Fangs

Chapters

Melancholy and Marelot
Fangs
Just a Little Touch
More Fangs
Fear
Nights
Marely Encounters
A Friend with Benefits
High Places
Alpha
Omega
New Darks
Sparks
Ignition
Flame
Calm Before the Storm
A Storm and Its Beauty
A Place To Call Home
Secrets
The Hunt Begins
Hunting Season
The Beginning of a Nightmare
An Eventful Morning for Some
An Even More Eventful Morning for Others
Blood and Beer
Old Habits
Morning Surprise
Connections
Unexpected Visitors
Packing
Cramped Places
And The Night Went On
Mission recieved
Begin
Perspective
A Quick Rest
Instincts
The End of Madness
Desk Duty
Theater of Memories
Mornings
Questions
Useless
Manipulation

Melancholy and Marelot

I had been walking away from the theater for about fifteen minutes now and found myself in a rather, shall we say, shady side of town...in fact I have never seen this side of town. Drunks littered streets and alleyways, holding themselves up on lamp posts and walls or really anything that was nearby. This included ponies...most of them drunk themselves, as I continued down the street, the feeling of being watched, once again, returned to me. I chanced a quick look over my shoulder and saw something...or rather a lack of something...the drunken masses of ponies were now much more thin, the only ones who remained were the ones who were passed out, asleep on the side walk. I decided to stop looking for a place of class and chanced walking up to a club named "The Cozy Colt" and approached the doors to be stopped by the bouncer who looked at me, his gaze going up and down my body, making me feel rather uncomfortable.

"You don't look like you really belong in here, miss." His voice was deep and raspy

"So can I not go in?" I asked rather flustered at this stallions judgment.

"I never said that miss, I am only saying that you might not like the looks on the other side of this door." He said patting the iron doors with his hoof.

"I know who you are, miss Melody, and I know what you and your types of people think about these places. Drunken ponies dancing, sweating, and even kissing with each other in a fashion even themselves would find...vulgar and inappropriate." he said in a sage tone.

The feeling of being watched dissipated and was replaced with an anger at this stallion. I couldn't believe the nerve of him...telling me that I shouldn't enter a location I wanted to enter, had I been in a more clear state of mind, I may have heeded his warnings and cut my loses, but not his time, I would go where I pleased and nopony would stop me.

"I am entering this club, sir." I said, annoyance obvious in my tone

"As you wish madam, don't say I didn't warn you." He said before stepping aside allowing me to pass into the club.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

As I entered through the metal door that the bouncer outside had stopped me at previously, I could hear the faint sound of a music that was unfamiliar to me; and I didn't much like it either. It was mainly made up of a deep sound that reminded me of a double bass, but much deeper.

I stared at the next door in front of me, It looked similar to the one at the entrance, however, it was a darker shade and covered with spray painted slogans all over it. One stood out that simply said: "Welcome" in a bright green neon font; it was painted over all the others to make it stand out even more.

I swallowed, and then walked forward and pulled the door open. I managed to open the door just in time to hear something I will never soon forget .

The music was escalating to an all time high, nearly piercing my ears and giving them the feeling they would start bleeding or explode, or maybe even both. Just as I considered leaving to get away from the ear grating sound, the sound stop abruptly.

"Here it comes," I could here some of the crowd speaking with a clear anticipation. "Here comes the drop!" He said in a loud whisper to someone.

"'Drop?'" I asked myself just before something unexpected happened.

Apparently 'dropping' is when every sound stops and a massive explosion of bass over powers every feeling and sense you have in your body. I could not only hear the 'music', I could literally feel it; shaking me to my very core and vibrating my body from my hoofs to my head.

I decided to press onward in my journey to drink and staggered my way through the crowd and over to a bar that was closed off from the dance floor. I approached the bar as a mare looked over at me before trotting over to take my order. She had a light blue coat with a dark red mane, and striking aqua blue eyes that matched her coat perfectly.

"Hey there, haven't seen you around here before." She said with a smile that practically screamed at me 'I-love-this-place!'

"Yes it is my first time coming to this..." I looked around the bar and the dance floor before returning to her, my answer decided. "...Establishment..." She merely giggled at my response.

"So what's your poison sweetie?" she asked.

"My what...my...poison?" Did this mare want to kill me? I should have listened to the bouncer; he was right. This place disliked the elite so much that would kill us in here! Well at least she is letting me pick the drink that will ki-

"To drink, honey. What do you want to drink?" She said cutting my thoughts short with a girlish giggle.

"O-oh..." I could feel my cheeks starting to flush with red at my silly mistake.

"U-um...d-do you have any wine?" I never had considered drinking wine as literal drinking, considering the small glasses they gave it out with. It never was enough to get anyone drunk.

"Of course, any specific wine your wanting, or do you want a surprise?" she questioned with a smile still on her face.

"Columbia Valley Marelot, please." I returned her smile with my own, finally getting comfortable sitting in this loud club. She brought back the wine in a glass with the bottle in hoof as well, that when the realization struck me.

"Oh, miss, I don't believe I have enough bits to pay you with." I said with a frown, I hadn't planned on going drinking after the theater and I had only brought enough to buy my way into the theater itself.

She simply smiled warmly and told me, "First drink is always on the house, and since your new and all, I'll even let the whole bottle slide too." I sighed in relief.

"Plus you're kinda cute too." My face blushed immediately as she just giggled at my display of embarrassment. She took a quick survey of the rest of the bar before turning back to me and getting comfortable.

"So what brings you to my little slice of heaven?" she asked me.

"O-oh, I just...w-wanted a drink..." I stuttered back, not wanting to reveal my true reasons behind my visit.

"And you chose this place?" She asked with a raised brow, I sighed in defeat and just as I was about to tell her everything, she jumped up and said.

"Good choice!"

I sighed again, this time with relief, as either she just saved me from discomfort or she was actually this happy that I chose this club.

"So who's your drinking buddy?" I thought about the question, trying to wrap my head around what she meant or was asking. She must have seen this cross my face as she re-asked the question in a different way.

"I mean who did you come here with? Someone as cute as you has to have a special somepony in here" this made my mind sigh with ease, I've been told that I tend to over think these types of questions, taking the literal meaning over the actual meaning, this doesn't aid in my already socially awkward communication skills.

"Oh, I came here with...uh...nopony..." I said slowly lowering my head and scuffing the ground with my hoof. I never had a special somepony, whether it was from my social awkwardness or if I wasn't attractive. She placed a comforting hoof on my shoulder and attempted to reassure me.

"Hey it's okay, I know a lot of people in here who don't have a special somepony, in fact most of them are here to try and meet one." She pointed her hoof over at a blue stallion with an orange mane dancing in the crowd on the floor.

"See him?"

I nodded.

"He hasn't had a special somepony in five something years and he is just about the happiest pony here...well him and that one." She shifted her hoof up to a booth setup in front of the dance floor.

Inside was the shape of a mare, hidden behind a tinted glass window, though I could see the outline of her body and face. She had the shaggiest looking mane I ever saw. All coloration of the mare was obscured by the tinted glass, but there was one thing that was easily visible; her smile.

It was wide and almost crazy looking, but I could tell it was out of happiness of bringing the occupants of the building joy. We went on for about fifteen minutes sharing stories, by we I mean her, about ponies and such when finally I had down my 3rd glass of Marelot and was beginning to feel slightly dizzy so I took it as the sign to stop drinking.

"Oh, I never really caught your name." The barmare said as she finished wiping down the bar's surface for the fourth time, leaving it glistening.

"Octavia" I replied. "And yours?"

"Soft Shakes." She said, elated at meeting somepony new.

"I don't suppose you know another way out of here, do you?" I asked glancing at the now massive jumble of ponies that were writhing and a heap of sweat at the still loud, and obnoxious tunes blaring out of the speakers at the front of the booth.

"Yeah, just go past the restroom sign and keep walking until you see the exit sign." She said and pointed to my left at the restroom sign.

"That should take you into the alley out back, just walk out the side that has the street in sight...it's the only direction you can go actually."

I thanked her and began my depart to the back of the club, and before I left I waved at the barmare who eagerly returned the gesture with an ecstatic wave. I trotted down the hallway, my ears were now recovering from the ordeal with the, dare I say, 'music' the club was playing. The halls were much quieter than the bar and the dance floor thanks to the turn at the bathroom. I saw the exit sign and underneath it, the door to go outside. I walked over and pushed the door, immediately getting hit by the cold, night air. I took a few seconds to relish in this wave of relief from the stuffy club behind me. I let the door fall shut as my eyes kept close, simply inhaling the fresh breeze flowing over me. I turned to the to the right and saw a sight that shook me from my state of happiness. There standing in the way of the exit was the stallion from the theater, the same fedora and suit as before, and behind him were the 'drunks' I saw sleeping on the way up to the club, altogether there were four of them. They began to advance on me, to which I instinctively backed away from, I backed into something that sent shivers down my spine. That is when I turned to see a sight the shook me to my core.

...There they were...

Fangs

Fangs...those two small protrusions were able to make my body shake with fear, it might have been the blood running down the stallions face that aided to that, or the lead pipe that was dripping with blood, or the body of a mare behind him with blood running down from both her head and two small marks in her neck. The mare lying dead was most likely another who fell victim to the same trap I was, I didn't pay much attention to the corpse as much as I did the stallion responsible for it, be it from fear that I might be another corpse laying next to her in a moment, or that the sight of the dead rather disgusted me. The smile on this stallions face didn't make this anymore easy, it was a smile, and a big one too, making those...fangs of his stand out even more.

His glasses he wore earlier were now gone, revealing two blood red eyes, I found the color rather pleasing...red, shades of it such as crimson or ruby always relaxed me and sometimes hypnotized me with its hue. I could stare at the color for hours, basking in its beauty. That's when it hit me...this stallions face...it was familiar, I remember him from somewhere...Ah! The door! This stallion was the bouncer! However, this raised so many other questions, Why did he tell me that I wouldn't fit in here? Was that a warning? Why would he warn me if it was? What was going to happen now? However as I tried to meet his gaze, I found that I couldn't, mainly because his gaze was elsewhere and his smile now evaporated, I followed the gaze back to the three stallions behind me, I wondered why he was staring them down with a frown now present on his face, slowly turning into an angry scowl, when he bellowed in his low voice:

"This one is mine you stupid lackeys!" He roared. I noticed the face of the other three stallions were now that of anger and...fear? He turned to me and must have noticed my though through the fear in my eyes accompanying the tears slowly starting to swell.

"You must be confused miss." He said in a bittersweet tone while wiping the blood from his face. "Allow me to explain, You see me and theses three idiots over here have had our eyes on you for a very long time. We even devised a system." He said in a matter-of-fact tone, rather proud of stating such an accomplishment. He then raised his hoof and pointed towards the stallion with the suit and fedora, glasses not present revealing his blood red eyes as well.

"This colt is step one...planting, I'm sure that once he passed you in the theater of yours, you felt rather...unnerved...targeted even." My eyes were wide at this revelation. How could somepony do that on purpose? He shifted his hoof to the other two behind him, the drunks on the street.

"These two are step two...feeding, they give that sense of being targeted a new level of intense, this usually makes ponies think rather rash manner." His smile now back, plastered to his face as he finally stated his role.

"I am step three...harvesting, I take that feeling and turn it against you. You wanted to get into this club back at the door up front, I could see that much, but I knew that without a proper motivation, me telling you wouldn't fit in, you probably would have left."

"Which brings us to the final step...Eating..." As he said this he lifted the bloody lead pipe with his hoof and swung it at a blinding speed towards me, plowing into the stone wall of the alleyway, shaving of a large clump of stone.

I was only able to avoid the lightning strike by a mere second thanks to me tripping over an object that wasn't important to me, my life was in danger.

Try as I might, I couldn't move. My legs had seized up, my hooves now over my face, covering the tear filled eyes of mine, as I lay on the floor shaking with fear. His lackeys had moved up and just as they were all about to, from what I can assume, suck all the blood from my body, the door opened causing all of us to turn and look at the sight.

Out of the door walked a white mare, her electric blue mane accompanied by teal highlights matted with sweat, along with a pair of over sized purple sunglasses. She was whistling a peppy tune and continued to walk, placing a rock to hold open the door just a crack with her back hoof. She was holding a large black bag which was filled with what I can assume was trash over to the dumpster. As she tossed the bag in she turned to meet us with those glasses and her tune stopped abruptly. She stared at us for a few minutes, just as we stared at her, our bodies still in the same position, me on the ground cowering under the group of four stallions.

"..."

"Bigs..." She said in a calm tone. "What in the wide world of Celestia are you doing?!" she snapped in a loud voice causing me to clamp my hoof's over my ears.

The large stallion, or "Bigs" as I now knew, and his lackeys backed off of me quickly. Bigs started scrapping the ground with his hoof not willing to meet this mare's eyes, I assumed that was to protect his blood red eyes and the identity of what he was from her.

"I swear to Celestia, every time I come out here you and your buddies over there are on top of some mare!" This mare...did she know about Bigs and his...no... she thought he was trying to have his way with me...did she?

Bigs, regained his posture along with his sunglasses to cover his eyes before facing this white mare.

"Look, Vee me and the boys were ju-"

"No, do not 'Just having some, get outta my alleyway and get outta my club you horny creep, you're fired!" she screeched at the now cowering Bigs. Bigs, this Goliath of a stallion and a "vampire" to add.

Was he scared of a mare twice, if not, three times smaller than him?

Who is she?

"Vee...please, we didn't, I-I mean we w-weren't going t-to-" he stammered before being interrupted by the mare yet again, this time in a calm...fright inducing sort of way.

"Bigs..." her voice dripped with a motherly sweet tone.

"Y-y-yeah V-vee?" he stammered, fear obvious in his stance and tone of voice

"Go." All motherly tone or sweetness in her voice was gone, leaving a cold slate of flat emotionless void in its wake. It wasn't a statement, it was a command, one that wouldn't and couldn't be ignored by Bigs, who took no hesitation in fleeing the scene with his three lackeys on his heels.

She turned to look at me, I was crumpled on the ground and still shaking with fear from the encounter, my eyes were still wet from the encounter with Bigs and his lackeys. She walked over to me slowly and I covered my eyes yet again: If this mare alone could scare off those four stallions without laying a hoof on them, I was scared down to my very essence over what she could do to me with a simple touch. Unfortunately I didn't have time to contemplate all of the monstrous things that her touch could do to me...because she was already down on the ground, sitting on her haunches, with a hoof patting me on the back gently.

"Hey...you alright?" She asked with a genuine tone of concern in her voice.

All I could do was look up at her, she must have seen those tears in my eyes because she took me into a hug and stroked my mane while whispering reassurances in my ear. Normally I would shove anypony away from me, save for my parents, who tried to comfort me. But with her, be it from fear of what would happen if I did push her or actual comfort from her embrace, I didn't pull away. We sat like this for who knows how long until I was calm again. She stood up and motioned for me to follow her back to the club, I did so immediately. Though after all this I still had one question...

Who was this mare?

Author's Note

Hey guys, my power was out yesterday...pretty sucky way to spend my birthday, but here you guys go, the next chapter!
Comments are welcomed and criticism is encouraged!

(Oh yeah, I realize this one is short but it just felt right to end it there)

Just a Little Touch

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Bigs...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

I ran out of the ally with those three numb-skulls following close behind me. This was bad, I just lost my position at the club with my target, the master won't be happy with this. I never understood why he was so obsessed with that mare, Vinyl Scratch, I knew she was powerful, as did he, but it seemed that she didn't know it herself. While in my train of thought one of the lackeys piped up, breaking it.

"Hey uh, boss?" He questioned with a trembling voice, what a weakling.

"What?" I responded in a harsh tone.

"What are we going to tell...him?" This question had an answer I wanted to know as well. I kept my cool, I knew that if I showed fear they would think me weak. I decided to measure out my options before responding. On one hoof, If we didn't tell him about this, he would find out later and we would be in HUGE trouble. On the other, if we told him now, he would undoubtedly be mad but not nearly as mad if we hid it from him.

"Exactly what happened." I decided as I ran faster, urging them on with me.

A dark castle sat on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, the outer castle wall sat nearly 60 feet high, made of a black obsidian toned stone material. No torches or any source of light was present, making the castle blend in with the black of night, the tip of the central tower lit by the large moon behind it. The castle itself was made of the same material of the walls around it. Outside the wall sat two guardponies, clad in a black steel, their eye's hid by a metal helmet that left their mouths visible graced with a stoic expression. I approached the castle with my lackeys right behind me. We walked up to the two guards who made no motion to move. I flashed my teeth and eyes and they moved out of the way, remaining emotionless, but strong. I went past them towards the main castle, my lackeys following me at a much more reluctant pace, as we entered the castle I was greeted by the familiar sight of a barely lit row of torches leading up to a throne where my master sat with his head against his hoof as he leaned to the side in his chair. On opposite sides of him sat two fountains, each sprouting a stream of blood accompanied by his two most loyal advisers who looked up at me, then went back to drinking. I slowly approached and waited patiently, I never speak without his permission, for about two minutes before he spoke up.

"Big Blocker..." he hissed in a low tone. "...speak..."

"Master, my position was compromised..." I trembled, my eyes glued to the floor, unable to keep his gaze.

"...why..." questioned the darkness of my master.

"She saw me about to feed on a mare in the back of the club, Master..." By now I was accompanied by my lackeys, who were bowed down before my master.

"...who was the target..." the voice was calm, much like Vinyl's before she screamed at me...it was frightening...

"Octavia Philharmonica Melody, my Master"

"Hmmm...you have served your purpose, Bigs...Good Job..." What...what is that supposed to mean?

"I have a new assignment for you..." his voice remained as calm as always.

"Anything, master." I responded with no hesitation.

"...Go...keep a close watch on both of them and report back to me in one month...I wish to know more about them..." I turned and quickly made my way for the door, this is the man that I feared the most in the world, he was above the Wrath of the Princesses and Discord...the Princesses will punish, Discord will torture, He will kill...

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I sat at the bar with Shakes standing in front of me mixing some type of ungodly drink for the mare beside me, I assumed it was for her, the smell burned my nose even from where It was across the table. Shakes had given me back my Marelot once we sat down, however the mare beside me hadn't ordered the drink in question, It smelled of rat poison and vinegar. I had no clue in Equestria as to why the mare needed a drink of 'this' caliber. Maybe she is just as shaken by the event as I was. Who knows...Maybe I should try some conversation with her...

"...Um, I suppose I should thank you for saving me back there, Miss..."

...

"Um...Miss...?" I looked over at her to find the mare matted in sweat and panting fairly heavy, even if she just yelled at some bouncer and his lackeys, she seemed to do it with ease from my view point.

"Scratch, her name is Vinyl Scratch." piped Shakes from behind the counter.

"Is Miss Scratch okay?" I asked with genuine concern, this mare had saved me, I didn't want her to suffer for me.

"Yeah, she always gets this way after she sees blood. I have to fix this poison of a drink just to get her out of...well...that." She lifted herself up from the counter and pointed at Vinyl who was slightly shaking and now panting with sweat sliding down her body. I got up from my seat and went over to lay a hoof on her shoulder until Shakes stopped me.

"Don't!" I stopped in my tracks and looked over at Shakes who had a hoof held out.

"Trust me, you don't want to touch her right now." I heeded the warning and sat back down.

What's wrong with her? I've never seen anyone react this way about blood.

"Well...is there anything I can do to help?" I asked. The least I could do was repay Miss Scratch for the service she did for me.

"Yeah, she can't get home on her own when she is like this, so we need to find some way to get her to a place where she can rest." I gladly offered my home for her to rest at, Shakes agreed but said that they need a way to get her to my apartment without touching her. Seeing as how Miss Scratch was the only unicorn here, we were now back to square one.

"Do you know any unicorns that could stop by?" She asked me.

"No, I'm afraid I don't." I never had any close unicorn friends, just earth-ponies really, I never got along with them well, most of them gloated around me with the fact that they had magic and how much better they were with it than me.

"Well, I have a few that might still be up by now. I'll go find them and bring them back here, you stay with Vinyl." I nodded and she headed out to find whoever might be willing to help me and Vinyl get back to my place, leaving me with a sweating and panting Vinyl and an unfinished batch of rat poison.

It was about thirty minutes after Shakes left that Vinyl groaned and fell out of her chair and onto the floor with a painful thump. I looked at her with concern and trotted over to her to help but then remembered what Shakes said about touching her when she was 'like this'. I watched her lay on the floor, now practically heaving in and out with what seemed to be a waterfall of sweat pouring off her. She kept groaning until I couldn't take it anymore, I walked over to her and placed a hoof gently on her torso, this caused her to flinch and then let out a long moan. I backed away quickly, fearing that I had hurt her. but then turned my attention to something else. Her body had been so very warm, hot even, when I felt her.

What the heck is wrong with he-

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening and Shakes and another mare rushing in. Shakes looked at the sight and turned to me.

"What happened?" She asked with a serious tone of voice I hadn't heard from her.

"S-she fell out of the chair." I stammered, quickly pointing at the stool.

"Did you touch her?" She questioned soon after picking the stool back off the floor.

"N-n-no" I sputtered. She gave me a serious glance before turning to the other mare and nodding. The unicorn picked Vinyl off the floor and carried her out the doors, careful not to bump her into anything. Shakes turned to me.

"Go with her, tell her where you live and she will make sure that you and Vinyl get there." She said before turning and adding something else in a whisper like tone I could barely hear.

"Never, touch her when she is like that..." She walked back into the bar area and started rummaging. I decided not to waste time and went outside with the other mare and Miss Scratch. She greeted me with a nod before asking.

"Where do you live?" I told her the address and she told me to stay still before charging up her horn and teleporting us to the outside of my apartment building, I stumbled a bit after the flash. I had never used this method of transportation before, frankly I didn't like it, It made me nauseous. As we started into the lobby she decided to ask me a few questions.

"So, how do you know Vinyl?" the question didn't make me nervous, but my answer did. I'll just be curt with her.

"I met her tonight."

"Oh, so how did you guys meet?" Oh no...maybe I could...

"Well she helped me out...a lot." We entered the elevator and I pressed the button for my floor. 5.

"Oh? Mind if I ask with what?" Man, this mare was persistent, well I guess I should just spill it to her.

"She saved me from a group of stallions that tried...doing things...with me..." I decided to leave out the vampire part and twist the truth just a little, to stop her questioning.

"Oh..." The rest of the trip up passed in a hazy cloud of awkward, it didn't last long, thank Celestia, as the elevators were fairly quick in my apartment. We walked out and over to my door, 57. I stood up on my hind legs and got the key from atop the door frame and unlocked the entrance. My house was big apartment standards, It had three rooms, A living room and kitchen combo, a bedroom, and a bathroom.

"Where do you want her?"

"You can put her in the my room. It's the door at the end of the hallway over there." She followed the hallway and opened the door to put Vinyl in my bed while I prepped the couch for me to sleep in. As I finished prepping the couch she came back in and excused herself from the room, telling me if I need anything to call Shakes. I said my goodbyes and settled into the couch, putting a blanket over my body as I curled into the soft pillow.

Little did I know this night was far from over for me...

Author's Note

Let me know what you guys think, and if you have any ideas for future chapters, I'll be glad to hear them. I have it kinda planned out, but I'm always open to new ideas from my readers.

More Fangs

It started as a constant thumping, it was quiet at first and didn't wake me as it simply blended into my dream of symphonies, joining with the sound of drums. Then it grew a little louder, becoming more similar to the sound of someone knocking wood, I remained asleep but my dream was slowly fading.

The knocking grew louder and louder until it was a constant banging of wood. My eyes shot open, my breathing heavy, as I propped myself up to look over the back of the couch towards the door...the banging had stopped. I slowly dragged myself off the couch and trotted to the door, opened it, and stuck my head out to look both ways. Empty... I turned and headed back into my apartment, closing the door behind me when one more thump struck out in the silent room.

"What was that?" I muttered silently to myself as I stopped moving, hoping the sound would come again so I could get a better guess of its location.

I waited for a few moments...Nothing. I was about to give up and go back to sleep when one last thump came from down my bedroom hallway. As I looked over to find the hall empty I began to wander towards the origin of the sound, trying to think of what could cause the sound and that's when the answer became clear.

Vinyl.

She was the only one in the apartment that could be making the noise, I realize that my answer was a bit rash as just a while earlier she could barely hold herself up. In the end I decided to trot over to the couch and attempt to get back to sleep. That's when I heard a low moan come from the same hallway as the thumping.

I got up, once more, and headed back towards the bedroom door. When I finally reached the door I twisted the knob to find something rather strange...It was locked. I hadn't locked the door, I hadn't even known you could lock the door, I gave another firm twist to be sure it was in fact locked when another thump came from the room in front of me. Now I knew it was Miss Scratch causing the thumping and moaning. I leaned in towards the door and put my ear up against the wood to see if she was doing anything inside the room such as looking for a way out.

...

"Octavia..."

I jerked my head away from the door and let out a little yelp as a fell back onto my rump. Her voice was quite and almost...desperate sounding? I didn't understand what was happening but it scared me, I quickly got onto my hoofs and paced quickly, and quietly, back to the couch.

I could have sworn I heard her say "Don't go...please..." as I trotted away from the door.

I paused for a brief moment when I heard it, but quickly decided to get away. My mind summoned up images of what she looked like inside the door, and they weren't exactly...pleasant in the least, some of them even made me feel slightly sad.

Another thing that popped up into my mind was, 'How is that door even locked?' and 'Who locked it?', but I was more worried about Miss Scratch than as to why the door was locked.

Then I remembered what that unicorn told me, 'If you ever need anything, call Shakes.', I walked over to the door, prepared to leave, and I looked back in the direction of the hallway where Miss Scratch was.

I hope she's okay.

I turned and walked over to the elevator, ready to find Shakes.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

It was still dark when I exited the door of my apartment building, I tried thinking of where Shakes might be at this hour. The only place I could think to try was The Cozy Colt which was quite a ways away, in the dark of night, with nopony around to hear you scream. I shook the thoughts from my head and headed towards the theater I went to before I found the Cozy Colt.

Believe it or not, Canterlot is just about the most scariest place in Equestria at night, stone sidewalks so you hoofs echo with every step, the occasional alleyway which is covered in blackness, not to mention the dull lamps overhead that will flicker occasionally. Lucky for me, Luna's moon was big and bright tonight so It provided me with enough light to navigate the abandoned streets. I crossed an intersection and then took a left, the theater is about 10 minutes away from here.

While walking down the long straight street I took some time to think about what had happened in just tonight alone.

I went to my first bar, where I met a very friendly mare, and then was nearly sucked to nothingness by vamponies, which I now was a full believer in, rescued by a white mare, who could scare off four grown stallion vamponies with just her voice, received the first physical touch in years from said mare, then took said mare into my own apartment, and listened to her whimper and moan, only to leave her in search of a barmare, whose location I had no clue of where to start, boy what a host I was.

All in all it was pretty eventful night for me. I looked up to see I was passing the theater and turned my head up the street to see the bar, and Shakes walking out of it.

"Shakes!" I yelled at her. She turned to see me, face full of surprise, and then put on a rather worried look, probably from my rather disheveled look.

"Octavia, are you all right? You look kinda...on edge..." Her tone was of concern and almost sympathy.

"Yes, I'm fine, but I don't think Miss Scratch is doing all that well." Her face turned from worry to full blown panic for a fraction of a second and then back to an intense look of worry.

"What happened?"

After I told her the entire story of what I had done after the thumping woke me up her face was now back to full blown panic. She rushed back into the bar and started feverishly looking for something, then she came back with saddlebags, a silver drink shaker and a glass, the shaker smelled horrible and started to burn my nose.

"I forgot to give her the drink..." Her voice was of both panic and...fear?

"Where do you live?"

After I told her the address she tucked the drinking materials into her saddlebags and rushed off into the direction of my apartment, I decided, with my better judgment, to follow her...and maybe ask a few questions about Miss Scratch's odd behavior.

"Shakes..." She remained silent, still running at top speed.

"Shakes, What's wrong with Vinyl?" This time she answered me, however I didn't much like the answer she gave me.

"Nothing." I knew she just told me a lie, something was obviously wrong with the guest in my house and I wanted to know.

"Are you sure? She seemed to be acting quite strange back when we were at th-" She cut me short.

"Octavia, please, for now, no more questions." Her tone was almost pleading so I obliged to the request.

I wasn't soon after that that she took a sharp left turn, turning onto the wrong street. I spoke up and told her so, however she simply said.

"Were not going there just yet."

She pushed onward into the cold, dark night, traveling on a street I wasn't familiar with. After awhile the scenery had change slightly from the shady business district to a rather suburban area, she turned into the walk way of a large wooden house. She approached the door and gave a solid three knocks. The house wasn't that special, It had a few plants following the walkway up to the door, a stone porch with columns to match the wooden exterior. The door soon opened and out stepped the unicorn from earlier, she looked at Shakes and then at me with a look of shock and rising panic. Shakes nodded and gestured for her to come with us, she nodded back and soon we were running towards my apartment yet again. Soon we arrived at my apartment building and pushed into the lobby, ignoring the odd stare the desk mare gave us. After we all but fell into the elevator and punched the button we finally had a chance to breathe.

"Um, Shakes?" I was rather nervous about asking another question since our agreement.

"Yes?" Good I could ask now.

"What is going on?" Her face turned rather dark by her standards and she simply said.

"I hope you don't have to know that." I didn't quite understand the answer, nor the meaning, but decided not to press my luck with Shakes at a time like this. Soon the elevator door dinged and we all stepped out, trotting at much more comfortable pace. Once we got back to my door I unlocked it and we all piled in, Shakes looked at me with expectation and I understood why. I led them back to my bedroom and told them about the locked door. Shakes made no move to attempt to open it and instead said something that surprised me.

"Sister, if you would." The unicorn mare beside me charged her horn and gently tapped it on the door knob, causing it to spark and then glow. As the glow dissipated, the unicorn spoke up.

"All done, sis." So this unicorn mare was Shakes sister? Hm, I would have never guessed that, Shakes was an earthpony and the mare was a unicorn. It was always fairly odd for two different races of ponies to be related in such a way, that and their coloration was completely different, but then again, I didn't know what their parents looked like.

Shakes reached out to open the door, however, she hesitated a bit and I swore I heard her gulp. She slowly twisted the knob and pulled the door open so slow it creaked, causing her to stop abruptly. She began again, this time a bit quicker to avoid the creaks of the door.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the door was wide open and the inside was encased in darkness. The unicorn stepped forward and lit her horn with a pale green haze, lighting the room up so we could see the outlines of the furniture. We all scanned the room before all of our eyes landed on a crumpled white figure on the ground.

"M-miss Sc-scratch?" All eyes shifted landed on me, including Vinyl's which were still hidden behind her shades. I turned to see both mares beside me looking at me with three emotions. Anger, annoyance, and the most frightening of all...panic.

Vinyl slowly got up off her position on the floor and began to trudge over to all three of us. We quickly started towards the exit, Shakes leaving first with her sister right behind her. However, as her sister turned away, all of the light vanished, leaving me encased in darkness. Of course, being the lucky mare I am, I tripped over an unknown object and landed with a thud. The two sisters looked back at me through the door way and started to re-enter, fear obvious in both their faces, however, they were quickly cut off as the door slammed shut with a blue aura.

I slowly turned back to see Vinyl with a growing smile on her face, and for the second time that night...

I saw fangs...

Author's Note

Here you guys go, I tried to go over this one and smooth out the kinks before uploading it this time. Tell me what you think.

Fear

She walked over to me slowly, her smile unnerving enough to make my heart rate spike, causing me to back up into the door with a thump. I could hear Shakes and her sister pounding at the door with their hooves as well as them yelling a few things too. I didn't pay much to it, all of my attention was on the mare in front of me. By now my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, giving me a more detailed look at my room.

It was a mess, music books scattered across the floor, a shelf had been knocked over, my lamp was busted, and many other objects were spaced across the room, all but one. My cello was untouched, which honestly surprised me for a second considering the condition of the room around me.

Why wouldn't she wreck that? I thought to myself. Before I could come up with an answer my train of thought was interrupted by the exhale of the mare now sitting in front of me, starring at me with those purple lenses.

"Glad you could join me...Octavia..." She said in sultry tone of voice as she moved her head close to my neck and opened her mouth, exhaling a hot breath down onto me that sent shivers down my spine. I was frozen now, I couldn't move, my legs had seized up like they had with Bigs. She gave my neck a small kiss, causing me to flinch slightly, before she backed up and widened her mouth.

"This won't hurt...a bit..." She cooed at me, I shut my eyes tight and prepared for her to bite down hard and tear me limb from limb.

...

Her head slowly bumped into my shoulder and her entire body relaxed as it fell into mine.

...

"U-um...M-miss S-scratch?" I stuttered as her head drooped slightly until it was now pressing firmly in my shoulder.

...

The light sound of snoring began to fill the room.

...Did...did she just...fall asleep?... I thought to myself as her hind leg twitched in the most adorable fashion I had ever seen before.

I sat there for a few minutes in silence, I had no idea what to do... here I was, with a vampire laying on me, sleeping, what could I do? The door behind me opened suddenly, causing me and Miss Scratch to fall out into the hallway. This also caused Miss Scratch to grip around me in a light hug and press her snout into my shoulder harder. I looked up to see both Shakes and her sister about to explode with amusement as I simply sighed.

"A little help please?" I asked after a few more minutes of laying. Believe it or not, but that mares fur was the softest and warmest thing I had ever felt. I felt a pinch of sadness after Shakes's sister lifted her off me with her magic and carried her into the living room, leaving me alone to face a very amused looking Shakes.

"What?" I questioned up to her with a raised brow from my still sprawled out position

"Oh, nothing?" she replied in a sing song voice with a growing smile that agitated me quite a bit, resulting in me replying to her with a huff.

"You know, Octavia..." I braced for impact of the oncoming 'If-you-wanted-to-get-in-bed-with-her' joke that I was brilliantly set up for.

"...In all of Vinyl's time working at my 'soon-to-be' bar" She said that part with pride. "she has never touched a single pony, much less fell asleep on them, and if what she told me is true she barely has any physical contact with anypony at all."

Now that really took me off guard, not only because she had hugged me in the alleyway back at the bar when Bigs pounced me for who knows how long, but also because it reminded me of somepony in particular...me.

"R-really?" I asked at her in a awe-struck tone, gazing at her like a school filly who was just offered the last cookie in the cookie jar.

"Yep!" She said, rather proud of the fact for a reason unknown to me.

"So I gotta ask, Octavia...what did she feel like?" Her tone was of curiosity and genuine interest, I must have failed to see the sarcasm as I felt my face rapidly start to heat up.

"W-well...sh-she was v-very...s-soft..." I stuttered out in embarrassment while Shakes simply stared at me with wide eyes.

...

"W-what?" I spoke up to her, getting off the ground.

"N-nothing, I just wasn't actually expecting you to answer that one..." This made my blush grow even brighter.

"O-oh." I stuttered, we stood there in an awkward silence for awhile until, thank Celestia, I had an idea.

"You said you're the 'soon-to-be' owner of the bar, right?" I asked, changing subjects skillfully.

"Yep!" I could tell she too, was relieved in my genius subject change.

"Who might the owner be now then?" Hopefully, I could keep this running until her sister got back.

"Vinyl..."

"Oh..." Well, there goes my plan. We turned to see Shakes sister trotting over, thank Celestia.

"Did I miss anything, Vinyl was being difficult and kept muttering about something..." she said before turning to the both of us. Shakes was the first to speak out.

"Nope, nothing here, wait, you said Vinyl was muttering about something?" She said this rather quickly, eager to change topics, I understood why so I went along with it hoping to get off the subject of me and Miss Scratch.

"Yes, do tell!" I exclaimed. Shakes sister shrugged at my enthusiasm.

"Something about a pillow I think."

Horse apples, that's not a very broad topic.

"...Oh..." Me and Shakes said simultaneously as we felt the haze of awkward silence begin to resettle, until Shakes perked up for a second before swinging her hoof around her sisters shoulder.

"Well, Octavia... This is my older sister, Soft Sweeps, but we just call her Sweeps, she is the janitor at the bar." Great, a second, older version of Shakes...wait...she is the janitor? Why wasn't she at the club?

"If she is the janitor, why was she not at the bar tonight?" I watched as Shakes smile turned sheepish and Sweeps's expression turned flat and un-amused as she faced her sister.

"It was my day off." Sweeps said, making sure to put emphasis on the 'was' part, causing Shakes sheepish look to grow.

"Yeaaahhh...sorry 'bout that sis." She piped, resulting in an overly exaggerated eye roll from Sweeps. These two sure did get along well, didn't they.

"Well..." I piped up, making them both shift their gaze to me. " I don't mean to be rude but I am very tired, I should hope that you two are as well." They both nodded lazily and took the hint.

"Yeah were going Octavia, if you have any more troubles with Vinyl, give her this." She pulled out the metal drink shaker and glass and handed it to me.

"Give her half a glass and if that doesn't work, come get me from Sweeps house." She said as her and Sweeps headed for the door. After the door shut I slumped downwards onto the floor, sighing heavily before landing on the wooden floor with a thump.

I reached up and massaged my temples with my hooves.

In this night alone I've had more action and surprise than what is needed for my entire lifetime.

I was interrupted by the sound of another muffled thump, I looked over to see that Miss Scratch had fallen off of the couch and landed on the carpet. She instantly curled into a ball, similar to a dog, and started shivering. I sighed again, for what must have been the fifteenth time in the last hour alone, before getting up and trotting to my kitchen. I rummaged through a cabinet before pulling out a flashlight with my mouth and flipping it on with my teeth. I then trotted back to the hallway and into my bedroom.

Boy, she sure did wreck this place, books were scattered, my lamp was broken, papers were everywhere, even my nightstand had been flipped over, I returned my gaze to an object from earlier, my cello. It was untouched, even the objects around it were untouched.

Why would this be untouched, when everything else is trashed? I shrugged before trotting over to my wrecked bed and pulling the comforter off and laying it on my back.

I will ask Miss Scratch tomorrow, I guess.

I exited my bedroom and walked back to the kitchen, put up the flashlight, then made my way to the still curled white mare, shivering like a filly with an adorably scrunched face. I smiled at the sight before tossing the blanket over her body. She instantly wrapped herself in it before un-scrunching her face and putting on a small smile.

...She sure is an interesting mare... I thought to myself before heading back to my bedroom and collapsing into my bed. Really interesting... I thought as I dozed into a comatose of sleep.

Author's Note

Yep, here we are. I tried writing the first paragraph all serious at first, but after re-reading it, it sounded like I was trying to hard, kinda like chapter one (:D). So I decided to write it like this...That chapter title must have been misleading for some of you...

Nights

"Miss Scratch, please, stop hopping around!" I said for the third time as my, now long term, house guest bounced around the couch I was lying on.

"Please stop calling me 'Miss Scratch', my name is Vinyl!" She said back for the third time.

I sighed and looked over to her with exhausted eyes.

"Please Vinyl, just go to sleep." I complained as she gasped.

"Come on, Octi! The night time is the best time!" She said with glee as she hopped up and down.

"Well I usually use the night time for...um...sleeping!" I spat at her a bit more harsher than necessary. She bounded over the couch and landed right beside me, causing me to bounce up, getting about a second of air time.

"Alright Octi, let's make a deal!" I sighed heavily when I heard this, for knowing me for only about a day, she was talking to me like she had known me all her life.

"If I can show you a good time tonight, I will stop hopping and try to go to sleep." She continued, I paused, this was clearly a trap just to get me to go out into the night with her, however, I was at the point where I was willing to try anything.

"And if you don't show me a good time?"

"I was getting there..." She continued. "If you do, for some reason, not have a good time out on the streets with me. You can make me come with you on one occasion, only one!" Now that I might be willing to accept, even if I did have a good time, I could still tell her I didn't! That way, next time I have a social event that I need to go to with no one to come with me, I could just take her! It was both getting back at her, and getting me to look less awkward and anti-social at one of my friends social gatherings! However, I might have to make her look more...presentable...for such an event like that, oh well, I could work with that.

"Okay, Vinyl, I will accept your...deal..." Her smile, somehow, widened as she ,somehow, bounced off the couch and hopped around faster than before as I trudged off to my bedroom to fetch my saddlebags and purse. I flipped the light in the hallway and opened the door to my bedroom, I had tidied up the room about two hours ago and yet I still hadn't asked my energetic house guest about my cello. I fetched my saddlebags off the ground and picked my purse up with my mouth and walked back into the living room after turning off the lights. As I entered the living room I was placing my purse in my saddlebags until a hoof snatched it out of my mouth, I turned to see Miss Scratch's lenses and a smile on her face.

"No no no Octi, this is on me!" She said in a sarcastically scolding tone, I raised a brow and opened my mouth to protest to her but she had a hoof in my mouth before I could do so...ew...

"No, this is on me, you've given me a home, the least I can give you is a some fun." Playfulness was still present , but was accompanied with a tone of...respect?...praise?...something between the two? I didn't know and I decided not to protest anymore and let her lead me out into the cold night for Celestia knows what, as we were walking out of the apartment and towards the elevator she brought up a topic that relatively surprised me.

"So Octi, I gotta ask, why did you stop me?" Her tone was something that also surprised me, it was serious and anxious for a honest answer.

"In honesty, Vinyl..." I brought a light smirk to my face. "I think we have more in common than you think..." My gaze was distant, but I could see her look over at me and match my smirk and gaze.

"You'll have to explain that to me later 'cause I have no idea what that means..." I sighed deeply, losing my gaze, smirk, and feeling of pride, causing her smile to only widen.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"...Vinyl...I-I am starting to regret this..." I stammered as we waited outside a shady looking building , dim lights could be seen past the heavily tinted windows, the building was made of a faded brick and cement covering, seemingly random, locations on the building.

"Oh come on Octi! Don't be a such a buzz-kill!" She laughed lightly. I stared up at the building and gulped nervously as I was tugged onward, out of our place in line.

"Vinyl! What are you doing! We will lose our spot!" I blurted. Honestly, I could care less about the place in line, but what I didn't like was the looks of aggravation the people in line gave us as we marched up to the bouncer, an intimidating buff Pegasus with the most massive muscles I had seen.

"Waiting is for squares!" she yelled as she dragged me up to the doors with pure elation. We reached the doors and the massive pegasus made no gesture to move, that was until Vinyl trotted up to him and leaned into his ear and whispered something that I couldn't hear. I could tell it was important from the way his eyes went wide, once Vinyl leaned away from him he scrambled to pull two VIP passes out from somewhere under his wings and opened the door for us. As I walked into the dimly light hallway the first thing I noticed were the way ponies were dressed. Neon glow sticks around their hooves, glow-in-the dark lipstick and eye-liner, I felt so out of place in this environment that I actually wanted to leave, there was only two things that kept me there: My pride, and my deal with Vinyl. She tugged me along into the main room of the building, a large area with a dance floor the size of a small house with laser lights shooting down in tune with the music accompanied by a pit of ponies writhing with each other. To the left was one of the longest bars I had ever seen, It must have stretched for at-least 30 meters, maybe more. I turned to see Vinyl starring at me with an expectant smile.

"...What?" I asked with the most un-amused looks I could muster.

"Where do you want to start!" she said with energy evident in her voice and posture.

"U-um I r-really think w-w should ge-" Before I could finish my suggestion to leave she grasped my hoof and said:

"Get wasted?! I was gonna say that too!" She exclaimed as she dragged me to the bar. Oh Celestia give me strength...

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I sat and watched the bar stallion tip, flip and pour a variety of drinks with multi colored bottles, each with a strangely unique smell. Every once and awhile he would flip the bottle up and catch it with his hoof adding another mix into the brew that Vinyl had ordered, much to my disapproval, for me and her. He placed the mixer in front of us with a cocky smile and whipped out two mugs.

"Enjoy ladies." he said with a flash of a smile as he poured the neon blue liquid into the two mugs

I leaned in and took a whiff of the concoction in front of me and recoiled from the burning smell of alcohol coming from the mug.

"V-vinyl maybe I should drink something a bit less...um...deadly..." I said with a tone of genuine fear over what the drink could do to me.

"Octi...how can you have a good time when all you do is avoid what's fun!" Vinyl said with a small hint of agitation just before she began to chug the mug. I sighed and picked up the mug with my hoof and tipped it slowly towards my lips, much like how one would drink a hot cup of tea. As soon as the liquid hit my lips I tried to recoil from the taste, only to find a hoof was on my back and that some unknown force was tipping it higher, pouring it into my mouth. The smell of the inside of the mug was enough to cause my nose to burn and senses to dull just enough to not cough and spill the drink everywhere. As I downed the last few drops of the drink I felt the hooves release their grasp on me and the mug. I quickly placed the mug down and turned to Vinyl, ready to yell at her.

"Why did you do that!" I yelled at her over the music.

"I-I j-just wanted you to loosen up a b-bit. I-I didn't-...sorry..." She had a small frown on her face with her hoof scratching the back of her head. I sighed deeply and relaxed a bit.

"Its fine...just let me drink it myself next time, okay?" she perked up and nodded her head quickly like a filly.

"Well...about three more of those and we can finally go dancing!" she said cheerily as she pointed towards the pit of writhing ponies. My eyes went wide.

"T-t-three?" I said with another tone of genuine fear of the drink, one had already made me dizzy and light headed, I was sure that three would kill me...literally...

"O-or n-not....you know....t-that's cool too." She said with a sheepish smile as she went back to scratching the back of her head. I sighed heavily before putting on a small smirk.

"Maybe..." I gulped on the inside " Maybe two could...'loosen me up'..." I said with trembling confidence.

"That's the spirit, Octi! Vinyl cheered with genuine praise for my actions, which in all honesty, helped a little.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I sat and watched the bar stallion tip, flip and pour the memorized variety of drinks with multi colored bottles, each with a familiar smell. Every four spins he would flip the bottle up and catch it with his hoof adding another mix into the "Jerry" that Vinyl had ordered for me, much to her approval, and she had ordered her own concoction. He placed the mixer in front of us with an annoyed smile and whipped out two more mugs.

"Enjoy ladies..." He grumbled after adding a single drop of a new bottle into my mug. Me and Vinyl turned to each-other with a knowing smile and began chugging and the end of make believe count down. Vinyl, being far more use to the art of drinking than me, finished first with a sigh, I finished the same way a few seconds later.

"Ready to dance, Octi!" Vinyl asked me with a smile.

"D-dance? Vinyl, I really think I should just res-" I was interrupted as she grasped my hoof and dragged me to the dance floor saying:

"Nonsense!"

I found that the dancing in the mob of ponies had three distinct styles, one was excessive jumping, another was just rubbing your body against whoever is closest to you, and the last one was a complex form of robot-like dancing. I ended up joining halfway between the 'Jumpers' and the 'Rubbers', the rubbing was unintentional and was actually me just trying to hold myself up against Vinyl. The 'rave' as I soon found out, went on for about one hour until, to my surprise, Vinyl suggested we go, I, however, only got a few feet out of the mob until I collapsed onto the floor, earning a hearty laugh from Vinyl. After wiping the tear from her eye, Vinyl lifted me onto her back with her hoofs and carried me out.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

We burst through the doors, my body slumped over on somepony's back and my breath heavy and short, panting even, I was beginning to think there was more alcohol in my body than there was blood. Who was carrying me again? Some mare with a name like a type of record?

"V~Vinyl?" I called out unsure of who was there and what their name was, whoever they were, they were soft and warm, like big teddy bear.

"How are you my little drunkie?" She cooed to me, seemingly not fazed by the amount of alcohol she had consumed inside the bar. I cracked a goofy smile at the sound of my friend's voice.

"Doin' great, pal." I slurred to her.

"Man, drunk Octi is friendly Octi, glad to see you stopped with the "Miss Scratch" thing." she responded, lightly laughing at her own joke. She took a turn onto the street and walked down it for about five minutes, jeez my head hurts.

"Vinnie, be a dear and get me something for this head-ache will you?" She visibly tensed at the name 'Vinnie', seems I know her weakness now. She levitated a small tablet in her magic up to my mouth which I ate eagerly, I instantly felt my headache lessen slightly.

"Thank you, 'Vinnie'." I teased to her, getting off her back and onto the now grassy ground, confused, I looked around and raised a brow.

"Where are we going Vinyl?" I asked, the mare in question just smiled and said:

"It's a secret. Nice and quiet, too..." Her tone was either sultry or sarcastically sultry, I couldn't have told even if I wasn't buzzed off my flank.

"Quiet sounds good..." I mumbled in a thankful tone.

We arrived at a lone opening in the forest with thick trees surrounding us in a circle, save for an opening in-front of us that was a cliff face, overlooking the Ever-free Forest and the small town of Ponyville. I had always wanted to retire there or even just live there during my career, it was a quiet town, and a strange one, but it just seemed so...cozy. We walked over towards the overlook and I took a seat on my haunches, gazing. My head felt just a bit light and dizzy, I simply blew it off as the alcohol.

"The view is beautiful up here Vinyl..." I said as I gazed out into the stunning view, the moon dimly lighting the horizon. It felt easy on my eyes, it even made them feel heavy just from looking at the moon, Luna's moon, the Princess of Dreams...of sleep...yeah that sounds pretty good right about now...

"Yeah, I know..." She said as she took a seat next to me on her haunches. "I come here whenever I want to be...alone..." I paid no attention to her tone, my eyes were already shutting. The last thing I remember was landing on her shoulder, her shoulder was so soft....just like a pillow...

"Sleep tight...Octavia..." That voice...it sounded so...familiar...forget it...just sleep...

Author's Note

Happy 500 views chapter! Thanks for the views! Leave a comment!

Marely Encounters

I woke up with a flutter of my eyes and an intense throbbing in my head that came in pulses, causing me to groan in pain fairly loudly. I instantly regretted doing so because it made my ears throb even more. I looked around in my room to find that somepony had closed the blinds, the small cracks of light that shown through seemed to be blinding. I got out of bed slowly and felt my legs nearly give out.

'Uhg, this is horrible...', I thought to myself as I slowly walked over to the door with caution as to where my hooves landed.

I reached for the door and twisted the knob only to find it locked.

'Hm, that's strange...' I thought as I looked for what was causing the door to not open, just as I was about to give up I looked back up to the handle and found that the lock on the door was twisted. I raised a brow and twisted it back into the unlock position.

'Who would have done that?' I thought, 'Would Miss Scratch have done that? Andif so...what for? I shrugged it off and made my way to the shower, I might not remember what happened last night, but I did remember that I had Orchestra today, and a routine to keep too. I made my way into the bathroom and grabbed a new towel from the cupboard and started the water for my shower. I sat on my haunches in the bathroom for a good ten five minutes before getting back up and stepping into the shower, letting the hot water stream over me and my mind run free.

"What happened last night..." I mumbled to myself as I tried to recall the events from last night, something with Miss Scratch and...a bar? I shrugged as I grabbed the mane care products from off the shelf in the shower.

'I will just have to ask my guest about last night, it was her idea after all.' I finished my shower and toweled myself off thoroughly before moving to sit in front of the mirror to start styling my mane.

'If she does indeed remember what happened last night that is.'

I trotted out into the hallway of my apartment to find the blinds were all shut and one crumpled Miss Scratch on the floor, huddled in a fetal position. I trotted over to her in a rather quickened pace, eager to know what happened.

"Miss Scratch? Are you awake?" Her body twitched and her ears perked up, I took that as a yes, and started towards her.

"Oh good, you are awake. I was wondering ,Miss Scratch, do you happen to kn-"

"Stop" She interrupted me with a ragged voice, halting me in my tracks, sounding like she had been awake all night doing some intense workout.

"P-please...I d-don't want...y-you...t-to..." she stuttered. I slowly began my walk again, making sure not to make any noise, and stopped just within reaching distance.

"...Miss Scratch..." Her body twitched again, along with her ears flicking quickly, she let out a moan and then she was silent. I moved my hoof up to her back and pressed down lightly, her body was damp and extremely warm, not to mention her heart rate was...well of course it wasn't there, but her breathing was sharp.

"No...please...I can't...hold back...much..." I couldn't make out what she said at all, she was so quiet.

"I think I should go get Shakes..." Her breathing suddenly evened out and I could literally feel her body was already cooling.

"No...That's alright..." Her voice was even and calm as she got off the floor, turning to me with a mischievous smile.

"You can take care of me...right, Octi?" She said with a pleading voice. Either she was a very good actor, or she was actually depending on me, I chose to think the she actually thought I could take care of her.

I was never more wrong.

"W-well, If you insist. Do you needing anything? A glass of water maybe?" I asked with a light tone of sympathy.

"Oh yes, some water sounds great...I am a bit parched..." She said with the same pleading and devious tone as before.

I turned and headed towards the kitchen, stretching up onto my hind legs to get a glass from the top cabinet.

Suddenly I felt the warm mass of somepony pressing into my back, wrapping their hooves around my waist, causing me to let out a sharp yelp and drop the glass onto the floor, shattering it. I could feel their hot, even, breath exhaling into my ear, sending shivers down my spine with every breath.

"You know Octavia..." The voice was Miss Scratch's, but it was in a sultry tone that I had never heard from her.

My eyes went wide as I realized the similarities from our last encounter to this one; she was locked in the bedroom and when I tripped she took advantage my disposition. She wanted me to turn away, she was waiting for this. 'But why did she try to stop me then...I should have listened to her.' I thought to myself in desperation.

"...I think that water might not cut it..." I gulped.

"M-maybe s-some j-juice?" I asked, hoping she would take that over whatever else she had in mind. That idea quickly died right after she let out a low chuckle.

"Oh you're funny..." She paused and adjusted her head to somehow get closer to my ear.

I like that..." she said in another sultry tone.

'Think Octavia!' I thought desperately.

I looked around to the right to find the knife holder across the marble counter top. 'Too far...and obvious...'

I turned my gaze to the left to see the trail of glass, leading from the edge of counter to the position it had landed. Most of the glass was right around Miss Scratch's hooves, but some of the shards had managed to slide past and landed about a foot behind her.

'Maybe...'

I steeled my nerves and quickly pushed backwards on Miss Scratch, causing us to begin to fall backwards onto the glass pile, with Miss Scratch leading the way.

"Huh?" She said in surprise right as we hit the ground, resulting in a howl of pain from her.

Her grip had loosened enough for me to squirm free and sprinted past her towards my bedroom, adrenaline pumping. I made it in and quickly shut the door behind me, locking it. It was a pointless thing to do considering she was both a unicorn and a vampire, but it reassured me nonetheless. I had a pretty good feeling in my gut that the glass alone would not keep her from coming back after me.

I slumped down and landed with a thump, let out a deep breathe that I hadn't realized I had been holding. Out of curiosity, I craned my head upwards and put my ear against the door and listened closely.

...

"That wasn't very nice Octi..." My eyes went wide and I was pretty sure my heart stopped.

"I thought you said you could take care of me..." Her voice was of...pity? Sadness? I could never tell with ponies, but this mare was impossible. I slowly turned my head to the direction of the voice, only see her sitting on my bed, the glass completely void of where it would have, and should have, been in her back.

"W-what do you want from me?" I asked, stuttering out of fear. She lifted herself off the bed and walked over to me slowly, lifting her glasses and opening her eyes.

They were red, of course, but it wasn't the color, it was the shade. They were a deep scarlet red and they were beautiful. If it weren't for the fact they were dilated and full of a feral hunger and insatiable lust, I could have stared into them for days.

"What don't I want from you... Her tone sent shivers down my spine, but I didn't know why.

She smiled wickedly and gave me a lovely view of her small fangs, I assumed, size didn't matter, and it was all about how you used them, and I was sure she could use them well. I started to panic and looked around the room, trying to find something to use to get out of this situation and that's when my eyes landed on it. The mixer Shakes had left for me if Miss Scratch ever started acting like this again. Now I just needed to distract Miss Scratch and get it somehow; I fooled her once, either I could do it again, or not at all.

'Maybe if I charge her...she wouldn't expect that...' I thought to myself.

I gulped and then I swiftly pounced on her, only to be met by a field of magic, suspending me in the air.

"Why do you try and stop me so much...It's always more fun when you want it too..." Her tone was genuinely perplexed, a fact that I found quite disturbing. I started to struggle, to which she enjoyed immensely, and eventually gave up and accepted the fact that I was going to die.

They say that when you're about to die, your life flashes before your eyes. Well, in my case it wasn't all of my life, just certain parts that I found as either random or vital. Some were of random days spent with friends, concerts, and even the occasional night spent with my parents. But the one that stuck out the most was the memory of my grandmother, on her death bed, muttering those last words.

'Well, looks like you were wrong...I guess my song has no lyrics' I started to tear up at just the thought of her.

'...and I guess I can get to tell you that in a little bit... I was now openly crying and I felt the magic field release me, dropping me on the ground with a thump, but I didn't care, and I wouldn't have to anymore once Miss Scratch, the one I took into my own home with open hooves, kills me. I clenched my eyes and put on a small grin, tears streaming, and waited.

...

And I would have kept waiting, had it not been for a rather annoying house guest's whining.

"Aww, come one...this isn't any fun..." Her tone was pouting. I cracked open an eye to see her sitting on her haunches with her front hooves crossed like a foal.

"I can't just up and play with someone who cries...and you have an adorable cry, Octi." Her tone was now playful and her eye's had a new spark to them, yet they remand dilated and full of hunger and lust.

I was a bit confused, but my mind sent a rouge impulse through my body that seemed to make it jolt on its own.

'Now.'

I jumped up and over her sitting body, my back hoof roughly hit her horn and caused her to howl and curl up while I dashed for the shaker. I reached the metal container and started unscrewing the lid frantically, I could hear Miss Scratch still writhing in pain from my unintentional blow. I looked rapidly for the glass she had given me but couldn't find it, I mentally shrugged and bolted back over to the, now sitting, Miss Scratch and pinned her quickly.

I all but dumped the liquid down her throat, at first she thrashed, but after about five seconds in, her arms were weakly moving and her eyes were shutting. After I had emptied the bottle I carefully got off her and fell back in exhaustion, hitting my head roughly on the wood.

"Ow." I mumbled to myself as I turned my head towards my nightstand, looking at the clock to see the time.

I didn't exactly linger on this whole encounter, I was just glad for it to be over with.

'9:15' Great, I had wasted a good hour with Miss Scratch.

Though my Symphony practice was still about an hour away, I always liked to get breakfast from the local coffee shop, but I guess now I had to wait for my house guest to wake up from whatever that drink was. I turned over to see her snoring lightly with a scrunched nose, looking like she was having a bad dream. If she wasn't so adorable when she slept I probably would have just beat her to death with the drink shaker right here.

Seemingly on cue she decided to yawn, exposing her adorably small fangs. They looked like they should have been on a baby vampire.

Mares... I thought to myself as I prepped the bed to take a quick nap of my own.

Author's Note

Heyo, another chapter is done, and I have many more to come. Tell me what you think and don't forget to like it if you...well..like it!

A Friend with Benefits

"Octavia." A light sing song voice said, I grumbled and tried not to acknowledge it.

"Wakey Wakey, Octavia." The voice said in another sing song like way, this time I decided responded with a grunt of displeasure.

"Come on, Octi. Get up." The voice was now whining "I'm really bored, It's, like, 9:50 and I'm really bored." My eyes shot open, only to reveal one delighted house guest directly on top of me.

"Finally!" She said in victory, I shot up, knocking her off me and onto the bed, ignoring the fact she had, once again, tried to kill me last night.

"What time did you say it was?" I asked with panic building in my tone. She raised a brow, I paid no attention to the fact her glasses were off, revealing her beautiful red eyes..

"Like, 9:50. Why?" She asked with a hint of concern.

"I have practice at 10:00, I'll never make it!" I said as I tried to scramble out of bed, wrapping myself in covers and falling off the edge with a thunk. I exhaled loudly, accepting defeat.

"I'll just call in sick, I would still be ahead anyways." I said in an almost sad tone. I could hear her trotting over and before I knew it she was poking me in my side, I looked at her, not bothering to move my head.

"What?" I almost spat. She stopped poking me and bent over bringing her head into full view and pointed to her horn.

"Want some breakfast before you go to wherever it is your going?" I turned my head to face her.

"You would actually be willing to take me?" I asked in mild shock. She looked actually taken aback by my answer.

"Octi, I'm living with you, I would be glad to give you a ride! That and you're a really big buzz kill when you get all sad and stuff." She said with enthusiasm as I tried to regain my composure.

"Well, thank you Miss Scratch." She visibly cringed.

"On one condition." She added. "I will give you a ride if you stop calling me Miss Scratch." She said with a poor imitation of my voice. I sighed.

"Very well Mis-" I stopped myself and she smiled wickedly "Vinyl." She seemed ecstatic just from me using her name.

"So," She piped "Where do you want to eat?" I walked over and began to pack my cello.

"If you could, just take me to the old fitness center that closed down, I don't think I'll have time to eat breakfast." She nodded before charging up her horn and then abruptly stopping.

"Wait, so you're a part of that new symphony, the one that's been practicing in the old gym?" I was shocked that Miss Scratch had even the slightest clue about the symphony practicing in the gym, we tried hard to keep the practice location a secret, it wasn't exactly a reputation booster.

"How do you know that we've been practicing there?" I asked, genuinely curious on how she knew that. However, she just smiled.

"Oh, I didn't until now." I could only blink at her.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." I looked to see her with a wide smile, and returned it with a small smirk.

"Thank you." I said quietly as she charged her horn. My eyes shot open as I remembered one fact.

"Wait!" She stopped. "Wouldn't you burn in daylight?" I asked with concern.

She raised a brow and then understood what I meant. "Oh yeah! She levitated her sunglasses over and landed them on her nose.

"All ready!" I raised a brow but decided not to question her method. She began to charge her horn and then a blue light flashed, blinding me and causing me to clench my eyes shut.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

When I opened my eyes, we were in-front of the old fitness center, under a shady oak tree that blocked out all sun light. I could see Fredric, Beauty and Harpo outside the entrance, staring in my direction with looks of shock, probably from the light. I turned to Vinyl and said goodbye, letting her teleport away, probably back to the house, and then turned to walk over to my friends who were all giving me mixed looks of both shock and annoyance, Beauty even had a look of rage to her. I trotted up to them, intent on greeting them, that is, until Fredric spoke first.

"Octavia, why did you bring somepony else here?" He sounded stern and partly disappointed in me. At first I didn't understand, because Vinyl clearly brought me here, and secondly, why would he be so disappointed if somepony else is here?

"Yes, and of all ponies, why did you bring her?" Beauty spat. I looked to her in confusion.

"What do you mean Beauty, did she do something wrong?" Beauty looked partly torn by my response which only made me more curious. Harpo patted Beauty and stepped up.

"Well, Octavia, do you remember the original practice building that we were cheated out of by some mare's agent?" I cringed.

Indeed, I did remember that event. Our original practice building was in a rather isolated area of Canterlot, a rarity for the town, and was seemingly perfect for our new symphony. That is, until the agent of some mare stole the deal from us, putting up a ridiculously large amount of money for the rather small building, eight thousand bits if my mind serves right.

"Yes" I replied, anxious to see where he was going with this.

"Well guess who that agent's client was." He said, closing his eyes and putting on a victorious look, as he waited for me to put two and two together, but it never came, I just sat there for a few minutes, puzzled. Eventually he cracked open one eye and sighed.

"Her, Octavia, that mare you just came with, she was the client." I gasped, and no it wasn't for dramatic effect, it was out of shock. Vinyl had an agent? Vinyl had that much money? Vinyl was staying with me when she was richer than the entire symphony?

"No, that can't be true." I said "She told me she didn't even have a house of her own, she has been living with me for the past two days and has a job at a rundown bar." They all audibly gasped with wide eyes.

"What?!" They all said in unison.

"You let a no talent DJ live with you!?" Harpo gasped.

"Octavia, how can you let that no good ruffian live with you!?" Fredric scolded.

"That heathen doesn't even deserve a house!" Beauty seethed.

By the time they were done I was nearly cowering in fear, my ears were down and my hooves were over my eyes and then Fredric sighed.

"Octavia, we tried doing some researching on the mare, her name is Vinyl Scratch, and that's all we could find. Records, education, date of birth, parents, occupation; Everything is missing, it's clear she is a criminal!" What the heck? I could understand her date of birth being gone, but everything else? What if she was a criminal? Fredric came over and patted me on the back.

"Octavia, you need to get her out of your house."

His tone was cold and stern, and I understood, she was a danger, she had already tried to kill me twice, but I'm not just going to go shove her out on to the streets IF she had all the money that it was assumed she had. If her story was true than she could continue to stay with me.

"We should get to practice." I said, eager to change topics. They looked at me for a few seconds before nodding and walking inside to begin our practice.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The practice was long and uncomfortable, I could practically feel Beauty's stares and Fredric's disapproval, Harpo I was sure was feeling the same way but had the heart not to stare me down. As soon as the practice was over I quickly packed and left, they made no move to stop me, probably expecting me to go straight home and kick Vinyl out. However I had another stop in mind. As I walked out of the door I noticed it was night, I wasn't surprised at that, it was normally night when I left practice, what did surprise me was the sight before me.

"Hi Octi!" Vinyl said cheerily hanging upside down from some unknown object.

"V-vinyl?" I stuttered in shock.

"Yep! I got bored waiting around the house so I decided to come out here once it got dark enough."

"Well maybe get down from there, it's kind of startling." She smiled sheepishly and dropped down, landing firmly on her head.

"Ow." I stifled a laugh and waited for her to get up. Once she was up she began bouncing around as usual.

"So where you wanna go tonight?!" She asked cheerfully. My eyes went wide, remembering what happened last time we went somewhere.

"Maybe we should just go home tonight, I'm still getting over the last time we went somewhere." I didn't notice in the middle of our conversation, but Fredric and Beauty had come out from the theater and where walking towards us.

"Oh Octi, are those your friends?" Vinyl questioned. "Oh man, if they're anywhere near as cool as you I'm sure we would have a great night of drinking!" She said cheerfully, bouncing over to them.

"Vinyl I don't think that you should do tha-" But it was to late, she was already in front of them.

"Hey, are you guys friends with Octi too?" She asked excitedly to my group of friends. Fredric raised a brow condescendingly to Vinyl and leaned past her to look at me.

"Have you told her yet Octavia?" Oh no.

"Told me what?" She questioned as she stopped bouncing, clearly confused what he meant. Beauty smiled deviously and took the opportunity that had been oh so graciously offered to her.

"That you will not be living with her anymore because you are a lowly criminal heathen." Vinyl's ears dropped and she stood there, most likely in shock.

"W-wha-" She stuttered before being interrupted by Fredric.

"Yes indeed, she was just about to go back and tell you to pack your bags you lowly scum." Fredric Spat.

"I hope you get the message you piece of filth, I bet your parents are ashamed to call you their daughter, is that true? What do your parents say about you?"

Vinyl's head was low and she was so still she could have been assumed a statue, causing Beauty's face to scrunch in rage.

She raised a hoof threateningly. "Answer me!" When Vinyl didn't answer, it sent Beauty over the edge and she began to bring the hoof down. A bright light flashed around them, causing me to clench my eyes shut. When I opened them Vinyl was gone and Beauty was on the ground with both of her hooves over her eyes. I turn and started back to the apartment with only one thing on my mind at that point.

I need to find Vinyl

Author's Note

Yet another misleading chapter title...Don't worry the shipping comes later...

(Challenge complete pondercolt)

High Places

The first place I went to check is my apartment, all but shoving an elderly mare out of the way. I'd like to say I was fueled by care for my new friend who saved my life, but the truth was it was more anger and rage that fueled me than care and compassion. I care for Vinyl, but the rules of friendship clearly put Beauty above her, not only have I known Beauty for longer, but she has been there for me in some of the worst situations and I won't stand idly by when one of my few friends hates something that I can contain or control. In this case it was my house guest, that was still a big mystery to me. She could either be a vicious killer that held thousands of bits, or a homeless mare who can't even afford a newspaper, either way she shouldn't have kept all of this hidden from me. I mean, if she was going to be staying in my home she should at least tell me her background. The elevator bell rang and rushed down the hallway to my room and burst through the door, only to find it empty.

"Darn..." I muttered to myself in frustration. Where would she be I thought, running through all of the locations Vinyl might be at and that's when it clicked. The club! I gave myself a mental pat on the back before setting out to The Cozy Colt.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

When I arrived at the club, the lights were on but the door, however, was locked. I gave the door a few quick knocks, I heard a bit of brief shuffling before the door cracked open to reveal a very disheveled Shakes who, upon seeing me, put on a rather disgusted look.

"Yes?" She spat to me, earning a cringe out of me.

"Do you know whe-" I asked before being interrupted by her.

"No Octavia, we don't know where Vinyl is...we haven't seen her since we last left your apartment." She said with a tone that caused my ears to drop and my head to lower.

"Octavia..." She said, I raised my head. "I don't care what you did...but you need to find Vinyl." Her tone was now almost pleading.

"Is there anyone you know who could help find her." She asked.

Well there was...them.

"I think I might know some ponies who would help us, I won't like it though." She gave me a glare and I sighed heavily.

"Fine, I will go search for them, there is no guarantee that they will help." I finally said, making an emphasis on the point that I might return with no help.

"Thank you, Octavia." Her tone was finally non-hostile, though she really never was hostile, she gave off the impression. I nodded and turned on my hooves, setting off to find them.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I trotted down a large street at a very reluctant pace, I always hated coming here. I turned a corner, leading me up a long cobblestone pathway to a large gate, blocking out everypony from the house hiding behind it. I approached the gate and saw the small box with a buzzer in the center, I reached out and hovered my hoof over the button. Maybe I should just leave...I'm sure I could find her without their help. I quickly shook my head. No, I've come too far to leave now and I made it clear that I would try to Shakes. I was about to press in on the button until, to my surprise the gates opened without me pressing the button. I heard the intercom crackle at first and then I heard a deep voice speak out.

"Welcome back, Miss Melody." I sighed and walked through the gates. Here we go...

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I stood in front of a large oak door, looking at the engravings that covered it, giving it an expensive look. I sighed deeply and lifted my hoof up and gave the door three solid knocks. Not a minute later a broad stallion opened the door, dressed in a sharp tuxedo, giving off a superior aura.

"Yes?" he said in an overly exaggerated accent. I smiled.

"May I come in, Wilfred?" I stifled a laugh, and poked him in the chest, he let out a laugh that I returned as he came in and gave me a quick hug.

"Of course, Miss Melody." He said in a new, less exaggerated accent, as he released his grasp and stepped aside, letting me into a large waiting room. The room itself was in a circular shape with a dome shaped glass roof. It was furnished with a variety of fancy and expensive looking vases and couches, all on top of marble flooring with a large red rug resting in the center of the room.

"Not that there is anything wrong with it but is there any reason that I have the pleasure of seeing you this late Miss Melody?" Wilfred asked in a tone of genuine care. Wilfred was like my distant brother, he had cared for me ever since my birth, and was like my father figure growing up in this house. He had helped me through both thick and thin, no matter what the repercussions were for him, a truly loyal stallion.

"I need to speak with...them..." Wilfred let out a slight chuckle.

"Octavia, I don't see why you have such a grudge with your parents, they are truly kind to you." I cringed. Yes, what he said was true, my parents were probably some of the nicest ponies in Equestria, but that was it, they were too nice, giving out money like they're was no end to it, hosting a variety of events for seemingly no particular reason. I love my parents, I truly do, but whenever I came home to ask for help it made me feel useless and inefficient, because they were seemingly able to solve any problem in seconds that I had spent weeks trying to solve. One thing that made them so powerful was their links with the upper crust, they had contacts in practically everything ranging from fashion superstars to the captain of the guard himself.

"I do not have a 'grudge' against them Wilfred, It's just that I hate asking them for help. If it were under another circumstance, I assure you, I would be in a more cheerful mood." Wilfred raised a brow at this.

"Oh? And what has you in such a stance that you feel the need to seek out your parents help? I know that you are a very resourceful pony, Octavia." Wilfred questioned. It was true, I was fairly resourceful and, might I say myself, frugal.

"I need to find somepony." I said curtly, this response only raised his speciousness even more, but I guess he decided not to question me on the matter anymore.

"Very well, I will fetch them and tell them of your arrival; I'm sure will be eager to meet you." He said as he exited through a door in the side of the waiting room. I took a seat on a rather expensive looking white couch in the far side of the room and waited for Wilfred to return with my parents. The door reopened about 3 minutes later and, to my surprise, Wilfred returned without my parents.

"Your father is in his study and is expecting you, you are lucky your mother is out on business." Wilfred said with a slight grin.

That's a relief, if I had to chose over my two parents, not that I want to, I would probably pick my father. He was far more relaxed than my mother and didn't jump the gun on events that required his immediate decisions, in fact he rarely reacted to anything. He has never, in all my 16 years in this house, gotten worried over anything, it was kind of scary if you ask me, but that didn't mean he didn't care, quite the opposite in fact. He has stood with me for nearly every obstacle in my path, only rivaled by Wilfred thanks to his business profession, he was a musician like me of course, but also a fairly big name in stocks as well. In all honesty he probably understood me better than my mother did.

I exhaled and got up from my position on the couch and trotted over to Wilfred, who led me down a long hallway that was overly decorated with many expensive looking paintings and light with dim lanterns. When we reached the end of the hallway Wilfred opened a door that led me into a rather large room, the walls lined with bookshelves packed to the brim with books and a large oak desk in the middle that had two candles burning dimly on each side. Behind the desk sat my father, a dark grey stallion with a black mane, strung with gray highlights, who when we entered, looked up from some paper work with his deep purple eyes and put on a smile that warmed me.

"How are you dear?" He asked as he got up from his position in his chair from behind the desk and trotted over to give me a heartwarming hug that only a father could give.

"Fine Dad, how are you doing?" I asked as I returned the hug, smiling.

"Well your arrival just made it a lot better." He said warmly, releasing me from his embrace. I have to admit, my father was a real softy, and I loved that about him. Not only that, he was actually quite an enjoyable guy when he slacks off, a thing he does frequently.

"Your mother is out on one of her 'girls nights out'." He said, 'air quoting girls night out'.

"As per usual?" I asked jokingly, earning a chuckle out of him.

"Indeed, so what brings you back to my little slice of heaven?" He asked, walking over to a set of comfy looking chairs positioned in front of a dark window. Once he had taken his seat he asked for Wilfred, who had been standing in the door way patiently, to go fetch some tea while I took the seat across from him.

"I need to find somepony father..." I said rather bluntly, he didn't even raise a brow, his smile un-moving.

"Oh? And why might you need to find this somepony?" He questioned, relaxing in his seat.

"Well, she has helped me a lot and...well, I'll just say I'm in a rather bad looking position with her." He remained as cool as always.

"What do you mean by 'bad looking position'?" He questioned.

"Well, do you remember that whole thing about the symphonies new practice building that had Beauty all tore up?" He nodded and chuckled slightly.

"Yes, yes I do." He said, still grinning.

"Well as it turns out, she was the mare who outbid us ." His smile only grew.

"So Beauty blew a fuse on her?" He asked playfully.

"Even more so when she found out I had been helping her." I smiled sheepishly.

"Wait, you said that you helped her...how exactly did you help her? It seems like she could have helped herself with any matter if she possesses such wealth." he asked with a more serious tone.

"Maybe I should tell you the whole story." I suggested, to which he nodded. To my surprise, he never even flinched throughout the entire story, some parts he even laughed at, of course, I did leave a few things. One of them, of course, was the fact that vampires were real, I was trying to make this sound believable. The other was Vinyl's name, I simply referred to Vinyl as 'her' or 'she' instead of saying her actual name, and by the end of the story he was probably curious about her name. I was thankful when Wilfred brought back a tray of tea during the middle of the story, as my throat was hurting from talking so much.

"So what was this mare's name?" He asked with a now large smile on his face.

"Vinyl Scratch." I replied. His smile instantly faded and he visibly tensed, for once in the entirety of my life, I saw panic in my father's eyes, it wasn't much, but it was more panic than I had ever seen from him.

"Father?" I questioned, somewhat concerned about why he would tense up over that. He looked up to me and put on a clearly fake smile and a much practiced look of ease.

"Octavia, why was it you said you needed to find her again?" He asked, his tone void of any emotion in particular.

"I said that I'm in a bad looking position with her, she seemed pretty mad because she thought I was kicking her out but I wasn't actual-"

"I'll get somepony to find her..." He got up from his seat and started out of the room, opening the door to reveal a surprised Wilfred who was about to knock.

"Sir, Madame Melody has arrived." My father made no acknowledgement of the fact and only trotted past him. Wilfred looked in through the doorway to me with a confused look on his face. All I could do was shrug, equally confused about my father's behavior.

"Well Octavia" Wilfred said. "Your mother is home and would 'love to see you'." He air quoted. I groaned and started towards the door to face...My mother

Author's Note

Done and done! Tell me what you think and how it could improve!

Alpha

"Octavia, what has your father acting so...off key?" Wilfred asked me as we walked down the hallway at a very reluctant pace.

"I don't know, all I told him was the name of some mare I had been housing that now thinks I'm kicking her out." I said, still pondering over my father's reaction to just Vinyl's name. My father was the type of pony that took everything in stride, not worrying over anything. In my life, nothing from taxes, lawsuits, even businesses going under were enough shake him from his seemingly carefree life style.

"What was her name?" He asked, shaking me from my train of thought.

"Oh, It was Vinyl Scratch." I turned and watched Wilfred carefully, waiting to see if it got any reaction out of him, however, all he seemed to do was think on the name for a second and then shrug.

"I don't believe I've heard of her." He said, sounding truthful enough.

"Do you plan on telling your mother the whole story of how you met her?" He said with a growing smile. I sighed, apparently missing the fact he just admitted he had been eavesdropping on my entire conversation with my father.

"I suppose If I didn't, nopony would." I admitted in defeat, he patted me on the back with one of his hooves.

"Hey, don't worry, I'm sure your mother will find the story understandable, maybe even laugh a bit." I looked up to see him with a compassionate smile, one that I returned to him.

"Thanks Wilfred."

"It is no trouble, Miss Melody." He said as we reached the end of the hallway that we had originally taken to get to my father's study. He opened the door for me and I stepped through to see a mare directing a unicorn, dressed fairly similar to Wilfred, on where to put a seemingly constant stream of bags that were flowing through the front door of the waiting room. She took a quick glance over her shoulder and graced herself with a large smile before rushing over, nearly trampling me, in an instant.

"Octavia, darling, how are you!?" She said in a joyous tone as she began wrapping her arms around my neck in a overly tight hug, much to my disapproval.

"I-I'm f-fine M-mom." I stuttered over both shock and my lack of breath from the constant squeezing on my neck. She soon released me and smiled joyously. My mother was nearly an exact replica of me, save for her slightly different hued eyes, different mane style and color, and most importantly, her demeanor. She was far more outgoing and loud than my own reserved and quite self, sometimes I question if she is my actual mother and just decide I take my demeanor mainly from my father's side.

"I would love to chat more, but I must finish getting these bags in." She said, sounding a little too sad over not getting to chat. I quickly nodded and remembered one thing before attempting a get-a-way from my mom.

"Mother, do you know where father went?" I asked as she began redirecting the unicorn butler.

"Hmm...now that you mention it, I think he went upstairs, something about making a phone call to somepony." Seemingly on cue my father entered the room with a jolly smile plastered to his face.

"Octavia, I think that I might have found Miss Scratch for you." My eyes went wide. That quickly?

"She is believed to be on the eastern side of Canterlot in a bar named 'Alpha'. Knowing how the eastern side of Canterlot is, I'm going to be sending somepony with you, a stallion to be exact." He said firmly.

Canterlot was divided vastly when it came to standards of the common pony. I reside in the northern district, the most wealthy resident save for the western side where the castle is located. The other district is the south, this is where most of the middle class ponies of Canterlot lived, the middle class of Canterlot was like the upper class of most other towns. Finally, there is the eastern side, this is where most of the lower class citizens of Canterlot lived, it also just so happens to be where most of the nightlife happens, and the most criminal activities of Canterlot. My dad has always warned me of the eastern side, telling me of all the drug deals that go on, but I always assumed he just exaggerated them.

"Who might this somepony be?" I asked, wondering who in Canterlot would be willing to go to the eastern side with me.

"He will be over within a hour or so, for now I suggest you have dinner with us." As much as I didn't want to have dinner with them, and trust me I really didn't want to, I reluctantly agreed. It is just plain rude to deny an offer to have dinner at somepony's house, especially when they are your parents.

"Of course father, I would be delighted." I said with a well practiced joyous tone. He smiled.

"I will tell the cooks to make a meal for one more then." He said as he trotted off into what I could only assume was the kitchen to alert the chefs. I turned back and began to trot towards the living room door until my mother stopped me with a hoof on my shoulder.

"Octavia, you seem a bit troubled today, is there something bothering you?" She asked with a caring tone that only a mother could give. I sighed and walked over to the couch while she followed behind me with a both curious and caring demeanor, I took my seat with a dropped head and she took one next to me on a chair, still giving me an interested look.

"Octavia...what's wrong?" She asked with an almost pleading voice making me smirk. If there was one thing that I loved about my mother, it was her amazing ability to care for me, she truly wanted the best of me and wasn't afraid to get dirty to give me happiness. I was honestly convinced she would do anything if it would bring me happiness, and I think she was convinced of that too.

"Mom...what do you expect of me as your daughter?" I asked with my head still hanging, but I could tell that took her off guard.

"W-what do you mean Octavia?" My mother asked with a more surprised tone than curious.

"What do you expect from me, as your daughter, to grow up to be?" I re-asked her.

"Octavia, you can grow up to be what you want, as long as your happy, I'm happy" she said with a motherly tone as she placed a hoof in my mane and began to stroke it in a reassuring manner from her seat. I wasn't surprised at this answer, but I wanted to test its durability.

"So if I wanted to become a drunkard and was happy with it, you would be happy?" Her hoof stopped abruptly and she removed it from my mane. I could hear her get up from her seat and take the few steps from her seat towards me, I didn't look up to see her gaze, that is, until she lifted my head and forced her gaze into my eyes.

"Octavia, what makes you happy is what makes you happy. You could become a drunkard , and if you were truly happy, I would make no move to stop you. I might shout at you, I might scold you, I might not like it, but I won't stop you." She said with a blaze of determination in her eyes. I smiled, now I was sure of that answers durability, and it was next to unbreakable.

"Thanks...Mom..." I said as she released her grip and re-took her seat across from me.

"Now that that is out of the way, do you want to tell me what was actually bothering you?" I smiled at her question and I was sure she did to, If anyone could read me, It was my mother. Nopony, other than Wilfred, my father, and a few other family members could read my normally stoic expressions. I had a real troubles expressing emotions, for example, when most ponies would laugh hysterically, I would only smile and when most ponies would cry in sorrow, I would only frown. I let out a loose chuckle before facing my mother.

"Well, before I tell you the problem, I should probably tell you the story." I said and then began to tell her the entire tale of how my one problem started, the one problem that made my panic-less dad, panic.

I have to hand it to Wilfred and his foreshadowing, my mother was actually quite understanding and, yes, she actually laughed at some of it too, however, she just nodded sagely to most of it. The entire telling of the story lasted until we were called for dinner, me and my mother agreed to finish our talk after we finished dinner. Dinner passed in an awkward haze of silence between my family, usually my father keeps the conversation going at the table, however, tonight he appeared to be deep in thought. The silence was broken by the sound of a doorbell ringing and Wilfred making a motion to get the door, that is, until my father stopped him with the raise of a hoof and turned to face my mother.

"Honey, If you would be so kind as to make our guest feel at home." My father's tone was relatively dry, another rare sight for him, he then turned his attention towards me.

"Octavia, please join me in my study once you've finished dinner." He arose from his seat and trotted back to, what I assumed, the study, I was quick to follow, and closed the door behind us quietly before taking a seat in front of his desk.

"Octavia...the mare you're perusing, she's...different to say at least." Thoughts began to race as he finished the sentence. Does he know?Is this why he reacted like he did? and a variety of other thoughts that revolved around Vamponies, that is until he continued his statement.

"She isn't like the upper crust ponies from around here...but I'm sure you already knew that, she sticks out like a sore thumb. The reason I wanted to talk to you is about where she is located and the ponies that reside there." Well, maybe him not knowing is a good thing.

"Father, I've already heard the stories of wh-" My protest didn't last long.

"They are far from stories Octavia, I've kept most of the details from you because I wish they didn't exist." His tone was unusually cold, dark even.

"You may wonder from time to time why I spend all of the money that I do." It is true, I have wondered that, many times actually.

"Well the answer is that I spend it trying to improve the side of town you are about to enter. I spend my money trying to...'fix' the eastern side. I do this not only out of the kindness of my heart, but out of pity for those who have suffered from its horrible ways. Octavia, mares such as yourself, are drugged and molested on a daily basis there, murders happen nearly just as often." I was chilled by the information he gave me, I knew most of it already, but hearing it from him in his stony dark tone was different than thinking of them.

"This is why I'm sending you with somepony, not only for the much needed protection, but for the fact that you are my daughter and I won't allow those things to happen to you." He got up from his chair, walked over to me and looked me in the eye with an unusual pleading gaze.

"Promise me, you will take care, my daughter." I had never seen him practically begging for something before.

"I will father, because I am your daughter." I said with a growing smile to which he returned with a smirk.

"Well, let us go meet your escort then shall we?" He said with a new found brighter tone as he trotted back to the living room with me right behind him. I walked into the living room to see my mother chatting happily with...

"Fredric?"

Author's Note

Sorry about the late post, I had some stuff to do...you know...spring stuff. Feedback is welcome and encouraged!

Omega

"Fredric?" I asked out of shock, also gaining the attention of said pony.

"Ah, Octavia, I hope you are ready?" He asked in a seemingly bright tone. I turned my gaze to my, ecstatic looking, father and gave him a light jab in his side, gaining his attention.

"Um, father?" I asked in a hushed tone, causing him to lean in to hear me.

"Yes Octavia?" He said in an equally hushed tone, also seemingly oblivious to the situation at hoof.

"Might I speak to you...in private?" I said before walking to the side of the room with him following.

"Father, do you not remember what I told you? Fredric was with Beauty whe-" He cut my protests short with a hoof over my mouth.

"Octavia, I realize that Fredric was also a part of the cause of this problem, and believe me, I tried to get Harpo instead, but he was unresponsive, and I crossed out Beauty for not only also being a part of the cause, but also because she is a mare." The way he said this marked it as the end of the conversation, and I knew that further protest would only fall on deaf ears, so I sighed in defeat before walking back over to Fredric.

"I have hailed a cab for you to get you there faster." My father spoke up in a much more cheery expression than before.

"Ready...Fredric?" I near spat out.

"As ready as I will be." He said with a smile, one that nearly made me cringe.

Fredric got up from his position on the couch across from my mother. Wilfred trotted his way over to the door, with me a Fredric right behind, and opened it for us to go. Fredric led the way and as I was about to head out as well Wilfred leaned over to my ear.

"Be careful Octavia." His tone was far more serious than any other time I had spent with him so I took caution to his words.

"I will Wilfred." I gave him one last smile before heading out to meet up with Fredric and enter the cab.

*~~~*~~~* Wilfred *~~~*~~~*

I shut the door politely behind Miss Melody and turned my attention towards Mister Melody. One thing was still bugging me for the past hour now, and I wanted to know the answer.

"Mister Melody?" He turned his attention to me.

"May you be so kind as to answer something for me?" His expression shifted into a rather curious one.

"Of course Wilfred, what is it?"

"Well, I noticed that, after talking to Miss Melody, you seemed a bit...off, and it is of my concern to know why." I noticed his expression change yet again, this time to something more cold.

"Wilfred, you have served my family for many years and you have earned my praise. Not only for being there for my daughter when we could not, but for being there for me when others could not...Come to my study, Wilfred...I will tell you there." He turned and trotted off to his study and I took no hesitation to follow.

We entered the study and he took his normal position behind his desk while I locked the door behind us. After I took my spot in front of his desk he let out a sigh and leaned his head into his hooves.

"Wilfred we've known each other for...15 years now?" He said in an exhausted tone.

"Yes sir." I responded.

"You have known me to be a rather...laid back, carefree type of pony I'm assuming?"

"I have gotten that sense sometimes sir." I said with a smile, earning a low chuckle out of him.

"Yes, yes, that's what most get out of me." He said lightly. He bent over momentarily and pull out a folder from under his desk.

"Wilfred, did Octavia tell you about the mare she had been housing recently?" I decided to play dumb, for my curiosity was getting the best of me, yes I knew of her, but I didn't know about her.

"No sir, I don't believe she did." I lied, earning a light chuckle out of him as he slid the folder to my side of the desk.

"Well I did some research on her, and using my contacts I found quite some interesting things." I raised a brow at the emphasis he put on his words and opened the folder. My eyes went wide at what I saw.

*~~~*~~~* Octavia *~~~*~~~*

I was riding down a street with Fredric beside me, it had been about 15 minutes since we left my parents house so I decided to start up some conversation, the East side was still about 15 minutes away, even by cab.

"Do you know where we are going?" I asked, attempting to break the long silence.

"Of course, to that dreadful East side to retrieve that criminal you've been housing." What he said did not surprise me, what surprised me was the still bright and cheery tone he said in, I raised a brow.

"And you were so willing to go on this trip?" I asked.

"Octavia, you know I have an immense amount of respect for both you and your family, so yes, I was willing to go and retrieve your un-wanted house guest with you." I cringed. 'So assumptive' I thought to myself.

"Fredric, I don't plan on kicking her out. Not until I can either verify or deny what you said about her and her 'criminal activities' are true." I could practically hear him mentally gasp.

"Octavia...I-I expected better of you than to go and house some lowly street mare." He sounded disappointed. 'So condescending'

"Why? Is it not good for the more fortunate to share their blessings?" I snapped back.

"Well us elite are taught never to give to those who don't deserve." 'So arrogant'

"I was taught to show manners." I mumbled, making sure he didn't hear me, after all, he was my 'escort'. The rest of the ride passed in mostly silence until the cab driver stopped and informed us that this was our stop, as I stepped out of the cab I instantly noticed the change in scenery. Buildings were made of old brick with a variety of graffiti on the side, mares and stallions alike littered the streets, neon signs that read 'open' lit nearly every nearby building. Fredric must have noticed my look.

"Now do you see why I don't like you housing ponies like this?" I paid his comment no mind.

"So where is this 'Alpha' club my father spoke of?" Fredric seemed to frown slightly, probably because I ignored his earlier question, before raising a hoof off in front of us.

"Down this street a little ways, it is supposed to be a renown club around this area." He said, giving the club a sliver of recognition.

"Well, I best not keep my guest waiting." I didn't look, but I could tell he grimaced at my comment, I smiled slightly before setting out in the direction he had pointed in, he followed at more reluctant pace.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

As bad as this side of town was, the ponies who lived here didn't help improve my opinion of it. I couldn't begin to count how many times a drunk stallion, and sometimes mares, would 'tumble' onto me and try something. Luckily, Fredric did managed to do his job rather well. He usually just shouted at them, yelling a supposedly 'degrading' insult at them, I was pretty sure they just went away to try and get away from his loud shouts. Eventually, we did get to the club named 'Alpha', however, we were blocked by a bouncer and Fredric wasn't exactly 'okay' with that.

"What do you mean we can't go in?" Fredric shouted at the unfazed bouncer who only sighed for the 3rd time.

"Sir, I said you can't go in because you have to wait your turn." His tone was calm, he must deal with these types of things frequently, poor guy.

"You lowly filth!" Fredric shouted in rage. "I demand you let us in at once!" The bouncer actually smiled with this sigh.

"Fredric, let's just wait in line." I said, rather tired of Fredric's loud voice. Both turned to me, one with a shocked expression, the other with a smile.

"Finally, a pony with some sense." The bouncer said brightly. Fredric only mumbled and trotted to the back of the line, I was about to turn and join him until the bouncer stopped me with a whistle, I shifted my gaze back to him.

"Hey girl." He stepped aside and lifted the rope. "I only do this for people with sense, and you certainly got some, unlike your buddy who will be waiting like everypony else." My eyes widened and his smile only grew.

"T-thank you." I stuttered before trotting into the club.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

This club was much similar to the one where I originally met Vinyl, it had a loud form of electronic music blaring out of over sized speakers, but I paid no mind to that, I was looking for Vinyl. I scanned the red dome shaped room quite thoroughly for about ten minutes before sighing and settling my eyes on the bar. 'Well, If I can't find her, I will let her find me.' I thought with a smile before trotting towards the mosh-pit of ponies settling in front of the DJ booth. After I burst through the other side of the sweaty sea of ponies, panting from all the pushing, I all but crawled over to a bar stool beside a unconscious stallion.

"Hi there! Can I get you anything?" I turned to see a cheeky barmare staring me in the eyes, it was rather unnerving.

"U-um, s-sure." I stuttered, I really need to work on my public relation skills when I get the time.

"And that would be?" She said with a giggle that made me blush.

"Really anything would be fine..." Somehow, her face brightened even more.

"Oh! Does this mean I get to pick?!" Her smile was practically going off her face now.

"U-um...sure?" She squealed with delight before rushing off to go get, what I could only assume, was a drink, letting me return to scanning the club for Vinyl, not 5 minutes later she returned with a glass of...something.

"Um...what is that?" I asked, genuinely curious of what it was.

"Oh, just something I have been giving to all the other people that look like they could use some 'loosening up'." Her smile was now officially creeping me out, but an idea popped into my idea at the same time .

"Was one of those ponies a white mare? Blue mane and probably some purple glasses?" I asked. 'If anypony would know where somepony is at a club it would be the barmare...right? I was relieved when she answered.

"You mean Vinyl? Yeah I gave her one too, cheered her right up!" I sighed. Good, maybe she won't be too mad with me now.

"Do you know where she is?" She nodded her head quickly before pointing over to a hallway.

"Last door on the right, she said she needed to rest a bit so I let her sleep in the back." I smiled and thanked her before getting up from my stool and trotting towards the hallway where the barmare had told me. The first thing I noticed when going down the hall was the decorations. They were genuine for even a manner where I live at, things such as expensive paintings hung from the wall, giving the red wallpaper a new appeal, one of class.

I arrived at the last door of the hallway, the one on the right to be exact and exhaled before opening the door, resulting in a pony falling onto me from the inside of the door. I landed on my head and was a bit dazed for a second before I shook my head and looked up to try to see who had landed on me, the first thing I saw was a blue and teal highlighted mane, the next was a white coat, I pieced it all together when I saw the purple sunglasses poking out. The head of my guest lifted her head up before rubbing their, now uncovered, eyes. When she lifted her hooves from her eyes they were dilated and I felt my heart start to race...again. Her eyes seemed to widen when they found me and mischievous smile braced her face.

"Octi!" She said in a cheery tone before wrapping me in a hug, I gulped.

New Darks

Vinyl and I exited the club together thanks to Fredric taking an unexpectedly, and fortunate, early leave. I will have to admit, I do prefer Vinyl's company over his, I mean, she isn't nearly as judging as him and actually knows how to have 'fun'. Street trash or not, she still seems like a good pony, I however, didn't much like the places where she chooses to have her fun. Right now we were walking down the side of very dark, and very intimidating, looking street, I am not afraid of the dark but I was afraid of what might be inside the dark.

"Vinyl, are you sure this is the right way?" I asked, a hint of fear on the edge of my voice.

"Huh?" I sighed.

"Do you even know where we are Vinyl?" I asked with a slightly pleading tone in my voice.

"Um,"

She took some time to look around and investigate the scenery, pretending as if it would help her considering everything looked the same around here.

"Not a clue." She said in an overly cheery tone considering the situation at hand. 'I find it quite amazing how this mare can remain happy in the seemingly worst situations' I thought to myself as I began taking a better look at our surroundings, trying to find a street sign or, if we're lucky, a cab. Soon, after about five minutes of looking, I found what I was looking for, but I couldn't make out the letters of, what I thought was, a street sign. I stared hard at the sign for a good while, but my eyes couldn't seem to focus well enough to make out the writing in the darkness of the night. 'Maybe Vinyl can see it...' I thought to myself, still attempting to make out the sign.

"Excuse me, Vinyl, but what does that sign over there say?" I said raising my hoof in the general direction of the sign.

"Huh?" She said, turning and following the direction of my hoof.

I remembered relatively quickly that Vinyl wore a pair of sunglasses over her eyes almost constantly, and not only that, but just the darkness of the night alone would give even the sharpest pair of eyes some trouble, I looked over to see Vinyl simply staring blankly at the sign, no emotion visible on her face.

"Oh, my mistake Vinyl, I forgot that you wear sung-"

"South Mane Street." I was slightly taken aback at her sudden interruption.

'Can she really read that?' I thought to myself, before I began to try and make out the sign again, but I couldn't. I tried thinking of something that might explain how she could read the sign, and then after a brief moment of thinking, I found my answer.

'Ah! Maybe, thanks to her being a vampony of sorts, she can see in the dark.' I thought while giving myself a mental pat on the back for coming to a logical conclusion so quickly.

"Oh, so you can see in the dark too?" I asked innocently.

"Nah." She said nonchalantly. 'Wha? But then how can she re-'

"B-but how can you-" I sputtered out.

"I can just read well in the dark." She said with a shrug. 'Well...at least I was somewhat right.' I shook off the event and remembered why I had asked in the first place.

"Oh yes, Vinyl, Do you know how to get back to the North District from here?" I asked, she raised a brow.

"Well, yeah but...how fast do you want to get there?" I didn't really understand her question, was there different routes or something?

"Um...well, I would like to get to bed soon, so I guess the fastest way then, but why do you ask?" I asked with a genuine tone of curiosity.

"Well you see," She inhaled slightly. "There are different ways to get back to the North side, how fast you get there obviously depends on the route you take, but, of course, there are different ways to get to the North Side. The reason I ask is because some routes are well, as you could have guessed, 'dangerous' for mares like you." I raised a brow.

"I think I can handle myself Vinyl." I stated, confident in my ability. "I have, after all, handled you twice." I added with a smirk, causing her to blush, and look down sheepishly.

"Yeah...sorry about that." She said relatively quickly. "Well...I guess you're right, maybe you can handle yourself. I am assuming you want to take the quick route then?" I nodded my head in response.

"Alright, follow me then, but stay close, things might get a bit...'weird'." I raised my brow at this, but decided not to question her and just follow advice for once and got close behind her as we began to walk.

"So how...'weird' will things get?" She didn't respond for the first few seconds, but eventually spoke up.

"Weird." The tone in her voice suggested it would be very weird, which as a result, had me subconsciously stepping a bit closer to Vinyl.

*~~~*~~~* ...Bigs... *~~~*~~~*

I scanned the street in front of me with focus, my haunches ached from my position on the roof I had been in for hours, but I ignored it, I had been told that both of my targets were on this side of town and I didn't plan on letting this opportunity slip past me. I had already upset the Master once and I didn't plan on doing it again, I had a plan to make him see how good of servant I was; I was going to bring him the one thing he wants most, Vinyl Scratch. He was practically obsessed with her, though I could never know why, the most I had got him to tell me was 'She is very powerful', the only thing that I was able to draw from previous surveillance missions was that she was a very childish, and a very clumsy, vampony.

"Hey Bigs, I think I see them over there." I turned from my position, shook from my train of thought, to face one of my lackeys, Rail Rider, who was looking down onto the street and pointing, and after following his hoof I saw it as well. There, on the street, were both my targets walking rather close to each other down South Mane. I also noticed that Miss Melody was looking around rather nervously.

'Good...now I need to know only a few more things before we act.' I thought with a smug smile.

"Go get Styles, tell him to come over here." I responded curtly and Rail nodded and began trotting along, jumping from roof top to roof top, in search of Styles. I redirected my gaze towards the two walking down the street and smacked my lips. It had been about three nights since I last fed and vamponies eventually start getting desperate that time. I pulled a small vile of blood out of the satchel bag we had brought. Though the vile's were really only snack for us, but they did the job keeping us sated for about a day. I stared at the vile for a moment before hatching an idea, a genius idea, as I heard Styles land behind me.

"You called for me sir?" He asked quietly. I lifted off of my position, stretching and cracking my limbs as I rose, and turned to face him.

"Yes, I need you to do some...'dirty work' for me." He raised his brow and gave me a confused look.

"What do you mean sir?"

"Well if you look down there," I pointed over the edge own at the two. "It's clear that Miss Melody, the gray one, is scared of something, I'm not sure what though, but Vinyl seems to be taking the lead out of the two, so she must be leading Miss Melody somewhere. If my guess is right than it is most likely to her home on the North Side. Since we know Miss Melodies background we can assume that Miss Melody doesn't know the layout of this side of town." I explained quickly as we were losing ground on the targets.

"Your job is to take this," I tossed the vial over to him.

"I used them for snacks so I wouldn't get desperate around civilians, but I know Vinyl hasn't drawn and drained blood for at least the past few weeks now, I could practically smell how dry she was just before she fired me from the club." I explained.

When a vampony doesn't drink for weeks at a time they will actually get over a majority of the blood lust after getting past an extensive urge, but there is always some there, we call vamponies in this type of state 'Deprived'. However, the draw back of having an extremely reduced urge for blood is that the slightest amount of blood can send them back over the edge, even just a nose bleed can send them into a full blown frenzy. I was honestly surprised when Vinyl was able to hold herself back from the corpse in the alleyway back when she fired me, she must of had urges lasting for at least a few days after that.

The thing that makes being 'Deprived' so dangerous is how expendable and exploitable the pony themselves become. Since they haven't drained in weeks, maybe months, it would take a much larger feeding to satisfy their urge, meaning we could use this exploit on Vinyl multiple times if need be. Another thing was the suggestibility that came with it, that is, if you could manage to get them to listen, one of the main reasons we chose the term "Deprived" was from how desperate vamponies would become when the got a taste, or even a whiff, of blood. Another change is the pony's demeanor and attitude, some become lustful and attempt to seduce their pray to feed while others are aggressive and simply force the feeding. It's actually very similar to a drug addiction in a sense, if you can get them to accept an offer where you supply them blood, they would do almost anything for you; we call such agreements 'Blood Contracts'.

"You're going to take the vial of blood and empty it on her, send Vinyl into a frenzy in front Miss Melody in hopes that it will separate the two." I finished explaining with a devious smile.

He nodded in understanding before setting off to complete the task, the vile of blood in his mouth. As much of a desperate, and genius, plan it was, it was a plan nonetheless and I had a feeling I would want to see the results it produced. If Vinyl was attached enough to Miss Melody, or the other way around, we might be able to use that against her, maybe use one as bait for luring the other places, though we were really only after Vinyl

'The Master will forgive me if I bring him Vinyl alive...' I thought to myself, a wicked smile growing on my face as I complemented myself on my stroke of genius.

'I'll get her, I thought 'and then the Master will finally see how important I am...'

*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*

"So what goes actually goes on around these parts anyways?" I asked Vinyl.

"Huh? Oh, well usually it's just ponies getting drugged or drug deals really, not much else." She said casually.

"So what about the murders?" Vinyl stopped abruptly and turned around, giving me a funny look and after a few moments she spoke up.

"Octavia, why would somepony murder another when they could just get buzzed instead?"

"Well, because..." Now that I honestly thought about Vinyl's statement, I couldn't think of any reasons, it actually made a lot of sense in way. Why would they kill somepony else when they could just use some ungodly narcotic to go fly with dragons in their own little demented world?

"I...I honestly don't know, I had just been told that those kinds of things happen down here" She brightened up at my answer.

"Being told and being shown something are two different things, but one is certainly more factual than the other, you however, decide which is which." I was never used to hearing this much sense and philosophy come out of her mouth, so I was slightly taken aback by the statement.

"That's...very true actually." I admitted, still trying to get over how much sense she made.

"Exactly! Now you know why the night life is so big around here." She said while waving her hoof around. "Ponies come down here to relieve there problems with a trip. I never really wanted to do those types of things, but the thought has come up." I wasn't really shocked at the revelation, I mean, everypony has their curiosities right? Thrills they want to satisfy.

"Hey, so would you-" Vinyl began before being hit on the head by an object that shattered, sounding similar to glass.

"Ow!" She yelped as she stuttered back, causing me to back away and let her thump onto the ground. After I calmed myself from the initial scare of the sudden sound of breaking glass, I closed the distance between us, to try and get a better look, and to see if she was okay.

"Vinyl, are you okay?" I asked with concern for both my friend and my escort. She didn't respond, in fact, she didn't even move for the longest while, and when she finally did move, it was only an ear flick at first and then the raising of her hoof to her head. She seemed to scrape it along her mane repeatedly and then move it back down about chest height, but continued to hold it up, I saw her head tilt slightly towards her hoof, as if she were looking at it. I was beginning to grow worried over her lack of reaction and movement so I decided to give her a small tap.

"Vinyl? Is something wrong?" I asked, concern heavy in my voice.

She didn't respond but I could feel her body tense up when I tapped her. She lifted her hoof up slowly, I still couldn't see what was on it, if something was on it, but I could see that she was now sniffing it closely. She was acting strange, and it was starting to scare me now, maybe if I asked nicely.

"Vinyl? Say something...please?" I moved my hoof up to her once more, with the intention of tapping her again. As I moved in to make contact my hoof stopped abruptly, I looked down to see it caught by a haze of a deep blue aura. I pulled back from the aura, to my surprise the aura's hold was relatively weak so my hoof escaped with ease. I looked up to find Vinyl moving onto her haunches with small glistens of sweat being reflected by the dull street lamp behind us.

"V-Vinyl?" I stuttered.

"...Octavia?" Her tone sounded unsure, and somewhat wanting, as if she hoped it was me.

My eyes went wide as it finally clicked in my head and I started backing away from Vinyl. I backed away slowly but surely, that is, until I felt my front hoof touched something cold that began to roll but crunched halfway through a single rotation, causing me to fall down. I looked down to see that I had inevitably tripped on a glass bottle that shattered under the weight of my front hoof. Though the majority the glass shards didn't cut me, one shard however, did manage to draw blood from my front hoof. I got up, with some effort, but kept my injured front hoof hovering off the ground, I tried placing it down but found that it hurt to much to really make any long distances without having to take a break from the pain. I decided, with my better judgment, to just keep it off the ground, even thought it limited my mobility quite a bit.

I heard rustling in front of me and looked up to see that Vinyl was starting to pick herself off the ground, with a dull expression on her face. I turned away from her and began to limp away, keeping my head turned slightly over my shoulder to keep an eye on her. She was making no move to follow me so I deemed it safe to face forwards, as I turned my head in front of me I found a bone chilling sight, specifically I found Vinyl in front of me, just a few feet away from me. Whether it was from the surprise and fear from seeing Vinyl now in front of me or just from seeing that something was blocking my path, I stopped. As soon as I halted my movement, Vinyl began hers, closing in slowly but already only a couple of feet away. I started steeping away but tripped over my own legs like a foal, landing on my rump with a yelp.

"Octavia..." She said with a smile growing on her face.

"V-Vinyl...p-please...s-stop?" I asked quietly, a tear starting to swell in my eye for a reason unknown to me.

I could still hear her steps growing closer until they stopped, I peeked open an eye to find her staring at me, an expressionless look on her face. She lifted one of her front hoofs up and clenched my eyes shut tight once again, expecting pain. To my surprise, only a little pain came, and it was from Vinyl lifting my hoof up closer to herself, I reopened my eyes to find her sniffing my injured hoof intently, like a dog sniffing a bush.

"I think I can help...now that you're playing right." She said in the same lustful voice she used in our last encounters when she wanted to suck my blood.

She lit her horn up and I felt an intense pain come from my hoof, causing me to scream out. Though the pain, and screaming, only lasted a few seconds, the relief that came soon after felt wonderful. I saw that Miss Scratch had removed the shard of glass lodged in my hoof and gave it a thorough lick before discarding it to the side, however, there was now a larger, more fluent, stream of blood coming from my hoof.

"Oh...you really do taste wonderful Octi. She cooed before giving my hoof a long, through lick, sending shivers down my spine.

"V-vinyl....please... sto-" My protest was cut short by a hoof pressing lightly over my lips, soon after, Vinyl was now face to face with me.

"Shhh...Not this time Octi..." She held her seductive tone, but but a sternness on the back of it, I started to use my free hoof, in an attempt to remove her hoof from my face, but it was soon strapped back down with a blue aura.

"No tricks this time Octi." She teased before removing her hoof from my mouth.

"Vinyl...this....this isn't yo-" She cut my protest short with her own lips, sending my eyes wide. At first I struggled, but deemed it useless and eventually just gave up. I couldn't believe it, my first kiss was not only from a mare, not only from a vampony, but it was from Vinyl and it felt...good, I think. Her lips were so soft as they grazed my own for the brief kiss she gave me. I most certainly am not a fillyfooler but something about her kiss was, well, good. She lifted her glasses off her face, revealing her hypnotizing, lust filled scarlet eyes that seemed to stare straight through me.

"Are you ready, Octi?"

Author's Note

Hey guys, sorry about the late chapter, I got caught up with some issues, hope you enjoy it though! It sounded a bit rushed when I read it, but that might just be me.

Sparks

"Are you ready, Octi?" Vinyl asked with a wicked smile growing on her face as I gulped and redoubled my efforts in struggling against her magic which had me laid out like an experiment on lab table. My efforts, of course, were in vain as the magic clasp refused to move even an inch. By now, I was panicking, I didn't know how to even begin to get out of this situation, I was practically bolted to the ground by magic with a blood wanting vampire on top of me with a very clear intent. I tried to calm myself down, with some avail, and think of someway out of this, I looked around the ally, finding it void of any object of use. My gaze landed back on Vinyl's horn which was glowing with a hazy blue magic and I got an idea, only an idea, on a way to get rid of theses magic clasps. I remembered the time I had hit Vinyl's horn with my back hoof on accident, thought it was only an accident, it seemed to hurt pretty bad, maybe if I could do it again it would get rid of these magical cuffs.

'Now I just have to find a way to get to her horn...' I thought to myself as Vinyl seemed to be having some trouble getting into a comfortable position on top of my body. After awhile Vinyl seemed to be getting comfortable and eventually settled in, slumping her head down onto my shoulder, her horn out of view, and sighing.

"You're so comfy..." She said as she exhaled again, blowing up some of her blue multicolored hair, moments passed until she eventually raised her head back up again so that her horn was now only about a half foot out of the reach of my head if I raised it. 'Just a little closer...'

"You seem a bit quiet, you're usually asking me 'Vinyl, what are you doing?' by now" She said in a poor imitation of my voice, eyes glinting into mine.

"Whats going on up in this noggin of yours? She said, tapping a hoof onto my fore head.

"I-I'm just...uh." I stuttered before she finished the sentence for me.

"Trying to think of a way to hit my horn? Trying to see if you can get me close enough so you can hit my little ol' horn and free yourself of those cuffs?" She said with a smile as my eyes widened and I could feel my heart rate spike.

"H-how did yo-"

"Eyes can show more than emotion Octi, your eyes tell me more than only whats going on up there, more than those emotions of fear and panic, your face tells me those plain and clear. She said with a growing smile.

"I see other things inside that head of yours, but don't confuse me for some mind reader, I just saw how you were looking at my horn and decided to give it a shot."She said with a playful smile as I caught her meaning, she had only said what she thought, as if she had already knew it, then she waited for my reaction to see if she had guessed lucky, which in this case, she did.

"It's okay to feel a bit stupid Octi, you're not my first feeding after all,She said as she leaned her head in towards my ear until her mouth was close enough that her breathe tickled my ear, her body was pressed tight against my side, radiating warmth as if she were made of heat. "Not. Even. Close." She whispered in a bone chilling tone and then paused, letting the words and their meanings sink in.

"I can hear it Octi" She whispered, barely breaking the silence that had settled around us.

"H-hear w-what?" I stuttered in confusion, failing to catch her meaning.

"Your heart." She whispered in a lustful tone. I gulped and decided to give the magic clasps one last forceful thrashing, putting all of my strength into a single motion.

"You really are a resistant one aren't you? She said, putting a hoof on my chest and starting to rub small circles, similar to what an owner would to their dog, it was rather humiliating and enraging for me.

"I'll never understand it though, it's much easier, and enjoyable, if you want it too you know." She spoke in a soft, motherly tone. I felt her adjust herself into a fashion that would most likely provide ease of access to my neck.

"So try to enjoy it..."

The first feeling was pure pain, as you could have guessed, but not like when you get hit in the gut, or hit in the face where the pain was for a few seconds before your body adjusts, the pain continued to rise until I began to howl, only to be silence by Vinyl almost instantly. It felt similar to, well, someone biting into your skin, but that wasn't the surprise, the surprise was that I felt the opposite of what I would have expected to feel with the pain, rather than feeling something similar to my blood being sucked out, it felt as though something was being injected in. Similar to having a shot, but as if the doctor was injecting something similar to a more thinned version of molasses, slightly thicker than water, rather than medication, I could feel the unknown liquid entering my blood stream since it was sending a burning sensation up along with it. After a few seconds of constant injecting Vinyl drew away from my neck, which nearly every part of was now seemingly on fire, with me still struggling in vain against the magical clasps holding me to the ground.

"Aww, I know it hurts now, but just wait, soon it will feel all better." She said this similar to how a school nurse in an elementary school would say to a school filly, and it honestly angered me. At least her belly rubs stopped when she bit into my neck.

As she finished speaking she, of course, put her hoof back on my stomach and began rubbing in little circles once more, normally, I would have been angered even more by this humiliating gesture, but the way she was rubbing me was honestly starting to feel quite...good, pleasant almost. Every growing second her small rubs began to feel more and more softer and comforting as my body seemed to be heating up, resulting in me beginning to pant slightly as small beads of sweat began to form around in various places. The pain that was in my neck was now dissipating into some new form of feeling.

I shook my head in an attempt to try and shake the haze that was beginning to cloud my mind, but the way she kept rubbing around my stomach in little circles wasn't helping. I felt the heat still increasing in my body, I could feel myself growing dizzy and unstable along with the feeling of my perception of things altar, it was then that I realized what the new feeling, that was steadily growing in intensity, was. It was pleasure, currently small, but I had a feeling it would increase over the next few minutes. Vinyl must have injected me with some sort of poison or something that would make me feel all tingly like I was now. The heat of my own body was beginning to get to my head, things started to seem less and less important as I relaxed myself in the small circles Vinyl traced around my stomach.

'It is okay if I didn't get to practice tomorrow,' I thought to myself. 'I' already farther ahead than most others in my group anyways.' I stopped struggling against the magic clasps, there wasn't a need to anymore, I was happy feeling this and, in all honesty, I wanted to feel this.

"That's it, relax...feels good right? She spoke out in that lovely motherly tone of hers, honey seemingly dripping off of every word spoken. I could only nod my head heavily now. I was panting, almost heaving, with my tongue slightly lolling out of my mouth when I turned and looked at her. I took another moment, I'm not sure whether it was from how heavy my head felt or because I just wanted to actually admire her, to look into her captivating scarlet eyes, partially covered by her blue and teal hair, and a beautiful smile that gave her such a unique appearance, but not a bad one, not at all. She was right, why would I resist? Surely letting her have one little drink from me wouldn't harm anypony, right? I hadn't noticed, in my train of though, but my head had begun to tilt backwards, relaxing itself in the pleasant feeling of Vinyl's belly rubs.

"Octi?" The honey coated voice brought me back to this world, resulting in me nearly jerking my head back up to look at Vinyl.

"Mind if I take a little sip?" She asked in an innocent tone, I smiled at her request, it felt wrong, but I did anyways, she deserved something for giving me all of these pleasant feelings of relaxation, right? Well...she did bolt me to the ground, but it was only to make me feel good and help me relax. I was so uptight most of the time, always worrying about the next thing I had to do instead of enjoying what I was doing right then and there. She deserved this, I owed her after all.

"Not at a-all Vinyl." I stuttered through my pants, giving her a big smile, one that she returned to me.

"Thank you Octi, really, thank you." I felt the restraints on my hooves release, relieving me of the constant stress my hooves were put through when they were clamped into the ground. Something in my head told me to run, but I ignored it, it would be rude to run away from Vinyl, not to mention lie about letting her take a drink too. I relaxed my body, embracing myself in the pleasant feeling coursing through my veins, so much that I never felt Vinyl sink her fangs back into my neck and the sucking feeling that accompanied it, the feeling I felt was...fuzzy, but it was a good fuzzy, the only thing that irritated me was that Vinyl had stopped rubbing her small circles when she had released the cuffs.

"V-Vinyl?" I called out. I received no answer, so I called again, I needed her to start again, it felt too good to have it stop now.

"Vinyl?" This time I felt her body stir, seeming to awaken from some kind of trance, accompanied by the feeling of something being removed from my neck.

"Hmm?" She responded.

"Y-you stopped r-rubbing." I felt rather silly saying this, it made me think myself similar to that of a dog wanting to be rubbed, but I didn't care, I wanted to feel the sensation again, the small circles traced in my stomach seemingly rubbing away the troubles of the world around me. I tilted my head, which felt as though it was full of led, at Vinyl, giving her my most pleading eyes I could muster. She smiled playfully at my display.

"Sorry, I forgot." She said before she started her rubs again. By now whatever she had given me had increased the sensitivity of my body to the point where Vinyl's simple touch caused me to whimper slightly. I felt the dizziness return as my vision began fading slightly, blurring things only far away at first, but as time passed, larger objects began to contort as well up until I could barely make out my own two legs and not too soon after, I felt a cold darkness beginning to creep over me. Since the only source of heat was Vinyl's body, I mustered the strongest clutch I could though the feeling of the world around me spinning, I would have guessed my grip was similar to that of a small filly, but it was a clutch none the less and it made me feel safer for some reason. I let the darkness begin to creep over me until my vision was but a snippet of what it should have been, the last glimpse of light I saw was the reflection of purple glass hitting the sidewalk. I could also make out three small black blotches on top of the roof behind me I tried to focus on them but it was to late, I was slipping into a comatose, a smile still present on my face.

*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*

"Well that was...unexpected..." Styles piped up, breaking the silence that had been established when we had watched the events unfold between the two mares beneath us. I remained silent, partially shaking a what I had just witnessed.

'S-she couldn't be...could she?' I thought to myself.

"Unexpected, you got that right." Rail agreed in an awe struck tone.

"Hey Bigs, what was with that Melody chick? She seemed to be thrashing all around at first, but then she got all calm and stuff, Vinyl even let loose the clasps and she didn't even run, pretty rare sight for a forced feeding." I sighed outwardly, I knew what he was talking about, mainly because I had seen it done once before, only once though.

"I don't know..." I lied to them, of course I knew what it was, I just failed to believe it. A quick flash of confusion swept across both of their faces, they gave each other a quick look before giving me a look I didn't acknowledge.

"Hey boss?." Rail spoke out.

"Yeah?" I answered cautiously, not wanting to go more in depth with the previous topic with them.

"You got any idea about the whole Vinyl situation with the Master?" I sighed an internal sigh of relief, thanking them for not pushing the matter.

"You have just about as good as an idea as me, I have no idea why he is obsessed with her this much. I've seen him obsess over a few things, but not like he does with her." I readjusted my gaze back to the two mares lying on one another down below, my comrades soon followed. From this distance it looked like two Fillyfoolers really going at it, but I could smell the blood from here. We watched on for about three minutes and just as we were about to give up and report our findings, Vee suddenly pushed off of Miss Melody with a toothy smile on her face, accompanied by a two small streams dribbling down from her mouth, originating from her revealed canines. One thing I noticed about Vinyl was that her fangs were very small for a Vampony, so much so that they were hardly different from a normal pony's teeth. Vinyl's eyes were still dilated, but they were noticeably different, the tint of lust was gone from her previous demeanor, the dilation was expected as the effects from being 'Deprived' last anywhere from around two hours, to two days for some, and since she didn't fully feed, hers would last for longer before she returned to normal. She got up eventually, taking her time to investigate the scenery around her with that same toothy grin, even taking time to fix her glasses back onto her eyes, that is, until she landed on the body of Miss Melody.

"Octi!" She cried out, both the fear and the regret were obvious in her voice.

The smile instantly evaporated and turned into a both panicked and fearful look as she quickly positioned herself back near Miss Melody and placed her hooves on both the chest and the neck, the opposite side from where she had bitten, most likely to check her pulse to see if she was still alive. The sudden look of relief on her face that followed gave me my answer; Vinyl hadn't killed Miss Melody, but she had to have come awfully close with the length of time she took feeding. She began to load Miss Melody onto her back with her hooves, which is another thing that I question about her when sent on these missions to spy on Vinyl. She never uses magic as frequently as one would expect, usually doing things by hoof rather than magic.

My thought was broken by Vinyl's horn flashing a new bright blue aura as opposed to her old faded blue one from before, the feeding must have given her a boost to her magic. That was another thing about Vamponies, their magical capabilities, and some physical abilities, are boosted by feeding off others, it was similar to lightning in a way, the more energy it has to expend, the more energy it will expend. The more simpler way to look at it would be the example of a wind up car, you can still push the car even if you haven't winded it but it will be much harder as opposed to if you did wind it.

I kept my gaze on Vinyl until the final flash from her horn brightened the area until I was forced to look away to stop temporary blindness. I kept looking away for a few seconds and then cracked an eye open for safe measure, seeing she was gone I fully opened my eyes and turned to Styles and Rail.

"Alright boys lets get going. I don't know about you two but I feel pretty tired." I attempted a fake yawn, I wasn't tired but I did want to get somewhere I could be alone.

"Alright boss, whatever you say!" Rail piped before turning and leading the way across the roof tops.I noticed styles giving me a strange look, one that he always gives me when he picks up one of my lies. I just shrugged and followed Rail back to some hotel that we would be using tonight. I could only think of one thing as I bounded roof top to roof top.

'I wonder how Miss Melody's morning will be...' I thought to myself with a smile on my face.

Ignition

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

My eyes opened slowly to the sight of a light, a very bright light. I quickly clenched them closed again in an attempt to stop my retinas from burning, but I eventually opened them again. I turned my head to the side to see what looked to be an alarm clock, only it was blurred to the point where I couldn't even make out the numbers. I blinked a few more time in an attempt to clear my vision, but it remained blurred.

I tried moving my front hooves to my eyes so I could try and rub them clear, but as soon as I tried to move them I found that it felt as if they might have been made of lead. I tried moving my hind legs instead, only to receive the same lead filled feeling as they remained motionless. I eventually stopped trying to move my limbs, whether it be from seeing how pointless it was or from exhaustion, and sat there until my eyes slowly, but surely, refocused on their own, giving me a more clear view of, what I could now tell was, my apartment.

The first thing I thought to do was to try and get moving, again, but after several minutes of failed attempts at moving anything other than my head, I decided that maybe I should try calling for somepony. I thought maybe Vinyl had stayed after last night...and now that I thought about it, I could hardly remember anything about what happened last night.

"Viny-" I started to call out in a loud voice, but I was stopped mid-way by the feeling of my stomach about to collapse in on itself.

'Maybe a little quieter might do.' I thought to myself before trying again.

"Vinyl?" I called out in a softer tone, cautious not to strain myself at the risk of hurling. I heard some rustling from outside the hallway before Vinyl came trotting in slowly, head held low, and stopping just before the strip of sunlight. I raised a brow at the way she was acting, usually she was happy and jumping, no matter what time of day, but now she was quiet and, well, not jumping. But I chose not to pay much mind to it, maybe she was tired.

"Yeah?" She spoke in a soft and almost sad tone. Now this, I could tell, was unusual, even if she wasn't jumping around, you could practically feel the energy she had in her voice, but now she sounded cold and shallow, almost depressed.

"Well, I uh...can't move." I spoke in a somewhat playful tone, in an attempt at trying to lighten the mood. She only looked up, shades dawned, with a rather blank expression.

"Yeah..." she spoke softly. I raised a brow at the response.

'Well...that wasn't an expected answer...

"So...uh, do you mind helping me?" I asked, almost pleaded, to her. It was weird, her lack of response and surprise to my situation, the way she was acting, it all didn't make any sense. Was something upsetting her? I hope I didn't do something last night to make her like this.

"Uh...yeah, I'll help." She said in a slightly brighter tone, but still far too depressed for the Vinyl that I have seen for the past few days. She used her magic to close the blinds to the windows, blocking out most the sun, and allowing her to progress further into my room. It's kind of funny really, I've never thought of trying to use the sun during our encounters, then again it was always dark when she got like that. Next time, hopefully, it will be in the day and I might have a chance to stop her, or else I might be waking up like this every day, not knowing what happened the night before and with legs full of lead.

"Uh, so what do you want me to do exactly?" She asked, standing beside my bed. I honestly didn't know the answer to that either, I had gotten somepony in here, but didn't know what to do now. I figured I wouldn't be going to practice today, at least not while my legs were still immobile, and I also couldn't go anywhere either for the same reason.

"Um, maybe just take me into the living room for now." She nodded slightly and sparked up her horn.

Something about its glow didn't seem right, it seemed to be a bright neon blue now. I could have sworn it was more of a faded blue before. Then again, that might just have been my eyes, maybe they just haven't adjusted to colors completely, or maybe I just never noticed what color her magic actually was since she rarely used it anyways.

She began lifting me slowly and cautiously, I didn't quite understand why though. But then I felt something like pins and needles go through my legs, similar to the feeling you get when your leg falls asleep and try to move them, but this was more intense. I nearly yelped, but I was able to catch myself before I near screamed out. I clinched my eyes, ignoring the weird, almost painful, feeling shooting through all four of my limbs.

"You okay Octi?" I heard Vinyl call out, a hint of worry in her tone. I could barely respond thanks to the feeling, but I managed to make out a strained version of 'I'm fine', though it probably sounded more like a dying animal since she set me down soon after. I let out a sigh at the feeling of sweet relief from that strange feeling in my limbs.

"Octi?" I heard her call again, this time the worry was more emphasized. I opened my eyes to see her staring down at me with a look on her face.

"Yeah, legs fell asleep is all." I didn't know if they were asleep or not, I just hoped, and assumed, they were. Although, I could still move my legs when they feel asleep.

"Could we try again?" I asked, determined to get myself to the couch. She nodded slightly again before sparking her horn up once more.

"Are you ready, Octi?" She called out softly. Something in my head started to hurt after she said that, kind of like a tiny throbbing, but I ignored it for now, my comfort was at stake here.

"Yes, go ahead." I responded before being hoisted up once more.

The feeling returned almost instantly, but I was ready for it this time, although I still closed my eyes from the weird sensation. I could tell Vinyl was hurrying as well since I was already out the door and half way down the hall way before I reopened my eyes. I barely spotted the couch in the near pitch black room that was illuminated only by the few cracks of sunlight that managed their way through the curtains. Getting to the couch was almost like going into one of those spooky roller coasters, going from light into pure darkness, however, Vinyl's magic illuminated nearly the whole room, making the experience a bit more easier for my eyes. She seemed to take extra time and care setting me in the most comfortable spot on the couch, fetching a small pillow for me after she set me down. Even lifting my head for me with her magic, she also got a blanket out of the bedroom, and even tucked me in.

'She certainly is being hospitable.' I thought mentally. 'But she is still acting as if she did something horrible or had her feelings hurt, or something like that.'

It probably wasn't her feelings being hurt, Vinyl doesn't come off as one of those types to have their feelings hurt very easily, but then again I'm paralyzed from the neck down, so anything could have happened last night. I tried moving my legs again, and to my lovely surprise, my front left hoof twitched, even if it was only a twitch, it was movement. I tried the same with my right hoof and even managed to stretch it forwards and backwards, my hind legs however, didn't exactly have the same plan as they still refused to move even an inch. It was honestly starting to get on my nerves.

'Maybe Vinyl knows something about this...' I thought before turning to Vinyl, only to see her with a small frown and scuffing her hoof on the floor. 'Maybe I should ask what's bothering her first though.'

"Vinyl, is something wrong?" She jumped slightly at my question, I didn't know why though.

"Oh, uh...it's nothing." She said before going back to scuffing the floor. There was an silence settling in the room, one that shouldn't be there, one that should be replaced by Vinyl hopping around. One that should be replaced by questions like 'What's for breakfast?' or 'Wanna go somewhere?' but not silence, anything but silence should be there.

"Really?" I asked with a cocked brow as I finished stretching the rest of my right hoof, regaining full control of it.

"Sorry, I forgot." The pulsing came back, much more stronger this time, as if something from inside my head was trying push its way out. I put my right hoof up to my right temple in an attempt to stop some of the pain, but it didn't stop, not for a few minutes at least.

But, as the pain started to die down, I started remembering things, things from last night. I remember going to the club with Fredric to get Vinyl, the bouncer that let me inside, I also remembered the door where we found Vinyl and even going out of the club with Vinyl, it went up to the point where Vinyl and I were walking down the street and something fell, but it got all hazy after that. I looked to Vinyl, now sitting on her haunches, and began to question if she really was innocent, maybe she did something last night to upset her.

"Vinyl...what happened last night?" I saw her visibly tense, even her frown turned into something more of a grimace.

"Vinyl," I said in a serious tone. She lifted her head up and looked at me, even if I couldn't see behind her shades, I could tell she was looking me in the eyes.

"Tell me." her ears fell down, and she even took off her glasses, revealing her blood shot, scarlet eyes. It looked like she was on the brink of tears. Her head dropped and I could hear her mumble something.

"Say that again, I couldn't hear you." I asked.

"I-I fed on...o-on you." I could understand only a few words of what she said, but most of it was unintelligible mumbles, so I asked again.

"One more time, and just a bit louder please." I said again, rather eager to hear what she had to say.

"I-I fed on...o-on you." I felt my heart drop when those words came out, I had a small suspicion that she might of had another one of 'those' moments, but I didn't expect her to drain somepony, especially me. I put my right hoof up to my neck and sure enough, I felt two small bumps evenly space apart from one another, directly on top of a vain. We had made a promise, a deal when I let her move in, that she would not do this. I had told her the consequences, and now she had to pay them, but before she did, I needed to know something.

"A-am I one of...you now?" I stammered for some reason, maybe I was scared, maybe I was just nervous about the answer, who knows.

"No, there are...other ways that that happens." She didn't even bother to look up to answer me. I stared hard at her, I thought for a second that I saw a small blush on her cheeks, but I ignored it and focused another, more important, thing she was doing, or more precisely, not doing.

'Not even apologizing...' I thought with disappointment.

'It takes guts to do something wrong, but it takes more guts to fess up and apologize to it.'That was something Harpo told me awhile back when we both got in trouble for filling Beauty's tuba with water. I didn't take him seriously since it was a prank at the time, but those words carry more weight now that I think about it.

'Maybe I should have listened to them, maybe I should have listened to Fredric and Beauty, maybe I should have never let her stay, maybe I shouldn't have let a blood thirsty beast into my house and expect this not to happen. Now that I think about it; What was I thinking.'

I could feel my anger slowly boiling. I put my trust into this mare, she gave me her word, which was all I had to trust her on, and she threw it away. Well, I'm not letting this happen again. She won't get the chance to.

"Get out." My tone was cold and dead, and I made sure to make it that way.

She didn't even speak a word when she got up off the floor, in fact, she didn't even bother to get her glasses. She simply got up and walked to the door and left. I didn't know where she was going, nor did I care; I felt betrayed, I felt as though I had put hope on a promise, only to have it all tossed aside like nothing. You might say that I was over reacting, but I didn't think so, not in the slightest.. We made a deal, and she broke her end of the deal, even when she knew what would happen. Sure, it might have been instincts to feed, even if it was on me, but if she knew what would happen if she did, maybe she shouldn't have accepted my offer. But it was all over now, she was gone.

I sat there for about ten, maybe fifteen, minutes continuing to stretch out my body, slowly going from limb to limb, until I had stretched every single part of my body. I got up and staggered a bit, it felt slightly odd to walk, it was actually rather similar to when you get up after sitting for long period of time, only a lot worse; I could have been easily confused for a drunk if I had been out in public. I then set my body into my next task: Finding a clock.

'Maybe I can still get to practice, that might take my mind off what just happened...and I'm sure Fredric and Beauty will be eager to hear the news too.' I thought to myself as I trotted back into my bedroom in search of my alarm clock. (And my cello if I could still make it to practice.) I turned the corner to my bedroom and went to my nightstand to find my alarm clock shining a bright '9:50'.

'I can still make it. If I skip breakfast...' I started remembering the time Vinyl had given me a lift to practice, and even offered me breakfast, but quickly pushed it to the back of my mind, I didn't need to think of that right now.

I went over to my desk and grabbed a few music book and practice sheets I had been given at practice and packed them into my saddle bag. After I had finished packing all of the materials I trotted over to the one true thing I hold dear, my cello, and started packing it into its case with care. In the midst of my packing, I once again, remembered the way it was untouched by Vinyl when I had come in and nearly been fed on by her. I pushed the thoughts away again, but they only seemed to float back. I sighed.

'This 'forgetting Vinyl' thing might be harder than I thought...' I hoisted my cello onto my back, along with my saddle bags, and headed back for the door. I was about five feet away when I heard a knock at the door. I assumed it was Vinyl, coming back to apologize and plead to stay again, or even just to get her glasses. I quickened my pace to the door but slowed as I placed my hoof on the handle. 'No need to seem rushed.' I opened the door, my rejection speech for Vinyl already in my head.

"Look Vinyl, I sai-" I stopped speaking when I saw that it wasn't Vinyl at all.

"Oh...hello Fancy Pants." I stood there, slightly shocked by seeing the big time music producer, Fancy Pants, standing at my door with a warm smile.

"Why hello Miss Melody, holding up well are we?" He asked in a genuinely kind tone. I had met with Fancy Pants only a few times on occasion thanks to my father's high social status, but I had never met with him one on one.

"Oh-uh, yes. Do, come in." I stepped aside to let him in, but he simply waved me off with a hoof.

"Oh I won't take long, I can see you're about to head out anyways," he said with his signature smile ever present. "I only came by to offer some words of encouragement to somepony I was told was competing against Fredric in this 'Piano Duel'. Do you happen to know where a 'Vinyl Scratch' is? I had been told she was staying with you." I felt my heart slightly drop.

"Um...no actually, she just left today." He sighed as he began to look slightly crestfallen.

'How does he know about that anyways?' I thought to myself before voicing my thoughts to him.

"Oh, well being such close friends with Fredric's parents, they literally wouldn't quit talking about it this morning when they came over for tea. They kept on boasting on about how this 'street scum' had challenged him and how she was going to 'get what was coming to her'." He explained in a matter-of-fact tone.

"They actually asked me to sponsor it, probably to both show off their son's 'talent' and punish this poor mare some more. I was going to refuse until they told me how good of a reputation booster it would be for your Symphony."

Ah, that was good old Fancy Pants. Of all the uptight and stiffed elite, he was probably the most favored in my opinion. He didn't boast about his accomplishments because he didn't need to, they were fact. He didn't complain about the current way things like every other elite because he liked them, and most importantly of all, he didn't insult the lower classes because he helped them. He was both a caring and humble man, quite a rarity among the elite, and he was respected by all because of it. He went out of his way to help others, but only those who deserved it.

"Thank you very much Mr. Fancy Pants" I said with a genuine smile. "But Vinyl actually left not long before you arrived here."

"Oh, do you happen to know where she went?" I shook my head and he sighed a bit.

"Shame, I really did want to speak with her. Oh well, I must be off then, I still have to meet with your parents for lunch, now those are two ponies whose company I actually enjoy." He said as he turned to leave with me following right behind him.

"Oh, and did you need a ride Miss Melody?" He asked over his shoulder I was slightly taken aback by the offer, and he must of seen it too, as his smile only grew larger.

"Um, yes. Uh, thank you kindly, Mr. Fancy Pants." I said with gratitude, but his face slightly scrunched up when I said it.

"On, one condition though, I will only give you a ride if you stop with this whole Mr. Fancy Pants thing, okay?" I stopped myself from sighing and nodded. Why does everything have to remind me of hertoday? Why?

'This is going to be a long day...' I thought to myself as I followed him out the door.

Author's Note

Yep, this is how I'm playing it. Octavia isn't a vampire... ;)

~I'd like to thank all of you guys for sticking with this story and giving me your great feedback, it means a lot to me so, seriously, thank you.~

Flame

I hopped out of Fancy Pants's carriage and turned to give him a kindly wave as he departed, one that he returned with his warming smile. I was pretty sure that just his presence alone could make nearly anything more enjoyable, he just seemed to have this 'aura' about him that lit something inside of people. I waited until his carriage was out of sight before I turned to face the practice building and sighed. I simply stood outside of the building for some time, just looking up at the faded appearance that it had in society. I thought of how I would have to put up with my 'friends' and their snobbish remarks and the 'I-told-you-so-Octavia's' I was bound to face. I even debated leaving right there, just turning around and walking home, calling in sick and spending the day at home.

'Yeah, I think I'll do that.' I thought to myself as I turned around with the intent of going home.

'I'll just go home, maybe even go over to my parents for some lunch...I am pretty hungry.' In the train of thought, and the start of the day dream of a good meal, I hadn't been paying attention and ended up running head first into somepony. I dropped nearly all of my papers thanks to the collision, and my saddlebags for that matter.

I bent over and started picking my things back up and began to apologize to whomever I bumped into.

"Oh, sorry, I wasn't looking where I wa-" I was interrupted by the sound of a scoff, one that was followed by the sound of a very thick and exaggerated Canterlot accent.

"Oh, you'd better apologize, it was just rude of you to do that, you delinquent scum." Whoever it was complained in the thickly accent.

I looked up to see who could have been making such a ridiculous accent, and whoever would put up such a fuss about only a collision, only to see one very smug looking Harpo smiling down on me.

"Harpo?" I asked in surprise.

Harpo was usually one of the first ones to be at practice, I hadn't expected him to be just now appearing. Who knows, maybe he had morning like me, but he probably didn't wake up paralyzed from the neck down after being fed on by a vampire.

"Yes, Miss Melody, it is I, the great Harpo!" He said in the thick accent whilst he struck a very over dramatic pose, supposedly to signify his great glory.

He stood in the pose for a few seconds before I started to lose control of my contained laughter, breaking out in small giggles at first, until I was full blown laughing. He stopped with the posing and joined in on my laughing with a slight chuckle of his own.

Harpo was a very odd member of the supposed 'future elite', if you could even call him one. In a way, he was kind of like a less rich, less famous, Fancy Pants. He really didn't care where you came from, how you like to do things, or what you think of him; He just likes to have a good time, or at least, that was what I thought, his encounter of Vinyl seemed awfully out of character for him.

He settled down on the ground and started helping me in collecting the papers that I had spilled when we ran into each other and tried striking up a conversation.

"So Octavia, what has you coming in at such a late time? You're usually here before the conductor, but lately it seems like you haven't been coming in, and the few times you do, you're usually pretty late." He asked while he gathered together a few compositions.

You remember my statement earlier, on how Harpo is usually one of the first here? Well the only reason I know that is because I'm usually here before he is. I'm one of those pony's who 'doesn't get out much', and practice is one of the few things that I have to get me out of the house, so I usually always come in as early as possible, but ever since Vinyl had come along I found myself getting more and more distracted from practice. But now that I made her leave, I might be able to start getting back to practice.

"Well, I uh, I had some company over recently and they, uh, missed their train so I had to stay a few days." I lied. My lie was pretty clear, anypony could have seen that and probably would have let it sit out of courtesy. Harpo, however, absolutely loves these types of situations, and tends to enjoy slowly extracting the truth from the liar.

"Really? So who was staying over?" He asked with a smug smile.

"Um, it was, uh..." I struggled to think of any relatives off the back, and that only made his smile widen. I know nearly all of my relatives, don't get me wrong, but I have a hard time just bringing on up on the spot. He sat there with this aggravating smile, waiting for me to dig my grave deeper, but unfortunately for him, he wouldn't get that satisfaction.

"Fine, you caught me." I sighed in defeat. "I hadn't been coming lately because I've had some issues with my house guest." I blurted out, his smile widened in victory, but only for a moment, he then put on a more serious look.

"So you are still housing her?" He asked with a rather serious tone, all I could do was sigh.

'Oh boy, I guess he's on this whole "Vinyl is a criminal delinquent and you shouldn't house her" train too...'

"Not anymore." I curtly responded, not really wanting to delve any deeper into the matter of Vinyl, I was probably going to be reminded of her enough today anyways. Harpo's serious look only grew deeper after I answered his question and he even started to frown at me, I couldn't decide as to why though. I mean, he already knew about Vinyl, and seemed to care less about her. I thought he would be happy to hear me say she was gone.

"So what did she do?" He asked suddenly, taking me off guard.

"Huh?" Was my only response, he only gave me a somewhat annoyed expression in response and re-asked the question. That was another thing about Harpo, he hated repeating himself, whether it was in a conversation or composition, you rarely heard him repeat himself.

"Well, you said 'not anymore', so I assumed that you kicked her out for some reason." He said as he picked up a small music sheet book and put it in my saddlebag. I gave what he said some thought and understood what he was asking, but why did he care?

"Harpo, the last time I told you I was housing her, you hopped right on along with Beauty and Fredric with berating her. Why should you even care?." When I finished he looked deathly serious, a very rare sight for Harpo.

"Octavia, I didn't berate her, all I did was call her a 'no-talent DJ', and the only reason I even said that was because of how Beauty was acting, you know how she gets when she is mad. I've even heard some of what she does, but then again she was only helping with some other DJ, Nyan Lites or something like that." He explained. I was going to protest more, but his point's were too solid to argue against.

"So why do you care that I kicked her out anyways?" I asked, returning to the previous topic as I stuffed a couple of music sheets into my saddle bag. I could tell he was about to answer, but he cut himself short.

"Look, we really need to be getting into practice now." I had forgotten all about practice in our conversation, but I knew he was right. He grabbed the last of the music sheets and put them in me saddlebags.

"Beauty is visiting her parents tonight, she's leaving right after practice and won't be back until tomorrow, I managed to weasel out of it by telling her I was sick." He said with a grin of triumph. I only gave him a glare.

"How about I pick you up and we talk about this, maybe get some tea or coffee?" I briefly considered denying his offer, but after thinking it through, it might be good if I get this whole Vinyl thing off my chest, more importantly, It might help me stop thinking about it, and her for that matter.

"Sure, come by anytime." I was really bad at setting times so I usually just let people set them for me. Harpo smiled and headed into practice with me following right behind him. I knew practice was going to be particularly long today, it was still going to be the same amount of time, but I knew it would feel like it was a lot longer.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

When I first entered the building I could hear the faint sound of music, ranging from strings to brass, but they were all playing one melody so I figured that we were practicing as a whole for the most part of today and then break off into groups to work on compositions for the symphony to play. That wasn't going to make today any shorter though, usually when we break apart into groups, I tend group with my friends, and I didn't know if I could put up with both Fredric and Beauty together when they got told they were right.

You might say that I'm exaggerating on how they would react. But I'm not. I would go as far as to say I'm not exaggerating enough. Fredric and Beauty were one of those types that get upset unless they get their way and when they want it. But that might not be all their fault, some of the blame could probably put on their parents and how they raised them. I was lucky to have a more sensible father, one that didn't focus only on my image, but also on my personality as a child growing up. With Fredric and Beauty, yes they had their own personality, and I've seen it get through now and then and it was a decent person, but most of the time they were stuck in this moody, arrogant phase. Harpo was a good example of how the elite could turn out, but Fredric and Beauty were an example of how they could turn out as well, and it seems like there are a lot more ponies like Fredric than there is Harpo.

I sighed and walked to the locker rooms and began to take off my saddlebags and place them in my locker. As I was setting my cello on the ground so I could put my saddlebags into my locker I heard some movement behind me and turned to see that Harpo had followed me into the lockers, out of curiosity, I started to interrogate.

"Any specific reason you followed me back here Harpo?" He only grinned cheerfully.

"Well, I figured it would be less awkward for you to enter with somepony else rather than all alone. Might take some of the attention off of the fact that one of the first chairs is rarely coming if another player enters with them." He answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

Now that I thought about it, it probably would be a bit less suspicious, except to the ones who knew us well, if he entered too. Seeing the two top players enter together would probably be less suspicious than only one entering separately. Maybe they would think we were practicing together on our own time before we got here.

"I guess that is true." I agreed.

I finished unpacking my saddlebags and sheet music while Harpo started to whistle an annoyingly happy and upbeat tune. I re-hoisted my cello onto my back and prepared to go and join the rest of the Orchestra. Harpo followed behind me, still whistling the same upbeat tune as we entered the room filled with about twenty ponies. The conductor stole a glance at us and smiled.

"Ah, Harpo, it seems you have found our missing first chair cellist." He said in a rather cold and annoyed tone. My conductor was a rather bitter pony, he always acted as if you had ruined something great for him. The most you could do was come to practice on time and keep your mouth shut or else he wouldn't hesitate to send you home. I had even seen him kick a few members out of the symphony for back talk

I looked down sheepishly and quickly trotted my way over to my seat, trying to avoid the glances and stares I received from the rest of the orchestra, specifically the ones from Fredric and Beauty. Once I had reached my seat and set up everything needed to play, the conductor began to resume the piece. It didn't take me long to get into the groove of the piece, I usually get into the music pretty quickly, but I kept taking small glances over the shoulder to look at Fredric or Beauty. I guess I might have been a bit self conscious about the whole thing, but I could afford to be when playing. Once you play for a certain length of time on one thing, it becomes second nature to do it, allowing you to multitask while doing it, or in this case, take glances over my shoulder; to me, playing the cello was just about as second nature as breathing.

Eventually we stopped playing and this conductor put his conductors stick on the stand before looking up at us and saying the usual.

"Alright, split into your groups and begin your usual composing." There was no moaning and there was no groaning; we all just got up and went to our usual groups, myself included, and began our conversing and composing.

I noticed that Beauty, Fredric, and even Harpo were rather quick in getting together. I, however, moved at a much more reluctant pace, taking my time in placing one hoof in front of the other, but I knew I was only delaying the inevitable and carried on. We sat ourselves in our usual circle formation down on our haunches with a few sheets of music compositions in front of us. I took to the sheets quickly, adding a few notes here and there occasionally, in an attempt to keep myself out of conversation. Fredric worked on a composition as well, I wondered briefly if it was one he would be playing in the duel with Vinyl. I also wondered briefly if Vinyl could even play piano, or if she was just going with the conversation, it seemed like Vinyl to bluff and exaggerate her own abilities.

"So Octavia, I heard that little street rat of yours is playing Fredric in a little contest." Beauty said innocently.

Her sudden statement broke my train of thought and ,as a result, causing me to make a rather ugly mark on the composition. I looked up to her and planned on retorting, but the look I received from Harpo told me to do otherwise. I decided that, for once, I would play nice, Beauty was still my friend, regardless of how stuck up she was.

"She isn't mine anymore." I responded softly, trying to not make a big deal of what I knew was a big deal to them.

They all stopped, Harpo probably did it for the moment, and looked at me. Even Fredric had stopped writing to look at me. I didn't look up to meet their gazes, mainly because I didn't want to, but also because that would make them continue the conversation, though they would probably continue that anyways.

"So...you finally kicked her out?" Fredric asked slowly. He was probably confused thanks to the time when he had accompanied me to pick her up last night. Now that I think about it, I wish he had stayed, maybe then things wouldn't be so uneasy.

"Yeah..." It was quite between the four of us, that is, until Beauty squealed with joy and even gave me a hug. One big, bone crushing hug.

The entire class looked over at us, mostly giving us raised brows or looks of annoyance, she also managed to get the attention of the conductor. The conductor went by a silent code, at first he would give you a look, next he would get your attention and ask for you to knock it off, the third time he would move you, and if you dared disrupt a fourth time, he would send you home for that day. Beauty paid them no mind and focused only on the one thing on her mind.

"How did she react when you kicked her out? Gah! I hope that trash was in tears!" Her eyes were sparkling, I found it quite disturbing that she could get so excited over the thought of somepony else crying.

"No, she just left." I said curtly, earning a look of both confusion and disappointment.

"What do you mean 'just left'? Surely she tried to protest or something." She said sounding anxious almost. I almost answered her, but the conductor beat me to it.

"Beauty, Octavia, please clam yourselves and get back to work." The conductor said in his slate voice.

"Octavia, to stop any further disruptions, I would like you to join the group over there." He said pointing over to another group of ponies. I didn't protest, I didn't try to because I knew what would come if I did, I collected my stuff and walked over to the group he mentioned as silently as possible. The group was one of the cozy sorts, Lyra was in it so I was somewhat comforted by not being total unknown in the group. It turns out most of them actually looked up to me both as a player and composer.

The rest of practice passed rather quickly in idle and friendly conversation with my new group, probably because Beauty wasn't in it to rant on more about Vinyl. Most of them were rather open with me, cracking jokes with me and even asking for help on compositions and the hours of practice quickly faded together and before I knew it, the conductor was announcing it was time to leave. He also mentioned that thanks to the upcoming event that practice would not be held tomorrow, as he would be bust helping prepare for the duel. I went to the lockers and got my things quickly, being sure to avoid both Fredric and Beauty, and made for the door.

When I exited the building I noticed it was still rather bright out, and figured the conductor must have ended early for something; Our practice doesn't really have a set amount of time, the conductor said his job was to 'teach until he feels as though we are done.'

I didn't immediately head home, I needed to ask Harpo a few questions about the tea time we intended to have today. I settled on waiting at a bench nearby for Harpo to come out, just enjoying the fresh air and calm setting. I even closed my eyes at one point, relaxing myself in the feel of a nice breeze, that is, until I heard Harpo plop down next to me and let out a deep sigh. I scrunched my nose and kept my eyes closed, trying to enjoy the last dwindling moments of calm relaxation.

"Hey, I'm sorry about the way Beauty acted, you know how she gets sometimes." His tone sounded just about the same as the way I felt.

Annoyed.

I didn't bother opening my eyes to respond, for we had had this discussion many times before about Beauty and her 'behavior'.

"Of course, of course, I know all too well about that." I responded while giving a heavy sigh of my own

While it was true Beauty could be pleasant company, and even a good friend for that matter, at times she was just absolutely unbearable. When something rubbed her the wrong way, even in the slightest, she could, and would, go on forever about it until it was either sent away, burned to smithereens, or fixed to her strict and personal liking.

"Hey, were still up for tea right?" He asked with a newly found bright tone in his voice. I only smiled at it, it amazed me how Harpo could be happy under almost everything, it reminded me of somepony too.

Vinyl. I didn't even bother scrunching at the thought, I didn't even try and push it out, but let it linger there for a moment before smiling again.

"Of course Harpo, what time works with you?" Maybe if I could get this whole Vinyl thing off my chest, it would stop haunting me in my head.

"I'll probably just swing by in an hour or so, I know how you mares are with preparation." He said in a joking tone as he got up from the bench and began walking down the sidewalk, most likely to his house.

I sat there for awhile longer, trying to get back into the tranquil mood, but only found unease, and got up from the bench myself, I had tea to prepare for, and began my walk home.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I arrived at the entrance to my apartment building about forty minutes later, and was even greeted by the desk mare on the way in. I had just gotten out of the elevator and was walking to my apartment door when I noticed something strange on it. There was a small piece of paper taped to my door, I trotted over and removed the note and started reading it, confused as to what it might be.

Dear Octavia,

Please come visit the bar soon, tonight if possible. I was going to just talk to you myself, but you weren't home and I needed to get going, so I left you this note. You probably could have guess this, but it is about Vinyl. I won't go into details since you couldn't defend yourself on a piece of paper stuck to your door, but I want to talk to you about this whole mess, so please meet me as soon as you can.

Sincerely,

Shakes.

I sighed outwardly.

'looks like I've got another 'date' tonight.' I thought to myself. But then again, it also might help me to talk to Shakes, one who personally knows Vinyl, and get all this off my chest.

I pushed it aside for now, I needed to get ready for tea with Harpo, and frankly, I needed a shower.

I didn't hesitate to start the shower, my times in there were very peaceful and relaxing which seemed to be getting rare these days. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the shower as much as I wanted to because, thanks to me walking home, I only had about ten minutes to shower. I quickly hopped in the shower, thinking only of the time I had to prepare, and nearly screamed from the feeling of the ice cold water hitting me dead on. I recoiled at first contact with the liquid snow, but I stayed in the shower and tried my best to get a quick, cold, shower in before Harpo arrived.

I stepped out of the shower in less than five minutes, giving me enough time to dry off and even partially style my mane before there was the expected knock at the door and it was time for me to leave. I didn't take much time getting things for the trip since it was customary for the stallion to pay, but since it was Harpo I got my purse and headed to open the door. When I opened the door, as would be expected, Harpo was there with his signature smile.

"Ready?" He asked curtly. I knew he was anxious, he was always curt when he was anxious to know something so I didn't hesitate to follow him down and out of the apartment onto the stone sidewalks.

He wasn't talking much on the way to the restaurant, if we were going to one, so I figured he must have been focused on getting there quickly. I too remained silent throughout most of the trip, not finding anything of real importance to talk about. I noticed we were heading into a more suburban side of town, one where the streets were lined with a variety of coffee shops and outdoor tables for ponies to get together and talk with each other. We continued to walk on for a little ways until we arrived at a cozy corner shop with many circular tables out front with white umbrellas overhead to block out the sun. We browsed a variety of the tables until we settled on a table off in a corner, shades by the shadow cast down by the building. Harpo's attitude lightened as we finally settled, he even started up snippets of conversation until a unicorn mare arrived to take our orders.

"Oh, I'll take some Earl Gray please." Harpo said with a smile to the mare who wrote it down on her pad and pencil and then turned to me for my order.

"The same please, and a salad too if you could." I was quite hungry since I had barely eaten anything over the past few days. I had had plenty to drink though. The mare turned away and trotted inside the building to prepare our orders, as soon as she left, Harpo turned serious.

"Well, I think I would like to hear that explanation now." He said in a cheerful tone, but he backed it with a seriousness that I could feel for miles. But that wouldn't mean I would be easy to cooperate with.

"I still fail to realize why you care so much about this Harpo, all I did was take her in, and kick her out. Plain and simple." He sighed and placed his hooves one his temples and sat there for a few seconds, as if putting pieces of a mental puzzle together, before looking back up to me.

"Octavia, I know you well enough to know that you don't just go and let any random street mare into your house without a very good reason. I want to know what that reason was."

"What do you mean?" I asked in an attempt to delay the inevitable.

"What I'm asking is, what did she do to deserve to be kicked out, if she did something good enough to be let in? I mean, you said you were housing her, and knowing you, you had to have invited her into your house, also knowing you, that means that she must have done something pretty big and helpful for you." He explain, I thought it was over, but he continued.

"What I want to know is what absolutely monstrous thing she had to have done to upset you enough to be kicked out." His gaze was serious, more serious than I had ever seen him with anything before.

"Well, you were right about the whole 'doing something big for me' thing." He kept staring at me, as if expecting me to say something else.

"So...what was it?" He asked, assuming I hadn't got the meaning of his stare. I sighed again. I seemed to be doing that a lot these days, I was even starting to wonder if it was healthy to do it this much. I looked back up to him, this time with my own serious gaze, and asked one last question.

"Do you really want to know?" He took it with full force, letting my words linger there for a moment in his head before giving me one nod of confirmation; One nod of determination.

I started telling him the whole story, save for the 'vampires-are-real' and 'I-was-living-with-one-and-she-bit-me' parts, I wanted to sound believable. Harpo acted just like I expected him to; He laughed, a lot. I will give him credit though, for the first five minutes when I was telling him about the theater he remained serious, but as soon as the words 'I went drinking' came up he lost it. He got more serious about the 'Bouncer-who-tried-to-have-his-way-with-me' lie and even tried comforting me and I did my best to act comforted, but after that it was all downhill. He even fell out of his seat in tears about the time the unicorn mare came back with our teas and salad. The story came to an end and he was still chuckling and wiping a tear from his eye.

"Well Octavia, it sounds like that mare has done quite a few things to help you." He said in between laughs and heavy breaths. He took a few moments to sip his tea and calm down while I finished off my salad before getting to the point.

"Okay, now this is what I think happened, I think you were just in a sour mood from your hangover and made a rash decision."

I had made up a lie about the promise Vinyl had made with me, and it was pretty believable if I do say so myself. I had said that Vinyl promised to help me with a few things with a piece I had been working on, and all she did was goof off and get drunk. It sounded like her and sounded reasonable to kick her out, if we weren't considering the fact she had saved my life.

I sighed and looked out into the streets, watching as a few of the ponies scurried along to get wherever they needed to go. I also noticed that the sun was beginning to set over the building and I figured now would be a good time to head to my other meeting with Shakes. I got up from my spot at the table after I had finished off the last of my tea and said my goodbye to Harpo.

"Well Harpo, as much as I would like to drink and eat some more, I have another pony who 'needs to talk to me' so I must be off." I said as I grabbed my purse.

"I understand, mare troubles right? Well, you go ahead on and meet whoever this 'somepony' is and have a good time." He said with a smile just before taking a sip of his tea.

I waved him off and began to head back to the bar, and probably an angry Shakes.

Author's Note

Well, most of this chapter was pretty uneventful, so I decided to make it longer than the others. Let me know what you think and anything else that might just so happen to be on your mind.

Calm Before the Storm

I walked down the sides of the streets, passing things ranging from tipped trashcans to tipsy mares, on my way to the bar to meet a friend that I had only met in the last few days. I use the term 'friend' very strictly, but I had a feeling I could count on Shakes to be there if I needed her, but all of that really depended on how this meeting with her went. She would probably be mad, she seemed to have this strange attachment to Vinyl, almost like a guardian or something, and I assume if she were from that standpoint, she would be mad. I can't really talk about others emotions though, I can only read a select few like books, but I could read their books better than some of themselves could.

I kicked a can by accident in my train of thought and it scared me slightly, ceasing my movement. I tend to be more jumpy at night for some reason. I guess it's something with the whole 'not-knowing-what's-there' thing. I started walking again, a bit quicker this time, since I was getting close to the bar; The theater was in my sights, which meant that the bar was only about a block away.

I turned at an intersection, taking a left onto the road the bar was on. The first sight I saw in front of me was a group of rather intoxicated looking mares and stallions. I considered what to do, maybe I should just keep going and hope that they didn't bother me, but I had a feeling that it wouldn't be so simple. I could cross the street to the opposite side to avoid them, but that might get their attention as well. It seemed like I would get their attention either way, but the more space the better, so I decided to cross the street to the other side. About half way across one of them must have seen me and had began shouting in a slurred voice.

I thought I heard a 'Hey' somewhere in his outburst, but I didn't respond and even went as far as to increase my pace. They seemed to notice and started shouting louder, one even began to try and walk over to me, only to fall over and passed out, leaving three drunks trudging over to me.

"Hey!" He shouted out more clearly as he stumbled over his fallen comrade, only about twenty feet away.

"Where are yah goin' this late all by yourself?" Spoke of the two others that were about half way across the street, but it didn't matter, I had reached the door. I grinned in triumph and turned to face them and gave them a smug smile before pulling to open the door.

Locked.

My eyes went wide.

The door was locked, and I had probably managed to anger the three drunks who were not but maybe ten feet behind me. I started tugging again, and even knocked hard on the door, but it wouldn't even budge.

"Shakes!" I said both feverishly and loudly, hoping she was inside and was just waiting for me.

I could feel the sound of their hooves just now meeting with the sidewalk behind me, causing me to tense. I knocked once again and called out as well, only to be met with the same, frightening, silence. I felt their thick breath running down my neck and turned around to see all three of them surrounding me. There were two stallions and one mare, the stallions each seemed relatively small in size, but there were two of them so they made up for the loss.

"Yah know it ain't safe to be out this late lady." Said the center stallion in between hiccups in a massive slur. The tone he used was creepy, it was as if he wanted me to know his intents, but I couldn't figure them out.

I backed further into the door until it made contact with my backside. They continued to close in on me, getting closer and closer until they were only about hoofs distance away.

"Don't yah worry tho', lady, we can help yah get home." He said with a freaky half smile.

Suddenly, I felt the door behind me open, causing me to fall backwards and hit my head square on the wooden floor of the bar. The impact caused me to clench my eyes closed for a moment and release a mixture of both a groan and a yelp. The next things I heard were the sounds of surprise, soon followed by the sounds of hooves hitting the sidewalk, quickly fleeing, as I reopened my eyes. I looked up to see who had saved me, only to see a stern looking Shakes staring me in the eyes.

"Good, you're here." She said in tone similar to that of rocks, not showing any true emotion.

I picked myself back up off the floor to thank her, but she turned back around and returned back inside of the bar before I could do so. I gave a quick look of confusion, and maybe even some anger, before deciding to just follow her into the club.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The first thing I noticed about the 'club' was how, well, not-club-like it looked. Glass's were tipped over, stools were on the floor, even the cushions of some of the booth's were ripped, leaving fluff scattered across the floor. I took a survey of the bar itself and it wasn't much better, bottles of everything ranging from wine to booze were either scattered, tipped, or broken and there was something with a disturbing greenish hue on the floor directly in front of the bar. Shakes, however, walked by them as if they weren't even there, not even giving them a glance over the shoulder. I followed as she kept walking past the bar and back into the hallway she had told me about the first time I had come here, however, instead of walking out the exit door, she took a left, and went into a door that I hadn't seen before.

The door led to an office, not a very professional looking one, but a very plain and generic office, the desk held a few photos on it, one of which was a picture of Shakes and her sister, another was of her at graduation, and a couple others full of other events that might be in a picture on a desk. She walked behind it and took her seat, then gestured to a seat for me to sit in without saying a word. I took my seat quickly and for a moment, she just looked at me, as if thinking about something, until she spoke up.

"So what happened?" Her tone neutral in emotion.

"What?" I said, taken off guard by the sudden question. She only gave me a look.

"You know, what happened with you and Vinyl." Her tone sounded serious and un-amused.

"She didn-" I started.

"And before you tell me a lie, I know what she is." I wasn't that shocked by this revelation, I had thought that she might have known about Vinyl's 'secret' ever since she had helped me with her at my apartment. I decided to do the best thing, and tell her the truth about what happened, lying probably wouldn't get that far with her, nor develop trust with her.

"She fed off me." I said curtly, expecting some kind of a response from Shakes, but I never got one. An awkward silence fell over the room until she spoke up and broke it.

"Really? Is that all?" Now this, I was a bit surprised at.

I realize that she probably wouldn't be too surprised if I told her this, but lack of emotion to this caliber was...well, it was kind of scary. I was at least expecting some kind of emotion in her voice, or an 'Oh? How did that happen?', maybe even just a 'Are you okay' would have satisfied me. But no, she asked 'Is that all?' as if she was expecting something more extreme, now that scared me.

"Well...yes." I said dumb founded. Shakes gave a faint smirk with a low chuckle, the kind that was made to be used when something big is actually something much smaller.

"Octavia, do you know how Vinyl has been acting about this whole thing?" She asked with a faint smile still on her face, I raised a brow.

I expected Vinyl to be taking this like it was nothing, I mean, from the way she just walked out without a protest, or even an apology for that matter. Now that I think of it, it seems like she had even said that it "Wasn't her first feeding." the night this all happened.

"Well...No, I hadn't given it much thought." Shakes's smile only widened.

She didn't say anything for awhile, but then she spoke up, and what she had to say struck me pretty hard.

"She really does loves you, you know." My eyes went wide and my mouth began to gape slightly.

"Sh-she does w-what?" I stuttered, I needed to make sure I hadn't misheard her, because if what I heard was true, the things might be bad.

"Well, you might not see it, but I can as clear as day. She loves you Octavia, I knew that the second she closed the door on us at your apartment." She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

My mouth was still wide open and my eyes matched my mouth, she must have saw that and decided to explain about it.

"Octavia, as you might have figured out, Vinyl isn't exactly your...'average'...pony. She doesn't exactly express love the way that most others would." She explained.

I took a moment to process what had just happened, mainly because it happened so quickly. Shakes said that Vinyl 'loved' me. I never would have had the slightest clue that she did, I mean, when she was around me she never really flirted with me, she only treated me like a good friend she had known for her whole life. I would have just taken her for being very friendly, and I blamed that on me offering her a home.

"Oh, but she sure does show it around you!" Shakes shouted, interrupting my train of though.

I blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what I was just told.

"Wait, s-so...how do y-you know that?" I stuttered, utterly confused.

"Let me tell you a few things about Vinyl, Octavia." Shakes said with a smug smile.

"I've known her for a few years, ever since she accepted my job request into the bar, and if I have learned anything from those years, it's that Vinyl treats everyone the same, no matter what." She went on.

"The few that she treats differently are the ones she either hates or loves, and she can rarely even bring herself to hate someone, I think she would hate herself if she did." Shakes was staring off into the distance by the end of her explanation, as if looking at something pleasant, with a warm smile on her face.

I had no clue what she was talking about, but what I was thinking about was what might happen if I turned into one of those rare few who Vinyl 'hates', but if what Shakes told me was true, then I might have an even bigger problem on my hooves. If Vinyl loved me and...things happened, there is no telling what would happen to both me and her. My parents might not react that much, but I know a certain few who would be rather peeved if such information was revealed.

"Octavia." Shakes spoke out suddenly.

"Um, yes?"

"I have rarely seen Vinyl lately, and those few times I have seen her around, she will only say a few words, another thing I noticed is that she isn't wearing her glasses either, you know anything about that?"

"Well, her glasses are at my apartment. I really haven't been looking out for her lately." I spoke softly.

"Well, those glasses mean a lot to her, she can't go into public without them, so be sure you return them to her at some time." Although her voice was slightly playful, she backed it with a serious glare, one that I understood in full clarity. I nodded and got up from the seat across from Shakes's desk chair. She nodded and I understood that she meant that I could leave. She then spun in her chair slowly and picked up a particular picture from her desk. Just as I got halfway through the doorway she called out to me once more.

"And Octavia," She said in a soft spoken tone.

I turned to look at her, only to see the back of her office chair, but I could vaguely see the outline of the picture and its contents. It looked to be a picture of her, looking like she was fresh out of school, and a pony beside her who looked like a white mare with purple shades and a bright smile; a smile I was starting to miss getting to see.

"Play your cards right; for all you know, you might never get them again." She said, her voice sounding slightly shaky, as if nearing tears, but the wisdom implied in the statement was clear. I, however, was confused by her statement, but I had a brief understanding of what she was implying.

"I will try my best, Shakes." I told in my most comforting voice I could manage. I thought I saw her smirk, and took that as a sign that she was reassured, but then again, I was never good at reading people.

I turned away and made my way out of her office and out of the bar as well, I felt pretty tired after such an eventful day. I remembered that Vinyl and Fredric had a duel tomorrow, I guess that would be a good time to give Vinyl her glasses back. I was also wondering how exactly the whole duel would go down anyways, Fredric was a genius at the piano, but he also said 'anything goes' which most likely meant he had some sort of a plan or last resort to win. There really wasn't any question over who would win, especially since the judges were probably from the upper crust, that and Vinyl didn't exactly strike me as one of those genius composers.

I walked out of the club and onto the cold streets of late night Canterlot, after taking a quick glance to see if those pesky drunks were still around, and began heading for home once I saw it was clear. Tomorrow would be a very interesting day, and I would need my energy.

*~~~*~~~* ...Shakes... *~~~*~~~*

"I will try my best, Shakes." Octavia said in a pretty bad 'comforting voice', but I'll give her props for trying, she doesn't exactly seem like the social type to me.

I honestly didn't know what Vinyl saw in her, but I knew she saw something ever since day one when they first met. Vinyl rarely held back when she was feeding, mainly because she couldn't control it, but this was the first time I had ever heard of somepony coming out of those untouched, twice. I knew that she had been in at least two of these encounters, Vinyl had even stopped by one night after Octavia had drank herself asleep to tell me about it, but that was all the proof I needed to know Vinyl had feelings for her, she only held back and fought for control over the ones she cared the most about and that was what confused me; she had only known, and I use 'known' loosely, this mare for about three days and it seemed she couldn't be happier when she was around her. So when she got kicked out, it didn't exactly go well with me.

I had originally asked her to come here so I could yell at her, but that would be like yelling at a wall. She was so oblivious to the whole situation that she wouldn't understand half of what I said, so I decided to just let her choose the ending result of this whole conflict.

I heard the door shut and placed the picture of me and Vinyl back down. It was a picture of my first night of working when I had been accepted into her club. It meant a lot to me since it was the beginning of one of my most interesting, and best, friendships that I still have, so seeing Vinyl hurt didn't bode well with me.

I never truly understood her, and I probably never will, but I do know at least one thing about her. Vinyl was the one who could bring life to a dead room, and as long as she was welcomed, she would keep it there, but once she leaves, everyone will feel the difference. I knew Octavia was too, I had even felt it myself once, and it was definitely not a good feeling; having your thoughts constantly drawn back to somepony who is gone, it was almost like a nightmare. Vinyl was a strange mare, but she was a good strange.

I got up from my office and started packing up to head home to Sweeps, that mare was probably still drunk from last night's customers, who were only there for beer. Ever since Vinyl stopped showing up the club became more of a bar, and let's just say bars don't earn nearly as much as clubs.

As I walked out of the road I remembered something I saw in the paper about Vinyl and some other pony who were going to be having some kind of 'piano duel' or something. It seemed interesting, and a good excuse for a day off, but I had never figured Vinyl to even touch something of classic origin, always had to be something with 'wubs'. I'm sure Sweeps will want to go, she will do anything for a day off.

One thing was for sure though, tomorrow would be a very interesting day.

Author's Note

Sorry about the late upload, had some social things to do...Also, i'm thinking of putting some music in the next chapter (for the whole piano duel thing), any thoughts?

Defenestration - the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. (Who knew, right?)

A Storm and Its Beauty

Author's Note

There is music in this one, so Credit goes to there makers and such. I didn't have as much time to revise since today was my dead line for this week. I have to do a few things over the weekend where I cant use my computer, so here it is.

A Storm and Its Beauty

I arrived back at my apartment, but I didn't go straight for something that I could sleep on, the first thing I went to go and do was to get Vinyl's glasses, I don't know why, it just felt like the right thing to do. I went towards the center of the living room and saw them sitting there, in the same place as where they were when she left.

No. Not when she left, she didn't want to leave, it was when I kicked her out that she left.

I didn't know why, but it seemed like ever since she was gone, my house felt dead. I felt lonely, and I had never felt lonely before, I had always felt accompanied by my thoughts when no pony was around, but since nearly all of my thoughts are on her, even they have left me to myself.

I tried to forget, to move on. I really and truly did. But it always seemed that no matter how hard I tried, my thoughts would wander back to her. I didn't like it, it was like being imprisoned, restrained, to think of her and only her. Not to mention how Shakes acted when she requested to talk to me. Of course I didn't hesitate to meet with her, I was hoping that for once, just once, that I could go an hour with being drawn back to that mare. I shouldn't have met with her, I shouldn't have tried getting things off my chest, because the more I tried getting them off, the more things got stuck on.

Harpo's solid logic on how she saved me so she must deserve at least one more chance. Shakes and her words of wisdom on my current situation; "Be careful how you play your cards" she said. Well right now it seemed like I had already lost those cards in her little card game, so whats the point in even playing.

I refocused on her glasses and picked them up slowly, taking time to admire their unique and stylish appearance. I was sure that anypony would look absolutely ridiculous wearing them, even Vinyl looked ridiculous wearing them if you thought about it, but she made them work with her unique appearance. I placed them on a stand near my cello, my prized possession. It was the only way I could be absolutely sure that I wouldn't forget about taking them with me when I woke up, even though I was sure that my thoughts would land on them somehow or another. I left them there to go and take a well deserved shower, and afterwards, to go to bed.

I went into the bathroom and started warming the water before I fetched a towel from under the sink. After the water had warmed up to a good temperature, I stepped into the shower and closed the shower curtain behind me, closing the shower curtain comforted me, it was as if I had just shut myself away from the world and its problems. But I still had my problems. Instead of getting right into the process of washing my body like I usually did when there was an upcoming event the following day, I sat down and started thinking.

I thought about all the things that happened ever since she came, both the good and the bad. On the good side, she brought a new light into my life, even if it lasted only but a few three days. She showed me how fun life can be if I would just loosen up and take things in stride, if I would just let my hair loose and go with it. On the bad side, she has shown me that not all lights are pure, some lights can carry a massive dark in their wake, one that can bring a pain equivalent to the light and its pleasure. It was entirely up to the one perceiving the light to decide which one outweighed the other.

I don't know why I felt mad now and not before, I guess this whole situation had made me reach my breaking point. I try to be tolerant, I really do, and most the time I am successful, but everypony has their breaking point and I think that I had reached mine. I was fed up with all of this chaos that was caused in the wake of one mare; the same one who brought the calm before this chaotic storm. It was as if she was playing mother nature with my life. No, she isn't smart enough to be doing that on purpose. She didn't seem like the type to try and control something, she seems like the type that would ride it out for as long it would last her.

I exhaled deeply.

"Ranting gets me nowhere in life..." I whispered to myself under the soft sound of the water hitting the tile of my shower.

I decided to finish my thoughts and begin washing myself. I really needed to get out more, mainly to get my mind distracted so it would stop thinking such deep, and sometimes very negative, things; I have heard that it is an unhealthy habit to have.

I turned off the water and reached out to get the towel I had fetched. I dried myself off and stepped out to get my brush to fix my mane so it dried in its proper position. Bed head was another bad habit of mine, one that usually resulted in me having to take at least two showers in a single day just for my hair. Simply wetting it with water and combing never seemed to fully work with me.

After I finished brushing, and applying appropriate mane care of course, I trudged myself into my bedroom. I was both mentally and physically spent from today. My head hurt from all the talk and my body hurt from all the walk, so I didn't hesitate climbing into my bed and wrapping myself in the covers, closing my eyes to embrace the comfort of sleep. The only thing I opened my eyes to look at were those glasses. I felt my eyes growing heavier, I maintained focus with those glasses until the weight was to much and I closed my eyes, falling asleep near instantly.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I cracked my eyes open slowly, letting them take their time to adjust to the brightness of the, now sun-filled, room. I sat up in my bed slowly, scratching an itch I had atop my head, and releasing a monstrous yawn. I began to get up, but I decided to just sit in bed for a few moments, taking a few looks around my room and just enjoying the silence. Even if my house was silent most of the time, I usually found the finer side of it.

I felt good today, my body was relaxed and my mind was free of those thoughts for once. I guess a good nights sleep was enough to make anypony happy.

I removed my covers and fixed them back into their proper position, taking care of tucking in the edges of the lower half of the comforter. I trotted into the bathroom to take a quick look in the mirror to check my hair and to splash some water in my eyes to get my day going. After I splashed my eyes with the cold as ice liquid, I did steal a quick glance in the mirror and, to my lovely surprise, my hair was indeed in perfect condition, a rare occurrence these days. I smiled and trotted out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to prepare some breakfast. I wasn't a good cook, I had never been one, so I decided to go for an apple flavored granola bar.

I was about halfway finished with said granola bar when a knock came to the door and, before I could even answer the door, Harpo fell through the door and flat onto the ground. He rubbed his head, most likely from the impact, and looked up to me, smiling sheepishly.

"Uh," He took a few glances around before his eyes landed on me once more. "Hi Octavia!" He said in his cheerful tone.

I was about to return the greeting until another one sprang up, one that I wasn't particularly comfortable with.

"Hello Octavia!" Said Beauty in an equally bright tone as Harpo as she stepped through the doorway. I raised a brow at her suspiciously chirpy tone before shrugging it off and finishing my granola bar. A happy Beauty is a good Beauty. After the last bit of the bar had gone down my throat I turned to greet my unexpected guests.

"Hello you two," I said in a warm and friendly manner "How are you both?"

They both nodded and said they were doing fine, so I decided to ask a question most ponies would have asked as soon as somepony barged into their house.

"Um, it doesn't really matter why, but, why are you two here?" I asked. It was true, I didn't really care why they were here, it was actually quite nice having others inside my home, it was a good distraction and an equally good way to pass time. They both put on looks of mild confusion before looking at each other.

"Oh, were you not coming to the piano thing today? I would have expected you of all people would come." Harpo said slowly, being careful to word the question properly, most likely in an attempt to not stir the beast waiting inside his mare-friend, who gave him a playful nudge.

"Oh, come on, I'm over it." Beauty said in a bright tone. Again, I raised an eyebrow, Harpo rolled his eyes, Beauty was usually happy, but today she seemed bright. She had been fuming over Vinyl for the past few days and hadn't been this happy since the day before she met Vinyl.

"I didn't expect it would start this early..." I said slowly. Again, they both gave me a look of confusion.

"What?" I said dumbfounded.

"Octavia, dear, it's one in the afternoon." Beauty said, confusion still in her voice. It took a few seconds for me to process the information, at first I just laughed, but when they didn't return the laugh I started panicking. I was always an early riser, it was the way I was raised and the way I liked it; it left more time in the day to get things done.

I turned and began a trot back to the only clock in the house: my alarm clock.

'Surely It couldn't be that late.' I thought to myself . I arrived in my bedroom and sure enough, the time read '1:14'.

'Maybe that's why I feel so good today...' I thought to myself as I heard the steps of my to guests approaching.

"We wanted to pick you up at an appropriate time. Harpo kept pushing for 9:00 so we could get some better seats, but I wouldn't allow him to be so rude." Beauty said in an attempt to defend herself before Harpo chimed in.

"The duel supposedly starts at 2:30 and we had planned on grabbing some lunch before hand. We wanted to stop by and see if you wanted to come with." He offered kindly.

As if on cue, my stomach rumbled and I pressed a hoof up to it. I guess that granola bar didn't quite do it. I looked up to them sheepishly and they only nodded and began to head for the door, I started following along until I remembered something important that had almost slipped my mind.

"Hang on one second, I need to get something real quick." I said before trotting quickly back to my bedroom and my eyes landed on a certain pair of purple glasses. I gathered my saddlebags and when I returned with the glasses in hoof, they both raised a brow.

"Octavia, it's cloudy outside, do you really need those ridiculous looking glasses?" Beauty asked. I only smiled and trotted past them.

"Oh, they aren't mine." I said casually halfway through the doorway.

"Well then who's are they?" Harpo asked, but I ignored them and walked out the door and down the hall towards the elevator. It took them awhile, but they both eventually joined me.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

We settled on a local coffee shop for lunch, or in my case breakfast, that sat on the corner of the street of the practice building. Even from here I could see the guests arriving one after another, even a small paparazzi was forming around the entrance, raising the suspicion of high priority guests. Once we had settled in and the waitress had taken our order we began idle conversation, most of which revolved around the competition.

"Fancy sure does know how to raise a crowd doesn't he?" Harpo said, in the middle of one of said conversations, to which I nodded in agreement.

"I bet that mare is going to get what is coming to her." Beauty seethed. I cringed, her attitude was really starting to annoy me, and I really wanted to keep me happy, go-get-em, attitude.

"And if she wins?" Harpo asked casually. Both Beauty and I turned to him with a look of confusion, one that he didn't notice at first, but eventually picked up on.

I knew Fredric didn't mess around on the piano, and he was quite capable on it too. He had been raised since he was a coIt and I assumed that Vinyl had never even touched a piano, or any classical instrument for that matter. It didn't fit her personality at all.

"What? You said that you bet, which means that there are some odds against you." He said with a sly smile.

"You really believe that half-wit could win?" Beauty asked with a sarcastic tone, I cringed slightly.

Beauty seemed to have the most hatred for Vinyl out of all of us, and by 'us' I mean her and Fredric. Harpo didn't really seem to care about Vinyl, but he did care about me enough as a friend to acknowledge Vinyl as a pony, not dirt.

"Anything could happen." Harpo pointed out, just before the waitress returned with our food and drinks. The rest of the meal passed with mostly silence, save for a few idle chats, until we were finished and leaving the shop.

"Should we head over there?" Harpo asked pointing to the practice building, only to be passed by Beauty who seemed dead set on getting to the building.

"Of course we are, I've waited long enough, I want to see that plebeian go out crying." Her tone was surprisingly harsh and hurtful, as opposed to her previous cheery demeanor at my apartment, and it was annoying me, so I spoke out.

"Beauty, please, just give it a rest." She paid me no mind and continued her march to the practice building, a fire of determination and anger rising in her eyes. I watched her storm away as Harpo sighed and turned to me.

"Sorry, she really dislikes that mare for some reason." He said with a small smile, I shrugged him off and we started trotting in the direction Beauty had set off in.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

It would have been a pain to get past the crowd if it weren't for the bouncers that Fancy Pants had hired, and since we were part of the Symphony, we got in for free and got to skip the line. The first thing that I noticed was the arrangement of tables and chairs that were set up in something similar to a restaurant. White table cloths blanketed circular tables and comfortable chairs sat around them, on the side there was a longer, more square shaped, table decorated with the same white cloth, only the chairs were organized in a more conversational manner. At the square table sat Fancy Pants and other high society members such as Prince Blueblood, even the famous couple Hoity Toity and Photo Finish were present at the table. I also noticed my parents sat at the table having a conversation with Fancy Pants, until my mother noticed me and waved me over.

"Excuse me." I said to Harpo before setting out to travel through the maze of chairs and ponies gathered into the small exercise complex.

On my way through the sea of upper crust ponies my eyes fell upon the pianos set up on a carry-in stage in the middle of the room. One piano was a midnight black, sporting the classical layout of an average piano, only it carried a since of importance, expense, and most importantly, elegance. The piano opposite to it was nearly the exact opposite in coloration, it shined a pristine white, nearly blinding to the eye. Its key pattern was inverted, leaving the main keys black while the smaller ones were white. It too carried its own aura, only this ones was a more unique form of refined. I wasn't an expert on pianos, but I could tell these were very expensive pianos.

They were both quite beautiful and it was nearly impossible to take my eyes off of them, but thanks to my mother's voice calling for me, I was able to break their hold on me.

"Octavia dear, there you are!" She called out in her ever present motherly tone as she made her way over towards me. I smiled and made my way to meet her near the square table, which I was now assuming was the VIP table.

"How are you sweety?" She said before she gave me small kiss on the cheek. I groaned and tried pushing her away, but her grip was as strong as iron itself.

"Fine mother, now please, let me go." It wasn't as much of a question as it was a command, she knew I hated hugging in public, it attracted the unwanted attention of others.

She grinned before letting me go and taking a good look at me.

"My, you're looking well this evening Octavia, did you do something with your hair?" I was about to respond until her eyes lit up like a torch and I stopped myself. I realized that look and I also realized that it meant she had something on her mind, something that will not go unheard.

"Oh, you simply must meet Hoity and Photo, they are the nicest of ponies!" She half suggested and half told me before pulling me off to the table, and to a few of the celebrities of Canterlot.

My eyes were starting to go wide. I didn't want to meet them, they were practically the life of Canterlot. What if I made myself look stupid? I planted my hooves on the ground in an attempt to stop her, but they didn't even slow my mother's pace. I clinched my eyes and tried planting my hooves even further into the ground, and then, we stopped.

I opened my eyes, only to be revealed to the sight of light purple and magenta lenses. I realized who they belonged to and quickly started to try and introduce myself. I opened my mouth, but before anything came out a thick Germane accent beat me.

"Oh my is this your daughter, Presto?" Is what I think she said as she began to circle me.

I felt slightly unnerved by her constant ogling. On another account, this was the first time I had ever heard somepony call my father by his real first name. Of course I have heard it used at home, but never in a place that didn't involve business. Though Presto was his first name, he was usually addressed as 'Mister Melody' but never by his first name.

"Why yes, Photo, it is." My father chimed in with a proud tone. After a few second of more unnerving ogling, Photo Finish came back into view with a sly grin on her face.

"Have you ever considered Modeling as a career darling? You would make a lovely model with that adorable plo-" Her sentence was cut off by a hoof belonging to Hoity, an interruption that I was thankful for.

"Love, please, do you have to harass and ogle every mare you see? Sometimes I think you're cheating on me with one of them." He said in a joking tone, earning a chuckle out of the group, myself included.

I was sure the conversation would have went on, and probably gotten more awkward, but the lights suddenly dimmed, something I didn't know they could do, and a spotlight turned on above the stage with the pianos, revealing one Fancy Pants armed with a smile and a microphone standing in between the two.

"Welcome you all, I would first like to say how wonderful it is to see you all here, but I would also like to ask you to kindly take your seats!" He said in his cheerful tone.

Everypony complied to his request and began to take their seats; I ended up being sat between both my father and Hoity Toity himself, I had put my saddlebags down beside my chair in between Hoity Toity's chair and my own. As soon as everypony had settled he began to speak again.

"Well since I know the reason why most of you are here, I won't stall you with mediocre humor, and cut right to the main event." He said, earning a few chuckles out of the audience, and pulling out a small slip of paper.

"Accepting the challenge, and pianist of the Canterlot Royal Symphony, is Frederic Horseshoe-pin ." Frederic rose from the audience just as cheers, whistles, and other forms of applause sparked up. He strolled casually up to the stage, gave a few waves to a select few in the audience, and took the seat at the black piano.

"And now we have the challenger of Fredric, Miss...um," He took a second to squint and look closely at the card, as if double checking to be sure he read the name right.

"Ah, yes, Vinyl Scratch." His tone was much less enthusiastic, and he somewhat sounded confused, as if he didn't believe the paper. The amount of cheer was, as expected, much lower, but there were a few clapping for her as she walked onto the stage from a place unknown to me. One of the few clapping was Hoity Toity and the white stallion sitting at our table, I wasn't sure why they would be clapping, but I eagerly joined in. I had to be supportive of Fredric since he was my friend, but honestly, deep down inside me, I knew I wanted Vinyl to win. I loved underdogs.

Vinyl looked more out of place here than I could have imagined; her hair was rugged and more messy than usual, resulting in it covering most of her face, though that might have been intentional so it would cover her eyes. Her hair looked greasy and her coat was ruffled in random places, giving her a truly trashy look. She took her seat at the white piano opposite of Fredric, the white of the piano would have matched her coat perfectly if it hadn't been for the brownish tint of dirt she had.

"The rules are quite simple, you will both play two songs, of your choice of course, and they will be graded by our judges who have been randomly selected and placed around the crowd to insure that there is no cheating." He explained.

"Magic is indeed allowed, and since we are competing between two different races, Fredric will be allowed one partner of the unicorn origin." He added, shifting a quick glance towards Vinyl.

An orange unicorn got up from the crowd and joined Fredric on the piano bench. I recognized the pianist from my Symphony; he was assigned the pieces that were deemed impossible for earth ponies, and was nothing to laugh at either.

I began to understand what had been said; they were allowing a handicap against Vinyl because of the fact she was a unicorn. I felt myself beginning to anger. I wasn't just unfair, it was unethical. I knew that Fredric knew Vinyl had no chance even with magic, but now they were giving him a partner, just because Vinyl had a horn.

I began to get up, and if it weren't for the hoof of my father and the soft glare he gave, I would have acted. But I knew that wouldn't do me nor Vinyl any good, so I calmed down.

"Since Fredric is the opposed, he will play first." And with that, Fancy trotted off the stage and took his seat back at my table.

The lights dimmed and the spotlight that Fancy had been standing under moved over Fredric and the black piano. It was silent for a few seconds, and then only Fredric began to play.

As to be expected, Fredric's piece was a beautiful classic, Beethooven if I was not mistaken. As he ended the piece the crowd filled with claps, I was very reluctant to join in, and only ended up giving about three claps. The spotlight shifted to the white piano, and to Vinyl who wore a flat expression. I shifted into a more at attentive position in my seat; I was curious to see what she planned on doing.

She lifted her hooves up to the keys and pushed in once, resulting in a rather unpleasant sound, though the crowd mostly remain quite, a few chuckled and laughed, one of them I could tell was Beauty. She did however re-position her hooves and began to play.

I heard a variety of laughs and chuckles from the crowd at Vinyl's choice of music. I, however, was impressed; I was amazed at just the fact that she even knew a song even if it was as simple as it was - even if she missed a few of the notes. As soon as she ended her piece I started the clapping, and was one of the few to even clap. I got a few stares and started to blush, so I sat back down before looking up at Vinyl. I thought that she turned her head slightly to look at me, but I could see clearly that she now had a smirk on her face rather than her blank expression.

Fredric clearly wasn't amused at the song, and probably took it as mockery, but judging from the look her had, he clearly wasn't happy. Fredric readjusted himself into a more professional manner, gave the orange unicorn a nod, and once his hooves started hitting the keys, I knew that he was done fooling around. He and his partner began their piece

They played a song that I thought was impossible for just an earth pony and a unicorn, it seemed like you would need extra limbs to hit keys in such a manner, even with magic, but in the end, I was star struck. By the end of the song, he was sweating and breathing heavy, as was his partner, and as they brought their hooves up to wipe the sweat from their brow, the audience absolutely lost it. Flowers were thrown as Fredric and his orange companion took their many bows. I even caught Fredric flashing a condescending and cocky smirk to Vinyl.

The light returned over Vinyl, and I honestly felt bad for her. Even if she was a unicorn, it would be hard to beat such a masterpiece. Something looked different about her though, something with her expression, and then I saw it.

She was smiling.

It slightly unnerved me, the smile wasn't a comforting one. It looked like something more akin to insanity. But then her horn sparked and a quick riff was played, silencing the claps and cheers, with my self included.

She placed her hooves on the keys and played the exact same jumble of keys she played before her first piece. She, once again, re-positioned herself and began to play.

The groove she played was a much more upbeat one than Fredric and his partner's, and despite it not having nearly the same complexity, it just sounded better. However, just a few notes into the song she stopped, turned her head to me, and smiled. It was barely noticeable, but I could see her bloodshot scarlet eyes underneath her hair, and for a quick moment, our eyes met, and then she began to resume her playing.

I watched on with awe, my mouth wide and eyes matching. Never, never, would I have guessed that 'a lowly street mare' would be capable of playing this piece. It wasn't only just complex, it was good. Vinyl played the notes in such a way that it sounded as if there were two other pianos playing along with her. I didn't only listen to her, but I looked at her too. I looked at her smile, that had now changed from an insane one to one of pure euphoria. She looked truly beautiful playing the piece, a unique beauty, but the most pure form of it.

I pried my eyes away from her just long enough to fish her purple glasses out of my bag. I took a look at them and then back to her and then I smiled. I thought back briefly on what Shakes had said about Vinyl's feelings with me and I realized something.

I realized that those feelings might be mutual.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

A Place To Call Home

Vinyl's song ended, but no claps or cheers were given. The room remained quiet and still, all except for Vinyl, who was getting up from her place at the piano. She walked off the stage and took a seat somewhere in the crowd.

I wasn't just surprised, I was pleasantly surprised. I was shocked that Vinyl could, in my opinion, best two highly established pianists, all while seeming to be happy and relaxed. There was a difference between the two sides; Fredric and his companion were playing for not only just winning, they were playing to humiliate Vinyl. They tried hard and played hard and, as a result, were sweating hard and breathing hard by the end of their pieces.

Vinyl was playing for fun, and as a result, she was playing in a relaxed manner. She wasn't intimidated by an experienced opponent, she was happy to have one. The fact that she was seemingly breathing at the same pace was enough to prove that to me.

The room stood still for a few seconds, that is, until I got up and began the slow clap. I couldn't let such a beautiful piece go without the proper applause, it just wouldn't be right. It seemed that I wasn't the only one to think that either since the old white stallion got up as well, joining the clap and was soon followed by my parents, Fancy Pants, Hoity Toity and Photo Finish, until nearly the entire VIP table was giving her a standing ovation. Some others from the crowd reluctantly got up and joined the clap, and in the end only about fifteen ponies out of the entire room were clapping.

Fancy was the first to move, other than Vinyl who went back to the crowd, and went up to the stage with his microphone ready. The spotlight shone down on him as he stood tall with an estatic smile on his face and began to speak.

"Wow." Was all he said at first, but it was the exact thought on the mind of everypony in the building. He stood there after that for a few second before continuing.

He looked outward into the crowd and gestured for a few ponies to come up. I could only assume that they were the 'hidden judges' Fancy Pants had mentioned beforehand.

"Judges, if you would." Fancy called out, confirming my suspicions.

I watched closely as a grand total of three ponies rose to go join Fancy on the stage. I noticed that one was the old white stallion that had been the one to join me in my applause for Vinyl, another was the 'high and mighty' Prince himself. I knew that Prince Blueblood would choose Fredric over Vinyl, mainly because he thinks down upon anypony with less wealth and social status than himself, but he despised the lower and middle class; that left it all up to the last judge. I figured that the last one was a bit more reluctant to get on stage, since they didn't appear until a while later, but eventually whoever it was got there. That was when my heart sunk.

Beauty was the last judge.

They all huddled into a small circle and numerous whispers were heard in the still dead silent room.

Meanwhile, I felt my anger beginning to boil once again. It just wasn't fair, the judges were biased. I knew that the only one with a solid sense of judgment was the old white stallion. I didn't know if Fancy was allowed to vote, and I'm sure if he was he would vote for Vinyl.

The huddle dispersed and the 'judges' returned to their seats, save for Fancy Pants who remained on stage.

"Vinyl Scratch, would you please return to the stage." He spoke out over the crowd.

He waited for a moment for Vinyl to return, and when she did return, he gave her a hug. He disregarded the fact she was covered in dirt and grime, a fact most elite would emphasize, and gave her a pat on the back before releasing her.

"Dear, if you would please?" A white mare with a flowing pink mane got up and walked to a back room before returning with a small, but beautiful, trophy in her lively pink aura. Atop the trophy sat a small golden piano with the figure of a pony playing it. She strode up to Fancy and got on stage to place it in his hoof.

Under the better lighting I could see more clearly who this mare was. I recognized her as the model that had came to Canterlot, and inevitably decided to stay thanks to the development of some love life that had crowded the news. 'Fleur de lis' was her name, if my memory serves right, and judging by the kiss she gave Fancy Pants, I had found the 'love life' that had crowded the media for several few weeks.

Fancy held the trophy high for all to see before he said the words I had been on the edge of my seat for.

"And the winner of the duel is..." I felt my heart begin to race in anticipation.

It was when I noticed the crestfallen look in his eye that I knew who the winner was before he even said it.

"Fredric." He said bluntly; his tone wasn't nearly as happy and cheerful as it usually was.

Despite the false winner, the audience erupted in an explosive applause, all except for a select few. I remained seated, as did the white stallion beside me, my parents, and basically all who had cheered for Vinyl. We knew how the selected winner wasn't deserving of the prize, and I was sure that even the ones cheering knew it too.

I got up from my seat and made my way towards the exit; I was done with this foolish self righteous crowd. As I stormed over to the exit, something caught my eye, or somepony to be more specific.

I saw Vinyl, sitting at a small table with a few other ponies I couldn't make out through the crowd, but they didn't matter, the only one that I needed to see was Vinyl. She was facing away from me, so I couldn't see her face, but that didn't stop me from beginning to trot over to her table.

When I came closer, one of the ponies at the table must have told her that I was coming because she turned around and looked dead at me. At first, her face kept the same emotion, a flat and stoic one, but after about a second or two, her face softened and I saw a smile form at the edge of her mouth. I took that as both a generally good sign, and as a sign of telling me to come join her.

I didn't hesitate to get over to the table, I had figured out by now that Vinyl was quite the illusive one since she was able to seemingly disappear without a trace, and I had no plans of letting that happen again.

As I approached the table, I finally found out the identities of its other occupants. In a pair of seats across from Vinyl sat Lyra and her mare friend, though I wasn't actually surprised at their appearance since all of the Symphony was invited, I did wonder if they knew Vinyl, or if they were just sitting there by chance. They did look up and smiled at me when I came into visual though.

"Hello Octavia." Lyra said in a friendly tone and a warming smile. "How are you?" I returned the smile along with my answer.

"Doing fine Lyra, and I hope you two are as well." She and Bon Bon nodded, both with smiles on their faces, before wandering off into their own conversation, leaving me to talk with Vinyl.

Quite the awkward feat, but I was willing to try.

I was about to speak until she gestured towards a chair. I hadn't planned on talking inside the building, or really even talking outside of it for that matter.

I took the seat next to her and faced her, only to see her gazing elsewhere. She was looking up at the stage, or rather, above the stage. She seemed to be staring into the stage light and smiling at it, as if it were something cast down from the heavens above. I took a second to try and rationalize what she was doing, but I was at a loss; I could never figure her out.

As much as I wanted to discuss with her about her hidden ability to play the piano, there were more pressing matters to attend to, so I put that on the checklist of 'things to talk about with Vinyl'. It went right along with 'What did you do to me that night?' and 'What makes you tick?', I was sure the last one was just as much of an answer as it was a question. I don't think even she knows what makes her tick.

"Vinyl..." Was all I said, I probably wanted to say more, but that was all I could seem to force from my throat.

She turned to me, the smile toned itself down, but there was still a smile there nonetheless.

"Yeah?" Her tone was rather shaky, as if she had trouble saying the words. I was concerned for her, but I pressed on to my issue.

"Do you mind if we talk...in private." I added the 'in private' part after taking a quick glance around at the ponies surrounding us. I was sure near all of them didn't care what we would talk about, but I wanted all risks eliminated; especially after Vinyl's latest feat that was bound to attract some attention.

"Uh...No, that's fine." She said as she got up from her chair and waited for me. I didn't take much time searching for a back exit of some sort. Since she couldn't go into the sunlight, it might be tricky finding some place to talk. Instead, I walked over to the front exit, Vinyl following close behind. When I reached the front door, I found that the sun was still up, but it was at a position that left a sliver of shade along the edge of the building's foundation; it was more than enough for Vinyl to walk along.

"This way." I said curtly as I walked out into the sunlight, but I stood near the door and waited for her. She poked her head out first, making sure not to enter said sunlight, and took a few curious glances around until she found the shade that I had. She gave me one curious look, one that I returned with a short nod, before slipping into the shade.

As I heard the door shut behind her, the silence became more noticeable and it left a wide gap for conversation. A gap that I attempted to seize, but an unexpected other seized first.

"Hey, um, I just want to say that I'm..." She trailed off into silence, taking time to think of something, and I swore that I saw an expression cross her face, but it was gone before I could distinguish it. I didn't interject, it would not only be rude, but I wanted to hear what she had to say.

"That I'm sorry." She finally spoke out, Her head was held low with ears folded, though her tone was as shaky as ever, I could hear the sympathetic tone as clear as day, I might even call it depressed. It wasn't only heart warming to see her face up to her actions and apologize, nopony ever does that around here, but it was also respectable for the same reason.

It were things like this that made me care for her, such a rare being in the wastelands of Canterlot society don't deserve to be discarded, and to think that I almost did just that makes me sick. Vinyl was an interesting one, but not in a bad way. She carried with her a passion for fun, and an aura of respect. She truly was one in a million.

Now as I have said before, I am not good with emotions, and that also means coping with them, and right now, I could feel not only a respect for this mare, but a love that needed to be expressed. So I did what even I thought unthinkable.

I kissed her.

She struggled and tensed at first, but she eventually relaxed into and even went as far as to embrace it by wrapping a hoof around me, pulling me closer.

Though the kiss was brief and only lasting about a second, the effects it had were amazing.

I felt electricity pour through me when we kissed. It was similar to all those times before when we had made contact and I felt a slight jolt or a shiver run down my back, only this time it was huge and felt amazing. But the feeling was also accompanied by an awkward haze of doubt. What if she didn't like it?

As we pulled away I felt my cheeks begin to burn a bright red and the gaze she gave me wasn't helping them.

"I-I'm s-sorry, I d-didn-" I stuttered, trying to apologize, but something interrupted me, closing my lips before I could continue.

They just so happened to be her own soft lips, this time embracing me. The effects it had however, were not different in the slightest. We fell to the ground thanks to our poor footing, she landed on top, but that didn't stop her from giving me one of the best, and only for that matter, kiss of my life.

When she stopped her kiss, she wrapped a hoof around me and pulled me close for a hug, putting her mouth up to my ear to whisper a few words that would make me shake,.

"Don't be." Though only two words long, they meant a lot to me.

She let me go and looked at me with her scarlet eyes, but they were different from before. They used to be full of a certain sadness, now they were only full of joy.

"I'm sorry for kicking you out Vinyl..." I said with a lowered head as I stared at the ground. I had planned on giving her this whole speech about how stupid I was for doing such a thing, but I liked this way a lot more, there was much less talking.

"It's okay...you just made it up to me." I didn't have to look at her to see her cocky smile.

"And I'm sorry I, uh...drank your blood...and stuff." Her tone was nearly a perfect match of my own; reluctant and truly sorry.

"Don't be." I said with my own cocky smile as I took her into another hug. At first I just relaxed in her grip, which was just about the most pleasant thing that I had ever felt, until I heard her whisper one more thing.

"Thank you..." She whispered as she wrapped herself around me in a rather warming hug, even nuzzling my chest, sending a tingle through my body. She held the comforting hug for awhile and, when I was on the brink of just taking a nap right then and there, when she finally let go and pushed herself off of me, only to stare me in the eyes, captivating me with her own.

"I hate to ask this, but are we rooming again?" The anxiousness and happiness was still clear in her voice.

I smiled with a wicked intent before pulling her into a kiss, this time putting a little bit more effort into it, and I could tell she noticed when she let out a soft moan from the embrace. As I pulled away with the same devious smile I told her my answer.

"Does that answer your question?" I asked rhetorically. She smiled widely before removing her self from me and lifting to the ground, even taking the courtesy to help me up as well.

"Yeah." Was all she simply said, but it wasn't what she said, it was how she said it, that got to me. She said it in a tone that one might use when day dreaming or looking out into a sunset; a tone of euphoria.

"So what'cha wanna do now?" She asked suddenly. I could only blink at the question.

Now that I had finally gotten her back and 'all was well', I honestly didn't know what to do. It seemed like all the effort I had put into tracking her down was for nothing since, now that she was back, we were seemingly back at square one. I thought of a variety of things ranging from the theater to just simply doing what she wanted to do, but an idea came to me that beat all of the others.

"Want to get dinner?" I asked; of course eating dinner wasn't my only motive behind this suggestion, now I could finally sit down with her and ask her the things that had plagued my mental checklist for all this time and just spend time with her in general. Luckily she seemed to love the idea, but first thing was first: She needed a bath. Now that I was up close, I could see the true damage of her time Celestia knows where when she was presumably homeless.

"That sounds great!" As much as I hated putting off our game of twenty questions, she needed to get cleaned.

"Vinyl. do you mind, maybe, taking a shower or something first?" I added sheepishly. I didn't know if this counted as rude or not, but I don't think it was the same as saying 'Vinyl, you really need a bath.'

She looked at me, and then at herself before looking back and smiling sheepishly.

"Yeah, I could probably use one..." I smiled at her before looking up to the sky. It was still light out and she probably couldn't get that far.

'How did she get here anyways?' I asked myself before asking her.

"Vinyl, how did you get here?" I asked with a cocked brow, only getting another sheepish smile out of the mare in question.

"Oh, I used this thing." She said before going back inside for a brief second before coming out with a large black umbrella."

"Really?" I dead panned.

"Yep!" She said as she unfurled the umbrella and held it with her magic. I looked down at the shadow it created and, as shady as it may look, it did get the job done right. I sighed before heading out in the way of my apartment, my roommate trotting right beside me with the umbrella held above us both. I put my hoof over my saddlebags and felt for the glasses that I needed to return to her, and as soon as I felt them I relaxed. They were special to her for some reason, so now they were special to me.

She might be a strange pony, but she is my strange pony now; and I don't plan on letting her go anytime soon.

Author's Note

Shipping off the port side, and closing fast, as the wonderful relationship begins to unfurl...

Secrets

I sat on the couch of my apartment while Vinyl took her shower, she seemed to be rather reluctant to use my shower at first, but I convinced her it was perfectly fine. Since I was alone, my thoughts came wandering back to me and they were all about what had happened in the last hour.

The biggest being I had my first kiss, the second being that said kiss was from a mare. I was still pretty confused about my feelings, if you could call them that, towards Vinyl. I wasn't disappointed in myself for kissing her, I really didn't even have much of a say in that decision since my body sort of copes with my emotions in its own way, whether I like it or not. Vinyl was a lovely pony, a true gem in Canterlot's society, but most ponies didn't see that; they saw fool's gold where as I saw pure gold. It's funny that I say that and yet I know next to nothing about her, which was my aim for this whole dinner thing, and speaking of which, we should probably be getting to soon.

I lifted myself up off the couch and walked towards the hall bathroom to check on Vinyl.

Vinyl had been in the shower for about thirty minutes now and I was starting to wonder what exactly was going on in there. I realize that long showers can be absolutely amazing at times, but I was starting to get hungry.

I walked up to the shower door and knocked firmly a few times, and when she didn't respond, I tried calling her name.

"Vinyl?" I was sure that I had called loud enough to be heard over the showers running water, but still no response came. I knocked once more, this time harder than necessary, but I only received silence once more. I was not only growing more confused, but also a little worry was starting to build on the back of my mind, so I reached for the knob and gave it a turn.

It was unlocked.

Now don't mistake me for some pervert, I was doing this out of the sake of my friend. What if she had fell and been knocked unconscious from the fall? I would have been her only hope. Despite this as a possibility, even though I'm sure Vinyl didn't knock herself out, It didn't change the fact it was a bit invasive, not to mention rude, even if it was my own home.

I pushed in on the door and entered the bathroom, only to first reveal nothing but a wall of steam, and after it dissipated, the sight of one Vinyl lying spread eagle on the ground, belly up to the water, with a rather weird look on her face. Her eyes were closed and her smile was seemingly never ending.

I felt my cheeks catch fire as I immediately canceled the idea of trotting over to her, or even getting near her for that matter. I had no idea what had happened to her, if anything had happened, and for all I knew she could be in one of her feeding moods again.

"Vinyl?" I called out cautiously. This time, I gained her attention as her eyes cracked open and turned towards me, and her smile faded and turned into more of a sheepish smirk.

"O-oh, uh...Hey Octi." She spoke, clearly feeling a bit embarrassed. I felt my cheeks flare as they began to fill with even more blood while I glanced upwards, suddenly very intrigued by my bathrooms ceiling.

"Um..." I was at a loss of words. I didn't know how to talk with her with her in that...position. Not only that, but it was clear she was just relaxing in the shower, so I decided to be rather...blunt.

"We should probably get going soon." I said curtly, still taking extra precaution to avoid glancing at her.

"Oh, uh, one minute." She said as she rolled over from her belly up position and lifted herself up onto her hooves.

I took that as my cue to leave and exited the bathroom just as I heard the sound of running water stop. I made my way to my room first and picked up my saddlebags from its place on the nightstand and trotted back into the living room where I sat for a few minutes.

I heard the sound of the bathroom door, and not much later, Vinyl walked in with her mane still damp, but mostly dried. She looked a lot better than from when she came in my home. The coat of grime was gone, leaving her coat a pristine white, and while the bloodshot look in her eyes was still visible, it was far better than before.

She walked in and gave me a friendly smile before speaking up.

"Do I look more presentable now?" I could hear the joking manner in her voice, but I took the question seriously and gave her my honest opinion, with a little extra something I had been planning.

"Well, you certainly look more presentable, but you're still missing something." I stuck my hoof in my saddlebag and felt around for the thing I had been holding onto for quite some time now.

"What is it?" She asked curiously.

'Well, it's just..." I trailed off, putting more focus into my search.

"Just what?" She asked, clearly getting anxious, but I had found what I was looking for.

"Close your eyes." I said.

"Wha?" She questioned, but after I gave her a look, she sighed and closed her eyes.

I pulled out the pair of purple sunglasses that I had taken quite the precaution to keep up with. I remember Shakes saying they were important to her, so I made them important to me as well.

I got up from my position on the couch and walked over to her, shades in hoof, with an intent clear as day. I placed the shades over her eyes, adjusting them so they properly fit her face, but before I told her to open her eyes, I took the time to admire the look.

"Perfect..." I spoke under my breath. Though I was sure Vinyl would look good regardless of what she was wearing, the glasses just fitted her look perfectly.

"You can open them now." I said as I continued to admire the look.

She felt on her face before her hoof landed on the shades and a smile grew rapidly, making it clear she had realized what had been given to her. The next thing I knew I was wrapped up in a hug.

"Vinyl...w-we should probably get going." I stammered. Vinyl was pleasant to hug regardless, but this 'fresh out of shower' Vinyl was soft to the touch.

She removed herself from me and took a few unsteady steps back to give me some space, not to say that I wanted said space.

"Lead the way!" She said in an energetic tone, as she threw a hoof to the air that threw her off balance, nearly sending her flat on her rump. I gave her a nod, and a snicker, before I headed out the door, Vinyl following close behind.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

We, or I for that matter, settled on a less snobbish place that I would have normally picked, in an attempt to make Vinyl feel more comfortable. The second we settled on a table, Vinyl seemed to collapse in the chair, I had raised a brow at it, but it wasn't that surprising. On the way over to the restaurant she had seemed to stumble quite a bit, once even having to hold onto me for support.

"Are you feeling alright Vinyl?" I asked with concern, she looked up and smiled before waving it off.

"Yeah, just a bit dizzy." I didn't like, nor believe, that answer.

"If you say so..." I said, still not convinced, as I took my seat.

When the waiter came, I ordered a salad and some tea, I get that it's not dinner appropriate but it was good, sue me. Vinyl on the other hand only ordered a beer, and claimed she just wasn't hungry when I asked her about it. After the food came I decided now would be the best time to start asking.

"Vinyl, I know we've been over this before, but I'd still like to ask you a few things about your...'gift'." I used gift as delicately as possible, not exactly wanting to offend her.

"Shoot." She said simply as she struggled to open the bottle cap with both her hooves and her magic.

"Well, do you remember the night you fed on me?" I asked this to both get her attention and because I was still a bit foggy about that night. It seemed to work as she stopped fiddling around with her bottle and looked at me when she told her response.

"Yeah..." She still sounded a bit nervous about the topic, but I didn't blame her.

"Well, why can't I remember much about it?" I asked. She seemed to rub the back of her head with a sheepish smile on her face.

"Well, you see, uh..." She trailed off.

"What?" I asked, rather eager to know.

"Let's just say Vampires have more than just all that strength and stuff." She began.

"They have natural weapons like fangs of course, but also a few...'extras'." The way she said extras chilled me a bit.

"In all honesty, I can't remember much about what happened that night either. The only thing I can recall clearly was the scent of blood...the rest comes in little memories.

"But I...do remember restraining you...and even biting you, but most after that it's mostly a blur." She sounded disappointed in herself and I would have tried to reassure her, but something else was scratching at my mind.

"You said something about Vampires having 'extras'?" I asked, intrigued by something as vague as that, she however, seemed a bit more reluctant.

"Well, yes, and that's what I think the cause is for your memory loss." The look I gave her made it clear I wanted her to elaborate.

"It's kinda like my own special medicine. It will typically just make most the body hypersensitive and make you more...'open' to suggestions along with causing your memories to be a bit hazy about the feeding." As she finished speaking as was both confused as to what she was talking about, and practically on the edge of my seat from her description.

I was pretty sure I was supposed to be mad and probably saying something like "You drugged me?!" but I was actually quite fascinated by the prospect of this, and I was more tempted to see this whole process in action.

"Can you do it now?" I asked suddenly, taking her off guard.

"What?"

"Can you show me? The medicine thing you were talking about." I asked, actually getting excited about just the idea of seeing this in action.

"Well...I guess so." She said as I pushed the free cup of water I received with my tea towards her.

She bent her head down, opened her mouth, and placed her two small canines on the edge of the glass. She then clenched her eyes together tightly, as if she were trying to push something out, and then, slowly but surely, a small golden looking liquid began to slide down the side of the glass. The liquid settled on top of the water as opposed to sinking, which gave me the idea that it was thinner and lighter than water; probably to allow easy passage through the veins of the victim.

She backed her head away from the glass and looked to me, as if for approval.

"That's amazing..." I said as I stared in awe at the liquid before I looked back up to her and smiled. It was mind blowing, it might be because I've never seen something like it before except from snakes in a zoo, but it was truly amazing. The idea of having my own venom was rather appealing. She seemed relieved to see me smile, and in turn, loosened up enough to crack one of her own.

"How does it work?" I asked suddenly, but she seemed more open about it now.

"Well injecting it works well, but it can simply be drunk with any liquid to have the same effects." She said with a smile as she pushed the glass towards the center of the table.

"Might wanna dump that out..." She said with a breathy chuckle.

The rest of dinner passed in a comfortable mood, making friendly conversation throughout the 'meal' as I slowly discovered more about the white mare in front of me. Vinyl, believe it or not, is an extremely simple pony when it comes to standards and entertainment; she was distracted for about five minutes when I gave her a slice of cucumber, pretending it was a UFO as she abducted croutons. Vinyl had given up on opening the bottle of beer, claiming it was 'too hard to open' and near the end of the meal I noticed she was acting rather...off.

"Are you sure you're alright Vinyl?" I asked again.

"Yeah...fine." She sounded exhausted, so I still didn't believe she was alright. She was sweating slightly and she seemed to be rather unfocused throughout the meal, even zoning out occasionally. I raised a brow at her and then my hoof to signal the waiter; I should get her out of the public's eye before something goes wrong. I had learned from my mistakes that when Vinyl starts acting off that it's a sort signal to do something before she does, because when she does something, it most likely won't be good for either of us.

The waiter came with the check just as Vinyl caved, her head landing smack on the table with a thud, shaking the empty glasses, and her body relaxing. The waiter attempted to move to her to help and check if she was alright, but I stopped him before he could. Shakes said: "Don't touch her when she's like that." and even though I had plans to do just that, I was going to be sure it was me who did it.

The waiter seemed reluctant to do so, but he eventually backed away and continued with his duties. I left the right amount of bits, tip included, on the table and set to the task of getting Vinyl home.

When I first laid hoof on her she tensed, but I was expecting it. I pulled on her and eventually had her laid across my back, her head resting on my saddlebags. I got a few looks as I walked out of the restaurant, but that was at the back of my mind at the moment, Vinyl was on top for both her safety and those around her, myself included.

It had become night over the course of the meal; I wasn't that surprised, but it still crossed my mind as I took to the sidewalks on my journey home. The night was cold, but Vinyl's body was warm and her breathing was steady, so I assumed she was probably out cold; most likely a good thing for me, it would make working with her more easier if she was unconscious rather than lusting for blood. Though that doesn't make the process of carrying her anymore easy, carrying her was akin to a sack of sand; which would probably be light for a pony, but it was still heavy. That's not to say she was fat, quite the opposite in fact, she was a rather shapely mare; but enough about that, I should be focused on what's around me, not what's on me.

While I was walking down the sidewalk, still about a good fifteen minutes from home, I heard various sounds. Things like trashcans falling over and the creatures of the night kept my ears company, but the one that stuck out was the sound of hooves. They weren't mine and nopony else was nearby. I stopped to check and see if it was just me and my mind was tricking me, but the seconds I stopped, the hooves continued until they stopped about a second after my own.

"Hello?" I called out, turning my head in various directions to try and get a glimpse of whoever else was out here, but I didn't see anypony.

"Hello." A deep disembodied voice said from behind, causing me to swing my head to its origin. My head came face to face with a black stallion whose facial features were very hard to make out thanks to his black coat and the darkness of night,

"U-uh." I stuttered in surprise.

"You know young lady," He began in his deep and gruff voice. A bright orange light illuminated from his forehead, revealing he was a unicorn.

"It's not safe to be out here alone, especially with an unconscious friend. There are some really mean people out here, you know." He said as he flashed a wicked smile, giving me a lovely view of his sharp distended canine teeth.

I began to take a few steps back in an attempt to distance myself from the dark vampire, but he simply moved forward, closing the gap. I thought of making a run for it, but with Vinyl on my back that was out of the question; the only way I would even begin to have the slightest of chances at getting away was if I ditched Vinyl, and that wasn't happening. I stopped my movement and he stopped his, eyeing me with a mischievous smile.

"So how's this going to be? Will you do what I say," His horn still lit with his devious orange aura. "Or do you need some convincing?" I could tell it wasn't a question, it was a challenge.

I had already been fed on once and I didn't plan on letting that happen again.

I took up a position, not one meant to be challenging, nor to be defensive, but more of one that was ready to dodge. His smug smile turned to a grimace as his horn charged and the glow of orange became more clear. It made a sort of loud buzzing noise as it charged, the noise escalating higher and higher till it was nearly ear piercing, but I held both my focus and my stance; ready to try and avoid anything thrown at me.

That is until I felt the weight on my back suddenly lift.

I turned to see that Vinyl had fell off my back and onto the ground below, and was moaning groggily. While I was looking to Vinyl, the black stallion took advantage of the opening that had been offered to him, and shot a bolt of magic hurdling my way. My eyes went wide as the orange streak flew towards me.

I braced for the impact of the bolt but the impact was blocked by a small, plate like, blue disc.

I turned my head to see Vinyl's horn dimly lit, with herself slowly, but surely, trying to get up. The black stallion didn't quite agree with this, and sent another bolt flying towards Vinyl this time, only to be blocked by the same floating shield once more that seemed to be moving on its own. The unicorn assaulter was beginning to get agitated and unleashed a flurry of the small bolts from earlier so that the shield couldn't block all of them, but Vinyl had fully risen by then.

I watched as the dozens of bolt flew towards me, utterly awestruck by the sight, until I felt Vinyl stick her head between my front and back legs and positioned me on her back, much like I had with her. The blue shield had moved to block the first of the bolts, but the many others that followed got past it and were heading straight for me and Vinyl. I clinched my eyes shut for the impact just as Vinyl positioned her head directly at the oncoming barrage of magic.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I opened my eyes to the familiar sight of my apartment building in front of me, only a few feet away. I blinked once or twice to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

'I could have sworn I was just about to be pulverized by magic.' I thought as I took a look around, my eyes landing on the back I was on.

"Vinyl?" I asked.

She turned her head, glasses glinting when she turned.

"Yeah?" I froze. It was that voice, but she wasn't doing anything except carrying me on her back. I was cautious, these were uncharted waters.

She let out a snicker.

"Your face is adorable when you're thinking." She turned her head back around as she continued for the apartments.

"Wha?" Was all I could let out, I was dumbstruck by this. Usually when Vinyl used that seductive voice she was trying to feed on me, but now she had the perfect opportunity, but instead was carrying me back home.

I didn't know what happened, but if my memory serves correct, it seemed that Vinyl had saved me...

Again

Author's Note

Next update will be a little behind schedule, just thought I'd tell you guys that.

The Hunt Begins

*~~~*~~~*~~~* ...Bigs... *~~~*~~~*~~~*

I walked down the main hall of the castle of my master, the dim lights leaving most the details of this place I visit almost daily indistinguishable. I had come here to report to my master about one of our agent's failed attempts to subdue either Vinyl and or her new friend Octavia. I knew he wouldn't exactly be happy with this news, and I hated that it was my job to tell him; he always gets mad at me and that is not very pleasant.

All of that aside, I was pissed at him.

For days now, he had been expending far too many resources on his search for this one mare; sending out nearly thirty scouts this morning to do nothing more than locate her and report back to him with said location. It was just plain irrational and stupid, but what truly made me mad, was the fact that I didn't know why. Maybe, just maybe, I would be a little more motivated to find this mare if he would just give me a reason.

I planned on bringing this up to him, riding on the sliver of a chance he would tell me his motives.

I reached a spot about five feet from his 'throne' where he always sat back turned to me, never revealing his face to anypony. I had never seen his face; I had imagined what it was, something scary and frightening or something suave and handsome, but always having a sinister appeal to it. I had heard that only the highest of his helpers were allowed to see his face, and even though I had been here longer than almost all of the others, I still had never even seen his face.

"Master." I waited for him to ask for me to speak, as I have always done.

"Yes?" He replied. This was his way of asking me to speak.

"One of your scouts, Dark Flyer, encountered your two targets, and resulted in a failure." He remained silent, as he always did when I told him anything, whether it be good or bad, his silence was always the answer I got.

"That is...unfortunate." He said in his slate tone, showing no emotion at all.

Now was my chance, my chance to ask him, my chance to finally find a reason to all this. It wasn't only for my sake, I knew that all the other soldiers and scouts wanted to know just as badly. Their morale was low, thinking that the repetition of the task was a form of punishment, or a way to show how useless they are. I was nervous, but I would stick up for my brothers and sisters, even if it was against my master, for he was no brother of mine.

"May I ask a question Master?" I said in a polite tone. I wasn't stupid enough to show my true feelings through my voice, it was suicide.

"Of course my loyal subject." His response took me off guard, it was unnaturally soothing, but this would not cause me to falter.

"May I ask why you are devoting so much time, labor, and resources into this mediocre task?" Though my tone was firm and strong, my true feelings were nervous and fearful.

He was deathly silent for the longest time before answering.

"Bigs...you have served me for how long now?" I was starting to shake, but I managed an answer.

"Almost ten years sir." He had been there for as long as I could remember, posing as my father figure, and those ten years felt like far more than what they were.

"Then you know not to question my methods." His tone was a frightful one, unnaturally calm and soothing, but still as deathly as ever.

"I do sir, but many of your reasons I am capable of seeing; I see no reason behind this constant tracking." By now I was on the verge of panic, but the thought of my brethren kept me standing.

His 'throne' turned and he faced me, though his face was indistinguishable, I could see his white coat; far more than most have ever seen.

"You know nothing of my reasons." His tone was venom, yet still calm. I stiffened at this statement, not because of his deathly tone, or this intimidating situation, but because of the possibility of what he said being true. What if I didn't know any of his reasons? I stood there stunned from that fact alone. I had always been able to see some logical reason in his schemes; Information, knowledge, wealth, power, they were all my assumptions on his moves, but this constant surveillance and no action was a blank.

He stepped down from his throne and looked dead into my eyes, and I looked dead into his, his cold, piercing, red eyes. They were not like any I have ever seen on a vampire, most of the eyes of vampire's were vivid and lively shades of red; his were just, well, dead. They showed no form of joy, or anything for that matter.

He stared straight through me, looking past all blockades of confidence, and straight into my core; It was bone chilling.

"Bigs...Bring me what I want; Bring me Vinyl Scratch." His tone shook all courage from me, and I faltered, turning as quick as I could just to get away from those eyes. If that's what his most faithful followers had to see, I didn't want to be one of them.

But I still had loyalty to him, he had given me much, and I planned to repay it in full. I planned to bring him what seemed to drive him mad. I planned to bring him...

Vinyl Scratch.

*~~~*~~~*~~~* ...Octavia... *~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Vinyl you can let me down now." I said as we entered my apartment, myself still slumped over Vinyl's back.

"Awww, do I have to?" She whined.

"Yes, Vinyl, you do." I said in a firm tone. She sighed and grumbled under her breath, but lowered her body so that my hooves could touch the floor, and allow me to get off her back. It was strange that she had actually asked if she had to let me down, but what was more strange was that she listened when I told her that she did.

Vinyl let out a yawn and made her way over to the couch, lifting her glasses to rub her weary looking eyes. I could now see that they were indeed dilated, giving me more of a reason to believe she was in that mood again.

"Well, I'm beat, so I'll probably hit the sack." She said as she headed for the couch.

She settled down on the couch, but continued to shift her position every so often, the couch squeaking underneath her weight. I knew that that couch was very uncomfortable; always leaving a crick in your neck and your back after a night of sleep. She deserved a bit better than a trashy old couch, at least a proper bed. The problem was that there was only one bed in my apartment; my bed. I debated giving her the bed and I take the couch, but I wasn't particularly wanting to sleep on that bed of nails.

'Maybe we can just share the bed.' I thought to myself. It seemed like a good idea, that way we could both awake without a lump in our necks, but the problem was going to be bringing this up to her.

"I know that the couch is rather uncomfortable, so you could just....um." I felt my cheeks beginning to slowly turn red. It was weird that I was inviting her to sleep with me.

Vinyl stopped her fluffing of the couch pillow and turned to look at me, at first with a look of confusion, but then with a sly smile.

"I could what?" She said with an innocent tone, pretending to be oblivious to what I could be talking about.

"I was thinking...that maybe you could..." I trailed off again, it wasn't any easier saying this with Vinyl looking at me with a wide grin than it was when she wasn't looking at me at all.

"Yeesss?" She sang, I felt my eye begin to twitch.

"I was thinking that you could...sleep in my bed." I said quietly. She put a hoof up to her ear and tilted her head closer to me.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that." She mocked at me. I sighed and tried again.

"You could just...sleep with me." I said in a normal voice, luckily, she was done milking it and acknowledged what I said.

"Oh of course I will sleep with you Tavi!" She said cheerfully as she brought me into a hug.

All I could do was sigh.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Vinyl had fallen asleep on the bed just about the same time I told her she could use the bed, but I had stayed up for a bit longer. I was actually just going to get a glass of water and maybe take a quick shower, but I actually settled on sitting on the couch for awhile and drinking a cup of tea. Rickety as it may be, it was still about the only place to sit besides the dinner table.

'Vinyl seems to be in control of that feeding thing...well at least she did just a while ago.' I though as I stared at a wall and finished off my tea; my eyes growing heavy.

'I'm still not entirely sure how that works...' I thought to myself. It was true, it seemed like she was in control last time, but the times before she seemed driven by some force.

I let out a yawn that I took as a sign to get some rest and began to head towards the bedroom. My head was hazy as I made my way back to the bedroom, and I nearly tripped heading down the hall, but when I entered the room I went directly to the bed. I patted the bed first to see if Vinyl was there, but she wasn't and had chosen to occupy the other side of the bed. I smiled and climbed into my side of the bed, happy that I didn't have to go around to get to the other side.

I was lying in bed, and even though it was comfortable and my eyes were heavy, I couldn't seem to get to sleep. I tossed and turned for awhile until I hit Vinyl, resulting in a groggy moan from her. I froze immediately, and began to pray that I didn't wake her. I'd rather not have to deal with an irritated, sleepy, and hungry vampire.

Luckily she didn't wake, but she did roll over, and half her body draped over me.

I froze again, I could feel my heartbeat spike, but I remained as still as a statue. I realized she must be a heavy sleeper if me hitting her in her sleep didn't wake her, so I relaxed a bit, but I was still tensed. She moaned once more, this time nuzzling into my back and squeezing me gently. I was still reluctant, but I began to relax after she did this. Regardless of whether I still wasn't sure about our 'relationship', I couldn't deny how comfortable this was. Eventually my body was relaxed, Vinyl still gripped loosely around me, and my eyes were closing.

I smiled for the last time before drifting off into sleep, happy that I wasn't alone again, but that I had somepony next to me to this time.

*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*

I looked in through a window from the top of a building that was across the street. My target was right in front of me, yet she was still so far away. There were many ways to go about capturing her, many of them could either be a smashing success or a deathly failure. I needed a way that would undoubtedly work in catching her. I had tried putting her into a frenzy with that mare friend of hers, but that only got them separated for a few days, and in those few days she seemed to go off the grid.

That mare was helpful to us, as long as they were friends and they were living together, we knew where Vinyl would be. She was like a tracking device, and a perfect tool for us.

Vinyl also had another one that she was with frequently, it was that mare from the bar. I think her name was Shakes, but regardless I knew that Shakes knew an awful lot about the Vampire kind, things ranging from how to befriend them all the way to how to kill them without them even knowing. I was beginning to suspect she was not just the average pony, but I had nothing to back that up except for that she knew a bit more than all the others.

She was still an exploitable resource, and a very good resource at that.

I hopped down from the top of the building, landing on the sidewalk below with a silent thump. Vampires have hardened bones and a natural ability to fall from tall heights; somewhat like a cat.

I began a casual trot along the sidewalk, my new target clear. My course was heading straight to the bar, the place where all of this began.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I was in front of the bar, waiting for my comrades to show up to help me in subduing my target. They were supposed to be here nearly ten minutes ago, but I was used to them being late by now. It was natural for them to be 'fashionably late', which wasn't always a bad thing since it gave me more time to scout out the area and find hidden entrances and tolls to use, but since I already knew this building inside out, that upside wasn't there.

I heard the sound of hooves and I turned to see my three partners coming down the sidewalk, a casual demeanor in their strut.

"Hey boss, sorry we're late." Styles said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

They had been my partners for as long as I could remember, we were assigned to a group on the first day, and even if they weren't the brightest, they sure had a way of growing on me.

"At least you're here." I huffed with a small smirk before turning back to the bar.

"Are you all ready?" I asked as I took a look back at the three who nodded.

I turned back to the bar and knocked on the door.

"Taking the casual approach are we?" styles asked with a raised brow, I didn't respond, I only listened for anything inside the bar. A few moments passed before a voice spoke up.

"Bar's closed, come back tomorrow night." I recognized the voice as Shakes, though I didn't particularly remember her, I knew her voice clearly.

I knocked on the door once more.

"Fangs out, we want her to know we mean business." I heard the light sound of my comrades bearing there fangs, the sound similar to a sword being drawn, only much shorter and much more quiet.

The door opened and Shakes came into view.

"Look pal, bar's closed, come back tomor-" She stopped as she finally noticed it was me, but I think what made her shut it was the view of my partners and their fangs.

"Hello...Shakes." I said as I cracked a twisted smile, making sure she got a good view of my fangs.

She blinked once before slamming the door shut.

I didn't move right away, and I even heard her start to pile things against the door. I let out a small laugh, it was always fun to see when they tried to stop you. They would go anywhere from piling bookcases onto the door to hiding under the bed sheets.

I turned and nodded to my boys, they nodded and return and split into three different directions. One going up onto of the roof, one going around to the back entrance, the other going to a side window. They weren't the strongest, not by a long shot, but they were strong enough to get the job done.

I stayed in front of the bar, trotting up to the bar door and giving at a few knocks to test the thickness.

'Lucky me' I thought to myself 'It's only about an inch thick.'

I smiled wickedly as I drew a hoof back, lining it up with the dead middle of the door.

"Here we go." I said to myself under my breath as I shot my hoof forwards, and drove it into the door.

The door nearly caved in on the first punch, but it held strong. My hoof had gone through the door entirely and landed into the back of a leather bar stool. I pulled my hoof back out with little effort.

'I'll give her props on building a barricade' I thought to myself.

I re-lined my hoof once more, intent on breaking the door altogether this time.

I drove my hoof back into the hole I had put into the door, this time backing it with more strength than the first. I felt the stool go flying and most everything behind as well. I pulled back out for the last time before driving my hoof back into another section of the door. This time, the door burst, a hole forming in the cent of the door.

I smiled wickedly as I climbed through the hole and heard the sounds of my comrades making their way into the building as well.

The hunt had begun.

Author's Note

I don't know how I did on this one, I was a bit pressured on time so it might not be the best.

Hunting Season

*~~~*~~~* ...Octavia... *~~~*~~~*

I was startled awake by a loud knocking at the door and I felt Vinyl tense up as well.

'Who could that be?' I thought to myself as I maneuvered my way out of Vinyl's grip.

I got out of bed, leaving Vinyl their by herself, and made my way to the door. I noticed on the way over to the door that it was still very dark outside and began to wonder what time it was, and who would come at it. When I reached the door I peered through the peep hole and saw Shakes's sister, Sweeps. She had this rather pained and worried expression on her face so I opened the door.

"Sweeps?"

"O-Octavia, y-you have to come quick! T-they're at the bar!" She said feverishly while all I gave her was a confused stare. I was about to ask her who it was, but a voice behind me beat me to it.

"Who's at the bar?" I heard as I turned to see Vinyl standing in the doorway of the hall, her glasses missing from their usual spot on her head, with an attentive look on her face.

"I don't know, I was about to go in, b-but I heard Shakes on the inside and it sounds bad!" She said as her eyes began to well with tears. I moved to comfort her as I brought her into my house and sat her on the couch. Though I didn't know her, I did have enough of a heart to comfort her.

I saw Vinyl start towards the doorway and move past Sweeps and I, a look of both determination and anger rising in her eyes, accompanied by a small frown on her mouth. I was confused why it would only be a frown, I would have expected her to be gritting her teeth with rage, or just something more than what she was doing.

I knew where she was going, and I had a good guess on what she was going to do with whoever was in the bar, so I got up from my spot on the couch and started towards the door myself just in time to see Vinyl turn around.

"And just where do you think you're going?" She asked with a cocked brow as she blocked the exit.

"With you, to make sure you don't do something you regret." I answered truthfully with a small smile on my face.

She started to open her mouth to protest, but closed it and shrugged. Maybe she saw some truth in the implications of my statement; that she probably would do something that she regrets and also saw some use in bringing me. Though she did hesitate for a moment before speaking.

"Okay, but keep out of harms way, I don't want you getting hurt." As cheesy as it was, it was still warming that she wanted to protect me. I nodded and we headed out the apartment and into the night to see what was going on at the bar.

When we got into the elevator to go downstairs, she turned to me.

"You know, for some pony that I figured to be an uptight prick, you sure did turn out differently than I expected." I turned and gave her a look of my own.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She shrugged.

"It's just that when I first saw you in my bar, a low and run down club, that I figured you must not have as high standards as most ponies up here in Canterlot."

"I prefer more reasonable set of expectations rather than being one of those that think they can't live life unless it's the high life." I stated firmly, getting a grin out of Vinyl.

"So you like to be wealthy, but still capable of getting by with less?" She asked, pretty much summing up how I lived now, though I wasn't particularly wealthy, I could survive off of less.

"You're a fine one to talk about wealth Vinyl." I said, remembering that whole building Vinyl had bought from underneath the symphony.

"What?" She asked in confusion.

"My friends did some digging on you, I didn't know about it and I didn't approve of it, but they said that you had an agent, and even bought a building for quite the sum of bits." She thought on it for a second before laughing.

"What are you laughing at? Was it not correct information?" I asked, wondering what was so funny.

"Oh no, it's true, I was just remembering that whole thing. Trust me, funny stuff." She said as she wiped a tear from her eye.

Now I was totally confused.

"What?" Was all I could say. Vinyl looked back at me with another wicked smile.

"You might know some of me Tavi," She began ", but you're far from knowing everything about me." She said with a wink as we took the rest of the ride down the elevator, and most of the walk to the bar for that matter, in silence.

I was just stuck thinking on her words: "You might know some of me Tavi, but you're far from knowing all of me."

I had spent an entire night and a few extra hours just learning about her, either she was far more complex than she appears or she was bluffing, but I had a feeling she was far more complicated than I could comprehend.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

We arrived at the bar and stared at it for a moment, silently debating whether or not to actually go in or not, but I knew that Vinyl was bound to go in if Shakes was as close a friend as she appeared. However, the carnage on the outside of the building was both enough to scare away any onlookers and enough to make it look like tiny tornado had hit.

"What do you think happened?" I asked as I looked at the variety of bar stools and trashcans that littered the entrance alone. Vinyl shrugged as she walked up and nudged on of the trashcans with her hoof so it rolled.

"It looks like something big went down here. No way one pony alone could get into the bar and do this much damage on the outside as well." She said as she turned to inspect a broken window.

"What makes you say that?" I asked, curious about how she would know that.

A sudden crash sang out before she could answer that caught both of our attentions.

"Let's go see." Vinyl said before bolting towards the door, leaving me in the dust.

I tried to stop her by shouting after her, but I fell on deaf ears since she was already inside. I sighed and started my own, much less hasty, trot into the bar.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The first thing I saw in the bar were three slumped over stallions, lying on the ground limp, the same ones from the time in the ally. Vinyl was also looking at the stallions and even went as far as to tip one over to get a better look at him. The second thing I noticed was the massive amount of destruction in the bar; Bottles broken on the floor, tables flipped, windows broken, and even one of the booths had been ripped out. The last thing I noticed wasn't exactly obvious, but it did catch my eye.

Three small black poles stuck out of the wall, only about half a foot long.

I went over to the wall where they stuck out of the wall, and further investigation revealed them to be arrows stuck half an inch deep into the wooden wall. I wondered what or who could have put these here, but decided to call over Vinyl.

"Hey Vinyl, mind coming here for a second?" I called out as I managed to pull one of the arrows from the wall with some effort.

"What's up?" She said casually as I held up the arrow for her to see.

I found this sticking out of the wall, I realize it's an arrow, but do you mind giving me anything extra?" She gave the arrow a quizzical look and wrapped her magic around it.

I realized that she could know absolutely nothing about it, and could be just a regular arrow, but I was confused why they would be in the bar, and sticking out of the wall as if they were shot.

After about a minute, something clicked in her mind.

"Oh! I've seen these before!" She shouted as if she had just remembered the answer to a hard question.

"These are used by some guys who hunt Vampires! I met some awhile back; though these arrows are really out of date and old, literally useless unless you really know how shoot a bow and arrow or a cross bow." She said as she carefully examined the bolt closer.

The sudden sound of wood being broken came from down the hallway near the bar. Vinyl moved in front of me protectively as a faint glow began to surround her horn. Shakes was suddenly thrown into the room, skirting across the floor until she landed in the middle of room.

"I really underestimated you, you know." A familiar deep voice spoke from down the hall.

Vinyl ran over to Shakes and bent by her side. Shakes was still breathing, but her eyes were clenched in pain and blood rolled down from her head.

"You managed to take out my three lackeys easily, and even gave me a run for my money, so I'll give you one last chance." The deep voice said as it came closer to the room we ere standing in.

Vinyl got up from Shakes's side and looked towards the hallway just in time to see that bouncer that she fired walk in as he pulled an arrow from his shoulder.

"Tell me how to lure Vinyl, and I'll make your death qui-" His sentence cut off as he looked up, eyes landing directly on Vinyl.

A wicked smile formed on his face as his blood dripped from his wounds. I noticed his blood was much darker than the blood I was used to; it had a deep red, almost black look to it, but still recognizable as red if you looked closely.

"I see that it was easier than I thought." He spoke with a little chuckle at the end.

"Bigs..." I heard Vinyl speak softly as she charged her horn and quickly shot a bright bolt at him.

Bigs side stepped the shot that hit the wall right next to him, leaving a black burn mark on the wooden wall. He took a look at the mark before turning back to Vinyl with a slight chuckle.

"Hasty there aren't we?" He said with his wicked smile still plastered on his face. He turned to me and the smile only widened.

"Oh? And you even brought Miss Melody along too? How cute." He said with a chuckle and even blew me a kiss.

I cringed with disgust from the gesture.

Vinyl didn't hesitate to shoot another bolt at him, only to have him sidestep it once more.

"Shoot all you want, your bolts are, and always will be, too slow." He said in a more serious tone, but the joking one still present.

Vinyl's only response was a growl-ish type sound.

"You know what, why don't you go ahead and come along with me quietly Vinyl?" Bigs said as he propped himself up against the bar, toying with a bottle of beer.

"Forget about it." Vinyl spat in response as she charged up her horn once more.

Bigs picked up the bottle with his hoof and broke it over the bar table.

Vinyl shot a bolt at the bottle, but Bigs was quick to move it out of the way and start a run in my direction with a crazy look in his eyes. He jumped towards me with the bottle's jagged end pointed at me, but something else slammed into the side of me and tackled me to the ground, avoiding Bigs entirely.

I looked up in a daze to see that it was Vinyl that had tackled me. I didn't have much time to wonder how exactly she had managed to move from Shakes to me before Bigs could because a sudden sharp whistle got both of our attentions.

Bigs held the jagged bottle dangerously close to Shakes's neck with a smug smile on his face.

"I'll ask one more time before I start taking lives; Give up now and come along quietly." He said as he pressed the bottle into Shakes's neck, causing little trickles of blood to begin to spill.

I saw Vinyl tense up, and Bigs saw it as well.

"Oh? A bit thirsty are we? Well come and take a sip, I'm sure she won't mind." He spoke. "I know how you get when you see blood, this mare told me all about it. Claiming you got "Uncontrollable", and frankly, that intrigues me." He said as he dropped his bottle to the ground, only to pick up a tall glass.

He put the glass up to the wound in Shakes's neck, letting the blood slowly seep into the glass until about half an inch was inside the bottle.

"Come now, and show me your inner monster!" He tossed the glass up in the air and turned around, hitting it with his back hoof and sending blood and glass shards towards me and Vinyl.

Vinyl got in front of me and took the both the shards and blood. It wasn't to long after that that she was on the floor kneeling slightly.

"Vinyl..." Was all I could say.

Ever since she had met me, all she seemed to do was protect me, whether it be from her or something else. I was amazed that a lowly street mare, one that I would expect to hate the wealthy, to put her life on the line so much for me. I knew what Bigs was trying to do; he was trying to get Vinyl in her feeding mood to maybe send her after me again. I couldn't do much since this was a battle of strength and speed far greater than my own.

I noticed a single drop of sweat bead down from her forehead. She quickly wiped it away, but I knew that she was getting the lust for blood.

"Come on now, I'm growing bored, show me this beast that your friend here described." He said as he planted a hoof firmly on Shakes's head, making her groan out in pain with the little time of consciousness she had left.

Vinyl's coat was visibly tensing up, the hairs standing on end as she hunched over in a position that looked similar to a Pegasus before they took flight.

"Do it." Bigs said, the joking tone gone, making it sound more like a command.

Vinyl charged forwards and tried to tackle Bigs, moving at a dizzying speed, but Bigs only side stepped and she crashed into the wall behind him. A large crack in the wooden wall was left when Vinyl dropped downwards from it.

Bigs made a 'tsk' sound with his tongue as he walked over slowly until his body stood above her, his smile was gone and was replaced with a small frown.

"Shame," He began. "I was really hoping for a good fight. Your friend over there put up a better one than you did." He said as he knelt over her body.

"I don't know why he says you're so powerful, I mean, compared to me you're nothing but a weakling." He got up from his spot over her and turned his attention towards me.

I felt a shiver run down my spine when he began a slow trot over to me.

He got about half way across the room before he spoke.

"I think I'll be taking you with me, you seem like you would make a nice dinner for my brothers and I. They do tend to crave your 'high and mighty type' so much." He spoke with a new found devious smile.

My eyes went wide as I began to scoot backwards, trying to distance myself from him as much as possible. He continued to walk, and eventually, my cowardly tactic came to an end when I hit the wall. He kept walking until he was right in front of me.

"But you know what I think?" He asked as he knelt down so he was face to face.

"I think that I should just tear you limb from limb right here." He said as he bared his fangs and pressed his hoof into the front of my neck, closing my windpipe.

His mouth came closer and closer until the two sharp canines pressed lightly on my neck.

"I'm going to make you scream." He whispered as his fangs pierced my neck, a small pinch of pain followed by a warm trickle of blood dripping down my neck.

I felt the world growing dark, the lack of oxygen in my body finally catching up with me. I tried to move his hoof, but it was useless, it was as if he were made of cement. My eyes began to shut just as a voice rung out.

"Stop." The voice echoed throughout the room, and I recognized whose it was.

"Just...just take me, but let them go." It was Vinyl's.

"Vinyl...don't" I was still out of breath from that bouncers hoof and my protest only came out as a whisper.

Bigs lifted his head head and hoof before he turned to face Vinyl. I peered around him to look as well.

She stood with small scratches and cuts on her body, probably from the impact with the wood and the glass that she jumped in front of. Her lip was busted, leaving thin trail of darkish blood trickling down her chin and dripping onto the floor. Her eyes, however, were not dilated, which from what I knew, meant she wasn't in her feeding mood. She looked pretty bad, but she was still able to move.

"Ah, I see you finally saw how pointless it was." Bigs said as he walked over to her.

"Or maybe it was something else, but that was then and this is now." He said with a cocky smile

"Ready to go then?" He asked as he finally reached her.

Vinyl was visibly pissed, and I swore she was ready to knock the life out of him, but she reluctantly nodded at him.

"Good, we best not keep him waiting then; He will be so happy when I show you to him." He piped as he pushed her out the door, and on the way out, picked up another bottle and crashed it over the doorway, probably for safety.

I finally realized what was happening, he was taking Vinyl. I worked too hard to get her back, she can't go now. I won't let her.

"Vinyl." I called out as I tried to move, but the place where Bigs had pressed into my neck still had me breathless.

I sat there as she left, the one mare that I had grown to actually like, and maybe love, left. I didn't know where she was going, but if it was with that bouncer, it could only be bad.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Author's Note

Hey, sorry if it's a bit confusing to read.

The Beginning of a Nightmare

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"So lovely to see you again Octavia." Wilfred said with a warm smile as he opened the door and stepped aside, letting me into the large estate of my parents.

I gave him a smile in return and slipped past him.

I had come here for my father since he was able to find Vinyl astonishingly fast last time, but whether he could do that again, I did not know.

"Not that I don't mind you coming in at nearly four in the morning, but do you have a good reason for coming this late?" He said in a joking tone as he rubbed the bags from his eyes and shut the door gently.

I sighed and decided not to hide my reasons and just get it over with.

"Well...I lost her again." He first gave me a quizzical look and then cocked a brow.

"What? Lost who?" He asked as he moved over to the couch.

"You know...Vinyl." I admitted.

He didn't really seem to care, but he did acknowledge her name; he was pretty much unfazed by it. He did give me this sort of look before sighing and speaking up.

"I take it you'll want to speak with your father?" I gave him a nod and he got up.

"He's up in his bedroom, do you still remember where it's at?" He asked.

I recalled some old memories, getting a hazy memory of what his door looked like and where it was, and then nodded.

"Good, I'll start making some coffee for him, maybe for me as well. Do you want any?" I shook my head and he trotted lazily off into the kitchen, leaving me alone in the lounge.

I sighed and turned towards where I thought my dad's room was and began my journey into the dark depths of the house.

"Wrong hall Octavia!" I heard Wilfred call out from the kitchen.

I blushed a bit before turning to the other hall and delving in.

"Other one!" He called once more.

I directed myself to the last remaining doorway and finally, without any interruption from the kitchen, went up to search for my fathers room.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I finally arrived at a distinct wooden door that was outlined with fancy carvings, I presumed that this was my father and mother's room, though my mother had never liked to sleep in the room, and was usually never in it, so it was pretty much just my fathers.

I swallowed and gave the door a few quick knocks.

I heard some shuffling inside inside the room and eventually the door opened, revealing my very disheveled looking father.

"Octavia?" He asked in a sleepy tone as he rubbed his eyes.

"Uh, hey dad." I scuffed my hoof along the floor as I looked idly at the ground, it was pretty awkward and rude to just wake him up, especially at this hour, but I wasn't just going to let this whole trip be for nothing.

He seemed to still be rubbing his eyes, as if this was just a dream or something, but eventually came to realized that it wasn't.

"Did you need something sweetheart?" He asked as he blinked a few times.

"You're probably going to want to sit down for this, Wilfred is already making you some coffee." I said with a nervous chuckle on the end.

He sighed and started downstairs.

"You're probably right."

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I had given my father all the time he needed to get his coffee and a comfortable and place in the kitchen. I did, after all, have a few hours to spare until the sun even began to rise, but I planned to leave once I got the information from my dad.

"So what is it you want to talk about at an hour like this?" He said in a sarcastically joking tone.

He probably knew why I was here, but then again, he might not, so I decided to tell him.

"Well..." I took some time to work up the words. "I lost her again."

"Lost who?" Well, I guess he didn't know the reason then.

"Vinyl." I said. He tensed up ever so slightly at the mention of the name, I was beginning to think he knew a bit more than I thought he did.

"Oh." Was all he had to say. The room got suddenly quiet, aside from the sip my father took every so often from his coffee. I was beginning to grow impatient, and decided to push the matter.

"So, do you think you could help me?" He didn't respond immediately, but took a second to collect himself, as if playing out the conversation in his head before speaking.

"Octavia...I think you should stop looking for her." He said, his voice coming off as rather cold.

That took me off guard.

"W-what?" I stuttered, not expecting my fathers rather cold sounding response.

"Look," He sighed outwardly. "This mare...she's just trouble to almost anyone she's around. I understand that you have quite an attachment to her, but listen to me Octavia."

"She's trouble." He finished speaking and took a sip from his mug.

I had never heard my father speak like that, he was typically outgoing and friendly and spoke only about the good sides of ponies, even if most hated them. He didn't speak harshly, it wasn't even in his voice, it seemed like he was speaking logically, as if what he said is fact. He didn't even know her, so even if he didn't like her, I was still going to help her. She saved my life twice, the least I could do was try and save hers once.

"So will you help me?" I asked, looking at him with pleading eyes.

He was my only chance on where to find Vinyl, or at least which direction to go in. Of course, I could just go back home and waste eight hours doing nothing until Shakes arrived, but I didn't want to let anymore horrific images fill my head.

He looked back at me, I could see this look in his eyes; a look of consideration, and of desperation. He was probably worried about me, especially if he knew what exactly I was getting myself into, but that was expected.

"Fine." He admitted with a sigh. "Darn those eyes..." I heard him grumble under his breath afterwards.

I smiled at him widely as he got up from the table in the kitchen.

"Give me a moment to go through what I can and I'll see what I can find." I trotted over and gave him a kiss on the cheek

"Thanks dad." I said happily.

"I hope you have someone to go with you?" He asked with a cocked brow.

I said yes automatically, not taking the question seriously, I was happy that he had agreed to help me.

"Alright, get comfortable and I'll see what I can do."

*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*

It had been about half an hour after my little chat with my master that one of the guards had come down and told me I was needed upstairs. When I had asked why they only told me that he called for me, this was the typical way of say that it was the master calling, and that it was mandatory.

I had come up to the sight of the back of his chair.

"You called for me sir?" I asked to the back of my master's throne.

He turned around with a wide smile on his face, a very unusual sight for him.

"Yes, I'm happy to tell you that you're getting a new assignment."

'Whoa, he is...happy?' I thought briefly to myself, until I saw him looking at me expectantly, apparently wanting a response from me; another unusual sight from him.

"M-my new assignment?" He usually gave me a break in between assignments, though I didn't need them, they were more like times I sat aside for emotional release.

"Yes, and this one won't be one of those lowly simpleton missions either." He said.

'Finally!' I shouted in my head, though I chose not to express that outwardly.

"Something of more importance?" I asked with both my hopes and anticipations growing.

"Oh yes, something of much more importance. In fact, it carries the lives of many of your brethren." This caught my interest, above my importance was the importance of my brethren as a whole. I was one, they were many.

"It's been brought to my attention that some of my followers have been killed whilst entering and exiting our domain, I have reason to believe it's a party of vampire hunters, and if my instinct is right, there will be around twenty of them." He began.

"I want you to put a stop to this."

"Sir, I know that you believe in my abilities, but twenty hunters? That's suicidal on my part." I might have been able to take out two or three on my own, but twenty would kill me before I even got near them.

And if these hunters were up to date, unlike that bar mare, I might as well just be the dirt beneath them.

"Oh I'm well aware of the odds, which is why I'm sending you with back up." He said with a devious smile that nobody would trust.

"How many?" I asked. I would estimate about twenty of our own go, just to make the odds even and such, we could even stretch ten if we played our cards right; any less and we would be on the losing side of the fight.

"Oh, only one." He said with a sly smile.

I only blinked. 'He must be joking...he has to be.' I thought to myself, not believing that he was serious. Even one of his highly trained personal guards couldn't dispatch twenty hunters with ease. Of course the probability of the end of all this depended on how trained the hunters were; if they were rookies I might even be able to kill them all, but if they were trained even in the slightest it would cause problems. If they were veterans, forget about it.

"You might have wondered what I was doing in the last hour." He began.

I wasn't at all.

"Well, let's just say I was getting our guest a little more comfortable to our way of life."

What? Did he mean Vinyl? Was he sending her? You might as well just kill both me and her and get it over with then. No way that pipsqueak could take out twenty, even with my help.

"You mean the one I brought you?" I asked.

"Oh yes. She's come along quite fine." He said with a dark chuckle.

I was about to ask what he meant, but he beat me to it with a sharp whistle.

I heard the sound of light hoof steps come from behind me, and I turned to see the white mare that I had brought coming up to join me at my side, but she looked different. She wasn't full of the same 'aura' as before; she was lively at first, even if she was mad at me I could tell she had sparks of energy, but now she seemed...well not that. It was as if all the energy was gone and replaced by something different, and not a good kind of different.

"Bigs, I believe you've met your new partner already?"

New partner?! Is he crazy?!

"Huh?" Was all that could make it out of my mouth.

"She will be helping you with your mission, I don't want to hear any flak from you, so don't protest or complain." He said with a more serious demeanor.

"H-How did you get her to h-help?" I stuttered. A dream was more believable than this, she had quite the gripe with me after the whole threatening of her friend thing, and I had a hard time believing she would just jump at the chance of helping me. There was no way he talked her into this in under an hour, it just wasn't possible.

"Let us leave certain stones unturned shall we?" And that was the end of it, no answer, just some vague replacement that still left me as lost as I was before.

"Now I want you to go, complete the mission." I nodded slowly and started towards the door, still shocked by the revelation that my former target was now my 'partner'. He had to have done something sinister, and I didn't like the looks of this.

Something was wrong, very wrong.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

My father had been wherever it was that he had gone for about half an hour now and I predicted the sun would begin to peek along the horizon within about two to three hours. I didn't mind it, I would still be getting ahead of Shakes. I had done just about everything imaginable in the kitchen, I had ate food, played with the food, looked at the table, played with the table, you name it and I had pretty much done it all. It had ended when Wilfred had come in and offered to play a game of cards, I had accepted, even if I didn't know anything about cards it was better than doing nothing. Of course Wilfred won easily, but I was a good sport about it and we continued to play until my father came back in.

"Well, I have a lead." He said tiredly, though still more awake than he was a few hours before hoof.

I turned to look at him as Wilfred clean up the cards and exited the room, he probably realized this wasn't his place to listen in on, but I was sure he would be anyway. It had taken him long enough to get a single lead, though I wasn't complaining, at least he found a lead.

I smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks dad." I said with genuine thanks.

"Don't thank me yet." He said bluntly.

I cocked a brow at him.

"The lead points in the direction of the Everfree; a very deep and abandoned part of the Everfree." He said, stressing his words.

'The Everfree? What's in that Celestia forsaken forest that that bouncer would want?' I thought in my mind.

"There is no telling what, or even who, is out there; abandoned doesn't always check out when filed. Not only that, but it's going to take you a couple of hours just to get to the Everfree." He said grimly.

"It's okay father, I'll handle myself." I said, starting to doubt myself and my capabilities.

He turned and looked deep into my eyes, it was rather unnerving the way his eyes looked; tired and baggy with the beginning looks of being bloodshot.

"I trust you Octavia, but I don't think it would be wise to go alone, so I hope that escort of yours you said you had is a good one, you might need him." He said.

'Her.' I mentally corrected him. 'And she might not even be coming. I added.

"I assure you father, they are good at their job." It was a half lie, but I had a feeling it reassured him a great deal.

I saw his face visibly lighten.

"I don't know what has gotten into you lately," He started. "You used to be a shut in, only coming out to go to one of your concerts or one of your friends events, now look at you; braving the Everfree to go and find someone you hardly know." He was joking I could tell, but there was that sense of truth behind his words.

"I won't try and keep you any longer nor will I try and change your mind about this, but I want you to be safe out there; don't take any risks that don't need to be taken." He said as he looked me in the eyes.

"Trust me father, I will be safe." He got up and gave me a hug before saying his goodbyes.

And with that I was off, starting my search for Vinyl on my own, though I thought I heard my father get up and say "I need to make some calls, Wilfred, fetch the phone would you?" But I just shrugged it off.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"So Vinyl..." I said as I tried to spark up some conversation while we traveled on the road as bait. I didn't know exactly where the hunters were, so I tried to make us as obvious as possible, though it was proving rather difficult.

"..." She remained silent.

"Guess he really did do something to you..." I spoke, mainly to myself.

It wasn't right what he did, whatever that is that he did. Don't get me wrong, I do believe in inducting some into our breed, though I only do it if they are worthy. I also believe they should have some part of their conscious left so they could operate on their own, this wasn't the case with Vinyl. It was as if the processing part of her brain was gone, like she was just a puppet. I didn't like Vinyl, but I did believe in humane ways of going about things, if I had known that this is what my master was going to do with her, I think my search might have taken a lot longer, for some 'unexpected' reasons.

Most of the walk passed in silence, a very uncomfortable silence at that. I took a glance back every once and a while just to make sure she was still following and this whole thing was nothing but a ruse to fool me, that hopefully she was just pretending and this was a plan to get away, but she was still there every time with the same dead-to-the-world look on her face.

Eventually one of my look backs came in handy, she stopped dead in her tracks and I did as well.

"What is it?" I asked with a cocked brow.

I couldn't detect anything, smell anything, see nor hear anything in the area but she still just stood there.

"What are you waiting for? Nothing's here." I was beginning to get the hope from earlier that she was acting.

If that was the case she might attack me, or just run, I was fine with both, though I wasn't particularly leaning towards the whole 'attack' option; if my master trusted her to be the riding force in taking down twenty hunters, then he must have done something to make her stronger as well. There was no way she would kill twenty if she fought like she fought me before.

I put myself into a defensive stance as I stared her down, this was getting a bit uncomfortable, the way she was just looking at me. It felt like she was planning something, like figuring out where to hide my body or something.

'What are you thinking...' I thought to myself as I stared her down.

Slowly, her horn began to charge, but it was a different shade than before at the bar. It was darker, where as before it was a near neon blue, now it was a navy blue.

I took up a position that was prepared to dodge if she shot a bolt at me. Whatever my master had done, it must have been wearing off now, though that doesn't explain her different magical aura; Maybe that part was permanent. All of that aside, there wasn't a noticeable change in her demeanor nor lack of speaking, she remained as silent as ever.

During my train of thought she fired off a bolt, this one moved at a much faster speed than the ones I had dodged at the bar, so it took me off guard. Though what took me off was the fact it was aimed off course and right beside my head rather than a head shot. As much as I hate to admit it, she could have just killed me.

The bolt connected with something to the left of my head, something that I hadn't seen their before, causing a small explosion that caused a ringing in my ears and a small surge of energy through my body. I recoiled and jumped to the right, just in time to see some bushes nearby rustle and shake.

Out of the brush hopped a cloaked pony who immediately bolted into a run in a direction away from me and her. I was still in shock from how quickly all this had happened, so I didn't give chase immediately, though I didn't have to.

With a head propped over their shoulder the cloaked figure looked back at me with a smug smile as they quickly gained ground between me, thanks to this they didn't see the figure appear in front of them, and collided full force with them and fell back onto the ground. I took me awhile to recognize the figure thanks to the darkness from the forest, but eventually I made out what looked to be like the white mare that was behind me.

I took a look back behind me just to make sure, and sure enough, she was gone.

I didn't feel or see the flash of light that comes when a unicorn uses magical teleportation, which left me with the option that seemed impossible; that she moved that fast. I felt as though that was impossible, I realized that she was fast, but this just wasn't possible. She must have used teleportation, she must have.

She raised a hoof upwards just as the cloaked figure registered that she had ran into something and looked up at her. She sent her hoof downwards at a violent speed, fast enough that I nearly missed it. The hit made full contact with the face of the cloaked figure, making a chilling sound as it hit, and just like that, their body went limp.

I was still in partial shock when I walked over to her and the body, not only from how she had moved with seemingly no trace, but how she had quite possibly just killed this pony with a single hit. I bent over and investigated the body better, and my suspicions were confirmed that it was indeed a hunter, the crossbow and the bolts confirmed it. I looked back over my shoulder to the place where Vinyl had shot at me and, upon closer inspection, I saw what she hit.

A small black bolt had been shattered in two and was lying on the ground, still smoking from the heat of her magic.

All of it started to process for me; Vinyl hadn't tried to kill me, she had just saved me. Even if it wasn't in her mind set, I was thankful, and I started to feel pity for her. One thing was certain however, a thank you was in order.

I walked back over to her, where she still stood in the same place over the figure. I felt my throat begin to swell as I tried to mouth the words to myself, I didn't know why I would choke, she probably couldn't even register it anyway. Eventually I swallowed my pride and the words came out, shaky, but they came out.

"Th-thank you..." The words came out soft. I wasn't used to thanking others, it just wasn't my thing since I tried to rely on myself most of the time; always giving myself the tasks that needed to be done as opposed to things that could afford to not be done.

She didn't respond, thank Celestia, but she did tilt her head up and looked at me.

"U-uh..." I was beginning to stumble over my words and beginning to make myself look like a fool. I needed to get out of this situation.

"L-let's get moving, shall we?" I chuckled nervously as I turned and started down the path, leaving the body in the middle of it.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I had finally made it to the edge of the Everfree and, even with the sun out, the inside was unnaturally dark. I guess it would make sense that a vampire would live here, literally no sunlight was visible when you look in from the outside. I was feeling some of my fear getting the best of me at the edge of my mind, but I pushed it aside; I had a goal that needed to be completed.

I pushed inward into the Everfree and the darkness instantly consumed me, my sight leaving me completely for a few seconds until my eyes adapted to the pitch black. I could somewhat make out the path on the ground, though I would probably have to give my eyes more time to adapt before I could start seeing more detail, but since my trip would be rather linear, I wouldn't need that many details anyway.

'Well, as long as I don't come to a fork in the road.' I added mentally.

It had been about twenty minutes into the forest that I started to hear a variety of sounds, though they might have been from the forest, I had the idea that they weren't. It might have just been the paranoia, but I was starting to think that there were others in the forest. Even though my father had told me about this, it was different when you started to experience it for yourself. After awhile I grew curious; I wanted to know what was making these abnormal sounds. They weren't natural sounds, they were sounds that resembled something being loaded, sounds of both metallic and wooden origin.

I turned to where I thought I heard the sound come from, the lack of vision helping somewhat, and it led me to a small pile of brush just off the side of the path I was traveling on. I approached it slowly, doing my best to examine the pile of sticks and leaves, in the darkness. As I approached the pile, I noticed it looked pony made, as if they put them there to throw others off, I began to move the sticks aside and eventually found another path behind the brush.

I was curious about the path, the one I was currently on hadn't given me anything in the past twenty minutes until now, so I decided to follow it to see where it lead; if it was, in fact, made by another to hide the trail I might be able to get some better directions on where to find the bouncer from whomever it was.

Who knows, I might even find the bouncer down the path, and maybe even Vinyl. There was the chance it led to someone bad, but I guess there is risks in every decision. I wasn't one to dive into danger regardless, but I wasn't one to let something go easily.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

After a few good minutes, I noticed something that stood out from the usual darkness of the forest.

Specifically, it was light.

I saw the slight orange glow of what resembled a fire. Two things filled within me, one was a sense of hope that I had finally found a group that would help me out in this dark forest. The other was the exact opposite, fear; a fear that I had just stumbled upon the type of ponies my father had warned me about. The could be anypony really, they could be homeless, just campers, or even vampires for all I knew.

I decided to approach the fire with caution, but I could feel a sense of excitement for some reason.

I peered around a bush and looked into what I could see was a clearing where the fire was setup. At first the light was almost blinding, but eventually my eyes adapted to the change in light once more. Once I was able to see clearly I could finally see the fire, accompanied by an assortment of camping gear. Things ranging from sleeping bags, tents, and firewood to food, drinks and cups were organized neatly; basically everything a camper would need.

Figures finally began to emerge from the tents, mares and stallions alike were moving about now. They did things such as tending the fire, others eating some of the food and drinking and sharing stories with each other. They looked like campers more than anything else.

As I examined them closer, I began to take steps forward unconsciously to get a closer and more detailed look.

A sudden sound of wood snapping shook me from my state of curiosity.

I looked down and lifted my hoof to reveal a sight that made me begin to worry; it was a broken twig.

I looked back up to see that all movement in the camp had ceased, and all eyes were looking in my general direction. It was dead silent, aside from the flickering of the fire, while they stared me down. Some of their eyes were not actually on me, but close, while others were looking directly at me. I felt my heart begin to race, I felt like a thief that had just been caught in the act.

After awhile, they seemed to lose interest and went back to their activities, though the seemed to appear much more cautions and discreet about them. The laughing had stopped entirely, the ones who were eating were now scanning the woods around them while the ones who had been carrying fire wood were now partnered up with another. It seemed like they were ready for something like this, how strange.

I let out a sigh of relief and closed my eyes.

"Gotcha." My eyes shot open and I let out a scream as I felt something lift me up from my place in the bushes.

The unknown captor, who was presumably a stallion from the sound of their voice, hefted me forwards and out of the bushes and into the camp, where all its inhabitants looked at me with differing expressions; some with curious gazes, others with a smug sneers. I felt rather embarrassed, but mostly scared for my life, I had no idea what was about to happen to me, I mean, they could kill me for all I know.

As soon as we got near the center of the camp, specifically in front of the fire pit, I was tossed onto the ground rather roughly, landing first on my rump then rolling back onto my head.

After rubbing my head a bit, I leaned upwards and looked around me.

The first I saw was the one who had caught me, a rather broad stallion with a dark blue coat and white mane, who looked at me with a condescending smirk. He turned his head to a robed unicorn, only thing visible being her light blue horn, next to him and gave a nod, though I was completely confused, the unicorn seemed to understand completely and charged a yellow light on her horn.

I barely had time to register what was happening before the yellow light was shot at me face and I felt a darkness begin to sweep over me, the last things I heard and saw being the stallion from before speak to the unicorn once more.

"Okay, do your thing and get back to me afterwards." I couldn't hear the unicorn respond, but I did hazily see a nod from the unicorn before the blackness swept over me as I slipped unconscious.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I awoke to the feeling of cold dirt beneath me, I could tell it was dirt both because of the texture, and the fact that a rock was sticking into my side. I awoke to the sight of the blazing fire in front of me, I could only assume it was the fire from earlier, prior to getting knocked out, but both of those paled to what I heard when I awoke.

I heard the sound of two voices bickering, one I recognized vaguely as the voice before I had heard before getting knocked out; the same one that belonged to whoever took me out of the bushes.

"So you mean to say that you just knocked out an innocent traveler?" Said the masculine voice; the only voice I recognized.

"Me? Oh no, you made the call, I'm not taking full blame for this!" Said a girlish voice in retort.

"I guess you're right," Said the masculine voice, the girlish one replying with a 'hmph' of victory. "As captain I guess I should take part of the blame for your mistakes."

I groggily turned over tog get a better look at them.

"What?!" Squeaked the feminine voice in return as I rolled.

I could see them more clearly now, the stallion the same one from earlier and I recognized the girlish voice came from the unicorn from earlier; The same one that had knocked me out. However, she was now devoid of the robe from earlier, revealing her light blue coat and white mane. Now looking at the two of them, they looked awfully similar to each other.

"Alright alright, I take responsibility of your bad choice of actions that, as a result of my call, have knocked out this traveler." The stallion said, eliciting a groan from the mare.

"That's as good as it's going to get, isn't it?" She deadpanned.

"Yep." He replied, earning another groan from the mare who mumbled under her breath.

"Hey look at that," He said looking at me. "Looks like she's alright."

Soon enough the mare came over to examine me as well. She looked at me for awhile before getting close to my face, too close for comfort.

"Hey you okay?" She asked with a slight sound of fear on her tone.

"Y-Yeah." I mumbled softly, taken off guard and, somewhat offended, by the sudden invasion of personal privacy.

Her expression instantly lightened upon hearing my response.

"Whew, that's a relief." She said with a happy expression.

"Filling out that kind of paperwork is a pain in the flank." She said as she backed off me.

"That it is." Agreed the stallion. "Especially when you have to do all of it." He said towards the mare.

"Sometimes I wonder how you got selected captain..." Mumbled the unicorn in response. I saw the brother ready to reply with a most likely clever response, but I decided to interrupt them.

"Um..." I began, gaining both of their attentions.

"Who are you all exactly?" I asked, taking a look around the camp, though most of the other inhabitants of the camp weren't looking at me.

"Well we could ask the same thing to you." Said the stallion as he eyed me up and down.

"Oh cut her some slack." Said the mare, glaring at her brother until her shrugged and left before turning to me.

"Well, I won't lie to you since I did knock you out," She said as she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "But I can only say this much; we are campers."

I could tell it was a lie, it was pretty obvious, though I still didn't know what their true purpose was here, but I planned to find out. In my train of thought I heard my stomach rumble loudly. I clutched my stomach before looking back up at the mare sheepishly. I hadn't had any breakfast nor dinner, so I was pretty hungry for anything.

She only chuckled lightly and turned away, making a gesture with her head for me to come with her.

She showed me to a tent, presumably hers, and let me take a seat on a sleeping bag while she went digging through a saddlebag that was set near the entrance to the tent. Out of the saddlebag she pulled a delicious looking sandwich wrapped in plastic and tossed it my way.

"It's not much, but it's food." She said with a shrug.

I was already halfway through unwrapping the sandwich when she spoke again.

"I'll be outside, feel free to take your time with that sandwich, it's not going anywhere." She said with a chuckle from how I was frantically unwrapping the plastic.

I gave her a nod as she exited the tent.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I had devoured the sandwich quickly and was left sitting down on the sleeping bag.

Now that my mind was free from the sandwich's grasp, I decided to look around her tent to see if I could find something that could give me a clue as to why and what they were doing out in the middle of the Everfree. my eyes scanned the room as I looked in a variety of places, even under the bed roll. Finally, my focus. landed on her saddlebag, and as much of an invasion of personal privacy this was, I felt like I had earned it.

I opened up the tops of the leather bag and began to move a variety of things aside. The first bag turned out uneventful; full of only a book and a few more sandwiches, but the second bag turned out much more of a find.

A strange device with a variety of straps connected to two pieces of crossed wood, forming a T shape. I noticed that each end of the T were connected with a tightly wound string. Along with the strange and foreign object, I found a familiar sight; a long black wooden bolt. The bolts looked stunningly similar to the ones at the bar, only these were much more pristine looking and visibly sharper.

'Campers huh...' I thought to myself. 'Vinyl said something about these things belonging to...'

I finally put two and two together, these ponies were hunters; vampire hunters.

*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*

We had been walking for awhile now, and I was beginning to think that the Hunters had fled. It was practical suicide to setup a camp almost next to the base of operations for most vampires, other than the ones like Vinyl who had integrated into Society. We had been traveling for about twenty minutes now since Vinyl had taken out the lone hunter and I had found absolutely no trace of any others nearby.

Eventually something stopped me, a light smell that drifted through the air. I took a few whiffs, and that's when I recognized the smell.

Smoke.

It was smoke, which meant there was fire, which meant there were ponies to tend the flame. Either they were just campers, which would just prove to be an extra snack for me, and maybe my companion, or it was the hunters, which meant that my mission was close to being completed.

I took a few more sniffs of the air to gain a more specific direction of the flame, and I eventually found it.

I grinned as I set myself in the direction, I had finally found something, and started walking with a new found energy. My 'companion' followed along at the same constant pace as before. In all honesty, this new look she had was intimidating, not in the sense that her appearance was scary, but her capabilities. From what I had seen, and I still didn't believe it, her magic was much faster and stronger, and presumably her movement was as well.

I shook her out of my head and started off towards where the camp was.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

It wasn't too far before we stumbled upon the camps outskirts, the fire somewhat visible from our place in the brush. It had taken quite the skill to get this far without alerting them, having to carefully avoid all the twigs and brush was a pain, but we were here now, and the targets were close. After some inspection, I determined that they were hunters; considering that some of the ones lazing around in the camp had crossbows poorly hidden next to them.

I turned back to my 'partner' and gave her a nod.

She presumably knew what this meant, judging by the small and twisted smile that formed on her face as her horn began to charge. The now duller and darker coloration of her magic definitely made her more concealed in the dark. If this was intended by my master, I had no idea.

'Time to see what she can really do...' I thought to myself as I turned back around, the light sound of a teleportation spell going off behind me, as my own smile began to form.

Author's Note

Tell me what you think and any mistakes that you catch!

An Eventful Morning for Some

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I was still investigating the strange device, toying with one of the straps, until a shout, loud enough to scare me, shook me from my train of thought. I was quick to panic and place the device back into its rightful owner's bag before attempting to go outside. I was nearly at the tents entrance until another body ran into me, hitting me in the head and sending me onto the ground. After I clenched my eyes together from the sudden pain of the collision, I could hear the sound of multiple hushed voices talking feverishly outside.

After rubbing my head a bit to sooth the pain, the sounds of voices, the fast paced hoof steps and the directions of both became more clear to me, but what caught my attention the most was the loudest voice; the voice in front of me.

"Hey." I looked up to see it was the unicorn mare from before, a look of fear stuck to her face.

"Huh?" Was all that could make it out of my mouth, a bit taken aback from her casual response.

"You gotta get going." She said, her voice surprisingly calm and hush for the look of panic on her face.

"Why? What's going on?" I asked, confused by her panicked behavior.

She moved over to her saddlebags and took out the device from earlier, giving it a quick inspection before using her magic to strap it to her hoof. She levitated the saddle bags onto her back as well, then sticking the bolts upwards; ready to be drawn at a moment's notice. She took one of the bolts and loaded it into the device, placing its back onto the string and pulling it back as it made a clicking sound, signaling it was locked in place.

It now occurred to me now what the device might be. Well, from what I can see it was a crossbow.

'I really need some coffee...' I thought to myself, a bit embarrassed by how slow it took me to figure out what the device was.

"Well, we're under attack." She said casually as she checked the bolt to be sure it was locked in place.

"Attack?" I said, panic beginning to grow in my mind. "From who?" I asked, praying to Celestia it wasn't Vampires.

"Well...we don't know." She said, once more, in a casual tone.

'What.'

"How do you not know that?" I said, slightly louder than normal.

She swiftly moved and placed a hoof over my mouth, effectively silencing me, and left us in total silence. Not a sound came from outside as she looked towards the entrance of the tent. She bent down and sat next to me before whispering.

"The reason we don't know who is attacking is because we haven't been able to see them yet." She said is a casual whisper as she took her hoof off my mouth.

"So how do you know your under attack?" I asked.

"Because two of our pals out there just had magic bolts shot at them, they're in the medical tent rig-" She cut herself short for some reason while her ears perked up.

In the silence that settled over us, I could now hear what it was she was probably hearing; the sound of hoof steps outside. They were light and whoever it was was clearly trying to muffle their hoof steps, but the dirt and rock underneath their hooves was making it rather difficult to do so.

We both looked towards the entrance of the tent at something that made my heart race. There was the shadow of a pony slowly walking around outside, the fire casting their shadow on the front of the tent and giving us a perfect silhouette of them and their movement.

The shadow looked behind its back, stopping in its tracks before continuing its muffled walk. That's when something that seemed straight out of a horror movie happened; it turned its head and body straight towards our tent.

I heard the mare, who's name I still didn't know, make a distinct gulp as she raised her hoof with the device towards the entrance of the tent, bolt ready to fire on a whim. I unconsciously sank lower to the ground in a sad attempt to hide from whatever it was that was coming.

The shadow grew larger and larger as it grew closer and closer, until it was at the entrance of the tent. I felt my panic growing larger, up until I was on the edge of screaming. It raised a hoof slowly, not helping my current state of fear, before pushing in on the entrance rapidly.

I couldn't take it anymore, I closed my eyes and let out a what was supposed to be a bloodcurdling scream. Well, it probably would have sounded like that if another hoof hadn't pressed into my mouth before I could do it.

Slowly I opened my eyes and looked up to see the stallion that had caught me in the bushes from before. I looked beside me to see that the unicorn had tried to do the same thing as me, and had also gotten a hoof in front of her mouth.

He let out a deep sigh. "Mares..." He said finally before taking his hoof off of both of our mouths.

The mare beside me let out a huff, either from relief that it wasn't whatever it was that was attacking, or from annoyance that it was only the stallion that had scared her half to death.

"Give some warning next time, you had me scared half to death...I could of had a heart attack." She whispered, somehow achieving the same effect of yelling at the same time, as she held her hooves to her chest.

"Oh please." He deadpanned. "Sis, you say anything will give you a heart attack."

'Sis? Oh, now the bickering makes sense.' I thought. I have always heard brothers and sisters bicker a lot, though I've never had any, so I wouldn't know.

"Anyways," The sister began, clearly reluctant in choosing to drop the subject. "did you find who it was that shot those magical bolts?"

"No, we still have no clue who's shooting them. Though whoever it is, they got another shot in on one of the boys." He said, now in a more serious conversation with his sister.

"Hmm, what should we do?" She asked.

The tent went silent for a few minutes as they brainstormed ideas.

"Honestly, I have no idea what to do." He admitted after a moment of thinking. "We could always retreat." He pointed out with a shrug.

"Are you mad? Whoever it is just took out two of us before we even reacted, and one who was hiding; running would only get all of us killed." The sister responded.

The room began to fall silent once more, but an idea seemed to pop into the brothers head.

"You could try that magic barrier of yours." The brother said, earning a look out of the sister.

"You know I can only keep those up for a few minutes, and if it were to cover the whole camp it would last even shorter."

"We only need a few minutes, if the barrier is up and whoever it is that is attacking shoots, we'll get a lock on their location and can try to take them down." The brother said proudly, clearly admiring his idea.

I honestly couldn't see a problem with the idea and neither could the unicorn.

"Alright...fine, give me a minute and some space and I'll try it out." The sister huffed.

Both me and the stallion backed away as far as the tent would allow us to, giving the sister at least a foot of room around her. She closed her eyes and her horn began to glow, just as strain began to grow on her face.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

My eyes fluttered as the sunlight that came from the broken windows pierced my eyes, causing me to recoil immediately.

'Morning already?' I asked myself as I sat up.

I felt an uncomfortable crick in my neck, along with a sore lump in my back as I finished sitting up. I took a survey of the place around me, my bar, which happened to look like an absolute train wreck. The memories of the night before began to come back to me, starting with that bouncer Bigs and his goons trying to kill me, me killing the goons, and Bigs nearly killing me. It got black right around there, but I remembered Octavia getting a bit whiny about something, and in addition, me agreeing to meet her.

Then I remembered something that made me grimace; Vinyl agreeing to go with that ghoul of a pony.

I let out a deep sigh as I swiped that aside for now.

I took a moment to revel in the soreness that was my body, but I knew I had gave her my word, and I had some standards I had to keep.

"Guess I better get going then, she doesn't seem like the type that likes to wait." I said to myself and the room around me as I pulled myself up off the floor using the bar.

As I hobbled my way towards the broken door of my trashed bar, I heard something that surprised me.

It was the sound of ringing.

I looked both ways and even behind me; it had been so long that I had ever heard the phone ring. I knew we had one, since it was a requirement to have one, but we never used it. Heck, I had even forgot the number, which made me wonder who it could be that was calling the number since we never gave it out.

I heard the muffled sound that was the ringing come from down the hall, so I decided to follow it for curiosities sake.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I came to the end of the hall, and the ringing was close. To my right was my office, which was now completely trashed thanks to the jerk of a vampire, and to my left was a storage closet that I had never once been in. I knew it wasn't in my office since, well, it was my office and I had personally organized it.

Which left me with the storage closet.

I had never gone into the closet for two reasons. The first was that I had never needed to, especially since I had no clue what was in there. Two, was that Vinyl had asked me not to the day I had started working for her, and even though I was confused as to why, I didn't question it since I was applying for a job.

The ringing continued.

'Well, since she isn't here...'

I lifted my hoof up to the closet and twisted.

Though the doorknob did twist roughly with some effort, but when I pulled on the door it refused to budge.

I pulled once more, this time much harder, only to receive the same result. Growing aggravated, I positioned myself on the door, griping it tightly with my front hooves as I propped my hind legs onto the wall, and gave a strong tug. With the combined force of my legs, the door swung open suddenly, achieving my goal, though it did manage to send me flat onto the floor.

I groaned, my body still sore from the night before, as I used the hallway wall to pull myself back up. Rubbing my head, I looked up to the door to admire my handiwork.

To my fortunate surprise, the door had opened, revealing a small closet outfitted with multiple tiny shelves. All of the contents of the closet were covered with sheets, but the phone was the only thing revealed, and it was still ringing.

I quickly moved forwards and grabbed the phone, not wanting the call to be dropped, and slapped my face with it as I spoke out.

"Hello?" I almost shouted to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

"Hello?" A calm, masculine voice responded. I immediately registered the Canterlot accent present in his voice, it was very small and might as well been unnoticeable, though I still had no clue who it was.

"Yeah, um, this is Shakes, who is this?" I asked, instinctively giving my name away thanks to my occupation of a barkeep and wanting to know everyone.

"So this is where you're working now? I had been told that you were working in a bar, but I didn't believe it when I heard it was this one." He spoke in a friendly manner.

'"Working now? Do I know this guy?' I thought to myself.

I decided that I would stay silent on my end of the line.

"Anyways, this isn't about your new line of work, I want to talk about your older 'job'." This brought me out of my silence.

"How do you know about that?" I snapped at him.

I only let a certain few know about my previous job as a hunter, and even those few knew damn well that they couldn't tell anyone about it. The face that an unknown voice was asking about it made me worry, the job isn't exactly a well-liked and respected job among the community of Canterlot, but that doesn't mean few apply for it.

I heard a small laugh from the other end of line before its owner spoke up.

"Calm down now, I haven't told another soul, though I would like to ask for a certain favor in return for keeping my big mouth shut." He spoke in a casual voice.

I thought carefully about this; I was in a pretty tough situation. On one hoof, I could say no and chance that the stranger was just bluffing, or if he wasn't, let it go viral. On the other, I could accept his terms and stop a lot of trouble from happening, but possibly be drafted into something I wasn't exactly 'inclined' to do, or even something illegal.

I took a few moments to play out a wide array of scenarios in my head, both the good and the bad, and even the ugly, before responding.

"...What is it?" I had no choice but to accept the stranger's terms, I couldn't let my secret go public, there is no telling what could happen to me and a lot of others, and not to mention the bar would probably go under if the heard that someone who hunts others was the barkeep and owner. Though they wouldn't know who it was that I was hunting, they probably wouldn't let me tell them anyways,

"Good. I've heard about my daughters recent activities at your bar, and they're quite hysterical if I say so myself. You should know who she is considering my accent that I'm sure you've noticed."

My eyes started to grow as my head put the pieces together. The light Canterlot accent, the fact he has a phone, a daughter that had recently been coming, it all came together.

"You mean you're-" He cut me off.

"Yes, I'm Octavia's father." He said with a friendly tone, almost sounding proud of me putting all the pieces together.

'Oh boy' I thought to myself.

"Not too long ago, as in just a few hours ago, my daughter stopped by my house and asked me for the location of another you might know; her name was Vinyl Scratch if memory serves right, which I'm sure it does."

At that point, I didn't even know how to react. It was as if someone knew most of your life just as well as you did, knew all your secrets and things you tried to keep quiet, and was just now telling them to you. I could do no more than sit there in a stunned silence as I listened on.

"I'm going to take that silence as a yes." He began.

"Now, onto business. I'm calling because of my daughter's plan and, well...It's pretty much suicidal."

"What's her plan?" I finally spoke up.

"Well, she came to me and asked for directions to Miss Scratch, and I gave them to her. Now I know my daughter well, even if I don't visit her frequently, and I knew that she intends to go out into the Everfree in search of her."

'But Vinyl is with...' My eyes went wide.

'...Bigs...' I began to panic at that point, there was no telling what he would do to Octavia, much less Vinyl. I mean he nearly killed me just to try and find out where Vinyl was at.

"I also know that she was lying when she said that someone was accompanying her."

"But she said she was going to wait for me at her place..." I said quietly.

"Well she left a few hours ago in the exact opposite direction of her house, so I'm assuming she's heading towards the forest. All that aside, you can probably assume why I called you, but just in case, I'll ask you." He took a moment and inhaled before asking.

"Will you go protect my daughter?" He sounded desperate, and since it was my plan anyways, I was more than willing to accept his offer, even though he tried to blackmail me into it.

"Of course." I responded. "Maybe don't try and blackmail me next time." I added in a poor attempt to lighten the mood.

I heard him exhale deeply from the other end of the line.

"You have my thanks, and though I would take more time to express it, it would seem that you have another priority right now, so instead, I'll wish you the best of luck." He said calmly, expressing his thanks just in his tone of voice.

"I'll get going right away." I said firmly as I hung up the phone, and planting my head onto the shelf with a loud thump.

"Stupid Octavia..." I said to the closet.

The bang from my head shook the shelves and, as a result, caused one of the sheets covering the shelves to fall and land over me.. The sheet surprised me and I started to flail, which only wrapped me up in the sheet. After a good minute of thrashing and punching at the sheet however, I managed to calm down and carefully unwrap myself from it.

"Stupid sheet..." I mumbled to myself as I pick up the sheet with my mouth.

As I went to put the sheet back in place, I noticed some of the contents underneath. Well, the edge of one of them caught my eye; a shiny triangle from the looks of it. Curious, I decided to put down the cover and investigate further.

I walked up and looked at the metal closely, admiring its shine and shape. I picked it up slowly and pulled it out from its hiding place. As I pulled, I noticed that the metal part only seemed to be a portion of the object, and there was actually a long wooden piece connected to it.

I looked at it closer.

'Strange...this looks like one of my bolts...' I gasped when it finally hit me.

I dropped the object to the ground and quickly grabbed the edges of the other sheets and threw them off violently; my eagerness growing rapidly.

Finally, all the covers were removed and a wide variety of familiar objects revealed themselves as the dust settled to the ground.

I couldn't help but grin as I looked over the shelves, a wide arsenal of vampire hunting weapons covering them. I didn't think about why they were here, I was like a filly in a candy store.

"Guess this is why Vinyl didn't want me in here..." I said, once again, to the closet.

The shelves contents ranged from crossbows and bolts, to smoke pellets and blood vials. Smoke pellets were useful regardless, and so were the crossbows and bolts if you knew how to aim and shoot them. The blood vials to some might seem rather useless, but they are actually one of the most useful additions to the hunters arsenal; throwing a vial far away can save ones life on the field. Tipping crossbow bolts in the blood and shooting them at a vampire can even, on occasion, cause friendly fire, though it's very rare to do so.

'This might actually be fun...' I thought in my state of awe as I admired the arsenal before starting to go through the contents of my unexpected present that I planned on taking full advantage of for my new and unexpected task.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I stepped out of my bar in a black cloak after taking a few minutes to clean myself up and wipe the blood away and tend to a couple of scratches and cuts and turned towards the forest.I would look pretty suspicious running down the street looking like this, so I wouldn't take my time and just try and get there as fast as possible, take as many back alleys that weren't out of the way and as many shortcuts as possible, and hope no one tells the guards.

'It'll take me an hour to get to the forest if I hurry, maybe half an hour if I can get a carriage to stop for me...' I thought to myself as I weighed my options. I would head out on going on hoof, and if I found a carriage that would stop for me, I would take that as far as it would take me.

"Best get going..." I grumbled to myself, not exactly happy about my new task

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Bigs....*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I hadn't even moved from my place in the bushes when she started taking pot shots at the camp. I knew what she was doing with them, she wasn't aiming to kill, if she was she would have shot them in the head and not graze their legs, I knew that from a personal experience that happened not too long ago. There are some things you just can't change about some ponies, and this was one of them. From the time that I had known Vinyl, I knew that she was a slacker, always wanting to have a good time, and she was still doing that.

She was playing with the camp and its hunters.

I wasn't sure if I was right, but I was confident in my assumption. She had shot a moving bolt out of the air beside me, so I was pretty sure she didn't miss when she shot at the ponies in the camp. All the hunters had retreated into their tents as soon as the first shots were fired, which was expected, but one of the tents drew my attention. It was the one that this stallion had crept over to, who wasn't shot at for some reason.

The tent he had gone into was now glowing from the inside, the silhouettes of three ponies outlined from the horn of one its inhabitants.

I began to wonder what they were planning, though I didn't have to wonder long.

From inside the tent, the unicorn of the bunch, I could tell from the outline of her horn, tilted her horn up into the air and a bright orange ball was shot upwards from the top of the tent at a slow speed, which slowed to a halt a good twenty feet in the air. After a few seconds the bolt flickered and an orange shell began to spread over the camp. The second the barrier secured to the ground around the perimeter of the camp, the stallion from before emerged from the tent.

"Alright, everyone outside now!" He shouted and, without hesitation, nearly fifteen others emerged from the other tents, armed with the standard crossbows that all hunters carried.

"Wait for her to shoot! Lock onto her location!" He shouted as they all fanned to the edge of the shield.

'You'd figure that they might not want to shout their plan when their target is literally within twenty feet. ' I thought to myself as I snickered in amusement.

'At least this will make it interesting on Vinyl's half; How's she going to act now that she knows what their plan is?' I thought to myself as I leaned in a little closer to the action from my spot in the bush.

A sudden clash was heard from one side of the barrier, attracting all of the hunters inside as they rushed to where a magical bolt had collided with the shield. As they all crowded around the one side of the barrier, I saw a dark blue flash on the exact opposite of where they were and, not to much later, a white figure walk casually into one of the tents.

"Clever girl..." I spoke to myself as I admired her handy work.

A few moments later, the hunters gave up on that side and figured they had been fooled. They returned to their spread out position across the camp, looking quite hard for the mare that had just slipped under their noses and behind their backs. The way they were looking around gave off the impression that they were acting with a short time limit on the shield

I grinned once more as I waited on the edge of my bush for her next move. Her unpredictable nature really did make this whole experience interesting.

An Even More Eventful Morning for Others

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I sat in the tent with the unicorn, who was now sweating from the exertion she was putting out to keep this 'barrier' up. Her horn shining brightly as she kept straining herself. I honestly admired her exertion, but for what it was for, I was still uncertain. Though from what the stallion had said someone was taking 'potshots' at us. I didn't know what 'potshots' were, but I could only assume they were bad since they said some were in the medical tent.

The stallion outside had just shouted out the orders to the rest of the campers, I thought it was a dumb move, but I guess they were pressed to find out who it was that was shooting at them and he didn't have the time to make a team huddle and explain the plan in a more stealth way.

He had taken good care to tell me to stay in here with her for a few reasons. One was to look after his sister to make sure she didn't hurt herself and that the attacker didn't get her, another was to make sure I didn't get hurt outside doing something stupid. I couldn't blame him really, since it was probably true that I would get myself into trouble.

A clash from outside rang out in the silence, which was quickly followed by the sound of many hooves running towards it. That must have been the sound of something hitting the barrier, judging by how the ponies outside were asking each other things like "Do you see them?" and "Where are they?!", but it wasn't the sound that startled me, it was what the unicorn beside me did.

She gasped for air and leaned over forwards, her horn stayed alight however. She turned up to me with a new look of fear, not like the one from before where she was still remaining calm, this one expressed her fear more precisely; It was pure panic.

"T-they're inside." She stuttered, sounding on the brink of tears.

My eyes widened at what she said.

"W-what?" I stuttered in return. She turned her head back down once more, the glow of magic visibly draining from her as her horn grew dark.

"They're inside, they're inside of the camp... I don't know where...b-but whoever it is...they're in." She said with a growing tone of panic.

The entrance to the tent burst open, I turned to see that it was the brother with a look of panic, though it paled in comparison to the sister's look.

"What happened? Why is the barrier down?" He asked feverishly. The sister turned to him, and just like she did to me, told him shivering news.

"They're inside." The brothers look turned to a look of disbelief as he looked at his sister for a second and then turned to go back outside the camp.

I heard him outside once more.

"Fan out! Check every tent for the invader!" I heard the sound of more fast paced hoof steps as they spread around the camp in search for their unwanted guest.

Meanwhile I remained with unicorn mare and hoped for the best.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I noticed that the barrier had dropped nearly immediately after Vinyl had entered the camp, so I figured that the unicorn must have "felt" the magic of the teleportation enter the camp or something like that; I wasn't an expert at how unicorns and their magic work, and I was pretty sure that unicorns weren't either.

I also noticed that the hunters inside of the camp were checking nearly everywhere, including the tents, and as much as I would love to see how Vinyl handled getting caught inside of a tent, my lower body was beginning to cramp from being in this awkward position inside of the bush. So I decided I would 'pay back' Vinyl saving me from that bolt blowing my mind, literally, by doing something I was rather good at: Causing trouble. I was assigned to this mission too, after-all.

The stallion leader, or at least that what I made him out to be since he was the one giving orders, was heading towards the tent Vinyl was in. If I knew hunters well enough, which I did know how they 'go about things' rather well, then there was one thing they couldn't resist: The hunt.

I mean, with a name with 'hunt' in it, they couldn't resist the temptation of a good chase after a vampire like myself, and I planned on taking full advantage of that.

I raised up from the bush and began a casual walk towards the camp, and as I got within about ten feet of the stallion leader, I turned my casual walk into a sprint; running at him with full speed. Some of the others shouted at me and, eventually, drew his attention to me.

He turned just in time to see me and duck the slightest, letting me jump over him. I wasn't aiming to hit him, If I was then I would have hit him, then he might stay behind because of the injury and still find Vinyl. I was sure Vinyl could handle him, even if he wasn't injured. Hell, she could probably take the whole camp, but I was just aiming to get their attention. All of their attentions.

I gave a sharp whistle that made every upraised head raise from wherever they were looking and turn towards me. I looked from side to side, scanning over every hunter they had and I counted sixteen in total; more than enough to kill me, but not when I was running away on my own turf.

I gave them all a devious smile, making sure to show off my fangs a much as possible before turning and kicking dirt at the stallion, bolting away and hoping they would give chase. Since the stallion was the closest to me, and alone as well, I chose to kick dirt in his face only in hope that he wouldn't notice that I was lacking the horn to be the one shooting the magical bolts.

To my fortunate surprise, the stallion leader shouted out for his men to give chase as he tried to pry the dirt from out of his eyes, and by this time I was already on the edge of the camp and out of the light. I did take the time to turn back and take a quick glance at the tent Vinyl was in.

'Now, were even...' I thought to myself as I turned my focus back to running away, the hunters not to far behind, but I would have to take it slowly so they wouldn't give up too quickly.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I had been sitting inside the tent with a growing curiosity of what was going on outside. It was when the shout of a few of the stallions finally made that curiosity get the best of me. I raised from the tent, not exactly in a hurry, and made my way to the entrance and opened the flaps just in time to see all of the stallions and mares running in one direction with the stallion following at a slower pace, also wiping something from his eyes.

I felt another stick their head beside my own, also looking outside just in time to see the chaos that was going on.

"What the..." Was all that the mare beside me could say, and it was pretty much the same case for me.

The stallion turned and looked at the both of us, finally getting whatever it was that was in his eyes, out of them.

"We, uh, found him." He said awkwardly before he raced off to join the others.

She sighed heavily before turning away and trotting back into the tent. I lingered a little while longer, taking some time to look at the things around the camp. While I was looking at a few of the tents, I could have sworn I saw something move inside of one of them, but when I blinked it was gone and the tent was just as still as the others, so I waved it off as nothing, hoping it was my imagination; probably an illusion in this dark forest.

I shrugged it off mentally and turned back into the tent to join the mare inside.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

It was about twenty minutes later that something interrupted me and the mare, who when I asked about her name only told me "It was personal" and nothing more, from our card game that she had so graciously brought with her. Though, after a good set of cards and a deal that if I beat her she would tell me her name, I did pry it from her.

Her name, she said, was "Sweet Maple" but her everyone just called her Maple. I nearly laughed when I first heard it, it was just unexpected for that to be her name, but the glare she gave me muffled the laugh that was so close to coming out.

From my position that was facing the back of the tent, I turned around and looked towards the entrance, interested what the sound was.

"What was that?" She asked from behind me.

"I don't know, maybe one of the ponies from the medical tent?" I suggested as I turned back to her, only to see her shake her head.

"No, no, there's no way there moving around yet, not without magic at least; and none of them are unicorns." She said factually.

"Well do you want to go find out then...Maple?" I asked, rubbing in her name and growing rather bored with losing nearly every game that we played. She only shrugged.

"Sure" She said, but not after a good cringe from hearing her name, probably just as bored with beating me in nearly every single game we played.

"It beats just sitting around here." She said with a huff, probably because I had used her name at every given opportunity presented.

We had grown rather acquainted with each other, Maple and I, ever since we were left to ourselves inside of her tent. I wasn't leaving on my own knowing that there was something or someone out there trying to hurt others, and she wasn't leaving because she had to stay with the wounded in case whoever it was came back around to finish the job

We walked outside of the tent and began to look around, she was taking the right side of camp whilst I took the left. She was looking near the bushes, a bit farther than I would like to go, so I decided to just look in tents. Who knows, maybe I could find some more interesting things that these "campers" decided to bring along.

The first tent I decided to look in was the closest one to our own, its contents were practically the same as the unicorn mare's, though they varied only in the slightest ways. I didn't decide to look through the bags this time, I was only looking through the tents to find whatever that noise had been, though that didn't stop me from investigating the things that were out of the bags. The second tent led to the same result, with a few sandwiches and some personal entertainment, as did the third as well.

When I finally arrived at the last tent on my side, I hesitated.

This was the same tent that I had looked at before, the on that I had thought I had seen something, or someone, inside. Although I thought it over and gave it well more than a second though, though in the end, against my better judgment, I threw cation to the wind and decided to enter the tent and see what I could find.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I opened the tent flaps to reveal the interior that looked almost identical to all the other tents. Almost.

There was a white figure neck deep in one of the bags near the back on the tent rummaging around. At first I thought it was one of the campers that had stayed behind, but the closer I looked at the unknown figure, the more familiar the figure became. I noticed their hair was a light neon blue on one part, and a darker shade of blue on the other, and there was only one pony I knew with hair like that.

"Vinyl?" I called out in disbelief, my hopes rising rapidly.

The second the words left my mouth, the rummaging of the white figure stopped and stilled for a few seconds before removing their head. When I saw the red eyes my suspicions were confirmed; it was Vinyl with a plastic wrapped sandwich hanging in her mouth.

"Oh Vinyl..." I started as I began to move towards, my feeling getting the better of me, but I didn't get very far.

The second I started moving towards her, she dropped into a defensive posture, similar to that of a wolf, and brandished her fangs.

This was enough to cease my movement, the pure surprise that she would be bearing her fangs at me being enough. I was confused, she had only done that when she was hungry, and even when she had done that it was a more playful posture. This, this position she was in, it was like a cornered dog that would snap at anyone who got to close, even one that only meant good.

"Vinyl? What are you doing?" I asked, utterly confused.

Though she didn't answer, she only stiffened.

'What's gotten into her?' I asked myself.

I started moving towards her once more, this time at a much slower pace, as if I were approaching a defensive and feral dog. She didn't react to me moving this time, only staring me down as I got closer and closer until I was literally in front of her, I noticed that her defensive stance had softened and she was now in a more loose stance, as if she were unsure of what to make of me. What was wrong with her?

"Hey did you find anything?" A voice rang out in the silence that had been the tent we were in. The voice was loud enough to startle me, and the pony in front of me.

Vinyl bolted forwards, half shoving me out of the way and going for the mare behind me.

"What the-" Was all she could say before getting tackled out of the tent.

The flap of the tent closed on me, leaving me alone inside of the tent in a slight daze from being suddenly knocked onto the ground. A good shake of the head and a second to gather myself and I was off the ground and hurrying towards the entrance, or exit in this case, of the tent.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I came out of the tent to see Vinyl raise a hoof up as she straddled the unicorn from before. I realized what she was doing just as it happened and the hoof came down at a blistering speed and made a firm connection with the unicorn mare's head, effectively knocking her unconscious.

"Vinyl!" I screamed as I saw it happen. I didn't know what else to do, I didn't know what was wrong with her, and I also didn't know if I was next.

She turned around with a stoic expression on her face, no emotions shown; no pity, no regret, for what she had just done. She lifted herself from the unicorn's body and turned to face me, fangs shown once more, dropping into the same posture from before.

I took a cautious step backwards, growing more fearful if she had plans on doing the same thing to me that she had done to the unicorn.

Her horn lit, though it was different from before. Its color had changed, where it had previously been a brighter, more lively blue, it was now a dulled, dark, blue. I probably couldn't have even seen it if it weren't for the campfire's light.

It was this color that made me miss the dirt in front of me begin to glow a faint blue.

The dirt flew upwards, and even though I caught a glimpse of it begin to move before it hit me, I wasn't able to react fast enough to stop the dirt from getting into my eyes. It caused me to recoil both from the surprise and the odd pain that came with the dirt entering my eye.

Vinyl must have taken the opportunity this provided her, since I felt something, or rather someone, tackle me to the ground.

I felt my arms pulled downwards to my sides and then someone straddle me, preventing me from moving my arms at all, and also from wiping the dirt from my eyes. Well, that's what I thought, until I felt a pair of hooves touch my eyes and begin to wipe the dirt away.

My vision cleared and I saw who it was that was on top of me, and as much as I wish it wasn't, it was Vinyl.

She looked down on me with empty eyes.

"Vinyl..." I said in a half whimper, half protest. It got me nowhere though, she merely looked into my eyes with the same stoic expression.

After awhile of doing that, she did do something else, though I wasn't exactly expecting it. She bent over, getting closer to my head, and then took a big sniff. It wasn't exactly unpleasant, and it definitely wasn't normal, it was just...odd.

I was puzzled at first, and I even looked up at her as she pulled her head away, apparently only needing one sniff, though I still didn't understand what the first one was for.

My puzzled expression was quickly replaced with fear as she lifted her hoof back up, exactly how she had done with the unicorn mare, Maple. My world narrowed in on her hoof, it became the only thing of importance as it begin its decent, aimed at the center of my eyes. It seemed to go in slow motion as it happened, my eyes were stretched wide with fear, and their edges had begun to sprout tears.

The hoof was nearly an inch away from my face when it suddenly flew off course accompanied by the sudden lift of weight from my body.

I looked up to see one very exhausted looking Shakes, clad in a dark looking cloak that had the hood pulled off and panting heavily, who had apparently just rammed Vinyl off of me. Though her eyes were elsewhere, specifically, they were locked with Vinyl's.

"Get...up." She said in between pants.

Though I was surprised, in a good way, by her sudden appearance, I certainly wasn't going to protest against her.

I scrambled to get myself upright as the two had a stare down with each other, neither seemed to want to make the first move, though as soon as I was up, Shakes darted into her bag and pulled out a cluster of small pellets. I wondered what they were, but when she threw them onto the ground and smoke began to quickly cloud around us I began to get a good idea of what they were.

Without making a sound, she grabbed me and pulled me away from the camp and into the forest. I stumbled at first, taken off guard by the unseen force pushing me in the opposite direction, but my hooves began to catch up with her, and soon enough, we were off.

During our sprint from the camp, I managed to look back to see the smoke clearing and Vinyl still unmoved from her position, an unnerving smile graced her face as she turned away and walked somewhere out of view.

A sudden concern filled my mind.

"Are we not helping Maple?" I asked.

"Maple?" She responded.

"That mare back there on the ground...are we not helping her?" I clarified.

"Not my problem." She began, sounding rather cold.

"Besides," She added. "her group could probably help her more than we could." She said in between more panting and as much as I wanted to protest, I knew it was true.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

We ran for a good five minutes straight, until Shakes slowed down to a casual walk and then into a tired trudge, though she kept moving.

I brought up taking a break to her, in which she happily obliged as she practically collapsing on the spot.

I let her rest for a few minutes before trying to start conversation.

"Um, Shakes?" I asked. Though she didn't respond, she did tilt her head up and looked at me expectantly.

"So...why are you here?" This was enough to get her to sit up from her sprawled out spot in the middle of the path.

"I could ask you the same thing, what happened to "First thing tomorrow morning", Huh?" She said, sounding a bit annoyed.

I didn't really know how to respond to that, so I just tilted my head down in shame of my impatience, which followed with a sigh from her.

"Ah, forget it. What's done is done." She said as she rubbed the back of her head.

"I'm more concerned about Vinyl." My head and ears perked up when she mentioned her name. "I mean, she was about to knock you out, heck, maybe even kill you." I shivered when she said that.

"No," I said quietly "She wouldn't do that..."

'Would she?' I added mentally.

"Well it looked like it was going to be something along those lines, what's wrong with her anyways?" She asked, looking to me with concern

I shrugged before starting. "I don't know...I had only found her a little while ago and she was acting weird...feral almost." I said coldly, tears bracing the sides of my eyes as I remembered how she didn't even hesitate to bring hoof down at me.

"Hey, uh, not to bring this up anymore than need be but...She didn't do anything 'weird' did she?" Shakes asked with a cocked brow. I thought about it for a second before turning to her and giving a response.

"Define 'weird'." I said, returning the cocked brow.

"Take something from you, lick you, smell you, stuff like that." She said with casual tone, accompanied by a hint of panic.

"Well...she did sniff me, but what does that have to do with anything?" Her expression turned grave when the words left my mouth.

"What?" I asked, earning no response as I watched her expression

She immediately got off the ground and started down the trail again, only turning around to flick her head at me, signaling for me to follow. Confused as I was, I got off the ground and started trotting hastily with her, though I still didn't know why.

"Shakes." I called, again earning no response as she trotted quickly down the trail.

"We have to get back to the bar." She said coldly.

"What? Why?" I asked, confused.

She stopped suddenly and turned to look at me.

"The reason she didn't follow is because she didn't need to; She already has your scent." She said before turning around and starting down the trail again before speaking up once more.

"She's hunting you." She said flatly.

My eyes widened as the words left her mouth.

"W-what?" I stuttered in shock.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Author's Note

Not done with this Vinyl yet, still want to do a few things with it.

Blood and Beer

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Hunting me?" I asked Shakes, hoping that she had either misspoke or I had misheard, as we ran down the rough dirt trail leading out of the forest.

"Yeah." She responded, sounding horribly exhausted, but she kept running despite that.

"Like before, like at my home?" I asked, thinking that maybe it wouldn't be that bad if it was like before, like when she first tried to drink from me at my apartment.

"No, she was just hungry and bored then, she was literally playing with you for her own amusement. Now it's different, she isn't just hungry anymore." She said, shooting down my idea, but also raising a question.

"So what is she now if not only hungry?" I asked as I tried my best to cock a somewhat sweaty brow, the fatigue of running already catching up to me as I wondered how in Equestria Shakes had managed this far.

"Simple, she's hunting." She said with a rough voice and getting a roll of the eyes from me.

"But why?" I asked, clearing up the apparent confusion of what I meant.

"I don't know. Vinyl has never been the type to hunt, heck she wasn't the type to even feed, so I have no idea why she would do it now, and much less, why she would pick you of all ponies. She hadn't drank in a good while until you came along." She said as I fell silent with nothing more to say on that topic.

"So where are we going?" I asked, changing the subject to something a little more current.

"I told you,we're going back to the bar." She said in the best nonchalant voice she could manage.

"But is that really the best place to go at a time like this? If what you said is true, that Vinyl actually is hunting me, then wouldn't we want to go somewhere a bit more...protected?" I asked, concerned not only for me, but for her as well.

"The bar is probably the safest place we can go right now, and on the up side, I have a plan." She said as I caught a glimpse of a mischievous smile cross her lips. I was feeling the urge to ask about her 'plan', but I decided just to wait it out and see what she had in store; I had asked enough questions for now. Maybe I could ask her once we got to the bar.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I had been running for a good while now, taking good care to keep the hunters right behind me to give Vinyl the most time possible. Half of the hunters were already breathing heavy, and had also apparently missed the fact that I had led them in circles for most of our little 'chase', but everything must come to an end, and this needed to.

I took a sudden turn, heading back towards the camp, and if she was still there, to Vinyl so that taking care of these pests would be easier. That, and to finally get a good measure of how talented she actually was when it came to confrontation.

I heard the hunters behind me start shouting out a variety of orders to each other, things like "You go left!" and "You take right!" as they adjusted to my new course. I'll give them credit though; they had, for the most part, kept up with me and had even given me a few close calls every now and then.

I could hardly see the campfires light, but I managed to see small specks of light peek through the bushes as I started heading towards them.

"He's heading back to the camp! Fire at will!" The now familiar voice of the captain stallion shouted to his troops from behind me.

I had only registered what he said when the first bold was fired at me.

I felt a sudden searing pain surge through my back leg as I fell to the ground from both the force of the bolt, and the pain that it delivered, and let out a grunt.

I struggled to get myself back up, but felt a hoof come down on the back of my neck, effectively pinning me to the ground as my cheek pressed harshly into the ground.

"Thought you could get away did you?" I heard the voice of the lead hunter spit from above me as he applied more pressure to his hoof, nearly closing my windpipe and choking me. The fact that he was pinning me in a belly down position disabled me from pushing him off, though it didn't stop me from pushing the ground.

I heard the sound of something that I knew very well: The click of a crossbow bolt locking into place.

This served pretty well as a motive to stop me from moving. Even if I did push him off, and if he missed his practically point blank shot, he still had more than a dozen others to take the shot, each of which I was sure would be more than happy to do so.

"You're smarter than I thought...most of your kind would have pushed off the ground already." He said, apparently admiring my lack of courage to test my luck.

"It's okay though, sometimes the smartest moves are the most cowardly." He said with a dark chuckle as he pressed the cold metal of the crossbow into the back of my head.

"And I think I'm making the smartest move right now, even if you can't fight back." He said with a chuckle at the end.

"Bye." He said, and that's when I knew he was about to shoot.

It looked like the end for me, but the end hesitated for a second before speaking once more.

"Wait a second..." He said as he leaned in even further. I could tell because of how the weight increased even more and my windpipe became small enough for me to begin to grow light headed from my lack of breath and the cold metal of the crossbow lifted.

"You don't have a horn. Which means..." He trailed off as his eyes grew wider, filling with realization.

He quickly shoved the crossbow back into my head hard, apparently wanting me to die and quick.

But something else got my attention, something that brought my attention away from the fact I was about to die.

A blue flash of magic.

The weight was lifted from my neck in a near instant, and air quickly filled my lungs as I gasped inwards. Immediately after, I turned eyes quickly to look behind me. I turned just in time to see the camp leader fall back onto the ground, apparently he had gone airborne, as well as the startled looks that graced all of his followers.

The second thing that my eyes caught a glimpse of, was a white hoof. One that stomped down into the ground in front of me. I knew it was Vinyl, but I still looked up to be sure.

Sure enough, Vinyl stood above me in an intimidating posture with her head held low and horn alight with her new darkened blue aura. Her eyes however, seemed to be the opposite of her relaxed and menacing demeanor, they seemed to be glaring into the camp leader with a new-found rage, but it was only her eyes that showed that. Her eyes had all of the emotion that was normally expressed through one's body, and that made them all the more menacing. Her facial expressions were still as stoic as ever, but the burning hatred that was already in her eyes stole my attention from that detail.

"Ah," The captain said, spitting out a small amount of blood that must've come from the impact that Vinyl delivered as he lifted himself up off the ground..

"I see that you had a friend in these lonely woods." His tone, and his whole demeanor for that matter, had gone back to a calm and collected one as opposed to his panicky one from before.

"Well, the more the merrier I guess. Boys!" He shouted cockily, snapping all of the hunters behind him out of their trance of shock and immediately aimed their bolts at us.

Vinyl's body lowered even more, but what got my attention be force was her hoof that moved onto my body. Though I was sure it was only to ensure I was teleported out of harms way, it felt like more; a protective hoof. Once my gaze returned to her, I noticed that her horn was already charging up it's nearly invisible blue aura.

She apparently had a plan.

The captain looked at her with a blaze of determination and caution. He realized he only had one chance to kill us, and he also now knew that there was a unicorn that was capable of teleportation. The field stood still with tension, both it's participants ready to make their move, but wanted to the other to move first.

The stallion suddenly shouted out through the silence.

"Fire!" His shouts most certainly didn't go unheard, as the other hunters from behind him followed the order and a flurry of bolts were sent hurdling at us.

Vinyl was quick to react and quickly released a magical burst that made me closed my eyes in recoil, I knew that this was her teleportation and let out a sigh of relief once it ended.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

This was the exact opposite of what I expected.

We weren't anywhere out of danger, we were pretty much in the dead center of it.

Apparently Vinyl had teleported us back to the camp that the hunters lived in. Was she crazy? We would die here!

Vinyl's hoof lifted off of me as she stepped forwards towards the edge of the camp. Her head scanned around the camp until it abruptly stopped on something, and when I traced it to where I thought it was, my eyes widened. Her eyes were on a large stack of fire wood about two feet high.

Her horn charged, head unmoved, and shot a quick bolt at the bottom most log, knocking it out of place and sending the others tumbling downwards, knocking against each other and causing quite the amount of noise.

I turned my head towards the sound of shouts from the distance, specifically, from the direction of where we had just teleported from.

I turned back to her, only to see her facing the sound of shouts with head held high, apparently intent on taking on all of them by herself.

'Is she crazy? She'll die if she tries to fight them alone. I don't care how many bolts she shoots out of the air, this is suicidal.' I thought to myself, and nearly protested it verbally, but the pain that still shot through my hind leg only let me let out pained grunts.

Soon enough the bushes began to part, and one by one, the hunters from before came piling in. Starting with the captain who, at first, had a look of surprise as his gaze became glued to Vinyl, but that quickly faded into that of a cocky smirk. His comrades however apparently weren't as cool headed as him and maintained a rather fear stricken look, though they held their ground.

"Not as cowardly as I thought, eh? Well, guess this means you really don't have an interest in living." He said with a grin.

Vinyl voiced no response, but instead, turned her head slowly to the crumpled form of a mare off to the side, not too far from the entrance of a tent in between the two of them.

The stallion, apparently annoyed by Vinyl not looking at him and responding, followed her eyes to find the same sight. His face, grin, demeanor, all of it, faded in an instant when his eyes landed upon the crumpled body.

He rushed over to her, kneeling by her side and putting his hoof up to check for a pulse. I assumed by the look of sweet relief in his eyes that she was still alive, and only unconscious. Soon after that, his eyes bolted back to Vinyl, a look of pure rage twisted onto his face as he gritted his teeth and raised up to trot slowly back to his group.

After facing Vinyl he exhaled deeply and closed his eyes.

"You're evil." He began, eyes still closed, with a new, more humbled and dark tone that sounded that of a wise and seasoned warrior. A tone that not many are capable of using rightfully.

"You and your kind are the cause of death for many innocents. How you live with such a burden I will never know, nor will I ever want to know. The matter of the fact is that it's sickening how you can take something as precious as life so quickly with no regret or remorse for it." His voice was sage, he was apparently not as cocky as I though.

It was clear his little speech was having an effect on the hunters behind him. Many of them straightened up, new found courage and reason to fight surging within them. Some of them even gritting their teeth at an apparent anger that had built within them from the short, unbiased, and almost true, summary of our kind.

"Though it appears that you have not done such an evil deed upon my sister, and for that you have my thanks." He said as he opened his eyes, a look of a controlled rage now present.

"So I will give you this one chance to leave this place with your friend unharmed." He spoke with his chest and head held high.

Vinyl, once again, voiced no response to him, but only stood her ground and stared him down. I had no idea if her look of rage was still present, but if it was, then this must be the staring contest of the century.

During this staring contest, I noticed that he kept taking nervous glances over at his sister, probably realizing that Vinyl would play dirty and how she was the dirt she would be playing with. He seemed to be thinking things over, thinking of his odds in this situation, and eventually softened his high and mighty stance.

"I told your friend "that sometimes the best moves are the most cowardly.", and that applies to me as well." He closed his eyes and began a trot to the body of his sister. When he arrived at her body, he bent down and squirmed his body under her, positioning her stomach on his back before turning back and walking towards the other hunters.

"Alright come on boys," He began, turning and giving one last wise and disdaining stare at Vinyl

"We're leaving." He finished, trotting out of the camp onto a trail, most of his hunters following behind. Some lingered there for awhile longer, giving plenty of sneers at me and Vinyl before reluctantly following their leader down the trail which most likely led to the exit of the forest.

As the last one left the camp I turned to Vinyl.

"Well, uh, thanks I guess." I said sheepishly as she knelt over and looked at the bolt.

"Oh, that?" I said, looking at the bolt stuck in my hind leg that was now covered in blood.

"Don't worry, it's nothing to get worried abou-" I screeched as I felt the searing pain in my hind leg return with no warning at all, though this one hurt a lot more than the one from before.

You see the hunters bolts were designed to be fired into a vampire, not pulled out of them. They designed the bolts so that the tip was still thin and was allowed to enter the target effectively, but they made the end jut outwards past the main shaft of the bolt. That way when it dug into the skin it would still go in smoothly, but if it were to be removed, it would rip skin out with it.

I snapped my gaze to my hind leg, where I saw Vinyl with a bloodied bolt in her mouth. I let out a scoff.

"You could have told me you were going to do that..." I mumbled as I hoisted myself up, my hind leg feeling weak, but a weak similar to the type that you get when a burden was lifted from you.

"So what were you doing while I was leading them in circles? You're welcome for that, by the way." I said, turning my attention to her again.

She didn't respond at first, but she did turn towards a random pile of brush that looked as if someone had run through it. I began to think that maybe I hadn't lured all the hunters out of the camp, and she had taken care of a few. That would explain the unconscious mare that the stallion had taken.

Soon enough, a small smile graced her face as she opened her mouth to respond.

"She ran." Her voice didn't express it all that well, but I could still tell that she was excited when she said it. Excited over the fact that someone had run from her, and given her something to chase after. She didn't need to say anymore, I got the point of it from just those words alone.

She was hunting someone.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

We had pulled out of the forest about thirty minutes ago to the sight of glorious sun, revealing that it was only about eleven in the morning when we first got out of that forsaken forest, if my guess was right. I never thought that I would ever be so happy to see Celestia's sweet embrace in my life, but once you get stuck in a dark forest with a bunch of homicidal ponies who can't handle the light, you really start to appreciate it.

We had stopped sprinting once we had gotten a good distance from the forest. Apparently Shakes doesn't take any kind of risks when it came to Vampires, which I was still confused on how she was related to them at all, but I wasn't going to push that question soon. I really didn't care how she was involved, she just saved me after all.

Most of our travels had gone by in mainly just silence, idle chatter here and there, but that all changed when we got back into the city of Canterlot.

"Alright Octavia." Shakes said as I raised my head from its downed state that it had gotten into along the travel from all the running.

"I'm going to head down to the bar and put my part of the plan into action, you can pretty much do what you want until then. Maybe take a shower get something to eat with a friend, you know, that kind of stuff." She said nonchalantly as she waved her hoof and started off to the bar, giving me no time to raise any questions or protest in anyway.

'Wait...she said 'her part' of the plan...does that mean that I have a part?' I thought to myself as I was left standing there, dumbstruck at what had just happened.

"Just be sure to get to the bar before the sun goes down, I think you know why. See ya later!" She said as she trotted off like nothing odd had happened.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I had decided, after standing dumbstruck in the middle of the street for nearly a whole minute, to go home and take a shower. Not only would it help clean some of dirt off of me and make me look more presentable, it would also be relaxing for me, something that I really wanted to be right about now.

I had gotten to the apartment building and into the lobby, casting a glance over to the mare who was sitting there reading a paper behind her desk. She looked up for a brief second and smiled to me. I smiled back and started towards the elevator, but she called for me before I made it over to them.

"Octavia?" She began. "Octavia Melody?"

"Yes, that's me." I replied as I cocked a brow and turned to face her. The desk mare never talked to me, and I mean never. She was sitting behind the desk at all time, a cup of coffee and a paper there at all times as well, giving all who entered the most friendly of smiles, but never any conversation.

She had put down her paper and looked at a notepad to her left before returning her attention back to me.

"Somebody came in looking for you not too long ago, pretty uptight mare with a laid back stallion tagging along. Told me that she "Insist that I contact you as soon as possible." or something like that. Her name was Snooty Brass or something, I really wasn't paying attention that well to her, sorry." She said casually with a sheepish look on her face near the end as she rubbed the back of her head.

I smiled.

"Oh, it's fine, I think I have a pretty good idea who it is your talking about from what you've told me." I said, earning a chuckle out of her.

"Alright, well, just thought I'd tell you, but I won't keep you any longer." She said, taking a sip from her mug.

I finished my walk to the elevator, pressing the button to call it to my floor, and stepped in just in time to see the mare return to her paper. I pressed the button of my floor and began my ride up.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I swung open the door to my house lazily and trotted over to the hallway. I didn't have an appearance to keep up anymore, so I decided to let myself loose while in the sanctity of my own home.

I reached the bathroom, practically shoving the door open as I put forth as little effort as possible into turning on the water. Once I had gotten the water running, and a towel set out as well, I shuffled back into the living room and over to the kitchen, a rumble in my stomach reminding me of a certain breakfast I had missed.

I opened up the pantry to find it nearly empty, scanning the shelves before closing the doors in a huff.

'I'll just get something to eat when I go meet up with Beauty. Hopefully Harpo will come along too so I don't have to put up with all of her at once.' I thought to myself as I trotted back to the bathroom.

'Speaking of which, why was she so insistent on meeting me anyways?' I wondered as I stuck my hoof in the shower to test the water. It was warming up, but still rather tepid.

I gave the shower a few minutes to warm before stepping into the water, back arching at the pleasant downpour of heat, as it relaxed my muscles almost instantly; not even the dirt sticking to my coat could hold out against the rush of water.

Most of my shower went by in a daze of inconsistent thoughts. Apparently fighting and running with vampires can really tire out the body fast. Who knew?

As I stepped out of the shower, my head now capable of full length thoughts, one thing did come to mind.

What was Shakes's plan?

Author's Note

So I'm thinking of changing the cover art...any ideas?

Old Habits

'Maybe I should just skip this and head to the bar...It's not like she would notice me, right?' I asked myself as I stood outside a bland looking building that stood tall above the streets below

'I mean, why would she care if she didn't see me until tomorrow?' I asked myself, apparently trying to convince myself that I didn't need to see her anyways.

My mind drifted back to a previous thought; the bar. If Shakes's plan was as devious and risky as it was vague, I might not even be able to walk by tomorrow. After a few more seconds of pride swallowing and useless convincing of myself that I would not be coming back from the bar, I decided to step up to the door.

'Better safe than sorry I guess, what if she was searching for me because something had happened to someone else?' I thought to myself, trying to give myself another reason to do it.

I stared at the door, gathering both my patience and self control that I reserved for Beauty before even attempting to open it, and after another few seconds, I had gathered all that I could.

I raised a hoof to the door and moved it in, tapping on the wood lightly enough to be almost inaudible.

It was no more than a half of a minute later that the door practically flung open, an anxious looking Beauty apparently the one who had ripped open the door with an unexpected speed and strength for her.

"Octavia," She began, her eyes softening at first, but then hardening not but a second after, when she saw me. They probably softened because she saw that I had actually come, but they had undoubtedly hardened for my "not immediate" timing. I saw her mouth begin to open, the floodgate of questions, remarks, statements, observations and all the other good things she tends to do when something doesn't go perfectly, preparing to release.

I was quick to stop her with a raise of the hoof, I wasn't in a mood for those things, and neither were my stomach or conscious for that matter.

I honestly don't know what happened to her, I remember the times when she used to be so carefree; the spitting image of a female Harpo. I honestly thought that her and Harpo were perfect for each other, at that time, but time changes all things; as do the events that follow along with time.

"Please, Beauty, not now." I said with a voice sounding both pleading and desperate that was apparently enough to silence her, and even take her aback a little. I decided to take full advantage of my unexpected results.

"I know why you came by, and I'm prepared to oblige." I said carefully as I looked at her hard in the eyes for a response, one that came in the form of a nod.

"We can talk, but only under two conditions that I decide." I began.

"One being that Harpo comes with us." I saw a flicker in her eyes at the mention of his name, as well as heard a stumbling from somewhere else in the house. She apparently heard it as well and a small smile formed on her lips, quite the unusual sight for her.

"Two, being the most important, that it's over a good salad or something." I added with a small smile of my own.

I stared at her for a few seconds before she lifted a hoof up and began lowering my own, grabbing my attention from her eyes. When I looked back up at her, her eyes were soft with a smile to match, but not like before where they were only soft because I had actually shown up, these were like a flash of what remained of her laid back attitude. These eyes were not only soft and lax; they were happy.

"That..." She began, her voice more quiet and kind than it had ever been in a long time. "That...sounds great." She finished, looking up to me with a new found smile, one which I happily returned.

"I'll get Harpo." She said before turning and walking casually back into her house.

All I could do was smile at this point; it was good to see an old friend again, though I wonder what it was that brought this side of her back.

It wasn't that long of wait before they both came out, about five minutes or so, but when Harpo came out with a shocked look at the way Beauty was acting now, I couldn't blame him; I was shocked as well. Maybe it was something I said to her earlier?

"So where are we going Octavia?" Beauty said cheerfully, shocking us furthermore as she began a trot down the street, me and Harpo following behind at a bit more of a reluctant pace.

"Um, I just figured a cafe somewhere, but we can go other places if you want." I said, though she only shook her head.

"Oh no, a cafe sounds lovely." She responded.

I was about to follow, but a hoof poke at me from the side. I turned to see that it was Harpo with the same shocked face still present.

"What did you do?" He asked. I could tell he wasn't mad, quite the opposite in fact and I could only respond with a shrug.

"She hasn't been like this in...well, forever." He said, taking a look at Beauty who was now walking casually and looking around, admiring the scenery. I could only agree with his statement.

"That's true...but I'm not complaining about it." I said with a smile as I turned and went to join her, leaving Harpo dumbstruck for a moment, but he quickly recovered and followed along.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

We arrived at the Cafe, placed our orders, me being the only one that ordered a good amount of food, and took a pair of seats at an outside table that was covered by an umbrella. We had idle chat as we waited for someone to bring our food, careful not to go into any form of deep conversation in a hope to preserve Beauty's newly relaxed state.

It was rather clear that Harpo was enjoying this state just as much, if not more, than I was; he was talking happily and jokingly, poking fun at her in good sport. That was something Beauty almost never let him do anymore, though it would take more than that to stop Harpo.

It sounds weird, but it was odd, seeing her laughing, telling jokes, having a genuinely good time with a real smile for once. Not like any of those dinner parties she went to where the smile she had was clearly faked, and she was obviously having a bad time.

Soon enough a serving mare brought us the plate with "our" food, a plate which was literally just my food, and our drinks. I was quick to dig in, throwing the odd stares and suppressed laughs my other two guests were giving me to the wind; I was hungry, and nothing was about to stop me.

Once I had finished all but licking the plate of food, I leaned back into my chair and let out a content sigh. Harpo and Beauty giving me one more chuckle that, one that I disregarded. After letting my stomach settle for a few minutes, that was accompanied by more chatter, I leaned back up in a more appropriate posture. There was one question I didn't want to ask, but I knew that I needed to; I had promised Beauty we would get to the subject.

"So Beauty, I heard you came looking for me earlier?" I asked, I figured that I would just bring it up and let her do the rest of the explaining. Her eyes flickered when I brought it up, and at first I panicked a bit, but when I saw that her attitude didn't change in the slightest, I relaxed a little.

"Well, it's just that you had missed practice...again." She added a bit sheepishly.

"So I decided to come by and ask what it was that you had been doing all those other times you had missed it. It's not really like you to miss it so often." She said with a more serious tone, though I could tell she was still laid back.

"In all honesty, I was a bit worried about you.; Thought that you might quit." She said with a sheepish and awkward laugh.

I couldn't blame her, I had a perfect record of attendance up until I had met up with Vinyl. So it probably could have been assumed that some might get suspicious.

"Why would I do that? I love the orchestra." I said in my defense.

"Then why do you never show up?" She responded quickly, almost angrily.

"Well it's not like it's supposed to be a steady job or anything? I mean we only get paid after an event or something along those lines. We barley have any shows this time of year anyways."

"The idea of having a steady job is appealing..." Harpo broke in dreamily as he looked to the sky, day dreaming about having a steady job.

"So what are you doing when you're not at your 'Shaky Job' then?" She asked playfully, but with a hint of seriousness on the end.

I couldn't respond, not in the sense that I didn't have a response, but that I didn't want to say it. If I told her all that I had been doing, she would flip out undoubtedly, heck, Harpo might even flip out.

"She's just been busy." Harpo butted in, shocking both me and Beauty a little.

"Family matters, right Octavia? you were telling me about them last time we met up." He said as I finally saw what he was doing.

"Oh yeah, I've been helping my family out lately." I said, going off Harpo's quickly thought lie.

"Oh." Beauty said with a bit of relief.

"I thought you were still getting cozy with that mare." I could see the flame about to ignite at just the thought of Vinyl, so I was quick to let it die out and change topics. Though I still felt that little cringe over her attitude towards Vinyl.

As the rest of our meal passed in friendly talk, I saw the sun moving across the sky and realized that I should be getting to the bar pretty soon. I stood up, left my share of the bill, said my goodbyes and blamed my leaving on the same "Family Matters" lie from before that Harpo had so graciously saved me with. Beauty seemed to be suspicious, but she let me go with a smile and a wave as she turned back to Harpo.

The bar wasn't too far from here, about a good block or two of walking, so I should be able to get there pretty quickly and let Shakes fill me in on her little plan that I had been fearing just a while ago.

'Guess we shouldn't delay the inevitable should we?' I asked myself as I began the walk to the bar, playing out a variety of 'Plans' Shakes might have in store.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

It was only about fifteen minutes before I arrived outside the bar, the streets beginning to dim as the sun crept away and out of sight. I noticed that some of the debris had been cleaned up that had been made during my last 'visit' to the bar as I stepped over a few remaining chunks of wood and over to the door, that had been roughly patched up. I gave the door three solid knocks and called out to anyone that might be inside.

Soon enough the door opened, but where I expected to see Shakes, I saw her sister.

"Good to see you're alright Octavia, my sister said the bar was a disaster," She took a quick look around to admire the carnage.

"And from what I can see, it was" She said as she looked back at me with a smile, stepped aside and allowed me entry into the bar.

"Shakes is over at the bar." She said as I stepped in, immediately directing my attention to where she said Shakes was.

She was there, behind the bar, pouring a variety of things into a shaker as sweat was beginning to drip from her brow and onto the wooden surface. She cast a quick glance up to me, giving a small smile before returning to mixing whatever it was.

"I'll be with you in a sec, after I finish this, feel free to lounge around until then. It shouldn't take me too much longer anyways." She said, most of her focus not on me, but on her chemist like mixing of drinks.

I decided to do just that, taking a seat in one of the few booths that had remained untouched during the fight that had gone on at the bar just last night. Slowly, the smell of alcohol began to fill the air, up until the point where I could have sworn I was getting drunk from just the scent of it as it burnt my nose. Sweeps had decided to sit with me and make idle conversation as her sister finished whatever pesticide it was she was brewing. Shakes would occasionally ask Sweeps to bring her more drinks, which Sweeps would do with her magic so she could keep up a conversation with me at the same time.

Soon enough, she had finished and stepped away from her creation, wiping sweat from her brow with a handkerchief that she grabbed from under the bar. Afterwards, she trotted over to me and Sweeps, a wide and cocky grin plastered on her face as she took a seat beside her sister.

"Glad to see you got here before it got dark." She said with a smile. I returned the smile, though I was reluctant since I still had absolutely no idea what her plan was, and what role I had to do in it.

"So what was that 'plan' you spoke of before we split up earlier?" I decided, cutting right to the chase.

"Oh yeah." She said with another cocky grin.

"It's a pretty simple plan, but just encase you don't get it, I'll explain." She said, hopping up.

"You might have smelled and noticed that poisonous excuse of that drink I have been busting my butt over for the past hour or so." She said, pointing to the shaker.

"Well, that batch of what could pass as hoof sanitizer is our way of subduing Vinyl." She said before turning to me.

"You remember that silver shaker I gave you, the one you used on her when she was trying to feed off of you?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Well this one aims to have the same effect; knock her out cold. Though this batch should be significantly stronger than the one I gave you." She explained.

"So what do I have to do with this plan?" I asked, brow raised.

"Well, the main problem with my plan is getting her to drink the drink, which is where you come in." She said as she scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

"You want me to try and make her drink that?!" I asked, taken aback by the suicidal idea. Her eyes went wide and she quickly denied the idea.

"No no! That's suicidal!" She said, agreeing with my thoughts exactly. "That's why I got Sweeps here, she is going to slip it into Vinyl's mouth with her magic." She said.

"Oh." I said, though that didn't answer my question.

"So why am I here?" I wouldn't mind being there to help Vinyl, but not in a suicidal fashion.

"Well..." She put her hoof back behind her head again, the sheepish look returning.

"What?" I said, pressuring her into saying it.

"You're bait." She said quickly.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The doors of the bar flung open as I walked out, Shakes holding onto my hind legs as she was dragged along with me.

"Hey! Come on! You're not in any real danger! I had Sweeps clean up most the debris so you wouldn't trip on any of it!" She said in a last ditch effort to convince me.

"I'm sorry, if you were right, I'd agree with you." I said as I shook my hind leg hard enough to get her to let go.

"Celestia you're unbelievable." She sighed.

"My apologies for holding my life dear." I responded.

"Here I was, thinking that you would go through thick and thin for Vinyl, and here you are giving up on her just because you're life is on the line." This was enough to stop me in my tracks. Her voice had changed from whining, to a combination of both deep disappointment and frustration, maybe a little hate as well.

"You went to the Everfree forest just to try and find her; those odds were just as suicidal as these, probably even more suicidal than this."

That was true.

"You want her, that's clear. So why would you stop now? Is it because the odds were told to you? Because you're scared?"

Maybe it was because I was told the odds, though the forest seemed to be more dangerous, and the odds even more known. My father even told me about them to me before I left.

"Look, It's getting dark out." She said as she looked up to see the sun beginning to fall behind the top of buildings.

"I'm not going to stop you from walking away from this, but I am going to leave you with a little something; a question to be exact." She walked up to me, placed a hoof on my shoulder, and spun around to look at her in the eyes.

"What would Vinyl do?" She paused, looking at me deeply, as she let the words sink in before she left, taking care to shut the door a bit harder than needed.

I sat there for awhile, just thinking about what I should do. I mean, I should value my life closely, that's a given, but I also want Vinyl to snap out of whatever it is she was in more than anything. Shakes's words certainly carried weight, especially "What would Vinyl do?" since I knew the answer to that. She would dive in right away with no hesitation, I knew that even with the little that I knew about her. Like when she didn't hesitate to get up and go to the bar when she heard Shakes was in trouble.

Though, since Vinyl was the one supposedly "Coming after me" it changed that question a little bit. This was practically asking me "Do you value you're life more than someone that you had just met for about a week, or would you put it on the line to save them?" That would sound ridiculous to just about everyone, and they probably wouldn't hesitate to answer that their lives were more important.

In the end, the answer was obvious: My life was more important than someone that I could still call a stranger.

Except when that someone is Vinyl.

I turned on my heels, back towards the bar, and began a walk.

'I've invested to much into the case of this mare just to come this far and say the price is to high.' I thought to myself as I reached the door, not bothering to knock when I opened the door.

Shakes was sat at the bar, but looked up when she saw me, Sweeps as well.

"Sorry." I said honestly. "I don't know what I was thinking." I admitted.

It sounded kind of dumb now that I thought it over again, I risk something, whether it be my life or my safety, multiple times just to see her, and then when she needs me, I walk out on her because the odds were shown to me and I have time to think about them; how selfish of me.

On another account of it being dumb, it probably would have been dumber to leave them and go hide, but the idea at that moment just seemed insane after seeing what Vinyl did to a mare that spooked her.

Shakes cracked a toothy grin before getting up to slap me on the shoulder.

"We all think irrationally when times are desperate, that was one of the factors when I came up with this plan anyways." She said with a chuckle, getting a much smaller one out of me.

"So, ready to know what you gotta do?" She asked, a bit too anxious.

I nodded.

"Great! We'll get started right away, after all, we've only got a few hours before she gets here anyways." She said as she began her explanation of my role.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"So basically, you just want me to act as helpless and distractingly as possible so you guys can get her to chug a drink that could literally kill a grown stallion?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Yep." She said curtly.

"What if it goes wrong and I mess up?"

"How will you mess up? You're bait." She replied giving me a look as if I was crazy.

"What if I'm not distracting enough or I do everything wrong." She only gave me a shrug.

"What's right is what's left when you've done everything wrong." She said as she turned and walked off, leaving me dumbstruck as I looked back and forth from my right and left hooves.

"So mess up as much as possible, and then you'll have to get it right if you mess up everything." I said to myself.

'So if I mess up everything, the only thing else I can do has to be right? How reassuring.' I thought to myself with a huff and a sigh.

"Hey so what's your job!?" I asked as she walked away casually, catching her attention as she turned her head over her shoulder.

"Well, the first part of my job was making the drink, my second job is making sure Vinyl drinks it. While Sweeps might get it to her lips, there is no guarantee she'll drink it, so I figured I would try my best to make her a bit more 'willing'." She said with a devious grin, earning a glare out of me.

"Maybe give her a good punch to the gut." She said, the look I gave her must have made her a bit more willing to explain her actions.

"Don't worry, Vinyl can take a hit, especially from me, trust me on that one." She said sheepishly.

I was reluctant with my nod.

"Well, we best be getting into position, she could be getting here at any second now." She said, a bit too optimistically as she trotted over and took up a position crouched behind a bar.

I looked over just in time to see her sister slide far back into the booth, far enough so that she couldn't be seen unless you walked far into the bar and peered into the booth. Sweeps gave me a smile and a wink as she got herself nice and comfortable inside the booth.

"Um, Shakes...am I supposed to hide anywhere?" I asked towards the bar, sounding a bit panicky and scared. Her head popped up with another "You must be crazy" look on her face.

"Octavia, for the last time, you're bait." She said, clearly annoyed, but decided to explain further just in case I still didn't get it. "You're supposed to be obvious and distracting so we don't get caught."

"Oh." I said, understanding my position in this role as I sat myself in the middle of the open bar floor, getting comfortable for what would be the most intense and nerve racking wait of my entire life up until this point.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

It had been nearly an hour of nothing but sitting there in dead silence doing absolutely nothing. There hadn't even been the slightest sound of movement from outside, and I was beginning to lose hope. Maybe Vinyl wouldn't come to get me right away, but would wait until I'm least expecting it. Though, when I brought this up Shakes, she claimed that Vinyl would come tonight.

"She's not the type that tends to be very patient." She said, probably in an attempt to reassure me that Vinyl would actually show up, but once the next half hour had past and my butt began to cramp, I was officially done.

"Shakes, I really don't think she's coming." I called out to her again. "That, and I'm getting tired of just sitting here. I think I'll just head home, and I hope that you two will as well." I said as I got up from the floor and stretched my legs.

"Octavia, now that's more suicidal than my plan." She said, peering over the bar counter with a look aimed at me that said one thing very clearly:

"Stupid".

"Look," I began. "Let's all just get some sleep and try tomorrow. We all need it." I said as I overlooked both of them, observing the toll that the waiting had put on them.

"Or," She began mockingly. "We wait until she comes to us instead of going out and into the night where she could kill all of us in a moments notice." She said, clearly getting annoyed, though she wasn't the only one.

"We've been here for nearly two hours and nothing has even moved." I said in a huff.

"Sis," Sweeps said, getting up from the booth. "She might have a point, Vinyl's always been unpredictable."

Shakes, reaching her final nerves at this point, threw her hooves up from her spot behind the bar.

"Fine, but we travel together if we go out ther-" Her voice was cut off by the light sound of something tapping the wood on the other side of the door.

Soon enough, the door knob jiggled, though it wouldn't open thanks to Sweeps locking it after I decided to stay and help.

We were quick to silently scramble back into our positions, well they were at least, I was technically always in position. Shakes practically fell over to get down under the bar, nearly taking a few bottles of liquor and a stack of shot glasses down with her, though she made sure to leave the drink for Vinyl untouched. Meanwhile, Sweeps did a sort of a slide tackle into the booth she was in before, nearly hitting the wall but coming up a bit short before turning back and giving me another wink.

I stood there, literally shaking in fear, as the door knob jiggled, though the door remained shut and locked. After a few more second constant shaking, the door knob stopped moving and thing fell silent once more. I waited a few seconds before letting out a breath that I had been unknowingly holding; a sigh of relief.

The second the breath left my mouth, the door began to glow a familiar dark blue.

"Crap." Was all I could say before the door was ripped from its hinges, pulled outside and tossed loosely to the side, revealing someone I had been both anticipating and dreading their arrival.

Vinyl.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

She was still as stoic as ever, her eyes still half lidded and her pupils still dilated, giving her a half conscious appearance as she walked menacingly towards me.

It was scary, seeing someone you had come to once enjoy look at you with twisted smile gracing their lips as they held a slow and steady walk towards you, probably with an intent of draining every ounce of blood from your body. It really puts a new spin on things.

I began to back away from her as she started getting a bit too close for comfort, which in this case, was about twenty feet. I was still shaking, sweating even, as she kept going with her cryptic look, and even more cryptic intent. I eventually had backed as far away as possible, the front of the bar blocking me from moving backwards anymore.

While I stood still, she moved closer, up until the point where she was nearly nose to nose with me. I had begun to sink down at that point in a childish attempt to to gain more distance between us. Though, once I hit the ground, I regretted my decision immediately. She was now towering over me, looking down at me with a devious glint in her dulled eyes which seemed to hold me in place with an unknown force.

'What are you waiting on Shakes?!' I screamed in my mind, and as much as I wanted to shout them, I knew that doing that would only get them hurt, or worse, killed.

Vinyl lowered her head down to my level, half lidded eyes giving her smile a more terrifying look. Her mouth opened, teeth clinched to maintain a smile, but she was definitely making sure to bear her fangs.

She began to open her mouth to, what looked liked, bite down on my neck, but a sudden shout from behind the bar shook her from her smile. Enough so that it caused her to raise her head with her mouth still open in the biting position.

"Sweeps! Now!" The voice belonged to Shakes obviously, and I think that Vinyl recognized it as the voice from before, maybe that was why she looked up.

The drink shaker was instantly wrapped in magic, quickly flying over to Vinyl's still open mouth as it practically forced itself into her mouth and tipped up. Shakes decided to join in by jumping over the bar counter, grabbing me, and dragging me over to the booth near Sweeps.

"Is she drinking it?" I asked as Shakes finished pulling me away, not particularly to either of the sisters.

"Heck if I know, she could be." Shakes said, a hint of fatigue in her breath.

"I dunno, look." Sweeps said, raising a hoof up at Vinyl.

Vinyl's hooves were just now getting up to the shaker with her eyes now wide, it appeared she was just now recovering from the initial shock of having a drink unexpectedly shoved into her mouth from out of nowhere.

At first I was scared she would just pull the drink Shaker away, but she appeared to be only weakly clawing at the drink. She even stopped clawing at it and fell over backwards after a few seconds, presumable from the alcohol, though her eyes were still open so she had to have still been conscious.

Sweeps was quick to keep the shaker close to her lips as she fell, only spilling a little bit of the drink on the trip downwards to the floor.

"Ha!" Shakes shouted with glee. "It worked! She's drinking it!" She said, practically jumping up and down with the joy she got from having her plan work.

While she was jumping with glee, I was still staring at Vinyl, and while I was, I noticed something about her, specifically with her hooves.

"I don't know about that Shakes." I said, pointing back at Vinyl.

"Wha?" She said as she calmed down enough to take a good look at Vinyl.

She was doing something none of us expected: her hooves were back up at the shaker, though she wasn't trying to pry it away, quite the opposite; she was tilting it upwards to make more of the drink flow in. Her eyes were half lidded again, even her smile was back on her face as she greedily drank up all of the liquid.

"What the..." Sweeps chimed in, her magic letting go of the shaker and allowing Vinyl to turn the drink up until it was nearly upside down.

We all stood there in a shocked silence, watching as our plan literally went down with the drink Vinyl had.

Soon enough, she had finished the drink, tossing the shaker aside with a hiccup as she relaxed herself into a spread eagle position. She even turned her head lazily to the side to look at us with a toothy grin, then she did something else none of us expected.

She let out a giggle.

"That drink should have been enough to kill a grown stallion, and if not that, knock him out cold..." Shakes said, interrupting my train of though, almost dreamily, eyes wide as she watched on with seeming awe.

"And here it is, only getting her tipsy..." Her voice was in a whisper, like she didn't want to ruin this moment of drinking history.

She was snapped out of her daze when Vinyl began to get up, stumbling a lot, but getting up none the less. Her smile, I noticed, was not of the same sinister nature, this one was a more of a happy drunk smile.

"Don't get too comfy," Shakes spoke up. "She may look harmlessly drunk right now, but she still undoubtedly has the same goal in mind." She said standing tall.

Vinyl staggered over towards us, nearly falling on several occasions.

'Jeez...What was in that drink?' I asked myself as I watched her hobble her way over to us. When she began getting to close, Shakes bent over in a defensive stance.

Pretty soon she was right in front of us, the smell of alcohol tainting the air around us as she took the final steps to close in on us. Shakes was ready for her to try something, as was Sweeps, as they remained ducked into their defensive positions.

However, Vinyl tripped and fell. Whether it was because of the drink or she actually tripped on something I probably would never know. What I did know was that she was aimed to fall directly onto me, and with my reaction timing, there was nothing I could do.

Her body made contact with mine, falling limply and making me trip with her weight, causing me to fall onto the ground and lean up against the side of the booth. She was still as soft as the first time I held her, though the smell of beer burning my nose wasn't there the first time, and honestly made the whole experience much better, but it was still good to hold her again.

That is, until she lifted her head lazily up to my ear and whispered something that I honestly didn't know what to make of.

"You seem like fun..." Her voice was slurred heavily, but I made out what she said. "Wanna play?" The air from her voice tickled my ear and made me laugh a little, even in the current situation.

"I'll take that as a," She paused and hiccuped.

"Yes." She said forming a smile that I could literally feel with my ear.

I turned and looked at both Shakes and Sweeps who were simply staring at me with wide eyes, apparently they weren't expecting this either.

Opposite of her other statement of wanting to 'play', she remained still as she simply relaxed herself on my body. Not that I am complaining, but with her current state of mind, it wasn't exactly reassuringly safe. She did move though, but she only adjusted into a more comfortable position on my body as she nuzzled into my neck.

I cast Shakes a glance that screamed "Well what now?!" but all she could do was shrug, until she straightened up and gave me a wink before trotting silently off and out of sight, leaving me sat there with a drunken, dangerously delusional, violent, tipsy vampire and a vampire hunters sister. A position I never thought that I would find myself in.

Pretty soon though, Shakes came back with something held behind her and a grin on her face; A grin that I raised a brow at.

She smiled and pulled a bottle out from behind her as her grin turned sheepish, but that only puzzled me more. She apparently saw this and took a few practice swings at Vinyl's head, getting the point across that her plan was to hit Vinyl on the back of the head with a bottle of liquor.

I silently mouthed: "What?!" She was harmless right now, I think we should keep her that way for both my sake and theirs.

She began acting out something like a game of charades, pretending to hit herself on the head and then imitating someone passing out.

I shook my head no as violently as I could with out disturbing Vinyl, only to have her respond by looking at me, then at the bottle and then back at me before giving a violent nod of the head as she raised the bottle above her head, intent on hitting Vinyl.

I shook no once more, eyes growing wide with fear of what would happen to me if this didn't work, only to get the same energetic nod with a growing smile, her eyes widening with anxiety and excitement instead. I tried my best to stop her, but with the way Vinyl lay atop me and her enthusiasm, it seemed like she was intent on sticking with her decision to smash the bottle over Vinyl's head and I could do little more than watch in horror as the bottle quickly came down.

The bottle made contact with a solid 'clank', though it didn't break thanks to it being so thick. Vinyl didn't react to it and, in fact, didn't even move after the bottle had hit her. I began to wonder if that actually had knocked her unconscious, and judging by the raised brow and look of confusion on Shakes's face, she was too.

"Did it work?" I asked in a whisper.

"I think so." Shakes replied, also in a whisper.

"No, it didn't." Chimed in Vinyl in an almost amused voice, a hint of disappointment also noticeable in the slur. This managed to shock both me and Shakes, though I'm pretty sure that I had the worst of it since Vinyl still remained wrapped around me. Shakes backed away in shock, even dropping the bottle in the process.

"Well," Vinyl began. "this was fun and all, but I really have to finish up here." She slurred as I felt her mouth open and fangs press down into my neck, but not hard enough to puncture it. I instantly tensed up, my body freezing up and holding stock still as my eyes went wide at the feeling. She was tipsy indeed, but she was actually able to use that to her advantage and get right where she wanted: My neck.

"I'll try and make this," She hiccuped again. "as painless as possible." She said, signaling she was about to bite down.

"Hey Sweeps? You mind stepping in already? I mean, I didn't bring you here just to clean up and hand me bottles." I heard Shakes say, a bit annoyed, just before a pulse of magic came from behind me and Vinyl was quickly tossed across the room, wrapped in a magical aura.

She landed back first into a table, breaking it upon impact as she slammed into the ground and let out another unamused sounding sigh.

"You guy are really starting to get annoying." She slurred from her place under the rubble of the wooden table and chairs that she had crashed into. Soon enough, her dark blue magic grasped at the rubble and lazily tossed it off of her.

"We need to knock her out before that drink wears off." Shakes said, prying my attention off of Vinyl.

"Any ideas?" She said, looking to me.

I looked back at Vinyl, who was now struggling to get back up off the floor, trying to think of something that could help knock her out. I thought back on all the times we had spent together in the past days, when I finally remembered something that had actually hurt her, even if it was an accident.

"Well, I didn't think of anything that could knock her out immediately." I admitted, earning a look of disappointment from Shakes.

"But I did think of a way to hurt her." I said, getting her attention again, this time with a look of both confusion and excitement from her.

"And what is that?" She asked.

I raised a hoof and pointed to her horn.

"Right around when I met Vinyl, and also when she tried to feed on me, I accidentally hit her horn trying to avoid her. It seemed to hurt her enough to the point where she was curled up in pain." I said.

"Go for the horn?" Shakes said with a cocked brow.

"Go for the horn." I nodded.

"Okay...well that shouldn't be too hard to get to." She said before turning to her sister.

"You think you could hit her horn sis?" Shakes asked, getting a nod from her sister as she wrapped her magic around the bottle Shakes had dropped from earlier.

A bolt of blue came from seemingly nowhere, hitting the bottle with surprising accuracy, and shattering it to pieces. We could only turn our heads in time to see another bolt come, hitting Sweeps and knocking her back with enough force to send her up against the wall of the booth with a thud, the sound of wood cracking also present.

Both me and Shakes turned to see where the bolts had come from, already having a good suspect in mind, and when we saw the faintest glow of a matching blue fading away on Vinyl's horn, our assumptions were confirmed.

"Dammit." Was all Shakes could mutter as she did a double take on her sister to be sure she wasn't injured too badly before turning to face Vinyl again.

"Well, there goes the easy way of doing this." She said as she locked eyes with Vinyl.

Vinyl had a ditzy, yet sinister, smirk on her face as she looked up, stray strands of hair covering up parts of her eyes.

"You're next." She said with a bone chilling voice, the slur not making it any less frightening, as she locked eyes with Shakes.

"You're gonna have to be more creative than that to hit me." She said, bending over and picking up a broken stool leg and giving it a little spin before catching it firmly.

"Octavia," She began. "I can't hit her horn alone." She said with a bit of disappointment before tossing me the stool leg.

"So I'm going to need you to do it, I'll be a distraction." While I normally would have refused to do anything remotely related to this, the look on her face convinced me otherwise.

I barley caught the stool leg when she tossed it to me.

"O-okay." I stuttered. I didn't want to do it, I don't think anyone would want to do it, just from seeing what she did to Sweeps with one shot from her horn was enough to detour me from going anywhere near her, much less try and pose a threat to her.

'Let's just hope that this knocks some sense back into her.' I thought to myself, trying to get a more firm grip on the stool leg as I continued to shake.

"I'm gonna try and get you behind her, that's when you hit her. Got it?" She said just before giving me a quick hard stare.

"Y-yeah." I stuttered, looking down at the stool she had given me, hoping it wouldn't just break over her horn and do nothing, or worse, if it didn't break over her horn and it still didn't do anything to her. Judging from what that mare back in forest got from a surprised Vinyl, I would hate to see what me or Shakes got from an angry and drunk Vinyl considering we would even make it long enough to see an angry Vinyl.

Shakes started a slow walk towards Vinyl as I tried my best to gather some courage and picked myself up off the floor. Vinyl turned to me, her sinister smirk turning into a believably happy one, which confused me.

"You're going to play too?! " She said with a voice that sounded genuinely happy, something that scared me a little.

"That will make winning all the more tastier." She said, her voice drifting off into something that resembled lust at the mention of 'tastier' as she returned her attention to Shakes. This was enough to practically smash the small amount of courage I was able to collect, leaving me shaking, but still standing, again.

"Don't listen to her Octavia." Shakes said, not taking her eyes of Vinyl as she closed the distance between the two.

"Just stick to the plan, and you'll be fine." She said in an attempt to reassure me. It worked for the most part after I saw how Vinyl's attention was remaining on Shakes as she was beginning to circle around Vinyl, who was barely standing up as it was thanks to the drink, which appeared to still be in full effect.

I began a shaky circle myself, going in the opposite direction of Shakes so I would get a good position behind Vinyl. While I was looking at Vinyl, I noticed her flick her attention behind her to me, Shakes must have seen it too, since it was then that she decided to charge.

Vinyl didn't react how I expected, she simply wobbled weakly to the side and fell to the ground, though it was out of the way of Shakes's charge. Apparently Shakes wasn't expecting that either, since she had to jump over Vinyl to avoid tripping on her.

"Now Octavia!" She yelled loud enough for me to throw my senses to the wind and run up, literally jumping on top of Vinyl's collapsed body, stool leg in hoof, and line up a shot directly with Vinyl's horn. I felt my heart begin to race as I began the swing, my swing even speeding up a little as I felt more sharper.

Vinyl simply smiled a ditzy smile with half lidded eyes, her horn beginning to charge as I brought the stool leg down just in time for a flash of darkened blue light to envelope Vinyl and causing my eyes to close reflexively from the light. I felt my stick hit something hard, but when I opened my eyes, I saw that it was only the floor I had hit and Vinyl was nowhere to be found.

I was surprised to see that I had even left a mark on the wood.

I picked myself up off the floor, stool leg still in hoof, and turned to Shakes who was looking around cautiously.

"Did you see where she teleported to?" She asked nervously, still taking small glances around the room.

I was going to respond, but a flash of blue from behind Shakes stopped me just before I did and forced me to close my eyes again.

"What the-?!" I heard Shakes yell during the flash, and when I opened my eyes, I saw why.

Vinyl sat atop Shakes's back, wrapping herself around her neck with her front hooves while her head poked up over Shakes's own head.

"Get off of me!" Shakes said angrily, trying to figure out how to get Vinyl off her back. This apparently was funny to Vinyl, who began to giggle wildly.

"Nope." She said, her voice sounding the slightest hint more sober. "I think I'll stay right here." She said happily.

"Octavia," She said, turning her anger towards me.

"You gonna just stand there and grow old or are you gonna hit her?" She asked, clearly flustered by her position.

I shook my head before trying to line up another shot with Vinyl, who was now rocking side to side unsteadily on the back of Shakes, who was struggling to stay still for me. I finally though I had a good angle lined up and took a swing, closing my eyes for one reason or another. When I felt the other end of the stool leg hit something, I opened my eyes to see if my aim was true, or if I was off and had just hit Shakes.

Fortunately, I didn't hit Shakes. My swing was true, or it would have been if it hadn't been blocked by a well placed hoof from Vinyl, who was still smiling oh so brightly, so much that it was beginning to get annoying how cocky she was being.

"So close." She said, the slurring becoming less frequent. She must have been coming down from her buzz off of the drink, a fact that didn't exactly go in my favor.

"Closer than you would think." Shakes chimed in before twisting her body, using the hoof that Vinyl had used to block as a way to get out of her grasp and throw her off balance. For once, Vinyl looked surprised as she fell from Shakes's back and onto the ground, quickly getting pinned by the same mare, and leaving Vinyl stuck on her back.

Shakes held Vinyl so that her front hooves were above her head, leaving her hind legs to flail around as she tried to push Shakes off, but just couldn't seem to do it.

"Octavia, now!" She yelled at me as she struggled to keep Vinyl under a good pin. It must have been the drink that had left her weaker, I knew Vinyl could have easily throw her off, whether it have been by magic or her hooves alone. Come to think of it, why wasn't she using her magic?

I decided to not wait for her to realize the same idea and straddled her stomach, pinning her even more and even somewhat stopping her hind legs from flailing. I quickly lined up another shot, and thanks to the little room for failure, I was ready to swing as soon as Shakes moved her hooves to give me a clean swing.

Shakes saw that she needed to move her hooves so that I could Vinyl's horn, which was now beginning to glow so she could teleport out of the pin. She moved her hooves at a surprising speed just as Vinyl's horn reached it's brightest, and even with the speed my swing was going at, it would be too late.

Though Vinyl didn't teleport, but instead, shot another dark blue bolt directly into Shakes's stomach, hitting hard enough to send her up into the air about five feet and have her land a good ways away. Before I knew it, her horn was charged up again, ready to fire another bolt at me as she stared at me with panic in her eyes.

But it was too late, thanks to Shakes taking the first bolt, it had given my bar stool leg enough time to connect with her horn, the force hard enough to break the end of the stool leg.

The effects of the hit were immediate, she howled in pain as her body seized up from the pain of the hit. Though one thing caught my eye, the color of her horn changed upon impact; going from the darkened blue aura and flashing a bright neon blue before returning back to the original dulled blue. Something about the neon blue color seemed familiar, and I realized why quickly, it was the color of her horn before she went with that bouncer stallion.

An idea popped in my head as I reeled the, now shorter, stool leg back for another swing. The idea was only that, an idea; so it had the possibility of failing, but anything was worth a shot right about now.

I let the stool leg fly loose once more, making another solid hit, with a pained howl to match, against the still glowing dark blue horn and, just like in my idea, it flashed neon blue once more. Though, this time, it held the lively neon blue state for longer than before - about a second - until it slowly died back down to its darkened opposite.

I reeled back once more, this time hopefully being the last time, and put my entire weight into the swing. The hit landed, with enough force behind it to break the stool leg in half and rendering it practically useless.

The pained howl came out as more of a shriek this time as Vinyl struggled weakly underneath me. I hated to see Vinyl in this heart wrenching state, but I was only trying to get my Vinyl back, not this deranged one that hurts her friends. Though this time, the lively neon came back for around five seconds, during which Vinyl opened one of her eyes, keeping the other clenched in pain, and looked at me long enough to whisper something.

"...T-tavi?" Was all that came out before the neon blue went out and back to the dark blue. Something about her voice when she said that was different, different from the Vinyl that tried to hurt me intentionally, it sounded like the real Vinyl; my Vinyl.

I looked at what remained of the stool leg, now no longer than a ruler, and back at Vinyl before realizing what I had to do. I raised the leg once more, breathing heavy as I lined up my last swing. I put everything I had into it, my courage, my care, my love, everything, into that swing. It came down faster than I thought I could swing, probably thanks to the adrenaline that was probably pumping through my veins at this point.

The hit was louder, and so was the scream that followed it, and I thought that I might pass out after it hit. But I couldn't pass out yet, I had to see if it worked first; I wouldn't stop until she was fixed.

Her horn faded back to its bright, lively, neon blue as her scream subsided as I felt myself growing weaker, nearly collapsing on the spot as the adrenalin from the past few minutes began to take its toll on my body. I fell over, barley stopping myself with my hooves as my face landed directly in front of Vinyl's as her horn remained the renewed and revived blue.

"Please..." I begged to no one in particular. "Please...just come back." I said as I looked at her clenched eyes just in time to see them open up, reveling the same dulled red eyes.

I didn't know if they were good Vinyl's eyes or crazy Vinyl's eyes, but I feared that I wouldn't be given the opportunity to find out as I felt the cold darkness begin to creep upon my senses and the world around me beginning to fade into blackness. I struggled to stay awake, even smiling at the sight of her beautiful scarlet eyes.

"Vinyl..." I said, finally collapsing into her, letting her soft fur comfort me as I drifted into sleep.

Author's Note

August 11, 2014: Rest In Peace Robin Williams, you were a role model to so many, myself included. I put in a few of his quotes in this chapter as a little dedication, that guy was the best.

( Took a bit longer than expected, especially considering I only had about four days to do it since I was at the beach, but I decided instead of making this two chapters, I would just make it one big one, tell me what you think!)

Morning Surprise

...Octavia...

My eyes slowly opened, taking in the darkness that my eyes were already adjusted to, but my vision was still bleary so my surroundings were still unknown to me. My mind was hazy for some reason unknown to me, it was unfocused and unclear; so much that I could barley think as it was. I gave my eyes a few blinks, attempting to clear my vision, but that was to to no avail.

I rolled over, feeling something soft beneath me form to fit my new position. It wasn't a foreign feeling, I could tell it was a mattress almost right away. Despite the cloud of fatigue that rested on my mind right now, a slight head ache building on the edge of my conscious, I decided to try and get up.

As I lifted myself off of the mattress, that felt awfully familiar to me for some reason, my vision began to clear a little. I could make out vague shapes of things that looked like furniture, their layout looked familiar to me, but I ignored that for right now. Instead, I focused on the throbbing in my head that had previously been just a small headache.

"Uhg..." I groaned, rubbing my temples in an attempt to alleviate the pain that was swelling in my head, and for the most part, it worked.

The next task I set to doing was clearing up my vision, rubbing my eyes and blinking them occasionally. This effort was much more rewarding, my eyesight clearing up drastically and revealing the, what I could now tell, room around me. Though, something about this room caught my eyes, something that made those odd familiar feelings much less odd. This room was definitely familiar, and for a good reason.

It was my room.

I blinked my eyes once more, double taking on all the parts of my room to see if it was my room, checking the tiny details that made my room unique to me. The organized mess of music sheets cluttering a desk that sat in the corner of the room, making the prized instrument of mine in the opposite corner make more sense to anyone else who my see it. That was enough to show me that it was my room, that instrument that seemed to be rather distanced from me as of late, something that I should probably work on when I get the chance.

I dragged myself to the side of the bed, hind hooves hanging off idly as my front pair were used as support for my body as I leaned back on my bed. The headache was still there, and much more noticeable, which got me thinking.

'Maybe I should get something to help with that.' Was the thought that popped into my mind.

I knew I had a couple of things for headaches in my bathroom, I kept them around for days when practice was a bit louder that I would have liked, or when I spent a bit too much time practicing.

I pushed myself off the bed, barley landing on my own hooves as I hit the floor. I didn't have the slightest idea why, but I was feeling really tired, barely feeling up to reaching up and flicking a switch that lit the room with a barley noticeable source of light. Despite it being an ineffective light source, it was easy on the eyes for the amount of light it gave.

I wobbled my way over to the door, the first few steps being the worst of the wobbling, but the ones that followed began to become more and more stable as I went. By the time I got to the door and out to the halls, I was walking regularly, though I still had a cautious pace. Even if it looked like my room, and was my room for that matter, waking up somewhere you don't remember going to sleep at is something that will put you on edge a little.

I walked down the hall, looking from side to side and observing the small marks and painting that covered them until I made it to the bathroom door. I was beginning to feel more comfortable, since as far I could tell, this was my home and I was alone, my home sounding silent except for the sounds I made.

I noticed as I walked into the bathroom, as I cast a glance at the end of the hall, that the rest of my home was near pitch black, the only source of light being the one that came from my rooms light that was barley different from the darkness. I decided to set my priorities, thanks to a well times pulse in my head, and go ahead and get something for my headache.

I shut the door behind me out of habit and the still lingering doubt that it was safe, turned on another light, and bent over to the cabinet below the sink, rummaging through a couple of other things medically related, before finally finding what I wanted.

Off-brand headache medications.

I smiled at just the sight of them, grabbing them as well as a small cup I kept down there with the medications that needed a glass of water to swallow. I filled the cup with water and downed the pill in a near instant, smiling to myself as I finished sipping on my water. Even if the effects weren't immediate, I knew that the relief would come pretty soon.

As I emptied the cup and placed the medications back under the sink door, I felt my stomach rumble, causing me to put my hoof up to the noisy organ reflexively.

'I guess that means it's time for breakfast.' I thought to myself, closing the cabinet.

I opened the bathroom door, turning the light off and taking a right towards the near pitch blackness that was my living room. I was a bit more confident about my house now, walking across the floor that I had memorized well thanks to my years of living here. I walked around the couch, holding onto the top of it as both a support and a guide to get to the kitchen. Though, there was one other thing that would probably make all of this easier if I got to it.

Soon enough, after a bit of stumbling and feeling around in the darkness, my hoof had landed on a light switch and with a flip of the hoof light filled my living room as I took a gaze around the room.

Everything was in its rightful place except for one thing.

Lying on the head of one side of the couch was a bundle of blue strands that jutted out, accompanying them was a long white looking thing, resembling that of a horn. At first I was curious, walking over cautiously towards the unknown object, though as I got closer to it, the shape became more clear and my eyes widened.

It was a head of blue hair, teal streaks accenting them strikingly.

I had a guess who it was, but I had my doubts about that until I finally came around the front side of the couch and I saw the face that belonged to the body.

"V-Vinyl?" I whispered in disbelief as I stared at the collapsed white figure that lay spread eagle on my couch, a peaceful face graced her sleeping figure.

I began to walk closer, still in disbelief, as I got right in front of her, a tear beginning to well in my eye.

The memories came flooding back to me as I stared at her. The fight we put up in the bar, her shooting her magic at Shakes and Sweeps and hitting both of them. I could remember her ditzy state thanks to the strong drink Shakes gave her, and riding on the back of Shakes. Even her riding on Shakes's back came floating back to me as I simply stared at her collapsed figure.

Though, the one thing that stuck out to me the most was the thing that I did, pinning her to the ground and battering her horn with a broken stool leg. I remembered those screams she let out, they were horrible and I never wanted to hear them again, but if it came down to it, I would do it again if it meant getting old Vinyl back.

It suddenly hit me.

'Was this old Vinyl?' I thought, looking over her carefully to see if anything would give the answer.

My search came up short, she was practically clean as a whistle except for a couple spots of dirt on her back and a twig I found next to her on the couch. I still had one method of finding out if it was the real her, though it was risky; life on the line risky. I could try waking her up and just asking her, and as dumb as it sounded, it seemed to be the only option available to me.

I gulped and raised a hoof, that was slightly shaking, and brought it in for a poke lined up for the side of her neck. Probably not the best place to try and poke her, but I guess I wasn't thinking about that. My hoof met with her tender neck, though she didn't move at first. I decided to try again, poking a bit harder.

This time she moved, scrunching her nose up, twitching one of her hind legs and grunting a bit. I didn't know if this is what bad Vinyl or good Vinyl would do, since she went from serious to carefree in one drink and a few seconds back at the bar.

'Maybe if I call her name?' I thought, forgetting about the fact she could very will end me right here.

"Vinyl?" I whispered, poking her in the side this time as she grunted a bit louder this time. I pulled back with a small huff and gave her another look over, trying to find a more effective way to wake her, but when my search turned up short again, I decided to try calling and poking again.

"Vinyl?" I poked again. This time she rolled over, turning her back to me with one more annoyed grunt.

"Vin-" I started, practically stabbing her back with my hoof.

She rolled back over at a shocking speed, a hoof flying through the air and landing shockingly gently on top of my lips and stopping me from speaking any more from both surprise, and the effective muffle her hoof gave.

I sat there, eyes wide again at the speed she had moved, as her hoof slowly slid down my face and fell down limply.

Slowly, one of her eyes cracked open barely and looked at me with annoyance, she pulled her limp hoof back up to her face, making a 'shushing' gesture before letting it fall back down and closing her eye again, a small smile gracing her lips.

I didn't know what to think of it at this point, she could still go either way for both versions of Vinyl. It would seem like the original Vinyl to shush me when sleepy, but the unpredictable nature of both of them were to similar that I couldn't tell if it was the good or bad one.

"Is...Is that you Vinyl?" I finally asked, the hopefulness rising in my voice.

She cracked one eye open, a bit wider than last time, giving me a good look at her one eye. I noticed it wasn't dilated and I felt some form of relief, but not total relief.

She stared at me for a second or two before cracking a small and toothy smile.

"Ask the concussion you gave my horn." She said weakly as her smile widened, horn flickering a bright neon blue.

My mouth went agape as I saw it, whether it was from happiness or something else I didn't know, but I redirected my attention back down to her face, noticing the smile still there, I felt my lips forming there own happy smile as her contagious happiness caught on.

She groggily pushed herself up from her sprawled and sat upright before patting the spot next to her, signaling me to sit down beside her.

That wasn't enough though, I didn't risk my life multiple times just to sit next to her.

I jumped forwards, aimed directly at her place on the couch, with a now mischievous smile on my face.

Her eyes widened as she saw me jump, an expression of groggy surprise gracing her face as I came down on her, wrapping my hooves around her neck and bringing her in for an embracing hug. She was tense at first, though I could understand it, but I didn't let her out of my grip; I was making up for lost time.

After a few seconds, she relaxed, moving her hooves up around me and embracing the hug herself. She was still as comfortable as ever, maybe even more now but that might just be the time she was gone speaking.

"I missed you..." I whispered, reveling in the warmth of her body as another stray tear began to well up.

"Y-yeah..." She stuttered as I felt the place where her head was heat up slightly. I wondered if she was blushing for a moment, because I certainly was.

Now that I was there I didn't know what came over me, the idea sounded good in my head to hug her, but maybe there was a better way of going about this.

The hug went on for about a minute, not exactly awkward but I was still a bit nervous about this situation, until I decided that it was long enough, the nervousness of how Vinyl thought of this getting to me. She was a bit more reluctant to end the hug, hanging on weakly, but didn't force me to stay. After seeing that, I regretted letting go, but I decided to not go back in.

I got off of her and took a spot next to her on the couch, landing a bit closer than I would have liked to land, but scooting away would just be rude and mean to her, so I decided to just stay there. The room was silent for awhile, neither of us seeming to know how to strike up the proper conversation, until Vinyl gave it a go.

"Hey, Octi." She said, looking at the closed curtains that sat in front of the couch.

"Hm?" I responded, also looking at the closed curtains.

"So, uh...Sorry about that whole trying to kill you and stuff. Wasn't thinking that clearly." She said sheepishly, making an awkward gesture with her hoof.

Though that seemed like quite a stretch for an apology for trying to kill me, I was more than willing to accept if it meant getting her back, but that didn't mean I couldn't get a little taste of revenge. I reached up and gave her head a little flick, getting a flinch out of her.

"That's for trying to kill me." I said, giving a little giggle on the end to show her I was playing around.

"That's it?" She said sounding shocked as she turned to face me.

"Vinyl, right now I'm just happy to be sitting on this couch with you beside me and you're not trying to kill me." I said, being a bit brutally honest, but she took it knowing that there was good intent behind it, showing so with a light laugh before turning back and facing the curtains.

"Boy, I didn't know that we were this far along in our relationship." She said casually afterwards.

My head literally snapped to look her, a look consisting mainly of shock and confusion probably on my face, though she apparently didn't notice and kept looking at the closed curtain, smile and all.

"What?!" I almost shouted, this was apparently the reaction she was both wanting and expecting from me, as she simply smiled.

"You know, that stage where we put our head on the line for each other?" She said, clearly joking, but I took a bit too seriously.

"Well...I guess we are..." I said, shrinking slightly.

I mean, it was true I guess, though I think I've put my head on the line a bit more than her, but that wasn't what made me flip a bit. It was the way she said it: "Our relationship", She made it sound like we were a...

My cheeks began to blush at the though.

"Hey Octi." She said again, getting my attention once more.

"Hm." I responded.

"Mind telling me when we reach second or third base?" I could feel the blush scorch across my face before turning and knocking her hard in the head as she began to break out in rowdy laughter, completely unfazed by the hit.

"It's good to have you back Vinyl." I said to her with honest and genuine happiness as I began to chuckle along, her contagious laughter being the only reason.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

It had been about an hour, me and Vinyl just spending time in each others company and getting comfortable with each other again, she seemed a bit sheepish and was constantly saying sorry, so much that it was actually starting to get annoying. The most interesting topic that we talked about, to me at least, was what happened her in the forest.

"I don't know really, I remember going through the forest and all that stuff, eventually me and Bigs got to a castle; Real big black one with guards and everything." She said, sounding akin to a story teller.

"We went inside, met this real creepy old dude, but he did get all on Bigs's ass and piss him off, so that was plus one for him in my book." She said sounding a bit happy about that part.

"After Bigs stormed off downstairs, the old guy asked me to join him for some tea or something like that. Tea's not really my thing, I can still drink it though, but when a creepy old guy who had something to do with the guy that just tried killing your friends offers it to you, it starts looking a bit fishy." She said, leaning back on the couch, crossing her hooves behind her head.

"So I went down some stairs and into this real big room with sofa's and coffee tables and stuff." She continued.

"A lounge?" I asked, knowing since my parents had one.

"Yeah, that." She said, getting back to her story.

"We're down there and he's getting the tea, some real big guards standing at the exit looking at me like I just killed their dog or something, but anyway, he comes back with a little silver platter and tea and all that stuff and offers me some."

"I say no, logically, but then he got one of his guards to step up at press something sharp up against my back. I'm a bit more willing to do it after that, so I drank it, figuring nothing that bad could happen." She said, shrugging.

"Well, lo and behold, after I finished the tea I got all dizzy, even fell into one of the big guards and passed out in their arms. When I woke up, I was in a different room with a big bed and all that."

"I could tell I wasn't thinking right then, well, not at the time of course, but things seemed to have a different perspective on them, seeming more dull and lifeless to me. It was like nothing was worth putting any effort into." She said, sounding the most serious I had ever heard her.

"I walked out of the room, out into a hallway and I saw the old guy talking to Bigs. Like I said before, things seemed different to me then; he seemed like someone worth following and respecting, someone you should give your life for, someone who you should work hard for." I shuddered at that.

"Next, I got sent out back into the forest with Bigs, something about clearing out some 'Hunters' or something like that. Things got a bit hazy right about there, but I do remember seeing you and some other mare."

I was in silence by now, the story was rather interesting.

"When I saw her though, she just felt like she was bad, you did too; You both looked like you should be gone, but I hesitated on you, something about you was different from all the others I had seen, it felt like I knew you from somewhere, but I pushed it aside for some reason or another."

"After I knocked the other mare unconscious, I planned to do the same to you." I felt a bit of my stomach churn when she said that.

"But instincts kicked in; I hadn't drank from anyone but you in the past few months, and that only left me thirsty for more." Again, another churn in my stomach.

"After you left, I had a stand off with the hunters and won, they left with no casualties but the one mare who was only unconscious and Bigs who got shot in the leg. I don't know why, but I protected him, saved him."

"After the urge to save Bigs had past, my mouth was left practically watering from the urge for blood, so I waited for the rest of the day, playing with Bigs a bit; teleporting away from him whenever he tried to grab me and take me back to that horrible castle, telling me that "We need to tell the master." or something."

"The second the night arrived, I set off towards Canterlot; towards you, and you pretty much know the rest of the story." I nodded and gave her a comforting hoof on the shoulder.

The story was informing, not in all the places where I would have liked it to be, like what this old stallion actually did to her, or if she had any plans for revenge against him, but I decided not to press it now, I was just glad she was back and not homicidal, but even after all this explaining, something still bugged me.

"So how did we get from the bar back here?" I asked.

I passed out at the bar, that was for sure, and I was pretty sure Vinyl had done the same after I wailed at her horn, so I was still confused how we ended up in my house after that night.

She shrugged. "I dunno, maybe it was Shakes or someone, heck, it might've even been me after that drink that you guys gave me." She said chuckling.

"What was in that drink by the way? I have never been that drunk before! It was great!" I chuckled a bit at her enthusiasm at being absolutely wasted, I was surprised she wasn't going through a hangover right now; maybe Vampires have strong livers?

Her stomach rumbled loudly, so much that she clenched it as she looked at it and then back up to me sheepishly.

"Uh...want to get some breakfast?" She said with an awkward smile.

I remembered my own stomach rumbling before coming in and finding her, so I graciously nodded before taking a quick peak out of my window to see the blinding sunlight.

"It's daylight though." I said as I turned back to her, though she only pointed to her horn.

"Wanna eat inside then?" She offered cockily, to which I nodded, though an idea popped into my head at the same time while my mind was still on the events of last night.

"Hey Vinyl?" I asked, a hopeful smile growing on my face.

"What?" She responded, treading lightly upon taking note of my smile.

"Mind if I have a friend tag along." I said, thinking of Harpo.

I figured it was time for Harpo to finally formally meet Vinyl, they seemed like they might get along just fine.

She instantly looked hesitant.

"Is it one of those one from before? They seemed like assholes." She mumbled.

"No, he's a lot different than those two." I said. "I think you'll like him."

It was true, I think Vinyl's happy and carefree nature would mix well with Harpo's, and if I can get Harpo to like her, then maybe I can get Beauty next. Fredric would probably be a bit harder though.

She still looked both hesitant and reluctant, but she eventually decided.

"The food better be good..." She mumble, which I gleefully took as a yes.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Author's Note

So this chapter wasn't very "exciting" but I figured now I would try to get some more serious shipping in the next couple of chapters before continuing on, I dunno.

What would you guys like to see happen next?

Connections

"Thanks for meeting me here Harpo." I said cheerfully as I greeted him at the doorway of an old styled looking restaurant, decorated with an aged looking wood and stone that covered nearly all of the outside. I was honestly surprised when Vinyl had brought up this place, it looked like a place where I would even choose to eat.

"Glad I could tag along, but..." He took a moment to look from side to side, and even behind him, before returning back to me.

"Is anyone else joining us?" He asked with a brow cocked.

"Oh, yes, but they're already inside. You know...saving a table?" I half lied, Vinyl was inside because if she were out here, she'd probably burst into flames. His expression visibly lightened, he even looked relieved at the mention of someone else, but I was sure that that would probably change once he got to the table.

"So who is it?" He asked with a cheery smile.

"Um..." I hesitated a little, struggling to come up with a way to break it to him. He looked at me with a strange look, confused why I was struggling to say just a simple name.

"It's...You'll just see when you get there." I said, giving up on a way to tell him it was Vinyl, the nemesis of his beloved mare.

His expression became even more confused for a second, but then went suddenly cheerful; something I didn't expect it to.

"Oh, joy! I love surprises!" He said joyfully, trotting past me playfully and into the waiting room of the restaurant, leaving me slightly taken aback.

'Well...maybe he will like this one...' I thought to myself before turning around and trotting behind him at my own pace.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The inside of the restaurant was lit with rather dull lighting, but that was only to set the atmosphere, and my goodness it did it wonderfully. The dull lighting accented the aged looking oak tables nicely, giving them an even more comfy aura when you sat at them. I could see why Vinyl liked this place, mainly for the lighting, but I could also see why I liked this place.

Harpo was stopped at the entrance to the main dining area, scanning over the heads to try and sight someone he might know. I trotted by him idly, giving him a small nudge.

"I don't think it's someone you would recognize Harpo." I said as I walked towards the blue streaked mane that bobbed about in the corner of the restaurant, sticking out like a sore thumb compared to most of the other casual or fancily dressed others that sat around her.

The booth she sat in was set in a C shape, she was sitting in the far left corner, idly staring all around the restaurant and its inhabitants. I arrived at the table, sliding into the booth and taking a seat next to Vinyl so that my body faced the rest of the restaurant. She smiled at my arrival, though, when her attention turned to Harpo, the smile faded and turned to more of a flat expression.

Harpo's eyes met with her purple barrier, staring into the endless violet while he put on his own expression. She must've found them lying around my house somewhere. He took a moment to analyze her, probably matching her up to the Vinyl that was undoubtedly described to him by his mare friend. Afterwards, he managed a forced looking small smile.

"Nice to meet you." He said, sliding into the booth so that he set next to me, but across from Vinyl.

The air began to grow thick and silent, so I decided to try and quickly clear it.

"Well," I began by looking at Harpo. "Harpo, this is Vinyl." He complied with a genuine nod and another, not so genuine, smile.

"Vinyl," I said, turning to Vinyl. "This is Harpo." I said pointing to Harpo and watching as she regarded him with only a nod. I sat there, watching and hoping that one of them would make a move to make friendly with the other, and finally, it came.

Not too long after I had introduced them, Harpo stuck his hoof out across the table.

"Nice to meet you Vinyl." He said, his best cheerful expression on his face.

Vinyl took a second, scanning him up and down before lifting her own hoof up and bringing it in for a small bump. Harpo, clearly not expecting this, was a bit taken aback, but not faltered.

"How ya doing?" She said, settling back down in her chair.

"Um," He hesitated, probably still from the informal way she had greeted him.

"Good." He finally decided on, settling back down himself.

The moments passed on in awkward silence, occasionally broken by small chatter that spiked up between us, usually started by me, but usually died down within a few minutes. Eventually the waitress came by, bringing menus and taking our orders for our drinks, and oh did that go well.

"So what will be having to drink this morning?" She asked happily with a smile as she placed the menus down in front of us, looking to Harpo. It was only about 11:30, so I guess it was still morning.

"I'll take a water." He said with a friendly smile.

"Okay..." She said, writing it down on a notepad. "And for you?" She said, her attention now directed at me.

"Water." I said curtly with my tone friendly and a smile.

"Alright..." She said, taking time to right down my drink as well before turning to Vinyl.

"And for you ma'am?" She said, turning to Vinyl.

"Do you guys have any beer?" She said, looking at the waitress while all I could do was stare in shack and awe.

'She wants more beer? Even after last night?' I thought to myself as I simply stared at her, mouth only slightly agape. I turned to see that Harpo had a similar look, but not nearly to the degree of mine.

"Well, uh, yes ma'am." The waitress said with an at first confused, but then with cheerful, and seemingly knowing, nod.

"I'll take some of that." Vinyl said with a childish grin on her face.

"Any specific type?" The waitress asked kindly, though sounding a bit irritated.

"Surprise me." Vinyl replied curtly with a shrug as she picked up the menu.

The waitress took time to jot it down before quickly trotting off with a mischievous grin which surprised me a bit, but I shrugged it off, picking up my own menu and browsing the few choices on the menu. Most of the choices consisted of different versions of salad, the occasional sand which, and a few variety's of fruits to pick from.

Eventually, the waitress came back, carrying a tray with two obvious waters, and three other bottles which kind of confused me. Maybe she was carrying another couples drinks too?

My question was answered when she placed the two waters down in front of me and Harpo, but put all of the three beer bottles down in front of Vinyl.

"We couldn't decide what was best for you, so we decided to get you, and your table, the three we found best." She said with an overly innocent looking smile. Vinyl looked at the drinks and then back up to the waitress.

"On the house, of course." She said sweetly, getting Vinyl to crack a funny looking grin at the waitress.

"Thank you kindly." She said, using manners in a way that I had never heard before. They sounded like she knew what she was accepting; as if there was something wrong with these three drinks, but she would drink them anyways.

Something was wrong here.

She smiled gleefully before taking our orders and trotting away with a bit too much pep in her step.

"What was up with her?" I asked silently as I watched her walk away.

"What?" Vinyl asked innocently.

"The way she was being a bit too nice, giving you three drinks on the house, that's not very bushiness smart." I said turning to Vinyl to see her chuckling a bit.

"I've kinda got a reputation here with the staff after the manager had a 'rough night' at Shakes's bar and now I get free drinks, that's all you really need to know." She said snickering as her statement brought me back to something she told me in the elevator.

"You're far from knowing everything about me" Was what she said in that elevator, and right about now, it was beginning to make a bit more sense.

She looked idly at the three different bottles, turning them so that she could read all of the labels before looking up and turning to Harpo.

"Want one?" She offered with a sly smile as she pushed one towards him.

He looked at it for a minute before looking back up with a sheepish smile.

"I really don't think I should..." He started before being interrupted by Vinyl.

"Can't handle it?" She said, giving an innocent smile. I saw Harpo's sheepish look turn into a look of determination before he picked up the bottle, lined it up with the table, and popped the cap off over the side of the table and raised it up for a toast.

Harpo was like that all of his life, the only motivation he needed to do something was someone else thinking he couldn't do it, I called it a flaw, he called it a blessing.

Vinyl gave a toothy smile before picking up an unopened bottle of her own, doing the same thing as Harpo did to open his own bottle, though hers was in one quick motion, showing off her large amounts of experience with drinking. She lifted the bottle up and pushed it together with Harpo's with a clanking sound.

"Cheers." They both said, both with a smile.

Time passed idly between the two of them, who now seemed to engage in more and more conversation the further along they went through their drinks. They even offered me the third bottle, which I refused after reading the label and alcohol percentage, before the mare came back with knowing smile with our food. They had finished both the bottles, neither of them seeming even slightly buzzed from the beers that they guzzled down, before they moved onto their food.

Vinyl decided, claiming to not be wasteful, to drink the second bottle that I had refused. I could tell she was getting the faintest bit tipsy, judging from her complements that were a bit too nice towards me. Harpo saw this too, but he could probably understand that it was because of the drinking judging by his amused smile.

It was a while later, after we had finished out food and drinks and as Vinyl's light buzz was lifted, when the waitress brought by the bill. We all chipped in, paying fairly for each of our meals. It seemed that the waitress was telling the truth when she said "on the house".

"You know Vinyl," Harpo began, sighing as he leaned back in the booth. "I figured you for someone a lot different than you are, and for that, I apologize."

"Ha, I get that a lot for some reason." Vinyl said with a smile. "I guess you could say I'm used to it by now."

"It was still wrong of me." Harpo insisted.

"I'll be sure to put in my two cents worth about you the next time Beauty gets on a rant." He said with a deep sigh.

"Easier said than done." I added in, getting a light chuckle from Harpo.

"True, true." He agreed, picking himself up from the booth with another deep sigh.

"Well, guess I should be getting back home to her. Thanks for the drink, maybe we can do this again some time," He paused.

"Maybe even with Beauty too." He added, giving his thanks once more before turning and exiting the restaurant, leaving me alone with Vinyl.

*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*

"Shit...shit, shit, shit." Was all I could say as I paced back and forth at the exit of the forest.

"I fall asleep for some well deserved rest, and next thing you know when you wake up, she's gone." I muttered to myself as I could do little but stare at the exit that let sunlight pierce through as I paced in my newly formed rut.

Beauty can be deadly, and that was the motto of the sun for me and my kind. We often dreamed of living in the sun, but we all knew that it was an impossibility. We had tried artificial light, but we had never felt the "glorious rays of the sun" that we had heard of when we stalked the streets of Canterlot; All we had felt were burns and headaches.

"Oh boy..." I sighed, finally sitting down as my legs began to tire from the countless minutes or hours that I had spent pacing, I had honestly lost count of how long I had been doing it.

"He's not going to be happy." I thought to myself, realizing how absolutely enraged my master, if I should even call him that anymore, would be when he received the news.

"Well, he might be more understanding since this is Vinyl's first mission, but judging by how confident he was of her ability, I can't over do it." I estimated about another day or two before he would get suspicious enough to do something drastic, like send out others to find both me and Vinyl, and that wouldn't end well for anyone.

I knew that when they realized that she wasn't in the forest anymore, they would undoubtedly head for the city of Canterlot. It would mean innocents would most likely be harmed.

I saw only one option, I had to find Vinyl and bring her back before things got messy for all of us.

I turned my head towards the exit of the forest, and the radiant beams of the deadly sun pouring in, before turning my head back towards the cold, shaded ground with a sigh. I reached up and massaged the temples of my head, trying to relax myself as I thought of just how I would do this.

"I hate being on clean up duty..." I admitted to myself in the middle of thought.

*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*

We were riding up the elevator, leaving the restaurant not but a few minutes ago; Vinyl using her teleport to get use here quick and untouched by the sun. I was honestly starting to see the incredible amount of use for such a skill, ranging from getting out of harms way in mere fractions of a second, all the way over to using as just a way of simple transportation.

Was I jealous? A little, though I still enjoyed a good stroll around the block from time to time, but I won't deny that there have been times I wish I could get somewhere instantly.

"Hey Tavi?" Vinyl said, shaking me out of my train of thought.

"Hm?"

"Have you heard anything from Shakes or Sweeps?" She asked, the faintest sound of worry on the edge of her voice.

My body seized up as my eyes went wide with realization.

'How could I forget about them?!' I scolded to myself before letting out a sigh and slumping.

"No..." I admitted, feeling ashamed about forgetting them, but remembering nearly every other thing about that night.

"Should probably be checking up on them then." She said casually, also sighing.

I wasn't sure what her sigh was about, whether it be facing them or having to go somewhere else, but I knew which category mine fell under. For all I knew, they could still be in the bar and unconscious while some muggers tip toed by as they robbed the place of everything.

"Yeah..." I admitted slowly, ears lowering.

I felt a light nudge at the side, looking up and turning to see Vinyl with a smile.

"Hey, don't get all depressed over something like this, it's not like you intentionally forgot about them or anything." She said in an attempt to cheer me up, and for the most part, it worked.

"On the plus side, I can ask Shakes about that drink..." She said, a deviously childish smile forming on her face.

I felt it, a faint smile forming on my lips as a giggle bubble up at her amusingly childish behavior. I knew that was her goal in her comment, I could tell by the quick glance she gave me after the comment along with the more genuine smile it gave her to see me not so upset.

"Thanks." Was all I could say.

"Any time." She said, leaning in and giving me a quick comforting nuzzle, making my cheeks practically glow just as the bell for our floor rang and the doors opened.

This relationship of ours, I wasn't sure where we stood in it. She seemed to get affectionate from time to time, but I wasn't sure if this counted as an actual relationship, or if it was just her being her.

"Well, I think I'll grab some things from my medicine cabinet before we go, just to be safe." I said, moving out of the elevator and into the hallway, heading towards my door.

Vinyl nodded and followed right behind me, until we got into the living room, that's where she stopped and took a seat on the couch while I went, got my saddlebags from their place in my room, and then to the bathroom to go fish some things from my medicine cabinet.

I grabbed all the basic things, some gauze and bandages, as well as a few painkillers just in case. You'd be honestly surprised at how prepared you were for an accident when all you did was play an instrument; pressing on strings until you bleed, staying in a single playing position so long that your body aches, and a variety of other things like that.

I eventually found a certain joy from those feelings as weird as it sounds, not the actual cuts or the aching, but the satisfaction you felt after a good day of playing.

I hurried up and grabbed the items, putting them in my saddlebags before throwing them across my back and returning to the living room.

"Ready?" Vinyl asked, lifting up from the couch.

"Yes." I replied just before she charged up her horn, giving me another feeling of happiness at the sight of its neon blue hue just before the flash caused my eyes to shut.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes, was not that surprising. The 'fight' between Vinyl wasn't that messy when it came to property damage, but there were a few things that I noticed. One being the smashed table, another being the broken pieces of the bar stool, along with shattered pieces of the glass bottle to name a few. Though, there were a few things missing, specifically, the reasons we came here.

Shakes and Sweeps were nowhere to be found.

"Strange...I don't see them." I said aloud, stating the obvious as I looked around.

"Yeah..." Vinyl agreed, taking a couple steps forwards, turning her head from side to side in search of the two sisters.

We searched the main bar rather thoroughly, the search turning up with no results. Checking behind the bar, under the bar, under booths and tables even, we practically searched everywhere but under the floor boards. Eventually, we ended up back at square one, standing in the center of the main bar area.

"Is there anywhere else they could be?" I said, even though I knew we hadn't looked anywhere close to all over the bar, but we had pretty much given every assumable location a good look.

"I guess I'll try her office." Vinyl said, turning to me. "The only thing left after that is the closet, which I kinda doubt she would fit in there, and the booth." She said, raising a lazy hoof over towards the booth that towered over the dead black dance floor.

"Alright." I said, figuring that the booth was the next likeliest place they would be hiding at, or resting at, or whatever it was that they were doing. I walked across the cold feeling tiles that were the dance floor, I knew that they would light up whenever the bar was having a good night, but now they were more like flooring.

I searched the booth, not quite thoroughly since most of it was covered in records and sound equipment, but I did look in all the places available to me. My search came up empty, though judging from the sound of rumbling and multiple sets of hooves on wood, Vinyl's search came up with more of a find than mine.

I returned back down to the bar area just in time to see Sweeps hobbling out of the hallway, half conscious in her movements as she nearly fell over nearly everything. She seemed weak, her eyes half lidded and riddled with fatigue, her ears drooped downwards as she was nudged along by Vinyl.

"Is she okay?" I asked, ready to pull out any of the supplies I brought.

"Well, her body's fine, she's just tired." She said, finally nudging Sweeps into a booth. I breathed a sigh of relief, but it was quickly filled with some more worry.

"Did you find Shakes?" I asked.

"Yeah, she found me." A familiar voice chimed in.

My head swiveled towards the sound of the voice, eyes landing on the figure.

She stood tall, head held high, even with the bandages wrapped around her chest. The scratches were clear on the surface of her body, dried blood sticking to her coat. Her eyes were riddled with fatigue as well, though she easily out played her sister with her eye lids drooping down. Even with her mane clearly disheveled and littered with dirt, she still stood. Even on shaking hooves, and weak legs, she still stood.

She stepped forwards, legs landing with louder sounds that usual, showing that she only put the bare minimum amount of effort into walking.

"Gotta hand it to you Vinyl," She began with a weak chuckle. "You sure can pack a punch with that horn of yours."

Vinyl became sheepish at just the beginning of the sentence, hooves scratching the back of her head as her matching smile graced her lips.

"Sorry..." It was sincere, clearly.

Shakes just laughed, coughing a bit as the laugh became too much for her to bear, and making Vinyl's expression become more of pained one

"Don't sweat it, I've been through worse." She began before chuckling once more, but clenching to her stomach half way through.

"Nope, that was a lie. This is pretty bad." She said, even getting a laugh out of me and Vinyl.

We sat there, talking to each other as if nothing had happened, after the initial questions of "Are you okay?" and "Do you need to get to the Hospital?".

It was kind of scary really. The fact that we had gotten over this so quickly and gave it not a second though. I was glad Vinyl was back, she was glad that me and Shakes and Sweeps were okay. So I guess all was fine, and that was fine by me.

The topics were rather spaced, jumping from one thing to another, from beer to medicine to even the forest. The talking went on for awhile, about an hour, and Sweeps eventually recovered enough to join in. She had apparently "taken one to many pills or something."

Eventually, they decided that they should be getting back home.

"Do you need help getting back home?" I asked, Vinyl also opting to just teleport them home, but no. They were too proud for that, insisting that they were just fine and that the trip was only a few blocks away. They said their goodbyes, much to both me and Vinyl's disapproval, and left us with one thing.

"Just be sure to lock up." Shakes said, just before the door closed.

"Jeez they're hard headed." Vinyl said in a huff as they left.

"At least they're okay." I said, trying to think on the bright side.

"Yeah...then again, I was the one who hurt them." She said, turning away and staring out the window, sounding ashamed of herself.

"You know that you wouldn't do that under normal circumstances." I said, giving her a glare.

"I still did it." She said sighing. I was about to tell her wrong again, but she beat me to it.

"But yeah, at least they weren't hurt too bad." I could see anger building in her, her jaw tightening as she began gritting her teeth behind her shut mouth.

I walked up and put a hoof on her shoulder, getting her attention as she turned to me. I gave her a soft smile, she seemed hesitant at first to return it, but eventually she caved and smiled back.

"Let's just enjoy this for now." I said, getting a nod out of her.

We stood there, just outside of the fading suns grip, staring out the window at the orange sky. She seemed deep in thought, staring at the horizon with a mix of what I could make out as sorrow, shame, but those paled in comparison that dominated her expression, anger. Her eyes were squinted, her eyebrows tilted inwards, and a fire burning in her eyes like a furnace. Her smile was gone, replaced with a frown that curled off at the ends.

While she silently seethed, I silently thought. About what could happen, about what had happen, and about what was sure to happen in the future. I compared them to what I wanted to happen, and I saw fairly different ideas, but I thought that it could happen, maybe I could get my vision of the future.

One thing floated up above the boiling pot of my thoughts, and I just couldn't resist asking it.

"Do you think they'll come for you?" I asked quietly.

At first, her answer was silence, but it was broken.

"Yeah." It was short and simple, but not enough, her answers were never enough.

"What will you do?"

Silence.

"Will you do what you did last time?" I asked, remembering her giving herself up for the safety of me and Shakes. Again, all I got was silence, but once again, it was broken, but not immediately.

The first thing I felt was the slight lean of her into me, her placing her head up against me neck in a soft embrace. I was unsure at first, but eventually I leaned in cautiously in my own awkward embrace The answer that followed reflected all those emotions I mentioned earlier.

"No."

Author's Note

Again, not very eventful, but it did open the door for the next part I had in mind.

Unexpected Visitors

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Well, not really." Vinyl said, shrugging her shoulders and tilting her head slightly.

We were walking down the road, just now coming back from our trip down to the bar to check up on Shakes and her Sister. We decided to wait out the sun, both wanting to enjoy each others company with a nice walk home. She was the only one who admitted that, and I couldn't really so no to that. One reason being she was the only one that could get us home, using magic, another reason being that I actually wanted to walk with her. Of course, I didn't admit that aloud, I played it off with "That sounds lovely."

We passed most of the time with idle conversation, with the occasional food and drink from Vinyl, who knew the layout of the building like the back of her hoof, until the sun was far enough behind the buildings for us to get by unharmed.

We were about half way home, just chatting and enjoying each others company, when I decided to bring up the still very vague topic of vampires.

"We don't need blood, it's not like it's our only food source. Think of it like a good snack." She said, sounding confused herself. I had asked her if Vampires needed blood to survive.

"I mean, I've went for months without it, but that came with a few side effects." She said, more confident in that since it was a fact.

"Like?" I pressed onwards.

"Head aches, basic stuff like that." She said with a smile.

It was interesting really, the myths and legends certainly did mislead us when it came to a description of how Vampires act, what they eat and that sort of thing. They portrayed them as something like a beast who eats others, draining their blood and such. When I brought this up with Vinyl, she gave me a shockingly simply and valid response.

"We might have urges, but we still have common sense." She was rather amused at my interest in Vampires, I could tell by the look on her face when I would ask a question about them, what they do, and even how they did it.

The conversations and questions went of for the rest of the trip home and I still had a lot of other questions when we finally got back to my house. The trip seemed to be a lot shorter than I remember it being, but I decided to give it a rest for the night, I would have plenty of time to ask her later. Though I still pressed her for information all the way up to the front of my door, and that's when I decided to stop.

Vinyl went straight to the couch plopping down violently enough for her glasses to fall off and onto the floor. She had a big smile on her face too, big enough to make me smile too.

"You really want to sleep on that old thing?" I asked with a smile and a raised brow.

A scarlet eye popped open, looking at me.

"Unless you got somewhere else in mind, It's really my only option." She said with a shrug, closing her eye again. And the idea popped into my head again, and a blush lit across my cheeks.

She really didn't remember sleeping in my bed from before.

"Well...there is another place you could sleep." I said, scuffing my hoof idly across the floor as I looked down, not willing to meet her gaze if she looked up again.

Once again, she popped another eye open, this time with a raised brow of her own.

"Where?" She asked, clueless to my implication.

"How about you take a shower," I suggested. I had noticed on our walk home that she was practically covered from horn to hoof in dirt and grim, a variety of twigs in the occasional clump of hair.

"Then come and talk to me in my room." I felt my cheeks burn from embarrassment of the situation, but as I've said before, that couch is dreadfully uncomfortable. I have yet to understand how she is able to sleep on it.

I saw her hesitate, a bit shocked by my invitation, but that quickly turned to a quick and eager nod.

"Yeah...Yeah!" She said, trotting eagerly into the bathroom while all I could do was smile.

*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*

I had finally gotten back to the city, leaving the second the sun was bearable and running as fast as my hooves could carry me. For the most part, I had made astounding timing, arriving in almost an hour thanks to the perks of my species, that's not to say that fatigue didn't affect my kind though. I was panting hard, I had never pushed myself to that limit, and I aim to never do it again unless it is absolutely necessary.

I was in the city, lying on the ground panting, but in the city none the less and I still didn't know where to go to find Vinyl, but I did have an idea.

Basically, my idea was that, somehow, Vinyl had been broken out of whatever state she was in, or else she probably would have came back to the forest by now.

How she was broken out of it, I had another idea.

That other idea, was that that little group of friends of hers, those two sisters and that gray mare, had somehow shaken her from it.

From what I could tell, she seemed to be rather fond of that gray mare named Octavia, and thanks to a bit of digging around in the scouts department of the castle, I knew where she was living. I knew that Vinyl didn't have a permanent resident, or if she did she was extremely good at covering it up from everyone, from my job as her bouncer.

So, putting two and two together, I decided that there was a pretty good possibility that Vinyl was at the gray mares place, and if she wasn't, the gray one would probably know where she was. I was pretty good at negotiating, but thanks to our previous 'encounters', I had a feeling that she is probably going to be difficult.

"At least...it's something..." I said to myself in between pants, falling to the ground in an attempt to rest a little before heading out to Octavia's apartment complex.

While my body rested, my mind went to work, coming up with a way to get into the gray mare's apartment. I figured a classical "Through the window" approach with an, at first, reasonable approach and if things got bad, I could 'talk' some sense into her. If Vinyl was already there, then I could just skip that step all together and try talking to Vinyl; assuming she had been broken from that state of control.

The plan and assumptions were very "iffy", but it was really the only plan I had.

I picked myself up, the fatigue somewhat lifted from my body as I raised myself up onto my now sore hooves, and turned to a direction, not even sure if it was the right one, and set out in search of some form of way to tell my location. My first, and only, idea was to find a street sign somewhere in the night.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I had found a street sign, though it didn't really do anything for me. I ended up giving up on the street sign thing and asked a younger stallion stumbling along the street for some directions. He was quite the talkative one, whether that was his actual personality or the smell of liquor on his breath, I didn't know, nor care.

The directions he gave me checked out, I knew that when I found myself outside of the apartment building that matched the description, name, and address of the building the scouts department gave me.

"Well...I never would have guess that someone with Octavia's parents would be living in a modest apartment building." I said to myself, scanning the building up and down and finding the room on the floor that the department gave me. It was pretty high up, but some surrounding building would make getting there pretty easy.

I put on a small smile, picking the building that I would use to climb and get to the window.

*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*

I was sitting in my room, reading over a couple of old musical compositions while I listened to the running water that came from the bathroom. It was an old piece that I had been revising until I decided to take a break to try and get some more inspiration to continue.

I sudden sound shook me from my reviewing.

It sounded like it came from outside, but I wasn't sure. It could have been Vinyl showering, I had heard a few 'unusual' sounds from the shower while she was in there.

I brushed it off as nothing, returning to my music and looking over it; playing out the melody in my head over and over and making a few adjustments that I would have to add in later. It seemed to be coming along nicely for the most part, it was already pretty good anyways, but I figured this was a good way to pass the time while I waited for Vinyl to finish her shower.

The fact that I had tried inviting her to sleep with me so awkwardly was still lingering in my head, but she seemed not to notice it. Though that might be because she seemed to do nothing but like the idea, judging from that smile on her face when I invited her.

On the other hoof, I was quite proud at my reach outwards to bond with her, I didn't even think I would do it. In all honesty, once it was out and she was hesitating was the worst part, I thought that I had maybe took things too quickly, but she seemed to love it.

The sound came around once again, this time a bit louder than the first time. It was enough to make me put the paper I was reviewing down and go into the hallway and knock on the bathroom door.

"Is everything okay in there Vinyl?" I asked, a bit concerned from the sounds that I heard and still had no clue where they were coming from.

"Yeah?" She sounded awfully confused, so much so that I could here it through the running water.

"O-okay." I stuttered, walking away from the bathroom door and over to the kitchen, a bit embarrassed at my nosiness.

'Maybe some water will get my head thinking clearly...' I thought to myself, although, I was certain I wasn't imagining those sounds. I mean, I had heard them twice, so that had to count for something.

I got up on my hind legs to get a glass from the upper cabinet and filled it with some water from the sink. The water was refreshing, but I still had my thoughts about those 'sounds' that I had heard, but I figured I would let them go for now. For all I knew it could have just been a bird or something.

On my way back to my room, I heard another sound, a bit different and quieter than the other two and I could even tell it sounded like a click, but this time I could definitely tell where the sound was coming from.

My room.

I quickened my pace, thinking it might have been Vinyl, but once my ears picked up the sound of the still running water coming from the shower, I slowed down to a cold stop.

'If it wasn't Vinyl...Who was it?' I thought to myself, resuming a cautious walking pace.

I reached the door, the closed door.

I didn't close the door, I didn't even touch it when I left my room, which either means that something, or someone, else had closed it within the short time I had used to get a glass of water.

Something was wrong here.

I put an ear up to the door, listening for any sort of sound from the other side of the door, but I heard nothing. I was still suspicious about this, so I was cautious when I reach up to the door to give it a twist to see if it was unlocked.

It was.

I pushed the door open just enough so I could take a look at the edge of the room, which looked empty as it should be. I pushed it open slowly, scanning over the rest of the room slowly and matching it up to what I remembered it looking like when I had left. It was completely the same, except for a window, which was lifted up slightly, leaving a crack between the bottom of it and the window seal.

I raised a brow at it, my curiosity overtaking my caution as I moved forward to investigate it.

As I neared the cracked window, I heard the distinct sound of the door behind me shut.

My head swiveled around to see the sight of a familiar stallion. One that made my heart both sink, rage, and cringe all it once. It was that bouncer, Bigs.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

My mouth opened to let out a scream, but he had already put his hoof over my mouth before it even began, turning my scream into a muffled sound. I punched him uselessly in an attempt to get him off of me, but he simply let them hit while he looked me in the eyes; a surprisingly calm and annoyed look in his eyes.

After about a minute, I had tired myself out.

"Done yet?" He asked, clearly annoyed.

I shot him a glare.

"Whoa, careful where you point that thing." He said in a sarcastic mock of my glare, accenting it with a big roll of the eyes.

"Look, I'm not interested in you, I'm here to find that mare you're so fond of." He said, taking on a more serious tone.

My eyes widened at that statement, but it wasn't because it was his goal to find her, but it was because she was so close; literally a few steps away.

"I'm assuming by that look in your face you know where she is?." He said with a sly smile.

I cringed in anger, but during that cringe, an idea popped into my head that turned that same cringe into a devious smile that was hidden under his hoof.

I opened my mouth, bringing it back down right on the skin of his hoof, causing him to back lash his hoof in what I assumed to be more surprise rather than pain, but it was all I needed. I'll give him credit though, he managed to only grunt at my bite that drew blood.

"Vin-" Was all I managed to yell before he quickly smacked his hoof back into my face and over my mouth, dazing me a bit.

All fell silent after that, Bigs's ears perking up, along with mine, to listen if anyone was coming. I heard the faint sound of the still running water, and my heart sank further.

She didn't hear me.

Bigs must have not realized it, maybe because he came into my room with the sound of lightly running water already present, but I did.

I heard something else after that, or rather the sound of something stopping.

My ears perked up at the sound of silence that now filled the hallway. The water had stopped.

This time, Bigs realized it, turning his head and staring at the doorway with a look of curiosity in his eye. He thought on it for a second, before a small smile curling up on the edges of his mouth.

"Hmm..." He lingered on the sound, as if he were thinking it over and deciding what to make of it.

"Looks like I've found who I was looking for." He finally said, coming to the correct conclusion, and turning back to me and giving me a good look at his smile. His lovely, twisted, cringe inducing smile.

"I suppose I should thank you..." He said as I continued to listen for anything outside. I heard light and slow hoof steps, not as like they were trying to be sneaky, but as if they were taking there time and nothing was wrong.

"Though you really didn't do anything," He continued, but my focus remained on the sound of the hoof steps drew closer and closer.

"but what does that matter anyway..." He continued to babble as I saw the door knob behind him begin to twist, his own voice drowning out the sound.

I finally saw her in the door way, well, half of her at least. The other half of her was blocked out by Bigs. She stood there with a towel over her head and two hooves working feverishly as she scrubbed her mane dry. The towel, and the pace she was rubbing at, also worked as an effective way to mute out Bigs's stupid babbling.

Lucky for her.

Bigs finally managed to shut up and turn to the doorway, thanks to the sound of the door lightly hitting the wall being loud enough to catch his attention. Now he was dead silent, as opposed to his cocky, near nonstop, talking just a few seconds ago. He seemed to be shocked, though I wasn't sure why.

Vinyl finally stopped ruffling her mane, letting the towel drop and hang loosely around her neck. She had her eyes closed, probably from the drying, but opened them up with a smile.

Thought the smile quickly faded at the sight of the bouncer, turning into more of a surprised look followed by two blinks and a double take. It was then that she seemed to understand the situation, me on the ground and Bigs on top of me with his hood over my mouth, and her expression turned to a frown, and then to a grimace of pure disgust.

"Nice to see you Vinyl." Bigs said, sounding surprisingly sincere, but I knew that must have been part of his cocky attitude.

"Get out." She said, using a sturdy voice, clearly not joking.

"Look, you need to come back to the cas-" He began in a calm tone, but was cut off quickly and rudely by the mare in the door way.

"No." She said curtly reminding me of the voice and tone she had used in the bar just a few hours ago. It gave my lips a curl of a smile.

'Guess she wasn't joking about that.' I thought to myself.

"I'm not doing this because I want t-" He began, before getting interrupted once more.

"I'm only gonna say it one more time." She said, a tone turning dangerously edgy.

"Get out." It was sinister sounding, backed by a brick wall of determination and a gaze that meant business.

Bigs lowered his head, shaking it with looked like dismay, maybe even some pity.

"You don't understand, my master wil-" He began before getting interrupted by a glow of blue forming between him and me.

He raised a brow at the look of the magic before realizing what was happening, but it was too late.

The blue pulsed, pushing me harshly, knocking my head and body back into the ground with an outstanding force, leaving me dazed, but unharmed for the most part. Bigs wasn't so lucky. The pulse of magic had sent him flying away from me and right too Vinyl, who's horn was now glowing with a bright blue.

The blue wrapped around Bigs, stopping him in mid fly and holding him above the ground helplessly.

She took her time walking up to him and staring him in the eyes before speaking.

"Come back again, see what happens." The tone was threatening and filled with a venomous hatred.

She lifted her head up high, raising Bigs off the ground even further, before dropping her head quickly and sending Bigs crashing down head first into the ground as well. The impact was enough to shake the floor I was lying on, and even knock a few things off my shelves.

I visibly cringed as his body stiffened up upon impact. The sight looked truly painful.

The grasp of Vinyl's magical aura faded slowly, leaving Bigs's body stuck stock still in the same position as he lay there.

Vinyl walked over to him once more, standing tall over him as her horn lit once more.

She bent over, gently placing her horn on him and holding it there as it increased in its brightness. It eventually became to much for my eyes to bare, causing them to clench reflexively.

When I reopened my eyes, Vinyl was still there, but Bigs was no where to be found.

Vinyl lifted herself back up, stumbling a bit as she reached her normal standing height, but stood tall none the less. After that, she turned her head my way before walking over to me and bending over.

"You okay?" She asked, her tone now sincere and kind, a big difference from her previous tone with Bigs.

I smiled in my head rocked state, slowly raising a hoof and placing it on her side.

"I am now." I said happily. It might have been the smack from Bigs that had me so dazed and comfortable, but whatever it was it was having an affect on how I was thinking.

Vinyl smiled though, just before picking me up and carrying me over to my bed and dropping me gently, even pulling the covers up.

I smiled at the gesture, but it turned to a frown when she only sat at the side of the bed, a hoof resting on my body as she watched the window with caution. Shame, when I wanted her to sleep in the bed with me, I actually wanted her in the bed, not sitting in it beside me like a babysitter.

"Are you going to sleep?" I asked after a good few minutes of getting comfortable.

"Yeah...just...gimme a second." She said, remaining ever vigilant on her quest of watching the window.

I gave her a second, a half an hour in fact, but she remained right next to me, her hoof now circling my body lightly as she stared at the window. I gave up after that, accepting her decision, but making the best of it.

I curled into her, resting closely at her side as she watched over me.

I have to admit, I felt safe and comfortable as I could be, and that was apparently enough for my body to agree that I was due for a good nights rest. My eyes closed, fading into a dark and comforting sleep, the last sight being Vinyl's eyes glancing down to me quickly before looking back up to the window, a small smile forming on her face afterwards.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I woke up, the darkness of the windows, that now had curtains covering them, told me that it was still night-time, but there were two things that were different with my room in this darkness.

One, of course, was the darkness that now filled the room, the artificial light that had previously lit the place was now absent, leaving a darkness that was easy on the eyes enveloping the room. Not only that, but it was a rather comfortable darkness.

The other was my new position in bed; I was no longer in a curled up spot, resting in Vinyl's side, but I was actually the one getting curled into. Vinyl was now curled into my own stomach, snoring lightly with her hooves pushed together, lightly resting in front of her neck. It was truly adorable.

I smiled at the sight, I couldn't help it.

'Never would have thought a vampire would look like this.' I thought to myself, admiring her occasional scrunch of the nose and twitch of the ear.

I dug in closer, the soft heat radiating off her body supplying all the warmth I needed to get back to sleep. I closed my eyes once more, the smile still gracing my face as I drifted back off into sleep.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

When I woke up for the second time, the light was shining brightly behind the curtains, but didn't manage to make it into my bedroom. Fortunately too since the warmth from last night was still there, curled into my stomach. I smiled at the sight, letting out a content sigh as I relaxed back into the bed.

I sat there for minutes on end, enjoying the softness of the one sharing my bed until she began to stir. She let out a big yawn, and after hoisting her upper body up with her front hooves, blinked her eyes groggily a few times before turning to me and smiling.

"Mornin." She said lazily.

"Good morning to you Vinyl." I said with a smile, adjusting myself to sit more upright. I felt Vinyl put a hoof on my shoulder, getting my attention and causing me to turn to her.

"You okay from last night? You're sure Bigs didn't hurt you?" She said, dropping her tone to one with more concern. I only giggled at her caring attitude.

"Yes Vinyl, I'm fine, he didn't do anything." I said with a sarcastic, but friendly, roll of the eyes.

She was clearly relieved at hearing this, but that look of relief soon became a bored look of annoyance, followed by her plopping back down onto the bed, head to the sky and letting out a sigh that blew some of her hair up and out of her face.

"I swear, he doesn't know when to stop." She said.

"You seemed to deal with it well." I noted.

"Yeah, but what if I can't next time? What if he hurts you next time?" She said, making a good point that I couldn't deny, defend, or brush off.

We sat there, in an idle silence, both thinking about the possibility of that situation, the situation where I might be hurt. It went on for minutes on end, the silence was beginning to overwhelm me, but that's when Vinyl spoke up.

"We've gotta put an end to this." She said, still looking idly up to the ceiling.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I've gotta find that old man, it seems like he's the kingpin in this whole situation." This got my attention.

"You mean the one that turned you against me, Shakes, and Sweeps?" I asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, that one." She said.

The conversation once again died back down into silence, both of us thinking still, but this time around, it was me that broke the silence.

The thought of her going back, of losing her again, it was unacceptable. Going back to that horrid forest alone, no way, not on my watch.

"Well, you're not going alone. That's for sure." I said, determined in not losing her again.

She turned her head, even lifting herself up off the bed with her front hooves again, and looked at me.

"Tavi, I really don-" I interrupted.

"No, you're not going alone, that's final." I said, sturdy.

"Octavia," She began, using my first name to show that she was serious. "Please, I couldn't stand it if you went along and something happened to you. I mean, if you got hurt, or ki-" She began, but I interrupted her again. How rude of me.

"No." I said firmly, my throat beginning to swell.

"I'm not losing you again, I couldn't handle that." I said, clenching my eyes shut tight and pointing my head downward.

"I can't handle it when you're gone, from the second you spent you're time here in my house, it's felt alive, but most of all, it doesn't feel empty." I began, the tears beginning to well up in my eyes.

"Every time you leave, my thoughts; They will always drift onto you, some way or another, and it's unbearable. My head, and my body, they can't take anymore of it." I said, finally telling her about how the times went by when she was away, something I never though I would do.

"So no Vinyl," I said, looking up to her with teary eyes. "I'm not staying behind if you go; I'm coming along."

She sat there, staring at me eyes wide, probably from the revelation. Her mouth was open, as if to protest more, but she slowly turned her head back down and shut it, a look of heavy though drifting in her eyes.

It wasn't too awfully long before she responded, but she did.

"A-alright." She finally said in a soft voice that sounded foreign to her normally lively voice. I looked over to her, she had a tiny smile on her face, and if my eyes weren't deceiving me, a blush across her face.

"We'll do this...together." She said slowly in the same soft spoken voice

I smiled at her decision.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Packing

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I lazily leaned against the door to my house, using my body weight to push open the door.

I couldn't help it, I was worn out. I mean, I knew Vinyl was pretty good with that horn of hers, but jeez, that one dose of magic to my chest was brutal. It felt like getting punched right in the gut, but with a bit of a burning after affect, like when you spill some alcohol on a cut, but a lot worse.

From what I saw, sis had got hit by the same shot, but hers wasn't point blank, and I can tell you that magic loses its concentration and, consequentially, power the longer the distance it travels. Not to say she didn't get it bad, in addition to getting hit with the magic, she hit the back of the booth with her head pretty hard. I assure you that Mahogany can definitely hurt.

Sweeps crashed in the door soon after me, barely making it over to our couch in the center of the room before she passed out. I would have done the same, but my throat was killing me, and I needed some water.

"Hey sis?" I heard Sweeps call out, her voice muffled by the couch.

"Hm?" I responded lazily, paused halfway to the kitchen, not feeling up to voicing an actual response.

"Can you get me some water?" She asked, using that pleading tone that she knew I couldn't resist. There was just something about it that got to me.

I sighed.

I couldn't "Hm?" my way out of this one, and that meant I had to actually use words to respond.

"Fine." I said softly, turning and trudging off to the kitchen.

As much as I complained in my head, it was where I was heading to anyways. Believe it or not, that walk home in the night can really get you tired and thirsty, especially when you have to walk uphill for about a block. About half way through, I had started thinking about that offer Vinyl had offered and how I should have accepted.

I mean, she was offering.

I mumbled to myself as I reached the small and generic kitchen we had, marble flooring and a glass kitchen table with a few chairs around it, but I paused in front of the cabinets. Those top cabinets where we stored all of our glasses.

There aren't many things that I regret doing, but storing the glasses on the top shelf was at the top of list as of right now. I, of course, wouldn't do anything about it because I'm just like that; finding it healthy to complain about something every now and then, really helps getting some of those pent up emotions out.

I sighed heavily before raising myself up onto my hind legs, that were now burning from how tired they were, and opened the cabinet. I grabbed two glasses, not paying attention to which two they were, before dropping back down and placing them on the counter. I looked up to the still open cabinet, hesitated on the thought of getting back up on my hind legs, and then turned away and headed for the sink.

"Here you go." I said in a breathy voice as I placed one of the glasses, now filled with water, on the glass coffee table in front of the couch.

She looked up just enough to see that she actually had to move to get the glass, then promptly let out a big groan. I rolled my eyes at that before placing mine down beside hers and taking a seat on the couch. Her sprawled out form made it difficult to get comfortable, so I gave up and just decided to use her as something like a pillow. I'm sure she would have protested, If she wasn't totally exhausted.

Sweeps, after a good five or ten minutes of resting, decided to try her luck at getting the glass of water. It went well, she got it up to her lips and almost all of it down, even putting the glass back without spilling a single drop, though she almost chocked on the water.

I giggled softly, the small pinches of pain I got in my chest convincing me not to laugh too hard, before deciding to settle in and try and get some sleep so I closed my eyes, the light sound of my sister snoring already filling my ears.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I woke up to the sound of the same light snoring. It was a pleasant sounding snore, the kind that you don't mind listening to. I lifted myself up, the side of my cheek felt numb from resting on my sisters rump, that's not to say it wasn't comfortable, but let's get off of that topic shall we?

I sat up on the couch, eying the water that I had got myself last night and forgot to drink. I shrugged and picked up the glass, just now realizing how parched my throat was, and took a big swig, draining half the glass in one go.

I felt a slight pressure in my chest and stomach area, the same area that had suffered magical punishment, but it was barely noticeable thanks to the few medications I had taken before Octavia and Vinyl got there. I always kept a few in my office for emergencies, but thanks to our ex-bouncer destroying my office, it took a bit of digging to find them. Something that didn't exactly help the injuries, and once I found one, that I gave to my sister, I had to look for another one for me. The search was well worth the struggle, I was just now noticing how much better I was feeling now.

I don't regret giving my sister one, except for that I forgot Sweeps doesn't exactly handle medications as well as me and she got a bit loopy after she took hers. Hey, I would choose to be loopy and numb than clear headed and in pain, not that hard of a choice to me.

I heard a light voice mumble something that was muffled by the pillow it spoke into, pulling me from my thoughts.

'Looks like she's awake too.' I thought before answering.

I decided to let her enjoy her state of half consciousness, she was really wiped out from last night, and probably needed some rest anyways.

A sudden knocking on the door got my attention.

"Who could that be?" I whispered to myself as I raised up off the couch and trotted over to the door, opening it to a sight that I found both surprising and odd.

*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*

"Hey Vinyl?" I asked, breaking the silence that had consumed my bedroom for what seemed like hours, though, according to the clock, it had only been ten minutes since we stopped speaking.

She had agreed to let me help, but she didn't say when exactly we were going to leave, and I was reluctant in trying to push the issue since it seemed like she didn't want me to go in the first place. Not because she thought I couldn't handle it, which I probably couldn't anyways, but because she just didn't want me to get hurt.

She turned her head to respond.

"Hm?" She sounded eager. I guess she wanted something else to talk about too.

I had thought nearly all of those ten minutes about what to talk about, and I finally found it not to long ago when my eyes landed on my instrument. It brought back memories of her playing the piano at that thing with Fredric, who seemed to go off the grid after that night. I hadn't heard a thing from him. I should probably check into that some time.

"Where did you learn how to play the piano like that?" I asked, getting a bit of a weird look out of her, I guess she wasn't expecting it to be about a piano, before she put on a thinking face.

"Well..." She said before trailing off in thought, a hoof tapping idly on her chin as she looked up for some reason.

"I started it a pretty long time ago, and at the time I honestly hated the idea of the piano. In fact, I still do."

"So why are you so good at it?" I asked, interrupting unintentionally.

"Well, just because I don't like it doesn't mean I wont play it." She said making enough sense for me.

"Wait..." I said, thinking about what she had said.

"If you hated it, why did you learn it?" I said, referring to her earlier statement of hating the idea of the piano.

She shrugged.

"Liked the teacher?" She said, sounding more like she was asking me.

I decided to drop the subject and press in a bit further. Does she played other instruments?

"So, other than the piano, do you play anything else?"

"Like what?"

"Well..." I said, eying my cello. "What about the cello?"

"The what?" I rolled my eyes and got up, walking across the room and over to my cello.

"The cello." I said, gesturing to my cello.

"Well, maybe...I don't know." She said with a shrug.

"How do you not know?" I only got another shrug.

"Well, I'm guessing that you play it since there's one in your room, so why don't you play me something?" She asked, a small and sly smile forming on her face.

"Maybe I'll remember if I hear you play it." She said with a clearly joking smile on her face, but I was still curious if she knew any other instruments, so I agreed.

"Fine, what do you want me to play?" I spoke. As soon as the words left my mouth, I face hoofed a little on the inside. I was about to apologize, forgetting that she didn't know "anything" about the cello.

"Bach's Cello Suite number one, just do the prelude for time's sake." I heard her say, stopping me dead in my tracks.

I gave her a questioning glare, only to see her leaned back in the bed with a cocky smile. Of course she knew how to play it, or maybe she just knew some cello pieces.

If so, then she had excellent taste.

Bach's Cello Suite's were some of the first major musical pieces I learned, and I still find them to be my favorite.

I put on a smug smile of my own, if Vinyl thought she was getting the surprise on me, she was wrong. I knew how to play it, and I knew how to play it well. She still surprised me by knowing something about cello music, but I guess that explains why she was acting so coy about the subject.

I set up my cello, propping it against my own body while I used it as support for myself. I stood on my hind legs when I played, since that was really the only way to play it. Next, I pulled up the bow to the strings, playing a couple notes to be sure it was still in tune. Finally, I played out the beginning of the melody in my head, the countless times I had practiced leaving my memory of he song spot on.

I pulled the bow across the strings, my hoofs resting atop the neck of the cello to press down on the proper strings, causing the first notes to begin to seep out, resonating from deep within the cello and forming a melody.

I went on with the song with my head tilted down, casting occasional glances up to Vinyl to see if she was shocked or not, but every time I looked up, she had the same smile on her face when I had began. The second I was starting to wonder if she was even hearing it, she began to sway her head to the music.

I smiled at it; apparently the DJ has a soft spot for classics. Who knows, she could have been around when this piece was first made.

Heck, she could have helped make it for all I know.

The prelude winded down to an end, finishing with me holding the last note before dropping the bow into a resting position. I looked back up to Vinyl and saw that her smile had grown.

"So, never played a cello?" I asked, getting a little laugh out of her.

"Nope." She said with a smile, getting a roll of the eyes from me, but I couldn't help the smile that crept on my face.

"Did you at least enjoy it?" I asked, trying to get some more feedback out of her other than the smile that was always on her face.

"Yeah! It was great!" She said as she got up from the bed.

I smiled, content with that feedback.

"Except for your second G on measure sixteen; it sounded a bit loose. Maybe try taking less glances at me next time." She said casually as she trotted towards the door, a knowing grin growing on her face.

I had frozen at that point, eyes slowly widening at her response.

"W-what?" I stammered in disbelief.

'S-she saw me?' I thought, even stammering in my head.

"Come on, let's get some breakfast, I'm starving, and I think you deserve a treat for such a good job." She said, turning the corner of my doorway and making her way down the hall.

I was stuck there, thinking back on what she said.

'How?' Was all I thought.

She was able to pick up the slightest off set of a single note in the piece that I had, otherwise, played it perfect. Even I didn't hear my loose G. Not only that, but she was also able to catch me taking glances at her.

"You coming Octi?!" I heard her call from my living room. "I'll let you walk if you want, but I figured you'd wanna let me take you."

That got me out of that state of light shock.

"Y-yeah...Coming!"

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

She had asked me where I wanted to get breakfast at, and I couldn't think of anything creative at the moment since my mind was still mulling over what had just happened, so I just chose the same cafe that I would usually eat at with me friends. Of course, I would be eating on the inside for the first time in what was probably months, not that I mind eating inside.

My main concern was Vinyl finding something that she could pronounce, eat and enjoy. About the only things that they had there that I thought she might enjoy were the salads, which all had fancy names for those who didn't know where they were. It was a marketing strategy I guess.

We sat down and got some waters, after convincing Vinyl that she didn't need a beer of course. Afterwards, I had to read off the menu items to her and basically deduce what they were so that she would understand them. Eventually, after reading off nearly every item three times, she decided on something; basically just a salad with a few toppings.

Once the waitress left, she took a deep sigh, looking a bit sad, before she put a serious look on her face, one that I hadn't seen before, but I could tell she was about to talk about something important and meaningful.

"Octavia," She began, a tone that sounded like that of a teacher that grabbed at my attention.

"If your going to come with me, if you still want to of course." She gave an anxious look, but I nodded that I was still going, and the look withered back to the same serious look.

"Well, if we're" I smiled at the sound of her using that word. "going to go, we're going to need a few things."

"Like?" I asked.

"Well, basically just some stuff for camping out, cause I don't think we're gonna make it one day and I don't think we want to be exposed out there." She said, making a good point. It'd be best not to rush ourselves, as for actually getting some sort of camping gear:

That was a problem.

"Do you have an idea on how to get any?" I asked her, knowing I didn't have any of my own. What purpose would they serve to a mare living in an apartment anyways? What would I do? Go camping in my living room?

"Well, I do know one pony..." She said, turning the slightest bit sheepish.

I raised a brow at that.

The waitress returned carrying our salads, saving Vinyl from telling.

The meal went on and she decided to keep on playing coy in telling me who exactly this pony was that had the camping gear. I had honestly no idea who it could be, but I decided I wouldn't make any guesses since she has yet to stop shocking me with hidden talents and knowing pothers that you would expect not to know.

She clearly had quite a reputation judging by the few times she had taken me places, even some of the elites talked about her. For all I know, it could be Celestia's sleeping bag and Luna's tent that she was going to get.

The salads came, the salads went, passing by in a comfortable grazing, boring for the most part. It was when it finally ended that things got a bit more interesting.

"Would you just tell me who it is already?" I asked, almost begged, to her for about the fifth time.

She sighed.

"Fine." She said, sounding a bit annoyed as she rolled her eyes, accompanied by a sudden flash of her horn that caught me off guard, causing me to stumble backwards and trip over my hind legs.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I felt my back end hit something solid.

I opened my eyes, blinking them a few times as they adjusted from the sudden flash of bright blue.

"A warning could have been nice..." I mumbled, knowing that I had asked for that.

When the finally came into vision, I saw that I was on a rough stone porch that was tucked underneath a small bit of roofing. A porch that looked vaguely familiar to me.

Vinyl stepped into view, coming up from behind me, and up to a oaken door. She brought her hoof up and gave a couple quick and heavy knocks, hitting a bit too hard and leaving a mark on the door. I was still confused, and still sitting on the porch, scanning the other aspects of this house to try and figure out where I was. I swore I knew who's this house.

It finally hit me just as the door began to creak open, revealing the owner of the house inside..

"Vinyl?" A voice belonging to Shakes spoke in disbelief.

I watched as her eyes met with Vinyl's, who was giving her a small smile, but they eventually drifted down to me, giving me more of a funny stare. I felt my cheeks blush a bit as I quickly scrambled to get up and collect myself, looking a bit clumsy in the process.

"Octavia?" She said as I steadied myself, also sounding in a bit of disbelief.

"Hello Shakes." I said happily.

'So Shakes has the camping gear.' I deduced in my head.

"So, uh...Can I help you guys with something?" She asked, clearly confused why we were standing outside of her house. I jumped the gun.

"Well, we were actually looking for some-" I was silenced by a white hoof.

"You're going to wanna sit down for this." Said Vinyl, smiling sheepishly.

Shakes looked confused at first, but decided to just shrug and gesture us into her house.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"So let me get this straight." She said for what seemed like the hundredth time as she placed her hooves against the glass coffee table that we all sat around. She had brought us to the kitchen to let her sister sleep.

"You want me to lend you two my camping gear and let you wander off into the forest to face the guy that put Vinyl under some kind of spell and almost killed us?" She repeated, getting yet another nod out of me and Vinyl.

"Look, Shakes," I started.

"We understand if you don't want to give us your camping gear, we we're just wondering if you could since your the only one we know that has any. If you can-" She cut me off.

"And you didn't even invite me?" She sounded genuinely upset and shocked.

"What?" Me and Vinyl said in perfect synchronization, eyes widening.

"Unbelievable!" She exclaimed in outrage, further increasing our shock.

"Shakes, I don't think you should go with those band-" Vinyl tried to protest, but to no avail.

"Sweeps! Sweeps get in here!" She shouted, interrupting Vinyl.

The sound of fumbling was heard in the living room that held her snoozing sister and eventually a tired looking unicorn trudged into the kitchen, her hooves almost tripping over themselves.

"What?" She said, her tone lazy and annoyed.

"These two are going on a suicide mission!" Shakes exclaimed, getting no reaction out of her sister.

"And?" She said nonchalantly.

"And they didn't even invite us!" Shakes continued.

"What?!" Her sister shouted, joining her sisters rant with a surprising amount of energy.

"Exactly!" Shakes said, throwing her hooves into the air to punctuate her outrage.

I leaned over, getting closer to Vinyl's ear as they continued their ranting.

"Are they normally like this?" I asked, being a serious as possible.

"Now do you see why I wanted to take this inside?" She said, still shocked, but hinting that she had apparently encountered this before.

We sat there in mild amusement, watching and listening to the sisters go on and on about how absolutely rude and ridiculous it was of us to not invite them on our "Suicide mission". The more passionate of the two was Shakes, but her sister didn't fall too far behind, not by a long shot. We let them finish their protest, additionally letting them cool down for about five minutes, before even attempting to talk to them.

"Done?" Vinyl asked.

"No! How could you not invite us!?" Shakes said, still mad about it.

"Because I don't want you guys to get hurt!" She said, sounding like it was obvious, which I thought it was.

"Oh, so you'll take your mare friend, but you won't take us!?" Sweeps chimed in, making both me and Vinyl blush a bit, me especially.

"Unbelievable!" Shakes agreed.

"But she-" Vinyl began before being cut off.

"No! No more excuses! Were coming and that's final! Isn't that right sis?" Shakes said, turning to her sister and getting an approving nod, making it clear that they were coming no matter what.

"Strength in numbers?" I suggested sheepishly, getting a look out of Vinyl that made me sink back down with a sheepish smile, but a look of praise and approval from the two sisters.

"See? Your mare thinks its a good idea, why don't you?" Sweeps asked.

With the two sisters staring at her with determination, Vinyl finally gave in and said:

"Fine." She said, sighing and placing her head in her hooves.

"We leave at first dark! Sweeps! Fetch the camping gear!" Shakes said, sounding comically like an old general. Sweeps nodded and ran into another room, Shakes not too far behind, leaving me to reconcile with Vinyl.

"I'm sure it will be fine." I said, placing a gentle hoof on her shoulder.

"I hope so." She said, massaging her temples gently.

Author's Note

Couldn't think of a good horse related name for Johann Sebastian Bach :|

I got a bit sloppy with this chapter, there might be some nonsensical dialogue here and there with no general direction, tell me if you find any of it in need of some revising.

Cramped Places

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Water?"

"Check."

"Food?"

"Check."

That's how it had been going for about the past ten minutes; Shakes reading off an item, Sweeps saying either "Check" or running off and going to get something. I was amazed that they were managing to fit so much stuff into their bags, although, they did have a fairly unique way of packing their stuff. They put two moderately large sleeping bags and a tent, some water and food, and a couple other "necessities" all in one bag.

They were bringing two bags.

While they were doing all of their packing, now in the kitchen where they were arguing over what brand of cereal bars to bring, left me and Vinyl sitting together in the living room. She sat on the couch while I sat in a reclining chair. I could tell she was still feeling doubtful, just her appearance and current demeanor said that much about her. Maybe I should try and help ease her.

"Don't worry Vinyl," I said, trying to brighten her up.

She didn't respond, she just kept on sitting there silently. Her head was bent down and resting in her hooves just enough so her hair fell down and covered most her face, that, plus her sunglasses, made most of her face impossible to see.

"I'm sure we'll be fine." I tried, in another desperate attempt to lighten her up.

I shrunk back down after getting silence as my response, leaning back into the couch and sighing. I didn't know how or why this one little thing was getting her so upset to the point where she wouldn't even respond to me. It must have really gotten under her skin.

I decided to listen to the two sisters in the mean time, at least they would talk, even if it wasn't to me.

"Beans?" A voice, that I recognized as Sweeps's, say, though it came out as more of a question than a statement.

"Why would we need beans?" Shakes replied, making Sweeps sound a bit dumb.

"I dunno, just thought we might need beans." I heard Sweeps say back, I imagined her shrugging when she said it.

"Look, why don't we ask the two who's ideas it was to go in the first place?" Shakes said, confusing me a bit with how she worded it, but I got what she meant.

I heard the sound of hooves on marble come clacking closer until the suddenly fell silent as they hit carpet. I turned to see the two walking in, smiling to both me and the unresponsive Vinyl.

"Hey, so do you two want to bring beans?" Sweeps asked, sounding quite serious about it, but her sister butted in with a huff.

"Never mind the beans." She said, giving her sister a playful nudge.

"What would you two like to bring food wise?" She asked, looking at me until I gave them a shrug, and then to Vinyl who remained hunched over.

"Vinyl?" Shakes asked, raising a brow before trotting over to the unresponsive mare.

She arrived in front of her, still no response voiced. Shakes looked a bit confused for a second, and then leaned in close to the top of Vinyl's head and waiting there for a second. I was about to tell her about how she was roughed up by the prospect of us tagging along, but Shakes reeled back with a deadpan expression that stopped me.

She raised a single hoof, letting it linger there for a moment, before bringing it down in a side sweeping motion centered right at Vinyl's hooves. The hit made full contact, knocking Vinyl's hooves right out from under her head.

Without any support to hold it up, Vinyl's head came crashing down.

"Huh?" She snorted, catching her head about halfway down the fall, jerking her head slightly as she bolted upright, eye wide and glasses askew.

"You can sleep after we get in the forest!" Shakes glared, making Vinyl recoil sheepishly.

I sighed a mental sigh of relief at the sight. At least she wasn't just ignoring me because she was bent out of shape, she was ignoring me because she was asleep.

"Wha?" Vinyl stammered, clearly confused about what was going on.

I stifled a giggle.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"So you're sure you can carry them?" Shakes asked for the second or third time.

We had come to a hiccup in our plan; the size and weight of the bags was too much for me to carry, and Shakes and Sweeps couldn't do it thanks to the state they were in. We were ready to call it quits until Vinyl opted to carry both. Of course, we were all a bit reluctant at the idea, I mean, the bags were packed to their max, and they weighed a lot, I can tell you that much.

It felt like carrying a giant rock, and I was only carrying one when I tried, and now Vinyl was offering to carry both.

"Shakes, stop worrying, I can carry them." Vinyl huffed in a bit of annoyance as she stood with both of the duffel bags hanging from each side of her.

I, for one, thought she was up to it. She seemed to be handling herself quite well right now, she even did a little test trot around the house and came back with out a single problem.

"Even if I couldn't, I could just use my magic." Well played Vinyl, well played.

Shakes backed down after that, finally accepting that Vinyl could carry the two bloated bags for the long journey that would take a couple of hours at most.

"Alright..."

I took a quick peak outside, looking at the orange tinged sky that showed me that there was still a few more hours of sunlight left before Vinyl would be able to go outside without suffering, and since she was arguably the most important member of the group, we were going to play the cards in her favor.

"It's still light out." I spoke up, getting all their heads turning towards me. This was one of the few times I had spoke in my time being here since most of my time I had spent in the living room with Vinyl, who had only been woken up a few minutes ago.

"True." Sweeps said as she began to help Vinyl unhook the bags from her sides, letting them drop to the ground with a loud thud, reminding us all of their weight.

"Well, that means we got a few hours to kill, so who's up for a game of cards?" Shakes butted in as she pulled a deck of cards from seemingly nowhere, a giddy smile forming on her face.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The first thing I felt was a throbbing pain in my head, pulses riding through my skull and down my neck until my body began. The next thing I felt was the rough texture of dead leaves and dirt that pressed against my face. I lifted a single hoof at first, it was all I could muster at the time, and pushed hard enough to roll myself over onto my back. I was breathing hard for some reason, I didn't know why, but most of my focus remained on the pain in my head.

I remembered being lifted up, a pair of red eyes, and then pain. Pure, gut wrenching, pain.

I remembered going after Vinyl for the sake of many others, and all I got was probably a concussion. Why do I always get hurt for trying to do what I think is right?

'Probably because my definition of good is probably the definition of evil to others.' My head thought through it's cloud of agony, answering my own question for me.

The third, and last, thing I noticed was my surroundings: dark woods where the canopy was thick enough to block off any view of the sky, equally dark colored dirt that became lighter in some instances where a trail had been worn in. Even the occasional bush that held a pair of eyes looking back at you. I knew where I was.

'Back in the forest.' I though as I let out a big sigh.

I finally mustered up the strength to take both of my hooves and push myself up right into a sitting position. My head gave a pulsing pain of protest as I did it, but I only paused for a second before I kept pushing. I felt the blood run from my head back down to the rest of my body in a quake of pain, that was soon followed by a flush of relief.

That seemed to do the trick for my head, clearing it up enough so that I realized that I had failed in bringing back my target, and letting me realize the consequence that would follow. It would only be a matter of time before my master sent out his scout to scour the city in a search for Vinyl.

I rubbed my hooves against my temples to try and sooth the headache that was building.

A sudden crack coming from behind me caught my attention, but it wasn't enough to put the effort into turning around to see what it was.

The cracking persisted, growing louder and closer until even some voices came into play. That was enough to get my attention, my neck turning on a whim just enough so that my peripheral vision was able to look in the general direction of the sound.

"Yeah, I saw the flash come from over here." One voice said, I didn't recognize it but I had one of two guesses in my mind.

One: A vampire hunter.

Two: One of my master's soldiers.

The cracking stopped, now it was a crunching sound. Probably coming from them stepping on the dead leaves that covered the forest floor. I turned away, best not to spoil the surprise.

I could tell they were close now.

"Look rookie, you can't just go off making false calls like this and not have any actual evidence except for a flash." I heard a deeper voice say, this one I recognized vaguely, but their name escapes me with my current situation.

"I swear, someone is out he-Hey look!" I heard the first voice say. They must have spotted me.

I heard the sound of a quickened pace, the dried leaves crunching so fast that they sounded like a maraca. They grew close until the last crunch landed a few mere inches behind me.

"Here!" The higher, cheerful, feminine sounding voice spoke. I still didn't recognize it.

"Well I'll be...Captain Bigs?" The deeper voice said, uncertainty clear in his tone.

There's the answer.

I turned, finding two dark faces, each looking at me with wide eyes and one with a glowing smile.

"It's a miracle that we found you," The stallion began.

"The master has been getting all worked up over you and that mare that you set out with." Good to hear that he mentioned me.

"He even sent out a couple squads to search the forest for her...You wouldn't happen to know where she is, would you?" He asked, but I shook my head.

'I knew he would get antsy and do this. It's only a matter of time before he tells them to go inside the city to check.' I thought.

I let out a deep sigh just before I raised myself up off the ground, the earthquake of a headache doing a good job at making it as uncomfortable as possible. I nearly fell back down, but the peppy young mare and focused stallion managed to catch me, helping me up and offering to carry me.

But I refused, I still had some dignity.

"Oh boy..." Was all I could muster, a aching pain riding on every syllable, but it was all that needed to be said. It displayed my thoughts, and my mood, exactly.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Is it dark enough yet?" Shakes asked rather feverishly, her eyes flicking across the cards she held with a nervous expression. She had been playing cards, and apparently thought she had an unbeatable strategy, thus her mischievous demeanor not too long ago, but it turned out it wasn't.

Vinyl sat lazily on the other end of the table, a innocent looking smile gracing her face as she didn't even bother looking at her cards. This was her third time playing, and judging from the state Shakes is in, her third time winning.

Sweeps and I decided not to play, me for not knowing exactly how to play, and Sweeps for "the competitive attitude her sister had."

"I believe so." I said, getting an affirmative nod from Sweeps. Suddenly Shakes jumped.

"Ha!" She said slapping down five cards.

"Straight flush!" She said, looking at Vinyl for anything.

Vinyl looked over her cards carefully before she looked back up and shrugged, a sheepish smile crossing her lips.

"I knew I would win!" She boasted as she walked away, head held high as she headed towards the bags while me and Sweeps went over to Vinyl. Sweeps first looked at Vinyl's cards before looking back at her, at first with confusion, but then with a knowing smile.

"I knew you had a royal flush." She said with her smile. Vinyl only shrugged.

"Figured I'd let her end on a high note." She said, turning and heading out of the room and out the door Shakes left.

I guess it was time to go.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Even though the sun hadn't set completely, I could already feel the brisk air of the night. A wind gusted at us, blowing my man back and letting it settle back down roughly, making me look rather rugged. I scrambled to fix it, but the wind decided to play games with me, and picked up again. I could do little more than hold down my mane and try and brace it from the mild wind.

I heard a laugh, Vinyl's laugh.

I turned around to see her walking forwards on all four hooves, smile shining, and letting the wind blow her hair back without a care about it. Shakes and Sweeps seemed to be taking my approach to the situation, one of their front hooves held up in front of either their eyes or their manes.

We walked on for about thirty minutes, making it out of the gates and partially down a trail as we headed for the forest that seemed to spark a few tensions, answer a few questions, and raise even more. The wind was relentless, a constant stream of it always coming from a different direction that switched every few minutes.

That's when a genius idea struck me.

"Vinyl, couldn't you just teleport us?" I said, making sure to be loud enough to be understandable over the winds. She turned, hearing my question, and voiced her answer.

"I could, but it wouldn't take us all the way since I would be teleporting the four of you and these two heavy bags." She half yelled.

"It would also nearly drain her of magic." Sweeps added in from behind me.

I turned my head forwards, blinking my eyes every few seconds thanks to the wind blowing into my eyes and drying them up. I managed to see, through the eye harming gusts of wind, the edge of the forest, but at the pace we were moving, it would be at least an hour.

"Something wrong with your eyes?" I heard a smug, distinct, voice say to me over the wind.

Vinyl was looking back at me, her mane blowing freely as she stared at me with a irritatingly smug smile. I glared at her as best I could, but the wind proved to much, and I had to clench them shut. The wind was blowing hard enough to begin to sting my eyes whenever I opened them, so I kept them shut.

Suddenly, the wind stopped blowing on my eyes.

I opened my eyes to see that the world was now coated with a purple tint, along with Vinyl who was now missing her sunglasses. Her smile had changed too. Where it had previously been a smug smile, it was now a genuinely caring smile. She didn't say a word, and just turned back around.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The trip was long and uneventful, boring for the most part, but it was better than it would have been if Vinyl hadn't lent me her sunglasses. I'm pretty sure my eyes would be shriveled up and dried out if she hadn't.

But now we were here, just inside the edge of the forest, and out of the violent assault of the wind. I could barely register anything thanks to Vinyl's sunglasses, so I took them off, thanked her, and gave them back.

"Any time." She said piped as she placed them back on her, briefly raising a question in my mind of whether she could see with them on, but I've learned not to question things about Vinyl, her vision being one of them since it made positivity no sense how she could see in the dark so well. Probably her being a vampire and all, but who knows.

Shakes hoped right to it.

"Alright," She began as she started scanning the surroundings. "so where are we setting up the tents?"

"Wanna follow the trail a bit and see if any place looks good enough?" Sweeps suggested. Shakes nodded.

I, on the other hoof, think we should set up as close to the exit as possible, but Shakes was supposedly "the expert" at this, so I didn't protest.

I sprung an idea.

"What if we took that spot from last time?" I suggested, remembering the location where the hunters had set up before. They all looked at me with risen brows.

"You know? It was that place you got me from last time Shakes." I saw the gears begin to churn in her head.

"Oh yeah, but why would we camp there?" She asked.

"Because the vampires think that no one else is there." Vinyl butted in.

"That's the reason I was sent there in the first place, they assigned me and Bigs to clear them out, so they have reason to believe that no one would be there." She said sagely.

Shakes took it all in and shrugged, her answer being a simple "If you say so."

We set off on the trail, Shakes taking the lead, followed by Sweeps and Vinyl, then me taking up the back, but after awhile, the positions had slowly drifted farther apart. Vinyl had sunk behind, closer to me while Shakes and Sweeps stayed together about two meters in front of us.

I have to say, forests are absolutely terrifying at night, or at any time of the day in general if it's this forest. The leaves crunched beneath your hooves, shadows seemed to jump from place to place and play games with your mind. The occasional sound of a woodland creature, ranging from hoots to other sounds I didn't even know, wasn't helpful either. I'm not sure if it was just me, but I had the feeling someone was watching us.

A sudden pain shot up my left hoof.

I nearly yelped, but I managed to muffle it by biting my lip. I paused in my walking, taking a second to lift up my left hoof and see what had happened.

A large splinter sat deeply in my hoof, the edge of it now colored a burgundy, dark brow thanks to the blood the rimmed at the edge of it. I brought the hoof up to my mouth and yanked the splinter out, the sudden relief of pressure making me nearly sigh in content.

It was strange though, I was pretty sure there wasn't a shard of wood of this caliber sticking out of the ground just a second ago. I mean, I know it's dark, but I could still see in front of me pretty well, up to the point where I could still make out most of Vinyl, but something felt wrong here.

"Everything okay back there Tavi?" I heard Vinyl call.

I looked up and nodded quickly, planting my hoof into the ground and working through the pain.

The sound of rustling leaves caught both of our attentions, Vinyl's head turned to the side of her just in time to see a black figure shoot out of the bushes and tackle her.

"Vinyl!" I shouted, getting the attention of Shakes, Sweeps, and our unexpected visitor who looked up and flashed his fangs at me, letting out a wild hiss as he straddled Vinyl, effectively pinning her. He, or she, turned back down to Vinyl and bit down ferociously, then pulled back out, making a horrifying ripping sound that left me stunned and standing stock still.

"Get off!" I heard Vinyl yell as a bright, florescent blue, light began to illuminate the area. Shooting off at the stranger as soon as if began to become near white in coloration.

A howl rang out as they were flung off and back to the edge of the trail. They were quick to jump up and run back into the woods, smoke trailing behind them. That was enough to shake me, and apparently Shakes and Sweeps, from our stunned state and rush over to Vinyl to check if she was fine.

Shakes helped her up, taking a quick look to see if she had any injuries that need any attention.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, but he managed to tear into the bag." She said, turning to the side to let us inspect the damage. Shakes poked her hoof around, looking too see if anything had been significantly damaged, and it turns out something had.

"Well, they tore clean through two of the sleeping bags, but let's not focus on that now. First, let's get to that camping spot and set up camp." She said, turning around after asking Vinyl if she was sure she was fine.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

We got to the camp ground in one piece and undisturbed, no one else popping out of the bushes and nearly tearing us limb from limb. I was happy about that much, but the pain in my hoof had grown in our short trap. Thankfully, I stayed in the back of the group so they didn't notice me keeping my one hoof up off the ground.

The blood had began to pool, and I wasn't wiping it off on the ground and risking an infection, so I did what most do, and popped it into my mouth and sucked on it. The metallic taste was rather gross, especially the warmth that trickled down my throat afterwards, but it would make sure that the blood wouldn't crust over the cut.

The same cut limited me from helping set up the tents and such, but they didn't seem to notice nor mind that I wasn't helping out. Plus, it seemed like Vinyl and Sweeps were setting up the camp too quickly with their combined magic for me to be of any significant help, so I decided to sit myself on a tree stump and wait.

Before I knew it, the tents were set up, a small fire not big enough to attract attention was going, and we were all sitting an some logs that Shakes and Vinyl had drug close to the fire.

We had a dilemma about the whole loss of the sleeping bags, but we had a solution.

"Well, we either sleep in pairs, or two of us have to sleep on the dirt, and I'm not sleeping on the ground." Shakes said, crossing her hooves.

"Yeah, I'm not that much of a dirt type of person." Sweeps said after.

"We don't mind splitting a sleeping bag, we've done it before, so that leaves you two." Shakes said, waggling an eyebrow that got a slight blush to spark across my cheeks.

"You want the bag? I don't mind sleeping on the dirt." Vinyl said, but as kind of an offer it was, I wasn't letting her sleep on the ground. Not after what had happened before.

"No. We're sharing." I said firmly. Firmly enough that it took her back a bit, and got a giggle out of Shakes.

I realized what I had said, and how weird it might have sounded, but it was too late to go back; Shakes was already yawning intentionally and asking Sweeps if it was getting late.

Sweeps, seeing what her sister was doing and deciding to go along with it, yawned as well and nodded with Shakes in agreement. Shakes was quick to toss her bedroll to Sweeps and tell her to go set it up, whispering something into her ear about "I got this" and walking merrily over to me and Vinyl, other bedroll in hoof.

"Well, we're gonna get some sleep. you two love birds don't make too much noise now." She said with her joking, smug, and annoying smile.

I was going to respond, but the burning in my cheeks must have distracted me, since I felt like I was about to choke. My throat was swelling, maybe it was the blood from my hoof, but a sudden voice got my attention.

"You seem awfully interested in us Shakes, you sure you don't want to get in? I'm sure that this old sleeping bag can fit three." Vinyl teased.

Although it did nothing but make my blush brighter, I saw that it took Shakes completely off guard, it even caused her to begin to stammering, and eventually just turn around in leave. Vinyl's smile visibly widened when she put a hoof around my shoulder and piloted me to the tent.

"Just keep walking, it makes us look like we won." She whispered into my ear, leaning just a bit too close and tickling it a bit.

She held open the tent and let me walk under, but before she closed it, she turned around and caught a glimpse at Shakes looking back at us. I saw her eye move, and I could only assume she was winking at her. She turned back around and let the tent flap close as she started setting out the bed roll.

She had the idea that we would each get half the bed roll, and set it up so we could each lay our heads while our hind ends would hang off the end of the roll. She also said we could just sleep in it normally, but we would get "extra close" if we did. Not that I mind, but those comments from Shakes had me shaken just a bit, so I went with her first idea. She looked a bit crest fallen when I said so.

Once we had settled into our spots, I tried to get right too sleep, but the thought from earlier, the thought that it was Vinyl that had been ripped apart instead of that bag, it kept me awake. I kept thinking what we would do, what I would do, if that happened, and let's just say the scenarios weren't pleasant.

I laid there for what seemed like an hour, my eyes awake as they stared at the orange interior of the small tent, the occasional tickle from Vinyl's hair giving me a break from the boring.

"Can't sleep?" I voice asked. I knew it was Vinyl, and I knew the answer.

"No."

"Well," I heard, and felt, her begin to rustle and adjust her position in the bed roll, encouraging me to look.

She was now sitting on her haunches, purple shades reflecting the orange glow that the fire that burned on outside gave the tent walls, and a small smile curling at the ends of her lips.

"Wanna pass the time?" She asked, sounding hopeful.

"Like how?" I asked, curious by what she meant, as I began to turn myself around to sit upright as well.

"Well, I was thinking about how much I still don't know about you, so I figured we could ask each other some questions to get to know each other a bit better." She said happily.

Well, it would be beneficial for the both of us to get some information on each other, especially for me, so I agreed. Who knows what I could learn?

"Okay." I shrugged.

"Alright, but I go first and we have to take turns." She said. I nodded to her terms and braced for the first question.

"What's your favorite color?" She asked, both innocently and seriously.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, I've been wondering for awhile ever since you asked me mine and I told you, but you never told me what yours was." She said, sounding truthful enough, so I answered.

"Pink," If all the questions are going to be like this, she might not learn anything important. Although, this could have been her way of easing into the questions, but I wasn't sure. Maybe she just wanted to know what my favorite color was.

"Now it's my turn." I said, thinking of the question nearly on the spot. I had many to ask after all.

"When was it that you became a vampire?" I asked. It had been bugging me for the longest time now, and maybe now I would hear an answer.

I could have swore she stiffened the second the question left me lips, but she put a hood up to her chin, tapping it idly and making a humming sound.

"Well...I can't really recall..." She hummed.

"You would expect something like that to stick out, but...it just doesn't." She said, not exactly a proper answer, but an answer none the less. Though, I had the strangest feeling that wasn't the truth, but I decided to drop it for now. I still had many questions, but for now, it was her turn.

"Why did you-" She paused, a strange look crossing her face while she took a quick inhale through her nose. She sniffed once or twice more before facing me.

"Do...Do you smell something?" She asked. Her tone made it sound important, but when I sniffed the air myself, I couldn't smell a thing.

"No, I don't...do you?" I asked, curious what it was she smelt.

"I'm sure it's nothing." She said, clearly still sniffing, but coming back to our little questioning game.

"Anyways," She said, visibly trying to disregard the smell, but also visibly failing

"Why was it that you came to our bar in the first place?" She asked, her nose twitching few seconds, but I thought nothing of it.

"Well," I was a bit reluctant to tell her everything, so I decided to dumb it down a bit, but still make it believable.

"I was at the local theater, when a song that was playing reminded me of someone close that had..." I felt my throat start to swell up at the thought of my grandmother, but I pressed on.

"Passed, the bar was nearby so I decided to try and drink it away." I finished just as a tear started to form, I wiped it away instinctively with my left hoof.

"Oh." Was all that Vinyl said.

I looked up to see her breathing a bit heavier than normal, but I blamed it on the lack of ventilation, as well as the sweat forming on her brow.

"My turn." I said, happy to learn more about her.

Our questions went on and on for a long while, she told me many useful, interesting, and odd things about herself and I told her a few "interesting" things about myself. For example, Vinyl doesn't really know much about Vampires or what they do, she said that they just have "Instincts" that kick in whenever they need to. She also said that Vampires can be easily persuaded, if persuaded properly, when they are like this.

Probably the most interesting thing that she told me about was about her self. She, apparently, has lived for quite some time, long enough to forget about nearly all the things that happened in her entire foal-hood. I asked her how the whole "Eternal life" thing works, and she said that she thinks that you stop aging the day that the effects of the bite completes.

Additionally, she brought up that bites have different effects, when I asked what she meant, she said that a vampire have different types of bites. One was a regular bite, nothing special about it. Another was a toxin, the one that she had bitten me with once. And the last was the infectious, the type that is used to spread Vampirism. She said that only a select few have the infectious bite, thus the miniscule population of Vampires

I was beginning to notice some things about her over our time talking. She was beginning to get fidgety, constantly moving her legs or twitching her ears, things like that. She was also sweating more than before, giving her a near shiny look. That's when she decided to take the questions game to the next level.

"It's your turn Vinyl." I said. I had begun to start telling her when it was her turn, mainly because after she answered one of my questions, she would just sit there and look at me for a few seconds until I brought something up.

"Oh, sorry Tavi." She said in a breathy voice.

"You seem a bit distracted Vinyl, is something wrong?" I asked with care.

"I was just thinking about what to ask." She said, her claim sounding like a lie.

"Like?" I asked, playing along.

"Do you remember when you kissed me? After that piano competition or whatever it was?" She asked, getting a blush out of me.

"Y-yeah." I spoke softly, remembering my actions as I averted my gaze to the ground below me.

"Did you like it?" She asked in voice that sent shivers down my spine.

I was at a lack of words at her question, which gave her the perfect opportunity to start moving without my knowing as I stared at the ground, looking for the answer. I was sure I loved it, but I guess the words didn't come out as easy as I thought about them.

I felt a pair of hooves on my shoulder, and a weight behind them that pushed hard enough to send me onto my back. They were gentle, making sure not to hurt me when they laid me back, but they still caught me off guard.

"W-Wha?" I stammered in shock, looking up to see a sea of purple looking down on me.

"Shhhh." She hushed me as she leaned into my body, gently lying herself down on top of me, making sure not to put too much weight on me to make uncomfortable.

"Vinyl, what are you-?" I asked, finally finding my voice just as she placed a hoof over my lips.

"I said hush." She said, her voice motherly as she smiled at me

"I knew I smelt something." She said, her hoof sliding across my body and over to my hoof.

I stiffened as all the pieces fell together in my mind.

I pushed up on her lightly and she didn't resist, letting her body raise up off of me until she was in full view. I picked up my other, uninjured, hoof and brought it over to her glasses. I picked them off slowly, letting the sight of her beautiful scarlet come into view dramatically. But the one thing that made this sight bittersweet was the at the center of the beauty.

Dilated pupils sat in the center of the sea of red, confirming my fears.

She smiled at my realizations, not even bothering to try and stop me since she was already too close to care about me getting away. If I tried to run, she could simply push down and overpower me.

She had me right where she wanted me.

"Awww, don't look at me like that." She cooed at my expression, which must have expressed my thoughts perfectly, as she picked up my hoof. She brought it up to her lips, taking her time to cherish the smell of my blood.

"Don't worry, this won't hurt too much." She said just before she finally took the first taste of my hoof, her tongue tracing the blood and sending me small tingles of pain and making me yelp a little.

It went on for a few seconds until she finally let off, my hoof completely cleaned of blood and her letting out a satisfactory hum. She turned back down to me smiling, a small dribble of blood falling from her mouth, but her tongue was quick to catch it. She looked at me and giggled, presumably at my expression, and opened her mouth to let out another comment, but something stopped her.

She tilted her head back and sniffed the air once again, even closing her eyes to try and get a better direction of the smell. Her head turned down towards me and moved forwards until it was only but a few inches away, then stopped. Her eyes opened and her smile curled higher than ever, which got me even more scared of what would come next.

"Oh I'm going to love this." She said as she leaned in, her mouth lined up with my own. My eye widened as I realized her intentions, but it was too late to stop her.

Her soft lips pushed into mine, making me let out a moan that was muffled by her mouth. This only seemed to fuel her as she began to kiss more passionately, her tongue snaking past my own lips and making me let out a shocked yelp. I felt her lips curl up once more as she held the kiss.

Finally, she broke the kiss, slowly lifting her lips from my own, a thin string of red tinted saliva hanging between us. Her face was one with a clouded judgment with her eyes half lidded, and that toothy smile that was always there. She sat there and stared deep into my eyes for a few seconds before leaning back down and nuzzling into my chest, letting out a content sigh once she seemed to find a comfortable spot to lay.

"You didn't struggle this time." She said, my eyes going that slightest bit wide with revelation as the words left her lips.

She was right, I didn't resist, or even think about it for that matter. She didn't even push down on me hard enough to stop me from moving, I had the choice of getting away, but I didn't.

"I think I found the answer to my question Tavi." She said mockingly, letting out a little laugh after she finished speaking, but that wasn't even the end of her mocking.

"It's your turn...Tavi." She said, a final mock for our game that had turned into something else.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Author's Note

So I was reading through the comments, and some people say they have some "Questions that will be answered later." Any body care to share these questions? Other than that, feel free to drop a comment on how the chapter was, all input is welcomed and encouraged.

And The Night Went On

*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*

"You said you wanted to speak with me?" I asked my "master."

"Ah, Bigs." He said with a clearly, but albeit impressive, faked happy tone, turning around from the window he had been looking out of ever since I had walked, or limped rather, through the doors of the castle.

"So good to see your alright." He said, the smallest smile imaginable gracing his lips, and on top of that it was clearly faked: he never smiles.

I let out a grumble of a response.

"How did the mission go? I expected you back before now. Speaking of which, where is your partner?" He asked, almost feverishly. This time, there was some sound of actual feeling in his voice, but I knew it was only directed towards my "partner" that he had worked so hard to get a hold of.

"The mission went fine," I started. He visibly perked up at that.

"The vampire hunters evacuated the area, and I suspect that they won't be coming around here again anytime soon." I said, he seemed to grow with anticipation as I continued my report.

"And? What about your partner?" He said, clearly anxious.

"She just couldn't drop it, she ran off after them. Saying something about "not stopping until their dead" or something like that." I lied convincingly.

I had thought about a decent coverup for her disappearance on my way back to this castle, going as far as to practice the line over and over again to make sure I didn't stutter when I said it. Heck, I mustered the most truthful voice I had when I said it, even I was surprised it.

"Oh she did?" He asked suspiciously, a brow raised the slightest.

"I tell you, that mare is like a bloody war beast." I boasted, waving my hoof up in the air to try and make the act more believable.

"You should have seen it, she was practically a machine when she was fighting them!" I exclaimed in a tone of fake awe.

He seemed to be more reassured after I said this, visibly relaxing. Hopefully he believed it.

"So, you said she ran off after those hunters?" He said looking up slightly as he pondered whether to believe it or not before letting our a little chuckle.

"You see Bigs, this is why I wanted her. She has raw talent, and a drive to kill based off of just her instincts alone." He said, eyes closed with a smile, the biggest I had ever seen from him, though by basic standards it would still be considered pretty small.

"But imagine, imagine if we could take that raw talent, and sharpen it." He said as he opened his eyes and turned back around to stare out the window once more.

"She would be nearly unstoppable, it would take so much just to bring down her alone. She would not only be a vital asset to our kind, but I believe that we could do so much more with her." He rambled.

I was imagining at that point, and frankly, it was a pretty scary sight. If she had only used instinct before, she might actually be unstoppable if someone like my master honed that raw talent into frightening skill. Heck, she might be able to already rival my master with raw skill alone, but it would be one heck of a stretch if she tried.

"So, when will she be back." He asked.

'Oh no.' I thought.

I stayed silent in rapid thought. I was struggling to think of something on the spot, but luckily; he was still turned, but that wouldn't last much longer.

"Well?" He turned, giving me a piercing gaze.

"I-I'm not sure." I stammered on accident, giving him a stretch of truth as his face sunk to a flat expression.

"I see." He said, turning back to the window.

I felt a spike of panic rear up in the back of my mind, the fear of him seeing through my lie which now seemed paper thin threatening to consume me. I held my calm demeanor as best I could, but I was practically shaking on the inside.

"Well, if she isn't back by the tomorrow, I'll send out a few scouts to try and find her. My plan was to send them off today, but now that I have your word on her actions, I'll postpone them until then." He said, a voice like stone.

I breathed two mental sighs of relief, one for him postponing his scouts, and the other for him not seeing my lie. However, the fact still stood that the scouts would go out, unless by some miracle of a chance Vinyl returns, which I severely doubt that would happen at all.

"Okay." I replied, turning and heading towards the exit of the room, and half expected him to call for me once more, but he never did. He simply stared out the window while I closed the door behind me with a noisy click. I was off to the barracks for some well deserved rest.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I let out a sigh cautiously, making sure not to exhale too fast for the sake of the now asleep guest who lie on my chest, and consequentially, my sake.

Vinyl had fallen asleep, believe it or not, right on my chest. I could tell by the way her breathing evened out suddenly, also the way she became fully relaxed. She seemed to be a very single minded pony, her mind only seeming to focus on one thing at a time and tended to succumb to baser want and needs, such as sleep and eating. Even doing them at the most awkward times possible, such as right now and the first time she tried to bite me.

But anyways, she had fallen asleep on my chest, a smile still on her face and the bare edge of one of her fangs gently pressing into my chest, thankfully it wasn't enough to penetrate my skin. There was also this thing she would do every so often that made that fang all the more fearful. You see, she wasn't exactly the most "motionless" of sleepers in the world, the occasional twitch and unexpected shake taking me off guard and scaring me a little.

It wasn't hard to go to sleep, my eyes felt heavy and even drifted shut on their own occasionally, but it was the fact that I was actually kind of scared to go to sleep with Vinyl on top of me like this. I mean, she was probably still thirsty, it's just that her sleep deprived and single headed mind had saved my blood.

But there was one problem:

I was getting cramps.

'Maybe I should try waking her up.' I thought to myself, remembering something she had told me earlier. Something about vampires being easy to persuade, if persuaded properly, and frankly I think that Vinyl might just so happen to be the type is easily persuaded.

I debated it with myself for a few seconds, about half a minute, until coming to a conclusion that was heavily influenced by a set of growing pains in both of my hind legs.

I steadily and slowly twisted a hood out of her own, just in case it took a bit more than some talking to get her out of her sleep.

Hopefully, it would only take my voice, but I had to be mindful of both Shakes and Sweeps who were only a few feet away. If they came in and saw us like this, there would probably be two possible outcomes. One would involve a lot of embarrassment felt by me and a laughing Shakes, the other would involve Shakes getting a head of herself and thinking Vinyl was trying to bite me.

"Vinyl." I whispered, getting a twitch out of her and a little grunt, but eventually a dilated red eye popped open and seemed to focus in on me, smiling as she found me.

"Hm?" She responded, nuzzling into my chest and getting a slight shiver out of me.

No biting yet; so far so good.

"Would you mind moving off of me?" I asked quietly.

Her smile faded as I asked that, turning into a face of groggy concentration.

"I don't know Tavi, you make a pretty good pillow." She cooed, another smile already formed.

"I'm getting a cramp Vinyl, please?" I pleaded.

"Oh fine." She said finally with a huff, sliding off my body and sinking into the side of me, a hoof still slew across my body, but I didn't mind that, I was too focused on the feeling of my cramp fading and letting out a content sigh.

I heard the light sound of a sniff.

"I can still smell the blood on your breath Tavi." She said as she curled into me, her lips close enough to my ear for me to feel the heat on her breath.

She didn't say it, but I could tell she was looking for a round two, and this time there was definitely going to be some sort of blood sucking involved.

I didn't have much time to react before a felt two small pricks in my neck, and an overcoming feeling of drowsiness come over me. I turned my head to face Vinyl as I tried to fight the weight in my eyes, but they were just too much and my eyes closed, the last sight being a joyous look growing on her face.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

A pitch black scene was the start, nothing visible in the distance, and nothing visible in front of me. I knew I was there, for I was still breathing in and out in a clam pace. I realized that there was a familiar weight resting on my body, along with the fact that I was stood upright on my hind legs; a position that was all to familiar with me.

Just as I began to wonder where I was, a sudden burst of light pierced the blackness and shone down upon me, revealing to me my surroundings.

I was on a wooden floor, a stage from what I could tell, standing upright with my cello resting against my body. In front of me there was a crowd of figures, each seemed to be too far away for me to make out there faces but I could tell, for some reason or another, that all of their eyes on me. I stiffened under the pressure; the thought of all those gazes making my hairs stand on end.

Then I realized what they were doing; they were waiting.

"Tavi..." I heard a small voice speak off in the farthest corner of my mind, somewhere where their voice was muffled and too far away for me to give it any form of concern or thought.

I brought the bow up to my cello, my mind racing to settle on a song to play for the silent crowd. My mind landed on one, the most recent song that was left in my mind: Cello Suite Prelude.

I quickly began the melody; starting off a bit too fast, but quickly reducing the pace back down to its appropriate rhythm.

There eyes seemed to burn into me the longer I played yet I couldn't see them. The attention was becoming a distraction to me; the occasional note played a little flimsy. I had never succumbed to pressure, I usually thrive silently in it, but this time was different; this time the attention was a problem.

"Tavi..." This time the voice caught the slightest part of my attention, making my ears flick in the slightest way, but, for the most part, it was drowned out by my playing.

The song winded to an end, just as the first bead of sweat began to form on my brow. I was panting a little as I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding.

I looked up to the "audience" to see if they were doing anything but found that the stands were empty; every featureless face gone and in their place was nothing but a blackness.

"Tavi..." I heard the voice say, sounding like it had come behind me, I turned around just in time to see something white bite down hard on my neck.

*~~~*~~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Tavi?" I heard a voice say almost frantically as the feeling of being shook began to annoy me.

My eye's cracked open to see Vinyl looking at me with a fearful expression.

"Vinyl?" I said weakly, the exhaustion could literally be heard in my tone.

"Are you okay Tavi? You were jerking around in your sleep." She sounded serious.

"Uh..." I was at a loss of words. Did she not remember last night? She was probably the cause of that dream considering what she had told me thus far about the bites, specifically the venomous ones that were supposed to induce some from of suggestibility.

She had also added "hallucinations" onto that list, but claimed that they would only occur if one was injected with enough of the venom. I assumed that, based off that dream, that I had.

The tent fold opened suddenly, letting a bright orange shine into the tent. Shakes peaked in and looked at us both, a few thoughts visibly crossing her mind before she decided to speak up.

"You two ready or do you plan on saying her name a few more times Vinyl? We still have to find wherever it is this guy you guys are after is at." She said, clearly expecting an answer.

I looked to Vinyl and she looked at me, we seemed to have a silent understanding that we would have to talk about this later. She scrambled off of me and got up, I followed soon after but decided against walking out, letting her go on ahead and past Shakes.

I was a bit more hesitant to go; I was beginning to reconsider this whole trip. I mean, I wanted to help, but when the one you trying to help is also somewhat of a constant "threat" as well, it's a bit hard and confusing at times.

"Octavia." Shakes's voice shook me from my thoughts.

"You coming?" She asked. I hadn't realized she had still been standing there. Or had she? Had she just been staring at me this whole time?

"Oh...Yeah, sorry..." I said softly.

She seemed to pick up on my attitude. She took a quick look behind her and then walked into the tent, walking up to me with a look of concern on her face.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Well..." I stopped and began to debate in my mind whether or not to tell her.

"Well what?" She asked, eyes narrowing into an intense stare of suspicion that sped up my mental debate.

"It's just that...last night Vinyl..." She seemed to be able to connect the last pieces of the verbal puzzle for me.

"Fed?" She said almost fearfully with growing eyes.

I nodded silently.

She quickly looked behind her once more, taking a moment to go and poke her head out the tent's flaps, before returning her attention back to me.

"Did you do anything to provoke her? I noticed she was a bit weird before we went to bed. She's flirty, but she's doesn't do it so blatantly like how she was last night." She asked feverishly.

"Well, I think that it was a cut on my hoof." I said, raising my hoof for her to see. Her head jerked up and looked at it closely before letting out an annoyed huff.

"Why didn't you tell me? Or anyone?" She almost yelled, clearly getting worked up about this, but she kept her voice hushed so no one outside would here.

I was at a loss for words; I didn't know. While I was stammering to come up with an explanation, she seemed to give up her annoyance.

"Look," She sighed again, putting a single hoof up to her head, running it through her mane lazily.

"Don't ever hide things like that unless you're trying to hide them from Vinyl. Got it?" She said, regaining a tone of scolding.

I nodded quickly.

"Good. Vinyl and my sis are probably done packing everything else by now and waiting for us being unicorns and all, so help me roll up the tent and sleeping bag so this doesn't start to look suspicious." She said, grabbing one end of the bedroll.

I started helping her quickly, first helping her pack up the bedroll, and then helping her take down the tent. After all of that was done, we joined back up with the rest of our group, packed up everything into the bags, and then pulled out a few of the snacks that Shakes and her sister had brought with.

They each ate some sort of bars while me and Vinyl split a dry, smashed, and beat up sandwich. Despite its abused appearance, the taste if it was quite good.

Afterwards, Shakes got up; trotting in front of me, Vinyl and her sister, eying me and my hoof specifically before turning her gaze back to Vinyl.

One thing I noticed when I was showing my hoof to Shakes was that the cut had turned into a hardly visible mark; I wondered briefly if that was Vinyl's doing, but decided to drop it for now. At least it was healed up and not dripping blood anymore.

"Well, Vinyl, are you ready to lead the way?" She said expectantly.

It took both me and Vinyl to catch onto her reasoning but when it hit us, it made both of us feel kind of dumb. Vinyl was really the only one that knew where exactly the castle was, therefore it was pretty much all up to her to lead us to the castle. All thought I'm sure that Shakes and Sweeps could probably find the castle with enough time and resource.

After that explanation, Vinyl took the lead with an unsure look on her face. She took what seemed to be a random path that led down the darkest trail of the forest, going through the certain areas that would make most who saw them make a note to avoid them at all costs.

I was beginning to loose some of my faith in Vinyl about thirty minutes in but, with Shakes behind me, I knew going back wasn't going to be an easy option, if it was an option at all.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Are you sure we're going the right way Vinyl?" I heard the voice of Shakes ask from behind me.

"This is the way I remember coming from and going through; it's literally the only way I know Shakes." She said from in front of me, her voice slightly annoyed by the protesting and constant questioning that Shakes was giving her. She had been doing it for quite awhile now, along with complaining about her legs getting tired.

"Sis, why don't you be quite." Sweeps said from the very back, speaking just about everyone's mind in one simply sentence. Maybe not the 'sis' part though.

Vinyl took a sudden left, going off onto a trail so unused it was almost invisible. She pushed aside a few branches and bushes, letting them go and come back to nearly hit me in the face.

As much as I hate to admit it, I was beginning to side with Shakes's thoughts. You would think that someplace holding a castle would have a trail that was more worn out, not one that had patches of grass covering most of it. I decided to hold my tongue and not begin to protest; Vinyl was getting edgy enough as is, something seemed to be agitating her other than Shakes, and she didn't need twice the amount of pests bugging her.

Another thing that I shared with Shakes was an aching in my hoof, but that might be because of that cut from earlier considering it's mainly all in the hoof alone. Not to say I wasn't sore, I definitely was.

Vinyl began to lead us up a rather steep hill, and that's when Shakes began to loose it. She didn't complain, just groaned really loudly and obnoxiously over and over again until something gave her some form of attention; a rock wrapped in a bright blue haze of magic.

"Ow." She said upon impact, reaching up and rubbing the spot where she was hit.

"Groan again and I'm throwing a tree limb. After that is the whole tree." Vinyl said threateningly, snapping her eyes back for a quick second.

Shakes tried testing that threat, most likely thinking it's a bluff, but as soon as she heard the sound of a branch being snapped by Vinyl's magic, she went silent.

We finally reached the top of the hill and walked over to a seemingly random large pile of brush. Unlike all the other turns Vinyl had made, there was no path here; the grass actually came up about a foot off the ground.

"Well," Said Shakes, cautiously testing and waiting for the sound of breaking tree limbs before continuing.

"Is this it?" She asked, staring at the pile of sticks and vine before turning to Vinyl and giving her the most dead pan of looks.

Vinyl nodded and stepped forwards, wedging one of her hooves under the base of the pile of brush and pulling upwards. The cloak of heavy vine and wood lifted, revealing a clearing that was accented by a stone walkway lined with dimly lit torches. It was odd, the scenery around here seemed more brighter than the rest of the forest; it gave off the look of a setting sun, but red. In the distance, I could make out the faintest outline of what looked like a black castle; it's true color could have been anything in the light.

"Whoa." Sweeps was the first to break the silence; breaking it with a single word that summed up all of our thoughts collectively.

"So..." Shakes stuttered, ending it with a gulp. "T-that's the castle."

"Yep." Vinyl answered simply.

"A-and were supposed to raid that?" Shakes added in, now stuttering as well.

"Yep." Vinyl answered again.

I probably would have added in some mutter or question of disbelief, but I was too awestruck at the scene that presented itself in front of me. It was menacing, no; scratch that, it was evil looking.

"You weren't kidding when you said suicide huh?" Shakes was more calm now, but still audibly frightened.

"Actually, it might not be that suicidal." Sweeps spoke up, catching all of our attentions with her claim.

"How so?" I asked, brow raised.

A devious, even somewhat unnerving, smile graced her lips; a smile of that akin to a genius with a foolproof plan. She raised a hoof and pointed down the stone path.

All of our eyes followed and landed on a pair of, what looked like, guards who were resting on the ground near one of the posts that held some of the torches. Leaned up against the post were two long, black spears with a pair of helmets sitting on the tips of them. The helmets were black as well, the fronts of the faces were open but had a plate that was able to slide down to cover the face if needed.

"I have an idea." Sweeps said with a wicked tone, her hooves rubbing together while she let out a creepy laugh.

Shakes turned her head to face her sister with a face of contorted confusion and a raised hoof. She sent it forward and nearly knocked her sister of her hooves, but she did manage to get her to stop her maniacal laughter.

"Really?" Shakes asked.

"Sorry." Her sister said sheepishly

"But I really do have a plan that might work." She added at the end.

"Really?" Vinyl dropped the bags to the ground with a thump, followed by her own body landing on top of them.

"Let's hear it." She said.

Author's Note

Took a little break (The reason for no chapter last week) and played a little Destiny, great game by the way, but I decided to churn through this chapter. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, maybe two, three or four chapters, but I can barley see the details on the way to get there. Anyways, tell me what you think, you guys are the best.

Mission recieved

...Octavia...

Sweeps had only just begun to explain her plan and all of us were already doubting it from only hearing the first sentence. Shakes had especially been doubtful, and she made sure that the rest of us knew that she was.

"Say again?" Shakes said, putting a hoof up and wedging into her ear' as if to make it look like she was getting something out of her ear and she had misheard. We all knew she heard full well.

"I said," Sweeps said, playing along with her sisters game, "we sneak up and knock out those two guards, take there armor, and sneak two ponies into the castle to scout out the place." She finished.

"We might even find a better entrance other than the front door." She added.

"Are you crazy?!" Shakes said, sounding shell shocked, but not shocked enough to forget about the guards. She took a quick glance to the side to see if she had gotten the attention of the two guards.

She hadn't, they were still talking to each other, giving off the occasional laugh.

"What!?" Sweeps retorted. "I think it's better than the original plan of charging blindly into the castle!" She said defensively.

"It's still practically suicidal." Shakes said, finally coming down from her shock. Or was it anger? A mix of the two? Maybe.

"Pretty much any plan is suicidal." Sweeps said, turning and crossing her hooves.

"Besides," She mumbled, "at least it is a plan."

She did have a point. We probably, thanks to Vinyl, did have the magical and physical power to take out the two unsuspecting guards successfully. Not to mention that going in the castle with some form of disguise and the element of surprise on our side was enough to comfort whoever it was that would be going in.

I turned back down towards the two guards.

They were still sat down near their spears, facing each other. They seemed pretty laid back for a pair of guards; casually talking to each other and even letting out the occasional sound of laughter. Compared to the guards that I had seen inside Canterlot City, these guards actually were showing emotion rather than being a statue standing in front of a door or gate. Maybe they were new guards, or maybe this was how the guards around here actually were.

I was drawn back to my group by the sound of a new argument between the sisters.

"Who would we even send inside the castle anyways? You and Octavia don't have near enough experience to get out of a bad situation inside there. And Vinyl can't go because of obvious reasons." Shakes argued, this time rather than just claiming that the plan was suicide.

"We would only need to send in one of us. With all the guards that are bound to be inside that castle, I doubt that they would notice two missing guards and one new one." Her sister protested, countering the argument with a fairly solid point.

Shakes and Sweeps continued to bicker back and forth, but my attention drifted over to the other member of our group. Vinyl had been silent this whole time, even drifting out of the conversation between Sweeps after she herself asked about it. She seemed unfocused, though I could excuse it since she usually doesn't focus, but what really struck me was how quiet she was being throughout the trip.

"Octavia!" Shakes snapped, getting my attention and driving it away from Vinyl.

"Hm?"

"Who are you gonna side with?" She turned and shot her sister a annoyed glance, but Sweeps only smiled smugly; showing that she had clearly won the argument with her sister.

It was clear she wanted an opinion, so I gave her mine.

"You sister has a point Shakes."

"But-" She started, but I interrupted.

"I mean, since you seem to be the only 'experienced' one that can go, other than Vinyl, you should probably be wanting some form of disguise and the element of surprise on your side instead of heading head first into that castle on your own with no idea what you're up against." I said sagely, Shakes's jaw nearly dropping at my statistics.

She quickly shook it off and played it for more annoyance, but accepted my points none the less.

"Fine, will do this plan; but if something goes wrong, it's on both of your hooves!" She said, begrudgingly going along with the plan and walking over to Vinyl.

"Come on bloodsucker, we've got guards to knock out." She said, gently tapping Vinyl on the horn and making her recoil; her hooves launching up to cradle the appendage.

"Wha?" She said, clueless to the conversation that had just happened and the plan in general.

"You really don't listen to anything do you?" Shakes deadpanned.

"Hey! I listen to some things!" Vinyl defended before lifting up off the ground and looking to me and Sweeps expectantly. Sweeps must have understood something I didn't, because she started re-explaining the plan.

"The plan is to knock out those two guards," She lifted a hoof towards them again, "take their armor, and sneak Shakes inside the castle to try and find a good entrance for the rest of us to get in without being noticed." Sweeps finished quickly, leaving Vinyl with a confused look and a slow nod.

"Uhg," Shakes groaned and grabbed Vinyl, pulling over to the hill and pointing down to the two guards.

"See them?" She asked rhetorically.

Vinyl nodded.

"We're knocking them out." She said simply.

This seemed to flow a lot more smoothly with Vinyl, considering that she was now nodding more confidently.

"So which one do I get?" She asked, getting a bit of a smile out of Shakes.

"Take your pick." Now it was Vinyl's turn to crack a toothy smile.

"The one closest to the road can be yours, I'll take the other one." She said, pointing them out as she went and getting Shakes's nods of approval.

"Any idea of how we should go about getting over there undetected. There isn't any real form of cover to sneak through." Shakes's pointed out.

"Who said anything about sneaking?" Vinyl asked.

"One of you could be a distraction, heck all of us could head down there and be one big distraction since Vinyl could just teleport behind them and take one out, then, when the other is surprised, you get them." Sweeps posed.

"The more of us there are, the better the distraction. I'm sure that the odds of one pony getting lost is higher than a group, so that might throw them off." Shakes agreed.

They seemed to be at an agreement for the most part, and started to go ahead with the plan. Shakes and the rest of us built up our nerves and started a slow and steady trot down the stone path on the slope of the hill and over to the guards.

I turned my head up about halfway down the hill and saw Vinyl watching us intently; waiting for the first opportunity to strike without being noticed. I figured that would be fairly difficult considering the color and brightness of her magic when she used something like a teleportation spell. It blinds me and most others around her half the time.

Now that I think of it, how was she planning on even pulling off the start of the teleport with it being so bright; the guards would be bound to notice that bright a flash out of the normal darkness. And if they were facing us, it would be even more likely for them to notice it.

I put it behind me for now, Vinyl was resourceful, so I had trust that she would deliver. Of course, she was just as unpredictable, narrow minded, and simplistic that she might not even attempt to hide her teleportation and give herself, and consequentially us and our plan, away. Better yet, she might just teleport in front of the guards. Oh well, we'll just have to wait and see what's going on in that mind of hers.

As we grew closer to both of the guards, one of their heads popped up and looked at us carefully. I guess he was taken aback by either the fact someone else was here, or that we would be coming up to them so calmly. He, as I discovered upon getting close enough, got the attention of the other guard; a mare.

Once we grew within about twenty feet, they got up and started towards us themselves with a look of clear confusion on their face. Those faces quickly became aware of what we were, and twisted into a pair of devious smiles.

"Are you all lost?" The stallion greeted us with a malicious tone and smile to match.

Shakes decided to take the lead role in our little play.

"Oh thank Celestia we found someone else! I was beginning to think we were all alone in this forest!"

Note to self: get acting lessons from Shakes sometime; could help with many future situations.

"Oh don't worry, you're safe with us." The mare added in, her tone similar to the stallions.

"Come, come," The stallion began stepping forwards towards us. "let's get you somewhere safe; no telling who, or what, is out here just waiting to pounce on a group of travelers like yourselves."

Oh how cute and ironic of him to say.

As soon as he got within striking range of Shakes, she acted; sending a hoof straight at his face, and more specifically, his nose.

He howled and wobbled backwards, hooves shooting up to cradle the small and tender appendage that had just been struck with enough force to make a cracking sound. Shakes moved forwards and sent another hoof into his belly, knocking the breath out of him and bringing him down into a crouch.

Just as he began to get up, Shakes had already turned and brought her hind legs back into a curl. She cringed in pain a little before let them loose wildly fast, the hooves coming into full contact with the stallions head hard enough to send him onto his hind legs to stall for a bit before coming back down and landing belly up. The sound from that first hit alone was enough to make me cringe, but this hit was enough to make me wince.

The mare that had been standing by in a shock was now catching onto what was happening, and rushed to grab her spear while Shakes had put in the final blow to the stallion.

She held it rather oddly, holding it in her mouth near the end of the wooden part, but I suppose that was because of the fact she was only an earth pony and not a unicorn. But regardless of that, it had a large reach and could probably hit us from a more than safe distance away. Of course, Sweeps might be able to block it, but she could only do that a few times judge by how this mare stacked up.

Sweeps must have had a similar idea since her horn had begun to charge.

Shakes stuck out a hoof in front of Sweeps, causing her horn to cease charging.

"it's not worth it, you couldn't block her too many times before you'd be out of breath." She said in dismay as her eyes narrowed in on the mare with the spear. Though she nearly doubled over after she let out a grunt of pain.

"Where the hell is Vinyl?" I could hear Shakes whisper with anger and annoyance, letting out a pained cough.

She pointed down to the ground, signaling that she wanted us to get down. I'm sure she would have said her directions, but they would have came out muffled thanks to her tight bite on the spear. I imagine that her fangs helped grip the wooden spear even tighter, and help swing it even faster with more control.

We were all lowering ourselves to the ground slowly when the sound of whistling became heard, growing the slightest bit louder with every passing moment. The vampire seemed to be pick up on it first, looking all around and side to side with confusion. Her face was contorted into confusion, anger, and the slightest bit of panic and fear.

The next thing that happened was that the mare in front of us dropped to the ground suddenly, going limp within seconds and falling to the ground just after a loud bump was heard. We all jumped at her sudden collapse, and jumped a bit more when something else landed beside her on the stone path with a heavy crack.

All three of us were hesitant to move forward and investigate out of pure shock, but something told me that it was safe, it might have just been my curiosity. I took a few cautious steps forwards and looked down at the mare.

She was out cold, breathing lightly as she lie there limp.

"Did I get her?!" A sudden shout rang out from behind us.

Every head swiveled to the familiar voice's source, only to find Vinyl trotting quickly down the hill.

I couldn't help but laugh a bit, and apparently Shakes and Sweeps agreed as they started chuckling along with me.

"Yeah, you got her Vinyl!" I shouted back, chuckling while saying it.

Like I said. Unpredictable.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"So what's the plan from here?" Vinyl asked, showing off her obliviousness to the situation.

"Well, the plan was to sneak me inside the castle so I could find a better entrance for the rest of you guys." Shakes said.

"Is there even another entrance into that castle?" Vinyl said, turning her head and staring into the distance at the large castle.

"I don't know, you're supposed to be the one who knows the castle." Shakes said, flustered.

"I only saw, like, three rooms. Maybe four." Vinyl replied innocently.

Sweeps and I were over at the two doubled over bodies, trying to strip off their armors , but having a fair amount of trouble thanks to both of our lack of knowledge on how exactly the armor worked. There seemed to be no clear ways to remove it, but we did manage to find a few cleverly hidden clasps and buckles that were tucked in some of the crevices of the armor. Those weren't a problem to get undone thanks to Sweeps magic, but if magic weren't available, this could be literally impossible to do on your own.

"So why are we taking off both of their armors in the first place?" I asked, looking closely at the near black armor in the dim light, trying my hardest to find one of the hidden buckles.

Shakes was a bit hesitant to speak, but she eventually did speak up.

"Well, did you notice how Shakes was in pain back there?" She said, her attention clearly more focused on holding up the stallions limp head.

"I did." I replied.

"Well, I think that is from her rumble with Vinyl. It left her roughed up pretty badly, and all this traveling didn't exactly help speed up the healing process."

"So why did it only show up until now?" I asked, raising my attention from the mare's limp hoof.

"Well, I don't think that it showed up just now. I think that it just now became painful enough to hurt her if she pushes herself," Sweeps said, her horn sparking up and her tongue sticking out in concentration as she carefully undid one of the buckles.

"she's kind of stubborn like that." She added, pulling the neck guard off the stallion and adding it to her own pile of gear she had taken off.

"So why are we taking off the others armor?" I asked, still not getting her reasoning.

"Well, with Shakes state, she won't be fit to dig herself out of a bad situation. So, I figured we might send in some extra help." She finished, her eyes scanning all over the stallion's head in search of the clasp to his helmet.

"Who?" I asked.

She finally lifted her head up from the guard, staring at me with an almost reluctant look.

"See the color of the mare?"

I looked down to the mare in front of me, picking up one of her hooves and holding it close enough to see. Sweeps lit her horn once more and leaned in closer to me, lighting up the mare's coat more so.

It was a grey color, slightly darker than my own.

"Me?"

She nodded slowly.

I looked down at the mare and then back towards the castle.

"Trust me, I would go myself, but I have to stick here to be sure Vinyl doesn't do something dumb and get us all killed." She said slowly.

"It's not I don't think you could do it, it's that I think I have a better chance with my magic." She added.

"I understand." I said, turning back and posing a small smile that seemed to surprise her. She did have a point, she could probably hold back Vinyl a bit more effectively with her magic as opposed to me, armed with a few words, some scolding, and my bare hooves.

"Good, that's half of the challenge down." She said, sounding relieved.

"Challenge?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Well do you think Vinyl's gonna be all for you going into a castle where the one who nearly had her kill you, me, and Shakes is at without a protest?" She asked, the question being practically rhetorical.

"True." I agreed, going back to trying to pry the clasp that held together the mare's main body armor together.

"Here, let me get that." She said, wrapping her magic around the clasp and quickly undoing the clasp.

Jeez magic is helpful.

We were mainly silent for the rest of our time spent taking off the armor, though we did make an occasional conversation here and there. We were actually listening to Vinyl and Shakes talk to each other for most part. Vinyl, whether it was intentional or not, being oblivious to nearly all of the plan that we had argued about and Shakes getting more and more annoyed and flustered as she had to explain it.

Eventually we finished and even compared the armors. As it turns out, the pieces were nearly identical; no obvious difference from the mare's set or the stallion's. It took me a bit off guard when I found that there was no difference in the armor when it came to gender, but further investigation that the inside of the armor was actually made of a rather malleable substance that was able to stretch the slightest.

Shakes decided that now was the time to break the news to Vinyl.

"Would you two mind coming over here for a second?" She called out to the still agitated Shakes and still innocent Vinyl.

"What?" Shakes spat.

"Hm?" Vinyl hummed, the exact opposite of Shakes's response.

"Well, the plans had a bit of a... renovation." She said, choosing her words wisely.

"And that is?" Shakes said, now in less of an agitated tone and more of an impatient one. Vinyl was looking off to the side, admiring the scenery.

"Well sis, we saw how you were kinda pained back there with the guards..." She hesitated and looked to me, getting a quick nod out of me.

"Well, I think that Octavia should go with you."

"What?!" This time it was Vinyl who spoke, "No! No way is she going in there!"

"Sis, I really don't think that's a good-" Shakes began, only to be interrupted by Vinyl's protests.

"She could die! There is no way she's going in there!"

"Vinyl please." I spoke softly, only to be drowned out.

"There's got to be another way, she can't go in there. It's suicide." She was beginning to sound hostile, and that didn't bode well for any of us considering she could easily over power all three of us. Something about her was different ever since she got close to this castle.

"Vinyl." I said, slightly louder, only to be drowned out once more by her babbling protests.

"Vinyl!" I said, yelling at her.

That seemed to be enough since her ears dropped and she visibly twitched.

"It was my idea Vinyl. I'm going." I lied to her, but it seemed to take her by surprise and get the effect I wanted.

"I asked Sweeps to say it in the hopes that you wouldn't react like this." Another lie, and another reaction of slight surprise from her.

"T-tavi..." She stuttered quietly.

"No, Vinyl. I'm going."

"But...you could die..." She protested quietly, her voice no louder than I whisper.

"So? We all could die, but I don't see you protesting over that." I said.

Her shoulders slumped and her head fell, along with her body as she landed on her haunches as a sad frown formed on her face. I sighed and walked over to her, sitting down on my own haunches and placing my front hooves around her, and brought her into a comforting embrace.

"I'll be fine, stop your worrying." I whispered into her ear just as she brought her own hooves up and completed the embrace.

We sat there and held our hug, Shakes and Sweeps sitting there respectively in silence. But most good things come to an end, and I let go of our embrace. I could feel her grip on a little bit harder in protest as I began removing myself, but she let go after I set a hoof on her shoulder.

"Ready Octavia?" Sweeps asked, holding up the pieces of black armor in her magical grasp. Shakes was already dressed, the black armor fit snugly on her so it covered up most of her body. She looked strikingly similar to the Stallion from before, maybe if you looked very closely at her curves in the armor you could pick up the difference. Other than that she was in a perfect disguise.

"Ready." I replied, letting her magical grasp begin placing the pieces of armor all over me until it was fit snugly.

Believe it or not but that armor was extremely comfortable, fitting snugly on nearly every curve but not gripping to hard to be uncomfortable. Not only that, but it was a lot lighter than what I thought it would be; nearly feeling like it wasn't even there. The only thing that kept reminding me it was there was the helmet, which was also nearly unnoticeable, that hung down into my vision the slightest.

"Well, let's get moving then shall we?" Shakes asked, taking the lead.

"Tavi." Vinyl's voice called out in a soft voice.

"Hm?" I turned to see her looking sadly at me with her ears down, but the small smile on her face spoke against that sad expression.

"Don't die okay? We still got stuff to do, you know." She said.

I smiled.

"I know." I went forward to her and gave her a quick kiss, turning away as I felt a blush start upon my cheek.

'Lots of stuff.' I thought as I began walking along beside Shakes, looking at the castle looming in the distance.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Author's Note

Kinda uneventful, but it got the next chapter set up. Tell me what you think. (I realize I'm kinda delaying stuff but the next chapter gets into it.)

Begin

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Well...so far so good." Shakes said quietly as we got within a couple dozen feet of the first gate.

The gate was guarded by two menacing looking stallions that towered nearly twice as tall as me and Shakes. Each one armed with a deadly looking sharp spear in their hoof, but these were different than the ones on the other two we had seen; these were pure black from handle to blade. In addition to their different looking spears, their armor also differed in size.

We tried to keep a steady pace, despite their intimidating stature and weapons, and pulled it off for the most part. I had little trouble putting on a stoic face, but I had a hard time holding it under one of the guards piercing gaze. Shakes seemed to have a problem with putting on a stoic look at all.

Half way through the gate I could feel my heart pumping and practically jumping out of my chest; I swore that we had been found out, but the guards didn't move at all and allowed us entry without a word.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The inside of the castle was just as black as the outside, the tiles on the floor as black as the walls and the only way to tell were you were going was by the torches that rested on the smoke colored columns that lined the inside. There was, however, a lavish looking red carpet that was rolled out in front of us and led up to a large door at the end of the room. In each corner of the main room were other doors that presumably led to other rooms.

Shakes collapsed on the other side of the door, sitting down and leaning up against the wall while breathing heavily. I was at first worried, that her injuries had gotten too bad for her to carry on, but all that faded when I saw that she was just acting in an over exaggerated manner.

I gave her a glare, and she dropped her charade, but she didn't do it without telling me what I already knew.

"I sure hope the rest of them aren't like that," She said, nearly whispering.

"I mean, I went to Hunter camp and they told us stories about the elites, but no one told a personal encounter with one. When we asked about someone having a tumble with one, not a single pony in that entire camp had ever even seen one of the elite," She paused. "or seen one and lived at least." She finished before turning back towards the room ahead.

She was right, those two were nothing like the two we saw.

"So where do you think this 'side entrance' thing that we need to find so badly is?" She asked, knowing full well that I had no clue.

I took a look around the room, taking second glances at all the doors in the room to see if there was any indication of what, or who, they might lead too. I eliminated that door with the carpet rolled towards it, figuring that it probably led to the throne room, and turned my attention back towards the four doors tucked into the sides of the room.

"Hey! You two!" My body went stiff and tense at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, and I was sure that Shakes's had done the same. Slowly, and synched perfectly, our heads turned towards one of the corners of the room we were in just in time to see on of those intimidating elites from before walking over to us with a sturdy look on his face and a clipboard in hoof.

"Night Watch, what took you two so long?" He asked quickly once he got over to us, eying us both with a piercing gaze that nearly broke me right there.

"Uh..." Shakes stuttered.

I couldn't blame Shakes in the slightest, she had done exactly what I would have done. Maybe even better than me. Heck, we didn't even know which one of us he was talking to. Luckily, the stallion shook his head and let out a disappointed sounding sigh.

"Whatever, look, while you two were out there slacking, or doing whatever it is that you two always do when you get sent on scouting duty," He eyed us suspiciously, "you both got put on two different assignments." He finished, pulling the cliff board up and skimming down it until his hoof landed on what I could only assume was one of our 'names.'

"Night Watch, you got put on weapons duty; report to the barracks." He said, turning his attention to Shakes.

Shakes could only smile sheepishly, causing the tall stallion to let out an annoyed sigh while he mumbled:

"Why do I always get the dull ones?"

He raised his hoof towards one of the doors that I had looked at from earlier and sent her on her way. She took a quick glance back at me just before she went inside the door, a look of fear for me painted on her face just before she scuttled into the doorway.

"Alright..." He spoke up again, this time to me, as his hoof skimmed down the clip board, "Ah! Here we are, Dark Heart. You got..." He stopped and leaned in a little bit closer to be sure he had read right. He gulped a bit before looking back up at me with his own look of fear.

"You got...a meeting with him." He turned and looked towards the door that the red carpet had led up to.

Not only did my confirmed suspicion of the being the throne room and the fact that Shakes had left me to face it alone send me into a state of mild panic, but it was the fact that this intimidating stallion nearly twice me size had a look of fear on his face when he wasn't even the one going in there.

He stood there expectantly with a rather empathetic look an his face. It was clear he wasn't going to leave until I went through those doors, and he might get suspicious if I hesitated. I couldn't leave now, I had to face this 'him' that had left this stallion feeling bad for me and who had also sent Vinyl out to kill me.

Wonderful.

I took a gulp and gained some courage that I was sure would be crushed to dust as soon as I got to the other side of those doors, but I managed to gather it. I took a few shaky steps forwards before turning, hoping that by some stroke of luck and fortune, the stallion had left. But he was still there, the same look on his face as he spoke up:

"Good luck." He said.

I closed the distance between me and the large black doors with a shaky and slow pace, a feeling of fear rising in the back of my head with every step. I eventually reached the doors, not even bothering to take a second glance back at the stallion who I knew was still there, and place a hoof up to them. I felt that the massive doors that I had assumed were made of metal were actually made of a smoothed and shined wood, but I didn't give that much though as I pushed inwards on the left door. It creaked open slowly, and painfully so for my fear, just enough so that I could squeeze through.

*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*

I looked back and gave Octavia a look of fear before turning and shutting the door quietly and quickly behind me. I wanted to help her, but there was nothing I could do for her without getting us both eventually killed in the progress. Even if we did manage to take down the stallion and ran out of the castle, it would be near definite that we would attract some attention from someone else.

Who knows, maybe she will just get off easy with something like bathroom duty.

The door I went through led to a set of stairs that led straight downwards into a room with a dim light resonating from within, giving it a pretty intimidating appearance, but admittedly, I felt a lot safer in here than when I was out there standing in front of that elite.

"Well, at least I got weapons duty. Maybe I can even sneak some out to Vinyl and sis..." I said to myself as I started walking down the stairs, "assuming that there even is an entrance for me to sneak 'em out of." I mumbled.

I walked through the doorway at the bottom of the stairs to find myself in a large room filled with to the brim with beds and chests at their sides, the occasional personal item laying on top of the bed. Things ranging from pictures to little trinkets that looked like they belonged in a pawn shop or in a yard sale were scattered across some of the tops of the beds.

It took me by surprise really; I had always been told that these vampires, especially the elites, were nothing but mindless and bloody beasts that thirsted for nothing but blood. Of course, I knew that wasn't the case for all of them, I even had a living example of that, but I had thought that those stories might check out with the ones in this castle where the elite reside. Never did I imagine that they would have personal items of presumable personal value on their beds.

One of the beds was different however, it was filled with the body of a stallion whose chest was slowly moving up in down with every breath.

I stiffened at the thought of another one of those elites in here, but upon further investigation my fear and panic faded and was replaced with a barely containable anger. Resting in the bed was Bigs, his hooves lightly tucked down towards his body for warmth while his mouth was cracked open the slightest. I began to get mad, since he was the primary cause for taking Vinyl to this stupid castle and getting her all messed up, which led to her coming after Octavia, me having to protect her, and then me getting a chest full of magic that sent me a few feet up in the air.

I grit my teeth in an attempt to calm myself, feeling them clench up until the point where the risk of me grinding down into them was probably becoming a serious concern.

But not to me right now.

I had the primary source for most, and maybe even all, of the problems that I had faced up until this point right in front of me asleep and a perfect opportunity to get some revenge.

I spotted a weapons rack not too far off to the side of me, a sharpened looking blade lying there innocently and in wait for someone to use it. I trotted over silently and slowly, trying my best not to wake the bouncer, and picked the small blade up, taking time to admire its sharpness and pristine looking condition; it's black metal even shiny enough to reflect my image.

I turned back to Bigs, trotted over, and hovered the blade over his neck; lining up a deadly line with his vital spots that ran down his neck. One cut, and this could be over before he even knew it.

"For Vinyl..." I whispered, ready to plunge the blade downwards.

Something caught my eye.

The reflection of glass glinting in the corner of my vision stopped me for some reason, and my eyes seemed to wander without my permission over to a small night stand near the chest at Bigs's bed.

His personal item was a picture, a aged looking wooden frame with glass on it that looked like it hadn't been dusted in a long time.

My curiosity got the better of me, and I moved away.

'What could he have done that he would want to remember?' I wondered as I trotted silently over to the nightstand and picked up the picture.

I gave it a silent blow, sending the dust off of the glass and down to the floor.

My eyes went wide as I made out the picture.

It was of me, him, Sweeps, and Vinyl all standing at the bar table. I took a second to look at my ditzy looking face and his meek smile with my hoof wrapped around his neck, pulling him further into the picture. I remembered the picture well, despite my drunk state at the time, and how it all happened. Sweeps bringing in a camera and floating in front of all of us. She claimed that she wanted something to hang in my office and figured that this would be the best fit.

I took a second to look back at him, sleeping innocently, and then back at my knife.

I lingered on that decision far more that I should have, going back and forth between "Yes, I'm killing him" and "No, I'm not." I had known Bigs for awhile, he was there only a few weeks after the bar opened and I was hired. He was a kind stallion, or so he seemed, but it was clear that that was nothing but a lie. He tried to kill me.

A voice in my head finally won, and I set the knife, and the picture, down on the nightstand before trotting quickly out of the room and into another that was branched off to the side.

Maybe, just maybe, he has motives that I don't know of. If there is anything that those stupid Hunters had taught me, it's that Vampires are nothing that they appear to be, for better or worse.

I only hoped that Bigs was for better.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The room I walked into appeared to be the real armory; large spears and swords, shields and a variety of other weapons that I had no idea what they were or how to use them lined the wall in organized rows.

I never taught that I would get giddy over the sight of weapons, but I did at that moment.

"Oh my..." I said, at a lose for words, taking slow and awestruck steps up to this first of the many weapon racks and plucked a spear from the wall.

It was long and sturdy looking, resembling the spears the guards had at the front entrance of the castle perfectly. I gave it a few firm thrusts and felt confident with it, even though I had never been trained in the art of the spear, but just the feel of it felt great enough to make me feel as though I had been trained to wield it my entire life. I set it back down on the rack gently and went down the entire line of weapons, giving each one it's well deserved attention and swings. Surprisingly enough, each one gave off the feeling of years of experience with it, which got me thinking if there was something else with these weapons that I didn't know, but I decided not to dwell on it and move onto my actual goal.

"Now where would I be if I was a secret entrance to a well protected castle..." I whispered to myself in contemplation as I walked around the room , eying nearly every corner and wall.

A light went off in my head.

"Book case!" I silently exclaimed.

"No, no, That's a stupid idea," The light went dim and a continued my pacing,

"I'm in the barracks." I mumbled, returning to my circling and eying.

*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*

There was a hallway directly after the door leading to this supposedly widely and extremely feared "master" that the stallion had mentioned, but I had yet to see anyone else in the dimly lit hall that only led to room with nothing in it but an empty chair sat in front of a big window. I had begun to build hope that the "master" was simply not here and I could get a chance to look around the room. I figured that the best place to put a secret entrance and exit would be in the most important room, and I also figured that this was the most important since it held someone who went by "master."

I reached the doorway and paused, taking a minute to scan across the room, only to find it seemingly empty. I still wasn't trusting its lack of presence, so my steps were light and cautious as I entered through the door way.

I instantly began to search for anything that could be considered the slightest bit suspicious, anything from an off centered picture that hung on the wall to a book that just looked like it didn't belong. I even gave the chair a firm pat down before moving on just to be sure I hadn't over looked it. I was about halfway through one of the many bookcases that rested on the wall when I heard the door down the hall close, and the sound of steady hoof steps moving down the hallway.

I began to panic and my mind began to race as my eyes quickly darted around the room for a place to hide. I didn't think about the repercussions and risk of me getting caught if I did find a place to hide, but I didn't really care at that point since my nerves had begun to crack down on me.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, there was nowhere to hide in the open room; the only things in the room being a few bookshelves that were slid tightly up against the wall and a couple of paintings that I was prepared to look behind in search of an exit. But judging by how close those hoof steps sounded, I would only look extremely suspicious if this "master" walked in on me.

My body stiffened up and braced for impact instinctively, leaving me as still as one of those guards outside the castle as my ears seemed to twitch at the sound of each and every hoof step.

They grew closer and closer, and then they stopped.

"Oh, hello Dark heart. So nice of you to be waiting." I heard a clam and smooth voice say.

I cracked open my eyes quickly in the hopes of not looking idiotic.

To my surprise, the "master" wasn't remotely close to the way I imagined him to be in the few minutes I had even know about him. I imagined him as some sort of large and buff stallion with serpentine like eyes and a mane and coat as dark as night. Maybe even a cape or something. But no, standing in front of me was an average, about the same height as me, stallion with dull red eyes and a fairly average build.

'This is the master?' I thought, giving his body another thorough look to see if I had missed anything.

I hadn't, this stallion was completely average in almost every way and could be mistaken for a regular pony in a heartbeat; he wasn't even one of the races considered to be "special races" like a Unicorn or a Pegasus even, just a regular looking earth pony with some dark red eyes that one could easily mistake for a pair of brown eyes at first glance.

I realized he was still waiting for a response from me.

"O-of course." I winced at my shaky response, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I suppose you know why I called you here?" He asked, trotting past me and lingering at my shoulder for just a bit before making his way to the chair at the center of the room.

This was the question I had been dreading.

"No sir." I nearly trembled, but recovered and tried to make it sound a bit more confident and convincing.

He turned and raised his brow the slightest.

"Really?" He said, sounding perplexed, which resulted in my beginning to stammer. I was prepared to try and backpedal my way out of the situation I had fell into, but he beat me to any form of actual response.

"Well, it's simple really. I called you in here to discuss you joining our ranks, you did, after all, just return from your test mission." He said simply.

I decided to go along with his story, since he probably knew the real one after all.

"Are you ready to begin then?" He asked, taking a seat in his chair and motioning for me to join him at his side. I nodded and quickly moved to the side of his chair, preparing myself mentally for the questions ahead of me.

"Let's start off simple shall we? When is the night at its darkest?" He asked with a fairly emotionless voice.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

His questions were surprisingly simplistic and some even elementary, those of which I answered with little difficulty, but others were more personal. I figured since the mare I was pretending to be was, according to him, new, I assumed I couldn't get those wrong either way you look at it. During his questions, specifically the personal ones, I noticed him give a few chuckles and ghostly unnerving smiles. I began to think that this stallion wasn't as dense and scary as the guard made him out to be.

Once he finished his questions however, he held me up.

"So, one last question for you dear." He said with his clam, and nearly nice, tone.

"Yes?"

"How long do you plan on keeping this up?" His tone hadn't changed the slightest, the same near emotionless but faintly cheerful voice speaking in the same calm way, but the question he posed threw me off completely. Not only that, but he had turned to face me with his pair of dulled eyes, which now seemed more sharp and menacing than ever.

I struggled to lie, or even speak for that matter, under the same piercing gaze.

"I-uh." I stuttered as he got up from his chair and began to circle me.

"Did you think you could honestly get by me so easily?" He asked, sounding surprisingly genuine about it.

I hadn't turned to look at him, my body had turned cold and stiff after the question, but I felt him sneak up behind me and and get right up to my ear.

"I can smell her on you." I knew who he was talking about.

Vinyl.

He slid away and walked over to the large window that overlooked some of the forest, but more obviously, the bright and full moon that dominated the sky.

"I can practically smell the venom running in your veins, innocent and docile right now, but I wonder when she will take advantage of it? Assuming she even knows how to. I have to say though, for that amount of toxin to be running through you, she must have really 'bonded' with you over the time you've known her." He spoke to himself as he stood with his head nearly pressing against the glass of the window.

"Ah, but what does that matter anyways? You're here now, and the toxin will only work once." He rambled on, eventually turning to me and putting on a genuinely sorry face that only continued to scare me.

"Oh me, you must have no idea what I'm speaking about, do you?" He expected an answer, and my throat somehow managed a shaky one; his eyes nearly forcing it out.

"N-no..." I stammered.

"Well let me explain something to you then," He said with near glee as he turned and began to walk slwoly, "that toxin I was speaking about is something that only a select few are gifted to carry; a 'one in a million' if you will."

"And you see, this toxin has a rather enthralling and extremely interesting effect on...unturned blood, like your own."

"L-like what?" My lips seemed to move on their own.

"Glad you asked dear. This effect is something very intricate, like a key to a door of sorts. When it flows through your veins, it is similar to the key being put into the door, and all that is left after that, is to turn it."

"Turning this 'key', is much harder than it sounds though, but I won't bore you with that long explanation. I'll simply put it into it's most straight forward form," He looked dead in my eyes.

"You turn." He was deathly serious now, and it made me stiffen even more.

"But just like keys and doors, the process is as easily reversed as it is done, and maybe even easier to undo at that. And again, just as those very same keys and doors, the key can be broken: permanently locking or unlocking the door. Of course, there are some doors that can't be opened from the start, just as there are some that can't be closed." He was beginning to close in on me as he continued his comparison.

I began taking slow steps back.

"It's not nearly as simple as enthralling like I did with that white mare of yours, but a much harder process with much greater rewards. One being a more heavier form of enthrallment, and another that I find the most interesting," He took a second to pause, "is the unlock of true potential.

"You may have noticed that I take a particular interest in that white companion of yours, and you could probably guess why if you've seen what she is capable of when she gets a scent of blood, or when using her more basic instincts. And that interest still stands." He said with a smile creeping on his face as his eyes narrowed in on me and I felt my legs seemingly seize up.

"And I see a new way of seeing that goal fulfilled." He said, taking steps forwards and slowly closing the distance.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Perspective

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I was propped up against the stone wall that my bed was shoved up against, my thought's still lingering on Shakes's presence and what could happen to her and whoever was with her. Which, if my guess was right, was her sister, Vinyl, and that gray mare that Vinyl was so fond of: Octavia. There was no telling what would happen if my master got a hold of them, or even one of them. Especially Vinyl.

I rolled on my side, my head turning and eyes landing the picture that rested on my nightstand as my thoughts lingered, only to be interrupted by a sudden pounding on the door.

"What the?" I asked myself aloud.

I hesitated for a second after the knocking died down, only to return once more with a voice on the other side calling my name.

"Captain Bigs! Captain Bigs are you in there?!" I sighed at the sound of a recruit's voice I heard from training a few days ago whose name escaped me.

I rolled myself out of the bed and trotted over to the door, opening about halfway through the next barrage of feverish knocks from the other side and nearly getting hit in the face. I was met with the sight one of the young recruit's face painted with terror, a look of pure fear tainting their eyes as they turned to meet me and begin blabbering on about something.

"Captain! T-there's- outside!- S-someone...Something is-" I cut them off there with a hoof over their lips and looked them in their flickering eyes with my own calmed ones.

"Slow down, I can't understand you if you speak like that." They nodded slowly, clearly not completely soothed, but enough to get their message out. I lifted my hoof and let them speak once again, this time much more clearly.

"A-at the gates sir, someone is tearing us up out there!" She stammered, getting a raised brow from me.

"Who?"

"W-we don't know, but their raining down magic on us. We're getting torn apart!" She said.

"Hm," I paused, thinking on what to do, "Go back and help get some of them inside, I'll go see who it is that's causing us all this." I finally spoke, my instincts as a leader kicking in and taking over as we both filed out the room and went our separate ways.

They went down the main hall and out the doors. When the doors opened, I heard the sounds of many of the guard shouting inside the inner walls, nearly drawing me over to aid them, but I had my own place to get to. I took a quick turn that led to a spiral staircase, trotting up the metal stairs with haste and making it to the top of one of the towers just in time to see something hit the wall right below me.

I took a second to watch some of the wall crumble off and fall to the ground, then directed my attention over to where I though the shot had come from. My eyes went wide white I saw the small white figure walking up slowly, something colored blackish around her horn and an uncountable amount of those same shots pouring out of it, each one coming down and crashing on the inside of the wall in violent explosions that were big enough to reveal the dark blue color in the seemingly tar colored magic. She wasn't even at the gate yet and she was causing so much chaos amongst my men.

'Something must have pissed her off real bad.' I thought to myself.

I shook myself from my state of awe and turned to rush back down the stairs and into the main landing, nearly running into the job overseer on my way down. He managed to stop me before I ran out the door.

"Captain!" He called.

"What is it?" I answered quickly, yearning to get out of conversation and out to the inner walls.

"Have you seen Night Watch anywhere? I sent her into your barracks and I haven't seen her since I split her and Dark Heart up." He explained, a look of slight panic in his eyes.

His statement stole away my haste as my head began to connect a few things.

"You said Dark Heart?" I asked again, my mind bringing up the image of a dark gray mare. Shakes had taken on the role of Night Watch I assumed, and he said that he split the two up.

"Yes; gray earth pony, relatively new around here. Have you seen her?" I ignored his last question and pressed my own.

"Did she seem to be acting a little...weird?" It took him aback a bit, but he did answer.

"Why...Yes, yes she did seem a bit off, but I just assumed that was because she had a meeting with the Master. Why do you ask?" He posed, but I didn't answer. The information he gave me made my eyes widen and my thoughts scream.

"No time, I need you to go and help get the ones outside to safety; they don't know what's coming." I said, shoving him off and turning towards the throne room.

'Please tell me he didn't. Please!' I thought as I rushed towards the doors and slammed through them.

*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*

"Sis?" I called to my sister who was fading in and out of consciousness.

"C'mon Sis, stick with me." I pleaded, watching her eyes go from barely awake to peacefully shut.

Eventually I got her to hang on to her consciousness, though she was obviously still weak from whatever it was that hit her and on the verge of going under again. She seemed so helpless like this, her eyes barely open and a weak smile on her face as she did nothing but look at me. It almost brought tears to my face, but I held them back as best I could.

A boom rang out in the distance, getting me to turn my attention over to the castle to see that it was being bombarded by a flurry of blackish blue bolts that rained down from the sky. You could barely see them from where I was at, the only things you could catch glimpse of were the blurs of black speeding down into the almost equally black castle walls. I had began to pick up on a few shouts from the inside of the castle, no telling how hectic it was inside those walls, but what was a bit more unnerving to me was the fact that Vinyl was still just nearing the castle.

'No telling what kind of chaos she will cause when she actually gets to the inside of the castle itself.' I thought to myself, returning my attention back towards the direction my sister.

"I can't just let Vinyl go in alone though...Even if she is strong, she's stubborn." I whispered to myself, not looking at anything in particular.

A sudden hoof on my shoulder got my attention, I looked to see my sister shifting her weight and shakily rising off the ground.

"Sis?" I stuttered in awe.

"You said it yourself...she's a bit on the dull side," She whispered as she looked up at me with a smile, "so let's make up for that." She said with a weak confidence, but I guess it even out considering her condition.

I was about to protest, but the look in her eye said that it was pointless to, so I didn't.

We began to move towards the castle, but she faltered and began to fall, only to be quickly caught by me. She was in no condition to walk, much less to even try and fight anyone inside that castle. She looked in pain, but she also looked so determined.

She glanced at me, just in time to see me bending down and gesturing for her to get on my back.

She was seemingly shocked at the gesture, but shook it off and slowly climbed on. I lifted up, feeling the weight send a burn through my joints, but I pressed on and began a trot. Each step sent a jolt of red hot pain up my legs, but I only grit my teeth and kept going, ignoring the returning swell of pain in my chest as I pressed on through the wake of carnage Vinyl had left with her assault.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

We got about half way to Vinyl, who was still dozen's of yards ahead of us, when we heard some crumbling from around us. I didn't catch it since my sense was seemingly dulled from the pain I was going through carrying my sister, but said mare managed to catch them.

"Sis." she said weakly, tapping me on the side to get my attention and raising a hoof to point to the scuffed up guard that must have been thrown to the side by Vinyl. They saw us and were apparently still determined to stop someone, even if it wasn't the main threat they were stopping.

"Don't worry Sis, were in this together." She said in an attempt to sooth me.

They gave a quick charge, slowed by their injuries, but still considerably fast.

In response, I gave a small drop, lowering me and my sister just enough so the punch grazed over us. My hooves and legs burned, but I pushed up and my sister moved her hoof up and shoved the guard's hoof up weakly, but still sending it up enough for me to quickly stretch out my front hoof and give them a hit to the neck that sent them down to the ground writhing.

In our little tussle, we alerted the other remains of the castle's first line of defense, seeing a few sets of eyes peering at us.

'Oh joy.' I thought, lifting my hoof up and pulling out the small sword I had taken from the armory.

"Ready?" My sister asked, her strength clearly returning just by the sound of her voice alone.

"Yep." I muttered through clinched teeth.

The first one to charge was an earth pony, his yell giving away his charge immediately. I turned my self and readied the sword, only to have him slap it out of my hoof and stick into the ground a few inches deep with astounding strength. He arched his hoof back and let it fly, triggering me to back step quickly and ready for a counter attack. Or, at least, that is what I would have done if the pain in my hind leg made me go down to a kneel.

He pulled the sword from the ground and gave it a swing, only to have it be shattered from a bolt from my sister. She flinched, I felt it on my back, at the shot, but it was effective despite the side effects. I took his moment of shock to recover and pull the dagger I had also stolen and throw it at him.

My aim would normally be spot on, but the pain set off my shot and it hit him in the helmet, only stunning him.

"Behind." Sweeps said simply, triggering me to hit the deck and give my legs a moment of rest just in time to see a figure sweep over us and crash into the stallion I had stunned in a tumble of wings and dust. I had enough time to see they had a head on collision and both of them were lying there limp.

I gave a chuckle at their clumsiness as I lifted myself off the ground in a burn of pain.

A figure jumped over the two collapse ones, running at us with murderous intent in his eyes.

"Kneel again." I heard, and obeyed the voice of my sister.

I knelt and felt a weight roll off my back and, right in front of my eyes, saw my sister roll off and hit the charging attacker with her hind hooves in a sort of drop kick style. It was clearly an amateur attempt, but since it took the attacker off so much, she landed a direct hit on the bridge of the nose, sending the attacker back with blood streaming from his nose.

She picked herself off the ground in time to see me smirk at her.

"Good one sis." I said, lifting myself off the ground with much more ease than before.

"Thanks, but there's still more to come." She said, pointing behind me.

I turned to see about five more, and more coming, standing and looking at us with a clear intent.

Kill.

*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*

"Why?" I whispered at the sight, gaining the attention of the one figure still standing tall.

"Why what?" He asked, cracking a maniacal smile as he noticed my presence.

"You...you crossed the line." I stammered in a quiet whisper, still taking in the sight of the collapsed sight of the gray mare. I wasn't surprised at the sight of two pricks on her neck, those were Vinyl's doing, but to see new blood running down them was a sight to behold.

"What line? There is no line when it comes to reaching a goal!" He snapped, displaying far too much emotion to be considered normal for him, even when others in the guard openly insulted him and criticized him, he never acted like this.

The sight I stumbled upon was a gray mare, presumably Vinyl's reason for her outburst outside, collapsed at my masters hooves with bright red blood running down her neck. My main concern however, was how limp she was; my fear was that my master had killed her, and the one that towered above that fear was of how Vinyl would react to the latter.

"You realize what she will do right?" I asked, my voice now re-found and firm.

His only response was to crack the same smile from before, the same abnormally emotionally, toothy, maniacal smile.

"I know full well, and I plan to use it to my advantage." He said, stomping his hoof on the ground beside the collapsed gray mare's head.

I was curious at first, the way he stomped made it seem like something was supposed to happen, but nothing did. Suddenly, the gray mare began to stir half consciously, much to my shock. She raised herself slowly, hair falling in her face while, but showed no concern for it, and stood tall and rigid. Her eyes were half lidded, amethyst gaze looking off into seemingly nowhere as she seemed to wait for something.

"I didn't kill her..." My master spoke slowly, giddy at finally revealing his plan.

"...I'm using her." He said, the statement sending a chill down my spine.

"That's...That's twisted." I said simply, taking a few steps back towards the door.

"Twisted loses it's meaning when you've sat and watched the world age for as long as I have, you learn that, twisted or not, what works: works." He said surprisingly sagely for the crazed aura he gave off. Maybe if it wasn't under these circumstances, I would have taken that quote a bit closer to heart, but considering the situation, I wasn't trusting this crazy's words for a second.

"This won't end well; for any of us." I said, turning and heading towards the door with a quick trot, desperate to get out of the mad stallion's throne room. He managed to catch my ear before I left though.

"Yes yes, go and try and hold her off. You're only delaying the inevitable Bigs, she will come one way or another." He said with a dark chuckle at the end that I tried to shrug off, but it only got stuck on my shoulder as I left out the door.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I shut the door behind me quickly, happy to be out of the presence of that crazed stallion and the husk he had left of Octavia. It was so similar to how Vinyl looked when she first got brought in and sent out on a mission with me, eyes dulled and senses seemingly blank. That's what I assumed my master had done to her, but how he did it, I had no idea. I thought that regular civilians couldn't handle the enthrallment without being exposed to multiple days of highly concentrated toxin that only a select few Vampires carry.

'Could that have been Vinyl? Is that why my master is so obsessed over her?' I wondered, seeing it as the only logical reasoning for his yearning for her to be under control and Octavia's current condition.

A sudden boom thundered through the halls I was in, something hitting with enough force to make the torches flicker and throw me off balance a little.

'Vinyl won't be able to keep this up for too long.' I thought, but I had no idea personally.

She has proven my predictions wrong time after time again, so I've learned to never assume too much about her since the risk of getting proven wrong and loosing a bet is literally random. You could ask her some of the craziest things and she would give you surprisingly specific answers that raised a few brows.

I started chuckling at some of the things I had heard her give unforgettable "insight" on.

Another thundering shake stole my thoughts from me.

"I've got to get the guard out of there, this isn't their fight." I said to myself, running towards the doors while the sounds of orders being shouted and screams became ever more audible until I opened the doors to the full roar of the guard at work in an attempt to protect themselves from the magical bolts being hurled down on us.

I ran into the chief adviser again, the one who sent Octavia to the master and Shakes to my barracks, while he was pulling an injured guard out of the line of fire. I was quick to help him pull the stallion along and grab a hold of the adviser.

"Why are they still fighting? I thought I told you to-" He cut me off.

"I can't rally them! They're too stubborn!" He whined. I merely gave him a huff and hopped atop a mass of wreckage that used to be a cart.

"Men!" I screamed over them, putting their cries of war to shame and gaining almost every eye that was outside.

"Inside! Now!" I screamed, my throat burning in protest of how loud I was yelling, but it got the job done. Some looked reluctant, but they all rushed inside after a blackish explosion erupted behind them and ripped a chunk of earth out of the ground.

I gave the chief advisory a cocky grin, taking pride in his roll of the eyes, before continuing to bark out orders of retreat as the explosions continued to rain down on us. The second the last hoof stepped inside the doors I barked at the adviser to help me close the doors, the tone in my voice throwing any protest he had away and making him scuttle along to pull the large iron handle on the door closed while I pulled my own.

He collapsed as soon as the doors shut, the thundering slam of the two massive doors sending a silence over the crowd. I turned to see them all looking at me with expectant eyes, waiting for an order to complete; call it a captain's hunch if you will.

I thought quickly on what to do and what to say,

'Get them out of the way; leave a straight path for Vinyl with no resistance. No resistance, no casualties.' My mind raced, and soon, my mouth did too.

My eye's darted to the barracks that were tucked away in each corner of the room and my mouth spoke the plan that came to mind.

"Go to your quarters." I said simply and calmly, even shocking myself at how smooth and steady my voice came out.

"But sir-" One of the voices piped, but I wouldn't have any of it.

"No 'buts', to your quarters. Now!" I snapped, sounding much more like a captain should." They hushed and some flinched, but they did mosey along and begin to pile into each of their corners, muttering protests as they went, but not a single soul dared to challenge the order. It felt good to do that, especially since I knew I was saving plenty of their lives with the call.

I stayed and watched as they filed in until there was not but one left: the chief adviser.

"Any reason you're sticking around?" I asked him, brow raised.

"Wanted to make sure everyone followed your order." He said, "Everyone." He added, getting his point across.

I smirked and gave him a little chuckle that took him off guard.

"I get your point, but I've got a bone to pick with Vinyl." I said simply.

"Vinyl?" He asked.

"The one shooting those bolts. Her name is Vinyl." I responded, getting a gasp out of him.

"You mean...one mare is shooting all of those..." He stumbled in disbelief.

"Yep." I responded, almost a bit too enthusiastically while he regained his composure.

"But that's sui-" He began, only to be cut off by me, evening the score.

"Suicidal? For a fool yes, but I have a plan." I said vaguely.

"Do tell."

"She's not trying to pick a fight with us, or most of us at least, but she's actually going for that lunatic in the throne room." He raised a brow at my still vague plan.

"The master?" He asked.

"He's no master of mine." I said sourly.

The adviser took the halt of the explosions from outside as his sign to leave and wished me luck before heading over to the elite barracks. He turned back to give me a worried look, but I only nodded to him and faced the doors expectantly. Maybe, just maybe, I could get out of this with my life.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Oh my, did you hear that? The mortaring has stopped and Bigs has called all the guards off; it's just a straight shot for Vinyl now. No more resistance and distractions." He said, his voice sounding oh so soothing.

I noticed it too, the silence outside and even the hooves hitting the metallic stairs as they went down them. It seemed my hearing had sharpened a bit since I blacked out. My sight seemed to suffered a similar effect, and, from what I could tell, all my senses.

My attention was drawn onto one name he spoke of, this 'Vinyl' character; the name seemed so familiar yet so foreign to me. Whoever she was, it seemed to cause the stallion I awoke to some kind of spark or something of the sorts. That was another thing: that stallion in the room with me. He seemed to go along the same lines as 'Vinyl' in being so familiar yet seemingly unheard of.

Today was weird.

"Octavia?" The soothing voice asked, my name rolling off their tongue.

I stiffened a bit for some reason.

"Did you hear me." He asked, sounding a little disappointed.

I opened my mouth to begin to apologize, but he beat me to it.

"Ah, it's fine deary. I have no problem repeating myself." He said happily.

I did a silent sigh of relief.

'He seems nice at least.' I thought with the smallest of smiles growing.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Author's Note

A bit shorter than usual, but it felt right to end there.

A Quick Rest

*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*

'She's not here for you, just the psychopath behind you.' I thought to myself in an effort to calm myself, but it wasn't working too good.

Believe it or not but when someone who wiped the floor, or dirt for that matter, of your guard without actually being seen, it gets you a little nervous and on edge. I knew Vinyl was strong, the occasional throb in my head was enough to remind me of that much; she was also unpredictable, the fact that she decided to go headstrong at the castle was proof of that. But on top of all those, she was ridiculously persistent, some of my past experiences could tell you that, and that went hoof in hoof with her odd reactions to being hit with anything.

She smiles.

I went over to one of the charcoal black pillars that lined the way to the throne room and leaned against it as a sense of sudden dizziness overcoming me as a throb pulsed through my head, hoping that it would help me balance myself.

My ear twitched, picking up the smallest sound of a gate being opened from outside the doors.

'She's close now.' I thought, no exact emotion flowing through me.

The sound of dirt and rubble crunching underneath the force of hooves began to become audible as well, even the sounds of a couple of grunts from my guards outside joined in to haunt me, I even cringed a bit at the sound of the groans from the ones not lucky enough to make it inside.

It grew louder and louder until the sound of hooves hitting dirt shifted into the sound of them hitting stone while the sound of rubble slowly drifted away until it was no longer audible. I figured that was her finally getting to the stone part of the path up to the castle and the dirt wiping from her hooves.

That means she's really close.

One of the troops had taken the liberty of locking the doors of the castle, on his own accord of course, but I knew that it might as well have been barred up with twigs and cardboard with what was coming its way.

Poor door.

I took this time to close my eyes, breathing in slowly and breathing out a shaky breath, a small smile forming on my lips for some reason as my mind wandered into the corner that held all the good times I had had. Most of them were with Vinyl and Shakes at the bar, in fact, all of them were: not a single thought that I considered 'good' popped into mind mind when I thought of this place.

A hoof hit the doors and one of them shook a little.

I guess a lot of things had gone my way: getting picked to go do recon for the master on Vinyl, actually getting to befriend her, bonding with her friends through her. Man, I had it good. The only parts that were bad were when Vinyl had caught me feeding on some of the patrons that had stumbled out back into the alley. She kept me under close watch and I couldn't report back to the crazed bastard, so he sent my three lackeys.

I could here the sound of magic charging on the other side of the door.

I really shouldn't have taken advantage of that now that I think of it. I took one drink and maybe killed a mare, she looked pretty dry after I took a good sip from her, maybe she survived though. Then Octavia came by and I nearly killed her in a blood rage, I even insulted my lackeys: I never do that.

A strike struck out, its sound capable of being mistaken for lightning, and rocked through the halls of the castle, dust spewing in and enveloping all that was inside. Every torch was nearly put out, the enchanted flames wavering from the sheer force of a single blow.

Maybe they died too, I'm pretty sure Shakes killed all three of them with her old cross bow. I had never guessed that she was an ex-hunter, and if she was, then she would have definitely found out about my condition before I found out about hers. But that means that she knew about Vinyl's too, so why didn't she take out Vinyl? Was it an agreement they made? No, it was a bond: a bond of friendship and understanding. She understood Vinyl's reasons, and maybe even the fact she was starving herself.

I opened my eyes to see the white mare trudging forwards with a streak of blood rolling out of her mouth, her glasses were covered in dirt and dust, but remained unbroken. Her head was low and her horn was covered in what could be confused for liquid tar with a hint of blue food coloring.

She lifted her head up slightly to see me, my dopy smile probably enraging her, but she remained as stony as ever with a small frown on her face. She began charging her horn, a swirl of dark curling around and readying itself to be thrown out far quicker than I could ever dream to dodge.

"Bastard." She muttered lifting her head up just enough so her eyes peeked over the rims of the glasses and revealed her blood red eyes that were filled to the brim with anger. But it was a calm anger; the kind I hated the most.

She took up a loose stance with her head dropped down so her horn was lined up directly with my head, a certain whirring of magic building up higher and higher began to sound out. It's pitch escalated with passing time too, up until the point I was afraid it might damage my ears.

"I called them off." I said quietly, barely above a whisper, but I knew that she could hear that.

That didn't seem to phase her judgment though, she still deemed me unworthy of continuing to live. Of course I hold my life dear, but I figured I might even deserve this, so I didn't flinch, but only let out the other side of my claim.

"I want you to kill him." I said simply.

The charge stopped and dispersed, the blackness falling away to reveal her pure white horn. She seemed taken aback by the statement, but I had no idea why. And why it was enough to throw her so far off as to break her hold on her magic, that was even more of a mystery.

"W-what?" She stammered. I was still confused by her reaction, but I went with it.

"The guards Vinyl, I called them off so you could kill that lunatic." I chuckled a bit for some reason. Maybe it was how surprised she looked when she heard that some backstabber like me would call of the guards and let her in, like it was some act of kindness.

She remained silent, so I took the time to do something that I never thought I would do while in my position as captain.

"I'm so sorry Vinyl," I started with my head held high and my eyes staring straight into hers, like staring death in the face in a way,

"I'm sorry for backstabbing you, deceiving you, spying on you, blackmailing you, hurting your friends, everything. Believe it or not but I understand why you're wanting to kill that heathen inside those doors, and I want you to do it." I said gesturing to the doors to the throne room.

Now she was awestruck with my sudden statement.

"I'm not going to ask for your forgiveness, but I can tell you that I want it. Anyways, here's your straight shot, go ahead, but I want to warn you about something before you charge in there blind." I said sagely.

She was just now getting over her shock and nodding her slowly. She was obviously still cautious and ready to take care of me with a moments notice. As if I would have even thought of trying to back stab her again, I doubt I could even pull it off with out her coming back to blow half my face off without me even knowing it.

"You might not-" I stopped to reword, "No, you will not like what you're going to see on the inside of those doors Vinyl." I left her with that vague message.

She furled her brow in concentration for a second, thinking hard on what I said, before looking up to me with serious eyes full of conflicted feeling and judgment before speaking to me.

"Why'd you do it?" She asked innocently, "Why'd you help him?"

I could only laugh.

"Hell if I know, ignorance if I had to guess," I started with a chuckle, "blind, loyal, ignorance." I admitted on the way down from my little laugh.

"Look, why I did it doesn't matter to you right now, well, maybe it does, but it shouldn't be your priority right now." I turned and raised a hoof to the throne room's doors, "that is your priority right now; Octavia's in there." I said, watching her eyes light up with a brightness at first, but that light was smothered immediately by a crushing weight of darkness.

She marched forwards quickly, rage rising just as fast.

"What did he do?" She spat darkly to no one from what I could tell.

I lowered my head in shame just as she shot open the doors with a quickly reformed shroud of darkness from her horn and stepped inside. The doors were strong and thick, so they survived the blast and began to close just in time for a quiet, but still audible, gasp to be heard from Vinyl as the doors came to a slow and firm close.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I kicked the head of one of the few remaining guards that still fought against me and my sister. It was a weak kick, but I put most of my body weight into it so it was just enough to get the job done, that, and the solid rock that his head landed on. I let out a deep sigh, my body had already been aching in pain from exhaustion, but now permanent damage was seriously becoming a concern. I'm pretty sure that if I got knocked down, I wouldn't be getting back up.

"Sis..." I heard an equally tired sister of mine ask.

"Y-yeah?" I trembled.

"T-there's five left, one is a unicorn...the rest are just earth ponies." She pointed out. The magic was our only real concern.

"You get the mage and one of the others, I'll take the rest as best I can." She said in between pants.

I would have protested, but speaking last time took my only breath away, so I just nodded and strained to hoof up a rock. My eyes were even beginning to feel heavy and my head throbbed each time I tried to concentrate too hard. I saw the unicorn aiming at my sister, so I rushed and took the shot, sending the rock hurdling towards the unicorn and hitting her horn with accuracy that surprised myself.

My sister had taken that opening and had already took out one of the earth ponies, and was working on a second.

We had went from more advanced team work maneuvers, to down and dirty warfare. We would do anything to end this and move up to the castle to help Vinyl, if we could even do that when we finished here. If we even finished.

The sound of hooves rushing at me triggered me to take a half step back, but I decided to leave my front hoof forwards. One of the guards tripped on my hoof, which took all my strength to hold in place, and went face down into the dirt. He didn't bother to get up, all of the guards were in just about the same state we were.

My sister had taken care of all of hers, and had even fell to the ground in exhaustion. We had done it, we had beaten what was left of the guard, but the thought if these had been some of the elite still lingered on the edge of my mind.

I trudged over to my sister, chuckling with what little strength I had left that wasn't being spent on keeping the spear on my back. I considered taking it off to lighten my burden, but it brought a feeling of protection to me for some reason, even if I couldn't use it at all without the fear of tearing a muscle.

"Tired?" I wheezed.

"Nah." She smiled, clearly lying.

"Heh, good news is we can get going now." I said, not really thinking of moving anywhere as good news, but I was still persistent to get there to be there for Vinyl, even if I was passed out in the corner of the room, I would be there.

"Great." She exhaled, rolling over and pushing off the ground slowly and visibly painfully, but eventually getting up off the ground and turning on her hooves towards the castle.

"Might as well not keep her waiting then." We started the remainder of the trip with a slow and peaceful walk, planning on letting our bodies get a moment of rest before the final push. We would want to be as well rested as possible for the castle itself, and judging by how relaxing this walking was, I figured I would only be completely miserable and almost fully exhausted by the time we got their.

'Better than dead I guess.' I thought, trying my best to muster up a smile as we closed in on the castle.

*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*

I had slid down onto the ground by now, letting my head rest and wait for the victor to emerge from the throne room. If it were two that came out, then I would know that Vinyl had succeeded, if it were three, then she had failed and I would probably end up dead. I could only sit here and hope that she would win.

The familiar sound of dirt from outside being moved and stirred tickled my ears, my eyes soon jumping open and stared out the charred and splintered remains of the front door. I squinted my eyes to try and see who it was, but they apparently weren't in view yet. At first I was filled with the hope that it was some of my guards returning from the field and had survived their encounter with Vinyl's magic, but I soon dashed that hope.

Indeed, there was two figures approaching in the distance, each one clad in the dark armor of my guard that was scuffed up and even had lost a few pieces, but their faces were definitely different than any trained guard of mine. These face had emotion, they had fatigue that was in the form of a smile; they were trudging, but they were happy to be. Two sisters were approaching, one a trained bartender and Vampire Hunter, the other a tad bit younger with a horn atop her head and no training in the arts of fighting at all, but apparently was good at improvising. Maybe her sister taught her a thing or two, who knows.

"Shakes...Sweeps..." I muttered, almost questioning my own eyes at the sight of the two that still couldn't see me.

I could see it on both their faces when they saw me, Shakes's was barely brightened to a happy grin while Sweeps's was darkened to a grimace. Shakes saw her sister's expression, but didn't bother to say anything. I was on the ground, leaned up against a pillar, maybe she thought that Vinyl had wiped the floor with me and I was too injured to move.

I however, smiled at their sight.

I waited for them to step over the scattered remains of the door, Sweeps suddenly taking the lead with a burst of surprising speed for her fatigue and a look of anger with a sudden burst of magic from her horn. I easily moved my head to the side just enough to dodge the shot, my smile ever present as I began to speak:

"Good to see you too." I said cockily, making Sweeps even more mad, that is, until her sister put a hoof on her shoulder and walked up to me.

"Well," She took a brief survey of me, and I even went all the way to stand up for her to get a better look, "you're still in more than one piece, so I assume you made amends with Vinyl?"

"Kind of, it was more like I said I'm sorry, then brought up Octavia, then she stormed off through those doors." I pointed at the black doors over to the side.

Shakes put on a look of fear and care at the mention of her gray companion.

"Is she okay?"

I hesitated, looking at the ground with a feeling of shame washing over me.

"She's...he...it's bad." I decided to keep it simple.

"How bad?"

"Remember when Vinyl was fighting with you?"

"Yeah?" She nodded.

"Well, he kind of did the same thing to Octavia." I said finally, watching her face go from horror to anger to a mix of the two.

"Basta-" She was cut short by the sound of a shout from a corner of the room.

Each of our heads swiveled on end to see a group of my guard standing in the entrance of their barracks with conflicted looks on their face. Some with disbelief and others with a look of an anger that was quickly boiling out of control. I knew that some of them recognized Shakes and her sister since some of them had come back and told me of their comrades fighting them, so I could understand their confusion and growing brash rage.

"Captain, what are you doing with them?" A unicorn mare spat, sparks already building on her horn.

Many of them got riled up at the sight of their fellow guard threatening the two sisters, pouring out onto the floor and unfurling wings and stamping hooves in protest, the occasional uncontrolled sparks of magic made a pretty light show in the back of the small group of about fifty guards.

However, some of the guards were loyal to me.

"Are you threatening the captain?" One of them asked, breaking through the wall of black armor and standing in the way of the small group. Many others came out and joined him until it was about forty on ten, my side being the lesser. Tension was growing quickly in the room, they were butting heads and shouting at each other, the bunch of hooligans. I trained them better than this.

The first shot of magic rang out, sending one of the ten on my side off to the side with smoke coming off his stomach from the magical burn. The shouts amplified and they began attacking one another, the opposing side squirming inside my defensive line and pushing all of my men aside, making a straight path to Shakes and Sweeps for the rest.

The sisters had ducked down into a loosely defensive posture, the walk up here still plaguing them with some exhaustion.

I startled them with a hoof on the shoulder, a serious look in my eyes that made Shakes nod and stand up straight, dropping her guard. I then looked at Sweeps, who took a little more time, but eventually nodded and dropped her guard.

I turned back to the rush of soldiers pouring at me, but I held my ground and stood tall in front of the two sisters behind me. Two of my guards even managed to wedge past the wall of bodies and take up defensive spots beside the two. Man, that must have been one of the most confusing times of Shakes's life: having two Vampires flank her and her sister's sides in an effort to protect her, wish I could have seen that look on her face.

I was too busy giving the guards left a piercing gaze, all ten of them that weren't holding off my guard.

'Questioning; just how I raised them.' I thought with a smirk. I loved having soldiers that questioned authority, it showed that they weren't single minded slaves. I kept my soldiers resistant, but I kept them loyal to me because I earned it from each and every one of them. That's why they wouldn't listen to the chief adviser, and I probably should have thought of that before I sent him outside to withdraw them now that I think about it.

The first charged, breaking my train of thought, but one of the two guarding Shakes met him with a blow to his blindside that sent him tumbling to the ground. Two more charged after him in an effort to overwhelm him, but the remaining unicorn met one of them with a blast to the hoof which sent him down to the ground, leaving the other unnerved and open to my earth pony guard to knock him out; which he did beautifully. It reminded my of a game of chess in a way.

There were seven left, other than the twenty on the sides who were still struggling, I still had both my guards, and I hadn't even moved. I knew that fact alone had an effect on said remaining seven.

They switched it up a bit with a silent nod from the ring leader to the rest of them, having the only pegasus in the crowd take flight and charge at the unicorn in a serpentine pattern to avoid being hit while they sent in two more earth ponies at my one.

The unicorn guarding Sweeps looked to me with scared eyes after realizing he couldn't hit the moving target. I merely gave him a nod and looked towards the two charging at the earth pony guarding Shakes. He gulped and gave a nod in return, charging his horn while aiming his head at one of the two charging. I waited until the last second, when the pegasus had passed by my eyes, to move, but when I did move, it was quick and precise.

I grabbed the wing of the pegasus and pulled, turning his serpentine pattern into a harmless curl around me as I spun him right into the ground just in time for the unicorn to shoot a blast by his wing without even grazing it. The shot went on to hit one of the two charging guards and stumble him into the other, giving my own guard enough time to recover and knock the remaining one out.

The four left had clearly wavered from their failed assaults while the two that had stuck by me were obviously feeling confident from my show of tactics. Even some of the guards being held back shouted a sound of rally and began to push harder against the ones holding them back. I began my own walk towards them, taking slow and well paced steps to squeeze every last drop of fear out of them.

Despite all that, three still charged, the earth pony and unicorn guards on my side preparing by going into a bracing stance and charging their horn, but I simple placed a hoof on the earth pony's shoulder and gently slid by him.

The unicorn got the memo and stopped charging.

The first was easy, I simply dodged his flimsy punch and put my weight into a punch to his gut, hitting where the armor was the thinnest. The next was a bit more cautious, but still easy, I took him down with a fake punch to make him dodge downwards just in time to be met by an uppercut from my free hoof. The third was the trickiest of them all, seeing what I had done to both of his comrades with little to no effort, anyone would be.

He moved up quickly and went directly for my gut, the softest part of any pony, his hoof moving at a rapid speed but stopping a few inches short of impact. It was clearly meant to be a fake out, but I hadn't moved: I had something special planned for this one.

He hopped up and sent his other hoof hurdling at my head with the intent to make full contact, only to have me actually lean into the attack head on. It was a special way show your battle hardened status and make them feel even weaker that I had picked up from the elite. Of course, under normal circumstances, I would never use this move if the opponent was actually capable of incapacitating me, but recruits were an exception.

He, realizing I had taken the blow on purpose, cowered away only to be met with a slap of magic. I lazily turned to my unicorn to see him with a hoof raised to Sweeps, like a filly who had been accused of some thing they didn't do, who happened to have an innocent look on her face while she scuffed her hoof along the ground, the magic still cooling on her horn.

I gave a chuckle before turning towards the last one opposing me: The ring leader.

As I walked over, I began a little speech reserved for those who accuse me of things such as treason. Though, this time it was a little different, and reflected my current feelings.

"I have room for tolerance of the ignorant and the foolish, even the brash, but I don't have any room for traitors. You just accused me of treason, which I don't even think you realize how bold of a statement that is to me, but I will also not lie that I have my doubts about the crazed stallion I used to call a master, but regardless of that I am your captain." She was visibly shrinking under the weight of my words. I was so devoted with my speech, I hadn't even noticed the fighting around me had slowly died down and every head was looking at me with attention.

"I do not care if you think me a traitor, but have more evidence other than me making talk with a few of my friends." She meekly nodded and slipped back into the crowd to get out of my glare.

I turned and walked through the sea of astonished faces that were the remainder of the guard and made my way back to the two sisters only to see a look of surprise on Sweeps, which I expected since I called her my friend after all she had seen, but a look of pure amusement on Shakes.

"Quite the leader you are." She said smugly, only getting an equally smug grin from me in return.

I turned and shouted one last time to give her my answer:

"Back down to your barracks!" I shouted over them, getting a flinch out of the ones closest to me.

Each one piled back down the stairs, this time much more silent and obedient than the first time they went down there. I turned back to the sisters, only to meet them with a sheepish grin.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

We had each set down for the time being, despite them eagerly arguing against my suggestion, I managed to convince them to take a breather with two fairly decent points. One, was the fact that they would be literally useless if they couldn't fight, which they couldn't in their current state of fatigue. That one they took to the head, the other was a bit harder to get.

"He'll probably go off into some elaborate monologue anyways. I'd say the actual fighting won't start til he finishes that up, and there's no telling how long that would take. I'd say about ten minuets at the least." They only gave me confused glares, but I pretended not to notice them and went on.

"But yeah, sorry about this whole incident by the way, you two and Vinyl invading and all that must have them a bit on edge and jumpy." I said with a sigh as I drooped down to join them on the floor, resting up against one of the pillars of the hall.

"Ah, don't worry about it: it's understandable." Shakes said with a grin,

"What's more surprising is the way you talked about us. Ain't that right sis?" She asked, nudging her sister in the side.

"Yeah, calling us your 'friends' and all that stuff." She said seemingly reluctantly. I went a bit sheepish at that part.

"Well...it's true. I already did this to Vinyl, but I figured you two deserve it as well." I said, preparing my apology speech,

"I'm sor-"

"Sorry for backstabbing us, blackmailing us, tricking us, threatening us, trying to kill us, making Vinyl try and kill us; yeah, save that sappy stuff for another day. The fact you kind of just saved our asses is enough for me." Shakes interrupted me, finishing my speech with surprising speed and accuracy, and leaning back with a content sign as she began to rest.

"Same here." Sweeps chimed in, ending her statement with the same tired sigh as she fell back onto the ground, muttering something about a 'quick nap.'

I took a look around me, admiring the two who had so easily forgiven me despite all that I had done.

"Hey Bigs?" Shakes asked from her resting position, not even bothering to open an eye.

"Hm?"

"Don't think you're off the hook with us yet. We still got to get Octavia back, and make sure Vinyl doesn't get herself brainwashed and ends up killing all of us. The only reason were resting and not in there is because you actually made some sense with the fatigue thing, and that's the only reason we can rest." She paused and cracked an eye.

"You are helping us...right?" Her gaze was a bit unnerving, but that wasn't enough to make me nod so quickly without second thoughts.

"I..." I stammered.

It was strange; I wanted so badly to help them, but guilt began to get to me at the thought of helping them bring down that heretic. Despite my feelings, which still remained as doubtful as ever, it made me feel odd to bring down the tyrant. A part of my mind said 'no', but another part screamed 'Hell yes!', it was like she had split my mind against itself with only a few words.

Would my master still have the support from the elite? Would he call them in? Would my soldiers choose me over their master? Was I the only one who felt like this? I didn't know.

"The odds are insane you know: he could call in all the guards and outnumber all of us at least a hundred to one." I said, admiring a piece of charred stone on the ground.

"When are the odds not? After you go through what we did, 'insanely suicidal' begins to look like 'pretty good.' I mean, I think we have a good shot with Vinyl in such a rage." She said.

She made a good point, Vinyl was very mad and very strong when she got mad and even more so when she didn't think clearly. Even my ex-master had felt the apparent need to point that out, but he didn't just get his title as 'master' hoofed over to him.

That, and he had Octavia, which was still an unknown variable to all of us.

"I..." I stammered again.

"Ah, of course you will." She finished for me, making quite the bold assumption as she laid her head back down and began to fill the air with a light snore. That journey up here must have been quite exhausting for her get to rest this quickly, I'd still have to wake her up fairly soon though; she would be mad at me if I let her sleep too long.

My mind thought on it for awhile, on whether or not I should help my 'friends', and if they even still considered me that, but judging on how casually they were talking to me, I assumed that we were. My thoughts were fighting themselves in a frenzy, pros and cons shooting up and being shot down just as quickly, but a rouge thought eventually rose up above all the others: a picture resting at my bedside.

I felt a tear begin to swell in my eye, and I quickly wiped it away. My mind was made up, as if that tear was all the doubt and guilt in my mind simply dropping out and leaving me with perfect clarity in the form of a toothy smile.

"He has hell to pay," I paused and looked at the two sleeping sisters,

"from all of us."

Author's Note

Not over just yet, but it will be next chapter (if everything goes according to plan). Enjoy it and drop a comment to tell me what you think and what could be better.

Instincts

*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*

I woke with a start, jolting upright fast enough to pain my back and twisting my head side to side fast enough to hurt my neck. I was looking to see if anyone had been watching me in my sleep. My eyes were wide as I looked over every charcoal nook and death black cranny of the hall, leaving no pillar or stone unchecked. Despite my suspicions, every search ended the same way with not a soul watching me.

I ended my search with a sigh of relief.

'This castle is starting to get to me.' I thought just before a rouge realization popped into my head, regarding my previous previous observation.

"Bigs?" I called, curious at the disappearance of the stallion that had been there when I had closed my eyes not too long ago. Or was it? Bigs was the one who was supposed to wake me up.

Thanks to that thought, another thought hit me.

"Vinyl!" The thoughts of her running rampant without me rushed through my head like running water.

My screaming was enough to wake my sister, who seemed less than happy to be woken up from her nap with the sound of my shouting voice. She rolled and grumbled, apparently not realizing what I was screaming about, and that we were missing the fight. I scrambled up, my muscles feeling relatively rested, and stumbled over to my sister, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her violently.

"Sis! We're missing it!" I shouted frantically.

"Missing what?" She grumbled quietly, peaking open an eye.

"The fight! Vinyl! Octavia! All of it!" I shouted, letting go of her shoulders to have her hit the ground unceremoniously while I bolted up, and sprinted over to the door with renewed speed.

I nearly crashed through the doors, or so I thought, but they were locked up tight and barely even budged.

I pushed as hard as I could on the doors, but they didn't even groan under the pressure I was putting out, so I and turned rammed my back up against the door, trying to use my legs to push while I barked at my sister again,

"Sis get the hell up!" I yelled in a growing annoyance. My sister finally pulled herself up with a groan and stepped up off the ground, taking plenty of time to stretch her front and hind legs and let out a satisfied sigh. She looked around both sides of her and asked the same question I had asked:

"Where's Bigs at?" I stopped pushing and turned to her,

"I dunno, he was gone when I woke up too," I turned back to face the doors, my head having to lean back to look at the tops of them,

"now help me get this damned door open. Vinyl's inside remember." I said, going back to pushing forwards.

My sister trotted up beside me and put her hooves up to the wood as well, pushing with all her might just as I was, but even together our strengths weren't enough to make the door budge. I was beginning to think that someone from the inside had locked the doors on us, specifically to keep anyone else out.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Welcome to my little study Vinyl, quite a good place to come and cozy up with a good view don't you think?" The stallion behind me said in a smooth, and rather mocking, tone to a white mare that had burst through the doors with an explosion of a tar-like color. I assumed that, judging from what the stallion had said, that this was the Vinyl he had told me about.

The stallion had told me many things about her in a little amount of time: one being that she was intent on killing him and taking me away, but not to where. Why anyone would want to kill him was beyond me, but I certainly wasn't going to let a killer take me anywhere. He had asked of me 'one thing' and that was for me to protect him against his assassin. Something about his voice combined with the fact that he had shown me nothing but kindness so far gave me courage, so I accepted with confidence.

One might think that stupid, and I would be that one if it weren't for the feeling of strength coursing through my veins. It was odd, supernatural to say the least; my eyes seemed to notice the smallest of clues and somethings that would normally go completely unseen by me, even my ears picked up the smallest of sounds when I willed them to. I felt amazing even though I had never been much of a fighter, but something about this stallion just made him feel so worthy of being defended.

This 'Vinyl' had come in with a face of rage and anger, but it had dropped within seconds and turned to a softer look of shock. She seemed to be looking at me in a funny way, as if analyzing me like something was wrong.

"What did...What did you do to her?" She whispered in a shaky voice.

'Was she talking about me? And if so, what? Was it about my newly sharpened senses? What was she on about?' I questioned her violently in my mind, but only in my mind.

"Nothing really, just giving her the full extent of a gift." He said with a snicker that calmed me.

'A gift? How nice of him.' I thought soothingly, a smile drifting onto my face.

"You bastard." She muttered under her breath, barely reaching above a whisper while her hind legs began bending at the joint as she went down into a pouncing stance. I was still in a dopey thought, and didn't even notice her start a pounce aimed past me and at the stallion.

"Octavia," The soothing voice snapped me out of my thoughts, "this is where you come in." It finished.

I quickly readied myself and focused.

The world around me seemed to slow, everything slowing down to the point where a blink of an eye seemed to take a few minutes, myself included. I fastened my eyes on the in-air white mare, lining myself up and beginning to move on an intercept course for her in an effort to stop her from reaching the stallion. Said stallion had a cocky look on his face as he seemingly chose not to move out of the way.

Time began to return to its normal speed, everything slowly speeding up faster and faster as my chosen trajectory seemed to check out more and more with every waking second. The mare's eyes adjusted in on me and she seemed to try to twist and turn in midair in an effort to slow herself, and she did, but not completely. Despite her changes, I manged to readjust enough to push her completely off course and send her into the bookcases, which proceeded to topple one by one on top of her.

'That takes care of that.' I thought to myself as I turned and walked back over to the stallion.

The sound of broken wood being moved caught my ear and my eyes widened a bit.

"Still moving now, aren't we Vinyl?" The stallion asked the pile of bookcases in a mocking tone.

The only response was from the top bookcase being pushed off lightly and the white mare on the inside of the rubble climbing out lazily, stepping down the other bookcases like stairs until she was on the ground once more. She looked stoic, her purple sunglasses, which were somehow still unscathed despite having her thrown into a wall, hiding her emotions well.

I turned to face her once more and waited for her to make a move.

She didn't at first, taking at least a minute or two doing nothing but looking at me, from what I could tell behind her glasses, with her stoney expression. Despite her stoney looks, I held the gaze.

During that time, the stallion moved around slowly, circling her like a vulture, and eventually got right behind her at the door. He lifted his hoof and twisted some mechanism that made a locking thud soon after. Despite that, the white mare did nothing more than continue to stare at me, not bothering to watch him sneak around her.

"Wouldn't want anything interrupting this now would we?" He asked both rhetorically and cockily.

"You see Vinyl, I took that little analytical attribute about her and turned into so much more; speed is useless when you have someone that can read it faster than you can dish it out, as you can see." The stallion said darkly with his head held low.

"But," He looked up with a gleam in his eye. "your natural instincts are more than enough for you to win this fight Vinyl. Just give into them and you can win, you can kill me, all you have to do is simply give in." He said teasingly.

"I know your feeling them, that insatiable craving that gnaws at the back your head until you feed it something to get it off your shoulder for the time being, only to have inevitably come back with a hunger larger than before. I know that you just want it to quit, you even starved it for weeks but it got the better of you." He went on,

"So what will you do: Will you give in and finish the goal you made of killing me? Or will you push your luck against odds that lean only in my favor?"

She didn't respond with her words, instead bending down in another pouncing position as if readying for another jump.

'Is she really going to try this again?' I thought to myself, my eyes narrowing in on her while making sure to give her a condescending look.

"I know what you're trying to get me to do..." She mumbled to herself right before she pounced at me at a blistering speed.

Despite that speed, it only looked like she was floating slowly towards me with my keen eyesight. I raised a hoof back and sent it forwards on an intercept course with her head, only to have something odd happen.

She skidded to a stop right in front of me, just outside of my reach. The momentum of my punch sent me off balance and I stumbled forwards. It was then that she turned away from me and faced the stallion, who had thought himself sneaky when trying to sneak up behind her, only to pause with a slightly shocked look on his face. He hadn't expected it, and neither had I.

She charged at him, forcing him to make a quick jump to the side and having her graze him.

She went past him and land against the door on her hooves with a loud thump, sending shakes through the massive wooden door.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Me and my sister were still pushing against the door when something from the other side hit against it and sent us reeling back from the blow. It sent a headache shooting through out heads, even hitting us hard enough to force us to our rumps in an effort not fall over. I shook my head a bit, looking at the door with a raised brow at first, but it quickly faded with the thought of the white mare that was bound to be raising hell in there pretty soon.

"We've gotta get in there..." I grumbled.

"Sis, I honestly don't think that were going to get in there at this rate." My sister said sadly.

"I think I might have a solution for that." A familiar voice spoke from behind us.

I turned my head my head quickly to see Bigs coming out of a corridor from the side of the room, a smug smile on his face. The weak look in his eyes showed that he was a tired, but for what reason was unknown. I thought on that fact and linked it to the dirt that covered some of his hooves, but decided to push it aside for the time being and ask him about where he went rather than what he did.

"Well, you might have found this out the hard way," He began, "but somebody locked the door on the inside. I figured you two wouldn't want to be too late for the show, so I decided to go and try to find a side entrance."

"Side entrance?" I asked with hope.

"Yep, I've been in this castle for quite awhile now, don't think I haven't found out some of it's secrets." He said with a little chuckle,

"Anyways, there is a small tunnel up stairs that will lead you to the throne room, at first it's a little tight, but it opens up wide once you get a ways into it. At the end of it is a pair of loose bricks that I managed to pry out. Even got a glimpse of the fight going on." He said.

"Really?" I asked.

His head sunk down a bit.

"It's an ugly sight seeing those two fight, that crazed lunatic sure did change Octavia..." He trailed off and my eyes went wide.

At first, I had thought he meant it was an ugly sight to see Vinyl and his 'ex'-master fight, but when he mentioned Octavia, my gut twisted up. To think that that prick is willing to start stooping so low as to use Vinyl's emotions against her.

I could do little more than grind my teeth at the thought.

"Where's the hole at?" My sister asked while I fumed over the situation Vinyl was being put through. It was not only cruel, but it was also just evil.

"Up the stairs, we can go now if you want." He said nonchalantly.

"Show me." I spat.

He paused and gave me a look for a second, as if debating if he should actually show me or not, but he eventually just shrugged and started his way towards the corridor he had come from. As it turned out, there was a set of stairs tucked away inside the corridor, making them fairly easy to miss, and up those stairs was another floor of the castle entirely. I had guess that there was a second, but seeing it was another thing.

Bigs led us down a hall and took a sudden right turn towards a door that opened up into what looked like a closet. He manged to squeeze me, himself, and my sister into the closet, squeeze himself past me and my sister, and even move aside a couple rags and piles of cloth that turned out to be hiding a small hole that only lifted about a foot off the ground.

We stared at the hole for awhile, all three of us, silently questioning our body sizes.

"This is the hole?" My sister asked.

"Yeah...a bit small I know, but I figured you two could both squeeze inside if you took off the armor. " He said, pointing out we still had the armor on.

We, my sister and I, gave it some thought and took off the armor with a bit of help from one another and gave the hole try. Yes, we could fit inside the hole, and I could even bring the spear along too, but my sister was getting a bit claustrophobic at the idea.

"Will you be coming?" I asked Bigs after popping back out of the hole with my sister.

He shook his head, "I'll be back at the entrance of the castle just in case some of the guards catch word of their master getting attacked." He said with a smile.

I nodded and bent over, looking down the tunnel that seemed to curve up and down as you went further and further. I gave a gulp and started my crawl, my sister following me close behind.

"Don't worry about the end of the tunnel, like I said, I already cleared it out for you." He said from outside the hole, the next sound following suit was the sound of a door shutting.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I stood tall as I looked at the persistent white mare.

She was panting by now, having taken nearly all the blows dealt by both me and the stallion while dishing out none herself. I found it rather odd how she was fighting: she wasn't going on the offensive at all and seemed to prefer faking us out with speed. Most of the time it failed thanks to my keen eyes and the stallion's strikes from her blind side that were slowly corroding her ability to move as fast and fluent, but some of the times she managed to trip us up.

Another thing that struck me as a bit odd was the fact she hadn't used magic either, you'd think that a unicorn in a fight would be using all the magic they had, but she hadn't even charged her horn once.

'What an odd character.' I thought to myself as I watched her ready herself.

The stallion struck out at her once more, coming from behind her with a dark chuckle that made her jolt forwards by instinct. She wound up coming straight for me, where she finally managed to get tripped up.

I swiped my hoof at her legs, sending her tumbling to the ground in a panting heap. She tried to get up but I quickly jumped on her and pinned her to the ground, straddling her with my haunches and pushing her hooves above her head. She briefly struggled against my pin, the force she was putting was next to nothing, before simply giving up and going limp.

I heard the sound of steady hoof steps closing in from behind me and I knew it was the stallion approaching to presumably deliver the final blow.

Sure enough, he came into view and stood in front of me, looking down onto the white mare with a smile of joy and dominance. He bent down a bit, leaning closer to her until he was about nose to nose distance with her.

"You lost," He said simply, "but don't worry, I still have plans for you."

He turned to me, "Octavia?"

I looked up to him.

"Let her go, I don't think she has any plans of resisting anymore." He said.

I followed his orders and let up, and sure enough, she didn't even move. Not even I got up off of her and stood above her or even when the stallion leaned back down to get nose to nose with her again.

"You know what is really interesting about what I did to her Vinyl?" He asked but getting no response.

"It's that despite her having nearly all the abilities of one of our kind, she still retains one thing from before." He let that sink into her before scooting over and picking up a shard of wood from nearby, bringing it up and calling me near.

"I promise this won't hurt." He said in his soothing voice as he poked the wood at my hoof, pushing it in with a controlled force until it was enough pressure to pierce the skin and get a flinch out of me. The second I flinched he let up removed the shard of wood, then pushed around the wound so that droplets of blood bubbled up. Afterwards, he took the shard and scraped some of the blood from off my hoof and onto the wood.

He looked back to the white mare, bending down and dangling the shard in front of her with a sneer just before he licked the blood clean off in one go.

"Her blood Vinyl, it's just as delicious and alluring as before. Unchanged in fact. This is the reason I found you so interesting and wanted you so badly: you're an exception to the rule of the transformations." He decided to elaborate as he lifted up and away from her.

"Under normal circumstances, new vampires are rarely made. It takes the blood of a pure blood, untransformed, vampire to create another; and that process takes longer than most of them live with the hunters constantly after them," He bent back down.

"but you have a special attribute about the toxin you can create. It works as a substitute for the pure blood process: an alternative. They aren't nearly as strong as what a pure blood would be, but the speed at which they can be made is astounding. That's why I want you under my control, to help raise enough of them to get my kind, our kind, out of the clutches of those damned hunters and make more pure bloods."

I had no idea what he was on about, but it sounded like the 'hunters' kept him and his 'kind' in quite the position of submission and I could understand his yearning to break free of that submission.

"So just stay still, and we can help free ourselves from them." He said as bent down closer to her neck just in time for my ear twitched, the sound of something whistling reaching my ear and quickly rising in pitch.

I turned to face the noise, but I only got a quarter way through the turn before a blur of black flew by my nose and struck into the ground.

I jutted my eyes back towards the stallion to see that it was a spear that had flew past me and plunged in between the small gap between the stallion's teeth and the white mare's neck, effectively blocking him. It had struck with enough force to plow about a foot into the stone, quite the display of strength and accuracy if they were aiming for that tiny gap.

The sound of hooves hitting the ground drew my attention back towards the direction of where the spear had flown from.

"Oh me oh my, looks like we have some extra guests," The stallion lifted his head from the white mare, "uninvited ones too. The worst kind." He said, his tone turning sour at the end.

"Shut up." The lead mare said, her tone positively dripping with venom.

"Feisty aren't we?" The stallion said with a cocky smile just as a bolt of magic was fired, forcing him to duck and his smile to fade.

"She said shut up." Another voice chimed in as another set of hooves hit the ground.

The stallion recomposed himself and plastered his smile back on before addressing the two new mares.

"Well, if I had to guess, you two are Shakes and Sweeps? Here to rescue Vinyl aren't you?" He asked, watching as the unicorn's expression turned to slightly taken aback. The earth pony however, kept moving as if he hadn't said anything.

"Octavia, these two are the companions of Vinyl here, I believe you know what to do?" He asked, getting a nod out of me as I turned to face the approaching mare. I took a step over the collapsed body of 'Vinyl' and I faced who I assumed was Shakes if the itch in the back of my head was telling me the truth.

I waited until she was the perfect distance, a distance where she would have no room for reaction, then pounced at her, only to be met with a smack in the face with what seemed to be an invisible wall.

I staggered back, confused at first, but once my eyes caught glimpse and narrowed in on the unicorn's horn behind her, I realized what it was that I had bumped into. She was closing fast, her slow trot turning into a sprint as she gained foot after foot of distance.

I felt another hoof grab my shoulder and pull back, forcing my head to turn just in time to see the stallion bolting past me, using my shoulder as a sort of support to help him go faster. The glimpse I got of his face showed me that he was in slight panic and anger, but it was primarily stony, while he used me as leverage to go airborne.

He pushed on me hard enough to send me tumbling back, tripping over the body of Vinyl and sending me onto my rump. I felt my hoof, the same one that the stallion had pierced with the wood, hit something plastic while my other hit something soft and furry.

I lifted my head just in time to see the stallion smash the barrier with a single hoof hard enough to send it into pieces that faded into thin air, the unicorn mare that had been holding up the barrier reeled back and collapsed while her hooves reached up to cradle her horn. The other one however, used the stallion's airborne state to her advantage and slide underneath him and towards me.

She bolted past me and grabbed the spear with her mouth, giving it a firm test swing as a warning to any who dared to come close.

The stallion recovered from his jump and faced the mare immediately, but his eyes took a brief glimpse behind him, and a crooked smile formed on his face.

He turned and ran after towards the fallen unicorn, 'Sweeps' was her name I think.

The earth pony's eyes widened but quickly narrowed on him with rage. She jerked her head upwards and spat out the spear, sending up into the air where she caught it with her hoof and started to throw it at him.

I was quick to push off the ground and move in the way of the spear just as it left her hoof, my eyes focusing in on the spear and time beginning to slow just enough for me to catch the spear in mid throw. The force that she had used was strong enough to strain my teeth and neck, even forcing me to stumble back when I landed just to relieve them both of the pressure.

'Such a throw...' I thought, spitting the spear onto the ground and looking back up to see the thrower filled with anger.

Her eyes stared hard at me, but flicked off to the side for some reason, and then a smile began to form. I followed where I thought her gaze had went and saw that it had landed on the door.

When my eyes came back to meet her, she was already in full sprint and half way towards her exit.

I had started after her myself, but she had gotten too far of a lead for me to catch up to her. Thankfully, I didn't need to.

Her hoof hit the door just as the stallion spoke out.

"Don't open that door Shakes." He said, my eyes looking over to see him holding up the cringing unicorn by wrapping one hoof around her neck while his other was raised menacingly. The look in his eyes suggested that he wasn't bluffing about his implied intents.

"Now, just come over here, sit back, and enjoy the show you idiotic hunter," He snarled at her as he hoisted the unicorn further off the ground, smiling as he made her squirm, "unless, that is, you want to say goodbye to your sister here."

The mare at the door looked in horror, her eyes glimpsing back and forth between the door and the mare until her frustration reached its limits.

"Shit!" She yelled in anger, her hoof sliding off the door at the same time of her outburst before she reluctantly trudged over to the stallion, making sure to stare him hard in the eyes before she sat down.

"Let her go." She spat at him, getting only a devious grin before he shoved the unicorn unceremoniously onto the ground beside her sister where she was met with immediate attention.

"Now, where was-" He began, only to be interrupted by a speeding bolt of dark blue that hit him square in the side hard enough to send him back into the wall and even force cracks out around him in a perfect circle. His eyes were wide and his mouth agape as he gasped for the air that had been forced out of him through the sheer impact of the blow.

Every set of eyes turned to face where the blast had come from, and every set of eyes widened at the sight.

"You were right..." A deviously sultry voice cooed, "she does taste just as good."

The white mare that had been previously subdued was now standing tall with her hoof wiping the blood from her face and greedily licking off every drop she could get. Her glasses had fallen off her head and in there place were two piercing, half lidded, lusty eyes that gazed at me with hunger.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Author's Note

I decided, for the sake of avoiding text walls and for easier editing, that I would make the end two chapters instead of one. Here's the first, and the second will be uploaded tomorrow. As usual, thank you for reading and any feedback is welcomed an encouraged.

The End of Madness

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I looked on in shock, watching as the white mare finished licking every last spec of my blood from her face and hooves, taking all the time in the world before returning her gaze back down to me. I heard the sound of crumbling stone behind me and assumed that the stallion had just fallen down from the wall, which he had been plowed into with seemingly no effort from the mare in front of me.

"So your magic changes colors?" He grunted, "Interesting."

She gave off a little giggle as a response, which struck me pretty hard considering how she was talking to him not too long ago.

The stallion gave her a gritted smile in response, but it was obvious that he really wanted to wipe the smile of her face for laughing at her, anyone could see that.

"Cocky now are we?" He asked, trying to keep his calm outward appearance. He jutted his eyes to me and then to the spear quickly, nudging his head slightly as if to try and tell me something.

I looked down at the spear and then back at him.

'Does he want this?' I asked myself as I looked back up to him.

He nodded, and I nodded back, understanding his plan.

The room fell silent after that, two pairs of calm eyes staring at each other while everyone else only watched them. Tension was thick and dense, if it was visible the room would probably have probably left us all blind. You could almost feel each of them wanting the other to make the first move, but at the same time, each of them wanting to make the first move and get the jump on the other.

While this spectacle went on, I slowly inched my hoof over to the spear while they held their staring contest, and when my hoof finally hit the hilt of it, their gaze broke.

The stallion ran forwards and I moved instinctively, hoofing up the spear and tossing it his way. The toss checked out and he caught the spear, even swirling in mid air to add extra velocity to the throw when he loosed it. And when he did, boy did it, it strained my keen eyes just to keep up with the spear as it plummeted forwards.

But there was a problem with the throw: It missed.

The throw was on point, but it's target had moved out of the way somehow.

I blinked, and so did the stallion, at the sight of the spear sticking out of the stone floor, its target nowhere to be found.

"Oh Tavi, you should know how wrong it is to help him." Her voice whispered into my ear, tickling the inside of it and making me spin around frantically, only to find the space behind me empty.

"I thought you were on my side? What happened?" She cooed again, but from behind me once more. I spun again, only to be met with the same devoid space.

"H-how?" I trembled.

"It was him wasn't it." Another spin as my eyes feverishly searched for the mare.

"Don't worry, we'll fix you right up good as new." I eventually just closed my eyes, hoping childishly that her voice would just go away.

"Now," My eyes bolted open as I felt a hoof slid around my neck gently and slowly, wrapping around it until I could feel her heavy breath on my neck,

"let's see how much of that bad stuff we can get out." Her voice was just about as ragged as mine, but hers for a different reason entirely.

The next thing I felt was a dim pain, piercing into a place on my neck that seemed to be getting far more visitors than it should be, and a light pressure as she suckled gently on my neck. I felt my blood being drained, along with my strength, and by the time I got my hooves up to stop her, I was already too weak. I good do little more than claw weakly at her grip for a moment before my hooves dropped weakly to the ground and my knees begin to buckle.

I began to fall, but she held me up and made sure to set me down gently. My vision began to dim as the floor became more and more level with my eyes, being almost completely black by the time I was on the ground. The sucking continued however, but now it was beginning to feel more pleasurable, like a sweet lullaby that was cradling me to sleep.

I tried to hold onto consciousness, but I just couldn't seem to stop my eyes from closing.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Damn..." I whispered as I watched Octavia being set gently onto the ground by Vinyl.

"How did she move that fast? Did she teleport?" My sister asked, just as confused as me.

"I don't know, if she did, I didn't see a flash." I replied, giving the best answer I could. I watched on, observing closely as Vinyl pulled up from Octavia with a small sliver of red trailing from her lips and a soft look on her face.

"Amazing, truly and simply amazing: You managed to dodge my throw, and escape your friends eyes." I heard the voice of the stallion crackle through the air, bringing the ethereal moment to an end with a cringe. Even Vinyl cringed a little at the sound of his voice.

Vinyl's hoof pressed into the ground a bit, but her facial expression remained unchanged as she continued to stare at Octavia's peaceful body.

The stallion cracked a grin that grew into a smile, but that smile quickly escalated into a chuckle, which went into laughter. It was a sick and twisted laughter, maniacal even, as he tilted his head back and looked to the ceiling as he started walking towards Vinyl.

"I've got to admit, this isn't how I pictured getting you to invoke you're instinct, but I guess it works," He rambled on,

He was oblivious to Vinyl's hoof pressing harder into the ground, even cracking it a bit, and her head lowering slightly as her smile shifted from a peaceful and soft smile directed to Octavia, to a crazed one that was meant for the stallion.

"I guess that mare was worth something after all."

The stone under Vinyl's hoof broke.

"I'm going to enjoy making you apart of the ground." She said, the fact she still held her calm, lusty, voice made the threat sound even more scary.

"Try it." The stallion tested.

The stallion adjusted into a readied posture as Vinyl lifted herself up from her spot above Octavia, her eyes filled with a look that made me want to leave the building. My eyes adjusted to the doors, eying them longingly before an idea popped into my head: another use for the door.

Rather than letting someone out, why not let someone in.

"Don't think you're off just yet...Bigs." I whispered to myself as I began to scoot my way around the stallion.

He turned a bit, and I froze up in the act.

"And just where do you think you're go-" His eyes went wide mid sentence and he immediately tumbled to the side, dodging a massive buck from Vinyl that flew by his head in a display of speed and just how dirty this fight was going to be.

'Just keep him busy Vinyl.' I thought, continuing to inch my way over towards the door in an effort to bring in another playing card.

I had already done half the work for this plan, all I needed was to get over to the door and it would be done. I smirked to myself as I gave myself a mental pat on the back for how smoothly I had unlocked the door, not the stallion, nor Octavia saw or even heard it. I had done it when the stallion had taken my sister hostage, when I let my hoof purposely slide down over the lock and turn it while I yelled 'shit' to cover it up.

'Good job Shakes, good job.' I congratulated myself, a small smirk forming on my face as I inched past my sister, who seemed completely confused as to what I was doing.

I only gave her a wink and held a hoof up to my mouth to tell her to keep quiet.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I had taken up a comfy position leaned up against the wall, scanning every door that led to the barracks over and over again while I listened in on the battle on the inside. Sounded like that lunatic's plan was crumbling at the sides, but it also sounded like he still believed he could salvage it.

"Guess that bastard is going all or nothing..." I whispered to myself, smirking at the thoughts of his plan failing and his tyranny coming to an end. All of the guard had lived in fear with him at the top, I imagined we wouldn't even know what to do if he was suddenly taken out of that spot of leadership. Who would take over? Maybe the head adviser, he seemed rather considerate for being one of the elite.

'No need to get ahead of myself now,' I thought, 'He is still alive and kicking after all.'

Let's just hope that Vinyl makes good work of him and throws him out that big glass window he's so fond of. That would sure be a good way to add insult to injury.

A rustling on the other side of the door caught my ear and I perked up to listen. It sounded like someone was sneaking around the room, trying their absolute hardest to mask their presence from someone else. But who would do that?

I felt the door's support behind me give way, and a flailed as I fell to the ground.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"What the?" I groaned, opening my eyes to see an upside down view of clashing colors of white, but more so an amused expression on Shakes's face.

"I told you, you're not getting off that easy." She said, giving my head a rough tap with her hoof.

I scrambled to my hooves thanks to my friend so lovingly inviting me into the crossfire of this match between the two white blurs. I gave her a critical look, only to have it returned to me ten fold.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked sarcastically.

"Help!" She screamed at me.

"About the only thing I can do is either, A: get killed by getting in the way of one of the two, or B: get in the way of one of the two and get killed!" I said, putting great emphasis on the little deference between my two options.

"This isn't the time to argue Bigs! Just go in there and grab the spear or something!" She said, slipping her way behind me.

"You don't have to beat him, just cover me so I can get Octavia out of harms way." She spoke into my ear, sounding much more calmed and level headed, just as she tried to shove me forwards, but my hooves were planted firmly.

"Why don't you do it while he's fighting Vinyl? He looks pretty distracted right now fighting her." I pointed out while she shoved harder.

"It's not about him being distracted, it's about him not getting to Octavia." She said, snaking a hoof under my own and tripping me up, sending me stumbling forwards.

As I stumbled to a stop in front of the two, I gulped. I noticed that my ex-master was playing it rather cautious, watching intently and making sure to try and dodge every hit possible while Vinyl was fighting much more loosely: maintaining constant offense and dodging literally every hit with what looked like an accident. She occasionally 'tripped' and dodged a hit, sometimes even pretending like she was picking something up off the ground to dodge.

It was quite comical if you asked me, but I didn't have time to laugh, I turned my sights to the spear and went for it.

"Come to help your master Bigs? How loyal of you." The stallion voice, dodging a kick from Vinyl.

I grit my teeth at the sound of his mocking voice and grasped the spear a bit harder than necessary.

"Good, now come help me take care of this little..." He hesitated while he dodged another strike from Vinyl, "problem."

I pulled hard on the spear, pulling it up with one go and turned to face him with a boiling anger. My eyes were lining a perfect shot aimed right between his eyes, but I had a hard time since he cocked his brow and forced me to adjust.

"Come now, why the hesitation? Don't tell me that you're actually intimidated by this bint." He spat, directing the last part towards Vinyl as he punched and missed.

I felt my temper snap at his insults of Vinyl and I arched my hoof back before I let the spear fly as fast as I could, focusing all my anger into the one throw as it hurdled towards him. His eyes, for the first time that I had seen in a good while, went wide with genuine surprise as he tumbled to dodge the throw, rolling to the side only to be met by a punch from Vinyl that sent him back a good three or four yards until he skidded to a stop.

I was confused why he would be surprised, he seemed to acknowledge my doubt in him. Maybe he didn't think that it would go so far as to me trying to kill him.

Though my throw had missed, Vinyl had managed to sock him right in the side of the face; the small dribble of blood that was rolling freely down his cheek and already beginning to form into hanging drops on the line of his jaw. His eyes jutted up to me in disgust before glancing at the side to see a stock still Shakes in the middle of pulling Octavia's limp body towards the exit of the room.

I watched as his grimace directed at me turned to a twisted smile meant for Shakes as he realized his position, then he acted.

He slowly gained ground on Shakes, a glint of evil could be seen in his eye as he closed in on her. She panicked, but had a clear enough head to pick up Octavia and toss the body to the side with all her might in a last ditch effort to get Octavia out of harms way. Fortunately, she succeeded and manged to toss Octavia far enough to the side where she was caught by Vinyl, whose eyes had softened.

The stallion wordlessly raised his hoof and brought it down at Shakes's head, making a shivering solid noise on impact that sent Shakes down to the ground in a limp heap; she was breathing, but was unconscious from the blow. Thought, knowing her, she probably wouldn't be that way for too long, but it would definitely keep her out of the fight and from thinking too hard afterwords.

"Shakes!"

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

My eyes stirred as all my surroundings blended into a single, dark pallet and my ears pounded with enough force to put a bass drum to shame. I was dizzy, and trying to move around out of instinct, but a pair of hooves held me steady while I seemed to try and swim through the air. I wasn't sure whose hooves they were, but whoever they belonged to, they were comforting.

Slowly, the pallet began to separate and form my surroundings: a dark rock room with crumbling wooden bookcases and a big window on the side with the night in clear view, but it seemed to blend in with walls in perfect harmony. The hooves holding me where the only things that struck out as they were as white as the moon, excluding one of them which seemed to have faint rust colored splotches in some places. I followed the hooves to meet a familiar face and a pair of soft eyes gazing at me, and a smile that seemed to radiate warmth.

I knew this face.

"Vinyl?" I called out, only getting a giggle in return.

"Yes, my delicious?" She asked, her voice seeming intoxicated by something. I could only smile, but it began to fade as memories began to come back to me.

They flowed like water, starting with arriving inside the castle and then being separated; then stumbling into this room and meeting with...

My eyes widened as my head turned to see the stallion from my memory turning away from another familiar figure. She was lying limp, collapsed on the floor in a heap and I figured out what had happen to her just as her name popped into mind.

"Shakes?" I asked in disbelief, my muscles beginning to move as I started to stir, only to be held in place by a pair of reassuring white hooves.

"Don't try to move too much, I drank a lot from you." She said sweetly.

"I'm fine." I said nearly defiantly and tried to moving again, the thoughts of a friend being harmed filling my head, but those struggles of mine soon stopped as the sight of another stallion moving up to meet the one above Shakes came into view; the name Bigs ringing a bell.

His eyes were narrow and his teeth were gritted; if rage was visible then it would have been filling the room right now. The other stallion whose name was not in my memory looked at him with a smile of both condescension and cockiness before he spoke with a tone that voiced those feelings.

"Come to play with your old master? How nice of you." The voice echoed in my head, the sound of it making me want to go cut my ears off. The stallion in question didn't answer him right away, but instead spoke to a mare off in the corner.

"Sweeps, pull that spear out of the wall." His voice was firm while he spoke, not breaking contact with the other stallion. The mare in the corner nodded and began tugging on the spear with all her might, jerking it from side to side before it finally broke from the wall. She turned back to him and tossed it gently to him.

He caught it firmly and stopped his treading, stopping about ten feet away from the other stallion before he dropped the spear to the ground in an unexpected display. What was even more unexpected was when he pushed the spear forwards about five feet, letting it slide to a stop in the middle of the two.

"This looks like it will be a fun show." An amused voice from beside me said. I turned to see that Vinyl had since let go of me and sat down bedsides me, snuggling up a bit closer than necessary so our flanks touched.

"Good to see you still hold fairness as a priority Bigs," The stallion spoke, turning to Vinyl, "some of us here don't seem to have that skill." He said venomously, only getting a giggle and a shrug out of Vinyl.

They setup, each one bending down and ready to pounce towards the only weapon on the field to get the upper hoof on the other. I began to struggle in an attempt to get up and help Bigs but, one more, a pair of white hooves managed to stop me, this time curling around my neck before whispering softly.

"Sit for now, we'll get our chance," She paused and seemed to think on it for a second, "soon."

The message was vague, but the look in her eyes suggested she knew what she was talking about, so I reluctantly sat down and joined her as a spectator. She seemed a bit overjoyed at my agreement and snuggled up closer. She sure was acting cocky in the middle of all this, openly flirting during the middle of a life or death battle, she either doesn't know the scope of this situation, or knows the scope exactly, and I wasn't sure whether I should be reaffirmed or unnerved by any of the answers.

I turned my attention back to the fight at hoof, feeling extremely odd just sitting back and watching a fight happen in front of me that directly involved my well being. I felt like I should have been helping, but I stuck to my word and stayed awkwardly in place next to Vinyl.

Bigs and the stallion charged, Bigs diving for the spear only to have it kicked to the side by the other stallion, who followed up by plowing his hoof at the ground where Bigs lay. He barely missed, the only reason for him missing being a move on Bigs part as he rolled out of the way.

They fought hard after that opening move, each side dishing out fast and ferocious blows that would assuredly put a dent in any normal pony's life span. But the exchange also consisted of dodging; each side managing to keep up with the other and continue their cycle of endless counter attacks until one of them decided to switch things up a bit.

Bigs hopped up with his front hooves and brought his hind legs up in their place, catching the stallion off guard as a massive buck hurdled into him. The blow was, as expected, a monstrous one that managed to not only break through the guard of the stallion, but even send him back a few feet. Bigs took that opportunity to rush for the spear, sticking his return to the ground with practiced perfection.

I was getting twitchy at the sight of the fight, an urge to join in beginning to build and build as adrenaline began to pump through my veins the more I watched. Each blow thrown and even each blow dodged seemed to stack one on top of the other while my body seemed to yearn to get into the action.

Bigs drew the spear up only to have it pushed out of the way by the stallion, who had recovered from the buck and caught up with Bigs at a blistering pace. Bigs was surprised and stood still as the stallion's free hoof came in and made full contact with his face, sending him back to the wall and sending the spear skidding to the side from the sheer force of the hit.

That was it. The fight had been so short and it was already clear who the winner was going to be. With Bigs backed against a wall and with blood streaming freely from his nose, it seemed hopeless for him to even continue to fight. The stallion was approaching to deliver the final blow when Vinyl finally got up and spoke:

"Now." She said simply, her horn lighting up and dragging the spear along the ground until it was floating at her side. The dragging noise got the attention of the stallion, whether or not it was intentional on Vinyl's part to do that was anyone's guess, but nevertheless, it worked.

Vinyl floated the spear gently over to me and spoke,

"Here," She dropped the spear and I scrambled to catch it, "throw it when it feels right." I merely stared at the spear as a response.

"B-but I've never thrown a spear before." I stammered. She only smiled and said sweetly,

"You threw it pretty well awhile ago." And with that she left me and stepped up to the plate.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The room was still as the battle began to draw to a close. Not a sound, other than my own breath and the sound of my heart beating in my head, was heard as the two main contenders of this match stood against each other. Bigs was leaned up against a wall and struggling to breath properly through his nose thanks to the blood coming from it, Shakes was lying limp near the window with her sister looking over her with a feared look on her face and I was standing with a spear held sloppily in my hooves while I watched the two.

One side had a cocky smile with twisted intent riddled into it, a pair of dull red eyes, and a plan that he seemed determined to complete. He wouldn't let a soul get in his way, and if they did, then they would face him personally and suffer the consequences.

On the other side was a smile that was unreadable, whether it was a smile of actual happiness or if it was another cocky one like the other side was anyone's guess. This side's eyes were hazy rather than dull, they seemed unfocused yet even sharper than the spear I held. She seemed devoted to ruining the other side's plans, and had so far progressed quite nicely with that plan.

The silence was broken with the first move, surprisingly from the stallion who had seemed to be cautious up until this point. He charged in wildly, stopping and throwing a punch that purposefully ended up short by a fraction of an inch in an attempt to fake Vinyl.

It didn't work.

She stood stock still as the hoof stopped just short of her nose and withdrew just as quick as it came in, leaving the stallion a little fazed, but not to much. He followed it up with an actual hit, going low for Vinyl's side and forcing her to jump back this time. He followed it up again and again, his punches getting progressively faster and faster while he advanced on her, hitting nothing but air while Vinyl sped up to match his pace. Their dance went on for about half a minute before one of them slipped, and in this case it was Vinyl.

She moved her head to the side, taking the blow directly and stumbled back a few feet.

The stallion saw his opening and dove in, delivering hit after hit to he in an attempt to keep her in a daze. The daze seemed to be working, but one of his hits turned up short thanks to a string of blue shackled around his hoof. It took him off guard as it reeled back, but Vinyl simply graced her smile once more as her hoof caught the stallion's unchained one with a smack. She didn't counter, but actually let the stallion pull his hoof back before she snapped it shut with another mythic chain.

She looked to me and snapped me from my trance, jump starting me as I sloppily lined up a shot for the stallion's exposed belly.

He panicked at the sight of me and struggled, eventually breaking free from the mythical, blue chain and bringing his hoof in for a punch, only to have it instantly restrained by another chain. But the stallion had gained momentum, breaking his other hoof free and attempting a punch before having it restrained, then doing the same process with the other.

The cycle continued until he was able to punch faster than Vinyl could restrain him, and forced her to evade.

I heard a grunt from the side of the room and glanced to see that Shakes had awoken, with some help from her sister, but she seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness.

The sound of the stallion grunting with his punches grasped my attention back to see him swinging in fast and wide punches, all of which Vinyl slide away from until she finally broke her pattern and giggled.

She flashed her horn briefly and the stallion's hoof was caught out of mid-swing and pulled down by a blue chain from that had appeared from the ground, of course he broke free from it, but not quickly enough to stop Vinyl from leapfrogging over his head. She landed on her front hooves and used the momentum of her jump to turn the landing into a perfectly setup buck.

The stallion's eye went wide as he turned around just in time for the buck to come hurdling in, forcing him to jump backwards to avoid most of the hit, but not all of it.

They played cat and mouse for awhile, the stallion trying his hardest to catch Vinyl off guard or force her to trip up while Vinyl dodged and evade in a seemingly playful manner. She used the leap frog trick twice more and a couple of other recreated variations of filly games before the stallion had finally met his limit and snapped. His face contorted in anger, he stopped swinging wildly and turned it into a controlled rage while he waited for her.

Of course, Vinyl came near and tapped him on the shoulder innocently,

"Don't tell me you giving up already- She seemed to whine, but a lightning quick move from the stallion cut her off from continuing.

He had turned, grabbed her, pulled her in, arched his hoof back and let loose a punch strong enough to either silence Vinyl with pain or by knocking the wind clean out of her. She was stunned, her smile finally faded and replaced with a pained one just before he picked her up and threw her to the side towards me.

He began to walk on her, a raging look in his eye and a murderous intent in his mind no doubt.

Vinyl struggled to get up, her knee's seeming to buckle at every attempt to raise.

"You ignorant, half witted, bint. You treat this like game; you mock me!" He started calmly, but lost his cool near the end, "You think you can simply brush me aside like dirt?! I will not be stopped here, especially by some weakling, filly brained, twat like you!" He had reached Vinyl and raised his hoof, muscle visible from even where I was, and brought it down.

He had hit air, as Vinyl had dodged.

During all that talking, I had finally lined up a shot that I thought could work and thrown.

He looked up angrily to see the spear hurling at him, but didn't bother to dodge. Instead, he knocked the spear aside with enough ease to frighten me a bit. His eyes were staring at mine the whole time, his rage for Vinyl having plenty of room to squeeze me onto his kill list as he began his march on me.

I staggered backwards, my mouth wide with both shock and fear while his dark figure approached, but something else managed to steal my attention away from my soon to be killer.

A flash of blue had popped in front of me and a ragged and tired looking white mare was now in front of me with a spear held loosely. She managed to stop his assault for a moment, forcing him back into a gritted sneer. Without even looking at me she tossed the spear back into my shaky hooves and spoke a single word with enough hunger to make me think she had been starving herself for days.

"More." She spoke, almost in pleasure. I gave a shaky nod as a response.

She charged in with renewed vigor to fight the stallion while I lingered on her message.

'She wants more? But why?' I thought.

I furrowed a brow in concentration, my eyes clinching shut and my face assuredly contorting in said concentration.

'More what? More fighting?', I lingered on the thought, adding everything else into the spot to fill 'more', but none of them seemed to fit just right. She wanted more of something, but it wasn't something she herself could get, that's why she told me.

I added myself into the equation as the variable for 'more.'

'She wants more from me...'

My eyes jumped open to see that she was now about two feet away from being within range of the already ready-to-hit stallion. The world seemed slower, as if someone or something had pushed it to its knees and told it to crawl rather than run. I felt stronger, the adrenaline's effect in my system finally peaking, and I decided to give Vinyl what she asked for.

More.

More speed for the spear, more power to the throw, more accuracy, all of it. She would get 'more.'

The spear seemed to leave me hoof faster than Vinyl was charging, but I couldn't tell this early on, all I knew was that I had given that throw everything I had left in me, but it was assuredly 'more.' Time began to stand back up and move normally again as a fatal flaw came into play with my throw.

Vinyl was in the way.

My eyes were wide as the spear sped up faster and faster, coming closer and closer to the back of Vinyl as she charged into something else that would kill her. I tried to knock the spear off course, or even grab it, but my efforts were in vain as the spear was already out of my reach.

A white head turned, still moving forwards, but also looking back. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, but she did something that suggested otherwise.

Her eye winked and horn lit as flash enveloped, and the next thing I knew, she was gone: leaving the course that had originally been going for her now on a direct alignment with an unsuspecting stallion whose eyes were wide at the same realization as I. He tried to bail, his punching hoof now plowing into the ground in an effort to raise himself out of the way while time was now at a stroll.

He was raising off the ground , not a limb of his body touching, but the spear wasn't on the ground, and it was now on a course with his head.

I watched in eager anticipation and hope, but my hope began to waver as the throw seemed more and more off. Finally, my shot showed that it was not quick enough to catch him: he was already a few feet off the ground as the spear head began to go under him.

His eyes caught something and went wide.

I was confused as to what he was looking at, but after following his gaze up to the ceiling, I saw it too and my eyes went just as wide as his, maybe wider.

There, latched onto the ceiling like a bat, was a white mare with blue hair hanging down just enough to cover her eyes. But one thing was visible: an insane smile with twisted happiness over joyed to see her plan come into place perfectly.

Her hooves pushed of the ceiling fast enough for her to disappear from my sight and hard enough to crack the stone she had previously been on.

Time realized it was slacking and began a sprint as the world sped up and the room was soon filled with nothing but a thundering smash and a view filled with nothing but a cloudy dirt like color. Something had smashed into the stallion with enough force to simulate a sandstorm and an earthquake at the same time. The force of the winds soon died down and the dirt began to settle, revealing a large hole in the ground with bricks of black still crumbling into it. I was cautious to move, but I decided to and walked up.

As the sight of the hole became visible, a limp white figure did as well. At first I panicked, but a touch on the shoulder stole that panic as I spun around, ready to fight.

To my surprise, the place the unknown combatant chose to hit was not where I expected, nor was the weapon they used.

A familiar feeling of soft lips against mine took me aback as I felt a pair of warm hooves wrap around me and a raging blush lit across my face like a fire. I relaxed into comforting kiss and wrapped my hooves around to complete the embrace that lasted for so long, yet seemed far to short.

Vinyl parted from my lips, moving back just enough to look at me with her big, red, eyes. A smile was on her face when she moved forwards again and comforted me with her embrace. I felt my insides melt from her passionate kiss, or maybe that was just the adrenaline crash that was bound to hit me, but whatever it was, I felt my knees begin to buckle and my eyes flutter.

We stood like that for a moment longer, the kiss itself seeming to take forever, yet coming to an end far too soon.

She pulled back, letting herself out of my weak grasp and trudging us both over to the hole in the ground to peer down into it. The sight that was shown was different than what I had originally seen: further investigation of the inside of the hole revealed countless pairs of eyes staring back up at us, some with shock, others with admiration, but the majority seemed to be the former.

I heard a giggle from beside me, then nearly buckled under the weight of a body falling onto me.

Vinyl had collapsed onto me, a smile on her face while she breathed out in a rhythmic pattern that suggested she was out cold. During my struggles to hold her up, I hadn't noticed the others in the room beginning to move about; the only time I took notice was when one of them picked the weight I was so desperately trying to hold up away.

I looked to see that it was Sweeps that had taken Vinyl onto her back, a hardened smile of her own gracing her lips. Shakes had gotten up as well, with the help of one bloody and ragged looking Bigs.

I looked at Sweeps, holding up Vinyl with little effort, when a sudden seemingly random urge popped into my head, and came out sounding even more random,

"Can I hold her?" It was an awkward question, but Sweeps chose to ignore it and only hoof her onto my back with a smile. Her weight nearly made me buckle, but I tried my best to suppress my soreness.

It just felt right to be caring her back after all that she carried me through: the walk home when I was drunk, and a variety of other times. I guess you could say it was paying her back.

Shakes and Bigs were talking about something that seemed a lot more serious, I even picked up snippets of the dialogue, but primarily chose to ignore it and focus on balancing Vinyl's wieght on my back.

"But who will take over around here? You know they can't go to town; the order would kill half of them the second they caught word of it." Shakes asked, getting a mere shrug out of Bigs.

"I planned on letting the adviser take over: he's about the fairest one around here that seems to still have a independent thought process." They went on about the subject before my attention faded out of their conversation.

It was odd how quickly this all ended and how quickly we were seeming to go back to normal, unnerving really. We had came all this way and had suffered quite a lot, and yet here we were, talking to each other about the future rather than the past or present. Well, most of us were; me and Vinyl were silent, and the latter was probably silent only because she was out cold. She would probably be talking about the present though. She seemed like the type to not worry about before or later, or even now: she simply lived life and took it as it came.

My thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of something poking me in the side, and it seemed my claim about the white mare was false.

She was still slouched over my back, everything limp, but not her head. Her neck was craned up halfway so her hair just barely cleared off her face to show her tired smirk and dull eyes. She didn't say a word, but instead lifted a hoof with surprising energy and pointed to the door, an implied meaning coming out of her gesture.

"Let's go home." Is what she would have said, had she been able to speak.

I wasn't in the proper mental or physical condition to argue with the idea of going home, so I nodded half consciously and started a stumble to the doors of the castle with my cozy, white, blanket on my back to comfort me on the journey back. The journey that was sure to tug on my fatigue even more.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

It was just turning night when we got out of the forest, and half way through the night when I got back to my apartment, walking past a hoof full of odd stares from guards and by passers on the way into the city. Apparently someone had reported me missing during my trip to the castle, but I didn't bother delving to deep into that issue at the fear of my brain shutting down and Vinyl falling off my back.

I might as well have broke the door down to my apartment, using my remaining strength and body weight to force it open hard enough to wake the neighbor and cause them to stumble out of bed. I didn't bother going for the couch, despite its appeal at the time, and headed straight for the bedroom: shoving open the door hard enough to make a snapping sound come from one of the hinges.

Vinyl was the first to be dropped, I made sure to take care not to wake her, before I threw myself onto the bed beside her, not even bothering to get under the sheets. It wasn't hard at all for the coldness of sleep to come over me, but it became apparent that someone else had one last thing to do before sleep had its way.

It was the feeling of a pair of hooves snaking their way around me and tugging themselves closer, a warmth curling around my back as I felt a smile creep onto my face. A nuzzle to the back and a content sigh suggested that I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the feeling.

A few last words were murmurer, serving as a loving reminder to me.

"I told you we'd get our chance." I managed to respond.

"I love you Vinyl."

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Author's Note

Sorry about the delay, some things kept me a bit side tracked and made editing a bit harder. Anyways, here it is: I hope you felt it a suiting ending. Again, sorry about the delay, I have a little something else for you all as a way of saying sorry. :raritywink:

Desk Duty

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Maple...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I rummaged through the freezer, plucking up a few ice cubes and stuffing them into a bag before sealing it up and wrapping them in a sheet of cloth I had at the ready. I flinched as I picked up the makeshift icepack and lined it up with the throbbing pain on my head, taking care to set it down as gently as possible to reduce the pain to a still aching minimum.

After a bit of positioning, I trudged away from the freezer and kicked it shut with a hind hoof as I made my way for the door. I was greeted by the familiar look of a dull room: gray wallpaper, closed blinds, an unused yet still beat up sofa at the side of the room.

I groaned, taking my seat in a chair sat behind a wooden desk that was built into the wall. It looked like the kind of desk you see a secretary sit at, and frankly, that's what it felt like to sit behind it.

"I still don't get why I have to take desk duty." I mumbled, earning a groan from the mare beside me.

She was the one who usually sat here alone, but it seemed like she got some extra company doing nothing after her old partner got passed along to another place that she refused to tell me.

"Maybe cause you got your butt kicked in by a vampire? Or maybe it wasn't that, but the fact your brother brought you in to HQ unconscious saying that you got your butt kicked in by a vampire. His words tend to carry since he is the captain you know."

She was what some might call a smart ass, but, she did sit behind this desk every day reading nothing but the same newspaper over and over and drinking a cup of coffee that seemed to never run dry, so I guess she earned that right. Still, she didn't have to be so blunt with her assholery; the least she could do was be creative with it.

I took a moment to curse my brother under my breath before responding to her,

"But it's so boring here." I whined.

She took her time in folding up her newspaper and tossing it forwards onto the desk that was filled with nothing but a stack of yellow papers that had a thin layer of dust covering the top of them.

"Well, considering that we are a group that is supposed to not be known by anyone but a select few that are either wealthy enough to just call the main head quarters to get some professionals out there or are rich enough to solve their little 'pest' issue on their own with other sources, I suppose it would be a bit boring to work a desk job in a hardly known and noticeable building like this one." She said simply, making a lot of sense.

"Don't get me wrong," She continued, "I hate this job just as much as you, the fact that I've had enough time here to fill out literally all those papers so that the only place left to sign is for whoever happens to walk through that door should be enough evidence of that." She said, making lazy gestures with her hooves.

"But I wasn't trained to be a secretary." I whined again.

"You think I was?" She asked with a raised brow and an equally smug smirk.

I did nothing but relax back into the desk chair I had been given and sigh. Had I known this would have been the punishment I got for trying to help that gray mare in the forest, I would have ran out of the camp screaming. The days were long and the office was cold as ice, the only source of heat being the coffee pot and the coffee that was served strictly black.

My mind settled on one thing.

"Does anyone ever come in?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"That's what I ask myself everyday, and I've come to the conclusion that the answer is simple: No one walks through that door except me, and now you." She sighed, seeming sad at the fact herself.

Hours passed with idle chat and the occasional burst of creativity as I scribbled away on a piece of paper that I had found, and with a pen that I took from a plastic cup near the edge of the desk. I even learned her that her name was Rose, but she refused to give me any more than that. She even gave me some occasional entertainment by using her horn and flicking a ball of paper at my head, my job being to try and dodge it with out falling out of the chair. We gave up on that after the sixth time I fell out because of fear for my head and for fear of her suffocating from laughter. I had just begun drawing a small and sloppy sketch of a pegasus flying in a circle, my tongue sticking out of my mouth in concentration, when the most unexpected thing of the day occurred.

The door opened.

Everything dropped. My pencil flew back into the cup and my paper was immediately balled up and tossed at the trashcan, missing it by a few feet, while I tried desperately to present myself in a professional and secretary like manner. The mare beside me was just as shocked, but she only chocked on her coffee mid-swig and tossed her paper under the desk before following my lead in getting into a secretary like posture.

The figure that walked in was cloaked for some reason, making this generally sketchy situation even sketchier. He was slow, calm, and confident with his movements; striding up to the desk with a posture that suggested wealth, until he came to a stop and waited in silence, apparently waiting for us to take the initiative.

"H-hello sir." I stammered, getting a glare from the other mare and even a tiny chuckle from her as well. The frame of the cloaked figure was that of a stallion, so I assumed it was in fact a he.

"Hello sir, how may we help you today?" The other mare said, her greeting much more confident and practiced than my own.

"I understand that you deal with...'certain issues?'" He said, the sound of his voice confirming both my gender suspicion and my origin suspicion. His accent was Canterlot, and heavy at that.

The mare nodded, sliding forward one of the signed sheets of paper she had been so proud of and cleaning off the dust. Next, she pulled out one of the pencils and put it on top of the paper.

"Just read over the paper and fill in the blanks accordingly." She said as we waited patiently for the stallion to finish, and when he did, he did nothing more that turn away and walk out of the building just as quickly and silently as he had walked in.

The mare and I were slightly offended by his lack of any form of 'goodbye', but we worked past it and took a look at the papers. She was first, skimming them over with hard eyes until they landed on something near the center of the page that changed that look completely, sending it into something resembling panic.

She got up, left the room wordlessly and, judging from the sounds, went into a back room and begun to rummage around through one of the closets. I decided to take that time to hop playfully into her seat and skim over the paper myself to see what it was that had unnerved her so. Everything seemed pretty normal to me, of course this was my first day, so I tried to inquire on what it was that had panicked her.

"Why her..." She muttered to no one but herself, "Oh this is going to get complicated."

A thought popped into my mind and I re-skimmed the paper looking for the only name that I thought could be 'her.' It was the name place under the 'target' section, which also happened to be near the center of page, so I went out on a limb and asked her about it.

"Rose, who is..." I took a second to go back to make sure I had the name right,

"Who is Vinyl Scratch?"

By that time she had stopped her rummaging and came back out, a telephone floating behind her and landing heavily on the desk with a groan. She let out a sigh and turned to me, finally giving me an answer.

"Someone who the hunters shouldn't involve themselves with."

She turned back to the phone and punched in a number, placed the phone up to her ear, and waited for the call to go through. I could hear the faint sound of ringing disappear and replace with the sound of another pony's voice; a mare to be exact, so I assumed it was another secretary.

"This is Rose Bush, can you connect me with one of the commanders?" Her voice was clam, yet I could tell she was shaking on the inside.

The voice on the other end of the line muttered something back, sounding a bit confused and agitated.

"It's involving a contract that was just placed: it involves the mare..." She hesitated, "Vinyl Scratch."

The other end of the line went silent before a different voice picked up, this one masculine and much more confident in tone. They went into a deep conversation that I only payed attention to for about ten minutes. After they had finished that, Rose put the phone down and rubbed her temples tiredly.

"Why her?" She asked to no one.

"Are you ever going to tell me what's going on?" I asked with a raised brow.

She let out a long, shaky, sigh and placed her head down in her hooves for a moment, resting her head as if she was getting a head ache. She finally lifted up, her eyes much more hard and crisp than I had seen throughout that day.

"All that you need to know is that when that name comes up anywhere inside of the order, it means trouble. And if someone has placed a hit on her, then all that means is trouble," She put her newspaper down to reveal her conflicted look,

"and whatever trouble she managed to start is only the beginning of what is to come." She said sharply, reaching under the desk and picking the paper back out, unfolding it and going back to reading.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Author's Note

Happy Thanksgiving. I thank all of you for giving me feedback and helping me along with my first attempt at writing, and I know that there is still a lot left to improve upon, but I have improved a lot thanks to you all. I also realize that I still have to shape up the first few chapters some time, and I swear I'll get to that.

For those that didn't get the message out of this short chapter, it means I plan on making a sequel. Anyways, have a great day, all of you.

Theater of Memories

I stood outside a tall theater, windows dimly lit and giving off the look of candlelight to the passerby. I, however, have been to this theater enough times to know that those were just the flicker of old lights thanks to the rather cheap lighting.

I don't hate the building, quite the opposite in fact; it's one of the only places I can truly relax without worries and wind down to the beautiful sound of the symphony. I have many, many memories of this place: some are of me crying from either the beautiful symphony or just me releasing pent up emotions, and some are of me flustered thanks to the ignorance of others, but all are one in the same, because in the end, I am happy.

But those memories are of the past. I am one who savors those moments but chooses to live on in the future constantly thinking about those past memories; after all, mistakes are the best rule book to live by, not that I make any, just something one of my few and cherished friends told me.

He's a wise fellow indeed, more of a philosopher in my opinion.

I shook my head a bit, trying to escape the thoughts and focus on the present.

I was outside one of my favorite theaters waiting in a rather extensive line to get in and immerse myself in my favourite type of music, but I couldn't help but feel that I was being watched. I had had that feeling ever since I walked out onto the streets, and I had attempted to shrug off the feeling earlier, but nothing seemed to work. I pushed the thoughts aside as best I could, hoping that getting inside the theater would help dilute the feeling.

"Good night again, Miss Melody, come to see another performance?" The stallion stationed at the entrance asked, giving a small and friendly smile.

"Of course I am." I said simply, trying my best not to show that I had forgotten the stallion's name. I gave a small smile to him, a fairly small smile, but a friendly one none the less as I hoofed over the exact amount of bits -- I had the price memorized by heart..

He moved to the side slightly and I slid past him into the lobby of the theater.

I entered the main stairwell of the lobby and took a second to take in the familiar scenery of the old theater: worn wooden chairs, vintage couches, old paintings, even the smell of the place had a rather 'old' smell to it. After taking it in, I began my trot over to the stairs and made my ascent to the seating area: I had always sat on the upper rows when listening was the main reason that I had come.

As I trotted slowly over to the best seat in the theater, I crossed a rather 'dense' stallion. He wore a black suit with no tie, with a matching black hat with a white band wrapped around the top. Not only was his sense in fashion odd, but he was also leaving the theater just as the show was about to begin.

He held his head low and he eyes were obscured in the slightest way by a small pair of glasses. That combined with his rather over-sized hat made just about everything above his nose was barely visible. As we passed I felt I slight shudder as the stalked feeling returned in full force, only this time it was much more intense; it felt as though I was targeted in some way.

I didn't have much time to think about or look more into his appearance, since a few other ponies were approaching behind me to get to their seats, so I made my way over to a row that held a spot I had selfishly claimed as "mine."

I found that 'my' seat was taken up by a rather cute looking set of mares. An earth pony that had a rather curly two tone mane consisting of a light pinkish color with a bland looking blue, one that contrasted nicely with her cream coat, and a cutie mark that was made up of three pieces of candy. I assumed she had a confectionery related occupation.

Sitting next to her in a rather odd fashion was a mint green unicorn with a two tone mane of a teal-ish green and white, her cutie mark was a lyre --or was it a harp? --and I recognized her from my own symphony. What was her name? Lira? No, no. Ah! Lyra, Lyra Heartstrings, and if my ears didn't deceive me when I dropped in on her conversations from time to time, this was her mare-friend, Bon-Bon.

Filly-fooling was looked down upon highly by most of the elite, but ever since the Princess herself spoke up in defense for all filly-foolers, the elite stopped harming them directly, but just stooped lower and hurt them with their most powerful weapon: Finance.

The elite harmed most filly-foolers with indirect punishment to their jobs. Yes this hurt them, but it was far from stopping them. I gave her a small wave which she returned to me, along with her mare-friend, and a small smile on their face, they soon after turned and gave each other a small peck on the cheek.

Love, it is one of, if not, the most powerful force that has ever existed, and always will be as long as beings exist among themselves.

I passed through the aisles and eventually found a suitable seat just as the symphony began its performance.

The first song I remembered immediately as it was a song that I myself had practiced today in my concert warm-ups a few days prior, this however didn't bring back the most enjoyable of memories.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Earlier in the day...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I walked backstage of my Symphony's allocated practice building, a former fitness center that had been run down but had been renovated into a place where the Symphony could practice with great acoustics. I set my cello in its locker and began my walk back to the assembly room when I was halted by the persistent violinist by the name of Soprano Strings.

"Why hello dear Octavia." He began in a supposedly romantic tone. "Looking as bright and lovely as Celestia's sun itself."

I turned and faced the violinist and merely shook my head in dismay as his 'seductive' smile turned into a grimace. I turned and walked the rest of the way to the assembly room that held the rest of my Symphony's members. I quickly made my way to my close group of friends who consisted of three ponies: Harpo Nadermane, Frederic, and Beauty Brass.

"Hello," I said as I trotted over, happy to be away from Soprano. "How are you all?"

"Doing lovely Octavia," Frederic replied smiling warmly. "I trust you are as well?"

"As well as I can be." I sighed, trying to leave out the recent encounter, but Beauty was smarter than that.

"He really does want you Octavia and in more ways than one too" Beauty chuckled before receiving a nudge from her 'special' friend Harpo, who chuckled before speaking.

"Beauty, please don't tease her like that, you know she doesn't like it." She sighed and apologized just as the conductor came in to inform us on the symphony's concert in a few days.

"Alright everypony," He began.

"As you know we have an upcoming concert in a few days and have a fairly short amount of time to practice so I want you all to split up into our sections and then go retrieve your instruments and practice in your assigned rooms."

We had each been assigned a group depending on our instrument and given a room for our group, since the stringed section was the largest they divided it into two groups itself, one group was with cellos and double basses, the other with violins and violas.

We all sighed deeply as we set up in out room and began to play it four or five times in our groups before playing the piece twice together as a whole. This process usually took about an hour or two.

We ended the practice early so I decided to ask my friends if they wanted to accompany me to the theater. Harpo and Fredric said they were going to a bachelor party for a relative of Harpo's and Beauty said that she would come later, as she had to stop by a dress shop for the wedding and drop it off at her and Harpo's house before she could join me. I told her that I would see her later and headed back to my house before heading to The Grande.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Now...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The fifth song was coming to an end as I spotted Beauty wandering through the rows, I cautiously waved her down, careful not to disturb anyone around me. She saw the wave and trotted past a few ponies and took a seat next to me, smiling.

"Hey Octavia." she whispered in my ear " I got here just in time for the last piece." She said in a somewhat tired voice

"Glad you could make it." I said quietly as I gave her a smile, cutting the conversation short so we didn't disturb anyone around us.

We sat in mostly silent for the rest of the concert, giving occasional silent feedback about some of the songs to each other. Though, Beauty had to excuse herself from the theater after a good two hours claiming that she had an appointment with another dress maker.

She was always like this when it came to any kind of event that she deemed dress worthy. Purchase at least two dresses from some of the best dress makers in the middle class and one from the upper class, hold the transaction until she compared each dress for herself and decided which looked best, then send the others back and receive a full refund for them.

I never understood her need for the absolute best dress she could acquire, but don't get me wrong, I understand the need for proper fashion at formal times, and embraced it, however I wasn't the type to go overboard like she did.

My ears perked up at the sounding of the last song. As the beginning sounds of the song began to play, my mind began to catch up. The song was a sad one. Especially to me, not only because the song itself was enough to bring any person with a soul to tears, but because I knew this song. It was a song back from when I was still a little filly.

I would always be sent to my grandmothers every time my Mom and Dad got an important business call. My grandmother was the sweetest mare in all of Equestria, far more than any other nanny my parents had hired before, and she was also one of the main reasons I became a musician in the first place.

My grandmother would always play the same song whenever I came over to her house and I would always sit with her while she played it, I can still remember leaning on her shoulder, drifting in and out of sleep, while she played the song on her piano.

Tears welled up in my eyes as the memories of the last words my grandmother came back, those words I will never forget.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Octavia, I want to tell you something that my mother told me, and I told yours," An old mare, riddled with age and wrinkles that gave her a wise appearance, spoke softly from a hospital bed.

"It goes something like 'Life is a song, one that you make yourself, and love is like the lyrics that can only be added by another that you must choose.'" My grandmother said, a faint smile gracing her lips as she held my chin up.

"Or something like that. Heck I can't remember half the things I did just yesterday." She add with a chuckle before closing her eyes with a smile on her face.

My tears ran freely now, she peaked open one eye and looked at me for the final time, a cocky grin now on her face.

"You will find your lyrics...it might be awhile, but you will find them someday." I pressed my face into my hooves as I cried at her words. That is, until a weak hoof lifted my gaze back up and into her eyes.

"And they will be beautiful..." She closed her eyes once more, a tear in her eye and the same smile still on her face. I could only lean into her and sob until tears could no longer flow. I felt a hoof on my shoulder and looked up to see my father, no tears on his face, but a look of deep sadness.

"Let her rest..." I didn't protest, I couldn't, my throat hurt too much from the sobbing, so he eventually picked me up and brought me back to the carriage.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

As much as I hate recalling those times, I can't really control when I do. The music that I learned from her will never be forgotten, I would make sure of that. Though it may not be famous, it was better than any other melody that I had ever heard. I got up from the theater and made my way out into the cold, tears still on my face.

As I joined the mass of ponies slowly walking out of the theater, many tear soaked as well, I only wanted one thing.

A relief from this ache in my heart.

They say that some get a bit "out of shape" when desperation comes, and for once in my depression filled mind, I considered doing the one thing I swore I would never do.

I considered drinking.

I never drank, never have, and never considered it until now, though I have heard that your supposed to drink when you get sad, something about it helping cope with the pain and sorrow, so I decided I would try it. But only just enough to get me out of my sad comatose.

I headed into the direction of a nearby bar or club, I never understood the difference but I never asked. Though this trip would not end nearly as I had thought it would.

Author's Note

*Currently under revision*

*This chapter, and many of the ones following, are meant to go under revision whenever I get the time to, I ask that you read ahead since it seems most the others that have say that I improved*

Mornings

I awoke that morning just like most of my mornings, on a schedule. I fluttered my eyes before wearily leaning forward to sit in an upright position in my bed. I took a few minutes just to rub the sleep from my eyes before, unfortunately, I had to get up. I carefully took the sheets and tucked them back into the beds four corners one by one, afterwards, I walked towards the bathroom to take my morning shower. As I entered the bathrooms shower I instinctively turned the water to a relatively warm temperature, I would end up progressively turning up the heat as my shower went on for about 45 minutes. I didn't have orchestral practice today so I would cherish all of the time I had this morning., this would also give me some time to have a much needed talk with my house guest. I stepped into the shower and let the warm water run over my body, relaxing every ache and pain of yesterday, and letting my imagination and mind wander.

The first thing that came up, of course, was vamponies. I imagine many others would react a lot more...drastically...than I am, sure, I was shocked that they were real, sure, I was scared of them, and sure, I had one in my house right now that I had no clue as to what it was doing. I use the term it because I do not count vamponies as real people, I mean, if the stories that were told to me and other fillies were true then they are blood thirsty monsters right?

Then again, one of them just saved me from being killed...but what if it was one of those territorial type things?

Miss Scratch was just saving me so she could eat me later. I mean she did, from what I can tell, try to eat me last night. I tried to push this to the back of my mind and look for something else to think about, I grabbed the conditioner from the shower shelf and began conditioning my mane. I couldn't think of anything else so I, in the end, decided to just finish my shower and talk with my...guest.

When I exited the shower I toweled down my mane and coat for a solid 15 minutes before turning to my hair brush to start styling my mane back to its elegant standards. I exited the shower feeling fresh and revived as I trotted towards the living room. The first thing I noticed was that my curtains were shut, probably by my guest, and the room was dimly lit by the light escaping the curtains. I turned to notice my guest still curled up like a little dog, snoring lightly. As heart aching as it was, I walked over and tapped her lightly, eliciting a small grunt that nearly shattered my heart right there. I exhaled deeply before speaking up.

"Miss Scratch..."

...

"Miss Scratch." I said, this time a little louder, getting a small grunt out of her.

...

"Miss Scratch." I said in a slightly louder-than-inside voice, resulting with her jerking her head up, causing her glasses to go askew, but not enough to reveal her eyes. now that I think of it, I haven't seen her eyes, they were probably red like Bigs's, but shades of red can be very different to ones eye.

"Huh...wha..." She rambled before looking up at me and fixing her glasses.

"Oh...uh..." She looked down sheepishly, not willing to meet my gaze.

"Do you think we can talk for awhile, Miss Scratch?" I asked her politely.

"Um...s-sure?" She said nervously, rubbing the back of her head before attempting to stand but tripped over the comforter that was wrapped around her. I gave a small laugh as she hit the ground with a thump, resulting in her looking back up to me with another sheepish smile.

After unwrapping herself she stood up and stretched herself out and craned her neck to both sides quickly, earning a crack out of both sides. She picked up the blanket with her mouth and set it over on the couch neatly before turning back to me and waiting for me to lead the way expectantly. Hm, how strange, I would have just used magic to put away the blanket, I mean, she is a unicorn. I mentally shrugged and turned to head for the kitchen. As we entered the kitchen I flicked the light on and continued walking before realizing what I did and quickly turned back to see her looking at me with surprise. Well I guess it has to be sunlight, not artificial light..., I turned around a continued walking until we reached the kitchen table. I sat down at one of the four wooden chairs set around the glass table as she did the same, still not meeting my gaze, I raised a brow at her behavior, Wouldn't expect a vampony to be so...shy....

"So Miss Scratch..." She raised her head, and from what I assume, met my gaze. "...what happened last night?" Her head instantly sunk back down, eyes to the floor.

"I-I...I don't know...really.." Well that wasn't expected, but I have come to expect the unexpected ever since I was almost sucked dry by a bouncer who also warned me and attempted to drive me away from said event.

"So what are you then?" I needed to at least get her talking to me, maybe lighten her up a bit, then she would tell me what happened, I then visibly saw her face turn cold and full of regret and took back the 'lighten her up a bit' part back.

"I...I'm not proud of what I am...I don't expect you to be either..." She stood up and walked back to the living room and began to charge her horn for what I assumed was a teleportation spell.

"Wait!" I said rather panicked, I didn't want her to leave, at least, not yet. She turned slowly to me, a tear running down her cheek as I walked over to her slowly.

She had turned away and sat down on her haunches, head held low, but I placed a hoof on her shoulder, patting her back gently. She turned to me, tears now streaming freely down her face like an unclogged river. I was never really good at these types of situations, I didn't know what to do so I sat there with a hoof on her shoulder, It wasn't working as her crying only increased in intensity and then she did something that shocked me.

She wrapped her arms around me quickly, her glasses falling off yet I didn't see her eyes since she buried her face into my abdomen and hugged me tight, my eyes went wide as she cried into me, her tears were warm compared to my slightly dampened coat. I didn't know how to handle this anymore, it was crazy, but a slowly put a set of shaky hooves around her in the lightest embrace ever imagined. This?, I looked down at the sobbing wreck now openly crying into my lower chest, This is a vampony? I thought as we sat there for a good ten minutes until she was sniffling. She let go, as did I, and looked up at me with a sad smile, her glasses now somehow on her face.

"Thanks..." her voice was shaky and quite. "...you're the only one who has ever stopped me from leaving..." I wasn't surprised at the fact but it still made me feel hurt for some reason, who would let a living legend, a legendary vampony, leave without even attempting to stop them? I would never know.

"What do you want to know?" She asked as I looked down at her, my eyes were soft as I took in the sight of the mare.

"Let's go somewhere more appropriate to talk, this floor isn't exactly comfortable." I said in lightly joking tone, her expression slowly grew into a smirk.

"I gotta agree with you...um...mind helping me out?" I realized what she meant and answered her.

"Octavia, Octavia Melody." She smiled and replied.

"Nice to meet you, Octy." I cringed slightly as she let out a laugh at my reaction, then thought.

'So she doesn't actually remember what happened last night then...interesting.'

I helped her up off the ground and we trotted back into the kitchen and sat back down at my glass table.

"So," Perhaps I shouldn't ask the same question twice considering it had a rather bad result last time, "What's your favorite color?" I mentally punched myself at the question. She gave me a strange look, slightly shocked and slightly amused, before pointing to her mane and giving it a little shake.

"Blue...it's blue...that's why I shook my hair." Good to know she wasn't judgmental like the rest of Canterlot.

"Look if you want me to answer your previous question I will..." She said.

I replied with a nod and she took another sheepish look before speaking.

"Well...I'm a Vampony." She closed her eyes tight and braced as I simply kept looking on expectantly.

...

"...And?" I spoke up, causing her to open her eyes a little.

"Wait so you're not going to call the guards?" She asked slightly shocked.

"Well, I was able to deduce you to a Vampony from last night." I said simple as she began looking slightly flustered.

"Oh come on! I can't even remember your reaction!" She exclaimed, taking me aback a little.

"Wait. You mean you watch for ponies reactions?" I asked.

She was now looking at me with a raised brow.

"Yeah...that's the best part!" She said, sounding as though the answer was obvious.

A silence began to settle on us while we began taking awkward looks at my surrounding apartment. She, however, looked like she was genuinely interested in my apartment while I was doing I to avoid eye contact until I worked up a nerve to ask another question.

"...So where do you live?" I asked her, breaking the silence.

"Oh, I uh..." She hesitated for an abnormal amount of time considering the simplicity of the question,

"Nowhere...I guess." She rubbed the back of her head meekly as my eyes grew a bit wider. Thanks to the previous experiences with my guest, my good nature got the best of me.

"Well..." I took a second to think about what I was about to offer,

"you may live here then...but I will not hesitate to kick you out if it comes to it." She looked at me with wide eyes and I understood why, believe it or not, being socially discarded is a bad feeling, and if I could help a mare stop feeling it, I would. There's that, and she saved my life so that might add some points too.

Deep in my thought I hadn't even seen her jump across the table and wrap around me in a big hug.

"Thank you so much! I promise, you won't even know I'm here!" I was blushing slightly from the mares touch.

What have I done? were my thoughts as she hopped around happily.

Author's Note

Hey guys, sorry I was a bit late. Anyway, tell me what you think, and what could be improved in future chapters! I plan on re-writing this story later, maybe after another story...

Questions

I sat there on the ground with Miss Scratch still on top of me for awhile, not because I wanted her on top of me, although she was quite comfortable, but because I was thinking about a few things that came to mind when I saw Vinyl's eyes. All the times that I had met her and her eyes were dilated she seemed to be lusting for something, and I could only assume it was blood. At first I assumed she just wanted to kill me and be done with it, but after the last encounter, it seemed like she was only playing with me. After I started crying, the whole 'want to kill you' thing stopped and she complained like I wasn't playing 'the game' right. Maybe she was just playing with me, but the other times she seemed to be relentless on 'draining' me, and I still had no confirmation on if that is what she wanted to do. Of the two times she has gotten close to draining me, she has never been able to get all the way through, the first time she fell asleep, the second time she stopped right in the middle and complained. The evidence I had was supporting both sides of the assumption that she was either trying to drink from me or she was just playing some game.

My train of thought was broken when I felt Vinyl start to loosen her grip and relax into my shoulder, I probably would have stopped her if it weren't for another, more logical, option that I had. I would let her fall asleep on me, then remove her.

'That way I wouldn't have to deal with both her and Fredric at once.' I thought to myself, also giving myself a mental pat on the back. I smiled joyfully when I felt her breathing even out and her grip release completely. I began to remove her body from its position on top of me slowly, but was interrupted when I heard a voice practically scream at me, a voice that made me cringe.

"Octavia, what in Celestia are you doing with that mare?!" I turned my head slowly to find that the voice belonged, of course, to Fredric.

He looked shocked, not one of his 'dramatic, for the moment' shocks, but a genuine look of shock. I felt Vinyl shake slightly and reapply her grip, 'Why, why now of all times, did Fredric have to walk in, with my luck he will probably go off and tell Beauty and Harpo that I'm a fillyfooler and get me kicked out of the Symphony.'

I started to try and remove Miss Scratch from my body, she didn't resist, but I could tell she wasn't happy about being removed from her, probably comfortable, position. I calmly set her down in front of me, she instantly curled up into a ball while I turned to face a very confused and enraged Fredric.

"Well Fredric, you see I was letting her f-" I started calmly, I didn't get far.

"No!" He interrupted me in a very rude manner. "Don't tell me about what sinful things you were about to do, I don't want to hear them!"

'What is he going on about...Oh!'

"Fredric! I assure you I wasn't about to do...that...with her." He backed down slightly, but I could tell he was still assuming that of what his assumptive mind assumes.

"I still don't know why I took time out of my night to go pick up some no talent DJ filth..." He grumbled to himself, I shrugged it off and turned around and gather Miss Scratch, that is until she spoke out.

"What did you say?" Her voice was cold, but not void of emotion, I could clearly hear the boiling emotions of a calm, and frightening form, of rage and hate. I waited for Fredric to make one of his both condescending and clearly biased remarks, but he didn't, at least not right away. I assumed Fredric must have heard the rapidly heating emotions of Vinyl, a rare sight to see from him, for he didn't respond as quickly and as forcefully as I thought he would have.

"...I-I said you were f-filth...w-which you are." He was trying to regain some form of a defensive stance when Vinyl replied, If I didn't know any better, I would have thought Fredric was scared of Miss Scratch.

Vinyl turned over with her sunglasses gleaming, I didn't know how she managed to cover her eyes so quickly, and voiced her both unexpected and slightly scary response.

"No, no, no, I got that part of what you were saying." Her voice was finally focused on a, somewhat, single emotion that I could make out. It was like a calm form of rage, not berserk and feral, quite the opposite in fact, but testing and rather, if I say so myself, dark.

"What did you say before that?" Fredric was slightly taken aback, and even more confused, by this question, but didn't falter.

"I s-said you w-were a no talent DJ." Vinyl smiled with satisfaction and began her second assault.

"So do you have any proof of me being a 'no talent' DJ?"

"W-well...n-no, but you are a DJ." Fredric stuttered before Vinyl continued.

"So does that make me a 'no talent'?"

"N-no...I suppose not."

"Do you have any knowledge of DJ'ing?"

"N-no."

"Well, then I don't think you have a say in whether I am a no talent DJ, and honestly, I don't think you could speak much about your own talents, much less about mine." Fredric eyes went wide, as well as mine.

Of course I was siding with Vinyl up until she spoke about Fredric and his talents on the piano and he was next to even the most professional of pianists in Equestria. She was kind of going against her own word when criticizing Fredric on his talent when she had just got onto him for criticizing her DJ'ing.

"Are you suggesting that I have no talent on the piano?" Now it was Fredric's turn to possess a cold tone in his voice, although it wasn't nearly as intimidating and frightening as Vinyl, who was now getting off of the floor, it was still rather unnerving on the ears. Vinyl's smile was only widening at Fredric's display of emotion.

'Is she crazy? How can she smile at Fredric, even if the display is amusing, a fellow musician shouldn't criticize another over their choice of instrument. It's just plain unethical and stupid.

"I don't see how pressing a few keys is all that hard." Vinyl's tone was playful and that wasn't helping Fredric's mood. Fredric slowly began walking towards Vinyl and raised a hoof, which gave me a perfect view to see Vinyl's smile widening even more.

'Did she want to get hit' I thought before I decided to do something.

"Why you ungrateful little piece of sh-"

"Fredric, stop!"

I had to intervene before Vinyl did something that she would regret, or more likely, before Fredric did something he would regret. It had almost slipped my mind, but I remembered Vinyl's state when she had fell onto me earlier, she might go after Fredric and he wouldn't hesitate to call the guards and wouldn't rest until she was executed.

"You both need to stop acting like foals, if you want to complain about the others lack of skill you at least need to have a valid point behind it." I stared hard at Vinyl, who decided to sit back down on her haunches with ears down, I thought my comment would end the argument on the spot, but yet again, I was wrong, I only seemed to fuel the fire of the argument.

"I agree completely Octavia, let's see how much skill this street rat has on a piano." Fredric graced himself with a smirk of victory and I could see that Vinyl was about to insult him back, that is until I gave her a stern glare and she took back her choice of action.

Or so I thought.

"Sure, why not, I don't see how hard it could be to beat you at your own game, plus, it might be fun." Vinyl said in a cheery tone as my eyes went wide and gave her another look just in time with Fredric.

"Very well, how about...three days from now...anything goes?" Vinyl simply shrugged.

"Sure, anything goes." I couldn't believe what was going on, Fredric would destroy Vinyl on the piano, and if he asked 'anything goes?' he is bound to have something up his sleeve.

"Well Octavia, it seems that you have the...'situation' under control here, so I will be on my way." He turned and began to exit the hallway until he turned around to stare hard at Miss Scratch.

"And I will see you in three days." He turned and left the hallway, leaving a shocked me and a smiling Vinyl sitting in the hallway. We must have sat there for at least five minutes, and I would have kept sitting there like that for awhile longer, that is, until Vinyl poked me in my cheek, making me turn to see what she wanted.

"Wanna drink?" I blinked a few times, honestly surprised at how quickly she got past what just happened, before deciding on my answer.

"Sure...I need to talk to you about a few things anyway." We both got up and I started making my way back to the main bar until she stopped me.

"Hey, where you going?" I looked back at her to see her head poking out of the room she had fell out of.

"Bars this way." she chimed out. I raised a brow at her, but eventually decided to follow her, looks like my escort has changed, and personally, I think like this one better, a bit cocky, but not a stuck up, condescending, ignorant, arrogant, assumptive brat. I trotted over and followed her into the room.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The first thing I noticed in the room was the casual aura it gave off, comfy looking red sofas positioned around a red rug in the center of the room, a few paintings here and there made it feel similar to home. I saw off in the corner of the room a miniature fridge, probably where the drinks were, with Miss Scratch neck deep inside.

"Hey, what do you want to drink?" She piped out, her voice slightly muffled by the fridge.

"Vinyl, I honestly think there are more important matters to attend to than what I want to drink."

"Hm, I don't think they have that...How about some cider?" I sighed, maybe another approach would work.

"Please, let's just talk first, then you can drink however much you want." She removed her head from out of the refrigerator and put her hoof up to her chin and made a humming noise, as if she were thinking hard on the matter before coming to a decision.

"Okay! But only if you drink after this, you're more fun when you're drunk!" She pranced over to the couch and plopped down, smiling cheerfully.

'Reasoning with her is almost as easy, and as difficult, as reasoning with a foal, she really does act childish for her age, whatever that may be.

I sighed and walked over to the couch, taking my seat beside her. Before I started questioning her, I decided took a good look at her. My gaze started at her head, her hair was rather ragged, but it gave off its own sense of pride, a unique form of profession, perfect for her occupation. Her glasses accented her mane perfectly, blocking out everything that tries to come in with its own purple reflection, kind of like how she acted with Fredric, responding to him with his own question. I shifted my look to her torso, it was a pristine white, just like every other time I had seen her, it seemed to never get dirty or roughed up, kind of like her in a way. I shifted my eyes to her tail, just like her mane, it was wild and free. My gaze finally settled on her cutie mark, it was an eighth note, but they were abridged, facing the opposite direction of what they would normally face, somewhat like her occupation, and personality entirely, in the society of Canterlot; always going against the normal, but still capable of working.

"Um, Octavia, what'cha looking at?" I was shook from my train of thought by Miss Scratch's voice, as well as the feeling of blood rushing to my face.

"Uh, I-Uh..." While I was stammering, Miss Scratch must have been looking around the room to try and find what I was staring at, and inevitably found a single bit lying on the floor.

"Oh! Was it this." She got up from the couch and bent over to pick up the bit. There was both a good and bad to this situation, the good part was that I had successfully avoided being caught staring at Miss Scratch's flank, the bad news was that the way she was bending over wasn't helping my blush dissipate at all. I quickly averted my gaze and eventually settled on staring at a painting on the opposite side of the room until she had gotten up from the floor, now with a bit in hoof.

"So what's up?" She asked, tossing the bit over towards me; I completely missed the bit, it hit me square on the nose then rolled off the couch, resulting in Vinyl giving a barely contained chuckle.

"Um, well we were going to..." 'Dang it, what were we going to do again, something about Vinyl probably.'

"You said something about wanting to talk to me, right?" Vinyl piped, reminding me of my entire reason of staying, that, and it appeared she would be walking me back to my house, where she would probably stay if the information Fredric had gathered wasn't true.

"Yes, I was going to ask why you decided to storm off back at the practice building the other day, it was quite rude of you." The expression she gave me after obviously confirmed my suspicion of whether she actually believed Fredric and Beauty's word.

"I...I thought you kicked me out..." She sounded depressed, it was honestly a sad sight to see and I couldn't help but feel bad for her.

"When did I say that I kicked you out?" I responded a touch playfully, throwing her off a bit.

"But...you're friends said-"

"I am not my friends." I made sure to keep my voice playful, but back it up with some sternness to show I was serious. At first she blinked a few times, but then broke out into a large smile.

"But I still have a few questions for you that my friends brought up, for one, why do you not have a birth date on your records?" Her smile was quick to disappear, replaced by a grimace.

"I-I'd prefer not to talk about that..." Not again, I just need to know if she is a criminal, it's not like I want her whole back-story, although I'm sure that that would be quite interesting, I might just have to get her to tell me that eventually, but only after we've gotten to know each other better.

"Are you a criminal, Vinyl?" I had to know, I couldn't hide a criminal in my house, if I got caught it wouldn't only hurt me, It would hurt my family as well. My assumption faltered when her eyes widened and she looked taken aback by my question.

"What?! No! Why would I be a...No, Octavia, I am not a criminal." She sounded truthful enough and she really didn't have a reason to lie to me, considering I already knew what she was, so I decided to let that topic slide...for now.

"Alright Vinyl...I believe you, but I still have a few more questions for you." I could tell she wasn't enjoying the questions, and frankly I wasn't either, but I had to know the answers to them if she was to stay in my house any longer.

"Okay...shoot." 'Well at least her mellow means of responding hasn't disappeared' I thought to myself before fetching another question out of the air.

"The last few times that I have met you, you acted differently from how you normally act around me, occasionally your eyes would be dilated and you would act...well...rather predatory." I studied her reaction carefully, and judging from what I saw, she had no idea what I was talking about, which only confirmed another one of my assumptions; she couldn't control when she acted like that, was that a risk? Maybe. Was I willing to put up with it? Well, it rather intrigued me how she seemed to just switch into that 'state' after she reached a certain breaking point. From the past encounter I assume that she could still hold back some, like when I cried, but not completely.

"Those last few times we've met...I only remember up to a certain point and then my memory kinda gets all...hazy." She sounded reluctant to share the information, but I thank her that she did, right now I was adding data, making a little notebook in my head, taking notes on how much she claimed she could control herself. This way I would know what to do when she acted like she did in the past.

"Do you know what triggers that?" I could only assume it was blood lust, but who better to ask than the one doing it?

"No..." 'Wait...what? How does she not even know what triggers herself? I was at a complete loss now, if I didn't know what caused her to act like that, then I wouldn't know how to stop it, mainly because I wouldn't know when to stop it. However, I decided not to press her any longer, mainly because I myself was tired and I could tell she was too.

"Well thank you, Miss Scratch, for sharing." I got up from my seat and started heading towards the door. I should really be getting back now, I had practice tomorrow, I only turned around to look back at her. 'Hm, it might be fun to play with her a bit...' I thought to myself.

"Coming?" I asked in an overly innocent tone.

"Wha? Does this mean..." Well it worked, she was clearly confused...and I loved it.

"Well somepony has to walk me home." It was quite fun seeing her at a complete loss as to what to do. She got up and reluctantly trotted over to follow me.

"Yeah...I guess, so...does this mean that I get to-" I stopped her with a sigh, 'And I thought I couldn't take a joke'.

"Yes, Vinyl, you can still stay at my house." She visibly brightened and added a new spring to her step as she followed me out of the room. I briefly recalled something father told me, something about needing a stallion, but I gave it no mind, I just wanted to sleep.

We stepped out of the club and began the journey back to my apartment, about a hour away.

Useless

It was a good ten minutes before I even moved; I was stuck there on the floor wondering what in Equestria had just happened. That bouncer had just come back and beat the day light out of Shakes, three stallions were dead, and Vinyl went somewhere and I had done nothing to stop her.

'Ah, what am I saying, I couldn't help her if I tried.' I thought to myself as I flopped backwards onto the floor.

'She would have done it anyway, all she seems to care about is her friends, and will even put her head on the line to keep theirs off of it.'

"How could she be so stupid..." I spoke to myself.

"She's not stupid, you know." I heard a ragged and shaky voice say from the other side of the room.

I shot up with the fear of another Vampire being here, but I let out a sigh of relief when I saw it was just Shakes.

She had propped herself up on the bar and coughed a bit, some blood coming up with it and onto the bar, but a toothy smile was on her face once the coughing fit had subsided.

I flopped back down, my head hitting with a thud. There was pain, but it was at the bottom of the list of things to care about right now. I let out a sigh just as I heard Shakes start rummaging, the sound of bottles clinking together. I turned my head to the side just enough to see her pouring herself a shot.

"Really?" I deadpanned.

She only shrugged and finished pouring the shot; downing at just as quickly. She steadied herself and wiped her mouth of some of the beer that missed her mouth before she limped her way over to me and sat next me on the floor.

"Mind explaining to me how she's stupid?" She asked.

I sighed.

"She shouldn't have given herself away. It was stupid of her to do that, I mean, if he threatened to take both your life and mine just to get her, then what he has planned for her is probably worse than death." I heard her chuckle lightly after I finished speaking.

"She's a tough one, a lot tougher than you or me, so trust me on this; whatever he has planned for her, it's going to take a lot more to really make her scream." She said.

"He said you gave him a run for his money, Vinyl didn't even land a hit on him..." I thought back onto that. "Say, how did you give him a run for his money anyways?" I asked with a cocked brow.

Shakes chuckled before she gave her response.

"Let's just say that the bars got a few more secrets than most would think." Was the only vague answer she gave me. I simply assumed that she meant the bar had some form of weapons hidden around it, but who knows, there might be something more than expected.

"Anyways," She started. "my sister should be getting here pretty soon to get me home, you might wanna do the same, but I won't stop you from staying here and drinking a bit if you want; just make sure you lock up."

"Are we not going after Vinyl?" I asked, concern clear in my voice.

"Not tonight, no. I really have no idea where he's taking her." She said with a glum and near sad tone.

"We might do something tomorrow morning when the sun is out, but right now, I need some rest." I couldn't blame her for wanting rest, and didn't protest against it. She looked like she had just been through quite a fight.

"Okay, I'll head back to my house. Will you stop by tomorrow?" I realized I was whining some what, but I was worried about her.

"First thing tomorrow morning." She said with a small smile as she laid back onto the ground.

"Unless you need me for anything else, I think I'll leave." She nodded and smiled before she rolled over, looking like she was getting ready for a nap.

I got up slowly and started to the door, as my hoof hit the broken handle, I turned back to Shakes.

"Thanks." It was short, but I meant it. She responded with a small snore as she dozed off.

I let out a small laugh before heading out the door.

*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*

"Come on now." I said as I poked my prisoner with the broken bottle.

She didn't move any faster though, keeping the same pace, even as the broken glass poked her. I let out a sigh and decided just to not provoke her. Even if I had beaten her without breaking a sweat, I knew she was fast and could probably leave me in the dust if I gave her the chance.

I really wouldn't even call her a prisoner, she was pretty much going with me just to keep her friends safe. Though that one mare, the barkeeper, probably could have killed me if I were on my own. That mare delivered a flurry of bolts to all three of my partners almost as soon as they entered the room, and had even pulled the bolts from them to reuse; she used a cross bow that was attached to her hoof with a variety of straps, but I had managed to pry it off her when she fled back to her office. I had cornered her and, even if she shot and stabbed a few bolts into me, got her to spill some information about Vinyl.

My suspicions were confirmed that the barkeep was indeed a vampire hunter, if not she could certainly qualify as one, though she was more like a guardian than a hunter. I would have expected her to kill Vinyl the second she found out about her rather than protect her; I guess she might have gone rogue and was now helping the vampires, but it seemed unlikely. Both her bolts and the crossbow were far out of date, either she had gotten them from another, much older, family member, or she had found them. Regardless of that, she was extraordinary at using them, and if they were up to date she would have mopped the floor with me and my comrades.

I choose not to linger on the loss of my comrades, though I do indeed feel sad from their deaths, I suppose it was worth it. Three lives might be worth this mare's if it will bring my master and his constant expending of troops and resources to an end. She knew nothing of what was going on behind the scene of her life. We put nearly forty men out the night we heard she disappeared and half of them didn't even come back, and the half that did didn't look that good either. The districts they searched were, well, lets just say unfriendly.

The rest of the near four hour long walk to the castle was in complete silence.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

We arrived at the castle just as the morning sun began to peak itself over the horizon, sending a small tingle of pain down my body.

The whole 'Vampires can't go out in the sun or else they will evaporate' thing isn't entirely true. In fact, they don't even begin to evaporate. The feeling that we get is close to a hot iron being pressed into the skin of a regular pony, so yes, we don't exactly jump at the chance to go in the sun. Also, our skin doesn't curl up and peel off our bodies while our eyes turn to liquid or any of that nonsense, we just feel a lot of pain.

I practically pranced down the isle to where his throne was, glee clearly in my face while I left Vinyl to follow along at a much more reluctant pace. I didn't worry about her running, if the guards didn't get her then the sun would, and even if she did find someway to get away from the sun, she was still about four hours away from her home and I doubt she would find her way back before we caught her.

"Oh Master." I sang out in a sing song voice.

He turned around in his chair, his face visibly displeased from my disruption, but his eyes scanned around me, and when the landed on Vinyl, they turned soft. He slowly got up from his seat with an expression of pure shock and disbelief on his face. He trotted slowly and carefully over to Vinyl who was twisting her head from side to side, string in awe at the castle. He finally reached her and stopped, her focus finally falling on him.

"So it's actually you..." He spoke softly as he stared at her.

She looked back up in disgust at him, as to be expected.

"Am I supposed to know you?" She spat as she scanned over him.

He chuckled lightly, something that I had never dreamed of hearing him do.

"No...you aren't," He began "I know plenty about you however."

"That's a bit weird." She said, earning another soft chuckle from my master.

"Tell me dear, would you like to join me in my study? Have some tea? There is much I would like to discuss with you."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing; we wasted valuable men, important resources and essential time for him to just have a spot of tea. I was fuming by that point, the veins on my head pulsing as I barely held myself back from pouncing on that man and beating the sense that must have fell out somewhere back into him.

"You're funny." She let out with a haughty and exaggerated laugh. "You think I'm going to "join you for a spot of tea" after your friend here threatens the lives of my friends and nearly kills one? Man you must be dumber than he is." She spat at him.

He turned his head to me, staring daggers at me as I shrunk in front of him.

I couldn't believe it, he was mad at me for bringing her to him. If anything he should be thanking me right now! I felt my body nearly pummel the man when he gave me a scolding shake of the head.

"Please, excuse him, he is a bit on edge as of late and must have gotten a bit angry." My master said as I began to bite into my cheek to stop myself from screaming.

"Let's make it up to you in some way, but let's have tea first." He said as he began to guide her to a door at the side of the room, giving her very little choice in the matter. She even pressed her hooves into the ground in an attempt to stop herself, but he just pushed her as if there was no resistance.

I felt my cheek begin to bleed as my bite increased.

Not only was this the most I had ever heard him speak at once, but my master sounded like a girly little foal wanting to have a tea party. My master, the one that had killed countless of his own for giving him the slightest lip, and here was this mare that just gave him more than nearly all of the others, and he was trying to "make it up" to her.

I stormed off to the barracks, I needed to punch something or else would pop a blood vessel.

*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*

I tossed and rolled over in my bed for the sixth time in the last five minutes; my thoughts were racing, and as a result, my mind and body were wide awake. I had tried doing everything that I could think of that would help me in going to sleep, but they all seemingly did nothing. I had tried taking a hot shower, drinking some tea, I had even tried tiring myself out but they all did nothing to aid me in my quest for slumber.

It was Vinyl.

I had been thinking about her of course, and I'll give myself some credit, that I hadn't thought about her that much on the way home, but that might have been from the shock of nearly loosing my life. She had crept back in though, the fear and worry of what might happen to her was eating me up from the inside; What if they killed her? or even worse; What if they didn't kill her? What if they kept her there and tortured her?

The image of her chained and beaten appeared in my mind as I felt a tear begin to swell.

"I can't take this anymore." I declared to myself as I threw the covers off my bed and got up.

I caught a glimpse of the clock that read 3:43, even if it was close to tomorrow morning, it was still to long to wait for Shakes.

I couldn't just sit there and try to go to bed, and I couldn't wait for who knows how long until Shakes arrived, which left me one option: I would go alone and find Vinyl myself.

I wouldn't bring anypony else into this, I already know how hectic its made my life. I trotted over to my dresser and rummaged around, looking for something to wear. My bow tie was like a part of me, always there no matter where I was or what the season was. In a way, I guess they were like Vinyl's glasses; only removing them rarely for a few occasions. I finished putting on my bow tie and now I was ready.

I trotted out my door, though I didn't know where she was, I had an idea on who could help me find her. Though I was sure he wouldn't like it anymore than I would.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I had gone down to the barracks to blow off some steam, and well, I did succeed in doing so. It felt great too, especially when I pretended those wooden targets that I buck across the room where the head of either a certain obnoxious mare or a stupid stallion. I had spent around thirty minutes down in the barracks doing nothing but knocking a wooden target into pieces, fixing it, and repeating the process. A couple of others decided to look on, but most left and continued about their business after about the third time. Some called out cheers and words of motivation, other did the opposite and asked me to stop, but I ignored them for both my sake and theirs.

It wasn't until a familiar voice got my attention that I stopped.

"Bigs." I heard a voice, one that I was recently pretending to stomp into the ground, call from behind me.

I turned to face him and his wrath for something that I did to Vinyl's friends, or something else similar to that.

"Yes master?" I near spat at him, only giving him a fraction of my attention as I cast him a glance over my shoulder

"I wanted to..." He trailed off and even began to look strained, a rare sight from him, and it was because of this that he gained the rest of my attention and I turned to face him.

"I wanted to...to thank you."

What?

Now this was odd. I know it sounds weird that I think of a simple thank you as weird, but coming from him, it was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. He never thanked anyone, he was not reliant at heart, but had others do his bidding. He basically counted them as just extensions of himself; to him, this was like thanking himself.

"Thank me?" I re-asked to make sure I hadn't misheard him.

"Yes...I asked you to bring her to me...and you did, so I have to thank you." He seemed almost reluctant to thank me, but it was a thank you, so I didn't push my luck and ask for more. I did want to know one thing however.

"What are you going to do with her?" I asked.

I didn't care what it was, I just wanted to know what it was. I wanted to make sure that my three comrades, who still might be alive, were worth it.

He cracked a smile and chuckled as he turned his head away from me and started towards the exit until he stopped at the doorway.

"This is about your brethren isn't it?" He asked. "Wanting to make sure that all that time, effort, and lives that were put into getting her was worth it." He said as he turned and looked me in the eyes.

"You may have subdued her, Bigs, but you have yet to see what she can really do." He, once again, turned away and started out the door.

"Oh," He spoke out on last time. "Don't worry about your comrades, you'll be getting a new, and much better, one soon."

Author's Note

Came up a bit short on this chapter, took a day off too so that's why it's Sunday.

Manipulation

*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*

"Come on...just a little harder..." I said in a whisper of concentration and strain as a pulled hard on a small brick that stuck the slightest bit out of a wall, my hind hooves now up on the wall to provide additional strength.

That was how desperate my search had become; down to devoting nearly all my strength to pulling on brick that was just barely sticking out of the wall in the hopes that, by some stroke of luck, it just so happens to be a secret exit. I had checked everywhere at least twice, and some places around five times, thoroughly, yet all my attempts came up empty with the exception of stubbing the occasional hoof. Not only that, but I also had to be wary of the still sleeping Bigs in the other room not but a couple dozen feet away.

A sudden pain swelled in my chest and I let go of the brick instinctively, falling down onto the stone floor and landing on my back hard enough to knock the wind out of me for a few seconds. Fortunately, I could only let out a silent grunt of pain thanks to the same fall and lack of breath.

I moved my hooves up to my chest and held it until the pain slowly died down and I could move once more.

As I got up, however, my hoof clipped on something, which caused my to fall back down once more, this time on my stomach, and that didn't fell to good. I let out another groan of pain, this one being a lot louder than the last breathless one.

I pushed my body over and let out a pained sigh, picking my self up once more and not moving at the fear of tripping again while I scanned the ground for the source of me falling in the first place.

There, a slightly bulging lump forming on the thin carpet that covered the floor.

I leaned a little bit to inspect the lump, but ended up grabbing the edges of the carpet and pulling the whole thing off just to get a better idea of what exactly it was.

What I found made my heart flutter a little.

A small iron loop, connected to a hinge that was hooked onto a small square door made of wood. I moved a hoof up to the loop and grabbed it, rearing back and pulling in an aggressive way that did nothing but make my shoulder hurt. I gave it a few more tugs, but only got the same result from the aged door.

I gave out one more annoyed sigh before plopping down onto my haunches, my head hanging low and my eyes wandering.

A large, black spear came into view, and an idea popped into my head as well as a smile of renewed effort creeped its way across my face.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The door flung open with a loud, metallic sound; the sound of a rusty piece of metal grinding against another before giving out and popping painfully open. My head swiveled over to the door way to see if I had woken anyone, but after a few seconds of silence, I turned back to my prize. I took some time to set the black spear gently onto the ground before actually getting to my reward, but I was anxious to get to it none the less.

My head peeked over the edge of the hole in the ground, peering down into a nasty looking fall downwards into nothing but pure darkness. I then moved my tongue around in my mouth before spitting out a gob of spit into the hole, quickly readjusting my ear close to it and waiting for sound of the distinct sound of my saliva hitting a surface of some sort.

...

It finally hit, about five seconds if I had to guess, which was a pretty long drop if you asked me. Luckily, there was a ladder that led downwards into the darkness; a rusted, dangerous, unstable, and untrustworthy looking ladder.

Perfect.

I was already mentally prepared to go down the hole after a minute of self encouragement, but an image out of the corner of my eyes stopped my just before I hopped onto the ladder and started my decent.

The weapons.

"Well I can't just leave all of you here could I?" I spoke to myself, trotting over to the racks and plucking the occasional off until I had about three set out in front of me.

The next thing I searched for was something to carry the weapons, and I knew that most barracks and armories had some form of way to transport or hold weapons for anyone needing to do so. I took a quick search and found a few straps and holsters, taking a couple extra minutes to strap them on myself and place the weapons inside securely. I turned back to the hole, feeling a bit more confident about venturing down the hole that might not even be a secret exit to begin with, but I felt better going down inside a deep, menacing hole regardless with a dagger, short spear, and small sword with me.

I put my hind hoof on the first step of the ladder, hearing the rusty metal groan under the weight it wasn't use to having on it, and probably hadn't had on it for who knows how long. The way the rust looked it could have been a few years or decades even. I put my other hoof down and felt the groaning increase, but I pressed on and kept taking steps down until only my neck was still outside of the hole. I then reached my hoof around and pulled the trap door shut; better to have it closed than wide open, though I suppose the carpet would still be pulled up, but I guess better that than nothing.

I pulled the trap door over and took a few steps down the ladder to close it firmly, letting my weight do most the work on closing the old door. As soon as the door shut, the light ceased to exist inside the small hole leading downwards, making a claustrophobic feeling swell inside my head. But I pushed on and began my decent downwards, taking my time in placing my hoof firmly on the next step on the ladder to minimize my chances of falling.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Bigs...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I was stock still; I had the feeling that someone was hovering near my bed, which was making my body seize up. You learn how to tell when these types of things after you stay in the barracks for awhile. Well, it was that, and the fact that I heard the door shut and no one getting angry at me for sleeping on the job; they always get mad at me for sleeping on the job, and if it's not one of my superiors, then its an underling, and they will tell me the consequences.

Every time.

Which is why I seized up, the fact that I heard someone enter, come down the steps, pause, try and sneak into the armory, and then try to sneak back over to me before pausing over my bedside was something that tends to take someone aback.

"For Vinyl..." They whispered.

I recognized the voice immediately as Shakes, but I almost doubted it. Why would she be here in the castle? I deduced that if she was here, then Vinyl would be too. But if she is in here, in the barracks, and hovering over me, then she was probably intent on killing me. I was prepared to react, but the sound of her picking up that picture I had at my bedside stopped me.

I hesitated.

'What is she doing with that old thing?' I asked myself.

I heard the picture set back down and the sound of another attempt at sneaking out of the room and into the armory, then, a bunch of rustling and moving.

It went on for a long time, exactly how long I wasn't sure, but it was long enough to start and give me a cramp from staying so still. It sounded like she were turning over the entirety of the room. She was even speaking to herself during the time, but eventually she stopped moving after a big thump. I assumed she had fell.

It was silent, and then another thump.

'Really? Again?' I deadpanned in my head.

There was some then some struggling and the sound of something being ripped open, judging by the sound of that rusty grinding, it was that old door we had that led down to the waterways. There was lingering and then the sound of a couple clacks of metal, and eventually the sound of the hatch being slammed back down onto the ground.

I was up in an instant, moving towards the armor to see that she had thrown the rug off the floor and had left the hatch slightly cracked up; the rust that had build along its frame stopping it from closing completely.

I wasn't entirely sure what to think of it, or whether I should help her like a certain feeling in my gut and head were telling me, or stick to my loyalty and expose her, and possibly her friends, to my master. It was a conflict that raged for awhile in my head, but regardless of what the answer was, I had one thing on my mind right now.

I moved to the hatch and pressed my front hooves, pushing down hard and hearing the rust grind before giving way and ramming into place.

'That should give her a bit of a scare.' I thought, chuckling a bit at the image of her scrambling and nearly falling off the ladder. She always had gotten the slightest but jumpy in tight spaces. But who doesn't? Especially dark ones.

I moved over and grabbed the rug, pulling it back over the hatch and making sure to pat out any lumps to make it look as though no one had even touched, or been anywhere near, the exit.

"Good luck Shakes," I whispered, "you're gonna need it if you plan to try and do what I think you are."

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The hole led down to a place that was hot and hard to breath in, the only source of air being a few grates every dozen feet or so, which also doubled as a light source. The place I landed in was just a long corridor-like hallway with river thing full of flowing water that was placed down the dead middle of the two stone paths on each side.

Basically, it looked like a sewer, which would explain the hard to breath atmosphere. But it lacked the smell of the sewer; the air in here was only hot and stuffy instead of disgusting.

I heard a loud bang come from up above and my head jolted upwards to check for any sign of light, or anyone coming down.

Fortunately, there wasn't any, but the loud bang kept me a little on edge.

'Best not to think about it too much.' I thought, readjusting my focus to the path ahead of me.

There was only two ways to go: forwards, and back. There was a little debate in my head, but I remembered some common sense that helped me decide. Water flows down stream, and most sewers, or sewer like things, lead the water to an exit. So by that logic, if I follow the water, I'll get to the exit.

I reached up and gave my head a pat.

"Good job brain." I whispered, starting a slow creep forwards in my search of an exit.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Sweeps...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

"Vinyl, for the love of Celestia, please stop pacing." I asked the Vinyl with a hint of annoyance in my tone.

She had been walking around a distressed trail in the ground ever since Octavia and my sister left. Of course, she didn't respond, she just kept walking her small oval like trail into the ground with a look on her face that makes the expression 'worried beyond belief' look like an understatement. Her restlessness raised a few suspicions on my half, the main one being what was running through her head. I was pretty sure it was how badly her little marefriend could get hurt, and maybe even my sister too.

"Would you at least answer me?" I asked in desperation to get some form of reaction out of her.

Of course, she didn't. She hadn't the last few pleas either, so why should she now?

I let out a huff and turned away, intent on leaving myself to my own thoughts and letting Vinyl tend to hers.

Minutes went by and nothing but the sound of Vinyl's pacing filled the air as she continued to trot back and forth feverishly. My nerves were nearing their edges from the continual sound of shuffling dirt when suddenly, it stopped.

That was enough to make my head turn, only to see Vinyl standing stock still with her head raised up. Her ears were pricked up as well, even the edges of her eyes were at full attention and arching over her glasses the slightest. She had paused with her body facing towards the forest up the hill, seemingly waiting for something with a look of something like panic in her eyes.

"Vinyl?" I asked, curious about why she had stopped her pacing.

She didn't respond, only continuing to stare blankly into the treeline.

"Someones coming." She said simply, still unmoved.

"W-what?" I stuttered in disbelief.

"I can hear 'em; the sound of twigs breaking and stuff." She said, the tops of her eyes creeping back down below the tops of her glasses.

"What do we do? There's nowhere to hide." I said trying, and for the most part failing, to keep my cool.

"Well, since we can't hide, there's really only one option." She said calmly, grinding a hoof into the ground for some reason.

"Teleport?" I asked, the idea popping into my head at the same time the words left my mouth.

"What if Shakes comes back when they are walking down the hill?"

"Vinyl the odds of that happening are li-"

"Too big, I agree." She interrupted me with a smile.

'Jeez, it's like she wants to fight them or something.' I thought, but I knew that there was no convincing her when she came down to decision. It was a little thing that I saw about Vinyl that a lot of others, my sister included, failed to pick up.

She was rather stubborn. Scratch that, extremely stubborn.

"I'm guessing your plan is to stay here and fight?" I asked rhetorically, but with a small hope that she would answer 'No.'

"Yep." Of course it was. Why would I think otherwise?

The sound of snapping twigs and rustling leaves came into the range my hearing ability, which meant that they were close. Real close.

Sure enough, the curtain of leaves up at the top of the hill ripped open and let a group of about five pass through; a unicorn, two pegasi, and two earth ponies. Each one was barely armored compared to the guards from earlier, so that was a plus. But on the down side, there was five of them, and now only two of us.

Vinyl, out of the corner of my eye, plopped down on her haunches with a rather frightening smile on her face and pushed up her glasses a bit to cover her eyes more. Meanwhile, I was practically shaking as I turned back towards them. They had already made it half way down the hill, and a couple of heads were already locked dead on us. I even saw one of them lean over and tap the others on the side to point us out.

I turned back to face Vinyl again, only to see her still with her cool demeanor once more. It did a little to sooth me with how clam and confident she seemed, but I was still a bit scared regardless.

The sound of hooves drew closer, and I knew that they could only be a few dozen feet away by now. The voice that followed said hoof-steps confirmed it for me.

"How you guys doing?" I heard Vinyl ask, smiling all the way.

"And who might you two be?" A dull and scratchy voice asked, clearly curious and defensive.

I turned to face the five piercing gazes. However, one of them was bent off to the side and eying the two bodies we hadn't bothered to hide. We hadn't exactly planned on a group returning from the forest.

"Believe we got lost?" Vinyl asked, making notice of the one stray gaze.

The only response she got was four of them dropping low into a defensive posture after they followed the one stallions raised hoof.

"Didn't think so." Vinyl said sheepishly.

"Come on, let's make this easy on you two, shall we?" The lead stallion said with a cocky smile. The smile soon faded as he barely managed to jolt his head in time to avoid a lightning quick blast of neon aimed at his head. The shot, obviously, being shot from Vinyl, who was still sat on her haunches, with a smile growing across her face.

'Jeez, she must be eating this up.' I thought, and I would have rolled my eyes too, but I was to busy watching every movement the group made.

I never have been a fighter, that was Shakes's job.

"Didn't think so." He said, dropping low with his companions.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The furthest to the right of the five charged, clearly aimed towards Vinyl.

Vinyl didn't bother to move until the last second when the stallion jumped at her, all hooves leaving the ground. It was then that she simply let herself fall backwards, letting the stallion fly right over her. After that, Vinyl's haunches winded up and she let loose a wild kick to the soft under belly of the stallion that sent him up a few feet and a couple feet off to the side, his breath audibly being knocked out of him.

All of us were shocked by it, my mouth hanging slightly agape.

Slowly, like how one would imagine a vampire from their coffin, she raised back up with a little giggle that threw the mood off entirely, but that didn't make it any less scary. In fact, it probably made it a bit more frightening that she simply laughed at taking out one of them with a single kick so playfully.

"Next." She said simple, and almost enthusiastically.

The leader nodded to the others, the pegasi spreading their wings and taking to the sky while the unicorn disappeared in a flash of dim purple. The leader dug his hooves into the ground and was clearly prepared to stand his ground as his eye burned into Vinyl's glasses, which only seemed to block the intimidation his gaze.

While Vinyl presumably returned the gaze, I couldn't tell with her glasses, I turned and scanned for the unicorn that had disappeared; the two pegasi over head getting an occasional glance of caution. Despite my effort, I couldn't find her, and the sound of whistling wings drew my attention to the single pegasus dive bombing down at me from over head.

I scrambled to get out of the way, but he only readjusted their course to hit me.

Suddenly, a blue flash knocked into them with a force strong enough to knock them entirely off course and send them tumbling into the ground.

The shot, as I found out as I refocused back to the white mare, was fired by Vinyl, who had broken the gaze and was still looking up at where she had knocked the stallion out of the air.

'When did she get this type of skill?' I thought to myself, thinking back to the encounter with Bigs at the bar when she was near helpless to him.

"Now!" The voice of the leader shouted, drawing my attention back to him just in time to see a bolt of purple whiz towards Vinyl at a dizzying speed.

"Vinyl! Look out!" I tired to warn her, only to have her turn her attention around just in time to get hit firmly in the side of the face by the blast of purple which withered away upon contact.

The impact was enough to make her slide a bit on the ground, the dirt piling up around her tail as she slid before she began to drop forwards. She barely managed to catch herself with one of her hooves as she nearly crumpled over on the ground.

Taking advantage of her downed position, the remaining pegasus started an accent upwards, seeming to stall at the peak of her height before doubling back and speeding down at Vinyl.

I focused on the shape of sphere, my horn aimed at Vinyl as I closed my eyes and grit my teeth in concentration. I peeked my eyes just in time to see the faint, flickering orb begin to envelope Vinyl.

The remaining mare, seeing this newly formed shield, pulled up and started upwards to the sky again and began circling us again like a vulture circling a helpless animal. I let out a sigh of relief at the sight, only to have it wiped away at the sound of the leader yell out another order.

"Again! Shoot again!" He screeched.

A bush far off, near where the five of them entered in the first place, lit faintly with a purple aura just before a blur of purple was shot out towards. I watched as it hurdled closer, my brain processing the information and my body reacting to it in the nick of time to hit the deck as the purple glow flew past where my head was and hit the ground behind me. I turned to see that the shot of magic was enough to make some of the ground erupt and char.

The shot had stole my concentration and the orb covering Vinyl dropped, leaving her exposed.

"The white one's exposed! Fire!" He ordered to the unicorn sniping from the bush, who did just what he said.

Time seemed to slow as the blotch of purple hurdled towards her and my concentration focused on reforming the orb over the still downed Vinyl. The way it looked, the sniper was going to succeed and hit Vinyl dead between the eyes.

Time restored to it's normal fluency, and everything sped up, including my orb forming and the shot of violet streaking in just in time.

I watched as Vinyl's body fell backwards limply, her smile vanishing as she hit the ground and stirred up a little dirt upon impact on the inside of my barrier that had formed to late. I trembled as I processed the scene, the barrier around her flickering and falling as the sound of smug laughter filled the air.

The lead stallion's laugh amplified as I ran over to the fallen white mare, but something strange happened on my run over. Something strange enough to make the stallions laugh stop.

I noticed that a smile crept onto her face as her body began to envelope in blue.

"Gotcha." She whispered as she faded away with a weak chuckle, leaving the stallion swiveling his head from side to side.

Even the pegasus above seemed confused, so much so that she had stopped her evasive maneuvers to avoid the same fate of her companion.

A sudden flash of blue ripped through the bush, sending the body of a familiar sniping unicorn through it and to the edge of the hill where she scurried to get on her hooves. She was tripped up by a white hoof, belonging to another unicorn who's horn lit and picked a branch of a nearby tree, bringing it by to float idly.

I couldn't see it, but I was sure the grounded unicorn's eye were full of fear as the branch lifted up and came flying down to make a nasty looking hit with the side of her head. It wasn't enough to killer her, I think, but it was definitely enough to make her stop her struggling and go limp. Her other two companions were beginning to look like nothing now.

Vinyl seemed unstoppable and almost feral; She took a head shot from a magical blast and laughed it off. Now I'm no expert, but I'm going to assume that's not how one should react to pain.

Her horn charged as she began a slow walk down the hillside, on a direct course with the leader who was now backing a way slowly. A dim neon shot was fired out of her horn like a mortar, aimed towards the flying pegasus.

She seemed to see the shot and began an easy evasion, but the single bolt unexpectedly split into a rain that covered the sky in a haze of bright blue. Of course, she was grazed by some of the shots, but one of them hit her directly and sent her plummeting down head first. Though, it looked like she evened out in time before she hit the ground, the cloud of dirt sent up where she landed said otherwise.

Vinyl continued her slow walk, headed towards the lead stallion that was seized up with fear.

The distance was closed slowly and they were soon face to face, smudged purple shades and trembling red eyes now seeming to mix with one another. A quick punch was thrown by the stallion in a poor attempt to hurt Vinyl, but she only let it hit her face firmly, and even seemed to tilt her head so it hit harder. The impact was met with a smile and a lightning quick strike from a white hoof that sent the stallion to the ground and off to the side a few feet.

The same white mare was returning to me when a look twisted onto her face and she pointed.

"Look out!" She shouted, causing me to turn just in time to have a hoof hit me dead in the face and a darkness sweep over me.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*~~~*

My hoof splashed into a puddle in the darkness, making me draw it back suddenly and shake it.

"Ew." I shivered as I scraped my hoof against the ground to try and get some of the sewer water off. Even if it wasn't dirty in the slightest, just the prospect of it being sewer water was enough to make me shiver whenever I came into contact with it.

A sudden barrage of thumps pounded from over head, something hitting the ground above with enough force to make small pieces of stone come crumbling down. I was still for a moment, ready to avoid any bigger pieces of stone, but none came and I eased up. I was curious about what on Equestria could cause that much damage, so I hurried my search for an exit and went from a casual walk to a hurried jog.

After a hoof full of turns, I took one that led to a hallway that ended with dead end and a shut door in the center of the wall. Willing to take any door I saw, and this being the first I had seen, I trotted quickly over to it and grasped the handle and gave it a tug. The door screeched open and a crack of light beamed in just as I could tug no more.

'Light...that's good.' I thought, gripping the handle again with a new found strength and giving it another mighty tug, this time pulling it open to make have the door opened about half a foot.

It still wasn't enough to fit me through though, so I pulled again, this time feeling the door give way and suddenly fly open all the way to reveal a wall of vines hanging down in front of it.

I was quick to push them aside and trot through, only to find myself at a side entrance of the castle that was tucked away behind a hill. I ascended the hill quickly to get an over view in the hopes of spotting whatever it was that had hit the hill above the tunnel, but I was to late and the field in front of me was plain.

Except for two figures still standing, and many others collapsed.

One of the standing figures shot a blur of neon blue at the other, knocking them down and back a few feet.

'Vinyl...' My mind deduced, eye going wide at the color of the magical blast and my hooves jolting forwards at full sprint.

'Sis...' A second thought chimed in, making my hooves move faster as they galloped across the field and encouraging me to ignore the swelling pain in my chest.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

I slowed down, my breath heavy and panting as I got close enough to Vinyl, who was bent over my sister with a look of panic on her face. I wanted to rush over there as well, but the burning in my chest had become something better described as a wild fire, and my hooves felt the same way. I was practically limping when Vinyl turned around, her teeth gritting at the sight of me and her horn charging up violently.

"V...Vinyl..." I panted, trying to tell her it was me.

She seemed to pick up on it and her charge faded, just as her expression did, becoming something more close to pity and relief as she trotted quickly over to help me close the rest of the way between me and my sister. I was to tired and enveloped with examining my sister to care about her change in magical color, and instead pushed a hoof up against her neck to feel a pulse and let out a sigh of relief.

"Wait..." A voice from behind me said, "where's Tavi?" Panic was growing on her voice, but I knew she would only pry if I kept it from her.

"Got...separated...she...had to see...'Master'" I said, leaning back and panting hard.

I didn't look at her, but I knew her eyes grew and her mouth dropped the second I said the words. Sure enough, I turned and saw the exact expression on her face, but it was changing quickly. Her head lowered slightly and her mouth dropped to a frown, and then to a enraged grit of the teeth, giving the streak of blood she had coming down her face a rather menacing look. She turned on her hooves, starting an angered and slow trot towards the castle.

"Vinyl...wait..." I panted, but she didn't hear me, and even if she did she would have ignored me.

Her horn lit, a charge of deep and dark blue, nearly black in color, curled around her horn like a snake that made my eyes expand. I was only able to say two words thanks to my condition, but I'm pretty sure I would have only said them even if I was fully rested.

"Oh no."