by anything thus far, but Vinyl laying her hoof on him seemed to send him ten feet

But Vinyl didn't stop there, moving forwards with a speed not meant to be fast, but deliberate. She arched her hoof again on Stone's raised hooves, bringing it down it would could be considered more of a punch than her last one.

It hit Stone's defense, moving him a few inches before the hazy shimmer caught up once more and seemed to hit Stone even harder than the last one. It knocked his hooves right out of the way, a strain of pain running through his face as he looked up to see Vinyl coming in again for what was going to be the last hit.

Vinyl raised both her hooves, quickly hitting both of Stone's cheeks in a clapping motion.

The lagging haze followed through again, speeding in and knocking against Stone's head with enough inherent force to make his body stiffen up before sprawling limply to the ground.

Vinyl saw this as the end for him, and the haze around her hooves slowly faded.

She turned slowly to face Silver, a look of strain in her own eyes as she let out short and ragged breaths. They were sharp, but not enough to take the edge out of her voice when she spoke.

And for the first time in the fight, she cracked a smile.

A deranged looking one ripe with insanity, stubby white fangs glinting off the light in the room and her eyes both dilated and bloodshot with insanity rippling through each vein. I felt oddly warm at this terrifying face, because, for some odd reason, this face was the one that was familiar to me.

She said nothing, her hoof raising up beside of her as the little, grape-sized ball of unstable magic flickered back to life in her hoof at the same time her body began shimmering before disappearing. The only sign of where she had gone being the slight cloud of dust that had been kicked up.

Silver didn’t look confused at Vinyl’s disappearance, but instead closed her eyes and seemed to calm herself in the longest couple of seconds time had ever seen. They only opened back up when Vinyl finally reappeared, rather predictably, behind her. Silver easily whipped around, using her hind leg to stop Vinyl’s hoof that was on route to smashing her with the black ball that had come from her horn.

You could tell that even Silver knew not to get hit by whatever it was.

The two spaced apart before coming right back together.

Vinyl was on offense logically, and Silver stuck to counter hits whenever Viny struck with her free hoof, but she made no move to counter when Vinyl swung her hoof that held the black ball.

Then, Silver suddenly seemed to freak out at something, flapping her wings rapidly and pushing herself backwards about fifteen yards before looking around frantically.

Vinyl giggled, and raised her hoof before yanking it back as if she had something attached to a piece of string.

The black ball, that I now realized had disappeared randomly during their exchange of hits, flew out of seemingly nowhere from directly behind Silver. She gave a little hop as the ball flew from under her; despite the non-intimidating look of the ball, Silver seemed to be treating it as serious as death itself.

The ball came back to rest in Vinyl’s hoof.

“Aim for the horn, Silver.” I heard Care say, his voice oddly sullen and serious.

I looked over to him, spying his eyes dull with seriousness.

“I thought-” I began, but he seemed to understand my confusion.

"I don't like it here, but what I don't like more is seeing these kind of atrocities go on. I could hardly stand it when she got rid of Flint and Stone, and it took a lot not to go out there and stop all of this.” He said, borderline angrily.

"I thought you weren't a fighter?" I asked him.

"I'm not." He said curtley, jaws clenching.

I was questioning if he was joking about "ending this". He was implying he'd be able to go out and end this whole thing without a fight, which to me looked impossible right about now.

I caught Silver as she began to swing her hooves cautiously at Vinyl's horn, which were easily dodged by Vinyl with simple side steps or feigns, but it didn't hurt.

I recalled the many times I had managed hit Vinyl's horn, and it even seemed to incapacitate her if hit hard enough; which wasn’t something that Vinyl needed to have happen to her right now.

I moved my hoof to try and stand up, finding my joints finally having feeling return to them. I stumbled when I got up, but got up nonetheless. Care seemed to acknowledge this, but chose not to comment. Perhaps he understood my stance, and understood that attempting to make me stop was pointless. Regardless of what he thought, he looked ready to burst.

And burst he did.

"Silver!" Care suddenly shouted, sounding at the end of his wits.

I looked up from my own task of getting off the ground to see that his clenched jaw had gone to gritted teeth and tensed muscles.

"Stop dragging this out!" He said, voice finally blistering with anger.

Silver's eyes seemed to darken at that.

She suddenly sent a hoof sweeping into Vinyl's hoof with the accuracy of a needle, surprising Vinyl by going directly for the black ball of magic rather than avoiding it. Stabbing right around the wrist, Vinyl's hoof stopped moving - the black ball dissipating without her hoof's guidance - and leaving her horn wide open. 

SIlver's hoof was already but a few centimeters away from Vinyl's horn before the idea of hitting it had even come to my mind, catching all of us but Care off guard with its speed and accuracy. 

With a single hit to the horn, Silver sent Vinyl to the ground where she was instantly straddled.

"She has this sick habit." Care began, his voice like venom. 

"A habit to play out fights in a way give people the impression that they had a chance. She plays with your head; letting herself and even her companions suffer all for the sake of her own victory. It's not some sick selfishness, she cares for them and wouldn't let anything fatal come to them, but I've always hated this side of her." He said, his hoof beginning to tighten its grip on the concrete slab it held onto, gripping it to the point where it punctured the skin.

I simply stared at him for a while, my slackened jaw slowly crawling back to a close after the sudden snapping of Care's typically calm demeanor.

"It's not sick." I said simply.

He looked at me with a venomous glare.

"It's an attempt to break boredom. To feel something - I suppose." I said simply, my own head trying to wrap around my logic.

"How would you know?" He spat.

"Silver isn't the only one who does that." I said, eyes dozing off to the floor where Vinyl was lying.

Straddled underneath someone who probably knew how to paralyze any normal person for the rest of their life. That's where Vinyl thrived, and it's where most people lost her logic. 

She craved danger, because it was different.

A smiled cracked like the ground during an earthquake, so similar that I swore I actually heard stone breaking when Vinyl's smile broke out.

Silver's eyes suddenly narrowed as her hoof raised quickly, the silver on her hoof gleaming as she zeroed in on where to hit. Vinyl didn't even have time to blink before her hoof found its mark and jolted forward like a flash of lightning.

A familiar black ball suddenly appeared right on the tip of Vinyl's nose, directly in front of where Silver's hoof was heading towards. Vinyl's eyes opened wide with a look in them as the ball appeared; just as Silver's own eyes also widened, but for another reason entirely opposite to Vinyl's.

A brief moment of silence took over the room.

There is a certain thing that should be said when an explosion is capable of knocking you back into a wall, knocking the air from your lungs and leaving you heaving all before you hear the "bang" it produces. Once more is knowing someone capable of creating such an explosion.

If it weren't for the fact that I had already been so close to the wall, I probably would've been knocked unconscious, but the kicking up of a grey, cement colored dirt told me that I was still awake. It was almost like being in the walls of a tornado, not that I'd know about that, but it served best as an analogy.

However, the violence of the explosion I was in was nothing compared to what I was seeing emerging from the wall of dusty wind.

The figure of a mare, a pegasus with her wings spread, tumbling through the air but gradually straightening out as her shadow grew bigger and bigger before finally breaking through the screen of debris.

Silver landed firmly on the wall I was leaned up against, the wind from the explosion being strong enough to support her planting her hooves on the wall next to my body in a way that defied gravity. I began to wonder how she was still standing, or much less seeming to be still actively doing things, but I didn't have much time to think about that before she planted her hooves firmly on my shoulders.

"Wait-" I began, but she clearly had no intention in waiting for me.

I realized what she was planning to do, and began to protest, but her natural speed combined with my already disoriented state only served to make things easier for her. She gave her wings a might flap as the two of us went hurdling towards the ceiling that had been blown wide open.

After that, the last thing saw when I looked up was a small piece of falling rubble aimed at myself.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


It had been a long time since I had woke up to the feeling of warmth without a white mare snuggling up next to me. My hoof scrolled across the ground beside me, the tickling and slightly rubbery feeling of grass under my hooves actually making me relieved. I noticed, between the fading of my vision from black, the unfamiliar sight of a blue sky filled with white, fluffy clouds.

I wasn't dead, but it sure did seem like heaven.

I gently sat myself up, padding my hooves on the grass as I noticed someone sitting on their flanks in front of me. Between my fading vision, I made out their body as a light colored figure, and so I assumed it was Vinyl.

"V-Vinyl?" I called out shakily.

"Shh..." A familiar voice shushed me gently. "...rest for now."

It was around my time that, either through natural readjustment or the fact that the voice from in front of me wasn't Vinyl's, that my eyes cleared themselves.

Silver sat in front of me, sitting on her haunches with her wings tucked behind her back - the previously flawless silver shine to them now replaced with the picture of dust covered silver plates that had an occasional feather missing from the plating. She was covered in scratches and dirt, looking off somewhere.

It was around that time I noticed what it was that she was looking at.

The distant building that I made out as The Order's base now had a massive sunken and crumbled center piece where a rounded dome had previously been - a gentle billow of smoke rising out of it. It looked almost serene, reminding me of the castle before when we walked away from it.

"Did you..." I began, suddenly realizing that the two of us being the only ones out here meant that she had pulled me from out of the explosion.

"They're pretty bad, you know." She said gently.

She turned to me, revealing a gentle and genuine smile that looked like the embodiment of purity as the wind gently brushed her mane.

My eyes widened as I realized that we were now outside, and the gentle warmth covering my back meant that it was morning.

'The sun.' I inwardly gasped.

"It's day, huh." Silver said casually, looking up.

I pushed myself up further, managing to prop myself up on my front hooves before fully pushing myself up off the ground. It felt odd to be standing again, a faint numbness still lingering in my joints, but I couldn't focus on that right now.

My eyes had sunken down to the ground without my realization; I was tired. I couldn't even tell what I was doing, but I felt the grass under my hooves move.

When I reopened them I saw that my hoof had slung itself at Silver's sitting form.

She raised her wing up, my hoof hitting and stopping as if my target had been a brick wall.

"Amazing to think that even your subconscious is telling you to fight me." She said, her piercingly warm eyes looking back over her wings to me.

"Or is it? You're blood's a little thick." She said, still gentle, but also a little melancholic as she turned back to the collapsing base.

I felt as though she knew about the fading traces of whatever it was Vinyl's mother had put into me.

"Not a lot of people talk to me around here, you know. Them telling me not to mess with that white mare is probably the most they've spoken to me." She said, her wing lowering as my hoof slid back down to the ground.

'Is this mare sane?'

My body soon followed, fatigue dragging my body back down to the ground right beside her as my vision started to fade again.

"She's actually the one who talked to me the most believe it or not, she was in her cell." She said again, her voice picking back from her sad tone.

My eyes finally seemed to give out, blackness taking over as I felt my consciousness begin to slip.

"Tavi..."

My eyes whipped open, face down into the grass, but open nonetheless. My heart was racing, as I had heard the sound of that voice before. The voice that could easily send both chills down my spin and put a warmth my chest at the same time. The voice that stopped people in their tracks, and the voice that belonged to the mare that would stop them if her voice didn't.

I looked up, seeing a white figure walking towards me. She was far enough that it'd take her a good minute or two to get up to me, but it wasn't the length of the distance; it was the fact she was going the distance.

She had a gentle steam roll off of her battered and scratched skin, which I supposed was a sign that she was feeling the simmering that she said she felt whenever she went under the sun.

The sound of metal clattering together took my attention from her, my eyes lazily floating over to see Silver standing tall. Her wings stretching themselves out again, showing off the flawed silver coating over her wings like it was some kind of medal. The look on her face was one of pure awe. The wind blew against her like she was right out of a novel, something glowering about her that might make you think she was the hero in all this.

In truth, she could've been. I hadn't gotten to get a good take on her character unlike the others. She was the big unknown to me, but based solely on the conversation she had just had with me, she was in the same boat as Vinyl, sailing across the crazy, dangerous, life threatening ocean that their rare breed thrived in.

But even more eye catching than the prideful display, was the smile she had on. It wasn't an eager one like Vinyl's, but more of a modest one. 

This was a happy smile.

She didn't move, instead waiting for Vinyl to make her walk up to the both of us. Perhaps she was also taking in the sight of Vinyl walking through hell with a smile, if I had to guess she also thought it an amazing feat. She had the air of respect for Vinyl for some reason.

When Vinyl finally got up to us, the two didn't exchange any words, only a brief nod.

Vinyl's horn pulsed harshly before she pointed it up, the strain in her an obvious sign that this spell was something to be feared. That, and I imagined that the sun made it even harder.

A shot of black went up into the sky, going up and up until it finally escaped sight.

Right when it escaped sight did it finally explode, a dull black blotting the blue sky. But that blot didn't stop expanding, rather than just dissipating as any explosion normally would, this blot continued to expand. It grew and grew, going - if I had to guess - at least half a mile or so in diameter.

It was about that time both me and Silver realized what Vinyl had done.

'She's using the color of her magic to block the sun by making a massive bubble.' I thought, smiling at the mare typically perceived as an idiot and her genius.

Soon enough, the bright and warmth of the sun was gradually replaced by a cool blackness as the shell finally hit the ground, leaving everything almost pitch black. Oddly enough, all three of us seemed as visible as if the bubble Vinyl had raised hadn't blocked the sun out at all; it was only the direct light and scenery that had disappeared.

The two hadn't stopped locking eyes however, both Silver and Vinyl still looking at each other with a gentle smile as Vinyl played what had to have been her checkmate.

"You really are nice." Silver said simply.

Vinyl had no response, but instead slow began stepping back as she faded into the black, her body seeming to fade before her eyes did, making them all the more piercing before they finally faded away as well.

Around the time she faded to the dark was when the bubble me and Silver were in suddenly started to thicken and ripple violently as if someone had jumped into a still body of water.

Vinyl's reappearance was like seeing a ghost appear, the white color of her coat making it even more similar as she appeared at the side of Silver, her hoof coming down in what looked to be a lethal punch.

Silver reacted, raising her wing as a shield against it, only to have Vinyl's hoof dissipate just as she closed the distance with her hoof. Silver seemed off put by the feign, but was quick to ready herself.

I found myself smiling as Vinyl reappeared, only to put Silver through the same scenario of pretending to punch, only to fade away at the last moment.

'She's finally playing again.' I thought warmly.

Vinyl faded out once again, her hoof arched in what was most likely another feign punch. Silver put up a weaker guard, finally beginning to get used to Vinyl's feigns, only to have a white hoof reached out from the darkness behind her. This detached hoof actually went through and hit Silver with enough force to make her slide back a few feet.

You could hear the wind leave her lungs, but she still stood.

The detached hoof that had faded away after hitting her reappeared right in her blind spot, clearly intent on pressing the advantage, only to be swiftly caught by Silver the second it began to move forward to hit.

Silver gripped the hoof, planting her wings and hind legs forward before giving a mighty tug and pulling on the hoof. Like being pulled out of a magician's hat, Vinyl's body emerged from the darkness as Silver pulled on her; getting tossed upwards as soon as she was out of the darkness.

Silver let go ass Vinyl went up into the air, her body beginning to fade again.

"No you don't!" Silver called playfully, her wings and hind legs pushing off the ground and aiming to tackle into Vinyl mid-air.

Vinyl grinned.

"Yes, I do." Vinyl said raggedly.

Vinyl hooves clinched up like something automatic, leaving the faintest hint at a familiar, black colored haze that had been present on her front hooves when she had, well, "dealt" with Stone. I was only able to notice it in contrast with Vinyl's white coat as she curled her legs up and let the go all in one motion.

Her hind legs hit Silver, making contact and hesitating for a second before the magic must've caught up.

And boy could you tell when the magic caught up.

Silver quickly disappeared from sight, the only tell-tale sign of where she had gone being the sudden hole in the black bubble that had been covering the field. And just like a hole in a balloon, where Silver had pierced the bubble, the bubble began to dissipate and slowly fade from existence, letting the sun slowly shine back down onto the now visible grass.

I looked up, seeing Vinyl standing just a few feet away from me, the steam slowly beginning to start flowing off of her body. Her smile looked slightly pained, but that made it all the more lovable.

I began to get up, but Vinyl held out a hoof that physically stopped me from moving despite not even touching me.

I looked confused, but she only moved her hoof off to the distance where Silver had been thrown, causing me to look.

Off in the distance where Silver had been sent flying, the air seemed to suddenly crack. As if it had been nothing but a wall, fissures of air seemed to crack across the horizon before suddenly blowing away as if a rocked had taken off.

I couldn't see anything immediately, but I felt a strange tensing in my eyes kick up just as the image of Silver came into view - flying fast enough to more than evade the normal eye. She shifted mid-flight, taking her hooves and putting them in front of her as she continued her collision course.

When the two connected, two things happened. 

The first was the feeling of a migraine kicking up and my vision seeming to stop perceiving things slowly. I felt myself actually gasp at the feeling, nothing I had felt could really serve as an example to describe the physical pain. I guess pain great enough to temporarily blur vision would be the only thing I could say about it.

The second, was that as Silver appeared in sight, Vinyl disappeared. Silver's hooves were where Vinyl's body had been, and it also seemed that all the speed that Silver had went right into Vinyl in the form of a kick.

I blinked.

'Where...where did Vinyl go?' I asked myself, not quite wrapping my head around what had happened.

My perception had stopped working how it usually did so that I could actually see these types of things; movement so fast that an untrained eye like my own could see them. I didn't know if Vinyl had teleported away at the last second, if Silver had kicked her hard enough to make her disappear, or if she just pulled a "Vinyl" and disappeared without being hit.

Silver dropped heavily to the ground, landing on her hooves miraculously, but not having enough stamina to continue to flap her wings. She could barely even keep her head up, and the sweat streaking down her body and peeling away the grim further backed up that idea.

I did the only thing I thought logical, and looked in the direction where Silver had kicked Vinyl.

I managed to make out a dissipating, black dot, punctuating itself by a small sparkle before disappearing.

Typically, you'd only see someone disappear with a sparkle in some sort of cartoon show, where the hero punches the bad guy hard enough that they fly off and the only trace you see left of them was the glimmer reminiscent of a star.

Had Silver hit Vinyl hard enough to do that?

Perhaps it was due to the numbness of my joints, but I hardly noticed myself getting up off the ground and staggering towards Silver. It had been as if another force had been influencing me ever since Vinyl's mom bit me, the little voices and movements my body would do when i wasn't focusing.

It all seemed a bit out of place, but not this time. I could agree with this unconscious drive this time around.

Silver was just as surprised as I was to see my hoof arch back in anger, and it must've been from the look on my face that she didn't react accordingly.

I imagine me hitting her was the equivalent of a soft pillow being thrown at her, but evertheless it felt great to finally get back at someone.

Perhaps out of complete accident, coincidence, or purpose, I looked behind me as I followed through with the punch - in the complete opposite direction of where Vinyl had been kicked off to.

And then saw a sparkle.

My eyes slowly began to widen as a familiar black blur came into focus, devious grin punctuated by eyes widened with either anticipation or just from the sheer speed she was moving.

She closed the distance without much recognition from Silver - partially because I had managed to hit her square in the jaw hard enough to knock her head towards the ground - until she got punching distance.

Then, Silver's hind leg that had been teetering to keep her up suddenly planted down firmly, her other hind hoof suddenly whipping around about as fast as Vinyl closed the distance. It was definitely the fastest I've ever seen her move, but it didn't matter how fast she moved as she was only met by thin air and a dissipating flash as Vinyl faded away. 

It was odd, usually Vinyl's teleports took her away all at once, but this time it seemed to begin at her hind legs and go up her body, as if to mock the fact that she was teleporting away right as Silver swiped her hoof through where Vinyl's face had previously been. Not only that, but there was a second, identical flash, lingering right above Silver's head.

Slowly, you could watch as Vinyl's back hooves dissipated and reappeared from the first flash and come out of the other, as if she were going through a doorway of some kind.

Even more, there was no form in Vinyl's fall - Vinyl's body wasn't poised in a way to suggest a kick or something. She was either too tired to properly align herself to make a kick, or that she realized that, moving at that kind of speed, being stiffened up was only going to hurt her more than if she was limp.  Either way, she was more or less just rag dolling along the ride.

I mean, It was definitely going to hurt Silver.

'Assuming it hits.' My thoughts spoke up, my eyes going wide as I noticed Silver begin to arch her legs to move out of the way.

We were both surprised to see my hooves latching onto her, and when she looked back to me, she must've seen some kind of look on my face, because she froze up stiff.

"We've come too far to let this miss." I said simply, mulling over the fact that I was also going to feel the oncoming hit from Vinyl.

Her eyes tore away from mine and feverishly looked upwards, at first panicking, but she then shut her eyes and stopped her wriggling. I could see her lips turn up in a small grin. She knew she had lost; she could've dealt with me to get me off of her, but she would spend too much time with that to properly evade Vinyl.

But it didn't really matter, because you could tell by the look on her face that this really wasn't a defeat for her.

She really did have something in common with Vinyl, and that was that they were both completely and utterly mental when it came to how they reacted to danger.

Time finished it's slacking and began to march on as both me and Silver looked up to the oncoming meteor that was Vinyl. I could do nothing but hold still and brace punctuated with Vinyl's body hitting the ground like the explosion from a mortar, with Silver and myself being the target.

I figured that shutting my eyes might make it easier to resolve myself, but at the same time it build up the fear of not knowing when the impact would be.

But soon enough I felt it.

And it was, more or less, the same feeling I had expected; like being hit by a train. Well, probably a bit harder than that, just with a bit more cushion thanks to the fact that Vinyl wasn't an actual train, but a semi-plush unicorn. My eyes and ears were soon filled with nothing thanks to all of my feeling being focused on the pain coming from my body. 

Despite how quick I knew these impacts typically were, it sure did feel like it was lasting forever. I couldn't breath thanks to all the wind being pushed out of my lungs, and I couldn't move because it felt like someone had bolted me to the ground.

When things finally settled, I couldn't feel anything but the sensation that came along right before you could vomit. My body felt lifeless, and I sincerely wondered if I had actually died. I felt as though I should've opened my eyes, but I had to remember to breath some air back into my lungs before I could do that.

Even when that was done, it felt laborious and painful to do.

'Is...is this what breaking a rib feels like?' I asked myself. I had never broken any bones before, so I guess it was a new experience if I did.

Time seemed to wait for me this time, sitting still while all the normal feelings slowly came back to me with an additional accent of pain.

I had already felt, and it was nothing but pain. I could hear again, but it was silent. I could taste the bit of blood that I must've coughed up. I began to smell the air, but it was filled with what was probably the settling dirt.

And I had even opened my eyes.

To my surprise, there wasn't any dust settling, and the crater was actually very small - being roughly twice the size of me.

I felt something else - it was still pain, but a different kind of pain. I wanted to look and see what it was, but my head felt too heavy to lift, so instead I moved my eyes down to my chest. Luckily, the crater left me at a natural tilt that made looking down at me rather easy.

To my surprise, I found another pair of eyes looking at me.

"Hey Tavi."

I tried to speak, but my lungs seemed to stab at me when I tried to.

"I missed you." She said simply.

My eyes looked back to her to see the steam beginning to roll off of her as the sun began to exact its revenge for being blocked out earlier. I wanted to move and cover her from the sun, but I couldn't even talk in my current state. And judging from the few glimpses I could get at Vinyl, she wasn't in any better position.

Despite how broken my body felt, my head could still race.

'Will Vinyl die if she stays in the sun for too long? Is this who this is going to end? With Vinyl laying on top of me while I can't even do anything to get her to safety.' I felt tears begin to well up at the morbid thoughts.

My vision suddenly faded, the feeling of something like soft, but thick, cotton covering my body and vision.

It was hard to process for some reason, but it raced through my mind that someone had covered both me and Vinyl. I assumed it was Shakes or her Sister, but if it were them, they would've said something and asked if we were okay. Nothing but silence greeted us.

Nevertheless, I felt myself beginning to calm.

"I love you Vinyl." I managed to work up, the feeling of something like a thorn bush growing in my lungs forming when I spoke, but I felt even better having said it.

I felt something that was unmistakably a smile form on my chest.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"Jeez you two, might wanna wait 'til we get home to cuddle with each other like that." A voice said, playful in nature, but with hints of care sprinkled throughout.

My eyes opened slowly as I began to realize I had passed out. I still felt groggy and pained, but not nearly as much as it had been whenever I had first passed out. It was around this time that I noticed the flooding of sunlight coming from above me, drawing my attention upwards towards the face of Shakes.

She was smiling gently at the two of us, but I could actually make out the concern rippling through her face. She was looking at Vinyl and myself, knowing of the pain we must've been in.

"Take it easy. Where's Silver?" She asked, wary of her presence, but making it clear that we were her first priority.

I could barely muster shaking my head.

I had no idea where she was, but if Shakes couldn't see her, then I wouldn't have known either.

"Alright. Everybody back in the base is either defending the generals or fighting off the vampires running around. I'll probably take Vinyl and this...blanket, I guess, back to her mother so she's safe. We'll come back and get you on our way out so we can start to get the hell outta here." She said firmly.

I nodded weakly. I figured I must've been out for only a half an hour judging by how bright it still was.

"Alright, we've gotta get you two untang-" Shakes began, only to be cut short.

I felt my body be squeezed, the slight feeling of a dull pain surfacing on my body.

I looked down to see Vinyl with her nose scrunched up and eyes squeezed tight, her eyebrows furrowed in a way to make her look - for what may have been the first time ever - scared.

"Damn..." Shakes said, clearing her throat in an attempt to hide something. I could've sworn I saw a blush on her cheeks. "...well, I guess we can find a way to move the both of you at once. Just stay here for a bit, 'kay?" She said, dropping the blanket before I made out the sound of hooves rushing off into the distance.

The way she dropped the blanket let in just enough light to let me see Vinyl's face, but not enough to harm her.

I felt like I should've wondered what had happened to Shakes; where she had went, what kind of troubles she ran into and how she dealt with them. But in truth, I didn't. I was just too relieved to be where I was, with Vinyl lying safe with me.

I couldn't help but stare at her, it was such a rare sight. I had never seen Vinyl looking so, well, vulnerable. She looked scared for once, and it just made her look so huggable and more adorable. Much more than normal.

I felt myself wince as I lifted my hooves and wrapped them around the white mare that was nestled into my chest.

I could even feel my own smile painfully forming as the sound of hooves approaching began to reach my ears.
> Oddity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A familiar scene appeared in front of me, one of a long, two story, theatre draped with red curtains along the walls. Expensive carpets with even more expensive borders lined the rows of seats, of which were packed to the brim with people I didn't know. They all seemed eager for me to do something though. I couldn't remember how I had gotten where I was, but I knew what I was there for - the bow in one hoof and cello that seemed all to foreign to me were sign enough.

I brought the bow up to the strings gently, sliding it across ever so gently as sweet music came to life as I willed it. One of the few places in my life where I seemed to be in complete control.

A gentle chattering from the crowds came to my attention, most of it sounding positive as it seemed to mix in with the pull of my bow in a way that could only seem intentional.

I felt a thrill kick up in my chest, one that had been long forgotten as I pushed aside what had been my passion - my obsession - for all of my life until recently.

Basked in this feeling, I was living in the awe and approval of the crowd soaking up their admiration like a neglected sponge.

But the world seemed to suddenly sway slightly, a gentle tilt that knocked my balance off just enough for my bow to waver, and for the song's perfection to shatter just as the prideful feeling in my chest did. The loving murmurs from before turned into sour ones of disgust, the burning passion in my chest turned to a chilling despair.

My eyes shot open in fear as the murmurs ceased and I found myself staring at an empty auditorium. The hoof holding my bow dropped numbly to my side as I took in the sight.

My head began to droop, my mouth slightly parted as I failed to grasp what had happened - how I had messed up - but a lone figure still in the stands caught my eyes and kept my head afloat. It did not make a move to express its approval or disapproval of my mistake, but more than anything I wasn’t alone, and a crowd of one is better than a crowd of none.

I couldn't feel the bow in my hoof any more than a piece of my limb as I raised it back up to the strings, hoof quivering as I brought it shakily across the strings - the music forcing itself out in an unpleasant sound as my yearning to not make another mistake caused me to make flurries of them.

My eyes were squeamish, dashing back and forth between the ground, ceiling and my lone audience member who I saw was now getting up from their seat. Then my eyes clinched, tears welling as I silently cried apologies and pleaded for them to stay.

I opened my eyes solemnly, knowing the empty that awaited me, only to find the lone audience member from before making their way down the aisles towards the unseen exits. I felt my bow hoof drop to my side once again, my teary eyes finally convincing my now quivering lips that this was the end.

Only they didn't leave.

They turned at the end of the aisle, coming to take a seat square in front of me. The lights that had previously not dared to leave the stage now loosened their grips, letting visibility just barely leak into the stands. It wasn't much, but it was just enough to let me see the tips of my audience's hooves - which I saw were a snow white - and the glint of something near their eyes.

A flicker of the furnace in my chest came back to life, spurring itself back to life despite having already died, and bringing a small warmth to my chest. I realized it wasn't the same burning passion that I had felt before when I soaked up the admiration of a crowd, but it was something surprisingly similar despite it being from a crowd of one. It was smaller, but it felt more meaningful.

My bow was steady as it reunited with the strings, my eyes locked onto the lone figure in the auditorium as music began to flow through in a redoubled effort. The same tilting from before returned, protesting my playing as I felt my body begin to drop to one side.

I had never been one to make a mockery of my stage performance, keeping an expected posture and a prideful look to myself, but there was something about my company that made me feel as if those were not nearly as important as the piece I was playing. My body seemed to flow with the tilt, turning my previous drop into something passionate as I danced around my cello with my eyes closed in bliss.

The music became an afterthought, my ears still eating it up tastefully as it hooked even me into wanting more, but I was more focused on the joy that flowed through me as I spun across the stage, dipping my cello on its stand and dancing with it as if we were at a ball together.

The song blossomed and died, reaching a satisfying silence as I dipped my cello down like a lucky mare at the end of a waltz.

Never in my wildest dreams had I dreamt of ending a concert like this; sweat on my brow, broken bow strings springing out like a bad hair day from my bow and a beaming smile across my face that was only disrupted rhythmically by my heavy panting.

I opened my eyes, quickly looking up to see what my lone audience member had thought of what I'd call my greatest performance yet.
Only, they weren't there.

In fact, there was no more auditorium either, but what had replaced both it and my audience was enough to make my cheeks flush and my eyes widen in a sharp change of feeling.

Where there had been expansive and golden hemmed walls draped with velvet curtains, there was now compacted walls colored a dull blue-grey covered with book shelves and furniture all holding musical sheets and books. Where there had been row upon row of seats, there was now a single, familiar looking bed.

And on that bed, sitting on her haunches, was an eager looking white mare with awe racing through her eyes and joy pulsing from her childishly wide smile that screamed amazement. Blue, two toned hair stood out against the bland room in a joyful rebellion that was led by a pair of dashing eyes that gave me a sensation that made my cheeks flush to match their deep red color.

But more than anything, there was a sense that she had finally made me see something I hadn't before.

She didn't speak, instead leaning close to my tilted down head with her eyes locked with mine. She got close enough to the point where I felt the warmth of her breath on my face. I felt paralyzed, but I couldn’t care less about how and why.

Then, her eyes shut and as if by magic, I could breathe again.

And all I felt was something soft on my lips.

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

"Vinyl!" I heard myself shout.

I felt my body jolt, a thrum going through my very being as I shot up from my bed. Colors blurred thanks to my eyes not being quite as awake as my heart was, but I could definitely feel.

My head suddenly filled with a sharp pain, followed by a dull ache that sent my eyes running back to the darkness they had come out of.

"Ouch!" A familiar voice yipped.

My eyes opened again at the voice, slowly focusing and concentrating until they could clearly make out the picture of a white mare sprawled out across the bottom half of my bed. She was propped up on a single hoof, rubbing her head with the other, as if she were on the verge of tears.

"V-Vinyl..." I whispered shakily.

She dropped her act in an instant, focusing on me with a gentle smile.

"Hey Tav-" She began, but was cut off as I practically pounced on her and brought her into a deep kiss. She wiggled a little bit at first, but eventually melted like putty in my arms.

I wasn't sure what had come over me myself, though I was certain it was love, but I could hardly contain myself at the sight of her finally being safe back in my apartment.

The burning in my lungs eventually pulled me off her, and the sudden rush of oxygen to my brain finally let my actions catch up in with my brain - sending my cheeks into a rapid stammer for an apology as I pushed off of her.

"I-I'm s-sorry-" I mumbled, tripping over my words as my brain began to wrack itself.

"About what?" Vinyl giggled, propping herself up with her hooves, a look on her face that reminded me of a drunkard.

The simple sentence ran through my head over and over again, and a thought occurred to me about all that had happened as of recently. All that I had been through, all that I had seen and felt. And I think I finally came to a conclusion.

I gently pushed my hoof out until it reached the point where Vinyl's eyes lined up with it as it lingered just above her head as if to come down and pet her. I hesitated for a bit, but steeled myself with resolve and went through with what I had thought of.

I hit her.

Right on the horn, gentle enough to let her know no harm was intended, but just enough to let her know that I meant to cause her some discomfort.

Though, judging by the visible scrunching on her face when I did it, a well of regret sprung up the second I went through with it. But I couldn't let her bring me to "sorry"s just yet, I needed to let her know something that had troubled my mind ever since she left and all of this became complicated.

She looked to me confused and I tried to make myself a stone slate on the outside.

"Don't ever agree to be taken from me. Ever." I said, eyes narrowing and voice evening out after finding a bit of encouragement in the fact I was finally saying something I wanted to say.

I was serious when I said that. It occurred to me that, for the past two incidents, Vinyl had made the decision to give herself up without my consent. And frankly, it was infuriating that she could act so selfishly and ignorant to my feelings.

She looked lost, taken by surprise by the authority I had in my tone, which I too was surprised as well, but slowly she nodded to me.

The resolve I had built up crumbled at the sight of the innocent look on her face and I began to stutter something to ruin that moment of triumph I had shown; I blushed looking to floor in a bit of shame.

But Vinyl seemed to realize this too.

The gentle pounce of an even more gentle predator stopped my apology as a familiar pair of lips ran back to mine. There was a timid ripple of pain from both my shoulder and rib, but the pleasure from my chest was simply too large to allow those feelings to punch through.

When she gently pulled away from me was when I noticed something different about her. Her eyes stared deeper into me than how they usually did -  in a way that I would stare into her own eyes; an enraptured gaze that kept looking down into the seemingly endless well that was her.

The familiar creak of my bedroom door tore into the moment, a mare familiar to the one sat on top of me looking into the room with her eyes shut - whether it was still considered "looking in" if her eyes weren't open was up to anyone, but I knew well she could still somehow see.

"Oh dear, only a day after being near death and you two are already back to being on top of each other." Vinyl's mother said sweetly, a sly giggle slipping out at the end.

I blushed only a little bit this time. Even if I couldn't help but turn as red as an apple when Vinyl teased me, I had somehow gotten used to Vinyl's mother and her types of teasing over the course of traveling with her.

It was with her lingering in the doorway and Vinyl straddling me that a sweet smell drifted through, a familiar smell that reminded of my younger years when I was still living with my parents. A smell that was unmistakable, one that could send a pony of any age into a childish excitement.

'Pancakes.' I thought to myself.

"We don't want them getting cold, do we?" Vinyl's mother smiled, shaking me from my trance and letting me realize Vinyl had already gotten off me and retreated into the kitchen, leaving me to simply bask in the smell.

A numb feeling still lingering in my hooves when I got up, so I forced a façade of being relaxed as I trudged into the hall and admired the all too familiar doors and hall mirror.

'It truly is good to be home.' I thought, a smile creeping onto my face as I arrived in the kitchen to see Vinyl and her mother sitting at the kitchen table, seeming just as glad to be 'home'.

The chairs felt foreign, but nothing could stop me from getting a share of my first real breakfast in long- actually no, very long time. They had already been prepared to the fullest. Cut in neat squares, lightly buttered and drizzled with syrup - needing only me to stab at them with a fork and melt in my mouth.

Though, I questioned where either the pancakes, syrup, or butter had even come from, as my cabinets had been barren of anything but tea and plates when we had left.

But I wasn’t about to let something like that stop me from eating.

And eat I did.

Vinyl's mother didn't seem to be partaking, so I had assumed she had eaten them fresh after she finished cooking. Instead, she held a newspaper in her magical grasp while she sipped idly on a cup of tea - the smell was unmistakably the Mare Grey I kept in the top cabinet.

'She must have quite the intuition to know where I keep my tea.' I thought, staring at her as I tried to better understand her.

Around the time, I noticed Vinyl's mother and her absence from breakfast, I found that the pancakes had a very odd flavor to them. It was hidden by the syrup - whose origin I was still trying to figure out - but it was most definitely there. It wasn't inherently bad, just not what one would expect to taste in pancakes.

"I had no idea you were this good of a cook, Miss Scratch - what might be in these?" I commented between bites.

"Oh, I couldn't cook if my life depended on it dear." She said simply, turning the page and taking a sip from her floating porcelain, leaving the question up in the air.

I stopped chewing at that, eyes drifting over to another white mare face deep in what had been inferred to be her own creations.

"Vinyl?" I asked slowly.

She perked up slightly, eyes gleaming at the sound of me calling her name.

"Hm?" She grunted, mouth full.

"Did...did you cook this?" I asked, again slowly as I had a bit of trouble accepting the fact Vinyl may have very well been a cook.

She nodded enthusiastically.

"But...where did you get the ingredients? I had nothing to make this in the cabinets." I said, getting a cute smirk from Vinyl.

"I gave mom a list when we got back." She said happily.

Casting a glance over to Vinyl's mother, whose grin shifted ever so slightly from a content smile to a "don't ask" one. I nodded slightly, ignoring the fact Vinyl had apparently recovered, for the most part, over the course of a mere few hours and went on to ask my original question.

"So what all did you use to make them? They have a peculiar taste." I commented, taking another bite.

Vinyl's nose scrunched as she begin tapping on her hoof as she read out the ingredients,

"That white powdery stuff, salt, some eggs, butter, sugar, vanell-" she began, stopping as if confused.

"Vanilla dear." Vinyl's mother chimed in.

"Yeah, that. Blood. And some mi-"

She was cut off by my choking.

"S-say again?" I said, gag reflex suddenly kicking up as the tea that had been on its way to wash down the now questionable pancakes halted and almost spilled.

She blinked once, before making a pouty face.

"C'mon Tavi, I know I can't say some words, but you don't have to rub it in." She said, somehow turning this exchange so that I looked like the victim.

"N-No Vinyl, I was referring to one of the ingredients you said. D-Did you say blood?" I asked, stammering a little.

Her pout turned to relief, then back to cheer as she nodded.

"T-That...that's what I thought." I said, looking down and staring at the pancakes that I now noted to have an ever so slight tint of pink.

I probably would've said something and stopped eating there, but a quick glance at a now hurt looking pair of red eyes somehow managed to root its way down and make me question a judgement that I had thought rhetorical.

'You're...you're not actually thinking of...'

Even my thoughts seemed to question me.

As odd a trial it seemed, the pancakes - despite what their contents might have consisted of - were still delicious as ever. It actually reminded me of some social gathering my mother took me to where they would have 'mystery dishes' and you would only learn what you ate after you had finished your plate. Almost every time, you'd feel your stomach lurch at knowing what you had eaten despite having salivated at it a second prior.

I looked up after the last bit had been cleaned from my plate, surprised to find Vinyl with a faint blush while her eyes were jutted down to avoid my gaze and her mother with a smile of both respect and appreciation - her piercing blue eyes open for once. It dawned on me that the both of them had watched me in silence as I had ate the pancakes - perhaps it was a test, or perhaps I was over thinking it.

Probably the latter.

In the show of silence, I noticed Vinyl's mother casting a glance back and forth between me and Vinyl as if she were contemplating something. I was confused at first, but before I could ask her what was on her mind, she shut her eyes and spoke.

"If it's of any interest to the two of you, that cute sister couple from before might be worth paying a visit." She said simply, fluffing her paper and turning the page.

"Sister couple... you mean Shakes and Sweeps?" I asked slowly, not bothering to delve into the meaning of "sister couple" and took at another one of her teases.

"Yes dear," She said, lowering the paper just enough to see her shut eyes. "It might be good for the two of you to get some fresh air."
I could definitely get behind that idea, but caught her on a single word.

"'Two of us'? You mean you won't be going?" I asked.

I'd half be willing to understand this choice if it were any other mother, but for Vinyl's mother to be saying that. Well, it was something different knowing her very motherly nature.

"Eh, I think I need a break myself. It's also not my place to get in the way of a date." She said.

I wasn't sure whether to take this as a sign of her approval or a genuine statement. Regardless, I felt like I had got somewhere in her eyes, somehow.

"S-Sure..." I stammered.

Vinyl, on the other hoof, seemed to interpret this response as something on an entirely different nature. She let out a cheer, jumping out of her seat and rushing off down the hall and bolting into my room. The sounds of her rummaging through piles of something, which I assumed was my closet.

I found my stare returning back to Vinyl's mother, who had a smile that could only be called 'full'.

Around the time I thought I found something else in that smile, the sound of galloping hooves came down the hall and a quick turn found Vinyl with an umbrella stuffed in her mouth and the infamous return of a pair of purple spectacles.

Through gentle nudges, I found myself nearing the exit to my apartment room, still staring at Vinyl's mother in an attempt to dig under that smile that seemed all too content.

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

The desk mare was out when me and Vinyl left the building, folding out the umbrella and sticking close to each other so that we both fit under the shade. Though I really didn't need to in the first place, Vinyl seemed insistent to keep us both under. That idea brought back a memory that had seemed to escape me, but now that it was back I could remember it like a photograph.

"Hey Vinyl?" I asked her, my voice coming out more gentle that I thought it would.

"Hm?" She hummed, looking up to me as the two of us made the first turn towards Shakes' bar, bodies pressed together.

"Do you remember standing in the sun? From before..." I said, trailing off as the idea that the topic may be still sensitive to Vinyl.

"Yeah..." She said, trailing off herself before she must've figured out that I wanted a bit more than a simple response.

"-It was hot, kinda like heat just before it gets hot enough to be a burn. But it really was nic-" She said, coming out with a surprisingly poetic comparison despite how simple she tried to make it sound, but suddenly cut herself off as her eyes dipped down.

She sounded like she wanted to say more, but she suddenly seemed to clinch harder to me an almost timid look to her.

I was taken aback at first, looking up only to see the occasional noble out walking and a few couples. Despite how isolated we had been on my trip out of the city to get back Vinyl, Canterlot hadn't been through that and was proceeding as it did on any other day. I hadn't even noticed we were taking the most direct route to the theater, which was straight through the metropolis.

But that only raised more questions. Why was Vinyl shrinking? Did she see someone she knew, like Beauty? Though that still wouldn't explain why she would react to it - she was too carefree. Though right now, that didn't seem to be the case.

Scouting them out, I recognized many of the faces, but by no means knew any of the people they belonged to on any sort of personal level. Most of them I knew from various concerts or as friends of my parents. Though, they all seemed to know me more than I did, and judging by the curious stares they were giving me and Vinyl, they were beginning to get a few ideas.

I looked back down to Vinyl, who was still a bit shrunken by their gazes.

I had no idea why she was shrinking, but something told me to take advantage of it.

I leaned into her a little bit, my metaphorical chest puffing out as I made my smile more know to those looking at the two of us. The murmurs and stares became more evident, but I could hardly hear them at this point.

"Isn't that the Melody's kid? Who's that mare she's with?"

"Are those two together? Isn't that Octavia Melody? The cellist?"

"What's that mare with the odd hair doing in a place like this? And with a mare like that no less."

I, actually, started smiling for a reason that most of the nobles would agree with, and that was from all the attention. I typically had no interest in being at the center of the room so to speak, but seeing Vinyl getting squeamish and vulnerable at it, made me want to do it even more just to see her reaction.

It was like seeing a whole new side of her.

And I got a good glimpse at that side for a good portion of the walk, which was far too short, but she gradually got more relaxed as we left the center of the city and grew closer to the district where the bar was.

It was only when the bar came into view that I bothered to ask her about it.

"Mind explaining that then, Vinyl?" I asked, catching her off guard for once.

"W-What's that?" She asked, playing oblivious.

It was sad, but if there was one person that was more easy to read than myself, it was Vinyl when she was hiding something.

"Getting all squeamish back there, and don't act like I didn't notice it. You know, when you got real close to me and-" I began, recapping the whole scenario as a faint blush formed on her cheeks before she cut me off with a stammer.

"I-I just know that you, uh, value how people see you. You know, in the 'public eye' or whatever." She stammered.

While that wasn't entirely renounceable, you could tell that wasn't all of it - if it was any of it. But I decided not to press it and give her a break, as it was clear she was a little embarrassed about it.

That, and we were at the door of the bar.

Reaching for the handle, I let Vinyl go in ahead of me so that I could fold up the umbrella as to not be rude. Thinking about it, the umbrella on a relatively sunny day probably didn't help to not draw attention on the two of us.

I could only shrug, putting the umbrella away, and walk through the wooden entrance.

The bar had changed quite a bit since Vinyl was at the reigns, though mainly it was just the removal of her booth and the conversion of the dance floor into a few more tables and booths. Now the bar had shifted from a sort of dark place where one might rave, to a homely bar that had just enough wear and tear to be considered cozy.

At a bar was the dynamic duo, Sweeps on one of the bar chairs with Vinyl climbing into one two seats over, while Shakes manned behind the counter with...

'Hold on. Who's that?' I asked, eyeing an unfamiliar face behind the bar.

A mare with coat that was lightly purple, dim yellow eyes like an unpolished golden coin, and a muddy brown mane that seemed to rebel against the ponytail it was tied into - small sprouts of brown hair shooting down to form small, sideswept bangs. She seemed out of place for some reason.

It was around that time I noticed that her eyes had shifted lazily over to me and seemed to be analyzing me just as I did her, though she finished far quicker than I did, and shifted over to Vinyl. Her eyes seemed to widen for a moment, as if shocked by something, before dimming down again. Though they were visibly wider than her previously half lidded stare.

I made my way over, eyes keeping glued to the odd mare until I got within Shakes' view and settled on the bar stool Vinyl had left open between herself and Sweeps. I noticed Vinyl had chosen to sit directly across from the new mare, perhaps she also picked up on her out of place nature.

Or perhaps she saw more.

"Octavia? Hello? Anyone home?" Shakes' voice slowly drilled through my thoughts, eventually shaking me out of them and realizing that she was half leaning over the counter to get in my vision.

"I-I apologize. I seem to still be sleepy" I said, offering a small smile.

Shakes seemed content with the response, leaning back and to a more comfortable looking position.

"No problem. Can't say I blame you on being a bit spaced out after everything you two just went through." She said, laughing a bit and turning to Vinyl.

Vinyl was staring cheerful holes in the mare beside Shakes, her friendly demeanor seemed to freak the poor girl out a little bit. Vinyl seemed excited for some reason.

"Vinyl. Manners." I said, nudging her a bit.

"No freaking out the new employees Vinyl." Shakes chimed in.

Both me and Vinyl turned to her for that one, my face full of confusion while Vinyl was more or less just waiting for an explanation because she knew one was coming.

"Employee?" I asked.

"Yep. I'd like to introduce you two to the new 'security' of the bar. I don't really know her name, and she won't tell me, so I'm calling her Purple until she cracks." Shakes said, gesturing over to the mare, who was still doing double takes at Vinyl.

Sweeps leaned over to me, whispering.

"We found her in some kinda cellblock at that base or whatever, we thought she was gonna fight us, but after Vinyl's mother did a bit of 'talking', she offered to tell us a way out of the base in exchange for a place to hide." She said.

'Did that mean that she was a...' My thoughts began, but Shakes cut them short.

"And I, being the businessmare I am, decided to get some free labor out of it." Shakes said, somehow close enough to also be whispering into my ear.

"Though we still don't know what her actual job is gonna be." Shakes said, rubbing her chin as she looked at the mare only known as Purple.

"Isn’t it the term ‘intern’ or something?" Shakes said.

We all looked over to her for her reaction, but only found both her and Vinyl playing the same game of 'Vinyl staring holes in her'.

"Do you two wanna kiss or something? Better look out though Purple, Octavia's pretty protective over her mate." Shakes said, pointing at Purple.

"Don't you think there is a better suited word other than 'mate' for this context?" Sweeps asked as she blushed furiously.

'Purple' looked at me for a brief second, eyes widening.

"You are the mate of this one?" She asked, her voice smooth yet ragged at the same time - like torn satin - as she gestured to Vinyl, eyes widening.

I blushed and looked down, but I could practically feel the nods of Shakes - and faintly of Vinyl herself - but when I looked up again I found that her eyes held a new kind of respect towards me. Whether I should appreciate that respect, I still wasn't sure.

Just as I felt I was about pass out from the conversation at hoof, the opening of a door thankfully stopped all conversation.

Though, as we all looked over to see who had entered, we all felt out blood run cold and our hearts all stop.

In the doorway was a face of nightmares, one of a grey colored coat and glittering silver eyes. One that sent genuine fear down my spine, because she had been the only one to hold a candle to Vinyl in terms of fighting ability thus far.

'Silver...'

The deafening sound of a lead pipe smashing against the cobblestone streets just outside the bar broke through the silence like a...well, like a pipe against a cobblestone street. Not even that, but the pipe dug down through the stone, knocking up individual tiles from the street and leaving a trench in its wake.

We all turned to Purple, who had been the one to throw said pipe, seeing her eyes wide with a mix of anger and panic as she heaved ragged breaths. Not even half a second had past since Silver had entered, yet she had already attacked.

"I thought you said you took her pipe?!" Sweeps shouted to her sister, her hooves covering head.

Shakes blinked once, then dipped down below the counter.

"We did. That was some of the plumbing." She said, hoof snaking around to the back of her head as a certain amount of agitation began to fill her face, but it quickly faded.

"Well, at least she didn't hit inside the bar."

Silver's faltered face returned to a smile that I saw as eerie as she began walking forward calmly, sending a piercing feeling through my chest as she did. I felt a bit of sweat begin to form, and the urge to either scream, run or hit something begin to surface.

'Were they playing ignorant to exactly who was in the room? Did they not see the potential problems here?' I began frantically thinking to myself, hoof shaking and digging into the bar counter.

Even I was a bit shocked at my reaction, but the mare in front of us was one that came close to killing both me and Vinyl, and honestly only won because of me putting myself at risk to let Vinyl land a direct hit on her. Even now, looking at the shape she was in, it was pretty evident that she could've kept fighting after that. 

But at the same time, I was hesitant to trust that Vinyl had really went all out with her last attack. It might've been because of my intervention that she could've held back and tried to divert the blow out of my concern. Either way, I was still shaken by Silver as a person.

I snapped from my haze as a pair of silver eyes sat mere inches from mine.

I gasped a little bit and widened my own eyes, everyone else sitting silently as they watched on.

Save for a cautionary white hoof placed on Silver's shoulder, and an out of place death stare coming from the mare it belonged to.

Even Purple had been stopped from her fretting at the hoof that dared to reach out to give caution to someone who could pretty easily subdue all of us here - maybe save for Vinyl.

She looked stoically at me, but also slightly concerned if that made sense. Wide eyes taking in every ounce of my reaction and facial movements, as if studying me down to level that could tell me secrets I didn't even know I had. After a few seconds, she backed up, content with her observation as a faint smile drifted onto her face.

"Any reason you're here then?" Shakes asked, cool in her demeanor, but you could tell she was in about the same shape as I was.

"A few actually. Though they aren't fighting or capturing." She said disarmingly.

"Erhm, mind letting me sit?" She asked, turning to Vinyl and offering a sheepish smile.

'As if Vinyl would even think of letting that hap-'

"Sure. But hurt Tavi and I might have to beat you up." Vinyl said, cutting of my thoughts with a response reminiscent of a child warning you not to break their toy, before getting up and freeing the seat next to me.

"T-Thanks." She said, stammering a little bit. It was odd, she seemed to be coming off as shy, which really didn't fit the personality I had associated with her just a few hours ago.

She pulled a small folder from a saddlebag, placing it on the counter with the clear intention it was meant for me.

The curiosity on my face must've made her realize I wanted a bit of an explanation.

"It's the folder containing the contract placed on Vinyl, as well as the information of the person who placed it. They aren't required to give their name, but it can be easily found by the stuff they do have to give us." She said calmly, her voice evening out as it became a bit more serious.

"I did a bit of digging and found this for you." She said simply.

I took the folder cautiously, opening it slowly, and looking in reluctantly. Sure, I would've liked to have known who had started all this madness, but there was always the chance that it might hurt me as well. The possibilities of who it could've been are endless, ranging from a complete stranger to even my own father.

It was sad, but I had my own suspicions. Beauty, I could see doing it with how angry she was - and still somewhat is - with Vinyl. Any number of nobles that had seen Vinyl and me together. Father, with how he initially reacted to just the mention of Vinyl's name, was also a depressing - but still valid - suspicion.

My eyes slowly scanned down the page like someone might walk to their own funeral - going over various numbers I didn't realize until I finally arrived at the name that made my eyes widen.
> Good Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I watched the door shut on their way out, not exactly the warm reunion of finally getting out of the damned Order's base I was expecting, but I also wasn't expecting Silver to be popping in any time soon either. I couldn't really blame Octavia for upping and wanting to leave, though I was still skeptical about what her and Vinyl were going to be doing after learning that kind of thing.

'Eh, they'll probably be fine. Octavia's pretty tame and Vinyl's good at listening to Octavia, so I doubt they'd do anything too crazy. Maybe a letter or something.' I thought, turning my eyes back to the silver mare still sitting at the bar.

"So was that the only thing you came here for?" I asked her, picking up my "stress glass" as I liked to call it, and began to polish its already crystal clear rim.

"Well, actually not." She said.

I could practically smell Purple tense up at her words, her hoof pawing at the underside of the counter in an attempt to look for more plumbing to rip out. She must've caught my sideways glance, because she stopped pretty quickly and took to just gripping the counter to the point where the wood started groaning.

"Aside from giving that folder to those two, I've got two more things to attend to. One of which can be linked to those two in a way." She said, her voice sort of mundane as she went into a silence.

Silver never really was one to express emotions subtly, she was either all or nothing, if that made any sort of sense.

"Mind saying what those two are? If you don't mind." Sweeps chimed in, her head propped up on her hoof as she leaned on the counter.

Silver jumped a little bit at the request.

"Ah- well, I assume you want to know the one involving those two then?" She asked, getting a nod from both me and Sweeps.

"The council or whatever they call themselves, are a little bit angry about Vinyl escaping - and sent me to retrieve her." She said, disarmingly timid.

At the mention of those words, I stopped my wiping of the stress cup, calmly opening up a draw under the counter and pulling out my old crossbow before dropping it with an intentional hardness on the counter. It was well rusted around everything that wasn't necessary for firing, but that didn't matter in any regard since I had kept a bunch of the bolts from our little trip - and those were what were going to hurt you.

Sweeps lit her horn in a livid glow, while even Purple reached out and grabbed one of the thicker bottles of whiskey lying behind me on the shelf. I didn't even think she had any attachment to Vinyl, but maybe she was just really wanted Silver out of here.

Despite the instinctual defense I put up for Vinyl, I was more than shocked at what she had said. For them to actually send Silver out on a mission meant that they were desperate. I mean, Stone and Flint was already a sign, but they were aware enough to hold each other back and blend in. Silver wasn't nearly as keen on those two ideas - she didn't exactly know how blending in worked, and if she actually started fighting, then she was going to be winning.

Silver's face twisted to a sheepish smile, her hooves held up in a "don't shoot" sort of way as an awkward chuckle slipped through her teeth.

"Calm down..." She said, lowering her hooves.

She was actually a somewhat good actor, considering I knew she could easily take all of us. I mean, Octavia and Vinyl were borderline unconscious when we picked them up after their fight, meanwhile it seemed like Silver managed to flee the scene.

"...I have no plan on following that order. Those guys never let me leave, so maybe this'll teach them to be less strict with me." She said, smiling a little bit as if she were 'sticking it to the man' or something of the likes.

I felt my knees go weak at her reason for not following orders. I was expecting something not so, well, childish.

"W-Would have followed it if they were less strict with you?" I heard Sweeps ask, equally weak from her reasoning.

"No." She said quickly, her face taking on a look that was much more serious, her smile completely dropping. "They've been through more than enough. If they want to do more, they can do it themselves."

The way she said that made it sound like she was more on Vinyl and Octavia's side than I was.

Everyone visibly relaxed at the statement, save for Purple, but she was weird anyways. Sweeps went back to leaning against the bar and I went back to cleaning my stress cup.

"Want something to eat? I guess it's the least I could do for you since you're, you know, going rogue or whatever. You said you had a second thing?" I asked her.

Of course I wasn't completely convinced, but Silver didn't really understand people things - like lying or socially acceptable hugs - but the most I could do was take her word for now, and watch her with a few bolts loaded just in case.

"That'd be nice." She said, smiling and visibly relaxing. "Oh, and as for that second thing..."


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"You sure you okay?" Vinyl asked casually.

I glanced to the side to see her armed with a prideful smile and purple glasses hiding her eyes from view, her head bobbing gently as the two of us walked down a sidewalk. I wasn't sure if she was aware that her smile was more comforting than if she were to have shown concern, but it was. 

I wanted to say that the name inside the folder was a surprise and devastating to me, but it wasn't. The thought of Father being the name   written inside the folder had crossed my mind, and that name would've hurt me more than if one of the princesses had signed it.

I shook my head lightly, turning back to Vinyl as a small smile forced its way across my lips.

"Thank you Vinyl." I said simply.

"No problem." She said simply, almost as if she hadn't heard me, but the small, slit eyed, glance from one of her crimson eyes let me know that she had more than heard me.

There was a brief silence, the sound of both our hooves hitting the cobble becoming the only sound around, before she spoke again.

"Hey Tavi." I felt her lean into me slightly.

"Hm?"

"Who was written in their anyways?"

I paused for a moment, my thoughts slowly siphoning through the correct way to phrase my response.

"Someone we will be visiting soon."

"So where are we going now?" She asked.

I had planned to go visit my mother and father, considering I - well, we - hadn't seen them since I had left to go get Vinyl back. I figured they were worried about me, of course, but I knew that they had a lot of trust in me. Then again, most of that trust came from how independent I had become, not to mention the last time I left to go get Vinyl.

"I figured we might see my mom and dad, if you were okay with it." I said slowly, looking down in thought.

I felt a quick peck on my cheek send bright red streaks across the bridge of my nose while my stomach suddenly fluttered a little. Turning, I saw Vinyl with a sly grin, but also with her fair share of blush.

"S-Sorry, I thought you might've been still thinking about how squeamish I got when people saw us in public." She said, her hoof stretching to the back of her head.

"J-Just wanted to let you know I wasn't." She said a bit shyly.

I was more than surprised, and for more than one reason as well, but it was little slip ups like these in Vinyl's mask that made her all the more lovable. She still had slip ups, despite how many ages she must've lived through, and she still couldn't perfect her ability to handle situations. It was pretty adorable, actually.

I felt my chest heat up as an idea came to my mind, but before I could even consider how it might look in the public's eye, I found my head leaning over to Vinyl's where I planted a small kiss of my own.

I watched in glee as a peck on her own cheek had an effect even more extreme than mine, or maybe it was just how sharply the red of her blush contrasted with her white coat. Either way, she was about as red as a beet.

"Don't worry Vinyl. I know." Was all I said as I took the lead, pulling her along for a first time, heading off into the direction of my parent's home.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So good to see you again, safe and sound, Miss Octavia." A crackling voice called from a small box situated on a brick pillar that held the black iron gates of my parent's home. It was about the only place where the iron of bars was visible, the rest of their expansive fence having covered in ivy after they told Wilfred to stop trimming them. It gave them a calm and aged looked, undisturbed even.

Or, it would've if it weren't for the shifting of Vinyl's hooves.

The gates creaked open, causing Vinyl to redouble her shifting. She seemed nervous, and I couldn't help but think it was about seeing my parents again. I mean, I had thought that their meeting had a gone a little rough, sure, but Vinyl seemed almost afraid to meet them.

"Are you sure you don't want me to wait out here with the umbrella Tavi?" She said, glasses blocking out any sign of nervousness from view.

'Maybe that's why she has them after all.' I pondered briefly before responding.

"Nonsense Vinyl, I left to get you back, so not showing them that I succeeded wouldn't be right." I said rather nobly.

The truth was that I was eager to push her to meet them again from seeing her shiftiness, as well as an attempt to strengthen their relationship. It wouldn't be comfortable to have Vinyl and my parent's on odd terms - not that we'd visit them every waking minute - but for when we did visit them.

I noticed mother must've had another delivery, as the front porch had at least three ponies, Wilfred included, piling packages on the patio.

He stopped when he noticed us, set down his heart shaped box and began to walk to meet us. His eyes flicked to Vinyl, only taking a second or so to size her up before they turned back to me.

"So nice to see you again Octavia. It took you long enough to get back here." He said nonchalantly, offering a polite smile.

I would've said something back at him, but his eyes drifted over to Vinyl again as she shrunk under his seemingly cold stare. It wasn't the first time Wilfred had intimidated a guest I had brought home, though this was by far his best one yet - to the point where I was half convinced it was real.

"And this is that 'Vinyl' character correct? I'd seen you before, but you hardly seem to fit the description the Mister and Madam put in for you." He said, turning a bit more to face her properly as his sizing up came back with a vengeance.

There was something in his eyes that spoke venom, a gaze that seemed to reflect a history that no one knew about - like a war hero looking onto a battlefield where all his comrades had fallen. Though his eyes glinted to me, and that venom seemed to dilute into something softer as a little smile graced his now warm face.

"You're sure she's one of those 'Vampires' or what not? She seems far to shy for how your father described them from stories." He said, scanning up and down Vinyl's near trembling form.

I felt myself freeze up at that. How did Wilfred know that Vinyl was vampire? Or better yet, did my parents know?

"H-How did you learn that?" I stammered, a tinge of fear building up in my chest.

Wilfred seemed to see this, and dropped his teasing act in an instant and replaced it with a look filled with concern with a hint of regret. Before he could do anything however, Vinyl had a similar reaction. She threw out her shyness and replaced it with an equal amount of concern, wrapping her hoof around my back and pulling the two of us closer as if to protect me.

"I apologize Octavia, had I known it would disturb you this much I would've refrained." He said, etiquette coming into full play as he bowed his head.

I had caught a brief look of awe on Wilfred's face when Vinyl had pulled me close, right before he looked down. I thought it might've meant something more, but I couldn't worry about that now.

"I-It's fine. Sorry for scaring you Wilfred." I said, a nervous chuckle trying to hide my mounting concern.

He breathed relief at this point.

"Please, come in. I'm sure your parents are eager to see you." He said with relief as he led us up to the door, opening it and gesturing in.

As me and Vinyl crossed over, he placed a hoof gently on my shoulder as Vinyl continued a few paces ahead of me. Perhaps she knew Wilfred wanted to talk in private, or maybe she didn't.

"I'm sorry about my reaction. I'm not sure what came over me, but I can tell that you're in no better hooves in terms of protection." He said vaguely.

I ignored the last part, and focused on his apology.

"I'm sorry for scaring you. It was just...surprising." I said.

In truth, I was still concerned for Vinyl that my parents now knew about her being, well, her. I couldn't say I was surprised though, after who had placed the contract on her.

He removed his from my shoulder and smiled warmly as he closed the door behind me, rejoining Vinyl and leading us through my parents home.

It never failed to impress me how odd their house was - perfectly cozy while also showing prestige. Wooden borders with intricate engravings covering the archways that led from room to room, each of which held paintings and chairs for various purposes. The living room was where Wilfred led us, which had the most character and effort put into it and honestly was the most normal looking room in the house - looking more like one you'd see in any other home.

Turning into the living room, I saw my parents both sitting on the couch next to each other, something that I hadn't seen often. Father usually chose the recliner to read the paper while my mother sat on the couch with servants to gossip with them. This time they were both alone, my mother talking relentlessly to my father - who was still paying attention despite what some might assume.

Thought, the second my parents caught sight of me, they all but jumped up - even my dad.

"Oh Octavia! Thanks Celestia you're okay!" My mother shouted, literally tackling me and bringing me to the floor in a bear hug of motherly affection.

Poor Vinyl wasn't nearly ready enough for my mother, getting tossed to the side herself and landing on her haunches with a fake hurt look on her face. I didn't mind those looks though, they were always cute.

After my father and Wilfred managed to pry my mother's iron grip from me, we finally all managed to take a seat in the living room - Vinyl and Wilfred flanking either side while my mother and father squeezed together in the recliner.

It was a bit awkward to start a conversation at this point, but it seemed I didn't need to.

"It's good to see you. The both of you." My father started gesturing to Vinyl with a nod of the head.

"Oh yes, you have no idea how worried we were. I wanted to send someone out to look over you, but your father said no." My mother said, a bit of agitation in her voice as she looked at my father, who disarmed it with a quick peck on her cheek.

I wanted to not cut to the chase about things, but Wilfred's interactions with Vinyl kept floating around in my head, and I couldn't help myself from asking.

"Erm, Mother? Father?" I said slowly.

They looked to me with a bit of concern thanks to my tone.

"You all... know what Vinyl is, correct?" I asked.

They looked a bit confused for a second, but then my father laughed a little nervously -  a bad omen for the oncoming dialogue.

"Yes, we know. We had a hard time believing it, and still do, but it would..." He began, trailing off as his gaze shifted from me to a shrinking Vinyl.

"...explain some things." He finished, offering up his best smile to Vinyl to show he meant to do nothing harmful with that information.

"You're are daughter, true, but who you date is up to you I suppose." My mother added.

I figured they were skeptical, just as I was when I first learned about Vinyl, but it didn't really answer my main concern.

"So, erm, how'd you figure it out?" I asked hesitantly.

There was brief moment of silence before any answer came out. And when it did, it was from Father with the kind of voice that he would use when delivering bad news. He was serious, his face calm with focused eyes.

"A young stallion came by and gave us some...bits of information." He said plaintively.

'No. Did he...' I began to think, the gears in my head grinding, but Father continued.

"He informed us that he had done some...rather regrettable things. He didn't describe them as that way, but he ought have. He seemed to want us to take some sort of action to follow up on it. But he said that he had placed some sort of 'contract' of sorts on Vinyl here. Though it sounded more like a bounty with no reward to me." He was beginning to sound more and more grim by the second, disgusted almost.

I felt my hoof tighten a little bit, to the point where both Vinyl and Wilfred noticed it.

It was vile. Truly rancid. It was one thing to do it, but it was another to attempt and convince my parents to attempt and do something else afterwards. It was low, desperate and disgusting. Not only that, but it showed that he was still active in his efforts. I guess I maybe had some half hope of him 'seeing the error in his ways' and having a more happy ending, but it seemed to be out of the question at this point.

"What did he ask you to do?" I asked simply. If there was one thing I got from my father, it was his ability to mask emotions under a cold and calm mask.

"Simple and petty things with our position. Tip off guards. Gossip about her. Other petty things just to make her life here less comfortable." He said calmly, the disgust in his voice almost palpable.

'That prick.' I thought inwardly.

"I figure you plan to go visit him." My father said, more or less stating it.

"I do."

"And I also figure you plan on bringing Vinyl too?" This one was more of a question, but the answer was the same. It was also notable that my father addressed Vinyl by name this time.

"She does." Vinyl said calmly, the smile on her face making Wilfred fidget a little.

My father chuckled lightly.

"I admit, when Octavia first came to me asking where to find you. I was nervous. You've been on public records under so many names for so long that it's hard to keep up with you." He said, eyes sparkling.

"I thought it were a coincidence or something, and thought it strange when Octavia came asking about someone who was bound to be covered in wrinkles for how old she would've had to have been. But what that stallion said definitely did explain why you look the same age as our daughter despite being in the public records system long than my father." He said, laughing pleasantly.

He was oddly at rest and happy despite what had happened, and it was more than likely because of the fact we were going to be visiting a certain someone sooner than expected.

I took it as a queue and stood up, Vinyl following slowly afterwards. I had planned to stay much longer, possibly enjoy lunch with them and Vinyl. But with the new information brought to light, the problem needed to be solved immediately.

"Please be careful dear. Even if you teach him a lesson, it takes more than punches to bring down someone with power and influence. He'll still gossip in attempts to make life hard." My mother said, a sad look on her face as she spoke words that had never rang more truthful - and actually probably rang true with The Order.

I nodded and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry mom, we'll bring more than punches." I said calmly.

Of course, I had no idea what that meant, but it was more to calm my mother than to get a point across.

"I shall escort them to the door then, if the two madams are ready?" Wilfred said, standing up.

"We all will." My father said as him and mother said as the two stood.

The walk to the door felt much shorter than usual, probably thanks to the thoughts racing through my head about what to do. I hadn't even notice Vinyl grab the umbrella and Wilfred open the door, and I only realized I hadn't waved goodbye when I was halfway to the gate.

Turning around, I saw Mother, Father and Wilfred each offering a smile and waves of varying speeds - save for Wilfred, who kept his hooves planted on the ground, though he made that up with his smile that was far more than knowing.

I turned back to the gate, smile fading as my thoughts turned back to a single individual who had started all this - the contract, Vinyl getting taken, everything. Someone who had sunken far lower than I had thought.

'Fredric.'
> Not Quite Traditional
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Man, Fredric sure does live in a fancy part of town." Vinyl said, her head looking at the tall tops of the houses that made up the suburbs where Fredric lived.

It was arguably the best part of town, rolling green lawns larger than my entire apartment, ornate gates that stretched farther than the eye could see, houses towering roughly the size of apartment buildings and heavy scenery around every corner. The fact Fredric could afford to live there was a testament to both how far along his career was, and how much his parents aided him financially. He'd more than likely already paid off the house, though saying "He" did anything involving the costs might've been pushing it. Not to say he didn't make substantial amounts of money, though it wasn't from the orchestra so much as it was supplying entertainment for guest parties of the upper crust.

Truthfully, I'd never been to Fredric's house, having only gotten details on its size from Beauty and Harpo complaining about how often they had to make the trek out to it. But it seemed that they agreed with me that this kind of rich was a bit too much for anyone but the humble, and the amount of rich and humble in Canterlot was a little bit below zero.

"His parents catalyzed his success, and this is the result." I said rather blandly. I might've put out some more emotion, but there was already a certain negative one banging at the edges of my head as it was.

"You're not gonna do anything bad are you?" Vinyl asked innocently, but with obvious concern.

The tone of her voice was enough to jerk me to a stop for a second, but I continued shortly after. The fact Vinyl sounded concerned about that monster was both intriguing and boggling.

"Why-" I began, but a solemn and serious tone cut through my own like a hot knife through butter.

"Because I don't want you sinking down as low as him."

Her voice spoke volumes about having seen something similar happen countless times before, and that seeing it happen to me would probably hurt me more than I would like to hurt Fredric.

I felt a sigh creep out of my lips, taking a bit of anguish out with it, before I looked back up to Vinyl with a small grin.

"I won't do anything bad, Vinyl." I said honestly. If it meant that much to her, I had no choice but to oblige her. I'd heard that this love thing was mutual, so it only made sense to try and keep Vinyl happy like how she keeps me happy.

Her eyes lit up in a healthy mix of glee and happiness.

"Good, cause that's my job." She said happily, a new prance in her step that almost knocked away the umbrella we were both huddled under.

I chuckled a bit at her response, but mostly at the fact that I couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

"Well, you won't have to wait long. Fredric's house should be close by." I said back, returning the joke on the vague terms that it was actually a truth about her future intentions.

There really wasn't many houses on the street where Fredric lived, mainly because the cost of building them and the amount of acreage each house was allotted. But I knew well which house was off of Beauty and Harpo's description. Beauty in particular seemed a bit curious why I was visiting him first thing after my unannounced arrival back in Canterlot, but backed off the question with a blush I could practically hear when she saw Vinyl was with me.

"Ohh! Who's house is that?!" Vinyl asked gleefully, pointing towards a house who's roofs ended in medieval style, pointed roofs like that of  the manor of a baron during the dark ages.

"That's...actually I think that's Fredric's house." I said, a bit surprised that the only house Vinyl had brought attention to was the house that had been Fredric's. 

Perhaps she knew it was his house, or perhaps she just liked pointy roofs. The former seemed more likely to me for some reason, but the latter was, for Vinyl, just as viable.

As I got closer, I noticed Fredric's house was especially ornate and elegant, gate being a clean brass to look like gold and compliment the aged brick, architecture of obviously pricey origins, and a house that looked to be made entirely of mahogany wood. Even the glass in the windows appeared to have small engravings along the edges.

The gate, unsurprisingly, was locked with a box similar to that of the box on my parent's gate.

A press of the button brought on the voice of a stalwart sounding stallion.

"I apologize, but the master of the home has requested no one entry for the time being. If you would like, I can take a message. I'd ask you to keep it curt, as the mas-"

The static voice was quickly cut off by a white hoof blowing through the box and into the brick behind it.

The suddenness of it had shocked me a little bit, followed by a grin from Vinyl quickly coming into view.

"Sounded like 'come in' to me." She said, chuckling a little bit.

"Did it now?" I asked rhetorically, watching as she took aim at the pristine, brass, gate.

What looked like a flick from the same white hoof turned the beautiful gate into a mangled mess of gold, crumpled and rolling backwards into the lush, green lawn it had been protecting. Even the pillars had seemed to have a layer of brick peel off the columns from the force.

"You... seem a bit excited Vinyl." I said, chuckling nervously at the property damage that had been dealt in less than a few seconds, head stretching to the back of my head.

She only laughed with a chillingly familiar smile widening on her face.

'And she was worried about me doing something bad. Poor Fredric.' I thought, turning back toward the now wide open gate and taking my first few steps onto the lawn.

Despite how the house had been more than likely paid in a less than independent way, I could help but be a bit envious. The yard stretched to the point where you could think you were in the wilderness, a layer of trees planted at the edge of the lot made it even more convincing. The grass also seemed to have been allowed to grow to the point where even the most gentle of breezes could make them wave.

"Do you think he's sorry, Vinyl?" I asked, peeking up from under the umbrella to see the blue sky above as we walked forwards down the smooth stoned path.

"I dunno. Maybe. Probably not though since he, you know, kinda wanted me dead and stuff." She said with an honest shrug.

I was silent at the response, the truth of it hitting a lot harder when it came from Vinyl's mouth. I was hopeful Fredric had gotten some sort of regret after doing such a thing, but that hope was more or less just a sliver. I did wish him a bit of pay back, but that was only natural, and beyond that I didn't wish anything bad.

"Excuse me! You two!" A familiar sounding, stalwart tone called out from in front of us as a tall and bulky looking stallion dressed in a fine suit called as he came out of the front door of the manor.

"I'm going to have to ask the both of you to leave. The intercom seemed to have mes-" He seemed to stop himself as something about us, as well as something from behind us, caught his eye.

"Y-You're Octavia Melody, yes?" He stammered, eye widening as he craned behind me and Vinyl.

I nodded.

"W-What in Celestia's name happened to the gate?" He asked, taking a few steps to the side before looking weak in the knees as he spied what must've been the mangled clump of brass that used to be the gate.

I gestured my head to the side slightly, drawing his attention to a nervously grinning Vinyl with a hoof stuffed behind her head.

"Y-You?" He asked, obviously not believing it.

"Might we be able to speak to Fredric?" I asked curtly.

I'd normally be more passive about things, but I wanted to see Fredric, and see him now. The more that all of this remained unsolved, the more I felt flustered and disturbed - and Fredric was the obvious way to remedy this feeling.

"I-I...he's said for no one to disturb him..." The pauper dressed stallion murmured, still staring at the mess Vinyl had made.

Vinyl made a motion as if to approach him, but a glint from the corner of my eye revealed she had found a bit lying on the ground in front of her, and had only bent over to pick it up.

"...B-But I'm sure he wouldn't mind t-two lovely l-ladies like yourselves visiting!" He stammered as he seemed to almost cower backwards.

"Hm?" Vinyl asked, oblivious as she rose up with a shiny bit clinched in between her lips.

I felt a little smirk form on my face as I giggled at her before I began walking, bringing her with me as the dark, mahogany door grew ever closer as the butler nervously lead us up to the door.

We paused at the door for some reason, primarily from the hesitation of the butler to go through with opening the door.

But while we were paused, I noted the almost elegant pottery sitting on the seals of the windows flanking the doors, flowers taking refuge in the shade below the over hanging porch. They looked well maintained, lively and bursting with color. I wondered for a second if Fredric had cared to them, though it seemed more than likely that the butler had done it.

"You have very nice flowers." I said. It felt awkward and forced when it came out my mouth, despite how natural a comment it sounded.

He eyed back to me, his scrunched shoulder loosening a bit at the comment, before offering a weak smile to me.

"It's one of my few pleasures." He said simply, eyeing Vinyl with fear in his eyes as she stuck her nose near the flowers to sniff them - treating them like something she had never seen before.

"Be gentle Vinyl." I said, almost like a parent warning their child not to play with fire.

Vinyl looked back to me and offered a nod, gently going about investigating the flowers, much to the butler's relief.

"I assume your business with Master Fredric is...sensitive?" He said, grip on the door handle tightening.

"...In a way." I said, eyes rolling up to the ceiling before landing on Vinyl, who's mouth was beginning to open - but quickly shut as her eyes locked with mine.

"He's seemed a bit distracted recently..." He said, pushing in the door to and holding it open for the both of us.

"...I also assume that your visit might remedy that distraction." He said, offering another weak smile.


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The inside of Fredric's home was about as impressive as the outside. The entrance went into a cozily sized room reserved for holding coats and other things, going forward before splitting into two rooms. All spaces on the wooden walls were filled with some form of knickknack or space filler while the floors where padded with a thick, brown carpet, making everywhere you went feel incredibly cozy. It made it look like the house was owned by someone who had traveled the world, and it probably did before Fredric's parents bought it and everything in it.

The butler led us through a series of rooms, stopping short of a small set of stairs that went into a long hallway. He seemed to not allow himself to go any further, but made no motion to stop us other than making us have to squeeze by him thanks to the narrowness of the halls.

"Third door on the right before you reach the end of the hallway." He said.

The lights of the house immediately got dim when both me and Vinyl ascended the three or so stairs, the hallway going about as far back as the path leading up to the house.

Door after door presented itself, so many that I began to question if anything even hid behind them, but I pushed away temptation as the door the butler had mentioned came into view.

I found myself stopping at the door instead of opening it, looking to Vinyl. I didn't know why I did, maybe to just get another good look at her - which sounds odd considering how often I see her already.

Vinyl seemed to notice my staring.

"Oh, did you want me to bust the door?" She suggested, her hoof raising as she took aim.

"No!" I yipped quickly, grasping her raised hoof in what would've been a depressingly vain attempt to stop her if she had chosen to go through with the punch.

"Just...looking." I said, blush coming to my face as I admitted it.

"Aw! Tavi!" Vinyl cooed, giving me a quick peck on the cheek that only deepened my blush.

"Hush you..." I mumbled, trying to hide my blush from view.

I would be honestly surprised if Fredric hadn't heard all of that, assuming that this room didn't go any farther in than maybe ten or so feet. I mean, with all of these rooms, they'd have to be rather small, right?

A slow turn of the know proved that point wrong.

Inside the door was a room larger than the majority of my apartment  - which seemed to be a recurring theme in this house - that revealed the back of a stallion lying face down on what looked like a desk. Surrounding the desk was a number of bookshelves, along with a few comfortable recliners with matching tables to accompany them - each with a candle dimly lit.

I focused on what had to have been Fredric, finding him breathing evenly to hint that he was asleep.

"Is that him?" Vinyl whispered into my ear, breath tickling my ear lightly.

I nodded silently, taking the first of what felt like a million steps towards Fredric. I imagined that I looked nervous to Vinyl, and in truth I somewhat was, but with that half feeling of nervousness was the feeling of resolve. I didn't hesitate in my steps towards Fredric, but my thoughts were racing of how this could all go wrong.

About three steps away was when his body shook slightly and his steady breathing abruptly stopped before re-steadying at a different pace as he pushed himself off the desk. His eyes looked baggy and tired, and the yawn he let out further proved that point..

I stopped where I was, letting Vinyl stand beside me as we more or less just waited for Fredric to turn.

"F-Fredric?" I called out, voice wavering.

His eyes threw out fatigue and put on shock, going from blurry and muddled to sharp as knives in without even a blink.

He turned to the two of us, one hoof placed on the back of his chair while the other remained out of sight in front of him, eyes narrowing heavily at the sight of who was beside me. You could almost feel the toxicity that filled the air when he saw Vinyl.

"You..." He began, nose wrinkling and brows furrowing, visibly seething at just the sight of her.

I expected something else to follow it, but he didn't. No questions about why Vinyl was still alive, as I'm sure he could piece that puzzle together fairly quickly; and also no questions about why both Vinyl and I were here in his home, as that was more easy to figure out than why she was still alive.

"Hello." Vinyl said, a bit cheerfully, as her glasses dipped down onto the tip of nose, revealing her narrowed, red eyes as she drank in Fredric's response.

Fredric turned to me, eyes full of thought as he pieced something together.

"You....'helped' her? Then you..." He said, turning to me as he began to understand that I knew what he had done and also what I had done. Briefly, his anger faded and was replaced with confusion - most likely at how his "fool poof" plan had failed and as to how exactly I -of all ponies - managed to help Vinyl from a group of borderline mercenaries. Though the anger came back as quick as it faded however, and seemed doubly present than before.

"I want to talk Fredric." I said simply. In truth, I wanted to wail on him until I possible knocked some sense into him - or knock him unconscious, whichever came first - but I had promised myself to at least try and resolve this peacefully. That being said, I was by no means going to go out of my way to make this peaceful.

"Then you will do it alone." He said sharply, eyes flickering to Vinyl with a sneer.

I let out a sigh.

"Vinyl?" I turned to her.

She had a brief look of uncertainty, but nodded and turned to the door. In hindsight, I probably put myself at a lot of risk - and Vinyl as well for that matter - but if it meant a peaceful solution, I was still willing to at least go that far.

Me and Fredric sort of stared at each other as Vinyl made her way to the door, only beginning to talk when he heard the sound of the door softly click shut.

His eyes immediately softened.

"Why do you help that bint? Is it some physical attraction? Mental? She's a monster you know. Hellbent on sucking the blood from you." He began, his voice an eerie - and desperate - calm.

"That perspective is called ignorance, you know." I said simply.

"And yours is bias." He countered coolly, stepping from the chair and striding off to the side where he seemed to shuffle through one of the book shelves.

He seemed oddly more composed than before, and for no apparent reason either. Perhaps it was Vinyl's absence, but he didn't seem to be disappointed in me - or even angry - only sad.

"I didn't believe it at first, but enough digging revealed dark secrets you'd never hope to find about this town. And her breed is one of them. A cult with a need to be culled." He said solemnly, essentially insulting Vinyl's entire race while not even offering her the chance to look him in the eyes as he did it.

I was sure Vinyl heard it though, but I had no idea what her response would be.

"Do you even feel bad for what you did?" I asked. It might've been just me being hopeful and naive, but I still did think that he could be reasoned with.

He turned his head slightly and flashed a brutally honest, cold stare.

"I feel bad because it failed." His voice was the metaphorical equivalent of a kick to the gut. His words were hurtful, but the glimmer in his eye told me that he wasn't going to lie to me.

"Tell me Octavia, why is it that you're so attracted to her?" He said, his voice turning back to it's previous, calm nature.

If he wasn't going to lie to me, I wouldn't lie to him either.

"I doubt I could explain it." I said honestly.

Truth be told I never imagined myself being so infatuated with someone, so curious about who they were and what they thought about things. And above that I never imagined myself finding someone I could say that I "loved" at my current age - I assumed that it would come with age. In truth, you could argue that Vinyl stole that from me - not by direct force, but by my curiosity and manners. 

Someone saves your life from a back alley experience, suddenly starts acting like they might be falling victim to illness, and then ends up being something of legends. How could you not be intrigued? Not to mention that Vinyl was apparently homeless at the time, which seemed a bit too perfect for that situation. Irregardless, as soon as I had gotten an interest in Vinyl, and she had one in me, it may as well have been set in stone. I couldn't leave her or stop thinking about her, she was something out of fiction come to life, and my conscious just wouldn't let me let her go.

I guess it didn't start out as love, but it turned into it.

"I mean honestly, do you think that you'll get anywhere significant with her? She's an anchor to success and you know it as well." He said, and sadly enough, he was correct.

"She's a parasite Octavia, leeching off of you in order sustain herself. You may not see it that way, but objectively -and literally - that is what it is. How could you possibly say that you lov-"

"Stop!" I snapped sharply, eyes narrowing on him as he turned to me with a bit of surprise. 

"Do you even know what you did? You nearly got both me and Vinyl killed. And for what? Some sickly obsession to disdain people who aren't the same social class? She's more than proved herself to me - and even to you with her skills in an art you claim to be the best at." I said, voice more clam, but still carrying heat.

The way he winced and flattened his ears told me that I had both caught him off guard, and hit a sensitive spot.

"You're blind, all because of someone who is different having relations to me." I said, looking down and away from him as my voice trailed off in a bit of a blush.

"'Obsession'." He said to himself, turning back to the bookcase.

The room went eerily silent as I assumed that maybe, just maybe, I had managed to speak some sense into him.

"You're just as blind." He whispered to himself.

I was about to say something, but he had turned towards me with a dead look in his eyes that stopped me from speaking.

He walked over slowly, eyes never straying from mine, until he was hardly a foot away from me.

"I apologize." He said, his face riddled with the look of a sad and tired stallion.

Fredric moved his hoof from behind him with the glint of something coming from somewhere in its grasp. By the time I had realized he had something, his hoof was already mere inches away from me with a delusional look in his eyes - almost as if they were glazed over with some kind of sick drive.

But who was I to judge say that his drive was sick, in his mind it was more than just - righteous even. I couldn't blame him for his delusions, just his actions to rid himself of those delusions. We all have similar griefs, but the difference is that we learn to overcome them, not destroy them.

I realized he had a knife in his hoof, aimed at me.

It stopped with maybe a hair's length from my neck, an oddly practiced motion that seemed mechanical in precision.

"Fredric..." Was all I could say, no emotion coming to mind, though it sounded sad. In truth I was sad to see him reduced to a husk of a stallion, but at the same time I was not willing to give him any pity. There of course was fear, as all it took was a simple motion of his hoof to either side and my life would be over.

He seemed to waver a little at that, something that I realized he wouldn't do again.

I reared my neck back and away from the knife as one of my hind legs batted into his chest, shoving as hard as I could and sending him back to the desk where he had been when me and Vinyl came in as I fell to the floor.

He was quick to recover from nearly falling over the desk.

"You little bit-" He began as he looked back to me and started to run.

I scrambled to get up, thinking of how I could stop him as I watched him draw ever closer to me. Irregardless of how I tried to stop him, he'd get a hit in. By the same token, also realized, that that meant Vinyl would pick up that smell and come bursting in. Still, judging by the ever more crazy look in Fredric's eyes, I was worried what Fredric could do in that time. 

Though, at the same time as the blade glinted as it grew closer, so did something else.

What looked like plastic, near the back of the room.

Glasses. And purple ones at that.

I strained a little more as I tried to focus, and sure enough, I saw a set of crimson eyes starting at me with a growing smile. Even if they were hid in the shadows of the bookshelves, there was no denying that that was Vinyl.

If it wasn't, then I would truly be scared.

I looked back to Fredric charging, now a mere foot away from me, realizing now that Vinyl had a plan. All I needed to do was try an disarm Fredric.

Oddly enough, despite all I had been through - even fighting Vinyl - there was more anxiety about facing this oncoming knife than there was anything I had ever felt. Of course, that might just be because I can see it coming.

As Fredric came within distance and drew back his hoof that carried the blade, I readied my own hoof and aimed it at his.

Then, our hooves met.

Mine went upwards aimed at the wrist of his hoof, my intent being to knock his hoof back so that Vinyl could do something about it, as his came down. I hit on target, but at the same time that only caused his wrist to bend down and bring the knife across my own hoof.

The blade stung as it slid across, red beginning to quickly seep out, but I managed to accomplish my goal and send his hoof staggering backwards. I recoiled from the pain of the knife myself, and fell to the floor.

My punch knocked him off balance, his arm going back just as a set of white teeth clench around the blade, stopping it in its tracks. The most noticeable feature about said teeth, the cute looking canines.

"What the-" Fredric said, turning just slightly enough to let me catch a glimpse of the head that those adorable fangs were attached to.

Vinyl stood there with a smile, a smile that held a knife in it.

At first I thought Vinyl was simply going to stop the blade by flashily catching it with her teeth. She seemed to have some sort of drive to demoralize Fredric, and that would certainly be a way to do it. And stop the blade did, but as time slowly ticked on, I saw small cracks beginning to run through the ornate blade of the knife.

'What the...' I began to think, but even my thoughts suddenly were interrupted by the sound of shattering metal as Vinyl bit through the knife completely, leaving little pieces of shrapnel flowing through the air.

As the sound seemed to fade, I was left setting on the floor with a gaping mouth and wide eyes, Fredric wearing a similar expression as he stared at the shattered remains of the knife. The feat wasn't all that impressive considering it was Vinyl, but that didn't make it any less impressive to watch.

Vinyl, on the other hoof, straightened herself back up, just as a pair of purple glasses landed on her head, matching up perfectly to use her horn as a sort of prop.

"You said something about being sad that you failed?" Vinyl said, sounding a little unsure herself, but the expression she wore as she turned to Fredric was one that spelled out that she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Maybe you'd like a retry?" Vinyl said suddenly, her voice cutting through the air as it changed tone. A glance over revealed her eyes focused onto Fredric, to the point where her pupils may as well have been the size of a pin point.

Fredric stiffened at her voice alone.

"Don't test me." Fredric warned, though it was very clear he was at her mercy.

"Try and stop me." Vinyl shot back, her tone a bit more playful this time, while her gaze seeming to be sparking with a yearning for Fredric to try and do something. She was itching to hit him, but she wasn't going to do something unless it was absolutely necessary.

"I won't stop until you're gone. As long as you live, I will do everything in my power to have you brought down." Fredric said, sounding more and more like a villain, though at the same time he was sounding more and more desperate to hurt Vinyl in any sort of way.

"If you want to keep sending people to try and take care of me. Do it. It'll keep my life interesting for a little while." Vinyl said with a genuine smile before looking to Fredric with a red gaze that seemed oddly warm.

"But you better give them really good instructions, cause if Tavi gets hurt...well, uh, you will too." She said, pausing mid sentence as her threat sort of falling apart at the end as she failed to pick the right words to make a more creative threat.

Despite the awkward composition of the sentence, it seemed to hit Fredric harder than anything up to this point, sending him fumbling to his knees in a silence that could only be interpreted as defeat. It was understandable as well, because he wanted to bring pain to Vinyl, but this demonstration and Vinyl's explanation of it "kept life interesting" were enough to convince him that that wasn't going to actually do anything.

Even with a slashed hoof I couldn't help but feel the smallest bit of pity for him. Even if he had essentially commissioned someone to end Vinyl's life, seeing someone look so broken just wasn't right. It was similar to seeing Vinyl back at The Order's base, where she simply wasn't present in some regard.

"Fredric...please try and see the good in people. What do you think separates the princesses from nobles?" I tried to reason. I knew it was useless, and that he didn't even deserve my pity, but he was - though not anymore - my friend.

"That they're not in a position to do the darker deeds that keep this city in check." He spat, crumpled on the floor.

I shook my head sadly. 

I believe the expression my father commonly used was: 'There is no point trying to convince a brick wall to move.'

"Goodbye, Fredric." I said solemnly, turning away from him with a frown and a bloody hoof cradled against my chest.


	*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The second we were out of Fredric's house, Vinyl almost broke down. Her act of being carefree shattering like the knife she had broken with her bare teeth.

"Oh my Luna Tavi, are you okay?" She said, practically clinging to me as she looked at my wrist with hurt eyes. It seemed like she thought she had something to do with the fact that I got hurt, and she was beating herself up about it - to the point where the magic holding the umbrella up was wavering occasionally.

In truth, I was glad she hadn't immediately interfered. She saved me time and time again without any help on my part, it was time I start contributing to my own safety - or at least share the wounds.

"I'm fine Vinyl." I said, smiling at her.

"But... you're bleeding." She said, her eyes muddling a little bit as she stared at the open wound.

Now, at that moment, two things popped into my mind. In particular, it was two ways to go about this.

The first, was that I could insist I was fine and stop by a hospital and bandage up my hoof and be on our way home where Vinyl would probably stare at my hoof both out of concern and something else. My hoof would heal up naturally and I'd probably have a good memento of what had happened today in the form of a scar on my hoof.

The second, was a bit more... playful. Vinyl had an obvious hunger in her eyes as she stared at my bleeding hoof, and I noticed an interesting side affect of when she had fed off of me before - which was that the holes on my neck always seemed to heal up and never leave a scar past a week or so. It would definitely bring the reddest blush to my face in a while, but I could perhaps let Vinyl...indulge herself in the hopes of not having a scar on my hoof.

Here's to dumb ideas.

"Erhm, Vinyl?" I began, voice catching on itself as the blush already began to form on my cheeks.

'Oh Celestia what am I doing.'

"Huh?" Vinyl said, snapping out of what looked like a trance.

"Well, I, uh, have noticed in the past that when you would feed from my neck there wouldn't be a scar after a week or so and...well..." I began to trail off.

"And...?" She said.

'How can she be as oblivious as me?!' I inwardly screamed as my blush continued to build.

"Could you...maybe..." I began again, fumbling for words.

I quick glance revealed her to still be just as oblivious to my request, in fact she looked even more worried when she noticed the blush on my cheeks, an uncharacteristic frown forming on her face.

I clenched my eyes and thrust out my hoof.

"H-Here..." I said simply.

"W-What?" She stammered.

"Drink it!" I shouted, surprised that the amount of blood in my cheeks was still allowing my hoof to keep bleeding.

"T-Tavi..." I heard her stammer, now just a whisper.

With my eyes closed, I couldn't see her reaction, but I'm sure if I did I'd have another bleed coming from my nose from how cute it was.

I the small planting of soft lips on my cheek, which shook me from both thought and closing my eyes. I looked to see Vinyl smiling widely at me, a blush on her own face.

"I-I love you Tavi." She said quickly, obviously embarrassed, but doing it nonetheless.

I gulped.

"I-I love you too Vinyl." I said, equally embarrassed.

I watched as she gently bent towards my hoof, tickling me as she licked off the surface of blood that had already been spilling out.

"Y-You don't have to make a show out of it." I stammered, but earned no response as Vinyl continued on with her "process".

She then latched on, a gentle suckling feeling coming from my hoof as she slowly drank, a heavy blush on her face and a smile on her lips. Not to mention that as soon as she started, simply judging by the look of content on her face, getting her off would be one step past impossible - which meant that we'd have to take the more secluded and scenic route, which I didn't mind too much since I wasn't bleeding out anymore.

It definitely wasn't a traditional relationship, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
> Confrontation into Clarity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


I found myself staring at my hoof for the majority of the walk home, letting Vinyl make trial and error with the correct turns to get back to my apartment as I stared at my hoof that now looked good as new. The only thing left on my hoof that hinted towards injury was a faint line maybe an inch or so long and a hairs length across. It still boggled me what exactly Vinyl could do that wasn't necessarily a display of strength or speed.

"Say Vinyl?" I hummed, looking up to see that we were at least now somewhat near my apartment. Not that I minded, taking a walk with Vinyl was more than a treat.

"Hm?" She said, seeming to shake from her own train of thought. 

I guess what I wanted to know was what other types of tricks she might have as a vampire. Though saying that idea to myself made it seem like Vinyl was a toy that I was starting to grow bored of, which made me a bit hesitant. In reality I was just curious whether I had made a dent in Vinyl's hidden arsenal of odd abilities, or if I was just scratching the surface.

Either way, I was content.

"I'm just a bit curious, and please don't take this the wrong way, but are there any other interesting things you can do?" I said a bit nervously, hoping she wouldn't take it the wrong way.

She put her hoof up to her chin while she looked at the ground thoughtfully, which game me a bit of an internal sigh. In hindsight I doubt she would've taken it the wrong way anyways, but my socially inept brain kept trying to regard Vinyl as someone who wasn't as oblivious as I was.

"I showed you the venom thing with water, didn't I?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Hmm...." She began, but eventually seemed to give up. 

"Uh, I might, but I can't really remember all of them." She said, nervously snaking her hoof to the back of her head and chuckling lightly.

"You... don't know?" I said, trying to process her rather basic answer.

"Well, it's kinda like memorizing notes for a song you have to play for a concert or something. But this song is really really long. Like, longer than a really long book long. I knew a lot about what I can do, but I've forgot a good chunk of it 'cause I never use most of it." She said with a sympathetic looking shrug.

"Don't worry Vinyl, you've got plenty tricks right now. Any more and I might need to start making a list." I said in a fairly poor attempt at a joke, but she snickered nonetheless. 

Truth be told, it was incredibly frustrating - like trying to find an answer to complicated question, but whenever I would make any progress, new information would surface. And even more was hinted at after that.

It felt like trying to find the end of an ocean.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


"So, how was your visit?" Vinyl's mother greeted me and Vinyl, sitting on my couch with a paper lifted - not even bothering to meet us with a gaze.

I froze up a little bit at her words.

"It was good! Tavi let me drink her arm!" Vinyl said, disregarding her mother's statement, cheerfully trotting over to the couch and taking a seat beside her.

"Did she now? Did the knife get in the way of that at all?" She asked back, only getting a shake of the head from Vinyl and some response about spitting something out.

"H-How do you..." I began, trailing off as I faced the floor while my mind began to race through possibilities.

She tossed a shut-eyed stare over the couch, a small smirk on her face as she answered.

"Mother's know everything, dear." She said, half chilling and half motherly.

"I...that's-" I began, only to be cut off.

"So, Octavia dear, I was wondering if you'd be happy to join me and Vinyl for dinner?" She said nonchalantly, turning back to her paper as her horn lit up a vivacious red, the door behind me gently bumping into my rump as she scooted me inside my own home, as if she she were the owner.

"I'd...yes, of course." I stammered, still reeling from a number of things, but all of them revolving around Vinyl's mother - the biggest being how she knew about going to Fredric's.

"Delightful. Vinyl said she'd like it if you came, but couldn't work up the courage." She dismissed casually.

"Mom!" Came a childish whine from a crimson, wide eyed mare.

"If you didn't want me to tell her, you should have just asked her yourself." Vinyl's mom shrugged, failing to hide her playful smile before it shifted to a more thoughtful one.

"Vinyl dear, could you let me talk with Octavia for a moment?" She asked.

Vinyl flashed a look that almost looked like worry, but nonetheless gave a nod and walked back towards my bedroom. Only when the sound of the the door shutting rang out did Vinyl's mother begin to speak, and even then it still wasn't aimed towards me.

"Ears shut Vinyl." She said with a coy smile.

I perked my ears to listen for a response from Vinyl, but none came.

"Anyways," She began again, apparently seeming satisfied that Vinyl couldn't hear us. "I wanted to talk about that little stunt you pulled with my daughter." She said, her voice changing drastically and hitting a tone that probably could have frosted the windows in my apartment.

Even my limbs felt like they were going numb.

"I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean...to..." I found myself slowing down as a stern look from her icy eyes, now completely opened, slowed my speech.

Truthfully, my apology seemed a bit ridiculous to me - though I'd never voice that opinion - but Vinyl wanted to go with me. Additionally, I might've suffered a fate far worse than a pair of suckling lips on my arm and a deep blush.

"I'm sure you've noticed by now that my relationship with my daughter is more than protective, and you're also the only one that has remained with my daughter after I've met them." She said condescendingly.

'The only one? Does she interfere with all of Vinyl's dates?' I thought to myself.

"Yes I do, and rightfully so mind you." She practically snarled at me.

My eyes went wide as she seemed to have read my thoughts, though I guess this wasn't her first time having this talk considering what she had just told me. Aside from the potential mind reading, I also felt tinges of fear build up at this new side of Vinyl's mother - something more foreboding and intimidating than the rather sweet mare from before.

I actually assumed we were on rather good terms after rescuing Vinyl.

"Still..." She continued, looking downwards and crossing her hooves.

"You're also the only one thus far to be approached by my daughter rather than you approaching her." She said, still somewhat condescending, but with a bit more respect this time.

I looked down at that claim, a mix of feelings coming with the implications of her words. One being the mention of Vinyl's prior relationships, and how they seemed to not go so well. 

It sounded selfish of me, but the thought of others being in a relationship with Vinyl made her feel less of...well, mine.

"Hey Tavi!" A whisper called out.

My eyes seemed to focus and reveal the bright and innocent eyes of Vinyl, head poking out from under the edge of the couch with her hooves also peaking out.

She gave me a smile with a little wave.

I recalled exactly how me and Vinyl met, something that I often didn't think about - particularly how odd it was. A back alley of a bar with Bigs trying to hit me with a pipe and Vinyl waltzing through whistling. She also posed a point I hadn't forgotten, in that Vinyl somewhat did approach me - though with that being said it was in a blood driven, drunken stupor. Still, I suppose she could've left anytime, and even when I made her it seemed like we both wanted her to come back.

"How do you know that anyways?" I asked, wondering if she had been watching even back then; if she had been watching every waking moment of interaction up to now. It was a chilling thought, one that made me ques-

"She told me."

'...Well I suppose that's a rather logical answer as well.' I thought to myself, glancing down to see Vinyl offer a sheepish look and a shrug.

"Anyways..." She said, eyes drifting back towards me as she raised off of the couch, her stature maybe an inch or so above my own, and stared holes into me.

"...I expect you to start returning the favor my daughter has been consistently giving you." She said with the sound of a mother giving a final warning.

At first I wondered what favor she would be mentioning, but either she knew I would be lost or intended to tell me anyways, as she slowly leaned in, putting her lips right next to my ear, and all but hissing to me what she meant.

"I expect you to start putting yourself in harms way for my daughter, just as she carelessly does for you."

She hesitated at my ear, as if waiting for response, so I mustered what I could from my shaking body and offered an unsteady nod of the head.

Like magic itself, her cold and harsh nature disappeared as if it were an act from the beginning, replaced with the bright and motherly personality she typically had with her.

"Perfect!" She said happily. "Know this dear, I don't dislike you - you seem to have a real interest in my daughter, not an investment. She gets into a lot of trouble, as you could probably guess, but none have stepped up to the plate like you have. That being said, not many have had that opportunity anyways. I just want to make sure you stay on that plate, understand?"

I gave a weak nod, head feeling a bit light.

"Perfect!" She beamed.

"I do expect you to still join us for dinner? Me and you still have business to address." She said, my own fears getting the best of me that she meant to have another 'talk'.

I nodded quickly.

Most wouldn't have nodded, especially with the fears I mentioned, but I figured refusing dinner would only warrant a much more harsh talk than what she had planned for me.

That, and I'd have Vinyl with me at dinner.

'Speaking of Vinyl...' I thought, looking down to see that she had disappeared.

“Splendid dear!” Vinyl’s mother continued, getting up and prancing around me as she headed for the door. “I have a few errands to run, and by the time I’m done I’ll be back here and ready to go.”

The way she said errands sent a shiver down my spine.

“I’ll see you then.” I barely managed, hooves starting to feel a bit numb, just as she looked back from the doorway, offered a cheery nod, and exited.

It felt as though a weight had lifted when she left - nothing was scarier than an upset mother, much less one of a legendary vampire. Though with her gone, my mind wandered back to the couch where Vinyl had been hiding.

‘How did she even fit under there? It’s barely even off the ground as it is...’ My mind wondered, pressuring me on as I dropped down on my stomach.

Lifting up the small panel cloth flaps covering the bottom of the couch, I found exactly what I expected:

Nothing.

Not a trace of the slippery, white mare was to be found, just the emptiness beneath the couch.

“I could’ve sworn...”  I mumbled to myself as I strained my eyes.

“Boop.”

There is a certain feeling that rushes through your body when something touches you in a place it shouldn’t when you aren’t looking. It’s different for everyone, but it’s a feeling that isn’t pleasant. Particularly because I couldn’t find Vinyl, and her mother had just left.

That is the feeling that rushed through me as…something prodded against my flanks, which I had unconsciously raised into the air when trying to shimmy deeper under the couch to see if Vinyl was somehow hiding down there.

I let out a yip as I rushed backwards, only letting whatever it was bump into me again, only furthering my haste.

Looking behind me I found the playful, red gaze of Vinyl, with her head still tilted down and her horn stuck out from where she had poked me.

“V-Vinyl!” I shouted, cheeks flushing.

“Heh, thought you might need a pick-me-up after talking with my mom.” She said honestly.

“That’s your idea of a pick me up?” I deadpanned at her, only getting a coy shrug.

Silence began to fill the room as my mind still processed her little...stunt? She seemed to look seriously at me, noticing the thoughts rushing through my head.

She must’ve perceived it as worry.

“Do you want me to do it again?”

“No!”


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


The day went on rather quickly after Vinyl’s “boop” as she called it. She suggested practicing on my cello, to which I happily agreed.

It was still a bit odd to be critiqued by her when I play - and calling them critics is a huge overstatement, it’s more like her smiling knowingly at me as I blushed about the slightly off key note I had played.

She even tuned in once or twice with her horn, making melodic sounds with her magic and swaying her head gently in perfect tune to every song I played

Her knowing the tempo changes of every piece I played was the true magic, however.

Which brings me to where I was now, walking towards a rather crowded looking, dimly lit restaurant with a Vinyl and her mother.

“Remind me again how you found this place? And much less how you got reservations?” I questioned.

The restaurant was called The Bale, which was a place even my parents thought was a bit exclusive. You typically only found people like them going there as well - the more humbled and easy going part of the upper crust. 

A fact that was true mainly because the staff would actively choose to allow or refuse a customer, which was something that just ate at every noble's skin and made them all want to get in. Though if you came off as having a mentality like that, they’d simply refuse you.

As dumb of a business idea as it sounded, the place had one of the highest profit margins in Canterlot. 

Fancy came to mind as a frequent patron, to the point where you might think he owned the place.

“As I said dear. I had errands to run.” She said vaguely. Instinct said to not ask further, but curiosity had other plans.

“What errands could you have possibly ran to get a reservation in a restaurant that turns away almost eight out of every ten people who request entry.” I pressured as we approached the back of the line.

Vinyl’s mother disregarding the line, and myself, as she made her way across the red carpet lining the entry and through the doors as if she owned the place. No amount of words could describe the number of sneers and scoffs - even outright laughs - that we received as we went through those doors.

The place smelled like comfort food and looked like the most spacious log cabin you would ever see. Paintings of smiling mares and stallions lined the walls, complemented by seats and couches made from what looked like tree trunks with plush, red cushioning on the inside of them. Looking further in you could see that the tables had a similar theme to them

“Oh my....” I found myself gasping to myself at the humble prestige the place gave off.

The clumped line led up to a set of desks, also maintaining the natural theme of the place, with both a mare and a stallion sitting behind it - each with a small smile on their face and a neat uniform on that reminded me of the ushers you see in theaters.

A mare and a stallion that Vinyl’s mother approached instantly.

“Hello madam, do you have a reserva-” The stallion began, only to receive a sharp elbow in the side from the mare that sent him down for the count.

“Terribly sorry miss, your seat is waiting for you.” She said cheerfully, not even batting an eye at the cohort that she just downed.

The sound of dozens of upper crust protests sounded at Vinyl’s mother’s acceptance, though they quickly faded as the previously downed stallion managed to get up and limp us to our table - still with a smile on his face.

He led us to a small, U - shaped booth where he handed us menus from seemingly nowhere before flashing a toothed smile.

A toothed smile that held a small set of fangs.

“Thank you dear.” Vinyl’s mother said smoothly as the stallion limped off, presumably back to the desk.

As soon as he was out of earshot, I tossed Vinyl’s mother a knowing glance, only to find her using her menu as a shield from my gaze.

Though I soon found one shielding my gaze as well, as Vinyl held up a menu in front of me and point to an item.

“Tavi, how do you say that and what is it?” She asked, like a small child learning a new word.

“That says ‘spaghetti’, Vinyl.” I said, only slightly deadpanning as there was always the off chance she didn’t know what spaghetti was.

I thought that dinner was going to be me basically explaining to Vinyl what everything on the menu was, but ended up being a bit more interesting than that as a familiarly warm face approached our table not but a few items down the list.

“My my, and here I was thinking that exclusive restaurants weren’t your thing.” Chuckled an old and mellowed voice.

I turned to see the glowing face of Fancy as he made his way to our table, armed with a gentle smile.

“Fancy.” I commented, a bit surprised by seeing him even though I knew how often he came here.

I felt Vinyl’s hoof slip into mine and tighten, and a brief glance to the side revealed her eyes peering over her glasses and into Fancy.

Even her mother seemed to sense the tension.

When Fancy arrived at the table, he almost had to have seen Vinyl’s look. But nonetheless he spoke in a tone that rang pleasantly through one’s ears.

“Well if it isn’t the best pianist in town too. How blessed I must be to have the joy of meeting the both of you.” He said, his voice seeming to make Vinyl’s grip loosen.

After offering Vinyl a smile, his eyes drifted over to her mother, where they widened.

“Oh my! Who might you be?” He asked, looking intently at Vinyl’s mother who coyly shied away from the attention.

‘Tease...’ I thought.

“Wait...” Fancy said as his head tried to piece it together and he gave Vinyl another look.

“Sister?” He asked her.

“Mother.” Vinyl said simply, not exactly warmly, but not cold either.

Fancy’s eyes widened to the point where his monocle fell out of place.

“Simply amazing.” He said, turning to Vinyl’s mother. “Fluer would love to talk with you about your skin care to keep it looking so...immaculate.” He whispered before shaking his head slightly and looking to Vinyl.

“May I?” He asked, looking to an empty part of the booth.

We all looked to Vinyl for the answer, as she truly was the one to answer that kind of question.

And after a second of hesitation, she nodded.

“Perfect.”

After sitting down, Fancy had no trouble seeing the grip Vinyl had on my hoof, and the emotions behind that grip. Vinyl seemed to notice it as well and simply stared at him, as if in judgement.

Fancy had a particular stance on filly fooling that not everyone agreed with, but everyone respected.

“I couldn’t think of a more fitting couple. Congratulations.” He said honestly with a smile before moving the conversation in a way that only a seasoned host could.

“Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I can’t help but get the impression that you all aren’t exactly frequent visitors?” He asked, raising a brow slightly knowingly.

I didn’t take a response from any of us to answer his question, as he simply clapped his hooves as the stallion who had escorted us to our table earlier appeared from nowhere with a notepad in hoof.

“Your orders?”

“They’re new, so treat them well - on me, of course.” Fancy said smoothly.

The stallion scribbled something quickly onto the notepad in his hooves, though he tossed a look up to Vinyl’s mother before quickly adding something extra onto the order and prancing off.

“Odd boy. Quirky, but I like it.” Fancy said to himself before turning to us. “I hate to order your food and run, but Fluer will be expecting me. I have a sneaking feeling you’ll enjoy dinner though.” He said cheerfully before walking off himself.

There were reasons I didn’t mix with the upper crust so often, even the ones who had bearable egos and enjoyable personalities. 

And the biggest was how odd some of them were.

Dinner went on rather silently after that, chatter between the three of us filling the gap between Fancy leaving and our food arriving. Though, I couldn’t help but feel that something was bothering Vinyl’s mother the entire time - like some sort of agitation.

Another thing was this light grey mare a few tables over who kept looking at us before ducking behind her menu. I could’ve sworn it was Silver, but this mare had been here before we had even sat down and Silver hardly even knew Canterlot, much less this place.

As we began to finish our meals, that agitation about Vinyl’s mother finally reached it’s breaking point.

"Oh come on dear, when are you going to give us your answer?" She suddenly blurted, sounding exasperated.

‘...What?’

"Answer to what? You haven't asked me a question all night that I haven’t answered..." I said innocently.

Vinyl’s mother looked at me as if I’d offended her deeply, and then put her expression to words, 

“Your answer to whether or not you will go through with what has been started and stopped plenty of times by now, dear.” She said, voice hushed enough to make the conversation private, but loud enough to get her agitation across. 

My eyes widened and jaw slacked as I pieced together just what she was referencing to. I glanced over to Vinyl only to find her cowering slightly at the sudden question her mother had brought up.

“P-Pardon me?” 

“Vampirism dear. Surely it’s crossed your mind as well throughout your relationship with my daughter if you’d ever...turn, as you call it?” She said almost accusingly.

“Uhm...M-Mom?” Vinyl began, actually stammering, but she was quickly out voiced by her mother.


“Vinyl, you know as much as I do that this subject can’t be put off forever.” Vinyl’s mother said in an almost scolding tone to Vinyl.

It was then that I began to feel a bit agitated at Vinyl’s mother.

“Why bring this up now then?” I asked, tone a bit sharper than before as I cocked my brow.

“You’re in the prime of your life dear. Now is the perfect time. Just look at myself dear.” She said almost flauntingly. 

“Do you not think you’re being a bit...childish?” I asked, doing my best to remain polite, but it was becoming increasingly hard.

“Childish is thinking you can stay with someone like my daughter when you can hardly even make your own decisions.”

“Mom…” I heard Vinyl begin, but this time she was cut off by me jolting upwards.

I felt my hind legs almost snap straight as something in my head finally ticked.

“I think I’ll take my leave.” I snapped, sliding out of the booth and walking briskly towards the exit without even daring to look back.

Though I couldn’t help but hear a single word being whimpered.

“Tavi…”


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
	

I hadn’t realized how much time had past inside that restaurant, the previous sunset from when I had entered had long faded and the streetlights of Canterlot had begun to light.

I found myself in what looked to be a nearby park, sat firmly on a bench as I stared upwards to the moon and surrounding stars, letting thoughts float freely - most of them of the recent altercation of me and Vinyl’s mother. Some said I was right to have left, others said it was wrong to have. Irregardless, I wasn’t happy with how it had ended up.

“I shouldn’t have left Vinyl like that.” I muttered to myself, guilt practically looming over me like the night sky at this point.

I found my thoughts dissipating at the sound of my own voice, as if I had broke my own train of thought.

A light shift in the weight of the bench drew my attention, and my gaze, to the spot beside me where I found a rather sad looking white mare sitting next to me.

“Hey...” She barely managed to whisper.

“I’m, um, really sorry about how my mom was acting.”

I couldn’t help but cock my brow at that. The child taking responsibility for the mother’s actions? That wasn’t quite right.

“Don’t apologize on her behalf Vinyl.” I said simply.

“Sorry, she still shouldn’t have talked about that at the table.” Vinyl said, seeming a bit flustered as a blush ran across her face.

I thought the reason might be because of how sensitive the topic was. I had known it was rather touchy for vampires, at least for Vinyl anyways, but was still curious as to why and what it was.

“Say Vinyl?” I asked gently.

“Hm?” She asked, perking up a little.

“What do you think about what your mother said?” I asked.

I wanted to hear what Vinyl thought about the matter for once.

“I-I…” She began to fumble, but I slid my hoof over and gently placed it on hers.

She was a bit taken aback by the gesture, in a positive way however, before snapping out of the awe and answering my question. Not to mention that I myself wasn’t used to offering gestures like that, I always thought it would come off as odd when I did it.

It seemed like the opposite for Vinyl.

“I-It’s something you shouldn’t take lightly. I know a lot of people don’t wanna do it because they think it makes them less of a person.” She began, still stammering.
I was about to attempt and comfort her again, but she suddenly seemed to even out as she let out a deep breath.

“Some people want to do it, but those kinds of people are usually the ones that turn out to be bad guys. The ones that usually make the best of it are those who either have the option proposed to them or have it done by accident.” She continued, a small smile forming.

“Mom really likes you if she’s bringing that up to you.” She said quietly as she stared up to the stars with a dream-like gaze, stars reflecting off of her crimson eyes that paired well with her ruby cheeks.

It was a fairly staggering statement to say that Vinyl’s mother likes me considering how she had been acting around me, but if there was anyone’s word I could trust about the matter it was Vinyl’s.

But she still hadn’t mentioned one thing.

“But what do you want Vinyl?”

She turned to me with wider eyes and a bit of a slack jaw, her cheeks reddening further.

“What... do I want?” She repeated, as if she couldn’t believe someone was wondering her opinion.

She sort of wandered off after that, and I began to wonder if I had broke her with that single question, but after about a solid half a minute of looking scatterbrained she seemed to become resolved and donned a huge smile - not unlike the one I saw when I first met her.

“What I want is for you to be happy. Whether you take it or not, I’m sure I’ll be happy as long as I get to spend the time after you pick with you.” She said, obviously a bit embarrassed but persevering nonetheless.

“The only difference between saying yes or no is how long I get to spend with you afterwards, which I’ll cherish the same either way.”

Up to this point I could firmly say that I had never been told anything that expressed how deeply important I was to someone, save for my parents.

Today, that changed.

“V-Vinyl...” Was all I could muster after that.

She simply kept beaming at me after that, unable to hide her pure happiness. She leaned in afterwards, pressing her soft lips into my own like she usually would. Though I guess her happiness had an influence on how daring she was this time around, because the gentle sensation of one of her fangs nibbling on my lips sent a shock of new feelings.
She eventually leaned in enough to topple me onto my back, her lips still latched to mine and only letting go when she forgot to breath through her nose.

Her hooves were planted on both sides of my head as she raised up, looking down at me with something reminiscent of the lust she had had so many times before.

But this time, she wasn’t thirsting for blood.

“Wanna go home?” She asked, breathing raggedly.

I couldn’t speak past the knot in my throat, so I meekly nodded instead, to which she smiled heavily before leaning back down for another embrace.

A gentle glower came from her horn as she kissed me again, thought this time I felt something else from her.

‘Is that...her...tou-’ I began to think, but the bright flash of light cut off my thoughts.

It might just be some mix of feelings thinking for me, but thanks to Vinyl’s opinion, I think I could say I have the answer to that question.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

> Fangs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A couple of months ago, I met a mare who was deceptively more complicated than her outward appearance and attitude made her out to be. In fact, it was that carefree and cheerful attitude that made her complicated and interesting. But more than anything was the fact that she wasn't normal in the literal regard, she was something out of fictional books and stories told to scare people.

Admittedly, she did scare me before - and still does from time to time - but that only added to a dangerous curiosity that I had towards her, which ended up building into something of a relationship, which in turn bloomed into something you might consider romantic.

"Hey Tavi, where did you get your bow tie from?"

Some people think that opposites attract in terms of relationships, and most would think that that case applies here - which it understandably can.

"My parents. Why? Were you planning on buying one?"

"Probably not since I can't tie them, but it looks pretty though."

I wouldn't think of her as an opposite in the slightest. I'd even call her more similar than different, but that being said it's almost impossible to compare yourself to someone of her origins. She's seen things from times taught in history books and before, just how far back that goes is still up in the air, but it's presumably pretty far.

A hoof pressed gently into my cheek, stirring me from thought.

"You're thinkin' stuff again, aren't you?" She asked curiously.

I blushed a bit and nodded, looking away from her in an attempt to avoid her gaze - which was back to being hidden behind a wall of purple.

Silence seemed to ensue after that, Vinyl pulling her hoof from my cheek and scooting close to me so that we sat in the center of the couch. Vinyl had seemed to stop what had started at the park prior to teleporting back home, and I couldn't help wonder why - that being said I hadn't exactly attempted to pursue it.

It was finally dawning on me that this was the make or break moment in regards to this whole "converting" thing, in all its silent glory. I guess I had expected a more climactic build up rather than a disruption at dinner and me walking out.

"Ehm-" I cleared my throat as some form of bravery worked its way up inside me. "-Vinyl, do you..." I began to ask, though a chance glance over to Vinyl revealed her in no better a shape than I - her cheeks red like blood on snow.

"V-Vinyl?" I asked with a bit of concern.

"S-Sorry. This kinda thing is a bit... uhm..." She said before she mumbled off.

I gave Vinyl a sympathetic look, thinking that this might not happen after all, until another idea popped into my head - something much more coy and creative.

"One second." I said, pushing off the couch as Vinyl looked at me with a mix of surprise and confusion.

I trotted around the couch and into the kitchen, rubbing my hoof across the wall as I walked in and letting it slide over a small switch that let artificial light flood the kitchen. The bulbs seemed to be approaching the end of their trip judging by the brightness they were at, but that wasn't a particular priority in my mind. An embarrassing smile coming over me as I recalled what Vinyl had done here, before locking eyes with another familiar object.

The knife holster.

'Perhaps a small...incentive would make things easier for her.' I thought to myself, thoughts scolding themselves at how weird they were.

I hesitated after I drew the knife, my own reflection staring back at me in the metal of the rather small blade - I hadn't picked the biggest knife in the holster, one maybe three or so inches long. But I only needed a few seconds to make a decision and begin lining up the knife with the base of my hoof.

A clinch of my eyes and a quick, gentle drag made me question if I had even managed to break skin, but looking back at my hoof I managed to make out a hardly noticeable trace of dark red in my grey coat.

"That should be plenty..." I whispered to myself, almost feeling giddy at the aspect of teasing Vinyl. She had so many ways to tease when it came to me, though I had a big one on her.

I slid the knife back into its spot among the holster, letting familiarity guide my hoof as I stared at my other, bleeding one.

'I guess this is it...' I thought to myself, flexing my hoof to test how the cut responded to movement, only to find it hardly increased the blood flow.

I turned back towards the living room, only to jump slightly at the sight of Vinyl staring at me as she stood in the arch that separated the kitchen and living room - remaining just outside the reach of the dimmed light from the kitchen.

"Vinyl...you scared me..." I sighed, though after the words left my lips I felt the scare that had left return as I looked more closely at Vinyl. She seemed only half present.

"V-Vinyl?" I stammered a little.

Her response was to place a shaky hoof forwards, receiving an opposite reaction as I took a step backwards. This reaction got a small smile out of her, almost as if she were amused, which only made my heart beat faster.

Stepping into the light of the kitchen, I made out the beads of sweat sprinkled across her coat.

'Perhaps...this wasn't the best idea.' My mind

She took another step forwards, this time much more steadily and confident, which resulted in me taking an ever farther step backwards and towards the other archway that went out of the kitchen and towards the door to the hallway.

She gave a sudden jolt forward, which was all I needed to turn make my break towards the door. It was admittedly odd that I was running considering we decided on my transition, but I wanted it to be more, I guess, her instead of her hunger doing the work. I suppose I overestimated how sensitive she was to blood after the whole ordeal with The Order.

I found myself hitting what felt like a brick wall and falling back onto my haunches. I wondered briefly if I had accidentally hit a wall when I turned towards the exit, but I could've sworn I felt something soft about that "wall".

And a voice soon spoke up to confirm that.

"A-Are you leaving?" A trembling, and borderline hurt sounding, voice asked from in front of me. Vinyl's voice, oddly.

I looked up to see Vinyl, frowning with a pair of wide, dilated and teary eyes. It was odd to see her actually being hurt by me running away, rather than playing with me like a cat would a mouse .

I felt a sudden surge of what could've only been guilt - which made me question myself considering the situation at hoof - as I found myself stumbling for an apology.

"No! I, was, uhm, just...surprised was all." I said, chuckling nervously, letting the room fade to silence.

The sound of plastic dropping from where Vinyl had been standing tickled my ears as it finally registered that she wasn't wearing her glasses anymore.

"Really?" She said, still sniffling.

"Truly." I said as sincerely as I could, feeling a bit of heat rush to my chest as Vinyl went into a wide smile. I even closed my eyes and let out a sigh of relief.

"Good."

My eyes went wide, showing an empty space where Vinyl had been standing as her hot breath tickled my ear.

"Because that was your only chance." She said with the hunger that I had been expecting.

I turned around quickly and stared her dead in the eyes with agitation, which seemed to take her off guard based on the way her ears flattened and how her half-lidded eyes opened fully, looking almost scared.

"I knew you were toying with me." I said, more of a matter-of-factually tone than an accusing one..

It wasn't that big of a deal, it was part of who Vinyl was to playfully tease - and I doubt anything I could do would change that nature. But toying with my emotions was something that Vinyl did often - and I would've at least liked something straightforward during an occasion as important as this one.

"T-Toying?" She stammered, the lust and hunger gone from her voice, replaced with the sound of a child when caught doing something they shouldn't.

"Oh don't act like you don't know you do it Vinyl." I said, waving my hoof.

"B-But I-"

I let out a sigh as I realized what I was doing.

"I'm sorry I ruined this Vinyl. I, well, just don't know what I want to do, if that makes any sense." I said, prodding at the ground with my hoof in contemplation.

"I know it's an 'intimate thing' for you, and I'm sorry that I messed it up, but I've never exactly been good at these kinds of things where an innuendo was meant to be picked up on." I said, air quoting.

"T-Tavi..." She stammered, but my rambling just more or less talked over her.

"I'm not even sure how I miss them, I mean my parents find them and they raised me fine from what I can tell, it's just that-" I continued, waving my hooves around as I spoke, more out of frustration than anything.

"Tavi..."

"-I tend to overthink things, to the point where the only ones that can get through clearly are the ones that are displayed clearly, like a question or-"

I suddenly felt myself forced onto my back and my head lightly hitting something wooden. Hooves pressed into my own, locking them in place like steel cuffs as a pair of red eyes looked at me.

I probably would've said something, but this time there was something different about Vinyl this time, not in the way of how she would usually get when hungry or something, but something more. She was looking at me in a way that made me both want to curl up and blush at the same time. 

I also managed to make out small droplets of red dashing her face.

I was confused for a moment, but a glance to my hoof revealed that all of my hoof motions had stirred up the blood flow in them, which must have resulted in my slinging droplets of blood onto Vinyl as I spoke.

She lifted one of her hooves from my limbs, bringing  it to the base of my stomach and letting it slowly glide up, tingling in a way that made my legs tighten up.

Just when I thought she would go further, she stopped and lifted off of me, turning around and heading off towards the hall that led to my bedroom.

"V-Vinyl?" I finally managed to choke out.

She seemed to ignore me and walked out of sight.

"Vinyl!" I called a bit louder, only to receive silence as my answer.

The plausible, or responsible rather, thing to do here was to follow her. As I said, she seemed different this time around, and if a feeling weren't enough it was nothing like Vinyl to just get up and leave like that. Perhaps I had ruined the mood for her with my self diminishing ranting.

The logical thing would be to go get Shakes or her mother. 

A moment passed as I considered the options.

I sighed and lifted myself off the floor and heading towards the darkened hallway that Vinyl had went down.

"I really should stop listening to myself." I mumbled.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


When I got back to my bedroom, which is where I assumed Vinyl had gone considering she wasn't in the bathroom, I found the door shut firmly.

"Vinyl? Are you alright?" I asked, giving the door a gentle knock.

Of course I would remember to knock before entering, and of course she wasn't okay - a point solidified by her lack of an answer. My hoof slid down from where it had knocked, gripping on the cool knob before I braced and walked in.

I expected for this to be another one of those scenarios where I open the door and find Vinyl not present in the room, walking further into the room before the door slams behind me and I'm met with a pair of hellish red eyes that might belong on a demon out of context. She'd done it before, and seemed to enjoy creating a thrill in other people, something that was present in all her interactions - from fighting to teasing.

Which is why opening the doors only to find her looking dead at me startled me, though I didn't have much of window to react before a white hoof shot out and yanked me into the room.

The ease at which Vinyl managed to grab and throw me was a reminder of just how much stronger she was than me.

The door slammed shut about as quick as I had opened it, a flickering haze of blue wrapped around the knob. I tried to lift up and get a better view  - and to possible get a look at Vinyl - but something that felt like a collar yanked my head back down by the neck. The sensation was soon joined by numerous other bands, coming off of my hooves and essentially pinning me to the bed.

I didn't have to see them to know their origin, the blue hue emanating from them and lighting the room was more than enough of a hint. It also wasn't the first time Vinyl had done this. That being said, it was the second time, so I wasn't exactly knowledgeable of this predicament. 

A shift in the weight of the bed caught my attention.

"Vinyl?" I called out. Of course it was her, but I just wanted something other than silence out of her.

She moved into view, straddling my waist and leaning onto me - essentially body to body with her face mere inches from mine. Muddled eyes looking at me before a gentle smile graced her lips - not playful, simply happy.

"C-Could you atleast s-say-" My protest was cut off at the feeling of a latching feeling coming from my neck, small pricks making themselves known in a familiar spot as they threatened to break skin.

And break skin they did, a sharp feeling coming from my neck that was followed by the feeling of what I could only guess was my blood being pulled out and into her mouth. It felt more, well, than one might expect - like a passionate kiss that took something out of you, literally. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but if it weren't something sensual then it might not be desirable.

Vinyl suddenly stopped her flow, exhaling through her nose before taking a deep breath.

A sudden flood of something warm ran through my neck, causing a pins and needles feeling as it ran through my veins and across my body.

'W-What the-' I asked myself, but even my thoughts began to become muddled as a gentle, fuzzy feeling came over me.

It was as if Vinyl had breathed something into me, inhaling a bit of my blood before breathing out a wave of warm, prickly sensations - a breath of life, in a way.

The stream of whatever it was Vinyl was using continued, the warm and fuzzy sensation turning to a hot and dizzy one. It was hard to keep my head still, and my mouth seemed to keep slipping open to the point where I felt I might be drooling on myself. I also managed to note that I was sweating.

"Vinyl?" My voice wasn't stuttering anymore, but it now sounded like I was intoxicated. My tongue felt like it kept getting in the way of talking.

She didn't respond, the fluid continuing to flow in for a few more seconds before she finally stopped and gently pulled away from my neck, giving a small kiss to the spot where she had been latched to. Though, that small kiss seemed to explode across my entire body when she landed, to the point where I arched my back and grunted out of instinct - though the magical bonds kept me pinned.

'S-sweet...s-sweet Celestia what was that?' I asked myself, thoughts forming slowly as it seemed almost a challenge to think.

I didn't have much time after that to process it, as a hoof sliding up my stomach brought about the same feeling - every hair on my coat feeling like the small kiss Vinyl had given me. I couldn't even muffle myself, letting out a yip and arching my back even farther, though Vinyl gently pressed down on my stomach and slowly lowered my body back onto the bed. 

She then settled her hoof into a gentle, circular stroke across my stomach.

"V-Vinyl! P-Please..." I found myself whimpering as the explosive feeling returned, but a gentle shushing sound came from Vinyl lips that seemed to buzz around in my ears as said explosive feeling gradually turned to a fuzzy and comforting one.

The sudden creaking of the door caught my attention, though only garnering the movement of Vinyl's eyes as we peered over to see a white horse walk inside and let out a heavy sight.

"Dear, I should apolo-" She began, though her closed eyes seemed to twitch and she cut herself short - mouth falling slightly agape as I assume she "saw" what was happening.

Silence took over the room as she, at least I assumed, drunk in the sight that was me being magically restrained to the bed while being straddled by her daughter that currently had her lips close enough to my ear that I could make out her shallow breaths.

Though colors were beginning to smudge together as I focused on Vinyl's mom, I could make out very clearly the near challenging expression on Vinyl face when I turned to her.

"...I, should, uhm, leave..." Vinyl's mother stammered, closing the door while mumbling an apology.

Though her leaving saved me the embarrassment, I also realized that Vinyl's mother was probably the only one who could get Vinyl off of me. And she seemed to be fairly reluctant to get anywhere near her daughter as of now.

"Hey Tavi." Vinyl said gently, though it still managed to send a shiver racing down my spine.

"Y-Yes Vinyl?" I slurred, my tongue limp.

"You're sure you want to go through with this? Things won't be...normal for a while, and some things won't be normal ever again." She said, her voice oddly serious considering the circumstance, but for a good reason. She knew how much this weighed on me, and I knew how much it meant to her, and she didn't want to proceed unless I was absolutely sure.

She had even dispelled the magical cuffs keeping me to the bed as an offer to let me leave.

I had considered the ups and downs to accepting an offer; not aging, being potentially hunted down by people I had never met before, all sorts of things made this commitment a big one. Yet, there was still all sorts of unknown effects that I had no idea about - something that could be both enticing and dissuading.

But my choice was clear, all based on a single benefit.

"Y-yes Vinyl," I said as steadily as I could. "staying with you sound like a fine idea."

Vinyl seemed to be shocked by that, her cheeks heating up as the most joyous smile I had ever seen appeared on her face. I could even make out the sound of her breath stopping and her heart racing. 

Without a word, her horn sparked to life with a newfound passion, flaring towards the ceiling and nearly lighting the entire room as the cuffs reappeared and clamped back down around my limbs with a redoubled tightness.

"I love you so much Octavia." She said gleefully, wrapping her hooves around my sides as she suckered me into a passionate hug.

I found myself practically choking on the pleasure erupting from my sides, and the moan that followed only made my cheeks even more flush than they already were. And judging by the way Vinyl started to gently nuzzle my stomach - which physically gave the same feeling as butterflies in my stomach - she was just getting started expressing her gratitude; and she had a lot of gratitude to express.

It was going to be a long night.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


> Reminder
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Waking up was something that I was beginning to appreciate more and more everyday, for a variety of reasons that I'd rather not think about. The unfamiliar sound of a gentle tweeting sound coming from my window stirred me from sleep, being rare for how deep in the city I lived. I usually took it as a good omen for the day to come - Mom said that was a healthy way of looking at it, but then again she always woke up to birds on her and Father's estate.

Wishful thinking I suppose.

Another odd thing about waking up this morning was having my vision filled with slivers of hair that made up my bangs, something that could be attributed to how little time I had had for proper hygiene such as combing as of late.

My eyes skimmed around the room that had been growing distant from me as of late - cello in corner with a thin film of dust gathering on it. I needed to practice today, possibly go to a spot in town with Vinyl and play a little - but not in a sunny part of town, possibly outside the theater. Moving on from that idea, odd aches and pains began surfacing from all over my body - particularly my limbs and neck, as if I had been wearing a tight hoof band, but they were in oddly... intimate areas as well.

'I wonder why I might be...' My thoughts trailed off as my memory of last night began to jog and my cheeks began to heat.

"Oh...my..." Was all I could manage to stammer as my memories raced over all the talks mother had given me about a particular subject containing and avian and flying insect.

Though, my racing mind hit a wall as the smell of freshly brewed tea graced my nose, which followed with the grumbling of my stomach.

"I wonder if Vinyl and her mother are already up." I mumbled to myself, though the answer was obvious judging from the absence of a white mare next to me. It was odd, considering Vinyl didn't exactly strike me as a morning person.

A first for everyone I suppose.

I slid myself over to the side of the bed, pushing the comforter off of myself with a tinge of regret and letting my hind legs dangle off so my hooves could rest gently on the carpet. I eventually managed to get myself over to the door, morning fatigue still weighing on me like a cloak of lead as I opened the door to the hallway and stumbled out.

Or as far as I could get into the hall at least, it was a bit hard with the plush wall of white chest in the way.

I normally would've tried to remove myself out of instinct, but the aches pulsing through my bones seemed to force me to melt into Vinyl, as if it were part instinct.

"Well dear, I appreciate the gesture. I'd thought you'd still be asleep after last night." The voice of definitely-not-Vinyl chuckled with amusement.

I suppose shock and embarrassment should have been my first reactions, and they were mentally, but physically I could manage no more than a grumble, but didn't budge. A few more seconds might help on the trek to the living room.

"Need some help dear?" Vinyl's mother asked, mockingly in a way, but not devoid of kindness.

"No." I replied curtly, hearing the whining of a horn.

"I'll be in the living room then." She replied, with two uncomfortably bright flashes of light shortly following, along with the support of Vinyl's mother disappearing.

'Teleporting at this early in the morning? At least she took the courtesy of steadying me.' I thought to myself as I began trudging forwards.

Admittedly, it wasn't that bad - I could've moved on my own if I truly wanted, but being able to and being willing to are two completely different prospects.

Walking into the living room, I was greeted by a pleasant surprise; a cup of tea wrapped in a neon blue haze. When I looked to find Vinyl’s gaze on the couch however, I found her soft and feathered looking mane nestled into a corner of the sofa as she breathed rhythmically.

"Thank you Vinyl." I said gratefully, but also exhausted.

"She won't hear you dear, but I'm sure she appreciates your gratitude." Vinyl's mother commented, walking from out of the kitchen with a cup of her own.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked quizzically, getting what seemed like a giggle from Vinyl's mother as my legs began to recover from numbness.

"She's asleep dear. Has been since a couple of hours ago." She continued happily.

"Then how's she..." I began, but mumbled off as I kept looking at the cup still floating in the air.

"Oh, It's something she does fairly often, believe it or not. Her instincts still function when she's in a deep sleep - just watch." She said, taking a stirring spoon and tossing it over the couch towards Vinyl, only to have it wrapped in blue and remain stagnant in the air until Vinyl's mother reached forwards and grabbed it with her hoof.

I found that I could only stare at the spoon in a mix of awe and wonder.

"You wouldn't believe how helpful it was with doing the dishes when she was younger. Just toss something towards her and she'd hold it until you picked it up again. Though, if you throw it fast enough she'll shoot it out of the air, so you have to find the sweet spot." She continued.

"But as for why she floated you over a cup of tea, I have no idea. Usually all her ‘sleep magic’ is in response to the environment around her, not about manipulating it." She continued.

"Maybe you just mean that much to her." Vinyl's mother said in hushed whisper, teasing and slightly serious.

I began moving towards the couch, eyes locked onto the cup as it floated along with me until I finally sat down on the middle cushion of the couch and took it out of the air. Vinyl's mother shortly joined us as the room drifted into a silence as I took a few sips.

The silence brought out the various aches and pains that throbbed from my limbs and neck, as well as a few other places, but this silence wasn’t tense - something that was sadly rare - but more of a relaxing one where one might sit back and look at nothing in particular.

"So, I'm willing to guess that you play that box with strings in your room?"

I choked on my tea.

"B-box with strings? You mean my cello?" I stammered, offended at her naming of my neglected pride and joy.

"Seems I've hit a nerve." She said slyly, but also offering a nervous chuckle.

"Do you play?" I asked, the memory of Vinyl being an expert on music bringing up the idea that her mother might be even wiser. Though she did just address a cello as 'a box with strings'.

"I assume you ask that based on Vinyl's expertise?" She asked before letting out a sigh.

I nodded.

"Unfortunately that's Vinyl's niche, and I doubt you'll ever meet anyone more knowledgeable on the subject of music." She said, wistful but still with much respect towards her daughter's achievements in music.

I cast a glance over to Vinyl, curled up facing the cushions so that not even her face was visible.

"Just how far does she span in that subject?" I asked.

"It’s easier to say where she doesn’t. Give her music notes and any instrument and she'll play it better than the person who made it can." Her mother commented, no hint of jest or boasting in her voice.

Silence was my only comment as I mulled over the answer.

"She's spent lifetimes devoting herself to her craft - something that most vampires don't do. Usually our urges override the idea of mastering anything, like an addiction of sorts, but she even fasted in order to properly devote herself to music." Vinyl's mother went on, taking occasional sips of her tea.

"But my words don't do justice, take her to a concert hall around here and ask her to play something, or anything really. Then watch as the 'poverty stricken, shaggy, street mare’ makes heads turn and jaws drop." She said, pride more than audible. She also made it obvious that she had heard the haughty scrutiny that Vinyl commonly received.

T'was a miracle that there hadn't been a jump in deaths around town with Vinyl's mother knowing about that.

"However dear, a better conversation to be had - or an equally valuable one I should say - is your future." She said, garnering my attention. I looked to her and found that both her eyes were open a tad and with a serious gaze in them as I realized what she meant.

"Tha...That's right." I stammered.

It was odd that I didn't feel as guilty as I did about giving up my normalcy, but something felt right about how I had come to the decision. It felt comfortable.

Telling my parent's was going to be a nightmare.

"So...I've...become a vampire?" I said, though it was more of a question to Vinyl's mom.

Though, when I looked to her, she seemed very grim at my statement.

"You've been given something that my daughter has never even considered giving to anyone. Tarnish it, and it will be your undoing. This is the last time I will be stern with you over this matter, as I've learned through many years that I don't like to repeat myself - and that I often don't need to." She said, her icy demeanor being interrupted by a mewl from Vinyl.

She let out a heavy sigh, eyes shutting and her serious attitude falling as if it had been a facade the entire time.

"I mean no offense, but I'm beginning to get offended by your distrust of me." I said, albeit meekly, but honestly. She had warned me about crossing her or Vinyl enough times to make my head spin.

It was a few seconds, though they felt like hours, before she spoke again - strain seeming to go through the lids of her eyes as she mull over something in her mind. Though when she did, she spoke with a certain amount of trust that wasn't heard in her past warning.

"Perhaps you're different." She said simply, almost as if she didn't quite trust the words that came from her own mouth.

"My daughter seems to think so, but she's also not the wisest." She said, another tired sigh following shortly after. Her icy blue eyes cracking back open slightly - like a gate to a land unseen in them before - and lingered on Vinyl before a small smile formed.

"'Different'? What do you mean by that?" I asked curiously, brow rising.

"She sees a difference in you compared others, present in your actions and reactions to things. Like your innocence, or how you-" Vinyl's mother began to say, only to get cut off at the end.

"-question everything." Another voice spoke in a sort of soft and mellow tone that sent shivers down my spine. It was a certain sound that held lifetimes of experience, sage and slow because they knew that there was time to spare - and that these words were meant to be taken to the heart, as they came from someone's own.

I turned my head slightly to Vinyl, watching as she rose up slowly, like the sun she evaded for the most part. She kept speaking as she lifted herself up, continuing to stare down until she was almost entirely upright before leaning back into the armrest of the sofa and meet my gaze. I also noted Vinyl's mother looking respectfully at her daughter's, eyes still open, taking in the sound of her words in a similar way that I was.

"You think way too much, and make a subtle change in your breathing when you do. Your eyes flicker as you speak to people, learning things and reacting to them. You're naive and innocent, not that I'm one to speak about that, but at the same time are fully aware of the nature of people."

A bit of silence before she continued, neither me or her mother thinking of adding in a comment.

"There's a lot to love about you Tavi - more than one could list and more than you give yourself credit for - but that's just another reason to do it."

When she finished speaking, her eyes sort of shifted to reveal that they were filled with bliss - and also a hint of guilt. It was only after that that I felt the heat in my cheeks.

"I got told something you might like to hear - or maybe not, I don't know. It went: 'Life's a song, one that you make yourself, and love is like the lyrics that can only be added by another that you must choose.'" She said, her tone more gentle now, but also more serious than it had been when she was talking to me.

My eyes widened a bit as the words bounced around in my head for a few seconds before settling in a very delicate place. A place that had, arguably, been the whole reason I met Vinyl.

A few seconds after she said it, her face filled with a light blush that turned her white cheeks a shade of light pink as she smiled with a bit of embarrassment, but also a bit of nervousness as if she were worried what I would make out of what she had said.

“Jeez that’s cheesy. More like of one of those quotes you keep in your head but don’t ever say out loud.” She said, chuckling lightly as her hoof found that commonly rubbed place on the back of her neck.

"You..." Was all I could get out as I felt my throat begin to burn slightly as my eyes welled a little, getting a simple nod from Vinyl as she recomposed herself.

Admittedly, this entire scenario was a bit awkward - and would definitely would be seen as cheesy if it were on a sidewalk or somewhere public. Then again, you'd expect to see some haughty noble saying it, not someone like Vinyl - it gave the words meaning and honesty when she said them.

And all I could do was let tears run free as I thought of who had said those words.

“T-Tavi? Shi-.” Vinyl cursed, her voice sounding panicked and self scolding.

“Language.” The voice of Vinyl’s mother said, hardly any hint of seriousness, out of amusement at Vinyl’s ability to misread my emotions.

“Sorr-” She began, but I cut her off as I all but bounded onto her in an eager embrace, my still welling tears flowing more freely into her quickly dampening chest.


*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Vinyl’s Mother*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*


“You sure you have to go Mom?” My daughter asked, eyes looking at me with obvious sadness, but also a repressed feeling of concern. The concern wasn’t for herself, but, rather foolishly, for me.

The question she was really asking me was ‘Are you sure you want to leave, Mom?’

But in truth, I wanted them to have their own time to themselves - to see how they went on without me and possibly check up with them farther down the road. I’d let time be the test for Octavia’s words and Vinyl’s opinion - as it had been in the past. Vinyl was a smart girl when it came to judgement, and that grey mare seemed level headed enough to understand the promise in my threats.

“Sadly, I do dear. As much as I’d love to stay and give you some proper maternal attention, I know that you both need some alone time to yourselves.” I teased, getting that adorable blush to surface across her pale cheeks - which one she blushed at I had no idea, though it was probably both.

“M-Mom...” She said, trying to make herself small.

“Too-da-loo you two, be sure to write.” I said, waving one final goodbye to my blushing daughter and her equally red mare-friend who was trying to calm offer sympathy.

The door shut gently and a sigh left my lips.

“I love my job as a mother.” I said to myself quietly, a charge of magic flowing to my horn being triggered by the thought of the outside of the city, and a white umbrella from that grey mare’s closet.

A small breeze flowing through my mane signified that I had arrived my destination, as well as the satisfying crunch of the grass and dirt beneath my hooves as my weight settled in.

The sun’s warmth quickly turned to an unbearable, searing burn as I opened my newly acquired umbrella and shielded myself. The image of my daughter standing on the grassy plains filled my eyes, a steady stream of steam rolling off of her as she simply brushed aside the brunt feeling of cremation.

‘You beautiful, foolish daughter of mine.’

I turned my head to my next destination - anywhere. I figured I might travel from town to town on my way out, gathering a few snacks from some unsuspecting ponies on the way. Where I wanted to settle and for how long was up to me, for now at least.

A smile graced my lips as I felt a pair of eyes start watching me again, not daring to take any action, but simply observing.

They had been watching me for a while now, but they had become careless after I reunited with my daughter - as if they got excited at her appearance and started making careless mistakes. They didn’t seem to be keen on my awareness of them.

‘Though, I feel as though I won’t be wandering for long.’ I thought to myself, setting one hoof in front of the other as I started walking, their eyes calmly following me as I went.

I opened my own for a peek, and felt them quickly hide. Admittedly, I wasn’t looking at them.

‘Enjoy your rest, dear daughter, while you can.’