//------------------------------//
// 12 - Imperfect Score 
// Story: Duet in the Dust 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

Vinyl and Octavia lay in their beds. They had separate ones, in a small house. It had belonged to someone they had never met once, but that person had met their end, as people do, and the house was available.

"Kinda crazy, huh," spoke Vinyl in the darkness of the evening.

"Hm?"

"That we get our own place, just like that... I mean, Long Shot didn't even hesitate."

Octavia perked an ear at her friend she couldn't see. "The way she talked about it, it sounded like this place wasn't... fresh on the market, so to speak."

"Yeah... Do you think they're alright?"

"The previous owner? I should imagine not, all things considered."

"Not them! The folks back at the human town."

"Worried about Cindy?" Octavia sat up a little, though it didn't help her see in the dark.

"A little, but more about the inhumans we were living with, ya know? Woulda been nice to rescue them if we were leaving..." Vinyl sucked some air through her teeth in a quiet hiss. "I really didn't see it coming that she'd just ditch us like that."

Octavia thought about the elf and the gnome, frowning unseen. "They are in a relatively safe place. Neither showed much actual desire to move on... Maybe that's why we were dropped off."

"Wha? That's crazy." In the dark, hooves clip-clopped towards Octavia. "You really think they wouldn't run if they could?"

Octavia flopped down onto her pillow, facing the incoming Vinyl. "I don't think the inhuman door was locked. I don't think this place is that far away. I don't think anything keeps them there but themselves."

Vinyl reached up and booped Octavia, pressing her hoof against Octavia's nose, scrunching it a little. "Answer me this then, miss smarty pants. Why wouldn't the gnome come running, if she wants a pony to ride around?"

Octavia wriggled her besmirched nose lightly. "Well... To start, many of the ponies in this town are of the smaller variety. It is, perhaps, quite rude to ask that of the larger ones. Perhaps she tried before and was rebuffed just as effectively as we had."

Vinyl stuck out he tongue, unseen as it was. "Aw shoot. If I'd have known that, I would have given her a few more rides. She gets so happy about it..."

"You were giving her rides?!"

"Why wouldn't I?" Vinyl reared up and put her hooves on the edge of Octavia's bed. "She'd get so excited... I just kinda... you know?"

"We can't save everyone," sighed out Octavia. "We haven't even saved ourselves, but I haven't given up hope on that."

Vinyl pulled herself up, standing on the bed. "Yeah, I mean, I get that, up here." She raised a hoof to her head, though Octavia couldn't see it. "But not here." The hoof lowered to her chest. "What kind of rock goddess just boogies on without saving all the ponies in need?"

Octavia reached up into the dark and found the furry form of her companion. "You realize, you have your own bed."

Vinyl sank down, half on top of Octavia. "Yeah..."

Octavia smirked softly as she was partially pinned. "Is this your way of requesting permission?"

"Yeah..."

Her smirk faded and she reached around, pulling Vinyl closer. "I'm sorry..."

"Yeah..."

Octavia bumped her nose against Vinyl's. "You need to say more than one word."

Vinyl wriggled herself under their suddenly shared blanket and snuggled up with Octavia in the dark. "Look... I'm just really glad you're here, with me, alright?"

Octavia's ears pinned back a moment, without words a moment before she recovered. "I am pleased that you are with me as well, Vinyl, not that I would wish this on you." She wasn't used to Vinyl being anything but relentlessly optimistic. "Are you alright?"

Vinyl squeezed closer to Octavia. The conversation died, but the contact continued. Soon the soft breathing of a sleeping mare was all that Octavia could hear. She smiled a little. There were worse fates than being clung to by her dear friend. Soon she descended into sleep herself.





"Anomaly detected," reported Bullette with a tilt of her had, looking over Octavia and Vinyl critically. "Signature unverified."

Vinyl pointed at herself. "A what now? Do I have something on my face?"

"You have something on your everywhere." Bullette stepped forward, a thin red line passing over Vinyl from herself. "I don't know what it is. Insufficient information."

Octavia considered the words of the metal filly. "Is there anyone around that might have that information?"

"An excellent idea!" She took off at a metallic gallop without hesitation, leaving them behind.

No Name shook his head at the sight of the retreating filly. "We'd best follow her." The two mares didn't argue with him and all three wove through the town to see where Bullette had run towards.

His large presence cut an easy path through the others moving along the road, few wanting to be in the way of the stampeding pony-like creature of such size, leaving Octavia and Vinyl to trot along easily behind him. It didn't take long to find themselves at a building that had a sign over the door that read, 'Sheriff's Office' in bold letters with a star displayed that matched the one that Long Shot wore.

Octavia quirked a brow at the sign and the building attached. "She went to Long Shot?"

No Name stepped forward at a slower pace. "She went to the person in charge." His voice shifted to a younger one, "The people in charge should know things, right?"

Without having to go inside, Long Shot emerged, Bullette bouncing around her. When she saw No Name, she smiled. "I believe this belongs to you, does she not?"

No Name nodded softly. "As much as she 'belongs' to anyone at all. I hope she wasn't causing trouble?"

Bullette pointed at Octavia and Vinyl. "Aetheric anomaly detected. Please advise."

Long frowned mildly. "I can't say I know for certain what that is, little Bullette, but that sounds urgent enough to find out."

Octavia cringed softly. "Did we do something wrong?" Her heartbeat began to pick up. "You aren't about to kick us out again, are you?"

Long shook a hoof in the air. "Perish the thought. You haven't done anything wrong, my dear subject. It falls on me to see to your well-being, not immediately banish you." Her eyes swept to Vinyl and back to Octavia. "Allow me to summon some help."

As Long trotted off purposefully, Vinyl slid up beside Octavia. "Hey, no need to panic."

Octavia raised a fetlock over her eyes. "Unlike some other pony in the dark?"

Vinyl colored just faintly, but was still smiling. "We all panic once in a while, but that's what friends are for, right?"

Octavia glanced up at No Name, who was speaking quietly with Bullette. "Right." She turned to face the other two fully. "Do you have any idea what this is about? We're not in any danger, are we?"

Bullette raised a hoof to her chin. "Probability of immediate danger only 12.4%. Status: Green."

No Name nodded softly, one of his snakes extending a little to speak, "It's better to be safe, so we'll let Long dig into this a little."

The rapid pitter-patter of a smaller pony approaching took their attention to a little stallion galloping up to them with a nervous smile. "(Oh, hello!)" He excitedly said in the trade tongue.

Octavia shook her head. "Do you speak ponish?"

"I do that too! I never heard it called 'Ponish' before though, that's not a bad name." He bobbed his head with satisfaction. "Anyway, I couldn't help but notice you come into town and you two seem like nice mares."

Vinyl nodded, hoof raising. "Nice to meet you, mister...?"

"Wanna go out!?" he blurted with a big smile.

The two mares stared at him, befuddled.

"My treat," he continued as if not reading the atmosphere. "It'll be fun. I know a really romantic place to run off to."

Octavia shook her head slowly. "I'm afraid we're--"

"--an item!" lied Vinyl, throwing a foreleg over Octavia and pulling her tight. "We don't swing that way, sorry little dude."

"Oh..." His ears sank with defeat a moment before they perked right back up. "Have you tried before? Maybe you just haven't met the r--"

Octavia popped a hoof into his mouth. "Let me cut you off right there. My friend has attempted, politely, to turn down your advance. Making it is one thing, pressing against refusal is another. Kindly depart."

He backed away from the mouth-blocking Octavia. "But..." The two mares were not giving him any kind looks, and No Name was starting to join in. "Well, uh... if you... change your mind?" He dashed away, rather than face their continued scorn.

Vinyl burst into laughter the moment the little stallion was out of sight. "If he'd come on maybe a little smoother, I mighta given it a try."

Octavia blanched audibly. "With... He's half your size!"

"You don't know that's true." Vinyl smirked devilishly, tail swaying. "Maybe he's a big boy where it counts."

"Vinyl, that is quite enough of that topic, thank you."

Bullette blinked slowly. "I don't compute. What are they saying?"

"I'll tell you when you're older," spoke No Name in a feminine voice, but it shifted to his more standard male, another snake taking over. "Meanwhile, if anyone offers anything 'romantic', you tell them to talk to me first."

"Parameter accepted." Her voice warbled in its digital way before she pointed. "Long Shot returns."

Long was returning with a Big Mao at her side. The bear appeared to be of the panda variety and wore a lab coat reinforced with visible bits of hardened plastic and metal sewn into it to make a functional but rugged-looking set of armor. "Those two," spoke Long, indicating Vinyl and Octavia. "Please examine them."

The bear ambled forward with a nod, clapping his hands together. "Hello, new patients. I've heard about you. Full-sized ponies are almost as uncommon as us Big Mao." He smiled as he lowered to one knee to look them more in the eye. "Now, what seems to be the problem?"

Octavia shook her head. "We're not experiencing any difficulties. Bullette seems to be seeing something is more the matter at hoof."

Bullette jumped in place. "Affirmative. Aetheric anomaly detected."

"Can you give me more details?" He sank down, sitting fully on the ground. "The more you share, the more I can figure out." He chuckled softly. "Never figured I'd be coming to you for a medical diagnosis."

"I am being helpful," sang out Bullette in a happy tilt of voice. Her eyes blanked out a moment before a wave pattern appeared across them, wobbling up and down in a pattern. "Unusual length detected."

He leaned in to get a better look at what Bullette was reporting. "Huh... I've seen something like this before..."

Long Shot raised a hoof to the sitting panda's shoulder. "Excellent news. I knew I was seeking the right source of information. Where and what is it then?"

"Couldn't say the what," he admitted with a shrug. "This signal shows up south of here, by the big lake. Most travellers avoid the place. No one wants their counters jumping in any pattern."

No Name perked up, his snakes hissing before one spoke, "Radiation?"

"Not a ton." The doctor? stood up and pulled out a curious little device. He clicked it on with a twist of his furry fingers. "Nothing in the area right now, that's good. Maybe it isn't radiation at all, just gets picked up? Whatever it is, you got it, little mares."

Vinyl stuck out her tongue. "You just finished saying we're not little."

Octavia took a step towards the panda. "Does that mean it may be a way home?" When he looked confused, she rolled a hoof. "We're not from here, this world. We're from somewhere else. If something has our 'pattern', couldn't it be a way home?"

He flashed a toothsome smile. "Could be! I wouldn't go on your own though. Wandering out past city limits is dangerous to say it mild." He waved to Long Shot. "Our Queen works hard to make sure the inside of the town's safe, but her kingdom ends with the town."

Long Shot nodded in solemn agreement. "My reach is limited. If you intend to go..." She looked to No Name. "I would ask you to accompany them. They know and trust you, I feel, and you will protect them." It wasn't much of a question. She seemed quite sure No Name wouldn't allow harm to come to them.

Bullette raised a hoof, waving it wildly. "Adventure detected! Bullette Belle is prepared for action at 110% efficiency." She grinned at the mares. "Prepare for fun and increased friendship ratings."

Vinyl quirked a smile. "Well, if that's where we need to be, I say we get to it. With a huge guy on one side--" She waved up at No Name. "--and a little wonder-filly on the other--" She waved at Bullette. "--what could go wrong?"

Octavia put a fetlock over her eyes. "Is that a challenge? The universe is all too happy to oblige if you ask it so kindly."

Long nodded to the bear. "Thank you for your assistance. You've served your queen, and the kingdom as a whole, well."

"Anytime, ma'am." He tipped his hat and ambled away from the scene at a relaxed rate.

Long turned her attention back at her would-be adventuring citizens. "If you succeed and leave, I will miss having you around. I wished to hear your music, Octavia. If you do not make it back, perhaps I could hear some?"

Octavia's right ear twitched, trying to parse that. "I don't have the instrument, Your Highness. Unless you have a cello laying about, I'm afraid I'm powerless to provide any music at this time."

"Mmm. Well, for now, take care of yourself. Wherever you go, you travel with my well-wishes." She started to walk past, towards her office. "Come visit if you have any need of me."

Vinyl poked Octavia in the side suddenly. "Hey, you never really got to pay back the bird dude for the gun he gave."

"He's a griffon," corrected Octavia. "And he has a name too. I should... talk to him, yes."

As Octavia trotted off in search, No Name sank to his haunches. "Feels like you just barely arrived."

Vinyl shrugged. "No promises this will be a door sitting there waiting for us to walk back to our world. Maybe there's like a huge maze of dangerous traps! Or maybe there's nothing at all and we just come back, mildly annoyed."

"What is your world like?" asked Bullette, leaning forward. "Is its atmospheric composition comparable?"

Vinyl tilted her head at the eager filly. "I, uh, think so? I mean... I'm breathing, right?"

"Affirmative," easily agreed Bullette, accepting the logic. "Please define key differences."

No Name put a hoof down in front of Bullette, blocking her view for a precious moment. "Don't pester her."

"Nah, s'scool," insisted Vinyl. "My world's pretty radical. It's filled with ponies like Octie  and me, to start." She waved a hoof in Octavia's general direction, as out of sight as she was. "So, uh, where are we going?"

"Insufficient data." Bullette hopped forward with the faint jingle of metal on metal. "Please continue exposition. How do the ponies in your world live?"





Octavia clopped a hoof on a sheet metal door. "Lunarquill, are you at home?"

"Mm? (Who is it?)" The door pulled open to reveal the angry and sleepy face of the gunsmith griffon. "Oh, you. What is it, gun jammed?"

Octavia reached to pat the holster that held her gun. "No, I am quite pleased to report it is in good repair. I've been told by Long Shot that I'll be going south, near a large lake of some kind."

"Huh, the big water? Dangerous." He seemed to wake up a little, stepping out of his house and closing  the door behind himself. "Be careful, right? But why are you knocking on my door about it."

"There is a chance that I will find there a means to return to my original world. If I do, then I shant return, and..." She looked guilty, glancing away and back. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"You've barely covered a shift on guard duty," sighed out Lunarquill. "Look, if Long Shot said to do it, then you're not reneging. Go on, find what you should find. You ain't going alone, I hope?"

Octavia shook her head quickly. "Vinyl, No Name, and Bullette are all accompanying me." She frowned briefly. "That name is quite curious. If he has a name of 'No Name', then he has a name, making the name somewhat invalid, don't you think?"

"Ain't my place to argue it," confessed Lunarquill with a shrug. "He's big enough to pick his own name as he likes it, or take up another if he prefers. The name must work for him, and who else really matters when it comes to that, right?"

Octavia nodded as she tried to get a peek behind him into the house he had just emerged from. "Well, I wanted to thank you. I really do appreciate the time and effort you've expanded, showing me how I can defend myself and those that are precious to me."

He flicked up a thumb in a motion a pony couldn't match easily. "No sweat. If you don't find what you're looking for, you're welcome back here. You still owe me more patrol time." He snorted in a good-natured way as he crossed his arms. "Don't get killed in either event. Just because you have a gun doesn't mean it's always the right answer."

"Of course, yes." She pat the holster gently. "A tool is not to be used at every opportunity, or one becomes quite myopic at best. I should get back to Vinyl before she gets herself into new trouble."

"Hey, she isn't as scatterbrained as you peg her for."

Octavia took a step away, paused, and looked over her shoulder. "I know... She is a dear friend. Can you blame me for worrying about any friend in this world?"

"Nah, suppose I can't do that." He pointed in the direction she'd come in. "Think I see her blue tail from here. She's brightly colored, let me just point out. Tell her I said good luck, and to come for repairs and upgrades if you swing back this way."

"I will do just that. Thank you." She bowed without turning back to him, then scurried away down the road towards her friends.

"(The favors I do for 'royalty',)" he sighed, retreating back into his home. "(She better give up some good scrap when I want it.)" His door closed with a gentle click of the latch.





No Name looked between Vinyl and Bullette as the former went on and on about this paradise world. "This is fascinating," reported a bored older voice. "But, we have a trip to prepare for. Bullette can go whenever she wants, but I, and the rest of you, need specific supplies we should get." His voice recovered towards his default tone as he went, another snake taking over about halfway through the statement. A female voice rose, another snake looking at Vinyl, "Do you know how to prepare for a journey?"

Vinyl lifted her shoulders. "How hard can it be? I've been on tour a few times."

"Vinyl!" Octavia was returning, trotting towards them. "Glad you all didn't wander away while I was taking care of things."

"Exposition received," reported Bullette, sounding pleased. "I want to see this world. In order to do that, we must succeed in this mission, as friends." She sang the last word with obvious joy, voice warbling in her cry. "Begin sub-mission supplies!" She pointed a hoof at Vinyl. "I will take charge. You must have a low-sugar diet. I have not forgotten."

Vinyl burst out into laughter, flopping onto her haunches. "Oh yeah, I need to counterbalance your dangerously high levels of adorableness."

"Precisely," agreed Bullette. "I will secure a low-sugar supply of rations." She turned precisely to No Name. "Please insert currency to proceed."

No Name snorted softly. "They don't do that in this town. Just tell them you're doing a favor for Long Shot and they should cooperate," he assured in his default tone. "Why don't you take Octavia with you, she looks like she'd like to spend some time with you."

"Affirmative," cried Bullette as she bounced over to Octavia's side. "Begin operation. Are you prepared?"

Octavia smiled gently at the robotic filly. "There's no time like the present. Let us be off."

"Correct, there is no-- error! Present has elapsed." She sat down and clapped her hooves against the sides of her face. "We have lost the present. There is no other time like it! What do we do?!"

Octavia gently pat the back of the metal filly. "There there, we'll just have to make do with this inferior second-grade present. Come along, no reason to keep wasting them."

Vinyl watched the two wander off before looking up at No Name. "Why'd you send her with Octie? I woulda gone with her in a flash."

"I'm sure you would have." A snake flicked its tongue at Vinyl, watching her even as No Name fixed his larger eyes on her. "I'm also sure less would have gotten done. She cares about you too much. That goes both ways. Octavia likes her, but it's a cooler thing, ya get?"

Vinyl rolled her eyes. "That's Octavia as a rule. Cool as ice and twice as lovely." She hopped up to her hooves. "Tell me we're doing something while we wait. Just sitting around sounds too boring."

"Actually," spoke a snake with a younger tone. "I should check in with someone. You're on your own. Let's meet back here in an hour." His voice shifted to a stern father. "Got it?"

Vinyl sighed explosively. "Yeah, daddy." She stuck out her tongue. "I'm gonna rock out a little. This place is nice and all, but way too quiet."

"You do that." He began to trot away, the ground rumbling softly under his motions.





Octavia tilted her head left and right, looking over the shelves of supplies. "You certainly do stock quite an amount of goods. Do people travel that often?"

The pony behind the counter smiled as a vulpine tail swayed behind her. "This is a trade hub. People need food, coming and going. I do good business. Are you going to trade?"

"Yes, we've come to trade with you."

The fox-tailed pony shook her head, vulpine ears twitching. "Not with me, out there." She waved a pony leg that terminated in a paw in a vague direction. "That's why you need food, right?"

Bullette shook her head quite precisely back and forth at exactly the same angles. "Incorrect. We are searching. Operation doorway! We are in preparation mode. Do you have low-sugar supplies for a pony?"

The shopkeep drummed her chin with her stubby little claws. They weren't long enough to call fingers or even serve as them. "Sure, but most of them use a little sweetness to bind the packages together. Mmm, maybe something more starchy." She hopped up onto the counter with the clop of her hindhooves, just to jump back down on their side and trot up to a shelf. "Like these."

Octavia approached quickly, reaching a hoof. "May I try one?"

The vixen-mare raised a brow. "Just one."

"Of course." Octavia grabbed a bag in her teeth and pulled it down to root in it and pull out a single brick. "This is one meal, I gather?"

"Yep, each one is good for one person. You probably don't even need the whole thing." She reached out and quickly snapped the brick in half, held clumsily in her paw. "Here you go."

Octavia bit into it and munched it in her mouth. It had hints of the same tough roots they were fed in the inhuman house, but fresher and yet more preserved all at once. "Mmm, this will work."