The Melody of Revenge is Bittersweet
By: Fimbulvinter
A/N: This is a companion story to my earlier work ‘Tugging at my undead heartstrings’. Knowledge of that story is not required to understand this one, but is recommended for maximum effect. Title inspired from ideas by onsholo.
I suppose you want to hear my story, don’t you. About how I turned from a happy care free little filly into the perfectly sculpted weapon of vengeance I am today.
Well then, sit back and relax, I’m in a charitable mood tonight. So here it is. Here is my story.
Like so many of these stories, mine begins on a dark and stormy night…
“Oh papa, I love it,” Octavia cried out, running over and hugging her father's legs. He had given her a new present, a toy cello for her to play with; a perfect scale model for her to practice on until she was big enough to play the real thing.
Octavia was just a little filly, only just old enough to start to go to school. Her father, Concerto, had enrolled her at the finest musical school in canterlot. Ever since she had been old enough to walk and talk, Octavia had wanted to follow in her parents hoof steps. Concerto was the conductor for the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra. Her mother, Allegro played the first chair violin. Every night they would talk about the orchestra, about what music would be played next, and about how one day Octavia would join them in the pit, as an equal part of the Ensemble.
“Now, Octavia, it’s time for all young fillies to go to bed. Have you seen any?” Concerto asked as he ran a hoof through Octavia’s dark mane, a trait she shared with him, her coat and eyes were all from his wife, Allegro.
“No, Papa, none here,” Octavia laughed back, trying desperately to get her mane back into some semblance of order.
“Your mother will be back from rehearsal soon, you need to go to bed. Will you be alright with the thunder and lightning outside?”
“Yes, Papa, I’m not some little filly anymore, I won’t be scared of the lightning, but could you check my closet for monsters?” Octavia asked her father. Concerto nodded and walked with his daughter down the hallway to her room. As Octavia climbed into her bed, Concerto made a big scene of opening her closet and looking inside.
“Are there any monster in here tonight?” he called out into the closet. No voice answered him. He returned to his daughter, now snug under her covers.
“Check under the bed next.”
Concerto got down on to his knees and looked under the bed as instructed. “No, no monsters here either; looks like you are safe for another night, now off to sleep with you.” He lent in and gave Octavia a kiss on her forehead before going back out into the hallway, switching off the lights as he did so.
Octavia snuggled into her warm blankets and soft mattress, listening to the patter of rain on her window. Tomorrow, her parents were taking her to see one of her favourite performers at the concert hall.
The soft murmur of voices floated down the hall. 'Mother must have gotten back early,' she through lazily, her brain and body on the edge of sleep. It wasn’t until the sharp crash of breaking glass that Octavia noticed something was wrong. There was a new voice, male that wasn’t her fathers. Nopony was meant to be around this late, so Octavia, as a curious little filly did the most natural thing in the world; she went investigating.
Carefully, she opened her door, making sure not to squeak the hinges and walked out into the hallway towards the main living room. Up head she could see her father talking to an unknown pegasus. He was all black and had a red cross as his cutie mark. Soon Octavia was close enough to catch the tail end of the conversation.
“…made your call, now could you please leave. I’m expecting my wife back shortly, it would not do to have you still around when she gets back.”
“Of course, if you want me to leave, it will. My apologies once again about the water glass, most clumsy of me” Replied the black pegasus. “But first, I will need to quench my thirst, you offered me a drink and I am going to collect.”
Octavia watched in stunned silence as the pegasus shoved her father onto the couch, and wacked him with the back of one hoof. Walking up slowly, the pegasus slowly lowered his jaws to Concerto’s neck and bit down. Moans and obscene sucking sounds reached Octavia’s ears. Concerto attempted to struggle, but was unable to budge his assailant.
Concerto seemed to notice his daughter standing in the hallway for the first time. “Honey, don’t watch, run and hide,” he gurgled out, his airways starting to constrict as he went into shock.
Octavia ran and hid under one of the other chairs, crouching down and hoping that whoever this pegasus was, he wasn’t really hurting her papa.
That hope died in the little filly when her father’s body rolled onto the floor, his eyes glazed over, drips of red falling from his neck onto the carpet. A moment later, the face of the pegasus appeared between Octavia and her father, eyes looking right at her. Two bloodstained fangs could be seen in his mouth, his tongue slowly dragging its way across his mouth, licking off the blood.
“Ohh, filly. Such a succulent treat. Lucky for you, I’ve already had my fill. Maybe next time. Ta ta, little filly, don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
With that the pegasus got up and walked out the front door, flying off into the rain.
Octavia slowly clambered out from under the chair and ran over to the still body of her father. She could not find any heartbeat and his chest did not move as it would if he were breathing.
“Papa? PAPA. WAKE UP PAPA!” Octavia cried out, shoving her hooves into his body, trying to get him to make any kind of movement, something to indicate that this was just a game. Nothing happened, and slowly Octavia began to realise that it was no game. She may have been young but she was not stupid. She knew what death was, she just never though that it would happen to her parents.
“No, Papa, you can’t be dead. Remember all the things we were going to do, we were going to go to the concert hall tomorrow. You promised.” Octavia sobbed into the neck of her deceased father, the last remnants of his blood staining her grey coat.
Octavia lost track of how long she had remained there, holding the cooling body of her father. The next thing she heard was the sound of a case hitting the ground, and she looked up to see her mother, Allegro standing in the doorway, her mane and grey coat soaking wet.
Allegro’s eyes were focused on the body of her husband, and the sight of her daughter hugging him tightly, whimpering to herself. She just stood there for a moment, her brain trying in vain to process what it was that she was looking at. Eventually it caught up to the scene and she ran back outside, screaming for the police.
The police arrived to the scene to find a mare huddled up outside the house, rocking back and fourth, and a little filly hugging a corpse in the main room.
Allegro was sedated and taken away to the hospital, she did not even seem to notice the ponies that tended to her, offering no resistance to the drugs they pumped into her.
Detectives tried to get a statement from Octavia, but all she would say was that it was a monster that looked like a pegasus, that it had fangs and bit him. Eventually Octavia was sent off to the hospital to be with her mother while the police investigated the scene. A forensic pathologist did confirm that the body of Concerto had been exsanguinated, but could not find any obvious wounds, just a pair of what looked like bug bites on his neck.
Octavia awoke in her hospital room to the sounds of her mother crying. Allegro was sitting up in her chair, hooves in her face, choking and heaving. Octavia snuffled back her own tears and padded over to her mother, climbing into her lap and hugging her.
“Don’t cry Mommy, it will be ok, won’t it? We still have each other.”
Allegro gave a brittle smile to her daughter that threatened to shatter at a moments notice. “You are right dear, we have each other still. But who could have done this, Concerto never hurt anypony.”
“I saw what happened mommy, he was attacked by a monster that looked like a pegasus.” Octavia had said as much before to others, but they never believed her.
“That’s impossible, sweetie. It must have been something else. Now please, just hold me for a while, ok.” Octavia tightened her grip on her mother, the pair remaining until the doctors came to discharge them.
The next few days passed in a blur. Allegro and Octavia moved into Allegro’s parents house while the police were still investigating into Concerto’s Murder. Her grandparents gave her a respectful amount of space and Allegro tried her best to get life back to normal, returning to the orchestra, but everypony that met her could see the lack of animation behind her eyes. The fire that had made her such a good player; the fact that she was playing for the stallion she loved more than anything, had been extinguished, leaving a hollow shell behind. While her playing was still technically proficient, it lacked passion.
The orchestra requested that she take some time off to sort out her life. Her position would be waiting for her when she returned after a sabbatical.
At home, Octavia watched has her mother retreated further and further into her self, slowly becoming closed off to the outside world. Her attempts to rouse her mother became less and less successful, and eventually stopped working at all. Allegro could spend entire days simply sitting and looking out the window, not moving an inch for hours on end.
The final straw for Allegro came a week after the incident at their home. Two uniformed police officers came to the door of her parent’s house, informing her that they had exhausted every possible lead they had in this case, and that it was going to transferred to a lower priority case bracket, and that they could move back into their own home if they desired.
From that moment on, she rarely even bothered to get out of bed in the mornings. Every morning she would wake up and question why she should even go on living. The only thing left for her in this world was her daughter, and she could not look after her on her own; Concerto had always been the far better parent.
This pattern continued for another two weeks, until one day, Octavia found her mother up and bright and chirpy. “Lets go out, do whatever you want to do today,” she proclaimed loudly.
Octavia squealed in delight. She wanted to go to the park, get some ice cream, go and see the new neighponnese orchestra that had just arrived in town, and have dinner out at her favourite restaurant.
Allegro agreed to it all, and she and Octavia spent the entire day outside in the sun, or in a concert hall listening to music from far off lands. Octavia had the best time she had had in years, her filly glee causing her to not notice that Allegro’s smile disappeared every time she wasn’t looking directly at her.
At dinner, Allegro bought Octavia the largest desert sundae the restaurant offered, and the little filly dug in with gusto. Eventually the day had to come to a close, and Allegro took her daughter back to her parent’s house, stopping Octavia on the front steps before she could open the door and alert her grandparents to her presence.
Octavia turned and saw that the depression that had been clouding Allegro had returned full force. Tears were streaming down the sides of her face.
“Octy, be a good little filly for Gran and Grandpa. Mommy has to go away for a while.” Octavia watched as Allegro backed away from her and ran down the street.
"Mama wait, come back. Where are you going? MAMA?"
Allegro did not stop or turn back. she simply kept running from the sound of her filly, as if the whip of the master was lashing her on.
Two days later, Allegro was found by a neighbour in her house, a half empty bottle of sleeping pills resting on the floor next to her body. A note on the table had been addressed to her daughter. It read ‘Octavia, I am so sorry but I can’t go on like this. Please don’t hate me. Your grandparents will raise you as I am no longer able. Goodbye, my sweet daughter’.
Octavia simply sat in silence as she watched the reaper take not one but both of her parents from her.
Her grandparents did the best job they could do raising a small filly, ensuring that she was fed, loved, and received her education. She was still sent off to Canterlot's music school, but from what they heard she became a severe introvert, not making any friends or interacting with her classmates beyond what was needed for her music.
Every moment Octavia was not in rehearsals, she spent in the library, searching through old books on myth and legend, looking for the monster that had killed her father.
Inside one book darkest creatures on ancient Equestria she found what she was looking for.
“A creature of night, drains the blood of its victims, can be indentified by the presence of a pair of fangs in its mouth. Yes, this is it” Octavia murmured to herself, looking at the title for this creature. “Vampyre. Supposed weaknesses: Silver, Sunlight, Wooden stakes, holy water. Now that I know what you are, you damned creature, I will come for you, and I will have my vengeance.”
12 years later
Octavia had graduated at the top of her class, but had declined to take any positions with the various orchestras or ensembles that had made her offers, claiming that she had some personal business to take care of first. Nopony knew what this business was, few ponies had ever come to know her close enough to consider calling her friend, and they had never heard her speak of any personal business that was outstanding.
But that was fine with Octavia, as long as everypony was still speculating about what it could be, they would never guess the real reason.
Ever since discovering what had killed her father, she had dedicated her life outside of school to training and hunting down that monster, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not blame it directly for the death of her mother. Allegro had been weak, and had chosen the cowards way out, taking her own life. Octavia was different; she had been strengthened by what had happened - her resolve alone could shatter the strongest of armour beneath it.
Playing a cello had helped her to develop very strong foreleg muscles, and daily trips to the gym ensured that the rest of her body was equally as strong. While she kept quite modest about it, Octavia had a physique that many professional athletes would kill for. Not an ounce of wasted fat remained anywhere on her frame, only pure sleek muscle. While earth ponies were naturally built for strength, Octavia had taken it to a whole new level.
In addition to her musical playing, Octavia had joined several groups dedicated to the teaching and training of martial arts. Her grandparents had been initially disapproving of such a pursuit, claiming that it was un-lady like, but had warmed up as they saw just how much Octavia was enjoying her self there, coming out of her shell and making some friends. The ones that she enjoyed the most were the fencing and duelling classes, in which she had to learn how to stand and move while only on her back hooves. Mastering that skill, Octavia had quickly become the finest blade in the club, wining competition after competition.
Hidden away behind a false panel in her bedroom closet, Octavia now kept a selection of weapons she had bought or acquired through shady deals in back alleys. Swords made of sterling silver, wooden stakes, even a vial of what was claimed to be water blessed by the Princess herself.
With graduation out of the way, it was time to get down to work.
Within her studio practice room, Octavia had several hidden items: maps, newspaper clippings, police reports she had managed to steal. All of the reports and clippings were of a similar theme, they are pertained to murders where the victim was found to lack a noticeable amount of their blood, or where no body had been found at all. For several years, Octavia had been marking these attacks on maps of the major cities around Equestria, looking for patterns or clues to where such an attack may happen next. If she wanted to find her vampony, she would need information, the kind that only another vampony could provide.
Here in Canterlot, there was a pattern. Every few days, a pony in the lower class areas would vanish. No body would be found, and seemingly no links between the ponies could be established. Police were baffled, there was no preference for pony type, age, gender, the entire thing appeared random.
Octavia had figured it out though. Who or whatever was behind this was operating on a very simple mathematical system, each variable: type, age, gender, location was being governed by the use of a Fibonacci number. By tracking down the start of this pattern, and assuming that the killer had started from zero, Octavia had managed to deduce a possible location for the attack tonight.
If she was right, it was going to be a unicorn, female in the old labourers district.
Strapping on her swords and stakes, Octavia put a rather old and lumpy dress over the top to hide the protrusions of her equipment from casual eyes. It would not do to be discovered by some well meaning pony before she could even get started.
The labourers district was not far from her grandparents house, and covered a fairly small number of streets. The more affluent areas of Canterlot were periodically carving out chunks of the district in order to support their own growing girth. Right now this did not matter to Octavia, a smaller area would be a help while searching.
Octavia started moving around the district, keeping to the back alleys and shadows as much as was possible. She didn’t meet anypony while on the prowl and began to wonder if she had been mistaken about this; there was a significant number of ifs based on ifs based on ifs involved in coming here. As the hours began to run together, with no form of activity, Octavia began to consider calling it in for tonight when she saw another pony going exactly the same things as she was, skulking in shadows, clearly looking for a pony themselves.
Bingo thought Octavia, now creeping forward to follow this new pony, a stallion by the look of him. A muted grey-blue coat and black dyed mane kept him almost hidden within the shadows he moved through, but Octavia had got a lock on him, nothing short of divine intervention would keep her from him.
Moving ahead of the stallion, Octavia saw another mare, though an Earth Pony like herself. The stallion was clearly stalking her. Damn, slightly out. Still at least I found him at all Octavia though to herself, reaching under her skirt and pulling the zip down. The garment fell to the ground around her legs, and she stashed in off to the side of the street.
The mare appeared not to notice the stallion stalking her, she moved unconcerned throughout the district, stopping to window shop at a few stores fronts before making what would be her fatal mistake, entering a narrow alley, with only the two main entrances at either end. The blue stallion quickly entered in behind her, not bothering to look around to see if anypony had seen him. Octavia waited for a moment before entering herself.
In the alley, the stallion was almost upon the mare, still ignorant of the danger just behind her. Octavia knew she had to act fast, if she wanted to save the mare and get her information.
“HEY, YOU” she called out loudly, picking up and throwing the vial of holy water at the stallion. The vial sailed through the air, shattering directly onto the pony's back, and showering him with water. For a moment, all looked at the wet patch on his back, before he shrugged and refocused on Octavia.
“Ok then, you die first,” he called out, a pair of fangs appearing from within his mouth. The mare further down the alley screamed at the sight of them.
“Bring it on, bloodsucker,” Octavia replied, withdrawing her sword from its sheath, rising up to her back hooves and charging. So much for Holy Water. Hope they weren’t also wrong about silver.
Octavia and the stallion charged, the latter acting feral, snapping his jaws at the former. Octavia on the other hoof appeared calm. Steady, you have practiced twelve years for this moment, you know you can take him.
The stallion was strong, at least as strong as she was, a bit faster as well. The pair danced around the alley way, trying to slice or bite at each other. One thing quickly became clear, the vampony had little experience in actual combat, his moves were jerky and reflexive, indicative of his normal desire to take easy prey from behind, never a pony that could fight back.
Octavia was in her element. For all his speed and strength, the vampony was unable to get a clean bite, nicking her a few times, but recieving a slice with the sword for hit trouble. Each slice drew fresh blood from his body, and the cuts appeared not to be healing effectivley. Soon the vampony was slicked in his own blood, droplets running down his legs, staining the cobblestone of the ground.
Octavia felt she was in control of the fight, until the stallion got lucky. Octavia lunged forward and slipped on the blood slick, sending her sprawling to the ground, her sword sliding across to the other side.
Sensing victory, the stallion sauntered over to her, grinning toothily. A bloodbag with some fight in her, that was something he had not had for a long time, so very different from his normal meals. the streaming cuts and gashes causing a rising hunger within him.
Octavia felt him reach up and nuzzle against her throat. Do what she could, she could not dislodge him from on top of her, his limbs were like iron bands, holding her in place. The tips of his fangs were now scraping across her neck, looking for the ideal place to sink themselves.
With a quick pinch, the two points bit into her neck, and Octavia hissed at the pain. The stallion appeared to be fully entranced with sucking out her blood, and loosened his grip upon her arms, the wounds upon his body healing over at an accelerated rate. Wedged between her and his chest, a growing appendage poked its way up between them
“Well, well. look who wants to come out and play. I think I know just the place for it” the stallion indicated his quickly growing member.
Oh, goddess. He is going to rape me first. Octavia’s mind entered overdrive as she searched for a way out.
As the stallion reared up, getting ready to claim his prize, Octavia did the only this she could think of. She slammed a hoof down on the top of her stake, forcing the tip up, wedging it between the ground and the flesh of the vamps belly. With no forward support, he had no option but to fall down on it, the stake driving deep into his side.
The stallion fell off of Octavia, screaming and clutching at the stake in his flesh. While not fatal, it was clearly extremely painful for him. Octavia took the moment to shove a cloth to her neck, hoping to staunch the flow of blood, and bent over to retrieve her sword from the alley floor.
Re-armed, Octavia moved back over to the wounded vampony and pointed her sword directly at his heart. She was pleased to notice the sounds and smell of burning coming from even the mere touch of the metal on his flesh.
The stallion noticed it too, the stake in his side now the least of his concerns.
“So what now, lady. You going to kill me?” he spat out, a bloody mixture hitting the ground.
“Possibly, but first I need something from you. I’m looking for one of you. Pegasus, black mane and coat, red cross on his flank. Where can I find him?”
The vampony shook his head “I don’t know nothing about that; what? You think that we all know each other or something? Attend a vamponies monthly meeting?”
“You have to know something,” Octavia called out, shoving the tip of her sword into the stallions shoulder. The smell of burning flesh intensified, as did the screams. That nopony had come to investigate said a lot about the nature of the district.
“I don’t know anything. All I wanted was to drink that bitches blood, then you had to come along and mess it all up.”
Octavia did not believe him for a second, it was his nature to lie.
"A little more pain should soften you up. Tell me, how good is your ability to heal? Can you replace a lost limb?" Octavia took her sword and sliced off the stallions forehoof, a new stream of blood gushing out, staining her hooves and chest in red, the detached part of the limb dissolving almost at once.
"AAARRRRGGGG, you bucking bitch, you cut off my leg" the stallion cried out, clutching his now severed appendage to his good hoof.
"It you want it to stop, tell me what I want to know," Octavia demanded, dragging the silver across the vamps chest, leaving a burn mark from tip to tail.
"I already told you, I don't know who you are looking for. Most of us make it a point not to know who the others are.”
"I don't believe you. Tell me, you seem to like those fangs of yours. What would happen if I were to remove them, would they grow back?" Octavia pulled out a pair of pliers from her equipment belt, making a show of snapping the prongs together several times
The vampony covered his mouth with his one good leg. Octavia sighed and picked up her sword again. "Your choice: Your fangs, or your arm then your fangs. All this can stop, you know. Tell me what I want and I will be gone from here.”
"I can't tell you anything I don't know, you bucking psycho, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you.”
Octavia was devastated, her one plan for avenging her father was going down the tube faster than she could keep track. “Then I have no further use for you. Equestria will be cleansed of your filth, and another family will be spared the pain I had to suffer, but first, I'm going to enjoy this"
Octavia moved in with one swift blow, dislocating the vamponies lower jaw, exposing his fangs. With a swift motion she clamped down with the pliers and ripped out one of the pair of fangs. A fresh torrent of blood streamed from the new wound, coating Octavia tools and hooves in the red ooze. the vampony howled, the loss of blood sapping his strength. Octavia extracted the second fang, leaving the stallion with two gaping holes in his mouth.
In his thrashing, the vampony managed to cover Octavias face in his blood. Catching a shot of herself in a window, Octavia saw that she almost now had a new coat colour, splotches of both her own blood and the vamponies mixing to create a horrifing war paint upon her visage. With the pliers in her hooves she looked like some kind of demented dentist. In a detatched part of her mind, she decided that she rather liked her new colour.
Time now to end this game. This one either does not have, or will not share the information I want. Time to do the world a favour and purge this creature.
Octavia lifted her sword and brought it down quickly, slicing the stallions head clean from his shoulder. Within moments the body dissolved into a pool of blood, not even the bones or organs surviving, her stake rolling free from the mess. The head quickly followed it.
The other mare, who had been silent through out the fight now picked up a ear piercing cry herself. Octavia turned to her, a withering glare silencing the hysterical Earth Pony. “You didn’t see anything here tonight; Nothing happened, understand?” The mare nodded frantically, eager to do anything to appease this blood stained lunatic and prevent her from going on a fresh rampage.
“Then get out of here, now.” The mare got herself up and fled the alley. Octavia sighed to herself and started to clean her sword on the cloth she had brought with her, tonight had been a bust and she was back a square one, the only good thing she had done was to rid the world of one parasite
“Impressive,” a deep masculine voice came from the other end of the alley.
Octavia spun around, weapons up and ready, looking for anything that may be approaching her.
“Peace, I mean you no harm.” Octavia spotted the voice. A stallion obscured by a large cloak, with the rising moon directly behind him, rendering his features all but invisible.
“I have been watching you for some time now, Octavia Philharmonica. Your methods for tracking and dealing with that vampony were, how do I say ‘Creative’.
“Who are you?” Octavia called to the shadow stallion.
“Who I am does not matter, what matters is the organisation I represent. We know who you are and what you are doing. Tonight proved that you have talent. If you are interested, we can offer you assistance, resources, training, and can help you to find the one who murdered your father. In return you would help us to track down and eliminate any other supernatural threats like him that we come across.”
Octavia lowered her weapons slightly. “And if I refuse?”
“Then you never hear from us again, and you can go back to your search alone. If you are interested, then tomorrow come to the palace and request an audience with Princess Celestia. Your name has been added to the list of approved visitors.”
The stallion picked up and chucked a small business card down the alley towards Octavia.
“Present this card to her, and all will be revealed. But be forewarned. Once you start down this road, there is no turning back.”
Octavia moved to pick up the card. On it was nothing but an image of Celestia’s sun, done up in silver. She turned back to the stallion, but he had vanished from the alley. Rushing out to the end, Octavia found no trace of him in any direction.
Octavia looked back down at the card. Assuming that the pony was for real, this could be the break she had been looking for.
The next morning found Octavia entering the palace grounds. After a night of contemplation she had decided to follow this through. The stallion had said she would be killing vamponies, and every one she killed might spare some other family from the pain she had experienced. That alone made following up on this worthwhile.
All the royal guards in the palace seemed to have been alerted to her arrival, as none of them challenged her on the way to the throne room. The only pony who showed any interest in her was the royal chancellor, and even he was only interested in who she was.
“Name?” he called out, not looking up from his scrolls.
“Octavia Philharmonica.”
“Very good. The princess will see you in half an hour.” That was it, the only query Octavia faced while attempting to gain entry to the princess.
The half hour wait had Octavia becoming more and more on edge.
What do you say to a princess, and what does she know about vamponies and my father? What if this was all just some prank? No get a hold of yourself, you were told to go here for a reason.
Slowly the time passed and the chancellor came out. “Octavia Philharmonica, the princess will see you now.”
Octavia walked into the throne room, and saw the living deity of the sun sitting in her throne, a somewhat bored expression on her face, as the last attendee left the room, folders thick with governmental proposals.
At the sight of a regular pony approaching, Celestia perked up significantly.
“Welcome, my little pony. To what purpose do you come before me today?” Celestia asked, her voice as majestic as her multi hued mane.
“This is the reason princess,” Octavia withdrew the card from a neck pouch and showed it to Celestia.
“I see,” Celestia responded regally. “Guards, leave us.”
The two royal guards smartly saluted and left the throne room, leaving only Octavia in the room with Celestia.
The princess's tone changed at once; no longer was it the kind regal voice of a benevolent member of the monarchy. It switched to the harsher voice of a military leader, one used to giving out orders and being obeyed.
“So that was you, Well, miss Philharmonica, you have come seeking entry into my select group of elite ponies, have you?”
Octavia nodded, not entirely sure what the princess was talking about.
“If you were given that card, it means that a recruiter saw something of potential in you. So tell me, why have you come here today?”
“I have come to find the creature that murdered my father and to take my vengeance upon him” Octavia replied smoothly. Clearly the time for subterfuge was long past. She could speak plain here.
“Then you have come to the right place. That card grants you the right to join the Monks of the Silver Sun, enforcers of my will among the supernatural threats of Equestria. Know that such a commitment is for life. Once you join, you may never leave."
Octavia had suspected as much, based on her conversation last night, but she had made her choice. She had spent the last 12 years of her life with the goal of avenging her father, and now she was being offered the ability to do just that. She was going to take this opportunity for everything it was worth.
“If your goal is killing vamponies, I’m in,” Octavia replied firmly.
“In that case, kneel.” Octavia fell to her knees, commanded by a irresistible force to do so.
“Octavia Philharmonica, as Regent of the Silver Sun, I herby name you acolyte of the order. Raise your right hoof.” Octavia did so, watching as Celestia touched her horn, leaving behind a glowing glyph, which quickly faded away.
“Now come with me and meet the other ponies who like you have dedicated themselves to the protection of Equestria.” The princess led Octavia through her chambers and into a training room, several other ponies at work or combing over documents.
Three ponies, two pegasus and one unicorn were present. All were coming over to meet the princess and the new pony by her side. Several others were milling around or sparring together and didn't cease their activities.
“My champions, gather around. We welcome a new member to this select group. Make her welcome and begin to train her. She has proven herself a capable tracker and combatant already. Octavia, these are some the Silver Suns; Sling Lock, Blast Radius and Cloakshape. They are my enforcers, and will train you in their deadly arts. Learn from them well, Equestria has a great need for ponies of your skills and talents, even if it doesn't know it.”
Celestia turned and left the chamber, leaving Octavia alone with the three ponies. One of the pegasus was jumping up and down in excitement, grinning like a maniac. The other one had a far more stoic expression.
“So, newblood, who are you and what did you do to get your invite. Those things aren’t just given out to anypony,” the stoic pegasus, Sling Lock asked.
Octavia introduced herself to the others, spelling out the tale of her father, mother and how she tracked down and killed the vampony the previous night. It was the first time she had told her tale in full to anypony, and as she did so, Octavia felt a weight slowly remove from her chest. These were ponies who could not judge her, who had experiences similar to hers, and would help her in her quest.
The bouncy pegasus was in a full blown state of excitement at the prospect of a new member.
“HEY, HEY, HEY, OCTAVIA, YOU REALLY DID THAT ALL ON YOUR OWN? WOW, COOL,” she shouted, top of her lungs.
“Blast, quiet down would you? We don’t all want to become as deaf as you are.” The unicorn, Cloakshape called out from across the room, a hoof raised up to his ears. He turned to Octavia. “Don’t mind Blast Radius, she is just a little bit over the top when she gets excited, which is always.”
“So who are all of you, how did you all get here?” Octavia asked the assembled group.
The calm pegasus started off. “I’m Sling Lock, overall group leader, and my speciality is projectile weapons, especially bolas, great for entanglements, and slowing down fleeing prey.”
“I’M BLAST RADIUS” the other pegasus screamed out.
“Don’t mind her,” Sling Lock said calmly. “She handles demolitions and heavy ordinance. Unfortunately that line of work had rendered her somewhat deaf. Still nopony alive knows blasting matter like she does, even if she seems like a joker most of the time.”
"WATCH THIS" Blast called out, shaking her mane, a number of lit firecrackers somehow appearing from within, a staccato of cracks and pops following as they went off.
"We've never quite figured out how she does that, and she seems to have almost any type and amount of explosive stored on her body somewhere. We've never asked where she keeps them."
“And I’m Cloakshape,” came a voice directly behind Octavia. She spun and looked, not seeing anypony there. Faint laughter echoed through out the hall.
“Cloak, stop teasing her already, no point in freaking out the new talent just yet,” Sling’s stern voice cut through the air.
“Spoilsport. Ugh, fine.” The air before Octavia shimmered, and a unicorn appeared, dissolving out of the air.
“Cloakshape, infiltration and recon specialist. If you need a stealth kill, or inside job, I’m your stallion.” Octavia recognised his voice from the alley. While it had been distorted slightly the previous night, the intonation was almost exact.
“You were the one from last night?” Octavia asked him.
“Yes, I was. My talent was how I could vanish so quickly when you came looking.”
“Enough about all that. Octavia, you mentioned a vampony killed your parents, can you describe him? give us as much detail as you can. We have records on many known or suspected vamponies, he may be in our files somewhere.”
Octavia described the pegasus as well as she could remember; black coat, red cross. Sling Lock searched through a number of files while she did so, sorting through photos and physical descriptions, until finally only one remained in his possible list.
“Is this him?” Sling Lock showed Octavia a grainy photo of a solid black pegasus stallion, a cross evident as his cutie-mark.
Octavia nodded. “That’s him, alright.”
“Rest assured, you will have a chance to settle your score with him before too long. I can guarantee you that.”
Octavia took one last long look at the photo, committing every blurred pixel to her memory. Just you wait, I’ve got the weapons, I’ve got the training, and a team united in a common cause. One day I will find you, and you will rue the day you chose to come into my families house…
And that my dear companion is that. That is my story, of how I became the mare I am today. All it took was father’s murder and mothers suicide to strip away any concepts of restraint or nobility. To me there is no distinction between a rogue vampony and one who abides by the laws of this country, they are savages who must be dealt with in kind. I have taken the vengeance I have so deeply craved upon the one who shattered my family, his undead existance was ended by my hoof, but that is not enough. As long as there exists one vampony still out there in the world, my blade shall thirst for its blood, no matter whose protection they hide behind...
