//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Tales of Apple Scratch: Just Another Wild West Story // by TigerSwirl448 //------------------------------// Epilogue <>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<> "Dang," Applejack whispered setting down the letter to wipe her eyes. Apple Bloom was nodding her head sniffling wiping her nose. Vinyl though she was looking for something in the chest and in the books. Applejack looked over at her sadly. "Vi?" She called. Vinyl ignored her. "Where is it, there has to be more!" Vinyl whispered looking through the pages of the books to find pictures or even letters, something to help her answer her questions. "Vinyl!" Applejack yelled out. Apple Bloom looked over sniffling as Vinyl continued looking for whatever it is she was looking for. "What are you looking for?" Apple Bloom asked wiping her nose with her arm again. "There has to be more." Vinyl said in a rushed tone. "More of what?" Applejack asked curiously. "What is there more of? Melody Liker died, everyone passed." "I know that!" Vinyl snapped causing the two sisters to stare at her surprised. It was rare for Vinyl to actually snap like that. "Vinyl, what are you looking for?" Applejack carefully placing her hand on Vinyl’s shoulder feeling her shake. "Melody had a son." Vinyl whispered looking to the picture of Melody Liker and Annie Apple sitting on the porch in front of the Apple & Liker farm. "Melody had a son. Tucker Scratch." She said turning back to Applejack. "So?" Apple Bloom asked still not understanding the reason why Vinyl was so upset. "Don’t you two get it?" Vinyl asked grabbing the photo and holding it out for them to see. "Melody Liker and I are so similar is because we are related! It's true!" Applejack looked to Apple Bloom then motioned for her to run off. "Bloom, why don’t ya go on to the house. Vinyl and I are going have a chat." Apple Bloom nodded numbly as she walked out of the old barn and left the two older siblings alone. Applejack sighed looking at Vinyl then took the photo from her hand. "Yes I know. I’ve been told many time that I look like Johnny Apple, my great grandfather." She said with a shrug. "It's not uncommon for similarities." Vinyl growled. "You just don’t get it!" "What don't I get Vi?" Applejack asked glaring at her. "Melody had a son!" Vinyl said again. "And in his letter, Tucker Scratch said that he married a girl! How many kids did he have, how many of them had kids too? Just how many were there?" Vinyl asked softly. Finally Applejack’s brain clicked, Vinyl was acting like this because she was given clues to her past family! Is it possible that Vinyl might have a family out in Equestria somewhere? Applejack was ready to speak when he sisters heard a commotion outside the gym. The barn doors opened and Zecora walked into the gym looking around. The members of Team Ponyville for the Equestrian Games walked into the barn a little nervous. As Zecora walked in with determined strides the others following her were slow to walk in. Applejack and Vinyl could see Nurse Redheart, Time Turner, Raindrops, Allie Way, Roseluck, Cloud Kicker, and Ditzy Do. Which to the sisters they don’t understand Zecora’s top choices for the team. Other than Cloud Kicker, they didn’t understand why Allie Way, Raindrops, Roseluck or Ditzy were in the team. "I still don’t think I should be here." Allie Way said looking around fidgeting with her hands. "I mean, I'm not a great magician! All I do is bowl." Nurse Redheart shrugged. "If Zecora says you are in the team, then she must have a reason." "And besides!" Cloud Kicker said wrapping her arms around Allie Way's neck and Redheart's neck pulling them close to her. The two women blushed harshly. "If she has chosen two pretty asses in the team then I'm not complaining." She said grinning. Raindrops walked past Cloud Kicker slapping her upside the head as she passed. Cloud winced releasing her blushing captives to rub her head glaring at the blue headed Jupitarian. “You’re lucky you have a cute face, or I would have slapped you back.” Cloud grumbled with a smirk. Raindrops smirked in return walking past her. Roseluck groaned rolling her eyes walking past CK with Ditzy behind her. "Whoa," Ditzy said seeing the sisters with the chest and its contents on the ring floor. "Did we interrupt spring cleaning?" She asked innocently. "Oh and I brought the Lucky Muffin!" She cheered holding up a muffin in her hand. Redheart groaned applying hand to forehead as Roseluck, Allie Way, and Raindrops stared in confusion. Cloud Kicker was chuckling. "Atta' girl!" she cheered until she noticed the angry and sad looks on the Apple sisters. Cloud frowned walking over to the ring. "Hey everything going alright you two? Did we come at a bad time?" Zecora Time Turner looked up seeing the sisters. "It’s nothing." Vinyl said blushing turning away as Applejack rubbed her face. Applejack turned to Vinyl with worry. "Vinyl, I'm sorry I didn’t get the connection sooner." Applejack whispered sadly. "I thought you were over the ... family issue." Vinyl turned away then walked out of the ring. "Vinyl?" Cloud asked watching her Titanian friend walk out of the barn. "Yeah," Roseluck said with a worried wince. "I think we came at a horrible time." Allie pointed her thumb at the door. "What's wrong with Vinyl? I haven't seen her this depressed since we were kids." Applejack rubbed her face with her hands shaking her head. "We just discovered something and Vinyl got upset about it." "Should we go after her?" Ditzy asked worriedly. "I'll go," Applejack said quickly jumping off the ring and ran to the door. She opened the door and watched a familiar black mare run off with Vinyl of her back to the forest. "Never mind." Applejack said sourly. Cloud peeked over Annie's shoulder to see Vinyl ride off. "What happened?" Cloud asked seriously. "Here, let me show you." Applejack walked back to the ring with Cloud behind her. The others stayed outside the ring watching as Zecora, Redheart, and Turner were busy checking the training equipment. Applejack reached down to pull out the group shot photo in front of the cabin that was probably Ace's cabin before they built the farm house. Cloud looked at the picture then blinked in shock. "Wait a minute I could have remembered if I was dressed for a snap shot like this. And so far I don’t remember even taking an old western snap shot while the Council was here." Applejack took the picture and quickly told Cloud Kicker and the others about the story of Annie Apple and Melody Liker. By the end of the story the others of Team Ponyville were sitting in the ring with Cloud and AJ looking at the photos and the books. Zecora left with Redheart and Turner to make training plans for the next day. "Wow!" Ditzy exclaimed. "This is so awesome, who would have thought that your ancestors were best friends or practically sisters!" Cloud blushed thinking about a certain council member back in Canterlot. "Huh who would have thought?" She said with a ghost of a smirk. Applejack nodded sadly. "Vinyl just discovered a piece of her past family’s history. She's goin’ nuts." "Why?" Roseluck asked. "Just because this woman is her ancient grandmother?" Applejack nodded. "And that ancient grandmother had a son, Tucker Scratch." Applejack said holding out the letter. Roseluck took the letter reading it to herself, Raindrops leaned over to take a look at the letter too. "So ... what happened to them anyway?" Allie asked looking at the picture as it was passed around. Applejack sighed. "Well most of them passed away. Rose died during child birth at a young age. Diamond died of old age, Melody the same but she had Alzheimer’s." The group hissed at that. Applejack nodded sadly. "Ace was killed in the line of duty during the Border War. Velvet married a scholar by the name of Sparkle and died in Canterlot. Butterfly lived her life in Baltimare and died there, Tinker died in Fillydelphia, and Annie died from a head injury at the farm." Cloud nodded thinking. "I've heard of Ace Kicker. Not much though." Cloud said shrugging. "It's only bits and pieces. I guess because the Kickers were mainly weather patrollers might be the cause of loss of stories." She said unsure. "So Vinyl is upset about what exactly?" Raindrops asked still confused watching Roseluck hand the letter back to Applejack. Cloud kicker wrapped her arm around Raindrops with a sigh. "Everyone knows Vinyl's past life is a mystery. Hell even I don’t know much." "Oh right," Raindrops said with a shameful blush. "I forgot about that." Applejack nodded. "I think Vinyl still wishes for answers, a sort of closure as to why she was in that horrible place.” AJ said thinking. “I mean if I got evidence ‘bout my family I would want to find answers too! I think she was hopin’ to find information ‘bout Tucker Scratch's later life after he wrote that letter to Annie Apple before her passing. I think Vinyl wants to find other Scratch's out there and get answers." Cloud turned to the doors. "I hope she's not beating herself up over this." "If she doesn't come back by dinner, I'll go find her." Applejack said seriously as she started placing the books back into the chest. Ditzy and Allie helped her clean up. "Count me in." Cloud said immediately standing up. "I'll send word to the fort to get Blossom and my boys to find her for you." Cloud was ready to rush off but Roseluck stopped her by grabbing her shirt tail. Applejack smiled as she chuckled. "Nah, that won't be necessary, thank you though." Applejack said smiling as Cloud shrugged. "Hey, did you look inside this box?" Allie asked opening the painted box. "What does “Apple Bucker” mean?" Applejack shook her head unsure until she remembered what was in the box in the first place. "Be careful!" She said too later as Allie opened the box and gasped at what was inside. "What is that?" Allie asked in awe and shock. The group looked down at the polished object inside the box. Applejack though knew what it was. "I can't believe it." Applejack whispered in awe reaching down to lift up the Colt Walker revolver, probably the last one of Tinker Pie's inventions in Equestria. "What is that?" Roseluck asked. Applejack gulped, she held the Walker in her hands. The same object that Annie used to kill people in the Frontier. "It was Annie's. That's all you need to know." She said cryptically. She didn’t want her friends to know what the object was and what it was used for back in the day. And not to mention Cloud Kicker being a guard, she might take the old weapon away. Applejack looked over to see Cloud giving the weapon a questioning look. Annie gulped as she carefully pushed the ramming rod down to peek into the wheel to see if the revolver was loaded or not. She gulped to see that the revolver was fully loaded. She gulped again and carefully set the ram rod back in place hearing a small click then set the Walker down next to her. "Hey you can look under holder here!" Allie said pulling out the silk holder that held all of Annie’s reloading kit and looked down into the box to see a silver Watch. "Hey an old antique watch." Allie said in excitement. "A what?" Applejack asked seeing the watch from the story in Allie's hand. "Give it!" Applejack yelped grabbing the watch looking at it in shock. Allie glared at her from the rude gesture as the others stared at the watch in awe. "What?" Ditzy asked intrigued see how Applejack looked at the watch in awe. "This was Melody watch, Annie placed it in the chest after Melody death!" "Applejack!" A male's voice called out. The group of women turned to see Big Mac standing at the doors. "Yeah?" Applejack asked still shocked by having the old watch in her hands. "Granny wants your to help with making dinner. Are we expecting guests for dinner?" Mac asked regarding the other women in the barn. "Um," The girls said at once. "Actually, I got to go," Roseluck said quickly. "I have to get the flowers tended before I go to bed." "Same here, I got some balls to polish." Allie said blushing. "Now that I'm on the team I can't bowl for most of the summer." "Oh my I have to tuck in Dinky!" Ditzy said horrified. "I got to go as well. Gosh I didn't realize what time it is!" "Count me in if AJ will let me." Cloud said turning to Applejack to see her just staring at the watch. The other three ran out of the gym waving farewell to Mac. Cloud stayed in the barn with AJ and nodded to Mac. "Make a space for me please?" Mac smiled and nodded. "Eeyup," He left them alone. Cloud looked down at the old weapon with worry as Applejack placed the watch to her ear. Cloud looked up noticing AJ's face light up with a smile. "Sweet Epona... It still works." <>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<> After the making of dinner, the family with the addition of Cloud Kicker sat in the table eating silently as Applejack told Granny and Mac about what she had found out. At the end of the story Cloud Kicker shook her head leaning back in her seat. "Wow," Mac said shaking his head. "So that's why Vinyl’s outside?" Applejack nodded. "Yeah, she's really down." Applejack whispered sadly messing with the brown gravy left over from her mash potatoes on her plate. "She's still out there?" Cloud asked surprised. "I could have sworn she would be back inside by now." Granny thought for a long moment then set down her spoon onto her plate. "Ye're saying that this chest you found had all these books in it?" "Yeah!" Apple Bloom said smiling. Granny nodded a little shocked. "That old thang?" She asked curiously. "Yes, I think I remember lookin' into that old thang." "Wait?" Applejack said surprised. "Ya mean ya knew 'bout Annie's chest?" Granny nodded. "Yes, I looked there once or twice when I was younger." Annie's mouth dropped open. "Wait, when did ya get Annie's chest?" Granny smiled as she looked back. "Hmm, let's see. Yer father was maybe Apple Bloom's age when I was given the chest." "When?" Appel Bloom asked interested. Granny thought long and hard. "Oh it was probably one of the first few Apple family reunions here in Ponyville. And yer father was a scrapper he was." She said with a smirk rubbing Apple Bloom’s head causing the young Apple to giggle. "Reminds me of this half-pint!" Apple Bloom giggled while the other three smiled. "Anyway, we were just havin' some fun when this stranger came upon the farm. Now that I think about it," Granny said softly with a frown. "He was a fine man. An older man. I don’t remember his name though but I do know he was a Titanian. He walked up dressed in his black suit jacket from the city. He asked me if this place was where the Apple family lived. I answered him, "We sure as sugar are."” The two Apples and guest chuckled at that. Granny continued with a smile. "He was very kind I remembered that well, 'cause most city boys like him are nothing but money sucking jackals at that time. He smiled and he bowed to me. A Titanian bowing to an Eponian, what had the world come to?" Granny laughed at that as the others smiled waiting for her to continue. "Let's see, he stood back up and said that he has a chest that belonged to an Apple that was passed down to him by his grandfather, who had passed recently. I asked him which Apple did it came from. He told me that this Apple was shunned by her family two generations ago because of her beliefs and her desire to be independent. He also told me about his grandfather and how he was the adopted nephew of this Apple by the name of Annabelle Apple. Funny enough after this Annabelle Apple no Apple daughter was named after her, at least not in the east." "Really?" Applejack asked quiet shocked. "Why? Just because Annie didn't want to be bogged down with a man?" Granny shrugged. "I suppose so." Granny took a quick sip of her ices tea then cleared her throat. "After that short talk with the man, he told me that if I was able, I can take Annie's chest. He shook my hand and told me his thanks and said that this meant so much to his grandfather that the chest will go to Annie's family." "Then what?" Cloud asked. Granny shrugged. "He left. And I never got his name, or even if he did, I don't remember his name now. I do remember his red eyes though." She said smiling a touch. "That's the only thing I seem to truly remember him was his unnatural red eyes." Cloud and Applejack looked at one another with surprise. "Granny, do ya think that man might be related to Vinyl?" Applejack asked. Granny thought for a moment. "You know, I never thought about that." Granny stood up looking out the window to the front porch to see Vinyl sitting on the porch. "Go on and clean up without me." Granny said reaching for Vinyl's empty plate. "Get Vinyl's portion of dinner and save it for her." Granny ordered as Applejack took the plate and walked onto the kitchen while Mac, Cloud and Apple Bloom cleaned up the table. Granny walked to the door and peeked out to see Vinyl staring at her hands. Granny sighed thinking about what to say. <>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<> Vinyl sat on the porch steps staring at the growing darkness around her. She looked down at her hands as tiny parts of her past try to break through the wall she built since she told Octavia about her past. She gulped hard closing her eyes as the questions bugged her yet again since she was little girl. Why did they leave me? What did I do? Did they not want me anymore? Was I a mistake? Vinyl shook her head hard covering her face with her hands. She took in deep breaths to calm herself. She heard the door open behind her but remained glued to her position. She felt a gentle hand on her head and let her visitor sit down on the porch next to her with a wince. Vinyl looked over to see it was Granny sitting next to her. "Hi Granny." Vinyl whispered turning away to hide her tears. Granny wrapped her arm around Vinyl pulling her close, kissing her on the head. "Now, now, Vinyl. I learned from Applejack and Apple Bloom what had happened and they told me how you were taking the news." Vinyl remained silent as she felt Granny's fingers in her hair. "How are you feeling?" Vinyl thought for a moment then shook her head. "How should I feel? I just found out I have an ancestor and she had a son and he was married and I don't know if there were more and if so ... Am I the only one?" Granny sighed softly as Vinyl sniffled shaking her head. "I am happy with my life, Granny. I just want to know." Granny nodded. "We all want to know the truth dear. You don't think Jonah and Ariane wanted to find out the real reason why too?" She asked seeing Vinyl look up at her. "Really? I thought they just didn't think about it." Vinyl said curious. "Oh they did, sugar. They thought about how you ended up in that place, how one person could treat you poorly, or even why. But we never knew the reasons why so we stopped thinking about it and think about the here and now. Which at the time was to get you out of that little shell you locked yourself in as a young’un." Vinyl smiled sadly, shaking her head. The two sat there for a long moment seeing the stars appear in Luna's night sky. Vinyl suddenly began to smile. "At least I now know that I did have a family before everything went so bad. I might have cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. How many are there?" Vinyl asked awed. Then she frowned turning away. "Was I a mistake?" She asked suddenly. Granny shook her head. "No Vinyl!" She said with shock. "Never think that, sugar. You were born in this world for a reason. It's in the Great Faust’s hands what you were born on this world to do." Vinyl shrugged. "Like what?" Granny smiled. "Well for starters, you were born on this world to be a talented Titanian." Vinyl blushed a touch. "I'm not that special." Granny chuckled. "Of course you are dearie. You created magic that even the council members and the princesses have a focus on you." Granny smiled seeing Vinyl smile at the praise. "Also, you have a pretty musician gal living just two hours away." Granny said pointing to the direction of Canterlot. Vinyl turned to the side and see the lights of Canterlot on the mountain with a light blush on her face. "Don't count your chicks before they hatch dearie, because the way I see it, you are the luckiest young Titanian I have ever known. When you were born in this world, you were a Scratch. But ever since you stumbled to our orchard, you became an Apple. Never forget your origins, but most importantly don't forget where you are now." Granny whispered seeing Vinyl smile at her. "I love you Vinyl, I love Applejack, Mac, Apple Bloom, and all of the Apple family." Vinyl nodded as Granny gave her a quick kiss on the head as she stood up walking back to the door. "Thank you," Vinyl whispered turning. "I needed that." Granny smiled. "We all need reminding. Understand this Vinyl, it's alright to try and find the truth but don't let the truth ruin your happiness." Vinyl nodded smiling. She stood up walking into the house behind Granny to see Cloud stop before the door. "Hey Vinyl," Cloud said with a sad smile. "Are you doing alright?" She asked worriedly. Vinyl nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine now." Cloud nodded walking past her to the door. "Hey CK." Cloud stopped turning to Vinyl to see her smile at her. "Thanks for being a good friend." Cloud smiled happily but then had a thought and her smile went into a flirtatious smirk. "You know," Cloud said boldly, leaning against the door frame with a quirked brow. "I'm still waiting for you to fawn over me." Before Cloud could say anything else she felt a pillow smack into her face. Apple Bloom was laughing pointing at her as Cloud blinked a few times looking down at the couch pillow. Vinyl was giggling twiddling her fingers her magic still present on her fingertips. "Right, right," Could said chuckling. "I'm glad you're doing better." She opened the door and winked at her. "I'm still waiting." She joked before flying off for home. Apple Bloom was still giggling from earlier. Granny though snorted shaking her head. "She sure does have a lot of nerve saying that in my presence." Granny said sourly even though she had a smile on her face. Vinyl chuckled. "That's part of her charm." Vinyl joked before taking the plate of food that was left for her. "I'll go eat in my room. Night everyone." She called walking for the stairs. Once Vinyl reached her room she stopped to see Applejack sitting on her bed with a small cardboard box next to her. Applejack looked up seeing Vinyl and stood up. "Hey how are you feeling?" She asked worriedly. "Better," Vinyl answered, closing her door behind her. "Granny reminded me of some things." She said setting the plate on her nightstand moving her clock and lamp to the side to make room. "Like what?" Applejack asked curiously. Vinyl shrugged. "That I'm very lucky." Vinyl chuckled sadly sitting on her bed leaning against the backboard. Applejack sat back down on the bed watching Vinyl eat her dinner. After a few moments of staring Vinyl looked up from her plate to see Applejack's worried look. "What?" Vinyl asked wiping her mouth with her napkin. Applejack shrugged. "Just concerned for you that’s all. I know for a long time we would hang around as kids you always talked about what your parents might be like and if you had brothers and sisters and what they were like and such." Vinyl rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm fine. Yes, I still think about them and the what if's but I'm better now. I'm an Apple, and I'm happy for that. Can we stop talking about this?" Applejack nodded. “Sure, sorry." After another long moment Applejack reached into her pocket. "I found this in the chest. I think you should see this." Vinyl looked over at her as Applejack pulled out an antique silver watch from her back pocket. Vinyl dropped her fork into her plate and snatched the watch from Applejack’s hand and stared in bewilderment at the object. "This is ... Melody’s watch!" "I know," Applejack whispered seeing Vinyl touching it with delicate hands as if it was very fragile. Then Vinyl placed the watch to her ear and gasped seeing AJ's growing smile. "No way!" Vinyl said smiling. "This is Melody’s old watch ... And it still works!" She looked back at Applejack to see her smile sadly at her. "Considering it was Melody’s, I thought maybe you should take it. I've already cleaned up the mess and such." Applejack turned and patted the small box sitting next to her. "Also, I placed the more important things in here. They're yours by family right anyway." Vinyl watched AJ slide the box towards her. Vinyl grabbed the box and opened it to see the few items that were Melody’s. Vinyl pick up the pictures, journals, the glasses, and a hat. Vinyl picked up the ancient bowler hat seeing that the fabric was tearing in places as if the hat was used a lot. Vinyl placed it on her head smiling up at Applejack. Applejack smiled back. "Wow, you do look like her with that on.” Vinyl blushed at that taking off the hat. Annie looked over at the clock on Vinyl’s night stand then yawned. “I better get ready for bed. We have a big day in the morning." She said taking Vinyl’s plate. Vinyl nodded placing the hat back into the box. "Yeah, we do." Applejack left the room with a silent "Good night" and closed the door behind her. Vinyl sighed looking down at the watch in her hand. She was actually holding something that was part of her actual family. She blinked and held the watch trying to get it to open. "Oh right," She grunted ending her struggle. "It's magically locked ... I wonder though." Vinyl held the watch in her hands and concentrated on her magic. As her hands glowed bright blue she felt something give, the lid popped up! "No way." She whispered with shock as she opened the watch and smiled seeing the white clock face and the black clock hands moving. But what surprised her was a piece of paper in the lid. It was tiny! "Great Titania," Vinyl whispered remembering what the piece of paper was! Annie wrote in her book that it was the paper that held Melody's life rules. A magical piece of paper that shrinks or grows by magic. Vinyl carefully peeled the paper off the lid setting the watch on the bed and concentrated on her magic to make the paper grow. Slowly and surly the piece of paper grew until it grew to a normal paper size. Vinyl carefully unfolded the ancient paper until she could see writing and marked out phrases. She counted eight rules on the paper. "Rule one," Vinyl whispered out loud. What she saw were letters and a line that went straight through the phrase. Vinyl squinted trying to read the ancient script, the ink used rue one was fading into the paper. "Trust no one!" Vinyl read softly. But next to the old rule was a new rule. "An exception towards Annie." Vinyl looked down to see the second rule. "Rule two: Lie, it's the only method of survival." Vinyl read feeling bad. "The bigger the lie, the more powerful you are." "Rule three: Men are the superior kind. To be accepted, be the man." Vinyl sighed feeling horrible now. These were probably written as Melody grew up. "Rule four," Vinyl blinked realizing that rule number four was marked out completely, she couldn't read it. But there was an addition. "Love is the most scared of all, you don’t know what you have before it's taken from you forever." Vinyl sighed realizing that maybe Melody wrote something negative about love then replaced it with something sad. "Rose's passing must have changed rule number four." Vinyl whispered. "Rule five: the upper class care little about us. Same with the lower class. What is middle class to be if it's all the same?" Vinyl scratched her head curious as to what Melody meant. By the looks of the writing however Melody must have been drunk or emotionally unstable. Whatever it was it affected her judgment on this rule. "Rule six: Trust no one in the business, especially in the train industry." Vinyl noticed that rule seven was marked off too and replaced with a new rule. "Rule seven: Children are a blessing. Love them and cherish them." Vinyl smiled at that. Tucker must have been born when she wrote the renewed rule seven. "Rule eight: Live life to the fullest, never regret a things that made you happy." Vinyl blinked staring at the rules thinking. She reached over into her night stand drawer to pull out a pencil she had stashed inside. She grabbed a book and set the paper on the book to have a hard surface to write. She bit her lip as she wrote a number nine and circled it under Rule eight. "Rule nine," Vinyl whispered out loud as she wrote. "Never forget how you came to being. Never forget how fortunate you truly are." She paused tapping the pencil to her lip thinking about Octavia causing her to smile. "Never forget the lives you cherished and the lives you touched. Love all you can because you never know when you can have the chance to do it again." Vinyl smiled happily at the new rule and couldn't help but sigh. She looked down at the book to realize it was her music journal. She smirked and opened the book and placed the rules sheet inside. She reached into her back pocket to pull out the suggestive photo of Rose Philharmonica. Before the story Vinyl would be excited in imagining Octavia dressed like that, but now with a story to commemorate with the picture it just made her sad. Vinyl stared at Rose's flirtatious smirk and gray eyes and felt horrible. She reached over for the photo of Melody Liker and Annie Apple sitting for a picture and couldn’t help but smile. "At least you're together now right?" She whispered sadly. “Together in memory and spirit." Vinyl set the two photos together into the journal and smiled. She closed the journal and opened the drawer to the nightstand and placed the journal into the drawer. She went back to the box and pulled out Melody’s glasses and set them with the journal. Then her eyes fell upon the watch sitting opened on her bed. She smirked and closed the watch placing it into the drawer then pushed the drawer closed. Vinyl undressed from her clothes and pulled on her night clothes for the night. She set the box on the floor and pushed it under her bed. She sat down on her bed looking around her in thought. One thought popped up causing her to stiffen then grin with excitement, the Equestrian Games is coming soon. She smirked giggling. "I better win a gold medal." She said to herself standing up. She looked up at one of the posters of Octavia Philharmonica in her room. "Not only for you, Tavi, but maybe to get noticed. My name will be in the papers all over Equestria!" She stated smiling at the possibility of her plan of finding any remnants of her family. "If I still have family out there, they'll see my name. They’ll know I exist!" She cheered silently at the possibly of her actual family noticing her. But then she frowned. "If any one of them knew." She shook her head hard. "Think of the positives!” She scolded herself. “Number one: By the time the games start I'll be seeing Octavia again!" She sighed at that falling back onto her bed with a dreamy smile on her face. "Number two: I get to see the Council of Harmony again.” She chuckled thinking about AJ and Rarity together again. Or even seeing Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Twilight. “Number three: I get to see my cousins ..." She frowned at that. "Oh boy," She grumbled with a groan covering her face with her hands. The whole Apple Family will probably be here for the games and Vinyl wasn't too excited with that thought. “Maybe having a tiny family might not be so bad at all.” She joked.