Chapter 8
The trio had lugged as many spare parts and bits of scrap metal to the wreck of their armoured car. Willoughby was sure that he could do the suspension work well enough. He was no Stephen McNair, but he could manage. He had to; the armoured car was the only way that he was getting his friends back to Swan City. Apparently, the railway traffic had frozen completely across the entire country, after some crazy pony tourist disconnected the caboose from a train bound for Warrane, without the caboose, the train had no brakes, without brakes, it was rather difficult to stop. Willoughby mentioned it casually to Vinyl and Luna. They gave each other a series of looks, but offered up nothing else. The police hadn’t been able to catch him, and it was suspected that the unidentified perpetrator had skipped the country on a ship bound for Fetlevostok. At least, so he had heard; if so, the perpetrator was long gone. The lands of the Cossack Confederation were vast and endless. It was impossible to find anyone once they’d entered it.
Willoughby had spent most of the day underneath the armoured car, repairing the broken axel from running over the landmine. Everything else seemed to be fine, they’d gotten lucky, and had bashed up the middle row of tyres, which were unpowered, if necessary, they could go on without them.
Vinyl Scratch was lying on her stomach on her bedroll besides their makeshift camp next to the armoured car’s wreck. Her stomach was churning, and she felt as if she was going to vomit if she moved even a millimetre.
“Vinyl Scratch? Are you all right?” Princess Luna asked as she leaned down next to her companion. She placed her foreleg on Vinyl’s forehead, she had a fever. “You don’t look well.”
“What? No, Princess, I’m fine! Really, I’m just... tired,” Vinyl said with a smile. “It’s been an exhausting day, I just need...” Vinyl let out a loud yawn. “... a little sleep! That’s all.”
Luna looked at her companion, a look of worry forming on her face. Vinyl could somehow tell that the night princess was put on edge, and she did her best to try and assail her fears.
“I’ll be fine! I promise!” Vinyl said with a grin. “Don’t worry about me! Worry about Willoughby, make sure he’s drinking enough water.”
“I appreciate your concern Vinyl Scratch,” Willoughby called from underneath the armoured car. “But I think I would know how to survive in the Outback, don’t you?”
“Can’t be too careful Benny-boy, only two of us know how to drive, and I know that Princess Luna would object heavily to me doing it,” Vinyl said with a grin.
“Quite correct,” Luna said, she trotted over to the armoured car and slipped a canteen underneath the armoured car. Willoughby thanked her for it and took it in hand.
Vinyl felt incredibly dizzy, she was glad that she couldn’t see, because if she could, the world would have looked as if it was spinning, and she would have definitely vomited. She was starting to wonder if this had had anything to do with what she’d seen, no, that didn’t even make sense. She shook the through from her mind, realising that it was she that was probably suffering from dehydration. “Princess Luna? Could you give me some water, please?”
Luna obliged her and passed over a full canteen, which Vinyl Scratch downed in ten seconds flat.
“Ahh,” Vinyl said, licking her lips for the excess moisture. “Much better!”
“Are you sure that you’re all right Vinyl Scratch?” Luna asked her.
“I’m sure princess, thank you for your concern, but I’ll be fine. I just need a nap,” Vinyl said, she set her head down on the bedroll’s pillow, and closed her eyes. Not that she noticed a difference between the two, and soon found herself drifting off to sleep.
...
She was dreaming; she had to be dreaming, because she could see. What was it that she could see? Vinyl Scratch was trotting down a busy Manehattan sidewalk, it was night time, but that didn’t mean anything, Manehattan was well lit at night. Lights for clubs littered the street that she was walking down.
She spotted her prize; the muted grey earth pony wasn’t paying attention to what was going on behind her. It was perfect.
“Surprise Snuggles!” Vinyl Scratch called out as she tackled Octavia to the ground, nuzzling her with affection.
“Vinyl...” Octavia seethed at her. “Do you have to do this EVERY time you see me?”
“Yes!” Vinyl said with a grin. “Problem?”
Octavia groaned loudly, and Vinyl let her up. Octavia’s scowl quickly turned to a small smile. “Come here...” she said begrudgingly, embracing Vinyl Scratch in a tight hug.
In the back of her mind, Vinyl Scratch knew she was dreaming, but she was hardly aware of it. To be perfectly honest, she didn’t care. She hadn’t seen Octavia in an incredibly long time. Vinyl still had a lot of poor behaviour to apologise for in the real world... but right now, she was just happy to run with the dream.
“What are we doing tonight O?” Vinyl asked.
“I don’t suppose I can talk you into an evening at the concert hall?” Octavia asked.
“Oh I’m sure if you tired hard enough you could,” Vinyl said flirtatiously, flashing a bright grin at her best friend.
Octavia let out a loud, exaggerated sigh. “Nightclub it is then.”
“Aww you’re giving up that easily?” Vinyl said in mock disappointment.
“You know I don’t like mares like that, Vinyl,” Octavia reminded her.
“Oh come on, how would you know? You’ve never tried!” Vinyl said.
“Vinyl, I know you well enough to know that I will never try that little experiment with you,” Octavia said.
“Spoilsport!” Vinyl said, flashing a grin at her friend. Both of them began to smile and broke into a slight giggle. “Concert hall will be fine tonight, O.”
A look of mock horror appeared on Octavia’s face. “What’s this!? Vinyl Scratch is passing up a night at a club to listen to classical music!? What is this insanity?! Help! Police! This mare is an imposter!” Octavia couldn’t help but smile and both mares continued to giggle loudly at the situation.
In the back of her mind, Vinyl Scratch couldn’t help but feel a little sad, because this wasn’t something that happened. No, this experience was completely fictional, while Vinyl Scratch and Octavia were actually ‘friends.’ It had been a completely one-sided friendship, with Vinyl Scratch being the domineering personality and Octavia just went along with whatever Vinyl had decided in order to make sure that Vinyl didn’t die as a result from heavy drinking and drug use. The observer Vinyl felt a pang of guilt in her heart. This was how her friendship with Octavia should have been.
...
Vinyl Scratch awoke to the feeling of her stomach turning. She rose from her bedroll and dashed away from the camp, vomiting heavily several metres away from the campsite. It was probably night time now; the air was much cooler, though she supposed that she really had no way of knowing short of asking Benny or Luna.
She vomited several more times before she felt her stomach being empty, and she turned around and trotted back towards camp, dragging her hooves along so that she’d know when she came back to her bedroll.
“Vinyl? Are you okay?” Princess Luna asked, she must have been watching.
“Yeah! I’m fine! Don’t worry about me!” Vinyl said with a grin.
“Vinyl...” Luna began to protest, but was quickly cut off.
“Really Princess, I’ll be fine, I just didn’t drink enough water today. I’m going to drink some right now, and I’ll be back to my old, obnoxious self in the morning!” Vinyl said.
“I think I preferred her when she was sleeping,” Willoughby called from his place underneath the armoured car, which he was still apparently working on.
“Shut up Benny!” Vinyl said with a grin. “I mean that in the nicest way possible.”
...
Several hours later, Willoughby reported that he’d jury-rigged a new suspension system for the armoured car, they’d be fit to drive on towards Swan City in the morning, and they all decided to turn in. Vinyl Scratch had difficulties going to sleep, thanks to her earlier nap, which according to Luna had lasted some four odd hours.
“Vinyl?” Willoughby asked quietly, hoping not to wake Princess Luna.
“I’m awake, what’s up Benny?” Vinyl asked equally as quietly. She sat up and trotted over to Willoughby’s bedroll.
“I... just wanted to say that I’m sorry for what happened at the facility today,” Willoughby said, this was the second time he’d apologised for it, clearly, Vinyl thought, it was bothering him greatly.
“Hey, it’s not your fault! I know what that temptation is like!” Vinyl said as she put her foreleg around the kangaroo’s shoulder. “Trust me Benny, I get it. None of my friends remember me either.”
“It’s just... I was being so selfish, and you had to hurt yourself to get me to stop. What kind of person does that make me?” Willoughby asked.
“You’re a person with feelings, who wants to have people care about him. You and I are a lot alike you know,” Vinyl said. “Wipe that look of horror of your face! I know you have one!”
“You caught me,” Willoughby said with a smirk.
“I was lonely too before I came out here, and then we met you again! Just out of the blue! Do you know how nice that was?!” Vinyl said with a grin. “I was so happy to ‘see’ you, and you know what? Now we don’t have to be lonely anymore. Because even when I go back to Equestria, you’re going to write me, and I’m going to try and write you, then throw the parchment out because it’s an illegible mess and have somepony scribe for me.”
Willoughby couldn’t help but smirk. “Deal,” he said.
“Good! Because if you don’t write, I’m going to come back out here and kick the snot out of you! Do you know how embarrassing that would be for you? It would be pretty embarrassing!” Vinyl said grinning.
“I promise,” Willoughby said with a smirk.
“Good,” Vinyl said, she leaned in close and gave the kangaroo soldier a small kiss on the cheek. “You’re a good friend, Ben. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.”
“You’re a good friend too, Vinyl Scratch. Don’t beat yourself up for things that happened in the past. You can fix them now,” Willoughby said, giving his friend a hug.
Vinyl returned the embrace; tears were forming in her eyes and collecting on the insides of her goggles. Likewise, she felt tears dropping off Willoughby’s face and onto her shoulder.
“We should try and get some sleep,” Willoughby suggested.
“Yeah, probably should,” Vinyl said, the two of them broke their embrace and Vinyl felt her way back to her bedroll. “Hey Ben?”
“Yes Vinyl?” Willoughby asked.
“You haven’t objected to me calling you Ben, at all since the artefact broke,” Vinyl commented.
“Yeah, I figure that I can make an exception for my best friend,” Willoughby said. “Goodnight Vinyl.”
Vinyl Scratch couldn’t help but smile back at him, she lay her head down upon her pillow and closed her eyes tight.
“Goodnight Benny.”