Three Years Gone

by DeletePlease

Chapter VI: The Hard Part

Vinyl Scratch and Raincloud

Erik’s House, Manehattan, Three Months Ago

Vinyl blinked. “What are you doing?” She asked awkwardly.

“I love you, Vinyl,” Raincloud responded.

“That’s great and all, really it is, but I’m your aunt,” Vinyl blinked a few more times.

“Well inbreeding isn’t exactly an issue, now is it?” Raincloud asked rhetorically and leaned in to kiss Vinyl again.

Vinyl pushed her away gently. “Also, I have a marefriend.”

Raincloud looked away. “I know,” She said quietly. “I know and this is wrong and I’m sorry and-“

“Stop, it’s okay,” Vinyl cut in. “I know how you feel, but we can’t do this.”

“I know,” Raincloud shook her head. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this. Ever since I’ve met you I’ve felt this way. I thought I could suppress it but I guess not.”

Only a few seconds of silence passed but it seemed like forever. “I’ll be honest,” Vinyl said. “For a while there I was thinking of going after you, too.”

Raincloud looked up, tears in her eyes. Vinyl continued. “I love Octavia, though. I intend on marrying her soon, when everything is cleared up.”

“I still love you,” Raincloud said.

Vinyl breathed and closed her eyes. “That’s okay, Rain. One day you’ll find somepony you love more, though. Make sure you go after them.”

Raincloud was about to respond when Octavia entered the room. “Vinyl,” She said, swaying slowly to her right. “I saw them, we need to go help.”

Vinyl ran up to her and grabbed her. “Come sit down Octavia, it’s alright.” Vinyl laid Octavia down on a couch. “Who did you see, Octavia?”

“The doctor and the princess,” Octavia said slowly, breathing deeply and blinking her eyes more than usual.

A frantic knock came from the front door. “Go see who it is, Rain,” Vinyl said and turned back to Octavia. “Tavi, tell me exactly what you saw.”

“I saw Erik and Luna, they were fighting this stallion. I don’t know who it was but there was a flash and then everything was gone,” Octavia’s eyes were wide and her hooves were shaking.

“Vinyl!” Raincloud shouted, running into the room. “We’ve got to go, now! That was somepony from the police. He said there was a fire that started in the woods and its coming right for us.”

Vinyl looked down at the floor. “Something tells me we’ll be fine. How fast do you think we could get to that tower?”

“It would take a couple of hours, but that’s going the wrong way,” Raincloud said. “We need to leave, now.”

“Octavia, you’re coming with us,” Vinyl said. “Rain, you lead the way. We need to get to that tower as quickly as possible.”

Raincloud shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, Vinyl,” She looked up smiling. “But it sounds like you know what you’re doing.”

“That’s exactly why you should be scared,” Octavia said sarcastically.

Vinyl turned around. “Was that a joke?”

Octavia smiled. “I’m think I’m starting to get used to this. Allons-y, Raincloud!”

* * *

Unknown Location, Unknown Time Period

What happened? The last I remember is the light. But where am I now? Everything is dark. Am I dead?

No, I can feel, taste, and hear, I just can’t see. But what is there to feel? I can’t hear anything but I know that sound is there. Besides, I can’t die, can I? Something brushed against her chest, then her back, and then all over. Sensation was returning, but the only feeling was a crushing pain.

* * *

Vinyl, Octavia, and Raincloud

En Route to the Tower, Three Months Ago

“Vinyl, look at the smoke over there,” Octavia pointed at the sky, barely visible due to the density of the trees.

Vinyl tilted her head. “I see it, but why is it yellow?”

“I’ll fly up and check it out,” Raincloud leaped into the air, maneuvering skillfully through the trees and flying high into the air.

Octavia turned to Vinyl. “So who is she? You never told me.”

“She’s been doing some research for Celestia, which somehow led to her helping us out,” Vinyl explained, only telling half of the truth.

Raincloud circled back and landed next to Vinyl. “We might want to head over there. There’s a massive crater in the ground and I think there are ponies trapped in it.”

Vinyl and Octavia nodded and they started walking in the direction of the smoke.

* * *

How did I know that colt’s name?

There’s power in a name. But what power is it? Who’s power? Was it mine or was it his? Maybe neither. Perhaps there’s more to this world than I can see, feel, sense. What if something was looking out for me? But how am I to know. I am dying.

* * *

“Vinyl, you can’t go down there,” Octavia shouted. “It’s almost straight down and we can’t even see how deep it goes because of the smoke.”

“I have to,” Vinyl said. “I have a feeling that I need to be down there and I can’t just ignore that.”

“Then let me come with you!” Octavia had fear in her eyes. “Please, Vinyl, don’t leave me!”

“It’s too dangerous Octy,” Vinyl said, preparing to jump into the crater. “Raincloud, keep her here, if I’m not back in half an hour then get out of here.”

Raincloud nodded and grabbed Octavia. “She’ll be fine, Octy. She knows what she’s doing.” Raincloud wasn’t so sure. Vinyl jumped into the smoke, there one moment and gone the next, as though removed from the world entirely.

Vinyl fell for a small amount of time before landing in a pool of water. She swam out of it, spitting water out of her mouth, and looked around. “Hello? Is anyone there?” She shouted into the darkness.

“Vinyl?” A familiar voice called. “Vinyl, it’s me, Erik. I’m over here!”

Vinyl could barely make out his figure, waving just a few meters away. “Erik, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, but Luna is trapped under the rock over here.” He shouted back. “Get over here and help me dig!”

Vinyl ran over to him. “Get out of the way.”

* * *

The night is mine, so why does this darkness scare me? Perhaps it’s that my nights have beauty, but this place, this is hell.

A shout came, and then there was more sound. Then there was light. It wasn’t bright, but it was the absence of darkness. “Luna? Are you alright?” A voice asked.

“Ow,” Was the only response she could manage.

Another voice spoke. “She’s immortal but she can still feel pain. Luna, you should start to heal soon and you’ll get better. We need to get you out of that hole, this might hurt a bit.” And there was pain, but a different pain, a glorious type of pain. It was a pain not of despair anymore, but of hope. It didn’t take long for the pain to begin to fade and for strength to return.

“Luna, are you alright?” Vinyl asked.

Luna blinked. “I think so. I’m still a bit disoriented.”

“Can you get us to the surface?” Erik asked. Luna nodded and her horn glowed.

* * *

“You know, you really have trust issues, Octavia,” Raincloud said.

Octavia glared at her. “I’ll indulge your insanity; what do you mean?”

“You don’t actually believe anything Vinyl says. You think she’s all talk and can’t back it up at all,” Raincloud explained.

“How could you possibly know what I think?” Octavia turned away.

“You’ve been out of it a while, so maybe that’s what Vinyl was like before, but not anymore. She’s the most passionate, idiotic, and hard-working pony I know,” Raincloud said.

“If she’s hard-working then she’s definitely changed,” Octavia closed her eyes and smiled. “She hasn’t really changed though. She’s still the same idiot I fell in love with.”

A flash came from behind them. “That’s nice to know because I try so hard to be an idiot,” Vinyl said.

Octavia and Raincloud turned around. “I told you she’d do it.” Raincloud jumped up and ran to hug the trio, although secretly it was just an excuse to hug Vinyl.

“It took you long enough,” Octavia said, trying to hold back her emotions. She couldn’t though, not any longer. She ran to Vinyl and held her tightly. “Don’t you ever leave me again.”

“I won’t Octavia,” Vinyl smiled. “I promise.”

“I hate to interrupt this love festival,” Erik said. “But we really should get going.”

“Where are we going?” Raincloud asked.

“Back to the tower,” Luna answered. “I have some business to take care of there.”

Vinyl laughed sarcastically. “Are you kidding? If we go there now then we’ll be slaughtered. We need to regroup and give us all some time to cool off.”

The entire group of ponies looked at Luna, who finally relented with a bow of her head.

* * *

Vinyl, Octavia, Raincloud, Erik, and Luna

Near the Tower, Thirty-Six Hours Ago

“Are you sure you can get us past that shield, Luna?” Erik whispered.

“Of course I can,” She responded. “The question is more of what we’ll do when we get there. Is everypony ready?”

They all nodded. Luna crept forward and her horn glowed. There was a flare in front of her. “We’re in.” They all rushed forward into the tower and made it without difficulty. The tower hadn’t changed at all. The first four floors were still empty, and they knew the fifth floor would be different. It was different, but not different like before.

They entered the room and found themselves in a room that appeared to be taken from a dungeon. There were torches mounted on the walls and there was a door way in front of them. “Enter,” A voice came from the room ahead.

None of them wanted to go into the room, but they couldn’t resist. They all walked forward at the same speed and entered the room single file. Inside the room was a stallion, chained to the wall. He stared directly at Octavia. “You poor foal,” he whispered. “What did he do to you?”

“Explain yourself,” Luna commanded.

The stallion turned to her. “I have no name anymore. They call me Fyrsta. I know what you’re thinking, but I’ve suppressed him. Please, stop him now, while you can. Kill me.”

Vinyl walked up to him. “What do you know about Octavia?”

“I’m sorry, I really am,” He wheezed. “They made me do it.”

“What did they make you do?” Vinyl grabbed him and shook him.

“When we took that child’s soul to create Soturi, we found something unexpected. For years we’d tried to find a pony like him, one who could see. We had to do something, so we stuck his ability in another, a filly named Octavia. It was unstable in a child; we never should have done it.”

“Fyrsta, tell them what happened. Stop telling half-truths,” Luna looked straight through his eyes into his very soul.

“It made her kill them,” He whispered. “That cursed ability made her kill her entire family.”

Octavia’s eyes went white and she collapsed. Vinyl ran to her and held her. “What are you talking about, Fyrsta? I’ve seen them just recently at a party in Canterlot,” Luna said.

“I felt, responsible,” Fyrsta responded frantically. “I regained emotion because of it. I made her forget and made a pair of changelings to take their place.”

Everyone stared at him as if he had gone mad. “I can’t hold him back much longer. Please, kill me while you still can,” Fyrsta screamed out in pain. Luna lowered her horn at him and ended his life.

“We need to get out of here!” She yelled. “This chamber is starting to lose support and it’s going to collapse.”

“How can you tell?” Raincloud asked.

“There’s this sudden absence of energy, I can’t explain it,” Luna answered. “Is Octavia alright?”

At the sound of her name Octavia shot upright, her eyes were wide open, still pure white. “An eclipse is coming, a signal for the end of days.” She collapsed again.

“Can you get us all out of here, Luna?” Vinyl asked.

“I’m going to have to,” She said, and her horn glowed.

* * *

Canterlot Castle, Present Day

Erik looked around at the few of them that were there. He took a deep breath and continued. “Luna did some checking and Octavia’s parents were indeed changelings. We found that the memory block went so deep that Octavia would never remember killing her family, if she actually did.”

“So that’s it, then?” Twilight asked. “Their leader is dead and so they’re just done?”

Vinyl walked into the room with Octavia. “We thought so,” Vinyl said. “But only they could have taken control of Celestia like that.”

“Well, it looks like we’ll have to use the Elements to-“

“I’ll stop you right there,” Luna interrupted. “It won’t work. I’ve seen their magic and they’re way to strong. They’re just going to be an ever-present force in this world as far as I can tell.”

“What about Celestia?” Twilight asked, concern showing through her eyes.

A guard came running into the room shouting. “Everypony out, now!”

“What is it?” Luna asked.

“Part of the castle is melting, literally turning into lava, and it’s getting closer,” He ran out of the room without any more explanation.

Everypony exchanged looks and then ran outside. When they reached the courtyard they saw what the guard had meant. One of the towers of the castle was melting, turning into lava and flowing down upon the lower castle. Vinyl’s eyes had to work hard, but they saw it. There was a beam leading from the tower to the sun, or vice-versa. “I think I know why they took Celestia,” She said. Everypony looked at her. “And I think I know why Octavia saw an eclipse, too.”

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Author's Notes

I've written about 7000 words in the last 48 hours, and that's a lot for me. I used to write short stories and I'd never have written this much back then. If I could get some support in the comments then that would be awesome. I'd even take someone yelling at me for grammar or spelling mistakes.

I'm gonna start working on Chapters VII, VIII, and IX soon. I'll write all of them and then release them over the same weekend because I want to make sure everything falls into place. I can't thank the people who read this story enough, it really does mean a lot to me.

Now that I think about it, this will probably be the second to last author's note for this story. I can feel it all coming together in my head, every piece of the story. It actually makes me a bit sad, but everything, good or bad or in between, must come to an end.

Until Next Time,
<3 Shae

Comments

[DrWhooves007]

Allons-y

Oui