When Vinyl reentered, Pinkie had taken her leave. She had apparently left a cake in progress over at sugarcube corner to come and scold Twilight, and decided to leave another pony in charge as a last minute consideration. Surely everything Pinkie does is 'last minute'? She was literally here in seconds, however the hell that works.
When Vinyl voiced this thought, Twilight laughed again, a sound Vinyl had come to appreciate. Her soft giggle was the total opposite of her mature mannerisms, and it betrayed her youth. "You know, I've tried doing tests on Pinkie before," Twilight started, "But at first, the results were inconclusive, not a single anomaly! Of course, this didn't sate me one bit, but the next eleven times I tried were all disasters! I've had two machines explode directly after coming into contact with her. My advice? Keep her away from anything with a power outlet."
If only someone had given Tavi that advice. Vinyl mused, considering the state of her house, and the fact that there has yet to be any attempt at repairs so far. Well, if someone had in fact given Tavi that advice, then our house would be fine, yeah, but what about her? She'd still be living with half a Vinyl. I suppose I'm grateful that it all happened. A small smile betrayed Vinyl's happy conclusion.
"What is it, Vinyl?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, I was just thinking, the reason your tests didn't work. You tried a dozen times, right?"
"Well, yeah." Twilight affirmed.
"Wasn't a baker's dozen though, was it?"
Twilight's eyes widened and she briefly glanced into the distance, eyebrows knit. "You know," she slowly said, "usually I'd say that wouldn't make an ounce of difference, but this is Pinkie Pie we're talking about... You might just be onto something!" She beamed.
Vinyl grimaced slightly, her ears folding back as she spoke. "You do realise that was meant to be a joke, right, princess?"
"Yes, Vinyl, of course I do. Because Pinkie's a baker and blahblahblah but think about it! In our world, something like that wouldn't matter in the slightest when it comes to the conduction of scientific analysis, but with Pinkie, who sense typically doesn't apply to?"
"Well, I'm glad you got something out of my joke at least." Vinyl stated, rather plainly, she realised upon execution. did that sound too sour? I hope not.
"I'd stick with the music," Twilight winked, "But good attempt!" Twilight floated a breath mint into her mouth as she finished speaking, before glancing at Vinyl and telekinetically shaking the box of mints in proposition.
Vinyl sheepishly glanced at the floor, although she knew Twilight couldn't see that. "Let me guess, I stink of smoke?"
"Huh?" Twilight jumped, alarmed, "What do you mean?"
Vinyl felt her embarrassment beginning to make its sanguine mark on her cheeks, not understanding why she had to explain her already clear actions to Twilight.
"Well because I went out for a cigarette and I'm probably not supposed to smoke on the castle premises and I didn't ask and--"
"Oh, no! I could care less about that. Honestly, I'm pretty sure I've got an ashtray laying around here somewhere."
Both mares seemed simultaneously relieved at this admission. "You smoke, Twilight?"
"Not me, Applejack. Way she tells it, she saw Big Mac doing it a lot when she was younger, and grew up interested in the habit until eventually starting herself. They both keep it a secret from their younger sister Apple Bloom though, although I'm pretty sure Big Mac's trying to quit. But no, Applejack's probably like a three a day smoker, and I really don't mind, as long as it's outside."
Vinyl put a hoof to her chin, processing the new information, taking care to remember names she hadn't heard before, but she still couldn't help wondering something. "If that's the case, why the breath mint? It's a bit of a random offer, don't you think?"
"You do realise we just ate a whole omelette each, right? I don't really want the smell of egg on my breath, do you?"
"Oh, yeah, I suppose we did!" Vinyl realised, a little surprised by Twilight's reminder. "Somehow, it feels like it's been ages, you know? Like a month, give or take."
"Why would you think that? It was only half an hour ago," reiterated Twilight, reinforcing the familiar concept of time for Vinyl's benefit once more.
"Yeah yeah, I know, I think my perspective is just a little off right now, I'm not sure really." Vinyl pawed at the floor in frustration, feeling that she might be forgetting something. After a few seconds of consideration, nothing came, and she decided to remember to remind herself to attempt to discern her awry thought. Something she did realise, however, was that her and Twilight's conversation was beginning to die down.
The silence was pervasive and all encompassing. It grew like a malevolent being, consuming everything around it and stripping the voice and colour from Vinyl's surroundings. The vibrant aspects of Vinyl's world, accentuated by their soft undertones and coupled with coruscating schemes of colour and sound, a polychromatic iridescent assault on the senses, her world breathed around her, its many sensations fluctuating rhythmically in time with her lungs, as if the sights she saw and the sounds she heard were conceptualised specifically for her enjoyment, until they stopped.
The silence stripped the cadences of the final sounds uttered, and with it went the colour, which gave the world its soul. Vinyl watched as Twilight teetered between speaking and remaining quiet, even as unbeknownst to her, the purple that Vinyl once believed had been wonderfully accented by her shades was drained from her visage, leaving only a desolate grey, devoid of any joy, interest, or wonderment. Had she always looked that way? Behind the veneer of this world's allure, with all of its precious sounds and colours, did everything look this dull and derelict? Vinyl looked around at her empty and barren surroundings, all as monotoned and watery as the supposed embodiment of purity that stood before her.
But it was all corrupted. By what, she had no clue, for nothing remained. Nothing, not a sound, not a sight, not a feeling. Only her, a smear of brilliant white set to contrast the featureless art she found herself undoubtedly tied to? Or worse, the painter's reprieve, allowing her to see this world in another light, only to take that from her later? She looked again to find that all had faded completely, not even purple remained, and her senses were beginning to dull.
She couldn't feel her hooves. The once rhythmic pumping of her heart reminded her of the irregular tapping of a typewriter, and she considered what might happen to her life should that sentence ever end. Then she lost the ability to think, taken as it was by the silence. That evil took everything, it was demented and malignant, and it had an appetite for finality. Until finality was invalidated. With the push of a single, unrecognisable syllable, a veritable explosion smashed through the window of anguish, and Vinyl could see again.
Vinyl could see the world for what it really is, a beautiful, stunning wonderland, complete with every warm feeling imaginable, and home to music that could elicit a thousand smiles, tears, or cries of encore. She knew that the shadow was a trickster, attempting to take her world from her, take her love, take her ecstasy, take them away. Vinyl knew all of this, and knew she couldn't acquiesce to this devil, lest she betray her heart. She would take delight in her views of Equestria and the lands beyond, every nook, cranny, peak and nadir, she wanted to see it all, and marvel at the place she had been given to call home. But first, she would behold Princess Twilight once more, the two shades of purple complimenting one another just as well as they always have, but holding new significance now, for she hadn't seen her princess in so long. As she stared up at the princess, she couldn't help but wonder why she was looking up at her.
Twilight was moving around with extreme haste, a detail which Vinyl couldn't help but notice, as groggy as she felt. Between jolting leaps from one place to another, she thought she might have heard her name once or twice, and even noticed Twilight at the door once, speaking with another pony. As Vinyl attempted to regain her spacial awareness, as well as her ability to differentiate between sounds, which seemed to be coming along slowly, she realised that she must have been laying on the floor, as her hooves were splayed out on a rug in front of her. Her mind still coated in bliss, she grabbed the rug and rolled into it, feeling her fur brush against it and squeezing it tight as if it was a soft blanket. This appeared to worry Twilight more, who came over and tapped Vinyl's face with her hoof, although she barely felt it. When Vinyl heard the word 'awake' she realised how rude she was being, taking a nap on Twilight's rug, and extended a hoof, inviting her to join her. When she appeared to refuse, Vinyl realised that Twilight wanted her to be awake, and stood up.
How she was stood with her face still planted firmly on the carpet, she was unsure, but this didn't bother her too much, so she began to walk over to Twilight, who was looking increasingly alarmed. It was at this point that she was enveloped in a magical aura, one that she was quite sure wasn't hers because she didn't like to be picked up. Naturally, she began to cry. When she was sure that she had been crying for a good ten minutes she decided to let up, although she was still quite petulant. This was until she realised that she could once again hear and that her mind felt much clearer.
"--Should be better now? Vinyl, can you understand me? Vinyl Scratch, it's me, Twilight, your new tutor, remember?"
Vinyl's head hurt, a lot. She also had no clue what had just happened. Last she remembered, her and Twilight were speaking about breath mints. Now, she was suspended in the air, her eyes stung, and her chest burnt. She spoke, slowly and deliberately. "Twilight? What the heck is going on right now?"
"Uh, Vinyl? I don't really know how to explain this but," Twilight began.
"What the hell was in that breath mint?!" Vinyl yelled, cutting Twilight off.
"Sweet Celestia," Twilight groaned, "Nothing! Why would there be anything in the breath mint for crying out loud!" After a moment, Twilight's annoyance seemed to be replaced with a look of relief. "I don't really know how to explain this, Vinyl. I've never seen anything like it before. We were stood talking just a little while ago and then--"
Suddenly, it clicked. "I passed out, didn't I?"
Twilight solemnly nodded. "Yeah, at least, I think so. You didn't just fall unconscious. You were babbling at me, grabbing at your mane, you ripped your shades off and threw them on the floor, then you closed your eyes and started shouting that you couldn't see..." Vinyl could sense Twilight's embarrassment at retelling this story but motioned for her to press on, she wanted to know. "You pulled yourself onto the floor and then grabbed me... You told me that it was all gone, whatever that means, and started to cry... and then, nothing, for a really long time, probably a few minutes, you just laid there, totally still. That's when I started to really worry. At first I thought you were having a panic attack, but this seemed almost psychoactive. I cast a minor rejuvenation spell to stabilise you but honestly I didn't want to do any more than that because I know very little about magical healing, I might have done you irreparable damage if I tried more. I fetched Starlight earlier, who has teleported away to get Rainbow Dash... I thought she was gonna have to fly you to the hospital. Honestly, she still might need to."
Vinyl floated quietly through Twilight's explanation, reassuring herself that nothing had happened that she didn't expect, until she heard the word hospital, at which point she panicked. Habitually she would have cranked her head to the left before speaking, but her suspension stopped her from being able to move much. "Out of interest, why am I floating up here?"
"Oh, that." Twilight stated, although it was the most normal thing which had happened that afternoon, which it might have been. "When you first woke up you seemed to be in a euphoric state, almost as if you were very drunk, and had regressed to pretty basic, childlike behaviour. You started throwing a paddy when I didn't join you for a cuddle on the rug, so I picked you up to ensure you didn't hit your head on something, or anything like that."
Vinyl's blush lit up the room. "Uh, you're serious, aren't you?" Twilight nodded, although apparently she wasn't nearly as embarrassed. "Well, uh, I'll try not to do that again." Vinyl nervously chuckled. Then, her tone darkened. "This isn't new for me, but the happy bit afterwards is. I was hoping I wouldn't have to bother you with it, I thought I had got better at controlling my fainting spells, but they seem to be resurfacing. I'll be okay though, just need to take more care in future not to overexert myself."
"Any idea what causes them?" Twilight asked, concerned.
"Lack of sound, mainly. I know, ironic for a DJ, right? But then, it's only ever caused me to faint before when I've been absolutely exhausted, usually it just puts me on edge, so I've got no clue why this just happened now. This is why I'm saying, I thought I had this under control. By paying attention to my sleeping habits and not expending too much energy in one day, I haven't fainted in almost a year... So why it's chosen to come back now, I don't know."
"Hold on, I've read about something like this before. Let me think." Twilight began to pace as her eyes narrowed, apparently trying to recall whatever she had previously read. "Yeah, I'm sure I've read about this, it's a type of phobia that has something to do with there being no sound in the room, although the name escapes me. It's known to induce anxiety, but fainting spells? I'm not so sure that's on the symptom list." Twilight frowned as she said this.
"Sedatephobia," Vinyl recalled without effort. "I've never been diagnosed, but it's the thing that matches my symptoms closest. Honestly, I've had it for a big portion of my life, since I was a teenager. In all of my research regarding the topic, I've never seen any mention of a serious medical procedure known to cure it, apparently the closest you can get to a cure is essentially sedatives, so I never pursued medical help. Instead, I found a way to cope. Or, I thought I did, at least."
As Vinyl spoke, Twilight quickly pulled over a pad and quill, making a few haphazard notes. When she had finished, she didn't look relieved in the slightest. "I'm going to put you down now, Vinyl, as this is getting a little taxing, and you made it pretty clear earlier that you're not a fan of being picked up. Don't try to move though, if you can help it."
"Doubt I'd get very far," Vinyl deadpanned as Twilight lowered her onto a large cushion and the purple aura enveloping Vinyl vanished.
"Which is exactly why I've decided me and Rainbow are taking you to the hospital. I don't know how much they can do to help you, but it doesn't hurt to be sure, does it?"
Vinyl trembled slightly, but maintained her shred of composure. "I'm not really a big fan of hospitals, Princess Twilight. I'm sure I'd be okay just going home and sleeping it off, wouldn't that be okay?" Honestly, I don't care if I'm pleading a little. How can she ask me to go to hospital after what I just told her? I can't deal with that lack of noise, no life or energy. Ponies literally go there to die.
Twilight, who clearly hadn't considered things from Vinyl's point of view, pressed on. "Vinyl, I'm worried about you. I can't just let you go home straight away when this could just happen again! You need to be monitored for a little while, and the hospital is the best place for that."
Vinyl's worry was currently giving way to dread. "But, Twilight, about the whole noise thing--"
"You've got your headphones, right?" Twilight interjected, looking over at the far table where she thought they had been left.
"Can't use them in the hospital," Vinyl replied. "The magic I use to charge and operate my pair directly interferes with medical equipment. They're a pretty new prototype, and one of the kinks the manufacturers haven't managed to get out yet is the occasional conception of electromagnetic pulses during use. Not so detrimental to small electronics, big trouble for hospital computers and life support systems."
Twilight squinted at her in disbelief. "Wow. Well, erm, have you got any normal headphones?"
"I should have five or six pairs knocking about in my room, but I can't exactly go and get them if you're taking me to hospital, can I?"
"Could I send someone to grab a pair?" Twilight asked.
"Who would you send? I've had a bad experience lately with ponies going through my room, as you know."
Vinyl didn't like overtly mentioning Octavia's transgression, she was for the most part over it. Still, in truth she would like to have her privacy respected to some degree.
"Well, I could send Rainbow? Or, I could go there myself, if you'd prefer."
No, you can't look through my room Twilight. I don't know what your play is, but you can't. Yeah, Rainbow might be just as curious about me as Twilight is, but Rainbow won't infer as much from whatever she finds in there. I'd rather she did it than my therapist-slash-ruler,
if I get any choice in the matter.
Putting on her best attempt at a genuine grin, she mustered, "Let's not bother Tavi with an unexpected royal visit, she might faint. Feel free to send Rainbow, it's no problem."
Twilight giggled at this, prompting Vinyl to laugh through a fresh yawn, and then nodded in agreement.
As if responding to her name, Rainbow burst through the double doors, Starlight in tow. "Twilight?! Starlight said it was urgent, something happened to Vinyl, right?" Rainbow zipped around the room at breakneck speeds, nearly crashing a handful of times, knocking a line of books off a shelf with her tail as she moved. "Where is she? I'll go get her, don't worry, hold on!" And off she zipped, out as fast as she entered.
"Where did she just go?" Vinyl slowly enquired, unsure, lowered shades and a highly raised eyebrow punctuating her question.
"To search the whole castle, I'd assume," Starlight smirked. "She gets like this when she's worried, I've noticed. You alright though, Vinyl?" she continued, concern evident. "Twilight wouldn't let me see you earlier, I figured you must have been pretty bad..."
Vinyl shuffled her forehooves, fidgeting nervously as she attempted a carefree smile. "Come on, Starlight. Do I look like I was that bad? Have some faith in me girl! I'm totally fine, trust--"
A multifaceted burst of kaleidoscopic energy obscured Vinyl's vision, as blurry as it still was, and she felt her lungs contract in shock. She spent a second wondering whether earlier events were about to repeat themselves, and debating whether or not she actually had the resilience to deal with this twice in one day, until she noticed the pair of cyan hooves compressing her sides, and everything clicked.
Another pony was holding her, or hugging her, or something. It was uncomfortable and confusing, but also a relief. After what could have been half a second or fifteen, Vinyl decided to put a face to her assailant. Blue hooves, creates prismatic explosions, didn't see them enter the room... Do I really need to guess? Hello, Rainbow. Vinyl sighed, ignoring the pegasus's uncomfortable grip on her midriff, favouring a few more moments of blissful grogginess, an unfamiliar drum beat bouncing in the back of her mind.
The bouncing tune she couldn't really place was eventually complimented by vocal samples, she chose to listen to them. They said things like "Hey, Twilight, why didn't you tell me she was in here?" The crescendo dipped into a renewed drop, baseline increasing in intensity, kickdrum becoming more frequent and "You took off too fast! It was faster to just let you look everywhere else. Is she alright?" and transcendence, the feeling of floating on a soft cloud, made entirely of increasingly obscure vocal samples such as "Yeah I've got her, heart's a little slow, but she seems alright. I'm taking her now, okay?" alarm as the snare sounded from a place in her mind she didn't recognise, was she safe, was she going to make it home tonight? "I thought we were taking her together? Wouldn't you prefer the help? I can help you carry her, it's no problem." the beat morphed to accommodate the change in tone, becoming darker and more disconcerting, before being resurrected with another simple phrase "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to her, she's safe with me."
Then, her mind decided to give this impromptu mix some visuals. They came to her in small sections, sometimes being mixed in with the vocals, it was all quite uplifting. She saw a grand castle that should have been familiar to her, a sun beginning to set, though she had rarely seen it this clearly, the individual hues coalescing and spreading throughout the sky. The rhythmic beat of strong and muscular wings, the implementation of fresh raspy vocals, saying things like "You're gonna be fine, Vinyl. Don't worry, I've got faith in you girl." and then later "We're nearly there, Vinyl, don't worry, just a little longer." It was at this point that she realised she was Vinyl, and the things surrounding her were not visual effects.
Her first instinct would be to scream, finding herself fastened to a flying pony at this height, but her slow waking process had allowed her to acclimatise to some degree, so she settled for a simple "What the hell, Rainbow?"
Rainbow jolted in midair at being addressed, something which prompted a 'whoa shit' from Vinyl. She appeared to try to turn to face her, and then realised it was impossible with how she was fastened. "Oh, hey, Vinyl, you're awake, huh?"
"Well yeah! what the hell are you doing?"
"Uhh... Taking you to the hospital, remember?"
She did remember. It hadn't been long ago, now that she considered it, that she had been waiting to be picked up. Then, Rainbow had arrived, left again, and returned, and then:
"So, Rainbow, why were you trying to cuddle me earlier?" asked Vinyl. She was unsure why she had chosen now to ask this, but it was the first thing that came to mind.
Rainbow didn't seem prepared for this question. between stutters, Vinyl managed to get a few words out of her. "Wh-What? Uhh... Why would I try to hug you? I-I mean, I checked your heart for a sec when I found you, and I put you on my back for Twilight to fasten, but that's it. Umm... Not that I'm saying I wasn't worried about you, but I thought you'd be cool, so no biggie right?"
"Really? Kind of sounds like you weren't that worried about me if it was 'no biggie'."
"Uhh... I-I mean, of course I was, Vinyl, I just thought you'd be okay, you know?" Rainbow's tone turned accusatory. "Anyways, where do you get off going and worrying Twilight like that! I swear to Luna she looked like she was gonna collapse at one point!" Her usual joviality returned. "Guess that would have been bad, huh? If one of you passed out and then the other, I'd have to choose who to take first! I'd probably just flip a bit though."
"Hey, Rainbow, have I ever told you just how tactless you are?"
"Yeah well you should be grateful!" Rainbow shouted. "I didn't have to come and take you to hospital, did I?"
"I never said it wasn't a compliment." Vinyl smirked, head still murky.
"How does that even work?" Rainbow asked in a petulant tone.
"Well, tactful people often beat around the truth, I don't really have any time for ponies like that. I like that you say what you think, rather than trying to cover it up."
Rainbow seemed to giggle for a second, then started to speak in a relaxed stream of syllables, slowly closing in on the hospital. "Well, if that's the case, you'd love Applejack, she's about as blunt as you can get, I mean--" At this point, she stopped herself, and when she resumed, her voice was a lot more hesitant and scratchy than it had been previously. "Uh, I mean, actually, you probably wouldn't love Applejack, some ponies can be a little too blunt, you know? She's always biting my tail too." Rainbow grumbled.
Somehow, Rainbow had given her a lot to consider in a pretty short space of time. Or, maybe she was just out of it. Regardless, her thoughts would have to wait until they had got to her room and she had settled for the night.
She played it so much cooler last time we spoke... Did my fainting spell really worry everypony that much?
Vinyl gave Rainbow a light squeeze, hoping to reassure her. "Don't worry, Rainbow, I'm fine, okay? Remember I've flown before, this really isn't a big deal to me. And, with the fainting, it's really nothing new, I'll have it back under control soon."
Rainbow fidgeted under the squeeze, not acknowledging it in the slightest. "You know, when I said we should hang out again soon, I didn't have this in mind." she chuckled.
"Really? Who would have guessed? So, what did you have in mind?" Vinyl pressed.
"Uhh, no clue really! Probably just talking or something, I never really thought about it."
Vinyl felt a smirk forming. "Really? I thought the Rainbow Dash was a mare of action! But I guess if standing around doing nothing is more your speed then I'm happy to oblige you, grandma."
"Hey! The Rainbow Dash is about to drop you on your flank!"
They both started to giggle in succession. Vinyl instantly felt more relaxed than she had for hours, and sighed when she realised they were about to land. The time for jokes and playful insults was running short, but it was all she wanted right now, before being resigned to her fate, the worst backing track one could experience, with arrhythmic beeping accompanied by arrhythmic hearts.