PA Chapter 4: "Spiders Web"
Ponies Anonymous
Chapter Four: "Spiders Web"
A side fic by DontAskForCookie for Display on FimFiction
Based on the excellent fic "Five Score, Divided by Four" written by: TwistedSpectrum
Editing graciously provided by the wonderful TheGingaNija
~ ~ ~
I blinked as I realized she had just said something to me. The revelation of the picture had been quite a shocker and for a few moments I had just let my mind run wild trying to justify what I was seeing. Lowering my phone I glance back to her with a look of pure dumbfoundment on my face. “Um, sorry, say that again?”
Still looking shaken as when she had stormed into my apartment, Janet pouts disapprovingly at my lack of concentration. “I was asking what we are going to do about this. Do you even know how we got them? I don't remember much from last night but I think something like this would sort of, you know, stand out,”
Opening my mouth to start explaining what I had already discovered about last night I paused as my mind caught up to her odd phrasing. “...I’m sorry, did you say how we got into this?” It wasn't until I saw her face starting to harden that I realized that despite how smoothly I was handling this (pause for sarcasm) what I had just said may have come across wrong.
Quickly closing the distance between us and brandishing her outstretched index finger Janet begins her assault with a few jabs to my chest as she rants, painfully poking me as she punctuates every line.
“Yes as in we you jerk, the two of us. I know you are afraid of my boyfriend, I can understand that, but if you think for one second that you can just back out of this because you don't have the balls to own up to your mistake then you have another thing coming. Last night I left with you and your friend and now we both wake up with mysterious tattoos, you can ignore yours but your not going to ignore me!”
Backpedaling I try to retreat away from the tiny ball of fury but she matches me step for step, never relenting from her tirade. Bumping into the wall I raise my hands in a sign of defeat as I try and defuse the situation. “Whoa, whoa, time out Janet. Thats not what I was saying, I just didn't know what you were talking about with the tattoo.”
Janet's face softens a few degrees but she still looks skeptical as she glances down at my thigh. “But you have one too, like mine but different. I saw it this morning when you were…” Trailing off, Janet's face flushed as she glances away from me, my mind filling in what she hadn't said. She had seen my cutie mark tattoo this morning when I had walked in on her naked.
Feeling my ego cringe I mentally sigh as yet more puzzle pieces start to fall into place. Of course she has seen my tattoo, at the time I hadn't considered it as I was too shocked by her own but it made sense that she had gotten enough of a peek at me to see the triple diamonds on my thigh. The whole thing was of course already monumentally embarrassing, but the additional knowledge that she now knew I had a bright and colorful tattoo from a kids show that ended half a decade ago plastered on my ass made it that much worse.
Realizing that neither of us were talking I decide to break up the silence. “So… you saw my cutie mark then?” This really wasn't something I wanted to talk about, but anything was better than just standing here pinned up against the wall quite literally trapped in an awkward silence.
“I, well yes it was hard to miss… wait, what did you call it?”
My ego cries out for mercy as it desperately tries to tap out. Not only did she seem to not have a clue what a cutie mark was but I could already see in her face that she wanted an explanation. Offering a sheepish grin its my turn to blush a bit in embarrassment. “Ummm… you know, cutie marks, from that old show My Little Pony. The tattoos look just like them, like straight from the show”.
Janet takes a step back as her defenses finally fall, her brow scrunching as she mulls over what I just said. “Wait, let me get this straight now. You're saying that our mysterious marks are not only from some old kids show but that you know about said kids show?”.
Ding Ding! And by technical knock out my ego is downed.
Chuckling nervously I nod in the affirmative, “I may have seen it before, once or twice. Maybe more than that actually, like maybe I have seen every episode a few hundred times over”.
Janet just inspects my face for a few moments to see if I'm pulling her leg but after it becomes apparent that i'm being earnest her face cracks. A goofy lopsided grin crosses her face, her eyes watering from effort as she tries her best to keep her laughter contained.
“Bwahahaha!”
She really should have tried harder.
I sigh to myself and deflate a bit as she guffaws away at what a nerd I am. Rolling my eyes I push past her back towards the center of the living room. “That's right, laugh it up, but at least I know what they are. I didn't just get some tattoo without knowing what it was,” Wincing at how that could have come across I glance back to Janet and am surprised to see that she is still all smiles as she nods in agreement.
Grinning she closes the distance between us and surprises me a second time with a hug. “I know right? I feel like an idiot for getting it but I can't help but feel grateful that I'm not going through this alone. Stupidity loves company I guess, its just good to have someone in the same boat that I can talk to about this,”
Returning the hug my face pales as I realize exactly what is going on, she thinks that my tattoo appeared last night as well like her own.
“Liam?” she asks in a small voice. “Thanks for not leaving me dangling in the wind. Marcus isn't really the sort to be helpful in this sort of situation and I really… well I really don't have many other people I trust with something like this”.
I know its a bad idea, but I don't correct her.
~ ~ ~
“Right, So you know the plan then right?”
Janet rolls her eyes as I ask the question for the umpteenth time. “Yes Liam, its not rocket science alright? Were not breaking into fort Knox, we're just splitting up to cover more ground. I'm not the brightest tool in the shed but I think I can handle asking a few questions on my own,”
I want to roll my own eyes in return but I suppress it, she was already in poor enough of a mood as it was without me agitating things further. Janet's mood had started to go south when our research into her mysterious tattoo hadn't turned up anything. Nearly three hours of nonstop web crawling hadn't managed to unearth anything that could even come close to explaining a tattoo that could be applied so quickly without leaving any redness or other tell tale marks of its application.
Each hour that passed made Janet more and more upset and eventually she just went back to looking at the photos on the table she had been looking at the night before. She had already told when we had compared notes on what we remembered that she could not recall why she found them so interesting. As a matter of fact she didn't remember much that I hadn't already guessed, though I suspect that she may have a few clues regarding the picture of me and the mystery girl that she didn't want to share.
For some reason I didn't like the way she had giggled and refused comment when I had shown her that particular picture.
After she had become completely frustrated with my futile independent research she had decided it was time for action. It had taken a bit of convincing on her part to win me over but eventually she convinced me that what we were doing was not the best way to spend our time. This was not a problem I was going to be able to solve from the comfort of my apartment.
Janet's idea was to go visit a tattoo parlor and consult with a professional, reasoning that even if we didn't find answers we could schedule a time to come in to have them removed. Of course since this would require showing my perfectly normal tattoo as well and revealing me as a fraud to Janet I made the suggestion of splitting up.
While she was out talking to tattoo artists I would be looking more into what had happened last night. Even if we could figure out what her tattoos were we still would have no way knowing who had put them there without some more investigation. While Janet really didn't understand the importance of this herself I personally was feeling ready to burst wanting to get to the bottom of this whole mystery.
She wasn't too happy about going alone to the tattoo parlor but had eventually agreed, her need to get this all behind her overcoming her want for company.
“Come on, don't get smart with me. Both our asses are on the line, remember?” I ask, handing over the folded up directions I had printed out for her. “Its already past lunch and we need to get going if we want to get all this done,”
The short brunette nods, her unruly head of hair bobbing with more bounce than I seemed to remember from before. I swear, girls are so weird, waking up to find a mystery tattoo that should be impossible to have on either side of you and she still had times to use some fancy conditioner of some such thing.
Taking the directions from me she hands over her keys. She was within walking distance from the tattoo place, the small building being located just a few blocks away from our own apartment. I however, would be making a much longer trip across town to where this had all started the night before, Terminal West.
“So what will you do when you find something out from the tattoo guy?” I ask, risking going over the plan one last time.
Janet releases a long drawn out and overly dramatic groan as she pushes me towards the doorway. “I call you, alright? I call you as soon as I hear anything and you do the same, when we're done we meet back up at your place. Convinced I have it memorized yet? Stop over-thinking things so much or else we won’t ever get anything done”.
Before I can offer any more complaint or argument she shuttles me out of my nice safe apartment and into the hall, a mischievous grin on her face.
“Jeeze Liam, you would think that you had never been on an adventure before”.
~ ~ ~
“She did what now?”
The shock in my voice was easy to pick out and if I had to bet, I would put good money on my face matching my feelings over what I had just heard. Originally the plan had been for me to play this cool but my poker face was effectively blown out of the water. Raising a brow the man at the door inspected me with an hint of curiosity, his arms folded across his chest.
“You heard me, she got up on stage and started singing. Saved the show really”
Trying to compose myself I fall back on my old standby of rubbing my temple, my mind attempting to sort this new information. Already I could feel myself starting to get a bit upset even though things were quite honestly going far better than anticipated. I had expected to have a hard time getting any meaningful information when I first showed up but had been surprised to find myself immediately recognized and while I could not come inside one of the employees had been glad to talk to me at the door.
“Let me get this straight”, I began with a sigh, “The singer choked on stage and Janet just climbed up there and started improvising?”
The employee, one of the sound technicians I believe he had mentioned to me before, nods with a chuckle. “Was one of the damndest things I have ever seen. The guy just totally blanks out on stage and its obvious to everyone, I mean the crowd knows, we know, and the band is just freaking out as they keep playing. Then this short girl just clamors up on stage, takes the microphone and starts free-styling lyrics”.
Ridiculous, this story couldn't be true, it was practically something out of a bad teen movie. Even if this matched up and helped explain more of the pictures it was almost beyond belief that something so campy as this had happened. “... and then?”
Closing the door the technician reaches into his pockets and fishes out a half crumpled up box of cigarettes and a zippo. Lighting up one he offers the box to me, shaking my head in response he shrugs and returns the items to his pocket. Taking a deep drag he then continues his story.
“And then after a bit the spaz comes to, really looked freaked out to see Berry up there with him. Got over it once he saw the crowd was into it and the two sort of play off each other a bit, passing the mic and just letting things flow for a bit. After the song the crowd goes nuts and a few stagehands escorted Berry backstage”.
Pausing to take another long drag on his cancer stick I fill in the conversational break with the most intelligible thing my mind could conjure up.
“Wow”
Chuckling to himself the guy just shakes his head, “Wow is right, I don’t know how you forget something like that dude. I mean I know you were there, we met actually after Berry vouched for you and your buddy when you showed up backstage. Sure you were shit faced but I didn't think you were that bad off,”
Joining in his laughter I shake my head as well, as wacky as this all sounded it not only fit in with what I had seen on my cell, but in some of my blurred memories as well. “Well that's what I get for trying to keep up with Janet I suppose”
“No kidding, Berry is a freaking mutant or something, I god damn swear it. She drank me and half the band under the table at the after-party”.
Another puzzle piece fell into place with that tidbit of information. There had been an after-party with the band, no doubt the one same party I had recorded on my cell. With every bit of information about the night, things just kept getting more and more strange, as much as I doubted it I started to wonder if every night was like this for Janet. In any case she had certainly made quite an impression at Terminal west, it would be a long time before anyone forgot about Berry (as she had apparently insisted everyone call her) or how she had saved the show.
“So, you were at the after-party?” I asked, hopeful to dig up more details about what happened there. Maybe I would luck out and this guy would remember seeing a mad tattooist handing out free samples of his experiment no pain process.
Nodding he puffs away at the last bit of the cigarette. “Yup, I don't always show up to these things see but after a night like that I couldn't pass it up. Hell, half the stage crew even showed up. Bet most of the crowd would have too if there had been enough room for it to be public. Especially after the end of the show when Berry was invited onstage for an encore”.
“You're kidding!” I scoffed.
Dropping the butt of his now spent cigarette to the ground and grinding it under his boot he raises a hand into the air. “Hand to god, the crowd was chanting her name and they wheeled her out for one more song. After that they announced she was now an honorary member of Arcane Arachnid and called it a night. The crowd loved it”.
Leaning against the brick wall of the ancient building I give a low whistle. “Sounds… well honestly I can't believe it. Shit like this doesn't happen, does it? I mean I don't get out much but I'm pretty sure this is… well this is something else”.
“Pretty bizarre,” agreed the employee as he glanced at the door. Before he had told everyone inside he was taking a smoke break before pulling me outside to talk, probably wanting to catch up. As much as I needed to get information from him I would have to be quick, I was already feeling a bit guilty bending his ear for so long as it was.
“So, thanks for taking the time to talk to me…” I start, extending my hand to him and waiting for him to fill in the blank for me. Thankfully I didn't have to wait too long before he slapped his hand almost painfully into mine with a loud clap, giving it a firm shake.
“Ted, the names Ted. A pleasure to remake your acquaintance Liam”
Grinning despite another twinge of guilt of him remembering who I was despite being unable to remember his, I nod my thanks. “Pleasures all mine, I'm really glad you took the time to talk to me. Like I said before I'm just trying to fill in some blanks from last night so if you could just really quickly tell me if you remember anything… well anything that stood out about the after party that would be great”.
Scratching his stubble Ted thinks on this for a moment before shaking his head, “Well nothing too strange. I mean it was a party with Berry so there was that, she and Zed free styled some more which was fun to watch. I have partied with Arcane Arachnid before and honestly I have never seen the guy get into a flow like that before,”
“Zed?”
Ted barks out a short bout of laughter at my question. “Oh wow, you really must be a lightweight. Do yourself a favor and never try and keep up with Berry again, ok? Seriously, I thought you would at least remember him, he was the lead singer. Short guy with lots of tattoos and dreds, hung out with you a good bit at the party. Right before I left he was talking to Berry about getting her set up with a band tattoo to make her honorary status official”.
My mind did back-flips, joy swelling up inside of me. This had to be the lead he was looking for, some guy trying to talk Jannet into a tattoo the night before this could not be coincidence. Ted had also mentioned this Zed character had tattoos of his own, it would make sense that a tattoo buff would know if there was a way to get a highly detailed bit of ink like Janets overnight without any soreness the next day. Clapping my hand on teds shoulder I laughed in relief of feeling so close now to bringing this mystery to a close.
“Oh man, thanks a lot Ted, you really have been a help. Now if you could just do me one more favor and tell me how to get in touch with this Zed guy?”.
Once again Ted fixes me with a look of mild confusion. “You don't know? Well I guess you were pretty wasted and its clear you don't remember much but I figured you would know better than me how to get in touch with Zed”.
Clearly missing something I return his look as he turns and moves towards the door. “Wait, what is that suppose to mean?”
Shrugging Ted opens the door and turns back to me as he steps halfway inside. “I just mean the two of you spent some quality time together, now if you'll excuse me I really need to get back to work, boss wants the amps reset for tonight's show right away. Arcane Arachnid was suppose to have a second show but they cancelled so now we have to get prepped for their replacement act”.
Opening my mouth to press him for more information Ted cuts me off, “No seriously, I have to run. Been a blast catching up man, come back around with Berry sometime Liam, seriously you guys are always welcome but we are all in a bit of a rush today. If you want to know more about the after party or Zed you’re going to have to get in touch with Arcane Arachnid,”
Nodding towards a poster from last night for the band Ted steps back inside and closes the door behind himself. Pouting in disappointment at having the conversation end so quickly I sigh as I move to the indicated poster. Ted had been a prodigious well spring of useful information about last nights activities but I still had questions, like who that girl I had been making out with was.
Inspecting the poster my artistic side couldn't help but appreciate the stylistic choices of the band. The poster was mostly colored in shades of violet and blues, featuring stylistically rendered drawings of spiders and webbing, a heavy sort of tribal design being present through the whole thing. The name “Arcane Arachnid” was plastered across the center of the poster with the webbing in the background extending from, waist up photos of the five band members posed just above it and filled up most of the top half of the poster.
My eyes move from one band member to another, studying them and the names listed under their photos. They were all similarly dressed in dark clothing which was a bit cliche to me but at least they had refrained from any sort of stage makeup. Stopping at the last photo I nodded at the name under the picture confirmed that I was looking at the singer named Zed. Leaning closer I inspect my final lead.
Zed looked to be a young twenty something like most of his fellow bandmates but seemed to have a much more weathered and experienced look about him. Certainly the other band members were much more imposing than the short guy featured here but he seemed to have an air about him that allowed him to actually pull of the look that the others were trying for. Numerous tribal band tattoos striped his arms along with various other similar designs decorating his dark skin, when combined with his dreadlocks and numerous piercings I could only think of one word that adequately summed up the look.
Mysterious.
Steely eyes glared out at me from the poster and seemed to bore right into me, by comparison the rest of the group seemed like a joke. It was no wonder why Zed was the singer, if Zed had this big of an impact on people from his picture alone then he must be an amazing front man. It also seemed to me that the name of the band may also have more than a bit to do with the slim singer, arcane certainly was a word that came to mind when looking at him.
The longer I looked the more something started to nag at me, something about Zed seemed familiar to me. After a few moments of thinking over it I gave up and instead just jotted down the information at the bottom of the poster, copying the bands email address and contact numbers on a scrap piece of paper from my pocket which turned out to be one of the taxi receipts from last night.
It wasn't until I was halfway back to Janet's and was dialing the number from the poster that I realized where I new Zed from. Cancelling the call I open my pictures folder and cycle through to the images till I arrived to the one in question featuring a back shot of Zed as he made out with me at the after party, his feminine form sitting in my lap as his obscured face worked to give me the hickies on my neck.
“Well… that sure is something that happened”
~ ~ ~
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Wheee, new chapter!
Yeah, he should have probably told her the truth about the tattoo. Brony pride aside, Janet isn't really in the position to judge right now, is she? Either way, he has forfeit his right to complain about bad sitcom plots.
Also, did I miss something? Did Liame get a good look at her tattoo or not? I feel like between the tattoo and her "stage name" something should have clicked.
3189256
Mysterious tattoo aside its a bit early to start leaping to some pretty outlandish conclusions or even start entertaining such silly ideas. Liame is working to logically explain what is going on, and until he starts seeing any proof otherwise this has yet to evolve from "strange" to "otherworldly".
Luckily there are other characters out there who may be more open to such ideas!
Also, as a side note, the little white lie about the tattoo is not so much about his wounded pride (though that is a factor, he would love nothing more than to get through this without the reality of it being known) and more about him trying to provide some comfort to Janet. She clearly expressed how much of a relief it was to not be alone in the situation, Liame just couldn't bring himself to tell her otherwise.
Oh and to answer your final question he has gotten two ok looks at it, though he definitely knows who's cutie mark it belongs to. At this point hes just thinking its someone who knows the inside joke of the character poking fun at Janet's drinking issues. As for the similarities in the name he has in fact not noticed.
One last note, i wonder if you caught the distinction in the name Ted used. Her name is Janet Barry, while its small there is a slight difference in pronunciation between Barry and Berry, Ted was using the later. The Berry bit is obvious but I don't think that i have used her proper last name since chapter one, so I was unsure if anyone would get it or not.
3189296
I see... Nicely elaborated, I can definitely see that. I wasn't even really expecting the "outlandish conclusions" yet, I was just surprised that he didn't show any reaction to her stage name and didn't elaborate on her cutie mark at all.
Of course I noticed her catchy last name in chapter one, and the fact that Ted was talking about her using a different name. I also noticed how you refused to give that any sort of reaction in the first paragraphs.
It wasn't exactly hard to figure out the explanation by myself, though. I think our thought processes are kinda similar in that regard.
On my last note: Did you read that chapter about Discord I did. If I'm not mistaken you were the one who derailed my plans for the story yet again with that thread of yours.
3189412
I haven't yet but Ill go check it out asap.
3189417
Oh my
XD
Mm.
I hate, hate Five Score, but something about this one intrigues me...
I might check this one out, I'll post a detailed review if I do.
so the singer just blanked out on stage...wait, singer, blank out...Sapphire Shores anyone?
3190889
Ether Echos!
Omg I was just thinking when I logged on how awesome it would be if I ever got a comment from you after submitting this story to your group. Heh, cant say that I honestly thought it would happen, but I'm very glad to see I was mistaken. Your interest, even if it is only potential interest at this point, is quite exhilarating.
If I may gush a bit here I have to say I LOVE "Through the Well of Pirene". I have only just read it for the first time a few days ago but It absolutely resonated in me, calling up so many fond memories of sort of books I read when I was younger. As a matter of fact just yesterday I dug out one of my favorites from my childhood ("Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale" by Holly Black) and gifted it to my younger sister to read.
Only a few paragraphs into your story and I immediately ran for my headphones and put the Soundtrack to the Labyrinth on repeat on another tab. It made for quite the memorable afternoon of reading, a continent light rain outside my window only added the enjoyment of the whole affair!
Ok, fan-gasm over with for now
If you do ever get around to giving this a hard read I would love to get your input, though I will mention that if your not a huge fan of FS/4 that I have another work in progress at the moment that is going to be its own original stand alone piece.
3190433
Hey, Zed is cute, mysterious and cute.
3191089
An interesting guess, but no comment.
3192587
Ok
3192582
All of my yes.
Well, now I'm obliged to read your stuff~!
I'll give you the most sincere opinion I can muster.
3192805
I await your comments and criticisms with baited breath.
3191089 Yes, Sapphire Shores! She can put on a concert for the newly transformed ponies.
The cover art is so cute haha
3235502
Thanks!
Its currently just a place holder, something I hammered out one night so I could have something to put up till I can dedicate time and effort into a better one.
3235695
You're welcome
and alright.
Update Incoming!