Dissociation

“You’re kidding right?”

“No ma’am!”

Vinyl let a snort escape her lips, “So you’re telling me that I can’t go out without protection from your guys until this whole case is solved?”

“Those are my order, until we know you’re safe from any future harm you are to have a guard accompany you at all times,” replied the unicorn guard standing before her.

“Uuuuuuuh!”

She knew complaining wasn’t going to sort anything out but it helped cool her head. Ever since the guards had arrived at her house the previous night they had been like a second shadow. She hadn’t been able to go anywhere without them watching and had only gotten a moment to herself whenever she used the bathroom. It was becoming more than irritable.

“Fine! Geez guess I’ll stay in tonight! This case better get sorted soon, if I miss another gig night there’ll be hell to pay!”

Turning away from the door she stomped off down the corridor and back to the lounge. Slumping into a large sofa she scowled at the far wall for a moment before rolling onto her back and sighing. Ever since arriving home the previous night she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Octavia. Memories of her time in music college flooded back to her; good, bad and everything in-between. She had started to wonder if she would have done anything differently knowing what she knew now…but ultimately she didn’t know. As much as she cared for Octavia, and as much as she hated the deplorable environment that surrounded the clubs, she loved her music.

She understood how Octavia must have felt when she told her she was going to be a DJ. Had the passion of youth blinded her to that? Had she been the one who had taken Octavia for granted? She sighed deeply, what did it matter any more? Octavia and herself lived in different worlds now, even if Octavia did have feelings for her any more the chances of them being able to be together were slim to nil.

She rolled over on the sofa, curling into a ball as she tried to forget everything. She closed her eyes as a sudden wave of exhaustion filled her body. She had always been a night owl but despite it being barely nine in the evening she felt as if she hadn’t slept in days. Normally she would have just had another coffee but this time she didn’t fight it and soon the depths of sleep took her.

It was probably only an hour later that she awoke, not with a stir or a gentle nudge but with a loud crash. Her head snapped up so quickly she winced and raised a hoof to rub her neck. The house was deathly silent but there had definitely been a crash. She glanced around the room but there was nothing out of place. For a moment she sat in thought before she finally rose to her hooves.

“If that guard has broken something I swear…” she muttered to herself as she headed for the door, “Hey guard pony whatever your name is, what’s happening?”

There was no response, a fact that made Vinyl pull a confused face. She headed out of the room and into the corridor but there was still nothing out of the ordinary to see.

“Hey guard dude! Where you at? No need to go hiding if you’ve broke something,” she called but again there was no response.

However, as she walked into the kitchen she stopped dead in the doorway. Lying in the middle of the floor was the guard pony that had been assigned to her house. As she rushed to his side however her vision faded to black and her consciousness left her as something hard and blunt struck the back of her head.

As Fair Breeze stepped off the train the moon was high in the sky and the slight chill of night was wrapped around the city. Stepping forwards he was immediately greeted by Lilac Bloom, the Pegasus looking both stressed and worried as she saluted him.

“Report,” was all Fair Breeze said as he set off into Canterlot.

“Not good sir! Not good at all,” began Lilac, “When I arrived back in Canterlot I checked in with all guard units and…sir…two of them are dead.”

Fair Breeze closed his eyes and let out a harsh breath. He stopped in his tracks and looked at Lilac.

“The guards we placed at Octavia Melody’s and Vinyl Scratch’s homes?” he asked slowly.

“How did you…yes sir that’s correct,” replied Lilac in shock.

“We haven’t got much time act! I spent the last few hours going over Octavia Melody’s medical records and interviewing a number of nurses. I was hoping we’d be able to act before she made her next move but…”

“What do you mean sir? Her next move? Who? What did you find?”

“Octavia Melody, she’s the suspect we’ve been searching for.”

Lilac didn’t seem to know how to reply, her mouth hanging open like a broken gate.

“W-What?! But sir all of the victims so far have been linked to her! Her band manager, her friends…why would she murder them?”

“She wouldn’t, at least not the Octavia Melody we’ve been speaking to. Her medical notes revealed that over the last few months she has been acting a lot more aggressively and hostile towards the medical staff at the hospital. She has also been put on stronger medication and been through a number of magic based medical treatments designed to help control her dissociative identity disorder. I cannot of course be one hundred percent sure on this but I believe her condition has turned into something more. Multiple personalities are only one step away from split personalities.”

“Sir?”

“What I’m saying is that it is quite possible that two distinct and separate ponies exist within her head. I’m not sure how the swap occurs, maybe when she goes to sleep.”

“If that’s true sir what do we do now?” asked Lilac in an unsure tone.

“We find her…and fast! I’m assuming that neither Octavia nor Vinyl are at their residences.”

“No sir, they are both missing.”

Fair Breeze paused for a moment. Where would she take her? They certainly couldn’t leave Canterlot without being seen and at this time of night there weren’t many places that would be open. Another question bugged him as well, why the sudden change in style? Previous victims had been killed where she found them and left there. If she had gone to the trouble of killing both guards then why hadn’t she just killed Vinyl at her home? Unless the unicorn had fled the scene but if that was the case why hadn’t she reported to a guard immediately? Was she trying to play hero again or had she actually been kidnapped? If the latter where indeed could she have been taken?

“The city is far too big to search it all in one night,” he said at length, “And if we don’t find her soon it’s likely that…where would she go? Why would she kidnap her if indeed that is what has happened?”

“The only places open at this time of night are the various drinking establishments and even those will close soon,” commented Lilac, “That said just about all buildings will be locked by this time, sir.”

“Indeed and it’s not like she can just break in somewhere without…”

Fair Breeze trailed off as a thought struck him like a freight train. It was so obvious it didn’t even come to mind until now.

“Sir?” asked Lilac curiously.

“The Royal Canterlot Auditorium! Her ensemble was due to perform there this week, the performance was postponed due to the murders, but they all still had access to it for practice. It may be a long shot but it’s our best bet right now. Follow me, quickly!”

Lilac nodded as she fell into a gallop beside Fair Breeze. Neither of them spoke as they ran through the night streets of Canterlot both hoping they wouldn’t be too late.

“Wakey wakey sleepy head…”

Vinyl gave a small groan as something touched her face causing her to stir. Her head throbbed like she had spent the entire night drinking and her mind was clouded in much the same way. She tried to open her eyes only to be assaulted by bright lights that made her close them again. She tried to move a hoof to rub them only to find she couldn’t move. At first her mind didn’t question why this was so, her thoughts just spinning round and round like a leaf in a drain.

“I said wakey wakey!”

A sudden stinging pain spread throughout the entire left side of her face as something made contact with it. Her mind spun once more but the instinctive reaction was automatic. She cried out in pain her body twisting as much as she could to get away from the source. She tried once more to open her eyes, this time the glaring lights not being too harsh on her senses. She couldn’t focus on anything; it was all a blurred mess.

“That’s better, wouldn’t want you to miss the show…”

Vinyl turned her head towards the source of the voice. She screwed her eyes shut for a moment and then opened them once more, her vision finally clearing. A grey earth pony mare stood in front of her, her normal neatly kept dark grey mane stuck out at odd angles. Vinyl felt her fur stand on end as she looked at her face; if the staring eyes did nothing to ruffle your cool the twitching grin that sat on her face certainly would.

“O-Octavia…?” she whimpered quietly, the unicorn almost unable to believe her eyes.

“It’s been a while Scratch hasn’t it…well at least before last night anyway,” replied Octavia her voice punctuated by small chuckles.

Vinyl finally looked around her. She was restrained to a large grand piano, her hooves and midriff secured in place by rope. The piano itself was located on a stage beyond which rose seating and stalls from floor to ceiling. Spotlights around the edge of the stage shone down on them like rays of sunlight.

“Tavi…what…what’s going on? What are you doing?” asked Vinyl, the unicorn trying to remain calm but her fear was easy to spot.

Octavia didn’t reply immediately, instead she stood starring at her with a twitching smile and a small chuckle. Finally she turned to her side where a large cello case stood propped up on the stage. Vinyl watched as she opened it and slowly removed the bow from its mounting.

“Octavia still likes you you know,” she said calmly.

“W-What?”

“I said Octavia still likes you, she has ever since you left music college. She was too proud to admit it though, couldn’t let her love life get in the way of her career. Couldn’t be seen to be hanging around with a college drop out when she was destined to be first chair cellist for the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra. But the guilt was still there.”

Octavia turned around, spinning the cello bow around her hoof for a moment as she continued to smile at Vinyl.

“Tavi…what do you mean? Why are you talking like this? What’s going on? What…” Vinyl paused as she thought back, “…did…what did you do to that guard?”

“The guard? Why I simply stunned him and slit his throat with his own spear, couldn’t have him getting in the way of tonight’s performance now could I?”

“You…what?”

Octavia started to walk back towards Vinyl slowly brandishing her cello bow like a fencer would their sword. Vinyl felt a chill run up her spine, whatever was going on she didn’t want to be a part of it. She had to get out of there now and find help. Instinctively her magic flared to life as she tried to untie the ropes binding her. A moment later though she felt as if she had been bashed around the head with a plank of wood. Her head spun and she couldn’t help but cry out in pain.

“Ah-ah-aaaah,” tutted Octavia, “We can’t have you using magic, it would spoil the show now wouldn’t it. I took the liberty of applying a little anti-magi wrap around your horn, I stole it from the hospital last time Octavia visited her sister.”

“Ah…w-what? Sister?”

Vinyl didn’t get an answer to her question as Octavia came to a stop next to her. She leaned in close to Vinyl’s face, sniffing her mane for a moment before pulling back and raising her cello bow. Carefully she placed it against her opposite front hoof and gently ran the string across her fur. Vinyl watched with horror as a thin line of blood appeared where the string had made contact with Octavia’s fur. Octavia herself didn’t seem to react at all other than to raise her hoof and gently lick the blood from her leg.

“I replaced the normal string with cheese wire,” she informed as she held the bow up to the light causing the string to glint, “You and I are going to make such sweet sweet music together and then…maybe…I might kill you…or perhaps I’ll just watch as you bleed out…I haven’t decided yet.”

“Octi! Tavi! Don’t do this! Please don’t do this! Why are you doing this?!”

Vinyl’s frantic pleas fell on deaf ears as Octavia reared up onto her hind legs and placed a hoof against one of Vinyl’s outstretched front limbs, holding her like a cello, before bringing her bow down to meet Vinyl’s fur. For a moment Vinyl could feel her own sweat as it seemed to freeze against her brow. Her heart pounded in her head like a drum of war. None of it concerned her a moment later as the bow was drawn back across her skin slicing a thin but deep cut across her fur.

As the blood oozed to the surface the only sound that filled the air was a scream that seemed as if it would split the heavens themselves.