Chapters Music's Comforting Embrace
Chapter 1: Music's Comforting Embrace
I have lived what you would call a "simple life". I work a dead end job at an old general store, live in an average apartment with crappy neighbors; my car can barely even hold itself together. Despite this my life used to be amazing...
We couldn't afford the best of things but her attitude always kept our spirits up. My father loved her too; every night we would all sit in front of the TV and listen to the many music videos antennae could provide.
But I was given a huge shock on my 9th birthday when I unwrapped a large box holding a sleek, black bass guitar within the cardboard covers.
She always knew that the bass was my favorite part in very song and told me that she and my father had been saving little by little to get the best bass in the city.
It took awhile but I was finally able to play basic songs without making mistakes. My mother could always hear me through the thin walls but wanted to see me play just for her. My father was very impressed but had a hard time showing his feelings.
As soon as my performance was finished my mother pounced on me and pelted me with kisses. We both laughed as we laid there. But she looked up to the clock and noticed that it was thirty minutes past my bedtime.
Many more happy times revealed themselves to me as I grew up. Although I never really made friends at school, I still had my parents and that was all that mattered to me at the time. Of course this was all before the accident...
My mother was on her way home from picking up my father from the local pub across town. The water bashing down on her windshield reduced her already cloudy vision down to only a few meters in front of the car.
I thanked the officer for telling me and walked him to the door. He looked me carefully in the eyes before asking me where I would go. I just shrugged and told him I needed to think by myself for awhile. Being 16 I was legally allowed to live on my own and my parents were able to pay off the lease to the apartment so my living arrangements were fine.
But do I want to live here? My mother has just died and I'm worried about where I'll live? My limit was finally reached as I fell to my knees sobbing. The floor soon became slick from the pool of tears collecting under my face. I didn't want to live here but I had no choice, I was forced to endure the memories.
Ever since that day I tried my best to move on with my life. I began socializing with other musicians and started to learn about new types of music. Nobody really caught my eye in particular but I did learn to take a liking to this new type called 'rap'.
The fast lyrics and catchy beats amazed my simple mind. It wasn't long before I began learning about mixing and rapping to a beat. My friends would sit around me in a circle as I practiced learning the lyrics to new songs that I liked.
I didn't really like writing my own things but everyone would always ask if I had written any rhymes. It seemed like I was finally able to move on with my life. Despite getting into the new fad, I still played my bass every night before bed.
But now I am an adult who is out of high school and trying to make a living. All of my friends either went off to college or left to try and find careers in music. I wanted to go and follow my dream but money problems made it impossible.
I was about to leave my house to get the mail since my boss had given me the day off when a long envelop floated down to my feet. Being the curious man I was I picked up the letter carefully. The designs on the envelope were unlike anything I had ever seen. Along the edges were majestic designs of what looked like... unicorns? I flipped over to the other side and was surprised to see that it was addressed to me!
Forgetting the other mail I closed my door and plopped down into my old recliner and gently removed the small wax seal. Inside was a small piece of folded paper that once unfolded turned it into a large document. My eyes grew wide as I began reading the letter.
"Dear Mr. Lockwood,
I have contacted you to make you a glorious offer. I am the ruler of a world that you could never imagine, a world filled with beautiful lands and caring citizens. This letter has been sent because we would be most honored to have you join our community. If you wish to live in our world, you must take this letter to the tallest oak tree in what your kind refers to as "Peachgrove Park". You must then return home and wait until morning for us to retrieve you. I hope you consider our offer and hope to meet you soon.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria"
My jaw was hanging open once I finished the letter. Was there really a chance that I could leave this god forsaken town? I was skeptical about the whole thing but if this was fake then the person who wrote it had some serious issues because the letter looked amazing.
But another question popped up, 'Why me?' What made them choose me over anyone else? I've never had any close friends and my life was far from glamorous. My brain had finally snapped from the thoughts and I found myself walking down the empty road towards the darkly lit park. I searched around until I found an old tree that appeared to have lived there for many centuries. I walked around it until I found a root that seemed large enough to keep the letter clean from any dirt or mud.
After looking around to see if anyone was watching, I stood up and slowly jogged home with my mind on nothing but the letter. Once home I hurried to my bed and tried to fall asleep. But ideas packed my mind and prevent my eyes from closing into the pleasant slumber that was sleep.
Some Time Later...
I slowly opened my eyes to find myself in a large white room. Beds lined the walls and each one had a small end table that held a tiny lamp. I assumed this was some hospital and tried to see if there were any doctors around.
"It's nice to see that you are awake Mr. Lockwood." Thinking nothing of it, I turned around and was shocked to see a slender white unicorn standing in front of me.
"Holy crap!!" I stepped backwards but tripped and fell on my backside but continued to back up.
"Where the heck am I? Who are you? What's going on?!" My mind was going into a panic, the unicorn just stood there and waited for me to calm down. Once I finished with my rambling, she began to speak softly.
"Please stay calm as I tell you this Mr. Lockwood... You have been teleported to the land of Equestria. Our world is far from your own and we have brought you here so you may start life anew."
"But why would you choose me? I'm far from a special person." I was still in awe of what was being told to me.
"That is exactly why we chose you, I have been watching you personally for quite awhile now, you have an extreme talent when it comes to music. But your misfortune has prevented you from exploiting it to its full potential. We have brought you here because despite all that has happened to you, you never showed a hint of selfishness towards others. While your friends went off to live their dreams you stayed behind and worked just to stay alive. But despite that you would give money to the even less fortunate, helped elderly without any form of pay, and many more things. You are a man who deserves better than what life has given you. So please accept our offer to stay here." Her eyes showed nothing but passion and caring as I considered my options. I only needed a minute to make my decision.
"Alright, I humbly accept your kind offer." The white unicorn's eyes lit up with excitement after hearing my response.
"Splendid! Please follow me as I show you our world." I gave a small smile and followed her out of the main door.
As it turned out I happened to have been inside the princess's main infirmary at the royal palace. However she forgot to mention where the palace was located... I walked out through the main gate and almost soiled myself as I would have fallen to my death if the princess had not grabbed me. I looked up and realized that the entire city rested on a group of CLOUDS!
"Amazing, how is this possible? In my world clouds could never hold anything let alone a city!" Celestia giggled lightly before explaining.
"Well, as you can see these are not ordinary clouds. Long ago my mother and father created these special clouds out of pure magic so that they could support an entire city. The main purpose of the city's location is to have a good view of all the land." I was about to ask how they communicated but I stopped when I noticed the long majestic wings on her back. Instead I asked a better question.
"So where will I be living in this world?" I assumed she already had everything planned out for me.
"Well, due to your interests and talent we decided the best place for you would be with the local musician in Ponyville. You see, Ponyville is full of culture with many writers and artists. But the pony we wish you to live with is the only successful musician in the entire town… If you two work together, Ponyville may finally learn the magic and power of music!"
I hesitated before I answered, but where else could I go? It's not like I really knew my way around and I definitely didn't want to live in a place where one wrong step could kill me.
"That's very kind of you; I'd love to help teach the residents about music. But I need my bass guitar." She gave me a small smirk.
"Ah your instrument, we have already had it brought with you and it will arrive at the home of your roommate." I couldn’t hold in my excitement as I wrapped my arms around her and thanked her over and over again.
She laughed and nuzzled my neck before we decided it was time to meet my new partner. I was led to a large carriage powered by two muscular stallions. I opened the door and allowed the princess to enter first.
It was a quaint little group, small houses and shops lined the streets that surrounded a small park. Little foals joyfully played on the many hills and equipment designed for ponies. The parents however quickly bowed their heads as the princess passed, they then looked up and all gave me a confused look.
"What a nice looking town, the 'people' seem nice too.” We both smiled at the bad joke right before we reached the house. I was told to stand behind Celestia until the current resident could hear the explanation.
It took only a few seconds after knocking for the door to swing open.
"Who are you and what do you... Princess Celestia!" I looked over her shoulder and saw one of the most adorable specimens I had ever laid eyes on.
She had a bright blue mane that seemed to be brushed back against her straight white body. I noticed a picture of an eighth note on both of her flanks. I still had no clue what those symbols meant.
"I apologize for showing up without notifying you, but I have a serious issue to discuss. Come on out Mr. Lockwood." The white pony lifted her head up and gasped as soon as I stepped into the open.
"Who and what is that?" I chuckled to myself as Celestia explained.
"HIS name is Jeremy Lockwood and he will be your new roommate. He is a human that I have brought here to help you bring music to all of Ponyville. I hope you are alright with this and the palace can pay for any expenses." The pony shook off her confusion and walked up to me.
She lifted her hoof, which I gently shook. "My name's Vinyl Scratch. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Lockwood.”
“Please, call me Jeremy, and it is nice to meet you too." Both of us smiled after I released her hoof. Celestia could tell this would be fine and told us my things would be delivered shortly.
We both waved as the princess boarded the carriage and flew back through the clouds towards the palace.
"So I take it you're a DJ?" She looked at the equipment strewn about and turned slightly red.
"Yeah, ponies are kind of limited on what instruments they can play. That's the main reason music is so hard to come by in this region." I laughed uneasily and went over to closer inspect the equipment.
"I can't wait to start working with you; this equipment says you're serious about music." Her ears perked up and she puffed her chest out after hearing my compliment and headed towards the doorway.
"I can't wait to see what you can do either. But for now let me show you your room." It was a short walk down the same hallway before Vinyl stopped suddenly in front of a small white doorway. She pushed the door open and allowed me in.
The entire room was bright blue like her mane with a white trim. To the right there was a large bed with covers that matched the walls. It had a simple headboard that was of course pure white. The entire ambience was calm and somewhat cheerful.
“I like your style!” She laughed before replying.
“Sure, I just figured it was the easiest colors to come up with. Anyways, this will be your room; there’s a bathroom around the corner and you can do whatever you want with this room just short of destroying it.”
“Thanks, it means a lot to me that you’re so willing to let a complete stranger like me into your home.” A kind smile grew on her face quickly.
“Well your welcome, I’ll leave you here so you can get situated. I’ll get you when your things arrive.” It was my turn to smile as she swiftly turned around and left me to my thoughts.
The bed was a lot softer than I had thought it was. My body was engulfed by the mattress’s soft comforter and it gave me a warm sense of security. Many thoughts raged across my mind as I tried to piece together everything that had happened the past couple days.
Was this all real? I’d been spending my whole life in pain and sadness but now it had all changed in a matter of days! Now I’m living in a new world where nobody knows me and I can finally live life the way I want to.
What made me more deserving than somebody else? I guess it doesn’t matter now, I’m the one who was given this opportunity and I’m sure as hell going to make the best of it. I looked at a plain digital clock and noticed that it was only 3:00 PM. Figuring it would be an hour or so before my things would arrive; I made my way back to the studio.
As soon as I opened the door I was hit by a blast of loud bass. The vibrations from the amps surrounding the room made my entire body shake uncontrollably. But despite that I felt really excited and started bobbing my head to the beat. Never had I heard a song flow as smoothly as this one. The mix of bass and treble levels combined into pure harmony for the ears.
My eyes scanned the room and stopped once they spotted the white unicorn sitting in front of a large soundboard. She had her back turned to me so I walked up behind her and gently shook her. It seemed that I may have nearly gave her a heart attack as she literally jumped out of her seat before turning off the music and looking at me.
“Oh it’s you! You scared me there, is there something you need?”
“I just figured I’d come to chat and get to know you. That was an amazing song by the way.” A small blush again crept onto her face as she looked down.
“Thanks… I was hoping to talk with you too. Like what was your world like? What kinds of music do humans listen too?”
“Well, my world is nothing like this one. In my world many human try to become the best by any means necessary; even if it means hurting others on the way there. But I think there is still a sense of purity deep within, I just won’t live to see it… As for the music humans listen to all kinds of genres. We started out with classical music, then we created the guitar and came up with the music known as rock…” many hours passed as we both taught each other about our cultures.
As it turned out our music was actually pretty similar. Most musicians were unicorns because they had the ability to use magic which helped greatly with using instruments and controls. The only problem Ponyville had was that all of the unicorns preferred using their powers for other arts instead so nobody could make good music besides her.
I also learned that Vinyl played at a club nearby that she would show me on another day. It was one of only a few places where you could go and drink alcohol without bringing it home. Being in a different world meant that technically I could drink alcohol so I was excited to try it but it would have to wait for another time.
Once we were finished talking Vinyl asked me to show her what rap sounded like. I hesitated at first but gave in when she put her hooves under her chin and looked at me with puppy eyes. Damn you god for making these ponies so cute! After setting up the track from what was mostly memory, I began playing a new version my favorite rap.
“This was the first song I ever heard and it was what helped me go through the hardships of life…” The beat started and I waited for the flow to start within me. The bass caressed my body as I started…
Mama
When I got bad grades I was in the heat seat
The beat continued for a few more seconds before slowly fading into nothing. My eyes moved to where Vinyl was sitting and I saw a tear falling down her cheek.
"That was beautiful… I never thought a song could touch me so deeply."
"Thank you, I listened to this whenever I thought about my mother... She was an amazing woman, always caring for others and never for herself. I still miss her today..." My eyes also started to become moist.
But the sadness quickly disappeared when I felt something warm on my neck. I glanced up and realized the warm sensation was Vinyl nuzzling my neck.
"I'm so sorry that all of those horrible things happened in your past. I promise to try and make your new life as wonderful as possible..." Happiness and gratitude began to fill my heart when she said that.
"Thank you..."
We stayed like that for a few more minutes before we heard the doorbell ring.
"That must be your things!" Vinyl stepped back so that I could get up and we both walked to the front door.
Upon opening it I found a neat pile of all my important belongings. My bass guitar sat on top of two small amps next to a small drum-set I used to play to try and make beats for my rhymes. The rest was simply some random trinkets that I would mess with from time to time. One box caught my eye however...
My jaw dropped when I caught site of every CD I had ever owned. Even ones that I had lost when I was a child sat underneath the pile of disc cases. I quickly closed the box so we could bring it all inside. Vinyl offered to let me keep my bass in her recording studio but I wanted to keep it close by.
She just nodded and smiled to show that she understood. By the time everything was put away the clock read 11:00 PM. My body seemed to just shut down after seeing the clock as I plopped onto the bed and instantly lost consciousness...
The Next Day...
Never in my life had an alarm made me feel so refreshed. The simple beeping served as a reminder that my new life was still in its first few days!
I excitedly walked down to the kitchen and looked around for anything to eat. A lot of the "food" was hardly considered appetizing to humans. Boxes of hay and dried flowers lined the shelves from side to side. I scanned the entire pantry until my view locked onto a small box of mini apple pies. They weren't exactly health food by any means but it seemed more nutritious than eating grass.
I found a plate and walked over to the medium-sized dining table to eat. I was almost finished when I heard the clatter of hooves on tile behind me. I turned around and was unsurprised to find that it was indeed Vinyl. Her mane had frizzes running up and down her body and it was obvious she was not a morning pony.
"Good morning." I said with a smile. She glanced at me and just smiled lightly and nodded.
She pulled out a box of dried oats and poured some into a bowl before getting some milk out of the refrigerator. Once the oats were ready she took a seat next to me.
"Sorry I look like a mess. I'm not used to having a roommate..." How could anything look so cute?
"Don't worry about it. This is your house after all so you should be able to do whatever you want."
"Thanks, speaking of appearance, I was thinking of taking you to a friend of mine so we could try to get you some more clothing."
"What's wrong with my outfit?" I gave her a fake frown that must have looked very convincing.
"Nothing! I just figured you would want more than a few things to wear since human prefer to always wear clothes."
"I'm just messing with you." I laughed "…and I think that's great idea." She nodded and stood back up,
"Well then, we can leave in a few minutes once I get ready." I finished eating as Vinyl fixed her hair and found her glasses. I didn't know why but those glasses looked incredible on her!
Just the general glow it gave off from the sun was enough to mesmerize anypony that tried to look her in the eyes. I opened the front door for her which she then smiled and thanked me. I did a mock bow that caused her to giggle lightly.
Within seconds a slender white mare waltzed out from behind a rack of dresses. I noticed that her symbol or "Cutie Mark” was that of three diamonds so I kind of figured she was a high class pony.
"Hey Rarity, I've found you a new customer!"
"Oh Vinyl dear you know you don't have to go out advert... Oh my! What is this we have here?" I smiled and offered my hand for a handshake.
"Jeremy Lockwood, it's nice to meet you Ms. Rarity."
"He's a human from a planet far away. He'll be living with me from now on so I figured we could try and get him some new clothing." A spark of excitement could be seen in her eyes.
"Well I've never worked on anything besides ponies so I'll have to make some changes but it shouldn't be too hard to make you something fabulous! Since we're on the subject, may I see one of your outfits deary?" I smiled again and pulled out a small pile of clothing.
"I can also help you with human styling if you wish." I offered kindly.
"That sounds like a marvelous idea! But I think it would be best if I worked alone today as it seems you two are having fun together and I don't want to ruin it." She finished the sentence with a wink that caused us to blush.
Rarity was right though, I was having a nice time with Vinyl and it would be a waste to let it end so early. After placing my spare outfit on the counter we both walked out and started strolling around town. Many ponies stopped to look at us before going on about their business. I didn't mind as I'm sure it must have been shocking seeing a completely new creature walking around town with the famous Vinyl Scratch!
But I just ignored them and focused my attention on Vinyl as we continued to walk through town. Vinyl suddenly stopped once we reached a small park on the outskirts of town.
"Would you want to go for a walk on the trail?" Again her ears perked up so I laughed and ran into the thin tree line.
Realizing I had left, she began to chase me through the brush with a new sense of enjoyment.
Our energy soon ran out as I rolled off of her and laid side by side.
"This day has been incredible! It's been too long since I just played around with a friend!" Vinyl rolled onto her side and looked at me.
"What can I say? I'm a great guy!" she rolled her eyes and laughed with me as we stood up. A rumbling sound could be heard from both of our stomachs.
"I guess it is getting late, do you want to get lunch?" My stomach growled again to tell me that was a great idea.
"Sure thing, do you know any good places in town?"
"Well, I'm not sure what they have that you'll like but there's this nice little restaurant near Rarity's shop." My hunger left me with little other options.
"That sounds like a great idea, let's hurry!" We proceeded to run towards town and it was no time at all before we reached the tiny shop.
It resembled a deli you would see in my world. It sat on a street corner and had large glass windows that served as lighting during the morning and afternoon. We were greeted by a slightly husky stallion wearing a small red bow tie on his neck. He wore a smile that radiated cheerfulness.
"Why Vinyl Scratch! I haven't seen your pretty face for awhile! Who is this peculiar creature?" "Hey there Mario! I've missed ya too. This is my friend Jeremy Lockwood, he's a human from another world!"
"Well I'll be... It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Lockwood. My friends call me Mario, but my full name is Mario Gambino III." "Likewise Mr. Gambino, may I call you Mario?" The slightly aged stallion laughed heartily, his short, curly hair bounced when he did.
"Of course my boy! Any friend of Scratch is a friend of mine! so please come in and order whatever you like. It'll be on the house to celebrate meeting a new friend!" We both laughed and thanked him before finding two seats at the bar.
A petite old mare walked up to us in a little white apron with a black visor in her curly red mane that really complimented her slightly pink fur.
"I thought I heard Mario say Vinyl! It's nice to see you again deary, and I see you have a new friend!" I was slightly surprised to see that her face showed no confusion at all.
"Hey Maria, you look like you're doing well. This is my new roommate Jeremy. He came here from a planet called Earth."
"I know sweetie, word spreads quickly around these parts. Especially when it's about the legendary PON-3 walking around with the first human to ever arrive in Equestria!" My mind stayed focused on what she called Vinyl.
"PON-3? Is that your stage name?" Laughter spread between the two mares in front of me.
"Pretty much, don't you have a stage name from where you came from?" I never considered that we never really mentioned anything about our actual careers yet.
"Well, you know I never went pro so I never used a stage name... but I did have an idea for a group name and my stage name." Both mares lifted there glasses to show that they wanted to here me out.
"Well in my world I lived in the middle of my country, so me and some friends tried to make a group called Midwest Click and I would be called Basssnake..."
"That sounds interesting..." Vinyl put her hoof under her chin to express deep thought. After about a minute she finally replied.
"Well, Ponyville IS in the midwestern part of Equestria, so I suppose we could call our pairing Midwest Click! My entire face lit up into a huge smile.
"Are you serious? Thanks so much Vinyl!" She laughed again as I hugged her tightly around the neck.
"Okay you love birds, are you going to order or should I move on to someone else?"
"No we'll order now. I'll have the usual and he'll have an order of apple crisp if that's okay with you?" Saliva started to drip down my chin at the mention of apple crisp.
"Yes please! I love apple crisp!"
"Alright I'll be back real soon. Try to keep your hands off each other until AFTER you leave." Maria left with a giggle as we looked away in embarrassment.
It really did take her no time at all to get our orders. She placed a plate of lettuce and strawberries topped with fresh flower petals while a steaming hot platter of apple crisp was sat in front of me. I eagerly dug into the delectable treat and experienced and explosion of sweetness mixed with a slight hint of sourness. The cinnamon covered apple slices were at the perfect point of moistness and released another wave of delicious flavors.
"Oh wow! Mario is a truly amazing chef!" Maria giggled and told me she would tell him what I said. We quickly finished our meals as it was getting late.
"Thanks again Mario, I'll be sure to come by again soon!" He just smiled and waved as we started walking back home.
"He's a nice guy isn't he?" Vinyl turned and smiled at me.
"Yeah, he's a good colt, how did you meet him and Maria?"
"Well as you know, they run the restaurant in this neighborhood and I went in a long time ago when I was still a foal and he treated me to some free ice cream. I then started come by almost every week to hear these amazing stories that he would tell. I guess it just turned into a habit after awhile. I still enjoy his stories since he always comes up with new ones." That story brought a small tear to my eye.
Not one of sadness though, "That's such a sweet story."
"You think so? Sounds pretty normal to me." Her eyes closed and she smiled lightly.
Time seemed to fly by as we had already reached the house. I again opened the door for her which earned me another thank you. She nudged my side and told me to follow her upstairs. I followed her with a new sense of curiosity. The door to the recording studio's swung open and Vinyl closed it again quickly. I gave her a strange look as she pressed a button that caused a panel in the wall to open and reveal a bottle of what looked like rum, another bottle of pineapple juice, a third bottle of rum, and two glasses.
"I can see where this is going... And I kind of like it." She looked away before speaking.
"I just thought we could have a drink or two to celebrate your arrival..."
"Well I've never had alcohol before, but from the looks of these bottles we'll be making some Caribou Lou."
"How did you know that if you have never drank?" I laughed a little before replying.
"Well, one of my favorite rappers used to have a song about it. I heard it packs a serious punch." I grabbed the tray of bottles from the compartment and started pouring together the liquids into a mixer and shook it up.
I then proceeded to pour the mix into each glass. One whiff was all I needed to know that this might be dangerous for your liver.
"Well, cheers." Vinyl wrapped her hoof around the glass so we could clink them together.
I then made the worst mistake ever and chugged the glass in one go. The alcohol hit my brain like a semi as my vision began to blur. I could hear the faint laughter coming from Vinyl's direction as she continued to sip from her glass.
"Maybe you should wait before getting another round..." I could make out looks of worry in her face but ignored it.
"Don't worry, I feel great!" Three glasses later and I was trashed. Vinyl on the other hand was just over her limit.
I swung my arm around her neck and pulled her closer.
"Chu now woot? Chu ma be ze besht fwend I eva met..." It was obvious I was drunk but Vinyl just nodded and continued drinking her fourth glass.
God could she hold her own in drinking! Once the glass was empty we both hugged each other in our drunken fit and rubbed each others' backs.
"I thank chu da besht guy tu..." We both giggled lazily and kept holding each other. In a state of pure drunkenness I let my head fall on hers.
Little did I know that her lips were right underneath mine. They touched lightly before I couldn't stop and I landed right on her for a full kiss. Both of our eyes went wide and I quickly sat up.
"I'm so sorry!" I tried to think of some way to make this better but then a laugh could be heard coming from Vinyl.
"Don't worry silly, it was just an accident right?" My brain took a second to process what she said and a nervous smile grew on my face.
"Y-yeah, an accident!" We both laughed as we started cleaning up the mess we made and put the bottles back in their hiding spot. Once everything was back to the way it was I told Vinyl goodnight and trudged into my room. Only seconds passed before I lost consciousness for the rest of the night...
The Musical Giant
Chapter 2: Midwest Click Arises
The alarm had a far different effect on my head from the last time it went off. Huge throbs rolled through my brain as I attempted to sit up. I soon regretted the action as I held my head to try and reduce the immense pain I felt.
As I did my best to reduce my own struggles I heard a groan coming from down the hall. As if on cue Vinyl stumbled into my room and collapsed next to me. She also held her head in agony.
"I swear to never drink that much again." The white unicorn moaned into her pillow.
"I might never drink PERIOD!" Her eyes darted towards mine.
"Now now, you just don't know how to control yourself, and apparently neither do I..." I wanted to laugh but my hangover told me otherwise so I simply tried to smile at her.
We laid there for a few more minutes in silence before I decided it was time to take a shower. I patted her shoulder as I stood up and trudged down the hall into the bathroom. The cool water splashed onto my tired face and was able to somewhat clear my head of the wretched headaches.
Once my body was clean I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist as I proceeded to walk to my room. Once I put on my other set of clothes I walked downstairs to find that Vinyl had also gotten cleaned up. God she was so adorable! Her blue main flowed back So naturally you would just have to wonder how she styles it so easily.
"Mornin' Scratch, what do we have planned today?"
"Good morning to you too. Well, since we kind of partied the last two days I guess we really need to get to work! I think the best way to introduce you is through a few singles and live appearances, then we can declare our group name!"
After a little thought I replied, "Sounds good to me, got any songs planned?"
"Well, I was thinking the best thing to do was have you be the main act for the singles... That way people will notice you better than as only a featured artist." "So you want me to make a song first? I'm sure I can think of some. Is it alright if I kind use some of my old music?"
"I don't see why not, it's not like anypony here would has heard it before." We both laughed as I thought of what song would be best for my debut.
Part of me wanted to sing "Mama Nem" but I decided to save that for friends only. But then another thought came across my mind...
"Okay, I have this song I came up with a long time ago but could never find the right beat for it, if you can get me the beat I can do the rest.
I gave her a reassuring hug before running into the recording studio. Vinyl walked in a short time afterwards and started helping me set up the music for the track. Her eyes showed a little worry that I would be disappointed but a simple pat on the back told her that I trusted her to do what she wanted to do and it would be fine. We started the music and waited to let the beats flow through our bodies like water between cracks in a rock...
He's a mental giant, (that's what they say)
Hey! I'm lookin' down on you niggaz
Cuz' we smile at the bitty braggin' wack rapper's
It went to my head as my first time
Giant robot make u feel very low shame
He's a mental giant (Basssnake!)
He's a mental giant, that's what they say
Narcissistic, hard to grip it,
On top of the game, I'm droppin the rain
I'm incredible, highly technical nympho triumph, raw intricate
He's a mental giant (Basssnake!)
he's a mental giant, that's what they say
Mentally i'm like Shaq on stilts
He's a mental giant (Basssnake!)
He's a mental giant, that's what they say
I walked out of the recording room as the song wore down into silence. The white pony span around in her chair before stopping to look me in the eye.
"That song was so... fast..." I shuffled my feet before saying anything.
"Sorry if it's too fast, my friends seemed to like quick singers."
"Oh no! I didn't mean it in a bad way! I just never knew someone could sing so quickly without help from a machine!" that brought a smirk to my face.
"So how do you plan to produce this into enough copies for us to sell?" She gave me a look that hinted on the edge of insulted.
"Have you forgotten who I am? I am THE PON-3! I've been producing my own music from the very beginning! Just leave everything to me. I'll handle all production work." and that is exactly what she did! Within days our single was playing on almost every radio and cd player in town. =
Vinyl walked into the kitchen one morning and found me reading an article that was talking about how our single had exploded onto the scene with literally no announcements or advertising.
"Amazing isn't it? Even though there aren't many musicians here, everypony enjoys listening to it every once and awhile."
"Yeah, but you helped me A LOT in making it happen. Back in my own world I could only dream about releasing any music to the public. I can't thank you enough for what you've done for me." I reached out an arm and pulled Vinyl in for a hug and ruffled her hair.
Laughter could be heard coming from her as she started to hug me back.
"Well your welcome, how about we go out today and I can show you the club I work at?"
"I like the sound of that!" Her gentle smile turned into a smirk as she replied.
"Good, because I want you to perform live so some ponies can get to know you and spread word about our group!" I almost literally jumped out of my seat after hearing what Vinyl had said.
"I haven't performed live in a long time but I can't wait to try it again!" We both finished our breakfast before I led her out the door and waited for Vinyl to take the lead.
The club had a cool ambience to it, both figuratively and literally. My face was hit with a soft gust of air that contradicted the hot climate outside. Vinyl led me through the various bar tables and booths to the bar itself.
"Oh Mr. Flow, guess who's back!" I took a seat at the bar while Vinyl walked around the counter and through a door in the back. I heard a faint yell of surprise come from the back room.
"Vinyl Scratch! It's been awhile since I saw your pretty face!" Vinyl walked out of the back room, but this time she was accompanied by an aged stallion. He had a mainly grey coat with white spots dotting his body. His mane was short and gray which also showed his age.
"Mr. Flow, this here is my new partner Jeremy, we were hoping we could perform later tonight?" He looked me over before greeting me. Once he thought I was alright he leaned on the bar and shook my hand.
"Pleaseure to meet ya, name's Smooth Flow. I run this establishment and I've heard your song, good stuff there."
"Thanks Mr. Flow, I hope I can impress you even more tonight." That earned me a chuckle before he continued.
"I'm sure you will, but this place doesn't get busy until night time, so you two should go on and enjoy your day and come on by later."
"Sure thing Mr. Flow, we'll be by later tonight!" They both hugged before we strolled out of the building with smiles on our faces.
It wasn't even noon yet so we had plenty of time on our hands.
"Is there anywhere you would like to go? I don't really know my way around yet..." The white unicorn rubbed her chin in thought.
"Well, we could visit one of my friends who lives near town square, she's a little hyper though and likes to get into trouble."
"I'm sure I can handle anything they can throw at me, let's go!" Her eyes gave me an amused look before she started walking towards a large builiding. From the looks of the outside I had to guess that this was the library.
"What kind of trouble maker would live in a house like this?"
"Well she doesn't LIVE here exactly, but she comes by enough times to make you think she did." I just shrugged of the confusion and knocked on the door. A blue blur caused me to stumble backwards as Vinyl suddenly ended up on her back with a baby blue pegasus laying on top of her.
"Oww... sorry Vinyl, guess I got carried away again with my flying." Before either of us could say anything another pony walked outside and ran over to Vinyl and me.
"Rainbow Dash! This is why I tell you to not fly around in the house! Sorry Vinyl, are you ok?" A small groan escaped as she slowly stood back up.
"Don't worry, I just had the wind knocked out of me." The blue pony called Rainbow Dash lowered her head. It was obvious where her name came from as her mane and tail held every color in the rainbow. Even her cutie mark was that of a rainbow among clouds.
"Anyways, why don't you come in? I'd love for you to introduce this interesting specimen." Specimen? I wasn't sure yet but I felt this pony liked her research.
"Thanks Twilight, I'll introduce him once we're inside." The entire group walked into a large room lined with tall shelves packed with books. I tried to get a closer look at what books she had but the titles alone looked like gibberish to me.
We soon reached a clearing in the shelves where a large sitting area sat in front of a large window overlooking the town. I took a seat next to Vinyl on a light purple loveseat while the other two each sat in a chair of the the same colors. Vinyl cleared her throat before speaking.
"Well you guys, this is Jeremy Lockwood. He's a human from the planet Earth. He's here to help me bring more music to Ponyville!" Both of their eyes went wide when Vinyl introduced me.
"Oh my gosh! I never thought I would be able to meet an actual human before! My name's Twilight Sparkle and it's an honor to meet you!" The purple unicorn quickly grabbed my hand and shook it till it felt like she might dislocate it.
"Nice to meet you to, how do you know what humans are?" The blue pegasus jumped in front of Twilight before she could answer.
"I'm Rainbow Dash, the fasted pegasus on this planet and any other! Nice to meet you!" Instead of the usual handshake, I received a somewhat friendly smack on the back that almost made me fall forward.
Twilight shrugged before continuing, "As I was saying... I'm the apprentice of Princess Celestia. She has been teaching me about alternate worlds and the inhabitants of those worlds."
I was cuaght off guard slightly when I heard she was the apprentice of this world's ruler.
"Impressive, I might be willing to answer any questions you have later..." Her eyes lit up and she started bouncing in her seat.
"Please do! I would do anything to get the chance of studying a human being first hand!" Deciding to mess with her a little I looked away as if in deep thought.
"Hmm... say pwetty pwease." The look on her face almost made me lose my cool right there.
"P-pwetty pwease..."
"With an apple on top?" Pure frustration was clearly growing on her face.
"W-with an apple on top..."
"Good girl!" I ruffled her hair and sat back down next to Vinyl. Rainbow Dash smirked at Twilight who just glared back.
"You really know how to make the ladies do what you want Jeremy." She gave me a wink that helped my pride a little. We all broke out in laughter which lasted for a few minutes before Twilight stood up and went to get something to drink.
I decided to follow her so we could get to know each other privately. I found her pouring a glass a lemonade from a large glass pitcher. I noticed that her mane had a rather unique flow to it. Unlike every other pony who had some type of curls or spike like looks, her mane was straight black with a few highlights and it was straightened.
Something about that hair hypnotized me, but I'm wasn't sure what it was.
"Are you going to stare at me all day or did you come here to say something." That scared the hell out of me!
"Oh uh, I just wanted to apologize for messing with you so much." She turned around and gave me a sly smile.
"If you really feel sorry you'll come see me tomorrow and answer all of my questions." At least she wasn't mad so that was a plus.
"I suppose I'm free tomorrow. I can come by around noon if you want."
"Sounds like a plan." We hugged each other before heading back to Vinyl and Rainbow.
"What were you two talking about all alone?" Rainbow winked at Twilight which caused her to blush lightly. I figured it would be a good time to explain our plans.
"Well I guess we were just planning when I could come in and answer any questions she has for me. Speaking of which, would you want to come here with me Vinyl?" Vinyl's ears drooped down which told me my answer already.
"I'm sorry Jeremy, but I have a meeting with the company who creates the CD's for our music. I'll have to leave early and I won't be back till around 3:00 PM." Her eyes began to moisten so I wrapped my arm around her neck and pulled her close.
"Well, how about after you get home we go for a walk through town?" It seemed to have worked as she lifted her head up again with a look of pure joy.
"Sure thing! I'd love to go on a walk with you!" Both Rainbow and Twilight let out an 'ooooohhh' which made both of our cheeks go red.
"That aside, would you two want to come with us to the club? Jeremy here is having his debut appearance tonight!" Rainbow Dash started jumping around the room with anticipation.
"Come on Twilight! We haven't gone to the club in so long! Pleeeassee!" It was obvious from the look on Twilight's face she wasn't a very social pony. But a few more minutes of begging and she finally gave in.
"Oh alright, I suppose we can go this time since it's a special night." We all shouted hooray and gave Twilight a group hug. She was definitely caught by surprise for she fell back in her chair and we all collapse in a big laughing pile.
"Alright everyone, if we want to make it on time I suggest we go now!" While still giggling, we each got off one by one and then I pulled Twilight to her feet. We waited for Twilight to lock up the library and she yelled at a window on the top floor.
"I'll be back soon Spike! Make sure no strangers come inside!" I heard a faint "Yes Ma'am!" in reply. I didn't know who Spike was but I'm sure I would find out tomorrow.
We spent the walk over making small conversation until we entered the bar. Mr. Flow wasn't kidding when he said the bar gets crowded at night.
"Hey Vinyl, what day is it?"
"Saturday." That pretty much explained it. Rainbow and Twilight walked over to a booth when Mr. Flow saw us and brought us backstage.
"So are you guys ready to go?"
"Ready as we'll ever be!"
"So can you guys tell me what so g you'll play?" We looked at each other before responding.
"We were just thinking of freestyling tonight. Is that alright Mr. Flow?" He just laughed and walked up to the DJ platform.
"Mares and Stallions! Are you ready for a good night?" Cheers rang throughout the entire building.
"Well that's good, because we have the one and only PON-3 and her new partner Basssnake!" More cheers roared into my ears. It felt incredible getting ready to go on stage again!
Vinyl went out first and warmed the crowd up with a dance track that had just the right amount of bass to dance to. I peeked at the crowd to see what kind of ponies there were. Most of them were fillies with their manes colored with neon and patterns painted on their bodies.
I also saw a few stallions dancing with their marefriends. It didn't take me long to find Rainbow Dash and Twilight dancing together at the front of the stage. Twilight looked pretty drunk already but they were dancing rather close even for that... Either way I could hardly wait to get on stage!
Once her song was finished I waited for the beat to start up again before walking onto the stage. I had a swagger in my step which drew even more cheers that fueled my adrenaline. I waited again for the beat to start up before I began the song.
When I walk in the club
I get looks from the ladies,
I got a drink in my hand
And then I get those call
I don't wanna be
She was my summer love
I don't know baby girl
I ain't no side dish
I don't wanna be
Eh, uh oh, put your hands up, put your hands up
I got this girl
This ain't how it's supposed to be
I do like I do baby, that's how I do, baby
Cause I don't wanna be
The music turned off as soon as the last line escaped my mouth. The stage almost collapsed when the entire crowd climbed up and started dancing to a playlist that Vinyl had put on shuffle. I glanced over at Twilight and Rainbow Dash again to find a very shocking image. The two of the were kissing! Their drunkenness showed through like a light in the dark but there was still something about the kiss that looked sincere.
It took a few moments but I was finally able to shake it off when I was pounced on by Vinyl. I wasn't sure but I think she stage dived off her turntable to get to me. I was lucky these ponies weighed less than the horses in my world or I wouldn't have survived that experience! We quickly got up and started dancing together ourselves. For ponies they had some pretty interesting moves!
One stallion was actually able to do a flip after a 360 headspin! Everyone one cheered as he stuck the landing and I walked into the center of the circle that was forming on the stage. I waited a few seconds and sure enough an amazingly good dubstep beat started playing as I started moving my hands and feet to the fast beat.
The ponies watched in awe as I too did a headspin but a 720 instead. I almost fell when I tried to land but the girls (my girls) cheered for me when I was able to stand. I bowed and started shuffling towards Vinyl.
We danced together for another hour or so but Twilight started to get sick so we were forced to walk her home so she could rest. Rainbow Dash could still walk but needed help from Vinyl while I drug Violet on my back.
"Sorry you guys have to do this, I guess Twi' and I overdid it again." She couldn't stop giggling as she spoke which made me roll my eyes at her. Twilight could only mumble as she was practically asleep on my back.
"As long as you two don't get TOO sick we're fine with it, right Jeremy. I nodded in agreement which made Rainbow smile. The blue Pegasus was able to drag Twilight inside and waved goodnight before closing the door behind her.
"I never would have guessed that Twilight was practically a party rocker!" The look on her face told me she had no idea what that was.
"It's someone or someone who drinks and just focuses on having a good time."
"Oooh that makes sense then, she only gets social when she drinks. Well, she does talk to Rainbow Dash a lot..."
"I've been wondering about that. Are they together or something?" Vinyl had to think for a second so I guessed it was complicated.
"Well, it's pretty well known to almost everyone that Rainbow likes Twilight, but Twilight is too anti social to realize it!" I never did like these situations when I saw them on TV and now I have one between my friends!
"Well, we might have to do something about that later on..."
"Would you really do that for somepony you just met?"
"Of course! Even if we just met today I consider them my friends so I'll help them in any way I can." She smiled at me softly when I spoke.
"That's proof that you are a really nice guy."
"I'm not so sure of that, I've done my fair share of selfish things." Disbelief could be heard in her tone.
"I'm sure you were, but since you got here you've done nothing but spend time with me and I think that's special."
"Well, if you hadn't taken me in I might just be walking around lost like a mouse in a maze. If anyone is nice it's you."
"Let's just agree we're both good Uh, 'friends'." We both laughed as we soon reached the front doorsteps. "Well, I suppose we should go to bed since you have that meeting tomorrow..."
"Aww, can't we stay up a little more." She gave me a full fledged puppy doggy face that would melt any heart. Lucky for her I kind of wanted to stay up later anyways since neither of us had alcohol. (Surprising huh?)
"Oh alright, what do you want to do?" "Well, we could watch a movie if you like." A movie from this world? This I HAD to see! "Sure, I'll watch anything you want." I stifled a laugh as I thought of what it might look like.
My imagination was dead wrong. Vinyl had chosen a filly-flick and it started out kind of cute like I had thought. But then the story hit me like a truck as my eyes began to moisten.
Vinyl curled up into a loose ball and laid her head on my shoulder. Eyes shined brightly against the light of the television screen.
'Those eyes are incredible, how unique can you get?'
The movie ended with the usual kissing scene and I slowly stood up and stretched my back before turning the TV off.
"Ok Vinyl time for bed now."
"Mmh... Can you carry me?"
"Ugh I suppose..." When I said she was light before I meant it, these ponies must be filled with air for them to be this easy to carry. I held her like a child as I walked into her room. Posters of DJ's from cities I had never heard of covered her walls and mirror. Now that I think about it how old is Vinyl?
(A/N: I'm just going with them having the same lifespan as humans.) I gently pulled the covers off and placed her on top of the large bed with a blue swirl design. I tucked her in and started to leave until she grabbed my hand. "Is something wrong Vinyl?" She looked away before saying anything, her face had a small blush.
"W-well, I was hoping you could sleep with me tonight? I get lonely at night sometimes..." I smiled lightly and walked to the bed again. She scooted over and gave me room to get in. "Is this better?" "Not quite..." The next thing I knew Vinyl had her arms around my waist and started cuddling me. "Now it's better." I tried to say something but she was already fast asleep in my arms. I just sighed since the warmth of her body was lulling me to sleep as well... "Good night Vinyl..."
Sunday, 9:00 AM
I awoke in Vinyl's bed with empty arms. A note laid beside me that was most likely from Vinyl.
"Dear Jeremy,
Went to meeting... Left you some apple pancakes in the fridge! I'll be back by around 3 or 4 o'clock.
Vinyl Scratch
P.S.- Twilight called to remind you about visiting her. So you make sure to hurry over there!"
I almost forgot about the meeting! I quickly slipped back into my clothes while grabbing the food from the fridge. Once I was outside my pace had slowed to a nice walk since I was halfway to her library.
My stomach started to growl so I decided to try the pancakes Vinyl had made. They probably would have tasted better warm but I still enjoyed the moist sweetness of the pleasant treat. She really wasn't a bad cook at all.
The journey continued once the paper plate was thrown away. It only took a few minutes to walk the rest of the way. I calmly walked up the front stairs and knocked on the large wooden doors. About a minute passed with no reply so I knocked again. A crash could be heard from within and I heard Twilight yelling.
"Just a minute! I'll be right there!" I smirked and waited until one of the double doors swung open. Twilight's face looked like she had just run a mile but her hair and eyes looked amazing. "Jeremy! I wasn't expecting you for another hour!"
"An hour? I thought I was going to be late! I guess I ran faster than I thought." Both of us laughed and Twilight invited me into her home.
"Well, I'm happy you came over early since now we have more time to talk!" I smiled again at her excited face. Her eyes sparkled with a fire of learning that I rarely saw at my high school on Earth. I knew that the world was not as awful a place as I thought. So I had to consider what other places in the world would be like instead of telling of my view. The two of us sat down on the same couch I had sat on last night. Twilight crossed her hindlegs and sat back in her seat.
"Well what do you want to know? I don't know what help I might be but I'll sure try." She rubbed her chin with her hoof to show her thought and soon gave me the first question.
"Well, since you're a musician can you tell me about the arts of your world?" I figured she would ask that.
"Hmm, our art style is rather the same hen it comes to material based like painting and sculpting. Though ours involve humans of course." She smiled at that and motioned for me to continue.
"Music on the other hand has a long history of changing styles and genres. That I'm not sure has been seen in this world. I don't know a lot about certain areas but the entire idea of entertainment changed when a single instrument. That instrument was the guitar..." I then proceeded to explain the history of modern music to the best of my knowledge.
I even offered to lend her some CD's which she graciously accepted. The questions kept coming for about an hour. I told her of the basic anatomy, our other forms of history, government, and even food. A look of slight disgust could be seen when I mentioned eating meat.
"I'm not sure I could ever eat that stuff." I laughed before explaining.
"Just like how your stomachs would have trouble eating meat and such, humans' stomachs have a hard time digesting hay and grass. But there is one food we have in common..."
"What is that?" She tilted her head in wonder.
"Apples!" I grabbed one from a bowl that was sitting on a nearby end table and took a bite.
"They're one of our most popular fruits."
"Of course! Apples have a strong enough texture for ponies to digest but a soft enough flesh for humans! Its great that there are so many things that our worlds have in common!" I heard a rumble coming from Twilight's direction.
She immediately covered her stomach to muffle the sounds. I laughed lightly and offered her some of my apple. "Care to have a bite?" "Oh I couldn't!" "Come on, we're friends aren't we?" She blushed deeply while leaning over to take a bite. Once she took a bite I tossed her the rest of the apple.
"If you were going to give it to me anyways why did you make me go through that?"
"I just like to play with you." I broke in laughter when she started to pout.
I soon calmed down by taking a big breath.
"Now... I have some questions to ask as well..."
"Sure thing what do you want to know about ponies?"
"Well, I don't really mean all ponies..."
I took another breath before continuing, "I want to know about you and Rainbow Dash." Twilight instantly started to fidget and broke eye contact with me.
"W-what about us?"
"Well, I saw you two in the club last night..."
"Well that was just because we were drunk! Alcohol makes you do crazy things right?" She laughed nervously and tried a smile.
"So you don't have feelings for Rainbow Dash?" A minute passed before she finally answered.
"Well, I'm not sure... I like her sure but I don't know if it's more or not." I nodded to show that I understood what she felt.
"Do you feel that you could tell her anything?"
"Of course!"
"How much would you miss having her beside you?"
"I would never be the same again..."
"Hmm, do you ever dream about her?"
"Almost every night..." I let out an amused grunt before continuing.
"That's love from what I can tell, and Rainbow cares for you a lot too. I think you should give her a chance to show you what she can do to change your life and if you still doubt what I said... You should still give her a shot. Who knows? Maybe you'll learn to love her more."
Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. Then came the sobbing and the eventual crying. I moved closer and wrapped my arms around her and brushed her mane with my hand.
"There there, what is there to cry about?" She spoke between light sobs and coughs.
"I... I'm just so... happy... that I can finally... let out my feelings to someone." I had a soft smile on my face when she said that.
"Don't worry... Whenever you want to talk I'll be right there to give you any help you need. We're friends right?"
"R-right, even though we just met... you've already changed my life. I can never repay you for how much you have just helped me..."
"The best way for you to repay me is to be happy and tell me anything you need to talk about. I care about all my friends but I can make time for you."
"T-thank you..." I pulled her in for another hug. We sat there for a long time without saying anything. I would brush her mane occasionally which made her sigh happily. I glanced at the clock which read 3:00 PM.
"Okay Twilight, I think it's time for me to go for today, I still have to meet up with Vinyl." The purple unicorn whined for a little while but soon stood up.
"Can you come over again some time?"
"Of course I can, the life of a musician isn't exactly busy." We both laughed as I was led to the door. I bowed to the blushing pony and happily walked home...
It wasn't long until I reached Vinyl's house as I had found a shortcut down an alley behind some other houses. I opened the door to see Vinyl napping on the couch in the living room. Her hindlegs were curled up to her stomach and her forelegs wrapped around them.
I tried to move quietly to the kitchen but I stubbed my toe on a nearby coffee table. My slight yelp stirred her awake instantly.
She lazily sat up and glanced around for the source of the noise. She just yawned and walked over to me was holding my aching foot.
"Hey Jeremy, are you ok?"
"I think so, I just hit my foot on the table. I was going to let you sleep some more though..." Vinyl giggled which made me blush lightly.
"Silly, I was just waiting for you to get home! My meeting got out early so I wanted to be able to surprise you by being here first but I guess I kinda fell asleep." She scratched the back of her head.
"But I wanted to be able to spend more time with you... I'm sorry I fell asleep. I was hoping to spend time with you as well, you're practically my best friend ever."
She glanced up at me with her sparkly red eyes. "Well, I kind of..." I leaned in to here what she said.
Her next few words shocked me. "I love you!" The white unicorn pounced on me and passionately kissed my lips.
My body froze up at first but I soon relaxed and pulled her closer. Our lips pressed together in an action of pure passion. From her movements I could tell she was sincere about what she said.
We parted to catch our breath which we did without for a good minute or so. Tears streamed down her face as she looked up at me.
"I'm so sorry, I know we haven't known each other long and you probably don't feel the same way." One of my fingers came up to quiet her nervous rambling.
"Calm down, of course I love you too... you have taken my poor excuse of a life and completely turned it on its head. Now I have true friends in the form of Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash; a growing career in the music industry; I even live in a house that is infinitely better than my shoddy apartment, and the one who gave it all to me was you... I know I say it all the time but you saved me, I love you."
More tears formed in the corners of her eyes but now she was smiling as well.
"Thank you so much! I love you more than anything in this world and any other!"
We both smiled and kissed again for a longer amount of time. Our eyes closed so we could further the experience even more.
"I was planning on us hanging out tonight but just staying here with you sounds better all of a sudden. Would that be okay with you?"
"I wouldn't want anything other than to be with you." She giggled and jumped onto the couch, beckoning for me to join her.
Happy to comply, I slid onto the spot next to her while wrapping my arm around her. She placed a foreleg on my neck and pulled herself up for another kiss.
The strain of everything that had happened today was finally hitting my head which made it very hard to stay awake. It looked like Vinyl had fallen asleep in my arms so I pulled her closer gently so her head rested on my shoulder and slowly closed my eyes...
8:00 PM
Ever had a nap where you felt like you slept for days? That's how I felt at the moment I awoke with Vinyl in my arms.
My brain instantly cleared to allow me to brush her soft mane with my hand. Her entire body surprised me by rolling over to look me right in the eyes.
"Hey there sleepy head! I take it you enjoyed your little nap?"
I yawned loudly before answering. "Of course, I had you as a pillow after all."
She giggled slightly. "Of course I had a GREAT pillow to use." At that she nuzzled my neck and gently kissed my cheek.
I pulled her back in and kissed her lips instead. "You know, the night is still young. Maybe we can go see Mr. Flow by ourselves this time?"
"Do you mean to perform or just relax?" Her face went serious with thought for less than a second before she answered.
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind anything we did. It's not like DJ PON-3 showing up can exactly hurt his business."
I chuckled and tried to sit up when Vinyl hopped of my chest and used her magic to grab her glasses from a table by the TV.
We both walked out front door and headed towards the club again. The entire building was full of random fillies and colts dancing to a song I never heard but I liked all the same.
Vinyl's jaw dropped after recognizing the song being played. I was left standing by the bar when she rushed towards the stage with excitement showing on her face.
Not wanting to be alone, I decided to try and follow her. I eventually reached her after weaving through the large crowd of ponies.
On rogue lower stage a dark brown colt was doing some forms of rapping that was a little different from mine.
His lyrics were slowed down yet still had a lot of power to them. I had to admit he was pretty good. Seeing that there wasn’t much else to do we started dancing together at the front of the stage.
The music coming from the large speakers lining the walls made the floor shake as the large crowd started jumping to the beat. But suddenly the beat changed and my stage name was called out.
“Well, I’ll be damned. It looks like Basssnake is in the house! Come on up here man and greet the fans!” The colt waved his hoof to beckon me over. I waved at everyone before he continued.
“How about we have a little fun for these fine people?” I was tossed a microphone from somepony offstage. I switched it on quickly.
“Well, we’ll need some help from a certain pony here tonight!” I grabbed Vinyl by the hoof and helped her up onto the stage to join us. Cheers and hollering filled the club.
“DJ put on another nice little beat!” Another track started up and the colt called up some other fillies from the front row.
Once they were up I started the song. I wasn’t sure how but the lyrics just flowed into my head as I began…
(Top floor, party on)
Elevator go up, (Elevator go up)
Come take a ride on my ele-elevator
Elevator go up, (Elevator go up)
I bet you move it like this (like this)
The colt took over for the next verse. It seemed he too could handle a quick rap. The fillies he brought up started dancing real close to him.
Hey sexy gal real thick gal
He finished to a huge cheer while I took over the song again.
Elevator go up, (Elevator go up)
I bet you move it like this (like this)
Blllll sticka ha ha ha sticka
The room erupted in the screams of fillies that were jumping up and down with joy. We all jumped off the stage into a large circle of couples.
I resumed dancing with Vinyl as the colt was surrounded by ponies in an instant. I looked around and laughed to myself at the sight of another group of visibly pissed off colts that just lost their dates; fortunately Vinyl was paying too much attention to me to notice.
Everyone in the club was dancing for a few good hours before only the true party goers were left. Vinyl and I had found a corner booth to rest in when the same colt walked up to us with two different fillies with him.
“What’s up my man? I can see you’re enjoying the couple life!” He chuckled and patted me on the back.
“I didn’t think it was possible that you could get a ‘coltfriend’ PON-3!” Vinyl’s face looked annoyed yet amused.
“Well, I didn’t think you would still be alive after leaving for Fillydelphia. What brings you back without telling me? We could have come sooner!”
“Well, Fillydelphia is nice and all… but they already have enough musicians there and since we have a new guy in town I figured I’d come for a visit!” I guess my face showed my confusion well as he looked to me with a smile.
“Name’s Slow Groove but my stage name is MC Smooth and yes it’s inspired by my colt Flow over there.” He waved at the bartender who just waved back before resuming washing the counter.
“You know, that song was pretty awesome; maybe we can record it in a few days while I’m still in town!” His and Vinyl’s eyes shined in anticipation of my answer.
“Sure thing Groove, how about we start the day after tomorrow?” Both of them cheered and wrapped a foreleg around my neck. Groove decided that now was his time to go and left us to ourselves again.
Vinyl ordered us some drinks from a young filly waitress. She then leaned her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes.
“That was so much fun; I haven’t seen Groove in almost a year!”
“How do you know Groove anyways?” She lifted her head and kissed my cheek before going back to her old spot.
“He was an old friend from school and was my old partner from long ago. I’ve known him over half my life.”
I started thinking deeply about what she said. My expression made Vinyl giggle lightly which only slightly frustrated me.
“No need to worry, we only see each other as friends. His personality doesn’t allow long relationships anyways.” We both laughed while enjoying the rest of our night with a few drinks.
11:00 PM
The two of us stumbled home after having a few too many shots and trudged through the front door. Vinyl threw herself on the couch and spread herself across all of the seats.
I didn’t mind though as I just picked her up and brought her up to her bedroom. Seeing nothing wrong with it now; I crawled under the covers with her and pulled her close.
I could feel her warm breath against my skin. The warmth felt incredible as I tried to fall asleep but couldn't due to her beautiful face.
Her pure white fur seemed to glow when hit with the moonlight and her chest went up with every light breath she took.
Never in my life had I seen anything as beautiful as her and that only increased my love for her. Eventually sleep began to envelop my mind as I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer...
The Next Morning...
Nothing beats waking up to the sight of your loved one lying next to you in the same bed. I was one of the lucky ones that were able to experience this feeling and I loved it!
Vinyl quietly snored while I slipped out of bed and walked to the kitchen. The clock over the counter read 7:00 AM so I decided to make breakfast for the both of us before she woke up.
After looking through the many ingredients I figured muffins seemed like a good option. It only took a few minutes to prepare the mix and in little to no time they were sitting in the oven waiting to rise.
Steps could be heard from down the hall so I swiftly placed the muffins on a large plate and brought them to the dining table. The look on her face made it all worth it as she hugged me gently before digging into one of the moist treats.
"These taste incredible! I bet Pinkie Pie would love to try one of these even if they're not cupcakes!" I didn't know who Pinkie Pie was but I figured that I would find out eventually.
"Oh good morning by the way." She leaned across the table and kissed my cheek with crumbs still on her nose.
"Good morning to you too, I'm glad you like my cooking." I wiped some crumbs of her nose and kissed it, making her blush slightly.
"So, what should we do today?" Vinyl asked while wiping her mouth clean.
"Well I'm kind of in dire need of clothes, so how about we give Rarity a visit?"
"Oh my gosh, I forgot Rarity was making you some outfits! We should head over there later today."
Vinyl went off to get ready for the day while I finished my breakfast before doing the same. Since I didn't have any new clothes I just grabbed a washed pair of jeans and my favorite striped shirt.
Once both of us were dressed we swiftly exited the house and started walking. Rarity's shop was reached in less than five minutes since we were able to take another shortcut around the town square.
I was wrapped up into a huge hug as soon as I entered the store when Rarity dashed out from behind her counter.
"Jeremy darling, I was worried you two had forgotten about me! I've been able to make five whole outfits since you left!"
"Sorry Rarity, I guess the time just got away from us." Vinyl laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head.
"Think nothing of it dear, I find it exciting to experiment with styles for new species. Now then, I'll go get you your outfits! I did my best to create similar styles to the one you brought me. Not exactly my style but it isn't bad."
Rarity then disappeared behind a corner and returned in just as little time with a large pile of clothing on her back. After a small glance I could make out a few hoodies thats even had the Ad*das logo right underneath the collar!
I reached out and carefully felt the fabric she used. It didn't feel exactly like my original hoodie, but it was still nice and soft like silk.
"This is some incredible work you have here, I bet the company owners would be put to shame if they saw these." The high class unicorn tilted her head in curiosity.
"Company? They have clothing companies in your world?"
"Yep, in my world almost everyone wears clothing everyday, so large businesses make clothing everyday to be sold around the world."
"Incredible, where do they find all the workers to make so much?" Rarity pondered the thought.
"Well, most human clothes are sewed by machines in factories." Shock filled her face.
"How dare they! Tailoring is an art only living beings should be able to create!" I scratched my head while trying to think of something that would calm the annoyed unicorn.
"Don't misunderstand me now, while the basic piece is made by machines; most humans use that blank template to help them create magnificent designs in the form of images."
To make an example I removed my own hoodie and flipped it so that the back was visible on the counter. A large picture of a metal snake wrapped around an amplifier covered the fabric.
"You see this design? I originally sketched this out and then brought it to a shop that put it on the hoodie. Now it is unique compared to others of its kind."
Both unicorns nodded to express their understanding. Rarity did so with a sigh that made me smile.
"Suppose it's better than having machines do ALL of the work... but I still feel that part of the soul is missing!" She did a small pout that made me let loose a laugh that I couldn't hold in.
"Don't worry though, now I can get all my things from the best tailor in Equestria!" Rarity tried to hide her pride but I noticed her stand up a little more straight in satisfaction.
We then paid for the clothing at a "friends' discount" before starting the short walk home.
I ran upstairs as soon as the front door opened and emptied the bag onto my bed. Vinyl entered the room a moment later and sat on the bright blue covers.
"I take it you like her work?" I could nothing but nod as amazement clouded my mind.
Each outfit consisted of a type of jacket/hoodie and some basic jeans that had designer wear around the calves. How did she know that humans wore jeans like that? I gave her a pretty clean cut pair.
I just shrugged while continuing my examination of the other items of varying colors. One shirt caught my interest in particular.
On the front was the word "Basssnake" which had been blown up in fancy letters with a microphone that resembled a snake.
Vinyl sighed and grabbed my hand so she could pull me down beside her. I smiled and wrapped my own arms around her and pulled myself even closer.
"I'm sorry, did you think I was ignoring you?" she giggled lightly while nuzzling my neck.
"How could you ignore somepony like me?" we both laughed and cuddled each other even tighter. Her hoof started lightly drawing circles on my chest.
"So what do you want to do now since the clothing problem is finished?"
"Well... we could do something here since we're in a relationship now..." She began to slowly move her hoof down my body past my stomach.
It may have been instinct but my hand shot down and stopped her hoof from moving. It instantly retracted as tears formed in her eyes.
I then wrapped my arms around her midsection when she turned to run away. She attempted to push me away but calmed down when I began to explain.
"I do love you Vinyl, but I'm just not ready to go that far yet. I promise we can do 'that' soon enough." We sealed the promise with a kiss before getting off the bed.
"So what else do you want to do today?" Vinyl thought for a moment.
"We still have a lot of time in the day, so how about we start work on our first album as Midwest Click?" The general mood picked up as soon as she suggested making music.
"Wait in the recording room, I'll be right back with some things we can use!" I rushed back into my room and grabbed both my bass and an old electric guitar I played my freshman year of high school.
It seemed Vinyl could already tell what I was planning and had my drum set ready to go before I even entered the studio. I sat both instruments down in a corner while walking to the drums.
"I need you to record each part for me as I play it. This song would be good for the opener just so you know." I received a thumbs up as she dashed into the other room and closed the board behind her.
While she was setting up I grabbed some nearby headphones and switched them on. Another thumbs up later and I was going through both my drums and bass parts.
After another half hour of recording other parts for the back ground, I walked up to the center of the room where a microphone hung from the ceiling. My guitar rested on its strap while i pulled the microphone up higher.
I gave her a thumbs up of my own which seemed to set the music off on it's own. I opened the song with a few chords before starting to sing...
Oh it's true what they say
And now, I won't be around
Don't look away
But now, I won't be around...
I then broke out into a simple but energetic guitar solo that lasted only about thirty seconds.
And I don't know why I try...
I forget when I'm just starting...
I strummed the final chord and let it last for a few seconds as it faded. I glanced up at the booth where I found Vinyl staring into space.
Figuring that the recording was done, I put down my guitar and walked into the booth.
"So how did you like it?" I was shocked to see a tear roll down her cheek.
"Are going to be ok Vinyl?" She jumped suddenly and wiped her eyes.
"Uh yeah! That song was just so..." Her lips began to quiver again as she tried to hold back more tears.
"It's alright Vinyl, if you want to get something out you can come to me." At that I was suddenly brought into a vice grip as Vinyl buried her head into my chest.
Heavy sobs left her mouth as I simply patted her back gently. The crying soon turned into sniffles and little coughs. I rubbed her back once more so she knew I was still there.
"So what's wrong Vinyl? You know you can tell me anything..." Her eyes moved up to look at me but disappeared when she buried her head again.
"I'm sorry... that song just brought back some old memories that's all..."
"What kind of memories? I'd love to hear it." She smiled gently and kissed my cheek.
"Sorry, I can't tell you yet. But I promise to tell you soon." Was this payback for before? Wether or not that was true didn't matter as I was pulled into a full kiss that felt more like it was out of sorrow instead of passion.
We stood there in our embrace until a knock came from the front door. Vinyl quickly let go and gave me one more kiss before heading out to answer the door.
When we first opened the door I thought the visitor had left but I jumped at the sound of a voice coming frontage ground.
"Sorry to disturb ya Vinyl, but Twilight was hoping yo could come over for a visit!" I looked down and saw a tiny purple dragon with a green belly and spikes.
"Oh hey Spike! We would love to come over! Just give us a few minutes to get ready!" Vinyl's attitude changed so quickly that it was like our little embrace had never happened.
I figured it was a good thing while being pushed upstairs by Vinyl.
"Who was that?" I asked while being pelted with a shirt and pair of pants.
"That's Spike, he's a baby dragon and Twilight's assistant. He can be kind of clumsy but I don't think Twilight could live without him."
"Oh, that's pretty cool!" I quickly pulled on the new clothes once Vinyl had turned around.
"If you're ready, we better not keep Spike waiting!" We both walked downstairs to the waiting dragon who still stood at the door.
"Thanks for waiting Spike, let's go!"
"Sure thing Vinyl. Follow me!"
I smiled as he turned around and walked with a soldier-like strut. We already knew our way around but Vinyl thought it was too cute that he acted like a real servant.
It wasn't long before we reached the familiar library. Spike opened the large doors with the press of a hidden button. I suppose he needed SOME way to get those things open.
"Twilight! Vinyl and Jeremy are here!" I heard another crash as a rainbow streak zoomed down the main staircase and hit me dead in the chest.
I grunted in pain while looking down to see Rainbow Dash hugging me like a girl would hug her favorite doll.
"Hey Jeremy! We've missed you so much!"
"Hey Rainbow, I can see you're doing well. Where's Twilight?"
"Right here Jeremy!" I felt another force grip me from behind so that I was squeezed between the two ponies.
"Oh hey Twi. Um I can't breath!" They both laughed and let go so they could go to Vinyl next.
She too was brought into a large hug before we all walked into the living room again. I noticed two sets of saddlebags sitting next to the sofa.
"So what did you guys have in mind while we're here?" Vinyl asked politely.
"Well it's been a long time since we went to the farm so we both thought all of us could head out and see our friends."
"That sounds like a great idea! You haven't met Applejack yet!" I had no idea who Applejack was but just smiled and nodded.
"Well then, Twi and I have already packed so let's go!"
Twenty minutes later...
"What?! Why didn't you guys tell me you were together?" Vinyl shouted with shock.
"We kind of thought Jeremy would have told you sooner..." All three ponies looked at me which made me feel uncomfortable.
"I'm sowwy Vinyl! I guess I just got caught up in everything that's happened that's all." She giggled when I curled my arm around her neck and faked sniffling.
"It's alright now child." We all laughed and kept walking on the large dirt road. Boy was this place far!
"So where are we going exactly?"
"Sweet Apple Acres, best known for their amazing apple cider and special alcohol!" My own ears perked up at the mention of alcohol.
"Oh boy, I can't wait to try it!" We quickened our pace slightly once the large red barn came within sight where a loud banging could also be heard in the distance.
I turned my head towards the noise when I saw a large tree shaking so hard it seemed like one more swing would snap it in two.
"What's going on over there?" All three of the ponies looked to where I was pointing.
"Oh that must be Applejack now, let's hurry before we miss seeing her work!" At that I was left standing as the trio began galloping over a large hill and into the trees.
I didn't see any need to rush, so I repositioned my own small pack and began hiking up the hill. Everything in the farm looked like something out of a children's book back home. On each side of the hill was rows upon rows of large apple trees and in front of each line was a small barrel filled with soil and flowers.
I took a breath of fresh air and made my way into the trees as well. The large bunches of branches blocked out the sunlight so that little spots peppered the ground.
My entire body was relaxed until I heard a rustle from behind. I quickly turned around just in time to be pounced on by some creature.
The panic I felt lessened once I realized that it was just a small pony that was laying on me. If I remembered correctly she looked like what they would call a foal. Her body was a bright shade of yellow with a curly red mane.
"I gotcha mista! Never seen ya around these parts before! Whats ya name?" She giggled cheerfully.
"Um, my name's Jeremy, what's your's?"
"Why my names Apple Bloom! Sista of Applejack and Big Macintosh! Say, would ya like to play with me? Would ya? Would ya?" Boy, there's a lot of energy in this one!
"Sure thing little miss, but only for a little while, I still need to find your sister." her eyes gleamed with excitement while she quickly tapped my nose.
"Tag you're it!" Before I knew it the little pony was off my chest and running through the trees. I quickly stood up and began chasing after her.
It should have occurred to me that even young ponies are REALLY fast! All my energy was required just to match her pace, so I started making turns to try and cut her off instead.
But once I thought I had her, I turned a corner and found nobody. I spun around to look for her until I heard a stick crack on the other side of a tree.
"Hmm I guess Apple Bloom finally won... I guess I'll just have to... Ah ha!" Apple Bloom squealed as I scooped her up in my arms and threw her over my shoulder. We both laughed when I began stomping around like a giant.
"Well well, what should I make out of you? Perhaps I'll cook you up into a nice stew!"
"Nooo! Anythin but that mista giant!" we laughed again as I set her down.
"Alright little miss Apple Bloom, I won't eat you as long as you take me to see your sister!"
"Ok Jeremy... I reckon I've kept ya long enough. Just follow mento the house!" She smiled at me and turned towards the house.
The sun was beginning to set once we had reached the house, but I could tell we had plenty of time to chat. Apple Bloom dashed through the front door and into the medium sized living room.
"Oh Applejack, ya have a visita!"
"I know Apple Bloom sweetie, tell him to come to the kitchen!"
"Ya heard her Jeremy, let's go!" She wrapped her hoof around my hand and practically dragged me throughout the house until we had reached the kitchen.
All three of the fillies were sitting at a form of bar along with another pony. Her body was bright orange with a blonde flowing mane and a cowboy hat.
The new pony stood up and walked over to me. Her eyes were a deep green and had its own kind of sparkle to them.
"Howdy, ma name's Applejack. Nice to meet ya!"
"Likewise, my name's Jeremy."
"I've heard stories about ya. Like how ya happen ta be datin ma good friend Vinyl here! I also heard you're a pretty good musician!"
I smiled politely and took a seat between her and Vinyl where I found a glass of cider waiting for me. Before I could take a drink however, I received a smack on back that almost made me drop the glass.
"So tell me about yaself! These here fillies can only tell me the basic details, but I want ta here what ya have to say!"
I made a fake sigh that caused them to laugh as I started the usual story. It seemed like the same old story to me, but everyone look mesmerized like it was the first time they ever heard it.
"I can never get over that story; it's like a big fairytale to me!" Rainbow Dash commented when I finished speaking.
"But now that's in the past this is the now. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll be able to visit Earth again sometime!"
"And we'll be sure to come with ya too!" Apple Bloom exclaimed from the dining table.
I laughed and took my first sip from the glass. My face cringed a little from the shock of tasting alcohol.
"This stuff is incredibly good! What do you call it?" She whipped her mane back with pride.
"Why that's the famous Applejack Daniels! The best homemade alcohol in all of Ponyville!"
I broke out in laughter at how similar the bottle she showed me actually looked to the brand from my world.
"What's so funny?" Applejack crossed her forelegs and began to pout.
"Oh nothing, I just remembered another kind of drink." Her confused expression made me laugh more.
"Anyways, this stuff is really impressive. How much for a few bottles?"
"For ya guys? Ya don't have to pay for it! Let's just say friends of mine get the privilege of as much Applejack Daniels as they can drink!"
"Really? Well thanks Applejack! I might need a few bottles to go." She giggled heartily.
"No problem buddy, I'll make sure to get them for ya before ya head out." I smiled and gave her a friendly hug.
The sun was almost completely set by the timed we left the farm. All the ponies hugged and started down the dirt road. I turned to go as well when Apple Bloom wrapped herself around my leg; almost tripping me in the process.
"Can ya come over again sometime? Pretty please?"
"Of course I can! Maybe sometime this week I can come back and we can play all day long!" At that she practically shot up into the sky with joy.
"Oh boy! I can't wait for you to come over!" As quickly as she had arrived, she zoomed back inside and up to her room for bed.
Applejack still stood on the front porch with a soft smile.
"It was mighty nice of ya to play with Apple Bloom. I can't believe she took so kindly to ya so quickly... most of the time she only hangs out with her friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle."
"Oh it's nothing, it's nice being able to play with the little ones every now and then."
"Either way, I really appreciate what ya doing. I guess I'll see ya later."
"You betcha, see ya!" I turned around and started jogging to catch up with the group so they wouldn't worry.
It seemed they slowed their walk down so I could catch up easily.
"What kept you so long?" Twilight asked quizzically.
"Apple Bloom just wanted to say goodbye that's all. Actually, I guess I'll be coming back later this week to play with her."
"Aaw that's so sweet!" Twilight squealed with delight.
"Better watch out Vinyl! Looks like Apple Bloom's trying to steal Jeremy away!" Rainbow teased us both.
"Rainbow! Don't say such silly things!" Twilight retorted back.
At that we all laughed and started back up on our journey home. A few minutes passed again before we had reached the town square.
"Well, good night you two. Rainbow and I'll be heading home now." Twilight smiled and turned towards the library.
"We should definitely do that again sometime!" Rainbow exclaimed and followed Twilight home.
Vinyl and I turned towards our own home and slowly strolled through the town. Most stores were closed, but their signs lit up the street in a beautiful blend of colors. I noticed that Vinyl's head was beginning to bob with every step.
"Do you want me to carry you?" Her face went pink.
"Oh I-I'm fine, really!" I smirked and stepped in front of her while bending down.
She let out an 'eep' as she practical walked onto my back. I wrapped my arms around her hindlegs and hoisted her up the rest of the way so that she was sitting on my arms.
"This is embarrassing..." Vinyl whispered nervously.
"Oh shush... We're the only ones outside right now anyways." I chuckled which made her blush more.
Seeing that I wasn't going to let her down any time soon, she sighed and laid her head on my shoulder. I could feel her light breathing warm the back of my neck.
"This IS kind of nice... I should have you do this more often!"
"Well, I'll be more than happy to do it!" she giggled and held me tighter.
"I might have to take you up on that..."
I turned my head so we could kiss while still walking home...
Chapter 5: Bout' To Bubbles
My eyes struggled to open as I tried to wake up. I thought I was in Vinyl's house but I was mistaken.
It turned out that I was in some place shrouded in a dark haze. The outlines of a long alley could be barely made out.
"Hello? Is anybody there?" A wicked laugh answered me.
"I don't suppose there is a correct answer for that."
"I don't get it, where are you?" the laughter returned.
"I am everywhere... but nowhere... you would call me a spirit..."
"If that's so, what do you want with me?" my eyes widened when a tall, slender pony materialized in front of me.
Her long black mane flowed smoothly and curled upwards once it reached just past her neck. She also wore a robe with a hood that went down to her knees.
"I just want to ask you some questions that's all. If you answer then correctly I'll be on my way, for now." I just shrugged which made her smile.
"Well, what do you want to know?"
"I want to know how you feel about Vinyl. How important is she to you?" I didn't even need a second to come up with my reply.
"She's the most important thing in my life. I love her with all my heart."
"So you would give up anything just so you could keep her?" I merely nodded as a reply.
"What about your friends? How far would you go to help them if they needed it?"
"If they asked I would do whatever I could to help them out." A long pause came about before she asked another question.
"What if a complete stranger needed your help? For all you knew they were going to try and rob you." I paused myself while I thought about that.
"Well, I wouldn't know until after I helped them now would I?" Another chuckle was her reply.
"You're a smart man, kind hearted too... The main reason I have come to you is that I have a daughter in your world... She lost me to illness a few years ago..."
"I'm sorry to hear that, but what are you getting at?"
"Well you see, my daughter was born with a type of disorder..."
"You're losing me here, what do you want me to do?"
"I want you to help her make friends since I'm not there now... Her name is Ditzy Doo, but the other foals called her Derpy when she was little. Please help her!"
"I don't see why not, I would be kind of going against what I just said if I said no." Her eyes lit up with happiness as I was tackled to the ground.
"Thank you so much young man! You can probably find her somewhere around town and I'm sure you'll be able to see her. She has a grey coat with a blonde mane. Her eyes are what give her away though..."
"No problem ma'am, I'll be sure to look for her as soon as possible."
"Thank you again, I must go now but you can count on seeing me again later." I waved as she again disappeared into the thick haze.
Before I knew what was happening I felt like I was falling into a large pit. I then suddenly sat straight up inside of Vinyl's room.
My sudden movement caused the pony to sit up as well, though not as quickly. She rubbed her eyes and yawned loudly.
"Are you alright Jeremy? You've been tossing and turning in your sleep all night."
"Oh, I'm not sure what's wrong, I think I had a vision..." Vinyl turned her head in confusion.
"What kind of vision?"
"Well, it was a message from a mysterious pony. Actually, do you know anyone by the name of Ditzy Doo? The pony also said she was called Derpy in school."
"Derpy? Oh I remember her! Poor thing never could make friends easily..."
"So you know her? Where can I find her?" Vinyl racked her tired brain in an attempt to remember where the pony in question lived.
"Sorry, I can't remember exactly where she lives. But if I recall she would always head towards the outskirts of town after school."
"Thanks Vinyl, I'll have to find her once the recording is finished today. Speaking of which when is Groove going to show up?"
"I think he'll be here in about an hour."
An hour? I glanced at the clock which read 10:00 AM. I jumped out of bed and rushed into the bathroom so I could shower.
It was only ten minutes before both of us were clean and dressed. Well I was dressed at least.
As if on cue, I heard the doorbell ring and walked to the door with Vinyl. Slow Groove was standing at the doorway with two other colts that I didn't see the other night.
"What's up my man! I hope you're ready to rock the mic!" The three of them walked inside and headed straight for the recording studio.
"Oh Vinyl! Guess who's back!" I walked into the room and saw the two hugging like only old friends could.
"Who are these two you brought with you?"
"Oh how rude of me! This colt to my left is know as D-Loco. The colt he pointed to was slightly taller than the others but seemed slightly on the skinny side.
"The other colt here is OH. They came in from Phillydelphia to help us work on a few songs!" The second colt was shorter and more muscular than the other two, his brown fur went with a short and straight mane nicely.
"What's up Vinyl, it's awesome to meet you." D-Loco winked at her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well." Vinyl giggled which made me slightly jealous.
Once the introductions had finished; Vinyl headed back into her sound room and closed the door. The rest of us each put on a pair of headphones and switched them on.
"Testing... Can everypony hear me?" four nods was all she needed to know our answer.
"Alright then, we can start out with a song that involves everyone and work our way to the main track.". I nodded again as the beat started echoing through my headphones...
(A/N: ()= D-Loco and []= OH)
I feel you creeping, I can see it from my shadow
[Smack that, all on the floor
Smack that, all on the floor
Upfront style ready to attack now
(I feel it, don and crack now
I feel you creeping, I can see it from my shadow
[Smack that, all on the floor
Smack that, all on the floor
Oh, looks like another club banger
Pedicure, manicure, kitty-cat claws
[Steps upstage, didn't think I saw
Plus from the club to the crib it's like a mile away
I feel you creeping, I can see it from my shadow
[Smack that, all on the floor
Smack that, all on the floor
I attempted to start my next verse but was surprised that OH was still going after the chorus.
OH's rollin', D an' ‘em rollin'
(Hittin' no less than three
I feel you creeping, I can see it from my shadow
We then finished the song with all of us singing the chorus.
Smack that, all on the floor
Smack that, all on the floor
We all cheered at the end of the song as it was a huge success. Groove and I were about to go to the sound room when I saw her shaking her head and pointing back at the center of the room.
We both shrugged and returned to the laughing colts.
"Don't worry man, you can get at that flank once we finish up here!"
"I heard that OH!" Our laughter grew louder as OH looked away to hide his face.
"Okay people, let's hurry up and finish these recordings!" Vinyl exclaimed.
At that another beat was flowing into our ears and the recording had started again...
30 Minutes Later...
My throat was beginning to feel itchy since Vinyl refused to let us take a break until every song had been recorded.
Fortunately for us the last song was just finished and we all trudged up the stairs and into the sound room. Vinyl already had a tray with glasses of water waiting for us.
"You guys did an amazing job, and to think that we didn't even write down the lyrics!" Vinyl cheered as we took our drinks.
"Yeah, it's kind of strange how the music just moves right along without any preparation." We all nodded in agreement.
"Anyways, this has been one hay of a success!" D-Loco exclaimed.
"We should definitely do this again sometime, the ponies in Phillydelphia will love this stuff!" Vinyl and I glanced at each other to see if we had the same idea.
"Well, if you guys are going to be here a for awhile, you can be a part of our group!" Vinyl suggested eagerly.
"Hmm, I can afford to stay here for a little while..." OH replied quietly.
"Hay yeah I want to join! This is the best opportunity I can get right now!" D-Loco practically jumped onto me with enthusiasm.
Since everything had now been settled with the recording and editing; Groove took his partners and left to go back to his apartment nearby. They all waved at us before turning a corner and leaving our view.
"This day has been great so far!" Vinyl exclaimed while wrapping her forelegs around my neck.
"Yeah, but my day's just getting started... I still have to find Ditzy Doo." Her face turned from happy to slightly disappointed.
"Alright then... Do you want any help with finding her?" I shook my head to her dismay.
"Sorry Vinyl, I think this is something I should do alone for now, but I promise to be back soon!" We hugged once more as I walked out the door myself and headed towards the outskirts of town...
2 Hours Later...
My patience was being tested after not finding a single clue during my entire search. Everypony seemed to know who Ditzy was, but nopony knew where I could find her.
I walked down the long dirt trail that intersected another after about a half a mile. It was slightly amusing how much the scenery reminded me of the country on Earth.
I was near the point of just giving up and turning towards home when a lone pony bumped into me from behind.
Her head hung low so that I couldn't clearly see her face and even if I did it seemed she was wearing sunglasses as well. However, from what I could see she fit the description that the countless ponies had given me.
Her mane was blond and slightly spiky while her coat was a 'pure' grey. She jumped slightly when I cleared my throat.
"O-oh! I'm sorry sir, I guess I wasn't looking where I was going..."
She tried to move around me but I quickly stepped in her way. All of a sudden what little composure she had left was beginning to crumble.
"Sorry to keep you, but you're name wouldn't happen to be Ditzy Doo is it?" She backed up slightly and shrank down slightly.
"Please don't hurt me mister, I just want to go home!"
"Why would I want to hurt you? I'm Jeremy and I've been sent by er... 'someone' to find you." Her expression went from fear to confusion.
"Why would anyone want to find me? The only time anyone talks to me is when they make fun of me..."
I shrugged and looked to see if anypony was nearby.
"I'm sorry to impose, but would it be alright if we continued this talk inside?"
"I suppose so, please follow me."
I was lucky that the the road I had stopped at was actually on the square of land that Ditzy lived on. A small path snaked through a dense strip of trees that led to a small little cottage in the middle of another batch of forestry.
I was led up a small staircase the immediately led into the living room of the home. From the furniture it seemed that the room also served as the eating area.
That said everything seemed mostly clean save for a few scratches on the leather couch and floor. We each took a seat at the dining table, while I took off my hoodie Ditzy decided to leave her glasses on.
"So tell me, who sent you to come find me? I don't know anybody who would want to talk with me..." I hesitated so I could think of how to explain.
"I suppose there's only one way to explain... Last night I received a message from your mother through my dreams. She told me that she needed mento find you and make sure that you're ok since she can't help you anymore."
Anger and disbelief radiated from her with every word I spoke.
"I don't believe you, you're just like everybody else! Always messing with me just because I look different!" Her hooves banged on the wooden table.
"Please listen Ditzy! I know it's hard to trust someone you just met after what I told you but I swear it's true!" Her position didn't move an inch.
"Look, you're mother cares very deeply about you, even after her death she wanted to send somebody to look after you when she couldn't. I don't know much about you but please just give me a chance to help!" Her frown softened and her hooves slid back to their old positions.
Moisture started to build up in her eyes as I could hear light sniffling.
"M-mommy... I don't know if you're telling the truth but I can't take this life anymore! I just want somebody to care about me again!" The flood gates seemed to have broken as I was pulled over the table and into a tight embrace.
Tears rolled down from underneath her glasses with every sob that escaped her lungs. Seeing nothing else to do, I patted her back and shushed her.
"Now now Ditzy, if you're willing to help me, then I'll make sure you'll be happy the rest of your life... But I need you to trust me alright?" A few sniffles later and she nodded slowly.
Once her eyes had dried we moved to the couch where we each sat on a side.
"So tell me about yourself, I learned a little about you but I want to hear what you have to say."
"W-well, I like to think I'm just a normal Pegasus. But I get made fun of a lot since I'm clumsy because of my disorder..."
"That reminds me, isn't it a little dark to be wearing sunglasses? I'd like it if I could see your eyes." She shifted in her seat with nervousness.
"Um, t-that's ok, I l-like wearing my sunglasses!" She let out a peep when I stuck my finger out as she leaned in to adjust her seat.
"I'm sure you do, but safety is kind of an issue if you can't see six inches in front of you."
Before she could resist I pulled off the sunglasses. She was still fast enough to hide her face in a nearby pillow.
"Noo! Don't look at me!" I tilted my head in curiosity.
"What's wrong Ditzy? You know you can show me if you want my help."
"B-but I look ugly..." I scoffed and gently turned her onto her back.
My own eyes widen at what I found. Not one but BOTH of her eyes were unfocused. Each seemed to veer off in another direction.
But that wasn't what had caught my attention right away. Her eyes also had a golden shine to them that glowed like the sun.
Tears began to form again in her eyes as she turned away once more.
"Oooh... I'm such an ugly pony! Now you don't like me either do you? I hate these stupid eyes!" She rubbed her eyes roughly.
I heard a gasp come from her when I grabbed both her hooves to make her stop.
"Don't be silly, you're eyes are amazing! They are what make you stand out amongst the crowd! I can't believe THAT is why ponies make fun of you! They're just jealous."
"R-really? My mother used to tell me that when I was little but I never believed her..." her sniffles were starting to lessen.
"Trust me, something as trivial as that shouldn't be made fun of, come on let's go to the town and see what the other ponies think."
"But what if they laugh at me? Whenever I go to town everypony talks about me behind my back and laughs... and some of the colts do things to me that I don't feel like mentioning..." I tried my best to hide the anger and grabbed her hoof to lead her outside.
"Don't you worry about them anymore! From now on I'll watch over you and make sure that everypony gets to know the real you; I'll go as far as it takes to make that happen!" Her eyes widened at what I had said.
"I-I don't know... I guess if I'm with someone other ponies might like me... Okay, I'll go if you promise to stay by my side!"
"I promise with my life... So let's go!"
It seemed that she was all in on going now as she tightened her grip around my hand and followed Mencken the road. Once we had reached the city limit I let go of her hoof to avoid anymore unnecessary comments.
Everypony would gasp and whisper whenever the two of us passed by and I could hear the occasional snicker coming from some young colts.
There wasn't really a destination we were heading towards; so I just led Ditzy through the town like we were normal friends.
As expected, we soon reached a rather rough part of town that was actually near the road to Ditzy's home. She began walking up close to me and started to shiver.
"Are you ok Ditzy? You look like a wreck." At that I heard a loud shout came from behind.
"Well look who it is, little Derpy decided to pay us a visit!"
"Oh no... These are the colts I was telling you about!"
"Hey, didn't ya hear me Derpy?! Get your flank over here if you know what's good for ya! Oh wait, you probably don't know!" my last bunch of nerves were starting to break when we both turned around to face them.
The shouting colt was surrounded by two other colts. Each one had a type of grey mane and wore red caps turned sideways.
Ditzy lowered her head and tried to hide behind me. All three snickered and approached me.
"Now who do we have here? Did Derpy hire you to protect her?" He looked at Ditzy and smirked.
"No, I'm here because she's my friend and I won't have you harming her anymore." I must not have looked intimidating since they all broke out into laughter right in front of me.
"Come on man, why waste your time with somepony like her? You could actually find a mare that's WORTH protecting!" Her shoved me aside and made an attempt to grab Ditzy by the foreleg.
"Come on Derpy! We'll show you a real fine ti-!" His sentence was cut short when I socked him in the jaw.
He reeled backwards but stood his ground so as not to fall. The other two colts stared in shock.
"Why you little piece of trash! We'll show you not to mess with us!" All three charged at me with heads of steam.
Fortunately for me their heads were down so a simple side step was all I needed to avoid the dangerous heads. Right as one passed by me I wrapped my arm around his neck and threw him somewhat over my back and onto the ground beside me.
He thought his luck had turned around when I let him go but it was short lived once his friend kicked him right in the face.
"Oww, my nose! What the hay dude!" The colt turned with surprise at hearing his buddies cry instead of my own.
The leader wasn't phased like the others and attempted to sneak up from behind me. It was a nice try but his feet weren't exactly light as feathers.
I gave off the impression that my ego was getting the better of me and waited for him to make a move. As I predicted he pounced at me from behind where I turned and grabbed him by the midsection and threw him right into his buddies which created a large cloud of dust.
The dust cleared to show the colts laying on top of each other; they held their heads and legs in pain. I took one step towards them and cracked my knuckles.
"P-please, no more! We won't mess with Der- I mean Ditzy anymore, we swear!" They all shimmered in fear.
"You better not... because if you do you'll have more than just ME to worry about, now scram!" Like whipped pups, they fled the scene in a flash of flailing legs and hooves.
I looked over at Ditzy; tears were freely flowing. The thing was... she was smiling.
Before I could register anything she was hugging me around the waist and bearing her head into my stomach.
"Thank you so much Jeremy! I can never repay you for what you did! This is the nicest thing anypony has done for me..." more crying followed as I led her off of the main road and down an alley.
"It's okay now Ditzy, those punks won't be bothering you anytime soon..." Her sobbing ceased save for an occasional tear or cough.
"P-please don't leave me... I don't know what I woe do if I lost you too..."
"Silly, you think we're finished? This is just the beginning! Now come on, let me show you some of my friends!" I lifted her onto her hooves before I led her out of the neighborhood and back towards town square.
We then made a turn towards a familiar little library. Ditzy let out a nervous whimper when I tried pulling her up the stairs.
In a somewhat act of fortune, I heard a bang as the front door flew open and I was blasted in the chest by another rainbow blur.
"Hey there Jeremy, what are you doing down there?" I looked at her and shrugged.
"Haven't we already been through this?" She laughed and quickly got off so I could stand.
As expected Twilight came rushing out the door and over to me. However, she stopped halfway and looked quizzically at Ditzy.
"Hey Jeremy, who's your friend here?" She took a step closer which made Ditzy step behind me.
"Girls, this here is Ditzy Doo, she's a new friend of mine who I'm helping to make friends. I thought you two would like to meet her!" Twilight squealed with joy.
"Oh my, I'd love to be your friend Ditzy! Princess Celestia would love to hear that I'm making even MORE friends!" Ditzy yelped when she was brought into a big hug.
"Umm it's n-nice to meet you Twilight..." She glanced around nervously again.
Rainbow Dash seemed jealous for some reason.
"What's wrong Rainbow Dash? Don't you want a new friend?"
"Of course I do! But Twilight's bogging her!" Rainbow joined in on the hugging with a laugh.
I looked at Ditzy to find a small smile creep onto her face. Something about that just made my heart melt. Maybe now Ditzy can slowly but surely become the pony everypony wants to be friends with?
While the ponies were playing around I heard a shriek from behind me.
"Oh my gosh, it's Basssnake! Come on girls hurry!" I turned to find a small group of five or six mares and fillies beginning to surround the front side of me.
"Mr. Basssnake! It's such an honor to meet you!"
"Basssnake? What are they talking about Jeremy?" The group looked at Ditzy with annoyed expressions.
"Just who are you? You must be that Derpy girl we've heard so much about." Ditzy backed away with a sad frown.
"Now now girls, Ditzy here happens to be one of my good friends. She one of the coolest ponies I know!" the fillies let out gasps of awe and apologized to Ditzy.
"We're sorry for the things we said... do you think we could make it up to you sometime?"
"S-sure, that sounds like fun!" We all smiled and waved at the fillies once phone numbers were exchanged.
"Wow Jeremy, I never thought hanging out with you would make finding friends so easy! But why did they call you Basssnake?"
I rubbed my head before trying to explain.
"I guess I never told you what I do for a living did I? You see, I work in the music industry as a singer with DJ PON-3. Basssnake is my stage name so most people only know me by that." Ditzy's eyes began to sparkle wildly.
"You know the legendary DJ PON-3? Oh my gosh that's so cool! What is she like in real life?" I waited to think of how to best describe her.
"She's an awesome pony that is kind of quiet around new friends but REALLY likes to party!"
"Is that ALL you have to say about your marefriend Jeremy?" Rainbow Dash snickered behind my back.
Ditzy's expression turned solemn.
"Oh... You have a marefriend? That's nice Jeremy..."
"Sorry Ditzy, don't think you're not important to me though!" I brought her into a light hug that made her giggle.
"Alright alright, where are we gonna go now Jeremy?" She asked when I let her go.
"If you want... I could take you to meet Vinyl at her home."
She squealed with glee and jumped on my back.
"That sounds awesome! Let's go Jeremy!" We all laughed as I waved goodbye to Rainbow and Twilight and carried Ditzy all the way to Vinyl's house.
Her excitement was getting the better of her when I felt her squirming in her seat.
"I can't wait much longer Jeremy! When do I get to meet PON-3"
"Just a minute okay? Vinyl's right inside!" I sat her down and opened the door casually.
Music could be heard coming from the recording studio. I signaled Ditzy to follow me throughout the house.
I peeked inside through the door and saw Vinyl sitting at her usual spot in the sound room. I sidled along the wall until we were both at the door and out of sight from the window.
To my surprise the door opened on it's own and a grey colt with a green and black mane stood in front of me.
"Well who do we have here? Hey Vinyl, you have a visitor!"
She took off her headphones and dashed over to me. I received a big kiss and a hug once she reached me.
"Hey Jeremy! I've missed you soo much! Did you fix the problem you had?" I kissed her back before answering.
"Actually, I have someone I'd like you to meet, come on Ditzy!" Ditzy tip-toed out from behind me but stuck close to me.
"Hello... m-my name's Ditzy."
"Awww she's adorable Jeremy! It's nice to meet you Ditzy, I'm Vinyl Scratch!"
"By the way, who is this colt? Is he a musician?" the mentioned colt smirked.
"I'm Shade Clover and I'm a DJ from Manehatten. I dropped by because I've heard of your recent success on the club circuit. Basically, I want to join you guys on your journey towards fame!"
I rubbed my chin in consideration of his offer. We DID need one more part in the group.
"Well what's your talent? We need to know what you're good at before you can join."
"But of course, I can do almost anything you ca think of! Except for that fast singing you do of course."
"Weell, I'm not sure yet, but why don't we see what you got right now? Would you want to see how music is made Ditzy?"
"Oh my gosh yes! This is a dream come true!"
At that, I went down with Shade to the mic and set up for the recording. I saw Vinyl hitting many buttons before giving me the thumbs up. Shade seemed to be using a unique type of mic.
"Okay guys, this should be the last track for the album got it?"
"Yeah yeah Jeremy, let's just get this over with!" Vinyl answered impatiently.
Before I could answer back the music suddenly started up...
[Turn up the bass, turn up the treble,
(It's gotta be the crunkest
Turn up the lights, give me a mic...
(It's gotta be the crunkest
[Homie kiss your girl
Now show me some love (yeah yeah)
Now look her in the eye, say baby I love you
I couldn't hear Ditzy but she was hopping around the sound room with Vinyl just smiling. I gave Shade a smack on the back on the way up the stairs.
"So what did you think Ditzy? I hope you liked it."
"That... was... AMAZING! Please say I can come watch you guys record again sometime!"
"Of course you can Ditzy! It's nice having a friend to talk to in the studio!" Vinyl gave her a vice grip hug until Ditzy was gasping for air.
Laughter filled the room as Ditzy caught her breath. Shade was the first to turn back to the business at hand.
"So what do YOU think Jeremy? Am I in the group?"
"Hay yes you're in the group dude! I can't wait for our next recording session!" He smirked to himself again.
"I can't wait either. But for now, I must be going. I'll be sure to stop by soon so we can get to know each other." We shook hands before he made his way to the door.
"Well now that we're done with ALL recording today... How about some supper at Mario's?"
Ditzy didn't seem to know who Mario was but could see the sparkle in my eyes.
"Okay, is it fine with you Ditzy?"
"Of course, as long as I'm with my friends I'll be happy!"
At that I led both of them out the door and towards Mario's restaurant...
Chapter 5: P.V. Tea
"Why Vinyl! Austin! It's great to see you again!" Mario said cheerfully.
"Hey Mario, got any open seats for us? We're starving!" Vinyl exaggerated her hunger.
"But of course! I always save a table just in case you drop by!" Mario was about to turn to lead us but stopped when he spotted Ditzy.
"Oh ho ho, who do we have here?" Ditzy hid behind me as usual.
"Oh yeah! Mario, meet Ditzy. Ditzy, this is Mario." I side stepped so they were facing each other.
"Pleasure to meet you Miss Ditzy! Please follow my wife to your table!" She nodded lightly and followed us throughout the building.
We each ordered what we wanted and sat back to wait for the food. During our wait Vinyl and I figured this was a great time to get to know Ditzy even more.
"So Ditzy, mind telling us about yourself?" Ditzy's face turned solemn at hearing the question.
"You don't have to tell us anything you don't want to you know." I gave her a pat on the back which seemed to calm her slightly.
"It's alright, as you know I have this disorder where my eyes are unfocused and it makes my sight a little off..." We both nodded in understanding.
"Well, many of the fillies I knew from school thought my eyes made me look dumb, so they would pick on me and call me names..." her gaze fell to the table for a few seconds before popping back up.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I must be depressing you guys with my story!" She started to laugh quietly.
"Not at all Ditzy, we love learning about your past!"
"No no, I'll save that story for later. What else do you want to know?"
Seeing that she wasn't going to break anytime soon, I decided to change the subject.
"Ok then, what kinds of things do you like?"
10 Minutes Later...
Our food was soon delivered by Mrs. Gambino. The store was getting rather busy so she waved goodbye as she moved to another table.
I look at Ditzy's plate and saw nothing but muffins of every kind.
"I take it you like muffins Ditzy?" Her eyes lit up and a big smile crossed her face.
"Of course, I don't think I could live without muffins! So warm and moist..." Drool started to trickle down her mouth as she gleamed at her food.
The food was so delicious we only took about ten minutes to finish everything. Before we left I bought Ditzy another box of muffins for her to take home.
Vinyl waved goodbye and headed home so I could walk Ditzy back to her own house since it was getting late. I slowly strolled down the main street with Ditzy floating just above my shoulder.
We soon reached a point in the road where some of the street lights seemed to have blown out. Ditzy came back to the ground so she could stick closer to me.
Everything was as quiet save for the occasional wind that blew through. Ditzy would jump whenever an empty bottle or can clattered around in the alleys.
We were now at a point in the road where it was so dark I could barely see more than a few yards
The group of shadows began to swagger towards us. I could hear a lot of snickering and whispering.
"M-maybe we should go another way Jeremy..." Ditzy pulled at my shirt with her teeth.
"Don't be silly, I'm sure we'll be fine if we just mind our own business." I led her further down the street and closer towards the group.
At first I thought we were going to get by when the noise suddenly died along with the group's walking. I turned my head to see them all staring at me with my arm around Ditzy's neck.
One of them in particular approached me with an ignorant swagger to his step. Once closer I noticed he was actually a large stallion unlike the rest which consisted of a few colts and mares.
"Damn fellas, if it isn't Derpy! What do you think you're doing here at this hour?" My expression showed my annoyance towards him.
"Please, just let us pass Double Tap..."
"Watch it Derpy, we don't want to have to teach you your place again." The stallion glared at her; making her cringe.
My temper was being tested as the other ponies laughed at us.
"Better watch your mouth jackass if you want to leave this circle without any broken bones." I threatened him angrily.
"I wouldn't be so confident Mr. Basssnake. I heard about what you did to my buddy earlier but I thought you would be a little bigger!" Another round of snickering followed his remark.
"I don't need to be big to kick your flank back to where you came!" The crowd let out an "oooohh" which seemed to irritate the stallion.
"Just 'cause you can rap doesn't make you the toughest guy around. Hanging out with that retard over doesn't help much either!"
Ditzy let out a shriek when I leaped at the stallion and socked him in the jaw. Unlike the other colts from earlier the stallion only took one step back.
His face scrunched up more in anger than pain when he returned the blow two-fold. I fell backwards and almost hit the ground if Ditzy hadn't caught me.
"Don't do this Jeremy, I don't want you to get hurt over me!"
"For once Derpy has some common sense! Better listen if you know what's good for you."
I growled at him as Ditzy helped me to my feet. As soon as I had got my balance I walked back up to him so that we were somewhat eye to eye.
I took a moment to consider my next move. He simply laughed as I turned towards Ditzy and started to walk away.
"Ha! I knew you weren't such a- UGH!" I interrupted him with a kick to the side of his head.
Unlike last time the stallion stumbled backwards and crashed into part of the group. Some of the colts tried to help him up but I knocked him out cold. I looked another group in the eyes.
"Move. Now." They all dashed out of my way and towards their leader.
Ditzy quickly flew after me until we were out of sight. It wasn't long before we reached the road that led to her house. Before she could leave I grabbed her hoof.
"Are you ok Ditzy? Nobody hurt you did they?" She smiled lightly.
"I'm fine... thank you so much for standing up for me, I don't know what I would have done if you weren't there."
"Who was that anyways? It seemed he knew you from before." Her eyes shifted to the ground and her ears drooped down.
"His name's Double Shot, he runs the closest thing to a gang in Ponyville. Most of the time they just hang out at the club and do what they please."
"Why doesn't Princess Celestia try to stop them or anything?" Ditzy just shrugged.
"They don't really bother anybody so I guess Celestia doesn't see a reason to."
"Well they seem to bother YOU plenty. Maybe I can try and send Princess Celestia a letter about what they've been doing to you." Ditzy looked at me with an enormous smile and big eyes.
"I can't believe you would so far as to talk to Princess Celestia just for somepony like me!" I smirked as she nuzzled my neck lightly.
"It's no problem at all! It's getting really late and Vinyl is probably worrying so I'll see you around soon."
"I'd like that very much, see you later Jeremy!" We both waved goodbye as we went opposite ways down the road.
'I sure hope she can overcome this.' I thought to myself...
10:00 PM
The lights inside were still on when I opened Vinyl's front door. I turned them off and crept upstairs to her room.
I watched as she lied underneath her covers. Gentle snoring escaped her form which was cuddling a pillow.
Not wanting to wake her; I slipped underneath the covers and wrapped my arms around her. She readjusted herself before going right back to sleep in my arms...
The Next Morning...
I awoke to a loud crash coming from right outside the bedroom. Vinyl must had woken up before since she wasn't next to me anymore so I rushed outside to make sure she was alright.
Halfway down the hall however... I was suddenly blinded by a sea of red and yellow.
"Howdy Jeremy, I hope ya didn't forget about me!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.
"Were we suppose to do something today? You're going to have to remind me."
"We're suppose t' play together today silly! So come on, let's go!" She dragged me down the hall and into the recording studio where Vinyl was adjusting some of the microphones.
"It's about time you woke up! Applebloom was about to burst from waiting!" Vinyl teased me.
"So will you two be going now?" I scratched the back of my head.
"I suppose so, I'll be back in time for us to have some time alone though!" That brought a smile to her face.
"If that's so then you should hurry so you have as much time as possible!"
She blew me a kiss as Applebloom again dragged me out the house and down the road to Sweet Apple Acres...
I was gasping for breath once we finally reach the farm. Applebloom on the other hand was perfectly fine after the nonstop run she pulled me into.
"So what game do ya’ wanna play now Jeremy?" she started to hop around me as I thought and caught my breath.
"How about we play a little game from my world?" her eyes sparkled at the idea.
"Sure thing Jeremy, what kinda game is it?"
Before I could answer I found myself on the ground with something sitting on my back. I tried to get up but my neck was quickly brought into a death grip from behind.
“Oh my gosh! I didn’t think you were serious about knowing Basssnake!” In an act of desperation for air I grabbed what was on top of me and turned so it was on my chest instead.
As I guessed my attacker was another small filly; her purple mane strangely complimented her orange body very well.
“My name’s Scootaloo and I’m your biggest fan! Mental Giant is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard!”
“Uh thanks, I suppose you’re a friend of Applebloom’s?” She hopped off of me and nodded excitedly.
“Yep, we’ve been friends ever since kindergarten!” she dashed towards Applebloom and wrapped her up this time.
“Scootaloo, don’t forget about me!” I turned around to where another small white filly stood atop of a few crates so that she was just above my head. Something about her reminded me of somepony else though…
“Who might you be?” I asked politely, she hopped of and lifted her hoof with a smile. I gently shook it with a return grin.
“My name’s Sweetie Belle, I’m Rarity’s little sister.” I knew she looked like somepony I knew! Her large purple mane should have told me enough.
“Any who, is it alright if we play too?”
“Why sure, the more the merrier! What game were ya’ talkin’ about Jeremy?”
“Have you ever heard of four-square?...”
2 Hours Later…
“You’re cheating Scootaloo! You can’t use your wings to get the ball!” Sweetie Belle pouted in her square which connected to each of our own chalk drawn boxes.
“You’re just mad that I’m better than you!” Scootaloo remarked proudly.
“Now now girls, the rules say you have to stay in the lines. However, why don’t you try to play without your wings Scootaloo?” I stepped between the frustrated fillies in case things went too far.
“I bet ya’ just scared that you can’t win without ‘em!” Applebloom egged her on with a giggle.
“I am not! Okay Jeremy, I can win even without them!”
She seemed to be right as we soon started the game again and Applebloom was out after around 6 passes around the square. Sweetie Belle did her best to keep up but it soon turned into a duel between the two as I was left to observe from my own square.
Sweetie Belle hit the ball into a far corner that seemed to be just out of Scootaloo’s reach but she quickly leaped in front and hit it right back over the line. We were all so shocked that no one noticed the ball tap the ground a second time and roll out of the ring.
“Yes, I win! I told you I was the best!” Scootaloo was preparing for her celebration but I cleared my throat to get her attention.
“I hope you haven’t forgotten about me!” Her eyes narrowed back into her game face.
I dropped the ball on the ground and smacked it to her square which was diagonal to mine. She responded with a hit that sent the ball sailing just above the ground and hitting right on my side of the line.
I stretched my hand and was able to have the ball bounce up into the air and back to her side. We continued to exchange blows until my feet grew so tired that I tripped over them while trying to return a fast ball she sent my way. I slid on the dirt as the ball bounce off into the barn and into it’s container.
“Now I’m the true champ of four-square! Rainbow Dash will be so proud of me!” She zipped around us with energy I didn’t see in her before.
I just chuckled while the other two fillies sat with their arms crossed tightly across their bodies. Sweetie Belle sighed and grabbed the top of Scootaloo’s head, stopping her where she stood.
“Alright Scootaloo, it’s time to go home now!” The orange pegasus whined but trudged along behind her unicorn friend that waved goodbye before disappearing over a hill that led towards town.
“That was fun Jeremy! We should that game again with the rest of my family!” Applebloom hopped behind me as I headed towards her house.
“I don’t know, Big Mac might cut me in half with one serve.” We both laughed until we reached the door to find Applejack rocking in a pure white porch swing.
“I saw ya’ll havin’ fun over there.” She grinned at me to show that she had witnessed my little mishap earlier.
“We sure did Applejack! That was one of the best games ever!” Applebloom waved her arms to express her excitement but then yawned.
“Well, I think it’s about time for ya’ nap Applebloom.”
“But I’m too old for naps!” The little filly protested between yawns.
“Now now, if you just go rest I’m sure ya’ll feel much better.” She pushed Applebloom inside with me following close behind.
The filly eventually gave in and waved from her bedroom door upstairs. I waved back as she closed her door lightly.
“Thanks again for coming to play with Applebloom; it really means a lot to the both of us.” She led me throughout the house and to a small sitting area near the back of the house.
“It’s really no trouble Applejack, your sister is a lot of fun to play with!” I sat in a small chair made out of woven strips of wood. (idk wtf you call it) Applejack walked to a small cooler that sat by the back door.
“Care for some cider? We have a new brand that has extra spices in it!” She tossed me an ice cold bottle of golden liquid with a label that read Big Macintosh’s Vintage Brew. I took a test sip even though I was already confident in its taste.
“Wow Applejack, this taste’s incredible! The extra spices help warm me up after it cools me off!” I downed the rest of the bottle and tossed it into a nearby bin that was partially filled with similar bottles.
“Thanks, my brother and I have been working on it for a long time now! Ya the first one outside the family to taste it.” She finished her own drink and tossed away her bottle.
“So how have you been Jeremy? I can’t imagine what the life of a musician is like.” Applejack rested her chin on her hooves as I answered.
“I’ve probably had the best time of my life, there may have been a few bumps in the road but I’ve met even more friends in just a couple days!”
“How is your music career going along though? Twilight told me ya’ll are getting rather popular around town.”
“I suppose so, people seem to enjoy us and to me that’s what matters most. Of course the money’s rather nice.” We both laughed lightly to each other.
“Well, I’d love to hear what makes ya’ so popular around here; do ya’ know any radio stations that might have ya’ on?” I thought for a second as Applejack lightly tossed me a small radio set. I turned the tuning dial until the marker went to channel 95.7.
“If you’re just joining us then welcome to 95.7 The Vibe, your stop for the newest hits! Next up,
While Applejack’s expression started out cheerful with anticipation, it soon digressed as the song went along. Once the song had ended she rubbed her temple to show she had a headache.
“Something told me you wouldn’t like that song too much.” I laughed and tossed her another bottle to calm her nerves.
“Sorry sugarcube, I’ve never been much of a fan of that kind of music.” I laughed more.
“I didn’t think so, but I’m thinking of trying something new later that you might like better.”
“Can’t wait to hear it. Oh will ya’ look at that, it’s already about dinner time!” My eyes went wide and I stood up quickly.
“Oh no! Sorry Applejack, but I have a date with Vinyl and I don’t want to miss it!” She followed me out the door and waved cheerfully as I raced down the road…
Back at Vinyl’s House…
I ran up to the front doorstep and calmed myself before opening the door. I was immediately greet by a big hug from Vinyl that caused me to stumble backwards slightly.
“Welcome home Jeremy! I was getting worried you forgot about me!” She kissed my cheek and giggled.
“Of course I wouldn’t, how has your day been?” Her grin grew wider.
“Great, guess where we got invited to!”
“Where?” From her sparkling eyes I could tell it must be nice.
“Pinkie Pie invited us to perform at the Sugarcube Corner! She’s famous for having the best parties in all of Ponyville!”
I didn’t know who Pinkie Pie was or where the Sugarcube Corner was, but I didn’t have much choice as Vinyl led me immediately outside and down the road towards Town Square and beyond.
Before I took my first step inside a bright pink mare with a large, poofy, mane literally bounced towards us from behind a corner.
“Hey there Vin- I mean PON-3! I’m so glad you two could make it! The DJ on now has been waiting for you!” She brought us both into an almost back-breaking hug that cut off our air completely. We slid out of her grip in order to catch our breath and composure.
“Hey Pinkie, we wouldn’t have missed this party for the world! This is Jeremy he’s-“
“The first human to have ever been recorded in Equestria, your performing and business partner, not to mention your boyfriend!” The pink mare continued hopping around us with a very giddy expression.
“Nice to meet ya Jeremy! Oh I’m sorry, Basssssnake!” She giggled even more when she spoke my name.
“Uh likewise, you said the DJ wanted to see us?” Her face went serious instantly.
“Oh my gosh that’s right! Follow me to the stage!” We both followed her throughout the crowd of dancing ponies. Some noticed who we were and scrambled to give us room.
We stopped at a large circular platform that was raised above everything else.
"It's about time you got here!" The DJ pressed a button that made the top section turn to us and unsurprisingly it was Shadow Clover.
"What's up man? If we knew you were here we would have come sooner!”
He smirked and pressed a button that turned the stage so an opening with a ladder was in front of us which we climbed immediately.
"So what are we going to do Shadow? I'm pumped for something hardcore." His smirk grew as he flipped a cover for a certain button and pressed it lightly.
At first I didn't know what had happened but then the entire floor vibrated and began to slowly separate.
As the gap between Shadow and us widened a stage began to form on the ground. He waved at me and pointed to the stage as a signal for me to get down.
I did as he said and grabbed a mic before hopping down. Right after I did both of the top sections turned so that the turntables faced each other.
Vinyl gave me a form of a thumbs up once she had adjusted all of the settings to her liking so I could start the show.
"How's everypony doing to tonight?!" The already booming crowd started to jump up and down with excitement.
"Well alright then, 'cause we got something real intense going down!" I waved at Smooth to make him come up to the stage. OH and D-Loco could be seen in the back trying to make their way to the front as well.
Once Smooth was up Shadow tossed him a mic.
"Yo man why you got me up here?" His eyes told me he had already figured it out.
"Well I've been thinking it's time we had a little competition to see who's best!" The crowd cheered in approval.
"Aight man, let's see who's best!" Vinyl and Clover locked eyes for a few seconds and started mixing a beat that seemed to synchronize perfectly.
Once the beat lowered down Vinyl took control as I started my verse...
(Tupac nigga!)
I added emphasis to the last word as Shadow then took control with a slightly altered but similar beat. Smooth then stepped up to give his verse that seemed to flow just perfectly.
(Smooths section)
The beats again merged into one as the crowd seemed split on who was better when a line formed down the center. Vinyl took control again by transitioning into a completely new track...
The show went on for awhile before everyone merged again into one song. Vinyl hopped down as well while Clover took control again.
We danced close together for what felt like an eternity of pure enjoyment. Once people had begun leaving Vinyl led me to the back where a swing door opened into a large kitchen.
Instead of a kitchen full of metal racks and ovens like I expected, the kitchen seemed more like one you'd find in any normal home though slightly bigger of course.
"Hey Vinyl, that was such an amazing job you guys did! Probably the best performance ever!" Pinkie Pie popped out from behind a counter in the middle of the room and hugged us both tightly.
"Uh thanks Pinkie, but would you mind giving us some time alone?" Vinyl replied while gently pushing the hyper mare back into the main room.
Once the doors were closed again Vinyl looked at me with a sly grin.
"What are you planning Vinyl?" I asked with a certain thought in mind already.
"I think you can guess, I'm sorry if you're not ready but I cant hold on much longer!" She lunged at me and kissed me passionately on the lips.
I reacted quickly and pulled her closer and opened my mouth wider to deepen the kiss. Her tongue wrapped itself around my own as we fell to the floor in a loving embrace…
