So... something happened during and after my comeback concert. I'm kinda not supposed to talk about it, even in a journal like this that I'm pretty sure no one is supposed to be reading. Still, don't want my journal burned up so, guess I'll choose my words carefully.
In the last several months Lightning Strike had been... put in danger... the point is her life was threatened. That was scary, I mean, really, really scary. Lightning was one of my friends, best friends even.
It had been a few weeks since the “events” had occurred. I was doing my best to move on, which wasn't too hard, since everyone was forbidden to talk about what happened anyway, unless they were speaking only with those who had witnessed the events. Standard “gag order” I've been told. Not sure what I thought about it, didn't seem right, but Celestia assured us she had good reasons for her order. She was kinda mum about what would happen if you violated the gag, but I didn't want to find out, and most other ponies didn't either.
What else was I to think about though? I looked at the dining room table in mine and Octy's kitchen. A stack of bills sat on it. I started going through them.
Good thing to think about Vinyl. I shook my head. Well, this was distracting alright. Come what may, the bill collectors still wanted their money. I looked over at Lightning's room.
Oh yea, Lightning had a room in my home now. It belonged to her and her brother technically, but Dusk, being so quiet, isn't the first pony you think about... ever really. This would be their third night in that room.
Why was it there? Well ya see... I may have... said something... more than once... and it got back to Octavia and she kinda insisted on us giving Lightning a room. You see, after some particularly scary events, I called Lightning my um... I might have said the word “daughter” a few times. I mean she's totally not my daughter, ponies say weird things when they're scared ya know? I even talked to Killy about it afterward and he said- what I said might be significant- but it totally could have been the result of the emotions I was having at the time.
All that aside, that room was cutting into mine and Octavia's budget. I sighed. Bills were so uncool. I smiled, thinking about how things were about a year ago. No, not before Lightning, but before I lost my voice. Octavia and I were both successful, and we had a ton of bits. I ate pretty much whatever I wanted back then, Octy and I both did, and we paid our bills without even thinking about the cost. See we lived in this budget home together, sharing expenses and all. We started living there at first to help each other get started. But later we could have moved out, and we thought about it, but just never got around to it. When you have two ponies who bring home six digits or more a year, and they live in a home that only costs a couple hundred rent a month, yea, you can buy pretty much whatever you want.
However, after I went mute, we immediately lost half of our income because I didn't think I could perform anymore. There were therapy bills, classes on how to just get along and Octy sometimes having to skip shows because I was, once again, either fuming mad at the world, or crying my eyes out and as she said “I couldn't leave her like that”. Sheesh, I sure was lucky to have a sister like that.
Because of... what happened... my comeback concert had earned me a freaking goose egg. After all the money I... well Octavia... sank into it too. I had worked a few odd jobs here and there before, all minimum wage, to try to help Octy with the bills, but still she was paying for the lion's share of everything. Course when she had to take care of her own sister like a child, she kinda lost like half of her own income. No one wants to hire a mare for shows who might not even show up ya know?
Octy had always been so good to me, and this was how I was repaying her? Making her go into debt, and only finding ways to make it worse? She was even budgeting her food and what little entertainment she had left, to build Lightning's room on the off chance that my “daughter” comment was somehow legit.
I looked back at Lightning's room. Her dad was a dragon... could I ask her to take a few gold pieces from his big horde... he wouldn't miss them right?- Oh good Vinyl, encourage a little filly to steal for you. Bad enough you're thinking of stealing, at least have the guts to do it yourself.
There I was going again, into a slump. I had to think of something positive. Hey, the concert was a bust, but I still had all the equipment, and a good number of ponies showed up to the first one, so another could work out. Lightning and I did have a chance to show everyone what we could do at that concert, even if everyone wanted their bits back after a one hour concert barely lasted five minutes.
My mind wandered to that filly again. She had stayed up for almost an hour after I had to practically put her in that room. She had just been talking her head off. I probably should have shushed her, but honestly I didn't want to fight. I just closed the door and could barely hear it anyway. Talking herself to sleep seemed to be her nightly ritual. You would think that would be a problem for Dusk, but the first night they stayed over, I had checked. He had been out like a light after maybe fifteen minutes of her rambling.
I chuckled. I had an evil idea. Lightning's phobia probably would have prevented my diabolical plan but still, what if I separated them one night? Would Dusk lay there unable to sleep until the wee hours of the night? Maybe he would even have to go into her room, wake her up and get her talking just get to sleep. Hey, it's not unusual to need sound to go to sleep... my inner Twilight wanted answers, “science this!” it said.
My eyes traveled back to the bills... they hadn't gone anywhere.
It had been months since my failed comeback and no one was even asking if I was gonna try again. I let out a quiet frustrated grunt... frustrated even further by remembering that I was, ya know, incapable of frustrated grunts. What was I gonna do?
I opened the fridge for a snack. Then I closed it again. Oh yea, you have to budget snacks if you're not doing very well. I'd already had mine. I just sat down. Maybe a little music?
I put on my headphones. C'mon Nightwish... give me something… End of All Hope… not helping. Let’s try a more positive artist. Van Canto-why?... Tribe of Force!
In minutes I was on my hooves, dancing around the kitchen. I say dancing, but mostly I was pretending to be a samurai with one of the wooden spoons in the kitchen. I danced back and forth with an invisible opponent, trying to remember a few scenes in this one movie. Just as I delivered the final blow to my evil foe, I heard the sound of hooves clapping.
I rolled my eyes at Octavia as she walked into the kitchen. “Did he die with honor?” she asked, as she took a cup in her hooves. I just smiled, blushed, and rolled my eyes. She then sighed looking at the table. “So you looked at the bills?” I nodded. “I've got most of them and after the incident Celestia has been giving a small stipend to the victims of... what happened. You did remember to deposit your stipend check right?... Right?” I grinned sheepishly. “Oh what am I going to do with you?” She looked over at the kids' room. “Lightning enjoying her new room?” I put my right hoof under my head and laid my head on it, closing my eyes. “Sleeping? Well she should be its- my goodness is it really that late?” she looked up at the clock. “Why do you always stay awake so late? Honestly Vinyl, it's not good for a lady to not get her beauty rest. I myself was just getting some water before heading back to bed-” I rocked my head side to side, smacking my lips together rapidly, “No, I'm not nagging you.” She filled her glass and drank. She then put it back down and headed back to bed. She paused. “Oh Vinyl, since you'll be staying up anyway, would you mind terribly much doing the dishes? I forgot a few and I'm beat.” she turned back. “Please?” I nodded. She walked away again.
Yes Octy and I argued, we were sisters, what would you expect? Still, most of the time, Octy's lectures came from honestly caring about me, and my back talking wasn't really me being resentful, just having fun. I started on those dishes.
As I picked up the dish rag it morphed into a mustache. Because of course it did. And I jumped almost five feet in the air- because what the crap?! Discord materialized from his mustache, because that's what chaos spirits do. “Good evening... DJ Pony was it?” I shook my head. I started scanning the kitchen. I wanted to say that was just a stage name but… where had I left my note pad? “Well it's not like we're on those kind of terms, you don't have to ignore me. So I forgot your name, we barely know each other.” I so wanted to snap at him about why they heck he was in my house if that was the case, still I opted to just point at my lips. “Oh right, the no talking thing.” Well that was polite. “Here.” He snapped his fingers and a multi colored note pad appeared in front of me. The cover was freaky looking and I think it winked at me. Still, it had paper in it, and a pen was sitting on the table, so it would do. “Okay so here's the deal. Fluttershy is depressed after all that happened. Mostly because all her friends are depressed. I've been asking everypony if there's anything a little chaos magic can do to make them happier,” he grunted, “Not that any of them are even grateful for the offer. All of them yelling about, “privacy” and “knocking before I enter” and other such nonsense. They don't seem to want anything though. Hmmm... even Pinkie didn't seem to like my cotton candy clouds.”
'Okay, so what are you doing here? I don't hate Fluttershy but we're not close friends.'
“Oh you know Fluttershy. She gets upset if a random animal cries. Besides, you were one of the ones hit worst by what happened. I figure if I can help you the others will see I'm genuine in my desires to help and can be effective, ya know.” I wasn't sure just how, “genuine” this sounded, but whatever. “So is there anything I can do to help you?”
'Help me what? I got bills to pay, you got bits?'
“Oh that would be easy, course if a certain someone,” Discord pointed both fingers at his head as it suddenly morphed into Celestia's head and started talking with her voice, “found out, she would lecture me again about the oh so grievous crime of counterfeiting.” A halo appeared over the Celestia head and Discord put his hands together as if to pray. The Celestia head disappeared and Discord's normal head reappeared. “Anyway, anything but money, please.”
I grinned. 'Can I wish for more wishes?'
“I'm the spirit of chaos not a genie.”
'You want to help me feel better?'
“That's the gist of it.”
I would have said he was being too kind, but really I wasn't too sure he was. 'Can you change time?'
“Hmmm?” he asked. “Now that is an odd request. I have no idea what happened to cause the events of the last several months, so no I can't undo that. Time travel is risky as it is. You only want to change ONE thing. That's what you mean of course, right?”
'No.'
“No?” Discord smiled. “Oh... so what do you mean?” he asked, sounding intrigued.
'It's probably wrong of me to ask this... selfish even... seriously, is it that hard to just guess what I want? I'm a mute DJ, what do you think I want?'
“You want your voice back? Rainbow has asked a few times if I can fix Scootaloo's wings too. I don't do fixing pony bodies with chaos magic. It usually back fires. I fix Scootaloo's wings and I'll make her go cross eyed for the rest of her life. Don't ask how those are connected, I'm not sure myself.”
I shook my head. 'Not sure how much getting my voice back now would help anyway. I mean, could you undo my losing it in the first place?'
“Well what caused you to lose it?”
'Trek took it away when he stole my magic. Now you see, a couple ponies actually escaped him. I would have been with them, but I saw a stallion being attacked and instead of running, I tried to stand up to Trek... that turned out to be ultimately pointless, but I didn't know that at the time. If you and I could go back and keep my past self from doing that... well there you go.'
“You're serious? It would be that simple?”
'Yes.'
“I should be able to do that... I don't suspect it would interfere with my reform that day... no that seems very unlikely to be related. But how would the girls know what I did for you if we change the past?”
'Could I keep my memories of this life?'
Discord thought. “That would take a lot of magic, even for me. And time spells don't always go how ponies expect- in fact they almost never do. Still, I think I could give you three days to decide if the world you made by changing things is really one you would want to live in. We could have a chance to put things back- but three days would be all I could give you to decide.”
'That sounds like plenty of time. Besides, I'm getting rid of my dumb disability, why would I regret that? My singing career wouldn't have ended, Octy wouldn't be in debt, I'd be able to support myself again, and hey, I'd be able to freaking TALK again…' I thought for a minute. ‘Only thing that might change a little is my relationship with Lightning Strike. Hm… actually it probably won’t happen.’ I shrugged. ‘Not like that should matter too much. Just me, she could survive without little old me, no doubt.’
“Well... you're going to have to help a little... but let's go for it... let's get you back your voice.” Discord snapped his talons.
(***)
I opened my eyes, looking around. Discord was floating next to me. “Well... oh dear that's not good,” Discord dropped to the ground. He started tapping it with his talons. “My magic should be back any second now... you weren't too specific about where you lost your voice, but I assumed Ponyville- tell me I'm right, or I just lost my magic for nothing. You have no idea how boring life is without- oh right that's how you ponies live your lives pretty much. Well we're close to where you were right?” I looked around. Was this really the past? I started to hear screams and the ground rumbled under me. Well, that really did sound familiar. “Eh em,” Discord said. “I'd hurry if I were you. Personally I was still on his good side by this point, but I can't help you if Trek finds you.” I galloped away.
I scanned the area. There they were! And there was I. I was running away from the approaching monster with a group of ponies. Now... where was that stupid stallion? I scanned again.
There! I ran to a stallion running behind the group. He had tripped over a crack in the ground the first time. I saw the crack and him running to it. Fate was trying to just ignore me, but I was here to screw fate, not have it screw me again. I ripped several papers from Discord's note book and tossed them at the crack just before the stallion was about to hit the crack.
The stallion slipped slightly on the papers, quickly recovered his hooves and dashed away. He caught up to the group... there he went... there I went. My heart started to beat faster, was this really working? The rumbling continued.
Oh shoot, Celestia knows what would happen if Trek caught modern me. I ran back for Discord.
Discord was looking around, now floating. I tried to write something to him, but he wasn't looking at me... oh of all the times to- “DISCORD!” Did I just... I yelled. I tripped over my own hooves and landed face first in the dirt as well but... I had freaking yelled!
There was a snap.
(***)
“And here we are! Back in the present” Discord announced. It was still late so the lights were still out. I looked around slowly, letting my eyes adjust to the light. I kinda expected that not much would have changed... sweet Celestia was I wrong...
Octavia's cookies! Oh yea, Octy was a pretty decent cook when she tried. She only knew a few recipes, but she loved to make them and share with just anyone who showed up... well that is before we went into debt. We didn't have the money anymore. Well... that's right, I never lost my voice so... all that nasty stuff never happened. I grabbed a cookie in my magic. Lemony goodness, this was so awesome! Yes I'm channeling Rainbow Dash, shut up!
“Um... hey I can talk!” I said.
“That was the idea wasn't it?” asked Discord back.
“Dude, it's been a freaking year, you’d think my throat would be soar or something,” I breathed a few times on my hoof.
“Actually now it hasn't. And hearing you now, I don't think you've shut up for-”
“Me? Shut up? I'm never shutting up again!” I yawned. “Why am I tired?” I looked at the clock. “Oh right, ten o'clock... oh hey, Cord, am I like, a second version of me? Am I gonna find another version of me sleeping in my bed? Because that would be weird.”
“No, you're you, the only you, trust me on that... You're going to just run around Ponyville seeing what's changed right?”
“You know it!”
“Right, sounds boring, I'll find you in a few days.” he snapped his fingers and disappeared.
“Wait how could I contact you if... well I'm sure I'm not gonna regret this any- oh no, I'm not jinxing it!” I looked around. “Um... three days... is tonight part of those three days or... how is that gonna work? I mean, my voice is back, that's really cool and all, but... I kinda wanna go ta bed.” I sighed. “Well, I don't think running around sleep deprived is gonna help me... evaluate things. Sides what can I really determine when all the other ponies are asleep? G'night voice... oh it's so good to have you back!”
In my room I looked around. Posters were all over the walls. I fancied for a minute my bed would be better than what I left in the old world, but really, it was the same bed. Comfy, and it got me to sleep every night, why throw it out right? Even if I could afford to now. Oh and yes, I was already, just from the posters, seeing evidence of concerts I didn’t remember. I was definitely gainfully employed in this time line. Looked like at least a show every month. I looked at a calendar on my wall… oh… every week.
Hmm… I did wonder how performing concerts I didn’t know much about would go. When I touched the calendar with a hoof, it was like fate answered my question. Memories started to flood my mind. Songs, performances, the details were hazy, but I had impressions of what I had been doing in this time line. Hopefully that would be enough. Apparently there was some kind of magic that could let me channel memories of this past… I would have to explore how it worked tomorrow.
Before sleeping, I had to check a few things. First I examined old Mixy, my mix track, which was just sitting by my bed. Mixy was a few years old, but I knew all her settings and had her set up just a particular way. I examined her. Yep, everything was in order. Good, no surprises there.
I then looked around at the posters. Oh yes, a certain someone’s fate being altered by my choice DID occur to me. She had to be up there though… Lightning… Lightning… THERE! There was a small section of my wall devoted to pictures I had taken with fans. There was little Lightning Strike flying next to me, a HUGE smile on her face. I looked at the dresser next to my bed. In my old time line there was a picture of her and her family right- wasn’t there. There was a picture of me and Octavia, and one of my adoptive parents, but no Lightning Strike.
My horn glowed and I looked around the room. Any yellow feathers from when she flew around in here?… No. I sighed. It looked like I couldn’t have everything after all. If I hadn’t lost my voice, there would be no reason for me to be so available to her. I wouldn’t have had a reason to relate to her so quickly. Which meant… I might have been a part of her life still, in that she was still a fan, but it didn’t look like she was part of mine.
As I laid down in my bed, thinking to just say that I could fix that by just visiting her in a few days- a horrible thought occurred to me. With the events of the last few months… what if she was dead? I bit my lip.
Celestia no, there was no way if she was dead that I was keeping this time line. I would just have to have Discord set things “right” again. No way would I accept Lightning being dead just so I could talk.
With that resolution, I laid down to sleep.
(***)
The next day came, my alarm beeping at me and waking me up. Yep, same alarm clock, not that I really cared much about that.
In the kitchen I met Octavia. We ate together for about ten minutes before Octavia finally said, “Okay Vinyl, what’s wrong?”
I looked at her and cocked my head to the right. Was I frowning?
“You’ve been quiet all morning. No teasing me?”
Oh I wouldn’t say no teasing her- she hadn’t tried her coffee yet… and there she went. “You see- oh what the- VINYL!” I levitated the sugar and salt in the air in front of my face. “That’s the fifth time this month.” I chuckled, shaking some “salt” onto my cereal. The entire contents of the shaker plopped onto my cereal along with the lid. “Like I said, the fifth time this month.” I reassembled the shaker, and resumed eating my now DELICIOUS cereal. Octy rolled her eyes and I was already getting a sugar buzz. “I hate that that didn’t work.” I shook my head at her. “Still, why haven’t you said anything all morning?”
I leaned back. What was I supposed to say? ‘I’m used to being mute?’ ‘I’m not used to talking?’ It was like I was in the body and life of a pony who was me, but wasn’t. This was Octavia, my Octavia, my sister, and she knew me, but then again, she wasn’t my Octavia and she didn’t know me. “Ya know what?” I asked aloud. “Screw it. We’re not doing the whole, pointlessly keeping it all from you bit.”
“Keeping what from me?” she asked.
“I’m not Vinyl- not the Vinyl you know.”
“You’re about to start rambling aren’t you?” she asked.
“I do that don’t I?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Yea I remember that. Here’s what’s going on. I’m Vinyl Scratch, but from an alternate time line…” she just looked at me flatly, like she was waiting for me to have a point. “No, seriously I am. In my time line, I went mute after the incident with Trek and in this one I was able to get to safety before he attacked Ponyville. You see Discord helped me change things.”
“Discord? Since when are you friends with him?”
“Cordy and me? We don’t exactly go way back even in my time line, but you see, after the events of the last few months, I was one of the hardest hit… at least in my time line. Fluttershy was upset by all the… upset ponies, so he was going around trying to help ponies out. I somehow talked him into letting me set right my past. So you see, here I am.”
“What events… of the last few months?” she asked.
“Well… um… c’mon, what else could I be talking about. Twilight is still recovering in the hospital, Apple Jack basically had to give up farm work and I’m surprised Rainbow Dash isn’t mumbling to herself in an asylum by this point.”
“Ya know Vinyl, at times, I find myself out of the loop, but rarely even then do I find you better informed. You’re saying something happened to cause Rainbow to go insane, Apple Jack to- no what are you talking about? All the ponies you just listed are fine.”
“But… the stallion who attacked us…”
“Who attacked us? How?” Octavia asked.
I leaned back in my chair, jaw slacked. A stallion had attacked all of us, leaving his mark on all of the element bearers and many others, how could she not remember that? I was limited in how much I could say about things because of that gag order but… in this time line all that never happened? How? Why not? Yes I supposed these were all good things, but have you ever had a sense that something was WAAAY too good to not have a catch? “I...” and it slipped out. “What about Lightning?”
“Who?”
Of course she didn’t know Lightning. Lightning was just a fan here, not my mentoree. But then, Octavia was often very well informed, and hey, a dragon adopting a little filly, maybe that made some papers that she would have read. “I can’t think of why my time traveling would have changed this. There was a dragon that adopted two foals. One of them was named Lightning Strike. In my time line she and I are pretty good friends.”
Octavia looked like she was about to speak, but she paused. “Well… okay so there was a small article about that in one of the papers I read a while back. I remember because it sounded positively absurd, a dragon adopting foals.”
“Sounds awesome to me.”
“You would say that.”
“I would write it too.”
“Don’t see why that has significance.” Octy replied.
“Mute remember?”
“Oh right, that’s the subject here, you being mute.”
“In another time line… what no jabs about me finally shutting up?” I asked.
“Vinyl that would be incredibly crass.”
“Right. Still, you heard about the kid right?”
“I don’t remember their names. There were two of them by the way, not just one.”
“Yea Dusk. He’s a quiet one, I sometimes forget to mention him,” I said. “Those are their names right?”
“Vinyl that was in the paper months ago, I have no idea. It barely registered as important to me at the time.”
I tapped my chin with my hoof. “She’s my biggest fan pretty much, Lightning I mean. Trust me, no one on this planet is as obsessed with me as that kid. Wonder if there’s a way to visit her.”
“Uninvited?”
“I just want to make sure she’s alright here. I’ve only got three days to make sure this time line is okay before it becomes permanent.”
“Really? Seems arbitrary.”
“Hey Cord and I are being cautious.”
“I’m still debating if I believe you,” Octavia replied. “I’ve heard of crazier things than this, particularly with Discord, however you have no proof. If you did, I would be screaming at you about the very idea of indulging in a real life “what might have been” scenario. Do you have any idea how much damage you could have done? How many ponies you could have hurt? Everything is connected Vinyl.”
I shrugged. “Really everything seems fine so far. I can still talk, we aren’t having trouble paying the bills-“
“We can’t pay the bills in your world?”
“Barely. Going mute tends to hurt your singing career ya know?”
“You don’t really sing Vinyl.”
“Hush, my voice is beautiful.” I smiled. “Pretty sure I kill germs when I sing in the shower.” Octavia chuckled.
“You kill things alright.” She shook her head. “But what’s the punchline to your joke? I don’t get it. You don’t honestly expect me to believe you changed the past.”
“I did.” I said with the straightest face I could manage.
“You… you’re serious aren’t you?” I nodded. “You… of all the ignorant… Vinyl it’s been a year since Trek was defeated. You changed history after that much time? You have no idea what the effects could be!”
“Whoa, hey, three days remember.”
“Three days? Three days? What if something horrible happened and you don’t find out in time?”
“I’ve got time.”
Octavia gritted her teeth. “I thought you were the sci-fi fan here.” She sighed. “Still… for all I know things could be better in this world than yours after all.”
“They could.”
“I have a bad feeling though.” She noted.
“Why?”
“This filly you’re talking about, I’m supposed to know her aren’t I?” I nodded. “Well I don’t. It’s pure chance I’ve even heard of her. You removed yourself from another pony’s life. That… that… I don’t know what that could mean.”
I waved a hoof. “Octy, I know ya like me and all, but I’m not that important. I’m sure she’s fine.” She looked uncomfortable at that statement. “It would be like if your family never adopted me. I guess I would be pretty worse off, but you’d be fine right? Octy?” she stared at me in near horror.
“Vinyl… you’re my sister… I love you… I don’t even want to think about what it would be like if we never adopted you.”
“Well in this case you wouldn’t even know what you missed. Time travel can be hard to wrap your head around, but I think I get this little bit. The ponies who aren’t travelers don’t have any knowledge of the other time line.”
“So if I missed out on something wonderful like having a sister, I wouldn’t even know?” she paused again. “That sounds so cruel.”
“Octy, we’re talking about me here. It’s not like I’m one of the element bearers. Again, you wouldn’t even know.”
“And again, that sounds horrible.”
I gritted my teeth. “Look! I lost my voice, my job, and now to top it all off, something horrible happened in my world so bad I’m not even allowed to talk about it. Apparently none of that happened here. Heck, my voice is back, I’ll bet you that means I can effect MORE ponies now.”
“You have no idea the price of what you’ve done.”
“Neither do you!” I shouted. I looked away. My mind was racing. Could I really have this? This time line, in less than a day seemed loads better than what I knew. And hey, really, Lightning was only eight years old. If I wanted back in her life, couldn’t I just get involved now? It wouldn’t be exactly the same, I couldn’t pick up where I left off, but c’mon, nothing’s perfect. So I wasn’t part of her life here, what difference could that really make? I wasn’t that important.
“No… no I don’t.” Octavia said. “I’m worried is all.”
“Why?”
“Vinyl, you’re special… to me at least. I know it would be a pretty big deal if I lost a year with you myself…” I smiled at her. She stood up. “C’mon, we need to get to find out where your little fan is.” I raised an eyebrow to her. “Like I said, I have a bad feeling about this.” She walked to the door.
Not sure why not to, I just followed.
(***)
So… who do you think we visited? The answer pony herself, Twilight Sparkle. In her castle library the lecture I got about “causality” from her was long winded and went right over my head. I was starting to understand why in all those time travel shows the main character never tells everyone what he did… course that never ended up being as easy as it sounds so I figured I was saving myself a head ace.
“Now as to this filly you’re talking about…” Twilight started looking through some record books. “If she were just some random kid I wouldn’t be able to tell you much. But as luck would have it, her father is the dragon bearer of the element of courage. Pretty big deal and all. I kept up with events with that family for a little while-ya know- topic of interest. The two foals were pretty cute. Off topic but apparently that element of his stopped working for some- Ah! Here it is.” She started reading in her book. “It looks like…” she stopped. Her eyes went wide.
“Looks like what?” I asked. “What is that? What book are you reading?” I read the cover of the book as it floated in Twilight’s lavender magic. “Hospital records… is she dead?” my heart started to sink.
“No…” Twilight said. “Um…”
“Phew, you really had me going there Ms. Sparkle, I tell ya. See in the other time line, she’s kinda one of my best friends… think the word daughter might have even been tossed around so… why are you looking at me like that?” Twilight blinked. “Okay where is she?”
Octavia joined Twilight in looking inside the book. “Um… Vinyl this time travel story of yours… you’re serious right?”
“Octy… Twilight… why are you two talking like this?”
“Are you telling the truth or not?” Twilight practically shouted at me. “Because trust me, this is NOT funny!”
“I’m not joking guys. I’m not from around here,” I said.
Twilight closed her book. “No… no if you’re serious, you need to see what you did for yourself.”
“I don’t understand…” The two ponies walked out of the library. Again, not knowing what else to do, I followed.
(***)
Twilight got us into the hospital and passed a few nurses. Apparently Lightning was only to be visited by “friends and family”… that didn’t sound good. A couple times I joked that I thought she had just picked up a bad case of kleptomania, but… I was scared.
Finally, we were at a door with flowers on it. The flowers had muted colors and the door was a simple brown color. Why was this foreboding? “This… this is just where she’s been for a few months right?” I asked.
“Vinyl… Lightning lives here,” Octavia said. “If you could call it living…”
I blinked and took a step back. I bit my lip and pushed open Lightning Strike’s hospital door.
There she was, laying on a pink mattress. A few feeding tubes were hooked up to her. She stared straight ahead. I waved a hoof at her. She didn’t respond. “Lightning?... Lightning?” I slowly approached her and pushed her head with my hoof. It was like I just pushed a toy, no reaction at all. “What is this?”
Twilight slowly walked in front of me. “It’s what happens when a pony with a psychological disorder never has someone really get to know her. It’s called “catatonic” by the way.” Twilight sat next to the filly on the bed. She gulped. “The story of this kid’s life… she was neglected, abused and finally adopted by someone who couldn’t have possibly cared for her.”
“I don’t-“ Twilight glared at me.
“You’re daughter!?” she asked. “You changed history that influenced how you met your own daughter? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?” she finally started to shout.
“She’s not my daughter, she belongs to Torkuda the- wait- couldn’t have possibly- he’s a great father. You’re just like Rainbow Dash, she didn’t think he could- oh shit…” I looked at the foal. “If I didn’t meet her…then I didn’t stand up for him…” I looked around the room. “Where’s Dusk?”
“They think that might have been what triggered this,” Twilight said. “See, Lightning has- or rather I suppose now- had, an ability that kinda scared other ponies. So, not wanting to keep him from ever having a family, the Melony Foals orphanage adopted him separately. She put up a fight but the mare who ran the orphanage assured everyone the filly just wanted attention.”
“The heck is wrong with you ponies?!” I demanded. “She wanted her brother, not attention. You can’t just take ponies away from each other and expect nothing to happen- oh…”
I sat on the other side of the filly. “You’re not really her mother?” asked Twilight.
“Not exactly,” I said. “Really just a mentor slash care taker. Kinda a poorly defined position to be honest.” I gently petted her mane, but got no response. “C’mon Lightning… I… I’m so sorry.” I sighed. “Discord?”
“What about him?” Twilight asked.
I ignored her. “DISCORD!” I shouted. “DISCORD!”
“What are you…” Octavia started to ask but suddenly the one and only draconequus of chaos appeared in the room.
“My but aren’t you making a racket.” He said. “What is it you want?”
“Well you never told me how to contact you,” I said first.
“Well you figured out a way didn’t you? For the moment we’re connected… somewhat. I can hear you shouting at me anywhere, that is, if you really believe you need me that badly. It’s a failsafe. Time travel can go terribly and all… you see there was this one time I traveled with Fluttershy and the CMC-“
“I don’t care- look maybe tell me later, anything just… please… let me undo this,” I looked back at Lightning Strike. She still wasn’t moving. This was horrifying. Lightning Strike was one of the most active ponies I had ever known. It was like looking at a mannequin of her. I pushed her side a few time, her just rolling lifelessly over on the bed. I jumped back, my skin starting to crawl. “What we did… I cannot let this happen to her.”
“Honestly I kind of like this timeline,” Discord replied. “Fluttershy is happy, the rest of my friends aren’t injured or worse, and apparently that bad pony never showed up. Why would I want to mess with this?”
To the side of me, Twilight teleported out of the room. I looked at where she had been standing, kinda shocked she did that. “Um… princess of friendship there… thanks for the help Twi-“
“It’s not her problem,” Discord interrupted. “This is between you and me. My friends are happy, I’m not undoing this.” Behind me I heard the door to the room click shut, probably because of a nurse.
“You are undoing this. Or I’ll-“
“Or you’ll what?” Discord folded his arms. “A DJ unicorn threatening the lord of disorder. Isn’t that cute?” he snapped his fingers and boxing gloves appeared on my hooves, me slipping to the floor. “Oh what’s wrong? You sounded so confident a moment ago.”
“Discord!” Octavia shouted at him. “If you hurt my sister I swear-“
“I don’t have to hurt her. I don’t have to hurt anyone. I snap my fingers and this trial stage will end. What we changed will be history, and this will be the real world.”
“How will that-“ Octy tried to talk over him but he kept going.
“Vinyl won’t even remember the alternate time line. I have what I want. Thankyou Vinyl,” I ripped the gloves off of my hooves with my magic and quickly wrapped my forelegs around the unresponsive filly.
“But what about Lightning? If don’t remember her… she’ll just be forgotten in here… Please! Don’t make me forget her! Don’t make me forget my friend!” Discord raised his claw, no concern at all on his face. “Please no!” I begged. I closed my eyes, squeezing the filly as hard as I could. Maybe there could be some magic in a hug? Maybe my love could bring her back in that second… something… not like this, how could it all end like this?
“THAT IS ENOUGH!” I opened my eyes to see a yellow pegasus standing in front of me and the foal. “Discord!” The draconequus held his hand without snapping. “How DARE you!”
“Fluttershy you don’t know what happened,” Discord became angry. It would have occurred to me that this was a side of Discord few ponies ever saw, if I wasn’t so scared of having my mind wiped. “I told you about the other timeline, but I didn’t tell you what happened specifically. Rainbow Dash is paranoid, you’re a wreck, Apple Jack is permanently injured, Twilight was horribly burned and even little Scootaloo was made permanently barren by the pony that attacked us. I don’t know how restoring this pony’s voice undid all of that, but I’m not going back.”
“You will not hurt a foal!” Fluttershy shouted back. “You honestly expect me to believe that little filly did all of that to my friends?”
“She didn’t do any of that, like I said, we were attacked. She was too… I’m not helping my case here am I?” Discord asked.
“No you’re not,” Twilight said, walking into the room.
“But… what about all the bad things that will happen?” he asked.
“If it means an innocent foal doesn’t have to end up like that,” Fluttershy pointed with her hoof at Lightning, “I and my friends will take a few bumps and bruises.”
“More than bruises,” Discord replied, looking away.
“I was speaking in hyperbole,” Fluttershy said back.
“I wasn’t,” Discord said with a sigh. “Is this really what you want? All your friends to suffer for ONE filly?”
“She’s a foal Discord, we’re adults. We don’t put ourselves before children,” Fluttershy said back.
“And Scootaloo?” he asked.
“I’m pretty sure catatonic and forgotten trumps barren and surrounded by friends and family.”
Discord clenched a fist. He looked about to say something, then he clenched his jaw. “I can save all of you. All I have to do is sacrifice one pony,” Fluttershy glared. Discord closed his eyes and let both hands flop to his sides. “It’s your call.” Fluttershy walked over to me and Lightning, and put Lightning in a wing hug. “I’m going to regret this.” Discord raised up his hand again to snapped. I hugged Lightning as tight as I could, screaming in my head, begging that he not wipe my memories-
(***)
I fell on my butt, still holding my catatonic… I’ll say it just this once… daughter.
Don’t expect me to say it again.
“I could just reset this all myself, but I will not suffer alone,” Discord said next to me. “Go, stop yourself if you really want to. If you do, remember, you will never speak again.”
“If I don’t, she’ll never do anything again,” I looked at Lightning, and hugged her one more time.
The ground started to rumble. I looked up to see a crowd of ponies running away and my past self running with them. To my right, I saw another me running to change history. I levitated Lightning next to myself and ran after… myself. I had to set this right.
(***)
I was in bed.
My memories were now weird. I remembered showing myself the catatonic Lightning Strike, I remembered the alternate timeline and I remembered creating it. And then I somehow remembered talking to myself on the other side of the despondent foal… yea, never try to completely wrap your head around time travel, it’s a head ace.
Had it all happened? Was all that just a dream? I opened my mouth and tried to speak. Nothing came out. I was relieved. I got out of bed, pushed open my bedroom door and walked back into the kitchen.
I gently opened the door to Lightning and Dusk’s room with my magic and looked in. She was sleeping peacefully in her bed… was she?
I walked in and pushed on Lightning’s head a few times, my heart beating faster and faster as she didn’t reply at first. Finally she groaned and sleepily and a little crankily looked up at me. “What do you want?” she practically snapped. I just smiled. I shook my head and waved with my hoof for her to ‘never mind’. She rolled over, grumbling “Grownups are weird.”
I smiled, walking back out of the room straight into the mismatched form of Discord. I jumped back and silently gasped. He was glaring at me. “So I trust your friend is alright?” I gulped and swallowed. “Mine cried herself to sleep.” I looked at the ground. “I think it’s best we never speak again.” He snapped his fingers and disappeared.
I sat down on the floor, looking around the empty kitchen.
What is, is. I’m not saying it must, I’m just saying it is.
For what it’s worth… I’m sorry Discord.