//------------------------------// // Chapter V5: Denial // Story: [Redacted] // by McPoodle //------------------------------// [Redacted] - Chapter V5: Denial - Zip Perturb walked swiftly across the trailer park in the pre-dawn hours to the home of Vinyl Scratch. He knocked on the door, but nopony answered. This was not surprising, as he hadn’t seen her come home, but he wanted to be sure the place was empty before he used the key in his possession to go inside. Zip desperately needed somepony to trust. In a few hours, Equestria would awaken to realize what had happened to their princess, and the whole world would fall apart. If only he had somepony to talk to, he could figure out what needed to be done. Zip wanted that pony to be Vinyl Scratch, he truly did. But 68 years of being betrayed by everyone close to him was not easily overcome by a pony Pinkie Pie had introduced to him a single year earlier. He had to have proof. In a cabinet, he found a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He rewound the tape and played it. “DJ Pon-3’s Best Mix Tape ever, 7016 edition!” proclaimed the voice on the tape. It was Vinyl Scratch’s voice, but not quite. Zip had noticed that Vinyl tended to refer to her DJ persona as if she were a different pony from herself, reminding him of himself when he tried extra hard to pretend to be a pony. The tape continued with a list of various songs and how best to combine them to create a variety of moods. Zip let the tape play as he continued to search the trailer for clues to Vinyl’s character. He made a mental note to ask her later if he could borrow the oscilloscope he found, as it could prove handy in removing the annoying burr from GIP’s voice. The voice on the tape was now definitely Vinyl’s, and no longer Pon-3’s. She was remarking on the emotional qualities of a set of CDs owned by Pinkie Pie. As he was listening to this, Zip tripped over a full waste basket and knocked its contents onto the floor. Zip set the basket back up and started putting the trash back in it. His attention was caught by a crumpled piece of paper with pink writing upon it. This is what it said: Hey Pinkie, This one’s bad. I mean really, really bad. “How bad is it?” I can hear you ask. You don’t want to know. That’s how bad it is. I know, right? So, what do you need to do? You need to introduce Vinyl Scratch to Zip Perturb. That’s it. Well, I hope that’s it. It better be it. So just do that and none of this will ever happen. It took me 15 years to figure that out. 15 years of guerilla armies and a mopey Luna. That’s right—you now owe me for 15 years of unfun. Yours in Eternal Pinkness, ~~Me Of course it was a Pinkie Pie letter. Nothing else on Equestria made less sense. Just then, he heard the sound of the dragon organ playing. Looking out the window, he saw Vinyl Scratch at the keyboard. Quickly, Zip finished filling the wastepaper basket. He shut off the tape recorder and closed the cabinet, then raced to the door, but when he put his “hoof” to the knob, he saw it begin to turn, so he hid behind the desk. A weary Vinyl walked into the room. “I don’t mind you visiting, honest I don’t,” she announced. “But I really need to take a nap.” Zip started to get up. “So you don’t even want to hear what I’ve come to say?” said Miss Terror. Zip quickly ducked back down. He had no idea how this strange dragon had suddenly materialized in the trailer. Vinyl paused for a moment. “Go right ahead,” she then said, with a tone as if she had been talking to her the entire time. There was a knock at the door. “I should get rid of my visitor first,” Vinyl added. “I’d let him in if I were you,” Miss Terror advised. Vinyl cautiously opened the door partway. “Can I help you?” she asked. “I hope so,” said Professor Stein. “Miss Dash, please stay out here and keep an eye on things.” Vinyl immediately let him in. He was followed in by a very solemn Spike. Rainbow Dash stayed behind. Zip tried to shrink down even smaller behind the desk. “What happened?” Vinyl asked. “Something’s happened to Celestia,” Miss Terror said. Vinyl’s gasp was loud enough to cover up Zip’s. “There was an explosion on board the royal airship a couple hours ago,” Stein explained, “which caused it to crash into the Everfree Forest. Both Celestia and Twilight Sparkle were found unconscious, and nopony was able to awaken either one of them. They have now started manifesting spontaneous injuries.” “What about Wells?” Vinyl asked. “The others have him in custody, but the problem is that he’s awake.” “I don’t understand.” “Celestia and Twilight are the victims of a dream trap spell,” Waking Terror explained. “They have been sucked into the dream of a spellcaster, who now has complete power over them. Every injury they sustain during the dream will be inflicted upon their sleeping bodies, up to and including death.” “Since Wells is awake, he can’t be the caster,” added Professor Stein. “Twilight’s friends found the remains of a magical device on him that he used to trigger the spell and link the two victims’ minds with the spellcaster’s, almost certainly the Emperor. So far they have been unable to get Wells to tell them where the Emperor is hiding, and they can’t trace the link. The only way we can break this spell without hurting Twilight and the Princess is if we can force the spellcaster to wake up.” “What can I do to help?” Vinyl asked. “We’re taking a team of chariots out to the Everfree,” said Stein. “Miss Terror will stay here and handle the inevitable panic.” “Perhaps not,” Miss Terror said, turning her head. “The sun’s rising!” exclaimed Spike. Stein and Miss Terror rushed to the window. “Thank Celestia!” cried the professor. “Thank Luna, is more appropriate, I think,” remarked Miss Terror. “If Celestia had recovered, you can be sure that she would have sent a message to Spike here.” Everyone stared expectantly at Spike, but he failed to produce a note. Professor Stein sighed. “As I was saying, Miss Terror will stay here, while you and I will head out to the crash site. We should be there in a couple of hours. With my help, you’ll be able to see inside Celestia’s mind. Hopefully, you’ll be able to pick up a clue as to where the Emperor is hiding based on what you learn.” Vinyl backed away. “That’s an awful longshot,” she told them. “They might be dead in two hours, and I’ve never used my horn sight on dreams before. Is that even possible?” Stein sighed. “I have no idea. But what other choice do we have? Celestia’s life hangs by a thread.” Zip Perturb took in a deep breath, and then stood up. “What are the material components of a dream trap spell?” he asked. The other four inhabitants of the room stared at him. Finally Spike lowered the eye ridge he had raised and answered the question. “For the dragon version of the spell? Four rubies, seven pearls, and the perfect likenesses of the victims carved out of a narwhal’s horn.” “My guardians, Fire Engine and Eggplant, handed over those exact items to a mysterious dragon who seemed to have complete control of their minds,” said Zip. “He then left with them, but not before leaving me with this.” He unzipped the front of his costume and pulled out a piece of parchment. The ponies looked away from the animal skin in disgust. Miss Terror made a gesture with her claws, and the parchment floated out of Zip’s hands and crossed the room to her, where she read it out loud without touching it: I know you’re around here somewhere, Coward. Fine, keep hiding. Do not follow us. If any dragon or pony other than me gets within fifty feet of either one of your fathers, my spell will ensure that their heads will pop. Quite messily. “They are being held in a warehouse on the east end of town,” Zip said. “I’ll...lead you there.” “But that will mean their deaths!” Spike exclaimed. Zip drew himself up to his full height. “The Perturbs are citizens of Equestria. All three of us are willing to lay down our lives to save the Princesses.”