“So let me get this straight… you tried to teleport but, instead, you blew yourself up?" Steelwing asked.

Neon shrugged. “Kinda.”

Steelwing did his best to hold in his laughter. His ‘best’ involved not trying at all. “You fuckin’ suck, dude.”

Neon rolled his eyes. “Hey, magic isn't easy. I can’t just cast whatever all willy nilly.”

“Why not? Don’t you just, like, think what you wanna do, then boom magic.”

Neon looked at his friend with a raised brow. “No? Do you just ‘think’ ‘hey, I wanna shoot a lightning bolt out of a cloud’ and just do it?”

“Yes." And as an added demonstration, Steelwing flew up into the air and grabbed the nearest tuft of cloud. “You just gotta have ‘the touch’." With a flick of his hoof, the cloud shot an arc of static off. “Can you do that with your Houdini stick?”

Neon smiled. “No, but I can do this." The small cloud started to condense, getting smaller and smaller. Steelwing leaned into the shrinking cumulous, trying to see if something was going to happen once it got small enough. To his surprise, the only thing that did happen was a small explosion in his face.

Steelwing rubbed his eyes. “Hey, man!”

Neon continued to smile.

The pegasus landed. “Can you do anything else besides blow stuff up?”

Neon shook his head. “Well, I didn’t really blow up anything. It was just a chemical reaction.”

“You exploded chemicals in my face?!”

Neon grumbled. “No. I bonded elements present in that cloud and, in the process, let out an excess about of energy that took the form of a concussive wave.”

Steelwing was silent.

“Why are we friends, again?"

“Because we’re both social outcasts who alienate ourselves from the rest of the local society and find sanctuary in our similar predicament… right?”

Neon sighed. “Oh… yeah.”

The two colts stopped walking at a crossroads. The very same street where they would normally part ways. Steelwing stretched his wings and prepared to take off. “Welp, see ya tomorrow man." He then promptly took off, but came back a second later with a much larger cloud tuft. With a kick, an arc of lightning shot out and hit Neon, causing him to jump. “Nerrrrrrrd!"

If Neon knew how to aim better with fireballs, he would’ve shot him out of the sky… and then went on to set him on fire. Not enough to kill, just enough to make movement for the next few weeks very, very painful.

With a grumble, Neon reassessed his life choices while walking back home. It had been a pretty boring day at school, with nothing other than what you could consider ‘normal’ happening. The teal stallion continued his walk until he made it to the front door of his apartment, finding the door slightly open. A wave of unease washed over the young stallion, making him trot carefully towards his residence. With an uneasy hoof, he pushed open the door, stopping when he found resistance. He tried this again, pushing harder and harder. When the door would finally open completely, he was greeted to the sight of his passed out sister, mumbling.

“Oh… so that’s what was blocking it…” He winced, trotting over his older sibling and making his way past her somehow still sleeping form.

Probably still tired from another ‘romantic’ outing with her new ‘marefriend’, he thought, throwing his bag into his room and then making his way to the kitchen, foraging through the fridge for something to eat. After figuring that there’s nothing in the fridge worthwhile to eat that doesn’t involve cooking, he went back up to his room to start his homework.

He stopped short of the stairs, looking over his shoulder to see the form of his still passed out sister. He mumbled to himself, then picked up Vinyl in his magical grasp. Sweet Celestia, Vinyl! Stop eating so much junk at the club… he thought as he had to put more effort into picking her up. Seeing as he was tired already from school, and walking upstairs with his sister in tow was too much effort, he put her down on the couch.

He went back to the foot of the stairs, but stopped again. He looked back to Vinyl. She’ll be out for a few more hours, I might as well… Neon did say he wanted to talk with Octavia about the whole situation, but would it be ok for him to just walk in the theatre without warning?

With Vinyl asleep, he could go to the theatre and come back without her knowing that he had left. Even though it wouldn’t matter because Octavia would tell Vinyl that he was there later. Still, he had the time to go. Then… what was stopping him?

The first time he met Octavia; he was scared. Who could blame him? Meeting a ghost isn’t something that’s normally said or done. So, when the moment came where his hoof phased through an entity of conscious mind, it did a little more than unnerve him.

Now, however, after getting used to the idea of a spirit that exist on the mortal plane, as well as Vinyl coming home every night unharmed, he’s gotten over some of his fear. Though he hasn’t had another meeting after his first with Octavia, imagining her as a normal pony that’s slightly see through and can phase through solid objects instead of a relentless spirit put his mind at ease, if not only slightly.

Maybe it was just him being nervous. Putting aside the fact that Octavia isn’t a living being, giving the ‘overprotective big brother’ speech to anyone would still put him on edge… even though he wasn’t the big brother, but it’s the thought that counts.

Cracking his neck and grabbing his jacket, he left the house and made way for the theatre.

Okay… this is it! No turning back… Well, I could. Forget this ever happened. Do my homework. Fall asleep on the couch and… Neon promptly smacked his hoof into his face. Focus! Talk. To. Ghost!

The teal stallion pressed past the large oak doors, taking a shaky step inside of the theatre. Once stepping inside, he promptly jumped at the sound of the doors closing behind him. He would never admit to it, but he may have let out a very unstallion-like scream.

Shit! Okay, it’s just a harmlessly haunted theatre… damn it, that is an oxymoron! Neon took a deep breath, steeling himself. It’s okay, you can do this. Just… just don’t think about it. Yes!

Shaky hoof by shaky hoof, he went further into the theatre, passing antique furnature, time worn walls, and the pungent odor of decay. The shadows seemed to dance, taking unnerving shapes. He jumped, meeped, and flinched at each and every one of these tricks of his mind. Finally, after a while, he had finally made his way to the main theatre hall where he remembered his sister bringing him the first time. Poking his head into the hall, he surveyed the area. It was empty, as far as he could notice. The smell of rot and decay seemed to be even more pungent in this area, and temperature dropping by at least ten degrees. A shiver ran up the stallion's back, making his let out a slight shudder.

Geez, when did it get so cold? he asked himself as he trotted into the room. It was as he had remembered it; old, broken down, and damaged by time. He hadn’t really noticed the smell or temperature change before. But, then again, he wasn’t paying attention to anything other than where the exit was. Slowly, he made his way up to the stage, seeing no signs of the spirit of his interest.

Once he made it to center stage, the young stallion looked around. The theatre was empty. There was no signs of anything living or other around him; only dust and decay. Huh… maybe she’s sleeping… do ghost even sleep? Whatever the case is, she’s not here now. Neon turned around, ready to go back home. As soon as he made his first few steps away from the stage, he tripped over the debris from a broken chair and into another chair.

“Vinyl, is that you?” called out a voice from somewhere in the building.

Neon froze up at the call. Maybe, if I just lay here… completely still… she’ll ignore me. As much as the young colt could dream, dreams don’t always come true. Floating above him was none other than the phantom of the theatre herself looking down on Neon with surprise, and a bit flustered.

“N-Neon? What are you doing here?”

Neon’s blue eyes widened as much as biologically possible. For a moment, his mouth went dry. He could only stare up at the equally surprised spectral mare above her. Forcing his tongue to work, he meekly stated, “O-oh y’know… just in the neighborhood, and… uh…”

Neither of them spoke for a while. Octavia, having been previously informed that the colt before her knew about her relationship with Vinyl, had her reasons to be nervous around him. Neon, who was scared straight out of his coat, also had his reasons to be nervous, not to mention the fact that he was socially awkward to begin with.

“So…”

“So…?”

Octavia landed in front of Neon, who was still lying on his back. “Umm… how are you?”

“Scared shitless… you?”

“Oh… same here.”

Silence.

“So… You’re, uh… dating my sister?”

“Oh… yeah…”

Silence.

“I uh… had a speech planned… but, I forgot it.”

“…I’m sorry?”

“I, uh… guess I’ll just improvise?”

“Oh… okay?”

It was at this point that Neon realized he was still laying on the dirty, dirty floor. He quickly got to his hooves, shuddering and wiping whatever contagion he picked up off his jacket.

“I, uh… Well…” he takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Look, I’m just looking out for my sister. Admittedly… it was originally because you are a ghost, but it’s equally because I am… protective, of my sister.”

Octavia smiled, finally understanding the situation. “You’re making sure your sister isn’t with the wrong pony.”

Neon nodded. “Ever since mom and dad died… Vinyl has sacrificed her entire life to make sure I was happy… I just… I just want to make sure that she is with someone who can do the same, you know? She is an amazing sister, and an amazing mare. I just… I don’t know.” He let out a sigh. “Let me just make sure of a few things, ok?”

“Alright.”

Bracing himself for whatever was to come, Neon took a breath. “You’re not evil, right?”

“No.” Octavia replied simply.

“And you’re not gonna reap Vinyl’s or my soul or bodies?”

“No.”

“And you’re not secretly a succubus or siren or…?”

“I don’t even know what those are.”

Neon let loose a heavy, relieving sigh. “Alright then… considering you haven’t reaped my soul or stolen my body by now, I don’t think I have to worry about the ghost thing… Just… Just promise me you’ll take care of her?”

Octavia nodded. “The last thing I would want to do is hurt her.”

“Good. But, uh… just remember, even though you’re already dead, it won’t help you if you do end up hurting her.” Neon did his very best to sound intimidating (and, also, slightly puffing out his chest for good measure).

It didn’t work.

Octavia giggled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

There was a new mutual respect between the duo, though both parties still had no idea what to do next. Neon, having said what he needed to say, decided it was time for him to leave. “So, uh… bye?” He kicked himself for such an awkward goodbye, but the damage had been done. He briskly trotted away from Octavia, mumbling to himself how stupid he looked in front of her.

“Oh Neon, wait!” Octavia called out, startling the young colt.

Neon jumped, turning back to face the mare. “Y-yeah?”

Octavia looked everywhere but at him, floating from side to side. “Well, umm… d-do you think you could maybe… stay? Just a little bit, I mean! I-It’s just that… well, apart from what Vinyl has told me; I don’t know anything about you and… and shouldn’t I get to know you if I’m… well… with Vinyl and all… right?”

That’s… a fair point, Neon had to admit. He was still a little hesitant around the spectre, but his fear was fleeting the more time he spent around her. He thought this over for a little but, then internally shrugged. “Sure, why not,” he said nonchalantly. “I don’t have anywhere to be.”

Octavia clapped her hooves together in excitement. She floated over to the colt, and promptly plopped her plot down next to him. “So, tell me about yourself.”

Neon’s face went red. “Uhh…” He then started to shiver at the proximity of Octavia’s frost aura.

Noticing this, Octavia floated a few feet away. “Oh, I’m sorry. This… temperature thing seems to have stopped with your sister, so I thought it would with you as well,” she muttered apologetically.

Pulling his jacket in tighter, Neon nodded. “I-it’s f-fine.” He took a moment to regain his body temperature. “Alright… well… what do you want to know?”

Octavia shrugged, pawing at the floor. “Well… what makes you unique? Are you into music like your sister?”

Neon shook his head. “Nah, I’m the ‘brains’ in the family,” he began with a chuckle. “Vinyl got the social grace, and I got the brains. She makes music, and I build the crap she uses to make the music.”

Octavia’s ears perked up at his last remark. She quickly disappeared and reappeared a second later, holding Vinyl’s music player in her spectral hooves. “So you made this?!”

Neon laughed. “Ha! I wish! If I did then Vinyl would never have to work again.” He shook his head. “I’m not that good yet; I can only tell you how it’s made, and replicate it given the proper materials and equipment. No, the coolest thing I’ve made so far is a speaker that runs on the sound waves produced from the discharge of electricity.”

Octavia blinked.

“Speaker from… lightning, basically,” he simplified.

“Oooh! That sounds magnificent!”

Neon blushed. “Yeah… it was pretty cool.”

Octavia involuntarily scooted a bit closer to him. “What else can you do?”

Neon cleared his throat and straightened his jacket collar. “Well, umm… I can bond chemicals with my magic, and recite the entirety of ‘Intro to Electronics’ curriculum practically by heart, and… other stuff that makes the other kids call me a geek…”

“Can I see?”

“See what?”

“Bonding chemicals with your magic.”

Neon ran a hoof through his mane. “Okay, umm.” He quickly thought of something relatively simple, but exciting. After getting the idea, he closed his eyes and focused on his magic. A small bubble of teal magic was created in front of him. Inside was a small amount of water that filled the bubble halfway. Neon grunted as he applied more energy to the bubble, causing the water to bubble up. After a minute, the water had completely evaporated into gas, which sat at the lower half of the bubble, completely still, as if it was a liquid.

Neon opened his eyes and smiled at his creation. “Okay…” he started, panting under the strain of keeping the pressure inside the bubble high. “This here… is really cool, alright…” he moved the bubble around, swishing the ‘air’ around. “It’s called… a supercritical… fluid.”

Octavia stared wide-eyed at the bubble. “Ooohh… what’s it do?”

Neon continued to take deep breaths to keep the pressure inside the bubble constant. “It’s basically… water… but air. Like… it’s so hot… that the water… evaporated, but… inside the bubble… is so pressurized… that the water vapor… has the consistency of a liquid. Oh, sweet Celestia!” With a heavy gasp, Neon released the bubble, causing the water inside to return back to a liquid state and splash on the floor.

Octavia continued to stare with amusement. “Golly, magic sure is something.”

Neon cracked his neck and huffed a few more times to regain his breath. “It was more science than magic. You see, magic isn’t just some mystical force that you can make do whatever. Magic, in simplest terms, is just a form of extremely potent energy. This energy, which we call ‘arcane energy’ exist in a wave… y’know, like in the electromagnetic spectrum, and unicorns’ horns are like antennas that can pick up on the waves and manipulate them. And yeah, about conjuring up stuff and how ponies say, ‘what about the law of conservation of matter and energy hurr-durr’ well, we don’t just make stuff go ‘poof’ into existence, we take the raw energy from the ley lines around the earth and change that energy into whatever we’re conjuring. We’re basically speeding up chemical reactions using this extremely powerful energy by such a rate where we can make, like, a glass of water a lot quicker than in a lab or nature.”

Octavia blinked. “Uh… electro what?”

Neon sighed. “Why can’t I find somepony who I can discuss laws of physics and magic to that can actually be able to hold the conversation?!”

Octavia looked away. “I’m sorry… magic sounds interesting and all, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully understand it, being that I’m an earth pony.”

Neon grumbled. “Yeah, yeah… so, that’s me: the nerd. Anything else you wanna know? Or is my spirit still bound to your eternal torment.”

Octavia scoffed.

Neon took a step back, holding his hooves up to his face. “Kidding! Kidding! Please don’t hurt me! I’m just a boy!”

Octavia stuck her nose in the air. “Well, if I’m that much of a pain, I guess I’ll just leave.”

Neon took a step towards her. “Wait for... hold on, can I try something first?”

Octavia looked back, curious. “Sure?”

Neon sparked his horn, picking up the water from his last experiment into another bubble. He floated the water over to Octavia, who leaned back from it. Without warning, he passed the bubble straight through her body. When he levitated it back to him, the water had been unaffected. “Huh.” He observed the water, dipping his hoof in it for good measure. When he found out that the water was not cold, he started rambling. “Dude, that’s weird. So, wait… you said you’re not cold to Vinyl, but you are cold to me. And this water here tells me that you’re not physically cold. So… how’s that work?” Neon continued to mumble theories to himself, ignoring his ghostly companion.

Octavia gave Neon a disgruntled look, to which he didn’t notice. Shrugging, Octavia simply floated towards, and through, the young colt and back to the rafters.

To Neon, he felt like he fell into liquid nitrogen for a second. An uncontrollable shiver assaulted his nerves, causing him to scream, reel back, and fall on the floor in the fetal position to conserve what little heat existed in the world.

“W-w-w-why?!” he yelled.

Poking her head from out of the rafters, Octavia smiled down at him. “I thought it would be a fun ‘experiment’.”

Neon closed his eyes and focused what little energy he had in his body to keep himself alive. Hate my life. Hate my life. Hate my life.

The front door closed with a soft ‘bang’, causing Vinyl to abruptly awake. She quickly looked around at her surroundings, noticing that she was in her living room and laying down on the couch. Assuming that the bang she heard was the door, she leaned over the couch to confirm her theory.

Her theory was proven to be correct as Neon sauntered over to the couch from the front door. He sat next to Vinyl without saying anything, staring at the blank television screen with a thousand yard stare.

Vinyl yawned. “Yo, Neon. You ‘aight?”

Neon sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I’m alright.” His voice was soft, lacking any energy.

Vinyl sat up straight. “You sure? You look out of it.” Vinyl looked him in the eye. “Were you smokin’ dope?”

“No, not this time.”

Vinyl scoffed. “‘This time?’ What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Neon continued to stare, half paying attention to his sister. “I was with Octavia.”

Vinyl’s gaze softened. “Wait, you went to the theatre?”

“Yeah.”

“On your own accord?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Vinyl shrugged. It explained his lack of a sense of reality. “Alright. So you did man up and play the ‘overprotective little-big brother’?”

“Yeah.”

“You oaf,” Vinyl chuckled before she hugged her brother. The two held the embrace for a short while, then Vinyl pulled away. “So, whatdya talk about?”

Neon ran a hoof across the back of his neck. “Well… not much, really. I mean… okay, at first I wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to go all evil on you, but then it became just a, well, normal chat. Talked some science, learned some stuff about her, crap like that.”

Vinyl smirked. “And is she the bloodthirsty ghost you thought she was?”

“First of all, I never said bloodthirsty. And second… yeah, I guess you were right…”

The white mare tapped her brother on the back. “See, I have good taste when it comes to the undead!”

“Please don’t ever say that again… ever.”

“Whatever.” Vinyl shrugged. “Anyways, I don’t really have anything to do for the rest of the day, so… wanna do something?”

Neon raised an eyebrow. “Do something?”

Vinyl nodded. “Yeah, been forever since I've been able to spend some time with ma’ bro!”

Neon’s face instantly curled into a smile; excitement forming in his gut he had not felt in a long, long time.

Next Chapter: Chapter: 14 Estimated time remaining: 24 Minutes