Season 1 Episode 3 - An Heated Argument! The Truth Comes Out!
Prism stared at the unicorn, flabbergasted. “You can’t be serious.”
“Haven’t been this serious since I asked the missus to give me her hoof in marriage.” He used his magic to flip the sign on the front of the door to read ‘closed’. “Come on back, I have it all set up.” He said and walked through the curtain.
Prism turned to Vinyl. “We aren’t seriously going to let him try right?”
“Why not? I thought that’s why we came to him? And aren’t you just a wee bit curious?”
“Yes but this could be dangerous!”
She walked behind the counter, pushing open the little counter door. “Life’s not always going to be easy. Sometimes you gotta except the danger and keep going.”
“But… I…” He sighed, following her as they watched the unicorn grab an extra chair.
“Usually its just two ponies so the chair might be a bit dusty…” He chuckled and plopped himself down. “Now, because of the extreme circumstance, I’m going to need a little help.” He glanced at Vinyl. “I’m going to need you to be the focal point.”
“Why? I thought you could do it?” Prism asked.
“I could but its getting harder for me to pin down exactly what I need to. And with this, I want to be perfect. If we make her the focal, I don’t have to worry about aiming, I just use my magic and she does it.” He scratched his head. “Now, if you please.” He said, motioning for Prism to put the puzzle in the middle of the table.
Prism looked at Vinyl. “Are you sure about this?”
“Of course, what’s the worse that could happen?” she paused. “Why are you so nervous?”
“I…” He sighed and put the puzzle on the table. He sat down to a cloud of dust. “Just… be careful.”
Vinyl grinned at him enthusiastically and turned to Sapphire. “Alright Sapphy, whenever you’re ready.”
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as his horn started to glow. “Alright Vinyl, clear your mind like you used to do in magic school.” She nodded, closing her eyes as her horn started to glow as well. “Now, picture the puzzle in your mind, its shape… good, I can feel it. Now, get ready…” He said, both their horns starting to spark.
Vinyl’s magic picked up the puzzle as it floated over the table. A faint dark blue aura joined hers, the two auras mixing together and circled it. Small sparks arced over the puzzle as it started to emit light. Both unicorns paused, staring at it in awe as the entire room erupted in a flash of light as a burst of static silenced everything.
=
Vinyl moaned and held her head with a hoof. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision and took a look around, the room completely shrouded in darkness. “What the hay? Hello? Sapphy? Prism?” she called, her voice echoing in the dark.
Somepony clapped their hooves as the room suddenly illuminated, revealing neverending staircases covering the room. Some crisscrossed others while most led to shut doors, several vertical with the walls. “And who… are you?” a voice asked, coming from every direction.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
It laughed. a shadow sliding towards her. It quickly grew into a pony, its two glowing golden eyes staring at her. “It takes a lot of courage to enter one’s mind and talk back to its owner. Be warned, some might not be as forgiving as I am.” The shadow vanished, revealing a plain tan unicorn, a blue cape held around his neck with a golden chain. His eyes were pupiless purple with a hint of fiery orange. He smugly looked at her before his eyes lit up with recognition. “Ah, Vinyl, it is a pleasure to meet you in pony.”
“How do you know me? Where are the others?”
“The old unicorn is lost in the maze somewhere…” He said, looking at the labyrinth of staircases. “I warned him not to venture too deep inside but he refused to listen.”
“And Prism?”
“My host is unaware of me…”
“Oh, he’s very aware.”
“I see…” He paused, seemingly staring off into the distance. “And how I know you? I’m aware of everything he does, his emotions, his dreams. I know them all. We are linked and if he tried, he could sense mine as well. However, he is not aware how we affect each other, which I’m sure he’ll figure out soon enough.” He took a deep breath and sighed. “Sadly our meeting has to be cut short, if either of you two stay longer, you’d get trapped in here forever. There’s already been enough miscommunications that’s caused Prism some problems.” He turned around and stopped. “Oh, before I forget, I had a favor to ask.”
“Wait, what about Sapphy? And what did you do to Prism? You’re the reason why he’s in trouble in the first place, aren’t you?”
“Why not ask him? He probably knows the answer to that. And if you leave now, the old one will be taken with you, since you are the focal point.” The pony’s eyes glowed as a third eye appeared on his head. “Please, don’t try coming here again. I only have control over this domain for so long.”
The room began to shrink, the staircases crumbling around her. “Wait! What’s your name?”
He smiled at her. “That, I do not know. Goodbye.” He said, the world collapsing around her.
=
She gasped awake, blinking as she leaned off the table. She looked around, Sapphy looked like he was just waking from a nap. She turned to Prism, noticing the third eye glowing on his forehead underneath the scarf. She paused, her body sluggish to respond as she leaned over to shake him awake. The puzzle lied on the table, unresponsive as the glow died.
Sapphire moaned, taking his head off the table as he blinked. She finally got Prism awake, his eyes unfocused. “Hey Cinnamon, you there?”
He turned to look at her, his eyes purple before they returned to their normal color. “What… what happened?”
“So the legends are true! But why did you make me leave with you? Imagine all the knowledge locked in there?!” Sapphire yelled at Vinyl.
“I had to or else we would’ve been stuck there.”
“Oh he was just saying that, I doubt he was being serious.”
“I’d rather not find out.” She said, grabbing the puzzle and Prism’s hoof. “Thanks Sappy.” She said, dragging a exhausted Prism out of the back.
“Wait Vinny!” Sapphire yelled, struggling to his hooves.
“Maybe some other time, we got things to do to.” She said, leaving the bumbling unicorn in the store. She sighed, hoofing the puzzle back to Prism. “Come on, lets go home.”
He slipped it around his neck. “So what happened back there?”
“You were right, you got a psycho in there.” She said calmly.
He stared at the puzzle and hastily took it off. “I knew it!”
She grabbed him with her magic and started dragging him back to her apartment. “Not here, wait till we get back.”
“This thing has caused me nothing but pain and I’m getting rid of it-”
“Prism, wait till we get home.” She said calmly as he felt some other force keep the puzzle in his hoof.
He went to argue before nodding, slipping it around his neck and noticed a few ponies were watching him before they resumed their business. Once they got back to the apartment, Vinyl locked the door as Prism threw the puzzle on the table.
She grabbed a bottle of Appledaniels and sat on the chair as Prism was on the couch, his forehooves crossed. “Vinyl, I need you to tell me what happened.”
She downed half the bottle in one swig and sighed. “Alright but you're taking me out to lunch afterwards.”
=
Several weeks had passed since she took him to Sapphire. Prism refused to wear the puzzle again, afraid of the pony inside. He spent most of his time in the library, trying to figure out who it was that resided in the puzzle. Vinyl, on the other hoof, spent her time prepping for her next gig at the end of the week.
She drank her coffee, waiting for Octavia to arrive at the cafe. She looked mournfully at her cup, wishing it was another Appledaniels. She yawned and shook her head trying to stay awake. She was going to debut a new song at the gig but couldn’t get anypony she trusted to listen to it. Fancy’s always busy, Shaker didn’t like that music... Hmm… Maybe I can get Tavi too, no she hates that stuff. She tapped a hoof against her chin, her eyes closed as she thought. I don’t think Prism likes it much either.
“Sorry I’m late Vinyl, Harmonic wanted to make sure I knew my part.” Octavia said, sitting down from across the white unicorn.
“No sweat Tavi, glad you could take time out of your busy schedule for little old me.”
Octavia sighed, shaking her head as a waitress came over and ordered a drink. “So… how are things with you?”
Vinyl raised an eyebrow, pushing her sunglasses down so Octavia could see just a hint of red. “Oh you know, fantastic. Got a new gig day after tomorrow, no pony to listen to my new song, and a murderer sleeping in my living room. How about you?”
“Prism is not-”
“Maybe he’s not but his puzzle might.”
“Excuse me?”
“I took him to Sapphy and we learned about his pendant thing. Turns out to have a pony inside.”
Octavia stared at her. “You can’t honestly expect me to believe that.”
“Neither did I till I saw and talked to it, trust me. Prism nearly flipped his lid and threw that thing in the middle of the street.” She sighed and finished her coffee. She leaned back in the chair and stretched.
Octavia was silent, studying the unicorn. “Vinyl… are you alright?”
“Uh… yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You’ve been working on another song haven’t you?”
“Of course, gotta keep things fresh ya know.”
“Have you slept?”
Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Yes Mom.”
“Vinyl, you know I only ask-”
“Cause you care right? I don’t need you to worry Tavi, I’m a big mare. I can take care of myself.”
Octavia looked at her friend. “Tell me what’s wrong, you can trust me.”
Vinyl paused. “Its nothing, don’t worry about it. You have enough on your hooves.”
“Vinyl, stop pushing me away. I can help you.”
“For the last time, just drop it okay! I don’t need your help.” She yelled, standing up and walking out of the cafe.
“Vinyl wait!” Octavia yelled, dropping a few bits on the table and rushing after her friend. “That’s not what I meant.”
Vinyl turned around, glaring at her. “Drop if Tavi.”
She continued to press her friend. “One day you're going to have to face it.”
“But not today or anytime soon. I have a song to finish, see ya around.” She said, quickly leaving Octavia standing alone.
Prism was walking from the library towards the cafe Vinyl told him to meet her at when he saw her storming towards him. He smiled. “Hey Vinyl, I found some…”
“Save it for later.” She said, walking right by him.
“Vinyl wait!” he said, turning to follow her.
“Prism?” Octavia asked, walking towards the pony. He had the same voice… but she couldn’t see his cutie mark and his mane and coat were different colors. The pony froze and slowly turned to look at her.
“O-octavia?”
She looked at him strangely. “What happened to you?”
He sighed. “It’s a long story… What’s wrong with her?”
“That’s an even longer story.”
“Does it have anything to do with her crying in her sleep?”
“She… she does?” he nodded and she sighed. “Having everypony abandon makes you do strange things.”
He looked towards the apartment. “That it does, that it does…”
Octavia cringed. “Oh… right, sorry Prism. I didn’t-”
“Its alright Octavia, most ponies don’t even know I exist.” He left Octavia there, heading towards home. “I should go make sure she’s alright.”
“It’d probably be better if you gave her some time alone.”
He shrugged. “Probably. Never was a smart one.”
“Wait, before you leave…” He stopped and looked over his shoulder. “We couldn’t stop her, she still wants you arrested for what you did. And she knows we’ve been talking.”
“I see… well, at least it was fun to catch up.”
“You could fight it. Just… tell them the truth!”
“I doubt they’d listen. I mean, ‘it wasn’t me, another pony that lived in my puzzle took me over and killed him.’ Do you know how crazy that sounds?”
“You could appeal to the Princesses.”
“Nah, they have enough to worry about.” He waved goodbye. “Thanks for everything Tavi.”
She watched him leave and sighed, her ears flat against her head. “Every time…” She muttered, walking towards her apartment.
=
He opened the door slowly. “Vinyl?” He asked and shut the door behind him, looking for the white unicorn. She was in her corner, the glasses covering her eyes as she stared at her mixer, the floor vibrating. He walked over to her and tapped her shoulder. “Vinyl?”
She paused the music, taking off her headphones and raised an eyebrow. “Sup?”
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing, just making a new song. Wanna listen?”
He stared at her. “I meant between you and Octavia.”
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”
“It looked pretty serious.”
She glared at him. “Lay off alright? It was just a little spat between friends.”
He sighed. “I didn’t want to bring this up but does it have anything to do with Bolted?”
“How do you know that name?” She said, her voice carefully neutral.
“You talk in your sleep Vinyl… I just-”
“Just what? Wanna help? If I wanted your help or Octavia’s I would ask for it. I don’t need it.”
“Sounds like you do.”
“Who do you think you are? My Celestia damn conscious? What gives you the right to think you know what's best for me?”
“I know what being betrayed feels like-”
“Oh here we go again. Poor me, I have a possessed puzzle, no pony wants to be friends with me.” She held a hoof over her forehead. “No pony wants to be around me cause they think I’m dangerous.” She said dramatically.
He clenched his teeth, his forehead starting to glow as the third eye reappeared. The pantry started to glow as well, the puzzle’s eye glowing inside. “Vinyl…”
“What? Did I hit a sore spot? I’m not the only one that sleep talks buster. I hear what you're whining about. ‘Just a friend, please…’” She said in a bad imitation of his voice.
“At least I don’t push everypony away that tries to help!”
“You never had any friends to do that with! And besides, its better than being constantly hurt.”
“Not everypony-”
“Don’t. You don’t have the right to say that! You don’t know what I’ve been through.”
“What you’ve been through? I’ve been running all my life because my own mother betrayed me!” He grabbed his scarf and ripped it off.
Her eyes widened as she covered her mouth with a hoof. On his forehead, were the remains of a horn, shattered and black. “Prism… I-”
“What? Thought I was an earth pony?” He laughed bitterly. “You can overload your horn and just like that, your magic is gone. That’s why I kept it covered, so ponies wouldn’t gawk and stare. You think being betrayed is hard, try being betrayed and losing your magic.”
She took off her sunglasses, fidgeting and stared into his eyes. “Look, Prism… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to explode like that.”
He sighed and dropped the scarf. “It’s alright… I just… Vinyl, you’ve helped me a lot since I started staying here. I understand that its hard to trust others, believe me. But eventually you gotta give it somepony a chance.”
“Last time I did that, I was almost raped.”
His jaw dropped. “What?”
She nodded. “There’s a reason I’m always wearing these glasses.” She twirled them around in her hooves. “When I put them on, I can stop being Vinyl, a pony no pony cares about and be DJ-P0N3, the dj that ponies wanna be around. I can be somepony else, somepony that doesn’t have a care in the world, save for how to make sure everypony has a good time. Its easy to escape from the memories and live in the moment.” She looked away from him. “That’s why I talk about Bolted, he was… a very close friend.”
He was silent for a moment before he sat down next to her. “Personally I like Vinyl over DJ-P0N3. She’s funny, willing to put up with ponies, like myself. Hay, she enjoys making me as uncomfortable as she can.” She faintly smiled. “But she doesn’t give herself enough credit, anypony that goes through what she has… well, they’re stronger than anypony I know. Just getting out of bed sometimes is a battle.” He put a hoof on her shoulder. “I know… its been a bit tense between the two of us but if you ever need somepony to talk to, I’m here to listen, alright?” He chuckled. “I’m sure you got that a lot.”
“Especially from Tavi…she can really put her snout in other’s business.”
“Oh you have no idea. Once when we were little, I showed her my Mom’s violin and she spent an hour trying to get me to put it back.”
They laughed, both sharing stories sadly at Octavia’s expense. They both sighed, staring at each other. “I don’t know what I’d do without Octavia…” He muttered.
“She may be a bit stubborn and old fashion but she did keep me alive for a few years. She’s my best friend.”
“Couldn’t ask for a better pony to be.”
She laughed. “Thanks Prism… for everything.”
He shrugged. “Least I could do, you're the first outside of family that didn’t go running away when I showed you my scar.” His stomach growled.
“Somepony hungry?”
“Well.. I haven’t eaten since this morning…”
“Why don’t I make us some dinner? Besides, I have a letter to send to a certain somepony.” She said getting up and patting the top of his head.
He sat there and shook his head before getting up and followed her. He paused at his scarf and picked it up, going to put it on his head before stopping and draped it on the couch. He grabbed her shades and put those on the table before walking into the kitchen. She was using her magic to write the letter and boil some water, the pan covered in a blue glow.
“Wasn’t there something you were gonna tell me?” She asked, finishing the letter.
“What? Oh yeah…” He cleared his throat. “I think I found a way for me to talk to the spirit in the puzzle… but I need a unicorn.”
“Then I’m your unicorn. What do we have to do?”
He hesitated for a moment. “Well… you’d have to send us both into the puzzle.”
“How?”
“Let me get the book, we can discuss it over dinner.”
“Not my ideal date but whatever works I guess.” She said, starting to grab some noodles from the pantry.
His face turned red as he headed back to the library.
=
“Are you sure you wanna do this?” He asked, the two sitting at the table, the puzzle in between them.
“Not like we could go to anypony else.” She said.
He sighed. “Alright… I guess whenever you're ready.”
She smiled. “Everything’s gonna be fine. Trust me, I got this.” She said, reading the scroll one more time before she closed her eyes. It was silent as she concentrated, her horn starting to spark. “Here we go…” She said, the magic arking to the remains of Prism’s horn.
They both slumped in their chairs, the puzzle glowing once more.
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
958 users online
1,960,052 hits today, 2,073,628 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
4117432
Thanks! And yeah, I thought it'd be funny... it was quite the lame pun...