“There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.”
She ran, her heart hammering in her chest. Why? How had it come to this? How had it come to her fleeing down dark alleyways in Canterlot. Creatures chasing her, creatures that belonged in fairy tales. They lived only in books and horror films; they couldn’t be real. But here she was.... How had they found her?
A Few Months’ Time Ago
A young mare was sitting at a table outside a small cafe on the corner of a busy street. She sipped tea as she looked over the paper, her violet eyes skimming the help wanted ads. Her delicate hooves glided over the paper, a small frown on her muzzle. She was slender, a clean polished grey coat of fur covering her body. Around her neck was a thin strip of white leather that was held together by a small pink bow tie. Her long black mane, combed perfectly, hung over the back of the chair, almost touching the ground. She never cut her hair, expect to trim off the edges. She was the picture of perfection- at least, that was what she looked like. It was far from how she felt.
But why was a mare with such class looking in the help wanted ads? A mare of her stature surely didn't need to be looking for a job. She looked like the executive of a global cooperation. How had it come to this?
Her name was Octavia Melody. She was a mare born and raised in the lap of luxury. Her parents worked on the city council, as the right and left hoof of the financial advisor. They knew everything about the city's costs and expenses. Her parents had been arranged to be married as young age, both sides wanting to gain power in the royal court.
Under pressure, her parents married sooner than planned, their families wanting a grandchild sharing blood. Somepony they could start molding into their plans as soon as possible. When Octavia was born, she only spent the first three years of her life in her family home as a foal before being forced on the path planned out for her.
Every day she was she was up with the sun - her parents frowned on her sleeping in, even if she didn't have classes or practice that day. She was taught early on that there was no room for love or for fun. Every day was meant to be filled with hard work and dedication.
As a child she first fought her parents, not wanting to give up her time to play. She wanted to meet mew people and gain new friend. But her parents crushed those dreams, telling her she was the child of two of the most important families in the city and that she could never be caught doing anything that would make them look bad.
All she had wanted as a child was her parents’ approval in anything she did, but even if she completely threw herself into her studies, they never seemed to praise her or think she was good enough. She was just a pawn in their master plan to run the city, even if they ran it behind Celestia's back.
Octavia was turning twenty-three this year, but in her mind you would think she was a much older mare. She had the ability to speak more languages than most people could list. She could play any instrument put in front of her. But she preferred her cello. Over anything, she had even succeeded in becoming lead cellist for the Canterlot orchestra when she was seventeen, the youngest to have lead chair in the orchestra’s history. But even then it wasn't good enough for her family.
She had to be better, she had to know more than anyone else. If someone said she couldn’t she would prove them wrong. But that night had stricken her from her family history books and cast her aside.
The gala... The event that ruined her life. If she had said no, if she had refused, she would still be on the top. But no... she had played that song, that damn childish song!
The gala had fallen apart. Nopony knew what happened or how it happened, but it all started with the damned song, then the statue of Celestia fell, the pillars fell apart, the animals stampeded!
No one could believe the mess the Gala had become.
The song was the only thing that ponies could find similar between all the stories from all those who had attended the event. Octavia and her fellow orchestra members had been blamed for the event. Ponies claimed that the destruction must have been planned, to ruin the event and make fools of all the ponies there.
Her life went downhill from there. Cast out from the quartet, she was left to find another group to play with, but no one would give her a chance. They all feared that her tarnished reputation would harm their own.
Her family did not take well to this either, excommunicating her until she could prove she wasn’t responsible for the gala incident. Her finances were cut off and now she was on the verge of being homeless. With her parents refusing her phone calls, and her bank account empty, she had done the unthinkable - she had started looking for entry level work just to pay her bills.
She had gone to several interviews, but all had turned her down. It seemed her parents had gone out of their way to make sure she was going to prove herself.
Getting up from her table, she paid her bill and started down the street. she was now going to the final option on her list, an ad posted looking for a secretary. Somepony to just deal with the paper work and tend the books. It sounded simple enough.
As she headed towards the address, she re-read the ad. What kind of business ran from eight at night to three in the morning? She soon had the answer to her question, as she arrived at the building. It was a club. She gritted her teeth - was she really going to work in a club? Had she fallen so low?
Yes. She had. She had to try, she needed to have somewhere to sleep.
Octavia took a deep breath, her mind was racing. Would she be good enough? Would she be rejected again? letting out the breath she knocked on the large black door, she took a step back, and the door opened slowly. A tall muscular stallion took a step outside and looked down at Octavia. He completely towered over her, making her feel like she was nothing but a speck of dust under his muzzle.
“You answering the ad?” he asked, his words soft and gruff, blinking several times. Octavia nodded her head, unable to form words. She had never seen somepony so tall. Guess it’s the perfect task for him to be a bouncer at a night club.
“Come in then.” He took a few steps back, keeping the door open for Octavia. “Go straight down to the end of the hall, up the stairs and down the hall again. The last door on the left. Knock and somepony will let you in,” he said as he thrust his hoof, directing her down to the hall. Nodding, she started towards the hall. Looking around, her eyes grew wide with surprise.
Who knew a club could be so surprisingly clean. Octavia had always thought that clubs where covered in dirt and grime, that they were filled with nothing but drunks and drug users. That during the day management spent their time cleaning up the people who had passed out on the floors or overdosed in the bathroom. But not this place.
Walking down the long hall, looking around and unaware of the things around her, she let a small yelp as a black stallion abruptly shoved her to the side, muttering under his breath about the idiotic mare. She had no idea what the stallions problem was.
Reaching the end of the hall, Octavia knocked on the door. It was now or never. I must remain calm and collected. No matter what pony lies behind this door I must get this job. She closed her eyes for a moment as she took a few deep breaths, she hated waiting.
“I can't take this much longer. These rules and laws controlling our movements are getting out of hoof. We should be the ones running the show, not our food. We are the master, we have the power and we should show it!”
A stallion slammed his hooves on the desk in front of him, his red eyes glowing in the dark. His short silver mane was combed back, his body was covered in black fur that looked as if it had been polished. But all in all he looked to just be a earth pony, but he was far from it.
He was sitting across from a large black leather chair, the back of it facing him. A voice came from behind it. “Why do you always want to fight about such things? They’re mortals. They’re weak and they’re our food. We let them live blissfully unaware of us so we can live our lives the way we want. If we took control, then we would have to babysit more then anything, making sure they didn't rebel against us or try and overthrow our kind.”
The chair turned around slowly to reveal a mare who looked to be the opposite of the stallion in front of her. She had shaggy hair that was dyed blue with an electric blue streak in it. Her coat was pure white. On top of her head, slightly hidden by her mane, was a white unicorn horn.
“I prefer being able to do what I want when I want and how I want. I don't want to have to baby sit my food.” The mare’s voice was strong, defined and clear to the point.
He proceeded to stand up, staring at the mare eye to eye - or he would be, if her purple shaded glasses didn't block her eyes.
“We are vampires Vinyl! The masters of the night and the hunters of mortals! Why do you defend cattle?!”
A small grin appeared on Vinyl's lips. “Because it amuses me to annoy you, and as long as I refuse to help you, the longer my entertainment goes on. I get to enjoy life like this club, I get to make the “cattle”, as you call them dance, and when I want I can take one to my back room and have them all to myself” The grin grew bigger, although her voice stayed serious - she enjoyed pissing this stallion off.
The stallion glowered as her tried to stare the mare down. He knew it was pointless with her wearing glasses, but he refused to back down. “How your father approves of you is beyond my reasoning, You play with your food while I seek to take control of this world and make it ours!” He was now yelling, and the grin vanished from Vinyl's face.
“You seek power and nothing more. You can't handle that you've always been second best to my family. My father had your father under his thumb and it drove you mad. You even tried to convince me to marry you to gain power. You’re worthless, Night Terror, and you always will be.
“We tried to take over once. It cost us our friends or family and our true power was sent to the moon! Or are you not educated enough to remember tour history lessons?” A smirk flashing across her muzzle“Now get out of my office! I have things to attend to before I open this place tonight.”
“This is not over, Vinyl. I will get what I want and I will find a way to get you to see things my way.” He muttered under his breath, before slamming the door as he left and storming down the hall.
Sighing, Vinyl lifted up her shades revealing her soft pink eyes. She was a strong mare, but even she had her limits, and the more that Night terror was around her, the more she was tempted to rip out his throat. He had been born into the second strongest vampire family and she was born from the first. The two of them had been raised by two very different standards of life. Well, standards on the lives of ponies, at least.
Yes, she was a vampire, and she was proud of it. She was one of the last pure bloods born. Slowly but surely, her kind were dying. With less and less pure bloods around, reproduction of her kind had turned to changing ponies. But many ponies didn't survive the change, going insane from the mental strain or dying from blood loss before the toxin could change them completely.
Night terror's family believed that vampires should be running ponykind like they were animals, taking complete control of their world. That way they could start seeking strong hosts to change, so their kind could survive. But Vinyl’s family preferred to let the ponies live unaware of their kind. Her father didn't want war. He would rather just have them seek out strong ponies to change. But he was getting weak. His time was almost over and soon it would be left to her to take over her father's place.
Looking out the large window she put her shades down. The sun was just starting to set. The sun…. It burned against her body and caused a minor annoyance, but she did enjoy watching the sun set. Her kind was much different from the ones mention in the books and on T.V. They didn't burst into flames when the sun touched them. Instead, it slowly started to melt away the layers of their skin and muscle tissue, until they were nothing but dust. The older they got, the longer they could stand in the sun without it burning them instantly.
They still lusted for blood - that never changed - but they could go long periods of time without it. Vinyl prided herself on the fact she was stronger than most. She could go almost two months without seeking a single drop.
It wasn't the fact that she needed blood to survive that bothered her. It was the fact that she lost control once. And losing control had made her see how much of a monster she really could be. That face would always haunt her mind....
Pulled from her thoughts by a knocking on her door, she looked over her shoulder. At first she thought it was Night Terror back to give her another piece of his mind. But her nose stopped her as a soft fragrance hit it. This was not Night Terror, nor was it a stallion... It was mare. A very young... sweet-smelling... mare.
Shaking her head to push those thoughts from her mind, she cleared her throat quickly. “Come in.” She turned to face the door as she watched it open.
She was glad to be wearing her shades at the time. her eyebrows raised in appreciation as the mare walked into the room. Vinyl smiled at the mare as she walked over, extending her hoof. “Hey, name's Vinyl Scratch! Or DJ Pon-3 when I'm on stage!” Her serious voice was gone, replaced with the tone of a jokester, someone who didn't seem to have a serious bone in their body.
“I'm Melody, Octavia Melody . I’m seeking out the person in charge. I wanted to see if I could apply for the job in the paper,” she answered as she took the mare’s hoof, shaking it softly. Looking the mare over, she found herself a little confused. This mare didn't look like she was old enough to even be in an office.
“Well you’re looking at her girly! I'm the man in charge in this fine building!” She smiled as she walked over to the desk, gesturing for Octavia to follow, offering the chair for the girl to sit. “I bought this place a week ago and I'm currently getting it all set, so we should be opening up tonight!” She smiled as she sat down herself and leaned on her desk, looking over the mare in front of her, a playful grin gracing her face.
“I see. Well then I guess I should give you this,” Octavia mumbled, a small blush covering her cheek as she felt the mare's eyes on her. Pulling out her resume, she hoofed it to the mare.
Vinyl took it and looked it over quickly, taking in the little bits of information she needed. “So you know how to run books and deal with basic paper work?” Blinking, Vinyl looked at Octavia.
“Well Octy, you seem a little overqualified to be working a simple desk job. So why are you applying here?” She was genuinely confused. A girl with this kind of pedigree didn't take a crap job like this unless they had to.
Biting her lower lip, Octavia looked up at Vinyl, slightly glad that the mare was wearing shades. She could at least hold on to some blind hope that the mare wasn't looking at her like an idiot.
“I have found myself in a bit of predicament. I'm at the point of just needing a job to pay my bills and I'm applying everywhere just to get something under my belt, until more jobs open up in my preferred field ” She would leave out the Gala at all costs. It would be the last thing she used if she had to.
Nodding softly, Vinyl leaned back in her chair and thought for a few moments. Looking back at Octavia, she said, “well, this position is for a secretary. You will be the one running numbers and telling me where the money is going, if were are losing it or making it. You will be working the most hours since you will be the one here when all the alcohol deliveries come in, making sure every dime is checked and double-checked.” Setting down Octavia’s resume, a soft magical aura covered Vinyl’s horn. Soon a small black binder appeared from a drawer of the desk and landed softly on the desk in front of Octavia.
“This is what the last girl who applied tried to pass off as bookkeeping. A small binder with ten pages. She was quickly rejected. I want details and I want as many as I can get.” She grinned as she leaned forward on the desk again. “I will put it to you simply. When I'm on stage being the DJ, I don't want to think about numbers. I want to be able to focus on making people dance, so it will be your job to answer my questions when I ask them.”
Octavia couldn't believe the mare in front of her. She looked like nothing but a comedian. She was talking serious business about hiring workers and running a business, but she looked like she didn’t really care. How does someone deal with a person that they can't analyze to a proper extent? She couldn't tell if the mare was serious or joking.
“I'll do it,” Octavia replied.
“Are you sure? Cause if I call you and say I don't like the color, guess who gets to fix it?” She smiled as she grabbed a small folder.
“I'm sure. It's just basic paper work and math. I'm sure I can walk circles around it and print it off in every color you can think of.” Octavia smiled softly, feeling a little more confident.
“Then welcome aboard Octy.” Vinyl smile as she magically passed the new employee folder to the girl while extending her hoof again.
As Vinyl leaned across the desk her eyes flashed to their blood red coloring, thankfully hidden under her glasses. Her eyes widened as a thought crossed her mind.
‘Why does she smell so good?...’
Octavia smiled and shook the mare's hoof, taking the folder as well, the thought ‘This should interesting...’ never leaving the front of her mind.