The walk back to the camp was just as Eyn had said it would be, five minutes. I was still unaware of how much time had passed since I had fallen asleep until now, but everyone was still asleep. I searched over the camp to take count of my friends. Lyra, Ditsy, Doctor, and Octavia were all lying on their moss pads. I stared at Octavia, seeing the bag sitting beside her, open and waiting for the box that I held in my teeth. From my time sneaking around the house or even down the hall, I knew that it was impossible to get past Octavia without making a sound. How was I going to do it?
Stupidity flashed across my eyes as I crossed my eyes and looked up at the horn coming off of my head. It almost made me laugh that I had forgotten that I had magic. The box floated soundlessly over the bag, sliding perfectly into place, the flap of the bag closing and tying itself off. Just as the magic left my horn, Octavia stirred only slightly, cracking her eye and staring at me sleepily before turning away. I still had no way of knowing how long I was missing or where Eyn had taken me. The sensations of annoyance permeated my being as the thoughts began to irritate me. There was no way that I could know with the sun raising and falling in its sporadic way.
All of this only grew on my nerves. Why couldn’t I just have picked a spot in Ponyville, maybe take her out to a bar, get her hammered, and have a giggling night at the house. I didn’t just hate myself, not in the relation to how much I hated Discord. He took Octavia away from me, and now I have this half-zombie version of Octavia who is being controlled by contestant number two of ponies that have been growing on my nerves, but for completely other reasons. That bucking blind alicorn… who does he think he is? Telling me that I just have to tell Octavia my true feelings when suddenly, he takes over her body. I get some bull story about how I have to ‘wait till the right time’. What time is that? ‘You will know when’ he told me. Of course I would get some cryptic message.
I had to release a pent up sigh of frustration as I rubbed my hooves on my temples to ease the pain in my head. This adventure was far too much for me to handle, and I managed to drag my friends into it. I turned to the sleeping group of ponies, just as the sun fell again revealing the bright moon. Lyra had fallen over onto her stomach, back legs outstretched with the moss on her head. She snored softly with a slight leg kick as she grumbled. Her sleeping had apparently grown to be rougher because of the sun coming out. Ditsy and the Doctor were still cuddled up close to each other, but Ditsy had burrowed her head under one of his hooves, their noses touching with smiles on their faces. Even though they were locked in each other’s bodies, they managed to find love.
I tried to cool my frustrations by trying to imagine myself like that with Octavia. The thought managed to make me smile as much as the memory of my dream on how it felt to finally kiss her. I was surprised to feel it quicken my heartbeat and fill me with an overwhelmingly warm sensation. I tried to let my mind wander and realign my mood to a more positive one. The daydream didn’t play out long as the light kiss only lasted a few more seconds and we broke apart in embarrassment at what we had done. I tried to play it out better, get us further along, but it ended, leaving me wallowing in a half finished daydream that wouldn’t reset. I found myself lying on my moss, annoyed at everything. I wanted to be alone, but now that I have it, I find myself missing company.
I haven’t talked too much of anyone while I’ve been on this trip. I had planned it to be a camping trip among friends with plenty to talk about, but here I’ve been, locked in my own mind, replaying old memories of Octavia and me. It made me feel sad that I had to resort to such. It made me feel worse that I haven’t done much help anywhere. I’ve played messenger pony and that was only recently that that job was accomplished, but I felt that I haven’t been that much of a friend.
I tossed myself to the side, trying to find that sweet spot that all beds have which would allow me to get needed relaxation I needed without exhausting dreams being invaded by Eyn. I eventually found myself lying on my back with the moss clumped into a tiny moss mountain, bending my body in half. It wasn’t quite the spot that I had imagined, but I was beyond comfortable. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, glad to see blackness follow. I didn’t dream, then again, I didn’t sleep long.
It only felt like a five minutes that I was out when I felt somepony kick my hoof to wake me up. I coughed on my drool as I lifted my sunglasses up to see which pony had done such an act. Octavia glared down at me with an unfamiliar glare that I quickly associated to Eyn after seeing the white glare flash over them.
“Oh… it’s you.” I grumbled, waking up even grouchier than I had gone to sleep.
“We must move, now.” She ushered me along, pushing up on my hindquarters as I rose. I grumbled with annoyance at being rushed when it was his fault that I didn’t sleep well.
“My little ponies… playing in the moss are we? Isn’t that just adorable?” came a voice that I dreaded to hear.
“Discord…” I grumbled.
“I said now…” Eyn whispered to me.
“You remembered my name? Oh, how I am simply flattered that you could have remembered.” He gave off on of his signature laughs.
“Hey, buddy. Why don’t you just turn your weird tail alone and leave before I show you how bad you can really look?” I was beyond annoyed and pissed.
Discord gave off a surprised look as he looked down at me. “Someone seems to not have slept the greatest…” He feigned like he cared about my sleep health.
“If you say one more thing, or touch one of my friends, I will make you regret everything you’ve done to my friends and Ponyville.” I gritted.
“Ooo, I am just trembling in my hooves at your anger, dear Vinyl.” He tossed out coyly.
I saw that the others had already been awakened before me, and had already made their way behind me.
“You probably shouldn’t say such things to Disturb.” Ditsy warned behind me.
Discord laugh stopped mid chuckle as he heard Ditsy’s final word.
“Discord.” He corrected.
“Where?” She looked around.
“Where what?” Discord seemed off balance at Ditsy’s question.
“The cord, silly goose.” Ditsy laughed.
Discord stared at her, bemused and annoyed. “Does anything work inside of your heard or do you just say things sometimes?” It was the only moment where he had struck a serious tone.
“Yes.” Ditsy answered, looking exceptionally serious inside of The Doctor’s body.
The Doctor tried to cover Ditsy’s mouth seeing that it wasn’t helping the situation at all, but the damage had been done. I watched as his hand filled with energy, picking Ditsy off of the ground and dragging her up to eye level with him. Something snapped inside of me as I jumped forward, sending what I could against him. It came out as a nice electric shock. He shook slightly from the pulsing current, dropping Ditsy to the ground where she retreated back with the rest of the group. I sent another volley of lightning strikes against him. He yawned out of boredom as they barely made a mark on him.
“Brother…” I heard the deep voice of Eyn speak. I tried to turn and look at why he would reveal who he was when he had spent all that time trying to conceal what was happening to Octavia and me, but I was locked in except my eyes, which sat safely behind my sunglasses.
“Eyn? Is that really you?” Discord’s menacing tone died and a more playful surprised tone took its place.
“In the flesh.” Eyn even sounded happy and excited.
I watched as Eyn’s true self limped into my eyesight. I was glad to have the sun up at this point to see Eyn’s true self in the light. His prosthetic was a golden metal that was crafted elegantly and had a few scribbles in the sides. His metal wings also had similar markings on them, but I had no idea as to if they meant anything. They creaked as they opened up, and flapped, sending him easily off the ground. Eyn was smaller than Discord, but in terms of presence, Eyn seemed to hold the crown.
Even more so, Discord almost seemed afraid of his brother. I looked between the two to see why he would feel that way, but instead, questions arose. How could Eyn and Discord be even remotely related? I stared at what seemed to be a joke doodle made by a young colt or filly, while Eyn showed promise of having once been a beautiful stallion. It didn’t make any sense along with almost every instance of this journey. I felt a wave of annoyance creep up on me again, but I had enough of my senses together to question where these waves of annoyance were coming from. What inspired this hatred of everything?
I don’t know if it was the way that Eyn half turned to me as that question slid through my mind or the realization that the thoughts I was having weren’t my own. I felt my true annoyed attitude begin to peak through. What is he up to? Why did I trust him?
“Calm yourself, Victoria.” Came the voice of Eyn.
I stared at him angrily, or as angrily as I could since I couldn’t blink or move my eyelids. As I stared, he kept his one eye locked on me, as if he could see my anger through his blind eyes. Discord would have to know that something was up between the two of us, if he stared like this for much longer. That was when my perceptions caught onto something that was astray. I turned my attention back to Discord and saw him frozen just like everyone else. Did Eyn truly have the power to stop Discord with such ease?
“Family connections have their bonuses. It is always said that twins seemed to share an almost mental link with each other. They wouldn’t be wrong in saying that for I’ve completely halted my brother’s body and synapses. Time has just stopped for him in this blink of time. Then again, to him it will be less than a blink. I remember how they had wanted me to use this power so that they could kill him with ease.” He took a breath and turned back to Discord. “How could anyone ask of them to kill their own brother…?” He voice sounded sad and solemn.
I could only stare, a forced audience to Eyn’s explanations into a past and history that no pony had ever heard. What happened with Eyn? A strange curiosity began to creep into my mind, and I knew it was my own. My heart skipped a few beats as I felt and saw my eyes moving on their own, locking onto Discord, and freezing into place. I couldn’t move a single muscle on my body. I was never claustrophobic, but this took the whole apple pie. The beating in my chest gave me a strong reassurance that I was still alive, and I wasn’t dreaming.
Discord began to move again, unknowing of how he had just been frozen by his brother.
“I thought Celestia had you killed for what you did, I wouldn’t have expected any different coming from her. I paid her a visit before I came and she doesn’t seem to remember you. I didn’t ask by name because I know how picky you are about people saying it casually…” Discord’s voice trailed off. “She only seems to remember me. What did you do?” He laughed as if Eyn had played some sort of ancient joke on my princess.
“I gave her the gift of forgetfulness. My crimes weren’t going to be remembered by anyone including her.” Eyn nodded with an unnatural smirk on his face as if he knew something more about it.
“Ooo, I like that one. Freezing these lesser ponies was also a nice touch. What should we do to them?” He jumped with excitement.
“We aren’t doing anything to them. I want you to return to Ponyville.”
“What? Why would I miss the ability to play with these defenseless ponies?” He chuckled devilishly.
“You have to defeat the Elements of Harmony of course.” Eyn smiled.
My heart leaped inside of my chest. Eyn did know something that he wasn’t telling us.
“I’ve already defeated those peppy ‘friends’. They are wallowing too much in their own self loathing, hate, and lies to even be able to use them.” Discord chuckled. Each laugh made my heart sink more.
“From what I can tell, Twilight Sparkle has just broken your curse and knows how to reverse your curse. She is actually changing her friends back as we speak.” Eyn seemed to enjoy the pained expression that wiped across Discord’s face.
“That’s impossible. No pony can break that curse.” Discord retorted.
“That is until you met Twilight Sparkle. You should have seen how much she has done with her friends. She has plenty of memories with them to break anything you throw at her.” Eyn’s amusement only lightened my mood more. Maybe he was on our side…
“Those blasted ponies…” Discord grumbled. “I’ll have to spread as much chaos as I can…” He began to trudge off toward Ponyville for dramatic effect.
“Brother… The next time you see them, they will try to use the Elements of Harmony on you. Do not fear it because you’ve grown far too powerful for them to effect you.” My heart plummeted again.
Discord’s mood instantly improved as he jumped up and clicked his heels together.
“I knew those ponies couldn’t stop me. Thank you brother.” He spoke with his usual, sinister chime.
With a flash of light, he teleported back to Ponyville. Suddenly, my body loosened and I almost fell forward. I looked to where Eyn was standing and found that he was gone. I turned back to Octavia and saw the side of her mouth raise, in a sly half smile.
“Where did he go?” The Doctor asked, looking around him quickly as if Discord moved at speeds exceeding light.
“I don’t know…” Lyra spoke, jumping in circles so that Discord couldn’t sneak up on them.
I never broke my stare with Octavia, or should I say Eyn. Octavia seemed to have been completely wiped out of her body by Eyn, leaving him in a hollow shell to use as he pleased.
I knew Eyn could read my mind and probably had his mind comm on or whatever he used or did. What are you up to?
“Overconfidence is the greatest downfall of anyone great. The Elements will not destroy him, but it is going to seal him away again. I just didn’t want him to defend himself when it happens.” A sparkle glittered across Octavia’s eyes as he transported his voice directly into my head.
“I-“ I spoke out loud out of naturally tendencies, but I caught myself before the others noticed. ‘How is Octavia?’
“She is safe and will be returned to you by the end of the day, but we must hurry to the site.”
“Come on guys, let’s just get to the end of this swamp before he comes back.” I commanded.
“Yes, let us get this over with.” Eyn spoke with Octavia’s voice. I saw that Octavia had turned her cursed gray color again.
“The faster we get this curse off of us, the faster we can find a way to save Ponyville.” The Doctor joined in the almost pep talk like feel.
Everyone nodded in agreement just as Octavia began to gallop into the swamp. Without hesitation, we joined her final push through the swamp. Seeing how Octavia moved, I could have sworn that she was just her cursed self again, and not just Eyn controlling her. I figured that Eyn could play such a powerful poker face that he could also make anyone look like someone they are not, including themselves.
“For you, Octavia…” I hid under my breath as I followed her.
The swamp wasn’t the most friendly of places. Vines moved on their own, trying to ensnare us in their tendrils, while different rocks opened up revealing large spiders that tried to grab at us. I had to run in the back with Lyra and use magic to throw rocks and shoot lightening at them as we continued are push. Octavia moved without flinching, jumping and dodging with an agility that would have been impossible for her to accomplish if she was herself.
The water around us shook as something large began running toward us. I turned to see the many heads of hydra barreling down on us. I threw a rock at it in hopes to see a change in its speed and direction, but it only seemed to irritate it more.
“We need to gallop faster!” Lyra screamed. I could see the tears falling off of her eyes as she screamed. Had we grown so desperate?
The trees around us began to thicken again, which thankfully slowed the hydra down, but sadly didn’t stop it. He continued to break through the fragile limbs of the dead tress to get to us. We had to leap over more and more logs as the dead forest around us became denser. Then suddenly, it broke out into a clearing. I stared at it and just wanted to leap for it, as if hitting the clearing would somehow stop the hydra behind us. My heart only slammed harder against my chest as my lungs began to burn from the fumes of the swamp and the decay of the trees.
I jumped over a log to see a branch stood in my path. I didn’t have enough time to stop and find a different path and found myself hitting it as hard as I could, knocking the wind out of me, but it broke allowing me to slide into the clearing. I stood up and tried to run, but I had lost my wind and stumbled, sending one of my hooves into a hole. I could only throw my thanks into the air that it didn’t break, but I knew it was twisted. I limped with no breath toward the lip of the crater where everyone had gathered around. The expressions on their faces told me that there was no hope in the crater, but I limped toward them anyway.
I had just arrived next to them as the hydra broke through the last of the trees, sending a wall of air past me, knocking me over. My lungs burned, leg hurt, and my wind still hadn’t returned to my gasping lungs.
“Well… I guess he wasn’t here…” The Doctor painfully admitted to himself. He stepped closer to Ditsy.
The hydra took pleasure at having us cornered, and slowly walked toward us. A strange cracking filled my ears. I looked down at the ground and saw that the weight of the hydra broke the fragile ground around us. Either we were going to be eaten by many different heads or we were going to fall to our deaths when the ground gave way.
“Ready?” I turned back to see The Doctor standing next to Ditsy.
They both turned toward the hydra with a look of defiance.
“Ready.” Ditsy spoke assuredly.
I watched as they both ran forward, yelling at the hydra. The hydra stopped at the strange act of bravery that the two had shown. Lyra bumped into me as she followed suit with them. I wanted to scream out to them, tell them to stop. There had to be another way around this instead of throwing their lives away. I looked around the crater, but so no such escape plan. Instead I found the same wave of bravery filling me.
I managed to climb up to my feet and pick up as many rocks as I could, shooting them at the hydra’s eyes in hopes that I could somehow blind it. Nothing seemed to work against the hulking beast, yet I rinsed and repeated my actions, grabbing another group of sharp rocks and shooting them out in rapid succession toward the eyes of the beast. The Doctor, managed to learn how to fly and tried his best to hit the top of the heads with his hooves, but they didn’t affect it at all like everything else we were doing. At best, we were only delaying our own deaths.
I barely noticed the tears that had burned down my dirty cheeks. The desperation of my attacks began to grow, though deep down, I knew they weren’t doing anything. I managed to see that the same tears had begun to fall from the other’s eyes.
“Five…” Octavia spoke behind me.
I wanted to turn and ask her what she was saying and why she wasn’t helping.
“Four…” She continued.
“What are you…?” I couldn’t finish as jumped out of the way of the ground crumbling into the crater.
“Three…” My breath was taken away as I saw a giant rainbow shoot into the air where Ponyville would have been about. Everyone had seen the same thing as I did, letting his or her guard down.
The hydra took advantage of it and hit all three of the attacking ponies in a single flourish. I watched Lyra and Doctor Hooves’ body slide to a stop near me, as Ditsy’s body was tossed against a tree. Even from this distance I could hear the bone in her wing crack as she let out a painful scream. My heart, already weak from this final push had nearly broken as I heard that scream.
Ditsy stood in the Doctor’s body and looked at her broken body that slowly rose. The wing was bent awkwardly as she stood, twitching as the body instinctually wanted to pull the wing closed. Tears of pain fell from his eyes as he tried to limp toward the true Ditsy.
“Not you too!” She screamed, running toward him, tears pouring off of her face.
“One. Catch me…” I heard behind me.
I managed to just turn toward her to question why she was counting down, when the ground began to shake as if a massive explosion had hit Equestria. The ground all around the crater began to collapse. I turned toward Ponyville to see a double rainbow clear across the sky. It fell toward the ground and suddenly, everything exploded around me. I quickly turned back to Octavia to see the ground giving out from under her.
“No!” I grabbed under both of her armpits, resting my head against hers as I struggled to keep her up. I felt myself begin to slip along with ground, and accepted a fate of dying with Octavia. I was never going to let her go…
Suddenly, my sprained hoof slid into a hole. Pain shot through my body, but I managed to hold on. Thankfully, the hole stopped me and allowed me to keep my footing, but I didn’t have enough energy to pull her up. Octavia kicked at the side of the sheer cliff, tears falling off of her face as she struggled, my glasses falling off of my head and into the abyss below.
“Vinyl! Don’t let go! Don’t let go!” I knew it was she. She was back! I only held onto her harder.
“Don’t worry, Tavi. I have you… I have you…” I could only speak in a whisper to her, feeling my lungs breaking from the strain. I didn’t want to admit that I could feel my hooves sliding and that there was no way I could hold onto her much longer.
“I’m not going to make it am I…?” Octavia admitted.
Tears began to pour out of my eyes and dripping down Octavia’s back. I took a deep breath in, trying to compose myself and give her my best face.
“Are you kidding?” I sniffed. “We can never be separated.” My body began to shake as my hooves slid slightly on her smooth fur. “No…” I couldn’t hold back the sadness any longer. “Octavia… I just wanted to tell you…” I pulled my head back so that I could look into her eyes. They were how I always remembered them. Tears had soaked the hair around her eyes as she stared up at me, could see that she knew she was going to die and no one could do anything to change that. She waited for my words as I tried to say them, tears falling onto her cheek.
“Vinyl…” Octavia almost sounded like she didn’t want me to talk with such finality, but I had already started what I wanted to say.
“I love you.” The words came off almost as a whisper, but with more truth than what has ever escaped my mouth. Before I could even react, Octavia used what strength she had and pulled herself up to me. I could never forget that warm and wet sensation of her lips on mine. She kissed me with more love than any other pony had kissed me, which only brought a heavier rush of tears. I slipped some more.
“I love you too…” She spoke just as the last of my grip slipped. My heart reached out to try and grab her, but it was too late.
“Octavia!” I screamed after her as she fell into darkness below. My tears fell with her, trying to catch her, save her. Is this what Eyn wanted? Everything moved in slow motion as she kept those purple eyes locked onto me, the color returning to her before she fell from view. I reached my hooves out to the void. She didn’t even make a noise. I stayed where I was, lost in shock, and sadness.
I turned to see if I would soon be following her to the grave, but saw the other’s huddled around Ditsy’s body, the hydra nowhere to be found. I couldn’t bring myself to walk away from where I let Octavia go. It hurt too much to admit that I had let her down, I had killed her, and the only pony I loved… The more my thoughts worked the more sadness filled my eyes. I began to feel myself go numb as I stared at my friends. I walked to them, barely able to feel the ground under my hooves as I trotted.
Staring at the ground, no, staring into myself, I could only see the blackness of the hole staring back at me. I walked to the broken pegasus’s side, finding her smiling through the pain, her eyes crooked again.
“I’m back in my body! Ow!” Ditsy chimed excitedly. I gave her a half smile, wishing I had my glasses to hide behind.
I couldn’t bring myself to care, everything felt numb and distant from me. It hurt to stand there, it hurt to be alive. Images of her flashed before my eyes, sending another wave of tears down my face, softly patting and soaking the cracked ground underneath of me.
“The curse is broken. They beat Discord!” Ditsy laughed, back to her usual self. “Where’s Octavia, I have to hug that pony.” She turned toward me expectantly.
I watched as all of their faces dropped low. I had realized what they were looking at, but I looked down and saw her pink bow wrapped around my neck. It wasn’t tied, but it had managed to stick to me from the wetness of my tears. It was almost too much for me to handle. I broke down in another fit of tears, my legs collapsing under the weight of the sadness. Lyra stared at me, devastated, her mouth hung open as tears filled her eyes.
They looked over my head at where Octavia had been standing to see it gone, eaten by the sides of the crater. I could feel them trying to comfort me. She can’t be gone… I stared at the ground where my tears had fallen. Why now? She had loved me too… I hit my hoof against the ground angrily.
“Why? Why? Why? Why?” I smashed my hoof, harder at each word. The tears poured from my eyes as my lungs heaved. I hid my face from the others.
“Vinyl…” Lyra tried to comfort me, but her words were broken with her own sobs. “Maybe she… I mean…” Her usually cheerful self had vanished, broken by all of the events.
Everything felt too sudden, rushed. I could barely remember what happened up to that point. Everything felt like a half remembered blur. Paralyzed by my sadness, I secured myself to the ground. “It’s all my fault…” I repeated as I let myself pass out.
----------------------------------------
I woke up feeling weightlessness in my legs. I looked around quickly to find myself dangling over a hole. I barely had enough of my senses about me to see that Vinyl was holding me up.
“Vinyl! Don’t let go! Don’t let go!” She must hate me for having to save me all of the time, but fear outweighed my guilt. It was the first time that I could actually see my hooves. They were gray and instantly, my mind began to backtrack as what I would believe most minds to do when they are on the verge of death. I could easily feel the grip that Vinyl had on me slipping, and I knew it wasn’t going to be long before her grip would vanish.
I could feel her tears starting to wet my back as she struggled to hold on. “Don’t worry, Tavi. I have you… I have you…” her voice sounded so soft. I didn’t think her voice could fall that far and become so comforting. It was almost like another mare was talking to me.
I could myself begin to cry as old feelings that I had trapped inside of myself had begun to boil again. I wanted to tell her more than anything of how much she meant to me and that I did and still loved her, but something tried to hold me back, but it was far weaker. I felt her grip slip more and I felt the words slip through my lips, as warm tears were squeezed from my eyes.
“I’m not going to make it am I?” I asked, though I knew the answer. I didn’t want to admit that I just wanted to hear her speak.
“Are you kidding?” She tried to put a happy tone into her voice. She managed something close, but her sobs didn’t help. “We can never be separated.” I could feel her muscles strain to keep me up, knowing she was giving everything she had plus more to keep me from falling even though we both knew that there was no escaping this. Warmth began to fill my chest as my memories began to replay all of the times we had been together. She managed to change the position of my head so that our eyes locked. She had lost her glasses. “No…” I heard her regretfully admit to me. Even though I knew it was coming, I found the words to strike my heartstrings. I had to tell her the words that had been on the tip of my tongue this entire escapade and I knew I didn’t have much time to say it. “Octavia… I just wanted to tell you…”
I missed her last words as I started. “Vinyl…”
“I love you.” She stole the words out of my mouth. The warmth grew into a searing heat that filled my body and made me realize what my feelings meant. Color returned to my hooves, as I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. I used what strength I had to pull myself closer to her, connecting our lips and feeling my love for her flourish into a wonderful crescendo.
“I love you too…” I managed to speak after our lips separated. Her hooves slipped out as the same time. I could feel the sensation of complete weightlessness fill my body as I fell, the rush of the wind past my ears. It felt like flying. I slowly closed my eyes as the darkness enveloped me.
I could hear Vinyl scream my name, but I knew that I was already dead. I only managed to let the air out of me in a comforting sigh. I felt like I was flying for once in my life. I spread out my hooves and kept my eyes closed, imagining the sensation of flying to be similar. I managed to smile amid my tears right before everything stopped, letting the air escape my lungs. It was cold and dark. I could still feel the warmth on my lips from kissing Vinyl. I kept that memory as the final tears fell from eyes. It’s so cold.