Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

Well, I’m back writing again, after a very interesting 18th birthday party for a friend of mine. It ended with us almost setting a tree on fire, a friend of mine got a broken collarbone, the friend responsible for that managed to mess up his ankle a little later. (karma, bitch!) But yeah, I am going to be featuring an OC, made by a friend, and since it is not a commonly used character, I can get away with guesswork. So yeah, that’s about it. Oh, and I lost a bet with a friend of mine, you shall find out what the terms were later in the chapter.

=================Chapter 7: Getting To Know Each Other=================

“So,” Vinyl began, snapping John out of his trance. “Twilight tells me you came from another world. Tell me, what kind of work did you do there?”

John was prepared for this kind of question, but he was a little distracted at the moment. They were being followed. He knew so, his infallible soldier sense told him so, and it had never been wrong even once.

“I, uh…” looking up at a cloud confirmed his suspicions. There was a red Pegasus stallion with a turquoise and black striped mane staring down at them from on top of a cloud. John could see him in his peripheral vision. But the second John looked up at the cloud, he pulled his head behind the cloud. This had been going on for some time now, and John was getting a little annoyed. But he was distracted once again by Vinyl. “Helloooo? Equestria to John? You there?”

He turned his attention back to her. “We are being watched.”

She immediately looked nervous. “How do you know?”

“It has to do with what I used to do in the human world, like you asked. I’ll explain when we get to your house.”

“Well, we’re here, perfect timing.” She replied, walking up the front steps of a semi-large cottage just on the edge of the town.

“Jeez, did we just walk all the way across the town?”

She laughed. “Yes, but you were too busy looking around to notice. Now come in.” she said wile opening the door.

The inside looked like any other cottage, except that almost every inch of the interior was covered in a wire of some kind, or a piece of electronic equipment, or a speaker. In the corner was a chair surrounded by monitors, mixer boards, turntables, and other various DJ equipment. All in all, it was pretty impressive.

“Alright.” John said, breaking the awed silence from him, “So which piece of this amazing setup broke down on you?”

She grinned widely. “Nothing” she said, while closing the door behind her. “I just wanted to be able to get to know you better.”

(And now I try my hand at romance fics, thanks to having lost that bet. No clop, trust me, just light romance throughout the rest of the fic.              <.<           >.>            Please don’t hate me.         -Dan)

“What are you…” John barely had the time to get those three words out of his mouth before she jumped up at him, tackling him against the couch behind him. Before he had time to react, she was on top of him, her lips pressed against his.  He was utterly paralyzed, unable to kiss back, unable to move, think, or even breathe; all he could do was sit back and simply let Vinyl kiss him. The only thought that kept running through his mind over and over was: I’m kissing a pony.  Finally, his mind caught up with him, and he broke the contact, pushing her back gently.

“What…what was that for?” he asked, shaking off the daze.

“Well,” she purred “I decided I hadn’t properly thanked you for all you’ve done for me.”

“Yeah, but….” He argued

“Ssh” she silenced him, placing a hoof over his lips. “Don’t fight it, just relax.”

He was still in shock, but he relaxed and released his grip that had been holding her back. She giggled, and approached him again. This time, he didn’t resist, and she quickly resumed her kidnapping of his lips with hers. This time, however, he closed his eyes and returned the kiss, quickly becoming lost in it. Before long, her tongue found its way into his mouth, eliciting a slight moan from him. Taking this as a sign to continue, she pushed onward, her tongue swiping the inside of his mouth. John shuddered. He never would have figured a pony could kiss this well.

They would have been there all day, had there not been a loud thump sound that caused them to suddenly break apart and try to isolate the source of the noise. “Wait here” John got up, lowering Vinyl gently to the ground, and walked quietly over to the window, careful not to make too much noise.

There, outside the window, trying to break in, was Steel Tempest. John didn’t know how he escaped, but his mane was dirty and wildly sticking up, and his coat muddy and scratched. He hadn’t noticed John yet, he was concentrating on trying to get the window open.

Doesn’t he ever learn? Thought John, as he crept back to where Vinyl was laying on the floor. “Back for more?” She casually asked.

John shook his head. “No time.” He said. “It appears Steel Tempest has escaped somehow. Or been set free.”

Her eyes widened, pupils constricting and ears falling back in fear. “You mean he’s here?”

“Yes. He is trying to break in the window right now. Keep your head down and come with me.”

She nodded and stood up, keeping herself low to the floor. He led her into the back room of the cottage, which turned out to be a kitchen. At least it had the L-shaped countertop. It would have to do. They huddled behind it and waited. John pulled out his gun, flicking off the safety and chambering a round once more. He didn’t think he’d have to use it if he used the element of surprise, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared.

“What are you doing? And why are we hiding?” she asked him.

John sighed. Not the best of times for a discussion, so he would have to keep it short. “Alright, look. You asked what I did in the human world? Well, I was a soldier. In other words…” she waved a hoof to silence him.

“I know what a soldier is. But, ok, that explains the hiding, we’re going to surprise him, but what is that metal thing in your hand?”

“*sigh* Welp, it’s called a gun, Vinyl. Suffice to say, it fires pieces of hot metal out at very fast speeds with the intent to kill. And yes, in my position as a soldier, I have had to use one on a person before.”

Now he’d done it. She shrank back from him, a similar look of fear on her face.

“Look, I don’t intend on using it, only as a backup, if I absolutely have to. And besides, I have no real intention of shooting anyone with it, however, it is very effective for intimidation. Hold up, I hear something.”

From the room they had been in before, he heard a small smashing sound. The stallion most likely broke out one of the panes of glass in the window. John assessed his situation. They were in the kitchen, huddled behind the counter, so they would not be able to be seen until they wanted to be seen. However, they did not have the other six with them this time, so facing a most likely pissed off unicorn stallion with magic was significantly more dangerous. He would have to be careful.

“huh.” He heard from the other room. “I could have sworn I heard her in here a while ago."

John looked over at Vinyl, who was cowering against the counter, shaking and silently sobbing. He put a finger to his lips to tell her to stay quiet, then whispered very softly. “You’ll be okay, don’t worry.”

“Well, I guess as long as I’m here, I might as well grab something to eat and wait for her to come back.” Came the voice from the other room.

John heard hoofesteps approaching, and finally entering the kitchen they were in. he then heard other noises, and wondered just what the hell was going on. He peered around the side, and saw the stallion was busy with making food in another part of the kitchen, facing away from him. He got up, and silently slinked over to his new position, directly behind the stallion. He stood up to his full height, towering over Steel, and casting a very large shadow over him.

“What the…” was all he got to say as he turned around to see what the source was, before John grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him against the wall so hard, it left cracks in the plaster.

“You…” John practically yelled through gritted teeth. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Did I not warn you what would happen if you came back? Did you learn nothing from the last time I saw you?”

Instead of answering, Steel began to chuckle. “You may have the upper hand now, human. But you won’t be around to protect her forever. And when you’re gone, even for a little while, I will have my revenge.”

Now it was John’s turn to chuckle. “Yeah. Like that’ll happen.”

Steel smiled evilly. “Yes. Yes it will happen.” He said, his horn lighting up.

John immediately felt like he had been punched in the chest. Falling to his knees, he found he couldn’t breathe, and felt like he was going to pass out. Steel, taking full advantage of this, lowered his head, and charged at John, his horn like a spear on his head.

John, while he was in pain, and having a hard time breathing, knew what was happening.

Seconds before Steel hit him, he quickly dodged to the side, punching the side of Steel’s face, sending him sprawling, and also disrupting whatever spell the stallion was using to weaken John.

John quickly jumped back to his full height, and made a grab for the stallion on the floor, but he was already back on his hooves, and gave John a harsh buck in the knee, causing him to yell out in pain and fall face-first on the floor. His gun flew out of his hand and clattered against the linoleum, sliding over to where Vinyl was still cowering.

John was doing his best to get back up again. His nose was bloodied from hitting the floor, but he didn’t care. Nothing else mattered except keeping this…this…John didn’t even have a proper word for him, away from Vinyl. As he pushed himself very painfully into a sitting position. He noticed that his knee was broken. Well, it had to be, knees generally don’t go in that direction.

As he managed to sit back up, the grey stallion was preparing for another attack. However, instead of a physical attack, the unicorn powered up his horn, grabbing John in a field of telekinesis, and lifting him off the ground. He began to apply pressure to the field, squeezing John tighter and tighter, until he felt as if his lungs might burst. At the same time, the grey stallion began screaming at him.

“YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME LIKE THAT?!?! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST FUCKING WALTZ IN HERE, ACTING LIKE SUCH A BAD-FLANK ALL THE TIME, AND TRY TO WIN HER OVER WITH THAT?!?! WELL, I GOT NEWS FOR YOU, HUMAN, YOU ARE SADLY MISTAKEN!!!!!”

At this point, John was about to pass out from lack of oxygen. But before he had a chance to, he heard another smashing of glass in the other room, this one much larger, and a large, dark red Pegasus stallion, the one that had been stalking them before, flew into the room, tackling Steel, causing him to lose focus and let go of John.

John fell back to the floor, gulping large breaths of air, trying desperately to get his lungs back under control. As he did so, the two stallions rolled around on the floor, wrestling and trading punches.

However, the unicorn had a distinct advantage, considering he had the use of magic. He tossed a blast of magic at the red Pegasus, throwing him against the wall hard enough that John heard a *snap* and the stallion hit the floor like a sack of bricks. John could hear Vinyl cry “Red Wind! No!”,  but he didn’t have time to even look in her direction. The unicorn stallion was turning around to face him again, his eyes literally burning with magical power. He grabbed John again, throwing him against the walls, the ceiling, and occasionally the floor. Things broke. But not the things he was hitting. He was about to pass out again, this he was sure of.

BLAM

Suddenly, he was released, and dropped unceremoniously on the kitchen counter. The last thing he saw before passing out was the stallion on the floor, blood leaking from a hole in his chest. Vinyl was standing over him with a hardened look on her face, John’s still-smoking gun in the grip of her magic.

=============END CHAPTER 7=============

Well! Now I have to go and add a dark tag to this story, thanks to that last bit. But no worries, I’m cool with it. To be honest, I’m feeling a little “dark” right now, but to explain would take me forever, so I won’t. well, that, and it’s a personal matter. Anyway, uh, Red Wind has his own facebook page! Go ahead and check him out/ like him at http://www.facebook.com/redwind97   don't be afraid! he doesn't bite!