The night was cool and the moon shone eerily through the clouds coming from the Everfree Forest. In a clearing far from Ponyvile, legally mandated by Ivory Scrolls for all experiments of dangerous levels after Vinyl accidentally exploded Town Hall with her and Pinkie Pie’s experimental Party Cannon Mark II. Stood Vinyl Scratch and her marefriend Octavia. The latter of the two looking as if she’d rather be anywhere else than the with Vinyl and the rather ominous looking contraption before her.

Sure she knew that Vinyl Scratch along with a Doctor of Music Degree for Composition had a Masters in Engineering, and a Bachelors in Thaumaturgic Composition. But that didn’t stop Octavia from feeling as if she should back away slowly from whatever blast radius the blasphemy against logic was more than likely produce, “Are you sure this is safe?” Octavia asked eyeing the device suspiciously.

“Of course Tavs, we’ve been over this before when you helped lug over everything. Everything is perfectly safe … as long as you don’t drink the fluids, or breath in any fumes it gives off, or look directly into the central crystal matrice,” Vinly responded, “want me to go over everything so that you’ll won’t feel the need to summon Nightmare Kaiju on me or something?”

“That’s not funny! Everyone knows that Nightmare Kaiju’s a myth. There’s no way Kungfu Ninja Princess Celestia would never just seal something that dangerous in a volcano on the moon. But yes, telling me what this infernal device is would be nice of you, and for the last time my name is Octavia,” she huffed which drew a good natured laugh from Vinyl.

“Tavs, Tavi, Octy, love of mine, you know I love you right?” Vinyl said giving puppy dog eyes that were blocked by her shades.

“You know the eye thing doesn’t work if I can’t see your eyes right? And I do know you love me and I also know you’re stalling,” Octavia replied while giving Vinyl Scratch a cautious nuzzle, “now what’s all of this?”

“Okay, I’ll tell you, but first promise not to freak out,” Vinyl responded with a guilty smile which caused Octavia to facehoove.

“No promises. Now I really don’t think I should be this close to this thing … second thought I should probably go now and get the ambulance on stand by,” Octavia replied backing away further.

“Don’t!” Vinyl yelled, “see, I made containment runes, and it’s inside a triple sphered circle of protection. Nothing short of a one in a bazillion chance fluke could mess it up … even then it’d be localized.”

Octavia sat down and sighed, “We started this conversation to make me feel safer. Now you’re making me feel like I’ll need to bail you out of jail again and call in another favor to give you an alibi again. Just tell me you didn’t do anything illegal.”

“Nothing illegal.”

Giving a sigh Octavia was about to respond when Vinyl continued, “I totally got the forms to own half of this stuff, and the others are local so I don’t need to worry about customs as long as it doesn’t leave Equestria. Or enter Canterlot. Or most major cities until I get my reply from the Princess.

“Anyways, let’s see here. I have a Gamma Core battery, charged with the Everfree’s magical energy, attached to several loaned crystals from under Canterlot. Those charge up several potions to the point they become raw energy which goes to several spell foci I got from totally legitimate sources, which in turn goes to these two thingies that looked rather cool, and are blasted through this weird box thingie outside the circle of protections.

“What it should do is create magical tachyons that blast sound through time and space. While sending a spell via sound to give syntha-somethingorother,” Vinyl finished with a grin.

Octavia was less than amused, “So you have a nuclear unstable core, magically charged with an uncontrollable and unstable Wild Zone’s energy, going through things that you don’t know parts of. And are going to generate something that moves faster than time and space … just to have a new set of speakers?” She almost yelled in panic.

“When you say it like that, it does sound irresponsible,” Vinyl replied, “But it’s totally safe. Pinkie Pie helped me engineer it. Here let me show you how safe it is. After all what can go wrong.”

As she flipped the switch. She was shown just how wrong things could go. Just as the menacing green light filled the crystal matrice wrapped in Vinyl’s aura. A lightning bolt from one of the stray clouds hit the Gamma Core and all Tartarus broke lose in a burst of white.

Vinyl Scratch wasn’t sure how to define what happened. One moment she was turning on her Psychedelic Super Speaker ™ when all of the sudden an explosion happened. But when it happened time slowed down as a burning buzz blasted through her body, just as it hit the peak where she thought her body would explode the burn into nothingness the pain stopped.

As the spells that powered the speakers exploded the displacement of time and space created a nova that blasted the magical wave that filled the world with its light and the center formed a singularity that sucked her into it. Oh buck me! I’m going to die and I never told Octavia how much I love her … or at least not anymore. Sorry Tavs, I bucked up bad this time didn’t I?

As she was sucked into the Singularity the world beneath her stretched out as time moved backwards infinitely fast, the sky above her stretched as time moved forwards at the same time, and inbetween time was a chaotic rush of a wind that moved faster than time could travel. For a moment in time she could see all of time before time began to the end of the multiverse.

Just as her mind was about to shatter from the mind screw of seeing all of time. A part of the winds vibrated and swirled forming a replica of herself wearing a strange suit, it looked at her with a nostalgic smile, “Hey sexy! I remember this day. So I guess it’s time for the speech, huh?”

“What? Are you the Grim Princess of Death?” Vinyl asked her clone.

“No you silly filly. I’m you from the future, and I know what I meant when I was in your spot and I told me that I really do look adorable when I look confounded. Anyways that’s not important but these words of warning are.

“First of all, that blast and the singularity you made created the Speed Force, which where we’re at, but it also created a rift in the mulitverse that generates a wave of particles that create meta-ponies while slowly unraveling the multi-verse. And before you ask, it get’s fixed eventually, although some universes come close to collapsing entirely. So not cool, but it’s called the Meta-Rift becareful of it.

“Second, this speed is something you won’t get close to reaching unassisted for a long time. It’s literally so fast that it moves faster than time itself. but when going at your top speed. Never teleport unless you have no other choice. Doing so will attract the rift to your location and force open the rift further. Further destabilizing the multiverse.

“Lastly, I’m going to help you go back to your timeline. We’ll meet again when it’s time. See ya’ me.” Vinyl 2.0 said.

Vinyl watched as her future self ran around Vinyl so fast that the winds formed a vortex that slowed her enough that it reversed her vibrational polarity and ejected her into real time. As she did a strange armored pony in an oaken steel like material with strange channels and runes circulating it. The weird pony was looking around confessedly when she looked at Vinyl it asked in Octavia’s voice, “Vinyl Scratch is that you?”

“Tavs? You’re alive?”

“Good it’s you! I thought you blew up, and I lost you forever,” the armored Octavia said as it pounced Vinyl.

As she jumped, she slowed down, and as Vinyl moved she felt the air around her moving as if it was a giant swimming pool of force. Walking to Octavia she was there so fast she thought she teleported. She circled her suspended marefriend and in something between a squee and a gasp, “Holy spaceballs! We’re superheroes! But how do I slow down? I started moving this fast when I moved, so what now?”

Vinyl sat on Octavia’s back as she thought about her situation. As she sat she noticed that rays of light were slowly moving like tiny rivery balls of light, as it touched things the object would give off a small burst of light that was really trippy, “No! Come on Viny, you’re moving so fast that light looks slow. And what’s that weird … never mind that blasty, swirly, green thing must be the Meta-Rift. Anyways, what do I do?”

As sat she noticed a strange tingly field around her that wasn’t there before, “I wonder if this does anything?”

When Vinyl Scratch turned on her machine Octavia knew that it was going to be trouble. But when the lightning struck out of nowhere. Octavia’s world was blasted into white. The pain was unexplainable, but just as it came, it was gone replaced with a sense of peace. So this is what being dead feels like, if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m going to have to slap Vinyl to Tartarus and back for something this foolish, I’d hug her. But I don’t know how to feel being dead.

She heard a voice in her head that sounded like a Brayton butler, merged with a hint of that mechanical auto-tune thing that Rapscallion invented, Hello Octavia, you aren’t dead. Simply being healed as we merge.

Merge! Who are you?! What are you doing?! And how are talking inside my head?! Octavia mentally screamed at the strange, yet dapper voice.

Sorry, I should explain, the voice started to say.

I’d say, Octavia huffed.

As I was saying, I’m Steel, your RESOLVE unit.

Steel Resolve?

Yes. We were artifical soul, magi-tech armor that was made thousands of years ago when a great darkness threatened to destroy the world by an order of Battle Mage Knights headed by Star Swirl the Bearded before he disappeared. We were called, REsonant Spirit of Operations and Logistics VEssel, or RESOLVE, there were six of us made each with our own name. With each of us granted magical powers that we could instill upon our Knights.

But I’m not a Knight.

You meet the qualifications. And when I found you grievously injured as that explosion rocketed me at you, So since I was partially responsible for your injury, I merged with you to heal you. As for the telepathy. I speak and work by speaking directly to your mind. As well as magically augmenting your reality with what our order called a HUD, or a Heads Up Display.

Well this is strange, Can others see or hear these things?

Of course not. That wouldn’t be a very strategic system. Although I promise not to do anything that you don’t approve of. Now that you know about the basics about myself. How about I teach you about the functions that you have access to at the moment?

Sure it couldn’t hurt. After all if we’re going to be together for awhile I might as well learn how to use you.

Octavia spent several having her mind flooded with knowledge of various spells and functions that came standard with the RESOLVE system with such speed that it left her mind reeling. While a part of her was worried that Vinyl might be dead. The shock of everything threatening to overwhelm her as everything was happening to fast for her brain to process all the emotions flooding her body. Just as her mind got used to the flood of knowledge a hazy flash appeared and Vinyl appeared. While she looked singed and a little ruffled up, but she was alive. In shock she asked, “Vinyl Scratch is that you?”

“Tavs? You’re alive?” Vinyl replied in a scared voice. In that moment all the fear that was building up burst from its dam and she felt her living metal body leak a transparent river of tears.

“Good it’s you! I thought you blew up, and I lost you forever,” Octavia said as she pounced Vinyl Scratch. But in a blink of an eye a flash of color flashed in a small mini map that was in the upper left corner of her vision. Looking behind her she saw a sweating Vinyl Scratch.

“Wow, this power is going to be a pain in the flank isn’t it?” Vinyl panted.

“As long as I have you, and we have each other it’ll work out in the end,” Octavia said pulling Vinyl into a hug.

Author's Notes:

Steel Resolve one of my favorite writers on the site is what started this whole thing off. His name sounds like a Super Hero name, and I thought who'd be the best one. Cue the dreams and it turns out it would be Octavia. Now Steel Resolve the RESOLVE has that author's Avatar is what it's body looks like. And the voice is a mixture of Burrough's [SMT IV] computerized, yet smooth tone, the british accent of JARVIS from Iron Man, and is all awesomeness.

Character Sheet: Steel Resolve

A better picture of what she looks like].

Steel Resolve the character [not just the AI] was inspired by Steel Resolve the writer; Iron Man [both the Robert Downey Jr. Movies and parts of the Ozzy Osborne song]; and Steel [Justice League Unlimited].

Vinyl Scratch on the other hand. I drempt up of being the one to create the Speed Force, just like an MLP Flash. But sexier and much more awesome. White Lightning is her Super Name and is inspired by the Wonderbolts [her uniform]; The Flash [Barry Allen]; and the fics where Rainbow Dash does a Rainboom powerful enough to rip holes in Time Space / to other dimensions / universes.

Character Sheet

Better look at the body

Note: I'm just getting started back up into drawing. So it's not IJAB level awesomeness yet. But at least all my pics are recognizable as ponies. Although my bro says that Doctor Arachnid is my best one yet XD. No editors for this Chapter. Feel free to leave any comments or critiques.