When Shadows Bleed

"You say this is where they were found?", Inkblot asked, staring at the desolate corner. The day was cold, even though the sun was out. A light wind made a strange hissing noise as it blew through the rooftops and alleyways, setting both ponies on edge.

"Ah know it for sure. Ah saw her there, and then Rarity told me about the chahld.", Applejack replied. Inkblot scowled, and walked in circles around the corner, looking warily down nearby alleyways.

"Well...if the attack was at night, the assailant could have come out through here...", Inkblot murmured. He sat down on the corner, and stared across the road, pondering something. Applejack walked up to him, and sat down beside him.

"Hey, have ya seen mah brother? Ah couldn't fahnd him anywhere this mornin'.", Applejack asked. She looked at Inkblot with genuine worry. Applebloom had left her mind. It had been a few days, and there was no sign of her. Applejack didn't want to assume she was dead, but her heart had fractured further than she could continue. She had felt it better to just embrace her sister's disappearance. Inkblot looked at her, and scowled.

What are you doing outside so late? It's dangerous out here.

Eeyup...

Is something wrong?

Eeyup...

...Are you running from something?

Eeyup...

Are you scared?

...

Does anypony know you are gone?

A small shake of the head.

Let me guess, you don't want me to tell anypony?

Nope.

Anypony in particular I should know about?

Applejack, Applebloom.

I don't know what you are running from, or why, but I won't bother. I will make sure to keep a look out for those two...You be careful out there.

"Uh...I don't think so...do you have any idea as to where he might have gone?" Oh dear Celestia, I hate lying to her, but that stallion seemed so depressed. He had a reason for running. I just know it. I will keep my promise, at least, until I know the time is right.

"Ah swear, if that little slut told him to run off with her~", Applejack growled. She got up and paced.

"I am going to stay out of this. Something tells me it be better I not get involved.", Inkblot said. Applejack looked at him, raised an eyebrow, then shook her head.

"Whatever. Did ya get anything off of this?"

"Not much, but a little."

"Well?"

"Our mysterious murderer is more than likely not alone." Applejack's curiosity was slightly aroused now.

"Whah do ya think that?"

"Well, I will put it simply. The order of events here seems too delicate, too difficult, to pull off alone."

"And whah is that?"

"You told me that there were two victims. One pony could not have gotten both, that is obvious. Another thing is that this corner is way too exposed, even at night. Somepony helped stage this, or helped cause it in some way."

"Well, yes, there were two victims...but one of them was a colt." Inkblot scowled again, seeing how one murderer might have been able to do this alone. "...and he is still alahve." Inkblot stared at Applejack so hard that she began to feel uneasy. She shifted her hooves, and coughed nervously.

"What?" Inkblot remained unblinking, still staring directly at Applejack.

"The colt...he is still alahve..." Inkblot breathed a little bit, trying to calm himself.

"You mean to-" He cut himself off as he felt rage boil inside him. He didn't dare speak until he felt it simmer down again. "You mean to tell me, that you brought me to the already clear murder site, when there is a witness still alive? What were you thinking!?" Inkblot got up, and Applejack flinched. He walked toward her, and she shrunk down.

"Y-yeah...ah'm sorry...ah forgot about the colt entirely..."

"YOU WHAT!?" Applejack let out something close to the pathetic whimper of a dog, and her stance, head down, rear up (though it was starting to lower too, in an attempt to get as far away from Ink as possible), as if ready to bolt backward, helped to strengthen this notion. Inkblot realized what he was doing, and felt his anger leave him entirely. His lip quavered, and he looked down, sadness visible on his face. He lifted Applejack's face up to him, and she slowly regained her normal posture, but the fear never left her eyes.

"Ah'm so sorry Inkblot..." Inkblot shook his head, and pulled the mare into a hug, where he felt a few warm tears run down his back.

"No, I shouldn't have flipped on you. You're scared. I can't blame you for forgetting. I know that you just want this whole thing to be over." Applejack backed up, to look him in the eyes. "Twilight tells me you have a wonderful mare at home, and that you would do anything to protect her." If the occasion were any other, AJ would have blushed, but not now. A wan smile crossed her lips.

"Yeah...Ah do..." Inkblot smiled, and gave a small, reassuring kiss on the forehead to Applejack. She did blush from this, and leaned into Inkblot. He put a hoof around her, and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"I will do whatever I can to make sure that you return home to her safe, and not without revenge. We will find this killer." Then, just like that, the moment of personal understanding was gone, and it was all professional again. Applejack backed up, giving Ink a small peck on the cheek, her blush slowly leaving her as an air of seriousness gathered around her.

"Ah am guessing you want to see the colt?"

"Lead the way."

The two young mares sat across from each other, simply staring. The couches they sat on were very comfortable, allowing them to stay relatively still without discomfort. They had been sitting like this for some time, after they broke off a conversation about their current predicament. Finally, Applebloom broke the pressing silence.

"Is this a bad thing?", she asked. Sweetie Belle scowled, and looked at the roof of the house.

"Well, we were filly napped...and that's not good~"

"Well, yeah, but nothing has happened to us."

"Yet. Applebloom, it's hardly even been a few days since we were captured."

"Clain comes home everyday, to make us food, and then just sits with us and talks to us, almost like he were our father."

"There's that..."

"And what else? He hasn't tried to do anything bad. In fact, it seems almost as if he is inclined NOT to let anything bad happen. Everyday, he returns with a smile on his face. Everyday, he treats us with care and compassion equal to the that of a parent. The only thing he hasn't done that a parent would do is kiss us and hug us."

"What about our parents? What do you think they think? We have been gone for a few days!"

"Oh~"

"I am glad you reminded me of that. You practically asked me to name something bad about this, and now I did."

"..." Applebloom looked down, ashamed.

"You-" Sweetie Belle was interrupted by the distinct sound of the front door opening, and both mares turned to see Clain walk in. Like Applebloom had pointed out, he looked at them and gave them a heart warming smile. He walked up to them, and sat down between them.

"What are you two up?", Clain asked.

"We were talking.", Sweetie Belle said.

"About what?", Clain asked.

"About how our parents must be worried about us.", Applebloom replied. Clain looked down, and stared at his hooves.

"They are probably very worried about you..."

"Yeah.", Sweetie Belle said. Clain looked back up at them.

"I want you two to be safe. I don't want you getting hurt. When you are here, I can always watch over you..."

"Safe from what, Clain?", Applebloom asked, and walked up to him, nuzzling into his chest.

"Safe from me. Safe from all the bad things I do. Here, where I know where you are, I can avoid hurting you." Sweetie Belle copied her lover, and she too nuzzled into Clain's chest.

"Why us?", she asked.

"Because you are two peas in a pod. You will always stick together, and I know that it must be paining you to be away from your family, and how it must pain your family that you are missing, but imagine if I only brought one or the other?" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle did imagine it, and what they saw made them scared. They saw themselves sitting all alone in the home, wallowing in depression. They saw themselves waste away, because there was nopony to be there with them. "I want to assimilate myself into your lives, personally." He gave both mares a small kiss on the head. "I know I have no right to be butting in, taking place of your father, of your parents, but that is what I want to do. Maybe it will make me stop myself. Maybe it will help me finally become real, become normal." Applebloom, who had been waiting to hear those words from his mouth, was ready to respond.

"I think that you are already normal, and that you can be a great a father as any." Clain smiled, and then got up.

"Come here. I want to show you two something." Both young mares followed Clain through a door and down some stairs. He went up to wall, and knocked on it. Nothing happened.

"What-"

"Give me a second." Clain went up to the bright candle that burned, and blew it out. Then, he found the girls again, and sat behind them. For a second, everything was black, and then the wall lit up with light of assorted colors. They flowed and moved and changed hypnotically.

"Wow~", Applebloom and Sweetie Belle said in unison. They found each other, and Applebloom kissed Sweetie on the cheek, before leaning on her. Unseen to them, Clain smiled as he felt a weight being lifted from his broad shoulders.

Look at yourself Clain. One day a murderer, the next, a caring "father", so to speak. Is there nothing you can't do?

I can't change.

...

I can't change, no matter how hard I try. I can lie, I can play fraud all I want, but that won't change the monster inside me. That monster won't go. It never will. When it does, it will be when I am dead.

Octavia stared at Vinyl. She couldn't believe her eyes, and her mouth trembled.

"Vinyl...but...why?"

"Octavia!" Vinyl whirled around, dropping the knife. It splashed in a pool of blood. "It's not what it seems!"

"You..." Octavia backed up, slowly, in fear. "I have been living...loving...a monster..."

"No! Octavia, please...believe me! It's not what it seems!"

"Explain the body! Explain the knife! Explain why you are standing over a dead body, with a knife!" The alleyway was cold, and it seemed suddenly darker. Octavia backed up further, closer to daylight, closer to safety.

"I heard a sound, something like a muffled scream and I came into the alleyway. I took out the knife, thinking I might need to defend myself or somepony."

"Why in the hell do you have a knife!?"

"Because...doesn't everpony?"

"No..."

"Oh...frickin' paparazzi, I tell you what~"

"Vinyl, just come clean...I know you murdered this pony. If you just admit it, I can forgive you...at least partially. I couldn't forgive myself if I believed a liar."

"Octavia, please. Stop being so silly. I gave a perfectly plausible explanation. Here, I will just come out onto the sidewalk, and we can walk away. I will report this to somepony, anypony. I promise you that it wasn't me." Octavia watched Vinyl reach down and pick up the knife from the blood, and use her magic to wipe it clean. She approached Octavia, and raised the knife toward her.

"NO! Get away from me!", Octavia cried out, surprising Vinyl, who lowered the knife. Octavia turned and ran from the alleyway, tears flying from her eyes. A few ponies saw her running and went to see from what.

"I was just reaching to put it away..." Vinyl mumbled, and rolled her eyes.  "I think I just lost my mare. Great. This day couldn't get any worse." Vinyl glared at the ground. "I love her, damn it I do, but sometimes she just over reacts way too much.  " Vinyl placed the knife back in her shoulder-pack, and looked forward. She saw quite a few ponies staring at her, and she felt her heart sink. A tan pony with pitch black hair was staring coldly at her, blocking her exit. Vinyl sighed. "I am right fucked, aren't I?"

"More so.", Inkblot spat. Vinyl facehoofed. And...I am going to prison. Way to jinx it, DJ.

"Hey, careful!", Vinyl hissed as Inkblot shoved her forward. She turned to face the stallion. "Somepony's got problems..." Vinyl felt her breath leave her when she was smacked in the face, hard. She tumbled backward, and stopped rolling when she hit the bars of a prison cell.

"Shut up. If anypony's got problems, it's you. Care to explain why you were standing in a dark alleyway, with a knife, next to a dead body?", Inkblot asked. Vinyl spat out blood, and looked at Inkblot.

"What does it matter to you, beating on mares? Last time I remember, that is impolite."

"Fuck etiquette. It doesn't apply when you are dealing with a murderer." Inkblot looked at the other ponies in the room with him. "You can leave. I have got her taken care of." The ponies left the room without a sound. Then, Vinyl and Inkblot were alone. Inkblot looked back at Vinyl.

"But I didn't murder the pony! I told you that so many times!"

"Yeah, yeah. I heard ya. And I believed you." Vinyl felt rage boil up inside her.

"So then why the fuck-"

"Ah ah. Watch your mouth."

"You have no jurisdiction over me."

"Last time I checked, I was standing over you, and you were laying on the ground. Why are you on the ground, somepony may ask? Well, somepony, that is because I smacked her and that is where she stopped. Now, repeat to me what you were going to say, but with a clean mouth this time." Vinyl groaned in distaste, but listened anyway.

"So why did you hit me, and why did you continue taking me away?"

"The town wants a convict, so I gave them one, or at least that's what they think. The less panicked the town is, the easier it will be to get them to listen, and the easier it will be to find the actual killer, whether the killer be the same, or the separate killers of Pinkie and the as of yet unidentified pony."

"What if the killer or killers strike again? Then the town will be thrown back into panic."

"Obviously you do not know psychology. Yes, they will be scared, but I have "proved" to them that I can help them."

"How so? You could have just been a lucky bloke who happened upon me while I was committing "evil" acts."

"Most everypony knows that I am the only one who has made an attempt to take this case, and solve it at that."

"Isn't there other, more qualified ponies for that job?"

"Yeah."

"So why-"

"They were to busy with either personal matters and just too self-centered to help us, with the latter making up the majority of ponies who couldn't, or should I say wouldn't, help us."

"Whatever, this is besides the point. How does your "psychology" make it so the town won't panic?"

"Simple. They now have a pony in which they can put their trust in to find the killer. The more ponies that trust me, the more ponies that are willing to listen to what I say. In that effect, I can protect more ponies by having them listen to my advice, and to help me in any plans that I think of."

"Now you just sound flat out evil."

"I know."

"And?"

"If I sound evil, then half the game is already been finished, in my favor. Sometimes, it takes a villain to stop a villain, and I fit the part perfectly."

"What in tarnation-?"

"Hush, Applejack. Don't alert the others."

"You are-"

"I know what I am doing."

"But isn't she-?"

"No."

"But you said-"

"I know what I said. I also know what I said was a lie."

"H-"

"How could I? Psychology, Applejack. I will explain later. For now, just roll with it." Inkblot turned to Vinyl. "You are a unicorn."

"Obviously."

"Well?" Vinyl gave Inkblot a dirty look.

"You expect me to answer that? It isn't even a question."

"Think for a second."

"Can't. My brains been fried from all the sound I pump into my ears. At least, that's what the experts say."

"Fuck the experts."

"You are just a fuck everything kind of stallion, aren't you."

"To the dot. Now, use that fried brain of yours. You are a unicorn." Vinyl, scrunched up her face, and thought, deep and hard. It took a little bit, but she finally understood what Inkblot was insinuating.

"Oh, I get it! I can-"

"Shsh! Keep it to yourself. Now run-along." Vinyl walked to the door, but then turned around. She ran up to Inkblot and gave him a small peck on the cheek.

"And that was for?"

"Believing me." Inkblot was slapped across the face, with magic and hoof. "And that was for hitting me." Then, Vinyl was gone, running like Ink had told her to do. He stared after her, and then burst out laughing.

"What?", Applejack asked.

"Why can't Trixie be more like that?", Ink said, before he too walked out the door, laughing heartily. Applejack was left alone in the room. She looked around, and sighed. She walked over to the cell that Blue was held in. He was asleep, someway, somehow. Applejack sighed.

"Ah will avenge you. Ah promise."

That Night

It was late. Everpony in Twilight's house was asleep. Twilight was having a pleasant dream, and she smiled as her own hoof began to slide down her belly, aiming for a very certain spot. It never reached that spot, for Twilight suddenly awoke and pulled both her hooves close.

"He said...he said..."

"Twiiiiliiiight...", said the voice she had heard in her dream. It surrounded her, and she pulled her blanket up closer. Silver was sleeping in the bed opposite hers. He hadn't heard the voice. No, he hadn't because he was asleep. Twilight slipped out of her bed, and walked up to Silver's. She looked at him, sleeping soundly. "Twiiiiiliiiight..." Twilight was unnerved and began to pace. The voice called on and on, non-stop. Finally, scared to death, Twilight rushed downstairs and out the front door.

"What...do you...want!?", Twilight cried out in between gasps. The voice had ceased it's calling, but now spoke up, still seeming to surround Twilight.

"It's been some time, Twilight, has it not? Four months, five months?" Twilight recognized the voice at once, and she was put on edge.

"Seven months..."

"Oh Twilight. You are so cute."

"Are you here for revenge?"

"W-What?"

"I understand if you are here for revenge. What I did to you was wrong."

"No! Never!"

"Don't lie."

"I am not, and you know that Twilight." The voice was right: Twilight did know he wasn't lying. Yet, still, her mind believed that the voice was here for revenge.

"What then?"

"I am here, just to be here."

"Why would you want to see me? Why, after what I did to you?"

"Because you only did it because your damn princess told you to. She's more corrupt than you would think."

"No. Celestia is a good princess. She would never do anything against Equestria."

"That is what you think Twilight. But, it is sadly not so. However, I know you will be a great princess. I see you learned to use your wings well." Twilight looked down, and realized her wings were twitching and flapping in nervousness. She forced them to calm down.

"What does that matter?"

"It doesn't. I am simply reminiscing from when I first met you, how you were a nervous wreck. You thought that you couldn't get your life under control." Twilight remembered this too, and she actually smiled. It was a good memory, that time of her life. Despite all the panic, things were good for her, and better for her friends. Back before Pinkie had died, back before Dash had... I don't even want to remember..., Twilight thought, and pushed the memory of her old friend away.

"Can...can I see you? I want to remember you..."

"All it takes is a mirror." Twilight knew what this meant, and turned around, and looked right into red eyes. A cloak of sorts covered the pony's body, but the dark navy of the pony's head was visible.

"So long...so long it has been...", Twilight said, her lip trembling.

"Longer than I could bare."

"Incarceri..." Twilight threw herself upon the stallion. Now on the ground, Twilight giggled when Incarceri ran his hoof through her mane.

"Twilight, in all the time that I knew you, after all that you have done for me..."

"I only did what I thought was right. You came to me, a changeling with a heart, who longed to be normal. I did what I could."

"And I couldn't thank you more. I found a friend..."

"A friend who promised to always stick by my side..."

"But now, Twilight, I have come back to say I love you." Twilight blushed, and her eyes widened.

"You..."

"I love you Twilight. I will do anything to prove it."

"I know you love me...I love you too Incarceri..." The two ponies kissed passionately. When they finally pulled away, a smile was on their faces. "Come inside. You must be tired."

"Very much so." Twilight lead Incarceri inside, and closed the door behind them. They walked up to her room, and climbed into her bed. Incarceri put his hooves around Twilight, and she pressed against his skin. Skin. There was skin there. Not the darkness of a Changeling. Twilight remembered her ordeal of trying to make him a pony. She remembered when Celestia had found out, and had ordered Twilight to exile the changeling. She hadn't listened, a had almost lost Incarceri to Celestia. Celestia had called him a prisoner and a criminal of magic, and that was where he had gotten his name Incarceri. That had been so long ago. Now, he was back, and he had professed his love for her, something a long time coming. Twilight smiled, and nuzzled against Incarceri. Now that he was here, everything was going to be better. Everything.