The first light of dawn pierced through the grimy, cracked windows of the rotting house. The house let out a deep groan as the early morning winds buffeted its sides, ripping one of the few remaining shutters from its rusty hinges. The shutter floated on the air for a brief moment before crashing down to the ground below, the wood splintering as it landed.

A faint thud resounded throughout the building, causing one of the two white coated unicorns inside to stir. Vinyl lazily opened an eye, only to have a veil of sapphire hair obscure her vision. A tickling of her nose made her crack open her other eye, a forest of ruby red hair sat before her muzzle as she let a thin smile grace her lips.

She stared at her brother, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath, a small plume clearly visible in the winter air as it swirled upwards. With her free eye, Vinyl slowly traced the streaks of color that wound along his otherwise white coat, all ending at the same point on his flank.

A rumbling snapped her out of the dream-like trance she had fallen under, bringing attention back to the tasks she needed to complete for the day. Letting out a sigh, Vinyl pushed aside the rough fabric they called a blanket as she stood. The chill of the winter air bit at her, attacking her from all sides. The thought of laying back down raced through her head as she slowly trotted to the tin where their food was held.

The metal tin opened, Vinyl's ears drooped as she looked inside, just two pieces of stale bread looking back at her from the recesses of the tin. Her stomach begged her to take them both, letting out a loud grumble as she looked back at the small unicorn, blissfully asleep. "How could I even think that..." She whispered to herself, "I could never leave Tape hungry."

Levitating out one of the pieces, Vinyl tugged at it with her magic until it gave, ripping in two. Her stomach protested as she placed half back into the tin and shut it. "Well, looks like I'll need to grab some more food today," She thought to herself, biting into the measly breakfast, "Good thing it's market day, lots of loot to snag."

Her horn glowed as a scrap of paper and a piece of charcoal floated over to her. Finishing her miserable portion, Vinyl wrote a quick note before grabbing her improvised saddlebags and exiting into the cold, snowy back-alleys of Lower Canterlot.

~~~

Vinyl let her hooves take her along the cobblestone road toward one of the few scrapyards in the city. As the scrapyard came into view, a midnight blue hoof extended in front of Vinyl, forcing her to stop. As she looked at the pony the hoof belonged to, dread filled her.

"Vinyl, so glad I could find you," the pegasus colt said with a small grin that sent ice down her back, "Especially without that idiotic friend of yours."

"I would so love to stay and chat Nightshade, but I've got more important things to do," Vinyl said as she tried to walk around, only for a dull yellow colt to block her way. Turning around she found another colt with a muted lime green coat moving behind her, trapping her in the middle. A shiver went down her spine as she stood trapped, the scrapyard still a ways away.

"I'd like to introduce you to my friends, Brass," Nightshade said, pointing a hoof to the dull yellow colt with a vermilion mane, "And his brother Bloody," pointing to the muted lime green colt with a dirty blonde mane. Both brothers gave a snort that sent out small wisps of smoke as they were called out, puffing out their chests slightly, yet, a sadness in their eyes.

"I've waited long enough for you Vinyl, I've given you many chances, but I'll give you one more; come with me peacefully, or the Knuckle brothers will help you," Nightshade said, malice burning in his dark green eyes as he waited for her response.

The colts had moved closer to her as he spoke, now just out of reach of the mare in the middle. Vinyl let out a sigh as she looked down at the ground, shutting her eyes as she took a long breath. "Go buck yourself."

"Always the hard way with you isn't it Vinyl?" Nightshade said with a grin, "I like that in a mare. Brass, Bloody, if you'd please." With a wave of his hoof, the two brothers leapt at her, closing the distance in an instant. Vinyl moved faster however.

Agility came with being a thief, no thought to her movements as she flowed past the brothers, sliding under Nightshade as he started flapping his wings to pursue from above. Vinyl however, had different plans. Planting her front hooves on the ground, Nightshade looked back at her, a flash of fear overcoming his face as he flapped harder. Vinyl smiled as she looked at him frantically trying to get away, the world seemed to move in slow motion as her back legs extended, all the force she could muster behind the buck being transferred into Nightshade.

Vinyl wondered briefly if he'd ever be able to have foals of his own as she watched him tumble through the air, scrunched up in the fetal position. His tears seemed to hover in the air, glistening in the early light as they slowly fell to the snow below. His deep black tail brushed both of the colts as they stumbled to their feet, having freed themselves from each other.

Nightshade landed on his back with a loud thud, tears still welling in his eyes as they burned with anger. Everything was blurred, either due to the tears or the pain, he didn't know, all he knew, was somepony was going to pay. And that pony was making a run for it as he lay there. "What the buck are you two waiting for! Get that bitch!" He managed, barely able to keep down his breakfast as he stood, his hind legs still bent from pain.

Brass and Bloody looked at each other for a second, before nodding, and racing to get the white mare running for her life.

Vinyl could barely breath, her adrenaline rush had left her now, her legs felt heavy as she ran for the safety of the scrapyard. Looking behind her, she saw both brothers gaining ground on her, and a hurt Nightshade starting to flap his wings.

Turning her attention forward, Vinyl narrowly missed an overturned trashcan, bounding over it on instinct. Dread rushed through her as one of her hooves touched down, she knew they had her in that moment as her hoof made contact with the ground. Ice. It wouldn't have been a problem, if only she didn't have to jump.

Her momentum propelled her forward as she slid on the slick surface, hooves scraping at the ground for any friction she could find to keep herself up and moving. The rhythmic clopping of hooves on stone told her the brothers weren't far behind, closing in on her as she slid without control. Vinyl let out a loud yelp as the ice ran out, hard road returning beneath her front hooves, the sudden change in speed sending her flying through the air.

Time seemed to freeze as she locked eyes with Nightshade, his dark green eyes filled with a joyous anger, his mouth forming a long grin that chilled Vinyl's blood.

Vinyl landed on her back harder then she expected, she clutched at her stomach as she slid again on a patch of ice. Her journey came to an abrupt end as her back slammed into the chain-link fence that surrounded the scrapyard. She lay there, winded, hurt, exhausted, cold, and with two hefty colts about to catch her and turn her over to Nightshade.

Part of Vinyl just felt like giving up and submitting to Nightshade, no matter what came of it. The thought of leaving Tape alone, frightened and scared, ran through her mind. "No," She thought to herself, rolling onto her stomach, the colts growing ever closer, "I'm NOT going down without a fight!"

Filling her lungs with air, she rose to her feet, fire in her eyes as she turned to meet the brothers. The brothers however, were already on top of her, wrestling her to the ground before she could properly fight back. Vinyl didn't care, she bit, bucked, and hit any part of them she could in her frenzy.

Bloody had an idea, wrapping one of his front legs around her neck, slowly applying pressure as Vinyl still thrashed. Brass moved his head in front of Vinyl's, looking straight into her eyes with his light lavender ones. "We're really sorry for this whole mess, but Night has promised us enough bits to help our lil' sis if we did... this... for him," A single tear welled up in his left eye, "She's really bad off right now..." he said, his voice trailing off.

"Ya, we need this bucking money, else she might not make it..." Bloody said in a gruff voice, loosening his grip on Vinyl's throat slightly, "We're bad ponies for doing this, we know, but we need to so a good one can live a better life then us."

Vinyl just looked down at the ground, her own tears welling in her eyes as she thought of Tape again, "I'm sorry about that, but my little brother needs me right now," she said in a whisper before redoubling her efforts, managing to slip out of the choke hold they had on her. Only one pony would be close enough to help her, and she needed him right now.

"SCRAP! HEL-" Was all she managed to shout before Bloody regained the choke hold on her, she prayed he had heard while the brothers dragged her back to Nightshade.

"Bout damn time," Nightshade said, malice dripping in his words, "Your going to get it good now Vinyl, real bucking good now!"

Setting himself down on the ground with a wince, Nightshade pulled a clear bottle out of his saddlebags with a wing. The thick, black liquid sloshed around inside the container as he brought it closer to Vinyl's face. "This is one of my own special brews, knocks a pony unconscious in seconds," he said with another grin, "Now, be a good girl and drink up before I shove it down your throat!"

Uncorking the bottle with his teeth, Nightshade pushed it into Vinyl's mouth. "Now bucking drink this!"

Vinyl fought back anyway she could, spitting up the disgusting liquid, staining her coat where it ran down her head and neck. "Stop being so bucking thick!" Nightshade yelled, near maniacal now.

Covering her nose with a wing to suffocate her unless she drank the putrid liquid, Vinyl finally gave in, letting the liquid slide down her throat before taking a ragged breath to alleviate the burning in her chest. Her vision swam as she lost control of her muscles, going slack in the colt's grip.

The last thing she saw were those burning, green eyes, and that wicked grin. They both knew he won. Her eyelids finally fell, sealing her in a world of nothingness.

Author's note

I'd like to thank any and everypony who has taken the time to give me a shot and read my first story.

Special thanks to Cordovan Splotch for being a great friend and helping me with finding color palettes for many of my OC ponies in the story. Another thanks to Vinyl Scratch, who has been an awesome friend, and is wonderful at writing, and lastly, one very special thanks to ScootyRooty's little brother for being plain awesome.

Well, that about does it, comment below, and I'll see you next time!