Lessons In The Dark (My Ending)

by RulesOfRarity

Chapter XV

Vinyl was right outside the door, a scared and confused Diamond Tiara was shuddering by the wall, and Cheerilee was screwed.

Vinyl knocked again, more urgently this time. “Cheerilee!” She called, but she was given no answer.

Cheerilee herself was frozen in place, trying to think of something to do. She turned slowly to Diamond, breathing hard as her fury drained out of her and was replaced by fear. She fought to keep her voice steady as she commanded, "Go to my room. It's all the way at the end of the hall. Don't come out. The code for the lock is zero-seven-one-zero. And if you make so much as a sound I swear on my left hind leg I will come in there and use every muscle in my body to crush you."

There was no weight behind her words, not now, but Diamond was clearly shocked enough to believe Cheerilee. Which might have been why she was still frozen in place, mouth agape.

"What are you waiting for? Go!" She insisted, almost frantic as Vinyl's knocking grew louder. That seemed to get Diamond moving, and the filly jumped to her hooves and scrambled down the hall. Cheerilee waited until she heard the bedroom door close to walk over to the door and open it.

Before she could even process what was going on she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug, wincing as some bright red sunglasses and a horn poked her cheek.

"Holy shit, Cheerilee, I saw what happened on the news and my first thought was Octavia but then I saw you and then I saw the building crumble and thought you were still in there but then the news reporter said a masked mare had just run off and so I came here and--"

"V-Vinyl--" She choked out after a few seconds of suffocation. Vinyl instantly pulled away, keeping one hoof on Cheerilee's chest like a lifeline.

Vinyl silently studied Cheerilee for just a moment, then looked directly into her eyes with such intensity Cheerilee had to fight the urge to back away. "Cheerilee, I watched you save Octavia's life. You almost died and you told no one that you were fine. For a few minutes I thought that you were dead, and if I had turned off the TV I would still be thinking that."

Cheerilee didn't quite know how to respond to that. Neither did Vinyl. The silence persisted for a few moments until Cheerilee forced out a quiet and confused, "What?"

Vinyl sighed. "I'm still pissed that you're trying to be a superhero but I'm done cutting you off."

Cheerilee was shocked to say the least, but for the first time in ages a spark of hope lighted within her. "You--you do?"

"Yes. And I'm still scared out of my wits so I'm staying here tonight." Vinyl, clearly comfortable with the area, marched straight down to the bedroom while Cheerilee stood and watches, frozen with indecision. "Celestia, what happened to this place? I thought you were glad to be out of prison."

Cheerilee shook herself out of her stupor and raced over to Vinyl, trying to keep a calm expression even though she was just about panicking. She had just earned Vinyl's trust again--or some semblance of it--and the unicorn was about to see a random, beat up mare hiding in Cheerilee's bedroom, which was sure to throw it all out the window.

"Well, you bought a shifty lock, I could probably unlock this with magic--"

"No!" Cheerilee exclaimed, a little too loud. Vinyl stopped in her tracks, her horn surrounded by a purple glow that had yet to reach anything else.

"Um, I mean..." Cheerilee started to sweat while she tried to cook up a slightly believable lie. "I mean that there's an alarm system on the lock that...that calls the police is magic is used on it! Yeah, and--and I really don't want that right now because of what just happened, and all..." Cheerilee trailed off, hoping her explanation was vague and pity-provoking enough for Vinyl to accept.

Vinyl looked skeptical, but she just shook her head and hummed her approval. "Then you unlock it. You know the code, right?"

Damn.

"About that...um...actually...I can't remember the code. I've been locked out of my room for days. I've been sleeping on the pull out couch." Well, it painted Cheerilee as an idiot, but it was a good excuse. Vinyl now just looked confused.

"Wait, your couch is a pull out?"

Cheerilee forced a laugh, thankful the conversation was steering away from the bedroom and trying to keep it that way as she turned Vinyl around and began guiding the two of them towards the entrance again. "Yeah, well, I only really buy things that are multi purpose. Because I'm poor." She sounded very strained, but she was doing her best to keep calm. Vinyl stopped a few feet before she reached the door, at this point being pushed across the apartment.

"Cheerilee, what's going on? I haven't seen you this stressed out since prison." Her tone was so gentle and her face was so caring that Cheerilee almost wanted to give in and tell her, but knew that Vinyl would never look at her like that again if she knew what was happening.

Cheerilee sighed. "I'm just still kind of off. Jumping into a burning building multiple times is a little unsettling and I need some time to figure it all out. Just a few hours," She confessed, ashamed of how easily the half lie rolled off of her tongue, but she knew it was necessary. Vinyl's red eyes filled with pity that internally disgusted Cheerilee at that.

"Oh, I get it. Can I come by tomorrow, at least?" Cheerilee almost wanted her to stay, but said nothing for fear of saying everything and simply nodded.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll go check on Octavia now." With that, the unicorn left and Cheerilee crumpled against the closed door, the night's events finally catching up with her.

Comments

[G12]

Better then bloody nothing. I've been waiting to see those two converse.