Inhuman: Ruby Arc

by SparkStone


Chapter 4 - A Piece to the Puzzle


-3rd POV-


Outside on nice grassy floors, calm winds blew across the field. Vent wielded his sword, swinging it down and then raising it back up. Practicing his swings, he took his time before he turned to a large piece of stone. Breathing in deeply, he closes his eyes. Turning off his vision, he focuses on the location of his target that was before him. Picturing the world around him, he listens carefully before dashing forward. Passing right through the stone, he sheathes his sword. The rock was then sliced in half. Pleased with the results, he sits down and was about to take a nap. That was until something poked his nose. As he opened his eyes, he sees Pinkie's muzzle meeting his face.

"That was SO COOL!" She squealed.

Vent jumped back and held his nose with a red face. "Hey! Back off!"

The mare jumped around Vent, asking a barrage of questions. "Oh my gosh! How'd you do that! You just went like, ZOOM! And then the rock was all like, SHWING! That was so cool! How'd you do that!?"

"I just did." Vent answered before getting up. He looked at Pinkie and scratched his head in confusion. "How'd you get so close to me anyways? I didn't even hear you."

"I dunno, I just did." She shrugged.

"Huh… Okay then."

Vent carried his sword and walked away. Once Pinkie realized this, she followed after Vent. In town, she began rambling on with words sticking so close to each other, it would seem impossible to listen. However, Vent was able to listen to every word and take them into account. As annoying as it was, he had no trouble keeping up with her.

"And that's how I got my cutie mark!"

"Wait, what the heck is a cutie mark?" Vent questioned.

"Oh! It's this, right here!" She pointed her flank to show off her three balloons. Vent stared at it before rubbing his eyes.

"So because you looked at a rainbow and made a party, you got a tattoo of three balloons?"

"No! It's a cutie mark! Huge difference! Especially when you get a cutie mark, it's painless! But the tattoo his pain FULL!" she remarked.

"Uh huh… okay then…"

"Hey Venny! What do you think your cutie mark would be?"

"I don't think humans can even get one." He retorted. "Then again, I can't really remember anything about humans."

Looking to the ground in disappointment, he kicks the floor and sighs. Pinkie gave him a sorry look. The human had a troubling time to cope with things the way they are now. With the pink mare being who she is, she decided to do something for him.

"Venny! I have a great idea!" She declared.

"Stop calling me that." Vent demanded.

"You may not remember anything, but I know that if we make some good memories now, then it won't be so bad!"

Vent raised an eyebrow at her and held his chin. "What are you planning-?"

Pinkie then blindfolded Vent and grabbed his hand. She then lead the human across town. "It's a surprise! Just make sure you keep that blindfold on!"

"Ah! Hey! Let go you crazy horse!"

No matter what he said, Pinkie kept going. She brought Vent through the streets and around the markets. Even though Vent attempted to take off the blindfold, he felt a slap of a hoof on his hand.

"No peeking~!" Pinkie sung.
Was that a third hoof!? Vent jumped in surprise. How is she running on one leg!?

It was a couple of minutes before they had arrived at their destination. When they arrived, Pinkie slowly lets go of his hand. Vent stood still and silent, awaiting for whatever to happen. As Pinkie began to go inside somewhere, she said to Vent, "Just wait until I come back! It won't take long! Promise!"

As she ran inside to get whatever she needed, Vent groaned and crossed his arms. The town ponies pass by, giving occasional glances at Vent before continuing on.

"Dang that pink mare. Why the heck am I here? With this stupid piece of fabric on me no less!?"

"You sure are a grumpy human."

Vent jumped as he realized, that wasn't Pinkie's voice. He was about to take off the blindfold before he felt something on his hand to stop him. It had felt like his own. The voice was although male, it had a soothing tone to it.

"You need to chill out. Don't forget your promise to him."

"My promise?" Vent repeated. "I don't remember…"

"Now, now. Amnesia isn't a very good reason to not keep a promise. Especially the one you made."

"… Who the heck are you?"

The only reply Vent received was a light chuckle. As the hand released his own, Vent took off his blindfold and turned to see who it was. However, he disappeared before he even got the chance to take a glance. Perhaps he wasn't really the only human there.

"AAH! You took your blindfold off!" Pinkie screamed in horror.

Vent was about to turn to her, but she jumped onto Vent in time before he got the chance to see what was behind him as well.

"No! No peeking yet! Just… Keep looking the other way!"

"Geez, you're getting on my nerves."

"Just do it! It'll be great!"

Vent groaned, yet complied to her orders. As he waited for her to finish up, he heard the most ridiculous sounds. Some were metal banging together while others were honking noises and animal shouts. Finally finishing, Pinkie poked his back.

"Okay! Now you can see!"

Vent turned to see the contraption before him. It seemed to have musical instruments on the side like trumpets and horns. What seemed to be an oven or something of the sort, and other hidden things. As Pinkie turns it on, it plays loudly as flags shoot out and twirl.

"Agh! Dang that's loud! Louder than her yammering!" Vent complained, putting on his headphones.

Pinkie gave the whole welcome routine. Vent stared at her as she danced around with instruments being played. Instruments that she pulled out of nowhere. Vent held his headphones tightly to his ears. After the song finished, she slid to the ground in a pose of an impressing, "TA-DA!"

"That was horrible." Vent retorted.

"Wait for it…"

That's when the confetti blew out to Vent's head. His headset hits the floor, making him panic. That wasn't all. A cake then shot itself from the wagon and landed onto Vent, smothering him in sugary sweetness.

"Whoops! I got the two mixed up! Hee, hee, my bad!" Pinkie giggled.

"Dang it! My headphones!"

Vent ran to his gear and brushed it as he picks it up from the floor. He inspects it carefully to make sure it wasn't damaged. Pinkie tilted her head as Vent gave a sigh of relief.

"Okay… It's still good."

"Sorry Vent. Are those headphones really important to you?" Pinkie wondered.

"Of course they-!" He was about to shout at her, but paused as he noticed something. He looked at them and raised an eyebrow. "Wait… Why ARE these important to me…?"

Pinkie gasped and went right next to Vent. Too close in fact that it was discomforting. "Vent! You know what this means!?"

"That I like what I have?" Vent guessed.

"EXACTLY!" Pinkie exclaimed, yelling loud enough to push Vent to the floor. She pulled Vent by the collar of his shirt and explained. "If this is really, really important to you, that means you really, really care about some pony! And if you really, really care about somepony, then you're not really a bad human! Also! You remember that this is important! So maybe this will help you remember who you are!"

Vent stared at her full of surprised and confused feelings. He was shocked that Pinkie raised a good point on both accounts, but was quite mystified on how she told him. Putting his headphones back on, he turns to Pinkie.

"You sure used the word, really a lot."

"No time for that emo stuff Vent!" Pinkie told him. "We're on the right trail to figuring out what your memories were!"

"Did you just call me emo!?"

"Onward Vent!" She bellowed, jumping onto Vent and receiving a piggy back ride.

"Hey! Get off ya dang horse!"


-Vent's POV-


Although I couldn't believe it, this pink horse managed to make my time worthwhile. She pointed out something so obviously important, I was a fool not to see it sooner. However, she still wanted to find something more about it. I had no idea what to do. All I had were my headphones, my sword, and this weird flat thing in my pocket. With that and the clothes off my back, there was no way to reclaim my memories. There would be no way to connect my past with this world. But she was persistent, and she vowed to at least give me a jumpstart in remembering. With that said, she took me to some house.

As I carried her there.

"Why am I still holding you?" I questioned.

"I don't know Vent. Why ARE you still holding me?" She chuckled.

I dropped her, and she somehow manages to bounce right off by falling on her mane. Her tangled mess of a hair pile had literally made her bounce up off the ground. That aside, she walked up to the door and knocked it. She and I waited for a moment before a thought came to my mind.

"Wait, who are we seeing here?"

"Vinyl!" Pinkie told me. "She and Octavia play lots of music! But Vinyl's the one who plays songs that usually involve wearing headsets!"

"So… A DJ player?"

"That's right!"

I became interested for some reason. My expression was calm rather than my usual annoyed mood. This pink mare has really managed to come through. Still, I can't help but wonder why she'd help me at all. I was sure I saw how horrified she was among the crowd when I told off that annoying filly and her old man.

It wasn't long before the owner of the house arrived. Vinyl was a mare with a white fur coat and radical blue hair. Her violet glasses hid her eyes color. She gave a grin to Pinkie as well as a greeting. "Hey Pinks! What cha doing here?" She then looked at me, and maintained that smile. "And who's the tall guy?"

"Hi Vinyl!" Pinkie greeted before introducing me. "This is Vent Psych, a human. We were wondering if you can play any songs to help jog his memory."

"That was your plan!?" I retorted to her nonsense.

"Yeah! Maybe if you listened to some songs, you might remember something!"

"How would that-"

"Sure!" Vinyl accepted before showing us in. "Follow me. Octavia won't be back for a while, so this'll be a good chance to play some beats before she shows up again."

Not wanting to complain, I followed her with Pinkie. She showed us the couch, and presented us her Mix table. We sat down while she got everything ready. Her horn shined and the disc levitated.

"Huh? Is she levitating that disc?" I questioned.

"Oh! No pony told you?" Pinkie spoke. "Unicorns can use magic!"

"… I… Can't really tell if you're serious right now." I told her.

"Oh, she's serious." Vinyl told me, still smiling. "What, nobody told you? Yeah, if you got a horn, you can do spells and stuff."

"Oh… I see…" I nodded. Did… she just say nobody?

Once the disc was in place, she played the record. That's when it happened. The rhythm and the beat were giving off that tingling sensation of electric noise. The bit tunes and mix were going along swimmingly. I found myself rocking my head, bit by bit. I loved what I was hearing, and enjoyed every moment of it. Turning to Pinkie, she was rocking to the song as well. Vinyl was scratching the disc like she had been doing it forever.

But it soon turned to a mystery when I found this song familiar.

Closing my eyes, I saw a vision. A group of people smiling as we sat down near a round table. They gave me a drink and talked. Even though the voices were too muffled to understand, and the images were still too blurry to make out, I knew this was a piece of my memory. The music then stopped, and I awoke from my trance. Pinkie was staring at me with a worried look while Vinyl maintained a casual grin.

"Vent, what's wrong?" Pinkie asked.

"Uh…" I spoke before giving a small huff. "As much as I hate to admit it, your plan… worked…"

"It did!?"

"The song got me a to see a vision of people… smiling or something. It was too hard to make out though." I informed her. "But it was a start…"

"That's so GREAT!" Pinkie squealed, hugging me tightly. "I'm so happy for you!"

I couldn't help but back up from her. I wasn't used to all this positive energy. With a reddened blush across my face, I responded. "Yeah… Thanks for that…"

"You know what this calls for?" She asked me. "A PARTY!"

"For what?" I questioned, not understanding why.

"For getting a memory of yours back! The first step should be something to remember! Vinyl! Can I meet you at Sugar Cube Corner?"

"Sure Pinks, I'll be right over. Just gotta get some gear loaded up and ready."

"Okay! See you there!" She said to the musician before grabbing my arm, whisking me away to the foretold destination. As much as I would have wanted to gripe, the fact that she was throwing a party just because of my happiness made me hold back the desire.

She's not so bad…


-Pinkie's POV-


I just got the shop ready for a party! It had streamers and balloons all around the ceiling! With lots and lots of food on the tables! From cupcakes to cakes! There were also party favors! Like hats, and goodie bags, and confetti poppers! Vent was in the corner, poking at the balloon before looking up to me.

"You seriously don't have to do this you know. I'm not even gonna dance or anything." He warned me.

"It's alright Vent! Just having you around is enough for me!" I assured him.

Vent looked down again and kicked the floor. He looked as if he wasn't enjoying things as they were already. I got worried and went to him. "What's wrong?"

"Why do you even do this? Ever since what happened with the mob and all, you act as if it never happened. Didn't I already tell you? I don't want friends, and I don't need them. As nice as this is, I don't want to owe you anything. You helping me get my memories is burden for you as it already is."

I felt sad that he still didn't understand. I placed my hoof onto his hand and explained. "I just want to be your friend Vent. That's all I want."

"Why!? I'm a freak compared to everyone here!" He shouted. "Not to mention, all those times I was mean to you. You act as if it never happens! Why do you want to be my friend!?"

"Because! You helped us when we lost our elements, you helped Applejack when she was about to get sparked by the alicorn, you can fight really good, but you still don't hurt other ponies, and you never ever ask any pony to do something for you! I really like you for being a good human! And I wanna be friends with you to prove you're not bad! Because you can be mean sometimes, you never choose to throw some pony's life away!" I explained in one long huff.

Vent stared at me in disbelief. He was really taken back from what I just said. He was all quiet for some time.

"So Vent…" I spoke. "Can we please be friends? I know you said you don't want any, but I promise, I won't bother you, I just want to be there if you need any help or anything!"

Vent stared at me before grinning. Soon, he started laughing and said, "What could you help me with? Why, I don't think I'd bother you either since I probably don't need help. What's the point in this friendship stuff then?"

He turned away, and crossed his arms. "But dang, you're so stubborn. You just won't give up, no matter what I do. I have to say… That's actually pretty cool…"

I got all perked up from hearing that. "Really!?"

"Yeah, so… Sure, I'll be friends with you Pinkie."

I couldn't help but giggle at what Vent just said. He raised an eyebrow at me while I hugged him as tight as I could. "That's the first time you actually said my name."

"Really? I didn't notice." Vent replied.

It wasn't long before my friends came. Even though Vent was a little nicer to me, he still sat away from the dancing and apple bobbing. He only ate and soon called it a night. Even though it was a fun party, I wished he partied out more.

But it's okay! Because I was able to have a slumber party with him tonight! He couldn't go with Applejack because he was a bad influence on Applebloom.

It's gonna be so fun to hang out with Vent!