Playing With My Heart: How I Fell in Love With DJ PON 3

Well, I can say for a fact that last night was MUCH better than the night we went on our first date. I didn’t play the piano drunk, I was aware of my surroundings, AND Vinyl and I tried again, with much more success.

“Well, at least you weren’t drunk last night, Rhythmia,” Vinyl says while I am making pancakes before we get on the train to Manehattan, to set up adequately for our concert.

“Yeah, and at least I wasn’t cold last night. You are a good big spoon, Scratchie!” I say, causing my marefriend to blush.

“Well, it’s not just the fun in bed that counts, but also the company. Anyways, are those pancakes ready? I hope you put chocolate chips in some of them!” Vinyl says, using her magic to get a plate and some utensils. Good thing I made half the batch with chocolate chips! I stacked a serving of pancakes onto a plate and handed it to Vinyl, as she began to eat. I’ll give her credit, she is better at eating properly compared to our first date, and she doesn’t scarf down her food.

“So, I have never been to Manehattan before. Is there anything cool to do there, besides for the clubs where we’re going to perform and party?” I ask. Even living here for two months or so, I have only really been to Canterlot, Cloudsdale, and Ponyville, so there is a whole planet out there for me to see.

“Yeah, there are some good restaurants there, like this really good pizza joint! Best pizza in all of Equestria. Mark my words!” Vinyl says, as I take my own portion of pancakes and sit down at the table next to her. I like mine with powdered sugar and syrup!

“Say, how certain are you that this bass boosting cannon is going to work, Scratchie? I mean, every invention always has a chance of breaking, or not doing what it's supposed to do. I don’t want these sirens to screw up our tour, so I am just asking what our contingency plan is.” I ask Vinyl, who puts down her fork and stares at me, right into my soul.

“Well, It COULD malfunction, but the odds of that happening are quite low, Rhythmia, like, less than 1%. I did a lot of tests on the first one, and I had a handsome stallion helping me with the newer version, so I have faith it will work just fine. Don’t be such a worrywart!” Vinyl says, roughing up my mane, just to annoy me a bit.

“Hey! Don’t do that! Not cool!” I say, roughing up her mane in retaliation.

“Well, I can pin you to the wall with magic, so don’t mess with me!” She says half-jokingly. I leave her alone and fly back up to my room to grab my stuff.
“You think I packed too much stuff for our trip?” I ask Vinyl, who shakes her head in disagreement.

“You packed just the right amount of stuff. I am surprised I was able to compress your nine-piece kit into that suitcase. You are lucky I can use magic, Rhythmia!” Vinyl says, planting one on my lips.

“Hehe,” I say quietly, blushing. “So where is this train station anyways? I mean, I COULD fly to Manehattan, but it’s not right to leave your marefriend by herself on the Equestrian Rails…”

“Right in the center of Ponyville.” She says, teleporting herself, along with her baggage to what I assume to be that location.

“Hmm. Vinyl managed to pack all my stuff in one bag using magic, so I guess I can schlep this down to Ponyville.” I say, grabbing my keys and strapping the bag to my body, bolting out the door, on my way to meet my marefriend at the train station. Now, I don’t think a drum kit can handle supersonic speeds, so I fly at a much slower speed than I would prefer, taking around 15 minutes to get to the train station.

“Glad to see you made it, slowpoke!” Vinyl says chuckling.

“Well, It’s not like I can Sonic Crescendo with a nine-piece drum kit in my saddlebag. It would cause it to implode!”I say defensively, to which Vinyl replies “fair point.” She uses her magic to hand me a platinum-colored ticket: “EQUESTRIA RAIL SERVICE: ADMIT ONE”
“I went ahead and bought the tickets for us. The train leaves in ten minutes. Let’s go!” Vinyl says, pulling me along with my stuff to board the train. The conductor pony looks at our tickets and stamps them, signaling we legally bought the tickets.

“Where are you two ponies heading today?” The conductor asks.

“We’re getting off at Manehattan Station. We have a concert.” Vinyl says.

“How lovely, best of luck!” The conductor says, pointing a hoof towards two empty seats.

“So we have three hours or so to kill Rhythmia. What do you want to talk about? Do you want to tell me about your universe?” Vinyl asks, genuinely intrigued at knowing more about my universe of origin.

“Well, there’s not really anything interesting back home. I am eighteen, like you, and I would have finished high school had CERN not decided to mess with string theory.” I say, quickly piquing my marefriends interest.

“What the hay is string theory? What’s a CERN?” Vinyl asks me, a bit confused by both of these terms and concepts. How do I even begin? I don’t know myself! I can try, though. For Scratchie!

“Well CERN is a place where a bunch of humans do science things that I don’t really understand, and string theory is something that these scientists were researching. For a few months before I got sent here, there were several dozen cases of humans ending up in other worlds because of these experiments.”

“Wait, you aren’t the only colt who got sent away from your home?” Vinyl asks, shocked.

“Well, I didn’t know anyone else who got sent away, but I assume that not everyone got sent to Equestria. I know of one case where someone got sent to a very scary place, much scarier than anything I have ever seen!” I say in a spooky voice, which makes my marefriend laugh.

“Don’t you miss your home, Rhythmia? I mean, I know that you told me you weren’t that happy back in your world, but don’t you have friends, family, anypony?” Vinyl asks, genuinely interested in my opinion on the matter.

“Well, how should I put it? I have a disease that makes me unlikeable. I don’t know if ponies have it, but it’s called autism, and it makes people extremely smart, but they aren’t good at communicating with others. I was bullied in school, as you know, and my father was abusive, so no, I don’t really miss Earth that much at all. The past two months have been the happiest of my life, hanging out and jamming with you and Tavi.

Vinyl felt touched by my comment and gave me a big hug. “I am glad the past two months were great for you. Everypony deserves to be happy, and I am happy you finally found somepony to make you happy. I felt the same way when I met Tavi for the first time. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t like Octavia in the same way that I like you. We never tuned instruments or anything, but she gave me a sense of purpose and belonging that I never had before. I feel honored that I am the pony that did that to you, Rhythmia.”

Vinyl gasps, realizing something important. Oh! I have one more question! Did you bring your DAW with you?” Vinyl asks, abruptly changing the subject.

“Yeah, It's in my suitcase, Scratchie!” I say, opening the top zipper and showing my portable music workstation to her. “Okay. I thought you forgot it for a second. I know how you are with forgetting things at the last second.” Vinyl says, shaking a bit. The train started to move, and she wasn’t expecting it.

“Well, it looks like we are on our way to Manehattan, Vinyl!” I say, as Vinyl moves over to my side of the train car and snuggles up next to me.

“I didn’t sleep well last night, Rhythmia. Can you wake me up when we get there?” Vinyl says, putting her head in my lap, using it as a makeshift pillow.

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” I say, with a smile. I don’t know if anything can top this. MY MAREFRIEND is sleeping on me as we are going to a concert together. I just hope these Sirens don’t make my life miserable or anything. I need serenity, and Scratchie is giving it to me.