Vinyl Scratch trotted through the abandoned streets of Horseshoe Bay, her sunglasses resting on top of the bandages that wrapped around her head. Vinyl’s eyes scanned every building around, always alert for a tiny sign of movement. Vinyl’s saddlebags hung limply at her sides, their insides almost empty of all the supplies she had managed to get from Dodge City.
As Vinyl tripped slightly and agitated the cuts on the bottom of her hooves, she stifled a moan of a pain as her eyes finally glimpsed a moving thing ahead of her. The form was that of a clearly malnourished filly, trotting shakily forward, her head wobbling almost unnaturally from side to side, barely able to lift more than 2 hooves at a time. Vinyl knew that other Things might hear her if she called out to the filly, but she couldn’t stomach leaving anypony, especially a filly, like this.
“Hey there. Sweetie? Are you alone?” Vinyl called out as she got slowly closer to the filly, who had paused in her steps upon hearing Vinyl’s voice.
As Vinyl prepared to put one of her hooves forward in a welcoming gesture, the filly shakily pivoted around. Vinyl froze as she saw the filly’s face. Her eyes were green and glossed over, and her head had several gashes and chunks of flesh missing. Looking lower, there was an immense gash across the filly’s entire throat that reached at least halfway through it, clearly being the real reason the filly’s head had wobbled while she walked.
As Vinyl continued to stare at the creature that had once been a filly, it lurched forward a single step. As the Trotter finally finished shifted the position of its walking, it began to take steps toward Vinyl faster. Vinyl began to take her own steps back, tears welling up in her eyes as she knew what she would now be forced to do. As the filly began to snap it’s jaws and growl at Vinyl, Vinyl slammed her eyes shut, welled up her magic, and sent an immense bolt of it through her horn, aiming right for the Trotter’s head.
As Vinyl heard the corpse hit the ground, her tears welled up even faster, and she began to gallop forward, pushing herself as fast and far as she could through Horseshoe Bay, holding onto the belief that if she could just reach Fillydelphia, she’d find Octavia and Silver Spoon.
***
“I have to say Vinyl, I’m jealous. I’m a DJ too, and I never get gigs like you get. You’ve been better than me since you got that gig at the Royal Wedding.” Neon Lights told Vinyl, just before he took a shot of Spectra, grimacing as he swallowed it all at once. Thumping his hoof on the bar counter, he chokingly ordered another, even though there were already 3 other empty shot glasses in front of him.
“What?! You get way more songs recorded than me Neon! You just put out your 12th like what? Last month?” Vinyl toothily grinned at Neon, hoping to coax him into cheering up about his work.
As Neon finished his next Spectra shot and let it settle, Vinyl took another gulp of her Double Luna, a new drink invented at the Nightmare Night in Canterlot 2 months ago that nopony could seem to get enough of.
“And how well do they sell? Look at me Vinyl. Here I am ordering the cheapest, strongest drinks I can on a shared tab hoping for a cancellation, while you have 2 more gigs this week alone. I’m pathetic. I don’t even have a place to go back to tonight. At least you have Octavia and Silver Spoon.” Neon jokingly grinned at Vinyl, showing off his immensely bloodshot eyes with large black bags underneath.
“You know you’re always welcome at our place. Silver doesn’t mind giving up her room for a few nights anymore. She’s really grown.” Vinyl smiled as she remembered her adoptive daughter of 2 years, and how she and Octavia had held her as she cried the night her parents had died in a fire in Ghastly Gorge.
Neon smiled shakily for a moment, before ordering yet another shot. As Vinyl looked with sympathy upon her friend, she got tapped on the shoulder. Turning around, she saw that it was the owner of the establishment, Black Jack.
“Sorry to cut your break a little short, but do you think you could help shut up some of your fans with another song Vinyl?” Black jack asked her, years of stress and bar fights in his eyes.
Vinyl nodded, drained her Double Luna, and leaped onto her hooves again. As she passed Neon on the way to the stage, she made sure to give him a friendly thump on the back and a smile. Getting up on stage, Vinyl saw that the crown appeared far drunker than they were an hour ago. The booing was sloppier, and the whistling and ogling of her was far more prevalent than usual.
Vinyl shut it all out and started her set, confident she could calm down the crowd within 3 songs. As Vinyl paused between her first and second song though, she suddenly heard a drunken stallion boo extremely loud and annoyingly. Chancing a glance, Vinyl wasn’t very surprised to see Slish Slosh, the former skier turned drunk when he had broken his back hooves.
Vinyl was still able to shut out the crowd, but it was far harder with the added annoyance of Slish Slosh. As Vinyl took a few seconds breather between Song 2 and 3, she suddenly heard an angry roar from Slish Slosh. Looking up in shock, she was suddenly brained by an immense empty bottle of Sweet Apple Acres Hard Cider, which immediately split open a large and nasty gash on her temple. Wobbling not long thereafter, she only heard a quick and worried “Vinyl!” from Neon as she passed out right there on stage.
***
Neon trotted into the Hospital Room, a vase of flowers floating along beside him in his magic. Neon stopped and turned forward to force himself to look right at Vinyl, even though seeing her like this was painful.
Vinyl was hooked up to half a dozen different medical machines, all which were helping keep her alive. A mask encased Vinyl’s muzzle, which only moved gently as the machine pumped oxygen into her body and helped her breath. Another machine kept her heartbeat monitored from her left front hoof. A third was an IV that kept Vinyl as nurtured as she could be like this. A thick layer of white bandages wrapped around the top of Vinyl’s head. Vinyl’s eyes remained closed, just as they had for the past 2 weeks Neon had come to visit.
Neon swallowed as he felt tears well up again over seeing Vinyl like this. He pushed his sunglasses up and off his head, and levitated the vase of flowers forward so that they were nearly right in front of Vinyl’s face.
“Octavia got more flowers for you Vinyl. Roseluck, Minuette and Applejack all chipped in too. Heh. I don’t know why I didn’t too. Maybe it’s because they wouldn’t let me? Maybe it’s because I’m poor. Maybe… it’s because I’m the one who sees you like this the most often…” Neon drifted off as he spoke aloud to Vinyl, hoping his voice could help her wake up.
“There’s been some odd stories going around Vinyl. Some are saying the Changelings are back. Some are saying there’s a Serial Foalnapper out there. Me… I don’t know what to believe. All I know is that this list of Missing Ponies grows bigger every day and that the smaller towns out there have completely stopped contact with the larger cities.” Neon explained, hoping maybe he could have an epiphany about the scenario while he did.
Neon closed his eyes and breathed in heavy before he continued on.
“Octavia doesn’t trust it. She wants to go check on her sister in Fillydelphia. I’m not letting her go alone, and I’m not leaving Silver Spoon behind either. We’ll be gone a week. The doctors know where we’re going, and they’ll send word ahead if anything changes, and we’ll come right back…. Celestia help me. Why can’t I shake this feeling that this is something else? Something beyond Changelings or Foalnappers…” Neon paused, his eyes growing darker as he did.
“I’ll keep em safe for you Vinyl. I know what they mean to you. If we can’t get back… If you….Go… I’ll help them. That’s what I owe you. I hope to Luna this isn’t the last time we see each other, but if it is…” Neon choked on his words, shutting his eyes hard quickly afterwards and galloping out, only taking time to make sure the vase was safe on Vinyl’s bedside table.
***
Vinyl’s ears twitched, and her eyelids clenched tight, before slowly flittering open. Vinyl smiled as she heard the echo of Neon’s words to her.
“Thank you Neon. You’re a real pal. I guess I can come after you all myself now though eh?” Vinyl chuckled, before she started coughing heavily, the dryness in her throat suddenly making itself immensely present.
Vinyl heaved through her coughing, half expecting to taste blood any second. Vinyl pushed herself up, only to jerk back slightly at a strange pulling sensation. Looking down at her hooves, Vinyl saw the needles and pads that still connected her to her now silent life support machines. Leaning down and removing them quickly with her mouth, Vinyl again attempted to sit up, only to immediately feel woozy and fall right off the side of the bed.
Vinyl didn’t feel the impact of the hit very much. Instead of keeling over in pain, she simply groaned and got on her hooves more slowly this time. As Vinyl finally shakily stood on all four hooves, she looked around her and felt her eyes narrow in confusion.
The ceiling and walls were severely cracked and filthy, while all the glass from the windows was blown out all across the floor. The Hospital looked as though it had been attacked and nopony had bothered to clean up after it in at least two months. As Vinyl looked more closely at all the damage, her eyes drifted down to her bedside table and she felt her throat catch.
The vase on it was immensely cracked, with a few sections missing. The flowers were wilted to the extent that they had all turned stark white. Trotting forward, Vinyl reached a hoof out to touch the flowers. They immediately fell apart, almost turning to dust at her touch. Vinyl staggered backwards, afraid of what this could mean.
Vinyl padded around the room and into the adjourning bathroom, managing to slice up the bottoms of her hooves while at it, looking for anything that was hers and that wasn’t destroyed or missing. For a moment, relief spread through Vinyl as she found her sunglasses in the bedside table’s drawer, but as she attempted to put them on, she felt the bandages around her head and felt despair again. Vinyl rested her sunglasses on top of her bandages, not certain she should risk seeing in decreased lighting yet.
Vinyl then slowly moved over to the door to her room, never taking her eyes off the vase once she glimpsed it again, and then proceeded to push against it, only to discover the door was blocked by something. Shoving herself harder against it, Vinyl’s finally pushed through the door, which had been blocked off by a hospital gurney, and out into the hallway. Vinyl huffed for a moment before looking down the hall, and realizing she had been safer inside the room.
Rotted forms that appeared similar to ponies in shape, size, and height were lumbering around the hallway, scraping against walls and doors, until Vinyl entered the hall. As Vinyl looked up, the creatures as all appeared to stop their normal motions and redirect their movements towards her instead.
Vinyl quickly turned around and started galloping away, instinctively knowing these things were dangerous. As Vinyl galloped around a corner, she saw quite a few more of the creatures. Backpedaling in her gallop quickly, Vinyl took another hallway nearby, which fortunately lead to the fire escape. Vinyl burst through the door, making sure to slam it shut behind her before any of the creatures could catch up. Realizing only seconds later that she was in complete darkness in the stairwell and vulnerable to further attack as long as she stayed there, she lit her horn with magic and proceeded down the stairs.
Opening the exit door, Vinyl’s eyes started to water as she glimpsed proper natural light again. Vinyl was about to reach up and put her sunglasses on, but then she realized she could better see these strange creatures in this lighting, and her glasses wouldn’t help that advantage at all.
Vinyl trotted slowly forward looking around to try and see how all the other buildings looked. The plants everywhere were overgrown, and all the building looked abandoned and in major disrepair. As Vinyl continued forward looking around, she tripped over something in front of her, greatly aggravating her cut hooves. Looking down, Vinyl felt tears well up as she saw that it was a body bag she had tripped over.
Looking up with caution, Vinyl saw hundreds more body bags scattered around her and nearby abandoned carriages and carts. Vinyl closed her eyes and counted her blessings that Octavia, Neon, and Silver Spoon had already been far gone from Dodge City by the time this many ponies had died.
Continuing to look around for some form of proper life, Vinyl suddenly felt an immense blow to her neck. Gasping and collapsing, Vinyl only weakly heard somepony yell out.
“Mommy! I think I found somepony alive! I hurt them because I thought they were a Trotter though! MOMMY!!!” A filly’s voice strangely echoed through Vinyl’s ears.
Vinyl saw a shadow obscure her now limited vision, right before she passed out.
“Celestia Dammit.” Flitter spoke up, as another Pegasus mare descended down next to her.