Vinyl Scratch is (not) a vampire

"No, no, no, no, no..." Vinyl muttered, quickly scanning and discarding one page of her notes after another. "There is no reasonable explanation for him to have anything to do with this, much less even be anywhere near Manehatten!" Her voice had constantly grown louder as she spoke that sentence, up to the point she was yelling in frustration.

Frederic Horseshoepin frowned, worried about Vinyl's mental health. "Will you please put the paper down Vinyl? It's all you've been doing since waking up. Besides, what's on them, anyway?"

"No." Vinyl adamantly snapped. "Not until I can find whatever linked him to Manehatten, that club or anything else that's been going on!"

Frederic picked up a loose paper Vinyl had dropped. "Well, can you at least bother to explain who this 'him'... is..." His voice trailed off when he saw exactly what the notes detailed. He read one of the words out loud. "Vampire?"

Vinyl used her telekinesis to rip the paper from Frederic's grasp, almost shredding the paper in the process. She shuffled the notes in her magical grip, restoring the order they were in just to repeat the process of looking over them.

The carriage they were in hit a bump in the road, jolting the two passengers and almost sending Vinyl's notes flying. She sighed, restoring the order the notes were in and stuffing them into her saddlebags. Leaning back in her seat, she finally admitted that tying a certain creature of chaos to all of this without more information was a lost cause. Heck, he might have only been around because he found it amusing.

Frederic chuckled as she scrambled to reorganize herself. "I don't suppose you've got anything on werewolves and will-o-the-wisps in there?"

She grunted in response, more an acknowledgement than an answer.

"You do know how absurd this is, don't you?"

Another grunt.

Frederic sighed. "So, now you've stopped talking to me, is that it?" When she gave no response, he leaned forward. "Vinyl? Hello?"

Her head rolled back, leaning on her seat. Her body had precariously perched itself in an upright position, though it was obviously ready to fall over at the slightest disturbance.

Frederic rolled his eyes, realizing that she had fallen asleep. Even considering the ten hours or so they've been in the carriage since leaving Manehatten--all of which Vinyl spent absorbed in her papers--she hadn't been awake for quite as long as she normally was. Stress was getting to her.

Frederic shook his head. "I told her she needs to stop worrying about that cannon so much." he sighed, sure that his friend's most eccentric design was her current undoing.

Notes on vampires, though. Now, that was disturbing.

Sneaking a peek while she was asleep couldn't hurt. Frederic smiled, taking Vinyl's notes out of her saddlebags. "Let's see what you've learned about our toothy friends, shall we?"

Of course, there's no way she actually knew anything about it. But even so, she may have stumbled onto something grand. Perhaps even something useful.

<><><>

Vinyl left Frederic with a wave, heading towards the eastern part of town. It was almost seven in the evening by the time they reached Canterlot once again, proving how inefficient land-based carriages were despite them still being so common in certain parts of Equestria.

That left her with plenty of light to see by, but the knowledge that it wouldn't last long. All the better.

She wanted to find her way to the Griffin's Aviary, but leaving was something she didn't want to be seen doing, especially considering how she had left behind her only pack of allies for a chance at getting to fight the Dawn's Light her way, with her rules. Retrospect once again declared that it hadn't been the smartest choice in tactics, but Vinyl knew she'd make it again if she had the option.

By the time her mental map had taken her to the bar, it was almost seven forty. For Vinyl, the timing was perfect. She just had to see if Frank was here and she'd be in the clear. The griffin wasn't to be trusted, but at least he was honest about it, as well as with any information he provides. At least, as far as Vinyl was convincing herself he was. She still had yet to actually deal with him.

As she had hoped, the bartender/information trader was cleaning a set of knives, eyeing a pair of drunks who's flushed faces and loud voices spoke volumes about how drunk they were. Other than them, there were just a few patrons, same as last time she visited here.

She took a seat at the end of the bar, waiting patiently so as to give herself time to think over how she would handle speaking to Frank.

"Same as last time, miss Scratch?"

Her eyebrows flung themselves up behind her mane, surprise covering her face at how quickly the griffin had made his way to her before she could contain it.

She opened her mouth to speak, but he raised a talon to silence her. "First, and this one's free, get a cloak or something. With a hood. You practically glow during the nighttime."

Vinyl, blushed, acutely remembering her white coat and electric blue mane. "I just--"

Again, he cut her off. "Information, no doubt."

Vinyl gave him a 'no, you think so?' sort of look, eliciting a chuckle from him. "Well, since you pretty much betrayed the vampires to the Light, I don't see why you wouldn't want--"

"Excuse me?"

Frank continued speaking, but this time was heading down a different track. "That move you pulled with that squad out side of Manehatten was good, but Plow's not stupid. They were fairly low rank, even for scouts. For the bounty of information you have in those bags--" He pointed at the saddlebags Vinyl currently held her notes in, as well as most of her belongings. "--the Light would pay a hefty sum for that kind of information. However, If you're here and not being protected by those cult-y freaks, there's still one more option." The griffin grinned. "You're with the ferals. I cut contact with them a long time ago, so I can't deal with any who work with them, either."

'What!?" Vinyl yelled, shocked. "I've never even--hmph!"

Frank had interrupted her by putting one set of talons over her mouth. "I never said anything about you, Vinyl." He tapped his head. "That's just the rumors, which are part and parcel. Excuse me while I handle a different sort of customer, then we can talk facts."

Vinyl's eyes followed as he went and attended to another mare, setting out a bottle for her and then moving over to kick out the two drunks, whose rowdiness had escalated. Knitting her brow, Vinyl scowled. He had played her, all but slapping her in the face with a declaration that he wouldn't help her, then retracing his steps right back to the beginning when she reacted at the news that she wouldn't get use out of this visit.

"You may have noticed that I began to speak before charging you." Frank said, settling back in his former position of leaning over the bar. "That won't happen again, I assure you."

Vinyl sighed, already suspecting as much. "I snagged this map off that group you mentioned earlier. I think it has the locations of safe-houses or bases on it. Can you confirm it?" She tossed the map and several bits onto the counter.

Frank slid two of the golden coins back to her. "Telling someone something new and confirming what they already have are two different things." He scanned over the map. "I can only accurately tell about two of them. This one in Fillydelphia was found out by ferals, which surprised me since they're usually stuck fighting the Blood Moons. It's been destroyed." Vinyl noted his mention of these 'Blood Moons', already preparing to hash out more bits if that's what it took. "This location here in Canterlot? Hotel by the name of Traveler's Gate. Head on over, I'm sure you'll be welcomed right in." He laughed heartily, with Vinyl not sharing in his good mood.

She slid several more bits onto the bar. "What about those Blood Moons?"

Frank took the bits. "Copy and paste everything you know about the Dawn's Light. Only their main targets differ."

"And the ferals?"

Frank raised an eyebrow.

Gritting her teeth, Vinyl slid one more hoofful of bits across the counter.

"When you think of a vampire, what's the next thing in your mind? Honestly, you already had knowledge of them."

Vinyl glanced at her saddlebags,  reminding herself that it wasn't just vampires she had learned about. She turned back to the griffin. "Thank you for your time." She said evenly, already heading towards the door.

"I was being serious, by the way. Get a cloak."