The Hollow Kingdom of Octavia

Exhibit D

"Vinyl, what is this?"

It is a den of thieves, a bunker of swindlers, a gathering of deviants, a party of wrong-doers, a potash of unsavory characters, an amalgamation of the most crooked ponies in Canterlot, a mess really. Vinyl is in the middle of this mess, this bloody mess no less. She doesn't have a speck of blood it on her, but that is beside the point. Vinyl puts her friends' worries at ease concerning Octavia, but she still takes her aside into Octavia's room to sort through things. She has a lot of explaining to do, but Octavia can't even look her in the face.

"It's complicated." Vinyl's first words do nothing to comfort Octavia. Blood and drugs hardly ever lead to simple situations, but for Vinyl to say the situation is complicated means much more than just a few tangled ropes. No, Octavia realizes she has walked in on what may very well be a huge conspiracy in the making. Despite this, Vinyl still seems pretty chill.

"You didn't kill anypony, did you?" Octavia asks, but this is a mistake even if it is a mistake she was bound to make anyways. Vinyl's eyes dart elsewhere for a split second. "Vinyl?!"

"I didn't kill anyone."

"Vinyl!"

"It's complicated." Indeed it is, and Vinyl knows it. Even from the inside, the situation is a complete and utter disaster. She knows it must look even worse from outside where Octavia is standing. "Things went south at the club tonight. There were guards and fighting and whatnot. These guys won't be here very long. It's just until we're sure things have cooled off enough for them to get back to their normal hidey-holes."

"How long is that going to take?" Octavia's composure is pretty much gone. She is on the verge of hyperventilating, but a strong desire to regain control of the current situation and her entire life by extension keeps her from tipping over the line of hysteric panic.

"They're going to head out in a half-hour, so don't worry about it." Vinyl puts a reassuring hoof on her friend's shoulder. "And the pony I said I was going to put up here has to change his plans now, so you don't have to worry about that either. It'll be fine as long as we keep this on the down low."

This is not the first time Vinyl has made such a request of Octavia, which should not be surprising. The only difference was this time Octavia could tell Vinyl was hiding something from her. There were details she was leaving out. Octavia thinks Vinyl may be omitting certain details to protect her, but Octavia is a grown mare. Octavia doesn't need protecting.

"Vinyl, if these ponies have done something wrong, we need to go to the authorities!" Her plea falls on deaf ears.

"No way! These guys are my buds," Vinyl tells her friend. "Just look the other way for me, please! I'll take care of it."

Octavia does not want to look the other way. She wants to turn the criminals in and wash her hooves of this incident. She wouldn't betray Vinyl, who she still believes is innocent in all of this, but these strangers are another matter. If they have to pay for their crimes in order for Octavia to return to her normal, peaceful life then so be it.

On the other hoof, Octavia wouldn't betray Vinyl. If Vinyl says she's going to take care of it, she is going to take care of it. She always takes care of it, and heaven forbid Octavia consider what should happen if she doesn't. At the end of the day, Octavia is smaller than the crisis facing her. If Vinyl says she'll confront this beast, how could she say no?

"A few minutes... and that'll be it, right? This will be behind us?" Octavia asks, casting her gaze back into her friend's eyes to see them betraying their master again. This is not good and neither is the long pause that follows. "...Vinyl?"

"There's one other thing."

"Vinyl!"

"The brass won't look here!"

"Vinyl?!" Octavia finds herself in a sort of misty haze. Vinyl keeps talking, but Octavia can't even listen to herself right now. The feeling is somewhere between disgusted and optimistic; she's undecided. Before Vinyl's door, she can sense the calamity trying to rip the thing off its hinges. Maybe it's the bloodstains or lack of light under the door that tips her off, but perhaps in her panic she just arrived at a sort of clarity.

The door swings open and sucked all the sound out of the world. There is some unicorn, white and black and blue, lashed to the corners of the four post bed. He is blindfolded, gagged, and Octavia's worst case scenario put to shame.

"It's Shining Armor." Vinyl reveals this straight-out. "We drugged him, so he won't struggle too much. We're not sure why he was there tonight, but he found us out somehow. The guys are too afraid to put a royal in the ground, but they don't want to let him snitch either. We're just going to keep nice and safe here for a little while, alright? It's all under control."

These details, while interesting, never reach Octavia. She passes out, but who could blame her? She has something like a fever dream before she conks out completely.

"Did you spill blood tonight?" Octavia asks a phantom that looks kinda like Vinyl with hollow pits for eyes. This Vinyl is able to smile and tell the truth.

"I prefer to release more pleasurable fluids, frankly."

Octavia doesn't know what she means or if it even answers the question, but her last lucid thought is that she would have to be crazy to try and suss out reality from a hallucination.