Vinyl Scratch (1st person)

As the stallion blacked out, I chuckled in amusement. "So, now that that's out of the way." Manifesting my stand on my hooves, I flashed a toothy grin at the minotaur. "Wanna dance, big guy?" I asked. "If you come with me quietly, I promise I won't rough you up too bad."

Instead of a proper reply, he roared angrily and slammed the butt of his battle axe into the floor before charging at me, horns first. "You impudent pony! How dare you get in my way!" The minotaur shouted.

Seeing the attack coming, I tapped the ground in front of me with my left forehoof and created a glowing blue ring a half meter in diameter in the same spot. Just as the loud-mouthed muscle head was about to run me through, I hopped back at the last second, slamming my hoof down when I landed and activated my ability. The ring, now under the minotaur, glowed brightly, gaining his attention just as a collum of transparent waves shot up and impacted his stomach. The force from my attack sent the minotaur a few feet into the air, ending with him coming back down and falling onto the cold stone with a grunt.

"W-What is this sorcery?!" The minotaur yelled, pushing himself off the ground while catching his breath.

I chuckle again, doing little side hops to loosen my muscles. "That, my good sir, is the thing that'll kick your shiny ass." I taunted, "Funny, I don't sense any stand magic coming from you; guess that's what boss was talkin' about. Must be pretty magically strong to see my stand's attacks coming, not that it'll do you any good." I said with a shrug.

The minotaur huffed and finally got to his hooves. "Your foalish tricks will never defeat me, mare. I'm the-"

"Yeah, yeah, great 8th general, blah, blah, blah." I interrupted with an eye roll, "Can we get to the part where I take you in already?" That seemed to piss the guy off, as I could make out steam bellowing from his ears and his eyes going bloodshot. It's always the ego that brings down his type.

This time, the minotaur grunted, quickly rushing over and equipping his axe. Like before, he charged me again with his axed raise over his right shoulder. I gave an unamused snort and joined the mindless charging, running straight at the minotaur, planning on attempting the same tactic as before.

Quickly halting my advance after a few feet, I jumped back after placing down a ring, ready to blow this guy away. But to my surprise, he side-stepped the ring with impressive speed for his size, making the attack shoot at nothing as he swung his axe at my neck. I quickly placed down and activated a ring on my left, resulting in it knocking me to the side and avoiding the axe. As the minotaur swung at thin air, I ended up on the other side of the room, rolling across the pebble and glass-littered ground as I lit my horn. Once I regained by hoofing, firing several shots of magic at the minotaur- my side aching due to my hasty retreat. The first few struck him in the face, but the rest bounced off his armor as he raised his arm to block. Now with his vision obscured, I confidently smirked as I touched the back of a chunk of stone lying next to me, forming a smaller-sized ring on its surface.

When I stomped my hoof, the stone chunk shot off the ground as my waves struck the floor behind it, hurdling it into the left side of the minotaur's face just as he lowered his arm. The sickening crack coming from his face, followed by a pained cry, made me wince a little as the minotaur stumbled back while holding his face.

It wasn't long before he recovered and glared heated daggers in my direction, one of his eyes now purple and swollen shut, blood gushing from a cut on the eyelid. "You'll pay for that!" He shouted. How is his throat- or my ears -not ruined at this point with all that yelling?

"Aw, does the big, strong general need a kissy for his boo-boo~?" I say in mock sympathy, puckering my lips and blowing kisses at the seething minotaur.

I nearly yelped with my eyes bulging in surprise as he drew his axe-wielding arm back and chucked the weapon at me, his strength making the gaudy weapon go at least Wonderbolt levels of speed at me. Luckily, I dodged it by the skin of my teeth, losing about a few locks of mane as I ducked under the flying axe and landed on my stomach. As the axe struck the wall behind me, it nearly shook the entire throne room as its blade embedded itself into the stone wall, forming a large crack that leaked with the outside light.

"Not one for jokes, eh?" I mumbled, rising from my prone position, my eyes widening as they locked on to something I had forgotten: the stallion. Luckily, this guy didn't seem any more injured than before, but I couldn't leave him in the middle of a battlefield. Doesn't look like he had much fun, did he? "I need to end this quickly." I sighed mentally, feeling a bit disappointed that I couldn't get to fight a Tierra muerta general for a bit longer because of this idiot.

With a deep breath, I kicked off the ground and ran toward the collapsed Pucci, Ignoring the minotaur who was trying to cut me off. As he inevitably blocked my path, his hulking body overshadowing mine, I jumped up at the minotaur with both of my front hooves glowing a bright neon blue. "Eardrum breaker!" I shouted, my hooves inches away from his face. But the minotaur caught me off-guard by grabbing both of my forelegs by the elbow and squeaking them tightly to the point they almost broke, eliminating the glow on my hooves. I gritted my teeth, squinting in pain as he gave me a bloodlust-filled grin. "This bastard is too quick for his own good." I groaned internally.

The minotaur triumphantly chuckled as he put more pressure into his grip, electing a small whimper from me. "Not so cock-sure of yourself now, mutt? Now that I got you where I want you, I will break every bone in your pathetic body of yours, nice and slow. Then I'll rip out and use your intestines to strangle that other mutt." He said, motioning his head to the stallion.

Shit, this isn't good. I was hoping to bust this guy's eardrums out and run off while he cried alone, but he's smarter than I give him credit for. There's no way I fight this guy head-on right now. At this rate, he'll break my forelegs. No matter, just a change of tactics, I'm sure he'll feel as much pain as I'm about to.

"Time to change the rhythm." I said, making the minotaur raise a brow in confusion.

In one quick motion, I swung my hind legs up until my back hooves were aligned where his heart should be. My stand them disappeared from my front hooves and relocated to my hind ones, glowing brighter than they were moments ago. "Bass drop!" I shouted as he looked down in time to see my hind hooves glowing at blinding levels. And in a split second, gigantic waves emitted from my hooves with a bone-rattling bass drop sound. The force of my attack shattered the minotaur's chest armor, almost threw my glasses off my face, and rattled the whole throne room, making the remaining ceiling collapse.

Try as he might, the minotaur couldn't withstand one of my strongest attacks. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as his armor and the flesh on his chest broke and tore away, revealing rotten innards filled with collapsed organs and maggots. Luckily, I didn't suffer the stench of his decomposed insides as the minotaur's hands released me, my attack's remaining power pushing me away as it slowly faded away, letting me fall to the ground with a yelp.

"AH! FUCKING TITS ON A STICK, THIS HURTS!" I cried out, pulling up and grabbing my aching hind legs as I rolled side to side. Even to my trained body, bass drop still takes a toll on my body with the amount of stored-up sound it uses.

Dismissing the ringing in my ears, I stood up with some trouble from my hind legs and shook the daze from my head. Afterward, my eyes laid upon the minotaur general in front of me, his head tilted back and pointed to the sky as his arms dangled uselessly at his sides. He stood motionless, letting out occasional wheezing moans when his body would twitch. I could have struck the asshole's heart. He'll be out of commission for a hot second, but with his power, he's going to be even more pissed when he heals up.

Looking over at the stallion, my eyes widened in panic as his body had gone missing from his spot. I immediately started whipping my head in every which way to locate this guy while limping past the minotaur. He must have gotten blown away in all the chaos.

But thankfully, it didn't take long for me to spot the lanky stallion as his injured body was flipped over, sticking halfway out of a doorway with his flank tooted up. I let out a quick snicker at the stallion's position after a sigh of relief, then quickly levitated him onto my back. I grimaced as the feeling of trailing blood trickling down my white coat; it was going to be a pain to clean out. Nevertheless, I did my best to hold back any complaints and lit my horn. A second after, there was a bright flash as we teleported away.

Mission…failed?

—-

Dio Morningstar (3rd person)

Dio impatiently tapped his hoof on the arm of his chair, a clear scowl adorning his face. When he sent out one of his two generals to deal with Pucci's mischief, he believed it would be a quick job. He'd been wrong, apparently.

He was never wrong.

"Where is that prideful moron?" He muttered to himself. Just then, as if the heavens had answered that question for him, a knock came from a door behind the second chair facing across Dio, a small table taking up the middle space. "Come in!" He barked harshly at the creature on the other side of the door.

The room's air had been plagued with the scent of sweet lavender, giving a calming smell to contrast the sickening tension emanating from Dio alone as the door creaked inward. Coming in once the door fully opened, the commonly loud and proud minotaur general was almost meek-looking, stepping in with his head pointed to the floor as he closed the door behind him. Despite the near pitiful scene of the general approaching and sitting in the empty chair, Dio showed not an ounce of pity or sympathy for him. In fact, Dio's scowl seemed to deepen further as the silence grew between the two.

Using this moment of silence to his advantage, Dio scanned over the minotaur in front of him, and the reason for his general's pity party was evident. The front half of his chest armor was all but gone, broken to expose a still healing torse caked in dried blood, multiple scuffs covering his body, and a bleeding black eye. Dio scoffed loudly, making the minotaur flinch.

"Care to explain your-" Dio rattled his brain for the best way to put his next word, "Condition, Ox Heart?" He growled through gritted teeth, irritation evident in his voice.

Ox Heart slowly moved his bowed head up to face Dio, his poor attempt to look hardened wavering with subtle twitches of his facial muscles. "I…failed you, master Dio." He said in an even tone. But a flash of fear passed his face when Dio slammed his hoof on his chair's arm.

"And why is that, may I add?" Dio said in mock interest. "After my… associate in Ponyville had spotted Pucci heading into the Everfree as he idiotically spoke of his plan to steal the book from me out loud, I thought it wouldn't be a problem to…put the fool in his place." He then stood from his chair, walking around the table as he kept talking. "You were the closest to the castle, and with your speed, I thought you ambushing him would be a solid plan. He is not but a fool who looks up at the stars for a living; he can't even throw a punch, for goodness sake!" Dio shouted as his hind left back leg kicked the table over, knocking over an assortment of books and a glass of wine sitting on it. "Sure, his stand MIGHT have been an annoyance for you, but instead, you come back to me beaten and bloody like the 'mutts' you deal with daily. Daring to enter my domain looking like this." He spat, finally stopping next to Ox Heart, of who was rigid as a plank of wood and shaking like a leave. Moving his mouth close to the minotaur's left ear, Dio's hot breath sent uncomfortable shivers down the general's spine. "So I'll ask you again: Care to explain?" He asked in a low tone.

Ox Heart's remaining eye met Dio's as his master laid a firm hoof on his shoulder. "I-I…" The general stuttered, unable to keep the fear out of his voice. His shivers only worsened as Dio gave him a narrowed look as if to say: 'You better have an answer now or pay the price for wasting my time.'. "T-There…was another." He replied meekly after a moment of silence.

When Dio backed away from his general, he could almost see the minotaur melt into his seat with a relaxed posture but retaining his fearful look. Ignoring the stupid action, Dio raised an eyebrow, "Another?" He echoed the word. A nod from Ox Heart was all it took for Dio's already dampened mood to sink lower, succeeding in visibly striking cautious fear in Ox Heart as an aura of unbridled rage filled the room.

"Who?" Dio seethed.

"I-It was…Commander Vinyl of the E.S.S.U, master." Ox Heart answered, his voice barely audible.

Uncomfortable silence once more took hold of the room, the only sounds being the low growls and muffled curses coming from Dio. The stallion's eyes were wide as diner plates, and his pupils the size of pinpricks; his body shaking violently in barely contained anger.

Suddenly, Ox Heart gave a startled noise when he found himself falling to the floor in his chair with a thud, the impact adding a dull pain to the back of his head. But when he crawled away from the chair and got off the floor, his eyes widened when they scanned the room around him- or what was left of it. Somehow, the room was completely ruined beyond repair. Holes littered the walls and obliterated furniture pieces, trinkets, and items such as vases lay shattered and broken across the floor, And a low-hanging blanket of dust covered them. The only thing Ox Heart could find that wasn't destroyed in the blink of an eye was himself, the chair resting next to his hooves, and Dio.

In front of him, Dio was faced away from the general, his shoulders shaking with every labored, raspy pant. "Get. out. Go and lick your wounds in the medical wing, mutt." Dio muttered in a hoarse voice.

Not looking behind himself to see Ox Heart bow to him, Dio waited for the opening and closing of a door to release a frustrated yell. "DAMN YOU, CELESTIA!" He roared, smashing a hoof into the wooden floor and breaking a hole into the hardwood. Seconds of unbroken silence passed before Dio took a deep, calming breath and straightened his posture. "You still find some way to foil my plans, don't you?" Dio added, his tone more restrained this time, "The only way she knew about my general being at the castle would have been some protection spell to sense negative presences, knowing her." He scoffed.

Calmly walking over to the collapsed chair, Dio picked it up with an unsense force and sat in it, taking in the destruction he'd caused to his private room. "It was ignorant of me to believe she wouldn't have set some kind of trap after my first attempt and not telling Ox about it." He sighed in exasperation.

A wolfish smile forms on his muzzle, an evil glint in his eyes as he peered out of a nearby window. "No matter. This incident will only be a setback for now. I still hold the majority of the cards, Celestia." He chuckled menacingly. "So, get ready for your downfall, Princess."

—-

No One (3rd person)

Location: ?

"Ow! Watch what you're doing with tha- OW!"

A steady gush of unknown substance entered in and out of his mouth and nostrils with every breath of his burning lungs. It was odorless, but he could smell something akin to cleaning products.

That was the first thing Pucci experienced as his mind returned to the waking world, feeling like he had returned from a dormant state for centuries. The second thing that quickly returned to him was his sense of touch. Out of the many things he felt, muted pain was the major factor, but more of a full-body ache than anything else. Other sensations Pucci felt were some sort of plastic mask enveloping his muzzle, the gust of unknown substance coming from the center- must be the source, and a bed under him with a blanket covering his body from the neck down.

"Oh, stop being such a foal, Commander Vinyl." An aged voice chastised, "I've seen you in worse condition after that fight you had with that dragon. What were you thinking? Rolling across broken glass and sharp rocks. Are you sure you didn't hit your head as well?"

Commander Vinyl? Pucci racked his memory for a similar name, but it was all a blur to him, events and happenings molding into one. And what was that about a dragon?

"Come on! I was about to get my head chopped off by an axe. What was I supposed to do?"

An unamused snort came from the elderly voice, "If you don't stop going buck wild and charging head-on into every opponent you go against, I'll be the one who's gonna chop off your head!" She threatened, followed by the harsh closing of something metallic.

The more he listened, the more memories began to rebuild themselves in Pucci's mind. There was something about an axe that was about to do the same for him- he was sure of it. He remembered getting…ambushed and…punched out of a window? Still, there wasn't a whole picture Pucci could make out. Maybe if he tried opening his eyes? He could ask the owners of the voices what happened.

Summoning all the energy he could manage, Pucci mentally strained himself as his eyelids twitched and fluttered. Seconds seemed like hours as the astronomer slowly peeled back the skin blocking his eyesight, drops of sweat rolling down his head as a bright light started to creep into his vision. After some time, Pucci's eyelids shot open, filling the exhausted Pucci with pride, only for him to immediately close them as the light stung his eyes. Unfortunately, the sudden blinding Pucci experience caused his head to jerk back involuntarily, sending a bolt of pain down Pucci's spine and making him grunt in restrained agony.

"Well, look who's finally awake." The elderly voice said.

This time, without blinding himself, Pucci slowly opened his eyes and adjusted to the white light coming down from a lap on the ceiling. Turning to the side, where the voice came from, he saw a familiar unicorn mare sitting on a hospital bed, a pair of glasses sitting next to her as she looked down at him with blood-red eyes.

Next to her, fiddling with a clipboard and pencil enveloped in a pink aura, was a second Unicorn mare. She was older and shorter than the first mare, with a chestnut-colored coat, lime-green mane with gray strands tied back into a lazy bun, and light-pink eyes. She wore a red and blue horizontally striped doctor's coat over a sky-blue sweater with a picture of a wonderbolts logo and a pair of thin-framed glasses- a string of amber beads keeping the eyewear on her face. Due to the elderly mare's position on the floor, her flank went uncovered, revealing an image of a syringe in the shape of a lightning bolt on her flank- a musical note for the other mare.

Before Pucci could get a word out, the elderly mare stood up and walked over to an I.V. bag hanging from a rack next to Pucci's bed, a syringe levitating beside her head.

"I don't recommend talking for the moment, deary. Your body hasn't fully recovered yet, far from it." The syringe enveloped in her magic moved closer to the bag, then stabbed its needle into a tube connected to the bag before injecting a clear liquid into it. Immediately, Pucci felt a sense of relief wash over him, canceling out the pain entirely. "That was a bit of pain killer to ease your pain, high bit stuff too. You're lucky this treatment is already paid for."

"W-What…do you…mean?" Pucci asked the mare, holding back an oncoming coughing fit, his throat feeling like it was on fire and a million ants were chewing away at his vocal cords.

The second mare, who he guessed was Vinyl, jumped off the bed and landed on her hooves, wincing a little before walking to the other side of his bed. "I think this is where I come in." She grinned, "You can get going, Granny Shock. I'll talk to him." She added, nodding in the direction of the bedridden Pucci as she sat down.

Granny Shock glared at Vinyl for a moment until she released an irritated sigh and lit her horn, "You're lucky I get paid to take care of you." She grumbled, levitating her clipboard to her side as she headed to the room's door, and opened it. "AND STOP CALLIN' ME GRANNY! I'm only 60 years old, ya little shit!" the angry doctor shouted, slamming the door loudly as she left.

During all this, Pucci watched on with confusion, wondering what was happening and where he was. Suddenly, he felt a hoof tap his shoulder, which he found to be Vinyl's when he turned to her- the mare looking at him with a friendly smile.

"Eh, don't worry. Granny likes to act all tough and grouchy, but she's really caring deep down- I think." Vinyl said, glancing away with uncertainty at the last part before turning back to him. "Any, my name's Vinyl Scratch, Commander Vinyl, if you want to be polite and crap. And if you're wondering, we're in the Canterlot Royal castle, the medical wing, to be more accurate. If I'm not wrong, you're Pucci, right?" She asked.

Pucci nodded, still trying to process what Vinyl Scratch had told him, but his eyes widened slightly in realization. "Wait, Vinyl Scratch. I remember you from my Welcome to Ponyville Party, the one that the element of laughter threw for me." He stated, pulling his right foreleg out and pointing his hoof at her.

"Yeah, I am," Vinyl said with a hint of irritation in her tone, "and I'm still pissed that you ruined that party by yelling at Rarity! What was that all about anyway?" Lightly hitting Pucci's head, her cheeks puffing up in anger.

Rubbing his head after the mare punched him, Pucci gave Vinyl an apologetic look as guilt filled his heart. "While I don't want to get into the reason for our… argument, I still apologize for my actions." He then cocked an eyebrow at Vinyl, an uneasy feeling replacing his guilt."But if you don't mind, can you tell me why I'm in Canterlot?"

Vinyl lightly chuckled at his request as she scratched the back of her mane, "I would. But I'm waiting for-"

KNOCK KNOCK KOCK

"Speak of the devil." Vinyl quipped, she and Pucci snapping their attention to the door. "Come on in, Boss. The guy's awake!" She called out.

Pucci switched his gaze from Vinyl and the door with even more confusion. That was until a clicking sound came from the direction of the door, making Pucci look back in time to see somepony walk in, his eyes widening in shock at who it was.

"That's good to hear, Commander Vinyl." She said with a velvety smooth voice, a smile adorning her muzzle. "And hello to you too, Pucci Star Ray." As she walked in, her long multi-colored mane and tail flew in an invisible wind, contrasting her perfect white coat, passing gently passed the doorway as she fully entered the room, closing the door behind her. Even without her regalia, she had a certain charm and elegance to her tall, slender form, like a warm summer sun parting the dark clouds. "I do hope you are in good spirits."

"Y-Your highness." Pucci studdered, unable to process the pony standing at the end of his bed.

She gave a small giggle, putting a hoof to her lips to stifle them, "There's no need to be so formal. I haven't been a princess for a long while now. So you can just call me Celestia."