Flowing Melodies

by FlashKenshin77

Season 1 Episode 4 - Penalty Game! Lies and Memories

A smile slowly formed on her lips and with a yawn, she staggered to her bed and fell face first. She could finally sleep, her song finished and the crowd had loved it. Some even said it was her best work yet. But she’d deal with that later, all she wanted to do right then is enjoy the embrace of her estranged pillow. She snuggled with her pillow, it conforming to her head and she sighed, glad to be able to finally sleep-

“Vinyl… hey, you okay?” Prism asked, shaking the unconscious unicorn.

She groaned and turned away. Of course he’d be the one to wake her up.

“Wake up, I think you should see this.” He insisted.

The Celestia damned apartment better be on fire… She opened her eye, gasping in pain as the sun blinded her. She held a hoof over her face and leaned forward, blinking away the spots. She looked around; they were sitting in a backyard of a mansion, a fence guarding the property. The sun shined brightly, not a cloud in the sky. Maids and servants milled around as two fillies ran around. One in particular had a white coat and shocking blue mane.

A shiver went down her back as she instantly knew who that filly was. She could feel the color drain from her face. “W-where are we?” she stuttered, knowing the answer already, the memory coming back to full force.

“I was hoping you could tell me.” He said, watching her intently.

“I… I don’t know.”

He looked at the white coated filly, chasing after a charcoal filly. “Hey, isn’t that-”

“L-look, it doesn’t matter-” She licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry.

“The puzzle believes otherwise.” A pony said from behind them, seemingly materializing from thin air. It was the pony from before, his blue cape dancing in the wind and he smiled at her. “Hello Vinyl, it seems you didn’t heed my warning.”

Her eyes widened along with Prism’s. “I… I know that voice.” He said in a quiet voice.

The pony ignored him, his fiery gaze set square on Vinyl. “I tried to warn you Vinyl.” He raised a hoof and touched the tip of her horn. “And now, you must suffer-”

“You’re the one that lives inside my puzzle. You’re the reason why we’re here to begin with!” Prism said, his teeth clenched in anger as his eyes were full of fear.

The pony finally turned and gazed at Prism, the former unicorn paled but stood his ground. “I may live inside your puzzle but I am not the reason why we’re here.” He pointed at Vinyl. “The puzzle appears where its needed and you’re needed here.” He paused. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

She stared at the ground, refusing to look at him. Prism looked between the unicorns, not sure what to do. “Vinyl? Why are we here?” he asked, trying to ignore the pony.

“I… I…” She muttered, lost in memories.

Prism hesitantly patted her shoulder, trying to reassure her before he glared at the pony. “What did you do?”

“Me? I did nothing to hurt your friend. All I did was show her what her heart wanted her to remember.” He faintly smiled. “Call it... a penalty for lying to herself.”

Prism’s eyes widened and any blood left in his face was gone. “B-but… you can only do that-”

The pony raised an eyebrow. “I tried to warn her what would happen if she returned. And when we’re in my realm, I don’t need to follow those rules.” He said, slowly forming into a shadowy mist. “Remember Prism, find out what she refuses to say. That is the only way to end her pain.” He said, the mist vanishing in a gentle breeze.

Prism watched the mist dissipate, his mind struggling to catch up with everything. He quickly shook his head and wrapped a hoof around Vinyl’s shoulder. “Vinyl, hey. You with me?” She looked up at him, her eyes lacking their usual luster. He pulled her closer. “Vinyl, you need to tell me what happens in this memory. That’s the only way I can help you beat it.”

She was quiet, slipping out his grasp before she grabbed his hoof and pulled him along, following right behind the fillies. They entered the huge mansion, a giant staircase on the left leading upstairs. To the right led to the kitchen, maids rushing about inside. One came out with a tray on her back, walking towards another room.

The maid opened the door and he saw the room covered in books. He tried to get Vinyl to stop but as he leaned in to see more, the edges of the room turned white, the door vanishing as the fillies turned a sharp corner. The filly Vinyl grinned, her horn starting to glow blue.

“We were playing tag…” Vinyl finally said, stopping them. “And I’ve been learning about teleportation all week. I thought I could do it, since I was being privately trained and I ignored all that school stuff, about the energy required and boring stuff.” She said, watching as the filly version of herself locked up, her horn fizzling out as her body was suddenly sapped of it energy. With momentum, she slid on the floor, a maid coming out of some room and carrying a tray heading right towards her.

He flinched, knowing what was going to happen. The maid’s eyes grew as she saw the tumbling filly heading towards her. The two collided, the tray flying up, the glasses and their contents spilling all over the floor and rug. The glasses shattered and the tray clattered on the floor. It was silent, the maid hugging Vinyl and protected her from any damage.

The maid smiled at the terrified filly. “Are you alright miss?” Filly Vinyl nodded, her body shaking. “It’s alright, come on, let’s give you a nice rest.” She said, holding the filly as she gingerly stepped over the broken glass. Maids and servants appeared, starting to already clean up the mess. Octavia stood there, frozen with a hoof covering her mouth. “Come on Ms Melody, we should go to the misses room before Mrs. Scratch sees it.” She said, ushering the earth filly on.

Vinyl and Prism sat there, the world dissolving into grey before re-arranging to her room. It was huge, double the size of the study. Posters covered the wall, some of rock stars and djs. A few Daring Doo posters were scattered about as well, along with a Star Swirl the Bearded poster. He looked at her quizzically and she shrugged. She had a double size bed, a small table next to it with a night lamp. A record player sat in the corner, surrounded by bookcases filled with records. A few books were strewn across the floor, near two pairs of saddlebags.

There was a click as the door handle was encased in a dark maroon color and turned, the door opening to reveal a very posh and white coated unicorn. Her aqua mane was styled, her eyes highlighted with just a touch of eyeliner and shadow. She was beautiful, stunning, except for the look in her magenta eyes; disdain as she glared at the two filles. She marched up to Vinyl, the filly physically bracing herself.

He could hear her talking but the words were distorted. He felt the pain and anger at her words as the filly Vinyl cried, Octavia fiddling with her hooves awkwardly. He turned to Vinyl. “What… what happened?”

She stared at her Star Swirl poster for a long moment, silence between them. Finally, she sighed and turned to stare at him, her eyes full of sadness. “Mom was upset that I broke her favorite china and stained the rug, which had to be completely replaced. She grounded me for the next week and refused to let Octavia visit.” She wiped her eye. “She also fired the maid later that day too, for being ‘careless’.”

He wasn’t sure what to say and stared at her. “That’s… awful.”

“Yeah… but it doesn’t matter now, what’s done is done.”

“But it does…”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it; why did the puzzle show us this memory?”

She shrugged. “Cause it likes bringing up painful memories?”

“No… well that too,” he paused, “I think its trying to tell us that even with painful memories, you want to learn from them. It may be painful, but you still remember the fun you had with Octavia before.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “And besides, if there’s anything I’ve learned, knowing what its like to suffer this pain… you want to help others.”

“See? This is why I like being DJ-P0N3. She doesn’t have to worry about these stupid memories. All she has to worry about is making sure everypony has a good time.”

“But that doesn’t help you Vinyl. You can only hide for so long.”

She glared at him. “Coming from you, that means so much.”

“Look, all I’m trying to do is help-”

“Whatever.” She said, a door appearing in front of them. She raised an eyebrow before opening the door, a bright flash blinded them for a moment. When they could see, they were still in her room, but the filly was happily jumping in circles. Vinyl paused, looking around her old room. “I… I think I know what memory this is...”

“Oh?”

“I think this is where I got my cutie mark.” She said. The Star Swirl poster was gone, replaced with a poster for ‘the Maneiacs’. Next to her record player was some big machine with two record players side by side. Any books that were in her room were gone, replaced with records and random flyers.

The filly in question was prancing about her room, hopping happily as her cutie mark was shown proudly on her flank. Octavia and a few other fillies were in her room, and as Vinyl hopped towards them, the group circled her and chatted. The voices were static and Prism looked at Vinyl.

“Do you remember what they said?”

She shook her head. “No… well, nothing besides the usual congrats and all that jazz. But something isn’t right…” She said, scratching her chin. “I thought Techie was here…” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. It was one of the few times I saw even my mother happy.” She said flatly.

Another door appeared and Vinyl kicked it open, walking through it, Prism scrambling to keep up. They went silent, both lost in thought. Several more memories played, Vinyl getting more and more upset and furious.

The final straw was when a grown up Vinyl stood in the doorway, a pair of saddlebags around her waist. Her mother was yelling at her, both of their faces red with anger. Vinyl gritted her teeth as she turned to look at him. “I’m sure I don’t need to say what we’re yelling about?” He nodded, quiet the last several memories. She glared at him. “What is it?”

“What do you mean?” He said carefully.

“You know exactly what I mean! I’ve been watching you judge this entire time!”

“Vinyl… I-” He said, reaching to put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Don’t!” She said, slapping the hoof away. “I’ve seen the way you look at me. You always have that pitying look!” She snapped and stomped her hoof, the memory fading out. “I’m tired of reliving my life! Yes, I was dealt a bad hoof, wah wah. It taught me how to survive this world and what it takes to be successful.”

They stood in the white void, no sound other than Vinyl’s voice. He started slowly, picking his words carefully. “But you don’t have to be like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yes, looking back on the past is painful. But if you can learn from it, you can see how you there were some bright spots.”

“Pfft, so what. Life has its ups and downs. What I can’t stand is how much emphasis you put on the past. Why don’t you just let it die?”

“Because the past proves who we are. Think about it, going back and looking at yourself, haven’t you seen how much you’ve grown? That mare that tried to teleport can do so much more now. You’ve grown into mare that can stand on her own hooves, not one that needs to rely on others.”

She laughed dryly and he raised an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?”

“You. You think you’re so high and mighty cause you saw what I went through. You think you know me…” She said through gritted teeth as she walked up to him. “You only saw the briefest glimpses of what I’ve been through. You. Know. Nothing.” She said, emphasizing each word with a poke to the chest.

His forehead started to glow, the third eye appearing. Flashes of his memories barraded her. Happiness, sadness, anger, hate, depression, fear flowed her body as she saw snippets of his life. His colthood living under an abusive, physically and mentally, mother, a father that was never there. A brother that tormented him about his cutie mark. A teacher that would hit him with a ruler with every wrong answer. Above all, an emptiness that he only could minutely fix with the pieces of a golden puzzle.

She could feel how happy he was when he finally completed it before everything went dark, a quick spike of fear.

She blinked, staring at Prism as he watched her, concern in his eyes. “How…”

“How what?”

“How do you act so damn calm!? We went through the same thing, even though I was older when it happened to me… how did you not want to try and end it?”

He chuckled. “Who said I haven’t? There were times when I’d stare at the mirror, knowing it would be so easy…”

“Why didn’t you do it then?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, just couldn’t. There were times that I wanted to, so badly.”

“But…”

He sighed, grabbing the puzzle around his neck. “Every time I felt like that, I’d work on this, you’d be surprised how fast it clears your mind. Its so much easier than trying to figure out emotions. Every piece has a place, everything works together to make a masterpiece. Emotions don’t; anger and sadness, happiness and depression. They always seem to work against each other and you feel it.”

“A lot of my earlier songs were made when I was hiding,” she said quietly, “I did what you did but with music instead. I could see when the drop needed to hit or when this certain track needed to fade for another. I listened to the Maniacs, thinking that if they could do it, so could I. In the end, it seemed to work.”

“Is that why DJ-P0N3 exists?”

“Yes and no. I needed a dj name, no pony would want to hire Vinyl. Besides, when you’re in the club, you can feel the emotions around you. If I was playing the songs, everything would be depressing and blah. If DJ-P0N3 didn’t have a care in the world, just trying to make others happy, then she’d be the one to play at the gigs.”

Prism nodded. “I can see why you like her better but I still stand by what I said earlier.”

She sat down and sighed, rubbing a hoof against her head. “So what now?”

“I don’t know, never been stuck in somepony’s mind before.” He sat down next to her. “I guess we just wait.”

“Prism…”

“Hmm?”

“When this is all over, you’re buying me a drink.”

He smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Does that mean you’ll drink with me?”

“Oh no, I don’t drink.”

“Why not? Its so relaxing.”

His eyes turned cold. “All it does is numb you just long enough that you don’t have to worry about it for a few hours. Then you wake up feeling horrible. Is it really worth all the pain the next day just for a few hours respite?”

“Sometimes but that’s why you take it slow and try not to get super drunk.” She looked at him. “It sounds like you’ve had some experience?”

“Yeah, I drank a little, just to see what it was like. Wasn’t worth it, or the repercussions of stealing from your father’s liquor cabinet. Besides, I’ve been around it my whole life, I know what its like for others.”

They were quiet, both looking at the neverending void. “So…” Vinyl started, only for a sudden burst of static to interrupt her.

They looked at each other, another burst making them cover their ears. “What the hay is that?” He asked.

“I… I don’t know.” She said, looking around as the room morphed, staircases and doors jutting into existence. She gulped, instantly recognizing the place. They were back inside his puzzle, the labyrinth even more insane than last time.

Standing next to them was Sapphy, the jeweler looked relieved when he saw them. “Oh thank Celestia, there you guys are!”

“Sapphy, what… how…”

“Octavia got me. found you two unconscious on the table. Knew I’d be able to help.” He said proudly.

They both smiled. “Of course.”

Hoof steps sounded behind them, the pony appearing out of the shadows. “I see that he saved you two from the void.”

“Saved?”

The pony nodded. “Indeed. When Ms Scratch destroyed her memory, you two were lost to the magic of the puzzle. With my help, Sapphire was able to get you back.”

Sapphy turned to the pony. “But our deal is still good right?”

“Like I said before, if you’re brave enough, you may travel here. But like last time, I advise you don’t. Not even I know what lurks here.”

“Pfft… you’re just saying that.” He said, grabbing Vinyl and Prism’s hooves. “Come on, let’s go treasure hunting!” He said, dragging them away.

“Wait.” The three stopped. “Prism, I believe we have things to discuss.” The pony said, watching them calmly.

Prism pulled his hoof away from Sapphire. “Yes… many things…” He gulped, paling slightly.

Vinyl patted his back reassuringly. “Remember, he can’t let anything happen to you. You are the host.”

“Right… yes…” He muttered before looking at her. “I think you should listen to him, I think its a bad idea-”

“Oh what’s the worst that can happen? We’ll be fine. You be careful alright?” She said, grinning at him.

“S-sure…” He said, watching the two vanish down a corridor before turning to glare at the pony.

A pair of chairs appeared as the pony sat down and motioned for Prism to do the same. “Please, we have much to discuss and little time.”

“Are they going to be alright?”

“I do not know, that is up for them to decide.”

“What does that mean?”

He shrugged. “If they were meant to find it, they will. If not, then you don’t have to worry about them.”

“Alright, that’s enough. What exactly are they searching for?”

The pony smiled, his fiery eyes crackling. “My memories.”

Author's Note:

Well... yes, I know its rushed. Like I said earlier, wrote it so it would be a fast little story and one were I could have some fun... Hopefully you all liked it and its getting ready to wrap up in maybe... 3 or 4 chapters. Thought I should end it sooner rather than later.

Comments

[TheOverPoweredOne]

I've seen that this story has little to no comments and almost as much dislikes as it does likes. I think that does you as the author an injustice considering you have mad some of the best fanfics that I've read. Here's to hoping that this story gets more likes :)

Sincerely,
TOPO

[FlashKenshin77]

4155381
Thanks! I don't understand it... maybe its the bad description? I've always been horrid at those..