//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: And So it Ended, and So it Begins Again // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chronology notes: Stop! You are reading the Twelfth and final story of the All Good Things series started by The Kindness of Strangers! Please read The Kindness of Strangers first! http://www.fimfiction.net/story/389/ The second part of the story is Putting the Pieces Back Together found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/407/ The third part of the story is Midnight in the Heart of Equestria found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/419/ The fourth part of the story is Tomorrow is Always a New Day found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/433/ The fifth part of the story is To Each Their Own found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/526/ The sixith part of the story is Imperfect found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/600/ The seventh part of the story to Paradiso found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/687/ the eighth part of the story is Broken Record found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/732/ The ninth part of the story is Home Sweet Home found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/826/ The tenth Rite of Passage found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/895/ This story is the direct sequel to The Long Road Home found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1030/ And So it Ended, and So it Begins Again Chapter 1 A cool breeze fell upon the mare’s face; she opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. The sky was the deep red of sunrise, looking east, she could see the sun rising. It was beautiful. Vinyl Scratch was perfectly content to lie here and watch for the rest of the morning, completely unworried that she hadn’t the faintest idea where she even was. Knowing her, she’d gotten drunk off her arse the night before and wandered off into the wilderness. Her head was splitting, so the likelihood of being hung-over was extremely high. “Excuse me? Are you all right?” Vinyl looked up to find a rather attractive looking earth pony stallion standing over her, grey coat and an orange mane, his eyes were a soft and gentle looking orange, and he had the cutie mark of a diskette on his flank. “I am now!” Vinyl said with a grin. “Name’s Vinyl Scratch, what’s yours?” “I’m... Montana Ulhan, ponies call me Monty though,” Monty said smiling at her. “Nice to meet ya!” Vinyl said with a grin, she sat up and looked Monty over, the pony was stocked full of camping gear. “Going somewhere?” “Walking across Equestria, actually. Started way west of here in Appleoosa, planning on finishing in Fillydelphia,” Monty said. “Sounds like fun!” Vinyl said with a grin. “Maybe I’ll join you,” she added in a seductive voice. “Uh... I ah... have a fillyfriend,” Monty said uneasily. “Oh boo!” Vinyl said. “Well your loss!” “I uh... yeah, gotta go! Bye!” Monty said and quickly scampered off to who knows were. Vinyl giggled, he’d been so cute! Vinyl rose to her hooves and started trotting off. Didn’t matter which direction she went, she’d get somewhere soon enough. She was in the middle of a forest, and quickly found a dirt pathway several metres from where she had been lying and hopped on it, heading west towards... well, she didn’t quite know where this path was going to lead her, but it didn’t exactly matter. Vinyl Scratch was a free spirit, she did what she wanted, when she wanted, and ain’t nopony going to tell her any different! Vinyl looked to her left and noticed that there was a collapsed cave. She stopped, she didn’t know why, but something inside her mind told her to stop and look. She looked at it for a good long minute before it hit her. Vinyl clutched her head in pain and collapsed to the ground. A memory flooded into her head, she was walking into a cave with a lavender unicorn mare. The memory had been short; Vinyl Scratch had not been able to make out very much, except that the unicorn that she had been with had a really nice arse. Vinyl grinned to herself; she always focused on the important things. She attributed it to a dream or drunken debauchery, both were just as likely, and she continued on her way without a second thought. Soon enough, Vinyl Scratch had exited the tree line and found herself on the edge of a small town. She had another flash of a memory. This time a hole in the ground, a Pegasus filly standing next to her, Vinyl Scratch clutched her head in pain, now she was curious. Something wasn’t right here, one odd event in a day, that could be written off, another one so soon after? Well that warranted investigation. Vinyl trotted into town, crossing a bridge over the river that ran along the town’s edge and trotted off down the high street. It was still early, so Vinyl was not expecting anypony to be up and about at this hour, and to her surprise, there was one. Vinyl threw her hooves over her ears when the shrill sound of a whistle broke the air. “Come on Whirlwind! You can do it way faster than that! If that sky isn’t cleared in ten seconds flat, I’ll just get more clouds and you can do it over again!” Vinyl looked over to the source of the shouting, and discovered an extremely hot Pegasus mare with her mane in the colours of a Rainbow. “Yes ma’am,” said another pony, a grey coated Pegasus stallion, his mane matched his coat completely, as did his Cutie Mark of a Twister, what stuck out about this pony were the eyes, they were a deep red, much like Vinyl’s own. Whirlwind leapt into the air and zoomed off to clear the sky. “FASTER!” The rainbow maned Pegasus mare called out. “You’ll have to excuse my saying so, but you have quite the pair of lungs miss,” Vinyl said suggestively. The rainbow maned Pegasus turned around, instantly picking up on Vinyl’s intentions with the comment. “You must be new in town... so let me fill you in on a little secret. I am not into mares, so do yourself a favour and stop hitting on me before I knock your teeth in!” the rainbow maned Pegasus said with annoyance in her voice. Vinyl grinned like a madmare, when she found a button to push; she couldn’t help but push it. “Hey! Come on! I’m just trying to be friendly. I’m Vinyl Scratch! What’s your name?” Vinyl asked sweetly. “Rainbow Dash,” the Pegasus said simply. “AND IF YOU WANT ON MY WEATHER TEAM, WHIRLWIND, YOU NEED TO FLY FASTER!” Vinyl watched as this Whirlwind pony cleared the sky above them, and landed back on the ground, panting heavily. “That was pathetic!” Rainbow Dash cried out. “DO IT AGAIN!” “Yes ma’am,” Whirlwind said simply, he paused, looking at Vinyl intently, as if he recognised her. Vinyl looked back, smiling brightly at him. “Hey! Stop staring at the wildlife! Get back to work!” Rainbow Dash yelled at him. “Yes ma’am,” Whirlwind said, leaping into the air. “Well, you got the wild part right,” Vinyl said with a grin. “Being a little hard on him though aren’t you?” Rainbow Dash blushed slightly, but shrugged it off. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, see what I’m doing? I am training a champion! He’s going to be the fastest pony in Equestria after I get through with him! Well... second to yours truly anyway!” “Oh! So you like going fast? Well you’re in luck; I like to go fast too!” Vinyl said with a grin. Rainbow Dash turned a bright red. “Do you have anything better to do than hit on me?” “Nope!” Vinyl said with a grin. “I’ll be seeing you around Rainbow Dash.” Vinyl gave Rainbow Dash a small wink, oblivious to the fact that Rainbow Dash couldn’t see it with the goggles that covered her eyes, and she likely wouldn’t have cared even if she had. Rainbow Dash watched her walk away in confusion, completely forgetting about Whirlwind and when he touched back down on the ground, she made him do his task again without actually knowing how fast he did it. Being early, there weren’t many ponies out and about. “I’m very sorry to have bothered you this early in the morning. I hate to interrupt you while you’re sleeping, Twilight Sparkle,” a stallion’s voice said. Vinyl walked closer to the source, interested to hear more. “Oh don’t worry about it Doctor! I was actually awake anyway! I hope the book helps!” said another voice, this one belonging to a mare. “I think it will, thank you again!” The stallion said. Vinyl had practically come down right on top of them, the stallion came into view. Standing before her was a unicorn stallion, with a black coat and mane, amber eyes, and a green medical cross for a cutie mark. “Hello!” The stallion said, “I don’t think that I’ve seen you in town before! I’m Doctor Nightly.” “Vinyl Scratch!” Vinyl said with her trademark grin. Something about this pony was familiar, Vinyl had another flash of memory; she saw this pony, standing with two others that looked a lot like him. Vinyl shook her head. “Hey... uh, this might sound like a weird question... but do you have brothers?” “Brothers?” Doctor Nightly repeated. “No... I can’t say that I do, I was an only-colt growing up. Why do you ask?” “Oh... I...” Vinyl said. “No reason, I just thought that maybe I’d seen somepony that looked like you before.” “Ah,” Doctor Nightly replied. “I see, well sorry I couldn’t be more helpful!” “Nah don’t worry, you’re fine!” Vinyl said with a polite smile, and with that, the two ponies parted ways. Vinyl continued to wander aimlessly around the town, unable to shake the nagging suspicion that she had been here before. Every building she looked at would give her a flash of memory. And then she laid her eyes upon another one. Sugarcube Corner. Then she remembered. Vinyl Scratch collapsed to the ground, memories flooded back to her mind. She remembered meeting Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash on her way to the Hoofson Bay. She remembered going with Lyra, Bon Bon, Derpy, Trixie, Big Macintosh, Braeburn, and Trooper Willoughby to Manehattan. She remembered meeting Scootaloo and becoming sisters, in fact though not by blood. She remembered Surprise, the psychotic Pegasus who did such unspeakable things to them. She remembered the missile. It had gone off. Vinyl remembered everything, but it raised new questions, if the bomb went off, then what was this place? How was she here? And maybe most importantly, what the hell were the Bonds of Eternity?