//------------------------------// // I Will Possess Your Heart // Story: I Love You More // by Ave Celestia //------------------------------// Vinyl darted across the restaurant, weaving among tables. The kitchen doors were ahead and she burst through them into the bright kitchen lights, knocking over a waiter in a high-pitched squawk and sending a half-dozen plates flying to crash onto the floor. Vinyl dodged among metal preparation tables. Chefs were sharpening knives, tossing green salads in the air, igniting giant flambes in huge saute pans. Vinyl ran between cookers and fridges and sinks, leaping over crates of supplies. A dishwashing pony had just enough time to make a surprised face as Vinyl leapt over her back and then charged towards the kitchen's rear door. Vinyl hit the rear door with a full-gallop flying kick and it flew wide on its hinges and banged against the exterior wall. There was a slope down and big piles of groundskeepers' supplies were here and there and Vinyl could go left or right or- There was a huge metallic crash back in the kitchen behind Vinyl, as if a huge fridge had toppled over and a series of terrified screams came from inside. "VINYL! VINYL!!" It was Octavia's voice coming from the kitchen! Vinyl didn't go left or right: she ran straight ahead, jumping the low iron railing to land inside the restaurant's namesake garden. Moonlight sparkled off the decorative stream of water as Vinyl splashed through it, kicking up crystalline drops into the air. She galloped across the grassy field, tearing past a Neighponese paper lantern, running so fast she practically flew, looking for a way out of the courtyard- she had to get away, she had to get out of here, she was trapped if she didn't get away! Then she spotted a narrow door in the stone wall ahead and she charged forward, trampling through flowers. "VINYL! WAIT! PLEASE! WAIT!" Octavia's voice was loud and clear- she was out of the kitchen and in the court behind her! Vinyl had to run, had to get away, it was wrong, it had all gone wrong...! Tears prickled in her eyes. Vinyl used her unicorn magic to open the narrow door before she got there and then slipped into the passage behind it and darted up a tiny stone staircase inside. The stairs led to a small, hidden door which swung open, revealing the street on the opposite side of the Garden. "VINYL! PLEASE! WAIT!" Octavia's voice rang from behind and below in the courtyard. Vinyl didn't stop. Then Vinyl heard a grunt and a scrabble against stone just behind her. Vinyl spared a moment to look back and gasped in horror. Octavia had leapt directly up out of the garden, bypassing the stairs altogether, and was pawing with her hooves on the stone terrace, trying to find purchase and climb up after Vinyl. Her shining combs had been lost and Octavia's mane had come completely undone and hung wildly around her neck and shoulders. Her orchid-colored eyes reflected the moonlight. "Vinyl! Please...!" she choked out, scrabbling, trying to climb up over the edge. Vinyl turned and ran across the street. Ahead was an alleyway and Vinyl charged into it, splashing through puddles and leaping over black plastic garbage bags. Fear drove her, gave her speed. The alleyway ended in a T-junction: Vinyl could go left or right. She dodged right. More alley, behind and between the buildings of Canterlot. The brickwork closed in around her, closer and closer. The alley was narrow now, and a chainlink fence was ahead. Vinyl didn't slow and hit the fence at a bound, desperately scrambling up and onto the top and then falling over it onto the stones on the opposite side. She had to get away from Octavia, had to get away! Another intersection, left or right again. She went left. "Vinyyyyl..." Octavia's screams echoed through the alleys, chasing after her. Could Octavia still be after her? Hadn't Vinyl lost her in the twists and turns? "Vinyyyl!" The screams were getting louder. How could she still be following?! Vinyl ran faster. The alley turned again and broadened into a long space. One side was blank concrete wall and the other side were the back doors to a strip of shops. If Vinyl could get into one of those shops, she could cross through it, out into the street, and escape. "Vinyyyl! Please! Forgive me!" Octavia's voice was getting closer! Vinyl ran down the concrete alley. None of the back doors were open so she pounded on each one of them as she passed. "C'mon, somepony open up!" "VINYL! VINYL!" A door opened. A acne-spotted unicorn teenager was levitating a bag of garbage. He had just enough time for his voice to crack in a cry before Vinyl blew past him into a poorly-lit storeroom full of stacked metal shelves and cardboard boxes. Vinyl wove among them and burst out of a pair of employee doors into a glassware shop- cups, glasses, plates, sculptures, figurines, windows- Vinyl barely hesitated for a moment before darting among the delicate shelves towards the front door. Vinyl heard a acne-spotted voice scream from behind her and a crash of boxes and metallic thunder of falling shelves. How could Octavia be so fast?! "Vinyl, please! Forgive me! FORGIVE ME!" Octavia's voice was almost in Vinyl's ear! Vinyl used her unicorn magic to yank open the shop's front door- big and heavy and wooden- as she ran towards it. There was a tremendous shattering noise from behind Vinyl as Octavia plowed directly through cases of glass plates and mirrors. "DON'T LEAVE ME!" Vinyl slipped through the doorway and pulled the door shut behind her. The heavy wooden door practically fell off its hinges as a tremendous impact hit it from inside. Vinyl didn't wait. She was on the lamp-lit street now and looked wildly in both directions. Ponies were coming and going calmly. Carriages were parked against the tree-lined sidewalk and more carriages rattled up and down the street. Where? Where? Where do I go?! Vinyl was gasping for breath and her eyes darted frantically. Then she saw it: on the opposite side of the road, two stallions pulling a movers' cart, a big, open wagon half-full of furniture. Vinyl took off towards it like a shot. Vinyl crossed the sidewalk, dodged between parked carriages, and wove her way among the moving nighttime traffic like a ping pong ball. She darted around the far side of the movers' wagon. Vinyl leapt, trying to jump up into the wagon as it rolled down the road. Fear gave her strength and she managed to get a hold on the edge of the open cart and she kicked desperately with her back hooves, trying to climb inside. The wagon rocked back and forth, big wheels rumbling beneath her, swaying on its axles as the stallions pulling the cart trotted down the street. Vinyl heaved with her forelegs and managed to get her chest up onto the edge of the wagon and she paddled the air with her back legs, wiggling the rest of her body up and over into the back. Vinyl fell face-first into the cart, wedging her face between a dresser and an upright piano with a clank! She tried to pull back but her unicorn horn had gotten itself stuck beneath the piano. Vinyl braced all four of her legs and yanked back, straining her neck, until her horn came loose with a SPANG against the strings of the piano. Vinyl crouched low in the wagon. Had she been heard? Did somepony hear the noise of the piano? The two stallions pulling the wagon kept pulling, though, and Vinyl only dared to stick her head up out of the wagon when they were about to round a corner. Looking back, Vinyl saw Octavia standing on the sidewalk outside of the glassware shop, black dress hanging in tatters, screaming up into the night sky in sorrow. Then the wagon rounded the corner and Vinyl could see no more.