Conception

Chapter edited by Outcast98

Chapter 1: The Beginning

As Alica woke up abruptly, she looked around, then down to her hooves. Sighing, she realized she had failed again, for she was now sitting in her pillow-engulfed bed fully awake.

This unicorn mare had purple-tinted eyes and a rather messy mane. Most of it stuck up and over the side of her head. She considered it a style, but since she just woke up, even she, herself, would consider it a mess that had to be dealt with. It stood out as a brilliant blu-ish purple color along her light sky-blue coat. A few streaks of vibrant magenta ran along the underside of her mane. After hoof-combing it, she continued to lie in bed, trying to remember dreams, if any, of the previous night. A few minutes passed, and it was soon clear that frustration had started to build inside her.

“Why can’t I ever control my dreams?! Or even remember them, at least?! Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s my pillow setup….” She quickly turned around and moved a few around, then threw her body into them, stuffing her face. Rolling over, she continued rambling to herself. “Nah, I changed it last night… and THE SAME THING HAPPENED AS TODAY!” She shouted obnoxiously, furiously throwing her pillows across the room.

A voice came from downstairs. “Are you really talking to yourself again?”

“No! I am YELLING! There’s a HUGE difference!” She shouted back at the top of her lungs. Her face was now red with exhaustion as she swung a pillow into her bed. Sometimes her older sister was a little too caring of her, because, as expected, she came into the room to find Alica in yet another ‘morning fit.’ Soon-after she opened the door, a pillow smacked right into her head. This time, it stuck exactly centered onto her horn, puncturing the pillow, leaving feathers to fly in all directions.

Alica stared for a few seconds, and right after her sister, Morning Underthought, sighed with a face-hoof -- or more-so, a “pillow-hoof” -- she couldn't hold it in anymore; Alica just had to laugh.

Morning smiled softly, hidden under the pillow, as she heard her little sister make her cute little giggle. Levitating the mortified pillow off of her head, she started to giggle along with her. After a single second, they were both laughing their heads off.

“Usually I miss badly with my throws!” Alica couldn't stop laughing as she tried her best to finish what she was saying, “-How surprised you must have been!” Her face was once-more red, but for different reasons than a few seconds before.

The older unicorn sat down on the bed as she, herself, got a bit calmer. Her short, blue-purple mane was combed to the side, as usual. It fit along nicely with her simple light-grey, purple-tinted coat. Unlike Alica, she tried to keep her mane and tail nicely plain and professional. She simply looked patiently to Alica with a small smile and soft, purple eyes. She waited for her to get her laughs out as the little unicorn continued to roll around in her bed. After a couple minutes, Alica sat up next to her sister, breathing heavily. “Hehe, I guess you must be getting tired of me doing this every morning…”

“You know, not at all! I love seeing you happy, and you know that.” Morning chuckled for a second, “and I think you are mistaken, because it is you who looks to be getting pretty tired. I mean, you must really want to go into those dreams to be causing this ruckus all the time…”

Alica beamed. “Of course! There could be so many things I could do! Going to the supermarket, flying to the moon, eating hay, being a Pegasus!”

With a small hint of confusion on Morning’s face, she responded, “but…. Half of those things…. Um, never mind, I am just glad to see that you are happy now.” She smiled at the little pony and ruffled her mane with a hoof.

“Hey! You’re messing it up!” Alica said quickly as she tried to fix it with her hoof.

Morning laughed slightly. “You just got up, and besides, your mane is always messy.”

“Says the mare who cut her whole mane off,” she responded casually as she continued to get her ruffled mane oriented into place.

“Hey! It is exactly two inches, thank you very much, not at all ‘whole mane cut off.’ You also realize that has nothing to do with what I just said?”

Not needing to look back to her, Alica continued. “Yup, doesn't not make it true, though, or am I not wrong?”

Alica’s older sister face-hoofed again with an utterly confused look on her face. “You are not making any sense with that double-negative... or.... triple-negative? Well, as I was saying, why don’t you just simply brush your mane? I am telling you, one day a bird will make a nest in that thing, lay an egg, and you will have constant chirping everywhere you go.”

After Alica finished 'fixing' her mane, she looked back at her sister. “But it’s a STYLE, I’m telling you. And I wouldn't mind having a family of birds with me!"

"You are so silly Ali." Morning gave a small giggle. "I just love how unique you are to me."

"Oh, um... Yeah, unique...” She looked down, not knowing whether to feel proud or alone. Just then, a rainbow of colors started to line the edges of her sight, signaling the start of another vision. For her whole life, visions have come off and on, but every time have meant something, whether it be from the past, present, or future. For this particular vision, it seemed to be one of the shorter ones from the past. Reality temporarily blurred out as she saw the faces of her parents who she never properly met before. Her dad was an earth pony with a blue coat, along with brown eyes and mane to match his cutie mark, a solid-brown mountain. Her mother was a beautiful purple unicorn with a stylish light-blue mane that, very slightly, was twirled to hang over one side of her head. Her soft, light-blue eyes looked at Alica very lovingly. Behind her parents was the pink pony that she continued to see here and there in her visions. Typically, she was in the background.

Her older sister held Alica’s forehoof, breaking her out of her trance. “You know, I don’t think it’s all that bad as what other ponies say ‘being unique’ is. I think it’s something that gives you… ‘Good character.’” She smiled softly to Alica as she made eye contact. Tears welled up slightly in Alica’s eyes, and she abruptly embraced her older sister into a tight, comforting hug. Morning stroked Alica’s mane slightly, but not hard enough as to 'mess it up' again, thankfully.

Morning is such a good sister… Oh how much I wish what she said really helps to fix me inside… but, even if it doesn't…. she’s still here to support me, Alica thought to herself as she snuggled tightly to Morning. Just then, a thought passed by her mind, and she shifted in place.

“Hey… um, Morning?”

“Yes, Alie?”

“Um…. With Mom and Dad…. What happened?”

Morning tensed up, freezing after hearing that question from her again. She quickly calmed herself, and responded. “You know that you have asked this a hundred times, and every time I answer, I say that don’t want to talk about it?”

“Do you want to talk about it now?”

Morning hesitated to find an answer, but eventually decided. “Yes, you have… you have waited long enough…. You are a grown mare, after all. I still cannot believe that, because you have always been my little sis-“

Alica hugged tightly, cutting off her response, “I will always be proud to call you my older sister, Morning.” Nuzzling her slightly and getting into a warm, comfortable position, she urged her, smiling. “So, you were saying?”

Morning stared blankly, and then shook her head so as to continue. “Oh, yes, about that, I was actually going to say that I would… tell you tomorrow-“

Cutting her off again -- “What?! But you-“

Stopping her by placing a hoof in her mouth -- “I just need some time to think about what to say, okay? It is a big deal to tell you all of this, and I will not take it lightly. You know I don’t break promises, and right now, I say, I promise that I will tell you tomorrow morning. When we wake up, got it?”

Alica hesitated, but then agreed. “Fine, I just hope you don’t forget about it...”

Morning gave a small sigh, smiling, then chuckled. “Since when do I forget about my little sister? You mean the world to me, you know.”

Alica replied, “yeah…. You've always been there for me, too.” She hugged her again. “It’s just really been hurting me, not knowing my parents….”

“I know…. But I was doing it to protect you.” She pulled her back. “It was the only thing I could possibly do so you don’t fall apart…. Like me.”

Alica said back, smiling softly, “but, sis, you don’t look like you've fallen apart. You probably look better than I am right now... I thought I was the one with problems.”

"You see…. I've learned to control it, and the reason I’m hesitant into telling you the truth is that I’m worried you might not learn to do the same.” She smiled back softly to her little sister.

“That makes sense…. I feel ready, though. Don’t you think I've waited long enough?” Alica asked.

"Yes, I have said before, you have waited long enough. Just hold on until tomorrow. Besides, you have got a big day at work today, right?”

Alica beamed brightly, “Oh yeah! Of course!” She paused for a second, “...it’s going to be boring and exciting all at the same time, all day."

Morning laughed. “Well, not everypony works at the club, so you should be proud.”

“Da Club!” Alica corrected. “You gotta add the ‘da.’ It’s 'da' name. ...but we aren't really that big anyway, so I don't know why I should be proud.” Morning laughed slightly at Alica’s correction to the official name of the club, 'Da Club,' and then got up, kissing her on the forehead.

“I love you Alica, but I've got to get going to work, myself. You know that I work earlier than you do. I should have headed off five minutes ago… We start a little earlier this time.”

After giving a quick hug, Alica waved her off. “Good luck!”

Morning said back, walking out of the room, “it is no problem at all, I just work at the marketplace, nowhere special. I should be the one wishing you luck!”

With Alica giving a smile, they said goodbye one last time and the door closed.

=     =      =

For hours, as usual, Alica fiddled around with her music box. She used what magic she knew of with telekinesis to be able to learn to find a way to play her own notes with it. So far, over the years, she perfected the C and G note, but was still trying to find the way to play fully behind the framing. After hours upon hours, she found that she would be late to work if she didn't stop soon. That aside, she was also getting slightly frustrated with it.

As she started walking out the door from her house, she took a deep breath to try and get her head together. It all seemed so routine to her at this point. She wakes up, gets stressed, plays her music box -- otherwise dozing off -- and daydreams at the day-club until she actually gets time to sleep at night; although, something was at least a bit different today, for the day-club had decided to host a specialty 'night-club.' She sighed in attempts to continue getting her head together.  She looked around, and saw the nice scenery of town with a few ponies passing by. Flowers bloomed at the sides of houses; a grey mail-pony soared overhead; and even a group of colts and fillies were seen running, playing a game of tag.

“Such a beautiful day outside...  I should be happy about today. The club should be more exciting than usual, too.“ At the topic of the club, an image came to mind showing Vinyl Scratch, the DJ of 'Da Club.' Alica looked up to her, in countless, nearly infinite ways.  “She’s so pretty… if only… she noticed me….” She sighed in full desperation, and her imagination showed a depiction of them making music together and snuggling. Immediately, she shook her head and blushed vibrantly. “Why can’t we be together?! I've actually talked to you one time, but I doubt that you even remember me! ...W-Why does it have to be this way?!”

She stopped, and looked around to see all the ponies around her in City Square staring at her with both worried and strange looks on their faces. Alica immediately blushed even brighter.

Oh no….. I was talking to myself out load again.

She stood there frozen, completely shocked and slightly upset with herself for doing this again in public.

“Hey, are you ok ma’am?” One young colt asked, who had just walked up to her.

“Eheh…. Uh, yeah.” I have to get out of here, fast! She thought, and then blurted out respectively, ”GOTTA GO!” As she ran off in the direction of 'Da Club,' she refused to look back to see everypony’s reactions to her.

So much for hoping for a calm day, she thought in pure panic. Oh well, I guess I’m used to it by now… if only things could change! Anything! I'll have anything! Anything but this! Still running, yet completely out of sight of the ponies she encountered, she saw Luna in the corner of her eye. Her mind, however, continued to race around and around endlessly. In her eyes, tears formed out of stress. Please! I need a vision of something new! Anything! I can't do this! Please! P-Plea- WAIT, was that Luna I just saw?! She looked back, still running, but saw nothing to her dismay. Then, suddenly, she ran right into something, making her tumble to the ground. Panting and grunting, she swore she heard somepony grunt as well, but she thought nothing of it due to the chaos in the day so far.

“Ugh,” Alica grumbled to herself. “Just ONE day of relaxing would be nice,” she couldn't help but giggle, shaking herself off.

“I know, right? I totally know how it feels...” She heard a voice that sounded oddly familiar, but then realized that the ‘thing’ she ran into was actually a pony.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry, I was juuuuu-“ As she looked up to see the pony she ran into, she started to blush the brightest she has ever blushed before. It was the DJ, Vinyl Scratch, who was speaking to her, who she ran into, who she was speaking to. “-uuuuuh-“ Her sentence didn't go any further. She was simply in utter shock of the moment.

After Vinyl finished brushing herself off, she responded to the unfinished sentence. “Nah, it’s no trouble at all, just walking over to the day-club. I seem to bump into so many things, listening to my music. It’s pretty easy to get distracted.” She motioned with her hoof to one of the ear-buds in her ear, powered by a portable, mini, magic-powered music player in a saddle-bag.

“Uhhhh- oh, um... yeah, distracted….” She thought back to all of the times when she was distracted by Vinyl’s music in 'Da Club.' No-no-no-no-no, I shouldn't think about any of that right now, she’s right in front of me…. Looking at me…. Wait, looking at me?

The DJ continued to look at her with a bit of a contemplative expression on her face. “Wait… I swear I've seen you before. Canterlot? Wait, no, or was it that one evening party that Tirek totally crashed? Heh…. And totally.... CRASHED.” She chuckled softly at that little memory.

Alica, shaking herself out of her trance, responded at last. “OH, no, I work at the day-club too-“

“Ah! Yeah! You’re the one pony who is always working at the counter enjoying the music. I swear, out of all the workers there, you are the only one having an actual decent time it seems,” Vinyl said abruptly as she remembered the light blue pony that stood in front of her. They both started to walk in the direction of work, casually talking.

“Wait, you know me? Um, but, how did you know I’m  always focused on you- I mean, the music?” Alica asked with a slight blush.

“Well, I’ll tell ya this. A DJ like myself always knows who is interested into something and who is not, but you don’t need to be a genius to see that you are always looking in my direction. I've got to ask, what's your name?”

Oh my gosh! She’s asking for my name! Ok, ok, gotta act cool, Alica thought by instinct. “I’m Alica Underthought, the um…. Uh…. Alica. Yup.” Was that cool?

“Hm, nice name.... is pretty unique... I like it.” Vinyl said back. “Not too often I see names like that, I admit. Sounds a bit like 'alicorn,' actually...”

Alica was wide-eyed in surprise, but mustered her concentration to keep talking. “Oh, wait, really?! You like it? Most ponies stay away from me because of how different I am… uh... In general.”

“Well of course I like your name! It’s like with music. It can all get really boring to hear the same sounds, but when you hear something new, then you start to get hooked to it….. well, if that new thing doesn't sound bad.” Vinyl chuckled. “Then again, many ponies hate the sound of my wubs. Can’t impress everypony, but I still manage.”

Still not believing she was talking to the DJPon3, the DJ’s official title, Alica responded with a slight blush, “hehe, um, thanks.” What do I say, what do I say?! Alica thought emphatically to herself. “I really like your music!”Oh no…. no no no….. wait! I can fix this! “I mean, maybe because it is…. unique? Yeah, like you said about how unique things are good!” I’m dead. I failed. She’ll probably just shake her head and walk away like I imagine she would….

Vinyl chuckled lightly.

Wait, she’s not?.... Alica thought right before the DJ started speaking again.

“Well, I guess you’re right,” Vinyl said. “Also, there’s no reason to feel nervous around me. I’m really just a normal pony like you, ya know. Just because I’m famous doesn't mean I’m like an alicorn.” The DJ laughed a bit at the thought of being one. At the same time, Alica seemed to lose all the tension she had up to that point. Although, a certain thing that Vinyl had said caught her attention.

“Wait, ‘normal?’ Why do you say that about me? I’m not normal at all…” Alica spoke.

Vinyl explained, “well, I’m not what you call ‘normal,’ so that is why you are normal to me. Does that make sense?”

Alica blinked, “Oh, um…. OH! I see what you mean! Wait…. You’re not…. normal?

Vinyl laughed calmly. “far from it, but that is the reason I became so good at music, in the end… I think?” She paused for a second, but then realized that the day-club was only about fifty feet away. “Well, I guess there’s not much time for me to talk about that stuff. Perhaps something like after work?”

Again, Alica blinked. “Wait, you mean, today?!”

“No duh, I’m talking about 1,000 years from now!” Vinyl chuckled at her sarcasm. “But really, just whenever. I think we can really get along.”

As they came in through the main doors, Alica attempted to resist squee-ing, but couldn't help from keeping her mind from brewing up a storm of squeals in her head. Luckily, it was kept all in her head until after they said a casual goodbye and parted ways. Once out of earshot, she let it all out, making so much noise that a few coworkers around her stared curiously.

“hehe…” Alica blushed so heavily that even bright-red paint couldn't cover it up. “I was just…. Super excited to be here. Yup.” Smiling brightly, she finally got everypony’s eyes off of her as they simply shrugged. Well, at least I didn't lie, this time. She thought to herself.

“Okay, everypony, we got a big BIG day ahead of us!” Boomed the incredibly loud manager. He was a dark brown stallion with a vividly orange mane. His cutie mark was, for some reason, a whip. “We are going to be working late tonight as you all must know. For a recap, for whoever in the hay didn't come to that meeting-“ He then glanced his way over to an orange earth pony leaning sideways onto a wall talking to a fellow coworker. “-I’m talking to YOU, Sound Dart!” The pony nearly fell over in shock, but then realized it was just the boss and calmed down with a hearty chuckle.

“Ah, okay. What was it you were saying? I didn't catch it.”

The boss face-hoofed, “Of course you weren't…. I SWEAR, if I could afford to fire you, I wouldn't hesitate for a SINGLE second!”

“Yes, but you wouldn't do that because I’m the only pony here who speaks Zebra. You know it’s against regulation to have nopony who can speak the foreign language-“ he responded back casually.

“Shut up! I’m sick n’ tired of hearing this! Now, you better listen’ closely this first time, because I’m just going to recap this ONE time, no more.” The boss cleared his throat to speak. “As I was saying, for THOSE of you who weren't here for the meeting-" He glared angrily at the orange pony, who shrugged in return. “-We will be working later tonight….”

As he continued talking, a distant toilet flushed, and Vinyl came walking into the main hall humming a small tune as she set down her things at her station quietly. She started going through some bags trying to find one thing or another, casually making sure to listen to the manager.

“-Many important ponies will be here, many who are able to spread news ‘bout popular clubs in Equestria-“ Alica was barely listening to the boss at this point, since Vinyl came in.

Did she really mean what she said? Alica thought to herself. What if she was just….  I don’t know, this seems too good to be true. It’s like what I hope to dream in dreams…. But…. It’s real! …but…. What if I’m hoping for too much? She can’t possibly have the same feelings I have… can she? Realizing she was staring at her again, she averted her gaze before she noticed. I don’t know, I just don’t, I guess it doesn't hurt to hope, though…. And if this is a dream, I better make the best of it while I can! It’s not like every night that I get to experience one. Deciding to do a quick reality check, Alica looked down at her hooves and rubbed them together. Sighing, she smacked her face into the table in despair. Not dreaming… well, I guess it really is a good thing as long as I have a chance with Vinyl.

Lifting her head up and off the counter, she saw that the boss was nearly finished speaking. ”-And that’s why ya all should try your best tonight. AND, as much as I want to fire some of you-“ He glared angrily at Sound Dart, once more, making him pay closer attention again, “-I am still the boss, so ya better respect Da Club, otherwise ya disrespect me. I can’t afford to lose any workers, with what little we have. I STILL think we can rise to the top of the clubs, mind ya all. We DO have Vinyl, rated one of the top DJs in the vicinity!” He motioned to her, who in-turn nodded her head and leaned back on a nearby chair, having finished sorting through her items.

“Yeah Vinyl!” called out Sound Dart abruptly with infinite enthusiasm. Alica, staring harshly at him for a second, felt a great fiery knot of jealously swell up inside of her. Realizing what she was feeling, she looked down in shame. He has more of a chance anyway… she thought quietly to herself as she tried to control a burning blush that came to her face.

“Now, without further questions…” the boss paused, looking around for objections of any kind. “GET TO WORK!”

=     =      =

The day trailed on, and for the longest time, Alica was left entranced into giddiness once again after watching Vinyl play her wubs. Her music tracks put her into a state of mind, one that made her feel evermore giddy. Even if she could not think properly, she cherished the magical feeling inside. It was nearly like a wakeful dream in reality when she watched the DJ, and thus she just could not stop thinking about her. The bass dropped with lights swirling around in tight, fast circles lighting up the dark with each sweeping motion. She felt the urge to run out onto the dance floor with all of the other ponies, and maybe up onto the stand with Vinyl who was bobbing her head to the beat. After imagining it, she realized she still needed to work, and somepony was right in front of her trying to get her attention.

“-Hello? Can you hear me?” Asked a purple, winged mare.

“Oh!” She snapped out of her trance quickly. “I’ll get to that apple cider right away! I'm so sorry!”

“Uh…. Actually, I would prefer water. It sounds more... preferable, right now. Besides, I think Pinkie probably had too much cider, herself….” The pony said. Only then, Alica noticed a horn upon her head. Then, the realization finally hit her on who she was, almost like a humongous boulder would.

“Twilight Sparkle! I’m so sorry, I didn't recognize you at first! …uhh... I’ll get right to that water!” said Alica abruptly as she fumbled to find a mug through the many cupboards on the wall.

“Don’t worry, this whole place is chaotic, so I understand.” Twilight looked closer at Alica for a second. “Wait, do I know you? Isn't your name Alica?”

Still shuffling around the cupboards for cups, Alica responded brightly, nodding her head. “Yup! I’m the pony who always came to the old library to study dreams! And, uh, I came to the princess coronation. I was just... uh... in the corner as usual. I don't know if you or anypony saw me...”

“Ah! Yes! I remember you! So, how are your personal studies going? Last time you told me about it, you had read every book relating to the idea of dreams and had decided to try and explore it yourself.”

Finally finding a mug specifically for water, Alica started to fill it up.

“Um… Oh, yeah! I … well…. About that…. Eheh, I can’t get into a dream. I can daydream, and even seem to have visions, but never to actually dream like ponies would at night…” Alica responded sadly.

“Aw…. Wait, visions?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Yeah, I never told you? I have them all the time… sometimes?”

“No, please explain, I’m pretty interested.” Twilight smiled, putting her forelegs on the counter.

“Well…. They either are just random, or they connect with a thing in the future or the past… or something I don't even know. Again, uh, random...” She handled the water over to Twilight.

“Thanks, maybe this water will help get my mind together from all of the noise…”

“No problem. So… um…” she looked around, checking to see if any other ponies were waiting to order. Seeing that everypony was busy dancing, she continued. “Anyway, I've had visions about Discord, my parents, and really weird-looking…. species? I don’t even know, it’s all just so strange, but some of it really is true! I said that Discord was going to break free and nopony believed me… and also the Crystal Empire, I saw visions of it coming back, and it all happened!”

Twilight pondered for a moment, and after taking a sip of water, she began. "Well, I bet that if you get into a dream, you can dig deeper into your subconscious to find what the source is of these visions. Pinkie might actually have something to say that might help, because she has something…. similar. I would have to explain later, it’s a long story, her Pinkie Senses.”

“But… I can’t get into dreams, remember?” stated Alica.

Twilight added, in response, “about that, I can do some studies, easy, to find a spell that might help induce a dream and can keep you conscious at the same time -- Thus, a lucid dream! If I need to, I’ll even go to Princess Luna. She knows a lot about dreams… it’s pretty much her job, as I believe, going into other pony’s dreams to help them. What would be helpful, though, is some sort of device that we can use... something that can capture magical energy and use it efficiently to-"

The bass dropped abruptly, and at the same time, Twilight jumped out of her stool at the counter, stopping the conversation. Alica simply sighed giddily, smiling, as she felt the sense of joy she had every time she heard Vinyl work with music. She then looked back to Twilight, who sighed as well, but for different reasons. “This is the last time I go to a club… no matter how much Pinkie will bug me about it.”

Alica blinked, taking in what Twilight just told her earlier. "Oh, um, with what you were saying before about helping me, I don’t know what to say…” She looked over at Vinyl and smiled again, then back to Twilight. “It would be wonderful! You have no idea what this means to me! I've been, uh... looking for a sort of way to do all of this. It's been putting a lot of stress on me and everything...”

A brown earth pony with an unknown accent and green tie walked up. “Hey, sorry to interrupt you two fair ladies, but may I have a drink?”

Twilight responded quickly to him, “of course sir." She then looked back to Alica as she got up from the stool, "I’ll get out of your hooves then, Alica. Just come by the new castle when you get the chance, I’ll probably be there all week filling out paperwork for all the new books…. I don't know, I might be out in town, too, but I'll surely have time, if you don't mind waiting.”

Alica called back, “of course! Oh! And thank you so much!” Her voice might not have been heard completely due to the wubs, but Twilight understood with a nod of her head as if to say ‘no problem.”

“Wait, was that Twilight?” The earth pony asked. "Ohhh, wait, I just realized the timeline that I'm in, never mind."

As Alica was getting a mug, she responded, “uh... yup? Oh, wait, what drink do you want? Water? Cider?”

“Well, if you don’t have tea here, then I’ll just have Cider.” He answered.

“Uh…. Okay.” Alica responded again, starting to fill up the cup.

“You know, it seems a bit odd to see her in a place like this, but I’m not going to question it. Just, well, knowing her.... but then again I've seen weirder things in my travels. I've actually challenged the devil to a game of pinball, you know! This is all so… normal for me, that’s all, I’m happy to see something out of place. Casual ponies like you might not know what I'm talking about, but hopefully things start getting exciting again. In the other universe before the, well, 'incident,' I had a lot of adventures. This timeline is kind of meh.... But, oh who am I kidding! I was brought here for a reason! Something big is coming in the next week!”

Alica looked strangely at him for many reasons and with many questions as she gave him the mug. "Uh… wait, big? What do you mean?”

“Surely, and it seems like you play a big part in it, too. Hard to say, it’s all so foggy, but that’s when you know it’s gonna be big, because of the fogginess and iffyness. The universe just seems to work that way more and more often, doesn't it?” He shrugged simply, and Alica simply stared trying to go through in her head what he was saying.

A grey googly-eyed pegasus called out, “Doctor! Did you get your drink yet, silly? Or are you going to keep talking to that mare?”

“Gotta run, can’t leave her waiting-“ He blurted out almost as if to himself as he hurried back. Alica then started thinking to herself, wow, I wish I could have asked him questions... What does he mean about all of that? I haven’t had any big visions lately… but… then again, is it really coincidence for me to see Twilight today? Today?! When I also ran into Vinyl?! She pondered deeply, barely noticing that she was staring at the DJ again. I guess I’ll just have to find out, she sighed quietly. Random ponies, random encounters.... I guess this day really is interesting after all.

“Hey mare at the counter, 'nother drink!” demanded a random stallion who stumbled up onto the counter.

Alica sighed harder, but still inaudibly so she didn't look tired-out-of-her-mind, “Yes, of course, ron right it.” She grew wide-eyed, suddenly, realizing the slurring of her words, "Wait! I mean,  right ON it... hehe..." What the hay am I saying... This is going to be a long night. She noted to herself in her head.

=     =     =

After countless hours, Alica had barely managed to stay awake. The only thing motivating her was watching Vinyl, but it was just barely enough motivation she needed to keep going; the only pony she needed was still there, looking more marvelous than ever. At one point, Alica thought she saw the DJ looking back at her, but she simply noted it down to be a daydream as it usually would be to her. Music can really help her to get into the daydreaming mood, but also at the same time, keep her awake and moving with energy.

Although, as closing time neared, Vinyl put on a slow song. Almost immediately, a body fell to the floor fast asleep.

=     =     =

“Hey sleepy head, I made breakfast! Up and at 'em!” called out Morning as Alica rolled over, grumbling incoherently. She then realized where she was, and thought back to what she last remembered, as she usually would with dreams. Ugh, I can remember nothing but what happened yesterday…. Wait…. I don’t remember ever coming home to bed! Was all of that…. A dream?! Instantly, there was a face propelled into pillows and the sound of a muffled scream.

The day certainly was something interesting.