Into Your Dreams...

Chapter 4: Midnight Blues

I slowly open my eyes.

"He's coming to," Said a voice

"Quick get the pitcher," said another

"Joe, can you hear me?" asked a familiar voice.

I coughed, sending a wave of hurt through my head. All I could seem to remember was trying to teleport, and ending up landing on my head, but did that put me in the pain I am in now? It hurt to focus, which was strange, but I reviewed what happened afterward. Then it hit me, and in all seriousness it did hit me as this sudden connection released a whole new wave of pain through my skull, nay my mind, as I remember being hit by the huge ball of compressed party coming from Pinkie's party cannon.

All of these revelations went through my head as I slowly woke up to what appeared to be a nurse, a doctor, and…Vinyl. I try to respond to her, but my mouth i glued shut. She then gave me a glass filled with water in it as I sat up. I accepted and greedily drank the water, as I was very parched. She smirked, somewhat concerned, at this. I tried again, somewhat more successfully to communicate.

"'ey Final," I managed to slur.

"How are you feeling," She asked me

I cleared my throat a bit, "Fine except for my skull feels like its on fire."

She frowned slightly and looked at the doctor, who shook his head, and she smiled, relieved.

"Do you remember what happened Joe?" Vinyl asks.

"Yea, walking home, opening door, indoor party cannon probably not the best idea…" I joked.

She giggled, I never thought making someone laugh could feel so nice.

The doctor then informed me that I did not have a concussion, simply in shock from hitting the ground with such force as to bruise about all of my back and a rib or two, but I should be back to full health in about a week. Satisfied, he addressed the nurse to follow him, and they left, turning right down the hallway. Vinyl came over and hugged me, shooting lightning bolts of pain throughout my back. She notice the wince and apologized, settling on simply holding my face in her hoofs. It was then that I noticed that her Emeralds from Earth had changed to Rubies.

"I got so scared when you didn't stand up after Pinkie accidentally shot you with the party cannon!" She exclaimed, "Ponies were holding me back I was so scared for you. I can't believe nopony double checked the trajectory, no one-" I cut her off before she could say anything else.

"It isn't your fault," I said matter-of-factly.

She looked away, laying me back on my pillow, and sighed.

"But I… I just…" She tried to start but was cut off again by me getting off the bed, wincing slightly as I stepped onto the floor, yet undeterred from saving her.

"There was nothing you could do Vinyl," I said softly, trying to calm her down. Then, a thought occurred, "Why were you so worried about me when we only really met about a day ago?" I asked.

She looked away from me and blushed, "I guess since you're the only one who's ever really shown that you cared about me," she confessed, "I took a liking to you."

I was stunned. How was it that this amazing girl felt that no one really cared for her?

"What do you mean I was the only one who cared about you?" I finally asked.

She paced over to the window, seeming to wonder to herself the answer, and responded, "I just feel that everyone here is nice and caring, but since I never really did anything that changed Equestria like Twilight and that group, I wasn't looked at the same way. Going back to the story I told you about why I travelled to Earth, the one thing about that event that really got to me is how Pinkie got off Scott-Free for wrecking my equipment, and I was forced to buy more, spending my bits that I had been saving for a real house, and all she had to do was BS some lesson she learned about friendship or something." Vinyl finished, and began nervously looking around to see if she had been heard.

Again, I was stunned by this revelation about Equestria. Just because she wasn't an Element of Harmony, she got ignored? I looked to her to clarify this, but was surprised at how close she had gotten while I hadn't been paying attention.

"So simply put," she continued, "I felt you really cared, and that's why I brought you here."

"Well just in case you were wondering," I replied, leaning towards her and kissing her, letting her know that her confidence was well founded. She kissed back. As we parted, she smiled, as did I. She then motioned her head towards the door and asking,

"Wanna get out of this hospital room?"

"Gladly," I responded happily.

We checked out and headed towards town.

It was slightly after two o'clock when we left, and I realized that I hadn't eaten since my meager lunch yesterday, prior to being brought to Ponyville. As if on cue, my stomach rumbled, since me and Vinyl were trotting close to one another, she heard it and giggled.

"Little hungry?"

"Nooooo," more rumbles

"Oh, of course not," she laughed, "let's go get some grilled dandelion sandwiches at the cafe."

For some reason, a dandelion sandwich seemed oddly appealing, and my stomach concurred, as indicated by a slightly more aggressive, but shorter, grumbling.

"Sounds like a plan." I replied, smiling.

Since it was still nice out, the next storm set for three days from now, we sat out on the patio. Facing opposite each other, a waiter came up and gave us each a menu and a water. Vinyl and I simply ordered before he walked away, and he took our menus, and headed back inside. I took the moment to examine the town a little more from this point. The Town Hall centered in the plaza, surrounded by various shops and cafes. It was an impressive structure, the town hall building, looking much like a quad-tiered cake stacked by the mad hatter. The third floor tier, for example, had half of its area hanging off the side of the building, providing an awning for the second floor balcony, which had a spiral staircase leading to the fourth floor tier, which had, of all things, a slide going down the tower. So to say I was impressed was an understatement.

The shops too were impressive looking around at them. They seemed to be made so that each storefront was that of a different time period going in a circle around town hall, where the oldest looking storefront met the future styled store. Why they did this was beyond me, but it looked awesome.

Vinyl then decided to ask me more about my life as a human. I looked at her, hesitating briefly, unsure of myself. But then I remembered how she trusted me enough to critic some of the most popular mares in all of Equestria, and my resolve solidified. I opened my mouth to start, to be interrupted by our food arriving. We both laughed a little, and ate. I have to say, who thought that dandelions could taste so good?

After finishing, Vinyl looked back to me, anticipating my story. I did not disappoint. I told her of my parents divorce, my not fitting in at school, the bullying, going all the way back to about second grade when I felt it all really started. She sat and listened intently, only distracted once when the waiter handed her the check to pay and walked away. I did not embellish any good or bad events in my life by over exaggerating anything, simply telling it as it had happened.

Upon my finishing, she wiped a tear away from under her sunglasses, and smiled at me, through different eyes, just as I had at the hospital. It was now around 4:00-4:30 pm as we set off back to her house, walking close enough to feel the other's presence. We walked in relative silence back, save for me commenting on the amazement I felt looking at the things in town and flowers and such. Once back, I went to the room she had given to me earlier, exhausted from the excitement of the past two days, said good night to Vinyl, and slept.

I did not dream that night, which was strange seeing as how I always had a dream back on Earth. I felt myself being roused from my slumber by a very concerned looking Vinyl.

"What's up?" I asked.

"You were moaning loudly and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Oh, sorry…"

"Well?"

"Yea I'm fine, don't think I'm gonna be able to get back to sleep though, considering I went to sleep at 5:00," I said, indicating the darkness coming in through the window.

"Well it's about 2 in the morning, and I went to bed at eight so I need to get back to bed, but I don't know if I can."

"I have an idea," I said leaving the room, headed downstairs.

It hadn't hit me until then that I had been transported here with my trumpet. So I opened the case and put in the mouthpiece, this alone taking great concentration as I was still a little new to magic. Levitating it to my lips, I found that not only could I still play, but something inside of my stirred as I played a note. I couldn't place it, but a sort of energy pulsed its way into my veins as I thought of 'What a wonderful World' by Louis Armstrong. As I headed up the stairs to Vinyls room, which was across from mine, I felt more and more energy spread through me until I made it to her room. She silently observed from her bed as I came in and lifted my trumpet to my lips. The energy seemed to sense my trumpet being brought to my lips as I played the song with absolute perfection. I could see her drop off into slumber once more as I played the final notes of the song.

"Good night, my angel."