Octavia rolled her eyes and set the neatly folded foil next to her mattress. The gyro had been just what she needed, filling and able to be eaten from its wrapper without getting one's hooves messy. She smiled up at the ceiling. Perhaps she was skilled at the art of death, but it was her other gifts that had won the day. Generosity and music, those were what had ultimately stopped the dragon, not bullets. The gray mare was more than an assassin, she was an Asset.

Vinyl scooped the tinfoil into a pocket. "Oooh, that reminds me..." The vampire rummaged in her red trenchcoat. After a few seconds, she pulled out what appeared to be a tiny reproduction of the beautiful golden cello and bow that the dragon had used. Octavia stared at it with wide eyes. "Bam! I found this next to a rock when Beakie made me clean up the mess after my concert. Pretty snazzy, isn't it?" With a glow of her horn, she floated the ancient instrument toward her ghoul. "So... are you ready for another adventure?"

"I... I think I need to rest for a while, Vinyl." Octavia stared at the beautiful cello and bow. With trembling hooves, she reached out to take them. At the merest thought, they grew from small enough to be lapel pins to just the right size for her to play, then shrunk down again. Despite being made of metal, the cello was even lighter than her wood one. They were beautiful, so very beautiful. It was as though they had been made just for her. Yes, yes, all for her. Her precious. She could feel the mystic energies oozing from its frame, calling to her just as they had during the concert. Greed. And yet... were they not worthy of such greed? Were they not superior to any instrument made by pony hooves, or pony magic? Rollins cleared his throat and caught her eye, letting her know that she had better let Central's experts have a good long look at the instrument before doing anything with it. She nodded slowly, and smiled. Anything of the ancient dragons was very powerful, and not to be toyed with. Scoffing Song had learned that the hard way. Still, it was a trophy, a reminder of all she had overcome. "And we have to keep the dragon bones and wounded safe on our return to Central. I hope that will be far less of an adventure than this has been."

"Awww..." pouted the vampire. "Oh, and this was near the gold cello too." She produced a slab of dark rock. Etched into it, as though written with ink on paper, was a brief message. The fire is upon the mountain, within the house of the rising sun. Bequeath from scale, to worthy, to scale. And should you ever wish to try again... pick up the bones, and set them on fire. Follow the smoke going higher and higher. Octavia read the message, not quite understanding.

Her domitor did. "I recognize that last bit." Vinyl cleared her throat. "Now maybe someday the sun's gonna shine. Flowers will bloom, and all will be fine. Pick up the bones, and wish them goodnight. Pray them a prayer, and turn out the light. But nothing will grow on this burnt, cursed ground. Because the breath of the death is the only sound."

"What?" Octavia asked uncertainly.

"Old dragon wisdom about life and gathering memories of lost things," she clarified without really explaining anything. "Things were different back when this was a brutal planet."

Rollins had a different take on the cryptic words. He peered at the slate with a worried expression. "Fire upon the mountain... house of the rising sun..." His eye twitched. "No, no, no... not Canterlot, no way. I mean, we don't really have a presence there, but the Educarchy has that place on lock. They don't even let the Lost Loyalists near, and then there's the Royal Guard. Those guys aren't the sharpest spears in the armory, but they're not gonna let something take root right under their noses... I hope..." He shivered, just a little.

"Yeah, I'm sure everything's just fine, Beakie," Vinyl patted him on the back. The fact that she was the one trying to reassure him made her words all the less reassuring. "Celestia's trusting all of her underlings to keep her safe while she focuses on the important stuff, like holding the sun and moon up so the planet doesn't burn or freeze. Don't you trust them too?"

"Trust... yeah, trust." The gryphon took a deep breath. "Keep it together, keep it together. Celestia can handle her own backyard. She's not some figurehead who's only seen when a vengeful deity with a pen needs to emphasize how strong a certain enemy of the week is by having it defeat her." He forced a chuckle. "Fire on the Mountain must refer to... some other mountain. Some other mountain where the rising sun lived back in the dragons' time." A bead of sweat ran down the side of his head. "Yeah... yeah... heh... heh... silly me worrying." He swallowed hard. "Y'know, the Royal Guard don't do regular screening for subconscious hypnosis on their upper officer ranks? I mean, I can understand not doing that for enlisted, but if a Captain or higher is compromised, that can do a lot of damage." He wobbled unsteadily, eyes bloodshot and wanting to close.

"Rollins," Octavia said gently.

"Right, right." He took a very deep breath, reached for that pouch again, then clenched his claw shut before taking out another capsule. "Right. One problem at a time, focus on the task at claw." Whole world's coming apart, seems like. The idea that the message might not have had a malicious undertone did not even occur to him. He had been awake for far too long, kept active by stimulants, training, and pain. His mind perceived monsters in every shadowy corner.

"Quite," Octavia agreed. "And do not worry, Rollins. I have no intent to summon that dragon for a rematch. Once was more than enough." She looked over at Vinyl. "And... I owe you a great debit of gratitude."

"Really? For what?" The pale unicorn shoved the gryphon aside and grinned wider than should be possible into her friend's face. "I mean, I know I'm awesome, so if you can't pick any one thing that's cool."

"Just... for being you, Vinyl." The grey mare sighed quietly. Her friend was cold as ice and wilder than a bag of cats, but she had just seen what true evil looked like. Vinyl was like the spider who spun webs to catch flies, rather than the ones that crept into your home and could make you very ill with a bite. Octavia reached up and hugged her close, and her friend hugged back. Maniac that she was, she could always be counted upon to do the right thing... once every other option had been exhausted. "Thank you for being you."

"It's what I do best, Octy." The vampire said proudly. "And... thank you, too."

"For what?"

"Oh," she cooed in an energetic voice, "you know." Vinyl nuzzled her ghoul's cheek.

"Vinyl," the gray mare said sternly, "you understand that I am recovering from a serious injury, yes?"

From the floor a meter away, a new red stain running across one of his bandages, the gryphon added, "yeah, I showed you the dried blood all over the floor of the atrium. She took a spear through the side!" He struggled back upright, then one of his hind legs wobbled and he collapsed back onto the floor. "Can you actually think about somebody other than yourself for once?"

The vampire shook her head and opened wide.

"Oh..." Octavia reached up and loosened her bow-tie. "Very well. I suppose I owe you that much, my domitor. And I do hope you beat that level." She grinned at the slightly confused unicorn, then shut her eyes as the monster gently sank her fangs into her neck. Vinyl did not need much, especially not right now since she was freshly charged from Rollins' offering, and there were things she should know. Those things Octavia pushed to the front of her mind as she felt that strange, intimate connection form with her domitor. The gryphon looked away and shook his head. He couldn't understand how this felt to her, the sensation of symbiosis and oneness that nothing else could bring. Nopony could, it would be like describing beautiful music with words. No matter how skilled the author might be, and few were as skilled as they believed themselves to be, there was some element that words could not convey. A shiver ran down her spine, and she moaned softly. Yes it hurt, but this was a strange kind of pain.

One more mission accomplished, one more enemy defeated. They had spoken for the lost, and even saved a few. She smiled as the vampire sipped. Perhaps this was not the most triumphant of endings, but it was happy enough for an orphan cellist.

Wub-a-scrub-dub, Octy. Makin' the world a better place.

Author's Notes:

It's been a long, bloody road, but just shy of this story's three-year anniversary, the "Carnival of the Animals" story arc is a wrap with (by my count) the fortieth chapter of Bon Hadescream! Thank you to all the readers who've stuck with this tale from the beginning. The viewership numbers have been pretty dedicated throughout this story's entire run, slowly building over time. All those thoughtful comments are very rewarding to read as well! As I've said before, the knowledge that readers are interested in this tale is why I set aside some other life priorities to return and give this story arc a proper ending. I'd be interested to hear what folks think about the story arc now that it's complete. I'll be the first to say I'm no Tom Clancy, and there are certainly points in need of improvement, but I do think that the story arc flows well from event to event. The characters remain consistent, focusing on their individual goals and reacting to their environments. I also tried to keep the theme of this arc focused on Octavia proving to herself that she has become more than her father believed she could be, and I feel that has been a success. I was originally expecting this story arc to be much, much shorter, both in words and time, but... well, no need to rehash the reasons behind that!

This chapter has a wink to Alice Cooper's song "Pick Up The Bones" off the album Brutal Planet. I felt it was fitting for dragon bones, especially those activated by fire. There's also a final callback to the Charlie Daniels Band's "Devil Went Down to Georgia" in the dragon's message.

What comes next? Well, that's a tricky question. I've tried to provide a solid endcap here, wrapping up all the immediate challenges facing the team and even harkening back to the very first chapter of Bon Hadescream with a few of Vinyl's lines. That is why I have set the story's status to "Completed". In order to provide the steady march and finishing surge of updates that this story has enjoyed, I've had to cut out some other things from my life for the past few months. Important things. I believe that the completion of this story has been worth the sacrifice, but I cannot continue this pace of updates. Therefore, I cannot guarantee that I will ever be able to update this story again. In that sense it is "Completed", it is functionally finished and all immediately answerable questions the reader may have are, I believe, resolved. Yes, there are greater questions such as "Will the Organization ever be able to retake Manehattan?", "Who was that voice on the radio that Vinyl talked to before those bleachies hulked out?", and "Why doesn't everypony just retire and become background ponies for the Mane Six while Princess Luna and her Lunar Guards take over policing the monsters of Equestria?" (Although that last one is less of a question and more of a fatalistic prophecy! ) Those questions are much larger and grander in scope, though, and can be left to the imagination of the reader if a suitable body of evidence is available for a possible conclusion to be surmised.

Questions such as "When is Octavia gonna get up off the floor and go punch that jerk cult leader in the schnozz?" are not. They are cliffhangers, concepts that urge the reader to turn the page and see what happens. I feel that a cliffhanger is sort of a pledge between the writer and the reader. "Hey, come back next time and you'll get to see something cool!" It is my hope that the conclusion of this story arc has wrapped up all the cliffhangers, and left only the grand questions. I'll not touch on the subject of plot holes, since I'm sure I've left a few lying about and if I go looking I'm sure I'll fall down one... aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

Ahem. However, I can guarantee the following. If I do continue this story, I will pre-write as much as I am able beforehand, as I did with these last few updates. This will allow me to know for certain that I am able to complete what I set out to do on a timely schedule, so I will not leave any of you fine readers hanging for over a year, waiting on another update! For now, if you're hungering for more Bon Hadescream, try re-reading the story over from the beginning. Every time I consult previous chapters and their notes as reference material, I discover something that I forgot I had written. Be sure to let your friends know about this tale as well, especially since now's a great time for them to start reading it!

I feel I have grown both personally and as a writer through my work on this story, and I thank all of you for reading whether you have been here from the very start or are perusing this tale in the distant future. May God bless you and your work.

Suuush. Keep it a secret, but I've been working on short stories for future chapters. Not sure if any will make the cut, or when. I'm trying to keep them from turning into nine-reel epics like The Carnival of the Animals did. There's also a ton of content for Lyra and Bon Bon, er "Sweetie Drops" as she's officially named now, that has never been posted since it's out of chronology and needs revision. If I can get some of those up, I'd like to add Lyra and Bon Bon as character tags. Think short action pieces like Back for the Attack or Just Another Night, and "different perspective" chapters like Dark Alleys. Was hoping to have something for Halloween, but I've had to type up a ton of other stuff lately and my fingers hurt.