Arc II - Chapter: 8 - Awakened
A DJ in the Night
By: Michael A
Chapter: 8 - Awakened
[Romance][Slice-Of-Life]
The room around me was black, a cold void that stretched out as far as I could see. I couldn't feel anything, I couldn't see anything. The world was empty.
"Ah, crap," I muttered, shaking my head. I knew where I was. Or, at least, I'd been here before.
"Welcome back, my ignorant pony!"
And there the voice is... Joy. "Okay, mind skipping the chatty-chat and tell me where the hell I am? I haven't had the greatest week and talking to a figure in my head isn't gonna make it better."
The voice... thingy was silent, and I thought it went away.
"My, my. Somepony's in a bad mood!"
Never mind…
I sighed, falling into my haunches. Somehow, my flank touched... Something, as I wasn't falling, but I couldn't feel anything. Unnerving, but unimportant. "Yeah, yeah, I'm a grumpy pony! But, please, can you give me some answered?"
The voice chuckled. "Don't worry, my ignorant pony, I am not here to make your life miserable—far from, in fact!"
The air (Void?) around me started to morph and shape. I stood on my hooves, trying to back away. I didn't go anywhere, seemingly running on an invisible treadmill. The void continued to shift, until it took the shape of a pony, one that I knew quite well.
"Well, you don't seem to be going anywhere," the materialized pony spoke, a hint of amusement in his voice.
I stopped immediately, falling into my haunches. My mouth gaped as I stared at the pony in front of me—as I stared at myself. The pony that had materialized was me, or looked like me. It was like looking into a mirror, only the mirror didn't copy you, but acted with free will. The other... me smiled, putting a hoof only my shoulder. I tensed up, wanting to run away from... me, I guess.
The copy shook his head. "Why do you wish to run? As I said before: I wish you no harm. Why would I hurt myself, after all."
I didn't know how to react, choosing to simply stare dumbly forwards.
The copy shook his head. "Well, I guess this is the best I'm gonna get," he began, removing his hoof from my shoulder. "Anyways, what I wanted to say is that I am only here to help you. I'm gonna release you from all the pain that you have felt, and punish those who caused it."
The copy faded away, being replaced by a mirror. At first, the image was black but soon morphed into a colt version of me. The background shifted, and the colt was located in a room that I knew quite well; my old classroom.
The colt version of me sat at a desk in the empty classroom, scribbling onto a paper with a pencil tightly grasped in my magic. I cocked my head—this scene looked familiar. I watched as the younger me was absorbed in whatever was being written on that page. I remembered that feeling, when the world around me would fade and all I could focus on what I was currently working on. I let out a soft chuckle, remembering that feeling quite well.
Suddenly, the door opened, and two large unicorn colts trotted in. One was a dark black, and the other a blinding white. My eyes went wide as I remembered them. The one with the black coat had a white bass clef on this flank, and the white coated one had a black treble clef adorning his flank. They were my childhood bullies...
The scene finally struck me, and I remember exactly what happened next. I lunged at the mirror, screaming for the colt me to turn around and run. He couldn't hear me, how could he? But that didn't stop me from trying. I soon felt a hoof rest on my shoulder, and I knew who it belonged too.
I watched as the two unicorns trotted up to "me" snickering at what they were about to do. When they were right behind me, the black coated one (Shadow Note), picked me up with his magic and pinned me against a neighboring desk. The white coated one (White noise) laughed as I flailed at try and get out of his brother's grasp.
"Let me go!" I hear the colt me yell, thrashing about as hard as I could. I was small for my age, easily half the size I was supposed to be.
White Noise chuckled. "Seriously, runt? Are you still trying to escape? Just give up—you're too much of a wimp to do anything even if you did manage to break free."
The colt me continued to squirm, despite his comment. I was stubborn, even then, and never gave up. I was just too stupid.
Shadow Note, the more impatient of the two, decided to make me stop his way, with a hoof to the gut. I wheezed, the air escaping my lungs from the strike. "Shut up," he spoke, never the one for more than a few words.
White Noise trotted over to my desk, picking up the paper that I was scribbling on. He laughed, folding the piece of paper up and tucking it into a saddlebag that I just now noticed. "This one is even better than the last one, runt," he began, trotting out in front of me, taunting me to do something and give him an excuse to fight back.
The colt me stayed put, mumbling angrily under his breath.
White Noise rolled his eyes. "Seriously, I figured you'd get used to our little arrangement by now! But no, you don't learn."
I remember the arrangement well, I wrote a few songs for him and his brother a week and he didn't beat the snot out of me. He stole my music, using it as his own and calling me a "copy cat" every time I tried to play something. It was humiliating, but it had to be done. No one ever said or did anything, and I knew ponies knew. I was alone, forced to turn over my creations to that stupid colt.
I growled, knowing what happened next.
The colt me jumped forward, sinking his teeth into White Noise's hoof. He screamed, trying to pry me off as blood began to pool down his leg. I still remembered the sick taste of copper in my mouth.
His brother stepped into action, grabbing me in his magic and trying to pull me off. I only bit tighter.
It wasn't long until White Noise's screams caught the attention of the teacher, who burst threw the door to see me biting the stupid colt.
Then the mirror faded to black.
I didn't need to see the rest. After that incident, I was expelled from Celestia's School for Gifted Musicians. My parents had been extremely upset, threatening to kick me out for "Wasting their money." Nopony listened to my side of the story... nopony cared. I had to transfer to a normal school, with normal music programs. Since then, I became even more of a loner, doing whatever I could to stay out of trouble. I did kids homework, I gave up my songs, I took the beatings.
I took the pain.
I didn't realize it, but I was grinding my teeth. If I wasn't in this "Dream World," I'd probably have a headache, and possible tooth damage. Anger seemed to radiate from me as I stared into the blackened mirror. In a fit of rage, I screamed, smashing the mirror with a hoof. The shards fell into the void, somehow not being caught by whatever was keeping me up.
"See, don't you remember the pain? The anger? The hate? I could make it all go away, and make those who deserve it pay."
I turned to my copy, who was sitting next to me with a caring look on his face. I didn't know what to say. I wanted them to pay, all of them, but something felt wrong. "I don't know... It still feels wrong," I muttered, trying to keep the anger at bay. I hated being angry.
The copy nodded his head, seeming to understand. "Don't worry, you have plenty of time to decide," he began, resting a comforting hoof on my shoulder. "When you do decide, I'll be here."
And with that, my world faded to black.
I awoke with a start, my head pounding and my body sore as hell. Everything was foggy, and it took more time than usual for me to get my bearings. I wasn't in my room, that much was clear. These sheets are way too comfortable to be mine. I curled up into a tighter ball, content in remaining in my cocoon of warmth. But, then it hit me: if I wasn't home... Where was I?
I unwrapped my cocoon and sat up. After a quick look around, I soon realized that I was in Luna's bedroom. Not many other ponies lived in an observatory.
I didn't remember going to sleep here... And the lack of an alcoholic tint to the air clarifies that it wasn't from heavy drinking. Never was into alcohol after I saw what I saw it could do to my father, but I wasn't completely against the stuff—just excessive amounts. All. The. Time.
It was then I remembered the needle. The needle. I shuddered, and felt along my hooves. Sure enough, there was a Wonderbolts bandaid on my left hoof. A Spitfire one, to be exact... I approve.
Seems like those pricks got to me after all. Funny, usually I wake up in jail after I go to the doctor and they spring the "It's only a little shot" routine. Yeah, they were never little... pricks.
Anyways, pushing my mind from the pointed heathen, I rolled off the bed, and onto my hooves. My mind was still a bit cloudy, and I think it may have had something to do with the large lump on my forehead. I tested a few steps, making sure that I didn't have any cognitive damage from... whatever. I walked straight, if a little shaky, so I figured the odds of me face-planting were fairly slim. With that I mind, I made my way to the door.
I wasn't sure where I was heading, but I figured that I'd eventually run into somepony, who could point me in the direction of the princess.
Speak of the devil and doth they appear! I was immediately stopped by a guard the minute I opened the door.
"Halt!" He boomed, making me cover my ears. His voice was too loud!
"You don't have to yell, y'know!" I screamed back at him, trying to copy his assertive tone.
He rolled his eyes, snorting in annoyance. "It is proper for a royal guard to speak in this tone! We must show our–"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I spoke, interrupting the stallion. "Whatever the reason, it's stupid. Now, point me in the direction of the princess, you armored fool!" He seemed offended, and actually looked like he wanted to punch me. Good.
Through grinding teeth he muttered, "Throne room..."
I smiled at him, pissing him off even more. "Thank you," I said before trotting down the hall.
Once at the end of the hall, my eye went wide. I turned around and screamed, "Sorry!" before turning around and immediately trotting off towards the dining room.
That was strange, I thought. I was never one to be mean to anyone, even if they deserved it... I shook my head. Must just be a reaction to the shot. Yeah. Probably just me still being upset by being pricked without my consent.
Figuring that was the case, I continued trotting towards the direction of the Throne Room. It wasn't hard, really, as, like in Rome, all roads lead there. Or hallways, in my case.
As I trotted, I began to reflect on the past few days since the incident. The weird thoughts, the weird dreams. Were they my way of coping with what happened? Did I need therapy? And what was with last night's dream, anyways? Usually I forgot my dreams as soon as I awoke, but last night’s was still fresh in my mind. It was a strange dream, one that seemed to hold more meaning then something his resting brain should’ve been able to come up with. Did it, in fact, mean something? I mean, it showed me a memory, one that I had hoped to forget. I wasn’t a fan of my childhood, as it held more pain that I would’ve liked.
I stopped as an idea sprang into my head. “I’m an idiot!” I exclaimed out loud, before shrinking down and making sure that nopony was around to hear that. Making sure that there wasn’t, I returned my mind to that thought. Why didn’t I just ask Luna? She is the Princess of the the Night, and probably could explain this to me better than anypony else.
I continued down the hall towards the throne room, thinking of how I was going to explain this to Luna. Actually, it probably wouldn’t be the best if I just came up and said that I have a voice in my head telling me to get revenge... Probably think I was crazy! I thought as I finally reached the large double doors to the throne room. Twin guards stood on either side of the large door standing at attention and stiff as statues. I resisted the urge to make a joke about that.
I nodded to one of the guards, who turned and ignited his horn, the large doors opening in a glow of his magical aura. I thanked him as I trotted inside, hearing the doors closing as soon as I was past the threshold. The throne room was huge! The ceiling was easily ten meters tall, probably to allow pegasi to fly freely throughout the room. Large stained glass windows depicting the Elements of Harmony and their exploits hung along one side of the room, one catching my eye in particular. It was the one depicting the Elements of Harmony defeating Nightmare Moon, releasing Luna. Don’t know why that one caught my eye, but it did. Anyway, a large emblem of the two sisters lay inset in the floor. On the far wall were two thrones, one for Celestia and the other for luna. Above each throne was a banner for the respective princess’ cutie mark.
Luna sat on her throne, while Celestia was nowhere in sight. From one look outside and seeing the moon, I could surmise that Celestia was probably sleeping, as the night was Luna’s domain. The Princess of the Night seemed bored out of her mind, lounging on her back and staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. Was this what she did while she wasn’t with me? Damn, no wonder she wanted to spend so much time with me!
I began to trot towards her, and she soon took notice of my presence. She sat up, running a hoof through her mane to get the frills out. I stopped when I got at the foot of the steps that lead up to the dual thrones, and bowed. Luna rolled her eyes. “You do know that there is no need for you to bow? We are friends, after all.”
I chuckled nervously. “Sorry, the throne thingy kinda threw me off.”
“So, how are you feeling?” Luna asked, her voice suddenly filled with concern.
I shrugged. “Better, I guess,” I began, sitting on my haunches. “Speaking of which… how did I end up in your bed, again?”
It was Luna’s turn to nervously chuckle. “Well… we may have knocked out with a plant?”
“A plant?”
“A potted plant, to be precise!”
I nodded, slowly. “You knocked me out... with a potted plant?” She nodded. I took a minute to soak up that bit of information. “So, why did you knock me out with a potted plant?”
“Because you threw my sister’s guards through a wall,” the Princess of the Night stated, matter-of-factly.
Well, I didn’t expect that. Actually, I didn’t expect that at all! “Why a potted plant?” I asked, genuinely curious.
Luna shrugged. “We believed it was the best tool for the job!”
“Really?”
Luna sighed. “We didn’t think it through, okay?!”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “I still can’t believe that you knocked me out with a plant.”
“A potted plant.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, well, enough about that. What I really came here for was to ask you a question.”
Luna perked up at this. “Oh, a question? Well, ask away!”
I nodded, before taking a deep breath. “Well… I wanted to ask you about… about dreams.”
Luna’s eyes went wide, and her smile grew from ear to ear. “Really?!” I nodded. “We would love to tell you about dreams! ‘Tis rarely we get to talk about our realm.” She stood up and trotted down to me, sitting just in front of me. Her eyes held much enthusiasm. “What do you wish to know about dreams?”
How should I word this… Oh, I got it! “Can dreams ever mean something? Like… can they hold meaning about the future, or about ourselves?”
Luna took a moment to think before answering, “They can. Dreams are the subconscious way of talking to you. Communicating between your active conscious and your impulses. Dreams can sometimes tell you something that you cannot put into words, such as a feeling.”
Huh… maybe my brain is telling me to face my past?
Luna then paused, seeming to ponder something over. After a minute of silence, she continued. “Dreams can also be affected by magic. There have been some cases where the environment the pony sleeps in can affect their dreams, such as an area dominated by dark or light magic. The dream realm is magical in nature, so it is commonly affected as such.” The princess of the night then paused again, before cocking her head to the side. “Why do you ask, anyways?”
I shrugged nonchalantly. “Just curious, I guess.”
Luna nodded happily. “Well, if you ever want to talk about dreams again, we will sure be happy to discuss!”
I nodded. “I shall do just that.”
There was an awkward silence between the two of us, neither knowing what to say. Finally, I broke the silence. “Well, I better get home. I’ve already missed enough of my gigs due to… unforeseen circumstances, and I really need to go back and explain it to Big Time.”
The blue alicorn nodded in understanding. “We can understand that,” she began, before leaning forwards and pulling me into a hug. “Just please be careful, okay? We don’t want to lose you.”
I nuzzled the Princess’ neck. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let that happen to myself a second time.”
Luna didn’t reply, simply holding me close. I liked the contact, a warmth spreading from my core. Finally, Luna released me from the hug and trotted back towards her throne. Once there, she sat down and turned to face me. “We shall have a guard escort you home, just to be cautious.”
I nodded in understanding, welcoming the extra security. “Okay. See ya’, Luna.”
She nodded back. “We shall meet again soon.”
“Of course!” I responded, before turning around and heading out of the large room. As expected, a guards soon flanked me as I trotted towards the exit of the castle. As I trotted forwards, only one thought filled my mind: How was I going to explain this to Big Time?
“Let me get this straight,” Big Time began from behind his desk. “You were kidnapped by a shadow group of cult-ponies?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
I had arrived at my apartment not that long ago. As soon as I had gotten inside, a scroll had appeared in front of me and scared the shit out of me, once again. I will not admit that I screamed like a little filly, and I will also not admit to the fact that the guard had fallen over in laughter moments later… okay, maybe he did. I had told him to leave and he did so, still laughing as I slammed the door behind him.
The scroll was from Luna, obviously, and she had told me that I should try and keep the entire being kidnapped thing a secret, and try and keep me and her friendship a secret, as we had already seen what can happen when ponies know. I had soon after gone to the club to explain to Big Time why I had been absent the past few days. And that was where I was now.
Big Time leaned back in his chair, putting his hooves to his head and sighing. “You do know how crazy that sounds, right?”
I nodded.
He chuckled. “Whatever, just make sure that it doesn’t happen again, capiche?”
I nodded, again.
“Good. Now, get out there and do what I pay you to do!”
I nodded once again and walked out of his office, grateful that he wasn’t too questioning about my reasoning as to why I was absent. I walked into The Prancing Pony’s dance floor, which was fairly packed, with music from my emergency playlist blaring throughout the club. I had, thankfully, prepared that playlist and taught a few of the employees how to set that playlist to Automix in case of such an emergency, but I could tell some ponies were beginning to get a little upset over hearing some of the same songs repeat.
I pushed my way through the crowd toward my DJ booth. Some of the ponies recognized me and began to question me about where the hell I’d been. I didn’t answer them, instead continue walking towards my table. When I got there, put on another track and grabbed the microphone.
“What’s up, everypony!!!” I screamed into the mic,
The crowd roared approval in response.
“Sorry that I’m late, everypony. Traffic was horrible! Anyways, you guys ready to party?!”
The crowd all screamed in unison, yelling their approval.
“All right, then. Here. We. Go!” I said in time with the song, which went into its drop.
The crowd went wild.
I smiled, bobbing my head along with the music. I prepared the next track by loading it into deck B. Shortly before the track I put on finished, I started playing the track I prepared and began crossfading into it, smiling, as it matched the beat well. Just before my first track was finished, I fully crossfaded into the prepared track. This one sang about getting 20 percent cooler. I noticed that’s been a bit of a trend among ponies these days. I shrugged. Must be a fad or something. The song had a nice beat to it, though. I loaded another song, one that was more instrumental, but still kept in the same style. It occasionally had snippets of a filly from Ponyville. One of the Elements of Harmony, if I remember right. I began crossfading into this one as the previous track ended. Now, I began adding my own little touches to this song, by quickly fading out and bringing the song back in right before the drop.
The crowd’s mood had greatly improved by now, and they were going absolutely wild.
So wild, in fact, that they began tiring out pretty quickly. I loaded in another song, one with a little less tempo to it, but it was still one of my favorites. I let it play for a bit, and before it got to the drop, I added an effect that gave it a bit more build-up, then took it out for a bit more emphasized drop. I did this same effect for the rest of the drops in the song, the rest of the time bobbing my head along with the music, sometimes attempting to psych up the ponies in the club.
Sheesh! They tired out easily, tonight.
I loaded up what seemed to be my last track for the evening, a slower song than the others had been, but kept with the groove that was going. I let this one play for a while, then began fading out completely.
I picked up the microphone.
“Alright, guys, that’ll be it for the night.” I said, looking out over the crowd, “You guys have been a great audience, and I just wanted to say, you guys rock! Good night, everypony!”
I walked away from my DJ booth, heading towards my back room. Sweat was dripping down my muzzle and I was absolutely beat. If I felt like this, then I couldn’t imagine how those other ponies feel. I chuckled at the thought, opening the door and jumping on my couch. I twisted in mid air and landed on my back. I yawned, stretching my front hooves.
This is the life! I thought as I lay there.
Feels good, don’t it? Everyone loves you because you are the best.
I smiled, swinging my hooves from side to side in the air.
Those who doubted you, those who thought you said you would be nothing, they were all wrong. Wouldn’t it be good to show them who you have become?
“Yeah…”
Show them the Boss that you’ve become!
“Yeah!”
Make them all pay!
“Hell, yeah!”
Good…
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6155703 Wait no longer!
~ Neon Lights
Thanks for the update. I did enjoy this chapter. It looks like that new side of Neon is starting to get to Neon. I can't wait to see what happens next, now that Neon is returning to his life. I do feel for Neon, I was bullied as well, I didn't get hurt, but I know what he is going through.
6156392 Y'know what, this story was originally supposed to be a learning experience for me to practice my writing, and I'm actually pretty suprised that you guys liked it! Your support is what keeps this story going, and your enthusiasm is what fuels the fast updates.
The next chapter, which is gonna be an interlude, is gonna show him returning to his life, and the voice in his head slowly, but surely, take over.
Here is a little spoiler, because I'm feeling sharey: Remember how he's gonna go and DJ the Wonderbolts? Well, that's when sh*t's gonna hit the fan!
And sorry to hear about that, man. I was bullied too, but I as to ignorant to really notice it, to be honest. It was funny, they tried to get to me, but I just didn't notice. Apparently it pissed then off quite a bit.
~ Neon Lights
Eh, I'm not sure what to make of this story. I kind of liked it until the random dark cult. It feels like both princesses are carrying the idiot ball to me. It doesn't take much brain power to go "the cultists are shadowy and want Princess Luna. Maybe they're a nightmare cult? Huh, then maybe they were trying to turn Luna into Nightmare Moon again if there were no PHYSICAL effects from the spell." Then make the obvious conclusion to check Neon for mental effects. I can hand wave Neon not thinking about it due to being under the effects of a mind manipulator. The princesses seek a bit too obvious.
6158551 I can agree to that. But, I think that the limited contact between her and Neon since hasn't given her a chance to notice it yet, and Celestia is doing some digging in the background.
Luna knows something is up, and it'll show more in the next chapter. The spell was designed to be slow action, so that Celestia wouldn't be able to notice and stop it before the process was compete. Plus, it's having a different reaction with neon because the spell wasn't designed for him.
That's the excuse I'm coming up with the justify that.
~ Neon Lights
the protagonist is....dense...
6159770 Hahahaha!!! Oh, so true. I modeled him after myself, so this is even more hysterical!
~ Neon Lights
things are going down the shitter