When Two Worlds Collide

Epic Ace's POV

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I wake up to a sudden thud and dubstep blaring in my ear. I look around the small space of the basket at all the ponies around me, pulling out the earphone. Vinyl had fallen asleep on my shoulder, but she also awoke and got off me blearily. I then look over to Silver, the gray mare had her wing around Octavia, and the black maned earth pony looked rather comfortable as she was nestled against the mare. I found it rather cute that they had fallen asleep like that. A smile tugged at my lips, some warmth seeping into my being. Vinyl pokes me in the ribs to gain my attention and I look over at her with blurry vision, blinking a few times to clear it up. The unicorn has a devious smile on her face. “Hey Ace,” she said, “I got an idea to wake those to mares up.”

“Oh? And what kind of idea are you thinking of?” I asked, a smirk forming upon my lips.

“Well, come with me,” she jumps up, grabbing my hoof to pull me up, and started to run enthusiastically towards the watermelon stand. She then proceeded to smash a hole in one and covered my face in watermelon, using her magic to spread it over my body. She giggles softly at me due to the fact I was covered in the red, seed filled substance and I probably looked ridiculous. “Alright Ace, I want you to run over there, and scare them. Make it look like you got beat up so make something up, okay?”

“Aww yeah, aright, I got something in mind. This will be good,” I replied with a mischievous grin.

I run to the basket and put my front hooves on the rim and begin shaking it, causing it to rock uncontrollably with the amount of power I was putting into it. Successfully waking the two sleeping ponies, I saw their eyes open up, and with my looking like I was scared out of my mind, I got in the basket by tumbling in next to the two mares. Putting my hooves on the alicorn's shoulders, I got up and in her face, my own full of worry as I made my body shake with horror.

“Silver! Silver, don’t go out there, they already got Vinyl and almost killed me, just hide in here, don’t go out there,” my voice trembled in sync with my body as I attempted to prevent myself from busting out in hysterical fit of laughter.  I’m good, I thought as a small smile danced upon my watermelon flavored lips.

She then replies to me groggily, “Wait wha-what?” Octavia's face is screwed up in horror, her purple eyes burned into my sky blue ones with fear.

“Vinyl is dead, they killed her!”

“Who?” Octavia inquired, sounding frightened.

“It was-“ I then start to crack up in a bout of giggles, “oh I can’t do this anymore. Vinyl come out, I am so done,” I yelled out, falling over and bursting out into a fit of laughter.

The white mare comes out from behind the basket, laughing with tears coating her cheeks. The two groggy mares look at us with constricted eyes, their faces full of anger. Silver pins me to the end of the basket and I just smile at her warmly. “Mornin’ sunshine.”

“You!" the gray mare growled, "I swear to Celestia, if you ever do that again I’ll-I’ll,” she stomped away in anger, calling over her shoulder, “never scare me like that again.”

I get up laughing slightly as I wipe tears of mirth from my eyes, “Oh I am sorry Silver, we were just having a little fun,” I explained with a small chuckle as walked up beside her and draped my left wing over her. I retracted it as she returned what most pegasi would call a hug.

"Oh, I know Ace,” she replied, “just please don’t do it again," she said as she retracted her own wing.

“No promises,” I said quickly and ran towards Vinyl, who was talking with Octavia. ”Sorry Tavi. I was just having a little fun,” I apologized just as I heard Vinyl end her own apology.

“It’s fine Ace, I forgive you,” she said, a tad bit of annoyance recognizable in her tone.

“Alrighty then, now that that is settled. Silver, shall we begin helping Vinyl with her gig?” I asked as I trotted calmly towards the tri-colored maned mare who now sat by Octavia, who was still in the basket with Vinyl.

She looked at me with drowsy eyes. "Yeah, considering the fact it's almost show time," she remarked, looking at the line at the gates in front of the stadium of Las Pegasus.

"How will they," I motioned to Tavi and Vinyl, "get onto the cloud to sit in the stands?"

Silver smiled. "The Wonderbolts set a separate cloud aside for us so I can cast my magic on it so our non-pegasi friends can join us," she explained, looking up at the large cloud a half a mile above our heads. She then turned to me and smiled wider, "we better get you cleaned up though."

“Ah, so Tavi, you, and myself will be up there watching Vinyl preform from up in the cloud,” I then turn my head towards Silver, “unless you are going to perform with Vinyl again.”

She looked at me questioningly, and then Vinyl came in, interjecting herself into our conversation, “Yeah, so you want to sing again?"

“Well,” she replied, her voice nearly unheard, “I don’t know. I mean, the experience was great but," she paused, looking at each of us and continued, "I'm not cut out for performing live. I'll always be nervous."

Vinyl seemed to smile softly at this. "Mist, I'm always nervous before a show! Think of it this way, the thrill of everypony being there just to see you perform. The thought of it sends a shiver of excitement to my very core!"

I smiled, looking over to the gray mare and said, "See, even big time musicians like her are nervous sometimes. Are you going to perform now?"

Shaking her head, she again draped her wing over the cello player by her as we trotted towards the stadium. "I really don't want to. I just want to head to Ponyville and get the hay out of here. Las Pegasus isn't meant for unicorns or earth ponies."

I nodded my agreement as the Wonderbolt captain out to greet us. "Hello Silver, Ace, Vinyl, and Octavia," Spitfire spoke. "The rest of my team are wondering if Silver will be performing with Vinyl today?"

Again, Silver shook her head. "I'd rather enjoy the show."

Spitfire nodded her head, her suit once more on her yellow coat. "Alright, well Vinyl, you better get ready," she said, trotting away.

I looked to the white unicorn who was trotting away and backstage already. "I guess it's close to nine. We should head up there, Silver," I said to the alicorn mare.

She nodded, enveloping both Octavia and myself in her magic, flapping her own wings and landing on a cloud after a small shimmer of magenta magic flowing over the top of it. She placed the two of us down on the cloud and I shifted around, getting comfortable. The earth pony next to Silver didn't seem to comfortable above the ground, causing her to shift uneasily. "I don't like it up here. The ground is for earth ponies, clouds aren't made for this," she muttered as she scooted closer to the tri-colored mane mare beside her.

As a sign of a comforting gesture, Silver let the mare lean against her. I sighed softly and they looked to me in confusion, the speakers cracking loudly as the DJ came on stage. I waved my good wing in a dismissive gesture and watched the unicorn mare atop a stage in the clouds with a pair of turn-tables in front of her, the crowd growing as the nine 'clock show neared.

"Who's ready to drop this beat?" the mare said through the microphone as the crowd cheered with delight.

I smiled as the bass filled the sky and I allowed myself to relax as I saw the Wonderbolts fly up from the ground and into the sky, signaling the start of the show.

*   *   *

After Vinyl had finished, and the Wonderbolts were about to do their finale, they suddenly landed on the cloud we were on, and stood in front of me. “Hey Ace,” said the Wonderbolt  captain, “do you think you could do that lightning thing again?” she asked with a smile. “I know you kind of ran away from us whenever you did it and I forgot to ask you if you could do something like that again.”

I was surprised by this comment and responded, “Wait, you want me to use my powers again? Won’t it freak everypony out?” I said with the slightest shiver.

“Freak? Ha, no way what you did was pretty cool. Hay, I wish I had some kind of talent like that!” she said as her team briefly nodded their heads in agreement.

“Well,” I said softly, “I can try to do something, but I can’t do the thunder boom.” I motion towards my wounded wing.

She nodded and I began to stand up, looked up to the sky looking at a small cluster of clouds in the air. I point my hoof in the air, letting the current charge inside my body, and shot a black bolt to one of them. In which, caused a chain reaction, spreading the electrical energy cloud to cloud. They appalled it and a smile began to dance upon my lips. My white cheeks were slightly red from the approval. They like my talent, and they think it’s cool, I thought, happiness surging through my body, making the electrical power flow stronger through my body.

“Thanks Ace.” And they flew off to finish the rest of their show.

I smiled slightly as I watch them fly up into the sky finishing up their show. I then remembered something, the thought cause me to blurt it out loud, “Um, mares. Where did Vinyl scurry off to?”

Octavia shot up slightly and wobbled from being in the air. “Oh my, she might be getting herself in trouble again. Knowing her, she's probably getting drunk,” the gray mare said with a bored tone. She seems to know this pony well, I thought as she continued, “we need to go find her.”

“No, I will go find her, you two stay here and watch the show.”

Octavia nodded slightly, a slight pang of sympathy crossed my heart. She really cares for her friends, I continued my thoughts as Mist, her horn glowing a magenta color, helped me to the ground. She looks at me with some concern as my hooves make contact with the ground below. “Ace, be careful,” she calls down to me.

I looked up at the cloud, her tail going through it as she hung her head over the edge, staring at me. “Why do you care so much if I get hurt?”

“It’s only because I don’t want to have to heal another one of your stupid wounds,” she retorted, taking back her worry. "I mean, fine, I don't have to care. Go get hit by some cart for all I care! I don't care! Nope, not one bit!" she yelled angrily down to me.

"Why such a sourpuss?" I called up to her as I start heading towards the crowd of ponies. I was wishing I had not left my cloak in the blasted balloon. Right now, it didn't matter, my mane is still dyed black so no pony will recognize me. I start heading towards a couple of concession stands, and looked around for the white unicorn. this may take a while, soon as I thought about the unimaginable trek through this market full of pegasi, I heard a familiar voice behind me yell out my name. “Yo, Ace!”

I turned around looking at the mare who called my name, which was the mischievousness white unicorn. She walked up to me swaying slightly side-to-side which each step she took. It wasn't necessarily noticeable to the other ponies around but I could slightly tell she went out drinking a few ciders. She came up close to me and breathed, “Ace, I need your help with something back stage. You see, I need your help taking some discs from backstage to the main one,” she smiled widely.

Something doesn't seem right. “Alright, just show me the way and I will be glad to help,” I smiled slightly as the mare began to walk in the direction of the stage.

“Aww yeah. Come on,” She said, wobbling her way along with me right behind her. I feel there is something she is not telling me. We begin to step up on the stage, behind the curtain, and we walk to a couple of small boxes which held maybe twenty discs each.

“Now, which one are we-“ I was cut off by Vinyl who had pounced on me, pinning me to the ground.

She was looking down at me, smiling seductively. I could smell her cider breath as she softly spoke, “Ace I didn't bring you back here for you to take some discs out for me.”

“Oh? And so do you mind telling me what you were planning on doing?” I ask as her hot breath was blowing on my neck.

She giggles slightly, purring her words, “You don’t get it. You are such a silly stallion. There’s something I like about you,” she began to lean in, getting closer to my face but before she could even try to do what I believe was a kiss, I lift her up and pin her so she doesn't try anything else. My face was red, I could feel it as my cheeks burned hot. She just slightly laughed at me “Ow, you're being a rough already? I haven't even got started.”

My cheeks grew hotter, stuttering just slightly, “No, no, no. Vinyl, I do not want this.”

“That’s not what your wing says,” she said, pointing at my left wing that was high in the air. Slid licked my ear and a shiver went down my spine. I tried to prevent myself from giving in.

I blushed even more, “No, I don’t. Listen, I find this flattering and all, but I can’t, no, I won’t do this with you,” I unpinned her and stood up, forcing my wing down.

She looked at me from the grounded and asked with sadness in her voice, her lower lip quivering, “Why?”

"I-" I paused, looking over my shoulder to the drunken mare laying on the stage floor, the next words to leave my mouth were an utter lie, "I can't take advantage of somepony like you. I'm sorry," I mutter, trotting out with my head sagging.

I walk down from the backstage entry. I sighed in regret, but I knew it was the right choice. She was drunk, and I am not even attracted to her that much. I mean, yeah, she’s nice and all and there is a slight possibility that I’m attracted to her in some sort of way, whether it be a relationship way or just friendship. I don’t what her to get involved with me in any way besides this closed friendship we have now only because I want to protect her, all of them, from my past. I start to trot to the cloud Silver and Octavia were on when I left, keeping my head low as the afternoon wind started picking up. Maybe protecting her was not the only reason. Maybe there is something else I am hiding that even I don’t know, I thought to myself, stopping for a brief moment before continuing my trot towards the two other mare friends of mine. Once I was near the cloud, I looked up. What I saw will be forever engraved into my memory and stuck on repeat.

Silver had leaned over and planted a kiss upon Octavia's now dark red cheek, lingering there what seemed like an eternity before she moved away, her face also flushing to that of a red color. My jaw dropped and so did my heart, landing in the pit of my knot-tied stomach. She’s...but I thought... I shook my head in disbelief and wonder even why I even cared about this. About her even. Yet I could feel my heart residing in my stomach and throat, switching back and forth. I brushed it off and blamed it on me being in total shock. What was she doing? I thought as I walked up to the cloud and she waved to me with her wing, enveloping me in her magic to lift me up to the cloud. I broke her spell, for my coat created static and forced it to break the barrier to let me free. I landed evenly on the ground below and I trot slowly back to the balloon.

My head was reeling and a deep sadness was beginning to overcome my very being. I brush it off yet again, thinking it's just something that had left me in shock that really didn't matter. I don’t care, I thought but even those words hurt me even to just admit it. I knew I was lying to myself, I just don’t know why I was even upset or hurt in the first place. I arrive at the hot air balloon and I grabbed my cloak that had been blowing softly in the wind. I wrapped it around me, letting the warmth of its silky fabric run across my coat. I turn around, nopony had followed me, not even Silver. I trot unhappily into the basket and lay down, the wind blowing against the balloon just soft enough to create a rhythmic tune. Why do I care about that mare when I don't even like her? Why did my heart drop? Why do I feel hurt? I thought, my mind unraveling more questions as I lay there trying to clear my head of what I just saw. I sigh heavily, my heart still feeling like it was floating around somewhere in the pit of my stomach. I looked up to the partly cloudy sky and whispered softly aloud, "What a way to start a day. Maybe I should say what a night."