Octavia groaned and rubbed the side of her head. "No, Vinyl. We are not playing peekaboo."

"Awww..." the pale mare dropped her hooves from her face. "What are we playing, then?"

"We are not playing anything at all! I need to get out of here, I have a mission to complete!"

"What mission?" the vampire asked impetuously.

The grey mare paused. "I... have to..." She pondered for a moment more, then looked over at the hippopotamus. "I have to kill Daughter Scoffing Song. I... have to use her death to break the morale of the other cultists." She took a deep breath, then blinked in surprise as something occurred to her. "Wait, Vinyl... is she dead?" Octavia pointed to the mound of grey blubber. "Is she truly dead, in the real world as well?"

"Nah, that was just an astral projection of her." The unicorn reached forward and tapped the side of the earth pony's head. "But I kicked her as-tral right out'a here!"

"Then... why am I still in this place?" Octavia's eyes widened. "I... I am not trapped here forever, am I? She... she could not curse me with such a fate... could she?"

"That's not how it goes in the movies," Vinyl replied, tilting down her shades and rolling her eyes. "Sheeesh, Octy. You know how it works, the hero whups the villain and goes riding off into the sunset, or she snaps out of the trance in time to save the cute male supporting character." Her eyes simmered to a brighter shade of red. "Movies never deal with dreck like the trauma that can be caused by having somepony else worm into your psyche and fight a war inside your head."

The grey mare felt a chill run down her spine. She nervously tapped her front hooves together. "Ah..."

Vinyl leaned forward, her eyes still locked with Octavia's. "In the movies, it all fades away once the big bad's been beat."

Octavia swallowed hard. "V-Vinyl, is this like a movie?"

"Do you want it to be?"

"Yes!" replied the cellist almost before she could think. The implications Vinyl was making would drive her truly mad if she contemplated them for too long. It was, after all, rather close to her greatest fear, of living life as a useless thing.

"Okie then." The vampire leaned back on her haunches. "You should wake up as soon as this is all over. Might be a lil' stiff, brain reconnecting to the muscles and all that, but you'll be fine." A broad, fang-showing smile spread across her face. "Heh. Did you know that most of those alien abduction stories where ponies talk about waking up paralyzed by some kinda gizmo can be explained by-"

"Vinyl," the cellist said gently. "I need to return to reality, not remember." She took another deep breath, steadying herself, finding her calm center... then she saw the unicorn's hurt expression. "You are not... this is not..." Octavia reached out and touched the pale mare, making sure she was solid. "You are not a figment of memory, are you?"

"I'm me, Octy."

The sniper gasped, then put another hoof on the vampire and shook her gently. "Heavens above, you... you are!" She bit her lip. "You are not like my Father or that other figment of yourself... you are like... like her." Octavia nodded toward the hippo, who had settled down for a nap. It was adorable, save when its mouth opened wide in a mighty snorrrre. "But how? How can you be here? You are still in a barrel... right?" The cellist gasped. "I... I have not been unconscious long enough for you to recover, have I?"

Vinyl Scratch shrugged and shook her head. "Octy. I'm Chaos. I need reasons I can't do things, not reasons for why I can." She reached out and touched the grey mare's nose with a hoof. "And I dunno about where I am out there, because I'm the part of me that's in you. Just like there's a little bit of you in me, I'm that little bit of blood-chuggin', record-spinnin', party girl that's always with you."

"Ever since the night I died," Octavia whispered, a slight tremble of terror in her voice. "I... Vinyl... you saved me... and I am grateful..." she swallowed hard, "but how much control do you have? Am I... have I been living a lie, thinking that I am free when I truly am your puppet?"

The vampire adjusted her hat, then rolled her eyes again. She wrapped her front legs around the cellist and smiled into her black mane. "No, silly."

The cellist blinked back tears. "Y-you... promise?"

"Uh-huh. I like you for you, Octy. Mom used to give me lectures on how horrible a world filled with yes-mares is, but I didn't understand it until I got neck-deep into the club scene. That's how I figured out that competition is what makes awesome stuff happen. You got two clubs fighting for the same customers, that's what forces them to try and upstage each other." Vinyl grinned. "That's part of why I like you, Octy. You're competition. And you aren't afraid to tell me where to shove it."

"And so you keep me alive, because I am valuable to you." Octavia bit her lip and shut her eyes.

"I stick up for you because you're my friend, Octy. That's what friends do, right?"

"Y... yes." The cellist swallowed hard, feeling ashamed of herself. "I am sorry, Vinyl. You really are the truest friend I have. I just..."

"You're shellshocked. Anypony would be. But it's okay. I'm here. I own your soul, remember?" She chuckled. "Just think of this as a house call, covered under the extended maintenance contract." The pale mare rubbed her friend's back. "Y'know what you need?"

"A glass of warm milk and eight hours of sleep?"

"Psssh, nah. Videogames!"

"Video... games?" Octavia opened her eyes to protest, but the sound died in her throat. The railyard was gone. The sun was nowhere to be seen, in its place flickered a giant cinema screen. The projector sat next to them, a curious contraption that seemed to be made of wires and crystals with the odd gear thrown in for good measure.

"Yeah!" Vinyl grinned, letting go of her friend and hoisting herself into a large plush recliner on the other side of the projector. "What do you think I do all day in here while you're out saving the world and being awesome?" The pale mare levitated the controller into her hooves. "You've got some great games here, too! I'm almost through that one in the green case, pick it up, willya?"

The earth pony leaned down and picked up a crystal rectangle with shiny gold conductors on its base. It was a vibrant emerald color, with a label that read Virtua Sniper XIII. That alone was disturbing to the grey mare, but she began to whimper softly when she realized that there was a picture of herself carrying a long rifle on the cartridge as well.

"That's the one!" Vinyl chirped, and lifted it from Octavia's hooves with a pulse of her horn. She slotted it into the projector and kicked the strange machine into life. "But yeah, this is what I do most of the time while you're asleep. I try to catch my z's while you're awake, since it's a little weird to have somepony muttering in your head. Hey, I've got a second controller around here somewhere..."

"Vinyl... why are you rooting through my memories?" The grey mare took a very deep breath. "My old... the things I did for my Father, I put that all behind me." A hot blush colored her cheeks, and she set her front hooves on the recliner's arm so she could glare down at the vampire. "And this is a blatant invasion of my privacy. I... Vinyl, I am hurt."

The pale mare pulled her purple shades off and looked down at her belly. "Um... I'm sorry?"

Octavia bowed her head.

"Octy, I wasn't digging up that old stuff." She pointed at the screen. "This is all new stuff. From ever since you joined the candy-cane-killers-club. See?"

The cellist turned to look at the cinema screen. On it was a frozen image of herself, just about to pull the trigger on a charging lycan before it could rip an Operative to shreds. The grey mare bit her lip. "I... Vinyl, these are still my memories."

"Well of course they are. I already know how to beat all the fights I've scraped through, yours are a whole new challenge!"

Octavia slumped down against the chair, finding suddenly that she did not have the energy for all this. It was too much to expect from anypony... defeating a witch who had invaded your mind only to discover that your best friend had turned your memory into her personal digital entertainment system! She groaned softly.

"Nah, I'm serious. I'm stuck on this one level where you have to shoot two guys at once, and I always miss the second one. How'd you pull it off?"

"If I... tell you," began the cellist in a tone that shifted from exhaustion to indignation, "will you promise to stop rampaging through my private moments like a-a DJ through a record collection?"

The pale mare's ears drooped. "Octy, I'm just trying to learn more about you. I only play the ones the rental store lets me get, anyway."

Octavia blinked. "Rental store? There is a boutique renting out my memories on crystal cartridges to clientele living inside my head?" She giggled, and felt her left fetlock twitch. Mad. All of this is mad. But it is Vinyl... I am accustomed to her vintage of madness!

"Eh, it's more like a soda machine. You put a bit in, hit a button, sparks pop and gears whirr, out drops a cartridge. After the rental's up, the cartridge self-destructs, which is awesome." She tossed her hat up in the air and caught it, presumably to emphasise the coolness of the explosions.

"I... see." The cellist took a deep breath. "Vinyl... there are things I do not want to remember. Things that I have done."

"I know, Octy." The DJ nodded slowly to show she understood. "But there's stuff about you I'm super-interested in." She held up her front hooves like a sorrowful puppy, and let her lower lip tremble. As usual, her red eyes negated any innocence she might have been able to express. "Don't you trust me?"

"Not any further than I can throw you." The cellist squeezed her eyes shut, then took a deep breath. "Which... thanks to you saving my life... is actually quite far." She rested her chin on the arm of the recliner, then rolled her eyes to look at the vampire. "Vinyl. I don't... I can't..." The grey mare cleared her throat. "Am I truly free? With you always looking over my shoulder, treating my memories like a game, and... and... heaven only knows what else you're doing. Why didn't you tell me about any of this?"

"Because you've always known, Octy." Vinyl reached out and ran a hoof through her friend's mane. "Ever since that night at the Concertorium. Every time you're near me, the real me, you've felt it. Maybe you didn't want to admit it, but you knew there was a little wub-wub in the back of your own head. I'm the hum, I'm the shockwave, I'm the mare-without-compare." She adjusted her trenchcoat and smiled confidently.

The cellist felt tears coming to her eyes, and a horrid sense of betrayal coming to her heart. "B-but... Vinyl... I thought you were different than all those other monsters. I thought you... you cared about me."

"I do care, Octy." The pale mare sat upright and put a cold hoof over one of her friend's warm ones. "And maybe the real me ought'a mentioned this, or hades, maybe I should have. But I never thought-"

"No. Stop." Octavia sighed. "You are being absolutely honest in that regard. You did not think." She took a very deep breath. "You only acted."

"That's how I am!" the vampire happily chirped. "But Octy, what's wrong?"

"Sometimes I like a little privacy, Vinyl. Everypony does, it's the hallmark of a truly civilized society, the idea that the individual has a right to a little privacy now and again." She kept as stiff an upper lip as a mare could be expected to, under the circumstances. "And you are telling me that I shall never have it again, because the lunatic is in my head."

"Octy." The pale mare patted her head. "We were roomies, remember? Have I bugged you so far?"

Octavia took a long breath. "No. But I did not know before. Now that I do, I shall ever be questioning my actions and intents, wondering if they are truly mine or-"

"Blah-blah-blah." The vampire flopped back in her chair. "No you don't. Because I'm me. And I'm far too lazy to bother with all that." She slipped her shades back on. "Octavia, Vinyl Scratch is a simple creature. She wants good times, great music, and warm blood."

"But you have the ability to control me, Vinyl, do you not? To do what Scoffing Song was attempting?" Octavia bit her lip, shivered once, then continued, "and you are able to do it at your leisure."

"Miss McGlow-eyes wanted to kill you." Vinyl yawned. "I can't think of anything more... abby... ab-homie... a-torrent..." Her head turned to the cellist, "what's that word that you use sometimes when you're talking about my tunes? You always sorta crinkle your nose up and lean back when you say it."

"Abhorrent?"

"Yeah! That's the one!" She cleared her throat and patted Octavia on the head, then stuck her nose up in the air to emphasize how cultured she was about to be. "I can think of nothing more abhorrent. You're my best friend, Octy. I'd have to hurt you bad to take over around here, and there's no way I'd do that." She patted the projector. "That's why I snooze when you're awake and play videogames when you're asleep. The only time I do any work around here is when... y'know..." The vampire grinned wide and winked. "When we do it."

Octavia swallowed hard and leaned back. "Do... what?"

"The crimson, Octy." She took a deep breath, then began to progressively lean closer to her friend as she spoke. "The killer kiss, the euphoria-bite, the purpose of mortalkind-" Vinyl paused. "Mom says that's a bad way to say it, but others use it lots. I mean the freakin' only thing a vampire needs. Blood, Octy." Vinyl licked her fangs. "I'm that little magical tickle that makes losing the red juice that pumps through your veins feel like a warm bath with your favorite rubber ducky. Whenever the real me sinks her fangs in, she and I touch hooves. Aside from that..." Her horn glowed, and the crystal cartridge levitated up. "I'm not messing around with your head. Because if I did, I'd destroy something I really care about."

The cellist tapped her front hooves together again, still nervous and worried. "Do you really mean that?"

"You told me I didn't have to be alone against the world anymore. Did you really mean that?"

"Yes." Octavia calmed her nerves and tried to focus. "Yes, Vinyl, I did."

"Octy, you're my best friend. If I break you, I'll be alone again. And I don't want that." A small smile appeared on her muzzle. "So... trust me to be selfish, okay?"

The cellist smiled in response. "I... suppose I can always count on that, Vinyl."

"Besides," the vampire threw her front hooves up in the air. "You'd be crazy-hard to break."

"Our recent foe did not seem to struggle too greatly," the earth pony replied quietly.

"You'd have thought of something if I hadn't shown up. But, if I hadn't stepped in, I wouldn't be doin' my job." Her eyes glowed. "Your will's a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for, and you're a lot more awesome than you seem to want to remember most of the time. All I had to do was remind you you're awesome." She held up her controller. "That reminds me, can I keep on playing this?"

"As... long as the... games you play contain only those things which I have done while in service to the Bon Hadescream Organization."

"Spin my heart and hope to fly, stick an XLR plug in my eye!" promised the pale mare, with the appropriate hoof gestures. "Hey... I wonder if this has co-op." A maniacal grin crossed her face. "Two Octavias..."

"No," Octavia said quickly. "I really do need to get out of here. I need to complete my mission. Others are relying on me." She leaned onto the chair and poked Vinyl in the tummy. "You are relying on me."

"I ain't holding you here, Octy." The vampire shrugged. "And I can guarantee you and I are the only ones in your head." She sat upright and shook her controller next to her ear for some reason only she could fathom. "So, either you're really up for some awesome Virtua Sniper XIII but you don't wanna admit it, or there's something else on your mind."

The sniper looked down at her front hooves, then sat back on her haunches. She rubbed the sides of her head and shut her eyes, trying to process all that had happened. Why could she not leave? Did she have to find some secret door, or answer a riddle? Why could she not just shrug and let all this fade back to the dreamworld it had come from?

Vinyl tapped a button and started up her game, then slipped on her headphones and tried to play as quietly as possible. When Octy got like this, it was best to leave her alone. After a few minutes of fun-videogame-time, which might have been an eon in the dreamworld and an age in the real one, the unicorn felt a grey hoof poke her side. She paused the game, pulled off her headphones, and smiled innocently up at her friend. "Let me guess, you want to feed me orange wedges while I'm playing?" The vampire wrapped her front legs around the cellist. "You're the bestest friend ever, Octy!"

"No, Vinyl." The earth pony smiled. "I have a question for you. About dragons."

"Ooooh," the vampire's eyes widened.

Author's Notes:

It feels good to have this chapter out! I really enjoyed writing it, Vinyl's natural madness gives even a casual conversation many opportunities to be exciting.

As for references, naturally "the lunatic is in my head" is a nod to Pink Floyd. And "Spin my heart and hope to fly, stick an XLR plug in my eye!" is of course a wink at the Pinkie Promise, given a Vinyl Scratch twist!

Wait, dragons? What could Octavia want to ask Vinyl about dragons? Well, I've tried to foreshadow it quite a bit in the previous chapters... speculate in the comments below if you think you've put the pieces together!