They stepped out of Twilight’s car in front of a very large mansion. Twilight had called ahead and lightly explained the situation, therefore the armed guards only pointed their weapons at her rather than turning her into a pile of flesh and scrap.

“Warmer reception than I expected.” Vinyl said with a tired smirk, seeing two people she recognized as Princess Celestia and Luna. Celestia had a warm smile on her face, Luna’s face was neutral.

“Well, Seeker, you certainly don’t look like a biomechanical monstrosity; you look like a girl about to fall over from exhaustion. Stand down, guards, she will do us no harm.” Celestia said. The guards all lowered their weapons with varying levels of hesitation. Twilight led her up to where they stood at the top of the marble stairs leading to the front door.

“Running from authorities trying to shoot you before you’ve done anything for a week straight does that to you…” Vinyl said. Celestia seemed slightly surprised by that, or something similar to surprised.

“You aren’t in our logs, so it can’t be that you were recognized, did you provoke them?” She asked.

“Of course not, I never do. It’s my eyes, nobody but Seekers have glowing eyes according to them… They just start yelling and shooting when I run.” Vinyl replied.

“Have you ever tried not running?” Luna asked, her tone flat.

“Once.” Vinyl answered, pulling up the white tank under her open hoodie to reveal a rather nasty scar. “My Biometal mimics flesh and skin, so it scars. I have plenty more from you guys, not just from trigger happy cops.” She continued.

“That’s illegal technology.” Luna said with a bit of annoyance, as if Vinyl was a pest she wanted to get rid of.

“She’s a snatch victim, and she’s obviously not brainwashed. She didn’t choose this.” Twilight retorted. Vinyl wondered why the girl stood up for her, and by her look Luna was wondering the same.

“She has a point, Sister. By the sound of it she hasn’t abused her augments, We’ve already got a team scouring the records for a Seeker matching her description.” Celestia started to Luna and then turned to Vinyl and Twilight. “She is your responsibility, Twilight. She is exhausted, show her to the guest room, we can question her later.” She continued. Twilight nodded and beckoned for Vinyl to follow with her head. She heard Luna say something to Celestia, but didn’t dwell on it.

“A week straight of constantly running, is that true?” Twilight asked as they walked through the halls.

“I don’t have a reason to lie… It’s either cops, thugs or chasers that find me every time I relax or try to sleep, so I stopped trying.” Vinyl replied. Twilight led her into a room with the best best she’d ever seen, complete with an actual pillow. Her body suddenly felt all of the exhaustion she was trying to suppress and she nearly fell over.

“You… alright?” Twilight asked as Vinyl wavered a bit where she stood. The Seeker nodded and started walking towards the bed.

“If you want I’ll have your clothes washed, and I don’t know if you can or not but you can bathe when you wake up. If it’s not too personal, though, exactly how extensive are your augments if you were snatched? I’ve seen that even Seekers normally don’t willingly go too far.” Twilight asked. Vinyl answered by stopping before she reached the bed and stripping down to nothing. Twilight was surprised and fascinated to find that the girl’s body had no major features. She strangely enough had a belly button, but her breasts were smooth and she had nothing noticeable below her waist.

She semi-neatly gathered her clothes consisting of just the hoodie, tank and loose cargo pants, left her boots next to the bed, handed the clothes to Twilight with a thank you and proceeded to practically pass out on the bed. Twilight watched her for a little while and decided that not even a gunshot in the room would wake her up.

“How is she?” Celestia’s voice startled the girl when she left the room.

“Completely out, I have a feeling we’ll be lucky to talk to her even tomorrow…” Twilight replied.

“I’ve heard that Seekers can gather information even while they sleep.” Luna said, who was standing behind Celestia.

“Either way we still need to be cautious with this girl, she is still a Seeker.” Celestia said.

“Agreed. Why do you have her clothes, by the way?” Luna asked.

“I offered to wash them for her. Seeker or not she’s a guest in this house, I’d like to show at least some semblance of hospitality. I don’t think she’s lying about anything, personally.” Twilight replied.

“Why? Hospitality or no she is still a Seeker. Until she is proven to be harmless she should be treated as a dangerous entity. We’re Chasers, not laundry maids.” Luna said. Celestia gave her a bit of a look and she sighed, but Twilight seemed agitated.

“She’s not the only one who’s been forced into a body she didn’t ask for, Princess, and I’d like to believe that Seeker or no she’s still a good person. She’s given me no reason to believe otherwise.” The girl nearly growled and walked off, her agitation evident in the way she walked. Celestia sighed and looked at her sister.

“That was a bit cold, Luna. This girl revealed her entire arsenal to Twilight, since when has any undercover Seeker done that?” Celestia said. Luna sighed and put her face in her hand, shaking it slightly.

“Alright, I’ll try to keep an open mind with her… after we’re done with the background check.” She said. Celestia rolled her eyes and they went their separate ways.

Twilight was right, it was early in the morning the day after next when Vinyl finally woke up. Twilight was in the room maintaining gear, cleaning weapons and a few pieces of what looked to be biometal armor, when Vinyl silently awoke and slowly sat up.

“It’s about time you woke up, I was starting to think you’d gone comatose.” Twilight said, noticing when the girl stood up. Vinyl stared at the girl for a while, before Twilight could ask what was wrong the Seeker slowly walked towards her and gently took Twilight’s arm in her hands.

“What are you…” The girl started. Vinyl saw that the flesh was Biometal, like her own, and she saw the telltale lines of major augments all around the girl’s torso; she was only wearing a loose tank at the moment.

“Are you like me?” Vinyl asked. Twilight seemed a little surprised by the question, but she shook her head. “But you said you didn’t choose this, I dream what my senses detect while I sleep.” Vinyl continued. Twilight gave her a look at that, but stood up and looked at her biometal flesh for a moment.

“You were snatched by Seekers, I was torn apart by an explosion following a very bad accident caused by a firefight between Seekers and the local authorities. The Seekers got a hold of my body, found that I was still alive and turned me into their own frankenstein project. I was ‘Liberated’ by Celestia and Luna before they could try and brainwash me or erase any of my memories.” She explained. Vinyl looked and saw that where the girl’s real flesh met biometal there was faded scarring.

“So they tried to snatch you?” Vinyl asked. Twilight gave a soft exhale of a laugh.

“You can’t exactly snatch a corpse, they had to restart my heart. I have a lot more flesh and blood than you do, but I know what you’ve gone through…” Twilight replied. Vinyl smiled slightly.

“I think I’d like that shower now, even my biometal is starting to smell of filth…” She said, changing the subject.

“Of course. It’s at the end of the hallway here, I need to go tell Celestia that you’re awake. You’ll find everything you need in there, and your clothes are there.” Twilight answered, finishing by pointing towards where Vinyl’s clothes were neatly folded on a nightstand next to the bed and proceeded to walk out of the room after carefully packing up the gear she was cleaning.

It had been so long since Vinyl had felt clean, let alone warm, water on her body. She stood there under the water and just let it cascade over her for a good ten minutes before she even thought about looking for something to actually clean herself with. She let every alcove, armor plate and compartment open up to allow every single bit of her was cleaned. She found the body wash and the shampoo deific, and even felt a little spoiled to be using conditioner.

She didn’t even react as the door opened and closed.

“I would have expected you to have some technological way to go about cleaning yourself rather than using soap and water…” She recognized Luna’s voice say.

“Even if I did, I wouldn’t want to use it. Clean, hot water and soap is a rarity I’ve rarely been able to partake of. I understand that you don’t trust me, and I understand that you aren’t exactly too fond of me either, I just ask that you give me a chance. I don’t want to make any enemies, and I especially don’t want to make an enemy of you.” Vinyl said as she washed the cleaning products out of her hair.

She turned the water off and grabbed the towel hanging on a rack next to the open curtain and began drying her hair and her face, everything else steamed slightly as the water evaporated. She stood in front of Luna, then, putting the wet towel in the appropriate bin without moving her gaze. They stayed like that for about a minute before Luna sighed and turned.

“Your eyes tell me you’re not lying, and your background check agrees. I still don’t trust you, but I think you can earn it eventually… My Chasers and I will still be watching you, Seeker, but I’m giving you a chance to show me that you’re more than just a Seeker. Twilight will show you to Celestia, she’ll question you about before Twilight found you and what you plan to do in the future, as well as any information you have regarding other Seekers.” Luna explained. She left the room then, Vinyl couldn’t help but let a small smile form.

Author's Note

I feel that with this one there's a lot of visualization, and I never was too good at fine description... Hopefully your guys' imagination can cope with that, and I'm trying to be descriptive where it counts. Hopefully it's not just me.
what do you guys think? and please, if you're gonna leave a dislike at least say why