Table Top Opens Up

Four hours into my broadcast, it was time. I opened my door, allowing the DJ to enter and take a seat across from me. Her electric blue hair had its signature spike to it, and her ever present sunglasses slid down her nose as she took her seat. “And now, children, I’d like to introduce to you a very honored guest. Some of you may know her by her name, Vinyl Scratch, but most of Equestria knows her better by her stage name, DJ P0n-3. You know her by her wubs, but I know her in a different way. Isn’t that right, Vinyl?”

“Well, of course you do. We went to magic academy together.” She replied curtly.

“I mean other than that, of course. Would you like to tell our audience, or will I be given that pleasure?”

She laughed a little, then gushed, “I’ll tell them. You’re my DM, you run those AWESOME games. I’m proud to say on your show, that I’m a nerd as much as you. I play video games in my spare time, and once a week we gather our group together and go on epic quests! Though, I have to admit, I’ve tried playing with other DM’s, but it just gets boring. You pick the right music, you have that control of your voice, and what you can do with your telepathy makes me feel as if I were really there!”

I chuckled, “Well, cat’s out of the bag, no going back. You just admitted on air that you have a nerd side to you. Aren’t you afraid you’ll be picked on for it?”

“Not at all. In fact, I’m proud to say it. Well, I’ll admit, it was da… Daun…. Scary to say so before, but you’ve changed the scene. Now there’s plenty of nerds out there, and we don’t have to worry about bullies now that we’re all grown up.”

My mind briefly flashed back to the first time I protected Ditzy, and also how some ponies treat her now. Not quite as you think… “Well, of course. It’d be ridiculous if somepony just started bullying somepony of our age, especially with us being bigger, and especially us having more magic than back in schoolyard days. How has the night life been treating you?”

“Better now that most ponies are listening to my wubs. It sucked starting out, new kind of music, no actual re… Rev…. No places and no ponies knew what it was, so they just automatically didn’t like it. I have to give props to my first hang out that accepted me, or else I wouldn’t have met my producer!”

I laughed softly. “You know, Vinyl, you claim to be a nerd, yet you still have trouble with big words. Sorry for the teasing, it’s just a bit uncharacteristic.”

She blushed a little, then replied, “Yeah, I don’t know why, really. I know the words, and I know their meaning, it’s just that I go to say them, and the word just blanks outta my head. Especially with something that’s more stressful than what I’m used to. On gaming days and when I’m on stage, or even when I’m back home with Octy, I have no problems. But put me in an interview, even if we are friends, and I’ll start up with the blank headedness. You should know what I mean. I mean, when you’re here, on the radio, you’re all calm, collected, and kinda fun, but outside, you’re usually real bitter.” Here, she clamped her hooves over her mouth.

I chuckled a little darkly. “Well, that IS true. But I can’t be bitter towards my audience. They enjoy my show, and I give back to them. But sometimes a pony just gets handed a bad hand in one aspect of life. I get to do two things I love, create and play adventures with friends, and I get to share my love of music with a good part of Equestria. Not bad, most ponies would say. But in other aspects, I haven’t been so lucky.”

“This is about… HER… isn’t it?” She asked a little timidly.

I waved my hoof around, blowing the question off. “Don’t worry about that, Vinyl. Nopony wants to hear my sob story. And besides, we still have questions for YOU from our audience. Some ponies wrote in weeks in advance, and we’re also getting e-mails through the net. If you’d be so kind, we can start our Q and A for our dear audience.” I had to remain calm, and letting my emotions go wouldn’t help at all.

“Our first question,” I said, opening a scroll, “comes from one Rainbow Dash, of Cloudsdale, and she writes, ‘Dear Vinyl, how are you able to continuously party every night, then have time for friends, relationships, and also making so much awesome music? It’s a bit of a strain for me to juggle practicing with hanging out with all my friends, and I want to join the Wonderbolts, where I’d be famous. Just, how do you do it?’ Well, Vinyl, that definitely starts us off on an inquisitive note. Just how ARE you able to handle it all in your hooves?”

She hummed for a moment, tapping her hoof against her muzzle. “Well, to be honest, I don’t really know. It’s like, my body knows when I need rest. And I don’t party EVERY night. That’d be impossible. Nopony has that kinda stamina. I take strategic days off, and also have plans that I stick to. When I go out with Octy for a date, I make sure that there isn’t anything planned for today. And like I said earlier, I have one day a week set aside specifically for gaming where I blow off steam. As for creating music, though, that’s different. Sometimes, I’ll disappear off the club grid from a week to a few months, where I’m just creating. It puts on a strain, but I make enough new music to keep the bits coming in and nopony complains about my disappearance. I’d suggest you have your practice and play times planned out, but when you have that one stunt you REALLY want to pull off and perfect, just take the time to dedicate to it and party with your friends when it’s done! That way they don’t feel left out and you can keep getting better.”

“Well, well, that sounded really thought out and completely pulled outta your flank at the same time, Vinyl.”

“It kinda was,” she stated and ran her hoof through her mane, smiling shyly. “I’m not usually that insightful. I guess the right motivation came up so I had to perform up to the task.”

“Well, Rainbow Dash, I hope you were listening to that wonderful advise, but now, onto our next question!” I clicked on the inbox and scanned for a moment when I found one that didn’t have any offensive question. “Our next question is from the user name ‘Crossed_Heart1313’ and it asks: ‘Hi, Vinyl, you probably wouldn’t know me, but I know of your and Octavia’s relationship, and was wondering: How do you admit to somepony that you like them? I’ve had a crush for a long time, but I don’t know how to express that to them. When I’m around him I just get clumsy and don’t know what to say. Any help would be appreciated.”

Vinyl blushed profusely, and stammered a bit before clearing her throat. “Well, I knew I liked Octy when we started hanging out at our music school. We were both opposites, me with my modern, “machine music” as she’d call it, and her with her classical. I’d always be partying, not really doing my work, and she’d study her flank off, even though we both got good grades. But I had the hugest crush on her for years. We were roomies in our dorm, but we didn’t really socialize much. But once we graduated, we grew apart, though we still texted each other forever. But one day I was in Ponyville and spotted her, and I just knew I had to take my chance, so I went up to her and asked her if she’d have lunch then dinner with me. She agreed, and we started getting together more often. One day, I just knew I HAD to ask her, and she said YES! We’ve been together for a while now, and I’m so glad I talked to her that day. But anyway, enough of me gushing, I think we have more questions that are a bit more pressing, right Tops?” She looked over at me and knocked lightly on the table. “Tops? You alright bro?”

I cleared my throat quickly, “Ah, yeah Vinyl, just got a little carried away in your story. It was really sweet.” I swear I could hear my voice deadpanning. So, I took a swig of water and continued, trying to sound like I normally do. “Well, our next question comes from…”

While the questions were asked then answered, my mind drifted back to the gray furred mare of my dreams. I should probably take Vinyl’s advice on Friday, but I just didn’t know how. I didn’t pay attention to the rest of the questions or answers, lost in my own thoughts while making the right comment at the right place, asking once the answer was given, and just not really paying more attention than was barely needed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, after the questions were done, some demos from her new tracks played, and a bit more goofing off on air, I bid Vinyl farewell. Once she was out the door, I quickly lit a new cig, taking a deep inhalation of the calming smoke before continuing my show.

“Well, children, that was a very nice interview. I was actually lucky for that, did you know? They had scheduled her for an earlier hour, but once she saw me on the schedule, she demanded I be the one to give the interview. Of course, the station managers fought it, but once I was told by Vinyl and started telling you all about her coming on, they couldn’t back down. But now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to put on some soothing jazz to make up to our elder audience for the amount of Dubtrot that you had to listen to, and to just mellow ourselves out. This hour is usually when you ponies will be sitting at home, playing your games or watching your television, just generally relaxing, so let old Table Top add to that.”

On that note, I turned on a gentle jazz song that would go on for a while, giving me time to breathe and think. Of course, my mind would return to her…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was late, later than our parents would normally allow, but with us being each other’s friends, they wouldn’t complain. It’s not like we had very many other friends. The stars were starting to come out, as well as the moon. Ditzy and I lay by each other in the park, watching it come up.

“It’s so pretty,” Ditzy commented.

“It is, isn’t it.” Real blunt, Table… “But just imagine if there were more worlds out there. That by each star there was a new place to be found and explored with new creatures and experiences to be had… I’d like to at least see them.”

She looked at me. Her eyes had started to cross. It was a disease, they said, one that couldn’t be reversed since she had a severe case. Something about genetics having the right conditions to do something wrong to her eyes. Others just started picking on her more, but to me, it just made her even more adorable. Especially when they’d drift when she was in thought, like now.

She smiled suddenly, “I’d like that too! If you go someday, promise you’ll take me?”

I started blushing, then looked down and nodded. “Of course I would.”

She clapped her hooves together then hugged me, giggling. She scooted closer all of a sudden, and lay her head on my forehooves, yawning big. “You know that song your mom sings, Table?” I nodded. “Will you sing it for me? I like it, and I’m a little tired…”

“Of course I will.” I started singing low so only she could hear.

Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars

Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars

In other words, Hold my hand

In other words, Darling, kiss me

She started drifting off, yawning again and closing her eyes. She’d soon be asleep.

Fill my heart with joy, and let me play forever more

You are all I long for, all I worship and adore

She started breathing slower, a clear sign she was nearly asleep.

In other words, please be true

In other words, I love you

She was asleep by the last part. I knew she would be. But still, I nuzzled above her ear and whispered, “I love you.” I then activated my magic, picking her up gently and laying her on my back. Pegasi were light so I didn’t mind it much. I didn’t mind it at all because it was her there. I slowly walked to her home, making sure not to jostle her in her sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two and a half hours passed by, uneventful. It was time to sign off and make way for the next host in his booth. “Alright children, now here’s a tip: when playing a game with others, always be sensitive to the other players’ needs. If you have smokers, and you’re playing inside and you can’t stand the smell of that acrid tobacco, designate that after every so often, take a smoke break. They can get a little antsy after a while with no nicotine. And to those smokers, be polite, would you? Don’t throw the filters on the ground, and ask the host if they’re alright with you smoking inside before you light up. Well children, it’s that time again. Yes, it’s been eight hours, and it’s time for me to make way with our night guru, Night Beats. And you know what tomorrow is: my middle of the week day off. Don’t be sad children, you know I’ll be back Thursday to cheer you up again. Signing off for the night, this is Table Top, and you’ve been a wonderful audience. Take care, y’hear?”

With that, I turned off my mic and took off my headgear. I rubbed my eyes, then shut off my computer, all my equipment, and packed up the few essentials I’d need for the next day, namely my sheets, books, and flash drive for my DnD campaign. Making sure nothing was running, I left and made my way outside. The receptionist said farewell to me. Nice mare, too bad I didn't remember her name. Scarlet something..? Oh well. We never conversed, and she made herself sparse around the office, just doing what needed to be done, not socializing with anypony. For now, though, I was on a quest.

A quest to get some booze and food.