Trickster

"I can´t believe I finally see you in the flesh, Master!" cried Vyla in a sort of "trottie" accent, "It is truly a wondrous occasion and to celebrate I made some rich vegetable soup and a plate full of alfalfa rolls just the way you like them."


She was either reading my mind or either knew too many details about me. On the other hand Rosie could have told her that.


"This is so amazing I don´t think I deserve it!" I said.


"Of course you do!" she cried again. "I mean, wouldn´t you be thrilled to live in such a magnificent manor?"


"At first I felt a strange attraction to it," I continued while I sipped some white tea, "or a feeling that I had been here before. The most attractive part was the price tag. Everybody wanted it but very few creatures can stay here."


"And how nice was it to keep some of the original architecture," she said.


"We obviously had some improvements done; Rosie helped me an awful lot. The library is one of those places that I haven´t finished browsing. One of these days I´ll sit down and read some more but I´m more of a writer than an avid reader."

"Is it true that unicorn witches lived here?" 


"So they say," answered Blak. "It was a pretty sad chapter indeed. They became lost souls that we had to vanquish, right, Love?"


"If you go and tell that to any other mortal, Vyla, they´d never believe you," I said. 


"What, about the unicorns or that they were ghosts?" she said.


"Both! It´s ancient history now. So tell me, if you´re Rosie´s niece why aren´t you a unicorn?"


She giggled and wrinkled her laced apron, "It´s genetics! It is becoming more and more rare, not to mention a bunch of rules to use magic."


"I know that."


"But what is magic compared to brains and sharp intuition?" she said, "it´s a gift that horses are entitled to and you should be exercising more often."


"Actually I have friends who use, not only horses. They sure have a mysterious way of keeping in touch with me."


"I can imagine. They must be a part of the Circle of Death."


I felt shocked and my tail shook.


"So you know them too?"


"I read about them. They all carry the symbol that you have on your flank." She was referring to the tattoo I had done several years ago. 


"This old thing? I never really dug into it when I got it; I just liked it."


"But it´s no coincidence...I believe it chose you," she said in a lower voice.


"Yeah, so?"


"Not just anyone can bear it; legend says that Death holds a crook with that symbol and the ones who are branded with it are chosen."


"Let me guess, as an agent of Death?"


"Exactly?"


"Um, my dear Vyla; how come you know so much about this?" I asked boldly.


"I´m a huge fan of the Occult. I spent most of my years as a filly reading and such."


"So how old are you? If I may ask," said Blak.


She smiled and rolled her ruby-colored eyes, "Probably younger than you but probably more 

experienced."


"It´s funny you haven´t asked me anything about my normal life, you know as a musician?"


"Oh that...yes. I´m not much into rock music."


"Well, you´ll be hearing a lot of that very soon," said Blak. "We´re both into the same thing."


I tried to ease up the tension with small talk, "Anyway, your cooking is marvelous and creative."


"I´m glad," she said , "I want to excel, Master; it´s how it should be done all the time." Then she retired to complete other endeavors.






The next day I had another boring radio interview to promote my Valentine´s Day gig and it just happened 

to be Mindy Mayhem; my old high school friend and rival. You see, about a year ago we had a sort of 

reunion and she went mad when she found out I was into boys now. I think she always had a crush on 

me and it was supposed to be in the past but she kept bringing it up with innuendos.

Likewise, I remained as professional as I could; I am also a qualified actor. I went solo because my 

darling Blak had some other business to take care of, so I spent a few hours talking to my personal 

bodyguard, Pete; a big blue gryphon with a loud mouth. He carried all the way downtown with his bulky 

claws.

"It´s a damn shame you´re already taken, little dude," he said carelessly, "because that Vyla girl is mighty 

fine."

"Don´t you think I know that?" I replied, "She´s like a fangirl, well not the kind that goes and stalks me 

backstage; she is very hermetic about her origins and knows me better than anyone."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"She´s very efficient like Rosie May and was highly recommended. I don´t think she´s harmful 

considering all the kooky characters I have run into."

"You´re damn right."

"I mean if I´ve been able to survive a hoard of unicorn ghosts I can survive anything," I yawned.

"I wouldn´t know that because I didn´t see them," he said.

"It felt a lot like a dream, I even grew a pair of wings!"

"So that means you won´t be needing me anymore?"

"Don´t be a fool! Do you know how creepy it would seem if I went out looking like a vampire? Besides, it 

can´t happen when I want."

"Funny. We live in a world where gryphons are okay but vampire ponies are monsters."

"Well, this world is a twisted place."




I was dressed in a minimal fashion with the color black as my best ally; a silky v-neck shirt and a thin coat. I was also wearing an onyx bracelet Blak gave for my birthday last year; I felt powerful when I had it on as if I was conquering the world.

Mindy was a sand coated mare with long reddish curly mane and dark brown eyes. They said red-manes always had a bad attitude and she was not exception. She also had a Bolter tee on, a band I´d kill to play with. Practically any musician I know would be honored to be in the same bill with them some time. 



"Goood morning, all of you PWROQ FM fans!" she said in a raspy voice,  "Have we got something special in store. Let´s welcome Ponywood´s  own dark prince, Marelyn Mayhem! Not related, of course."


"She´s secretly my sister but it´s not legal yet," I said.


"Looking rather sharp, by the way."


"It´s meant to detract fools and attract interesting folks to my side, the dark side, that is."


"So tell us, you have a brand new gig this Valentine´s Day at the old Chateau. We thought your band wasn´t into that thing."


"It´s a job. Besides our intention is to vilify the evening with black hearts and all. I believe in it to but I have another vision about it, a more gruesome one."


"But this romantic thing is so-not metal."


"And I say I´m chaos and I can change the rules."


"Speaking of romance, how are things going between you and Blak?"


I was afraid she´d bring that up.


"Things couldn´t be better. He´s usually the one who´s extremely shy and not talk about it in the media."


"And why did you decide to take that mysterious turn in your love life?"


"Well, um, I had been very discreet about that."


"Because we heard about your failed relationship with Evening Sky, right?"


"I´m not ashamed of that in that least; it just didn´t work and not because of what some think. Before Blak I did had several women who chased me. This pony is perfect and I can´t imagine anyone else with his qualities."


"So that means this is true love?"


"What´s true love? You implied I wasn´t into all that romantic crap. I just think he´s perfect for me. On the other hoof I don´t let that mess with our careers; we agreed that we can mix pleasure with work."


"Such a shame...no chance of making a song together?"


"No. His band has its own style, we have ours. It might happen some time. I´m always careful where I step on."


"We´ll see unless the fans want it to happen so badly."


I laughed, "Why would you want to mix melodic goth metal with death punk? It´s a totally different sound."


"Oh, I dunno, you can think of something. Anything else that we can expect for tonight´s gig?"


"Yeah...expect the unexpected."