Persona 4: Golden Music

Chapter Twelve

Backside of The TV

[Early Morning, Streets of Inaba]

“I still can’t get over what happened last night.” Vinyl said as the two made their way to school. “I mean, I can understand if the TV was magical or something. But I didn’t sense any magic coming off it. And from what I know. Humans can’t do magic like I can.”

“You don’t think that we might be the cause of that do you? We aren’t exactly something you would see here in this place.” Octavia said as she felt rain starting to fall down from the sky. She was about to use the umbrella that Nanako gave her, but stopped upon seeing Vinyl using her magic to create a dome around them. “You sure you should be using your magic like that? Aren’t you worried that you might not be able to use your magic so long as we’re in this...place? World? I don’t even know anymore.”

“World actually. From what I can gather from that book King Moron gave, we’re on a planet called Earth. Which is home to a crap ton of humans, different races, culture, etc. They’re almost similar to us for the most part.”

“....Okay, one. I’m freaking out internally due to knowing that we’re in a different world. I’m not showing because we’re outside, and I prefer not to look crazy like you do.”

“Hey, that only happens...fifty-five percent of the time.”

“Second, how is it that you can stay focused on learning something like that here, but when it comes to Equestria stuff you’re a foal that loses interest with a toy?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because it’s interesting to read stuff like this then stuff in Equestria that revolves around Friendship and Magic of friendship twenty-four seven...it’s can be annoying to hear that every bucking day, you know?”

“....Point taken...Did what you read make any sense as to how you could have your arm sink through the screen of the TV?”

“So far, no. But we’ll have to look into that once we can get our hands on a device called a computer.”

“And where can we get one of those? Not to mention, we don’t have bits to buy it, remember?”

“No, but we know a certain police man that can help us~”

“Right, Mr. Dojima did say he would help us with the money situation. I'm sure he hasn’t forgotten about that given how he’s been busy with work.”

“I’m sure he’ll talk to us when he’s not busy. For now, let’s just focus on trying to survive here and find our way back home.” Vinyl said as she heard someone running up behind her and Octavia. She turns around to see Chie running past the two, only to pause as she doesn't feel the rain fall on her as she looks up to see that magical dome.

“Whoa! How is that even possible!?” Chie asked as she looked over at Vinyl and Octavia.

“You can thank Vinyl for that.” Octavia said as she pointed at Vinyl’s horn which was glowing.

“Unicorn magic for the win. It’s very helpful when it comes to stuff like this.” Vinyl said as she watched Chie stretch her hand outside of the barrier before pulling her hand back in.

“Man, you guys are something. I wasn’t expecting something like this to be a real thing...I’m not dreaming am I?” The human asked as Vinyl pinched her shoulder. “Ow! What was that for?”

“Just making sure you weren’t dreaming~” The unicorn said, only for Octavia to smack her upside her head.

“Sorry for Vinyl’s rude behavior. She tends to do things like this when someone asks that.”

“It’s fine. I’m a bit glad that your friend can do something like this with her magic.” Chie said as she tried to knock off some of the rainwater that fell on herself. “I did have my own umbrella, but I saw this kung fu movie where they used an umbrella to pull off some sweet moves...and...well….I accidentally broke mine trying to mimic the movie.”

“...Reminds me of the time Vinyl broke the face of a statue of Princess Celestia.”

“In my defense...that statue was ugly looking anyway.” Vinyl said as Octavia deadpanned at her.

“Oh, before I forget. Did you two see it?” Chie asked which caused Vinyl and Octavia to look at her with confused expressions on their faces. “You know, the thing we were talking about yesterday. That Midnight Channel.”

“Oh right, yeah we saw it...and let’s just...we have a lot to talk about.” Vinyl said as Chie placed a finger to her own lips.

“Let’s save the conversation for when the others are around. We’re gonna be late for school if we talk about it now.”

“I wouldn’t worry about being late for school.” Vinyl said as her horn began to glow. “You might want to turn your head to the side.”

“What do you mean by-” Before she could finish, she along with Vinyl and Octavia were teleported within seconds as they appeared near the entrance of the school. Chie blinked for a moment before feeling her stomach turn as she soon vomited off to the side. “W-What the hell just happened!?”

“I figure we get to school quickly by teleporting to school….matter of fact. Maybe we should do that more than just walk.” Vinyl said as she looked over at Chie who vomited again. “Sorry, I should've warned you about the one time side effect for non-unicorns being teleported.”

“Ugh, well there goes my breakfast.” Chie said before noticing how she quickly recovered from feeling sick. “Huh...I don’t feel sick like before.”

“Yeah, the effect of being sick after being teleported only lasts for a good few seconds.” Octavia said as she walked over to the human and handed her a handkerchief to wipe the bile off her mouth. “As an apology for what Vinyl did, she’ll get you something to eat during lunch time.”

“Wait what? Why do I have to do it?” Vinyl asked as the earth pony deadpans at her causing the unicorn to flinch by her expression. “Fine, I’ll give her my lunch when I head back home. I’ll just eat the grass around here or whatever.” Before Chie could say anything, the school bell rang as they noticed some of the students making their way inside of the school.

“We better head inside before we’ll be late for class. Don’t want King Moron to lecture us with one of his boring old lectures.” Chie said before rushing off to class.

“Come along Vinyl. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to get yelled at by our homeroom teacher.” Octavia said as Vinyl rolled her eyes underneath her shades before following after Chie along with Octavia.

[Yasogami High School, After School]

“Humans are so weird.” Vinyl said as she leaned back in her seat. “A lot of this stuff I’m reading is almost similar to how things are back in Equestria. Well the names of certain towns and cities, they can’t use magic like we can, and we have magical items and stuff in Equestria that work.”

“It’s kinda scary when you think about it. But it’s also interesting that they have a lot of people that play such lovely music. Nice of the teacher to give me a sample of it for us to listen to...This might give me some idea for me to write up a few new songs for ponies back home to listen to.”

“I guess….wait...does this place have music of my kind?”

“...No.”

“Oh come on. Can you imagine if they have the music I’m looking for?”
“I can and it’s a horrible thought. It was bad enough when you made the dishwasher into a wubwasher. We don’t need you with more ammunition to make almost everything with wubs.”

“It wasn’t so bad.”

“You blew up half of our home.”

“....Like I said. It wasn’t so bad.” Vinyl said as Octavia was about to say something, only for her to pause as she and the DJ pony heard Yosuke’s voice from behind.

“Y-Yo, um...It’s, uh, it’s not really that important...well, yesterday on TV, I…” He said as the two mares noticed a nervous expression on his face. “Never mind. Look, I’ll tell you two later. Hehehe…”

“You heard the rumors as well, Yosuke?” Chie asked after walking up to the trio. “Saki-senpai’s supposedly the one who discovered that body.”

“I wonder if that’s why she looked so down...She doesn’t seem to be at school today either.” Yosuke said as Octavia nodded.

“It would make sense. Not many can stomach something like that. Even I couldn’t if I saw something like that out of the blue.” The earth pony said as she shivers a bit. “I’m getting a bit sick just thinking about it.”

“I think I would rather see that, then a decapitated head on a pike.” Vinyl said as it caused everyone to shiver at the thought of that. “Celestia that would cause an even bigger uproar in this town.” She said as her ears twitched up hearing a chair being moved. Looking over next to her, she saw Yukiko standing up from her seat and was about to leave, only to stop by Chie speaking to her.

“Hey Yukiko, are you helping at the inn today too?”

“Things are really out of hand right now...I’m sorry.” The girl said before leaving the classroom in a hurry.

“Is it just me, or does Yukiko-san seem way stressed out today?” Yosuke asked as Chie nodded.

“I guess they’re running her ragged.” She said before suddenly realizing something. “Oh, by the way. Did you see...it last night?”

“You mean the Midnight channel?” Octavia asked as Chie nodded. “I take it you saw what was on TV?”

“I did! I seriously saw a girl there! But...my soulmate’s a girl? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Could be that you’ll find love with the same gender~” Vinyl said as she felt Octavia smacked her upside her head. “What!? I’m joking, okay?”

“I couldn’t quite tell who it was, but it was a girl for sure. From what I could see, her hair was brown, about shoulder length. She was also wearing a school uniform.”

“Hey, I think that’s the same person I saw.” Yosuke said as he chimes in onto the conversation. “I couldn’t make out that much detail, though. That image I saw was much blurrier.”

“Wait, so you saw it too!? And we saw the same girl? Does that mean...we have the same soulmate?”

“How should I know?” He said before looking over at Vinyl and Octavia. “How about you two? Did you see it?”

“We both saw the same thing as well. Though that’s not the only thing that happened.” Octavia said as Chie and Yosuke looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the two mares.

“Yeah, I almost got sucked in through the TV. Kind of glad that it was too small for me to fit through though.” Vinyl added as the two humans raised their eyebrows at her.

“It sounds like we all saw the same person. But weird voices aside, what was that about getting sucked into your TV? Were you that tired last night? You must’ve just fallen asleep in front of your TV or something.” Yosuke asked before hearing Chie speak up.

“That’d be one interesting dream, though. I mean, it’s impossible for someone to get stuck in a TV like that.”

“Oh? So it’s impossible for two anthropomorphic ponies to be talking to you two?” Vinyl asked, which caused Chie and Yosuke to look at each other for a moment before looking back at them. “Yeah, I thought so.”

“Vinyl does have a point there. I mean, we shouldn’t even be here in this country. But here we are, having a conversation like it’s nothing.” Octavia said as Chie and Yosuke hesitantly nodded. “Plus both witnessed Vinyl using magic on multiple occasions.”

“You make a valid point...But if what you’re saying is true, then we need to see if this theory is true.” Chie said before looking over at Yosuke. “Does June's sell large flatscreen TVs?”

“Well yeah. Flatscreen TVs are definity in these days. We can head over there and see if what happens to Vinyl happens there as well.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll just teleport us to Junes in a matter of seconds.” Vinyl said as her horn began to glow. “Might want to gather your belongings. Because it takes a good two hours for me to teleport from one place to another in rapid sessions.”

(Junes, Electronics Department)

“DEAR CELESTIA! LOOK AT THIS PLACE!” Vinyl yelled as she was darting around the store at the various electronics being displayed. Specifically the electronics that go to music. “It’s like a bucking gold mine of electronics to modify my wubs!”

“Is she always like this?” Chie asked as Octavia sighs and nodded.

“Sadly, yes. Obviously I should’ve realized that this is the human version of the country of neighpon. Which means that she’ll end up coming here to get what she needs to make her bass cannon...There goes my perfect sleep schedule.” She said before looking over at the white unicorn. “Vinyl get over here! We have more important matters to attend to.”

“What can be more important than this!?” Vinyl asked as she looked over at the earth pony who was deadpanning at her and motions to the giant flatscreen TV next to her and the humans who were touching the screen to the TV. “Oh, right...sorry about that.” She said before walking over to them.

“Nope, can’t get in. Figure.” Yosuke said with disappointment in his voice.

“You sure Vinyl almost fell through into the TV and not just dreamed about it?” Chie asked as Octavia shook her head.

“Again, you're talking to two magical ponies from another country. What more do you need to know that we’re not lying?” Octavia asked as she heard Vinyl speak up.

“Pretty sure they need physical proof about that.” The white unicorn said as she raised her hand up for a moment before placing it onto the screen of the TV. Nothing happened within the next ten seconds, and Yosuke was about to say something. Only for his mouth to drop upon seeing Vinyl’s hand sinking into the TV. “Like this, see? Now do you believe us?”

“H-Her arm...is inside the TV?” Yosuke said, flabbergasted by what he was seeing along with Chie.

“I-Is that some kind of...new model? L-Like with a new function?” Chie asked.

“Hell no! Does this look like some high tech fantasy store or something from an anime!?”

“You gotta be kidding me...Did you really stick your hand through the screen?”

“Holy crap...this is for real...Wait, are you using your magic or something?” Yosuke asked as Vinyl pointed a finger to her horn.

“If I was using my magic, then my horn would be glowing right now.” Vinyl said, which took him and Chie by surprise when the unicorn sticks her head through the screen.

“Vinyl! What are you doing!?” Octavia yelled as she tried to pull her out.

“Dude, there’s nothing here but empty space...kind of spacious in a way!”

“Just like your head, now get out of there you thick headed idiot!”

“Holy crap! I think this is all too much for my bladder.” Yosuke said as she started running in place with his hands on his crotch.

“What the? Are you gonna pee your pants!?” Chie asked with a dumbfounded expression on her face.

“I’ve been holding it all day! I-I haven’t had a chance to go!” He said before running off to the bathroom...only to quickly return to the group. “Shit! Customers! They’re coming!”

“What!? But we got a pony girl half stuck in the TV here!” Chie said as she and Yosuke began to run around in a panic of the situation they’re in. While this was happening, the two humans collided with each other which in turn caused them to trip and fall onto Vinyl and Octavia. Upon feeling them falling onto them, the whole group was soon pushed into the TV as they all screamed in a mix of panic, fear, or excitement as the screen lit up for a moment before returning to normal.