//------------------------------// // Chapter I: Want / Need // Story: Brave New World // by DeletePlease //------------------------------// Six months ago, Equestria was attacked by a powerful group of unicorns and alicorns. When all hope had been lost, an earth pony named Octavia summoned a force which bound the attackers, known as The Nine, permanently to a place outside of existence. At the same time she reversed the deaths of Vinyl Scratch, Raincloud, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and the two princesses who rule over Equestria. It took only three months for the ponies to rebuild, after which, the princesses wiped everypony’s memories free of the horrors which had passed. That is, almost everypony. Vinyl, Octavia, and Raincloud were somehow incapable of forgetting. The three inherited the estate of the psychologist Erik Equineson, who perished in the fight. Raincloud was given his entire house and his vast library covering almost every topic. Vinyl and Octavia received the majority of his money. Using the money, Vinyl and Octavia had a massive home built near Ponyville, while Raincloud dropped off of the radar. After almost ten years of absence, Octavia finally performed three months of concerts which were met with favorable reviews from even the harshest of critics. They had very well earned their coming vacation, but the universe wasn’t quite done with them yet… * * * Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Philharmonica Walkway Near Ponyville, Present Day The air felt cool against Octavia’s skin and the breeze didn’t help. A pair of yellow leaves fell in front of her as she hurried to catch up to Vinyl. She had said something about going into town but said something about a ghost, just loud enough for Octavia to hear. It was obvious bait, but she knew if Vinyl was involved then it would be a good time. “Where are you going, Vinyl?” She asked as she caught up to the white mare. Vinyl smiled. “I knew you couldn’t resist. I’m going to Twilight’s house for a séance.” Octavia looked confused. “I didn’t think you’d be the type to believe in that sort of stuff.” “Don’t say anything,” Vinyl whispered. “But it isn’t a real séance. That’s just a cover so nopony barges in on us.” “You’re insane,” Octavia said with a chuckle. “So why are we actually going to Twilight’s?” “She’s my travel agent,” Vinyl stated as though it were blatantly obvious. Octavia cocked her head. “What?” “I know,” Vinyl began. “It doesn’t make much sense. Just like when Raincloud said Rainbow Dash acts like a cat.” “What?” Octavia repeated. Vinyl turned to her. “I mean, I can see it now that it’s been said, but I wouldn’t have though that—“ “What do you mean ‘Twilight is my travel agent’?” Octavia asked. “She’s a librarian and a student.” They arrived at Twilight’s house and Vinyl tapped out a rhythm on the door. “Which is exactly why she picks out good places to vacation; she’s smart and she works hard!” “How much are you paying for this?” Octavia wasn’t sure why something like this surprised her coming from Vinyl. Vinyl grinned. “That’s the best part. She said she’d do it for free!” The door knob glowed and the door swung open, revealing a chaotic scene of papers and books scattered throughout the room. They saw Twilight dash back and forth across the room a couple of times before they entered. “Is everything okay, Twi?” Vinyl asked, taking a better look around the room. Twilight ran up to them and stuck a folder to Vinyl’s head by piercing it with the white mare’s horn. “Sorry, I know I said we’d meet but I’ve got to go help stop a great and powerful idiot from letting a dragon loose on Manehattan,” Twilight explained frantically. “There’s the information you need for your trip. Talk to you later!” Twilight ran out of the library into town. Octavia and Vinyl looked at each other and walked back home in silence. * * * Raincloud Her Home, Just Outside Manehattan, Present Day She had read fifteen hundred books and not a single clue; three months of research amounting to not a single result. There had to be something, because Raincloud had seen it happen. Technically she hadn’t seen it, she was dead when it happened, but she knew there was no other explanation. So, one question remained: How did Octavia Philharmonica use magic extending even beyond what an alicorn could control? From everything she had read it appeared impossible and it certainly hadn’t happened before but Raincloud knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what had happened. She set down the last book on magic in her collection. She sat for a moment, groaned quietly and stood heading for the upstairs. An hour passed as she paced back and forth in the kitchen, enjoying a cup of hot cocoa. The house she lived in seemed terribly empty; it was easily made to house at least a dozen ponies but she was the only one living there. A knock came from the foyer. It was late for someone to be visiting but Raincloud felt she could use the distraction. She opened the door to find herself facing a mare slightly smaller than her. Raincloud figured she was still just a teenager. The mare had a dark coat and a dark mane with red highlights. The mare leaned forward and whispered in Raincloud’s ear. “I know what you’ve been researching. Pay attention to the news for the next few days.” Raincloud eyed her suspiciously. “I don’t know who you are,” She started. “I’m not going to question how you know what I’ve been doing. I’m not going to ask who you are. What I want to know is how the hell do you have the exact same cutie mark as me?” The mare started to turn away. “I don’t even know that myself. We’ll talk in a bit,” She winked and flew off into the sky. Raincloud thought about giving chase but decided against it. She had other things to attend to now. * * * Vinyl and Octavia Ponyville, Two Days Later “I still don’t understand why we aren’t going to a beach or somewhere else warm,” Octavia was saying. “It’s getting close to winter so why would we go somewhere already cold?” Vinyl shrugged. “Twilight’s note said something about sharks.” The train pulled into the station. “At least we’ve got first class seats.” They boarded the train and settled into their seats. Shortly after a light rain set in; Vinyl could tell Octavia was lost in the pitter-patter of drops hitting the window. A few hours passed and they ate dinner in silence. Vinyl hated that they had gotten into such a routine lately. It wasn’t a real routine, every day was different, but their life had lost its spontaneity. They never talked anymore. “Hey, Tavi,” Vinyl tried. Octavia looked over in the moonlight. “What’s up, Vinyl?” She responded sleepily. Vinyl breathed deeply. “I don’t know how to ask this, but do you think your parents would have liked me?” Vinyl mentally kicked herself immediately after asking. She wasn’t sure how touchy that subject was. Octavia smiled slightly and looked back up at the sky. “I have the faintest of memories from before they died. The one that stands out most is my mother taking my out into the fields. We would have picnics out there and we’d play with the animals. Everything changed after I—“ Her voice faded and a tear appeared in her eye. Vinyl reached over and touched her gently. “That wasn’t you, Tavi.” “I know,” Octavia responded softly. A moment of silence passed. “They would have loved you, Vinyl. They would have been proud to have you dating me.” Octavia moved over to sit next to Vinyl. After a few minutes Vinyl felt her partner’s head rest on her shoulder. Not long after Vinyl joined her in sleep. It didn’t even take long for that moment of peace to be disturbed, though. They were awoken quickly by one of the crew. “We’re going to have to ask you two to leave the train immediately. There’s been an accident up ahead on the tracks and we can’t go any farther.” The train had stopped next to a large hill with pine trees growing sparsely on the side. As they exited the train they were instructed to go to the top of the mountain. On their way up the accident that had stopped them was revealed. A train had derailed and in its wake a fire had engulfed the track. They looked at each other, tiredly and started laughing. They’d known from the beginning that any vacation they took couldn’t possibly go perfectly. With that they began the long walk to the mountain resort they’d been booked at, laughing into the night at the joke the universe had played. * * * Raincloud Manehattan, the Next Morning For the third day in a row, Raincloud took the path from her home down into the big city. For the third day in a row she walked to the coffee shop to get her morning fix of caffeine and the morning paper. On the third morning, though, for the first time she saw something that may be the proof she needed to know she wasn’t having a joke played on her. The headline stuck out like a sore hoof: “Train Derails, Fire Kills Passengers of other Trains.” She skipped her coffee and ran back home. Trains don’t just derail in Equestria, she thought. Something, or somepony, caused this. Something within her was screaming out to tell the police about the pony who had told her about this, but logic told her she couldn’t be sure they were even related. She wouldn’t tell them anyway, not being this close to possibly having an answer. She didn’t even know why she needed an answer. She passed it off as curiosity but she knew it was something else. Perhaps it was jealousy. She was definitely jealous of Octavia, not of the power she’d had, but of her relationship with Vinyl. For a small amount of time she’d been so jealous that she’d actually thought of murder as an option, but she knew she couldn’t fall into that temptation. She had only ever treated Octavia with respect because she didn’t want to upset Vinyl, but now it was about natural selection. Whoever grabbed Vinyl’s attention most would win her heart, or so she thought. She decided to go and check out the site of the train wreck herself to see if she could find any sort of clue. She gathered a pack with water, food, and various other things she might need and set out for the forest. She wanted to make sure she followed the entire path the train had so she took a long curve to reach the train yard and continued on toward Ponyville. It had been a while since she’d been there, but she figured it hadn’t changed much. She was surprised to see a massive house, more like a castle than anything. There were tall walls made of some sort of dark stone which opened into a courtyard. There was a central pathway leading up to a multiple storied gothic style home. The pathway had two towers rise on either side for a few meters which then spiraled closer together forming one tower rising high into the sky with a large, seemingly unfinished room at the top. As she flew closers she saw a sign in front of it. She could barely make out the calligraphy reading “Property of Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Philharmonica.” Raincloud couldn’t help but laugh as she flew on. It took about three hours to reach the site of the train derailment. The fire had already been put out but it was easy to tell from the charred ground the area that had been affected. It appeared there had been another train that had stopped behind them which had apparently had passengers. Raincloud could even make out what she thought may be some of their bodies on the hill, a thought which she pushed out of her mind quickly. Something tapped her should and she turned around quickly. Looking her in the face was the mare that had come to her previously. They stared at each other for a moment. Raincloud felt a sort of connection, like they were similar in some way. “Who are you?” She asked. The mare laughed in a way that would have been cute if she weren’t clearly involved in very bad things. “I have no name,” She answered. Raincloud could tell from her voice that the mare wasn’t really a mare at all; she was just a filly, far too young to be an adult. Raincloud thought for a moment, a bit unsure of how to move forward. “How old are you?” was the answer that she finally settled on. The filly circled raincloud gracefully. “I’m not exactly sure,” She said, looking up into the sky. “I think I’m about twelve, but I might be older. Things weren’t very structured for me when I was growing up.” Raincloud tilted her head a bit to the left. “What do you mean?” The filly smiled. “My parents left me to fend for myself.” “How long ago was that?” “I don’t remember, it’s been a long time.” “How long could it have been if you’re twelve?” Raincloud was starting to kick herself mentally for letting the conversation get personal. She needed to find out about the train and what had happened. “That doesn’t matter; it’s a boring story, alright?” The filly had looked away quickly and spoken sharply. Raincloud could tell she was a bit shaken because of the question. “I’m sorry,” She responded. “Let’s change the subject. What happened here?” “A train derailed and a few ponies died because of the resulting fire,” The filly responded without turning around. Raincloud flew a bit closer. “You know who did this, don’t you? You need to tell me.” The filly started laughing the laugh of somepony who had lost their sanity. The laugh cut off suddenly. “Don’t you get it? I did this, you dolt! I killed them.” She flew off quickly into the hills, and this time Raincloud chased her. * * * Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Philharmonica Sky’s Mountain Resort, Present Day Vinyl and Octavia arrived at the resort early in the morning to the shocked face of the owner. He explained how they had gotten word that everypony aboard the train had died and that the forest had been consumed by fire. They were given a large dinner and were allowed to stay at the resort free of charge. The two slept peacefully until noon when other guests started arriving from an expedition that had left a few days earlier. The owner suggested they head into town and see if they could get in contact with anyone. On their way out Vinyl grabbed a pamphlet which explained the geography of the area. The resort was situated in the middle of the side of a large mountain. Below in a valley there was a village which had shops and restaurants. The mountain was surrounded by many, much smaller hills that flattened out as they moved toward the center of Equestria. They had had a problem with earthquakes in the area which had led scientists to believe the mountain was a volcano but tests had shown otherwise. Octavia led the way into a general store and tapped the bell at the counter. The two mares looked around awkwardly but soon realized that the store had almost everything except somepony to help them. They tapped the bell a few more times and waited a couple of minutes longer before leaving to look for help elsewhere. Vinyl stopped suddenly and looked up at the mountain, towering above them. Octavia looked too and they saw two pegasi circling the peak quickly. “Something isn’t right, here,” Vinyl whispered. “Let’s get out of here, quickly.” She turned to Octavia whose eyes had gone white. Vinyl tried to keep her calm. Octavia hadn’t done this in six months, but nothing good could come of it. She picked Octavia up and started toward the edge of town, trying to get as far away from the mountain as possible. * * * Raincloud had caught up to the filly and they were now circling the mountain, waiting for the other to make a move. “Why did you do it?” Raincloud asked. The filly touched down on the mountain as light as a feather. “We’ve all heard of the concept of want versus need,” she said. “You may want a book or a new toy but you need food and water. Well all of my life I’ve wanted someone to be there for me, but I never got that.” “So you developed a pathological need for something,” Raincloud finished. “That need is what, exactly?” “Power,” the reply came. “It isn’t really my fault though. Three months ago, when I regained the ability to fly, I found something, and it was beautiful. Now I’m just a catalyst for the destruction of this world, but that isn’t to say I won’t enjoy seeing you all burn.” Something seemed to click in Raincloud’s head. “What did you just say?” “I said I’m going to watch you all burn,” the filly’s voice was as cold as ice. Raincloud staggered backwards with shock on her face. Her heart raced as she made the connection. “What did you find?” The filly’s expression changed into something softer, yet still very much angry. “It was a sphere of some kind. I can’t describe it; it was beyond words.” Raincloud looked to the village below. “I’m sorry,” she spoke quietly. “I am so, very sorry. There’s nothing I can do now, but I promise that I’ll free you.” Her wings shot out and she took flight toward Canterlot as quickly as she could. * * * Octavia’s eyes shot open as Vinyl was running with her. “Run!” She shouted looking around frantically. “Octavia, it’s okay, I’m right here,” Vinyl tried to calm her down, taking hold of her hoof. Octavia batted Vinyl’s hoof away. “Stop it, this is serious. We need to leave, now.” She looked up at the mountain and her eyes grew wide. Vinyl looked too and saw one of the pegasi flying away. “What’s wrong?” Vinyl asked. “That’s Raincloud,” Octavia answered. “And if she’s leaving now then we’re too late. We’re going to die.” Almost the second Octavia finished speaking the ground started shaking. The two mares tried to steady themselves against a tree as they looked to the sky. Octavia started crying and Vinyl took her hoof, trying to keep her calm. The peak of the mountain exploded suddenly, spraying flaming rock and ash toward them. Just as they were about to close their eyes in preparation for death to take them, there was a flash in front of them. “You aren’t going to die yet,” a familiar voice said. There was another flash, and they were gone. * * * Eight Hours Later Vinyl awoke slowly due to the darkness blanketing her room. As she adjusted herself she could see the moon through the lone window, but there were no stars. She felt Octavia move behind her and the door opened letting light into the room. Luna entered quietly and walked up beside the bed. Vinyl shook her head. “Why the hell does this kind of thing always happen to us?”