Chapter 1: Dark Visions
"Silence... the tv... the vcr... they were never plugged in," Rainbow Dash said, horror echoing through her voice.
Silence.EXEs' eyes widened as the mare spoke.
"What? That should be impossible! I know for a fact I plugged them in!" he said in disbelief.
Rainbow held up the obviously unplugged cords and shook them vigorously.
"Explain this, then!" she said anxiously.
"This... This can't... It doesn't work that way!" the stallion said, rushing to his notes and flipping through them with the speed of Twilight Sparkle engrossed in a fascinating book. His expression became even more worried as he found absolutely nothing on the phenomenon. He grit his teeth as worry gave way to fear.
"Nothing like this has ever happened before. This is both intriguing and terrifying at the same time... Perhaps I should research this in greater depth at some point..." he said, eager to record his discovery, regardless of his fearful theories on the subject.
Suddenly, the purple alicorn whom had been lying motionless on the floor stirred. Silence looked over in concern, unsure if she was no longer affected by the first recording.
The alicorn slowly rose before turning to Silence.
"Regardless of how much I enjoy researching, Silence, this isn't the time to do so," she said quietly and surprisingly calmly.
"Twilight? You... You remember me, right?" Rainbow asked worriedly.
"Rainbow... I'm sorry. I overreacted. I know it wasn't you in the recording," Twilight said, turning her head to look at Rainbow.
"Twilight, you don't need to say sorry," Rainbow began before Twilight cut her off.
"Well, I am sorry. It's just... that recording... Silence wasn't kidding when he said it could drive you insane," sighed Twilight, turning to the television.
Silence tensed, ready to intervene if Twilight broke down again.
She stared at the television, an unreadable expression on her face.
"Twi... That's not..." Rainbow began before Twilight cut her off with a hoof. She turned to Silence, cold fury emanating from her.
'Uh oh... Get ready to explain, Silence...' he thought to himself.
"You let Rainbow watch a tape?" Twilight asked rhetorically, each word piercing through the air like a dagger.
Silence gulped, somewhat intimidated by Twilights' remarkable ability to stab him with words.
"Erm... Yes. She insisted I show her an example of the tape that caused your sanity to degrade so intensely," Silence replied, picking his words carefully.
"And you listened to her?" Twilight asked, still in a monotone.
Silence gulped yet again, unable to find a way out of the maelstorm of accusations that had not even been said yet.
"Yes, well... erm... her way of asking is quite... persuasive, to say the least," Silence replied, immediately kicking himself mentally.
'You couldn't have made it sound any worse, Silence... Great job,' he thought miserably.
Twilight stared at him with a cold and calculating look.
"You bucking idiot," she said, to which Silence had no response.
Twilight turned to Rainbow, her expression softening somewhat.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Some dusty old tape recording won't scare me," Rainbow replied.
Twilight gave Rainbow another look, this one more searching. Rainbow stared back innocently.
"If you say so," Twilight eventually said, letting the matter rest for a moment.
As the two conversed about their well-being, Silence found his gaze drawn back to the television. He could have sworn that Pinkamena had been looking at Hidden Stitch when he paused the recording...
As he continued to look at the screen, his vision seemed to get darker and his bedroom faded out. Eventually, he was left with only Pinkamena and her newest victim, frozen in time.
"Hello, son," said a voice Silence knew. "Enjoying the show?"
Silence jumped slightly, startled by the voice.
"Oh, I see you're somewhat surprised that I can contact you," the voice stated.
Silence felt a hoof run down his back. He tensed reflexively.
He heard the voice laugh quietly.
"You still don't think of me as your mother, do you?" it asked.
"I think of you as a monster and a murderer, nothing more," he growled, glaring around for the source of the unseen voice.
"Oh Silence... How foolish you can be at times," replied the voice calmly.
"What do you want, Mother?" he asked, the last word laced with as much venom as he could muster.
"Simply to see you again, Silence. You left in such a hurry, I wasn't even able to say goodbye," it replied.
"You don't even deserve a chance to do so," he snarled.
He felt another hoof, this time running along his neck.
"Someday soon, Silence, we won't ever have to do so again," it replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"And when that day comes, you'll pay for your crimes," Silence snapped angrily.
The voice laughed.
"We'll see, Silence. We'll see. But for now, it's time for you to rejoin your friends... Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, was it?" the voice chuckled, a dark undertone to the name Rainbow Dash.
"That is none of your business. And besides, she's a better pony than you," he replied.
"But sometimes, being a better pony makes you weaker than the rest," the voice said in a sinister tone.
"Go to hell," Silence snarled.
"Goodbye, son. We'll see one another again soon," said the voice dismissively, the vision disappearing.
"Silence? SILENCE? Can you hear me?" asked Twilight in concern, waving a hoof in front of Silences' face.
Silence jolted back to his senses, grunting in pain as a headache began.
"Oh, thank Celestia. We were worried about you. You just blanked out and began mumbling to yourself all of a sudden. Are you alright?" Twilight asked.
Silence looked around in confusion, as the vision came back to him. He thought about trying to tell Rainbow and Twilight about the vision.
"Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Thinking about the recordings and the unplugged television, that's all," he responded firmly.
Twilight looked at him, obviously unsure if what he was saying was the truth.
"I'm fine, Twilight. Don't worry," he said.
"If you say so..."