Music and Magic

Twilight 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."