Harsh, unforgiving winds violently swept through the alleys, carrying wisps of cold snow through the streets of Manehattan as lamps lit up portions of the earth beneath them. Ponies huddled against each other underneath the small perimeter of the provided lights in attempts to escape the oncoming blizzard from this year’s worth of snow. Yet for one pony in particular, her coat was a light gray yet seemed darker in the crowding midst of ponies. Her lilac eyes seemed dull as they peered down into the snow emotionlessly at the cause of the endless complaints about the cold from the other ponies.
Crunch
Her hoof dug into the cold of the snow before she winced in reaction to the nearly searing pain. She had already been freezing in the cold night, but the melting and freezing of the unforgiving snow had caused her lameness to increase. She had no idea where she was supposed to go or do in her situation, as she had no recollection of the moments previous to the one she was living in. Truly unsure where to even begin with trying to understand what was happening, she recoiled her hoof back up to her chest and shook off the frozen burrs of snow that clung to her. Chiding herself for getting lost in her thoughts once more, she tentatively continued on.
Her stomach churned in intensity as she acknowledged the fact that with every day that seemed to pass by, posing no difference from the others, she was beginning to lose herself more and more. It had been nearly the sixth time that she had gotten lost in her thoughts in an attempt to keep the memories she had of the present stable; and despite that, she always felt herself wonder. Who was I? I can’t recall much anymore or the days that have passed. It’s so hard to remember.
Questions of the sort always tumbled around in her head, while questions about who she was always droned about in her mind until she felt nothing more than distaste. Her wish was so simple to grab and yet so hard to achieve as if she was crippled by her own troubles until all she could do at that moment was lower her ears and scowl.
Her troubling thoughts brought forth a scowl on her muzzle as she took a couple of stumbling steps backwards until she was once more sheltered from the snow. Stepping back a few times until she was sheltered underneath a cardboard box she had placed over a couple of bins, she then sat down on her flank and inhaled the cold air softly, the air seeming to freeze the inside of her nostrils. Her mane was a disheveled mess with bits of dirt and snow clinging to it as she closed her eyes and exhaled wearily. With physical relaxation came the mental strain of unstopping thoughts.
Anxiety riddled her mind until she felt as if every pony's eye were directed at her in judgment, their comments sharp as ever as they belittled her contraption in the snow and gossiped of her inability to support herself. It felt as if the hushed whispers of others pierced deeper into her back than that of frost bites along her hooves. She dared not to open her eyes once as she wanted to remain hidden from reality when shuffling her body closer to the moldy wall of the building behind her in a feeble search to savor warmth.
It was as always, both another typical day for the young mare, and another cold and unforgiving night as well. This kept her aware of the fact that each day she went on might finally be her last. She spent the past month nearly by that point scavenging for both food and any sort of direction that could help either contain or return her memories, in which was a battle she was losing at. Her body was diminishing in energy that she hadn’t even had to begin with from waking up.
Her ears pinned back as her stomach let out a pitiful rumble, almost as if it was begging for food even though she had none to offer. Wallowing in her hunger, a mere second passed before the sound of doors slammed aggressively against the building’s side, causing an echo down the narrow alleyway as the startled mare raised her head high enough to knock the cardboard structure from its hold in the snow.
As the cardboard lost its stability, the lightweight object found itself on top of the mare’s face before she flailed in attempts to dislodge it until it was tossed in front of her. The flurry of snow resumed to collect around the long fur around her ears and eyes before she gave a visible huff in the cold air and rubbed at her eyes in an effort to increase her visibility. Peering down both directions of the alleyway to make sure there was no danger approaching her, she was instead met with a blue light which illuminated the dark alley.
Her breath hitch in the back of her throat as she felt her chest tighten in fear at the sight, her body already acting on impulses by shifting back until she was pressed against the cold trash can bin. The pony remained motionless for a couple of second before grumbling something underneath their breath and began treading over toward her direction. She wanted to shrivel up and hide from sight, but with no form of a shelter to escape, all she could do was remain still and watch as the pony got closer.
The sluggish and delayed sounds of snow crunching revealed that the strange pony was caught in one of the taller banks of snow that collected in the alleys. With a sudden bluish light flickering from the same direction the pony was in, the facial features of the white unicorn came into perspective. Their mane looked as if the ocean and the sky collided violently into one, bouncing with each step they took with more energy than she had ever seen.
The gray mare held her breath until the trot of the white pony came to a standstill in front of her, avoiding the fallen and pathetic piece of cardboard which was once her shelter. The mare’s attention drifted down to her own front hooves before looking back at the other pony in front of her. Remaining silent for a good bit of time, the pair inspected each other to observe if either would make a move before eventually the mystery mare spoke up. Her muzzle moved as if muffled but silently wording out a question.
The gray mare wasn’t able to make out what was said, but after the other pony repeated herself a second, even third time, her pupils dilated and her crimson irises brightened up as she crouched down and offered a heartwarming smile. The glint of the street and shop light behind her illuminated the outline of her figure until she finally uttered the same word, but much more clear. “Vinyl.”
Seconds after she uttered the name in skepticism of her response, she felt a small bit of reassurance as the mare offered her a compassionate smile that sent her heart into a frenzy. Her mind raced in an attempt to keep up with the pace of her heart as she noticed chunks of the world behind them shattered off into a dark void behind them, just as she recalled something important. Even with the world shattering around them, she needed to remember this as she always promised herself.
It was something important.
Something she needed to cherish.
And that something was.
It was her
It was the one mare who had turned her reality into something that was now a dream that haunted her for six years. Her name was Vinyl.
{BEEP BEEP BEEP}
Author's Note
Welcome to Frozen Memories, my first story on Vinyl and Octavia or anything MLP related. I have been writing for nearly three years now so I hope I can justify their personalities and relationship to the best extent. I am not entirely new to the fandom as when I was younger I was in it then left for about five years, and I’m honestly still in love with the ship’s personality and just overall. Prologues aren’t my best but here it is, and I hope everyone enjoyed it.
Now after every chapter, I am the type of person to leave quotes, so if any of you happen to have some that can connect to any chapter, please feel free to say them, and I’ll be grateful! I love hearing quotes from readers.
“He was still too young to know that the heart's memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good and that thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burden of the past.”
― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
“There are memories that time does not erase... Forever does not make loss forgettable, only bearable.”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Heavenly Fire
"I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light."
— Helen Keller
