And So it Ended, and So it Begins Again

by Wheller

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The sun was setting, and Derpy walked with Vinyl Scratch down the steps from her flat towards the road.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you back to the Library?” Derpy asked.

“Nah,” Vinyl said simply. “It’s only a couple hundred metres, and besides, I need to work on getting around by myself.”

“Vinyl, you only lost your sight this morning, aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself?” Derpy asked.

“Maybe, but I’ve always been a take charge kind of mare, something that you are going to find out very quickly.” Vinyl said, nuzzling her fillyfriend. Couldn’t help but give her a smile, she had a point after all.

“I’m not going to be able to talk you out of it, am I?” Derpy asked.

Vinyl shook her head. “You can try bribing me with kisses! It won’t work, but I like them, so I suggest it anyway!”

Derpy let out a small chuckle, she kissed Vinyl goodbye and went back up the stairs into her flat. Vinyl couldn’t help but be distracted; her fillyfriend tasted of blueberries.

So distracted that she didn’t notice that somepony had bumped into her until they were right on top of her, knocking her to the ground hard.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” the pony cried out.

Ordinarily, Vinyl would not have polite about it; however, upon hearing the voice, she couldn’t help but smile. “It’s quite all right.”

Scootaloo offered several more apologies and helped Vinyl back to her hooves. Word had travelled fast about Ponyville’s newest, and only, blind resident.

“Don’t worry about it kid!” Vinyl said sweetly. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

“It’s my birthday, and my parents are going to try and surprise me with my favourite meal, Onion Soup. They try and surprise me with it every year, they never do, but I pretend to be surprised anyway,” Scootaloo said. “I’m running kind of late, and I don’t want them to worry!”

Vinyl couldn’t help but grin. “Sounds to me like they love you very much.”

“Yeah, I guess, don’t really think about it that much,” Scootaloo said, likely with a shrug, even though Vinyl had no way of being sure.

“Well go on then! Don’t keep them waiting!” Vinyl said.

“I won’t! Sorry again!” Scootaloo said as she dashed off towards home.

Vinyl couldn’t help but smile as she listened to Scootaloo’s hoof steps as she galloped away. She felt a tear forming in her eye, Scootaloo didn’t need her anymore.

“I love you Scootaloo,” Vinyl said, chocking quietly on a tear. “Even if you don’t remember it.”

Without further hesitation, Vinyl trotted slowly and steadily back towards the Library, doing her best to stay in the centre of the road as to not accidentally drift into walls. Vinyl Scratch had always had incredibly good hearing, but now that her eyesight was gone, it had become more acute, compensating for her lack of sight. She knew that she was in front of the library because sound bouncing off wood sounded far different than stone.

She reached out to knock on the door.

“Vinyl Scratch.”

Vinyl stopped, bringing her hoof back down to the ground and turning to face the voice that had just addressed her. “Yesssss?” she asked playfully.

“Would you please join me for a walk?” the pony behind her asked.

Vinyl Scratch gave the newcomer a grin. “Absolutely, Princess Luna.”

...

Vinyl Scratch and Princess Luna had walked to the edge of town, and were now sitting on the grass, several hundred metres from the tree line of Whitetail Wood. Princess Luna had remained quiet for some time, seemingly gathering her thoughts. Vinyl waited patiently for the Princess to speak; after all, it wasn’t often that one of the rulers of the country asked to you to take a walk.

“I have to ask...” Princess Luna said finally. “How much...?”

“I remember everything,” Vinyl said simply, anticipating the question. “I don’t understand the how, or the why, but I remember all of it.”

“Excellent!” Luna said cheerfully. “I was hoping that you would.”

“I take it that you remember everything too, then?” Vinyl asked.

“Naturally, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Luna said with a small chuckle. “I imagine that you’ve got plenty of questions.”

Vinyl nodded in affirmation. “Am I alive?” she asked, obvious first question.

Princess Luna couldn’t help but chuckle. “Do you feel alive?” she asked.

Vinyl thought about the day’s events, from losing her eyesight to everything she’d just been through with Derpy. There could be only one answer to the Princesses’ question.

“Yes,” Vinyl said simply.

“Then you’re alive!” Luna said. She placed her hoof on the unicorn mare’s shoulder. “I think you can do better than that.”

“Don’t tempt me! I might just surprise you! What happened with the bomb?” Vinyl asked, grinning madly at the princess of the night.

“Oh? You mean you haven’t figured that one out on your own yet?” Princess Luna said. “I thought it would have been obvious, Vinyl Scratch, the bomb was never a bomb!”

Vinyl couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the Princesses’ response. “What was it then?”

“A second chance.”

Vinyl Scratch smirked slightly at the answer. “You’re not the first pony to tell me that, Monty Ulhan came to see me just before I set it off and told me the same thing.”

“He was certainly a clever pony,” Luna said. “It’s... a shame what happened to him.”

“I never knew him,” Vinyl said. “What happened to him?”

“He hung himself,” Luna said sadly. “He stole Overdrive’s body from him... and inherited his memories along with it. He couldn’t live with the things inside my brother’s mind.”

“I... see,” Vinyl said. “Overdrive, and the Siblings Nightmare, are they...?”

“Yes, they are. The ponies that you know as Whirlwind and Doctor Nightly are indeed them,” Luna said. “They’re using their second chance wisely... unlike some other ponies. Before you ask any more questions, let me explain about the bomb. The bomb was never a bomb, it was however, cleverly disguised as a bomb with the hopes that if the world were to devolve into a state that was simply too terrible to continue, those who would use the bomb for nefarious purposes would instead give the world a second chance. A fresh start, Doctor Emerald Sparkle had spent the last five years before her death designing and developing it in secret... It’s a shame what became of her.”

Vinyl grimaced slightly; she remembered listening to a recording of Emerald Sparkle’s gruesome death at the end of Surprise’s chain-knife.

“However, this is the only second chance we get. I take it you noticed that the entrance to EPMB had collapsed? This was by design. There are no third chances,” Luna said. “Though most of us seem to be using our second chance relatively well, don’t you think?”

“Who hasn’t?” Vinyl asked in confusion.

“I haven’t,” Luna said sadly. “I had to endure exile on the moon, not once, but twice. I forced myself to become Nightmare Moon this time around.”

“What? Why?!” Vinyl asked, being caught completely off guard.

“So that Twilight Sparkle and her friends could come together,” Luna said softly.

Vinyl had to admit, that had to have been the most selfless action she had ever heard. Princess Luna had sacrificed herself so that Twilight and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony would come together and defeat her.

“Do you ever regret it?” Vinyl asked.

“Never.”

“Does anypony else remember the old world?” Vinyl asked.

“No, no one in Equestria besides us remembers, I don’t know if anyone in other parts of the world does. I imagine that some likely do, but I have no way of knowing.”

“So what do we do now?” Vinyl asked.

“I’m sure you remember the artefact that Twilight Sparkle received from South Island?” Luna asked her.

“How could I forget?” Vinyl asked. The damned object had robbed her of her sight only this morning.

“The artefact is a powerful magical talisman, It’s a failsafe, in case that we would need to reinstate the old world. As you can imagine it’s incredibly dangerous, and it needs to be kept out of the wrong hooves,” Luna explained.

“Who would want to use such a thing?” Vinyl asked.

“Can you think of no one?” Luna asked her.

Yes, yes she could. Vinyl imagined that if Surprise learned of such an object, she would certainly want to use it to try and bring back her master, where she ever to learn that Overdrive and Whirlwind were not equal.

“So then? What do we need to do?” Vinyl asked.

“We need to take it back to its hiding place,” Luna said simply. “We’re going to take it to South Island.”

Comments

[Apocalypse Pony]

Sweet sweet plot answers

[oblivion2k]

9920
Exactly what I was thinking. Excellent! I still wonder why vinyl scratch and luna are the only ones that retained their memory. One on hand, I would expect Luna to remember because she was one of the brothers and sisters. But that doesn't explain why overdrive and the brothers nightmare don't have their memories. On the other hand, It makes sense that vinyl scratch has her memory because she's the one that set off the bomb, and I'd assume that would have some sort of effect in that regard. But that doesn't explain why Luna would have her memory. And what about surprise? She seemed to know exactly what she was doing, which meant she had her memory as well, unless her psychotic tendencies are not only in her mind, but in every other facet of her body as well. Hopefully this gets cleared up in a later chapter. Some questions answered, still more remaining.

[Apocalypse Pony]

9924

I'm somewhat certain that Luna said that Overdrive and the Siblings are well aware of the second chance, but they must have gotten a look in retrospect and seen how thoroughly fucked the situation was, so they're on good behavior in this reality

[Fallen Knight]

Well that leaves celestia, shes around still and well if she remembers i hope its because she had regrets for not helping Twilight.

Surprise was willingly controlled by Override so maybe thats why shes still crazy,because she wants it that way.

[DreadedCandiru2]

So now that we've got the explanations out of the way, let's get that thing buried so that things don't wibble-wobble back to the previous state. Also, Vinyl Scratch seems to have become Homura Akemi.

[Wheller]

I will confirm:

Being an Alicorn has nothing to do with their memories. Alicorns are unnatural and impossible creatures, forms taken by the leadership of Equestria as they are natural symbols of authority. Luna remembers the old world, Celestia, Whirlwind, and Nightly do not.

Whirlwind and Nightly are sort of in limbo, in a sense, they are Overdrive and the Siblings Nightmare, and in a sense they're not. They are the reincarnation of their consciousness, but at the same time they're their own ponies.

Surprise too, is in limbo, her unique background and the gifts that Overdrive bestowed upon her leaves her straddling both worlds at once. You thought she was crazy before? She's barely able to put together a coherent thought.

Do you like it when I give you straight answers?

Don't get used to it. I'm being nice and giving you all answers that I can't really answer in the story without going away from Vinyl Scratch's view. Which would be against the point,

[Lucky424]

A second chance bomb? Did you "nukify" the Dagger and Sands of time?

Cos that would be fucking awesome if you did!!!!

I'm also copyrighting "nukify". As it came about from reading this, you may use it in any future stories!