//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Meanwhile, in the Future // Story: Vinyl and Octavia Break The Timestream // by DoctorSpectrum //------------------------------// “You’re…you’re…” stuttered Octavia, looking at the two ponies facing her and Vinyl. “Hi, Octavia!” said the first pony. She was an Earth pony slightly taller than Octavia, with a coat the same shade as Octavia’s. Her mane was similar to Octavia’s, although it had a few more grey hairs in it. “I’m your future self!” The other pony, meanwhile, had a mane slightly shorter than Vinyl’s, which made up for it by being even more spiky and messy than Vinyl’s could ever hope to be in its current state. She was a white unicorn, and wore an eyepatch over one eye. The other noticeable thing about her was her leg – specifically, her right back leg, which appeared to be completely mechanical. “And I’m Future Vinyl Scratch! But to differentiate me from past Vinyl, call me Violent Slash instead – that’s way cooler!” Future Octavia facehoofed. “Please don’t encourage her. I don’t know where she gets these ideas, but I doubt they’re good for her.” “Hey, I got this idea from my future self when we were time travelling twenty-five years ago, remember, babe?” Future Vinyl Scratch said, grinning. “How could you not expect me to say this on today of all days?” “I was hoping with all my might that we could perhaps change the past by, you know, not saying the dumb things we heard our future selves say at the time?” Future Octavia said, smirking in spite of her words. “Aww, but where would the fun be in that?” asked Future Vinyl Scratch. Looking to Vinyl and Octavia, who were both standing there stunned, she added, “Guys, I know you’ve got a lot of questions, so follow us and we’ll explain them. Specifically, for your questions, Vinyl: Yes, yes, no, yes, forty-two, and yes, when we’re back at our house, but only if you two are quiet whilst in the act.” “You’re…our future selves,” Octavia finally managed to splutter out. “Yep! And welcome to Future Canterlot! At least, from your perspective. We just call it Present Canterlot,” said Future Vinyl Scratch. “This is Canterlot?” Vinyl asked, looking around. The buildings were all much larger than in her and Octavia’s time, being comparable to the skyscrapers of Manehattan here. It was night time, yet there were enough bright lights around from the buildings that it might as well be late afternoon. The most notable thing, however, was the transportation system of the future – rather than walking on the street, or even taking carts to get to where they needed to be, ponies high in the sky above the street appeared to be flying on hoverboards of some kind. “Awesome!” “Follow us; we’ll take you back to our place and we can have drinks,” said Future Vinyl Scratch. “Our hoverboards are parked over here.” “Hoverboards?” Vinyl whined. “Ah man, I was hoping that you guys would have jetpacks! Jetpacks are totally cool!” “You’ve bought – I think it was either three or four? – in the past,” Future Octavia said as the ponies headed down a side alley and into a parking lot. “Each time, the jets burned away more of your mane and tail, so I ended up throwing each of them out until you gave up on buying them.” “Yes…gave up…” said Future Vinyl, looking around shiftily. “Why do we need to use hoverboards, or jetpacks, or whatever?” Octavia asked. “Do ponies in the future just not walk anywhere anymore?” “It’s the principle of the thing,” said Vinyl. “Travelling somewhere by hoverboard is waaay cooler than walking there! Plus, we’re in the future. Do you want to say that you’ve been to the future but you didn’t fly on a hoverboard while you were there?” By now, the group had arrived at two parked hoverboards, which were attached to a railing by a chain.  Each looked large enough to support two, perhaps three, ponies. “I felt similarly confused at your age, Octavia, but since hoverboards have become commonplace, I decided that it would be worth buying and using one, if only to humour Vinyl,” said Future Octavia. “You were only humouring me?” Future Vinyl gasped. “You mean… you did something you didn’t really want to do for my sake?...I love you so much, Octavia.” “I love you too, Vinyl,” said Future Octavia, nuzzling Future Vinyl back. Deciding to at least try to give the two some form of privacy, Octavia looked away, only to catch Vinyl grinning and looking at her. “What?” asked Octavia. “Isn’t it great?” “Isn’t what great?” “Just…us. Them. Everything,” said Vinyl still grinning. “It’s – what, future me said twenty-five years? – later, and we’re still going strong? That’s super cool to know. Isn’t that super cool?” “I –” Octavia paused. She hadn’t thought of that. Watching Future Vinyl and Future Octavia unlock their hoverboards with some sort of keycards, she found herself smiling as she picked up on a few small things – the small peck of a cheek Future Vinyl gave to Future Octavia, the way their tails brushed against each other, or even just how much the two of them were smiling. “Yeah…it is pretty nice,” Octavia said. “I…I suppose that I’ve never thought of us breaking up, even though I knew that the possibility existed. But now, knowing that in the future we’re apparently still going out –” “Love you, Octavia,” Vinyl said, interrupting Octavia and leaning forwards for a kiss. “Love you too, Vinyl,” said Octavia, reciprocating the kiss. “Now and forever.” “Hey! Get a room, you two!” shouted Future Vinyl, grinning too broadly to be mistaken for serious. “Isn’t that why we’re going to your guys’ house?” asked Vinyl back. “To get a room?” “Ooh, good answer. I like this one, Octavia,” said Future Vinyl to Future Octavia. Future Octavia rolled her eyes, although she was smiling at the same time. “She’s your past self, Vinyl. Of course you like her.” “Yeah, but she might be a different past version of me, y’know?” said Future Vinyl. “Like, what if the timeline changes, so she’s me…but she’s not me?!” “…That made no sense,” pointed out Octavia. “That made perfect sense!” protested Future Vinyl. “How do we know you two aren’t from a timeline where everypony is secretly a zombie?!” “How do we know that in the future everypony isn’t a zombie?!” Vinyl countered, entering the conversation. “Prove that you’re not a zombie!” “Everypony, calm down! Nopony here is a zombie!” shouted Future Octavia, stepping in-between Future Vinyl and Vinyl. They both looked at her, waiting to see what she would say next. “An alternate timeline isn’t a thing, anyway. You’re thinking of an alternate universe, darling.” “Not true,” said Future Vinyl Scratch. “If the timeline Past Vinyl and Past Octavia are from had different stuff happen to them, it would create an alternate universe, and therefore it would be an alternate timeline.” “At what point does an alternate timeline become an alternate universe, though?” Octavia asked. “If we decided to, say, eat something different for dinner tonight compared to what you two had when you were time travelling, everything would probably be the same, wouldn’t it? So we’d be from an alternate timeline, but not an alternate universe.” “But it might change things, and thus change your future,” Future Vinyl Scratch said. “So you can’t prove that you wouldn’t be from an alternate universe.” “Can I just say that I’m glad nopony is referring to it as another dimension?” Vinyl said. “I hate so much when ponies are talking about alternate universes and timelines and whatever, and somepony says ‘it’s another dimension’. Dimensions do not work that way. We live in a three-dimensional world. We draw two and one-dimensional pictures. A lot of ponies just don’t get that.” Silence fell amongst the group as everypony contemplated this. “…Time travel is really weird and confusing,” said Octavia, breaking the silence. Everypony nodded in agreement. “For what it’s worth, Octavia, we had the same discussion twenty-five years ago with our future selves, so I think it’s safe to say that we can rule out you two as being from an alternate timeline where everypony is a zombie,” said Future Octavia, smiling. “That being said, how cool would it be if there was a universe where zombies can disguise themselves as regular ponies?” asked Future Vinyl to the group. “It would be scary, but fun!” “Would they be zombies then?” Vinyl asked. “It just sounds to me like they’d be ponies who like eating brains.” “Urgh!” exclaimed Octavia, frowning at Vinyl. “I did not need that mental image, thank you Vinyl.” “Nah, I’m not saying that they’d be alive or anything – they’d still be dead, just that they’d look alive and act alive,” explained Future Vinyl as the group finally climbed onto the hoverboards. For safety reasons, Vinyl and Octavia’s future selves were flying a hoverboard each. “So they’d be zombies in spirit, at least.” “…Spirit zombies?!” gasped Vinyl as the hoverboards levitated into the air. “That’s- Octavia, when we end up getting to be this old, make sure that I stay this awesome forever!” “Of course, Vinyl, provided that you don’t try to make us fight spirit zombies, or something insane like that,” said Octavia. “Goodness knows I hate zombies after fighting them in one too many roleplaying campaigns; I’d hate if we had to fight them in real life at some point in the future.” Future Vinyl and Future Octavia glanced at each other. “Uhh…” said Future Octavia. “About that…” “By the way,” began Vinyl, apparently not noticing what Future Vinyl and Future Octavia were up to, “I’ve been meaning to ask since we got here, and I figure now’s as good an opportunity as ever – Future Vinyl, what’s with the eyepatch and the cyborg leg? Does something terrible happen to me in the future?” “Oh, this thing?” asked Vinyl, pointing to her eyepatch with a hoof. “I totally wore it to look cool in front of you guys! Everyone knows that future versions of ponies always wear eyepatches!” As she spoke, she lifted up the patch to show a perfectly normal eye underneath. “I told her it was pointless, but she insisted,” said Future Octavia, shaking her head and smiling. The two ponies were guiding their hoverboards by subtly shifting their weight, allowing for them to talk and fly them at the same time. “Wouldn’t that cause issues with depth perception?” Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow in concern. “Yeah, but it’s worth it for the awesome look!” said Future Vinyl Scratch. “Oww!” she said, bumping her horn on a streetlight a moment later. Future Octavia shook her head once more. “Twenty-five years you’ve known that would happen, and yet still you insisted on wearing the eyepatch.” “I thought I’d have more time to duck under it – it looked further away than it was,” grumbled Vinyl, rubbing her horn with a hoof, directing the hoverboard all the time. “Don’t worry, Octavia – when I fly the hoverboard in the future, I sure won’t crash into the streetlight,” said Vinyl across the gap between the two ponies. “I’ll even avoid it while wearing the eyepatch! It’ll look super cool!” “That one bit of dialogue says so much about you, Vinyl,” said Octavia, smirking. As Vinyl opened her mouth to reply, she was interrupted by Future Octavia. “We’re nearly at the apartment, guys,” said Future Octavia. “Get ready to see your future home!” The two ponies flew their hoverboards to the top of an apartment building, and attached them to chains on the roof, similar to what they had done in the parking lot. “We live on the third floor from the top,” said Future Vinyl Scratch. “It might be a bit cramped with the four of us in there, but I’m sure we’ll manage.” “To be honest, I’m a little surprised that we live in an apartment in the future,” commented Octavia as her future self unlocked a rooftop door with the same keycard she’d used back in the parking lot. “Yeah, I was kinda hoping we’d move back into our old house, especially seeing as how we kinda move back to Canterlot,” said Vinyl. The ponies entered a stairwell and began walking down it. “It’s a little sad, to be honest,” said Future Octavia. “We did move back there eventually, but due to overpopulation, a lot of housing lots were destroyed to make room for apartment buildings, so we had to move here.” “But on the plus side, the skyscrapers can retract if an angel attacks the city!” exclaimed Future Vinyl Scratch. “An angel?” mouthed Vinyl to Octavia. Octavia shrugged in response, not sure how to reply. It wasn’t long before the ponies were in a carpeted hall filled with apartment doors. Using her keycard once more, Future Octavia opened the door of one – Apartment 12B – and the ponies entered it. It was a small apartment, consisting of an entryway, a kitchen, lounge room, bedroom, and a bathroom. There was also a small balcony outside. “Well, this is certainly a nice apartment,” said Octavia as the tour finished. “It’s certainly less messy than Vinyl’s old apartment, that’s for sure,” she said, nudging Vinyl playfully. “That wasn’t mess, that was arranged chaotically!” exclaimed Vinyl enthusiastically. “And it looked awesome!” “Don’t get me wrong – I still miss that old box – but let me tell you, you would not believe how cool this apartment is!” said Future Vinyl. “Watch this!” Reaching out a hoof to a nearby coffee table, she pressed a button on a remote that was there. The four ponies were silent as they waited for its effects to reveal themselves.  “Well, it was supposed to turn on the air conditioning, but I guess the power supply is dead,” said Future Vinyl. She threw the remote over her shoulder in dismissal, not noticing Future Octavia’s gasp of protest. “Whatever, let’s make some dinner!”   ===============================   “So, how is everyone going at COBRA in the future?” asked Vinyl Scratch. After managing to convince both Octavia and Future Octavia that they wouldn’t be necessary for helping to cook dinner, she and Future Vinyl had managed to put together some salad wraps to eat. The four ponies were sitting around the lounge room right now, eating and talking. “COBRA? Wow, that was a long time ago,” said Future Vinyl. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you, but nowadays, Octavia and I work –” “Yes, you shouldn’t say what our jobs are,” interrupted Future Octavia, although not rudely. “We talked about this, remember?” “Fine,” said Future Vinyl, rolling her eyes. “But trust me, Past Vinyl, they’re super cool jobs!” “Talked about what?” asked Octavia, frowning in confusion. “Is there something we shouldn’t know?” “Well –” Future Octavia swallowed her bite, then continued. “Well, to be honest…Vinyl and I had a discussion, and we think it’s better if we avoid talking about specific things which happen in your futures.” “Yeah – it means that you get to experience all the fun of what we did for the first time!” exclaimed Future Vinyl. “Yes…the ‘fun’,” muttered Future Octavia, making a quotation gesture with her hooves. Octavia frowned. “Is that for the best?” she asked. “What if Vinyl and I end up in mortal peril, and information which you two know could save us if you tell us now?” “You guys will let me buy a sport’s almanac while I’m in the future though, right?” asked Vinyl. Ignoring Vinyl, Future Octavia said, “I realise that it’s not very reassuring, but, well…Vinyl and I are around now, and we’ve managed to survive everything that life’s thrown at us. If we told you some of the challenges that life throws at you, who knows whether preparing for them would just lead to worse problems along the way because things turned out differently?” “Or hay, you might prepare for some stuff we tell you about, and then it doesn’t end up happening, because your future ends up different to ours,” said Future Vinyl as she finished off her meal. “And like I said, more fun when you’re on your adventures if you don’t know what happens!” Octavia thought it over. Part of her still wished that her future self and Future Vinyl would tell her some things that would happen in her future, but could see where they were coming from with their logic. “I…guess that makes sense,” said Octavia reluctantly. “I wish I knew whether we’d at least return to our original time.” Vinyl’s voice spoke out, surprising everyone. It was an unusually sombre thing for the unicorn to say, particularly after she had been quiet for so long. “Oh yeah, I’ll flat out tell you that you guys will end up getting to…a safe time,” said Future Vinyl, grinning and putting her plate down onto the floor. “You’ll be fine as long as you do the same things we do, which I reckon you will. And trust me, there’s some awesome stuff coming up for you guys,” said Future Vinyl. “I’m twenty-five years older than you, Vinyl, and…I’ve…seen things you wouldn’t believe.  COBRA ships fire off the shoulder of Canterlot. I watched fluorescent lights glitter in the dark near nightclubs.” She shook her head slightly. “And one day, all those…moments…will be lost in time, like –” Future Vinyl coughed slightly “- wubs…in…a really crappy nightclub.” “You alright, Vinyl?” asked Future Octavia, raising an eyebrow in concern. Everypony in the apartment was watching Future Vinyl intensely, wondering what the hay she was going on about. “Hmm? Oh, that cough? Just clearing my throat a little,” said Future Vinyl, smiling broadly. “Why?” “No reason,” said Future Octavia, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. “Err…I hate to interrupt at this moment, but, well…” Octavia glanced over at Vinyl, who cleared her own throat. “We were…kinda thinking about trying the time travel spell again, now that we’ve had a bit to eat,” said Vinyl. “I’m feeling like giving it a try, and seeing as how this obviously isn’t our own time…no time like the present, you know? Or the future, I guess.” “That’s not a bad idea, as far as our ideas go,” said Future Vinyl, grinning. “Buuut, on the other hoof…” “How would you two like to have a tour of the city tomorrow?” asked Future Octavia. “It’s not as though there’s any danger in staying a little longer, and we thought you two might be interested in having a look around a new location – think of it as a very short holiday.” Vinyl and Octavia looked at each other for each other’s opinion. “Yeah?” asked Vinyl. “Yes, I see no harm in it,” said Octavia. A thought occurred to her as she spoke. “You two planned to offer this before we arrived here, hadn’t you?” “What can I say?” asked Future Vinyl Scratch. “I love the idea of spending time with my two favourite ponies in the world – Octavia and Past Octavia.” A moment later, Vinyl had thrown a couch pillow that had somehow ended up on the floor at her future self in pretence anger. “So, we all agree? It’s a date then?” asked Future Octavia. “Or, well, you know what I mean,” she said, blushing furiously. Everypony nodded in confirmation. “Good! Now, Past Octavia and Past Vinyl, Vinyl and I are happy to set up a mattress in here for ourselves for the night…”   ===============================   “I think that I really like the future,” said Vinyl, looking up at the skyscrapers fondly as she walked down the street. It was the next day, and she was heading down the street from the apartment with Future Vinyl. “For some reason, I was thinking that in the future everything would be much more…I dunno, dirty?” “Yeah, I know exactly what you’re talking about!” said Future Vinyl. “When I was your age, I always pictured ponies in the future being ruled by a ruthless dictator, getting rid of ponies once they were above the age of thirty.” “And yet, everything here seems so bright and optimistic!” said Vinyl. “I like this!” “Just wait ‘til you see where we’re going,” said Future Vinyl, lifting her eyepatch to wink at Vinyl. “I loved it when I was time travelling, so you hopefully should too.” “Any idea what Octavia and Future Octavia have decided to do for their tour?” asked Vinyl. “Good idea, by the way, splitting into pairs since we have such different interests to Octavia.” “No idea where they went; we’ll have to ask Octavia and Past Octavia later,” said Future Vinyl. “And yeah, it’s a good thing that we decided to split from them – Octavia hates whenever I come here.” It took Vinyl a moment to realise that her future self had stopped, apparently at their destination. “A bar?” Vinyl asked, confused. “Future me… you realise that I have them in the time I’m from, right?” “Yeah, but you wouldn’t believe some of the cool stuff we’ve got here!” said Future Vinyl. “Come on, is there really anything you’d rather do than get drunk with the coolest pony you know?” “You’re not the coolest pony I know,” said Vinyl, frowning. “I am!” “Yeah, exactly! And I have an eyepatch, so I have to be cooler than you are!” said Future Vinyl, grinning. “So why not go for a few drinks?” “Well, the time is ten o’clock in the morning,” said Vinyl, squinting at a distant clock tower, “so that means that we’ve missed out on ten hours’ worth of drinking!” She looked at her future counterpart and grinned. “All right, you’re on, future me! We’ll go drinking, but so help me, if it turns out that Octavia did something really cool that can only be done in the future, I’m going to be super disappointed.” Future Vinyl guided Vinyl into the bar, which looked as though it was only just opening. “C’mon, we’ll be fine. I bet they’re not doing anything as exciting as this…”   ===============================   “My goodness, this is exciting!” said Octavia. “I – I can’t believe how good this is!” “Yes, it certainly is unique to what you would think of as the future,” said Future Octavia, smiling at Octavia. “I can believe that,” said Octavia. “This tea is simply fabulous!” She took a sip of it, savouring every drop as it entered her mouth. The two ponies were sitting outdoors at a café, drinking tea and sharing a piece of cake. Since it was a weekday, it wasn’t too busy, and the ponies had some relative peace and quiet. “I had thought that you might enjoy that,” said Future Octavia, taking a sip of her own tea. “In your future, trading with foreign countries has increased, so we’re able to get much more exotic drinks and such here compared to your time. That tea which I recommended for you is from the zebra lands, I believe.” “Well it was a good recommendation, so thank you for it,” said Octavia. “And a good idea to come to a café today, as well. I can’t remember the last time I’ve simply had five minutes to sit down by myself…literally, in this case.” “I had thought that you would appreciate it,” said Future Octavia, stirring some sugar into her tea. “If I’m not mistaken, your life has been quite hectic recently, since the detective business.” She frowned a moment later. “That is right, isn’t it? I didn’t just accidentally spoil some of your future?” Octavia found herself smiling as she drank from her tea. “No, you’re right, both with regards to life being hectic and my recent history. It certainly has been all over the place.” Octavia found herself staring into her tea as she spoke. “I suppose that if it weren’t for this time travel incident, it wouldn’t be that bad – Vinyl and I have somewhat managed to stabilise our lives since we escaped from jail. It’s just a good thing that we’ve found an organisation as friendly and trustworthy as COBRA who accepted us.” Future Octavia smirked at that, but didn’t say anything. “I think that Vinyl often gets caught up in the heat of the moment and doesn’t really think about the reality of what’s happening – certainly she adjusts to it more than I do. I usually go along with what’s happening for her sake, but…when do I get a say? When do I get to say, ‘No, we’re not doing this wacky adventure, we’re staying at home like normal ponies’?” Octavia sighed, and drank a sip of her tea. It was getting colder. “Is this unfair of me, to think these things? To want these things?” “Octavia, speaking as possibly the only pony in Equestria who knows what you’re going through and talking about, take it from me: these are okay thoughts to have,” said Future Octavia. “I love Vinyl, and you do too, but you know what? She is very impulsive and doesn’t always think ahead before doing things. She does sometimes neglect to think of us when she does things.” Octavia frowned. “What are you trying to tell me?” “Vinyl is silly, forgetful, and very, very idiotic at times. But that doesn’t change that she’s a good pony, and that all of those things are just part of what makes her the pony she is.” Future Octavia finished the last of her tea in one sip. “With that in mind, can you honestly say that you don’t love her? That you would rather be with someone else?” Octavia continued staring into her tea as she thought it over. Her future self was absolutely right when she said that Vinyl was very idiotic…but she was also right in saying that that was what made Vinyl who she was. Octavia thought back to all the times she and Vinyl had spent together since they had met. All the moments they’d experienced, as they’d gone from reluctant travelling companions, to friends, to housemates, to lovers. From the moment they’d met, Octavia had known Vinyl to be…well, the pony she was. There were times when she had hated Vinyl, and times when she had loved her. But if Vinyl had been any different, if those moments had changed – would Octavia still have all of the great memories which she had? Hay, would Octavia and Vinyl still be together? It would probably mean that Octavia’s life would be better – she certainly wouldn’t be time travelling – but to live a life without Vinyl in it? “Of course I love her,” said Octavia quietly. “How could I not?” Future Octavia smiled at Octavia. “That’s what I thought,” she said. ===============================   “Man, this cider is great!” said Vinyl Scratch as she finished off her latest pint of it. “I can’t believe how lucky you future guys have it!” She and her future self were, predictably, still in the same bar that they had entered several hours ago. The whole place was just like a regular bar, only with more metallic tables and shinier floors. If the bartender had any thoughts on the similarities of the two near-identical ponies in his bar, he kept them to himself. “That cider’s exactly the same as you have in your present-day Canterlot, give or take some genetic modifications to the apples it came from,” said Future Vinyl, somewhat grumpily. “You were supposed to have the cocktails! I brought you in here since we’ve got all this stuff here in the future you don’t have, and all you’ve done is stuck to cider!” She drank from a bright blue cocktail she had ordered as she finished. Vinyl frowned at that, idly running a hoof around the rim of her empty glass. “But I like cider!” she whined. “It’s so much better than- than beer and crap! Because, y’see, cider’s sweet, yeah? Like, really, really -” “I’m just saying, I think that it’s a dumb idea not to at least try some of what we’ve got in your future,” interrupted Future Vinyl, finishing off her cocktail a moment later. “You’re a dumb idea!” growled Vinyl. Upon finishing, she slumped forwards onto the table, apparently having given up on supporting herself. “Hey Vinyl, you realise that you’re an idiot, right?” said Future Vinyl, also slumping forwards as she laughed. She grinned at her temporal duo. “But that’s okay, because that’s part of what makes us awesome!” “Being stupid…makes us awesome?” asked Vinyl. She briefly glanced up at her glass, remembered that it was empty, then went back to looking at Future Vinyl. “Do you think Octavia minds?” “Huh?” asked Future Vinyl, suddenly serious again. “Minds what?” “Do you think that she minds that we’re so…I dunno, different to her?” Vinyl asked, half-speaking to the table. “I mean, at the time, I didn’t really think that much about it, but looking back, wasn’t it kinda a jerk move in the Amarezon?” “The Amarezon?” Future Vinyl squinted as she thought back. “What are you talking about, Vinyl?” “You remember when we first met Octavia?” asked Vinyl. “How we sorta…tricked her into exploring the Amarezon with us?” “Heh, ‘exploring the Amarezon’,” chuckled Future Vinyl. She was quickly punched by Vinyl. “Future Vinyl! I’m being serious!” said Vinyl. “I’m…I dunno.” She swallowed, apparently choosing her words carefully. “Aren’t we kinda…jerks? Wasn’t that a bad thing to do?” Future Vinyl winced. Reaching out a hoof to Vinyl’s shoulder, she said, “Oh…Vinyl, mate, you’re looking at this all wr-” “Am I?” exclaimed Vinyl unexpectedly, causing Future Vinyl to flinch. “Am I really, future me? Because…I know that Octavia doesn’t like a lot of the stuff I do, and I know that I screw up a lot, and, and…” She fell silent, but it was obvious that she was struggling to decide what to say next. “Oy vey,” muttered Future Vinyl, running a hoof through her short mane. Watching her future self struggle to express herself, she was starting to remember back in the relatively early days of her relationship with Octavia, when she had been having thoughts like Vinyl was expressing now. “Sometimes, I- I want to apologise to Octavia, to tell her that I just don’t think before doing things,” said Vinyl, exasperated. “And I want to, I really do. But…but then I worry, y’know? I worry that she’ll suddenly go, ‘Huh, Vinyl, I hadn’t considered that, but yeah, you kinda are a jerk. See ya!’” Future Vinyl reached out a hoof to Vinyl’s shoulder once more, and lightly placed it there. “Past Vinyl…you’ll be fine with Octavia. You’re overthinking this.” “Oh yeah?” asked Vinyl, frowning. “What makes you so sure?” Future Vinyl couldn’t help grinning at that. “Well, y’know, I am you, twenty-five years in the future, and my relationship with Octavia’s going pretty strong, so…yeah, I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine,” she said. “And Octavia’s a grown pony. If she didn’t like you…if she wanted to leave, she’d do it. Or at the very least, she’d talk to you maturely about it, not just leave you impulsively without discussing it.” Vinyl looked slightly more pleased upon hearing that, but was still worried. “But…do you think I’m a bad pony, future me? Don’t you think that we’ve, well, done some bad stuff?” Future Vinyl sighed. “Vinyl, you and I know what we’ve done in our past, and even if you’re moaning and being all angsty about it right now, we both know that there’s nothing there we regret. We’re good ponies, alright?” She shook her head. “Look, do you want me to get you some water or something? You seem pretty drunk?” To herself, she muttered, “Swear I never used to get that drunk that quickly…” Vinyl opened her mouth, then closed it. Her eyes focused on the floor for a minute, then she slowly turned away from Future Vinyl so that she was staring at the surface of their table once more. Throughout all of this, Future Vinyl patiently waited, only shifting herself slightly to adjust her sitting position. Finally, Vinyl spoke. “Even if you think that I’m a good pony, and even if I am…how do I know that Octavia thinks that?” she asked. “Octavia’s the best pony in all of Equestria to me, and if she didn’t think that, I-I don’t know what I’d do,” she said. “Well then, it’s a very good thing that I do think that you’re a good pony, Vinyl,” said a new voice as a grey-coated mare slid up behind Vinyl and kissed her on the cheek. “A great pony, in fact.” “How did I know that you two would be in here?” asked Future Octavia, herself sneaking up behind Future Vinyl. They too shared a quick kiss. “Easy: I’m just that damn sexy that you can sense me wherever I am,” said Future Vinyl, leaning in for another kiss but missing due to her eyepatch screwing with her depth perception. “O-Octavia?” asked Vinyl. “I- I-” “I don’t know what you two were talking about, Vinyl,” said Octavia, “but rest assured, I care about you and I love you just as much as I always have.” For the first time in several hours, Vinyl flashed her trademark grin. “Same to you, beautiful.” “Oh man, I love a happy ending!” said Future Vinyl, watching her past self and her partner together. “Didn’t you say that you were going to try and keep your past self sober today?” asked Future Octavia, smiling slyly. “…Baby don’t hurt me?” asked Future Vinyl, smiling awkwardly. “What say we ditch this crazy future and keep trying to get home?” Vinyl asked Octavia cheerfully. “Cool as our future selves are, I want to get back home with you and…. I dunno, but I want to do it, whatever it is!” “I think that you missed a few words there Vinyl, but whatever,” said Octavia. Turning to her future counterpart, she asked, “Would you be offended if we-?” “Not in the slightest,” said Future Octavia. “We time travelled from here when we were in your position – how did you think I knew to find Vinyl and Past Vinyl here?” “And after all, time stops for no pony!” said Future Vinyl happily. Future Octavia frowned at her. “What does that have to do with anything?” she asked, confused. “Nothing!” said Future Vinyl. “But I’ve been wanting to say it all day, and I’m sick of waiting!” “Alright, babe – let’s spin this,” said Vinyl to Octavia, grinning as her horn started to light up. “Have a good trip,” said Future Octavia, waving to her past self and her lover. “We’ll see you again in twenty-five…well, you’ll see yourselves…oh, you know what I mean!” “See you guys later!” said Vinyl as her horn got brighter, with more energy surging into the spell. “Hope everything goes well!” added Octavia. “Does anypony else think it’s odd that the bartender is completely unfazed by all of this?” asked Future Vinyl. A moment later, the usual portal had appeared, ripping and slicing its way through space-time as before. Vinyl and Octavia were sucked into it and disappeared to an unknown time, waving goodbye to their future counterparts one last time. “Man, we were pretty cool back then, weren’t we?” asked Future Vinyl once the portal had disappeared. “I rather think we were, although I forgot how uptight my past self could be at times,” Future Octavia agreed. “Still, I am a little worried for them…” It took Future Vinyl a moment to realise what she was talking about. “Oh, come on! You know that it’s an accident – I tried to sober her up, and I forgot what time you were coming! And anyway, we survived that place they’ve gone too, didn’t we?” “Mmm, I suppose you’ve got quite a valid point,” said Future Octavia as the two ponies started to exit the bar. As they continued, she let out a small chuckle. “What is it?” Future Vinyl asked. “Just a thought I had,” said Future Octavia. “Imagine if we’d told them that not only are we married, but what happened right after the wedding…”