My Roommate Is Onto Me

Chapters

Moving Day
Thirst
Puzzled
Close
Dinner With Monsters
Parents
Toast
Change
Fright
The Other Mare
Cold
Out of the Bag

Moving Day

Octavia was a class mare.

Her mane was always smooth and neat, a little pink bowtie always at her neck. I had a feeling that she’d been practicing the same exact routine to get ready each morning for as long as she’d been able to brush her own mane. I’d never asked her when exactly she’d started wearing her signature bowtie, but picturing an adorable little filly Octavia putting on her little bow each morning was the most adorable frickin’ thing ever. So I like to think she’s been wearing it since forever.

She may have the appearance of a stuffy Canterlot resident, but Octy was anything but rude or stuck up. She was kind. She was sweet. She was one of the most generous ponies I knew. She wasn’t ashamed to hang out with me in public even though it probably hurt her appearance, being seen with a rough-and-tumble tomboy like myself.

She was my best friend.

Though I always longed for something more, of course. I mean, how could I not? Octy was one of those mares that you take one look at and get all fuzzy inside. It definitely wasn’t love at first sight, but the more I got to know her, the more I loved everything about her. She had everything; brains, musical talent, sophisticated vocabulary and accent. Plus she was totally gorgeous, on top of all that. However, she was also oblivious to my advances. Even the most obvious flirting would go straight over her head, no pun intended.

You ever been in love? It’s great, isn’t it?

You ever been in love with somepony who you’ll probably never have? It’s a lot less-great. In fact, it sucks. It sucks a lot. You could probably fill dozens upon dozens of buckets with all the suck it creates. It was probably for the best, though.

I set the box that I was holding in my magical grip onto the kitchen counter. “CuPs and sTuff” was scrawled on the side of it in black marker. One of my boxes. So what if moving in together was my idea? I wasn’t trying to force myself on her or anything. If she wasn’t interested, she wasn’t interested. We’re friends. It’s not hurting anypony if we share a place. Yeah, it’s just sharing an apartment. No harm in that.

I went over to the door where all our boxes were stacked and used my magic to levitate one that read “Kitchen Necessities” in neat cursive. One of Octy’s boxes. No idea how an Earth pony could print neater than me, let alone write in perfect cursive. I used magic. She used her mouth. It really didn’t surprise me though cause it was Octy. Octavia was just that extraordinary of a pony. Never ceased to surprise me.

“Well, my things are unpacked,” she said officially trotting in from her bedroom. I’d only known her for half a year by then, but I swear every time she entered the room, my whole body shut down for a split second. I just melted every time. I hated and loved that she had the effect on me.

Do you hear how dumb that sounds? “I melted when she entered the room?” That’s cheesy shit, but it was absolutely true. If word got out that the mighty, the unstoppable, the invincible DJ-Pon3 had a sweet side, I could kiss my reputation as a bad ass goodbye. But I just… I just couldn’t help it.

I set the box down on the counter as she smiled and looked around at the bare cupboards in the kitchen.

“I’m pleasantly surprised, Vinyl. This is actually quite nice compared to what I thought you’d find for us!” she said running a hoof over the counter top.

“Hey, come on! Have more faith in me,” I pouted. “I may not have as high demands as your pampered flank, but I’ve got some standards!” She looked over at me.

“The first time I accompanied you to your apartment, I stepped on a pizza box in the middle of the floor,” she said raising an eyebrow. “With pizza still in it.”

“I was saving it for later! And it wouldn’t fit in the fridge! And I couldn’t put it on a counter because… well…”

“Because all your countertops were occupied with dirty dishes,” she finished for me. “Dishes which you could not place in the sink because you were soaking towels in it. And the chain goes on and on.” I could feel myself blush a little. I could give less of a buck what any other pony thought of me, but when it came to Octy, her opinion just meant the whole world. Luckily for me, a small smile crept onto her face. “Honestly, Vinyl, I’m not certain what I’ve gotten myself into, agreeing to live with you,” she sighed.

“Aahh, it won’t be so bad,” I said closing my eyes and waving a hoof dismissively in the air. “You’ll just have to get used to parties happening in here 24/7. And me blasting my music. And-“

“-Floor pizza?” she asked with a little giggle. She trotted over to me and gave my head a pat. “We’ll have a wonderful time, I’m sure.” I smiled on the outside, but a little piece inside me shattered. Patting my head? Friend-zone level 47. What, was I a kid sister or something?

“Now, what say you and I unpack some of our kitchen items, hmm?” she asked smiling at me. I swear, that smile of hers could stop my heart. Though, due to my… condition… I doubted I had much of a heartbeat left. She picked up a box cutter between her hooves and attempted to push the blade up, to no avail.

“Naw, don’t even try, Octy,” I laughed going to her and lifting the device with my magic. “Let me.”

“Thank you, Vinyl,” she said warmly. The blade pushed up and I sliced open the “Kitchen Necessities” box. “Though I do wish I could pull my own weight with the move-in. I haven’t done much of anything other than watch you levitate boxes up the stairs all day.”

“Yeah, well,” I said glancing over at her, “You don’t have anything else to prove to the world; you’re an Earth pony that plays cello. We get it; you’re awesome. You can chill.”

“Oh, shush you,” she giggled as I set down the box cutter and she opened the flaps of the box carefully. “Now let’s see. The knife block can go over here… and next to that, we can hang the spatula and other…”

She muttered to herself placing things where they needed to go, but I wasn’t really hearing her anymore. The clouds that were apparently occupying the sky had moved and now the sun was peaking through the window, hitting her just right. She looked like an angel.

No, Vinyl, don’t think those things. You can’t have her. You might never have her.

And that’s when I realized it would be hurting somepony if Octy and I lived together: me.

What has she gotten herself into? More like, “What have I gotten myself into?”

“Umm… Vinyl… what is this?” she asked, pointing a hoof to a square machine in the corner. “Is this… a washing machine with some sort of... speaker on it?”

“Oh, that? Something of my own creation. Oh and, uh, how light of a sleeper are you?” I smiled nervously remembering how much my last neighbors “loved” my dish washer. Part of the reason why I moved out. Octy appeared as amused as they were.
_________________________________________________________________________

Nightmare Night was an awesome holiday; my kind could hide in plain sight and no one would be the wiser. I would never go out in public with my fangs extended, of course. My mom had taught me better than that. Just the fact that I could do it if I wanted to was kick ass. It was a holiday that celebrated dressing up in costumes, the supernatural, and free candy. And I loved it.

“Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give me something sweet to bite!” I chanted along with the music pounding through my headphones, putting up decorations around the apartment. I hung a string of little plastic skulls on the wall over the fireplace, a common decoration used to celebrate the holiday in Ponyville.

I heard a muffled “Vinyl!” and took off my headphones, resting them on the back of my neck.

“Yeah?”

“Please. I’m trying to read,” she said, gesturing to the book she was holding in her hooves. I rolled my eyes. The one thing about Octy that I wished I could change was that she never knew when to just chill. Life wasn’t all about drinking tea and attending cello practice and reading every book ever written ever.

I was about to reply snarkily when I turned around to notice her looking quite intently at my flank.

Could it be… naw, no way. She... but... I mean, it wouldn’t hurt to… well… Just test the waters, Vinyl.

“Octy?” I asked smoothly, flashing a little smile and wiggling my hips. “See something you like?” She flushed adorably.

“I was looking at your cutie mark.”

You’ve seen my cutie mark a jillion times, Octy. We’ve had hour long conversations on how we both got ours and their significance.

I’d let it go, though. If she was into mares, she definitely wasn’t out of the shed yet. No need to drag her out kicking and screaming.

“Sure,” I snickered. I would’ve left to put more decorations up, but I saw what a thick book Octy held in her hooves. She’s one to read, but this book was huge and had fancy binding and all that jazz.

I was genuinely curious. Plus it was an opportunity to get close to her, which I always took, given the chance.

“Watcha readin’?” I plopped onto the couch next to her and lay on my stomach. Seeing there was more space to close, I inched towards her, earning an unamused look from Octy. I smiled back. “Lemme see.” She sighed, closing the book and flipping the cover towards me so I could see it: “The History of Vampires.” My blood ran cold.

Well… nothing to worry about. It’s just a coincidence. It has to be. I’m sure she doesn’t suspect anything! I mean, Nightmare Night’s coming up. Maybe she’s reading up on vampires cause… she wants to dress up as one or something. Yeah, that sounds right. Relax, Vinyl.

Holy Celestia, she knows she knows she knows what have I done I've endangered everypony what am I gonna-

It's nothing, Vinyl. She doesn't know. Chill.

Had to play it cool. I snorted.

“Vampires? I never knew you into that sort of thing.”

Might as well have a little fun with this.

“Nightmare Night…” I heard her sigh. “What a fright! Give me something sweet to bite!”

"Gah!"

I pushed her against the couch and pretended to bite her neck, making “nomming” sounds.

“Get off of me!"

"I vant to suck your blood, my dear!" I said spookily in a terrible accent. For growing up around my mom, I couldn’t imitate her accent worth crap. She did fake her accent, but still. I should be able to do a decent one! Octy made the most adorable noises as she struggled against me. Finally, she put her hooves on my chest and pushed me off the couch.

“Oomph!” I said as the air pushed out of me as I landed on the carpet.

Aaaawww, she’s no fun.
_________________________________________________________________________

“Seriously?” I stared at the plate of food in front of me, scrunching up my mouth in disgust. Octy ate from her dish and dabbed her lips with a napkin.

Always so proper, Octy. We’re at home. Nopony else can see us. Celestia knows you don’t have to work to impress me; you do it just by existing.

“Just eat the pasta, Vinyl. You act as if you’re allergic to pasta,” she scoffed.

“I’m not allergic to the stupid pasta. It’s the garlic!”

“What’s wrong with the garlic?” I looked away from her, staring down at the ground.

The thing that’s wrong with garlic is that it’ll burn my tongue if I eat it, Octy. Doesn’t sound super appetizing to me.

Obviously I couldn’t let her know that though.

“I hate garlic,” I muttered still not looking up at her.

“Just try it!”

“Forget it!”

“Vinyl, eat the garlic.”

Ooooh, so assertive, Octavia. Well now I don’t really have a choice, do I? She could make me do anything with that tone.

I scowled a little and then levitated a forkful of food up to me. Ugh, I knew I should’ve checked what she was making for dinner beforehand. I could’ve told her I was allergic or something, but noooooo.

The things I do for love.

I took a bite and chewed slowly.

Hey, this isn’t so bad. Not bad at all. It actually tastes kinda- OH NO OH NO OW OUCHIES OW OW

I heard Octy call my name as I bolted from the table to the bathroom and spit out the pasta into the sink.

“Ugh! Gross, gross!” I moaned, making sure that she would think it was the taste that was the problem. Not the horrible burning sensation on my tongue. I pressed it to the roof of my mouth and felt how scalding it was.

No kissing for you for a bit, Vinyl. Not that you’d get any anytime soon.

“Hey, are you alright?” Octy called from the table.

I looked over at her and gave a little smile, waving my hoof at her to let her know I’d be fine. I probably looked like hell. Really didn’t wanna talk with my tongue in that condition. I just wanted to get some ice cubes on it and just relax for a bit. Maybe mom would know if there’s some home remedy for this sorta thing. There had to be some vampires before me whose sweetheart’s had made them garlic bread and failed to mention the “garlic” part.
_________________________________________________________________________

Whether it was an opera house or a fancy restaurant or visiting a greenhouse, Tavi was always trying to drag me places.

Come on, Vinyl! Let’s go have a trot through Canterlot Gardens! No thanks, Octy. I’ll stay here were my fur doesn’t feel like it’s going to burst into flames. Yes siree! You go and do things normal ponies can do. Pfft.

Of course I wanted to go with her. I would’ve killed to be able to… smell flowers with her or whatever you’re supposed to do at a greenhouse. I just couldn’t. It’d be too painful. Both physically and mentally. So I’d stay in the apartment when she went out, closing the blinds and sulking about the fact that this was my life and I just had to deal with it. I often wondered what suntanning was like, seeing as if I was in direct sunlight like that for more than 10 seconds… well, it wouldn’t be good. I didn’t like to think of it.

Being a vampire is sweet and all, but sometimes I just wished I could be a normal pony. That I could go walk on the beach with her. That I could eat her awesome garlic pasta. That I could tell her everything about me without fear of revealing too much. What would she do if she ever found out about me? Would she hate me? Cast me out and call me a freak? … No. Naw, that doesn’t sound like Tavi at all. What are you thinking, you silly filly?

Occasionally, though, I’d give in and we’d go outside somewhere.

“You’re coming with me and that’s final.”

“But the sun is still out!” I groaned at her. She pointed a hoof at our window. Turning my head to look outside, I could see that the moon was out.

Damn it. Don’t have much of an excuse now.

“You’re getting fat. Look at this,” I heard her say behind me. Just then, I felt a slap on my flank, which definitely got my attention. I smiled and turned back at her. Octy turned bright red and shook her head furiously.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t thinking!” she apologized. My smile widened as I leaned close to her. It was terrible to embarrass her, I know, but she just looked so cute when she blushed.

Alright, Tavi, you win.

I pulled her towards the door so we could take her silly walk.
_________________________________________________________________________

It was nighttime so it really wasn’t that bad. Just wasn’t a fan of being outside at night with Octy. I had made a lot of enemies over the years and trouble was more likely to go down at night than in daylight. I could totally handle it if I were by myself… but with Octy here… I didn’t like it. If anything were to happen to her because of me, I don’t think I could forgive myself. But Octy wanted to go on a walk, so there we were. The Fall season was starting and the trees were bare. Easier to see enemies in trees without leaves anyway. I felt Octy bump against me as we walked. I laughed and threw an arm around her neck, pulling her closer to me.

“You know, I really like you!” I smiled, hugging her neck. This turned out to be a good idea. Life was good. This was nice.

“I like you too?” Octy said slowly. It was a question. Like she was trying to decide how she felt. I felt my heart go numb.

Don’t make her feel awkward, Vinyl. Just smile and smile some more and keep smiling like nothing’s wrong.

And so that’s what I did. I grinned as I pulled her forward, laughing to myself. I couldn’t blame her. I’d set myself up for this.

For some reason, I felt like I wanted to apologize to her.
_________________________________________________________________________

I hated sunlight. Burned my skin like crazy. But Tavi needed eggs to cook dinner with, so there I was walking home from the store, a carton of eggs in a saddlebag on my back. I wore my black hoody to help protect me from the sun, earning many odd looks from passing ponies. The sun was still beating down on me and I wished I could run home as fast as I could to get away from it.

But there were eggs in my saddlebag and I’m pretty sure she didn’t want them to arrive scrambled.

Ugh. Why couldn’t she have asked me to get her some paper or a feather or… a bag of air.

“I’m back!” I called opening the door to our apartment.

“Gah!” I heard metal hit the floor.

Octy!

I set the saddlebag on the ground and bolted into the kitchen to see her holding her bleeding hoof, a knife stained with a bit of red on the ground in front of her.

"Octy! Are you alright? Are you feeling woozy? A little dizzy? Do you need to sit do—"

"I'm fine, Vinyl. It's just a paper cut."

"You call that a paper cut? It looks like you got tangled up with a manticore!"

"You're exaggerating, just get me a banda-" I took hold of her hoof.

"Here. Let me see."

"Vinyl?"

I inched my face down to inspect the injury, the scent of something wonderful filling my nostrils. I could hear the killer in me start to speak up.

Go on. Try some. She smells so delicious.

Shut up. I’m not going to do that.

Just a taste. It’s a shame to let all that blood go to waste. You know you want it. It won’t hurt anypony.

Just a taste. It wouldn’t hurt to just have a taste. I put my mouth to her hoof sucked up the blood that was flowing from her cut.

"Ew! Vinyl! That's unsanitary!"

Sanitary, schmanitary. It tasted amazing. I’d drank blood from rabbits, elk, squirrels, pretty much any wildlife you could think of, but fresh pony blood satisfied my thirst like nothing I could ever dream of. Not out of a bag. Straight from the source. Couldn't get fresher than this. No wonder some vamps get addicted to this stuff!

I could feel it powering my body, pumping through my veins. I felt incredible, like I could fight anypony in the world and win by a landslide. I couldn’t stop now. I needed more. I needed all of it. It would make me stronger. It-

Stop! That’s enough! You have to stop now!

That other voice inside me snapped me out of whatever trance I was in and I pulled away. The wound was dry now. Octy was giving me a puzzled look.

Get out of here, Vinyl. You’re gonna regret it if you don’t get away right now.

"All better now?" I asked smiling.

"Yes." She blinked once and pulled her hoof away. "Thanks, I guess."

I’m so thirsty I need more-

Get out, Vinyl. Get out.

"I'll go get some bandages,” I offered as I left the room. I went straight to the bathroom, shut the door behind me, pulled my shades and hoody off, and splashed my face with cold water. I grabbed hold of the sink with both hooves and felt myself shaking. Looking at myself in the mirror, I could see that my eyes were beginning to fade to red. I was losing it.

Get a hold of yourself. This isn’t you. You need to chill.

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath.

One… two… three.

I let the air out and felt a calm wash over me. I slowly opened my eyes; they’d returned to their usual magenta.

That was close. Way too close.

I pulled at the mirror to reveal the medicine cabinet behind it. Taking a roll of bandages out, I promised myself I’d never lose control like that again. I’d do whatever it took to keep Octavia safe.

Whatever it took to never lose her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Notes:

Hey there. Hope you're all doing wonderfully :)

This is my very first story, so I'm not totally sure what I'm doing yet. I apologize if it appears that way haha I'm really just writing this for myself as lately I'd been thinking "Ughhhh it'd be so cool if there was a version of 'My Roomate Is A Vampire' told from Vinyl's perspective. That'd be so awesoooooome." Then I pondered what that'd be like and after a few days I thought "Well, I mean, if no one else is gonna do it..." and wrote up this first chapter. Never written anything before, (other than for school,) so this should be an interesting experience. Bare with me!

Also, in case you weren't aware, this story comes after "My Roommate Is A Vampire" by Dennis The Menace, so please go read that first. Major props to him for writing it!

~AGhost

Thirst

Thirsty. Gah. I was so thirsty. All I could think of was how amazing Octy had tasted the previous night.

Her cut, I mean! I was talking about her blood. How her blood tasted when the... Come on, man.

It was driving me crazy. Probably cause I hadn’t tasted any in a little more than a month, mostly due to my own laziness. I had a mini fridge I kept hidden in my closet where I’d store blood bags for when I’d next need them. I’d usually pick up a few at a time and keep them there, but when they ran out…

Aahhh I’ll pick up a few on Monday!

Oh, now it’s Monday. Well, tomorrow I’ll have to-

It’s Tuesday. Yeah, it’s Tuesday, but this chair is so comfy and this special on how cotton candy is made just won’t watch itself!

It’s Friday and I’m so thirsty so thirsty so thirsty noooooo this sucks.

Usually I could put up with it for a few more days, but tasting that blood from yesterday intensified my thirst to the point where it was all I could think of. Blood from a pony, no less. The good stuff. It was like eating Spam my whole life and then trying a little taste of filet mignon!

… Well, I mean, Spam isn’t actually that bad. It was like… it… it was… Aaah! I’m so focused on it, I can’t think of analogies!

I was easy to distract; just needed something to keep my mind busy. I immersed myself in writing music, as that was what I usually did when I needed to chill. I could let my mind sink into the notes and just relax.

Nothing else existed. Just me and my music.

“Vinyl?”

I glanced up at Octy, who was sitting across from me, as she set down a newspaper she’d been reading. She didn’t continue to speak, but instead just stared at me. I could feel my glasses starting to slide down my face and pushed them up with a hoof.

Sorry, Octy. Not this time.

It was super rare that I’d show my eyes to anypony. This was mostly due to how sensitive they were to light, but it was partially cause they were a touchy subject for me. With my electric blue mane and white fur, my eyes stuck out like a sore thumb.

Besides myself, only a few ponies had seen my eyes; my mom, my dad… and another pony that I didn’t feel like thinking about.

I was about to answer Tavi, but then realized I still had my pencil in my mouth. Spitting it out, I responded.

“Yeah, Octy?”

She seemed to think for a few seconds, carefully choosing her words. Knowing her, it’d be something filled with lots of big words and deep meaning.

“Uh…”

It was extremely rare to see Octy speechless. She was a pony that when she had something on her mind, she spoke with such dignified grace that it seemed that she’d practiced everything she was about to say in front of a mirror twenty times before speaking. Yet here she was, totally unsure of herself. It instantly peaked my interest.

“What?” I pressed further, pushing up my glasses a second time with a hoof. “C’mon.”

She thought for a few more seconds, then waved a hoof in the air dismissively.

“Never mind,” she said trying to shrug it off.

Ooooh no. Not getting away that easily.

I leaned forward on the cushion I was sitting on and tried to get her talking again.

“Tell me.”

She shook her head vigorously.

“No, it’s alright, really. I was going to-“

“-ask me something. And now you’re going to tell me,” I finished for her. I’d never seen her so nervous before. Not even before a big… cello game… or meet or… whatever orchestra ponies called them.

What could have her so spooked?

She took a deep breath in and held it for a moment before blurting out her question all at once.

“Doyoubelieveinvampires?” She flinched slightly and then froze in place, staring at me with wide eyes. I stared back at her.

Heh. If you only knew.

I smiled slightly.

“I do.”

She stared back.

“Really?” she asked again. As if I’d change my answer.

Well, I’m trying to believe in vampires, but just because I drink blood and have super strength and am sensitive to light and am a vampire doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m a vampire!

“Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” she responded nonchalantly, going back to her newspaper.

Crap. I must’ve done something. She must be onto me.

Well, you did suck her blood yesterday, genius! What did you think was gonna happen? That’d she’d just forget about that?

Ugh! Dammit! I was so stupid! Now she’s gonna…

My eyes wandered to the large, hard cover book that sat on the living room table behind her: “The History Of Vampires.” I arched an eyebrow and smiled back at her.

“Ohhh, I get it. You’ve been reading that book, haven’t you?” Her cheeks turned a rosy red.

“It has nothing to do with that!”

It must be that book. That’s why she asked about vampires. Silly Vinyl, jumping to conclusions.

I chuckled to myself and looked back down at my sheet music.

“Honestly, Octy, you can’t get scared of everything you read about in books,” I muttered loud enough for her to hear. “What’s next? You scared the boogey-mare is gonna come out from under your bed and eat you?”

“Sh-shut up,” she said pulling up the newspaper so I could no longer see her face. Probably so I couldn’t see her blush harder. “I was just curious, is all.”

Adorable as always. Ah well. Back to music. Now, should this part go “wub wub bass wub wub?” Or “bass bass wub bass wub?” So many choices…
_________________________________________________________________________

Octy and I sat waiting for the curtain to rise in the concert hall. I shifted back and forth slightly in my seat and smiled at how it made little squeaky noises when I moved just right. They were red, sort of plush chairs and I continued to bounce lightly as I glanced around, looking at the sea of ponies surrounding us. All wore fancy necklaces, earrings, bowties, and all the other junk high-class ponies would dress up in for a night out in Canterlot. A mare with blue fur sat at my 10 o’clock wearing a beautiful, light yellow dress. Couldn't deny that she looked quite nice in it. The best way to get over Octy was to go out and date some other mares. I contemplated going over to talk to her.

It’s easy, Vinyl! Just wait for intermission, wander over to her seat and- that’s her very special somepony putting his arm around her, isn’t it? Ah well. So much for that.

I doubted an orchestra hall was the best place to pick up mares anyways. Probably had sophisticated tastes that I couldn’t fulfill. Plus, they had an “image to keep up” or whatever.

I smiled as I thought of the last time Octy and I had talked about dresses.

Oh, I’d love to see you in a dress at least once, Vinyl. You’d look so pretty, I know it!

Pfft. Sure, Octy. That’ll be the day. Haven’t worn a dress since I was a little filly and I’m not gonna start now.

Speaking of which, I glanced over at Octy to see her looking totally relaxed, her eyes soaking in the stage.

Must be cool to have a day off and get to watch the music happen yourself. It’s like when I go to raves to hear other DJs perform. … Though I doubt she jumps on stage to crash it half way through like I’m known to do.

Couldn’t remember how exactly she’d convinced me to come out with her that night, but that didn’t matter. She was there and I was right next to her and nothing else mattered. I smiled gently.

Just then, the lights began to dim and the chatter of the crowd began to fade. I looked forward to see the curtain rise and reveal an orchestra of ponies, each holding different instruments and wearing matching yellow bowties.

Crap. Now I actually have to listen to the music.

Classical music didn’t really bother me. It was totally tolerable and I could see why Octy loved it. The problem was that it was just so boring, I couldn’t listen to it for more than a few minutes before it’d put me to sleep.

Come on, Vinyl. Try to stay awake for at least a minute of it. Just keep… thinking about how… you need to stay…
_________________________________________________________________________

I awoke with a snort as my head lifted from the back of the chair I’d been resting it on. The ponies onstage played sappy music as I sleepily leaned down and rummaged through my saddlebag on the ground. Didn’t wanna use my magic as my horn might light up the place. Didn’t want to distract everypony. I pulled out the bag of popcorn I had bought from a street vendor that morning.

Eh. Only eight hours old. Still good.

I munched happily on it, taking in the salty, buttery goodness.

You know what this needs? Some soda.

I wiped my buttery hooves on the chair and reached into my bag to pull out the bottle. When I brought my head back up and took a swig, I noticed the looks I was getting from ponies sitting nearby. It seemed that everypony had turned to angrily stare in my direction. Even the mare in the yellow dress had her head turned back at me, her eyes narrowed in disapproval. I noticed that I hadn’t heard any music for awhile and glanced at the stage to see the entire Canterlot Symphony scowling at me.

Aw crud.

I slowly turned to my right to see Octy glaring daggers at me.

“… You want some?” I offered, pushing the bag in her direction.

Then a French horn hit me in the side of the head.
_________________________________________________________________________

“You aren’t mad at me, are you?” I asked as I walked hurriedly behind her. Octy wasn’t usually a very fast pony, but she was trotting forward at quite a brisk pace. It was dark out and the Fall air filled my lungs as I struggled to keep up with her.

Ah! Cramp, cramp!

Probably shouldn’t have eaten that popcorn. For multiple reasons.

She couldn’t be that mad at me. It wasn’t a huge deal! I mean, sooooo we got pelted with instruments by the musicians. And got run out of the concert hall by security ponies. And I hit on the blue mare in the pretty dress as we were getting kicked out and she smacked me across the face- okay, when it’s all stacked up like that, it seems like I really messed up.

She didn’t respond. Just kept moving forward at that same pace.

“Octy? You okay? Hey, Octy- gack!”

I felt her hooves wrap around my windpipe as she whipped around to face me. She wore a crazed smile.

“I am going to find a way to legally murder you!” she giggled as one of her eyes twitched. Geez, she had quite the grip. I could easily overpower her, of course, but I didn’t wanna risk hurting her. Instead, I gasped for air and tried to formulate words.

“Killing- me won’t solve- anything!” I managed to get out.

"And then after I legally murder you, I'm going to do so many not-very-nice things to your corpse that there won't be any evidence left!" she laughed evilly, shaking me around.

Aaahh, you can do as many not-very-nice things to me as you want, bab- ugh, starting to get dizzy…

"Octy, I'm- sorry!"

Okay, starting to lose my vision here!

"No, you aren't,” she continued as she swung me back and forth. “You aren't sorry, because if you were sorry, you wouldn't have brought popcorn and drinks, and snored when they started playing!" Finally, she let me go. I fell to my knees and clutched my throat with a hoof, using the other to prop me up. I stared at the ground, desperately trying to get my breath back.

Well, if I ever need backup, I know who to call.

"I need... a drink,” she said with a sigh, turning back around and continuing to walk down the street, this time at a much slower pace than before. I got to my hooves and followed her, a sad frown tugging at my lips.

Did I really upset her this badly?

We continued like that for awhile, me following behind her as we walked. I couldn’t stand her being mad at me. It was one of the worst feelings ever. It sucked hardcore. It killed me. Time to pull out the big guns.

“Octavia?”

I’d never called Octy by her full name before. I needed to let her know that I really was sorry and was also a dumb, stupid pony and that I shouldn’t be forgiven, but she should forgive me anyways.

She continued to walk, not even glancing back at me.

“No, no, I'm not going to look at you right now."

Ouch.

"Octavia, please..."

"No, I'm being mad at you right now. See how I'm not looking at you? That means I'm mad."

"I'm really, really sorry."

"Well, here we are anyways."

She harrumphed and turned away from me with her nose in the air, climbing the few steps to a door and pushing it open for me. I lowered my gaze disappointedly and went through the door like a dog with its tail between its legs. I’d been so distracted by Octy being mad at me that I hadn’t even noticed where we were walking to.

I looked up to find we were in our favorite bar in Canterlot, the same peeling wallpaper covering the walls that I remembered from our last visit. A wide smile began to creep over my face.

I was excited to be back. It was my kinda joint; not too big, nothing fancy. Just a place where you could get a drink and hide away from the rest of the world. Octy sat daintily on a stool at the bar as the bartender smiled brightly at us.

"I'll have some sparkling water, and for my friend...?"

"A Bloody Mary!" I said grinning and hopping onto the bar stool next to her. "Extra blood!"

The bartender chuckled and began preparing our drinks. That popcorn had made me super thirsty and I hadn’t had much of my soda before we got kicked out. He set our drinks in front of us and I gulped it down, sighing with relief after I’d taken my final swig. That definitely hit the spot.

I heard a clink as Octy set down her glass, now empty.

Heh. Bet she’s happy now.

“Feel better?” I asked, smiling at her. She over, giggled, and pointed at me, further instilling the fact that I could cheer up anypony with my charm and awesomeness.

Still got it, Scratch. Still got it.
_________________________________________________________________________

We walked side by side through the night as we started to make our way home. It turned out to be a great night after all, us having sat in that bar for a good hour or so reminiscing about awesome memories we’d made together.

Lucky for Octy, there wasn’t much wind that night so there wasn’t any need to walk close together to keep warm.

Unlucky for me, there wasn’t much wind that night so there wasn't any need to walk close together to keep warm.

“Looks like a full moon tonight,” she commented gazing up at the sky. I glanced up as well. It was bright, but didn’t hurt like sunlight did. This was a calmer light, one that I could look at without fearing for my health. It hung in the sky, huge and gray; so big that it looked like it owned everything up there. Almost as if it was saying, “Don’t worry, Sun. I got this. You go get some rest until morning.”

It was sorta like Tavi was the sun and I was the moon, when I thought about it. She was bright and warm while as I was a little darker and cooler. Early riser and night owl. Opposites working together to power the sky. I smiled at the thought of her and I being two sides of the same coin.

Wow. Lot of analogies.

Oh wow. I know what an analogy is. I must be hanging out with Octy too much.

My stomach growled softly, pulling my mind from the moon.

Startin’ to get a little hungry. Wonder what’s at home in the fridge that I could-

The empty mini fridge in my closet suddenly popped into my mind.

Oh, that’s why I’d agreed to go with her to the symphony! I had to go to Canterlot anyway to pick up some long overdue blood bags. Idiot, you almost forgot!

I had to find a way to ditch Tavi. I felt horrible doing it, but it was a clear night. She wouldn’t be in any danger. Hell, she’d be in more danger sticking around me. I did really wanna walk her home, but this couldn’t wait.

"You go on ahead. I gotta run an errand," I said slowly my pace. She stopped and looked back at me, cocking her head to the side.

"At one in the morning?" she asked.

"Just a quick stop."

"Then I'll come with you—"

"No!"

She flinched back slightly looking a bit startled.

Easy, Vinyl. Don’t bite her frickin’ head off.

I sighed and continued. "I mean, this is something I have to do by myself."

She paused for a moment as I contemplated just bolting off in a different direction. She’d never be able to catch me, but I might get her lost if I ran into the woods. Plus, that’d just be mean. And suspicious as hell. And stupid. Definitely wasn’t one of my better plans, when you considered all that. Finally, she spoke.

"Alright then, if you insist. See you later," she said, walking away.

Phew. Alright, she’s leaving.

I faked a smile and waved to her as she left, waiting until she turned a corner before I looked both ways and crossed the street. The hospital would only be a ten or twenty minute detour; then I could continue on my way home. My saddle bag flapped at my side as I continued down the sidewalk, my path now illuminated more by the street lights than the moon. It was a path I knew well, as I’d taken it hundreds of times. I passed two or three ponies on the street, earning a few double takes. I’d gotten used to the stares, as DJ Pon3 wasn’t as known in Canterlot as other cities.

Sunglasses at night? What an odd mare.

Keep walkin’, buddy. Nothin’ to see here.

As I was almost at the hospital, I stopped to make sure I wasn’t being followed. I heard a faint squeak as I turned and looked at my surroundings; road, trees, bushes, parked carriages, more road. Unable to find the source of the sound, I continued forward.

Must’ve been a little rabbit or something.

The automatic doors opened for me as I entered through, remembering to squint my eyes before my retinas were flooded by the florescent lights of the waiting room. Canterlot had one of the best hospitals and it showed from how every surface was spotless and seemed to shine as I passed.

“Hey there,” I greeted flashing my signature smile at the mare sitting at the reception desk. “Name’s Vinyl Scratch. I got an appointment in Hematology.” She sighed and looked down at a sheet on a clipboard in front of her.

“Sorry, I don’t see you on the list,” she said apathetically as her eyes scanned down the paper. I reached into my saddlebag, pulled out a 50 bit paper note, and placed it on the clipboard.

“You might wanna check again,” I said coolly, tapping it with a hoof. “The name’s Vinyl Scratch.” She took the bill and slid it into a pocket on her white medical coat.

“Aahh, yes, here it is,” she said with a little more enthusiasm, taking the pen in her mouth and writing my name on the sheet. She dropped the pen back on the table and punched few numbers into the phone in front of her.

Money could get you anywhere as long as you had enough of it. It was a sad truth, but lucky for me, The Inner Circle was plump with donations from loaded, upper crust ponies that suffered from Vampirism or… Ly… Lychanism? Was that a word?

Whatever, you get what I’m sayin’.

Money = Good
_________________________________________________________________________

The next morning, I hummed to myself as I loaded the dishwasher. My horn glowed as it enveloped each plate and set it inside the machine gently. I’d brought home six blood bags from the hospital the previous night and had drank my fill from one of them when I’d gotten home, which is why I was actually grinning while doing chores. I made lines on each bag with a marker, separating it into eight sections. Didn’t really have a set schedule as to when I’d drink each section; just drank when I was thirsty.

Or mixed it into different foods or drinks. I once had a blood laced quesadilla and margarita that was totally to die for!

¡Muy delicioso!

¡Olé!

¡Piñata!

Yes, yes, I (sorta) speak Spanish, ladies. One mare at a time. There’s plenty of Scratch to go around. Line forms over here!

One bag would last me a month, which meant I was good for a half a year. Probably why I was in such a good mood. Wasn’t super pumped to go back to a hospital anytime soon. Didn’t like em’. All those poor, sick ponies made me realize every visit how fragile life really is.

One moment, you’re fine.

The next minute; bam. Cancer. Disease. Death. No matter how strong my muscles were, I could never have the strength to be a nurse.

I could hear the swish of Octy’s robe as she entered the kitchen.

“Mornin’,” I greeted, glancing back at her for a second. I heard her open the fridge.

"Good morning, Vinyl. Did you finish your errand?"

"Huh?”

Errand. What- oh. Oh!

“Oh, yeah."

"So what was it?" she asked, pressing further. I heard the fridge door shut.

Crap. I didn’t think of an alibi, did I? Think fast, Vinyl, think fast.

"Ah, I just had to pick up a few... cables and cords and stuff. For my set. DJing and stuff." I turned around to see that she now stood quite close to me, biting her lip and staring at me. Her eyes were so intense, I was afraid lasers might shoot out of them and burn through me.

Speak, Vinyl, or she might keep staring forever.

Not that I wouldn't enjoy that, mind you.

"Something wrong?" I asked, her purple irises still fixated on the glasses guarding my magenta ones.

"Nothing,” she said shaking her head and turning to walk back to the fridge.

What was that about?

I shrugged it off and closed the dishwasher door. Something caught my eye on the counter next to me and I looked over to see a deck of cards inside a red case.

"Hey, are these mine?" I asked walking over and picking them up in my magic. I rotated the pack around in front of my face, squinting my eyes as I tried to recognize them. "They don't look familiar..."

"Those are mine, actually," Octy piped up. I snorted.

"Yeah, sure, Octy. You play cards." Silence. I turned to face her and saw the unamused look on her face. "... You play cards?"

"I'll have you know that I am quite a champion at Go Fish," she said proudly.

Aahh alright, that's a little more believable. I was trying to imagine her playing Poker in a smokey room filled with burly, tattooed dudes betting on thousands of bits each.

"Hey, why don't we play? It'll be fun," she said smiling at me.

"Eh... I dunno, Octy. I can get... kinda competitive."

"Oh, I'm sure it'll be quite fine, Vinyl," she assured me. "I've played against some pretty competitive ponies before." She began to make her way out of the kitchen, walking towards the living room. "Anyways, I have to... step out for a bit, but you go on ahead and shuffle the deck. When I get back, we'll play a few rounds." She was out of the kitchen now, but stuck her head back into view to get one more sentence in. "I mean, really. How bad could it be?"

Puzzled

“FFF-“

I put my hooves under the table and flipped the entire thing, sending cards flying every which way. Our drinks clattered to the floor as well, but luckily they were held in plastic cups. After a few experiences with the dishwasher, Octy had gone out and replaced practically all of our glassware with plastic ones to avoid having our glasses shatter every five seconds from wub-power. Only had a few glasses left that were actually made of glass.

I’d nicknamed the plastic glasses “plasses.” Octy wasn’t catching onto the name.

"Vinyl, why would you do that?!" Octy screeched looking frantically at the wreckage. "What a mess!"

"Because it's hilarious!" I snorted.

And because I lost. I LOST! How the hell did I lose at “Go Fish” when WE’RE THE ONLY ONES PLAYING?!

"You won't be laughing when it's your turn to clean the bathroom," she snapped as she started to pick cards up off the floor.

"Aw."

I hated cleaning the bathroom. If there were three things that I wished could just get out of my life forever, it’d be those plastic film thingies that sometimes don’t come all the way off of food products, ponies who hate on the supernatural, and having to clean bathrooms.

If I clean the living room, I just gotta vacuum and dust stuff. Just make sure it looks nice.

But when I have to clean the bathroom, every frickin’ surface is clean-able.

Scrub the tiles, Vinyl.

Wash the mirror, Vinyl.

Oh dear, there’s a smudge on the garbage can. Could you wipe that down again, Vinyl?

Everything in there is made of porcelain or ceramic or… ugh, such a pain.

I’d just levitated up a few cards that were now soaked in the cider I’d spilled when there was a knock at the door.

"Huh, I wonder who could that be?" I trotted over to the door and gripped the knob with my magic, turning it to the side and pulling it. A blur of grey and yellow charged at me through the door and headbutted me in the chest. I felt all the air empty out of me as we both flew backwards and landed on the other side of the living room.

"Vinyl!" I heard Octy yell hysterically as she rushed over to me. Trying to open my eyes, I realized everything was spinning. "Vinyl? Vinyl, speak to me!"

A blonde blur that tackles like a frickin’ linebacker? There’s only one pony I know like that!

I got my breath back and sat up, looking at the wall-eyed, blonde-maned pegasus lying in front of me.

"Derpy Hooves!"

She squealed happily as we hugged each other tight. It felt awesome to see a familiar face from back home. Three more familiar ponies walked through the front door, smiling at me.

I don’t believe it! They’re all here!

I pointed out each of my friends as I introduced them.

"Octy, I'd like ya to meet my friends from Ponyville! Lyra Heartstrings! And her marefriend—"

"Vinyl!" Lyra flushed.

"—Bon Bon.” She was so easy to tease.

"Carrot Top!"

"Hello!"

"And finally, Derpy Hooves!" Her tongue jutted out of her mouth as she waved. Octy chuckled nervously.

"And what do I owe the pleasure of having you four wonderful mares today?"

Oh, maybe this isn’t okay with her. Probably should’ve mentioned I gave em’ my new address and they might stop by for a visit.

"You don't mind, do ya Octy?" I asked, feeling a little ashamed. I really should’ve told her.

"Of course not! Come right in—well, you're all already inside, so uh, make yourselves... comfortable..."

Lyra grinned. "Ooh, Vinyl, she has an accent!" I felt myself blush a little as I elbowed her in the chest.

She giggled. Dammit. I was so easy to tease.

My friends shared everything with each other, but I wasn’t as touchy-feely as them. I kept most stuff to myself. Crushes, emotions, feelings. Hell, I had to date my last mare-friend for four months before I’d even told them about her.

I mean, I’m a frickin’ vampire. I sorta have to keep most things to myself.

Bon Bon spotted the cards spread out on the floor and smiled at me.

"So are we gonna play or what?" Bon Bon she asked, cutting off Carrot Top as she was scolding Derpy.

"Play? Play what?" Octy asked. We all smiled at her devishly. Lyra trotted over to the table and examined it.

“Vinyl’s handiwork, I assume?” she asked smirking at me.

“Whaaaat? Just cause a table is flipped, you just assume it’s me?” I asked dramatically, faking offense. Gesturing to Octy, I continued. “I mean, Octy could’ve…" Octy stared back at me, raising an eyebrow. "... Okay, yeah, point taken.”

After we’d gathered up all the cards and un-flipped the table, all of us took a seat around it. We pulled out various sacks and pouches full of money and set them down on it. All of us except Tavi, who looked puzzled by our behavior.

"With real bits?" she sighed as I shuffled the deck with magic. "Isn't that irresponsible?”

"And now you know where my paycheck goes!" I half-joked, dealing out the cards to each player.
_________________________________________________________________________

Octy bit her lip and tossed a few more bits into the already huge pile.

Sweet Goddesses, that’s a lotta cash. I wonder what I could get with that much money. I could get that microphone I’ve had my eye on or that new hair gel I’ve been meaning to try or… *Gasp* I could get, like, 30 tacos!

"Show 'em."

"Ace high."

"Pair of queens."

"Three kings!" Octy laid her cards down with a satisfied smile. Both Lyra and Bon Bon swore aloud.

Damn. She’s got it in the-

"Royal flush!" Derpy cheered.

Our jaws dropped.

"What?!"

"Yay! More muffins for me!"

"FFF—"

In a grey blur of fury, Octy thrust her hooves under the table and hurled it upwards, sending bits and cards flying everywhere.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more attracted to you.
_________________________________________________________________________

“Thanks so much for having us!”

Once the living room was cleaned up, everypony began making their way towards the door.

“Oh, you’re welcome anytime!” Octy said waving a hoof dismissively. “Though I am very sorry for my… err… outburst earlier…”

“Aahh, don’t sweat it,“ Lyra chimed in rustling my hair. “It’s not you. Vinyl’s a negative influence on everypony around her.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” I laughed, pushing her off of me.

“Well, we’d better get going, but it was great meeting you, Octavia,” Carrot Top said opening the front door.

“Hey, Vinyl, mind seeing us out?” Lyra asked exiting through it.

“Sure thing, Lye.”

Octy wished them a safe travel home as the door shut behind us. Carrot Top, Derpy, and Bon Bon walked down the stairs and Lyra stayed behind to chat with me.

“So,” Lyra said playfully, leaning against the wall, “she seems nice.”

“Shhh, not so loud!” I whispered harshly at her, afraid that Octy might here us even though the door was shut.

“Oh, relax, Vinyl,” she laughed at me, her voice a little lower. “It’s pretty obvious you've got a thing for her. I wouldn't be surprised if she’s figured it out by now. She’s a smart mare. And knowing you, you've probably already put the moves on her, but she just hasn't responded.” I felt my face get hot. Lyra always had a sort of super power for telling who liked who. This was one of the many examples of times when I wished she didn't have her super power.

“I… wha? Ugh, how do you do that?” I asked her rubbing my face with a hoof. “All I did was introduce you guys to her and you already knew I liked her.”

“It was your tone, sweetie,” she explained. “It was clear you wanted to impress her. Plus, it’s pretty obvious just by how you look at her.” I snorted.

“How I look at her? What’s that supposed to mean?! I look at her just like I look at you guys!”

“No, no, it’s pretty different.”

“Different how?”

She sighed and shook her head.

“You’ll figure it out one day, I’m sure,” she said throwing an arm around my neck and pulling her to me. “Your career is blooming, you’re finally talking about your feelings, and you’ve moved in with a high society pony with a Canterlot accent. My little Vinyl is growing up!” she dramatically proclaimed as she shed fake tears.

“Get offa me!” I laughed, blushing from embarrassment. “Why don’t you scram, alright? Everypony else is far ahead of you on the walk home.” Lyra nodded and gave me one last hug.

“Call me if you ever need to talk,” she said, trotting towards the stairwell. I stood there listening to her hoofsteps until they’d faded out of earshot. I sighed and turned the doorknob to go back into the apartment.

Me? Grow up? Like that’ll ever happen.
_________________________________________________________________________

That night, I had an interesting dream.

It started as a nightmare. I sat on the sidewalk, staring at the street in front of me. There were no carriages, no other ponies. It was dead quiet. I looked over to my left and noticed that there was a bus stop a little ways down the sidewalk. There was a white pony waiting at it, looking down the street away from me.

I began to trot towards her, eager to ask where I was and what was going on. As I got closer, more and more of her features became visible. Finally, I was right in front of her. I realized that I was looking at… myself… standing at the bus stop. Well, I thought it was myself. She definitely looked exactly like me. A street lamp illuminated her as she waited, glancing up the street. Probably to check if she could see the bus coming yet.

“Watcha doin'?” I asked slowly, causing her to turn her head towards me. She swallowed.

“Oh… I’m waiting for the bus,” my low, tomboyish voiced doppelganger answered back at me. Just then, a bus pulled up to the stop and opened its doors to her. She looked back at it at first, but then looked down at her hooves. The bus closed its doors and drove away.

“Uh, hello?” I said pointing a hoof at the bus as it drove away. “Wasn’t that the bus you were waiting for?”

“Uh… no,” she answered looking back down the street. “It's… it wasn't the right one.”

Another bus drove up to the curb and opened its doors to her. Again she looked away from it and again it drove off a few seconds later. I cocked my head a little to the side.

“… How long have you been waiting here?” I asked her as she looked back up the street.

“Oh, I uhh… I don’t know,” she answered. “I just… none of them were right.”

“How will you know which one is ‘right’ until you check em’ out?”

“I… just know. I don’t need to… I’m fine right where I am. I don't need a bus.”

"Well, do you want a bus or don't you?"

"I... yeah, I want one, but... I'm just scared."

“Well, you can’t go anywhere on a bus until you pick one.”

She looked back at me with sad eyes.

“Well, I guess I’ll never get one then.”

I was about to ask her what she meant when the street beneath me opened. I fell through a trap door, screaming as I tumbled through the darkness. Landing on my back, I coughed and sucked in air as the wind was knocked out of me.

Getting to my hooves slowly, I found that I had landed on a bunch of little… somethings. They all looked the same, but were different colors. I picked one up and brought it to my face to get a better look. It was a yellow shape that was square on three sides, but had a fourth side that was shaped like a puzzle piece, a little shapey thing sticking out of it that was clearly meant to attach to another piece.

It had a picture of a pony I’d never seen before on it. The pegasus was frowning in the picture and had orange fur and a yellow mane pulled back in a bun. It was just a picture from the chest up, so I couldn’t see her cutie mark. I dropped it and picked up another. Blue puzzle piece, light purple Earth pony with dark purple fur, frowning. I picked another piece. Red puzzle piece, white fur, unicorn, red and black mane, frowning. Every pony was frowning on each piece. Every single one.

I looked up to see that I was standing in a sea of them, totally surrounded by puzzle pieces. Besides the shifting pieces below me, everything else was dark. There was no sky, no walls, no nothing. Just a seas of puzzle pieces.

Then I noticed a piece with a very familiar pony on it. Levitating it up to me, I saw that it was a purple piece with a white furred unicorn with red eyes, small pointed fangs sticking out from her mouth. It was… me. But not the normal “me.” This was vampire “me.” Or maybe vampire “me” was the normal “me.” The little puzzle Vinyl had a sad look on her face, her eyes cast downwards. No sunglasses to hide behind.

Still levitating my puzzle piece, I began searching through the pieces on the ground with my hooves, desperately looking for the piece that would fit with mine. I tried pony after pony, but none of the pieces were a match. I had just about given up when I saw it: pink piece, grey Earth pony, black mane, pink bow tie around her neck. My hopes lifted as I went to reach for it.

Right before I put my hoof on the piece, it changed. It was no longer a pink piece, but now a black one. The unicorn on it had a gray coat and a short, silver mane. The face I knew oh too well smiled back at me, her eyes sharp and piercing. I tried to relax my hoof to let go of the piece, but… my hoof wouldn’t release. I couldn’t drop the piece. I shook it back and forth… to no avail. I shook harder. I still held onto it. I thrashed my hoof back and forth, desperately trying to release the piece from my grip. The silver pony continued to stare back at me.

I couldn’t let it go. I screamed.

Then all of a sudden, everything in the dream switched. It became a completely different setting.

I laid in my bed next to Octy and held her close to me, us facing each other. The bed wasn’t really anywhere in particular. The background was just sort of… whiteness. I could feel the warmth of her body as she was pressed against me. Nuzzling my face into her and stroking her mane, I sighed with relief. She giggled.

“I’m so happy, do you know that?” she asked looking at me with those big, violet eyes of hers.

“Yeah. Me, too,” I agreed, resting my head against hers. My stomach made a little growling sound, taking us out of the moment for a second. I thought I’d make a little joke. “Heh. You know what would make this even better?”

“I do,” she replied, pulling out a plate seemingly from nowhere. It had a dandelion sandwich on it with honey mustard dressing. My mouth dropped.

“Oh Goddesses, I love you,” I said levitating the sandwich over to me. I took a bite; it tasted like sunshine and dreams.

We laid there together like that for what seemed like hours, doing nothing but feeling the warmth of each other’s bodies, hearing nothing but the sound of each other’s breathing. It was so awesome.

That was one of the most life-like dreams I’d ever had... and I never ever wanted it to end.
_________________________________________________________________________

Unfortunately, it had to come to an end. Otherwise I’d just sleep forever and, though that did sound pretty wonderful at the moment, I had stuff to do. Records to spin, cake to eat.

I woke up the next morning alone in my bed. I laid on my side listening to the faint sound of birds chirping outside. Removing my glasses and sleeping mask, I slowly sat up, smacking my lips and rubbing my eyes with a hoof. I had put up heavy duty curtains in front of my bedroom window so I never had to worry about light coming through and blinding me, but I liked to wear the sleeping mask anyways. Extra protection.

The window still illuminated my room a bit, but I really didn't need the light. Preferring the darkness, I’d memorized where everything was in my room so that I could ready in the morning.

Put your glasses back on, stand up, turn to the right, go four steps, turn right again, take three steps forward, step the left to avoid the little pile of potato chips, keep goin’ straight, aaaand there’s the door.

My eyes squinted a little as I opened the door and the light from the hallway flooded into my room. Shutting the door behind me, I made my way to the kitchen, opening the fridge and scanning the stuff inside for a carton of milk.

“Hey, Octy!” I yelled inside the fridge as I moved around bottles and leftovers from last night’s dinner. “Do we got any milk?”

Hearing no “Vinyl, if it’s in the fridge, then we have it. If not, then no. No, we do not have it” in response, I turned behind me to look around the kitchen. “… Octy?” I looked up at the clock on the wall to see it read 10:17 AM.

Oh, duh. She’s at cello practice.

I hadn’t had work last night, so I was able to get to bed at a decent hour. Occasionally I was up this early, but it was such a rare thing that it was odd for Octy to not be in the kitchen, reading a book and scolding me that I should get up earlier.

My mouth felt dry. I was starting to sense that I needed to drink blood soon. It was a feeling different than hunger or thirst for regular non-blood stuff. You know how sometimes you just get a craving for a certain food? Like peanut butter or apples or whatever? That’s what I’d compare thirsting for blood to. It was a feeling that wasn’t there a second ago, but I just knew that I needed it right then.

I headed back into my room and opened my closet fridge to find my stash of blood bags. After taking one out and shutting the little door, I sat down on my bed and prepared to drink from it. It really sucked being confined to my little room to drink. It would’ve been awesome to enjoy it while I watch TV or…

Hey. Wait a sec… Octy doesn’t get back for three hours. I could watch TV while I drink, if I wanted to…

When you grow up as a vampire, there are these classes you can attend where they tell you the “Dos and Don’ts” of Vampirism. It’s sorta like Sunday School, but for blood sucking monsters.

Rule #4: Do not, under any circumstance, let non-vampire ponies know of your “condition.” Drinking blood in an open place where a regular pony could come and see me was a big no-no.

It was reckless. Totally irresponsible. Is it any surprise that I’d do it?

I took the bag into the living room. It was a brand new one, never been drank from before. I was about to (literally) sink my teeth into it when the phone rang.

I groaned and trotted over to the phone on the kitchen counter, levitating the blood bag beside me. Pushing the button marked “Speaker Phone,” a male voice immediately came through the other end.

“Vinyl Scratch?”

“The one and only.”

“Is this line secure?”

I glanced around the room. I was still alone.

“Yeah, sure, go on. What’s up?”

Only one organization would contact me like that; some new vamp was probably tearing apart a squirrel or baring their fangs at somepony in broad daylight or something. Whatever it was, I was the cleanup crew.

“You need to get to 12 Baker Street A.S.A.P. There’s a situation,” the voice said.

“Twelve Baker Street, got it,” I confirmed nodding my head even though he couldn’t see me.

“It’s urgent. Don’t bring anything with you. Go straight there.”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard ya. Real important. I’ll be right there.”

“Report to us once the situation has been cleared.” I heard a dial tone as the call disconnected.

I pushed the button to hang up the call on my end and rushed to the door. I may be irresponsible 97% of the time, but this was one of the rare 3% situations where I needed to be on my A-game. Lives were at stake.

I went to turn the knob of the door with my magic when I realized I was still levitating the blood bag beside me.

Dammit! No time to put it back in my fridge. Uh, maybe I could bring it with me?

Yeah, sure, bring a blood bag to a place where a new vampire is going crazy. Next idea?

Uh... I could throw it in the garbage?

A poor pony had a needle put in their arm to give you that blood and you’re going to waste it?! No way, man!

I don’t know! Hide it under the couch?

Pretty sure it needs to be kept at a cool temperature. It’ll get gross if you keep it smothered under there all day!

Is that how blood works?

I don’t know! I’m YOU!

“Uhhh… uuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhh…”

I started to move towards the living room then to the door then back to the living room again.

Dammitdammitdammitdammit AAAHHH! I got no time for this!

I ran to the fridge, threw open the door, and placed the bag in the back of the shelf, moving various items in front of it to block it from view.

There. I’ll be back before Tavi gets home from practice and put it back in my fridge. She’ll never even know.

I closed the fridge and bolted towards the door.
_________________________________________________________________________

It was a standard case of “Why is everypony a walking blood bag?!”

A young vampire pony by the name of Apple Bytes was playing with a few of his friends when one of them fell down and scraped their knee. There was very little blood, but such a young vampire couldn’t resist going bonkers at the smell of it. His parents had rushed him home, but not before he uprooted an entire tree and sent it flying through the air half a mile away. I had to ensure there were no witnesses to the event, (luckily there weren’t any, so it was a lot easier for me,) then replant an entire. Frickin’. Pine tree.

Did you know that pine trees leak sap? Everywhere? I didn’t. Now I do. How the hell one tree can store so much sap, I’ll never know.

Luckily Apple Bytes’ parents offered to let me use their shower before I headed back home. I was totally covered in that stupid sap, so I really had no choice. Though Octy’s seen me do enough crazy stuff that she’d believe any explanation I’d give her as to why I was covered in tree sap.

I was trying to figure out how many times I could climb up and down a tree before I got tired! The answer is twenty seven!

No witnesses, the tree was replanted, the kid was fine, and I was squeaky clean. Everything was cut and dry. So why couldn’t I shake the feeling that I’d forgotten something? Something super important.

I’d stopped by our apartment’s mailboxes to see if we’d gotten anything. Surprisingly, no fan mail for DJ Pon-3 today. Only one letter was in our box and it was addressed to Octy. I levitated it in front of me as I made my way to our place.

"Octy, I'm ho-ome!"

Ya know what would hit the spot right now? Some orange juice!

I walked into the kitchen to see Octy grinning nervously, a wide smile on her face.

"Hey Octy, you got some mail."

Still levitating the letter, I went to open the fridge with my hoof, Octy stepping in front of me.

"Mail?"

"Mail. Yeah."

"For me."

"Yeah, Octy, could you move? I wanna drink,” I said craning my neck to the side. She moved her head in a similar manner, still blocking my view. I went to my right, but she sidestepped me awkwardly, still wearing that weird look on her face. She never took her eyes off me.

"Ha-haaaa, I've never gotten mail before!" Her voice shook a little. She looked like she’d seen a ghost.

I’ve never seen her so freaked.

"Are you alright? You look nervous."

"Me? Nervous? Of course not! Let's just see who this mail is from." She plucked her letter from my magical grip and scanned it with her eyes. Suddenly, her huge smile vanished. "Mother?"

Okay, now I’ve never seen her so freaked.

Close

I was awoken the next morning by sunlight beaming in my eyes. Irritated, I squinted and groaned.

Jeez, the world is so damn bright without my shades.

Opening them slowly, I realized that Octy and I were lying in her bed, so close that our heads were resting together.

Aaaaaaand I don’t care how bright the sun is. I think I’ll just stay here forever, thanks.

My head pounded as my mind slowly pieced together what happened last night. It all started coming back to me; the blood bags, the freak out, fixing up Octy, falling asleep in her arms. I couldn’t help but stare at her neck bandage.

Poor Octy. She had a terrible frickin’ night.

I’m not sure why, but I raised my hoof to gently touch it, wincing when she moved. I thought I’d woken her up, but she simply yawned and wrapped a hoof around my back, pulling me closer to her. A goofy smiled played across my lips as I sighed.

Yeeeah, this… this is nice. This is really nice. I could get used to this.

I could, couldn’t I? I mean, she did tell me she loved me. That… that was real, right? And… she did kiss me. Like, legit kissed me. What was that about? Was that just to snap me out of… whatever state I was in or… could she really have meant it? I hadn’t had time to think about the kiss while Octy was bleeding to death, but now I had nothing but time. Nothin’ to do but think until she woke up.

Darn good kisser, now that I could stop and replay it in my head. She was pretty into it.

Well, if I’m ever lucky enough to get another one of those, I’ll be sure to appreciate it this time around.

As much as I wanted to lay there all day, I still felt pretty horrible about yesterday. I wanted to do something to make it up to her. Taking her arm and very carefully moving it off of me, I set it down on the bed in between us. I scooted slowly away from her, rolled over, and got up. Trotting towards the kitchen, I walked past the wreckage from last night, stepping over glass and bits of door that littered the floor.

I entered the kitchen, immediately smelling blood. Octy hadn’t had the chance to rinse the sink out before… stuff happened last night. Nor did anypony clean up the blood on the floor. The smell was hypnotizing, but I shook my head and pulled myself together.

Snap out of it. It’s just like you’re playing Clean Up Crew for another vampire pony. Octy’s not here. Got plenty of time. You can handle this.

I breathed in deep, waiting a few seconds before exhaling. Walking to the closet, I took out a towel and bucket and brought them over to the mess on the floor. I leaned over the sink and saw the blood in it, most of it dry now.

You got this. ... You got this.

I psyched myself up and got to work.
_________________________________________________________________________

An hour later, I’d scrubbed the sink, floors, kitchen table, and anywhere else that was splattered with the stuff. I’d also gotten rid of the broken glass from the mirror and propped her door up against the wall. It’d stay there until I found a way to either repair or replace it. As most of the blood had dried by then, it really wasn’t that physically tough to clean it up.

I mean, normally blood wasn’t that tough for me to clean. I had to deal with it all the time… but after what happened last night, I definitely wasn’t on my game. Even the smallest memory of me losing control last night was freaking me out. Luckily, Octy wasn’t there so it was a lot easier to focus.

I exhaled in relief, admiring my handiwork. Err, hoofiwork? Whatever. Now came the tough part.

I’m gonna have to venture into unknown territory: making breakfast.
_________________________________________________________________________

Makin’ food for Octy reminded me of the first time I’d ever gotten her to eat something I’d made. Okay, well, I didn’t make it myself, but I paid for it. That still counts, right?

“Sorry, wah?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Meh skarnf… issit okay?”

This is gonna be a long night.

“Okaaay, so I think the next step is to get you sobered up a bit,” I sighed, putting my elbow on the bar and leaning towards Bar Mare.

“Hey, uhh…”

Sangria? Margarita? Mimosa? Remember, dammit! Champagne? Naw, Champagne sounds like a stripper name…

“… could I get two glasses of water and a plate of nachos for the lady?”

Bar Mare gave a little nod and, lifting a sprayer with her magic, filled two glasses with water. She set them in front of us and went through the back door to where the kitchen was. I looked back over at Grey Mare. (She’d be called that until I knew her name.) She just sort of stared off into space with this sad look on her face.

“They’re both for you,” I said pushing the water glasses towards her. “Drink up. We’ll get some food in you and you’ll be fine in no time.” She didn’t turn back to look at me. Just kept staring off somewhere. I sighed.

Great. I gotta spend time with a spoiled Canterlot mare who won’t even give me the time of day.

“Hey, you in there?” I asked, poking her shoulder with my hoof. She looked up at me startled.

“Oh! S-surry, I’b… surry…” The apology was genuine. Maybe she wasn’t being stuck-up. Maybe she’s just… really out of it.

“No worries,” I said nudging the waters again. “Just drink, alright? I’m sure you can handle doing that much.” The mare attempted to pick up one of the glasses in her hooves, but almost knocked it over. I floated over a few straws and set them in the water glasses. “Or a straw! Straws are good, too!”

She started to drink as I glanced up at the clock on the wall, which read 11:04 pm.

Guess I’m stuck babysitting tonight. Ah well.

It’s not like I had anything else to do that night anyway. No Special Somepony in my life, no gigs to prepare for in the near future. I’d probably just go home, work on some music, catch an episode of “When Manticores Attack,” then fall asleep around four in the morning, as I usually did. I sighed and looked back to see she’d already gone through the first glass of water and was now working on the second one.

“Wow. Guess you’re thirsty,” I smirked putting a hoof under my chin and resting it on the bar. She finished her second water and exhaled in relief.

“I feel…. more myself now…”

“Well that’s good. I’m glad,” I said smiling.

Maybe now she can finally answer some questions.

“You don’t look like you’re from around here. What brings you to this part of Manehattan?” Her face fell as she looked down into the empty glass.

“I… um... well you see, I’ve been rather down on my luck lately. I do live in Manehattan, actually, though I’ve only been here for... I'd say a little less than a month. I’d been wandering around town and happened upon this… um…” She looked around at the worn-down brick walls, the intoxicated ponies jumping around on the dance floor, and the chairs that vibrated along with the music. “… establishment. I didn’t have anything else to do today, so I came in here and thought I’d have a nice glass of scotch. I didn’t-”

“Wait, one glass of Scotch did that to you? Jeez, what a light weight you… scotch…”

Scotch!

“Scotch!” I yelled loud enough that I could be heard in the back kitchen. Bar Mare came out levitating a plate of nachos.

“Yeah?” she answered back.

“Your name is Scotch!” I stated excitedly, clapping my hooves together. She raised an eyebrow at me and set down the nachos in front of Grey Mare.

“Whaaaaatever, Scratch. You’re weird,” she commented, smiling and going back into the kitchen. She called back to us through the closed doors. “I gotta take care of some stuff! Let me know if anypony needs a drink!”

“Gotcha!” I yelled back then looked over at Grey Mare who was staring at the food as if it were some sort of strange alien she’d never seen before.

“Now I’m guessing this ain’t really your kinda food, but we don’t got any salads or caviar or anything like that so you’ll just have to deal tonight,” I said pushing the plate towards her.

“I… thank you very much,” she said nudging the plate back at me, “but... I don’t have any… I can’t pay for-“

“Hey, don’t sweat it. It’s on the house.” I pushed it back at her.

“But-“

“Relax, alright? You need to get some food in you. It’s no problem, really.” I smiled at her. She opened her mouth to speak again, but no words came out. Instead she closed it and smiled back at me.

“Thank you… Thank you so much… I mean, I don’t even know you…”

“Name’s Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch,” I said extending a hoof to her. “Otherwise known as DJ Pon-3. DJ legend, Music Writing Extraordinaire, and all around bad ass.” She giggled and took my hoof in hers.

“Charmed. I’m Octavia,” she said shaking it.

“Wow. Fancy name, Octy. I like it!”

“Actually, I said ‘Octavi-‘”

“There. Now you know me and I know you!” I grinned at her and tapped the plate of nachos. “Now you can eat.” She smiled, shaking her head and pulling the plate closer to her.

“You are something else, Vinyl Scratch.” She pointed down at the nachos. “Now, might I have a fork and knife so I can enjoy these?” I stared at her.

Oh Goddesses, did she just-

No, Vinyl-

But she-

Don’t do it, Vinyl!

For nachos?!

VINYL-

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing at her.
_________________________________________________________________________

“Come on ya stupid… ugh, come on!” I groaned as I scraped and stabbed the pan with the spoon. Never had to cook anything in this kitchen so, not knowing where the spatula was kept, I improvised. I’d attempted to make scrambled eggs, but instead I created something that resembled a black, squishy burned-on-the-bottom rock, which was now stuck to the pan. It was already creating a sickening smell, but suddenly I smelled something worse beside me: smoke. I looked over to see black plumes of it coming out of the toaster.

“Crap!” I dropped what I was doing, galloped over to the toaster, and pressed the switch upwards to release the toast. Nothing happened. I growled and kept flipping it up and down, fearing the toast would catch fire if it was in there any longer. I put my head over it to check for fire and pushed the switch up with all my might, breaking it off; two slices of toast shot out and beamed me in the face. Not thinking, I caught them in my hooves before they fell, burning myself.

“OW! Ow ow ow ochies ow!” I hissed waving my hooves around and blowing on them. Turning on the sink, I let the water flow over them. Helped a bit, but I was pissed. “Dammit! I don’t understand it! I put it on the lowest setting and it still burned every piece of bread! I just don't know what went wrong!” I yelled out in annoyance. “There goes pieces 23 and 24. Those were my last shots...” I turned off the sink and went over to the toaster, clenching my sore hooves.

“Come on, ya jerk. You could’ve saved me at least one piece!” I punched it in it’s stupid toaster face. It sputtered a few times and a knob flew off and hit me in the nose. “Ow! You stupid piece of-!” I grabbed it and rammed it into the wall, then slammed it onto the floor. It broke into about 20 pieces. I stood over it, grinding my teeth and panting in fury. My hooves were throbbing in pain, but that felt really good.

"Smoke! Fire?! Where!" I heard Octy yell from her room.

Crap. Hope I didn’t wake her.

I walked over to her room and peaked my head in the doorway. She was still in bed, lifting her head up to look at me.

"Just making breakfast," I explained cheerily.

"I didn't know you could burn juice," she smirked, sitting up and resting her back against the wall.

"Shaddup!" I laughed at her, happy she was back to her old self. "I tried making a hey-sorry-for-trying-to-kill-you breakfast in bed, but I don't think it's very good."

That might be an understatement…

"It's the thought that counts, right? How bad can it be?" she asked smiling at me. I sighed with relief.

"Whew, that's good. You're gonna need a spatula to scrape the eggs off of the frying pan. Oh, and we're all out of toast."

"I just bought an entire loaf!"

"Well, the toaster didn't agree. Also, uhh…" I lifted up the toaster’s switch that I’d kept clenched in my hoof. “… we need a new one.”
_________________________________________________________________________

“Please, Vinyl?”

“No.”

“Pleeeease? Just once more?”

I sighed.

“Alright, fine, but this is the last time, kay?” She nodded obediently.

I took a breath in then let it out, focusing myself on the transformation. Opening my mouth, I felt my fangs slowly peeking out and Octy gazed on in amazement, taking them in. I didn’t exactly like it, transforming in front of her. But she insisted, so I did as she asked.

Guess I’d find it pretty interesting, too, if I suddenly found out my friend was a vampire. She never took her eyes off them, even as I changed back to normal and they disappeared inside my mouth once again.

"Pretty cool, right?" I asked flashing a smile at her, my regular teeth now showing. She giggled.

“Very, very cool."

I spread some strawberry jam over my pancakes, cut out another chunk, and continued eating. Octy was a pretty damn good cook and had made us some pretty kick ass pancakes after we’d cleaned up my mess, (egg, burnt toast, toaster parts.) I glanced over at her neck bandage, a wave of guilt rushing through me.

Octy was absolutely one of a kind. I almost kill her and she makes me pancakes. I try to make her an apology breakfast and instead, she makes me an “I’m-sorry-you-can’t-cook-to-make-me-an-apology-breakfast” breakfast. I was failing all over the place lately.

Besides the sound of us eating, it was dead quiet. A sort of awkward silence had taken the place of conversation as… well, I wasn’t totally sure what to talk about. There was tons of stuff on my mind, of course but, like… how do you talk about all that? I couldn’t just bring it up.

So, um, you know how I’m a vampire and stuff? You can’t tell anypony or this secret organization of supernaturals might murder you in your sleep. Just fyi. Pass the butter, wouldja?

I looked over at her bandage again. My eyes couldn’t stop wandering to it. She coughed, drawing my attention away from it.

"So, um, Vinyl."

"Yeah?"

"How much do you need to drink?" I frowned at her.

This is what she wants to talk about? After I almost sucked her body dry of blood last night?

"Well, I guess normally one blood bag a month."

"All at once?"

"Nah. I'd much rather mix it in with my drink or something."

"You haven't slipped that into our meals, have you?" She looked terrified. I smiled evilly. "Vinyl!" she shrieked, pounding a hoof on the table. "That is disgusting!"

"Oh come on, you've tried it already—"

"That doesn't mean I like the taste! So you have, haven't you?"

"Nah." She sighed in relief, but I was having too much fun with this. "Well maybe once or twice..."

"Vinyl!"

I laughed at her, shaking my head. My horn glowed as I began levitating my fork, but she continued the conversation. "So have you worked out some kind of deal with the hospital? Is that why they let you have some every once in a while?" I dropped the fork.

"I can't tell you that,” I said seriously. She may know my secret, but I wasn’t about to reveal everything to her. It could endanger her even further.

"Oh. Come on now. Is it Vampires Anonymous?"

"I'm sorry,” I apologized shaking my head. “I wish I could tell you, Octavia. It's... confidential." She shrank and looked back down at the table.

"In any case, I'm sorry about wasting one of them," she murmured.

"What?”

Wasted… oh, the blood bag.

“Oh. Ah, don't worry about it,” I said waving my hoof. “I think I got plenty when I uh, erm… You know—"

"Yes… when you drank."

"… Yeah." I glanced at her bandage again, then cleared my throat and took a bite of pancake and jam.

"Have you ever fed?"

"What?" I said with my mouth full.

"You know. Drank blood from a pony," she said titling her head a little to the side. I almost choked on my food.

"Oh, Celestia! No! No, you were my first," I laughed, covering my face with a hoof. "And I've never killed anypony, if that's what you wanna know." She sighed with relief.

"I can't be living with a murderer, now can I?" she laughed nervously, then wiped her lips on a napkin. "Now you must tell me how I tasted." I felt my face heat up.

"Octy! I - I can't!"

"I'm just curious," she laughed. "Was I salty? Or sweet? Bitter?" I shook my head. "Tell me!"

"No!"

"Please?"

I sighed in exhaustion. She wasn’t gonna let this go. I rolled my eyes, feeling horribly embarrassed.

"You tasted... very nice. Sweet." She raised an eyebrow.

"Like candy?"

"More like... cough syrup."

She burst out laughing, shaking her head and pointing at me. I felt my face redden further and poked at my breakfast with my fork.

Wait for her to change the subject, wait for her to change the subject…

"Are you immortal?" she asked once her laughing had died down.

"Heck no. And I'm glad," I said swallowing another bite. "I mean, who wants to live forever?"

"There has to be some benefits, Vinyl. Insurance?" That earned a small chuckle from me.

Oh yeah, suuuure. We get our own special vampire insurance, Vampsurance. And if we flash our “I’m a vampire” card at the local donut shop, we get a 5% discount! Join the club!

She gasped. "Can you turn into a bat?"

"No! I wish!" I laughed at her. She had been way too into those vampire novels if she thought that. I pushed myself out of my chair and trotted into the living room. "The usual, I guess. Super strength." I lifted the couch with one hoof, watching her jaw drop. "My eyes and ears are sharper, and I can smell a lot better. I heal a bit quicker than most ponies, but it's not anything spectacular." I set it down and returned to my seat.

"And you won't go poof in the sun, will you?" she asked, genuinely worried.

"I won't sparkle, that's for sure," I laughed, shaking my head. "Octy, it's not like that. It's just really uncomfortable. It might be a nice sunny day for you, but for me, it's really hot."

Hell, as long as we’re talking about this, I might as well bring it up.

"Octavia? … When you said you loved me..." I asked slowly, earning a surprised look from her.

"You remember?"

"Kinda,” I groaned rubbing my head. "It's like there's this huge blank space in my head. One second I was talking with you and then I was on top of you, and your neck was gushing blood..." The thought sent chills down my spine. "I've never lost control like that."

"It must have been scary," she agreed quietly, running her hoof along the tablecloth.

"It was awful!" I shuddered at the thought and hugged myself. "I thought I had everything under control, this curse! It was finally becoming manageable. But now I'm not so sure."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." There was no way to tell that, but it was nice she was trying to help me.

"I'm afraid the next time I'll lose it, I'll turn into a…" I gulped, "… a monster, and you won't be able to bring me back.” She looked up at me, her face serious.

“Don't talk like that. It won't happen again."

"But Octy—"

"Shut up."

I opened my mouth to speak, but when no words came out, I closed it. I was quiet for a bit, looking around the room. Trying to decide what to talk about next.

No. You’ve brought it up. Might as well finish the conversation. You’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t find out.

"Anyways,” I continued, “when you said it, it snapped me outta it, but only for a second. That kiss though… that definitely set me straight.” I looked over at her. “Did you mean it though?"

"Yes, Vinyl!" she exclaimed, looking a little hurt that I would think otherwise. "I meant it! With all of my heart." My heart skipped a beat.

Holy crap. Holy crap holy crap, don’t screw this up!

"So you will be my very special somepony?" I asked, trying to remain as calm as I could. I was on the edge of my seat as I waited for her response.

"Yes,” she said smiling. “I'd love to be your very special somepony.”

I don’t think I’ve ever smiled that wide in my entire life. It was like somepony had set off a bunch of fireworks inside my chest. I was filled with such total, pure happiness that I just wanted to race up to the roof and scream, “HEY! I GOT THE BEST MAREFRIEND EVER! YEEEEEEAH!” I raised my hooves in the air, about to yell out in joy when Octy stopped me.

"But!” I froze in place. “But, you have to promise me something. No more secrets. No more lies. I want to know the real Vinyl Scratch. You already know so much about me, and I don't know anything about you."

"Okay. I can do that," I agreed immediately.

Yeah, sure! Whatever you want! You want me to tap dance in a clown costume? Ride a unicycle while juggling flaming bowling pins? Hell, I’ll ride a unicycle that’s on fire while I’m on fire juggling flaming bowling pins! Whatever you want, babe!

"Yes! Finally!” I bounced around the room. “Oh sweet Celestia, whoo-hoo! It took six freakin' months—"

"What?"

"—for you to finally get a clue!"

"For your information, Vinyl Scratch, I was not a complete dolt the entire time!" she huffed. "I knew that you liked me. I just wasn't sure if I... liked you back." I stopped bouncing and looked back at her.

"I tried being subtle about it..."

"Oh puh-leez!” she said rolling her eyes. “You were about as subtle as Princess Celestia in a BANANA SUIT!"

"Yesyesyesyes!" I continued bouncing/hopping/skipping/any kind of moving around that was fueled by excitement. "YesyesYESyesYES!"

"Sit down and eat your pancakes." I stopped hopping and slowly made my way back to my seat.

"Yes, mom,” I droned, sticking my tongue out at her.

Lyra would be happy to hear about this, that’s for sure. Though I knew I’d never hear the end of the “I told you so”s that this would cause. She loved being right and, (unfortunately for me,) she was right quite a lot, especially when I was involved.

"Oh man, I can't wait to tell Lyra..." I said as I spread some more jam. Octy coughed.

"Uh, Vinyl? Can we keep this under wraps for the time being?" she asked. I looked up from my plate.

"Still in the shed?"

As if I have to ask...

"Some of us aren't as comfortable as you are, Vinyl,” she reminded me with a concerned look on her face. “You know where we are."

"Ah, so what? Forget Canterlot! They can kiss my fat flank for all I care," I smirked at her, continuing to eat my breakfast. The cogs in my mind started to turn and a devious thought occurred. "You know what would really get their britches in a bunch? Us kissing." Octy choked on her orange juice. "We should just walk out into the street, and start like, making out."

"Vinyl!" she coughed, her eyes wide.

"And we should make it extra messy, with lots of tongue action. It'll be hilarious." I smiled at the thought. It’d be a huge “buck you” to all the prissy, rich Canterlot snobs who’s values were still living in the dark ages and thought marriage should only be between a colt and a mare.

"You know, we don't need an excuse to make out."

Did it suddenly get, like, 1,000 degrees hotter in here?

I smiled smugly and scooted my chair over to hers as close as I could get.

Time to turn on the ol’ Scratch charm.

“Oh really?” I asked, giving her “the look.” That look had been 100% successful in getting me any mare I wanted. Didn’t use it a ton, so that might be why it had such a high success rate, but… okay, that’s not the point.

I puckered my lips, leaned in and… received a hoof to my face.

"First, brush your teeth. And watch those fangs."

"Aw,” I whined as she brought down my 100% successful rating down to a 95%.

Octy leaned over and kissed my cheek. Yup. Melting now. Don’t even care. Don’t even care what happens the rest of the day.
_________________________________________________________________________

As I brushed my teeth, all I could think of was how happy I was that Octy liked me. I mean, liked me more than a friend. It felt incredible. It was like Hearth’s Warming Eve, Nightmare Night, and my birthday all at once.

Octy deserved the best. And if she chose me, then I’d have to be the best for her.

It’s been two years since I’ve had a legit marefriend. Hope I’m not rusty at the whole “romance” thing.

I rinsed my mouth and left the bathroom, switching off the light on my way out. Making my way into my room, I went into my closet and opened the bottom drawer of the dresser inside. It was full of sunglasses, in all shapes and sizes, a few that were exact replicas of the ones Octy had smashed off my face the previous night. I levitated up one of those ones and threw them on my face.

Walking to the living room, I noticed Octy reading from “The History of Vampires” on the couch.

“Vinyl, is it true vampires and lycans are enemies? Or is that just a-“ She stopped in the middle of her sentence after I’d turned to face her. She sighed. “Oh for goodness sake, could you not wear those dreadful things for five seconds?”

“What? You don’t like my shades?” I asked raising an eyebrow at her.

“It’s not that, it’s just… without them, I can really see you, you know? What emotions you’re feeling, what you’re thinking,” she explained trotting over to me. She lifted her hooves and gently removed my sunglasses.

“They’re only glasses,” I smirked at her, blinking at the sudden change of lighting.

“Just for a few hours, alright?” she reasoned with me. I pouted. “Please?”

Ugh. I can’t say “no” to that face.

“Alright, alright,” I sighed. “Just for a bit, though. I don’t like ponies looking at em’.”

“Why would you want to hide away those beautiful eyes?” she asked sadly.

“I mean... ya know, sometimes they flicker red even when I’m not in vampire mode. That’s a definite giveaway if I happen to be talking to a closet vampire hunter or something. Plus, I got picked on as a kid cause of them. I just… I don’t want you thinking I’m a freak or something.”

“Vinyl,” Octy said with an unamused face, “last night you pinned me to a bed and tried to drink my blood. I think we’re a little past that by now.”

“… Yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I laughed. “You… really think they’re beautiful?”

“They’re gorgeous, Vinyl, really,” she said nodding at me.

I smiled at her. Felt really good that she liked my eyes. It was a part of me I never let anypony else see, not even close friends from Ponyville. The only one of them who’d ever seen my eyes was Lyra and it was an accident. A very drunk accident.

“Ah. Well… thanks,” I said scratching the back of my head bashfully.

“The dinner with Mother and Father is tomorrow. Oh, I wish I could take the day off,” she sighed and began pacing back and forth. “But I’ve got that meeting tonight and I need to teach you how to behave like a lady and I also need to practice the piece we’re performing-“ I gently grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

“Octy. You almost got mauled yesterday. It’s not a bad idea to take some time off,” I said nodding my head. “You’re right. Why don’t we just chill tonight, alright? You can call your meeting or whatever and say you’re sick, I’ll get somepony to cover for me at work, and we can order some take out and just relax. Sound good?”

“Vinyl, I-“

“You’ve got a lot of stress building up in you,” I continued, stroking her mane. “Just… let it go. Just for a few hours.” She pouted. “Please?” I said smiling at her. She thought for a few seconds then sighed.

“Yes. Yes, you’re right, Vinyl.”

“Aahhh a sentence I rarely hear,” I smirked, taking it in. "Would ya mind saying it again? I wanna remember this." She hit me lightly on the shoulder.
_________________________________________________________________________

We laid in Octy’s bed together, her head resting on my chest. It was around three in the afternoon and she didn’t wanna take a nap in my room cause in her words, “It’s so dark in there that we might not wake up until tomorrow morning.” I could understand what she meant, but even in her room we might not wake up until the next morning. I could’ve laid there with her forever.

I wanted to take it slow with Octy. Didn’t wanna risk messing anything up. Plus, I was pretty sure this was her first relationship. Though from the looks of it, she was already pretty comfy getting close to me. She drew little circles on my stomach with her hoof and sighed into my chest. The world was much brighter without my glasses, but I couldn’t focus much on anything except the grey wonder resting on my stomach.

“Hey, uh... have you ever been in a relationship with anypony, Octy?” I asked as she nuzzled me.

“Well… no, actually” she answered, then looked up at me. “Why do you ask?”

“Dunno. You just… guess it just comes naturally to you,” I said amused, stroking her mane. “Usually I’m the one who’s cool and collected, but sometimes… I dunno. Relationships make me doubt myself, I guess. I'm afraid I'm gonna do something wrong.”

“I just do what feels right,” she giggled, continuing to trace on my stomach. “… What about you? Have you been in a relationship before?” I paused for a moment, unsure of how to answer.

“… Let’s not talk about that right now, alright?” She raised an eyebrow, giving me a concerned look. “I promise I’ll tell you everything one day. Every last detail. Just… not right now, okay?” I knew she wanted to press further, but instead she gave me a little nod of understanding.

I looked up at the ceiling, feeling totally relaxed. Things were great. She looked so cute laying there one me that I wanted nothing more than to kiss her and kiss her until I couldn’t anymore. That, however, would not be taking things slow like I wanted. So I’d wait. Until she wanted to.

Couldn’t take that long, right? How long’s it been, four seconds? That’s enough time I think. That’s enough time, right? … Ugh, relax. … Well, we could at least talk about it, right?

“Guess our first kiss already happened, huh?” I asked smiling at her. She looked up at me.

“What? You’ve forgotten already?” she asked jokingly. Then suddenly her expression morphed from playful to mortified as she turned bright red. “Am I not a good kisser? Oh, I’m sorry, Vinyl! I’d never kissed anypony before! Is there a manual somewhere I can read or-“

“No, no, it totally rocked!” I said putting up my hooves defensively. “Seriously! It was great! It’s just… ya know…” I looked around the room, my ears tucking down. “I wish I could’ve appreciated it when it happened. I was trying to kill you at the time and all and… ya know. I was pretty out of it, so…”

“Aah. Yes, I can understand that,” she agreed. “It was nice, but… we weren’t quite ourselves.”

Come on, man. Say “Maybe we should change that…” then kiss her. It’ll be super romantic and awesome.

No, Vinyl. You wanna take it slow, so take it slow.

By then, I was totally used to my body arguing with my head. Not only did I have to deal with it as often as I would if I were a normal pony, but cause of my vampirism, I had to deal with it every time somepony scraped their knee or had a nose bleed or got a paper cut. With me, head VS heart was far from a rare thing.

Do it.

Don’t.

Seriously.

No, you seriously. Don’t.

“I’m so happy, do you know that?” she asked sleepily. I felt some very serious déjà vu. Looking down at her, my mouth slightly agape in disbelief, I watched her breathing steadily with her ear on my chest. A wide smile slowly crept across my face.

“… Yeah…” I agreed as we both drifted off to sleep. “… Me... me, too.”

Dinner With Monsters

After we’d finished eating take-out, we sat on our balcony and watched the sun set. The usually blue sky had faded into oranges, pinks, and yellows that were all melding into one another. I had to hand it to Canterlot; most of the ponies here may suck, but they had some pretty kick ass sunsets.

Octy gazed at it looking way more relaxed than she had this morning. I was glad she was able to chill; she deserved a day off.

“It truly is beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked leaning on the banister, resting her chin in her hooves.

“Totally,” I answered smiling at her.

Now? Now’s a good time for a kiss. You should do it now. Now now now.

No, not now. Wait longer.

But it’s a sunset! It’s, like, totally-

Cliché? Yeah, it is. So don’t.

“Ready to go back in?” she asked gesturing towards the door. I nodded and followed her back inside. As we made our way into the living room, I spied my shades on the bookcase and levitated them onto my face. She said not to wear them for “a few hours” and it’d definitely been a few hours.

“So whadya say we hit up a few clubs? Won’t need any cash for an entrance fee; they just let me right in-”

"Vinyl, today was wonderful, but we really can’t go out tonight. It’s extremely important that the dinner with Mother and Father go smoothly. We only have tomorrow to make you into a proper mare," she reminded me. "And we'll start by getting rid of those gaudy sunglasses!" She snatched them off my face.

"Hey!" I yelled as she dangled them away from me, putting a hoof on my chest to stop me from reaching them. I gave up and sighed in defeat.

"The dinner with your parents. Right. Are you gonna tell 'em about us?" Her mouth fell open.

"Absolutely not! They can't know! Nopony can know! Not yet! It's bad enough that I'm a fillyfooler, Vinyl. If word gets out that I'm fooling around with a vampire..."

"Bad, very bad,” I agreed shaking my head. “I've worked too hard to keep this a secret from everypony."

"So you understand."

"I understand the vampire part,” I replied coolly.

Relax. When she wants to come out, she will, alright? She’s not ashamed of you; she’s ashamed of the situation.

Thinking of it that way didn’t help how I felt.

“So what? Are we going to some fancy restaurant?" I asked. She told me the name as she set down my glasses as high up on the bookcase as she could. "Hey, I thought we got kicked out of there a few weeks ago.”

"Because somepony decided it was a good idea to burp as loud as she could and use her fork and spoon as drumsticks!"

Haha! Yeeeeah, that was great…

"Forget it,” I said waving a hoof in the air. “What's for dinner?"

"Oh horseapples!" Trotting into the kitchen, she went to the fridge and opened it, examining what we had inside. "Hey, do you want the rest of the sandwich?" she asked, taking a plate out of it and holding it in front of me. It held a dandelion sandwich with honey mustard dressing.

I gasped. This was getting freaky.
_________________________________________________________________________

I hovered over Octy, pinning her to the floor. Her vanity mirror lay shattered beside us.

"Octy... What’s going on?" I muttered. She looked up at me terrified and started to cry. “No… please don’t, I… I didn’t mean to…”

“Get away from me!” she screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Go away! Stop! Please!” I was licking my lips, salivating.

So thirsty… so thirsty…

Something animalistic took over. I couldn’t stop myself. I bit down on her neck and she screamed as I drank from her, her blood staining my muzzle. “Stop! STOP!”

I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop.

“You’re a monster,” a smooth, familiar voice echoed in my head. “You’re nothing but a monster. And that’s all. You’ll ever. Be.”

“STOP! VINYL! STOP!”

“Octy!”

I sat up with an inhale of breath, panting heavily. We’d gone to sleep in Octy’s bed that night and, glancing at the clock on her dresser, I saw that it’d been a few hours since we’d laid down. I was sweating like crazy, my cheeks wet with tears. I rubbed my eyes.

“Vinyl, are you alright?” she asked sleepily as she sat up next to me.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m good… just a bad dream…” I muttered as she rubbed my back with her hoof. “Sorry I woke you… Let’s go back to sleep, alright?”

She nodded and we laid back down beside each other. She gave me a little kiss on the cheek, then snuggled up to me.

“Sweet dreams, Vinyl,” she whispered. I looked over at her, finally starting to relax a bit.

I was never going to hurt her like that again. I would protect her. No matter what.

“Yeah… night,” I said, nodding and wrapping a hoof around her.
_________________________________________________________________________

I don't like dresses. That should be a given. Take one look at me and there’s no way you’ll think, “Wow, I bet that mare enjoys pink, frilly dresses!” All I needed was my shades, some hair gel, and my smile and I was ready to start the day. Or night, depending on when I woke up.

Buuut we needed dresses for our dinner with Octy’s folks that evening, so I sat outside the changing room waiting for Octy to come out. I wondered what she’d look like as I’d never seen her in a dress, only in her little bow tie. I leafed through a magazine article that covered last year’s Grand Galloping Gala. It was either that or read a magazine whose cover featured the “latest hair styles for Fall” or some bullcrap like that.

She came out of the changing room and my jaw dropped. I'd tried to imagine what she'd look like in a dress, but... she looked even more amazing than I ever could've imagined. Octy wore a black evening gown. Simple, no frills or lace or anything. Hugged her body just right. She looked gorgeous and stunning and beautiful and…

“Hot,” I said aloud gaping at her. She smiled at me.

Oh sure. You think of all those flattering words and “hot” is what comes out of your mouth? Classy, Vinyl.

As my past marefriends used to tell me, at least I was honest.

Then it was my turn. After I got through the process of being fitted, (and getting tangled up in measuring tape quite a few times,) the store pony helping us gave me a dress and I went into the fitting room. I hung the dress up on the hook inside and stared at it. My face scrunched up at the thought of actually putting it on.

"Are you done?" I heard Octy ask from outside after a few minutes. "How long does it take to put on a dress?"

"Why do we even have to wear them?"

"Because not wearing them would be indecent.”

"… We're always naked!"

"Vinyl, put on the dress."

I groaned as loud as I could and started to put on the dress.

Only for you, Octy. Only for you.

Once it was on, I looked at myself in the full-length mirror on the wall. It was a navy blue dress made of velvet or something. I felt so… out of place wearing it. Like it was suited for a much classier and much different pony than me. I was stealing it from somepony who’d appreciate it more.

Plus, I just looked dumb.

"Are you done?" she asked again. I let out a whine.

"I look so stupid!" I sighed and turned towards the door to the room. I put my hoof on the door. "You better not laugh."

"I won’t."

I unlocked the door and stepped through it. Her jaw dropped. The laughter would come any second now.

"I told you I look dumb," I pouted looking at the floor. Hearing no response, I looked back up to see that she was still staring at me with that same expression. "Octy?" I asked waving a hoof in front of her face.

"You look amazing," I heard her whisper. Feeling my cheeks heat up, I gave her a little smile.

"Thanks. You too."

"Well, you look the part, now you must act it!" she said theatrically, striking a pose. "You must carry yourself with a modicum of grace and sophistication!"

"Octy, what the hay are you doing?" I asked raising an eyebrow at her behavior.

"The magicks!"

My face fell. There is something very, very wrong about your marefriend saying a phrase that your mom always used to say.

She took me by the arm and yelled "We go!" whisking me away. I shuddered at the similarity.

Ugh. Goddesses, I hope this doesn’t mess me up psychologically or somethin’…
_________________________________________________________________________

We sat outside on cushions at one of Canterlot’s fancy cafés, enjoying tiny portions of something I couldn’t even pronounce. Carrots, I think. It had carrots in it. An umbrella shaded us as I took a bite of the carrot-thing.

"Sit straight up,” Octy scolded. I sighed.

"I don't understand why we—"

"Don't talk with your mouth full."

I growled in frustration and swallowed.

"Why do I have to pretend I'm all high class? It's not my style."

"Because if my parents disapprove of you, regardless of what I say, they are going to make my life difficult."

"So?"

"And in turn, yours will become a living Tartarus. Oh, and that reminds me, please try to confine your vocabulary to traditional Equestrian for tonight."

"Aight."

"Don't say that."

"Roger."

"What did I just say?"

"Gotcha."

"Vinyl!"

I snickered at her.

“Relax, I’m just yankin’ your chain.” I smiled at her. “Everything’ll be alright, okay? I’ve got this.”

“I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I’m… I’m just nervous.” I took her hoof in mine.

“Look, I really like you. I’m not gonna screw this up. If it means I’ll get to keep seeing you, I’ll be the classiest class mare that’s ever been classy.” She giggled at me.

Suddenly, I remembered where we were and took a look around. A couple of prissy looking, high class mares were staring at us from one table over. I dropped Octy’s hoof.

“Aaaaand that is why you are my good friend!” I said raising my voice a bit. “My good platonic friend who is just a friend and is… friendly! And platonic-y! Haha! Check, please!”

I chuckled nervously as Octy put a hoof to her face.

Nailed it, Vinyl.
_________________________________________________________________________

Hated makeup. Hated dresses. So why was I wearing both?

We were just about to leave for the dinner, which was good cause I was starting to get hungry. I levitated her bow onto her with magic and fastened it around her neck, making sure to hide the bandage.

Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out.

When I stared at her bandage a bit too long, Octy moved to the mirror and adjusted her bow.

"There. Not too shabby. You'll only be able to see it if you're up close," she said referring to her bandage. I nodded sadly.

She wouldn’t have to hide the bandage if I hadn’t…

She walked back over to me and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.

"Now come on. And smile."

I gave her a little halfhearted grin and she grabbed my cheeks and stretched my face into a painfully wide smile.

We left the apartment and went down the stairs to stand on the street curb, Octy hailing for a carriage. Once one pulled up, she went to board it, but slipped. Luckily I caught her and pulled her up, noticing her blush slightly.

"We can't have any of that during the dinner," I said smiling at her.

You can trip and blush and be cute all you want after tonight. Just gotta get through dinner.

"Are you ready?" she asked me. I shrugged.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Remember not to take too long when ordering. Just long enough. And no alcohol. Or blood,” she giggled.

"Shh," I shushed her, grinning. "Are we going to that snooty Upper Crust place again?"

"Yes, Vinyl," she sighed.

This dinner would go a lot easier if I had my shades to hide behind. Hope I look alright.

"How are my eyes?" I asked nervously.

"Beautiful."

I rolled them.

Octy had a book on manners and I’d read it cover to cover last night. Had to go look up a few words I didn't know, but I understood everything for the most part. I’d also worked on making my voice a little more… sophisticated… by practicing in front of a mirror. I was pretty confident in my ability to act like whatever pony Tavi’s parents wanted me to be. After all, I entertained ponies all night long as DJ-Pon3. It was just a performance.

Plus, I’d imitated the stuffy ponies of Canterlot more than enough times to do a great impression of them. I just had to make sure not to laugh at my own lameness.

As we walked in past the long line of ponies that stood outside the restaurant, we saw them whisper to each other, mocking our dresses. I ground my teeth in frustration.

Come on, dudes, what more do you want? We may as well've not worn the dresses, seeing as they’d gossip either way.

The inside of the restaurant was royal looking and elegant. Dimly lit and full of high class ponies.

"Reservations for Octavia and Vinyl Scratch?" Octavia said to the guy at the front desk. He pointed in the direction of the table, not giving us a second look.

Oh naw, it’s cool. We’ll find it ourselves. No need to lead us there. S’not like that’s your job or anything.

As we walked over to the table, I caught sight of Octy’s parents. All this time, I’d never wondered what Octy’s parents would look like. Her mom had grey fur with a black, smoothed down mane and violet eyes. Almost identical to the mare trotting beside me. It was like looking at future Octy. Her dad had grey fur, as well, with brown eyes and a black mane that was starting to show signs of graying.

"Dude, you look just like your mom," I whispered to Octy. "And your dad."

"I what? Are you telling me that I am old and wrinkly and have gray hair?"

"No no, I mean you're her spitting image! She's got your mane and coat and eyes!"

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Look at her! She's even got the same smirk!"

"What smirk?"

"The I'm-so-much-better-than-you one that you put on when you play your cello," I teased. She punched me in the shoulder lightly.

As we got closer, more details about Octy’s parents were revealed. Her mom was wearing a frilly, lacey light blue dress and her father was in a black suit with a matching bowtie. And… atop both their heads were…

I gasped.

"Octavia, your parents are both—"

She shushed me.

"Mmm hello, Octavia," her mom greeted in a haughty voice.

"Hello, Mother," Octy said. "Hello Father."

"Octavia, so glad you could make it," he said pleasantly. He sounded sort of bored, but I think that was just the way his voice was.

"And this must be your roommate," Octy’s mom said looking at me.

"Hello, ma'am," I said smoothly and smiled at them. "Pleased to meet you both."

They sat across from Octy and I. We didn’t wanna sit too close, but she was still able to squeeze my hoof under the table, in case I did something wrong. Or maybe she just wanted to hold my hoof. Either way was cool with me.

I swallowed hard as I felt a few beads of sweat run down the side of my head. I looked over at Octy, who gave me a reassuring smile. I smiled back nervously.

Just remember everything you’ve learned and you’ll be totally fine. Stay chill. You’re cool. You’re an icicle. You’re an entire iceberg. Okay, no, not that cold. What’s cool, but not too cold?

I found myself staring at Octy’s parents’ horns, but luckily I was always able to look elsewhere before they noticed. I wondered why she never mentioned that they were both unicorns.

That’s kinda something that would’ve been nice to know beforehand so I didn’t keep looking at their- yup I’m staring at their horns again. Great.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Scratch. Or would you prefer I call you by your stage name, DJ-Pon3?"

"Vinyl Scratch is perfectly fine," I replied smiling.

"Tell me, Octavia darling, how did you two meet?"

Octy cleared her throat and looked up from her menu.

“As you know Mother, I found myself, err, financially challenged—"

"After that Gala fiasco, yes, I am aware," Octavi-mom interrupted. I clenched my jaw.

"—I moved to Manehattan since it was all I could afford that the time," Octy finished.

"I honestly don't understand why you did not simply move back in with us, dear," Octavi-dad suddenly cut in.

Oh I dunno, maybe cause she has a brain?

"Well, I wanted to be... financially independent," she smirked back. I could tell she was holding back, as well.

"Your wardrobe certainly reflects that," Octavi-mom smirked. Octy's face fell.

Holy crap, seriously? She’s your frickin’ daughter! What is wrong with you, lady?!

A waiter came over and took our appetizer order, looking at Octy and I like we were some annoying flies that wouldn’t leave the room.

I couldn’t read much of the menu. All of the dishes had names that were either in a different language or sounded gross, but there was one that I knew I could order.

"Could I have some garlic bread?" I asked. "Hold the garlic. And could I have a glass of water?"

"I'll have what she's having," Octy replied. "With some scotch."

Oh boy. She told me not to drink, but now she’s having scotch. This must be tougher on her than she thought it’d be.

"Scotch?" Octavi-dad chuckled. "I believe we've raised a mare with expensive tastes, my dear."

“Such strong alcohol,” Octavi-mom said unamused.

Ooooh I’m gonna punch her in her stupid, smug face.

No. Relax. Pretty sure punching your marefriend’s mom in the face is against… marefriend code or something.

I honestly think Octy would be okay with it. Hell, she’d probably jump up and give me a hug afterwards.

"As I was saying..."

"And you say you met Vinyl Scratch where?"

"In a… club," Octy’s voice squeaked.

"A nightclub, dear? I taught you better than that." She was giving Octy this totally disappointed look.

This mare was making me go crazy, but I remained cool and calm on the outside. This prissy, stuck up, terrible mom would decide if I could ever see her daughter again, so I kept my mouth shut.

I didn’t have home-field advantage. This was her domain. Right now, I had to be who she wanted me to be.

"There were some extenuating circumstances!" Octy nearly shouted, sounding a bit panicked. "I met Vinyl in the club-"

"Were you drinking?" she asked.

"Not at all!”

Ha!

"Mother, I am certainly not that type of mare, and neither is Vinyl!"

Double ha!

Her mom smirked looking satisfied with the answer.

"Good.” She turned to me. “I'd like to get to know you a little more, Vinyl Scratch, if you don't mind."

"Of course,” I said throwing a fake smile her way.

The appetizers arrived and I levitated a piece, spreading some butter on it. Octy’s parents did the same exact thing I did, but somehow managed to make it look a million times more stuck up. I looked to my left and saw Octy struggling with buttering her piece. I couldn't imagine having to do stuff like that without magic. Giving up, she set the knife down. I levitated my buttered piece over to her.

“Have a bite," I said grinning. Octy stared at me a little shocked for a second, then laughed loudly.

"Oh, Vinyl!" She leaned over to it and took a little bite.

Cute.

"What would you like to know?" I asked turning back to Monster Mom and Douchey Dad.

"Anything you've be comfortable with telling us," she replied politely. I thought for a moment, then answered.

"Well, I was born in Ponyville. I lived there for eighteen years and set off to pursue my music career in Manehattan and occasionally Canterlot."

I figured I'd better leave out the fact that both of my parents were Earth ponies.

"And how was Ponyville?" she said with a little bit of contempt.

"Ponyville was great. Really cozy. A tight-knit community. Everypony knew each other. Not like Canterlot."

"And what will you all be having for tonight?" the waitress said, interrupting me.

I’ll be having my hoof in your face in a second…

"I'll have the potato salad," I answered. "And some corn on the side."

"The stir fry, please," Octy said. She turned to her mom and continued the conversation. "She works as a DJ in Club Canterlot.”

"A disc jockey?" she questioned, clearly unimpressed.

"Not only a disc jockey!" Octy stammered. "She also produces her own music! Perhaps you've heard of the song Equestria Girls? She worked on that song with one of the Elements of Harmony.” She turned back to me. “Isn't that right, Vinyl?"

"Oh yeah! Pinkie Pie sang the vocals," I confirmed nodding.

"The Element of Laughter? My, what an honor," she said, her voice dripping with unenthusiasm. “Quite the one-hit wonder, I must say, though I'm afraid I'm not much of an enthusiast of pop music."

I’m gonna kill her. I’m gonna kill her! I’m seriously gonna-

"Thank you,” I replied smiling.

"I could scarcely go outside without hearing it," Octavi-dad added snidely.

"I believe you did a fashion show in Ponyville as well?" Octy mentioned, glancing at me. I nodded.

"For Miss Rarity. I met her through my mother, who connected us together. My mom's a fashion photographer, you see." I finally caught a break; Octavi-mom looked impressed.

"What an honor. Carousel Boutique fashion is quite prestigious in Canterlot."

Our food arrived and it was silent as we ate. I dug my fork into my dish and took a bite. Octy glared at me.

"Vinyl," she whispered harshly, "I thought you ordered a potato salad." I swallowed and dabbed my mouth with a napkin.

"I did,” I whispered back. “A potato chip salad." Octy's eye twitched.

Although Canterlot was full of stuck up ponies, I always knew somepony who could help me out in any situation. Tonight’s buddy was Autumn Sun, who worked as a bus boy at the restaurant we were eating at. I threw a few tickets for my next gig his way in exchange for him sneaking into the kitchen and tossing some potato chips into my dinner.

So, no, of course this fancy restaurant didn’t offer a potato chip salad… but tonight it did.

"Vinyl and I got to know each other and we started to hang out a bit more," Octy explained as I took a sip of my water.

"'Hang out'?" Octavi-mom asked, questioning her slang.

"Oh, just some classical concerts, discussions on music theory,” she explained. I laughed inside my head. "She suggested that we move in together and find a bigger, better apartment and well, we've been together since!" She closed her eyes and smiled.

Octavi-mom raised an eyebrow.

"I meant living together. Not together, together," Octy explained laughing nervously and tugging at her collar. "That would be quite improper of me to suggest that she and I were, well, together." She went to take a bite of her dinner.

Octy had tugged a little too much and her bandage was now showing. Octavi-mom gasped.

"Your neck!"

Crap.

Octy choked on her food, rushing to cover the bandage as fast as she could.

"The bandages! What in Equestria happened to your neck?"

"Don't worry!” I said cutting in. “We were uh, horsing around the other day."

"Yes!” Octy agreed. “Just us two, getting a bit too friendly and getting tangled up. Nothing to worry about!"
Octavi-mom looked her over suspiciously.

"Show me."

"Here?" Octy asked, her mouth slightly agape.

"Is it a bruise? A cut?"

Octy stammered, trying to figure out what to say.

"I don't think the other guests," she sucked in air, raising her voice, “would appreciate having blood everywhere!"

I licked my lips.

Relax.

"Did you go to the hospital?" Octavi-dad asked. "Goodness, it sounds severe."

"So, what's for dessert?" Octy grinned, changing the subject.

Thank Celestia.

I then listened to her parents drone on and on about the superiority of unicorns for what seemed like an eternity. About how we should basically rule over Earth and pegasi ponies because we’re soooooo much more awesome than them and they suck and blah blah blah. It was disgusting.

We then had our dessert, cheesecake with fruit. It was pretty boss, which was expected of a place that served a 25 bit salad. I looked over at Octy, seeing her in a way I’d never even considered before.

Her parents were unicorns who looked at their daughter like she was a blemish on the family name. Octy was an Earth pony that played cello, ridiculously unheard of. She always wanted to do everything on her own. She over-achieved and over-achieved, but it was never good enough for them. She was always trying her best, doing everything she could her whole life to win their love.

I pictured a sad little filly Octavia’s crayon drawing not being good enough for their fridge and tried not to cry.

Octy came back up from eating her last bite of cheesecake, a little bit of frosting on her nose. I giggled and pointed at it.

“What?” she asked. I leaned in and wiped it off with a napkin, grinning at her. She smiled back at me.

"Such a shame Octavia wasn't born with a horn,” Octavi-mom said shaking her head in disappointment.

Buck you, you bucking piece of Goddess-damned-

"Uh, yeah," I muttered, my blood boiling.

"Although I think it's amazing how far she's come, despite her disability."

I’m gonna punch her so hard in the mouth, she’ll have to pick up her teeth in Ponyville.

"Ouch!" Octavi-dad yelped, cutting off my murderous thoughts. "I believe I have cut myself." He examined his hoof and used a napkin to wipe off his cut. It turned red, soaking in the… blood. Right in front of me. There was blood.

I sucked in hard, my lip shaking as I fought to keep control. I clenched my jaw shut and closed my eyes.

One… two… th-three… four…

Come on, there’s a nice, warm blood bag right in front of you! He’s an asshole so nopony will miss him anyways!

F-five… S-s-six…

"Is there something the matter?"

"Nothing! It's nothing!" I felt Octy grab my hoof and pull me out of my seat. "She just needs a moment."

Don’t fight it. Just give in.

S-seven… s-seven…

I hooked my arm around her neck.

"I'm—fine!" I grunted, fighting with myself.

"Where's the nearest bathroom? Thank you!"

Octy bucked open the door and threw us both in. I heard the sink start as I limped over and stood with my back against the wall. I panted as I looked up at the ceiling.

E-eight… n-n-nine…

My face was splashed with ice-cold water, shocking me out of my animalistic thoughts.

… N-nine...

"Vinyl... Vinyl...” I felt her slap my face lightly a few times. "Are you alright? I thought you had fed."

"I did," I growled. "You know how it is with us vampires. Warm blood bags everywhere."

I felt sick. Sick with myself, sick of her parents, sick of having to battle my vampire side every time I saw a little frickin’ drop of blood.

"Don't say that. You're going to be alright."

I clutched the sides of my head and groaned, my fangs extending from my mouth. My vision faded in and out, a fuzzy border running around it. I slumped to the floor, my head still resting against the wall.

Give in. Let it take you over.

The change was gonna happen. I didn’t know if I could stop it.

I felt Octy squeeze my hoof, reminding me she was there. I looked up to see her in front of me, her face showing a mix of compassion and worry. Here I was on the brink of changing into a vampire, a blood thirsty beast that could tear her apart… and she wasn’t afraid. I mean, if she was afraid, she definitely wasn’t showing it. She was right there kneeling next to me, staying right by my side.

No. I’m not leaving her all alone. We have to get through this dinner and she can’t do it without me!

I fought back hard, remembering what made me a normal pony. I had friends. Family. A career. I wasn’t just a vampire. I had a life. Things to lose. Ponies to protect.

A minute or so later, I finally got my breath back. The cravings were gone. I was back to normal.

Well, as normal as I usually was.

"I think I'm gonna be okay," I said slowly.

"Really?" she asked with hopeful eyes.

"It's fine. I probably should've taken a sip before we left."

Such an idiot. That would’ve been the smart thing to do, so of course I didn’t do it.

“Well it's not like you anticipated this," she smirked at me, taking my hooves in hers and pulling me up. I looked down at the floor, wishing things had gone differently.

Well, at least the worst of tonight is over.

"Octy," I mumbled, feeling guilty.

"Hey. Shut up."

I looked up at her and her lips met mine. Fireworks. Total fireworks.

Then my blood ran cold as I looked past Octy. Behind her stood the mare I’d grown to hate over the past hour… with a horrified look on her face.

How the hell did Octy and I have such terrible luck with kisses?

“Oc… Octavi-mom… Octavi-mom!” I tried mumbling into her lips, but she couldn’t understand me. I couldn’t even understand me. She slowly broke the kiss and looked at me confused.

"What?"

I shakily lifted a hoof and pointed behind her.

"What? What are you...?" Octy asked as she turned around to face her mom.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. Her mom screamed. I ran over to her and punched her in the side of the head. She fell to the floor.

Octy stood there speechless.

"What? Why did you...? Bluh?!" she stuttered.

"Man, I've been waiting to do that," I smirked, shaking my hoof in satisfaction. "No offense, but your mom's kinda an ass."

"Vinyl?" she whispered shakily. "I want to—"

"Give me a hug?" I guessed, smiling.

"NO! TO BITCH SLAP YOU!" she yelled charging at me.

Guess the worst of tonight wasn’t over after all. It was just beginning.

Parents

When Octy charged at me like a mad mare, I almost got scared for a second. Almost. I’ve fought lycans, other vampires, drunk dudes, an ex marefriend, you name it… but for a split second, I thought that Octy could actually hurt me.

She was now flailing her arms around trying to get to me as I held her away with one hoof and little effort. She made adorable little effort sounds as she desperately tried to get to me. After about ten or fifteen seconds of this, she got tired and her flailing began to slow down as she got her breath back.

"You done?" I asked blankly as she slumped over my arm. Suddenly she jumped awake and grabbed me in her hooves. I thought she’d faked it to make a sneak attack on me, but she looked totally freaked.

"Whatdowedowhatdowedo?!" she screeched shaking me.

Sorry, Octy.

I pushed her off of me and slapped her. Broke my heart a little bit.

"First off, calm down," I commanded. She stared at me with her mouth agape, touching her cheek with her hoof. Her eyes watered a little bit.

Aaahhh I’m really sorry, Octy! I-

No, no, she needs to get a hold of herself.

"Now just... hear me out for a sec." Octy tried to talk, but I pressed a hoof to her mouth. "Listen. Your mom only saw us making out." She looked at me, trying to understand.

"How is that a good thi—" I shoved a hoof in her mouth, quieting her again. I looked towards the door, my ears twitching.

"You hear that?" I asked her. She shook her head. "Nopony heard her screaming. That's good. Now listen, we've got about three minutes before your dad starts asking questions."

I was in Tactical Scratch mode now. I had to think. I had to think fast. My mind quickly listed the facts of the situation and a plan started to form.

"She didn't see your fangs," Octy said slowly, realizing what I meant. "Or your eyes." I nodded. She looked relieved at first, but then her face changed to a look of pure terror.

"But now she knows I'm a fillyfooler," she gasped in horror. "I'm doomed! She'll disown me!" I groaned and rubbed my forehead.

We’ve got two options: Plan A or Plan B.

"Look, either we tell her the truth..." I mumbled.

"Not a chance."

Plan B it is.

"Then we're going to have to cover this up,” I said darkly walking over to her mom on the ground. “Help me move her body." Octy just stood there staring at me. "Hey! I can't move your mom's fat flank all by myself,” I yelled smiling at her. That got her attention back.

Of course I could move the body without her. Of course I could. I could bust through walls with one hoof. I just wanted her to do stuff so her mind wouldn’t wander.

"What are you doing?"

"Hiding the body, of course." She stared at me horrified. "Kidding,” I said amused. “I'm kidding. Your mom'll be fine." She sighed with relief. "… Mostly fine. I think." She glared at me.

We positioned her so that it looked like she’d blacked out near the sink. Octy looked distracted.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

"Me? I’m fine," she smiled nervously, looking a bit unstable. Her hoof shook ever so slightly.

"You're shaking," I said seriously.

"What are you talking about?" She laughed nervously, rubbing one leg against the other.

Jeez, she’s goin’ insane. This might be a little too much for her.

"Just sit down," I said gently. She made no effort to move. I sighed, walked over to her, and forced her into a sitting position. "Relax. Breathe,” I told her, (partially for her, partially for myself.) I needed to relax and breathe, too. I started muttering to myself, working out the rest of my plan. “Okay okay okay… I uh... I get queasy at the sight of blood. Yeah yeah, that'll work."

"Vinyl?"

"Your mom came in here just as you were helping me out and, and... one of the employees had..."

I looked around the room, spotting a vase of flowers on the small, wooden table near the sink. I levitated the vase up, took out the flowers, and dumped the water on the tiles.

"... had mopped the floor and forgotten to put out a wet floor sign. And she slipped, bumping her head against the edge of the sink..." I worked out the trajectory of how her head would hit it and everything checked out.

See, why couldn’t I be this smart with other stuff? Like mares? And cooking? Why could I do all of this, but not know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich?

"Vinyl, I don't want anypony getting fired over this!" she exclaimed. I turned to her.

"Do you want to do this or not?" I asked coldly. She looked back in shock.

"Y-Yes!"

"Then work with me. Now how do we explain what she saw?" I thought for a second, trying to find a reason. Rich pony, dinner... "Aha. She was drunk."

"Something tells me this isn't your first time doing this."

Yeah, yeah, drunk will work. High society ponies are always drinking fancy alcohol at social gatherings.

I grunted.

"Drunk, under the influence of alcohol..."

"One problem with that, Vinyl,” she said interrupting my thoughts. “She wasn't drinking."

Damn. True.

"We're going to have to roll with it.”

Let’s see how well Octy can act.

“Now here's what's going to happen,” I instructed. “You're going to scream as loud as you can. In fifteen seconds, ponies are going to come flooding in here asking questions." She nodded in understanding. "Keep your mouth shut. Not a word. Let me do all the talking. Look scared."

I would need to put on an act, as well. I started concentrating on things that made me sad: hurting Octy, a certain ex-marefriend, getting teased as a kid, the cancellation of my favorite TV show. I could feel tears starting to form in my eyes.

With me crying and her screaming, it should be perfect. Here we go…

"Three, two, one..."

Octy let out a terrified scream. She could’ve been in a scary movie getting hacked to pieces and I totally would’ve believed it.

Excellent. A+ work.

“Very nice,” I mouthed to her as I felt tears run down my face. I winked at her to let her know they were fake. Around 15 seconds later, a few ponies burst through the door to the bathroom. Among them was Octavi-dad and the manager of the restaurant. Octy crouched next to her mom.

“It… it just happened so fast!” I hysterically told them through my tears. “She… she came into the bathroom and s-slipped on the w-wet floor and… oh that poor, p-poor mare! She hit her head off the sink and fell! It was like slow-motion, I… there was nothing w-we could do! It’s j-just t-t-terrib-uuuuuul!” I made my voice so high at the end, my voice cracked.

They all listened to my story intently with terrified looks on their faces. Rich ponies eat that stuff up. They’ll pay anything to avoid injuries, ailments, all that jazz, so when somepony gets hurt, the first thing they think is “HOW CAN I AVOID THIS AND WHO DO I THROW MONEY AT TO MAKE IT SO?”

Perfect. Now get you and Octy outta there.

“Please… please take c-care of her. This is m-my friend’s mother and… she’s not well. I need to get her home.” I looked to Octy and she got my hint, burying her face in her hooves and shaking. I would have to ask her later if she’s taken any acting classes cause damn.

“Yes, of course, miss. We’ll take it from here,” said the manager. “You get your friend home.”

I nodded nervously and grabbed Octy’s hoof, jerking my head towards the door and mouthing “Come on.” We got out as fast as we could, not making eye-contact with anypony on the way out.

We ran until we knew we were safe, then slowed to a walk. It was dark by then, but I was more comfortable at night than during the day anyways. We were home free.

I thought about why Octy was freaked out by the situation. It wasn’t so much that I could’ve killed her mom or that she could’ve discovered I was a vampire… but because she would’ve found out that Octy was a fillyfooler. How long did she expect to keep this a secret from them? Forever? What if I wanted to pop the question one day? What if we wanted to adopt kids or somethin’? Would she have to keep her entire life hidden from them?

"Thank you," Octy said as we walked. "For everything."

I stopped walking and paused, staring at her. After what we did in the restaurant, I expected her to be a nervous wreck, but… apparently not. She never did cease to amaze me.

She gave me an honest smile.

"No problem," I said slowly, still a bit suspicious.

"I don't know what I would have done," she stammered. I couldn’t help myself. I took a step towards her and kissed her. I could do that all frickin’ night.

This was our first kiss where I wasn’t trying to kill her and we didn’t have to move any bodies because of it. Progress.

"Don't mention it. Really,” I said smiling, then rubbed the back of my head with a hoof. “And uh, sorry for decking your mom in the face."

"It's quite alright. I think any sane pony would have done that a long time ago. Although I'm not so sure if it was such a good idea."

I didn’t know what else to do. My body just sort of acted on its own. Plus, I had to make sure she didn’t know I was a vampire or Octy was a…

"But you know, you can't always run from your problems, y' know," I said getting a little serious.

"Sorry?"

"It's not like you can keep it a secret forever. That you're a fillyfooler, I mean,” I explained as we walked through the darkness. “Your folks are gonna find out eventually, one way or another."

She paused and seemed to study her hoof for a few seconds, then shook her head.

"We all have our secrets. I guess I'll have to learn to keep one too," she huffed and kept walking. Then it was my turn to pause as I tried to figure out how to explain it to her.

"See, the thing about secrets is that they don't stay a secret for long. I mean look at me,” I laughed and extended my fangs from my mouth.

"Even if that is true, I can still try."

She was still determined to keep it a secret forever. I sighed and we started walking again.

Whatever. Not worth arguing.

We continued on our way home, the apartment eventually coming into view. We climbed the stairs sluggishly, eventually getting to our door.

"Vinyl? Would it be okay if I asked... how did you get this way?"

A pair of fangs flashed through my mind as the memory resurfaced.

"A vampire, huh?" I laughed bitterly, turning to face her. I gave her a sad look. "Maybe you'll get your answer someday."

I was about to get the key from my handbag when Octy hugged me tightly, whispering in my ear and promising to never let me go. Oh, and choking me. She was doing that, too.

I never thought I’d say this, but…

"Octy… could you let go?" I gasped desperately.
_________________________________________________________________________

“Vinyl, could you come in here for a second?” Octy asked from her room. I was in my own room hanging up the dress I’d worn that night in my closet, very thankful that I wasn’t wearing it anymore. I could finally move around without worrying about it.

“Yeah, sure thing,” I said trotting to her room. I had her broken door replaced and it looked like an exact copy of the last one. Nopony would have to know. I’d also replaced her vanity mirror to one exactly like it.

I pushed the door open to see her trying to grasp for the back of her dress, already half way unzipped. I blushed and put a hoof over my eyes.

“I, uh- sorry! I… I-I didn’t mean to… walk in on this.”

“No, no, it’s quite alright,” I heard her laugh at me. “I was wondering if you could help me out of this. I was able to get it zipped up, but it appears it might have gotten stuck on the fabric or something. Could you take a look for me, please?”

I slowly lowered my hoof.

“Uh… y-yeah, totally,” I stuttered starting to move towards her.

Relax, okay? This is… this is totally okay. You’re her marefriend and she asked for this. You and her can be mature and-

Holy crap holy crap don’t mess up, dude, don’t mess up!

Gripping her zipper in my magic, I slowly pulled it downwards. My white coat must’ve been bright red by now. I mean, we’re always naked, but… something about the act of taking off her clothes was…

Don’t think about it, just do it. Don’t think about it, just do it.

It looked like she was right and it had gotten stuck on something. Playing around with the fabric and pulling the zipper, I was finally able to get it down.

“Th-there! All done!” I said smiling. My voice cracked. She looked back and me and giggled.

“You’re quite adorable, do you know that?” she asked.

Crap. Am I that obvious?

“Haha… I could say the same thing about you,” I smirked at her.

“You know… you don’t have to be ‘cool’ all the time, Vinyl Scratch,” she said, her dress falling to the floor.

Oh jeez, is that what it feels like when your heart stops? I’m gonna need a doctor.

I stuttered unintelligent things and giggled like an idiot as she got closer to me.

Right on time, the phone rang.

“Phone!” I exclaimed as she came closer and closer. “That… that’s the phone, I should… uh, I should get that…”

“Let it ring,” she whispered, our lips almost touching. My brain and heart were in a screaming match, each one trying to yell over the other. The phone rang again.

“Well, I mean, I-I should get the phone because it’s ringing right now and th-that’s what you do with a phone! You answer it! Or… or make calls on it, but right now I need to answer it! ‘Scuse me!” I struggled to get words out as I turned towards the door, tripped over my own hooves, then got up and ran to the kitchen.

Holy crap... what's gotten into her? She's usually not that... she's never been so... ugh, I can't think of words right now. Gotta get the phone. Phone, phone, phone.

I read the caller ID, recognizing my home phone number.

Oop. Better take this one in my room.

I grabbed the phone with my magic, galloped back to my room, and shut the door, attempting to press the green icon to answer it. Pony hooves, however, are much bigger than the buttons on phones, for some dumb reason.

“Come on, ya stupid… ugh!” I growled at it as I jammed it with my hoof, pressing many different buttons in the process of trying to select the green one. Since the call was coming from home, it was either mom or dad.

I heard the “bleep” saying that I was connected and levitated it up to my ear.

“Heeeeello?”

“Dahling! How’s mama’s little girl?”

Mom.

“Hey, mom. How’re you guys doin’?”

“Oh excellent, excellent. … Except for the fact that you moved and did not tell us where to!” my mom’s heavy accent rang through the phone. “Why would you not write or-“

“Ah! Oh wow, I totally forgot! I’m sorry, that’s my bad,” I said apologetically, facehoofing.

Jeez, who forgets to tell her parents that she’s moving?! I’m the worst daughter ever!

“Well, when you wouldn’t return my calls from your previous house, I called up one of your friends and dey told me you had moved. I got your number and address from dem. Lyra was her name, I believe.”

“Aahh that’s good,” I said, genuinely thankful that Lyra had saved my tail.

“You really should clean your room, dear. It vas a total mess, as usual.”

“Hey, come on. Creative ponies have messy… wait, how did you know that?!” I exclaimed as realization came over me.

“Your father und I stopped by a few days ago and you veren’t home,” she explained, “sooo we let ourselves in and took a look around.”

“Mooooom, you can’t just do that! That’s not cool!” I whined to her like a little filly.

“Well, the door was unlocked, so we assumed you were listening to your headphones at extreme levels, as you tend to do.”

“The door was unlocked? Naw, that’s not possible. I always…”

Wait… the day I had to take care of Apple Bytes… the night I attacked Octy. It must’ve been that day. In my hurry to get out the door, I must’ve left the door unlocked!

“And you’ve moved in with your marefriend, no less!” she continued. “You’d think we would have heard about her.”

“Well, yeah, sorry it’s been…”

Hold on a sec… Octy and I weren’t together that morning they came over. We got together the next day.

“Uh... how… how’d you figure it out? That she and I were together, I mean.”

“Oh, we vanted to make sure you vere eating properly, so we checked your fridge,” she explained. I heard the familiar clink of her sunglasses hitting against the phone, telling me she was nodding. “Dere vas a blood bag in it. You definitely vouldn’t keep one in there unless your roommate knew about your condition.”

I laughed, a bit too loudly.

“Pfft yeeeeah! I mean, I… I’d never leave it in there if she didn’t know! That’d… that’d be totally irresponsible!”

I mentally kicked myself.

“I saw that you only had one bag left und so I gave you the one I brought with us. I know you tend to wait und wait to go restock them, so I brought one as a ‘house warming’ gift of sorts. We were going to leave it in your room, but seeing da one in the fridge, we thought ve’d leave it in there vere it vas cold. You’ve really got to stop being so lazy, child. You must get it from your father.”

The second blood bag in the fridge. I’d completely forgotten! That would explain it.

“Uhh… yeah. I was almost out of em’. Thanks, mom,” I said smiling into the phone.

If there weren’t two bags in there, maybe Octy wouldn’t have noticed them and she never would’ve found out I was a vampire!

Who was I kidding? Even if she didn’t find out then, she was onto me for awhile before that. Besides, she was my marefriend now as a result of that… incident. My parents sorta set us up, I guess.

This had to be the most messed up matchmaker situation ever.

“Anyvays, dahling,” she continued, “we had to go to a meeting aftevards, so we veren’t able to wait for you to get home. Could we perhaps stop by tomorrow? I vant to meet the mare who has managed to tame you. You’ve never moved in with a marefriend before, so you and her must be pretty serious.”

“Sorry to disappoint, mom,” I laughed, “I’m just as goofy as ever. Uhh… yeah tomorrow would be fine, I think. I’ll let Octy know.”

“Oh, you and your nicknames. Vat is ‘Octy’ short for?”

Mom knew me too well.

“Octavia,” I said smiling. “It’s short for Octavia.”

“Ach! Octavia! Such a beautiful name,” she commented. I smiled wider in agreement. “I think I may have met her before at a music event or two, actually. Well, I’ll let you go, but we’ll see you tomorrow, dahling. I love you.”

“Love you, too, Mom. See ya.”

I pressed several more buttons before finally hitting the red icon to end the call. Looking at the clock on my dresser, I saw that it was almost ten at night. It was normal for them to call at that hour; night owls, most vampires.

I went to the kitchen and put the phone back on its charger, then made my way back to Octy’s room. She must’ve already hung up her dress as I didn't see it anywhere. Octy was sitting on her bed with her legs hanging off of it, looking a little glum.

“Who was that on the phone?” she asked turning to look at me.

“Aahh, that was just my mom,” I explained leaning against the door frame. “My parents like to check up on me to see if I’ve set anything on fire or… Hey… are you okay?” She looked sorta depressed. Rubbing one of her eyes with a hoof, she looked away from me.

“Yes, I’m quite alright, Vinyl,” she said in a small voice. I frowned and made my way to the bed, sitting next to her.

“Hey, come on. What’s up?” I asked concerned. It took her a little bit to respond, but finally she spoke.

“Are you… physically attracted to me, Vinyl?”

… What?!

“Of course I am! Absolutely,” I answered without hesitation. “You’re one of the most beautiful mares in existence, seriously.”

“Then… why before… I mean, you left so quickly and… maybe I did something wrong or… I’ve never been with anypony before, so… and I've never... perhaps I was too bold…” she said quietly, looking at the floor.

What is she…?

And then it hit me: before with the dress. I totally freaked out and ditched her.

“Octy, you didn’t do anything wrong, really,” I said seriously. “In fact, you did everything right, which is why I was a little freaked. I just… you have no idea how bad I want… to, ya know… ‘that’… I mean…” I took a breath, gathering my thoughts. “I like you. A lot. I don’t wanna screw this up. I’m good at a lot of things. A lotta lotta things. A lotta lotta lotta-“

“I get it,” she said glancing over at me, trying to smile.

“Right, I can do a lotta stuff, no problem… but relationships… that’s kinda my Achilles heel. I just want everything to be perfect. I wanna do my total best for you. You’ve… never been in a relationship before, so… I mean, I definitely didn’t wanna bring ‘that’ up. We’ve only been dating for two days.”

She looked back down at the floor.

“Oh,” she said nodding. “Yes, I… I can understand that. You're right. It was silly of me to suggest it so early.” She looked back over at me, a smile finally on her face. “You really are very sweet, Vinyl.” I felt my face get hot.

“I think you mispronounced ‘dumb and goofy,’” I smirked getting a laugh from her.

“I’m serious! You’re really wonderful,” she insisted, looking at me. “I… If I might make a suggestion… I think that maybe you think too much about relationships. Maybe you should just do what feels right, rather than focusing on what could go wrong. … Though, as we’ve said, I’ve never been in a relationship, so I really have no room to talk,” she said quietly, a sad, little laugh escaping her lips.

I thought about it. She had a point. In all of my previous relationships, I’d focused on doing everything right, everything proper. I’d never just sat back and enjoyed it. I never just… did things when I felt like it and not got super worried about how they'd react. Well, that is until my previous marefriend before Octy. She finally got me to relax, but... look how that turned out.

Guess I was just scared cause I was so relaxed around Octy. It somewhat reminded me of Silver. I couldn't be afraid of it forever, though.

“Ya know what? You’re right,” I said adjusting myself so I could look at her a little better. “Your accent is hot. Your accent is very, very hot. I find you super attractive, no matter what you do. I may think classical music is boring, but when you play your cello… I can’t help myself from stopping and listening. Sometimes when you practice in your room, I just sit with my back against your door and listen. Even in the morning when it's kinda depressing for you to be playing it, there was still a part of me that loved it. You're strong and confident and I find everything you do to be totally amazing.” She stared at me, absorbing the whirlwind of information I'd thrown at her. I took a breath, preparing my next sentence.

Just say it. You feel it, so say it.

“I love you, Octavia. I think I’ve known that for awhile now, but… yeah… I love you. I’m in love with you. I really am.” She gave me a little smile. “Now I don’t want you to feel like you need to say it back cause… I mean, you did say you loved me back before we'd even kissed, but you didn’t really know me as well back then so… ya know, it’s different for everypony, so I’m not in any rush or-“

She kissed me, cutting off any train of thought I had. It was a deep kiss, a powerful one. If I was wearing socks, they would’ve been knocked right off my body.

“I love you, too, Vinyl,” she said smiling at me, breaking the kiss. Her violet eyes seemed to be lit up with happiness.

Jeez. Blush more, wouldja, Vinyl?

“Wow. Well, okay. Yeah, that’s good. That’s awesome,” I said grinning like an idiot and nodding.

So yeah, that’s good. Cool. This is cool. Cool, cool, cool.

“So, uh… about ‘that,’” I continued, “I’m ready when you’re ready, but… I think you might just be excited cause of all the… excitement from tonight. You’re not usually this… ya know, assertive, so it might just be endorphins running through you, so we could wait.” Her face fell a little, but she nodded.

“Yes. That… that would be smart…” She gave me a little smile, got off the bed, and started making her way towards the door.

I remembered the dinner and how shitty her parents were to her. She’d had a tough life. Octy deserved to get what she wanted once in awhile. I wanted to take care of her for a night. Hell, we both needed to blow off some steam.

Ya know what? Screw it.

“Oooor we could… not…” I said getting off the bed and moving towards her. I saw her reaction in the replacement vanity mirror on her dresser. She turned to face me and saw that I was giving her “the look.” Walking towards her, I kissed her passionately, gently pressing her body up against the wall.

They say the most sensitive part of the cello is its neck.
_________________________________________________________________________

The sound of the doorbell woke me up. I’d slept like a frickin’ log, no surprise there. Octy held me in her arms as I held her in mine.

"You get it," she murmured, pushing me with a hoof. I squinted my eyes.

"Meh."

Don’t even know who it is. If they’re delivering a package or something, they can just leave it by the door. I don’t ever wanna move from this spot.

DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG—

"Vinyl. Get the door.”

"No you," I groaned.

Suddenly, she shoved me with her hoof so hard, I fell over the side of the bed, wrapped up in the sheets. Octy must’ve been wrapped up in them, too, cause she fell right beside me onto the floor. I landed with an “oof” and she landed with a soft squeek.

"Ha. Owned,” I wheezed, sticking my tongue out.

"Shut up."

Last night might’ve been the best night of my entire life. It was totally amazing and magical and… agh, I feel too girly talking like that.

Bacon. Hoofball. Wubs. LET’S BEAT SOME PONIES UP.

There we go. I feel more myself now.

Octy and I giggled as we untangled ourselves from the sheets, our manes and coats totally messed up from the previous night. She was so damn cute. I craned my neck over and bit down on her ear lightly, making her squeal and push me away. I smiled when I saw her blushing at me. Life was good. Life was really good.

“Vinyl! Stop that,” she giggled pushing me away.

“That’s not what you were sayin' last night,” I said with a devious grin, pinning her to the ground and kissing her neck. The doorbell rang a few more times.

“Stop, stop, really! I need to get the door!” she laughed. I let her go and she stood up, smoothing her mane down. She made her way to the door as I followed close behind. I was feeling kinda clingy, so I thought I’d go with her. She cleared her throat and opened the door.

"Hell—"

A bright flash blinded us as we were both sent backwards, landing on our backs. A flash of light I knew oh too well.

"I, Photo Finish, have arrived!" I heard my mom’s thick accent ring out.

Aw crap. Their visit today. I totally forgot to tell Octy.

"Photo Finish?" I heard Octy gasp as I rubbed my eyes.

"It's a travesty, it's what it is!"

Aaaand there’s dad.

"Hoity Toity?"

I finally got my vision back and walked towards my parents, smiling.

"Hey, mom," I laughed nervously. "Hey, dad."

Octy’s jaw dropped and her eyes looked like they were gonna pop out of her head. My mom squeezed me into a hug pushing out all the air in my body. She was crazy strong.

“It’s been too long, sveetheart!”

“M-mom… G-glad you could make it,” I managed to get out. She released me and I sucked in as much air as I could.

“Hey there, kiddo,” my dad said beaming at me.

“Dad,” I said smiling back as he pulled me into a less painful hug. My parents were great. Always so supportive of me. I wanted to be a DJ and they were totally on board. They didn't make me wear dresses if I didn't want to. I told them I was gay and they patted me on the back and asked if I had a marefriend. As far as parents went, they totally rocked.

Weren’t always around cause of their busy schedules, but they always made time for me if I needed to talk about something. They could be really protective sometimes, though. Probably cause the one time they left me alone as a filly was the day I was bitten by a vampire.

But we’ll get to that later.

"Come, come, sit! Make yourselves at home. Vinyl, can I talk to you?" Octy asked cheerily leading them into the living room. She then dragged me by my mane into the kitchen.

“Ow ow ouchies ow!”

"You never told me your parents were Hoity Toity and Photo Finish," she hissed at me through gritted teeth.

"You never asked," I shrugged.

It ain’t a huge deal. She can’t be that mad.

Her eye twitched.

"Weren't you paying attention last night?" I asked, referring to dinner. I did say my mom was a fashion photographer. She took a slow deep breath.

"Do they know?"

"… Yes. They do," I admitted.

"Really?"

"Try not to call us vampires. Dad thinks of it more like a condition than anything."

"You mean your parents are…?" she gasped. I nodded. Octy looked like she was gonna faint.

She’s probably scared out of her mind.

"You know we wouldn't hurt you, Octavia," I said reassuring her and putting a hoof on her cheek.

"Oh, you two make such a vonderful couple!" I heard mom say from behind us. I quickly dropped my hoof, embarrassed.

Moooooom, come ooooooooon.

Octy suddenly got pale.

"I assure you that Vinyl and I are nothing of the sort!" Octy stuttered, putting her hooves up defensively.

"Give it a rest, Octy,” I sighed. “They already know.”

She looked back at my parents and they nodded at her. I could see her finally starting to relax.

We were all friends here. My parents weren’t gonna disown her because she liked mares. She didn’t have to pretend that she didn’t. Everything was cool.

"So, you are the filly who has stolen my daughter's heart!" Dad dramatically exclaimed, looking her over. "Very classy. Quite the catch, dearie!" He winked at me, tilting his shades.

"Thanks dad!" I said beaming at him.

"So very nice... to meet you both..." Octy said faintly.

“So… breakfast?” I asked looking at all of them.

Toast

Octy was in the kitchen making breakfast for all of us as I sat in the living room with my folks.

“Yeah, the apartment’s been awesome,” I said, answering my mom’s question. “No complaints really. Kinda like that we’re on the third floor. Harder for ponies to rob us.”

"That's vonderful. I'm glad you're happy here," Mom nodded. She then put one hoof over the other. “So... do you have anything you'd like to tell us?”

Oh no. When Mom said that, it was never a good sign. That phrase was only said when she knew I had something to tell her, but wouldn’t spill.

The events of the past few days quickly flashed before my eyes.

“Naw. Nope. Nothin’ to tell,” I said grinning nervously. She paused.

“I noticed the bandages on Octavia’s neck,” she commented looking towards the kitchen.

“Oh yeah. She… hurt herself… at band practice.”

“At band practice?”

“Yeah, yeah, she… did the swishy thing with the bow across her cello and… poked herself in the neck,” I explained making it up as I went. I acted out the motion of it happening as I said it. “Mhm, cut herself pretty bad. It was terrible.”

“That does sound terrible,” she agreed. There was something in her voice that made me think she didn’t believe me.

Maybe I was just imagining it.

“So, I found out something very interesting,” she said, seeming to change the subject. “Octavia’s name sounded very familiar to me, so I did some research last night. I was right; she is the same pony that I’ve met a few times at music events. And vouldn’t you know that the most recent article involving her happened last night. Isn’t that odd?”

Oh no. Ooooooh no. Okay, okay, don’t panic. She... she might not know.

“Uh… yeah, that’s… that’s interesting,” I said sheepishly. “She… probably has a gig coming up or something. Sooooo how was the trip over? You take the train?”

“Vell, actually the primary focus of the story was her mother,” she explained, ignoring me. “Apparently she vas having dinner at a Canterlot restaurant last night and slipped in the bathroom.”

“Aaww, that sucks. Was the train bumpy? You run into any-“

“And vas discovered by her daughter and a... ‘friend.’”

… Oh, I’m dead.

“It was reported that her mother now has a bruise on the side of her head… from hitting it on the… sink.”

… Oh, I’m so dead.

I felt a bead of sweat run down my forehead.

“Ahh yeah, Octy told me about that. Horrible. Just awful. How was your photo shoot last week? I heard it was-“

“And interesting enough, her ‘friend’ vas described as having an 'electric blue mane.'”

AAHHHHHHHH-

“Yeah, that is… interesting. Didn’t know Octy had another friend with a blue mane. So how about-“

“Vinyl, how long are you planning to keep this up?” Dad asked me raising an eyebrow. I paused for a moment as I tried to think of how to fix the situation, but then let out a sigh of defeat.

“It wasn’t my fault.”

“Vat vere you thinking, Vinyl?” Mom asked disappointedly. “Knowing that you vere involved, I’m fairly certain that Octavia's mother didn’t fall on her own.”

“Look, you don’t know what… Hold on… You guys didn’t come here just to meet Octy, did you?” I asked in realization. “You… you knew who I was living with already.”

“Do not change the subject,” my mom said sternly. “Now explain, young lady.”

I sighed.

Great. Can’t get out of this.

“Okay, so… Octy’s folks found out that we were living together…” I confessed, “… so they wanted us to have dinner with them so they could meet me. Near the end of dinner, her dad accidently cut himself with a knife and I started to lose control, so Octy rushed me to the bathroom. Once I’d calmed down, Octy’s mom came in, saw us, and screamed, so I had to knock her out. Luckily she didn’t see my eyes or fangs, so it wasn’t a huge deal. I haven’t reported it to Princess Luna or anypony else in the Inner Circle cause it’d be pointless.”

“Wait... If she didn’t see you were a vampire, why would she scream?” my Dad asked.

“Oh. Uhh… well… Octy… she, ya know… kinda kissed me,” I said turning a little red and looking away from them.

“Oh no! So terrible!” my mom exclaimed in mock terror. “Ach. Most Canterlot ponies make me sick.”

“So, yeah, that’s what happened,” I continued. “My body sorta acted on its own. I had to do it. Not just for myself or The Inner Circle, but for Octy.”

“So,” Dad said smiling at me, “you really care for Octavia.”

“Absolutely. She’s amazing,” I said grinning and nodding. “Actually, I should go see if she needs help. Be right back.”

I stood up and walked to the kitchen to see her standing on her hind legs moving around something in the pan with a spatula.

“Hey there, beautiful,” I said wrapping my arms around her waist. She jumped and held up the spatula defensively, shaking. When she saw it was me she sighed in relief. “Jeez, somepony’s jumpy.”

“Vinyl… sorry… just a little nervous,” she said going back to working the pan. It had a sunny side up egg in it and she scooped it onto a nearby plate.

“Hey, you got nothin’ to worry about. I know, I know,” I put on my best Octy impression, imitating her Canterlot accent. “’It’s bad enough that I’m meeting you’re parents for the first time, but they’re also vampires! I’m going positively out of my mind with worry!’”

“I wasn’t going to say that,” she said unamused.

“Yeah, cause you’re too polite,” I smirked at her. “Man, it’s fun to imitate you. ‘Tea! Tea and cellos! Vinyl, you’re such a good kisser!’”

“Stop that,” she said trying to hide her smile from me.

“Ah! There’s a smile!” I said grinning at her. I wrapped my hooves around her waist again as she cracked another egg into the pan. “You’ll be fine. Nopony’s gonna hurt you. And my parents are gonna love you, I know it.” She took a breath in, then let it out.

“Thank you, Vinyl. I… I needed that.” She sounded relieved. Good.

“So, you need any help in here?” I asked looking over all the cooking stuff on the table.

“I’m actually all set, thank you for asking,” Octy said sliding two pieces of bread into our new toaster then scooping the egg up and placing it on a second plate. I stared at the toaster with an iron gaze.

So. We meet again, my old adversary.

I slowly reached a hoof towards it as I glared.

“Don’t even think about it,” Octy said not even looking at me. She was still focused on the second plate. I sighed and retracted my hoof, but put my face up to the toaster.

“This ain’t over, buddy,” I whispered. “I got my eye on you.”

I pointed at my eye, then at the toaster, then back at my eye.
_________________________________________________________________________

“So… would you like anything else to drink?” Octy asked nervously as she poured us all glasses of orange juice.

“Oh, I don't need any vater or anything. The juice will be just fine, thank you, dear,” Mom responded as I picked up my egg and placed it on a slice of toast.

“Well, I mean… That is, I meant anything to drink besides the juice. Anything... special? Besides the juice?” she said hinting a little harder.

No, Octy, no no no. Stop right now.

“Nope, we’re all cool!” I said happily before things got even more awkward. Now that my egg was on the toast, I added another slice on top to make a sandwich. I took a bite of the egg-toast, (egg-toast? Egoast? Tegg? Eggwich? I’d have to think about the name,) and chewed happily.

Food just tastes better in combination.

Chocolate and peanut butter.

Chocolate and pretzels.

Chocolate and… well, I guess that’s just chocolate, but other stuff goes good together, too!

It was pretty quiet as we ate breakfast. I could tell Octy was still nervous. First time meeting a marefriend’s parents and all. Oh, that and the fact that any one of us could murder her with both hooves tied behind our backs if we wanted to. That was probably freaking her out, too.

Eggs, toast, jam, usual breakfast stuff. I was hoping for pancakes again, but Octy already had enough on her mind without me messing with her breakfast plans. Guess this relationship was moving pretty frickin’ fast. In just one day, I’d met her parents, she’d met mine, and we’d… ya know… “made music” together.

Hmm. That reminded me that Octy and I should start working on our collab. I’d suggested we write something that mixed my beats with her cello. A sorta fusion of club and classical. A mashup for the ages.

Anyways, this was going way faster than any relationship I’d ever been in, so Octy wasn’t the only one a little flustered. Luckily, I’d gotten past the toughest part: meeting Octy’s monster- uh, I mean parents.

Octy poked at her breakfast with her fork.

Well, Octy never told me her parents were unicorns and I never told her that mine were Earth ponies, so I guess we’re even now.

Dad coughed.

"It's a good thing you know how to cook!" he said gleefully. "I don't know where our daughter would be without you." Octy turned a cute shade of red.

“Thank you,” she answered, giving him a small smile.

"Hey!" I said with food in my mouth. "There's nothing wrong with cup noodles."

"Three times a day?" Mom asked. I sighed and swallowed the bite of egg-toast-wich-thing I had in my mouth.

As a matter ah’ fact, there wasn’t anything wrong with cup noodles three times a day. Buuuut I had to admit; Octy cooking a meal for me definitely wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Far from it.

“So,” Octy said, bringing the awkward silence to an end, (at least for now,) “I really had no idea you two were together. How did you two meet?”

Then Mom told the long ass story about how Dad and her hooked up that I’d heard a jillion times, so I tuned out for a bit. Octy had insisted on excusing herself for a bit before making breakfast to brush her mane even though I told her she looked great the way she was. It now sat on her head with its usual poof levels, smoothed down to perfection. Not a hair out of place.

Just the same as the night I’d first met her.
_________________________________________________________________________

“… So then that left me with an entire box of hamsters stuck in the middle of nowhere without my wallet!” I laughed, almost at the end of telling my story.

“You’ve got to be joking!” Octy giggled putting a hoof to her mouth in disbelief. “What happened to the colt that ditched you? Baritone?”

“That’s the best part: he got pulled over 15 miles from where I’d gotten out of the carriage and then tried to use my ID card as his driver’s license! It had a picture of me on it! They arrested him right on the spot!”

We laughed our asses off. Felt good to laugh. I needed this.

It was just us at the bar even though it was only around one in the morning. The usuals had gone home and Scotch was still doing stuff in the kitchen, so that left Octy and I to talk for hours and laugh till my sides hurt.

“Gotta say, Octy,” I said wiping a tear from my eye, “you’re definitely not like most Canterlot ponies I’ve talked to.”

“Well, you are certainly not like most Manehattan ponies I’ve met in the area,” she replied, smiling and taking a sip of water. “Most of them are hooligans. I’m quite fortunate that I’m able to hold alcohol so well, otherwise I could’ve been in a lot more trouble than I was before.”

I laughed at her, thinking that was a joke. She stared back confused.

"What?"

“... Seriously? You call the state you were in before ‘holding your booze?’ I couldn’t understand a single thing you were sayin’, filly,” I smirked at her.

Heh. Canterlot ponies.

“R-really?” she stuttered. “Oh dear… I thought I was making perfect sense. Well, even more reason I’m happy you were there to rescue me.” I put a hoof on my chest proudly.

“You’ve come to the right mare, Octy. Stick around me and we’ll get that alcohol tolerance up for sure. In fact…” I levitated over two shot glasses. “Let’s start right now. I was planning on having a drink at home anyways. Might as well do it with friends.”

“So you’ve sobered me up… and now you want me drink more… Why does this not surprise me?”

The purple liquid poured into both glasses, filling them both about halfway full.

“Yup, drinking alone is kinda depressing,” I said ignoring her. “Drinking with friends is a social experience, but you gotta be feeling really down to drink alone. I wasn’t feelin’ super great tonight, but luckily you managed to change that. I drink to you!”

I smiled and lifted my glass up towards her. Then I set it back down and levitated another bottle up, this one with red liquid. It poured into both glasses until they were three-quarters full.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be-“

“Naw, it’s cool. I know what I’m doing. I have my bartending license,” I said waving her off with a hoof.

“You have a license in something?” she laughed in disbelief.

“Only test I ever studied for,” I grinned and placed both bottles down on the bar. Levitating a shot in front of each of us, she studied the glittering, dark colored liquid. “Come on, there’s no harm. Plus, aren’t you just dying to prove me wrong?”

I wiggled an eyebrow at her. She thought for a moment then sighed, picking up the shot glass between her hooves.

“This can’t possibly be healthy,” she said staring down into it. I smirked.

“It’s not supposed to be healthy. It’s supposed to be fun.”

I levitated my shot and clinked it against hers.
_________________________________________________________________________

Lookin' back on it now, I kinda regretted getting her alcohol tolerance up. Octy could drink like a champion now and I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I took a long chug of my orange juice.

"Did Vinyl ever tell you about her mane?"

That brought my attention back to the table conversation.

"Pardon?"

"I mean just look at us!" Mom exclaimed. "Is it not obvious? Vinyl dyed her mane!"

I sucked in air, the orange juice in my mouth now rushing down my throat. I coughed for a few seconds, trying to get it all out.

“Mom!” I whined, a devastated look on my face. They were cool parents, but they were still parents. Still stern when they needed to be. Still embarrassing sometimes.

"Really now?" Octy asked smiling and raising an eyebrow. "Do tell."

Oh no. No! No, Mom, please!

"Oh, yes, darling. I remember the day.”

Not you, too, Dad!

"She saved up all her bits, you know her mane used to look like a cotton ball—"

"Dad! Don't tell her!" I said turning bright red and sinking below the table. Octy giggled at me, covering her mouth with a hoof.

Kill me now. My marefriend is never gonna see me the same way again. I’ll always just be a big, poofy, white cotton ball to her now.

"Ach, yes,” Mom continued. “I remember when you tried to comb her hair, you'd lose the comb! She came home with that spiky haircut and her blue mane. Oh, I thought it was so unique!"

"Such style and flair," Dad agreed nodding.

They all had a laugh as I prepared to die of embarrassment.

Yup. I’m dead. I’ve died. I’m long gone. Play dubstep at my funeral and bury me with my glasses, woudlja?

"If you don't mind me asking," Octy asked once the laughter had died down, "why have you come to visit?"

"I cannot come see my daughter when I miss her?" Mom pouted, receiving a suspicious look back from Octy.

"You're telling me you just came to visit, out of the blue?"

Maybe she’s figured it out, too. Clever girl.

Mom sighed.

"Many ponies think my accent is fake. However, it is very real, much like the place from where my family hails from. Much like how things like vampires and werewolves are real."

Just cause you were born there doesn’t mean that your accent’s real, Mom. You didn’t have it while you were living there, from what I’ve heard from relatives…

Octy glanced up at her.

"Judging by the bandages on your neck, I'm sure you're aware of Vinyl's predicament."

Mom and Dad both pulled off their shades, revealing the red eyes behind them. Octy gasped as their fangs poked out.

Oh yeah. Great way to not give her a heart attack is to do that.

"And I'm sure by now you already know what all three of us are," she finished.

"We are terribly sorry about what happened to your mother, Octavia,” Dad apologized. “A slip and fall like that..."

I was about to take a bite when mom hit me upside the head, making me tense up.

“What have I told you about being more careful!"

"Ouch, mom!" I hissed at her as I rubbed my head.

"We came here to apologize, first and foremost, Octavia dahling," Mom said. "For Vinyl and for what she did to your mother."

"That's quite all right," Octy responded, putting her hooves up.

"You must understand.” Mom’s face got serious. “We must do what is necessary to protect our own."

"Of course."

"We wanted to come here to offer our blessings, and say that we would never, ever harm anypony."

"Thank you,” she said nodding. “If it's not out of line, may I ask how you two came to be..."

"Vampires?" Dad finished for her. "I was originally not a vampire, Octavia. Of course, when I found out my wife was one... There's a reason why they call them love bites, my dear,” he laughed, throwing a wink at Mom.

Ugh. Dad, come on. I’m eating.

Octy’s face flushed and she touched her neck.

"Don't worry. It takes a lot more than just being nipped. And I'd rather not get into the details, seeing as we are eating," he said.

Didn’t stop you from talking about “love bites.” Ugh.

"And how have you managed to subsist like this? Surely the hospitals are not willingly giving out blood packs whenever you ask."

"A little money can go a long way in this city, Octavia. So long as how much we ask for is in reason and doesn't overstep our quota, they have no issue. This condition is more widespread than you think."

"I'm sorry? Are you suggesting that there are more vampires out there?" Octy asked, her eyes wide.

I struggled not to laugh out loud.

"Of course! We all know each other personally. Like that gorgeous model, Fleur.” Octy’s eyes bulged even wider.

"Fleur de Lis? The supermodel?"

"How do you think she maintains that youthful appearance?"

Yeah, Fleur was pretty cute. I’d talked with her a few times at various meetings and stuff. Totally attractive, totally a vampire, totally my type, aaaaaaand also totally straight. Boo. Never even had a shot.

"You'll have to forgive me... It's just that it's hard, taking this all in at once." Octy stuttered, putting a hoof to her forehead and looking down at the table.

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about something much, much more serious," Dad said in a humorless voice. Octy gulped as her pupils shrunk. Her poor eyes were changing size so rapidly, I thought her head was gonna explode.

"We simply must know more about you, Octavia," Mom exclaimed. "If you are to be my daughter's marefriend..."

Octy and I both exhaled at the same time; she was thankful that that was all my parents were talking about and I was thankful that Octy hadn’t passed out from the stress yet.

"Now hold on, Vinyl and I haven't done anything outside of walking next to each other on the sidewalk. What if I told you we weren't together?" Octy asked, almost challenging her.

"Rumors spread like wildfire, dear," Mom said like Octy was a little filly asking why we had to share during playtime. "Surely you of all ponies know that."

Aahhh. Yeah. She must’ve been talking about last year’s Grand Galloping Gala. Tavi had told me about it the first night we met. About how it’d put a giant black mark on her band’s career. About how Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie had made it so that Octy may never book a big gig ever again. Rumors sprung up saying that the band had let Pinkie onstage purposely to sabotage the Gala. Others said that she was a part of their band all along, even though all four members claimed they’d never met or seen her before in their lives. Rivals of Octy's group ranted about how "unprofessional" they were and how they should "never work in music again."

Lucky for Octy, her and her band mates were super talented and motivated, so they worked and worked to get their reputation back. The damage wasn’t completely healed yet, but they were almost back to where they used to be.

"Plus, anypony with a pair of eyes and a brain could tell that you both are in love," Dad teased as Octy and I both turned red. She was blushing in a more innocent way while I was gritting my teeth as my right eye twitched.

And you guys wonder why I don’t tell you when I have a marefriend.

It was a compliment though. Dad was smiling. He was happy for me, so I couldn’t be mad at him for that. Irritated, but not mad.

Come to think of it, I’d never really asked a ton about Octy’s “past” past. I mean, she’d told me about stuff that happened a year or two ago, but she never mentioned her childhood at all. Otherwise I might’ve known about her asshole unicorn parents sooner.

I listened intently as she talked about her younger years. About her dad, who owned a musical instrument company. About her mom, who only married for his money, (not a huge surprise there.) Being treated like crap by her own parents and peers, getting groomed into a "proper mare," starting music lessons. She told us everything.

I didn’t eat or drink a single thing the entire time. I just sat and listened to the answers to questions I should’ve asked a long time ago.

She was so brave. So frickin’ brave. Through all of it. I don’t know if I could’ve done the same.

Must’ve been hell on her. It sounded lonely.
_________________________________________________________________________

After we wished my folks safe travels home, Octy closed the door behind them and sighed in relief. I rubbed one hoof against the other awkwardly.

"Heh, sorry about that. They're kinda weird like that, even if they weren't vampires," I said smiling awkwardly.

"Don't say that,” she said frowning. “They love you. Even if they have a funny way of showing it."

Eh. Yeah… She’s right…

Silence.

"Well, anyways, don't you have to go to rehearsals today?"

"I have to go to rehearsals every day," Octy sighed as she started pacing. "And it's the same thing, over and over. I've only missed two, maybe three days." She put her hooves to the sides of her head and rubbed. "I'm so out of it I can't even count."

"Sorry,” I muttered feeling more than a bit guilty.

"What are you sorry for?" she snapped at me. "Don't be sorry. I should be sorry. I was the one who dragged you to that blasted restaurant in the first place."

"I know."

She glowered at me.

What? You said it.

"You need to work tonight?"

"Yeah," I replied leaning against the table. "Club Canterlot can't run without DJ-Pon3."

"Right, right... And I still need to replace your purple sunglasses."

"It's cool, Octy."

"No,” she insisted trotting towards me. “They were your favorite pair. Where are they now?"

I sighed and titled my head at the kitchen island. What was left of my glasses was on sitting right next to the bowl of fruit. The frame was cracked up and one of the lenses was totally shattered. The pieces were scooped up into a little pile.

She looked a little heartbroken as she picked up the frames daintily.

“Look, it’s fine, Octy,” I said smiling at her. “I got a whole stockpile of em’. Relax.” She nodded hesitantly and went into the living room, falling onto the couch and looking outside the balcony window. "At least Nightmare Night is tomorrow," I said sitting next to her. That seemed to perk her up.

"That'll be fun. You know what I'm gonna be?"

What?! Seriously?

"You didn't tell me you were dressing up,” I said frowning at her.

"Because it was a se-cret!"

"No, you said dressing up was for little foals, and I said..."

As she ran to her room, I wanted to yell after her.

Hey! Don’t walk away from me! Just a few days ago, you were makin’ fun of me for dressing up and now you got yourself a costume?! It’s super rare I get to say “I told you so” and you’re not gonna take it away from me!

Before I could say anything along those lines, she was back.

"You ready?" Her voice came from behind a wall that was blocking me from seeing her. She sounded so giddy, I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head.

"Just show me, Octy," I giggled back.

Out she came, suited up in a black cape with red lining, wearing fake fangs in her mouth. She bowed dramatically.

"Bleh!" she exclaimed holding onto the cape and lifting her arms in the air. I burst out laughing. Of all the frickin’ costumes in the world, she wanted to be that. She truly was a very interesting mare.

"Really?" I gasped, still laughing. "Really?"

"One! One gorgeous mare in the room!" Octy yelled in a Trotsylvanian accent, pointing at me. "Ah, ah, ah!" She spit the fangs out and they plopped into her hoof. "And you can go as yourself."

"What?"

I had to think about it for a second.

"Oh, I get it!"

"Your face is scary enough as it is."

I threw one of the couch pillows at her.

“Shuddup, Count Dorkula,” I smirked at her. Slowly trotting towards her, I looked her up and down. “Though I’d totally let a vampire like you bite me any day.”

She threw the pillow back at my face.

“Ooooh. Scary.”

Change

I remember the day scarily well, as much as I'd like to forget about it. It was around two and a half years ago in Manehattan and I was over at a friend's house kicking his ass at video games.

“Boom! Five games in a row!” I yelled out in victory as I pumped my hoof in the air. “That’s twenty bits you owe me, buddy.”

“Dammit, Scratch,” Charcoal groaned, setting his controller down. “You’re gonna rob me blind.”

“Hey, you’re the one who agreed to play the Amazing, the Unbelievable, the Unstoppable Scratch in a game that she’s been playin’ for years,” I boasted, grinning as I stood up from the couch.

Charcoal was a unicorn vampire friend of mine, another member of the Inner Circle’s cleanup crew. We’d known each other since we were little.

“I’ll get you the money once I have it, man,” he said as he shook his head and smiled at me.

“You better. I’ll be pissed,” I joked, punching him in the shoulder as we made our way to his front door. “See you in a few days at the meeting.”

“See ya, Vinyl.”

It was a nice Spring day as I walked down the streets of Manehattan. It was around five in the afternoon and there weren’t many ponies out at the time. Suddenly, a gray colt pushed past me roughly as he ran in the opposite direction. He was wearing a red cap and a brown handbag was slung around his body.

“Help! Please, somepony help me!” I heard a female voice shout from around the corner. “He’s got my purse!”

Well isn’t this a page out of a superhero comic. Who just steals somepony’s purse off the street anymore?

I turned around and chased after the colt, going about half my usual speed. I could easily catch him, (vampire speed and all,) but I didn’t want anypony to freak out cause they saw DJ-Pon3 running at 90 MPH down a sidewalk or something.

He kicked over a garbage can so it was blocking my path, but I jumped over it and continued the chase. After three blocks, I’d finally caught up with him and dove forward, tackling him to the ground. We tumbled to a stop and I looked up to see his hat had fallen off, revealing his grey hair and a thin scar above his left eye near his hair-line.

He hurriedly took off the purse from around his neck, threw it towards me, put his hat back on, and ran off down the street. I stared at him as he got farther and farther away until he turned a corner and was gone. Wasn’t worth chasing after him. I had the purse and that was all that mattered. Looking down, I saw that my knee had a pretty bad scrape on it from the fall. Other than that, I was fine.

I heard hoofsteps coming closer and looked over to see a mare wearing a female business suit running towards me. Her long, grey hair flowed behind her as she ran. She looked to be just a few years older than me.

“Oh, thank goodness,” she said as she came to a stop in front of me, sounding out of breath. “H-he just came out of nowhere and grabbed it. I never would’ve caught up to him. Thank you so much!”

“Aww, no problem,” I said getting up. I winced at the pain in my knee, but pushed past it as I picked up the purse with my magic.

“Oh no, you’re hurt,” she said worriedly as I levitated it over to her.

“Huh? Oh, naw, it’s just a scrape. I’ll be fine,” I said waving a hoof. “Just glad I was able to get this back for ya.” She slung it over her shoulder.

“Well, I really do appreciate it… um…”

“Vinyl,” I said reaching a hoof out. “Vinyl Scratch.” Her eyes widened.

“Oh wow… You’re… You’re DJ Pon-3, aren’t you? I’m a huge fan of your work!” she gushed accepting my hoof and shaking it.

“Aahh really now?” I smirked. “Well, even happier I was able to help out a fan.”

I looked into her eyes. There was something different about them. A deepness that I couldn’t really describe. I realized I was staring so I was gonna apologize, but… she was staring right back at me, smiling. I coughed, breaking my gaze.

“Well, I’ll let you go. Nice meeting you,” I said giving her a little nod. I began walking past her.

“Wait,” she said walking beside me. “Why don’t I buy you a drink? It’s the least I can do after you ran three blocks to chase down a guy for me.”

“Aaww, that’s awful nice of you, but that’s not necessary. You really don’t gotta-“

“I insist,” she said, smiling warmly. “Really. My conscience will never let me live this down if I don’t pay you back somehow. Plus, it would be my honor to have a drink with a famous DJ.” I paused. “And you do need to get a bandage on that knee. My apartment isn’t far from here. If you’d like, we could swing by there first.”

I thought about her offer. A bandage would be nice so I could hide how quickly I heal. Plus, she was pretty damn beautiful and I didn’t have to work that night, so why not? I was getting the vibe that she was kinda into me.

“Yeah,” I said slowly as I grinned. “Sure, why not? That sounds pretty good. I’d love to have a drink with you, Miss…”

“Silver,” she said smiling, her voice as smooth as velvet. “My name is Silver Streak.”
_________________________________________________________________________

Music played through my earbuds as I lounged on the couch. I just laid there with closed eyes and relaxed, thinking about... well, everything. The events of the last few days, few months, few years. Everything quickly replayed before my eyes. I scrunched up my face. Not all of the memories were pleasant.

Opening my eyes and glancing at the clock on the wall, I could see that it was time to go to work. It was a rainy day and all I wanted to do was relax with Octy, but there were bills to pay. Couldn’t just call out sick again. I sat up with a groan and threw my shades on, taking a few steps towards the door.

"Time for work?" Octy asked yawning at me.

"Yeah,” I said walking over to the other couch where she laid. “Having a good dream?"

"If you could call it that.” She sounded exhausted. I kissed her on the forehead and walked to the front door, opening it and stepping into the hallway.

"Go back to sleep," I said softly and closed the door quietly behind me.

What she didn’t know was that I’d left early for work. The stores would be closed long before I’d get out of the club, so I thought I’d go beforehand. The door to the costume shop made a little dinging as I walked in and approached the front counter.

“Hey there,” I said grinning at the mare behind it. “I know it’s pretty last minute, but I was wondering if you could help me out. I need a certain costume.”
_________________________________________________________________________

"Oh Octy, I'm home!" I called as I walked in the door, levitating my paper bag behind me.

"What's in the bag?" she asked as I set it down on the kitchen counter.

"Close your eyes.” She stared at me. "Just close your eyes," I smirked. "No peeking." Giggling, she did what I asked.

I pulled my costume out of the bag and put it on piece by piece. The black cape with red lining was tied around my neck, I splattered my chest with fake blood, and felt myself transform as my fangs poked out of my mouth.

"Okay, now look,” I said as she opened her eyes. I lifted up my arms dramatically. "Ta-daaa!"

"Very, very nice," she said smiling and applauding me by clopping her hooves together.

"Now we can be vampires together!"

"Yes, yes,” Octy laughed.

"Everypony will love us! And man, once we start making out—"

"What?"

"—all the stallions will be all over us!" I said excitedly as I grinned.

"Vinyl, we are not going to make out!"

"Everybody loves lesbian vampires,” I pouted as my face fell. She yawned at me and looked around for a clock.

"What time is it? One in the morning?"

"I was kinda surprised you were still awake." I took off my cape. "What were you doing?"

"Just some music," she said. I looked in the living room and saw that her cello was propped up against the couch. It reminded me that I should keep working on the remix I was making for her. "I'm gonna hit the hay."

"'Hit the hay?' Wow, I must be rubbin' off on ya," I laughed as she walked to her room while I made my way to the shower. Didn’t wanna sleep next to Octy with fake blood smeared all over me. She might have a panic attack. Plus, I smelled like the club I’d just DJ’d.

As I let the water flow over me, I thought about how awesome tomorrow was gonna be. First Nightmare Night I got to celebrate with a marefriend. Plus, we’d get to hang out with my friends… though, she probably wouldn’t want me sharing that we were dating. Boo. Ah well, it’d still be awesome.

I toweled off as much as I could, but my mane was still wet as I crawled into bed with Octy. We usually tossed and turned to find what position we wanted to sleep in. That night we finally settled on her holding me as I was snuggled up to her chest. I felt her play with my mane as I fell asleep.
_________________________________________________________________________

The sun shone through her window, waking me from my deep sleep. I didn’t wear my sleep mask anymore; it was just too good a feeling for my head to be resting against hers. Octy shifted and yawned, letting me know she was awake. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight, smiling as she squealed. She was so warm.

"Good morning, princess."

She laughed and pushed me away.

"Don't call me that. I hate those cutesy-wutesy nicknames.” She rubbed her eyes and glanced over at the clock, sighing. "I'm sleeping in later and later."

"Nothing wrong with that,” I said smiling. “Besides, it's Nightmare Night!” She grabbed the pillow from underneath my head and hit me with it.

"It's all your fault. I used to wake up at five—"

"Ugh, don't remind me. Mornings were so depressing with you playing that cello of yours."

Depressingly awesome, but still depressing. She was incredibly talented, but I don’t wanna come home at three in the morning only to get woken up two hours later by long, sad notes being played.

"—I was disciplined, organized! Now I'm a mess!" she joked.

"A very sexy mess,” I purred as I kissed her neck up and down. She giggled with each kiss.

“Well, time to start the day, I suppose.” She slowly got out of bed and left the room. A devilish smile played across my face as I heard the shower running.

Well, I need a shower, too. We might as well save water. Help the environment and stuff.

I opened the bathroom door to see that she was already in the shower, so I slipped in it with her. She faced away from me and hummed as the water washed over her body. Her mane looked so awesome wet like that. I hummed along with her, then whispered in her ear.

"I love it when your mane is down."

She turned around blushing like crazy.

"Vinyl Scratch, what are you doing?!" she exclaimed, glaring at me.

"What? We can't shower together?"

"W-What? No! No, no!" she stuttered, pointing towards the bathroom door with a hoof. "Out, out!"

"Aw, you're no fun."

"OUT!"

I went to get out of the tub as she turned back around to face the shower head.

Is this a test? I bet it's a test.

The smart thing to do would be to just to leave.

But as we all know, I’m an idiot. So I did the Vinyl thing.

I slowly reached towards her and grabbed her flank. Never even felt myself hit the floor of the bathtub as I got bucked in the head so hard I blacked out.
_________________________________________________________________________

“… nyl, I’m s… idn’t mean t…”

My hearing slowly came back as I regained consciousness. I was healing fast, but my head still felt hella sore. It was like I got hit by a train. With a buck that hard, she might not have needed my protection from those guys the night I first met her. Hell, all my money would be on her in a fight.

“…nyl? Can you…”

I slowly blinked my eyes open to see I was on the floor of the bathroom. My mane and coat were soaking wet.

“… me? Vinyl? Can you hear me?” Octy asked with a worried look on her face as she leaned over me.

“Coulda warned me that you like it rough, Octy,” I groaned.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to… I mean, you startled me…”

“Eh, don't sweat it. It was my own damn fault,” I said slowly sitting up. “Sometimes I just don’t know when to quit.” I could already feel my injury healing itself.

“Come on,” she said helping me to my hooves. “Let’s get some ice on that.”

“I don’t need any ice. I’ll be fine in a sec. … Although, if it gets you to play doctor…” I dramatically swooned, almost falling over. “Ugh! I don’t think I can go on! Good bye, cruel world!”

“Vinyl, Nightmare Night is today. You won’t get any candy if you kick the bucket now.”

“… Good point. I think I can not die for at least one night,” I said standing up straight as we approached the kitchen. I sat at the table while Octy reached in the freezer for an ice pack and gave it to me. My head was all better by now, but I still took it and held it to the side of my head.

"You sure know how to buck, Octy,” I smirked tiredly, feeling my fur and skin start to freeze under the pack.

"You deserve it," she said sticking her tongue out at me. I rolled my eyes at her and looked at the clock.

"We're leaving in a bit."

"Where are we going?"

"Ponyville!” I exclaimed like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You know how Canterlot is, Octy. Half the ponies around here are too cheap to hand out treats!"

"If we must," she sighed.

"It'll be fun! Now c'mon, go get dressed!" I said excitedly, going to my room as she went into hers.

That night I was gonna tell Octy everything. She’d wanted to know about my past relationships and I said I’d tell her one day. That day was today. Silver Streak was somepony she needed to know about. The Inner Circle had no idea if she’d ever show her face again, but it didn’t matter; she was part of my past and I promised Octy no more secrets.

I couldn’t tell her everything about The Inner Circle obviously, but you could be damn sure I was gonna tell her everything I could.

That night, everything would change.
_________________________________________________________________________

Octy stuck her head out the window of the train as we made our way to Ponyville. Both of our costumes looked totally awesome: with the fake blood splattered down our fronts, fangs (fake for her, real for me,) and our black cloaks, we could pass for real vampires! Well, I could pass for a real vampire more than usual.

She gazed outside as the wind tugged at her hair, admiring all the trees and hills and other scenery stuff. It was a full moon tonight. Looked like she was deep in thought.

"You've been quiet," I said scooting closer to her.

"I'm thinking."

"About?"

"Things," she teased.

She just kept looking out the window, lost in another world. She’d probably forgotten we were on a train.

"A bit for your thoughts?"

"It'll take a lot more than that to get me to spill."

I smiled at her, then sat back in my seat. I gave up. She’d talk when she wanted to. The train slowed to a stop and just like that, I was home. Ponyville was one of those places that always stayed the same. Same little buildings, same friendly ponies on the cobblestone street. Felt good to be back. I visited my folks for Hearth's Warming for a few days each year, but by then snow covered the whole town. Was awesome to see it in Fall.

Was even better that I got to be here on my favorite holiday. Everypony had a great time on Nightmare Night in Ponyville. I had so many memories as a filly going door to door with friends to get candy. Holiday themed dance music played over the outdoor PA system as mares and colts hopped around a little area marked off as the “dance floor.” Old lanterns were hung up everywhere, each with a candle inside to light the festivities.

"Vinyl!" I heard Lyra call. Looking over, I saw that Lyra, Bon Bon, Carrot Top, and Derpy were all in costume waiting for us. I pulled Octy along as I ran over to them.

"Hey, guys! Ha-ha, nice costumes!"

Bon Bon and Lyra were both wearing sunglasses and a fedora with their black suits. Couldn't remember the name at the moment, but it was probably a reference to that one movie. Carrot Top was a devil and had horns and a tail, her coat now dyed red. Derpy had switched up a past costume of hers, wearing plastic grocery bags on her head and hooves instead of paper bags.

"I see it's plastic this year!" I commented smiling at her.

"Yay!" she exclaimed happily, clopping her hooves together.

"We're on a mission from Celestia," Bon Bon said in a humorless voice.

"A hundred and six miles to Manehattan, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses," Lyra continued.

Ha! Yup. Reference.

"… I don't get it,” Octy said staring at them. I facehoofed.

Eh. Not surprising she hasn’t seen that movie. We’ll have to rent it sometime.

"So, are you two, y' know, together?" Lyra asked suggestively as she pulled down her shades.

Ah. Crap. What do I say?

"No!" Say “no,” you idiot! Octy doesn’t wanna let ponies know yet, so-

Before I could respond, Octy leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. I turned a little red as Lyra squealed with happiness.

“You have to tell me everything! How’d you get together? When’s your anniversary? Is Vinyl a good kisser?” Lyra asked Octy as we started walking towards the festivities.

“Hey, come on! Leave the poor girl alone,” I laughed. “That’s private and she might not wanna-“

“She’s actually a very excellent kisser,” Octy answered, smiling sheepishly.

“… Let the girl talk! She can speak all she wants about my kissing! Go ahead, Octy, tell em’!”

It looked like a lot of ponies we walked by were staring at us. I was gonna ask the others if they noticed this, too, but then realized they weren’t staring at us: they were staring at me.

I moved outta Ponyville before I really made it big as DJ-Pon3. Guess some ponies are surprised to see me here.

I saw a familiar orange pony dressed as a scarecrow. Wore the same costume every year.

"Sup, AJ!"

She looked over at me as I stuck out my hoof to her. She took it and shook with a strong grip.

"Well howdy there, Vinyl Scratch! Don't tell me you're moving back!" she gasped in mock horror. "Twilight'd have a fit."

"Man, she hated it when I blasted my tunes,” I laughed.

"At the crack of dawn!"

My music wasn’t that loud. I mean, I’d only broken four of Twilight’s windows. … In a month…

"Who's yer friend?" AJ asked looking over at Octy.

"Octavia," she replied smoothly. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Applejack."

"Aw shoot, don't call me Miss, it makes me feel old! You're hanging 'round Vinyl now?"

Octy nodded and looked at the apple bobbing tub.

"And what is this?”

"Don't tell me you've never bobbed for apples before, Octy!" I said surprised. Jeez, she really hadn’t celebrated this holiday. Never celebrated it the right way, at least.

"My mane will get wet,” she tried reasoning, but I nudged her towards it anyway. Shiny red and green apples floated at the top of the water, just waiting to get eaten. She took a deep breath and dunked her head into the tub.

“Guess yer friend’s not used to gettin’ her hooves dirty,” AJ chuckled.

“She needs to learn to live a little,” I explained smiling. “I thought this’d be a great time for it.”

“Oh yeah, it’s definitely the right holiday for that!”

Octy’s head came back up as she gasped for air, a red apple in her mouth. Before she could drop it, I leaned in and took a bite out of the apple, causing a little blush to appear on her face. I smiled at her as I chewed.

Suddenly, thunder and lightning appeared as giant, black clouds began to swirl around in the sky that seemed to cover the entire town in a shadow. I heard a very familiar laugh and smiled. As was tradition, Princess Luna was dressed as Nightmare Moon and came down from the clouds in a black carriage pulled by bat ponies.

"It's Nightmare Moon! Everypony run!" I heard a voice cry out. Everypony started screaming.

"Whoo!" I cheered up at her, excited for the yearly tradition.

"Vinyl, run!" Octy yelled trying to drag me away.

"What for?"

"It's Nightmare Moon!"

I laughed, thinking that maybe I should’ve explained the tradition to her earlier. I pulled her back towards me as she tried to run away. Luna- err, Nightmare Moon spread her wings and jumped from the carriage, gliding to the ground and landing with a thud.

Wished I had a costume as cool as that. Blue armor. Aaahhh she was so cool in that. I want some armor. It’d have my cutie mark on it and I’d fight dragons and stuff. Mean dragons, not good dragons. Twilight would really have it out for me if I was caught dueling her assistant.

"Luna! Luna! Luna!" Everypony started chanting and stomping their hooves. A group of foals ran up to her and cheered her on. She smiled at them then looked back up at everypony else.

"Hello, Ponyville!" Luna bellowed. There was a little humor in her voice.

"It's Ponyville tradition, Octy!" I explained, grinning at her. "C'mon, let's go meet her!" I figured now was a good a time as any for me to introduce them. Pulling her along, we started making our way towards her.

"What?! She's a princess!"

"So?"

"I mean, we can't just trot up to her and say hi!"

"Luna and I are tight, don't worry,” I explained rolling my eyes at her. "Hey, Luna!"

She turned to face us and looked me up and down.

"A very interesting costume you have there, Vinyl Scratch," Luna said in her weird, old way of talking, frowning slightly.

Nice to see you, too.

"Hah, thanks."

"Charmed," Octy said nervously, extending her hoof. Luna smiled and shook it.

"So this is the famous Octavia," Luna said looking over her costume. "I've heard a lot about you."

"You have?" she asked nervously. “Err, I mean, what kind of things, Princess?"

"Good things, I assure you. And please, call me Luna. Do you like my costume?"

"It certainly is... authentic."

Luna wasn’t really talking with Octy. She was talking at her as she stared at me. Luna gave a little nod of her head, signaling that she wanted to talk to me. I nodded back at her. Had to get rid of Octy for a bit.

"Hey Octy, why don't you, uh… go get us some drinks?" I said, my gaze still locking with Luna’s.

"Of course, dearie,” she said with a bit of annoyance. I’d apologize for this later.

We heard her trot away.

"You would do well to be more cautious, Vinyl Scratch," Luna said sternly. Most would find her gaze disturbing, patronizing, intimidating. I’d known her long enough to know that that was just how she looked at ponies. If you really wanted to see her be intimidating, just get her angry. Then you’ll really know fear.

"It's Nightmare Night, Princess! Nopony will suspect a thing. It’s fine. Really."

She paused for a moment then turned and walked away from me.

“Come. We must speak with you in a more private location.”

“Of course,” I agreed as I followed her.

She was quiet as we made our way through the crowds of celebrating ponies, some talking, some eating candy, some dancing to the music. The full moon illuminated our path as we walked farther from the lanterns.

“We hope that this is not your way of telling us you’ve transformed your marefriend,” she said finally once we were in a deserted area.

“Excuse me?” I asked taken aback.

“You both show up to Nightmare Night dressed as vampires. We think it rather… odd.”

We crossed over the bridge and walked into the Everfree Forest. This place used to be so strange to me, but by now I’d been in it so many times, I knew my way around pretty well. Still gave me the creeps, though. Every once in awhile it seemed to… change. Paths would spring out of nowhere, old ones would disappear.

“Aw, come on! Gimmie some credit,” I said feeling kind of insulted. “I wouldn’t just turn my marefriend without consulting the Inner Circle first. Her fangs are fake, that’s obvious, and her eyes aren’t red or anything! I’m not some kid that just does what she wants.” Luna looked back at me raising an eyebrow. “… Okay, I kinda am, but I wouldn’t do that. That’s goin’ too far. This is a serious thing.”

Then I realized that I’d never really thought about whether I wanted Octy to be a vampire or not. I could make her one, if I wanted to. She’d be faster, stronger, able to defend herself if I wasn’t around… but she’d also go crazy at the sight of blood, especially in the beginning. When somepony is first made into a vampire, they’re like a baby. They get this unimaginable craving for blood. Some go insane from it. You gotta keep watch over them and make sure they don’t murder everything they see.

… Okay, not like a baby. You get what I mean, though.

Thinking about it… no. I’d never want her to be a monster like me. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemies. Most of them, anyway. I’d learned to accept what I am, sure. I loved who I was, but… sometimes I wished I was… normal. That I could go for a walk on the beach without my shades if I wanted to. That I could makeout with my marefriend without the fear of snapping her in half if I was too rough. That I could eat as much garlic bread as I wanted without my tongue catching fire.

It was just… frustrating sometimes.

We walked the dirt path, trodden down by those brave enough to venture into the Everfree before us. I heard a wolf howl somewhere. Creatures and critters chirped and growled all around us, hidden by the thick fog. Every once in awhile, we’d stop and turn around to make sure we weren’t being followed.

“We doubted you would, Vinyl Scratch. We just wanted to be certain,” Luna explained.

“It was Octavia’s idea,” I said as we stopped in a small clearing. “Believe me, I like makin’ a scene as much as the next pony, but this wasn’t me pulling somethin'. I just thought I’d match her costume.”

"And this Octavia... Does she know?"

I paused.

"… Yes."

She sighed, closing her eyes and putting a hoof to her head.

"Please tell me that you didn't—"

"One thing led to another and I might have accidentally bitten her."

"Anything else you'd like to tell me?"

"Err, mom and dad came to visit?" I said sheepishly.

"We are going to have to deal with her."

Jeez, it sounds so threatening when she says it like that. This mare could probably read the phone book aloud and make it sound like a horror story.

A few feet from us, a branch snapped. We stopped talking and looked towards the source of the noise.

"It's seems we have an uninvited guest," Luna bellowed so the intruder could hear her. "We do not appreciate prying ears!"

"We've been tailed," I said seriously.

It could’ve been a kid in a costume who’d just gotten lost. Could’ve been one of our enemies. Either way, it was bad news. There was a rustling in the trees and one of Luna’s guards emerged dragging somepony by their cape. A familiar cape with familiar red lining… worn by a familiar, grey mare.

Octy?! Dammit, what’s she doing here?

I stared at her with a cold expression as the guard dumped her in front of us.

"Trick or treat?" she asked grinning shyly.

"Octavia!" I groaned.

"I won't tell a soul! I swear!" she yelled, her voice squeaking. "Please don't hurt me!"

Hurt her? What is she…

I looked to my right to see Luna’s eyes turn red and her fangs emerge from her lips.

Whoa, Octy’s gonna get the wrong idea, at this rate. She’s probably scared to death and- Crap!

Octy ripped free from the guard’s grip and bolted.

"After her!"

"Octy! Wait!" I yelled after her. “Octy! Stop! Come back! We’re not gonna hurt you!”

She didn’t know her way around the forest; she could be lost in there forever if I didn’t catch up to her.

Not only that, but she could run through Poison Joke or get eaten by some monster or…

I didn’t wanna think about it. I galloped as fast as I could, getting wacked in the face with tree branches and pushing past bushes. All I heard was my breathing and the sound of leaves rubbing together. I got to a clearing and stopped, panting. I took a deep breath.

“Octy!” I called. No response. “Octavia!”

I heard snarling and a loud bark, causing me to turn my attention to a cave up ahead. Running into it, my blood ran cold at what I saw. I couldn’t see much of it, but something was attacking her. It had it’s jaw clamped around her leg as she shuddered and shook from fear. Her mouth was open, but no sound came from it. Too terrified to scream.

Fur, glowing yellow eyes. I’d heard a bark before.

Wolf.

"Hey, leave her alone!" I screamed at it, my voice becoming beastlike for a second. It let go of her leg and went to raise its claws at me threateningly, but Octy’s body was in the way. The claws slashed across her front and I heard her cry out a little. That really set me off.

My horn glowed as I got closer to the creature, trying to force it away from us. As I got closer, I started to see more of it. Something was different about this creature; it wasn’t a wolf. It almost resembled… a pony.

No… if this… if this is a…

I prayed that I was wrong.

“Get the hell away from us,” I growled threateningly. “You hear me? GO!”

Finally it ran away from us, going deeper into the cave. I galloped back towards Octy. She had several bloody gashes on her front and bite marks on her leg. The fake blood that we squirted on our chests for our costumes was running into her actual blood and blended together. Her side looked funny like she might have a broken rib or two. I cradled her in my arms as she shook, her eyes wide as tear spilled from them.

"Octy! Octy, speak to me!" I begged, holding her. She tried to speak, but no words came out. I felt so helpless. I didn’t know what to do. This was all my fault. She was gonna die and it was all my fault.

“Help!” I yelled as loud as I could, my eyes filling up with tears as I started to cry, too. “Somepony help! Please!” I looked down at Octy. Her eyes were half open and unfocused; she was losing consciousness. “Octavia, stay with me! Keep awake, babe… Help! Somepony HELP!”

I heard noise outside and Luna came galloping into the cave, a few of her guards close behind.

"She's been bitten!" I cried to her, covered in my marefriend’s blood. She rushed over and observed the wound.

"… This is no ordinary bite," she said gravely. My breath quickened. I looked down to see Octy’s eyes were closed.

“Octavia?” I asked putting a hoof on her cheek. She didn’t move.

Dammit.

“Come,” Luna said as I levitated Octy’s body and we ran out of the cave. “There isn’t much time.”

Fright

Sweat dripped down my face as we approached a small cottage outside the forest. I was using a lotta levitation magic and it was taking all I could to keep Octy’s body steady. Luna and her guards had offered to take over floating her for me, but I turned them down each time. This was something I needed to do myself.

Luna gave a mighty knock on the front door.

"Go away! No candy here! No visitors on Nightmare Night!" a soft voice squeaked.

"Fluttershy, it is I, Princess Luna! We need your assistance!"

“Fluttershy?! Why the hell are we at Fluttershy’s place?” I whispered harshly to her, frustrated. “We need to get Octy some help! We-“

“Silence yourself, Vinyl Scratch,” she said turning to me seriously. “We know what we are doing.”

I was gonna say something else, but decided to keep my mouth shut. The princess usually knew what she was doing when it came to stuff like this. Besides, what was I gonna say? Where else could we take her? I didn’t have a clue. If Octy had really been bit by a lycan like Luna said back in the cave, this was gonna get bad. I’d never really had to do cleanup crew for any lycans. They had a different member for that. One that was, ya know... actually a lycan.

Was never friends with any either so I wasn’t super sure what to expect.

The door creaked open and the familiar yellow pegasus poked her head out. Looking at Octy, she gasped at her injuries.

"Oh my… That looks nasty,” she said shocked and opened the door wider so that we could come in. "Lay her on the couch. Prop up her head.” I did as she asked letting out a breath of relief as I could finally relax my muscles. Using magic not only puts a strain on you physically, but mentally, too. Was starting to see double by the end of it. Octy needed my help though, so there was no time for me to be sick. I shook my head to snap me out of it and gently put a hoof to her forehead.

"Octy, stay with me. You're gonna be just fine," I said softly as I comforted her. She looked like she was in total agony as she writhed on the couch. Her forehead was burning up. "She's hot."

I wanted to do something. I had to. I was no good at healing magic, but maybe I could do something just to dull the pain. Lowering my head, I put my horn up to her wound, but Luna pushed me away from her gently.

"We would not advise that. Magic may be helpful for small cuts and scrapes, but it might only serve to worsen the injury if you try."

There really was nothing I could do. I nodded sadly looking back over at Octy. Her eyes were half-lidded as she laid there breathing slowly. Wasn’t sure if she could see me. I growled and stomped my hoof in frustration, feeling totally useless. She was in so much pain and all I could do was sit there and watch.

"If you don't mind me asking,” Fluttershy asked, “shouldn't we take her to the hospi-"

"No!" Luna and I both shouted at once, causing her to squeak in fright. She looked totally freaked out by this. I’d never really spoken to Fluttershy before, but I’d seen her around town. Quiet. Gentle. Shy, of course. Dash had told me about her once. Seemed like she had a fragile heart.

She set down a medical kit near the couch and walked over to Octy with a roll of bandages in her mouth. Luna stood behind the back of the couch and held Octy down so she couldn’t move. I did the same on the opposite side.

"I'm sorry," she apologized as she got to work.

"Please, do your best Fluttershy," Princess Luna said softly.

It was killing me seeing Octy like this, especially knowing that she was gonna become… one of them cause of me. I didn’t look at her injuries; I kept my eyes locked on her face, putting her hoof in mine and letting her squeeze as much as she needed to get through the treatment.

Fluttershy poured something over her leg and Octy clutched the sheets underneath her, hissing in pain. She squeezed my hoof tightly as I grit my teeth.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Fluttershy squeaked.

I looked at her leg to see that water had been poured on it and Fluttershy was now picking up another bottle. I smelled rubbing alcohol.

Hell, that was just water? She’s gonna be in for it now…

When the bottle tipped onto her, Octavia cried out. Screaming and throwing her head back, she struggled to break free, but Luna and I kept her as still as we could. I swear she even howled once.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!” Fluttershy continued as she stopped pouring the liquid and bandaged up her leg.

“Switch places with me,” Luna commanded as she moved from behind the couch over to where the medical kit sat. I didn’t exactly like the idea of switching places; I wanted to be as close as possible to Octavia.

“Huh? Why?”

“Her gashes must be stitched up,” Luna said rummaging through Fluttershy’s medical box. “You must hold her steady and we shall-“

“Let me do it,” I said seriously looking up at her. “Let me stitch her up.”

“We know you must be feeling guilty, but-“

“I’ve seen ponies get stitched up on hospital shows, I know I can-“

“No. We must do it.”

I went over and stood next to her.

“I can do this! I know I can!”

She lifted a needle with magic and began to thread it.

“You know nothing of medicinal-“

I tried to grab it from her.

“Please! I have to! If I can just-“

She dropped the needle and grabbed my shoulders, holding me tensely.

“You CANNOT fix this,” she said harshly, looking into my wide eyes. “Stop this at once. You wish for her to get better, so let those who know what they are doing take care of her. Do not mistake courage for stupidity, Vinyl Scratch. … Now hold her steady.”

I glared at her. I knew I was being unreasonable, but I was just so pissed that I couldn’t do anything. I'm a stubborn mare. I roughly pushed her away with my hoof, causing her to release her grip on me, and walked around the back of the couch to hold Octy’s hoof, holding her body steady with my other one.

She moaned in pain as Luna stitched her up, her eyes fluttering weakly as she fought to keep awake. The pain must’ve been unbelievable. I felt tears run down my cheek as I held her tight. Once Luna was done stitching her up, she put the needle back in the box and closed it. Octy stared at the ceiling, her eyes looking a little more focused now. It seemed like she was looking at something, but I didn’t wanna look away from her for even a second to find out.

Went through plenty of wash clothes, rubbing alcohol, cotton balls, water, bandages, and stitches, but she was all patched up about an hour after we'd started. Her chest rose and fell slowly as she looked up at me.

"Hey,” I said softly as I smiled at her, stroking her mane.

"Hey," Octy replied, her voice hoarse and rough. It was far from her usual voice, but it was the most beautiful sound in the world. She was speaking. She was alive. She was gonna be alright.

Octy slowly tried to sit up, probably tugging at the stitches in her side. She grimaced.

"Oh, don't do that!" Fluttershy warned. Octy slowly rested back against the couch cushions, pushing air out.

"How do you feel?" Luna asked.

Like a ray of frickin’ sunshine, I’m sure.

"Better," Octy answered, sounding pissed. "Are you going to 'deal with me' now?" Luna gave her a look of surprise.

"Well... no. Did you hear that?"

Octy nodded, her eyes narrowed slightly.

"We are... sorry,” she apologized, seeming pretty ashamed. A little blush began to form on her face. "Our word choice could have been a little better. Though we must say that it was very rude to eavesdrop."

"Really, Octy?" I added raising an eyebrow at her.

"I thought there were no more secrets!" Octy suddenly roared, her voice harsh and wicked. I stared back horrified. Octy had yelled at me before, but never… never ever like that. Hearing her yell like that was like seeing a beautiful flower suddenly transform into a dragon and start ripping people apart in front of me.

Her expression softened.

"I'm... sorry," she said, looking embarrassed about her outburst. "But you promised me, didn't you?"

"It's okay. That wasn't Octy speaking,” I said quietly, turning to look out the window. The full moon in the sky looked bigger than ever now.

"Are you sure you are all right?” I heard Luna ask her. “Any discomfort? Cravings?"

"I'm fine, really,” she snapped back impatiently.

"You were bitten by a creature most foul, Octavia."

"I shouldn't have followed you two," she said sighing and leaning back on the couch. "Of course there would be wolves in there."

I turned back to Luna as we shared a look. Octy didn't know. How were we gonna tell her?

"Yes... a wolf," she said slowly. "Right."

I thought Octy should drink something, so I started walking towards the kitchen to get her a glass of water. Or maybe she’d prefer a dog bowl of water.

"Could you open the window? It's a bit stuffy in here."

"Of course."

If she drinks, maybe she’ll… wait- It’s a full moon tonight!

I turned around to warn them, but Octy had rolled over into a standing position and moonlight was already pouring onto her. She moved towards the window.

"Oh, oh!" Fluttershy chirped.

"Don't!" I yelled, waving my arms in panic.

"I just need some fresh air,” Octy protested walking closer. She tore open the window and her shoulders rose and fell as she breathed in slowly. Slowly, her breaths developed into staggered puffing and her fur seemed to grow longer and scruffier. Her tail wagged back and forth.

"Eep!"

"What?" Octy growled, turning around to face us. My mouth slowly opened in shock. Her teeth were sharp and jagged, poking out of her muzzle. A black, wet nose now sat on her face, resembling a dog’s snout. Her eyes were no longer a light violet, but now yellow and bloodshot. Her mane, usually straight and smooth, was now scruffy and tangled, tufts of fur jutting out every which way.

We all stared at her. Fluttershy looked like she was gonna pass out, gasping and pointing with a shaking hoof. Pale as a sheet.

"Fluttershy, you must promise not to speak of what you are about to see!"

"I-I don't understand!"

"Promise me!"

"I p-p-promise!"

A promise?! We can’t rely on that!

I had to knock her out. We’d figure out what to do with her later. Raising my hoof, I wound it back ready to punch.

"Vinyl, don't you dare!" Octy bellowed. She lunged at me at incredible speed, claws poking out of her paws as she bore her teeth. Snarling, animalistic, deadly. This wasn’t Octy at all. I stopped what I was doing and sat there with my mouth hanging open, staring at her as she got up close to my face. She stopped when she saw my reaction.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?” she asked confused. “Don't look at me like that. Do I have something in my teeth?"

I slowly shook my head.

"Show me."

"Octy..."

"Show me!"

I glanced over at Luna worriedly, wondering if I should. She gave me a nod. I sighed and concentrated on the mirror in the corner and levitated it over. Her ears fell flat against her head as she looked in the mirror, cocking her head to the side. She stared with her mouth agape, her eyes wide with shock. Didn’t speak for about a minute.

"So what, is this some kind of a joke?" she asked still looking at herself, her eye slightly twitching. Her speech sounded sorta different. She must’ve been getting used to her teeth being so sharp.

I slowly opened my mouth, thinking of what I could possibly say, but shut it soon after. There was nothing I could tell her to make this better.

"Am I a werewolf now?" she growled in a low voice.

"Not quite,” Luna answered. “Werewolves only transform in the light of a full moon. While that still applies to you, it would make more sense to call you a... lycan, yes. Unlike a werewolf, you have been gifted with the ability to transform at will."

"Gifted?" she scoffed, whipping her head towards her. "You think this is a gift?!"

"I believe your situation is not as awful as it seems," Luna said quietly, her expression compassionate. Octy turned away from us, sighing and putting her hooves to the ledge of the window.

"I never wanted this,” she muttered, digging her claws into the wood.

"No pony does." Luna turned around and called upstairs. "Fluttershy, you can come down now.”

"Oh nooo! Thank you Princess. That's very kind of you, but I'd rather not see anything that would get anypony in trouble! I'm plugging my ears and blindfolding myself right now and Angel is tying me to a chair!"

I still wanted to knock her out, just in case. I didn’t find pleasure in beating up ponies, (well most of em’,) but I did what had to be done to protect my kind.

As Luna explained to Octy how being a Lycan was permanent and how there wasn’t any cure or anything, I stared at the ground. Guess I didn’t get the option of turning her into a vampire now. Once you have lycan in your system, it’s impossible to become part vampire. I clenched my jaw.

"At least it's only once a month, right? A full moon only comes around every once in a while!" she said, smiling and pacing around. She was hysterical. Almost fell on her face when her claw connected with the floor. She put her paw to the mirror and ran it across its surface.

"Careful!" Luna warned, fearing she'd break the glass. Suddenly Octy stopped, turned around, and started chasing her own tail. She was a dog. A little puppy. What was she becoming cause of me?

"Octavia!" I yelled, unable to take it anymore. She shuddered, then looked at me and smiled forcefully.

"It's not so bad! See? Everything's fine..." She looked back into the mirror. I frowned.

"Octy..."

"I mean sure it's a little inconvenient, but you can't have your cake and eat it too, right?" she half giggled, half sobbed to me. "I'm right, right?!"

She was crazed and panicking. I grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Octy!"

"This is great! Just great!"

"Octavia!" I shook her.

Something seemed to break inside her. Her giggles slowly turned into crying as she wrapped her arms around me, burying her face into my chest. Poor girl. I looked down at her sadly and let her hold me. I just wanted to take all her pain away. Let me feel it instead, I don't care. Just don't let her feel this way. Luna put a hoof on her shoulder causing Octy to look over at her.

"All is not lost, Octavia! There is hope! Salvation!" She flapped her wings and floated into the air, raising a hoof up triumphantly. "For you are not the only one! There is an organization dedicated to helping ponies like you, and Vinyl as well!" There must've been a rule somewhere saying that she had to introduce the Inner Circle as dramatic as possible cause I'd never seen her do it any other way. Octy bit her lip.

"Go on," she sniffed.

"I extend a hoof, and welcome you to…" She paused.

Oh boy, here it comes…

"… The Inner Circle!"

Luna hit her head on the ceiling as she did every time she introduced TIC to somepony. She didn't seem to notice, though.

Aaaand there we go.

"Really?" Octy chuckled, rubbing her eye with a hoof.

"What?" Luna asked, floating back down to the ground, touching her sore head.

"The 'Inner Circle'? I could have come up with a better name."

Anypony could've come up with a better name. It sounds like a cult.

Luna then told Octy about TIC and what its goals were and stuff. I’d heard the speech a million times. How we all help each other and talk things out and it’s a big frickin’ hug fest when in reality, it was just a room full of monsters talking about their issues. I always just listened; not really a touchy-feely sorta mare, as you could probably guess.

"Princess? Does your sister, err, Princess Celestia… Does she know what you are?"

"Of course,” Luna said smiling. “She is perfectly aware of my vampirism, though not afflicted with it herself. In fact, once, she allowed me to feed off her—"

"Okay, too much information!" Octy yelled closing her eyes and putting her hooves over her ears.

"Yeah, T.M.I. Princess," I said, my face scrunching up. If there was an award for making ponies uncomfortable, I swear Princess Luna would win every year.

"In any case, Vinyl Scratch's recent actions have nearly led to us being compromised. Her parents, who donate generously might I add, were willing to cover the cost of damages." Luna turned to me and glared. "Really? That was the best you could come up with?"

"Improvise." I smiled widely at her; she stared back.

"Princess,” Octy said gulping nervously, “will there be problems? In our relationship?"

"Pardon?"

"Well, see, the thing is, Vinyl and I are together."

"How sweet. What problems do you speak of, Octavia?"

"Well, seeing as I'm this lycan and Vinyl's a vampire..."

I smirked. She was worrying about that? Cute how she believed what she read in old story books. Luna sighed and rolled her eyes.

"No, you two will not be at odds. It seems that many think that lycans and vampires are locked in a fierce war."

"I don't get it either," I added. "I mean, it'd make sense if we were like, cats, or something. Why can't we be friends?" I sang at the end.

It would only cause an issue if she bit off my arm or gave me some other lycan-related injury.

"What do members of this circle do, Princess?" Octy asked turning to her. Luna cleared her throat.

"First and foremost, our goal is to help each other. Our second goal is perhaps a little less... noble."

"We're the ones who help keep things the way they are, if ya know what I mean," I explained. "Equestria's not ready to know about us, and you've got ponies like me to make sure things stay that way."

"You mean you work to keep our existence a secret then."

I nodded in response. She frowned and looked down at her claws as she thought. Finally she sighed and stuck her hoof out. Luna smiled and reached out to shake it.

"Welcome to the Inner Circle."

Good. I was glad she was on board. She needed to see there were others like her and that she wasn’t alone in this. Hopefully she wouldn’t be invited to too many “No Vampires Allowed” parties. Suddenly, Octy’s ears shot up.

"Ah, it seems that the moonlight beckons,” Luna said softly. Octy leapt through the open window into the yard, sniffing the ground with her butt in the air. Maybe I was looking at the situation the wrong way. Wouldn’t be so bad. Her acting like a doggy would be a source of entertainment for me, at least.

"Hah, she's like a dog!" I said smiling. She barked and looked over at me.

"I beg your pardon? I am no such thi—SQUIRREL!"

I burst out laughing then jumped out the window and picked a stick up off the ground.

"Hey, Octy!" I said waving it back and forth excitedly. Her eyes locked onto it. "Fetch!" I threw it as far as I could into the woods. Octy galloped in after it, then we heard a loud cracking sound. She came back with an entire tree in her mouth.

"Grrrr!"

"Who's a good girl! Yes you are! Yes you are! Wait, hey, whoa! OUCH! HEY! OW!" Octy tackled me onto my back and licked at my face. Luna laughed at us. "Blegh!"

"Awoooooooo!" she said tilting her head to the sky.

"That was a good one,” I said chuckled nervously.

"I shall have my guards monitor you two for the rest of the night while I leave. I trust you won't enter yourselves into any costume contests?"

Agh, damn. That woulda been an awesome idea.

Couldn’t help feeling like we’d forgotten something.

“H-Hello? Is anypony there? Can somepony untie me?" we heard somepony whimper from inside.

Oh. Yeah.
_________________________________________________________________________

“Thanks a lot for, ya know… taking care of Octy,” I muttered as Luna and I stood outside the cottage door. Two of Luna’s guards stood beside her.

“We do what we can to aid ponies in peril. However, the mare is your responsibility now. Look after her.”

“Whaddya think I was doin' before? And stop that. You’re talking about her like she’s a pet or something,” I said narrowing my eyes at her. She smiled at me.

“Farewell, Vinyl Scratch.” With that, she spread her wings and flew off. I stuck out my tongue and went back inside.

Fluttershy was letting us stay overnight while Luna’s guards kept watch outside. And also cause she probably thought I'd punch her lights out if she didn't. I walked in to see Octy a lot less furry.

“Feelin' better?”

“Yes, very much so,” she said relieved. “Though I still feel kind of itchy all over.”

Normally I would’ve replied “Well if you’d like, I could scratch that itch” or “You know what the only cure for an itch is, right? A ‘Scratch’” or something like that, but cause of what’d happened that night, I doubted either of us were in the mood for that. I just wanted to go to bed and pretend tonight didn’t happen.

“There ain’t enough room on the couch for both of us, so you take it,” I said throwing a pillow on the ground.

“That’s alright. I actually… for some reason, I think I’d much prefer sleeping on the floor tonight,” she said trotting in a circle. Finally she curled up in a little ball, sighing in relief.

"What are you doing?" I asked staring at her.

"I... don't know. It just felt right,” she said honestly.

I sighed and picked the pillow up off the ground, going back over to the couch and laying down. I looked up at the ceiling with my arms behind my head and watched the fan above turn round and round. The blades circled slowly as I stared up, my eyes following them. A wave of tiredness started to take me over.

Nightmare Night… what a fright… give me… something…

I fell asleep pretty quick. It was an exhausting day.

The Other Mare

I don't wanna whine, but growing up a vampire is tough. On top of all the stuff you gotta go through as a kid, (stress, peer pressure, puberty, all that good stuff,) add being a blood thirsty beast on top of it and you’ve got one hell of a fun childhood.

My folks had raised me to be respectful of life. I never hurt anypony that I didn’t need to and when I did, I never killed them. Never. That wasn’t an option; was one of those things that was just totally not okay to do. I’d never hated a pony so much that I was willing to end their life. Well, except for one.

It’s gonna suck hearin’ about it, but if you’re gonna understand the rest of my story… I’m gonna have to tell you about a pony named Silver Streak.

_________________________________________________________________________

Six Days After I Met Her

Her business suit sat on the floor of my room as we laid in bed together. I slowly stroked a hoof through her long hair as she rested her head on my chest, a goofy smile on my face.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” I sighed. She giggled and kissed my chest.

“I was about to say the same thing to you,” she said softly.

Life was good. Life was more than good. I’d never met anypony like Silver Streak before. She was smart, sexy, confident, sweet. Everything I wanted in a mare. Walking down that exact street at that exact time when I’d first met her was the best thing to ever happen to me. Who knows what would’ve happened if I’d gone home a different way? I probably would’ve never met her.

“So, out of curiosity, have you ever been with an older mare? Or am I your first?” she asked in a sultry tone. As I'd guessed, she was a few years older than me which I'd found out during our first date. I probably turned a little red at the question.

“Well, if ya mean as far as being in a relationship with them, then yeah. You’d be my first older marefriend.” Suddenly, realization of what I’d said came over me. “I… I mean, if you wanna be my marefriend. I never asked, did I? I’m sorry, did I freak you out?” I stuttered worriedly.

“Relax, Vinyl,” she giggled. “Yes, I’d say that you’re my marefriend. You know for such a cool pony, you seem to be a tad nervous around me.”

“Nervous? Naw, I’m not nervous,” I chuckled shaking my head. “Just… ya know, wanna make sure I’m doing this right. Relationships are… Sometimes, I don’t know what I’m doin’.”

“Well, you’re doing wonderfully so far, so I wouldn’t worry about it,” she assured me, nuzzling my chest. “There’s no reason for a pretty mare to be worried.”

I smiled. She was so great. Always trying to make me happy. I hoped I was doin’ the same for her.

“So, what’ll your parents think about you dating a DJ?” I smirked, kissing the top of her head. “Is it gonna be like one of those cheesy movies were they ban you from seeing me cause I’m ‘nothing but trouble’ or somethin’?”

I laughed at my dumb joke. She was silent for a moment.

“Actually, both of my parents are deceased. They died when I was very young,” she said softly. “I grew up in an orphanage. Lived there until I was sixteen then set out on my own when it closed down.”

Ouch. Nice going, Vinyl.

“Oh Goddesses, I’m so sorry. I didn’t-“

“No, it’s really alright. I never mentioned them before, so there’s no way you could’ve known,” she said looking up at me and smiling. She scooted up on the bed so that she was laying right next to me and wrapped a hoof around my body. Her head rested next to mine. “I’m certain they would’ve loved you, though. What about your parents?”

I didn’t wanna tell her about them. Didn’t want her to know I had famous parents. Not yet, anyway. I wanted her to like me for “me,” not them.

“Oh they, uh… they run a record shop in Canterlot,” I said thinking quickly. “Don’t really talk to them. Lost contact awhile ago.”

“Aahh, I see. That’s too bad.”

Didn’t feel right lying to her. She’d never lie to me, but… I just couldn’t tell her yet.

I craned my neck to look over at the clock, groaning when I saw that it was 8:30 p.m. I was DJing that night at 9:00 and it usually took a little to set up.

“Ugh. I gotta go to work,” I groaned with a hoof over my eyes.

“Oh, you can’t go to work with that cold you’re coming down with,” Streak insisted, kissing my neck. “No, no, you need to stay home and rest.”

“Huh? What’re you talkin’ about? I feel just fi-“

She rolled over on top so that she was straddling me.

“I think you need to call out sick,” she said slowly, running a hoof through my mane.

“Uh… w-well, now that you mention it, I am feeling a little feverish,” I said nodding eagerly.

“Your face is bright red,” she agreed, smiling. “You must be… burning up.” She kissed my lips and I swear my coat must’ve turned completely red. Only downside to having a white coat; ponies could tell when you’re blushing much easier.

Hopefully work wouldn’t ask for a doctor’s note.
_________________________________________________________________________

Four Months, Seven Days After I Met Her

“… so then I got my degree from Manehattan University and moved to the city,” Streak was telling Charcoal. “It’s been a wonderful adventure, but I’m happy that the chaos has died down a bit.”

Streak and I were getting a bit serious by now, so I’d wanted to introduce Charcoal to her. The three of us sat in a restaurant at a little table near the bar. We’d been there for a few hours, chatting and catching up. Charcoal and I sipped beers, (him on his second, me just starting my third,) as Silver nursed her second martini. The bar was having a half off special for mares and called them mare-tinis, but I wasn’t gonna call em’ that. I like not sounding ridiculous, thanks. Didn’t get one for myself. Cutesy, fruity umbrella drink things weren’t really my style.

In public, at least. They’re damn tasty, but I got a reputation to keep!

“She teaches at that middle school on 40th street. You know, the one with the funny looking tree outside it? The one that looks like it has a face,” I explained and looked over at Streak. “Ain’t that right, babe?”

“I was born to teach math,” she said nodding with a smile. “My cutie mark can attest to that. You don’t get an addition symbol on your butt unless it’s fate.”

“A very awesome butt,” I added with a devilish grin. She giggled back at me.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to take my ‘awesome butt’ to the restroom. I’ll be right back.” Streak kissed me on the cheek and made her way across the room. I watched her as she left.

“So? Waddya think? She’s amazing, isn’t she?” I said turning back to Charcoal, beaming.

“She’s definitely… something,” he said smiling back. “Super pretty and nice, like you said.” I sighed and fidgeted with my coaster.

“You’ve found something wrong with her already, huh? Might just be your new record…”

“Naw, nothing’s wrong with her. Really,” he said levitating his drink to his mouth.

Good.

I sighed in relief.

“… Well…”

“Ugh.”

“It’s just... Something just seems a bit… off about her.”

He always did this. Every mare I dated, Charcoal found something that wasn’t up to his standards. Something that “rubbed him the wrong way” or “didn’t seem right” or some other bull crap. He always came up with some ridiculous reason.

Ya know, she’s great… but her mane is a little too poofy, for my taste.

She seems awesome… buuuut that birthmark on her face is just a little distracting.

That is one talented, beautiful, amazing mare. Buuuut she’s a doctor so, you know, she’ll be at work all the time.

“What? You’re crazy, man. What’s ‘off’ about her?”

“I dunno, it’s… just the way she looks at me sometimes. It’s like she… I don’t know. Maybe I’m just being silly. Just… be careful, alright?”

“Look, just cause you’re jealous that I can get marefriends whenever I want doesn’t mean you gotta rag on Streak,” I said taking a swig from my glass.

“I’m not jealous, V, I’m just looking out for you,” he said with a sad face. I swallowed my drink hard.

“I don’t need anypony to look out for me,” I stated harshly, setting my drink down forcefully on its coaster. “I’m fine on my own. What, you want her to yourself? Is that what this is?”

Maybe I was letting the alcohol talk for me a bit too much, but I wasn’t thinking about that at the moment. He sighed.

“I’m your friend. This is ridiculous.”

“Oh, some friend you are. Ya know, every marefriend I’ve ever been with, you’ve had something negative to say about em’.”

"Vinyl, they..."

"What?"

"Nevermind. I-"

"What? Spit it out."

"This isn't the place to be talking about-"

"What. Were you gonna. Say?" I asked, my eyebrows narrowing. He paused for a moment.

“I… well… Look… don’t take this the wrong way, V, but… they don’t seem to last very long. I’m just trying to spare your feelings when they… I mean...”

“What?” I asked, glaring at him and leaning over the table. “When they what? Spit it out.”

“… I don’t wanna fight.”

“Good. I don’t want to either. In fact, I don’t ever wanna fight with you again. Or not fight with you, for that matter. Maybe I should just find somepony else to chill with.” I got off my stool and started walking away. “Thanks for the beer.”

“Vinyl, don’t do this,” he said grabbing my arm. “You’re not thinking clearly. Just calm-“ I pulled it away roughly.

“Lay off me, man!” I yelled getting close to his face, causing his arm to knock into his glass. It tipped over and fell off the table, shattering on the wooden floor. Ponies started to stare at us. I hadn't meant to cause a scene.

“Is there a problem, missy?” the bartender asked me, my eyes still locked on Charcoal’s. I snorted and turned to leave.

“I’m outta here.”

I walked to the door, passing the bathroom as Streak was coming out of it. She looked at me with wide eyes.

“Vinyl, are you alr-“

“Sorry, Streak, we’re headin’ out,” I said walking past her. I heard her hoofsteps as she followed behind me.

“Vinyl, what’s wrong?” I heard her ask worriedly. “Vinyl dear, please. What happened?”

I kept walking. My eyes were starting to tear up. Didn’t want her to see me like this. We walked down the sidewalk in silence.

I wanted to punch something. How could he do this to me? Couldn’t he just be happy for me for once in his frickin’ life?

I was happy. That should’ve been enough for him.

“Vinyl.” She stepped in front of me, stopping me from walking further. I looked down at her hooves, unable to look her in the eye.

“I’m sorry… I’m just pissed. I don’t wanna talk about it. Can we just… go somewhere?” I asked quietly. “I… I just wanna go.” She paused for a moment then put a hoof under my chin and lifted it so I was looking at her face.

“Of course, dear,” she said smiling at me. She brought my face to hers as she kissed me. We crossed the street and slowly started making our way towards my apartment. A small smile crept across my face as I walked beside her, never feeling more grateful for her than at that moment.

She was the one pony in the world I knew I could really trust.
_________________________________________________________________________

Five Months, 23 Days Since I Met Her

I awoke in the middle of the night and, realizing that Streak was no longer in my arms, blindly felt around the bed for her as I kept my eyes shut. I heard a creak in the next room and cracked an eye open to see that a light was on behind my closed bedroom door. Groaning and stretching, I slowly got out of bed and made my way to it, quietly opening it and slipping into the hallway. I peeked into the living room to see that Streak was sitting in a chair with my laptop on her lap, her face illuminated by the screen.

She glanced up and saw me, her face growing panicked for a second then shifting back to its usual smile a moment later.

“Hey, you’re up,” she said clicking a few times and then shutting the laptop.

“Yeah,” I said groggily rubbing one of my eyes. “Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. What’re you up to?”

“Oh, I woke up and realized I needed to check my e-mail. Forgot to earlier today and it’s almost the end of the school year, so I’d like to keep on top of things as much as I can,” she explained setting the laptop down on the coffee table. There were important Inner Circle files on that computer, but I wasn’t too nervous about her finding any on accident. There was a certain code you had to enter on a specific screen, so there was no way she’d see any secret stuff.

I mean, there were some things that she could find on it if she looked hard enough, but those weren’t Inner Circle related. Just… ya know, stuff you wouldn’t want your marefriend to know you’ve been lookin’ at. Wasn’t too worried though cause I delete my browsing history every time I’m done using the inter- okay, I’m getting off topic. Gonna shut up now.

“Man, I wish you were my teacher growing up,” I said as she walked towards me and threw her arms around my neck. “Maybe I actually woulda paid attention.”

“Oh, I think you’d be paying attention alright. Just not to the math,” she giggled as she kissed my neck. “Let’s go back to sleep, alright?”

I nodded tiredly and we walked back into my room, shutting the door behind us.
_________________________________________________________________________

Five Months, Twenty Six Days Since I Met Her

“That brings this week’s meeting to an end,” Princess Luna proclaimed as everypony started to get their stuff together and leave Pony Joe’s Donut Shop. “We shall see you all next week. Be sure to check your e-mails for this week’s newsletter as it shall arrive within the hour.”

I slung my saddlebag over my shoulder and started making my way towards the door.

“Vinyl!” I heard a voice call behind me. Turning around, I saw two male ponies with yellow coats approaching me; an adult stallion with a black mustache and a young colt.

“Hey, Mr. Kite,” I said smiling at him. “What’s up?”

“Not much, not much. Just wanted to check up on you,” he said smiling back. “Haven’t talked in awhile.”

I used to watch Mr. Kite’s kid, Top, a few years back. Not really big on babysitting, but since Top was a vampire, Luna called me in on “Emergency Business” when his regular babysitter called out sick and made me watch him. The kid wasn’t that bad at all though, so I couldn’t really complain.

“I’m doin' great, thanks. Couldn’t be better.” I looked over at the colt and rustled his hair. “Hey, kid, you’ve gotten taller since I last saw you.” He laughed and pushed my hoof off of his head, smoothing it back down to its usual style. I turned back to his dad. “How’s the shop?”

“Never better. It’s Summer now, so everypony has more time to come look at toys. Doesn’t hurt that the shop is ten minutes from the beach either. Just have to deal with cleaning sand off the floor,” he laughed.

“I’m glad,” I said nodding. “And what grade are you in now, kid?”

“Seventh,” Top said beaming.

“He’s becoming quite the little genius. Top’s made honor roll at Maplewood Middle School for the second year in a row now,” his dad said placing a hoof on his shoulder.

“Aahh, sweet. Good for you,” I said smiling at him then realized something. “Wait, you say Maplewood? I actually know your math teacher then! Miss Silver Streak?” He gave me a confused look.

“Hmm… I know all the teachers, but… I don’t think there’s one named Miss Silver Streak.”

What? Weird. That’s definitely the school she said she teaches at.

“Well, how about Miss Silver? Or Miss Streak?” He shook his head. “Grey coat? Long-ish, grey mane? Addition symbol cutie mark?”

“Sorry, doesn’t ring any bells. I’m pretty sure there’s no teacher like that there.”

“Ahh. I… must be mistaken then,” I said slowly, trying to smile.

“Well, we’d best get going, but it was great seeing you again,” his dad said.

“Yeah. Same to you,” I answered back, a little distracted.

As they both started walking towards the door, I stood there thinking. Why did Silver lie?

Maybe she just told me the wrong school. Or... maybe there's more than one school on that street or...

It’s the one with the tree that looks like it has a face. Pretty sure there’s only one school on 40th street that fits that description, dude.

Well maybe… maybe she…

Dammit. This didn’t make sense.

I got home after the meeting and unlocked my front door.

“Hey, Streak? You here?”

No response. I closed the door, went to my room, sat down at the computer desk, and opened my laptop. Going onto the internet, I searched for the middle school she taught at. Or said she taught at. Looking at their website, I clicked onto the “List of Faculty” page and looked through the teacher’s names.

The kid was right; Silver wasn’t on the list. I searched back each year for the past ten years of teachers. No sign of her name.

What the hell?

Just then, Luna’s voice rang through my head.

"Be sure to check your e-mails for this week’s newsletter as it shall arrive within the hour."

Eh, guess I’d better get that over with. Probably just bake sale announcements and junk like that.

Accessing the page and entering my code, I logged into the system and clicked on “e-mail.” The newsletter talked about a bake sale coming up (called it) and other boring announcement stuff, but the thing that caught my attention was that it also said that a new layout of the TIC headquarters was added a month ago. Needed to be updated since some changes had been made to the building, (a few walls were torn down, a few rooms were added, stuff like that.) I tried to remember when the last time I’d looked at the layout was to figure out if I’d seen the updated page or not.

The TIC system had a little “history” option where you could see when you’d last logged in, what pages you were on, all that good stuff, so I went to it to find out. My eyes narrowed when it told me that my last log in was just three days ago.

Wait. Three days ago was Sunday. I never…

Then I realized that was the night that Streak was on my computer.

No… no, no way… That’s impossible…

I clicked “more info” to see what pages had been accessed that night; it looked like she’d clicked on every single page that sounded like it had info on members of TIC. You could access anything you wanted by logging into the system. Everything was there. Well, almost everything. It read at the bottom of one of the pages that all the actual files and info about members was kept on a computer at…

Crap. I know where she’s gonna go!

“Vinyl? Are you home?”

I hurriedly closed the laptop.

“Y-yeah, just a sec!” I called back, walking out of my room and into the kitchen to see Streak levitating a brown grocery bag onto the table. She then went into a cupboard, pulled out a pot, and set it on the counter closest to the door.

“Hey, I brought home some pasta. I thought we could… Is something wrong, dear?” she asked when she saw my face. “You look sort of… flustered.”

Maybe there was a mistake. Maybe I’d gotten the wrong idea about all this and she’d just gotten on my TIC account by accident.

You gotta enter in a twelve digit code. She had to have hacked it, dude.

“I’m fine,” I said forcing a smile. She happily walked around the counter towards me and leaned in for a kiss, but I craned my neck to avoid it. The kiss landed on my cheek instead.

“Vinyl? What’s wrong?” she asked with sad eyes. The same awesome, silver eyes that I’d fallen in love with.

No. She’s a bad pony. Snap out of it.

I would have to just come out and confront her. Couldn’t avoid talking about it forever. I looked her in the eyes.

“I know who you are,” I said with a serious face. She stared blankly at me for a few seconds then laughed.

“I’m sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about. … Ooh, is this some sort of new game?” she asked coming closer to me and placing a hoof on my chest. “Where you’re the big, tough police officer and I’m-“

“Streak. Stop.”

She paused for a moment, then slowly her expression changed to panic.

“Look, baby, it’s… it’s not what you think,” she said removing her hoof from my chest.

“You were using me,” I said glaring as I took a few slow steps towards her. She backed away slowly with each step. “Who do you work for? How much have you told them?”

“Honey, please, I can explain everything! Don’t hate me, please!” she begged, her back now touching the front door as I backed her into it. There were tears in her eyes. “I’ll explain everything! I love you, I really do! Please don’t do this…”

Don’t believe her. Don’t believe a word of it.

“No, you don’t love me, Streak. You don’t. I caught you. It’s over,” I said getting close to her face. My heart felt like it was gonna beat out of my chest. “I never wanna see your face again. So here’s what’s gonna happen: I want you to get your stuff and put it in a pile near the door. I’ll be behind you the entire time, keeping a close eye on you. I’m gonna give my boss a call and she’s gonna come here to collect you, ask you some questions, I don’t give a crap what she does… but you’re gonna get out of my house and never walk through those doors again. You got it?”

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked at me with wide eyes. Suddenly, she leaned forward and pushed her face into my chest.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry I hurt you, Vinyl,” she sobbed, wrapping her hooves around my waist. “I love you so much. This assignment… everything… I regretted everything and… and I was going to tell them false information. I fell in love with you and… I couldn’t bear to rat you out.”

Aww jeez. You made her cry.

Wait, what?! Did you even hear what you just thought? She’s the enemy! A spy!

“Look, it’s… it’s alright,” I said, awkwardly patting the top of her head. “I just… you lied to me and… I don’t think we can be together anymore.” She sniffed and lifted her head from me.

“I… I understand. You deserve to know the truth,” she said sadly. “I’ll tell you everything, Vinyl, just… could you please hand me a tissue?” She pointed a hoof to the counter behind me, causing me to look over my shoulder and see a tissue box next to the phone. I gave her a little nod, walked closer to it, and reached forward.

Then something hard slammed into the side of my head and everything went black.
_________________________________________________________________________

I woke up very slowly, my senses beginning to return to me one at a time. The side of my face was pressed into the kitchen floor and my head throbbed like crazy. I felt the back of it and, not seeing blood, tried to remember how I’d gotten there. The pot that Streak had pulled out to make dinner sat next to me on the ground, most likely the culprit of my sore head. Everything started to come back to me.

Crap… crap crap go, Vinyl, GO!

I stood up feeling a little lightheaded and rushed over to the phone. Dialing a few numbers, I hit the green button and tried to pull myself together as it rang. Something caught my eye as I stood there leaning against the counter; the bag Streak had brought home was tipped over and I could see that it was stuffed with plastic bags. Just plastic bags. They were meant to make the bag look full. The scene of what she was planning to do played out in my head: she’d ask me to get something from the bag, I’d look in and see that there were no groceries, then she’d go behind me and knock me out.

She never intended on making dinner tonight; this is the night that whatever was happening at TIC headquarters was gonna happen. Looking at the clock, I saw that it’d been around two hours since Streak and I had our “conversation.” A tired voice picked up the phone on the sixth ring.

“H-hello?”

“Dude, it’s me. We’ve got a-”

“Vinyl? Goddesses, do you have any idea what time it is? If you're calling because you want me to come to some rave again, you can take your phone and shove it-”

“I know it's late, I know, just listen to me! Somepony’s gonna break into TIC headquarters, if they haven’t already. I need you to call everypony you can and tell them to get their flanks down their pronto.”

“W-wait, slow down! What’re you talking about? Who’s going-“

“Star Catcher, we do not have time for this! Just do it! Please! I’m leaving right now.”

“Okay, okay, but- Hey, Scratch, hold o-“

I hung up the phone, threw open the door, flew down the stairs, and ran the whole way to my destination. Fastest way to get there. Vehicles would just slow me down.

Half an hour later, I arrived at the giant, grey building. I’d never been there before, but I’d seen it enough times in pictures and stuff. It was disguised as an old, abandoned party supply factory and had a faded sign on top of it that read “Balloons Galore.” Looked kinda creepy.

There were two ponies guarding the front door, both with silver fur and manes. Weird. Silver must be the new black this season. I crept around, beat up the first one, then slammed the second one’s head into the wall, knocking both of them out cold. Slipping inside, I did my best to remember the layout of the building. I was supposed to have memorized it for emergencies, but… well, it was on my To Do list.

I had to knock out around ten ponies, (again, all with silver coats and manes. Were they all in some cult or something?) as I made my way through various hallways to the main computer room, the door to which had a small window on it. Peering in, I could see two silver coated/maned ponies inside, a female and a male. Both unicorns.

The male one was sitting at the computer desk typing things on the keyboard while the female watched over his shoulder. A yellow pony in a white coat sat in a corner. Looked unconscious. Must’ve been in the building when these silver dudes stormed it.

What do I do? Just bust in there and demand answers?

Eh. Couldn’t think of a better plan.

I kicked in the door and slowly walked into the room. The stallion and mare turned around to face me; I recognized the mare immediately. She smiled.

“Oh, look who’s here. It’s my marefriend,” she said in that smooth, calm tone of hers. “How’s your head, dear?”

“We broke up. Remember?” I said seriously as I took a few steps towards her. “I prayed that I was wrong. I wanted to be wrong so badly, but…” I was having trouble forming words. Actually seeing her here removed any doubt. This wasn’t all just a huge mistake and I wasn’t just jumping to conclusions.

This was happening. She really betrayed me. Used me.

“Well, Celestia must be busy answering another pony’s prayers because… here I am,” she said giving me a curtsy.

Maybe it wasn’t too late to reason with her. Even if her boss was listening at that moment, maybe we could cut a deal.

“Look… whatever your employer is paying you, I can match it. Maybe even double it,” I whispered loud enough so she could hear, taking a step closer. “We can sit down and talk about this.” She stared at me with a blank look, as if trying to understand what I meant. Then suddenly, a look of realization formed on her face and a giggle escaped her lips. Her giggling got louder and louder until it was full on hysterical laughter.

“You… y-you still think that this was a job I took? That I’m some sort of spy for hire?” she asked in disbelief, laughing at me and placing a hoof over her eyes. Once she’d calmed down, she spoke again. “Don’t you get it? I’m in charge here. I’m the leader of The Silver Horseshoes. This entire operation was my idea.” My heart sank. She put a hoof on the computer. “I was actually sort of hoping you’d make it, Vinyl. I didn’t want you to miss a second of this.”

“A second of what?” I asked angrily.

“Why, us exposing the identity and personal information of every supernatural being in existence, of course!” she laughed. “I have to hoof it to you; you almost caught me in time, but fortunately for me…” She chuckled and looked into my eyes, smiling, “… you’re an idiot.”

There was so much I wanted to say to her. I was furious, confused, but mostly… just sad. It felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest and somepony was playing hoofball with it. Guess that's why they called it “heart ache.”

“Why? Just… why? Why for… almost half a year of my life? … How could you do this to me?!” I asked taking a step closer. I could feel tears starting to form in my eyes.

“Don’t you understand, Vinyl? You had to trust me,” she explained as if she were talking to a little kid. “Otherwise I could never get close enough to you to get what I needed.”

“Well, now I’m here to stop it,” I said galloping over to the computer. I threw a punch at the dude working it, but he dodged my hoof, grabbed me by the throat, and pushed the back of my head against the keyboard, all with little effort.

“Now, Silver Star, be careful you don’t hurt the equipment,” Streak said calmly as she walked towards us. I growled as I looked up at him, gasping for air as his hoof crushed my throat. He looked… very familiar, but I couldn’t figure out…

Then I noticed the thin scar… above his left eye… near his hair-line. All he needed was a red cap and he was the purse-snatcher from the day I’d first met Streak.

“Son of a bitch…” I rasped as he gripped my throat. I looked slowly from him to her. “You… Our meeting was a set up. You planned it. All of it.”

“Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself, Vinyl dear,” she said in mock sympathy. “You saw what I wanted you to see.”

“Don’t call me that!” I spat, angered by how her new attitude had twisted her affectionate nickname for me. “How can you even speak to me after what you’ve done? How dare you look me in the eyes and-”

“How dare I? Oooh, this’ll be good,” she chuckled. “Getting a lesson on morality from a blood-sucker. Tell me, do you also scold the innocent ponies about their issues before you murder them in cold blood, hmmm?”

“Shut up!” I roared breaking free from Silver Star’s grip and charging at her. I tackled her to the floor and pinned her down. “I don’t know what sorta vendetta you have against us, but this is not the way to settle things!” She angrily pushed me off of her and rolled on top of me.

“How could you know, Vinyl?” she yelled, her face now deadly serious. “You don’t know anything about me!”

This was the girl I’d do anything for. The girl I loved. How could I fight my own marefriend? Could I really do this?

She punched me in the face a few times before I pushed her off of me and dove at her. One of the punches had knocked off my glasses and they now sat on the ground a few feet from us.

No. This wasn’t the same girl. This wasn’t her. I wasn't in love with Streak; I was in love with the girl she pretended to be. It was just a sham, a game of hers that I stupidly played into.

“Keep working on the computer, Star. I’ll keep her busy,” she said keeping her eyes on me. As we fought, I managed to block a few of her punches, but even with my speed, I was barely able to hit her.

“Your fighting style is very predictable, Scratch, if you could even call it that.” I groaned as I got a knee to the stomach and was knocked to the ground. I landed on my chest.

“You’ve… f-fought vampires before,” I gasped wiping the blood from my nose.

“Oh, many times, sweetheart,” she said smiling and stepping on my back with one hoof. How the hell was she so strong? “It’s just that the reason you freaks at The Inner Circle have never heard of me is because none of the vampires I’ve fought have lived to tell you.” She pushed down harder on me. I held in my screams as I heard cracking in my back. I didn’t wanna let her know it hurt.

“Ha! This is nothin’,” I smirked through gritted teeth. “You’re nothin’.”

“How cute. You’re trying to hurt my feelings. Though it’s a little pointless when we both know you’re still in love with me,” she cooed, kicking me over so I was lying on my back.

“I’m not,” I rasped, my voice dripping venom.

“Oh, that sensitive little heart of yours. Did I break it? How does it feel?” she asked, viciously stomping on my chest. I cried out. Couldn’t hold it in anymore. My insides felt like shit, my outsides felt like shit. Didn’t know how much more I could take. “How does it feel to be betrayed by the one you love the most? To be used by somepony so special to you?”

“S-stop.”

“Tell me! Does it hurt?”

“Stop it.”

“To know that she never loved you?”

“STOP IT!”

With every ounce of energy I had left, I pushed her hoof off of me and pounced. I threw her with all my might into the nearest wall, leaving a sizeable dent. Grabbing her before she hit the ground, I forced her down and punched her over and over, pounding my hooves across her face.

“You lied to me!” I screamed, baring my teeth. I could feel my fangs poking out of my mouth. “You looked me in the eyes and you lied to me over and over! You pathetic, low down, slimy, bucking piece of-“

Her horn glowed with a faint, silver light as she levitated a metal object over from across the room and put it to my head.

“I think that’s enough of that,” she said calmly, blood trickling from her cracked lip. “Hooves in the air. Now.” My eyes grew wide as I slowly got off of her and raised my arms. “Sit with your back against the wall.” I did as she asked, taking a few steps backwards and sitting down, resting my back on the wall.

I was panting. The dent where I’d thrown her was just above me and, as a result of our tussle, there was blood on her face. Some hers, some mine. She smirked.

“You know what this is, don’t you?” she asked tilting the silver instrument towards me.

I did. I’d heard about the new technology from the Griffin Kingdom. Guns. Put bullets in and you can fire em’ at anypony you wanna hurt. Hers was different than the black ones I’d seen, though. Silver, engraved with cool looking designs on both sides. Judging by its size, it looked like it could hold six bullets at a time.

I didn’t answer her question; just continued to glare.

“This gun is loaded with silver bullets,” she explained watching it as it rotated in the air. “I have three left. As I’m quite experienced with it, I’ll only need one to send you straight to hell where you belong. Now here’s what’s going to happen, Vinyl. Right now, Silver Star is getting access to every file of everypony on that computer and downloading it to our flash drive.” I looked over to see a small, silver stick poking out of one of the ports near the keyboard. “And you’re gonna watch and know that it’s entirely. Your. Fault.” I slowly put my hooves down.

“Jeez, what the hell d-did we do to piss you off so badly,” I panted, avoiding her eyes. I was so tired.

“What did you do? What did you do?!” She got close to my face, a murderous glare in her eyes. “You want to know why my parents are dead, Vinyl? My parents were killed by you monsters. Murdered! I was young… and had no other family. I was raised in an orphanage because of you freaks. This has happened to countless families because you devils get a little hungry and decide to take it out on innocent ponies!”

“Hey, that’s not true!” I yelled back at her. “We control it the b-best we can and most of us-“

“Shut up, shut up!” she screamed like a child, poking the gun into my chest. “It’s your fault! It’s your fault they’re dead! You’re murderers! You all murdered them! … And now you’re gonna pay for it.”

“What, y-you want me to say I’m sorry or somethin’?” I asked raising an eyebrow. She smacked me across the face with the gun.

“No!” she screamed at me. Regaining her composure, she looked away from me and continued speaking as I spit out a mouth full of blood. “No. No, that won’t bring them back. Even if I forced you to apologize, it’d be useless. You wouldn’t mean it. No matter what you do… you can’t bring them back. So no, Vinyl, you won’t say you're sorry.” She looked back at me, cocked the trigger, and put it between my eyes. “But you will die.”

When you’re about to kick the bucket, there’s a ton of different theories about what you experience; I’ve heard that you see a brilliant light at the end of a tunnel and you walk towards it and it takes you to heaven or whatever. I’ve also heard that you see everypony you know who’s passed on and they all welcome you with open arms as you fly up to them. I’ve also heard that nothing happens. No light, no angels, no nothin’. You’re just dead and it sucks.

For me, I closed my eyes. I didn’t want her face to be the last thing I saw. Blackness was a lot more comforting. I always figured I’d go out in a cooler way. Like, crowd surfing or saving a foal from a burning building. Not at the mercy of some insane mare who’d tricked me into dating her for five months. Guess it was an alright way to go out, though. Trying to stop an organization from revealing information that could hurt a lot of ponies. Just wished I could’ve actually saved them before I left.

My vision was black and all I could hear was a strange, static sound ringing in my ears. Then I realized that... I was still alive. I was still breathing. I slowly cracked an eye open to see Streak glaring at me just as she was before, the gun still pushed against my head. We heard the static sound again.

“Silver Streak, you there? We got a situation!” a panicked voice came through a walkie talkie that sat on the table next to Silver Star. Streak stared at me for a few more seconds then rushed over to it, pushing a button on the side.

“What is it? We’re almost done-“

“A whole flood of vampires just got here!” the voice yelled. I could hear screaming in the background. “We’re not sure how they found out, but you gotta get outta there! They’ll be up there any minute!”

“Dammit,” Streak swore under her breath. “Hold them off as long as you can. If you are captured, you know what to do.”

“… Yes, ma’am.” The walkie talkie went dead as Streak threw it to the ground and crushed it with a hoof.

“Star, we need to go. Now!”

“But it’s not done-“

“I don’t care! We’re leaving now!”

Silver Star yelled in frustration then took out the flash drive and put it in a saddlebag.

“Exit plan B. You go East, I’ll go West. I’ll designate a rendezvous point when I next contact you,” Streak said putting her gun in his bag. He threw it over his shoulder and ran out the back door. On his way out, a black handgun fell out of the bag and clattered to the floor. I assumed it was Silver Star’s. “Star, you dropped…!” But he was already gone. She began walking towards it. “Ugh. Idiot. Now I have to carry it mys-“

“Hey!” I yelled as loud as I could at her. She stopped, but didn’t turn to look back at me. “… J-just answer… one thing for me.” My voice was harsh, whispery. Was totally dehydrated and had lost a good amount of blood by that point, but I needed to ask her. I had to.

I swallowed and tried to get my breath back.

“Was w-what you did… what you did to me… Our relationship. Everything. … Was it all for this stupid mission? Or d-did you really love me?” My voice got even softer. “… D-did you even like me?”

She turned to face me and smiled as she slowly walked closer.

“Like? That’s a stretch. I could put up with you for the assignment, sure. But love you? Who could ever love you?” This seemed funny to her. She grabbed a hoofful of fur on my upper chest and lifted me up in the air, our faces almost touching. I grunted from the pain. “You’re a monster. You’re nothing but a monster. And that’s all. You’ll ever. Be.” Her voice was full of malice.

That did it. My heart was completely destroyed. I felt numb. There was no heart left to hurt anymore. I was done being sad. Done trying to save her. Just… done. My eyes narrowed as she dropped me on the ground and turned her back to me, starting to walk briskly towards the door again.

“Y-you better not show your face again,” I wheezed as I sat back up and leaned my back against the wall, a look of pure hatred on my face. “Cause I s-swear… I swear if you do, I’ll find you… and I’ll squeeze that n-neck of yours until you stop breathing.”

Streak paused for a moment. Then it all happened in the blink of an eye.

She turned to face me, levitated Star’s gun off the floor, and fired. I screamed as my right arm exploded in pain. I gripped it with my other hoof as blood trickled from it. My eyes watered. I struggled for breath. This was a new kind of pain I’d never experienced before. I clenched my jaw and breathed heavily, trying not to scream.

“If you murder me,” she said staring at me with cold eyes, “you’ll do it with one arm.”

She gave me a little grin, then turned and left me there, levitating the gun beside her.

“Get back here!” I roared. “You bitch! Come back! I’ll kill you! I’ll bucking kill you!”

She was gone.

The pain was too much. It was starting to blind me. I felt like I was dying. My body just kept shaking as I laid there, slumped against the wall. Looking down, I could see my blood starting to form a little pool as my eyes started to droop. I was tired. I was so very tired. It was time to sleep now.

Then I heard noises. Voices, coming from the hallway. They would tell me later that when they found me, my eyes were totally wide open in complete fear… but I remember I couldn’t see anything.
_________________________________________________________________________

Five Months, Twenty Eight Days Since I Met Her

I sat in the hospital bed, looking and feeling miserable, staring into space with sullen eyes as the events of the previous night ran through my head. Looked like hell. I had two broken ribs, bruises all over, and my nose had to get reset. Or somethin’ like that. Don’t know a ton about medical stuff, but if the doctors said I needed something done, I just let em’. My right arm was in a sling. I was lucky they were able to get the bullet out without any complications. Silver Star’s gun must’ve been loaded with regular bullets, not silver. Missed all the important stuff, too.

Thank the Goddesses. If Stre… if she had taken away my ability to be a DJ… I don’t know what I would’ve done.

There was a knock at the door and it creaked open. I looked up slowly.

“Good afternoon, Vinyl Scratch,” a familiar voice said softly. First time I’d ever heard her that quiet. I smirked at her.

“Hey, Luna,” I muttered, looking back down at my lap. She shut the door behind her and walked towards me.

“How are you feeling?”

“Well, I’m not dead. So, I guess that’s good.”

Although at that moment, I sorta wished I was. Never felt so terrible in my entire life.

“That is indeed good. You are very fortunate that your injuries were not more severe,” she said, apparently not getting my sarcasm. “Well, we have some good news as well as some bad news.” I looked over to see that she was levitating a sheet of paper. She set it on my lap. “We wished to wait until you were more recovered before giving you this news.”

I really didn’t wanna deal with more bad news right then, but I could sure as hell use some good news. My horn glowed as I used magic to levitate the paper up and hold it in front of me.

“Apparently, the Silver Horseshoe’s magical memory stick device was removed from the computer too soon and only the files of a few supernaturals were saved onto it.” She meant flash drive, but I was too busy reading to correct her. “Those in the computer wing were able to find out which ponies they have the information for.”

Phwew. That was a huge weight off my shoulders. I looked through the list; no mom, no dad, no me. We were safe, at least. I felt like I could finally breathe again. They’d only gotten info for ten ponies.

But then my eyes came across the name of a pony that I recognized.

“… Charcoal?” I asked sadly, my eyes still on the sheet. “They… they got his file?”

“We are very sorry,” Luna said slowly, “but, yes. He will be moved to a new location today.”

My ears perked up as I looked up at her in alarm.

“Today? As in right now?!”

“Why, yes, some agents should be escorting him to-“

I leaned over in the hospital bed and pressed the “nurse call” button over and over. A nurse with a syringe for a cutie mark came through the door.

“Yes, what-“

“I gotta go somewhere,” I said eagerly. She gave me a confused stare.

“I’m sorry, but you’re on strict bed rest for-“

“Please, I’m fine! I gotta get out of here! Just for a bit!”

“Miss Scratch, you still need that sling on your arm. You’ll have to use a wheelchair if you want to-“

“That’ll just slow me down! I’m beggin’ ya, I gotta go somewhere right now!”

They were moving him today. In a few hours, he’d be gone for who knew how long. I had to say goodbye. Needed to apologize. Needed to tell him what an idiot I’d been.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

“Uh, excuse me," a pony said peeking his head into the room. "Sorry for interrupting, but I was wondering if I could talk to Vinyl for a minute.” A rush of relief washed over me. Charcoal stood in the doorway, a dufflebag slung around his body.

“Oh. Yes, of course, dear,” the nurse said smiling as she left the room to give us some privacy. Luna gave a nod and followed behind her.

I looked at Charcoal, suddenly losing my ability to speak.

What the hell do I even say?

“… Look, I-“

“It’s alright, V. Really.”

“No, it’s not,” I said ashamed, looking away from him. “This is all my fault. I should’ve listened to you.”

“I didn’t really give you a reason to,” he said giving me a sad smile. “You were right; I always was kinda jealous of you. I’ve been trying forever to get a special somepony in my life and… the way chicks would practically throw themselves at you after a show… I didn’t think it was fair. It was stupid of me. I really did sense something weird with… her, though so that’s why I…”

His speech trailed off. Smirking, he continued.

“Let’s just forget it, alright? I don’t want this to be the last thing we ever say to each other.”

“This isn’t the last time," I insisted. "Listen, I’ll find a way-“

“Vinyl… please.”

I closed my mouth slowly. There was no use tryin’ to brush off the situation. He was right. They were moving him, giving him a completely new identity. We wouldn’t be able to see each other for a long time. A couple of years, if we were lucky. Especially since the Silver Horseshoes knew who I was.

“Oop, almost forgot. I still need to give you something,” he said reaching into his bag. He levitated out a smaller, black bag and put it in my good hoof. Opening it with magic, I found that it was full of gold coins.

“Dude…”

“I owed you 20 bits and you’re getting 20 bits,” he said smiling at me. “Was gonna give it to you that night at the restaurant, but… Well, there you go. Can’t say that ol’ Charcoal squirreled out of the money he owed you.”

“You should keep it, man. You’ll need it for starting your new life,” I argued floating it over to him, but he pushed it back towards me.

“With donations from TIC members and stuff, I’ve got plenty of cash for… wherever they end up sticking me. It’s yours.” He floated it onto the little table next to my bed. I sighed. “And look, I heard about everything. Don’t let that bitch get in your head. You’re one of the most amazing ponies I know and you shouldn’t let her ruin dating for you or anything like that, alright?”

“Pfft, please. Look who you’re talkin’ to. I’m Vinyl Scratch. Telling me to stop hittin’ on mares is like asking a fish not to swim,” I smirked confidently at him.

Little did I know that I wouldn’t date for two years after Silver.

“Good,” he chuckled.

There was a knock on the door. Through the little window, we could see a stallion in a business suit signaling to the watch on his wrist.

“Well, that’s my ride. I’ll… I’ll see ya, Vinyl,” he said pulling me into a hug.

“Bye, Charcoal,” I said softly, my voice starting to falter. He took a few steps towards the door, but then stopped and turned back to face me.

“It won’t be ‘forever’ forever,” he said, his voice full of hope. “Maybe one day… once I’m settled, wherever I am, I’ll look you up. Sound good?”

I slowly smiled back.

“Yeah. Lookin’ forward to it.”

He exited through the door and closed it softly behind him. I stared at where he used to stand for the longest time. Couldn’t bring myself to look anywhere else or the tears were sure to come.
_________________________________________________________________________

Ten Months, Seventeen Days Since I Met Her

I’d been kind of a mess since Streak and I split. After your heart’s been broken, it can be repaired, but first you gotta go through a few “stages.” Only once you get through em’ can your heart actually start to fix itself. Each stage acts like a kinda realization period and by the end, you admit to yourself that you can pull yourself together and get through it. Makes sense when you think about it. You can’t get better if you don’t believe that you can get better, ya know?

The first stage, Denial, existed all through my stay at the hospital and about a week after I got let out. This was the stage where you don’t think you need to get better.

I didn’t need her. Everything was awesome. She was a jerk and I was better off without her. I didn’t feel bad at all. I went about my day as usual. That is, until I came across something that reminded me of her and burst into tears like a little filly.

Then came the next stage: Anger. This is the stage where you don’t wanna get better. How could you have time to think of moving on when you have so much hatred in your heart? I punched walls, got in a few bar fights, stuff like that.

Then I dedicated all my time towards trying to find Silver Streak. Tried asking around, going undercover, paying off the right ponies, but I hit a dead end every frickin’ time. Luckily, towards the end of it, I started putting my anger towards constructive stuff instead of breaking things. I might’ve picked up crocheting, but I’ll kill ya if you tell anypony.

I was currently stuck going round and round in the third stage: Depression. I didn’t think I could get better; it was pointless to try. Instead, I hit clubs. I hit bars. I was desperately searching for companionship. Looking for somepony to love me. For me to feel something with somepony.

Depression is different for everypony who goes through it; mine took the form of one-night-stands and alcohol.

I couldn’t sleep. I was in somepony else’s bed. Couldn’t even remember the name of the mare sleeping beside me, but she had a light orange coat and smelled like perfume and martinis. I felt a little sick. Gently removing the arm she had draped over me, I slipped out of bed and made my way to her bathroom.

Still had my shades on. Never took em’ off. Girls must’ve found it charming. That or they were drunk and never asked why I kept em’ on. I closed the bathroom door behind me and flipped on the light, taking off my glasses and setting them on the sink. I splashed my face with some water and looked up at myself in the mirror.

There I was. My eyes were misty and my hair was a little messier, but otherwise I looked the same as I always did. It was me, sure, but… it wasn’t really me.

Look at yourself. What happened? Why are you here, Vinyl?

Just leave me alone.

I splashed myself with more water and blinked a few times.

This is wrong. You shouldn’t be here.

Shut up, I… I just want somepony to love me…

Stop it. Do you hear yourself? You’re pathetic. This isn’t you. Pull yourself together. Get outta this place, go home, and clean yourself up.

I ran a hoof through my mane, tears starting to form in my eyes. She… well, I had a point. What was I doing there? What was I thinking? I needed to go home. I needed to stop this... whatever I was doing. This endless carousel of stupid kept going around in circles. Wasn’t getting me anywhere.

This is exactly what Streak had wanted; to hurt me. To make me feel like I was nothing. To make me think that nopony could ever love a monster like me. Maybe she was right, maybe she was wrong… but whatever I was doing here wasn’t gonna prove anything. I wasn’t about to give her what she wanted.

Hell, who knows? The pony of my dreams could’ve been somewhere out there at that moment, just waitin’ for me to find them. I put my shades back over my eyes, snuck out of the apartment, and caught a taxi home.

I was about to start the final stage: Acceptance.

Cold

The train rumbled slightly as we made our way home. Octy stared out the window with a tired expression. Didn’t surprise me. She had every reason to sulk. Just wish there was somethin’ I could do to help.

What would’ve "helped" is if you hadn’t gotten her bit by a monster.

Shut up.

I wondered how this would affect our relationship. When you’re first ‘changed’, (whether a lycan, a vampire, whatever,) you get pretty frequent mood swings. Most deal with depression and then gotta deal with the side effects of whatever they use to get rid of the depression. Whether it be alcohol, drugs, or whatever… it was usually bad stuff. Personally, I think alcohol should just be used to have a good time, not to feed a disease.

Well, for the most part. I’m no saint. Pretty sure I went through enough shots to feed a small army after Streak and I split.

Would I be able to be there for Octavia while she went through these changes? Would she even still wanna be with me? I mean… maybe I wasn’t the best thing for her right now. As painful as it was to think, maybe… maybe we should split for awhile until Octy got herself together.

She had her job, which she’d already skipped out on about a week of practices cause of me.

My fault, of course.

Her parents totally despised me and would probably pressure her not to see me anymore.

Again, my fault.

And on top of that, she was gonna be chasing mailmares and chewing squeaky toys the rest of her life.

Again agaaain, cause of me.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I was just causing her trouble. She’d realize it, too, sooner or later… and then she’d leave me. She’d be crazy not to.

I was gonna need a drink when I got home.
_________________________________________________________________________

I didn’t like the idea of Octy going off on her own in the condition she was in, but she's missed too many practices already. She had to go to this one. We walked through the front door and I levitated her cello case over to her.

“Call me if anything goes wrong,” I said. “Anything at all. If you get any cravings or anything you think-“

“I’ll be fine, Vinyl,” she assured me with a bit of attitude, accepting the case and heading towards the door. I looked at the floor.

“Hey, I-“

The door shut behind her.

“… love… you…” I mumbled as I headed for the fridge. Opening the freezer, I saw the bottle of vodka nestled alongside a tub of Rocky Road ice cream. It began to glow as I picked it up with my magic.

No. Stop it. You don’t need that to make yourself feel better.

I sighed and reluctantly put it back in, bumping my rear against the freezer to shut it.

Writing music was usually what I did to distract myself when I was depressed, so I thought I’d grab a snack and work on a few tracks I was putting together. Opening the fridge, I spied an apple and levitated it onto the counter, cutting it into slices with a kitchen knife.

I took the snack to my room and sat down at my equipment. Had a sweet turntable in my room with all the fixins that I’d saved up to get a few years ago.

I was just about to get to work when I realized somethin’. No idea what I was thinking about that made it come to mind, but I remembered that there was a digital copy of “What To Expect When You’re Expecting A Lycan” on my computer that I’d totally forgotten about. I’d gotten it for free, (along with a copy of “So Now You’re A Vampire,”) when I’d gone to one of my first TIC meetings. Didn’t really intend on reading it cause that would require… ya know. Reading.

Trotting over to my laptop, I booted it up and searched for the digital book, finally finding it in a super old folder I didn’t even use anymore. It had bright colors and cutesy, foal-like pictures on every page. The first page featured a picture of a small, white Pegasus with bite marks on his arm. Reminded me of one of those read-along books from Health Class, so I read everything in one of those dumb, narrator-y voices you’d hear in old educational films.

All ponies go through changes as they get older. These changes are completely natural and are just a part of growing up. Take ThunderFoot here as an example. His body will get bigger, his voice will get deeper, and many other changes will occur as he gets older. However, ThunderFoot has just been bitten by a mystical creature known as a Lycan. He’s about to go through a few more changes that most ponies-

“Ugh, I don’t wanna hear about Lycan puberty,” I muttered, clicking through the pages. “Just tell me what to ‘expect’ like the stupid title says.” I got to page five and all the awkward had died down.

When you’re a newly changed Lycan, you might exhibit some behaviors that you’ve never experienced before. ThunderFoot, for example, now prefers to drink his water from a bowl instead of a glass. Some common behaviors include:

• Rolling in dirt/mud
• Licking another pony’s face
• Developing a strong hatred of felines
• Chasing carriages/scooters/other vehicles
• Barking and/or howling, especially during full moons
• Retrieval of sticks/balls/thrown objects
• Shortening of attention span
• Urination on trees/fire hydrants
• Digging

These symptoms usually subside within a few years, though some traits will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Hopefully Octy wouldn’t experience the “urination” one. My eyes skimmed past “Tick Prevention and Removal” and I flipped a few more pages.

During the early stages, it’s very important that you are kept an eye on to ensure your animalistic side does not become dominant. Make sure your mom, dad, or somepony that they choose watches you closely as your Lycan side might tell you to do things that you don’t want to do.

Also, remind them to keep all harmful objects out of reach so that you don’t hurt yourself. Knives, glass, silver, and any other dangers should be kept in a safe, secure location.

Blah, blah, blah. I skipped to the last page.

With some stories you might hear about Lycans being “monsters” or that they are often associated with “evil,” you might feel like your uniqueness makes you a bad pony. This isn’t true at all; it makes you special. You have been gifted with the power to transform into a powerful being at will and you should appreciate it every day.

It’s not what you are, but who you are.

“Even has a little lesson at the end. How cute,” I said humorlessly and clicked out of the book. Stretching my arms behind my head, I wondered what to do next. “I should probably hide away all the stuff Octy could hurt herself with, like the book said.”

I stood up and began to walk towards the door, but my turntable caught my eye.

“… Ooooor I could make music. That’s somethin’ I could do.” I sat down at it and got to work.

Time seemed to go by quickly and after a few hours, my plate of apples was empty and I’d made some pretty great progress on the remix I was making for Octy. Was stuck near the middle, though. Just couldn’t figure out where to go next with it. I'd tried just about everything. A low growl escaped my lips.

“Damn,” I muttered under my breath. Had to stop work for today. I was just going in circles now. My brain was tired and couldn’t process notes anymore. I heard a noise outside my door and got up to check it out. Wasn’t sure how long Octy had been home, but there she was looking around the kitchen, her cello nowhere in sight.

That book was full of crap. Octy was totally fine.

"How was your day?" I asked cheerily as I opened a cupboard. She didn’t respond. "… Octy? How's dinner coming along?” Still no response. I shut the cupboard and turned to look at her. “Octy?"

Her wide eyes were fixed on the knife I’d used to cut the apple. The silver knife.

"Wait, Octy, don't touch tha—you still touched it."

Her hoof started to sizzle, a small plume of smoke rising from it.

"It seems my hoof has spontaneously combusted into flames," she informed me, holding it up in front of my face.

"Quite. Shall I get the fire extinguisher?" I responded in the same manner.

"Please do."

We stared at each other for a few seconds… then started screaming. She wildly flailed her hoof around as I searched for the fire extinguisher. Finding it under the sink, I levitated it over to her, closed my eyes, and squeezed the trigger, releasing a stream of white gas/liquid stuff all over her.

After about ten seconds of blindly spraying it, I released trigger and I opened my eyes to see Octy standing there completely covered in a white, chalky substance. The only part of her I hadn’t managed to hit was her burning hoof, which she still held in front of her as it continued to sizzle.

I walked closer to her, lifted the fire extinguisher, and gave her hoof a spray.

“Thank you,” she said through clenched teeth. I smiled back.

“Anytime!” I grabbed a cloth and started patting her down, causing her to cough as the dust from the foam flew into the air, then opened the freezer and pulled out an ice pack. “Here, put this… on…” I reached for her hoof and saw that it was almost completely healed already. “… Oh yeah. Forgot. Man, these things are gonna be totally useless now,” I chuckled putting the ice pack back in the freezer.

“Vinyl… before when we were talking about everything, in Fluttershy’s cottage…” Octy said slowly as I shut the freezer door. “Well, I was just wondering… what exactly do you do for the Inner Circle?”

I smirked and turned to face her, planting a soft kiss on her nose.

“It’s best if you don’t know,” I said walking away. “Don’t wanna endanger you.”

“You mean more than you already have?” she muttered under her breath. I stopped.

“… Yeah. More than I already have.”

I continued walking and made my way to my room, not looking back at her. I didn’t like moody Octy.
_________________________________________________________________________

I made sure to put all the knives and silver we had in a safe place where Octy wouldn’t find em’. I’d be at work until early in the morning, so I asked a vampire friend of mine, Star Catcher, if she could come over and check on her while I was at work. Usually didn’t have my phone on me, but I’d keep it in my saddlebag tonight so I could contact both of them if I needed to.

There were more similarities between that and getting a pet sitter than I wanted to think about.

"Having any cravings?” I asked. “Any homicidal thoughts lately?"

"I assure you, I'm fine," she responded with more than a bit of annoyance. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Look, I'm not too comfortable with this. I'll have somepony come check on you when they can, alright?" She harrumphed and looked away from me. I sighed. “It’ll just make me feel better. I wanna make sure you’re safe.” I went to kiss her, but she tilted away slightly. “Right. I’ll, uh… I’ll see ya later.”

Leaving the apartment, I went down the stairs and started making my way to Club Canterlot. I felt bad. Didn’t mean to make her feel like a little filly, but I really didn’t wanna worry about her all night.

The gig went by smoothly. Wasn’t able to check my phone during it, but as soon as my shift was over, I went into my saddlebag and checked for messages. Star Catcher had texted me an hour ago:

Hey tried to check on ur marefriend, but nopony answered door. Rang doorbell over and over like a dozen times. Thought about bucking it down, but wasn’t sure if right house. So sorry, V.

I’m sure Octy’s fine. Probably just too full of pride to open the door for her “foalsitter.” At least she kept the door locked.

I put the phone back in my bag and started to make my way home. I loved her more than anything in the world, but… I wasn’t sure how long I could put up with the extremely irritable creature that used to be my marefriend. Guess this was what male ponies went through when their wives got pregnant.

I walked home and fumbled for my keys at the door since I figured Octy wouldn’t answer anyway if I knocked. The door swung open to reveal her sitting in the far corner of the living room, hidden by shadows. Her eyes were wide and had deep rings underneath them. Looked like she hadn’t slept a wink since I left.

"Jeez, Octy, you look like hell," I smirked walking towards her and levitating my saddlebag off of my body. I stepped into the light and got a full view of her. Not liking what I saw, I stopped dead in my tracks. "Is that... blood?"

Her mouth and coat were smeared with dark red and she was shaking slightly. She stared off past me, like I wasn’t even there. Wasn’t sure if she could hear me, but after a few seconds she gave a slow nod. I rushed over to her, my saddlebag dropping to the floor.

As I lifted her chin to get a better look at her face, I felt a draft coming from somewhere. My eyes scanned the room and stopped on the balcony window, which had been totally destroyed. Glass from what used to be the window littered the ground beneath it.

Crap. Crap, crap, crap! I should’ve stayed to watch her!

"What happened?" I asked as I tilted her head slightly.

"I don't know," she huffed at me, pushing my hoof off of her. My nose crinkled. Her breath reeked of scotch, reminding me of the night we’d first met.

Suddenly, she put a hoof to her muzzle and rushed to the bathroom, hurling into the toilet. Why didn’t I hide the alcohol? Of course she’d get into it in her state. Stupid, Vinyl, stupid!

"Did you get drunk?" I asked disappointedly as I walked into the bathroom.

"You bet your ass I did," she spat at me, then dunked her face back into the bowl and hurled again. I sighed and held back her mane as she got all the bad stuff out of her system. Once she was done, I helped her into the living room and onto the couch. She slumped into the cushions and let out a sigh of exhaustion.

"My contact said she rang the doorbell at least a dozen times! She tried knocking and almost considered bucking the door down,” I said leaning into her face. I licked a little of the blood from her muzzle and smacked my lips together, trying to recall the taste.

Hmmm… not a deer… or a squirrel… ah, yeah. Definitely a-

"Rabbit," I said aloud as I went to the bathroom, wet a washcloth, and came back to wipe Octy’s face down. The cloth began to change from white to red as it absorbed the blood. "What did you do?"

"I already told you I don't know!” she said scrunching up her face as I washed it. “One second I'm in the loft, passed out on the floor, and when I woke up I was still here! Except this time, I'm covered in... ugh!"

We were in trouble. I dropped the washcloth and started closing up the apartment, locking the doors and windows.

"Did anypony see you?" I asked peering outside to see if we were being watched before closing the curtains.

"How am I supposed to know?"

I muttered to myself as I ran over the options.

She killed a rabbit. Gotta go find it. Can’t leave Octy alone. I have to. No, I need to call somepony. No time. Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit.

I’d have to leave her alone for a bit while I went and saw how much damage she’d caused.

"Octavia, I gotta run," I said rushing towards the door.

"What?"

I sighed and walked back towards her, in no mood to explain.

"You wanna know what I do for the Inner Circle? This is what I do. I run damage control. Now I gotta go—"

"And clean up my mess. It's practically the dead of night, Vinyl. How are you even going to find out... what I did?" she asked in a small voice. I grinned at her and put a hoof to my chest.

"I got this!"

I turned to face the door again.

"Vinyl—" she said hesitantly.

I stopped.

Oh no.

"Were you gonna say something?" I asked, facing her slowly.

"No no, never mind."

I know that tone. That’s “break up” tone.

"Go ahead,” I insisted taking a few steps towards her. She paused for a moment, then spoke.

"Okay, fine." She sat there trying to figure out what she was gonna say. Finally, she sighed and continued, making what I’d feared a reality. "Vinyl, I don't how to tell you this..."

I felt numb inside.

"You wanna break up?" I finished for her. Couldn’t bear for her to be the one to say it.

"N-No!” she stammered back, putting her hooves in front of her. “I simply want to... take a break."

"Is that what they call it these days?" I smirked quietly, looking at the floor. She got off the couch and walked towards me.

"Vinyl, a break doesn't mean anything. Just some distance,” she said softly as she took my hoof in hers. I sighed. It’s not like I wasn’t expecting this.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think so too."

"What?" she asked, dropping my hoof. "Frankly I'm a little insulted."

Oh, so it’s totally cool if you wanna break up with me, but if I want it, suddenly you can get pissed?!

"Octy, the last thing you need right now is a relationship,” I explained looking into her eyes seriously. “You've got... too much on your plate. You've got a job, performances. You still gotta deal with this new body of yours. You don't need me to make things worse."

"You don't do that!" she exclaimed, looking back at me with sad eyes.

"Maybe I don't. But your parents are gonna give you enough grief already. Let's not give them another reason to make your life miserable, alright?"

She paused, her eyes getting a little misty. I could tell she was trying to come up with a response, but wasn’t having any luck.

"This is so stupid,” she pouted as she looked away from me. I put a hoof on her shoulder in the most platonic way I could and gave her a small smile.

"Let's just back off for a while, huh?" Felt weird to be the responsible one, for once. She nodded eagerly, looking a little relieved.

"My thoughts exactly. Thank you, Vinyl."

This was good. This was what we both needed.

"But don't get any ideas, I'm not moving out, you know!" I joked, walking to the door. I shut it behind me, then opened it a few seconds later and poked my head back in. "I'll still be here. Don't worry. You're not alone in this." I gave her a little wink. She smiled and I closed the door again, trotting down the hallway.

This was good. This was a good thing.

I started to go down the stairs, my pace slowing more and more until I was barely moving.

This was good, a blessing in disguise. We’d laugh about this one day.

I'd stopped walking down the stairs. My body slumped against the wall of the stairwell as I started to cry.

This was good. We both needed this. I shouldn’t be sad. Such a silly pony, I was.

Stop crying, Vinyl. You’ve got work to do.
_________________________________________________________________________

I followed her trail to a park a few miles from our place. She’d been messy. As I expected, Octy hadn’t even attempted to cover her tracks. The trail of broken twigs, claw markings, a tuft of fur or two, and paw prints led me down a dirt path illuminated by a few street lights. I covered up the signs that she’d been there as I walked, a chill running down my spine as the trail led me to a playground. I didn’t even wanna consider the possibility that she’d hurt some kid, too.

I didn’t have to worry about that long. The trail led past the playground to a little clearing surrounded by trees. Before me was a bunny.

Well, part of a bunny.

And to the right of me was another part of a bunny.

To my left, another.

There were parts of the poor thing scattered all over the place. Totally gross. Blood everywhere. It was far from the worst I’d ever dealt with, but it was still pretty gruesome. I perked up my ears and looked around; nopony was there.

Well… time to get to work.

A few hours went by and it was morning. I’d taken care of everything. There were no prints, no trail, no trace that anypony had been to the park that night. I’d cleaned up the glass and replaced our balcony window. Got a vampire buddy in the hardware business, so I got a pretty sweet deal.

Octy must’ve been in her room cause I hadn't seen her when I was cleaning up the apartment. Putting my head against her bedroom door, I perked up my ears. She was in there, alright. I could hear her slowly breathing. Her breath wasn’t slow enough for her to be sleeping, though. Must’ve just been laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

Couldn't count the number of times I'd done the same. I was very familiar with what she must've been feeling.

Poor pony. All I wanted to do was go in there and hold her close and tell her everything was gonna be alright... but I needed to give her some space. We'd just broken up and I doubted I'd be a comfort to her at the moment. I made my way to the kitchen instead.

The coffee machine bubbled as it brewed me some wake-up juice. I needed it. Was pulling an all nighter to make sure everything was taken care of. Once it was done, I levitated the pot up and poured some into my “I <3 Wubs” mug, adding four sugars and some cream. Sitting down at the kitchen table, I stirred it with a spoon using magic and leaned back in my chair, my neck craning upwards as I stared at the ceiling.

I didn’t want her out of my sight for even a second. It was careless of me to think she could handle being by herself right now. Guess it was just my way of convincing myself that everything was fine and nothing was gonna change. Levitating the cup up, I took a sip of coffee and shut my eyes, already beginning to feel it waking me up.

Just then, I heard her walk into the kitchen, but I didn’t look at her.

“Morning, Sunshine,” I greeted her, smiling. Just cause we weren’t together anymore didn’t mean I couldn’t flirt. I’d been talking to her like that long before we were a couple.

"Did you... find it?" she asked softly.

"Mmhmm," I hummed with my mouth on the cup as I took another gulp. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. "You want the details?"

"Not in particular, no."

"Good, then I won't tell you,” I said setting down the cup. “But I'll say that it was very, very messy."

"Vinyl..."

"I mean seriously, what the heck did you do that poor bunny?” I continued, still blown away by the amount of carnage I’d found. “I won't go into any specifics, but there was a lot of blood. It was like, everywhere!"

Octy galloped out of the kitchen. I heard a toilet seat go up and the sound of her getting sick.

Nice, Vinyl. She probably feels disgusted enough without you makin’ it worse.

Was there anything I could do? With all this stress, maybe what Octy needed was to just… relax. To have some fun in her life. To feel like she didn’t have the entire world on her shoulders, for once. I walked into the bathroom to see her miserably hovering her head over the toilet.

"Octy, I think you need to take the day off," I said leaning against the door frame.

"Vinyl, I have been taking days off,” she moaned, sounding exhausted. “I've been using up nearly half of my sick days."

"No, no. I mean having fun!"

She turned and glared at me.

"Fun?"

I smiled and took a deep breath in, preparing to belt out one of my favorite songs.

"F is for friends who do stuff together!"

"Please don't sing,” Octy half groaned, half begged to me.

"U is for you and me!"

"I swear to Celestia, Vinyl, not the singing. It's too early."

"N is for anywhere and anytime at all—"

I slid on my knees playing an invisible guitar, but was silenced by a hoof in my mouth.

"I will rip your throat out," Octy whispered harshly, a murderous glare in her eyes.

Aww, she was so cute when she threatened to kill me.
_________________________________________________________________________

I realized that Octy never really had fun. I mean, “fun” fun. Not playing her cello. Not reading. Actual fun.

So I thought I’d be a good friend and treat her to a little night out. A “fun” date isn’t a real date, right? Just two friends. A “friend” date. Just a “friend” date.

Okay, maybe there was a little selfishness involved in me suggestin' it, but for the most part I just wanted to get her to relax. Good friend! I’m a good friend!

Octavia sat in front of me with a dollop of whipped cream on the end of her muzzle.

Good friend. Yup. That’s me. The goodiest.

As she licked her lips, I realized I’d never not appreciate what Earth ponies go through to eat. Just to eat. Such a simple thing. Us unicorns don’t know how good we got it. Not being able to hold a spoon would totally drive me crazy! I wondered how she ate soup.

I suppressed a giggle, but not well enough.

“What?” she asked tilting her head at me.

“You’ve, uh… got a little somethin’,” I said leaning towards her, levitating a napkin.

Must. Resist. Urge. To. Lick. Whipped cream. Off.

Merciful Celestia, can you not be selfish for five frickin’ seconds?

Apparently, I couldn’t. I dropped the napkin and licked the whipped cream off her face.

It was a friend lick. Friendly! Friends do that all the time!

Ugh, this was gonna be tougher than I thought…

“Vinyl! Please!” she whispered harshly at me, turning bright red. I couldn’t help but smile.

“So, you likin’ it?”

“I… it’s just that we’re in public!” she sputtered. “And besides that, we-“

“I meant the ice cream, dingus,” I chuckled pointing a hoof at her bowl.

“Oh… of course, yes, the ice cream. It’s quite delicious,” she agreed looking down at her bowl, a faint blush still visible on her cheeks. I levitated a giant bite of my own ice cream up and shoveled it into my mouth. “Though, I’ll never eat this entire thing on my own. I still don’t understand why we couldn’t have just split one.”

“Pfft. You can’t split a banana split! That’s, like, basic math or somethin’!” I said giving her a confused look and poking my spoon at her. “Plus, I’m gonna eat all of mine.”

“Honestly, Vinyl, this is why you’re up all night,” she laughed, shaking her head. “With this much sugar, it’s a wonder you get to sleep at all! I mean…”

Octy kept talking, but I couldn’t hear her. I’d gone to take another spoonful of my dessert when something caught my attention. Out of the corner of my eye, I could’ve sworn I’d seen a silver unicorn. A very familiar silver unicorn. With a short, silver mane. Sitting at the counter. Sipping a milkshake and… and smiling at me. I felt my heart almost jump out of my chest.

I jerked my head back at the counter, but she was gone. Vanished. The milkshake still sat on the counter where I thought I’d seen her sitting.

What the hell? Was I seeing things?

I was suddenly aware that Octy had been calling my name.

“Wah?” I asked weakly, turning back to her.

“Vinyl, are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Octy said, looking at me worriedly.

“Huh? … Oh, naw, it was nuthin’,” I said, forcing a smile and rubbing my face with a hoof.

Guess I’m just tired. Maybe pulling an all nighter and then taking Octy out wasn’t one of my better ideas.

I mean, not “taking her out!”

Well, yeah, I guess I “took her out,” but it’s just a date!

Wait, I mean a friend date! Friend! We’re friends! Gah!

“Are you sure? You look positively pale,” she said leaning over the table towards me and placing a hoof on my cheek.

“How can you even tell? My fur is white,” I smirked, though now it was probably turning red from Octy touching my face like she was. We looked in each other’s eyes. I wanted to kiss her.

Stop it.

I coughed and gently pushed her hoof off of me.

“I’m fine, Octy, really. Just got a little brain freeze. Caught me off guard.”

“You shouldn’t eat so fast then,” she sighed before taking another bite. Even when her face was covered in chocolate syrup, she was the most beautiful mare in existence.

“But it’ll melt if I eat it too slowly,” I pouted as I took a large, but slow bite.

“I promise you, it will be at least 15 minutes until all of it is completely melted. Just take it slow. It’s not like you’re diffusing a bomb or something. In situations such as these, slower is better.”

“Oh yeah, I can totally agree with that,” I said resting my chin on my hooves and giving her a sly look.

“Oh, shut up and eat your ice cream.”
_________________________________________________________________________

After a brief encounter on the street with a cat, (which I’d like to call “Down, Octy! Heel!”) we arrived at Octavia’s first Inner Circle meeting. Went pretty smoothly. Luna called her up, she talked about her feelings or whatever, and then it ended. Nothing super important happened. Just like every meeting.

Well, I was interested in those family-friendly blood bags Luna talked about that were gonna come in juice box form. Those sounded sweet!

As Octy walked alongside me, I wondered what she’d thought about it. I sure thought TIC meetings were boring, but maybe at least she found it interesting.

"So, what did you think?" I asked as we sauntered down the sidewalk.

"It's like a dysfunctional family, with a tyrant at the reigns running the show," she answered without pause. "So that's it, huh?" I smiled at her.

"Just 'bout sums it up, yeah."

"You meet once a week to talk about your feelings."

Well, whaddya know. She used the same description of the meetings that I’d thought of.

"That's… that's very funny, Octy,” I laughed at her. Loved when she cracked jokes. She could actually be pretty damn funny, when she wanted to be. “You know you've got a great sense of humor." I grinned at her. She smiled back at me, then looked ahead of us.

"Well, I suppose it's time we head home."

Woah, what?!

"Are you freaking kidding me?" I asked, tilting my shades down at her. "This is the best time of the day! C'mon!"

“B-but… Vinyl, where are we even going to- hey!”

I took her hoof and pulled her across the street.

“Stick with me, filly. I know exactly where we’re goin’!”

I led us down a few side streets, avoiding garbage cans and some stray soda bottles that littered the street. After a few minutes of walking, we finally arrived at the club where I got most of my gigs lately, Club Canterlot. We walked past the long line of ponies waiting to get in and stepped up to the bouncer, a buff Pegasus wearing a black suit and shades.

"You know my name,” I said grinning at him. He stepped to the side and let me through, stopping Octy with his wing as she tried to follow me. "She's a friend.”

He unfurled his wing and let her in. I pushed the double doors of the club open and trotted in, making my way through the crowd. It was so loud, I couldn’t hear the clopping of my hooves on the checkerboard-pattern floor as we pushed past sweaty ponies wearing too much hair gel.

The floor pattern glowed different colors that synched up with the electronic music that was playing at the moment. Across the floor, there were booths near the walls where ponies could be seen drinking, laughing, and/or indulging in some not-so-legal “party favors.” I knew ponies that could get you any sorta drug from zebra territory you could want. Tried one of em’ at a party a few years ago, but wasn’t really my thing.

Plus, that stuff is expensive. Couldn’t afford that kind of addiction.

Once we got to the front of the crowd, I started to climb up to where the current DJ was.

"Vinyl! You can't just jump on stage!" Octy yelled up to me, horrified.

"And why not?" I yelled back, grabbing the microphone away from the brown DJ colt. The feedback from the mic poured into everypony’s ears and made them yelp out in pain. "HEYOH! DJ-Pon3, in the house!"

The crowd suddenly burst out in cheers and stomping once they realized what was up. Some pumped their hooves in the air. Others whistled. I beamed at all of them.

"You don't even have your set!" the DJ next to me said.

"Don't need it," I scoffed, looking through the stack of records in a box under the turntable. “What tunes you got?” I stopped when I came across an album with a certain blue maned pony on it. “Sapphire Shores? Really?"

He then used his hoof to show me a gesture expressing exactly how he felt about my comment.

“Geez, fine, man! I’ll just have to make due.” Continuing to flip through the records, I came across one that was very familiar to me by now. Levitating it up, I stared at the cover. That record had the song on it that I’d been remixing for Octy.

I’d sat at my turntable for countless hours pondering how the hell I could get the middle of the song to work with my remix, but had to give up every time. Nothing I’d done had worked. Didn’t think it was possible. At that moment, however, I had a moment of realization. It all played before me.

I suddenly knew how to remix it. I knew what I had to do.

A wide grin slowly spread across my face. Using my magic, I levitated Octy up on stage with me, eliciting a cute, little “Eek!” from her. I picked the microphone back up.

"For a very special somepony in the room, you know who you are,” I announced setting the record on the turntable. “This little remix is for you, baby!" The song started to play.

I looked to Octy, seeing a slight blush appear on her face as she started to smile, obviously recognizing the song. Everypony in the audience cheered for her. She gave a little curtsy as I worked the turntable.

Using my magic I twisted knobs and moved dials, performing the remix right there on the spot. Took Goddess knows how long, but I’d finally figured out what to do with the piece. I knew what I was doing, at long last.

The club faded into nothingness around me. It was just me and the turntable. Nopony else was there. For four minutes straight, I was in my own little world and it felt good. If there was one thing in all of Equestria I could do, it was this. I panted slightly as my hurricane of dials, knobs, and switches slowly began to slow down and finally faded out as the song came to an end.

I glanced over to see Octy smiling dreamily at me.

“So… waddya think?”

“Brilliant, Vinyl. That was… just so wonderful.”

Didn’t think I could grin any wider, but I managed to. Nothing could take me down from the high I was on at that moment.

Nothin’.

Out of the Bag

Octy breathed heavily in and out of the paper bag I’d found for her, her shoulders hunching back and forth with each breath.

"Octy, you're gonna pass out if you keep hyperventilating like that."

"Who's hyperventilating? I'm not hyperventilating, are you suggesting that I am? Because I'm not! I'm not!"

Oh, no. You're tooootally calm.

"I don't see what's the big deal. Your mom just wants to take you to dinner—"

"But it's not only Mother, Vinyl!” she shrieked back, dropping the bag slightly. "It's her, and Father, and they want you there as well!"

Me, too? Awesome! Free meal!

"Aw sa-weet! Where are we going? Do they have hay fries there?"

She slammed her head down on the table.

“Ow.”

"How did she know we moved in together?" I asked picking up the letter and studying it. Suddenly, Octy grabbed my face in her hooves and pulled me towards her.

"Mother knows everything,” she whispered harshly. Her eye twitched slightly.

Okaaaaay, somepony needs to calm down.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head," I said patting the top of her mane and smiling at her. "Your Auntie Vinyl Scratch's got it all taken care of!" My stomach growled.

Woah, with all the exciting tree-carrying related action I did today, I must’ve forgotten to eat.

I noticed that there were already some celery sticks out on a plate on the counter, so I opened the cupboard and levitated out a jar of peanut butter.

No problem. We’ll meet her parents at this dinner thing, I’ll “wow” them with my awesomeness, and we’ll get out of there lickety-split.

Taking a knife out and spreading the peanut butter on one of the celery pieces, I levitated it up and began to chow down. I glanced over at Octy and saw she was looking at me.

"You want some?" I offered grinning. She stared back at me, looking pretty of out of it. I swallowed and frowned. "Octy? You look kinda stressed."

"A little,” she sighed, nodding in agreement. “Just trying to think about how I'm going to get my mum to like you is all."

"Quit your worrying. She'll love me! I'm the life of a party!" I bragged putting a hoof to my chest and puffing it out. She smiled.

"That's what I'm afraid of.”

I was about to pick up another piece of celery when she continued.

"Vinyl?"

"Yeah?"

"The other day, when you said you had to run an errand…" She said slowly.

Crap.

"Yeah. So what?"

Relax, it might be nothing.

"You lied to me, didn't you?"

Silence. What the hell was I supposed to say?

"Octy—"

"I know where you went."

"I can explain."

"Can you?" She turned to face me. "Please do. Do explain, Vinyl."

Lie.

"I was visiting... a friend."

"Liar," she snapped at me. "The Canterlot Hematology branch! What were you doing there?"

What?! How could she know…

I furrowed my brow.

"You've been spying on me." Octy just continued to stare at me, her expression demanding answers. She wasn’t messing around. "Fine. I'll tell you."

Lie better.

"I was getting the results for a blood test. That's all."

"Why? Are you ill?"

I sighed and bit my lip, trying to figure out where I was going with this.

"I'm an albino."

"You're a what?"

"An albino," I mumbled looking at the floor. "I can't go out in the sun cause my eyes are sensitive and my coat sunburns easily."

Good. That’s believable.

"And what about garlic?" she asked a little quieter. I looked back up at her to see her reach inside one of the kitchen drawers.

Crap, she knows she knows she-

Calm down. Keep your cool and lie your way out of this and she’ll never ask about any of it again.

"What?"

"Garlic. You wouldn't eat any of my pasta."

"Octy, I just really hate garlic! Is that so hard to believe?" I defensively sputtered back at her, feeling a bead of sweat roll down my forehead. My disguise was slipping. "What's with the third degree anyways?"

"Vinyl, you don't look so good."

She reached a hoof towards me, wet with… something. It smelled terrible, whatever it was. I stumbled backwards a little, fearing what it could be.

"Are you sick?"

"N-No!"

She pressed it against my head and I felt it slowly burning the fur underneath. The sensation gave me a feeling of déjà vu.

Garlic! It has to be garlic! What happens if I get too much on me? Hopefully my fur doesn’t catch fire or something cause that’ll be hard to explain…

I tried to hold back, but I couldn’t help wincing from the pain.

"Your temperature seems normal," she said, still pressing against my head. "So what you're telling me is that all of this secrecy is just to hide the fact… that you have a skin condition?" She practically growled the last part of her sentence. I was starting to get a little freaked now.

I hadn't prepared for this. I hadn't taken any precautions. What was I supposed to do now?

Keep lying.

"… I guess."

"You should have just told me." She believed me? Awesome, good, this is good. I frowned at her, keeping up my charade.

"Sorry. Didn't know it meant so much to you."

Come on. Come oooooon… Let it go, Octy…

Then she snorted. And started to laugh. I looked at her blankly.

This… wasn’t what I was expecting.

"What?"

She laughed and laughed, rubbing her eye with a hoof. Finally the laughter slowed to the point where she could get a sentence out.

"Can you imagine, all this time, I thought you were a vampire?"

My jaw dropped. I'd been right. She had been onto me!

Laugh, Vinyl, laugh with her. You’re home free. Just laugh. You find it funny! It’s a ridiculous idea! You! A Vampire!

I started to laugh along with her, hoping I didn’t sound too guilty.

"That's, heh, that's really funny, Octy. I told you you were way into those vampire novels."

Great. Now get out of there.

I started to turn around to leave, but Octy narrowed her eyes.

"So if you're not a vampire, then I have to ask…" She bucked the fridge door open. Two blood bags fell onto the floor. "What are these for?!"

You could hear a pin drop. I stared at them. My thoughts traveled at a million miles a second.

Wait, I only put one bag in there how are there two what do I say holy crap I’m so screwed what do I how do I-

I remembered the holiday coming up that would be a perfect excuse for this. Realizing that I’d been holding my breath, I sucked in air and formulated my next sentence.

"Octy, it's just pomegranate juice." Her eyes bulged.

"You've got to be joking."

I laughed and picked the blood bags up.

"Nightmare Night? It's this week. Remember? I thought you'd like it."

"Oh, well that explains it then."

Get outta there.

"Now will you let this all go?" I asked, putting them back in the fridge.

Alright, I’ll come back later and take them out. Right now, I just-

"Wait.”

I froze and swore in my head as I slowly turned my head back to her.

"How about you and me share one, right now?"

No… no no no NO NO NO!

"Uh, y' know Octy, it wouldn't make very much sense—"

"C'mon, let's just have a sip."

"Err, I'm not really that thirsty anymore..."

"Vinyl, open it."

It wasn't a question. I swallowed hard. There was no way to get out of this. I walked back over to the fridge, took out one of the bags, and poked it with a straw. Taking a sip, I tried to grin as I felt sweat drip down the back of my neck.

"Mmm," I murmured around the straw as I gulped the thick liquid. "Tastes delicious."

"Really? Let me try." She reached for the bag, but I pulled it away from her.

"No!”

Easy, Vinyl.

“I mean, no, Octy, this actually tastes really awful. You wouldn't like it—"

She grabbed it from me

"Octy, no, don't!"

I watched in horror as she put her mouth to the straw and took a sip. After a few seconds, her eyes widened and she spit it out, tossing the bag onto the floor and screaming. She went to the kitchen sink and coughed up the rest into it, choking and gagging from the taste. The smell filled my nostrils, the blood already in my mouth only fanning the flame. I could hear the beast inside screaming at me.

Blood. You need blood. Kill her!

No! Stay away from her! Get out of the room!

I turned away from her and put my hooves on my head, trying to calm the voices.

Kill her! Drink from her!

Get out of there!

Shut up, shut up!

I clenched my eyes shut. My head hurt. I was so thirsty. Drenched in sweat. Confused as hell. I didn’t know what to do. What could I do?

Kill!

Run!

Drink!

Get out!

Stop it!

I could feel myself changing. I was losing control. I had to stay calm or I would lose myself completely. I tried to count to ten, as I did in situations like these.

One… two…

Kill!

Run!

Th-three… four… fi-

KILL!

RUN!

KILL!

RUN!

SHUT UUUUUP!

I screamed.
_________________________________________________________________________

Stuff was so much simpler half a year ago.

I opened the door to the club’s office to let myself out.

“Thanks again,” I said, stuffing the envelope into my saddlebag.

“You know you don’t have to thank me every single time for your paycheck, Vinyl,” the graying stallion behind the desk said, puffing on his cigar.

“I know, but it’s nice. I like being nice. You want me to be ‘not nice?’” I asked grinning at him. He shook his head.

“Nooo thanks. I’ve seen you ‘not nice,’ and it nearly put those two muggers in the hospital,” he said putting up his hooves defensively. “Honestly, Vinyl, they were unarmed, too. You didn’t have to destroy half of my bar stools just to detain them. Don’t even understand how a little thing like you is so damn strong...”

“Hey, I was being responsible! There were other ponies in the club and I didn’t want any of them getting hurt,” I pouted as I turned the doorknob and began to walk out. I stuck my head back in. “And I’ve been working out, thanks for noticing! Mares dig a chick that can help them move. Aaand to help em’ ‘move.’” I brought an arm into view and flexed for emphasis.

“Yeah, yeah, just do it on your own time,” he laughed shaking his head.

I shut the door behind me and made my way through the dance floor to the exit, as I usually did. The club was bangin’ tonight and tons of sweaty, mostly intoxicated mares and colts danced the night away to the beats the current DJ was spinning. I looked across the floor at the bar mare, whose name I couldn’t remember. I’d asked what her name was dozens of times, but forgot it. Every. Damn. Time. I couldn’t keep asking her, so I just never addressed her by it. I just called her Bar Mare, at least in my head.

She had bright red fur and an orange mane, her cutie mark showing a martini shaker, a rocks glass, and shot glass. Definitely one of the more intricate cutie marks I'd seen.

It was a drink name. I know it was a drink name. Appletini? Chocolatini? Cosmopolitan? Bloody Mary? Naw, I think I’d remember if her name was Bloody Mary. Those things rock.

Bar Mare was washing some glasses nervously, not daring to look up at the few customers that sat in front of her.

That’s when I first noticed the grey Earth pony sitting at the bar.

Her jet black mane was perfectly smoothed down, a pink scarf neatly folded on the bar next to her empty glass. She wore a little pink bowtie around her neck. This mare seemed so out of place sitting in the dark club, like a daisy growing in a garbage can.

She stared solemnly down into her glass, looking totally exhausted as three tough looking stallions talked to her.

Well, not “to” her. More “at” her as she didn’t turn around to address them. It didn’t look good, that’s for sure. One of the advantages to the whole vampire thing was my awesome hearing. Even though there was an enchantment around the bar area so sound was harder to move through, (much more convenient for ordering drinks and stuff when music wasn't blaring in your ears,) I’d be able to hear anything I wanted. My ears twitched as I picked up on their conversation from across the room.

“Please… juss leamme alun,” the mare slurred. The one with blue fur laughed heartily.

“What was that? I think you’ve had a little too much to drink, girlie.”

“You’re quite far from Canterlot, little filly,” I heard one of them say as I came closer. “Pretty thing like you could meet a lot of bad ponies out here.”

“Yeah,” the one with brown fur commented, petting her mane downward. “There are some real bad ponies out-“ The grey mare swatted his hoof off of her.

“Pleaz,” she begged, “I don-“

“Hey, don’t touch me, you little-!” he yelled, giving her a shove. It knocked her stool off balance and she fell to the ground, the stool clanking beside her. I clenched my jaw and broke into a stride. The three idiots formed a circle around her. The one that had shoved her spoke down to her as she tried to get back on her hooves. “Now why don’t you be a good girl, huh?” He extended a hoof towards her.

He didn’t reach her. I grabbed his hoof and held it in place.

“Come on, man,” I said shaking my head. “You really think this is how you get a mare to like you? What are we? Five year olds on a playground or something?” The big idiot laughed at me.

“You best stay out of this, Spikey,” he said getting close to my face. His breath reeked of cider and cigarette smoke. “This isn’t any business of yooooooOOOW OW OOOOOW!” I’d twisted his hoof around and pressed it hard against his back, pushing him onto the floor. His face pressed into the hardwood floor as I pinned him there. I grinned down at him.

“Oh, it’s my business alright,” I chuckled. “You made it ‘my business’ when you decided to pick on a defenseless mare.” My face suddenly darkened as I pulled him up and slammed his face back down into the floor. “Thugs like you make me sick. Alcohol is no excuse to let all your stupid come out to play.” His two buddies just stood there in shock, staring with wide eyes.

“Goddesses damn you, you- AHHH!“ I twisted his arm upwards. “You son of a-“ He screamed as I punched him in the back of the head with my other hoof.

“You know, I’m no brain surgeon or anything, but it might not be the best idea to insult the mare pinning you to the frickin’ floor,” I said raising an eyebrow. “But what do I know? Please, continue if you must. Tonight’s my night off and I’ve got nowhere to be.”

“Help me, you IDIOTS!” he wailed at the two stallions who had remained frozen in place during all of this.

“H-hey, yeah,” the one with the black fur and white mane said nodding. “We… we’re still bigger than her!”

And heeeeeere we go.

Black Fur stepped in front of me and tried to throw a punch at my face, but I craned my neck out of the way, grabbed his hoof with both of mine as it whizzed past my head, and flipped him over my shoulder. He fell on his back with a crash as the third stallion, (I named him Blue Unicorn,) levitated a bar stool to slam into me. I dodged it, grabbed it in my own magic, and threw it right back at him, smacking him in the face and causing him to hit his head on the bar before slumping to the ground.

The brown stallion was trying to crawl his way to the door, but even walking at my slowest pace, I was way faster than him. I walked over, picked him up by the back of his neck, and held him in front of the grey mare.

“Now, I think you have an apology to make,” I said holding him with one hoof as his legs dangled on the ground underneath him.

“Like hell!” he laughed. I shook him back and forth like a rag doll and then brought him to my eye level, my face deadly serious.

“Look, there are two ways this is gonna go,” I said, my horn glowing as I let go of him. He fell to the floor and then flew back up in front of me as I held him with magic. “One…” I punched him in the nose, talking a little louder so I could be heard over his wails. “… you’re gonna apologize to this young mare for being a total asshole and I’ll let you crawl out of here with none of your limbs broken. Or two…” I punched him again. “… I keep punching until the bar closes in… uhhh…” I yelled to Bar Mare, who was ducked down behind the bar. “Hey, how long until the bar closes?”

“About four hours,” she said peaking her head above it for a brief second before ducking back down again.

“Thanks!” I yelled back to her, then looked back at the dude I was levitating. “… four hours. I’ll keep punching until the bar closes in four hours. So... what’s it gonna be, buddy?” I dropped him from my magical grip and caught him by the back of his neck with the same hoof that held him before.

“I-I-I’m sorry! I’m SORRY!” he stuttered as I held him in front of the grey mare.

“Are you really, really sorry?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Y-YEAH! O-oh yeah, I’m really, REALLY sorry!” he yelled desperately.

“Cool,” I said tossing him towards the door. “Now you three better beat it before I change my mind.” The three thugs stumbled, crawled, and limped out the door as fast as they could, the door shutting behind them.

I heard one of them mutter “What a freak!” under their breath as they scurried out.

I looked back at the crowd on the dance floor. Everypony was still dancing. Nopony was even looking at us.

Geez. Must be some great cider they’re serving tonight if none of them even noticed us. Thank the Goddesses for noise-cancelling spells.

I glanced down at the grey mare on the ground, who looked like she might burst into tears at any moment. I leaned down, extending a hoof to her.

“Are you okay, miss?” I asked, smiling. She stared up at me with those wide eyes, then rubbed them with a hoof.

“… I… why, y-yes… I’b alright, thankoo,” she slurred accepting my hoof. She tried to pull herself up, but toppled over. I snaked my hooves under her arms and held her to me, catching her before she fell.

“Woah there, I gotcha,” I said. Our chests pressed together as I lifted her up and helped her sit on another stool. “Now, what’s your name? You got anypony I can call to come get you?”

“Umm… I… neh, neh…” she said rubbing the side of her head.

“Soooo that’s a no?”

“… Skarnf…”

“Sorry, wah?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Meh skarnf… issit okay?”

This is gonna be a long night.
_________________________________________________________________________

"Vinyl Scratch… I love you."

What… That was... Where’d Octy's voice come from?

Everything was hazy. Dark and hazy. I didn’t know where I was or what was going on. Just then, I started to see a little light forming in my vision. I was beginning to see more and more as the world came back to me. I was seeing colors and shapes and…

I was kissing Octy. I was… kissing Octy. What the hell kind of lottery did I win?

My heart struggled to keep up with my body as our lips pressed together. Her eyes were shut as she leaned up to kiss me, quite passionately I might add. Finally the kiss broke and I stared down at her, my mouth agape, trying to piece together what had happened. I was on top of her, pinning her to a bed. My shades weren’t on my face anymore. My left eye felt sore and my head was pounding like crazy.

"O-Octy?"

"Oh Vinyl," she said woozily. "You're back to normal..."

Back to normal? What does she-

Her hoof had a gash on it. There were bite marks on her neck. I tasted blood in my mouth and gasped in horror. Her blood.

"Octy!"

"Oh yes, I think I might have been bitten by this beautiful mare," she explained deliriously. "Would you mind grabbing some bandages?"

"Hold on! I'll save you!"

"Oh yesh, jus' some antiseptic. I'd hate for it to get...infected...I think I'm gonna pass out now, if you'll excuse me..."

I galloped over to the medicine cabinet, opened it, grabbed everything I’d need, and rushed back to her. Dampening a cloth with hydrogen peroxide, I pressed it to her neck.

Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit.

That’s all I could say over and over in my head. I couldn’t stop to think of creative curses; I had to make sure Octy was okay.

“Octy? Octy, can you hear me?" No response. "Octavia! Octavia, please!” Still nothing. I took the roll of bandages and gently wrapped it around her neck, covering the newly disinfected wound. I took the rag and repeated the process on her hoof, cursing myself. I was Clean Up Crew for The Inner Circle, but I never dreamed I’d have to be Clean Up Crew for myself.

I felt like total crap. Worse than total crap.

Picking her up in my arms, I brought her further up on the bed and set her down so she could rest her head on the pillow. I picked up the damp washcloth I’d taken from the bathroom and placed it on her forehead, beginning to feel the tears run down my cheeks.

How could I let this happen? I'm so weak... You’re so weak, Vinyl!

I looked around the room to see what other damage had been done. A vanity mirror lay on the ground near the door, smashed to pieces. I owed her a new one. Her door had been completely ripped off its hinges and now laid on the ground in front of the frame. I’d get her a new door, too. Her closet door looked pretty banged up, the handle sort of dangling from it. Not to mention the blood stains we’d have to get out of her comforter. Hell, I guess I just owed her a new room.

Looking back over at Octy, I ran a hoof down her cheek. With her eyes shut and her face relaxed, she was starting to look like her old self again. She looked so peaceful. Well, she would've looked peaceful if not for the bandages wrapped around her neck and hoof. They kept reminding me of how she looked a few minutes ago, so I couldn't focus on how she looked now.

I didn’t deserve to be near her. I got off the bed and sat in the corner of the room, tucking my knees into my chest.

She could’ve died. I could’ve killed her. I was going to kill her…

I couldn’t remember anything. It was like I’d blacked out after Octy had spit out the blood into the sink. Couldn’t remember anything after that. I wondered how long it’d been since then, but I couldn’t go find a clock then. I couldn’t do much of anything except sit in that corner and bawl my eyes out.

How could I face her again? How could I speak to her after what I’d done? What would she do when she woke up? Would she gather an angry mob to beat down my door?

“What’ve I done? … What’ve I dooo-huh-huuuuuuun?” I sobbed into my arm, feeling the fur getting wetter by the second.

I’d have to move away. Far away. I couldn’t let The Inner Circle know that she knew. Would she keep my secret? If I promised to leave and never bother her again? I got an empty feeling inside me thinking of living life without Octy. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to.

Guess you should’ve thought of that before you tried to murder her.

I felt sick and miserable and worried and ashamed all at once. I’d never felt so terrible before. One instance came close to feeling this shitty, but it couldn’t even compare to what I was feeling at that moment.

I wished I’d never met her. I wished that I wasn’t in the club that night. That somepony else had saved her instead of me. That I would just continue to think that all Canterlot ponies are snooty and rude. That way, I never would’ve hurt her. That way… I wouldn’t have to feel what life is like without her.

"Vinyl?... Vinyl, are you alright?" Her voice was no more than a whisper.

I slowly turned to face her. Octy was still lying down on the bed. She looked back at me with an exhausted, but curious look on her face. My eyes wandered to her neck bandage.

Am I alright? Am I alright!?

"No! I'm not alright, Octy! I just bit my best friend!" There was silence for a few seconds while I let out a few more sobs into my arm.

"Am I vampire now?" she asked cautiously. I sniffed and shook my head.

"No…”

B-but… but now… now…

“But now my best friend hates me!"

"Vinyl, I don't hate you!" she said, sitting up.

"I just lost control!" I continued, sniffing. "I tasted the blood and I thought of you, and how… how delicious you tasted and I was so thirsty!" More sobbing.

"You know Vinyl, I would have let you bite me sooner if you really needed a drink," she quietly joked, grinning at me. Though she was trying to lighten the mood, I couldn’t let myself off the hook that easily.

"I just snapped you know?"

"I understand."

"I mean, your best friend's trying to kill you—"

"Hey, I wasn't trying to kill you per se..."

"I'm a monste-he-he-herrr!" I sobbed, burying my face into my arm yet again.

"No! No Vinyl Scratch, don't say that!" she snapped. I heard the bed creak softly as she stood up.

I’m a monster trying to fit in with normal ponies. What am I even doing?

I glanced up to see her lying next to me on the floor. I flinched and scooted my back as far into the corner as I could.

Then she slapped me. In the face. Octy slapped me in the face.

Wow, 6 months. That’s gotta be some sort of new record. Only takes most mares one or two months to slap me.

I looked at her, my mouth slightly agape, totally stunned.

"Ow, Octy, that kinda hu—"

She slapped me again.

"I think you've made your point," I sniffed, rubbing my cheek.

One more slap. I gritted my teeth and touched my stinging face.

Should’ve seen that coming…

"Repeat after me, Vinyl Scratch. You are not a monster."

"I'm…” I shuddered, trying to get the sentence out, "… not a monster."

"Good." She smiled at me. That beautiful, wonderful smile. The smile I’d almost taken out of existence forever. My eyes welled up with tears again.

"I'm just an awful best frie-he-he-heeend!" I buried my face back into my hooves. I expected her to agree. For her to say “Yes, Vinyl, you are an awful friend and you should vacate the premises immediately before I call the authorities.” She should hate me. She should never want to speak to me again.

I slowly lifted my head to look at her; Octy’s face was sympathetic, her eyes gentle.

"Come here,” she said softly as she wrapped her hooves around me and pulled me into her embrace. She kissed my cheek and stroked my mane, soothing me with soft shushes.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I sobbed over and over, resting my head against her shoulder. "I'm sorry..."

She squeezed me. We were so close. It was so warm. And I was so tired. I felt myself starting to drift off to sleep, my eyelids drooping.

"...'m sorry," I mumbled one last time.

"I know,” I heard her say before I nodded off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

Hey, dudes, hope you're having an awesome night/morning/whatever :) Just wanted to say sorry if the flashback formatting confused you at all. I wanted to have it all be in italics, but with the amount of dialogue being said and how some things had to be italicized and blah blah, I figured I'd just keep it like the way it appears. Easier on the eyes this way, too. Not a fan of reading tons of italicized stuff.

Anyways, that's all I have to say. Peace.