Do I Know You? (Closed)

The filly's brow furrowed as she thought about the old building. Her mother had forbidden her to enter it, purely because it was so old and she was worried that Nikki would set off some magical burst and send the whole place tumbling. She wasn't sure anyone had actually lived inside... it was precariously balanced.

She did not ask about the legend.

In response to his question, Nikki frowned, thinking about her past trips to Manehatten.

"Well, not often," she said slowly, "but I've been there multiple times. Why?"

"Do you know anything about The Household?" He asked. "They're one of the wealthy families of the Manehattan elite. I'm certain they must have some criminal connections, but I haven't had the time to look into it. I'm terribly curious."

Now what Nikki certainly didnt need to know, was that Vassago had his all seeing eye on a certain Nameless maid. For reasons. About Stuff... and Things...

"I mean, for being so damn influential, their enigmatic nature sure is invasive." He said. It was annoying. Nopony knew anything, but maybe... Well it was worth asking.

Nikki shook her head.

"I mean, I met one of their maids once, but it was in passing, and I was barely old enough to remember that. The better mare to ask would be my mother... but... let's not bring her into this. She's rather protective, and I think we could be friends, Vas. I don't think being so lonely can be very funny." She shrugged. "I'm not around a lot, too, so if you'd rather be distant, it doesn't really matter. I just miss having friends... too..."

She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she blinked them away and averted her gaze as to avoid embarrassment.

"Never mind. I'm just being silly little Nikki."

"I mean, I met one of their maids once, but it was in passing, and I was barely old enough to remember that. The better mare to ask would be my mother... but... let's not bring her into this. She's rather protective, and I think we could be friends, Vas. I don't think being so lonely can be very funny." She shrugged. "I'm not around a lot, too, so if you'd rather be distant, it doesn't really matter. I just miss having friends... too..."

"Friend...?" Vassago's eyes widened "What is... Friend?"

After a moment of apparent confusion, Vas broke into a genuine smile. "That was a joke. I'm not that lonely. Lonely! But not that lonely. Your clever, Hooves. A real character. My Master would approve. I think I will be your friend." He stated, as if to make it official.

Today turned into a pretty nice day after all. He made a friend, learned a spell, and got another link in his chain of a complicated process of courtship.

"And besides, I wouldn't worry about distance. I assure you after a while, you'll wish you could get rid of me." Vassago chuckled childishly again. Something struck him.

"Wait... Your mother. Is she 'Nikki Hooves don't do drugs and go to bed by 8' Sort of protective? Or 'Sitting on a bench on the patio slowly cleaning a shotgun and glaring at colts' sort of protective?"

Nikki laughed, relieved and humored by Vas's words. 

"Oh, she's the 'let's not go get ourselves killed before we're out of school' kind of mom. Doesn'T really like strange ponies from the abandoned end of town... But it's not a big concern. Dad's the one sitting out on the porch with a shotgun... Except, it's not a gun, it's his old guitar. He got a new one, and he said he was saving the old for, uhm, bashing out guys' heads if anything happened. I told him I'm a bit young for that kind of thing, but Brawny's stubborn. Then again, he never had a problem with Sandy... But Sandy's been my friend since we were three. There's nothinng going on there... He's all Oreo's."

She shrugged.

"I'm at school most of the time, anyways, so I don't know what they think they're doing. They can't control me from a day's train away."

The green filly leaned in and poked Vas's forehead, her expression serious.


"Alright, but one rule. You have to try and explain your cynical remarks. You said so yourself: I'm not stupid, Vas. I'll get it eventually, whether you like it or not."

"Alright, but one rule. You have to try and explain your cynical remarks. You said so yourself: I'm not stupid, Vas. I'll get it eventually, whether you like it or not."

"eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhgg..." He frowned deeply.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHGG..." His already deep frowned seemed to deepen even more. He sighed and pursed his lips together, his eyes searching Nikki Hooves' face.

"Fine. I'll try. But don't blame me if you get confused sometimes." He said, poking back. "AAaaaand... hrm... prepare for a whole lot of nonesense. And weird stuff. Lots of weird stuff. No real sense. No real sense at all." He cautioned. It took him a lifetime to even try to understand, and he was certainly not a candidate for Sanest Pony of Ponyville award. Although, he liked to think he wasn't 'Baking your friends into Cupcakes' crazy, But even he had his moments.

Nikki smiled and flipped her gravity, sitting on the underside of the branch and peering up at her companion. 

"Nonsense? Weird stuff? That's my area of expertise!" she said, grinning. "Bring on the confusion! Let loose the crazies! Loony birds unite!"

She flipped back up into the correct position, but, this time, a frown replaced her smile.

"How are we going to talk when I go back next week?" she asked, worried. "Letters are all fine and dandy, but don't those get boring? You don't seem like the type of pony to enjoy conversing with something to could easily be read, either, and I don't want my roommates to be spying on me. Hmmm..."

Vassago pondered for a while. "Spying classmates. Hmm... I'm also pretty good at Illusions. Helps me get into bars to talk to contacts or clients." He explained. "Problem is they only work on somepony I'm... 'connected to.'" He continued. He noticed a stallion walking down the road under the tree who hadn't noticed the two young ponies.

"Watch this."

Vassago's horn alit with an abominal eldritch light. A serpentine thread of magic slithered from him down to the stallion, sinking into his head and backlighting the stranger's eyes with the same light of Vas' magic.

Vassago opened his eyes and waved to the stallion. "Hello sir!"

The stallion looked up and gasped. "Madame Mayor! What are you doing up in that tree?"

"Just helping this poor kitty cat get back down." He motioned to Nikki, sitting next to him.

The stallion nodded. "A very Harmonious thing of you, Ma'am."

Vassago shrugged. "Leave it to me to help all of Celestia's creatures. Vote for me next election!"

The stallion nodded more enthusiastically. "Very good, very very good." He walked off down the road. After a while, the tendril of magic unlatched from the stallion and returned to Vas, who let his horn grow dark.

"Pretty cool Huh? I can do other senses too, but that's more tiring. I think the largest number of ponies I ever used my spell on was... 5 ponies. But that took a lot out of me. More ponies, more senses, or more complex images makes it exponentially harder."

Nikki stared at Vas in silence for what seemed like a very long time. She just didn't know what to say. Vas was very powerful for a pony of his age, and, for the first time that day, she was starting to feel a little intimidated. Thoughtful and a little somber, she slowly tilted to the left, and, seeming a little slow for herself, she fell off the tree.

With a spark, she was safely on her ground, lying on her back with her curls spread around her head as she gazed up at her new friend, her curiosity very much dampened. This young stallion could be very dangerous, she realized, if he used his powers... For other things that were not necessarily good.

"Vas?" she asked, her voice wavering just the smallest bit. "How do you know all of these things? They're almost impossible feats of magic. How... How can I trust you?"

While Nikki stared, Vas was focused inward, expressing itself to his blank, yard long stare. The sound of an engine on a trestle. A dumb pony. Books to the face. A slight paradigm shift affected the Tangent he was currently connected to.

Maybe... Maybe the Hooves girl had something to do with that as well.

"Vas?" she asked, her voice wavering just the smallest bit. "How do you know all of these things? They're almost impossible feats of magic. How... How can I trust you?"

He looked to where Nikki Hooves was, finding her missing, he glanced about wildly before finding her on the ground.

"You can't." He said, giving her a Cheshire smile. "why do you ask? Do you suddenly realize I could be very dangerous..." His horn lit up, but deciding he had enough of magic sickness for one day, grabbed the trunk of the tree and skid down to ground floor.

"If I used these powers... For other things that were not necessarily good?" He landed and melodramatically reared over her in a charicature of a classic villian, twiddling a pretend mostauche and hiding behind a pretend cape.

"'Nya Nya nyaaaa!" He laughed deviously and maliciously rubbed his hooves together "First Ponyville, THEN THE WORLD." He cackled.

Nikki kept her gaze on Vas, but, this time, it was different. A wide smile spread on her face, though her brow was furrowed. If one was watching her closely, they would have sworn that her eyes, so light and fair, had suddenly turned ruby red. It was faintly evil and sinister, and it was a side of Nikki that had never revealed itself before.

"Yes, Vas will take the world if he so wishes," she murmured. Then her expression faded, and her smile faded to a normal, small grin. 

"You look distracted. What's up?"

Vassago gave Hooves a sideways glance and a sneaky, clever smile.

"You did a thing!" He exclaimed, excitedly. He hadn't made out what she said, and he could have sworn that her eyes changed somehow (and if Vas swore, he was certain he was right) but Hooves definitely did the Evil Face. Vassago did not like insanity, Evil, malicious intent on the other hand, was a hobby of his. Nikki Hooves, the proud, smart, lonely little pony had an entire side of her that he didn't even consider.

Vas looked away pensively a moment.

"You look distracted. What's up?"

"I think I need to associate with more ponies my own age." He proclaimed, coming to the realization it would add another link to his slowly building chain of social ties. Hmm. A social link if you would. In a world powered by friendship, maybe this would be something to look into.

"You have friends, right?" Vas asked. The question was rhetorical of course, they both knew the answer.
"TAKE ME TO ONE." He scratched his chin.
"Please." He added in order not to sound too pushy.

((Want to bring Mc or somebody else into this RP?))

((Sure, if Dawn or MC would like to join. You can ask))

"Uh... wait..." Nikki said, frowning before hitting herself in the face. "Nope, I'm conscious. Then... what in the name of Celestia is this... buzzing?"

She blinked a few times, frowning further as she looked at Vassago.

"Do you have an explanation for that, dear friend?" she asked, her eyes slightly out of focus. "I don't. This is new. I always have an explanation for something, even if it's wrong. But that... I remember doing that, and I know why I did it... but what was that?"

Then her eyes focused, and she pushed the thought to the side for a moment.

"Ack, never mind. Right. Friends. Well, I do have two... but I haven't seen them since the start of the school term, and that was, um, a long time ago. But, you know, we could go looking for them."

((LONG POST TIME, anyway I think I'm going to leave off the friends for a while until Mc and Dawn get back to me))

"Uh... wait..." Nikki said, frowning before hitting herself in the face. "Nope, I'm conscious. Then... what in the name of Celestia is this... buzzing?"

"Do you... friend?" she asked, her eyes slightly out of focus. "I do... is new... something, even if it's... that... I remember doing that, and I know why I did it...  what... that?"

Vassago tuned Nikki out, not out of boredom, quite the opposite.

He appeared to space out, staring at out at nothing with a slack jawed expression on his face.

Vassago's attention returned The Thing, as opposed to the nebulous concept of these 'Other Friends' that she supposedly had. That Thing that She Did stuck in his mind for a while. What did she/it/ (who/whatever was speaking?) say? Something about Vas taking the world...

Vassago's deductive mind shut all things abstract down, and went into hyperdrive. It speeding through everything he could possibly think of with the cold eye of Science.

Going from what he observed during the Thing, he made some snap inferences:

1a) The change Nikki experienced was most likely biological or magical. Although he didn't get a good look, her eyes definitely changed, and nothing psychological that the colt knew of could do something so tangential.

1b) Important note: although the cause is assumed to not psychological, it is effecting her on a psychological level (Emotional swing, speech pattern changes) Need more information...

2)Although... Although her expression was definitely the Evil Face (Example here for reference >:] ) Consider the possibility that The Thing is not malicious per se, Vassago gave a Sniddly Whiplash impression and mentioned taking over the world, maybe The Thing perceived that, and wanting to give her friend what she wanted, The Thing expanded the fact that Vas wanted "First Ponyville... THEN THE WORLD". If so, The Thing cannot detect sarcasm or other subtle social cues. Hypothesis: "Friendship Parasite"?

3) Subject (Nikki Hooves) is conscious of event, albeit a moments after (although could simply be the mention of it. Memory modification spell? no sign, but could be hidden somehow) "Buzzing Noise" could be a migraine, connected to Magic Sickness or problem with brain/central nervous system. Sidenote: Subject claims to know what happened and why Subject spoke, interrogation in order. Hypothesis "Puppeteer-ed Hooves"?

Final note: Not enough Data from Subject, in future, attempt to re-create previous conditions. Control Variables. Lobotomy/autopsy would allow for investigation of Subject's...

Subject.

Subject.

Who was Subject, again?

"Do you have an explanation for that, dear friend?" Subject Nikki Hooves had said.

Vassago blinked, then refocused, taking a deep breath through his nose.

"What? Sorry? Sorry. Can't think of anything in particular." He said flatly, with a feigned disinterest as he avoided looking to Hooves.

"So, Madame Social Butterfly?" He said, attempting to change subject. His mind had gone down some roads that left a bad taste in Vassago's mouth. Lobotomizing a new friend? Even in the name of Science? Rude. Speaking of mouth, Vassago thanked His Master that he didn't narrate the entire thought process, as he knew he has a tendency to do.

"Ack, never mind. Right. Friends. Well, I do have two... but I haven't seen them since the start of the school term, and that was, um, a long time ago. But, you know, we could go looking for them."

She could control it. Nikki Hooves, evil master of manipulation... She didn't want to think about it. Best to pretend that she didn't know what in Equestria was going on.

But she did, and it was terrifying. It was a side of herself that she had tried so hard to conceal from others, a side not even her own parents knew about. 

She could make it happen again.

Vassago's expression was one of blatant curiosity. She could see in her head what he was probably thinking about, and she glared at him, fully turning on the... The thing.

"Don't try it," she said, her eyes flashing red again. Her anger, her evil, flared itself in Vassago's face.

"Don't try it," Vassago definitely saw the red.

Red, a color of many connotations such as: warmth, passion, blood, rage, romance, murder, fire, and a plethora of other themes. Ruling out the more tame reasons, Vas was pretty sure this was the 'burn the world and every puppy in it' sort of red.

"What?" Vas asked, enraptured. "Don't try what?"

Could she read his mind? Doubtful, but he was starting to doubt that the Thing was something Nikki had no control of, as she said before. Maybe it was a spell... that would make sense if she was actually experiencing magic sickness. But it has to be more than that, Vassago learned how to change his eyes and voice before he was out of DIAPERS. What else did The Thing do? What did it mean?

Vassago, taken up in the moment, grabbed Nikki Hooves' head between his two hooves and studied it intently.

"What ARE you..." He breathed.

Nikki's eyes flickered back to normal like a faulty lightbulb, but though she was still angry, she didn't feel like making a point again.

"I'm a pony, Mr. Vassago, and I'd appreciate it if you viewed me as such, rather than a lab experiment. Some things are meant to stay mysterious. I'd also appreciate if you didn't think such morbid thoughts about my abnormal head. Some other things are meant to do more than be dissected, and I'd be grateful if I could be my own keeper."

Then, something in her clicked, and she backed up, bashfully averting her eyes and anxiously rubbing her hooves together.

"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I have a bit of a temper, Vas, and I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"I'm a pony, Mr. Vassago, and I'd appreciate it if you viewed me as such, rather than a lab experiment. Some things are meant to stay mysterious. I'd also appreciate if you didn't think such morbid thoughts about my abnormal head. Some other things are meant to do more than be dissected, and I'd be grateful if I could be my own keeper."

Vassago laughed giddily, childishly. "Oh, Hooves. You are so much more than that. You are a character, hooves. A beautiful web of flaws and quirks and lies, crafted with love and thought and disgust, Disgust, Hooves! Every character's got something that makes them tick. A drive, a fear, a anger, whatever! Its a mystery, a mystery I must solve." He sighed dreamily.

"And to do that, characters need to be dissected." He stopped himself, and frowned slightly, "Wait, not literally, I mean. Uh, metaphorically. Like, analyzed you know? I won't cut you open. Promise. Just... like... ah..." He laughed awkwardly. "ah haaa... I don't know where this metaphor is going."

(Apologies for my lateness. Lots going on)

This was getting too weird, but she didn't want to stop the conversation now. She was morbidly curious of her own self, secretly wishing to pry her emotions open and examine the contents.

Nikki truly was mad, but it didn't mean she was crazy. She was a good kind of mad, the kind that meant she could do what she wanted without hesitating at the edge of brilliance, like all scientist ponies.

"Fine," Nikki replied, sighing. "But if you must know, my pet peeves are when I'm wrong and when ponies speak of me as if I am less than a beating heart. I am a brain."

((No problem! sorry for a short post))
"Duly noted." Vassago nodded. of all the pet peeves in the world, those were pretty reasonable.

"I'm suprised, Hooves. Usually at this point, most ponies are either driven crazy by my constant yammering or attempting to take my life at this point." the colt bragged. "I do hope your pals can hold their own, like you."

Nikki shrugged, poking Vas in the head as her spirits were renewed.

"Well, I don't know. Oreo's a bit touchy, but I think Sandy could take over the world as an evil overlord if he put his heart into it. We're all a bunch of talkers, and nonsense does not exist when it comes to our conversations! Just plow forward and pretend like you know what the others are saying, that's what we all think! It should be no problem."

((Short! Ha! A short post in return!))

((Touche! but you would hardly expect... ANOTHER SHORT POST dun dun duuuun....))

Vassago chuckled. It was strange hearing of ponies he never met, but intended to meet. As peers. As friends. Maybe. If all went well.

"Area and Sunday, huh? I'll have to look into them... I wonder whether they will take to me as well as-"

Vassago was no longer in the Whitetail Woods with Nikki Hooves. He was standing in the middle of a red copy of his cutie mark in the floor of the back room of the Rose Street Cafe, on the other side of town.

"-as you." He blinked a bit.

"Oh hey that worked." OzyManedias said, flatly. "You forgot to take out the garbage, so I thought-"

Vassago shivered in a quiet rage. "So you thought."

"Uh..." OzyManedias gave the colt a concerned glance. "So I thought you wouldn't mind if I-"

"YOU THOUGHT HUH?!" Vas screamed. "WELL FAN-DIDILLY TASTIC. THE GREAT LORD EMPEROR OF EREMUS THOUGHT THAT HE WOULD CALL UPON THIS LOWLY SERVANT TO DO HIS DIRTY WORK."

Ozy, unused to such displays of aggression, sank down into a corner.

"Do your own damn chores, I got to go." Vassago huffily ran out the door. How RUDE! to abuse his summoning spell in SUCH A WAY.

((MEET BACK UP IN "A little while later"?))

Nikki blinked. One moment, he was there, and the next, nothing. It was most certainly not a teleporting spell; there had been no magic coming from his horn. She rubbed her eyes, sure she was just seeing things, but when she moved them away, there was nothing but a small indent in the grass where he had sat.

"Well, bye then," she said morosely, her spirit deflating. The little filly sat there in the grass for a while, the wind blowing gently around her and rustling her fur, tangling her curls into a mess. She didn't pay attention, just sitting and waiting for something to happen. After fifteen or so minutes, she sighed a little and got to her hooves. She was overdue on a bath, anyways.

A leaf fluttered down from above, landing on the tip of her nose. She stared at it, cross-eyed, for a few minutes, not moving an inch. Anypony happening upon her on a casual stroll through the woulds might have mistaken her for a statue, for she did not blink, and her chest moved in such minute movements that it seemed frozen.

Finally, she sneezed, and the leaf went fluttering away. There wasn't anything special about it, really, which was strange for Nikki. Everything had a hidden meaning, a secret switch, something that might not make any sense at all to anypony else. However, she just thought it was odd. It was the same color as Vas's fur. The exact same pigment, and yet, it was but a dead leaf! What a coincidence!

Feeling oddly satisfied, she trotted back towards Ponyville, a skip back in her step.

((Shall we continue here or start anew?))