Ground Impact
10
Ground Impact
Her hooves flailed wildly as she spun head-over-hooves down to Equestria. The wind around her seemed to be carrying her, no, slamming her down toward the ground. Her iconic glasses fell from her face, leaving her wide red eyes exposed as she spun upside down in the freefall. Her normally messy mane fell into her face and obstructed her vision, making it all the more terrifying.
Below was an empty field. At least she wouldn't land on anypony by accident, she thought crazily. In her panic, she didn't even think to scream. The unicorn was falling headfirst, hornfirst, into the ground, and in a moment her bones would snap as she hit the ground at Celestia-knows-what speed. She closed her eyes-
No. Not this time. This time, she wouldn't wake up. She would fall to her death. Vinyl opened her eyes again, and they welled with tears. This time wasn't like the times before; this time was real.
This time, she was going to die.
Then:
Vinyl Scratch awoke from the nightmare with a sharp gasp. Her eyes, wide with fear and glistening with the faintest of tears, surveyed the room in a sleepy, alarmed panic as the adrenaline from the dream started to fade. The white unicorn realized that she had been holding her breath, and she now let it out in one long exhale as her heartrate slowed to its usual speed.
Vinyl rubbed her eyes sleepily; though she could see the black, star-filled sky and pale moonlight sneaking into the room from between the curtains on her window, she felt wide awake. The nightmare had been horrible. She dreamt that she was falling from the very top of the sky, and she had woken up just before hitting that special place where the sky ends and the ground takes over... but it was just a nightmare. That's all it was, just a nightmare about falling.
Freefalling.
From down the hall, there was the sound of sheets shuffling and somepony whispering. Octavia, no doubt. The cellist had been getting stressed lately because the Grand Galloping Gala was in a week, and her ensemble was due to perform. Vinyl's ear twitched at the sound of Octavia rolling over in her bed and murmuring in her sleep, her voice sounding eerily quiet and soft, like a filly's.
"N-no... bowties are... cool..."
Vinyl sighed, trying to keep her breath even to make it as quiet as possible. She shifted her blanket off her body and crawled out of her bed. One of her hooves landed on an empty bag of chips, letting out a loud rustle from the bag. She froze, but the noise was met with utter silence. Vinyl moved more cautiously from then on, sidestepping a Gryffallica album and finally emerging from her room into the hallway. From there, her hooves pounded heavily on the floor and sent deep echoes through the hall, but this was much quieter than the chip bag. Vinyl reached the living room and trotted across it to the sliding glass door that led outside to the porch.
She pushed the door open, admiring how it glided out of the way almost silently, and stepped outside, closing it behind her. Now alone in the darkness of the night, Vinyl gazed up at the stars overhead and then glanced down at Equestria below the porch. She was feeling better now; after waking up from such a horrible nightmare, there was nothing quite like coming out here to see the delicate beauty of the world, from the calming sky above to the endless expanse of ground below.
It almost made her grateful to the nightmare for scaring her into coming out here, but Vinyl still shivered when she thought back to how real it had seemed, from the wind scratching at her face to the way her heart stopped just before she hit the ground. Ah well... it wasn't like she'd ever have that nightmare again.
Vinyl leaned against the railing to the porch, and stared up at the moon.
Now:
"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!"
Vinyl fell at a speed that felt faster than usual, but she suspected that her heartrate quickened because she knew the sky around her was all a lie, a false image created by Somex Terribat, the Spirit of Dreams and Reaper of Nightmares... and beyond that was an unearthly world governed by a once-proud stallion that was now nothing more than a simple parasite, feeding off the pony magic in her dreams.
Might've been kinda cool if he wasn't out to kill her.
She could feel her descent slow, and realized that her body was glowing with the bright blue magical aura of alicorn magic. From above, Vinyl could hear the powerful flaps of Luna's wings before the Princess of the Night herself swooped down out of the sky. Behind her, also being carried by Luna's magical aura, was Octavia, Derpy, and the Doctor.
"That was a loud scream, Vinyl," Octavia noted, amused. Derpy giggled.
"Uh, w-what do you mean? Who's screaming? I'm not screaming," Vinyl coughed, "And let's see you fall from, like, a hundred miles in the sky without screaming!"
"There will be plenty of time for that later," Princess Luna spoke up, her voice sounding oddly echo-y and more melodic in the dream world than it was in the real world. Vinyl was briefly tempted to try singing something and see if her voice was the same, but she suspected that it wasn't; her luck wasn't that good, "For now, we must return to Somex's realm. I will lead the way."
"Lead the way?" The Doctor repeated, puzzled, looking around as Princess Luna safely dropped them all on the grass below, "But there's nothing here!"
"Just wait," Vinyl assured him, "I swear, your bowtie will fall right off when you see it!"
"This is actually a very peaceful field," Octavia said, looking around, "If you weren't falling, this would be a pretty good dream."
"We could have a picnic here!" Derpy exclaimed, "A dream picnic!"
"I'd rather not, if you don't mind," Vinyl grinned nervously.
"I may be able to arrange that," Princess Luna said thoughtfully, "But before we may consider such festivities, there is still the matter at hoof..."
"Lead the way, your Majesty," Octavia nodded. Luna turned and began trotting toward the hidden veil that separated Vinyl's dream from Somex's nightmare. The ponies followed closely behind her as the group entered the thick, hazy cloud that kept Vinyl's dream contained to this one stretch of field. A beam of bright blue magic shot out of Luna's alicorn horn, just like before, and the cloud disintegrated once more as Luna lit up her horn to illuminate the blackness beyond the white cloud. Everypony but Vinyl and Luna gasped in surprised horror at the world before them when it was finally revealed.
Somex's realm had changed since Vinyl had last seen it. The sky was still black (naturally), but things seemed more... decayed. The glowing orange fungi that dotted the wet, purple landscape were now limp, and their bright light had been reduced to a faint, dim glow. The ground itself was still mire, though it seemed more rotten now and gave off a foul stench. Vinyl tested it, and her hoof sank deeply into the ground. She grimaced, but kept trotting. Luna used her wings to avoid touching it while the Doctor unflinchingly followed Vinyl. Octavia had a disgusted look on her face and almost seemed to regret her decision to enter the dream, but she pressed on through the slime anyway, though she didn't seem too happy about it.
Derpy was about to follow, but as soon as her hoof touched the ground, she let out an "Ewww!" and used her wings to hover behind Luna. Vinyl wondered why Luna didn't use her magic to levitate them over the gross nightmare swamp. The Princess must have secretly enjoyed their suffering, she thought to herself in amusement as she trudged on toward the mansion that she remembered so well.
"What was that?" Octavia suddenly gasped. Luna immediately turned around to face her with a critical expression.
"What? Did you see something?"
"Over there," Octavia pointed toward a hill that had a dead tree atop it. The tree sagged gloomily, as though it were put on the squishy ground just to die, "I saw something. It was a dark shape that moved rather quickly, so I didn't get a good look at it."
"Hmm... perhaps we should hurry away from here in an orderly, restrained fashion-" Luna began with an urgent calmness.
"Everypony run!" Derpy shrieked as she flew toward the mansion. It was still a fair distance away (it seemed to be further than last time to Vinyl), but the group could still easily see the roof over the top of the nearest hill.
"Ditzy, don't panic!" The Doctor pleaded, but it was too late. There was a loud hiss from the direction Octavia had pointed at, like an insect chittering with its grotesque appendages, "Never mind. Everypony- panic! Run!"
"To the mansion, my little ponies!" Luna shouted, flying above them and making sure they were safe. Vinyl, Octavia, and the Doctor galloped over the hill toward the mansion with Derpy and Luna in pursuit from the sky as the creature behind them chittered again, clacking what sounded like pincers together. Vinyl galloped a bit faster when she heard whatever it was scuttling after them, its appendages making the oddest sound on the spongy ground, like somepony repeatedly sticking a fork into a pile of Jell-O. Octavia tripped, but Luna scooped her up with her magic and carried her the rest of the way to the concrete surrounding the mansion as Vinyl and the Doctor finally made it to solid ground. From behind, the creature hissed and chittered one final time before the ponies heard it scuttling away.
Luna dropped Octavia onto the concrete beside Vinyl, and everypony except Luna panted after such a close call.
"What-*gasp*- the Tartarus-*gasp* was that?!" Vinyl exclaimed, bewildered.
"I believe it to be a Level 2 Class B Night Frai," Luna answered.
"A what?!"
"A form of monster that lurks within dreams, the kind of beast that Somex would attract. Its presence here does not bode well for us moving onwards," Luna grit her teeth, speaking more to herself than the other ponies, "I foresee encounters with more of them when we get into the mansion."
Derpy lowered her head and sighed glumly, "I'm so sorry, everypony. It was my fault that thing saw us. We wouldn't have gotten chased if it weren't for me."
"Oh, don't be like that, Ditzy," the Doctor comforted her, "We got away, didn't we?"
"I guess..."
"That's the spirit!" Vinyl encouraged.
"Enough. To the mansion," Luna beckoned, and the group of ponies followed the Princess of the Night down the concrete toward the mansion. They passed the large stone statue of the stallion again, but Vinyl noticed Princess Luna kept her eyes firmly pointed straight ahead as they passed it. She also noticed, or rather overheard, Derpy and the Doctor's reaction to the statue.
"Hey, he kinda looks like King Sombra..." Derpy whispered to the Doctor.
"Aside from the mane, the wardrobe, the horn, probably the coat, and I don't think he'll have a particular taste for crystals, world domination, or killing us and destroying the TARDIS like Sombra did," the Doctor whispered back, and Vinyl wondered what in Equestria they were talking about.
"What an absolutely astonishing manor this stallion has!" Octavia complimented the ominious, though oddly well-built structure that towered over them with a sly grin before turning a teasing eye to Vinyl, "You must admit, Vinyl, the stallion in your dreams has lavish taste."
"Hey, if you want him in your head, you can have him," Vinyl offered with a frustrated eyeroll.
"Do not let appearances fool you," Luna warned, stopping when they reached the front of the mansion, directly in front of the two large wooden front doors, "For inside this mansion lies the heart of darkness of the most wicked stallion in this realm."
"Aren't I the only other stallion in this realm?" the Doctor wondered.
"It is the realm of dreams. There are always ponies coming and going as they wake and sleep," Luna explained, "But we are getting off-topic. Prepare thyselves for what unspeakable horrors lie behind these doors, for the creatures created from the ooze at the bottom of absolutely horrific nightmares, and for whatever unforeseen consequences that we may encounter and be forced to endure."
"So this sounds fun," Vinyl said sarcastically.
"I did not intend to frighten you, Vinyl Scratch," Luna apologized.
"Awh, it's fine. Just open the door," Vinyl brushed it off, "I can't wait to kick Somex's tail for giving me all those stupid nightmares!"
Luna looked a bit troubled at Vinyl's words, and for a moment she looked as though she were about to say something, but she reconsidered it and instead nodded before opening the door. The interior of the mansion was dark, and the ponies were cautious as they entered into the foyer. From here, three separate hallways branched off from this entrance room leading to Celestia-knew-where. Derpy entered last, looking nervous to be shrouded in darkness, but as soon as the Pegasus was inside, the doors slammed shut behind her and she jumped away with a cry of surprise.
"No-!" Luna exclaimed, her eyes wide, and a candlelit chandelier suddenly lit up above them. All throughout the mansion, the hallways and rooms were suddenly lit with candles, casting a sinister orange glow over the floors and walls. Their shadows loomed over them, stuck against the walls but distorted monsterously. The floor beneath them began to rumble, nearly throwing the ponies off their hooves, and then it went still.
"...I don't like this," Vinyl said softly.
Immediately after the words exited the unicorn's mouth, there came loud barks echoing from down the hallways. Octavia and Derpy screamed, the latter of whom jumped behind the Doctor, who looked around in dreading anticipation of what was to come. Vinyl gulped, remembering the dogs. The-
"Nightmare Hounds!" she yelled as the dogs charged out of all three hallways. Luna's horn powered up, and she fired a blast of electric blue light at two of the hounds who stopped in their tracks, shifted for a moment, like shadows moving or waves crashing against the shore, and then exploded into nothingness.
"Everypony! Flee!" Luna yelled, shooting another blast before one hound barrelled toward her and leapt into the air, tackling the alicorn princess to the ground.
"Ditzy, this way!" The Doctor grabbed Derpy's hoof and pulled her down the hallway on the right.
"No! They'll get lost without Luna-!" Vinyl tried to gallop after them, but two hounds jumped into her path, blocking her from following. They bared their teeth and prepared to pounce on her, and Vinyl was caught off-guard and froze. The two hounds attacked, diving through the air at Vinyl, but Octavia managed to pull her out of the way at the last second, and only one of their claws raked against Vinyl's side. She cried out, but she struggled through the pain and managed to follow Octavia down the middle hallway.
"Have at thee, mindless creatures!" Luna roared, and explosions of light and startled growls were heard from behind the two mares as they hurried away from the grisly scene.
Vinyl seriously wondered if this was what Luna's bad side looked like. If not, then she dreaded being the mare who ticked the Princess of the Night off.
"Octavia, wait," Vinyl stopped her friend, "We can't go too far. We need to go back for Luna!"
"We will, once she's finished dealing with those monsters," Octavia shivered, "Sweet Celestia, Vinyl! Was it one of those things that caused that frightful mark on your foreleg? I saw it this morning, but thought almost nothing of it!"
"Yeah," Vinyl nodded, wincing as she rubbed the new scratch on her side, "One of 'em got me here too..."
"Just try to dream yourself a bandage," Octavia suggested.
"It doesn't work like that!" Vinyl said indignantly.
"Have you tried?" Octavia giggled, and then she stopped, "I can't hear anything from the foyer. Do you suppose that means Luna has finished?"
"Let's go see," Vinyl offered, leading her back the way they came, "The Princess has been pretty helpful so far. It's really cool that she's doing all this."
"We should repay her somehow," Octavia said thoughtfully as the two turned a corner in the hallway, "But how...? I'm thinking... uh... Vinyl?"
"What...?" Vinyl and Octavia stopped trotting. Around the corner, instead of there being a hallway that lead straight back to Princess Luna, there was only a dead end. Vinyl slowly moved forward, as though in a trance, and she hesitantly placed her hoof on the tall wall before turning back to a horrified Octavia.
"The... the hallway!" she gasped, "It changed! We can't get back to Princess Luna!"
The hallways of the mansion were elegantly designed. Tall, white pillars stretched alongside the walls from the ceiling to the floor every twenty feet. The trim was white, but the rest of the walls were dark red. There were hundreds of brown doors lining the walls in every hallway, but the Doctor and Derpy didn't dare to open one for fear of where it might have led.
They were currently wandering aimlessly through the mansion since they had been unable to find their way back to the foyer where Princess Luna had fought off the Hounds. The Doctor had suggested that they put their hooves to the right wall and keep trotting because they could solve any maze that way, but so far it hadn't gotten them anywhere.
"Doctor, isn't there some easier way?" Derpy pleaded tiredly, "It feels like we've been stuck here forever!"
"I warned you not to run off and get separated from the others!" the Doctor reminded her, "Besides, look at it this way: it gives you and I a chance to talk!"
"About what?" Derpy asked curiously.
"Oh, I don't know. How about the cuts all over your forelegs?" the Doctor suggested. Derpy stopped trotting, and looked down at the floor, "Ditzy, you couldn't possibly think we were done discussing-"
"There's nothing to discuss!" Derpy insisted, her face turning red, "Can we just talk about something else? Or we could not talk at all if that's what you-"
"We need to talk about this, Ditzy!" the Doctor pressed, "This is a very serious problem! Don't you understand that?"
"Shut up!" Derpy closed her eyes tightly and yelled, "Shut up, shut up, shut UP!"
"I'm going to help you, Ditzy!" the Doctor said firmly, "You can't think that you can just act like everything is fine when it isn't, because I know you! I know when you're upset, and when you're confused, and when you're scared, and when you don't know what to do, and I know that I won't stop until I can help you!"
"Do you even know what it's like?!" Derpy shouted, tears starting to fall from her infamous eyes that were currently glowing with outrage, "That stallion is dead, and it's all my fault! I have to live with that every day for the rest of my entire life! He was a horrible degenerate piece of filth that would have hurt Vinyl very badly if I wasn't there, but he was still a pony! He still had a life, he still had friends-" she glared at the Doctor, and both of her eyes actually focused on their target in a rare occasion, "So I'll ask you again: do you have any idea what that's like?"
"...yes," the Doctor bowed his head shamefully, and Derpy's anger unexpectedly evaporated as she looked at her friend, who refused to meet her gaze, "I do, Ditzy. I do. The TARDIS and I, we've done things I can't always be proud of. I have seen wars and had a part in destroying living, breathing creatures. I've even... I've even had my friends die, and it was all my fault..."
The Doctor looked back up, his eyes filled with determination and a sort of valor, the sort that manifested itself in Derpy the longer she looked at him, "But I don't stop. I don't quit. I will keep running for the rest of my lives because that is the right thing to do. Sometimes, there is no other option. You can't always save somepony without making a sacrifice. Listen, I don't know what Primary Alley was thinking when he took Vinyl outside. I don't know what was going through your head when you stopped him, but something tells me that Vinyl wasn't the first mare he's taken advantage of. She probably wasn't the last either. Ditzy Do Hooves, you have gotten justice for every mare he's ever touched and abused and saved every mare he would have touched and abused... including our very own Vinyl Scratch. You're a hero... so stop treating yourself like the villain."
Derpy didn't move. Her mouth fell slightly open as she and the Doctor silently stared at each other. A tension hung in the air as both of them waited for the other to make the first move, but both were too afraid to do so themselves. Derpy breathed in long, ragged breaths and she sobbed, now filled with regret and remorse for the cuts she had so foolishly carved onto her own body.
Finally, without any warning, Derpy threw herself at the Doctor and wrapped her hooves around him in an emotion-fueled, instinctual hug.
"Oh Celestia, I'm sorry," Derpy cried, tears now streaming down her face more freely now, "I'm so sorry, Doctor! I-I never wanted... I'm s-sorry!"
"Shh, shh, it's alright, let it out..." the Doctor soothed, hugging her back and patting the back of her head as the mare wept into his side, "It's alright now, Ditzy, it's alright... it's over. It's all over..."
Derpy didn't cry as long as she thought she would have, but that was in part thanks to the Doctor's support. She gave him one final, meaningful squeeze before they separated, and he awkwardly shifted his weight between his hooves as she dried her tears and finally smiled.
"We'd better keep going if we're going to find the others," Derpy's voice still shook a bit, but it was also filled with tenderness and happiness. She had finally found her catharsis, thanks to the Doctor. Her own personal, enigmatic hero, "What do you say, Doctor? Want to come?"
"Always," the Doctor grinned, as the two set off through the halls once more.
"So... when, exactly, did you plan on telling me what was going on?"
"Octavia..."
"No, Vinyl," Octavia asserted, "No more excuses. No more lies. I want the truth. Tell me about the nightmares, and why you didn't feel the need to tell me."
Vinyl sighed, silently wishing Luna would suddenly teleport in front of them and interrupt so she wouldn't have to say one more word to Octavia right now. She even wished a Hound would appear, because she would definitely take a battle to the death with one of those over confessing everything to Octavia.
But the hallways of the mansion were completely silent, except for the pressure between these two mares. Apparently, Vinyl thought, the place itself was evil.
"I..." Vinyl didn't know where to start. With the party? With Luna? With the first time she experienced the nightmare?
"Is it... is it because you don't trust me?" Octavia whispered.
"What? No! Nonono. Of course I trust you," Vinyl quickly insisted, "I just... it..."
"Vinyl, I thought we were friends," Octavia looked down at her hooves, "I thought we told each other everything, I thought we were... musical confidants? Surrogate sisters?"
"Well, what about you?" Vinyl's eyes narrowed, "When were you planning on telling me you got kicked out of your band?"
To this, Octavia looked taken aback. Though she knew she should not have, Vinyl felt a certain smugness to this reaction. Octavia collected herself, and went at Vinyl with a retort of her own.
"At least I finally told you everything when you found out," Tavi sniffed, "I found out about all of this, and you're still keeping secrets!"
Vinyl had no reply. Octavia was still staring at her expectedly, and finally Vinyl took a deep breath... and then she explained it. All of it, everything about the nightmares, from when they started to the party to seeing Somex with Derpy to meeting Luna, even to encountering Primary Alley's cronies, until finally she had gotten to the part when Luna arrived at the house when the Doctor and Derpy were still there. Here, Vinyl's voice faltered and she glanced at Octavia suspiciously.
"So there you go. That's everything... but now here's something I don't get," Vinyl said softly, "Why did you come back?"
"Pardon-?"
"You were on your way to a meeting with somepony from a band, somepony looking for a cellist. You needed the job... why did you come back to the house?" Vinyl pressed, and now it was Octavia's turn to gulp nervously.
"Vinyl, you'd been acting so strange," Octavia answered shrilly, "You were quieter, unstable, and always appeared tired. I just thought... you know... that you were going through something harrowing, something cataclysmic! I just... felt like something was wrong with you, and I had to be sure you were alright!"
"So... you just came back because your Octavia-senses were tingling? You risked your entire career based on that?" Vinyl exclaimed in disbelief, "Why would you do something so stupid?!"
"Well, I was right, wasn't I?" Octavia argued, "Why can't you just accept my help? I know you think this is dangerous, but I saved you back there! You can stop complaining about that anytime you'd like-"
"I'm not complaining-!"
"-because, Vinyl, I'm here to help you whether you like it or not!"
"You think I don't want your help?" Vinyl impugned, "Octavia, I wanted to tell you, I really did. In fact, I almost did more than once, but I was distracted every time. With everything I did, I tried keeping you safe."
"How is it safe to not tell me?" Octavia stuck her lip out, somewhat hurt, "Is it... are we really friends...?"
"How can you even ask that?" Vinyl gasped, "Of course we are!"
"Well, I would think that friends don't keep secrets... especially secrets that could be life-threatening, Vinyl!"
"I know, I know-!"
"Are we even really friends then, Vinyl?" Octavia growled, "All this time. All this time you didn't trust me enough to even mention that you were having nightmares! Oh, I was a fool; I heard you talking in your sleep, but I never thought anything of it... you acted like everything was so fine when you were around me, but you then you would tell somepony else instead of a mare who thought she was your best friend-"
"Octavia, I love you!" Vinyl suddenly blurted. Octavia's eyes widened and her mouth fell open in mid-sentence, but as she tried to continue speaking, her face only turned red. Vinyl quickly specified, "N-not like that, I mean. I...I like you a lot, and I can honestly say that yes: I love you, Octavia Melody. But not in that way, I mean, I'm definitely attracted to stallions, but I mean, like... you're like my actual sister. You're the pony who's there for me when I don't know what to do, and you've helped me out countless times. I just... I just wanted to keep you out of this because I didn't know if you would get hurt or not. I didn't know if I could die or not, and if I did, I wanted you as far away as possible so you wouldn't get hurt."
"But Vinyl... I'm your friend," Octavia stepped a bit closer to the unicorn, "I don't care if I get hurt, as long as I can help you."
"Thanks Tavi," Vinyl grinned, and then the two musicians hugged.
Vinyl and Octavia have had their fair share of conflicts. Whether it was Octavia yelling at Vinyl not to blast her music so loudly or Vinyl complaining that Octavia was "too fussy" or Octavia calling Vinyl "lazy" or Vinyl getting fed up with Octavia's aristocratic nature, the two never had disagreements in short supply. Occasionally, however, the two were reminded of how much their friendship meant to both of them, like the time Octavia replaced Vinyl's shades after Vinyl accidentally shattered them or when Vinyl showed up to one of Octavia's most important concerts so the cellist could keep her eyes on her friend's supportive smile the whole time and not be nervous when she played.
This hug, this amorous embrace between the two mares, was one such reminder that neither of them wished would end.
Suddenly, Vinyl looked up, "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Listen."
And Octavia listened. Sure enough, down one of the darker hallways there came a sound. A voice! It had to be a voice! It was soft, light, and feminine... either the Princess or Derpy. Or, of course, there was the chance it was something else... but neither Vinyl nor Octavia cared about that. Somepony else was here!
"Let's go," Vinyl said, motioning for Octavia to follow her down the hallway.
"Right behind you," Octavia followed Vinyl with a sly grin on her face, "Oh, and Vinyl?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you too." Octavia smiled.
"...if we could find Vinyl, it would work."
"Are you really sure about that?"
"Positive. Well, kinda sure," the Doctor admitted, "Well, a bit. Well, not really. Well... it's worth a try, right?"
"I guess..." Derpy slowly nodded her head.
"Excellent! Now all we have to do is find Vinyl and tell her our theory."
"Oh, yeah. Find Vinyl in all these hallways. That'll be easy," Derpy rolled her eyes, and with her eyes, this looked rather dizzying.
At that moment, Vinyl and Octavia hurried around the corner and stopped upon seeing the two, then a wide grin stretched across Vinyl's face.
"There you two are!" Vinyl said, exhilarated to find her friends, "You haven't seen Princess Luna, have you?"
"H-How...?" Derpy whispered to herself, still surprised at their sudden appearance.
"Unfortunately, no," the Doctor answered solemnly, "We haven't seen her- or you, for that matter, until now- since we got separated."
"It feels like that happened hours ago," Octavia shuddered.
"Time passes differently in dreams," the Doctor explained, sounding uncharacteristically serious, "In the real world, who knows how much time has passed? We might have gone to sleep only thirty seconds ago, or maybe it was two hours ago. Maybe it's been an entire night."
"Personally, I'm still trying to comprehend the fact that we are in a dream," Octavia sighed thoughtfully.
"Me too!" Derpy agreed.
"Eh, you get used to it," Vinyl shrugged.
"We are in a dream!" the Doctor said excitedly, "Vinyl's dream! Before you two arrived, we were talking about possible ways to find this Somex Terribat, and I think I might have an idea! If this is Vinyl's dream, then theoretically, we could affect the dream by doing something to her."
"What? How is this supposed to work?"
"You said that when the Hound scratched you, it left a mark on you in reality. Basically, something happened to you in the dream world, and it affected your body in the real world," the Doctor reminded her, "I'm not suggesting we do anything harsh, but if we could find a way to use this connection..."
Octavia glanced at Vinyl, and then reached over and took a lock of Vinyl's blue mane in her hoof before giving it a sharp tug.
"Ow! Hey!" Vinyl yelped, pulling away.
"Well, that didn't work," Octavia thought for a moment, "I say we pinch her next."
"Not cool, Octy," Vinyl scowled. Derpy moved forward and grabbed the sides of Vinyl's face with her hooves before pushing her own face toward Vinyl's. For a crazy moment, Vinyl thought Derpy was about to kiss her, but Derpy stopped with her snout pressing against Vinyl's and stared into her eyes.
"Look into my eyes, Vinyl," Derpy said slowly, moving her yellow eyes around in opposite directions.
"Hey, I didn't know you could do that," Vinyl blinked.
"Keep looking," Derpy told her, tightening her grip. Vinyl stared, and the spinning became more... hypnotic. It was like she was watching two wheels turn. It cleared her mind because right now nothing existed except her and those eyes, spinning around and around and around and around forever and ever and ever and ever...
Finally, Derpy released her, and Vinyl blinked a few times, now feeling off-balance and woozy.
"Vinyl?" Octavia's concerned voice sounded far away.
"Try opening a door," the Doctor suggested. Vinyl shook her head to clear the dizziness away, and then trotted toward the nearest door, bumped into the wall, and then twisted the knob. The door opened to reveal a staircase going up, and Vinyl realized this was the way.
"It worked! You guys, it worked!" Vinyl cheered. Derpy gasped, covering her mouth with her hoof.
"It did?!" Derpy was in awe, "I didn't actually think it would!"
"You didn't think I'd find the right door?"
"No, I didn't think I could use my eyes like that! That was neat!"
"Let's go upstairs, shall we?" the Doctor followed Vinyl up the staircase, "Oh great. More hallways."
"These ones are just normal though. They don't change," Vinyl said, relieved after coming with Luna once before. The stairway up to the roof was still on the other side of the room, and Vinyl pointed to it, "In fact, look! There's the other staircase right over there."
"Where do you suppose the Princess is?" Octavia wondered, "She may be looking for us downstairs right this minute!"
"Luna had a spell though," Vinyl remembered, "It showed her the way through the mansion without wandering all the hallways aimlessly like we did. She might be up there fighting Somex right now."
"Then we'd better hurry," the Doctor started trotting toward the other stairway, "Luna might need help!"
With a few murmurs of agreement, the ponies hurried up the stairs to the roof. Vinyl gulped as she reached the top of the stairs and was confronted with Somex Terribat once more.
The roof was just as she remembered it; huge, with sloped edges that would probably qualify as an official safety hazard, lights that illuminated the black fog that usually hung over this section of the dream like a veiled darkness stood on tall posts in a row along the sides of the platform, so Vinyl imagined that she might be able to grab onto one if she lost her balance near the edge. A podium as gray as smoke sat in the middle of the platform, and behind it was a stallion in a billowing black cloak.
Somex Terribat. The Reaper of Nightmares himself.
Derpy grit her teeth, remembering the terrifying encounter she had had with this enigma the night Vinyl had come home from the hospital. Even the Doctor and Octavia seemed unsettled by his appearance. Vinyl tried her best to keep a stone cold expression, but a bead of sweat unwillingly trickled down her face in nervous fear. Somex leaned against the podium, gazing down at a large spellbook atop it, and didn't seem to notice the four ponies standing in front of him. Vinyl took a deep breath. She didn't understand why she was so afraid all of a sudden. She exhaled, and then she realized what it was.
Princess Luna wasn't here.
Somex glanced up. Though most of his face was hidden in the shadows of his hooded cloak, Vinyl could still see his lips curl in a smirk as he gently closed the book and shifted his weight on the podium to see them better.
"Vinyl Ssssscratch. You've brought friendssss I sssssee," Somex licked his lips as he observed each of them in turn. When he got to Octavia, his gaze lingered, "Haven't I sssssseen you sssssomewhere before...?"
Octavia turned pale, and looked down, away from his gaze. Somex looked away, apparently now uninterested in her, and turned his attention to Vinyl.
"You have caused me a lot of trouble," Somex's voice now took on its hauntingly calm, chilling, deep tone. Octavia and Derpy flinched, but Vinyl was used to his strange speech patterns, "First you refuse to sleep and deny me my power. That may have been forgivable, but involving Princess Luna?"
Somex grasped the sides of the podium with both hooves and paused, as though considering what to say next. Then, with a mighty roar, he tore the podium off the platform and heaved it off the side of the roof. Vinyl jumped back with a gasp and Derpy screamed as Somex turned back to face them furiously.
"That was going too far!" he yelled, "You talked to the Princess? She brought you into the dream itself?! No, Vinyl Scratch. This cannot be forgiven. You will be punished most severely. When my power returns and you and I awaken from the dream world, I will make you beg for a nightmare like this."
"Dude, this is my head!" Vinyl, though frightened and helpless against his power, retorted defiantly, "You can't just come in here and make me dream that I'm falling every night! Besides, you're, like, super evil..."
"What? You think that I made you dream...?" Somex waved his hoof in dismissal, "No matter. I was monitoring your progresssss through the manssssion. You honesssstly believe that you could control your dream? You thought you found the ssssstairsssss by yoursssself? No! It wasssss alwayssss me. I moved the hallwaysssss, I reunited you with your friendsssss, and I brought you here to end your little crussssade! Asssss for Princessssss Luna, ssssshe can wander the hallwaysssss for an eternity of dreamssss!"
Somex threw back his head and laughed. It was an ugly sound that echoed in the empty abyss of the nightmare and sent chills down Vinyl's back. Somex's cool composure was gone and replaced with this hysterical lunatic, but just as soon as it had vanished, Somex stopped laughing and it returned.
"Now to deal with you."
"What do we do now, Vinyl?!" Derpy anxiously whispered to Vinyl, her face turning pale as Somex began to rise into the air with the use of the power of his own magic. His torn black cloak made him resemble a flying predator of the night, and the gleams of his eyes were visible in the shadows beneath the hood, as was his sharp-toothed, hungry smile.
Vinyl gulped, "Run?"
"What?"
"Run!" Vinyl screamed before diving at Octavia and pushing both of them out of the way as Somex reached out his hoof and unleashed a burst of flaming blue magic. The Doctor grabbed Derpy's foreleg and pulled her to safety as Somex looked down from where he hovered, confused about which group to attack.
Vinyl's surprise tackle had been too strong; she and Octavia were now off-balance and falling toward the edge of the roof. It was all her fault, Vinyl realized. They were going to fall and it was because she had made a mistake. Saving Octavia had been a reflex, and now she was paying for it. She started to tumble down the sloped edge, but felt herself pulled back by her tail. She looked back in shock to see Octavia holding her tail in one hoof and one of the lightposts in the other.
"V-Vinyl!" Octavia gasped, struggling to hold on to her friend, "You're... heavy!"
"Well, that's just rude," Vinyl frowned, "We don't all have strict diets like you-"
"This is serious!" Octavia shouted, exasperated, as Somex glowered down on them from above and charged up another energy blast. Vinyl and Octavia looked up to the sky in horror as the Spirit of Nightmares prepared to wipe them from the face of existence. Somex inhaled deeply through his nose before shooting the beam of magical annihilation at the two-
-And then he let out a yell of surprise as he was struck with a burst of purple magic. His shot went wild, zooming out from his horn into the side of the mansion where it not only exploded and caused the roof and 2nd floor to cave in, but it also started a fire.
"Gah! Who dares-?" Somex growled, turning around.
"I do!" Princess Luna shouted as she soared toward him on her wings and slammed into him at top speed. Taking advantage of the distraction, the Doctor and Derpy hurried over to Vinyl and grabbed her legs before pulling her back onto the platform.
"It's the Princess!" the Doctor said triumphantly, "She found her way out of the labyrinth!"
"I wonder how..." Derpy covered her mouth with her hooves in surprise as she watched Luna and Somex duel in mid-air. Somex fired another magical blast at her, but Luna dove under it before flying back up, grabbing the sides of his cloak, and pulling him back toward the roof.
With a scream of determination, Princess Luna dragged Somex back to the platform and threw him down onto the concrete before landing on top of him violently.
"How could you, Somex?" Luna furiously shouted in his face, "How could you do this?! Any of this?!"
"Princessssss Luna..." Somex chuckled, "Alwaysssss knew you would return..."
All of the fight visibly left Luna as she stared down at her former lover in sorrow, her heartbreak evident just by her face. Luna stepped back, and Somex sat up painfully from where he had landed on the platform.
"You are the reason I returned, you know," Somex continued, a smirk growing over his face as he spoke. Every word cut into Princess Luna, and he knew it, "After our last encounter, I was reduced to almost nothing when I returned to this realm, but a powerful magical anamoly woke me up a few months ago. You don't remember what you did while you were Nightmare Moon, do you? You came into the dream world and your magic woke me up! YOU are the reason I came back, Luna! YOU are responsible for all of this!"
"I... I-I..." Luna stammered, trying to find the right words to say, but her mind was blank and she looked as though she were just slapped.
"Princess, don't listen to him!" Vinyl shouted desperately, "You've done everything you can to stop him! Somex is trying to get inside your head; you can't let him!"
"Why did you choose Vinyl Scratch?" Luna asked Somex, her eyes narrowed and her face set stoically, "Why did you choose her out of everypony in Canterlot? Why did you give her the dream about falling?"
"You think... I did that?" Somex chuckled, and then giggled, and then he was roaring with laughter. Luna glared down at him, but Vinyl felt a knot start to form in her stomach. Something wasn't right here. Something was... wrong. Finally, Somex looked at her with his fanged smile stretched wide across his sneering face, "I did not create a dream for this mare...
"...I only entered one she created for herself."
Luna gasped, "But... but the magic! That means...!"
"A premonition!" Somex exclaimed with glee, "I did nothing to influence her dreams! All I did was hide here, in the place in the dream that was missing. I was here, veiled by the invisible curtain that nopony notices but everypony senses there is something wrong. There's a place to hide in every dream, and this pony's premonition was no exception. Vinyl Scratch never even noticed this curtain existed until you came and ruined everything!"
"But... but I was reformed three months ago!" Luna cried, "The Elements of Harmony banished Nightmare Moon from me three months ago!"
"And I've been having these nightmares for a little over a month!" Vinyl added, "How long have you...?"
"Not very long," Somex breathed, his voice now solid rather than raspy, "You see Luna, while you were Nightmare Moon, you attempted to revive- or should I say, resurrect- me from the nothingness that I had dissolved into from our last encounter. Unfortunately, you became distracted when you sensed the presence of the Elements of Harmony. You didn't finish my revival, but you promised you would return when you dealt with the pony wielding the elements."
Vinyl couldn't see Somex's eyes, but she knew that he was staring daggers at Princess Luna, who had tears falling down her face. The Princess was crying, and she couldn't bring herself to look at Somex, who was getting angry. Luna even jumped when he shouted.
"BUT YOU NEVER CAME BACK!" Somex's voice boomed over the roof, almost like it was enhanced by magic, "You left me there to die! I was so weak... I couldn't move..." Somex snickered now, hysterical. He was losing it, "I actually tried to finish healing myself, you know. In my state, I actually tried it..."
Somex reached up with his hooves, gently took the sides of his hood, and then pulled it back. Luna's eyes widened at the sight of him. Somex looked normal enough as a dark blue alicorn, if not thinner and more haggard than usual, but he didn't have a mane. His horn was twisted and sharp, his teeth were no more than fangs now, and his eyes... one was a soft, calm yellow and the other was a vibrant, enraged shade of red. His yellow eye was lit up, actually glowing, while his red eye seemed dimmer by comparison, almost dead, but then the light in his yellow eye was extinguished and his red eye came to life. Suddenly, he started grinning again, showing off his jagged smile.
"You ssssssee?" he hissed, "I made myssssself a monsssssster. I tried to heal mysssssself, but I only made... another half. I can't control it. We are Sssssomexxx Terribat!"
"You are a monster, Somex," Luna said faintly, softly as though comforting a child, but then she set her face in stone and her voice took on a more firm, grave tone, "But it has nothing to do with your other half."
Somex's red eye dimmed again, and then his yellow eye was illuminated, "It took me months to find the strength to climb out of that, out of my own personal oblivion. By then, this unicorn was already having her nightmares. Unicorn premonitions are like a beacon of magical energy. Once I latched onto it, all I had to do was leech that magic until I had enough to return to the real world."
"Vinyl... when you passed out at the party!" Octavia remembered in horror.
"That was you, wasn't it?" Vinyl's mouth felt dry, "That was you attaching yourself to my dream..."
"And what happens when you have enough magic to escape into the real world again, Somex?" Luna demanded.
"Then," both of Somex's eyes seemed to flash with malice, "Equestria."
"Princess Luna, what does he mean by 'premonition'?" Vinyl asked nervously.
Luna didn't say anything for a few seconds. She took a few deep breaths, and then turned to Vinyl with a grimace, "Sometimes... unicorn magic affects dreams when it foresees a time of frenzied stress..."
"Foresees...?" Octavia repeated and then she gasped, "You can't mean-!"
"Vinyl Scratch, your dreams are not nightmares," Luna swallowed solemnly, "You're seeing the future."
"You mean... Vinyl is going to fall... for real?" Derpy whispered fearfully, "There must be something we can do...!"
"There is not," Luna lowered her head, "I'm sorry."
Vinyl felt sick. She swayed on the spot, woozy and disoriented. This was worse than the time she had challenged Pinkie Pie to a coffee drinking contest during a trip to Ponyville. She felt a pounding in her head, and her mouth felt as though she had just swallowed sand. The Doctor laid a comforting hoof on her shoulder, but she was both unaware of it and felt it lying heavily on her at the same time. Somex started to laugh and stood up, pulling his hood back up over his face.
"How horrible," he sighed exuberantly, "How sad, how touching, how absolutely heartwrenching this must be for you. How does it feel, Luna? To lose somepony else because you didn't save me?"
Vinyl trotted forward dazedly, barely aware of what she was doing. The Doctor's hoof fell away and Luna reached out to stop her, but Vinyl pushed past her, toward Somex.
"Vinyl?" she was faintly aware of Octavia's voice behind her, but her attention was on Somex. Finally, she stopped barely a foot away, and stared at him coldly as his red eye flashed under the hood and he snickered.
"I tried to ssssave you," Somex told her with a smug grin, "When I cast that projection of myssssself into the real world and accidentally took your friend? I wasssss trying to take you into the dream world with me. You would have been in an eternal ssssslumber within your own mind, but you would have been sssssafe from your vissssion and I would have gotten the magic I needed much fassssster. But now?"
Somex leaned in closer so his and Vinyl's snouts were almost touching, "Now you can perish at the bottom of that fall."
Vinyl hit him. Her hoof reared back, and before he could blink, she lashed out in a wide, powerful swing that caught Somex on the side of his muzzle. His head snapped to the side, and he stumbled to regain his balance. From behind her, Vinyl could hear Octavia, the Doctor, and Luna gasp, but Derpy cheered her on. His surprised expression remained in place for just a flicker of a moment when he looked back at Vinyl, but then he hid it behind false arrogance as he wiped the side of his mouth and then examined his hoof for blood.
"Mind your temper, mare: it might get you into trouble," Somex advised her, putting a certain dark emphasis on the last few words.
"What are you gonna do?" Vinyl pressed, "Kill me?"
"I could," Somex said thoughtfully, "But it would be more fun to see the horror on your face when your worst nightmare comes true, and then to hear that satisfying squish in reality... ooh..."
"Enough, Somex," Luna stepped forward when she saw Vinyl was about to hit Somex again, more out of concern for Vinyl than for protectiveness for Somex, "This is between you and I. Let this be thy only opportunity to face me by yourself. Free these ponies."
"Alas, Princess Luna," Somex smiled sadly, "If I were to free them, only the unicorn's death will be ensured. I want them all!"
Somex's strike was like an unseen snake leaping from its hole. Luna was caught completely off-guard when he shot a writhing tendril of electric blue magic out of his horn directly at the Princess's face. She reacted instinctively, managing to turn her head away in time to avoid the blast of magic, but it still hit her body. Luna was thrown back, screaming, and she landed roughly on the platform where she thrashed and shrieked in agony. The Doctor rushed over to her while Derpy gasped and pointed at her side where the lightning had struck.
"There's a scorch mark!" she cried.
Somex laughed again as his hooves left the ground. He floated over the roof, staring down at the screaming Princess victoriously.
"Come on, Luna, you can handle it, you're strong..." the Doctor tried to soothe her.
"Look out!" Octavia yelled, jumping out of the way as Somex launched a pink blast of magic at the spot she had been standing less than a second before. The magic hit the platform and exploded loud enough to rattle jaws. Vinyl galloped across the roof, managing to take cover behind Somex's podium before another magical burst demolished it, sending concrete raining in almost every direction. The book that had previously perched atop it fell next to Vinyl, who cast it a terrified glance and managed to read the title.
LEGEND OF THE TANTABUS
Vinyl rolled out of the way of another magical explosion, but when her eyes swept through the wreckage of the blast zone, she saw Derpy fall backwards, thrown by the explosion. Vinyl reached her hoof out, as if to try to catch her, but Derpy was too far away. She tried to shout, but nothing came out as Derpy disappeared down the sloped edge of the roof and fell. A moment later, she flew back up on her wings, and Vinyl sighed in relief; she'd forgotten Derpy was a Pegasus.
"N-no, Somex..." Luna struggled to stand up, in spite of her pain, "You must... stop..."
"Princess, think," the Doctor implored her, "How can Somex be beaten?"
"I... I do not know..." Luna whispered.
"He said he accidentally created two halves of himself when Nightmare Moon stopped reviving him," the Doctor said, "That's part of his magic and part of your magic. What if you were to give him the half of your magic that he's missing?"
"It would... push the other half out?" Luna sounded unsure, "Doctor, I do not want to heal Somex. He is too powerful... but if thou are certain that this method will work..."
Luna climbed to her hooves and launched herself into the air on her wings, rocketing toward Somex just as he was blasting magic at Vinyl, who galloped out of the way. Somex turned in time to see Luna, but she slammed into his middle before he could get his hooves up to block her. The two wrestled in mid-air for a moment until Somex got the upper hand by holding Luna's hooves. He sneered as his horn lit up again, but before he could fire, Luna brought her head back and then headbutted him in the snout. Somex let out a cry of pain, and Luna's horn lit up.
"You want my magic, Somex?!" Luna demanded, "Take it!"
Rays of purple, pink, and blue magic poured out of her horn into Somex. He blinked a few times, but as realization dawned on him, so did horror. He started to yell and tried to push Luna away, but just as the Doctor had planned, it was making half of him weaker, magically and physically.
"N-No..." Somex weakly pounded Luna's foreleg as he felt half of him falling away. To Vinyl's astonishment, his red eye was slowly turning a shade of yellow, "No no no!"
He threw his head back and howled, "NOOOOOO! My other half! Sssssstop! It'ssss... it hurtsss... you have to... please..."
Somex went as limp as a marionette, but instead of strings, Luna held him in the air before dropping him in disgust. Somex fell to the roof and crumpled, beaten. Luna flapped her wings and lowered herself to the roof, but her hooves had barely touched the concrete before the Doctor wrapped his forelegs around her in a gleeful hug.
"You did it!" he celebrated, pulling away from her, "It worked! It WORKED!"
"You kicked his plot!" Vinyl praised Luna before blushing when Octavia elbowed her, "Um, your majesty."
"Is he... dead?" Derpy wondered uncertainly, looking at Somex's body nervously.
"Unfortunately, no," Luna narrowed her eyes at her foe, "He is only unconscious. For now, we must decide what to do with him."
"Is there, perhaps, a dream jail he can be locked in?" Octavia asked hopefully. Luna shook her head.
"What about Vinyl's nightmare?" Derpy asked, concerned, "Was he lying about that being a... a premonition?"
"Who cares?" Vinyl grinned as she wrapped her foreleg around Derpy's shoulders, "We win!"
"Not yet!" Somex suddenly roared, jumping up from where he'd been lying and causing his hood to fall back, revealing his two golden eyes.
"Get back!" the Doctor exclaimed urgently as Vinyl and Derpy leaped away in fright. Luna started forward, but Somex lunged at her with a snarl and bared his fangs, the madness of losing his other half now driving him to a feral state. Luna struggled to push him off her as she lit up her unicorn horn.
"Oh no you don't!" Somex hollered, lighting up his own horn, "Not THIS time!"
A shimmering white light erupted from his horn and grew larger and larger to encompass himself and Luna. Vinyl could only watch in wonder, completely oblivious to Octavia clutching her foreleg.
"Vinyl! We need to get out of here!" Octavia pleaded. From somewhere behind her, Derpy was screaming, "Vinyl! We need to-"
Vinyl opened her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. She was aware of her own pillow under her head and her blanket over her, but she wasn't in her bed. No, she was lying on something hard. The floor, she remembered. Next to her, somepony stirred. On her other side, somepony shifted.
And above her, somepony was yelling.
Vinyl sat up, still bewildered after the dream. She glanced up to see Princess Luna standing in the middle of the living room, staring at something in stunned terror. Her guards stood at her sides, their spears extended intimidatingly. She followed Luna's gaze to see what she was looking at, but when she saw what it was, she let out an alarmed screech.
Somex Terribat, with both of his eyes now golden yellow and his cloak torn up, was standing on the other side of the room shivering. He examined his shaking hooves, and breathed heavily, as though he'd just finished a long jog. Vinyl was used to that sound from the times Octavia had tried to "get in shape", but now wasn't really the time to look back at how hilarious that was.
"Somex, listen to me," Luna began slowly, carefully, "You should not be here. You are not meant to be outside of the dream world. You must go back in."
Somex looked away from his hooves at Luna, and his eyes narrowed.
"Get ready to run," Octavia murmured in Vinyl's ear.
"Princess Luna," Somex rumbled.
"We can't just leave Luna here," Vinyl whispered back.
"The last time I was in the real world, I thought I would die," Somex continued ominously.
"She's the Princess of the Night, Vinyl!" Octavia's face went pink.
"Now, it is you who will die," Somex grinned threateningly. Luna charged up a magical blast and launched it at him, but Somex deflected it with a magical green shield. Luna's alicorn wings unfurled and she threw herself through his shield directly at him, broke through the magic, and starting punching him, landing hits on every part of his body that she could. Somex dodged a punch and grabbed the Princess's hoof before using his own wings to shoot them both into the air.
Magical blasts fired in all directions. Luna's Royal Guards tried to help by shooting their own magic at Somex, but all of their shots missed. Somex kicked at Luna, who flew under his hoof and tried hitting him with another punch, but Somex was ready. One of his hoofs caught her punch while the other clutched her side, and then he pulled her off-balance and hurled her back to the ground. The Doctor and Derpy jumped out of the way as Luna slammed into the place that both of their cots had been only moments before.
"Princess!" Vinyl gasped, instinctively trotting toward her.
"Vinyl, no!" Octavia pleaded just before she was thrown to the ground as the house shook. Vinyl lost her balance and nearly tripped as the floor jumped, and the Doctor struggled to crawl out of the living room.
"We're gonna die!" Derpy sobbed, flying around. From above, Somex blasted the ceiling apart with his magic and caused debris to fall. Pieces of ceiling tile and wood rained down from above and pummelled the ponies relentlessly as the house began to fall apart. Vinyl narrowly avoided being hit by a piece of the ceiling only for a few splinters of the roof to fall on her. A piece of wood fell and struck the Doctor on the head, and he crumpled to the ground immediately. Octavia rolled out of the way of an entire heavy wooden beam that crashed down next to her.
"I do think this means we've lost our deposit..." she groaned.
"Priorities, Tavi!" Vinyl called to her, holding her hooves over her head protectively, "Everypony out!"
Octavia helped Derpy carry the Doctor to the front door, and then ushered them outside. Princess Luna was climbing to her hooves; her guards were standing in front of her defensively, shooting off magical blast after blast at Somex as he ripped through the roof of the house in his insane rage, but when Somex turned his attention back to them, they didn't stand a chance. Somex swooped down on his wings and grabbed both of them by the front of their armor. He turned his head and aimed his horn at the back of the house in the direction of the porch and fired a blast of magic that demolished the wall before, with hardly a grunt, he hurled the two guards out the enormous hole in the side of the house where they soared over the porch and off the side of the mountain. Fortunately, these two guards had wings, but Somex hurried out to the porch and leaned over the railing where he shot two bursts of green magic that hit one guard on the side of the head and the other one directly in the face. Both of them fell unconscious almost immediately and went limp. Panicking, Luna rushed across the house to the gaping hole in the wall and dove out into the open air. Her magic was able to catch both of the guards before they could fall out of her range, and she carried them back up to Canterlot before dropping them safely on one of the city's platforms.
"Vinyl! It's not safe in there! You've got to get out!" Octavia exclaimed from the front door, "Hurry! I think he's trying to destroy the platform-!"
Vinyl, now alone in the house, started galloping toward the door, but a piece of the ceiling fell in front of her with a loud CRACK as it split from the rest of what remained of the house. A cloud of dust exploded in her face, and Vinyl coughed and blinked, trying to go toward the sound of Octavia's voice. She wasn't sure where Somex was, but he was almost certainly decimating a portion of the house. Not even three seconds after this thought, the wooden tile floor in front of her split apart as Somex burst through it with a loud shout. He peered at Vinyl for a moment, and something that had a faint resemblance to sanity flashed across his face.
"You destroyed my house when you brought the Princess there," he whispered, "Now I'm returning the favor."
Vinyl barely had time to react before Somex pulled his hoof back and punched her, his movements as fast as lightning. It didn't feel like a punch; it felt like she'd been hit by a train. She was thrown off her hooves, across the room, and out the hole onto the porch by the force of the impact, and her back painfully slammed into the porch railing. She winced and collapsed to the bottom of the porch. Somex took off into the sky on his wings again, but this time a giant magical laser erupted from his alicorn horn and reverberated into the house, cutting into the floor and platform below. Vinyl struggled to climb to her hooves, but she felt helpless and completely at the mercy of the powerful magical being floating above.
Suddenly, Somex's laser went wild as Luna tackled him from behind. The two thrashed as Luna attempted to stop him, and the magic shot in frenzied arcs over the house.
"Vinyl!" Octavia shouted desperately, unable to enter the house amid the chaos of the spells and lasers being fired down from the heavens. Vinyl leaned against the railing of the porch for support, and suddenly became aware of the tears falling from her eyes, "VINYL!"
"Octavia..." the name whispered out from Vinyl's lips on a gust of wind that rendered it nearly inaudible, but strangely comforting to the unicorn as she blinked through the tears, trying to see her friend.
There was a loud CRACK from the support beams holding the porch to the rest of the house, and Vinyl's eyes widened behind her shades. She gasped, and clung to the railing for support, but she felt the porch begin to tip hazardously over the abyss of sky. Vinyl cast a terrified look over her shoulder to see Equestria, miles upon miles below, yawning out to meet her. Her heart leapt into her throat as the porch split completely sideways, holding Vinyl's head over the world below. She lost her grip on the railing and became engulfed in a sense of panic. Her hooves struggled to find something to grab onto, but it was too late. Vinyl fell head-over-hooves off the porch...
...and into the sky below.
Her hooves flailed wildly as she spun head-over-hooves down to Equestria. The wind around her seemed to be carrying her, no, slamming her down toward the ground. Her iconic glasses fell from her face, leaving her wide red eyes exposed as she spun upside down in the freefall. Her normally messy mane fell into her face and obstructed her vision, making it all the more terrifying.
Below was an empty field. At least she wouldn't land on anypony by accident, she thought crazily. In her panic, she didn't even think to scream. The unicorn was falling headfirst, hornfirst, into the ground, and in a moment her bones would snap as she hit the ground at Celestia-knows-what speed. She closed her eyes-
No. Not this time. This time, she wouldn't wake up. She would fall to her death. Vinyl opened her eyes again, and they welled with tears. This time wasn't like the times before; this time was real.
This time, she was going to die.
It was odd to see Canterlot and the mountain this time because it was no longer a dream, but it was all strangely calm once she realized that. This time, there would be no startled yelp as she jerked upright in her bed, her heart still pounding. This time there was no doubt, no fear, no questions. Only acceptance... and sorrow. She would never see Octavia again. She would never know if Luna defeated Somex. She would never perform at the Dragon's Claw, tell another joke, even wear her shades ever again. A glistening tear left her eye, and she grit her teeth, ready for the inevitable crunch.
She wondered if she'd feel the grass.
She always wanted to feel the grass.
She wondered if the grass was soft.
From above, there was a loud groan from the rest of the house as it yawned, now falling down the side of the mountain after Vinyl. There was also a sound like wood splitting as the part of the Canterlot platform that the house was constructed upon fell away from the rest of the city as well, and these all came apart in mid-air. She wondered if they would find her body among all of the wreckage.
There it was: the grass, sprawled out and ready to meet her. Vinyl closed her eyes, ready to stop this endless fall. It was like a dream composed of a far-off memory scattered through her mind, but now that the memory had been pieced together, it was a dream she couldn't wake up from. Her time had been fleeting, but this was the end.
The end of Vinyl Scratch.
"Goodbye..." Vinyl whispered, her lip quivering and her voice shaking, "Goodbye..."
"No!"
Vinyl's body jerked, and her stomach shifted as she felt a sudden jerk on her leg. The tips of her hair rustled through the grass as she was held upside-down by somepony clutching her foreleg. She looked down toward the grass to see that instead of falling toward it, she was soaring over it horizontally. She hadn't stopped falling; now she was flying on the momentum built up by the fall. Vinyl strained to look up at the pony holding her, and her face broke out in a wide smile.
"Derpy!" she exclaimed. It was clearly a difficult task for the Pegasus to hold Vinyl and herself up in the air, but her wings were extended like a glider. She couldn't flap them; she and Vinyl were already falling too fast for that. Now she could only ride the momentum over the ground and away from the mountain while making sure not to drop Vinyl in the process.
"Hold on!" Derpy yelled down. Vinyl glanced behind her to see the ruins of the house falling like a storm on them. When the first piece of debris hit the grass, it sent a hail of dirt in every direction and formed a deep crater. Vinyl gulped, and reached up, trying to grab hold of Derpy's hoof.
"Oh Celestia!" Vinyl shrieked as Derpy moved from side-to-side, avoiding the meteors of broken house and platform as they collided with the ground. The wind whooshed beneath Derpy's feathered wings as she glided through ground zero of the one of the biggest domestic disasters Canterlot had seen since Discord's return (or maybe the Grand Galloping Gala). A smoke of dirt and dust rose from the shattered pieces and threatened to envelop the two mares as they outran the devastation, until finally the dust settled and the catastrophe reached its end. Derpy's grip on Vinyl slipped, and Vinyl dropped to the grass, unharmed, and rolled to a stop as Derpy, exhausted, landed in the grass.
The two sat in the grass, breathing heavily as they shivered, their nerves catching up with them and letting chill-after-cold chill roll down their backs as they realized that they had gotten away from the storm of disaster.
"Oh. My. Tia," Vinyl breathed.
"V-Vinyl..." Derpy panted, "...Vinyl...?"
"Yeah, Derpy?"
"...are we... alive?"
Vinyl laid on her back in the middle of the field, staring up at the wild blue sky above her, and she ran her hoof through the blades of grass to find that they were indeed soft. She turned her head to see Derpy lying on her stomach facing Vinyl, her wings twitching tiredly and her eyes frozen in anticipation.
"I hope so," Vinyl answered, licking her lips, "Or that was the worst rescue I've ever seen."
She and Derpy stared at each other for a few seconds, until Derpy giggled. Vinyl squeezed her eyes shut as she started to snicker uncontrollably, and then the two were laughing hysterically. Both of them were crying and couldn't breathe, but they laughed like they'd just witnessed the funniest occurrence in all of Equestria.
"We made it, Derpy!" Vinyl exclaimed victoriously, extending her hoof to Derpy, "Dear Celestia, WE MADE IT!"
"NEVER do that again, Vinyl!" Derpy bumped Vinyl's hoof, "I think I had a heart attack..."
"You're bucking amazing, Derpy," Vinyl sighed heavily with relief flooding her body, "You know that? You are the most amazing mare who has ever bucking lived!"
The two were emotionally overwrought, but it didn't matter.
They were alive.
Octavia and the Doctor could only watch in horror as the house collapsed and fell out of sight off the side of the city. Vinyl had fallen, and Derpy had suddenly galloped forward and dove over the railing after her, but they couldn't see what happened after that. Were they... dead? Octavia's eyes welled with tears, and she choked up, trying not to cry, but heavy sobs escaped her. Vinyl was gone, but was she dead? She needed to know.
Tavi glanced at the Doctor to see him staring at the spot Derpy had been. She could tell that he was trying to keep his expression stoic, but he wasn't doing a very good job of hiding his feelings. It suddenly occurred to her that the Doctor and Derpy were connected in a way that she hadn't noticed before. The two already had a possessive air around them, like they'd been on plenty of adventures together but couldn't share the details with anypony else. They'd clearly had some kind of relationship... perhaps it was even romantic...?
"Derpy is a very brave mare," Octavia consoled him, and the Doctor glanced at her.
"Thank you for that," he replied.
"She really is."
"No, I didn't mean for what you said," the Doctor shook his head.
"Then... what did you just...?"
"I meant thank you for not saying she 'was'," the Doctor finished, his voice cracking a bit on the last word. Octavia exhaled mournfully, and she wrapped her hooves around the bowtie-wearing stallion, who gratefully returned the gesture.
As the two friends hugged, Luna made sure her guards were safe and she flew up to where Somex was waiting in the air above the destruction, stopping not very far from the mentally-unhinged Spirit of Nightmares. Somex was looking at his hooves again, which were now more withered than they had been earlier.
"It has started," Luna said softly, "You are degenerating, Somex. You were never meant to be outside the dream world."
"You knew?" Somex asked, sounding surprised. Though Luna knew he wasn't, she nodded.
"I never told you of my research," she looked down wistfully, "When I believed you and I would be together for an eternity... I spent many hours in the castle archives, searching for a way to bring you outside the dream world. I tried to tell you that it was impossible countless times, but you... you were determined."
"You were everything to me, Princess Luna," Somex grinned sadly, "I was willing to undergo this process if it meant only a few minutes with you in your world."
"We came from two different worlds, Somex," Luna closed her eyes, "Two worlds that were never meant to connect."
"Perhaps not," Somex chuckled, "But I am glad they did. There is still some part of me that feels something toward you."
Luna looked at him sternly, "You just tried to kill me, my guards and sent Vinyl Scratch, the mare whose dream you possessed against her will, falling to her demise. I could never love a stallion like you."
"But you did, Luna," Somex said faintly, "You did. Once."
"And never again," Luna promised. Somex was withering away faster now, and flakes of ashes and dust began to sprinkle down from his cloak. Somex sighed, sounding genuinely remorseful, but he nodded.
"You know... the real world is more serene than I had imagined..." Somex said, looking around, "But the dream world feels more free."
"That's what I love about it," Luna agreed, a glistening tear sliding down her face, "That's why I loved you."
Somex's face was hollow now, and he looked up at the morning sun in the sky one final time before closing his eyes. His body fell apart like gray sand raining down, until Somex Terribat was nothing more than a tattered black cloak lying on the ground atop a pile of dust. Luna stared down at his remains regretfully, and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. Involuntarily, waves of bitter regrets ran down her body as she released her anguish, and she glanced over the side of the city from where she hovered.
Sure enough, the house had been completely demolished. The debris was plentiful down in the valley below Canterlot, and Luna knew it was going to be a nightmare to clean. Especially when she found Vinyl Scratch's remains. Her eyes surveyed each piece of the disaster, until she noticed a flicker of movement.
It... it couldn't be...
Luna looked closer, her blue eyes widening in disbelief with each passing second, and then the Princess of the Night began to smile. The joy was almost overwhelming; it wasn't a sensation she was used to, but this was incredible. Far below Canterlot in the field of the valley, she could see two distinct figures climbing up from the grass.
"They live!" she exclaimed, and then she soared down to Octavia and the Doctor, "Your friends- they live!"
"You mean... Vinyl isn't dead?!" Octavia gasped.
"Ditzy... dear goodness, she did it!" the Doctor laughed, "She saved Vinyl!"
"Come," Luna gestured for them to follow her with a wide smile, "Let us hurry down to the valley to meet them. I am sure they will be most pleased with your arrival."
There was a lot of hugging, Vinyl remembered.
Octavia had been crying when she galloped across the field to where Vinyl and Derpy were, and she had nearly choked Vinyl with her squeezes. Naturally, Vinyl hadn't cried... (very much). After everything they had been through, the hug felt like a huge relief.
The Doctor had approached Derpy solemn-faced.
"Ditzy, I... I thought you were gone," the Doctor said quietly.
"Oh come on, Doctor..." Derpy said playfully, "You're not gonna get rid of me that easily."
And then the Doctor had protectively wrapped his hooves around Derpy, who buried her face in his shoulder. Hugging felt good. For Ditzy Do "Derpy" Hooves, this was the perfect end to possibly the worst week of her life.
Vinyl offered Luna a hoofshake after she and Octavia had separated, but Luna had grabbed her hoof and pulled her in closer for a tight hug. Unfortunately for Vinyl, Luna had alicorn strength, making her squeezes twice as intense as Tavi's. Octavia watched and snickered at Vinyl's predicament.
Hugs were a beautiful thing, really.
The Doctor's blue box disappeared amid a series of screeches and whooshes, and then he and Derpy were gone. Vinyl and Octavia stood in front of the still-smouldering remains of their once beautiful home. Down the street, curious ponies stopped and stared at the destruction. None of them could even begin to grasp the full scope of what had happened here.
"So... I suppose this means we'll have to move," Octavia said, breaking the respectful silence toward the destroyed house.
"Ooh, do you think this means we can finally get a house with a pool?" Vinyl asked excitedly.
"I would be happy to aid you in your search for a new home," Luna said from behind them, "The citizens of Equestria owe you a tremendous debt for your bravery against Somex. The castle will pay for the cost of your new property. There are plenty of extravagant homes in Canterlot to choose from."
"Oh..." Vinyl said tonelessly, "I, uh... I was joking about the pool..."
"That is, um, very generous of you, Princess..." Octavia said, a bit uncomfortably.
"Octy, can I speak with you for a second?" Vinyl inquired. Octavia looked at her, but nodded, and the two put their heads in closer together and spoke in hushed tones, "I don't think I want to live in Canterlot anymore."
Octavia looked surprised, but Vinyl wasn't finished, "Wait, just let me finish before you say anything. I found out a couple of days ago that some ponies here blame me for Primary Alley's death. We might be in danger if I stay here, and I haven't had a gig in ages, so I think... I think I'm going to leave. You don't have to come with me, but..."
"Vinyl, I am coming with you," Octavia said, to Vinyl's surprise, "You know I got kicked out of my band, and I've probably ruined my interview with that mare already," Octavia chuckled, "Besides, I'm not really a Canterlot pony, now am I? What city did you have in mind?"
"I don't know," Vinyl admitted, "Someplace not very high off the ground, definitely. Maybe Manehattan or... I don't know, Ponyville. I know some ponies there."
"I have family in Ponyville," Octavia smiled, "And Lyra and Bon Bon moved there just last month... if we moved, they wouldn't have to take a long train ride to come see us..."
"So... this means..."
"Ponyville it is," Octavia nodded happily.
"Princess Luna," Vinyl began, pulling away from Octavia and addressing the curious alicorn, "We were wondering if your offer is only for houses in Canterlot...?"
Clef Clavichord shifted in his seat uncomfortably. To his left and right were Tremolo Hymn and Senza Sousaphone. The three musicians were sitting at a table inside Gustave's, one of the trendiest (and most expensive!) restaurants in Canterlot. A plate of warm, creamy eclairs sat in front of them, but they were untouched and the frosting was starting to melt.
"Oh, where is she?" Clef murmured to himself, checking the clock on the wall.
"Just like her to be late..." Senza muttered under her breath. Tremolo cast her an annoyed look.
"She usually showed up before you did, Senza," he said in his booming voice.
Finally, the bell above the entrance rang as somepony trotted inside. Clef nearly leapt up from his chair when he saw it was Octavia, but he managed to restrain himself as she trotted over to their table.
"Clef, Tremolo, Senza, good to see you again," Octavia greeted them all in turn as she sat down across from the three of them. A unicorn waitress trotted over with a notepad held up by her magic, but Octavia waved her off, "Nothing for me, thank you. I won't be here very long."
"Um, Octavia..." Clef stammered as the waitress trotted away to serve another table, "You're looking nice today."
"Why thank you, Clef," Octavia smiled, "I apologize if this is rude, but I was hoping we could get down to it. I'm in a bit of a hurry you see."
Clef sighed, "We asked you here tonight to say we're sorry."
"Replacing you was a mistake," Tremolo added before nudging Senza, who was glowering at the eclairs.
"Sorry Octavia," Senza apologized like a schoolfilly that had been forced to ask forgiveness after giving a big, ridiculous sigh.
"Your new cellist isn't working out, I take it?" Octavia asked, slightly amused.
Clef shook his head, "Your friend was correct. It seems that he was indeed a, urm... a user..."
"Imagine that," Octavia leaned back in her chair, "Vinyl was right about something."
"So, um... we were wondering if you would like to, er, possibly consider... rejoining the ensemble," Clef offered, "With, um, an added 10% onto your usual payment."
"Well, it certainly sounds tempting, Clef, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline your kind offer," Octavia said courteously, "I'm leaving Canterlot, you see."
"I understand," Clef bowed his head in disappointment.
"We won't find another cellist like you, Octavia..." Tremolo said with a faint hint of pleading in his voice.
"My mind is already made up," Octavia stood up, "But if any of you ever find yourselves in Ponyville, we could have a reunion concert. Goodbye Clef, Tremolo... Senza."
"You're making a mistake, Octavia..." Senza said tersely.
"No," Octavia grinned fondly at her former bandmates, "I'm making the right decision."
With that, Octavia turned her back on the ensemble once and for all before trotting out of the restaurant. As she pushed open the door and trotted outside into the chilly Canterlot evening, she wondered if she would miss Gustave's eclairs. She had actually confessed this to Vinyl, who had brushed it off and told her about a bakery in Ponyville that made Gustave's "taste like cardboard".
Octavia was a bit nervous about leaving the mountainside city, but she was also very excited. Her stomach felt full of butterflies when she thought of her new life among the ponies of Ponyville, but she felt a sense of comfort when she remembered that Vinyl would be at her side the whole way.
She continued trotting down the streets, pondering on whether she would ever see them again.
The Doctor leaned back in his chair with his bottom hooves up on the control console. In his front hooves, he struggled to solve a Rubik's Cube, twisting and turning it. There was a creak as the doors to the TARDIS opened, and he glanced up to see Derpy trotting inside.
"So it's true what they say," the Doctor grinned, tossing the Rubik's Cube over his shoulder as he stood up to face Derpy, "Adventure can find you anywhere you go. Even here in Canterlot."
"Yeah, it, uh... it's been a crazy week," Derpy agreed, though she seemed sheepish.
"What's wrong, Ditzy?" the Doctor asked, concerned. Derpy sighed, now looking down at the floor.
"Oh, Doctor, I really hate to ask, but..."
"Oh, come on, you know you can ask me anything. Well, almost anything. Depends, really."
"I, uh... I wanted to know if I could move in with you full time?" Derpy asked hopefully, almost pleadingly, "I kinda lost my job, so no more bits for rent. I mean, you can say no-"
"Are you kidding?" the Doctor said incredulously.
"I-I'm sorry! Forget I-"
"Of course you can move in full time!" the Doctor exclaimed excitedly, and Derpy gasped, "There's a room right down the hall over there that you can have. There's a bunk bed in it, because who doesn't like bunk beds?"
"Do you really mean it?" Derpy asked, awestruck.
"Absolutely," the Doctor nodded with a smile, "Now you're a full time assistant."
"Companion."
"Right, that's what I meant."
"Yay!" Derpy cheered, noticing his Rubik's Cube and picking it up, "So where are we going first?"
"Well, Vinyl and Octavia are leaving Canterlot for Ponyville soon. I figured that the train station should be our first stop."
"Are you sure that should be where we go first?" Derpy trotted back over to the console, "We could go anywhere and still be there on time..."
"Oh, you temptress," the Doctor flipped a few switches and flashed her a mischievous grin, "Hold on."
With that, he pulled a lever back and the TARDIS began to shake. The familiar sound began to resonate from the control room itself. Derpy was nearly thrown off her hooves, and the Rubik's Cube flew from her hoof onto the keyboard in front of the Doctor. He picked it up and regarded the now-solved Cube with surprise before putting it back down.
"Where are we going?!" Derpy yelled over the sound of the machine.
"You'll see!" the Doctor shouted back, "Just hang on and enjoy the ride!"
Princess Luna, thine Princess of the Night, did not return to Canterlot Castle until the sun was already hanging low in the pinkish orange sky. The palace was eerily silent as she used her magic to open the two colossal doors that led into the entrance hall and trotted inside. Her crystal horseshoes clacked against the solid tiled floor and sent echoes throughout the entire area. She surveyed the area with her wide blue eyes unblinkingly, observing every shadow with a feeling of apprehensiveness, but everything seemed normal.
She had returned months ago, and she still couldn't believe that this castle had hardly changed in a thousand years.
Luna trotted up one of the main staircases to one of the highest towers in the castle. It was a winding, seemingly endless trip up, but that was fine: she had a lot to think about. Her hooves moved almost mechanically, and her gaze rarely shifted from watching the stairs as she climbed up. Finally, she reached the top only to be greeted with a door. Luna took a deep breath and then rapped her hoof on it a few times.
The door creaked wide open, and Luna entered.
"There you are," her sister glanced up from a book she'd been reading, "I was beginning to think I would have to raise the moon myself."
"My apologies, sister," Luna lowered her head. Although she would often pursue entertainment rather than responsibility, Luna took her duties as the Princess of the Night very seriously, "There was... a situation."
"And would this situation happen to include the complete destruction of a house over on the west side of the city?" Luna quickly looked up with a mixture of shock and fury in her eyes. Her sister continued matter-of-factly, "Oh, don't look so surprised. All of Canterlot knows about it. It was difficult to miss."
"Wonderful," Luna sighed ruefully, "Then they will fear me even more."
"Luna-"
"I know the townsfolk were suspicious of me when they learnt of my history as Nightmare Moon, and now they have more reason to be afraid," Luna was getting upset now, "Can they not see that I was only trying to save not just Canterlot, but all of Equestria?"
"Luna, they do." Princess Celestia, the Sunraiser, set down her book and trotted across the room over to her sister before lying a comforting wing over her shoulder, "Everypony could see you facing off against that cloaked fiend. The word isn't that you tried to destroy anything, it's that you succeeded in preventing more devastation."
Luna was taken aback by this, "Are you... is this true?"
Celestia nodded with a warm smile, "During my late-afternoon walk, I overheard some ponies calling you a 'hero' for guarding them so faithfully. In fact, I also listened to a few of the Guards express their disappointment that they were not there to support you."
Luna stared at the floor. She couldn't believe it, any of it, and yet... she felt a warm feeling start to bloom in the bottom of her stomach. She felt the soft feathers of her sister's wing beneath her chin, gently pushing her face up so the two were looking at each other.
"You've made me proud today, little sister," Celestia said softly, "And I'm sure our mother would be as well."
"Thank you, sister," Luna said, quickly averting her face back to the floor so Celestia wouldn't see the wide grin that her lips had curled into, "I... I think it is time for me to raise the moon now..."
"Oh, and one more thing," Celestia began as Luna trotted over to the window. Her alicorn horn lit up, and as the sun made way for the dusk, the moon was raised high into the sky, "Who was that pony in the cloak that you were fighting?"
Luna sat down, resting her front hooves on the windowsill and staring out at her shining night sky. The twinkling stars and luminescent moon reflected in her sad eyes as she gazed out the window unblinkingly.
"...it does not matter," she sighed, closing her eyes, "He is gone now. Forever."
She galloped at full-speed across the station, panting as her red eyes darted across the platform behind her purple shades, looking for her train. Finally, her eyes found a sign that announced platforms 9 and 10, and she grinned before hurrying in the direction of platform 10.
She nearly ran into the wall between the two platforms in her haste to get to the train, but managed to stumble out of the way before hurrying toward the train that was getting ready to leave. She gulped nervously at the sight of Octavia tapping her hoof because although she looked patient, this was a sign that her patience was at an end.
She sheepishly trotted over to where Octavia was waiting alongside Derpy, the Doctor, and surprisingly enough, Lyra and Bon Bon. The two must have ridden the train from Ponyville to Canterlot just to ride it back with them. The moon was high in the sky already, and the station was illuminated by a series of bright lamps, so she mused that they might've been expecting to sleep the entire trip back. They'd get a rude awakening (possibly literally).
She didn't intend to sleep for a while.
She stopped in front of Octavia, who simply looked at her, and cast her a timid grin.
"Lovely night, huh?"
Vinyl Scratch took a deep inhale of Princess Luna's carefully crafted night while Octavia sighed and rubbed the spot between her eyes in exasperation. The air was crisp and cool, as it always seems to be when the sun goes down, and filled with a sense of fresh renewal akin to the first time opening a long book.
"So I see Vinyl is early, as usual," Bon Bon smirked.
"Better late than never, Bons!" Vinyl exclaimed as Lyra and Derpy giggled.
"You'd better get on the train," the Doctor checked his golden pocket watch, "It leaves in one minute and twenty-three seconds."
"Farewell, Doctor who never told me his real name!" Vinyl playfully bowed to him, "And to Ditzy Do Hooves, whom I shall always remember as my friend Derpy."
"I think we'll see each other again," Derpy smiled, scrunching up her nose to do so.
"I hope so!" Lyra winked at her before climbing aboard the train, "You were always so good at helping us bake muffins."
"I told you, you have to use a 4/7 cup of sugar, not 1/2! And 2 and 1/6 cups of flour!" Derpy called after her, "And-"
"Goodbye, Derpy," Octavia hugged her and then shared a hoofshake with the Doctor, "Doctor."
"See you 'again', you guys," Bon Bon grinned as she followed Octavia onto the train.
"I can't thank you two enough for what you did," Vinyl said sincerely, "Like, honestly. Especially you, Derpy."
"Don't worry, there aren't a lot of high places to fall from in Ponyville," Derpy joked, "But if you ever do manage to somehow do that... I'll be there to catch you."
"You're a great friend. You both are," Vinyl laughed, "I'll-"
"Vinyl! The train!" Octavia called to her from the door. The train wheels were gradually starting to roll, and Vinyl threw a quick "Bye!" at Derpy and the Doctor before leaping into the train before Octavia slid the door shut. As the train to Ponyville left the station, Derpy and the Doctor were left standing in the steam emitted from the train's departure.
"Do you think I should have told them about my new mailmare job in Ponyville?" Derpy turned to him.
"Nah," the Doctor shrugged as he turned and led her back to the TARDIS, "They'll figure that out for themselves. In the meantime, get in the TARDIS; we're going to Ponyville!"
Meanwhile, aboard the train, Vinyl, Octavia, Lyra, and Bon Bon sat in a compartment, and watched Canterlot disappear from the window.
"So why were you late, Vinyl?" Lyra asked, "Did you somehow forget where it was?"
"I just had to pick up a new pair of shades and say goodbye to all the club owners, bartenders, and ponies I used to party with," Vinyl replied, "That took a lot of time. I was all over that city!"
"I still can't believe you two are moving to Ponyville," Bon Bon blinked in astonishment, "I thought you loved Canterlot!"
"Well, we thought it was time for a change," Octavia answered with a sly grin, "I simply cannot wait to see our new abode..."
"It's called a house, Tavi," Vinyl nudged her.
"So what will you do when you get to the new house?" Lyra leaned forward, "Bon Bon and I spent almost a week decorating ours when we moved!"
"Hmm... I'm imagining long blue drapes over the windows," Octavia mused, "And a glass coffee table, provided Vinyl remembers not to put her hooves on it."
"Oh no, the first thing we're doing is splitting that house right through the middle," Vinyl interrupted, "Tavi can have all her stuff on one side and I can have my cool stuff on the other. That way, you won't be playing your classical records on my DJ stand!"
"Your equipment always distorted the sound anyway," Octavia said curtly, "And if we do arrange the house in such a manner, I get the side with the bathroom."
"The bathroom is neutral territory!" Vinyl argued.
"That would be pretty interesting, actually," Lyra agreed, "We could help you set it up! I'm thinking different colored carpets and wallpapers up to separate the two areas..."
The ponies kept talking for a while, but conversation finally slowed, and then Lyra dozed off for the overnight train ride. After that, Bon Bon and Octavia passed out as well, leaving Vinyl alone in the compartment, listening to the power of the train as it charged through the landscape and staring out at the moon.
Finally, Vinyl closed her eyes and succumbed to sleep. She had been evading it so long, it managed to find her quickly once she decided to finally give in. Vinyl nestled against the wall next to her chair, feeling lulled by the comforting rumble of the train moving, and fell into a calm sleep.
She had very pleasant dreams.
THE END
Writing Freefall was always really turbulent for me. I wanted drama, but I also had to work it in to fit the show's canonity and the characters' personalities. A lot of fan headcanons (fanon) fueled this as well. But even with all of that, I was never very clear on where to go next. In an earlier version, aliens were going to be responsible for Vinyl's nightmares! ALIENS! 
The ending, however, was always going to be the same. She would fall, Derpy would catch her, and they would move to Ponyville in the end. I never planned for Vinyl and Octavia to end up in a relationship (though if you're so bold, you may headcanon that. 
) or for the villain to have personal ties to Princess Luna, who originally wasn't even in the story.
But I'm very happy with the final product, and I hope you are as well! 
Freefall began on November 16th, 2014, and it finished March 18th, 2016.
Thanks for reading. 
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