Prologue: The Party at Whoovenburg
Ponysia: The Dark Side of the Hooves
By Elias Fuentes
Prologue
The Party at Whoovenburg
Vinyl Scratch opened her eyes and let out a yawn. There was a big day ahead of her that she had to get ready for. She walked out of her room decorated in some dubstep posters various that said things like “Skrillex” on it and “Drop the Bass”. She took a shower, got herself looking rather more than decent looking, ate a breakfast, and went into her studio to pack her musical devices.
She packed her music mixer, turntable, and amps into her van and went upstairs to read the party invitation sent to her by Alexander Whooves. The note read the following.
September 18th, 2004
Dear Vinyl Scratch,
I, Alexander Whooves, invite you to the party that will be held at my castle, Whoovenburg, which is going to be held today. It would be very much appreciated if you would come to dj at the party. Also, I would pay you a good amount of money, ranging around 520 an hour (the equivalence to $65 American dollars). Again, it would be much appreciated if you would come. The party starts 6:30, you may arrive early to set up any instruments you have.
Vinyl Read the directions to Castle Whoovenburg. She had to go about 73 miles out of Ponyville. She looked at the clock that read 4:30.
“Mm, almost time,” she said. She went into her van and started up the engine. Once she double-checked that everything was ready, she drove away from her house and down the road, soon, leading out of Ponyville.
About an hour and a few minutes passed until she reached Castle Whoovenburg. It was a rather gray looking castle made of stone, but what stood out the most was how huge the castle was. It had to be at least the size of 3 hoofball fields and the height of at least 30 feet.
“Wow, Doctor Whooves must be really lucky to live in a place like this,” Vinyl said. She drove up the drive way that lead to the big, wooden door that lead inside. She came to a stop and walked up to the big door. The castle seemed even more massive being next to it. She knocked on the shiny, brass knocker on the door. It took a few seconds, perhaps over a minute, before somepony answered. She looked at her watch as she patiently waited. It read 5:17, about the time she wanted to arrive.
The door was opened by a stallion with a brown coat and an orange mane wearing a fancy attire of black shoes, pants, a white t-shirt, a black overcoat, and a black tie.
“You must be the dj, Vinyl Scratch?” he asked. Vinyl looked at what he was wearing and started to presume that it would be a rather fancy party, perhaps.
“Yes, I am,” she replied.
“Right then, you may come inside. I shall grab your musical equipment, that is, if that is ok with you,” the stallion asked.
“Oh, that would be great.”
“Right this way then,” he said leading her inside. Vinyl walked into a rather big foyer, once inside the castle. The inside wasn’t so gray; it was beautiful with polished marble flooring and some exquisite paintings. There was a large door at the end and there were a few normal sized doors on the side of the foyer.
“Wow,” Vinyl said under her breath. The stallion leads her to the end of the foyer wear the big door was and opened it. It leads into a, well, oversized living room. This room had marble flooring and cream colored walls. There were two large, fancy couches and three chairs under a loft that had a door on the wall where the loft was. There were two curved staircases on either side of the loft; also, there were two doors on the sides of the living room. The stallion continued forth and beckoned Vinyl to follow while she stared in awe.
Once on top of the loft, the stallion opened the door. The next room was a big ballroom. It had a domed top that was painted a gold color and a flooring of quartzite.
“This is where you will be playing the party music,” the stallion said.
“Ok,” Vinyl said in a nervous tone. She wasn’t sure if the music she would be playing would suit the party. She was in a big, fancy castle yet she brought all, well, not-so-sophisticated music with her. She was led back into the living room.
“The door to the right leads into the dining room and the door on the left leads to where the Doctor wishes people not to go,”
“Why doesn’t he want people to go in there?”
“That is where his more private things are such as his living quarters, studies, and other things are,”
“Ok.” Vinyl became slightly curious about this but decided to just let it be.
“I shall get going to get your things into the ballroom before people start to arrive,” he said and at that, he went outside to go get Vinyl’s music devices.
Vinyl patiently waited until all the equipment was in the living room.
“Here, let me help you with that,” Vinyl said helping the servant of the Doctor move the equipment up the stairs.
Soon, everything was in the ballroom. Vinyl plugged in every plug-in she that needed plugging. Soon, more servants started to appear, coming from the forbidden area that guests weren’t allowed to enter. The smell of different varieties of foods started to waft from the dining area. It smelled absolutely divine.
“Perhaps tonight won’t turn out to be bad,” Vinyl thought “Maybe they will enjoy the music.” A knock came from the door and two stallions, one being the stallion that greeted Vinyl and the other being a blue stallion with a brown mane. They answered the door to Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Rainbow Dash, whom was looking rather not too ecstatic to be here. All were dressed in fancy or exceptionally formal looking apparel, more or less. The two stallions gave their greetings and showed them to the living room and gave those directions to what was where including the forbidden area.
Vinyl shut the door to the ballroom, which wasn’t supposed to be entered yet, with the exception of Vinyl being able to enter, and tested out her equipment. Everything seemed to be in order.
The six ponies talked in the living room as more guests started to enter. Soon, the living room was packed with guests for the party. Many recognizable ponies were there. Lyra, Bon Bon, Cheerilee, Caramel, Soarin’ and Spitfire (whom brightened up Rainbow Dash’s mood), Sapphire Shores, Fancypants, Prince Blueblood, (The Great and Powerful) Trixie, Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich, Silver Spoon, Applejack’s Aunt and Uncle Orange, Caesar, Frederic Horseshoepin, Golden Harvest, Berry Punch, Carrot Top, String McGee, Herald, Hercules, Jangles, Junebug, Lily, Lavenderhoof, Lincoln, Lucky, Lyrica, Majesty, Noteworthy, Derpy Hooves (who was wearing a banana costume),etc., etc., etc., (and so many more etc.’s that it would take me all night to finish writing character’s name).
All the embellishment at the party continued to make Vinyl more and more nervous by the minute.
“Just, go with the flow,” Vinyl told herself. She peeked out the door that leads into the living room. The stallion that had a light brown coat and dark brown mane came out from the door that led to his quarters: Doctor Whooves. He was wearing a white, buttoned shirt with a twilight-indigo colored overcoat.
“Welcome, everypony, to the party at Castle Whoovenburg. It is of great delectation that you could make it,” Alexander Whooves said “In case you haven’t been informed, or just simply forgot,” Whooves looked at Derpy “The dining room is through the door on the left, ballroom is up the stairs behind me, and I impede you not to go through the door on the left. Again thanks for coming and do indulge yourselves whilst being here.” He gave a smile and walked through the crowd an up the stairs.
Vinyl hurriedly went over to her equipment and braced for the crowd to come into the room. The doors opened and Whooves was the first one in. He walked over to Vinyl.
“Here,” he said handing her a record “I ask of you to play this if that’s alright with you?”
“Sure thing,” Vinyl said, flipping her electric blue hair out of her face. More guests started going into the ballroom. Vinyl put the record on the turntable and turned it on. A tune of ballroom waltz came on. The ponies in the room (most of them being the more fancy ones *which wouldn’t include Rainbow Dash of course*) began to dance in waltz style.
“Are you kidding me,” Vinyl said. She waited till the song was over until she wanted to put her songs on. The last measure to the ¾ time signature came and the song ended. “Finally,” she said and picked up one of her own records and replaced the waltz with some dubstep. Some ponies seemed to like it (and it attracted Rainbow Dash into the room), but other ponies seemed to loathe the, what they would call, filth. At that moment, Alexander Whooves walked over to where Vinyl was.
“Vinyl, would you mind coming with me for a minute or so,” Whooves inquired as he stopped the spinning record.
“Um, no,” she said. Whooves walked out of the ballroom and Vinyl followed. He then walked to his forbidden quarters and beckoned Vinyl forth. She hesitated at first but then decided to just go with it. She walked through the doorway into a very dimly lit study. Whooves shut the door behind him. He walked through another doorway in the study and Vinyl continued to follow, getting more suspicious by the second. She walked into a drawing room of Whooves’s. He shut the door behind her.
“Have you any idea of what kind of party this is?” he asked.
“Uh, well, it looks a bit more formal,” Vinyl replied.
“Exactly, now why is it that you denied to play the music I asked you to play?” Whooves asked.
“Well, when you asked me to ‘dj’ at the part, it kind of implied that I would be playing more modern music,”
“And what isn’t modern about my music?” he asked as he began to grow more angry.
“Well, waltz is a music that kind of is dead now,”
“Does it look like it was dead considering all the ponies were dancing to it?”
“Not every pony was dancing to it,” she said.
“Don’t get smart Alec with me!” he yelled and smacked Vinyl in the face with his hoof. Her purple shades broke from the force of the smack.
“Ow, sheesh ok; I suppose it isn’t dead then,”
“Now, get out there and play the music I want you to play!” he yelled opening the door and shoving Vinyl in the rump and out the door. Vinyl looked in the mirror. Her glasses were broken and she had a big bruise on her face.
“No, I don’t want to go out there,” she said.
“You can either follow directions or you could stay in this private room with me where nopony will be able to witness what would happen,” he replied. Vinyl had a look of disgust on her face.
“No, I don’t have to follow orders because I’m not your slave. I’m leaving,” Vinyl said turning her back on Whooves and moving towards the door, but that was where she went wrong. She was reaching for the door; suddenly, a sharp pain came near the side of her face. She blacked out for who knows how long. She’ll just have to figure that out for herself when she becomes conscious again.
Chapter One: What Happened in September?
Chapter One
What Happened in September?
Vinyl opened her eyes to a scene she didn’t expect. She was in a room of dull gray stone. She was lying in a mixture of what seemed to be blood and water.
“Where the buck am I and what in the world happened,” she said looking around. She noticed a watch on her hoof. The date said February 18th, 2006. “What? I couldn’t have been a sleep for that long,” she said, trying to remember when last time she was awake. It then hit her that she woke up with amnesia. All she remembered was that she was at a party in September, 2004.
“Gah, I can’t remember what happened in September. Now it’s dark and I’m alone. It’s been forever since I could’ve remembered. Where the hell is everypony I just want to know this story ‘bout what happened right before I became so alone,” Vinyl sang. She got up from the ground and took notice to her surroundings. A room with a desk and several bookcases; the room was lit by just a few torches. “Sheesh, this place at least could be more modernized.”
She then noticed what room she was in. The study of whoever was hosting the party, but whom? She tried to think more of what happened in September.
“Grr, still can’t remember what happened in September,” she said. She looked around. The memory of the door that led out of there was regained. She turned around only to see the door was sealed and had iron bars blocking the door. Hope faded from Vinyl. There was a note on the table. Vinyl picked it up and read.
“I noticed the amnesia that I’ve been having. So, I made this note to keep you informed. Well, as of now I can’t even remember what happened but I do know that something horrible happened and Whooves must be put to justice for whatever he’s done. You must go forth deeper into Castle Whoovenburg and learn what happened.
Your former self,
Vinyl”
Vinyl looked forward and saw a door. She remembered a door leading into a drawing room. She walked through and gained another memory.
***
“Vinyl, there is something I must tell you. A horrible breakout happened at the party. Everypony fled around in the castle. Luckily for you, I saved you from the fight that caused everypony to hide away in the castle,” lied Whooves walking up to Vinyl to help her up from the floor that had glass on it.
“That doesn’t seem very logical. If there was a fight, why would they flee somewhere in this castle when they could just escape outside?” Vinyl asked.
“I don’t know all I know is that a fight happened and that everyone turned on you until I took you into safety here. Meanwhile they fled somewhere in the castle. Vinyl, you must not forget this they’re the bad ones. They deserve to be…well…punished,” he fibbed, a small grin on his face.
“Ok,” Vinyl said with a look of utter confusion on her face.
***
“So the ponies were bad?” Vinyl said obviously flabbergasted. “But, they’re my friends right?” Vinyl walked through a door that was in the drawing room. I lead to a guest room. Vinyl found another note. It read:
“Listen up Vinyl, I must inform you that you must understand that the ponies were your friends, never forget that. Don’t believe what Whooves tells you; he is brainwashing you.”
Vinyl was confused. She decided it would be best to believe her own self. Vinyl was determined to bring justice to Whooves for whatever he did in September. Vinyl went out the room and through the door on the other side of the drawing room. It was a room that wasn’t even lit. Vinyl picked up a flint and steel that was on a surface next to Vinyl and lit a torch in the room. It was Whooves bedroom. A diary lied on a dresser next to Whooves’s bed. The first entry read:
“Finally, the joys of their suffering shall be experienced once again. All I have to do now is get her to do it for me. Tests on my servants are going not so good. I just can’t figure out how to mutilate them to what I want them to be without them dying of the agony they go through.”
The second entry read:
“Success at last; my first mutilated minion is a success. They strike fear into all the hearts of the slaves (well, the rainbow one, not so much but she still shows loathing towards the mere sight of them). Finally, this will pay off and I will be able to rejoice at the weakness of my slaves. All I have to do is brainwash her and I will be 20% more happy towards what I’ve accomplished.”
Vinyl threw the diary across the room.
“It was only text on a sheet of paper, Vinyl. It doesn’t mean anything, right?” she said. She walked out of the room. “Now where do I go?”
She then spotted a lump under the rug in the drawing room. She pulled away the rug, uncovering a hatch in the floor. Another memory hit her.
***
“You noticed how big this castle is, right Vinyl?” Whooves inquired.
“Yes, and I’ve been wondering, so far, I’ve only seen a few doors and it makes me wonder, how is it that the castle is so big, yet, there are only so many doors linking to the castle?” she responded.
“Because you haven’t seen everything yet,” Whooves said pulling away a rug revealing a hatch in the floor. “This leads to much of the rest of the castle. Come, my servants and I believe that most of the ponies fled some places through here.” This made Vinyl wonder.
“How would they be down there if one: it is secret, and two: if it was the one and possibly only way to get into the rest of the castle?”
“Well, one: because they might’ve found it, and two: because there are a few other ways to access the rest of the castle,” Whooves said as he climbed down the hatch. Vinyl became more suspicious but just went along with the stallion that supposedly saved her.
***
Vinyl opened the hatch, it was a dark descent downwards but Vinyl braved up and began to go down the dark descent.
