My Lil' Vinyl

by Count Paradox

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, DJ P0N-3, Human, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 5642

Trent's life is suddenly turned upsidedown when he comes across a filly Vinyl Scratch on the highwa

Trent's life sucks. His parents don't understand him, so he moved out. His used-to-be friends all think he's strange for being a brony, except one. The only time he ever really gets to talk to people is over the internet on My Little Pony themed forums. He is lonely and sad, even when his friend is around. But all of that changes on one stormy night, when he finds something incredible hidden on the side of the road.

A My Little Dashie Spin-off, I guess you could call it.

Also, this story was edited by this guy: http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Coeus
So, if you wanna go and give him props for a great job, or even to ask him for help, there he is.

Published 2012-11-19 19:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-19 19:00:01 UTC

Chapter 1

The house stood on the edge of town, facing the wheat fields of a nearby farm. It wasn't a very large house, but it wasn't exactly small either; it consisted of one floor with three bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and dining room, a front room, and a dual garage. In the back yard stood a little shed, a simple one in construction, made of a sheet metal roof and four wooden stilts to support it, and it contained an array of old gardening tools that had been left behind. In the front, a “FOR RENT” sign was stuck in the ground next to the road. And currently, the sign was being pulled out by a young man.

Trent yanked the sign out of the ground, sticking it under his arm as he grabbed the keys to his new house out of his pocket. As he walked up to the front door, pushing his messy, blonde hair out of his eyes, he was met with a grin and was asked, “Well, how’s it feel?”

He looked up from the keys in his hand and saw his best friend, Lewis, leaning up against his house next to the door. “How does what feel, dude?” He asked, smirking.

“Aww, you know exactly what I'm talking about!” Lewis walked over to Trent and gave him a congratulatory slap on the back. “How’s it feel to finally own your first house, man?”

Trent put the key into the lock and turned to Lewis, saying, “Oh, that.” He gave another smirk. “Well, it feels… nice.”

Lewis punched him in the shoulder. “Okay, smart-flank,” he said. “No need to be like that, trying to get me all jealous and stuff.” They both laughed, and then he asked, “But, hey, where’s all your stuff, dude? Don't tell me your family kept it all!”

Trent shook his head and replied, “Nope. I hired some movers to bring it all over for me yesterday. I just hope they set some of it up for me.” He opened the door and walked inside, followed by Lewis, who shut the door, and they walked into the living room. They stopped in their tracks, because there was no room to walk anymore, because the movers had left almost everything there.

Boxes were stacked upon each other, a rug was leaned against the far wall, and a couch was buried under a mountain of boxes, bags, and other things. The only thing that the movers took to a different room was Trent’s bed, most likely because they had ran out of room in the living room, but they hadn't even set it in there nicely, just laying it all over the floor.

Putting his hand to his face, Trent shook his head. “Well, it looks like I've got a lot of work to do…”

“Well, hey,” Lewis said, laying a hand on Trent’s shoulder, “I can help you out if you want. I've got nothing to do today, so I can help you get things sorted out.” Lewis smiled, then clapped his hands together and asked, “Okay, where do we start?”

Trent raised his eyebrows and said, "Really, man? Wow, you don't know how much I appreciate it, even though you really don't have to. Well, I guess we could start with..." For the next few hours, Trent and Lewis worked on getting things put away into cupboards and cabinets, hooking up the television and sound system, putting together his office room equipment, and getting Trent's bedroom in order. Finally, around four o'clock, Trent put away the last of his clothes into his dresser and flopped back onto his bed, shouting, "We're finally done with my house!" He grinned and pumped his fist in the air.

Lewis walked in just then, telling Trent, "Not quite. We still have this last box." He carried a box with the word "ponies" scrawled on the side and dropped it on the bed.

Trent sat right up, his eyes lighting up as he grinned even wider. “Oh, man, I can't believe I almost forgot about this stuff!” He slid the box over to him and pulled open the flaps on top. He began to then empty the contents onto the bed, one by one. He laid a plastic bag full of blind bag ponies, a binder full of cards and commissions that he had ordered, buttons, and a tee-shirt with his two favorite ponies on it, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia.

Lewis looked over the procured items, impressed at the variety of things in the box. “Wow, man, you sure have a lot of stuff! I mean, not as much as me, but...” He wore a smug look on his face, which Trent ignored. “But anyways, why are you so excited about getting your pony stuff out?”

Trent replied, “Well, for one thing, it's ponies,” and this elicited a nod from Lewis, “and for another, you know that my father never really accepted my bronydom, and I had to hide away most of my pony stuff from him. I was lucky enough to talk him into letting me order my Octavinyl shirt!”

Lewis shook his head, sighing, saying, “Jeez, you'd think that at least your family would be a little more accepting than others...” He looked at the things on the bed again, and then noticed, “Lemme guess, your dad, also never let you buy your Vinyl and Octavia plushies that you wanted, am I right?”

Trent laid back onto the bed, sighing. “Yeah, he thought that they were too “girly.” I tried arguing, begging, everything that I could think of to get him to let me buy at least even Vinyl! But he never listened to me!” He sat up, grabbed a pillow, and threw it across the room, knocking over his lamp, which landed on the floor.

Lewis walked over, picked up the lamp, set it back up, and suggested, “Well, you don't live with him now, do you?”

“No, why?”

“Well, you should so totally get one now!”

Trent sat up, saying, “Well, I would, but all of the money that I have right now is going to go to rent, if you don't remember, and a three-room house ain't cheap rent.”

“Oh, right.”

“And,” said Trent, standing up and walking to the door of the room, “Speaking of money, I have to go to the place where I make said money. And YOU, good sir, have to leave.”

“Alright, alright, I'm going.” He got his keys out of his pocket and opened the front door. “I guess I'll see you tomorrow, dude. And don't worry about the plush, you'll eventually be able to buy one!” He waved to Trent, who waves back, and leaves.

Half an hour later, Trent walks out of the front door, dressed for work, and looks at the sky, thinking “Man, it's a nice day today. I think I'll ride my motorcycle to work.” He walked over to his garage and opened it up, walking past his car and getting on his bike. He started it up and backed it out, closing the garage after him. He pulled out onto the street and took off towards his job.

A few minutes later, he arrived at Wal-Mart, parking his bike as far away from the building as possible, getting off and jogging to the front door. As he passed one car, a voice called out, “Oh, hey there, Trent!”

Trent stopped and looked around, finally noticing the girl standing next to the car he had just passed. The girl walked to Trent, smiling, her brown hair bobbing. Trent smiled and blushed a little bit, saying “Oh, h-hey Allison.” He started walking again, and Allison fell in-step beside him.

“So, how are you today?” she walked along, carrying her jacket draped over her arm, smiling at Trent.

“Oh, I'm fine, h-how about you?” Trent stuttered as he spoke. Being this close to Allison was hard for him, because he had a crush on her. But, she never seemed to notice even the most obvious signs, so that took a little bit of the pressure off.

“I'm fine, thanks for asking!” They entered the front door and went towards the area with the time clocks. “I just can't wait until the work day is over!”

Trent laughed, “But we haven't even started work yet!”

“I know, but honestly, does anyone really like working here?” She laughed and put a hand on Trent's shoulder, which made him flinch. “But, hey, at least we only have a few hours to work today, right?”

Trent nodded, quickly replying “Y-yeah, only three hours!” He looked at the time clock and saw someone standing there already. “Oh God, no...” He said as he slowed his walk.

“Just ignore him Trent...”

“I know, but...”

“Don't pay attention to what he says.”

“Well, Allison, it's kinda hard when he-”

“Hey, look who it is!” The guy standing at the time clock turned and noticed Trent and Allison approaching. “It's the pretty and the pussy!”

“Hello, Kendal...” Trent replied through clenched teeth.

“So,” Kendal said, grinning, “Been watching more of your pretty pussy ponies?”

Trent walked over to the time clock, not looking at Kendal as he replied, “Yes, I have been watching my show, and like I've told you before...” He finished clocking in and turned to Kendal, “If you've got a problem with it, you can kiss my ass.” Trent stared at him, seething.

Kendal pretended like he didn't see this, turning and walking away, while saying, “I'm sorry, but I'll have to say no. I'm not like you.”

“What the hell do you mean by that!?”

Kendal turned back and flashed an evil grin, “I'm not gay.” He gave a loud laugh and walked away.

Trent stood there, trembling, his face red with anger. He didn't notice Allison saying, “Trent, calm down. He just wanted to get a rise out of you.” He only realized that she was talking when she put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Trent, please calm down.”

He took some deep breaths and calmed down, trembling less but still bright red in the face. He leaned up against the wall, putting his face in his hands. “I'm sorry you had to see that, Allison...” He sighed, “It's just, when he starts messing with me about that stuff, I just.. I just...”

“I understand. He's like that with everyone, though.” She shook her head. “I don't know why he does stuff like that, it's really immature of him. But, like I tell people, they just need to ignore him.”

“I know, but...”

“Trent.” She stared into his eyes sternly, which made him feel a little uncomfortable. “You've GOT to ignore him. He's only going to keep doing it if you give him the satisfaction of a reaction. Ignore him, and he'll get bored and quit.”

Trent sighed, “...Alright, I can give it a try.”

“Good.” Allison smiled and looked at her phone for the time. “Oh, jeez, we're gonna be late if we don't head out to the check-outs. Well, I'll talk to you a bit later, bye!” She winked and walked off.

Trent stood there for a minute, watching as she walked away, and finally started walking out to his lane, thinking about his previous conversations as he flipped his lane number on and started scanning. God, I hate that Kendal. But Allison is right, I just have to ignore him...

“Hey.”

It's hard to do that, though... He just gets under my skin so easily...

“Hey.”

But, you know what? I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna try and ignore him as best I can. And who knows, maybe if I do that and show I can be mature and tough, then Allison might...

“Hey, Trent!”

Trent finally snapped out of his train of thought, looking around to find who called to him. A finger tapped his shoulder, and he turned around, seeing a co-worker staring at him. The guy was rather new, and Trent had just found out that he was a brony, too. “Oh. Hey Mike, what's up?”

“Dude, it's clocking out time.” Mike pointed to the clock, which read 10:03 pm. “Are you okay, man? You were zoning out for your entire shift...”

Trent stared at the clock, and couldn't believe that he had daydreamed that entire time.

“Lemme guess, you were thinking about that one girl, what's her name...Allison! You were thinking about her again, weren't you?”

Trent blushed and stuttered. “I-I was not! I was...was thinking about ponies!”

“Uh-huh, yeah right.” Mike rolled his eyes as they walked towards the time clocks. “But, anyways, speaking of ponies, are you gonna be on the RP tonight?”

“Huh?”

“The Role Play, dude. Y'know, the one we're part of on the forums? MLP Forums, remember?” He asked as he clocked out.

“Oh, yeah...” Trent nodded as he began to clock out, “I'll try and get on there sometime tonight.”

“Alright, cool. Well, I'll talk to ya later, bye!”

“Yeah, see ya.” Trent waved as Mike walked away, and then turned and finished clocking out. As he started to head out and turned a corner, he nearly ran into Allison. “Oh, s-sorry, Allison.”

She bent over and picked up her phone, which she dropped when Trent startled her. “It's alright, Trent. It's my fault, too, texting while walking.” She smiled at him. “Hey, walk and talk with me, okay? It seemed like you were kinda distracted while you worked today. You alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. I was just thinking about my ponies.” He lied.
Allison didn't notice the lie and said, “Well, you must have been thinking about them pretty dang hard since Mike had to tell you it was time to leave.”

“Well, I was just, um, thinking of my favorite episodes and stuff like that...” He fidgeted with the keys in his pocket as he spoke, eager to try and get away from the embarrassing conversation.

Just then, a low rumble of thunder shook through the building. Shortly after, the light drumming of rain started on the roof.

“Aw, shit!” Trent ran to the front door as he heard the rain intensify, and stared out at it, pounding against the street. “Great! Juuust Great! NOW how am I gonna make it home!?”

Allison walked up beside him and asked, “Let me guess, did you ride your motorcycle to work today?”

“Yes,” Trent sighed, “It was really nice out when I left the house... I guess I'm gonna have to ride home in the rain.”

“Well,” Allison turned to Trent. “I could always give you a ride home if you would like. It would be no trouble to me at all.”

Trent quickly shook his head. “No, I, uh, need to get my bike home so that it won't rust. But thanks for the offer!” He walked out of the door and started jogging through the rain, leaving Allison in the dry entryway. Why the hell didn't I take her offer!? Stupid, stupid, stupid! He thought as he got to his bike and got on. Well, I guess it's better like this. It's less awkward. For me, at least. He revved his engine and drove off into the stormy night.

Heh, sorry for the MLP Forums plug that I added, I asked a friend if he wanted to be in the story, and that's the only way that I could really think to add him.

Chapter 2

Trent wiped the rain from his face as he drove along the highway, trying to get home as soon as possible. His mind kept going over the possibilities of what could have happened if he went with Allison instead of running off.

“Allison.”

“Yes, Trent?”

“I love you!”

Allison pulls over and looks at Trent, saying, “Really?”

“Yes!” Trent nods.

“Oh, Trent, I love you too!” Allison says, tears streaming from her eyes. They both lean in, their lips about to touch...

Trent shook his head, trying to push all of the thoughts of him and Allison out of his mind. He looked around, trying to find something that would occupy his thoughts. As he rounded a bend in the road, something caught his eye.

On the right side of the road, seemingly just discarded out of a car window, laid a green hoodie, bunched up and soaked with rain. Trent stared at it as he drove closer, trying to think of how it could have ended up there. He was just a few yards away, and was going to pass it soon.

And the hoodie moved.

Trent suddenly slowed down, thinking that there was some poor animal under there, cold and alone. He could never leave a defenseless animal out in the world, even though his father never let him bring them in the house. But, seeing as the didn't live there anymore, he planned on helping this one.

He turned around, slowly idling up near the hoodie so that he wouldn't scare off the animal that was underneath. Shutting off his bike, he got off and kneeled down next to it, putting his hand gently upon it.

Suddenly, a thought passed through his mind. What if this thing is mortally wounded and I can't help it? I don't think I could put it out of its misery myself... Or what if it attacks me when I take the hoodie off? He shook his head again, erasing his doubts. No, I've already stopped here... I need to do what I can...

Trent clenched his eyes closed, grabbed the hoodie and whipped it away. He braced himself to be attacked, raising his hands to his face. After a few seconds, he remained unharmed, so he slowly lowered his arms and opened his eyes.

He couldn't believe what he saw.

Laying curled up on the ground was a sleeping white pony, one which had an electric blue mane and tail.

“No...no way...” Said Trent while rubbing his eyes to clear his vision, thinking that he was hallucinating. When he opened them again, the pony was still there. “It must just be a toy, that's all it can be...”

Trent's mind then snapped back to seeing the hoodie move. And, as he stared at the “toy” Vinyl Scratch, he noticed her shivering and saw little clouds of steam coming from her mouth and nose, her warm breath mixing with the cool air.

“This is impossible...” He shook all over, not from the rain, but from the shock. “H-how can she even...exist!?”

And at the sound of Trent's shout, Vinyl slowly opened her eyes and yawned. She looked around, shivering as if looking for her “blanket.” She looked up and stared at Trent, her red eyes shimmering.

Trent's mind had stalled at the moment, so he just said the very first thing that came to him.

“H-hello.”

Vinyl just stared at him, her eyes tired and sad, her entire body shivering from the mixture of cold air and rain. Trent looked at her body as she shivered and noticed something.

“You...you don't even have your cutie mark!” Trent said as he looked at her flank, which was entirely barren of any type of marking. He also noticed that she looked young, much younger than any of her appearances on the show. “And you're just a little filly! How is this... How is it even possible!? A-and why are you even here in my world in the first place!?”

Vinyl shrunk back as Trent spoke loudly, scaring her and making her tear up.

As he looked down at her, he noticed this and lowered his voice, speaking calmly, trying to calm down the blue-maned unicorn that was now shaking in fear in front of him. “Oh, no no no! I'm sorry, little one, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just thinking out loud...” He slowly raised his hand and moved it a little towards her, which made her shrink back even more. Trent pulled his hand back and sighed.

He and Vinyl sat there in the rain, Trent hanging his head and Vinyl still sitting there, afraid of what Trent might do. After a few moments of just sitting there, Vinyl seemed to realize that Trent wasn't going to harm her. She slowly stood, and took a step towards him. Trent noticed what she was doing, but didn't move for fear of scaring her off.

She took a few more steps toward him, just a few inches away from his other hand, which rested on his knee. Another step, and her nose nudged against it. He slowly raised his hand just a little bit, enough to let her get her nose in his palm and nuzzle his hand.

Trent smiled warmly and gently began to pet her, stroking her head and mane. She closed her eyes and raised her head upwards so that she could enjoy being petted more. She smiled and pushed her head into his hand. He stopped petting her and stared down at her, smiling. Vinyl, whose hooves were resting on Trent's knee so she could stretch up even more, opened her eyes and looked back up at him, smiling widely.

As he pet her head, he said, “See, now? I never wanted to hurt you...” He scratched her under her chin, to which she let out a contented sigh. “But, you know, I don't think I can leave you out here alone. I wouldn't be a very good brony if I did that, would I?” He joked and smiled to himself. He slowly moved his hands to Vinyl's body and gently picked her up. Vinyl didn't seem to mind it, and in fact, when Trent put her close to his body, she snuggled in, her hooves and horn poking him in the chest. He winced a little bit, but smiled as she stopped and fell asleep in his arms.

He stood up, trying not to wake up the now-sleeping filly and walked to his bike. He wiped off the rain from the seat, which didn't really help. He got on, and, with a gentle rev of his engine, looked down at Vinyl and said, “Let's get you home...” before starting back to his house.

Chapter 3

As he pulled up into the driveway, Trent quietly opened the garage door and pulled his bike in, glad to be out of the rain. He pulled down the garage door and entered the house. He passed through the kitchen, setting his keys on the counter, and went to the living room. He sat Vinyl on the center cushion of the couch, making sure he didn't wake her, and went to find a blanket. He grabbed the comforter from his bed and went back to the living room, draping it over her. She snuggled into it and sighed happily.

He walked into his room and sat on his bed, thinking about what had happened that evening. I... I just can't believe this... I always dreamed of having a Vinyl Scratch... But I never thought I'd get to have a living one! He felt like jumping for joy, like shouting at the top of his lungs, but he didn't want to wake the sleeping filly in the next room. Instead, he just sat with a silly grin on his face, staring into space as he thought of all of the fun he could have with Vinyl. But, as he went through how fun it would be to live with his favorite pony, he started to wonder how he was going to raise her. Hell, I've never had a pet of my own, how am I going to raise a cartoon pony that I know nothing about!? He got up and started pacing back and forth, thinking to himself, I'm gonna need help. But who in the world can I call to help me? He suddenly stopped and slapped hist fist down into his palm, saying, "Lewis. He's watched the show longer than I have. He's got more pony stuff than me. He must know a lot more about the show than me... I gotta give him a call, see if he can help me."

He slowly crept into the kitchen, passing the couch as quietly as he could, trying to not wake the sleeping pony. He picked up the receiver and dialed Lewis's cell number, hoping that he would answer. A few rings, and he was about to hang up when he heard a groggy voice say, “Hello?”

Trent put the receiver back to his ear, saying, “Hello? Hey, Lewis, you there?”

He heard a groan, and then, “Trent? It's, like... 10 past midnight. Why are you calling this late, man?”

“W-well, I kinda need you to come over here, I got a little bit of an... emergency.”

“WHAT!?” Trent heard the phone hit the floor as Lewis got up and started getting dressed. He heard him pick up the phone again and say, “Don't worry, man, I'll be right over!” The phone line went off, and Trent assumed that he was running out to his car and would be there in less than half an hour. He hung up the receiver and walked out to the living room where Vinyl was. He sat down in a nearby easy chair and started to think of how he should reveal Vinyl to Lewis.

Shit... how am I going to show him and make him believe me? There's no way he will... And I don't want him to go crazy with excitement when he sees her... He got up and started to pace.

As he paced, Lewis pulled up into the driveway. He stopped his pacing and stared out the window. Well, this is it... I hope this was really a good idea...

A few seconds later, Lewis opened Trent's front door, running inside and asking, "OK dude, I'm here. Where's the emergency, what's wrong?”

Trent, who was standing with his arms crossed, said, “Just... just go look on the couch.” And motioned his head in that direction.

He ran around to the front of the couch and stopped, looking down at the sleeping filly. He put his hand to his face and asked, “Really, Trent? This was your emergency?”

“Of course this was my emergency, man!” Said Trent, trying to keep his voice low. “It's incredible, isn't it?!”

“I guess, but...” Lewis sat in the easy chair facing the couch. “I don't think that I needed to be woken up in the middle of the night for it. You could have just shown off your plush Vinyl tomorrow.”

Trent realized what was wrong. “Wait, you think this is a toy?”

“Yeah, well, isn't it?”

“Hell no, man!” He came around the couch and stood right in front of Lewis, pointing at Vinyl. “That is a real, honest-to-Celestia, living and breathing filly Vinyl Scratch!”

Lewis rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right, and I'm married to Pinkie Pie.”

“I'm telling the truth! Seriously, go take a closer look at her and tell me that I'm lying!”

Lewis sighed, and got up to go look. He walked over to the couch and knelt down, looking closely at what he thought was a toy. As he stared at her, he noticed that the blanket was rising and falling. “Nice, pal.” He said, turning to Trent. “But just because you have some little mechanism under the blanket her to make it look like she's breathing doesn't mean that you can fool me into believing that she's real.” He then turned back to the couch and grabbed the blanket, pulling it quickly away from Vinyl. He saw there was no little piston or anything like that under the blanket, and saw Vinyl's chest still rose and fell. But he still didn't believe Trent. “Wow! Where did you order this from?! That guy who made it for you must really be talented if he can build you a toy like this!”

“God damn it!” Trent groaned. “I'm trying to tell you, she isn't a toy! She's real! Why can you not comprehend that?!”

As he laughed, Lewis said, “Dude, you will never get me to believe that this is a real pony. There is no way in Hell that a living Vinyl Scratch could possibly exist in our world. This can only be a mechanical toy that you got to trick people. Heck, I bet it's not even that soft to the touch with all of that metal. I mean, how do you even hug something this uncomfortable?” And when he poked Vinyl in the stomach, he realized two things. The first was how soft that she was. The second was the fact that, when he poked her, she giggled and stretched out her legs and neck. She then sat up and yawned, and looked around at her surroundings. This made Lewis shout and fall backwards, which made Vinyl a little scared and she dove back under the blanket.

Trent ran over to the couch and picked Vinyl up, trying to calm the little filly down. Her tiny little heart raced as she buried her face in Trent's chest. “It's okay, Vinyl, it's alright, he's not gonna hurt you...” He said as he petted her head. He then looked at Lewis, who was still sitting on the ground, staring at Vinyl, and said, “I told you she was real.”

Lewis just sat there, shaking and stuttering, “W-wha...h-how...”

Trent assumed that he wanted to know how he got Vinyl. “Well, as I was driving down the road, I saw something move under this little hoodie, so I stopped to see if I could help whatever was under it and that's how I found her. But seriously, I don't know how she showed up in our world.” He saw that Lewis was still speechless, so he reached down to help him up off the ground. “Dude,” he said, “Calm down, start thinking straight, you're scaring Vinyl!”

Lewis grabbed his extended hand, slowly getting to his feet. “D-dude… this is… this is incredible… I-I can’t even…”

Trent just smiled and chuckled, saying, “I know... I never imagined that this could happen...” Just then, they both heard a little rumble, and looked down at the little filly. She looked up at Trent, who said, “Well, it sounds like someone is a little hungry.” He started walking to the kitchen.

Following right behind him, Lewis started going off. “Dude, this is so awesome! I-I mean, finding a real-life Vinyl Scratch is amazing! We've... We've got to tell all our friends! They'll be so jealous, and...”

“No!” Trent shouted as he set Vinyl on the counter.” No one else needs to know about this! You're the only other person, other than me, that can know about her. You're my best pal, Lewis, I trust you with this. I would have never called you if I didn't. Besides...” He sighed and petted Vinyl again. “I realized something while I waited for you to get here. I've never had to take care of any other living thing before, besides my younger siblings. How am I ever going to take care of something like a unicorn pony when I've never done anything like that? That's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about... I'm going to need some help taking care of Vinyl, so... Would you mind moving in with me as my roommate?”

Stunned, Lewis stood there for a minute, then said, “Well... I feel honored that you want me to move in with you to take care of something so important, but... What about my family? What about my parents and brothers that I live with? I mean, I can't bring something this big up so suddenly, my dad will never allow it.”

“Well,” Trent said as he opened the fridge and started to rummage inside for food for Vinyl. “Don't they always treat you like crap anyways? I mean, the only one that really was ever nice to you was your mother, but now, it looks like your dad's personality is rubbing off on her. Really, it seems like it would be a lot better for you to move in here with me and Vinyl.” He pulled an apple out and got a knife out of the dish drainer.

Shaking his head, Lewis said, “My dad will be really pissed if I bring this up, man. He'll think that I'm abandoning the family or something.”

Trent stood next to the counter Vinyl sat on, cutting the apple and saying, “Screw your dad, Lewis. He's an ass anyway. He hates that you've never played a sport, and instead like ponies. And why would he feel like you're abandoning the family when he's the one who's supposed to be supporting them? He has no right to guilt-trip you to make you stay there.” He handed him a slice of apple. “Besides, I need your help with Vinyl, which is really important.”

Lewis looks at the apple slice, and said, “I understand that. But dude, why did you hand me this?” He held up the slice. Trent motioned down to Vinyl and Lewis looked and saw the little unicorn staring at it. He held it out to her, and she took it and ate it, allowing Lewis to pet her. He stood there for a while, then said, “You know what? You're totally right. I can't let my dad control me anymore. And it probably WILL take two people to take care of something like Vinyl.” He turned to Trent, holding his hand out. “I'll go ahead and move in with you. My family may not like it, but they'll have to deal with my decision.”

Trent took his hand, shaking it firmly. “I really appreciate it, man. I bet Vinyl will, too.”

Lewis grinned. “No problem.”