Digitized Jockey

Vinyl blinked slowly, she felt tired, like she needed sleep, but she also felt empty and drained. She glanced at the circuitry on her armour, the white neon lights were dim and not as bright as before. One of the guards seem to notice this.

"The program needs energy." He reported. "Send her to the Charger."

"The Charger?" That sounded... painful. It also sounds a little erotic. Now is not the time, Vinyl...

The DJ rolled her eyes. Great, now my conscience is starting to sound like Oct... Her eyes widened slightly.

"Octavia..." She muttered. That was when Vinyl began thinking about how on earth she got here. She thought back to Twilight's secret room, the computer and the... laser control. Was the laser pointed at me? Did it blast me and send me here? Where is here, anyways? A mental gasp. Was Octy blasted with me? Or is she still back in Equestria? Argh! I hate not knowing potentially important things. It would help if I didn't feel so drained!

Vinyl looked up and saw she was in an enormous room filled with a large number of ponies.

"Regain your energy here, Program." The guard said. "You have two nano-cycles."

They turned and left before she could react.

"Oh great..." Vinyl muttered. "What am I supposed to do?"

She looked around, the room was covered in tables, ponies sitting by them talking to each other, sipping at their drinks. On the other side of the room looked like a bar of sorts, there wasn't much of a line-up. When Vinyl reached the bar, a stallion on the other side of the ramp, who looked similar to a certain pony who worked at a doughnut shop, came up to her, reaching out a hoof.

"Your disc, please?" He said in a gruff, bored voice.

"Huh? Why?" The DJ asked, suspicious.

The stallion sighed.

"I need to ID you so I know how many energy rations I can supply you."

Vinyl wasn't comfortable in letting go of her only and best form of defense but she slowly reached back, pulled her disc out, and handed it to the stallion. The stallion took the disc quickly and placed it in a small slot, where some lights slowly lighted up. The stallion glanced at it, then stared at it in surprise.

"Huh..." He said simply, pulling Vinyl's disc out and handing back to her. "Extra energy rations... I wonder what you did to get on Security's good side..."

The stallion leaned down below the ramp, and appeared a second later holding a glass with clear liquid in his hooves.

"Here you go, standard supply. Come back for the second round when you're finished with that."

Holy Celestia, this is a bar! Vinyl realized. She wasn't in the mood for alcohol but the drink looked very tempting... more tempting than it should've. Vinyl turned and sat down at the nearest table, ignoring two other ponies who were discussing about something, they didn't seem to notice her either.

"...strange that less and less programs have been coming in... you'd think Security would keep the recruits coming in, considering how many we lose each micro-cycle." One pony finished, a mare, she sounded familiar.

Vinyl continued staring at her drink, judging how it was clear like water, it was probably vodka.

"It's not that strange." The other pony replied, her voice also very familiar. "Most of the recruits brought here are those fanatic rebels that tried to take over the system from Security and the Interface that were found after they were scattered. But their numbers are low now so it makes sense that fewer recruits are coming in. It's obvious they're gonna have to find a solution quick or their won't be any programs left to play the games."

Vinyl sniffed her drink, it definitely didn't smell like vodka. It didn't smell like... anything.

"So what are they going to do? Are they going to have to start looking for strays, like us?" The first mare asked.

"I doubt it, it's rare for programs to lose their discs and become strays, it's not a dependable way of finding programs for the games."

Vinyl tilted the glass side to side, watching the liquid swirl around. Could it be just water? But that didn't make any sense...

"What about other User-believers? Why not just round them up and have them in the games?"

"Are you crazy? Then Security would have a second rebellion on their hooves, and this time the programs would have right to rebel. Nopony wants to be thrown in the games. Not to mention a large percentage of all programs in the system are User-believers..."

Vinyl shrugged and tilted the glass to her mouth. She was planning on downing but the moment the first gulp reached her mouth, she stopped drinking and swallowed her gulp. Her eyes widened and she felt a euphoric feeling of bliss wash over her. She didn't know it, but her circuitry brightened as the energy spread through her, revitalizing her. But it wasn't enough, in a second, her circuitry dimmed and the feeling passed. Vinyl didn't wait and downed the whole glass, basking in the euphoria.

"That reminds me..." The first mare said. "Why did a group of 'fanatic' User-believers rebel in the first place? What happened to make them fight?"

"Apparently, after the Interface became system administrator, they tried to take control of the system. They probably thought that with the power shift the Interface was weak and would be unable to stop them. I guess they didn't count on Security overwhelming them."

"But that doesn't make any sense, why would they... Hey, are you okay?"

"Huh? What... Woah, are you alright?"

Something clicked in Vinyl's brain and it brought her back into reality, she had been slouching in her chair and she leaned up. She was disappointed that the feeling was gone but she felt much better, more energized, and no longer empty.

"Yeah," She quickly said. "Sorry, I was..."

Vinyl stopped as she stared wide-eyed at the two mares before her. She knew them and couldn't believe they were here. On her left was a mare with a blue and pink mane, wearing armour with white circuitry. On her right was a mint-green unicorn also wearing armour with white circuitry.

"Lyra... Bon Bon?"

The two mares glanced at each other, then back at Vinyl.

"That's not our names, program. I think you have us confused with somepony else."

Oh no, don't be like Rarity now... But Vinyl knew these two very well, she wasn't gonna give up so easily.

"Guys, it's me, Vinyl Scratch! You're friend?"

Lyra blinked, then her eyes went wide.

"Wait a cycle... You knew us before?" She turned to Bon Bon. "I think this program knows who we were before we became strays!"

"Were? Strays? What are you two talking about?"

Bon Bon looked at Vinyl sadly.

"We're sorry, we lost our original discs sometime a few cycle's ago and we became strays with no memory of who we were. It was only a matter of time before we were picked up by Security and sent to play in the games..."

"You knew us!" Lyra exclaimed. "What were we like? What did we do?"

"Something's not right..." Bon Bon said, looking over Vinyl closely. "You don't seem familiar at all but the name Bon Bon... that name rings a bell..."

"Guys, how did you get here?" Vinyl asked, when something clicked. "Wait... you don't remember... What the hay happened to you two!?"

Before either could respond. A hoof touched Vinyl's shoulder. The DJ turned and saw a guard standing before her.

"Program! Your time is up, it's time for you to enter the games."

"What? No!" Lyra said. "She may know who we are, you can't just-"

"We can and we will." The guard replied simply. "Get up program, you have work to do."

Games, huh? Vinyl stood up.

"Chillax, guys." She said to her friends. "I'll be back before you know it."

She turned, not seeing the worried looks on their faces.

"There goes our one chance of finding out who we were..." Lyra muttered.

As Vinyl was led out of the room, she glanced at her guard.

"So... These games, what are they like?"

"You know that disc match you had earliar? Well, it's basically that but with one program as your opponent."

"Pfft! Really? This will be over in seconds..."

Then I can get back to Lyra and Bon Bon and figure out what the buck is going on!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vinyl looked around the circular room she was in. Once again, the guards had left and the doors had closed behind them.

"Okay, this is starting to get old!" She called out. Suddenly, she felt the room move, like an elevator. She was going up and she heard noise, like a crowd cheering. Vinyl felt the room stop moving and the cheering became even louder, just outside the door where the guards had left.

The door opened, revealing a smallish arena surrounded by hundreds of ponies cheering on in excitement.

These games must be pretty popular. Well, no need to disappoint them! With that thought, Vinyl strolled out confidently, a wide smirk on her face. Too bad my glasses didn't come with me, ah well, I'm sure I'll find some more soon.

Unknown to Vinyl, high above in a private observation room, Trixie and Crom looked down at the DJ with interest, Trixie smiling confidently.

On the other side of the arena emerged another pony with blue circuitry armour, a gray Pegasus with a certain... condition with her eyes. Vinyl instantly recognized her and did a double-take.

"DERPY!? No way, you're here too!?" Her smirk returned. Oh I'm gonna wipe the floor with her...

Derpy looked frightened, but when she saw the confident smirk on her opponent's face, she scrunched hers up in defiance.

"You think you're gonna wipe me right out, don't you!" She called out.

"Pretty much, yeah!" Vinyl replied over the roar of the crowd.

"Attention programs!" The robotic female voice sounded out. "Let the Disc Wars match begin!"

Instantly, Derpy drew her disc and threw it straight towards Vinyl, who barely dodged the whirling weapon. Vinyl got up from the ground.

"So that's how it's gonna be, huh? Alright, Derps... Time I showed you why no one bucks with the Scratch!"

She drew out her disc and threw it at her opponent.

Above, Trixie smiled as the battle began.

"See, Crom?" She said. "This program jumped straight into the game, she didn't even hesitate drawing her disc against a User-believer."

Crom didn't answer as he looked down. Something's not right...

Trixie glanced at him, and looked back at the fight.

Vinyl had underestimated Derpy, it turned out she was pretty good with a disc too. She grab her returning disc and jumped over Derpy's, when she landed and looked up, her disc had returned to her hoof. Vinyl continued grinning, the challenge was exhilarating and she loved every moment of it. The crowd seemed to be enjoying it too, judging from the cheers that erupted every time one of them dodged of blocked a disc.

Vinyl decided to throw her disc again, but instead of dodging it or blocking it with her own, Derpy flared her wings up and rocketed to the side, flying along the rim of the arena, towards Vinyl. The DJ only realized just in time that she was coming in for a melee attack and dodged, barely avoiding the strike. Derpy continued flying on.

So you want to use your wings? Fine... I've still got my magic! Vinyl thought as she stood up, she felt her disc flying straight for her head and, without moving her body, grabbed the disc with her magic and flung it straight back to Derpy, who squeaked in surprised and knocked it away from her. She stopped in mid-air when she saw Vinyl defenseless and threw her disc at the DJ.

Vinyl grinned slightly and jumped in the air, grabbing the Pegasus' disc with her magic and bringing it into her hooves. Then she spun and reached out a hoof for her own disc, which flew right back to her. She continued spinning and landed on the ground.

"Hah!" She called out brandishing both discs in each fore hoof menacingly to the open mouthed Pegasus, grinning like a maniac. The roar of the crowd was deafening. Clearly, something like this was very rare, if not unheard of.

"Alright, Derps!" Vinyl called out to the stunned Pegasus. "It's clear I've got this fight, with both discs and you weaponless, let's just call this over now!"

Derpy blinked, and her face contorted with anger. She seemed insulted.

"I'm not weaponless, bit-brain!" She called out, flaring her wings once more, only the circuitry lining her wings glowed and hummed like the outer ring on the discs. Vinyl blinked.

"No way... You can use your wings as weapons too!? That is so bada- Oh shit!" She barely avoided Derpy as she charged, her wing almost grazing her.

Vinyl spun and blew a sigh of relief at avoiding what would've been a humiliating defeat.

"Alright, come and get me, let's see how good you are at using those in combat!" Vinyl called out.

Derpy took the challenge and charged the DJ, who deflected the wing attack with Derpy's disc. Derpy swung with her other wing, but Vinyl deflected with her disc, the energy seemed to clash with each split second contact. Vinyl saw an opening and brought both discs in a stabbing motion to Derpy's chest, but the Pegasus reacted quickly and threw them both off-course with her wings. For the next moments, the two traded blows, trying to strike at each other while also blocking the counterattack that followed.

After a few moments, Vinyl had an idea for an attack of a different kind. Seeing her opening, she smacked her head into Derpy's. Hard. The Pegasus stumbled back as the crowd gasped in surprised then quickly cheered. Vinyl then charged at her dazed opponent and struck at the base of her wing. The disc, however, didn't stop at the surface, like before. Instead, it sliced right through, cutting the wing clean off. Vinyl stared with a horrified expression as the wing fell to the ground, and disintegrated into thousands of tiny little cubes. The crowd cheered louder then ever before, but it didn't silence Derpy's pained scream that shook Vinyl to the core.

The Pegasus collapsed, writhing in pain. Vinyl looked down at her disc, her eyes wide. This wasn't a game, it never was. But she knew. Her conscience pointed out. She knew the whole time.

"Oh Celestia... Derpy!" Vinyl knelt down next to her. At first, Derpy tried to move away from Vinyl, but the pain was too much. She gasped and collapsed again.

"Why..." She struggled to say. "Why aren't you ending this?"

"I didn't know." Vinyl answered, her voice a whisper. "I didn't know that I'd..."

"How... How can you not-" She gasped as pain surged through her again. "P-please... just end it..."

Vinyl reeled back. "What!? No! Just hold on, I'm sure help is on the way..." Her voice trailed off.

There was nothing to signal a pause in the match and the crowd continued cheering.

"Please..." Derpy pleaded.

"No! I can't kill you!"

"DEREZZ ME!" Derpy shouted, tears streaming down her face.

Vinyl knew the wound was causing her intense pain, and she had the power to end it by ending her life. Vinyl activated her disc, it began humming, she hated the sound. She slowly raised her trembling hoof into the air to deliver the killing blow. And then made a terrible mistake. A mistake she would regret her whole life. She looked into Derpy's eyes as she stared at her. Vinyl stood deathly still, her hoof raised in the air. Everything went silent, the sound of the crowd dulled until it was barely audible but Derpy's painful gasps and sobs still sounded clearly. She couldn't do this, not to her friend. But she couldn't let her suffer either.

Only you can help her now, Vinyl.... By ending her pain. Her conscience said.

Vinyl, still staring Derpy, brought her disc down, slicing into her body and she disintegrated into millions of cubes. The crowd cheered loudly. The female robotic voice droned something along the lines of Vinyl winning the match but she barely heard it, she just knelt by the pile that was once Derpy, until a pair of guards took the DJ away. She didn't resist.

Trixe stood up, turning to leave.

"Trixie was right, as she always has been." She proclaimed. "The program killed the User-believer like I said she would. Now why would a User derezz a program who believed in them?"

"Because she didn't know..." Crom muttered.

"Sorry, what was that?"

Crom whirled around, facing his superior officer.

"She didn't know this was a battle to the death! She didn't know she was going to derezz another program until it was too late!"

"That only supports the evidence that she isn't a User, Crom." Trixie replied. "Users are supposed to be all-knowing. This program is a glitched stray, nothing more..."

Crom stared as Trixie left the room. He was mad. Mad at Trixie. Forcing programs to kill each other is bad enough, but you neglecting to tell her that she was about to kill was beyond cruel!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vinyl sat in her cell, staring blankly at her disc. She thought about the battle, about how Derpy died and she learned a few things. She wasn't in Equestria.

If Celestia knew about this, I wouldn't be surprised if she walked in here personally and ended this cruel sport.

It wasn't Derpy that she killed.

But that doesn't matter. She looked like Derpy, she sounded like Derpy... She felt like Derpy... And I still killed.

She continued staring at her disc and sighed. She had no idea her disc was a lethal weapon until she cut off Derpy's wing. Her screams still echoed clearly in her mind, as well as the crowd's chee-

Vinyl looked up at the realization.

"The crowd cheered..." She muttered. "The crowd cheered before and during the fight... they cheered as I sliced her wing off and they cheered when I killed her... They wanted me to kill her! Those sick motherbuckers!"

She stood up and lashed her disc, it flew across the room, bouncing off the walls, until it landed next to her. Slowly she picked it up, panting in anger. Then she slumped down in defeat. If the people themselves enjoy it... How can I stand against this?

Then, Vinyl felt a tear move down her cheek. Then another. Her eyes watered, clouding her vision. She scrunched up her face and fell to the ground, sobbing quietly... I hope to Celestia you weren't sent here, Octy...