//------------------------------// // Chapter Sixteen // Story: Truth // by shawnay631 //------------------------------// Vinyl slowly crunches on the freshly fallen snow, the soft landing of her hooves the only sound resonating in the large mountainside. Quiet, the snow stealthily finds its way to the ground. The sky is coated in a deep, dark grey. The clouds swirl within themselves; tickling the white tips of the distant mountains. She doesn’t quite know where she is, all she knows is its cold and she came with a group of ponies that have long since disappeared. She feels alone and scared, as if everypony else abandoned her when she needed them most. As if she was having a fun time and suddenly there was darkness and nopony at all. A fleeting light burns out within her chest; she feels the coldness consume her whole. Vinyl shivers; she has a terrible feeling. Ahead of her path, Vinyl sees a large wooden bridge. She trots over towards it, eager to get away from the swelling feeling of panic in her chest. Surely there has to be somepony nearby. Surely somepony has realized that she is missing and scared. Vinyl trots faster, feeling now as if there are eyes watching her from every angle. She tries to maintain a steady hoof but finds her pace to be quickening on its own. Finally, Vinyl sees another pony. Despite herself, she is happy to see a familiar mint green coat and mane. Vinyl trots over to the pony, who makes no notice of her approach. Lyra turns to face Vinyl; her face is a perfect mask of stoicism. “Finally ready to talk?” Lyra says dryly. Vinyl nods, against her own volition. “I don’t know why you keep holding on.” Vinyl folds her ears down and feels her face fall. Lyra maintains her deadpanned expression. “It’s useless, you know.” Vinyl feels a bitter cold wind pierce through the path she’s on. The snow has finally stopped. “I’m never taking you back. You’re a bad pony. Always thinking of yourself. You don’t care about anyone else.” Vinyl can feel hopelessness rising in her throat. She fights it, trying to stay strong despite the harsh words coming at her. She opens her mouth to respond but immediately gets cut off. “I never loved you.” Vinyl’s eyes sting with tears that she desperately fights against. Her throat burns as every emotion she’s ever felt bubbles to the surface. She looks up. Lyra is no longer Lyra. All Vinyl sees is a set of purple eyes, lifelessly staring at her. -------------------------------- The last thing Vinyl wanted that morning was to see Lyra. She would have rather had Celestia punch her in the face and defecate on the lawn. Well, actually, that WOULD be KIND of funny. Vinyl was finishing getting ready for the day. Octavia had already left for work early in the morning, which gave Vinyl no time to talk to her about any sort of anything. Instead, she was trying to simultaneously get rid of and give enough answers to Lyra. “Please Vinyl? I really think we need to sort this out.” Lyra pleaded. “I know. We do. But today won’t work. I’ve got stuff to do and then there’s going to be a party for Rainbow Dash tonight. I’m sorry. Tonight won’t do.” Vinyl was trying really hard to be patient, but she found it was more difficult than she remembered. She had taken Octavia’s advice to heart and she knew that finally duking it out with Lyra would put some demons to rest, but she needed another day. There was way too much stuff to do. “Rainbow Dash? Really? What, so she can lead you on some more?” Vinyl gritted her teeth. “No. And she never did. Besides, I’m with Octy now.” Vinyl watched as Lyra’s face contorted into pure rage for only a millisecond. How does she DO that? “Yes. Well. That doesn’t mean that Rainbow Dash isn’t slu-“ “Hey! Come on Lyra.” Vinyl could feel her teeth getting ground down. Lyra rolled her eyes and changed tactics. “Well, then, what errands are you running? I can come with.” “I highly doubt that the market is a good setting for the talk we need to have.” “What, so you’re going to yell at me?” Lyra sounded both hurt and accusatory. “No. But this is sort of a private thing.” Vinyl was very close to losing her mind. And more importantly, her patience. “Since when do you care about privacy?” Lyra snapped. Since when do you want everypony to know that you dated me? “It’s not a good place.” Vinyl almost growled. “Then let’s go for a walk.” “Are you kidding me? It’s like, freaking colder than the moon out there. I’m going to the market because I have to and then I’m coming home. I’m not walking around outside if I don’t have to.” The two stared at each other for a long moment, tension building in the room. “Look,” Vinyl started slowly. “I’m not dodging you. Today is just not a good day. I said soon, and I meant it. But not today.” “Whatever Vinyl. I guess ‘not today’ is just going to be happening for a while. Forget I even said anything.” Vinyl watched as Lyra stormed out of the house. She put her hoof over her eyes and slowly counted to ten, trying her best to get her anger to subside. When that didn’t work, Vinyl slammed her hoof into the closest wall and glared at the back door that Lyra just left through. She could feel the muscles in her body reacting to the confrontation, the adrenaline taking over. She flared her nose and tried to let her anger go. “I hate you.” She spat before slamming the door behind her. ----------- The walls thudded with bass from the large speakers that lined Vinyl’s room. She was finally home from what had to be the busiest market place she had ever seen. Ponies were pushy and unwelcoming, which was fine for a unicorn that could have blown up at the first one to give her a funny look. Loud, angry lyrics screamed from the speakers, straining every corner of the walls to hold together. Vinyl laid on her bed, dead to the world. She curled herself into a tight ball and stared blankly at the wall next to her. Her dream made her cranky, Lyra made her livid, and the last thing she wanted was to pretend to be happy at some party. Sulking father into her pit of despair, Vinyl couldn’t help but replay her dream for what had to be the thousandth time. She was finally coming to terms with the idea that Lyra had lied about everything in their relationship. You don’t mean that. You know she did. At the time, at least. She had often battled back and forth in her head if she believed if Lyra really ever loved her at all. Perhaps Vinyl was just some… thing… for Lyra. Something to play with. Someone who would be unconditionally there to listen to her until things got better. You know she loved you, Vinyl. At least… at the time…Maybe. Lyra wasn’t the problem, though. Those perfect purple eyes stayed with her all day, staring into her very soul. She tried to contain the burning, sick feeling in her chest; Vinyl knew it was silly to be so upset. She knew that she shouldn’t worry about things like that because Octavia was the real deal. She knew all of this, yet she felt a hole in her chest open up. This is all Lyra’s fault. I think I have a complex now. Great. Vinyl was inches from the wall, her red eyes boring into it. Lost and helpless, she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want Octavia to think she was crazy and rushing into things, but the thought of her beloved not truly trusting her and giving her heart made Vinyl crazy. Vinyl didn’t even see the wall anymore. She stared past it, only a whirlwind of emotions and despair in front of her. “I’ll never understand how you can sleep to this racket.” Vinyl jumped at snapped her head around, finding herself face to face with a smiling Octavia. “I, uh, didn’t hear you come in.” “I’m surprised you can hear anything at all.” Vinyl forced a smile and turned back towards the wall. Octavia furrowed her brows. “Vinyl… are you okay?” “Yes.” “Yes?” “I am okay. No need to worry.” Octavia wrapped her hooves around Vinyl, pulling her away from the wall. With an ‘oof’, Vinyl found herself nuzzled tightly against a grey beauty. Vinyl sighed and turned her head towards Octavia; there was no getting out of this one. “Go on. I’ll wait.” Vinyl sighed and continued to stare through the wall, the warm embrace of her lover doing little to console the burning guilt and sadness welling in her chest. She sighed, every one of her emotions expanded in her chest and exploded. “I had a dream last night.” Was all she could mutter. “Okay…” Vinyl sighed again, giving up almost completely. “I had a dream about Lyra. I know, I know, it’s a moot point. I’m gonna talk to Lyra soon and get this whole thing over with but… I don’t think I ever got over the idea that she never loved me. I told you that we had a rather interesting relationship, but I never told you about all of the ill will I harbored towards her afterwards. Sure, we were exes and exes are kind of supposed to hate each other. I was too stupid for that, though. At least until I realized that everything she ever told me was probably a lie. She loved me, she said. She wanted to be with me, she said. She’d never been happier, she said. No one could make her feel like that, she said. All lies and crap. I don’t know how I could have been so naïve. So… stupid. The part of me that wasn’t hanging on every word she said was the part of me that saw through every bullshit line she ever fed me. And it hurt. It hurt more than I could ever possibly explain. No words could ever do it justice. Can you imagine if the person that you love the most, if the person that you devote your entire life to just… doesn’t love you? How can you live with that? How can you go on knowing you were never good enough?” Vinyl finally pried her eyes away from the wall and focused on Octavia. Octavia listened intently, holding Vinyl’s gaze for a long moment. The unicorn rolled over, burrowing her face in the sweet scent of the grey mare. “It’s hard. It’s hard to think that you’re nothing. That you’ve never been anything. That you never will be anything. You’re just another prop to get someone to their next step. I was just an obstacle so Lyra could get to Bon Bon. And you know what? Bon Bon is probably just another victim. Lyra doesn’t care. Why should she? I guess… I guess I never really got over it. It hurt like hell. Still does. And I guess that I had a dream last night, and all of my demons came rushing back at once. I don’t want to have this talk with Lyra, I just want her to go away. I just want everything to get better. And everything HAS been better. I don’t want you to think that Lyra’s still a thing. She’s not. I don’t love her anymore. I lo… er, that’s not why I’m upset.” Octavia cocked an eyebrow. “Then what’s wrong?” Vinyl felt a sigh escape from her lips. “My dream was about Lyra telling me she didn’t love me. Which kind of hurt. Like ripping into an old scar. But… at the end, Lyra wasn’t Lyra. Right before I woke up, the last thing I remember is the eyes that were staring back at me. They were lavender.” Vinyl buried her face into Octavia’s chest, ashamed of herself. She hated that she even had to bring it up. She hated that it bothered her at all. But she did and she couldn’t help it. The DJ felt a hoof gently push up against her chin. Within seconds she was staring into those same lavender eyes she had just spoken of. “I’m not Lyra.” Octavia said tenderly. “I know, but-“ “And when I say something, Vinyl Scratch, I mean it. And I care about you a lot and I wouldn’t do that to you.” “Octy?” “Yes Vinyl?” “Can I… say something at the risk of sounding like a crazy mare?” “When has that stopped you before?” Octavia smirked. “I, yeah, well. I mean, I just… you… Okay. I want to say something.” Octavia chuckled. “I gathered as much.” “Right. But I don’t want to say it, too.” “Now you’re speaking gibberish.” “I just, I… I’ve been thinking. A lot. About you. And I feel like there’s something I want to say but I would look stupid saying because I just need to calm down.” Vinyl fidgeted awkwardly, her face a brilliant shade of red. The corner of Octavia’s lips pulled into a smile, which transferred to her voice. “What in all things that are pony are you trying to say?” “Er. I… I like you. A lot. A LOT.” Vinyl sunk deeper into the sheets, her blush spreading like wild fire. “We off course, Vinyl. I like you too. That’s why we’re dating.” “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?” Vinyl deadpanned. “I’ve not the slightest as to what you’re speaking of.” Octavia flashed Vinyl an innocent smile. “I… it’s stupid.” “Oh, come now. What is it that you’re feeling? I bet I would LOVE to hear it.” “It’s times like this that I sort of hate you.” Vinyl laughed. Octavia smiled and leaned into Vinyl’s ear. “You don’t really mean that, Vinyl. Come, tell me what you have to say. I promise I won’t make fun of you.” She whispered. Putty in her hooves, Vinyl looked up into Octavia’s eyes. “Iloveyou.” She muttered. How does she DO that? “Was that so hard?” Vinyl’s blush ran deeper. “M-maybe.” Octavia smiled and nuzzled Vinyl. Once again, Octavia found herself at Vinyl’s ear. “You’re a dolt. And I love you too.”