A DJ in the Night

by dj_neon_lights

Arc III - Chapter: 14 - Neon Makes A Friend!

A DJ in the Night
By: Michael A
Chapter: 14 - Neon Makes A Friend!
[Romance][Slice-Of-Life]

I am not a morning pony. All my life I have hated the time just when the sun catches the horizon and the official start of the day begins. In my mind, that was a time for sleep. Hell, anytime before twelve is a time for sleep! But, even if you try and fix your sleep schedule to account for this, nature has its way off, occasionally, rising you at this ‘normal’ time.

Today just so happened to be one of those days.

I groaned, trying to force sleep to return as I slowly woke up. My hooves reached forwards instinctively for the warmth that I had held the night before and was surprised when I found, well, nothing. Curiosity and slight concern won over my will to return to sleep as I cracked my eyes open.

To my surprise, and sadness, I awoke in my pull out alone, no unicorn (or even alicorn) laying next to me. Had it been a dream? And I imagined or, perhaps, dreamed that she had slept in my hooves the night before? It would be a pleasant dream regardless, but a far better reality.

Lazily, I rolled from the pullout, stretching my back as I let out a loud yawn. But, before I could start to fold up the couch, I noticed a piece of paper taped to the neighboring pillow. Curious, I levitated the paper over and read.

Dear Neon,

We are sorry that we had to leave you before you awoke, but we needed to return to our responsibilities as a princess. We are dreadfully sorry if this was taken as rude, but we didn't wish to wake you whilst you slept so soundly.

On the matter, we will try and secure another time soon for us to ‘hang out’ and properly spend time together.

Again, we are sorry for leaving you, but we assure you it was not of ill intent. ‘Til we meet again, we bid you good day, our friend and lover.

Princess Luna

Well, that was one mystery solved. I will admit that i’m a little saddened that I couldn't wake up to her by my side, but being a princess does come first, so I don't hold it against her. I chuckled, reading over the note again and noticing her change in speech, signaling she had gone into ‘princess mode’ before writing it.

I folded the piece of paper and slipped it into my shirt pocket, then finished folding up the couch. I nearly folded the blankets and placed them and the pillows in their proper place. Once everything was nice and put away, I flopped onto the couch and delved into my mind, planning out the rest of my day.

Today was Tuesday, which meant that I didn't have any responsibilities that I had to attend too. Normally today would consist of heading home and spending hours on hours of planning my shows for the week and working on new sets or equipment. But, today I had something else in mind. As my ‘awakening’, as I'm calling it now, had pointed out: I was quite the loner. I mean, it wasn't like I was that bad with ponies, considering my job was centered around my ability to deal with them, but more as I didn't put myself out there as somepony you could ‘hang out’ with or anything like that.

But, today this was going to change!

Mark my words, by the end of the day I, Neon Lights, would have a new friend!

---

I had trotted out of the club with a sense of purpose; a goal that I had set for myself that I would accomplish by day’s end. How I was going to go about achieving this goal was beyond me, but that was something I could figure out as I went along.

Although it was morning, the capital city buzzed with life as if it had been awake for several hour already, and currently in the middle of a caffeine high. High-class ponies trotted with their noses in the air, trotting as if everypony around them was beneath them; normal business ponies trotted around on their cell phones, chatting about some big ‘deal’ or something like that, bumping into ponies in their distracted haze; college student trotted around with at least one cup of coffee either floating in their wake or held tightly and possessively in their muzzle. Everypony had a place to be, a destination in mind.

It was kinda funny, actually, watching the ponies around me as I trotted forwards. It was like judging a crowd during a gig, except I could blast music or lights or anything to alter their moods. So, instead, I donned my headphones that had hung around my neck, pulling out my music player and setting a track to play. A high quickly paced beat began to play in my ears, contrasting nicely to the busy day life that surrounded me.

With a smile, I trotted forwards, my head bobbing to the song that only I could hear, parting through the crowd and heading straight.

I may have forgotten to add, but I did have a destination in mind. As much as I love trotting around and just enjoying life around me, I had a goal to accomplish, and an even more important task to achieve before even that: Food!

My stomach growled at the thought, and I quickened my pace as I headed towards Downtown Canterlot, specifically an amazing Donut Shop.

After a good few minutes of travel later, and several songs, I passed through the doors of Pony Joe’s, the best donut shop in all of Canterlot. The cafe, if it could be called that, was relatively small; booths and tables lined the walls and middle of the small confectionary shop while a large ‘bar’ that gave a clear view of the kitchen stood opposite of the door. As you would expect, the place was packed, a thought that I had not taken into account before I started my journey. But, I was in luck, as an empty barstool at the end of the main bar top, which I quickly snagged.

“Ah, Neon! That’s a face I haven’t seen in awhile!” I heard be called out from behind the counter, the voice I instantly recognized as belong to the store’s owner, Donut Joe himself. As I lifted my head, I confirmed my guess as a happy tan stallion trotted into view from behind the counter, approaching my seat. “So, what brings you to my humble shop, oh famous DJ.”

I rolled my eyes, chuckling at the stallions flattery. “Hey, man, even if I became the most famous DJ in the world I wouldn’t be too ‘big’ for your cooking,” I said with a smile. The stallion was famous for being able to not only personalized with his customers but also treating everypony as if they had been regulars for years. I had been one of those regulars, at one point, practically spending all of my free time while I was at uni in this very restaurant.

“Glad to hear, as the publicity would be fantastic! I can see it now.” The stallion stood up hooves in the air. “Donut Joe’s, official Donut Shop of Neon Lights,” the stallion finished, waving his hooves in the air as if outlining a banner.

I couldn’t help but laugh again. “Okay, okay. Don’t get ahead of yourself, man. I ain’t that famous… yet.”

Joe shrugged, returning to his hooves. “Never hurts to plan for the future. But, I digress! So, what can I get you? Usual?”

I nodded. “Two glazed and a large coffee, extra cream with whipped cream.”

The stallion nodded, heading back to get my order. “Coming right up!”

As the stallion prepared my order, I sat at the barstool and thought about my second order of business after foot: making a friend. No, if I remembered correctly, normal ponies made friends by finding somepony with a common interest. Now, I had many interests, but how to go about asking other ponies about theirs, without sounding creepy, was going to be the hard part.

But, before I could think on the matter more, I was cut from my train of thought as I felt something bump into me to my right. Turning, I quickly noticed a familiar mare who had just bumped into my side.

“Oh, hey Vinyl, can't believe I didn't notice you there!” I say to the unicorn beside me. Somehow, in my tunnel vision for food, I had failed to notice my fellow DJ sitting right next to me.

The mare rolled her eyes from behind her shades. “Seriously, dude? I was literally waiting for you to notice, ya goof!”

“Yeah…” I begin, nervously tapping my hooves together. “Kinda get a little hyper focused when it comes to food.”

“Yeah, I feel ya on that. Not much can distract me when it comes to food. Donut Joe’s especially.” She laughs. “Anyways, how’s it been, dude? Stayed around to check out your performance and, I have to admit, you haven’t lost your touch.”

Joe returns with my donuts and Coffee, placing them on the counter in front of me. I not thanks to the stallion, taking a greedy sip of the caffeine filled liquid before returning my attention to the mare. “I’ve been good, I guess.” I shrug. “Club’s been good to me, as usual, and the crowd keeps coming back so I know I’m doing something right. If it wasn’t for the, eh… incident, life’s been treating me quite well!”

“I still can’t get over that, man!” Vinyl response with a laugh. “I mean, I ain’t gonna ask about it again, but that seriously had to suck.”

You have no idea.

“Anyways, that’s great, man! Last time I saw you before last night had to be… that double feature I introed for you at the club, and you killed it then! Can’t believe you’ve managed to get better since then.” She shakes her head, taking a sip of her coffee that I had not noticed until now. “I mean, I’m seriously jealous, man.”

I take a bite of my donut. “Practice makes perfect, and I’m actually pretty jealous of you, as well.”

She raises an eyebrow.

“I mean it!” I exclaim. “My talent is in showmanship and all the little details that go into a performance, while yours, on the other hoof, kick my ass by leagues in mixing!”

The mare blushes slightly. “Thanks. That means a lot, actually,” she says, her energetic personality seeming to deflate with those words.

I raise an eyebrow at this, confused and concerned at the sudden change in demeanor. “Yo’, Vinyl, what’s up?” I ask softly, putting down my donut.

The white mare lets out a soft sigh, shaking her head. “It’s nothing, just…” She pauses, before sighing again. “Look, you’re a really cool and nice guy, but… I don’t know, I just can’t help but hate you. Just a little, at least.”

I’m a little taken aback by that. Actually, I’m really taken aback by that. Why… why would she hate me? What had I done to her? Should… should I apologize? But before I can inquire about this, the mare speaks up again.

“Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with you. More of about… me.” The mare stops to wipe a hoof across her sullen head, and it is only then that I realize that she’s crying. “I look at you and see success. I mean, you got your way through uni, you got yourself an amazing job, and, hell, you even got yourself an amazing home! Me, I… I got nothing.”

Wait… what?

“I’ve been working my flank off for the past few years and all I have to show for it is a few decent gigs. No steady job, no college degree, nothing!” The mare then stomps her hooves into the table, her face contorting as she holds back tears. The restaurant quiets at the sudden out burst, all eyes on her. Vinyl, for her part, holds back tears as she runs out of the restaurant.

“Vinyl no, wait!” I call out, going to chase her, before stopping to reach into my pocket and toss a few bits at Joe, enough for Vinyl’s and my orders, then turn back and follow the fleeing mare. I burst through the door, shaking my head from side to side and eventually seeing a white blur running down the street to my right. Swiftly, I turn on my hooves and begin chasing after the mare, slowly gaining on her as I blast past ponies in my way, mumbling apologies, but nothing further.

Eventually, I follow her into Canterlot Park, a large greenery set in the center of the city. As I run past the many trees and bushes that litter the area, I eventually lose track of the mare. Cursing to myself, I begin to search... before a soft cry hits my ears. I follow the sound, and eventually, find my target, crying softly behind a bush. With soft hooves, I trot over and sit next to the saddened mare, waiting for her to be good enough to talk. Eventually, she seems to compose herself enough, wiping her muzzle with the back of her hoof, before curling up into a ball, her gaze trailed at the ground.

“Sorry about that…” She sniffs. “I just… I just didn’t want to make a scene.”

I softly smile at the mare. “It’s okay, I just wanted to make sure that you were alright.” I paused, reviewing her outburst thus far. “And… and I’m sorry that you haven’t had as much luck as I have, but trust me when I say that your talent soon will be recognized! Your sound is amazing, far more unique than anypony else I’ve ever heard!”

“Yeah, that’s all well and good, but nopony seems to want to hire a highschool dropout full time! It doesn’t matter how good I am, everypony just can’t seem to see past that…”

I bite my lip, at a loss for words. I had seen her at the club many times before, but… I had always thought that she had something more permanent somewhere else and just spotlighted here. Crap, I really feel bad for her. “I… I’m sorry, Vinyl. I had always thought…” I let out a sigh. “I know I may not seem like I have room to talk, but I’ve been where you are now. But eventually I got lucky and things got better. I have faith that with your skill you’ll become even bigger than me! All you have to do is just not give up.”

Vinyl’s gaze lifts from the grass and up to me, her eyes red, but filled with hope. “Thanks, Neon. I really needed that.” She sniffs again, before letting out a quiet chuckle. “It’s kinda funny that I hated you the first time I met you. So confident, so passionate, and so successful. I figured that you were like all of the other stuck up ponies in this town, thinking that you were better than everypony else, but when I got to know you I learned that I was wrong. You’re just… I don’t know, normal!”

I let out a laugh of my own, shaking my head. “I am far, far from normal. Hell, I’m the strangest person I know!”

“Okay, I guess ‘normal’ was the wrong word. More, like… I don’t know! Down to earth, I guess? You’re actually a big deal, and you act as if you were just like everypony else. Canterlot is many things, but humble is not one of them.”

I take a moment to take that in, and I have to admit she’s right. Usually anypony who’s anypony flaunts their status and fame as if it was a contest. Me, well, I never cared for titles. I played because I wanted to, it was just a bonus that a lot of ponies liked what I did.

A thought suddenly popped into my mind, and I couldn’t help but smirk. “Hey, Vinyl?”

“Hmm?”

“How would you like to become my assistant?”

Her eyes went wide. “Really?! That would be awesome!” she screamed as she reached over and pulled me into a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

I chuckled, pushing the mare off of me. “Okay, okay! That’s enough,” I chuckled. “I’ve got the showmanship, and you have the musical talent. I believe that, together, we can blast the rest of the competition away!” I got up. “Now, I have a performance tomorrow at ten, and I want you to be at the club by at least eight so we have plenty of time to practice and get everything worked out. That work for you?”

Vinyl nodded, getting to her hooves as well. “Yeah, that would be perfect,” she said with a smile, her eyes still a little red, but all other signs of her previous sadness seemed to disappear. “Thank you so much for this, and I won’t let you down!”

I nodded. “I know you won’t. Now, let’s quickly head back to the club so I can tell the boss about this…”

---

Vinyl and I made our way back to the club and talked things out with Big Time. As I expected, the stallion was all for the idea, even going as far as saying that he would have hired Vinyl full time if he would have had the room. Vinyl, for her part, seemed to completely bounce with excitement at the opportunity, and I honestly lost track at how many ‘thank yous’ she had given both me and Big Time.

Afterward, though, Big Time pulled me aside and said that he would need to cut my salary slightly to afford my new assistant, but I was fine with it, as even the resulting pay was still above what I needed to live comfortably. After that, I had waved Vinyl goodbye as she went to go and do… something, I don’t know, while I decided to just head back to my apartment, which is where I was now.

I trotted through my apartment door and flopped onto my couch, pulling out my phone and ordering a pizza. After the promise of food had been ordered, I took a second to reflect on my day thus far… then laughed.

I don’t know how long I laughed for, all I knew was that my sides hurt afterward.

Somehow, without even trying, I had managed to make a friend. Not only that, I had managed to also help out said friend by making my life easier at the club. Had I known that it would be that easy to make a friend, I should have done so a long time ago.

As my laughter subsided, I was soon filled with the feeling of, ‘Now what?’ I mean, there was a crap ton I could do. I could work on a track for tomorrow, finally finish assembling that tube amp that sat in my workshop, or I could do the lazy thing and watch TV and eat pizza.

The last option was starting to become quite tempting… Oh, what the hell!

I deserved a day off.

Author's Note:

Well, I haven't made one of these in a while! I was gonna turn this into a chapter, but it didn't quite have the 'chapter' feel to it so I decided, "What the hell! Make it an interlude!" An interlude is more of a little scene that takes place between chapters, some development that can be added or subtracted with minimum effect to the story itself.

Anyways, Neon makes a friend and we hear a short, sad tail about a mare named Vinyl.

If you enjoyed, leave a Like! And even if you didn't please leave a comment, good or bad I love your opinions.

~ Michael A.

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Go neon. I hope everything goes well.

[Gargon94]

Nice one! Is this post or pre season 2? Because if you need another changeling hive you can use mine.