Chapters A giant thunderbolt struck the land, just behind us... I jumped, scared, and fell. The grass where the bolt struck was taking fire. The smoke made by the fire was dark purple. The fire vanished, while the smoke was making a bed-shaped cloud. The whole audience was breathless.
"Hello Ladies ! Scared ?", I knew that voice too well.
"Could you please explain what happened, Discord ?", asked Princess Twilight, as he got out of his bed-cloud.
"I just wanted to give your kind people a little fright, after all it is Nightmare Night !", he teleported around the Princess, wrapping her like a scarf, "Don't you like it ?"
"I like jokes, but not when a former spirit of chaos disturb a concert, making everypony think that the whole town is going to burn, now sit down, Discord !". I had rarely seen Princess Twilight so upset before.
He sat down, visibly frustrated to see his "little" prank so badly received... Anyway, it's time for me to introduce myself. My name is Octavia, and I'm back from Canterlot for Nightmare Night. And for the occasion, Vinyl Scratch organized a concert behind the Princess' castle !
After a few minutes, an opaque fog began to appear, at the beginning, it was at our feet, but it was freezing. It began to go up, rapidly. The glacial fog was climbing our legs, then our body was soaking into this ghastly white cloak, wrapping us. A few minutes and our heads just out of the mist, the music stopped, I had trouble to breathe. The fog was before our eyes, I couldn't see anything, ponies started panicking. I heard Twilight cry for Discord, I heard thunder. Ponies are randomly running in directions they couldn't see.
"Vinyl ? Vinyl where are you ?", I was worried for her.
"I'm on the stage !"
I tried to figure out what direction I had to take, and I started to walk.
I got hit. Someone shoved me back, I fell hardly on the ground. It took me sometime to realize what happened, and when I got up, the fog was fading, ponies were calming down.
A blinding white light flashed, we heard a blast, everypony was still, trying to figure out what happened. People were calling for the Princess. It was only after a few seconds, when pegasi flew over the castle.
"The town hall is on fire !"
Everypony rushed to the town, bringing everything that could extinguish the fire.
Twilight teleported to us and explained :
"Discord damaged my lab, where I experiment new spells and potions, and potions mixing together created a storm !"
"What do we do ?" asked a voice in the crowd
"We do everything that can be done to put down the fire."
"Is there anything I can do ?" Discord asked this with a timid voice I didn't knew of him.
"I think you've done enough !", she became suddenly unfriendly, "go warn Celestia, and tell her we need help !", he teleported.
"Aren't we enough to put down the fire on our own ? It's just a fire !"
"It is not any fire !"
I went help the people stuck under the debris of their own houses. The fire was growing stronger. The quarter of the town was burning. I heard Lyra Heartstrings scream, and suddenly stop. I ran as fast as I could towards her house. A burning beam from the roof fell on her, she was smashed by the beam. I tried to remove it, but the only thing I could do was pull Lyra's unconscious body, the wood ripped her skin as I was taking her out of danger. Her blood began to flow as I carried her to the nearest care zone, made for the accident. I had trouble to see, as Lyra's blood was blinding me, her wounds were small, but a lot of blood was flowing from it.
I was walking, blinded by the blood in my eyes, the care zone was just a few meters away. I started feeling the pain on my back. The weight of her body was making my walk even harder.
I saw the care zone and tried to run, exhausted, but I didn't see the small staircase there was between me and the nurse. I fell, Lyra's body pushing me forward, I hit the ground, I heard the thud my leg did when it broke. The pain was invading my whole body. I was lying down, covered of blood, the inanimate body next to me when the nurse saw me. The screamed, but quickly got over the surprise and brought us to the beds the hospital put there.
"Will she live ?" I asked when a doctor examined Lyra
"Most of the wounds are superficial, she will live, don't worry", he had a kind voice but I couldn't reassure myself.
The nurse made me a bandage, my leg was painful, but I could walk with the three other ones. I heard that Celestia had sent the Wonderbolts to help us extinguish the fire, after Discord told her what happened. Although the fire was still there, and still expanding...
I don't remember how many time had passed when I saw the last thunderbolt. It hit the top of Twilight's Castle, making it shine like molten metal. A myriad of little bolts appeared on the walls of the castle, and I heard a strident noise, like a scream . It was like a firework. The finale was the explosion, behind it. A giant fire appeared behind the castle. The question I had saved a live, and probably killed many other : Is Vinyl there ?
Despite my broken leg, I ran as fast as I could, the town was still burning in the night. I had to dodge the ruins of the burnt houses. I stumbled on a rock and fell on my broken leg. I screamed.
I had to do the next meters crawling, but still moving towards the castle where my best friend was hurt... I knew she was there !
I finally got up on my three legs, I ran as fast as I could, which wasn't fast enough for me. I stumbled times and times again, I fell many times. The travel seemed to me like the seconds were stretching, making minutes, days, months. When I finally arrived there, I saw her, lying, part of her body was covered with the pieces of the wall behind her and the music material she was putting away.
I couldn't walk, I crawled to her inanimate body. Her head was badly hurt, blood was flowing into what seemed to be a dark red lake, filling my field of view.
I shouted for help as loud as I could, and lost consciousness...
Author's Note
If you've seen this before, you are one of the twenty two who saw the first attempt I did on this... and probably didn't like it (neither did I). I tried an other time, more concentrated on the style :)
If I did any mistake, misspelling, or if I made an incorrect sentence (I have trouble about the tenses x)), please tell me. I'm French, and in France, you can't learn languages at school, it is too bad, no matter where you are :/
Anyway, hope you like it more this time :)
II) The silence is coming
What happened ?
I woke up. Every part of my body was painful, and I was hardly able to understand what was going on around me.
I was in a large white room. Everything was white, the walls, the floor, the unknown bed I was into...
"Am I dead ?"
"Not yet! "
I jumped, as I wasn't expecting anypony to be around, and my legs and my neck gave me the impression they were burning, I groaned. I turned around and saw Princess Twilight.
"Princess ? Why are you here ? I'm sorry I was thinking out loud.", she smiled, amused.
"I wanted to compliment you about your action last night. It was very courageous of you to go and check for your friend !", I smiled, trying to thank her, but I was still worried about one thing : her.
"How is she ?"
"I'm going to tell you about her later, I owe you some explanations, as you weren't awoken this morning. And I wanted to tell you what happened in person.
« As I told you last night, Discord messed up my potions in the underground lab I use to test things, and it created the thunderstorm. The last lightning bolt that created the explosion Vinyl was in, did an even bigger mess in the lab, and water was all around. The water solved the whole thing. We heard your cry for help and sent a few Wonderbolts take you and your friend Vinyl Scratch to the hospital.
« But the fire was still there, and we took the entire night to put it down. There is no victim, only a few ponies hurt, and you will be happy to know that Lyra Heartstrings is completely safe, thanks to you, again."
"And about Vinyl ?"
She sighed, obviously embarrassed.
"Physically, she is fine, but the explosion damaged the nerves in her ear. In a few days she'll be completely deaf. If you want to see her, she just got out of the hospital, she should be at her place, and I think you can walk again, the doctors took care of you!"
"Okay... thank you, Princess". She smiled, and left the room. I was shocked to know that Vinyl would be deaf, and worried about her reaction.
As the Princess said, I was able to walk. My leg was still hurting, but the three others were fine.A few hours after the princess' visit, I wandered in the town, or what was left of it. Half of it was reduced to ashes. Where there had been houses, there was a few calcined beams, ready to fall down at any moment. Everything was grey. I saw a few ponies, crying in front of what used to be their front door. The land was devastated, and so was I. And so was probably Vinyl...
I couldn't stop thinking about how I found her last night, all the blood, spreading on what was left of the stage, tainting everything in deep red.
I decided to see Vinyl, firstly because I was supposed to stay at her place for a few days, but mostly because I wanted to know how she reacted...
On my way to Vinyl's home, I've met Lyra, who apparently, knew I took her to the nurse, ran towards me and hugged me like nobody did before. I was too sad to really enjoy it, but I was glad she was fine. She guessed I was going to see Vinyl :
"If you see Vinyl, please take care of her, she seems really weird today, she must have been shocked yesterday. She hasn't talked to anybody !"
"She is deaf". Saying these words made me realize how meaningful it was. Vinyl was, with Pinkie Pie, the pony who did the music in every party of the town, and sometimes in Canterlot. Ponyville wasn't going to be the same if Vinyl stopped making music.
Vinyl wasn't going to be the same
"I'm sorry", she looked down, and left me. There wasn't anything to say, any word to tell...
When I arrived at Vinyl's house, I knocked. Nopony opened... I was worried. I opened the door anyway, and saw her, she was sat on the sofa, staring at the window, listening to her favorite track, the music was very loud, and I knew why. When she saw me, all she told was :
"Oh, it's you !"
"How are you ?"
"Do I look good ?"
"I don't know...", it was everything I could tell...
"Yes you do...", she stood up and went stop the music.
When she stopped the music I saw something, some light go off her eyes, like if every form of joy, of life went off her.
"Sorry... If there is anything I can do..."
"No, there's not, nobody can help me... NOBODY ! I'm gonna live with it my WHOLE LIFE!"
She fell on her knees. I was surprised of the way she yelled at me. I had never seen her like this before that day. I'd never seen her cry ! And there she was, on the floor, desperate, her tears falling on the floor, repeating "my whole life" and "nobody", like these words were a curse, chasing her.
I approached her, and hugged her... She used to be positive, happy, and now she was hopeless...
She scared me when she fell, I thought she was dead. And I'm sure that if she doesn't recover her hearing... she will die. And I can't let her die, not after what happened...
I grabbed her, and brought her to her bed. She stayed still, lying on her bed, silently crying. If there was one pony that could help her, I know who it was !
"I'm going to see the Princess..."
Author's Note
My apologies for publishing the chapter twice, I had to modify a few things
This chapter is clearly slower and sadder than the previous, but I needed to explain what's going on for Vinyl, the action is going to come back, don't worry ;)
Again if I did any mistake or misspelling tell me, I'm still learning English (And I'm never sure about the past perfect
III) The only sane thing we can do
"Octavia, I know where she is, we have to see her as quickly as possible, hopefully she had not found anything dangerous yet..."
A few hours before, I went to the Princess' castle. As soon as I told her how Vinyl reacted, and how I needed help, She took me to her library. She seemed worried about her, maybe even more than I did. We read her books during the whole day, and the night after it. Words were mixing in my head, blurring my mind, as I read each book she gave me. It seems like nothing could help her. The pile of the books that we've already read was gigantic, and there was still nothing.
I saw the Princess go quicker and quicker as the night was approaching, and regularly check a weird object in the center of her library. She was constantly repeating we had to be swift, otherwise nothing could be fixed.
"I'm going to see if she's alright", I needed fresh air to breathe, and I had a bad feeling about her, at the moment.
"Yes, sure ! It may not be too late...", she was very enigmatic.
As soon as I went out of the castle, the fresh air of the night filled my lungs. Breathing the same air in the library gave me the impression I was locked there. I ran to Vinyl's house, through the entire town. A lot of houses were being rebuilt during the day. Although the impression of life coming out of the city didn't erased the feeling I had about Vinyl... She was about to do something really dangerous !
When her house was finally in sight, I saw her too... getting out. When she saw me, she ran in the opposite direction, obviously trying to escape from me. l went after her, running as quickly as I could, but I had already crossed the entire town, and I couldn't keep up with her. She was running towards the Everfree forest ?
I wasn't understanding anything, I went to her house to see if there was any clue about what she was doing in the middle of the night, but the door was closed.
A few seconds later I heard the Princess teleport behind me.
I had not the time to answer before she teleported both of us to her castle, gathering the few things she needed and explaining me what she knew. She looked a last time in her weird artifact in the center of the library.
"Vinyl is heading towards what used to be Celestia's castle, before Nightmare Moon destroyed it. A lot of books Celestia judged dangerous were left there. There's a good chance she would find a way to recover her hearing, but if would destroy her. I've found something that has a good chance to help her, but we need to be swift."
"How do you know she is there ?", it was the only question I had in mind
"What do you think I do with this for hours now ?", she pointed at the artifact. "You will have to convince her to let me launch the spell, it is going to be painful for her, but it is the last sane thing we can do "
'I'm ready"
We teleported into the castle, in the Throne Room. The ruined castle in the night was frightening, a cold wind was freezing my legs, and I had the impression a higher force was reigning here, and we were disturbing it!
The Princess took me to the library, through dozens of corridors. The castle was like a maze, but she seemed to know where she was going. She brutally stopped in front of an impressive wooden door. She explained me what
"She is in there. The first thing you want to do is take any book she has in her hooves, hopefully she didn't found anything."
"Did she had the time ?"
"Sure ! Even if she had just touched the wrong book she could be corrupted, now go!"
I entered the library. The smell of decay and decomposing paper filled my nose. Vinyl was at the end of the room, sat on the floor, apparently reading. I called her, she didn't answered. I walked to her, she was trapped in her book. I tried to take it, but as soon as I touched it, she violently punched me, I bumped into a bookshelf.
The only way I've found to take her book was to punch her in the face. She fell on her back, visibly surprised of what I did, and she dropped the cursed book. As soon as it touched the ground, she dashed to grab it, but I blocked the book with my hoof, grabbed it and kept it.
She stared at me, her eyes were filled with hatred. Her horn began to glow, she was trying to kill me.
A dark purple beam coming from behind me stroke her horn, paralyzing her. Princess Twilight was starting her spell.
"I hoped you wouldn't be this obstinate, Vinyl Scratch, and I'm really sorry for what will happen, but it is the only way. Octavia, get out of the way!"
The beam linking Vinyl's and the Princess' horn began to turn blue. The entire body of my best friend began to shine, like if her skin was coming off her body, and expanding, creating a bright blue ball of light.
The ball started to create electricity, hitting her head, discovering her brain, and she started to scream.
I couldn't refrain my tears. My best friend was being tortured in front of me, and she was screaming. Her screaming was echoing in my head, filling my mind, driving me crazy.
Vinyl opened her eyes, but it wasn't the nice pink eyes I saw behind her pupils, it was the void, blackness filling every alive part of her body. She stopped screaming and started speaking. With voices from beyond the grave :
"You can't DO THAT TO ME"
The blue ball exploded, knocking us back to the walls behind us, and setting the library on fire. Vinyl's body turning deep black, her bright blue mane turning into green, like it was rotten. Her body was slowly rising in the air, as she was contemplating the entire castle collapse upon us.
When the ball finally disappeared, she fell on the ground, looked surprised for a moment, and teleported away.
We failed.
Author's Note
Sorry for the lack of new chapters, I have some really important exams to prepare :)
This chapter is weird, I know... but hopefully you like it ^_^
As usual if I did some big horrible disgusting mistake tell me, please
We failed.
She was gone. The castle was ruined, the books were burning in the peaceful night of the Everfree Forest. Desolation and hopelessness was everything I could feel, like like if every part of my body was about to fall, torn apart by the emptyness of my heart, as I realized it :
We failed.
I couldn't say anything. All I was able to do was standing still, repeating what I saw over and over in my head, in the middle of the burning library, slowly turning into ashes. The princess was the first to break the silence :
"Why did she do that ?"
"She was tortured..."
"She was torturing herself! ! She was fighting against the spell, that was creating the lightning bolts ! It's like she doesn't want me to cure her, she wants to do it her way ... Her book must have been really powerful !
«But the whole town is in danger now. Octavia ? Go to the town and send Princess Celestia a letter to warn her about what happened. I don't know what her book told her to do, but it could be anything. Tell everypony what is the problem, we have to find her before she does something bad! If you find her I'll be there, checking for books that could help."
Forced to get out of my lethargy, I had to face the reality : Vinyl was dangerous.
The forest was chilling in the night. Little dewdrops were dropping on my neck, stunning me every time, as the cold was paralyzing my broken leg. The vegetation in the night was creating black silhouettes, watching me through darkness. Every sound my hooves made on the ground reverberated in the entire forest, awakening birds in the trees. I was hardly able to see where I was going.
The path began to be more visible as I was approaching the edge of the forest. I heard someone teleporting behind me.
"Where is Princess Twilight Sparkle ?", I turned back, and to my surprise I saw someone I used to be afraid of.
"Princess Luna ? What are you doing here ?"
"I saw the explosion in the ancient castle, but I didn't found Vinyl Scratch, where is she ?"
"I don't know, where looking for her, and Princess Twilight is still in the castle... do you hear that ?"
Through the night's silence, we could hear voices shouting. Princess Luna went to a dark path, covered by leaves and bizarre flowers. Vines were hanging down, some of them was touching my back and my head as we were going through the forest, their gluey mucus sticking on my hair. The path was leading to Zecora's hut. We hid behind a bush, as we were close enough to hear the voices
"You will do it, zebra ! Or your head will be part of my collection ! It is only a matter of hours until I'm completely deaf, if you haven't prepared what I want until then, you'll die, and I'd prepare it myself !"
"I can't, have you lost your mind ? Nopony can do a magic of this kind !
You will not be yourself, just an empty shell, of what you used to be before that book launched its spell...", I suppose Vinyl still had the book. I needed to get it !
"You... will... DO IT!"
I stood to see what happened, and I saw Vinyl's horn glowing, preparing herself to kill Zecora, the same way she wanted to kill me a few hours ago. I ran towards Vinyl and fell on her, surprised, she stopped the spell. Princess Luna created a shield around Zecora to protect her. When Vinyl realized what was happening, she teleported behind me, kicked me in the back, and I bumped on a tree, the same way she launched me in the library... I was stunned, and watched. The princess broke the shield around Zecora and lauched a bright yellow laser beam straight to us. The strength that was emanating from the beam was incredible, it could kill her. Vinyl launched a beam too, but deep green, the two beams met in the middle, exploding, the blast shoving me back. Vinyl was really forcing to keep up with the princess, she took her voice from beyond the grave :
"Leave... Me... ALONE !"
She used her entire strength, the meeting point was slowly moving towards the princess. I dashed towards Luna and shoved her, Vinyl's spell continued its course a few inches above my head. She ran away through the trees, I hardly got up on my legs, and came to see how was Zecora, and to ask her a few questions !
"What did she asked you to do ?"
"Some magic must not be told, or the world will fell into desolate cold. She's not a normal pony anymore, but she's not corrupted to the core! You want to help her tortured mind, or her sanity will be left behind."
Was there hope ? I doubted it ! Zecora led the Princess and me to her hut and threw some plants into the cauldron in the middle of the room. She told us she was making some potion to help my leg heal, I thanked her for this, as my leg wasn't doing good after all this mess.
The Princess of the Night came to me, looking grave.
"You were really brave, and I want to thank you for what you did. But Vinyl Scratch is still running, and this time towards Ponyville. You must tell everypony to hide, and then take some rest, you deserve it ! I'll be with Princess Twilight to tell her what just happened and to help her find out a solution."
Zecora applied a deep red gluing thing on my leg. Besides the coldness and the consistence of the thing, it was feeling really good. A few seconds after my leg wasn't hurting. She took it out of my leg, I wasn't completely healed, but I was definitely better.
When I arrived in Ponyville, everypony was awoken, worrying about what happened, screaming of terror everytime something was moving... I never saw so much chaos in Ponyville, not even when Discord came !
As soon as I was in sight of the ponies in the town, everypony went around me asking what happened, and I couldn't say anything. It wasn't until Pinkie shouted to make everypony quiet that I could explain what happened.
"[...] so make sure you stay in your homes, we don't know what she plans to do, or even what she can do. If anybody sees her, please tell me or a Princess
«I need a few ponies, to guard the town for now, if you see Vinyl tell me, even if..."
"NOOO !", a scream was coming from the center of the town. I recognized BonBon's voice, screaming, crying, asking why... why what ?
I ran as far as I could towards where the scream came, and it was leading to Bonbon and Lyra's house. She stopped screaming, we could only hear her crying through the wooden door.
"What happened Bonbon ?"
As we had no response, I, with the help of a few Ponyville citizens, started to break down the door. It finally broke, leaving a cloud of dust filling my eyes. I looked for BonBon. It wasn't long until I saw her, the pony I wanted to see the most, because she was the only pony who had supported me since Vinyl became deaf. The one I saved the life a night ago. I would have been so happy to see her smile.
But I wasn't happy to see her smile. Maybe because she wasn't smiling.
Maybe because she had not any smile.
Maybe because she had not any head.
The body of Lyra Heartstrings was lying on the ground, headless.
"I wish I never had to stand here, I wish we were all in our homes, peacefully preparing our families for winter, I wish she was still alive.
«But the fate decided otherwise, Lyra Heartstrings disappeared of our lives, forever, and the pain caused by her death will never be forgotten. She was caring, gentle, I know most of us loved her, and I'm sure she will stay in our hearts, as long as they beat.
«I could promise you peaceful days of mourning, the pain of caused by her absence slowly fading, leaving room for us to be happy again. I could promise you a shining winter, the firelight warming our hearts. I could promise you a glimmering Hearth Warming Eve, without any discontent, any worry. But I can't.
«Two days ago, when the thunderstorm broke and destroyed a part of the town, Vinyl Scratch has been hurt in an explosion. The damage made on her head touched her ear, and she began to become deaf. If you knew her, you know how it was a shock to her. She looked for a remedy, and she found one, but it needed her to make one with the chaos. The Vinyl Scratch you know is dead, her body is only a shell, controlled by some forces we can't see.
«We can't see them, but we can fight them, and we will. The Mayor named Time Turner and his assistant to investigate on Vinyl's problem, and I'm sure he'll find how we can fight what took possession of her, but you have to stay calm. Just don't wander alone in the town and don't go to the forest. If you see any trace of Vinyl Scratch, anything that could help us, please tell me, or any other princess, or Time Turner himself about what you found.
«I honestly hope that Lyra Heartstrings will be the only victim of the battle we're fighting against chaos. May she rest in peace.". I had never seen Princess Twilight so afflicted, her eyes were full of tears, her voice was shaking. The audience was listening to her, petrified, the silence only broken by the sobbing of a few.
"I would like to end this speech by thanking Octavia...", the whole audience turned around to look at me, I immediately went red. "... who just woke up after a 48 hours-long day. Without her, the situation could have been a lot worse, and the bravery she showed since the storm begun saved many lives. She stood up to her friend to help her and to save lives. Zecora is still alive thanks to her, and she gave Lyra Heartstrings two days of life. After all of this is finished, you will be thanked in a proper form, Octavia. Be sure about this."
The days that followed Lyra's funeral gave the impression time was running in slow-motion. Ponyville was deserted. Everypony was scared of what could happen to them if they got out, so they were staying in their respective houses. There was no trace of Vinyl, nothing that could help us bring peace back.
Me and the few ponies who dared to go out in the town saw that the Princesses were regularly coming, visiting Princess Twilight. A lot of guards were protecting the city. Anypony who wanted to enter or leave the town had to show everything they had to the guards.
Ponyville was slowly turning into a dying ghetto
Princess Twilight wanted the population to know what I did, and explained everything. Since then, I became the center of attention in Ponyville. Anywhere I went, ponies kept on telling me that I was a hero, that I should have my own statue.
I wasn't feeling like a hero. I was missing my friends too, and the only one I could talk with and feel free to express my feelings was BonBon, since she was in a similar situation, and we knew each other for a long time.
BonBon reacted to her best friend's death with a lot of strength, she was smiling despite her sadness, laughing behind her tears. We became really good friends. Sometimes I would visit her, and we would have some tea. But once, I knocked, and she never showed up, even though she had invited me. Worried, I just went back home, not knowing what was inside her house.
After 24 hours without any trace of her, I decided to look for her. It was raining outside, and nopony was out. I asked the guards if BonBon had left the city. They told me she didn't.
She had to be in her house ! She couldn't be anywhere else ! I went to her house, looked at her window. I could see her living room. The same living room I found the dead body of Lyra Heartstrings. The memory of her headless body made me worry for BonBon. I almost had a heart attack, when I saw her leg, behind the sofa.
I decided to break the door. I rushed to the door, my hooves in front of me. I hit the door, the same door we broke three days ago to find Lyra. I hit nd hit the door again, the dust falling onto the ground, with the rain. I hit it, once, twice, I began to feel pain in my shoulders. Five times, six times... I don't know how much time I spent on that door, hitting it again and again. It seemed like an eternity.
I finally entered the corridor, the same corridor I entered three days ago. I rushed to the living room, and looked behind the sofa, and saw her. The memories coming back in my head. She was there, headless, her dried blood mixing with my my tears.
"...I covered the body with a sheet and I came to you.", my tears were blurring my vision, but I'm pretty sure the Princess was crying too...
"You are one of the bravest ponies I've ever met.", her voice was shaking, I smiled, and wiped away my tears.
The Princess was, indeed, crying. She led me to the underground part of the castle, in a large room with stone walls, a lot of weird tools in places and a lot of shelves with colored potions in them. She took one of them, and gave it to me.
"You can drink it, it is one of Zecora's potion, it will help you to clear the worry from your mind.", I drunk, it tasted like raspberries...
"There's just one thing that I don't understand : I found the bodies, but there is no trace of the head ! Why is Vinyl so obsessed with her friend's head ?"
"We already thought about that, but we can't find out until we find them, and we won't find them until we find Vinyl !"
"Is there anyway to detect them ? Like, Lyra was a unicorn, maybe we can detect her horn ?"
"I can try that, but I doubt it would work..."
She went to one of her weird device on a table, behind her, her horn began to glow, and the device began to move.
A white smoke began to rise from the apparatus, making a cloud, floating in mid-air. The smoke turned black, and an image slowly appeared on the cloud. I heard the Princess murmur...
"It works... how could it work ? She is dead !", she seemed afraid when she saw the image appear.
"Wasn't it supposed to work ?"
"This device allow me to see through the eyes of any unicorn, using her horn. But it requires the horn to be working, and the pony to be alive !"
"Wait... I know this place !"
"You do ?"
"There's a secret room in Vinyl's house, we used to play in it and invent horror stories when we were kids !"
We rushed out of the castle and to Vinyl's house. The town was empty, petrified after the news of BonBon's death, and the rain was turning Ponyville into a desolated swamp. Two guards were protecting the entrance of the house, when they saw the Princess and I rushing towards the house, they stepped aside.
We entered the house, and forced Vinyl's bedroom door, as it was locked. The air was stuffy. There was a painting on the wall, above the bed. I stepped on the bed and placed my hooves on the painting and slowly made it turn clockwise. I heard a click, and a part of the wooden floor began to slide sideways, clearing the way to the secret room.
We entered the passage and went down the stairs, the only light we had was coming from the Princess' horn. The mossy stone walls gave the impression we were in a cave. We arrived in a large circular room. The memories of Vinyl and I inventing horror stories at night came back, and the tears came to my eyes, as I was remembering every good moment we passed together... Vinyl probably forgot them now.
What we saw was frightening. In the middle of the room were three fence posts, stuck in the ground in a triangle. Wires were connecting the posts to an altar in the back of the room. On top of the posts were stuck the two heads of my friends, one post was still clean, ready for an other head to be stuck on it.
I couldn't even speak. Only the princess kept her mind clear and investigated about the posts.
"Three posts... there must be a third victim planned... but who ?... Look ! There's an inscription behind each post... this one is "earth"... this one is "unicorn"... The third victim must be a pegasus !"
"Yeah ! But why did she killed BonBon and not me ? I know a lot more about Vinyl than Bonbon did ! I was more dangerous to her than BonBon !"
"That is not the question, the question is : Who will be the next victim ?"
Vinyl only killed her friends, and the next victim must be a pegasus... the only one I could think of was...
"Derpy ! ", I rushed out of the room, and out of the house. I couldn't bear just being there, all these memories coming back, haunting me.
I heard a mare screaming. I'm sure it was Derpy. I ran towards the scream, but a few seconds later, a blinding orange light appeared. This could only mean one thing : The Doctor was regenerating !
Author's Note
This chapter took me an eternity to write, I had so much trouble x)
But there it is, I hope you like it, I hope I haven't made too many mistakes, feel free to tell me in the comments ;)
The chapters are going to come back quicker now, I passed my exams, and I< have more time :)
VI) A royal preoccupation
A bright orange light appeared at the opposite side of the town, this could only mean one thing : the Doctor was regenerating !
The princess teleported behind me, and teleported again, but this time with me. I had never experienced teleportation before, and the feeling of suffocation that invaded me was an unnecessary surprise, and when I arrived, I had trouble to breathe...
I opened my eyes, and saw the Doctor, in the middle of a bright fire of light, Derpy Hooves behind him, watching the scene with wide opened eyes, stunned. She was hurt to the flank.
I ran towards her, not paying attention to what was happening around me, and before I could reach her, I was shoved aside, and struck against the wall of the closest house. I was stunned, but I tried to stay conscious, I turned back, and saw Vinyl, covered in blood, apparently not her own, walking towards the scared and paralysed Derpy, a murderous gaze in her eyes. Derpy had lost consciousness.
Vinyl was slowly walking towards Derpy. Her horn was glowing red, her eyes were turning black, she had summoned an axe, floating by her head...
She was only a meter away from her unconscious victim when she was struck by a white beam, paralysing her. The Princess walked towards her and spawned shackles to lock her here.
The Doctor screamed, and the orange fire that was surrounding him exploded into a large explosion. When it faded away, the Doctor had changed of face, and had become a little... eccentric.
“I'm alive ! I'm alive ! Oh my lord she didn't kill me ! Let's see, I got legs!”, he kissed his leg, ”I got hair... hair... I'M A GIRL ! I'm a girl ! And still not ginger ! Where is the little freak that hurt Derpy ?”
“She's just over there”, answered the Princess, ”I locked her... where is she ?”, where was Vinyl just a second ago, there was just the pieces of broken shackles
“The final stage of the regeneration probably weakened the spell you cast on the shackles, it happens. What's up for you ?”
“We found a crypt below Vinyl's house where she placed the skulls of her friends, I don't really know how it works, will you help us ?”, the Princess seemed very worried.
“I will, don't worry. We'll see about Vinyl later”
“Octavia, take care of Derpy, and bring her to the hospital, Time Turner and I will look on that altar.”
The Doctor and Twilight ran towards Vinyl's house, the Doctor yelling “Allons-y !”
Derpy was lying, unconscious, on the ground. It seemed like she was sleeping. I took her on my back and headed to the hospital. I was talking to the inanimate body of Derpy, to reassure me. The town was so empty it was chilling. I could see the faces of the citizens at their window, watching me walk, Derpy on my back.
“Don't worry, Derpy, you'll be fine. Your wound is nothing, the doctors will take care of you.”
“Octa... via...”, she was barely talking, but knowing she woke up was good to know.
“Don't talk ! You'll be fine, don't worry”
“She's... there...”
“What ?”
I turned back, and saw Vinyl, she knocked me off, I hit a wall and lost consciousness. The last thing I saw was Derpy's body falling by my side.
Meanwhile, in Vinyl's house...
Time Turner and Twilight arrived in the crypt. The Doctor started to examine the altar and the three posts with the two heads on top. The princess could only watch him, since he was using technology she had never even heard about.
The altar itself, at the end of the room, was made of a black stone, and runes were written on it, there was a dark red carpet on top of it, and a few candles. The Doctor was still investigating on the altar, he took his screwdriver, and used it on the altar. A few lines of bright blue light began to appear on the altar, forming symbols I never saw before.
“This is not from this world...”, The Doctor seemed worried.
“What do you mean ? What does it do ?”, asked the Princess
“It is pretty simple, it takes the energy from three ponies, an earth pony, a pegasus and a unicorn, and it uses this energy to merge the soul of a pony with something else.”
“And how it is supposed to give her hearing back ?”
“When you do that spell, you can choose which body will take over the other one, if she merges her soul with a hearing being, she will recover her hearing too. There's two options, if she stops the process before its ending, she might recover her hearing and still be, somehow, herself, but her soul will be corrupted, but her goal might be something else, she may want more power than she has now.”
“What can we do ?”
“Each step of the process make her stronger than before, she is much more powerful than before, now that she killed two of her friends. If she completes the process, there will be no pony, no army able to stop her. We need to stop her now. Contact the princesses and tell them to gather here, in Ponyville, to decide about what to do.”
I opened my eyes. I was lying in the middle of the town. A lot of ponies were gathered around me, murmuring. I got up, my neck was painful and my since my broken leg had not fully recovered, I had trouble to walk, but overall, I was fine. I saw Derpy, she had a few bruises and she was still hurt on the flank, but she seemed okay. I was a bit confused by the events...
“What happened ?”
“Ya got kicked by that jerk, but when we saw it, we kicked her butt and sent her outta there !”, Apple Jack's voice was nice to hear, “You and your friend are safe, sugarcube.“
“Thank you very much ! How did you stop her ? And where is the princess ?”
“I'm here.”, everypony stopped talking to listen, they stepped aside to clear the way for the Princess to come to me, “I'm sorry we left you behind without even check for Vinyl before. I'm glad nopony was badly hurt. The Doctor investigated the crypt under Vinyl's house, and found out what it is. Come with me in the castle, Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadance, we formed a council to discuss the problem and what we should do about it. This is now a royal preoccupation.”
I headed towards the castle, following the Princess, and surprisingly, everypony followed. We were all walking silently, towards the castle. There was no word spoken, no murmur, just the sound of the wind, as we were walking. The way to the castle seemed to last hours, everypony was scared about the threat Vinyl was representing, but they were determined to stay and protect their friends, and that was the most important.
We finally arrived at the castle, and Celestia invited the Princess and I to enter. Everypony watched silently. Once at the castle's doors, I turned back, and there they were, staring at me, without a single movement. These hundreds of eyes were full of hope, full of fear... it was chilling to know we weretheir only hope...
“We'll talk in the throne room, there's enough space”, told Princess Twilight.
The Four Princesses, Time Turner and I arrived in the throne room, and each of us took a seat. I was on the Generosity Throne, and it was weird to think that Rarity usually sit there, as if I wasn't supposed to sit here...
Princess Celestia was the first to break the silence :
“I suppose we all know why we are here, but we're not all aware of the details. Doctor, I think you have some explanations.”
“Indeed, princess, I have reasons to believe that Vinyl is trying to use forbidden magic to merge her soul and body with another creature, heaven knows what. Doing this would be killing two birds with one stone : it would give her hearing back and give her more power. The power she could gain would be enough to kill any of us in a single move.”
“Can we use the elements of harmony to stop her ?”, asked Cadance nervously
“I don't think so. The power of the elements of harmony is strong, but it has limits. It won't work on Vinyl”
“What can we do, then ?”, asked Princess Twilight, “The elements of harmony are our strongest weapon, without them we're almost powerless ! And I don't think I have the power to invent a spell stronger than the elements.”
“I think you do, Princess.”, the Doctor was smiling, now, ”But we have a stronger weapon. We never used it...”
“And we never will !”, Luna was suddenly upset, “You know the power of the Elements of Entropy as well as I do. It could kill hundreds of innocents !”
“To save thousands of others, you have no idea of the power she will have !”, he wasn't smiling anymore, and I had the feeling the conversation couldn't end well.
“Maybe we can find a way to save her without killing her !”, when I said this, everypony stared at me, as if what I said was completely stupid.
“And how would you do it ?”, asked Time Turner, doubtfully.
“She was corrupted by a book, right ? If we destroy the book, or cancel the spell in it, we could break the spell that corrupted Vinyl !”
“...”
Time Turner was about to answer when we heard an explosion and the sound of rocks falling. A guard entered the room.
“Princesses, please, you need to come, this is bad !”
We got out and saw that everypony was behind the castle. There used to be a mountain behind the castle. Once in this mountain, there was a dragon who came to sleep and the smoke he produced was polluting the town. Twilight and her friends went and sent him away... But now there wasn't any mountain left. Just a bunch of rocks, and a lot of smoke coming from the ruins. We could see the silhouette of a flying creature in the darkened sky.
“Princess Celestia ? What is this creature ?”
“I'm assuming it is a dragon, Octavia.”
“Really ? Is Vinyl planning to merge her soul with the dragon's one ?”
“I'm afraid it is a possibility...”
If it was true, if Vinyl was planning to become a dragon, then there was nothing we could do. We'll have to fight her. We would have to kill her. Realizing this fact was painful to me. I have lost another friend, but this time it wasn't because she died, it was because I'd have to kill her. A cold tear flowed on my face...
“Isn't he beautiful ?”
I wasn't expecting anypony to be around, and so I jumped. I saw the Doctor, laughing.
“What's so beautiful ?”
“The dragon ! We don't see these kind of creatures too often, do we ? I need to see what happened there, will you come with me ?”
“Yes, of course”, investigating with the Doctor seemed like a pretty exciting adventure, and I could focus on what's important :
“Very well, then, Allons-y !”
And so we walked towards the mountain. I have no idea about what could happen now, if I was going to die, or if Vinyl was going to be saved, but I was sure of one thing...
I will fight her.
Author's Note
After a long pause without any writing, I came back to it and found inspiration again :D
Yep, I know, "Allons-y !" is the 10th Doctor's favourite saying, but I prefer this than "Geronimo" :3
I hope you like it, please leave a comment if you don't, it'll help me improve ;)
Princess Luna entered the room, a grave look on her face. The Captains of the Royal Army saluted her.
“I'm glad to see you came here in time, generals, I'll be quick, we don't have much time. I know how hard it could've been, being in war for all this time, but now we have a new enemy... Your will send your better soldiers around Ponyville. She is your new priority”
“Excuse-me, Princess.”, one of the generals, named Midnight Lullaby, had come out of the ranks, “Are you talking about that Vinyl Scratch pony ? With all the respect I owe you, I think our current mission is much more important than that crazy filly. Besides, ...”
“Besides nothing ! Your mission is to protect the peace in Equestria. At the moment, our most important threat it Vinyl Scratch. Don't underestimate her power, or you will end up six feet under...”
That said, the Princess headed to the door. Another general took the floor :
“I don't see what could happen if she wasn't stopped. She's just a normal pony, right ?”, the princess chilled.
“If you don't stop her, we'll be forced to use the Elements of Entropy. I can't let that happen. Now go find her, and capture her, for the sake of the New Lunar Republic...
«General Midnight Lullaby ! I want to talk to you personally, you'll have a special mission.”
The generals saluted, and the Princess left, the general behind her.
The Doctor and I were slowly walking towards what was left of the mountain. The destruction caused by the explosion was simply incredible. The entire mountain was wiped from the landscape, and the only thing that was left of it were rocks on the ground, and smoke coming out of the rubble. The shattered rocks were all over the place, their shadows were drawing lines on the dead grass, giving the entire place an eerie look. I felt like we were on another planet.
The Doctor was wearing a long coat, covering his whole body and part of his legs, and if I had to guess how many pockets there was on his coat, I'd say a hundred. He was smiling. I wasn't feeling really comfortable with him, he had regenerated only a few hours ago, and I wasn't really knowing him anymore. He seemed so reckless, not caring about anything but having fun and showing off... I had to get used to his new personality if I wanted to work with him.
“So what are we going to do ? I mean... there's nothing there, is it ?”, I asked, he suddenly looked serious, despite the sarcastic grin on his face. I didn't like that grin, he was treating me like a stupid little filly !
“Do you really think she would have exploded an entire mountain just for fun ? This mountain must hide something bigger, something darker !”
“Do you really think she could have created something that powerful in so little time ? I mean... the thunderstorm was only two weeks ago...”, I looked at him, he was still smiling, but this time it was a real smile.
“That is my point... I know there's something underneath that mountain, but she couldn't have built it alone. She has been helped by greater forces, so the question is : who has that amount of power to build such a thing ?”, he was staring at me, a grave look in his eyes and a weird smile on his face.
“If there's such a thing...”
We were at the bottom of the mountain. The stale air was warmed by the smoke, we split up to investigate, and maybe find an entrance, leading to some explanations. I went to the centre of the mountain, the Doctor went around it.
The whole place was dying, there was no trace of life. Birds flying over the mountain were falling down, killed by the heat. Some birds were stronger than others and were able to handle the heat, but the smoke were blinding them, and they had to escape before they hit a rock. As I was going further, the smoke coming from the rubble darkened the land, and it was hard to see anything.
My broken leg was causing me pangs, I had trouble to walk on the uneven ground.
We could find all sorts of things on the ground, all sorts of precious coins, gems, rings and necklaces. It was a known fact, the dragon that once occupied the mountain and polluted our skies had forgot a little (but significant) part of his treasure. I guess the few coins and jewels on the floor were all that was left to it.
I stepped on something slimy... I'll never forget the feeling of disgust that invaded me when I realized I had stepped on the rotting corpse of a bat. I could see the imprint of my hoof on what was left of the head, her smashed brain was inflating, taking back its original form. A lot of bats were living in the mountain, I suppose the explosion killed them, the ground was littered by these dead bodies, or parts of them. The landscape was desolated.
Time Turner began his investigation by turning around the mountain, with Octavia inspecting the centre, finding what was happening would be easy.
He began to walk, turning around the great dark cloud floating above the rubble, pointing his screwdriver at everything he could see. Even though the land wasn't as desolated as is was at the middle of the mountain, the landscape wasn't especially lively. Where we could find a few hours ago a vast grassland, with little animals running around everywhere, there was now an inanimate desert, only populated by dead shrubs and little insects.
There it is !, he thought
The Doctor suddenly stopped his walking, pointed his hoof towards him, and resumed his walking, more slowly. He eventually stopped : his hand was touching something. He grabbed a really bizarre apparatus from one of his numerous pockets : it was like a talkie walkie, but there was a mirror on top. The kind of mirrors we could see on the images of cars , what humans use to go from one place to another in fairy tales (we only knew they really existed a few months ago, and most people still think it's a legend).
This device could help him see what was invisible. He turned around, and in the mirror appeared something we couldn't see with normal eyes. It was a white cube, made of marble, with unknown deep red symbols on it. The symbols were leaking , they were made of blood. The Doctor used his screwdriver on the lock, and it exploded.
His excitation wasn't dissimulated.
It's opening !
I was about at the centre of what used to be a mountain, when the ground began to shake. Was it an earthquake ? I called for the doctor, he didn't answer. What was happening ? Bright lines fo light were appearing on the rocky ground. I took a little stone to observe the light coming from it, but the light stayed at the same place, and the stone became a regular rock again.
“Oh this is brilliant !”, the Doctor was behind me, “What you see there, Octavia, is the bright side of dark magic ! To protect the base underneath the mountain, the one that created it hid the entrance and secured it using his own blood. This is what happens when you break the spell.”
A breach formed on the ground, just by my feet, I tripped and fell. The Doctor grabbed my hand just before I could fall.
“Nope, you're not dying today !”, he said with a smile. He took me back on the floor, and we got away from the expanding gap.
The breach was expanding, surrounding us, creating a . Some rocks began to float, twelve stone pillars were building themselves up, around the ravine, four bridges were forming around us. After a few moments, the pillars, still going upwards, began to curve towards the centre, and gathered in the middle to create a dome. Some rocks were changing of colour now, some oh them were getting lighter, others were getting black. Golden shapes were appearing on the pillars, like runes, I recognized the Zodiac symbols, one for every pillar. The Doctor was wondrous:
“Oh this is brilliant ! Brilliant !”, he was running around, pointing his sonic screwdriver at every part of the building, smiling and giggling like a little foal, in quest of a secret treasure he'll never find...
“Doctor ? Please stop running around everywhere and tell me what this is”
“It's not the base we're looking for, it's a temple !..”, he answered, breathless, still running around everywhere, “They use it to protect the base ! It's an ancient castle, built in honour of the twelve Gods of the civilisation of Filiya, one for each Zodiac constellation, but we don't care about that now ! What's important is...” he got dangerously close to me, “why is it there ?”
“I have no idea, Doctor, but please, get your face a little bit further away from mine, it's creepy... and what does this temple do anyway ?”
“The twelve pillars are the lock to a vault, it was used by the Filiyan population to protect an ancient useless relic they thought was divine, and Celestia is using it to protect one of the most powerful and the most dangerous artifacts of Equestria: the Elements of Entropy.”
“What are those ? Can't you be a little clearer ?”, I was completely lost there.
“We've got no time to some more explanations”, he was walking around me, screwdriving the floor and scratching his head, “All you need to know right now is that the civilisation of Filiya was living far away in the north, and that this temple was, a few days ago, three thousand miles away from here.”
“So why is it there ? You can't move a giant structure like this in so little time !”
“That is exactly the question I asked a few seconds ago, if only you were listening !”
“I'm listening !”
“Shut up ! You're not ! The question, right now, is : how do we get in there ?”
“You don't !”, said an unknown colt's voice.
We turned around, and were was absolutely nothing a few seconds ago was an entire army of bat-ponies. Their ears were hairy, their wings were made of skin and bones, their night-blue armour were shining in the sunlight.
“Oh come on ! Why are those useless weapon ponies doing here ? I said no military !”, complained the doctor.
“My name is Midnight Lullaby, and I've been given the order to keep you away from the elements of Entropy. You will not go further.”, his voice was deep and authoritarian, but the Doctor didn't make a move. Actually, he was smiling. He was wearing the exact same grin he gave me when we started investigating.
“Oh I see, Luna sent you there ? She's obstinate ! You can go back ! If you had a brain underneath your helmet, you'd already know they're not here anymore.”, the general seemed offended, the Doctor turned around and resumed his investigation.
« You know, general, I'm not doing this investigation for anyone, not for Celestia, not for Luna, or anyone ! I'm doing this for the sake of your species”, he approached Midnight, carefully crossed the bridge above the void, and stared him. “Whoever you may be, I'm not going to let you endanger the nation with the only excuse of your cowardliness.”
“And who are you to talk like this ?”
“Oh you know who I am. I am the Doctor, a Time Pony from Gallifrey, I am nine hundred and three years old and I'm the one who's going to save you and the seventeen million ponies of this land, and there's no stopping me... Octavia ?”, in front of the stunned general, the Doctor approached me, grabbed my hoof and jumped into the void. I heard the general yelling “Get them!”, his voice fading away as we were falling into nothingness.
“They found it !”, Vinyl Scratch, her voice now low and husky, was in a large cave full coins and gems, a giant treasure was lying behind her. She was standing in front of the altar Twilight and Octavia had found a few days ago, a crystal ball was put on top, and she was watching the Doctor and Octavia through it. They didn't notice the disappearance of the altar, they didn't even noticed the disappearance of the tunnel in her bedroom !
In fact they didn't notice anything ! Vinyl was playing with them like she was playing chess : Celestia was the King, Twilight the Queen. Once you have eliminated the Queen, the King is easy to defeat. Once you defeated the King, you won.
“I'm surprised they found it, but it is a good thing !.. Maybe this mountain exploding wasn't that much of a bad thing after all ! But, still, I wish I could have prevented this mountain to explode, I'm not willing to show off...”
She closed her pitch black eyes, and smiled.
“What do you think, Tesolana ?”
She turned around, and sat down next to who was her only friend, now. He , or should we say it was what was the most precious to her : the key to the recover of her hearing. His dark red scales were twinkling with the light of the fire, smoke was coming out of his nostrils. The dragon was quietly sleeping.
Author's Note
I took a while to write it, I had not the motivation to do so. Hopefully you like it, I'm trying to get better
