The Entheogenic Excursion

Chapters

Exhausted Love
Reintroducing
Act Right
Paradise

Exhausted Love

“Driving ninety-five in a thirty-five, and not giving a damn since about five minutes ago. Got laid off from a place I’ve been working at for seven months. They simply told me I was unqualified and they needed someone with more “experience." Like that’s believable. I couldn’t get anymore out of them as my supervisor and her superintendent stared me down with cow-like expressions, chewing monotonously on spearmint gum. As I looked over the two fools, who had traded reason for success, I came to realize that they had been shafting me like a marshmallow held too long over an open flame. Both showed signs of aging, poorly concealing it with heavy amounts of makeup and eyeliner, trying their hardest to gain back the years they had burned off at the end of a lit cigarette. Lacking any luster of life, they glared me out of the office with eyes as sharp as daggers. I grabbed my shit, shut off my computer, and gave my over-friendly male coworker the tall finger as I left.
As I neared the double doors, I stopped with my hand pressed on the glass, looking over the front office one last time. Suddenly, I felt something strange enter into my vascular system, like venom pumping through the heart. I felt a sudden twitch, a stinging sensation overcome my limbs. I had felt this for quite some time, often pushing it away; but it had resurfaced as something anew. Some deep and dark desire arose from within my primordial genes. It had been hibernating since ages past and it finally reared its beautiful head in front of me. It whispered soothing words I could no longer neglect or ignore, and it was ultimately right. The intrusive thoughts I welcomed.
The structure of my mental framework bent under the weight of new ideologies. No more fake smiles, no more lies. No more “yes sirs” or “no sirs”. No more bending over backwards, no more overtime, no more annoying clients that wanted to change “this” or “that” or “wanted something entirely new.” These people around me, I can’t come to call them humans, because they seem to lack the basic behaviors of healthy, functioning adults. They lack compassion or understanding, thoughts or feelings. I’d rather call them skin-suited, bipedal automations than humans–for that’s who they strive to be.
Not once have I disobeyed, not once I have argued against my manager’s words. I followed and fell in line, yet still I had lost my job I had worked so hard for. No longer will I appear weak before her, no longer will I bow at her whim; she will see a side of me that has yet to have been revealed to even I. I was afraid, but willing to let my emotions control me now. Whether right or wrong, I will obey only myself.
I turned slightly upon seeing the ghastly image of my elderly supervisor watching me from behind. Arms crossed and foot tapping, she was eagerly waiting for me to leave. I took my hand off of the glass and turned to face the enemy, meeting eyes with Satan herself. Her foot stopped tapping when my attention diverted to her alone; her dark eyes widened with concern. I slowly stepped towards her, my shoulders relaxed while hers tensed. I blinked for a long moment and formed a simple, stupid grin across my face. I held my lefty out for a hand shake in the open air between us.
She looked down and back up into my eyes, she was so uncertain of my behaviors. Would the animal trip the snare? Her own hand made its way up to mine and was quickly, but delicately slipped into my palm. She did not apply any pressure, but only allowed it to rest in mine. No shaking from either of us, just glaring stares and awkward silence. I had her right where I wanted her.
I squeezed her hand as tight as I could, she panicked immediately. My mind then raced at a hundred miles a second with no chance of slowing down. My right arm swung wide around my side, I couldn’t stop now even if I tried. With my fist clenched, it came into contact with the side of her cheekbone. I felt the structure of her skull and jaw bend under pressure as my hand dug into her face. Her other hand loosened as I let loose of my lefty. A quick jab to the gut and she toppled backwards. I fell over her and began wildly swinging, possessed by spirits of justice and madness. I had boiled over, the dam was released, I felt like a god as I tainted my knuckles with her crimson fluids. My eyes gleamed with bloodlust, her’s with horror. Licking my lips, I gluttonously craved for me. Coworkers swooped around me like buzzards, unable to comprehend an elderly patron to their company being pulverized by a young, headstrong female.
When I could no longer take her obnoxious screaming, I fastened my red-painted fingers around her turkey neck. Adrenaline pumped through me, giving me strength that could lift an automobile. Her bulging, black eyes stared in disbelief into my frigid, but spry pupils. She was astonished, to say the least. Not many wake up thinking that they would be strangled to death by an overpowered and psychotic woman, though few wished they did. As the last bit of pathetic life exited her maw, I released her from a grip that could bend metal. I threw my arms up and screamed victoriously before my dumbfounded coworkers. I had won, I was victorious.
My hand remained on the glass still, lost in dreamy thought and beyond reality. My former supervisor walked up beside me and promptly opened the door for me to exit. I wouldn’t dare do something as vile and insane as that in reality–I was too scared to live that way. Without words, I looked over at her in silence. I only saw the battered remains of what you might call a face, which I had conjured from within my mind moments ago. I blatantly laughed aloud before her. Her expression turned to confusion, then promptly to disgust. I walked backwards towards my trashy Nineteen-Eighty Four 300D Mercedes Benz, pointing towards her while laughing like the maniac I was. She simply watched from the confines of her own prison, staring off like an Easter Island head. As I left the gerbil cage and into the real world, I entered my ride and ignited the silver beast. It thumped and churned as I threw it into reverse, then into drive.
I pressed back the tears that came quite suddenly. I reached for the glove box and pulled a thin paper, rolled with the good green. I held it in my lips and then grabbed the lighter in the cup holder. I no longer gave a damn, driving ninety-five in a thirty-five.”

Jeweled streams of warm sunlight danced across a worn roadway. A vibrant star, tilted far in the western sky above, washed its rays over the tumbling hills. The old mountains, twisting between and around each other, were clad in amber and golden coats. Jasmine skies–as yellow as tulips–graced the frigid air without a puff of white from horizon to horizon. Rusted, ruby leaves danced across the roads and bridges from their arboreal kin. The same roads hugged the mountains’ bosoms, weaving in and out like the intricacy of a master seamstress. In that late afternoon, during the beauty and serenity of autumn, the roar of a diesel engine tore through the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Up and down, over and under, through tunnel and open air, the german automobile heaved heavily like the growls of a terrible creature. It glided and bounced every so often, back down to earth, or so its driver thought as she took another long drag. Till ash, she savored it until it was nothing more than flakes flying off of her fingertips and through the side window. She smiled as she closed her eyes for a moment, leaning her head dangerously out the window. The pale horse she rode on continued to tear a new valley through Tennessee.

In the cockpit sat the buzzed occupant, who dabbled in the sweetest of sweet releases. She was young–about as young as you might imagine her to be–and acting responsibly reckless. Her hair–as dark as night–uncurled in the mountain air, sailing in smooth torrents. She threw her head back into the car upon going into a narrow and steep turn. She bent her body with the roadway, rolling down the mountain’s lush hips. With each bloody and flaxen leaf that fell in her sight, her eyes darted to the falling spotlights. They gleamed out, beckoning her attention so much so that she almost forgot that she was driving. A second mindset had taken place; the deep, systematic function to continue operating the sedan while thinking entirely on another subject. She grinned with pride upon knowing this talent of hers. She echoed in her mind, “Do not try this at home, kids.”

Home was just around the bend for her. Two right exits and then a left; right through Cedar Tunnel and over Breakneck Creek. Once riding over the bridge, there you are: Mountville. The unemployed woman, who stood five-foot five and sat even smaller, abhorred the name of her home town as she drove into it. This known knowledge didn’t upset her elated spirits, even though she was out of job. She was up, up and away now. She was at a height that made her worries and problems look so small.

Mountville was small as well, not as small as her problems, but small nonetheless. She imagined that at some point in the eighteenth century, the settlers couldn’t decide on an appropriate name. Whether to name it after one of the many mountains that cradled the village, or name it with a common ‘somethings’-ville. So in a joint effort, they all decided to name the place an incredibly stupid name. Besides this, it was a lovely little mountain town; and like all little lovely mountain towns, it was quite lovely to the driver in the steel wagon. She didn’t leave it for too long, she had never even been thirty miles away from it. This was her home–she never wanted to leave, ever. Climbing up a winding hill that made up Main Street, she turned left up the scenic street named simply (and ironically), Chance.

The road winded around another mountain, and from there she would arrive at her apartment. She couldn’t wait to throw open the doors to her abode, stripe to nothing and enjoy the vibrations of the universe around her. She was already numb with excitement as her hands clenched comfortably on the firm steering wheel. Her mind rotated faster than the wheels on her machine, making time seem unbearably slow to her. With every detail she noticed and took in, the more she wanted to stop and think on it. With every desire to stop, the clock seemed to tick a little slower. With every click and clack of the clock, it all added up to a longer, more leisurely coast to her destination. She kept thinking on and on, trailing off and then remembering that she had forgotten what she wanted to remember.

A sudden jolt in front of her spurred her out of her euphoria. A slam from a front end turned to a crash from her back end. The entranced woman hit the brake pedal and halted her sliding steed. She didn’t see what she hit, and didn’t know if she had hit anything at all. Her mind was where the clouds roamed freely, aloft and gone; she hadn’t prepared to fall back to earth so soon. She gently, but promptly, stumbled out of her car into the cold, mountain air. She was scared and curious; though she didn’t know why she was curious, she accepted the emotion and began to move around the car. In a quick glimpse she spotted what she struck. It was on its side, a white little thing she took as a dog for a moment. She slid closer, and in the back of her mind wondered why she hadn’t seen any cars pass by yet.

The details of this thing became more vivid as she stepped closer to it. Strong cobalts and radiant cyans washed over its hair and draped down its neck. The tail was of the same unnatural colors as well; both were long and lush, almost reaching down to the ends of its dull-white legs. Its features and edges were soft and rounded, but its hair and tail were jagged enough to pop a balloon with. It lay away from her as she crept even closer, issuing silence with every footfall. The driver had no clear reason not to be quiet, but she did so anyways.

As she started to bend and reach over to touch it, the creature bolted upward. The two were locked in each other’s hushed gaze, and for a moment that felt like eternity they noticed one another. With eyes glowing like embers, they pierced her green iris’ with a ferocity that almost sent her straight over the road’s edge and down the mountain. The four-legged mutant animal clamored up onto its rounded legs and jolted off into the forest with a strange ‘clop’ to every step. The driver stood frozen for a moment in the bitter breeze. She tried to take in what she had just seen–something that seemed strangely familiar, yet very foreign. Trying to remember its features, she recalled something that she didn’t pick up on at first, and that something was the creature’s horn. A single, protruding horn right smack-dab in the middle of her forehead. Her eyes widened with false enlightenment as she thought that she had missed out on capturing a live unicorn.

“Dammit,” was the only words that steamed out of her lips and into the raw air. She made her way back to the beast’s bridle, cranked him up and away they went. She thought nothing of it as she neared her small one-bedroom shack. She had almost forgotten about the event as she turned and drove up the rocky driveway through the hall of trees. Right as she unlocked the front door, the strange creature she struck was nothing more than a memory–a memory that anxiously watched her from the far off woods.

Reintroducing

“I stripped myself until I was free and fell on a cloud that had mistaken my bedroom as the heavens. I swam back, spreading my arms as far as I could, believing that if I tried hard enough I could wrap my appendages around the world itself. I took in a deep breath and brought my fingers through my hair and across my face, all of which felt incredible to touch. I worked my hands down my neck and over my breasts, down my waist and across my thighs. All sensations had been cranked to eleven; I was higher than I thought. I only had one joint, but I was in total bliss. I felt like an ignorant infant, sensing all the sensations for the first time and from the comfort of my own safety. I threw my arms back on the bed and stared blankly up at the ghostly ceiling fan. I asked myself something aloud, a question I knew since I started knowing things: Who am I?
Easy, I thought. Everyone calls me Lavvy, I hate my real name. Lavender Alaina Valentine. I’d call myself Lav if I was dude, but nope, I was born like ‘this’; so I added the ‘vy’ to make it more feminine. I’ve made it twenty-four rotations around the sun, I’m five foot five and I have been since tenth grade, and one hundred and twenty-one pounds and can eat anything I want without worrying about calories. I write with my left hand, but with every other task I’m a righty. I once had a dog named Landon, he ran off into mountains and never came back. Good for him, I always thought. I don’t like the way I look, but I know most girls think the same, so I try not to care about it. I have hips and an ass that refuse most jeans, and a mess of hair that comes down right to the center of my spine. And worst of all, my two front-most bottom teeth are a tad crooked and annoy the hell out of me.
I’m horribly awkward in social situations, so much so that it turns away potential partners. Speaking of which, I’m not even sure which way I lean on the fence anymore, if you get me. I’ve dated three guys, but am not sure if I like guys anymore, though never considered about liking my own gender. And someone told me I had lost my virginity once at a party, but I don’t remember; but I know for a fact it wasn’t with any of my partners. That was the last time I went to a party, six years ago.
Some people call me strange, but I’m no stranger to that. I sometimes wish I was normal and I wish people would think I’m not just an introverted hermit who smokes pot in the late afternoons. I’ve made stupid mistakes, okay? People who do drugs aren’t bad people. They’re not misguided either, especially not people who only dabble in weed–like this chick. They chose to take a step out of their comfort zone and they did. How can we ever learn more about ourselves and the world around us if we don’t take chances? Concerning cannabis, why is the world so up in arms about a plant that makes you feel good with no long lasting effects? The truth is out there, there’s some golden honesty in this stuff. I’m tired of all these secrets and lies, God dammit.
Well, I don’t want to worry about anything at the moment, I just want to enjoy this. I am the loner stoner and proud of it. Reaching up into infinity, gliding beyond worlds unseen, I channel bits and pieces of information from great philosophers of our yesteryears and years to come–and forget them shortly afterwards. Shadows taunt and murmur obscenities in the corners of my viewing range, I don’t want to bother to get up and make tea for them. I’m comfortably numb and I just don’t care. We all make progress as soon as progress makes something out of us.
And just as I was about to start visiting other dimensions, there was a tapping on my front door.”

Lavvy sat up straight, looking towards the far door to the cold world. She wasn’t sure if she had heard a noise just now or not–until it knocked lightly again. Her eyes shot wide, she didn’t know who it could be at this hour.

She looked at the clock on the wall and read aloud, “It’s only five-fifty. Who the hell comes to bother me at five-fifty?”

Lavender sat up promptly and walked in the direction of the crimson-painted door. The shag carpet between her toes felt heavenly as she slid her feet with each long stride. She stopped too close to the door and backed a few feet away to open it. As her hand met with the cold nob, she had almost forgotten that she was in the nude.

She looked down and noted her circumstance with the intriguing response, “Oh...” Lavvy slipped on some sweatpants and a shirt two sizes too big before returning to the door. The person outside was waiting ever so patiently she thought. The air outdoors was just below thirty degrees; Lavvy heard it was even going to snow tonight. She finally allowed her hand to reunite with the handle of the door and turned it quickly. She threw it open and saw not a man or woman. Lavvy then noticed a short clump of long hair just at the bottom of her vision and her eyes plummeted down to see that before her stood the thing she hit and forgot about.

The two stared at one another for quite some time. The white little four-legged creature said nothing, only keeping eye contact with the woman in the door frame. Lavvy knew that now what she had seen was no mere illusion and she now knew what she had hit. It was pony, no doubt about it. Not a regular pony from Earth, but the one’s that came from the magical land of Equestria.

No one knows why they are here, but they’re here and all of Earth had to make the best of it–which didn’t last too long. Lavvy thought they had gone extinct, they were fought over three years ago and were used by illegal drug manufactures to make the hyper-hallucinogen ‘Rainbow Vapor’. Ponies were kidnapped by the herds and when the extraction process took place to get the drug, it would kill off the creature. What was produced was a multi-colored, glassy dust as fine as sand; a single pony could make enough to fill a small beer bottle. Its intense hallucinogenic properties were the reasons why it was so sought after; though it seemed its addictive side effects were never heeded by the consumers of the drug. Even religious cults had sprang up around Rainbow Vapor, making it into a distinctive and overly powerful entheogenic.

It was common for the drug to be administrated through the eyes, but others inject, snort, or take it orally. The effects of the drug would usually begin a few minutes after taking it, and after that you wouldn’t come off of it for a minimum of twelve hours. The larger amount taken, the longer the trips would last; rumors spread that some trips had lasted days. The trips are said to be similar to DMT, but far more potent and longer lasting.

People begged for the drug until the governments of the world set out a massive crackdown on the Vapor. The drug wars became more severe, mass gun battles broke out in heavily populated areas throughout the first and third worlds. As the ponies were supposedly all used up, the drug wars ended, but the world was never the same. Knowing this information and more, Lavvy didn’t take too kindly to ponies.

Without any evidence of manners, she greeted the equine before her, “May I fucking help you?”

The creature tensed a little and made a slight, yet noticeable grimace. It wasn’t stupid, Lavvy knew that for sure–but the pony wasn’t going to walk away. She (the mare) had gone too far, and knowing that she had been hit by this same individual before her, she knew she had to follow through with her plan of action.

The white unicorn straightened her posture, looked the human in the eyes and pushed out in one breath, “Can I stay with you?” What came out of her wasn’t the words she intended, but her instinctual and submissive desire to retreat from the cold. She wanted to start off the conversation with a simple, 'Hi’ but that didn’t turn to her favor. Lavvy tilted her head in silent confusion, still sharply looking down upon the pony before her.

The equine tried again after a breath of cool mountain air, “You... hit me today, you know?”

The human took a small step back and crossed her arms, “Ya I know. So what?” She was thankful that at least the human female knew it was her she had hit.

The pony mustered up the courage to tell her, “I feel like I need some compensation. You hit me pretty hard with that car.” She dangled her left foreleg saying, “I might have sprained an ankle.” Lavvy could clearly see a purple and blue rash had risen from the spot, though her mercy still could not be found.

The antsy woman tapped her foot in irritation spouting, “What are you going to do about it? Tell the cops? They’ll arrest you on the spot for just being you. I don’t feel generous today, okay? You can die out in the cold for all I care.” Lavender began to close the door before her, but a hoof was swiftly lodged between the frame and the opening. Lavvy sneered through the crack, “I will break that hoof off, you little shit!”

“Listen,” the pony called out in a voice as gentle as the now falling snow. The hostility the human presumed the mare would have against her wasn’t present as she continued to leave the door ajar. The pony went on more softly, “Wouldn’t you have a bitter feeling in your gut knowing that you left some poor, homesick pony like me to die out in the cold?”

“It’s not my business.” She leaned her head on the wooden door frame as the pony listened closely on the opposite end. She explained her harsh behavior mildly, “Your kind is frowned upon in this society, I don’t want to be housing you. More than likely there are search parties after you–either from the government or from a cartel. I’ll be royally screwed if they find you with me. I can’t risk it.”

“Just for the night, please?” Lavvy remained silent, so the pony vocalized her just reasons, “I’ve been wandering for months now. I had a group I journeyed with and we had nowhere to really journey to for a long while. One by one, we were either captured or killed by the elements. One night, I got separated from my kind and I’ve been roaming through the forests ever since. I’ve been lost for weeks, barely surviving the world out here. Please... just one night. Please let me in.”

Lavender was finally broken down by the pony’s story as she slowly reopened the door. The two made contact again as she stepped out of the way and sighed, waving her arm to come in. The mare with the electric-colored mane and tail gave a warm smile as she took a few steps in. Her wet and dirty hooves met with the beige carpet as she could now feel the heat from the home’s interior wash over her quivering, frigid form.

After a satisfying moment, she promptly trotted in and said in a now uncaring tone, “Thanks!” Lavvy was a bit taken back by this interesting display of contorting emotions the pony had displayed and acted out. Without bursting forth with rage, she held her anger quite easily and was more curious as to what the pony would do now that she had gained access to her abode. She thought that during any other time besides now, she would have thrown the pony out and locked the doors; though she was high and feeling like a saintly pacifist with no need to fight any longer.

She pushed the door closed and walked slowly behind her guest, watching where she would go and what she would do. The mare turned the corner into her bedroom as if she knew the place by heart. Her eyes lit with excitement as she flopped down on the human’s quilted bed–which was oversized for the little pony–and gave a large exhale.

Lavvy could now see the dirt, grass, and leaves on her hooves and coat as she cried out, “Woah, woah, woah!” The pony’s ears perked up and pointed towards the human female.

“What?” The white unicorn asked, shrugging her shoulders in the process.

“You’re filthy and lying on my clean bed.” She hastily grabbed her guest by the tail and forcibly yanked her onto the carpet. The pony fell on her haunches with a thud as she leaned against the foot of the bed. Lavender pointed a finger at the mare and denounced gruffly, “No! Bad pony! Bad!”

A new room was opened and from a click of a light switch revealed a small, white tiled bathroom.

“Come on,” Lavvy urged, walking ahead as the little, sentient creature looked about the washroom, “let me fix you a bath.” The pony stepped back as soon as the dial to the tub creaked away. Water gushed from the faucet and into the basin, the pony was flabbergasted at what the strange human was doing.

“Are you kidding me?” She looked up at Lavender and back towards the porcelain tub. “F-fine,” she breathed in defeat. Without warning, the human grabbed hold of the pony’s barrel and hoisted her into the bath. Lavender was surprised at how heavy the creature was, but managed to place it into the basin without much of a struggle from the mare.

“Hey! What’s the big idea,” the pony huffed in vexation. “I could get in the tub myself!”

“I just wanted to help,” Lavvy said in an almost motherly tone. The human stopped herself–she had no idea what she was doing exactly or why she was acting like this. She was obviously being overly generous and strangely affectionate towards the pony. Then she remembered another fact about the ponies she had overlooked.

She had read on the internet a report on the human interactions with equestrian ponies, which had a psychological effect on solely humans. After some time of being in their presence, humans would show more affectionate behavior towards the ponies which (to the tested humans) were difficult to consciously be aware of. It was a relatively new study, but it was picked up by the other ends of the more liberal media and taken as fact. It was a mix of this, and the comforting and loving sensation of her weed high that made her act so unusual towards the pony.

As the tub filled up with the mare inside, the soothing hot waters began to loosen up the mare as she knelt her belly into it and took in the healing liquid. “Ahhh...” she moaned in relief, “that feels... so much better. Thanks for–”

A scrub brush was quickly jostled atop her mane as Lavvy began to rub the filth of the pony’s vivid hair. With each pull and push of the stiff bristles, the pony called out, “Could-you-warn-me-next-time?” Lavvy stopped as she bent onto her knees next to the tub to get a better reach. The pony jolted her head back and questioned drastically, “W-why’d you stop?” Lavender grinned and continued to wash the mare. She went over most of the mare’s body, brushing the pony’s mane, tail and coat clean.

She began to finally work on the bottom of her hooves before Lavender stated, “I’m not really sure why I’m doing this.” The pony never questioned her as she had fallen into a deep state of tranquility. “I mean I have reasons, like I read this study one time on how ponies and humans interact with one another, and how humans are affected by the pony’s presence and proceed into a more generous and welcoming state of mind–”

The pony snickered and blurted out, “That’s a load of horse shit.”

Lavvy stopped scrubbing again and asked her, “What do you mean?” The pony’s large, oval eyes wheeled over to Lavender–her pupils glistened like a cerise sunrise in a violet sky.

“I’ve been in longer contact with humans than this occasion, but those occasions were different. They tried to harvest me–to make that sick drug out of my essence. Those bastards never treated me like a sentient being, more like an animal.”

“Well, you are an animal in a sens–”. She was cut off when the mare rolled her eyes back around and into the tub waters, staring down at her soppy reflection. Her mane tumbled alongside her face, its tips barely touching the waters. Lavvy wished she could have taken back the words she had just said and brought the scrubber back up to the pony’s back.

As she began massaging her spine, she expounded upon her past mistake, “I’m sorry. You’re very different from the ponies of this world and are far more human than most of these people I associate with on a day-to-day basis.” The pony looked back towards Lavvy with puzzlement in her expression.

She brushed on the pony’s lower back as she continued, “I can’t explain it, I just feel... safe around you. The media plays you all out as an international crisis, as if you all were terrorist or serial killers. A lot of people–and once including me–believed that because we had no other proof otherwise. Please forgive my hostility... And if someday we could all look back at this as a whole, try and forgive us.” The pony smiled and nodded her head slowly.

“I’ll try... I thought the same way with every other human, but I too was wrong.” Lavvy returned the pony’s smile with her own as she reached for the sinker and pulled the plug off of the drain. As the water began to exit out into whirling fluid, Lavender reached for a towel and began to caress the mare’s head dry. As she rubbed the towel roughly against the mess of hair and carefully around her horn, she whipped if off and the pony’s mane frizzed into a ball of fluff and tangles.

“Oh,” Lavvy remembered quite lately, “I forgot to tell you my name. It’s Lavender.”

“That’s a nice name,” the pony complimented, eyes straying away, “it’s a good pony name.” Her vision was pulled back to hers as she stated, “My name is Vinyl, Vinyl Scratch.”

Act Right

“The night was calm and unsettling between the two of us. We didn’t stay up too much longer after her bath as we were both quite tired. As I was going to fix Vinyl a little something to eat, I found that after I had left the kitchen, she had crashed on my couch. I couldn’t blame her, it was a comfy chair. Sleep evaded me long into the night, I wasn’t sure when I had fallen asleep, but knew that I had been awake for quite some time. My mind raced wildly on how this all had happened, how I had become acquainted with this pony so quickly. Do friendships form this fast? If so, then last night was quite magical for the two of us. If I did believe in such otherworldly powers, I would safely say that friendship is magic.
I didn’t have work in the morning because, well, I was fired, but I woke up early anyways. Damn internal clocks. It was about six when I had made myself coffee while my new four-legged friend drooled over my couch cushion. I cracked the blinds in the kitchen, letting the morning rays cross over me. Snow had cloaked the mountain and over my Benz; I’m glad I let Vinyl in. Dressed in my sweats and a oversized sleeping shirt, I still felt the bitter bite of winter through the window, even while I sipped on the addictive substance before me. I shuddered and took another small swallow.
The warm liquid pleasure stimulated my senses as I thought to myself, “This shit’s worse than most drugs.” I was at the point where I couldn’t start a day without coffee or function throughout it properly. Millions of people were like this, I wasn’t alone. How could a drug so easily pass through civilized society without an argument against it? As if it were a show of hands, coffee, caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco is seen as an invisible crutch on the masses as a whole. A part of me considered that these drugs were taxed, so therefore they were legal and produced on industry levels, another part of me said there is a darker side to this issue that the leaders of the world don't want others to know. I took another sip; a slave to the coffee bean. No wonder this world is so messed up–it begs me to think about Equestria and what it was like there. Maybe where Vinyl called home was a place more peaceful–or perhaps more hellish, I don’t think I’ll ever know.
Just as I was about to open my laptop and ritualistically browse the areas of the internet I enjoyed the most out of, there was a quick and hard knocking on my door. I immediately shot up from my chair; the caffeine had taken affect of my body and I was overly awake. I thought about more ponies at my door, I thought how Vinyl could have set me up as some sort of safe house for others. These thoughts propelled the idea that my life was slowly turning into a Tolkien set-up for adventure.
My mind stopped functioning and eyes grew with horror as I heard the individual from outside my home loudly state, “Police. Open up.” Quickly, but quietly, I scrambled towards the sleeping pony. I hoisted the little thing in my arms, forgetting that this little thing sprawled out was more like a pre-teen in height and weight. I wobbled to my feet, securing the pony in my arms and stumbled my way to the bathroom. I flipped the switch and put the pony into the tub–thank God she was a heavy sleeper. I closed the door behind me and grabbed a pen and sticky note from the kitchen counter. I jotted down the words, “Sorry! Be quiet please!” and pushed the note under the bathroom door.
As soon as I was about to answer the front door, I realized that Vinyl’s muddy hoof prints were tracked near the entry way. The policeman called out once more, “Open up, we have some questions to ask you.”
I stood frantically still, thinking of a way out of this and responding, “One moment please!” An idea sprung into my head and I raced for my bedroom. I grabbed the rug that was lying near the foot of my bed and dragged it into the living room. I placed it elongated over the tracks as I finally straightened my posture, took in a deep breath, and then unlocked the door slowly.”

Upon Lavender’s front porch were two burly looking policemen, layered up in navy blue attire from head to toe. Their red faces fell towards the smaller woman before them, they seemed colder bundled up then Lavvy was in just one layer of clothing. The one to her left was a bit rounder, a bit shorter and held a notepad and pen eager to write notes on. The left pig, with a badge that read, ‘Marty,’ looked over the petite girl more so than the younger looking, longer faced cop to her right. The younger cop, whose badge named him, ‘Edward’ smiled and looked behind Lavvy into her house.

She was still a bit panicked, she always was around the law, as she muttered out, “M-may I help you two?”

“Ah!” Marty began with an unnecessarily loud whoop, “Yes, we’d like to know if you’ve seen any ‘unusual activity’ around Mountville lately.”

Lavvy placed a hand on her hip and questioned, “What type of ‘unusual activity’?”

Edward, the handsome cop, clarified in a lighter, more native tone, “Well to be more precise, ma’am, we’re looking for an equestrian pony.” She swallowed uncomfortably, but remained cool. The cold air seemingly made her feel farther away from her warm abode than she truly was.

Ed went on, “We got a few calls last night about a white pony making it’s way around here, and to be honest, we didn’t quite believe it.”

Marty sarcastically chuckled his useless comment, “An international threat here in a place like this? We're quite skeptical, to say the least.”

Ed nodded at Marty’s remark, “Right, but we just wanted to ask around to see if anyone had seen it or not.”

Lavvy clenched her fists in nervousness, she felt sweat begin to form in the slope of her back. She knew the consequences of harboring a pony quite well. If they had any suspicion, they could enter her house without warrant. Laws had been modified in times like these when the great drug wars spanned across the globe. No longer did police need warrants if they suspected pony activity, they could barge in and ransack her home. She had watched too many videos on the computer of cops busting in on people’s houses that held ponies captive. The punishment was severe and were so extreme that even death penalties were issued to unfortunate people.

Lavender froze up, not realizing that the two cops before her were waiting for her response. She smiled apprehensively, then darted her eyes back towards the men. She knew it, she knew they were suspicious because of her visible anxiety. She might as well scream it out that she was hiding a pony in the bathroom just so they might ease up on her coming punishments. She couldn’t however; Vinyl trusted her. She didn’t know how she would weave her way out of this, but she had to say something.

“Yes!” she blurted, “I haven’t seen anything. I’ve just been here...” she pointed her thumb over her shoulder, “just doing nothing... I’ve only seen ponies on television, never in real life. So... ya... heh...” The two cops slowly turned towards one another, their leather belts audibly strained, they returned their gaze back towards the frightened woman.

“Look,” Edward spoke in a soft voice, “no need to be paranoid, we won’t bust you because you're in possession of a little pot.” Lavvy screamed internally as his words made it into her brain.

“How could they have known!” she mentally spoke to herself. She turned around and then noticed that on her coffee table was a glass pipe and water bong she had used the other night and never put up. A small bag of weed was gently lying next to the pipe as she turned back and lightly chuckled to herself, “I’m... I’m sorry...”

Marty smiled and shook his head, “You gotta be more careful, but really it’s no big deal. Just don’t be stoned while out in public or driving, alright?”

“Y-yes sir.”

Edward motioned with a finger out, “And one more thing: We’d like your name and number so that we can notify you if we need to ask you more questions.” Without a second thought, she complied and gave them her information. As the two police went back to their car, Lavender waved out her door and closed it promptly. She held her backside against the door and slumped down on the carpet.

As Ed and Marty stepped into the cruiser, Ed ignited the engine and began tapping Lavender’s given information into the laptop situated before the dash.

Marty took a heavy breath and said, “She was pretty cute, eh deputy?” He playfully nudged Edward’s shoulder as he kept his focus on the report page. Ed didn't respond, he didn't want to. Marty shrugged, removed his gloves, and rubbed his hands close to the warm air conditioner vents. As Edward finished up, they began to pull out of the driveway backwards and towards the main road. He had to be careful in his maneuvering, not wanting to slide into snowy ditch. Ed stopped when he noticed that something dark was blocking the entrance of the driveway. Both cops looked back to see what it was, a feeling of dread swept over the two upon realizing who it was.

A black Buick with tinted windows was parked before the entry way, although between the two vehicles stood a tall, dark man. His eyes were affixed on them behind round, black glasses, he stared emotionless at the police car that had halted a few yards before him. He was fully clad in sable attire; from his meticulously shined shoes to his firm-brimmed traveler's hat, he stood like a statue about the winter wonderland. His face was long, almost stretched, his jawline and cheeks were firm and rigid. With posture straight and hands behind his back, he took three long , unhindered steps forward through the snow.

Marty murmured, “Jesus, this guy again?” Edward sighed as he and the older cop opened the doors and left the confines of their warm automobile.

Edward greeted with slight professionalism, “Ah, Director! Find any leads on the mysterious pony you've been looking for?” The thin man turned his gaze sharply towards Ed, making him tense and straighten his posture.

“No, I have not,” he said as cold as the air about them. His tone was sharp like a sword, rough like gravel. “The snow and ice are impeding our search," he continued, his contact unbroken with the officers, "so we must search harder, gentlemen.”

Marty spoke up, “It could be what most people are saying around here, that it might just be a hoax. You know how small towns are, causing drama up the wazoo.”

“I refuse to believe that, Officer Martin. I've been tracking the reports of a band of equestrians for months, and one is in this town, I’m sure of it. They will not slip my grasp again.” He pivoted away from them and turned back to his car. Before he entered into the driver’s side, he looked up at seemingly each of them and dictated, “Carry on, officers.” He stepped into this Buick and began his descent down the mountain road of Chance. Marty watched him leave, nodding his head in disapproval.

Marty stated while returning to their cruiser, “Fuck’n loony, I tell you.”

“That was a close call...” Lavender spoke to herself, breathing heavily as if she had ran a mile. She then remembered the pony in her bathroom and swayed back up to her feet. Lavvy went to the bathroom door and noticed that it was wide open. Her heart raced in alarm seeing that Vinyl was nowhere to be seen. A sudden noise became known to her from her kitchen and she rushed to see what it was. Upon entering, she saw the pony with her head buried in the refrigerator, looking for something to eat. How Vinyl made it from the bathroom and into the kitchen without gaining the attention of the two cops in front of her was unknown to Lavender, but she avoided the question and pulled the pony away from the fridge by her tail.

She turned the mare around to face her as she pointed towards the bathroom, “Didn’t you see my note? Bad pony! Bad!”

Vinyl laughed, “Yeah. I was quiet, wasn’t I?”

“Yes but... Ugh!” She crossed her arms and looked away. “I put you in the bathroom for a reason, and that reason was to stay in there.”

The cream colored mare rose her hooves up and questioned, “How was I supposed to know that? I remember crashing on your couch and woke up in the tub. Wouldn’t you be just as confused as I was?” She turned away and started grabbing odd things out of the fridge that would make a terrible meal when combined.

The pony went on while her tail swished back and forth uncouth like, “I saw you talking with some friends at the door, so I didn’t want to disturb you. Plus, they would have probably thought you were some sort of drug lord if they saw me hanging around out in the open.”

Lavender sighed and stressed, “Those friends of mine were police, Vinyl. They would have taken both you and me if they saw you. You’re lucky they were looking at me instead of you.” The mare grabbed a ketchup bottle in her mouth and spat it across the floor where a pile of condiments, meat and yogurt was accumulating.

Vinyl asked, “Why would they be looking at you?” Before Lavender could state the obvious, the pony remarked, “Oh, right. Sexual attraction and all that.” Lavender blushed with embarrassment; there was no denying the truth. Vinyl turned away from the refrigerator and lightly kicked it closed with one of her back legs. She sat before the pile of food and sauces, looking over it with delight.

The pony then turned her gaze upwards towards Lavender and coldly stated, “I have no idea what I’m doing.” She rummaged her hooves through the pile and commented, “How come you don’t have any fruit or vegetables? What’s these red and pink slabs of squishy things?”

“That’s meat, Vinyl.” It took a moment for the mare to make the connection in her head before a look of horror swept over her face.

“Dear Celestia,” she cried in fear, “you’re all cannibals!”

“What? No!” Vinyl hopped up from her flank and scooted towards the corner of the room, eyes glazed with dread.

“You’re sick–all of you!”

“Vinyl, let me explain! It isn’t human meat!” The pony stopped in her mad scramble and looked over at the pile once more.

“I-it’s not?”

“No, it’s pigs and cows and shit like that.”

“Oh...” she grimaced a little and mumbled, “Well I guess it’s not that bad. Wait a second–” she looked up at Lavender and slowly asked, “Do humans eat ponies?”

“Well, no–or at least I don’t think so. I think that maybe in other parts of the world they eat ponies from earth, but it’s frowned upon in modern society.”

“Ah,” she breathed as her small smile returned to her face, “that’s good–I guess.” She waved her hooves out over the pile of food and said, “I wonder what I could make with this stuff?” Lavender stepped closer and scanned over the edibles with her pony friend.

Lavvy commented, “Sandwiches... toast... bacon and eggs... that’s about it.”

Vinyl wobbled on her haunches with difficult-to-contain excitement, “Let’s make bacon! That sounds like a fun word, it probably taste incredible!”

“Um... bacon comes from pigs. Are you fine with that?”

Vinyl scratched her noggin, “Eh, I guess so. I’ll try anything once.”

Lavender chuckled, “Suit yourself,” and grabbed a packet of bacon from under the bologna.

Vinyl watched intently as Lavender cooked the meat over the stove top. The aroma of bacon filled the house as Vinyl moaned with delight. Lavvy rightly assumed they didn’t have bacon in Equestria due to her enlightened expression, then again, the smell of bacon made most people hungry and happy. As Lavender finished sliding the slabs of slightly burnt pig flesh onto two plates for each of them, she brought over the dishes to her small dining table. The pony eagerly hopped up onto one of the chairs as a trained dog might do. Vinyl’s ears perked up and she beamed a bright smile as she carefully watched the bacon before her.

Lavvy sat herself down across from the unicorn and said, “Well, dig in! I know it’s not much but I’ll go grocery shopping later for some better food.” Lavvy stopped when she noticed that Vinyl was levitating a single slab of bacon before herself, eyeing it as if it was staring back. A wavering, blue aura enveloped the food, as well as her unicorn horn. Lavender knew about unicorn magic and had read about it over the internet, but never had she seen it in person being performed.

“That’s incredible!” Lavvy exclaimed. “How are you doing that?” She suddenly reached over the table and lightly touched the tip of Vinyl’s horn with her index finger.

The pony swatted at the human’s hand and barked, “Quit it! And I don’t know, we just do it. Like hoofwriting, it takes patience and skill, or at least that’s how I was taught on that matter.” Vinyl hovered the bacon closer and took a bite out of it, making a satisfying ‘crunch’. Almost in an instant she was overwhelmed by its taste, trying her hardest to keep her mouth from going ajar. She savored it as long as she could before swallowing and being satisfied.

Vinyl looked up into Lavvy’s curious expression and said, “This is... amazing! I didn’t know meat could taste this good. We always stayed away from it because–well, you know–it was frowned upon and wasn’t ethical.”

“Horses and ponies don’t usually eat meat,” she informed the pony. “But still, don’t let that from stopping you now.”

“Only stop me if I’m about to eat pony!” Vinyl laughed.

The day progressed without any more disturbances. After lunch, Lavender went out to the local grocery mart to pick up essentials for her and her new friend. She was thankful Community Grocery wasn’t too far from where she lived, and that her drive didn’t dip or climb up the mountains too far. She hated driving in the snow and ice, as do all who live in the North. An hour passed and when Lavvy returned with a few bags of canned goods, food and alcohol, she discovered Vinyl Scratch watching television while sprawled out on the couch like a human. With legs dangling off the furniture, the pony browsed the channels without the need of magic, but instead used the remote with her hooves. One hoof held the controller and with the other she delicately tapped the up arrow. How she tapped that single button with such a large, rounded hoof was beyond Lavender, but she was beginning to learn not to ask questions about such oddities.

Lavender put the groceries up and entered into the living once more with beer in hand. With careful judgment, she dashed and vaulted, leaping over the pony. Vinyl swiftly ducked, not seeing the female jump overhead until the last second. Lavvy flopped down on the other side of the mare safely as Vinyl removed her head from her forelegs.

“Just be glad you jumped high enough,” the unicorn strongly remarked, “or you would have gotten a horn in the ass.”

Lavvy only smiled as she cracked open the cheap, pale ale. She took a swig while placing her socked feet onto the low table before the two. Both watched on as Vinyl continued surfing through the channels. Finally, in utter defeat, Vinyl threw herself back and sank into the couch cushion.

“Ugh! Nothing interesting is on!”

“I’m surprised you don’t find human television interesting; I’m even more surprised you know how to operate a TV.” Vinyl looked over at Lavvy with a grimace across her face.

“I’m not that stupid.”

“And I’m not saying you are. From what I’ve learned from the internet, Equestria is supposed to be somewhat advance, yet somewhat medieval. You can tell most of my information on the subject relies on what Wikipedia says.” She laughed lightly to herself and took another swig.

“Well, we have technology, to some degree. Unicorn magic can be harnessed into batteries, and through that it can power certain utensils, devices, lights, sound, heat, whatever you could think of. Back from where I’m from, they have factories where all unicorns do is exert their power into generators and batteries all day and get paid for it. It isn’t much, but it puts food on the table. It’s what my dad did.”

“I see...” Lavender noticed Vinyl’s mood had changed to a more crestfallen appearance. She was homesick still, and thinking of her family made her sickness stronger. Lavender’s eyes trailed off into thought as to how to make the pony happy again, and when her attention refocused, her vision fell upon the water bong next to her reclined feet.

“So,” Lavender began slowly, “do you smoke cannabis?” Vinyl looked up and thought on the word for a moment, scratching her chin in thought.

“I don’t think so...”

“Do they smoke anything?”

“Well I learned in History class once that ponies use to smoke tobacco, but Celestia banned it. Instead, most people smoke from bubble pipes, which isn’t really cool.”

Lavender sat up with a grin and reached for the elongated pipe and brought it before the unicorn. “Vinyl, allow me to open the doors to your mind through marijuana."

Paradise

After a few tokes and laughs, things seemed to blur together. All I remember was falling back and back, further and further. And even further, as if falling into the night sky and sinking into a soft nebula. Vinyl was out of it from what I could tell. Her bright eyes were glazed and melancholic; her pupils were dancing over her whites like a stone being skipped over a pond of strawberry milk. We didn’t talk, we just took in the evolving surroundings. The bright colors of furniture and carpeting seemed endlessly interesting. Our minds made up patterns as they affixed themselves upon the walls that held us in. The murmuring television hummed with the saintly songs of Philip Glass. A documentary we had flipped on called “Koyaanisqatsi” narrated the evening. It was beautiful.
Our minds began to chatter for what I thought was a minute before I realized we were actually talking to one another. She told me how she was dreadfully sad, hopeless, yet had been unrevealing to her inner troubles. Her kind dwindled and she was homesick, she hadn’t seen her parents since the day she arrived here. She hadn’t seen a single friend of hers since that fateful hour where everything was taken away from her. Then, in a strange cosmic attraction, she found hope in me. Her last, fleeting desperation weighed upon me as her eyes locked into mine. She asked if I could take her home.
Vinyl explained that a story was being spread among the few ponies she encountered. A prophecy in which a pony awake a sleeping exodus. The one will guide the equestrians to the place where they had journeyed from, where they had teleported to Earth. The enduring ponies had repeated the prophecy to her so many times—as if it were a mantra—that she could never forget it. She told me, “When the Sister’s embrace, we must journey towards the beginning, so that we shall not meet our end.”

At any other time, I would have thought of this prophecy as ludicrous, but I was open and willing that night. I felt her emotions weigh on me as it did to her. I felt connected, beyond humanity itself, to her and her alone. It was as if I had found my long lost sister; I soon thought that perhaps she was me from a different plane of existence. The thoughts raddled me from the inside out, and gave me goosebumps along my pale form.

In a somber moment, I felt an awakening within me. Her articulation upon her sweet desire and desperate ambition brought me to a state of unease. I had gained an affinity towards her, but I did not want to go out of my way to bring her home; yet in me I now struggled with this choice. Should I or shouldn’t I take her to this place? What repercussions, on a universal level, will this entail upon me if I choose to help her or not?

Then, as if a shrinking cloud, the thought passed and so did we. Drifting, drifting, drifting into the open blue. Out of body and out of mind, we took no heed to limits. Everything seemed brand new, every problem seemed distant. We didn’t worry, because we had forgotten what worry was. I only knew happiness, and so did she; if only for a moment.

How we went was haunting and satisfying; how we returned, I do not know.

“Fuck,” was the first thing Vinyl heard as she awoke the next morning. The drowsy pony was curled in half-tossed blankets upon Lavender’s bed. The dark form of Lavvy rose up from the sheets, her hair strungout and wild. There was no light to illuminate her features, Vinyl only saw the blurry, silhouette of her new friend. The human pressed the palms of her hands into her eye sockets and rubbed them. She grabbed her flip-phone from the bedside desk and it lit up for a moment and colored her in bleached blues and greens.

“Shit,” she breathed, falling back into bed with a thud that rocked the little horse.

“What’s the matter?” Vinyl lightly asked with strange concern in her voice.

“It’s one o’clock...” Lavvy turned away from Vinyl and snugged herself deeper into the blankets.

Vinyl yawned. “In the morning?”

“No,” Lavvy groaned, “in the afternoon.” She turned in her bed and mumbled, “I hate sleeping in so late. You miss so much of the day to do things.”

“What would you have done if you woke up in the morning?” Lavender was silent. The wheels in her head weren’t quite fast enough this afternoon for such a question.

“I don’t know,” she forced out, unpleased with her answer, “but not sleep in, that’s for sure.”

“Ah,” was all Vinyl replied with, failing to respond appropriately.

The day began after Lavender overcame her shame. Breakfast was at two, and both the human and pony sat at the table eating a well balanced meal of stale corn flakes and over-salted scrambled eggs. They had ate all the bacon yesterday, and because of this the two were a tad depressed.

Vinyl had to grab a phone book to sit on so she could properly reach the table while sitting. Lavender wondered why she had a phone book and where it had come from. Another befuddling thing Lavvy couldn’t quite understand was the way Vinyl was sitting. She peered under the table and looked at the pony’s legs and flank. It just didn’t seem natural to her; then again, Equestrians weren’t Earth-beings to begin with.

Vinyl watched Lavvy do this for a moment before asking, “Why are you staring at my ass?” Lavvy leaned back up and met eyes with her.

“Nothing.”

Vinyl rose an eyebrow, “Does my ass interest you?”

“No!” she sharply answered. “I mean... it does. But not in that way! It’s just...” Vinyl waited patiently, swallowing a mouth full of mashed corn flakes to pass the time. She was honestly interested on why Lavender had done what she did, and waited with a small smile on her face.

“The way you sit, it doesn’t look right.” She took her hands and made strange gestures denoting, “The anatomy, it just doesn’t work.” Vinyl listened intently as she levitated another spoon of cereal to her mouth.

“Well, I don’t know what you’re talking. The way I sit is normal, or so I thought.” Lavvy slouched back, defeated.

The pony gave a moment for the odd conversation to blow over until asking, “Do you remember what I told you last night?” Lavvy halted a spoon holding of high fiber substances from reaching her mouth and numbly looked over at the horse.

She lowered the utensil and answered, “You said a lot of things. Shit-” she chuckled, placing an elbow on the table and holding her head up with the palm of her left hand. “-you told me a bunch of stuff. You were rambling on so much that I thought I had slipped you some acid by mistake. Something about the Elements of Harmony, cutie marks, what you would do to Octavia when you found her.” The pony blushed and broke eye contact.

“N-no!” Vinyl fumbled out, stopping the human from continuing. “Remember? About the prophecy, where I wanted to go. I asked you to take me home and you said you would. You promised.” Lavvy began to recall that conversation, a point in which last night she began to tear up, solemnly devoted to taking Vinyl Scratch to where she wanted.

“I did... didn’t I?” Lavvy said in a tone absent of warmth. “Why would I do say that,” she thought self destructively. “Shit, I can’t fucking pull this off. Dammit, I’m going to sound like a real asshole in a few seconds... but I have to tell her...”

“Vinyl,” she sighed, “I can’t.” The pony’s vibrant eyes began to lose their glow, the line of her mouth began to sag.

Lavender continued after an unsteady breath, “I have, like, no money coming in. I need to find a job, my car’s a piece of shit. I can buy you a bus ticket, maybe a plane ticket if I sell some of my remaining dope...” She ran her fingers through her black tangles in frustration. “I just wasn’t thinking last night. I made a rash promise I shouldn’t have made. I made a mistake.” Vinyl was at a loss of words. Her mouth opened, then closed, as if she was about to say something, but stopped at the last moment.

“But...” she finally said, “you promised... You were crying, you were being real with me.”

“And just how do you think I feel?” she snapped, slapping her right hand flat on the table. Vinyl flinched and shut her eyes at the impact. “I have a life! I just can’t run off into the blue with you!” She took a breath in, relaxed her tone, and proceeded, “I know you’re hurt, this whole world is because of the mad, greedy addicts we humans are. If you stick with me, we’ll both eventually get caught and our mutual lives will be ruined.” Lavvy leaned forward and stressed, “Just think in my shoes for a moment. Think of what decisions I have to make.” She crossed her arms and mumbled, “Shit, you don’t even have a concept of shoes, do you?”

Vinyl looked over at her, her expression beckoned weakness and helplessness, the same you might see in child’s face when their parents leave them alone. Lavender looked towards the pony with the vivid mane, a feeling of disappointment washed over her as her eyes made contact with Vinyl’s hunched body. Lavvy’s eyes opened a little wider, taking in what she had just said herself. What if she was Vinyl? What would she do now that her promising hope and newly acquainted friend turned on her? She was alone in a way that Lavvy couldn’t comprehend. She was being hunted, she was a pseudo threat to everyone across the globe. People feared her kind because their governments told them to. Her friend—from Vinyl’s perspective—was almost caught with her, but she protected her. And now she’s being thrown out on the streets, into the wilds again.

Lavender began to remember what the little pony told her about her home. How she described it made Earth look like a place of drear and misery, where hope was a dream or a fairy tale idea. Her world was alive, peaceful, and happy. A place where magic existed and life was an adventure. Lavender was just settling into adulthood, on the precipice of her forty-year journey to retirement. A pattern was beginning to set itself into her life, and her struggle to break free from it was almost impossible without the aid of her fleeting childhood sense of curiosity. The drugs helped, but they would never cure her from the normalities that were soon to come. Again, she felt awakened, her eyes twinkling with insight.

Vinyl, on the verge of a fitful and deep sadness, eased herself from the chair and began walking to the front door, seeing herself out. Lavender watched for a moment, watched as a chance not only to do good, but to break free one last time, plodded away from her. Why she didn’t call out at first was a mystery to her, but as the pony placed her hoof on the knob of the door, she finally spoke up.

“Stop!” she loudly pleaded. She rose from her chair and swiftly approached the mare. Lavender turned Vinyl around and came face to face with her, mere inches separating them.

“I’ll do it,” she murmured painfully. After a moment of brief silence, she emphasized, “I’ll take you wherever you need to go.”

“So,” Vinyl looked away, then back towards the human, “why the change of mind?”

“Because, you asshole, I would feel like shit for doing what I almost did. Safety is overrated. Everyone’s trying to be safe these days, being safe with money, safe with things, safe with themselves. I don’t care for that anymore.” Lavvy shook the pony and joyfully exclaimed, “I want more than that! I want truth! I want justice! I want you home and I want the world back to the way it was. Whether or not I’m going to regret this is beyond me, but before I stop myself again, let’s do this. Let’s get the hell out of here! Today!”

The pony casted a worrisome glance, “Today?”

“Yes!” Lavvy beamed, “Today, let’s go to wherever you teleported from.” Vinyl smiled brightly and suddenly came close to nuzzle Lavvy; the human didn’t know how to react to this and simply pet her mane.

Lavvy leaned away and said, “Wait a minute. Where’s this place at? Do you even know?”

“Sort of,” she hesitated while scratching her noggin. “I know the general area. If I saw a map of your kingdom, I would know.”

Lavvy soon found herself scouring through her closet, searching for a map she may or may not have. She couldn’t quite remember if she had a map of the United States or not; what was odd was that she didn’t know why she would have one to begin with. Like the phone book, she thought about where these things came from or how they found themselves in her abode, it scared her a little bit, but she pushed the thought away before having an existential crisis. After a few minutes, however, she finally found a large, plastic map in the corner of her bedroom closet, wrapped tight in a thick rubber band.

She unrolled it on the kitchen table before the pony, holding its edged down with dirty dishes. Vinyl hunched over and gazed across it intently for a minute.

“There,” she said, placing her hoof down over south-west America. “That’s where we need to go.”

Seeing as it was almost across the continent itself, Lavvy cringed and asked, “Could you be a little more specific?”

“Oh,” she removed her hoof and squinted towards the area she had indicated. “Are-eye-zone-ya” she slowly enunciated. She turned her head towards the human and smiled, “Areeyezoneya is where the portal opened.” Lavender was a bit taken back, not due to the fact that Vinyl Scratch walked from Arizona, but that their destination was a state that was nearly from coast to coast. She knew her mercedes was bound to blow any day now, it had a plethora of problems that she shrugged off to repair. Crossing almost five states with her baby seemed like a surreal thought, something perhaps out of a lucid dream of hers.

She waved her hands in front of her and smoothly llied, “Not a problem. I’ve only been out of state once, but traveling can’t be that difficult. It’s just driving for a really, really long time.” Reality caught back up to her as she pressed the mare for more questions.

Lavender looked towards the map, “Where exactly in Arizona is this place?”

“I’m not sure,” she spoke in a cheery tone. “I’m sure we can ask around.” Lavvy rolled her eyes. Seeing this, Vinyl explained herself, “What I mean is, we’ll find a pony and we’ll ask them. If anything, I know where ponies like to hide from humans.” Lavvy began to feel her stomach tighten into a knot. She knew this was madness, and the stakes were ever increasing with the insanity.

She purged away the thought of backing out again. She just couldn’t do it now that she had gotten up the mare’s hopes again. She peered down at the cream-colored creature, she was rocking excitedly in the chair as she looked at the many routes and highways that lead across the country. A great deal of generosity began to wash over her, which seemed to link her towards the mare. The same feeling occurred when she gave her a bath the second time they met. She couldn’t quite shake the feeling of it, it felt so good to her. She placed a hand on the top of the mare’s head and scratched behind Vinyl’s ears.

She smiled warmly and said, “At this rate, we’re going to need some help, and I know just who to help us.”

Vinyl turned and warned her, “You can’t show me to anyone, remember?”

“No worries, I can trust him. We go way back.” Vinyl thought about and nodded with approval.

“Very well then,” she pleasantly replied, hopping off of the chair and onto the kitchen floor. She looked up at Lavender and said, “A great deal of danger ahead, an itty-bitty chance to succeed; well, what are we waiting for?”