//------------------------------// // Day 2 // Story: Techno of Emotions // by Ripcord //------------------------------// As I rose from my recliner I walked back into the bathroom to shower for a new day, I turned on the shower and went to the area where I saw...her. There was nothing there, nothing at all. "Ah stupid nightmares got me seeing things again, I need to shower," I said as I walked into the shower and washed out my mane. I took the comb from the shelf in the shower and pulled the knots from my mane, wincing as I did. I Turned off the shower and walked out to look in the mirror, I was pleased to see all the dirt and grime from last night was off of me. I went downstairs and poured some Wheat Thins into a bowl, I opened the fridge to grab some milk that I bought yesterday. I poured it in the bowl and walked over to my cot and began to read the news paper for anything interesting. Nothing, like usual, so I quickly finished my cereal and headed out the door. I walked out and was greeted again, by the suns glorious rays and they warmed my body so well. I took a deep breath and could smell the food made yesterday at the Festival as work ponies began to clean up it up. I continued on to the market to buy some food for the coming days, there were stands for everything you could ever want to eat scattered across the market area. The sounds and buzzing feeling you get walking into the place livened up your senses. It made you feel like a bee in a hive just going around trying to stay out of every other bee's way as they worked. I walked up to my favorite stand and was greeted by Ripcord. "Hey hey hey, Vinyl Scratch, heard your song last night, very good," said Ripcord joyfully. "Oh thanks bro, so what have you got for me this week?" I asked. "Ha nothing but the best for you girl, now take a look at this," Ripcord walked over to a chest that he kept specialty items in for his "Favorite Customer". he walked back over slamming the trunk down down so hard the top flew open, barely missing his head. "BAM, hahaha not to shabby huh Scratch," "No, not at all Ripcord so how much for, whatever this is?" "This scratch is nothing but the finest fruits brought in from over seas, It has been magically enhanced so it never goes rotten...very good shipping technique if you ask me," "Oh sweet bro, how much is it though?" "Free of charge Scratch," He leaned closer to me "I heard about you an Octavia, I'm so so sorry Scratch, so just take it." Ripcord pushed the trunk over to me. I began to tear up at this generous gift, It's nice to have a good friend in a time like this. I put the trunk on my back and Ripcord strapped it for me, he smiled and waved me off as I walked of to see what else people had to offer. I scoured the market place stopping only one other time a stall, It said "Trixie's Lovely Psychiatry" very cheesy but after what I'v been seeing in my dreams I wanted to know what was happening. I walked in and saw Trixy whipping another colt strapped to a bed, She looked over and winked while motioning for me to come over. "Nope, nope nope fuck this, just no," I said as I turned a round and walked out the door. "How is that lovely, or psychiatry?" I asked myself as I walked to my studio to unpack. I entered the room and saw that my synthesizer was still glowing, but in a rainbow of colors. I disregarded for now and walked over to the fridge and unpacked the various fruits. They smelt so very sweet and looked delicious, I decided to try one. It was a small purple one that had red spots all over it, It smelt like and apple mixed with a grape, but I continued to take a bite. The sweet taste filled my mouth and I fell into a trance of deliciousness. I took small bites and savored the fruits, but quickly got up and ran to the fridge. "Oh, Octavia would.....Oh, I forgot again...she's gone," I fell down in front of the fridge and laid on it. "Fuck..*sniff*.. I'm so stupid hurting myself like that, why.....* BANG BANG BANG*" someone loudly banged on the door, I quickly regained my composure as best as I could and walked over to the door. I looked trough the peep hole and saw the old mare from last night. "Hello, deary it's me, Soft Treble, from last night?" Soft Treble asked as she continued to knock. "Soft Treble, a nice name actually,Um hang on I'll let you in," I yelled back letting Soft Treble into the studio, she walked in and hugged me tightly. She eventually let go even though I never wanted to, but I did and she sat down letting her case drop as she did so. She looked around as if examining the room for anything strange, she stopped and stared at my synthesizer. "Oh very interesting, mind if I take a look deary," Soft Treble asked. "*sniff* ah no, not at all go ahead," I replied moving closer to her as she began to tinker with my synthesizer. She looked at it closer and began to smile as the synthesizer colorful hues began to fade. She flipped it over and looked closely at it, she smiled again and swiveled to look at me. "Touch it deary, open the lock," She said smiling at me, I reached down to touch it and the colorful hue came back. The closer I got the warmer it got and the more intense the hue got and finally I touched it. The back sprang open and revealed a glowing heart in the center of the machine, I backed up in fear as I saw the machinery around it. "Ah exactly what I thought, you see this deary?" She asked as i moved closer. "It's a changeling heart, but not like others, its been purified so it doesn't feed off your emotions, it bolsters them. As you can see it feeds and power the machine as you play," "Bu-but what about the colors and how it changed it's sounds depending on my mood," I asked. "Oh it never did that before?" "Nope, just when....Octavia left," I turned around saying this to cover my emotions from Soft Treble. She was old but not dumb and came over and put her arm around me. "Come, sit down deary, I'll explain," She walked with me over to the couch in the recording room. She shut the door and sat down with me, she sat down and I sat next to her resting my head on her shoulder. She put her hoof on my mane and moved it out my face and looked at me. "The Changeling heart must of been dormant all these years until it was awakened by you true emotions. The shear magnitude of your fear and sadness had opened up it's magical properties. So with all this magic the synthesizer could feel your pain and adapt it's music to how you felt, as it was always meant to. But I want to know about you, what happened deary." "Wh-what do you mean," "With you and Octavia, what happened?" She looked at me and I began to tear up at the thought of her again, I put my arm around her and moved in closer, she began to comfort me as I spoke. "I-I cheated on her *Sniff* I wasn't thinking clearly cause I was drunk and her voice. *sniff aaahhh* her voice made my body melt a-and I lost myself in her *sniff sniff* I-I fucked up Soft Treble, I love her......*whimper sniff* I loved her, *ahhhhhahaha-eheh-sniff-kack-sniff-ahhhh* I LOVED HER!" I yelled and pulled myself closer into her and he just hummed and held me as I cried into her shoulder. My mind raced at finally admitting to somepony, somepony I barely knew but it felt good. Soft Treble held me but moved her head up, I looked at her and she kissed me on th forehead and I began to lose it again. "Why, why do you care so much about me?" I whispered as I began to calm down. "Because Octavia is my granddaughter," She said to me, I sat back and broke out of her arms. "I-I thought you had a grandson?" "Yes and a granddaughter deary, I didn't mention it to you because you weren't ready to hear it," "Eye's looking for answers," "But ears never willing to listen," She replied and pulled me back in again, I didn't fight it. She began to sing the lullaby that Octavia sang to me when I was sad, this was her grandmother. I hugged her tighter and began to relax as I calmed down, she embraced me more and continued to hum. Eventually she got up, I looked at her and waited for her to talk. "Go get her back Vinyl, she still loves you, trust me," said Soft Treble softly as she stood in the doorway. "I will Soft Treble, I will," I said smiling as she walked out the door. I laid there for a little bit and thought to myself, "she's Octavia's grandmother, and my synthesizer is...magic?" but I got up and walked out of the studio. I locked the door and started off to go see what i could do for the other half of my day. I walked out to Twilights house to see if she knew anything about nightmares. *knock knock knock* "COME IN," yelled Twilight. I proceeded to open the door, there were books everywhere so I knew twilight was in work mode. "Oh Vinyl, whats up?" Twilight asked as she continued her tests in magic. "Twilight, what do you know about nightmares?" I asked, she turned around quickly and trotted down the stairs grabbing a book on the way. Spike came out of nowhere with a stand for twilight to put the book upon. "If I remember correctly, nightmares are cause by a multitude of things such as fear, anxiety, sadness or you saw something scary and you couldn't stop thinking about it. Funny thing about dreams is that we have thousands of them in our sleep but only the ones we have in REM sleep we remember. REM stand for Rapid Eye Movement because in this deep level of sleep your eyes move quickly as if trying to examine this new world." "What, ok thats cool," I said pretending to understand. "So when did you start having nightmares?" "When...Octavia left," "Oh I'm so sorry Vinyl, I didn't know" "It's ok twilight, please don't tell anyone," "Promise, but this could be a bad thing, because of your deep depression and fear of loosing her it might have manifested into Night Terrors. These are bad because Night Terrors can actually kill you, and the victims remember the dreams so vividly they never forget it." "Oh so I'm having Night Terrors?" "Possibly, but be careful Vinyl ok, I don't wanna see you get swallowed up by this ordeal," "Nothing will happen Twilight, thanks but I need to go," I said this waving as I walked out the door. The sound of these night terrors sounded horrifying, but at least I know that...thing is only a dream. So I continued to bar, it was getting dark out and after all I heard today I needed to relax my brain, or kill it. SO I walked in and Slick Hops motioned me over to the counter, he put a Hay Maker with a Rainbow Killer shot on the table. I put them together and slammed it down, I made the craziest face to the feel of the burn. Slick Hops smiled at the sight and everyone including me in the area enjoyed a good laugh. After a few of those Rainbow Killers I wobbled home, It was very dark out tonight because of the new moon so I hit a few things on the way. I reluctantly made it home and tried to climbed the stairs up to the bedroom, but fell half way up and fell down banging my head on the floor hard enough to pass out. This time the dream was different, I heard the lullaby that Octavia always sang. She was sitting in a swing across a field of flowers, she swung back and forth not a care in the world. I ran through the haze, but before getting to her a bunch of birds flew up in front of me. When they cleared, She was in front of me but this time was different. She wasn't dead, she wasn't evil she was, Octavia. "Vinyl, what have I become in here?" Octavia asked. "You became a monster in my head, the fear drove me mad internally and created you," I replied. "But I'm not a monster.....not yet, hahaha," She laughed menacingly as the field disappeared. We were standing on a stage now and the spot light shown on us, there was no crowd, just us. "I never truly became a monster, you do know that don't you?" "Yes, you never were though," "Then why do you fear me in this state of mind, I can smell it Vinyl," She moved closer and sniffed me. "Because your not Octavia, you'll never be her," "Oh but I look like her, talk like her and feel like her," She moved closer and held me, he hoof rubbed against me gently as she whispered in my ear. "Just let go, forget Octavia when you can have me,". I slowly began to fall into the spell she put around me, but broke free from her grasp and stared at her. "YOUR NOT OCTAVIA, you'll never be her, your just a sick monster in my dreams and nothing more," "Oh shit, she's angry hahaha well dear then just wake up and leave me here, don't worry you'll see me again soon enough," She began to laugh louder as the doors to the theater opened up. I quickly ran out into the light and when I reached the doors in the dream, I awoke on the floor. I got up holding my head and looked over on the couch and she was sitting there smiling, I blinked and she disappeared as quickly as she appeared. "Fucking bitch,I'll never let her have control of me, she never get control," I said to myself as I moved over to the couch and sat down. when I did a knock came on the door, It was Soft Treble and she looked frightened.