Chapter 6: A message
It has been 5 days since Alpha and Beta destroyed and escaped the Rainbow Factory. They were still trying to get used to civilian life. Today was really strange for Alpha because it was a Saturday. Alpha got up at the same time he used to get up at the factory, and walked to the repair station. But when he got there, it was closed. Alpha was confused. Smith saw Alpha waiting outside of the station and walked out of his cottage to talk to him.
"Colt, what are you doing?" Smith asked Alpha.
"Oh, there you are." Alpha said, "I'm here to work."
"Work?" Smith asked, confused. "What do you mean by work?"
"Repair metal." Alpha replied casually.
"You are aware that it is Saturday, right?" Smith asked.
"Huh?"
"It is Saturday. We don't work on weekends."
"Why not?"
"Because no-pony works on the weekends."
"Oh…"
Smith faced-hoofed, "Alpha, you really need to tell me where you are from."
Alpha shook his head. "It's…" Alpha looked for the right word. "It's a personal story."
"Will you at least tell me about your metal wing?"
"No, sorry," Alpha replied.
"That's a shame." Smith frowned. "Well, have a good day."
"Wait, what do I do then?" Alpha asked.
Smith looked at Alpha, dumbfounded. "Do what you want." He said, leaving Alpha outside, as he walked back into his cottage. Alpha watched as Smith closed the door. He was confused; he had never had a day off at the Rainbow Factory. It was either work or be punished, tortured, and die. There was no such thing as a "day off" or a "weekend" at the factory. Alpha just stood there, looking at the Repair Station, trying to make sense of why he wasn't allowed to work.
"All I know is working. This is so weird." Alpha said aloud, wondering about what he should do.
"Well, if we aren't allowed to work, we may just go and explore the village. Get our bearings."
"Good idea." Alpha said as he walked off to the town market.
While walking to the town market, Alpha saw a mirror shop. The thought of being able to see Beta again made Alpha gallop to the shop, his bit pouch bouncing off his chest as he ran. He slowed to a trot as he walked into the shop. Alpha stood in amazement as he was surrounded by mirrors of all shapes and sizes. There were mirrors the size of his hoof to the size of the walls he saw in the Factory. He laughed in pure bliss. He thought of seeing Beta again. He was about to ask the store manager, a grey mare, how much were the mirrors the size of his hoof when she spoke.
"Oh, how I love this song!" the mare said; her eyes closed as she listened to the song. She opened her eyes to see Alpha waiting. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there."
Alpha looked at her, his head tilted to the right.
"Is there something wrong, sir?" The mare asked, nervous.
"What did you say?" Alpha asked.
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.
"When I came in here, you said something about loving this…this…"Alpha struggled to remember what she said.
"Song?" The mare inquired.
"Yes! That is it. What is it?" Alpha exclaimed.
"What is what?" The mare asked.
"What is a song?" Alpha repeated.
"I don't understand. What do you mean "What is a song?"? "
Alpha was starting to get annoyed by the mare. He was trying to find out what a song was and was thinking that the Mare was teasing him."What is a song? What does it do? Can I buy a "Song" ?"
"If you want to buy songs, you are in the wrong shop. Go to the music shop, I'm sure they can help you there." The mare replied, still confused as ever by Alpha's question.
"Ok. Where is this "Music" shop?" Alpha asked.
Once the mare told Alpha where the shop generally was, he left at once to find it. After half an hour of searching the village, he finally found the shop. He uneasily stepped into the shop, not sure of what to do. The store was filled with Vinyl discs.
"Welcome to Vinyl's Music Store. How can I help you?" Said a voice to Alpha's left. He looked to his left to see a very eccentric, light and dark blue-haired unicorn, looking at him. The mare had a pair of giant purple shades, and a symbol on her flank. Alpha was still confused on why ponies had pictures and symbols on their flanks. He didn't have one. Was he supposed to have one? He kept looking at her symbol, trying to understand what it was and what it meant.
Vinyl was staring at Alpha, who was staring at her. She moved to her right, and watched as Alpha's eyes followed her. She then realized that he was staring at her flank.
"Stop staring at my flank, colt! I'm already taken." She yelled as soon as she realized what Alpha was doing.
"What?" Alpha replied, taken back by what he heard. "I'm not staring at your flank, I'm looking at- wait, what!?" He said, confused as ever.
"That's right. I'm already taken." Vinyl said, walking up to Alpha. "So stop staring at it!"
"I was not staring at your flank. I was looking at the symbol on your flank. Besides, it doesn't matter to me if you are already taken." Alpha said firmly. "I am just here to ask you a question."
"Oh really?" Vinyl asked, annoyed. "Go ahead, ask it."
"Do you know what a song is?" Alpha asked calmly.
"DO I KNOW WHAT A SONG IS?!" Vinyl raged. "Are you an Idiot, Colt? Of course I know what a song is. I am Vinyl Scratch. I make songs! Who doesn't know what a song is?!" Vinyl looked at Alpha. Alpha felt Beta rise within him, seeing Vinyl as a possible threat. Vinyl watched as Alpha's eye color changed from brown to red then back to brown as Alpha told Beta to calm down.
"I'm sorry if I offended you earlier. I'm not from this place- this village." Alpha told Vinyl. "I was in another shop when I heard the term "Song" and asked the shop manager what she meant. She did not understand my question and told me to come here, saying that you could help me." Alpha explained.
"Oh. I didn't know. I'm so sorry for raging at you like that." Vinyl said embarrassed at the way she acted. "To answer your question, a song is a short poem or other set of words set to music or meant to be sung."
"Oh, and what are those" Alpha asked, nodding toward the vinyl discs behind her.
"These are Vinyl discs. You insert one of these babies on a Vinyl Record and you can listen to the song it has." She explained.
"These Vinyl discs," Alpha continued to ask. "When were they first made?"
"Oh, 'bout 1000 years ago, right after Nightmare Moon was banished." Vinyl said in a cheery tone. "We have this one disk that we aren't allowed to play though. We have specific rules from Princess Celestia not to play it." Vinyl bragged. "No pony knows what is on that record that Celestia doesn't want heard, but there is a legend behind it that record."
"What do you mean?" Alpha asked.
Vinyl went into the back room of the store and came out with a Vinyl disc. The disc was covered in old cobwebs and dust. She walked to Alpha with the disc.
"Legend goes that 900 years ago, a dark earth pony by the name of Beta slaughtered hundreds of ponies; hundreds upon hundreds of them, here in Ponyville. He was a mutant; able to use light and dark magic, Beta killed any pony he saw. Eventually, after many attempts to halt the monster, Celestia used the Elements of Harmony, the same elements she used against her own sister 100 years before, against him. But Beta was strong. He was able to with-stand the power of the Elements of Harmony. And with that, the two battled each other. Beta was pretty awesome; he was able to fight for a few days before he was obliterated by the magic of the Elements. This disc," Vinyl explained, as she nodded to the disk floating beside her. "This Vinyl disc is said to be made by Beta's parents the very next week after he was defeated. No pony knows what is on it." Vinyl watched as Alpha's eye color slowly turned from dark brown to blood-red.
"Mom…." Beta said. "Alpha, it is important that I listen to that message!"
"Can I listen to that disc?" Alpha asked.
The door to the store opens as Octavia walks in to see Vinyl and Alpha talking, the forbidden disc hovering in between them. "Vinyl, What are you doing!?" she screams, as she closes the store door as fast as she could, switching the OPEN sign to CLOSED. "Are you mad? That disc is not allowed to the public! Celestia came in here and told us that herself!" She walks in front of Alpha, grabbing the disc with one hoof, and starts walking to the back room. "I'm sorry colt, but we are now closed. You need to leave. I need to talk to Vinyl PRIVATELY. Vinyl, come here."
"I will do anything to listen to that disc!" Alpha said, placing a hoof on Octavia's shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "Please, I promise I won't come in here again. I can pay. I need to listen to that disc."
"No! Princess Celestia said this disc is never to be played." Octavia said, shrugging off Alpha's hoof.
"I will do anything, anything you want. I just need to listen to that disc." Alpha begged.
Octavia walked up to Alpha, Her face level to his face. "Anything?" She asked, smug.
"Anything." Alpha confirmed.
"Take off your metal brace." She asked.
"What!? I can't." Alpha exclaimed, surprised.
"Well, if you can't, then you aren't going to hear what is on this disc." Octavia said, slowly walking away.
"Wait! I'll show you. I'll show you. Do you have a place that isn't very public?" Alpha said, looking at the windows. "It's not really something every pony should really see, but if I show you, you must promise that you will let me hear the disc."
"I promise. Come, this way." Octavia said, nodding to the back room. Alpha followed her, with Vinyl trailing behind him. Once in the room, Alpha walked past Octavia and turned around to face the two ponies. Alpha grinded his teeth in pain as he slowly flexed his right-wing and took off the brace, freeing the burnt wing from the metal.
Octavia screamed in disgust and turned her head away as she saw the burnt wing, her hoof covering her eyes. Vinyl, on the other hoof, stared at the wing in awe. She was amazed that someone could build a wing that could replace an actual wing out of metal. Alpha lowered his head in shame.
"Put it back on! Put it back on!" Octavia screamed, still not looking at Alpha. Alpha put back on the metal brace, the metal in his bones easily sliding into the magnetic pocket of the wing.
"It's back on." Alpha said, flexing his wing; making sure that it was still working properly. "Now, as you promised."
"I know what I promised. Vinyl, bring him to the record room. Place the disc in the record, and show this…" Octavia struggled to find the right word. "…this colt how to use it. Then come back out here."
Vinyl nodded to Octavia and walked Alpha to the record room. The room was small. Only having room for 2 and the record, Vinyl show Alpha the basics on how to use the record. She then placed the disc on the Record, showed Alpha where the ON button was, and left the room, closing the door as she walked out.
Alpha looked back at the door, making sure it was closed, then looked at the record. "Are you ready, Beta?"
"Just play it."
Alpha pushed the play button and relaxed as he felt Beta take over, listening to record.
"Beta, I hope you are listening to this." A female voice said through the speaker.
"Mom…" Beta said, realizing who it was.
"Beta, I want you to know that we, your father and I, have always loved you. We have always loved you and will forever continue to love you even when we have passed through this world. I'm sorry that your friends left you. We did not want this to happen to you. We wanted you to have a normal life. We didn't want you to be in pain. Since you were born, we always knew you were very special." Beta's mother stopped. Alpha could hear her crying in the message. Another voice came in, this time it was a male voice.
"Beta, this is your father speaking. I hope you can hear us, son. We only have a short time before Celestia finds out what we are doing. I am hiding this disk in your bedroom, under your bed. I want you to know that I understand why you did what you did. I can understand the pain you went through; the hate, the isolation, the feeling of being hated by every pony you saw."
The record slowly starts to skip.
"Beta, this is your mother again. We have to go sweetie. I don't think we will be able to talk to you again like this. Just remember that we always loved you, and will be with you where you are. We will see you soon, don't worry. Goodbye. We love you."
The record starts to violently skip then slowly comes to a halt, its tune slowly repeating in Alpha's mind. Alpha took out the disc and felt relieved, realizing it wasn't what he was feeling but what Beta was feeling. Beta was relieved that his parents understood why he did what he did. He felt understood. He felt loved. Alpha stood still for a minute, trying to remember the last time he had felt loved. He then shook his head, not wanting to remember any of it. Alpha turned around to see both Octavia and Vinyl staring at him as his colors slowly returned to their original color as Beta let Alpha take over again. He walked to Octavia and gave her the disc. Octavia, annoyed by Alpha for listening to the disc against Celestia's orders, quickly took the disk out of his hands.
"I'm sorry for disgusting you earlier with my wing. It was important and I thank you for allowing me to listen to the disc." Alpha said to Octavia. He then turned to Vinyl.
"There is nothing that can harm any-pony on that disc. The legend is true, it is a message from Beta's parents 1 week after Beta was defeated. This also means that Beta was real and alive at one time. What is on that disc gives another view on Beta. It tells that Beta wasn't always evil. It gives a hint, a clue on what happened to him that made him become evil." Alpha sighed. "Don't break Celestia's rule and listen to that disc. She is trying to protect every-pony in Equestria. Although I do not agree on her ways of protecting ponies, I understand that she is doing her best. I listened to that disc because I am one of the few ponies that she is not trying to protect, but is trying to hide from Society. Thank you for allowing me to listen to it. "
Vinyl watched as Alpha walked out of store and then looked at Octavia. "I told you the legend was true! You never believe me when I tell you things like that!" She said, laughing as she grabbed the disc from Octavia's hoof and walked to the back room to put it where it belonged.
Alpha was on his way to the forest when it started to rain. Instead of running to his cave for shelter, he stopped and looked up watching as each drop of rain slowly start to fall one by one from the clouds. Alpha felt, for the first time in his life, at peace. He opened his eyes and slowly starting walking back to his Cave. Although soaking wet and cold, Alpha wasn't complaining. Once back at the Cave, he created a small barrier of branches, leaves, and stones at the entrance of the cave to stop any water from flooding the cave. Starting up a small fire, using some tinder and the branches he brought in last week, Alpha dried other water in his mane and tail. He then took off his metal wing, like he always does when he is in his cave and lied down on the ground. Alpha was tired and soon drifted to sleep, listening to the fire crackle and the rain pour outside the cave, the sound echoing off the walls.