The vampire cocked her head to the side. They had to go, soon. She had no idea where, but away from here, away from what was coming. "Octy..." That look in the cellist's eyes confused her. "What, you're gonna tell me you're a werewolf or something?" The unicorn snorted. "Their blood tastes different, lemme tell ya."

"No, Vinyl." Octavia breathed in very slowly. The need for panic was gone, the body had been given time to purge its fear. "I do not bark at the moon." A sly smile spread across her face. It was too wide, and made all the more unsettling by an odd twitch of her grey ears. Fear would not leave just because it was asked to. A mare could not shrug off shock by force of will alone.

"Octy?" The vampire's eyes were pleading. Red, glowing, unmistakably evil, but pleading nonetheless. "I know this is... hades, I'm surprised you're still sane right now. I promise, I'll explain everything. I'll keep you safe, but you don't wanna face the all-seeing eye."

Octavia blinked a few times in response, the eerie grin still plastered across her muzzle.

Vinyl shook her. "Stay with me, slagit! I didn't drag you back just to watch you snap!" Terror coursed through the stolen blood in her veins. Octavia was a mere mortal, a little earth pony who loved to play the cello. She would never be able to handle all this.

The cellist had indeed lost her marbles. Fortunately, she had dropped them right into the bin. The loony bin. Everything would turn out alright. She knew the garbage collector, and he would not throw her marbles away with the rubbish. Octavia cleared her throat and shivered again. Her smile shrunk back to a dignified turn of the lips, and her ears twitched a little less. She had reclaimed her focus. "I... am not a beast, Vinyl. I am just a little girl who loved her father very much."

"And I love my dad too, Octy, but we need to-"

"I have put down a few of the more rabid Lycans, though."

It was the vampire's turn to blink.

The earth pony patted her cold cheek. "For ponies who shift into oversized dogs, they have a surprisingly complex lexicon. Many of them could be savants, poets even, except for the raving lunacy." She took a breath and brushed a wayward strand of her mane back into place. "It is a sad thing to see a beautiful mind so degraded."

Vinyl's thoughts flatlined for a moment, then fluxed into a new rhythm. A grin slowly spread across her face. "Y'know, Octy? Somehow, you always know just what to say to make me look at life with a new set of glasses." She closed her eyes and ran her tongue over her lips. "You're a hunter."

"Vinyl... I... I am sorry if you regret helping me now." Octavia felt detached from it all, the matter of life and death almost boring in the abstract. She was focused, yet lightheaded. An overwhelming desire was welling up inside her to tell the vampire everything. Vinyl was her friend, more than that, Vinyl had always watched over her. The cellist clenched her jaw and focused through the fog in her mind. Maybe the pale mare had done more than just save her life.

"Out of all the ponies in the world, Octy, you've got the best excuse to put a slug in me." The vampire smirked as she leaned forward. "You fought that leech well enough to tick him off, that should have been a clue, but I was a little out of it. You're not an ARGUS op. You're too smart, and they blend in about as well as a gryphon on a bunny preserve." Vinyl's mind was racing. She had never asked too many questions about Octavia's schedule, since she was trying to hide a few unsavory facts about her own.

"Vinyl, I-"

"Who trained you?" The pale mare interrupted. "And... and are you really Octavia?"

The cellist set her jaw, but could not stop the laughter that bubbled up and out. "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" She felt the stress lift from her shoulders and the fog fade from her mind. "Yes, I am me. I was not trained as a hunter of monsters." She cleared her throat. "I-"

"Hold that thought." The vampire raised a hoof and laid her head on the ground again, listening for the rumble of treads. Her eyes darted from the cellist to the stars above. She could run pretty fast.

Octy knew what Lycans were, and she looked like she needed to get something off her back. Vinyl did not feel threatened by the grey mare, only surprised. Octy did have that stone killer glare, but Vinyl never would have pegged her as a monster hunter. They needed to go, but the grey mare did not want to. A little voice in the vampire's head suggested that there might be a reason for that. Vinyl could not believe that Octy wanted them to get nailed by ARGUS, so she decided that her friend must have something really important to say.

They would risk it. Tonight was the night the masks melted, and this rocked-out husk of a concert hall was the place. Besides, the cameras were still rolling. A touch-and-go getaway would be so much grander than simply vanishing into the night. The unicorn straightened up. "We have a few minutes. So, you're a hunter, and you're not ARGUS." Vinyl raised an eyebrow. "You didn't figure out what I was, and I never noticed you stacking melta bombs or cleaning lasrifles in your room."

The cellist shook her head. "No. I... I... was worried that you might already know, though. You tasted my blood, and I know that some of your-" She paused, thinking quickly of how to phrase her words without offending the vampire. "My memories."

Vinyl shrugged. "Reading minds is hard. It's also lethal. Most of the time." She smiled, a feral grin, and slid closer. The pale mare still thought of her friend as a little puppy, but this puppy had claws. She had trouble deciding if that made the cellist less or more tempting. A brief vitae-fueled fantasy dashed through her mind as she blinked, two mares surrounded by the beauty of carnage. Bodies falling, monsters exploding into ash, gore splattering across the walls, and above all else sweet blood. Gushing, pulsing, pumping out of the wounded and flowing from the fallen. Curiously, it was not the abundance of blood that made the scene so exhilarating, but something else. It was a warm presence at her side, another set of eyes to share the moment with. Somepony to help her when she fell, keep her from slipping up. Vinyl twitched back to reality and wiped a sliver of drool from her mouth.

"Vinyl?" Octavia asked quietly, eyes locked on the pale mare's muzzle.

The vampire shrunk away from her friend, her cheeks turning red from embarrassment as she regained control. "I'm not gonna hurt you, Octy, but I need to know what might try an' hurt me. Who trained you well enough that you can put down a moon-crazy Lycan?"

The earth pony had been staring quite intently at Vinyl. She glanced away and rubbed the side of her neck. Seeing the drool had frightened her, but a very small part of her mind had wanted to slit her fetlock and offer herself to the vampire. Vinyl was her friend, could she not spare a little blood? It seemed the most natural thing in the world, as natural as telling her all these secrets. Octavia closed her eyes. She had always given what she could to those less fortunate than herself. She understood what it meant to go without, more than most. That was how the cellist knew there was something foreign in her mind, urging her to cater to the vampire. She had learned not to give because of guilt, but when it could actually help others. Giving just to help yourself feel better was worthless, because she could never give enough. The earth pony knew this because she had spent too many years pouring her lifeblood into a void in hope of return.

"My Father..." Octavia bit her lip. Her parents were not pleasant memories. "It was something we could do together. Mother never... never really cared for me. Father liked to hunt." She curled her lip. "He loved to kill. I was just a little filly, but I loved him so much. I would do anything for him, to hear him say he was proud of me. So... so I learned what he wished to teach. I became what he wanted me to be, just as I practiced my instrument every day in the hope that I would earn Mother's love."

Even as a filly she had been a prodigy, an incredible musical talent, but never had she been good enough to please her mother. Not even perfection, not even writing her own music at such a young age, not even placing first in every competition. She was not a unicorn, so she was a disgrace. But Father... Father loved her. As long as she proved her skill with the things he taught, Father loved her. She was his daughter, horn or no horn. His legacy. The grey mare's voice was quieter now, her shoulders slumped in submission.

"He taught me how to destroy. How to take life, both small and large. We... we all swat flies, crush roaches, shoo spiders... but he trained me to think of everything in those terms. A bird eats the spider, a manticore eats the bird, and a hunter... a hunter kills the manticore, because it is a threat to ponies." She swallowed. "But he did not teach me to kill manticores." The mare shut her eyelids tight as horrible images washed through her mind.

Vinyl's jaw was slack and her eyes wide as she leaned forward. Octy had never talked about her parents like this before. The most she had mentioned was how they had lived like they were rich but died in debt. After a second's hesitation, Vinyl reached out toward her friend with a cold hoof.

"He taught me to be a manticore." Octavia's eyes opened, and they were colder than the vampire's flesh. "To be a weapon, just like he was. A tool for somepony else to use. And I did it, do you understand?" She whimpered softly, veiling her confession under a turn of phrase. "I did... anything he asked of me. Everything he asked of me. Just so he would say that he was proud of me. Just so I could hear..." Her voice gave out, unwilling to form the words. I love you, Octavia.

"But... he's dead, right?" The pale mare could not think of anything else to say. Tact was not one of her strong suits.

The earth pony coughed, rubbing the spot on her barrel where Vinyl's claw had rammed through her. "Thank Celestia, yes." She smiled wearily. "Both of them are. But I still have his training woven into me. I do not favor close range, but I am a decent hoof with a long rifle. He made quite sure of that." He had been a sniper, one of the most deadly in the world to hear him recount the old tales of glory. "Ever since I was born, I learned his tricks of the mind and body. I am his weapon." A shiver passed down her spine.

The vampire's lip trembled, and she drew her friend into another hug. "Octy... I'm sorry."

With a bitter laugh, the cellist replied. "Vinyl, you have nothing to apologize for." She wrapped her front legs behind the mare's red trenchcoat. "It does feel good to... to talk about it."

The vampire snuggled her cheek against the cellist's.

For a moment, the cellist struggled to speak. Finally, she whispered, "anything. Anything, Vinyl. Do you understand?"

"There are some things that mares weren't meant to know, Octy." The vampire soothed. "Some stuff is best forgotten. I kinda get the feeling that you were speaking from the heart when you convinced me that we're more than our pasts." It made sense now. Octy's dad was a upscale scumbag who regimented his daughter into some kind of gun nut. Somewhere along the way she ran into a few werewolves and pumped them full of lead. Silver was better, but unlike some eldritch monsters, if you hammered enough rounds into a Lycan it would suffer critical existence failure. Score one for vampires. Well, score one for Vinyl at least. "So, did you just go nuts one night and decide to do some big game hunting on your own hook?"

Octavia laughed. "After my parents were gone... I was still his weapon. I just had my safety on until a righteous cause made me an offer I would have been a fool to refuse."

"I'm glad you didn't start with me." The vampire smirked. Octy needed to let it all out, and they still had a moment or two. The more her friend talked, the more interested Vinyl became. "Hey... uh, mind if I ask a question?" She charged onward. "You're super-dedicated. Why'd your parents treat you like tar? You're awesome!"

"I let them down. I was born wrong." A few tears ran down the earth pony's cheek. "The first of my line born without a horn." The earth pony skipped over much. Now was not the time to mention the memories of her mother standing over her with a pillow held in the glow of her horn and a terrifying absence of love in her eyes. It was her mother's blood that had spoiled her, the genes of her great-grandmother lying dormant. Even so, her father would not permit it. Unicorn or no, Octavia was his daughter. It was not her fault for being born wrong, rather it was his wife's fault for not confessing her impure genes before they wed. The grey mare swallowed. "My father trained me, taught me discipline, focus, the art of... of death."

"But you didn't go his way." Vinyl growled. "You clawed your own place in the world." A lot of things made sense now. Octy never wanted anypony to have that kind of control over her again. That was why she had to feel like she earned something before she accepted it, and why she gave so much of herself away. The vampire ran a hoof through her friend's mane and continued to growl. "They died and left you with a bunch of debits to pay off, that's all you ever told me." A few choice words echoed through the pale mare's mind, and yet again she was thankful for her own parents.

Octavia found the low rumble oddly comforting, some newly twisted part of her mind taking solace in the vampire's rage. "Yes... my sixteenth birthday present."

Everything had been sold. The mansion, the estate, every little jeweler's bauble and stuffed owl. The kind attorney who oversaw the liquidation had offered to adopt her. They had only met a few times before her parents' death, but those few times were usually at one of her performances. He knew what a talent she was, and had always been baffled by her parents' lack of enthusiasm for her musical skill. The sale of the estate paid nearly all of her parents' debits, but left her with nothing. After thanking him for the kind offer, Octavia had asked that he instead save back her cello from the auctions. With it, she could make her own way in the world, and she desperately wanted that freedom. After so many years of stifling pomp and a depressing lack of love, the grey mare needed to feel the reward of earning something on her own merits or she would go insane. For all his kindness, the attorney could never be allowed to know what her parents had done to her. If he ever saw the hunter under her skin, he would surely commit her to an asylum out of fear for his own life.

The attorney did not abide by her wishes. Instead of her cheap instrument, she found a beautiful old cello nestled in a bright new case when she staggered into the spare bedroom of his house after the final pound of the gavel. Inside the case was her musicbook, and inside the musicbook was a note. The neat letters, formed by a hoof far more used to scribing wills and bills than kind words, had told her that she would always be welcome here, no matter how far her spirit might drive her to roam. Not until then had Octavia truly felt free. It was not the power to do whatever she wished, but an absence of subjugation. The ability to pursue things that were right, without being forced to do what was wrong.

She cleared her throat. "The best present a girl could ask for. Freedom. Everything I have of them, even that first cello they bought me, is gone. I am my own mare now. Except... except that I am still my Father's daughter, his legacy. I cannot escape that, no matter how hard I try."

The vampire snarled. Some primal corner of her mind regarded Octavia as her property, and had for quite some time. The idea that another had sown weed-seed on her field angered the predator.

"I... Vinyl, I only recently began putting those old skills to a noble use." Octavia cleared her throat again, feeling rather nervous. This was the moment she had been leading up to for quite some time, but that did not make it any easier. A part of her wanted to take the coward's path and run away, but she knew that this was the only way she could truly help her friend. "Ah... that brings me to the nub of the matter." She wiggled a bit, feeling uncomfortable, and managed to squirm out of the embrace.

Her friend regarded her with a raised eyebrow.

The cellist breathed in slowly, calming her mind. Now was not the time to choke. Her mouth was dry for a moment, then with an expenditure of willpower, she gathered herself and continued. "I am an employee of the Bon Hadescream Organization."

"Ah." The pale mare nodded, a fatalistic frown on her muzzle. Stupid little cabals and their stupid little... "Of course you are." The name rung a bell, but she could not quite place it even though she knew most of the secret societies that operated in Manehattan. Mom kept her up to date on who to duck. With a sigh, Vinyl rolled her shoulders and leaned back on her haunches. "So... how's this piece play out? Are you going to try and kill me now, Octavia?" She lifted her head and looked up at the stars. "Because... that's not going to work out for everypony." The vampire debated if it would be a better idea to tie her up with improvised materials, or just knock her out. She was leaning toward tying-up, best not to risk a concussion. After all that trouble of saving Octy, killing her was out of the question. Besides... her blood was really, really good.

"No, no, Vinyl!" The grey mare waved her forehooves in what she hoped was a nonthreatening manner. "I want to hire you!" She paused. "Well, I mean, I cannot technically hire you, but I want to extend the offer." She blushed. "I... well, actually I am unable to do that. But I am." She rolled out her tongue, trying to untwist the metaphorical knot. "Doing it, with you. That thing."

Vinyl glared at the earth pony. She tried to snarl, she really did, but somehow she broke out in a fit of giggles. It was just too much, Octavia turning pink in the cheeks over semantics. "You want me to work for a hunter's cabal?" She giggled. "Oh yeah, that interview'll go great. Gee Miss Scratch, you've got great qualifications, and a few really solid references, but I'm afraid your past history of drunken parties and catastrophic destruction puts you out of the running." The mare held a hoof up in the air. "Oh, but another of our departments would be very interested in your talents. Take a left as soon as you leave and keep walking until you reach the hatch labeled Incinerator. Just open it up and jump right in, they'll be so happy to see you!" She pushed her glasses up on her face. "Gimmie a break, Octy. I've never even heard of these gals."

The cellist sighed in relief. "Oh, thank Celestia. Perhaps they have never heard of you, either."

"Yeah, well if we don't book it, I don't think anypony will ever hear from us again." She tapped the ground. "I hear Chimera AFVs. That's ARGUS, the all-seeing eye, pretty much the biggest'n'meanest group of monster hunters out there." A shiver passed down her spine. "If you think I'm messy, you oughta see them."

Octavia nodded, a small smile crossing her muzzle. "I have." She cleared her throat. "I am an errand girl for the Bon Hadescream Organization, a courier if you will. It is not often that I have a combat assignment." The vampire opened her mouth, so Octavia quickly continued. "The Organization leases armored fighting vehicles from ARGUS, and I am quite sure that it is their treads you hear."

The vampire's eyes narrowed. "Octy, ARGUS hits like total protonic reversal. You gotta give me something to go on here." She could take a beating, but had no desire to see the earth pony at death's doormat again. Collateral damage was a good thing in the ARGUS Paranormilitary handbook, it meant that the cancer could not spread. "Besides, this group you're talking about has to be tiny. No way they're gonna run a risk on a vampire." Vinyl turned away.

The grey mare bit her lower lip. This was it, all or nothing. "Vinyl. I believe in you. I cannot accept that you are too different from the girl I have put up with for all these years." She stepped closer to the pale mare, hooves shaking a little. "I meant what I said before, I am dead. Whatever identity I had before this night has been washed away. Everything I ever worked for..." She shut her eyes for a brief moment. When she opened them, Vinyl felt that calm stare piercing right through her again. "I need to know what you are going to do. I need to know if you are with me."

"With you?" She looked back at her friend, and suddenly realized how few options Octavia really had. Vinyl could walk away, vanish into the night, but the grey mare was just a mortal. She had two choices. One was to run away with a vampire. The other was to go to her little cabal and hope they could help her. The pale mare glanced at the floor. "I ain't a joiner."

The cellist swallowed hard.

"But... I got into this mess tonight because it was me against the world, no friendly-fire concerns until after the fact." She huffed out a breath of stale air, not quite believing what she was doing. "Talk to me. What kind of party line does your little cabal go by?"

"We speak for the lost. Those who can never smile again, we give rest. We cheer the innocent. We act for the victims. We who have won life's lottery will answer, not in guilt but acceptance of our duty, for those too weak to cry out." The earth pony recited the mantra carefully, then added the final line. "We find profit in Harmony, and liability in Discord. If the world will be shaped only by strength, it will be shaped with ours. We are the Bon Hadescream Organization."

Vinyl raised an eyebrow. "And that little parcel of words was why you took on a vampire in hoof-to-hoof?"

"No. I did that because it was the right thing to do." Octavia swallowed. "And... and I was angry. I felt so very, very angry at him... and you." The vampire had missed the opening of the performance. "This was my night, my moment, and... and he ruined it." She blinked back a tear, then smiled. "But you saved me. I lost my head, and when I had lost everything you were there for me. To make me smile."

The vampire blushed, then pulled some blood out of circulation to repress her emotions. "Octy, be straight with me. Are you working for the good girls?"

"Yes, Vinyl. I am." The cellist nodded. A spark of joy lit in her heart. Vinyl was considering the offer! "I would not be alive if I was not." She tapped her head with a hoof. "I have a rare genetic disorder. Too much unicorn blood, and no horn. It causes odd buildups in the brain. Extremely rare indeed, normally earth ponies are able to discharge such things through the ground without even noticing. Somehow I have a dysfunction. The doctors never expected me to to live past foalhood. However, music helped soothe the parts of my brain that were affected, and I found that I could pour all the pain into my performances and feel it slip away. That discovery added a few years to their estimates." It was also the reason her parents let her perform as much as they did.

The vampire blinked. "Octy... you're dying?" She pulled herself upright. "No, no, when I was inside your head I changed stuff. Lots of stuff. I might have-"

"I know." A small smile crossed the cellist's face. Vinyl had helped her, healed her. "The pain is gone, Vinyl. It was my first clue that you are not so bad," she winked, "for a DJ."

"Hold on. I know about earth ponies being great farmers and stuff." Both of her parents were of Earth, after all. "And Mom could do some pretty weird things now that I think about it... but what do you mean about your music?"

Octavia held out her front legs as though she were about to play her cello. "Earth ponies do not channel magic like unicorns, or disperse it like pegasi. We conduct it, hold it, and disperse it back into the world. As the magic enters us, we gather strength, and as it leaves, we perform wonders. It is a natural rhythm." She bit her lip. "But I was out of sync, born with an... an anomaly that hindered the natural flow of magic through me." Her hooves moved slowly, playing an unheard tune. "Instead it crashes against the stave and clangs against the other notes before it seeps away. I learned at a very young age that creating music helped the pain fade more quickly." She had taken rubber bands and wound them around drawers. If the pitch needed to be changed, she would pull the drawer out or push it in just enough to change the acoustics of the improvised instrument. "That... that was part of why you saw me play so much, Vinyl. I loved to play, to hear the music and know that I was the one making it, but there were many times when I did not perform for beauty, but simply to dull the ache. To practice alone helped a little, but if I had an audience, I truly felt the pain fade." She smiled down at her friend. "And you were always a kind listener."

"Octy... why didn't you ever tell me?" Vinyl swallowed.

"Because there was nothing to be done. My parents consulted the finest doctors-"

The vampire growled again. "No. They talked to the finest mortals."

Octavia smiled. Her parents had gone to the best of the best. She was her Father's legacy. "Vinyl, until tonight, I was quite certain that you too were a fine mortal."

"You still should have told me." The pale mare said quietly.

"I would have told you when I knew I only had a month left, because I knew I could convince you to help me live it well, rather than squander it on pointless treatments." Octavia smiled. "Or rather, I would have, except that it is no longer a problem. You see, I know I am working for the right side. I know it because of how they do business. I found out about the Bon Hadescream Organization when a chance meeting with an old friend ended with me blacking out and slumping into my salad. At the time, I thought I only had a quarter of a year left, more if I could find a particularly good crowd to lose myself in front of. When I woke up, I was in a rather strange place, all manner of things connected to me. My old friend turned out to be an agent of theirs."

Vinyl's eyes widened. "When-"

"Yes, I ran into her after we met on the train, after I earned my place in the Manehattan Grand Orchestra."

The vampire shifted uncomfortably. "Octy... I wouldn't have..." She swallowed. "I know, you couldn't have known, but I want you to know I wouldn't have turned you. If I could help you, fix you, sure, but I can't turn ponies into vampires. Nothin' about what I want, just... I can't. It's not possible. So you're not one now, either. You're... I dunno. I've never done anything like that before, and I only think it worked because I had a ton of life-force to work with. You're... something, but you're not a vampire. I promise."

The grey mare sighed quietly. "I... I do not think I would have accepted the offer, even if you had made it. I was looking forward to a little peace." A smile crossed her lips. "My one request of you in my will was that you find somewhere nice to bury me."

The DJ shivered. Would she really have let Octy go, even if she was ready? The vampire turned her thoughts back to the moment, thankful that she did not have to answer that question. "So... so they helped you. That's nice, but what did they want for helping you?"

"My old friend offered me a chance to extend my life, as well as steady pay, in exchange for becoming one of their support staff. There's no such thing as a free lunch, and I was more than willing to work. After a short psychological evaluation, they decided I was stable enough to handle low to moderate risk tasks, but most importantly I was discrete enough not to mention my work to others. The Bon Hadescream Corporation does prefer a modicum of secrecy."

The coin finally dropped in the pale mare's mind. "Wait... Bon Hadescream? That's that freakin' candy company?" She giggled. "You work for a candy company, Octy?"

"Quite." She brushed a black lock of hair out of her eyes. "As it turns out, the difference between little lumps of sugar and little lumps of medicine is less than one might expect. Their pharmaceutical division was able to conjure some rather unique pills that dulled the pain and kept my brain from swelling inside my skull. In exchange, I kept my mouth shut and carried packages. Simple work, but as I said, their presence here is small. Nopony thinks of the janitor until there is no one trustworthy enough to clean the toilets." It was a bit cruel when one thought about it. Her security clearance was based on her old friend's recommendation, but justified by the pills the Organization gave her. Since she needed their help, she was more trustworthy than others who might be tempted to turn traitor. The scenario could turn ugly very quickly, however they had never treated her like a criminal on a leash. The prescription was there every time, with a few extra capsules just in case. On the other hoof, it had been made very clear that if she ever betrayed the trust of her old friend, there would be no more pills, and no second chances.

"Why have a candy company as a front, though? I mean, ARGUS gets funding, but why's a megacorp like Bon Hadescream care about monsters?"

Octavia tapped her front hooves together. "A candy company exists to make ponies smile and enjoy life. Horrible abominations are... well, bad for profit margins, as I understand it. The Organization is in fact the entire reason the candy company exists. As I understand it, their pharmaceutical division chiefly produces combat stimulants and miraculous medical supplies. They have been in the business of suppressing monsters for quite some time, the rumor is that they were responsible for turning Nightmare Night from an evil feast into the trick-or-treating festival we know today." A smile crossed her face. "According to my friend, the candymaking tradition goes all the way back to producing ration bars during the Great Crusade."

Vinyl smirked. "Hey, anypony responsible for all the times I dress up like a firefighter and get free candy has a spot on my good list." Her father had always thought the costume was atrocious, but Vinyl loved the big helmet and the cool boots. Besides, she could pack around a smoke machine that looked like an oxygen tank. "Why haven't I run into them, though?"

"Probably because they are very weak here. As I understand it, Manehattan is largely dominated by other groups, particularly this... ARGUS. I mostly carried packages back and forth between branches, made deliveries, helped with logistics. There are a lot of moving parts behind every successful operation, and I was just one more until somepony noticed how I always paused to look in on the firing range." She blushed. "One thing led to another, and there I was. Riding as overwatch on a Chimera one night, then again, until it was something of a habit." It had felt good, so good, to pull the trigger and save a life. To see a crawler hanging above somepony, and to erase it from existence. To hear a cry for help over the radio, spy a pony grappling with an undead, and take its head away before it could bite. Yes, it helped her guilt, but she did not do it for guilt. She did it for the art of the shot, it was her part to play in the symphony of destruction.

"Kickin' tail out on the road, livin' by the killer's code." The vampire licked her fangs and nodded. "Well..." She glanced up at the stars. "What do I got to lose?"

The cellist swallowed. "So... are you... interested in the offer?"

"Yeah." Vinyl nodded, meeting Octavia's eyes. "But I'm really interested in how sure you are that they're the ones outside."

The grey mare placed a hoof on her neck once more. This was it. All the clouds drifted away, all the excuses were gone. She felt vitality again, strength from some strange fountainhead. Her strength now, regardless of where it had come from. She closed her eyes, took a very deep breath, then reached out toward the pale mare. "Vinyl. You hate being alone. Feeling as though the entire world is against you."

"That's because it is, Octy."

"I am not." She opened her eyes. Only a few centimeters of air separated them. "I know you are more than just your fangs. If you were not, I would not be sitting here. Please, Vinyl. You do not have to be alone against the world."

A moment passed. The vampire let the air in her lungs hiss away in frustration, then took a deep breath. "Y'know... Mom told me that. Again an' again, she told me that. But I couldn't believe her." Vinyl crossed her front legs. "I... I nearly killed him. My own dad. It was an accident, both times, but... I stopped trusting myself. And... and then I killed you." She bit her lip. "Slag... now I'm getting all sappy."

Octavia swished her tail back and forth, her front legs still extended in an offered hug. "Nopony is perfect, Vinyl. We have to learn from our mistakes. Become greater than what our pasts have tried to make of us. I know you can, but you have to accept that truth before it will do you any good."

The pale mare pushed her shades out of the way and wiped her eyes. "Aw... hades." She sniffled. "I'm... I'm a buck-motherin' vampire and I'm gettin' all weepy. Yeah, this'll look great on the reel."

Octavia raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. A year later, she would give her partner a reassuring hug. The camerapony really was doing a tremendous job.

"I know that I serve a worthy Organization, Vinyl. I have to believe they have a place for penitent souls." The cellist refrained from adding like myself. Their time must be drawing short. "Will... will you run from me, also?"

The vampire tilted back her hat and sniffled back a few tears. "Eh."

Octavia blinked. "Eh?"

"Eh!" replied the DJ with a nod of her head.

The grey mare crossed her front legs across her chest and rolled her eyes. Was Vinyl really doing this?

"Eh?" The unicorn tilted her head to the side.

"Humph." Octavia replied.

"Awww."

Octavia fought back a smile. "Vinyl, you are insufferable, do you know that?"

The unicorn smirked. "Humph."

It was all a game to that madmare. A game of posture and pose. The grey mare could not hold back the grin any longer. Always a game, always the spirit of laughter, always Vinyl Scratch.

"I dunno. It might kill Mom if she found out I actually got a real job." She scratched her chin. "But... eh, why not. I'll hang with your crew, see how things shake out. No promises, though."

Octavia let out a long sigh of relief.

"Oh," the pale mare leaned forward and hugged her, "one other thing. If I kidnap you in the middle of the night and set off for parts unknown, it's because I decided the answer was nah, but I didn't want to leave you behind." She felt the grey mare's warm fur against her cool skin and smiled. "I'm figuring that I'll be Batmare and you'll-"

"Vinyl."

A pause.

"Yeah?"

The earth pony sighed, then wrapped her front legs around the vampire. "Promise that you'll bring my cello as well. Intact."

"You got it, babe." Vinyl let go and wiped a few tears from her eyes. "I... Octy... thanks. I'm... I'm sorry-" A grey hoof pressed against her muzzle.

"Sush. If you talk too much, I might realize how mad all of this really is." She rolled her shoulders and looked up. "It really is a beautiful night, is it not?"

"Yeah." The vampire smiled. "Now. Spill."

"My bow-tie." Octavia swallowed hard. "I am sure that it is the Bon Hadescream Organization outside because I am wearing a homing beacon. I triggered it in panic when that monster first carved into the conductor, but I am not surprised at how long it has taken them to respond. Their presence in Manehattan is small, and my beacon is only designed to be picked up by the protection detail I am assigned when carrying a sensitive package." She shrugged. "Still, better than nothing, and under the circumstances, their timing is perfect."

Vinyl was quiet for a long moment. Her head turned, she leaned forward, and Octavia felt a cold tongue lick up the side of her neck.

"If... Vinyl, please, if you do... please make it quick." She felt the other mare's head shake.

"Nah. I... I should have figured that out sooner too." The pale mare smiled. "You stalled me, didn't you? That's how you hung on, you knew the calvary was coming if you just kept sane. But you didn't want them to kill me, you wanted them-"

"To help you, Vinyl." She swallowed. "I called them to help me, to seek vengeance on him, but they are here now for you." The earth pony was wondering just how she would explain all of this to them. The cell leader knew her, he would not throw her away with the rubbish. "I have seen paranormals fight alongside their operatives before. There is even an ectoplasmic entity that one of our branches keeps as a pet." She laughed. "He is a green glob of flying goo that zips about the firehouse, and he is wretchedly hard to get out of one's mane. There has to be a place for you, Vinyl."

The vampire was quiet for another long moment.

"I am sorry I-"

"I'm not mad." Vinyl interrupted. "You didn't sell me out. I should have been here to help you. To deal with him. You needed somepony, and I wasn't here, so you called for help. I... this is all my fault, Octy. I told you to book me that ticket as-"

"No, Vinyl." The cellist whispered. "No. It was him, and him alone."

Vinyl glanced back at the flickering red light under the rubble, then back up at the entrance to the concert hall. The Chimera AFVs were here. She could feel them outside. "Alone."

"Yes. Him alone. Not you, Vinyl."

The vampire breathed in for no other reason than to breathe, a curiously mortal action. "Yeah. Not me. I'm not alone anymore. Thanks, Octavia."

Author's Notes:

Whew. This was a monster of a chapter to write, it's the capstone to everything that came before. I hope it was enjoyable to read and believable. Also, improved cover art! Huzzah!

What happens next? Well, technically the movie is over. This is the part that Octavia and Vinyl needed to watch together to bring you the readers up to speed on their crazy lives. I'm debating between continuing the film to introduce two more characters, or starting the next chapter with a little smash-whallop-bang combat assignment like Darkness Dawning.

Let me know what y'all think in the comments. Feedback always helps!