The Lonely Mercenary

Octavia walked up to her door and paused before reaching for the handle. She took a deep breath and thought to herself. ’Vinyl should still be home. Unless she left early, again.’ Her ears went flat, her eyes narrow. She was angry just thinking about how little she saw Vinyl. She reached up and opened her door.

“Vinyl? Vinyl Scratch are you home!?” She walked in to the dark, empty house. It was silent. She thought Vinyl could be down stairs in her room practicing her songs for tonight. Her room was sound proof so nothing could be heard coming in or going out. But, there was no vibration in the floor like there should be.

“Of course she’s not home! She never is….” Her face turned from angry to sad. She walked to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She got into her bed and looked out the window.

“Neither of us work tomorrow, so maybe, maybe we can actually spend some time together.” She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

She woke up the next morning. It was about 8o’clock, the sun was shining directly in her face. She silently stretched and got up to go to the kitchen. It was still quiet, like it always was. She listened for any sort of sound in her house. But nothing. She looked down the hallway, slowly walking down towards the stairs. She looked down. Vinyl’s door was open but, she couldn’t hear Vinyl at all. And she snored really, really loud.

She went down and peered in her room. There was no sign of anypony. She was confused to say the least. ’Vinyl is always home by 7 the latest. Where could she be?’

She made her way upstairs to eat breakfast and do the pile of dishes laying in the sink. She waited for hours just sitting there looking out the living room window. She was starting to get worried. It was around noon and Vinyl still wasn’t home. She heard a knock at her door. ‘How did somepony get by me?’ She walked to the door and opened it up. Her eyes widened. “Nur…Nurse Redheart?”

“Hi Octavia.” She said. “Vinyl sent me to tell you she’s at the hospital.”

Octavia’s eyes began to water. “What!? What happened?!” She yelled.

Nurse Redheart smiled and shook her head. “Oh no Sweetie. She’s not hurt, she brought a young stallion in yesterday and doesn’t want to leave him in case he wakes up.” Octavia looked at her with relief. “Oh thank Celestia she’s safe….Wait, a young stallion?”

“Oh yes, she said she found him deep in the Everfree forest yesterday evening. He was in pretty bad shape when she brought him in.” Octavia through on a scarf and closed the door behind her. “Thank you for telling me Nurse Redheart. Ill be heading to the hospital now.”

“Alright. Have a nice day Octavia.” She said back waving as she went on her way. Octavia walked across town not stopping for anypony that tried to talk to her. She reached the hospital and talked to the receptionist pony at the desk.

“Um hi. Vinyl Scratch came in last night. Where can I find her?” The reception pony looked up at her and checked some charts. “She’ll be in room 253. Its on the second floor.” She looked back down at her book and kept reading. Octavia walked over to the elevator and waited.

It opened up and she got in. “Ah, Octavia. You coming to see the mysterious pony Vinyl brought in too?” She looked up to see a Doctor looking at her. “No, well I guess, ill see him eventually. But, I’m here to yell at Vinyl for not coming home and making me worried again.” She said with the matter of fact tone in her voice.

The elevator doors opened on the second floor and Octavia walked out. She wondered around and found room 253. She walked in, it was empty. A voice came from behind her. “He’s still in surgery. I guess whatever they do to fix up a wing takes a lot of time and precision.” Octavia turned around to see a beyond tired Vinyl Scratch.

“Vinyl!” She yelled running over and hugging her. “I was so worried about you!” She said exaggerating to try and make Vinyl feel bad. It worked. “Sorry Tavi…after I found this guy I went straight here. I meant to go home and tell you but the time just flew by.” Vinyl explained.

“What happened yesterday Vinyl? Where did you find this guy?” Octavia asked.

BLACK FOXX POV

I slowly woke up. The ceiling was bright…wait ceiling? ‘Where the hell am I?’ I thought to myself. I looked around the best I could, everything was blurry. “Wow there. Take it easy, you just got out of surgery. Just lay down and relax.” I assumed that was a doctor or a nurse. “Where am I?”

“Your in Ponyville General Hospital. You where brought in last night. Pretty badly cut up too, do you remember what happened?” He asked. “Um…no nothing. Argh!” I yelled trying to raise my head. “Careful now, it looks like you hit your head pretty hard. Do you remember your name? Where your from?”

I tried to think about the answers. But nothing, nothing came up. ’Who was I? Where am I from?’ I started to freak out. “N…no, I cant…I cant remember anything.” I said trying to maintain my composure. “Well, it’s a good thing you had this on you then. I assume there yours.” He handed me some dog tags. “They say your name is Black Foxx. By everything else it seems you were military or something.” I looked at the tags.

‘Black Foxx. Blood Type: AB. Serial Number :1074DA. 1st Special Task Group.’ I felt myself moving and set the tags down. I looked back and saw a different pony pushing me out of the recovery room. “Just bringing you to your room Mr. Foxx.” She said with a smile. She rolled mo to room 253 where I heard talking coming from inside.

“….And then I brought him here where the Docs took him to surgery. I was so tired I crashed on the waiting room bench.” We came through the door. “Hope we’re not disturbing anything.” I said to the two mares sitting in chairs talking. They both looked over at me.

Blue hair….that messy blue hair. Why did that seem so important to me? And those red eyes. ’Argh!’ My head throbbed as memories flooded my mind.

'My eyes opened slightly to see a pony standing in front of me. She had blue hair and devilish red eyes. But she was staring at me. “Hel…help m…me.” Was all I managed to say before fading out once more.'

I was snapped back to reality when I heard a voice. “Hey your finally out of surgery! How ya feeling?” The blue haired one said. The nurse parked me by the window and walked out. I looked at the two mares standing in front of me. “I feel great. Little sore but, great.” I put on a fake smile.

“He’s lucky to be alive!” The doctor said walking in unannounced. “He had a huge hole in the middle of his chest, which we were lucky to even stop the bleeding. Not to mention the gashes on your wing. It was almost a clean cut all the way through. Your lucky we were able to save it. Almost had to amputate it. Not to mention a concussion, and on top of that. He has amnesia.” The doctor explained bluntly.

The two girls looked at me with shocked expressions. “Yeah, Id be doing just fine too.” The blue haired one said sarcastically to me. “I said I FELT great, not that I was great….” I tried to save myself from what I knew was going to be said next. “Your lucky to be alive Mr….um?” The black haired one asked. I looked down at the dog tags and held them up.
“Well, these say I’m Black Foxx. I remember you were the one who rescued me right? Who are you?” I asked. “I’m Vinyl Scratch, and yes. I did rescue you.” She said proudly. “And I am Octavia. I didn’t play a part helping you, but SHE didn’t come home last night. So here I am.” She motioned over at Vinyl.

The doctor cut in before we could say anything else. “We’ll have you stay here for the time being. At least for a few days. See how you are and find something out on what to do with you. Sound good?” I nodded and he left the room.

“Well, I guess I owe you my thanks. Whenever I get out of here, if you need anything, anything at all, I’m your pony. it’s the least I can do.” I said. Vinyl smiled and looked at Octavia. “I don’t know Tavi. We got anything we need help with?” Octavia giggled. “Well he most certainly can clean your room for you. It would take years for you to clean it!” She said jokingly. They both laughed. Here I am, trying to be a nice guy, offering my help. And they turn around and make jokes? ’Wow. I get aggravated easy. Got to watch that.’ Vinyl grabbed my hoof. “Don’t worry about it. You just get better. Ok?”

This felt strange. Like this was the first time someone didn’t want something in return for helping me. It felt, good. I smiled and thanked them. “Vinyl, we should really go. You look absolutely horrible.” Octavia said. “But I want to know ask so much more!” She argued. I laughed. “Go, rest up a bit. Ill be here for a while anyway. You can always come back tomorrow to see me. Id appreciate the company.” I told her, preventing any unneeded arguing.

“See, come along Vinyl. Lets leave Foxx to his rest.” She got up grabbing Vinyl. “Awwww….bye then….” She said sadly being dragged away. She yelled from outside the door. “Ill come see you tomorrow!”

I smiled, but only for a few seconds. It turned into a frown as my eyes narrowed and ears dropped. “Why cant I remember anything?” I sat there for a few minutes before looking out the window, seeing the surroundings. Watching the filly’s play in the play ground outside the hospital doors. I laid down and slowly fell asleep.