"That plan backfired quickly," commented Octavia is she walked out of the coffee shop with her teacher. It took Mr. Kurenai two hours to regain consciousness after consuming too much coffee.

"Got any other ideas?" he asked as he strolled across the street.

Octavia shook her head. "We will just have to hope that monster doesn't hurt any more innocent ponies. That might be why he would want to join the Blue Sky Organization," she guessed.

"Well, I'm not letting him keep me away from Yuri. In fact, I'm going to find her as soon as I drop you off."

"You're unusually persistent about being with Ms. Aso," Octavia noted. "Why?"

"There's a certain music about her," her teacher answered calmly. "A wonderful tune, that I just can't ignore."

Octavia tilted her head in confusion. "I didn't know Ms. Aso liked music that much."

The young filly passed her house, causing Mr. Kurenai to do a double take. "I think you went too far," he said, pointing at the house while trying to catch up to the filly.

"My parents will not be home until much later, so they asked Mr. and Mrs. Scratch to babysit. They're expecting me to come right after my lessons, and I'm already late," she explained, not slowing down a bit.

"They're gone awfully long."

"They had to fill in for a cellist and a violinist. The Scratches and I happen to be visiting one of them at the hospital today."

"The hospital?"

Octavia nodded. "The cellist sprained his front hoof, so he had to cancel many of his performances. I'm bringing my violin so that I can play some happy music and cheer her up."

Otoya smiled warmly. "How thoughtful, for a young filly to do that."

Octavia sighed. "If only music could actually heal things."

"Who said it couldn't?" asked Mr. Kurenai, taking his violin out of its case and picking it up. As he played the familiar tune, the shrivelled stems in the front yard of the house next to them grew, gaining bright green leaves and colourful flowers. Octavia crouched to get a better look at the lush green grass, which was a dead lawn moments ago.

She stood speechless until her teacher stopped playing. "It's so beautiful. I want to be an amazing violinist like you someday!"

Before Mr. Kurenai could reply, the owner of the property glanced outside his house, taking in the transformation his front yard went through. "This... is gorgeous!" he exclaimed, a big grin on his face. "It will be perfect for my picnic party next week."

Mr. Kurenai smiled proudly. "This has been brought to you by the once-in-a-lifetime expert violinist, Kurenai Otoya."

Then he added, "It costs one million bits."

The grin melted off the homeowner's face. "A m-m-million?"

Octavia frowned. "I take it back. You're a terrible role model."

* * *

A simple melody filled the hospital room. The sound came from the corner of the room, where Octavia sat on a chair, playing her violin. Her small audience included Vinyl and her mother, as well as an orange pegasus stallion sitting on the hospital bed. Once she was finished, she bowed.

"Impressive," complimented the pegasus. He raised his forehooves up to give a round of applause, only to wince and put them back down when he felt the pain in the left hoof. "If you keep practicing, you will become one of the most famous musicians in Equestria."

"Thank you," Octavia nodded. "How long until you can play the cello again?"

"I'm not sure," replied the pegasus, staring at his hoof. "I was in a pretty serious accident. It is good enough luck that only one hoof was injured."

"What happened?" asked Vinyl, listening intently. "Did you get bitten by a spider, or step on a sharp rock?"

The pegasus shook his head. "Nothing like that. I simply had a little accident when trying to get rid of a violin that my friend had. That is why your parents had to fill in for her as well."

"Did she get angry about you giving away the violin?"

"She was actually relieved when I did. It was a piece of art by itself, a finely crafted instrument with smooth, black varnish. However, I assume somepony was blackmailing her to make her give the violin away. She kept having nightmares so vivid, she thought they were real. She started wearing multiple turtleneck sweaters and neck scarves on the most scorching days, worried that some cross between a crystal pony and a thestral was going to suck the colour out of her."

"Like a stained-glass vampire?" Octavia asked, her eyes widening.

The pegasus looked back with a surprised look on his face. "Something along those lines, yes. In fact, That would be an accurate description of the costume the blackmailer was dressed as when he attacked me, right after I gave the violin to an auction. Hopefully, we shall not see him again anytime soon."

A nurse entered the room. "Sorry to interrupt, but the doctor will be coming in a few minutes to check on you," she told the patient.

"We better head home as well," said Mrs. Scratch, checking the time on the clock. "I still need to cook dinner."

After leaving the hospital, Mrs. Scratch led Vinyl and Octavia to the grocery store. "How about some pasta for dinner?" she asked them. They both nodded eagerly as they followed her into the store.

Or, one of them, at least. Octavia was held back by something tugging her violin case. She turned and saw a stallion with a black baseball cap, brown coat and sunglasses.

"Hand over the violin," he growled. "You aren't worthy of possessing it."

"Um, that's not very nice," said Octavia, trying to sound confident. "I might not be the best violin player, but--"

"Hand it over." The familiar stained-glass pattern now covered his face.

Octavia took a step back and scrambled to open her violin case. "Okay, you can have it, as long as it stops you from turning into a monster. Here it is." However, once she opened the case, the fangire shook his head. "My apologies, this isn't the Black Star."

"The Black Star?" Octavia asked, confused. Before she could think about it, a unicorn filly poked her head out of the grocery store.

"Hey, Tavi, what's taking you so long? And why is your violin..." Vinyl trailed off when she saw the stained glass markings on the stallion standing nearby.

She slowly pointed to the fangire, while looking at Octavia. "One of the monsters?"

Octavia nodded.

"MOM, THERE'S A MONSTER!"

"Wht's wrng?" asked her mother,holding a shopping cart in her mouth. She dropped it when she saw the fangire, who had fully returned to normal pony form by now. "Are you stealing from this this filly?" she asked accusingly.

One of the head shopkeepers appeared at the scene, attracted by the commotion. "Did someone say stealing? Is there a shoplifter?"

The fangire looked around at the growing number of people glaring at him. Then he ran as far as he could.

"The monster's getting away!" screamed Vinyl.

"Oi! After him, Clover!" the shopkeeper called. Moments later, one of the younger store workers sprinted out of the store and after the stallion.

Octavia stared at the violin at her hooves for a few moments. "That sure escalated quickly," she mumbled, closing the violin case hesitantly, questions settling in her head. "Perhaps too quickly."

"Too bad he ran away so soon," Vinyl thought aloud. "Why would he go after a violin, anyway?"

"That's the same thing I'm thinking," Octavia replied.

Author's Note

I got stuck a few times on this chapter, so sorry if it took longer than normal.