Unexpected Changes

Chapters

Chapter 2: Scary Monsters
Chapter 3: Ball 'n' Chain
Chapter 4: Bloodlust
Chapter 5: Doc
Chapter 1: Friday

Chapter 2: Scary Monsters

Chapter 2: Scary Monsters

Vinyl Scratch.

The Vinyl Scratch, also known as DJ-PON3.

That was who Lyra’s old friend was. How had she neglected to tell him this? That she used to be best friends with one of Equestrias’ most popular music producers and DJ’s, and not only that, but that DJ would be traveling down to Ponyville to discuss job opportunities with her…today.

Sketch still couldn’t grasp it, try as he might.

He was proud though, of Lyra. This was an enormous opportunity for her and he intended to support her one hundred percent on it; something she was immensely grateful for.

However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t trying to grasp the fact, Lyra hadn’t thought it was a big enough of a deal she knew the DJ personally. Gears had freaked out when he was told, and claimed to be a fan of Vinyl’s. Even now, the small colt was probably up in his room, tinkering away at some gift he said he was building for her.

Although there was something else that worried him. As much as he wanted Lyra to be successful and do well with her music, there was a small part of him that was afraid things might change if Lyra became famous, that maybe-

“Sketch, hurry up in there before I get in with you!”

Sketch was roused from his thoughts by Lyra shouting at him from the other side of the bathroom door. He had almost forgotten he was in the shower.

“Hold on, I’m getting out…” He threw a towel over himself as he stepped out of the shower, not bothering to turn the water off; Lyra would just turn it back on when she got in.

“It’s all yours.” He called, sounding a tad more worried than he intended.

A moment later, Lyra opened the door and trotted in, a bit of a bounce in her step. Her golden necklace glinting in the light.

“You sure got out fast, did the thought of us showering together scare you, Sketchy?” She said with a smirk, flicking his nose with her tail as she trotted by.

“No…I just know that if we both get in together, you’ll end up being late.” He retorted, inwardly proud of himself for such a comeback in the first place.

“Oh shush.” Lyra stuck her tongue out before disappearing behind the shower curtain.

“Hey, do you want me to cook you breakfast?” Sketch asked as he trotted out of the bathroom.

“Actually, Vinyl and I are going to go out to a brunch type thing, so you don’t get too cook for me this morning, sorry Sketchy.”

“Bah, it’s fine. We’ve got plenty of other days I can cook for you.”

In all honesty, He was a tad disappointed he wouldn’t get to cook for her, but he pushed the feeling away. Lyra meeting with this DJ was worth him not getting to cook for her. He couldn’t really cook well anyway, so it all probably was for the best.

Now that he thought about it, Lyra wouldn’t be around the house until later in the afternoon, so maybe he would spend the day with Gears, it would help get his mind off of his worrying about Lyra and things possibly changing drastically. He could take Gears out to get doughnuts or something, maybe go visit Twilight; if she wasn’t off on one of her crazy adventures again, and Gears could talk to Spike.

Spike.

Sketch remembered when he first saw Spike, he had taken the dragon for a glorified lizard; something the purple and green dragon was a bit offended about when he found out.

“SKETCH!”

Sketch perked his ears up, it was his brother calling him from the attic. He sounded rather frightened.

“SKETCH!”

Sketch trotted over to the staircase leading up to the attic room, looking up into it.

“Gears?”

“SKETCH GET UP HERE!!”

Putting a bit of urgency in his step, Sketch made his way up the staircase and looked around the attic, Gears was nowhere to be found. On the left side of the room was a line of workbenches and cabinets that Gears kept his tools and gadgets in, on the right was a dresser, a bin of toys; that Gears rarely touched, and the bed.

“Gears…?” He looked around the room, panic starting to well up inside of him.

“I’m under here!” Gears’ startled voice came from under his bed, his hoof lifting up the skirting allowing his brother to see him.

“Dude, you scared the hell out of me, what’s wrong?” Sketch sighed softly; relieved his brother was ok.

“O-over there. In the window!” Gears let out a moan of unhappiness before retreating back under the bed.

“The Window?”

“Yes! The window, you fool, the window, I saw a monster in the window!” Gears sounded extremely peeved.

Raising his eyebrow at the empty round window that looked out onto the street, Sketch trotted over to it and looked outside. As expected, he saw the street…not a monster.

“Dude…there isn’t a monster…Gears is this some sort of prank?”

“WHAT!” Gears burst out from under the bed, seemingly brave enough to leave his refuge now that his brother was around. “There was a monster, I swear it. I’m not lying!”

Sketch eyed his brother, who was still sticking close to the bed.

“What did it look like?”

“It was super-fast! I was sitting over there, at my workbench, and out of the corner of my eye I see a black shape in my window! It looked like a pony…but…at the same time it didn’t.” Gears was flailing his front hooves around in excitement, as if that were going to make his story more plausible.

Sketch eyed his brother, then turned to go look at the window again. As expected, there was still nothing abnormal.

“Buddy, are you sure you aren’t inhaling weird fumes from your inventions?”

“Sketch! I. Saw. A. Monster. Why don’t you-“

“What in Equestria is with all the yelling?”

Both Sketch and Gears turned to see Lyra; or rather, Lyra’s upper half, sticking up through the entrance to the attic room.

“Gears thinks he saw a monster in his window.”

“I know I saw a monster. A black one, and it hissed and ran away when I looked at it.” Gears stomped his hoof with frustration.

“Well…what do you think the monster wanted?” Lyra said, her voice kind and sweet.

“Maybe it wanted to ask me out to lunch, Gee. I DON’T KNOW!” Gears yet again was flailing his hooves.

“Gears, calm down, why don’t-“

“No I’m not gonna calm down!” Gears cut his brother off. “There was SOMETHING in my window and neither of you believe me!”

“Hey now, I never said I didn’t believe you.” Lyra narrowed her eyes a bit.

“Neither did I, but do you think maybe it was a big crow or something?” Sketch tried to reason with his brother.

“Sketch. Crows don’t reside in Ponyville during the winter, they migrate to warmer places.” Gears stared daggers at his brother.

“Well animals are weird sometimes Gears, maybe-“

“No, no, no. I know what I saw. It was a monster!”

“Gears, listen to yourself, you aren’t even trying to be open to reason.”

“Boys.” Lyra said softly, rubbing her face with a hoof.

“Reason? Reason yourself mister bigot, you never even for a second believed me.

“Gears, there was no monster in your window! You probably just-“

“CALM DOWN GIRLS, YOU’RE BOTH PRETTY!”

Sketch and Gears both looked over at Lyra, unsure of what they had just heard her say.

“Thank you…” She glared menacingly at the two siblings. “Now, I have to get ready to leave. Monster or no monster. I would appreciate it if you two would stop acting like children and behave, at least until I leave. After that you can bicker all you want.”

“I am a child though…” Gears said, sounding a tad intimidated by Lyra’s sudden crack-down.

“Wrong thing to say bud…” Sketch snickered.

“Oh shut up, you don’t-“

“SHUSH!” Lyra snapped again. “Gears, would you mind going downstairs please?”

Sketch’s stomach did a flip, was she really that upset about this? Quite obviously she was having an emotional moment due to the baby, but still.

“Uh…sure…”

Lyra stepped up into the attic the rest of the way, allowing Gears to get downstairs.

“Now, Sketchy.” She said, as soon as Gears had disappeared from view.

“Lyra, I’m sorry I really didn’t mean to-“

“No, no, no. This isn’t about that.” She waved it away with her hoof, moving closer to him.

It was now Sketch realized Lyra was still damp from the shower.

“What’s going on?”

Sketch raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t give me that look, I can tell when something’s bugging you. I knew something was wrong the second I saw you in the bathroom, plus you only get like that with Gears when you’re upset about something.”

“Lyra, I’m fine, -“

“Sketchy…”

He sighed and sat down on the bed, rubbing his head with a hoof.

“It’s just…I’m worried.”

“About…?” Lyra’s voice was sweet and comforting. She sat down next to him on the bed, rubbing his back with a loving hoof.

“Just…what if you get all famous and stuff…and things change, between us I mean.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow. “What? Sketchy, dear Celestia. That isn’t gonna happen, I promise. We aren’t talking about me becoming an international super-star here, all that’s happening is Vinyl is going to help me get my name out into circulation around Canterlot. We aren’t moving anywhere, nothing is going to change, and I’m not going to go anywhere or do anything significant without asking you first, ok?”

“Ok…I’m sorry…”

“Honey, don’t be sorry.” Lyra wrapped her hooves around Sketch and hugged him lovingly. “You and I have a baby to raise, remember? So it’s gonna be a while before anypony in this house even thinks about running off to be a super-star.”

“You’re right…” He smiled and nuzzled to top of Lyra’s head.

“Except maybe Gears. Although I don’t think he’s gonna want to go anywhere anytime soon.”

This made them both laugh a bit, the thought of Gears upon a stage entertaining thousands of ponies was about as farfetched as one could get, simply because Gears might keel over at the mention of such a large crowd.

“Tell you what.” Lyra said, standing up and pulling Sketch up with her. “If you promise not to worry about that, I’ll make sure you and I can spend the entire weekend together next weekend. No Vinyl, no work, no nothing. Just you and me, and I bet we could even convince Applejack to let Gears spend the weekend there with his friends, alright?”

Sketch gave her a cheeky grin, causing her to blush a bit. “That sounds wonderful.”

“You’re such a perv, you know?”

“Sorry…”

Lyra giggled softly.

“It’s ok though. You’re my perv, and I love you.” She gave him a quick kiss, letting him know she really didn’t mind the perviness.

“Love you too.” He smiled down at her.

“Now, I have to go get ready. You need to go talk to Gears, alright? Or no sexy-weekend-time for you.” She flashed an innocent smile and booped him on the nose playfully, before turning and trotting down the staircase.

“Are you going to use that against me every single day until next weekend?”

“Eeyup!” She called from below, trotting off most likely into the bathroom.

“Thought so…” He muttered, finding himself smiling as he trotted down the stairs. Gears was sitting on the couch, looking rather dejected.

Sketch stopped on the stairs for a moment, watching the small colt pretend to read a book. In reality he had probably been listening to Sketch and Lyra talk, and was now watching his brother out of the corner of his eye.

“What do you want?” Gears spoke up suddenly.

“To apologize…”

“Mmhmm.”

He sighed and trotted down the stairs the rest of the way, taking a seat next to his brother on the couch.

“No…really…I’m sorry.”

Gears sighed and closed the book, looking much older than he really was for a split second.

“I was so scared…and then you didn’t believe me…” He stared blankly down at the book in his hooves.

“I know…It wasn’t right of me to just automatically not believe you, simply because you said you saw a monster…”

“Dang right…” He folded his front legs, which made him look extremely young for a second, as opposed to before. “It was really scary…and it didn’t look like I was just seeing things…it looked very real.”

“Forgive me…?” Sketch held out a hoof, offering a hug to his brother. Gears looked at him for a moment, inspecting him for any sign of hidden intentions or possible trickery.

“Fine…” Gears smiled; if only a bit, then buried his face into his brothers stomach, wrapping his tiny front legs around Sketch’s waist.

“But, I’m only forgiving you, because you’re going to take me out to get doughnuts for breakfast.”

Sketch laughed. “Oh really now?” He decided it best not to tell Gears he had planned on doing that anyway.

“Yes, with hot chocolate.”

“I think I can make that happen…”

“And then candy at SugarCube Corner with Pinkie Pie.”

“Don’t push your luck.” He said with a friendly chuckle, patting Gears on the back.

“Yeah I probably shouldn’t push it.” Gears said sheepishly, unburying his muzzle from his brothers’ waist.

“Go get ready, we’ll leave in a just a minute alright? I’m gonna go say goodbye to Lyra and we’ll be off.”

Gears gave a nod of affirmation and slid off the couch, then trotted across the room and made his way up the stairs.

Sketch forgot sometimes how little Gears was, how he was still a child, even though he acted like he was much older sometimes. He smiled as he watched his little brother lift each leg and climb the stairs, remembering when he had first been born and was learning to crawl around on his own.

Once Gears had disappeared into the attic, Sketch got up and trotted into the bedroom to find Lyra; who was in the bathroom straightening her mane; a rather stunning sight as he discovered.

“Wow…”

Lyra let out a tiny squeal of surprise, not expecting him to seemingly materialize out of thin air.

“Err, sorry…”

“It’s alright, Sketchy, but what was the “wow” for?” She said, returning to straightening her mane.

“I’ve never seen you with your mane all straightened out before is all, it looks fantastic.” Sketch leaned against the doorframe as he spoke.

“Ooohhh, I see.” Lyra blushed a bit, but continued to straighten her mane. “Thank you.”

“Of course, you always look fantastic, so…yeah.” He trotted slowly over to her, kissing her cheek very gently so as not to bother her whilst she toiled.

“Oh stop…” Lyra’s blush intensified a bit.

“I’m gonna take Gears out to get Doughnuts, maybe stop by Twilight’s and say hello, let Gears run around with Spike if possible.”

“That sounds like fun, if Twilight isn’t playing slave driver with the poor reptile…”

“Yeah she does have him do quite a bit of work, doesn’t she…?” Sketch shook the thought out of his head. “Anyway, You may end up being home before we are, so…”

“I’ll see you when I see you.” Lyra set down the tool she had been using on her mane and turned to Sketch, giving him a quick kiss before he turned and trotted out of the bathroom.

“Bye, Sketchy!”

“Bye, Lyra!” He called as he trotted into the living room.

This was going to be good, he hadn’t really spent time with Gears in a while; not like this at least. As much as Gears loved to hole up in his attic and tinker away, he also loved to be outside and run around. Although he usually needed some coaxing in order for that to happen. In this case the coaxing had essentially been doughnuts.

“Gears, you ready?” Sketch called, turning his gaze to the stairs; expecting him to still be getting ready.

“Over here doofus.” Gears was already by the front door; he sure could get ready fast when he wanted to. He was sporting a large black saddlebag that looked filled to the brim.

“Dude…what’s with all the gear, it isn’t like we’re going to war here…”

“I know I know, but we might see Scootaloo and I have stuff to give her.” Gears shuffled a hoof on the ground, his face the tiniest shade of red.

Sketch barely refrained from teasing.

“We better get going…” He opened the door, and Gears raced out onto the sidewalk, almost bouncing.

“Come on, come on, come on!”

“Alright, alright.” Sketch grinned at his brothers’ enthusiasm, shutting the door behind him before trotting out onto the road after him.

“So, where are we going?” Gears asked eagerly, apparently expecting to go more places than just to get doughnuts.

“Well, I was thinking. We go get doughnuts or something. Then maybe stop by Twilight’s? I want to say hi and maybe you can do something with Spike?

“Sounds good to me, as long as we get doughnuts.” Gears gave a strong nod of his head as he finished.

------@------

After a few minutes, they had arrived at the doughnut shop; run by somepony named “Joe”.

Gears had managed to get his brother to buy him three doughnuts, on top of a massive Hot Chocolate that he probably wouldn’t be able to finish. Sketch had settled for one massive doughnut the clerk had called a “Bear Claw” and the two had taken a seat by one of the windows.

“I wonder.” Gears said after a few minutes of silent eating, inspecting a doughnut carefully as he spoke. “If anypony as invented a doughnut making machine yet…”

“They have, it’s called an oven.”

“No, no not an oven, like a machine that makes the dough ad shapes it and bakes them and does the icing and everything.” Gears took a bite out of his second doughnut.

“I don’t know, bud. I bet you could build one though.” Sketch replied, finishing the last bite of his own doughnut.

“Eh, maybe. It would probably be a pretty big-“

“GEARS!”

An excited, high pitched voice cut Gears off, and Sketch, His brother, and just about everypony in the shop soon discovered who it was.

It was Sweetie Belle; one of the “Cutie Mark Crusaders”, as they liked to call themselves.

“Oh, hey Sweetie Belle…”

Sketch couldn’t tell if Gears was startled, annoyed or happy to see the small white filly currently scrambling up into the booth they were in, taking a seat agonizingly close to Gears.

“Hey!” Sweetie Belle seemed to not care whether Gears wanted her there or not, and she was staring at him intently, awaiting a response. It almost reminded Sketch of a dog.

“Hey Sweetie Belle.” Sketch said, trying to be friendly.

“Oh, uh, hey Sketch.” Sweetie Belle barely glanced at him as she spoke, then turned back to Gears; who’s eyes were a bit startled looking.

“Woah, you got doughnuts!?” She exclaimed.

“Yes…”

“Rarity didn’t buy me any doughnuts…” A bit of a pout formed across Sweetie Belle’s face. Gears turned to look at her, and held a stare for a moment, before sighing and pushing his third doughnut over to her.

What was going on between these two?

“Yeee!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, taking a large bite out of the doughnut the second it was in front of her.

“So uh...What…brings you here Sweetie Belle?” Gears asked, almost seeming like he was forcing the words out.

“Oh well, Rarity wanted coffee; blugh, and she ended up talking to some stallion for a while. She’s over there.” Sweetie Belle pointed a hoof over to the other side of the doughnut shop, and sure enough Rarity was there chatting it up with some stallion.

Something was off though, something about Rarity seemed…strange. Sketch hadn’t ever really talked to the seamstress all that much, so he wondered if maybe he was just being strange.

“Rarity’s been acting strange lately though…” Sweetie Belle said, sounding a tad upset; also confirming what Sketch had just been thinking.

“How so?” Gears’ former attitude was totally abandoned upon Sweetie Belle sounding upset, he now sounded concerned.

Sketch perked his ears up as well, wanting to hear what Sweetie Belle had to say.

“Well…the other day, she went out to the Town Hall to help Mayor Mare with re-decorating her office, she told me she would bring me back some new crayons on her way home.” Sweetie Belle leaned in closer. “And when she got home, she acted like she had no idea what I was talking about when I asked her about the crayons.” Her eyes were wide and she did in fact look a bit worried.

“Well…maybe she just forgot?” Sketch suggested, his gaze drifting over to the pony they were gossiping about.

“Maybe, but that wasn’t all…she acted like she didn’t know who I was! When she got home, and I went to say hi to her, she got all startled and said she hadn’t expected me to be home!”

“Hey wait a minute, Miss Cherilee forgot all our names at school the other day, too!” Gears said in a hushed voice.

“Are you two sure that you aren’t overreacting…maybe it was just a coincidence?”

“Coincidence or not, Rarity’s my sister, I don’t think she would forget my name.” Sweetie Belle sounded incredibly insistent on the matter. “I think that-“

“Sweetie Belle, Dear, what have I told you about talking to strangers?”

Rarity’s voice suddenly cut in; the purple maned mare had seemingly materialized next to Sweetie Belle, causing the filly to jump a bit.

“Uh…but, Rarity…these are my friends…”

Rarity eyed both Sketch and his brother, looking like she was inspecting them. Sketch couldn’t help but feel awkward for some reason. Now that he got a closer look at her, Rarity did look a bit off. Not in a particular way, she just gave off a strange vibe; as little sense as it made.

“Oh! Yes, of course. How could I have forgotten?” She sounded rather dismissive. “Anyway, say goodbye dear, we need to be going, I have to stop by Town Hall again, and I want you to accompany me."

“Oh…uh…bye Gears…bye Sketch…” Sweetie Belle hung her head a bit as she slid off the bench, giving off the faintest feeling of being uncomfortable with leaving.

“Bye…” They replied in unison.

Gears watched Sweetie Belle and her sister exit the doughnut shop, waiting until they had left before turning back to his brother.

“Was it just me, or did Rarity seem-“

“Off? Yes, she did. I have barely ever talked to her and I still felt like something was off.”

“Hmm…”

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, alright?” Sketch tried to get his brothers mind off of the matter. “I’m curious though…what’s up with you and Sweetie Belle?”

Gears seemed to tense up a bit.

“Uh…”

“Wait…”

“What?”

“She likes you.”

“NO!” Gears shouted rather suddenly, not even realizing he had shouted until after the fact.

“Er…no…I think, maybe. Yes.”

“Well, that’s not a bad thing, buddy.” Sketch said with a small grin.

“Yes it is! She always clings on to me, and always mooches stuff off of me, like the doughnut, and then she gives this little pout if I even hint about not giving her something.”

“And you give in.”

“What, no! Or wait…yes, sometimes.”

“She likes you.”

“Nooooo that can’t happen.” Gears groaned.

“Why is that?” Sketch couldn’t help but smile at his brother; remembering when he was extremely awkward and never talked to anypony. Maybe being around their mother had done that to him, after he moved to Ponyville, Gears had become much more social.

“Because…”

“Because why?”

“Because I like Scootaloo, and-“, Gears caught himself mid-sentence, looking up at the face of his brother; who was smiling like an idiot.

“Really now?”

“No, wait, I didn’t mean to, I misspoke, or wait, no. Shut up Sketch!”

Sketch’s grin only grew wider upon watching his flustered brother.

“Shush!” Gears insisted, as if his brother’s smile was making sound.

“Hey, I’m not saying anything. You’re the one who just confessed your love.”

“I did not confess my love.” He slapped a hoof on the table as he spoke.

“Right…” Still smiling, Sketch slid out of the booth; deciding to start heading to Twilight’s.

“You, You better…you just stop that right now.” Gears called from behind him, following him out of the shop.

“Hey now, I’m not doing anything.”

“You’re smiling like a fool that’s what you’re doing.” Gears insisted, stomping his little hooves as he trotted after his brother.

“Oh well I apologize then.” He retorted, still smiling.

“Ughh.” Gears hung his head, his cheeks totally red with embarrassment.

Deciding it was time to stop teasing, Sketch turned and sat on his flank in front of his brother, who looked up at him in frustration and surprise, not expecting Sketch to just stop in the middle of the road.

“But really though…”

“What…?” Gears waited for more teasing.

“I think that’s fantastic, really I do. You’ve found somepony you like, that’s a good thing, buddy.”

Gears said nothing.

“I’m your brother, it’s my job to tease you about that sort of thing, you know.”

Gears expression softened a bit, a small smile appearing on his face. “Yeah…”

“And you know I Love you, even though I tease you and we fight sometimes.”

Gears’ smile widened; he raised a hoof and hit his brother in the front leg; hard.

“OW!”

“I love you too.” He said with an air of confidence, looking rather proud of himself.

“You’re a butthead, you know.” Sketch retorted, rubbing his leg.

“Yes I know.”

---@---

The rest of their walk to Twilight’s was mostly tease-free and uneventful. The most exciting thing that had happened was when Gears saw a mouse scurry into a trash can; a trash can Sketch had to pull his brother away from, in order to keep him from taking a broken vacuum cleaner from it. After that Gears had asked if he could ride on his brother the rest of the way; to which Sketch happily obliged.

Eventually they arrived at Twilight’s “tree-house-library-thing”; As Gears had called it.

Twilight was; as expected, inside reading. Even so she seemed pleased to see Sketch and his brother and invited them in, insisting Sketch catch her up on some of the goings-on involving Lyra and her meeting with Vinyl; something that was most likely happening at that moment.

Much to Gears happiness, Spike was work-free; a rare occurrence, and the two had run outside the front of the tree to test out some new invention of Gears’.

Sketch was seated in the main room of the Library. Twilight had insisted that he do so, as she had just bought a new furniture set and wanted to “Break It In.” As usual the tree was extremely clean; considering it was a tree after all, and the faint smell of pine-scented cleaner lingered in the air.

“I had no idea that it was the Vinyl Scratch that Lyra was talking about though, she’s kind of a big deal.” Sketch finished; having spent the past fifteen minutes bringing Twilight up to speed on things, as she had insisted.

“That’s good though, for Lyra I mean. It could mean big things for her you know!” Twilight scribbled something into a notebook, looking away from the book she was reading as she did so. Even though she wanted to socialize, she had also decided to continue working.

“Yeah, it is. I’m happy for her, I really do hope everything works out the way she wants.”

“What does Gears have to say about all this?” She asked.

“Gears is indifferent about it, except for the fact that, well, he’s apparently a fan of Vinyl’s.”

Twilight gave a soft laugh.

Sketch nodded, taking a sip of the drink Twilight had poured for him earlier.

“Hey Twilight, can I ask you something?” He said after taking a sip, not really expecting much of an answer to what he was about to ask.

“Hmm?”

“Have you noticed…ponies around here seeming rather…off lately?”

Twilight stopped writing, she was stone still for a moment.

“You’ve noticed it too?” She said, her voice tainted with concern and suddenly hushed.

“Wait what? You’ve actually noticed something?” Sketch raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yes, I have, quite a bit lately. I was talking to Pinkie Pie this morning after she got back from Town Hall, she was supposed to be talking to the Mayor about some sort of party I believe. Something just seemed…different. Pinkie wasn’t as…well…she wasn’t as she usually was. I asked her if everything was alright and she got kind of nervous and brushed me off, something similar happened with Mr. and Ms. Cake. They seemed off too.” Twilight Explained.

“Wait, Town Hall?”

“Yes, Why?”

“Twilight, I was at the doughnut shop with Gears, earlier this morning. Sweetie Belle was there, she told me Rarity went to Town Hall, and when she came back acted like she hadn’t expected Sweetie Belle to be home and like she didn’t know who she was.”

Twilight’s expression darkened, just a barely noticeable amount, but it was there.

“And, Gears said that Ms. Cherilee; his teacher, acted like she didn’t know anypony’s names on Friday at school.”

Twilight’s face twisted into an expression of confusion.

“This…this is extremely abnormal…Ponies forgetting names, acting strange…At first I thought maybe it was just me being paranoid…”

“Preaching to the choir, Twilight.”

“Whatever it is…something is going on in Town Hall that’s linked to this, I think that maybe I should-“

“That. Was AWESOME!”

The voice of a certain dragon cut Twilight off. Sketch turned to see Gears trotting into the Library; a very excited Spike in tow.

“I know, right!?! I need to adjust the structure strength a bit, but other than that I think it might work perfectly!” Gears chimed happily; almost bouncing.

“And get some helmets…” Spike chuckled sheepishly, rubbing his scaly head.

“Hey, guys.” Twilight chimed, her voice very obviously trying to hide her previous state of worry.

Sketch noticed Spike pick up on it; as the dragon gave Twilight a look that said “I’m guessing you’ll tell me later?” To which Twilight simply smiled and gave a slight nod.

Gears however, didn’t pick up on it at all and trotted over to his brother happily.

“What’s up bud?” Sketch asked.

“Spike and I were testing out an invention of mine used for climbing trees! It was going well until, well, it broke.”

“Is everypony alright…?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, yes…You forget how resilient we dragons are Twilight!” Spike puffed out his chest, trying to look bigger than he was; only to let out a wince a moment later, rubbing his head. “I’m uh…gonna go get some ice…” He chuckled sheepishly again, before walking off into another part of the Library.

“Are we going home soon or…?” Gears asked.

“I’m almost done talking to Twilight, buddy, and then we’ll go.” Sketch smiled down at his brother, who had seated himself next to Sketch’s chair.

“If you’d like, I just got a new book about robots, Gears! If you’d like to read it.” Twilight spoke now, her voice sweet and caring, but with an underlying tone of urgency.

Her persuasion did its job however, and Gears perked his ears up at the mention of the book. “Where is it?”

“Upstairs, first bookshelf on the left, second shelf from the bottom. It’s a green book.” She stated, very obviously proud of herself for knowing where it was off the bat.

Sketch wondered if she knew where every book was, or only could remember under certain circumstances.

Gears nodded, and happily trotted off upstairs to find the book. Once he was out of sight, Twilight returned her gaze to her houseguest.

“Listen, something is going on, I don’t know what or why, but somepony or something is messing with the ponies in this town.” Her voice was hushed and urgent.

“Damn straight…”

“Now, this could be nothing.” Twilight looked like she thought what was happening was anything but nothing. “But, I’ll let you know if anything else comes up, alright? I’m going to write the Princess, ask her if she knows anything about it, and maybe do a little research of my own on the matter.”

“And what about me?” He asked.

“You.” Twilight jabbed a hoof at him. “Just…be careful, ok?”

“Wow, that’s helpful.”

“Sketch, really. I don’t know what’s going on around here, but Ponyville seems to attract trouble. It could be something perfectly harmless, or it could…be something else.”

Sketch sighed; exasperated.

“I guess…for all we know it could be some weird flu or something…” He rubbed his face with one hoof as he spoke.

“A flu…yes.” Twilight even sounded like she was trying to convince herself. “For now just, go home. Live your life, enjoy your weekend, ok? I promise I’ll let you know as soon as I can if anything comes up.”

Giving another sigh, Sketch slid out of the chair and stretched his wings a bit.

“Alright…thanks Twilight. I’ll talk to you later I guess.” He looked up in the direction of the second floor. “Gears, let’s go, buddy!”

“Alright!”

A moment later, Gears came trotting down the stairs, balancing a green book on his back.

“Hey, Twilight, do you mind if I take this-“

“Yes of course.” Twilight answered, already knowing what Gears was asking.

“Awesome, Thanks!”

“Enjoy your weekend, Sketch.” Twilight said, waving at him as he trotted out the door with his brother.

“You too!” He replied as he shut the door behind him, not even suspecting how worried Twilight actually was.

Sketch stepped outside, taking a deep breath in, trying to relax himself a bit.

The air had warmed up a bit, but it was still cool. The streets in front of him seemed rather quiet as compared to the norm; although it was the weekend, so that was expected. He wondered if Lyra was home, and a small part of him worried that she was ok. She had gone to the train station by herself and with such strange things going on around Ponyville, he wanted to make sure she was ok. He scolded himself for leaving his notebook he had received as a present home. He could have used it to communicate with her.

“So where’re we gonna go now!?” Gears asked; stuffing the book into his already full bag and bringing Sketch out of his thoughts.

“Actually, I think maybe we should head home. It’s nearly two already, Lyra’s probably home.”

“Awww. Ok, I guess.”

“Plus, don’t you have a certain tree-climbing apparatus to work on?” He asked as they started away from the Library.

“Yeah…that’s true. It’s supposed to make it so you can climb trees without falling, not so you can climb them and then fall.”

“It all works out then.”

The entire trip home, Sketch couldn’t help but think.

Maybe Gears really had seen something in his window.

Chapter 3: Ball 'n' Chain

Chapter 3: Ball 'n' Chain

As Sketch trotted down the road to his house, he couldn’t help but worry just a tiny bit over what Twilight had said, and how dark her mood had gotten. He hadn’t ever seen her like that. It worried him immensely.

Idly looking over at Gears as they trotted, he did his best to refrain from bursting into a gallop and racing home to check on his wife. He forced himself to be calm, and trust that she was safe.

“Dude, stop staring at me like that, it’s weird.” Gears cut in, interrupting his brother’s thoughts.

“Huh? Oh sorry.” He shook the thoughts from his head, trying to not think about it too much.

“Are you alright? You’ve been acting strange since we left Twilight’s…”

“Yes, yes. I’m fine. Don’t worry about It buddy, alright?”

Gears simply shrugged. “Hey, do you mind if I test out that climbing tool again at the house? I have an idea.”

“Just don’t set anything on fire like you did two weeks ago…”

“Hey, that was an accident. At least now I know that Scooter motors don’t like homemade fuel.”

“The neighbors would probably have a different opinion…it was their trash can you blew up with that thing.”

“Accident.”

“Mmhmm.”

Gears took off towards the house, which was just now coming into view, he disappeared behind the corner and Sketch saw him no longer.

Sketch himself made it to the house about a minute later, expecting to be greeted by Lyra. He had actually missed her quite a bit that morning for some reason, the selfish part of him wished that she didn’t have to go and meet with Vinyl, he wanted to spend all the time possible with her, he didn’t like sharing, at all.

But there was also the part of him that knew Lyra needed to do this, not because of the money, or the fame. It was because it was helping her with her confidence in her music abilities. Bon Bon had practically beaten it out of her that she would get anywhere with her music, and ever since the incident Lyra had slowly been recovering from said abuse, her self-confidence getting stronger each day.

He was extremely proud of her, she had grown tremendously once she had gotten away from Bon Bon. After she had come to peace with the fact she had shot Bon Bon after the mare had broken in, Lyra had shown some sides she hadn’t shown before, presumably because she wasn’t ready or comfortable showing them, due to Bon Bon’s abuse at the time.

As Sketch had discovered, Lyra had an extremely devious side that she had only ever shown around him. They had had quite a bit of fun, the two of them. Fun of many different kinds.

It wasn’t all sexual though, Lyra had also learned that Sketch wasn’t going to get mad if she messed up at something, and it had taken a week or so for him to get her to stop apologizing if she did something like drop a glass, and even longer for her to adjust to that sort of behavior.

In a way it was kind of sad that Lyra had been pushed to that point by Bon Bon, that she actually got scared of being yelled at if she messed up. Sketch didn’t blame her of course, he probably would have been the same way. Hell, he had been that that way when he lived with his mother; who he still hadn’t heard from since he moved.

Not wanting to dwell on his mother, at all, he trotted up the path to his house, not expecting what was awaiting him behind the door.

Now, normally, it is a common custom for somepony to alert another pony that they will be entertaining a guest at that pony’s house. That they would let them know in advance there would be a guest and that that guest possibly intended on hanging around for quite a while.

Normally.

Sketch’s life however, could be described by just about any word but “normal”. Even so, he found himself rather surprised when he opened his door to see Lyra sitting at a table with Vinyl Scratch, chatting it up like it wasn’t a big deal.

Maybe it wasn’t a big deal, on top of the fact Sketch had neglected to take the magical notebook he used to communicate with her. So it wasn’t like she could have told him even if she had tried.

Even so.

Vinyl Scratch was sitting in his house, he should have prepared himself for it, but he hadn’t. He should have at least seen it coming.

Lyra was sitting at the dining room table, across from Vinyl. The two were drinking some sort of coffee; from the smell of it, and Vinyl had her back hooves propped up on the table.

“Sketchy!” Lyra’s eyes lit up when she noticed he had come inside, she stood from her chair; Trotting over to him and giving him a hug.

“Hey, Lyra.” He nuzzled her softly, inwardly overjoyed that Lyra seemed perfectly alright, and not infected by whatever strange, new phenomenon was sweeping across Ponyville.

“Well, well, well.”

A new voice broke their loving moment. The voice sounded extremely confident and possibly the tiniest bit full of itself.

It was Vinyl.

“So you’re the ol’ ‘Ball ‘n’ Chain, Lyra’s been telling me about, huh?” She said, flashing her almost painfully white teeth with a grin.

Sketch pulled away from Lyra a bit as Vinyl trotted over, her spiky blue hair looking like something out of an Anime as it bobbed slightly with each step. Sketch noticed the purple lensed glasses that were the DJ’s most popular form of eyewear. They glinted in the light; polished to perfection.

“Uh…yes, I am.” Sketch barely let out.

“Vinyl, I did not call him that!” Lyra hissed softly.

Vinyl said nothing, she only trotted up and got rather close to Sketch’s face, the shiny purple lenses of her glasses blocking him from looking her in the eye.

“Uh…” Was all he let out.

Suddenly a smirk appeared on her face.

“Vinyl Scratch, DJ, Musician, a large amount of other fancy names for somepony who makes music and according to the newspapers I’m a vampire who sells weed.” Vinyl held out a hoof as she spoke.

Sketch was speechless, Lyra however, was not; as she was practically on the floor she was laughing so hard at Vinyl’s sudden introduction.

“Uh…I’m Sketch…I draw stuff and work at Sweet Apple Acres…” He shook Vinyl’s hoof cautiously. He was just starting to wonder why he felt the need to tell Vinyl his profession, when she; rather suddenly, pulled him over to her and draped her front hoof around his shoulders, holding him rather firmly.

“Oh, come on now Sketchy Boy, I don’t bite too hard I promise.” She said with a grin, obviously referring to how cautious he seemed when he shook her hoof.

“Lyra, you didn’t tell me he was cute!” Vinyl flashed a smile. Sketch couldn’t help but sense a seductive undertone, yet he couldn’t decide if she was teasing.

Sketch wasn’t sure how to respond to anything that was happening. At all. Lyra was quite obviously enjoying this little show however; it was evident by the fit of giggling that she was attempting to hold back.

“I’ve been talking to your lovely wife, about possible job opportunities and all that, and I’ll tell you what.” She poked his chest on the “what” then continued. “I think that sexy looking mare, right there.” She pointed at Lyra, who only smiled; obviously a tad embarrassed. “She’s gonna get pretty far with her music.”

“We’ve been talking about possibly integrating my music with some of the stuff Vinyl makes, she says it could be rather popular you know!” Lyra chimed in, not seeming to notice her husband was still being practically held against his will in Vinyl’s grasp.

“And, I hear you had some worries about her having to move to Canterlot and everything?” Vinyl looked down at her prisoner.

“Uh…Yes.” Sketch said, feeling a bit smothered.

“Well, don’t you worry your pretty little head about it Sketchy boy, all the work she’ll be doing she can do right here from home, and she can raise Lil’ Sketchy at the same time.” She ruffled his mane as she finished, finally letting go of Sketch and allowing him to return to his wife’s side.

“If I may, Lyra, Ball ‘n’ Chain. I must retreat to the restroom for a moment. I shall take my leave.” Vinyl took off to the restroom, seeming to already know where it was. As quickly as she had appeared, she was gone.

Sketch said nothing for a moment, he hadn’t expected Vinyl to be…like that. Hell, he wasn’t sure what he had expected her to be like at all. She seemed rather eccentric and like she was a “grabby” sort of pony.

“She’s rather…outgoing.”

“I swear, she came up with “Ball ‘n’ Chain on her own…”

“It’s fine.” He said with a smile, giving her a kiss after responding.

“How was your morning with Gears?”

“It was…intriguing.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Speaking of Gears, where is the little guy?” She asked, obviously satisfied with Sketch’s previous answer.

“He’s-“

“I’m right here!” Gears cut in, he was covered in dirt and had a scrape on his head.

“Dude, I left you outside because you said you wanted to test that climbing tool again, did you get hit by a train or something?”

“Pffft.” Gears waved a hoof in the air. “I just fell off the side of the house is all, I’m fine.”

“What?!?” Lyra sounded very concerned.

Again Gears waved his hoof, dismissing Lyra’s concern. “I’m fine. It wasn’t even that high. I do need to adjust-“

“Mares and Stallions, Fillies and Colts, I return!” Vinyl unknowingly cut Gears off, feeling the need to announce her return from the restroom.

Now. Normally, Gears is rather quiet and reserved, as well as somewhat shy around other ponies. Even with the friends he had made, he was still rather shy sometimes; not always, just occasionally. In addition to this, he had an obsession; or rather, a fascination as he would say it was, With Vinyl Scratch. Something Sketch had only learned of very recently.

So it was rather out of character, yet also somewhat expected, when the small, dirt covered, scraped up, genius of a colt that was Gears, saw Vinyl.

He flipped his lid.

“YOU’RE DJ-PON3!” He proclaimed, not even bothering to finish his previous conversation with his brother before practically throwing himself across the room and sliding to a halt in front of the DJ.

“Indeed I am.”

“Oh my gosh I have so many questions, and, and, and I have an invention for you and everything!”

“Gears, maybe you should-“

“Don’t worry about it Sketchy Boy, he’s fine.” Vinyl waved Sketch’s comment away rather dismissively; something Gears didn’t even notice.

“Is it true, that you really sell weeds? I always thought weeds were too spiky to even touch.” Gears spoke rather quickly, he was very obviously quite excited.

“No, I do not sell weeds, thank you very much. I also find them much too spiky to even touch.” She said with a smirk.

Gears nearly squealed.

“And, um, do you want to see what I made for you?” His tone was a tad nervous.

“Do I? Of course I do!”

She was good with kids. Sketch hadn’t expected this.

“YES! Ok wait right here, I’m gonna go get it!” Gears turned and made for his staircase, then stopped halfway and scrambled back over in front of Vinyl; who was still rooted in place.

“Oh, I have one last question…” He said in a hushed tone, Sketch could barely hear him.

“What’s up big guy?” Vinyl too spoke in a hushed tone, crouching down so she was at eye level with Gears.

“Is it true, that, uh, well, that you’re really a vampire?”

Vinyl smiled the cockiest, biggest, toothiest smile Sketch had seen her smile since he had met her a few minutes prior; and she had smiled a lot in that time.

“You promise to keep a secret?” She asked, leaning in closer to Gears, who was practically radiating his eagerness.

“I promise, I won’t tell anypony, ever!”

Vinyl looked side to side, as if checking for spies. She was very obviously playing up the need for secrecy; something quite obvious to Sketch.

“I really am a vampire!” She said in a hushed tone.

“What! Oh my gosh that’s so cool!”

“Yep, but it’s a secret, just between you and me ok?”

“Got it!”

“If you tell anypony…I’ll have to bite you!” She said with a played up bearing of her “fangs”

Gears let out a squeal and bolted for his room, straight up the stairs and all was silent for a minute.

“I’ll be down in a minute! I’m getting your present!” He called after a moment.

“I’ll be here!” She called back, smiling and trotting over to Lyra and Sketch, who had watched the events of a moment ago unfold before them.

“Pretty cool little guy.”

“Sorry if he seemed a bit…”Lyra searched for the words.

“Bah, it’s fine. I’m used to it. At least he’s polite about it, that’s rare when it comes to Canterlot Paparazzi. I will say, I’ve never had somepony invent something for me though.”

“I apologize in advance if it blows up.” Sketch said with a grin, noticing that Vinyl seemed to have mellowed out a bit. He wondered if it would last.

“I FOUND IT!” Gears called from his room, not giving Vinyl time to respond.

The three turned to see Gears trotting down the stairs, a small bag in his teeth as he made his way down. Once he touched the carpet he was at Vinyl’s hooves in a flash, unpacking a familiar object from his bag.

It was the spider that he had shown Sketch the other day, yet it looked slightly different and appeared to have a speaker mounted on it.

“Gears, is that-“

“The Spider, yes, I modified it.” He cut his brother off. Seemingly too enthralled with demonstrating this contraption to Vinyl to give his brother much of a response.

“Dude, I flipping love spiders.” Vinyl cut in, only elevating Gears’ excitement.

“Ok, ok that’s awesome! You’re gonna love this then.” Gears placed the metal spider on the carpet, it looked like it did before, only it appeared to have speakers in place of the head and abdomen.

“Ok, you ready?” He asked, looking up at Vinyl like an eager puppy.

“Go for it big guy.”

With a brief cackle that sounded all too much like a mad scientist, Gears pressed a red button on his remote control and the spider shuddered then came to life.

Eight legs sprouted from it, each one making a soft “click” as it touched the ground, it pushed off the ground, holding itself a few inches off the carpet with its thin metal legs.

Vinyl was practically radiating excitement.

Gears pressed another button and the spider leapt a few inches in the air, causing all three of the ponies he was demonstrating it to, to gasp a bit.

With the press of yet another button, the spider spun in a circle, a faint clicking noise being heard as it did so. Then it proceeded to zip off; controlled by Gears.

Vinyl let out a satisfied laugh, very obviously enjoying this immensely.

A moment later, the spider spun around and skittered back towards Vinyl, stopping a few inches from her. With the press of another button a small port opened up on the abdomen of the spider, a small green light illuminating the port from the inside.

“Dude, that’s fantastic, sweet Celestia.” Vinyl crouched down and was practically laying on the floor, almost eye level with the spider. “What’s the USB port for?” She asked, poking her hoof towards it gently.

“Ah, I’m glad you asked!” Gears said with a flourish, not knowing exactly how proud his brother was of him at that moment. “The USB, was taken from an old computer I found in a trash can, and you plug a little hard drive into it!” Gears rustled around in his bag for a moment, then pulled out a small USB drive.

“Like so.” He plugged the hard drive in and was rewarded with a soft “click” He then pressed another button on the remote and the result made Vinyl smile like she had earlier during the “Vampire” conversation.

The spider started playing music.

“Whaaaaat? No way.” Vinyl honestly looked surprised.

“There’s more. I figured if you ever were to use it to play music or something, you might want pictures of the crowd for later, right?”

“Right…” Vinyl said slowly, looking over at Gears and wondering what else the small colt had crammed into the even smaller spider. On top of wondering how the little guy had even built the thing in the first place.

“So. I took apart an old camera phone that I found in, well, a trash can while exploring with my friends...”

“No way.”

Gears nodded. “You can take pictures with it. Here, you try!” Gears held the remote out to Vinyl, who took it almost cautiously, not wanting to damage it.

“Push that one there.” Gears pointed at a button on the remote, something he was able to do, due to the fact Vinyl was practically laying on the floor next to him.

“Ok…” She pressed the button, and a small camera popped out of the top of the spider, causing her to let out a small yelp of surprise; something Gears seemed rather pleased about.

“Now press this one, here.” He pointed to yet another button and the DJ did as asked. The result was a small “click” and a moment later, a small image of Lyra’s hooves showed up on a screen previously unnoticed on the bottom of the remote.

“Ohmygosh that’s freaking amazing.” Vinyl was quite shocked.

“And, if you want to see what the spider sees before taking a picture, you can push this button right…here.” Gears pressed a button on the remote in Vinyl’s hooves and a slightly fuzzy video feed of what the spider was seeing flickered onto the screen.

“Dude, this is…amazing!”

“Thank you! Oh my gosh thank you so much!” Gears hugged Vinyl’s leg firmly, causing the previously cocky, loud, extremely confident DJ, to be reduced to a pile of mush. Apparently children were her weak spot.

“You’re very welcome, big guy.” She smiled down at Gears, but not a toothy, cocky smile like before. This was a loving smile.

“Now I just gotta name it…”

“What about Spyder. Spelled S-P-Y-D-E-R?”

“Oh yeah! And, maybe, I could use a number three instead of the letter E! Like in your name!” Gears had pulled away and was practically bouncing with joy.

Vinyl let out an amused laugh. “I think you and I are gonna get along just fine.” She ruffled Gears ‘mane before he ran back up to his attic to work on the spider; after collecting up his things of course.

Sketch couldn’t help but notice the effect Gears seemed to have on Vinyl, he seemed to mellow her out; in a good way. Not only that, but she seemed…sweet, with him. Almost as if he were her own child. Sketch found it rather curious.

“They get along well.” Lyra whispered in his ear. “That’s a good thing.”

“I think I like him. He’s pretty kick-ass.” Vinyl said after Gears had left the room, pushing herself up off the floor in the process.

Sketch found it strange for some reason to see somepony like Vinyl laying on the floor.

“He thinks you’re fantastic, so the fact you like him is equally kick-ass” Lyra giggled.

“So, Dinner.” Vinyl changed the subject rather abruptly, her previous, cocky state seeming to return.

“Yes, Vinyl where do you plan on going for dinner?” Sketch asked with a smirk, trying to sound like smart-ass, and at the same time realizing how fast the time had flown by and that it was already almost dinnertime.

“Well, actually. I ordered everypony pizza.” She flashed another one of her cocky smiles at him, countering his attempt at being a smart-ass.

“Wait, what?” Lyra cut in now, sounding surprised.

“Oh yeah, when you said you wouldn’t let me pay for dinner before ol’ Ball ‘n’ Chain over there got home, I decided to be sneaky and when I said I was going to the bathroom earlier, I was actually ordering pizza on my phone. Sorry, not sorry.”

“Vinyl, I told you I insist on paying for this sort of thing…you’re a guest…”

“And you, missy, have a baby on the way, and don’t need to be paying to feed my sexy ass.” She booped Lyra on the nose playfully as he trotted by, heading into the kitchen and apparently feeling at home enough to dig through the cabinets and pull out a glass and get herself some water.

Sketch could only watch this all unfold.

“Oh and I guess we should tell Sketchy Boy, instead of letting him find out on his own.” She said after taking a sip of water.

“Tell me what…”

“OH! Uh…Sketchy…” Lyra rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof, looking extremely sheepish, like a foal who got caught with their hoof in a cookie jar.

“What…?”

“So uh…the hotel in Ponyville had a mix-up with reservations…”

He already knew where this was going.

“So…I kinda-“

“Lyra, being the fantastic mare that she is, is allowing me to crash here until tomorrow when the hotel business is sorted out.”

Well shit.

“Oh…well…that’s fine, I guess…” He lied.

“It’s just for one night Sketch, don’t worry. I’ll be sleeping on the couch, and I’ll even sleep with headphones in if you and your better half wanna mess around.”

“Vinyl!” Lyra hissed, her tone portraying an “I’m going to slap the shit out of you” type of mood.

“What? OH! Wait did you two want to do a threesome or something? I’m totally up for-“

“No, no, no. Thank you, we’re fine.” Sketch rubbed his face with one hoof and groaned. Lyra simply glared, and Vinyl let out a laugh.

“You two are so funny I swear. I’m kidding, chill out now. And Sketchy Boy, don’t think I don’t see you over there getting all excited at the thought of getting your hooves on my fine ass.”

“You wish.” He retorted.

Vinyl winced and then chuckled again. “Ouch.”

“You two are like children, I swear.” Lyra sighed.

“I’m the better looking of the children.” Vinyl prodded, only receiving an annoyed glare from Sketch.

“Shush, both of you. Sweet Celestia.”

--------@--------

The Pizza arrived shortly afterwards, Gears was extremely excited to be having Pizza and Doughnuts in the same day, and had insisted on sitting next to Vinyl. She had happily agreed to his terms of course, she apparently had a soft spot for Gears and she didn’t even attempt to hide it.

Apparently Lyra had been making noises about wanting mushrooms and cheese to Vinyl earlier in the day, and that was what had spurred the DJ to buy pizza, with mushrooms just for Lyra.

Teasing aside, Sketch found Vinyl to be extremely caring towards Lyra, and apparently they had been almost inseparable in their younger years. It turned out, Vinyl had been very conscious of Lyra’s pregnancy, and was doing everything to help her out with it. On top of that she was very friendly with Gears’; something which only made him happier, and Sketch couldn’t decide if Vinyl was attracted to him or just liked to screw with him. Throughout the evening she had “accidentally” bumped into him a few times, slapped his flank once, and even managed to lick his ear once. Lyra had simply laughed at it and scolded her friend.

Unbeknownst to Sketch, Lyra knew Vinyl was teasing and had no intention of doing anything. She was naturally like that, she even had done it with Lyra in their younger years. To her it was a form of good fun and if anypony told her otherwise she would simply laugh and dismiss them, or make some smart-ass remark.

In Vinyl’s defense however, Sketch was rather easy to tease.

“And that was the last time I ever ate cactus.” Vinyl finished her story. She had mainly been talking to Gears, who had been at her heels practically since they got home. When he had found out she was to spend the night with them he may have nearly fainted.

The four of them had been sitting around the living room table, having a rather relaxed dinner. Sketch had expected Vinyl to be more…”upper-class” as bad as that sounded. He hadn’t expected her to be so…cool about everything. She didn’t act like most of the ponies that lived in Canterlot, uppity and snotty about everything, acting like they were better than you because they were wealthy. Vinyl wasn’t like that, and as annoying she could be, Sketch appreciated how she acted. She hadn’t even wanted to go out and do stuff, or sightsee, or whatever you wanted to call it. She was perfectly content with relaxing around the house. Lyra treated her like family, and she did the same to everypony else.

That didn’t mean Sketch was used to her though.

“I didn’t even know you could eat cactus!” Gears said, scooting closer to Vinyl; who hadn’t seemed to mind Gears’ behavior at all.

“You can, you just have to make sure you get all the spines out and all that…”

“Ouch.” Lyra said.

“Indeed.”

Vinyl stretched out her front legs and draped them over the back of the couch, looking rather at home.

“Are you sure you’re ok with sleeping on the couch, Vinyl?” Lyra asked, for the umpteenth time that evening.

“Yes, Lyra, Hon, I’m fine with it. I promise. I sleep on my couch all the time anyway back in Canterlot. It’s fine.” She said with a slight laugh. “Besides, you have a baby on the way, you don’t need to be sleeping on a couch, and I don’t think Sketchy would approve of us sharing a bed.” She flashed a cocky smile over in his direction.

“Hey, I never said-“

“Now, Now. Sketchy Boy, don’t start having those kinds of thoughts.” She cut him off.

“What kind of thoughts?” Gears asked. Apparently Vinyl had forgotten he was there for a moment.

“Naughty ones.” She stated rather bluntly.

“Oh.” Gears' Pupils seemed to shrink a bit.

“Vinyl!" Lyra hissed.

"Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to taint his innocent little mind." She grinned.

“Hey! I do not have an innocent little mind!” Gears whined, apparently taking it as an insult.

“Oh really now?” Sketch asked, raising an eyebrow.

“And what non-innocent things has your mind been tainted with, big guy?” Vinyl looked down at Gears as she asked.

“Well, uh…”Gears was very obviously trying to think stuff up. “I know about, uh, kissing, and cuddling! Yeah!” He said, sounding all too innocent.

Vinyl laughed. “You’re right, I guess you aren’t all that innocent, huh?”

“Darn right I’m not.” He huffed and crossed his front legs.

“Alright, well, I’m sorry I said that then. Forgive me?” Vinyl put on her best sad face, but was very obviously trying her best not to smile. Gears looked up at her for a moment, staring her in the eyes; that had stayed hidden behind her glasses the whole day. He looked as if he were deciding if he would forgive her or not.

“I forgive you…”

“Yay.” Vinyl smiled and ruffled Gears’ mane.

Sketch looked over at the wall clock, it was nearly ten in the evening, and he hadn’t even realized they’d been up that late. Although normally they stayed up later, Vinyl had mentioned earlier that she wanted to experience Lyra’s music firsthoof, so it had kind of been unanimously agreed upon that they would all go to bed sooner rather than later.

“Gears, bud, it’s nearly ten, and you need to go get ready for bed, alright?” Sketch said, hoping Gears wouldn’t protest and call in backup on the matter; the backup in this case being Vinyl.

“Aww- Err, uh, yeah…ok Sketch.” Gears’ gaze flitted over to Vinyl as he spoke. Was he…trying to impress her?

The look on Gears’ face very obviously said “The last thing I want to do is go to bed.” But what he was speaking was the exact opposite.

“Tomorrow, after Lyra and I are finished, you wanna help me make some music?” Vinyl said, seeming to pick up on Gears’ attitude.

Gears let out a sharp gasp of surprise, holding his breath for a moment before speaking. “Really?”

Vinyl nodded.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes!” Gears started bouncing on the couch, shaking it enough that it was bumping Vinyl around a bit.

“Alright, settle down bud, you’re gonna tire yourself out and not have energy to help me tomorrow.” She chimed.

Gears’ eyes widened a bit and his cheeks turned a bit red, very obviously embarrassed at his sudden outburst. “Uh…yeah, sorry…”

“Now, go get ready for bed buddy, you’ll need to be rested if you’re gonna help Vinyl tomorrow!” Lyra said with a smile, deciding to jump on the “convince Gears to go to bed” Bandwagon.

“Alright…” With an air of disappointment that was barely noticeable, Gears slid off the couch and trotted over to his staircase, looking back on the room for a moment as if he were going to miss something exciting, then trotting slowly up the staircase to the attic to go to sleep.

“He’s a pretty cool little kid.” Vinyl said after a moment of staring at the empty staircase.

“He’s probably smarter than Lyra and I combined.” Sketch said with a soft chuckle.

“Probably smarter than You, Lyra and I combined.” She added. “That spider thing he built was fantastic.”

“He’s been working on it for quite a while, he’s very proud of it.” Lyra said; standing up and starting to gather the dishes up.

“I’ll get ‘em.” Vinyl cut in, using her magic to levitate the dishes out of Lyra’s grasp.

“Thank you, Vinyl.” She obviously wasn’t up to arguing over who did the dishes, and now that Sketch thought about it, Lyra looked rather tired.

“You alright there?” He asked, watching her from his armchair.

“Mmhmm, I’m fine. Just a bit tired is all.” She nodded and gave a sweet smile.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s tired, she and I did get quite rowdy this afternoon before you got home Sketchy Boy.” Vinyl called from the kitchen.

“Dear Celestia, Vinyl, we did no such thing this afternoon…” She said with a light laugh, attempting to shut down Vinyl’s teasing before trouble started.

“Oh, yes, just like that Lyra, Oh yes pleeeease!” Vinyl teased, very blatantly directing it towards Sketch.

“You need a muzzle.” He glared.

“Whatever turns you on Sketchy Boy.”

“I swear, I’m going to slap you both.” Lyra moaned, rubbing her face with one hoof.

“Sounds Kinky.” Vinyl chimed, trotting back in to the living room.

Lyra simply glared at her, to which Vinyl giggled and threw herself onto the couch.

“Right…” Sketch said, pushing himself up out of his chair and ruffling his wings a bit. “I think Lyra and I’ll be getting off to bed now, do you need-“

“Already got ‘em.” Vinyl levitated a stack of neatly folded blankets and a pillow that Lyra had given her earlier.

“What time do you want to start tomorrow Vinyl?” Lyra said with a yawn, her eyes just barely starting to droop.

“Whenever you wake up, we’ll work around your schedule.” She waved her hoof dismissively at Lyra’s question.

“You sure…?”

“Sweetie, the spawn of Sketchy Boy is inside your womb, yes, I’ll work around your schedule.”

“Uh…ok…thanks…” Lyra fumbled a bit, not expecting the wording Vinyl had just used.

“Goodnight Lyra.”

“Night.” She replied, trotting over to the bedroom doorway as Vinyl unfolded her blankets. Sketch was already in the bedroom, idly poking at the feathers in his wings as he laid on the bed.

“I am so, damn, tired.” Lyra stated after shutting the door and slinking onto the bed next to him.

“Did you have a fun day though?” Sketch asked, folding his wings and rolling on his side so that he was facing Lyra.

“Mmhmm.”

“Well, there you go.”

Lyra giggled and scooted over closer, burying her muzzle into his chest as he held her in his hooves.

“Did you have to vent any magic or anything today?”

“Just this morning, after you left, it wasn’t too bad though.”

“Sorry…”

“It’s fine…like I’ve said before, it’s worth it.” Lyra looked up at him and booped her nose on his as she finished.

“It is very worth it.” Sketch smiled back.

Lyra hummed softly and returned her nose to his chest, using her magic to turn off the lights as she did so.

Sketch laid there, in total darkness. Perfectly happy with his life in that moment, it was…serene. He could feel her breathing, the warmth of her breath on his chest. The smell of her mane, always extremely clean and fresh; she was rather proud of it too.

“I love you…” Lyra said softly, after a moment.

“I love you too.” He kissed her on the head, smiling as he pulled away.

“You said you had something to tell me about…earlier, when you got home. What was it?”

Sketch wasn’t sure if he should tell her now, or wait until tomorrow. She was tired and he didn’t want her to worry, and possibly end up staying up and losing sleep over it, on top of the she might-

“Stop debating over if you should tell me, and just tell me. Silly Filly.” She giggled and bumped his chin with her nose. “I can practically hear you thinking about it, you know.”

Well, guess he had his answer.

“It’s just…when Gears and I were getting breakfast, we met Sweetie Belle, and she said her sister had acted like she didn’t know who she was or why she was at their house when she got home the other day, then when Rarity actually showed up to get Sweetie Belle, I felt like…something was off.”

“Wait…I saw a friend of mine at the Train Station today…she was leaving for Canterlot…and when I went up and said hi, she acted like she had no idea who I was…”

Sketch’s stomach did a somersault.

Not only had Lyra seen something similar to what he had seen as well, but she had been near it, and that worried him more than anything. The thought of Lyra being in any sort of danger. He instinctively hugged Lyra a bit closer to his chest, as if it would shield her from the fact she encountered this phenomenon.

“Maybe…It’s just a coincidence?” She suggested.

“I thought that too, but I asked Twilight about it when I went over to her place, She said that Pinkie Pie and the Cakes all seemed off too, they acted the exact same way as you’re describing with your friend at the train station…”

Lyra let out a worried whimper, the kind she let out only when she was really, truly worried about something. It melted Sketch’s heart, in that moment he wanted to hold her forever, to keep her safe from any and all harm, to cradle and nurture her and keep his love safe from the world.

“Hey…I’m sure whatever it is, Twilight will be able to figure it out. Alright? She’s used to dealing with this kind of stuff, and she told me she would send a letter to the princess as soon as possible, alright?” He tried to comfort her.

“I guess…It’s just…I don’t know…I get a bad feeling about this is all…” She idly traced shaped in his chest fur with a hoof as she spoke.

Sketch sighed and rested his head on her mane, nuzzling it and holding her just a bit tighter.

“Try not to worry about it too much, alright?”

Lyra simply hummed, sounding exactly what he didn’t want her to be. Worried.

“Hey…no matter what it is, I’ll do my very best to keep you safe, alright? I would fight an army to protect you…”

“You’re so cute, Sketchy…” She giggled softly. “Thank you though...that really makes me feel a lot better…”

“Good…”

The two laid there silently for a while, perfectly content in one another’s embrace, feeling their breaths, their warmth. Sketch enjoyed simply holding Lyra, embracing her. There didn’t have to be a reason, or a cause, he just enjoyed holding her. It made him happy, and it made Lyra equally happy.

“Sketch…do you think tonight, maybe you can wrap a wing around me…?” Lyra asked rather suddenly, sounding a tad embarrassed to ask.

“Huh?”

“I don’t know…just…it makes me feel safe…”

And in that exact moment, as he draped his wing over Lyra, Sketch knew that no matter what, come hell or high water. He had to do whatever it took to keep her safe, to protect her from any and all evil or malicious things that he possibly could. He had to protect her, their child and Gears. They were the most important things in his entire universe and he would do anything for them. It was his job, his solemn duty, because he loved them. He would risk his life to protect his family.

Although, that doesn’t mean he would be prepared for it when the time would come that he would have to do so, and that that day was approaching faster than he could have ever imagined.

Because, Unbeknownst to Sketch, Lyra, Gears, Vinyl or anypony else in Ponyville.

Twilight’s letter, the letter containing all of her findings on the phenomenon sweeping across Ponyville.

Had been stopped.

And destroyed.

Chapter 4: Bloodlust

Chapter 4: Bloodlust

“Vinyl, come on, this way!” Sketch called, turning into another alley and doing his best to evade their pursuers.

“Shit, man, there’s like a dozen of ‘em coming, they’re hauling ass too!” Vinyl called back, just as another angry, chittering, roar was heard behind them.

Sketch looked back past Vinyl as he ran, trying to catch a glimpse of the monsters that were after them. He could hear them, but not see them: The chittering and snarling, the sound of something angry and evil.

“Please, tell me you know where the hell we’re going, Sketch!”

“Uh…” He called, having absolutely no idea where they were going. “We’re going this way!” He said, making a left down the alley, hoping it wouldn’t end up being a-

“Dead end!” Vinyl cried, worry tainting her voice. “Sketch, what now!”

“No, no, no…shit!” Frantically, Sketch looked around, trying to find an exit, He would grab Vinyl and fly, but these creatures were patrolling the skies too, they would fare worse up there than down here, if he flew they’d just get swarmed and taken down, most likely to meet a quick and bloody end, face-first with the pavement. But it couldn’t end, not like this, Gears needed him, Lyra needed him, he promised he would protect her, he had to-

“Sketch!” Vinyl yelled, sounding even more worried than before, and he could see why, The midday sun casting so many of the creatures’ shadows, twisting them to horrifying and evil shapes as they were cast out onto the alleyway when they rounded the corner.

The creatures grew closer, their chittering sounding all too much like laughter as they crept closer, no longer feeling the need to run as they had their prey cornered.

“Like hell I’m gonna die here!” Vinyl shouted angrily, Charging up a ball of magical energy on her horn and directing it into her hoof; once it had grown to the size of a baseball she lobbed it at the creatures.

The ball of energy hit its mark, impacting on one of the beasts’ green eyes and exploding, sending it flying back; small bits of its shell and green blood flying everywhere, it hit the ground and slid back. Its comrades backed up as not to touch their now dead kin. They stared at it for a moment before slowly looking up at Vinyl and Sketch, almost as one they started chittering angrily, the death of their comrade riling them up.

“Uh-oh…” Vinyl breathed.

One of the creatures in the front of the pack shot forward, charging towards Vinyl with a high-pitched roar. Before Sketch or Vinyl could react, it jumped and landed on top of her, biting down on her shoulder and knocking her onto her back. It growled and shook its head, trying to tear a chunk of Vinyl’s flesh off.

Vinyl let out a cry of agony and hit the beast in its large, green eye, causing it to screech and release her.

“Sketch!” She called, now holding the creature back with one hoof, its drooling jaws snapping only inches from her face.

Sketch shook his head, he hadn’t even realized he had frozen up, shakily; he brought up his revolver, taking aim at the creature on top of Vinyl.

“SKETCH, SHOOT THIS BASTARD!” She cried again, visibly shaking as it pressed all its weight on her, trying to bite her throat.

Sketch took a deep breath and then opened fire.

-A Few Hours Earlier-

“Alright, Bye you guys!” Sketch said with a smile, waving at Lyra and Vinyl as they began trotting down the road.

“Bye, Sketchy, love you!” Lyra called.

“Love you too!” He called back, before turning inside and shutting the door behind him.

Vinyl had volunteered to buy everypony breakfast and Lyra had tagged along, they had gone to get some strange food called a kolache, Sketch hadn’t ever had one before, but Lyra had said they were pretty good.

“I hope they get back soon, I’m hungry!” Gears said to his brother from the living room table; where he was busy adjusting and tinkering at the robotic “SPYD3R” as he had called it.

“They shouldn’t be gone too long bud, don’t worry.” He said, trotting over to the fridge and pulling out a soda.

“Lyra wouldn’t approve of you drinking soda this early…especially before breakfast you know.” Gears chimed, smirking a bit.

“Well…” He paused, cracking open the can and taking a sip, then looking at the can and feeling the tiniest pang of guilt, knowing that Lyra probably wouldn’t approve. She was like that.

“Well, what?” Gears asked after a moment, never taking his eyes off his machine.

“Yeah, you’re probably-“Sketch paused for a second, realizing something. ”Wait, since when are you Mr. Rule Enforcer?”

“I’m not, but, payment is required in order for this witness to remain silent about what he has seen occur here today.”

“Oh-ho, really?” He said with a grin, looking over at his brother.

“Eeyup.”

“And…what would this payment consist of?”

“Silence equals soda.” Gears stated flatly.

Sketch let out an amused laugh, turning and grabbing a second soda from the fridge and trotting over to his brother. “Isn’t this like…blackmail?” He chuckled, hoofing the soda over.

“Eh.” Was all Gears said, taking to soda and cracking it open.

Sketch just smiled and took a seat on the couch, watching his brother work.

“You know, it’s kinda quiet without the girls here.” He said, still working.

“You mean when Vinyl isn’t here.” Sketch retorted, scoffing a bit.

“Well, she’s super cool and all, she’s just…”

“Obnoxious?” Sketch finished.

“Yeah, sometimes…” Gears said, looking a little guilty he had agreed with that statement.

“She’s just like that I guess.” Sketch shrugged, thinking back on earlier that morning.

Sketch had woken up in a rather unorthodox manner that morning. When he woke up, Lyra was already up and making coffee with Vinyl, and Vinyl was singing some song called “Livin’ My Love”

Much to his chagrin, When Sketch had stepped out of the bedroom, Vinyl had insisted on singing the entire song; very obviously to be obnoxious towards Sketch whilst he got his coffee. She had even gotten Lyra to join in the serenade and they spent that part of the morning singing various songs together, ranging from Rap to Pop and everything in between. Overall it had been a very different morning.

They had sounded really good though, so it wasn’t all bad.

Gears had other things to say about it though, feeling that nine in the morning wasn’t the time to be singing “Locked out of Heaven” or “T.H.E” along with Vinyl’s computer that she had hooked up to a speaker, He had come down from his room and given them both a look that said “What the hell is wrong with you ponies, it’s nine in the morning and I am young and want to sleep in on the weekends.” Or…you know, something along those lines.

Something Sketch had noticed about Vinyl, was that she has seemed to become completely at home with he and Lyra, and was quite obviously totally comfortable with expressing herself to the fullest, be it through song or that sort of flirtatious teasing she exhibited oh so often. Sketch wondered how many times she had unintentionally lead stallions on with said flirtatious teasing, only for it to turn out she wasn’t interested and she just acted like that all the time with everypony.

Lyra had said it wasn’t something she did consciously, she wasn’t trying to be like that, it’s just how she was, but oh well. Despite everything, Vinyl was somewhat enjoyable once you got to know her a bit; albeit a bit obnoxious, but still, nopony’s perfect.

Sketch took another sip of his soda and then set it on the table, leaning back on the couch and sighing contentedly.

“Hey Sketch?” Gears asked.

“Hmm?”

“If Lyra’s pregnant…doesn’t that mean I’m gonna like…be an uncle?”

Sketch paused for a moment. He hadn’t ever thought of that, Gears would in fact be an uncle, and by the time the child was Gears current age, Gears would be around Sketch’s current age.

“Huh…yeah I guess so. I hadn’t really thought of that. Why do you ask?”

“Well, if I’m going to be an uncle, I’m gonna have to be the cool uncle, the one who gives all this cool stuff and is talked about because I’m just so awesome.”Gears stated matter-of-factly.

“Oh really now?” Sketch chuckled, taking another sip of his soda.

“Mmhmm.” Gears gave a strong nod and grabbed his soda in both hooves, taking a big swig, and then letting out a small burp.

“Hey does this look good to you?” Gears lifted the metal spider up, he had attached a few different appendages to the front end, they looked like mandibles and were rounded on the end.

“Looks like a spider, pretty cool actually.”

“Should I paint it silver?” Gears asked, raising an eyebrow and looking the invention over.

“That might look cool, I don’t see why not.”

Gears gave a nod of affirmation and stood up, gathering his invention and tools up in one hoof. “I’m gonna go upstairs and paint it then, call me when Lyra and Vinyl get home.”

“Will do, bud.”

Without another word, Gears scurried up his staircase and disappeared from view.

Sketch sat in silence for a moment, staring off into space; soda in hoof. He wondered if he should take Lyra and Gears on a sort of vacation in the coming weeks, maybe after the baby had been born.

He and Lyra hadn’t ever really gone outside of Ponyville since they had met one another, due to certain problems involving a jealous, murderous, psychopath when they had met, and then they had gotten married and Lyra had gotten pregnant a few months after. Maybe they could go to Canterlot, or to Manehattan or maybe somewhere less urban, he wasn’t sure, He’d have to ask Lyra about it sometime.

Suddenly, the sound of hooves coming down the staircase hit Sketch’s ears; he turned to see Gears making his way down. Silently, he watched the small colt trot over to the table and grab his soda he had left.

“Forgot this.” Gears stated plainly, then turned and trotted back upstairs.

After Gears had returned upstairs, Sketch decided he would go and sit out on the front porch, it was nice outside and he figured he might as well go and enjoy it. He grabbed his soda and made his way to the door.

As it turned out, it was very nice outside, the sun was warming and a cool breeze drifted through the air, the leaves rustling and the long grasses whispering as the breeze moved and bent them to its will. There were songbirds fluttering about and singing their songs to one another. The entire scene was extremely relaxing, and as usual Ponyville had produced a scene like something out of a storybook.

With a sigh of content, Sketch sat down on the porch and took another sip of his soda, the breeze running through his shoulder length mane just as he sat. He pushed it out of his eyes with a hoof, trying to keep it out of his face.

When he had met Lyra, his mane hadn’t been quite as long, and he had actually planned on having it cut so that it came down to about the middle of his neck, but as it turned out, Lyra said she actually liked it longer, so he left it long and let it grow out. He decided to try and push the idea of having it shorter a bit more, as it was somewhat of a pain to keep clean sometimes. He didn’t know how Lyra managed her mane; it went past her shoulders when she didn’t have it all done up. If he had that much mane he might go mad trying to keep it neat and clean.

Sketch idly turned his gaze down the road, and noticed a certain brown stallion making his way up the road, he looked rather frustrated. Sketch recognized him as that “Doctor” that Lyra had told him about. What kind of doctor he was, Lyra hadn’t said.

Sketch prayed that this “Doctor” wouldn’t come and talked to him, he thought he was rather strange and every time they had talked he could barely understand half the things the strange stallion had said.

Unfortunately, his wish of solitude would not be fulfilled, as the Doctor spotted him and made his way over, detouring from the road for a chat.

“You know, this town has a serious bug problem.” The Doctor said, apparently just wanting to gripe to somepony he really didn’t even know without saying hi.

“Uh…what?”

“Bugs! They’re everywhere! Big ones!” He exclaimed in that accent of his.

“Oh…ok…”

“Somepony should do something about that.” He said, giving a single nod before turning and trotting off down the road once more.

Sketch simply stared at him as he left, unsure of what had just happened.

“Bye…?” He said with a raised eyebrow after the Doctor was out of sight.

He simply shrugged and returned to his soda, deciding to just enjoy the morning and not fret over the strange pony.

Sketch had spent many a morning like this, waking up and sitting outside until he had to go to work or until Lyra woke up. Lyra told him it reminded her of an old pony sitting out in a rocking chair, glaring at anypony who got too close to his house. She insisted that she had seen such a thing in a movie, but Sketch had no idea what she was talking about when it came to that matter, so he would simply tell her he loved her and smile. To which she would get frustrated that he didn’t get what she was saying or know what movie she was referring too.

Sketch sat outside for a good while, taking his time and half expecting to see Vinyl and Lyra trotting up the road any minute. However, they did not, and he stood up on the porch with his now empty soda can in one hoof, making his way inside.

Just as Sketch was about to shut the door, he heard something. It was like a trumpet, loud and long, it droned and sang out for a full ten seconds. It sounded…organic. It shook the air, he could feel the sound reverberating, in the back of his mind, and it worried him for some reason. He wasn’t sure why, it just did.

Halfway through the blast, he turned and stepped back outside, the trumpet sounded like it was coming from further into Ponyville. He stood outside, stone still until the sound stopped. A few seconds later he saw his neighbors step outside as well. The stallion that lived next-door to him looked over with a quizzical look. Sketch simply shrugged and shook his head.

It was then Sketch noticed how silent everything was. The birds had stopped singing, the air started to feel almost…dank, the breeze had stopped, but the strangest thing was, even though the sun was shining, he couldn’t feel its warmth.

Uneasy, He turned back inside to check on Gears, who was standing stone still on his staircase, staring at Sketch with a bewildered look.

“What…was that?” Gears asked, sounding concerned.

“I uh…don’t know.” He replied, shutting the door behind him. “Maybe it was some sort of new siren or alert system?”

“I guess…” Gears said slowly, not sounding convinced.

“Try not to worry about it too much, bud, alright? I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon enough.” Sketch tried to sound convincing, but unbeknownst to him he sounded like anything but.

With an unsettled look on his face, Gears retreated up to his room, leaving his older brother alone downstairs.

Sketch couldn’t help but worry, he hoped Lyra was alright, that nothing had happened. That she was ok. What could that noise have been? It could have very well been some sort of new alarm that was being tested, or it could have been an alarm that wasn’t new and was actually alerting the town to some sort of danger; it wasn’t impossible, especially since this town seemed to be the hub of a multitude of problems fairly often.

He would have gone out to look for Lyra, except he had no idea where she went for breakfast, he only knew what they had gone to get, and so he found himself in a situation where he needed to find Lyra, and had no idea where to look, again…except this time it wasn’t raining.

He felt bad for not knowing quite what to do, not knowing if he should go look for Lyra or if he should sit and wait, if only he had some sort of way to communicate with her when she was out and-

“Oh wait.” He said, turning towards his bedroom.

Lyra had taken her notebook with her, he could just write to her on that and she’d respond and everything would be alright! At least that’s what Sketch was telling himself, blocking the tiny voice in his head that wanted to think Lyra wouldn’t respond at all.

Somewhat nervously, he opened his nightstand and took the notebook out, upon doing this he saw his revolver, and the notebook had been set on top of it. The gun gleamed, the polished metal catching the light and making the ornate etchings in the metal seem to stick out even more, the weapon looked more like a piece of artwork than an actual weapon. It sat upon the multiple boxes of ammo he had for it, looking like something out of a gun magazine.

Turning his gaze away from the gun in his drawer, he took a seat on the bed and opened the notebook, writing his message into it.

“Lyra, is everything alright?”

He stared at the paper for a moment as the writing glowed a bright gold and then faded to black. A minute passed before words began to appear, as if a ghost were writing on the paper.

“I’m alright. That noise earlier was pretty weird though…”

Sketch sighed in relief, less worried now that he heard from Lyra.

“Yeah, we heard it here at the house too. Where are you?”

A minute passed before a response came.

“Vinyl and I got to the restaurant a few minutes after that noise, we should be home soon.” Lyra’s reply came.

“Alright, well I’m glad you’re safe…I love you, hurry home.”

“Love you too. I’ll make sure to-“

Lyra’s writing stopped, and Sketch’s heart almost stopped as well. He stared at the paper for a moment before writing again.

“Hello?”

Three minutes went by before a response came, and the response was the last thing Sketch expected.

“Sketch…something’s happening…there are these black ponies everywhere outside…they look like bugs…”

“Bugs?” He wrote back, trying to keep himself from panicking.

“They’re attacking the other ponies! It’s like they’re dragging them off! Sketch, They look just like-“

The writing stopped again, and this time, no matter how many times Sketch wrote to Lyra, there was no response.

His heart felt pained, his stomach churned and he felt sick. Something had happened, right at that moment something had happened to Lyra. This was bad…he had to go get her, there was no way he could just sit there after his pregnant wife told him bug-ponies were attacking other ponies in the streets, then not respond to him anymore afterwards.

Sketch took a deep breath, he had to calm himself down; that much he knew. He wouldn’t be able to do much good if he was all panicky. Calmly as he could, he trotted into the living room and grabbed his saddlebag; he then returned to his bedroom and reached into the dresser drawer, pulling out the revolver his father had given him. He hadn’t shot it once since it was given to him, looking back on it now he wished he had, he prayed he wouldn’t have to use it, and a small part of him wondered if he really needed to bring it, but he pushed that part away; muted it, he was bringing his gun. He took all his ammo; five boxes, and put them in his bag. As he did so he realized he was visibly shaking, he tried to stop but he couldn’t, as much as he tried to control it, fear was taking hold in him, not fear for himself, but fear for Lyra, for their child, fear for Gears as well.

“Hey, Sketch…?” Gears called from his room, an urgency lacing his tone.

Quick as a whip Sketch turned on his heel and made his way out into the living room revolver in hoof.

“You alright?” He asked, trying to sound confident.

“You…might want to come look at this…” Gears sounded scared.

Without a word, Sketch made his way up the stairs, finding his younger brother practically glued to the window.

“What is it…?” He asked.

Gears turned his gaze to his brother, his eyes wide and bewildered. In an almost solemn manner, he raised a hoof and pointed out the window.

“Look…”

Sketch made his way over to the window; he looked down on the street and found it to be perfectly normal.

“Gears, I-“

“No…” His brother interrupted him. “Out there…” Gears pointed towards the center of town, and Sketch saw the source of Gears worry.

Ponyville looked totally normal, the buildings and shops, all except for Town Hall. In the distance, Sketch could see multiple black, wavering lines, pouring out of the top of Town Hall; most likely from the windows. The lines appeared to be almost…alive. The branched out at seemingly random points and would either detour towards the ground and then appear to dissipate as if whatever making the lines had split up, while other lines simply spread out farther over the town.

“What do you think it is…?” Gears asked, his voice wavering a bit.

Sketch didn’t respond, he silently brought his free hoof up and opened the window, and what he heard made his heart skip a beat.

There was a growing, deep, buzzing. It seemed to pulsate and get louder as the lines grew closer, it sounded like a swarm of wasps or locusts, there was another sound as well, not as loud but very easily discernible from the buzzing. It was a chittering, it wasn’t as uniform as the buzzing, and it was sporadic and seemingly random.

“S-sketch…” Gears asked, sounding more than a little scared.

“What?”

“W-why do you have dads gun…?”

Sketch looked at the gun in his hoof, he had forgotten he had it for a moment, he should have thought to not show Gears he had it as not to scare him, But there wasn’t anything he could do about it now. He looked back out the window and saw the lines drawing closer to the outskirts of town, one line in particular heading straight for their neighborhood.

He turned back to Gears and looked him dead in the eyes; the small colt wore a look of fear, unsure of what was going on.

“Stay away from the window…I want you to close the attic door as well, ok?” He said suddenly, to which Gears raised an eyebrow.

“Uh…o-ok…” He said, making his way over to the ladder.

“Wait.” Sketch trotted over and started making his way down the stairs, to which Gears protested.

“W-wait…where are you going?”

“I have to find Lyra, ok?” Sketch sighed, knowing that Gears wouldn’t like this at all.

“WHAT! You’re leaving me here?!?” Gears said frantically.

“Listen…I can’t take you with me…you saw those things outside…if they’re dangerous you’ll be safer in here, and if they aren’t dangerous then it’s just as well, either way you’re staying here…” He said, straining to say what he needed to, when in reality he really didn’t want to leave his brother alone.

“B-but, I-“

“Gears…stay up here, close the staircase; do not open it up until I get back. Close your blinds and stay away from the windows…ok?”

“But…I-“

“Gears.” Sketch insisted. “I need you to be brave, alright? You have to do this for me, ok? I’ll be back before you know it, it’s all gonna be fine.”

Gears stared at his brother, trying to figure out an angle to play so that Sketch would stay, but he knew there wasn’t one. Gears knew full well that he would be safer at home; Sketch was fully aware he knew that too. So much to his own dismay, Gears let out a frustrated sigh and nodded.

“Fine…you better come back…”

“I promise, I will. You’re gonna be fine alright?”

Gears said nothing.

“I love you, bud.” Sketch said, looking at his upset brother, who stared back at him for a moment, then shot forward and hugged his older brothers neck.

“I love you too…” He said; his voice muffled as he buried his muzzle into Sketch’s neck.

Sketch gently pushed his brother away, looking him dead in the eyes.

“Close the window, close the staircase up, stay away from the windows, and wait for me to get back, ok?” He said solemnly.

Gears gave a nod of affirmation, seeming a bit braver after receiving a hug. The last thing Sketch saw Gears doing, was closing his blinds as he made his way down the steps, Sketch then turned and folded the ladder up, then pushed it up into the ceiling so that it didn’t even look like there was a hatch there at a glance.

With a heavy and worried sigh, he turned and made his way to the door, and just as he was reaching for the handle, the door flew open and a turquoise blur practically slammed into him. Sketch let out a cry of shock and found himself on the floor, with a snout full of turquoise fur.

The object that slammed into him, turned out to be a pony, and that pony, turned out to be Lyra.

“Lyra!?!” Sketch said, overjoyed.

Lyra looked at him for a moment as she stood, an almost quizzical look on her face appeared for a split second, as if she were thinking, she then shook her head a bit and her eyes widened. “Uh…Sketch?”

“You’re alright!” He said happily, standing up and hugging her protectively.

“Yes…I’m alright.” She said, giggling a bit as his display of affection and hugging him back, however she spoke in a hurried tone.

“What happened? What’s going on?” He asked.

“I can’t explain it now, something happened…Vinyl went nuts…she attacked me and turned into some sort of black-bug-pony, I don’t know, Sketch, I think it was a Changeling…”

“What, a Changeling, Really?” He said, surprised.

Sketch had heard about changelings, they were black insect-like creatures that could take the form of a loved one, and then feed off of said love others showed for that pony, they would form hives and there were multiple different known hives deep in Everfree and the Wastelands on the other side of the colossal forest, the most well known having used to be the Chrysalis Hive; before the Canterlot incident when most of that hive was dissipated and destroyed.

“We have to get out of here...lots of them are headed this way, they’re breaking into houses!” Lyra said urgently, tugging on Sketch’s hoof and pulling him towards the door.

“H-hold on I need to get Gears…” He said frantically, pulling away from Lyra and running over to the staircase, pulling it down to find Gears sitting right there at the top, apparently he had been listening.

“What’s going on, I thought heard Lyra?” He said, his eyes wide.

“Yes, Lyra’s here, bud we’re leaving, we’ve got to go, and Lyra says lots of them are headed this way, the house isn’t safe.”

“Alright, alright…can I grab-“

“Gears, we have to go now!” Sketch insisted.

Gears groaned and stomped his hoof, but nodded and followed his brother down the stairs.

“Lyra, where are we going?” Sketch asked, looking over to see Lyra still standing in the doorway.

“Town Hall, its safe there I think.” She replied flatly, looking outside for signs of Changelings.

Sketch froze, his eyes widened. Those lines had been coming from Town Hall, why in Equestria would-

“Sketch, we need to go!” Lyra insisted. Or was it Lyra?

Sketch stared at her, and now that he really looked at her, he noticed something was off.

“Lyra…where’s your necklace?” He asked solemnly.

Lyra raised an eyebrow. “I uh…I guess I lost it when Vinyl attacked me. Now come on!”

Sketch wasn’t sure what to say, he wanted to believe Lyra, so very badly but-

Suddenly another blur of color shot through the doorway, however this blur came with an angry grunt and it shoved Lyra away from the door, sending her sliding across the floor and into a table.

“LYRA!” Sketch cried, his previous thoughts being abandoned. He rushed over to her side and helped her up, looking over at the doorway as he did so, and the culprit was standing right there.

It was Vinyl.

“YOU!” Sketch yelled angrily, raising his gun and pointing it straight at her.

“SKETCH! Don’t shoot her!” Gears yelled, not understanding what was going on.

“That isn’t Vinyl, Gears, that’s a damn Changeling, and it attacked Lyra!”

“A Changeling, what are you-“

“Sketch, you have to listen to me, that isn’t Lyra!” Vinyl cut in, her voice was laden with urgency.

“Like hell I’m going to believe you!” He growled, still aiming the revolver.

“Sketch, It’s me! Lyra!” Lyra cut in, wrapping her hooves around him and hiding behind him in fear.

“Sketch, listen to me, she isn’t even wearing her necklace! That isn’t her!” Vinyl insisted.

“I’m not wearing it because YOU knocked it off when you attacked me!” Lyra protested, but there was something about her tone that sounded unsure.

“Sketch, please, that isn’t her! Listen, we don’t have much time, those things are coming here in droves, just…ask her something only Lyra would know!”

Sketch stared at Vinyl for a moment, and saw Gears staring at him out of the corner of his eye. Slowly, he lowered the gun, and Vinyl let out a sigh of relief.

“Don’t get comfy; you so much as sneeze and I’ll shoot your ass.” He said angrily, waving the gun a bit.

Vinyl simply stared and Sketch turned and looked at Lyra, who was looking at him in disbelief.

“You really believe her? Sketch I thought-“

“Lyra…just…” He pushed her away gently, feeling a ping of sadness in his heart as he did so.

“When did I give you the necklace…?” He asked darkly, staring Lyra dead in the eyes.

Lyra stared back, her eyes flitting between Sketch and Vinyl. “Uh…My Birthday?” She let out nervously.

“No…” Sketch stepped back; his stomach did a flip as he heard the response.

“HA! No, you bitch, it was Hearthswarming Eve! You told me that YESTERDAY!” Vinyl said triumphantly.

“Sketch, what’s going on?” Gears cried, tears running down his cheeks.

“Shut the hell up you little brat!” Lyra hissed, but it wasn’t Lyra’s voice, instead it was an insectoid, animalistic voice, sort of like what you would expect a wasp to sound like, if it was able to speak.

Sketch’s eyes widened and he stepped over closer to Gears, putting himself between the Lyra-Changeling and his little brother.

“You.” The Changeling hissed, looking over at Vinyl as its Lyra-disguise rippled and then disappeared in small green flames. “This is your fault, you had to run, and you couldn’t just accept the inevitable!” It said, stomping its hoof.

The changeling was shiny black, covered in a tough, shell like carapace, however despite being shiny, the carapace was pitted and rotten looking, its legs had holes in them, they reminded Sketch of Swiss cheese, its eyes were a bright blue and it sported two, insect-like wings on its back; they flittered every so often. On its head was a horn, it was pitted and scarred. All in all, the Changeling was a rather frightening sight.

There was a crashing noise just then, like glass being broken, it sounded like it came from upstairs. Sketch turned around, but it was too late, by the time he could react, a changeling had snatched Gears in its hooves and was making for the window.

“SKETCH, HELP!” Gears screamed, crying and beating on the Changelings hooves trying to get it to release him.

“NO!” Sketch brought the revolver up and shot high, trying to scare the changeling, The gunshot rang loud in his ears and a ringing noise was left in its place. The changeling however, moved just before he shot and instead of hitting the wall, the changeling unwittingly moved in such a way that Sketch blew the end of its horn off, sending it into the wall with a screech of pain.

“Oh shit!” Vinyl’s cry came from downstairs as the sound of another window breaking was heard; another changeling had gotten in the house.

Vinyl would have to handle herself for now; Sketch had to save his brother.

“SKETCH!” Gears screamed, pulling himself away from the changeling that was writhing in its own blood as it poured from its horn.

“I’ve got you…” He reached a hoof out towards his brother, but never touched him. At that moment another changeling burst through the window, ramming Sketch and sending him flying into a wall.

“NO, SKETCH!” Gears cried.

Sketch couldn’t breathe, he had been winded, and all he could do was watch as the changeling with the broken horn took his brother in its arms and flew out the window with him, followed by the one that had rammed him. He wanted to raise his gun, he wanted to fire at the abductor, but he couldn’t. In his current state he could hit Gears, and that wouldn’t do any good at all.

“N-no…!” Sketch croaked, wincing at the dull pain emanating from his side.

“Aghh!” Vinyl’s screams hit Sketch’s ears. Tears of anguish running down his face, he drug himself over to the edge of the staircase. Vinyl was in the Kitchen, holding back a changeling as it snapped at her. The creature was swinging its horn side to side in an attempt to slash her. At that moment Vinyl shoved the changeling, trying to get it off, but all she did was turn them both sideways. However, it did give Sketch a shot.

Anger and Hatred welling up inside of him, Sketch; still laying on the floor, brought his revolver up and shakily took aim. He honestly wasn’t thinking about the fact he might hit Vinyl, he was too angry, the hatred for these creatures overcame his other senses, he felt a need to inflict pain upon them, an extreme, insatiable need to destroy them. He prayed he wouldn’t hit Vinyl, took a deep breath, and fired.

There was a splattering noise, and a short yelp from Vinyl, and then the changeling let out a sort of bark and flew into the cabinet, the bullet had his it in the leg, green blood covering the kitchen counter and lower cabinets and it ran out the front door as fast as it could.

“Holy shit!” Vinyl scrambled over to the living room after a moment, trying to distance herself from the kitchen.

“S-Sketch!” She clambered over the couch, her own blood running from a gash over her eyebrow; coloring her otherwise white fur, red.

“Y-you…stay the hell away from me…” He said shakily.

“Sketch…it’s me…Lyra and I went to school together, you have a little brother named Gears, I’m here visiting to talk with Lyra about her music!” Vinyl insisted, realizing she was bleeding when her blood dripped near her eye; then bringing a hoof up and wiping it away dismissively.

Sketch stared at her with uncertainty for a moment, and then lowered his revolver, lying on his stomach on the floor.

“Where’s Gears…?” Vinyl said, panting a bit from her struggle.

“Bastards…they…they took him…Vinyl I don’t know if he’s-“

“He’s fine…they aren’t killing, they’re like…collecting…at least from what I saw…” She panted.

“What?” Sketch breathed, still reeling from what had just happened.

“They were…grabbing these ponies, and flying off with them…”

“To where?” Sketch said solemnly, starting to recover a bit from his ordeal, the ringing in his ears dying down a bit.

“I don’t know.” Vinyl replied, eyeing him as he stood up.

“Well, we need to find out then…”He said simply, standing upright and wincing as a pain shot through his side. He looked down to see a gash; dripping blood, on his side, it was dark red and it seemed that now he was looking at it he noticed the pain more.

“You’re hurt…we should-“

“No…I’m going to get my family…” He said darkly, glaring at her as he pushed his way past her on his way down the stairs.

“Sketch-“

“You can come with me or stay here…your choice…”

Vinyl was about to protest again, but Sketch spoke first.

“Where’s the other one…” He said.

“Huh?”

“The other changeling, the one that looked like…like Lyra.”

“I…I shot him…with magical energy, he went flying through the bedroom door, and I didn’t see him come out…” Vinyl said, trotting over next to him.

Taking a deep breath, Sketch raised his revolver again and slowly made his way into the bedroom. It was completely dark, the blinds were shut and all other light sources appeared to have been turned off.

Visibly shaking, a mix of adrenaline and fear coursing through his blood, Sketch strafed around the room, and found his quarry lying in a heap in the corner or the room.

“There you are…” He growled, and trotted over to the Changeling before Vinyl could say anything.

A moment later, he was dragging the Changeling out by its back leg. It was badly burned on one shoulder and blood was dripping out of its mouth. It was still alive.

The changeling groaned and chittered angrily in protest as Sketch dragged it out into the kitchen, releasing it next to its dead comrade. The changeling was about to try and run, but Sketch knelt on its chest; hard, and pressed his gun to its head.

The changeling was panting heavily; it glared up at him with evil eyes, eyes not filled with fear, but amusement.

“I am not afraid to die for my hive, scum.” It hissed, letting out an evil chuckle.

Sketch shivered a bit and pressed the gun barrel into the changeling’s temple. “Where did you take my family…?”

The changeling simply laughed a buzzing and evil laugh.

“I’ll blow your head off…” He growled, digging the barrel of the gun into the changeling’s carapace.

This action seemed to sober it up a little bit, and it stared straight up at Sketch, glaring with its glowing blue eyes. Sketch began to wonder if he would actually be able to carry out his threats, granted this creature and its kind had abducted his family and attacked both him and Vinyl, but still. You could read all the stories, play all the games and watch all the movies you wanted. There was a difference between seeing somepony else kill another, and actually killing somepony yourself; as Sketch would find out.

“You’re going to die…trying to save them, you know this, yes?” It hissed, a cruel smile on its face.

“Then I guess I die, now TELL ME!” He shouted, raising the gun and hitting the changeling over the head with it, causing it to let out a cry of pain.

“The Town Hall…is where we took them…all of them, the townsponies…” It laughed weakly, but evilly. “Your family will be farmed for their feelings…we will feed off of them, and your town, will burn.

“But…you have to be feeding off of Love; Changelings don’t feed off of other feelings…” Vinyl cut in from behind. Unbeknownst to Sketch, she was actually a bit surprised and somewhat frightened at how Sketch had switched into this aggressive mode, making death threats and waving a gun around.

“We have found a new way to feed, a better way, a more…efficient way.” It laughed weakly, turning its gaze back up to Sketch.

“A new age is dawning…the Age of the Changelings will soon be at hoof…and you and everything you hold dear will be no more.”

It glared at Sketch and bared its fangs, then in a sudden burst of strength, it shoved him off, throwing him onto his back, the next thing Sketch knew the changeling was on top of him; its teeth firmly latched into his shoulder, blood running from the wound.

“Aghhhh!” He cried, beating the changeling with the butt of the revolver enough times that a gash formed, oozing green blood. But the changeling didn’t let go, if anything it bit down harder, shaking its head a bit, trying to tear flesh from bone.

Vinyl had moved around and was trying her very best to pull the attacker off of Sketch, but to no avail.

Abruptly, Sketch stopped beating the changeling with his gun, in a split second he looked at the gun, making a choice. He would do what he needed to, for his family.

He pressed the gun to the changeling’s neck, let out a cry of both fear and anger, and pulled the trigger.

There was a loud, ear-ringing “BOOM”. Bits of shell and blood went flying. The changeling let out a horrible cry of pain as the force of the blast threw it into a cabinet. It writhed and screamed, cursing Sketch in every way it could think. The bullet had somehow taken out a chunk of its neck without killing it, and it clutched the wound with one hoof.

Sketch’s vision turned red, a newfound mixture of bloodlust and adrenaline coursing through him; consuming him. He stood and grabbed the changeling by its neck, and dragged it over to the fridge; a trail of green blood being left on the floor as he did so. He slammed the Changeling into the fridge and looked it straight into its eyes, gritting his teeth.

“Go on then…” It coaxed him, laughing weakly. “Kill me!” It mocked.

Sketch gripped the revolver for a moment, then brought it up and pressed it into the side of the Changeling’s head, twisting the barrel and digging it into the pitted flesh. The changeling growled a bit, showing its teeth in a mixture of pain and amusement.

“You’re just like every other pony…too much of a bitch to actually kill…” It hissed and spit its own blood at Sketch, the glob of green blood hitting him above the eye.

“Guess what…” Sketch said calmly, his vision growing ever redder.

The changeling only glared, its jaws twisted into an evil smile and it stuck its tongue out, hissing in an almost insane fashion.

“I’m not, every other pony.”

In that split second, the changeling’s expression changed, from one of amusement and confidence to one of fear and surprise.

That was its last expression it ever showed.

Sketch released the body, letting it slump to the ground; limp. He stood over it, looking down. Smoking gun clenched tightly in one hoof.

The kitchen was now thoroughly painted with a mix of green blood and black bits of carapace. They dripped from the cabinets and onto the counters.

Vinyl was leaning against a cabinet; still sitting on the floor. She wore a look of horror and surprise, if her fur wasn’t already snow white, she would have looked pale and flushed.

The red in his vision started to fade, he could think straight again. He shook his head and took a step back.

“Y-you…” Was all Vinyl let out.

Sketch himself was having a hard time believing it, he had killed a living, sentient, creature. Just like that, it was dead, wiped out from existence.

“Just…” He tried to speak, it was now he realized he was covered in green blood.

“We have…to find Lyra…and Gears.” He said, trying to maintain the little bit of composure he had left.

“You…” Vinyl repeated, wiping a bit of green blood from her purple glasses, but doing nothing but smearing it.

“We…need to go.” Sketch said, trotting slowly over to Vinyl and extending a hoof.

Vinyl stared up at him for a moment, looking him over behind those purple glasses of hers. She had seen her fair share of fights, gotten her nose bloodied a few times and blooded other noses more than once, She hadn’t ever seen something like what she just did though. She was shocked, unsure, and afraid.

With a nod, she took Sketch’s hoof and allowed him to help her up.

“What about…all this…” She said, referring to the mess now all over the kitchen.

“Leave it.” Sketch stated bluntly, turning away and heading over into the living room. There was a clicking sound shortly after, the sound of him reloading.

“Sketch…?” Vinyl asked, still in the kitchen.

“What.”

“Are you…alright?”

Sketch stopped reloading and stared at the cylinder of his revolver. There was a bit of green blood splattered on the barrel, tarnishing the previously shiny state.

Vinyl watched him carefully, unsure of what was about to happen.

“Sketch…?”

Sketch looked over at her, he looked like he had seen a ghost.

“Make sure you have what you need…we’re leaving for town hall in thirty seconds.” He said darkly, then turned and took a position in the doorway, watching for trouble.

“Sketch, that’s crazy! There’s no way we’re gonna make it through-“

Sketch whirled around, his eyes angry and crazed. He seemed to carry himself different, almost in the fashion you would expect from some wild creature, one hungry for blood and flesh.

“So what do you suggest?” He growled, storming over to Vinyl.

Vinyl said nothing, she merely stood in silence.

“So we just…leave them? Don’t even try? They have my wife, brother and my unborn child! Do you seriously expect me to just-“

“You don’t think I’m not worried too?” Vinyl shouted, shoving Sketch away and pointing a hoof at him as she spoke. “I had to watch, Sketch, I had to watch them take her! I was helpless! I. Couldn’t. Do. Shit.”

Sketch stepped back a bit at Vinyl’s outburst.

“I’m still reeling from the fact I just watched you blow that things head off, ok? I don’t know how the hell you’re not even acknowledging that you just did that!” She shoved him again, her voice beginning to sound hysterical.

Sketch growled and grabbed Vinyl’s leg when she tried to shove him again, she froze and looked at him with an angry expression.

“The value of that monsters life was lost to me the moment it hurt my family.” He said solemnly.

Vinyl wrenched her leg away, a look of disgust on her face.

“Y-you…”

“Here’s what’s going to happen, Vinyl.” Sketch said, not letting her finish. “I’m going to Town Hall, and I’m getting my damn family back. That’s happening whether you like it or not.” He paused for a minute and turned away from Vinyl, looking out his now broken window.

“Now…you can either come with me, or you can stay here and wait…your choice.” And without another word, Sketch trotted out the front door, leaving Vinyl alone inside of a thoroughly trashed house.

“Bloody Hell…” She breathed, stomping her hoof in frustration. She knew she couldn’t just let Sketch run off, not in his current state. He’d almost certainly get himself killed, and so despite everything in her body screaming to stay there, and be safe, and to wait for the Equestrian Military to get there, or the Elements of Harmony, or somepony, who had any idea what do. She followed him out the door.

“Sketch!” She called, hesitantly running out after him. However she didn’t have to go far, Sketch was standing just outside of his fence, staring straight up at the sky. Vinyl followed his gaze and found the cause of his staring.

Covering the entirety of the sky, was a green wall of energy, when Vinyl looked and tried to find it’s edges, she found it to curve downwards and form a sort of dome.

“So that’s why there isn’t any wind…” Sketch said.

“They…put a dome over the town?”

“Looks like it.”

Vinyl stared up at the dome, it pulsated green and appeared to be originating from Town Hall.

“Sketch, do you think-“ Vinyl looked down to find Sketch was already trotting away. “Shit…” She breathed, and then took after him.

“Sketch…do you even have a plan?”

“No.” He stated plainly.

“Then how-“

“We get to Twilight’s, she should know…something.”

Vinyl couldn’t help but sense an undertone of uncertainty in his voice.

“Well…shouldn’t we get out of the street?” She suggested, looking around for any signs of changelings.

“From the looks of it, they’ve already all moved on to the next neighborhood.” He deadpanned.

Vinyl wasn’t sure what scared her more, Sketch’s seemingly total lack of emotion or care for his own safety, or the fact that his behavior could get them both killed.

“And what happens if they haven’t?” She hissed at him.

“Then I kill them.”

“Dammit Sketch!” She grabbed his shoulder and turned him around angrily, then proceeded to shove him into a demolished carriage.

Sketch didn’t respond, he simply stared at her with bewildered eyes.

“You’re going to get us killed!” She jarred him into the carriage, still gripping his shoulder. “You’re acting crazy, man! Getting yourself killed because you’re too damn stupid to think of a plan and show at least the TINIEST bit of concern for your own life? That isn’t going to help ANYPONY.”

Vinyl placed her hoof on Sketch’s other shoulder, but was gentler this time.

“Now listen to me. I want you to notice something. I’m here, now, in the middle of this street, following your ass. I want to save her too, Sketch, and if that dome is keeping the breeze out, don’t you think it’s going to be keeping the Equestrian Military out as well?” She looked him in the eyes.

“I hadn’t-“

“Exactly! You hadn’t thought. Sketch, I don’t want to sound dramatic here, but you and I may turn out to be the only two who haven’t been captured! Alright? I’m all for helping you find Lyra and your brother, but at least be smart about it, ok? I can’t lead you, Sketch! You know your way around this town, I don’t! You need to get your shit in order, and we need a plan, alright? I don’t want to die in here! I have a family too Sketch!”

Sketch looked up at her. “Vinyl I didn’t know you-“

“Yes…I do…there’s a mare named Octavia…it’s her birthday in two weeks, we’re supposed to go on a cruise! So don’t think you aren’t the only one here with something to lose!”

Sketch looked at Vinyl for a moment. She was right…what was he doing? If he went on like this he’d be dead or captured before he got within a mile of Town Hall.

“I’m sorry…you’re right.” He sighed, shrugging Vinyl’s hooves off of him. “I just…Vinyl, they’re all I have. I just…I lost it.”

Vinyl sighed now, looking around as she did so. “Now, lead us out of these Celestia-forsaken streets, and we need to make a plan…if we’re taking on a hive of those bastards we can’t just go in there, guns blazing.”

“Right…” Sketch pushed himself away from the carriage and looked back at his house. “Let’s just…go back to the house and-“

There was an ear-piercing screech, it filled the air and lasted for a few seconds before stopping abruptly.

The pair were silent for a moment, before Vinyl spoke up.

“What…was that.”

“Aw hell…” Sketch said, pointing to the roof of his house.

There was a changeling standing on the roof, and it was looking right at them.

“Run!” Vinyl cried, just as a dozen other changelings flew up from behind the one on the roof.

In unison, the two turned tail and hauled down the street, fast as they possibly could.

“Sketch, find an escape!” Vinyl cried, the Changelings flying rapidly towards them, a few of them landing and running after their prey.

“There!” Sketch called, spotting an alley where hopefully they could lose the changelings, he figured it was a better option than getting overtaken in the street.

As Vinyl turned and made her way into the alley, Sketch turned and fired twice into the oncoming group of changelings, his ears ringing from the noise. One of the bullets clipped the wing of a flying changeling and sent it crashing into the ground, a second impacted on the leg of a running changeling and it stumbled, tripping up a few of its kin.

“Sketch, come on!” Vinyl called.

“I’m coming!” He cried, turning and catching up to Vinyl, then overtaking her so he could attempt to lead the way.

“Vinyl, come on, This way!” Sketch called, turning into another alley and doing his best to evade their pursuers.

“Shit, man, there’s like a dozen of ‘em coming, they’re hauling ass too!” Vinyl called back, just as another angry, chittering, roar was heard behind them.

“Please, tell me you know where the hell we’re going, Sketch!”

“Uh…” He called, having absolutely no idea where they were going. “We’re going this way!” He said, making a left down the alley, hoping it wouldn’t end up being a-

“Dead end!” Vinyl cried, worry tainting her voice. “Sketch, what now!”

“No, no, no…shit!” Frantically, Sketch looked around, trying to find an exit, He would grab Vinyl and fly, but these changelings were patrolling the skies too, they would fare worse up there than down here, if he flew they’d just get swarmed and taken down, most likely to meet a quick and bloody end, face-first with the pavement. But it couldn’t end, not like this, Gears needed him, Lyra needed him, he promised he would protect her, he had to-

“Sketch!” Vinyl yelled, sounding even more worried than before, and he could see why, The midday sun casting so many of the changelings shadows, twisting them to horrifying and evil shapes as they were cast out onto the alleyway when they rounded the corner.

They grew closer, their chittering sounding all too much like laughter as they crept closer, no longer feeling the need to run as they had their prey cornered.

“Like hell I’m gonna die here!” Vinyl shouted angrily, Charging up a ball of magical energy on her horn and directing it into her hoof, once it had grown to the size of a baseball she lobbed it at the creatures.

“Uh-oh…” Vinyl breathed.

One of the changelings in the front of the pack shot forward, charging towards Vinyl with a high-pitched roar. Before Sketch or Vinyl could react, it jumped and landed on top of her, biting down on her shoulder and knocking her onto her back. It growled and shook its head, trying to tear a chunk of Vinyl’s flesh off.

Vinyl let out a cry of agony and hit the beast in its large, green eye, causing it to screech and release her.

“Sketch!” She called, now holding the changeling back with one hoof, its drooling jaws snapping only inches from her face.

Sketch shook his head, he hadn’t even realized he had frozen up, shakily, he brought up his revolver, taking aim at the changeling on top of Vinyl.

“SKETCH, SHOOT THIS BASTARD!” She cried again, visibly shaking as it pressed all its weight on her, trying to bite her throat.

Sketch took a deep breath and then opened fire.

The bullet hit its target, punching a good sized hole in the changelings shoulder, knocking it off of Vinyl and sliding onto the ground, where it moved no more.

The alley was narrow, so the changelings could only attack in two’s or three’s. Vinyl did her best to lob balls of magical energy at the flow of monsters, while Sketch fired into the crowd, screams of agony being heard as each bullet hit its target.

“Sketch, there!” Vinyl cried, pointing a hoof to a window on the other side of the alley. On the other side of their horde of attackers.

“Nothing like ease of access, huh?” He cried, pulling the trigger again, but being met with a “click” instead of a “boom”

“Hold them off, I need to reload!” He shouted, barely being heard over the chittering and screaming of the changelings.

“Alright…!” Vinyl replied, sounding less than sure of her.

Quick as he could, Sketch dumped the six empty shells out of his gun. They clattered onto the ground, barely audible over the changelings. He reached into his bag and grabbed six rounds, shoving them into the cylinder and closing it, bringing it up and shooting a changeling about to pounce on Vinyl.

The bullet caught it in the stomach, sending the changeling to the ground, where it writhed a bit before death came to meet it.

“Thanks…” Vinyl said, she hadn’t even noticed that changeling.

“How’re we gonna get to that window!” He cried, shooting another changeling in the chest. At this point the changelings were starting to be more cautious, no longer simply running out, they tried to jump off the walls and come in from above.

“Like this!” Vinyl flashed a cocky smile, as a blue light enveloped her horn, it shone extremely bright and bathed the entire area in its glow. A moment later, she released a blast of energy, straight into the crowd, it blasted through them, burning any who stood in its path. The one changeling unfortunate enough to be directly in the way was thrown into the wall near the window, where it impacted with a “SPLAT” and slumped to the ground, dead.

By the time the beam dissipated, most of the changelings had either run, been horribly burned, were dead or in the process of dying. Vinyl was hardly faring better, she trembled and collapsed to her knees, exhausted and breathing heavily.

“Vinyl!” Sketch rushed to her side, her horn was sputtering and smoking profusely.

“I’m…fine…” She said, her breathing labored.

“Where the hell did you learn to do that…?” Sketch asked, helping her up.

“Pyrotechnics are uh…rather popular at some of my shows…” She said with a weak chuckle.

“Damn…” He breathed.

“The window…”

“Oh! Right, yes.”

Taking care not to go to fast, but still putting some urgency in his step, Sketch took Vinyl over to the window. From the looks of it there appeared to have been boards attached to the window, in order to keep something from getting in. However Vinyl’s magic turned out to have blasted them away, so the two were able to get in without trouble.

“We probably can’t stay here too long…” Sketch said as he laid Vinyl against the wall near the window, looking out into the alley as he did so.

“We should-“ Vinyl was cut off by a new voice.

“You’re right, you cannot stay here…in fact…I think you were just about to leave, ja?” Came an accented voice, It sounded vaguely...Germane?

Sketch froze, he turned and looked behind him, there; looking rather surprised. Was a grey stallion with a black mane, he wore thin, round glasses that looked almost too small for his face, and in one hoof he held a knife.

A very bloody knife.

Chapter 5: Doc

Chapter 5: Doc

“Now…hold on buddy, we’re on your side here!” Sketch said, trying to sound as calming and friendly as possible.

“How do I know you aren’t one of those…things?” The stallion said, a slight Germane accent lacing his voice. He was a grey and rather thin looking Earth Pony; He wore a pair of thin, round glasses that looked a little bit too small for him. The stallion brandished a bloody knife in one hoof and was pointing it defensively at Sketch.

“You don’t. I guess you’ll have to take our word for it. After all we don’t really know each other do we?” He said, making sure to keep an eye on Vinyl; who was slipping in and out of consciousness. Her previous show of magical force had turned out to be extremely taxing, and she had collapsed after blasting a group of changelings with a suped-up version of some pyrotechnics she had used at her shows in the past.

“Ok then…how do I know you aren’t going to try and attack me…?” The stallion re-worded his previous question.

“If I wanted to attack you, I could have just shot you.” Sketch said matter-of-factly, questioning if he would be able to actually do that if needed.

The stallion looked him over, studying him for any sign of lies or malcontent. After a few moments, he lowered the knife and slowly trotted over to them.

“Your friend…the bite wound on her shoulder, I can help with that…” He said, motioning to Vinyl’s neck.

“Awfully convenient…” Sketch replied.

“I’m not lying, dummkopf, I’m a doctor, I can help her, but first we need to move, those things will return, and in greater numbers.”

Sketch wasn’t sure what “Dummkopf” meant, but he was sure it was an insult. “Yeah…” He agreed, deciding not to retaliate. The changelings would return for sure. He thought it was probably safe to assume that the changelings didn’t take kindly to being squashed, and would retaliate; most likely tenfold.

“I have a place we might be able to hide out…follow me…” The stallion motioned for Sketch to follow him. Sketch nodded and helped Vinyl up, draping her front leg over his shoulders so he could carry her easier.

“Come, come! We must hurry!” The stallion insisted.

“I don’t see you helping me carry her!” He hissed, proceeding to stand up fully, helping Vinyl walk.

The stallion said nothing; he simply ignored Sketch and made his way towards a back door.

“Ughhh…” Vinyl groaned, her eyes shut tightly in pain. She tightened her front leg around Sketch’s neck, trying to be the smallest bit helpful in holding herself up.

“Hold on, Vinyl…we’re getting you out of here.” He said, following the stallion out the back door and into an alley; this one was bigger than the last. The alley way was dirty and opened up on one end onto one of the dirt roads that crisscrossed through Ponyville. Sketch wondered just how far he and Vinyl had run when they were trying to escape the changelings. It hadn’t seemed like a very long run, but then again at the time how far they were running wasn’t exactly his primary concern.

“Over here, this way!” The stallion hissed as he trotted the opposite direction of the street, further into the alleyway.

Sketch did his best to keep up with this stallion, suddenly questioning himself as to why he was following somepony he hadn’t ever met before to Celestia knows where, in a back alley.

“So uh…you got a name?” Sketch asked as they traveled.

“Huh? Oh, ja. You can just call me Doc.” He deadpanned.

“Doc?” Sketch asked with a raised eyebrow.

Doc said nothing, and the rest of the journey they were all silent, save the occasional unpleasant moan from Vinyl; who had done nothing but since they met this “Doc” pony.

They traveled for about ten minutes, sticking to the alleys as much as possible. Every so often they would have to press themselves against a wall in order to keep from being seen by a flying group of changelings patrolling the area. The chittering and buzzing being heard loud and clear long before they were seen, making it much easier to hide from them.

As they traveled through the alleys, Sketch started to think back on what had happened earlier, how he had just killed without thought after killing the first one…how easy and effortless it had seemed, he wondered if that was normal. A part of him was scared at this, how easy it had come to him after killing the one in his home, how it felt perfectly normal, it scared him that he didn’t feel remorse for committing these acts.

Sketch shook his head as Doc’s voice broke into his thoughts; he would have to think about all that later.

“In here, schnell, schnell! Hurry!” He waved a hoof towards a doorway as he pulled said door open, motioning Sketch and his cargo inside.

On the other side of the door was a room made up almost entirely of concrete, what appeared to be large washing machines and dryers lined the walls. In the middle of the room, bins on wheels filled with assortments of bed sheets, linens, and towels, were neatly divided into rows.

“Are we…?”

“In a washroom, ja.” Doc finished. “I was staying in this hotel when all of this happened, I took refuge in here. I can use the bed sheets to wrap up your friends wounds, set her down and lay out some bedding for her, hurry!” Doc ordered.

Sketch; not expecting to be bossed around, stared at Doc for a moment, before setting Vinyl down and racing over to a laundry basket filled with towels; he figured they would make the best bedding. He wondered why Doc had taken refuge down in the laundry room instead of holing up in his hotel room, but decided this was probably a question to be asked later.

While Sketch set up a makeshift bed, Doc had made his way over to a wall and taken a First Aid kit, bringing it over next to where Sketch was and pulling out supplies from the plastic, red, box.

“That will do, now, go get her, lay her down on here, quickly now!”

Sketch nodded and went back over to Vinyl, who had slid down onto her side and was no longer sitting up; a smear of blood being left on the wall where she had slid.

“Hold on Vinyl…” He said worriedly, practically scooping Vinyl up and carrying her over to where Doc was, then proceeding to lay her down on the makeshift bed. Vinyl only groaned in response, her eyes shut tightly.

“She’s losing blood, I need to clean this and bind it…” He said, rifling through the small First Aid kit.

“If you needed to stop the bleeding, why wouldn’t we do that when you first found us?” Sketch hissed, a tad annoyed.

“Because, if I had, we would have been caught and either taken to the hive or killed!” Doc hissed back, glaring at Sketch.

“Right…sorry.”

“Hold her on her side, I need to disinfect this…and when I say hold, I mean hold. Changeling bites are nasty, very nasty, this is going to burn quite a bit…and then I will tend to you.” Doc said solemnly, pulling out some sort of bottle from the box.

Sketch let out an uncertain groan, but did as told. In all honesty he had totally forgotten he had been bitten in the first place, and upon looking at his chest, he found his white fur stained with red streaks of his own blood; green changeling blood splattered on it as well.

Suddenly and without warning, Vinyl let out a cry of anguish. Sketch looked up to see Doc pouring a liquid onto her shoulder, she tried to pull away; most likely not understanding what was happening in her state of semi-consciousness, but Sketch held her firmly, making sure she didn’t move too much.

Then, Vinyl’s screams abruptly faded away and stopped completely, she went limp and moved no more.

“No…no, no, no!” Sketch started to panic, his voice growing hysterical.

“Calm down! She passed out is all; the shock probably was too much for her she’ll be fine! Now hold her up so I can bandage the bite.” Doc said his voice stern and reprimanding.

Sketch said nothing, he simply held Vinyl on her side whilst Doc toiled. He couldn’t help but marvel at the fact he was eating dinner with the pony they were bandaging only last night, and that everything had been perfectly normal in his life not even twenty four hours prior.

A minute or so later, Vinyl was fully bandaged and wore a clean-ish blue linen wrapped around her shoulder and front leg, binding the wound. “That will need stitches…but I do not have the necessary materials to do that, so this will have to do...” Doc said as they laid Vinyl down out of the way, so as she wouldn’t be stepped on or tripped over.

“Right then.” Sketch said flatly, staring blankly at the limp, passed out form of Vinyl Scratch, her body lying atop some assorted towels and linens.

Doc said nothing in response; he merely trotted back over to the small First-Aid kit, pulling out more supplies. “Come here…uh, what was your name?” He inquired.

“Sketch, I’m Sketch…” He replied, his tone still flat.

“Sketch, I used to know a pony named Sketch back in Germaney.” Doc replied as Sketch trotted over.

“Oh? What happened to him?” Sketch forced out the question, suddenly not feeling much like talking as everything that had happened that morning began to sink in…again, once they finally had gotten to a semi-calm place.

“Oh, he went crazy, set a forest on fire and blew up his neighbors’ mailbox.” Doc said, as if it was no big deal.

“Oh…ok” Sketch wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Anyway, quit stalling and get over here, let me look at your wounds.” Doc motioned for Sketch to come over, shaking his hoof vigorously. Sketch reluctantly complied, not really feeling like doing anything but sitting and…not doing anything for a while.

“Let me see here…mien gott, man. Do you even realize you have half of these wounds?” Doc said, surprise lacing his tone as he looked Sketch over.

“I…have one on my shoulder, and my stomach…that’s all.” Sketch raised an eyebrow as Doc walked around him.

“No….you also have a gash across a good deal of your back, you have a gash on your thigh as well, and a burn on your leg…”

“Wait, what?” Sketch tried to stand and look at the alleged wounds, but Doc put his hooves on his shoulders and held him down. “Stay put, so I can work…and try not to be as loud as your friend over there…you’re conscious so you can at least try.”

Sketch let out an exasperated sigh; he didn’t even know how he got those wounds. This entire situation just grew more and more exhausting every second.

“Prepare yourself…” Doc warned, giving Sketch a split-second before he pressed a disinfectant into his back wound. Sketch couldn’t help but let out a small cry of agony before forcing said cry into an angry hiss of displeasure.”

“Don’t be such a baby…skin will grow back.”

Doc turned and opened up one of the empty washers, opening it up and throwing in the linen he used to clean off and Disinfect Sketch’s back. The linen practically screamed. “Clean Me.”

“Later…” Doc said to himself, turning back to Sketch.

“So, Sketch, is it? Do you have any family or…?” Doc asked, trying to make conversation.

The words hit his heart hard, being reminded of his family and what had happened to them, Lyra being taken. Watching, helplessly as Gears was abducted, the changelings breaking into his home, all of it.

“Uh…Y-yeah…but they were taken…by them.”

Doc stopped his work for a moment, and Sketch couldn’t help but feel some sort of sadness emanated from his healer, even though he couldn’t see him.

“I…I am sorry to hear that…” He spoke solemnly, continuing to tend to Sketch. “Prepare yourself again, my friend.” Doc’s voice returned to its normal tone, almost like a switch had been flipped.

This time Sketch had a bit more time to brace himself as Doc applied the disinfectant, instead of yelping as he had previously, he managed to grit his teeth and just wince.

“What uh…what about you, Doc, got any family?” Sketch asked through his pain, trying to convert the pain into; strained, idle conversation.

“Taken…just like yours.” Doc spoke flatly, but there was something about the way he spoke that seemed sad, sadder than one would expect. Of course who was Sketch to judge this stallion on how sad he is about his family being taken?

“A beautiful little filly; Bonnibelle and My wife, Starla…we had come down to Ponyville on vacation, ja? My wife…she had always talked about coming here and seeing the town where “Everything” happened, all the nonsense with Nightmare Moon, Discord, all them…she always wanted to see the town…” Doc seemed to trail off, into nothing but a soft whisper.

Sketch sat for a moment, listening to Doc softly mumble to himself as he tended to Sketch’s thigh burn. He wasn’t sure if he should say anything or just remain silent. After about five seconds Sketch decided to go with the “Say Something” option. As this was making him feel extremely awkward, a stallion gently patting a rag and wrapping linens around his thigh as he mumbled softly and unintelligibly in a Germane accent.

“S-so…uh…Doc….You said that Changeling bites sting quite a bit when you cleaned them…how do you know that?” Sketch said, almost shouting it, hoping to rouse Doc from his trance-like state.

“Hmm? OH, Ja, that. I was one of the doctors hired to come out and tend to some of the injured after the Canterlot Incident. Lots of the doctors from my country were. There were so many wounded and the Canterlot hospitals were overflowing, Germaney was the closest nearby country, so we of course were asked to help. Anyway, there is something in the saliva that reacts with rubbing alcohol and disinfectants; makes it burn like you wouldn’t believe.

“Right...” Sketch deadpanned, staring blankly at the passed-out form of Vinyl lying on the floor.

The next few minutes were taken in silence, Doc did his best to patch Sketch up with what he had there in the laundry room, and Sketch did his best to bear through it. The entire time Sketch’s mind was reeling over what was happening; Doc, Changelings, all of Ponyville, and most of all his family. How could something like this have happened to him? It seemed so farfetched and improbable. He never in his life thought he would actually have to use his gun, he had hoped he wouldn’t at least.

But it had happened, and he had taken his gun and shot multiple living, sentient beings, and felt no remorse about it, no hesitation after he had splattered the brains of that first changeling all over his fridge. After that he had simply…carried out his slaughter like it was nothing, he didn’t even remember how many changelings he had killed he had just…shot at them…without any thought to the fact he would be ending an entire life with one flex of his hoof.

He didn’t like having that power, it scared him.

“You seem…troubled, my friend.” Doc spoke up, returning from a trip into the hotel cafeteria; a load of different packaged snack foods in his hooves.

“Huh?” Sketch looked up, his eyes meeting with Doc’s as the grey stallion dumped the food onto the floor and took a seat on an overturned laundry basket; beginning to rifle through the snack-pile for something he wanted.

“I’m a doctor; I know a troubled expression when I see one.” He stated plainly.

Sketch was silent for a moment, the sound of clear plastic wrappers crinkling the only sound in the room for a few moments.

“I…I don’t know…” He said, not knowing how to convert feelings into words right then.

“My friend, I am not a psychiatrist, you must tell me in words or we can get nowhere, ja?”

“I killed so many changelings without even thinking about it…after the first one I killed…it just…happened…and I don’t know if I should feel bad or…” Sketch trailed off.

Doc paused shifting through the foods for a moment, looking over at Sketch with knowledgeable eyes. It was now Sketch realized this “Doc” was significantly older than he, his face slightly wrinkled and aged, almost worn looking; like a well used pair of shoes. Still shoes, but obvious that they had seen quite a lot in their days.

“We do what we must for our families, simple as that…there is no time to fret over the wellbeing of our enemies when we must focus on our loved ones…focus on keeping them safe, ja?” Doc gave a nod as he finished and returned to searching through the snacks, leaving Sketch with a surprised look on his face, not expecting something sounding quite so thought out and meaningful.

“Uh…thanks…” Was all he managed to say.

Doc waved a hoof dismissively. “Bah, I just spit that stuff out sometimes, some ponies say I’m deep some say I’m crazy, but…” Doc trailed off, chuckling a bit.

Sketch chuckled too, trotting over and grabbing a small bag of cookies from the pile of snacks and returning to his previous seat across from Doc.

“So, what is that one’s story?” Doc motioned to Vinyl; who was still passed out on the floor.

Sketch looked over at Vinyl, giving a light laugh before turning back to Doc. “She uh, is visiting from Canterlot, came here to help my wife with a music deal, help her get her talents out into the world a bit. I’ll tell you though…she’s rather…eccentric.”

Doc gave a light chuckle, opening a small bag of chips. “Well, Eccentric can be good you know, means that she does her own thing and doesn’t let the world get to her.”

“That’s definitely one way of putting it…” Sketch said with a smirk, looking over at Vinyl.

Neither of them said anything for a while, the faint sound of chips and cookies being crunched between teeth being the only thing heard. Eventually Sketch had finished the cookies and tossed the bag on the floor; it floated down almost like a parachute and hit the ground with a barely audible crinkle.

“Doc…I’m going to get my family back…and I don’t know if you’re just going to hide out here and try to ride this out, but I’m not. As soon as Vinyl wakes up and is ready…we’re gone.” Sketch said, his words breaking the silence almost painfully.

Doc stared at Sketch blankly for a moment, before blinking his eyes and responding. “I assumed you would, you don’t seem like the kind of pony to sit and wait…”

“That’s because there’s nothing to wait for…there’s a barrier around the entire town, I don’t think anypony can get in or out, and even if there wasn’t I would still be going after my family…”

“Are you sure they’re-“

“They’re alive.” Sketch insisted, almost growling the words. “I know they are…and I’m going after them…”

Doc sighed and looked down at his bag of chips, his glasses sliding down his nose a bit as he stared into the bag as if it were full of some great wealth of knowledge.

“Do you…have foals?”

“My wife is Pregnant….and they took my little brother too…” Sketch replied solemnly.

Doc muttered something in Germane, seemingly talking to himself for a moment before looking back up at Sketch. “You know, there is a very little chance you’ll get near that hive alive, ja?”

Sketch simply nodded.

Again Doc seemed to stare into space, looking towards Sketch but not quite at him, in that moment something flashed in his eyes, a look of almost…resignation. What exactly he was resigning was to be found out at a later time, as Sketch would eventually learn.

“My friend…I admire your bravery…but-“

“I hope you don’t plan on trying to stop me…” Sketch said with a glare.

“What, nein, nien. Sketch, I would like to help you! Who knows…maybe I can re-unite with my family as well, ja?” There was something off about the way Doc spoke when he mentioned his family, he didn’t sound like he thought he would be successful with finding them.

“Oh…” Sketch hadn’t expected that.

“I must ask though…do you have a plan?” Doc inquired, opening a second bag of chips.

“Actually, yeah, we were planning to head to the Library. I have a friend there named Twilight Sparkle; she’ll probably know what to do with all this.” Sketch replied, catching a bag of chips Doc threw his way.

Doc seemed to perk up at the mention of Twilight. “Oh, I’ve heard of her! My wife talked about her a lot and how she wished to meet her.” Doc leaned back a bit and chuckled. “She used to go on and on about how inspiring she thought Twilight and her friends were, it was quite a sight…”

Not exactly knowing how to respond, he simply continued. “Well…Vinyl and I obviously didn’t make it there, so that’s where we’ll be going.”

“How will this Twilight be able to help us?” Doc asked almost instantly after Sketch had finished talking.

Sketch said nothing. In all honesty he hadn’t ever considered the fact Twilight might not be able to help, he had just assumed she would be able to help and would know what to do, she was Twilight after all, and didn’t she just kind of…solve big problems like this? Wasn’t that kind of her thing?

Such a simple question had rocked the foundation of his hopes for getting to his family, if Twilight didn’t know what to do…what would happen?

“Well, she’s Twilight…I mean…she’s dealt with these things before!” Sketch said, uncertainty lacing his voice.

Doc seemed to think on this for a moment, his eyes deep in thought as he stared off into space. “Hmm.” He shrugged. “Good point I guess.”

“She’ll be able to help, I know she will…” Sketch tried to reassure himself, at the same time wondering why he had automatically assumed Twilight would be able to solve this problem. He wondered if everypony else did that and if it put quite a bit of pressure and stress on the element holder.

“If anything, it’s an objective, ja? Something to get us closer to rescuing your family!” Doc had picked up on Sketch’s reaction to his question and appeared to be attempting to be reassuring.

“True.” He replied with a nod, feeling anything but reassured.

At that moment there was a soft, unpleasant groan. It sounded pained and like the pony it belonged to was less than pleased to be waking up feeling like that. Of course, it was Vinyl.

Sketch and Doc both turned their heads over to where the DJ was, her mane was messy and she was sitting up, but hunched over and had her head in her hooves.

Vinyl sighed and drug her hooves down her face, then brought a hoof back up to rub her forehead, wincing a bit as she did. As she did this she turned and looked over at Sketch and Doc, staring at them before surveying the room with a blank, almost bored look. She stared at them both for a moment before a small smirk came across her face; her gaze directed at Sketch.

“I have to say…I’ve woken up in some weird-ass places…but never a laundry room…” She said, still grinning.

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” Sketch replied with a shrug, smiling a bit himself.

Vinyl simply waved a dismissive hoof at him and turned her gaze to Doc.

“You’re…?”

“Oh, ja, You may call me Doc.” He said with a strong nod.

Vinyl replied with an affirmative hum and rubbed her head again.

“Doc led us here, you passed out and then he brought us here and patched you up.”

As Sketch spoke, Vinyl discovered the bandages on her shoulder, placing a gentle hoof on them before responding. “Right…”

“I could and should have done more to those wounds…but I didn’t have the right tools at hoof, so that will have to do for now. How do you feel?” Doc asked.

She chuckled weakly and rubbed her shoulder. “Terrible…but I could be worse, so thank you.” She tilted her head towards him before slowly standing, wobbling a bit and leaning against one of the washing machines. Sketch hopped up and started to make his way towards her to help, but Vinyl held out a hoof in protest.

“I got it…” She said, even though she looked like she would collapse at any moment.

“You sure you-“

“I’m fine, just…give me a minute, alright? I got it.”

Sketch silently stepped back, giving Vinyl room. She leaned against the washing machine for a moment longer, before pushing off and sluggishly taking a step away from where she had been resting, immediately she tilted to the side and was on her way to hitting the ground; if not for Sketch’s swift action. He zipped over to her side and caught her, letting her lean against him for support.

“Or…maybe I don’t got this...” She said with a weak chuckle. “Thanks.”

Slowly and carefully, Sketch helped Vinyl over to the sort of nest he and Doc had formed; empty food wrappers and laundry baskets marking the territory. He sat Vinyl down on a laundry basket and made sure she was situated before returning to his seat, watching her carefully.

“That magic blast, it drained a good amount of your energy, you used more magic at once than is recommended for any Unicorn of any skill level…you’re lucky you didn’t send yourself into a coma or something, my friend…” Doc spoke up, having been watching everything that just happened in silence.

Vinyl directed her gaze over to him and shrugged. “I’m here now aren’t I?”

“Ja, but barely.” He replied. “Good thing is, you should recover rather quickly, Unicorns are resilient like that.”

Vinyl said nothing in response, occupying herself with a bag of chips she grabbed off the floor.

“So what’s the plan then?” She said after eating a few chips, staring into the bag as she spoke.

For some reason Vinyl’s straightforwardness surprised Sketch. She hadn’t asked what had happened after she passed out; she hadn’t asked about Doc, she hadn’t asked really anything about what had happened. Why exactly this was surprising to him he didn’t quite understand, but he dismissed the thought and replied in turn.

“Twilight’s…we need to get to her place, she’ll probably know more about this than us…hopefully.” He said.

Vinyl turned her gaze from her chips over to Doc. “And you…?”

Doc simply shrugged. “I’ll follow, I guess.”

Vinyl let out a laugh that sounded almost smug. “Better than nothing, I guess.”

A few more seconds of silence passed, and then she tossed the now empty bag of chips to the floor and looking around the room, she looked all around before fixing her gaze on one point of the wall; Sketch followed her gaze and found what she was looking at.

A red box, mounted on the wall. There was a glass window on the front allowing one to see inside.

Slowly, but steadily, Vinyl stood. She was shaky and a bit wobbly at first but quickly appeared to regain her balance, making her way over to the wall in question she had been staring at.

Rather dramatically, Vinyl grabbed what appeared to be a thick belt from one of the laundry baskets, wrapping it around her hoof and punched into the glass, shattering it with a loud “Crash!”

Bits of glass clinked onto the floor as she pulled out her prize, a fire axe, brandishing it with an all-too-happy grin; she turned around and rested it on her shoulder, striking an almost heroic pose.

Standing before them, fire axe in hoof and rested on her shoulder, she flashed her all-too-familiar, cocky smile at the two stallions.

“So what’re we waiting for then?”

Chapter 1: Friday

Chapter 1: Friday

It was Friday.

Sketch loved Fridays.

Friday’s meant that upon returning from work, he would have an entire weekend ahead of him. An entire weekend he would usually spend happily, with Gears; his little brother, and Lyra; his wife and also the mare bearing his child.

Winter Wrap Up had ended only a week ago, and Lyra was rather annoyed that she had been asked to stay at home and rest, being pregnant and all, Sketch hadn’t wanted her to injure herself in any shape or form. However, after some persuasion and possibly the tiniest bit of friendly bribing on Sketch’s part, he had managed to get her to agree to stay at home with Gears.

Sketch trotted out of the gate that marked the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres, his place of work. He had been making a good amount of money there recently, and despite the events of the year before, Applejack had managed to keep the farm running rather well and was generating some extra money.

He let out a contented sigh, his breath creating a cloud in the chilly air. Even though the snow had all been cleared away, it was still rather cold; and it would be that way for a while. He was about to start the trot back home, when he remembered something Lyra had told him.

“You need to fly more, Sketchy, you don’t exercise those wings enough you know, and I never see you use them.”

He smirked a bit as he remembered that particular part of Lyra’s rant. Due to her pregnancy, Lyra had a tendency to be rather…cranky, or opinionated, on top of the strange cravings, random magical outbursts, and constant need for being told to rest.

Twilight had said that Unicorns got like that often when they were pregnant; after she had gotten the excitement that Lyra was pregnant in the first place out of her system, she had said the strange behavior was attributed to the fact Unicorns could use magic, or something like that. Sketch didn’t remember the details.

Sketch inhaled and unfurled his wings, spreading them out to their full length. They were rather magnificent; or so he had been told. They were about as long as he was head to tail, and the feathers danced around in the cool breeze.

He exhaled as he brought them down with a loud “Wumph” Taking off into the air like a rocket, once he had gained some altitude, he maneuvered his wings and leveled out, gliding gently about forty feet off the ground.

Normally he wasn’t a big fan of flying, but Lyra’s pregnancy-induced, constant, prodding at him about him needing to fly more, had forced flying to grow on him a bit.

He didn’t mind her nagging of course, he knew why she got naggy and would have random outbursts, and he knew that he had to put up with it because, well, it was Lyra, he would put up with just about anything for that mare. Even so, Lyra; upon realizing she was having any sort of outburst, would stop herself and try to apologize for it. Then Sketch would tell her he didn’t mind at all, and that he loved her, and then everything would go back to the norm. Until the next outburst.

That had been the majority of his life at home the past month, since she had told him she was pregnant and the baby had started to develop. It was going to be a filly; the baby. At least that is what Lyra had insisted upon, claiming “Mothers just know this sort of thing.”

Again, the thought of Lyra’s words made him grin, Lyra’s insistence on the gender of the child was actually kind of cute.

He veered left, towards his home. As he did so he noticed the Ponyville Town Hall, it had recently been re-fitted with a new roof, due to a certain grey mailmare managing to drop quite a bit of bricks through the roof and glass windows.

Why exactly Derpy had been carrying bricks, nopony had any idea.

As Sketch flew by, he noticed something in one of the windows.

There was a figure, a shadowed one, he couldn’t make out the details both because he wasn’t very close to town hall, and because there didn’t seem to be any light coming from the window. He stared hard and tried to make out the figure, but before he could really start to make out any details, this figure seemed to notice him and a second later the window shutters were closed.

Sketch flinched a bit.

“Huh…”

He shrugged and flapped his wings, gaining some speed, not really caring to dwell on what he had seen.

The weather was rather pleasant, the Celestia’s sun was just starting to set, and the air was pleasantly chilly; something Sketch enjoyed immensely, having always favored the cold.

Eventually he arrived at his home. It looked significantly different than it had when he first moved into it.

Lyra had taken it upon herself to tend to the yard; or transform it more like. She had planted neat rows of flowers in front of the house on either side of the door, the grass was cut to perfection, each blade exactly the same height, and bushes had been planted along the outside of the small whitepicket fence that encompassed the tiny yard. She was rather proud of those bushes.

As he trotted up the small path leading to the door, an angelic sound reached his ears; albeit it was muffled, due to it being on the other side of the door, but it was heavenly nonetheless.

Lyra was playing her Lyre.

Sketch smiled lazily, slowly opening the door and trying to be as quiet as possible, not wanting to interrupt Lyra’s playing. He slid his saddlebag off as he entered the house, cringing a bit when it hit the floor a tad louder than he had wanted it to.

Lyra’s music continued however, letting him know he hadn’t disturbed her. The music was emanating from the bedroom, the door was open and he could almost see the music notes floating out of the room.

He crept silently up and peeked through the bedroom door, and sure enough she was there.

She was seated on the bed, eyes closed, wearing a relaxed expression. Her horn was glowing a color reminiscent of aquamarine, and her Lyre was enveloped in her magic. Learning to play an instrument with magic, was actually about the same as learning to play it with hooves; or so Lyra had told him.

She had said magic was like an extra limb, and you learned to use it just like you learned to walk, from an early age and it took practice.

Lyra however, didn’t have to practice, at least not as much as other ponies would. Her musical abilities weren’t simply limited to her Lyre however; though it was her favorite. She was rather talented with other stringed instruments, it had been only last week, she had gotten ahold of Applejack’s acoustic guitar, and after about ten minutes of fidgeting with it, was strumming out a bouncy tune that ended up getting the whole Apple Family dancing.

She was extremely gifted.

When they had first met, Lyra was afraid that Bon Bon would get mad at her if she tried to find a job, she thought Bon Bon would think that by doing so, she would say Lyra didn’t think they had enough money. This was actually true, Bon Bon had indeed said that in the past to Lyra, and scared her out of getting a job, however Sketch had recently convinced Lyra to “put herself out there” in the way of music.

She had played music for quite a few shows around Ponyville, and after she had gotten pregnant, she was offered a job playing music at a party in Canterlot. She turned it down however, deciding it best if she didn’t do much traveling due to the baby.

“Hello, Sketchy.” She said softly, a smile growing on her face as she set down her lyre, the light blue glow around it dissipating once it touched the bed.

“How did you-“

“Because you smell.” She giggled a bit, looking over at him with her golden eyes.

“Oh…” He rubbed the back of his neck, a tad embarrassed.

She slid off the bed, trotting over to him and planting a deep kiss on his lips, smiling as she pulled away.

“How was work?” She asked, her voice undeniably happy as she slipped away from him, over to the bed.

Sketch raised a quizzical eyebrow at her mood.

“Pretty normal actually.” He leaned on the doorframe as he spoke, watching as Lyra put her instrument away in a small black case under the bed, a visible bounce in everything she did. “What’s got you in such a good mood?”

“Well!” She drew out the word, exaggerating each step she took as she strode towards him.

“Do you remember, when I told you the other day, how one of my friends from when I was in Magic School, ended up making it big as a music producer in Canterlot?” By now she was only inches away from him, she had wrapped her hooves around his waist and was gently swaying side to side with him in the doorframe.

“I do remember, you told me you hadn’t seen her in a while.” He said, playing along with Lyra’s mood.

“Well. Guess who called me today, and said that she was coming down here this weekend to discuss music possibilities that would be played in establishments aaaaallllll over Canterlot, not only getting my name into the system, but also making me an official, published musician.” She looked Sketch in the eyes as she spoke, her smile only getting bigger with each word.

What! Lyra, that’s fantastic!” Sketch almost shouted in his excitement.

“I know! Sketchy this is huge, oh my Celestia I’m so damn excited!” Lyra was now bouncing up and down with glee, in turn, forcing Sketch to bounce with her due to the fact that she was gripping him so tight; although he didn’t mind.

“Lyra you have no idea how proud I am of you.” He hugged her lovingly once she had stopped bouncing, burying his muzzle into the fur of her neck as me spoke.

“Thank you…” She hugged back, the previous state of bouncing turning into a gentle swaying side to side once again, only slower than before.

Sketch removed his muzzle from Lyra’s neck, staring into her eyes for a moment before kissing her softly, then angling his head so that their foreheads pressed together gently.

“How’s our little girl?” He said with a smile, looking down towards Lyra’s stomach, where a small; barely noticeable bump had formed.

She’s making me want strange foods, randomly need to vent out large quantities of magical energy and have sporadic emotional outbursts that I cannot seem to control.”

Sketch grinned. “So she’s doing well then.”

Lyra let out a soft giggle, her forehead still pressed against Sketch’s. “She’s doing fantastic.”

The two of them stood there silently for a while, sharing another one of the many “warm and fuzzy” moments; as Lyra liked to call them.

However, as it turned out, the moment wouldn’t last. Gears saw to that.

“You two are weird.” Came the voice of Sketch’s younger brother; who was sitting on the stairs up to his attic room, watching the scene before him with a look of disgust.

Lyra and Sketch both stifled a laugh. “I’m gonna start on dinner.” Lyra whispered softly, before pulling away from him.

“How was school, Gears?” Sketch asked, nuzzling Lyra one last time before turning to look at his brother.

“Extremely School-ish.”

“So…is that good or bad?”

“It’s School-ish.”

“Uh huh…” Sketch grinned a bit.

I thought you said Ms. Cherilee was acting…what was the word you used?” Lyra called from the kitchen.

Oh!” Gears’ ears perked up a bit. “Ms. Cherilee was acting rather abnormal today though.”

“How so?”

“Well…she was…I don’t know, it was like she didn’t know any of our names…”

“Maybe she just had a rough day or something?” Sketch suggested.

Gears shrugged.

"I have something to show you though!” Gears exclaimed before suddenly and without warning, racing up to his room, not even giving his brother time to respond.

A cacophony of noises ensued. Metal clattering, papers rustling, something rolling across the floor, then turning out to be a large metal ball as it fell down the stairs.

Then there was silence.

A moment later, Gears came running down the steps once again, carrying what appeared to be a remote control and something else Sketch couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

“Ok, ok, ok. SO! I saw this spider the other day, right?”

Gears stared eagerly at his brother, awaiting a response. When he didn’t get one he made a “hurry up” motion with his hoof.

"OH! Uh, yes right.”

“Ok so it got me thinking, I have never, ever, seen a remote controlled spider in any toy store, anywhere. SO!” Gears set the contraption down on the carpeted floor and pushed a button on the remote. “I built my own.”

The contraption on the floor, suddenly sprouted eight spindly legs from its top, each leg giving off a click as it set down on the floor.

“Gears…how did-“

Gears held up a hoof. “There’s more.” He pressed another button on his remote, and the spider-bot suddenly lept a few inches into the air. Sketch let out a yelp of surprise, but Gears didn’t seem to hear him, he was fully focused on his invention.

Sketch watched as the spider shuddered a bit and then froze up, there was a grinding noise, and then suddenly a loud “POP” as a small plume of smoke floated up out of the spider and dissipated into the air.

Gears was silent for a moment, then he let out a loud, long, exasperated groan.

“Hey, if it means anything, I thought it was pretty impressive up until it…you know…exploded…” Sketch tried to console his brother; who had buried his face in the carpeted floor.

“You’ll get it eventually, bud, it just takes time is all!” Now Lyra was trying to console Gears from the kitchen.

He sat up on his flank and dragged his front hooves down his face, letting out another groan of displeasure. “I know, I know. It’s just annoying is all…” He collected the broken invention up in his hooves, then turned towards the staircase leading up to his room.

“I’ll be upstairs working, call me when dinner’s ready, I guess.” The young colt wore an annoyed expression as he disappeared up into the attic.

“Right…”

“Should you go…I don’t know, talk to him or something?” Lyra said after a moment; sounding concerned.

Sketch shook his head as he stood up off the couch, trotting over to his wife and nuzzling her neck before responding. “He always gets like that when his inventions don’t work, he’ll be fine. It’s best to just leave him alone and let him work.”

“If you say so.” Lyra let out a soft sigh before returning to her cooking. “Can you grab me the lettuce out of the fridge, hon?” She asked as she pulled a knife out of a drawer.

Sketch gave a hum of affirmation and trotted over to the fridge; they had managed to keep it decently stocked, he dug around for a bit, then pulled out a few raw leaves of lettuce that Lyra had put in a bag.

“These?”

“Yes, thank you.” Lyra gave a smile as she levitated the bag over to the counter, taking out the lettuce and beginning to wash each leaf.

“So, tell me about this old friend of yours, the one coming down tomorrow.” He said, leaning into the fridge, searching for something to drink, then deciding against it a moment later.

“Not too much to tell really. She and I were very close when we were younger, then I guess life had different paths for us and we went our separate ways, we would send letters to each other for a while, but eventually it died off and we stopped contacting one another completely.”

Lyra paused for a moment, having finished washing the lettuce and setting it down on a cutting board, she began chopping the lettuce.

“It wasn’t that we didn’t want to contact one another, it just ended up not happening. She just happened to call me the other day, wanting to see how I was doing and all. I dunno. It’ll be really nice to see her. Music stuff aside, I’m excited to visit with her.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re excited. I hope everything works out for you.” He planted a kiss on her lips, holding it for a moment before she put a hoof to his chest and gently pushed him away; an action that earned her a pout.

“None of that, I have to get dinner ready.” She giggled a bit.

“Oh fine, if you insist.” Sketch gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before backing up a bit. “Do you need help with dinner or anything?”

Lyra shook her head “Nope, I’ve got it.”

“You sure there isn’t anything I can-“

“I’ve got it! Jeeze!” Lyra suddenly snapped, Sketch instantly recognized it as one of the pregnancy induced emotional outbursts.

“Alright, whatever you say, hon.” He smiled at her and ruffled his wings a bit.

She glared at him with annoyance for a moment. “You go sit in the living room, and stay out of the damn kitchen. Got it?”

“Got it, honey.”

He turned and went into the living room, slumping down on the couch and waiting for the inevitable.

He counted down to himself.

“3…2…1”

“Wait, no. Shit I did it again.” Lyra said from the kitchen.

There it is.

“Sketchy I didn’t mean to snap I just-“

“Its fine Lyra, don’t apologize. You can’t help it.” He smiled a bit as he opened a magazine that was on the table.

“Love you.” Lyra said from the kitchen, self-annoyance tainting her voice.

“Love you too.” He said, still smiling at his wife; although she didn’t see it.

----------@----------

Dinner was ready about an hour later, the sun had set completely and Luna’s Moon shone down over all of Equestria. Lyra had made salad and some sort of garlic bread; she had been wanting garlic all day and the garlic bread was probably more garlic than it was bread. Sketch didn’t mind however, and neither did Gears apparently, as he was ravenously devouring it.

“This is pretty good!” Sketch nodded as he took another bite of his salad.

“It’s awesome! Like this bread, my gosh.” Gears spoke through a mouthful of food.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, what would Scootaloo think?” Lyra said sweetly, knowing the mention of Gears’ recent infatuation would hit home.

Indeed it did, and Gears’ eyes widened a bit and then he was silent.

Lyra had sort of slipped into a motherly role with Gears’ she hadn’t necessarily tried to, nor had she been asked or had it ever been hinted. It just had kind of happened. Sketch didn’t mind of course, to be honest she was pretty good at playing that role and Gears rarely did anything but listen to what she had to say and try to follow her suggestions as best he could, So Sketch had taken it as a good thing and let Lyra do her thing.

“Speaking of Scootaloo…” Sketch drew out the words, deciding to tease his brother a bit.

Gears sensed the inevitable teasing and visibly braced himself, tensing up a bit and looking over at his older brother.

“How is your crush, these days?” He smirked a bit as he spoke.

“I don’t have a crush on her! She’s just my friend…and she’s doing well…we went to the park the other day to test out inventions…” Gears huffed a bit, shoving another slice of bread in his mouth.

“So it was a date then?”

Gears sputtered and coughed for a moment before managing to swallow his bread.

“N-No! It wasn’t a date!”

“Sounds like a date to me.”

“Lyra, help me out here?” Gears looked over at Lyra, who was holding back her giggles.

“Oh leave him alone Sketchy.” She ruffled Gears’ mane as she spoke. “Don’t tease him about his love life.”

“Alright, alright if you insist.” Sketch shook his head with a smile, then was just about to take another bite of salad, when Lyra spoke.

“That does sound like a date though.” She said hurriedly, letting out a small giggle.

Sketch laughed and Gears simply groaned and buried his face in his hoof.

“Hey, I think it’s great you and Scootaloo are such good friends. Honestly, not even teasing.” Sketch put a hoof on his brothers back, comforting him a bit. “I’m sorry I teased you alright?”

“Really, it’s great you two are so close and that she likes your inventions, bud.” Lyra chimed in, her voice sweet and soft.

Still looking a tad annoyed, Gears removed his face from his hoof and took an angry bite from his bread. “We were testing out her new scooter. I made the engine better so she could go faster.” He said, sounding a tad annoyed, apparently wanting to pretend that the teasing had never happened.

“Sounds like fun, you two didn’t like…get into any trouble did you?” Lyra asked.

“What? No of course not, I always make sure she’s perfectly, one hundred and one percent, safe as can be. I don’t want her to get hurt you know…”

Sketch and Lyra both looked at Gears with silly grins on their faces.

“N-not because I like her like that! I just don’t want her to get hurt.” He let out a harrumph and ignored their grins.

“Right.” Sketch nodded and withheld his smile, taking another bite of salad as he did.

-------@------

After dinner was finished, Sketch cleaned the table and left the dishes in the sink, not really feeling like doing them at that moment; despite Lyra’s disapproval on the matter.

Gears had retreated to his room as soon as he had finished dinner; as per the usual. He had wanted to work on his inventions as long as he could, knowing he couldn’t stay up too late due to the fact his noise kept the other residents of the house awake.

“Are you already asleep?” Sketch asked as he trotted into the bedroom, looking around for Lyra.

“Yes, I’m already asleep.” Her voice came from the bathroom.

“Oh alright.” He smirked a bit, trotting into the bathroom to find Lyra brushing her teeth.

He took a rag off of a hook on the wall and got it wet in the sink, using it to wash his face.

“You gonna shower?” She asked out of curiosity, removing the toothbrush from her mouth for a moment to speak.

“Eh. I’ll shower tomorrow.”

Lyra shrugged. “Fine by me.”, rinsing off the toothbrush as she spoke.

“Hey…Where’s my toothbrush…?” He looked around the sink, searching for his missing toothbrush.

“Oh, Gears took it earlier today, said he needed it for something.”

Sketch furrowed his brow. “Right.”

“Here, Sketchy.” Lyra levitated her Toothbrush over in front of him.

“This is your-“

“Honey, our mouths have been just about every place you can think of on each other’s bodies, I don’t think sharing a toothbrush is gonna hurt anypony.” She put the toothbrush in his mouth with her magic, giving him a kiss on the cheek as she trotted by, into the bedroom.

“Good point…” His cheeks were a bit red.

Sketch brushed away, the sound becoming all he heard for a while as his mind drifted to some of the more...devious...things the two had done. Upon finishing he rinsed the toothbrush and trotted into the bedroom.

“So I was thinking-Uh…Lyra?”

Lyra was lying face down on the bed, she let out an unpleasant groan into a pillow.

“Hey, you alright?” He was at her side in an instant, sitting on the bed and stroking her mane.

Letting out another groan, she sat up and buried her muzzle into his chest, allowing Sketch to see the cause of her displeasure.

She was venting magical energy

Lyra’s horn was glowing, enveloped in her magic, except the magic looked like glowing water, it flowed down from the tip of her horn like a waterfall, running over her fur and mane, only to dissipate once it had traveled a bit; leaving no trace afterwards.

“It’s alright.” Sketch wrapped his front legs around her, holding her as she vented magical energy, unable to control it. To his surprise the magic was very warm, and when it occasionally touched him it was rather pleasant, although Lyra would have said differently.

“This. Sucks. Ass.” Lyra groaned, muffled as she buried her muzzle further into his chest.

“It’ll stop soon, just push through it, ok?”

Lyra let out a pained and muffled “Mmhmm.”

A moment later, the flow of magic slowed down noticeably, then eventually it stopped completely with a soft “pop” and a tiny plume of smoke.

Lyra was still for a moment, not removing herself from Sketch’s embrace.

“You alright?”

“Yes…sorry…” Lyra sighed and rubbed her forehead, sitting up next to him.

“Don’t apologize, you can’t help it.” He kissed her on the cheek, hoping it would reiterate what he had said.

“I know…thank you.” She smiled warmly and rested her head on his shoulder. “Being a Unicorn sucks sometimes…I mean I like my magic and all but this is a pain in the ass…that one actually kinda hurt a bit.”

“I’m sorry.” He rubbed her shoulder.

“It’s worth it though.” She smiled up at him, pressing her hoof on his chest as she spoke.

“Oh?”

Lyra let out a giggle and pushed him down on his back, lying next to him on the bed.

“Yes, it’s very worth it. Because you and I are going to have a wonderful child, and when she’s older, I’ll complain to her about how much of a butthead she was in the womb.”

“Indeed.” He replied with a chuckle.

Lyra slid up on top of him, straddling him and placing a hoof on each side of his head to support herself.

“Indeed, Indeed.” She gave a playful smirk before leaning down to kiss him.

A kiss he happily received, and was just about to reward Lyra for it, when she let out a wince of pain.

“You alright?” He looked up at her, concern tainting his eyes.

“I just…ughh…my horn hurts from the magic venting…” She sighed with annoyance as she slid off of him and laid on side next to him on the bed.

“Your horn hurts huh?” A cheeky smile forming on his lips.

Lyra nodded.

“Well…” He scooted closer to her on the bed, his chest pressed against her back, feeling her warmth. “Would…this help?”

“NYAHH!” Lyra let out a half gasp half cry of surprise, her entire body shivering for a moment as he quickly dragged his tongue up her horn.

“Oh my, S-Sketch, bad, bad Sketchy.” She turned and playfully bopped his nose, her face a bright red. “N-none of that tonight…I’m way too tired…sorry…” She looked a bit disappointed in herself.

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it. I don’t mind one bit.” He smiled lovingly at her.

“I’ll make it up to you I promise…”

“Like you did on Hearthswarming Eve?”

“Hey now, I already made that one up to you, remember the barn?”

A devious grin spread across his face as he remembered the…steamy…half hour they spent in Applejack’s barn.

“Yeah, I can tell by that smile, you remember it.” She scoffed at him teasingly.

Sketch’s grin only grew wider.

“Now, if you’re done fantasizing, we need to go to bed. I have a busy day tomorrow you know, and I want you to meet this mare.” She gave him a devious lick on the neck before using her magic to turn the lights off, then crawling under the bed sheets a moment later.

“You know what I just realized?” Sketch said softly as he climbed under the blankets, cuddling up next to Lyra and wrapping his front legs around her, her warmth melding with his.

“Hmm?”

“You never told me the name of this mare you’re meeting, you said she was a big shot in Canterlot, maybe I’ve heard of her.”

“Huh…I guess I never did tell you her name, did I?”

“Nope.”

“Her name is Vinyl, Vinyl Scratch.”