You've Been Acting Strange These Last Few Days

by sethbramwell

Part 8: Neon Sees the Light

Part Eight: Neon Sees the Light

Octavia woke to the sound of her alarm clock buzzing away on the nightstand. She switched it off and sat up in bed, listening for any sound. The events of last night were still so vivid in her mind, she would have almost wondered if the night had really passed if not for the bright sun shining through her window. She didn’t hear any sounds from the house, not even when she walked to the door and pressed her ear to it. She unlocked the door as quietly as she could and opened the door a crack to peek into the hall, as if expecting Vinyl to be waiting with bloodshot eyes to resume where they had left off. Of course, she saw nothing.

Octavia opened the door the rest of the way and saw Vinyl’s bedroom door open at the other end of the hall. With more than a little anxiety, she crept into the bedroom and found it unoccupied. Walking to the front room also revealed nothing, and Octavia wondered where Vinyl was and when she had left, though she noted that her housemate didn’t seem to have taken anything major with her. Even her saddlebags were still on the couch where she had dropped them. Really, the only sign Vinyl had been in the room at all was the jug of cider that still sat on the kitchen table. With a quiet sigh, Octavia put the cap on the jug and placed it back into the refrigerator. As she did so, her eyes fell on the empty amber vial that still rested in the sink and she shook her head sadly. Oh, Vinyl… Where did you- Octavia’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sharp pain in her hoof as she stepped on a piece of the shattered glass. Oh, right… After sitting at the table and removing the offending shard, she silently swept up rest of the mess and disposed of it. A quick glance at the clock told her she had more or less a half hour before she had to leave to meet Neon. The house was so deathly silent as she limped back to her bedroom to get ready to leave.

Just to break the silence, she pulled out a record from her collection; Vladimir Horsewitz in Marescow… a classic, calming performance by an incredibly talented pianist. As Octavia placed the pristine disc on the player, she noted the ridiculously out of place bright red DJ turntable mat on her vintage player and gave a small, bemused smile at how Vinyl, for all of her talent, sometimes just had no clue. The needle was carefully placed on the record, and the beautiful piano music washed over her as she walked to her vanity to get ready. Octavia gasped when she saw her reflection in the mirror. Her cheek was swollen and red from where Vinyl had hit it. She had known it hurt, of course, but she hadn’t actually looked to see it yet. She took a deep breath as she again wondered where Vinyl was at that moment. Her face fell into a sad frown as she brushed her mane and tried with all her will to listen to the music and ignore the dull pain she felt in both her cheek and her heart.

It was shortly after 9:00 when Octavia walked into Stablebucks and saw Neon sitting bored at a table over a steaming cup of coffee. She strolled over. “Hello, Neon. Sorry I’m a bit late.”

Neon looked up. “Ah, don’t worry about-“ His words stopped as his mouth fell open. “Octavia, what happened to you?”

Octavia’s hoof unconsciously reached to her cheek. “Well…” she said with embarrassment.

Neon motioned to the stool. “Sit. What do you want to drink? Let me get it and we’ll talk.”

“Oh- just a Chai Tea, please.” Octavia replied as she sat. It was just a few minutes before Neon returned with a steaming large cup that he set in front of her before sitting down again and looking to her with worry as she took a sip.

“Octavia, who did this?”

Octavia set the cup down and looked to him. Despite his trademark sunglasses, she could swear she saw the concern in his eyes. “Please, Neon. There’s something more important I need to talk about-“

“More important than this?” Neon asked incredulously.

“It’s Vinyl, Neon.”

Neon shook his head. “Oh, Octavia. There’s no need to worry about Vinyl. She’s just been really busy on a project with a DJ who’s visiting me. I know they’ve been keeping odd hours, and I don’t know how they do it, but-“

“I know.” Octavia interrupted firmly, despite her intimate relationship with rules of conversational etiquette.

“Oh…” Neon replied, surprised by her out of character interruption. “Well, I mean, if you know about it, then why-“

“No, Neon, you misunderstand. I mean I know how they work the hours they do. It’s why I’m here.”

“I don’t follow.” Neon replied, taking a drink of his coffee.

“Vinyl’s been taking pills to stay awake. Something called Lisadex… er, well, I can’t remember what it is exactly, but she’s been using it.”

Neon nearly choked on his drink. “Vinyl’s been what?”

“It’s changing her, Neon.” Octavia continued with worry. “She’s not been herself for weeks.” Her voice, usually so practiced and even, began to tremble with emotion as she continued. “It’s not just being gone for so long… she’s come home in a terrible mood, she’s snapping at me, she’s not sleeping…”

Neon removed his sunglasses and extended a hoof to hers. “Octavia… have you tried talking to her about this?” Octavia looked to his eyes, her mouth moving but unable to find the words. She finally nodded as she found her voice.

“Last night. She was- she wasn’t Vinyl, Neon. I’ve never dreamed I would see her like she was last night. She- she was furious and- and-“

Neon dreaded asking his next question. “Octavia…” he began, swallowing hard. “Vinyl didn’t do this to you, did she?”

Octavia didn’t reply, but looked away as a tear streaked her face. Her silence told Neon all he needed to know.

“Oh, Octavia, I’m so sorry.” Neon said softly.

“I poured her pills down the sink last night and-“ Octavia motioned to her cheek before continuing. “When I woke up this morning, she was gone. I don’t think she took anything with her, and I have no idea where she would have gone-“

Both the musician’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud, accented voice from behind Octavia. “Good day, Miss Melody.” Despite his words, the stallion’s tone was far from friendly as Octavia’s eyes opened wide and Neon looked up to see the interloper, a dark red colt with a royal blue mane.

Oh, Celestia, not now… Octavia thought as she quickly dabbed at her tears with a napkin before turning to face him. “Good morning, Mr. Ponyakov” she said as respectfully as she could.

Ponyakov sipped at his steaming drink as he frowned down upon her. “I should think your time would be better spent rehearsing today than socializing, don’t you?” he said with a condescending tone. Octavia ‘s face took on an embarrassed look as she was again chastised by the guest conductor. She was searching for the words to say when she heard Neon’s voice, confident in tone.

“Hey, Red, I don’t know who you are, but the mare and I are having a private conversation. I’d appreciate it if you just walked away.”

Ponyakov again sipped at his drink as he looked at Neon with disdain. “May I assume you’re connected to the-“ his next words came with utter, mocking contempt, “local music scene?”

Neon’s eyes narrowed. He was liking this character less and less. “And if I am?” he growled in reply as Octavia looked to him with begging eyes.

Ponyakov huffed and rolled his eyes. “I might have guessed. Well, Miss Melody, if this is typical of the company you keep in your private time, perhaps I understand your unprofessional behavior a bit more.”

Neon’s tone became even more angered. “Now listen, you-“

Ponyakov dismissively waved his hoof at Neon. “Oh, calm down, young colt. I’ll leave you be. I simply hope Miss Melody takes my observation to heart.” With that, the red stallion turned with a long-practiced air of smug superiority and sauntered out of the coffee shop as Octavia’s head fell to the table into her forelegs.

“Who was that mule?” Neon fumed as he sat back down.

“Dmitry Ponyakov. He’s a guest conductor I’m working under at the moment.” Octavia’s voice came from behind her forelegs.

Neon took in a deep breath. “Ooooohhhh… I’m sorry, Octavia. I hope I didn’t just really buck things up for you-“

Octavia raised her head wearily. “No more than I have, I’m sure. But again, I’m not worried about him, I’m worried about-“

“Vinyl.” Neon finished, his voice again becoming firm. “Listen, Octavia. There’s only one place she could have been getting that stuff, and I know where.”

Octavia looked up to him. “You do?”

“It’s Duke.” Neon said furiously. “I knew he used to do that kind of stuff to stay ahead of the game, but I thought he’d given it up. I swear to Celestia, I’d have never allowed this to go on if I had known.”

“I know that, Neon.”

“Well, don’t worry any more. He’s on the first train back to Coltarado.” Neon looked to the table in shame. “I should have known-“ he growled.

“I don’t want you to blame yourself, Neon.” Octavia said with sincerity. “I knew something was wrong for a while, I just never suspected it was this.”

Neon finished his drink and pitched the empty cup expertly to the trash. “I’m going to take care of this right now. Are you going to be all right?”

Octavia looked up, feeling real hope for the first time in weeks. “I think so…”

“You call me if you need me.” Neon said as he replaced his sunglasses over his eyes. “And Octavia? Thank you. From both me and Vinyl. Even if she doesn’t realize it yet.”

Octavia watched Neon stride out of the coffee shop determinedly. She knew she should go home and follow Ponyakov’s advice, but all she could find the strength to do was sit and sip at her tea, at least for now…

*****

On the opposite side of town, Lyra Heartstrings strolled happily through the square, a newspaper tucked under her foreleg. Oh, sure, she could have used her magic to levitate the paper after her, but where was the fun in that? This was one of her favorite morning rituals, and it was a beautiful, sunny day for it. She rounded the corner to her destination and found a white unicorn sleeping on her bench. She sighed as she walked to the sleeping, blue-maned form. “Excuse me?” she asked, nudging the other unicorn.

“Huhmmm?” came the sleepy reply as the head turned to look up.

“You’re on my bench.” Lyra said simply.

“Your bench?” Vinyl muttered as she turned her head away. “I don’t see your name on it.”

Lyra stared at the odd white unicorn, stunned for a moment. “Well, I sit here every morning and read my paper… it’s kinda my thing,” she chuckled with a hint of anxiety.

Vinyl turned her head again to regard this strange character. She did seem oddly familiar somehow, and her lyre cutie mark suggested she was a musician, but Vinyl couldn’t make a connection in her exhausted state. After a moment’s hesitation, she decided it wasn’t worth the effort. “And?”

Lyra’s hoof began to twitch slightly. “…and I really would like to sit down and read my paper,” she stated in a forced calm tone.

Vinyl used her magic to raise her sunglasses. Was this pony for real? With a scowl, she muttered to the mint blue unicorn, “Oh, buzz off,” before turning her head away once more.

Now Lyra’s eye began to twitch, and she was unable to hold back. “JUST MOVE YOUR PLOT, BUCKFACE!” The unicorn’s sudden outburst shocked Vinyl into a jump, and she tumbled unceremoniously from the bench to the ground. “Thanks so much!” Lyra said sweetly as she settled onto the bench in an extremely odd posture and opened her newspaper.

“Yeah, don’t mention it.” Vinyl muttered sarcastically from the ground before brushing herself off. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so putrid. Her head and stomach were killing her, and her legs were stiff from sleeping on the bench all night. Again, she found herself with only snippets of memory of the previous night, though this time she could clearly recall those pieces with regret. Had she really punched her best friend and thrown a glass at her? Vinyl walked on a few steps before collapsing on her back on the soft grass and looking up to the sky. Why did Tavi have to throw those down the sink? If she hadn’t done that… Again, the memory of her own actions clouded that thought as she saw herself pounding on Tavi’s door and screaming. You should be scared! You owe me! The DJ could only shake her head with shame as her mind moved to the last clear memories of the night… finding the stray pill and then wandering out the door. Maybe… maybe it wasn’t too late to tell Tavi that she regretted it. Vinyl slowly rolled her sore body over and began the walk back home…

*****

The door slammed open with a furious thud, rousing Duke from his nap on the couch. Neon stormed in, his face angry even behind those sunglasses. Duke rose from the couch, still tired but wondering what was up. “Hey, Neon. Ya bring coffee? I could use-“

“Shut the buck up, Duke,” came the growled reply as Neon pointed a hoof at him.

“Whoa! Where’s this coming from?” Duke took a step back, surprised by Neon’s rage.

“You know exactly where it’s coming from. Celestia, Duke. You told me you were off that stuff!”

“What?” The DJ snorted. “I am off it.”

“Yeah? So what have you been giving Vinyl? Colt Cola?” Neon pulled his sunglasses off, and his glare pierced through Duke.

Not to be outdone, Duke’s horn glowed as his own sunglasses raised up to reveal angry, bloodshot eyes. “Listen, Neon. Sometimes you just need that extra something to have the edge everypony needs. Deej knows that. You used to know it.” Neon fumed silently, glaring at him as the unicorn sauntered over to the table and leaned a hoof on it before continuing. “Besides, stop acting so flocking righteous. You forgotten what you used to do back in the day in Manehattan? Or the time we did a road trip to Las Pegasus? All the late nights in Coltarado?”

Neon’s eyes looked to the ground for a moment. “I haven’t forgotten, Duke. I just grew up.”

Duke scoffed. “You mean you couldn’t hack it, so you went small time. Come on, Ponyville? Even if you get to work Canterlot from time to time, this ain’t nothing like the old days-“

“I don’t need the old days. And Vinyl doesn’t need you doing this to her.” The statement came in a low, dangerous tone.

“Listen, I just wanted to bring out her best for the mix-“

“You mean you wanted her giving the project everything she has so you could high-flank it back to Coltarado with all the glory?” Neon spat.

Duke glared at Neon and spoke through clenched teeth. “Back off, Neon. That was ages ago.”

Neon shook his head. “I shoulda known. Same old Duke.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You’re done here. Get out. Get back to Coltarado and don’t come back.”

Duke scowled at Neon. “You’re throwing me out? We’re so close to a breakthrough-“

“I don’t give a pile of manure. There’s a 1:00 train back. Be on it.”

Duke’s lips curled into a disgusted, furious snarl. His horn glowed as his laptop and other equipment levitated into the large trunk he had brought with him and the lid slammed shut. “Fine. I don’t need to waste any more time in this one-bit road-apple town anyway. Be sure you tell Deej why she’ll never hit the big time.”

Neon pulled the door open. “Goodbye, Duke.”

Duke stormed to the door, his trunk levitating behind him with a glow. “You used to be so amazing, Neon. Enjoy your life playing to the hick crowd, you son of a mule.” With that, Coltarado’s premiere DJ was out the door, heading down the road to catch the train back home, a half finished mix in hand and a fury in his mind. Small time losers. I’ll finish this one out on my own, and they won’t know what they missed out on…

*****

Vinyl’s horn sparked and fizzled as she tried to use her magic to open the door of the house. What… even my magic’s going now? With a deep breath, she ignored the pain in her gut and head as her hoof pressed on the door handle and it swung open slowly. “Tavi?” she called as she walked inside and looked around. Octavia was nowhere to be seen. Vinyl ventured inside further, exploring the kitchen. She noted that the glass on the floor from last night was gone, but that a faint trail of blood spotted its way out of the kitchen and down the hall back to Tavi’s room. She cut herself… Vinyl thought as she felt sick in her stomach. She followed the spots back down the hall until she was at Tavi’s open door. As expected, the room was pristine, save for the bloody spots on the floor. The bed was immaculately made, the vanity’s top was neatly organized, and nothing was amiss. The only unusual thing Vinyl noticed at all was the open cover on her roommate’s vintage record player. She had to have left in a hurry to neglect closing it, with how meticulous she was.

The unicorn wandered over to the player, her eyes focusing on the expensive DJ mat that now sat on the old piece of audio equipment. She had known, of course, when buying it that it wasn’t about to match the one she had taken, but Tavi had never seen fit to replace it with one as old as the player itself. Her hoof reached out and touched the custom fire-red mat emblazoned with a purple treble clef as she remembered Octavia opening the package when it had arrived.

“Oh… what… is it?” she had asked in a confused tone.

“It’s your new deck mat, Tavi! Pretty cool, huh? I custom ordered the color and design myself. Looks a lot sweeter than that old black rubber thing, right?”

Tavi had closed her eyes and taken a deep breath at that point before speaking as politely as she could, “Oh… right. It- it looks… very… sweet.” The word had felt so awkward coming from her mouth. “Thank you, Vinyl. I’ll be glad to be able to play my music again.”

She had walked off to her room and placed it on the metal tray of her record player, and classical music filled the house as Vinyl had turned and run out the door to a club gig.

Back in the present, Vinyl’s hoof gently turned the turntable until the treble clef was upright. All this time, she never changed it out… Is it doing that good of a job for a replacement… or is it because of-

Vinyl’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. Softly and gently, Vinyl closed the lid on the record player and turned to look to the hallway, waiting for Tavi to come to her room.

She did not. Curious, Vinyl crept to the edge of the hallway and peeked around the corner, and saw Octavia setting up her music stand in the living room, obviously unaware of the DJ’s presence at all. She reached down to the floor and retrieved a complicated looking piece of sheet music with a deep and heavy sigh. She carefully placed it on the stand open to a particular page as Vinyl watched from behind, just about to spring out and surprise her friend with an honest apology, when Octavia turned to reach down and uncase her cello. What Vinyl saw in that instant made her mouth gape open and made her pull back behind the wall.

Octavia’s cheek was swollen. It was a horrible shade of red. Is that what she had done to her best friend? Leaning against the wall, Vinyl felt her strength leave her as her legs gave out and she slid to the ground. How could I have done that? Oh, Tavi… I’m so sorry-

From the front room, Octavia’s cello began to play, a haunting tune that washed over the house. Not that Vinyl typically had much use for classical music, but this time… this time she could feel so much in those notes. She wanted so badly to go to Tavi, apologize, beg for her forgiveness… but how could she face her like this? Again, her head peeked out and saw her friend from behind, masterfully working her bow on that huge instrument. Vinyl couldn’t face her. Not now. Looking ahead, she saw her open bedroom door at the end of the hall. Forcing the strength to her legs, she ignored the discomfort she was in and crawled as stealthily as she was able until she was in her room. The music never stopped, playing away in the living room as Vinyl lifted her window open and tumbled outside, closed the window softly, and took off. She felt so disgusting. She knew she had to clear her head before she could possibly face Tavi. Only one place she could think of would give her body an ounce of peace, as much as she disliked the thought. Duke had what she craved, what she needed. No wonder ponies called him The Doctor… Despite the conflict in her mind, Vinyl headed off in the direction of Neon’s home as fast as her trembling legs would carry her…

In the living room, the bow suddenly slipped from Octavia’s hoof and fell to the floor as she leaned forward on her cello. She had hoped that practicing as Ponyakov had ordered would distract her, even if just for a time… but it was hopeless. She gently laid her instrument down and fell to the couch, her cheeks streaking with tears as she was overcome with worry. “Oh, Vinyl… Where did you go?” The empty house offered only silence, holding no answers at all…

Comments

[Amdazzler]

This story deserves more views. It's really good. :)
And I loved the extra bit with OCD Lyra lol.