//------------------------------// // A Nightmare Night's Dream (Part One) // Story: The Royal Ponyville Orchestra // by Distaff Pope //------------------------------// It has been... far too long since I last updated this journal. Almost a week if I have my days right, although that is rather doubtful as I've done nothing but lay in bed since Nightmare Night ended. Still, life goes on and the only way I am going to put the events of that terrible night behind me is by pulling myself together and continuing on like nothing has happened, and so I will do what I always do and write copiously long journal entries about all the horrible things that happen to me. However, the day started pleasantly enough, I woke up as the sun rose, took a pain pill, and waited for my roommate to wake up. And waited. And waited. I considered getting up and grabbing some breakfast, but quickly abandoned the idea after a disastrous attempt to sit up. Besides, Vinyl had ordered me to stay in bed, and with her face nuzzled into the crook of my neck I was more than happy to oblige. Finally, sometime after noon, I heard stirring coming from her side of the bed. “Good morning, Vinyl. How did you sleep?” “Oh hey, Tavi,” she said, yawning, “Is it still morning, cause if so, I think I am going to go back to sleep, it’s been a busy couple of days.” “No Vinyl, morning was six hours ago, late morning was two hours, we are on the cusp between midday and afternoon.” She smiled as she rubbed the sleep out of one of her eyes, “Then I guess I woke up just in time. How long have you been up?” “Like I said, Vinyl, morning was six hours ago,” I said, carefully rolling over to face her better. “Oh jeeze,” Vinyl said, “You’ve been up this whole time? Did you need anything? A drink? Something to eat? Something to do besides stare at the ceiling?” I smiled and moved so that my back was resting against the headboard. Eventually, I managed to make myself somewhat comfortable, “It’s perfectly fine, I was more than happy to lie in bed with you next to me, especially since getting out of bed is something you’ve ordered me to avoid. Although now that you mention it, I would be forever grateful if you could bring me some food and drink and pass me my journal. It has been a while since I last updated it and I might as well do something productive while confined to my bed.” “Whoa, whoa whoa,” Vinyl said, “Even though you are stuck in bed, you would rather right in your journal than spend time with me?” “Au contraire, mi amore, I would love to spend time with you, but I don’t think that is what the doctor had in mind when he said I should stay in bed for the next few days. It certainly wouldn’t facilitate the healing process.” “Fine,” she said with a sigh before floating the book over to me, “But I want to read what you write. I mean, you did read through my diary after all.” “That sounds agreeable,” I said, opening my journal and grabbing the pin she passed towards me, “But first, I would appreciate it if you got me breakfast.” “Sure thing, Tavi,” she said, heading to the door, “Trot Tarts okay with you?” I grimaced at that, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t particularly care. Probably the latter. Several minutes later, she had returned with two sleeves of the food product that only tangentially resembled a proper pastry. As I was taking the first tentative nibbles of mine, Vinyl was finishing off her second pastry. “You still like ‘em right Tavi?” “Of course,” I said, “I’d just prefer not to cover my bed in crumbs.” I pointed a hoof towards her side of the bed which was now littered with debris. She grinned sheepishly and quickly brushed most of them off. “Sorry Tavi, kind of forgot how fussy and particular you are.” I arched an eyebrow. “Well, I didn’t forget, I mean, that is like your number one defining personality trait.” Thank you for the kind words, Vinyl, “It’s just that… like, I wasn’t actively thinking about it. Anyways, what’s the big deal? I have some crumbs on my bed and that never hurt anypony.” “Vinyl, you have a sentient mold monster occupying your bedroom and it is in such a state that I am forbidding you from sleeping there.” “Yeah, but…” “Mold monster. No further arguments, and no rebuttals.” “Okay,” she said with another sigh before leaning against her pillows, “But why do you have to eat so slow?” “Because I like keeping all my things neat and tidy. You should appreciate that as it’s the primary reason why our house is… livable.” “What do you mean?” She asked, “I lived here for years before you showed up.” I decided not to dignify that comment with a response and went to work on my journaling, while Vinyl looked on, making the occasional comment such as “No way that happened,” or “That is totally not possible.” (Most of these comments were made in relation to Pinkie Pie doing anything.) She also informed me that her eyes are most definitely magenta and not purple, however, I felt the urge not to correct this mistake, and will instead be referring to her eyes as purple until she abandons the nickname Musicbutt. It seems only fair. Eventually, I let out a small groan as my painkillers began to wear off, and Vinyl forced me to stop my writing, take a pain pill, and lay down. She had a rather convincing argument, and as the pain in my chest grew with every passing moment, I decided to oblige her as my mind sank back into the sweet pain-melting relief the Oxycoltin offered me. The rest of our day together passed uneventfully, and we conversed about the daily minutiae of our lives. She spoke of all the “gigs” she had lined up, and I discussed musical theory, before eventually talking about the song that had been stuck in my head for the past few days. “Hmm, doesn’t sound familiar,” she said, “Maybe you made it up.” I laughed and shook my head, “Vinyl, in all my years, I have never been able to compose a song that had the slightest bit of value, and eventually I just gave up. I highly doubt that I have somehow managed to reverse that trend.” She nuzzled my neck, “Maybe something in the past few days gave you an idea, or maybe being in Ponyville is getting your artistic juices flowing.” “No, I doubt that’s the case, if so, it would be filled entirely with the sounds of ponies screaming.” Vinyl rolled her eyes, “Come on Musicbutt,” I shuddered, “The town isn’t that bad, I mean, you met me here, you have some friends, and most of the ponies seem to like you in spite of your stuffiness.” “I’ve also been hospitalized three times in the span of two weeks,” I replied. “Yeah, well, you know, it’s not like the town is to blame for that, you just had a bit of bad luck.” I smiled, “I suppose you might have a point,” I admitted, “And now that I have an excuse to stay in bed, I will be able to work on putting this song to paper so that I can properly identify it.” “I’m telling you, it’s an original song, and from what I’ve heard it sounds pretty decent, it’s probably gonna be a big hit.” “Doubtful,” I said, tapping my chin, “But I thank you for the encouragement.” “Don’t mention it,” Vinyl said before rolling out of bed, “Now you should probably get ready, we are having company over tonight.” “What?” I half-asked, half-yelled, “I… We haven’t discussed this, why are ponies coming over?” “Well, Lyra and I usually celebrate Nightmare Night by going out and hitting the town, and I thought about bringing you, but since you are all bedridden, I figured they could come over, we could drink and tell scary stories, and give out candy to the trick-or-treaters. You know, fun stuff.” A groan escaped my lips, “Vinyl, exactly what part of that would sound fun to me? I don’t get along well with foals, find scary stories to be trite, and… actually, the liquor does sound appealing, but sadly it doesn’t mix well with the Oxycoltin.” “Come on Tavi, we only have a few minutes left until sundown and I want your first Nightmare Night to be something cool. Like… I even spoke with Rarity and got a…” She shivered, “Whoa, do you feel that?” I shook my head, “I didn’t notice anything.” “Really?” She asked, “It feels like… I don’t know how to describe magic things, but if you took all the ambient magical energy in the air and then multiplied it by fifty, that’s kind of what this feels like.” “That descriptor doesn’t really help out those of us who have never felt magic before.” “Yeah, right,” she said, shaking her head, “Sorry. Anyways, back on topic, I promise you will have fun tonight, in fact, I’ll make you a deal, you go down and try to have fun this year and I will be all stuffy and boring next year.” She grabbed my bowtie and collar and fastened it around her neck, “In fact, I think I found my Nightmare Night costume for next year, I can be Octavia Prissypants.” Vinyl cleared her throat and when she spoke again, she was doing a very poor imitation of my accent. “Ahh yes, a pleasure to meet you. I am certain that two mares as sophisticated as us will be firm friends in no time. No, we simply shan’t go out to the bars, it is most improper.” Despite my best efforts, I found myself smiling at Vinyl’s glaringly inaccurate imitation of me, “I don’t speak like that Vinyl, the only reason my manner of speaking sounds peculiar to you is because I try to speak properly and don’t casually butcher the language as you do.” “Oh of course,” Vinyl said, “One must always be proper at all times, if we aren’t, all of Equestria might implode upon itself, and we certainly don’t want that, do we dear?” Speaking of speaking improperly, her accent had drifted from Manehattanite, to Trottingham, to Rarity’s impossible Mare-Atlantic accent. I deliberated on whether or not I should inform her, and while I did so, I finally noticed an electrical energy in the air, sending shivers down my spine. “Vinyl, I think I am finally noticing that magic in the air you were speaking of earlier,” I said, feeling suddenly lightheaded. “Really? How very odd. For me, the feeling subsided several minutes ago. In fact, I don’t detect any increase in magical activity at all.” To her credit, she had finally stopped switching accents with every other word, and she was actually beginning to sound like me. On the other hoof, her continued imitation of me was growing annoying, and I wished she would just act normally while we tried to sort out what exactly was going on. “While I applaud your dedication to imitating me, you can stop it now, I promise I will try to-” Before I could finish the thought, I felt a surge of magical energy rip through the air. My head throbbed and I shut my eyes, vainly hoping that by doing so the pain would decrease. Finally, after several minutes, the wave of magic that had washed over me subsided. I opened my eyes and was about to ask if Vinyl was okay, certain that any magical discomfort I experienced would be substantially worse for my marefriend, when I saw the effect the magic surge had on her. Where once stood a unicorn, now stood an earth pony. A very familiar earth pony with a grey coat, black mane, and pink cutiemark. She would have been identical to me if not for the fact that her eyes were still Vinyl’s familiar shade of magenta purple and her flank was substantially shapelier than mine. I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose with one hoof as another groped for my bottle of Oxycoltin. In the distance, I heard the sound of ponies screaming as the last rays of light left Equestria. I turned my attention back to my doppelganger, who looked even more bewildered than I was (I did at least have the foresight of knowing that Discord was planning something, although I was beginning to regret my complete lack of action leading up to Nightmare Night). “Hello,” I said after taking another one of my pain pills, “I’m sure you’re very confused about what exactly is going on, but I can assure you there is a semi-reasonable explanation as to why there are suddenly two of us.” She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips (Did I do that when I was angry?) “I am more confused about why another mare is lying in my bed. The whole thing reeks of impropriety.” I definitely do not speak like that. “Really?” I asked, carefully getting up onto my hooves, “That is what you are curious about? Not the fact that said mare is almost completely identical to you or the fact that ponies are screaming in the distance?” “But of course, those other ponies are not currently in my bedroom, and as for our alleged similarities, you are far too unrefined to do a passing impression of me. Your bowtie is crooked, your mane unkempt, and you have the most unsightly bandages wrapped around your barrel. Honestly, only the most base plebian could confuse you for the proper Octavia.” Vinyl, if you are reading this, please know that the only reason I didn’t strangle my doppelganger/you in that instant was because of my love for you. Also, your impression of me is utterly horrid and we need to talk about what you think of me. I groaned and pressed my forehoof against my forehead. “I really don’t feel like dealing with this right now, but if what you said earlier is true and everypony here celebrates Nightmare Night, then I suppose I am the only sane pony in all of Ponyville. Truthfully, I don’t feel like that much has changed.” Not-me scrunched her brow in confusion, “Don’t worry,” I said as I trotted over towards my saddlebags, “I am assuming that you won’t remember anything that happens here as soon as whatever Discord did gets fixed.” “Discord? Is he behind you infiltrating my room? Or… no, you are just a madmare who is trying to confuse me,” she moved towards the door, “Stay right her while I fetch the constable.” “Not planning on it,” I said after dropping my bottle of Oxycoltin into my saddlebags, “If you want you can come with me or you can stay here. Just… whatever you do, stay safe, I don’t want anything to happen to Vinyl and that means I don’t want anything to happen to you.” “Hmmph, don’t think I will be letting you out of my sight for an instant you… you impostor.” As she spoke I finished putting on my saddlebags, grateful that they only had to contain my pill bottle. It was unpleasant enough that I had to be walking, and presumably running, around in some foolish effort to save Ponyville and, more importantly, Vinyl when I should be recovering in bed, I didn’t need to add any more weight to the bag I would be carrying around. “Fine, come with me then, just don't take any unnecessary risks,” I said while exiting my room. I headed downstairs, with my doppelganger grumbling about a few steps behind me. To my horror, I found myself thinking that this night couldn’t get any worse, giving fate the chance to prove me wrong. Immediately after that thought, there was a knocking on the door and I mentally berated myself for allowing that treasonous idea to creep into my mind. Of course things could get worse, they could always get worse. In fact, I think that is Ponyville’s slogan, “Things Can Always Get Worse.” Anyways, I opened the door to find two ponies that highly resembled Lyra and Bon Bon. This version of Bon Bon had a red coat, horns, and a pitchfork as her cutiemark, while Lyra had sprouted a pair of rich, white, feathery wings, was wearing a white tunic, and had a golden halo over her head. I couldn’t get a clear view of her cutie mark, but it looked to be unchanged. “What are you two doing?” I asked. “Hey,” Bon Bon said, “We felt that somepony over here was morally conflicted, so we thought we would come over to help.” She looked past me and saw my double still standing on the stairs. “Why are there two of you?” I sighed, “If I had to guess, I would say it is for the same reason that you and Lyra are… what are you exactly?” “Oh!” Lyra said as she walked into the house, “We decided to dress up this year an angel and devil, well, demon… Anyways, Bon Bon thought it would be a fun idea to do a couple’s costume this year. Unfortunately, the one year we all get turned into our costumes happens to be the one year I am convinced not to dress up as a human.” Her eye twitched, “But…” More twitching, as if it was physically painful for her to say the next words, “I am more than happy to do something that strengthens my relationship with Bon Bon, even if it means I don’t get everything I want.” “So… being the good angel is killing you isn’t it?” Lyra nodded before sitting down on one of my floor pillows, “Like you wouldn’t believe, like I know proper Lyra would be totally enraged right now, and I can still kind of feel it, but then there is all this angelic bliss and wisdom and morality countering it, and it’s just awful. I mean, it might not be so bad if Bon Bon was still Bon Bon, but she’s acting wrong too, and I have to disagree with everything she says.” While Lyra was speaking, Bon Bon was whispering something into other Octavia’s ear. Based on the way the other Tavi was blushing it must have been something quite livid. Hopefully I would never have to hear it. “Fine,” I said, “So why did the two of you rush here as soon as you became your costumes? In case you hadn’t noticed I am currently busy trying to sort myself out.” “Because,” Bon Bon said, sprawling herself out on the couch and displaying her… self, “I’m a bad angel and she’s a boring angel, we need someone to advise, and that lucky mare is you.” Her lips twisted into something that was neither a smile nor a smirk, but something in between, “So just listen to Bon Bon tonight and everything will be wonderful.” I rolled my eyes, “A tempting offer if you hadn’t already made it clear you were the BAD angel of the duo.” She pouted, “Just because I am bad doesn’t mean my ideas are bad. They just possess a delicious depravity that Miss Do-Right over there lacks.” The other Octavia and I exchanged glances, at least we could agree on the fact that neither of us wanted to be involved in this conversation. “That’s your marefriend you’re talking about,” Lyra said, “And if you’d recall, most nights I am the one who holds the whip.” “Marefriend? I hate being constrained to just one other pony. After all, why limit yourself when there is so much fun to be had in the world?” Bon Bon winked at me, and then turned to wink at the other me, “Either of you want to show a mare a good time?” “Okay,” I said, hoping to end this conversation as quickly as possible, “If you two want to play the part of my conscience that is fine, but I have to ask that you refrain from discussing the particulars of your relationship and I also have to insist that Bon Bon refrains from propositioning either myself or my other self. Now could you please be quiet while I try to figure out what we should do?” Everypony in the room nodded after that, and I finally had a few moments to think. So, Discord had turned everypony into their Nightmare Night costume, that much was known. However, his motivations were much more difficult to work out. While it was entirely possible that all of this was a prank, it struck my sensibilities as far too simplistic. Why just have a laugh when you could instead have a laugh and take over Equestria? Certainly, the former was possible, I just didn’t consider it to be likely. Then, working under the assumption that this was part of some coup he had been plotting, how did this action benefit him? The most obvious answer was that it caused chaos, a lot of it. If the spell wasn’t just localized to Ponyville, then every city in Equestria, except Manehattan, would be in a state of utter pandemonium. As I pondered, another, slightly less obvious, motive occurred to me, by transforming everypony into their costume, he would be able to- “Girls, we need to find the Bearers and make sure they are alright, if there is any chance we can undo this, we have to make sure they are safe and get them to the Elements. Hopefully, they will still work even if the Bearers aren’t quite themselves.” “That sounds like a long shot,” Bon Bon said, “You should probably just stay in here, in bed with lovely company to keep you warm. I could certainly be persuaded to fill that void.” She licked her lips vivaciously and I struggled not to do anything uncivil such as smashing my hoof through her face or regurgitating my lunch. Instead, I just ignored her. “Right, so Lyra or other Octavia, do you have any ideas on how to proceed?” “Well,” the other me said, “As much as I hate agreeing with that deviant, I feel it would be for the best if we avoided going outside. I, for one, don’t wish to die in this town. And if we must go outside, I would prefer to do so after things have had a chance to die down.” “And by ‘die down’ you mean let half the town tear the other half apart?” I asked, still struggling to keep myself (my actual self, not my other self) calm, “That’s absolutely morally reprehensible, how can you be me?” “For starter’s dear,” she said, sniffing and turning her nose up slightly, “We haven’t determined which one of us is the original and which one is the duplicate.” Even though both Lyra and Bon Bon needed no prompting to determine which one of us was the proper Octavia, I thought. “Second of all, we have no idea if any harms done while the spell is in effect will be permanent. For all we know, tomorrow morning everything could go back to being absolutely fine and this little adventure you have planned will be entirely for naught.” I rolled my eyes, “Duly noted other Octavia, now Lyra, would you care to share your thoughts?” “Of course, I will have to disagree with Bon Bon and… uhmm, what should we call the other you? Other Octavia is just a bit wordy.” “It’s fine,” I said, “I am proper Octavia and she is the copy.” “Or vice versa,” Vinyl’s version of me added, “I would appreciate not being referred to as the other Octavia all night.” “Right,” Lyra said after a brief pause, “Well, how about we call you Octy, and then the Octavia in bandages can be called Tavi. Is that okay?” Both I and my double nodded. “Great, now that that’s settled, I do agree with Tavi, we need to act, but I feel it would be for the best if we didn’t just go outside blindly. Like Octy said, we don’t really know what we’re up against and we won’t get anywhere by acting impulsively. So how are we going to get information?” “Couldn’t you just fly?” I asked, gesturing towards her wings. “Oh, right,” she said, giving her wings one experimental flap, “Sorry, still haven’t quite gotten used to them. That sounds good. I will go and check things out, and if I’m not back in an hour then I guess you should start making other plans. And Tavi,” she looked at me, “Could you keep an eye on Bon Bon while I’m gone, I don’t want her to do anything she will regret when this is all over.” I nodded and looked over at Lyra’s marefriend, only to find she had wrapped one foreleg around Octy. “You two, cease this flirtation immediately.” I got up and took several steps towards them, my attempt to appear intimidating undermined by my wincing. “While I expected such behavior from Bon Bon, I certainly wouldn’t expect somepony claiming to be me fall to fall for somepony so tawdry. No offense to your marefriend intended, Lyra,” I said. “It’s fine,” Lyra said as Octy moved to cover her head with her forehooves, “I understand that Bon Bon isn’t acting like her normal self at the moment, and for that matter, neither am I.” “I’m sorry,” Octy said, “But underneath my calm and collected exterior is a boiling cauldron of barely contained lust that I hate to acknowledge.” Once again, I considered destroying my inferior doppelganger, and once again my hoof was stayed for fear of inadvertently harming Vinyl. If it was anypony else who had been transformed into me, this besmircher of my good name would be wiped off the face of Equestria. “Just… don’t do anything either of you will regret once you get back to your normal selves,” I said. Octy harrumphed at that, while Bon Bon just licked on a lollipop in a very… interesting fashion. With all that settled, Lyra flew out the door and I went to foalsitting myself. “So,” Octy said after several minutes, “How exactly did you get those bandages? Is there a story behind it?” I nodded, “One that you would know if you were the proper Octavia, but I am willing to indulge you and tell the story.” As I spoke, Bon Bon sat down next to Octy, resting her head against my double’s shoulder. To Vinyl’s credit, her impression of me had the good sense to blush at the unexpected physical contact. Still, I would have never permitted somepony I wasn’t romantically involved with to be so forward with me. I made it a point to correct some of her assumptions about me after… And now the two of them were engaged in a passionate embrace as their lips locked. Perhaps I should have gone information gathering with Lyra. Yes, I wasn’t able to fly, but at least I wouldn’t be forced to witness myself and my marefriend make out with one of my friends. I shuttered at the duo’s brazenness before clearing my throat in an attempt to gain their attention. It failed. “Alright, you two,” I said after several more unsuccessful throat clearing attempts, “If you are quite finished, I will be more than happy to tell you about how I received these bandages if you promise to behave yourself for the duration of the story.” The both of them nodded, and I proceeded to relate every last event that happened to me since I had arrived in Ponyville. Yes, the story was far longer than it needed to be, and for the most part, it served to distract the two while I waited for the hour to pass. Just as my voice was about to give out, Lyra returned. “Welcome back,” I said, nodding appreciatively as she walked back into the house, “I don’t think I could have spoken much longer. Did you find anything useful?” She nodded, “Yes, mostly. As expected, there is quite a bit of panic and rioting, not to mention several fires, but most of the ponies are heading out to the Everfree Forest. On an unrelated note, having wings is just… the coolest thing, almost as cool as having hands. Imagine if I could have hands AND wings.’ To emphasize her point, she flapped her wings several times. I closed my eyes, “Focus Lyra, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, you were sent out to ascertain the severity of the situation, not to enjoy a pleasure flight.” Lyra blushed and nodded, “Yes, you’re absolutely right, I am sorry for letting my enthusiasms get the better of me.” It seemed the new angelic Lyra was slightly more manageable than her normal self. “Anyways, like I said, most ponies seem to be heading to the Everfree Forest, more specifically, they are heading to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Oh! And I saw Discord leading them there.” “Wonderful,” I said under my breath, “I suppose that is where we have to bring the Bearers after we collect them.” “Excuse me, but why would we be heading into the danger? That seems like the sort of thing we would want to avoid,” Octy said. “I disagree,” Bon Bon said, grinning, “Walking into the spooky forest filled with monsters sounds like a wonderful time. And we get to meet a chaos god too. Fun, fun, fun.” Lyra moved to take a seat on one of the seat cushions placed on the floor, “I hate agreeing with my marefriend and current archnemesis, but if we want to stop this then we should probably go and get the Bearers to Discord.” “Both of your opinions are noted.” I moved to look out one of the windows and noted the pillars of smoke filling the sky. “On the other hoof, perhaps it would be for the best if we stayed inside tonight. Octy was probably right when she said all of this would be fine by dawn.” I swallowed nervously and worked to manage my breathing. “Excuse me,” Lyra said, “But weren’t you pretty dead set on playing hero when I left? What changed?” “Nothing,” I said, “I am certainly not concerned by the fact that a large portion of town seems to be on fire, and the last time I was around a fire… I’m not afraid.” I am good at many things, but lying convincingly isn’t one of them. At least not when it involves my discomfort around fire. Lyra moved to pat me reassuringly. “Hey, it’s fine. There aren’t that many fires, and I am sure we can get to the Everfree without getting to close to them. Besides, we can’t stay here, there is kind of a gang of monsters prowling the streets and I think they are following me. Probably should have opened with that.” As if to punctuate her last line, a loud banging came from the door. “Yes,” I said, quickly moving on to my hooves, “That probably would have been my opening line. How many monsters are there?” “Lots,” Lyra said, taking a peep outside. “I spot a wolfpony, a couple of zombies, and… is that a robot? Also, there are a few Grim Reaper Ponies. Should probably steer well clear of them. Hey, do we have a back door?” I nodded my head as the front door began to splinter, taking several steps towards the kitchen before doubling over in pain. “Lyra, is there any chance you could find my wheelchair? I highly doubt I can make the trek to the Everfree Forest without it, even with my pain pills,” I said through clenched teeth as I retreated into the fetal position. Lyra nodded, heading off to Vinyl’s storage closet while Octy and Bon Bon headed towards the backdoor, leaving me to writhe in agony on the living room carpet. A second later, the door gave another tortured groan as the hinges and bolts struggled to keep the door closed. “Lyra, I hate to rush you, but I feel leaving sooner rather than later might be for the best. I don’t know what would happen if we were to die tonight, but I would prefer not to find out.” “I’m doing the best I can,” she said, working to pull the wheelchair out of the massive pile of debris Vinyl had allowed to build up in her storage closet, “But the wheelchair doesn’t want to budge.” “Then just get out of here, Lyra. The others have already left and I don’t think the door will last much longer.” “Not going to happen,” she said from the depths of our storage closet, “I am the good angel remember? And leaving you behind strikes me as something Bon Bon would do, which I guess she did.” “Point acknowledged,” I said, struggling to my feet before collapsing again, “But conversely it wouldn’t be very nice of you to leave Octy alone with Bon Bon. In fact, I would prefer it if you looked after her instead of staying behind with me.” “Well,” Lyra said hesitantly as she walked out of the closet, “I suppose you have a point but-” Lyra was prevented from finishing that thought as the door shattered after giving one last groan and a horde of monsters poured in. She moved to stand over me protectively. “Stay back, all of you,” she said, “I know some magic and I’m not afraid to use it.” I groaned, “Lyra, I don’t think the zombie ponies or… whatever that big green angry looking pony is will listen to reason. Do you think we can convince them to fight each other?” She shook her head as the hordes slowly advanced, cutting off our exit. “Of course not,” I muttered, “That would be too convenient. I suppose I always knew I would die in this town, I just didn’t think it would be at the hooves of a marauding horde of monsters.” “Don’t talk like that,” Lyra said, “As long as we draw breath, there is still hope. We will persevere.” To punctuate her point, she fired a bolt of arcane energy at one of the Reaper Ponies who crumpled up the second the spell made contact with him/her. I felt the faintest glimmer of hope that we might manage to make it out of the situation as Lyra fired another bolt of energy at our attackers. Unfortunately, this Reaper Pony had the presence of mind to dodge Lyra’s attack, which sailed past him before colliding with one of the walls and proceeded to obliterate it. Her next volley of attacks met with similarly mixed results. While she managed to bring down at least three of our attackers, the hordes continued to advance, and my house managed to accrue a vast amount of structural damage. Soon, she had exhausted her magical supply and stood defeated in the charred remains of my living room. “At least you gave it a good effort,” I said, before closing my eyes and hoping that whichever monster got to me first would at least have the decency to be quick about their business, as I would prefer it if my death was at least moderately painless. As I prepared for the end, my thoughts turned to Vinyl and I hoped that she would be able to move on with her life after this terrible night was over. On the upside, I thought as I tried to ignore the sounds being made by the rampaging monsters, at least I wouldn’t be spending any more time in Ponyville. Unfortunately, it seems I have to stop my writing here for the day as I am getting a rather intolerable hoof cramp and it is impairing my ability to write. With any luck, it will subside before the day is over and I will be able to finish this entry, but until then I feel it would be for the best if I went back to lying in bed. It would certainly be better than writing a completely superfluous paragraph about why I had to stop writing and… Dammit.