“I’m sorry.” Rockwell said, adjusting his glasses. “Did you just say ‘Race War?’”

“Introductions!” Octavia called out, clapping both her forelegs. “Vinyl, meet Agent Roc-”

“Yeah I know who he is.” Vinyl quickly replied. Her ears perked up, remembering something. “Shoot! Is the inspection today?”

“You already knew that?”The camera centered its view on Octavia. Vinyl, why didn’t you tell me? And please stop hypnotizing the agent! The camera panned back to Vinyl who has now lowered her glasses and was waving her forelegs slowly in front of Rockwell.

“You will pass the inspection.” Vinyl said in a soft but commanding voice. “You will pass the inspection.”

“Miss, please stop flailing your hooves around, you look stupid.” Rockwell said. He looked unfazed, but clearly annoyed. “You already passed. But if that’s the way you’re dealing with B.I.S agents here then I’m afraid I’m going to have to penalize you.”

“You’re not going to penalize me.” Vinyl said, again, in a soft but commanding voice. “You’re not going to penalize me.”

Rockwell pulled out a notepad. “Strike one, Miss Scratch. Strike one.”

“Oh come on! That usually works.”

Rockwell looked at the camera. “Not anymore it’s not.” He adjusted his glasses, a small grin formed on his face. “Now tell me about this ‘Race War’ and why you look like you’re joining a junkyard crusade.”

The camera zoomed out its view, giving a full view on Vinyl’s body. She appeared to look like she’s wearing a badly made royal guard armor. Most of the materials on the armor come from everyday objects, like a metal tray that’s roughly dented to act as a chest plate.

“I’ll explain it to you on the way.” Vinyl said as she rushed to the door. She gestured at them to follow her. “Come on we’re late!”

Rockwell and Octavia followed Vinyl and exited the building. The camera crew tailed them from behind.

Once outside, the group was hit with the crisp night breeze. The night was bright from the full moon’s light, ideal for a stroll. Soft chirping of insects accompanied the gentle sounds of hoof steps. And from a distance, the howling sounds persisted.

“So this is how it started, right?” Vinyl began. “Me and Octy are just living our lives normally. Well...as normal as we possibly could. You know, work, hang out, making the best of our conflicting schedules, stuff like that. And then these furry (Beeps) just (Beeped) everything up by punching holes through our hoof!”

“How’d you know it was the werewolves who did it?” Rockwell asked.

“The holes are paw shaped, duh.”

“I’m sorry what?”

“I had to walk around the sun beams like I’m in a maze before Octy here could patch them all up!” Vinyl’s voice was close to shouting when she said it. “But they’re not done yet, oh no. They even threw dozens of garlic at every open window they can find in our home!”

“It took days to get the smell off.” Octavia shivered as she remembered the event.

“And that’s not the worst part!” Vinyl added. “I don’t know how they pulled it off, but they somehow managed to switch all our steel utensils with silverware!”

Rockwell snorted.

“It’s not funny!”

“It kinda is.”

“Well it is kinda funny.” Vinyl partially agreed. “But not when it’s done to you!”

“Sorry.” Rockwell cleared his throat. “Please. Continue.”

“In response to their actions,” Vinyl said. “We did the most rational thing we could do.”

“Really, Vinyl?” Octavia chimed in. “Rational?”

“They fought us with fire, Octy! What do you expect us to do? Throw water at it?”

“Us?” Rockwell asked.

“Oh yeah,” Vinyl scratched the back of her head, remembering something just now. “Our house is not the only one they targeted. They also did the same thing to other vampire homes. It’s pretty much a large-scale operation.”

Rockwell lowered his glasses. “And the rational thing you did was?”

“Fight fire with fire!” Vinyl flashed him a toothy grin.

“Of course it is.” Rockwell said flatly.

“The very first thing we did was place bear traps on their doorsteps.” Rockwell grimaced upon hearing Vinyl’s words.

“And then we unleashed a sack full of fleas into their houses.”

“Where’d you get that much fleas?”

“Vinyl’s friends...” Octavia said, putting emphasis on the last word. “Has connections that can hook you up with the strangest things if you got the bits for it.”

Rockwell replied with a curious hum. “Then what happened next?”

“And then we tossed burning wolfsbane on their windows. Yeah, that one pretty much set them off.” Vinyl flashed smirk, whether it’s for the terrible deed or the equally terrible pun, nopony will ever know.

“So that’s what started this ‘Race War’ then.” Rockwell said, putting his glasses back up.

“Pretty much.” Vinyl’s reply sounded casual, like what they’re doing right now meant very little to her.

“Fortunately for the two factions,” Octavia said. “The only thing they seem to be doing now is engage in minor vandalism and shooting dirty stares into each other. But other than that, things are pretty much quiet in the Outskirts.”

“Until now that is.” Vinyl added. “We’re making our war official by taking the fight to the streets.” She licked her fangs in a menacing manner. “This is so gonna get bloody.”

Octavia looked at Rockwell with begging eyes. “Now that you’ve heard the full story of our plight, aren’t you going to stop it?”

“Stop it?” Rockwell grinned from ear to ear. “I’m watching it!”

Octavia slammed a hoof on her face. “Oh Celestia.” She groaned.

The gang, followed by the crew, entered in the only street that’s vibrant with life at this hour. The small and quaint town of Ponyville has no nightlife. Even the most late sleeping resident of the town turn their lights off the clock strikes ten. But to the town’s Outskirts, that’s when the fun begins.

Night in the Outskirts looked entirely different from the rest of the town. It’s like another world in there. Nocturnal thestrals were seen roaming everywhere. Different buildings offering services that are not available in the day are open for business in the night. Along with the typical street light illuminating the street, the buildings have signs that provided lighting with all kinds of colors that can be found in a rainbow’s spectrum. It’s also the beginning of autumn. The Elm trees that stood near the street had their wilting leaves fall to the ground like ebony snow.

The place may seem alien for a diurnal, but to the town’s “Citizen of the Night,” it’s home.

The camera crew followed Vinyl as she approached the part of the street where dozens of thestrals flocked over. Standing in the middle was a group of ponies, all wearing glasses that hid the color of their eyes.

“Silver! Parsley!” Vinyl called out. “Sorry I’m late.”

Two ponies from the group looked to Vinyl’s direction. The first one that took notice was a mare with silvery coat, her white mane tied in a bun. The second one was an olive mare with red flowing mane. Vinyl dashed towards them.

The camera mare opted to follow Vinyl but didn’t when she saw Rockwell and Octavia stop beside a crowd of thestrals. Excited chatter can be heard from the crowd. It’s like they’re a bunch of audiences in the bleachers, eager for something to happen.

“What took you so long?” Silver said, sounding annoyed. She took a full look at Vinyl, her annoyance turned to amusement.

“I was busy making my armor!” She looked at the group, realizing that she’s the only one wearing clothing. “Wait, where are yours?”

“Geez Vinyl.” Silver said, her tone mocking. “I didn’t really think you’d actually make one! It was just supposed to be a joke.”

Vinyl slammed a hoof on her face. “At least you brought your swords, right?”

The group unsheathed their blades in response.

“Let’s do a headcount, shall we?” Vinyl’s tone was sarcastic. She raised a hoof and pretended like she doesn’t know their exact number. “One, two, why are we so few! Where are the other fifteen?”

“They’re at their jobs,” Parsley answered. “So they’re probably working?”

“Working?! Jobs?!” Vinyl snapped. “What about the agreement to set all our day offs to today?!”

“Whatever.” Silver rolled her eyes. “Can’t we just get this over with already? I’m meeting my coltfriend over at Whitetail in an hour.”

Vinyl was about to retort when a loud howl caught her attention. In fact, it caught everypony’s attention in the street. The camera focused its view on the source of the sound. Three colored blurs were swiftly hopping over the buildings, blue, grey, and purple respectively. The blue and the grey blurs dove to the ground while the purple chose to spin over a chimney first. A furry claw can be seen scratching the chimney’s surface as it swung around it, causing the bricks to crumble out with every spin.

“My house!” The apparent owner of the damaged chimney cried out.

“Sorreh!” The purple blur roared as it followed the others into the ground. The voice sounded gruff but feminine.

The camera centered its shot on where the blurs had landed. Only this time, they weren’t fuzzy images that was too fast for an outdated recording equipment to follow, but were now taking the shape of the giant beasts ponies refer to as werewolves.

The blue wolf approached the group of vampires. The grey and purple wolves followed. While doing so, their thick fur began to shed, their claws and paws turned back into hooves, they shrunk back to normal size. The blue and grey wolves reverted back to their pony forms save for the purple one, who was probably afraid of revealing herself to the homeowner from before.

“So those are the werewolves, huh?” Rockwell commented from afar.

“Yes.” Octavia replied. “The blue one is the alpha. I believe his name is Luminous, I forgot the last name. And the grey one is his daughter, Dusty.”

“What about the purple one?” Rockwell asked.

“I don’t really know.” Octavia admitted. “She’s probably a new convert. It’s the first time I saw her with them.”

The camera focused on the two groups again. Its two leaders were facing each other now. All the ponies in the crowd went silent, even Rockwell and Octavia. The only thing that can be heard was the soft sound of leaves hitting the pavement.

“Bloodstep.” Luminous said, addressing Vinyl’s group as a whole.

“Ponyville Suburban Werewolves Society.” Vinyl replied, doing the same.

The camera mare heard a ripping sound beside her. She turned the camera to Rockwell, who was removing a couple of pages from his folder. He rolled the pages up and stuffed them into a small device that looked like a Griffon crafted crossbow, with the bow missing and was replaced with a short metal tube.

“This is so gonna be fun.” He said, rolling the papers while his eyes were still glued to the two groups.

“If you don’t mind me asking.” Octavia said as she stared curiously at the device that Rockwell held. “What’s that contraption you’re holding?”

“Dragonflare.” Rockwell replied, his eyes still on the middle of the street. “It’s a device that allows B.I.S Agents to send messages quickly using dragon fire.”

Rockwell looked at the camera mare. “Give me the memory shard containing the inspection footage. We might stay a bit longer here due to this little ‘situation’ so we might as well send the report in a single file while we’re at it.”

“Give me a sec.” The camera mare replied. Clicking sounds came out from the camera, like a part of it was opening. And darkness followed. For a few seconds, only blackness can be seen on the screen. There’s no sound either. A whirring sound played. The camera was on again, showing a moving image of Rockwell holding a green gemstone and shoving it along with roll of paper in the small device.

“You’re back?” He said as he stared closely at the camera. “Good. Take a good shot of those two groups, okay?” He gestured at Vinyl and Luminous having a stare off in the street. “We might get some interesting footage later.”

The camera mare centered the shot on the two rival groups. All the ponies involved looked like resting predators. They stood on the ground in a relaxed state, but were ready to pounce at any given chance. No words have been said yet, but the tension in the air was already thick. The crowd lowered the volume of their chatter into soft murmurs, wondering what’s gonna happen next.

Vinyl and Luminous opened their mouths, about to say something. BANG! A sudden explosion cut them off. They looked at where the source of the blast was. It’s beside the camera mare. It lit a green glow to anything near it. The camera turned to see Rockwell firing his device upwards. It shot up a stream of green fire that quickly disappeared into the night sky. Everypony’s stares landed on him.

“Don’t mind me!” He called. “Nothing to see here. Hey! Don’t look at my strange device.” He said while pointing this flare gun at a curious thestral.

“Is that a camera?” Luminous looked at Vinyl. “Are you recording this?”

“That’s beside the point, Luminous.” Vinyl replied. “So are we doing this or not?”

“What do you mean ‘do this?’” He growled. “I’m here to bring peace between our groups! Even though you attacked us first, we’re still willing to put it all behind us if you’d just apologize!”

“You bloated fleabag!” Vinyl raised her voice. “Where’d you get the hairy balls to say that to my face when you’re clearly the first offenders! Mutts like you deserve to be neutered!”

“How dare you!” Luminous shot back. “Here I am offering peace and this is what I get!? You’re a disgrace to your kind!”

“The only piece you’re gonna get from me is my piece of (Beep), you glorified lapdog!”

“You overgrown mosquito!” Luminous roared.

“Aww yeah, they’re opening up their insult arsenal!” Rockwell rapidly tapped the camera mare’s unseen shoulder. “Quick! Raise the volume!” The camera took a quick glimpse of Octavia, who was now scowling at him.

“You filthy butt sniffer!”

“Solar rejects!”

“Pet killers!”

“You should be impaled on a stick!”

“Chase this bundle of sticks!” Vinyl threw an imaginary stick behind Luminous. He leapt into it with his tongue lolled out, thinking it was real.

“Luminous, no!” The purple one called. “The stick, it’s not real.”

Luminous stopped. He looked back to Vinyl, blushing. “I meant to do that.” He was met with skeptic eyes. “No! No! No, she didn’t fool me.”

“Yes I did.” Vinyl retorted. “I totally made you my (Beep).”

Luminous looked at the rest of his pack. “Dusty, Nightblossom! Help me out here! I’m running out of insults.”

“Nightblossom!?” The owner of the chimney shouted. “You broke my chimney!?”

“Luminous.” Nightblossom looked at her leader darkly.

Dusty only shook her head, smirking while doing so. “Mom is so gonna get pissed.”

Vinyl looked back as well. The members of her group reflected on her glasses. How the camera can manage to do that and not catch the image of a werewolf leaping from building to building, nopony will ever know.

“You guys should help out too. Just don’t get too close, you might catch fleas.”

“Why you!”

The other members of each faction joined in on the battle of insults. It erupted in a splatter fest of colourful curses and personal insults. The crowd went rowdy at the spectacle before them. Rockwell joined in on the cheering, laughing and rooting for every pony that unleashed the perfect insult that would finally make the other side shed tears. Octavia on the other hoof, cringed during the whole ordeal.

“Can’t you do something about this!?” Octavia shouted at Rockwell’s ear. It’s the only way he could hear amidst the indistinct roaring of the crowd.

“Alright, alright. I’ll do something.” Rockwell gave an assured wave. He approached a thestral collecting bits from his friends. “Hey there!” The thestral looked at him. “You guys doing any bets?”

Octavia dragged both her forelegs down her cheeks. “Why is everypony acting so childish!?” She groaned in frustration.

“That’s it!” Luminous snapped. His voice was a mixture of pony and wolf. “You want war!? I’ll give you war!” He turned into his wolf form. The others followed.

Vinyl unsheathed her sword. The others unsheathed theirs as well. “It’s now official you guys!” She declared to thestral audience, raising her sword. “Our Race War is now official!”

She looked back to the werewolves. The fur at the back of their necks was raised high. Their piercing yellow eyes were set on her face. Their claws detracted, the wolf pack growled at her menacingly. They’re now ready for a fight.

Vinyl ripped her armor off and donned a fighting stance. Her hooves were planted deep in the ground. She gripped her sword tightly, pointed it to the closest foe. The other members imitated her posture. All of them bore their fangs at the werewolves, hissing loudly at them.

The crowd roared loudly at how the events have turned up. From random cheers and mocking jeers, they have turned their slurred chatters into one unified chant. They were stomping their forelegs on the ground at the same time, pounding the pavement like a thundering drum. They cried ‘FIGHT’ repeatedly, all in unison. The street of Elm was no longer a street. It was now an arena.

The two factions remained in their place. None of them were moving an inch but were eager to follow the first one that will. The falling leaves from the trees continued their descent from above. All of their eyes locked on that single leaf going down in the space between them. Slowly, it swayed down. They continued looking at it, as if time itself was slowed when they did. It’s only a few sways away from hitting the ground. Both groups patiently stared at it.

And it landed.

That was the signal.

The vampires and werewolves sprang from where they stood. The vampires ready to swing their swords while the werewolves dove in with both forelegs in front.

Vinyl and Luminous were only moments away from clashing with each other when something dark rushed in towards their middle. They didn’t see any contact but they were hit with such force that they got knocked back several meters away, hitting the others from behind and they all rolled aggressively unto the ground.

“That escalated quickly.”

The camera panned from the recovering vampires to Agent Rockwell, who was now standing between the two knocked out groups.

Author's Note

If I still have your attention, another chapter will be up tomorrow. I also created an OC Guide to show you what the new characters look like since my prose really sucked at picturing them. And thanks for reading!