Timeless

by Hybrid-Dreamin

Alone

Vinyl scratched at her horn, still feeling some of the painful sensation that had blasted it not too long ago. Muttering a curse under her breath, she continued to walk down the seemingly endless dirt road that she was beginning to think was leading her in circles. While it was somewhat hard to see due to the darkness of night, she was at least thankful that the temperature was neither too cold nor too hot for her tastes.

"How long have I been doin' this?" she wondered to herself aloud as she continued on. "Or maybe a better question would be, why is this happening in the first place!?" her irritated shout broke the silence of the night. Letting out a heavy sigh, she stopped and sat on the grass by the edge of the road. This whole situation made no sense to her, and she knew a thing or two about senselessness. Her current predicament however, was on a completely different level from her usual DJ related activities and partying.

"So let me try and get all this straight again." she began to speak, not caring in the least that she was completely alone. "First, it turns into night time in the middle of the afternoon. Then when I go outside to see what's going on, everypony else is completely frozen like they turned into statues... except without the... statue part. Then I turn around and get nailed right in my horn by... something and pass out. Then finally I wake up on this STUPID ROAD" she picks up a nearby rock and throws it at the dirt as she shouts again, "and I can't use my magic anymore either..." She sighs once more as she lets herself fall back onto the grass.

"Maybe this is one of those weird dreams where you're aware of everything that's happening..." she muttered before forcing a halfhearted laugh. "Yeah right, if it was then my horn wouldn't feel like it got crushed by a rock over and over." Looking up at the moon, she tried to make sense of her situation once more. It was a futile effort, of that she was well aware, but she had run out of energy to be angry at dirt roads and inanimate rocks. As she laid there, thinking about a way out of this situation, she failed to notice her eyelids wavering. Within minutes, she'd fallen asleep, exhausted from the day's (or in this case, night's) events.

----------------------

As she began to regain consciousness, Vinyl slowly sat up and scratched at her horn again. She let out a yawn before looking over her surroundings. She let out yet another sigh once she realized that she was still at the side of the dirt road. Even though she felt as though she'd slept for hours, the darkness of the night still clouded her vision. She stretched a bit as she got to her feet and then, with another sigh, she set out upon the road.

"It wouldn't be half as bad if there were at least some crickets or something..." She spoke to herself once more. She'd heard not a single sound aside from the occasional breeze of wind since she first woke up on the road. She began to think that perhaps she was the only pony left who wasn't apparently frozen in time. But if that were true then why her? What had she ever done that could possibly lead to her current situation? Sure she'd seen her fair share of strange things, but they were always things that simply came with being a DJ for a living.

As she continued down the road, something caught her eye. She squinted to try and make out what it was but her eyes quickly widened once she saw it clearer. A town! A town somewhere down the road! Vinyl began galloping towards her new target with a renewed sense of hope enveloping her.

"A town means ponies, and ponies mean information, and information means I get to know what in Celestia's name is going on!" She said to herself between breaths as she continued to pick up speed. She didn't think for a moment that the town's inhabitants might also be frozen like those she'd seen previously. Rather, she couldn't think that. If she did then she may as well just go back to sleeping on the grass for the rest of her life.

As the town came closer into view, Vinyl tightly closed her eyes and wished that somepony, anypony would be there to give some kind of help. Even if they knew as little as she did about what was happening, at least she wouldn't be alone anymore. In the back of her mind she knew that out of all the strange things going on, that was the scariest thought of all. That she would be alone.

----------------------

Finally reaching her destination, she slowed herself down so as to catch her breath. Looking around at the buildings, her sense of hope instantly broke down. She saw no lights in any of the buildings. No ponies anywhere in sight. Not even a pet or some other kind of creature moving about in the shadows. Nothing.

Falling back onto her haunches, she let out a long and very loud yell in frustration. As she caught her breath, she lowered her head and her mouth started to quiver as tears began to form in her eyes. Were they out of sadness? Frustration? Anger? All three? She wasn't sure. She didn't care though. All she knew was that she was now trapped in a world where time itself seemed to have stopped, along with every other pony excluding herself. Her greatest fear had been realized. She was alone.

She sat there for what she thought had seemed like an hour, though now that time had apparently frozen she didn't think it mattered much. All the thoughts and fears rushing in and out of her mind. What was she going to do now? Was there anypony anywhere that wasn't frozen? Was this the end of Equestria? Was she fated to die here... alone? Her tears began to stream down her face again as she started sobbing.

Vinyl had never been a very sensitive individual. She never seemed to cry even when others would. She had been told that she didn't care about anyone else when she really did. That she was cold hearted when she really wasn't. When she attended a funeral once the other ponies there were almost more shocked that she actually shed a single tear than they were that they had just lost one of their own.

But the idea that her fate had been cursed to have her spend the rest of her life alone, both figuratively and literally, managed to break something in her. She never had many ponies that she truly considered friends that she could rely on and vice versa, but the ones that she did have she always treasured. But now, to know that their fate was to be frozen in time, lifeless and unresponsive, while hers was to carry on without any of them... it was too much for her to bear.

With exhaustion grasping at her once again, she fell onto her side with a thud. She'd passed out, and for all she could have cared she would be better off never waking up.

----------------------

Something else had a different idea in store for her though. She bolted upright, awakened by the almost unreal sounding BANG of an explosion somewhere in the town. Before she could make sense of what was going on, another BANG sounded out, this time closer to her. Vinyl's first reaction was to run towards the noise to investigate, but something within her prevented her from doing so. She didn't know if it was fear or some survival instinct, but she retreated from her current position nevertheless.

Explosions continued to ring out in different directions around her. She was almost ready to run out of the town completely until she saw... it. A massive shadowy figure rose up in what seemed like the center of the town. The creature had to be nearly four stories tall. Vinyl's eyes widened in shock and terror. Before she could formulate a response to the sight before her however, there was another explosion. The shadowy form had been hit with a blast of some kind of energy, causing it to fall back onto a building behind it.

The blasts continued to come, seemingly originating from a rooftop not far from the monster. Squinting her eyes again to try and see what was causing them, her jaw fell agape as she made out the form of a lone pony, standing on the roof. She began galloping towards the direction of the building without a second thought.

She only caught glimpses of the fight while she focused on where she was going, but from what she could make out it appeared that the beast was being assaulted with waves of light. The light had a purple sort of tint to them and seem to be some form of magic. The lights exploded as soon as they made contact with the shadow, staggering it and forcing it back. They continued to be fired off in quick succession, each just as brilliantly bright as the last.

She continued to gallop her way ever closer to the sight of the battle. Her fear gone and her survival instincts ignored, she got closer and closer to the center of the town. The monster seemed even bigger now, towering over everything around her, but even so her focus was still on the rooftop where the blasts emanated from. While she couldn't make out any specific details still, she could tell that the figure on the rooftop was most definitely another pony, and a pony who could still use their magic at that.

As she got even closer however, the creature took notice of her presence. Shifting it's shape so as to dodge the next blast, it smashed part of itself into the ground in front of Vinyl, throwing her back. Dodging another blast, it grabbed Vinyl with shadowy tendrils that sprouted forth from its main body and pulled her into itself.

The pain was excruciating. It felt like her whole body was being crushed from every single side. She wanted to scream but she seemed to be paralyzed, unable to move an inch as this monster slowly crushed her within itself. Through her wincing eyes she caught a glimpse of the pony on the roof just as another blast hit the creature. The blast staggered it but the shadow refuse to relinquish its hold on Vinyl.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity to her, Vinyl was knocked free from the beast by another blast. Instead of being crushed however, she now found herself falling straight towards the cold hard ground. Closing her eyes and preparing for the inevitable, she never felt the smash of her body hitting the ground. Instead she was caught in what appeared to be levitation magic from that of another unicorn. She was gently placed onto the rooftop which she had seen before.

Looking up weakly, Vinyl caught sight of her savior. It was a mare with a calm gray coat and a long mane as black as the shadowy monster she battled. However, despite the blasts of magic she had apparently been using to combat the monster, Vinyl saw no horn upon her head. The mare said something to her but Vinyl didn't hear it. Her ears were ringing and her head was pounding, her view fading by the second. Her last sight before she passed out once again was of a great ball of light, bigger and brighter than any of those before it, being thrown at the beast, putting it down for good.

----------------------

"WAIT, DON'T GO!" Vinyl shouted as she bolted upright. Her breaths were quick and uneven, her head still pounded, and a general soreness held onto most of her body. Her eyes darted around the small room she just realized she was currently in but the only thing of note was a window on the wall in front of her. After a few moments to get her bearings she steadied her breathing. At this point she realized that not only was she in an actual room, she was also in a bed, covers thrown off from when she bolted awake.

"Well it looks like you're finally awake." A voice called calmly as its owner entered the room. Vinyl was shocked to see that the voice belonged to none other than the gray mare who had saved her life.

"Y-you! It's you!" Vinyl said, not fully believing her own eyes.

The gray mare looked at her, confused. "Well, I suppose that's true, I am me. But the real question is who are-" Her sentence was cut off by Vinyl jumping out of the bed and enveloping her in a bear hug. "Ow! Okay, okay! Let go of me!" She pleaded, somehow managing to pry Vinyl off her.

Vinyl finally realized what she had just done and looked away with a blush, muttering an apology. She quickly returned to her eager earlier self however. "But wait, you're real! Right? You're not a statue like everyone else!"

The gray pony readjusted the pink bowtie around her neck which Vinyl just now noticed, and quickly brushed her hair back into place with her hoof. "No, I am not... and neither are you."

"Well yea, obviously I'm not! But you have no idea how happy I am to see you! Well, maybe not you specifically seeing as I have no idea who you are, but seeing another-"

"Yes, I know." The gray mare cut her off. "I figured that I would be the first pony you've seen in a while who can actually move." Vinyl just kept smiling widely, her happiness too much to contain. Her smile faded slightly at the unknown mare's next words however. "Now... you're going to tell me everything about what's going on. RIGHT. NOW." As she said this, orbs of purple light began to form at her sides.

"Woah woah woah! Wait a minute! What are you doing that for, I'm not that big shadow thing!"

"No, you're not. What you ARE is the only other pony I've seen who isn't completely frozen, and I've seen a lot of them. That means you must know what's going on, seeing as you're perfectly fine compared to everypony else." The balls of light grew in intensity.

Vinyl took two steps back. "Now wait a minute, just calm down! I don't know what's going on either. All I know is that it turned into nighttime, everyone froze, and my horn got hit with something that took away my magic... it still hurts too." she rubbed her horn once again as she finished.

The other mare eyed her intently for a few moments more before the orbs at her sides disappeared and she relaxed her posture. "Well it looks like you're telling the truth."

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?!"

"Forgive me if I'm skeptical of the first other pony I see who is neither a statue nor a shadow in disguise."

"Wait a minute, you mean that thing you were fighting was a pony?!" Vinyl asked, unable to believe what she just heard.

"No." was the calm response. "I said 'shadow in disguise'... Twice over now I've walked by a pony who I thought was frozen only to be attacked by one of those things." She walked over to the room's window and looked outside, scanning the area.

"So that huge monster thing-"

"Shadow."

"Yeah yeah, shadow, whatever. That huge thing disguised itself as a regular pony?!" The gray mare simply nodded in response. "Well how do we know they aren't all shadows?! What the hay IS a shadow anyway?! And why can they get so big?! WHAT'S GOING ON?"

"Quiet!" the other pony commanded, making Vinyl take another two steps back. Sighing, she spoke. "I'm sorry, but shouting gets us nowhere. Anyway, I know nothing more than you do. I also found day suddenly turned into night and everypony else was frozen. I suppose my situation was rather the opposite of yours from that point on though. I obviously am not a unicorn so I can't have my magic sealed. " She motioned to her hornless forehead. "Instead I was knocked unconscious by some force that I couldn't see, and when I woke up I found that I was able to perform magic... and I had this." She held up her left hoof which sported a shimmering purple bracelet around it. "I haven't been able to take it off, but whenever I use magic it glows, so I suspect it's the reason I can even-" She stopped after noticing a grimace on Vinyl's face. "What is it?"

"So I lose my magic and my shades while you get a bracelet that let's you do magic even though you're an earth pony."

"That seems to be our collective stories so far, except for how... wait, how did you get here anyway?" The other pony asked.

"I... I woke up on this dirt road in the middle of nowhere and just kept walking until I saw the town. So then I just... came here I guess." Vinyl responded, leaving out the parts about her throwing rocks at the road and breaking down in tears.

"I also woke up on a road and followed it to that town. I however was attacked by another shadow on the way there. The bracelet seemed to activate on it's own and I managed to fend it off though" She informed Vinyl, seeming uncomfortable with the memory.

"Wait." Vinyl interrupted before the other pony could continue. "You said, 'that town'... does that mean we aren't there? Where are we now?!" Vinyl hurried to the window and pushed the gray mare out of the way. "Woah..." She was greeted by the sight of tall buildings above and narrow alleys below. "Where in Celestia's name are we?"

"It looks like Manehattan, but it definitely isn't."

"Yeah..." Vinyl replied, knowing exactly what the other mare meant. Despite possessing the look of the big city, something felt off. Somehow, Vinyl knew that this was not the real Manehattan.

"Well, since you're up now, we'd better get going." The other pony said, walking out of the room.

"Going? Go where? and we as in... us? together?" Vinyl asked in disbelief.

The other pony didn't even turn around as she responded. "Yes, together obviously. Unless you'd rather travel on your own and risk getting attacked by another of those shadow monsters."

"Well when you put it like that..." Vinyl said as she followed the other pony out of the room. "I guess we're traveling buddies now... two questions though."

"Make it quick, I don't like the idea of being ambushed by another of those things while we sit around here."

"Where are we going, and just who are you exactly?"

"I can only assume that the place most likely to give us an answer is Canterlot... so we should make our way there... somehow. As for the other question." She turned around and gave a short bow. "MY name is Octavia. Yourself?"

"Vinyl." She replied quickly. "Vinyl Scratch."

"Well then Miss Scratch. I hope you can keep up. I do hate to carry unnecessary luggage around." Octavia said as she turned back around and began walking.

"Heh, right back at you m'lady." Vinyl replied, quickly catching up and making sure to walk ever so slightly ahead of her new acquaintance.

They exited the building together, both taking a moment to take in their surroundings before beginning the journey ahead of them. They both seemed to agree that they should try and make their way to Canterlot. But first they needed to navigate the winding alleys and empty roads of their current location.

With a breath to steady herself, Octavia took a step out into the streets and began walking. Vinyl did the same, a renewed purpose in her steps. She still might not know what's going on or why any of this is happening, but for the moment her greatest fear had been alleviated.

She wasn't alone after all.

Comments

[HaoKyruss]

Very interesting premise

[happynoname56]

this is a great start, this is a great example on how to get my like and fav
Can't wait to continue happynoname56