Vinyl Scratch is (not) a vampire

Vinyl Scratch stood patiently as the she and a guard waited for the guard's companion to return with Notepad.

She had briefly explained who she was and why she was at the Canterlot Department of research, weaponry and experiments. The two guards, likely part of a much beefier security team that was set up after the Dawn's Light attack, were dubious of her explanation at best.

Now, she stood waiting as Notepad excitedly galloped towards her, mouth firing of syllables faster than even Vinyl could keep up with.

"Slow down, Notey." Vinyl managed to get out in between some minor laughter. "It hasn't been that long."

Notepad gave her a thousand yard stare. "We thought those terrorists had gotten you. And you haven't been gone that long?"

Well... So that's what it looks like when someone instantly goes from shocked to angry. That was the first time Vinyl had seen the effect in real life.

"Okay, look." Vinyl said, pushing the conversation in another direction. "I need to get back into my lab. And a few other labs, too. Hey, how's that hoof mounted laser three doors over from me doing? It move from alpha to beta prototypes yet?"

Notepad blinked. "You disappear for almost a full week and you expect me to help you steal sensitive equipment!?" She yelled, giving both of the guards a good reason to scoot away from the two mares. It was a testament to their training that they didn't.

"Got'cha." Vinyl said with a point to Notepad's chest. "This not looking good would be an extreme understatement. But I need you to trust me. If I try to explain it, you'd think I'm insane. You probably already do. But I need answers, Notey, and those Dawn's Light have got 'em."

One of the guards perked his ears. "Dawn's Light?"

The second guard snorted, silencing the first. They dropped it after that, but Vinyl still felt it prudent to hurry the conversation along. She had no idea if the guards simply heard a rumor in the barracks, or something far worse. She mentally cursed herself at her slip.

Notepad sighed, slowly nodding. "Come with me."

The mare led Vinyl inside, out of earshot.

"I can't actually give anything to you, but a few keys being stolen should suffice."

<><><>

Vinyl approached the Traveler's Gate hotel, pretending to not be on a mission of destruction by skipping merrily and whistling.

The cylindrical object attached to her right forehoof probably decreased that effect, not to mention the wires and small amount of music equipment she was carrying on her back. Her saddlebags had been left with Notepad, who had promised to put them back inside Vinyl's home for later retrieval.

Her glasses were, of course, still perched on her snout, blocking her eyes from view. A fine array of gadgets and weapons were in Vinyl's possession, most prominently the cylindrical laser strapped onto her hoof, a pen sized object that spewed a cone of freezing cold for as long as its enchantment held out and a pair of faulty power cores Vinyl had retrieved.

Amazingly, none of it was particularly bulky, so it was mostly out of sight. The exception would be the hoof laser and music equipment, one of which could be waved off as a DJ thing.

She was nearing the hotel, a large three story building without any major markings. It just looked like a standard hotel.

Vinyl smirked, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do.

Trash her lab, she trashes you tenfold.

She strolled into the hotel, pretending to not notice the three ponies sitting at a table in the lobby.

"Hey, dude name Plow told me the rooms here were pretty sweet." She proclaimed, laying on her DJ attitude. "Got any open?"

The mare behind the desk jumped in surprise, but smiled. "Why yes, I believe we do. Your friend has quiet the taste in hotels."

"Well, maybe you know him.' Vinyl said with a wave of her hoof. "Brown coat, mane looks like someone covered his head in metal and he let it rust over. Sound familiar?" Vinyl grinned slyly, pulling her glasses down a bit.

The mare began to noticeably sweat, meaning that Plow was as well known as Vinyl had hoped. Her intention had been to test the mare, see if she knew about the Dawn's Light. If she did, she'd likely know Plow, too.

She did, which made things very simple for Vinyl Scratch.

She just noticed the light click made by a button being pressed, only audible through the silence that had pervaded the area around her.

Vinyl spun, horn lighting up and firing a pair of energy blasts at two of the three ponies in the lobby. They took the full brunt of the attacks, out of the fight before they really entered it. For the third one, Vinyl raised the hoof mounted laser she had 'borrowed', quickly sending her last opponent to the ground, as well.

Turning back to the desk, Vinyl saw the incredibly pale face of the desk pony.

An anesthetic spell knocked her out without any harm.

Vinyl hopped over the desk, scanning the area for wherever room service calls might be taken in. A door led the way to an employee only room, complete with the central hardware for the building-wide fire alarm system.

"Jackpot."

With nothing more than a few well placed wires and a single press of a button, Vinyl had deafening power metal pumping through every speaker in the building. On constant repeat.

Electronic music was her personal favorite, but when you needed loud, rock n roll and its close associate heavy metal were very tough to beat.

Without needing to keep up a pretense of stealthy, Vinyl exited the employee area. Ducking behind the counter, she readied the small freeze ray, staying low until she was sure that the ponies she had seen leaving the stairwell were in range. They had come too quickly as a reaction to the music, so it was likely they had been summoned by the button the clerk had pressed earlier. Looking up, Vinyl could see the small red button sitting on the underside of the counter.

She popped out of her hiding spot, freezing the pair of ponies into a pair of goon-cicles. Looking around, Vinyl soon located the record-book. She frowned, seeing that the entire third floor was marked off as permanently occupied.

"Hey! What's going on down..." The voice trailed off as Vinyl picked up her head. She and the pegasus took a long moment to stare at one another, the latter soon snapping her wings open and dashing through the air towards Vinyl.

Vinyl fired several spells at her, causing the pegasus to veer off course. A well placed shot from the hoof laser ended the threat.

Taking a deep breath, Vinyl Scratch made her way over to the stairwell, which had another two ponies descending. Muttering a string of curses and questions regarding the parentage of these ponies, she pulled out one of the defunct power cells.

With a quick lightning spell, the cell was overcharged. A normal cell being overcharged was dangerous, but if anything was to rough with this one, it'd explode. So, Vinyl tossed it up the stairwell, only uncovering her ears when she heard the boom.

Sprinting past the hole in the wall and the charred everything in the stairwell, she made it all the way to the third floor without any further hiccups. Looking around a corner, Vinyl breathed a sigh of relief at the empty area around her. The only way to go was down the hall, to a lone door that no doubt entered the local Dawn's Light safe house.

Peeking through the door, Vinyl was amused at the sight of a unicorn mare playing an air guitar to the song, with a pegasus stallion singing beside her. another four ponies sat around them, laughing their flanks off.

Pulling out the freeze enchanted device, she took a few seconds to destabilize the spell, kicking the door open and using her magic to put the small device in the center of the group.

Closing the door with a slam, the sound of ice cracking as the room flash-froze reached her ears. Vinyl wiped her brow with a hoof and pushed against the door. When it didn't budge, she shoved harder, until she finally gave up and simply used a spell to blast the door off its hinges.

Scanning the room, Vinyl's eyes settled on a frosted piece of parchment. It was a map trying to pinpoint the vampire base. Scanning the room, Vinyl noticed how the entire room was dedicated to organizing and pinpointing vampire actions around Equestria.

She sighed, having hoped for something directly relating to the Dawn's light. A few more minutes of looking caused her to beam with happiness, having come across a book with the title 'Dawn's Light and Vampiric History: Pocket Edition'.

The book was perhaps fifty to seventy pages thick and was indeed small enough to fit into a pocket.

Making note to thoroughly read the book later, she turned back to the door, jumping at the sight of an exhausted yellow pegasus leaning on the frame and grinning at her.

"You..." Yellowjacket began, pointing a hoof. "Explaining to do... Thought... you betrayed..." The mare took a deep breath, steadying herself. "Do... you know how hard it is... to fly all the way from Manehatten... to Canterlot?" She ran a hoof through her mane. "It ain't easy."

Vinyl gaped at her, at a loss for words. She had thought they'd been left behind in Manehatten! How'd they catch up to her so quickly?

Yellowjacket jabbed a hoof into Vinyl's chest. "I wasn't even able to tell Plow or Silver what was going on. I had to book it just to keep up with you! At least you made it clear where you came." She glanced behind her, fondly remembering having just given up her chase when the sound of a large explosion ripped through the air. A hotel had just gotten a new hole straight into its stairwell.

Vinyl grinned nervously, just glad that she wasn't being strangled by the vampire pegasus.

The yellow mare frowned. "First, we're getting out of here. Don't even think about ditching me, cause I'll only come right back to you. Second, you and I are going to sit down and I'm going to hear just what was going through your head when you attacked Plow And Silver Spear."

"Uh, yeah. Must not've looked good from the outside."

Yellowjacket raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything in response.

Vinyl swallowed, pulling out her second broken power cell. "Cover your ears."

Yellowjacket sighed. "For hundreds of years, we've waged a shadow war. And then you come along with high explosives and the ability to attract every ounce of public attention in a hundred miles."

Vinyl shrugged, already overcharging the power cell.