Vinyl Scratch is (not) a vampire

"Celestia damn it!" Vinyl muttered to herself, packing everything she could into a suitcase, before using a special shrinking spell she had learned to make it small enough to simply slide into her saddlebags. She hadn't used it before to conceal some of her tricks from the vampires (they hadn't known about the flashbangs, either) as she had decided she still couldn't trust them.

She had been rash, possibly turning the trio against her if they thought she had betrayed them. Still, she had needed answers. And thanks to a map she had taken from the Dawn's Light, she was going to get them. Grinning to herself, she hardened her resolve for this decision. They had turned her life upside down in less than twenty seconds, so she was either going to get answers from another group or begin to take the Dawn's Light apart, piece by piece.

Already thinking about how exactly she might gather resources, set up a safe house and allow herself to continue working in the research field to aid with the endeavor, she realized with startling clarity that she would need help from somepony, somewhere along the line.

Deciding to cross then subsequently burn that bridge when she came to it, Vinyl finished stuffing all of her shrunken items into her saddlebags. Turntables, headphones and the notes she had gotten from the questions she had given Yellowjacket, Vinyl sighed at how she had so quickly put up everything that had only just come out.

Assuring herself that her next hideout would be a more permanent establishment, Vinyl was heading for her door when she heard knocking come from the other side.

"Vinyl?" Plow's voice asked. "We know you're in there!"

"Shit!" ran through her mind as she immediately bounded for the broken window. Stopping to check outside, she saw Silver Spear waiting, likely in the event she did exactly what she was about to do. It was now that Vinyl kicked herself for never having bothered to learn teleportation.

Again running her mind through a scenario to see if she could convince them to not be extremely mad at her, Vinyl decided on a course of action. "Man, I really need to make more of these things..." She groaned as she pulled out her third flashbang. It was unnecessary, since Silver Spear was suddenly distracted by an unknown mare.

"Silver! When did you get back in town?" The mare asked, turning the stallion's eyes away from Vinyl's position.

While he was distracted, Vinyl leapt over to the tree, actually aiming for it this time. With a rustle of branches and leaves, she caught hold of a tree limb and kept still, so as not to attract attention. Continuing her good fortune, she hadn't caused a disturbance to the conversation some feet below her. Jumping over to land behind Silver Spear, Vinyl managed to soften her landed with minor telekinesis, Allowing her to land without a sound and dash off, sprinting to get as far away as possible in as little time as possible.

The mare he had been talking with looked over his shoulder. "Who was that?"

"Who was who?"

"That mare with the blue hair. She was a unicorn."

Silver Spear turned to face an empty street. "Plow is going to be pissed."

<><><>

Vinyl slowed her pace to a quick trot, looking around to try and get a sense of where she was at. Frowning, she realized that she might have to dig up some of her contacts from her DJ job, not all of whom were completely on the straight and narrow. It was now that she realized that even if it did come to that, she didn't have any contacts in Manehatten anyway. If she were in Fillydelphia, she could have dug up some friends that moved there, but as far as she knew, there was nopony she knew in the skyscraper city.

So the last thing she was expecting was to turn a corner and come face to face with a light brown stallion with a snow white mane.

"Vinyl?"

"Freddy?"

Frederic Horseshoepin. Fully capable with any keyboard instrument, from the ancient organ and harpsichord all the way up to a modern electronic keyboard. He was also one of few in Equestria who had a taste for both classical and electronic music, up to and including having a symphony from three hundred years ago and a dubstep song in the same playlist if he felt so inclined. Vinyl had nicknamed him Freddy because, well, Frederic.

They had played a few gigs together over the years, with Frederic trying to break into the more modern electronic music market in addition to the classical music he still played. He had eventually taken Freddy as his stage name when some fans heard Vinyl call him that and it ended up sticking. To see him in Manehatten was a surprise, to say the least.

"I thought you were still doing that thing where you were part of that quartet?"

"No, that took a break after a show went bad a few week ago." Frederic sighed. "Some noble who was even more stuck up than the rest complained that we'd repeat the Gala we played at once."

"I thought most of those punks had gotten over that?" Vinyl replied, walking down the street side by side with Frederic.

"They have. Just one hasn't." Frederic grimaced at the thought of the noble.

"Blueblood?"

Frederic glanced at her in surprise. "How'd you know?"

"Even I heard about the Gala, Freddy. I still don't know how he managed to keep his influence."

Frederic smiled. "Yeah. But what's worse, he used my electronic music career as proof that the group would bring the whole thing crashing down. Now I'm worried that the others might start thinking I'm the reason things went bad. Octavia I'm not worried about, but Beauty Brass is definitely something to worry about. Parish... I don't know. He's always been a mediator for the rest of us, but I just don't now..."

"You were still paid, right?"

"Yeah, in full. Plus a little extra for Blueblood, but I'd rather have gotten to play my set. Sure, they apologized for him, but if he can start getting even just a few other nobles thinking like him..." Frederic fell silent. "I may only have my fledgling electronic career."

Vinyl mock gasped. "They apologized? You and I must know two completely different sets of--"

"It was one of Fancypants' parties." Frederic interrupted.

"Ah."

"Anyway, what are you doing in Manehatten?" Frederic asked, changing the subject. "The furthest from Canterlot you've ever gone was that one fashion show in Ponyville, right?"

"Yeah." Vinyl said, smiling. "Still one of the easiest sets ever. And she paid me with a gem. A gem!"

"What was the first thing you did?" Frederic asked, genuinely curious.

"Chipped a piece off and bought an industrial strength hair dryer. Later on, I ended up selling it to a trio of fillies for a slightly larger piece of a gem."

"A... hair dryer?'

"Industrial strength." Vinyl corrected. "And those fillies turned it into a pet dryer."

"...Pet... Dryer?" Frederic winced at the thought.

"Only slightly less awesome than it sounds." Vinyl laughed. Frederic shook his head, laughing as well. "As for your earlier question, some personal problems brought me here."

"So I take it you caused that explosion at the research facility."

"What!? No!  Frederic!" Vinyl glared daggers at her friend, though the effect of her squinting may have been diluted slightly by her glasses.

Frederic knew the moment she used his actual name that he had been wrong in his assumptions. "Shouldn't be surprised." He said calmly. "You always talked about how much you hated that place."

Vinyl sighed. "I... Look. I'm kinda trying to get away from a trio of ponies I may have gotten completely pissed at me. Think you can help?"

Frederic put a hoof over his heart. "Why, Vinyl! You got someone angry with you? I didn't know you had it in you!" At her disapproving frown, he shrugged. "I've got a ride back to Canterlot, but that's about it."

Giving the thought a once over, Vinyl nodded. "Sounds good. Doubling back'll throw them off for sure." "Though it might get them thinking I'm with the Light. At least there's that griffin guy I might be able to get some answers out of. But he charges a price..."

"Glad to hear it." Frederic nodded. "Just be careful what you get into Vinyl. Not everything is surface deep."

"Ain't that the truth..." She muttered, following Frederic.