Filling the Gap

Chapters

Restriction
Irresponsibility
Convergence
Rendezvous
Schism
Fortification
Discovery
Infiltration
Epiphany

Restriction

Octavia walked into her dark hotel room, toting her burdensome cello, and flipped on the light switch. Sufficient light illuminated her allotted room so that she could make her way to the den. It was cozy enough; comprised of four rooms: the kitchen, the den, the bathroom, and her bedroom. It was not as spacious or luxurious as she was used to, yet she was called to Manehatten on such late notice that her manager did not have much time to secure her such an inn. Tired as she was, she was able to reach the den and set her instrument down carefully. She didn’t feel she had enough energy to make it to the bedroom so she simply fell onto the couch in front of her.

She was exhausted from all the events of the day. At four that morning, she was awoken by a call from her manager who said that she had in to be on a train in an hour. When she told him she could never make that, he told her that she was being called to play at some fancy ball in the place of another cellist who had bailed at the last moment. This would be too much for her to pass up as the pay would be enormous. So reluctantly, she dragged herself out of bed, hastily packed up her things, and took time to groom herself. Then she checked out of her hotel in Fillydelphia and took a taxi to the train station.

When she hoped that she could catch some sleep on the train, her manager caught up to her and handed her a complicated score of sheet music which she would have to memorize before her arrival. She would then have to grace the guests of the ball with music along with other musicians throughout the day. Though she was a grown-up mare, being fully mature and conducting herself in a matching manner, the filly inside of her wanted to pout and go back to sleep. She didn’t even like the music. It was far too base for her tastes. Yet she reminded herself that she was an artist, and art takes no prisoners and shows no mercy. She had a duty to perform that had to be done. So she labored during her journey to ready herself for her job. The rest of the day was not easy, but it was simple. All she had to do was drown out all the meaningless chatter of the ball guests and concentrate on the sound of the instruments.

Rain began to fall as Octavia was on her way to the hotel. By the time she lay on the couch, it had become a storm. Periodically, the faint sound of thunder could be heard in the distance, but the black sky was without even the faintest glimpse of bright lightning. The rain tattered against the glass window of the den continuously and consistently. This sound went on in the background as she pondered the events of the day.

As sleepy as she was, sleep evaded her. Her mind was too filled with a cacophony of emotion and thought. She disapproved very much of how she had been treated that day. It was not how she believed a mare of her talent should be treated. It wasn’t so much that she lost sleep. She had become used to that. Nor was she terribly agitated over her accommodations. In truth, what really vexed her was that she had no say in the matter. She was told to play at a ball and she could not argue about it.

She had not become a musician to play for people’s enjoyment. She had become a musician to express herself. Her mind had been filled with such pent up emotion just begging to be released in some form for as long as she could remember. It built up in her and continued to increase in mass, but her mind was only so big. She couldn't hold it in forever. Then she found music. Then she found the cello. She heard its sound in the newly built music hall of her small country town in Germaney. Its sound captivated her at the first of its notes. When she heard the cellist play, she didn’t just hear noise. She heard emotion being poured out in understandable form. It was from that first hearing that she knew that she had to become a mistress of that instrument. If she was able to do that, she would surely be able to release the emotion which had been threatening to burst from her.

For a time, she was able to do that. Yet she soon found that expressing her emotion would not be enough to sustain herself financially. So she took a job as a musician for hire, and gained a deal of stability. Her life had suddenly become incredibly predetermined. She was told where she would perform and what music she would play. She was also told she that could abide by those rules or she could go find a new job. That was that.

By taking a job, she had gained order for herself. She did not hate this order. Order kept things safe. It made it so she didn’t have to worry about when she would have her next meal. Yet she was finding that as order increases, freedom decreases, and her heart was crying out for freedom. That is what she had been seeking all along. Those emotions she fostered were not uncaused. She had a reason for them. When she was sad, it was because she had been denied a privilege that she heard the rich had. When she was happy, it was because she had something that the upper classes did not. And when she was motivated, it was because she desired to attain the same rights as a noble mare.

She had fallen in love with the cello at first because it helped her to convey those thoughts. But as she became older, she tried all the harder to master it so that she could be recognized for her efforts. If she was recognized, maybe she would be respected and placed on the level of the nobles; not to be looked down upon as some poor country filly. Though as time passed, she realized that the power of music would not alone be enough to break the chains of social class, and she fell into a period of deep depression.

It was in that time though, that she was reminded of her true love, music. She was reminded that music was the gate that released the despair building up in her heart. So she composed several instrumental pieces to express her feelings. In the process of composing that music, she found something beautiful. Music in itself was freedom. Through the sound of music, she could manipulate the way she saw the world around her. The notes of her music were like the words of a story. The stories that she wrote completely immersed her in a reality that was amazing. It was in the heat of composition that she was placing the stars in the sky of her world, and it was in the euphoria of playing the music she had written that the sun shined its light onto her world; illuminating everything in it.

Though as wonderful as that freedom was, it was only an escape. Her reality was only imagination for everypony else who heard her music. Moreover, she had not had time in many years to compose her own music. She had been living in the cruel, demanding world outside. In this world, she was trapped in a cage and paraded around Equestria like a trained monkey; performing perfunctory music that had no meaning or substance. In music she had found freedom, but in the world outside of music, she had only found restriction. Now she was not permitted to play the music she desired to play before anypony.

As these thoughts chaotically cycled through her head, her vexation soon turned to sadness; the sadness that only comes from the acceptance of defeat. She was caged in where she was by the demands of her flesh, and there was no escape for her. For an hour, she wrestled with this agony; trying to opt for the comfort of sleep. Finally, when she realized that she could not prevail over sleeplessness, she sat up. Placing her hooves on her face, she gave into the onslaught of her misery; coming to the brink of tears.

But then she remembered her cello. She recalled the instrument of music and release. It had not left from her. Tenderly, she took it out of its case and held it up. Without any effort, she forced the pandemonium within her to conform to tangibility. Very soon, she began to play. With her heart, she weaved a beautiful world, which drowned out all of the darkness of the old one. With her mind, she created music so that anyone who heard it could comprehend without failure the deep emotion that was pent up inside her. And with her body, she played that music so that the world within her became more than a concept. Being released through the action of playing the music, it was then a reality. For an indiscernible period of time, she composed and played the beautiful song. She heard the piano which accompanied her lovely instrument within the halls of her soul. And the music brought the agony which was so violently disturbing her to a resolution.

Thus doing this, she replaced the instrument back in its case, and was able to find deep, restful sleep. It was quite sad though, for the feeling was fleeting. Music could provide a release, but ultimately she was going to fall back into her despair.

Irresponsibility

Vinyl Scratch’s phone let her know it was four in the morning. She grinned. The night couldn’t have gone better. All night, DJ Pon3 had been rocking the party at the best club in Mane, The Underground Lair. She had started slow at around eight. The usual crowd wasn’t there that night; being replaced by a room full of stallions and mares who had probably just entered adulthood. From the way they were all dressed, she guessed many of them had never been seen the fire of a real nightclub. She put on a lively dance track to begin; noticing that the crowd was a little slow to get loose. She smirked and laughed to herself. This was going to be fun. It wasn’t often that she got too see a crowd of noobs go wild.

As time wore on, the clubbers started to have a bit more fun. Gradually the mesmerizing music was wasting away their petty nervousness. While they had originally formed two mobs on either side of the main floor separated by gender, the crowd was now beginning to intermingle. As the next track was drawing to a close, she decided it was now appropriate to bring all the foals out of their comfort zones and put on something a bit more intense. She skipped to one of her personal favorites and let it run. The speed of the music changed the mood in seconds. The noobs at least now were head-banging.

All night she gradually brought up the intensity; slowly working her audience out of their little shells. Within two hours, she had finally succeeded in robbing the whole crowd of any concern for their esteem that they had left. Not only that, but some of her acquaintances and regulars of The Underground were finally starting to show up. Seeing that she had reached the point of zero-restraint, she finally dove into her supply of hardest music and the chaos had been engaged. Then she slowly but steady cranked up the intensity until the rave had begun.

It was now four and the end of her second favorite track was pounding rhythmically in her ears. She only had to stay until two to get paid, but she was having way too much fun to stop now. When the next DJ had arrived, he gladly relinquished a portion of his time for her. The party had passed the zenith of its energy and was now beginning to die down. She guessed it was about time to head out. But she wasn’t going to leave before she had the enjoyment of seeing the reaction to her personal banger. She was going to end her performance with a bang, one that she had personally done.

As the current track began to die out, she couldn’t help but get chills as she found her creation among a pile of trash music, a pearl among the swine, the best that she had yet. She savored the moment and looked out at the crowd. Half of them had had too much cider. It was fine. There was no kind of intoxication that could distract them from what she had ready. She looked at the time remaining on the present track and began to count it down. Thirty seconds to go and every one felt like an eternity.

29 …

28 …

27 …

26 …

25 …

“Hey DJ! You've gotta know something.” Yelled a voice over the music next to her. Vinyl looked up from the clock to see her friend, Aurora Blast. The mare was yellow and had pink hair with black highlights.

She shouted back, “Hey Aurora, can it wait? I’ve gotta finish with this!”

“Sorry, there’s these guys outside that say they’ve been waiting for you.”

“Yeah, them and a hundred other fanboys!” She looked back. There were fifteen seconds left on the clock.

“That’s not what I mean. It’s McCullen and his guys.”

Vinyl suddenly felt like she had been hit in the head with a lead pipe. “What?” She shouted in surprise. “For the love of Celestia!” This, unfortunately, could not be ignored. She looked down and sighed. “Alright, Aurora, do me a favor and hit play for this last song.” The one she was referring to was a cool-down track; not what she was hoping for. She would have to wait for her hard work to be shown off.

Aurora complied. “You got it DJ, but just be careful out there. Do you owe them money again?”

Vinyl was already headed for the door. Reaching the back exit, she pushed it open and stepped into an alleyway. It was dimly lit; the only light coming from a single bulb lamp above the exit and the street lamps on either side of the alleyway. No sooner had she walked out did she find four tall, muscular earth ponies waiting for her. They stood in a semi-circle. Two blocked the left end of the ally, one was on the right, and one was in the center; directly facing Vinyl. The one in the center didn’t appear to be on steroids like the other three, but was nonetheless the talker. His coat was blue and his mane was brown. On his flank was a cutie mark that resembled a cash register. With that accent that she knew all too well, he addressed her. “Ah, here she is, little Vinyl Scratch. But today she’s called DJ Pon3 isn’t she?”

Vinyl knew she had better not waste any time. “Look McCullen, I know it’s been a while, but I can get you your money by next Tuesday.”

“Oh, skippin’ to business already ma filly? Aren’t ye at least glad to see me?”

The white mare didn’t like this. She had known him for a long time and McCullen never made small talk unless he was looking to collect immediately. “Alright, how about this: I’m just about to get paid. Why don’t I give you what I have now, and I’ll give you the rest Tuesday.”

The stallion’s expression changed. He was grinning amiably before, but now his smile was sly. “All right lass, since you're so fixed on talkin’ business so early, I think I might be able to oblidge ye. I’m gonna be real honest with ye lass, I was pretty darn angry at ye for skippin’ town at first. In fact, I got so focused on catching ye, that I spent a load o’ money to do it.” At this, Vinyl was starting to become uneasy. She really didn’t like where this was going now. “But I gotta tell ye, after six months of lookin’ I finally stopped bein’ angry. I just realized that I was gettin’ worked up over nothin’.”

“So why are you here then? You aren’t the type to catch up with old friends.”

“I’m gettin’ to that, me filly. If ye’ll just hold on to your saddle for a second.” He started to walk in a fluid motion back and forth as he spoke. “So, like I was sayin’, out o’ the goodness in me sweet heart, I decided that I’d just forget all about that bygone debt from a year ago. Does that make ye happy?”

This beating around the bush was making her too anxious. “I’m jumping for joy, but that doesn’t explain why you’re here in Mane.”

“Well lass, I forgave your principal debt all right, but there’s just one small problem. Ye see, after the heat of the moment, I looked at all the expenses that I spent tryin’ to track ye down. –Ye should be proud of yourself too. You’re quite a hard filly to catch, ‘spite bein’ so popular- And what I found made be a bit upset. What I discovered was that I spent over thrice the amount tryin’ to get ye, as ye owed me in the first place.”

Vinyl thought, So that’s what he’s here for. This is where I need to start thinking about getting out of here. Her first inclination was to run back through the club. She turned her head slightly to look behind her with her peripheral vision and cursed as she saw that while she was paying attention to McCullen, one of the thugs on her left had moved behind her to block the entrance.

“But don’t go gettin’ all riled up just yet. If ye’ll stand there and listen like a good filly, we won’t have to do anythin’ rash.” She knew he was lying, but she didn’t have much of a choice at the time. She couldn't act immediately. A single unplanned move could spell her doom. “Like I said, I've got a big heart, and I’m willin’ to foget about that money ye owe me ‘cause I've known ye since ye were ten. Even more, I wanna help ye out of this little situation your in.

“When I finally found ye, I asked meself, ‘How can I help out this lass o’ mine?’ So I looked at all ye problems. I remembered all the times that ye’d not paid me back on time, and all the times that ye still came back to me; beggin’ for more even when ye were overdue. And then I said to meself, ‘I think I’ve figured this filly out.’ Ye see I figured out how I can help ye never have this problem again.” Vinyl now had started to form an escape plan. A hundred different ideas were racing through her head, but none of them seemed to work in her situation. “Ye see, since the day your mum brought ye kickin’ and screamin’ into this world, ye’ve been given everythin’ but a good dose o’ discipline.

“Ye can’t hold onto a single bit te save your flank. Ye go on around partyin’ and revlin’ without a care in the world. And ‘cause o’ that, you're never gunna do anythin’ with yer life. And I said to meself, ‘I can’t have this filly runnin’ around like a hoodlum all her life. That would be just insensible.' So then I got to some more thinkin’ and did a little lookin’ around, and to me delight, I think I’ve found a solution that can benefit both o’ us.” Vinyl was running out of time. She had to think of something fast.

“Ye see, I found this good ol’ mare up in Prance, the fancy country. She’s a friend o’ a friend with too much money on her hooves named Madame Domina Trixie and she has a reputation for bringin’ unruly mares such as yerself into line. It was a stroke o’ good fortune that just now she just happens to be lookin’ for a “new toy” like ye as she called it. She also said that if I sent ye to her that she’d give me double the amount that I spent tryin’ to get ye.”

The DJ reeled back in revulsion. “Good Luna,” she said in her head. “I knew this guy was sick, but this takes him to a new low.” Her voice came out low and steady. “All that stress must be going to your head if you think that I’m going to put up with that. You can take your offer to some slut down the street if you’re looking for that kind of mare.”

McCullen grinned wider; showing his teeth. “Sorry lass, Trixie jumped at the chance when I said I had some leverage against ye, and said that she’d only pay me that much for ye, being such a special case, and nopony else.” He took a step towards her. “But don’t ye worry your pretty little head about it. I thought ye might be a bit reluctant to take me offer so easily, despite it being good fer ye. So, I came up with a plan for that too. Ye see if you come quietly now with me and me boys,” He gestured at the muscular stallions who now seemed even bigger than before. “I’ll do ye a favor and send ye to Trixie. But if ye wanna make this difficult on all o’ us, I found another one, a stallion in Germaney who’s not so gentle with his clients. They call him “the mare breaker” and he’ll give me just the same amount for the famous DJ Pon3. I’ve met him in person, and let me tell ye me filly, ye don’t wanna go to him. That’s a mean fella, that one.” He said this with a particularly horrid voice, and then paused. Once more, he spoke with his sly grin. “So, my filly, what’s it gonna be?”

Vinyl looked to the left and right. She was going to have to make a break for it now, but she didn’t like the idea of trying to brush past either of the stallions. They were too big. Maybe she could get around them if she was quick enough, but there was too low of a chance. Her heart started to race, and a drop of sweat appeared on her forehead. Seeing that she had no intention of answering, McCullen finally frowned, and with a sigh, said, “All right boys, looks like she doesn’t wanna do this the easy way. Let’s go.”

At that moment, the thugs which were already close enough to Vinyl moved towards her. Having less than a second to react in time, Vinyl did the only thing that she could think of. She shouted, “Keep back.” She closed her eyes and channeled energy to her horn. A millisecond later, the thugs would have reached her, but even through her closed eyes and heavily tinted sunglasses, Vinyl could see clearly the bright light that emitted from her horn. The four ponies all yelled and staggered backward; blinded. Seizing her chance, Vinyl took off to her right; easily bypassing the senselessly flailing pony. Within two seconds, she reached the end of the alleyway and made a hard left turn.

A moment later, she heard the vile pony yell, “Get after her ye lazy good for nothin’s.” It was late so the streets were completely empty. No chance for help then. She had to gallop fast. She didn’t know how fast those massive guys were, but she didn’t want to take a chance and look back. She could hear the sound of the heavy hooves slamming against the ground; racing towards her with reckless speed. At some points, she feared that she could hear their huffing breathing. Every chance she had, she rounded a corner and cut off their line of sight. She ran as hard as she could for about five minutes.

Finally, she found a cleft around one of the corners of the closely packed buildings in the urban part of Mane. She whipped herself around inside it and crouched against its innermost wall. Having a second to spare, she whipped off her sunglasses with magic and thrust them into her saddlebag. Then she covered her mouth to minimize the noise she made. Within seconds, through the crack of space in front of her, she saw two of the big ones rush past her hiding place. She dared not sigh yet though. She wasn’t in the clear yet. She continued to crouch in the cramped cleft for an agonizing three minutes. She strained her ears the whole time; listening for even the slightest noise. When she experienced silence for three full minutes, she sighed with relief.

Carefully she peaked around the corner. Seeing no sign of her pursuers, she stepped out of the cleft and took a left. As quietly as she could, she stepped nimbly down the streets; doing her best to avoid well lit areas. The entire time she kept vigilant for any sign of life. A few times a bird flew by; causing her to nearly scream, but she was able to remain silent the whole way.

There was no sign of McCullen when she at last approached her apartment, but she still remained stealthy. She didn’t know if he knew where she lived, but if he did, this was where he would expect her to go. Reaching into her saddlebag with her magic and unlocking her door with as little noise as possible, she crept in and shut the door. She didn’t turn on any of the lights yet, but peeked around each corner and looked in every room. The kitchen, bathroom, den, and music room were all clear. Breathing out another sigh, she walked into the den and flipped on the light switch and lay down on the couch.

It had been a rough month for Vinyl Scratch. Though she kept a low profile; finding work where she could without the club announcing her presence, it was difficult for her to remain incognito. That was the third time this month somepony she owed money to had tracked her down. As much as she hated to admit it, McCullen was right: she couldn’t hold onto money for more than a day. Tomorrow she had in mind to either head to a bar and drown herself in cider or buy some new software or equipment for music composition. Either way, the money that she would have made from that night would have been spent in a matter of hours. She sometimes thought about changing her lifestyle. Her constant desire for more action, more fun, had not served her well. Now for a split second, a feeling of regret and longing came over her. The idea came to her that the reason she was living such a lifestyle was that she knew something was missing, and she habitually turned to wild partying to suppress that desire.

Yet quickly she had to bring herself out of the introspection. She didn't have time for self-discovery. It looked like she was going to have to move again. She didn’t know how long it would take for any of her creditors to find her, but she was losing valuable time by the second. She had to grab what she could and move as fast as possible. As much as her tired body protested, she got up and grabbed her mp3 player. She turned it on low volume so that she could listen for any intruders and looked around for her suitcases.

The carefree beat wasn’t calming, but it certainly was diverting. As she packed, the music drained away her troubles. She couldn’t take anything too big with her. She needed to travel lightly. She grabbed some toiletries and cosmetics from her bathroom and then went to her music room to grab her laptop and a couple external hard drives with music and programs on them. She didn’t bother to grab anything more to wear. She could get her saddle and socks later if she needed them, but now she didn’t have time to look pretty.

Pulling one ear bud out, she picked up her cell phone and dialed. She was going to have to call up her only other acquaintance in Mane. After three rings, a male voice answered, “What’s up Vinyl?”

“Hey Midnight, I’m gonna need some help moving my stuff.”

“You feeling like a spontaneous change of scenery?”

“No, McCullen found me and I have to get to Manehatten now.”

There was a pause. “That’s quite a ways to go. How much money do you owe him?”

Vinyl ignored that. “It’s a big city, and it’s far away. No one’ll think to look there for me.”

“You’re gonna move all your stuff across regions in a single night with no movers?”

“I’ve only got three bags, the essentials, which I can carry on my own, but I don’t want to have to fight off more goons and levitate my stuff at the same time. That’s why I need you.”

Midnight sighed. “All right Vinyl, if you really think this is best, I’ll bring you to the train station.”

“Thanks, Midnight.”

“But just don’t go digging yourself in any more holes when you get there.”

“I won’t. How soon can you get here?”

“Ten minutes.”

“Thanks. I owe you one.”

The pony on the other end laughed. “Nope, this is payback for June.” He hung up.

Convergence

Octavia awoke from a dreamless slumber. She gazed out the window and saw that it was still very dark outside. She looked to her left and checked her clock. It was three only in the morning. On any normal occasion, she would have asked herself why she had awoken so early. For that matter, she would have also asked herself why she was wide awake. She had been working all through the day before and she had calmed herself well enough through the music that her head had composed. Everything pointed to the one conclusion that she should now be sleeping peacefully like a foal.

However, she did not wonder about why she was so alert at this hour. She did not know why, but for some reason, she could not shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong. It was so weird, because there was nothing that she could think of that specifically worried her. She had finished her performance yesterday satisfactorily, so she did not have to be concerned with that. She had no other duties to perform so she was sure that she had not forgotten something that she had to do. She was on break after all! Why should she be worrying about some indefinite problem in the middle of the night?

But no matter how much she told herself that everything was perfect and there was nothing to be anxious about, she could not help but abhor an ominous feeling. She knew it was something out of her control. Maybe it was even something of which she had no foreknowledge. A stream of fragmented words went through her head when she tried to label the feeling: Danger, insecurity, flight, ensnared. She could not make sense of the words, because they would not order themselves. Though she tried to impose some sort of harmony on her thoughts, the only result was that she deepened her worry for this unknown problem. Wolves upon their prey, witch with black magic, chains entangling… evil ponies approaching. All throughout the night, Octavia lay awake, dealing with her chaotic and daunting thoughts.

♫ ♫ ♫

Vinyl sat alone in the train bound for Manehatten. With little to do, she checked her phone for the time and saw that it was three A.M. Though she had not slept in over thirty-six hours, the white unicorn was still wide awake. She was very tired, but far too nervous to fall asleep. There was no way that her nerves or her will would allow herself to nod off until she was safely behind a locked door in a non-conspicuous hotel room.

This would not be the first time that she had to run from a creditor, but it was probably the most dangerous. Given what McCullen had done in the past, she could not let her guard down for a second. He would probably pursue her all the way to Neighpon if she fled there. As for completely escaping from him and his goons, she had no clue how she would do it. Her plan now was just to stay off the radar long enough to make a better plan.

It was a scary prospect that she may have to run from him until one of them died or she was captured, as well as a tiring one. Vinyl had been city hopping for too long and settling down in one place sounded pretty great at the moment. She sighed and laid back her head. She was about to let herself fall asleep to have some relief, but caught herself quickly and jumped back up. This is crazy, she thought. I should get some sleep while I can. I don’t have anything to worry about until I get off the train. Still though, her instincts told her that she needed to remain alert.

These worries were not foolish. Outside, a large wagon pulled by two strong and fast earth ponies moved up behind the train. Sitting inside were three equally muscular stallions, two earth ponies and a unicorn, dressed in black combat gear. The unicorn, who was seated in the middle, closed his eyes and his horn began to glow white. After a moment of silence except for the rumbling of the train and the beats of the hooves in front of them, the earth pony on the left asked the unicorn, “Do you have a fix on her, Witch?”

“Give me a moment,” said Witch; his Trottinghamian accent heavily contrasting with his inferior’s Tramplevanian. “I’m still scanning.” The two earth ponies sat patiently for a few more moments in wait as Witch’s horn continued to glow. Then, suddenly the light faded and the unicorn opened his eyes. “Alright lads, the target is in the third car from the rear.” Then shouting to the stallions pulling the wagon, he said, “Pull us alongside the second car.” They quickened their pace and brought them just behind Vinyl’s position. The three stood up and readied themselves.

Witch spoke once more to them. “Well, for all the fuss that McCullen gave, it looks like we’ve got ourselves the easiest target in a while. Said she’d be alert, possibly guarded, but she’s in on the right side, alone, maybe about to nod off.” He looked to his inferior on the left. “Razorblade, you're going to get the door.” And to his right-hoof pony, “Windigo, restrain ’er as soon as it opens. I’ll lock the back escape route. Any questions?” They gave a simultaneous negative and the unicorn looked forward. “Lovely, let’s get it done then. Storm, Blizzard, bring us up to the third and hold steady.”

♦ ♦ ♦

At one point, Octavia tried to soothe herself with music. She rose off of the couch and brought out her cello, intending to play something calming. Unfortunately for her, like the previous night, her thoughts wove together what was on her mind and created a rather disquieting piece. Unlike last night, which had music that flowed and calmed, this music was jerky and even frightening. Without thinking, she started to play as her thoughts became ordered.

The world that the music created was nowhere near as vivid as the last. It was full of shadows and cloaked figures. Though it was not real, she became very afraid as she watched dark events unfold before her. She was deep within a wooded area and everything was under shadow. She saw hooded ponies chasing after and falling upon a mare. They caught her after only a short chase. Then they dragged her, as she screamed inaudibly, towards a black abyss.

Her hooves moved of their own accord as they forced the instrument which once gave her peace to produce maddening horrors. She was no longer their mistress. Her mind had made a story and she just happened to have the tools to write it down. So her mind, a strange creation in itself, took control away from her. As ponies in her life had been doing all along, it forced her into a world of terrors.

The dark scenery of vision-like trance created by her music was daunting, but that was not what made her afraid. It was like the pony being dragged to the abyss was possibly representative of herself. Moreover, although the mare was screaming, she was not struggling to escape. It was as if she had accepted her fate to fall into the abyss and was only lamenting without trying to wriggle out of her captors’ grip.

It was strange that she seemed to have no control over the vision. As a foal, her mother had told her that she could do whatever she wanted in her dreams, so she had nothing to fear from nightmares. Yet this vision created by her own music held the unnerving similarity with her dreams in that she was not so much the director, but only a spectator. As she saw the pitiable mare being dragged towards the pit, she wished that somepony would come to her aid and she tried to imagine that there would be a savior. Alas, nopony came, because her hooves did not change the music. The bestial captors had reached the edge of the cliff.

♦ ♦ ♦

Razorblade, grasped the latch of the outside door made for hooves and threw it open, exposing the car to the loud howl of the wind outside. Wasting no time, Witch sealed the inside door, cutting off any chance of Vinyl’s escape. The mare looked over and had no time to react. Windigo, a burly earth pony, leapt into the train and fell upon her, forcing her onto her back. She tried to lean back and kick him with her hind legs, but he quickly caught hold of them, and bunched all of her hooves together. With a rope he bound them together and rendered her immobile.

Realizing that the worst case scenario had occurred, Vinyl screamed for help, even though she was hard to hear over the wind. Windigo moved aside and Witch, who had jumped in, placed his hoof on her chest and looked at her. Vinyl looked away and frantically tried to focus on his right shoulder (which had a tattoo of the letters “REA”) but the stallion forced her gaze to meet his eyes, which were colored like dried blood. His eyes dilated and his horn glowed once more. Instantly, the two unicorns engaged in a magical battle, the two wills fighting for a chance to cast a spell. Vinyl quickly lost consciousness.

Witch shouted, “Windigo, get ’er out of ’ere.” The stallion lifted the knocked out unicorn and tossed her out of the train into the wagon. As soon as she hit the adjacent car, the leader said, “Clear out.” The two jumped back into the wagon and Razorblade shut the door behind them. Once more to the drivers, Witch said, “Pull us away from the train.”

The ponies did so, and when the rumble of the train was not so loud, he levitated a cell phone out of one of his pouches in his vest. He dialed and waited. A moment later he said, “Punisher, this is Witch. The target is secure.” A second passed. “Copy, I’ll be there soon. Out.” Witch looked to the ponies with him and smiled. “Good work, Gents. Phase one went perfectly. I’m going to teleport back to the hotel and help Punisher with preparations.”

Razorblade asked, “Can’t you just teleport us there with you so we don’t have to make the drive?”

The unicorn responded, “The target’s under a sleeping spell now and she’ll be like that for only an indefinite period of time. It should keep ’er quiet until you get back to the room, but if I use any additional magic, it could affect the timing. We don’t want ’er to wake up until Punisher restrains ’er. She may be tied up, but the daftest assumption you can make is that a unicorn like this one won’t know how to untie herself.”

“Couldn’t you do that?”

Witch smirked. “I can’t do everything. That’s some advanced stuff which isn’t my niche.”

The earth pony sighed. “Fair enough.”

“Right then. Switch on your comms in two minutes. Keep a good eye on the target and alert me if she wakes up.” There was a flash of light and the unicorn was gone.

♫ ♫ ♫

Vinyl heard the faint sound of a male voice with a Tramplevanian accent. “So Windigo, you ever meet this ‘Punisher’ guy?”

It was a cold, strong voice with a Stalliongradian accent that answered. “Da, some crazy ex-REG stallion.”

The mare opened her eyes and saw that she was slung over the back of somepony inside an ascending elevator. Confused, she tried to remember what had happened. She remembered that she had been riding on the train to Manehatten … and then those thugs along with that unicorn had captured her. Good Luna, She thought. This is not good.

The pony who she was on top of continued. “REG? I didn’t know that it was possible to get out of the royal guard once you got in.”

It was good that she had not panicked upon awakening. Her stirring had not alerted them and she now had the drop. Okay, I’m not totally screwed. All I have to do is find a way out of this. She examined her options. She was tied up and in an elevator. When it stopped, she could try to break free, but as before, she wasn’t sure she could get away so easily. She was now certain these weren’t your average thugs. Not being sure of what her captors were capable of, she made the guess that she would have only time for one move. She could break her bonds or she could jerk herself off the pony’s back. After she made that choice, she would have to fight both of them to get away.

The elevator continued to rise and the pony’s continued their conversation about this “Punisher” character. She sighed. If it was just one of them, she may be able to get free. But with two, it didn’t seem possible. On top of that, she didn’t even have a clue where she was.

Razorblade asked, “Which room did Witch say we were going to again?”

“1503”

Well that answers that. She thought. I’m in a hotel. Judging by how long this has been going up I have about twenty seconds until this opens and then the room should be right across the hall. Damn it! That’s no time at all.

Once again, her heart began to race. Despite that estimation, there was no telling how much longer it would be before the elevator opened and then she would have probably under ten seconds to react. One thing was sure: she absolutely could not allow herself to enter that room. If she passed the threshold of that door, it was all over. A few more seconds passed by as she ran the scenario that was about to ensue dozens of times over through her head, but she just couldn’t seem to make it favorable for her. It all cases, she wasn’t going to make it.

The elevator slowed down with almost no warning and came to a halt. To Vinyl’s horror, she heard the sound of the doors opening. This was it. She had to do something now. She’d escape now or go down trying. Windigo stepped out first and Razorblade followed behind him. As soon as his hooves touched the carpeted hallway, Vinyl once more channeled energy into her horn. Once an ample amount was available for use, she funneled it outwards, carefully releasing it with precision so that it was thin and sharp like a blade. Then she brought the energy over the ropes binding her hooves and the magic sliced through her bonds like a knife through butter.

Now free to move, she took the plunge, and with a loud yell, thrust herself off of Razorblade’s back. Finally having realized their captive was awake, the two earth ponies shouted that she was escaping and lunged for her. Vinyl, now on the ground, tried to turn and bolt for the stairwell on the left end of the hallway, but she only had enough time for the former action. Razorblade fell upon the unicorn and grabbed for her hooves while his comrade made his way around to secure the capture once more. Despite the enormous strength and weight of then stallion on top of her, Vinyl made to fight and squirm out from under him. Screaming again, she found her rear legs’ strength and with the fear of would could become of her fueling her body, she lifted herself up along with the heavy stallion and threw him off. Then she once more made her way for the door. Unfortunately, by this time, Windigo had made his way into the action and rammed into her right side, pinning her on the left wall and eliciting a cry of pain.

Now somewhere in the night, Octavia had found her way into dreamless slumber once more; however, the tumult coming from outside her room woke her and caused her into investigate. She made her way over to her door and threw it open to peer out. The scene was certainly unexpected for the sheltered musician despite the commotion she had heard. For a split second, she was unsure of what she was seeing, but then it became obvious. Two big thugs were trying to capture a white, female unicorn in the hotel. She had just seen the mare lift one off of her, which was amazing, followed by her being pinned to the wall.

She didn’t know what to do, but she had to do something. So she let her instincts take over and she took the first course of action that came to mind. She sprinted across the hall and turned with her rear facing Windigo. With all her might, she bucked the earth pony, knocking him away from the white mare. Vinyl, having seen all of this, couldn’t believe her luck, but didn’t have time to celebrate. Looking to Octavia, she shouted, “Run!” She then bolted for the door to the stairs. A second later, Octavia finally realized that she should move and rushed after Vinyl.

Kicking open the door, Vinyl looked back to make sure the gray mare was following behind and hadn’t been caught or hurt. She saw her just a few feet away which relieved her, but just as she was turning, the door of room 1503 burst open and she caught the quickest glimpse of a unicorn walking out. As she bounded down the stairs, a chill went down her spine as her iconic memory activated. The unicorn stallion walking out was very tall - maybe six feet - and his horn was maybe two feet long. Such a length was nearly unheard of, and it meant he was extremely powerful. She would have dwelled on this terrible realization, but the mare behind her shouted with a Germane accent, “What was that? Who were those stallions?”

Vinyl, coming back to earth, looked back and answered, “No time. We have to keep moving. We need a plan by the time we get down the stairs.”

Octavia returned, “Can’t they just take the elevator? We are going to be exhausted by the time we get to the bottom level and they will be fresh and waiting for us.”

Vinyl had already been thinking about this. The gears in her mind started to turn once more and a few memories of similar situations started to recollect. For a moment, the only sounds in her ears were the pounding of hoof steps and their heavy breathing, but not too much later, she believed she had an idea. “Just keep going.” She called back. “I know how we’re gonna get outside at least.”

They were now bounding down the seventh level. In between breathing, the gray mare continued, “And after that?”

“I’m still working on that.”

Octavia started to wonder what was happening at this point. Everything had been happening very fast all at once, but as they were repetitively running down flight after flight of stairs, she had a moment to think. Without thought, she had assaulted a pony and helped a mare escape without even giving thought to the situation. The stallion was dressed in combat gear so she could in fact have been obstructing justice. She could be assisting an escaped convict for all she knew. Then again, the situation could be exactly the reverse. Normally, she would have been worried, but the heat of the situation actually thrilled her.

When they arrived at the second floor, Vinyl interrupted her musing. “Turn in here.” She shouted, kicking open the door and running into the corridor. Octavia followed suite.

As the two shot through the second level, the earth pony still had no idea how they would get out of the building without going through the lobby where those malicious stallions would be waiting. “Ah, how are we going to exit again?” She shouted.

“You ever do anything like this before?”

That question was easily answered. “No.”

Vinyl then realized she was going to have to deal with this mare’s safety as well as her own. Oh well, She thought. She did save my flank. I guess I owe her. “Just follow me and don’t fall behind.” At the end of the hall was a window that she galloped towards. Without stopping, she jumped and dove at it shoulder first. Her momentum easily broke through and she fell ten feet to the ground, rolling to alleviate the impact’s shock. Thankfully, she had avoided any of the broken glass.

Octavia, on the other hoof, hesitated when she came to the window. The heat of the moment almost dictated that she immediately jump, but she held back. It wasn’t very far to the ground, but she wasn’t sure that she could do it without spraining anything. Vinyl looked behind her and shouted, “Jump! Just roll when you hit the ground.” Thus, trusting the more experienced one, she sailed out of the hotel and into the warm air of the Manehatten morning. She hit the ground and landed rather smoothly as her companion had instructed.

Good. Thought Vinyl. At least I don’t have a Prima Dona on my hooves. The two now in an alleyway, she said, “All right, let’s get to the street.” So, the two bolted for the main road. Reaching their destination, the unicorn looked around. Spotting a chariot-taxi on her left, twenty yards away, she once more urged on the mare with her. Thankfully, the stallions had not taken five seconds to remove her saddlebag. Jumping into the seat of the car with Octavia close behind, she took out a few bits and tossed them to the driver. “Take us to the edge of town and step on it.” The driver obeyed and the chariot sped off.

With the two having a moment to catch their breath, Octavia seized another chance to speak. “So your plan is just to outrun those ponies. What happens when we get to the city limits?”

Vinyl pulled out her cell phone. ‘I’m working on that now.” She dialed and waited. Not two rings later, there was an answer. “Midnight, you there?”

The pony on the other end sounded more than relieved. “Vinyl, is that you? Thank Celestia. I’ve been trying to call you since five but you wouldn’t pick up.”

“Yeah, McCullen hired some contractors and they caught me on the train at three: Two big earth ponies and a unicorn, probably ex-REA. It looks like I’m in Manehatten now.”

“Yeah, I figured as much. I’ve got some friends to triangulate your position by getting a fix on your phone. It looks like you’re heading down Third Street now. There’s one of my guys waiting for you on the edge of highway ninety-five. That’s just north of your position, about ten minutes on hoof.”

This sounded like great news to Vinyl. She could always count on Midnight because he was always one step ahead of her. “Right, I’m in a taxi en route to the city’s edge with an earth pony who helped me escape. Make the ETA three minutes”.

There was a pause. Midnight suddenly sounded worried. “Wait, did you say you’re in a taxi?”

“Yeah, is that a problem?”

“Bloody ’ell Vinyl. You have an ex-REA unicorn on your tail and you’re in a vehicle without magic wards?”

At this, Vinyl swallowed hard and looked behind her. Right on cue, her three pursuers rounded a corner behind them in a wagon pulled by two large earth ponies. Witch’s horn was glowing. “Oh Luna!” Vinyl shouted.

Octavia didn’t like the sound of that. “What’s wrong? We should be able to outrun them. Their carriage is bigger than ours.”

Vinyl shoved her phone into her bag, dropped down and grabbed onto a bar on the inside of the car. “Just hold on.” She shouted.

Octavia didn’t have time to argue and she obeyed. No sooner had she done so, the right wheel of the chariot dislodged, courtesy of Witch’s magic, and the car swung violently around. The two mares shot forward and tumbled over the concrete. For a few seconds, Vinyl had to recover from the shock, but she was able to rise sooner than later. She examined herself and saw that she had sustained only a few scrapes on her shoulder and knees. Other than that, nothing else was injured or broken. She looked over to Octavia who was now on four hooves, but shaking. “Are you alright?” She asked quickly. The gray mare looked at Vinyl and nodded. “Can you still run?”

“Yes.” She answered after a second. She had regained herself quickly.

The white unicorn looked back and saw that they had only seconds before the stallions caught up with them. She looked right and saw a narrow alleyway which led by a series of houses. Seeing her salvation, she said, “Through here.” And she fled into the pass. Octavia entered just as their pursuers sped by. They were unable to follow them through the way as they were and were forced to disembark.

Once more, while running, Vinyl yanked out her phone –now her lifeline- and said, “Midnight, are you still there?”

“Still here. What happened?”

“The unicorn took out our taxi. It’s crazy, but we’re still up. I’m heading down an alleyway now.”

Midnight groaned. “Yeah, and I’m guessing ground evac isn’t gonna work with those guys.”

Vinyl turned a corner and looked up. She saw a skyscraper and had an idea. “Midnight, I’m probably trying my luck, but you wouldn’t happen to have an airborne chariot anywhere in the city would you?”

There was an agonizing five second silence on the other end. The mares had reached the end of the alleyway and now were on another main road. She took a right and continued on down towards another building at the street’s end. Finally, Midnight answered, “Give me a second. I may just have that.”

“You’ve got about ten before this idea goes down the tubes.” Vinyl looked behind her. Octavia was surprisingly close and was showing to be able to keep up. Unfortunately, the stallions were close behind. The unicorn’s horn was glowing again. Vinyl looked to her companion again and shouted, “Keep going as fast as you can and whatever you do, don’t look back. Watch out in front.”

She did well also to heed her own words. As soon as she looked forwards, one of the street vendors' stands on her left splintered and sprayed debris in her way. Had she been a few steps closer, she would have been caught up in all of it and probably brought down. She leapt over the mess and kept vigilant. She thrust her phone to her ear again. “How’s that evac coming, Midnight?” She yelled. The twenty-story building they were coming up on was now only fifty yards away.

“Just a few more seconds, Vinyl. I may have just made a friend.”

Just then, a small chariot, glowing white with energy flew towards her sideways from the other side of the street. She dodged it, but only by a hair’s breadth. Wow, that was too close. She thought. She was fairly certain that it had come nowhere near the mare behind her, but she couldn’t look back to make sure. “Midnight?” She shouted.

“All right. I’ve got you an ex-REA pegasus with a warded chariot en route to Manehatten. ETA five minutes. He can meet you at-”

Vinyl, dodging yet another magically thrown projectile interrupted, “Can you have him land on the top of the Barnyard Bargain’s headquarters?”

“Uh, yes, but I’d recommend you-”

“Elevator access there has been down for months now. If we head up, we’re sure to make it.”

Midnight conceded. “If you say so. Just be there when your chariot gets there.”

“You tell him the same.” She thrust the phone back into its place and chanced to look back. To her relief, her friend was still there. After looking forward once more to check for flying objects, she said to Octavia, “I got us a ride out of the city. We just need to head up the building in front of us. Can you make it?”

Octavia was winded, to say the least; however, at some point during the chase, her adrenal glands had kicked in and not only did she feel like she could do this forever, she was enjoying the thrill of being hunted. Despite her weariness (and feeling that she probably couldn’t sprint up twenty floors) she nodded.

They had reached the door of the building and after breaking the spell that Witch had cast on the door lock, Vinyl located and headed for the stairs. On the way up, she tried her best not to knock into the many ponies who were heading upstairs to begin their workday; however, it was not always so easy. On top of that, after racing up six levels, her legs began to burn, but she knew she had to keep going. She only hoped that the mare behind her could take the punishment as well as she could. Seven, eight, nine … ten … eleven

… twelve levels. She was slowing down, but she pushed harder.

Five more floors and she was huffing as the homestretch presented itself … There were just three more painful, arduous levels between her and safety. She could hear the hoofsteps of her enemies right behind her and the fear of capture drove her onwards, pushing her towards freedom. Finally, the door to the roof was before her. Having almost no energy left, she used a spell to open the door and prayed that the pegasus was there.

With the light of day, the morning leading into the afternoon, she saw her ride near the edge of the roof. The sight of her salvation coupled with the strong, white pegasus urgently beckoning her, further fueled her and spurred her on. She took ten more, painful steps and jumped with all her remaining strength into the car. Less than a second later, Octavia landed beside her. The car was cramped, obviously being meant for just one pony, but she was thankful for it nonetheless. She shouted to the driver, who had begun to flare his wings, “We’re in. Take off.”

Then she looked back and saw her pursuers getting onto the roof. The pegasus started on the left end of the roof and ran right, pulling the chariot behind him. Vinyl held her breath as they neared the edge with their adversaries closing in. Just as they reached the end of the roof, the powerful, blue-maned pegasus used his mighty wings to propel them into the air. Witch tried to use his magic to hinder the driver, but failed. Thus, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch soared into the sky and into the realm of safety.

Rendezvous

On the one hoof, the last couple of days had been rough for Vinyl, to say the least. The night before last she had nearly burnt herself out partying and she spent last night running from McCullen’s goons. This had continued until this morning and it had completely exhausted her. It was true that she had been technically asleep for a few hours after that unicorn had knocked her out, but magically induced (and forced) sleep is hardly ever recuperative. She may as well have been awake all the while. Now, as she and Octavia flew out of Manehatten, Vinyl was still breathing hard, her muscles ached from running up those stairs, and she noticed that she was sweating profusely. On that note, not having bathed wasn’t too fun either. She wanted nothing more than to shower and sleep for a century.

However, of course, the recent events were also mentally taxing. Vinyl was safe for the moment, but who was to say how much longer? She could end up being ambushed right after arriving at wherever they were going and, to make matters worse, she couldn’t say that she had felt completely safe in quite a while. Only a week before, she had spent a day trying to make enough bits to pay off another creditor. She couldn’t recall the last time that she had three days in a row which any normal pony could call quiet. Such a prospect was mentally exhausting beyond belief so that she would have gladly given everything that she owned for just one week when nopony would be out to harass or capture her. It occurred to her that the ongoing and ever-continuous stress should have made her burn out a while ago, but for now she was too tired to give any logical thought to the situation. Yet despite this unending cycle of partying and running away, for now she was safe. Knowing that the chance of the chariot being attacked in broad daylight while travelling over major highways was slim, she was glad that she had finally claimed a moment of peace.

On the other hoof, things were quite different for Octavia. With the exception of losing a little sleep recently and not being able to do her job exactly the way she wanted to, up until this morning, everything had been going smoothly for the gray mare. The experience of helping Vinyl escape had been a new one for her entirely. Surprisingly, while it had been going on, she felt as if she was having the time of her life. Although nothing was going wrong for her before, nothing had been out of the ordinary. Her life had been not only ordered, but orderly.

From the day that she became a musician for hire, a plan had been devised for her. Since then, most of her days had adhered to a strict schedule. Today would have been a break from that schedule had nothing unusual happened, but if it were any other day, she would spend a half of an hour listening to her manager’s assistant tell her exactly where she would be and what she would be doing from the time that she awoke to the time that she lay down for sleep. Though a degree of leeway was given to her, failure to follow this schedule would result in the loss of her job. Yet as harsh as this way of life may have seemed, she was not resentful of this order because nothing evil would befall her. When she stuck to the plan, good things happened, but when she deviated in the slightest, bad things happened. This had been tested several times and proved to be a consistent law.

These rules that dominated her life may have been constricting, but they were also there for her safety. Thus she had lived a life of the most rigid order from that day until just this morning. As result, she was not her own. She did not choose for herself any path that she would take, but instead she blindly followed closely behind her boss, hoping that he would not lead her astray. In addition to the surrender of her liberty, this blind obedience had also relinquished any purpose she may have had. Octavia was not living for any reason, but only existing to aimlessly and permanently to serve others no greater than herself. She may have desired to be loved and respected by the upper classes, but this was only a wish. Such a prize was not promised to her.

This miserly way of life had been only apparent to her and she was almost numb to it, but then she struck that stallion and began to run, causing a rift in the law. She knew that it was not wrong to save another pony from a bad situation. She had done nothing to break the terms of her contract, but by doing this, she had broken the unwritten law. By making the choice to use physical force against another pony, she had given up her right to security. The gray mare could have remained on the path and turned a blind eye to the situation before her as her decision to help was not compulsory. In fact, she thought that her manager might have called it ill advised. Knowing him, he would have had her stay out of the fight and call the city guard. As much as Octavia was certain that she had done the right and just thing, by choosing to help the mare, she had sacrificed her safety to gamble for Vinyl’s.

Hence, for a brief moment when it began, she believed in her heart that this was the worst tragedy that could ever befall her. The great prison of security that she had enjoyed for so long, which was held up through her mindless obedience, suddenly and unexpectedly disintegrated. Then she was left exposed to the dark powers of the world and the harbingers of misfortune, having no clue whether or not she would come out of the ordeal alive or not. On top of that, she wasn’t even sure she should have been helping the unicorn escape in the first place.

Yet only moments later, a light sprang out of the darkest hour of her life. The walls around her had fallen down, but now she was gazing at the full glory of the sun, which the prison had veiled. By remaining under the terms of the law of security, she gave up liberty and received order and therefore safety in return. Yet now that she had broken the terms of that agreement, the reverse had occurred. Order was lost, but liberty, which she had deemed worthless before, was returned to her. And liberty, the license to do what one pleases, is always followed by freedom, the ownership of oneself to do as one sees fit.

It was when she had realized this that she truly felt a great sense of happiness. For the first time in her life, she was her own mare. It was true that the escapee that she was following was directing her every move, but all during that time, it was her choice whether to obey or not. Vinyl was not her boss. Octavia was choosing to follow her because she had judged that it was the best course of action in her own mind, by her own logic, and for her own benefit. Moreover, being free, she now had a purpose: to protect herself. This may have been a base purpose, but it was a purpose nonetheless, a reason to exist. Therefore, in that brief time, she had enjoyed the happiness of freedom and purpose.

Yet unfortunately for the earth pony, unlike joy, happiness is fleeting. Now that her purpose had been accomplished for the time being and the heat of the moment had passed, the other side of the sword presented itself. She was free, but unlike her companion, worry started to well up inside of her. The implications of losing order were slowly entering her mind. Furthermore, all of the unanswered questions that had to be put off before were now demanding an answer. So she said to Vinyl, “Well, this morning was quite…” She paused to find the proper word. “…different.”

Vinyl, who was just seconds from drifting off into dreamland, was brought back to consciousness. Annoyed, she gave a short, “Yeah.”

Octavia continued, “I expected today to be very quiet, but chance had other plans. I’m travelling in a chariot after running, like I never have before, away from some very muscular ponies. If I may ask, where exactly are we going?”

The white mare, who realized that she wasn’t sure about this herself, called to their driver. “Hey, where are we going?”

The pegasus looked back and answered, “We’re heading to Midnight’s safe house in the forest just outside of Fillydelphia.”

Vinyl opened her eyes and lifted her head. “Safe house? It sounds like Midnight’s moving up in the world. Where’d he get one of those?”

He just laughed and responded, “How should I know? I just met him not twenty minutes ago.”

“I guess I’ll ask him when we get there then.”

This exchange did nothing to alleviate Octavia’s worries so she pressed on. To Vinyl she said, “Ah, please don’t take this the wrong way, but something has been on my mind that is making me anxious. Could I ask you a few questions?”

The unicorn had already lay (or rather fell) down again and was hoping to sleep. She asked, “Can it wait? I’m pretty beat right now.”

“I really need to talk to you now.”

Vinyl sighed. “All right, just keep in mind that everything I say might not be entirely thought out.”

Having broken the ice, Octavia proceeded deliberately. “I have to say that the situation we were in was a bit vague. Those ponies that we were running from were dressed in combat gear after all –and once again please don’t take this the wrong way– but the thought crossed my mind that you might be…” She paused for a moment.

The white mare saw where she was going with this and saved her the trouble. “I’m not running from the law, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

This relieved the cellist greatly and she sighed. “Ah, that is good to hear.” She paused for another moment and asked, “Please don’t answer this if it makes you uncomfortable, but do you know why they were trying to capture you?”

Vinyl didn’t hesitate. “I owe some lender a few bits and I can’t pay him back, so he hired some stallions to come for me.”

“All right, if it’s a matter of money, could you tell me how much you owe him? Perhaps I could help you with your debt.”

“That’s nice of you, but it’s not about the money to this guy. I owe this guy enough that he’s chased me out of half the cities east of Stalliongrad.” Stalliongrad was the third most western city in Equestria after Canterlot and Ponyville.

Octavia was taken aback by this. “Oh, I see. That’s … um …”

The unicorn continued, “I guess I should mention to that those stallions after us weren’t your average thugs. At least one of them had an REA tattoo and one who you didn’t probably see is ex-REG.”

The earth pony gave a nervous laugh. “I apologize, but I’m not familiar with those abbreviations.”

Vinyl finally sat up and was evidently surprised. “Really? Wow, you really must be a noob. ‘REA’ means ‘Royal Equestrian Army.’ I guess I can’t blame you for not hearing about them since they haven’t seen too much action. The crown usually stations them in cities where there looks like there might be a crime outbreak, but most of the cities are pretty safe most of the time - nothing the city guard can’t handle. Those two earth ponies and the unicorn are mercenaries that used to be in the REA. Thankfully for us, it looks like they haven’t had too much experience, so we were able to get out.” She lay back down.

This made sense to Octavia. Equestria was without a doubt the safest country in the world. “So, then I’m assuming that REG stands for Royal Equestrian Guard.”

“Yep.”

This made her shudder. The REA may have been a mystery to her, but the Royal Equestrian Guard, the faithful and strong protectors of the crown were certainly not. It was common knowledge (due to the Nightmare Moon incident) that the two princesses were immortal and possessed divine powers; however, rumors had been surfacing that there were some in the Guard who had existed for a similar longevity. Almost every one that she had seen who bore the golden armor of the sun was practically eugenic. Therefore, Octavia saw Vinyl’s point: If this moneylender was so adamant on spending the small fortune necessary to recruit ponies with with that kind of reputation, then that meant two things. First, this pony had money, and a ton of it. Second, he would not spare any expense to meet his goals. Feeling like she was now on the side swimming upstream, she asked, “So what now then? This situation seems hopeless for you, and now I am included.”

“I don’t know what we’re going to do. When we get to Midnight’s place, I’m sure he’ll have some advice, but for now, just take a breather. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t slept in two days and I should have passed out by now.”

Seeing that her companion was about to do just that, she decided to steal herself. “Please, before you do, I just have two more questions.”

Groaning, she answered, “Well, let’s get them out of the way then.”

“I don’t want to sound like I’m what you might call ‘high maintenance,’ but I left all of my things back at my hotel room. Most of them can be easily replaced, but there’s one item in particular that I really need to get back soon. The fact that I am parted from it now makes me more uneasy than I was nervous about you possibly being a criminal.”

One last time, Vinyl pulled out her phone. “I’ll send Midnight a text to have some guys bring your stuff to the safe house. Don’t worry about whatever you left behind. This happens to me on a regular basis and I haven’t lost anything important yet. My computer that has my life on it got left behind on the train bound for Manehatten, but I’m sure Midnight’ll get that back.”

Though this did nothing to relieve Octavia’s fears, she realized she couldn’t very well turn around now. With that she said, “One last thing: We haven’t introduced ourselves yet. I am Octavia von Weber. May I ask your name?”

“Vinyl Scratch.”

♦ ♦ ♦

McCullen stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hallway of the hotel’s fifteenth floor. When he had reached the room that they designated, he knocked on the door three times. After a moment, the door opened to reveal a rather tall unicorn with a strikingly long horn, and dressed in black leather armor. He gazed on McCullen with pale eyes and said, “Ah, come in person have you? I suppose I am in no position to deny you entrance.”

McCullen replied, “Not if you’re hoping to get paid, ye won’t.” The unicorn stepped aside and admitted him. The earth pony strode over to the couch, sat down, and looked up. “So I heard what ye said over the phone, but I just want to hear this one more time and get everythin’ straight. Four of the most well trained and well paid stallions in the world couldn’t get a good hold of a single filly –who was tied up– because of another crazy filly came outta nowhere and bucked one o’ your mates. Do I got that right, Punisher?”

The white-maned unicorn answered without hesitation. “That is right, but in my defense, I would like to remind you that it was not my job to bring her inside in the first place. Secondly, from what the three tell me, she has quite the skill with running. If she applied for a position in the Canterlot Intelligence Agency, she’d be rolling in bits and the griffon high command wouldn’t be able to scratch their noses without the crown knowing about it. Third and lastly, we are very certain that she has allies that are protecting her at the time.”

“You bet your flank she’s good at running. I told ye all that, but ye underestimated ’er. She’s been slipping through me hooves since she was fifteen. As for her making some friends, that ain’t no surprise either. What does surprise me is that this was the reason I hired ye all in the first place. She’s good at gettin’ away but you’re supposed to be the best at catching fillies that run away. ”

Punisher smirked, “Strictly speaking sir, I don’t catch ponies. I make them so that they don’t want to run anymore.”

McCullen sighed and slapped his hooves to his face. Then he stared at the ground while talking in a tired voice. “All right, I should be ravin' mad right now, but I don’t have time to sit here and assign blame. Just answer me this: Did ye at least find something that’ll tell me where they’ve gone?”

“The others are tracking her through civilian sightings as we speak. They should have her location in no more than a half hour. As for finding any evidence, the mare that owned this room didn’t leave much behind: just a few toiletries, some dress clothes, and a violin, but nothing that tells us anything more than her occupation.”

McCullen looked up and looked like he had heard something very important. “A violin ye say?”

“Yes.” The white unicorn disappeared for a moment into the bedroom and brought back a black case. He placed in on the table and said, “There’s nothing too special about it. It has a plate on the back with an inscription on it, but like I said, not too much to it.”

McCullen looked at the case as though it were a pile of gold ingots and tenderly opened it. Taking the instrument out of the case, he turned it over and set it gently back down to read the engraving written into gold. “To Octavia from Mom and Dad. May this instrument always be a reminder of our overwhelming pride for you. Let it be the world’s eternal earpiece to your heart.” There was a pause and then McCullen looked up with a look on his face that was halfway between astonishment and frustration as if to ask, “Are ye blind?”

Punisher blinked. “What is it?”

“By Luna, are ye completely daft, lad? Did all those years o’ studying magic erase any sense o’ intuition that ye had?”

The long maned unicorn replied shamelessly, “I admit that years of seclusion within the heart of an asylum will do that to you. Since I appear to be missing something very important, do tell me, what have you found?”

“First o’ all. This is a cello, not a violin. Second, from what I see here and what isn’t in this room, I think it doesn’t take a bloody detective to figure out that this is the most important thing the lass has to ’er name. I assume that you at least know the name that this room was under?”

“The name was Classy Shobis.”

The earth pony looked inside the cello case. Octavia’s full name was printed in purple, stylized letters. “Then that’ll be her manager. I want ye to call that pony and get me a contact number. If this one’s like any other filly today, she’ll have a cell phone.”

The unicorn smirked. “Well you are right about one thing. The earth pony does have a phone. The problem is…” He held up a phone. “She left it behind in the rush to get out.”

Again McCullen facehoofed. “Is there anything else that she left behind that ye didn’t mention?”

“No, that concludes the inventory.”

“All right then, this is a problem.” With that, the two sat in silence for about five minutes. Punisher patiently waited there. He was going to be paid either way. After five minutes had passed, he sighed again and said, “Oh Luna, why does it have to come to this?”

Punisher took the hint that he was supposed to ask. “What?”

“You know, just because I’m making money by spending it doesn’t mean I like to take advantage of ponies. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all me years of hard work, it’s that ye quit while you’re ahead, or ye’ll be diggin’ your own grave. I told dear ol’ Vinyl that if she didn’t cooperate that I’d sell her to that stallion in Germaney, but after he found out how much I was paying ye, he jumped ship and gave the offer to Trixie. Now I don’t see any other way to do this other than to spend more money, and I don’t want to lose her like I did him.” He paused and seemed like he was about to go back on his decision, but then finally said, “All right there’s no other way to do this. Punisher, get Shadow on the phone and tell him that I require his services.”

Punisher smiled. “You’re the boss.”

♫ ♫ ♫

It was nighttime when Vinyl finally awoke. From the sound of the wind around the chariot, she assumed that she was still on the way to the safe house. She opened her eyes and caught a very nice view of the clear night sky before sitting up. Her companion noticed her asked, “Are you rested enough now, Vinyl?”

Rubbing her eyes, she replied, “Enough that I won’t pass out if we get chased again. How long was I out?”

“Judging by the position of the moon, I’d say it is around nine o’ clock.” Such was not difficult to tell as the sun consistently rose at six in the evening and set at six in the morning.

“Yeah, I’d say that twelve hours will last me until three then.” Vinyl looked over the side and saw that they were approaching a large forest.

Not much later, the driver said, “I was instructed to land at the forest’s edge and take you along the paved road to the safe house. Do either of you see an opening in the tree-line?”

The two looked down and scanned the forest below. After a moment, Vinyl spotted a tiny break in the trees forty degrees to her right. She indicated this and the pegasus descended in that direction. He touched down near the edge and entered on hoof into the woods. The density of the trees caused the light from the moon and stars to completely vanish inside, making it difficult to see the way. Yet the sound of stallion’s hoofs galloping over the stone told the mares that they were probably going the right direction. Every now and then, the path snaked to the left or right and the two wondered how the pegasus knew the way.

After what seemed like half an hour, the two saw a faint light ahead of them which brightened as they came closer. Eventually, they saw that it was the entrance to a clearing. They passed through the threshold of the forest and once more the bluish-silver light returned their vision. This time though, both were amazed to see that they approached a massive estate surrounded by a long and tall iron fence. Towards the edge of the clearing was a huge chateauesque mansion that towered above the trees. The pegasus took them to the gates and said, “Well, this is it. Send Midnight my regards.”

Vinyl, who was very surprised to see that they had been brought here, asked, “Are you sure? This looks more like a mansion than a safe house to me.”

“I’m sure. He also told me that the intercom is right at the fence’s gates.” While Vinyl didn’t know what to think, Octavia was quite surprised that her friend apparently had wealth of this level, and was the first to step out of the chariot. The unicorn assumed that she should just play with the cards she had and left the pegasus too after thanking him for his services.

The two walked up to the gate and looked at the fat iron columns that separated the gates from the rest of the fence. On the right column, they saw a box with a button. Vinyl shrugged and pressed the button for a second and then waited. Midnight’s voice came out of the intercom. “Who is this?”

Vinyl, recognizing her friend, answered, “Midnight, it’s Vinyl.”

There was a short pause. “Lovely, it’s great to hear that you got here safely. Come on in and I’ll meet you in the foyer.” There was a loud buzzing sound a second later and the gates swung open. So the two mares made their way over the expansive yard of the estate to the mansion. After a few minutes, they reached the front doors which, though graced with a beautiful design carved into the iron, looked like a fortified barrier. As they approached, the doors opened and they walked down a hallway.

At the edge of the hallway, they stepped into the foyer, a big room which impressed the two just as much as the exterior. Glancing around, they saw many rich and stately looking unicorns through the dim candlelight. They all were whispering to one another so that the room was full of an air of secrecy. Yet their appearances made the room sophisticated. Most of the mares were dressed in black silken strapless dresses and reclined on cushioned sofas, drinking fancy wine out of heavily ornamented glasses. The stallions were dressed with equal elegance, being adorned with black suites and sleek, combed hair. All had a large crest emblazoned upon their breasts. As Vinyl and Octavia walked in, commonly dressed, the occupants glanced several times at them and then to each other. When they had entered, the unicorn’s faces had been prideful, though now their faces were full of discontent; as though they were now asking who let the riffraff into the house.

The mood of vanity caused both mares to become uneasy, especially in the case of Octavia, who had to deal with this sort of treatment more regularly. Her mind may have abhorred many hateful and dissatisfied thoughts against the exclusiveness of the nobles, had not soon the door at the top of a staircase at the back of the room to reveal Midnight, a dark blue unicorn with a black mane and a crescent moon for a cutie mark. Spotting them amongst the others, he made a beeline for Vinyl and spoke in a low but excited tone that seemed to be like he was yelling in the quiet room. “Come this way.”

Eager to escape the gaze of the vain unicorns, the two followed him up the staircase and stepped into a long hallway. Midnight gestured for them to follow down it and he closed the door behind them. The door shut audibly and he said in a normal volume, “Right then, now at least we can talk without having to lower our voices to an unreasonable volume.”

Vinyl was the one to ask, “Yeah, so what was up with that?”

Midnight smirked and started walking down the corridor with them. “Why not ask me one of the bigger questions that are nibbling at your tongue?”

“Okay, what’s up with all this?” She asked while looking at the numerous doors lining the walls.

“A week after we met last June, believe it or not, I just happened to come across a unicorn who was in a nasty scuffle with some foalnappers. So I did what any good pony would have done and saved his flank. It would just so happen though that this particular unicorn was Prince Blueblood Ulrich Machiavelli. When I brought him back to Stalliongrad, his father, the city’s prince gave me a nice job as a financial controller for a reward.”

They reached the end of the hallway and he turned to open the last door on the right. “After you,” He said, ushering them in. Vinyl and Octavia went into the room and saw three couches facing each other opposite a window. “Have a seat, girls.” He said, while flopping down on the sofa on the right. Octavia chose the seat opposite Midnight and Vinyl took the middlemost spot. The stallion raised a bottle of wine from a table beside him. “Either of you want a drink?”

Octavia quickly declined, but Vinyl said, “Yeah, I could use some flavor about now with all the crazy stuff going on.”

Midnight chuckled and poured two glasses. Giving one to Vinyl, he asked, “Before I go any further, Vinyl, I have to ask you, who’s your friend?”

The white mare answered, “This is Octavia. If she hadn’t bucked the crap out of one of those stallions who have me pinned to a wall, I’d probably be halfway to Germaney now.”

Though he had seemed very casual all the while, Midnight became serious for a moment. “Do you trust her?”

Vinyl didn’t hesitate. “Well she risked her neck for me and got herself in a crazy mess for nothing. I’d say that she deserves my trust, at least.” She looked at Octavia apologetically. “I’m grateful for what you did, but you should realize that you just put yourself in a lot of danger. As much as I hate it, that lender, McCullen is going to be after you now because you saved me.”

The cellist was silent for a moment. She indeed was not completely aware of the gravity of what she had done when she did it. Yet despite that she was now in above her head, she decided it was best to remain brave. She replied, “I suppose there is no going back now. I don’t regret kicking that stallion even though it seems hopeless.”

Midnight smirked. “Don’t go getting ahead of yourself.” He looked at Vinyl. “Things are a little better now than they might seem. Like I was saying, after a couple of months, Blueblood’s dad, Prince Lucian realized that I’m a natural at running a business. So he took a chance and gave me a job of a more discrete nature. Now it turns out that the Machievelli clan can throw around all the money they want too because they have so much that they couldn’t ever spend it all. Know why that is?”

The white mare suggested, “Because they don’t play by the rules?”

“That’s the half of it. Before they had me, they had two ways of making money: owning a ton of large businesses and commanding a literal army of thieves all around Equestria that operate just like a business. The problem with the latter asset though is that the clan can’t do a whole lot of direct business with these thieves, otherwise it would risk dirtying its name and it’d lose power and standing with the crown. Yeah they can use corruption to their advantage, but corruption, especially under Luna’s watch, can only take you so far.

“So like I said, Lucian gave me a new job. He wanted me to find a way to help him bring in more money for the clan without bringing in too much heat. I’ll spare you the details, but simply put, I found a completely legitimate and legal way for him to make loads of bits. The only catch is that it takes advantage of some loopholes in the system that he didn’t want publicized. If those methods were brought to the crown, regulators would be all over it. Regardless, Lucian pretty much about busted an artery when they told him how much money that third type of business was bringing him, so he adopted me into the family.

At this, Octavia finally found her voice. “Oh please hold on for a moment. You mean to say that you are royalty?”

“I mean to say that I just got into the family that is most closely related to the crown and holds the most sway among all the nobles in Equestria.”

The gray mare made an effort to hold a reserved expression, but both Midnight and Vinyl could tell that she was astonished. “Then that would explain how you were able to recruit a pegasus to drive us here on the spot.”

“That’s part of the reason. The clan does have a lot of power, but the real reason that I was able to get you both out of that situation so fast is a little more related to my current line of work. I should point out that the legit type of business I created doesn’t require a lot of oversight –by me anyway– so Lucian sent me here to see if I could revolutionize the system of thievery. This mansion doubles as the gathering place for the Ulrich family, as well as a giant base for black market operations. All those unicorns in the foyer are part of the Machiavelli clan’s Ulrich family, but they’re also the best underground operators that Equestria has to offer. Below the ground floor is a system of bunkers and well developed tunnels that leads all over Fillydelphia. Inside we’ve got armories, tech and alchemy labs, and teams of professional thieves and geeks getting ready for the next big job. Those unicorns outside and the guys downstairs have contacts all over Equestria that can do just about anything you’d like, such as pluck you both out of the frying pan.”

Once again, Octavia seemed a little shocked. She looked at Midnight and then to Vinyl and said, “Oh, so you are apart from the law then.”

Midnight glared. “Well, this is actually the first Vinyl’s heard of any of this. By your manner of speech, I assumed that you were the sort that disapproved of ponies that get their hooves dirty. If it’s any condolence, I don’t plan on getting either of you involved in my business, but I’d appreciate it if you’d keep quiet about it. That’s why I asked if you could be trusted first. I don’t particularly like the idea of breaking the law, but I saw it as a way to get the resources and contacts I need.”

The gray mare was unsure of what to think at this moment, so she remained silent. Midnight continued, “Also, keep in mind that, like it or not, by choosing to help Vinyl, you’ve made some enemies. And one of those particular enemies is unimaginably well supplied and is not one to let things go. Like me, he is a fraternizer with criminals, but the difference between me and McCullen is that he’s a hardened stallion. I don’t want to scare you onto my side, but he doesn’t have too many standards. McCullen doesn’t flinch at murder, torture, or equine trafficking and he won’t hesitate to do anything he needs to catch Vinyl. And the worse thing is that he’s managed to earn this reputation only in the underground. He hasn’t been prosecuted or even accused once in his life. The crown doesn’t even know he exists.”

At this Octavia simply responded, “I’ll take your side then.”

Midnight gave both mares a few minutes to think everything over and then said, “All of that said, this house is probably the safest place in Equestria. It’d take an army of unicorns to break the enchantments on the tempered glass windows and the iron gates. If such an event were to occur though, we could all just retreat to the tunnels.”

The earth pony objected, “But I can’t stay here forever. I am a cellist and I have to play at certain events. In fact, the Grand Galloping Gala is approaching and I will most likely be required to attend.”

Vinyl reassured her. “Don’t worry about that. McCullen doesn’t have the power to kidnap you in a public place. The more gigs you play, the safer you’ll be, especially in the case of the Gala where the entire REG is watching. The only thing we have to worry about is getting you to and from those gigs.”

Octavia went on, “Couldn’t we ask for help? I’ve met Princess Celestia and Luna once before and I’m fairly certain she would assist me.”

Vinyl shook her head. “I’ve met the princesses a few times before too when they needed a DJ for their less stuffy parties than the Gala. The problem is that Celestia would ask why, and the last thing that we want to do is tell the sun princess that I’m in debt. She’s nice, but she’s not the one to bail ponies out of responsibility.”

Midnight spoke up. “The mode of transportation is an object of our concern; however, we can deal with that later. Now a more pressing issue is gathering intel on McCullen. The problem is that he knows everything he needs to know except for the security measures we have in place. This is a down point for us because we know we very little about his current capability. I’ll admit to you now that I’ve known he was chasing you for about two months. You hadn’t stayed in a single city for more than a week at a time, but then when you got to Mane, he just stopped moving for a while. I saw him pick up a few tough thugs there, but nothing too unusual. Then suddenly on the night that he makes his move, he has ex-REA agents after you. So, I don’t know how many ponies he’s recruited or what kind of skillsets they have. So, I want to ask, Vinyl, is there anything that I don’t know about this situation that you haven’t told me?”

“He’s got a blank check and wants throw me into the trade. The buyer would give him double what he spent chasing me.”

“That much I was able to figure out. Anything else?”

Vinyl thought back. Then the most obvious memory hit her. “When I was getting out of the hotel, I caught a brief glimpse of a tall unicorn with a horn that must have been two feet long. I’m pretty sure he’s working for McCullen.”

Midnight had taken a sip of wine and was now choking on it. He quickly recovered and said, looking surprised, “What? Are you sure that you saw that?”

She paused. “Yes, I’m pretty sure.”

The blue unicorn facehoofed and rubbed his face. “Oh this is just lovely. Oh Celestia, just great.”

“What? Is this guy some crazy-powerful mage?”

He sighed and asked, “Was this unicorn about the size of Celestia?”

“I’d say he was almost her height.”

“Damn.” He said, throwing his hooves up. “I had heard rumors about this, but I would have never thought they were true. McCullen must really be taking that blank check seriously, because no one other than the richest ponies in the world could afford to recruit one of them. I’m almost certain that the unicorn you saw was one of the Sapientes Nigri.”

“Who?”

“The Black Sages, the most elite handpicked mages in the whole world and the founders of the dragon cult. They were disbanded a few years ago, after the crown discovered their existence, but only two of the ten were ever captured. Now it seems like they might be done laying low.”

Octavia then asked, “So what does this mean?”

Midnight continued to rub his face and groan. “It means that things might get a little more heated than I was hoping for.” He paused and then rose from his seat. “Okay, this is a lot to think about now, and it’s getting late. I’m going to go downstairs and see what we can do about this guy. It’s really a miracle that Octavia got to you when she did or your brain would be mush now.”

Vinyl rose with him. “So what are we supposed to do?”

“I suggest you choose a bedroom from the two hundred we have and sleep through the night. If Octavia’s job is anything like I think it is, we may have to move soon, and I don’t want to even think about evading professional soldiers on four hours of sleep.”

Before Midnight reached the door though, Octavia stopped him and asked, “Please, before you go, there is one other matter to which I must attend.”

“And that is?”

“Did your ponies happen to recover all of my things from my hotel? Specifically, I’m worried about my cello.”

“I did get Vinyl’s text. I had some of mine collect all of your things, and they said that they collected everything that was there, but I regret to say they told me nothing in particular about what they secured. By tomorrow morning, they will be delivered to your room, but until then, you’ll just have to wait and hope, because they are likely unreachable at this point.”

“Oh,” She looked down. “Then I suppose the only thing I can do is hope that it was among those items.” Saying this, both mares retired, though neither fell asleep for a good while.

Schism

It was very late in the day. The sun was just finishing its circuit in the west, and Octavia had been walking for a long time in a forest. At one point during her travel, she tried to remember why she was there, where she had gone, and where she was going, but for some reason, no answer came to mind. All she really knew was that for some reason, she wanted to walk the way she was going. As she ventured down the long dirt pathway that stretched onward for as far as she could see, she tried to discern where she was. Her best guess was that she was somewhere in the forest in Fillydelphia around the safe house, but that seemed unlikely, for she had the idea that she had been walking far too long to not see an end to the wood by now.

Yet there was an even bigger difference in this one. She remembered that the shrubbery and trees in that forest had been very densely packed. The same was true for the Everfree, which would have been overgrown, unnavigable, and teeming with wildlife of all kinds. Nor was this Whitetail Wood, which would have been a tad more welcoming. Instead of the choked Everfree or the lively Whitetail, these woods were lined with scores of long dead trees, and little to no shrubbery. In fact, this forest resembled neither of the two. It bore a more resemblance to an old wood she knew back in Germaney, which was called the “Black Forest.”

The sun was already starting to set and take its light from the world, and the cloudy sky did not make seeing the path in front of her any easier. The little light left showed the leaves crunching under her were not colorful by any means. They were all the same shade of brown, which seemed to be growing increasingly darker as time drew on. Nonetheless she was thankful for them, for she was walking slowly, and noticed whenever she paused, the forest was too silent. Reason told her that there had to be life somewhere, but if there was, she didn’t hear or see it. There was not even a bird chirping in the distance. Except for the sound of dead leaves being trampled, there was utter silence.

The sun set, and the world gave way to night, being shrouded in near-total darkness. It was then that Octavia made two distinct recognitions. First, though the air had been breezeless and stagnant throughout her walk, it was still very chilly, making her wish she had a scarf, or at least a saddle. Second, though the sparse foliage gave her a very good view above the tree line, it was too cloudy for the moon to shine. So, she could no longer see her hooves in front of her. Yet the only choice was to continue, walking straight down the assumedly straight path, and hope that nothing came in her way. The sound of her hooves against the dirt and only the periodic leaf were the only indicator that she hadn’t strayed from the path.

As the night grew on, the pony began to become a tad nervous. Wherever she was going, it was taking too long, and if this journey dragged on for too long, she might become too tired to reach her destination. Though this thought itself, along with the seemingly uncaused desire to keep going, spurred her on. She just wished that there was some way that she could tell how much time had elapsed. As if to reward her perseverance, the moon finally peaked out of the clouds and shined a little silvery-blue light on her path, and she could tell by its high position that it was about three in the morning.

The silence had grown even louder with the now very conspicuous absence of leaves to punctuate it. However, finally, it some point, Octavia heard a sound. At first, it was isolated and subtle. It occurred in the distance and then immediately ceased, but she had heard it. It was in front of her, so she trotted forwards to see if she could find its source. To her slight satisfaction, the sound came once more, but this time a bit louder and for a bit longer. It was strange, because it was certainly not foreign. She felt as though she had heard it many times before. Still, though, she could not put her hoof on what it was. It was distinct, but also indistinct.

For a few moments, the silence albeit her steps lingered on, so she stopped, trying to filter her sensitive ears for even the slightest disturbance. Then once more the sound came, this time sustained for three seconds. She discerned this time that it was not one continuous whole, but was composed of a series of sounds. Again, she moved closer, and heard it at a lower volume this time, but remaining continuously now. Slowly but surely, the sound became louder and clearer until its identity was just on the tip of her tongue.

It was so familiar and she knew she should have known what it was, but something was blocking it. Then a thought came to mind, and she realized that the sound was not all that was familiar. She had the gut feeling that she had been in this forest, and for some reason, also this exact situation before. And then the sound became clear. It was music, though by no means the sort of music that she enjoyed. It was dissonant and the rhythm was jerky- altogether unpleasant. She quickened her speed to a canter as the clarity of her déjà vu became even clearer. With her speed came also her breath, which was out of step with the rhythm of the music.

Anticipating what was about to befall her, she was now rushing down the path at full speed. The music had now become as audible as thunder and as constant as the flow of a river. The forest and the horrible music were in place. Now all that was missing was… Oh Celestia!

Before she knew it, the sound of heavy hoofsteps was gaining on her. She began to pant heavily, and push harder against the ground. Her heart was now pounding in her ears, but it was almost totally eclipsed by the volume of the frightening music, which had become almost deafening. Despite all her efforts though, the sound of her pursuers was growing louder. Along with their proximity came a chill that should have not been present with all her exertion. The air around her, though already freezing, grew colder and colder. She breathed it in and it filled her in an icy embrace. It felt like she was running slower now and her pursuers only faster. Panicking now, she gained a second wind and shot onwards with a burst of speed she was sure she did not have.

Yet at this moment, the hoofsteps behind her reached their maximum volume, and for a split second there was a silence. Then she was suddenly knocked forward off her hooves onto the ground and skidded for a moment along the dirt road, producing a sharp and long cry both out of shock and pain. She struggled to get up again, but the heavy creature that had tackled her was weighing her down. Its body was colder than ice and its freezing chill numbed her legs, so she was rendered helpless. She turned her head and saw that she was caught in a magical aura, paralyzing her in addition to making her suffer with the biting cold.

Before she had a chance to do anything, the weight on top of her lifted off, and she was suddenly being dragged along forward. She tried to use her hooves as anchors, but they would not obey her. She even thrust her head against the ground, but it did no good and only scratched her face, from the forceful pull. Looking to see what was on top of her, she saw a pair of glowing red, bestial eyes in her peripheral vision, which caused her to panic more and hyperventilate. Looking forward she saw what appeared to be an end to the road, where she could see no more. She knew at once that there was an abyss beyond it. So, once more she screamed over the music, and cried for help.

When none came, she looked around frantically. On her left, there was a patch of bright moonlight illuminating a clearing in the woods. And standing in the center was none other than herself, playing the cello that was producing the infernal music in her ears. Seizing the desperate chance for her salvation, she screamed, “Octavia, help me, please!” several times as loud as she could. But for all the pain in her throat now, the Octavia did not stop what she was doing. Thinking for some reason that she had remained unheard, she screamed at the top of her aching lungs, “You can save me! Help me now!”

But there was no response or answer, and she neared the edge of the road. One final time, she screamed out of pure terror. But then she heard a voice that was as cold and icy as the air in her lungs and the body of the creature speaking. Wofür du schreist? It said with an upper inflection. Du hast gegraben dein eigen gruft. She heard these words and reached the edge of the chasm.

She awoke, flinging herself upright with a squeal. She looked around, finding herself in a bed in a dim room. For a few seconds, she panicked trying to figure out where she was. The she remembered that she had gone to that safe house in Fillydelphia and slept there. The earth pony fell back onto her pillow in relief and sighed. The sheets covering her bed were drenched in her sweat and her heart was now doing its best to slow down from its racing speed. Not caring about either of those inconveniences for the moment, she took a moment to take control of her breathing.

Turning her head to the side, she saw that it was twilight. The sun’s first rays were just starting to peak over the horizon. The sky was overcast, and dreary. She spent a few moments staring at it, and trying to put the dream she had just endured out of her head. Not too much later, there was a knock at the door, causing her to flinch. Octavia found her voice after a second and answered, “Who is it?”

A small, feminine voice answered, “It’s a servant from Mr. Midnight. Are you alright, Ms. Octavia?”

She let out a breath that she realized she had held in and replied, “Yes, sorry if I disturbed anyone. I just had a little nightmare.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Miss. May I come in?”

Being partially grateful to have a little bit of company, she said, “Yes.” and the door opened. The light from the hall made her squint, but she was still able to see a bright pink unicorn with a blue mane dressed in a slightly risqué maid’s uniform.

The mare took a few steps into the room and said softly, “I know that it’s early, but Mr. Midnight asked me to tell you that he’d like to see you as soon as you woke up.”

Octavia stepped out of bed. “That’s all right. As you can see, I probably won’t be getting much more sleep anyway.”

“Are you sure?” The unicorn asked.

“Yes, I am sure.” she answered. It was true that she was tired, but the last thing that she wanted to do was go back to sleep now. Getting started with the day would hopefully take her mind off what she did not want to think about. The servant stepped outside. Turning on a light, Octavia used a brush she found on a dresser in the room to straighten out her bed hair. Then she stepped into the bathroom on her left and found new implements to brush her teeth, which she used conservatively. Then after taking a quick glance in the mirror to make sure she was relatively presentable, she opened the door to her room and found the pink pony waiting outside.

The unicorn said to her, “Mr. Midnight is downstairs getting ready for the day. Will you please follow me?” She led her down the decorated hallway and down a flight of stairs. After passing taking several turns on the winding first floor, they stopped at what appeared to be a dead end. In front of them was just a white wall with a large portrait of a unicorn wearing very fine clothing. When Octavia was about to ask, the servant touched the portrait with her horn, It swung off the wall as if it were on hinges to reveal a metal door with a retinal scanner and a number pad.

Immediately, Octavia now knew where they were going. She also knew that she did not want to see what she was likely about to see. As long as she remained ignorant of Midnight’s criminal acts, she would not have to worry about incriminating him, but now she was about to be exposed to just that. She said to the pink pony, “Uh, Miss…” she began, not knowing how to address her.

The servant looked to her, and realized the reason for her initial hesitation. “Oh, you may call me Love Struck.”

The black-maned pony continued. “Love Struck, did Midnight tell you anything at all about his promise regarding my involvement with his...” She paused once more, and found the right word. “…activities?”

“Actually, yes,” she replied. “He said that you would be a bit reluctant to go downstairs. He also said not to worry. You will not see anything you would regret seeing, and that he will keep his promise.”

“But can’t he just come up here?”

“I apologize, Miss, but he is a little busier than he would like at the moment. He does not want to bring you into the lower floors, but he wants to see you personally at the same time.” Having heard this, Octavia decided to simply trust the pink pony and follow her downstairs. She could turn back at any time if she needed.

The unicorn then placed her eye near the scanner and after a second, a screen above it displayed a green check mark. Then she entered five digits with the number pad, and a second check mark was displayed followed by the door sliding open to the right. She smiled at Octavia and stepped through the threshold, motioning for her to follow. The door closed behind them, and they followed down three flights of stairs. There were two steel large double-doors at the bottom guarded by two muscular pegasi with black coats, dressed in crimson armor and toting spears. The servant addressed the one on the left in a pleasant tone. “Good morning, Sunshine. Are you doing well today?”

The black pegasus smiled and addressed her with as pleasant as a tone, but with a rough voice. “I’m doing good, Love Struck. Are you two heading inside?”

“Yes, Midnight wanted to see Ms. Octavia.”

“All right then.” Sunshine lifted his right forehoof and spoke into a radio attached to the color of his protruding tunic. “Tekhna, this is Sunshine. Open the doors to the main entrance.” He and the other pegasus stepped forward, and a few seconds later, there was the sound of metallic clicking followed by metal sliding against metal. Then the large doors opened up to a hallway leading to three elevators. The unicorn once more beckoned for Octavia. When they reached the elevators, the doors closed.

While they were waiting for the lift, Love Struck said to the earth pony, “You haven’t been in the lower floors yet, have you, Miss?” Octavia answered in the negative, and she responded with, “The safe house has ten floors below ground. We are on the first floor, but the armory, where we are going, is just below.” The elevator arrived and they got on. After heading down one floor, they stepped out.

Once more, they went down a hallway. This one was quite wide and had chest-high slabs of concrete every here and there. Then they entered into a big room that was lined in black marble. Its walls filled with all types of gear that Octavia could only be sure were for offensive purposes. There were suits of armor made of steel like the royal army wore as well as the much lighter kind that she was seeing a lot of recently. There were also conic devices that looked like they slipped over unicorn horns. Many stallions and mares were there, all dressed or dressing in combat gear. Some were sharpening spears at grinding stones. Each was either sporting some kind of odd accessory on their horns or fitting on some of the different kinds of shoes. In every direction, there was a door which led to some special room.

As they walked in, several of the ponies greeted Love Struck, and a few said “hello” to the earth pony following her. The pink pony greeted each of them and led her follower into a room on the left which bore a sign that read “Midnight.” The inside was spacious enough to be a small subsection of the armory, but cozy enough to let Octavia know that this was a personal area. There were three walls full of body armor and weapons like she had seen outside. In the center there was a wooden bench, on which was none other than the dark blue stallion himself fitting on a set of shoes.

“Ah, Octavia,” he said. “Lovely to see you up early.”

“It’s good to see you, Midnight, but why here, if I might ask?”

The blue unicorn smirked. “Well, as you can see I’m not exactly at leisure at the moment. In just a few, a team and I are going to begin an operation.”

Octavia blinked and sighed. “I thought you said you weren’t going to involve me in your personal business.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. We’re not doing anything wrong, we just can’t let this go public.” He gestured for her to move closer, and when she did, leaning in, in a low voice he said, “We just got word from a scout on something big, and I’m not convinced myself, but…” He paused for a short moment. “We may have found the tomb of Filius Primus Celestiae.”

Octavia gasped quite audibly. “You mean the—”

“That’s right.” he said grinning mischievously. “The legend himself, Celestia’s first and the greatest musician of all time.”

Suddenly, the hint of nervousness that Octavia had melted away in an inferno of passion inside her. “Really?” she said the loudest she could under her breath. “How did you find it?”

He chuckled. “I thought you might be the one to appreciate this. We’ve got nothing solid, but that makes it even better. About a week ago, one of ours got a hold of some royal records for a classified purpose, but while he was glossing over, he discovered a record that hinted at the location. Supposedly it’s somewhere in the Everfree Forest. We’ve got no clue what we’ll find, but who knows? If it does happen to be there, we could even find his lost magnum opus... Luna Bound.”

The earth pony, despite maintaining her composed nature, was now inwardly ecstatic. “So you mean, you could even find—”

“Yes,” he whispered. “The long sought-after ‘Aria of Celestia’ itself.”

She was now nearly speechless, “But that would be… how could that…” Then suddenly, she said skeptically, “Wait, why would you have an interest in that? Surely, you don’t have an interest in music. What would you do if you found it? You probably couldn’t even pay enough to have its ancient meter deciphered.”

He laughed. “Just think about it. If I get ahold of Luna Bound and the grand wonders inside, think how much money the family will be swimming in. I’ll sell it to a private billionaire in Canterlot at an auction we arrange, and he’ll take care of that. In the meantime, Machiavelli will give me so much in return, I’ll have to retire early.”

He let Octavia ponder the significance of the possibility for a moment before continuing. “Anyway, that’s part of the reason that I called you down here.” He raised one of the conic devices that she saw on the walls and slipped it over his horn. He then held it in place with both his hooves and thrust his horn with a swift motion. It made a clicking or possibly a grinding sound as he did so. “As you can see, I’m about to head out pretty quickly, so here.”

He levitated an unsealed letter over to her, which Love Struck kindly took on her behalf. “That’s a letter for both you and Vinyl. Read it when she wakes up. Until then, just do yourself and me a favor and don’t go outside the house. It’s going to rain a lot today, so not that you’ll exactly want to, but keep in mind that you’re not too safe outside the walls. Also,” he said rising, “Try to keep Vinyl out of trouble. If she can go just three days without having to run a circuit through a bloody city, that’ll be a blessing from Luna.”

She gave a laugh half out of worry and half out of pity, but as he began to walk towards the door, she suddenly remembered. “Wait, I meant to ask, did you bring back my cello.”

The black-maned unicorn winced like he had been struck. He turned slowly, looked her in the eye and said. “Octavia, I have my boys on the job now, but sadly we’ve run into a bit of resistance.”

Her eyes went wide. “You mean you lost it?”

Seeing her about to panic, he said quickly, “All right, just calm down. I didn’t say that. We know where it is and we’re going to get it, just give us some time.”

She almost screamed. “Where is it?”

He averted his gaze. “It’s nowhere were it’ll be damaged, trust me.”

“Where?!” her voice cracking.

He reaffixed his eyes and stared. “Listen to me. You have got to trust me. I will get it back, but for now, McCullen has it.”

To Midnight’s relief, the earth pony did not overreact. She calmly looked down and said, “I see.” There was a silence and an uneasy pause, which ended when Octavia, started shaking.

“Octavia—” Midnight began.

A broken, but soft cry cut him off. Still with her head bowed, she said, “Midnight, please don’t let anything happen to that cello.” She sniffed. “It’s very, very important to me.”

Despite her obvious embarrassment, the blue pony lifted the chin of the gray one. Unsurprisingly, a few tears had streaked across her face. “I know; I can see that. Look I haven’t let anything of Vinyl’s get taken for good, and I’ll do the same for you. Just be patient and find something to distract yourself.” The earth pony nodded and he trotted out. Those in the armory, having finished gearing up themselves, followed him. Octavia though, stayed behind for a moment and did her best to console herself.

At her request, Love Struck had led her to a reading room. In front of her, there was a window, which let in the sunlight shaded by the darkening clouds. She lay on a sofa, reading a book taken from a bookcase on her right, assuming the task was the best way to divert herself. Though familiar with the old language and its old dialect, the challenge of translation did not allow her to think of much else.

In this twelfth year, following the defeat of the most dreaded dark princess at the hooves of the mighty sun, Filius Primus Celestiae completed his maximum opus, which graced the world in its awesome latria for two and forty years until the completion of his life, when the record of his work laid with him in his burial place which shall never be revealed to mortals. The wonders of its beauty shall only be alluded to in the lesser works of ponies and the magnificence of its sound only to be kept in the hearts of this generation, no more. Alas, for none were able to mimic even a shadow of its glory.

As the rain poured down and gave her some peace, she did her very best to guard her heart from the realization that she just heard, but inwardly she knew that she could not hold it in forever.

♫ ♫ ♫

When Vinyl finally awoke, it still appeared dark. She considered just trying to fall back asleep until she looked outside and saw it was cloudy and drizzling. She pushed herself and rose after a moment. After glimpsing herself in the mirror, she strode to the door and opened it. Outside there was a sky blue unicorn with a pink mane in a skimpy maid’s uniform. “Good morning, Miss Vinyl.” the servant said.

“Oh hey,” she answered. “What’s up?”

“I was instructed to inform you that Miss Octavia would be waiting for you when you wake up.”

“Okay, thanks, can you take me to her?”

“Of course, Miss Vinyl.”

When Vinyl opened the door to the reading room, she was greeted at first by a brief streak of sunlight piercing through a patch of unblocked sky and then by her friend, who looked up from her book. “Good afternoon, Vinyl. I suppose you slept well.”

“Afternoon?” The white unicorn asked. “What time is it?”

“It is nearing one now.”

“Heh, yeah, I guess I did.”

As the two exchanged pleasantries, the blue pony entered and placed a letter in the table. “Excuse me. Love Struck told me that you two would want to read this.”

Octavia answered. “Oh right, thank you, I had forgotten about Midnight’s letter.”

Vinyl looked over at it. “Letter? Is there something that he couldn’t just tell us?”

“Well, let’s see.” the earth pony replied. “Could you please unroll it?” Vinyl did so, and the two peered at its contents.

Octavia and Vinyl,

I hope that as you read this, you both are getting settled in. I assigned both Love Struck and Crush to attend to you, respectfully like I addressed this letter. If you need anything, just ask them and I’m sure they will likely be able to get it. (Also, don’t let Crush’s name fool you, Vinyl; she is sweet). If Octavia has not yet told you, Vinyl, I had to leave the safe house as fast as I could to take care of a business matter for Lucian. Don’t worry; if I am successful, I’ll be back in a week. If not, you will know. I should also point out that the house of Domina Trixie, the Medici clan, are probably in this too. I thought I’d just let you know that we found out how McCullen’s getting his funds.

But more importantly, I need to tell you about the plan. First of all, let me tell you that I’m starting to love this job. The Machiavelli clan has so many paid ponies doing so many jobs, I may as well be a king. Anyway, I delegated the task of making a plan for your situation to some ex-military consultants, and they have come up with what I think is the best strategy. Octavia, they finally got in contact with your manager (From what I hear, the guy is a downright —pardon the language— asshole by the way. I don’t know how in the name of Luna you put up with him) and they came up with some excuse for why you can’t be there for everything. We are also compensating him for the events you miss, so you don’t have to worry about work for a while. He also confirmed that your contract is still solid.

However, we all know there is one event that you just can’t miss. That is the Grand Galloping Gala, which is in three months. Unfortunately, we can’t just let you run around as long as McCullen is at large. Personally, I would like to keep you both inside for a good year or at least until he calms down and goes to collect some other overdue debt; but it looks like that just won’t happen. So, I need you both to bear with me for a little while and keep yourselves in the safe house at least until the week before the Gala. After then, we can go from there. As for the rest of the plan, just make sure you are both ready for some crazy stuff by then. Of course, even with a psychopath and his army of well-paid, well-trained agents on your tails outdoors and practically a city of the finest pleasures indoors, I guess it might still be hard. So, my only remaining solution is to bribe you. If you’ll speak to Crush, I believe she has something for you both, though probably more to Vinyl’s liking.

-Midnight

The two looked back at the blue unicorn, who had not yet left. “Crush?” Vinyl asked.

“Yes, Miss Vinyl?” answered the blue unicorn.

“This letter says you have something for me, or us.”

The unicorn’s horn lit up and a white box levitated rom behind her. “Yes, Midnight gave this to me and said that you would enjoy them.”

Vinyl took hold of the box with her own magic and brought it to herself. Then she opened the box and peered inside. To Octavia’s surprise, the blue-maned pony’s eyes lit up she let out a “Squee!”

“What’s inside Viny—”

“Germane chocolates!” the excited mare said, turning to her friend before she could answer. Without any further delay, Vinyl started to take the contents of the box (indeed there were many fancy chocolates from Germaney) and feast upon them. She popped two into her mouth and chewed ever so slowly and deliberately, savoring the taste of what to her must have been the food of the gods. In the midst of her sudden-found ecstasy, she knew that Midnight had found her weakness and was probably laughing now that he could exercise control over her, but she could not have cared less.

While Vinyl was almost drifting into heaven, Octavia eyed the box intently. Between bites, the white unicorn recognized her friend’s look as that of desire. In response, she flopped onto the sofa and placed the box into the middle. Against all the selfishness that had welled up in her, she asked, “Do you want some? The note said this is for us, not just me.”

Octavia, did a bad job of appearing to hesitate and debate the thought, before soon replying, “Well maybe just one.” taking a seat on the opposite side of the sofa and diving into the box’s delights, much to the approval of her friend. Seeing this, Crush excused herself and stepped outside, leaving the two mares to enjoy the immense pleasure. Biting into another piece filled with caramel, Octavia smiled with closed eyes. “Oh, these are so expensive, but so delicious.”

Vinyl barely had the awareness to agree, but mustered a “mhmm,” amidst the joy of a specific goodie whose taste combined an assortment of indiscernible flavors. A moment later, she picked out one favored like mint and sniffed it. The aroma must have been a smell, whose sweetness the alicorns themselves must have travelled for miles to experience. Laying her head back, she bit into it and ran her tongue across the filling. “Luna, I always love the taste of these.” This went on for the better part of ten minutes, each mare chewing as slow as possible, treasuring the taste of the savory delectables until finally the two pried themselves away from the box, deciding to save some for later (and hopefully maintain their figures). Nonetheless, the box was still a third full, having been packed.

Now having recomposed themselves from their mutually out of character episode, a thought came to Octavia’s head. “Vinyl,” she said with an upward inflection. “May I ask you a question?”

With her head still leaned back, she answered. “You just did, but go ahead.”

“Not that I’m making any judgments on you, but you don’t seem like the type to be commonly exposed to something this costly, and you gave a different impression there. Are you accustomed to the taste of Germane chocolate?”

“Yep. I’d hike across Equestria for the stuff.”

“How did you become acquainted with it?”

There was a pause, bur then she answered, “When I still lived with my parents, my dad was an overbearing control freak. This may be a surprise, but when I was a filly, I didn’t want to do everything his way.” Octavia nearly snorted. “So he tried everything to try to get me to do what he wanted. This one day though, we were in Canterlot for the Summer Sun Celebration, and admittedly I was acting like a foal. So he finally got the idea to try to bribe me (like Midnight’s doing now) and he said, ‘If you’ll be good, I’ll buy you some fancy chocolates.’ At first I didn’t think that was a good deal, but the he talked me into it. So I was a good filly through the entire day.

"Then he bought me some. I tasted it and couldn’t get enough of it. When we got back home, I begged him for more, but you know that you can’t get any of that stuff in suburban Equestria. But my dad found out that I wanted the stuff bad enough that he imported it to a sweet store in town from Stalliongrad, and used it for the same reason for a few years. But after a while, I got fed up with him using as leverage against me; not to mention I was practically addicted to it. So I tried to find a way to make some extra money and buy some more chocolates. It took me a while, but it turned out that I was a natural at making music. I made some money off of that and it was all right.”

“Oh” Octavia was surprised to hear. “Are you a musician?”

“I’m a DJ now, mostly, but when I get some extra time I play around with some tunes.”

“Really? Have you written anything notable?”

“You play the cello, so probably nothing that you know about, but I’m actually a little known on the streets.” She shifted so that she was sitting, facing the gray mare. “But how about you? I bet you get to enjoy these sweets a lot?”

She gave a small giggle. “Well, actually no. I don’t really have too much money to throw to those sorts of things. I may be able to play at the Grand Galloping Gala, but otherwise I don’t get too much attention in Equestria myself. Actually, I became acquainted with the taste about two years ago when a noblepony actually took a liking to me. Apparently, he thought I was very pretty despite being a commoner. When I wasn’t working he took me out to extravagant events, and he always gave me little gifts. One of those gifts was a box of very good chocolates.”

Vinyl then asked, “So what happened to him?”

Octavia didn’t stop smiling but looked down. “Well, it turned out that he didn’t exactly have a wholesome character, and regrettably I could not see him anymore. He didn’t want me for me.”

“Oh, I get it.” the white mare said. “Yeah, most of those nobles are full of it.”

“But while my intimate experience with stallions was not so great, what about you? Did you ever have a lover?”

“I don’t really want to talk about that kind of thing.”

“Oh, come on,” Octavia pressed. “You can tell me.”

Out of nowhere, there was a sudden degree of hostility in the white mare’s voice. “I said I don’t want to talk about that.” It wasn’t angry or mean, but there was a clear indication that she needed to drop the topic. There was a very uneasy moment of silence that followed. Eventually, the black-maned mare tried to reinvigorate the conversation. “Didn’t you say you know the princess? That makes you think you might have had to deal with the nobles at least at one point. Who do you go about that?”

Vinyl snorted. “Since I was a filly I’ve stayed away from them, and we’re all happy because of it. All of the nobles are just snobs who can’t stop talking about how great they are. I wish that the crown would just put them in their place, or even in prison. There’s not a single one of them that should even leave the upper levels of Canterlot.”

Octavia seemed to think this was a tad harsh. “Well, certainly a few of them can be a bit haughty at times, but I don’t think that all of them can be that bad.”

“No,” Vinyl said, with that firmness reappearing in her voice. “They’re all rotten to the core.”

“Well, wouldn’t you like to see a day when you didn’t have to worry about money? I know I would.”

“You could try if you want to, but that day’ll never come for me.” Vinyl looked away. The sky was darkening once more and rain was now coming down again.

“I just thought that if we didn’t have to worry about money, then we could be free.”

Vinyl looked back. “What makes you say that?”

The cellist paused. “I don’t know.” She said with a sigh. “Just recently I’ve been realizing that my life seems a little confined. For years now, I’ve been working as a musician. When I went to study it when I was young, I thought that learning it would make me happy no matter what happened. But I haven’t had the chance to play much of anything that sounds good to me for those I play for. The ponies here just don’t seem to have good taste, so I have to play whatever my manager tells me to, and it just gives me this uncomfortable feeling.”

“If your job is the problem why don’t you just get another one?”

“The market for Romantic musicians isn’t what it used to be. If I quit now, I just couldn’t find a job anywhere else, and I’d have to go live with my parents until I could find another way to support myself.”

Vinyl paused. “Well, if you really think your job is bringing you down, I don’t see how that’s a problem.”

“It’s that my parents would be so disappointed if I just quit now.”

The unicorn’s tone became slightly annoyed. “So, I’m still not getting it. Why do you care about that?”

“About disappointing my parents?”

“Yeah. Why do you even care what they think?”

“Well, because they care about me, and want me to do my best.”

She laughed. “Hah, that’s hilarious. You’re a lucky mare. My parents don’t give a donkey’s flank about me.”

The earth pony gasped. “That can’t be true. Your parents must love you.”

“Nope. They probably couldn’t care less if I live or die. I say the say to them.”

“Vinyl!” she said, in shock. “What a horrible thing to say. You should respect your parents.”

The unicorn raised her voice unexpectedly. That had struck a nerve. “Respect them? Why? I’m out of their house now, and they sure as Luna’s moon don’t respect me.”

“But didn’t they bring you up? Didn’t they feed you and give you a place to stay?”

Vinyl’s was now clearly very angry, and only made more so, but Octavia’s surprised expression. “So what, do you think I owe them something?”

“It think you owe them for your life.”

Jumping off the sofa, she suddenly yelled, “My Life?! You think I owe them for my life? I’m going to tell you, by the stars, I owe them a load of money, but I’ll jump off the top of this building before I say I owe them my life. You can go on thinking that way, that you have to keep doing whatever your parents want, and making your life a living Tartaros, but I sure as Luna am going to do whatever I want with mine. And if my dad doesn’t like that, he can bring his sorry flank up here and we’ll deal with that his way. Until then, damn my parents, and damn this world they brought me into.”

With that, she screamed and stomped towards the door. Despite Octavia’s plea to wait, she thrust it open and stormed out of the room and far away from the surprised and now very upset mare.

Author's Note

It is now that I must finally give long overdue credit to my editor/consultant Tenderheart. Without her, this story would not be anything like what it resembles now. She provided much needed support for the chapters following the second, and I thank her very much for this.

Fortification

Vinyl struck the pony-shaped sandbag with her rear hooves as hard as she could again. At first, she was involuntarily taking count but had lost track of her kicks at fifty, and it had been a while since then. Amidst the sound of her bucking the inanimate pony, which may have been about to burst from the continuous punishment, she gave no thought to the sounds of ten or so other ponies firing magic blasts at targets on the right side of the firing range. Another bead of sweat rolled from her dampened coat as she looked behind herself, reared up, and slammed the bag once more.

She paused, breathing heavily. Then, looking up, she saw the gray earth pony standing at the front of her stall. The two stared at each other for a moment, Vinyl’s face showing a mix of exhaustion and frustration, and Octavia’s showing nervousness and betraying a hint of hurt. The gray mare’s hooves were fumbling with each other. Seeing this, Vinyl said through a breath, “I’m sorry I exploded like that.”

Octavia found her voice. “No, it’s all right. I’m the one who came to apologize.”

Vinyl sank back on her haunches, her flanks touching the cool, stone floor. “Don’t even bother. I have problems with my past family life, but it wasn’t right for me to take them out on you.”

The gray pony made her way over to Vinyl and sat in front of her. Her nervous features changed to compassionate ones, and she said “Vinyl, I know we are not the best of friends just yet, but if you have anything that you would like to talk about, you can talk to me. It’s not good to keep these things inside.”

The white mare sighed. “Don’t worry about me. I’m where I am because it had to be that way and because of my own mess-ups. I may have got you into one of my problems, but you don’t deserve to have to deal with all them.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t get out of them. I’m reminded every day that I wasn’t born into a noble family, but just because my father wasn’t a noble, it doesn’t mean I’m doomed.”

The unicorn snorted, but more out of amusement than annoyance. “I was going to ask about that. What’s up with your fascination with the aristocrats?”

Octavia stood up on her four hooves. “Forgive me if this seems odd, but have you had a shower today?”

Vinyl raised her eyebrow. “What?”

“We’re going to be here for almost three months. Do you want to get a feel for the facilities here before we get into a long conversation, or do you want to sit there with sweat rolling off of you?” This thought jogged Vinyl’s memory. It had been a while since she had enjoyed that comfort.

Having found Crush and asking her for a bathroom, they were led down the hallways to a sliding screen door on the third floor. The blue unicorn slid open the door, revealing a very spacious room with water. It appeared to be a very large swimming pool to Vinyl.

Seeing this interior, Octavia gave a small gasp in delight. “Ooh, it’s a Neighponese style bathroom!” she said stepping through the threshold. The “swimming pool” was surrounded by four walls of paintings painted in the style of feudal Neighpon. Vinyl stepped in after her and admired the artwork for a moment. The mural depicted the average life of ponies fishing, planting rice and flaunting flowing clothes out in the marketplace. The ceiling was enchanted to look like the clear sky at midday, and the floors were laid with white tiles, gradually slanting towards a drain near the edge of the gigantic tub. On the entrance’s wall there was a row of showerheads. Each one was coupled with a set of toiletries, decorated towels of three sizes, and a light pink stool.

“Wow,” the white unicorn said. “This is pretty nice. I've never seen a bath that big.”

“Yes,” Octavia responded. “For the nobles in Neighpon, this is actually common. Come, over here.” she said, beckoning. The blue-maned mare trotted over to Octavia, and seeing that they were pleased enough, Crush took her leave. The gray mare turned the knob on one of the showerheads in the center and said, “Let’s rinse off and wash first.” Then, after testing the water, she sat down and let the water run over her.

Turning on the faucet adjacent to the left of Octavia, Vinyl likewise sat, letting the cool water douse her hair and run down her coat. After her rage-induced exercise, the frigid water shocked her, but she endured the rapid cool-down. When she became reaccustomed to the feeling, she glanced over at Octavia who had already touched her hooves to the shampoo dispenser on her left. Following suite, the unicorn pumped out a liberal amount of shampoo and, closing her eyes, began to lather her hair. The pleasant smell of cherry blossoms soon filled her nostrils.

She finished washing her mane and rinsed it. Then she pressed the soap dispenser above the shampoo dispenser and washed her body. When she was nearly done, she looked over at Octavia, who had just started to wash her coat. It was at this point that a word that she seldom used came to mind, beautiful. The earth pony’s long, black mane was now wet and thus completely straight. The water reflected the light of the sun on the ceiling, accenting her mane into a rich and pure but sparkling black. The white mare thought that it complemented her sleek, gray coat well. Her coat, when it was rinsed free of the obscuring white suds, went very well with her light-mulberry cutie mark, which in turn matched her soft eyes perfectly, which were now gazing straight into her own. Realizing that she was staring, she looked away quickly, and started to wash her coat again.

Octavia gave a light laugh and said, “Your mane looks very nice when it’s wet Vinyl.”

Washing herself, she replied, “Oh, thanks. I kind of like it the way it usually is, but yours looks really nice too.”

“Thank you Vinyl. I guess you’re right. You can look good either way.”

When the two had finished washing, Octavia bade her to come over to the pool, which Vinyl now saw was steaming. After her friend, Vinyl stepped into the almost uncomfortably hot water, made even hotter by the cold shower she had just finished. She found that the bath was just deep enough to sink down to her chin if she was in a sitting position. Keeping on the edge, she gradually eased herself into the hot bath and leaned again the back with her head leaned back.

Her body adapted, and she he noticed that the water which was hot before was now a sea of delight. It seemed like forever since she had enjoyed a bath, and even longer since she had, had a hot one. She could feel her tense joints and muscles relaxing more and more by the second, and knowing that she was completely safe in the walls of the safe house, she could finally give herself away to the bliss that had been denied her for so long. Closing her eyes, she enjoyed the peace and quiet.

After a while of lying in peace, Octavia, who was close to her on the left side of the bath, said, “So Vinyl, you were asking about my concern with the aristocracy?”

Slowly opening her eyes and lifting her head to face her friend, she answered, “Yeah. You seemed to speak a lot about them.”

“Well, are you in the mood for a story?”

She lay back again. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

“As you may have guessed by my accent, I grew up in a small town in Germaney. My family didn’t have too much money to live on, but somehow we always made due. My father himself was only a servant to the prince of the region, and he was always whining about how our family didn’t deserve to be in servitude. Meanwhile, I had a few worries of my own. It took me a little longer than most fillies to earn my cutie mark. When I was just entering adolescence, my parents started to get a little anxious, but unlike most, they didn’t make me try a lot of new things. Instead, they introduced me to all the colts in the town. I made friends with a few of them.

“After a while though, my mother started asking me if I would ever like to marry any of them. I hadn’t started liking colts yet, so I said I wouldn’t. Then she gave me a sad smile and said, ‘Well, maybe someday you’ll think differently.’ I couldn’t understand why she looked sad.

“Then one night when I was supposed to be sleeping, I snuck out of bed and eavesdropped on my parents talking in the kitchen. My father was talking in a voice that almost made him sound scared. ‘What are we going to do about her?’ he asked.

“And my mother said could only say, ‘Maybe her special talent doesn’t have anything to do with stallions. Maybe she’s going to be something better than a housewife. We can’t make these things happen the way they’re not supposed to.’

“‘I know darling, but she’s our only foal, the sole heir to von Weber name. If she passes without bearing another, the last hope for our family’s resurrection will be lost. I just know that a day will come when we’ll finally be rich and powerful again, just like our forefather. Only in order for that day to come, our family line must go on.’ My father said that with such desperation in his voice, that I felt I had to help him. If me liking colts had something to do with making my father happy, I would do it. It would be another year before I really started eying a few though, so it was hard for a while.

“I was thirteen when the prince of the town decided to build a music hall, and around the time that my birthday was approaching, it was finished. So on my fourteenth birthday, I went to the music hall. It wasn’t too big, just enough to hold a hundred ponies. The musicians were mediocre at best and I was a little bored most of the way through the performance.” Octavia paused and her eyes glazed over for a moment as if she were remembering the scene.

Then she smiled and said in a whisper, “But then she came. There was a mare who came on stage with an oversized violin, which I later found out to be a cello. She moved her bow across the instrument, and then in no time at all, I was captivated by its sound. Now that I’ve been playing for a while, I know that she hadn’t been for very long, but what I heard still sounded heavenly. It was like the very contents of her heart were being poured out for me to feel. I could hear, feel, and taste her wonderful emotion swirling around me.” She paused once more, obviously playing the music over again in her head.

“It was that night that I realized that I had a lot of pent up emotion myself. I was angry at the prince for making my father unhappy, and angry at my parents for wanting me to live their dream. But I was also sad for those same reasons, and I longed to make my parents proud of me. I was tired of being poor and tired of dealing with the prince who lorded himself over our region. But as far as I could see, there was nothing I could do about it, and I started to cry softly. But before I became too overwhelmed, I remembered how the cellist played the cello and how she produced such passionate music.

“It was at this point that I finally realized that what I really wanted to do. I wanted to learn how to play the cello just like she could, and then,” she said, pointing to the treble clefts on her flanks partially visible through the water, “this mark appeared. The next morning, I did my best to try and hide my new cutie marks, but by the time my dad got home from work, my parents both found out. I thought that they would be angry at first, but to my surprise, my father was overjoyed. He jumped up and shouted, ‘My lovely daughter has a music cutie mark! Praise Celestia!’ In fact, he was so ecstatic that he threw a big party for me and invited all my friends. Going into debt was beyond him, so I knew that somepony was going to go without food for a while, but he told me that there was no way he wasn’t going to through a party for his daughter’s cute-ceañera.

“I was even more confused when he took a second job at night to put me through music-school. I asked him why he was going so far for me, and he answered, ‘Because I want my favorite daughter to grow up to be much less of an old, unhappy pony than I turned out to be,’ and I was so grateful and proud to be his daughter. When I finally became a professional musician, I thought that I would live in lavishness, but it turns out that unlike the old days with Marezart and Neightoven, classical musicians are treated as little more than servants nowadays. The best job I could get would be as a court musician, but I knew that would disappoint my father. Moreover, I would never get to play for anypony else but the noble who hired me, and I wanted the whole world to hear my music. Still, my father was proud of me.

“He was so happy that I was doing what I wanted, and he wasn’t unhappy that I was in no better social standing than he was. So I made a resolution that I was going to maintain my station as a free and independent mare. I became a musician for hire, and ever since have been trying to play at enough important events to be noticed. Maybe someday some rich pony will become my patron, and I’ll become famous enough to start producing and playing my own music. Hopefully, when that time comes, the nobles will finally stop looking down on me like I’m not good for anything as they did for my father and as they are doing to me now.”

A final time Octavia paused and then summed up. “I suppose to answer your question, I’m fascinated with the nobles because I want people to look at me like I am one someday. But what keeps pushing me even through this restricted life is what my father did for me. I know that he wanted me to bear a son for him, but when he knew what I wanted, he supported me all the way, even though it would make me almost more of a servant than he was. Even when I wanted to give up, because of how hard it was to learn to play, he just told me, ‘Octavia, my dearest daughter, if becoming a good cello player was easy, everypony would do it, and then it would have no value. That is what makes how hard this is worth it. Every challenge carries with it a prize of far greater value, but your efforts will not produce that prize until you refuse to give up.’ So, I’ve been trying to grasp that prize ever since.” And Octavia fell silent.

The themes in Octavia’s narrative were foreign to Vinyl, but it was still fair to say that she could understand them. For a moment, she churned the story in her head and tried to make greater sense of it for herself. “It sounds like you want to live your life without anybody telling you what you can and can’t do, but you also want to pay back to your dad for supporting you.”

“That is the substance of it, more or less.” the gray mare replied.

“Well, from what I’ve heard, you aren’t really doing that. You’re still a servant to that bossy manager of yours.”

“That must be the sacrifice I have to make.”

“But what if this guy is actually holding you down? What if you could do much better without him?”

The earth pony sighed. “Without him I wouldn’t be able to play anywhere, much less at the Grand Galloping Gala. Unfortunately going to certain events is dependent upon connections, which I have too little of.”

Vinyl clicked her teeth. “Well, if you’re set on it, can’t you at least assert yourself a little? How much are you paying him anyway?”

“Fifty percent.”

“Fifty percent!” Vinyl said, raising her voice. “When you do all the work? For Luna’s sake, you should be making at least seventy. Why do you put up with that?”

“I’ve already told you: He’s the only one I can go to. There are not many more ponies who are willing to do what he does for me.”

“Look, you’ve got to stop playing on the defensive. The way I see it, you don’t need him as much as he needs you.”

“What do you mean? There are plenty more ponies like me that would gladly take my position.”

“But not too many that would take the crap he dishes out to you.” Octavia did not reply to this. In fact, she wasn’t really sure she could. For all she knew, Vinyl actually could have been right. Seeing that her friend was now battling with this idea in mind, she qualified, “I’m not telling you to start acting like he’s your servant, but if you don’t start taking something back from this guy, you’re going to be old, tired, and still in the same position as you are now.”

She sighed. “I know, Vinyl, but it’s just been this way my whole life. My parents did love me, but even they were always pretty invasive, for better or worse. I’ve always known it in my heart, but my brain didn’t realize it until just recently.”

The unicorn scooted along the edge and put her hoof on the black-maned mare’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it now though. We’re going to be here for a while, it sounds like.”

Octavia was staring quietly at her reflection now. “Right.” She replied softly.

Vinyl searched for something to say that was non-confrontational. Then it hit her. For some reason she had not noticed it, but she was starving. “When was the last time we ate?”

Her friend looked up and blinked. “Oh Celestia, I think all I’ve had in a while where those chocolates early this afternoon.”

“So, it’s getting hot in here anyway. Do you want to go get some solid food?”

“Let’s do, please.”

When they called, Love Struck answered and led them through the halls to one of the several dining rooms. “This isn’t the most exorbitant one we have, but the family dines in that one, so I believe that you both would prefer this one as a suitable substitute.” she said. Though, despite her apologetic tone, this dining room was by no means modest. The walls were opulently decorated in a classical style with white paint and gold lining. Many paintings of members of the Machiavelli clan framed in gold adorned them. The floor was covered with a royal blue carpet, boasting intertwining, white vines. A painting of an ornately detailed map on the ceiling displayed a vast kingdom to the west of Equestria.

A royal blue cloth, having the Ulrich and Machiavelli coats of arms emblazoned upon it, covered the circular table that seated twelve. At Love Struck’s gesture, the two ponies sat down. Vinyl faced a wide, hanging mirror to Octavia’s back. The pink unicorn then asked, “So, will you two have lunch?”

The earth pony answered, “It’s not too late in the afternoon. Let’s do that.” and Vinyl agreed. In response, Love Struck’s horn lit up with a pink aura and suddenly there was a flash that blinded the two. When the light faded, Vinyl looked at the table and saw that it was now set elegantly. Fancy golden silverware and ornate dishes, bowls, and glasses were filled with food and drink that she had not eaten in a long time. “As you can see, the cooks prepared a lovely meal for the two of you in addition to the usual serving for the house. The water was imported this morning from Prance by teleportation for freshness and filtrated to ensure the highest quality. The wine also came from Prance, but for you two, a special bottle has been opened, which we saved for a particularly special occasion. The assorted flower petals come from many different locations, but are all likewise fresh, as is the case with the salad and soup.”

Vinyl blinked. “You could have just given us a few apples, and we would have been fine.” Octavia giggled, maybe out of agreement.

“I only followed Mister Midnight’s instructions.”

“We will have to thank him when he returns then.” the gray pony said.

Love Struck smiled. “Is everything to your liking, or do you prefer something else?”

The white unicorn answered, “No, this is great.”

“Very well. After you are done, simply say so. The spell I cast is set to then automatically conjure the next course, and, following its completion, it will bring out dessert. Would you like me to remain, or do you need help with anything else?”

“I think we’re good.” Vinyl replied. The servant then bowed on her forelegs and left. At this, Vinyl said, “All right, let’s eat.” Her companion agreed, and they both started on the soup in front of them. To Vinyl’s gratitude, it was filled with potatoes and carrots rather than just leafy vegetables.

After they had both made way into their meals, Octavia said, “So, Vinyl, you’ve spoken a deal about your musical career. Is there any chance that you would be willing to share some of your own music some time?”

Vinyl looked up from her salad. She had the idea that the musical interests between Octavia and herself did not completely align, but her friend was going to figure that out eventually. She saw no issue with bringing it to light now. “Uh, actually, yeah. Here, let me…” Her horn flashed and her touch-screen computer appeared on a blank space to her left. “… just play some for you now.” She could have done so with her hoof, but in order to keep eating, she navigated through the interface with her horn, passing by some password prompts and scrolling through some folders to look for her music. “Here we go, she said after a moment.” She double-clicked an .mp3 track she had modified not too long ago.

The track started slowly and simply with just a kick and snare pattern, but soon cymbals were added. Then, before long there were a modulated bass, which left the rhythm spaceless. Octavia’s face showed skepticism, but an eagerness to hear more. Slowly, there was an electronic series of higher pitched beats building up a tense progression, and with it a punctuating and heavily synthetic keyboard. And here we go, Vinyl thought. Her heaviest base drop to date ensued, being harsh and unmitigated. The white unicorn suddenly forgot about Octavia and was enveloped in her own creation. Its power and resounding beat struck her eardrums in just the right places. Euphoria washed over her with thoughts of steel and steam and might and speed. She lost sight of the timer and forgot how long this would last, and as the track continued, she lost herself as well.

Some time after she had passed through fire and water. The song calmed down to kicks and snares and faded out. With the silence, Vinyl came back down to earth and looked at Octavia. The black-maned mare’s reaction was almost predictable. She was blushing with a nervous smile on her face. When she saw her friend was waiting for a response, she said, “Well, that was certainly … lively.”

“But not for you, right?” When it was clear from her silence that Octavia did not want to offend her, the unicorn laughed and said. “I didn’t think so. That’s all right with me though. Everypony’s different.”

“Well, it’s not that it was bad or anything. It’s just that the music I like and am used to is much more structured.”

Vinyl knew but asked, “How so?”

“I studied musical theory for a while in tandem with learning to play the cello, and that music doesn’t seem to follow many of the standard rules of music.”

Not offensively the blue-maned mare returned, “So you’re saying that wasn’t music.”

“No, that’s not what I said at all. Most of it was just a tad simpler. It was a bit repetitive towards the end, and there were really only three distinct parts —two of which were repeated— but the buildup in the beginning was very good.”

“So music has to be complicated to be good?”

This seemed to inspire Octavia to a positive offensive position for debate. “Not necessarily. There’s a school of music called minimalism, which asserts the opposite.”

“So what does make good music then?” With this, the two resumed eating. Octavia answered, and Vinyl asked about that answer. This continued until Octavia found a question to ask Vinyl and she answered in turn. This continued on through the afternoon. After they finished the flower petals, there was a flash, and a delicious vegetable lasagna came to them. After finishing that, they delightedly feasted on gourmet chocolates and Death-by-Chocolate cake. The falling sun and rising moon escaped Vinyl’s notice and she assumed her friend’s as well, because both of them excitedly spoke through the evening and into the night.

“To me,” the gray pony later said. “Music is a tool that orders emotion. It lets out feelings of anger, happiness, and sadness. It even allows those who hear it to understand, and you don’t have to be intelligent or learned to understand it. It’s like a universal language.”

“But the music you’re talking about doesn’t sound emotional at all. It’s too stuffy. I don’t get how anyone can blow off steam replaying Marezart.”

“Well, it’s like what you were doing earlier when you were angry. You could have attacked me and done real damage, but because you were reasonable, you did not. You went and orderly released your anger onto a practice dummy. Classical and Romantic music is the same. We exert passion, and we even experiment, but we do it intelligently and while trying to keep some rules constant.”

“But that’s just it. If you really want to create good music and release all the pent-up emotion, you have to get rid of all the boundaries. If you throw out options, then aren’t you losing out on something that you could possibly make something great with?”

At this time, Octavia was about to reply, but had to first stifle a yawn. She then looked over and realized that the clock, which they had been ignoring, read four in the morning. “Oh, it’s getting very late and as riveting as this conversation is, I’m becoming a little tired. I confess that I’m not used to staying up for this long.”

Vinyl glanced over too. “So what? Go drink some coffee or something. We can sleep later.”

“No, no, I think we should retire now. We need to keep our strength up for the unexpected.”

“Unexpected?”

“You know what I mean.”

“For Luna’s sake Octavia, McCullen’s not going to come for me now. This place is like a castle.”

She yawned again, this time not bothering to extend courtesy. “I know; I just want to be prudent.”

The white mare suddenly realized that she was tired as well, but was too excited to care. Yet, her companion did not appear ready to continue amusing her. “All right,” she said rolling her eyes. “I’ll let the little filly trot off to bed.”

The gray pony shrugged at Vinyl’s playfulness, and stepped out. Vinyl followed suite and took a separate route after a minute’s walk. She chose a room, dove into the bed, and passed out.

♦ ♦ ♦

The blue, gray-maned pegasus knocked on the hotel door. After a moment, a unicorn cracked it open and peered at him. “Are you Shadow?” the unicorn asked.

“That’s me.” the pegasus responded. The door shut and he could hear a lock moving out of place. It opened again to reveal the unicorn dressed in combat gear along with several others in the back.

“Shadow,” one of them said heartily. “How nice of ye to join us. Come on inside.” The pegasus did and looked around. His eyes opened wide when he saw a six-foot tall unicorn with a white mane. “Ye haven’t met Punisher, have ye Shadow? He’s been helping us out with the plannin’. I hope the flight went well, by the way.”

Shadow took his eyes away from the sight. “It did. The skies were clear all the way from Neighpon. You’re quite lucky to have me here so fast.”

“Indeed I am, my boy. But there wasn’t any time to waste. We’ve got to get started real’ soon.” He looked at the unicorn that had let him inside. “Witch, bring ‘em up to speed.”

“Right,” he said with a Trottinghamian accent. “Two days ago, McCullen tasked us with securing a high-value target, a white unicorn, with a blue mane called Vinyl Scratch, also known as DJ Pon3. She boarded a train bound for Manehatten, and we moved in to intercept her. We were able to capture ’er, but she escaped when we arrived in the city, because of the intervention of a gray, black-maned earth pony by the name of Octavia von Weber. We’ve gathered that the earth pony did not act with premeditation and has no skill in dealing with combat situations. Vinyl Scratch, on the other hoof, has exceptional skill with parkour honed from no less than five years of experience, similar to what the Royal Equestrian Army gains in ten years.

“She and Octavia were airlifted to a safe house in Fillydelphia that is under the control of the Machivelli Clan of Canterlot, which is protecting her. The safe house is heavily guarded and secured by layers of state-of-the-art enchantments as well as an estimated one hundred trained guards. Because you specialize in the penetration of secure areas with stealth and discretion, we’ve called you in to aid in securing Vinyl Scratch.”

Swift Shadow smirked. “Give me the details, but I’ll get in no matter what they put in my way.”

Discovery

The passage of the next two months went smoothly if nothing else for both Octavia and Vinyl. While Midnight had hinted that he feared Vinyl would be too restless to stay put within the house, in truth, it was quite easy for the unicorn not to leave. There was surprisingly a great deal to do in the safe house, which boasted everything from a bowling alley and arcade to a salon and music hall, all located somewhere within its winding halls both below and above ground. This was of course not to mention the copious amounts of Germane chocolates that both mares happily consumed. Becoming bored here was almost impossible for the white mare who knew how to have the best time even under stress.

In the morning, Octavia would awake and seek out Vinyl’s room, who would sleep for a number of hours longer if it wasn’t for the cellist. Then the two discussed and debated musical theory and preferences as much as could be done before either were completely awake. This would usually end with Octavia throwing up her hooves and exclaiming, “Oh, I just don’t know what to do with you Vinyl. Why can’t you see reason?” to which Vinyl would retort almost nonchalantly, “Because your idea of reason is doing everything the way everypony else does it.”

But the exasperation of both would soon turn to a desire for adventure when the white mare would ask, “So what are we gonna do today?” If either of them happened to be particularly annoyed by anything, the two would go to the spa a few floors underground. Despite its location, the area was enchanted to resemble the tropics and was filled with exotic fauna and flora from as far away as Neighpon. So the two sat in the warm sunlight amidst the sound of the waves in the distance while getting the most relaxing massages.

On the other hoof, if both were in a good mood, there was no telling what they would do. On such mornings, they asked Crush if she could show them something worth spending their time on, and the blue unicorn always could. In these two weeks they had eaten food from all across Equestria, all sorts of flowers from Trottingham, Prance and Italey. Then they snacked on oats wherever they were hard at work, creating both classical and contemporary music on Vinyl’s computer with its fancy programs.

The two also indulged each other’s personal preferences. Sometimes they went to the library, and Octavia read poetry to Vinyl. The unicorn surprised Octavia when she seemed to find pleasure in this act. Vinyl commented frequently on the substance of certain poems, denouncing the repression of interracial love in the medieval years and even critiquing the poets’ styles when the wordings seemed a little too impractical. The DJ, on the other hoof, was astonished to find that Octavia was well versed in not only music, but also three different languages.

On other days, they went to the arcade and played through the long campaigns of the many games at their disposal. Octavia was very unfamiliar with console gaming, but she equally surprised Vinyl when she picked up the skill quickly. Very soon, they were advancing towards the mountains of the changeling capital, blasting through the ranks of shape-shifting foes in their path. This was not to say that the white pony had spent any long length of time developing this skill, but relative to Octavia, she was still more experienced and fiercer, a fact that soon became evident to her friend. Octavia seeming to understand more than Vinyl that the game was actually trivial, had the habit of charging in and ultimately failing. Vinyl, on the other hoof, picked and chose her battles. She fought when she needed to fight and ran when she needed to run. The latter was more often the case.

The best part about all of these activities that were available for the two was that the unicorns of the Machiavelli clan left them well enough alone, either because of the immense size of the safe house or because they were particularly careful about avoiding those whom they obviously considered unworthy of their presence. Whatever the case, with the exception of the occasional visit from a servant such as Crush or Love Struck, it was as if the two had a chateau to themselves. So, surrounded by impenetrable enchanted walls well-guarded by a vast array of soldiers and mercenaries while being treated to the most indulgent delights that money could offer, Vinyl and Octavia were now quite good friends considering they had only known each other for less than two months.

It was difficult to believe, but spending every waking moment with somepony can really bring out their personality. From all this quality time, Vinyl came to understand that stability was very important for Octavia. On occasion, they encountered some of the family members of the Machiavelli in the house. At these times, when they turned up their noses or made a derogatory comment, Octavia seemed to be unusually melancholy, as though their opinions determined the value of her very existence. With this and many other scenes and conversations, Vinyl discovered she wanted to live life without having to worry about ponies thinking badly of her. Furthermore, she desired to wake up in the morning, knowing that a good meal was waiting for her.

Vinyl also knew that this desire for stability made her give up chances to attain something better and fail to take risks that even had a high hope of return. In one instance, when she was actually invited to dine with one of the fine stallions whom they had passed by in the hall. The earth pony stared at the unicorn, a white muscular specimen with a blond mane, and her face drained of all color. After failing to make a coherent sentence, having stammered a few broken syllables, she turned and galloped away, leaving Vinyl to give the confused pony a disdainful look and walk away.

Yet she found that it was not so simple as that. Octavia was not hopelessly doomed to live a life of fear of risk. There were certain times when a glimmer of freedom presented itself to her, and she rode it for all it was worth. On the nights when they played video games, the blue-maned mare observed that her friend had playing-style that was out-of-character, taking the most risky pathways that brought them the highest scores. During the previous night, she had actually acted completely out of character and ignored her friend’s advice to run in a particular direction and finish the level they were on, while a battalion of enemies converged on them. Instead, she ran towards them until she found a hole in the ground that, by sheer luck, contained a game mechanic that drove away the whole mass and doubled their score.

On the other hoof, a few weeks with Vinyl was more than enough to reveal her character to Octavia. Because of how they had met, and why they were in the safehouse at the time, Octavia may have first considered Vinyl the type who only wanted to party all night long and not much else. Now left alone with the mare for an extended period of time, the white mare wasn’t much of the mysterious type with a convoluted past that she seemed. Vinyl was extremely forthright with every opinion and resolute with every decision. Every moment with her that was not spent relaxing was a rush of progression, and because there was no shortage of things to do inside the safe house, Vinyl ensured that they were spending their time well.

This energetic personality seemed at first like a red flag for the gray mare; however, as time passed, she was surprised to find that there was nothing really bad about Vinyl. True, she may have wanted to sleep in late, but after expending so much energy in the day, who could blame her? She always wanted to do something, but all of the things she wanted to do were enjoyable, and none of them were ever questionable. Surprisingly, they hadn’t even gone to the bar yet, which boasted the best drink in Fillydelphia according to the servants. This long period of sobriety, however, would not go on forever.

Midnight had remained absent for some time, and at first, they were beginning to get nervous. They had waited six days before hearing anything from him at all. Not all was going as expected, he said, but they had nothing to worry about. The same was true for the week after that and the week after that, and so on, until they weren’t expecting him back anytime soon. However, after a while, they finally received something conclusive.

Vinyl and Octavia,

Pony, it’s been crazy over here. For Octavia’s sake, I won’t get into all the details, but let’s just say that our business here isn’t uncontested. Somehow we’ve been able to keep the struggle quiet enough so that the townsponies in Ponyville haven’t noticed, but that’s only because it’s the damn Everfree, dark as Tartarus and wild as the Appaloosan desert.

In any case, it looks like things have finally gotten quiet here. I’m going to be coming back to the safe house pretty soon with most of the boys I brought with me. Unfortunately, we’ve got nothing to show for it though. The lead was a dud, and we didn’t find anything more than a bunch of indecipherable gibberish on some cave walls that’s been fading for what looks like a bloody millennium.

So, if you haven’t already done it, do me a favor and have a couple of drinks at the bar in honor of my miserable failure. I’ll tell you, I’m going to need a few after this mess. Just keep don’t do anything stupid if you decide to get tipsy. The Grand Galloping Gala is coming up and McCullen is going to be making a move sometime soon. I guess I’ll see you both then.

-Midnight

As the earth pony finished reading this, she looked up to see a sly grin on Vinyl’s face. “Vinyl,” she said, apprehensively, knowing that though she didn’t have anything to worry about, she did sometimes have to direct her friend to less possibly boisterous activities. “I don’t know if you are—”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” the white mare interjected.

“Vinyl, I know that you haven’t had any alcohol since we arrived here, but I don’t think that—”

“Oh, come on, ‘Tavi, what’s the point in living if you don’t enjoy life every now and then?” Vinyl said, like she always did in this sort of situation.

Octavia could see exactly what was going to happen now. “Well, we can still enjoy it without having to get drunk.”

“We don’t have to get drunk. Come on; they have the best wine in the world here, and nopony ever gets to taste it.”

This made the cellist stop for a moment. “Wine?” she asked taken aback. “They have some of the best drink in the world and you go to wine as your best argument?”

Vinyl snickered. “Well, you don’t exactly seem like the type that has a beer too often.”

The black-maned mare facehoofed. “That’s,” she paused. “Not what I meant. All right Vinyl, we are going to go to the bar, and I’m going to show you how to drink.”

♫ ♫ ♫

“Bar” seemed like a very unfitting name for the magnificent place that the two mares stepped into. It was a huge area, like many of the rooms in the safe house, but this one felt particularly spacious. The ceiling and the carpet were colored a brilliant crimson that seemed to define the atmosphere, and everything seemed to gleam even through the dimmer candlelight from the silver chandeliers. All of the furniture, the actual bar, tables and chairs, were made of sleek, polished mahogany. An elegantly designed staircase led to a balcony that went around the room, where there were a few of the mansion’s guests whispering to one another. Vinyl wasn’t sure if she was supposed to think the room was moody or showy; it seemed to want to mix both.

She made her way up to the actual bar, which was lined with more bottles of alcohol and appropriate complementary liquids than she had ever seen in one place. She jumped up to one of the golden stools padded with a scarlet cushion, and the bartender greeted her, a well-dressed light brown unicorn. “Good evening, Miss Scratch, I must admit, I expected to see you here a bit sooner.” He smiled.

Vinyl excitedly took this in good spirit. “I can guess why, if you who I am. DJ Pon3’s ready to get some good stuff. I’m gonna start off slow though. Let me get a rum and coke.”

“No, no, no, Vinyl.” Octavia said calmly and lucidly, as she slowly took the seat adjacent to her. “I told you; I’m going to show you how to do this properly.” She addressed the unicorn kindly. “Would you please bring my friend and I here some of your finest Applejack Daniels?”

The stallion turned around and went to a glass case which he opened and took a moment for selection. He found Octavia’s request and brought back two black bottles as well as two shot glasses. “This is our finest bottle, distilled in the sacred mountains of the buffalo tribe.”

As impressive as his introduction was, Vinyl was a bit skeptical about this type of drink. “Uh, ‘Tavi, are you sure we should start off with this?”

“Trust me, Vinyl. I think you’ll find I more than know what I’m doing,” The cellist answered with a smirk. The bartender uncorked the bottles and then poured the two mares each a portion of the fine drink. The black-maned mare then gestured to Vinyl’s glass. “After you,” she said.

The DJ lifted the glass with her magic and took the whiskey down in one gulp. There wasn’t a lot to say about the initial taste. It was strong, but it went down surprisingly easily, and she blinked it away quickly. Shortly afterwards, she felt the familiar and pleasurable warmth that flowed down her neck to her stomach. “Luna,” she said, breathing out. “That was way smooth for 80 proof.”

The cellist then downed hers and replied, “Not everypony says so the first time, but I thought I knew you well enough to say otherwise. It’s to your taste then?”

“It’s great. How much does this usually sell for?”

Octavia smiled again. “Generally, these sell for about twenty five bits a bottle.”

“Twenty-five?” the unicorn asked, moderately stunned. “That’s a lot for a single bottle.”

Her companion shrugged. “Could we have some more please?” she asked. The stallion obliged.

Having gratefully taking her second drink, Vinyl heard the earth pony ask, “So Vinyl, Midnight is coming back?”

“That’s what it looks like; took him long enough,” the unicorn answered.

“So, what are your thoughts about it? What do you think will happen now?”

“Not much, I guess.” Vinyl replied easily. “We’ve been chilling here for a good while and him coming back probably won’t make a big difference.”

“What about the Grand Galloping Gala? It’s coming soon. We’re going to have to leave here eventually.”

The blue-maned mare looked at her friend. “Are you worried about that?”

Octavia looked at her glass. “Perhaps a little. I just have a feeling this won’t be simple.”

Vinyl smiled. She knew by now that her friend had quite a propensity for worrying. Who could blame her with the kind of astute structure she was used to for most of her life? “It’s going to be okay, ’Tavi. We’ve got a noble’s family on our side.”

“I know, Vinyl. It’s just— I’ve been having some dreams lately.”

“Yeah, but they’re just dreams, right?”

“True, but I can’t shake the feeling.”

The white mare put a hoof on her shoulder. “Whatever happens, Octavia, I’ve got your back.” Octavia looked at her. “I need to know though, do you have mine?”

Octavia, put a hoof to her mouth, apparently finding the question amusing. “I can only do my best, Vinyl.”

“That’s all I’m asking for.” A few seconds passed, as the DJ pondered the commitment. Then, pointing to her shot glass, she asked, “So, you got any more good suggestions?”

“Yes, actually,” she answered happily, looking to the stallion again. “Sir, do you have any Tiara Royal?”

He turned around and quickly brought back another bottle. “I believe this has been a favorite of nobleponies as of late.” He commented, pouring two more shots.

“And with good reason,” Octavia commented, taking up and emptying her glass gracefully for an earth pony.

Vinyl followed suite. This drink was stronger than the last, and surprisingly, she had taken neither of these before. “Wow,” she said, shaking her head. “That’s new.”

“It should be,” said the gray mare. “Up until recently it was quite difficult to come by this brand.”

Another few moments passed as the two enjoyed the warmth and aftertaste. Then Vinyl said, “So, ’Tavi, I’m a bit surprised. I wouldn’t think you knew anything about drinking.”

“Well, where I come from, ponies do it much less, but when they do, they are certainly pickier.”

Vinyl postponed her reply and asked for another shot of the Tiara Royal. It was strong, but had an alluring effect to it. After its feeling set in again, she asked her friend. “Oh, so you only drink the good stuff then?”

“More or less,” the earth pony responded. “My parents didn’t drink too much, but they let me know about it when I was older, so if I did, I could do it responsibly.”

Vinyl laughed. “Mine didn’t either, but I found that out on my own. My dad wouldn’t tell me a thing about drinking.”

“I’m surprised with how active you are. My parents’ knowledge has helped quite a bit, especially since I have to watch myself at all the sophisticated parties I play at. When you got older, didn’t they ever talk with you?”

The unicorn chuckled again. “I wasn’t around long enough, I guess.” As she said this, she felt the alcohol start to take effect. She was already a little warm from the first couple, but now with the potent ones following it, she began to feel a bit lighter. It was a familiar sensation indeed; one that would become even more familiar soon enough.

“You left home early?” Octavia asked.

“Well, yeah. You know that much, I think. I got to the wrong places and got on McCullen’s good side for a while.”

“Really?” Octavia looked at her straight in the eyes.

“Yeah. He put me back on my hooves and I did a few odd jobs for him. Then he had to start acting all dad-ish when I was a few days late on some things, and then things got crazy.”

The gray mare seemed a little worried. “Vinyl, are you drunk? It seems strange that you’re telling me this now.”

“I’m fine. I’ve done way more than this before,” the unicorn said dismissively.

“Are you sure? This isn’t like beer.”

Vinyl was sure she could last a lot longer than this. “Really, I’m good. In fact, do you think they have scotch here? I haven’t had that in a while.”

In hindsight, Vinyl couldn’t really remember much after that. She remembered having a few more drinks, though Octavia remained reservedly dry. Little bits and pieces of the conversation were faintly memorable, but even they were hard to fit all together. She remembered hugging Octavia at some point and telling her about how she did some kind of jobs at some point. A tear might have even come to her eye, though that was probably because she was getting unwarrantedly overemotional. Then she was walking to bed awkwardly against the wall with somepony at her side. Then there was just the blackness of deep sleep.

♦ ♦ ♦

A gentle breeze smoothed across Octavia’s nose, bringing her from the land of wonders, Luna’s secure kingdom onto the very edge of consciousness. It was cool and relaxing, not even tickling. Its evanescent presence heralded her awareness to Celestia’s cheerful, warm sunlight serenely pouring upon her closed eyelids and welcoming her into the land of wakefulness, where her phantasmal dreams could become reality. As she lay there, enjoying the slow easing into this new world, she could now also hear the sounds of nature drifting like the breeze into the open window, the birds, robin and blue jays calling to each other in the shade of the great trees of the forest.

A male, she fancied, sounded strong and boatsful, not afraid of those fools that might be so audacious as to critique his song-voice; for his call was not for her or for them, the gray mare realized. It was for his lover, whom he held most dear. She would hear his summons from afar and return to the nest to admire his work. This female had been hunting all morning, rising just as the sun rose. She returned with food for her lover and was greeted with the sight of a beautiful nest, decorated while she left. Then she too sung for him, a song of love and appreciation.

Having imagined this from the pleasant sounds beyond the window, she came back to herself, and eased yet a little more out of her sleepiness. Gradually, she became aware that she was very warm, warmer than she usually felt on mornings like this. It was a tranquil feeling, one that told her perhaps she would not awake to a day of busy stress. But the warmth was accompanied by an unfamiliar sensation as well. It was soft, she found. Seeking to discover the source of this, she lifted her mind further into this world, and found her forelegs. She moved her hooves and observed the curves of the soft object against her. It was as big as her. The softness, she now understood was its fur intermingling with hers. Moreover, its upper body expanded and contracted in unison with her own, the rise and fall of a chest.

Finding the power to open her eyelids with not effort, the light of morning greeted her in her bed inside the Fillydelphian chateau, and it illuminated the figure lying just in front of her. It was white and blue, and had a hint of black, the white face of Vinyl, with her blue mane and eyelashes visible by her lack of eyewear that usually covered part of her face. Octavia saw she was sleeping soundly, not awoken by her inquiring caresses or the bright sun. Octavia was cuddling her, and had likely been embracing her friend throughout the night.

It occurred to her that she possibly should have been a little embarrassed at this scene of intimacy, but she certainly didn’t feel so at the time. Hugging Vinyl like this was nice and comforting. There was nothing wrong with it in the slightest, and she suspected that her friend might say the same thing if she were awake. Yet Octavia didn’t want to disturb her slumber; she probably was recuperating. This brought her back to the events of last night. To put it lightly, Vinyl had got absolutely hammered. It was likely that Vinyl would have a hard time after waking up. The gray mare would bet that Vinyl would lay off the drink for a while after consuming the best stuff, which, unfortunately for her, was also the hardest stuff.

She remembered finally taking the unicorn mumbling incoherently to bed, and she herself must have been too tired to find a separate room. This was of course only after the white mare had spilled practically her entire life story to her friend when Octavia was only moderately affected by her intake. The cellist studied the face of her sleeping friend as she pondered what Vinyl had told her. The memories pouring back were surprising indeed. She had run away from home after being duped by some rough colt that claimed he loved her but was really just after her dad’s credit card. Afraid that her father would deal with her too harshly for this, Vinyl lived life, trying and failing to survive selling music until McCullen found her during winter in an aleyway and made her into a runner.

If nothing else, Vinyl had a gift for slipping out of tight spots that made her an ideal employee for a moneylender like him, as he also turned out to be affiliated with drug trafficking, forgery, fraud and grand theft. Vinyl wanted to borrow enough money to get onto her hooves initially, but when he introduced her to the world of luxury living and night clubs at such a young age, she soon grew irresponsible and couldn’t pay back the enormous sums she owed. Sometimes she paid him back by doing extra-dangerous jobs for him, but she was always in debt. Soon it was just a matter of grabbing what she needed and skipping to the next town.

She still partied like she used to and claimed to have a good enough time, but to Octavia, it sounded like she was tired of living this way. Yet she was unable to do anything about it. She couldn’t trust anyone except Midnight and always lived in a mass of stress and fear. The gray mare was surprised to hear of all this at the time and still was now, but she didn’t think badly of Vinyl as she may have done earlier. The time she had spent with her told the earth pony what she was like, and now she knew why that was. Octavia had the most sympathy for her, because now they were friends.

The sunlight, though, told her that this was a new day, and this moment covered up the hardening discovery from the previous evening. She leaned in closer and nuzzled the unicorn. As far as she knew, Vinyl hadn’t washed her shorter mane since yesterday morning, but somehow it still smelled fresh. She ran her hoof through it and was not surprised to find it smooth and well kept on the side that her friend hadn’t slept on. With these sensations, her friend’s warm and soft fur and her silky mane, she felt like she didn’t want to move from this spot for the whole day.

The gray mare had never been this close before with anypony except her parents, and she found there was something about this act that was special. It was a beautiful feeling, because she saw that her friend looked and felt beautiful, but Octavia knew now that she was beautiful on the inside too. She wasn’t completely selfish as she might have believed herself to be. If anything, she did not betray her friends even when it was convenient. She knew this from experience before just living with her, and now she knew it from Vinyl’s tales.

Still lying peacefully in bed, she tried to find words to describe this situation. For a while, nothing came, but then “love” entered into her mind. Its invocation caused her to recoil mentally, to throw up a wall and step back. Did she really love Vinyl? She had spent a while with her, but did she really love her, or was this a momentary fancy? She thought back over the past couple of months and thought about all the time she had spent with Vinyl. These were some of the best times she had ever had.

She stroked the unicorn’s coat as she thought about those days. Vinyl was a great friend. When they talked, the DJ seemed to listen sincerely even though her informal attitude made her look standoffish. Vinyl humored her in doing the things she wanted to do. Yet she was also loyal. Once, when the earth pony had accidentally knocked over a priceless vase from Neighpon, Vinyl claimed responsibility. Nothing bad ever happened to her for it, but it meant a lot, because they both certainly feared some great punishment to be levied.

Therefore, although this had been such a short time, because they spent almost every moment of every day together, Octavia was starting to feel that she was attracted to her friend. She remembered that as the days went on, she began to think about a life where she couldn’t spend time with Vinyl anymore. This time in the mansion was fun and games, but she had to go back to work eventually, and then she would hardly see her friend anymore. Furthermore, the idea of being with Vinyl in the first place was all dependent on McCullen not getting ahold of her. She knew that if something bad happened to Vinyl, she would be devastated. Yet she also knew that even if McCullen was out of the way, Vinyl might continue to make problems for herself.

She looked at her friend, sleeping still, although it was growing towards the afternoon. The sight of her face made her smile. Octavia wanted her to be able to wake up to a day without ponies trying to collect from her. She wanted to help Vinyl out of the position she was in now, but even more importantly, she realized she wanted her friend’s life to get better more than she wanted hers to stay the same. I don’t even care if I’m happy, she thought. I just want Vinyl to be happy because of how happy she’s made me.

That statement made something click. She paused. I do love Vinyl, she thought. With this, the words of her father echoed in her mind clearly. “Love, Octavia, is not an emotion. You don’t fall into love. You choose to love someone. That’s what your mother taught me. Love is patience and kindness when your lover exasperates you. Love is selflessness when all they want is their own happiness. And love is standing up for them when they keep making mistakes. Money and nice things, beauty and handsomeness, they are going to disappear, but love never fails. It will never go away.”

The earth pony sat there for a little while longer, not wanting this moment to pass. She was in love with Vinyl though, and that meant she had to eventually. So after a few more moments of warm comfort, she eased her hoof free from under her friend’s neck and got out of bed as quietly as she could. Then carefully making her way to the door and pushing it open, she made her way down the hall until Crush appeared, just when Octavia thought she was nowhere to be found.

“Crush,” she said. “Could you get me an aspirin?”

“Of course,” the blue pony responded. “Are you feeling alright Miss Octavia?”

“Oh, I’m fine, though Vinyl drank quite a lot last night. I think she will appreciate it if I helped her with the headache.”

The pony smiled and turned slowly, “I shall return shortly.”

♫ ♫ ♫

Vinyl’s dreamless slumber was finally interrupted by her circadian rhythm. She had to wake up some time, and when she did, she felt it immediately. Her head was throbbing; she felt like she could drink a few gallons of water; and she had to pee like nopony’s business. Her drowsiness didn’t impair her from making the conclusion for very long: She had gotten drunk last night— very drunk.

Her eyes opened to the white ceiling of the room. Her vision was a tad blurry until she blinked away the sleep. With a grunt, she sat up on her rear, propping herself against the back of the bed. She reached up both hooves, one to rub her eyes and the other to massage her aching head. It was strangely quiet. Usually when she woke up with a hangover like this, she had to deal with some bartender telling her it was time to go home, or some creditor with an obligation aggravate her into insanity. She sighed and put her head back, hoping this would be over soon.

A soft whisper came from her left. “Good morning, Vinyl.”

The white mare opened her eyes and looked over to see her friend, sitting in a wooden chair. Groggily, she mustered the courtesy to respond, “Morning,” with a groan.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

She breathed out, rubbing her head again. “I’ve got the worst hangover right now. How much did I drink last night?”

There was a short pause, and then Octavia answered quietly. “Two shots of Applejack Daniels, two of Tiara Royal, two scotch and some Prench wine.”

“Urrg … Luna.”

Vinyl heard Octavia get up. “Would you like some water and something for the headache?”

The unicorn smiled weakly. “That’d be great.”

“I assume that using magic like this is a little uncomfortable though.”

She caught herself before she laughed. “You got that right.” She opened her eyes again and looked to her left where her friend had moved. The pony held a pill in one hoof and balanced a glass of water in the other.

“Then I’ll just give them to you myself,” the earth pony said, smiling.

Vinyl held her head back as Octavia dropped the pill onto her tongue and then hoofed to her the glass of water. She grasped it awkwardly as she didn’t hold things like this too often, but she chugged the contents quickly. The relief, though, not completely remedial was instant. “Thanks,” she said.

Having regained enough resolve to take care of business and returning, she asked her friend, “So, did I give you a rough time last night?”

“Not too much,” she said gently. “Your language was a little inappropriate but nothing a mare isn’t used to.”

Getting back in bed, and half hoping she would fall back asleep, she asked “Did I tell you anything you didn’t want to hear?”

Octavia seemed a bit uncomfortable in answering this question. She cleared her throat. “Well … um, you did happen to tell me more than I think you would have sober.”

Vinyl became very uneasy at this. Although she had been with Octavia for some time, she still wasn’t sure that she could accept her. Though the mare was a good friend, the white pony did her best to keep her past silent. There were many times in the past when she felt she had finally found somepony that would help her through life, though the one’s that accepted her couldn’t help themselves. The ones that could help themselves, when they found out what she had done, immediately had nothing to do with her. “What exactly did I say?”

“You told me about your life before meeting me.”

The white mare’s eyes shot open. “Octavia,” she said hurriedly. “Whatever I said, it’s probably not true. I get really full of myself when I’m drunk. I promise nothing I said’ll be a problem. I’ve done a lot of crazy stuff, but I don’t have to keep doing it around you.” She continued on in a torrent of excuses. She had lost the trust of people like her before, but she couldn’t lose her friend like this.

“Vinyl,” the earth pony said, stopping her. She reached out a hoof. “It’s alright. You are my friend, and whatever you’ve done before can’t change that. I’m willing to help you through anything.”

Those words came to the unicorn so unexpectedly, yet she heard their sincerity. All along, she had to deal with ponies who didn’t trust her, but Octavia was somepony different. If Octavia would accept her with both her past and her present circumstances, maybe there was hope for her. Octavia was somepony who had it together after all. So Vinyl could show her how to have a good time, and Octavia could show her how to not have too much off a good time.

She sighed in relief one last time. “Thanks ’Tavi. You’re the best.”

“Anytime Vinyl.”

She shifted around and paused before asking, “So, I didn’t tell you about that time I was in Stalliongrad, did I?”

“When you ran a kilo of pixie dust past a plethora of guards?”

Vinyl deadpanned. Ponyfeathers.

Infiltration

A dark figure flew high above the trees of the Fillydelphian forest. To those on the ground below, assuming that any would be making a venture through the forest so early in the morning, the figure knew he would appear to be a black bird. However, one up close could easily see that he was by no means a bird. He was built like an equine but had no fur. His eyes were glazed over with a blue, reflective covering that displayed no iris or pupil. His forehead boasted a black, twisted horn and the holed wings bearing him in the air were transparent with a green tint. If those below could see him, they would usually shrink in fear, for he was a changeling.

However, there was something about him now that didn’t completely equate him with the ones that had attacked Canterlot, nor was he completely black all over. He was wearing clothes, and in fact, these clothes would cause most ponies to fall over and bawl in laughter. He was most certainly a male, but his attire screamed the opposite. He was dressed as a Canterlot maid and had on the laciest, frilliest black and white uniform imaginable.

The uniform’s base was a black dress that extended only to the middle of his upper forelegs. The arms had lacy, white cuffs. The dress ended in a short, pleated skirt that covered less than half of the upper part of his forelegs. Just above the end of the skirt there was a white line going around, and just below, one could see the edge of a transparent, white slip. Over the black dress there was a frilly white apron tied in the back by a large bow. It covered his front and draped down to a few inches below his skirt. Above the ruffles at its bottom there was a matching black line going around.

He wore white, satin socks on all four legs that ended in lace cuffs just below his haunches and had black ribbons tied in bows just above them. Around his neck, there was a black choker, though that was obscured by a blue ribbon. The only thing that was missing in this ridiculous outfit was a headdress, which he had tucked away in his pocket for lack of a mane. Other than that though, he appeared anything but intimidating.

His face was scrunched up in concern, and every so often, he would slip down a corner of his left sock and peer into it to gaze over the screen of a slim PDA hidden underneath the fabric. As the seconds went by, the only thing he could hear was the sound of the wind rushing past, perhaps occasionally punctuated by his fluttering wings. Otherwise, he kept his gaze below, scanning for anypony who might actually suspect his presence. The tension was almost maddening.

Then he heard a brush of static in his right ear and a voice come through his practically invisible earpiece. “Shadow, are you there?”

Finally! He thought angrily. Speaking into the hidden receiver with a surprisingly Equestrian accent, he said, “Witch, it’s half past four. That’s two hours later now than when you said you’d contact me. What happened?”

The response came through the earpiece with only minor distortion. Witch’s voice was confident. “It took us longer than we thought it would to secure the intel that you requested.”

Shadow deadpanned. Goddess, it wouldn’t have taken a good AI two weeks to get that, and it’s been two months for this rookie. All he had to do was interpret what was being spoon-fed to him. “Alright,” he conceded. “Well, you cut it very close but at least you weren’t too late. I’m approaching the AO now. You’re going to be my intelligence agent then?”

“That’ll be me. Punisher is occupied at the time.”

The changeling thought again, annoyed. I guess asking why won’t really help the matter. “Fine. Let’s just get this over with. How far is the extraction team behind me?”

“They’re en route to the AO. ETA: twenty minutes.”

“Good,” the changeling said. “Tell them to wait outside the area until they get the signal to move.” He used his right hoof to push up his left sock again, and tightened the black ribbon so that it didn’t cover up the PDA. “All right, go ahead and bring up the target building on display.”

A colored, skeletal image of the chateau appeared on his leg-mounted display. Three floors stood above ground; the remaining were below. “Good,” Shadow said. “Now switch to an aerial view at forty-five degrees and show me the defenses as of 6 pm today.” The orientation of the virtual building shifted, and then several blips appeared over around it. He tapped these one by one. Successively, the OLED screen zoomed in on particular areas and displayed text, which he read over.

Steel gate with magical signature detector, height at 100 meters meeting at dome top … Heat sensing, three-dimensional laser grid operating when authorized entity not entering premises, 9,000 volt floor rejection measure along grounds exterior to edifice … 34 security cameras surveying area interior to fence … level 1 barrier affixed to all entrances tempered with level 5 detection and rejection enchantments, dual-layer trap.

“Good, so nothing’s changed,” he said.

“The damn place looks impenetrable,” Witch replied. “If Canterlot was halfway as secure, we’d have had your lot found before that whole fiasco even happened. There’s not a snowball’s chance in Tartarus that you’re going to get through all that without trouble.”

The changeling snorted in amusement. “I’ve heard that one before. Display the interior defenses.” His screen moved inside the building and corresponding blips appeared.

Magical energy pervading area interior, full spectrum … camouflaged security camera at entrances and exits … ponies at arms on premises interior: 101, summary rating: 5, summary experience: 1st division, 10+ years in REA/ paramilitary groups … Sensory agent: name- Claire Sight; age- 40; race- unicorn; experience- 8 years at Royal Academy for Gifted Unicorns, GPA 4.5; 8 years at Equestrian Academy of Magical Defense, GPA 4.0; 10 years in REG, successful missions: 50?, average mission classification: B-rank …

Commander of guard: NOT ON PREMESES, SECOND IN COMMAND PRESENT: name-Strong Heart; age- 37; race- pegasus; experience- 1.5 years at Wonderbolts Academy for Gifted Fliers, recommended for action by three members of Wonderbolts; 4 years at Academy of Aerial Defense, GPA- 3.9; 10 years in Royal Equestrian Air Force, rank- 2nd Lieutenant, engagements: 25, average mission classification: C-rank

“And we’re good there,” Shadow affirmed. “Nice work, Witch,” he said satisfied. “If this is solid, things might go as planned.” Just as he said this, his display zoomed out and shifted to a complete bird’s eye view. A flashing white circle appeared around the target area leaving a radius from the gates according to the scale legend. A solid blue dot was steadily approaching the perimeter of the circle, and text appeared in the gap between the dot and circle.

Approaching Killzone, anti-winking barrier 20 meters; radial distance from perimeter to target building: 200 meters.

“They set up a killzone?” he asked Witch. “For the queens’ sake, you told me they had money, not the kingdom’s treasury.”

Witch’s voice answered, “The Machivelli Clan is one of the most powerful and wealthy noble groups related to the crown. They alone provide seven percent of Equestria’s tax revenue.”

The changeling scoffed. “Well, I guess they’ll just be all the more humiliated when I bypass all their expensive hardware. Anyway, bring up the live feed on your monitor.” The unicorn’s face appeared on the PDA. “How do I look?” he asked with smirk.

The unicorn’s face was stricken with confusion and disbelief. “What in Luna’s bloody name are you wearing?”

“Camouflage. Didn’t you get a look at the staff on the inside during your research?”

“You look like a whore. How do you plan to get in like that?”

Still smirking, he replied “Well, lucky for us, your intel shows that the safe house is known for lewd-dressing servants. I'll change form when I touch down, and they’ll just assume I’m one of them. All I have to do is knock on the front door.”

“Couldn’t you just make yourself look like a guard then?”

“You underestimate the stupidity of ponies with a sex drive, Witch. If I show up as a solider, they start asking why I was outside. I show up as a Canterlot maid, and they invite me in whether I work there or not.”

Witch scoffed, “What happens then when one of these guards wants to collect on that?”

The changeling simply answered, “I’ll be done before they have the time.”

“Still a crazy thing to do: a grown male in a mare’s dress.”

“It’s called practicality. Care more about success than your image and you’ll succeed in everything you do.” The PDA screen changed back to the map of the area of operations. He loosened the ribbon around his leg and re-covered the device. Next he drew the headdress out of his pocket and ran it through his new long, chestnut hair, flipping the ribbons to make a knot. Just as he finished, he felt a tingle rush over his fur. “Witch,” he said, “I just passed into the Killzone. Are the connections still good inside this anti-winking field?”

“I still read you loud and clear.”

“Good, check their comms for any serious chatter. There’s a slight chance they may have detected my signature passing through.”

After a short pause, he said “The central command center doesn’t seem to have noticed your presence.”

The changeling in disguise smiled. “At least we know this hasn’t ended before it began.” Over the forest of trees the changeling saw the safehouse looming. Knowing he had a limited amount of time before he had to start playing the part, he said, “All right. I’m about to enter the AO. When I touch down I’ll assume the identity of Love Struck. She’s out of town on some errands, but you sent a forged letter ahead claiming the opposite, right?

“Yeah, I sent it,” the unicorn responded.

“Good. When I take on her form, you’ll get no more contact from me until I’m deep inside. Just monitor the guards and give me the heads up if anything unexpected happens.”

“Yeah, we’ve been over this.”

When he neared the safehouse, the pegasus came just above the clearing of trees that was the chateau’s grounds. Suddenly he folded his wings over himself and pulled into a sharp dive, dropping at breakneck speed. His face was hard with concentration as he plummeted towards the moonlight ground with the howling wind rushing past. Then just as it might have appeared that he waited too long and was falling to his death, he spread his wings and sped forward like lightning parallel to the ground. He touched down, slowing his canter to a trot and then stopping altogether.

There was another green flash that enveloped his body, and a unicorn took the place of the changeling that was once there. He didn’t move, but waited in silence for twenty seconds. No alerts, Shadow thought. Cover’s still solid, I guess. He looked up and saw the steel bars of the fence. Quickly locating the gate, he strode over to it casually. He located the intercom, touched the button and waited.

A voice quickly came through the speaker. “Love, you’re back early.”

“Yes, Lucian’s business went much more smoothly than I thought,” he answered happily in a voice that wasn't his.

“Alright, I’ll get the door then.” The gates opened, and he waited. When he was sure that the defense systems had switched off, he stepped through. Slowly, as though coming from a more tiring journey than he had just had, he made his way across the pavement to the mansion ahead, careful not to admire the architecture as if he had never seen the place. Stepping onto the spacious porch, he waited patiently at the entrance, staring at the double doors, uninterested.

The left door opened after a short moment. A brown earth pony stallion, dressed in black combat gear, greeted him. “Good to see you again, Love. We missed you.”

“I was gone for less than a week,” he said. And no, that’s okay, he said silently to the pony. Don’t ask how I got here safely at this hour, apparently alone, looking like a prostitute. You don’t actually have to do your job or anything.

“A day’s bad enough by itself,” the stallion replied. He stepped aside to let the apparent unicorn in. The changeling did so, immediately turning left. As the unicorn did so, he felt a hoof lightly smack his rear. He turned around and grinned slyly at the earth pony, playing the part of his cover calmly. “I’ll see you soon. Don’t go too far,” the stallion said.

He didn’t reply but maintained his grin until he turned around. Siri must feel right at home here. Infiltration must have been a breeze, he thought. Good thing, otherwise Witch might have never got all that intel. I’ll have to buy her a drink when we get back to the kingdom. He rolled his eyes and came to a door that blended in with the wall. His horn lit up, and he walked into the servants’ entrance.

Directions and blueprints could and did tell him which way he was supposed to go. That was good planning; however, he was surprised for the first time at this hallway that led through the servants’ quarters. It was brightly lit, very spacious and decorated with an elaborate painting of the classical heroic age. Well, I guess they better get a nice walkway for what they have to put up with here.

The changeling counted the doors as he passed them in case the rooms weren’t labeled properly. Yet, sure enough, he found a door conveniently marked “Kitchen,” and stepped inside to a warm and humid room. A number of unicorns both male, dressed in white aprons were at work, standing at stoves and countertops, preparing the morning’s meals. They greeted her casually as she casually walked in.

He spotted his first target, the head chef, another tan earth pony, who was watching his subordinates diligently work. The changeling greeted him personally. “Good morning, Noodles.”

“Morning, Love Struck,” he replied. “Canterlot nice this time of year?”

“It’s as nice as Lucian allows it to be,” he replied. “Have you seen Crush? I have to meet with her before I get some sleep.”

The stallion suddenly yelled to an earth pony preparing a large bowl of eggs. “Is that enough milk, son?”

The surprised pony looked up, and said, “I just thought they might like ’em a little fluffy today.”

“You thought?” The stallion asked. “Well, how’s that working out for you?”

“Poorly, sir. I’ll just cook them for a little longer.”

Noodles scoffed and looked back to him. “Hard to get good help nowadays, Love.”

You don’t say.

“Anyway,” the pony said sighing, “Crush is in the West Wing. She knows you’re coming.”

“Thank you, Noodles,” the apparent unicorn said with a smile. He turned around and made his way back into the well-lit hallway with his eyes glazed over. He quickly recalled what the map looked like and located the west wing. Blinking, he opened a door on his right and found himself in one of the main corridors. Knowing that each door lining this walkway would lead to a different part of the mansion, he opened the fifth white door on his right.

A closed-in staircase ending with another door and another hallway greeted him. It was another identical path like the last one. This place is a maze, he thought. I guess even the architects had security in mind. Still, it’s not going to stop a good operative. Seems like just a waste of everypony’s time.

Despite the drawn-out winding and turning through the very elaborate but tiresome system if hallways and more hallways, he found a blue unicorn dressed in an outfit much like his. “Crush,” he called in Love Struck’s feminine voice. “How are things?”

The unicorn saw him from the other end of the hallway as her friend and co-worker and approached. “Quite well, Love.” She said when she got close enough “How was your visit to Canterlot?”

“Lucian had me working hard. I suppose there must be a correlation between the amount of expensive parties he throws and the amount of nobles whose minds he controls.”

Crush smirked. “How long do you think until his subjects finally give him the boot? There’s no way he can justify those expenses.”

“He will find some way around it. He can probably pay a good accountant to launder them.”

The blue pony shrugged. “Anyway, Vinyl and Octavia went to bed just after midnight, and my shift is running smoothly. Are you going to get some sleep?”

He slowly feigned a yawn. “Yes, I’m going to do just that. Could you tell me where they are staying so I can clean up after them later?”

“Vinyl is in 242 and Octavia is in 253.”

“Not sleeping together again?” he asked with a chuckle.

“They will be soon enough.”

“Maybe so,” he answered. Then after a short pause he said, “Well, I will see you later.”

“See you then,” Crush answered.

He turned around, heading in the direction of the stairwell he had ascended before. He turned around the corner and stopped. After looking down the corridor again and finding nopony in the vicinity, he lightly put his hoof on the door adjacent to him and pushed lightly. The intruder held his breath as he quietly stepped inside. The interior was dark, so he lit his horn to shine some light. The magic shined a dim light all around the empty bedroom. The bed at the center rear was clearly visible, and there was nopony in it. He exhaled in relief and rolled up his sock again. A touch of magic brought the PDA to life again.

The screen displayed the building plans and a flashing blue blip showed his position. Another touch zoomed in on the second floor where he was. Then he spoke quietly into his receiver. “Witch, display the AO’s blueprints.” The screen turned blue and displayed the numbering for the rooms on each floor. He quickly located bedrooms 242 and 253 and made a mental note on their locations. Re-covering the screen once more and tightening the ribbon, he spoke quietly into his hidden microphone, “Do you remember what I asked for when I was in?”

“Yeah.”

“Do it.”

“Standby.”

Twenty seconds passed while he waited. Then he snorted. He’s taking his sweet time. “Look, if you—”

“Cameras on that floor are frozen. You’re a ghost.”

“Good.” The changeling sighed again. “All right. This infiltration’s running more smoothly than expected, but the hard part’s coming now.”

“Yeah, and I suppose you’re just going to waltz in and do the job as a Canterlot maid?” Witch asked.

“No, you never know when you need to reuse a cover, so we’re going to keep deniability. I’ll burn these clothes with a time bomb and then take another identity.”

There was a snort of amusement. “Well, good luck with that running smoothly. What happens when they wonder how you got in?”

“Let me worry about that. For now, I’m just going to recheck to see if I’m ready to go.” Shadow’s horn lit up again and he pulled down the socks on his rear legs. There were two black straps, which held tools of some sort on their right sides. Taking note of both of these that definitely should have been there, he smiled and said “We’re good then.”

Shadow quietly turned around and reopened the door, peering out to check for bypassing servants who would expect Love Struck to be asleep now. Seeing nopony, he turned left and fixed his eyes on a door on the right side about fifty feet down. That’s the one, he thought smiling. The changeling turned completely around and counted ten doors down on the opposite half of the hallway. Spotting that one, he made his way as quickly but casually as possible. Finally he reached the door, on the other side of which, he knew Vinyl Scratch slept. First, he looked left and right and checked his rear. Then he touched the golden doorknob and pushed gently on the door, cracking it open just enough to squeeze himself inside.

He quickly and quietly shut the door behind him, letting in as little light as possible. Within seconds, his eyes fully adjusted to the dim lighting in the room, carefully avoiding the silver moonlight peeping through a window to the left side. In the bed, he spotted the faint figure of a sleeping pony. He crept closer and saw its white fur and dark mane. Probability told him it was her. Good, the intruder thought. Let’s start the party.

Quickly and silently, he stood on the left side of the bed and removed his apron and headdress, letting them fall to the floor. Then he untightened the ribbons on his socks and removed those. Out of his front right one fell a folded piece of paper. He brushed it to the side. Then, pulling his legs in, he slipped off the dress. The clothes were balled into a pile.

Now completely undressed, he pulled out a small, circular metallic disk with the numbers 00:00:00 displayed digitally like a clock, which was strapped to his left, rear leg. He touched his horn to it. The zeroes changed to 00:15:00 and started counting down with the seconds. This should wake Vinyl right up and destroy the evidence of me using Love Struck as a cover, he thought. If everything goes as planned, she’ll be back before she’s missed, and Siri will make sure it doesn’t look like she came in twice.

The changeling picked up the folded piece of paper and left it lying against the wall, a few feet from the clothes and device. And that note, he thought, will bring her right to me. He breathed inaudibly and looked to his PDA again. Now time to fake an entry point. He magically tapped an exterior button a few times to lower the brightness and then switched it on. His horn changed the screen from the blueprints to the regular view and guided the display back to the defense summary. He selected a blip and the text redisplayed.

Level 1 barrier affixed to all entrances tempered with level 5 detection and rejection enchantments, dual-layer trap.

He touched the blip just adjacent to a digital window.

Disenchantment code contained in magical signature … pending

He waited for just a moment.

Touch horn to device now to record magical signature.

He touched his horn to the PDA and felt a small spark at the tip of his horn. Then the changeling loosened the interior lock on the window and pushed it up. A warm breeze wafted through. He enjoyed it for a short second and then sighed. Here we go. His horn silently shot a green blast at the window. There was a small burst of electricity. He fired a second one followed by a small pop. He yanked his head over and checked the bed. The white pony appeared to be still fast asleep. Good, intel was solid about her being a heavy sleeper. He crept quickly to the door and started counting the seconds as he did so.

1 … 2 … 3 … 4 He placed his hoof on the knob. 5 ... 6 … 7… 8 … There was a green flash that surrounded the pink unicorn and a blue pegasus appeared in her place. Witch’s voice came over his earpiece. “Shadow, they’re on to you. There’s traffic about an unauthorized disenchantment on the second floor and they’ve got guys on the way from the floor below. They’re already halfway up the staircase now.”

Cracking the open the door, stepping out and shutting it behind him, he quickly made his way towards Octavia’s room. “I’ve got everything set up in Vinyl’s room and I’m proceeding to the target,” he said. Just then he heard the sound of a door opening and two sets of hoofsteps heading in his direction.

They rounded the corner and spotted him. The one on the left was a tan unicorn with a chestnut mane and the other was a white earth pony with a blue mane. They were both dressed in body armor. Didn’t see them on the way up. They’re pretty good. The unicorn had a conic device over his horn that Shadow knew would amplify any spells, and the earth pony, like the rest of the staff, was particularly large.

However, he had positioned himself just close enough. They were only six feet away when the earth pony lowered his horn after seeing him. “What are you doing here?” the unicorn asked loudly.

Spreading his wings, he stood up on his hind legs and walked towards them deliberately. “Guys, guys, calm down for a second,” he said colloquially.

The guard didn’t attack but said sternly “You are una—”

Too late, buddy. I already closed the gap. Now in close quarters, the changeling flapped his wings, shooting himself forward and around the unicorn’s left side. The guard had too little time to react before the intruder’s hoof met his lowered jaw hard, knocking him out.

Shadow landed and rolled immediately. It was just in time to hear the earth pony yell and feel the air from his missed buck just out of range. Even though he was turned around, the changeling as a pegasus was so quick as to fan a swift wing to flip and twist around to meet the other stallion as he was about to strike again.

With the remaining guard on his right taking the time to turn to buck him, the changeling flapped his wings again and hit him hard in the side with his front hooves. This threw this stallion off balance and he tumbled back. Shadow, on the other hoof, needed no time to recover. He lunged forward and tackled the pony against the left wall, slamming his left foreleg into his throat. The stallion choked but tried to take purchase against the ground and throw his assailant off. As soon as his rear hooves touched the floor though, the pegasus head-butted him with all force and he fell limp against the wall.

Shadow immediately jumped back and found the unicorn behind him. He reached out and felt around the guard’s ear for an earpiece. Sure enough, there was a small ear bud with a very thin wire reaching to the stallion’s mouth. He immediately took the unicorn guard’s form with another green flash and switched the device with his own. Another pony was calling sternly into it with his voice raised. “Team six, Team six, are you still there? Respond!”

The changeling grunted as though in pain and answered in the unicorn’s voice. “The intruder got away. Suspect is a blue pegasus. He went back up the west staircase to the third floor. Recommend sending another team there immediately.”

“Roger,” the voice replied. “What’s your status?”

He feigned a cough. “The guy’s a fast one. Knocked the wind out of both of us and ran out. We’ll pursue as soon as we catch it.”

“Copy. Get up there as fast as you can.”

The changeling threw the microphone back onto the downed unicorn and popped back in his own. Then he resumed the pegasus form. Speaking into his mic, he said, “I bought myself some time but I need you to tell me if any personnel look like they’re about to enter the west wing, second floor. Vinyl needs to get here before they do.”

His partner answered, “I will.”

“Also, tell the boss to answer my call and give me a few seconds.” Quickly reorienting himself, the changeling relocated the door of his target’s bedroom. He cracked it open and hurried in, shutting it quickly and quietly. Then inside, he looked up to make sure he was in the right room. “The moonlight shone through the window, revealing a gray earth pony with a black mane. It was definitely her. Next, he tapped his PDA with his hoof and it turned on. Another couple taps and there was the faint sound of a phone ringing. He reached his head down to his right, rear leg under him and bent to bite the knife strapped to it. Flipping on the lights, he sprang forward at the sleeping figure in the bed.

He landed on top of Octavia and quickly pinned her to the bed, waking her up rudely. Shadow drew the blade across her throat and said through the handle in his mouth, “Move, and I will end you.” His hooves were pressing down on the bed sheets, and she was on her back, so she was virtually immobilized.

Paralyzed also with fear and with her eyes wide open, she asked, “What do you want?”

He noticed the phone on his device had stopped ringing. “Phone’s for you,” he answered. He picked up his right forehoof and put it closer to her ear.

An accented voice came over the phone, “Octavia, always lovely to meet one of Vinyl’s friends. How are ye, lass?” The horrified mare only answered with a gasp. Ignoring that, he said asked Shadow, “How much time do we have on the clock?”

“Maybe ten minutes, but they could get here faster,” he answered.

“Well, I guess we’d better hurry ourselves up then. Let’s have a nice chat Octavia, dear.”

♫ ♫ ♫

Not much could wake Vinyl up, but even asleep, she knew that where there was smoke, there was fire. If that wasn’t enough to get her going; however, a dancing light beat against her eyelids. The white pony jumped up in bed and looked to her right. To her alarm, there was a small green fire on the floor not too far from her bed. She threw her covers off in panic and sprang out. Immediately, she magically grabbed her thick comforter and threw it on top of the flames.

After a few seconds, when the blaze did not appear to spread, Vinyl lifted the duvet and found that the fire had died out. She tossed it aside with a heavy but relived sigh and sank to her haunches. She was breathing heavily, but soon her beating heart slowed down. Her head was drooping and her eyes were tired. It’s way too early for this kind of thing, she thought. For once she had some dreamless sleep, a rare luxury, though it looked like she was now paying for that with sleeplessness.

She might have at least tried to crawl back into bed and deal with anything else the next morning, but then she examined the floor where the flames had burned. In the bright light of moon, there barely seemed to be any damage to the floor, just a few black marks. Did I put out the fire that quick? She asked herself.

The mare looked up and saw that her window was open. That’s odd, she thought again. Shouldn’t it have spread faster with all that fresh air in the room? She stared through the window at the clear sky and then returned her gaze to the pane. Come to think of it, did I even leave my window open? She stood back up and took a few steps. Then she noticed that there was a folded piece up paper leaning against the wall. I don’t remember leaving that there either. The unicorn levitated and unfolded it. There was a message in neat, slanted, black letters.

You know what they say my filly, “Keep your enemies close, but keep your enemies’ friends closer.”

Vinyl gasped and her heart leapt up her throat. Suddenly the open window made a whole lot of sense. She whirled around and rushed to her door. She threw it open with a surge of magic and galloped into the hallway, straight for Octavia’s bedroom. The bright light of the hallway nearly blinded her, but she forced her eyes to remain open. She looked down the rows of doors and her already racing heart jumped again. There were two fully armored guardponies lying on the ground unconscious. Her voice came out quick, panicked and involuntary, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” She bolted in a second burst of speed to the room where Octavia had gone to sleep, which was horrifyingly close to where the guards had fallen. She threw its door open and nearly dove inside.

As much as she tried, she could not prepare herself for the sight within. The lights were on inside, and she could clearly see her friend bound on the floor beside her bed with an assailant holding a knife to her throat. “NO!” she screamed.

Her horn lit up to attack the pegasus who was holding her friend, but an all too familiar voice stopped her. “I wouldn’t do that, Vinyl. One wrong move and that blade might slip.”

Her horn’s glow died down immediately when she realized that one wrong move on her part could kill her friend, so she examined the situation more closely. The cellist’s front legs were tied together behind her back and her rear legs were clamped together in a sitting position. She was blindfolded and there was a cloth gag stuffed in her mouth. Tears were streaming down her face, and she was sobbing. The pegasus pony standing over her body length was a dark blue stallion holding a bowie knife between his teeth. His eyes could barely focus on her but they still were. His rear hooves were anchored behind her. One forehoof held the earth pony’s body down and the other was extended with a PDA displaying the face of none other than McCullen himself.

“Let her go!” she yelled, not daring to take another step forward.

“I don’t think yer in a position to demand anything,” McCullen calmly said through the device.

The white mare yelled back, “She’s not the one you want. Your thug had to have passed right by me breaking in here! Why didn’t he just take me then?”

The screen of the device was small but it was big enough for Vinyl to see her antagonist grin. “Now now, me filly, that’s how ye would do things. I don’t work that way and ye know it.”

The unicorn could hardly control herself. She didn’t know if she was about to cry or scream or lose herself and try to kill the stallion, but she did know she was more angry and scared than she had ever been. “She doesn’t have your Luna-damned money! What good is she to you?”

The face of the earth pony laughed, “Are ye still on about that bygone debt? I thought we were pas’ that. This is about you, Vinyl.”

Vinyl was shaking like a leaf with an emotion she couldn’t place. “If you hurt her, I swear I will—” she paused, unable to finish the sentence.

“I don’t intend to hurt a hair on this filly’s tail if ye just calm down and talk to me like a good girl,” he said. Octavia sniffed particularly loudly at this.

“What do you want then?” Vinyl screamed again at the top of her lungs.

“Is it really that hard to figure out? I barely needed to spy on ye at all to figure out that this little pony is the best, if not the only real friend you’ve ever had. We both know that you aren’t a bad girl, and good girls don’t sell out their friends, right?” Vinyl didn’t answer so he continued. “So, I’m offering you a chance to trade places with her. I’ve got some boys headed right to ye, and all ye have to do is say the word. Octavia will stay right here with Midnight, and I’ll never bother her again.”

“Why the buck would I ever trust you?” The white mare shouted.

“Well, ye just said she wasn’t any good to me. Why would I keep her and you too?”

“You want to sell me into the trade! Why wouldn’t you do the same to her?”

“There’s not a demand for fillies like her right now, Vinyl. I’m telling ye she can go free.”

Vinyl paused. She wasn’t going to get anywhere like this. “How about I just wait then? The guards are going to realize your thug is here pretty soon? If I can’t do anything about this, they will.”

McCullen sighed in reply. “Shadow,” he said.

Vinyl saw the stallion’s head move upwards ever so slightly. Octavia screamed and started whimpering louder, pulling at her restraints.

“STOP IT!” Vinyl yelled again.

The earth pony answered calmly again, “Yer making this harder than it needs to be, lass. It’s just you or her. Make the choice. And don’t ye worry about those guards that’ll be comin’. Shadow here isn’t gonna take his hooves off your friend until yer with his friends.”

The blue-maned mare stood shivering in anger, fear, and confusion. Her best friend’s life was at stake and she couldn’t think of anything that could save her without giving herself up. The guards would come soon, but the odds were that none of them had any magic or abilities that could stop the intruder without hurting Octavia. There was one thing she knew for sure, though: she would do anything to help Octavia, no matter what.

Author's Note

If anyone feels like there's a little missing information in this chapter, that is very deliberate.

Epiphany

Vinyl desperately searched for a way to save Octavia. Her best friend was bound and pinned on the ground, weeping pitifully. The pegasus arched over her made it clear he would not show the earth pony any mercy. McCullen’s smug face stared into Vinyl’s eyes through the screen of the offender’s PDA. The vile earth pony appeared so confident that he had won. After years of running from the loan shark across the whole country, it looked like Vinyl was going to give herself up.

Breaking from out of the silence, a door suddenly burst open from further down the hall. “Move! Move! Move!” somepony shouted. A horde of heavy, fleet-footed hoofsteps came rushing towards her.

Another voice called out, “Open door on the left: Move in!” The steps crashed in behind her, and a cacophony of shouts erupted.

“Drop the weapon!”

“Release her now!”

“Forehooves in the air or we will open fire!”

The pegasus didn’t even flinch. McCullen’s voice came over the shouting. “Hold your fire, colts. It’s going to take two seconds for your little spells to touch him, and he’ll end Octavia in one.”

There was a lull in the commotion. He’s not bluffing, and we all know it, Vinyl thought.

A voice in the hallway was already relaying information. “Command, suspect has been located on the second floor, west wing. Two friendlies are unconscious outside. He’s taken a VIP hostage and…”

“We’re locking this place down,” Another guard yelled to the pegasus. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“I don’ think so,” McCullen replied. “I think if Vinyl’s up to it, she’s going to step right out that window.”

“Sir,” another said, addressing his superior. “There are four armed hostiles on chariots just outside the perimeter.”

“Make sure the perimeter is secure, but do not engage unless fired upon first.”

“You colts bet ye won’t engage ’em, but you’ll let ’em right in if I tell ye to,” the moneylender said.

Vinyl felt a hoof on her shoulder. “Miss Vinyl, we need to get you out of here.”

Shadow’s head shifted ever so slightly upward again. Octavia suddenly let out a deafening shriek through her gag, provoking everypony to start shouting again. “She doesn’t go anywhere unless it’s with me!” Shadow finally shouted over the crowd. “Stand down or you’re going to get her killed.”

Vinyl hadn’t moved an inch the whole time. Her eyes were deadlocked in the gray mare’s terror-stricken eyes. A pang of nausea hit her, but she forced the feeling down. This needs to end fast, she thought. She turned her head around to look at the pony behind her. He was a tall, gray unicorn with hazel eyes. “Please, just let me take care of this,” she said, pleadingly.

“Miss Vinyl, there’s no way we can—”

“Just let me do this alone,” she said, raising her voice again. “She’s my friend, and you’re putting her in more danger than she already is.”

The stallion replied sternly. “Ma’am, I know what’s at stake here, but we can’t just let you alone. We get paid to make sure everypony here is safe, and it’s not proper procedure to—”

“Buck procedure!” she screamed at the guard. “This psychopath wants me to decide, and if you try and stop me, what do you think he’s going to do?”

He looked up to the scene, and then back at her. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret,” he replied with his face betraying worry. “We’re going to get you out of this.” The stallion walked back into the hallway with all the unicorns pointing their horns at the pegasus.

Get me out of this? Vinyl repeated in her head. No magic in this world will. She sighed and reluctantly looked back at her sobbing friend. She knew this was the crucial moment. McCullen had made his move, and it was a good one. There was no amount of negotiating or fast thinking that would get her out of this. So, she thought, I guess the question is, what am I going to do? Am I going to give myself up for my friend?

The voice inside her head came out of nowhere. I don’t even need to ask that question. I love her. It hit her like a kick to the head, and she blinked, disoriented. Yet as what she had just concluded registered, everything started to become clear. She stood there, in a mix of astonishment and confusion. Slowly, while the whole room was quiet, she pieced together what she was thinking.

A thousand times I’ve said that I’d do what was right: I’ll go to visit my mom rather than skip town again. I’ll use the money to pay that guy back rather than spend it on a faster hard drive. But when the pressure’s on, in the heat of the moment, I always do what feels good. So I know I didn’t figure this out just now. I told myself a while back I’d do anything for her, and I knew why. So now that it’s time, I can to do the right thing for her.

This epiphany was jarring, but there was also a liberating quality to it. There’s something I have to do then, she found. And I know what it is. She looked to the PDA screen with a determined visage. And I’m going to feel good about doing it.

“Octavia has too good of a life for me to mess it up, McCullen. Let her go and take me.”

The guard behind her called out. “Vinyl, what are you doing?”

McCullen answered for her. “She’s made her choice, lad.”

The stallion still said, “This is a one-way road you don’t want to go down. Just wait and we can avoid that.”

“I’ve made her wait long enough,” the white unicorn answered solemnly.

“Alright then.” McCullen said. “Now, since I don’t want ye kickin’ and all that on the way here, how about you be a good girl and restrain yerself for me first?”

Vinyl turned around slowly to the stallions behind her and asked, “Who’s got some zip ties?”

The commander called again sternly, “Vinyl, you can’t go with this—”

“Somepony tie me up now!” Vinyl yelled. With Octavia’s whimpering the only audible noise, in a moment of tense consideration, a guard directly in front of her reached into his side pocket without using his horn. His mouth pulled out two white cords, and he cautiously approached the mare.

Vinyl sat down on her rear and lay flat on her stomach as he ran one cord around her left front and rear hooves. He pulled and tightened the ties. They sequentially clicked as they closed in, but Vinyl noticed he stopped before they were too snug. Without even testing her bonds, she knew she had a little wiggle room, perhaps even enough to escape later. She sighed inwardly though. The chances of that were slim.

Then so as to seal the deal, the villain asked, “And how about your horn? We can’t have none of those fancy spells like last time, can we?”

Knowing that she couldn’t debate this, Vinyl turned her head and reluctantly shouted, “Horn ring!”

After some hesitation a guard slowly and deliberately approached behind her. She felt the warm breath of the stallion and then the cold, magic-binding ring slide over her sensitive horn. Likewise, when it stopped coming down, she found that it was slightly loose. Then the guard said quietly, “Their majesties be with you, Vinyl,” and walked away.

A pang of grief hit her. The false hope these sabotaged restraints gave her was nothing short of tantalizing. She knew she could not escape once they had her, and until they had her, Octavia wasn’t safe. Yet there was still such a tiny chance that she could shake free after Octavia was out of harm’s way. It was a possibility only a fool could trust, but a part of her couldn’t let it go. The agony was sickening and unbearable.

“So just like that, lass? I’m through chasing ye?” the McCullen asked.

“Let Octavia go, and I’m yours,” the unicorn answered.

McCullen smiled and chuckled. On the PDA screen, Vinyl saw him lift a phone with his hoof. “Bravo team, move in and extract the fillies.”

Fillies? Vinyl thought. “McCullen!” she screamed. “I thought we had a deal.”

“Well, it’s like I said, Vinyl. There’s a demand on the market for fillies like her.”

A concentrated explosion of rage hit the bound unicorn. “You asshole!” Her tone was high and shrill. She started tugging and yanking at the cords with boundless anger. “You touch her, and I swear I will kill you!”

McCullen just stared at her and laughed. “Yer going to learn your lesson one way or another, and if it means yer little marefriend has to bite the bit too, I guess I’ll go there.”

Vinyl wildly yanked and writhed on the floor, screaming as loud and angrily as should could. To her overwhelming frustration, she found that she was tied tighter than she had thought. The ties were moving only millimeters down, and she was making little progress. If she was able to regain her mobility, it certainly would not be inconspicuous. I’m going to get free, she thought regardless. And when I do, I’m gonna beat your location out of this pegasus. Then you’re mine, you liar!

Behind her, she heard a few guards take a step. “Move another muscle, and Octavia is gone,” McCullen said. They stopped, and Vinyl jerked her head up to the screen. To her surprise, the villain’s face was no longer amused. In fact, he looked almost worried. He spoke into the phone again. “Bravo team, I said move in.”

There was another few seconds that passed by. McCullen yelled, “You colts answer me and take the—”

Suddenly the screen of the PDA went blank, and she was staring at a main menu of sorts. The call had dropped. What in Equestria? Vinyl thought.

A guard behind her called into his comm, “Team four, report in.” Silence ensued. “Team four, have you made contact?” Another pause came. “Sir, all I’m hearing from outside is stati—”

There was a huge barrage of blue, magic blasts assaulting the window, disabling the enchantments and breaking the glass in a show of light and electricity and shattering. The pegasus had no time to react before another flurry hit him in the back. The paralyzing spells immediately took effect and he went limp, dropping the knife to the side and slumping onto his captive.

“Suspect is down, move in!” The guards immediately stormed the room. Some pulled Octavia and the pegasus apart, putting him in plastic cuffs; one confiscated the knife; and more were using magic to tear apart Vinyl’s ties.

As soon as she was free to move again, a dark blue unicorn with a crescent moon cutie mark sailed through the open window from a chariot hovering outside. He landed on the floor, and there was a stray, red magical blast fired at him. He dodged it, jumping towards the door. Half of the room then erupted with shouts of “Friendly fire!” There were no following shots.

Then she immediately saw it. “Midnight!” she exclaimed in surprise.

Midnight ignored her and yelled to the crowd, “Will somepony please explain to me why I just had to take down a whole team of mercenaries out there? Somepony is Luna-dammned lucky that I just got back from the bloody Everfree. Who in Tartarus is responsible for perimeter security?”

One said, “That’s Safe Edge, sir.”

Midnight replied, “You can tell him then that his flank is fired. He’s lucky I just happened to have a comms jammer on hoof, not to mention no less than twenty ex-REA soldiers, or he’d be dead too. Somebody wait for my team to radio in after they’re done cleaning up out front. Then get this intruder down to level B3, and make sure the area is totally secure.” The guards scrambled to follow his orders.

Meanwhile, Vinyl had shot her glance back and found Octavia, who had just been untied. “Octavia!” she cried. The unicorn ran to her and threw her forelegs around the earth pony. “Octavia I’m so sorry!” she said loudly. “I’m never going to let this happen again. I’m going to make sure you stay safe.”

Octavia sobbed, pressing her face into Vinyl’s shoulder, and answered through tears, “Thank you, Vinyl. Thank you.”

Vinyl held onto her friend bawling into her shoulder, traumatized but safe.

[/hr]

Vinyl sat on a bench facing Octavia in the third underground floor. They were in a small walkway leading from the elevators to a set of double doors marked “Holding and Inquiry.” There was no clock down here, and she didn’t have her phone with her, so there was no telling what time it was. She did know, however, that she and her friend had been sitting there for a long while.

Neither she nor Octavia said anything. The unicorn was still too shocked for conversation even with her, and she guessed the same was probably true for her friend. It didn’t matter though. Octavia was safe and with her. Vinyl zoned in and out of thought as the time passed.

So I love Octavia, she thought. The statement came casually, almost like nothing had changed in the last two weeks. I almost lost her though. What’s it matter if she has to go through this? The question went on and on for untraceable minutes and hours. Half of the time she was just sitting there with the thousand-yard stare. Then she would come back to that question. Mentally and physically though, she was going nowhere.

At some point, however, the double doors opened and Midnight walked out. The blue unicorn stood there for a moment with bloodshot, tired eyes. When no one spoke, he finally said, “I think we’ve done all the work we can for now.”

The words entered Vinyl’s ears and settled in her head for a moment, a clump of meaningless sound. Then, when she realized she should be saying something, the words were deciphered, and she replied, “McCullen’s mercenaries talked?”

Midnight rubbed his eyes. “My team told me that the four outside teleported out before we could capture them. We captured the one that got in, but ... Well, I think you two had better just come inside for a minute. I’ll explain there.”

The white mare sat there for a moment, still dazed and wondering what she should do. Then she felt herself get up and say, “Okay.”

Midnight looked over at Octavia who still hadn’t moved or said anything. “Are you coming?”

“I’ll just stay here,” she said, staring at the floor. Her voice was barely audible

He sighed. “All right then. Come on, Vinyl.” He opened the door with his magical touch and went in, followed closely by Vinyl.

The inside was dark, lit up by a few dim lights overhead on the stone ceiling. There were a few guards inside, most of them sitting about on seats against the walls. All of them looked just as exhausted as Midnight. There was a table in the center with a desk lamp, covered with a mess of papers and parchment. At the back, there was a bolted door next to window above a mounted control panel. The window showed another featureless room with a single bright light, shining on a pegasus, the one that broke in.

He was seated in a steel chair with the light shining directly in his face. He had a collection of fresh bruises, a few cuts covering his face, and a black eye; however, he was smiling smugly. The sight of the pegasus caused Vinyl to suddenly come to her senses. A short, powerful rush of fury built up inside of her, and she wanted to dive through the glass to beat the tar out of him. She quickly caught herself, however, and asked Midnight, “So, did he talk?”

“Talk?” the stallion asked. “Oh, sure he did a lot of talking, but unfortunately for us, he’s good— really good.”

“What did we find out then?” the mare asked unfazed.

“Very little,” he answered, sighing again. “He told us that he was paid by McCullen, who was in a specific hotel in Las Pegasus, to break into the safe house and abduct you and Octavia. He got by a half-million bit security system, disabled a layering of world-class enchantments using a magic device from that Sapiens Nigri guy you glimpsed in Manehatten, froze the cameras on the second floor, knocked out two well-trained ex-REG guards, impersonated the voice of one of those guards to delay us, swept the entire third floor looking for Octavia, and eventually came back down to find her on the second and immobilize her before the whole house knew what was going on. He also said the boss is going to keep sending guys like him until he’s got you.”

Vinyl sucked her teeth. “Wow, that’s game-breaking intelligence.”

“I know,” he said exasperated. “The guy’s way too good at giving useless information. With almost no way to validate his claims, we don’t know what’s true and what’s false. Obviously McCullen isn’t in Las Pegasus. Considering the fine detail he gave us about the location, we know that’s just a red herring or a trap; but there’s not much else we can confirm or deny.”

“For Luna’s sake,” she groaned. “Forget McCullen. Do we at least know anything about this guy?”

“That’s just it. I said this guy was good. In fact, he’s too good for the amount of heat on him. There’s only a hoof-full of agents in Equestria with the skillset to do what this guy’s claiming to have done. We thought he had to have been in some special ops branch of the Lunar Guard. That’s the only place where he could have got this kind of training. We used advanced facial recognition software to try and find in him the system. All we had to do was look for a hidden file matching a gifted flier that suddenly just dropped off the face of the earth. Not a single operative even remotely matches him.

“Then we thought that he might at least have a criminal record. We cross-referenced him with the databases of the Canterlot Intelligence Agency and the Lunar Department of Correction, not to mention that we have a contact in the Night Court that hoof-searched through Princess Luna’s records of criminals both foreign and domestic: Absolutely nothing. This guy is a ghost."

Vinyl groaned again. “You’re telling me you just can’t beat it out of him?”

“He’s hard as nails. Yeah, we might be able to break him, but without leverage –which we don’t have— there’s no telling how long it’ll take.”

The mare went to another bench and sat down. “Alright, how about this: This guy confessed that he’s working with McCullen who’s trying to foalnap me. Can’t we send like a recording or something of him to the crown and get them arrested?”

Midnight scoffed. “And have to explain how we illegally detained and tortured a civilian? The police’d come after us before they did him.”

Vinyl through up her hooves. “The guy illegally broke into the house and tried to foalnap Octavia! You’re telling me they’d make us the bad guys?”

“We have no proof of that. He didn’t show up on camera the entire time. He doesn’t even have a criminal record. It makes our case even worse when you think about all of our defenses. If he broke into my old house back in Manehatten that has just a simple lock on the front door, they’d book him, no questions asked. But because of the skillset that it takes to break into this house, there’s no way they’d believe us, because the Canterlot Intelligence Agency thinks it would have a file on him if he was that good. Besides, royal investigators are already sniffing around. All they need is just something like this to pin a hundred other criminal acts on us.” Then he added, “half of which we’re actually responsible for.”

Vinyl sighed. “So, you’re saying that we have this guy who just broke into your secure safe house, and we don’t know who he is, where he came from, what his boss is planning or where he is, or what we need to do now?”

Midnight took a long time to answer. His eyes were fixed on the ground as he was thinking. Every now and then, he looked up and sighed, only to stare at the ground again. Eventually, however, he spoke. “Vinyl, I know how we can deal with this, but there’s a huge problem.”

The unicorn’s ears perked. “What’s that?” she asked eagerly.

“How much do you care about Octavia?”

The question came as a surprise, especially when she knew the stark answer. She loved her, but maybe she wasn’t ready just yet to let the world know. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Vinyl,” the stallion said sternly. “I remember what you did for me, but I also know that you had to think twice about saving me before you did. Still, McCullen used Octavia as a bargaining chip to get to you, and from what the guards and our prisoner tell me, you were more than ready to give yourself up for her safety.”

The mare averted her eyes and suddenly became very interested with his hooves. “So what are you saying?”

“I know now that you love her, but as glad as I am that you have someone you care about other than yourself, you need to understand: With all due respect to her, she is a liability.”

Vinyl looked back up quickly and shot back. “She is not a liability,” she said in a challenging tone.

He pressed on. “You might be able to skip town yourself again and find a new life in Trottingham, but she has a life and a day job. Sure, we can wall her up in a façade for a while, but at some point, she’s going to have to go back. If this goes on for much longer, she’s going to lose her job. Then where would she be?”

“Well, what about you?” she asked defensively. “You’ve got contacts. You can give her a new job easy.”

“You know damn well I can, but where is that going to get her? Ponies all over Equestria are going to know her as the pony that always has to cancel shows on short notice and get escorted by troupes of armed bodyguards. Vinyl, I know her type. She wants to live a normal life, not one where she always has to be paranoid of psychopaths and mercenaries.”

“Then what the buck do you want me to do?” Vinyl yelled.

“After,” He put a powerful emphasis on that word, raising his voice to match hers, “I bail you out of this mess and McCullen is behind bars, you are going to get it together. You aren’t the only one at risk anymore. You got her into this situation, and I’m going to bust you both out. But after that I’m not putting more lives at risk so you can drink and party without paying the price.”

He turned around and shouted to a guard, staring at them. “I’m done here now. Watch that guy and do not engage in conversation with him under any circumstances.” Then he immediately left, thrusting open the door and slamming it shut behind him.

Vinyl sat there for some time again, mulling over that, but then she walked out of the room and found Octavia still sitting in her seat unmoved. The bench the gray pony was laying on was wide enough for Vinyl to sit on her rear. The unicorn took a seat next to her, saying nothing. Once again, silence ensued, neither pony apparently able to say anything.

I did this, Vinyl thought, as though she had just realized the situation that they were in. Midnight’s right. At least Octavia had a chance for a future before I showed up. The thought made her stomach churn. I mean, she did have to put up with a pretty uptight manager but at least she had a chance.

She had known this for some time. She had even admitted it, asserted it. Yet then it was only words. She knew what it meant without experiencing it, really grasping it. Though now, after this, after that pegasus making such a huge threat evident, it was almost too late. I lived through all this, because I could take it. I went to trial, stared Celestia in the eyes and served time. I risked my neck and had fun anyway … but I can’t do that to Octavia.

There was another sober moment of silence both within and without her mind. Gracefully and working unnoticeably, the pieces of truth, the facts that had lain dormant in her mind that had failed to coerce her from a life of thrill and misery, mountaintops and valleys, were now coming together in light of this new state of events: Living and enduring without help or company was once difficult for her, but she had overcome and overlooked the hardship of that arduousness. After she had thrown aside all obligations, all the chains which her father had wanted to use for accomplishing his own vision, she grasped half the truth of her rugged individuality. She was free and liberated forever. She was the mistress of her fate, the captain of her soul.

Yet liberty did not come without responsibility. Individuality was really just another name for loneliness. In this silent and sober moment, sitting underground in the dark, artificial light, pondering the severity and the nature of the present time, the puzzle being built from those pieces was completed. As soon as the truth was made evident, Vinyl threw up walls around it so that she could not see it. For some time Vinyl stood outside the door in her psyche, knowing that she held the key but was afraid of what lay behind. She trembled, strongly reluctant to find what was within. So she stood outside, shaking like a filly outdoors in the dead of winter.

This metaphorical embodiment of the machinations of her mind came to a standstill. Vinyl was paralyzed, knowing it was impossible for things to go back to the way they were but unwilling to accept the matter at hoof. Though, the second this paralysis became clear, the second she saw that she was afraid of change — the very core of the life that she willingly embraced — this fear turned to rebelliousness, and this rebelliousness became strength. She would not allow herself to be called afraid, and therefore, she had the power to stare the truth down. And the truth would set her free.

Thus she understood it: I love Octavia, so I guess I have to cool it.

She laughed lightly inwardly. I guess it’ll be worth it if she loves me back. This epiphany, no matter how paradigm-shaking, seemed natural for Vinyl and peaceful. It was crazy to look at it this way, maybe. She didn’t know if Octavia loved her back. Maybe she wasn’t even into mares. And then there was the problem with McCullen. But, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, she resolved. As crazy as it was, it seemed very simple to the unicorn at this time. If Octavia being safe and happy meant her not drawing unwanted attention, she could do that.

She looked over at her friend, who hadn’t moved during her entire escapade. “Octavia,” she said. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

The gray pony looked like she was lost in thought but she finally turned her gaze to Vinyl. Her eyes were red, her mane was a mess, and her gaze didn’t seem to focus on anything in particular. Her voice came so quietly it was hard to hear, “I’m very sorry Vinyl, but I don’t really feel like talking.” The cellist got up and walked over to the elevator.

What had just happened barely registered in the DJ’s mind. “’Tavi?” Vinyl called after her, hoping that she would reconsider. The elevator doors opened. The earth pony stepped inside, and the doors closed.

♦ ♦ ♦

Octavia fell into the bed facedown, fresh tears streaming down her face. Oh dear Celestia, she thought. What am I going to do? She sobbed. I’m so sorry, Vinyl. I know I hurt you back there. I want more than anything just to be with you now, but I can’t. I need to be alone, because I can’t face you anymore like this.

“Oh Celestia, what am I going to do?” she cried aloud this time for emphasis. The events of the past hours would not leave her head as much as she wanted them to. There was almost no way to make sense of them, but they remained burned into place. Again and again the memory played back without stopping. McCullen had not just sent a foalnapper after her and come so close to taking her life. He had and still was threatening her very life’s meaning. Vinyl had saved her life, but she was far from secure. What Vinyl did not know, what had transpired sent shivers up her spine. As she lay there, despite her best efforts to think about anything else, the awful scene that had just unfolded once more presented itself like a terrible horror movie with no stop button.

She had been sleeping peacefully just a few hours ago without even dreaming, in the comfort of her bed. Then suddenly, a blinding light hit her dead in the eyes, and she had felt the huge weight of another body fall on top of her. The mare woke immediately, but the assailant left her no time to defend herself. The covers wrapped tightly around her front, and she couldn’t budge. Her eyes shot open, and she saw her attacker was a pegasus. Her mouth opened to scream, but the icy, pointed edge of what must have been a knife slid horribly over her throat, and she caught herself. The jagged blade’s points pressed into her, causing her to hold her breath.

“Move, anh I hill end you,” he said firmly.

Even with his voice garbled through the knife, she knew immediately what he meant. “What do you want?” she immediately asked without thinking. The barbs threatened to break the skin with each movement of her lips.

“Hone’s hor you.” Octavia felt him shift slightly and suddenly, another voice came, “Octavia, always lovely to meet one of Vinyl’s friends. How are ye, lass?” She gasped sharply. There was only one pony who this could be, and she was now at his mercy.

She was stunned for a moment in pure terror. He and her attacker were talking, but their words weren’t registering. She could only shiver and hope this was a dream, but the knife again brought her back to reality. This was real, and she was scared senseless.

McCullen spoke again. She heard this time. “Octavia, be a good girl and look at Shadow’s phone, will ye.” The weapon’s pressure alleviated slightly, and the pegasus’ foreleg twisted to show her a PDA mounted above his hoof. On the screen there was a video feed. There was a light blue earth pony with a brown mane and tail sitting upright on a couch at the rear of a dark room.

One of his hooves was resting on something large that was standing on the floor, propped again the couch. Then to her further horror, she immediately recognized what it was. Again, she gasped, and said under her breath, “My cello.”

The stallion smiled and took a single take at the instrument. “That’s right Octavia. Ye left something in yer room at Manehatten, and I took it upon meself to make sure nopony else got ahold of it. The problem though is tha’ it might be a little hard for me to make sure it stays nice an’ safe if you go screaming and hollerin’ for help.” He chuckled and ran his hoof over the strings. “So what do ye say? Can Shadow take that mean ol’ knife off your pretty littl’ neck?”

Immediately, she answered, “Yes, sir.”

“Shadow,” he said, “Proceed as planned.”

The pain on her neck stopped and the pegasus jumped with a flap of his wings off the bed. Quickly, he ripped the covers off of her bed. He grabbed a part of one of the sheet with his teeth and another part with his hooves. The silk tore when he pulled swiftly in opposite directions. He repeated this several more times until there were three strips of silk, one noticeably larger than the others. The pegasus spoke sternly to her. “Get on the floor, and place your forehooves as far as you can behind your back.”

Octavia looked at him and then to the PDA screen. “Please, don’t make me—” she started desperately.

“Do what he says, and you and yer cello will be fine,” McCullen said.

Reluctantly, the mare stepped off the bed onto the middle of the hard floor and laid herself down. She pulled her forehooves behind her, but they didn’t go too far. Quickly, the pegasus grabbed them and pulled them uncomfortably far back, causing her to inhale sharply. She felt him bind her hooves together with a strip of cloth. Then he clamped her rear legs together and tied them. He did this very fast, and soon, she was again immobilized.

He walked around to her front again and sat. He put the screen close to her face, and she again was staring at her worst nightmare. The villain spoke once more. “All right, Octavia, I’d love to chat and see how you an’ Vinyl are doin’, but it looks like I have to be brief. Let’s get down to business. Judging by how surprised ye are to see this cello again, I’m sure you badly want it back. What I jus’ figured out though, is how bad. Ye see, I had some associates of mine do a littl’ snooping, and they found out something that I think is very interestin’.” He stood up and walked around her instrument. Then he called to somepony offscreen. “Punisher, how about you come and tell Octavia what you found.”

A very tall unicorn with a long horn suddenly walked into view and took McCullen’s seat. He placed a large book onto the table the camera sat on. His coat was black, but he had a mane that was white like snow. His speech came lucidly. “After you left Manehatten, Octavia, an inventory check of your room was done. Very little of value was found except for this cello."

He spoke staring with unblinking, pale eyes, which seemed to bore into her own. “Originally, I thought it was nothing special, but with the insistence of my employer, I studied the cello and its case further. It was not too much longer until I found something very peculiar. On the underside there appears to be a small but very distinct marking. Now being a world-renowned mage, in my professional opinion, I believed it to be a magic seal of some sort, though it was clearly not modern. Its origin was faintly familiar to me, but I could not place it. In any case, the instrument itself appeared new, so I decided to pursue the matter.

“With the extensive resources that my employer provided, a number of books that were once available to me but were confiscated and residing in the forbidden library of Princess Celestia came back into my reach. And it just so happens that this book,” he gestured to the one sitting on the table, “contains the information necessary to identify the marking engraved into the cello.” His horn lit up with a crimson aura. He opened up the book and started flipping through the pages magically. “Before I disclose that, however, a little history.”

Shadow cut in. “We’ve got five minutes.”

Punisher continued. “I’ll take that into account, but I believe this is important. According to ancient sources, which will forever remain anonymous, just before the Nightmare Moon incident one-thousand and four years ago, Princess Luna was the most powerful magic-wielder on this planet. Her abilities were so great that most legendary accounts of her prowess are likely mythical. This book, however, is one of the few books written by her that remain of the hundreds that were destroyed in the Great War. It contains seventy-two spells which can perform inconceivable feats that seem to defy the laws and limitations of magic themselves. They include controlling and altering space and time, as well as ponies’ perceptions, beliefs and senses.

“These spells now contain casting instructions that the most gifted mages in the world have tried to imitate for centuries, but they have been unable to understand or perform them. The key to deciphering each of these spells lies in the magical circles, or seals which accompany them, and it just so happens that one of these seals is engraved on your cello.” He stopped flipping pages at this point and looked down. He levitated the book, and showed her the seal. She recognized its strange but so familiar design immediately. It was certainly the one marked on her cello.

No, she thought. Please don’t tell me they found out. Tears sprang to her eyes.

Punisher disregarded her display of grief. “The language in this book is very archaic, but the dialect and wordstock is surprisingly modern with respect to most documents of the time. That is how we know it was written by Princess Luna no more than a few months before the Nightmare Moon incident. There isn’t a lot written like this, so forgive me if I translate a bit slow."

Despite his excuse, he read rather quickly. “The seventy-first spell hath the spirit of Dantalion. He is a great and mighty prince, appearing in the likeness of a pony with a brilliant countenance; and he holdeth a wand at his right side. His office is to teach the art of sound unto the bloodline; and to capture the heart of any one so that they might weep or act; for he knoweth the hearts of all stallions and mares. This is his seal, which bear thou.”

He looked up, “Now – with limited time to spare — I did further research into some of the things in this text, and I found that ‘Dantalion,’ happens to be another name for Filius Primus Celestiae, the great musician of old. Moreover, this part about ‘the bloodline’ implies that this spell pertains to blood magic. Thus the spell can only be performed with this Dantalion’s blood, which can obviously be found in any descendants.”

“Three minutes until we have to move, people,” Shadow said surprisingly calmly.

Punisher ignored him. “That said, the seal being on this instrument does not necessarily mean that the spell this book promises is present. Therefore, I had to examine the instrument further. For a while, I did not find anything unusual but after performing numerous tests, most of which only an archmage can perform, I found a very faint trace of an enchantment. At first, it was almost unnoticeable, and the magical signature was very unfamiliar and strange indeed. Yet after further prodding, I finally found that this instrument was and is indeed enchanted.

“When I tried to find the purpose of the spell, I exposed my psyche to it. To explain it as simply as possible, I found a spell that resembles that of a computer program. The coding of this program is so foreign and unimaginably complex, I stopped trying to understand it immediately. However, I was able to see that unlike a computer program, which executes commands that alter the computer, this spell executes commands that could alter reality itself.

“Finally, at the request of Mr. McCullen, I did some research into the family tree of Filius, and found that, interestingly enough, about six hundred years into his genealogy, there appears a pony named von Weber whose name lasts through several generations. This name, I believe, must have something to do with you, Octavia, because this is your surname.”

As the gaunt, white-maned pony read and spoke, her tear-leaking developed into whimpering and then finally into full-blown sobbing as much as she could without wailing loudly. Having finished, the pony got off the couch and walked away. McCullen then reclaimed his seat and spoke just as casually as before. “So my filly, being an earth pony and all, I’m not entirely sure I believe all this ancient magic business or ye being related to some old composer, but I can tell from how yer crying like a foal that you do at least. So, if I were to take a guess from what my people tell me, you need this cello very much so you can make a name for yerself, and this magic’ll help you do that someday.”

The truth hit her hard like a train. This vile pony was right, and they both knew it. That cello was going to make her a legend someday. All she had to do was play at the gala under her own patronage. That was the fine print of the spellcraft. She was just so close to making that happen. She was breathing hard and was close to losing it at this point. This was all happening too fast.

“Time to wrap this up,” Shadow said more urgently.

“The point is, lass, I think we can help each other out. You want this cello back, and I want Vinyl. So, I’m giving ye a choice. Do ye want to keep this cello and become a musical legend, or do ye want to stay with Vinyl, who’s goin’ to come to me at some point anyway, and have this piece of wood get thrown off a skyscraper?” He held up his hooves like the arms of a balancing scale. “You can have yer life or your fillyfriend. Don’t decide now though. I’ll be in touch. Shadow, let’s get this done.”

The pegasus grabbed her mouth and wedged it painfully wide open with a hoof. She saw him take his other hoof and place something small and metallic on her upper, right rear molar. He started speaking very quickly. “This is a bug and a tracking device that is now glued to your molar. We will hear everything you say, every second of every day, and we will know where you are to the centimeter 24/7. If you say anything about this meeting that informs any one of this choice you’ve been given, the cello will be busted. We have spies that have infiltrated this house, and if you try to inform others about this meeting, the cello will be splintered. You will be able to hear McCullen at any time through this device. If he tells you to do something and you do not obey, he will destroy your cello.”

Through the open door, Octavia heard the sound of a single pony’s hoofsteps pounding down the hall. The pegasus grabbed the third piece of cloth and stuffed it in her mouth, preventing her from talking. He recovered the knife he had dropped and slid it into its wooden sheath on his rear leg. Standing over her, he whispered into her ear. “This is where I’d normally tell you that this would be about to be over, but I guess in your case the agony has just begun.”

She heard the terrible sound of sharpened metal grinding against wood and then felt the knife against her throat again just as Vinyl threw open the door.