And So it Ended, and So it Begins Again

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

Chapter 1

Chronology notes:
Stop! You are reading the Twelfth and final story of the All Good Things series started by The Kindness of Strangers!

Please read The Kindness of Strangers first!
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/389/

The second part of the story is Putting the Pieces Back Together found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/407/

The third part of the story is Midnight in the Heart of Equestria found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/419/

The fourth part of the story is Tomorrow is Always a New Day found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/433/

The fifth part of the story is To Each Their Own found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/526/

The sixith part of the story is Imperfect found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/600/

The seventh part of the story to Paradiso found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/687/

the eighth part of the story is Broken Record found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/732/

The ninth part of the story is Home Sweet Home found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/826/

The tenth Rite of Passage found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/895/

This story is the direct sequel to The Long Road Home found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1030/

And So it Ended, and So it Begins Again
Chapter 1

A cool breeze fell upon the mare’s face; she opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. The sky was the deep red of sunrise, looking east, she could see the sun rising. It was beautiful.

Vinyl Scratch was perfectly content to lie here and watch for the rest of the morning, completely unworried that she hadn’t the faintest idea where she even was. Knowing her, she’d gotten drunk off her arse the night before and wandered off into the wilderness. Her head was splitting, so the likelihood of being hung-over was extremely high.

“Excuse me? Are you all right?”

Vinyl looked up to find a rather attractive looking earth pony stallion standing over her, grey coat and an orange mane, his eyes were a soft and gentle looking orange, and he had the cutie mark of a diskette on his flank.

“I am now!” Vinyl said with a grin. “Name’s Vinyl Scratch, what’s yours?”

“I’m... Montana Ulhan, ponies call me Monty though,” Monty said smiling at her.

“Nice to meet ya!” Vinyl said with a grin, she sat up and looked Monty over, the pony was stocked full of camping gear. “Going somewhere?”

“Walking across Equestria, actually. Started way west of here in Appleoosa, planning on finishing in Fillydelphia,” Monty said.

“Sounds like fun!” Vinyl said with a grin. “Maybe I’ll join you,” she added in a seductive voice.

“Uh... I ah... have a fillyfriend,” Monty said uneasily.

“Oh boo!” Vinyl said. “Well your loss!”

“I uh... yeah, gotta go! Bye!” Monty said and quickly scampered off to who knows were. Vinyl giggled, he’d been so cute!

Vinyl rose to her hooves and started trotting off. Didn’t matter which direction she went, she’d get somewhere soon enough. She was in the middle of a forest, and quickly found a dirt pathway several metres from where she had been lying and hopped on it, heading west towards... well, she didn’t quite know where this path was going to lead her, but it didn’t exactly matter. Vinyl Scratch was a free spirit, she did what she wanted, when she wanted, and ain’t nopony going to tell her any different!

Vinyl looked to her left and noticed that there was a collapsed cave. She stopped, she didn’t know why, but something inside her mind told her to stop and look. She looked at it for a good long minute before it hit her. Vinyl clutched her head in pain and collapsed to the ground. A memory flooded into her head, she was walking into a cave with a lavender unicorn mare.

The memory had been short; Vinyl Scratch had not been able to make out very much, except that the unicorn that she had been with had a really nice arse.

Vinyl grinned to herself; she always focused on the important things. She attributed it to a dream or drunken debauchery, both were just as likely, and she continued on her way without a second thought.

Soon enough, Vinyl Scratch had exited the tree line and found herself on the edge of a small town. She had another flash of a memory. This time a hole in the ground, a Pegasus filly standing next to her, Vinyl Scratch clutched her head in pain, now she was curious. Something wasn’t right here, one odd event in a day, that could be written off, another one so soon after? Well that warranted investigation.

Vinyl trotted into town, crossing a bridge over the river that ran along the town’s edge and trotted off down the high street.

It was still early, so Vinyl was not expecting anypony to be up and about at this hour, and to her surprise, there was one.

Vinyl threw her hooves over her ears when the shrill sound of a whistle broke the air.

“Come on Whirlwind! You can do it way faster than that! If that sky isn’t cleared in ten seconds flat, I’ll just get more clouds and you can do it over again!”

Vinyl looked over to the source of the shouting, and discovered an extremely hot Pegasus mare with her mane in the colours of a Rainbow.

“Yes ma’am,” said another pony, a grey coated Pegasus stallion, his mane matched his coat completely, as did his Cutie Mark of a Twister, what stuck out about this pony were the eyes, they were a deep red, much like Vinyl’s own.

Whirlwind leapt into the air and zoomed off to clear the sky.

“FASTER!” The rainbow maned Pegasus mare called out.

“You’ll have to excuse my saying so, but you have quite the pair of lungs miss,” Vinyl said suggestively.

The rainbow maned Pegasus turned around, instantly picking up on Vinyl’s intentions with the comment.

“You must be new in town... so let me fill you in on a little secret. I am not into mares, so do yourself a favour and stop hitting on me before I knock your teeth in!” the rainbow maned Pegasus said with annoyance in her voice. Vinyl grinned like a madmare, when she found a button to push; she couldn’t help but push it.

“Hey! Come on! I’m just trying to be friendly. I’m Vinyl Scratch! What’s your name?” Vinyl asked sweetly.

“Rainbow Dash,” the Pegasus said simply. “AND IF YOU WANT ON MY WEATHER TEAM, WHIRLWIND, YOU NEED TO FLY FASTER!”

Vinyl watched as this Whirlwind pony cleared the sky above them, and landed back on the ground, panting heavily.

“That was pathetic!” Rainbow Dash cried out. “DO IT AGAIN!”

“Yes ma’am,” Whirlwind said simply, he paused, looking at Vinyl intently, as if he recognised her. Vinyl looked back, smiling brightly at him.

“Hey! Stop staring at the wildlife! Get back to work!” Rainbow Dash yelled at him.

“Yes ma’am,” Whirlwind said, leaping into the air.

“Well, you got the wild part right,” Vinyl said with a grin. “Being a little hard on him though aren’t you?”

Rainbow Dash blushed slightly, but shrugged it off. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, see what I’m doing? I am training a champion! He’s going to be the fastest pony in Equestria after I get through with him! Well... second to yours truly anyway!”

“Oh! So you like going fast? Well you’re in luck; I like to go fast too!” Vinyl said with a grin.

Rainbow Dash turned a bright red. “Do you have anything better to do than hit on me?”

“Nope!” Vinyl said with a grin. “I’ll be seeing you around Rainbow Dash.”

Vinyl gave Rainbow Dash a small wink, oblivious to the fact that Rainbow Dash couldn’t see it with the goggles that covered her eyes, and she likely wouldn’t have cared even if she had. Rainbow Dash watched her walk away in confusion, completely forgetting about Whirlwind and when he touched back down on the ground, she made him do his task again without actually knowing how fast he did it.

Being early, there weren’t many ponies out and about.

“I’m very sorry to have bothered you this early in the morning. I hate to interrupt you while you’re sleeping, Twilight Sparkle,” a stallion’s voice said.

Vinyl walked closer to the source, interested to hear more.

“Oh don’t worry about it Doctor! I was actually awake anyway! I hope the book helps!” said another voice, this one belonging to a mare.

“I think it will, thank you again!” The stallion said.

Vinyl had practically come down right on top of them, the stallion came into view. Standing before her was a unicorn stallion, with a black coat and mane, amber eyes, and a green medical cross for a cutie mark.

“Hello!” The stallion said, “I don’t think that I’ve seen you in town before! I’m Doctor Nightly.”

“Vinyl Scratch!” Vinyl said with her trademark grin. Something about this pony was familiar, Vinyl had another flash of memory; she saw this pony, standing with two others that looked a lot like him.

Vinyl shook her head. “Hey... uh, this might sound like a weird question... but do you have brothers?”

“Brothers?” Doctor Nightly repeated. “No... I can’t say that I do, I was an only-colt growing up. Why do you ask?”

“Oh... I...” Vinyl said. “No reason, I just thought that maybe I’d seen somepony that looked like you before.”

“Ah,” Doctor Nightly replied. “I see, well sorry I couldn’t be more helpful!”

“Nah don’t worry, you’re fine!” Vinyl said with a polite smile, and with that, the two ponies parted ways.

Vinyl continued to wander aimlessly around the town, unable to shake the nagging suspicion that she had been here before. Every building she looked at would give her a flash of memory.

And then she laid her eyes upon another one. Sugarcube Corner.

Then she remembered.

Vinyl Scratch collapsed to the ground, memories flooded back to her mind. She remembered meeting Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash on her way to the Hoofson Bay. She remembered going with Lyra, Bon Bon, Derpy, Trixie, Big Macintosh, Braeburn, and Trooper Willoughby to Manehattan. She remembered meeting Scootaloo and becoming sisters, in fact though not by blood. She remembered Surprise, the psychotic Pegasus who did such unspeakable things to them.

She remembered the missile. It had gone off.

Vinyl remembered everything, but it raised new questions, if the bomb went off, then what was this place? How was she here? And maybe most importantly, what the hell were the Bonds of Eternity?

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Vinyl was panicking, nothing made sense anymore. She remembered everything. The bomb had gone off that meant...

That meant she was dead.

Vinyl collapsed onto the ground, sobbing heavily, she was dead. She killed Scootaloo, and she probably killed everypony else alongside her, but it lead her to another question. If she was dead, then what was all this?

“Are you all right?”

Vinyl Scratch looked up to see that Whirlwind was standing over her, but when Vinyl looked upon him, she didn’t see Whirlwind, she saw Overdrive. The coat, mane, and eyes, those were all his.

Vinyl screamed at the top of her lungs, and instinctively began to back away. “Get the fuck away from me!” she cried out hysterically.

She had clearly startled the Pegasus, he took a step back, but immediately regained composure and donned a neutral expression, clearly an attempt to put the unicorn mare at ease, but so far, it had failed.

“What is going on over here?!” Rainbow Dash cried out as she approached them.

“I... I don’t know, I didn’t do anything,” Whirlwind said.

“That’s right you’re not doing anything! Get back to work!” Rainbow Dash said.

Whirlwind nodded and leapt into the air, Rainbow Dash kneeled down at Vinyl’s side.

“Hey, are you all right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Vinyl was not able to answer in more than a stammer.

“Okay... I think you might need to see a doctor, come on! Whirlwind can go ten minutes without my supervision,” Rainbow Dash said as she helped Vinyl to her hooves.

Vinyl was not able to answer, for a pony that had a talent with words; she was not able to find any.

Rainbow Dash helped Vinyl towards the Ponyville Clinic, they made a good pace, when Vinyl wasn’t tripping over herself anyway, she was horribly disoriented, and the shock of her previous life’s memories returning to her all at once had done a number on the unicorn’s mind. Rainbow Dash on the other hoof didn’t know what to think, she assumed that the unicorn had been drinking before wandering into town, but chose to withhold her judgement as she half carried her into the clinic.

Sitting at the receptionist’s desk was a blue coated unicorn mare with an hourglass cutie mark, and a mane that reminded Vinyl of toothpaste.

“Hi Colgate,” Rainbow Dash said. “Is the Doc in? It’s kind of important.”

Colgate frowned as she looked Vinyl over. “My, she really doesn’t look well. Go ahead and take her back, I’ll fetch him for you.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow Dash said, she walked Vinyl back to the examination room, helping her onto the examination table, and taking a seat at the back of the room.

“I hope you know that I haven’t forgiven you for hitting on me! I’m just helping you because it’s the right thing to do!” Rainbow said.

Vinyl smiled weakly at her, she had missed Rainbow Dash so much.

The door opened and the doctor walked in. Vinyl really didn’t know who else to have expected, but when Doctor Nightly walked in, she began to scream at the top of her lungs. She wasn’t seeing Nightly, she was seeing Nightshadow.

Her eyes darted around the room for the best weapon that she could find. So far, a reflex hammer was about all she could find, she reached out with her magic and grabbed it, pulling it towards her and pointing it as threateningly as she could towards him.

“Get away from me!” Vinyl screamed.

“Miss Scratch... please put that down,” Doctor Nightly said with a frown. “I just want to help you.”

“The fuck you do!” Vinyl screamed back.

“Woah! Hey!” Rainbow Dash called out. “I don’t know where you’re from, but that kind of language isn’t acceptable around here! Now stop being crazy and let the doc do his job!”

The vocal equivalent to a smack across the face had done its job, Vinyl realised how ridiculous she must have looked to Rainbow Dash; she had remembered the Siblings Nightmare and what they had done. Rainbow did not. Vinyl frowned and uneasily set the reflex hammer down where it had been lying before.

“Don’t you worry!” Doctor Nightly said with a smile. “I promise I’m not going to hurt you! I’m a doctor, I just want to help, now lie back so I can give you a good look over.”

Vinyl complied; Doctor Nightly’s horn began to glow as he waved it back and forth over her, collecting as much information as he could with his magic.

“Have you been drinking, Miss Scratch?” Nightly asked.

“I... I don’t know,” Vinyl said. She tried to remember anything about what she had been doing before waking up in Whitetail Wood, but nothing came to her. She supposed that it wasn’t surprising; her old life before meeting Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle on the way to the Hoofson Bay had been like that, with large swaths of her memory completely missing.

“Well, apart from a case of mild dehydration... I can’t seem to find anything that’s wrong with you. Drink lots of water today, and come back at the end of the week and I’ll give you another look over, how’s that sound?”

“All right,” Vinyl said uneasily, she sat back up and hopped down off the examination table. Doctor Nightly smiled at her as she and Rainbow Dash departed from the clinic.

“You know...” Rainbow Dash said. “I couldn’t help but think how familiar you are, I think I know who you are!”

Vinyl stopped and looked at Rainbow Dash with a huge smile forming on her face. “You do!?” she asked.

“Yeah... You’re DJ Pon3! I went to one of your shows a couple of years ago!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Oh,” Vinyl said, her ears drooped in disappointment. Just like her old life, everypony that knew her knew her as DJ Pon3. She didn’t want to be DJ Pon3 anymore; she just wanted to be Vinyl Scratch. “Hey, Rainbow Dash? Thanks for helping me out... and sorry for giving you such a hard time this morning.”

“Hey? Are you going to be all right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I’ll manage,” Vinyl said, giving Rainbow Dash a feeble smile, and the two of them parted ways.

...

Vinyl wandered through the streets for several hours. She was afraid, she had no idea what to think of all this and she didn’t notice that she had walked into somepony until after it had already happened.

“Oh gosh! I’m so sorry!” Vinyl said, she looked up to see that she walked into a bright pink earth pony with a curly magenta mane, deep blue eyes looking back at her.

Pinkie Pie looked at Vinyl intensely, making her feel more than a little uneasy.

“Uh... hello?” Vinyl asked.

Pinkie Pie leapt into the air and let out an exasperated gasp, and immediately scampered off in the other direction. Vinyl’s ears drooped in disappointment, Vinyl remembered Twilight Sparkle describing a similar incident, this meant that Pinkie Pie had not recognised her, and was running off to plan a surprise party for her.

Vinyl didn’t want a party. She wanted to be remembered, her head hanging low, she continued to wander up and down through the town, passed the Ponyville Library and eventually sitting down on a park bench next to it.

She looked across the street, noticing that the flat she had been living at with Scootaloo had a “for rent” sign hanging in the window. She felt tears forming in her eyes and ripped her goggles off her head with her magic and threw them across the street in frustration.

“Ow! Hey!”

Vinyl’s head snapped up, she’d accidentally hit somepony with them. She frowned when she saw who it was. Twilight Sparkle was sitting on the ground, rubbing her head while the goggles were lying next to her.

“Oh... fuck!” Vinyl said quietly, she hopped up and crossed the street to help Twilight up. “I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to hit you!”

“It’s... are you crying?” Twilight asked looking up at her. Vinyl was. In her panic, she had forgotten the tears that were streaming down her muzzle. “Are you all right?”

“I... uh... shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” Vinyl asked, attempting to deflect the question.

“I’m okay,” Twilight said as Vinyl helped her to her hooves. “Are you?”

Vinyl frowned. “I’m fine,” she said unconvincingly.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her. “I don’t believe you, I haven’t seen you around before, are you new to town?”

“I... yeah, just rolled in this morning,” Vinyl said simply.

“And let me guess, you don’t have any place to stay?” Twilight asked.

“I... no,” Vinyl admitted.

“Didn’t think so,” Twilight said with a small smile. “Come on! You can stay with me.”

“You’re being awfully nice to a pony that you don’t even know,” Vinyl said.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, what’s your name?” Twilight asked.

“Vinyl Scratch.”

“Well Vinyl Scratch, now we know each other!” Twilight said smiling brightly. “Now come on! I’m not going to take no for an answer.”

Vinyl smiled weakly at Twilight, she picked up her goggles and followed her into the Ponyville Library.

Vinyl was glad that she would always have Twilight, even if she didn’t remember her.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Vinyl Scratch spent most of her time reading; she dived into every history book in the Ponyville Library, looking for anything she could about... well practically everything. She wanted to know if her memories matched up with this world.

They did not.

Big events, like Princess Luna’s transformation into Nightmare Moon remained unchanged. However, she discovered that history from that time period was slightly better documented. Not much better, but still better.

Queen Gaia, the mother of the princesses had contracted a fatal illness, and her death had driven her husband, King Aether, insane. Transforming him into the Draconequus, Discord, Princess Celesta and Princess Luna utilised the magic of the Elements of Harmony to seal him inside a stone prison, the elements alone were not strong enough to truly defeat him, as their companion magics, the Bonds of Eternity, had been long lost to the wind.

Bonds of Eternity again, this was the third reference to the Bonds of Eternity in this book, but they really didn’t say anything about them in particular, only that they were long lost, and nopony knew where they were.

Vinyl Scratch figured this to be a lie. Princess Luna had seemed to have a good idea where they were. Vinyl guessed that she had hidden them away in case she needed to use them against her siblings in case they got out of hoof, smart move, considering that they did.

While documented, the Bonds of Eternity had apparently been forgotten about, Vinyl Scratch had certainly never heard of them, and asking Twilight about them yielded no results.

Moreover, the history books didn’t contain a single mention of Overdrive or the Siblings Nightmare at all, Vinyl Scratch eventually surmised that they hadn’t existed at all, instead appearing in this new world as Whirlwind and Doctor Nightly, two ponies that frankly, in the grand scheme of things, did not matter.

More to her own delight, Vinyl discovered that Equestria maintained healthy diplomatic and trading relationships not only the kangaroos of South Island, but the zebras of Zhosa, and even the ponies of Welera and the Cossack Confederation, and to her greatest surprise, The Twin Gryphon Kingdoms. In fact, both of the wars between South Island and her allies and the Twin Gryphon Kingdoms had not happened at all, thanks to the keen wisdom and mediation of Princess Celestia herself.

“I thought I read a lot!” Twilight Sparkle said with a small smirk as she watched her fellow unicorn nose deep in the history books.

“Let’s just say I’ve got a lot to catch up on,” Vinyl said.

“I hope you really appreciate the irony of this statement...” Twilight said. “But put down the book and come with me.”

Vinyl’s head perked up, unbeknownst to Twilight, she really could appreciate the irony of that statement. “Why?”

“Just do it! Otherwise I’ll pick you up with magic and carry you there!”

“Fine,” Vinyl said, she set the book she was reading down and crossed the room to where her fellow unicorn mare was standing. “Take me to your leader!” she added with a grin.

“I think that might be the first time I’ve seen you smile,” Twilight said.

“Yeah well, things are starting to look up!” Vinyl said.

The two mares trotted down the street towards Sugarcube Corner, the town sweetshop, Twilight opened the door and the two walked in.

“There a reason why it’s so dark in here?” Vinyl asked, and then she remembered.

The lights clicked on.

“SURPRISE!”

Oh fuck! Vinyl froze instinctively, tensing herself for a fight, but discovered quickly that it had not been who she was expecting.

Rather it was Pinkie Pie who had just tossed a bunch of confetti in her face.

“Hi. I'm Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you. Were you surprised, were you, were you? Huh huh huh?” Pinkie Pie asked rather obnoxiously.

“Uh... yeah,” Vinyl said, true, she had known it was coming, but she had completely forgotten about it. After meeting a certain white coated Pegasus, Vinyl Scratch didn’t really like surprises anymore.

“You see, I saw you when you first got here, remember? You were all, hello, and I was all, GAAAAHHH remember? You see I never saw you before, and if I never saw you before that means you're new, 'cause I know every pony, and I mean every pony in Ponyville, and if you're new, then it meant you hadn’t met anyone yet, and if you hadn’t met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, and I had an idea, and that's why I went GAAAAHHH, I'll just throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in Ponyville. See? And now you have lots and lots of friends,” Pinkie said without missing a beat, or taking a breath.

“She did the exact same thing to me,” Twilight said. “Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure she said the same thing to me too.”

“That would be because I did!” Pinkie Pie said. “So come on! Have fun! Everypony is here! Well except Whirlwind, ‘cause Dashie has him flying laps around town!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said, looking over to the Rainbow maned Pegasus who was leaning back against the wall munching on an apple.

“What? I am training a world class athlete!” Rainbow Dash said defensively.

“You’re working him too hard!” Twilight said.

“He’ll be fine! What’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like he’s going to drop dead from exercising!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Rainbow...” Twilight said with annoyance.

“Fine!” Rainbow Dash said, she rose and walked over to an open window. “WHIRLWIND! Take a break!” she shouted.

Vinyl found herself grinning, even in this place; Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were still perfect for each other.

“Yes ma’am.” Whirlwind replied, landing gingerly on the ground and trotting inside. He spotted Vinyl Scratch and cringed slightly, he trotted towards the other end of the room, attempting to put as much distance between himself and her as possible.

Vinyl felt guilty now, she crossed the room and went up to the sweating Pegasus, who was getting himself a bottle of water.

“Whirlwind... hey, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for earlier!” Vinyl said.

“It’s fine,” Whirlwind said simply, trying to hide his apprehensiveness. “Listen. I don’t want to sound rude... but I don’t want Rainbow Dash to see us talking.”

Vinyl cocked her head in confusion. “Why not?” she asked.

“I... uh...” Whirlwind managed, looking at the floor in embarrassment.

“OH!” Vinyl said, understanding instantly. “You have a crush on Rainbow Dash!”

Whirlwind jumped in surprise, immediately stuffing a hoof over Vinyl’s mouth.

“Please! Say it louder why don’t you!” Whirlwind exclaimed sarcastically. “Rainbow Dash likes tough ponies, I work my butt off for her to prove that I’m tough enough, and I will not have you ruin this for me!”

Vinyl was smiling brightly at Whirlwind. This was truly not what she had expected from him of all ponies. “Secret’s safe with me!”

Whirlwind sighed in relief, and jumped slightly when Rainbow Dash called out to him.

“Whirlwind! Break’s over!” Rainbow Dash cried at him.

“Yes Ma’am!” Whirlwind exclaimed, and departed from the party quickly, leaping into the air.

Rainbow Dash was smirking as she watched her trainee fly off. “He likes me,” she said.

“How can you tell?” Vinyl asked, intending to keep her promise not to say anything.

“How can you not?” Rainbow Dash asked. “That pony would jump off a bridge and not try to fly if I told him to do it!”

Vinyl Scratch smirked.

“Don’t get me wrong, Whirlwind’s a nice guy and all, but I’m not exactly looking for a relationship right now,” Rainbow Dash explained. “Just don’t want to hurt him, you know?”

“Yeah, I think I do,” Vinyl said nodding in agreement.

“Good, breathe a word of this to him, and I’ll end you! Got me?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Not a word!” Vinyl said with a grin.

The party went on late into the night; Pinkie Pie soon became the victim of a sugar crash and everypony eventually made their way home. Taking it upon herself, Vinyl picked Pinkie Pie up and set her on her back.

“Go ahead back to the Library Twilight, I’m going to put her to bed, and I’ll be right behind you,” Vinyl said.

Twilight nodded and walked out the door. Vinyl trotted up the stairs with Pinkie Pie in tow, the pink party pony was heavier than she looked, but Vinyl didn’t complain, she carried her up to the second floor, and gently tucked her into bed.

“I like you so much better this way,” Vinyl said, smiling at the sleeping pony. “Good night Pinkie Pie.”

Vinyl Scratch pulled the covers over her and went back down stairs and out the front door into the deserted high street.

“Psst!” said a voice from an alleyway.

“Huh?” Vinyl asked herself, she trotted over to the alley and looked in. Nothing was there.

“Surprise,” said another voice quietly.

Before Vinyl knew what had happened, she’d been pushed into the alley and her assailant was on top of her. Vinyl lie on her back as Surprise was on top of her, attempting to strangle her to death, Vinyl had her hooves up, trying to push the Pegasus off her, but to no avail.

“Did you really think you could get away from me that easy?!” Surprise harked at her. “Well you were dead wrong!”

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Vinyl was doing her best, struggling to keep Surprise’s hooves away from her neck, so far, she was succeeding, but it was only a matter of time before the crazed Pegasus overpowered her.

Surprise had murder in her eyes; she would not stop until one of them was dead.

“What is going on here!?”

Both of them stopped and looked at who had been unlucky enough to approach them. Surprise’s eyes widened.

“Master!” She called out, leaping off Vinyl and throwing herself at Whirlwind’s hooves. “Oh Master! I am so glad to see you! I feared the worst!”

Whirlwind looked utterly confused, and looked to Vinyl for help.

Play along, Vinyl mouthed silently, Whirlwind nodded in understanding.

Vinyl began to act out what she wanted him to say, she pointed to her eye.

“I...” Whirlwind began.

Vinyl pointed at Whirlwind with her hoof, taking up a stern look and intimating a famous old propaganda posted.

“I need you...” Whirlwind said. Vinyl was happy, Whirlwind was either very good at charades, or she was really bad at it.

She leapt to her hooves and began to trot in place.

“To... walk?” Whirlwind said unsurely. Good enough.

Vinyl pointed to the east, and made an arcing motion with her hooves, when her hoof was directly over her head; she began to pant, and wiped imaginary sweat off her brow. Her hoof lowered, pointing to the west and jabbing several times, indicating where she wanted Surprise to go.

“Where the sun sets?” Whirlwind asked.

Vinyl nodded.

“I want you to walk west...” Whirlwind said, looking back at Surprise, who was still watching him intensely; completely oblivious to the fact that Vinyl was acting incredibly silly behind her.

Vinyl started to trot in place again, but then stopped; she hopped a small distance and stood up, balancing herself on her hind legs with great difficulty, and bringing her forelegs over her head and fashioning them into a point above her head.

“Into the Everfree forest?”

Vinyl dropped down to all fours and nodded at him. She then sat down, looking out blankly into space; she raised her foreleg and looked at, then set it down, and then raised it up and looked at it again with a silent sigh.

“And wait there...” Whirlwind said.

Vinyl nodded and began acting out the next set of instructions; however Whirlwind seemed to get the idea.

“Until I come for you. Can you do that for me?”

Surprise nodded, intensely smiling at him. “Anything for you Master! I love you Master!” she bowed towards Whirlwind and then rose to her hooves and began walking towards the Everfree forest.

“And don’t do anything else on the way!” Whirlwind added quickly.

“Of course Master!” Surprise called back.

They waited until she was out of view, and then Whirlwind turned to Vinyl. “I think I deserve an explanation for what just happened here.”

“You do,” Vinyl said, giving the Pegasus a small smile. “You really do Whirlwind... just, not right now, okay? I have a lot of thinking to do after that... episode.”

Whirlwind gave a small, quiet sigh, but looked up at the unicorn mare and gave her a smile. “All right,” he said simply.

Vinyl smiled back at him. “You’re a good colt Whirlwind; Rainbow Dash doesn’t know what she’s missing.”

“Take care, Miss Scratch,” Whirlwind said, and with that the two parted ways.

Vinyl went back to the library, and pushed the door open gingerly. Twilight was still awake, scribbling something on a scroll with her magic.

“Oh good! Vinyl you’re back I was beginning to think you got lost and... oh my gosh! What happened to you?!” Twilight cried in surprise as she looked over the mare, who was covered in dirt, and had her mane and tail tossed about in a complete mess from her scuffle with Surprise.

“I... It’s nothing you need to worry about,” Vinyl said with a small smile. “Relax, it was dark, and I tripped and fell on my face! No biggie!”

Twilight didn’t seem to be convinced, but gave in to the fact that Vinyl wasn’t going to give up anymore than that.

“I appreciate the concern!” Vinyl said. “But really! I’m fine!”

Truth be told, that had been a complete lie. Vinyl Scratch was more than a little disturbed by everything that had happened. Surprise had appeared from nowhere and tried to kill her, only for her to be saved in the nick of time by Overdrive.

No, that wasn’t fair, Whirlwind wasn’t Overdrive, but the way Surprise had acted when she saw him had pretty much confirmed that he had been Overdrive in... whatever this place wasn’t.

Truth be told, Vinyl still hadn’t the faintest clue about what this place was, and it had bothered her that she’d seemed to stop caring about it when Twilight invited her into her home.

“You know, I do have a second bed upstairs in my loft, you’re welcome to it,” Twilight said.

“Nah, I don’t want to intrude on your privacy, the sofa’s fine, let’s just say I’m well acquainted with it,” Vinyl said with a grin.

Twilight raised an eyebrow in curiosity, wondering what she could possibly mean by that. “You... sleep on other ponies sofa’s a lot?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Vinyl said. “I guess I do actually.”

Twilight looked at the mare in front of her; Vinyl could tell that the thoughts running through her mind were something along the lines of “what have I gotten myself into?”

Vinyl grinned reassuringly at her, but she wasn’t sure it was having an effect.

Twilight eventually returned the smile, and bid the mare goodnight, she went upstairs, and Vinyl went and lied down on the sofa. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep; very happy to be... whatever the hell she was right now, as she didn’t know if alive was the right word.

...

Vinyl Scratch awoke to a knock on the door, she groggily rose to her hooves and opened the front door.

“You’re not Twilight Sparkle!”

Vinyl blinked in the early morning light, Derpy Hooves, the town postal mare was standing outside with a comically large box that would have been impossible for her to get here by herself, even though Vinyl looked around to find that there was no other pony around who could have helped her.

“Uh... no, I’m not, I’m Vinyl Scratch. I’m just staying with Twilight for a little while... do you need me to go get her?” Vinyl asked.

“Oh, no, if she’s sleeping I don’t want to wake her up! I know she’s usually up all night studying and I feel bad when I have to wake her up to sign for a package. Anypony can do it; it’s just that she’s the only one who usually does.”

“Okay,” Vinyl said with a smile, she took the mare’s pencil and clipboard and signed her name for the package, and returned it.

The wall eyed Pegasus smiled back as she placed the clipboard back into her bag and helped Vinyl bring the large box inside with great difficulty.

“What is in this thing!?” Vinyl asked.

“Couldn’t tell you, not allowed to open anypony’s packages,” Derpy said with a grunt as they brought the box into the centre of the room.

Derpy sighed in relief. “I am so glad to have this thing delivered! It was so heavy!”

Vinyl nodded in agreement and gave the mare another smile. “I hope you don’t mind me saying this... but has anypony ever told you that you have really pretty eyes?”

“I...” the wall-eyed Pegasus said and then froze, processing what had just been said to her. Her face turned a bright red. “Do... do you really mean that?”

“I do,” Vinyl said with a grin. She found Derpy to be a rather attractive mare, and she knew that if the ponies of Ponyville could look past her eye problems, they’d probably see the same thing to.

“I...” Derpy said, stammering in surprise, she clearly hadn’t heard such a compliment in a long time. “Thank you! Would it be all right... if I could see yours too?”

“Sure!” Vinyl said, lifting her goggles off her face, her bright red eyes shining in the morning light.

Derpy smiled back at her. “You have really pretty eyes too... I uh, I have to get back to delivering the post... maybe I’ll see you tomorrow? Hopefully?”

“I hope so,” Vinyl said grinning from ear to ear.

Derpy bid her goodbye, and continued on her way, humming a cheerful tune as she worked.

Vinyl slid her goggles back down over her eyes and took a look at the large box before her. Twilight was probably going to want to open it right away. Vinyl called for her, and she trotted down the stairs slowly and yawning heavily, upon laying eyes on the box, her eyes widened and she ran over to it.

“It’s here! It’s here!” She cried gleefully.

She went over to her supply closet and levitated a crowbar out from it.

Vinyl watched as she brought it over to it, glancing at the closet. She knew that Twilight liked to be prepared, but sometimes it felt like the solution to every single imaginable problem was inside that closet.

“Why do you have a crowbar?” Vinyl asked.

“Obviously, for this such occasion!” Twilight said with excitement in her voice. She levitated the crowbar up and pried the lid off, it clattered down onto the floor and the two mares looked inside.

Twilight looked at it intensely.

“It’s beautiful!”

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Isn’t it amazing?” Twilight asked.

Vinyl looked into the box; she wasn’t quite as impressed as Twilight was. “It’s a statue, of a unicorn.”

“Not just any statue! This statue is 2000 years old! And it was found in South Island!” Twilight explained.

Vinyl looked in the box again; the stone unicorn was very old looking to be sure; she looked back at Twilight in confusion. “South Island?” she asked. “How does a 2000 year old statue of a unicorn end up in South Island?”

“That’s why it was sent to me! I’m going to find out!” Twilight said with a smile. “I’ve been corresponding regularly with a professor at the South Island National University, and his archæology team found it while doing a dig at a place called Karlu Karlu, which was a site of worship for a tribe of wallabies that went extinct at about the same time.”

“This tribe, why’d they go extinct?” Vinyl asked.

“No one knows,” Twilight said with a shrug. “But the statue! Finding it proved that ponies had visited South Island before Welera did!”

“Is that a big deal?” Vinyl asked.

Twilight’s face filled with embarrassment. “Not really, even if they did come, they didn’t stay very long, and they obviously didn’t have a lasting impact on the natives.”

Vinyl smirked at her. “Well you have fun egghead! I’ll get out of your way.”

“I’ll need to write Professor Tebbs and let him know that the statue arrived... oh what did I do with my quill?” Twilight said.

Vinyl froze at the mention of a name; she slowly turned around to face Twilight. “Percy Tebbs?”

“Yes as a matter of fact! I was so surprised when he contacted me! I’ve read all his books! He talks about how the history of all peoples in the world are interwoven, and that trying to go it alone can only lead to disaster!” Twilight explained.

“Huh. I’ll have to give them a read,” Vinyl said as she trotted out the door, glad that Twilight was too wrapped up in what she was doing to question where Vinyl knew Percy Tebbs from.

She stopped, and looked back at the statue, something about it caught her eye, like she’d seen it somewhere before. It was as if the statue itself was broadcasting a thought of “look at me! Look at me!”

It couldn’t hurt to have a closer look, could it?

Vinyl trotted back over to the box and reached out with her magic to bring the statue closer to her, the microsecond that her magic touched the statue, lightning arced out of it, sending high amperage current running through the mare’s body, strong enough to toss her backwards into the closed door.

She was dead. There was nothing but blackness, she had to be dead.

“Oh my gosh! Vinyl!” Twilight called out to her.

Okay, clearly not dead, still dark though, Vinyl felt herself opening and closing her eyes, but nothing changed. She began to panic.

“Twi... Twilight? Where are you?”

“I’m right here Vinyl,” Twilight said, her voice cutting through the darkness.

“I... I can’t see Twilight,” Vinyl said, her voice filled with panic. “I can’t see!”

“Oh my! Vinyl, I need you to stay calm, I’m going to help you up, and we’re doing to walk over to the clinic, okay?”

“Okay,” Vinyl said, she felt Twilight’s hooves along her side as she guided the mare to stand up; Vinyl heard the door open and the two began to slowly walk forward. It was slow going; Twilight had placed one of her forelegs on Vinyl’s back, guiding her through the streets towards the Ponyville Clinic.

...

“Her eyes are fine... the problem is with the visual cortex in her brain, it’s no longer receiving signals from her eyes,” Doctor Nightly said, his voice filled with sorrow.

“Is it permanent?” Twilight asked.

Doctor Nightly spoke again. “I don’t know, it’s too early to tell, there are a few treatments we can try... but there are no guarantees, there’s a good chance...”

“That I won’t see another damned thing for the rest of my life,” Vinyl finished for him. “I think I’ve heard enough.”

Vinyl slid herself off the exam table, as a result of not being able to see, misjudged the distance between the table and the ground, she landed hard on her stomach, letting out a small whimper in disappointment with herself.

“Vinyl!” Twilight called out, and rushed over to help her up.

“I’m fine!” Vinyl said, pushing the lavender unicorn off her. She rose to her hooves, unsteadily regaining her composure. “I don’t need your help.”

Though she could not see it, Twilight was likely frowning at her, and it only made her angrier.

“I don’t need sympathy! I just need to get out of here,” Vinyl said, frustration filling her voice, she slowly began to walk forward, and didn’t make it more than a metre before stumbling into a trolley filled with tools, which she promptly batted away with her foreleg, sending the tools clattering to the floor and and stormed out of the examination room, running headlong into the wall just opposite the door and falling backwards out of surprise.

Vinyl dropped down to her stomach and began to cry. She’d never felt so lost before, she needed to see! The world was too interesting a place to not be able to take in the sights.

“Vinyl?” Twilight asked.

Through her sobs, Vinyl heard Twilight bring herself down to the floor to console the grieving unicorn.

“Vinyl listen, I can’t possibly imagine what you’re going through right now, but I do know that it’s hard, what you need to realise is that you don’t have to go through this alone! I’m going to be there for you every step of the way, and so will Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, and Whirlwind! I know it!” Twilight said. Vinyl felt the mare’s foreleg wrapping around her shoulder. “It’ll be hard, but everything is going to be okay! I promise!”

If Twilight was lying, then Vinyl didn’t care. She allowed herself to form a small smile on her face as she looked in the direction that she thought Twilight was and smiled at her. “Thank you, Twilight... it really means a lot to me to hear you say that.”

While she had no way to really tell, she guessed that Twilight was smiling back at her. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get you home.”

...

Twilight and Vinyl entered the Library; Twilight guided the blind mare to the sofa and helped her climb up on it, her ears had started to adjust, while Vinyl’s hearing had always been above average, it seemed like that her hearing was starting to compensate for the lack of sight, she was able to hear Twilight step away from the sofa, lift the lid of the box back onto it and began to hammer in nails to shut it tightly.

Thwap! Thwap! Thwap! Thwap!

“Twilight?” Vinyl asked.

“This thing is dangerous, and I’m going to make sure that nopony even so much as lays eyes on it!” Twilight said, she gasped, and dropped her hammer, which clattered loudly on the floor, causing Vinyl to cover her ears in pain.

“Oh my gosh! Vinyl I am so sorry! That was so insensitive!” Twilight said, tossing in several more apologies after that.

“It’s cool, I know what you meant... besides, the reason I lost my eyesight was because I wanted a closer look. I say good riddance... what are you going to do with it?” Vinyl asked.

Twilight was silent for a while. “I don’t know,” she added after several moments, she likely had shrugged in response to the question, and made her thoughts audible upon realising that Vinyl would not be able to see it.

“Twilight?” Vinyl asked. “I need a favour from you.”

“Name it!” Twilight said enthusiastically.

“I need you to promise me that you’re not going to treat me any different. I know that I’m going to need help with certain things now... but I’m still me, okay? I want to still be me.”

“Of course,” Twilight said. Vinyl heard her approach, and felt her as she wrapped her forelegs around her in an embrace; Vinyl returned her hug and felt Twilight’s head rest upon her shoulder. “I’m just glad you’re still with us,” Twilight said. Vinyl felt tears rolling off Twilight’s muzzle and down her shoulder, and found that she was smiling at her friend.

“I am too,” Vinyl said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Vinyl Scratch sat quietly on a park bench just outside the library, eyes closed, listening to the background noise of the town, completely not caring that it didn’t matter whether her eyes were closed or not.

She had never really noticed before just how much activity there was in Ponyville on a day to day basis, while nowhere near on the level of Manehattan or Canterlot, it was far more than anypony would really expect.

She heard hoof steps approaching her; she perked her head up and smiled. “That you Whirlwind?”

“How did you know?” Whirlwind asked.

“I’ll let you know when I figure it out!” Vinyl said grinning mischievously. She heard the bench squeak softly as Whirlwind sat down next to her. “I suppose you came for that explanation I owe you?”

“I will admit, it is part of the reason, a small part, I’m more interested in how you’re doing,” Whirlwind said.

“When I lost my eyesight, I thought it was going to be the end of the world. It’s hard, but I think I’ll be able to manage.” Vinyl said smiling at him. “How are you Whirlwind?”

“Oh, you know, still vying for Rainbow Dash’s affection. Not really getting anywhere, but I don’t mind. I get to spend a lot of time with her while she’s training me,” Whirlwind said. Vinyl didn’t know how, but she knew he was smiling. “I’m not the giving up type.”

“Good! That’s exactly how I lived my life just before I got famous and ruined everything!” Vinyl said, maddening grin on her face. “Take my advice, don’t get famous, you’ll regret it.”

“Duly noted.”

They sat quietly for a while, each of them thinking about what the other had said.

“You want that explanation?” Vinyl asked finally.

“Nah, not right now. I think you’ve had enough on your plate today,” Whirlwind said. “The suspense may kill me, but I’m willing to risk it.”

“Ah! So you do have a sense of humour in that rock-hard shell of yours! I was worried!” Vinyl said, tossing it back at him.

“Rainbow Dash is all business when we’re training, so I am too... I’m not training right now,” Whirlwind said. Vinyl heard the bench creek slightly as Whirlwind got to his hooves. “I have to go, goodbye Vinyl.”

“Bye Whirlwind... hey, listen. Thanks for not treating me any different,” Vinyl said, giving the colt a smile.

“Well, thanks for treating me fairly, considering everything,” Whirlwind said, and trotted away.

Wait. What? Vinyl thought to herself. That had to have been the most ambiguous statement she’d ever heard in her life. Her brain started working at a thousand kilometres an hour, thinking over what he meant by that.

Did he...? Could he possibly know what he was? Vinyl would not be able to get Whirlwind off her mind for the rest of the day. She spent hours sitting on that park bench, lost in thought, she’d practically shut the entire world out, not listening to the sounds of Rainbow Dash yelling at Whirlwind to do better at his training. Not hearing Lyra and Bon Bon chatting about where to eat dinner at as they passed her.

And she certainly didn’t hear Derpy Hooves approach her.

“Um... excuse me?” Derpy said.

Vinyl snapped out of her thoughts and jumped slightly in surprise.

“Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to sneak up on you!” Derpy cried.

“Hey! It’s absolutely fine! Don’t worry about it!” Vinyl said, smiling in the mare’s general direction. “It’s really nice to ‘see’ you again!”

Derpy chuckled uneasily at Vinyl’s joke, clearly afraid that she was going to offend the mare.

Vinyl smiled at her, trying to put her at ease, though she couldn’t tell if it was having an effect or not. She reached out and patted the empty seat on the bench with her hoof. “Come! Sit with me!” Vinyl said and listened as Derpy gingerly sat down on the bench, as if she was afraid it would break from under her.

Vinyl yawned loudly, stretching her forelegs above her head and giving her an excuse to put one around Derpy, she could hear the Pegasus mare breathing loudly, and gave a small chuckle. “You’re really nervous right now, aren’t you?”

“Am I that obvious?” Derpy asked. “I’m sorry, I just... I... nopony has ever showed an interest in me before.”

“Really?” Vinyl asked, legitimately surprised, she know that Derpy’s eyes had to have given her problems, but she had never imagined that they would be that bothersome.

“Well, not legitimate interest... when I was younger, everypony thought I was a lot dumber than I really am, there have been a few ponies that tried... to take advantage of me, in more ways than one,” Derpy said sadly. ”Not that I’m insinuating that you’ll do that too!” she added frantically.

“Relax! Please,” Vinyl said, giving the mare a comforting smile. “I don’t bite... hard.”

Vinyl could feel Derpy’s body temperature rising ever so lightly, she was blushing hard in embarrassment; Vinyl couldn’t help but give her a wide grin.

“So, what did you have to do work up the courage to come see me?” Vinyl asked her.

“Part of a bottle of cider,” Derpy said, “Not exactly proud of it... Dinky doesn’t like it when I drink.”

“Who’s Dinky?” Vinyl asked cocking her head slightly to the side.

“Oh! Uh... she’s my daughter,” Derpy said uneasily. “That... isn’t a problem is it?”

“Problem?” Vinyl asked. “Certainly not! I love kids! Kids generally love me too; they think I’m funny for some reason.”

Vinyl heard Derpy smirk, exhaling breath through her nose.

“Ha! I got you to smile didn’t I?” Vinyl asked.

Derpy didn’t reply right away, Vinyl figured that she probably had nodded as an answer, and then realised what she had done and added a quick “yeah.”

“See! I’m not a bad mare, all that worrying for nothing!” Vinyl said, gently pulling Derpy closer to her. “I can’t wait to tell my parole officer about this!” she added with a grin.

“Parole... officer?” Derpy asked uneasily, but then realised that Vinyl was making another joke. “Oh... ha ha! I get it; you’re trying to pull the wool over my eyes aren’t you?”

No sooner did Derpy finish her statement did she gasp, and clasp her hooves over her mouth; she couldn’t believe that she had just said that. Vinyl however did her best to reassure her.

“Hey, you’re not going to offend me!” Vinyl said, stroking the Pegasus mare’s mane. “I’m funny! I can take a joke! Like if I was to say, ‘I’m watching you clop,’ now that’s funny!”

Derpy had gone quiet, and was clearly blushing again, causing Vinyl Scratch to smile at her. “I know what it’s like, you know, to have something that makes you different that other people don’t understand, just like you.”

“What? Your charming personality?” Derpy asked smugly.

“Hey! Say what you will! I am most definitely charming!” Vinyl said. Grinning like the madmare she was. “Otherwise it would be impossible to get a sober mare out of a club dress!”

“You’re... rather forward about it, aren’t you?” Derpy asked.

“Way I see it? Why waste time dancing around the matter? When you’ve clearly got your sights set on something you want?” Vinyl said proudly. “Know what I mean?”

Derpy sat quietly for a moment. “Yes,” she said finally. “Yes I do. Vinyl Scratch? Would you like to come back to my place for dinner?”

Vinyl grinned widely at the mare sitting next to her. “I thought you’d never ask!”

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Vinyl sat on Derpy’s sofa listening to the sounds of the Pegasus mare fumbling around her kitchen.

“No! No! Stop! That’s not what you’re supposed to do!” Derpy cried amongst sounds of cracking, snapping, and smashing, and one noise that sounded suspiciously like something catching on fire.

“Is everything okay in there?” Vinyl asked. Derpy did not give her an answer. “Should I get a bucket?”

“Yes! Everything is fine!” Derpy said. Vinyl heard flames cut through the quiet air. “Never mind, The Salad just caught fire.”

Vinyl grinned as she listened to Derpy dumping a bucket of water on the meal she was preparing in order to extinguish the flames. Her ears perked up as the Pegasus mare trotted into the room, the sound of defeat in her steps.

“It’s the thought that counts,” Vinyl said, placing her foreleg around the mare’s shoulder as she sat down next to her.

“I just wanted to impress you...” Derpy said sadly.

“Little miss muffin, you already have,” Vinyl said, kissing Derpy gently on her forehead. She didn’t need to be able to see to know the mare was smiling brightly at her.

The front door opened, and then quickly shut behind it.

“Mum! I’m home!” cried the voice of a filly. “Did you set the kitchen on fire again?”

Vinyl heard Dinky as she walked into the room and froze; Vinyl figured that she was probably shy like her mother was.

“Dinky, this is my friend Vinyl Scratch,” Derpy said. “I’m going to go clean up the mess I made in the kitchen, and we’ll all go out for a curry. How’s that sound?”

“Sounds good to me,” Vinyl said with a grin.

Dinky did not say anything, but Vinyl figured that she probably nodded in agreement. Derpy got up from her seat and went back into the kitchen, leaving Dinky and Vinyl alone in the main room.

“Hi there!” Vinyl said.

“Hi,” Dinky said quietly. She was shy.

“Guess your mum’s not that handy in the kitchen huh?” Vinyl asked.

“No not really, she can barely make salad without catching it on fire...” Dinky said. “It smells like she did too.”

Vinyl smirked; she could only imagine how Derpy had managed that. “Do you usually cook?”

“Yeah, I learned to cook a long time before I came to live with mum. My old mum didn’t like me, so I had to learn to take care of myself. My new mum’s way nicer though, she tries, but I still cook for us,” Dinky said.

“Your old mum?” Vinyl asked. “So then... you’re adopted?”

Dinky didn’t reply. Vinyl figured that her answer had likely been a nod... or she had been too embarrassed to give an answer.

“My mum didn’t like me either,” Vinyl said. “I grew up by myself too.”

Dinky didn’t reply right away, she sat quietly for a moment before asking. “Do you like my mum?”

Vinyl grinned widely at the filly. “I do! She’s a very nice mare!”

“The other townponies don’t like my mum. They make fun of her and do mean things to us. They glue our door shut and stuff like that,” Dinky said sadly. “My mum likes you to! So you better be nice!”

Vinyl couldn’t help but smile, Dinky loved Derpy. That much was obvious. “I promise.”

“Okay! I managed to clean everything up without setting it on fire again!” Derpy said triumphantly as she came back into the room. Vinyl clapped her hooves together slowly in applause.

“Ha ha, you’re so funny!” Derpy said, she walked over to where Vinyl was sitting and helped her to her hooves, she extended her left wing and wrapped it around the blind mare and walked slowly to guide her around the flat’s obstacles and out into the open air.

“Careful down the steps now!” Derpy said, holding Vinyl close to her with her wing. They reached the bottom without incident.

“Mum?” Dinky asked, not understanding why Derpy had needed to help Vinyl down the stairs.

“I’m blind,” Vinyl explained. “So your mum has to help me get around.”

“So... then you don’t know what my mum looks like?” Dinky asked, obviously thinking that this was the reason why Vinyl gave Derpy the time of day.

“Oh, no I know what your mum looks like. I met her when I was still able to see,” Vinyl said simply. “And I think that her eyes are beautiful, even if nopony else in town does.”

Derpy brushed her head against Vinyl’s, nuzzling her sweetly in the mare’s appreciation for her. Vinyl didn’t have to be able to see to know that the Pegasus mare and her daughter were smiling brightly.

...

They’d had a wonderful dinner and had returned to Derpy’s flat. Vinyl and Derpy were sitting on Derpy’s bed, talking, while Dinky was in her own room, doing homework for the next day’s classes.

Vinyl held Derpy close to her, nuzzling the mare, gently and playfully biting her ears. They were in heaven.

Derpy rolled over; she placed her hooves on Vinyl’s shoulders and leaned in, giving the unicorn mare a kiss. Vinyl had grown to not like surprises... but this one however had rekindled that feeling. Vinyl kissed back, pushing her tongue back passed Derpy’s lips, exploring the only way she could, by touch.

Derpy moaned softly, Vinyl heard her wings cut through the air as they spread. She responded by taking her hooves and gliding them gently down the mare’s side, rubbing gently at the sensitive spots under were a Pegasus would keep their wings. Derpy gasped softly as she was overwhelmed by the touch of another, something she hadn’t experienced a very, very long time.

They continued to lie there, kissing each other for what felt like an eternity. Vinyl ran her hooves down Derpy’s side one last time when Derpy broke the kiss.

“Vinyl?” she asked.

“Yes?” Vinyl asked with a bright smile on her face.

“Don’t... don’t take this the wrong way, it’s not that I don’t like you... I really do! I really really do! But... I don’t want to go any further. I don’t want this to be based on sex. I want this to be real!” Derpy said.

Vinyl’s grin got wider. “Oh Little Miss Muffin! You have no idea just how happy you made me.”

Vinyl’s past relationships had been nothing of the sort. They’d been one way relationships devoted to hedonistic pleasures, sex and drug use, with the ponies that she’d been with using her for both. Vinyl Scratch had never, not once in her entire life, been in a relationship with anypony that had ever actually cared about her.

At least, not until now.

“Thank you!” Derpy said. “Thank you so much.”

Vinyl Scratch’s face had become wet with tears, and unlike the tears that had fallen in her life recently. These ones were happy.

Vinyl didn’t know what this world was. She didn’t know if she was alive or dead, but screw it. She was happy here.

She never wanted to go back.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The sun was setting, and Derpy walked with Vinyl Scratch down the steps from her flat towards the road.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you back to the Library?” Derpy asked.

“Nah,” Vinyl said simply. “It’s only a couple hundred metres, and besides, I need to work on getting around by myself.”

“Vinyl, you only lost your sight this morning, aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself?” Derpy asked.

“Maybe, but I’ve always been a take charge kind of mare, something that you are going to find out very quickly.” Vinyl said, nuzzling her fillyfriend. Couldn’t help but give her a smile, she had a point after all.

“I’m not going to be able to talk you out of it, am I?” Derpy asked.

Vinyl shook her head. “You can try bribing me with kisses! It won’t work, but I like them, so I suggest it anyway!”

Derpy let out a small chuckle, she kissed Vinyl goodbye and went back up the stairs into her flat. Vinyl couldn’t help but be distracted; her fillyfriend tasted of blueberries.

So distracted that she didn’t notice that somepony had bumped into her until they were right on top of her, knocking her to the ground hard.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” the pony cried out.

Ordinarily, Vinyl would not have polite about it; however, upon hearing the voice, she couldn’t help but smile. “It’s quite all right.”

Scootaloo offered several more apologies and helped Vinyl back to her hooves. Word had travelled fast about Ponyville’s newest, and only, blind resident.

“Don’t worry about it kid!” Vinyl said sweetly. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

“It’s my birthday, and my parents are going to try and surprise me with my favourite meal, Onion Soup. They try and surprise me with it every year, they never do, but I pretend to be surprised anyway,” Scootaloo said. “I’m running kind of late, and I don’t want them to worry!”

Vinyl couldn’t help but grin. “Sounds to me like they love you very much.”

“Yeah, I guess, don’t really think about it that much,” Scootaloo said, likely with a shrug, even though Vinyl had no way of being sure.

“Well go on then! Don’t keep them waiting!” Vinyl said.

“I won’t! Sorry again!” Scootaloo said as she dashed off towards home.

Vinyl couldn’t help but smile as she listened to Scootaloo’s hoof steps as she galloped away. She felt a tear forming in her eye, Scootaloo didn’t need her anymore.

“I love you Scootaloo,” Vinyl said, chocking quietly on a tear. “Even if you don’t remember it.”

Without further hesitation, Vinyl trotted slowly and steadily back towards the Library, doing her best to stay in the centre of the road as to not accidentally drift into walls. Vinyl Scratch had always had incredibly good hearing, but now that her eyesight was gone, it had become more acute, compensating for her lack of sight. She knew that she was in front of the library because sound bouncing off wood sounded far different than stone.

She reached out to knock on the door.

“Vinyl Scratch.”

Vinyl stopped, bringing her hoof back down to the ground and turning to face the voice that had just addressed her. “Yesssss?” she asked playfully.

“Would you please join me for a walk?” the pony behind her asked.

Vinyl Scratch gave the newcomer a grin. “Absolutely, Princess Luna.”

...

Vinyl Scratch and Princess Luna had walked to the edge of town, and were now sitting on the grass, several hundred metres from the tree line of Whitetail Wood. Princess Luna had remained quiet for some time, seemingly gathering her thoughts. Vinyl waited patiently for the Princess to speak; after all, it wasn’t often that one of the rulers of the country asked to you to take a walk.

“I have to ask...” Princess Luna said finally. “How much...?”

“I remember everything,” Vinyl said simply, anticipating the question. “I don’t understand the how, or the why, but I remember all of it.”

“Excellent!” Luna said cheerfully. “I was hoping that you would.”

“I take it that you remember everything too, then?” Vinyl asked.

“Naturally, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Luna said with a small chuckle. “I imagine that you’ve got plenty of questions.”

Vinyl nodded in affirmation. “Am I alive?” she asked, obvious first question.

Princess Luna couldn’t help but chuckle. “Do you feel alive?” she asked.

Vinyl thought about the day’s events, from losing her eyesight to everything she’d just been through with Derpy. There could be only one answer to the Princesses’ question.

“Yes,” Vinyl said simply.

“Then you’re alive!” Luna said. She placed her hoof on the unicorn mare’s shoulder. “I think you can do better than that.”

“Don’t tempt me! I might just surprise you! What happened with the bomb?” Vinyl asked, grinning madly at the princess of the night.

“Oh? You mean you haven’t figured that one out on your own yet?” Princess Luna said. “I thought it would have been obvious, Vinyl Scratch, the bomb was never a bomb!”

Vinyl couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the Princesses’ response. “What was it then?”

“A second chance.”

Vinyl Scratch smirked slightly at the answer. “You’re not the first pony to tell me that, Monty Ulhan came to see me just before I set it off and told me the same thing.”

“He was certainly a clever pony,” Luna said. “It’s... a shame what happened to him.”

“I never knew him,” Vinyl said. “What happened to him?”

“He hung himself,” Luna said sadly. “He stole Overdrive’s body from him... and inherited his memories along with it. He couldn’t live with the things inside my brother’s mind.”

“I... see,” Vinyl said. “Overdrive, and the Siblings Nightmare, are they...?”

“Yes, they are. The ponies that you know as Whirlwind and Doctor Nightly are indeed them,” Luna said. “They’re using their second chance wisely... unlike some other ponies. Before you ask any more questions, let me explain about the bomb. The bomb was never a bomb, it was however, cleverly disguised as a bomb with the hopes that if the world were to devolve into a state that was simply too terrible to continue, those who would use the bomb for nefarious purposes would instead give the world a second chance. A fresh start, Doctor Emerald Sparkle had spent the last five years before her death designing and developing it in secret... It’s a shame what became of her.”

Vinyl grimaced slightly; she remembered listening to a recording of Emerald Sparkle’s gruesome death at the end of Surprise’s chain-knife.

“However, this is the only second chance we get. I take it you noticed that the entrance to EPMB had collapsed? This was by design. There are no third chances,” Luna said. “Though most of us seem to be using our second chance relatively well, don’t you think?”

“Who hasn’t?” Vinyl asked in confusion.

“I haven’t,” Luna said sadly. “I had to endure exile on the moon, not once, but twice. I forced myself to become Nightmare Moon this time around.”

“What? Why?!” Vinyl asked, being caught completely off guard.

“So that Twilight Sparkle and her friends could come together,” Luna said softly.

Vinyl had to admit, that had to have been the most selfless action she had ever heard. Princess Luna had sacrificed herself so that Twilight and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony would come together and defeat her.

“Do you ever regret it?” Vinyl asked.

“Never.”

“Does anypony else remember the old world?” Vinyl asked.

“No, no one in Equestria besides us remembers, I don’t know if anyone in other parts of the world does. I imagine that some likely do, but I have no way of knowing.”

“So what do we do now?” Vinyl asked.

“I’m sure you remember the artefact that Twilight Sparkle received from South Island?” Luna asked her.

“How could I forget?” Vinyl asked. The damned object had robbed her of her sight only this morning.

“The artefact is a powerful magical talisman, It’s a failsafe, in case that we would need to reinstate the old world. As you can imagine it’s incredibly dangerous, and it needs to be kept out of the wrong hooves,” Luna explained.

“Who would want to use such a thing?” Vinyl asked.

“Can you think of no one?” Luna asked her.

Yes, yes she could. Vinyl imagined that if Surprise learned of such an object, she would certainly want to use it to try and bring back her master, where she ever to learn that Overdrive and Whirlwind were not equal.

“So then? What do we need to do?” Vinyl asked.

“We need to take it back to its hiding place,” Luna said simply. “We’re going to take it to South Island.”

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Princess Luna and Vinyl Scratch had quietly entered the Ponyville Library. Twilight had long gone to bed at this point, leaving them alone in the main room. Ponyville was a relatively quiet, relatively safe town with little crime. Many of the town ponies didn’t bother to lock their doors. Twilight Sparkle had been one of majority, lucky for them, considering that they were stealing the artefact back.

“There’s a shipping crate in the middle of the room,” Luna relayed to Vinyl, the blind mare obviously being of little use in the location of the artefact.

“That’s it then,” Vinyl said quietly. “Twilight must not have had time to move it yet.”

Vinyl heard Luna’s magic flair as she gently pulled the lid off the shipping crate and trotted up to it.

“Hey! Don’t touch it with magic!” Vinyl whispered hoarsely.

“Too late,” Luna said, she was already levitating it out of the box. This time, however it acted as if it was just a regular old statue. Luna reattached the lid and the two mares snuck back out the front door. Twilight had no intention of opening the box again, and would likely not notice that it had been taken at all.

“I don’t understand, when I tried to pick up the artefact with magic, it attacked me!” Vinyl said.

“Of course it did,” Luna said slyly. “You didn’t make it.”

Vinyl listened as Luna’s saddlebags opened and heard the sound of stone rubbing against cloth as Luna slipped it inside, and the two of them walked away from the Ponyville Library, no one any the wiser that they had been there at all.

“Something else has been bothering me,” Vinyl said. “My memories, why me? Why do I remember and not Twilight or Rainbow Dash?”

“Simple, you had greater exposure to the artefact than they did,” Luna said.

“Hold on! Don’t you even try that with me, I remembered before the artefact even got here, be straight with me Luna!” Vinyl said with an air of annoyance, princess or not, Vinyl wasn’t going to let her drag her around in circles.

Luna sighed and stopped walking, Vinyl stopped too and turned to face the Alicorn before her. “The problem with the artefact is that I can’t be straight with you about it... it’s... special. The artefact constantly emits a unique radiation, but the radiation doesn’t affect you linearly. You were hit by a massive dose when you tried to handle it, it robbed you of your eyesight in the present, but it also caused you to remember the old world nearly a day before the actual event happened.”

Vinyl raised an eyebrow, her mouth dropped open. She was looking for adequate words for a response, but could find none. “That doesn’t make any sense!” She managed eventually.

“I know, why do you think I didn’t want to tell you? Emerald Sparkle and I worked together to create the artefact, she was not only a brilliant scientist, but an incredibly skilled mage. I provided the raw power necessary for the artefact’s creation, she did the fine-tuning. The magical science involved is way over my head,” Luna said apologetically. “I’ve found that it’s best not to think about it.”

Vinyl sighed a little in response. Considering everything else that happened to her, it was just insane enough to be completely possible. “What’s the next step?” she asked.

“You go get some rest,” Luna said. “I have to make arrangements; I’ll come find you in the morning. Goodnight Vinyl Scratch.”

“Goodnight Princess Luna.”

Vinyl listened as the night princess spread her wings and flew off into the night sky, cutting swiftly through the still air. She recognised by the sound that her surroundings made that she was in front of Derpy’s flat. Perfect!

She was, after all, going to South Island in the morning; she couldn’t very well leave without saying goodbye. Very carefully, she walked slowly up the stairs and knocked on the door. A few moments later, a very sleepy sounding Derpy Hooves opened the door, yawning loudly.

“Vinyl?” she asked sleepily. “What are you doing? It’s the middle of the night! Did you walk here by yourself?”

“Not entirely,” Vinyl said. “I did get up those stairs by myself thought!”

“Vinyl...” Derpy said worriedly. “Come in.”

Vinyl smiled brightly at the mare and graciously entered her flat. Derpy shut the door behind her, giving her a small kick while she was at it.

“Ow! Hey!” Vinyl cried out in surprise.

“That’s for making me worry about you, big dummy!” Derpy said. She promptly followed up by draping her wing around Vinyl’s back, pulling her close and giving her an extremely passionate kiss. “That’s me forgiving you.”

“I think I like it when you forgive me,” Vinyl said with a grin.

“I think I like it when I forgive you too,” Derpy said slyly. She guided Vinyl towards the Sofa, and the two of them sat down.

“I have to go away for a while,” Vinyl said. “There’s something I have to do.”

Vinyl could swear that she heard Derpy frown. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, that’s always how it goes for me.”

“What?! Hey! I’ll be coming back!” Vinyl said reassuringly. “I’d never abandon the mare that makes me feel alive, never in a million years!”

She knew that had gotten a smile out of the Pegasus mare, they leaned in close and allowed one last kiss before they went down that long road.

...

Morning came, and Vinyl awoke to find herself having a mild panic attack, forgetting that she had been blinded and it was normal for her to not see anything upon opening her eyes. Maybe she wasn’t as well adjusted as she thought. She felt Derpy’s head resting on her chest, the Pegasus mare’s hooves wrapped around her abdomen, as if she had silently said. “You aren’t going anywhere without saying goodbye to me!”

Vinyl Scratch leaned in close, gently kissing Derpy’s forehead until the Pegasus began to stir. “Good morning!” she added cheerfully.

Derpy responded with a kiss of her own. “When do you have to leave?”

“Probably should be going right now, wouldn’t be right to keep my travelling partner waiting.”

“Just... promise me that you’re actually coming back,” Derpy said sadly, she could no longer imagine a world without Vinyl Scratch in it.

“I promise,” Vinyl said, nuzzling her fillyfriend, she couldn’t imagine a world without Derpy in it either. Vinyl rose, and Derpy walked her to the door, helping her down the stairs and into the high street.

“Are you going to be okay Vinyl?” Derpy asked.

“Of course! This is me you’re talking to! I’ll be back before you know it!” Vinyl said, grinning at the Pegasus mare.

“Goodbye Vinyl, I’ll see you when you get back,” Derpy said, she leaned in and gave her a quick kiss goodbye, and trotted back up the stairs. “Vinyl?” she added at the last moment.

“Yesssss?” Vinyl asked.

“I love you.”

Vinyl couldn’t help but smile as the words reached her ears. “I love you too.”

Derpy opened the door and went back inside, Vinyl stood alone in the street, looking up at where Derpy had been, she couldn’t see it, but it didn’t matter. Love was enough.

“You two are really quiet adorable together, you know that?” Princess Luna asked from behind her. Vinyl couldn’t help but grin.

“Are you ready to go?” Luna asked her.

“Of course!” Vinyl said. She joined Princess Luna at her side, the Alicorn mare extended her wing around the blinded unicorn, and they began to walk.

“What are you thinking about Vinyl Scratch?” Luna asked her.

“Home,” Vinyl said simply. “It’s not always where you were born. It’s where the people you care about are, and as long as you’ve got them to come back to? Well you’re going to do just fine.”

Vinyl Scratch didn’t know how she knew, but Princess Luna was smiling at her. The two mares marched onward, walking east into the rising sun.

They had a long road ahead of them.

FIN