As Octavia and Vinyl climbed back to the second floor, they spotted a tall, white unicorn mare with a perfectly styled light pink mane and the cutie mark of a fleur-de-lis. She was pacing nervously, and as Octavia and Vinyl approached, she tensed.

"Please tell me you are the team they are sending to retrieve my pearl necklace." The unicorn said in an overdramatic tone.

"I believe so," Said Vinyl, nodding slightly, "What's your name?"

The unicorn flipped her mane, "I am Fleur De Lis. If you are the ones who are retrieving my necklace, then I should tell you how I lost it in the first place. I was simply taking a walk by Horseshoe Bluff, when one of those nasty Seaponies snatched my pearl necklace clean off!" She stamped a hoof, "Whatever is wrong with those wretched little creatures? They never used to be so hostile!"

Vinyl harrumphed.

"Oh, my apologizes," Said Fleur, "Anyway, if you can please find my necklace, I will pay you a great reward. As I've said before, it is at Horseshoe Bluff. I believe a gray Seapony snatched it."

Vinyl nodded, "Alrighty! We'll get that necklace for you, Miss Fleur!"

Fleur smiled blissfully, "Oh thank you! You're so very kind as to take my mission! And do be careful. I hear that the Seaponies have been exceptionally violent this year."

"Don't worry," Vinyl replied a little too confidently, "Me and Octavia will take care of everything!"

Octavia nodded in agreement. If it was just one necklace, how hard could it possibly be?

---

There was a slight trek to get to Horseshoe Bluff, but it didn't take too awfully long. Vinyl and Octavia were at the Bluff in little time. They stood in front of an entrance to a small cave, jutting out over the blue-green ocean. The gray rocks were littered with seaweed and algae, giving it a slight green tint.

"So a gray Seapony with a pearl necklace," Vinyl repeated, "That shouldn't be too hard."

"As long as the Seapony isn't determined to keep the necklace." Said Octavia unsurely.

When neither of the two stepped into the bluff, Vinyl motioned for Octavia to lead. The brown mare began to step into the bluff, followed by a nervous Vinyl. It wasn't horribly dark inside, since there were some holes cut into the sides of the cave, allowing sunlight to stream in.

"Thanks for making a team with me." Repeated Vinyl.

"It's no trouble," Octavia replied, "I mean... I love the feeling of helping others out."

"Me too." Vinyl agreed, kicking a stone into the wall. She sighed a little, "I don't know how getting this necklace for this lady is... Like... Heroic or anything. I want to be like Black Thunder. He's the greatest solo rescuer in all Equestria. Did you know he held back the entire army of changelings while another team rescued a group of kidnapped ponies from the changeling hive?"

"Really?" Octavia asked, "He sounds impressive."

"Yup. Someday, I hope that I can be as great as Black Thunder," Vinyl paused, "I mean... I hope that WE can be as great as him."

"I'm sure if we try, we can." Octavia assured.

"Y'know, I've never met Black Thunder, but I hear he comes to Ponyville around this time."

"Maybe we'll get to see and meet him sometime."

"I hope so. It would be an honor to learn some of his tricks, and see him in action!"

"I bet so."

Vinyl raised an eyebrow at the brown mare, "You don't talk very much, you know that?"

Octavia met Vinyl's gaze, "I... I don't really have much to talk about, that's all."

"I guess it's because of your amnesia," Vinyl suggested, "Derailing the subject here... You said you heard different voices while you were out cold. What did they say exactly?"

Octavia hesitated, "There was a male voice talking to... I don't know... This thing that kept growling. He said something about stopping the ones who caused the chaos, and that he only served the Night."

"The Night..." Vinyl drawled out the word like it was something special, "Sometimes Princess Luna is referred to 'The Night', but why would she have a servant to destroy someone?"

"Princess who?" Asked Octavia.

Vinyl looked as if she had just been shot, "You seriously don't know Princess Luna? She's one of the Guardians!"

Octavia still looked clueless.

"Ugh... Never mind. You can read about it when we complete this mission." Vinyl said with a sigh.

The two walked on, going deeper into the bluff, no longer speaking to each other. Vinyl kept kicking rocks, looking over at Octavia every so once in a while. The brown mare appeared to be in such deep thought, Vinyl couldn't believe that she wasn't running into things with the way she was so out of it.

"Hey, what was that?" Vinyl asked, seeing something flash in the low light.

Octavia squinted, seeing what Vinyl saw. It was a small glint of white, being reflected by the small sunlight streaming through the cracks of the walls.

"Who's there?" Vinyl asked.

Suddenly, something came charging out of the darkness. It was a gray blob, which was flopping awkwardly toward the two mares. It was just as Fleur describe, a gray Seapony with a string of pearls in its mouth. It glanced up at the two mares and immediately tried to turn tail and flop away. But Vinyl shot a beam of magic at the half-fish, who was hit by the blast. It rolled head over fin, crashing into the wall, as the pearls fell out of its grasp. Vinyl was about to go for it again but the Seapony held up its fins, trying to protect itself.

"Wait! I give up!" It said, apparently a female Seapony, "Please stop! You can have it back! I didn't mean to take it!"

"What do you mean, 'You didn't mean to take it'?" Vinyl challenged, while pawing the ground, "You can't rob other ponies on accident!"

"Vinyl!" Octavia yelled, "Give her a chance to speak!"

The Seapony gulped, "I didn't have control over my actions. I didn't want to take it, but my body forced me to!"

"Are you telling us that someone else was controlling your own actions?" Vinyl asked, her eyes narrowing into slits.

"I don't know! I swear! I didn't want to take that mare's necklace! Just take it! Take it and go away!"

Octavia and Vinyl exchanged confused glances. Then Vinyl went to timidly pick up the necklace, glaring at the Seapony as she did.

"Tell her that I'm sorry," The Seapony said, flopping her tail, "Will you please do that for me?"

Vinyl and Octavia again exchanged glances. Together, the two nodded in agreement.

"Oh thank you!" The Seapony cheered, "I hope the mare who owns that necklace can find the heart to forgive me. I promise I won't bother you again!"

"Um. Okay?" Vinyl said unsurely. She turned to Octavia, "Well, now that that's out of the way, let's head back. We don't want to keep Fleur De Lis waiting."

---

The two mares made the small journey from the Horseshoe Bluff, back to the Guild. They went down the ladder, and were immediately greeted by an impatient-looking Fleur De Lis.

"Oh good! You have found it!" The unicorn cheered, clapping her hooves together.

Vinyl handed Fleur her pearl necklace, and reluctantly spoke, "It wasn't the Seapony's fault."

"Pardon?" Fleur questioned, "How can stealing not be that wretched little creature's fault?"

"The Seapony said it wasn't her fault," Vinyl explained, "She told us that she couldn't control her actions and stole the necklace against her will."

Fleur only scowled, "It was only making an excuse for stealing! You can't accidently steal!"

Vinyl sighed, "That's what I told her, but she insisted that it wasn't her fault. She... She asked us to ask you if you could find the heart to forgive her."

Fleur paused, pondering over Vinyl's request, "It's not like I'll ever see the horrid thing again. And it stole something that was very valuable to me! How could I ever forgive it?"

"That's no way to be," Octavia spoke after being silent for so long, "The poor thing told us she had no control over her actions."

"And Seaponies are known for being truthful." Vinyl added.

"So she couldn't have been lying to us. It's just not like a Seapony to lie to others."

Fleur frowned, staring down at the necklace in her hoof, "I... I suppose you are right... Fine. But if another Seapony dare steal anything of value from me again..." Fleur stomped her hoof and turned her nose up, then trotted to the ladder.

"Jeez, snob much?" Vinyl asked, "I hope we get into the Guild after going through that. That kind of just seemed like a waste of time."

"It wasn't a waste of time, Vinyl," Argued Octavia, "We returned Fleur's necklace, and heard the Seapony's side of the story. I'm still trying to figure out... If the Seapony wasn't controlling her own actions... What was?"

"I don't know," Vinyl replied, shrugging indifferently, "But let's go tell Lyra and Bonbon that we succeeded. I can't wait to become an official rescue team!" She skipped happily toward the ladder leading to the team floor.

Octavia chuckled, following her excited friend down the ladder. She wouldn't admit it, but she was about as excited as her friend as well, even if it was just a small achievement for the two of them.

The two mares made their way down to the team floor, then headed to the mint-green door that held Lyra's chamber behind it. They opened the door, seeing the mint-green mare speaking to Bonbon at the moment.

"Oh good!" Lyra cheered, turning her gaze to the two mares, "You guys are back! I trust that you succeeded in the mission?"

Vinyl nodded happily, skipping up to Lyra with Octavia close behind.

"We succeeded!" The unicorn cheered, "And with time to spare!"

"Wow," Bonbon said, "Pretty impressive, for noobs."

Lyra elbowed Bonbon in the ribs, "Well, that's all. You succeeded the mission, so therefore we welcome you with open arms to Lyra's Guild for rescuers! You are now official rescue team!"

Vinyl looked as though someone had just told her that she had won a million dollars. Her mouth was open agape, and her eyes were dialated to full size. Suddenly she, launched into the air like a rocket, hitting the ceiling, then bouncing back to the ground, returning a smile that was litterally ear-to-ear.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" The unicorn babbled so fast, it was almost impossible to understand what she was saying, "Me and Octavia will not disappoint you!"

"You're going to need a name for your team," Bonbon added, "You can't just go around without a name, ya know."

"Oh, that's right." Vinyl said. She turned to Octavia, "What do you think Octavia? What should be our team name?"

Octavia pondered, looking off into space for ideas. Then, one came to her quite quickly.

"How about the Musical Mares?" She suggested, "Since we both play a type of music?"

Vinyl thought this over, "Yeah! I like it! It describes us well!" She turned back to Lyra, "Call us the Musical Mares!"

Lyra smiled, "Very well." She pulled something out from behind her; a messenger bag, and a badge, which was a horseshoe decorated with white wings.

"This is your treasure bag," Lyra explained, holding up the bag, "As you adventurer through the lands, you may come across items lying on the ground. As for this," She held up the badge, "This is your rescue badge, signaling that you are an official rescue team. As you complete more and more missions, your badge will rank higher. You're at the lowest rank right now, the Green Rank. But I'm sure with enough missions, you'll rank up to Diamond Rank, the highest rank there is."

Vinyl looked as though she was going to rocket off into the air again, but she stayed put. Octavia however, stood there, seeming more confused than excited.

"We'll try our best to reach the Diamond Rank, Lyra," Vinyl said, hopping up and down slightly, "Where do we start?"

"First, you can move into your team quarters, located to the left, down the hall, at the very end," Lyra suggested, "Our work usually ends around seven P.M, then we retire to our rooms until it's time to sleep. Oh, and you should probably acquaint yourself with the other team members."

"Will do!" Vinyl cheered with childlike delight, "Let's go Octavia! Oh Celestia, I'm so excited!"

"To go to the team quarters?" Octavia questioned.

"Well... You know what I mean."

---

As the two mares walked down the hall to get to the team quarters, they were greeted by a few other ponies, apparently members of the Guild.

A blue unicorn mare with an hourglass on her flank was speaking to a yellow mare with a curly orange mane and a bunch of carrots on her flank, and a gray stallion with a black mane and a clover on his flank.

When the two mares approached, the blue mare raised her gaze toward them.

"Oh hi!" She greeted, a pure white smile on her face, "You guys must be the new recruits Bonbon was talking about. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia, right?"

"That's us." Replied Vinyl.

"Well, my name's Minuette. This is Carrot Top, and Lucky Clover." Explained Minuette.

"Howdy!" Carrot greeted.

"How's it going?" Asked Lucky.

"Hey, thanks for welcoming us," Said Vinyl, smiling, "Hey, who else is apart of this team?"

"Well, there's us, Cloud Kicker, Ditzy Doo, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Big Macintosh, Trixie... Ah... That's about all that I know of."

"Oh! That's cool!" Vinyl paused, "Uh... Do you know where our rooms are at?"

Minuette pointed to the end of the hall, "That's your room. You'll be staying there until you graduate from the Guild."

"Okay, thanks!"

So the two Musical Mares trotted down the hallway to their room. They opened the door, seeing the quaint little room for the first time. The room was nothing special. Two beds made out of hay laid on the floor. A lamp was in one corner, and a dresser was in the other. There was a window, which confused both Octavia and Vinyl, since they were underground.

"Man, I'm pooped," Vinyl said, flopping on one of the hay beds, I think I'm going to hit the hay," She pointed to the bed, "Get it?"

Octavia didn't even crack a smile.

"Ah, never mind." Vinyl cuddled into her straw bed, and slowly began to fall asleep.

Octavia however, did not. She cut out the lamp, turning the room dark, then promptly sat on her bed. Her mind swirled with thoughts and the events of the day. Through her amnesia, she had finally been able to remember stuff, paticularly, a memory about a brown stallion with an hourglass for a cutie mark. Octavia wondered if this stallion was someone from her past, and if he was, who was he?

With her thoughts restless, Octavia laid he head open the hay bed and closed her eyes, drifting off into a deep sleep.

---

What appeared in Octavia's dreams that night was something she wasn't expecting. Flashes of unsettling images appeared for milliseconds at a time, scaring the young mare.

She saw things, like a demonic form of the Wonderbolts attacking her, Vinyl crying with remorse, that same brown stallion pushing another stallion into a blackhole, and the face of a black Alicorn mare, staring at her with soulless white eyes in a dark landscape.

"Octavia..." She hissed. The brown mare shivered in her sleep, as the sound of deep, rasping laughter echo through her mind.

"Sweet dreams, Octavia." Another voice, that didn't belong to the Alicorn said. The black mare lunged at Octavia, unaturally sharp, meat-eating teeth bared.

But before the Alicorn could tear into her vulnerable skin, the sound of a loud female voice ripped through her nightmare, luckily saving her, but damaging her eardrums in the process.

---

This doesn't seem to be getting as many bites as I thought it would. I'm the type of writer who gets excited just seeing one review, so if you can, please review! Also: CHAPTERS WILL COME SLOWLY FROM NOW ON.