Two mares in the underworld

Octavia followed Night Shade through the kitchen and into the living room. It had a similar layout to Morts cave, but had a coffee table between the armchair and sofa, and a television on the mantle. Midnight Rose, Vinyl, and Mooney were sitting on the sofa while Flare was on her sisters back. Night Shade sat down on the armchair while Surprise condensed a cloud from thin air. Octavia squeezed her way in between Midnight and Vinyl, a little snug but not too uncomfortable. After a few teacups levitated to everypony (except Surprise, who pulled a milkshake out of her mane), Night Shade started talking.

"First things first Vinyl and Octavia, you should see the aftermath of you two dyeing." Night Shade flicked his horn and the television flickered to life, showing a large mass of ponies in front of Vinyl and Octavias house.

"At about 9:30 this morning, the bodies of Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Philharmonica were found in their home. The paramedics have not revealed the times of death or how they died. But from what little information I have gathered, the two mares were drinking away their sorrows due to a small incident that had happened at a small get-together Sir Fancy Pants was conducting. This has been confirmed by the party guests and Prince Blueblood, which the Prince had requested that both bodies be sent out of the country for unspecified reasons. This was denied unanimously by Princess Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and the elements of harmony. And finally on a sad and closing note, this reporter can say that Equestria has not only lost two wonderful ponies, but sparks in the musical world have gone out, and the community is weeping for their loss."

A couple of ponies raised their hooves to the sky as they turned away from two covered gurneys being pulled out of the house. One had a styalized mouse mask on, one had a tombstone with headphones for a cutie mark, and another had his mane combed to one side with it being a little spikey.

"DJ PON3 parties forever now!" They exclaimed.

The screen flickered back into lifelessness as two saddlebags floated over to the cellist and DJ. Both of them opened the saddlebags and found a small assortment of different goods. The same book that Octavia had been reading was in both bags as well as a map, a few hundred bits, some sort of spike-like pendant, and small note inside.

"All that you'll need to start out is in those bags. Normally you wouldn't get the pendant, but since you two are friends of Mort, you got them." Night Shade pulled out a pendant that everyone else had. The pendants glowed different colors, each one similar to each ponies coat. "These are a special design that only the horses of the apocalypse and the royal family can give or have." Night Shades pendant turned an inky black, and the next thing that happened astonished Vinyl and Octavia. A black crow appeared out of Night Shades shadow, small black wisps coming off of it every few seconds. It landed like a feather on his shoulder, cooing softly as Night Shade nuzzled the crow. "This is Shadow, my familiar. He's technically a piece of my soul, but still has a mind of his own. Each familiar is a reflection of its owner, but there are certain requirements. Midnight, would you mind taking over?" He asked.

"Certainly not, my love." Midnight said as her pendant glowed a deep red. Two black bat wings poked out of her mane, causing Vinyl and Octavia to assume that her familiar was a bat. But what came out wasn't what they expected. A small red bunny hopped onto Midnights back, scratching its ear with its front paw. It clearly looked like it was half bat along with being a bunny, it even had small fangs.

"Aawwwww." Vinyl picked up the bunny and started hugging it like it was a plushie. "This little guy is just adorable! She looks like she came straight out of an anime!"

"She is cute, isn't she? Her name is Fluffy." Midnight giggled. "Now, each pony has different requirements that they must fulfill before the pendant creates your familiar. For me and Night Shade, our requirements involved our will to pull through the obstacles we faced in life and death." As Midnight talked, Shadow flew over to Fluffy and cooed at her. The bunny responded by wrapping the crow into a hug with her paws.

Vinyl put a hoof to her chest as she made a cringing sound.

"What is it Vinyl?" Octavia asked.

"The adorableness, it's too much!" Vinyl looked like she was having a heart attack. "I don't think I can take it."

Octavia just rolled her eyes as Midnight continued talking."As I was saying, each pony is different with their requirements. You don't even need the pendant after you get your familiar, but it acts like a beacon to where you need to go. Sometimes it creates a small trail for you to follow, like breadcrumbs that lead you to home." Midnight nodded to Surprise as she started sipping her tea.

Surprise understood what Midnight meant, and she slowly floated her cloud to the ground as a lavender and blonde aura surrounded her wings. When she finally reached the ground and walked over to Vinyl and Octavia, a lavender and blonde blob started flying over her head. "Sometimes in order to find your familiar, you need to actually see what happens after you die." The blob finally took shape, revealing a blonde and lavender hummingbird energetically orbiting her head. "When I got hear, I was very sad because I thought of how I left all my friends and family and thought I would never be happy again. But then Mort showed me how much I mattered to the ponies that I held dear, they weren't even sad that I had died. They just thought about all the good times we had." The hummingbird slowly made its way onto Surprises mane and made a small nest for itself. "When I saw how happy my friends and family were because of me, this little guy appeared. He represents how much happiness I brought everypony. It was sooo much that even after I died, they were happy because of the time I spent with them."

After Surprise stopped talking, Vinyl and Octavia looked over to Mooney and Flare, expecting two familiars to pop out at any moment. All that really happened were two mares looking at two alicorns with reddening cheeks.

"Yes, well...." Mooney started. "We don't have familiars yet. From what we've gathered, finding your familiar can happen at any time, or any place."

Vinyl and Octavia then looked at their pendants, then at everypony else. All eyes were on them, waiting for the moment they put on their pendants. Both mares sighed as they put on there pendants, mentally breathing a sigh of relief as they felt everyponies eyes slowly drift off of them. At first they felt nothing, but then they felt a small warmth. Not enough to make wick burn, but a tiny spark of life.

Octavia could feel the spark growing and moving inside the pendant like water, smoothly flowing from one end to the other. As the spark grew into a small flame, Her pendant started to glow an oak brown. She didn't know why, but she felt at ease, a certain calmness flowing over her. The only other time she felt like this was when she showed others the beauty of her cello.

Vinyl Scratch felt the same spark grow in her pendant, but it was completely different. The spark grew into a constantly changing flame moving to a rhythm it could only hear. The flame glowed erratically a tri-color of neon blue, white, and magenta. Vinyl could feel her blood pumping, an adrenaline rush taking hold, and her head slowly bobbing to a non existent beat. She closed her eyes and could faintly hear the chanting of a long dissolved crowd.

"Vinyl,Vinyl,Vinyl,Vinyl,Vinyl,Vinyl,Vinyl,Vinyl,Vinyl!"

"Vinyl!Vinyl!"

Vinyl was snapped out of her nostalgia by Octavia yelling into her ear, nearly blowing a hole into it.

"what was that for?" Vinyl asked.

"You feel asleep and started drooling on my shoulder." Octavia pointed to he moist shoulder. She then looked over to Night Shade. "Sorry about that, Night Shade, as you were saying?"

Night Shade continued talking, but Vinyl really wasn't listening, instead she was looking at a very odd sight. Right in the middle of the table stood a small, lime green flame. Vinyl couldn't explain why, but the flame seemed to call out to her, beckoning her to follow. She reached out to the flame, only for it to move towards the door. Vinyl got up and followed it, oblivious to the confused stares she was getting.

"Vinyl, what are you doing?" Octavia asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going after that flame." Vinyl pointed to a bare spot on the ground as if she was staring at something that wasn't there. She then snapped her head towards the front door. "Come back little guy!" And with that, she dashed out of the living room, through the kitchen, and out the front door.

"Vinyl, wait!" Octavia along with the rest of the living rooms occupants chased after Vinyl, almost losing sight of her when they exited Necromancers Delight. "Where did she go!?" Octavia looked around the busy street for her marefriend.

"Over there!" Surprise yelled, spotting a light and neon blue tail disappearing around a corner. "I'll meet you in a few block, I've got to get something!" And with that, she took off over the houses.

Now with the group down to five, the three ponies and two Alicorns could only see Vinyls tail as she rounded every corner. When they finally reached main street, they saw that Vinyl was heading down the middle. They were all starting to feel the effects of exhaustion take over their bodies, slowing down to catch their breath.

"Why.......are we........ having to............catch our...........breaths. We're.........dead." Octavia said between gasps of air.

"I'll tell you.......later." Night Shade said. "How does............that mare run..........so fast?"

"She's a DJ." Octavia said, finally slowing her breathing to a normal pace. "She gets an adrenaline rush almost every gig she does. And on top of that she used to run track in grade school." Octavia looked down the street at the slowly shrinking DJ. "You would need a miracle to catch up with her on hoof."

"You called?" Surprise exclaimed as she floated down with a very familiar object on two wheels. "Who wants to be a living cannon ball?!" She asked.

Octavia looked at the cannon and walked over to it. "I'll do it. But I better not be blown to bits!" She said. As Surprise helped Octavia into the cannon, Octavia was able to see the differences between This one and Pinkie Pies. For starters, it was made out of wood and had a fuse instead of a button. And it looked like it used a lot of gunpowder.

"Ready?" Surprise asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Octavia replied. She heard the fuse being lit and hoped that this worked.

The next thing she knew, Octavia was shooting towards Vinyl at an incredible speed that made her eyes water. When she was finally a mere inch or to away from Vinyl, fate decided to intervene and put a lamp post in front of Octavia. As Octavia held her head in her hooves, She could see Vinyl trotting towards a large forest as she kept trying to catch whatever she was after. Octavia got up and starting wobbling over to the forest, but was stopped by a couple of hooves holding her back. When she turned to the hooves owners, they belonged to none other than Night Shade and Midnight Rose. (Which had used the same transportation Octavia did.)

"You can't go into the forest!" Night Shade said, panic making its way into his voice.

"Why not?" Octavia asked, still trying to go after Vinyl.

"That place isn't safe during the day, we'll have to come back later." Midnight told Octavia.

Octavia just looked at the forest, a sense of dread filling her. "Vinyl, if I find you, your going to have Hell to pay."

Vinyl kept on chasing after the flame completely oblivious to her environment. The small flame finally stopped, and Vinyl practically tackled it.

"Gotcha!" She held the little flame in her hoof for a few moments before taking in her surroundings. "Where are we?" She asked the tiny flame.

"I don't know, I thought we were playing tag." The flame flickered as it gave its response. It's voice even sounded like a small fillies.

"Whoa, you can talk?" Vinyl asked.

"I guess so."The flame said.

"Well then, I guess we should look for a way out now." Vinyl said as she put the flame on her shoulder. She looked around and saw a large spire in the distance. "I guess that place could have somepony." She started walking towards the castle before stopping again. "I was wondering, what's your name? Cause I don't think calling you 'little guy' is a really good idea."

"Hmmm." The filly sounding flame flickered as she thought. "I don't have a name, I guess."

"Well then, how about I call you....." Vinyl scrunched her nose as she thought of a perfect name. "Flicker!"

"Why Flicker?" The flame asked.

"Because every time you talk you flicker. Do you like it?" Vinyl asked.

"Yeah!" Flicker said. "Off to the tower then?" She asked.

"I guess so."

And with that, Vinyl and Flicker walked towards the distant spire, completely oblivious to the dark violet eyes watching them from the darkness.