Top Of The Charts

by GeodesicDragon

Twisted Memories - Part One

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Twisted Memories - Part One

Day 596 in Equestria.

When Tech Beat said he was going to take you to court for breach of contract, he wasn't lying.

When he said he was going to take all of your money and leave you with nothing, he wasn't lying.

When he said he was going to ruin your career and have you permanently blackballed, he wasn't lying.

When he said he was going to have you thrown in jail for the next ten years... he was talking out of his arse.

Much to your relief, the courts ruled that you should only give him all your money. You had brought up how he had been using you but since you couldn't prove it, and he couldn't disprove it, the judge decided that jail would be taking things a bit too far, decreeing that this was down to business, rather than a personal vendetta.

And now you find yourself back in the place where it all began — Vinyl's nightclub in Ponyville. It's a good thing the two of you are together now, or you would have been screwed when you got evicted from your apartment. But Vinyl is all too happy to share.

Try as you might you still can't help but think that you haven't seen the last of Tech Beat. He was gutted when the judge refused his request to have you jailed. You haven't seen him for a few days now — which makes you suspect that he's up to something.

"Are you thinking about him again?" Vinyl asks as she attaches herself to your neck, "Come on, Anon, let it go. Sure, he won and your career is over, but at least you have me."

You look at her and she grins. You grin back and kiss her gently on the nose, which gets you a giggle in return.

"You're right, Vinyl," you reply, "I should let it go. But what if I'm right, and he is up to something?"

"Then we'll... what was it you said?" Vinyl flails around for a moment before remembering, "Oh yeah... we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"And no matter what he does, if anything," you say, "then we'll face it head on, and together."

Vinyl nods and tightens her grip on you while you sit and stare blankly at the wall.

Whatever Tech Beat is going to do, you hope he does it soon.

***

Day 598 in Equestria.

Well this was unexpected.

Totally.

Standing before you in the middle of Vinyl's office is none other than Tech Beat. He has a sheepish smile on his face and seems keen to avoid eye contact. One of the security ponies brought him in, having been told that he wanted to talk.

"Are you going to say anything," you say wearily, "or did you just come by to stand there like an idiot?"

Tech Beat coughs nervously.

"Er, yes..." he replies, "I was just thinking about what it is I want to say. And that is... I'm sorry for the way I treated you both."

You and Vinyl exchange a puzzled look.

"Could you elaborate on that?" Vinyl asks, "Or, even better, just get to the bucking point?"

Tech Beat sighs.

"You were right, Anon," he says, "I was only in it for the novelty of having an alien working for me. But that alone is no excuse for the way I treated you, or tried to keep you and Vinyl apart. If you're willing to accept then I offer you my humble apologies, as well as some of the money I took from you."

"Just 'some'?" you raise an eyebrow, "Why not all of it?"

"Because I've invested it in other projects," he replies, "which I hope to get a good return on."

"In other words," Vinyl smirks, "you lost it all at the bookies."

Tech Beat snorts contemptuously and opens his mouth to fire off a rebuttal when you interrupt him.

"I don't give a shit about the money," you say, "but if you are willing to apologise, then I accept."

Your shirt is suddenly enveloped in a light blue aura as Vinyl pulls you down to her level.

"Are you bucking crazy?!" she hisses in your ear, "You should totally get your money back and enjoy being rich again!"

"I have you don't I?" you reply, "And that, as far as I'm concerned, makes me the richest man in Equestria."

Vinyl's eyes glaze over for a moment before she blinks rapidly and shakes her head.

"You're lucky I love you so much," she chuckles, "otherwise I would smack you upside the head for being so bucking cheesy."

She releases you from her grip and you straighten yourself up. Tech Beat holds out a hoof and cocks his head to once side. You take a hold of the appendage and shake it.

"I'm glad we could come to an arrangement, Anon." Tech Beat says, "Now let us celebrate our new-found friendship with some drinks on me!"

You and Vinyl don't have to be asked twice as you both tear out of the office and down to the bar, where you sit down and allow her to climb onto your lap. She bangs a forehoof on the counter impatiently and the bartender comes over.

"Keep the drinks coming," she says sternly, "and make sure Tech Beat gets the bill."

The bartender nods and pours a trio of double vodkas, sliding the glasses to you. Tech Beat takes a seat next to you and takes one of them, raising it in the air.

"Here's to celebrating a new friendship," he says, "and to getting so drunk, you forget a good chunk of your life."

You and Vinyl raise your glasses and clink them with his before the three of you drink in perfect harmony.

Let the festivities begin!

***

You wake up to find that everything around you is still blurry. Shaking your head and blinking a few times works to clear your vision, only for you to find that you're not where you're supposed to be. Instead of at the club, you are in a cell of some kind.

"What the..." you say aloud, "what the hell happened last night?!"

I don't know, man, it's all a blur to me.

"Anon?" the voice is close by, "Is that you?"

"Yeah it's me." you reply, "Is that you, Vinyl?"

"Yeah it's me." she says, "And I'm bucking confused. What the hay is going on here and why are we in jail?"

"I don't know," you groan, "because I can't remember anything about last night. All I remember is drinking a ton of booze."

Silence falls as the two of you nurse your throbbing heads and churning stomachs. A door opens with a creak followed by metal scraping across stone and then the sound of hoofsteps. A Royal Guard stands in front of your cell with a stern look on his face. You recognise him as the one you met when you were brought to Canterlot to meet the Princesses.

"Don't remind me," you mutter, "you're Shining Armour, right?"

The guard nods.

"I am," he replies, "and you are in a lot of trouble, Anon. Can you even remember what you did last night?"

You shake your head.

"Can't say I do, Chief." you grumble, "It's all a bit of a blur to me. But I assume you do know, and you're going to tell me?"

Shining Armour groans.

"Well," he murmurs, "you see, Anon, you..."

"Shining..." you grumble, "just fucking tell me already."

"I don't know what you were doing in Ponyville," Shining Armour sighs, "but you and Miss Scratch over there both came to Canterlot on the early morning train, drunk as drunk can be. You tried, unsuccessfully, to get into several bars. Thankfully the staff refused to let you in, but they couldn't stop you breaking into an off-license and drinking everything in sight. When we found you both, there was clear evidence that you had been... rutting."

You blink a couple of times while your brain tries to reboot. Shining Armour chuckles nervously and looks away.

Okay, Anon, I'm back and raring to go. I know what you're going to ask, so I'm just going to come out with it. You and Vinyl broke into an off-license, drank a ton more booze and then had sex. You really know how to make a girl happy, don't you?

"We did what?!" Vinyl yells, "Oh, buck me."

"I thought I already did?" you chuckle before letting out a groan, "Sorry, Vinyl, that was uncalled for."

She simply growls in response as Shining Armour opens your cell. He levitates a set of manacles around your wrists and ankles and motions for you to follow. He then goes to Vinyl's cell and opens it. She trots out finding the idea of looking either you or the Captain in the eye to be mortifying, as well as having turned such a deep shade of red she looks like a tomato with a horn.

Shining Armour applies a device to Vinyl's horn. He then motions for both of you to follow him. As you do you look at the device, trying to comprehend what it is. Thankfully Vinyl senses your confusion and sighs.

"It's a magic dampener," she says, "designed to stop me using magic. As if I would... my bucking head hurts."

She slowly tilts her head up to look at you, the embarrassment still written all over her face.

"I can't believe," she said, "that any of this has happened. You'd think I'd remember something as awesome as rutting. As for breaking into that off-license? Why on Equestria would we do that? There's tons of booze at the club... something isn't right, Anon. I think we've been set up."

"I agree," you snarl, "and I think I know who's responsible. If, and when, I get a hold of that slimy fuck I'm gonna—"

"Thou shalt do nothing," a voice cuts in, "until we decide thy fate."

You and Vinyl stop walking and look around in order to finally make sense of where you are — you're both in the throne room, where Princess Luna is waiting with a rather irritated expression on her face. Shining Armour bows to her. By her side is an orb on a plinth which is glowing a soft white.

"The prisoners, your Highness," he says, "as you requested. Do you have any further use for me?"

Luna shakes her head.

"Thank thee, Shining Armour," she says, "but no, thy services are no longer required. But we would ask that thou removes the entrapments from my guests before thou leaves."

Shining Armour blinks a couple of times before the meaning of Luna's words gets through to him. He lights up his horn and you hear a clang as the manacles fall off and land on the floor. The magic dampener soon follows suit. The Captain gathers them up and leaves the room with another bow to the Princess, who proceeds to glare at you.

Ready my eardrums to withstand the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Keep dreaming, Anon.

"Normally," Luna says, "we would have kept thee both in thy cells. But we felt that thou had to know something. Art thou both assuming that this is a 'set up', as Miss Scratch put it?"

You and Vinyl nod. Luna responds by turning her frown into an evil smile which puts you both on edge.

"Then thou shalt be pleased to hear," she says, "that thou art indeed correct. Thou art indeed being set up."

"Seriously?" you grumble, "Well that's just fucking perfect. Say, Princess, is there any chance you could cast a spell which would help us to remember what the hell happened last night?"

Luna nods slightly and glances at the orb next to her.

"We can go even further," she replies, "and show thee the evening as seen through the eyes of another."

You and Vinyl exchange a surprised look with each other.

"That would be great, Princess," Vinyl says sheepishly, "because I sure as hay don't want to remember anything myself."

Luna coughs and chuckles at the same time, sounding more like a whinny than anything else.

"Well, Miss Scratch," she says, "if that is how thou feels, then perhaps thou shouldst leave the room, because what you are about to see will no doubt bring back the memories you are so keen to keep suppressed."

Vinyl grumbles under her breath as Luna's horn starts to glow. The orb at her side is moved in front of her and starts glowing an eerie blue. Luna notices the puzzled look on your face and smiles.

"This, Anon," she says, "is the device we use to look into the dreams of our subjects. Using it we can peer into the mind of anypony in Equestria. It also allows me to record dreams, for reasons we are currently unsure of. However, this feature did prove helpful the other day, as one pony in particular was very happy to dream about what he did."

"That's very interesting, Princess." you reply, "But this pony... they wouldn't happen to be called Tech Beat, would they?"

Luna nods, causing you to pound your fist into your palm.

"I knew he had something to do with this!" you snarl, "Let us see what you've got, Princess, so I can decide how hard I'm going to kick his flank the next time I see him."

Luna nods, surprisingly, and motions to the orb.

"Simply look into the device," she says, "and thou shalt see what Tech Beat saw on the night in question."

You and Vinyl both approach the orb, which glows more intensively as you approach, and look into it. The light surrounds you, causing you to shield your eyes. Upon opening them, you are surprised to see yourself looking back at you. It takes you a moment to realise that you are in Tech Beat's body, reliving his memories of last night.

Time for you to see just what the twisted bastard has done now.

Yeah... and then we can plot our revenge.

You settle down and watch events unfold, knowing full well that you're not going to like what you see.

Author's Note:

Hmmm, I guess there aren't two chapters remaining in this story.

Ain't I a stinker?

Comments

[spetsnaz pinkie pie]

Whyyyyyyyyyyy?

[GeodesicDragon]

2442646

Because I'm a bastard, that's why.

[thewaffler]

If Luna can go into the subconscious of others, then why not pull Tech Beat's actions directly from him as admissible evidence or drive him insane?

Then again Anon is kind of a gullible idiot for believing Tech in the first place.

"I gots a great idea, I'll forgive the guy who used me to get rich, blacklisted me, sued the ever loving shit out of me and tried to throw me in jail. Oh and on top of it I'll go with him to a dark bar with him, where he could easily drug the booze."

[roboman792]

2443847
Anon: Thanks for clearing that up...
You know you liked it.
Please shut up brain.

[Nonnyaddic69]

2442650
Gotta keep the audience on there tip toes Nice;)