//------------------------------// // Part 9: Close Friends // Story: You've Been Acting Strange These Last Few Days // by sethbramwell //------------------------------// Part Nine: Close Friends Neon’s home laid just ahead on the road. Finally… Vinyl thought as she walked to the door and, unable once again to summon her magic for some reason, pushed the door open. Neon was standing in the front room and his gaze fell upon her as he raised his sunglasses to look directly at her. “Hello, Vinyl.” “Hey, Neon,” Vinyl replied, trying to sound carefree. “Listen, is Doc around? I need to-“ “No.” Neon replied simply, firmly. Vinyl cocked her head. “No? Well, when will he be back?” “He won’t, Vinyl.” The response was again firm, factual, and even a bit cold. Vinyl was unnerved by Neon’s manner. In the past, she had seen that talented pony happy, sad, angry, stressed… but never like this. “What? But- but we’re not even done with-“ “I know what’s been going on, Vinyl.” Vinyl raised a hoof to remove her sunglasses, finding the motion extremely hard to do given the soreness in her muscles. “What did you say?” she asked as her eyes studied his. “The pills. I know Duke gave them to you. I know that’s how you’ve been so involved in the project. It’s how you’ve been able to stay awake for so long.” The tone no longer sounded so cold. Now it just seemed regretful. “I…” Vinyl began, wondering how to respond. “I don’t know what you mean-“ “I also know what you did to Octavia.” Vinyl’s sunglasses slipped from her hoof and hit the floor as she began to tremble and walked slowly to the couch. “Neon… I… I didn’t want to hurt her.” Her eyes looked to the floor as she spoke, ashamed to meet Neon’s gaze. Her hooves covered her eyes as she felt the tears begin to fall. “I swear to Luna, I didn’t want to,” she sobbed as her voice choked with emotion. Neon sat next to his friend and offered his foreleg around her. “I know, Vinyl. I know.” Vinyl looked up. “How can I even face her? She must hate me…” “Vinyl, she came to me because she was so worried about you. We spoke just this morning… All she wants is the old you back.” Vinyl again looked to the floor. “I don’t get it. How could I even have done that to Tavi…” “It’s that stuff.” Neon replied. “Trust me, I know. I never would have left you alone with Duke if I’d known he was still using it…” Neon paused for a moment before continuing. “I’ve been there, Vinyl.” The words came softly, a pained admission of his own past. Vinyl’s eyes met his. “What?” she asked in surprise. “Before I came to Ponyville. Back in the day with Duke when we ran together. I’d be up for days on end with him, working clubs and creating. We hit the night scenes in Manehattan, Chicolto, Las Pegasus…” Neon’s words cut off mid sentence as he was taken back to hazy memories of those partying days. He closed his eyes as he continued. “But I was changing. And I hated it. I was terrible to so many ponies, even to Duke, not that he cared. I had to get out, so I left.” “You just quit?” Vinyl asked, feeling the faintest glimmer of hope. “How did you even… I just think about it and I feel like I’m going crazy…” Neon took on a grim expression. “I won’t spread manure for you, Vinyl. It was lousy…” Again, Neon paused as he considered just what to tell her. “No, no, it was worse than lousy. It was Tartarus.” Vinyl looked to him with scared eyes. “I don’t know if I can do it.” She said softly. Neon swallowed hard and looked to his friend. “You have a choice, Vinyl. If you really think you can’t…” Again, a pause as Neon prayed to Celestia his next words wouldn’t backfire horribly. He took a deep breath in as he spoke, “…then follow Duke back to Coltarado. You’ll hit the big time. With him around… doors will open for you that will never open here.” Vinyl’s eyes opened wide in disbelief that she was hearing this. “But…” Neon continued, “…no matter what you might find out there, whatever you experience, whatever fame you achieve… It has a price, Vinyl. Yours could be Octavia.” Vinyl’s lips quivered. What kind of sadistic choice was this? “I think I already paid that price…” she began, her pained mind searching for the answer that would determine the rest of her life. “No, I don’t think so. Not yet. She’s scared. She’s worried. If she didn’t give two bits about you, do you think she’d even care enough to talk to me?” The DJ looked to her friend with lost eyes as she leaned into him, his signature tie filling her line of vision as she whispered. “I don’t want to lose her, Neon. I’m so scared… What if I’m not strong enough to…” “Lean on her, Vinyl. She’s there for you. She doesn’t want to lose you either… and that’s more than I had when I quit. You can do this.” Neon felt his friend’s forelegs wrap around him in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry I put you in this situation.” He whispered as he returned the hug. The pair sat together until they both drifted off to sleep, both emotionally exhausted from the crazed morning. ***** Pezzo sat in her bedroom with her cello, practicing just as she had been ordered. The music filled the room as she played through the second chair pieces first, then, reluctantly, Octavia’s sections and solos. She had just started a practice of the third solo when she heard the loud knock. She leaned the cello against her bed and walked to the door. Octavia stood outside, her cello case at her hooves. Her eyes were red from crying and her cheek was swollen. Pezzo had never seen her friend look like this, and she quickly led her inside to the small kitchen table, where Octavia sat as she retrieved a bottle of water for Octavia and herself. She sat across from her and looked to the first chair cellist’s eyes. “Octi… What in Equestria happened?” Octavia took a steadying breath and recapped the previous night’s confrontation, the morning meeting with Neon, and even the run-in with Ponyakov as calmly as she could. “I tried so hard to just go home and focus on practicing, just to occupy my mind with something, anything else… But I couldn’t. I could swear I felt Vinyl watching me, waiting for something…” The grey mare looked to the table as she traced her hoof idly on the surface. “I don’t know what. I just don’t know anymore.” Pezzo looked to the table. “Do you know where Vinyl is right now?” “I don’t. She was gone this morning, and she wasn’t home when I got back… I don’t think she’d even been back at all-“ Octavia paused as she looked to her friend with desperation. “Pezzo… I really don’t want to be home alone right now. All I can do is worry about Vinyl, and at the same time I’m afraid she’ll come home and be angry again…” Pezzo looked to her friend with a small smile. “You know you can stay here if you want to.” Octavia smiled with gratitude. “Thank you.” She said in a near whisper. “Besides, I could use the practice time with the first chair.” Pezzo said with a wink as she motioned to Octavia’s cello case by the door. The grey mare turned to look at the case holding her instrument, her solace for so many years since fillyhood. “I believe you mean second chair cellist…” she said softly. Pezzo simply rolled her eyes. “Or…” Pezzo began as Octavia turned her head back to face her, “I suppose since you brought your cello we could always just jam.” This elicited the smallest of chuckles from Octavia as she finally showed a genuine smile of amusement, the first in days. “Jam?” she replied with a joking indignant tone. “What do you take me for, a street musician?” “Mm, I don’t know.” Pezzo replied teasingly as her voice took on an exaggerated Appleloosian drawl. “Now jes’ what do you play on that there giant fiddle again?” Now the grin was bigger. This was a teasing dance they had done many a time before a rehearsal. Pezzo was probably the only pony in all of Equestria that she would let get away with it. Well, Pezzo and perhaps- “You know perfectly well, madam, that I am every bit a classically trained musician,” came the sophisticated, haughty response before she could even finish the thought. “Now there’s the Octi I know.” Pezzo grinned. “Well, shucks then,” she continued, lost again in the faked accent as she rose and walked to her room, reappearing a moment later with her own cello, “Classical, huh? T’aint nothin’ like a good hoedown, but ah guess ah can accommodate ya.” The genuine, albeit weary grin never left Octavia’s face as she retrieved her own cello and bow and stood next to her colleague. “Well, then, Miss Pizzicato, shall we begin?” “But of course, dearie!” came the reply, still in the over the top accent. Relaxed at last, Octavia took a breath and ran her bow over the strings of her beloved instrument and finally, for the first time that day, heard not simply notes, but music. The two musicians continued their rehearsal for the next several hours, with Octavia insisting that they swap sections each time to ensure equal practice from the both of them for both chair positions. By the time they finished, she was finally feeling more like the confident, skilled musician she knew herself to be. Exhausted but happy, Octavia cased her cello and collapsed on the couch. “Thank you, Pezzo. I needed to have a good rehearsal…” Her mind suddenly reminded her of a grim reality. “… even if I won’t be performing those solos.” Pezzo looked to her with annoyed amusement. “You really need to put more faith in good fortune, Octi. You play those pieces so perfectly, Ponyakov has to see it at tomorrow’s rehearsal. Besides, it’s not like he has a lot of time to bully me into doing it better.” Octavia looked at her, slightly confused until she realized the date. With all that had happened, it had slipped her mind completely that the Command Performance was set for the day after next. The realization hit her with a wave of surprise as her eyes opened wide. “Oh Celestia, it is nearly here, isn’t it?” Pezzo could just smile as she stretched and yawned. “C’mon, I’ll buy you dinner.” she finished as she trotted into the kitchen and prepared some barley soup, her favorite. The two friends shared the peaceful meal as Octavia looked around Pezzo’s home, relishing the fact that she wasn’t in a room full of reminders of the last few weeks of worry. ***** The front door creaked open slowly under Vinyl’s hoof. Sweet Luna, it was hard to remember to actually use her hoof and not start up the dull throbbing under her horn. She suddenly had a whole new appreciation for all that Earth ponies dealt with all day long. Vinyl had woken up on Neon’s couch after having slept for Luna knows how long - it certainly was more comfortable than the park bench - and had, after encouragement and prodding, finally taken her friend’s advice and gone home to talk to Tavi and hopefully, maybe, start to make it up to her. Just as she had done hours before that day, Vinyl entered the house calling for Tavi. Just as before, nothing but silence greeted her. The music stand was still set up in the living room, but it was the only sign that Tavi had been there at all. The kitchen, both bedrooms… the whole house was deserted. Somehow Vinyl managed to collect her thoughts enough to realize there was one crucial missing piece to the puzzle besides Tavi – her cello. Vinyl knew her friend well enough to know that she did not lightly carry that cello around just anywhere – it was to Tavi what Vinyl’s decks were to her. Wherever she had gone, she had gone with a purpose. Vinyl rubbed her throbbing head as she wandered to her room and sat on the bed. Vinyl tried to imagine where her friend could be; did she have a rehearsal, a concert? What was that she had mentioned a while ago about some important thing involving Luna? Her thoughts were in too much of a whirlwind to make any semblance of sense as she lay back and let out a deep breath. Her eyes peered out her door to the far end of the hallway where Tavi’s bedroom door remained open, only serving to remind her of just how empty the house truly was. Overwhelmed, Vinyl closed her eyes as her stomach growled and she suddenly realized she had not eaten all day. Oh, who even cares… was her lone thought as she slipped into unconsciousness. Vinyl found herself floating in a dark void. Nothingness surrounded her, and all was silent save for a faintest trace of a familiar sound. Vinyl strained to hear it more clearly before finally recognizing it as the undeniable sound of Tavi’s cello. The white unicorn kicked at the void until Tavi finally came into sight, facing her with closed eyes as she focused on making her cello sing the ancient melody. Her cheek still looked swollen and red, but her expression was serene, blissful. “Tavi! Hey, Tavi!” Vinyl called out as her voice echoed eerily in the blackness. Her friend’s eyes remained closed as she continued to work the bow on the strings and gave no indication she had heard anything at all. Desperately, Vinyl flailed on until she was close enough to place a hoof on her shoulder. “Tavi, I’m so sorry-“ Now her friend’s eyelids snapped open to reveal blood-red eyes that narrowed as the stringed instrument fell silent. Her words came in a low, rumbling growl. “Go to Tartarus, Vinyl. You are nothing to me now. Nothing!” Octavia placed the bow in the grip of her mouth before shoving the DJ away roughly with a grunt and, bow in hoof once more, resuming her playing. Vinyl fell back weightlessly across the void as she continued to plead, to apologize, to beg for forgiveness – until she felt a pair of hooves on her from behind and heard a voice that jumped up and down in pitch as it echoed in the void. “Don’t worry about her, Deej. You don’t need that uptight mule. All you need…” Vinyl felt herself being forcibly turned to face Doc, his magenta eyes glowing malevolently through the dark lenses on his sunglasses, “… is the secret!” With that Doc released her and, now anything but weightless, she plummeted into a pit filled with Doc’s tablets. The pit was like quicksand, and Vinyl just sank deeper as she tried to flail her way out. She could hear Doc laughing gleefully as he floated far above her. “To success, Deej! To success!” Opposite Doc, Octavia still floated in the void, her cello playing a mournful tune. “TAAAAAAAAAVIIIIIIIIIIII!” Vinyl cried out before choking on the torrent of tablets that filled her screaming mouth as Doc continued to laugh and chant over and over, “SUCCESS! SUCCESS! SUCCESS!” Vinyl felt her strength leave her as she sank down below the top layer of tablets into blackness, the acrid taste filling her consciousness... “NO!” Vinyl screamed as she jolted awake in her bed, panting and sweating like she had run a marathon. Her mouth hung open as she looked around the dark room before focusing her gaze on Tavi’s still-open bedroom door across the hall. She felt her eyes grow moist and her lips quiver as she called to the darkness in a trembling voice, “T- Tavi? Tavi? Tavi!” Hearing no response, Vinyl fell back on her bed as she sobbed pitifully, speaking to the darkness as if Tavi could hear her somehow, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please, Tavi, please. Please come home…”