The New Talent

Chapters

Prologue
The Day Before
The Day Of
The Day Of: Part 2
The Faithful Night
The Faithful Night: Part 2
Thief
Hostage Situation
A Simple Night
Revelation
Safe House
First Night On The Run
An Unexpected Visitor
A Friendly Discussion

Prologue

The night was cool, dark, and strangely still. The stars shone brightly, and the moon cast an everlong glow along the landscape. The view of the royal city was magnificent. It could even be described as ethereal. The only problem was, this wasn't the place of which the new pony had appeared. The place of which this... "Interesting" pony emerged from.The particular place this stallion emerged was much, much smaller, and considerably more humble than Canterlot. The place this extraordinary stallion came from was, in fact, the quant town of Ponyville.

Vinyl had spent the whole day with the talent scouts, searching in every nook and cranny for some new tallent. It was taking an unbelievable amount of time to find someone who was at least adaquete at music. Someone that had some musical talent.

"Come on Vinyl, we're off to the next area." Vinyl sighed and nodded to this particular scout.

"Alright, I'm coming. Just lemme' finish my drink." She took a large swig from her glass, finishing off the alcohol.

"Isn't it a bit early to be drinking anyway?".

"How 'bout you sit around town all day looking through terrible singers Truff'."

Scowling, he responded "Didn't I ask you not to call me that?".

"I guess you would rather have me use your full name then, Truffles.", Vinyl said teasingly with a not-so-well hidden smirk. A few chuckles were heard after some heads turned to find the one with the hilarious name 'Truffles'.

"As if enough people haven't heard that.. I really need to get it changed" He complained.

"Oh come on, it isn't that bad. Besides, your parents did expect you to be a girl." Vinyl said this with a certain teasing tone that made Truffles chuckle.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Now come on, we gotta get out of here if we're going to meet the studio's deadline." Their studio manager had told them that they needed to recruit some new talent because apparently, their show was becoming boring, along with the rest of Vinyl's music. She had acted as if it didn't bother her in the slightest, but it did actually make her somewhat aggrivated. Being told her music was boring wasn't something she took lightly. She'd actually broken her favorite record because she was so upset with her Manager. This had set them on a journey to find some new, amazing pony in ponyville that could appease her Manager.

They made their way out of the bar after making sure there wasn't any ponies they hadn't neglected to find somebody who actually did have talent. She began to walk the streets of ponyville with Truffles for about an hour until they heard the faint sound of hoof clacking. It happened to be somepony making themselves a freestyle sounding beat. They made their way to investigate and to their surpise, it was a blue unicorn sporting similar sun-glasses to Vinyl's, except they were a dark blue, similar to his coat. His coat was one shade of a semi-dark blue, with a white spot on his muzzle that faded into the rest of his color. His mane was what caught Vinyl's attention. It was almost as if it was a reversed style to hers, but it's color's were inverted. She wasn't sure if he was a fan of hers, or it was just two minds thinking alike. Truffles pulled her out of her trance by clearing his throat.

"What is it Truff?" She asked.

"This guy's a poser. I've seen him sit here for hours at a time just hoof-beating. Never once heard him sing, rap, or even beat-box. Nothing." This granted him a distorted look from Vinyl.

"He doesn't look like that kind of pony. I'm gonna go over and listen for a bit, see if he doesn't spit something out."

"But Vinyl he's-" Cutting him off by placing a hoof over his mouth.

"Chill out dude, with all the posers we've seen today what can taking a look at this stallion hurt?" She asked, while giving him a completely nonshalaunt look.

"I.. Fine. Lets make this quick."

'This stallion knows how to hoof-beat' Vinyl thought to herself. 'And he's not too shabby looking either..' Shaking her head to clear those thoughts, she continued to watch the mysterious stallion while approaching.

"I'll wait here, you can go do whatever you want with him over there." Truffles said this with a tinge of bitterness and a quite unpleased look on his face.

"Okay man, I'd rather check him out myself anyway."

'I wouldn't mind being able to throw in a few comments about those looks of his..' She began to walk up to him, and he gave her a look of pure curiosity, although she couldn't tell because of his sun-glasses. When he actually turned her head to face her the only reply she gave was a nod to him and a hoof gesture telling him to continue what he was doing. So he did. While continuing his little hoof-beat session, Vinyl time to admire his looks up close.

His coat was clean, smooth, and (She assumed) it was soft. From a distance she hadn't noticed that his fur didn't reach all the way over his hooves, but it wasn't straight cut. It looked not to grow past that point. Vinyl's eyese drifted to his face inspecting each element of it carefully. He had a slight downward curvature to his mouth, but she assumed it wasn't a frown, but just him concentrating, something she often did when she practiced her hoof-beating to help with a beat for a new song. She noticed that he had a quite sharp point on his horn.

'It must take some serious work to keep that thing in perfect condition. Not even mine comes to a point like that.' She thought to herself, while also making a mental note to ask him about it later. His muzzle was something she hadn't expected.

'The way he was built you would think he would have a smoothed-around muzzle.' This was because of the fact that his body flowed so well with it, that it was just sort of abrubt to see an almost straight muzzle.

'The more I look at it the more attractive he gets.' During this deep inspection of hers, she hadn't realized that he had spead up his hoof-beating and looked to be preparing to start a freestyle.

'This should be good.' She thought.

As he started she began to get an emotional sense of being. "Yo.. Lets do this.

The way things seem in this life,

Nobody has strife,

Nearly as often as they used to.

Nobody wants the magic of music,

Just the magic of friendship,

My career isn't going to kick off.

When I begin to froth

At the mouth,

These ponies will know

To back off.

And I won't have to listen to them scoff,

All over my freestyle's

Personal space.

But I never let it bother me,

Never go too crazy,

I just act like you should be,

Civil as can be.

Like a city of bee's.

You see me,

Came to listen to me too,

I don't have a crew,

Nor do I need one.

I'm just in this for the fun,

Of seeing these ponies smile,

Mares and Stallions

All in a pile,

Of Where they all struggle to get to the top,

And when they fall stumble and flop

They act surprised,

Like they never expected it.

So I just go around and get,

Away from it.

I think I'm done for now,

Just had to show you how I plow,

These lyrics.

I'll let you go now,

Because you haven't looked away from me for this whole thing.

And now we're done."

After he stopped putting out lyrics for Vinyl to hear, he slowly put down the beat, gradually making it lighter and lighter until it just faded out. Vinyl just stared at this mystery stallion. She couldn't believe he was this good. Or at least, she thought he was.

"That was pretty good." She said, trying not to show how impressed she was.

"Thanks." Was all he said. He had a soft rumble to his voice when he wasn't rapping. Vinyl found it quite attractive, and wished to hear more of it.

'I should slow this down, I don't wanna be all over him. I don't even know him.'

"So, What's your name?" Vinyl asked curiously.

"I'm assuming you want my real name?"

"Well yeah! That's the idea man." Vinyl said this with a small smirk on her face, thinking he would take it as a joke, but was surprised when he didn't show even the slightest hint of emotion.

"I would really rather not. I don't know you well enough for that." To this, Vinyl had no words. She just stared at him, attempting to see his eyes through his sun-glasses. After a few moments of this silence Vinyl finally brought up the will to ignore what he said, and ask him

"So what should I call you?". It took him a moment to respond. He seemed to be thinking of what he wanted to be called if it wasn't to be his actaual name.

"Well, I suppose you could call me Dj ShoutOut." Vinyl pondered this for a moment, mulling over the made up name she was to use to identify this ('Quite Fine') stallion. She decided that it would do for now, until she could pry his real name from the the depths of his mind.

Little did she know, that would be harder than she expected.

The Day Before

The Day Before

Since she had met him, Dj ShoutOut that is, Vinyl had been waiting for him to write her, or just to show up at the studio. She had been begun to believe that he wasn't going to take her up on the oppourtunity to get on the "Musical Radar", as she called it. She had almost given up.

'I really hope he shows up, even if he doesn't take make the cut, I still would love to stay in contact...' she thought to herself. She had felt a feeling growing in her. It was like it had started the moment she saw him, spreading from her eyes, straight into her heart. Like a sickness, she felt the feeling take her over. It wasn't very strong, not yet. It was just a mild infatuation, but she had to admit, this stallion had some qualities she rather admired.

'Oh man, he needs to hurry up and get here.'

A sharp knocking pulled Vinyl from her thoughts. She heard it perfectly clearly, although she just stared into space for a few moments. Hearing the knock again she figured she'd aught to answer the door.

'It could be him...'. She pushed herself out from the reception desk she was sitting at, and made her way to the front door of the Studio. When she arrived and opened the sleek oak doors, she was dissapointed to see that it was only the local mail-mare, Derpy.

"Hey Derpy, how's it goin'?" She asked casually.

"Pretty good, thanks for asking!" Said the exctatic mail-mare, with perhaps the largest grin she had seen Derpy flaunt in... well, ever.

"So, why's my fav' mail-mare so happy?" She questioned Derpy out of pure interest, and not because of pity on the wall-eyed mare. Derpy continued to smile broadly and for a moment, looked as if she hadn't heard Vinyl. After a moment, she shook her head and answered Vinyl in a quite jolly tone,

"Oh, nothing really, just another uh.. ordinary day!". Vinyl had decided not to push because she knew from previous experience that Derpy's emotions could change in the blink of an eye, if confronted in a certain way.

"Well, why'd you come to see me at this WONDERFUL studio of mine?". Vinyl asked this with a extremely sarcastic look, and tone, that made Derpy giggle.

"I think I have some mail for you. Usual stuff." Derpy, after stating this, proceeded to shuffle through her mail bag, hanging at her side. She revealed four letters to Vinyl and handed them over.

"Well, that's it! Have a wonderful day Vinyl!" Derpy said enthusiastically.

"You too Derpy, take it easy." Vinyl said this while giving Derpy a genuine smile. She was quite fond of this mare. Not in any intimate ways, she just enjoyed the mare. She was almost like a sister to Vinyl.

Vinyl flipped through the letters curiously, wondering if anything had come from her mysterious stallion friend.

'If I can even call him a friend...'. Seeing that one letter was addressed to the Studio Manager, she tossed it onto the reception desk, not wanting to even think about that marticular stallion at the moment. The mere thought of what he said about her music made her blood boil. Seeing the second letter was addressed to Truffles, for some reason ending up at the studio, she decided she'd take it to his house for him later.

'He never does come to visit me very often.. Heh.' When this thought passed through her mind it formed a small smile on her face. She always did enjoy hanging out with the big lug. He was usually pretty good fun, if he wasn't taking his job all too seriously. Seeing the third letter she felt her heart skip a beat. Maybe even more than just A beat.

'Finally! Ugh, This bonehead better have some good excuse for making me wait.'

She huriedly opened used her magic to pull out the nearest letter opener she could find. When she had sliced open the envelope, she placed the opener back, and pulled the letter out of the small paper package that had delievered it.

'Thank Celestia for Derpy getting this to me.' she thought. When she started to read the letter she was surprised, yet dissapointed. There were only a few words written on the parchment. The words themselves were surprising and slightly dissapointing, but at least she knew he'd be showing up.

"Vinyl,

I'll be at the studio tomorrow in the afternoon. Expect me before 8 but no earlier than 5.

~Dj ShoutOut"

"P.S. You don't have to stare at me so intently. You'll be seeing me more often. Your Manager won't say no to me."

Vinyl stared, jaw agape, at the letter. For one, she hadn't expected him to speak this way. Neither had she expected him to know that she was actually inspecting him as closely as she was, which was probablly not socially acceptable. 'Not that I care' she remembered.

"Well, this could mean one of two things." She thought out loud.

"He could either be totally freaked out, and wanted to delay until tomorrow because he didn't want things to get weird" she paused to take a breath,

"Or, he doesn't mind and just wants to wait until tomorrow so he can make sure he has some good things written for his audition with the Manager and the other musical ponies that worked at the studio on their own radio shows."

"I guess all I can do is hope for the best... And hope to get to know this stallion better."

The rest of the night was spent fnatasizing of the day ahead.

"Maybe he'll even think I'm attractive too. That'd be cool." Vinyl thought aloud.

"I'm sure it would be." The voice of Truffles startled her, as she thought she had been alone.

"Geez dude, don't sneak up on me like that. If you weren't so easy to remember I might have used my magic on you".

"Oh, you know you love my surprises." Truffles said sarcastically.

"Didn't know you had a thing for the new recruit, Vinyl."

"Oh come on, cut me some slack. He does look awesome!" Vinyl said this almost beggingly. As if she didn't want to be teased about it. As if it would've affected her at all.

'Since when do I get defensive?..' she thought to herself.

"If you think so I'm not gonna get into it with you, since I know how stubborn you can be." He said teasingly, with a slight smile on his face. Vinyl just scoffed and changed the subject.

"So, what's the mighty Truffles been up to?".

"Actually, I'm heading out. I've got a date tonight." Truffles said with the slightest amount of cockiness.

"Oh, big bad Truff has himself a date, huh? Who's the lucky stallion?". Vinyl was of course, teasing him, but his hesitance to answer kind of shocked her for a moment.

"Are you really going out with a stallion Truff? It's cool if you are, I was just teasing." He took a moment to respond and when he did, a sly grin formed on his face.

"Nah, I was just seeing if I could make you feel guilty over something for once. And it worked." All of this was said while maintaining the smirk on his face.

"You thought I felt guilty? Hah! If you think that then you've got another thing coming big guy." She concluded this with a hearty punch to his shoulder.

"Is that all you've got? I thought the mighty Dj-Pon3 had a bigger bite." This triggered a very unexpected emotional response from Vinyl. She wasn't one to act this way, but Truffles had chose his words poorly, and it made think he was insulting her music. Vinyl began to tear up, and since she wasn't wearing her sun-glasses, Truffles saw it all begun to burst forth. Rushing forward to try and comfort his friend, Truffles placed his foreleg around Vinyl's neck and brought her close. Surprisingly she didn't push him away in disgust of what he had just said to her.

"Vinyl, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean anything by it, I was just playing around." When she didn't respond right away, but he noticed that the tears had ceased, he began to worry.

'I hope she's not angry. If she is, then being this close isn't a good idea...' As she brought her head up Truffles noticed a smirk.

"Hah! Gotcha ya' big lug! You really think you'd make me cry? Not today big fella!" Then Vinyl began to laugh. Truffles just stood there dumbstruck. She got him, and she got him good. He was about to freak out because he thought he had done something horrific.

"Can you not do that to me again? I really thought you were upset." Vinyl noticed the sincerity in his voice and decided to apologize.

"Sorry Truff. I won't get ya like that again. We cool now?" She asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, we're good. Well, I should probably get going. I don't wanna make my date wait for me too long." He said. Vinyl hadn't even noticed that the sun had begun to set. She took a look out the window and decided it was getting a bit late.

"Alright man, have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"What wouldn't you do, Vinyl?" To this, Vinyl laughed.

"You know what I mean. Go enjoy your date. Don't make out too much in the resturant though, they might kick you out." Truffles went over to the door and opened it, but then puased to look back to Vinyl.

"Don't set yourself up for hurt on this new guy. I'd rather not see you actually cry." He said, totally straight faced. He was being truthful, he didn't want to see Vinyl sad.

"I know what I'm doing man. You worry about your own love life big boy. I've got myself under control. Now get off to your date before she thinks you flaked." She said this with a small smile, trying to hurry Truffles out so she could get her things ready for tomorrow.

"Alright. I won't be around tomorrow so don't go off on Mister Hotshot." Mister Hotshot was a name that they had come to call their Studio Manager ever since they had learned he was quite the hot head.

"I'll be sure not to. See you later" She said with a smile.

"Bye" Truffles said, and then walked out the door, closing it behind himself.

'Well, I guess I should get all of the machines ready.' Vinyl went around to make sure all of the machines, mixers, and microphones were working correctly. Once she had check them all and they were all where they needed to be for tomorrow she walked to the staircase in the back of her office inside the studio. The staircase lead up to her house, which was two floors of her living quarters, that she had added to the studio so she didn't have to be far from her music, which she was so passionate about. She went off to her kitchen, which was quite large, to get a glass of water. She hadn't had anything to drink since earlier this morning. Once she had gotten it and put the glass in the dish-washer, she decided she'd turn in early.

'Tomorrow could be big for me. Gotta be well rested. But I could never go to sleep without some tunes.' She thought to herself. She grabbed her headphones off of the kitchen counter, since she had left them there earlier in the morning, and then headed upstairs to her room. She pushed open the door, climbed in bed, and put on her headphones. She began to play some light techno she had made to help her mind go blank. Before her mind was cleared of her days thoughts, she waded through her thoughts.

'Can't wait for tomorrow...' The last image she had in her mind before she fell asleep was that of the mysterious stallion she had met only yesterday.

Her relationship with him was going to be more intertwined with her life than anything she had ever experienced before.

The Day Of

Vinyl woke slowly to the light washing over her face. It was gentle, warm, and quite soothing. She blinked away the sleep from her eyes and looked out of her bedroom window. Sure enough, the sun was up, and there were a few ponies already walking towards the studio.

'Must be about time to get to work...' She thought to herself while drifting between sleep and consciousness. As far as she was concerned the day wasn't started until she got out of bed. As she was about to fall back into her sleep, and all of her thoughts began to drain back out of her mind, one in particular struck a cord and she was ripped from her semi-conscious state. 'He's gonna be here today!' She thought happily. As the thought sunk in, she practically leaped out of her bed, although taking care to place her headphones on her bedside table. Unable to contain her excitement any more she wasn't even able to keep her thoughts in her head.

"This is going to be sweet!" she said happily, nearly yelling. As she cantered out of her bedroom and out into her hallway, she entered the bathroom. 'No point in seeing him if I'm gonna look like crap..' She pulled out a brush from her cabinet along with a toothbrush and some toothpaste. She proceeded to groom herself to the point of satisfaction, which took longer than usual due to the "incredible stallion" she was going to be interviewing today.

'If you can even call it an interview' she thought. 'Look at me, going crazy for a guy I barely know'. thinking this with a slight tinge of humor, but more of raw sarcasm towards herself. She hadn't been feeling this way over anybody until she met him yesterday. As a matter of fact, she hadn't ever felt this way of anybody. Mare or Stallion. She hadn't had an excessive amount of partners, but she had taken a walk on both sides of the street.

Regardless of her previous partners, she had quite the feeling of this new stallion. She didn't know for sure what this feeling was, but she did have a pretty good idea. She wouldn't admit it to herself, of course, but if it did lead to it, she wouldn't deny it.

Realizing that she had gotten lost in her thoughts with her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth, barely even being gripped by her magic at this point, she finished up and put her things away. She left the bathroom, clicking off the lights, and closing the door. Heading downstairs she decided that she'd grab a quick breakfeast of a bagel and a glass of water.

After she finished, and placed her glass into the dishwasher, she put on her sun-glasses. Not because it was bright, but because she had an image to uphold with the rest of the studio members.

"Can't let them see these gorgeous eyse of mine, now can I?" She said to herself with a smirk. She knew her eyes were interesting, to say the least, although she didn't quite believe they were all that pretty. Just interesting to look at.

As she went downstairs to get prepared for her "interview", she heard voices about half way down the stairs. They sounded as if they were arguing about something. Vinyl decided that she should go and see what it was before getting everything ready for the new talent. She didn't want anyone bickering around him. He didn't need to think the studio was always full of people fighting. There were a few certain ponies who weren't exactly subtle with their presence in the studio. They would always yell and shout if they didn't get the smallest things that they wanted.

'Gotta love that I work with a bunch of fillies.' She thought bitterly. It was no wonder they needed some new talent in here.

As she made her way out of the door that led to the back of her desk, she checked to make sure no late night mail came for her. None did, so she checked to make sure everything else was where it needed to be. Once everything checked out she want to the bickering pair of stallions. They seemed to be arguing over the schedule for one of the radio booths. She decided not to even bother.

'No point in trying to solve it since they're so stubbornly ignorant.' She thought, somewhat irritated at the two stallions representing her studio so poorly. Instead, she decided that she would go see the studio manager to make sure he was ready for her fresh, new, and extremely handsome talent. She asked a nearby studio member that was engrossed in her computer's monitor where the Manager was and with a slightly irritated response she said,

"He's in his office. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm busy." Vinyl just stood there for a moment waiting for her to look up. When she did she almost flinched. She hadn't expected Dj-Pon3 to be coming to talk to her. She started to mutter an apology but Vinyl cut her off with a wave of her hoof.

"It's not a big deal. Just maybe look up first next time?". When she finished her sentence, Vinyl nodded to the mare and walked away from her towards the Manager's office, which was in the back near her desk. As she walked by her desk to enter the office door she adjusted her nameplate so that it was crooked on the desk. Not everybody had to be completely straight.

'Heh... I'm definitly not. But I will be for that stallion I've got coming to see me today.' She thought, while a small smirk formed on her face. Those were thoughts for a later date. Right now, she needed to focus on making sure the Managaer was ready to inspect the new musical stallion she had found. As she walked into the office, she was surprised to see that the Manager had his face down on his desk, and she thought she heard the sound of crying. The sound quickly ceased as she entered the doorway. Vinyl just stood there, after closing the door, as to give time for him to regain his composure. After a few moments he lifted his head up revealing his puffy and bloodshot eyes.

"How can I help you Vinyl?" He asked, with a tone completely void of all emotion. The only trace that it was a living thing speaking was his voice cracking slightly at the end of his sentence.

"Well, Today was the day I had scheduled for the interview for the guy I found. I just came in to make sure everything was cool, and you were ready for him to show up." She said simply.

"When's he supposed to be here?"

"Sometime after five o'clock, no later than eight"

"You do realize that it's already One in the afternoon, right?" To this, Vinyl glanced at the clock on his desk before answering. It read 1:02.

"Yeah, I know I slept in a bit late. I just figured since nobody came to get me that I wasn't needed for anything 'till he got here." She answered apologeticly.

"It's fine, I wasn't planning on waking you today anyway. You won't have to deal with me much longer anyway." Vinyl was shocked to hear this. She didn't know if he was quitting, if he was being fired, or if he had being daignosed with health issues that had cut his abilities to deal with all the people he has to control around the studio. While being lost in her thoughts she hadn't realized that the Manager was just staring at her. He cleared his throat to pull her out of her trance.

"You gonna say something, Vinyl?" He asked her gently.

"Why are you leaving? I know I called you a pain in the butt a few times, but I never wanted to make you quit. It's not like we don't like you here. You do your job better than anyone else I know could!" By the time she got to her last sentence she was almost in a panic. She didn't want him to leave the studio. They did make fun of him occasionally, but it wasn't like they meant anything. He just tended to take his job too seriously at times, and they decided to poke fun at him.

"Vinyl, Calm down. It's not anybody's fault. It's just something I've had happen in my life that has opened my eyes to what I should be doing." He said, somewhat soothingly. He could see Vinyl's displeasure with the situation.

"Well, where you going?" She asked out of pure concern for her Manager. The big lug did grow on her after a while. The main reason they picked on him was really, just because he was the boss.

"I'm retiring to the country. My daughter just left the house for Manehatten, and my wife is getting tired of the 'same old thing' every day." As he reached the end of his sentence Vinyl could detect a large amount of sadness in his voice. He hadn't meant for that to slip out, but he couldn't help it. It was too overwhelming for him. A few moments of silence later, Vinyl couldn't help but notice that she saw a few tears falling from the stallion's face. At this sight, she walked over, pulled the chair out, and gave him a hug.

"It's okay man. Everything's gonna be fine." She said, while he hugged her back. She really was sorry for the poor guy. She didn't want to have to deal with a new manager. After a few minutes of him crying on Vinyl's shoulder, he pulled himself out of the hug and took a moment to think. After a few, he looked as if he was trying to find words to say.

"You don't have to explain any more if you don't want to dude." She said, while giving him a small smile.

"You probably should know who's going to be replacing me, since I'm leaving tomorrow." He said blandly.

"Well, who's it going to be?" Vinyl asked slowly.

"After I leave, it's going to be you." He said blatently.

At this, Vinyl just stood there with her mouth agape. She hadn't expected that, that's for sure. The stallion across the room from her just looked on at her and chuckled. He figured she'd be surprised.

Once Vinyl had finally come out of her trance, all she could do was wait for her explaination to be given. Why had she been given the job? What qualified her? Who decided to give it to her?

"Before you ask, everyone here voted that you manage the studio if I were to ever leave. I asked them as a 'hypothetical' situation." He said, still amused that Vinyl had been so baffled by her promotion.

The first thought Vinyl had about this, was that she could finally stop the senseless bickering that happened practically all day. All the happiness she was feeling towards her new job, was replaced by dissapointment when she remembered who she was replacing. Althought it was going to be a while until she was going to get adjusted to him not being there, and being responsible for the studio. This was going to be a big thing for her, and she knew it.

"Thanks man. I appreciate you deciding to give it to me. I'm still kinda bumbed you have to leave thought man." She said, somewhat sadly.

"I'm surprised you're gonna miss me. But I figure the teasing and whatnot was just because I'm- I was, the boss."

"Well either way, you're gonna be missed big man." She said, reassuring him that they hadn't taken him for granted. Not all the time, that is.

Vinyl glanced at the clock and was shocked she'd been in her for so long. It was already 2 o'clock. She decided she should go out and check things again.

"Well, I should probably make sure everything's where it should be for the guy coming in. I still want you to approve of him." Vinyl told him.

"Even though it doesn't matter at this point, I don't see why not. Come in and get me when he arrives."

"Sounds like a plan man." She said happily. She decided to give him another hug, just because it seemed appropriate. She wrapped her arms back around him and he did the same for her. She wasn't exactly sure why she thought she should give him a hug, but like before, she thought it was fitting. She gave him a squeeze and pulled away, and he pulled away with a small grin on his face.

"Well at least I know that I can make somebody feel better with a good 'ol hug." She said playingly. His response was just a chuckle and a smile, with a wave as Vinyl turned to exit his office.

As she closed the door, with her magic, behind her she heard a barely audible knock on the front door to the studio. The reason it was so muffled wasn't because of the knock being weak, it was because the bickering still hadn't ceased out in the main room of the studio.

Vinyl decided that she'd talk to everyone about the constant arguing tomorrow, after she was appointed to her position. Until then, she'd be able to deal with it. She proceeded to walk to the door to open it for whoever it was.

The sight she saw before her was one that nearly made her choke on her own tongue.

"Are you going to invite me in, or are you going to just sit there and stare at me?" Said that one dark-blue incorn that was beginning to steal away Vinyl's heart.

The Day Of: Part 2

"I'm assuming that since you haven't answered yet that I'm going to have to come back another time?" Thsi made Vinyl snap back to reality. She very much did not want him to have to leave before absolutely necessary, and she was nout about to question his being early. Frankly, she didn't care. If it was anypony else, she would've been questioning them as to why their time had changed, but for him she could make an acception.

"Of course not man! Come on inside." She said, gesturing for him to come in and follow her. She led him to her desk and told him to wait where he was. Going in to ther Manager's office, Vinyl informed him that the one they had been waiting for was early, and to come out so everyone can check him out. She hadn't realized she had been so excited while talking to the Manager until he responded to her enthusiasm.

"Alright, alright! Calm down Vinyl, it's not like we don't have half a day to do this." He said sternly, but afterwards giving a small laugh. 'She really is excited about this stallion. Maybe he'll take up her old position, since she's taking mine. Heheh.. That'd be a nice thing to see if I ever come back to visit.'

"Oh, uh.. sorry." Vinyl said nervously, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. "I'm just really looking forward to checki- uhh, you checking this guy out is all." She said, giving a nervouse laugh. Vinyl had almost told him that she was planning on going after this particular stallion. That was something she didn't want anyone to know just yet, even though she had unintentionally told Truffles already. Even though she didn't see that as a big deal, since they were pretty close and Vinyl knew she could trust him with the information.

"Uh-huh.. Well, lets get to it." He knew that she was hiding something, but decided not to pursue it since he knew Vinyl was a trustworthy pony, and didn't deserve to be questioned if she wished something to remain a secret. As he concluded his thoughts, he found himself to be under the influence of somepony's magic. It wasn't major, just a small push one his flank, which he assumed was to get him out of the office, which explained who's magic it was.

"Calm down Vinyl, I'm going. No need to be so antsy." He said, without the laughter after scolding her this time.

'She's a good pony, but man can she get pushy.' After she ceased her attempts to hurry him out, he walked out of his office to find something quite unexpected. A majority of the ponies in the room were sitting in a semi-circle in front of Vinyl's desk, with one pony who he didn't know behind it, hoof-beating. Aparently, they were having a "rap-battle", if you will. One of the other pony's was, seemingly, just finishing up a verse of his own.

"... Now that I'm done with you,

I'll pass it off to you,

Because you're not good enough,

You're not tough,

Enough,

For us."

He said the last line with a gesture to the rest of the ponies crowded around them. To this, the new pony just smirked, not once pausing the beat he was creating. Not once slowing his tempo. Not once did the look on his face waver, not that you could see his eyes through his sun-glasses.

After a moment of what looked like the new pony was about to choke out, he took a deep breath and prepared himself to begin.

He gave a small, amused laugh as he opened his mouth, and began to earn his job,

"You know, it's funny,

That you think you're so high up,

That I can't reach you.

But what you really are,

Is just a fluffy bunny.

In the skin of a beast

Now lets have a feast,

On this break

Because you're not worth it,

You're fake.

Go back and bake,

A cake,

In your kitchen.

In your empty home.

Where you're all alone.

But you could've flown,

If you hadn't attacked

The big guys,

With the big guns.

And by guys,

I mean me,

Look into my eyes,

So you can understand

How you could've been free,

Without me,

You won't be

Anything.

So take a good fling,

At this thing,

That you call a career

And when you're done

You'll cower in fear

And I'll see your ear

Flat against your head,

While you lay in bed

And start to shed,

All of your fur,

I'll be here

Experiencing success,

Without the rest

Of you who doubt me.

This is all I have time for,

So have fun on the floor,

Crying.

While I'm 'Bye-Byeing' "

He finished this last line while fading out his beat with one hoof, and waving to the stallion he was battling with the other. Once he was completely finished, all that followed was silence. Everypony in the room besides Vinyl and the Manager had their mouths agape, due to their impressment. Not a single one of them was expecting him to come back so well, or so ruthlessly against his opponent. Vinyl, on the other had, was ecstatic. She was sporting a wide grin, while surpressing cheers of excitement from escaping her mouth. That was what she wanted from him, for now at least. She wanted him to pass his interview with flying colors, and from what she saw from her co-workers, he already did. Their approval wasn't of much interest to her though, as she wanted her Manager to approve. Even though his opinion didn't make it official, as she was to be the new head of the Studio.

'Just because it's mainly my decision doesn't mean it'll be accepted lightly, since I'm pretty biased to this fine piece of pony.' She thought, nearly giggling with pleasure at the thought of the blue stallion being her second in command and her partner.

'Partner and music and a few other things' She thought, giddily.

"Very nicely done, my friend." The Studio head said, Vinyl hearing him very clearly since he hadn't stepped away from her since they walked out of the office.

"I see you going far in the music industry. Especially since you're a member of our studio now." He said, clacking his hooves on the floor to applaud the dark stallions preformace.

As Vinyl heard this, she hugged her manager. 'No. My friend.' She thought to herself. She hadn't considered him a friend until now, seeing how much of a regular pony he actaully was. She was so excited that she hadn't realized she'd been practically strangling the poor stallion.

Hopping away from him slightly and apologizing, she gave him another small hug and thanked him for accepting the stallion she had brought here. This had been the best day Vinyl had had in a while.

'Well, more like the most exciting day.' She corrected.

At this point, it was almost three in the afternoon. Vinyl decided that she would talk with her favorite dark-blue stallion after everyone cleared out, but for now it seemed that the manager had something he wanted to say because he told her to get everyone's attention for him, because he wasn't feeling up to the yelling that would be needed to be heard of the upraor that had begun greeting the new member of the studio.

Aplifying her voice with her magic, she didn't have to strain herself to be heard over the commotion.

"Guys, chill out for a few, boss man has something to say." As she finished her sentence and the talking died off, Vinyl stepped back to let her friend take the floor. All eyes fell on him, along with those of the new stallion. Not that his eyes were visible, along with Vinyl's.

"Well everypony, it's been a wonderful day for this studio, having recruited such raw talent." He began. "I'm sure he'll go far with us, and proceed to spread our publicity. Now that that's been said, I would like to tell you something that will take effect tomorrow when we open." This made everyone lock there attention on the speaker at this point. "I'll be relocating and Vinyl will be taking my place as the studio manager. I'm hoping that all of you will accept her authority as you've all said before, she would be the best replacement for me." This caused the blue stallion whom had just impressed everyone in the room to almost break his composure with a look of shock. Luckily nobody noticed. Besides Vinyl that is.

'Nice to know he isn't stonefaced. That would've made a relationship kinda boring.' Vinyl thought dreamily. She almost drifted off into her thoughts again when the Manager had asked her to give some words of encouragemeant for the rest of the employees. She was somewhat shocked, but she would have to get used to it since she was going to be working the studio from now on.

"Well, there's not too much more to say. We've got a new guy to help us get even more publicity and promote all of our music, our old Manager is leaving and I'm taking his place, which isn't exactly a good thing, but we'll work through it. I'll do my best to do what's best for our studio. I hope you'll all bear with me as I get adjusted to the swing of things, being in charge of the studio. To finish this off, for fear of making myself look like a goof, I'll just say welcome to our new member who'll come to be known as Dj ShoutOut." She concluded and the members of the studio aplaude her speach.

"Well, since all of this has occured in just under an hour, I think I'll let you all go home early since none of your shows air today. Have a good day and career, as you probably won't see me for a while." The Manager said this with a tone of sadness, since this was his entire life, right here in the studio that he was being forced to leave, allbeit in good hooves.

One by one the members walked up and said their goodbyes and greeting Vinyl as their new Manager. After everyone had left the now Ex-Manager left to clear out his office and Vinyl and her new talent went over to her old desk.

"Looks like we're working together now." Said the dark-blue stallion. Vinyl was just happy to be talking with him at this point.

"Yeah, and is it cool if I ask you a question?" She asked nervously in anticipation of what she was about to ask this stallion.

"As long as I get to ask mine first." He said blunty, surprising Vinyl for what wouldn't be the last time.

"Of course dude, go for it." She said, recovering from the shock quickly.

"How would you like to... Go out to dinner with me tomorrow?" He asked hesitantly, showing the first amount of real emotion Vinyl had seen from him. Not that she noticed over the pure adrenaline she was experiencing right now. She hadn't expected him to take the first move in the slightest. After a few moments of just staring at him with her jaw hanging slack from her head. She was the happiest pony in the world, in her perspective. But she, of course, had to mantane her composure and shook her head to come back to her senses.

"Sounds like it could be fun. What time do you want to pick me up?"

The Faithful Night

The Faithful Night

To say Vinyl was excited to go out to dinner with this particular stallion would be quite the understatement. In fact, the only thing that was keep her from jumping around the room giddily, was the fact that there was another person in it with her. The words that she was hearing weren't making the slightest imprint on her because of the fact that she was swimming in the possible outcomes of her dinner later in the evening. As of now, she was getting a lecture from one of the radio show ponies about how she could've gone about the day differently, when to her, everything had gone just fine. Well, almost everything.

"I hope you plan on coming back to visit us some time soon dude. We're gonna miss ya'." Vinyl said to her now Ex-Studio Manager. All of the members from the studio members were there at the train station to wish their Old Manager a good trip and life, for those who didn't expect to see him again. Vinyl was one of the few who had come out of the kidness of their hearts, while others only really came because Vinyl was there. Vinyl had known this, but couldn't care less if they thought less of her for coming to see her friend away.

"I'll see what I can manage, Vinyl. I hope you do well with the studio. Then again, if I didn't think you could, I wouldn't have given you the job in the first place." Said the stallion, with a tinge of sadness in his voice. He did, however, sport the smallest of smiles directed towards Vinyl. The appreciation he had seen come from her in the past day alone made him care for her that much more. He didn't want to leave, but he knew he had to.

"Vinyl, I'd like to apologize to you." He said, looking into her eyes.

"Apologize for what?" She asked, an expression of befuddlement on her face.

"For insulting you, your music, and everything else stupid I've done. The only reason I said any of it was because I thought it would've gotten you to be more attentive to your work." As he concluded he looked up at Vinyl, as he had been staring at the wooden floors of the train station, looking very apologetic.

"It's cool man, really. No big deal. Just some constructive criticism, right?" Vinyl said with a smile. She had to admit that at the time, it did bother her. Quite a lot, actually. But she couldn't hold anything against him seeing as he had given his job to her since he couldn't have it anymore. Her, out of all the ponies that were part of this staff, was chosen to run the studio.

"I guess you could say that. But I still feel bad for it nonetheless. I hope I can make it up to you eventually."

As if it was on cue, the train gave a warning whistle. It was going to be leaving soon, and anyone left outside weren't catching it.

"Well, that's for me. I'd better hop on. I hope everything goes well for you Vinyl. And the rest of you too." As he reached the end of his speach he turned to the rest of the ponies that had shown up to bid him adue, while prjecting his voice so they would all hear him. There was a small murmer of goodbyes coming from the group. The stallion that was to depart gave a small huff, and turned to get on his train. Before he could, however he was attacked by a white blur.

"I'll miss you big guy." Vinyl said as she hugged him furiously, loud enough for just him to hear.

"I'll miss you too Vinyl. Don't forget to write." He said with a small smile, and returning the hug.

After he had gotten on the train and took his seat next to his wife, he looked out the window to see all of the ponies he had worked with so long wave to him. The final goodbye he would be getting from them. As they began to move, he couldn't help but notice something gleem in Vinyl's eyes. She would never admit it herself, but she was crying. This caused the stallion on the train to develop tears of his own. He suddenly heard his wife voiceconcern for the expression he had on his face.

"Are you alright dear?"

"Yes, I'm fine." He said, not looking at his wife. At the conclusion of his sentence a single tear dropped from his eye, down his face, and off of his muzzle.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

As she came back out of her memory, she was greeted by a furious radio pony.

"Are you even listening to me?!".

"No, I wasn't. You keep complaining about the stupidest things. I'm not going to listen unless it's something important. Now, get out, please."

The amount of shock, and pure disbelief at what she had been told on the radio pony's face made Vinyl have to try extremely hard not to laugh. The sputtering and stammering that came a few moments afterwards made her have to redouble her efforts. No matter the amount of hilarity she had to endure, the Dj pony managed to keep a straight face. After the blabbering of the intruder of Vinyl's office had ceased and the radio pony left, Vinyl couldn't help but laugh. Possibly a little too loud, but she didn't really care. It's not like any of them were going to do anything about it. Not because they were afraid of what Vinyl might do, but because they all knew they were arguing about petty things, they just wouldn't believe it themselves.

After Vinyl managed to control her laughing fit, she rose from behind her desk and went upstairs to her apartment to get ready for her dinner with her favorite blue stallion. She entered her bathroom and proceeded to shower herslef. It had been a long day and she didn't want any unwelcome scents where they shouldn't be. After she'd finished with her shower, she brushed her mane, tail, and the rest of her coat to look perfect. To her perspective, that is. She went along and did all other hygenic things that should be done to one's body. Brushing, flossing, etc.

When she was satisfied with her appearance she exited her bathroom and proceeded to her kitchen to grab a glass of water. Once she finished it off, she placed the glass in her dishwasher.

'Gonna have to run that tomorrow. Maybe I'll even get to show it off to that stallion that's treating me to dinner.' She thought to herself, with a small laugh.

Vinyl seated herself on her couch in the living room planning on taking a short nap to rest herself for her favorite stallion. She closed her eyes and envisioned her date this evening, and all the possible outcomes it could have on her night, and the rest of her life. The last image she had in her mind was her walking towards the alter, ready to make the biggest decision of her life. To this, she smiled and fell into a restful sleep.

This night was going to be a fun one indeed.

The Faithful Night: Part 2

Vinyl woke with a start, not wanting to leave the blissful warmth of her dreams of the stallion that she was to be involved with this evening. She slowly opened an eye to check the clock she had sitting on her coffee table for easy access. It read 7 o'clock and she decided that she had just enough time to make sure everything was going to go good around the studio while she was gone, since there was a team of radio ponies that wanted to stay after hours to finish some recordings for sound effects for their shows. Vinyl agreed without much hesitation once she got a couple explanations for the urgency of them.

She headed downstairs after turning off the lights in her apartment and locking her door. She didn't usually, but she wasn't exactly confident of her respect from the other employees. She didn't want to come home to find that everything was out of order, or that things had been searched. For what, she didn't know, but she did know she wanted to make sure it was all safe.

After she came downstairs she went around to the hallway to the left of her new office, to which there was one on each side, to check the recording booth that was supposed to be housing the currently "working" pair of radio ponies. She continued down the hallway until she got to the booth she was looking for and looked through the glass window on the door. As she looked inside, she saw that the ponies were actually recording, what looked like sound effects (She couldn't tell since the rooms were soundproofed), like they were supposed to be. Since they were where they should be, Vinyl decided not to interupt them. She just turned around and walked back to the door of her office to double check that everything was in place. She decided that everything looked as it should and headed back out, locking her office like she had her appartment, and began the walk to the main door for the studio. It was just beginning to get dark, and she decided to take a seat on the bench that they had decided to put next to the doors in case someone wanted to take a break and get some fresh air.

"Hopefully he doesn't keep me waiting out here too long." Vinyl thought out loud while she took her seat on the bench.

"Now why would I do that?"

Vinyl snapped her head to her left, in the direction of the voice, and had to force herself not to smile. It was the same stallion she had been speaking of, and he appeared to have been waiting there for her to make her way outside.

"How long have you been waiting out here?" Vinyl asked the stallion.

"No more than an hour, I think." He said casually.

Vinyl was surprised that he'd been waiting for her so long, and felt slightly guilty for having him wait as long as she did, even though it was unintentional. She did mask those emotions for the sake of her reputation with the stallion she was planning on having relations with.

"Sorry about that man, Hope I'm worth it." Vinyl said jokingly, with a small smile and laugh.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Gave me some time to think about things anyway." He said without hesitation.

'Funny, that's what I've been doing all day.' Vinyl thought, feeling her face grow slightly warm. 'Oh come on, Blushing? That's what we're doing now? Ugh..' She thought, miserably. Vinyl wasn't one for being embarassed, but she had been experiencing a few feelings a lot more frequently than she usually did lately.

"So," Said the stallion, interupting Vinyl's thoughts, "You ready to go?".

"Sure am, you plan out where we'd be going?"

"But of course." He said, matter-of-factly, with a grin. Vinyl rolled her eyes and smiled, not bothering to hide it again.

"Well lets get going then, tough guy." Vinyl said playfully, prodding the stallion with her elbow, coaxing a smile and a chuckle from him.

"Just follow me, Madame." He said, quite normally. Vinyl wasn't used to being called 'Madame'. In fact, nobody every called her that, and she didn't mind it too much.

Her date began walking and she cantered to catch up. When she reached him, he gradually came closer to Vinyl, until she could feel his body heat against her. She looked over quickly at the change in temperature, and smiled when she saw the stallion. He was actually dressed quite nicely, but it looked rugged, tough.

He was wearing a dark blue, almost the same color as his fur, dress shirt with a white tie, all underneath a sharp looking dress jacket. Although, she couldn't help but be amused that he was still wearing those sunglasses of his, that resembled hers so well. She hoped to get a sight of his eyes sometime soon. Then she realized something.

He hadn't seen hers either.

'Well, I'm going to have to change that sometime soon.' Vinyl thought, planning to do it tonight at dinner.

Having been lost in her thoughts, Vinyl had only just realized that they had showed up at a restaraunt and they were standing in a long line of ponies, and a couple gryphons, to what looked like a very expensive establishment.

Vinyl was surprised to see where they were, considering that she hadn't ever spent many bits on a fancy dinner. It just wasn't her thing.

"You sure about this place? It looks expesnive..." Vinyl inquired, concerned that he hadn't realized where they were.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I can afford it." He said reasuringly, looking over to Vinyl with a smile on his face.

"Uh... If you say so, man." Vinyl said, still unsure of the decision to spend so much on food. 'I guess if he's willing to pay for it here, then it's all good.' She thought, attempting to assure herself that it was okay.

The blue stallion placed his leg over Vinyl and gave her a light squeeze.

"It's all good Vinyl. Don't worry about anything." He said, leaving his leg there for a few more moments and then pulling away.

Before Vinyl had time to be concerned, they had reached the front of the line, surprisingly quickly. There was a concierge at a podium just to the right of the door. The pair walked over to the podium, the dark blue stallion leading, and refered to the stallion at the podium.

"Table for two please, sir." Vinyl's partner said, with an unexpected noble accent.

'Sounds like he's from canterlot' Vinyl thought, amused at the thought.

Without looking up from the papers on his podium, he said,

"Just a moment, please."

The concierge shuffled through some of his papers, scribbled a few things with his quill, using his mouth to hold it, and rearanged them for a moment and then looked up at the couple. The light smile he was sporting turned to a slight look of shock.

"Miss Scratch, Welcome to this humble serving business. Let me lead you and your coltfriend to a table, if you would?" He asked, without missing a beat at the surprise of the Dj showing up at his restaraunt, quite unexpectedly.

"Lead the way." Vinyl responded quickly, feeling slightly awkward. She hadn't really wanted to be put on the spot like that, and she felt bad that her date had been completely ignored. She followed far enough behind the concierge to speak with the blue stallion,

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to take the spotlight right there." She said apologetically.

"It's not a problem Vinyl, I'm taking you out to dinner, and it's good to see that you're so well known." As he said this, he repeated the gesture of a quick hug, like he had done earlier.

Vinyl still felt slightly guilty, but decided to let it go.

As they reached their table the concierge told them their waiter would be by soon, and that he hoped they enjoyed their evening. Vinyl's stallion partner thanked him quickly, and from the tone of his voice, the concierge took the hint that he was displeased, so he huried away quickly, without seeming flustered.

After a few minutes their waiter came out, took their orders, and gave their orders to the chef to fulfill.

"So," Vinyl started, "Have you decided to share your name with me yet?" Vinyl asked.

"Oh that's right. I was going to do that today." He said with a smirk on his face. Vinyl just smiled and shook her head as a response.

"Well, since you asked nicely." He said sarcastically, My real name is Ray Lieric." He said, seemingly uninterested in his own name.

Vinyl was quite surprised since she hadn't expected him to just jump out and say give her his name in a matter of seconds.

"I like it." She said, with a smile, looking right into his sunglasses through her own.

"You do? I don't quite care for it too much, but I guess if you like it it can't be THAT bad." He said with a smile, looking back at Vinyl into her glasses, the same way she was doing to him. Not that either of them were aware of the fact that they were staring into eachothers eyes.

"Heh.. So, do I get to see your eyes next?" She asked, not expecting him to actually reveal his eyes, just like she didn't usually show hers off.

"If you want." He said, taking off his deep blue sunglasses.

Vinyl was shocked to the point that it took her a few moments to regain her ability to talk. They were the same color as hers.

"Everything okay Vinyl?" Ray asked, the concern showing in the crimson orbs that caught Vinyl off guard.

As Vinyl regained her sense, all she could do was take off her glasses in response, showing her companion the reason for her actions. This provoked a surprised look from the stallion across the table, though not quite as badly as it had Vinyl.

The reason for her shock, was that her eye color wasn't exactly a common occurence, and the stallion's looks resembled her a lot more, the longer she looked at him. The mane, the tail. Everything except his fur was practically a backwards design of Vinyl's looks. The eyes and sunglasses just tipped it over the edge.

Vinyl felt like this stallion was going to be a very good, lasting piece of her life.

The rest of the night past eneventfully, the pair having recovered from their shock, and continued their dinner with regular conversation. Compliments on their looks to each other were frequent, as they both had a very similar taste (Obviously).

The night ended with Ray walking Vinyl back to her apartment door inside the studio.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then, Ray." Vinyl said.

"Yeah, you will." He said with a smile.

Vinyl wished him a goodnight and turned to unlock her door to head upstairs. As she was about the walk up the stairs the stallion said her name and as she turned around, a very unexpected, but welcome, thing happened.

He kissed her. Full on, and it lasted for a full few minutes. Vinyl hadn't even flinched as his lips had come into contact with hers. She actually embraced the move the stallion made, happily, and whole-heartedly.

As they broke away from eachother, Vinyl put her front legs around the stallions neck and embraced him. After a few moments of this, she pulled away, giving him a small peck in the cheek and removing herslef from him.

"Well, I guess this is my cue to head on out." He said, a tinge of bitterness at the thought of having to leave.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Vinyl said with a smile on her face, not taking her eyes off of the stallion's.

"Looking forward to it." Ray said, smiling back, and also locking his eyes with Vinyl's. He gave her another small kiss on her lips and returned her hug. After he did this, he turned around and walked to the front door, making sure to lock it.

Vinyl headed upstairs to her apartment, and almost couldn't contain her giddyness. She was practically vibrating, and her mind was consumed by one thing. Or rather, one pony. All she could do was head to her bed, not even bothering to play herslef music before going to bed. She didn't want to wipe the thoughts of this stallion from her mind.

As she layed down she had a feeling of inner peace. Like she was supposed to have done everything she had that night, exactly the way she had done it. Like she was doing everything right, without effort.

As she drifted off to sleep, there was one memory that pushed everything else out of her mind.

The feeling of her lips against his.

Thief

Vinyl was leaning back in her chair in her office, thinking about what had happened. Last night after she had gone to bed and gotten to sleep, someone had broken into the studio and trashed the place. Her and some other employees had searched around but nothing had been taken, everything had just been moved hastily and made it look as if they were searching for something.

'Wonder what it could've been...' Vinyl thought to herself. She heard a knock on her door and gave confirmation to whoever it was to enter.

"So," Said an unmistakably male voice, "They've decided that nothing was stolen. And as a saftey precaution, I'm going to be standing guard here along with a few of my more... pudgy associates."

Vinyl turned around to see the stallion who was talking to her.

"Really Carbon? Isn't that a little much?" She asked, not wanting to have a plathora of guards around her at all times.

"No." He said blatantly, not giving it a second thought. "It's necessary until we figure out what they were looking for, and why it would be here."

Before Vinyl could respond to him, Carbon turned his head around as his shoulder was tapped by a hoof.

"Excuse me, I'd like to see my marefriend if you wouldn't mind." Ray said to the black stallion in front of him. Carbon stepped out of his way and made his way to Vinyl, spun her chair around so she was facing away from the doorway, and walked in front of her.

"Everything okay?" He asked Vinyl as he looked to her through his glasses.

"Yeah.. Everything's fine. Somepony broke in last night after you left and tore the place apart looking for something. And we still don't know what it was." She said, hopping off the chair and leaning onto the stallion. "Just happy to see you."

Ray placed an arm around Vinyl's neck and nuzzled her cheek. "Me too." He said, trying to comfort the mare as best he could.

After a few moments of them sharing the embrace, Carbon coughed to get their attention.

"So, I'm assuming that you're Vinyl's coltfriend." He said, eyeing the dark blue stallion. "Since I'm going to be taking up positions here, I believe we'll be coming to know eachother quite well." As he said this he approched the dark unicorn, raising a hoof for him to shake.

Ray shook the other stallion's hoof after having let Vinyl out of their embrace and asked him, "What's you're name?"

"My name is Carbon. And you are?" Carbon retorted.

"For now, call me ShoutOut, if you would." Saying this, Ray made sure to make it sound as if he wasn't asking. And he wasn't.

"Alright... ShoutOut. Since we'll both be involved with Vinyl a fair amount for a while, I think we should talk about some things." He told the other stallion. Now it was Carbon's turn to give the command. "If you would come with me." He said, walking out the door to the office.

Before he walked out, Ray turned back to Vinyl and told her, "I'll be back when we're done." And then gave her another tight hug before following the gray stallion out of the room, leaving Vinyl alone to her thoughts.

She sighed, different posibilities for her studio being ransacked ran through her head. 'Maybe it was just one of the other employees looking for something and got frantic..' She thought to herself. 'No.. that can't be it. Maybe it was somepony looking for something my Ex Boss left here.. Nah, there's no way he left anything that important here. Especially if someone wanted it from him..'

Vinyl had waited for about a half hour, having placed on a pair of headphones to pass the time. She took to resting her eyes for a few minutes, seeing as Ray probably wouldn't be back for a while longer, and fell asleep shortly after.

About an hour and a half after they had left, Ray re-entered his marefriend's office to find her asleep. He walked over and layed himself against the side of the chair she'd somehow fallen asleep in and waited for her to wake.

The thought of waking her himself crossed his mind, but he thought better of it.

'I'll just let her sleep, it's not like there's anything important to do right now, seeing as the police are taking care of things for now.'

Vinyl awoke slowly, and removed her headphones. She blinked a few times to clear her vision and looked around the room. After scanning it quickly, she went to get up and felt something pushing against her chair.

She smiled, "Ray, you could've woken me up."

"I know, but I thought you deserved some rest." He responded, rising to his hooves and coming closer to the mare.

"Aren't you just so considerate?" She said, teasing the stallion as she wrapped herself around him in a tight hug.

He smiled and returned the embrace. "I do try."

"So what did you and Carbon talk about?" She asked him, staying in the embrace, not wanting the contact to come to an end.

"Nothing important." Ray answered. "Just some mumbo-jumbo about security and you having an escort from now on. By him personally, of course."

"I think that counts as important, ya big lug."

"I guess it depends on how you look at it."

Him and Carbon actually had a lengthy conversation and at some points, began to argue. Ray wasn't exactly comfortable with the other stallion constantly watching over Vinyl, but he wasn't going to let her know that.

Vinyl sighed. "I guess I should get back to making sure everything's going well around here. The place isn't going to run on its own." She said, pulling her head back but not pulling out of the hug. "And I've got a nice big stallion here to help me." She added.

"Anything you need, Vinyl, I'll help as much as I can." He told her, bringing his face closer to hers so their noses were in contact.

Vinyl simply smiled and looked at the stallion. "I know you will." She told him.

The two had apparently had the same thought at that moment and leaned into eachother's muzzles for a kiss. The session lasted for a few minutes until they needed to catch their breath.

Vinyl gave her stallion another quick peck and said, "Well, the work isn't going to do itself."

Hostage Situation

The stallion awoke from his slumber abrubtly as he heard a loud thump. He carefully removed himself from his bed as not to disturb his wife. Slowly making his way towards the bedroom's door to investigate, he shook his head to rid himself of the remaining grogginess of sleep.

Opening the door as carefuly as possible, it emitted a loud creak. He cringed and froze in place looking back behind him to see if he'd awoken the slumbering mare. When didn't see her move he sighed quietly.

'Thank Celestia she's a heavy sleeper.' He thought to himself, 'Now to figure out what in Equestria made that noise.'

He continued on his way out of his bedroom and walked lighty down the hallway towards the staircase that lead to the bottom floor. He heard something shuffling around downstairs and another thump, although not quite as loud as the previous.

'What the hay?...'

He took a few steps closer to the stairs, having stopped when he heard the noise. Squinting his eyes against the darkness of the night, he slowly continued his approach of the bottom floor.

Reaching the stairs, he looked down, half expecting to see somepony, but the other half not surprised when all he saw was darkness.

He made his way down the stairs, trying with all his strength not to make the slightest of noises. As his hoof touched the floor on the opposite end of the stairs, he felt an abrupt, and quite painfull, contact with the back of his skull.

Trying his best to force himself to stay awake, he felt himself being dragged off and before he knew it, he was drifting off into his subconscious, the faint sound of voices slowly fading away.

The stallion awoke slowly, giving a low moan as he felt a numbing pain in his skull. He opened his eyes slowly but almost immediately regretted the decision. He was seated in a chair facing a window in, what seemed to be an old home, long since abandoned. Taking a few moments to examine the area, noting a few small details of the room if it came to him having an altercation with somepony else.

Already having noticed that his hooves were restrained to the chair legs, he sat and waited for something, anything, to happen. After a few minutes he managed to dull the pain of the headache he'd been cursed with ever since he'd been walloped with whatever blunt object took his cranium as a target.

After waiting for about a half hour, he heard hoofsteps coming towards the door of the room he was seated in, although not able to see them due to the fact that he was positioned away from the doorway. As it opened he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, preparing himself for whatever it was these ponies had planned for him.

A rather large pegasus walked in front of him and gave him, what seemed to be, a look of pity.

"What do you want?" He asked the larger pony.

The pegasus gave a light chuckle before he spoke.

"Straight to the point, with this one. We haven't even introduced ourselves!" He said, giving a toothy smile to the restrained pony.

The earth pony didn't find any kind entertainment in the pegasus' tone. He kept silent and held his sharp gaze on the other stallion.

After a few moments of waiting for the restrained stallion to respond. When he didn't his small smile faded and he spoke.

"Fine, I guess I can give you the courtesy." He snarled. "My name, is-" He was cut off by the other pony.

"I know who you are, and I know what you want. And I'm sorry to tell you, that you won't find it unless I want you to. And we both know, that's not going to happen, don't we?" At the point of his question, he gave the opposing stallion a knowing look and a sarcastic smile.

Before the restrained pony knew what was happening, a hoof came into contact with his jaw at a rather painful speed.

The stallion let his head hang loose for a moment and then tilted his head towards his aggressor. "Now what'd you go and do that for?" He asked in a seemingly friendly voice. The second blow came a bit less painfully, as the restrained stallion had time to prepare for it, although he didn't give any indication that he was in any kind of pain.

He recovered from it much like he had his first, though this time he simply gave a smirk through the small trickle of blood down his maw.

"And here, I thought we'd been getting along just fine." He said, before he was struck again.

As his head fell back, he used his weight and momentum to pull himself back strongly enough to flip himself down and shatter the wooden chair to pieces, and slipped himself out of the bindings placed upon him. He'd accomplished all of this just as the assaulting stallion came out of his awestruck pose and just managed to dodge the tackle aimed at him. He jumped over the assault, and while his enemy was beneath him, he bucked the stallion in his back, sending him sprawling on the floor.

"Now if you'll excuse me," He said, "I have some things to attend to." He lurched backward towards the door and went barreling through it. He practically threw himeslf down the long staircase that lay before him and emerged through the front door of the bulding. He paused for a few moments to get his bearing and ran off into the darkness in the direction of his new home.

"I only hope they were stupid enough to have left nopony there. If not, then this is going to be an interesting night." He thought aloud.

There was a rustling from behind him and he realized he was being pursued.

'I should've known he wasn't there by himself.' He thought, and he ducked behind a large tree until his pursuers ran by him. He took off at a run and landed on one of the three's back and used his weight to throw him aside. The next wasn't too far off, and had heard the noise behind him. As he slowed in front of the ex-manager he didn't think that the male would run into him and cause him to topple over a boulder, landing in a small body of water.

'Two down, One to go.'

The last of the three was un-aware that his partners had been dealt with, so he kept running until he came to rest in a large clearing. When he realized that his collegues weren't right behind him, he look frantically around the clearing and his eyes came to rest on the escaped stallion resting against a tree.

"Well what are you waiting for?" He asked as he pushed himself off of the tree, "Aren't you going to stop me?"

The stallion's taunting worked well, as the other pony charged him, jumped at him with a hoof at the ready, but his target was too quick. He lunged forward, underneath the pursuer and launched himself upwards into his gut with both of his front hooves.

As his enemy was sent to the ground, cluching his midsection, the escaped stallion resumed his flee towards his home.

He ran through the moonlit forest as fast as his legs could carry him.

He slowed and stopped for a moment to catch his breath and looked up at the full moon.

"I'm coming honey," He said, "And then we get to take a quick visit to the old studio."

He took off again, thoughts of his mistakes flowing back through him.

"I'm sorry Vinyl.." He said to himself as he ran, "I just hope I get there in time.."

A Simple Night

"Ugh, this is too much." Vinyl said aloud to herself. "There's no way I'm going to get this paperwork done by tomorrow!" She heard a small knock at her doorway and looked up to see that blue unicorn leaning on the door frame. She smiled, "Hey." Was all she said before she looked back down at the paperwork on her desk. She gave a frustrated growl at the sheets of parchment, hoping desperately that they would fly off in fear. No such luck.

Ray gave his marefriend a concerned look, though she couldn't see it through his sun glasses. He walked over to her and placed his hooves on her shoulders and lightly massasged them.

"You're really tense." He said, "You should take a bit to relax."

A look of contemplation grew across her face and, after a moment, she opened her mouth to speak. "This paperwork isn't going to do itself..." She said with a certain sting to her voice directed at the parchment in front of her. Maybe if she put enough poison in her voice, it would desolve before her eyes.

"I could help, if you'd like." Ray suggested as he dropped down and walked over to his marefriends side.

"And when you say that, you mean that you're going to help me wether I want you to or not." She told him, a smirk spreading across her lips. "Don't you?"

The blue stallion released a light chuckle and looked up at the other unicorn. "You know me a bit too well. Been watching me lately?" He said, practically drowning Vinyl in playful accusation.

"Who, me?" She asked, feigning innocence. "I would never!" Vinyl exlaimed sarcastically.

Vinyl pushed herself from her chair as her and Ray laughed, and came to settle with her head resting on his shoulder. He gave her neck a light kiss and smiled.

"Vinyl, you're a fantastic mare. But sometimes, you take on way more than you can handle." He told his marefriend.

She laughed. "Charming, handsome, and honest. You're going places, big guy."

"Why, thank you my dear." He said, growing a false smug expression on his face and quickly making it dissipate into a smile.

Vinyl lifted her head off of the stallion's shouler and her eyes came almost level to his, since he was just a bit taller than she was. The mare removed her sun glasses and set them on her desk, her magic glowing blue around them.

"Lemme see those eyes, big guy." She said, stating more than asking.

"Yes, Ma'am." He said, giving a sloppy salute and repeating her action, his crimson aura carrying his glasses away. As he set them down, he looked back down at his marefriends eyes.

'The only pair of eyes that match mine.' He thought happily. 'Maybe I've finally found the mare for me.'

After a few moments of looking into her coltfriend's eyes, Vinyl said, "Much better." And she leaned forward, lips puckered. The stallion took the hint and leaned the rest of the distance, placing a hoof on the mare's neck.

They continued to kiss, passionately, until their lungs burned and they had to come up for a breath.

"You know," Ray began, "I think I know a spell you'd like." He told Vinyl, and gave her a wink before stepping back. His horn began to glow an intense shade of crimson before there was a flash and Vinyl had to avert her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw that, instead of her desk and chair, there was a large loveseat in the middle of the office.

She smiled manically at the stallion who was a few steps away from her.

"You'll have to teach me that one." She said as the blue stallion lay himself down on the loveseat and patted the space next to him. It was just big enough to accomodate a certain white-coated unicorn.

Vinyl lay next to the stallion and draped a leg over his midsection and pulling herself close to him. She looked back up at him and smiled.

"Remind me to add 'Romantic' to that list."

"You've got a list for me now?" He asked playfully.

"Just for you, big guy."

He smiled and leaned his muzzle down closer to the mare's own.

"Well, you need a break and, I figured, what better than relaxing on a loveseat in your own office?" He told her.

She smiled and pushed her muzzle against his. The stallion pressed his tongue against Vinyl's lips, and she gladly allowed him entry, their fleshy appendages wrestling for dominance.

After the kiss ended, which was all too soon, Vinyl looked up at the window behind, what had been, her desk and was glad to see it was dark outside.

"I don't think the other studio-ponies would've felt very comfortable walking in on us. Mostly because I'm pretty sure you'd scare the crap out of them if they just walked in." Vinyl said, poking the stallion with a hoof. "Mr. Intimidation over here." She said jokingly.

"Me? Intimidating? Hah!" He laughed sarcastically, "I prefer frightening-when-necessary."

Vinyl laughed genuinely, "You're something else, big guy." She said as she nuzzled against his chest. "But I guess I was always one for the more.. out there ponies." She told him, smacking her hoof against his side playfully.

Ray's back arched and he yelped out in pain, quickly moving a free hoof down to clutch his side, an intense look of pain on his face.

Vinyl didn't know what to say for a moment, but came to her senses quickly enough, "Are you okay?" She asked, concerned for her coltfriend.

He had closed his eyes when he clutched his side with a hoof and they stayed that way until after Vinyl had asked him if he was okay, to which he responded,

"Yeah.. Yeah I'll be fine."

Vinyl wasn't convinced.

"Are you sure? I mean, I barely tapped you. Was there some old injury there that I hit?" She asked, becoming more worried for the stallion.

"Vinyl." He said, his tone serious, "I'm fine. Don't worry about it." He said. "Now, why don't we get back to the relaxing?" He asked, his tone returning to normal. Or rather, what was normal for the stallion.

Vinyl was still concerned, but she figured that Ray would tell her about whatever it was when he thought it was necessary.

"Well, lets get back to it big guy." She told him as she leaned herself in for another kiss.

For a majority of the night the couple lie there, kissing until they couldn't hold their breath any longer, talking about seemingly random subjects, and overall just enjoying each other's company.

Eventually they'd shifted into a spooning position, Ray's muzzle burried into his marefriend's mane, enjoying her natural scent as they drifted off to sleep. Surisingly enough, it was lavender.

'Interesting.. Though I'm not complaining.' He thought to himself. There was something else to it that seemed to be electrical. Like the mare was flowing with a large amount of energy, but it was contained underneath her skin.

'That's something new..' He thought to himself. 'Maybe she's got some hidden energy hidden inside of her.' He ventured.

Ray snapped his eyes open at that thought, 'Okay, time to sleep Ray. When you start coming up with stuff like that, it's time to let the mind have a night off.'

"'Night, Ray." Vinyl said to the stallion.

"Goodnight, Vinyl." Ray said as he planted a kiss on the mare's neck and nuzzled himself into her mane.

"Fair luck in the realm of dreams.." Was the last thing he said before drifting off to sleep.

Revelation

Vinyl and Ray awoke the next day well rested and, quite comfortable. They lay in the summoned loveseat for about an hour before deciding that they'd better get up and finish Vinyl's paperwork, lest it be late.

They did so in under an hour and filed it just before the first radio pony showed up to start their morning talkshow. Ray decided that he'd better go work on writing a few songs and Vinyl went around the studio to make sure eveything was in place, after telling the stallion that she could handle it on her own.

As she returned to her office, she was surprised to see that the loveseat had reverted back to her desk, and everything was still in place on it. Vinyl smiled.

"Gotta love him." She said.

She sat herself at her desk and reorganized it to make sure she had everything she needed for the day. When everything checked out she left the office and went to her old Dj booth that happened to be next door to the room the radio ponies from earlier had decided to use. She started up her equipment and brought out her notes that were scribbled with suggestions, lyrics, and other random ideas she had for her music.

Just as she was about to test out some of her thoughts on her equipment, there was a loud knocking on the door. She looked up from her notes and was surprised to see the stallion that was standing there.

Vinyl waved him in and smiled, "I knew you'd be back to visit." She said as she pulled her ex-boss into a hug.

He quickly returned the gesture and pulled away, "Vinyl, I need to get into my- uh, //your// office. I left my, uh, well lets just say that I left something here that was very important."

Vinyl gave him a confused look before flicking off the switch to the room as she lead him out. "Sure thing, dude." She said, with a tone of mild confusion. As they walked into her office, the stallion walked over to the back of the desk and pushed the chair aside. He crawled underneath it and pushed a few buttons and, after a moment of silence, a compartment hissed and then protruded out of the bottom of the desk.

'I hope whatever spell Ray used didn't mess with whatever's in that thing.' She thought with concern.

Evidently, it hadn't, as the former studio manager pulled out a decently sized crimson gem in his hooves. It seemed to radiate, as it visibly pulsed a magical aura. Vinyl watched as the stallion pulled off his saddlebags, which she hadn't noticed he'd been wearing, and pull out a box not much bigger than the gem. He placed the game in the box and replaced it in his saddlebags before returning them to his back.

"So, what was that, exactly?" Vinyl asked, as the other pony turned himself towards her, flinching as he saw her and letting out a small yelp.

"Sorry Vinyl, I'd forgotten you were there." He told her, his voice shaky. "Vinyl, has there been a break in recently?" He asked.

Vinyl blinked and slowly opened her mouth to answer. "Uh, yeah.. They really just made a big mess and left. Didn't even take anything."

"Oh Celestia, this isn't good. They were after that," He gestured to his saddlebags, "And they won't stop until they get it."

Vinyl fell quiet.

"Unless we stop them first." Said a stallion's voice.

Vinyl and her previous employer snapped their heads in the direction of the voice, which happened to be the office doorway.

In the doorway, stood Carbon.

"Carbon? How long have you been there?" Vinyl asked.

"I've been around since you thought I left the other day. I told you I'd be keeping an eye on you. Looks like that's payed off."

"Wait a minute.. Your name is Carbon? Like the ex-special-forces Carbon?" The other stallion said.

"That's the one."

The previous studio manager looked the special-forces stallion in the eye, "You can't say you don't remember me. I was in your unit, remember?" He inquired to the other stallion.

Carbon looked as if he was contemplating something of severe importance for a moment before looking back to the ex-studio manager.

"What was your name again?" Carbon asked him.

"Wave, Sound Wave. Remember?" He said.

A sudden wave of recognition washed itself over Carbon's face, before he nearly broke Sound's ribcage in a friendly hug.

"It's been too long, Sound. Too long. I'd always wondered what you'd get yourself into after we retired. Now I find you you haven't retired at all, still running around pissing people off." Carbon

Sound gave a nervous chuckle to what his former associate said, "All in a days work, I guess."

Carbon laughed.

"As modest as ever." He started, "But back to the matter at hoof. Why would anypony be looking for that?"

"Well.. It's a long story. Lets just say that powerful items are hard to keep a secret." Sound said, "And I really need to get it away from here before they come back."

Up to this point, Vinyl had been quiet.

"Well I'm coming too!" She told the stallions. "And it's not like you don't need the extra help."

Sound Wave's mouth opened quickly to protest, but closed shortly after. Vinyl was right. He'd need help doing what it was he was planning to stow away the gem where nopony could find it.

Albeit reluctantly, Sound agreed.

"But.. It wouldn't feel right about putting you in danger like that, Vinyl. If something happened to you..." His voice trailed off.

Carbon picked up the conversation.

"Nothing bad is going to happen to her, because I'm going too." He said firmly, leaving no room for Sound to argue.

Sound hung his head in defeat and looked back up after a moment of letting the situation sink in.

"Anypony else?" He asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, I'll go."

Vinyl laughed and turned towards the doorway to her offce. Surely enough, there stood Ray, looking as casual as ever.

"How'd I know you'd turn up for this?" Vinyl asked as she gave a large smile to the dark blue unicorn.

"Because you know me so well." He said, returning Vinyl's smile as and giving her an affectionate nuzzle.

"Okay! So, four tickets to the Highway to Hell, coming right up!" Sound Wave said with an almost contageous amount of false enthusiasm.

The group agreed that everone should gather a few things and meet back at the front of the studio. When they all came back, packed saddlebags on their backs, they walked out of the studio, Vinyl locking the doors, and they took off at a brisk trot.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a guitar strumming a few times and drums working their way into a beat. The party of looked towards the source, which was Ray. He'd packed a radio in his saddlebags.

Carbon and Vinyl laughed hysterically, while Sound Wave had a look of mild dissaproval.

"You really did that." He said.

Ray looked over with an innocent look.

"Did what?"

Safe House

The quartet came to rest at a run down bulding on the outskirts of the opposite side of the Everfree Forest. They'd spent a fair amount of the time on their way there with the two veteran ponies conversing in front and the other two holding small talk and keeping close to eachother. When they finally arrived after a few hours of walking, a couple timberwolf encounters, and dodging a group of the ponies pursuing them, they were all relieved to finally sit and rest.

"Whew, that's a good work out." Ray said as he sat down on a set of steps outside of the building. He turned his head around and curiously inspected the building. "This place is totally sacked. That could either be a good place to hide, or a bad one."

"A bad one, how?" Vinyl inquired to him.

"Well, if they know we're in this direction and see an old beat up house like this, their first thought would be that these are what ponies typically use for hide-outs." He explained. Vinyl looked to contemplate this for a moment when Sound Wave interjected.

"Actually, when we were losing that group back there in the forest, me and Carbon led them away." He informed the couple. "Besides, they're not a very smart group of ponies anyway." He added, earning a light chuckle from Carbon.

"You've got that right." Carbon said, "They've got to be the worst trackers on the face of Equestria."

During the conversation Vinyl had sat down next to Ray on the steps, letting out a sigh as she came to rest against him.

"So, is there somewhere we can set up that's not so.. open?" She asked, giving Sound a quizzical look.

"Oh come on Vinyl. Do you really think I'd bring a lady without a place for her and her special somepony to have some privacy?" He asked with a sarcastic smile.

Vinyl blushed furiously while Ray placed a hoof over his mouth, desperately trying to withold his laughter. "I have no idea what you're talking about..." She said as she tried her best to burry her face in her coltfriend's mane. Ray nuzzled her, having regained control of himself.

"It's okay Vinyl." He said. Ray turned his head towards Sound. "And, for the record, nothing of that nature has happened yet."

"Yet."

Ray opened his mouth to retaliate but closed it for fear of making the situation more embarassing than necessary. He sighed. Not one of displeasure, but of content. He was resting out in the (semi) wilderness, his marefriend leaning against him. It was a nice moment, minus the teasing from the other stallion. Surprisingly, Carbon didn't comment on anything to do with the couple.

Vinyl made a mental note to ask him about it later.

"So, we going inside sometime today, or are we gonna set up a signal fire for them?" Carbon asked, a bit more seriously than the other three had expected. Vinyl gave him a concerned look, but the expression he returned to her told her now wasn't the time to get sympathetic.

Sound Wave moved to unlock the door, with a key that nobody saw him produce, and waved them all inside. Carbon was the first to enter, followed by Sound. Ray waited for Vinyl to get up so he didn't pull himself from underneath her, and followed closely behind her. They walked in and froze, jaws dropping.

The entire place was furnished. As you walked in, you could see an entirely full living room, with a couche, loveseat, end tables, a T.V., entertainment center, and everything else you'd expect to be in a living room. If it was as luxurious as this one, that is.

As they traveled further into the building, they came upon a doorway to the left of the living area which revealed a fully stocked kitchen, and pantry. The kitchen had all kinds of appliances, some of which Vinyl hadn't even been acquanted with. She doubted she would be, though, not being a very good cook.

As they toured the rest of the safehouse, seeing full bedrooms, bathrooms, etc, Vinyl stopped and addressed Sound Wave.

"So you have a hide-out on the other side of the Everfree that just so happens to be fully stocked, and furbished. And I thought you were just a Studio Manager..." She said, her voice trailing off.

"Just in case, right?" He responded.

Vinyl didn't answer, but just continued to look around the house, awestruck.

"Anyway, you two can take the master bedroom, and me and Carbon can take the two guest rooms." Sound Wave told them. Neither Ray nor Vinyl argued with him, and walked over to the aforementioned bedroom. and emptied out their things. Ray caught Vinyl before she walked back out the door and pulled her back into the room. Without speaking, he pulled her into a deep, thorough kiss.

Vinyl gave a small gasp as he pulled her into it, which caused Ray to smile. They kissed for a few minutes, only pausing briefly to catch their breath. Eventually, they seperated and stood in a loose embrace, Vinyl nuzzling herself into Ray's neck.

They stood there, not speaking, just enjoying each other's warmth.

"Ahem."

Ray turned his head, not moving the rest of his body, letting Vinyl rest her head on him.

"What's up?" He asked.

Carbon stood in the doorway.

"Sound wanted to talk with you two." He said, giving a nod in the direction of the living area.

"Okay, we'll be out in just a sec." Ray said, before Vinyl had time to remove herself from him. Carbon nodded and left the doorway, heading back to the living room, and taking a seat on the couch, opposite Sound Wave.

Vinyl lifted her head off of the stallion, and said, "We should see what's so important."

"Yeah, I guess we should." He said, giving the white unicorn a quick kiss on the cheek and motioning her ahead of him with a hoof.

Vinyl let out a small giggle.

"Thank you, my good stallion."

Ray smiled and followed close behind Vinyl out of the room. As they entered the living room, they walked over and sat down on the loveseat, entagling themselves with Ray lying his head just under Vinyls front legs, Vinyl's other legs wrapped around him.

Once they got settled, Sound cleared his throaght and the couple shifted their heads towards him. When sound finally began to speak, his tone wasn't especially pleasing to Vinyl. He didn't usually carry that kind of tone when he spoke.

"From here we'll be moving North, further away from the Everfree, until we reach the mountains. I've got a few more safehouses along the way, but they're all a few days apart. We'll be staying at each of them for a couple days to rest and restock on food, and whatever else we need, and then we'll be on our way. We'll have to camp in between them so we'll have to distribute who carries what, to make sure nobody goes down because they've got too much weight." Everyone listened intently as Sound went into further detail of the procedures for security when it came time to set up a camp. Who did what, who took what shifts when to keep watch, where and when they'd stop to eat, rest, etc.

Once they'd finished going over all of the details of their travel, Ray took the floor.

"So," He began, "Who's hungry?" He asked, earning a couple of surprised looks from the other stallions.

As if on cue, Vinyl's stomach growled loudly, and the ponies laughed.

Ray nuzzled his head against Vinyl's chest as he lifted himself from the loveseat.

"I guess I'll get cooking then." He said, walking off into the kitchen.

First Night On The Run

The four ponies lay around the living area of the luxurious hideout. Ray had made a variety of different pastas, salads, and other vegitable based dishes. Vinyl had been genuinely, and honestly speachless. She had had no idea he knew how to cook at all, let alone so well.

As they all lazed around the furniture, Vinyl and Ray intertwined with each other on the loveseat, and Carbon and Sound on their respective ends of the couch, they just idly chatted. Not about anything in particular, just friendly talk, despite the more serious moments when they discussed the trip they were taking.

They sat around until a few hours after the sunset, idly discussing random subjects, making seemingly pointless conversation. At some point in the conversation they decided to that Carbon would take the first watch, and they all said goodnight. Vinyl and Ray returned to their bedroom, while Sound went to his as well.

Sound took to the sheets immediately, almost instantly falling asleep. Carbon looked around the house for a while, seeing that everything was in place. Once he'd secured that everything was as normal as it could be in the current situation, he headed upstairs, looking for an attic access. He'd keep watch from the roof.

He wasn't going to up and leave the inside watched, though. He'd left multiple miniscule motion sensores around the entirety of the house which were all remotely connected to a beeper he'd kept between a couple of the knives on his utility belt.

Carbon walked the perimeter of the roof, dropping off a few mobile, propelled cameras. They were also small, remotely connected devices that would patrol around the safe house, small cameras and motion sensors installed.

Carbon was prideful in his work, and his technology. He'd been the only one to have kept a small amount of it after his team was.. 'disbanded'.

He'd been a special forces pony, preforming in a secret Ops team. His team had recieved a particularly difficult objective, though they all thought they could handle it. That was their mistake. They'd taken on so many difficult missions that, when they heard of this one, they'd thought nothing of it. 'Just another Op, right? No big deal.' Or at least, that's what they all thought.

Carbon shook his head. He wasn't one to sit around and mourne his past, though he did miss the company of his old friends. Sound Wave had been the only companion he'd made before he was recruited to his Special Ops division. Carbon had enlisted and immediately blown away all possible scores. He was the top in all physical competitions and was excellent with the psycological section as well.

He'd scored so well he barely had time to befriend Sound. They did manage to become good friends beforehand though, luckily for them both.

Carbon sat upon the roof, lost in his thoughts when a high pitched beeping made it's way to his ears. Before the stallion knew what he was doing, he'd launched himself in the direction of the door that lead to a staircase into the hideout.

He skidded to a halt as the door, surprisingly, opened. Vinyl stepped out, her eyes growing wide at the sight of the stallion.

Carbon hadn't realized it, but he'd drawn half of the six combat knives he had lined across his belt. He sighed at himself as he lowered the blades back to their places.

'Sometimes I really hate the training I went through.' He thought.

Vinyl gave a nervous chuckle. "Uh, everything okay up here?" She asked.

Carbon gave a laugh of his own, "Yeah, I just thought there was a security breach." He explained. "You tripped a motion sensor on your way up here." He told her, tapping the beeper he had on his waist with a hoof.

A look of understanding crossed over Vinyl's face for a moment. "So, you look like you could use some company." She told him, walking past him to seat herself where Carbon was before.

Cargon hesitated for a moment before taking his place next to Vinyl and settled himself on his side with his head lying on his crossed legs.

Vinyl gave a sigh and looked up the the stars. The pair sat in silence, simply enjoying Luna's beautful night. Vinyl took her eyes away from the sky and looked down to carbon.

"So what was up with you earlier?"She asked.

Carbon looked confused, "What are you reffering to, exactly?"

"Earlier when Sound made a joke about me and Ray. You got quite and didn't say anything." Vinyl explained, "And by the look on your face, I'd say something was up."

Carbon winced, visibly, earning a concerned look from the mare. He noticed and gave a small smile.

"I'm sure you can figure it out, but I'll just say it. No point in avoiding the conversation." He said, "I'm envious of Ray and yourself."

This reveleation shocked Vinyl. There was no way Carbon could be jealous of Ray and herself. Having managed to keep a straight face, Vinyl asked "Do you have your eyes on somepony, specifically?"

Carbon ran a hoof through his mane. "Yeah, and I'm pretty sure you know her."

Vinyl smiled at thought of one of her friends having Carbon as a special somepony. "Who would that be?" She asked, becoming more emersed in the conversation.

Carbon hesitated again, this time a bit longer. When he finally spoke, his voice had dropped considerably. "Octavia..."

Vinyl gave a full on grin at the image of her oldest friend with one of her newest. Vinyl's face went slack as a lost thought felt like it smacked her in the face with a smoked salmon. She'd forgotten to tell Octavia she'd be away from Ponyville for a while. Vinyl had taken to going out with Octavia once or twice every couple weeks to try and find her somepony. Initially, Octavia had refused, but Vinyl's persistance wore out the earth pony's resolve.

Vinyl noticed Carbon staring at her, his head tilted to one side. She realized she'd been sitting there staring off into space while he was in need of somepony to talk to.

"Sorry, I remembered something I forgot before we left Ponyville." She told him. She gave an apologetic look, "So when did you start having a thing for Octy?" She inquired, playfully but with an air of seriousness evident in her voice.

"Well.." He started slowly, clearing taking caution in his words, "I've seen her around, a few times with you, and I've tried talking to her but I always end up looking like an idiot." He shook his head at himself. "I just don't know what to talk to her about. It's like every time I try I shoot myself down."

Vinyl ran a hoof down her neck before she responded. "You know, she's not hard to talk to. She just makes it seem like it."

Carbon fell into a confused state. "And what that means is?..."

Vinyl laughed a bit, at Carbon's expense. "It means that she looks all prisy like she's some noble, but she just does that to keep up public appearances." Explained the white unicorn, "She does act a bit uppity at times, but that's just how she was raised. Just walk up to her and start a conversation like you would with anypony else."

Vinyl finished explaining her friend and waited for Carbon's response.

"It sounds easy when you say it like that. I just don't know much about her. What she likes, what she doesn't. Stuff like that. I don't want to try just to have her think I'm just some jerk trying to score."

As Carbon finished, Vinyl smiled. She was beginning to want Carbon to be with Octavia. He seemed to be a good stallion. In a way, he was almost like Ray. Almost.

"I think I can help you out there." Vinyl told him.

The two poines sat upon the roof, Vinyl telling details about her gray furred friend, to her new body guard, and Carbon occasionally asking questions and providing scenarios for Vinyl to give him instructions on.

Some time later, the two unicorns said goodnight, and the mare returned to her room.

Carbon looked up to the moon again, smiling. "It's great to have friends like you Vinyl." He said aloud.

He spun around abruptly at the sound of a feminine voice.

"It really is."

An Unexpected Visitor

"P-Princess Luna..." Carbon stuttered as he kneeled into a bow.

"Rise to thy hooves, I have not come under the common formalities." Said the princess. "I've come to advise."

The unicorn rose from his bow and shifted uncomfortably. "Advise me on what?" He asked, a mixture of confusion and worry drawn across his face.

"On the quest you have decided to partake in." Luna began, "And about the precious cargo you're protecting."

"You're referring to the Gemstone Sound has, right?" Carbon asked, doubtful that could be of very much importance.

Luna considered for a moment before responding, "Yes, but also no." She stated simply. "There is yet another precious item in your midst." She told the unicorn. "One capable of weilding the power of said Gemstone. Thought she does not know it yet."

The former Special Ops pony froze. Here was the Princess of the Night, in the flesh, telling him that that gem, and the white mare he was protecting, were not only both powerful, but that the mare in question was the only one capable of weilding it. But what was it?

"Princess, what exactly is that gemstone?" He asked.

"I will explain." She told Carbon, "But under one condition."

"Okay.." Carbon said, not sure where this was going to leave him, "What is it?"

"Everything I reveal this night shall be known by you, and you alone. A seal must be kept on this information, as your friend needs to discover this power herself, lest she reject it."

Carbon was beginning to get a bit worried for Vinyl. It sounded like Luna was putting a lot on her. "Why can't she reject it if that's what she wants? Can't somepony else use it?" Carbon inquired, trying to find a way to put less stress on his friend.

"I'm afraid not." Began the Night Princess, "Vinyl is imbued with a certain power, binding herself to the stone. She alone must discover her abilities. The fate of Equestria could very well depend on it." She explained, her tone growing evermore serious. "It will not be long before her will is tested."

Carbon didn't know what to say. Hell, he didn't even know what to think. Here was one of the most powerful beings in Equestria, telling him his friend would have to take Equestria itself into her hooves. All the military training in the world couldn't have prepared him for the barage of emotions he was currently feeling.

He was frustrated that he couldn't tell Vinyl, scared for her safety, and he was resentful that he wasn't given the opportunity to wield the power himself. He had years of combat training, after all. Why not him? Carbon halted all thoughts flowing through his mind, and discarded his negative feelings towards Vinyl. 'If she was meant for it, than who am I to argue?' he thought.

To top off his emotional rollercoaster, Carbon felt completely helpless. He had just been told, not advised, not suggested in mild conversation, that the power contained in the gemstone was meant to be used to save Equestria by his friend. 'Oh, well, I was wondering if it would be okay with you if I put the fate of Equestia in your friend's hooves. No big deal, right?' He imagined the princess saying.

A thought then struck the stallion.

"If you wanted her to find out on her own, why did you come to tell me about it?" He asked, genuinely baffled by the point the princess might have in revealing this information. It seemed redundant to him, though he figured the Night Mother would have her reasons.

The alicorn continued without hesitation, "Because, my little pony, if she is to deny this power of her own accord, then Equestria could be doomed. I am tasking you with attempting your best at persuading her to accept it, should that happen."

Carbon stared blankly at the princess. After a few moments of thought, he asked, "And how am I supposed to do that?"

"By any means you have to use, Carbon. It is vital she accept this power, though idealy of her own choosing." Luna explained.

Carbon considered this, trying to come up with a rebuttle but falling short. He could see no flaws in the Princess' argument, should the fate of Equestria really be at stake that is. The stallion thought for a few moments more before forming one last question for the Princess.

"Princess?" He started.

"Yes, Carbon?"

"What, exactly, is threatening Equestria?"

And so was the stallion told of Equestria's newest enemy.

A Friendly Discussion

Ray walked out of the office to see a semi-impatient look on the other stallion's face.

`"I see you've finally made your way out." He said in a tone that didn't exactly make Ray's impression of him much better. "Well, since you're here I've got some things I want to discuss since you seem to be in a relationship with the one who my job is centered on." Ray listened carefully, trying his best not to show any disrespect.

'I don't need to give this guy any reason to dislike me. Especially with that hardware.' Ray thought to himself as he eyed the other unicorn's belt which contained about a half-dozen knives that looked to be designed for aerodynamics. "And why is your job centered on Vinyl, exactly?" Ray asked with his usual indifferent tone, although having an amount of interest in the subject.

"Well," Carbon started, "We don't know what those ponies were after, and it doesn't seem like we're going to find out any time soon." He turned his eyes onto the blue unicorn, "So until we either find the object in question or the ponies that were after it, I'm going to be an escort for your marefriend in there." He said as he gave a nod in the direction of Vinyl's office.

"Hold on a second." Said the blue stallion, "Escorting to where?"

"Anywhere she has to go." Carbon replied, much to Ray's displeasure.

"You're joking, right? Everywhere?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Carbon asked, giving the other pony a very serious look.

Ray just glared at the other stallion through his sun-glasses. He didn't like the idea of some other stallion constantly being on top of his marefriend, and he wasn't planning on letting him without setting some ground rules.

"Look. I don't want to cause any conflicts with the both of us, but if you think I'm going to let you invade Vinyl's privacy and constantly be on her tail, then you'd better reconsider your thought process." As Ray finished his rant he relaxed himself a bit, not wanting to seem like a hot-head near this particular pony as it had the possibility of ending badly for the both of them. After all, Ray wasn't the kind of stallion to stand there and take a beating.

"Sorry pal, it's a necessary precaution and it's strictly for her protection."

Ray scoffed at this statement, not quite caring for the other unicorn's attitued toward the entire situation. "So you think I'm going to let you invade her, and by extension, my privacy?"

"Sounding a bit confrontational there, ShoutOut. If you'd like, we could take this outside." He looked over at Ray to see if there were any changes in his attitude, but much to the stallion's surprise, the blue unicorn wasn't backing down from this.

"You know what? No. I'm not going to stoop myself to that." Ray told Carbon. "And besides, I don't think Vinyl would appreciate me getting arrested for taking on a security escort and leaving them useless."

Carbon laughed, which made Ray jump. "I like you kid, we're going to get along just fine." He said. Carbon walked over and gave Ray a pat on his shoulder before turning away and heading to the group of his colleagues who'd gathered across the room to watch him and Ray argue.

Ray just stood there, dumbstruck. He hadn't been expecting Carbon to have been joking the entire time.

Carbon turned his head around before he got too far away from the other male and said, "Don't worry, if you two want some privacy I'll give it to you. But I'm still going to be nearby constantly." Once he finished speaking, Carbon turned back around and reached his associates and began conversating with them.

Ray shook his head and turned back towards Vinyl's office. 'Well that was.. Interesting.' He thought as he replayed what had just happened in his mind. He reached Vinyl's office and opened the door to find his marefriend sleeping with a set of headphones upon her head.

After debating about it for a moment he thought, 'I'll just let her sleep.'

Ray went his way over to his marefriends seat and lay down next to it on the floor, taking a moment to get comfortable, and relaxing his body. After a few minutes he began to feel himself drift to sleep and his last thought, before entering the land of dreams, was that of him and mis marefriend enjoying themselves at their previous dinner.