"But....But why?"
"Tavi....Alright, I went over this many times in my head, but I never thought you would ask me "why."
"I'm clearly hallucinating. Hello phantom Vinyl. How are you doing?"
"Tavi! I'm not a hallucination."
"Don't play with me. I'm just an insane woman talking with her long dead friend."
Vinyl glared at me. I didn't really care as the.....person... in front of me wasn't real. Vinyl, if I could call her that, started angrily pacing back and forth. The night was becoming darker. I was becoming more insane.
"Octavia. Listen. I'm not dead. I'm standing right in front of you."
"The mind can do that. I should turn myself in. Maybe I will consult the bars of a prison. Ask them how I can last through this torment. I have a feeling they will respond with utmost sincerity. Tell me that I am hopeless and should simply shy away from society."
Vinyl stomped over to me. I slumped to the ground and leaned on the large tree. She loomed over me with a expression that could frighten a manticore. I was not intimidated by her. That was, until she painfully slapped me across the face. The hit spun me to the ground.
"Can a damn hallucination to that? Huh? Can it, Tavi!?" Vinyl yelled at me.
The sting of my cheek made me wince. Vinyl was prepared to do it again. I quickly waved her off and crawled away. I started to stammer wildly.
"Ho-How? Did you fake your death? How?"
"What? No. Why would I fake my death? I was trying to save you from the Old Dungeon remember? I wouldn't have been a good friend if I disappeared."
I considered this. "That is reasonable...I guess."
"Now before you say anything else, yes I kinda did die."
"That doesn't make sense!" I exclaimed.
She smiled. "Good, that means I'm getting good at this."
"What in Tartarus does that mean?"
"Uhh....Forget I said anything. Alright, it's a very long story. Like, a 1000 years long. But I'll get to that. Now, how have ya been since I was gone."
I blinked. "Utterly devastated. I wanted to die at the gallows with the news of your demise."
She nodded slowly. "I'll have to admit. I expected that from ya. Who told you by the way?"
"Spitfire."
"Oh that Spitfire, she got me pretty good. Oi, let me show you."
She pointed at her robes. The white Assassin robes were stained with crimson. I now assumed that this was her blood. She pointed a tear in her robes.
"This is where she stabbed me through the chest. Let me tell ya, that hurts, a lot. Her sword went out the back, see? And here is where she shot me with her pistol."
"How did you survive?"
She waved a hand in my face. "I'll get to that. Here is where she finished me off. Gutted me right through the liver."
"She did ALL of that to you? I'm...I'm going to KILL her!"
I jumped to my feet and began to walk back to camp. Vinyl grabbed my arm and stopped me. Her action was swift and desperate.
"Tavi, wait. I'm not sure if I should see the Bearers just yet. Come, we should go deeper into the woods."
Her tone was suspicious, but I complied with her order. Vinyl walked in front of me and we heading into the shrubbery of the forest. The place felt off. I noticed that the bugs were crawling away from Vinyl like she was disease. Centipedes rose from the dirt and sped away. Everything seemed disturbed. The trees moaned with our passing. My friend did not seem to notice. Some birds nearby made awful noises and flew away. Even the bushes seemed to shy away from us.
"We're almost there. Then, you can meet him." She told me.
"Who is he?"
"The one that healed me you could say. You were talking with him before I showed up."
"Do you mean the ethereal voice? I thought that was you playing tricks on me." I said.
"Nah, I wouldn't go THAT far. Here we are."
We stopped in a small clearing. The grass around Vinyl's feet seemed to slowly wither. Vinyl stood there and smiled at me. I was nervous about the place. A thick fog began to surround us. In the darkness, I could barely see anything. I felt sweat sliding down my face.
"Vinyl? What's going on?"
"You'll see."
"Yes, you will."
The ghostly voice was back. In the fog, two bright red eyes opened. I could only see the eyes and nothing else. Vinyl remained calm and casually gazed at the eyes. I heard a claw dig into the ground and the eyes came closer. I could hear the monster's breath. It was uneven and seemed ill. I was struck with terror. My limbs were frozen in fear. The eyes came closer. I could now feel its breath.
"Are you scared?" The voice asked. The sound came from the direction of the monster.
My lip quivered. His head poked of the fog. It was far from human or anything I had seen before. It was the shape of goat. A very deformed goat. He smiled at me with bright yellow teeth. The teeth were sharp and had many rows. One very large fang hung from the right side of his angled jaw. The fur on his hideous face was gray. Two mismatched horns rose from the top of his head. His ears were long and flabby. His devilish grin widened as he approached me. His head extended to me on his long and snake like neck.
"There is nothing to be afraid of, Lady Octavia." He said through his massive grin.
I felt imbalanced. I wanted to faint. Vinyl stood next to the demon, perfectly calm. I fell to the ground. I was still conscious, but barely. The monster loomed over me. His head was almost as large as me. His breath was hot like a furnace. The demon placed his head right in front of mine. I could see with jagged teeth. He took a sniff, a long sniff. He started to laugh wildly. Cackling like a madman. He reared his head up and placed a lion's paw on his face. His laughter echoed through the woods.
"HAHA! You should the look on your face! Priceless!" He guffawed.
"It's too good!" Vinyl began laughing as well. She bent other and held her sides.
"WHAT?! I screamed.
"I can't help it." Vinyl laughed.
"VINYL! What is this thing?!" I yelled.
The demon looked down at me. His height as almost three times my size. He smiled at me. Not so much with a demon-like grin, but a goofy smile.
"Oh, Lady Octavia, I am Discord, Lord of Chaos and Disharmony. At your service."
"But.....No......I'm going insane. I'm officially insane." I wailed and clutched my head.
"Tavi..." Vinyl began.
"No! I knew this day would come! All this killing and war. It takes the toll. I can't live on like this."
In my panic, I pointed my hidden pistol underneath my jaw. In truth, I was contemplating suicide. I had seen enough in past ten minutes that I wouldn't want to see in several lifetimes. Vinyl screamed at me not to do it. But I did. I flexed my wrist and fired the gun into my head. Only, a lead ball did not shoot out, but a wad of flying confetti. Discord laughed even harder. I quickly turned and began to crawl away.
"Tavi, come back!" Vinyl yelled.
I got to my feet and ran a little ways. My mind was still bent on ending my mind. I pulled out my sword and pointed to my belly. I did not want to live an insane life full of demons and living dead. I stabbed myself with the sword. But, alas! My sword bended upon touching my skin. The steel felt rigid and unmoving, but it still bended like a bough under pressure. I unsuccessfully attacked myself a few times before Vinyl grabbed me.
"I'm sorry to do this." She said and then punched me in the face. All went dark instantly.
I awoke with my face burning like the day. The day? It had arrived. The sun shone on my face through the tall trees. I had been dreaming a wild dream. I probably had too much of Pinkie's stew. Where was I? I was not at the camp, but a large tree. I tried to move my hands; however, they were bound behind my back. For what reason? Was I captured? By who? I started to squirm about. I unleashed a fitful groan.
"Oi, ya up? Finally?"
I was shocked to see Vinyl standing before me. She had her ruined mask in her hand. The sun shown from behind her and blocked most of her face.
"Vinyl? How? You're alive?"
Vinyl sighed. "Here we go again. Did I hit you too hard?"
"What? We've talked before?" I asked.
"Yes. Don't you remember?"
The memories flooded back into my head. Vinyl's return. Discord. That horrid monster. The fleeing bugs. I was not dreaming. It was stuck too well in my memory.
"Ohh....I do. Wait. You punched me!" I shrieked.
Vinyl nodded. "I did. I'll do it again if ya try and kill yourself for a third time."
"Is that why you tied me?"
"Yup."
I had nothing else to say. Vinyl did not come closer and left me in my restrained state. My friend started to pace in front of me. I simply watched her. Not much was going through my mind. Suddenly, Discord walked from behind some bushes. He walked on his back legs which were what looked like a dragon leg and a goat leg. He stretched his body out and twisted his head in a full circle. I blinked in confusion. It seemed that his head was floating above his neck as the rest of his body did not twist with his head.
He took notice of me. "Oh look. She is awake. Good. How was your sleep?"
"Less than peaceful." I replied.
"Those are the best kinds. Now Vinyl, my dear, have you informed her of the reason for your living?"
Vinyl snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah. I forgot about that." She reached in her pocket. "Here Tavi, take this."
She tossed a crystal to me. It landed on my lap. I could not touch it as my hands were still bound. The crystal hummed faintly. It did not look unique in any way. The crystal was no larger than my thumb. It was just as thin too. It was in a long and thin shape, like a diamond. It was transparent and quite shiny. I looked at the crystal with varying degrees of interest. I finally returned my gaze to Vinyl.
"How does this explain what happened?"
"Tavi, this is a shard of the Crystal Heart. Alright, I know you've not heard of it but..."
"Actually, I have. But please continue."
"Really? Huh. Well, I stole this from the Sisters when I was underneath the Palace lookin' for ya. I thought it looked nice and kept it. They have a bunch of these things anyway. Now, I was looking for your gear also. When I came across your gear, that's when Spitfire found me sneaking about, but she was looking for these shards as well. She asked me to hand it over and I refused. We fought, I lost. The Royal Guards saved me though. Spitfire almost took this from me, but the Guards came and scared her off. They found my almost dead body and threw me out the back and into, well, a ditch. That was when this thing started talking to me. It kept me alive, through Hope. That is what that shard is, Hope. And well, the power of it attracted ol' Discord. He was interested in my attempt to rob the Sisters and healed me. Kinda. I had to go through his little tests of Chaos before he decided to let me live."
"This saved you?" I looked at the shard.
"Yup. Well, I probably would have died without Discord, but it kept me living long enough for him to come."
Discord spoke up. "Anyone who is willing to steal from the Sisters is always an ally of mine. Well, it depends."
"Do you work for him?" I nodded at the demon. I could not gesture because my hands were still tied.
"Yes. I am what you call a Survivor of Chaos. I'm his human agent. I'm not the only one. Apparently Rainbow Dash is also a Survivor."
"The Bearer of Loyalty? What cause do you have with a Bearer of Harmony?" I asked the demon.
"It was during her early stages of being a Bearer. And because of that, you shall find her much different than her fellow Bearers. Fun isn't it? I do love messing with you humans. So filled with science and skepticism that you forget what world you live in. Hehe. But I can save my comments for later. I did come here for a reason, even though I hate Reason."
"Why are you here?" I asked.
He rose and snaked over to me. "It's simple. I have a mission for you, Vinyl, and Miss Rainbow Dash. I want you to capture both good ol' Tia and little Lulu. I haven't been able to talk with them over the past millennia and I cannot wait any longer. I miss them. Rainbow Dash has already agreed to do so. Will you? Oh wait. You have no choice, otherwise you can say goodbye to Vinyl again forever and go about were little way of revenge. If you accept, then you and Vinyl are reunited. What say you?"
"Tia and Lulu? Who are they?"
"Oh, nicknames. You know them as Empress Celestia and Empress Luna. You see, I knew them before they had such an Empire under their command. Before they got some shards from the shattered Crystal Heart and became immortal. That could be your reason to find the Sisters. To discover the Truth, as you may call it."
I blinked at this. "You...Want us.....To kidnap......The Sisters!?"
Discord nodded very slowly.
"You seem like the powerful sort, why not do it yourself?" I asked.
"That would make too much sense." He answered simply.
I gestured in confusion. Wait? I looked at my hands. They were unbound. Vinyl had not taken a step in my direction, so this was very odd. I glanced to the ground to see a much of snakes slithering away. Their bodies and eyes were constantly changing color. Discord chuckled at me. I assumed these curious creatures were what keeping my hands bound. My mind began to falter as I comprehended the bizarre situation. I thus decided to throw reasoning out of the metaphorical window and just......roll with it.
"When do we start?" I asked.
Discord clapped his "hands" in excitement. "Right away, my dears!"
"DISCORD!"
The demon coward away from the scream. It wasn't any of us who shouted so angrily. I got up and looked around the tree. The Bearer of Kindness was stomping towards us. Her eyes were glowing, so I could tell that this wasn't Fluttershy, but Kindness. Discord regained his composure and simply grinned at the Bearer. Kindness ended her mad trek at the "feet" of the demon.
"Why are you here? What are you doing?" Kindness demanded.
"You're a Bearer? Hmm....You've changed bodies since I last met you. Kindness was it? Aw yes. Well, I don't like your tone, let's see the woman you've latched your parasitic self onto."
Discord knocked Kindness on the top of her head. Her eyes to spin vertically, rolling up in her head and then back out. They finally ended and her eyes ceased to glow. Fluttershy looked up at Discord and well......eeped.
"Naww." Discord sounded. "In another universe, we could be friends, but not this one. Hello, dear Bearer, I am Discord."
"I...I know who you are." Fluttershy spoke meekly.
"Of course you do my dear! Rainbow must've told you EVERYTHING about me? Didn't she?"
Fluttershy nodded weakly. Even though Fluttershy was the tallest human among us in the forest, she was miniscule compared to the monstrous size of Discord. The demon gently patted the scared Bearer on the head. Vinyl chuckled at the scene. I, however, pitied the Bearer. She was trying to be brave, but, failed miserably at it.
The Demon snaked around the scared Bearer. "You do not need to be afraid. I have no quarrel with you...yet. I am simply asking these friends of mine to aid me in a little, itty bitty, quest. Nothing wrong with that, is there?"
Fluttershy shook her head with uncertainty. I had just about enough of them and started to walk about. I did not know where I was going, but neither did I care. All that had transpired left me in a pool of complete apathy. My friend was alive, but never dead, a demon of Chaos was now ordering me to capture the Empresses, and the same demon was clearly more powerful than the Elements. I rubbed my eyes with such thoughts in my mind. I sighed loudly and looked up to the tree tops. The sun was pleasant and shining down on me, but I did not feel any of its warmth. A stifling chilliness surrounded the area. I knew it was because of Discord and Vinyl. Whatever he did to her changed her in a way that she was not the same person. I looked to the ground to see the remaining insects flee away from where my friend was standing.
"Heya Discord!" I heard a shrill of joy behind me.
"You must be Laughter! Oh, you're my favorite of the bunch." Discord laughed.
"Ya hear that Fluttershy? I'm his favorite!" Pinkie clapped her hands excitedly.
"Uhh....That's nice...." Fluttershy muttered weakly.
~