Time Enough For Wub

A week passed before Vinyl heard a knock on her apartment door.

She looked up from her makeshift breakfast of chips and cheap beer, and glanced at the clock. It was late by any other pony’s standards, and almost time for her to get ready for her next gig.

“Vinyl?” called a voice that made her stomach wobble.

With a deep breath, she heaved herself up from the bar stool, walked to the door… and paused. Her heart, mind, and stomach warred against each other, like some kind of sick remix gone wrong.

Long moments passed in silence. Then she squeezed her eyes shut, undid the chain, and opened the door.

“Hello, Vinyl.”

When she opened her eyes, the flowers were the first thing that she noticed. It was a nice bouquet: big enough, but not too big. It was full of variety, but still showcased a few well-placed red roses.

Then she looked up at his face, studying the gentle smile on his muzzle, the faint lines at the corners of his eyes, and the way his goatee seemed a fair bit longer than she would expect for only a week of growth.

He chuckled and raised a hoof to his jaw. “‘The Bearded,’ you know. Never have been able to get rid of it.”

An awkward silence fell over them. The only sounds were of their breathing, and of the crinkling cellophane that the flowers were wrapped in.

“Well… come on in,” Vinyl said at length. “You’re looking pretty good for a walking, talking historical figure who probably spent the last week getting worked over by the guards.”

He smiled, and entered, setting the flowers down on the bar. “Actually, the worst part of it was this new Princess Twilight of yours. At first I thought she was just being thorough, and trying to understand potential impacts to the timeline. But she didn’t stop there! She kept me for days, and you would not believe the things she tried to ask about me!”

“Heh. Guess she fangirls pretty hard for ya.” Vinyl shut the door and took a breath. “The guards went pretty easy on me, all things considered. Maybe they felt bad cuz I was laid up in the hospital for a couple days getting my head looked at.”

Star Swirl touched a hoof to her shoulder. “I’m deeply sorry about… hurting you with my shield spell. I hope you know that didn’t go at all the way I’d planned.”

“I figured. No harm no foul, right? Anyway, I just… told them everything. Didn’t see much point in holding back. So then they brought me back here after I got out, and had me show ‘em where I found you. Took a bunch of readings and stuff. Then they said I should keep quiet until I heard more.”

He nodded. “Understandable. I’m sure this sort of thing doesn’t come up very often, and Celestia would want to keep it quiet when it does.”

“I dunno, there was more than one reason why I left Ponyville.” She took another long, deep breath. “Which brings me to the other thing: Octy paid me a visit while I was in there.”

“Oh.” Star Swirl’s smile stayed fixed, but his expression became heavy with unspoken questions.

“Yeah, I told her I was taking up with homeless old dudes now. She said that my life choices were ‘disappointing, but not surprising.’”

Star Swirl snorted, then broke out into a laugh. “Okay, you had me for a second there.”

She grinned, but only for a moment. “I actually told her about the bottle. How I kept it, and I never, ever thought of opening it, until some doofus came and opened it for me. Octy seemed down with that. She’s… doing good. And for the record, she was glad to see me spending time with somepony ‘mature, albeit a bit murder-y.’” Vinyl paused. “She actually did say that one.”

“I’m glad that you could talk with her again.”

Vinyl shook her head. “I got to say some things I needed to. Like I told her she was right; I move way too fast when I move, and I don’t always think things through. And that I regretted letting that do what it did to us. Because I still wish that I hadn’t screwed things up with her.” She looked at the floor. “And you should know… even now, there’s still a part of me that wishes I could make things right with her again.”

“I understand, and I appreciate your honesty. But whatever you may have done pales in comparison to my own rank irresponsibility. If I had taken adequate time to check my time-scrying, I might’ve realized it was showing me just one possible future that Starlight Glimmer’s actions could have created, and I might’ve gained a sense of just how hazardous and inexact it would be to try jumping into such a heavily disrupted probability space.” He sighed. “Imagine my embarrassment upon learning that your Princess Twilight had already dealt with the situation months ago.”

“Heh. I guess going off half-cocked is kind of our thing,” Vinyl said.

Their eyes met, and Star Swirl took a breath. “Vinyl, I can state unequivocally that I regret overshooting the time when I could have made a real difference with Starlight, as well as failing to anticipate that memory loss could be a side-effect of such an intense jump. I also regret trying to harm a pony who’s well on her way to becoming a positive influence in Equestria.” He shrugged. “But to be honest, I still don’t regret doing everything in my power to try to stop the end of the world. And I certainly don’t regret meeting you.”

Vinyl paused and looked over at the flowers. “So… you mean it isn’t over?”

“I’m sorry?”

“I figured the only way I'd see you again is if you wanted to tie up loose ends. I mean, don’t get me wrong, those look tasty… but like you said, you don’t stay in any one place for long, right? You’ve gotta go and do your whole… legendary-historical-figure thing.”

He gave her a deep smile. “Well, that’s the great thing about being a time-travelling legendary-historical-figure, isn’t it? I don’t have to go back today; I just have to go back eventually.”

Vinyl’s pulse pounded. “You’re serious.”

She felt a gentle touch on her chin, and looked up into his eyes. “I am. And I would like to give… whatever this is… a proper try, if you’d be willing. No more desperate rushing about. I know you dislike going slowly, but perhaps it would be nice to take our time for once?”

Vinyl stole a glance at the clock, then groaned. “Ugh, your timing sucks… I’ve got a gig here in a little bit. I guess… like, we could do something tomorrow…?”

Star Swirl shrugged. “I liked the music that you played for me. I might enjoy seeing how you… ‘lay waste to a dance floor,’ if you’d let me accompany you.”

She smiled. “You sound like an idiot when you say that.”

“Come on, go easy on me. None of this exists where I’m from.”

“...I still think you’re kinda sexy,” she blurted. The two of them blushed, and Vinyl looked away. “I mean… I dunno…”

“I feel the same,” he breathed. Then he moved his hoof over her lips and smiled. “Very well; if you’d prefer to spend some time before your show… perhaps get a bite to eat or something… I can assure you that time travel is relatively safe over short distances. Is there anything in particular that you would like to do?”

A tingling sensation worked its way through Vinyl’s chest, and a huge grin plastered itself across her face. “Yeah, I can think of one thing that I’d like to do…”

She leaned in close and raised her lips toward his, and time soon fell away as they became lost in a warm, insistent kiss, which both of them committed to with passion.