Part 5 Something’s Missing
Vinyl rolled over in her bed, blinking furiously at the bright sunlight. Ugh… Her sunglasses flew to her eyes as the headphones she had fallen asleep with slipped from her ears to the bed. Much better… For just a moment, Vinyl could swear that she heard a shriek that seemed oddly familiar, but when she reached the window and looked outside all she saw was a rainbow trail speeding into the sky with a cloud behind it. That Rainbow Dash nut is at it again… she thought as she picked up her MP3 player and saw the battery was dead from playing all night. With a yawn, she plugged it in to charge, also connecting it to her speaker tower. She was about to hit play when she suddenly wondered if Octavia was up yet. Tavi… Vinyl’s mind played back a scene, a scene with Tavi trying to talk to her and Vinyl simply screaming at her friend. Was that real? Did that happen? Hm.
With a magical aura, her door handle opened and Vinyl stepped into the hallway. Tavi’s bedroom door at the far end of the hall was open, and Vinyl started toward it. The bed was a mess; Octavia must have just woken up. She was probably fussing with her mane or her bowtie before making the bed. “Tavi?” she called as she approached the doorway. “Hey, uh, listen, about last night, did I come home and start yelling-“ Vinyl’s words stopped short when she saw the room was not occupied. “Tavi?” Vinyl called, stepping toward the attached restroom. The door was open, and nopony was inside. Turning to the bedroom, Vinyl was surprised to note the mess on the floor composed of blankets, a wrinkled bowtie and collar, and a mane brush that looked like it had fallen from Tavi’s vanity.
Worry started to overtake Vinyl. This mess was so not like Octavia. As she looked to the unmade bed, her mind played back another memory, of Tavi standing in Vinyl’s room and pointing to her neatly made (Who the hay did THAT?) bed. Of course, Tavi had made her bed, but why? Why would she even go in her bedroom? Vinyl knew her mess made Tavi uncomfortable, and that the uptight musician avoided it whenever possible. Why would she- “Where have you been? You’ve been gone for days on end the last couple of weeks-“Octavia’s voice rang in her dull memory as Vinyl tried to piece together what had been going on upon her arrival home. Tavi had been worried… worried about her being gone? Worried about her not sleeping?
This sucks. Vinyl thought as she walked from Tavi’s bedroom and entered the front room. The DJ wandered to the kitchen, again calling her friend’s name to no reply. It didn’t even look like anypony had eaten breakfast. Octavia was obviously not here, and Vinyl shrugged. Her head hurt. Using her magic, Vinyl opened the fridge and pulled a gallon jug of apple cider out. She lifted the jug to her lips and drank –a habit Tavi absolutely despised despite Vinyl’s offer to wipe the mouth of the jug off- and let out a loud burp after swallowing. Now she was certain Octavia wasn’t home- There was simply no way Tavi would just ignore that epic belch. Vinyl sat at the table with the jug and drank some more. The strong flavor helped her to become a bit more alert, though she was still at a loss for what all had occurred between the two friends last night. GET THE TARTARUS OUT! That screamed statement echoed in her head. Had she said that? Vinyl dreaded that she had.
With a cough, she rose from the table and walked to the living room. Vinyl vaguely recalled coming home and leaving her record bag on Tavi’s cello case, but the bag was now on the floor and the case was missing. Vinyl coughed again and her head throbbed. One clear memory of the night before suddenly flashed in her mind… a little extra something special from the Doctor… a bag of extra special stuff that he gave her and told her was awesome for a rapid pick me up. He had proceeded to take one then and there, and perked up with so much energy. She had been too tired and envious of Neon (who had wandered off to bed hours before) for the fact that he was sleeping in a real bed, and so Doc had just dropped the baggie into her saddlebag. Vinyl hazily remembered how Doc had grinned at her and said something about how she’d thank him in the morning. With a shrug, Vinyl figured being awake one way or another could only help, and she reached into the left saddle bag. The baggie was not there. Next she checked the right saddle bag. The baggie wasn’t there either. Vinyl began to worry as she pulled record after record out of each saddlebag, becoming more and more frantic with her search until she was throwing her beloved vinyl discs behind her. The saddlebags emptied, Vinyl now levitated the bag upside down, but nothing fell from it. Manure! Where the buck are they??? Frustrated, Vinyl gave up on her magic and elected to grab the bags with her teeth, shaking them violently in order to shake out something, anything, but it was pointless. The saddlebags fell to the floor as Vinyl tried to think. The baggie was there, I saw it when I put the bag down on Tavi’s- The DJ’s eyes went wide as she realized. Octavia! You flocking mule!
Vinyl furiously narrowed her eyes and ran to her room, nearly stepping on several records in the process. With a growl, she shoved her hoof under her mattress and retrieved the amber container Doc had given her as she was getting ready to leave that late night nearly four weeks prior. The stuff from last night was special, sure, but these babies hadn’t let them down yet. They were what the Doctor called his “secret weapon”, and that weapon worked better than anypony could imagine. The two of them could keep working for hours, even a couple days, straight without stopping. The music they created all those late nights while Neon crashed out- It was amazing stuff. Vinyl once very nearly offered one of the tablets to Neon, but Doc had pulled her aside and warned her against it.
Can’t let just anypony in on the secret to success, kiddo. Neon’s great, but he just doesn’t have IT. You do, Deej. I could tell from the first time I heard that remix. He had raised his sunglasses then, something Vinyl noticed he hardly did while working unless absolutely necessary, and gave her a look of sincerity with those awesome magenta eyes. You’re gonna be huge when this breaks, Vinyl (the first time he had addressed her by her true name since learning of her stage name). You’re riding a rocket to fame, and soon it won’t just be Ponyville anymore. You’re gonna take on the world, kid. With that, he lowered his sunglasses back over his eyes and turned to tell Neon to get some rest, that they’d keep working just a bit longer and then crash. Neon had yawned and shuffled off to his room, the door closing behind him. With him out of sight, the Doctor had produced two red capsules and put one in his mouth while Vinyl put hers in her mouth. Doc washed the capsule down with a gulp of cider before looking to her. Here’s to success, Deej!
D’awwwww Yeah! Vinyl had replied after a satisfying cider belch.
Now Vinyl trotted to the kitchen table where she had left the beverage, the vial levitating and following her. One capsule flew from the container to her mouth, and she took a long drink. She felt the cool, tangy cider pour down her throat, taking her little secret weapon with it. Vinyl almost immediately felt better, at least until she looked to the living room and saw what she had done to her records. Oh, Luna! My albums! Vinyl felt her adrenalin rising as she quickly cleaned up the mess, levitating the records from the living room floor to the shelf in her room and replacing them in her saddlebags with different ones for today’s work. With despair, she realized at least four records were lost forever as they had cracked after being thrown or inadvertently stepped on, including a very expensive copy of Killer Kolt Blaine’s club remix of the classic Red-Eyed Stallion with No Name.
This is all Octavia’s fault. If she hadn’t taken that baggie- Well, no time to worry about it now. That uptight mule was always insisting Vinyl replace her things that were broken (purely by accident!), and now it would be her turn. I hope she has enough bits to find a new one, Vinyl thought with a scowl as she levitated her headphones and MP3 player to her saddlebags and galloped out the door and off to Neon’s home/studio space. It was a good distance, but Vinyl felt like she could run faster than anypony with the rush she was riding from the tablet. It was a good feeling, and only one thing could make it better. She skidded to a halt and positioned the headphones on her ears. She galloped the rest of the way with the sick Dubstep beats pounding in her ears and a blissful smile on her face, almost putting the damaged albums out of her mind.
“Deej! Great to see you!” Duke beamed when he opened the door and was greeted with her smiling face. “C’mon in, Neon ran out to grab us some food.”
Vinyl stepped inside, already feeling tons better. “Thanks, Doc. So did you ever sleep last night?” she grinned as she levitated her saddlebags to the table.
The Doctor just chuckled. “Eh, a couple hours. Just enough to rest my eyes and ears, then it’s back at the game. So did you try the new ones I gave you?”
Vinyl shifted nervously. “Uh, about that, Doc… I got in last night and dropped my bags right when I got in, my friend was waiting for me and was all over my case and I just wanted to sleep-“
“Deej, what’s your point?” Duke asked the babbling pony.
“Well, she got up first today and I think she took the baggie from my bags…” Vinyl replied with a sheepish grin.
Duke’s sunglasses raised and those magenta eyes looked to Vinyl with a dangerous glint. His voice suddenly lost its friendly tone. “I told you to be careful with those. They’re my trade secret, Scratch.”
Vinyl swallowed hard, intimidated. She couldn’t even remember the last time anypony had addressed her by her last name only. “Uh, well, hey, nothing to worry about, Doc...” Vinyl smiled nervously. “I mean, Tavi’s so uptight she- she probably just wanted to make sure they were safe or- or something…”
Duke’s eyes narrowed ever more. For the first time, Vinyl realized just how menacing they could be. “That better be all that’s happened.” He growled.
At that moment, the front door opened and Neon stepped inside with two bags of food. Duke’s sunglasses fell back into place and his voice was instantly upbeat. “’bout time, Neon! We’re starving, aren’t we, Deej?”
Vinyl merely looked from Duke to Neon before finding her voice, albeit very shakily. “Uh- yeah, yeah, I’m- I’m really- Make with the grub, man!”
Neon set the bags down and started to remove and pass around the food. “Vinyl, you all right?” he asked, concerned about the odd tone she was taking.
The Doctor’s head turned to look at her, and Vinyl could swear she saw those eyes glowing through the dark blue lenses. “Yeah, Deej, you feeling OK?” The words dripped with a subtle, implied threat.
“Yeah- Yeah, Just- Just hungry…” She grabbed at her stomach and tried her best to act. “Ohhh, my stomach’s growling like a bass beat! C’mon, Neon, pass the food already!” Vinyl finished quickly, avoiding Duke’s stare.
Neon looked at her with a little confusion before passing her a hayburger and fries. Vinyl levitated it to her mouth and took a bite, desperately trying to appear casual as Duke’s eyes finally turned away and he took a long drink from the cup Neon had passed him.
Oh, Luna. What is going on here… she thought desperately.