“Ugh,” Vinyl groaned as she started to regain some sense of existing. Her head was pounding like she was nursing a wicked hangover. That wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for her, especially not since she had been at the club. What was a little more unusual was that she could feel she was being carried limply along, as if two other ponies were under her shoulders. She managed to open her eyes weakly, expecting to see the outside of the club or the city streets of Canterlot. Instead, her sluggish brain registered the interior of what looked to be a standard-issue cave, complete with creepy green light that came from nowhere and washed over everything in a pale coat. “What the buck?” Vinyl demanded with all the eloquence she could muster. It was really a very deep question that contained a lot of mystery: where was she, why was she in a cave, why did her head hurt, why couldn’t she remember anything after leaving the club with those two stallions?
“She’s awake,” said a voice from her right. Vinyl turned her head, but in the dim light her weary eyes refused to focus and allow her to see the speaker. She could hear just fine, though, and she could hear that the voice was . . . wrong. It sounded almost like a stallion, like a pony, but not quite. She couldn’t quite think of what was so off about it but there was definitely something. It was too . . . whispery, maybe? If the wind blowing down an empty alley and sweeping trash in its wake could talk, then it would sound like that.
“Just hurry up,” said the voice to her left. It had the same weirdness to it. Vinyl didn’t like it. She didn’t know where she was, or why she was there, or who she was even with. The creepy voices were just the icing on the cake for making her uncomfortable. “We’re almost there.”
Vinyl had heard enough. There was nowhere in some random cave that she wanted to get carted off to by a couple of strangers. “Lemme go,” she grunted as she tried to wriggle free. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere with you.” She squirmed as much as she could, trying to flail free. Surprisingly, they had a very good grasp on her. She didn’t accomplish much other than to make her head spin with the sudden exertion. “I said, let me go!” she shouted. Maybe if she made a commotion she could spook them. “Kidnapping! Assault! Rape! Help!”
“Shut up,” said one of the mystery voices. There’s nopony to hear you down here.”
Buck buck buck buck buck, Vinyl thought. That pretty much bumped this situation from “creepy” up to “terrifying.” It was time for drastic measures. She planted her hooves and dug in, surprising her two escorts by the sudden jolt as they tried to carry her forwards and she didn’t budge. She shot a hoof out to the side, made solid contact, and was rewarded by a yelp of pain that didn’t really sound all that equine. More importantly, the grip on her loosened. She turned and ran.
She pelted back down the way she had been carried, dodging rocks and cracks in the stony ground she could barely see by the sickly green light. She poured all of her speed into her legs, giving praise that there only seemed to be one way to go so that she didn’t have to try and guess at an escape route. She wasn’t sure if she was pursued: her own hoofsteps and labored breathing echoed wildly around her and drowned out any other sound.
The cave seemed to stretch on forever in front of her. She couldn’t even see a small hint that the exit might be anywhere near. She just had to hope that it was and keep going.
A heavy weight crashed into her from behind, tangling with her legs and sending her crashing to the floor. She did her best to roll with it, intending to come back to her hooves and take off again. Instead, she found herself pinned to the ground, looking up at a monster.
It was shaped like a pony, but that was the extent of its equinity. It was covered all over in shiny black material and it leered down at her with empty, soulless blue eyes. It had fangs, too, but the eyes were the worst thing about it. They were empty fields of blue that somehow focused on her with purpose, and they were hungry. They were a predator’s eyes and she was pinned beneath them, looking stupidly back up into them. “Where do you think you’re going, pony?” it laughed at her. She looked around desperately, for any kind of escape or help. There was nothing. “We need you for something very important.”
“I don’t suppose you’re gonna tell me that you just want me to host an awesome rave party for you?” Vinyl asked hopefully.
The thing chortled a little bit at her joke. “Not quite,” it said. Then its hoof, or what was probably considered its hoof, came down on her and everything went black for the second time that night.
Vinyl stirred once more to the feeling of being carried. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought she dreamed the last little bit of her memories. Unfortunately, the short bolts of pain that periodically shot through her skull were probably good indications that her recall was accurate.
She couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like she was deeper in the cave now. She had no idea how long she had been out this time; she could be anywhere by this point. “We’re here, pony. Home sweet home,” one of the creatures said.
She looked around. Home was a perfectly ordinary cave, devoid of any decoration or furniture. What it did have was mostly dirt. It also had what looked like any unfinished cocoon or chrysalis sitting right in the middle of the floor. It radiated the same kind of low-level green light that she had seen before, and it gave Vinyl a bad feeling.
With every step they dragged her closer to the cocoon-thingy, Vinyl’s heart sank even more. She already could imagine where she was going to end up. She tried again to get some leverage and fight back, but they had learned from their mistakes. She had no opening or chance to escape their grip. They hauled right in front of it, and she looked down inside at what she was beginning to suspect was going to become her prison. It was small and confined and filled with a gooey substance. “Ick,” Vinyl retched instinctively at the thought of getting that stuff on her.
Sure enough, the two creatures pitched her forward without warning. She stumbled, losing her balance long enough to fall to her knees in the ichor. A swift kick to her back winded her and knocked her onto her stomach. She writhed around onto her back and was horrified to find that she was already sealed in. Now she looked up at the faint outlines of her captors through a heavily translucent “window” that had been drawn over her, sealing the pod shut and trapping her inside.
She battered at it with her hooves, putting all the strength of her hind legs into her kicks. She might as well not have bothered for all the difference it made. She scratched at it helplessly, pounding at it with her forehooves. No matter how she battered at it, it showed no signs of damage or wear. She decided to try another approach. “Hey, guys,” she called out. She had no idea if her voice could even escape, but she had to try. She swallowed her pride so that she could try again. “I dunno what you want, but we can probably work together if you let me out of here.” She got no response. “C’mon, dudes, this isn’t cool. Whatever you want, I—I’ll give it to you, I promise.” There was no answer. She was still trapped in a tiny, squelchy hell that she could barely move around in. “Please let me outta here! I’ll do anything! Please, I don’t like it in here!”
She could see movement from outside her heavily shaded “window.” Had they heard her and taken mercy? The pod shuddered, convulsing almost like it were a living creature being prodded to life. Vinyl held her breath, praying for freedom.
Instead of releasing her, the walls of the pod started to ooze with more of the slime that she was laying in. It was warm, and it trickled down at an alarming rate to pool underneath her. “No! That isn’t what I meant!” Vinyl cried out in dismay. The level of fluid rose quickly; in the space of a breath it had gone from lapping at her legs to covering her chest. Is this it? Are they going to drown me in this stuff? Vinyl thought, panic driving her mad as it reached up to her neck and continued rising. “No, please! Don’t do this!” she shouted.
She sucked in a deep breath just as the level of the stuff covered her face. She held onto that last precious bit of oxygen for dear life. It didn’t take long for her lungs to start aching, for the air in her lungs to start trying to claw out of her. Vinyl fought back against her body’s unquenchable desire to breathe; she knew it was futile, but she had to try. Maybe her captors were just playing a sadistic game and she’d get to live if she could just endure a few seconds longer?
Vinyl’s hope faltered as her mouth popped open of its own accord, sucking in a huge mouthful of the ichor she was suspended in. She couldn’t fight it forever, and this was the end. She submerged.
The familiar sights of Ponyville blurred by as Vinyl trotted past. Only one goal had meaning for her, a singular imperative rising from deep in her mind. It was loud enough to drown out the faint echoes that sounded like her own screaming. She paid it no heed. She had a purpose, and a vital one at that.
A house loomed into view, and one that Vinyl knew very well. She didn’t want to be here, but she trotted forward anyway. She knocked on the door and a mare answered. She wanted to scream at the grey earth pony to slam the door, but the words died unborn. “Vinyl, what in the world are you doing about at this hour?” the mare asked. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Vinyl said. I’m not. “I just want to show you something.” Something awful. “Can I come in?” Please, don’t.
“Of course you can,” Octavia said as she stepped back.
“Thanks,” Vinyl said. Run away!
“So, what did you want to show me?” Octavia asked.
Vinyl’s horn glowed. A heavy thunk echoed through the hall and Octavia collapsed. Vinyl dropped the small stool she had grabbed with her magic. “I wanted to show you how foolish you are,” Vinyl’s mouth said. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t stop it. Another telekinetic field embraced Octavia, draping the mare over her back. Soon it would be dark enough that no one would see her passing through town. “Let’s get you back. The sooner you start being useful to us, the better.” No! I don’t want to hurt her! I don’t want to hurt anypony! She smiled down at her unconscious prey. “A pretty decent harvest for one night, I suppose.”
