I doubt one would find conversation with Lt. Vinyl Scratch to be the most enjoyable experience. After all, her previous few conversations that we shared along with the constant thirst for violence seemed to put me off of wanting to talk to her at all, however it's not like I had much else to do to fill the time.

I decided to keep it casual as we trotted through the mines, but keep it on a subject she was familiar with. "So why'd you join the military?"

She didn't even look at me as she spoke, her rudeness was only matched by her brutishness. "Started because I was drafted, but then I came to find I love killing."

That sure was a pleasant answer. Regardless I inquired further. "Why's that?"

Vinyl stopped and turned to face me, her Nordic accent started to creep out more as she spoke. "Listen kid, if I'm forced you be stuck with you, we need to set up some rules. Rule number one, don't ask too many questions."

I rolled my eyes before replying. "What's got you so grumpy?"

Vinyl's expression turned to one of more annoyance. "You're already on my shit list for bringing that cunt, Pinkamena back here so we're not exactly old chums here. You may have Dash's favor, but that's pretty much the only reason I haven't killed you yet. I don't trust you and as I said before if you make one wrong move I'll bring you back to Canterlot in a body bag."

I coughed and smirked. "Sheesh, what a charmer you are. All the stallions must be crazy about you." I joked as I started moving forward again.

Vinyl chuckled as she started leading the way again, shining her light as she did so. "Well, I have been known to make the stallions quiver in delight, and the mares too for that matter."

There was some information I could have done without, though it was fairly obvious at this point that Vinyl was rather promiscuous.

"So you get around then?" I tried to keep the conversation on a subject that pleased her.

Vinyl let out another hearty laugh. "Gotta relieve the stress somehow, right?"

I was tempted to ask what she would be stressed about, however I was somewhat afraid of any answer she'd give. "I suppose so..."

Going deeper into the mines, she seemed pretty casual still for a pony that said how dangerous the mines were only a few days ago. Perhaps that was just an intimidation act to keep me on high alert, because right now the most dangerous thing here was Vinyl Scratch.

"What about you?" She kept her light straight ahead as she asked.

I shrugged. "Nothing to tell."

Vinyl actually halted in her tracks and turned to face me. It was at that moment I questioned why she insisted on wearing sunglasses in the dark.

"You mean to tell me, you've never had sex before?" Her face almost looked shocked.

I merely shook my head casually, as the subject really didn't concern me as much as it concerned her apparently. "Is that so surprising?" I said.

She laughed a bit before replying. "I guess not. I just assumed you were getting it on with Dash and that's why she got all soft on you."

I shook my head. "The thought never crossed my mind actually."

Vinyl laughed even louder at that. "Yeah, you're probably right... You don't look like you have it in you to court a girl like Dash. I mean you're cute, but far from sexy. Though there is a certain appeal to a young buck like yourself..." She seemed to be trailing off into thought. Was Vinyl fantasizing about me? If she was, I was not exactly sure how I felt about that.

"Thanks... I think..." Was all I could come out with.

Vinyl paused then held her hoof to her lips trying to hush me. Turning her light to one of the many caves she heard a few rocks clatter. "We're not alone..." She nearly whispered. You'd think she would be showing concern but instead a devilish grin spread from ear to ear on her.

"Come on out!" Vinyl shouted. Her voice echoed through the caves. I ducked down onto the floor in case whomever else was hiding in the mines came out shooting. However Vinyl was ready to attack regardless of the circumstances.

Sure enough from three caves in front of us over ten emaciated ponies exited. Every single one of them with a crazed look and a few with manic laughter. Vinyl just stood with her grin as they poured out. Savages, and it was clear what was on their menu: us.

The unicorn not only seemed unthreatened she was acting quite boastful despite the odds.

"Alright you disgusting sacks of shit." She began, cocky as ever. "Here's how this is going down."

The group all fell silent listening to her.

"I'm going to give you all a 5 minute head start before I hunt you all down one by one and rip your fucking heads off." Her grin became a bit more crazed as I noticed she was drooling now.

Her opponents merely grafalled at her claim, clearly not taking her seriously.

"I’ll warn you now. There are three things I'm good at in this world: music, fucking and killing. Take a guess which one is going to happen to you today." Vinyl was bold as ever, me on the other hoof, I stayed low, still not sure if Vinyl was bluffing or not. "So I am telling you again, you've got a 5 minute head start to run as fast as those twigs you call hooves will carry you."

The largest of the group took a step forward. Vinyl just sighed before making an advance of her own. "That's a shame... I like the chase more." She chuckled.

The rest of them started to surround the two of us as they laughed in a very idiotic manner. They clearly weren't the most intelligent creatures despite all the brains they've probably eaten.

One of the smaller ones lunged at her from behind hoping to catch her off guard. Vinyl's hind hoof extended backwards and a third gun blade attached to it hit the stallion directly in the eye socket. With him still attached to the sword she threw her backside in the air and his head came clean off as she hurled it at his friends.

As anger filled their eyes, two of them darted forward to avenge their "friend". Vinyl merely laughed as she sliced at one and dived at the other stabbing him repeatedly with her right hoof blade, manic laughter as she did so.

The rest of the savages began to back up. Vinyl Scratch was scary enough to where even cannibals were afraid of her; that didn't spell out good news for myself. I merely watched in horror as she jabbed her blade into the flesh again and again; long after her attacker was dead she continued to pierce him with her sword.

Standing up from the body she gestured for the others to come for her. Sure enough about five of them started circling her, they had become almost completely disinterested in me at this point. Almost as if they preferred the meal they had to fight for versus the one they could just take with no effort. Vinyl just kept still and taunted them. "Come on, fresh meat right here." She grinned.

The first to make their attack was actually a female. She came slicing with a blade in her maw. It was pointless though as Vinyl moved far too fast and before the girl knew what was happening , Vinyl was behind her. With a mighty strike she cleaved the head off with her left blade. One by one she eliminated all of them with ease. It was child’s play for the lieutenant.

After she had hacked the last of them to pieces her gaze turned to the remaining three who took a step back. Vinyl's mouth hung open with a grin of satisfaction, drool coming from her lip and pooling onto the ground. She was salivating more than I’d ever seen a pony do before.

"You're next..." Vinyl giggled as she wiped her mouth.

The three took another step back before turning to run. Vinyl however instead of counting her blessings gave chase to them, uttering something along the lines of "the thrill of the hunt."

Only about two minutes later (all of which spent in the darkness as Vinyl had taken the only light) I could hear screaming and stabbing. Those noises were quickly drowned out by Vinyl's manic laughter however. I guess it was true; she really did love killing.

Only a few seconds later did I hear a cry for help followed by pleading for mercy. "Get away from me, you crazy cunt!" All I could hear then was more piercing noises followed by a few punches. I then heard a sound that I would later discover was the sound of a skull being smashed against a rock.

“FUCK YOU! WHERE IS YOUR GODDESS NOW!? HUH!? WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE NOW YOU PIECE OF SHIT!?” Vinyl’s yells echoed through the cave as she smashed the skull a few more times excessively. “NOW YOU’RE FUCKED! FUCKED BEYOND WORDS YOU PILE OF HORSE SHIT!” I remained silent as I waited for the yells to stop. It ended with a slap sound and another scream. “WHO’S THE CUNT NOW!?”

As I waited, Vinyl returned to the section of the cave I was in. A cigarette was resting between her lips as she sat down and took a drag from it. With an exhale she levitated it to me with a grin. "Want a hit?" I merely shook my head and declined as I examined her.

Her entire front side was stained red. Having a white coat only made the blood stand out that much more. I wondered if that was how she traditionally looked in battle. It was certainly an appearance that would intimidate her enemies.

Finishing her cigarette she tossed it aside and stood back up. "Come on, we're almost there."

We must have been walking for another solid twenty minutes before coming to a hollowed out chamber that housed a large beacon. Vinyl trotted around it to check the cable connected to it. "Looks like the power supply still works, but it'll need a jolt from my U.M.S.A. before it'll be operational."

"So this thing is supposed to take us to Cloudsdale? Are you even sure it's safe?" My brow rose as I examined what appeared to be the control deck.

"It'll either take us to Cloudsdale or it'll tear us into pieces." Vinyl spoke as she was running back and forth connecting cables.

I should have expected her to be this nonchalant about such a thing.

"Why is that?"

Vinyl pushed me out of the way to the control panel as she began to hit a bunch of combinations on it. "This thing was designed to transport mining supplies and resources back to Cloudsdale. It has never transported living things before. However I can add a little magic that will hopefully make it safe to jump through it."

I didn't like how she added the word "hopefully".

"And what if it doesn't?"

Vinyl stopped what she was doing and rested a hoof on the console as she turned to face me. Her face was sporting a grin. "Listen kid, you shouldn't be so worried about getting there in one piece. That's far from the most dangerous thing we're going to be doing today. Getting back alive is going to be the real challenge."

Even a pony as fearless as Vinyl Scratch apparently had doubts of how possible it was to survive in Cloudsdale. That didn't give me a lot of confidence in myself.

"Alright, looks like we're ready for transport. Back home we had a saying for this kind of thing." Vinyl started flicking some switches and gestured for me to follow her to the beacon.

Approaching slowly I rose a brow a little worried about what that saying was. "And what might that be?"

She chuckled as she stepped onto the large platform with me. "In Equestrian it roughly translates to 'Pray for your ass'."

A few seconds passed and the device below started to glow and whir as we watched sparks and jolts of electricity flow all around us. I couldn't watch, so instead I closed my eyes and hoped that we wouldn't get electrocuted or torn to shreds when I opened them. Vinyl of course was very calm, she was even singing a light Nordic tune as she stood there.

After a huge electric sound and a strange lifting sensation I opened my eyes. We weren't dead. Quickly I checked myself with my hooves; everything was still attached. Looking to my right, Vinyl stood there with a cigarette.

"I can't believe that worked..." I exclaimed.

Vinyl took a step off the beacon and looked at this second one. "Yeah, but we aren't coming back this way... This thing is toast..."

Trying to see what she was talking about I came next to her and took a look. Sure enough the entire thing was smoking, and there was a crack right down the center. There was no way just a quick jolt from her U.M.S.A. would fix this one either.

"Fuck!" Vinyl threw her cancer stick at the ground as she cursed. "Guess we'll have to find another way back... I swear to Luna I am going to kill One-Eye next time I see her."

"Settle down. We made it didn't we?" I grinned.

Vinyl turned around and examined the dark green clouds under her feet. In the distance was thick dark fog for miles. This place almost looked haunted. Picking up the remains of a sign she tossed it to me. I caught it with a grunt and flipped it over.

Cloudsdale.

"Welcome to Cloudsdale, kid."

Author's Notes:

Yes, I know, over a year late, however I have the next 5 chapters already written up. It took a while for me to get a feel for what I wanted to happen, and I realized I had to break this saga up a bit more than I thought I was going to.