Love Songs and Tooth Picks

We both leapt to either side of the elevator door as a few bullets flew through the air. The guns stopped firing, and apparently just waited for us to walk back into their line of sight. I coughed loudly. "Do you guys really intend on just waiting until we decide to let you shoot us?"

There was a bit of a pause, until I heard one of the men said "Affirmative."

"What the hell kind of hunters are you? You should at least at least grow some balls and fight me!" I'll admit, their lack of devotion made me feel a tad unappreciated.

There was some grumbling amongst them as Love looked over to me. "Hey, Heart... What was that you were saying about those spears of light? You don't need to see them for them to hear you, right?"

One of the men panicked. "Shit! Everyone, ear plugs now!" I heard a lot of shuffling from within the elevator.

"Nice one Love. Now I'm useless." She winced.

"My bad. Here, I have a better idea anyways." She sat back on her haunches and started focusing her magic.

Within seconds, I saw four assault rifles of some kind and several small pistols fly out into the darkness of the hallway. I grinned at her."Did you just?"

"Yep. All unarmed."

"I always did prefer an unfair advantage. You really have to love magic sometimes."

She nodded while smiling. "So then, shall we dance, Miss Heart?" She sounded a bit smug.

"Yes, let us dance my fair lady!" I returned her same tone.

We both dove towards one another, ending up in a bit of a tango(ish) standing position in front of the elevator. We looked at the four unarmed men. The one closest to the buttons slowly reached over and pressed one. The door started closing. I stuck one hoof in the door's path, making it open back up.

The guy tried to reach for it again, but I grabbed his hand in my magic and snapped his wrist. He whimpered like a kicked puppy and hid behind his friends. I gently pulled their ear plugs out of their ears, and let them fall to their feet.

Love chuckled a bit. "That was a tad easy, don't you think dear?"

"Yes, we haven't even gotten to dance yet. Shall I play a song for us to dance to, Love?"

"I think that would be most befitting." She turned her head away from me, only to turn back with a rose in her teeth.

"Keep up at that, and I might just have to put something else in your mouth."

Her eyebrows went upwards twice, followed by a low growl. I imagine this was quite awkward for the four men waiting on us to kick their asses. I pulled my violin from it's case and began humming a long to a song.

Now, I will be entirely honest here. I couldn't dance to save my life in my old body. I wasn't about to even try in this on; so our 'dance' consisted mostly of us beating these men senseless. After a moment, Love pulled me to her with her magic. She leaned in close and put the rose in my mouth, using her tongue. She grinned a devilish little grin; an immediately leaned on her fore hooves to buck the man behind her right in the family jewels. He fell to the floor in a slump. Ouch. Poor guy.

I heard a noise to my left, someone was jumping down towards me. I ducked backwards,and let him fall on the floor. When he tried  to get up, I simply stomped his head into the floor. He stayed down.

I looked to the corner of the elevator, where broken-hand-guy was quivering next to oddly-feminine-looking-guy.

I noticed Love walk up to them, and pull them down to their knees with her magic. She glared at them both. "Boo." I heard one of them loose bladder control.

I took the rose out of my mouth and chuckled a bit. "You know, we could of just as easily gripped your heart with telekinesis and crushed it. Or your spinal column, or your brain, or your lungs. In fact, there are a million things worse than that broken hand."

Broken-hand-guy stood up and tried to run, but Love was having none of that. She lifted him and placed him firmly back down on his knees. "You know, I could use a little plaything of my own. Something I can bend and twist and break, letting all of my stress melt away in the sounds of their screams."

I was a bit surprised at her word choice there, but passed it off as a heat of the moment scare tactic.I was wrong.

She gripped the guy's broken wrist and began to twist it. "AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!"

My violin clattered to the floor as I reeled from the noise. "Love..."

She grabbed the rest of that arm, and twisted each piece in a different direction. I didn't even register the scream as anymore than a sudden bout of tinnitus. "Love!"

I saw her grip spread to his neck. "Damn it Love!"

I tackled her to the ground. "We are not here to kill anypony! Stop!"

She grinned at me, eyes distant. "But I'm not killing somepony, I'm killing someBODY."

Her horn started glowing again, and I heard the cracking of more bones coming from the guy's leg. "That's enough!" I swung my own hoof across her face.

She stared at me in surprise. "You... hit me?"

"I'm not going to let you kill anyone." I turned to the remaining unharmed man. "You might want to start getting your friends out of here."

Thankfully, he complied without a word. He just placed his most injured companion on the back of another, using him as a stretcher, and dragged all four out into the hall at once. As soon as they were out of it, I closed the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor.

"Mind telling me why you let them go?"

"Mind telling me why you wanted to kill them?"

"They ponynapped us! They tried to kill us! They would have killed us!"

"And if we killed them, they would just send more until they kill us. It's how people like this work, Love."

She grumbled something under her breath.

"Pardon?"

Grumbling again.

"What was that?" I held a hoof to one ear, as if that would help me hear anything.

"I said, WE COULD JUST KILL THOSE ONES TOO THEN!"

"No, we couldn't. I'm sorry, but you are truly idiotic if you think you can hold out against these guys forever."

She sat down facing a corner, defeated.

-=-=-=-

“We should really get moving…” I said, sighing as the elevator ding'd open.

“Right, let us be off then!”

I retrieved my belongings from their pile and stepped out of the open elevator. We followed The Doctors directions, and found a rather extravagant looking redwood door. It was massive, well-polished, and absolutely screamed ‘I am so much more important than you, that my office door is worth more than your house.’

I heard a set of footsteps storming up the nearby stair well, and armed myself. My Lyre floated idly, waiting to dispatch whatever enemy was approaching. Instead of the blood thirsty gunman I was expecting, I instead saw a brit in a bowtie with a rather pointy chin. My ears swiveled to confirm that it was The Doctor, two hearts beating loudly from his exertion.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out two bags of blood, the kind you would see at a hospital used for transfusions. “Here,” he tossed them towards Love. “Heart just told me of your plan not but thirty minutes of my time ago, sorry it took so long to get them. I missed a few times.”

Love caught the bags in her magic, with a manic grin. “It was really more of an idea, but now that you mention it, it would make a great plan. Who are you again?”

I looked at her like she was a special kind of stupid. Not ‘special’ in ‘that’ sense mind you, I’m not trying to offend anyone. Argh, you know what I mean; I gave her my best ‘are you fucking kidding me?’ face. “It’s The Doctor, with a few… hundred-ish years added.” I turned and glared at him. “It took you two more regenerations to realize we needed a bit more help here?”

“Like I said, you JUST told me about the blood thing. I’ve got a party to get back to, bye!”

He ran off back down the stairs, and I could have sworn I heard him shout something along the lines of “Amy! Stay away from the men with the guns! Rory is waiting back at the party!” And then I heard nothing more from the madman in a box.

I turned back to Love. “So, what’s this ‘plan’ he was talking about…”

She grinned sheepishly. “Well, I figured that the easiest way to scare someone into being good would be to make them think we had just slaughtered all of their men. The easiest way to do that would be to cover ourselves in blood, and act as insane as possible.”

“You frighten me sometimes.”

“Good! That means its working!”

I was honestly frightened by the grin on her face as she levitated the bags of blood over each of us.

“Hang on, let me move my stuff out of the way, don’t want the blood mucking up my strings…”

Actually, I didn’t care about that. I just didn’t want my jacket or bag or anything getting stained.  I could clean the Lyre with a thought.

Having safely stashed my belongings on the floor, I let Love paint me red. It was a rather disturbing experience, to say the least. I simply held my eyes clenched shut as ‘the artist painted her master piece’. (Her words, not mine) When the flow of the muck on my fur stopped moving, I opened my eyes and saw her grinning widely. “Are you okay there Love?”

“Never better, you look great by the way!”

“I don’t even want to know what I look like, to be honest.” I said, while shaking my head.

“To put it simply, you look as though blood was dripping down from the tip of your horn, as if you had been stabbing people with it. I also let it splatter a little here and there in wide arcs, to make it more obvious it isn’t yours. To top it off, look at your hooves!”

I really did try my best not to, but my eyes decided to look down anyways. I was standing in a very small pool of red. My hooves themselves were entirely red, while little splashes of it found their way up my legs and onto my stomach and chest. I couldn’t help but gag a little at the sight. “Love, I know you think this is a good idea and all, but this is a little too… grim for me.”

“Oh don’t be such a whiny baby! It’ll work, this guy will never hurt anypony again!”

“I- I guess…” I said with an unsure sigh. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Alllllrighty!” She practically jumped with joy as she started tearing open her own bag. Instead of having it slowly flow to specific spots like she did for me, she simply let it poor and splash wherever it pleased. Red streaks covered the mare’s entire being. Her tail and mane were matted to her legs and neck by the gooey blood. “So then, let’s go kick some ass!”

That is it, I have lost her. She went completely off the deep end.

We stood side by side at the door. She was giggling with excitement, while I was trying my best to hide my disdain. I reached forward and put my hoof against the door. “Just let me try and frighten him verbally first, alright?” I whispered towards her, but she didn’t seem to hear me. That, or she didn’t care. I couldn’t tell which.

I pushed the door open, and was rather surprised at what I saw. There was a pudgy old man, well past his prime, sitting at an extravagant desk. The carpet was white, the curtains were white, and everything else was either gold or mahogany. Book shelves lined the wall behind him, while a window made up the wall to his right. He didn’t even seem to notice us at first, and that was plenty enough to get me peeved.

“Oi! Wanker!” I shouted, his eyes remained on the paperwork in front of him.

I grabbed his chair with my magic, and made it rapidly tilt forward. His face slammed harshly, cracking the wood of his desk.

“What the hell was that?!” And then he saw us.

Two pint sized unicorns approached him, covered in blood and seemingly after more. I could practically taste his astonishment.

“You are never going to hurt another pony. Understand? I might have to let my friend here have her way with you if you do not.” I flung a hoof over my right shoulder, towards Love. “I assure you, she can be VERY persuasive. Just look at the gift your men left us, it's so pretty and red!"

Love dove onto his desk, making him gasp. She stared dead into his eyes and licked some of the blood off of her lips. She whispered into his ear. “I want yours. I want it all. I want to bathe in the blood of your infant grandchildren, and make you watch.”

I pulled her into the air with my magic, as she flailed wildly against my grasp. “That’s enough for now, Love.” I looked the man dead in his beady little brown eyes. “Unless, of course, our friend here decides that ponies are to be hunted like animals; in which case, I’ll just turn my head.”

I started to gently lower the mad mare back onto the man’s desk, while turning slowly away.

“Please! No! I’ll do anything; just don’t let this beast near me!”

I looked over my shoulder. “Beast?”

“This PONY! I’m sorry! I really am truly sorr-“ He was cut off by a sudden spasm, and he fell to the floor.

I turned back towards him, to see that he seemed to be having a bit of a seizure. Oops. “Love, we need to-“ I noticed my eyes flaring themselves up once more. “Oh no… that’s never good.”

“What isn’t what’s going on?” Love had a bit of unease in her voice.

I looked to the man’s aura, only to find an empty husk. After a moment of his shaking, he stopped. Thin yellow lines attached themselves from various directions to each of his limbs. He stood slowly, eyes wide. His irises were glowing and red, but with the whites were yellow. What in the hell?!

He started to laugh, but it wasn't a laugh of mockery or hilarity. It was a hollow laugh, not sarcastic or insulting, just a laugh. This is the part where I thought I might start pissing myself. “Something is really really wrong. We need to get out of here… “

The Man’s right hand shot towards Love, in a motion not unlike a puppet having its strings pulled. He grabbed her by the throat.

“Silly little pathetic little ponies, you really think you have a chance? You’re all lucky I didn't simply wipe you out of existence. No, I was kind to you. I let you live out an entirely new life. I gave you that gift, and here you are, attacking my toys?!” His grip tightened, Love was desperately trying to get his hand away with her hooves, but nothing worked. She wasn't breathing.

“Love! Just use your magic on his hand!”

The man grinned. “Nope.” He snapped the fingers on his free hand, and her horn just fell off of her head.

I looked on in horror. “What the hell are you!?”

“I am your worst night mare, little filly.” His grip tightened again, and I heard a sickening crunch. A crunch that was all too similar to how it sounded when Chrysalis hit the rock. My eyes extinguished and widened when I noticed her movement and flailing had stopped.

His grip tightened more, and blood sprayed out from around his hand. “ HA HA! So fragile!” His other hand reached up and grabbed the top of her head. He pulled in opposite directions with each hand, and her body fell to the floor. The spine was exposed, and her head remained in his hand. He snapped his fingers with one hand, and there was a flash of light. I found myself standing up against the window in the room, fully dressed and cleaned.

He turned to me, and grinned. He stood as if pitching a baseball, and threw remained of Love’s head at me with such force that it made me fly through the window. Shards of glass found new homes deep in my flesh as I soared to the ground.

I looked down at the ground below.

This is how it ends eh? Thrown out of a window… who the hell saw that one coming… I must admit, it was a rather surreal moment. My life never flashed before my eyes, I never saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Everything just went black as I closed my eyes for the final time.

-=-=-=-

Yeah, long break. Would have ended the chapter there, but the voice in my head said to keep going.

-=-=-=-

Much to my surprise, I found my eyes opening once more. The wind was whipping in my mane back and forth, and I felt a tightness across my chest. I turned my head around and saw a familiar white fur. “Snow?” I whispered.

There was no reaction, at least not until after I blacked out again.

I ran. I ran like I had never run before. I don't know if it was chasing me, but I prayed it wasn't. I turned a corner that wasn't there moments ago. It was there. I turned again. It was there. Again, and it was gone. I ran in that direction instead.

I kept running.

Always running...

“…can’t believe it…”

“… how did this even…”

“…she okay?”

“…hope so…”

“…had better be or I’ll…”

I was hearing fragments of sentences as my mind reeled from the day’s trauma. I had what felt like the world’s most painful hang over. I stuck one hoof to my left ear to silence the ringing, as I stood up slowly onto my other three.

“What the hell happened? How am I not dead?” I looked around and saw some comfortingly familiar faces. Gate had obviously been crying. Twinkle was leaning against her. Guyra just stood and stared at me with a blank expression.

Snow put a rather comforting hoof around my shoulder. “You might want to sit back down.”

I complied, letting gravity overcome my exhausted legs. “Anyone want to tell me what happened, and where we are?”

I looked around, we were on what seemed to be the roof of a concrete building of sorts. The wind was blowing, I could hear the sound of it echoing through canyons of concrete and glass.

And that was all I heard. My jaw dropped. "It's so... quiet." I looked westward. The sun was only just setting. "There should be a lot more noise than this in such a large city..."

Twinkle took a deep breath, and lifted her eyes to the sky. She stuck her tongue into the air for a bit, before looking back at me. "Chicago."

"Wait, you mean the Chicago with 3 million people living in it?"

A silent nod from Twinkle.

"There's no way that three million people could possibly be this silent at this hour. I call bullshit." I said firmly.

They all stared at me silently.

"Wait, you can't be serious?"

More silence.

"Son of a- How?!"

I think I broke them, they just wouldn't talk.

"What could have made three million people go silent?"

Whatever it was, it seems I was the only one not effected.

"Okay, you guys are starting to scare me a little bit..."

You can assume what their response was, no? You guessed wrong. Guyra coughed a little and pointed a hoof over his shoulder.

I went over to investigate. There sat all that remained of the first love of my life. The person who's smile was the thing that made me want to get up in the mornings. The person who's laugh had made me consider actually giving life a chance. Her head sat there, staring blankly into my soul. Carved onto her forehead was the word "Unimportant."

I fell. I simply fell to my side, letting gravity have it's way with me. I was vaguely aware of a dull 'thump' as my head hit the concrete. I laid there, tears starting to roll down my face.