The Beginning of the End
The sound of waves crashed behind her as she gently opened her eyes. She blinked once. Twice. She saw nothing but the grains of sand under her. They were the same grains sprinkled around her body, and she made no attempt to brush them off. She felt weak; on the beach she lay, still. Her coat was drenched with the seawater and it smelled almost horrendous, but she refused to move. She felt like her body had submitted itself to the coasts, and all she could do was accept it. After all, all she could accept was that she was still alive.
The waves crashed behind her once again. No pony was in sight. There could have been a seagull flying above her, but she paid no attention to its gawks. Instead, she chose to steady her breathing. Once. Twice.
Her heart beat fast; it had been much faster before she opened her eyes, and took glanced at her surroundings. Left, right, up; her head rotated steadily. Barren was the sight, and her once tensed muscles relaxed. She slumped back onto the warm sand once again and closed her eyes. Her cracked lips trembled slightly; she opened them as if she were to speak, but nothing escaped out of her mouth.
"O-O-O..."
Her eyelids felt heavy and her heartbeat sped up. Her hooves slowly shifted itself to her heart, and she felt it beat, hard. Once. Twice. Her eyes flickered. Once. Twice. And darkness consumed her once again.
==========
"H-how is she?" whispered a light-gray-coated pony with purple eyes; although it might have been tinted a deep shade of crimson red. Octavia knelt down, next to the bed. Her trembling hooves clenched themselves as she lay them next to a white-coated hoof.
Her eyes grew weary by the minute and her back ached, but she grabbed the white hoof. Gently, she caressed it, stroking it ever so gently. Her rigid body remained stiff, and she struggled to turn her head to look at the orderly standing beside her. "How long?"
The two mares briefly made eye contact, but none moved their lips. Slowly, the orderly's eyes went to her notes she clutched tightly in her hooves. Briefly, she scanned the text, and released a small sigh. Her eyes shifted nervously, refusing to stare back at the solemn grey mare.
Still, no words were spoken, but the kneeling mare nodded. With a soft sob, she holstered herself up, using the bed frame as support. She faced the machine that displayed a series of jagged lines and a few numbers on the top right hand corner. She watched the line jump, and with each jump, the machine released a 'beep'. Then she glanced down at the sleeping mare. Blood-soiled bandages had been wrapped around the sleeping mare. She could have been a mummy if it weren't for the cables that ran from the machine to her body. Some of the wires had been tangled up, but it was the least of any pony's concern.
"Thank you," whispered the shaken mare. With her head down, she turned towards the open door and left the room. Silence filled the room, and the orderly gulped. With a sigh, he approached the monitor and tapped the screen a few times. Then his eyes widened.
"What..."
==========
Sunlight seeped into the mares' room, but only one had been awake. She had already been sitting on the red loveseat at the corner of the room, and her faced showed signs of bewilderment. She looked at the calender pinned up high at the wall beside her, and held her breath. She dared not release it. She dared not turn her head once again to double-check the date.
"What?" she whispered as her eyes met the carpet. Her mind raced to find a plausible explanation other than time travel, but it returned naught. Her thought raced to the memories she last remembered, and it definitely did not match what she was seeing on the bed; a grey mare lay peacefully on the bed as a blue comforter wrapped around her. It was peaceful, and unlike her recollections, reminded her of when things started turning sour.
She remembered this day clearly, but still could not understand what was going on. She tapped nervously on the empty seat beside her as she closed her eyes. Pictures filled her brain. Memories flickered back and forth. It was fuzzy, but she felt a definite sense of de ja vu.
She heard a "mmm" coming from the sleeping mare, and her eyes opened. She saw her partner toss around a few times before slowly getting up, flickering her eyes gently and rubbing them. Then their eyes met.
"Morning, Vinyl," said the grey mare with a big yawn and with outstretched hooves, "You're early. How unusual." Slowly, the grey mare shifted the covers away and sat on the edge of the bed, her back facing Vinyl.
"Yeah..." That was all Vinyl could say as she stared at Octavia with a puzzled look.
"Is everything okay? You're acting a little... weird." Octavia's eyebrows were raised as she shared the same look as Vinyl.
"Yeah... totally. I uh... too bright, so I... " That was when Vinyl realised that she actually didn't wake up. Instead, all she remembered was that she was greeted with the peculiarity of time playing tricks on her mind. She knew today. She knew Octavia would leave Canterlot for a few days on a business trip. She knew exactly what would happen in this bedroom much later after Octavia had left. She remembered it clearly.
"I... uh... I had been thinking about your business trip," Vinyl tapped nervously on the couch again.
"Yeah?"
"Have a safe journey."
"Thanks?" Octavia cocked her head slightly towards the left. Then she glanced at the mounted wall clock, shook her head, and stood up. "Well, I have to go now. I'll see you in a few days."
She approached Vinyl with a contented smile on her face and wrapped her hooves around her. "I'll miss you, Vinyl. Have fun at that music workshop later."
Vinyl returned the hug. Her body could have been embracing Octavia, but her mind had floated back to her memories. There was not going to be any workshop. Neon Lights was going to come over later.
"I'm gonna miss you too. I can't live without you." Her voice dropped to a whisper. Her words felt forced, but her sincerity was there. "Don't ever leave me." She released the hug, just slightly, as to make eye contact with Octavia's, and proceeded to kiss her.
"Of course not," whispered Octavia after the kiss. She smiled as she gave Vinyl one last kiss before breaking off from the hug. "Now, why would I do that?" Octavia chuckled as she approached the bedroom door. There was a light switch beside it, and she flicked it, turning the bedroom lights off. For a moment, it was dark as Vinyl had remembered.
"It's not like you're going to cheat on me."
==========
The sound of waves was heard once again as Vinyl opened her eyes. Her back ached and her hooves were numb, but she had managed to lift herself off the sandy ground. She wobbled a few times before finding her balance, and for the first time, took a complete look at her surroundings.
It had turned dark, and there was nothing in sight. In front of her lay a field of sand, and behind her lay an endless water bed. Even if there had been a figure or prominent object in the distance, the lack of light made it hard to see anything.
Vinyl took a few steps forward, limping her way through the empty field. It was pointless, she thought. Nothing was around her, and even if she found something, she was not sure if it could help her. What she needed was water, and fast.
She smacked her dry lips and her tongue gently swept across the cracks, trying to get rid of any sand that might irritate it. Left, right. She kept going at it until it was clear of particles, and then she trudged forward. One step. Two steps. It might have taken her a few minutes, but eventually, she found a wilting flower sitting under a wilted tree. Dead grass littered around it, but Vinyl took the chance to drop to the ground. Her body wanted to rest once again, but her mind wouldn't let.
Vinyl lay as still as the single-petaled-flower in front of her. She contemplated picking it up, but her hooves just would not budge. Instead, she blew it just ever so gently that the flower would sway. She kept going at it until the last petal slowly drifted and made its way to the ground.
Just as it almost hit the ground, there was a slight breeze; it was just enough to send it towards the sea. A pair of droopy eyes followed its motion, and as it landed on the waterbed, the petal dissipated, and Vinyl's eyes eventually shut.
==========
There was a loud, obnoxious stream of thumps in the background as Vinyl struggled to get to her feet. She could hear other sounds as well, like the screams and cheers of many ponies around her, as well as the tune of a familiar song. Slowly, her eyes revealed themselves under a pair of purple shades, and she put one and one together.
She was now at her workplace, and she stood, albeit shakily, behind her booth. The loud, obnoxious stream of thumps turned into a steady, soothing beat of trance that worked its way out from the two large speakers on either side. Her headphones hung comfortably around her neck while strobe lights flashed behind her, rapidly filling the scene with an array of colors.
She sighed and relaxed. "Remind me never to drink whatever anyone offers me ever again," said Vinyl, chuckling. She grabbed the glass cup beside her turntables and flung it behind her, and took up the mic. "Who's ready to party?!"
"Hey, that's my mare, Vinyl. Let me in!" She heard a familiar voice shouting from afar, and turned hear head towards it. What she saw was two big, burly bodyguards of hers holding back a familiar greyish-blue pony. What she could not understand was why he had difficulty entering again.
"Hey, hey, that's my friend. Let him in!" yelled Vinyl, mistakenly shouting into the mic. "Uh, that's the track of the next song. New song. Sick track, I swear. Be right back."
In a swift motion, she grabbed her headphones and threw it where the glass cup had been. She pressed a few more buttons, automating a few loops in the current song, and headed towards the tiny situation unfolding a few meters away. "Yo, yo, yo. He's chill, guys. He's that dude from before."
"I've never seen this passé before. Your friend?" asked the boisterous bouncer named Breaker Beast, whose one hoof held the pony's neck, while the other readied to strike a punch. He stared him down with one eye closed, and his lips curled into a slight grin. The other big-sized bouncer named Buoyant Bunny was seen trying to stop him. "I don't think we should be doing this."
"Yeah? Well, I don't think you know here. Just listen to what I say, junior, ¿comprende?" His other eye was now staring down at him. How he could swivel his eyes in two different direction, Vinyl could ask at another time.
"Relax! He's alright. Just let him--"
"No can do, mister. Gotta check him for drugs or weapons. It's how we do things here." A third eye was prepared to form at the back of his head.
Vinyl could only roll her eyes. She shook her head and firmly insisted, "I tell you, he's clean. Vinyl says he's clean, ¿comprende? Or do we need another talk, passé?"
With a snort, he relaxed his grip on the pony, but not before pushing him slightly backwards. He dusted himself, and turned to look at Vinyl. There was a short stare-down between them before Breaking Beast broke eye contact. Reluctantly, he turned his body sideways and grudgingly made a path for Vinyl's friend. "I got my eyes on you." He scowled as the greyish-blue pony walked past them.
"Hey, Vinyl. What's the deal with these two?"
"Management's lackeys, Neon," groaned Vinyl. "You think they'll get better ones after they've been thrown out."
"Thrown out? No way! Of what?"
"You don't remember? I mean, it was just the week before. You were there, remember? Or were you too drunk in your pants that you couldn't remember anything," snickered Vinyl.
"Gosh, you're so drunk now. Last week was my sister's party. Didn't come down here at all," deadpanned Neon.
"Wait." Vinyl paused herself. Her eyes looked around for answers, but her brain couldn't find any. "Neon, what's the date today?"
"Huh. Uh, fifth of July? Sixth? I don't know." Neon shrugged his shoulders.
Vinyl took a step back with enlarged eyes. A million questions flooded her mind, but she was as confused as him. "Neon... what time is it?"
"Who cares. C'mon, I'll treat you a drink. You need to relax," said Neon as he tried to pull Vinyl along. However, Vinyl wouldn't budge. "I'm serious. What time is it?"
"What? I can't hear you over the speakers!"
"Neon! Stop messing with me, I'm serious! Today's the Fifth. Saturday, right?"
"Uh-huh." He rolled his eyes and he placed a hoof over Vinyl. Instinctively, she brushed them away. "Ffith."
Vinyl's face recoiled back first in shock, then in horror. Her eyes widened even larger as she turned her attention to the speakers above her. "Oh no."
She hurried to her booth where she checked her current playlist. 'Next: The Final Fall,' distinctively showed up on the right side of her monitor. There was a timer at the bottom, which indicated that the current song would end in a two seconds.
"C'mon, Vinyl! Beer's on the table!" He sang as he placed a mug of beer beside her turntables.
"Neon, stay a--" There was a loud crackling sound from above. She could only watch as the speakers fell towards her. Fear rooted her to the ground, and all she could do was brace for impact. She screamed, closing her eyes and shielding herself with her hooves, as she awaited her fate.
==========
"How is she?" asked a pale, grey mare. Her eyes showed no care, but her heart fooled nobody. Octavia, with a book in her hand, sat beside a fully-bandaged-Vinyl Scratch. All she could hear were the steady, rhythmic breathing of her lover, as well as the pulsing, dull beep of the heartbeat monitor. An orderly stood over, daring not to say a word just yet.
"How long until she wakes up?" whispered Octavia.
"Well, there's good news. Her bleeding in her arteries have stopped and her fractured bones seemed to be healing. However, she's not responding to the medicine very well."
"I asked, how long more?"
A lump formed in the doctor's throat as he nervously shifted. "We... we don't know."
With one hoof, she stroked Vinyl's face gently. With the other, she placed the book onto Vinyl's bedside drawer. "Wake up, Vinyl. Please. I'm sorry," she whispered. A little tear drop trickled down onto her lap. "I've made a mistake, please. Forgive me." She held Vinyl's cold hoof to her face, hugging it like a little foal would do, but not squeezing to the point where it would hurt Vinyl.
"Miss, five more minutes." Octavia didn't budge, choosing to salvage whatever time she had left with Vinyl. She simply nodded, and the orderly left the room. What tiny sobs could be heard before had turned into wails of cries.
==========
"Out! Out!" Vinyl was jolted awake by a furious Octavia standing over her as she laid comfortably in her blankets. "I... I don't wanna see you ever again! Out!"
"Hey, Octy you're back early..."
"I can't believe you, Vinyl. After all these years..." Her voice was harsh, yet felt so broken at the same time. She turned away from Vinyl and her breathing quickened. "Why..."
"I... I don't know what to say."
"Say no more." Her voice had dropped into a whisper. "We're breaking up." As she said that, Octavia left the bedroom, slamming the door in the process. A loud cry could be heard beyond those doors, and Vinyl felt a tinge of regret, as well as confusion.
"Did I do something wrong?" She whispered, before raising her volume. "Octy--"
"Shut up!" She yelled back, her voice filled much with anger and rage this time. "G-get out. Now!"
Vinyl jumped out of bed, but the first thing she realised was that her blanket had been wrapped over her. She hated sleeping with the blankets. She only used them when...
"No. No, no, no, no, no." She shook her head and hurried to the calender. The calender had read, 'Six of July,' and what used to be bewilderment turned into realisation. "Neon... and I... oh no. What have I done."
She dropped to the loveseat right beside her and laid, silently sobbing. "How could I have let this happen? Again? I don't understand." Her head spun, but again, she had no answers. She knew what would happen next, but she didn't want it to happen. She knew that one thing led to the other, and she definitely did not want to reach the end.
With her mind set, she went for the door handle, and pulled it back. "Octy..." She whispered, but Octavia was nowhere to be found. Instead, she found a note on the floor that read, "I want you gone by the time I get back." Defeated, she slumped towards the floor.
"Why? Why?!" Her hooves hardened up and she began punching the wet wooden floor under her. Her hooves kept going at it, but her mind shook. It was happening all over again, and Vinyl couldn't do anything to stop it. With one final punch that was much harder than any of the others, she dropped to the floor and the light in her eyes dimmed. "Why..." And she closed her eyes, hoping that this was all a dream.
==========
Vinyl opened her eyes once more to the familiar sight of sand and water. Her eyes were no longer red, but her heart was still heavy. Slowly, she got up, and walked. She didn't care where. She figured that this was some kind of limbo, and she had managed to convince herself she was already dead. This didn't look like how ponies would describe hell. Yet again, she has done nothing deserving of heaven either.
"Sweet Luna, why am I here?" she asked out loud, but there came a reply short. "Why am I still alive?"
She looked up to the night sky, and saw that a crescent moon had graced itself upon her. Vinyl couldn't help but smile. Even in exile, there was something comforting about seeing a moon. She just hoped this moon had her answer.
"Hey, Luna-- I mean, Princess Luna. If you can hear me, please, tell me what's going on." Vinyl swore she saw a light flicker at the corner of the moon, but nothing happened after. "I'm kinda in need for some answers here."
After a few seconds of hoping, Vinyl looked down. She felt silly. She had totally managed to convince herself that she was dead, and that Princess Luna couldn't talk to dead ponies.
"But at least there's you," whispered Vinyl as she bent down towards the wilting, white flower. "I don't know what use you have, and I wouldn't eat you, but stay beside me, okay?"
She sat down beside the flower, her feet facing the sea. A small breeze flew in Vinyl's hair, and for the first time, she felt relaxed. "Huh, didn't think limbo would be such a bad place after all."
Minutes passed. Hours had passed too, but Vinyl just laid there, still. Her eyes got heavier by the minute, and eventually, she fell into slumber. Unknowingly, one of the petals had fallen towards the ground.
==========
Vinyl woke up with a loud, annoying sound in her ears. "Vinnie, wake up. We're here."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Five more minutes." She waved her hoof in dismissal.
"Hey, I know you're taking the breakup really hard. That's why I got you out," said a smirking Neon Lights, "Now don't be a loser, and get off! You're sitting on my saddlebag anyways."
Vinyl moved over reluctantly to one side as to free his bag, but she wouldn't get up. "I swear it's your fault. I told you Octy would over react."
"Octy, is, a loser--"
"You take that back!" Vinyl angrily snapped at him.
"Oh, so that got your attention, huh?"
"Screw off," said Vinyl as she leaned against the carriage door with her back facing Neon. "Go buy whatever you need. I'll be in the carriage."
"Pft. So that's what I get for being nice and letting you stay in my apartment," said Neon as he got out of the carriage. He proceeded to pay the two stallions in front and whispered a few lines to them before heading back to Vinyl. "For the record, I did not sleep with you."
Gently, he closed the door and walked away. Vinyl then sighed loudly and threw herself across the carriage seat. "Of all luck, I had to pick the mare that doesn't trust me enough to believe me. Sure, I may have lied to her about certain things before, but I swear Neon and I are clean. Damn it. I gotta find her someday when she's calm. She's gotta be around town somewhere."
For a second, her eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar-looking pony in the backgrounds, and she jolted. She pressed herself against the window glass and stared at it, before slapping herself silly and got out of the carriage. "Uh, I'm taking a walk. Stretching legs. Don't go anywhere," said Vinyl to the carriage drivers.
As she ran forward, her premonitions were scarily correct. "Of all luck... Octy!" She yelled as she ran in her direction, but the grey mare didn't seem to either hear it, or acknowledge it. She glanced once at the sun, and then around as if she was looking for some pony.
"Octy!" As soon as Vinyl yelled it again, Octavia froze. She dared not turn around. Instead, she took off, frantically walking down the street and turning into an alleyway. Her heartbeat increased as she quickly searched her surroundings for some sort of cover. Left, right under. By chance, a brown door was slowly closing in front of her, and she took the chance to dive past just before it slammed shut.
"Where is --oh, Kandi!" yelled Octavia as she hurried to her side. "Vinyl. Behind me. Help me."
The orange mare with pink hair nodded her head and placed a reassuring hoof over Octavia's shoulder. "This was bound to happen, sugar."
"Well," she nudged her head in the direction of the door and pleaded, "Fix it. Please."
Kandi sighed as she walked towards the door with Octavia by her side. "Celestia, help me least I break off her neck. She's the one who cheated on you, right?"
Octavia could only nod her head as sour memories flooded her, but she shook her head after. "No, no, don't hurt her."
"Pft. I ain't gonna hurt her. Ain't worth my time. But this idea might be worth all my time," said Kandi with a sly smile.
"What is it?" asked Octavia as she cocked her head in confusion. With her head already in position, she stood still and could only close her eyes when Kandi's lips approached hers.
Kandi first gently brushed them against Octavia's lips, before pressing them firmly against hers. Octavia's blush on her cheeks reddened remarkably and was really radically radiant under the red lights.
She couldn't lie. She liked it. She loved it. In response, she wrapped her hooves around her and kissed her back. However, it had lasted mere seconds before Octavia stopped herself, her head full of confusion and her eyes all teary. "Kandi," she whispered as she pulled out of the kiss. "Stop. This is so wrong."
"Seems to have done the trick," said a proud Kandi as she spun around to a fleeing Vinyl Scratch. "She's gone now."
Octavia looked over her shoulder and sighed in relief. She caught the sight of a blue pony dashing off, leaving the brown door wide open.
"Vinyl's... she's gone." A small giggle escaped it before she could catch her wild thoughts, and she faced an equally reddened Kandi staring into her eyes. "She's gone, Kandi."
They didn't break eye-contact. None of them took their hooves off each other too. Instead, they slid down towards each other. Nothing else was said after, but two smiles just lit up.
===========
Vinyl pounded the sand as her eyes swelled up. There was no mistaking what she had remembered, and what she saw in that. She thought she had already turned cold to that, but her wounds had just reopened. And salt had just been poured on it.
She remained quiet except for the occasional whimpers, choosing to vent her frustration through physical pain. Her hooves had cuts on them, and the sand seeped in, but she didn't care. Nothing mattered to her anymore.
She smacked the ground one last time, and collapsed to the floor, exhausted. Her head was tilted to the left and her hooves were sprawled out. Still she lay as the winds blew over her. She was greeted by the soothing and familiar sound of waves crashing, and yet she spotted something moving in the distance.
Slowly, she raised her hooves to her head, brushing off any remains of sand there were, and focused on what was like a dot along the horizon. A moving dot.
"Octy!" She yelled as sprang to her hooves. She ran clumsily, tripping over boulders and washed-up seaweed along the way. Soon, the dot had been magnified into the shape of a pony.
"Octy! Octy!" shouted Vinyl as she picked up her pace. Soon, she caught a glimpse of a unicorn's horn and a pair of wings by its side. The figure slowly rotated its head towards Vinyl, revealing a pair of tiny dots. Eyes. Bluish-Teal eyes.
"Wait a minute--aah!" They were the last thing Vinyl saw before she fell face first.
When she opened her eyes once again, she was no longer at the beach. The sandy flooring turned into hard glow-in-the-dark tiled floors, and the moon that had proudly shone now hung above her, reflecting light everywhere. Silence had been replaced with loud music booming in the background, and the loneliness she once felt had been replaced with a sense of a calm, yet bewildering familiarity.
"C'mon, babe, let's dance."
"Huh?" Vinyl looked up at the pony whose hoof was out. She didn't recognise him, but she could tell from the reddened cheeks and sore eyes, that he was so drunk.
"C'mon, don't sleep. Dance with me. Then you can sleep with me later."
"Not now," said Vinyl as she got up to her feet and brushed his hoof off. Before she could allow him to say anything, she ran in the opposite direction, ducking past ponies-- some were in rather awkward positions while others could really use a room.
"What... in the world?" a panting Vinyl asked herself as she swam against the crowd. "I recognise those eyes back there! It's Princess Luna! What's she doing there? More importantly, what am I doing here?"
After a whole lot of brushing and catcalling, Vinyl managed to get out of the dance floor. She barely managed to catch her breathe before the DJ hit the microphone twice and spoke into it.
"How's every pony doing?!" he yelled. As expected, Vinyl was bombarded with loud cheers, and she didn't hesitate to cover her ears.
"So... loud..."
"As you all know, DJ P0N-3's all washed out. Done and good."
"What do you mean--" She quickly brought her hooves to her lips as she sat down on a nearby stool, her eyes filled with shock and anger. "I'm not washed out! Washed out doesn't even stand a chance against me!"
"So sad to hear that she's quitting. But enough with the frowny, boo-hoo stories. My good friend, you know her, Octavia Melody, is getting married! How about that!" All but one pony cheered and clapped. "Alright, alright, everybody, get a shot, a mug, or whatever you wanna drink. I say, a toast, to the soon-to-be-wed couple! Three cheers!"
Vinyl would have yelled back and waved inappropriate gestures at the DJ. She would have stormed up and angrily demanded him to be fired; this club was almost hers to begin with. However, she could barely move her lips. Her heart felt as heavy as lead and her head spun slightly, and yet she stood there, still, as the ponies around her raised their glasses.
"Hip hip..."
"Hooray!"
"Hip hip..."
"Hooray!"
"Hip hip..."
"Hooray! Woo!" The whole club erupted in cheers as music slowly enveloped over it. Hooves were raised and flanks were shook. Once again, the party resumed, and the night was still young.
"Where are you going?" asked a bouncer by the main doors. "It's still early. You wanna leave already?"
"Yeah. I need to get out of here," said a white pony with spiky blue hair. She quickly donned her purple shades and looked back at him.
"Sure thing, miss. No refunds though."
"It's okay," said the pony as she left the club. As the door slammed behind her, she was greeted with the sight of a smelly, intoxicating back alley. Puke littered the floor, and as she ran, she made sure to watch her step.
"I need to find Princess Luna."
==========
Octavia gently pushed the doors open, revealing a bed with a lone pony on top of it, and sighed before closing the door. As she made her way to the bed, she took out a book and placed it on top of a neatly-stacked tower of books. Then she took out a white flower, and replaced the wilting flower in the bedside vase.
"Can... Can I talk to you? Well, I guess won't be answering me but I hope you... I... I just need someone to talk to," said Octavia as she sat down beside her. She looked over gently at the sleeping pony, and gently caressed her untrimmed hair. "I guess, I haven't been fair to you, have I. And now... you're in this... this..."
She sighed as she leaned towards her head. "I miss you. Please, wake up."
There was quick flash of lightning, and everything froze, including Octavia. Out of the shadows, Princess Luna took a few steps towards her. "No, no. She doesn't deserve this pity." She shook her head, and stared at the frozen scene. Her thoughts ran wild in her head, but she mentally said no to all of them.
"Tell me again, sister, why are you doing this?" There was a bright portal on the other side of the room that first revealed a horn and two pair of hooves. When the pony stepped out, Luna flinched and growled slightly.
"She didn't deserve this. She had a bright future. You could say that... I learned... something from you that I could not have done thousands of years ago."
"The past, is the past, Luna. Leave it as it is." Her horn shimmered, and Octavia froze.
"I have learned compassion, my dear sister! I am learning now, as we speak! Why do you take this away from me too?" Luna's voice faltered and her eyes dampened. She gritted her teeth, and spoke with increasing volume, "Do not rob me of this, if thou still want I to call you sister!"
"Very well. If it is what it boils down to, then I shall take my leave. I hope you know what you're doing, Luna." With a white flash, she vanished.
"Hmph. Good evening, sister," said Luna as she turned her attention back to Octavia. With a light spark emitted out of her horn, she resumed time. "If I control dreams, I can make dreams happen."
"No." She heard a whisper from behind and spun around. Her face was full of terror and she stumbled backwards a few steps.
There, by the doors, stood Vinyl. Her face was equally filled with shock and surprise and her eyes widened. "This can't be."
"You're not supposed to be here!" She lit her horn up, warping the room around her. Straight lines turned into wavy ones and colors alternated between color and monotony. However, Vinyl, too, concentrated on the room, and the reality fluctuated between the two sides. There was a clear line between greyscale and color, straight and curvy lines.
"This is my dream. I have more power than what you can do!" For a while, color filled more than half of the room. A smirk lit up, but it quickly dissipated.
"You forget, peasant," her voice deepened into a growl, "I am Princess Luna, Watcher of the Night, Keeper of Dreams! You have no say in this!" The line quickly shifted away from Princess Luna. She glared at the other pony on the other side with a face full of confidence, ready to pounce once she defeated her. Dream-state was her domain, yet the fight lasted longer than she could imagine. She could sense a powerful aura coming from the other pony, and she knew exactly why.
"Vinyl!" Octavia's voice echoed in the room, much to Vinyl's surprise. For a slight second, her magic weakened, and Princess Luna smirked. That was the distraction she needed.
With all her might, the entire room changed into a familiar setting. Sand littered the floor, and the sound of waves crashing behind them rejuvenated their senses. The two ponies, both still exhausted, didn't move a muscle. They stared at each other; one had her teeth gritted while the other had a sense of triumph.
"Nice try--"
"How could you do this?!" yelled Vinyl, her face full of anger. Her hooves tightened and her body shook, but her eyes were sore. "How could you?!"
"You don't understand, Vinyl. Leave. Now." Luna's voice erupted and echoed in the openness, startling Vinyl for a second. "You shouldn't be here."
"Now, tell me why I should listen to you. You tried to kill me in my dreams. You shattered my heart, and brought me so, so much pain." There was a slight pause as she lowered her head. Her throat stiffened and her lips were dry. Her eyes watered up, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "Why aren't you stopping it? Why aren't you helping me? Why am I in so much pain?"
"Vinyl--"
"Am I really dead?"
For once, Princess Luna could not retort. She stood speechless, but her mind raced to find an answer.
"Is this hell?"
"Child, you must understand, I don't have the power to take away your life, even if you were so close to it. My sister will not allow me. I can, however, change it so that it will never get better.
"Then stop messing around in my dreams. Can't you spare me?" She hung her head in shame. "I... I tried to end my own life because... because I was dumb. I regret it."
"Do you truly regret it?" asked Princess Luna with an eyebrow raised. "Why do you regret it?"
"Because... because... I don't know. It seems so stupid! I could have... I don't know, find someone else..." She lowered her shoulders and sighed. "And I might have already found him."
"Huh, is that so. Does his name happen to be Neon Lights?"
A slight blush appeared on Vinyl's cheeks, but she shook her head in denial. "Maybe. I don't know. We... we made love."
"You... you don't know."
"What do you mean..." Vinyl's eyes widened as Princess Luna's horn emitted a beam of light that shone onto a invisible wall, revealing a series of pictures. She paused for a second, analysed the scene, and spoke, "That's the club I was working when Neon Lights saved me."
She looked down and searched her mind for exactly had happened that night. "Neon saved me, I sat on top of the speakers, gave a toast to the audience, started feeling high. Then Neon talked to me, offered to bring me home, I offered to bring him to my house, and we... ahem... Wait a minute, I wouldn't have invited Neon to my house. Wait a minute, speakers, Neon, Octavia... don't tell me..."
She looked up at the same time she got her answer. "There was something in the drink." Right enough, there was a picture of Neon Lights dropping a pill into Vinyl's drink. It was a round and pink pill, and it had dissolved in a matter of seconds.
"No way..." she shook her head in denial. "But... but he said--"
"Are you sure you love him, or do your heart still lies with this mare?" Princess Luna emitted another beam of light. There was a single grey pony leaning against a wall in a humid staircase. Although void of color, Vinyl could feel the emotions building up in her.
"Vinyl, c-come back... I'm s-s-sorry," cried Octavia. Her voice was more rugged than usual, but Vinyl recognised that voice anywhere. "I'm sorry."
Her eyes alternated between the two scenes unfolding, and her hooves stiffened. "Bloody Neon, it's all your fault! Let me have him!" She focused intently on the image of Neon, hoping he would appear, but nothing happened.
Seconds passed in silence before Princess Luna spoke up. "Tell me, Vinyl. Do you still love her?"
"Yes." Her voice was soft, but its sincerity was enough for the princess.
With a small sigh, she nodded her head and took a step towards Vinyl. Placing a hoof on her shoulder, she knelt down and looked her in the eye.
"Very well. I shall help you. But remember, nothing lasts forever." The world around them swirled one more time, and the towering image of Luna slowly faded in front of Vinyl. "Chase the light, Vinyl. Make it count," was the last thing Luna had said before her body turned into smoke, and evaporated into the background.
Along with the last sight of the princess, shapes and colors were distorted, and the ground under Vinyl shook. She could feel something constrict her throat, and Vinyl instinctively put her hooves to it. She could not feel herself breathing anymore. Her eyes widened, and one by one, she lost any feeling of her hooves. She started squirming, rolling on the floor and tossing her body around, and her breaths were nothing but sounds of loud, painful screeches.
She fought the unknown strangler for a few seconds before her body went limp. Foam escaped out of her mouth and her bloody eyes just stared into the warped space. Her heart beat for the last time, and eventually, her world seemed to fade away into nothing but darkness.
Her body might have been limped, but she soon regained control of her hooves, one muscle at a time. She could feel the warmth, however, escape her body, and she was no longer breathing. She attempted to move her body, wiggling her hooves, her body, and her head. When she regained most of her muscle control, the first thing she did was to look at the beam of light on her right. The only thing there was a flower in the center of the light.
"Chase the light."
Eventually, Vinyl pulled herself up and walked towards the light. As she got closer, however, the light seemed to move itself further and further away. The more she moved forward, the more it reversed.
With every ounce of strength, Vinyl tried to run. Still, the beam distanced, but she could feel herself getting closer.
With one last push, she broke into a sprint and raced against the light. She found herself closing the gap until the light and the flower were right in front of her. Her hooves frenzied, and with a final push, she stuck a hoof out and leapt, grabbing onto the flower and gripping onto it as if it was her lifeline.
Her face had been buried in the dirt. She laid still there, panting, thinking of her next course of action. She could open her eyes, and see what Princess Luna meant. Or she could lay here forever, accepting the fact that Octavia was never going to be hers.
"Make it count."
"One... two... three," Vinyl counted inside, deciding it was time to wake up. She embraced for any oddity she might encounter when she opened her eyes, and lifted her head off the ground on three.