Trust

by Wheller

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“Whirlwind! No!” Vinyl Scratch called out as the grey coated Pegasus placed his hoof on the bridge. He levitated into the air as electricity from the bridge began to arc through him. “Whirlwind!” Vinyl called again.

Vinyl couldn’t just let this happen, she couldn’t let him bring Overdrive back into existence, and she had to stop him. The air before her began to shimmer as an object began to materialise right before her. It was... her revolver? No. There had to be another way! She looked back at Whirlwind watching as his face contorted in pain. She realised that there was no other way. Vinyl latched onto the revolver with her magic and brought it to bear.

“Sorry Whirlwind,” Vinyl said as she pulled the trigger.

The bullet exploded from the gun with tremendous force, and the world seemed to slow down as Vinyl watched the bullet cut through the air. It planted itself right through the pegasi’s chest and went out cleanly through the other side. Knocking him out of the sequence and sending him skittering back off the bridge.

Everypony’s mouths dropped open.

“Ya killed him!” Applejack called out shock. “Yer a murderer!”

“I saved him,” Vinyl said, though she didn’t sound convinced. She slipped the revolver back into her saddlebag and turned to the rest of the group. “I’m going to bury him; you all should start back for Ponyville. Stay on a course of 147 degrees south east, you’ll find the road back into town by the end of the week. I’ll catch up.”

Everypony was far too busy paying attention to Vinyl Scratch to notice that Fluttershy had started to shake in fear.

“Um... Everypony!” Fluttershy said. “Look!”

Everypony shifted their attention to what Fluttershy had seen. To their horror it was where Whirlwind should have been laying, but he was no long there. Instead, Whirlwind was standing, staring intensely at them.

“Wh... Whirlwind?” Vinyl asked.

Whrilwind cocked his head to the side slightly. “No,” he said simply. The brightness of his eyes flared as he leapt into the air, tackling Vinyl Scratch to the ground and causing a shockwave strong enough to send Twilight and Rainbow Dash to toppling to the ground. “We remember Whirlwind. We remember Montana Ulan. We remember Order,” the Pegasus said. “We are all, and we are none.”

Whirlwind kicked Vinyl hard, sending her flying into the crowd of ponies, and knocking them all to the ground.

“We are the Alpha and Omega. We were here at the beginning, we shall be here at the end,” the Pegasus said. “We are Legion, for we are many! But we are none.”

Legion spread his wings and leapt into the air, he flew upwards at top speed; the group was too stunned to do anything but watch. Legion did a hundred and eighty degree flip and entered free fall. They watched as a vapour cone began to form around him. Rainbow Dash recognised immediately what he was doing.

“RUN!” She cried out. The rest of the group had no complaints.

They took to their hooves and ran as fast as they could. Vinyl Scratch turned her head back just in time to witness the boom! She remembered the event, the wash of colour from the Sonic Rainboom that she had seen as a filly. This was like that, however this time... it was different, rather than the amazing, inspiring show of light and colour, it was all grey.

The force from the event swept them all off their hooves and tossed them several dozen metres before landing on the ground hard. Vinyl considered herself incredibly lucky that her revolver didn’t go off.

“Everypony all right?” Twilight asked as she picked her head off the ground. All of them were lying on the ground, rubbing various sprains and bruises from the hard landing. She watched as Vinyl was staring towards the direction that they’d been running from. A column of smoke from rose from where the Master Archive had previously sat.

“Vinyl?” Twilight asked.

“I tried to stop one monster... I made another,” Vinyl said, getting to her hooves. “Let’s go.”

“Hey!” Twilight said, placing a hoof on Vinyl’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ve been through worse! We’ve got your back, don’t we Rainbow?”

“Heck yeah we do!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed; leaping into the air and landing right next the off white Unicorn. “So buck up! Let’s see that grin.”

Rarity took a step forward. “I don’t know what’s going on, but what I do know is this, if that charlatan threatens one of my friends then he has to deal with me!”

“Yeah! Mean old Grumps McGirt picked the wrong ponies to mess with!” Pinkie Pie called out, leaping towards Vinyl Scratch.

“Nopony hurts my friends!” Fluttershy said, her voice growing with confidence.

“I don’t know what I can do,” Spike said with a shrug. “I’m usually too little... but I’ll do my best!”

They all turned to Applejack, who just stood there, they had all expected her to step forward, but she did not. “Everypony fergot little miss lair already?” Applejack snapped at them. “Ah git it. Loyalty and friendship and all, but she caused this mess ‘cuz she wouldn’t tell ya’ll the truth!”

“Oh not this again...” Rainbow Dash said, slapping her forehead. “Applejack! Listen to yourself! Do you have any idea how you sound right now?”

“Ya’ll have any idea how ya’ll sound right now?” Applejack said, throwing it back at them. “Far as Ah figure, ya’ll are on yer own!”

Applejack turned and galloped off towards home, Rainbow Dash wanted to take off after her, Rarity however put up a hoof and stopped her.

“Leave it alone, Rainbow Dash, Applejack is just being herself, stubborn and hard headed. She will come around,” Rarity said simply. “We should probably get started; we’ve got a long walk back.”

...

True to her word, a week of following Vinyl’s course and they met up with the road that would take them back to Ponyville. The group didn’t catch up with Applejack and figured if she continued at the place that she’d taken. She was already likely home. Hopefully, she’d have cooled off by the time they all got back.

Another two days on the road and they walked back into town. It was December now; fresh snow covered the ground, turning Ponyville into a winter wonderland. The group began to disperse, each of them had things that needed to be taken care of, but they had agreed to meet again later to come up with a plan about what they would do about the pony they knew only as “Legion.”

“Vinyl Scratch!” called out an angry sounding voice from down the high street.

Vinyl turned to see an incredibly angry looking Derpy Hooves thundering towards her. “Hey Derpy!” Vinyl said, offering her a nervous grin.

Derpy did not take the grin kindly; she stopped right in front of Vinyl and smacked her across her muzzle. “You come back to town for TWO DAYS and then leave again without bothering to even come and say ‘hi?’ You are in it deep!” Derpy bit down on Vinyl’s tail and began to drag her away.

“Somepony help me! I’m being hauled away against my will!” Vinyl called out. “Twilight! Rainbow! I thought you guys said you had my back!” she called out upon noticing that her friends weren’t doing anything to help her.

“You misunderstood Vinyl,” Rainbow Dash said with a grin. “We’ve only got your back on fights that are actually winnable. Legion? We can totally win that, an angry marefriend? Sorry, you’re on your own.”

Vinyl gulped loudly as Derpy dragged her into her flat.

Clearly, there would be no escape.

...

Vinyl was lying on her back under the covers of Derpy’s bed; Derpy was fast asleep on her shoulder. Vinyl Scratch couldn’t help but feel guilty, she had thought back to what happened between her and Octavia, she knew that it was cheating on Derpy, she should have known better. She should have stopped it.

“Derpy?” Vinyl said.

“Yes?” Derpy asked, opening her eyes and smiling sweetly at Vinyl Scratch, planting a kiss on her lips.

“I... I have something that I need to tell you,” Vinyl said.

Vinyl recounted her trip to the St. Germain, she told her of her sickness, which is why she hadn’t come to see her, and she hadn’t wanted her to worry. She told of the return of her eye sight, she told her about Legion, and what she had done to make him what he was.

Lastly, she told her about what had happened between her and Octavia.

Derpy was crushed. Tears streamed down her face as the words came out. Vinyl had cheated on her.

“I’m so sorry Derpy...” Vinyl said. “I’m so sorry...”

“I... I...” Derpy said. “I don’t think I can forgive you for that Vinyl. You knew what you were doing was wrong... and you did it anyway.”

“I know,” Vinyl said. “I’m sorry...”

Derpy shushed her. “I should throw you out for this, but I can tell that you really are sorry, so I’m going to give you another chance, but be warned Vinyl Scratch, you are on a very, very, short leash. You do this again? You’re gone, I believe in second chances... but not third and fourth. Understand?”

“I understand.” Vinyl said. “Thank you, Derpy. I won’t let you down, I promise.”

Derpy didn’t believe her, which is probably what hurt Vinyl the most.

She had asked for it. Trust, it was a simple thing.

Trust, it wasn’t something that Vinyl had.

Comments

[Starcat5]

So the Big Bad of this season has been unleashed, AJ is repeating the mistakes of the past, and Scratch's love life is very, VERY rocky right now. ...and Twilight and Dash are together again, much to Pinkie's dismay. I just couldn't ever figure out WHICH of the two she had the hots for in the Old World, though. I'm guessing Twilight, but the line in question was very, VERY vague.

[KaijinZero]

well, ignore the ffff moment. now have a new one

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU!

[Wheller]

21712

It's Twilight.
Of course, she's going to wait until she's alone to freak out.

[DreadedCandiru2]

Alrighty, then....Derpy is pissed at Vinyl and she's got good reason. AJ is acting like a stubborn lummox again and she thinks she's got a good reason. And Whirlwind/Legion wants to rule the world again and he can't be reasoned with.

[Apocalypse Pony]

For every problem solved another three