//------------------------------//
// 7 - Last Journey to Equestria 
// Story: You Are What You Paint 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

George tried to calm himself. He wasn't sure if the care of painting the figure mattered at all, but it could, and it was his last chance. The last figure that was left was a unicorn. Amusingly, he had planned to give the blasted thing to Rob. So much for that...

He added the colors carefully, but he could feel the change almost immediately. He wasn't swept away in the art of creation, and he could feel the changes coming. His feet went first, becoming hooves, and a long tail sprouted as he worked. His ears went fuzzy and long as they pulled up to the top of his head. It should have hurt, but all he felt was good.

It was almost too good. He squirmed in place a little before forcing himself to continue, rendering the pony to colored life as he became more and more his ponysona. The world around him shifted with each stroke as he lost touch with the human world and came closer and closer to Equestria. He fell over, not with surprise, but from simple fact that his altering body wouldn't support his stance.

He felt good... He felt like... It was hard to describe, but everything felt new and alive and healthy. He wanted so badly to finish what he was doing, to bring the pony to life, and to be a pony himself. He trembled as he picked up the brush in his mouth, but he didn't paint. Glancing around, he could see that he was close enough to Equestria to interact with it. Perhaps he could...

He spat out the brush with a huff, wings ruffling on his back. He was almost entirely a pony. A few naked patches of fur-less hide was all that held him back. Perhaps he had gotten more sucked into painting than he had figured. He was effectively a pony... He turned and looked at himself, spreading one wing than the other. He was a pegasus, his pegasus.

What had Robert become?

He let out a slow sigh and made for the door. He had to find out. What he saw on the way was not encouraging, however.

It looked like a fight had broken out in his house, leaving a trail of strewn furniture and knick knacks all the way to the door. That it hadn't affected the human world made sense enough. They weren't... literally... the same house. Only the discarded, broken, figure was tied between them, though he figured the other miniatures were also bound between worlds.

As he walked past, words appeared on the wall.



A great hero. I like how his story is unfolding, do continue.



Geo... Aqua. He was Aqua, for better or worse, unless he decided to smash the figure and leave Equestria forever. He turned to the writing with a frown.



Will you give up your dream? You can still make good those aspirations. You could still have a happy ending.



"What I want doesn't matter." He turned away from the words. "The ponies don't deserve this..." If he had to throw both himself and Robert home, never to see  Equestria, just to keep them safe, well... fine.



So ready to sacrifice. You're already dead inside, aren't you? That's why the Aqua of this world quietly ended things. Perhaps playing the hero will change things for you.



The writing vanished with barely enough time for Aqua to read it. The presence was gone. It was just as well, he had things to do. He pushed open the door of his brightly-colored pony home to find... a perfectly normal Ponyville day.

Ponies wandered with little smiles or serious looks, but none of them looked to be in a panic about anything. They were just living... "Where are they?..." Aqua looked left and right. He didn't know where anyone was in ref... Oh.

Twilight's home, her castle, was easy enough to find, jutting from the horizon in gaudy glory. It was hard to miss. Perhaps answers would be had there?

He spread his wings and gave them a testing beat against the air before he began to run forward and caught the wind. He was airborne! He was flying! With wind rushing around him, he burst into a loud laughter, drawing the curious stares of some other ponies, including other pegasi he shared the sky with.

A glow wrapped around him and tried to arrest his movement, but he was going far too fast to stop that way and he popped the field of force basically instantly, but he felt it. He looked down and around and saw Vinyl looking up at him with her red glasses, head bobbing to some beat she was likely listening to.

Turning he managed. Lowering he also managed. Landing... there was the trick. He crashed into the ground before Vinyl and everything went dark for a moment before Vinyl gently pulled him free of the hole he'd made. She hadn't dodged or backed away.

"Hey, Vinyl."

She nodded at him.

"Have you seen Twilight, or Octavia?"

She nodded again, then turned away, starting to lead the way with her bobbing head.

He fell in beside her. "Sorry for the crash."

"You aren't him."

He blinked softly at her words. They weren't... "N-no..."

She smiled a little. "We found him."

What? He tilted his head as he followed along with Vinyl. "Is everyone alright?"

She didn't answer. She led the way to her house, the curious bisected thing that it was with Octavia's on one side, and her own on the other. 

Vinyl pointed at the house silently.

Aqua, or George, he suddenly wasn't sure which was right. Either way, he nodded at Vinyl and approached the house cautiously. "Octavia?" he called out as he got close to the door. He raised a hoof and clopped it against the wood in three firm strikes.

"Coming..." Octavia opened the door and her eyes widened on seeing him. "What? ... Oh... Come to spread your lies, have you? Well, it's too late. He's already told us all we need to know. You can go away." She slammed the door shut in Aqua's face without give him a chance to reply.

George settled on his haunches, baffled a moment.

Vinyl sat beside him and reached out with a hoof, drawing a musical note in the ground. She pointed at the note, then she pointed at George meaningfully.

But what was the meaning? George rose back to his hooves and looked at Vinyl, confusion growing. "I don't understand."

She pointed at the note, then at George. She pulled out the black box she had performed with and pointed at it, then herself, then pointed at George and nodded.

"You want to hear my music?"

She nodded.

George colored at the idea of singing for Vinyl, or performing just about any instrument. "I prefer to write..."

She pointed at the note, then at George.

"T-then I'll write." He began patting himself down when a quill floated over from Vinyl along with a sheet of paper. "Thanks." He smiled as he put the paper to the ground and held the quill in his mouth. It felt oddly natural to hold it like that, and he felt sure he could write if he took his time and let his body translate what he wanted to happen.

Slowly, he formed notes, bars, and musical symbols to reflect the song that he held in his heart. It unfolded the more he wrote. There was a song that had to come out, and, written by mouth or hand, he was going to get it out.

Vinyl was silent as she watched him draw.

When he felt he was done, he sat back and spat out the quill. She reached over for the paper and when he let go of it, her magic plucked it up and she began to read over it. She cleared her throat softly before she began to sing. She sang the song that he had just written.

The door to Octavia's house opened sharply with Octavia peering out at her singing friend. Another pony was just behind her, another Aqua?

Octavia had her hoof over her mouth and was silent as Vinyl sang the sad song. The other Aqua was less amused by it. "Why are we out here? Come on. We have catching up to do." He looked past Octavia to his double beside Vinyl. "You!"

George looked at... was that Bob? It had to be. "What'd you do? Did you hurt Twilight?!"

"What? No!" He nudged Octavia. "See, spreading more lies."

Octavia seemed reluctant to look away from Vinyl. "I-it's true. Twilight is entirely safe."

"Then why does my house look like a hurricane tore through it? What's with the clipped message?"

Bob flared out his wings. "Star-butt was organizing your damn house!"

Octavia glanced over her shoulder. "His house?"

Bob went red with embarrassment and fury combined. "Our house!" Wait, no, that didn't come out right...

Octavia held up a hoof. "I think... it's time we had a conversation. Vinyl, thank you."

Vinyl fell silent and nodded at Octavia, starting to bob to her music gently as if she had never been singing.

Octavia looked to George. "Please, come in..." She backed away from the door.

Bob sputtered in rage. "What? Don't let him in!"

Vinyl strolled into what was her house as well, as did George just behind her.

Octavia moved to the living room and settled on the couch there. "Both of you, come and sit there." She pointed to a patch of floor before her with a rug on it. "We need to talk."

Rob and George settled where she commanded. She looked them over from her elevated seat. "It's... You both look..." She swallowed heavily. "Which of you is the real Aqua? No more games."

Bob raised a hoof instantly. "Me!"

George shook his head. "Neither of us."

Octavia raised a brow faintly then focused on Bob. "How did we meet?"

Bob shrank a bit. "I told you..."

"You have claimed amnesia... I find that story increasingly uncertain. Prove you are Aqua."

George looked to Bob. "Her Aqua is dead." He turned to Octavia. "I'm sorry. I wanted to break this to you in a dozen different..." She was staring at him with a slack jaw. The pain was real, and he was the source. George wanted to die. If that would fix that expression on Octavia's hurt face...

"Don't listen to him. Look, I'm right here?" Bob approached Octavia, only for her to shove a hoof right in his face.

"That's quite close enough... What... who... How?"

George took a slow breath. "He... killed himself." Honesty was the only road open that he saw. "He took his own life. Lyra found him, freaked out, told Twilight. Twilight freaked out..." He looked up at her. "Please don't be angry at them... They wanted to help. They got me instead."

Octavia let out a strained fit of laughter. "Your... Your story is... so absurdly fantastic..." She sank to her couch. "That's why it's true, isn't it?"

Bob thrust a hoof at George. "He's just making it more complicated to make himself look better. Look, I'm not dead, am I?"

"You're also not Aqua." Octavia forced herself to her haunches. "Who are you?"

Vinyl, who had never left, simply walked up towards the increasingly panicked Robert. She made a musical note over her head with her magic, pointed up at it, then at Bob, then nodded.

Bob looked to the other two. "What does she want?"

George knew that one. "She wants you to show her your music."

Octavia gave a shaking nod. "Y-yes, please. Show us... your music." She smiled at Vinyl. "Your music will show us who you are."

Bob recoiled. That wasn't surprising to George. Bob may love the show, but he had no musical talent. Not that he didn't try. He took a breath before he began to sing Smile Smile Smile, wrong notes and all.

Octavia raised a brow softly. "You... aren't Aqua..." That seemed certain to her. She looked to George, then Vinyl. "Vinyl, dear... Where did you get that song you were performing?"

She pointed at George.

Octavia gave a shaking nod, then looked to George. "You wrote that yourself?"

He nodded quickly. "I wrote what I felt."

She gave a little smile. "You're not Aqua either... But I'd like to know you..." She offered a hoof towards him. "When I look at either of you, my heart breaks in half. My poor Aqua... I should have listened better. I should have known the hurts he carried silently. Vinyl, did you know about this?"

Vinyl shook her head even as she bobbed to unheard music.

"I thought not... You would have told me, dear friend." She quirked a smile, then looked towards the two not-Aquas in her home. "I need to... Please leave."

With that, they were seen to the door, and it closed gently behind them.

Robert looked to George with a scowl. "Why'd you do that?! She could have been happy. I would've been happy! Nobody woulda lost, but there you come, ruining everything." He stomped the ground.

George drew a slow breath. "Look, you're in Equestria."

Robert looked around slowly, then down at himself. He spread one wing and then the other. "Yeah... You didn't want me to have this either, but I have it." He flapped suddenly, gaining a few inches of air. "I'll find another mare!" He took off suddenly, leaving George alone.

George's head sank towards the ground. He felt heavy, so heavy. At least he'd done what was right. Octavia wouldn't be lied to her entire life, clinging to a lie desperately. He could imagine her having doubts, but would she ever face them, when they came with the thought that her real love was gone forever? He had done what was... right. He slowly walked back towards his house.

"I'll smash that stupid figure and never bother Equestria again..." He wouldn't force Octavia to look at her dead boyfriend.