> Love and wubs > by PhantomDred > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter One Introductions > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter One: Introductions "GET YER DARN SELF BACK 'ERE" the enraged orange filly said as you were running faster than ever with a basket of apples in your mouth panicing furiously trying to make your wings cooperate. You screamed as you ran into a large red colt with a work harness on as you both crashed backwards. "Thanks a might Big Mac" she said running up to you and grabbing the basket of apples as the colt started to stand up "Eeyup" he said looking down at you "What'cha thing we'll do with 'im AJ?". She looked over at him and then realized you had been knocked out by the impact "Take 'im over to Twi, she should 'elp with his cuts n' bruises." He nodded then slung you over his back before walking over to the library. It was two days later when you finally woke up in what seemed to be a library "Why am I not in the infirmary..." you thought to yourself as your head started splitting open and then slowly passed back out. "Twilight dear, are you sure he's ok here? He isn't looking that well" You heard a soft voice say as you looked around in a dream-like state realizing where the voice had come from, there she was a unicorn with a snow-white coat and purple mane that seemed to have been worked on for over an hour. "He just needs to rest" a new voice started "He hit Big Macintosh pretty hard, Applejack said she couldn't even keep up...And that's saying something." You slowly opened your eyes more and looked around me seeing a purple mare, another unicorn with a dark blue mane with a pink stripe down it, her tail looked the very same as you started weakly saying something before she ran over "Please don't talk" she said "You have a concusion, and need to rest" she smiled meekly. "Need....water..." You managed to say quietly staring at the white-coated mare. "Spike, be a dear and get our guest a glass of water" she said as you heard a "Anything for you Miss Rarity" come from an unknown source. You shivered. "Get another blanket while you're at it Spike!" the purple unicorn yelled. The white unicorn sat next to you "Hello dear, my name is Rarity" you just stared and said quietly and slowly "H-hi...I'm-" you get cut off by a large crashing sounds as you see a famaliar rainbow trail fly in through the window. "No way! It can't be!" A famaliar voice exclaimed, then you realize it: Rainbow Dash. Your old friend from flight school. "He...hey Rainbow...." you said with a little spunk and smiling. "Long time no see huh hot stuff?" she grinned as you slightly blushed. "E-excuse me Rainbow, but do you happen to know him?" the purple unicorn quickly questioned. "Sure do Twilight" she grinned wider and stared into your soul "This is my old flight school buddy Sketch." They all gasped looking back at you "WE HAD NO IDEA DARLING!" Rarity screamed joyfully. "Care to explain Dash?" you said softly. "I just told them how good of friends we were, Twilight said she had a pegasus here that was hurt and she explained him out: Dark purple fur, black mane and tail, and that cutie mark of yours; a dark red pencil with a black sheet next to it, I just couldn't beleive it." She hugged you tightly. A few hours later after that orange pony from days ago came by and explained it all to you "So....I stole a basket of apples...I'm sorry....Applejack was it?" She looked over at you "It's alright but, what made ya do it?" Slowly you looked down as you started grimmacing "I have nothing...." you softly whispered "After flight school, I went home and found the house where my parents lived....." you started shaking as tears started forming "Nothing was left except the two bodies.... I was left alone to die since I was too old to be put into an orphanage." The four mares looked at you and Rarity eventually spoke up crying without control "Oh you poor thing!" she exclaimed crying even harder. "Wow Sketch...I didn't know...." Rainbow looked away as Applejack looked at you "Sorry about the trouble...if you need a job or anything, ya can come to the farm ah got on the edge'a town partner" she said smiling warmly. "I think I can handle myself once I find a place to stay" you said "And thank you, Twilight for taking care of me." All of a sudden a pink flash ran into the room bouncing furiously " A NEW PONY! THIS CALLS FOR A PARRRRR-" she got cut off by Rainbow yelling without even realizing it "NOT NOW PINKIE HE'S HURT AND...." she blushed brightly then quickly flew out. You slowly got up shaking your head "And tell your brother i'm sorry, Applejack even if I got the most of the hit he still must've got a nasty deal from it." She chuckled slightly "Mah brother 's fine he's a tough un." The pink with a crazy mane and tail pony stopped infront of you "HimisterIknowyou'renewintownandallandIjustwanttosay HELLO!!" she smiled widely and shoved a cupcake in your mouth as you looked at her. "Pinkie dear, please he needs rest and a party isn't needed" Her smile quickly dissipated as her hair started to straighten slighty "Ok Rarity!" she explained bouncing out. It was a week later, not much had happened except for a run-in or two with your new friends untill you were landing over at Applejack's farm "Um..hi...mister" a soft voice said getting quieter. "Oh hey there Fluttershy!" You heard Applejack call out as you turned around to see a yellow pegasus with a pink mane that covered one of her eyes and the same shaded tail as you smiled. "Hi there, my names Sketch I take it you're Fluttershy? I've heard alot about you" he said as she quickly ran past him to Applejack and whispered something softly Applejack laughed "It's alright sugarcube, he's a friend o' the girls." The yellow pegasus blinked then turned back "S-sorry...." she said quietly. "It's ok" you said in a calming voice "I used to be really shy too." "R-really?" she said a little louder "I've never met somepony who was shy..." Applejack chuckled "Come here to take that job Sketch? And i'll have your apples in a jiffy Fluttershy." She said starting to put them in her saddlebags. "Eh...yeah...." you said looking at the ground "I couldn't find another place in town.." "Well...theres a DJ in town who might need someone to help her with some things, she tends to help out Pinkie and trust me thats one pony who is hard to deal with" she said laughing loudly and waving to Fluttershy as she flew off. "I can take ya to her if ya want, just need to go check tell Mac i'll be gone fer a bit." You smiled nodding as she ran off to her brother. "I wonder what she might need help with..." you thought to yourself. You strecthed your wings as Applejack came running back. "Y'know, I never asked how you got so fast on foot, ya got wings and well...Ah never seen a pegasus so fast on foot." You smiled as you two walked towards town and you started explaining to her. "And then I stopped flying, figured I wouldn't need to much." Applejack stared at you in disbeleif "So yer wings aren't much are they? Ya could probably beat Rainbow on foot while she's flying!" You laughed a little and stopped infront of a house where lights were flickering like crazy giving you a slight dizzy feeling. " 'Ol Vinyl should be in there, if ya can't help her just came see me at the farm" she said walking away and waving back. You knocked on the door and heard a voice yell "Come in'. You nudged the door open and walked inside then shut it behind you "Over here!" you heard as you turned to see a white unicorn with a multicolored blue mane and a pair of purple glasses on "Whats up man?" she said continuing to change the different slides on her turn tables. "Oh nothing i'm just kind of in need of a job...Applejack said you might need some help with some things." You said loudly making sure she could hear you "Oh yeah man, I need someone to help me design some covers for this CD i'm making." Your ears perked up "Desgining?" you thought as you started speaking "Yeah, no problem my names Sketch Miss Vinyl, i'm actually very skilled in designing art, that's what my cutie marks for anyways" you smiled happily. "Sweet Sketch!" she turned the music down "One question though...how do you know my name..?" You blushed slightly "Oh er....Applejack told me." She laughed at the sight of you blushing "I like you man, you have a place to stay?" "Uhm...no.." You said as she pulled up her glasses "If you need to you can stay here, I have an extra bed since Octavia's out of town for awhile, just don't touch anything in her room. It's upstairs to the left." You nodded and started going upstairs then turned to the left and went inside the room filled with large organizers filled with sheet music then fell on the bed in the center of the room, quickly passing out. > Chapter Two Mail call > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter Two: Mail Call "Come on Sketch time to start working" You hear Vinyl's voice call as you rub your eyes and look around staring at her without her glasses. "Her eyes are just like Rainbow's..." you softly say. She grabs you "I wanna see what you can do for some cover art" she grinned slightly. "What time is it?" you yawned and walked downstairs with her. "Around two in the afternoon, already went to the market and got some food to last us both, also got you all the art supplies I could find" she pointed at the table, she wasn't lying. There were about twenty different pencils, all different lead sizes, around five pens of each shade you could think of varying from fine-point to ball-point, and the paper...So many different sizes and colors... "Vinyl don't you think this is a bit...much..." you blush ever so slightly as you say. “Well just wanted my employee to have the best selection, I mean you are going to be living with me and I figured why not?" Your jaw dropped "L-living with her?" the thought swarmed your head you had only just met her.... "You're so kind Vinyl...." you said as you hugged her without thinking then blushed brightly "Oh sorry about that..." She chuckled "It's no problem, I mean I can tell you needed it" she smiled happily and stared at you as a knock came from the door. "Come in, it's open" she said as a gray pegasus with a blonde mane and tail came in. "Oh hey there Vinyl! I brought those uhm..." "Stabilizers?" Vinyl said. "Yeah! Those things" she pulled a small box out of her saddlebag as Vinyl tossed her a muffin "I'll pay you soon Ditzy, just spent almost all my bits on my new friend her" she said happily as she looked over at you. "Oh Kay then Vinyl! And thank you so much for the muffin! You know they're my favorite" she said as her eye drifted off "See you later" she flew away quickly then Vinyl shut the door behind her. "Poor Ditzy...Everypony makes fun of her" she sighed and walked over to her turn tables. "What do you mean? She seems really nice" you said as you sat down as you grabbed the smallest tipped pencil with your mouth and started sketching. "Yeah but she's different from everypony, her eyes make everypony think she's 'retarded' or 'stupid' some even call her 'Derpy' instead..." She said as she opened the box and started messing with the turn tables. You set down the pencil and said kind of shakingly "Uhm...Vinyl....When should Octavia be getting back?" "Oh she'll be back in about an hour" You froze. "T-today..? Where will I sleep then, I would hate to take her bed..." She laughed then said quietly "I should've thought of that..." "Hm what was that?" You said looking up. "Oh you can sleep on the couch if you want, I would offer my bed but I'd figure you'd be a little uncomfortable with that" she smiled as a loud bass started playing. "I....I'll be back soon Vinyl, need some fresh air" you said and walked out the door stretching your wings. The small drawing you did got engulfed by light blue magic as it floated towards Vinyl she just stood there "He really can draw...." She said running out the door. "Hey Applejack!" you waved and trotted up to her apple stand. "Well hey there Sketch, nice seein' ya again. Ah take it Vinyl gave ya that job?" She smiled brightly. "Yeah, she did and she's letting me stay at her place" you said and picked up an apple. "How much?" "Aw have it for free, least ah can do since ya got that concussion. Oh there’s Vinyl right there! Looks like she's in a hurry to get somewhere" Vinyl stopped next to you breathing heavily "I saw your little picture...” Your face quickly lost all of its color and you started shivering. "I uh-" She cut you off hugging you tightly and softly whispering in your ear "I take it you won't mind sleeping in my bed?" You blushed brightly "Look at the time Vinyl! Octavia should be getting here any minute, let's go wait for her" you smiled sheepishly and walked off with Vinyl. "Them ponies sure do got a somethin' goin' on....." Applejack sighed and started walking away from the apple stand to get something to drink. "YO OCTY!" Vinyl yelled as a gray mare stepped off the train and looked around. "Hello....Vinyl...” She sighed and looked at you "And who is this!?" "Don't worry" she grinned "He's my new artist, he'll be staying with us" Octavia sighed "Fine Vinyl, but I’m quite tired so let us go home and try to stay quiet while I rest..." The three of you started walking home. "Vinyl, how much did all the supplies cost?" You said softly. "It's no big deal Sketch, nothing I can't handle" she smiled. "What is your name, dear? I'm afraid I didn't quite catch it." 'Octy' said looking towards you. "I'm Sketch, Vinyl's new cover artist" you smiled brightly as she examined you then softly whispered in Vinyl's ear so you couldn't hear as her face turned as red as an apple "NO OCTAVIA!" She giggled as Vinyl got flustered then went inside followed by Vinyl and you as you closed the door. "See you in a little bit Octy!" Vinyl exclaimed as she looked at you happily. "So wanna start getting some cover art started?" You asked as she grew closer "Uhm....Vinyl?" "Huh? Oh yeah, sorry kind of zoned out, I do it alot hehe" she said softly. You picked up the same pencil as before and sat down as she sat next to you, you noticed she was nearly on top of you as you slightly blushed. "Alright so let's see....I think maybe I should be on the cover with some turntables, maybe a record or something?" You nodded and started Sketching out the cover, I mean seriously your name kind of gives it away.. She sighed and laid her head on you causing you to blush for a second as you kept drawing until she gasped "Sketch, I think I know what we should do!" You raised an eyebrow finishing up the rest of her mane on the drawing until setting the pencil down. "And what would that be..?" You said staring into her eyes..."Those eyes, they're like beams that just pull you in..." You thought as Vinyl kissing your cheek snapped you out of it "We should go out, ya’ know? Eat out somewhere all fancy, Octy might want to come too." You smiled and said "I'll go ask her, I’ll be right back" as you started climbing the stairs and listened as you hear Octavia weeping. "H-hey Octavia...?" you say as you softly knock on her door. "Yes, Sketch?" She says opening the door still weeping. "Are you ok...? Vinyl thought you might want to come with us to eat somewhere." "Yes, I’m fine and I’ll come just give me a few minutes to...Tidy up" She said sighing and wiping her eyes. "She said she'll come" you say walking downstairs. "She was crying though....I hope she's ok..." "Don't worry about her, she'd just a little down over something that happened at Canterlot while she was gone" Vinyl chimed in as Octavia walked downstairs and went out the door followed by both of you. You look up at the restaurant and open the door for the two fillies as they walk in followed by you. "Sure this is the place Octy? I want you to have a nice time" Vinyl said sweetly. "Yes, it is fine Vinyl just please get us a seat..." She said sadly. "So," Vinyl said while we were walking to our seats "How about you tell us about yourself once we get settled in?" "Y-yeah...I guess...." You say sighing. "I'll have a slice of cheese and daffodil pizza" Vinyl said to the waiter as he looked towards you "I guess I’ll have the house salad" he nodded as Octavia sighed "I'll have the salad as well...And also bring us a bottle of your finest wine." "Octy, I’m worried about you, since when did you drink…Even if it is wine" Vinyl softly said stroking her friend’s mane "Ever since I was forced to play the Pony Pokey...And my career was ruined..." I noticed the fear growing on Vinyl's face "It's ok, you can play Still, I’m sure if you see one of the princesses they'll help you with it, I mean I am personal friends with Princess Luna if you want me to help" Octavia looked up and smiled slightly "Thank you, Vinyl.." She said as the waiter brought our food and wine. “So Sketch, tell us about yourself we barley even know you!” Vinyl said smiling happily as she started stuffing her mouth with the pizza. “Well I was kicked out of flight school, so I never could get a job that a pegasus should have” you said softly “And when I got back to my home where my parents lived…” You looked down as your eyes starting tearing up “The house was burned down…There were people investigating it and when they realized I was a member of the family they showed me to the bodies of my….Parents…” Vinyl and Octavia both stared at you shakily “After a year of roaming the streets stealing what I could to survive I decided to leave Trottingham, and I ended up in Ponyville a few days ago” you said as you laid your head on the table covering it with your hooves. “I-I’m sorry Sketch…” Vinyl said softly “If I had any idea I never would’ve asked about it.” “It’s alright, I had to tell you eventually” You said pulling your head up and smiling. “Besides the past is the past and the future has more to behold” Octavia got up and yawned “Let’s get going, I’m quite tired.” Vinyl nodded as she paid the waiter and the three of you left the restaurant. You yawned as we walked into the dark house "Vinyl, I’ll see you in the morning" Octavia said as she walked up the stairs as Vinyl made a dim blue light shine from her horn. "Thanks" you smiled shyly. "Now where am I going to be sleeping?" She looked at you smiling and laughed slightly "With me of course." You froze in place as the words hit you like bricks and you could feel your face burning "I..Uhm...Vinyl...?" She laughed more as she pushed you towards the stairs making you go with her. "You'll be fine, I don't bite" she opened a door revealing a room about twice as big as Octavia's with DJ equipment all over and a bed on the edge of the room as she trotted off to it yawning "You coming Sketch?" She smiled and laid down peeling back the violet blanket with her magic as you slowly walked over. "Uh...Yeah...Just er...." You blushed and laid down not facing her "It's fine, I know you have that crush on me" she laughed and slowly her breathing slowed until it was rhythmic as your heart rate just kept rising "Okay" you thought to yourself "In bed with your boss, which you are almost sure you love..." You quickly drifted off to sleep. You slowly opened your eyes and blushed brightly at what you saw. Vinyl was still sleeping she managed to wrap her hooves around you while you were sleeping. "Great, trapped until she wakes up" you said softly and stroked her mane with your hoof as she nuzzled you in approval making you blush brighter. "I love you...Vinyl" you said quietly as you kissed her forehead before she started nuzzling you more and sighed happily. She mumbled softly "Please stay Sketch...." You looked at her and noticed she was talking in her sleep as you moved her closer and yawned, slowly drifting off. > Chapter Three Nightmare Moon...? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter Three: Nightmare moon...? You quickly opened your eyes as Vinyl started getting up and smiled before saying "Good morning, Vinyl" she turned around and yawned "Hello to you too Sketch" she started walking out the door until you finally got up and stretched before walking out. "Hey Octavia" you said cheerfully as she followed down the stairs. "Oh, hello Sketch did you sleep well?" "Yeah," you said smiling "Vinyl let me sleep in her bed." She giggled then fell down the stairs sending you both down the stairs as the music started from downstairs "She never can give it a rest" she sighed and got up before helping you up "Sorry about that." You rubbed your head with your hoof "It's no problem, I’ve had worse" you chuckled and walked into the room where you knew Vinyl would be "Mind turning it down some?" you asked politely "I'm going to work on that cover." She quickly obliged and turned off the music before rushing over to you and quickly sitting back where she had the day before. "It looks great so far" she said joyfully "I think you should add your own touch to it though, instead of just doing what I want." You nodded and picked the pencil up before starting to make it seem like the whole picture itself was coming to life as she gasped "Wow man you sure can draw, glad I snatched you up" she grinned and then got up. "Can't wait to see that finished" she said as she started walking away "I'm going to go with Octavia to Canterlot to talk with Princess Luna, would you like to come?" She looked back and winked before walking out. "Yeah sure, be there soon" you said before packing some of the pens and pencils in a satchel then walking out with Octavia. You looked out the window sighing "How long will this ride take?" "About three hours, why what’s up? Not scared of Trains are you?" Vinyl said and smiled looking at you. "Erm...." You said looking away and sighing before lying down "Yeah, kind of." "Its fine dear, everypony has fears" Octavia said with a smile before looking over at Vinyl "You wouldn't believe what she's scared of." Vinyl turned pure crimson at the mention of that "If you even dare say it...." Octavia just chuckled and smiled softly "It's fine Vinyl, I won't say a word." Vinyl sighed then laid down and quickly dozed off "So why did she get defensive when you mentioned that?" You looked at Octavia with a questionable look "I can't say" she said "Vinyl would never forgive me for it, try and get some rest I’m sure that the Princess is going to wear us out" she laid down and yawned softly before closing her eyes. You sighed and moved closer to Vinyl softly stroking her “Sleep well" you said softly and smiled before going into the embrace of slumber. "Come on Sketch get up" Vinyl said prodding you. "Huh? What? I'm up, I’m up" you yawned and rubbed your eyes and sat up “I guess were here?" "Yea, let's get going Princess Luna will be happy to meet you" she smiled "And she'll probably let us stay at the castle for a day or two, knowing her" Vinyl said happily. "What do you mean 'knowing her'?" you asked with a puzzling look. "Well, Princess Luna doesn't have many ponies who like here after the whole 'Nightmare Moon' incident they think she's just a monster, but I know she's different and trust me, she likes having people who are her friends." Vinyl smiled "And so far, I’m her only friend besides Princess Celestia herself." "You think the Princess will like me...?" You said hesitantly. "Of course Sketch, she loves meeting new people, and you two have a lot in common" you blushed slightly and quickly said "R-really? How do you know?" Vinyl rolled her eyes "Just trust me." Vinyl stopped in front of the castle as a guard blocked her path "Who wishes to enter the royal palace?" He said loudly. "It's Vinyl Scratch from Ponyville, I’m here to meet Princess Luna" The guard looked down and looked shocked "O-oh I’m sorry Miss Scratch, I wasn't paying attention" he quickly moved out of the way "And are these two with you?" He eyed you and Octavia "Yeah, I figured the Princess could use some more friends." The guard nodded as you two passed into the courtyard. "Stay close to me, the guards don’t take kindly to wandering ponies" Vinyl said and walked into the throne room and Princess Celestia was sitting there smiling brightly. "Hello Vinyl Scratch and her friends, my sister is waiting for you in her study" Vinyl nodded and starting walking through the palace as you and Octavia followed "So that was Princess Celestia?" You asked meekly. "Yeah, she can be kind of a pain" Vinyl said grinning as she knocked on a door and a voice softly said "Come in" Vinyl smiled and opened the door as she walked in "VINYL SCRATCH!" the voice yelled as you walked in after her and saw the Princess of the Night. "H-hello Princess" you said as you kneeled down. "It's ok, just call me Luna and don't be so formal" she smiled brightly and nudged you to get up. You nodded "Ok, Luna" you sat near a table and started unpacking the satchel. "So what brings you here Vinyl?" Luna said happily. "My friend here needs help, she was forced to play a…Er..'Degrading' song at the Gala and now she can't find any line of work" Luna nodded "I think I can help" she said and smiled "But first, who's he?" She looked towards you. "He's my new cover artist" Vinyl said "He needed a job, so I let him help me." Luna's eyes widened "DID YOU SAY ARTIST!?" She ran next to you happily and watched "I love art, it's something that helps me relax" she smiled widely. "Yeah, my cutie mark is for creating art in any way possible" you smiled and picked up a pencil and started working on the cover for Vinyl. "Let's leave him be Luna," Vinyl said "I'm hungry anyways and I’m sure he wants some time alone" she looked towards you and winked. You blushed brightly under your dark coat "Uhm...Yeah I need some time to think" The three walked out of the room and you sighed. "Were back Sketch" you heard Vinyl call as you finished up the cover and stretched. "Welcome back" you said smiling and opened the door as Luna ran in and looked the picture "This is amazing! Would you mind if I kept it?" She said smiling happily. "It's up to Vinyl, I mean it is her cover picture" you said yawning "Also, Luna where would I be staying? I'm quite tired" She nodded "Vinyl will escort you; she knows where the room is at." "Thank you" you said as you walked out of the room with her. "Octavia, are they..?" She looked at Luna "Oh, I do believe they are, if not they obviously have feelings for each other so it just needs time" Octavia said with a smile. You yawned loudly as you walked to the bed and plopped down on it. "Thanks Vinyl" you smiled "When do you think we'll be going back to Ponyville?" She thought to herself for a minute "Probably in a day or two, Luna hasn't seen me for awhile she'll probably want to hear some new songs, besides you can start working on some posters for my shows" she said with a smile and walked out closing the door behind her as you slowly drifted off to sleep. Not much happened the next day at the castle except for Luna and Vinyl constantly laughing with each other. Octavia kept to herself in the room she was staying in, you took her food every now and then but she wouldn't say much. "Vinyl Scratch, I shall be back soon" Luna began saying "I must go raise the moon, as is my duty" Vinyl nodded as Luna walked out of the room. "Hey Vinyl come check out the posters I have so far" she walked over to you happily and looked down. "Oh wow" she gasped "Those are perfect" she said before hugging you tightly. "Thanks a ton Sketch" she said and yawned. "I'm pretty tired, Luna is a crazy pony" she laughed slightly. "Yeah, I figured" you said and got up "Want me to take you to your room?" She thought to herself for a little bit "Actually, let's go get Octy, I kind of want to go home leave Luna a note about it though, she would be heartbroken if she didn't know." You nodded and quickly write a note before walking out of the room with Vinyl and going to get Octavia. "Hey Octy, were going to go home get ready" Vinyl said while she was knocking. "Ok Vinyl" Octavia called from behind the door before she walked out. "So, let's get going" you said and shivered as the three of you started your way out of the castle. The three of you walked off the train as Vinyl yawned "Let's hurry back, I’m really tired...” She said as you started walking through the seemingly dead town. You eventually made it to the house you were now living at and sighed happily looking at it "I have a house now, I’m in love with somepony, I have a job, and alot of new friends" you thought to yourself "My life has skyrocketed lately." You smiled and walked through the door and shut it behind you helping Vinyl up the stairs before opening the door to the room which you now thought of as 'ours' instead of 'hers'. You helped her get in bed before you laid next to her and kissed her softly before passing out. "He..." she blushed brightly and nuzzled up to you before going to sleep. > Chapter Four Dark Secrets > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE TO READERS I’ve made revisions/added certain things to the first three chapters, so if you have read them before 7/2/12 would you please be so kind as to skim through the chapters quickly to check what has been added it would be much appreciated. Also as a side note there may be a long delay before the next chapter which I am truly sorry for, my computer is M.I.A. and I’m currently at my mom’s house, and I’ve decided that from this chapter forward I will be focusing on one idea posted in the comments for the next chapter, I will include the comment and name at the very beginning of the chapter somewhat like how this is done. Chapter Four: Dark Secrets You yawned and rubbed your head as you quickly rose to the smell of pancakes “How long was I sleeping….” You wondered as you rose out of bed and started walking downstairs “Morning Sketch” Vinyl chimed in happily as Octavia nodded towards you and went back to eating “Hello to you two as well” you stretched before sitting down “I’m not hungry Vinyl, so don’t mind me” I smiled and started drifting off in a dream-like state. “So Vinyl, have you told him yet?” Octavia whispered very softly grinning. “No, Octy and I don’t plan to for awhile” she quickly snapped back and sat down next to you. “You alright Sketch?” She said and nudged you “Huh? Yeah, just thinking sorry” You said and smiled meekly. Octavia got up and carried her plate to the sink “I’ll be going out to try and find any sort of job, I shall see the two of you later this evening” she said “Au revoir” she said as she walked out the door. “I’ll be drawing if you need me Vinyl” you said as you walked into the other room. Vinyl just sat there for awhile thinking to herself until a knock at the door broke her concentration “Yeah, come in its open.” Vinyl said as she got up rubbing her head “Where’s Sketch, I know he’s here and I need to talk to him” said the newfound houseguest. “He’s in there Dash, he’s drawing so don’t scare him” Vinyl said rubbing her head “Tell him I’m going to be gone awhile” she added in before Dash could say anything. “Yeah, ok whatever” she said rushing into the room as Vinyl walked out. “Hey Dash, what’s up? Didn’t know you would be dropping in” you said setting down the pencil. “Well, yeah I wasn’t going to but I really need to talk to you…” She said and sat next to you looking away. “Why? Did something happen…?” You said shakily. She just looked around like she was a mouse trapped in a cage trying to find a way out “I just kind of well..” She started saying as her eyes beaded around faster “Well sorry but I gotta go I hear Twilight calling…” She darted out of the house shaking. “I wonder what’s wrong with her..” You thought silently as you went back to drawing the final poster for Vinyl’s show tonight. You swayed slightly as your head started pounding before setting down the pencil and getting up to walk towards the stairs before collapsing onto the floor, blacking out. You slowly opened your eyes and looked at the familiar room littered with electronic equipment before getting up and rubbing your head. “Is anypony here?” You yelled trying to get the attention of whoever brought you to the room you shared with Vinyl “Yes Sketch, I’m downstairs” you heard Octavia call. “What happened to you earlier?” You heard her call as you were walking downstairs “It’s fine Octavia, I black out sometimes” you began saying and started walking to the cabinets to find something to eat “I’ve been under some stress the past few days which makes it worse, but I’m fine so no need to worry.” She looked at you worryingly “Dear, I have all the need to worry I can see that you obviously have feelings for Vinyl and are afraid to tell her but here is the truth, she feels the same for you and she just is afraid to admit it, she’s never been the type to explain herself” You nodded slightly and sat down with an apple in your mouth. “Just try and talk to her when you get a chance, I know you’re busy and all making those posters and what not” she smiled warmly and walked up the stairs “I’m going to go rest, if Vinyl asks where I am tell her I’m not here I wish to not be bothered.” “Alright Octavia” you said as you stretched and started walking towards where you had been what the clock seemed to tell as an hour before. As you continued working on the poster Vinyl walked in and yawned “Everything is setup for tonight, almost done with those posters?” You nodded and pointed at the stack of them before setting the final one on top “Yeah, they’re all done Vinyl” you said and got up “I want to tell you something” you both said at the same time staring blankly at each other “You first Vinyl” you finally said after staring at each other for a few minutes. She looked at you nervously and slightly smiled “No how about you go first.” You sat there and pondered to yourself before your eyes lit up brightly “I know what we can do” she just stared at you for a minute “And that would be…?” You smiled and said to her quietly “We can say it at the same time” Vinyl smiled slightly “Yeah, you’re right it would make this a lot easier for the both of us. How about we count down from three?” You nodded in approval as the two of you started counting down in unison “Three..Two…ONE” time seemed to stop that instant before you both started saying what it had been you wished to tell one another “I LOVE YOU VINYL” you screamed as you hugged her to you tightly and kissed her as she finished saying the same thing before the two of you blushed brightly together. “Talking together is weird..” The two of you exclaimed at the same time. “Yeah, so stop doing it” you said hugging her closer. She burst out laughing “I already did!” “Thank Celestia..” You began saying “I thought that was going to end up really weird” you chuckled. Vinyl just smiled warmly and hugged back “You aren’t the only one” she chimed in happily. “ Author’s Note: I realize this chapter is much shorter than I wished it would be, but I haven’t been feeling very well lately and my mind is a mess right now, but the next chapter will hopefully be 3,000+ words and have much more content than this. If you haven’t already read the note at the top and leave a comment saying what you would like to have/see in the next chapter. I look forward to seeing the ideas you have and will love making them happen. > Chapter Five What exactly is "Love"? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is dedicated to Lolzer82, he’s been very encouraging of my story and has given me an idea or two (they’re quite interesting) so here it is: I don’t really have any super awesome idea's but instead I can just say that when I have a idea it just ends up with me making you insane... either that or the entire world blows up... your choice. And yes I'm THAT bad at making idea's so if you want the world to end then follow one of my ideas. He wants vikings too. Because vikings are cool. This chapter is me going insane writing it, so enjoy my insanity, friends :D, trust me this chapter made me go insane... And yes, Sketch is based upon myself so how he acts is basically how I am. (Fun facts yay!) Chapter Five: What exactly is “Love”? “So…um….” Vinyl started saying “Oh crap the time. My shows starting soon, do you wanna come Sketch?” You stared at her blankly before snapping back “Uh, yeah ok Vinyl” you got up saying as she walked out the door. “Octavia, we’ll be back later” you yelled before walking out “So where is the place where this is going to be Vinyl?” You asked following her and waving at the few familiar faces you saw on the street as you were walking. “Where I usually have my gigs, a small building down the street they have different forms of music every day and night, tonight is the night I always play” you nodded in confirmation as you both stopped infront of a plain building with no windows or signs. You start walking in as Vinyl looks backwards and gasps “Vinyl! Hej min vän!” You hear a loud voice call out before Vinyl started speaking “Wille! Gott att se dig, det har varit alldeles för länge.” You just stared blankly as she walked in with a stallion almost twice your size that had a cutie mark of three crowns with a mane and beard that covered most of his face. “Sketch, this is my friend Wille he lives in Stockhoof, he comes here every year when it’s near my birthday I’ve known him since I was a filly” she smiled and said as he looked at you “I nej speak bra Equestrian” he said looking confused as you gave him the same look back. “You see Sketch, Stockhoof is a area that is basically sealed off from Equestria, the ponies there don’t speak quite like us it’s a different language, different customs and etcetera.” You nodded “Thanks for explaining Vinyl, maybe he can teach me some new things.” You finished saying as he nodded and spoke to Vinyl “En vän av yours Vinyl min vän, är en vän till mig. Jag skall lära honom vad han vill veta” he smiled widely and hit your chest as Vinyl trotted up to the stage where her setup was and put on the dark purple glasses you saw around her house everyday “Show starts in five minutes, might as well have some fun while you’re here” she said as you and Wille walked towards the stage as it got dark in the room. “HELLOOOOO PONYVILLE” you heard Vinyl yelling as the club finished filling up with people as they all started cheering as she began yelling again “LET’S START THIS PARRRRRRTYYYY” she finished as music started playing soft and shiftily before blaring after the bass dropped, something you’d gotten very used to over the past few days. “So, you can understand our language but not speak it, right?” You said loudly ensuring he could hear you as he nodded. “Then can you teach me some basics of it so I can learn it, maybe some of the ways your people act” he looked towards you a moment before saying “Ja. Vän Jag skall lära dig vårt språk” he smiled “Also, when is Vinyl’s birthday?” He looks at you wide-eyed “Imorgon” you blankly stared as he tapped his hoof to his what you thought to be chin. “Tweny-första Sommar.” You facehoofed “You mean tomorrow… The twenty-first of summer” he nodded happily. “I am royally bucked.” You thought to yourself repeatedly “Why didn’t she tell me…” You softly said “Tell Vinyl I went home, I’m getting tired” you said and started walking out as you heard Wille yell “Okej, sova bra vän!” You stumbled back to your house and fell inside “Octavia it’s me….I’m going to bed having a blackout again..” you passed out just before opening the door to your room. You rubbed your head and felt the blanket over you “Thank Celestia for Octavia..” You mumbled and got up “Wonder what time it is" you yawned and started walking downstairs and singing “It’s a brand new me I’ve got no remorse The water’s rising but I know the course I’m gonna shock the world Gonna show that norse It’s a brand new day…” You started to finish as Vinyl cut in “And sketch will see the true me Noting broke not a bloke and defiantly no things fail here And though we may cry, we will hold our love high We've got the keys to our life, grace as beautiful as Azalea's” You both stared at each other before breaking into song again “It’s a brand new day And the sun is high All the ponies sing Because we’re gonna fly Go ahead and laugh Were a waggish brace Tell everyone Shalom It's our brand new day” You both smiled and hugged each other tightly as you felt multiple pairs of eyes on you and looked around “Oh…Hey everypony” you chuckled slightly and stared as a dark pink pony with straight hair popped infront of you “WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS?! THE SHOW?! NOONE and I mean NOONE breaks into song unless I’m the one instigating it. THIS IS A FANFICTION FOR CELESTIA’S SAKE. Only I break into song” everypony looked at her weirdly before you started to speak up. “Uhm….What..?” Vinyl smiled and started speaking “It’s Pinkie love, her job is basically mutilating the fourth wall, bursting into song, and well parties.” You just stared blankly “Fourth what?” She kissed your nose “Spoilers dear, spoilers.” Pinkie just sprung back to life and hopped around the room humming happily. “Everypony I have an announcement to make” Twilight said making herself heard “I have made a “reservation” for Vinyl’s party and we need to leave within an hour if we want to get there in time to be able to all go to our own rooms and get ready” Vinyl gave her the kind of look you’d expect out of Dash “And where is this exactly Twi?” She said still giving her that look “Canterlot. In the castle gardens.” She smiled as your face just fell grim “MORE TRAINS?” Echoed louder than you could stand in your head “Well everypony, start getting packed trains leaving in an hour” the crowd dispersed leaving you and Wille alone “Wille, are du kommer?” You said choppily as he nodded “Ja vän” and sat down with a small satchel next to him filled with next to nothing. “Vinyl, exactly how old are you?” You asked and looked at her putting all your drawing things in a same sack you took when you went to see Princess Luna with the addition of a bowtie. “Oh, old enough dear” she said giggling slightly and winking as you blushed “All ready to go?” She finished and got up. “Yeah, just my art things is all I need really” you began saying. “I don’t dress up” you opened the door and let her walk out before following her out. “Octavia, it’s time we get going please hurry up” she hit the door to show she heard you as you heard Vinyl talking “Jaha wille, alla redo att gå till Canterlot?” “Ja, ja, Vinyl jag fascinerat till har denna chans” you heard Wille’s familiar booming voice say “Någon av prinsessorna talar mitt språk slump?” Vinyl sat there and shrugged as Octavia started coming downstairs dragging her cello with her “Why are you bringing that old thing Octy?” Vinyl yelled before even seeing her “Because, Vinyl” the gray mare started “Some of us don’t play with technology to make music it comes from an actual instrument” she sighed and sat down the cello at the bottom of the stairs “Would du like jag to det för you Octavia?” Wille said choppily smiling she nodded and thanked him as he laid it on his back and walked out the door all of us following behind him and gathering at the train with the others. “Ok everypony, get aboard!” Twilight called as everyone rushed inside and you sighed before laying down on the train and looking at Vinyl “It’s ok Sketch, come here” she dragged you closer to her and nuzzled you “It’s just a train, nothing scary about it” she said as you smiled slightly and blacked out next to Vinyl as she slowly stroked you. “How long was I out” you rubbed your head “About three hours, Twi said we need to get down there in around an hour Wille carried you up here to rest” she said staring into your eyes “Sketch, whats with these blackouts, why do they happen?” You got up and walked towards your sack “Just when I get stressed out they happen, and trains just…” She kissed you “I understand that, but why do you even have them in the first place, what makes them tick?” You sat on the bed and looked at her “I don’t know Vinyl, they just happen and I’ve learned to deal with it” you smiled and started putting the bowtie on “Don’t fret about it.” She smiled slightly “Alright I guess, let’s go then” she walked out the door as you joined her and Pinkie came bouncing down the hall before the others. “Oh also, the bowtie? Really?” You stared blankly at her “What, I wear bowties now, bowties are cool.” “BUT YOU AREN’T THE DOCTOR SILLY!” Pinkie barged in saying bouncing higher “Erm…what?” Vinyl sighed “Love, it’s Pinkie. Don’t question it she does whatever she does because she’s unexplainable…” You sighed “I just want to know about her, she’s so….me.” “Hello, my little ponies” you heard Princess Celestia call as you neared the gardens “And a very happy birthday to you, Vinyl Scratch I have a feeling Luna will be quite happy to see you as always.” She smiled as the three of you entered to see Luna sitting and staring at the sky unaware of your presence “Leave her be Pinkie, she’s busy right now and I would hate to see her mess this up.” You looked up at the sky and instantly realized what she’s doing “Moving the stars….I wish I could create art on nearly a scale as large as that” you just stared in awe for what seemed like hours. “I’ve never seen someone quite so interested in the night sky” a familiar voice said happily before the dark blue hooves were wrapped around your neck “So good to see you again Sketch! And Vinyl!” She quickly switched from you to Vinyl “Happiest of days my friend.” “And to you princess Luna” she replied “I am very glad to be here on my birthday, I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be for this day or…” she glances quickly at you with the quickest hint of a smile before looking back at princess Luna. “Anyone I’d rather spend this day with.” You feel comfortable knowing that you are surrounded by your friends, and pinkie, you blush thinking on how wonderful Vinyl has been all this time, going through such lengths to make sure you had everything you needed for drawing even though you were certain she knew it was a bit over the top and clearly she didn’t need to, you hadn’t believed in love at first sight at all and yet it was so clearly in front of you in this girl and you get really flustered realizing that here you’ve gotten all distracted on Vinyl’s most special of day. But then you realize that it’s ok because pinkie has been nonsensical rambling this whole time and nobody seems to have noticed. “Oh hey sketch, you seemed pretty deep in thought so I didn’t want to disturb you, what’s up?” you blush even brighter realizing that apparently not everybody was paying attention to Pinkie’s rambling but figure out that since its vinyl she must have clearly known well enough that Pinkie talks a lot about nothing. “Oh hey sketch what’s going on, what are you thinking about and whys your face all red like that do you have a secret crush on princess Luna come-on tell me TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME!!!” you blush even brighter your face like a furnace feeling uncomfortable about her eagerness on such a topic but thankfully your saving grace Vinyl decides to change the topic before it gets any worse reminding you of one of the many reasons you’ve fallen so fast and so hard in love with this pony. “Gee Princess Luna the stars sure do look amazing” she said finally allowing your face to return to its normal temperature before you move closer alongside her staring once more in equal awe at them. She’s right despite that she only brought up the stars to change the topic of conversation, Princess Luna always outdid herself with how she placed them in the night sky. You were really glad to be able to share such a beautiful sight with her on this special day of hers and even more grateful that Twilight’s anti-passing-out spell seems to be so effective so you wouldn’t accidentally pass out during Vinyl’s birthday which would be a totally horrible mess you can’t even begin to imagine how insanely terrible it would be if you accidentally did that you feel as if you’d never live it down. at the very least not for another year unless you accidentally passed out then in which case you’d probably have to wait two more years and hopefully not pass during either of those years otherwise you could end up taking another 3-4 years until eventually you were dead and would never be able to live that down and have been forever a disappointment to her and you don’t… “Hey Sketch you seem to be thinkin’ awful hard there, what’s up partner?” you look around shocked at the voice and realize that the accent couldn’t have been anyone’s other than Applejack’s and suddenly you realize you were so spaced out thinking that the others had arrived and you hadn’t even noticed them. You quickly blush furiously as a stream of gibberish comes out of your mouth instead of any words that would make this moment less embarrassing, not that you really had any in mind that could have averted such a thing, you quickly shut your mouth blushing even brighter which causes Pinkie to break into another fit of giggles at your expense which only worsens the matter. Vinyl, your saving grace once more, changes the topic thankfully and asks you how you are doing with the record covers to which you respond that they are coming along nicely and you hope that she likes them as much as you like her the last part kind of slipping out of your mouth as you blush the moment you realize you had accidentally said that out loud instead of just in your head. She giggles at it which isn’t something you’ve seen very often but you take some comfort in the fact that she seems genuinely amused and you don’t take it too harshly. The other ponies seem to be enjoying the night sky Luna having commented that she tried to make the night sky even more beautiful in light of the wonderful occasion that was Vinyl’s birthday. Well she didn’t really embellish the last part but she did in your mind so you figured that had to count for something, because after all it was your true loves birthday and what a wonderful day it was for you and her. Luna decided that she would give you and vinyl a closer look at her moving the stars around and you were very honored by it thinking that not many ponies got such an opportunity, she even made a special one night constellation of vinyl to commemorate the event though it was very subtle and was only truly noticeable if you looked right at it as to not make everyone else jealous or cause her to get a lot of requests, still though the gesture was appreciated a great deal, it was a truly wonderful thing for her to do and vinyl was greatly humbled by it, another emotion you haven’t really seen much in her, the closer you got to her the more you seemed to see in her and the more you seemed to love her you truly began to wonder about how perfect you two seemed for each other in the sense that you could only imagine that it was something like destiny or fate that you two met as surely something as fickle as luck couldn’t be trusted to such an intricately made thing as this, no clearly Vinyl and your love was meant to be you told yourself, you were convinced that you were fated to be together and that only assured you that you’d never be apart and inside that brought you the greatest feeling of warmth, knowing that with her you were safe and had someone who intrigued you and made you feel special, it was kind of embarrassing how she always had to look out for you like earlier but you are no less grateful to her for doing it, she was one amazing pony and you were amazingly fortunate to have one such as her to be with forever. Or at least so you hoped prayed and any other form of ritual that may cause you two to be together longer, as long as possible even, for surely you’d never want to separate yourself from one such as her. One as magnificent as her. “You sure do think of her a lot” Fluttershy said, snapping you out of your revere though you realize you only heard it because she was close to you, you had been on autopilot this entire time without realizing it so lost in thought, Fluttershy seemed to really understand you quite well to get that much and you suddenly realized it might be appropriate to respond to her. “Um… yeah…” you find it funny for a moment that you’re the one being shy given all that Vinyl has told you combined with all that you’ve learned yourself about Fluttershy which has taught you that she’s normally quite timid yet here you are only able to say two words, she’s said four times as much as you so far and while she made a statement all you could do was agree with it, you consider this great dilemma even further before realizing that its only getting worse by you continuing not to say anything so you force yourself to say the first thing that you can think to say hoping that you don’t say anything perverted, rude or anything else to frighten her off… Thankfully that comes out as “I guess I am, how are you doing Fluttershy? I’m surprised that you came up and talked to me, you usually seem so quiet not that I mind of course I think it’s great to hear you actually speaking you should do it more often” phew, you dodged that bullet, thankfully what you said was actually very polite and not at all what you feared it might have been, you can only imagine how many worse things you could have said than that. “Usually I’m quiet I know but your different because were friends now and you’re supposed to be more open and outgoing around friends according to pinkie pie though I don’t think I’ll ever be as outgoing as her…” Fluttershy said this somewhat despairingly and you frown for a second before coming up with a good response. “Fluttershy, I don’t think you have anything to worry about, I don’t think anybody could be as outgoing as pinkie. And I don’t think you have to worry if you’re not, I don’t think the world could handle having anybody else be THAT outgoing, you should learn to embrace who you are, because who you are is just fine, especially as long as you can talk to your friends, after all, you don’t want to be good at talking to your enemies and bad at talking to your friends that’d just be weird.”Fluttershy didn’t appear to get the joke you just made as was reflected when she said “But I don’t have any enemies” when you broke out laughing however she quickly realized that you had been joking and laughed along with you either to avoid embarrassment or because, having realized it was a joke, she found it quite funny, either way she seemed to smile genuinely. “OK everypony, gather around” Celestia said in her always gentle sounding voice as everyone looked up at the sound of thunder. “VINYL SCRATCH MIN KOMPIS, GRATTIS PÅ FÖDELSEDAGEN!” Everyone laughed as Wille called out riding a cloud as he fell towards the ground with a box on this back. “Wille! Säg inte du tog dig tid att göra en prinsessa torte i år igen” Vinyl said as Princess Celestia watched him land “Hej, Wille jag har hört mycket om dig” she said as Wille stared at her surprised. “Va? Oh ja, jag slår vad om att du har” he answered back to her as he sat down the box and a table not far from the group of you. “Everypony,” Celestia began saying “Wille has made a special treat for our friends birthday, it is something that they bake in Stockhoof on special occasions, like Thurseblot, it’s a holiday celebrating one of the gods that they belive in. Unlike the other ponies in Equestria, they don’t see sister and myself as the rulers they worship Odin and Thor.” Wille nodded and screamed “ODEN kan vägleda mig genom mina strider!” You all just stared at him then burst out laughing. “Tack, tack så mycket, Wille” Vinyl said happily as the torches in the garden suddenly burnt out leaving everypony blind in the night “I think were gonna need more torches.” You said as they suddenly burst to life with flames again “Hey, has anypony seen Octavia?” Vinyl just looked over towards you “You’re right I haven’t seen her either…” Everypony looked around for her as Wille started taking the torte out of the box as soft strums of a cello come to your ears “I think we found Octavia” Vinyl said and leaned onto you “Her music makes me sleepy” she yawned as everypony gathered around the two of you before Pinkie jumped out in front of everypony “LET’S THIS PAR-TAY STARTED!” She yelled as Vinyl jumped up bringing you with her “Come on Sketch, you’re gonna help me with the set” she grinned and dragged you over to the turntables where Octavia was surprisingly at playing her cello. “Hey Octavia, we were wondering where you’d gone off to” you said and sat next to Vinyl. You and Vinyl stayed there for about an hour playing along with Octavia with little interaction at all before Luna came over to you “Sketch, I would like you to accompany me for a certain matter” she said as you blushed slightly remembering Pinkie’s comment earlier about the princess “Ok, Luna just give me a sec” you said telling Vinyl you’d be back soon quickly before trotting off with the princess deeper in to the gardens. “S-Sketch, how have you been lately? With the change of environment new people and everything?” She said slightly blushing “I’m alright.” You said still watching the flowers as they were slowly moving to form different bouquets “Everypony is nice to me and everything, I have a life I never could of dreamed of really” you finished as you smiling and looked at Luna “This garden is very intresting, I’d like to stay here for awhile sometime.” She smiled and looked up at the sky “I wish more people could admire the night for it’s true beauty like you, I think we should get back to the others now they might wonder where we are.” You nodded and started heading back before she tripped over a vine and fell flat on her face, you tried to hold in your laughter but it just busted out as you helped her up “I’m sorry Luna, that was just too funny..” She glared at you before walking off again as you joined back with the others. “Hey what’d Luna want?” Vinyl said making her way to you “Oh nothing, just was wondering how I was doing, not much” Wille walked up to the both of you “Vinyl, som alltid kommer få ökade” she nodded and tugged you to walk with her as Wille walked towards the table where everypony was sitting at “Thank you for coming, all you” Vinyl said and smiled before sitting down and forcing you next to her. “Grattis på födelsedagen, min vän” Wille said gently lifting the rose off of the pastry and setting it infront of Vinyl as she nodded her head and smiled “Tack wille, för allt.” Wille started cutting pieces of the strange cake for all of the ponies at the table and sat down when he was finished “So Vinyl, how do ya know Wille? Seems a might odd.” Vinyl stretched before starting to talk “His family used to be close to my family, so he’s a good family friend” Pinkie just bounced around the table “Isuredolovecakeitssogoodandmakesmejustsohappy!” Everyone just sighed and laughed at the pink party pony and her bouncing. “Hey Vinyl, I’m going to go and try to sleep, I’m not feeling that well so try and get to sleep at a decent time ok?” She smiled and kissed you “Yes, love.” You walked back inside the castle and down the hall looking for the room you had been in earlier with Vinyl before you finally found it and lazily walked in falling on the bed “How does Vinyl stand doing that all day and night, it’s so tiring…” You yawned and moved up into the bed and fell asleep quickly. As you woke up you find that there was a tray in bed and it had a note on it, according to said note Vinyl had made you breakfast but wasn’t around, she apparently had to go shopping for some things. You gratefully ate the breakfast she had prepared for you realizing she was a good cook. You realize that she was looking at some of your album covers and you blushed, some of them weren’t finished and some needed touchups but according to yet another note she left she also seemed to highly approve of it which filled you with a sense of warmth that she appreciated the covers you had worked so hard (thankfully not just in your face this time). You looked at it staring at your work for a minute, it’s not something you really did very often, usually you just started working on another piece after deeming that something was finished but something possessed you this time to actually take a look at the compilation of all the work you had done and are startled out of your sudden obsession by Vinyl telling you that they really are quite good. “VINYL!? When did you get here?” You said blushing furiously once more in your face again as had become the trend for you. “I didn’t expect you back so soon” “It’s not as soon as you might think dear, you’ve been asleep for quite a while and though that food was pretty warm when you ate it I imagine that’s only because I made something I was pretty sure would stay warm, I received a few cooking lessons here and there because I thought it’d be nice to make you breakfast in bed sometime.” She blushed at this apparently realizing her own rambling though you were too lost in the sound of her voice to notice the embarrassed nature that had shone through the words so clearly anyone else would have seen it from a mile away. “If it’s alright with you I’d really like to watch you work, I’d love to be able to learn to draw like you, I tried once when I was younger but when I realized I had a far greater talent for music I decided to abandon it and music became my life’s dream.” She blushed and it seemed like she was going to say something more to continue it but then she stopped.“I don’t know I’ve never been really good at sketching with someone watching but I enjoy being around you so I’d love to at least give it a try.” She smiled at your words seeming to hold back an even bigger smile inside as sometimes had been her coy nature, another thing about her which you’ve come to love and endear so very much. “Actually though, on the subject of that I’m afraid I’ve kind of been running out of ideas with the sketching, I’ve had a pretty decent interest in music and I’d be lying if I told you that your music hasn’t captured my interest even further, I think it would really help if I could listen to more of it and learn more about it if you don’t mind.” To contrast your shy nature she seemed overjoyed at the thought of indoctrinating you further into the world of music, her world of music no less, she ecstatically grabbed your hoof and dragged you as fast as she could to Luna’s study. She overzealously began showing you her sound system and talking about how it worked seeing your confusion she realized first-hand experience would definitely be the best way and wondered why she hadn’t began with that, she realized you were staring at her as she pondered this and put a record on, you were bombarded with loud music and when your ears adjusted you also realized that she was manipulating the record in a way that caused a scratching effect as you had learned it was called from an earlier experience with her she really seemed to get into it and even helped you once you had seen enough of it, not many words were exchanged between the two of you, likely due to the loud music however the romance, at least to you, was still there, somewhere, buried beneath the blasting music that you imagined, should some malicious being ever come to Pony Ville would be strong enough to blast them away thus repelling their attack. Time seemed to but didn’t really stand still, you realized it hadn’t stood as still as you thought especially when you looked at a clock which informed you of your now obviously flawed assumption that it had just decided to wait up in light of the romantic moment between the two of you. With a blush you realized this certainly had been a date, albeit a unique date not scheduled in any way whatsoever not that you think you could or would ever want to schedule something which would conflict with her clearly spontaneous nature which you wouldn’t trade for anything in the world of course. Both of you left Luna’s study together, you don’t know if you’ll ever get over just what a wonderful word together is especially when its together with Vinyl, and realized it was way past lunch time and you hadn’t eaten. So you headed back to your room which had its own kitchen inside it (seriously, it’s just a guest room). You looked into the refrigerator and decided that you’d make lunch for the two of you, you pulled out jelly cheese and eggs thinking you could cook a traditional lunch however you got the instinctual impression that she might like something more out of the norm so you put together the skills you had adapted from Celestia knows where and decided to make a cheese and strawberry jelly omelet. She was slightly put off by the idea at first though she wouldn’t dare tell you such a thing, but at the same time a lingering curiosity ate away at her wondering what such a strange concoction would end up tasting like. When the omelets were done cooking you both dug in and they were amazing she especially seemed to love it she ate it quickly and seemed disappointed when it was gone which made you laugh so you gave her a piece of your omelet, you weren’t that hungry and you could tell she really liked them she was quite affectionate at how you gave her the piece she seemed to think it a bigger deal than it seemed to you, she ate it slowly this time savoring the flavor of it and oddly enough you finished before her this time. When she was done you gathered up the plates and decided to do the dishes, as was the custom for whoever cooked or so you believed, though she helped, you were at first going to object saying it was your pleasure to do the dishes for her but you couldn’t open your mouth to say it. This was most likely due to two facts, the first being that she didn’t entirely seem to mind and the second being that you wouldn’t dare say something that would put any distance between the two of you especially considering how much you enjoyed her presence so instead you just smiled at her as she smiled back at you, part of you thought this a bit sappy but it was heartwarming all the same especially so long as your body didn’t take this opportunity to suddenly collapse on you however irony is a cruel and fickle mistress and you found yourself passing out despite your desire to not do so, had you not passed out as suddenly as you had you most likely would have cursed cruel fickle irony and fate or whatever else may have been responsible however not having the time to be able to nor the presence of mind to do it, you instead merely collapsed, irony fate and whatever other cruel creature responsible for such a thing having gone uncursed much to your would be dismay if you had gotten the chance to think about it more. AUTHOR’S NOTES This chapter is unbelievably long, I wouldn’t have had it done nearly in time without the help of a great friend of mine: Shiftingshadows99. He’s most likely going to be helping me with every chapter from here on out because I love doing this for all of you and making chapters this long alone is kind of difficult for me, but that aside….There are four references in this chapter, let’s see who can find them all. :D (I realize it isn’t 6,000 words but it’s close enough damnit and a message from Wille: Heja oden! Dessutom förväntar sig mer av mig och andra vänner.) > Chapter Six A Dreams Overture > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is dedicated to Shiftingshadows99, a good friend of mine who will be helping me A LOT with this story. This is a mainly Octavia based chapter so you know before you read it and think “BUT WHERES EVERYPONY ELSE?! D:” He helped a little with this chapter since it’s kind of towards him I tried not to have him help, so enjoy Chad. Chapter Six: A Dreams Overture It was the next day, very cloudy and gloomy as Octavia was walking down the road towards her old cellist instructor’s studio, which seemed to be as dead as ever. “Octavia,” she heard the familiar voice call “What are you doing here?” She sighed “I’m just…Walking Mr. Lightstrings…” He frowned “Octavia, I’m not your teacher anymore call me Haru please come inside it’s about to start pouring rain” she nodded and walked inside the studio which hadn’t changed over the years, it reminded her a lot of her room since it was littered with the same exact kind of containers filled to the brim with sheet music and replacement bows. “Octavia, I know what’s wrong and I feel sorry for what happened, but you need to forget it and look towards the future.” He said firmly adjusting his glasses with a light green aura of magic. “Mr. Li- I mean Haru..It’s just…” He just shook his head “Octavia, I know how you feel it’s terrible and nopony quite really cares for you anymore...” She just sat there staring at him in shock “You feel useless, like you are alone and nopony is there to help you with your troubles and you will never have anypony else to help you” he just sighed and sat down “Listen, Octavia your troubles are small your potential is limitless and you know that you have the talent to math anypony in Equestria, but you’re just moping and failing to see exactly how far you have to grow. Honestly in retrospect, you were the best student I’ve ever had…” Octavia just froze as she started remembering her training with the strange and genuinely depressive unicorn. “No, no Octavia that’s all wrong. You can’t hold it straight, it needs to be tilted back towards you or else the sound won’t resonate right.” She just sat there struggling with the instrument that was well over twice her size “Mr. Lightstrings it’s too large, I can’t hold it properly like this..” He just sighed “It takes time to get used to dear, I understand it’s quite hard at first but give it time and it’ll work like clockwork for you.” She just kept struggling with the mass of wood until it fell onto of her, pinning her towards the ground “Octavia, you’re done for the day just keep practicing on making sure you can hold it properly before you even want to think of playing.” He lifted the cello off of her as she slowly walked out into the pouring rain shaking. “Haru..thank you..” Octavia said as she looked towards her former teacher and started walking out of the studio into the now pouring rain. “It was a day just like today when I realized that playing the cello wouldn’t be easy as it seemed” she thought to herself walking down the street “But it’s also the day I realized it’s not that hard either..” She looked back towards the old studio and nodded in defeat realizing that he was right; she was one of the best cellist’s there has been but she just let the fact of how embarrassing it was control the past few days of her life. She just wondered the empty freezing streets of Canterlot with nowhere in mind to go, she felt as if her life was just perfect now. The weight she carried the past few days of what happened just seemed to disappear and she was free of all burdens, she felt as if she could anything and no one could stop her. “Octavia, please come inside it’s raining dear” a familiar voice seemed to close in on her breaking her concentration on how moronic she’d been the past days. “Yes, mother” she said and walked inside the familiar house which made her spirits rise even more “It’s great to see you after all this time dear, how’ve you been?” Octavia smiled and nodded “I’ve been well, and it’s wonderful to see you as well, where’s father at, if you don’t mind me asking.” Her mother just ran into the kitchen and began clanging pans and who knows what else “He’s at work still, he should be home soon why don’t you go rest, we haven’t touched your room since you left.” Octavia just nodded and walked into her old room, it was exactly how she remembered it. She just fell onto the bed and dug her face into the pillows crying she forgot how much she had missed it here, her family had surely missed her as well but she had Vinyl to keep her company, but her parents were all alone. Her mind just raced with thoughts “I need to stay here” she slowly said to herself as she got up and sighed “But what will Vinyl and Sketch think…. Surely Sketch won’t mind, he doesn’t know me that well, but Vinyl…” Her mind was stuck on the thought of what Vinyl would say about her staying with her parents “Octy, you ok there?” She just stared at Vinyl who had suddenly appeared in the doorway to her room “Oh, yes Vinyl I’m fine.. Tell me is Sketch with you?” Vinyl sat there and nodded “He’s sitting in the other room talking with your mom, you wanna talk to him?” “Yes, dear please let me talk to him. Alone though, if you wouldn’t mind..” Vinyl just left as Octavia pulled herself together before Sketch walked in “Please Sketch, shut the door” you just followed the order as you examined her.”She’s more depressed than before and something’s wrong, but she’s happier..” You thought to yourself “Sketch, I need to tell you something and you must tell Vinyl. I just can’t face to tell her myself about this..” She looked at you with intensity which you figured could melt steel as she started crying “I’m staying with my parents… They need me here with them” you sat there for a minute letting the thought slowly fill your mind as you just nodded holding in the want to tell her you wanted her to go back with you. Before walking out and rejoining with Vinyl “She said she’s going to stay for tonight Vinyl, let’s go back to the castle…I don’t feel so great” Vinyl just nodded and walked out, followed by you. “I hope she can forgive me…” Octavia softly said shaking in her bed “I can't afford to be talked out of this but at the same time I owe Vinyl an explanation at the very least, we’ve been roommates and friends for long enough that I need to be able to tell her no matter how difficult it might seem." Octavia says clearly for her own benefit to help motivate herself considering how no one else is around. “Keep calm Octavia, you can do this” she said to herself quietly as she went to knock on the door before it opened. “Hey Octy, what’s up? Thought you were staying your mom’s place” "Hello Vinyl, how have you been doing" Octavia began, the concept of the conversation she wanted to have was insanely awkward and she was beginning to lose her nerve but she dare not break her composure. "Same ol same ol, something on your mind?" Octavia is uncharacteristically astounded and embarrassed realizing that what was on her mind has clearly been reflected a lot better than she intended to allow it to be, she has clearly lost her composure and for someone such as her such a thing would not do, trying to regain it she replied hastily "I’m moving out, I intend to go live with my parents, they seem to be awfully lonely and I feel obligated to go to them and keep them company" Vinyl, suffice to say, took it very well actually. For the couple of seconds she was in shock, after that... not so much. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? GOING? YOU CANT BE GOING, YOUR MY ROOMMATE I’M YOUR ROOMMATE WERE ROOMMATES YOU CANT JUST GO!!!" she takes a moment to compose herself ever so slightly and stops yelling but still Octavia had to thank Celestia that looks couldn’t kill otherwise those daggers Vinyl was staring at her would be her demise in an instant. "What about me, what about your friends, are you just leaving us all behind because you think your parents will have nobody? They have each other which is more than I can say if my ROOMMATE leaves." Octavia was shaken to the core by Vinyl’s outburst, still though she couldn’t relent, this had to be done and she was going to do it. "Vinyl, they raised me, I’m going back with them I don’t think it’s good for them the way they are living and I will go and look after them to make sure they’re alright and keep them some company, this is final, now regain your composure, this outburst is completely un-ladylike and I will have no more of it" she said very authoritatively. "Besides, you’ll still have sketch.." Vinyl could continue arguing further but Octavia wasn’t going to budge on this issue, she hated what was going on but she had to accept Octavia’s decision regardless of how she felt. “Well..Just remember us Octavia..” She said and ran into the room slamming the door behind her. "I’m sorry…Vinyl…” Octavia said slowly dragging herself away. “I can’t believe it Sketch…Octavia she’s gone….” Vinyl said collapsing onto the bed next to you “Sketch, she was really all I had left of a family…” You sighed and stroked her mane “Vinyl, try and get some sleep I’m going to go for a walk” you said before getting up “You need the rest” you finished before walking out and quietly shutting the door. Vinyl just shook “Octavia…Please stay safe…” “Vinyl…Please stay safe…” Octavia said forcing herself into her bed and sighing. “Octavia?” You said softly “Yes Sketch…What is it…” She said. “I just wanted to come talk to you, Vinyl took it pretty…Hard but she’s accepting your decision for what it is” Octavia nodded slightly “Thank you Sketch..Please tell her I’m sorry…” You nodded and started walking out smiling “We’ll come visit you Octavia, be sure of it.” You just walked down the street softly humming as somepony crashed into you “Oh hi there I didn’t see you and I’m so sorry for crashing into you but HI!” You instantly knew who it was “Typical Pinkie..” She gasped “OhhithereSketchhowareyouIdidn’texpecttorunintoyouhere!” You just laughed slightly “I’m good Pinkie, what are you doing out here all alone?” She just bounced up “Just going down to doughnut Joe’s I know him personally and he’s soooo funny! He just reminds me of myself and-“ You nodded “I get it Pinkie, have fun.” She giggled and bounced away singing loudly. “How do they deal with her on a daily basis…” You mumbled and started walking into the castle gates and nodded at the guards. “Good evening Sketch” you heard the calming voice say as you entered the castle “How was your day today?” You smiled “It was….”Fine”….Princess” She smiled and nodded “Say hello to Vinyl Scratch for me, I haven’t seen her all day.” You dragged yourself through the door and fell onto the bed with Vinyl and kissing her. “Goodnight, cara mia.” AUTHOR’S NOTES This chapter is….WOW it was hell to write. And let me tell you something, I love it. Next chapter is going to be….interesting…. But from now on chapters will be at max 3,000 words, 2,000 minimum. > Chapter Seven What's a TARDIS? Part I > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is dedicated to one of the best Television shows ever, Doctor Who. It will be weird, you have been warned. Chapter Seven: What’s a TARDIS? (Part I) Vinyl prodded you to get up “Train….leave…nine minutes…eighteen seconds” she yawned. “Vinyl, are you okay? What’s with the grammatical errors in your speech” you said getting up and stretching before grabbing your bag and rushing out the door with Vinyl “Yes, I’m fine love just tired.” She said as the both of you crashed into a box that appeared in front of you. “See now Doctor, you don’t even know where we are…” A feminine voice said as a door opened on the box “River I do too know where we are, just not when…” He stared at you “OH, hello there would you happen to know what year it is?” "Oh who cares about the year I’m more concerned with why you brought us here, although it’s a step up from that place with the talking squirrels, that one with the glasses kept asking me for medication and had some kind of stigmata with his eye." he stared at River. "Yes... quite... anyway... it appears we’ve landed in the wrong place sadly, we are nowhere near Ponyville." You looked at them curiously and then remembered that’s where you were headed, these people are obviously strange and make no sense but it seemed a far better idea to go with these strangers than the horrifying possibility of having to ride a train back to Ponyville."Um, were headed that way too, do you think you could take us to Ponyville with you?" you asked sincerely hoping and praying that they would take you "Oh of course they’ll take us" vinyl said very matter- of-factly. "Were headed the same way and it’s not that much of an inconvenience for them and I’m sure they will have plenty of sympathy for your fear of trains." she said this walking into the blue box, you followed behind slowly before figuring you’d follow her anywhere especially away from a train. "Wow... Talk about bigger on the inside" you stated regarding all the amazing gadgets inside, many of them looked incredibly familiar yet out of place all the same doing things you couldn’t really begin to understand. "Oh hush silly, it’s clearly the outside is cloaked to resemble something that wouldn’t seem out of place otherwise people would freak out, though it must be broken because though it doesn’t seem as odd as an alien space ship it is certainly not something of this era" The Doctor just stares in awe for a moment at her understanding then in slight resentment mumbling something about enjoying the bigger on the inside bit. "Yes well anyway let’s get going we’ve got places to be love" River said to The Doctor, they both start working the strange devices in the center of the room lost in their own world as they made countless adjustments and the blue box seemed to make a strange whooshing noise, when it stopped they slowed down and eventually stopped with it."What exactly just happened and what is this thing I’ve never seen a machine like this." you said. "This device is a type 40 TARDIS, that stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, we just flew from Canterlot to Ponyville, any more questions darling?" said River very politely. "no, I think that about covers it..." "Aww, poor dear seems confused I’m sorry about that" she said as she pushed the 'TARDIS' doors open "and remember love, this is how you open it, honestly, don’t you ever read the sign on the front that says pull to open, they open outwards not in." the doctor stared for a moment before replying "They’re my doors and ill open them however I please woman." The moment you got out of the TARDIS you threw up, feeling immensely sick, River and The Doctor laughed and even Vinyl chuckled though she did so while checking to see if you were alright, always ever concerned about your safety, she took you to the place you now shared and made sure you got a shower which admittedly helped you feel a lot better when you got out she had made you something to eat, it was very good, she was cleaning up after you had both eaten brunch and you heard a knock at the door, wondering who it was you decided to get it since Vinyl was otherwise occupied, you’d have been helping if you weren’t still a little dizzy and worried about dropping or breaking things. The face was strange and silvery, it was a metallic earth pony with a strange teardrop like thing below its right eye, instead of an introduction from its mechanical voice all you heard was "You will allow yourself to become assimilated toCyberponies or be deleted" deciding that neither option sounded particularly enticing you promptly invent a third option and take it, slamming the door shut in its face. You quickly race to Vinyl and explain that the two of you have to go. She seems confused but when she sees your serious you both rush off flying as far and as fast as possible from the house noticing more and more of these ponies on the ground, the two of you quickly spot the blue box and knock hard on the doors quickly, it apparently was now in Las Pegasus, River quickly opened the door rushing the two you in "We need to leave now, Doctor" she said. "I NEED TIME" he yelled "Time..Something a time lord has too much of.." The TARDIS quickly begins whooshing off again as the engines apparently begin taking you somewhere else again triggering another sick feeling in your stomach. This time thankfully Vinyl has found you a bucket to throw up in, though you don’t know what happens to it after you’ve thrown up as you slightly space out during the whole puking episode. River and The Doctor are arguing about something but you can’t quite understand it and as the engines finally stop river opens the doors outwards. Seeming to smile brightly making a point of emphasizing the gesture much to the dismay of The Doctor who begins mumbling again, you’re greeted by Haru and Wille surprisingly enough. "Doctor, we have a situation." says Wille standing right in front of the door. "If you can talk in English why in the world were you only talking in Swedish before Wille" you ask astounded. Vinyl thankfully seems to catch on, "Well obviously the alien space-time craft has a translation matrix that translates different languages into things each person near it can understand otherwise it would be very difficult to communicate with people." "Oh..." you say not understanding a word of it, she seems to understand your intense confusion at her words without the help of the translator matrix. "There are Cyberponies invading all over Equestria we simply cannot handle the influx of them, their main forces seem to be focusing on Ponyville and when they capture that we suspect they will head for Canterlot next, we don’t know what to do thank Celestia you're here."You just stare and decide to not say anything. "They have also renamed Equestria Mordor for some odd reason. We must head there immediately." he finishes. "FOOLS! One doesn’t simply walk into Mordor." Pinke Pie states in a very cheery matter-of-fact way." "PINKIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE" you stare wide-eyed having broken your silence momentarily as if that was the strangest thing you’ve seen so far. "Oh that’s obvious, silly, I work here, what did you think I did, work for the Cakes? You’re such a silly sometimes sketch" she says as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Yep, I’m a proud employee of Torchwhoof kicking alien butt working with The Doctor and..." Haru quickly covers her mouth "Hush Pinkie, that’s classified."“Okay” she said as brightly and cheerfully as had become the norm for her, she was truly a strange pony if ever there were one, you thank Celestia that there was only one Pinkie, for if there were ever more you fear that they would be an even greater threat than the Cyberponies facing the beautiful land of Equestria right now. You are given a small ‘tour’ if you can call it that around Torchwhoof and find that its quite pleasant and were there not such a danger to all of Equestria you'd be completely shocked and in total awe at just how amazing this place seemed to be, you began to wonder as they discussed the details you could already discern about the Cyberponies just who built this and why nobody had heard of it as it seems certain Vinyl had never been here and you can’t imagine a place this cool that she hadn't ever been to. When you arrived to what seemed like a control room where a bunch of ponies had some kind of strange headset in their ears you saw a view screen of a map of Equestria and you imagined that the areas shaded in red had to be the places taken over by the cyber ponies. Truly a fearsome opponent they were not to be trifled with. Haru began to explain no doubt this was because it would be too complicated to translate Wille speaking in Swedish even if it wasa beautiful language. “The Cyber Ponies seek to assimilate everypony they possibly can and delete anypony they cannot assimilate, they are a clear threat to us and if they finish taking over Ponyville, Canterlot is next and we will not be able to withstand such fearsome opponents. We must stop them before they remove all beauty from Equestria, or our beloved home will surely fall, I have carefully studied them and their numbers are far too great for us to take on, we would need an army, unfortunately we have nowhere near their numbers, we would be quickly be overwhelmed by them. Doctor you surely must have an idea here.” “Nope, I'm at a loss as well, they have far too many numbers to simply take out with an army you would need creatures with intense magical power, in large numbers, but we don’t have such a large number of available ponies that we could confront them.” Truly this type of war was not The Doctor’s forte, which was rather unfortunate, the whole fate of Equestria riding on him and all of that, but then he replied. “But look at this, all of us here, ponies all gathered here devoted to protecting this beautiful land of Equestria, surely between all the minds here we can find a solution, they don’t seem to have taken over the indigenous species in Equestria only the ponies surely there has to be someone we can call on and cooperate with, there’s just so much potential here for us not to succeed, we have creativity and difference and were alive I mean how amazing as that? Between all of us we have to be able to come to a conclusion I mean look at us all, if we can’t do it then surely nopony can right?” Was this The Doctor? A pony capable of inspiring the masses to hope even in such a terrible situation where everyone was on the brink of death, how was he so calm in this situation? Doesn’t he realize the impending doom? Surely he must… No wait… He definitely realized the doom, he's…excited? Is this a game to him, just who is this pony, so full of contradictions and quirks, and just what has he been through that would prepare him for things such as this, dozens of questions about this man circled around in your mind causing you to black out. Your last thoughts involved wondering why he seemed so familiar, it was as if you had a lot in common with him, maybe he’s just as lonely as you were before you finally found Vinyl, sadly this wasn’t a good time to think or even to hold onto that thought, being blacked out destroyed your ability to continue such a train of thought and realize anything happening around you. AUTHOR’S NOTES YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED! Seriously, I love Doctor Who and Chad wrote this chapter since I was away for the past few days and I must say, it’s well done. But, I thank him and the next part chapter will be coming up very soon. > Chapter Seven What's a TARDIS? Part II > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter Seven: What’s a TARDIS? Part II You woke up next to Vinyl in the infirmary, there was a pony with a nurse’s hat, you assume she was a nurse, hoping you weren't making an ass out of you and her. She instantly realizes the moment your awake and grabs Vinyl’s attention she was momentarily distracted probably thinking about something though you couldn't imagine what until the recent events caught up with you and you remembered when and where you had blacked out. You were filled immediately with an overwhelming sense of dread but vinyl, sensing your worry, comforted you by nuzzling you, the nurse began promptly explaining your blackouts to you saying that they were caused by overtaxing your mind with too many questions, your brain activity would spike filled with more questions than you could handle until the only thing that was left for it was a hard reboot I.E. you blacking out, you didn’t entirely understand it nor know why she was talking about computers but it seemed to make sense to Vinyl. Her comfort was moving and incredibly useful as it seemed to ease you back into reality, as opposed to being tossed against the spiked wall which your reality had suddenly seemed to turn into, you felt so betrayed at how your reality seemed to be changing so much lately I.E. in the past day at how it had become completely unhinged you weren't entirely sure whether or not you were delusional though you were glad that if on the off chance you actually were delusional that at least you had Vinyl standing right by your bedside in said potential delusion as without her it would seem a lot worse. “Sketch, are you ok?” Vinyl said looking at you worryingly “Say something come on..” You realized that you hadn't said a single thing, you didn’t even know if your vocal cords were capable of making noise what if somehow the blackout caused you to lose your ability to speak you became temporarily worried but you couldn't think of anything to say so as to confirm whether or not you were in fact suddenly mute the worry and nervousness and anxiousness all piled one on top of the other until finally you figured out that the only way to confirm whether or not you had been made mute by the ordeal that had been the blackout you would have to say the first word that you could think of no matter what otherwise you might not say it and that word was… “Well at least I haven’t gone mute” they both seem to laugh, thankfully had you been mute you wouldn't have been able to say that and would have spared yourself the embarrassment of being wrong, you take pride that your blackout addled mind had thought up something so ingenious if that's what had actually happen and you didn’t just string together a bunch of words hope for the best and pray you got lucky. Whatever it was you count this among your successes, right next to having vinyl as a lover. This was a good thing. You are quickly filled in by Vinyl what happened in the hour or so you were asleep and as it turns out the Cyberponies haven’t gotten past Ponyville for some currently unknown reason and that most of the semi-friendly species native to Equestria have decided to turn the other way on this one and not get involved, it had been determined that you needed somepony who either had as much to lose by all of this as all of you or who was incredibly nice and helpful towards everypony or somepony who could be forced/coerced. The Doctor and River came in during the explanation and suddenly Twilight and Haru come barging through the door. “WE KNOW HOW WE CAN STOP THE CYBERPONY INVASION.” You are greatly relieved to hear this, perhaps too relieved, you find yourself blacking out immediately from the sheer relief of it all which apparently your mind isn’t able to handle at the time. When you awake again you find yourself nauseous and about to puke, you’re on the TARDIS and Vinyl seems to have a bucket at the ready for you. “Told you he would still puke even if he wasn’t awake.” Vinyl said and you couldn't help but laugh. “I guess you were right, he is certainly a strange pony isn’t he.” They both giggled at this. “Yeah, but he's my strange pony and I love him to death.” Once more the bucket seemed to disappear after being filled with what you could only imagine was the beautiful lunch that your wonderful mare had cooked for you, now sadly thrown away, somewhat disheartening but mostly disorienting. You see The Doctor monitoring various view screens in the TARDIS and notice that Fluttershy appears to have convinced some timber wolves into fighting against the Cyberponies, you find it to be one of her more awesome moments as you never knew she could be such a badass pony. Pinkie and somepony who she had earlier referred to as captain Jack Hoofress seemed to be fighting their own small battle and being slowly overwhelmed you turned around feeling someone was watching you and realized princesses Celestia and Luna were both preparing a spell, you realize you’re floating in midair when the TARDIS doors are opened by River as they together cast a spell radiating all over Ponyville and beyond that even, Vinyl explains that it should weaken their defenses which nopony had previously been able to penetrate and according to the screens it seemed to work though the battle was still in favor of the Cyberponies, you were going to congratulate them on striking such a blow but you realized they had moved off away from the door (now closed) to rest, clearly it had taken a lot out of them to do this and you didn’t think things would be able to get much better any time soon at this rate. “Alright we should have bought Pinkie and the others enough time now onto recruit some more allies…” said The Doctor as he started punching in information to the TARDIS and doing the equivalent of what you had to imagine must have been steering it. When you suddenly stop and the doors open you realize a sense of dread prevailing you, you don't know why but somehow this feeling of dread had overridden your desire to throw up as you had every other time the TARDIS engines were used, you quickly realized however this was not true and that you were merely too caught up in that feeling of dread to realize that you had in fact puked… a lot. You were in the middle of the changelings. It was a giant valley, but instead of grass or anything else growing it was just rock. Rock was everywhere and it was strangely beautiful even though it seemed so barren, the jagged spires near the top of the valley made it near-impossible to get into the area without flying. “WHO DARES TRESPASS IN THE DOMAIN OF THE CHANGELINGS” much to River’s dismay he pulled the doors inward and out walked the doctor stating calmly “Hh… that would be me, hehe, hi there.” He said ever amused, this pony clearly was a thrill seeker he seemed to get a new level of high every time he encountered a more dangerous situation, you begin to wonder if he's ever tried skydiving but you think that would perhaps be a bit tame for him. “Well now it seems that Equestria would be in a bit of a bind with the Cyberpony invasion but you lot seem perfectly fine... now why is that?” he asked the question out loud though you couldn't discern if he was saying it to himself or if he knew the answer and just wanted to see if they'd tell him or if he was trying to not make assumptions or maybe and perhaps most likely this was just a part of his process “The Cyberponies are no threat to us, we are strong enough to defend ourselves unlike most of Equestria we can actually fight, numerous wards protect our lands as well, they would not dare touch this place otherwise they would feel our wrath” boasted their apparent queen arrogantly. “But that's not quite true is it, from what Haru and Twilight told me they're endangering your food supply, you feed on the strong feelings of love ponies have for one another, if the Cyberponies invade then they will eradicate love, sure you can scrounge up some food here and there I'm sure there are numerous creatures they may not harm though it’s unlikely, but… I don't think you quite enjoy the idea of that now do you. The queen was angered, it seems that there is more than she was telling us to this story, but why wouldn't she have attacked them if this was true..? “Their numbers are far greater than ours and they have crippled the supply of that which we feed off of, we are at a loss for the ability to fight them now, had we seen just what a threat they could be we would have acted sooner however now it is too late…” The Doctor nodded this was the response he seemed to be hoping she would give, what a cunning pony you thought to yourself to so easily manipulate the queen of the changelings. “But that's not entirely true anymore now, for you see the sister princesses of Equestria have used their magic to weaken the Cyberponies, right now they are being weakened by their combined feelings of love for each other as sisters and for all of Equestria, they have sacrificed much to use this spell, I should say that is quite a feat of love and that such a thing would easily give you the advantage over the Cyberponies, the window of opportunity closes though I don't think we could keep this offer on the table for much longer and I don't think I’d like to ask them to work their magic again, if we weaken the Cyberponies as a whole we can slowly begin to convert them back to regular ponies again but as their army stands now we would not be able to do so efficiently, I propose an alliance, your soldiers help us fight and we help make sure that your source of energy stays for generations to come, what do you say?” he said with a broad smile that infuriated the queen. Perhaps though it was merely the concept that she was forced into this, that she was trapped between a rock and a hard place, she gritted her teeth and agreed however, and ordered her troops to fly over Equestria, starting with Ponyville and to begin attacking the Cyberponies, a war ensued and they were effectively fighting back the cyber ponies in no time, once Ponyville’s Cyberponies were defeated most of the army moved on to free the other places in Equestria, Queen Chrysalis decided to stay behind and watch. It wasn’t until twilight and almost all of the available unicorns had used up all their energy temporarily to transform most of Ponyville's citizens that were also worn out upon being transformed back to their original forms, that Queen Chrysalis made her declaration grinning maliciously. “FOOLS, DID YOU THINK I WOULD HELP YOU ALL SO EASILY, NOW THAT YOU DON'T HAVE PRINCESS CELESTIA PROTECTING YOU NOBODY CAN STOP ME” with that she cast a spell to lock the TARDIS doors so that princesses Luna and Celestia couldn't get out while The Doctor and River couldn't get in, I wondered where Vinyl had gone hoping that she was alright and hadn't been secretly taken hostage. You quickly spotted her though in a shadow with something behind her and she winked at you and motioned for you to look away which you did before you were noticed. “I AM INVINCIBLE NOW THAT I'VE ABSORBED ALL OF THIS ENERGY I MUST REMEMBER TO THANK PRINCESSES LUNA AND CELESTIA IF I EVER GET TO SEE THEM AGAIN.” “I don't think so, check out MAH BASS CANNON” you realize that while Queen Chrysalis had been gloating she had dragged out her bass cannon and you silently congratulated her, her awesomeness having been taken to a whole new level, though this was abruptly halted as before she could press the button she was zapped away by chrysalis’s magic and she lay several yards away from it struggling to get up before collapsing, naturally instead of running to the cannon to thwart the Queen’s evil plot you run to her, she doesn't object because of the whole being knocked out cold thing naturally. You heard the sound of someone clearing their throat in time to realize that it was Haru, who hadn't been curing everyone with twilight but had apparently gone unnoticed when he decided to stay back in case (as far as you can tell) Chrysalis decided to pull exactly what she is right now pulling. “I believe it is time, as the youngsters say, to… ‘rock and roll’” the horrible line caught everyone completely off guard, especially Chrysalis who didn’t realize until it was too late that this was his setup line for not only activating vinyl’s base cannon by slamming down the button but also using his magic to amplify the sound waves that a moment later came blasting out of the cannon heading right at chrysalis in a flash of green, white, and blue sending her blasting off who knows where possibly for a second time if ever there were a first time this had happened to someone or her though why that would be significant is lost on you. Wille and Haru helped you get Vinyl back to your house “I’m going to stay here instead of going back with The Doctor, just in case anything happens” River said walking into the house as Wille and Haru walked out. “He’s going to take them home then try to figure out why the Cyberponies all of a sudden came. But in the mean time let’s try and get her awake again” she signaled towards Vinyl, who never left your side after her run-in with Chrysalis. River pulled out something that looked like a pen but made of nothing but metal as she held it towards Vinyl and the tip of it popped open glowing green and making weird humming noises. “What is that?” You said staring at it “I won’t go into details so it’s a Sonic Screwdriver. She’s fine dear, just needs rest take her to the bed if you please would, I’m going to go with Twilight to check on all the ponies that were changed back.” You nodded and gently carried Vinyl upstairs as River slipped out the door. AUTHOR’S NOTES CILFFHANGERS! WOOHOO! Alright not really a cliffhanger but if I read this without knowing what was going to happen I’d hate it. Can’t say anymore, spoilers dear.