We don't own MLP, or The Sound of Silence.
-Equestria University-
"Ow." Red said as he rubbed his still bleeding ears. 'Man she's loud as fuck!' He thought, happy for the one and a half hour lunch break. "MY BACK! I think it I'm gonna die!" Geo complained while Pinkie Pie was rubbing it and Twilight was looking at them very sadly. "Poor Geo." Pinkie said cutely. "Thanks Pinkie." He muttered. Red slowly went into the bathroom, grabbed some paper towels and wetted them to clean his ears. "Oh boy." He groaned, not hearing the door close and lock, or the sound of heels behind him.
"Hi." The sudden voice caused him to jumped a bit. "Whoa!" He held his heart gently and turned around slowly. "Oops sorry dear!"
"R-Rarity!?" He stuttered, surprised that she was in the men's restroom. "What're you doing in here?" He stuttered with a blush of embarrassment, noticing the sad look on her face. "Rarity…what's wrong?"
"I should be asking that to you." She said sadly. He sighed, knowing that his spell wore off. "Ok, I'll tell you." He sighed. "But only with Dashie around." She nodded reluctantly when someone banged on the door. "I know I saw him go in here!" Rarity panicked as the door cracked and Red pushed her into a stall an locked it behind her. Soon the door was slammed opened and through the cracks Rarity saw at least six male students enter.
"You!" One of them said as he walked up to Red and pinned him against a wall. "Let me go!" He choked out as Rarity watched fearfully. "Looks like the fresh meat's got a big mouth." One spoke. "Yeah, we should teach him some manners."
'Oh no!' She thought as they started to wail on him.
*Later*
Red fell to the ground as he was dropped into a small pool of blood. "Wimp." He heard the lead student say as he pocketed a knife and started to leave, but not before kicking his face
'Assholes!' Rarity thought. She waited ten minutes after they left before she slowly unlocked the stall. "Red?" She whispered before she gasped at his bloodied body. The only thing that told her he was alive was his chest which was just barely moving. "Oh my…" She could barely speak as she kneeled next to him. Trying to heal him with every spell she could think of. 'Come on come on!' She thought in panic, until she messed up and used an incorrect spell that made her fall unconscious.
Rarity slowly opened her eyes and sat up. "Hello?" She called out. She was in a large narrow hallway wth millions of open doors. She walked down the corridor and saw that in each one of them was…a memory. As she got farther down she saw many of them were chained up and locked, until she got to the final one at the end of it. It was old and small, like a kitchen cupboard. The hinges were rusted and squeaking and the wood was cracked and had chipped paint, beside it was a broken lock. She reached out and opened it ip farther, she had to get on her knees and crawl through it. "Strange." She muttered as some slowly saw a light. "Huh?"
She crawled closer until she felt a cold floor of rock. "Where am I?" She said. She was in a room wth only a single window that was very small, a basement. "Hello?" She called out, her voice echoing. She walked deeper into the room, looking for a light switch when she felt one. She flipped it, and immediately wished she didn't She gasped as the whole floor and the walls were stained red and she smelled of something she recognized too well that made her cry.
"No! W-Was he?" She muttered as the door was forcefully opened and a small blur was thrown onto the floor. "AND STAY DOWN THERE YOU DEMON FREAK!" She looked up but only saw the door slam shut and a heard a whimper behind her. She turned around and saw a small child wearing baggy torn sweatpants and a torn shirt that was way too large for him.
"R…Red?" She thought out loud. He had his hair pure white and his body was deathly thin, the clothing making him look minuscule, he looked only about almost a foot tall. "Red, who did this to you?" She tried to touch him but her hands fazed through him. "What?" She said as everything changed around her.
She was now outside when she suddenly heard glass breaking and saw him climbing out the window, glass getting stuck inside his frail body. "Ahh!" He flinched as he struggled to get his foot stuck. Soon he pulled it free and started running like hell.
"Oh my God!" Luna gasped as she saw everything in the bathroom and started to cry as she heard footsteps rushing.
*Later*
Luna balled her hands into fists as she had just quickly went through Rarity's past memories of the day and stormed out, accidentally bumping into Rainbow Dash. "Sorry." She said before seeing her normally pink eyes were red. "What happened?"
"It's a long story." Luna said. "Come with me, I'll tell you along the way." She nodded and followed her.
Rarity was still crying her eyes out from the scene when it changed suddenly. It showed him sleeping in a tree when she saw a little girl wearing boy clothes walking through, she immediately recognized her. "Rainbow Dash?" She said confused as the blue girl looked up at the tree. "Hey!" She shouted, making Red fall out of it and onto his back. "AGH!" He cried out in pain.
"Sorry!" Rainbow Dash panicked as he slowly got back up and fell, holding his leg which was bleeding and had bone sticking out.
The scene changed again and this time she was inside and Red was asleep on a white bed in a small pair of black shorts, showing a great deal of cuts, scars, bruises, burns, and holes, his leg was also in a cast. "Mama, is he gonna be okay?" She heard Rainbow Dash's voice outside the door. "I don't know honey, I'm trying all I can do to help him." She heard who she assumed was her mother.
The scene changed to show Red awake as out of the cast. He now had on a black hoodie and pants as well as an eyepatch. He heard the door open and saw Rainbow Dash enter. "Hi." She greeted.
"Hi." He said nervously as she sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." She cried a bit as he fidgeted a bit. "I-It's okay." He stuttered with a faint blush.
The scene changed and it showed the two outside in a backyard. Red was a bit taller and had gone up a foot in height and his wings were out of his back. "Hey Dashie!" He exclaimed with a smile as he hovered a bit off of the ground. "I'm flying!" He said happily before he fell on his face, making Rainbow Dash giggle. "You okay dude?"
"Yeah." He got back up as he started to fly again, this time he flew up a tree. "Hey! Don't just leave me down here!" Rainbow Dash then started climbing up until they were both at the top. "Hey Red?" She asked. "Yeah?"
"Promise me we'll always be friends…and never forget each other." He then wrapped his arms around her. "How could I forget my best friend." He said, making her blush.
Rarity smiled when she was taken out his memory forcefully and thrusted into a black abyss, where she saw the Red she knew. "You shouldn't be in here Rarity." He said nervously in his quiet tone. "Red." She started.
"Just go, please…" He whispered before she suddenly wrapped her arms around him. "No, I won't leave." She said. "I'm so, so sorry dear…no one should ever go through what I…what I went through, neither should you."
"Just go, leave me here!" He said a bit louder, his eyes starting to water up as she held him tighter. "No I won't leave you here!" She cried as he struggled. "Please, please just go away and forget about me like everyone else. I hate that damn memory, and I hate my father." He sobbed as she ran her hand gently through his silky hair. "Why?" He cried into her chest. "Why care about me?"
"Do I need a reason to care for a friend?" Rarity asked rhetorically before he remembered something. "D-Did you say what YOU went through?" He asked as she nodded. "You aren't the only one with a terrible father." She spoke as her eyes leaked tears, Red unknowingly hugged her back. "How much of that memory have you seen?" She asked. "Does it matter?" He said. "Whenever I escape, that's when I stop, why?"
"Take me back there, I think you need to see it fully."
"Hey!" Luna shouted in pure rage as she saw the group of assholes that nearly killed him with Rainbow Dash growling behind her. "YOU ASSHOLES!" She grabbed two of them by the throat and held them against the wall. "Rainbow stop!" Luna exclaimed, making her turn her head.
"I GET FIRST CRACK!" She yelled as she tackled them. One of them was braver than the rest and swing a chair at them, however the chair slipped out of his hand and floated in the air with a rainbow colored aura around it. "Oooooh you guys are so in for it now!" Rainbow taunted as Luna cracked her neck and lifted the guy with the switchblade by his throat.
*Later*
Five of the six men were unconscious on the ground with broken bones and tons of bruises while the main one was still in Luna's hand. "This is for nearly killing my COUSIN!" She roared.
'C-Cousin!?' He thought in panic before she gave him a nasty head-butt, knocking him out and breaking his nose. 'Normally, I don't condone violence.' Celestia thought. 'But I'll let this slide.'
'Thank you sis!' Luna mentally cheered while she panted. "Man I'm beat. And I'm hungry!" She said with a smile as her stomach growled. "Your mood just took a full 180." Rainbow Dash deadpanned.
"I'm sorry." Red said sadly. 'Damn it Dad!' He thought angrily as he and Rarity had just seen the entire memory line, with it ending with his father finding him, casting a memory spell on him and Dashie's family, and him about to get a knife in the throat. He cried as the black abyss around them faded and started turning white.
"It's ok dear, none of this was your fault." Rarity replied as the two started to fade away.
Red groaned as he woke up on a bed, his body in no pain. "Wha?" was all he got out when two tight pairs of arms wrapped around him. "Rarity?" He said in a muffled voice. "She's fine." Rainbow said as she cried.
"What happened?" He groaned. "It's a long story." Luna answered as she ran a hand through his hair. "Rainbow Dash, you should get to class." She said as said girl nodded but didn't want to leave.
*Later*
Rainbow Dash slowly walked through the busy hall still thinking about Red as she entered her biology class. 'Red.' She thought as a small tear fell from her eyes. "Dashie?" She turned around and saw FlutterShy standing there looking worried. "Hey Flutters." She said sadly to her. "What's wrong?"
"Red." She responded while looking away. "Please tell me." FlutterShy asked while taking a seat next to her. She sighed and told her everything that had happened in the past hour. This made her cry silently as both girls were now hugging each other. "Alright class quiet down." The teacher said as they quickly let go of each other and people entered.
*Geo*
Geo was currently in the cafeteria eating lunch and staring at the six dudes on the ground. "The hell happened here?" He wondered out loud. "You missed an epic beat down man!" Someone told him. "Yeah, Luna and the resident jock kicked their asses."
'Huh that's interesting.' He thought.
*Class*
The biology teacher droned on while Rainbow Dash stared out the window and sighed. 'I hate school.' She thought as the next to last bell rang. "All that's left is History then Music." She sad to herself as she left, but soon was grabbed on the shoulder by Twilight. "Wait a minute!" She said as she faced Rainbow Dash. "You have some explaining to do Rainbow."
"Ok fine."
*Rarity*
Said girl was slowly opening her eyes and gave a yawn, alerting the two others who woke up as well. "Hey." He said.
"Red!" She sat up and went over to hug him, except he was wrapped up in Luna's overprotective grasp. "Luna…can't…breathe!" He groaned. "Sorry." She sweat dropped as she let him go allowing him to breathe and gasp for air. Later Red decided to go to his next class, but there was one problem. "Luna you can let go of me now."
"Oh right hehehehe sorry." She blushed as she quickly let go with an embarrassed laugh as he walked off and for some reason shuddered.
*Class*
Rainbow Dash walked down the hall into the History classroom and shook a bit. 'I got a bad feeling about this.' She thought when she saw something that warmed up her chest, or rather, someone. "Hey Red." She said sadly as he walked up to her. "Hi." He spoke softly when she wrapped her arms around him and cried gently. "Red I'm so sorry!"
"It's alright Dashie."
"No it isn't!" She cried over him as he wrapped his arms around her. "Just let it out." He comforted as she cried harder. Red ran his hand through her hair and kissed her. "Never do that again."
"I won't Love, I promise." He said as the bell rang and they sat down. Soon the teacher walked in along with the other students. Red saw the teacher didn't look pleasant. His black hair was slicked back, his eyes were grey and he was in a pure black suit.
"Alright class." He said in a deep voice that sent chills down everyones spines. 'This guy rubs me the wrong way.' Red thought.
*30 minutes later*
The teacher passed out papers with his magic. "You all have 20 minutes to complete this test." He told them. "Begin!"
*20 Minutes Later*
Red set his pen down as he finished his work and looked up. Soon the alarm rang. "Times up." He said as he took back the papers from everyone. The bell rang and the students got up and started to leave for their last class while Red also looked very angry because he left a few minutes after everyone else. "Fucking ass!" He grunted.
"What's wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It's nothing." He moved his eyes from hers.
"You liar." She raised an eyebrow. "Fine, it's that teacher." He sighed.
"What about him?"
"He's a fucking racist, that's all."
"What!?" She said. "He didn't hold back with any insults towards me and started to threaten me. He would've kept going if…"
"If what?" She raised an eyebrow. "If the bell didn't the ring." He lied as he walked off with her right behind him. "Red!" She raised her voice a bit before standing in front of him and using every mans weakness; puppy-dog eyes.
"Errrr." He groaned. "Fine, I'll tell you when we get to the dorm." He said, making her smile and kiss him.
*Music Room*
"Okay everyone settle down!" The teacher spoke as she got everyones attention. Red noticed that the entire music room was also made up of multiple rooms, a few being recording studios. 'Cool!' He thought as he took his seat which was next to a girl with skin almost as white as his and neon blue hair. She wore a white tank top, a blue jacket, black punk jeans, leather boots, and black shades with some headphones around her neck. Geo walked in having arrived late and took his seat next to Red. "Geo where were you?" Red asked, making the girl look at them. "Eh, forgot something in class."
"Now then everyone pick your instruments." She said as everyone did so except for Red, who the blue haired girl noticed went into one of the larger rooms that had several instruments. "Yes, guitar!" Geo said excitedly as he walked back but bumped into the blue haired girl knocking her over. "I'm so sorry!" He sweat dropped. "It's alright." She said with a smile as she got back up. "You're name wouldn't be Geo would it?"
"Yeah why?" She smiled and reached into her pocket, pulling out a papier-mâché star with a V on it. Seeing it caused a spark to go off in his brain and make him grip his head in pain. "V?" He said quietly. She gave a nod and her smile increased. She went over and hugged him for a split second.
"I missed you Geo." She said with a small blush as he smiled. "I missed you too V, so where's Octavia?" He asked. "She's in another class." She said. "Let's go play some music." She said when they all heard a soft guitar strum inside one of the other rooms. They went to said room and Geo saw Red sitting in a chair holding a guitar while sending out waves of blue magic that went into the instruments around him.
Hello darkness, my old…friend
I've come to talk with you again…
He sang in his soft voice, which everyone slowly heard.
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision…that was planted…in my brain
Still remains…
Within the sound…of silence.
Geo smiled and lifted up his guitar, playing along.
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone…
Red saw him in the corner of his eye and smiled a bit.
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound…of silence.
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared…
Disturb the sound…of silence.
Many of the other students were crying from his voice, mainly the girls. "Is he an angel?" One asked when Red's voice actually got louder and his magic unconsciously making instruments around the whole music room play by themselves.
Fools, said I, you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells…of silence! His voice kept changing from loud to quiet.
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon God they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds…of silence.
Red finished in his normal quiet voice as the crowd clapped for him and Red underneath his hood had a very large blush on his face. "Wow you were amazing!" The teacher praised while Luna and Rainbow Dash were still crying. "Did you know he could sing?"
"No." She said with a smile. Hell, Pinkie Pie was actually sitting still and crying from the performance. 'That was amazing!' She and Twilight thought just as the bell rang and people slowly left the room.