//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: DJ Dreams 
// by RainEStar 
//------------------------------//

	When Luna pulled all of the dreams of Ponyville’s residents together, not everypony spent their time observing the sudden shift of their environment. When one pony’s dream shifted from a recording studio to a night in Ponyville, she took it in stride. Literally. She slowly began walking around town, taking in the sights and expressions of the shell-shocked ponies around her.

“Vinyl? Vinyl, where are you?”

Vinyl turned her head to the source of the voice. Spying the voice’s owner though her purple sunglasses, she casually trotted through the mass of confused ponies, putting music to her headphones as she did so. There were no lyrics; the song was just a funky beat of her own composition. She noticed that the other ponies had their eyes fixed in a certain direction, but she didn’t deviate from her target.

Vinyl turned down the volume of her music before creeping up behind the unsuspecting pony. Even though she spent most of her time listening to music, she was fully capable of determining how silently she moved. Smirking, she gripped the pony in a chokehold.

The pony struggled, but was unable to scream due to the small amount of pressure Vinyl was putting on her neck. The pony flailed her limbs wildly until a lucky shot managed to knock Vinyl’s sunglasses off her face. With a frown, Vinyl released the pony to go retrieve them.

“Why, I ought to-” Octavia began as she made her way to her hooves. Then she noticed who her assailant was. “Vinyl Scratch!” she exclaimed as the white unicorn placed her glasses back on the perch of her nose. “I believe I told you never to do that again!”

Vinyl merely smirked at the earth pony, though it was clear she was struggling to contain her laughter.

“I don’t find any of this amusing,” Octavia said seriously. “Don’t you realize that were trapped in a dream with a monstrous creature that’s going to destroy the world!” She waved a hoof frantically at the Tantabus, who was currently attempting to rip its way into the real world.

Vinyl Scratch shrugged and tossed her head towards the six mares who were known to deal with threats like this. Their leader, Twilight Sparkle, blasted the nightmare monster away from the hole, allowing Princess Luna to seal the rip. Vinyl raised her glasses and gave Octavia a knowing look.

“Well, I suppose that they do have the situation under control as usual,” Octavia admitted.

Vinyl scratch grinned and took a few steps forward, before turning back to Octavia and nodding to her.

“Well, I suppose a walk wouldn’t hurt,” Octavia said reluctantly. “But honestly, I’d feel safer if we stayed where the heroes are.”

Vinyl facehoofed before pointing. Octavia turned her head to see a large, heroic version of Spike riding a giant Derpy and ripping through the Tantabus with a lance. Vinyl then twirled her hoof, conjuring milkshakes on a silver platter that was inlaid with jewels. She levitated one of the milkshakes to Octavia, who accepted it and took an experimental sip.

Octavia’s eyes widened. “It tastes exactly like the ones from Sugar Cube Corner!” she exclaimed before slurping down the rest of the delicious drink. After she was done, she finally noticed that Vinyl was rolling on the ground in silent laughter as the platter holding the other milkshake floated in the air next to her. Octavia blushed as she wiped the creamy foam from her face. “I swear you did that on purpose!”
Her accusation had no effect on Vinyl, who began the beating the ground with a hoof.

Octavia’s blush gradually shifted into a smirk as she quietly crept up to Vinyl’s helpless form. While Octavia lacked the natural stealth of the unicorn mare, Vinyl was in condition to detect an assault. Octavia managed to pluck off Vinyl’s glasses easily, which immediately caused Vinyl to pause. “Now look here,” Octavia said sternly. “You are not going have any more of this foalish laughter at my expense, or else you’ll never see these again.”

Vinyl frowned and lit her horn with a spell.

Octavia smirked confidently even as the glasses were covered in a light blue magical aura. “Tut, tut,” she said with disapproval. “You know that earth pony strength beats unicorn magic every time.” Vinyl’s frown grew as she increased the intensity of her spell, but Octavia still managed to maintain her grip with ease. “Not to mention that I carry around a cello all the time, while the heaviest things you usually lift are flimsy records. There’s no way you could ever forcefully remove something from my hooves.”

Vinyl paused as she realized the truth in Octavia’s words. While unicorns like Rarity and formerly Twilight Sparkle had enough experience in levitation to match an earth pony’s raw strength, Vinyl rarely lifted anything heavier than a set of speakers. With Octavia’s acquired strength from her instrument of choice, coupled with her natural earth pony strength, there was no way Vinyl could overpower her in a tug of war.
Seeing Vinyl’s defeated expression, Octavia smirk only grew wider. “Now, are we ready to have a deal?”

Vinyl considered it for a moment then shook her head. Octavia stared at her in confusion as Vinyl continued to strength the intensity of her spell.

“Give up, Vinyl,” Octavia triumphantly. “Admit your defeat!”

Viny shook her head furiously. Her horn suddenly blazed with an intensity Octavia had never seen before. Before the earth pony mare could formulate a thought, the glasses flew from her grip and rested comfortably on the bridge on Vinyl’s nose.

“B-but h-how?” Octavia exclaimed.

Vinyl facehoofed and pointed at the arena around them. Then she grabbed the milkshake she had left on the floating platter and took a few experimental sips.

“Somehow, I forgot we were still dreaming,” Octavia said as she looked around. Then she took notice of the giant shadowy alicorn that was making its way through a large dimensional rip. “Uh oh… it seems that the monster is winning,” she said nervously.

Vinyl shook her head and raised an eyebrow.

“True, this usually is the time where they come up with a deus ex machine solution and save the day,” Octavia admitted. “Can they not simply solve the problem before it gets this big for once?”

Vinyl shrugged, put aside her milkshake, and sighed.

“Hm?” Octavia asked as she turned her attention back to her companion.

Vinyl pointed at the dreamscape, and then back to the two of them.

“Yes, it appears that we won’t be sharing the same dream for much longer,” said Octavia dejectedly. Her expression turned wistful as she sat on the grass and conjured a second milkshake to drink. “You know, before we go back to our normal dreams, there’s one thing I want you to do for me.”

Vinyl plopped down as well and cocked her head questioningly.

“I want you to speak.”

Vinyl stared at Octavia blankly from behind her glasses.

Octavia turned to face Vinyl. “We’re in a dream, which means I can hear you as you imagine your voice, and I want to hear it.”

Vinyl put down her milkshake—which for some reason was still full to the brim—and turned away. She was surprised when Octavia embraced her in a tight hug.

“Vinyl, I know that ever since we were fillies you imagined being able to speak,” Octavia said. Vinyl blushed and tried to squirm free of the earth pony’s grip, but to no avail. “I watched you practice at night, trying to talk to our stuffed animals and even to the Mare on the Moon.”
Vinyl’s blush deepened as she shook her head in silent protest.

“Don’t worry, everyone is too busy worrying about that monster to notice us,” Octavia said with an eye roll. “Seriously, one would think that were separated by more than a mere ten minutes after seeing your foalish antics.”

Vinyl finally stopped struggling as she allowed her sister to squeeze her tightly.

After a few a moments, Octavia finally released Vinyl from her grasp. “I know that you might be embarrassed, but it would mean a lot to me if I could hear your voice just once,” said Octavia. “However, it is entirely your choice. It doesn’t matter what you choose, I will fully respect your decision nevertheless.”
Vinyl debated this for a moment. Glancing at the sky, she noticed that the giant alicorn was falling apart. She would have to make a decision, and she would have to do it quickly.

In the end though, it was not a difficult decision to make.

“Octavia.”

Tears leaked from the corners of Octavia’s eyes as she heard her sister’s voice for the first time. Vinyl’s voice was a distinctly higher pitch than Octavia’s, and had none of the earth pony’s noticeable accent. It was also soft, which heavily contrasted the type of music she often composed. While Vinyl’s voice was not quite melodious, Octavia found that it had a certain smoothness to it that made her want to hear more of it.

However, none of these things were the cause for Octavia’s water eyes. For Octavia, the beauty of the voice came not from its sound, but from the pony of whom it belonged. It was Vinyl’s own voice. It was everything Vinyl wanted. And that alone was more than enough for Octavia.