Pulse

-=Pulse=-

A My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Tale

-=Part 3:  *“That Makes Sense to Me!”*

Star Sign trotted along the outside of the landing. Having just finished the chapter on Keeper's encounter with the Princess herself, she was even more inquisitive into the life she knew little about. She looked around and decided to go up another flight of stairs.

She found herself in a bedroom. It was pretty plain, especially for her tastes. There were holes in the walls showing the outside mountain range that ran beside Everfree Forest. There were a few dressers that were on either side of a small fireplace. Same as the library, there were a few pieces of wood bound together with webbing. She laughed to herself at her slight hesitation since there were no large spiders living here. Keeper probably had a way of harvesting it and used the webs for hardy string.

On the mantle there were a few pictures. The first was Keeper around the actual group of ponies that wielded the Elements of Harmony. They were all relaxed and most of the six ponies were leaning up against him. She had seen Keeper before since he was one of the more important residents of Ponyville and there were quite a few pictures of him. Twilight Sparkle herself even wrote a book on him. She gave an account of what Keeper called “humanity in a nutshell”.

The second one was with Vinyl Scratch and Keeper and both were giving each other a hug. On the bottom was cursive writing that read “I wub the way make music together!”. Star Sign blushed as she read that. As much as they were both known for making tons of music, that certainly sounded naughty. Shaking her head she noticed the last picture.

It was a Changeling. The number one Changeling to be exact. Queen Chrysalis herself. She wasn't looking at the camera either which was strange. She was staring off into the distance at a nighttime sky and the side of her face was illuminated by fireworks that were sparkling in the dark. It was strange, why would he have such an intimate photo of one of the biggest threats to Equestria?

Why didn't it stop bugging her in the back of her mind? It was starting to give her a headache.

Star Sign decided to take her mind off of the questions she had by reading more of Keeper's book. As much as it probably would give her more questions it would certainly keep her mind off of the photo. She looked at Keeper's bed, it looked quite well for being a hundred years old. She poked the heavy red blanket with her hoof. To her relief nothing moved under it and she couldn't see any insects. Hopping up she heard the wood creak under her weight. It seemed to be fine and she sighed in relief as she laid the book down on the bed. Looking around she felt how massive it was too; Keeper really was tall.

Star opened up the book and took another peek into Keeper's past. It was the same book, so she didn't expect any time-skipping and picked up right where she left off.

Now the take-off was bumpy but I blamed that on the road. Once the two guards were in the air it was actually pretty smooth. The front of the chariot was able to block most of the incoming winds and I didn't feel like I was going to fly off the thing. I also tried not to look down; I didn't need to throw up the food I just ate.

The ride was quicker than I imagined. Maybe air resistance and physics played differently here, especially considering how Rainbow Dash could probably really pull off a sonic rain-boom without killing herself. I noticed a few familiar colours on a road as we angled towards the ground and my nervousness increased substantially.

The landing was a bit better than the take-off which was very nice because I didn't know if I could hold in my lunch any longer. We stepped off and the six ponies started to move forward but hesitated a bit when they saw me jump off the back of the chariot.

“Now we know that if it is with the Princess than we are safe from it.” Twilight not-so-subtly whispered back to her friends. She had Tara Strong's voice which more evidence on how close the two places were.

“But it's so strange. Look how it's dressed! That's not in fashion.” Rarity was a bit softer in the whisper but I could still hear it well. Plus fashion? Seriously Rarity you could think up of something better to say.

We approached the mares and they bowed to the Princess. Fluttershy immediately edged a bit back behind the group and she looked terrified per usual. Applejack seemed defensive, almost ready to buck me at a moment's notice. Rainbow Dash was looking at me as if she was judging me; although I didn't know if it was for threat analysis or competition. Rarity was probably still judging my clothes though I thought it was really shallow to think that of her even if it was correct. Pinkie Pie's ear was twitching, but she actually seemed relaxed. Finally Twilight has put on a strong look as if to show she was brave in front of her Princess.

“Now Twilight, my favourite student. This here is a friend from a far away place, he's come here to live in Ponyville for the foreseeable future. Twilight have you talked to the ponies around town?”

Twilight nodded and smiled, “Why yes I have Princess Celestia, though they might be intimidated by his... size.” Damn straight, it's not the only big thing you should be worried about. Shut up brain. “Plus it's a day after the wedding, ponies might think he is a Changeling.”

“Well he is not, you may tell them that I have said that.” the Princess smiled.

“Well where's he comin' from? Appleosa? Manehatten?” Applejack chirped up.

Celestia looked at me with some concern. “Well they are probably going to find out anyways. Especially if I can't get back.” I told her.

“Git back where?” Applejack asked.

Celestia drew in a deep breath. “Now look girls, this is going to be a lot to take in at once so I'm going to be cutting right to the chase so to speak. A portal somehow opened up during the Changeling attack and he was taken through it by accident. He is the only one of his kind here and he is all alone and could certainly use a friend. We have no way of getting him back at the moment, and quite frankly we just don't have the time or resources to get him home.”

I took a step forward and got on one knee, which brought my face down to Twilight's height. “My name is Keeper, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance. It was quite a thrill to know how you could help the Ursa Minor get back to its mother. Especially against the Great and not-really-all-that-powerful Trixie.”

She blushed a bit and I shook her hoof. “How... how do you know about that?”

I winked at her and turned to Rarity. “Oh and Rarity this is in fashion where I am from. Military is always in good taste for men nowadays. However if I want to get a little more of an update I know to go to the best seamstress in Equestria.”

She shook my hand a bit stronger than Twilight did, though with a bit more grace. “Ohhh! Well-spoken and polite, I may be a bit wrong about you.”

I stood up to greet Rainbow Dash, and held up my fist for a hoof-bump. “Even on Earth we have heard of the best flier in Equestria and her amazing Sonic Rain-boom. It is quite the feat I must add.”

She lightly bumped her hoof against my hand. “Really? I have been working on a few things I can show you if I have the time.” She really warmed up on the compliment and I actually was interested on seeing her fly.

I crouched a little to shake Applejack's hoof too, “Plus of all the apples I have ever had, I am happy I had the pleasure of eating such a delicious fruit grown from your orchard.” I leaned in a bit closer and whispered. “Pie and hard apple cider, I will probably need some in a while.”

“Well y'all come by sometime and I'll be sure to show ya both.” she said as she shook my hand roughly; thankfully she didn't spit on it this time.

“Pinkie Pie, I am going to eat all of the cupcakes.” I said almost sternly.

“All the cupcakes? And are you an alien, or would we be the aliens to you? No you are visiting us so it should be you being the alien this time and not us.” she looked horrified and then excited at the same time, which was a very funny look.

“All the cupcakes! Second question's answer is not an alien!” I smiled as I shook her hand, to which she grabbed with both hooves and shook enthusiastically.

I turned to the still slightly-cowering Fluttershy. “Plus after a dragon, Discord, basilisks and cockatrice living in the Everfree Forest, why are you so scared of me?”

She didn't make any move to actually shake my hand in an introduction. She meekly smiled and looked to the side and said “um, hello” softly.

Well five out of six ain't that bad. “So Twilight, where is Spike?”

Twilight looked like her mind was really going to blow. “How the hay do you know these things?!”

“I know these thing because I am Keeper. I keep things to myself and I keep knowledge. Might take a few times to learn but I keep a lot and some things I share.” I said with my arms raised a little to embellish the fact.

“That makes sense to me!” Pinkie Pie happily told Twilight.

The Princess also spoke up. “Twilight, I know this is new and very confusing but Keeper here has had such a long trip. He will explain later, however he is under my own personal orders to keep some secrets to himself. So if he says he won't share then please respect that okay?”

Twilight seemed a bit more relaxed hearing it from the Princess, though it seemed reluctant. “I'll share a lot with you Twilight. I have a bit that can probably expand that library of yours.” I offered, “When we have the time I'll be happy to share lots of my history.”

“Well then it is a pleasure to meet you Keeper. I am sure that you will feel right at home in Ponyville! As for Spike, he is off preparing a bit for your arrival, the ponies will probably be very curious as to who you exactly are apart from just 'human' and 'tall on two legs'.” Twilight actually looked at Princess Celestia with a bit of annoyance when the Princess was glancing back at the chariot.

Well so far flattery and charm was getting me everywhere with these ponies. I turned to Celestia and she beckoned me to meet with her. “Now before I go Twilight, I do have a few things to give to Keeper here. Would you please wait a moment?”

She nodded and the Alicorn motioned for me to go back to the chariot with her. “They are horrible at whispering are they not?”

I leaned a bit but held eye contact with Celestia. “Not that bad...”, “could be a nice pon-I mean human”, “...gave Zecora a chance and look how wrong we were...”, and I caught “all the cupcakes...”

“Yeah they suck at that.” I smiled “Thanks so much for everything, it really means a lot.”

“Well I couldn't let you wander alone with a broken leg now could I? As for getting you home, I don't want any chance of my kingdom being exposed to the more... indecent things about humanity. Things are very stable here and I don't wish to expose my subjects to anything that could compromise their happiness or lives more than you. I am sorry to say that for the time being, we won't be looking to get you home.

“Considering how I couldn't keep you locked in a room just for being different, I'm taking the extreme route and giving you a lot of my trust.” She looked at me with a fierce look “Be sure you to betray that trust. Also, we still have a huge Changeling problem to take care of as well. You know about them right?”

I waved her concern off, “I know all about them, plus I'm certain they have no idea how to make a female human anyways. I am sure that there would be more complications with me going back than me staying here too. If time is moving on Earth while I am here then I am sure that if I just showed up it would cause a mess with pretty much everything. Saying I went to a magical land full of amazing ponies and magic will most likely end up in all sorts of terrible things, and that is IF time was flowing at the same pace. Heck I could show up in an alternate Earth or a few thousand years in the future.”

“Well then everything might turn out better in the end. That is the one thing about magic that you have to learn about here, it is all about balance and harmony.” she said as she brought out a small sack. “Now this should cover you for a bit. Seeing as how you are a refugee of sorts, we will register you under assistance until you have a job or talent that can support you.”

I thanked her for her generosity and held the bag of Bits in my hand. Unlike the show, there were different gold bits scattered throughout; all different sizes but not colours. Great, I had no idea how much I had, but I assumed it would be enough for a bit. A Bit for a bit, wow. She bowed lightly to me and simply said “I want you to do one thing. I wish for you to make friends here. Even though you are the only human here, there is no reason to be lonely. I hope you find the magic in friendship.”

“Will I have to write letters to you on the lessons I have learned?” I asked with a smile.

She shook her head and gave a small laugh. “No, but progress reports on how you are doing would be nice. I take about a half-hour to relax between royal duties every few hours during the day in which I check on Twilight if needed. Feel free to ask Spike to send a letter along. He will know when to send it to me.”

I leaned forward and bowed on one knee and thanked her for her kindness and trust. I was really playing the 'be nice to everybody' card, but she didn't banish me to the moon yet so I figured I owed her my respect. She did give me a bunch of Bits and for that I was really thankful for as well.

I waved her good-bye as she boarded her golden vehicle and walked back to the six ponies that I had spent a bit of my recent life watching. We landed about ten minutes outside of Ponyville, so I spent the time talking a bit to each one of them; except for Fluttershy, who opted to just listen. They were really interested in my world but actually respected my privacy for the most part. I did have to say a few times “Seriously girls, I might tell you sometime. I just have to get used to being in a completely different world.”

Before we got into Ponyville, I did manage to get invited to record some data on humans with Twilight Sparkle as well as choose some new clothing with Rarity. Of course, Rarity checked my Bit bag to see if I might have enough first. She did want some fashion design idea of what humans wore as well as Bits for her time though; I did argue that if she made money off my ideas, she would owe me Bits. Pinkie Pie of course invited me to eat cupcakes. I had heard of some stories involving Pinkie and cupcakes on the internet, so I politely told her that I would after I settled in. You know, just in case if ponies went missing and her cupcakes were a bit too delicious.

Soon enough I found myself looking out over a large hill into Ponyville. Here I was on the edge of a new city, a new home. I was pretty scared to say the least. More than moving from Ontario to British Columbia. Then again that was only across the same country and not a whole dimension.

We continued to walk through the town heading for what I assumed was the town square or city hall. To be honest, I still didn't know the layout by watching the show. Walking closer it was hard not to notice the huge crowd of ponies staring at me trying to figure out what the fuck I was, which of course didn't ease my nervousness. I walked though them with the help of the main six while mostly excusing ourselves. Some ponies sounded horrified at how I looked, others thought I was weird, and I was able to hear at least a few ponies think I looked cool. Nice to know I wasn't ostracized immediately.

Eventually I was standing in front of everypony, and the crowd quieted down as Twilight approached a small microphone and podium. “Good afternoon Ponyville! It is a pretty big surprise for all of us, as much as it was for even Princess Celestia that a being from another world appeared in Equestria. I have absolute assurance from the Princess herself that he is of no threat to anypony and will be staying in Ponyville for the foreseeable future. I also have her assurances that he is not a Changeling. That being said, everyone give a warm welcome to Keeper, the first human in Equestria!”

The crowd was not one for clapping out loud for something that they had never seen before, but I did get a nice low “ooh” from the ponies. I approached the stand and took the microphone into my hand. For a minute I thought I was going to crush it. I took a deep breath and tried to relax a bit before opening my mouth. “Hello ponies of Ponyville. My name is Keeper and I am from a place called Earth. Now I have to keep some things to myself, however that is under orders from Celestia herself.” I caught my mistake. “Pardon me, Princess Celestia. Forgive me on that one, we don't have many princesses back where I am from. So I'll be taking questions from anypony who wants to ask.” I figured it would be best as a Q and A just to get some issues out of the way, and I took off my military jacket and adjusted my t-shirt underneath.

“What is your talent?” a pony in the crowd asked.

I paused for a second, what exactly was my talent? I was a Jack-of-all-trades and that was more of a problem than anything, it's the exact reason why I have been stagnating for so long back on Earth. “Where I am from, you aren't so much an individual as you ponies are. There are so many humans that you have to be good in quite a few things if you want to be important. I am a kind of human who is good in many things, but excel in almost nothing. However maybe that's because I have never been in a place where I might be needed, and I am really just a blank-flank without a speciality yet. I hope to find it here.” I smiled a bit, they seemed to like that.

There were quite a few murmurs in the audience, which was broken by a male in the front row asking “Well then what is that cutie mark on your right front arm?”

Arm? Well I assume that they must have called the front legs on a few animals arms and it made sense. However the cutie mark bit didn't make sense. I pulled up my sleeve and exposed the rest of my tattoo, but all that was left from a slightly tribal design of the Assassin's symbol from Assassin's Creed was just the upside-down stylized 'V' in the plain traditional sign.

“This is called a tattoo, it's a choice to get one and you can get one almost anywhere on your body in my world. They symbolize different things depending on what you want and how you place it.” I paused to let that sink in a bit “you can think of it as a permanent paint, albeit more... intense.”

Then to save myself from the next question I told them what the symbol meant, without too much of the bloody history that shared it. It was unchained freedom, something many humans didn't get to think about. One of the things I loved and always kept in mind is 'nothing is true, everything is permitted'. Now you can apply it to a lot, but in between answering mundane questions like “how big is Earth” and the like I thought more and more on that particular line of the Creed; nothing is true, everything is permitted.

Everything I knew was shattered in some way. Even base physics was messing up for me. Mostly anything that I assumed to be true was being tweaked. Two Alicorns controlled the Earth's orbit around the moon and sun, everything looked... different, and even my own body was changed. As for everything is permitted part, I had to chose wisely or the consequences could be catastrophic. For instance, I could snap Twilight's neck right now and it would change Equestria's future permanently, but would pretty much get me killed as well. However I liked Purple Smart and I really wanted to take this land to the fullest. Plus, this was a complete life reset and everything was available to me.

Also, it meant that I could do anything now too. Ponies looked after each other. I could make a home and maybe even actually make a difference in here. I was already going to be in history books, and I wanted to be remembered as a good human, not one that broke necks.

It was like the feeling you get when you play something like Fallout for the first time, and you walk out of the Vault and you see the world. You have an open world to do anything in, with a fresh start. Your world is forever changed, but you know you have to keep stepping forward. Then discoveries keep popping up here and there and you get that feeling of wanting to know what's behind the next corner.

I told them that it also stood for the good of all of humanity, to keep them free and prosperous and to remind everyone to have an open mind. That part was true at least, and a few really liked that I would choose something like that to be permanently etched into my skin. I also warned them that the process took thousands of years to perfect and that they shouldn't work into altering who they are that much. Besides, not like it could be seen through their short coats.

They were obviously amazed at how old my planet was and how many people were living on it. Some of them really didn't like that I was keeping stuff back from them, but I was Keeper and that is what I did. When your name usually aligns with what you do you can get away with things like that. They accepted the Keeper persona a lot better than expected to be honest. Nevertheless, most ponies were very welcoming of a new being in their midst.

I was just about to get off the stage to look for an inn or something to stay the night in when Twilight hopped up to the microphone and said “Now Keeper is a long way away from his home and doesn't have anywhere to call home, does anyone have space for him?”

There was a long murmur throughout the crowd. Saying hello was one thing, but actually letting the new creature into their homes? Especially with a majority female population, the prospect of me getting a bunk seemed unlikely. I was about to get up to tell her I could find a place on my own when Applejack started to move to raise her hoof. I was thinking about living in the barn and helping it to be fixed or something. However, from the crowd I heard a voice shout out “I'll let him crash at my place!”

Everypony turned to see who spoke up. She started to walk forward and I almost had to use my hands to keep my jaw up. She had a brilliant white coat, a note cutie mark, different blue streaks in her hair and purple glasses that were reflective. “It won't be much trouble, I can make room in my studio. Hey Keeper, you like music?”

I wasn't going to let out a squee this early in my stay. “Why yes I do, in fact, I was told by the Princess that you are working on some newer-type music. I would love to hear it.”

“What about Octavia, Vinyl?” Twilight asked.

Vinyl Scratch walked around me as if sizing me up. “She's off for a few days in Canterlot. I'll explain when she comes back. Not like he is going to crash in her room. Besides, it's technically my house anyways.”

The crowd started to disperse and go on with their lives. Some even waved goodbye and added “Hope to see you around Keeper!”

I bowed to the six ponies that I knew well and bid them goodbye, adding a bit more of a wave to Rarity. Spike was still nowhere to be seen which was good because I didn't want to get on his bad side while getting on Rarity's good one. Following Vinyl through Ponyville was nice too as I was able to check out a few houses.

“I do have to warn you that I keep late hours, I can be up playing with my studio for hours and time passes like crazy. You have any problem with loud music? What music does Earth have? I actually want to show you something cool! Do you like waffles?” Scratch said as we passed a flower shop.

“I keep weird hours too, no, loads, cool is cool, fuck yes.” I answered quickly, to which she looked back at me and I saw a flash of her eyes; to set the record straight in my mind they were more of a ruby or crimson colour, but not straight red or magenta.

Smiling she simply said, “Thank Celestia the house is under my name, I am glad you aren't a prude like Octavia. She definitely would not let me get away with inviting you over if that was the case. We can burn that bridge when we get to it.”

We came upon a building that was like most two-story buildings in Ponyville, but separated a bit more from the rest on the more outskirts of town. It was white-painted brick that looked almost plastered over in order to give it a smooth look with a hay roof that had a wood layer underneath. There was a small garden out front with a few flowers here and there. Again, I was lucky with the door as I almost had to duck a little to get through.

“Mon casa su casa my pink-skinned friend!” Vinyl stepped inside and shut the wooden door behind her.

“Sweet Lucifer, you know Spanish?” I asked somewhat amazed.

She paused in the entryway “I have no idea what that is, I just made it up a while ago and thought it was cool to say. Is that actually a thing? What's a Lucifer? Is it sweet candy?”

“No, Lucifer isn't a candy. I just say that because people get offended when I say Jesus Christ.” I paused when I saw her head tilt to the side. “Fuck I need a filter. Anyways what you said means 'my home is your home' or something like that. Just curious as to how close our two places are. Nice home by the way, mind giving me a quick tour?”

She agreed to it and lead me through the house. It was small in my standards, but the ceilings were large enough. She lead me into a kitchen and I was somewhat surprised to actually see appliances in it. Running water in a sink, fridge, oven and even a dishwasher. I side-stepped to check out the dishwasher, but to my dismay it didn't go to eleven nor did it have some place to jack a music device into; I guess she didn't clean her dishes with wubs. “Wait, you are saying that you guys have these things too?” she remarked as I familiarized myself with everything.

“Yeah, trust me it is kinda freaking me out too.” I told her truthfully as I followed her into the den.

This was obviously one of Octavia's rooms and looked like an old hunter's den without the animal heads. Her double bass was sitting in a corner but here cello was gone, probably with her. Music books were neatly aligned in a series of bookcases that were near a fireplace. I guess that central heating wasn't invented nor implemented yet, not that the house would be hard to heat up with a wood-burning fireplace. There was even an old-style phonograph in the corner. “You ponies have record players?”

She seemed to get really excited about me mentioning that. “Yes! This particular one was made in the last seventy years or so! We use a machine to record music into crystals and then use those crystals to etch their magic into these vinyl discs!” she held one up with a hoof and used her magic to place it into the record player. “This is one of Octavia's by the way, I have my own collection of my music downstairs. As well as more modern speakers and such. She likes old-fashioned stuff.”

Upon closer examination of the old device, I noticed a few major differences as she set the disc up. One, there was no wind-up crank or anything that I was used to seeing on old record players. The phonograph was also different in that the needle was also a gem of some sorts, it was small and slightly blue. Upon contact with the disk, a tiny bit of electrical energy could be seen touching the vinyl material. Scratch pressed a button, and immediately soft violin string could be heard coming out of the cone. Another thing I noticed is that it didn't have the scratchy soft sound that was associated with records.

“Well, that sound like our old 'classical' music. Pianos, violins, flute and the like. We even have the double bass that Octavia has in the corner. However your record player certainly has its own magical additions.”

“Do you have anything with magic?”

“Negative, my white pony.” Wow, that sounded racist in my head.

“You guys don't have magic where you are from? How do you get by?” She took off her glasses and jumped up on a chair while I took a seat that was almost too short for me.

“Technology kept going forward and with a few billion minds going someone gets a great idea every once in a while. Price for no cutie marks or being naturally gifted in one single area. You guys got it lucky. Now, wanna show me your studio?” I really wanted to listen to her stuff.

She jumped off her seat enthusiastically and I felt a slight magic tug on my wrist as I followed her back through the kitchen. She swung open a small hatch down into what I presumed to be the basement. She flicked on a switch and her 'studio' was lit up.

It was pretty meagre to begin with, she did have some actual electronic set-ups that a DJ would actually have, but it was all hand-made. Hoof-made. Speakers were set up all over the room and so were vinyl discs; I also noticed a lot of battery-sized crystals lying about over her console connected by wires and boxes.

She promptly went over all the electronic components of her studio. I could instantly tell that this was her deepest passion, and it was simply amazing to see. Back on Earth you would only really see dedication or passion coming off of a musician that really cared and dedicated their lives to music, and that was rare.

She described how she would record music using her machine to record memory-like music into these crystals to replicate sounds. Using a weird crown that had wires running off of it, she would send the music in her mind into the crystal and it would store the musical line she needed. From there she would tweak it using her console and a pair of headphones which were almost exact duplicates of human headphones. Then she would wire all of the crystals into a final copy, mixing all of the elements of music together in harmony, for lack of a better term. The last step was using a machine to etch the musically-charged music into a vinyl disc.

I was simply amazed, the crystals were magically created as musical storage devices!

I begged her to play me some tracks that she had complied. She flipped up a disc and tossed it into a more futuristic-looking record player. I was expecting some major label kind of techno. I was expecting some amazing drops and sweet tunes. However, I wasn't treated to some kind of angelic tunes from a DJ pony that could make DJ Shadow look like a kid who was tone-deaf.

Needless to say, her music sounded like a 16 year old kid with Garage Band just fucking around with what they thought was pretty good techno. It wasn't super bad by any chance, but nobody would pay money to come and see it in our world. Though with a sound as radically different as this, I would see why some ponies would enjoy it.

“Did you like it? How was it? Was it good? Was it acceptable? Oh fuck you didn't like it did you?” her smile went from elated to deflated as she kept on talking down to herself.

I put a finger to her lips, which as a side note felt quite different than a human's, to shut her up. “Look, I come from a place where many artists collaborate and make music. Techno has been around for almost twenty-plus years and our technology has made it even easier to kick out tunes.” I took a deep breath. “I'm not saying it's terrible. I'm saying it is unrefined, unpolished and the work of somebody who is doing it on their own with no material beyond what they can pull up.”

She lightened up a bit. “Okay, so it is about a dirty little rock right now, and I need to chip away at it until it becomes a shiny gem right?”

Wow, she took that better than I thought. “Yeah, but you don't seem very upset at my reaction.”

“I get talked down from Octavia and other ponies that don't think that my music will catch on. They say it is just a fad and that it will phase out entirely. I know I am pulling half of this out my ass, but I really feel like I am onto something here!” she said as she sat down on the floor beside me.

I took her front hoof in my hand and gave it a squeeze. “You are Vinyl, I know it. There was a band once in my world. They tried to get into studios to record music and worked their butts off in order to spread their music around. One studio said that their sound was temporary, just a fad and that it will die out.”

She was into the story, maybe my storytelling is my talent. “What happened next? Did they get noticed?”

I smiled wide and used more hand motions to embellish the tale. “Oh did they ever. This band got so popular that they became a house-hold name to billions of people. Many other musicians were influenced by them, and even fifty years later they remain one of the greatest bands in the world.”

She looked stunned, “I don't think I'll ever be that good to be honest.”

“They were called the Beatles, I'm sure you will do just as good with your music in this world, you just have to push it and learn.”

“Ew. Beetles?” she replied with a bit of disgust. “You gotta be joking.”

“Look. If it becomes anything like I know and have listened to, you will be able to make ponies start to appreciate something new. I just wish there was a way to give you a taste of what I know.”

She perked up immediately after that. “I know! You can wear the headset! You don't have to make up a song to record, you can think it up of a song in it's entirety and I can make it happen.” She scrambled around her studio, “Then I can listen and learn from it!”

Soon enough she had a spot cleared on a chair beside her console. I then noticed some straps on the chair. “Oh, yeah. Okay, what is the bondage equipment for on the seat?”

She giggled a bit “Well, what happens is that the recorder amplifies your consciousness to remember exactly how you sensed a memory. Then it links with your subconscious to bring it out and you can relive parts of your memory. I can only pick up audio from this, but you can mess around with it. It partially also puts you to sleep, making you experience some kind of dream-scape, where you can shape basic things the harder you conc-” she paused when she saw all of this go over my head. “It makes you remember music and you can float in black space where you can imagine stuff or go over a memory. Sometimes you flail because your brain thinks where you are is real. The straps prevent that.”

“Oh” I simply responded back.

“I have a timer on in case if you fall into a memory or something. This scans your brain so try to think of just the song okay?”

I nodded back, clearly not knowing what she was talking about.

She sighed and fastened her helmet onto my head. It was tight, uncomfortable and four things were poking the skin on my skull, making it quite annoying. She then flicked a switch and my vision blacked out for another time in the same day.

I was floating yet again. This felt weird because there was still gravity but I wasn't falling, I just knew what was “down” and what was “up”. It also occurred to me that for a guy who was in a rut doing nothing but being still, I was agreeing with shit really fast. I got killed in a bus accident, woke up in a hospital, changed dimensions, flew in a chariot with royalty that controls the sun, shocked and charmed a bunch of ponies that shouldn't exist, popped into a town, got a place to crash, witnessed a bunch of melding between magic and technology and finally I agreed to strap myself to a fucking machine that scans my mind. It was such a long list that if I had to write it down, I'd think it was a run-on sentence.

I decided that after this exercise I should probably call it a day and just pass out. I decided to think of what songs Vinyl would like and a few came to mind. I decided to play it safe and think along the “techno” route and picked up a song that everybody should know. I concentrated and soon enough, the opening of Daft Punk's “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” started to play. I didn't want it mixed in with any other memories of me playing this song because I didn't know if whatever she was using to record this would pick it up and mess with the audio.

I concentrated on something else. Blue pulses started to move with the music and I started to create a visualizer with it. Keeping the music in my mind was surprisingly easy, every note came in loud and clear and the voices were crisp and perfectly robotic. I didn't know if it was how I heard it one time or how my brain was making it easy for me to remember but it was certainly some of the best audio I had ever heard. Continuing with making my own visualizer, I kept up on making the song run as smooth a possible.

Eventually the song came to an end and since I wasn't “awake” I figured I would give her some more music to listen to for ideas in her music. Since her name was Vinyl Scratch, I figured I give her a bit of what knowledge I had.

First I went with a track I had played on DJ Hero, simply Scratch Pervert's “Beats and Pieces”. This was fun because I used to play this on expert and brought up a fake turntable in the blackness that I was floating in. Lights came up on it and I pretended to scratch along to the song, pumping my fist to an invisible silent crowd. It was great as it lasted but I was sure I did nothing right, which didn't affect the song thankfully. This was to show that a DJ was more than hitting play on a track.

I still haven't woken up after that, so I played Beck's “Where It's At” showing how samples don't even need to make sense as long as it sounds good. I played DJ Shadow's “Midnight in a Perfect World” for the slow, soft sounds that lull you into relaxation; I also figured I could use it to let Octavia loosen up to Vinyl's music if needed. I hit up some deadmau5, and really got sucked into “Ghosts and Stuff” even though it was a long time since I actually listened to it. Finally I put on C2C's “Le Banquet” for some more mixing.

It sent a nice spike through me though, something I haven't felt in a long time. The pulse that you feel when you listen to something that clicks with you. As I enjoyed it in the lull of the dark I felt a sense of pressure on my hands, followed by a jarring sensation and blinked awake. The light was blinding for a few minutes but I felt Vinyl lift the helmet thing off my head. “Well, how are you feeling? We kinda jumped into this and I don't want any side-effects.” she asked as she moved some papers and sat down near me.

“I'm doing fine,” at least I thought I did, I was starting to get a headache “though my head is starting to kill me. How long was I out for?”

She looked to the side “Uh... about an hour. I set the timer for that long to let you hit the deep consciousness you need... well you pretty much fell into a sleep that has no resting effect because your mind is still going at a hundred percent.”

I shook my head a bit as she used her magic to untie my hands. “Well did you hear any of it?”

She jumped up out of her seat and started to walk in a pacing way through her cluttered studio. She commented on each song that I played. She really enjoyed the Daft Punk and the deadmau5 tracks, but was confused slightly on the other ones. Then I explained to her that there were many different aspects to how one became a 'DJ' in my world. The varying styles between DJ Shadow and Scratch Perverts were apparent enough that even someone who wasn't into music could hear the differences.

She really was into pretty much everything that I played for her. She got even more into it as I described how two songs can be melded together to make a third track. We then discussed sampling, and how she could use bits and pieces of what I brought to make a new song with what she had. We talked about it until dinner came around, to which I excused myself. Vinyl claimed she wasn't hungry, but I knew she was covering it up. She had the look of someone who was onto the greatest thing ever discovered, and nothing was going to stop her from finding it out even if it was food.

I walked upstairs after closing the door and started to search through the pantry and the fridge. As expected, ponies were mostly vegetarians though they seem to make eggs and milk from time to time which made sense since farms with chickens existed in the world. Strangely enough, so did a lot of the spices and things I have used were in this world as well. I wasn't complaining however since I didn't have to re-learn a bunch of cooking tastes again. As a thank-you for letting me stay at her place I decided to cook for her while she worked in her studio.

I'm proud to have been Canadian and any Canadian guy who is worth your time knows how to make french toast and-slah-or poutine. French toast wasn't a huge “dinner” thing to make for her but I figured that what she didn't know couldn't kill her. I had to adjust for a few things and search my way around the kitchen but I was able to whip up two plates easily enough. Rummaging through her cupboards I found syrup as well and wondered how they made it here because it certainly tasted of maple.

I opened up the door to her studio and was instantly assaulted by “Ghosts and Stuff”. Almost juggling the plates I was able to close the door. Vinyl was busy annihilating pieces of paper with a pen, making notes like crazy. I noticed that some of the marks she was making were close to our musical notes and scale but I wasn't one for sheet music so it could all be random glyphs to me. “Is this a good time?!” I yelled out as loud as possible, which didn't help my head.

She looked and blinked at me, moving her mouth in what I assumed to be words before she smacked a button “-and that's why that scale is so nice!” she finished.

I blinked at her. “Well, you have a few seconds before my hearing comes back. How about you take a mouthful of this before you talk?” I joked as I moved the plate towards her.

Her horn glowed and the fork rose off the plate and she munched on some of the french toast. “This is pretty good you know! What is it called?” I knew it was going to be a question assault time again.

“It's called 'French Toast', mainly bread and eggs but it has a bunch of other stuff too, added more vanilla for flavour.” I replied whilst munching on my pieces.

It was pretty decent too. “What is a French?” she asked, which almost caused me to cough my portion out in a laugh.

“It's a language coming from a country in my world called 'France'. Though the country I am from called 'Canada' was made up of people coming from France and another country that spoke English called 'England'. The language we speak now is called 'English' in my world, what's is called here?”

She looked kind of confused, but I was certain that I'd be explaining it to enough ponies that it would be known that I come from a place where there are tons of languages. “We speak Pony, simple as that. Zebras speak Zebra and even the Griffon have their own little language too, but we mostly speak Pony. How many languages do you humans speak? If there are a lot of you there must be quite a few! Can you speak French?”

I swallowed another mouthful of the syrupy bread before answering. “We have had maybe a few thousand languages? However we have about twenty major languages that most people speak I think, though I might be generalizing too much. A huge amount of business is in English though, so a lot of people end up learning it. As for the French part I have this to say: Je ne parle pas beaucoup de français.”

“Oh that sounded cool! What did that mean?” she asked as she bounced a little.

“I don't speak much French. Literally it means that. Also, it's been years since I was asked to speak it, so I might have butchered that too.”

She simply laughed as I asked about the soundproofing of this room.

“Oh! Well Octavia was complaining how loud my music was, so I had the purple pony Twilight Sparkle look up a spell in order to soundproof my room! It worked out well don'tcha think?”

I agreed, but my head caught up with my drowsiness and I asked where I could sleep. She used her magic to move a bunch of paper away from a massive pile. The pile happened to be hiding a sizable couch that looked big enough for me to sleep on. “I'd get you a blanket, but I doubt that it would cover you well.”

I took off my shirt, tossed it on the couch and laid down, my headache lessened quite a lot now that I was resting a bit. “Nah it's good for now.” I told her, “Thanks again for letting me stay here, it means a lot.”

She spun in her chair, “It's no problem, really. The other ponies can be quite discriminating when it comes to opening up to other ponies. We have a zebra who lives out in the Everfree Forest, a very nice zebra too who rhymes everything. I bet if you were to write a story with her in it, you'd be getting a headache just from thinking of rhymes for her to say. She's that good.”

“Zecora, I know who you are talking about.” I said with my eyes closed.

I heard some shuffling of a chair beside me and I could feel her sitting beside me on the couch. “Oh yeah, how are those books anyways?”

Books? Oh yeah, the cover story for the TV show. “They are pretty good, nicely written and the pictures are well-drawn too.”

There was a distinct pause. “Was I in them?” she asked quite softly, as if embarrassed for some reason.

I opened one eye and looked at her. “Yup, everyone knew you. You didn't show up a lot to be honest, but when you did all of the fans of the book were happy to see you. You seemed to be well-known and a lot of people believe you are a huge techno artist as well named DJ Pon-3. Though you weren't a huge character, so people had fun making back-stories for ponies such as you, Octavia, Lyra and a bunch of other ponies.”

She smiled a bit, “Pon-3 eh? Not bad. Well, what are some of the made up stories about me? They say anything bad?”

“Well, a few of them are quite small. You had pure blood-red eyes for a while because nobody thought you took off your glasses!”

“Anything bigger than that?”

I smiled in a way I hoped to be quite sinister, “Now I am perfectly fine with it if you are, but some people... well some think you are in a romantic and very sexual relationship with Octavia.”

With the embarrassed and defensive body language she was displaying, you could probably assume that she was a bit more than best friends but she quickly put out that fire. “I prefer stallions over mares! Besides even if I was... I think Octavia is a good pony but totally a prude.” amongst other defensive sentences she flung at me. I quickly raised my hands to calm her down a bit.

“It was made up!” I re-assured her as much as possible, “I said before, it was a thought that was made up by the fans and they were fine with it. I wouldn't judge you even if it was a one-time thing because you were both wasted. So calm down on that alright?”

“Okay, no problemo! So, anything bad about me?”

I decided to skip the whole 'does drugs' thing and simply asked “Well, some think you like drinking, but that is common in the world I live in so it isn't a big thing. You get wasted often?”

“Wasted? You mean really dunk?” I shook my head. “Well not all the time, but I do like drinking with friends, you should come one time! I am sure Lyra would love you, I am actually quite sure she mentioned something about humans once now that I am thinking of it.”

I agreed and we made small talk for a while, but my sleepiness was getting a hold of me and she excused herself, thanking me for dinner. I replied that it was no problem and that I would cook anytime and she told me that she was going to hold me to that.

So all in all re-life was good and for once in what felt like forever, I was able to close my eyes of my own accord. I was able to have a roof over my head, a way to access my old music and a way to at least give something back to somepony for living in this world. Most importantly – and I don't care how sappy this sounded – I had a friend and her name was Vinyl Scratch.

Star yawned a bit as she read through into the afternoon. Feeling a rumbling in her stomach she ate another apple as she rolled onto her back, staring up at the cold ceiling as he mind wandered. She knew Keeper had met the six ponies that held the elements of Harmony, that was in the history books written by Twilight herself. However to have such a personal account with the being was still startling to read, even if some parts she couldn't comprehend. She decided to take a quick break from reading to wake her up a little bit.

Star Sign jumped off of the bed to examine the wall that was opposite the exterior wall. She noticed that there were curtains in the room, but they weren't blocking out the sun since they were on the wrong side. She pushed aside the fabric and opened her eyes in shock.

It was a massive cavern, hundreds of metres tall! Sunlight filtered in through the cracks in the ceiling. Stalactites and stalagmites poked around here and there but the main scenery was truly astounding. Trees and vines covered most of the centre area, and she could make out a main path that lead from the back of the cave to the... front? The path that she could barely make out seemed to appear to be entering into the main hall of the Keep. It didn't make sense because she entered through the main hall and it only lead up to the library where she found the journals!

She ran out of the room and down all the flights of stairs to the main floor. Passing the library she thought she saw something move. Skidding to a halt she looked into the old room. Nothing had changed since she was in there. The fire was still slowly burning and some of her supplies were lying by it. Shaking her head she continued to the main hall.

She didn't take a good look into the main hall of Keeper's castle when she arrived due to her focusing on her mission. From the main doors there was a few stone support pillars that lead up to an old and crumbling throne. The walls were made up of stone that was moulded to the walls with cement or something. Beside the old chair was the staircase that she just had come down through, leading up along the side of the mountain and apparently in between the side and the interior. Nothing much was still here, and it was a huge contrast to the library and the other rooms. This room was mostly in ruins, as if nothing was taking care of it.

Moving to where she thought the entrance to the cave was, she prodded and poked the wall. There wasn't anything to indicate that there was more to the castle than this main room. She looked around, thinking back to some of the novels she read when she was a foal growing up. Thinking back to it she remembered that some of them were written by Keeper too. She looked around for a stick or rod.

Seeing a rusting spear holding a tattered banner sticking out of a wall, she used her magic to lift it out of it's supports. She then backed away from the wall and rammed the base of the old weapon into the wall. It made a solid impact 'tink' sound of metal on stone. The sound echoed through the keep for a few seconds. She reared the spear again and slammed the wall. TINK. Sighing she moved a bit further across the wall. TINK. Getting more frustrated she hit the wall again. TINK. She swung again, seeming to run out of wall to test.

THOCK.

She hit it again.

THOCK.

Well that certainly sounded hollow. She used less force to figure out where the shape of the door was. Smacking it more and more she tried to feel if there was any faults in the stone wall. Unfortunately there was none. Sighing in frustration for more than the fourth time in ten minutes she concentrated. Using her magic she applied pressure to the wall, stone brick by boring brick. She felt one start to give way, and she applied more pressure to it. It slid into the wall with a loud 'click'.

Star Sign moved back as the stones she prodded at swung backwards like a door. Poking her head through the wall she saw the stones that lead into the trees. She galloped back up the stairs taking an old torch from the wall in the library as her heart raced faster and faster by the minute. She thrust the flammable stick into the fire and moved down the stairs a bit slower so her torch didn't go out.

She lead with the torch into the darkness. Into a place where in hindsight, she should have brought the guards. Into a place where nopony had stepped in almost a hundred years.

With actions similar to a certain human, she jumped into the darkness not knowing where it lead.