“Nothing beats sleeping out under the night sky with the stars as your blanket and the leaves as your pillow.”
The edgy yet feminine voice of a female unicorn pierced the peaceful night time air of Whitetail Woods. Her eggshell fur brushed in the wind as did her unkempt two toned blue mane. With her fore legs resting behind her head and her hind legs crisscrossing each other, the mare held a smile on her face, enjoying the peace and tranquility of the night for about ten seconds before her face turned instantly turned into a more melancholy expression.
“That is except a warm bed, a glass of milk, and lots and lots of cookies. Boy do I hope Tavi lets me back in soon. Not like it was my fault that that vase broke or anything.”
In all actuality, it was totally her fault. Dub-step music of that decibel should not be played around fragile objects. She had been sentenced to sleep outside for the night by her room-mate in hopes that she might learn a lesson in not breaking other pony’s property.
This being her twentieth time out here though, that lesson has of yet to sink into the wayward unicorn.
She gave a heavy sigh before closing her eyes. “Welp if not then it’s another quick sleep under the stars before braking back into the house. On a more serious note, she really should have beefed up the security by now. Getting past those locks is pretty much foal’s play anyway.”
With that said the unicorn slowly turned over on her side allowing sleep to overtake her. It was at that instant that the wind slowly began to pick up, the dust kicking up and flowing into her nostrils causing her to cough involuntarily.
“W-What the hey?” She exclaimed after a fit of coughing. “The weather ponies aren’t supposed to be kicking up dust on this side of Ponyville.” He got to her hooves and began to search around for the ones responsible. What she saw instead nearly caused her eyes to bulge bigger than her head would allow.
Some ways away, close to the woods known as White Tail, a dull sliver light slowly pulsed in and out of its self, slightly receding with each wave. It was rather eerie in appearance, almost ghostly. Any sane pony would have just left it alone and never think about it again.
Too bad she wasn’t a sane pony.
“Whao…Wicked…”
The unicorn took a few stops closer toward the way the light was receding from. “ Is somepony having a rave. Who’s having a rave without their favorite DJ leading the party?” She frowned a bit. “They better not be having a rave without their favorite DJ leading the party or else they’ll understand why they call me DJ PON-3, extra emphasis on the p0w3d!”
She laughed at her own joke, wiping away a tear as it fell. “Ha…that gets me every time…”
With a hop and a skip and a jump the unicorn bounded off towards the forest at top speed with both excitement and murderous intent on her mind.
~
The unicorn DJ unicorn stopped as she entered a clearing. The vary clearing that the light seemed to imamate from. “Hmm…I don’t hear any music. Maybe it was a illumabare or some such oddity from that Celestia forsaken forest.” She made as if to turn around. “If that’s true that maybe…”
A blast of some sort of wave caught her by surprise, causing her to shoot toward a gaggle of nearby bushes. With a frail of her hooves she was able to pull herself out. “Dude…not cool…” She once again got to her hooves and began to dust herself off. “Warn a pony next time…you…”
Her voice caught in throat as she watched the silver light that had been all but gone once again appear in a ball of energy. It floated above the ground for a few moments before slowly lowering itself to the ground dissipating as soon as it touched the ground. When the light finely left all that was left was a-
“A pony!?” She ran toward the thing on the ground and sure enough, it was pony, laying on its side.
An earth pony due to the lack of horn and wings. Though the light of the moon was dim she could clearly see that it had a long dark gray mane and was covered in light gray fur. She could see from the muzzle the pony bore that it was a male, still looked a little mareish though.
Hey eyes adjusted to the pale glow of the moon and when they did, she gasped as she looked upon him. He was bleeding…a lot. Up from the gash on the side of his forehead to the cuts on the side of his fore legs, this pony looked as though he had seen better days.
The sight that really caused her to lose any coherent words however was that upon his flank, where his cutie mark was supposed to be, was nothing but long jagged cuts, the wounds still fresh as they were still leaking a fare amount blood.
“Ah crap…What kind of freak would do this.” She lean over placed a hoof on his cheek causing the colt to stir, if only a little. “Dude! You’re still alive? That’s epic!” Being as careful as she could she tenderly began to shift her body underneath his own letting her head slip under his belly, being extra wary of her horn. “Ok…just hang on dude. I got ya.” His body slid down her neck till it reaches her back. “Don’t know if you can hear me or not but this might hurt a bit.” She slowly began to stand up balancing the gray colt on her back. She became slightly worried that he had of yet to make any sound.
“Buck me. I gotta get help for ya, and you need it like, yesterday.” She gave him a smile though she knew that he could not see it. “Don’t worry bout a thing. Old Vinyls’ gots ya, and I don’t leave a pony out of any party.” As gently as she could muster she made her way out of the woods with cargo in tow.
~
With classical music gently playing from her record player and wine glass in hoof, Octavia was in pure heaven. She hated to admit it but it was the times that her roommate was not around that she could fully enjoy her day, Celestia bless her heart. She always knew that her friend meant well but at times she could be just too tiring. That vase was over one thousand bits and while she did have the money to replace it, she felt that a lesson would do her friend some good.
The gray earth pony scoffed. As if. This was the twenty fifth time that she had been kicked out of the house for a night. She was beginning to wonder why she even bothered. Besides, Octavia would just find Vinyl the next day sleeping on the couch as though nothing had happened.
With a heavy sigh Octavia settled into the cushions of her seat and took a slip of her glass. “If she would just knock then I would let her in. At least then I would know that she is learning somewhat…”
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Octavia nearly spilt the drank that she had been holding in her hoof all over her expensive bed robes at the sound of the rap on her door. “What the…? No…It couldn’t be.”
She slowly stood up letting her glass rest on the night stand next to her. “If it is her then…” Her face beamed. “Then she is learning! By Celestia I will make you a proper lady yet.” She ran to the door, opened it, and her smile instantly faded by what she saw.
“What’s up Tavi? How’s your night going? Mines was fine, thanks. Oh! You mind if we come?” Without waiting for a response the unicorn strolled in with some other pony resting upon her back.
Octavia was gaped at what she saw. “W-what? But? What?!” She looked toward the colt. “Vinyl! What did you do?! Octavia’s eyes widened by degrees.” Did you…did you kill somepony? Oh Celestia you killed somepony didn’t you? I send you to learn a lesson and you go and kill somepony! Ok. Ok…Lets be calm about this Octavia. First we need to get rid of the body. Yes! That’s it’s the Everfree Forest. That’s the perfect place to dump it. No pony would be the wiser. But just in case we should properly move somewhere out of Equestria like Mareixco.
“Tavi…”
“Yes! That’s it. I can get a job as a cello maker and you…well…you can do…something…hmm…what can you do besides make that Celestia awful racket? Buck me! That doesn’t matter right now. Oh dear Celestia why did this have to happen now? I don’t want to go to prison!”
“Tavi!”
“Oh Celestia! Prison! Do you know what they do to pretty young mares like me in prison. I can’t stand the thought of it. I won’t last a month! No! A week! A DAY! They’ll be bending me over and forcing me to call them their-
“OCTAVIA!!”
The gray mare looked toward her friend as she was setting the colt upon the couch. “Mind giving me a hoof here. He’s really hurt and stuff.”
With a sheepish girl the mare made her way to the unicorn’s side. “You mean he’s alive. But what happened to him? Oh dear. How did he get so hurt? And his cutiemark! Who would do such a thing to a poor creature?”
“Don’t know. No clue. Buck me if I know. Just get me some towels and bandages quick. Oh and the alcohol.”
Octavia did as she was told returning shortly with the items she had been tasked with gathering.
Vinyl pop the cork of the bottle and poured it over the gash on the side of his flank that held the ruined cutie mark, slowly moving upwards toward the rest of his body. The colt cringed with pain at the touch of the cold liquid mercilessly being blanketed over him. He still seemed to be coherent to pain if not a little out of it.
“Ha! I knew it! He is epic!” With a smile she began to tenderly pat the areas with the towel. He moved only slightly with each touch but seemed to calm down when she kept at it. “There that wasn’t so bad was it? Now let’s wrap ya up.”
She took the bandges in her hooves and began to gently but firmly wrap the colt’s body, being sure to leave open where needed.
Octavia stared in slight wonderment at her friends work. “Vinyl…where did you learn to do this…?”
The DJ smiled broadly. “Tavi. In my line of work injury is just a simple formality in the long scheme of it all.”
“Vinyl…you’re a DJ…”
“Exactly!” With her point nowhere near made the eggshell pony slowly slipped the colt onto her back and began to make her way toward the stairs.
“V-Vinyl?” Octavia called after her, following her friend. “Where are you going?! You did well with bandaging him up but we need to take him to the hospital!”
Vinyl gave a shake of her head. “No can do Tavi. Don’t trust hospitals.” She looked toward the colt. “Besides whatever did this might know that he’s still alive. Can’t have them finding him there now can we.”
“B-but if you think that somepony did this to him then don’t you think that he might be dangerous or something?”
Vinyl looked back at her friend with a smile that told volumes about how she felt about it. Despite that she voiced her reason all the same.
“I know right. He might just add the DUB to my STEP in the never ending party that has come to be known as Ponyville.”
Octavia’s eye twitched ever so slightly as she followed her foolish friend to her room. “Dear Celestia…all I wanted was for her to learn a lesson…”
-…-You…are the key…the key to it all…
Are sure you want gray pony?
His mark is all the proof I need…
He…is young -…-
…Your…abilities…He could not…
He does not need to handle it. He needs only to be used…
He could destroy…
Counting on it…
~
The stallion instantly shot up, but not from the dream he had just experience like one would expect, but from the loud noise he could only described as wub-dubs filling the room. The sound was so potent that it started to rock the bed he was laying in…or was laying in. He had instantly found himself upon the floor due to the amount of whatever it was that was shaking the house being much too extreme for it to contain it directly.
It was then that he found that pain was not something he liked very much.
He grunted and cringed over in an attempt to pacify his screaming body. The sound, or rather the extremity of the music caused his brain to rattle inside of the colts head.
It wasn’t until he heard some form of yelling and the booms hastily being switched off, when he could final rest with some ease. The sound of something rushing up a flight of stairs and the feeling of his head instantly getting smacked upon by the door ended that paradise however.
“What the? Oh my goodness!!” The colt felt something trying to lift him back up. It felt soft…and well groomed. “Now look what you did Vinyl!!” Her voice sounded sophisticated. More than likely high class in origin.
“Me?! I’m not the one who gave him a concussion!” The other voice seemed to be the complete opposite of the former, though he could tell that they were both female in tone.
“Just shut up and help me!” The Sophisticated voice snapped.
He was gently lifted by four pairs of hooves back onto the bed. In his daze he could feel something gripping his head and turning it around gently. “Check to see if any of his wounds opened up.” The voice with the clearly heavy accent ordered. “Tell me…how many hooves am I holding up?”
The colt eyes started to focus and he could final concentrate on the one that had spoken to him. It was a female pony, gray in color with a long silky black mane. She seemed to have eyes that where gentle and so much so full of concern. When she repeated her question he answered her, his voice sounding peculiar to him, dry with both disuse and fatigue.
“O-one… “
Though to be fair. He thought to himself afterward. A horse only has four hooves.
“Hang on buddy I’ll get ya something for that.” He watched the retreating flank of the white mare that had entered with the gray one. He had quickly taken note of her appearance as she left for her task. Her two tone blue hair was quite the interesting sight, as well as the pair of magenta shades she had over her eyes. He could tell that she was concerned for his wellbeing. Even so he could not help but notice the excitement within her tone as well.
He nearly jumped as he felt the gray mare pull the covers off his body. He looked down to see that he was covered in bandages from hoof to hips. Well not fully covered but well so enough for him to believe that he must have been hurt pretty badly somehow. She placed a hoof over the white cloth that covered that bandaged his belly. The feel of her hoof felt warm as she did so.
“Hmmm you don’t seem to have ripped any of your bandages.” The gray mare sighed with relief. “And none of your wounds seemed to have opened up either.” She looked up towards him and blushed brightly at the position she was in. She was extremely close to him to him, more specifically her muzzle was nearly touching his chest. He was looking down at her, his eyes barely blinking with a curious expression upon his face.
“Are you ok?” He asked in soft tone.
“I-I…Ah…I mean…”
“Hey, you can get all cuddly with him later Tavi. Don’t you think he needs to rest more before he has any mare sleeping with him.”
The gray mare blushed even brighter as she turned to face the white one. “VINYL!!”
The one named Vinyl just smirked as she trotted into the room, the horn he had failed to notice before glowing in a red glow, a glass of water wrapped in the same glow floated beside her. When the cup floated towards him, he looked at it and then to her and then to it again before reaching out with his hooves to grip the glass. Tilting it, the downed the contents a bit too quickly and ended up having a coughing fit in the process. The gray mare, Tavi, patted his back gently, her blush have not quite gone yet.
“You must take it easy dear. You’ve been…well…asleep for three days straight. Though that’s not surprising due to you almost being on the brink of death.”
He looked toward the mare with wide eyes and then down towards his half empty cup. “Three days? I was asleep for three days? And I nearly died?” His voice seemed to feel a whole lot better with the added effect of water.
“yeah dude.” Vinyl responded, plopping her flank upon a chair in the room. She kicked her hind hooves up and set them to rest upon the bed, crossing them in the process. “You’re lucky I was out and about last night or else you would have been…” She raised a hoof and drew it across her throat making a “Skkkkiiittt” noise. “So who are you? What happened?”
“I don’t know.” He looked away from the mare. “I don’t remember.”
“Whoa…Really?” At his nod she leaned back and whistled. “Epic. So you don’t remember anything? Not even you name?”
He closes his eyes at her question. His thoughts shifted towards the dream he had. Three figures had been present, or at least he thought he saw two figures since only three voices could be heard. Each voice seemed to irritate him for some reason. One sound female and the other two being male. Did something happen to him and if so did it involve the voices? He was not sure. He could barely make out anything that the dream gave him except one thing.
Turning to the mares he spoke up again. “I…Don’t remember...” He shook his head. “I might be Gray…”
“Gray?” Tavi repeated. “Is that your name? Gray?”
“It could be. I remember being called that once.” He hung his head down. “It’s all a blur so I don’t remember a whole lot however, so I could be wrong.”
“Well I can defiantly see you being named Gray.” Vinyl lifted one of his forelegs and began to stroke the fur. “Kind of an odd, being named after a color, but hey, we have a pink pony named Pinkie Pie living in town so, what eves! Speaking of which…” Vinyl flew to the curtain and pulled it open, letting a splash of sunlight into the room.
“Welcome to Ponyville Gray! Let me give ya the Grand tour!!”
