Music and Magicby r0mstarChaptersChapter One: Are you Sure?Chapter Two: Under WayChapter Three: More Necessary WalkingChapter One: Are you Sure?"... and you're positive you want to do this, Twilight?" Celestia had known Twilight for virtually her entire life. She had just under two decades to decipher the complex mental code that was Twilight's psyche, and every time she thought she had her figured out, Twilight did something that completely contradicted her. It was probably for this reason that Twilight was Celestia's favorite student. However, the fact Twilight was usually rather cautious with her decisions (and rarely ventured out of her small bubble of sociality) made what she was about to do more surprising than anything she had ever done before. "For the 5th time, Celestia, I'm sure." Twilight said, a bit annoyed with her mentor's concern. "This experiment is what I've needed for some time now; it will get me away for a while to a place I've never been to extensively, and will give me something to occupy my mind other than the research I've been doing since I came to Ponyville!" "It just seems a bit sudden to make such a decision, Twilight." Celestia said, trying to dispel any air of tension that had accumulated between the two. "I just told you about it yesterday, and you're already ready to jump into it head-first? Wouldn't your friends be more than a bit disheartened if their best friend were to leave for a year out of nowhere like this?" "I understand that they would," Twilight said, having though about it extensively prior to this discussion, "but I'm sure they'd understand; they're the type of friends who would!" There was an awkward silence between the two as the clock in the Ponyville library ticked on. It was midnight in Ponyville, but it was anything but a clear and starry night; Sheets of rain were attacking the ground outside, and lightning broke across the cloudy night sky as brightly as Celestia's sun. The library, warm and cozy, was where the two alicorns sat, calmly discussing Twilight's plans over piping hot mugs of tea and a warm, crackling fire. Despite all of the regal perks Celestia received as princess, there was nothing quite like sitting in front of a fire with hot tea on a stormy night. Twilight sipped her tea quietly before speaking up. "Is that you don't think I could do it?" Celestia was taken back by Twilight's accusation. "Twilight, you know as well as I do that there is NOTHING I consider you unprepared for or unable to do! I have observed you since you were a little filly, and your potential is virtually limitless in whatever you choose to do!" "Then let me do this, Celestia." Twilight said, standing up and refilling her tea. "This isn't an excuse to shirk work or to play around in a place I've never been; I believe that this can be a truly enlightening experience for me if you will simply give your approval!" Celestia had never heard Twilight be this sure about something; Twilight's decision to take part in the experiment certainly took Celestia by surprise, but this insistence she was demonstrating was something new altogether... "... do you promise not to neglect your duties as princess?" Celestia said, smiling at her student-turned-colleague. Twilight smiled back, glad to have the princess on her side. "I swear on my life." "And why am I staying behind with Fluttershy, Twilight?" Spike said, obviously a bit peeved at not being able to go with Twilight to Manehattan. Spike had never seen Twilight display independence this proudly before, but the fact that she was embarking on this journey alone wasn't necessary a confidence boost to her young dragon assistant. "Because who knows what you'd do if I left you with Rarity, Spike?" Twilight said playfully, receiving a red faced look of embarrassment from Spike. "I'm serious, Twilight." "Well, Spike..." Twilight said in a soft, caring voice. "As much as I love you, this is something I don't feel I can bring you along on. For one, because this experiment will take up virtually all of my time, you'll be alone all day. Manehattan is also a notoriously ... 'sketchy' area, and I don't want to put you in the middle of that, especially not alone." Spike sighed. Twilight was making more sense than he cared to admit. "... alright, Twilight. Enjoy your time." Twilight gave him a hug goodbye. "I'll write you every week, okay? I'll keep you in the loop." "How are you going to do that without your assistant being there to write what you say?" Spike said. Twilight wasn't sure if this was a remark of good humor or one of despondency, but she decided quickly enough that she would rather that stay undecided. "I'll find a way." She responded, attempting a chuckle but failing. "I love you, Spike. Stay strong for me." Twilight left the library, tearing up. One down, five to go. "I love all of you guys, okay?" Twilight said to her five friends at the train station. Naturally, none of them wanted to see her leave. But, just as Twilight had predicted, they were understanding and happy for her. "I want you to live life like nothing's changed. I won't be gone but a year, after all." "Yeah, Twilight." Applejack said, tearing up a bit at the finality of the situation. "Of course. We'll wait for you." "Yeah!" Pinkie said, somehow maintaining a cheery demeanor, despite everything. "I'll throw a party every month, to celebrate a month closer to when you get back!" Twilight smiled. Her friends were still there for her, just like they'd always been. "I'm truly jealous of you, Twilight." Rarity said, a weak smile crossing her face. "An all expenses paid trip to Manehattan for a year? That sounds absolutely perfect!" "I'll bring you back anything you want, Rarity." Twilight said, giving her a hug. "Don't let me forget. Send me a list, okay?" Rarity smiled, tears welling up in her eyes all the while. "Of course, Twilight." Twilight walked up to Dash, hugging her as well. "If anything happens over here, make sure someone gets to me on it, okay?" Dash teared up (quite ironically considering her tough demeanor), but managed a sincere smile. "You got it, Twi. Enjoy Manehattan, okay? Make some discoveries, become famous, do other egghead stuff." Twilight smiled. "You got it, Dash." Finally, Twilight walked up to Fluttershy. "Again, I can't thank you enough for watching over Spike for me while I'm gone. It means a lot that you'd do that." "Oh, it's no problem, Twilight." Fluttershy said softly. "It wouldn't be friendly of me not to offer." "Still, Fluttershy." Twilight said, hugging her friend. "It means the world that you did." With her goodbyes in order, she finally felt prepared for the train ride. After bidding her friend a final "goodbye" and a final "I love you," she hopped on the locomotive and took a seat near the front. As the train started moving and gaining speed, she looked forward at the green horizon and bright blue sky. It would be hard without her friends, she knew that much. They probably resented her a bit for her decision, and it would probably be a small source of tension among the group upon her return. But for the next year, she would not be "Princess Twilight Sparkle from Ponyville." That was not a title she abhorred, but rather one that had become stale. It was not her friends that were getting old, nor was it the people in Ponyville; it was the lifestyle. Ponyville had a small town charm, but that small town charm only lasts so long before it gives way to monotony. There was nothing to do that hadn't already been done, nobody to meet that hadn't already been met. Manehattan would be a fresh start! She knew nothing about the place other than what she had learned during her trip during Fashion Week with Rarity. There was so much new, so much to do, so much to see, so much to experience. The experiment would be nice and all, and it may teach her a couple of things, but that would not be the highlight of her stay. At least, that's what she was trying to convince herself of. Chapter Two: Under WayTwilight felt the train rumbling under her as it ran through the vast, beautiful countryside. The bumpy yet lulling nature of the train ride allowed her to catch some rest on the way to Manehattan, although it was never deep rest; there was too much for her to think about before she got to Manehattan. She had heard sketchy rumors about the place, but from what she witnessed during Fashion Week the place was mostly normal. Aside from the trouble she initially had getting a cab for Rarity, there was nothing that made the visit absolutely terrible; in fact, it was one of the most beautiful and enlightening experiences Twilight had ever experienced with her friends! The dense population would take her some getting used to, no doubt. While Twilight had spent the last two years in Ponyville where the population was rather tame, Manehattan was notorious for having too many ponies in too little space; everything felt small and claustrophobic. From her experience in the past with Rarity, Twilight could attest to this. Regardless of these rumors, Twilight did not become regretful of her decision to leave Ponyville; if anything, she started to appreciate the opportunities that would arise in Manehattan more fiercely! The fact that the area was densely populated was not necessarily a bad thing, it was just something that, having lived in Ponyville, she was uncomfortable with; a bit of time in Manehattan should do more than enough to make her comfortable with how many ponies there were. Still, Twilight couldn't relinquish the odd feeling in the back of her mind, the feeling that she was forgetting something... Oh yeah! Twilight exclaimed internally, reaching into her personal luggage, fishing through quills and parchment for a letter given to her by the Princess. The night on which the accomodations for this trip were made, Celestia gave Twilight a letter, instructing her not to read its contents before the train ride. She eventually managed to pull it out of the cluttered suitcase, with minimal crumpling and the letter still very much intact. She practically ripped into it, eager to read what the Princess deemed important enough to wait until the day of the trip. The letter, written in Celestia's signature regal hoofwriting, was surprisingly succinct, and Twilight read it with earnest. Dear Twilight Sparkle, When you get to Manehattan Central Station, I want you to look for a white mare with a cyan mane. She is a former student of mine, and I've instructed her to act as your roommate during your visit. Don't worry, you won't be a burden on her. She accepted eagerly, so I believe you two will have nothing but good times together. I expect to hear all about your experiences in Manehattan every week, please do keep in touch. Sincerely, Princess Celestia Huh? A Roommate? Twilight though, tucking the piece of paper back into her bag. Celestia had never mentioned anything to do with a roommate, and Twilight had just assumed Celestia would take care of it in some way or another before she arrived. And Twilight figured that, in a way, she did. Although she had no idea who this white mare could be, she certainly had to be smart to be a fellow student under Celestia. Celestia never mentored anyone that didn't show potential, and if this white mare she was talking about was worthy of Celestia's tutoring, Twilight figured that she and this new mare would get along rather smoothly. Piercing its way through Twilight's train of thought was the train conductor's voice over the intercom. "Good afternoon, mares and gentlecolts, thanks for your patience on this ride, and we will be in Manehattan in approximately five minutes. Please gather your things accordingly, and thanks for riding on the Ponyville Express!" Twilight looked out the window for the first time in hours to the realization that the green, rural landscape to which she had become accustomed was no longer present; instead, the horizon was filled with skyscrapers, taxi carriages, and the general bustle of city life. Twilight recalled her life in Ponyville and found an odd beauty in the fact that two places can exist on the same continent that are so vastly different! After departing the train, the first leg of her journey over with, Twilight stepped out of her compartment only to find that Manehattan was truly densely packed, even moreso than she remembered; it took all of her concentration not to roll over other ponies' hooves with her suitcases, much less navigate the massive train station that was Manehattan Central Station. How was she to find a single pony among the thousand present in the station? It turned out being easier than she anticipated; turns out, when a mare with a cyan mane shows up in your field of view, you notice it almost immediately. She was a student of Celestia? Twilight thought in disbelief. This pony certainly didn't look like a Gifted Unicorn alumni, she knew that much. Leaning against a wall with magenta glasses on and earbuds in, bobbing her head to the rhythm of her music, she looked more like your average pony. Twilight couldn't wait to talk to her, and see if the look was simply a ruse, a disguise of the pony's true genius. "Uh, hello." Twilight said to the pony, introducing herself as formally as possible. "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, but please just call me Twilight, okay?" Twilight recieved no response from the white mare, her head continuing to bob hypnotically to her music. Eventually, she looked up and noticed the purple alicorn standing beside her. "Oh, hey!" Vinyl said, taking her earbuds and putting them away. "Twilight, right? Celestia's protege... colleague... thing?" "Uh, yeah..." Twilight said, realizing that Celestia had never given her the white mare's name. "and your name is?" "Vinyl Scratch." said the white pony, reaching out to shake the princess's hoof. "Cool to meet you, Twilight." "Same to you, Vinyl." Twilight said, a bit taken aback by Vinyl's casual nature. "So, where are we going from here?" Vinyl shrugged. "I don't know, where do you want to go now? That experiment of yours doesn't start till... Monday, right?" Twilight nodded. "Yes. I have three days off before I need to get to work on that." Vinyl smiled. "Perfect, I can show you all of Manehattan in three days. I guess I'll start with some of the places I frequent, and we'll just explore the rest of Manehattan as we get to it. Sound good?" Twilight nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. Can I drop my luggage off at your apartment first, though? There's a lot of stuff in here that I don't want to carry around Manehattan all day." "Oh yeah, sure." Vinyl said, preparing to leave the train station. "Come with me, I'll show you the way back to my place." Twilight simply smiled. "Sounds good, Vinyl Scratch." "So, Vinyl..." Twilight said once they were on the Manehattan sidewalks, out of the crowd at the train station. "What do you do?" "I do a lot of things, Twilight." Vinyl said, looking back at the princess and smirking. "I eat, I drink, I sleep, I play video games." Twilight sighed. "No, I meant what is your occupation?" Vinyl simply smiled and mocked a sudden realization. "Oh, that's what you meant. "Well, during the day I work down at a record shop on 2nd Avenue, and I produce music on the side for some spending money." Twilight simply acquired a quizzical look. What was it about this unicorn that Celestia found so... unique? So outstanding? "During the day you do all that? What about at night?" "Well, at night, I DJ around Manehattan, sometimes further out than that. Remember Shining Armor and Princess Cadance's wedding? I was the one playing the backing track while you were singing over it. Nice voice, by the way, you should sing more." "Wait, you knew me before I came here?" Twilight asked, trying to recall the specifics of the wedding and its after party. Nowhere in her memories did this white mare even remotely show up. "Well, I knew of you." Vinyl said, stopping at a streetlight and waiting for it to give them the go-ahead to cross. "Celestia wouldn't shut up about you, for one. She went on and on about how bright you were, and how gifted of a student you were, and how you were destined for big things." "Celestia said that?" Twilight asked, a bit honored to be in such a high regard by her mentor (not that she wasn't already aware of it at the point). "What about you, Celestia said you went to the School for Gifted Unicorns too?" "Yeah, I did." Vinyl said, kicking a small pebble across the street. "Wasted four years of my life at that place. Made good grades though, got really good at math." "Wasted?" Twilight said, her interest piqued by this white pony's apparent disdain for the school. "What about it was wasted?" "Well, look at what I'm doing now." Vinyl said. "I mean, I make more than enough between the three jobs, but nothing I did in high school, or even college, for that matter, prepared me for this. That's not a problem you have, though, your life basically revolves around magic and studying. "Speaking of which, why'd you leave Ponyville? Celestia said you had it great there. You apparently had lots of friends and lived in the freaking library, why'd you give it up?" Twilight decided that that explanation would best be suited for another time, so she settled with "because I was really interested in this experiment and wanted to help with it." "Eh, I know when a pony's lying," Vinyl said, stopping at a snack stand and getting a chocolate bar. "and you might as well be Pinocchio. Why don't you tell the truth here?" "... I'll tell you some time later." Was all that Twilight could say. Vinyl read her like an open book! Twilight thought it was a decent excuse, and Vinyl wasn't having any of it! She decided to change topics. "So, music production and Deejaying? Is that fun?" Vinyl simply looked back and smiled. "Are you kidding, it's what I LIVE for. Music is my life, Twilight, that's something you're gonna have to know if we're gonna be friends." Twilight smiled. "I'm glad you found it, then, Vinyl." Vinyl stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait, that's what all this is, isn't it? You're trying to find your calling, what you enjoy doing and what you want to spend the rest of your life doing! I knew it!" "... in a sense, you're right, Vinyl." Twilight said, surprised that Vinyl could be that accurate after only knowing her for five minutes at the most. "But really, I'm just here to see what's here. I'm trying to experience a drastically different life, trying to learn some things that I couldn't learn back in Ponyville." "Alright, Twilight, I can see that." Vinyl said, throwing the candy wrapper in a trash bin. "You know, you're pretty cool, Twilight. From what Celestia said, I thought you were gonna be a bit of an egghead, but you've got a good head. You're really down to earth, you know?" Twilight had never been complimented in that way before, but it felt good to be called "down to earth." "You know, Vinyl, you're pretty cool yourself." Vinyl simply smiled. "Yeah, I know. "Oh, here's the record store I was telling you about. Come on in, I'll show you around!" "But my luggage!" Twilight said, already tiring from rolling it for what felt like miles. Vinyl simply kept walking to the door of the record store. "Oh come on, ya baby, come and see the coolest place in all of Manehattan!" "The record store is the coolest place in Manehattan?" Vinyl chuckled. "Only because I work there." Chapter Three: More Necessary Walking"So... you work here?" For an inner city Manehattan record store, Twilight definitely couldn't believe how... small it was. I mean, she knew that business space was tight in the city, but this store couldn't have been much larger than the first floor of the Cake's bakery back home! And for all the music it was carrying, that was a surprise. There had to have been upwards of 1000 records on the walls! And that's not including the rows of vinyl running through the middle of the store. Twilight thought about how good a representation this story was of Manehattan - indescribably small, but indescribably full of things to do and look at. And Twilight liked it. A lot. Vinyl was on a mission, scrolling through the V's and S's like the meaning of life was going to fall out from between two of the vinyl sleeves. Unfortunately, the search was for naught. Vinyl sighed, then smiled. "Oh well, I rake in enough money from people buying my record at gigs, I don't need some obscure record store carrying it." Twilight was a bit confused. "Wait, you work here. Don't you have an inventory list where you can look up the stock? Why did you spend five minutes checking the shelves?" Vinyl chuckled a bit. "You say that as if I do inventory like I'm supposed to. "But take a look around, isn't this place just amazing?" Twilight just smiled, playful sarcasm behind every word she said. "Yeah, you bet, Vinyl... there's so much room for movement, too!" "Yeah, I know that's a big issue around here..." Vinyl said, navigating through the rows of Vinyl to get to Twilight. "And sorry about forcing you to come in with me, I know this probably isn't your thing. "But as I said, this place is amazing in every way. When you have about 1,500 records at your disposal and a record player to play them, the world is your oyster." "I feel the same way about my library back home," Twilight said. "It was just massive, and I could pick any book from the shelves whenever I pleased. I can't believe I'm already sad about not being there anymore, but it was an amazing home." Vinyl draped a hoof around Twilight. "Hey, don't be said, you just got here! Let's get home, I'll show you around the apartment." Vinyl and Twilight were back in the comfortable Manehattan city air once again, walking through the packed Manehattan sidewalks to the oddly euphoric sound of carriage traffic and busy ponies on their cell phones. The sun was starting to drop, and the pink sky draped over the city, covering everything with a mystical pink tint. "So, Vinyl..." Twilight said, finally confident enough in her directional abilities to walk alongside her city-minded friend. "You say you produce music. What is your music like, exactly?" "I don't know how to describe it really, Twilight." Vinyl said, racking her brain for some form of explanation. "I guess it's like... I don't know... doing some incredibly strong uppers and diving from the top of the Statue of Liberty into a pile of basses and drums. Does that help any?" "I can honestly say that it didn't." Twilight said. "But I'm gonna trust that that means it's good." Vinyl laughed. "Eh, it's alright. I've never considered my songs genius or anything, but a lot of friends say I should send some of them in somewhere, get signed to some minor record label and work my way to Equestrian fame." "So why don't you?" Twilight asked, wondering how far away Vinyl's home was - not that it mattered to her, of course, talking to Vinyl was entertaining. Twilight hadn't known her but two hours, and it already seemed like they had been friends since they were fillies. Twilight had only ever felt that feeling five times before. "Eh, I don't see why I would." Vinyl said, stopping to get yet another bar of chocolate. "The music industry is pretty vacuous these days, and I don't think anyone other than coked up raveheads would enjoy my stuff, much less some suited stiff behind a desk." Twilight was a bit confused. "I get the part about the music industry, but you shouldn't sell yourself short. I think you should at least try to send it in somewhe-" "And we're here!" Vinyl exclaimed, standing in front of a tall apartment complex in the middle of the city. Twilight couldn't comprehend how tall it was - there must have been 20 stories in that building! "How high up is your apartment, Vinyl?" Twilight asked, fearing the worst. "Oh, only about ten floors up. There's an elevator, don't worry." Twilight sighed. "Thank Celestia. "Oh hey, Vinyl, remember earlier when you said that only coked up raveheads enjoyed your music?" Vinyl turned around, smiling that confident smile of hers. "Well, I may have been exaggerating a bit, but yeah. What about it?" "Well, does that make you a coked up ravehead?" Twilight mused. Vinyl stopped and looked at Twilight. "One OTHER thing you need to know about me, Twilight, is that I need neither coke nor a rave to be a coked up ravehead." And with that, the two friends stepped onto the elevator, Twilight still pondering what her friend meant by that. "Welcome to the lair of Vinyl Scratch, Twilight." Vinyl said, throwing her keys on the counter. The place was actually rather nice, Twilight had to admit. The living room had a couple of chairs, a TV, a record player, a shelf of records, and a couple of tables. Concert posters lined every wall in the house in a way that was neither obtrusive nor clashing. Twilight was surprised at how well Vinyl furnished the place. The kitchen wasn't special, but it wasn't trashed either. That in itself was commendable. "Nice apartment, Vinyl." Twilight said. "Where do you do your music production?" Vinyl smiled. "I'm glad you asked, Twilight! I do it all over here, in this room." Twilight was led down a hallway and to the last door to the left. Inside that room was so much musical gear, Twilight could barely believe Vinyl could use all of it; there was a bass guitar, a drum set surrounded by microphone, about six synthesizers, effects pedals virtually everywhere in the room, and that was all brought together by what appeared to be a audio recorder. "..." "I know. I love it too." Vinyl said, reaching for a record sleeve on one of the shelves. "This is my recent album, consider it a housewarming gift, but in reverse." "I'll definitely listen to it later tonight, Vinyl." Twilight said sincerely, but occupied with everything in the room. "So, you know how to play everything in this room?" "You bet!" Vinyl said, going around and sampling each instrument, playing each as if it was her life's work to master these instruments. "Turns out, Celestia's school? KILLER musical wing." "I mean... how can you know all of this, Vinyl? It's making my head spin." "Well, by that logic, how do you know all the spells you do?" Vinyl said, sitting at the audio recorder and turning some knobs. "I couldn't tell you any of the contents of my 3rd or 4th year magic classes textbooks..." She picked up the complicated audio recorder, careful not to pull any cables out of place or touch any of the knobs. "But I could tell you EVERYTHING about how this works. I could tell you the math behind scales, I could tell you the math behind frequencies, sound waves, and virtually everything about audio. "We're all geniuses, Twilight." Vinyl said, passing her out of the room. "Just in different things." THAT'S what Celestia sees in her! Twilight thought, looking around the room. She has virtually limitless potential. Everything she tries and likes, she masters! She exited the room, finding Vinyl sitting in one of the chairs watching TV, half eaten candy bar levitating in front of her. "Hey, Vinyl..." Vinyl looked up. "What's up, Twi?" "Can I listen to that record of yours? I don't know what you do back there to make music, but I really want to hear the final result." Vinyl smiled, switching the TV off and taking the record out of its sleeve. "Yeah, of course. It may be abrasive to you, but you asked for it." Vinyl set the needle on the record, and like that sound was everywhere in the room. Pure musical mayhem filled the room, prodigy-like bass guitar blanketing over frantic, erratic, and odd drum rhythms. Keyboards came in soon after, adding a layer of weirdness to the already unleashed sound of raw drums and raw bass. There seemed to be no motif, no repetition; the rhythm of the song was easily recognizable, but finding any patterns was a challenge in itself. Twilight's anal retentive mind went crazy. Music with no structure? She had never heard anything of the sort! And it was beautiful. Although she acknowledged how interesting and "cool" the sound was, Twilight didn't realize its beauty until Vinyl opened the living room window, letting the sounds of Manehattan amalgamate with the sound of the music. The music started sounding less like random sounds and more like a soundtrack to the busy life of the busy city, the random, scattered nature of the two sounds blending together to create a feeling within Twilight she had never felt from music before. And before she knew it, silence. She was back in Vinyl's living room, so to speak, with nothing but the sound of the city and the sound of a settling apartment to occupy her ears. "Vinyl... that was beautiful." "You can't be serious." Vinyl said, taking the record off of the gramophone and putting it back in its sleeve. "You can't have thought that was beautiful. It takes years of conditioning to find music like that beautiful." "Vinyl, that wasn't simply music." Twilight said, retrieving the record from her friend once more, the rest of which could be listened to later. "That was life as music." Vinyl laughed. "You sure you've never done drugs? Because that's a pretty druggy thing to say, Twi." "No, I'm serious! You've encompassed crowded city life into audio! This is amazing, I need to write the Princess about this!" "You do that, Twilight." Vinyl said, smiling as she sat back down. "Oh, and thanks for complimenting my music like you did. It means a lot." "Well, it's the truth, isn't it?" Twilight said. Sitting down on the couch adjacent to Vinyl. "I mean, yeah, I guess I've never thought about my influences in that way, but you're right." Vinyl said, obviously holding something back. "And..." Twilight said, trying to get whatever was stuck in Vinyl's mind out. "Well, what you said, I just never thought I'd hear someone compliment my music like that. It's certainly nothing Octavi-" Vinyl stopped there, catching herself mid-sentence and freezing in her chair. Twilight waited for a second, seeing if Vinyl would continue or simply remain unmoving. "Hey, Vinyl..." Twilight said, getting up and standing in front of her. "Are you okay?" "What?" Vinyl said, out of her trance. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. "Oh, Later tonight, do you wanna go by Central Park? I figured you'd want to spend some time there, as a non-native and all." "Sure, that sounds fun." Twilight said. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know the rest of Vinyl's sentence, but she didn't want to seem obtrusive, so she just abandoned it completely. "Well, it's settled!" Vinyl exclaimed, walking to the kitchen. "More chocolate to celebrate!" "Vinyl, that's the third one today!" Twilight yelled. "Actually that's the fifth one today, you just weren't here for the first two!"
Chapter One: Are you Sure?"... and you're positive you want to do this, Twilight?" Celestia had known Twilight for virtually her entire life. She had just under two decades to decipher the complex mental code that was Twilight's psyche, and every time she thought she had her figured out, Twilight did something that completely contradicted her. It was probably for this reason that Twilight was Celestia's favorite student. However, the fact Twilight was usually rather cautious with her decisions (and rarely ventured out of her small bubble of sociality) made what she was about to do more surprising than anything she had ever done before. "For the 5th time, Celestia, I'm sure." Twilight said, a bit annoyed with her mentor's concern. "This experiment is what I've needed for some time now; it will get me away for a while to a place I've never been to extensively, and will give me something to occupy my mind other than the research I've been doing since I came to Ponyville!" "It just seems a bit sudden to make such a decision, Twilight." Celestia said, trying to dispel any air of tension that had accumulated between the two. "I just told you about it yesterday, and you're already ready to jump into it head-first? Wouldn't your friends be more than a bit disheartened if their best friend were to leave for a year out of nowhere like this?" "I understand that they would," Twilight said, having though about it extensively prior to this discussion, "but I'm sure they'd understand; they're the type of friends who would!" There was an awkward silence between the two as the clock in the Ponyville library ticked on. It was midnight in Ponyville, but it was anything but a clear and starry night; Sheets of rain were attacking the ground outside, and lightning broke across the cloudy night sky as brightly as Celestia's sun. The library, warm and cozy, was where the two alicorns sat, calmly discussing Twilight's plans over piping hot mugs of tea and a warm, crackling fire. Despite all of the regal perks Celestia received as princess, there was nothing quite like sitting in front of a fire with hot tea on a stormy night. Twilight sipped her tea quietly before speaking up. "Is that you don't think I could do it?" Celestia was taken back by Twilight's accusation. "Twilight, you know as well as I do that there is NOTHING I consider you unprepared for or unable to do! I have observed you since you were a little filly, and your potential is virtually limitless in whatever you choose to do!" "Then let me do this, Celestia." Twilight said, standing up and refilling her tea. "This isn't an excuse to shirk work or to play around in a place I've never been; I believe that this can be a truly enlightening experience for me if you will simply give your approval!" Celestia had never heard Twilight be this sure about something; Twilight's decision to take part in the experiment certainly took Celestia by surprise, but this insistence she was demonstrating was something new altogether... "... do you promise not to neglect your duties as princess?" Celestia said, smiling at her student-turned-colleague. Twilight smiled back, glad to have the princess on her side. "I swear on my life." "And why am I staying behind with Fluttershy, Twilight?" Spike said, obviously a bit peeved at not being able to go with Twilight to Manehattan. Spike had never seen Twilight display independence this proudly before, but the fact that she was embarking on this journey alone wasn't necessary a confidence boost to her young dragon assistant. "Because who knows what you'd do if I left you with Rarity, Spike?" Twilight said playfully, receiving a red faced look of embarrassment from Spike. "I'm serious, Twilight." "Well, Spike..." Twilight said in a soft, caring voice. "As much as I love you, this is something I don't feel I can bring you along on. For one, because this experiment will take up virtually all of my time, you'll be alone all day. Manehattan is also a notoriously ... 'sketchy' area, and I don't want to put you in the middle of that, especially not alone." Spike sighed. Twilight was making more sense than he cared to admit. "... alright, Twilight. Enjoy your time." Twilight gave him a hug goodbye. "I'll write you every week, okay? I'll keep you in the loop." "How are you going to do that without your assistant being there to write what you say?" Spike said. Twilight wasn't sure if this was a remark of good humor or one of despondency, but she decided quickly enough that she would rather that stay undecided. "I'll find a way." She responded, attempting a chuckle but failing. "I love you, Spike. Stay strong for me." Twilight left the library, tearing up. One down, five to go. "I love all of you guys, okay?" Twilight said to her five friends at the train station. Naturally, none of them wanted to see her leave. But, just as Twilight had predicted, they were understanding and happy for her. "I want you to live life like nothing's changed. I won't be gone but a year, after all." "Yeah, Twilight." Applejack said, tearing up a bit at the finality of the situation. "Of course. We'll wait for you." "Yeah!" Pinkie said, somehow maintaining a cheery demeanor, despite everything. "I'll throw a party every month, to celebrate a month closer to when you get back!" Twilight smiled. Her friends were still there for her, just like they'd always been. "I'm truly jealous of you, Twilight." Rarity said, a weak smile crossing her face. "An all expenses paid trip to Manehattan for a year? That sounds absolutely perfect!" "I'll bring you back anything you want, Rarity." Twilight said, giving her a hug. "Don't let me forget. Send me a list, okay?" Rarity smiled, tears welling up in her eyes all the while. "Of course, Twilight." Twilight walked up to Dash, hugging her as well. "If anything happens over here, make sure someone gets to me on it, okay?" Dash teared up (quite ironically considering her tough demeanor), but managed a sincere smile. "You got it, Twi. Enjoy Manehattan, okay? Make some discoveries, become famous, do other egghead stuff." Twilight smiled. "You got it, Dash." Finally, Twilight walked up to Fluttershy. "Again, I can't thank you enough for watching over Spike for me while I'm gone. It means a lot that you'd do that." "Oh, it's no problem, Twilight." Fluttershy said softly. "It wouldn't be friendly of me not to offer." "Still, Fluttershy." Twilight said, hugging her friend. "It means the world that you did." With her goodbyes in order, she finally felt prepared for the train ride. After bidding her friend a final "goodbye" and a final "I love you," she hopped on the locomotive and took a seat near the front. As the train started moving and gaining speed, she looked forward at the green horizon and bright blue sky. It would be hard without her friends, she knew that much. They probably resented her a bit for her decision, and it would probably be a small source of tension among the group upon her return. But for the next year, she would not be "Princess Twilight Sparkle from Ponyville." That was not a title she abhorred, but rather one that had become stale. It was not her friends that were getting old, nor was it the people in Ponyville; it was the lifestyle. Ponyville had a small town charm, but that small town charm only lasts so long before it gives way to monotony. There was nothing to do that hadn't already been done, nobody to meet that hadn't already been met. Manehattan would be a fresh start! She knew nothing about the place other than what she had learned during her trip during Fashion Week with Rarity. There was so much new, so much to do, so much to see, so much to experience. The experiment would be nice and all, and it may teach her a couple of things, but that would not be the highlight of her stay. At least, that's what she was trying to convince herself of.
Chapter Two: Under WayTwilight felt the train rumbling under her as it ran through the vast, beautiful countryside. The bumpy yet lulling nature of the train ride allowed her to catch some rest on the way to Manehattan, although it was never deep rest; there was too much for her to think about before she got to Manehattan. She had heard sketchy rumors about the place, but from what she witnessed during Fashion Week the place was mostly normal. Aside from the trouble she initially had getting a cab for Rarity, there was nothing that made the visit absolutely terrible; in fact, it was one of the most beautiful and enlightening experiences Twilight had ever experienced with her friends! The dense population would take her some getting used to, no doubt. While Twilight had spent the last two years in Ponyville where the population was rather tame, Manehattan was notorious for having too many ponies in too little space; everything felt small and claustrophobic. From her experience in the past with Rarity, Twilight could attest to this. Regardless of these rumors, Twilight did not become regretful of her decision to leave Ponyville; if anything, she started to appreciate the opportunities that would arise in Manehattan more fiercely! The fact that the area was densely populated was not necessarily a bad thing, it was just something that, having lived in Ponyville, she was uncomfortable with; a bit of time in Manehattan should do more than enough to make her comfortable with how many ponies there were. Still, Twilight couldn't relinquish the odd feeling in the back of her mind, the feeling that she was forgetting something... Oh yeah! Twilight exclaimed internally, reaching into her personal luggage, fishing through quills and parchment for a letter given to her by the Princess. The night on which the accomodations for this trip were made, Celestia gave Twilight a letter, instructing her not to read its contents before the train ride. She eventually managed to pull it out of the cluttered suitcase, with minimal crumpling and the letter still very much intact. She practically ripped into it, eager to read what the Princess deemed important enough to wait until the day of the trip. The letter, written in Celestia's signature regal hoofwriting, was surprisingly succinct, and Twilight read it with earnest. Dear Twilight Sparkle, When you get to Manehattan Central Station, I want you to look for a white mare with a cyan mane. She is a former student of mine, and I've instructed her to act as your roommate during your visit. Don't worry, you won't be a burden on her. She accepted eagerly, so I believe you two will have nothing but good times together. I expect to hear all about your experiences in Manehattan every week, please do keep in touch. Sincerely, Princess Celestia Huh? A Roommate? Twilight though, tucking the piece of paper back into her bag. Celestia had never mentioned anything to do with a roommate, and Twilight had just assumed Celestia would take care of it in some way or another before she arrived. And Twilight figured that, in a way, she did. Although she had no idea who this white mare could be, she certainly had to be smart to be a fellow student under Celestia. Celestia never mentored anyone that didn't show potential, and if this white mare she was talking about was worthy of Celestia's tutoring, Twilight figured that she and this new mare would get along rather smoothly. Piercing its way through Twilight's train of thought was the train conductor's voice over the intercom. "Good afternoon, mares and gentlecolts, thanks for your patience on this ride, and we will be in Manehattan in approximately five minutes. Please gather your things accordingly, and thanks for riding on the Ponyville Express!" Twilight looked out the window for the first time in hours to the realization that the green, rural landscape to which she had become accustomed was no longer present; instead, the horizon was filled with skyscrapers, taxi carriages, and the general bustle of city life. Twilight recalled her life in Ponyville and found an odd beauty in the fact that two places can exist on the same continent that are so vastly different! After departing the train, the first leg of her journey over with, Twilight stepped out of her compartment only to find that Manehattan was truly densely packed, even moreso than she remembered; it took all of her concentration not to roll over other ponies' hooves with her suitcases, much less navigate the massive train station that was Manehattan Central Station. How was she to find a single pony among the thousand present in the station? It turned out being easier than she anticipated; turns out, when a mare with a cyan mane shows up in your field of view, you notice it almost immediately. She was a student of Celestia? Twilight thought in disbelief. This pony certainly didn't look like a Gifted Unicorn alumni, she knew that much. Leaning against a wall with magenta glasses on and earbuds in, bobbing her head to the rhythm of her music, she looked more like your average pony. Twilight couldn't wait to talk to her, and see if the look was simply a ruse, a disguise of the pony's true genius. "Uh, hello." Twilight said to the pony, introducing herself as formally as possible. "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, but please just call me Twilight, okay?" Twilight recieved no response from the white mare, her head continuing to bob hypnotically to her music. Eventually, she looked up and noticed the purple alicorn standing beside her. "Oh, hey!" Vinyl said, taking her earbuds and putting them away. "Twilight, right? Celestia's protege... colleague... thing?" "Uh, yeah..." Twilight said, realizing that Celestia had never given her the white mare's name. "and your name is?" "Vinyl Scratch." said the white pony, reaching out to shake the princess's hoof. "Cool to meet you, Twilight." "Same to you, Vinyl." Twilight said, a bit taken aback by Vinyl's casual nature. "So, where are we going from here?" Vinyl shrugged. "I don't know, where do you want to go now? That experiment of yours doesn't start till... Monday, right?" Twilight nodded. "Yes. I have three days off before I need to get to work on that." Vinyl smiled. "Perfect, I can show you all of Manehattan in three days. I guess I'll start with some of the places I frequent, and we'll just explore the rest of Manehattan as we get to it. Sound good?" Twilight nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. Can I drop my luggage off at your apartment first, though? There's a lot of stuff in here that I don't want to carry around Manehattan all day." "Oh yeah, sure." Vinyl said, preparing to leave the train station. "Come with me, I'll show you the way back to my place." Twilight simply smiled. "Sounds good, Vinyl Scratch." "So, Vinyl..." Twilight said once they were on the Manehattan sidewalks, out of the crowd at the train station. "What do you do?" "I do a lot of things, Twilight." Vinyl said, looking back at the princess and smirking. "I eat, I drink, I sleep, I play video games." Twilight sighed. "No, I meant what is your occupation?" Vinyl simply smiled and mocked a sudden realization. "Oh, that's what you meant. "Well, during the day I work down at a record shop on 2nd Avenue, and I produce music on the side for some spending money." Twilight simply acquired a quizzical look. What was it about this unicorn that Celestia found so... unique? So outstanding? "During the day you do all that? What about at night?" "Well, at night, I DJ around Manehattan, sometimes further out than that. Remember Shining Armor and Princess Cadance's wedding? I was the one playing the backing track while you were singing over it. Nice voice, by the way, you should sing more." "Wait, you knew me before I came here?" Twilight asked, trying to recall the specifics of the wedding and its after party. Nowhere in her memories did this white mare even remotely show up. "Well, I knew of you." Vinyl said, stopping at a streetlight and waiting for it to give them the go-ahead to cross. "Celestia wouldn't shut up about you, for one. She went on and on about how bright you were, and how gifted of a student you were, and how you were destined for big things." "Celestia said that?" Twilight asked, a bit honored to be in such a high regard by her mentor (not that she wasn't already aware of it at the point). "What about you, Celestia said you went to the School for Gifted Unicorns too?" "Yeah, I did." Vinyl said, kicking a small pebble across the street. "Wasted four years of my life at that place. Made good grades though, got really good at math." "Wasted?" Twilight said, her interest piqued by this white pony's apparent disdain for the school. "What about it was wasted?" "Well, look at what I'm doing now." Vinyl said. "I mean, I make more than enough between the three jobs, but nothing I did in high school, or even college, for that matter, prepared me for this. That's not a problem you have, though, your life basically revolves around magic and studying. "Speaking of which, why'd you leave Ponyville? Celestia said you had it great there. You apparently had lots of friends and lived in the freaking library, why'd you give it up?" Twilight decided that that explanation would best be suited for another time, so she settled with "because I was really interested in this experiment and wanted to help with it." "Eh, I know when a pony's lying," Vinyl said, stopping at a snack stand and getting a chocolate bar. "and you might as well be Pinocchio. Why don't you tell the truth here?" "... I'll tell you some time later." Was all that Twilight could say. Vinyl read her like an open book! Twilight thought it was a decent excuse, and Vinyl wasn't having any of it! She decided to change topics. "So, music production and Deejaying? Is that fun?" Vinyl simply looked back and smiled. "Are you kidding, it's what I LIVE for. Music is my life, Twilight, that's something you're gonna have to know if we're gonna be friends." Twilight smiled. "I'm glad you found it, then, Vinyl." Vinyl stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait, that's what all this is, isn't it? You're trying to find your calling, what you enjoy doing and what you want to spend the rest of your life doing! I knew it!" "... in a sense, you're right, Vinyl." Twilight said, surprised that Vinyl could be that accurate after only knowing her for five minutes at the most. "But really, I'm just here to see what's here. I'm trying to experience a drastically different life, trying to learn some things that I couldn't learn back in Ponyville." "Alright, Twilight, I can see that." Vinyl said, throwing the candy wrapper in a trash bin. "You know, you're pretty cool, Twilight. From what Celestia said, I thought you were gonna be a bit of an egghead, but you've got a good head. You're really down to earth, you know?" Twilight had never been complimented in that way before, but it felt good to be called "down to earth." "You know, Vinyl, you're pretty cool yourself." Vinyl simply smiled. "Yeah, I know. "Oh, here's the record store I was telling you about. Come on in, I'll show you around!" "But my luggage!" Twilight said, already tiring from rolling it for what felt like miles. Vinyl simply kept walking to the door of the record store. "Oh come on, ya baby, come and see the coolest place in all of Manehattan!" "The record store is the coolest place in Manehattan?" Vinyl chuckled. "Only because I work there."
Chapter Three: More Necessary Walking"So... you work here?" For an inner city Manehattan record store, Twilight definitely couldn't believe how... small it was. I mean, she knew that business space was tight in the city, but this store couldn't have been much larger than the first floor of the Cake's bakery back home! And for all the music it was carrying, that was a surprise. There had to have been upwards of 1000 records on the walls! And that's not including the rows of vinyl running through the middle of the store. Twilight thought about how good a representation this story was of Manehattan - indescribably small, but indescribably full of things to do and look at. And Twilight liked it. A lot. Vinyl was on a mission, scrolling through the V's and S's like the meaning of life was going to fall out from between two of the vinyl sleeves. Unfortunately, the search was for naught. Vinyl sighed, then smiled. "Oh well, I rake in enough money from people buying my record at gigs, I don't need some obscure record store carrying it." Twilight was a bit confused. "Wait, you work here. Don't you have an inventory list where you can look up the stock? Why did you spend five minutes checking the shelves?" Vinyl chuckled a bit. "You say that as if I do inventory like I'm supposed to. "But take a look around, isn't this place just amazing?" Twilight just smiled, playful sarcasm behind every word she said. "Yeah, you bet, Vinyl... there's so much room for movement, too!" "Yeah, I know that's a big issue around here..." Vinyl said, navigating through the rows of Vinyl to get to Twilight. "And sorry about forcing you to come in with me, I know this probably isn't your thing. "But as I said, this place is amazing in every way. When you have about 1,500 records at your disposal and a record player to play them, the world is your oyster." "I feel the same way about my library back home," Twilight said. "It was just massive, and I could pick any book from the shelves whenever I pleased. I can't believe I'm already sad about not being there anymore, but it was an amazing home." Vinyl draped a hoof around Twilight. "Hey, don't be said, you just got here! Let's get home, I'll show you around the apartment." Vinyl and Twilight were back in the comfortable Manehattan city air once again, walking through the packed Manehattan sidewalks to the oddly euphoric sound of carriage traffic and busy ponies on their cell phones. The sun was starting to drop, and the pink sky draped over the city, covering everything with a mystical pink tint. "So, Vinyl..." Twilight said, finally confident enough in her directional abilities to walk alongside her city-minded friend. "You say you produce music. What is your music like, exactly?" "I don't know how to describe it really, Twilight." Vinyl said, racking her brain for some form of explanation. "I guess it's like... I don't know... doing some incredibly strong uppers and diving from the top of the Statue of Liberty into a pile of basses and drums. Does that help any?" "I can honestly say that it didn't." Twilight said. "But I'm gonna trust that that means it's good." Vinyl laughed. "Eh, it's alright. I've never considered my songs genius or anything, but a lot of friends say I should send some of them in somewhere, get signed to some minor record label and work my way to Equestrian fame." "So why don't you?" Twilight asked, wondering how far away Vinyl's home was - not that it mattered to her, of course, talking to Vinyl was entertaining. Twilight hadn't known her but two hours, and it already seemed like they had been friends since they were fillies. Twilight had only ever felt that feeling five times before. "Eh, I don't see why I would." Vinyl said, stopping to get yet another bar of chocolate. "The music industry is pretty vacuous these days, and I don't think anyone other than coked up raveheads would enjoy my stuff, much less some suited stiff behind a desk." Twilight was a bit confused. "I get the part about the music industry, but you shouldn't sell yourself short. I think you should at least try to send it in somewhe-" "And we're here!" Vinyl exclaimed, standing in front of a tall apartment complex in the middle of the city. Twilight couldn't comprehend how tall it was - there must have been 20 stories in that building! "How high up is your apartment, Vinyl?" Twilight asked, fearing the worst. "Oh, only about ten floors up. There's an elevator, don't worry." Twilight sighed. "Thank Celestia. "Oh hey, Vinyl, remember earlier when you said that only coked up raveheads enjoyed your music?" Vinyl turned around, smiling that confident smile of hers. "Well, I may have been exaggerating a bit, but yeah. What about it?" "Well, does that make you a coked up ravehead?" Twilight mused. Vinyl stopped and looked at Twilight. "One OTHER thing you need to know about me, Twilight, is that I need neither coke nor a rave to be a coked up ravehead." And with that, the two friends stepped onto the elevator, Twilight still pondering what her friend meant by that. "Welcome to the lair of Vinyl Scratch, Twilight." Vinyl said, throwing her keys on the counter. The place was actually rather nice, Twilight had to admit. The living room had a couple of chairs, a TV, a record player, a shelf of records, and a couple of tables. Concert posters lined every wall in the house in a way that was neither obtrusive nor clashing. Twilight was surprised at how well Vinyl furnished the place. The kitchen wasn't special, but it wasn't trashed either. That in itself was commendable. "Nice apartment, Vinyl." Twilight said. "Where do you do your music production?" Vinyl smiled. "I'm glad you asked, Twilight! I do it all over here, in this room." Twilight was led down a hallway and to the last door to the left. Inside that room was so much musical gear, Twilight could barely believe Vinyl could use all of it; there was a bass guitar, a drum set surrounded by microphone, about six synthesizers, effects pedals virtually everywhere in the room, and that was all brought together by what appeared to be a audio recorder. "..." "I know. I love it too." Vinyl said, reaching for a record sleeve on one of the shelves. "This is my recent album, consider it a housewarming gift, but in reverse." "I'll definitely listen to it later tonight, Vinyl." Twilight said sincerely, but occupied with everything in the room. "So, you know how to play everything in this room?" "You bet!" Vinyl said, going around and sampling each instrument, playing each as if it was her life's work to master these instruments. "Turns out, Celestia's school? KILLER musical wing." "I mean... how can you know all of this, Vinyl? It's making my head spin." "Well, by that logic, how do you know all the spells you do?" Vinyl said, sitting at the audio recorder and turning some knobs. "I couldn't tell you any of the contents of my 3rd or 4th year magic classes textbooks..." She picked up the complicated audio recorder, careful not to pull any cables out of place or touch any of the knobs. "But I could tell you EVERYTHING about how this works. I could tell you the math behind scales, I could tell you the math behind frequencies, sound waves, and virtually everything about audio. "We're all geniuses, Twilight." Vinyl said, passing her out of the room. "Just in different things." THAT'S what Celestia sees in her! Twilight thought, looking around the room. She has virtually limitless potential. Everything she tries and likes, she masters! She exited the room, finding Vinyl sitting in one of the chairs watching TV, half eaten candy bar levitating in front of her. "Hey, Vinyl..." Vinyl looked up. "What's up, Twi?" "Can I listen to that record of yours? I don't know what you do back there to make music, but I really want to hear the final result." Vinyl smiled, switching the TV off and taking the record out of its sleeve. "Yeah, of course. It may be abrasive to you, but you asked for it." Vinyl set the needle on the record, and like that sound was everywhere in the room. Pure musical mayhem filled the room, prodigy-like bass guitar blanketing over frantic, erratic, and odd drum rhythms. Keyboards came in soon after, adding a layer of weirdness to the already unleashed sound of raw drums and raw bass. There seemed to be no motif, no repetition; the rhythm of the song was easily recognizable, but finding any patterns was a challenge in itself. Twilight's anal retentive mind went crazy. Music with no structure? She had never heard anything of the sort! And it was beautiful. Although she acknowledged how interesting and "cool" the sound was, Twilight didn't realize its beauty until Vinyl opened the living room window, letting the sounds of Manehattan amalgamate with the sound of the music. The music started sounding less like random sounds and more like a soundtrack to the busy life of the busy city, the random, scattered nature of the two sounds blending together to create a feeling within Twilight she had never felt from music before. And before she knew it, silence. She was back in Vinyl's living room, so to speak, with nothing but the sound of the city and the sound of a settling apartment to occupy her ears. "Vinyl... that was beautiful." "You can't be serious." Vinyl said, taking the record off of the gramophone and putting it back in its sleeve. "You can't have thought that was beautiful. It takes years of conditioning to find music like that beautiful." "Vinyl, that wasn't simply music." Twilight said, retrieving the record from her friend once more, the rest of which could be listened to later. "That was life as music." Vinyl laughed. "You sure you've never done drugs? Because that's a pretty druggy thing to say, Twi." "No, I'm serious! You've encompassed crowded city life into audio! This is amazing, I need to write the Princess about this!" "You do that, Twilight." Vinyl said, smiling as she sat back down. "Oh, and thanks for complimenting my music like you did. It means a lot." "Well, it's the truth, isn't it?" Twilight said. Sitting down on the couch adjacent to Vinyl. "I mean, yeah, I guess I've never thought about my influences in that way, but you're right." Vinyl said, obviously holding something back. "And..." Twilight said, trying to get whatever was stuck in Vinyl's mind out. "Well, what you said, I just never thought I'd hear someone compliment my music like that. It's certainly nothing Octavi-" Vinyl stopped there, catching herself mid-sentence and freezing in her chair. Twilight waited for a second, seeing if Vinyl would continue or simply remain unmoving. "Hey, Vinyl..." Twilight said, getting up and standing in front of her. "Are you okay?" "What?" Vinyl said, out of her trance. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. "Oh, Later tonight, do you wanna go by Central Park? I figured you'd want to spend some time there, as a non-native and all." "Sure, that sounds fun." Twilight said. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know the rest of Vinyl's sentence, but she didn't want to seem obtrusive, so she just abandoned it completely. "Well, it's settled!" Vinyl exclaimed, walking to the kitchen. "More chocolate to celebrate!" "Vinyl, that's the third one today!" Twilight yelled. "Actually that's the fifth one today, you just weren't here for the first two!"
