This Chain of Mine

"Hey, you awake?"

"Grrr... sssshkl'iyo avkser-*cough* *hack* -er, where the hell am I?! Who the hell are you?!"

"Dude, chill! I'm Vinyl, and you?"

"...My name is-"

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I wake with a groan, the light of the afternoon sun shining, of course, directly into my closed eyelids. What time is it? I open my eyes, covering them with my hand to clock out the sunlight, and sit up, rubbing the ridges of my brow. Has it really been so long ago?

"Yo Viri, you awake?" I hear the unmistakeably tomboyish voice of Vinyl call from the other side of the door, "We gotta talk, bro!"

"Egh... I'm awake! Come in!" I call, swinging my legs off the edge of the bed, bringing my tail around to hide my... "Trouser snake" I think the joke was. Two years I've spent here, and some of their jokes still make no sense to me. But then again, I guess I am relatively old compared to these ponies.

The door to my room opens, and in walks Vinyl, garbed in an electric blue bathrobe the same color as her mane, no doubt the one with her cutiemark where her flank was, and surprisingly without her usual DJ shades.

...this is either a very personal question about me, or I'm gonna get a new red paint job for my claws soon. Either way, this should be in-

"So Viri, I got a couple invitations to the gala from aunt Fleur, and I was wondering-"

"No." I cut her off suddenly, the same way I do every time she asks me to go to that damnable gala. I get stuck in a cramped back room with the other familiars and personal servants every time I go, so it sucks for me. Plus, if I can't do what I was brought here to do while I'm there, might as well not go at all. She sighs, looking at me with her crimson puppy eyes.

"Please~?" she asks, making her voice sound small and vulnerable. Well, I'm cold blooded, so I have an excuse to be cold hearted about this, besides the fact that I'm immune to these pony charms.

"No. If those ssstuck up tin ssoldiers won't let me do my job while there, I might as well not go. Besides, that one fleshy familiar your aunt takes with her sstill creeps me out." It was almost like me, minus the tail, scales, claws, and male genitalia. She wasn't bad to look at ,nice and tender even. But something about her just... makes my skin crawl beneath my scales. Every time she stares at me, I feel like I'm shedding early.

"What, the.... human, I think it was called?" she grins at me mischievously, a twinkle in her eyes, "But she's just dying to see you again!"

"Not funny, Vinyl. Not funny." I shake my head, my tail shifting in place.

"Well, other than to tease you- and no, I didn't get tickets," she admits, and I can't help but hiss unhappily as she chuckles, "I got a job for you. An SS job." at this new (and far more endearing) piece of news, my toes and tail shift again in my new mood shift.

"Sso, what're the details?" I ask, whipping my tail towards the floor, grabbing my pants in the swift motion. It's not like she hasn't seen me naked before (Snakeskin, we live together after all.) but despite being so... "Anal" I think the term was, Octavia was horrible at knocking when at home, and I'd rather her not see me like that.

"There's a petition being signed by aunts business rivals about having her sent back to Prance, and I want it gone. We don't spend a lot of time together, and it's unlikely it'll be passed, but you can't take chances with those nobles." she explains, going into business mode. Judging by how hard she's trying to hide her disgust, I think I'm gonna enjoy what she says next. "Prince Blueblood has it."

I slip my shorts on, a wicked smile breaking out across my face. Despite being her familiar for so long, she still shudders at the sight of my teeth. They were small and sharp, with two fangs where a pony's incisors would be. Kinda like what these ponies call a "Cobra", though nowadays I can't tell if her shudders are in fear or something I'm not familiar with.

"So I'll be sneaking into the royal castle?" I ask, standing up, my tail shifting around, returning to my backside. I flex my claws, and the "special" scales on my hands. After a silence, she nods. "When can I start?"

"Whenever you're ready to go. Just be careful, okay? I don't want to bail ya out just 'cuz you got caught."

"Oh, don't worry..." I flex my jaws, my fangs flicking outward, then popping into place, "When has anypony caught me?"

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It was a couple hours later, and clouds were gathering in the sky as if it was gonna rain. This was the perfect opportunity to leave (and it was supposed to be a clear day today, lucky break) and I took it. I change my scales from their usual, lack-luster color to cobblestone grey, and take off down an alley to the side of the house on all fours. It wasn't any darker than the street, but there wasn't as high a chance I would be seen by anypony important... well, anypony important anyway.

After about thirty minutes of this fast pace, I jump onto the wall of the nearest building, hanging there while my scales blend in with it. Not that anypony was coming by, but I wanted to asses the defenses of the castle without somepony just walking by and catching sight of me. So, patrols of three make constant rounds throughout the grounds, each armed with either a sword, spear, or both. I could probably get in if I time it just right, then climb in through an open window or something. Looking up, I see quite a number of open windows to choose from... but which one is closer to the prince's room?

Ah fuck it, I'll just get in and crawl around on the ceilings until I find it. Alright, three....two...one... GO!!!

With that, I spring off the wall and swing onto the roof, going to all fours and charging as fast as I could, leaping from roof to roof, jumping over the walls and continuing my sprint. With the wall fast approaching, I put on an extra burst of speed...One, two three- JUMP!!!

I spring into the air, my claws outstretched and palms open, slamming hard against the wall and staying there, my scales already taking on the castle's clean white color. I just hang there on the wall, catching my breath, when the next patrol comes around the bend. The white coated stallions, shining in their clinking, golden armor were casually chatting, thinking themselves out of view the public no doubt.

"Prince Blueblood has been acting strangely, don't you think?"

"Yeah. Since when has that high and mighty plothole cared about our drills and training? I feel like he'd throw something at us from his balcony when Lightwing got off-step!"

"I still don't see..." they continued chatting even as they turned the bend. Well, that clears SOMETHING up, at least. His room must be the one overlooking the drill field... wherever that was. Well, better get crawling.

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Looking back at it, I should've known my luck would run out sooner or later. Perfect weather for sneaking, convenient opening in the patrol routes, and overhearing the guards, I should've really seen this coming. Why, you ask?

A familiar was currently staring unblinkingly at the spot I stood at the wall, camouflaged. She can't exactly see me, but she apparently knows I'm here. How, I don't know, and I'd rather not find out. She was a biped, and looked very similar to Fleur's familiar, but had brown hair and glowing, dark purple runes covering her from head to toe. Her light purple eyes shone with an unnatural magic, one I've never seen before. As I stared into them, I could hear indiscernible whispering ...

... after staring at me for what felt like an eternity, she grins knowingly.

"Come and play, little gecko... CoMe AnD pLaY wItH mE!!!"