23: The Heart's Turnabout, Part 7 - Interlude: Scratching the Surface of Dreams
If you asked a resident of Ponyville to describe Vinyl Scratch in a single word, you’d get a variety of answers, depending on who you asked.
If you asked Rainbow Dash, she might call Vinyl ‘awesome’. If you asked Granny Smith, she might call Vinyl ‘loud’. If you asked her roommate/marefriend, Octavia Melody, she would say Vinyl is ‘incorrigible’. But if you caught her on a rare softer moment with several drinks or Pinkie’s party punch in her system, she would say ‘soulmate’.
For Vinyl‘s part, right now, she would describe herself as ‘worried’.
“This is so not of the cool,” the pony DJ sighed, looking at the wall of the incredibly luxurious hotel suite living room she was in. Though undeniably opulent even by Canterlot standards, it was still uncomfortable and empty to her, and not just because of the alien environment she now found herself in while wearing her pony body. On the other side of the wall was Maya’s room, and Vinyl wanted to be by her side, lend her the love and comfort she was certain her human friend needed whether she would accept it or not. But no matter how badly she wanted to, it was out of the question—they had both agreed it was best to sleep apart that night, and Vinyl Scratch was a mare of her word. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it, though,” she muttered, thinking aloud, uncertain herself what had happened meant for them and their friendship, but not as worried about that as Maya herself for the moment. “I get that she’s in an awkward place right now, but being alone in this kind of situation ain’t always the best idea.”
Her mind not at rest any more than she assumed Maya’s was, she recognized then that sleep was likely not going to come to her easily that night, if at all. She, too, was lost in not just concern for her human friend, but the memories of what they’d done. humans really DO got some interesting assets! she allowed herself a wan grin, hoping she’d get the chance to explore them more directly as Celly had promised to turn her human the next day and keep her that way for the duration of her stay. Another encounter with Maya seemed out of the question, however, given how badly she'd reacted to what happnened. “Are humans so hung up on their own sexuality that it makes them uncomfortable to clop to a fantasy?” she wondered aloud, knowing nopony was there to hear. “Seriously, it ain’t like she’s actually gonna lay Phoenix any more than I’m gonna lay Luna, so it shouldn’t matter, right?” she asked softly to herself, wondering idly what the Moon Princess would think of some of the dreams she’d had of her. “Or maybe she knows already…?”
She couldn’t help but chuckle at that, though her humor was short-lived. “Then again,” Vinyl mused, her mind shifting tracks like the expert DJ she was, “Maya did say once she saw Phoenix as her ‘goofy older brother’. So maybe to her, it’s like fantasizing about about a sibling, which ain’t acceptable by any standard.” The more she thought about it, the more the idea made sense. While Maya and Phoenix were certainly close, their relationship seemed to be more familial than romantic in any form. “Goddess knows I ain’t no prude when it come to sex, but even I'd draw the line there!” Vinyl shivered, rolling over on the sofa and shifting the blanket a little with it.
Her mind drifted back towards thoughts of Maya again, remembering again not just their acts, but the thrill and pleasure they gave her. She considered again the question of what effect it would have on their friendship, and more deeply, what she felt for the young human girl; barely an adult by either race’s standards and her body and mind still somewhat immature for it—particularly in comparison to her channeled older sister!
It wasn’t a question of upsetting her current relationship, at least. She didn’t think Octavia would mind her taking a human lover too much—the rule they’d always had was that Vinyl was allowed to indulge her wild side as she wished, as long as she came back to Octavia afterwards, and the pony DJ had never had any reason or desire to violate that promise. Unlikely though their union was, the very definition of ‘opposites attract’, she loved and respected her earth pony mare mate too much to ever contemplate leaving her, no matter who else she bedded along the way.
But for all the lovers she’d already been with, from mares and stallions to griffins to even adolescent dragons, Maya Fey was by far the most exotic and interesting partner she could remember. And yet, it wasn’t just simple exoticness or the uniqueness of her human body, either—Vinyl couldn’t explain why, but she felt drawn to Maya in a way she hadn’t felt towards anyone, pony or otherwise, save for Octavia herself. But where the attraction to Octavia had formed due to their joint love of music (clashing styles notwithstanding), Vinyl couldn’t quite yet explain her attraction to Maya. Certainly, that they had similar tastes in music was a factor, but the unicorn couldn’t help but feel there was more to it than that. Can’t seem to put my hoof on it, but I swear there’s something deeper there…
She sighed and shook her head, knowing whatever unanswered questions were in her own mind at that moment, she could be certain of one thing: her confused and uncertain feelings had nothing on Maya’s. Given what they'd done, Vinyl knew that the human girl was going to be off-balance for a good while, and that some breathing room would be necessary for her to come to terms with what had happened. The young mystic had a lot to work through, and painful though it was to admit, Vinyl knew she didn’t come first in that equation.
“Guess that’s it, then. Still, Maya shouldn’t keep this bottled up. She needs to talk to Phoenix, get things out in the open between them. Yeah, it’s gonna be uncomfortable, but the longer it’s put off, the worse it’s going to be. Besides, it’s not like she wants to bed him, just air some actual feelings,” she concluded and, finally satisfied, started to settle down towards sleep.
She had nearly drifted off when a sharp ‘ping’ within her skull jolted her back awake, causing her to nearly fall off the couch. Catching herself, she focused on what was causing the disturbance, less a sound from the air than one from the very ether itself. To her alarm, she realized that a dream ward she’d cast on Maya was going off. “Buck me sideways, I was hoping I wouldn’t need that!” Vinyl swore, realizing she’d just picked up a new complication, and one that would require her immediate intervention. Settling in, she marshalled her magic, preparing to cast a very specific spell on herself.
As she had told Twilight Sparkle once before, Vinyl Scratch was a mare of many talents. While most of those talents were associated with her musical career to one degree or another, she was not at all lacking in knowledge of other fields, in contrast to some ponies’ thoughts regarding her. Though no Trixie or Twilight, she was a magically gifted unicorn in her own right, particularly strong when listening to or working with her music. Even outside of it, she had mastered teleportation and was surprisingly well-read, having passed the bar exam some years earlier, and had even dabbled in areas of magic well beyond the abilities of most unicorns.
One such area she’d read about and dabbled in was dream magic. While a fairly obscure and arcane branch of magic (at least, prior to Princess Luna’s return), Vinyl had read one text on the subject and found herself very engrossed, experimenting with some of the spells it offered; spells that would allow you to traverse the dreamscape and do literally anything you wished inside of it—an ability she might have availed herself of with Octavia once or twice. But far from being all potentially very illicit fun and games, the text had mentioned that there were things in the dreamscape that fed on the fears of ponies, dread demons that could prey on the emotionally vulnerable and unwary. As a teenager, she’d had a bad experience with such creatures, although she didn’t know what precisely they were at the time; that knowledge had come when she read the dream text. As a result, she knew only too well what those things were; how they could turn your mind and very soul inside-out if they found you in a mentally weakened state.
Accordingly, the book had made clear up front that dreamwalking was not something you ever wanted to try without an experienced guide to protect you, and thus started by teaching protective enchantments. One such spell had been a low-level dream ward, meant to alert the caster if the subject was being targeted by a malicious dream spirit, another was a spell to track spirits through the dreamscape, and a third was a rescue spell, meant to send the caster’s consciousness directly into the dreamscape without already being asleep… though that one came with warnings that it was a very disorienting process and if miscast, could leave your spirit untethered to your body, making it very hard to get back to the waking world. The latter was the spell Vinyl was preparing now, gathering her weakened power to her and hoping the fact that she was on magic-poor Earth and not Equestria wouldn’t prevent her from casting it.
“Haven’t used this for a while,” Vinyl mused as her horn began to glow. “Though you know, Octy really did over-react that time. Can’t say she didn’t enjoy it, though…” she allowed herself a momentary grin at the memories before stilling herself, knowing she needed to be calm and collected as possible when she entered the dreamscape, or her agitated emotions would just be a big beacon to any dream demons in the area. Shaking off those thoughts, she cast the spell. Her body’s breathing slowed and her eyes closed as the magic took hold of her, enabling her to enter the world of dreams.
Outside of a dream proper, the dreamscape is a cross between a deep sea environment and a starfield. It’s the equivalent of being plunged into a roiling and rapidly flowing river as you immediately get picked up by the currents and swept along, leaving you no idea which way is up or even what direction you came from. It is far from an empty void, however; occasionally broken by the appearance of a doorway or portal that represented an entry into the dreams of others, or single points of light belonging to more distant souls further out, not at all unlike distant stars. Much like the sea, there are also myriad creatures of soul and spirit that inhabit this plane and feed off the energy of dreams, most benign but some decidedly not, the former swimming along in schools like fish and not hard to mistake for them.
“Who needs an aquarium when you got this place?” Vinyl chuckled as she found herself in the midst of one such school, favoring them with a bit of magic and allowing them to feed off her, watching as they changed color and glowed brighter for it.
Navigation through this plane is difficult, even for experienced members of the Dream Guard. For Vinyl Scratch, it was akin to being tossed into a hurricane-battered sea, with no ship or even a rescue buoy in sight. Still, she had done this enough before that she knew how to manage it, and understood from both her reading and past experience that in the dream realm physical strength was useless; it was will and focus that were paramount. Accordingly, she quickly focused her will on the area surrounding her, willing a spot of calm into the swirling void and turning it into a beautiful Equestrian night scene, one that would have done Luna proud.
“Never gonna get used to that,” she mused, always and endlessly amazed at what the dreamscape enabled her to do. Focusing her magic, she cast another spell she’d learned from the text, one meant to reveal entryways into the minds of ponies that were nearby in the living world. Two doors immediately appeared before her, one white, one a pale purple. The white one bore the stylized sun that was easily recognized as Celestia’s Cutie Mark. The purple one bore an equally stylized image that Vinyl recognized as the magatama worn around Maya’s neck. “No points for guessing the right door,” she joked, as she pushed on the pale purple door.
As she pushed, however, a sign appeared on the door that read, ‘Tenant unavailable. Please check back later.’ Seeing this, Vinyl groaned. “Great, just great,” she sighed and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, knowing that meant Maya’s spirit wasn’t present… meaning in turn that something had pulled her spirit away, and few dreamscape denizens did so without malicious intent. “Guess I didn’t get here quick enough. Something’s already found her. Hold on, fillyfriend, I’m coming!” She cast the tracking spell, focusing her thoughts on Maya’s face and immediately felt herself swept up yet again, being pulled like she was attached to a tether towards an unknown destination, streaks of light around her as she was rapidly pulled through the dreamscape starfield.
* * * * *
She never made to her to destination. She got a brief glimpse of roiling clouds and lightning as her spell was disrupted and she was unceremoniously dumped into another pony’s dream, finding herself in the midst of a rather one-sided battle.
“What the…?” she looked around in surprise, realizing this wasn’t Maya’s location, but somepony’s nightmare; worse, she’d just been thrown into the middle of a group of dream demons, who initially looked as surprised to see her as she was them. Their surprise was short-lived, however, as they abruptly turned into a disapproving Octavia and a naked but sobbing Maya Fey. The former told her that if she loved human girls instead of her, there was no point in them being together and the latter accused her of rape, begging for Nick to save her.
Her guts clenched at their sight and voices and her will wavered hard for a moment, her fears brought to life in a way she hadn’t been ready for. For other ponies, it might have been enough to allow the dream demons to overwhelm her emotionally and feed on her fears, but Vinyl Scratch was nothing if not extremely adaptable, and she immediately countered the mental assault with a magical one, a strike from her horn reducing one attacker to vapor.
“Vinyl Scratch?” she then heard several startled voices chorus, and spun to see several ponies wearing the night-blue uniforms of Princess Luna’s Dream Guard. The two thestrals and one unicorn mare were hard pressed against a much larger group of assailants, trying to defend the dream’s owner, a pegasus stallion who was cowering and sobbing on the floor from the dread creatures menacing him in various guises, one in the form of his own foal telling him he was a horrible sire and the others appearing to be old teachers, friends, and even his parents all saying he was a terrible disappointment.
“That’s me, sisters. Nice to see my reputation proceeds me even in the dream world. So what the hay’s going on here?” she asked as she teleported to their side, relieved to see some friendly faces. “Where’d all these demons come from?” She’d never seen so many before; only ever one or two at a time. Dream demons were greedy and tended not to cooperate, though they were certainly not above being rank opportunists and flocking to a dream that was particularly promising for them.
They explained shortly. “The Nightmare? Buck…” Vinyl all but hissed, sensing instantly that the ancient queen of dream demons had something to do with Maya’s disappearance. “If she takes over Twilight like she did Luna, that’s it for Equestria and maybe Earth as well!” The DJ instantly realized, then told them why she was there. “You haven’t seen Maya, have you?”
“We haven’t seen any human girls—well, aside from the demons appearing as a few, and that one green unicorn’s dream that had a lot of humans in it. And there weren’t any human girls at the trial when we were there other than departed spirits, but that was half an hour ago!”
“Then why would she…” Vinyl’s lips tightened as she instinctively realized the answer, her deductive powers helped by her stint as a prosecutor, placing herself in The Nightmare’s hooves. “That bucking bitch… she’s planning to use Maya against Twilight!”
At the quizzical look from the Guards, Vinyl sighed and zapped another demon who came too close. “It’s a long, nasty story, but the short version is, Maya was suffering from some side effects of being exposed to Twilight’s magic, and she’s really torn up about it. She holds a huge grudge against Twilight now and it gives The Nightmare pretty good means to tempt her.”
A group of demons broke free from the horde, leaping at the group of ponies, taking the form of bloodthirsty griffin warriors from the days of yore led by a green-armored paladin, his body hideously pumped up on strength and size enhancement potions. Before any of them could react, however, a dark winged form shot out from the dreamscape, striking and slaying several before flipping backward like Mistress Marvelous from the Power Ponies comic.
This was no comic book creation, however; the new arrival was a caped pony whose features were initially unseen, but the weapon she was holding was unlike any that the Guards or Vinyl had seen before. It was a bright blue blade, with an unusually-shaped handle. Hefting it in both hooves, the cloaked mare charged again, launching the final and largest green-armored demon into the air before laying into it with a punishing series of blows that ended with an explosive slash, ripping the demon apart and giving the others pause and they sought a new strategy. As the figure returned to the ground, the weapon dissipated into the ether.
“Heh. Humans may not have magic, but they have some wild imaginations. That weapon would never work in real life… but dreams are another story,” the newcomer mused, turning to face them.
“Lady Requiem!” The dream guard mares chorused, sketching her a quick bow. “We’re relieved to see you, milady!”
“Me too. Well, that’s one way to make an entrance,” Vinyl quipped. Had it been her imagination, or had there been a loud sound every time the weapon had struck the demon…? “Been a while, Delta. Hope I didn’t make too much of a mess for you at that last party in Canterlot.”
“I’m used to it. But would you mind telling me what you’re doing here, Vinyl Scratch?” she asked in a mild tone, entering and enlarging the circle of defending ponies with the frightened stallion at their center, facing outward from him. “I don’t know how you got here, but this is no place for an untrained and inexperienced dreamwalker!”
“Hey! I’ve dreamwalked before!” Twice, she didn’t say. “And I’ve dealt with demons before, too.” Maybe four, all individually and they left me afraid to sleep again after. “So don’t look down on me just because I don’t have your level of experience,” Vinyl snapped, even though she knew the other mare was not trying to scold her.
Delta blinked. She knew the pony DJ well enough to realize that for one as normally unflappable as Vinyl to be so irritable, something must really be bothering her. “Vinyl, what’s going on?”
The explanation was short and brief. “I see…” Delta’s lips tightened. “Unfortunately, getting you to that trial is going to be a bit… problematic. I came here at the Captain’s call. He said you needed reinforcements, but I had no idea what we were up against until I got here,” she said grimly. “You can’t reach Ms. Fey’s location with all these demons running interference for her. We can take you there ourselves… after we’ve taken care of these.” She nodded out to the ranks of repulsive creatures around them, who had just taken the form of a gryphon legion from the ancient war, chanting and screeching, hungry for pony blood.
“It’s us against an army,” the unicorn corporal interjected, wondering if she should turn into a dragon again as she zapped the first rank of them, ignoring the clenching of her guts at a sight she knew her ancestors must have once faced. “We’re getting mentally fatigued and it’s all we can do to hold on here!”
“Oh, I think we can take care of them,” Delta’s smile got thin as the hoard prepared to rush them, and she began to sing softly, causing their surroundings to shimmer and a series of vines to erupt and ensnare the lead ranks.
“Stay back, Ms. Scratch!” a thestral mare ordered, looking a bit battered to Vinyl’s eyes, her eyes sunken and uniform ripped as she’d been worn down by constant attacks. “Don’t try to help! You can’t fight these things!”
Vinyl actually smirked. “Oh, can’t I?” She materialized her magenta glasses over her eyes and a microphone in front of her face, making her next words boom out. “Listen up and listen well, fillies and gentlecolts! It’s time to party and dance hearty, ‘cause DJ-PON3 is in da house!” With that, she willed an entire soundstage into existence and aimed the speakers at the demons, who immediately countered by turning into some punk rockers and rival DJs she knew, wielding guitars, drum sets and their own amps. Far from being intimidated, Vinyl smiled and bared her teeth. “Oho, a battle of the bands, is it? In that case, allow me to introduce my lead singer!” she materialized and passed a microphone to Delta. “The one and only Delta Requiem!”
The pegasus mare, knowing a cue when she heard one, smirked and changed her garb to that an entertainer; a sparkling violet evening dress with some jeweled trim. “Thank you, my mare, DJ-PON3! We’re gonna start with a little number from Tellus’ dimensional neighbor, Earth!” Materializing and tossing a vinyl record to the DJ, she waited for the unicorn to ready it before continuing. “I’ve modified the lyrics some, but I think you’ll agree; this song is hot!” With that, she materialized an amp-hooked piano and began to pound on it as she sung:
You shake my nerves, and you rattle my brain
Dreamin’ ’bout demons drives a mare insane
Tryin’ to break my will?
Ain’t that a thrill!
Goodness gracious, great BALLS of FIRE!
As she hit the last line, enormous fireballs rained from the heavens to batter the demonic horde. Several were immolated outright, others bowled over from the concussive force.
“Not bad, Lady D. That’s a human song?” Vinyl asked after the damage had been done.
“Indeed. And considered a classic,” she confirmed, but her smile was short-lived. With half their number eliminated, the demons changed tactics, countering with a song of their own, turning into fairy-winged creatures with red eyes and pointed ears. There were both human and pony variants wearing red jewels around their necks, focusing the totality of their power on the small group.
“Sirens!” The unicorn mare warned just before their music erupted, a dark and entrancing beat boring into their head, trying to shatter their focus and very will:
Welcome to the show
We’re here to let you know
Our time is now
Your time is running out
More demons joined in the song, adding their own power to the chorus, the discordant harmony crashing down around the pony defenders’ ears.
Feel the wave of sound
As it crashes down
You can’t turn away
We’ll make you want to stay
We will be adored
We’ll make you love us
We won’t be ignored
It’s time for our reward
Now you need us
Come and feed us
NOTHING CAN STOP US NOW!
But Delta had an answer for that as well.
Oh-oh, oh-whoa-oh
I’ve got the music in me
Oh-oh, oh-whoa-oh
The spellsinging pegasus mare began, her power and that of harmony itself allowing the dream guard members to become her backup vocalists, trading their night-blue uniforms for rocker costumes and instruments as she launched into her song:
Don’t need to hear a crowd
Cheering out my name
I didn’t come here seeking
Infamy or fame
The one and only thing
That I am here to bring
Is music, is the music
Is the music in my soul
Gonna break out (Out!)
Set myself free, yeah
Let it all go (Go!)
Just let it be, yeah
Find the music in your heart
Let the music make you start
To set yourself apart
The demons were staggered briefly, but came back with redoubled force, reinforcements arriving as they sensed this was the pivotal battle.
What we have in store
All we want and more
We will break on through
NOW IT’S TIME TO FINISH YOU!
With that, the sirens turned into powerful and lethal looking dragons and began circling, breathing not fire but assaults of throbbing beats and off-key screeching that was the equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard, a noise strong enough to shatter crystal if they’d been real. The Dream Guard mares recoiled, some of Vinyl’s amps blew and even Delta Requiem was affected, trying to counter with her own spellsinging talent, which though potent was now stretched to its limit.
“Sorry, nightmares. You ain’t beating me at my own game!” Vinyl willed her equipment back to working order and turned her amps to maximum as she focused all her considerable strength of will into them. Pulsing waves of sound erupted outwards, targeting the dragons and forcing them back for a few seconds. But they regrouped and counterattacked again, their increased numbers starting to tell, their shrill screech overwhelming even Vinyl’s best efforts.
“We need… more… power!” she grated out, struggling to keep her head clear.
“But that means more will and more singers!” the unicorn mare protested. “And where do we get them?”
“Leave that to me…” Delta hissed through gritted teeth. “But I’ll need some musical help to do it!” she requested, reminding Vinyl that she could derive more spellsinging power from hearing a powerful song that resonated within her.
“Then maybe what we need… is that little number from Maya herself!” Vinyl announced as she materialized a new record and played it, picking up a microphone herself to sing one of the first songs Maya had shared with her; one she had composed herself and said was her favorite:
You’re never gonna bring me down
You’re never gonna break this part of me
My friends are here to bring me ’round
Not singing just for popularity
Even without knowing the words, Delta quickly picked up the song and joined the DJ in a duet. Instead of trying to fight the demons directly, she reached out to other dreams with her power, trying to connect to other ponies in them.
We’re here to let you know
That we won’t let it go
Our music is a bomb and it’s about to blow
Harmony taking hold of them again, the two thestrals and unicorn mare sang the last line along with Delta and Vinyl before the latter pair resumed the song alone.
And you can try to fight
But we have got the light of
Friendship on our side!
A drum solo erupted and they looked back, surprised to see a human version of Pinkie Pie suddenly present, hammering away on a drum set and adding her own voice to the chorus. Additional voices began to join them as Delta’s power succeeded in reaching first the stallion they were protecting, and then the ponies in nearby dreams, lending their voice and magic to the effort, increasing the power of their effort with each new voice and pony.
Got the music in our hearts
We’re here to blow this thing apart
And together, we will never
Be afraid of the dark
Here to sing our song out loud
Get you dancing with the crowd
As the music of our friendship
Survives, survives!
By the time the stanza was complete a hundred then a thousand additional voices had joined them as not just the entire Dream Guard but the very ponies they were trying desperately to protect turned on the entirety of the nightmarish army, who were now reeling hard, being forced back and ground down despite their numbers. They needed to induce fear in their hosts to defeat them, and as the song took hold, that fear was quickly ebbing, leaving them facing steadily worsening odds as the final chorus began, the music shifting to a new and higher key:
Got the music in our hearts
We’re here to blow this thing apart
And together, we will never
Be afraid of the dark
Here to sing our song out loud
Get you dancing with the crowd
As the music of our friendship
Survives… survives… SURVIVES!!!!
With the final riff played, a massive wave of magic and harmony blasted outward from Vinyl’s soundstage, disintegrating every demon it encountered, reducing the forces of The Nightmare Army to nothing, leaving behind only an empty and suddenly peaceful dreamscape behind.
“Holy…” the unicorn mare began.
“Nightshades…” her thestral teammate finished, having felt the flow of Harmony through her in a way she never had before, still wearing her rocker costume. “That was amazing! And you say that song came from a human?”
“From the mind of Maya Fey, yes it did,” Vinyl said proudly, marveling herself and suddenly wondering where Pinkie Pie had disappeared back to… or was that even her to begin with? “And she’s the girl I’m now here to save.”
“She’s good, but I have to say, you’re a natural at this game yourself, Vinyl. Ever considered a career in the Dream Guard?” Delta had to ask as she returned to her usual appearance..
The pony DJ grinned as she willed her soundstage away but materialized a handkerchief to clean her shades in its place. “Well, I admit I enjoy the nightlife, but not if it means I can’t still do my DJ thing.”
“If you enjoy the nightlife, you should come to Hollow Shades!” the other thestral suggested hopefully, referring to one the biggest thestral enclaves in Equestria. “That’s our home. It’s a good place with good ponies, but our party scene could use an upgrade.”
Vinyl’s grin got more pronounced. “A village full of ponies who are up all night? I’m there, sister!” she promised as she let the pair guide her towards a portal as they eased the stallion they were guarding back towards a more peaceful slumber. “I’ll have my agent book a visit. In the meantime, now the Nightmare’s got no backup, how ‘bout we rescue Twi and Maya?”
“Head on ahead, Vinyl. We’ll follow after we’ve mopped up here,” Delta said with a smile. “Rescue Maya and tell Princess Luna to kick The Nightmare’s flank for us, would you?”
“Will do… though I’d like to do some of the kicking myself!” she said with a tip of her shades, bumping hooves with the three Dream Guard mares before departing. The stars turned to streaks again as Vinyl recast the tracking spell and continued on her journey, drawn to the soul she sought. This time, there was nothing to stop her and she soon arrived at a new portal, this one bearing the doors of a courtroom. She opened it and entered into shadow, walking slowly forward towards the light of a courtroom pit, where she beheld… a beaten and bloodied Maya hurling insults and invective at a bewildered Twilight.
Any other time, the pony DJ might have marveled at the sheer number of spirits present, to say nothing of some of the most legendary figures from Equestria’s past standing guard like bailiffs. But she had no eyes for them even as their own turned on her as she passed; her gaze fixed on the human girl speaking from the witness stand, crying and demanding justice for what had happened to her. She didn’t hear the start of her friend’s speech, but what she did hear was enough to curl her lip and realize just how badly her human friend was hurting.
“C’mon, Maya, can’t you see she’s using you?!” Pinkie Pie called out, leaving Vinyl wondering again who the Pinkie she saw at the dream battle was. “She doesn’t care about you, she just wants Twilight’s body!”
“Like I care!” Maya all but snarled, her eyes wild and full of hate. “After what she did, she deserves it! I wish I’d never heard of Equestria!” she finished with a shout, Pinkie flinching back like she’d been slapped.
The gallery went silent at that, all eyes turned to the shaking, trembling form at the witness stand. Before anyone else could speak, Vinyl’s hurt voice broke the silence. “Is that really how you feel, Maya?” she asked, stepping forward into the light, passing between Fell Flight and Wind Whistler as she entered the courtroom pit, flipping up her shades to stare at Maya directly.
“Cause if that’s true, you ain’t half the girl I thought you were…”
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That last song bit still gives me chills every time.
10083365
Me too. It holds up well and Rainbow Rocks remains my favorite of the Equestria Girls movies.