Unto A New World

Chapter Twelve: Together is better

"Luna!" I screamed in joy as I tried to get up from the wheelchair. Her magic still held me down.
"Jackson, we need to talk" She said in a stern voice. She didn't seem happy.
I looked towards Vinyl and Redheart, who shrugged and began talking. I saw Redheart pick up the bass guitar from it's stand as Luna wheeled me out of the room.
I looked up towards Luna, who was looking straight ahead. I began to worry.

We continued down the hallway, passing the assorted portraits, many containing Vinyl.
Luna pushed me into the guest room.

"Are you drunk?" Asked Luna in a depressed tone, with a slight hint of joy.
I looked at Luna through my drunken gaze "Maybe" I slurred "A little bit".
The corner's of her mouth curled slightly. "Well this need to wait until you're sober" She replied.
"But.." I started before Luna stopped me.
"No buts!" She said quickly "This is extremely important, get some rest" She levitated me out of my wheelchair and placed me on the bed, before tucking me in. She lay a small kiss on my forehead.
"I love you" She said as she turned to leave the room.
"Luna?" I asked.
"Yes Jackson?" she replied.
"I missed you" I said sheepishly.
Luna left without saying anything back to me. I couldn' sleep, the only thing I could think about was Luna being here.

The next morning, I awoke to find Redheart's head resting on the bed that I was so graciously placed into. Her head lay resting in her forearms, and she snored softly. 'Why?' I begged to god 'Why do you put me with all these cute ponies?'
I felt movement from Redheart's location, and saw that she was slowly starting to wake up.
"Goodmorning sleepyhead" I said in a playful voice.
"Argh!" Red moaned in pain, her hooves clutched her head "Why does my head hurt?"
"I think I know how to fix that" I smiled and Red's ears shot up but drooped back down again in pain.
"Once i'm all fixed up, we need to talk" Redheart said as she helped me out of the bed and into the wheelchair. She reared up and placed her forelegs on the handles and pushed me towards the door, before Vinyl came running in.
"Jackson!" She shouted as she jumped to the side, just in time to dodge the cripple and the hungover nurse.
Without taking a break, Vinyl continued "Jackson we need to talk, soon" She said. Her voice sounded nervous.
"Sure thing Vinyl" I replied "But can we get some breakfast first? My stomach is killing me"
Both of the ponies looked at me, horror on their faces. All I could do is laugh.
"It's a figure of speech" I said inbetween giggles "It's not really killing me, it's just rumbling and it's so empty that it hurts".
Red and Vinyl both gave a sigh of relief. They honestly thought I was going to die.

We made our way to the dining room, which Luna was already sitting, and the food she had prepared was placed infront of each seat on the table.
"This looks great Princess" Redheart said nervously as she bowed.
Luna smiled "There is no need for that, and call me Luna. Anyfriend of Vinyl's is a friend of mine".
'What about me?' I thought, becoming jealous and confused as to why Luna was acting this way.
"Well Jackson brought us together" Vinyl said as she dug her muzzle into the food placed before her. It was simple hay and carrots but nopony complained. I noticed there was no food for me.
"I guess i'll just go down the street for lunch.." I said, feeling saddened. I concentrated on the wheels of the wheelchair, and they started to turn and moved me towards the door.
"I'll come with you!" Redheart said as she rushed up to the chair, wheeling it out the door. I gave one last look behind me, to find Vinyl's face buried in her food, hay in her mane and Luna, looking out the window. I had to get to the bottom of this.

Redheart and I were walking through the streets of Ponyville, and before long Red cluched her head again.
"It hurts Jackson!" She said, nearly in tears "Make it stop!" She had her head in my lap, her eyes were wide and pleading "You said you knew how!"
"Can you get me to Sugarcube Corner?" I asked her, which was asking a bit much considering the state she was in "They have to have the ingredients, they are a bakery afterall"
Redheart got up slowly and pushed me to the shop, which was right around the corner. I was still amazed at how she could push through such pain.

As we entered, our eyes adjusted to the light. Red's head was hurting more so and ontop of that, Pinkie appreared out of nowhere, as usual.
"Hey guys! Sorry for the lights, I was just testing some equipment for an upcoming party which is just going to be some awesomly awesome it'll make Rainbow jealous! But I need somepony's opinion on something and you two just happened to walkthrough the door!" She said as she took another breath, but Redheart placed her hoof infront of the pink pony's mouth.
"Pinkie, I need some ingredients. We'll help you with your party after but right now my friend needs help" I said painfully.
The pink pony was bouncing around us in circles "Ooh! You guys wanna bake? Why didn't you ask? We've got apples and lemons and peaches and flour and butter and.." Pinkie made a drooling sound "..SUGAR!" She licked her lips with a smack.
"Great, Lead us to the kitchen!" I said.
"Alrighty! Follow me. Try not to make too much mess, Mr and Mrs Cake are out in Manehatten for a while and they asked me to look after the shop. How cool is that? Anyway, I don't really want to clean up a mess, and this party is really super duper important" She said cautiously "I'll KNOW if there's a mess.."
"No problem Pinkie, i'm not making anything special" I replied, reassuring the usually hyper pony. With her last words she seemed to stop bouncing and had a serious face. Mr and Mrs Cake letting her run the shop was a great responsibility and she wanted to make sure nothing went wrong.

Pinkie left Red and I in the kitchen, and I had her sit in a chair facing the kitchen bench.
I rolled over to a door in the room, and there stood the largest pantry I had ever seen. It was atleast the size of Twilight's front room, and had rows upon rows of shelves.
In the center along the far wall, there was a fridge. Inside, I found some of the ingredients that I needed. Placing them in a basket, which was conveniently located beside the fridge, I continued to roll my wheelchair down the isles of food.
It took a good five to ten minutes of searching before I found everything I needed, even the alcohol.
I returned to Redheart triumphant and pulled out a jug and a large glass, which were convieniantly located underneath the bench.
Redheart watched amazed, but slightly disgusted at what I was making.

"Three oz of tomato juice
One and a half oz of vodka
Half oz of lemon juice
One dash of Worcestershire sauce
Celery salt
Ground pepper
Hot pepper sauce
Celery stalk for garnish"

I sang as I put each ingredient into the jug and mixed them well.
I poured the concoction into the glass, topped it off with ice and placed it infront of Red, who looked at it and poked her tounge at it.
"It looks good, but what you put in it was gross. Are you sure it's safe to drink?" Asked Redheart.
"Sure i'm sure" I said reassuringly "It helps with hangovers".
Red pinched her nose and took a swig, and I saw her eyes widen. "It's actually pretty good!" She said as she wiped her muzzle, leaving a red stain on her soft white coat. "More?" She aske with pleading eyes.
I chuckled "Okay, but not too much more, it's got alcohol in it" I told her, as I made some for the both of us.

Within ten minutes, Red had said that her headache had passed, and gave me a tight hug.
"Since we are here" I said "I may aswell get something to eat. Doing all this put me off of my thoughts for a while, which I really needed"
Red looked at me with tender eyes as she pushed me back out into the main room, where Pinkie had finished setting up her party. A large banner read 'Welcome home Mr and Mrs Cake!' and there were streamers everywhere.
"We're going to talk about it once we are alone, okay" Red asked. I nodded back.
"There you guys are! What took you so long?" Pinkie asked, appearing between us.
We both jumped at how sudden she appeared.
"It just took me a while to find all the ingredients. That pantry is huge!" I told the pink party pony.
"Oh my god I know right? I once got lost in there and had to wait three days, living off cookies and water until Mrs Cake finally heard my screaming and she was all like-" Pinkie made a gasping noise "This is where you've been all this time pinkie? and I said Yes, I've been lost in here for days and I've lived off the food in your pantry. Then she said I'm so sorry pinkie, Mr Cake and I left for a trip to the Cake-baker's meeting in Apalloosa and the-"
I lost track of listening to her, and I stared off into space, or rather her face. She just kept talking and talking! It was incredible.
"-and then I said oatmeal? Are you CRAZY? So then Carrot Top sa-" I raised my hand to her mouth and covered it. She just kept talking even with my hand there. What the hay?
"PINKIE" I said loudly, making her stop talking. I removed my hand from her mouth.
"Yes Jackson?" She asked.
"I'm very hungry, could you find us something to eat?" I replied.
"Sure no problem! By the way you're a really good listener. I have all this stuff that I want to say to ponies but they never have time to listen to me so it all just gets built up and-" Pinkie's tail started to twitch "Oh no twitchy tail. TWITCHY TAIL!" She said as she dove under a table. Red and I just stoof there as she cowered underneath a table holding cakes and other things.
Something fell through the roof. It was Rainbow Dash. She collided with me and sent me flying back into Red.
"Just when I thought I was recovering" I said as three of us got up. Pinkie emerged from under the table.
"I said twitchy tail didn't I?" Pinkie said.
"Pinkie, you are so random!" Dash replied and shook her head, then looked at me and Red "I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean to hit you let alone fly into the shop. A trick went haywire and here I am" She said with an embarrassed chuckle.
"It's alright!" I said as I got up off the ground and helped up Red.
"Here, let me pay for your breakfast" Dash said as she handed Pinkie two gold bits which were kept in a small puch under her left wing.

Leaving Sugarcube Corner with two cupcakes, courtisy of Rainbow Dash and made by Pinkie herself, Red pushed me to the park. It was amazing.
As we were walking through, I saw many ponies and foals playing and having fun. Red pushed me to a bench opposite a duckpond, where she helped me onto the seat and sat closely beside me.
"As you know, I need to talk to you" Red started, she had a small blush glowing on her cheeks "How do y-you ask somepony o-out?" Red's cheeks were bright red now.
"You mean ask Vinyl out?" I said as I nudged her side with my right elbow. The answer was obvious, due to what happened the night before, and the growing red on her cheeks "Well Vinyl had told me that she was doing a gig at a local nightclub sometime soon, you might want to find out when that is and she might ask you to come with her, or you can ask if you can go and watch and have dinner afterwards. Make sure you say something like 'do you want to go to dinner with me?' or 'want to grab some dinner with me after the show?'. Something like that"
Red was making mental notes about what I had said. "Alright, I may need to talk to you again later" She said with a nervous smile "Want to talk about whats been bothering you?"
"Well" I began "Didn't you see how Luna was acting? She wouldn't even hug me. She didn't even make me breakfast"
"Maybe there was nothing she could make you?" Red suggested.
"Maybe, but she could have said that. It hurts though, and you'll probably know once you're with Vinyl" I replied.
Red looked confused "How do you know that?" She asked.
"Because in any relationship, there are always fights or something stupid" I replied to her question.
Red hugged me and nuzzled my cheek "It'll be alright" She assured, and I could feel my muscles starting to relax. I hadn't noticed how tense I had become "You're a really good friend Jackson, and I'll always be here for you, and so will Vinyl. You should have heard how much she talked about you lastnight. She really looks up to you"
I felt myself blush a little, accompanied by a weak smile. "Thanks Red" I said as a leant into her warm hug.

Redheart pushed me back through the park and town. We were halfway to Vinyl's before the DJ rushed out infront of us.
She saw Red and blushed. The blue maned unicorn gave a quick kiss on Redhearts cheek which left a small blush behind, and took control of the wheelchair. Before I knew it I was going back to the park.
"Deja Vu" I said to myself as we arrived at the duck pond and Vinyl sat on the bench.
"What? Anyway about lastnight.." Vinyl started, a blush arose on her cheeks, which was something unusual from the DJ "I know I can't blame what we said, did and were going to do on the alcohol but thats all I can come up with. I only brought it out because Reddy looked nervous, and I didn't mean for us all to get drunk and-" I placed my hand to her mouth to stop her from speaking.
"It's alright Vinyl, I understand" I reassured the white unicorn as she looked up to me.
Her eyes widened "Thankyou!" She said leaping off the bench to give me another bombardment of kisses to the face. 'Is her family from France?' I thought and chuckled to myself.
"Lastnight was.. special" Vinyl said as she slowly stopped kissing me. "Thankyou for leaving Red and I alone, we got to know eachother better. I'm also really really sorry about what you saw when we woke you up" She said, looking sad, but very very cute. "Nothing happend though, I promise!"
I waved a dismissive hand "Think nothing of it Vinyl" I said as I opened my arms, gesturing for a hug "It's already forgotten" which ofcourse it wasn't, I mean for two mares, they are both incredibly attractive. No way I could let go of that thought so easily.
Vinyl wrapped her forelegs around my neck and we hugged for a good five minutes before she broke the silence.
"What was with Luna?" asked the DJ, still holding onto me "She was acting a little weird dont'cha think?"
"Yeah" I replied "But i'm trying not to think about it".
"Well if you need to talk i'm always here, or well.. not here here.. more like in my studio but none the less! My door is always open for you" She said with a smile.
"Thanks V" I said as she nuzzled my cheek. "Wanna go back to yours now? I need to find Luna"
"Sure thing!" The DJ said as she loosened her grip around my neck.
Her hooves curled around the handles of my wheelchair and started pushing.

It was nearing one o'clock by the time we got back to Vinyl's, and Redheart had made us lunch. Luna was nowhere to be found.
The white nurse pony had made us some sandwhiches. For Vinyl and herself she made hay sandwhiches which were cut into triangles and for me she made a jam sandwhich.
"Sorry" Red said as she saw me looking at the sandwhich "I didn;t know what to make you, I'm still getting used to it"
I smiled at her "No problem, I love jam sandwhiches" I said, saving her feelings as I happily took a bite out of the sandwhich. The bread must have been fresh because it was light and fluffy, and the jam tasted like the fruit, which i'm guessing were plums, were picked yesterday.
"Oh my, This sandwhich is amazing!" I said, mouth half full of food. Red looked up to me and beamed a huge smile. It was simple, yet delicious.

After lunch, it was decided that the three of us would go mess around with the instruments while waiting for Luna to return. As we made our way to the soundproof room, Scratch had asked Red and I to go to her next gig with her, but had asked me to sing for one of her songs that she was making.
"Will do!" I stated, which I recieved a massive smile from the unicorn "But I don't want to be intruding on your 'date'" I teased as I winked towards the two white ponies. Both looked at eachother and blushed intensely.
Vinyl was the first to speak "So you wanna make it a date?" she asked towards Red, who still had flustered cheeks.
"I-I was about to ask the same thing" She replied as she quickly kissed Vinyl on the lips. Vinyl nearly had a heart attack.
"Okay-okay break it up you two, lets get to the recording room so Vinyl can show me this song i'm ment to be singing to"
The DJ instantly snapped out of her shocked daze and nodded in excitement "I already have the lyrics and everything. I tried singing it, but my voice didn't sound right. It needs a male's toned voice and here you are!" She said shrugging her shoulders "And I would like you to sing it live. Makes for a better reaction to the audience, although I will need to record some things". I simply nodded and Vinyl led Red and I through the house.
"You're welcome" I whispered to Redheart, who nuzzled my neck.
"Thankyou, I didn't know when or how to ask her" She said as she pulled away from my neck and smiled.

Vinyl jumped up to her seat and had me sit in the same room I sat while recording the other song she wanted me to sing.
As I took my place, I could see Red through the glass window pulling over a chair next to Vinyl's, and placed a pair of headphones, similar to the DJ's, over her ears.
"Testing, testing one two" Vinyl's voice boomed through the room. I gave her a thumbs up and I could hear Red asking Vinyl a question.
"Can you show me how you use this?" She asked nervously.
"No problem!" Vinyl replied as she looked to me and spoke through the mic again "You'll find lyrics on the sheet infront of you".
I looked down and saw a sheet of paper on a music stand. Picking it up, I looked at the title of the song.
'Stamp on the ground' I read to myself.
I gave Vinyl another thumbs up and I heard her explaining what each button on her table does to her 'marefriend' sitting beside her.
I saw a white hoof hit something on the table and music started to play. It sounded like guitar plucking, but changed through some sort of synthesizer.
"I'll sing through with you so you know how the lyrics fit in" Vinyl told me, which calmed my nerves. Even though I had sung before both of the ponies, I still felt butterflies in my stomach.

A few runs through the song and Vinyl said it was time for a break, and waived her hoof towards herself, beckoning for me to go to her. We were practising the song for an hour or two and now it was nearing early evening.
As I made my way through the room, I could hear Luna's voice coming from the recording room.
"I'm really sorry Vinyl, but I have to talk to him now" She said in an apologetic tone.
"No problem Princess!" replied Vinyl.
As I entered the room, all eyes were on me.
"Be sure to bring him back soon, we need to practise more. The gig is in two days" She said with a worried, but confident tone.
"Don't worry, I wont have him for too long" Luna reassured Vinyl, who let out a sigh of relief. Vinyl looked towards Redheart and whispered in her ear, and both ponies got up from their seats and left the room closing it after them.
"Hey Luna.." I said weakly. My sadness had quickly returned upon hearing her voice.
"I'm sorry how I acted before Jackson, I was in shock of how bad condition you were in" Luna confessed "But that aside, Celestia wishes to apologise"
"She hasn't done anything wrong Luna. She was right to do what she did" I started "It was my fault. You've only been back for a year since being banished to the moon. The last thing she wanted was for you to be taken away again"
"Nonsense, it was my-Celestia's fault. Don't blame this on yourself" she said cautiously, like she was hiding something. 'My?' I thought to myself 'Why is Luna acting so weird?'
"Hey Luna, can you tell me what you wrote in the letter you gave me back in my world?" I asked. "Uh.." Luna replied "Um.. well it was a long time ago" she stalled.
"Luna wouldn't have forgotten. Tell me who you really are" I ordered as I magically grasped everything I could and levitated them around the imposter, ready to crush them with chairs and tables.
'Luna' let out a sigh and her horn started to glow. "I'm so sorry Jackson" She said as tears started to well up in her eyes. Luna's body started to glow white, and it magically reformed into a much larger pony. It was Celestia.
"Great" I said angrily "Now I can't even trust Luna to be herself" Celestia looked at the floor, her tears were creating a small puddle on the hard floor. "I'm so sorry!" She yelled "I had to know for myself if you loved her or not".
Vinyl and Red came rushing through the door, nearly hitting Celestia's back legs.
There they saw their ruler in tears, before her horn started to glow and within a flash, the princess had disappeared.
"What happend?" Red asked in a comforting voice as she ran up to me and threw her forelegs around my neck, which was soon followed by a second pair of hooves around my chest, and Vinyl's head buring into it.
"It wasn't Luna. It was Celestia" I said, as a unconrtollably shook. "I'm sure it was Luna last night when she tucked me in.."
My two pony friends hugged me tighter.
"You know, you two are my best friends.." I said bashfully, trying to cheer myself up. They were my only friends apart from Twilight and the others.
Red blushed and Vinyl held tighter. "You're one of mine too" Vinyl said while Red let out a small squeak.
For a moment, I was happy. Then another Luna came crashing through the door. "Jackson! Thank god I found you!" She said as Vinyl and Red moved away from me. Luna tried to hug me but I was unresponsive. How was I supposed to know if it was really her?
"Whats wrong?" She asked me.
"Tell me something that only we know. Something nopony knows about save for us" I requested. 'Luna' gave me a confused look, and she lifted a hoof to her chin.
After a few moments of pondering ,she lent in and whispered in my ear. "When we slept in the same bed together, we nearly.. did.. something which I dare not speak in public" She pulled her head back and a small blush was spread across her cheeks.
"LUNA!" I yelled as I leaped off my wheelchair, tackling her over and embracing her in a kiss. Our lips passed and I spoke again "I missed you soo much!". I quickly regretted my actions as my arm burst into pain.
"Here let me help" Luna said as her horn started to glow and I saw my bruises and cuts disappear "I can't fix broken bones, but I can take the pain away"
My mouth was awide with awe. "You have to teach me that" I mumbled.
Luna smiled and kissed my arm, which seemed to releive me of all pain. "I'm sorry this all happened to you" she started, raising her head to meet mine. "Celestia seems to have cooled down, maybe we should try approaching her?" she suggested.
"She's already approached me" I said which took Luna by surprise, looking at me with confused eyes. I sighed. "She came in a few seconds before you arrived, but she was using magic to look like you".
"What?" Luna said angrily, maybe a little too loud. I covered my ears in pain and Luna saw. "I'm sorry, but she has no right. I will speak to her at once" She said as she gave me a long kiss on my lips and levitated me off her.
"I'll be back in a few days once I've sorted this out" Luna said as she touched her horn to my forehead "But we'll keep in touch". With those last words, Luna's horn started to glow and I felt a rush of energy flow through me.
"What was that?" I asked, trying to recover my bearings.
"That was a communication spell that I had been learning while I was locked up in my room by Celestia. No matter where you are, or how far away we are from eachother, we will always be in contact" She said triumphantly.
"Thats.. awesome!" I exclaimed.
Luna beamed a massive smile and placed me on the ground, releasing her magical grip on me.
"See you in a couple days" Luna said as she gave me a hug and a passionate kiss.
"Bye" I said sadly. "I Love you Luna"
"I love you too Jackson" She said as she left the room, whilst Vinyl and Redheart came out from behind the door.
"That.. was.. soo.. CUTE!" Redheart squealed.
Vinyl turned to Red and moccked my voice "I Love you Luna" She said in a bad impersonation, but it was a funny sight.
"I Love you Jackson" Redheart replied to 'myself' and hugged 'me'. The two white ponies burst out in laughter and were rolling on the floor. I stood over them and soon caught the giggles and joined in.
A few hours of whiskey and stories, we all went to bed. I went to the guestroom while Scratch and Red went into the DJ's room. They assured me nothing would happen like the other night.
I slowly walked into my room, leaning on the doorframe.
'That spell that Luna cast on me to heal my wounds certainly did it's job' I thought to myself as i sat on the edge of my bed. I concentrated on the lightswitch with my magic and it flicked off, along with things on the nearby table which flew off in all directions. I probably shouldn't be usuing magic in this state, who knows Ponyville may never recover!
After pulling on the laces on my shoes and sliding them off, along with my shirt, I lay my head on the pillow and closed my eyes.
I thought of Luna, and there was a newfound connection to her that wasn't there before. I felt safe.
'Goodnught Luna' I thought, and soon after it was answered by Luna's voice.
'Goodnight Jackson'.

The next day was packed full of practising for the song I was to sing at Vinyl's gig. We didn't stop for Lunch and kept going until around three o'clock until Redheart, being the caring nurse she is, ordered us to get something to eat.
We sat in the dining room, playing with the food on our plates. We weren't very hungry, we were having too much fun singing and making music.
Red sat next to Vinyl across the table from me. She looked up at me with a wide grin on her face.
"I got you a present Jackson!" she said as she used her magic to levitate my red electric acoustic guitar infront of me on the table, complete with red bow around the neck.
"NO WAY!" I screamed as I took the guitar from it's place on the table and took the red bow off "NO FREAKING WAY!"
Redheart looked ecstatic from the joy she was seeing on my face and in my actions. "You're welcome" She beamed as she opened her forelegs for a hug.
I rushed in and embraced her warmth.
"Thankyou so much!" I said as I continually bombarded her with 'thankyous'.
"Vinyl helped too, we both pitched in to pay for the repairs" She said as she gasped for air.
Noticing how tight I was hugging her, I slowly let go of her and moved to Vinyl.
"You don't know how much this means to me, and now I have to pay you both back" I promised.
"You don't have to" Vinyl said happily "You've already repayed me helping me with my music"
"And I've already told you that you don't need to repay me back at the hospital" Redheart concluded.
Too bad for them, I was going to repay them anyway.

Vinyl and I returned to practising the song. It wasn't a hard song, there weren't that many lyrics because they just repeated themselves.
As the night crept closer and closer, we all became more tired and tired.
soon enough, we had all gone to bed.

When I awoke, I could see a blue and pink streak across both my eyes. Nurse Redheart and Vinyl must have snuck inat night and fallen asleep on my bed. They were now situated on either side of my body, wrapping their hooves around my body with my arms around theirs, whislts their heads both arched inwards towards my chest, resting upon my shoulders and neck.
Redheart was the first to wake. Her eyes adjusted to the light and she assesed her situation, looking at Vinyl first, and then to me.
She responded to her surroundings by burrying her head under my chin. "I had a nightmare, so I came in here to sleep with you. I didn't want to wake you nor Vinyl, but you give the best hugs and.. and" I got her to stop talking by quietly 'shh'ing her.
"It's alright Red" I whispered trying not to wake Vinyl. She must have gotten lonely and searched for us, and decided to snuggle up in the bed. It sure was big enough.
Soon, Red fell back asleep and I was left to my thoughts, and Luna.
'Luna' I thought to my love 'Are you awake?'
'Yes dear, how are you?' Luna responded.
'I'm good thankyou, hows talking to Celestia going?'
'She wont even look at me. She really is sorry Jackson' Luna said in my head.
'I've said before, she has nothing to be sorry about' I replied 'Well I have to go, time for breakfast. Talk to you later today' 'I miss you' Luna said, and all I could imagine was her pouting.
'We'll be together soon enough' I reassured the voice in my head 'I miss you too'.
Then the voice was gone.
I felt Vinyl's body shift from it's place around my right arm, and she slowly opened her red coloured eyes and looked up at me, before closing them and hugging me tighter.
"Morning sleepyhead" I whispered, and Vinyl's cheeks let a small blush show.
"Morning" She replied with a cute yawn "Today's the big day, I think you're ready" She said quietly with a big smile. "Thankyou for doing this"
"It's no problem, anything to help out a friend" I replied which made her smile even larger.
I felt Red move around and heard her yawn. "Goodmorning Vinyl, morning again Jackson" She said as she smiled at me.
Vinyl's stomach rumbled, breaking the moment that we were all having.
"Aha" She said, embarrassed of how loud it actually was "Who wants breakfast?".

Red and Vinyl offered to make breakfast, so I went to go and take a shower.
I was finished and dressed in ten minutes, I had even put my clothes in the wash. The 'washing machine' was different compared to human ones, but worked the same none the less.
'I will have to go see Rarity about some clothes today' I told myself as I made my way through the house.
I turned a few corners and opened some doors and I found myself in the dining room. Red and Vinyl had put so much into this breakfast.
There were three plates on the table, accompanied by pancakes, apple tarts and fritters, and strawberries to top it all off.
"Wow" I said looking towards the two white ponies, who were covered in small amounts of batter and other things. "This looks amazing, you really didn't have to" I said as I sat at the table, and Vinyl and Red soon followed.
Each and every bite was like an explosion of flavour in my mouth. "Oh my god" I said with the goofiest grin on my face and a mouthful of food.
Vinyl giggled at the faces I was making. "That good eh?" she asked smiling at me as she shovelled more food into her mouth with her hoof.
"Definately" I replied and both the ponies beamed. "After breakfast, I have to go see Rarity, but I'll be back later to practice the song"
"No problem" Vinyl assured "You already know the song well enough, so be back at around two? The gig starts at seven so that gives us plenty of time" "Sure thing" I said as I finished my plate of food and gave both Redheart and Vinyl a quick hug, before dashing out the door.

It was a quick trip to the Carousel Boutique, no more than five minutes.
When I arrived, I was just about to open the door when a small white unicorn filly with a purple mane came charging out and into my legs, knocking herself over and making me stumble.
"Are you alright?" I asked, concerned for the poor filly.
"I think I rolled my ankle" she said, nearly in tears. She tried to get up but was only rewarded with pain and embarrassment as she fell back onto her rump.
"Will you let me help you?" I asked cautiously. I knew how kids in my world reacted to being picked up, and didn't want to create a scene.
The little filly blushed. "You may" she replied, giving me a smile.
I bent down and gestured her to get onto my back, and she did, although it was very awkward at first, but soon enough I was giving her a piggy back ride back into the Boutique, hoping that Rarity would have some ice or something.
"What's your name?" I asked as I stood up on my feet and stretched out my legs. The little white filly let out a squeak as she was lifted into the air, but soon found that I was holding onto her tighter, and her body relaxed.
"My name's Sweetie Belle" She told me "I was off to see my friends Scootaloo and Applebloom, but now I guess they have to see me" she said with a sigh.
"Sweetie Belle" I replied "What a lovely name!"
She blushed even more, and by the time I had found Rarity in her back room, her face had lost much of it's blush.
Rarity turned around to see me holding the filly. "Oh Jackson, how lovely it is to see you!" She called aas she stopped the machine she was using. "Sweetie Belle, I see you've met Jackson".
"I did, I ran into his legs and rolled my ankle but he helped me back inside and here I am" She said in a fast, but understandable sentence.
"Do you have any ice Rarity?" I asked.
"I do, in the freezer in the kitchen. I'll be here when you get back" She said as she started her machine up again, which strung a thread through a piece of material.
Sweetie Belle directed me to the kitchen, which was up a flight of stairs. On the way, I learnt that she was Rarity's sister and that she was apart of a group called the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'.
When We entered the kitchen, I placed her down on the benchtop and searched for the icecubes. Moments later, I returned with some ice wrapped in a wet cloth.
"You need to keep this on your sore ankle for ten minutes, and take it off for two hours. If it still hurts after that then repeat" I told the filly, who's only response was to hug me.
"You're the coolest grown up ever!" She said as she jumped on my back again and we headed down the stairs.

By this time, it was nearing lunch time and I had sorted things out withh Rarity. She said after she had made her order, she would begin making me some new clothes. She had kept my measurements from before so the visit was quick.
I now had a few hours to spare before I returned to Vinyl and Red, so I decided to meet up with Twilight and Rainbow Dash.
The visit with Twilight was nice, she really is a good host. She managed to teach me a spell to create light from my hands (because I didn'y have a horn, where else was it suppoed to go?).
My visit with Rainbow however, was not what I was expecting.
"Hey Rainbow!" I yelled to her. She was asleep on a nearby cloud. "Rainbow!" I bellowed yelled even louder, which seemed to wake her up.
She looked around to see who was calling her and spotted me on the ground. She flew down to greet me, leaving a rainbow streak behind her.
"Oh hey Jackson" She said with a smile and her tomboyish voice "Long time no see! How's it going?"
"Not too bad, just a broken arm and other stuff. What about you?" I asked.
"That's so cool, can I sign your cast? Oh and i'm awesome as always" She said with a playful smirk.
"You sure can, but I don't have a pen on m-" I was cut off by Rainbow blasting off towards Ponyville and returning minutes later with a black pen. "Wow that was fast" I finished in astonishment.
"Heh, I am the fastest flier in all of Equestria after all" She boasted as she signed my cast.
I hadn't even noticed the cast until then.
'That's because I put it on you' Luna told me in my head.
'Thanks!' I replied 'You're amazing you know that?'
I heard Luna giggle 'Not as amzing as you'.
"There!" Rainbow said with a touch of awesomeness to her voice "Done!".
I looked down at the cast and found that she had written 'Rainbow Dash' in crude writing along with 'Here's to your recovery' and a drawing of a cloud with a lightening bolt coming out of it, just like the one on her flank.
"Thanks Rainbow" I said and she rushed in and hugged me, before backing up and regaining her posture.
"I uh, I mean you're welcome" She said embarrassed "DON'T TELL ANYPONY ABOUT THIS" She begged.
"Well" I said with a smirk on my face "How about we race for it? You win: I don't tell, I win: I tell Twilight and the others. I'm sure Applejack will love to hear it" I said as I nudged her flank.
"A challenge? Bring it! To that tree and back" She pointed to a tree that I guessed was a hundred meters away.
"No wings" I said as she landed next to me.
"No problem, I can win without 'em" She boasted.
Before I even had a chance to get ready, I heard Dash start the race.
"ONE-TWO-THREE-GO!" She yelled as she bolted off, galloping as fast as she could. I took off after her.
Soon enough I was matching her speed. I wasn't the most fit guy around, but I certainly had some speed.
Rainbow and I touched the trunk of the tree at the same time and ran as fast as we could back in the other direction.
I wasn't really going to tell everypony if I won. I slowed down a little and let her get the lead and she had passed the finish by a head.
"Oh yeah! Fasted in the air AND on the ground" She boasted "I thought you had me for a second, but I just got faster and faster"
"You're pretty quick" I puffed, noticing Dash wasn't even panting.
"I'm the quickest!" She corrected me "But you're pretty fast yourself. Hey that was fun, wanna to hang out some time?" She blurted, almost illegibley.
"That would be great" I replied, which made her smile.
"Well I gotta go move some clouds, there's ment to be a storm over the Everfree Forrest tonight. See ya' around Jack" She said as she blasted off into the air.
"Catcha!" I replied as I watched her fly off into the distance.
I turned and started walked back to Vinyl's.

When I returned, the house was quiet. I slowly made my way to teh recording room and could hear Vinyl's laugh.
I opened the door and was greeted by the usual two ponies. "Jackson!" Vinyl said "We were just talking about you!"
Oh god.
"Yeah, about how we met and stuff" Red continued her partner's sentence.
"Also look who we found!" Vinyl said excitedly as my squirrel friend pooped his head out of her blue mane.
"Carver!" I said as he jumped towards me and landed on my head "I missed you buddy".
It seemed that he missed me too by how much he was rubbing himseld on me. "Where'd you find him?" I asked.
"Well I had to go get supplies from the hospital and I found him outside the window of the room you were in" Red said as a smile stretched across her face.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" I said as I hugged Red. "Do I get one too?" Vinyl asked.
"Come here!" I replied to her silly question and embraced her in a hug.
A few minutes had passed and Carver was already settled in at Vinyl's.
"Okay, so you ready to start practising?" Vinyl asked.
"Sure am!" I replied.
Vinyl had me move into the soundproof room as per usual, but had Red do everything that Vinyl would normally do. She was a fast learner too.

A few hours had passed and it was now five in the afternoon. Vinyl wanted to get to the club early to set up, so we arrived an hour and a half early.
We had to cart everything over to the club, it took thirty minutes until everything was at the club.
Outside, we could hear a muffled bass beat. As we walked inside, the beat became unmuffled and Red's and my eyes adjusted to what we were seeing.
The room had a gloomy blue colour to it, and certain areas had smoke around everyponies hooves. There was only one level to the club, which had a bar run by two very friendly looking ponies.
Vinyl led us through the crowd and up behind the stage, along the way she recieved many praises and hugs. I saw Red heating up.
"Need to talk about it?" I asked her.
"No.. I'm just fine" She said in a flat tone "Just a little jealous. Never been in a proper releationship before"
"Jealousy is healthy in every relationship. It shows that they care about the other person, or pony in this case, enough to be jealous" I said trying to spare her feelings "I know she only has eyes for you".
Red seemed to relax at my words "Thanks Jackson, but I can't help but be jealous"
"No problem Red, I just don't want to see you hurting"
Red blushed "As do I about you".
I put my arm around her as we waded through the crowd.
What felt like hours, was only a few minutes by the time we arrived behind stage. Ponies had already set up Scratch's turntable and connected it to the speakers. "You're on in ten" I heard a stage pony tell another DJ. I had no idea who he or she was, but she looked like a novice.
"Beginner's come here and entertain the crowd before the big guns show up" Vinyl boasted "It's how I became known".
I made mental notes about the things I saw. Behind the stage was pure chaos, but somehow the stage ponies kept everything in order.
I saw ponies running everywhere trying to get everything ready and set up for the next act. I even saw a pony in a booth controlling the lights.
"This is crazy" I said nervously "I've never performed infront of this many people or ponies before" I confessed, feeling the butterflies rise in my stomach. I was getting nervous.
"Nervous?" Vinyl asked, and all I could do was nod as my skin turned pale "I know what will fix that".
The DJ gestured me to follow and we arrived at a bar. I took a seat next to Vinyl and Red sat beside me. "I'll be here until you guys finish the gig" Red said sadly.
"Oh no, Jackson will only be up there for one song, which I will call him up for. The rest of the night he'll be down here with you" Vinyl reassured her marefriend, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. I saw Red's lips curl at the sides as a wave of relief washed over her.
"Aw cute" I heard a female voice call from the other side of the bar. I turned to see that it was a brown mare, with a white mane and tail, along with her chest and hooves. She had big blue eyes.
"Hey Tumbleweed!" Vinyl said in a happy tone "It's been so long!" She said as she ran around the bar and gave her a friendly hug.
"Too true" Tumbleweed replied. "How have you been? I see you've got yourself a pretty mare" She said as she gave Vinyl a wink and nudged her rump with her own.
Red blushed "Yeah I've been great, even better now that Redheart's come into my life" She said as she lent over the bar and kissed the white unicorn again, which made Red blush even more. She looked back at Tumbleweed. "What about you?"
"I've been pretty good, I've just gotten back from Manehatten undertaking a course in bartending. I aparently needed it since the new laws have come in" She said. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"
Vinyl's cheeks went red "Oh! Whoops!" She said as she flushed hotly "Tumbleweed, this is Jackson and Redheart, guys this is Tumbleweed. We used to know eachother way back in school"
Tumbleweed took notice of me and her eyes went wide "Is he.. a.. a..".
"Human?" I asked and Tumbleweed nodded "Why yes I am, any friend of Vinyl's is a friend of mine" I said as I extended my arm for a handshake. She looked at my hand and then at my fingers. "Don't worry, he's really soft and pudgy!" Vinyl teased.
"Hey!" I said, not sure whether I should be offended or taking it as a compliment.
Tumbleweed touched my hand with her hoof experimentally and soon shoved her hoof into my hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Jackson" She said, nearly ripping my arm off with her handshake/hoofshake "Where I come from, humans are a creature of myth and fantasy"
"Where you come from? And you know about humans?" I asked, confused.
"Yes, I come from across the seas, thats why I have a different coat to these ponies and my accent is strong" She did have a very unique coat, and her accent sounded like an american-indian accent. "And yes, There have been many stories of humans coming to this world, but I never took any to be true.
"Well I find you very charming" I replied. It was hard to tell if she was blushing or not so I continued "And very cute".
'There it is!' I thought to myself as I saw her blush spread across her cheeks.
"Anyway, what can I get you guys?" Tumbleweed asked as Vinyl returned around the bar to her seat next to me.
"We'll have some American Pony thanks" Vinyl said and Tumbleweed nodded, pulling out three shot glasses and pouring a yellow liquid into each.
All three of us downed the drink at the same time and Tumbleweed giggled when Red and I coughed. "Whoo-ee that's strong!" I said as I slammed the shot glass back down on the bar. I felt my nerves starting to leave as I loosened up. I saw Red's muscles retract aswell. Vinyl just looked the same as before.
"Alright, three Sunset Sasparillas to go" She said "Put it on my tab".
"No problem" Smiled Tumbleweed as she poured three drinks into three new glasses and topped them each off with a lemon wedge and a cocktail umbrella.
"Awesome" I said, which made Tumbleweed beam.
Vintl left the bar and went backstage "I'll see you up there" She told me and gave me a hug.
After the DJ had left, I had just enough time to ask Tumbleweed a question before Vinyl's music started.
"Hey Tumbleweed?" I asked as I took a sip from my drink.
"Yes Jackson?" She replied.
"Are you free tomorrow? If so come hang out with the three of us" I said as I beamed her a smile.
"I am free tomorrow, as a matter of fact. I'll meet you at Vinyl's tomorrow morning" She said as she left to serve another customer.
Red and I turned out attention to the stage, where a pony stood infront of a microphone.
"Fillies and Colts, the DJ you've all been waiting for.. Vinyl Scratch!" The stallion said and left the stage. The club erupted into the sound of hooves stomping on the floor in appplause.
The curtains opened and all eyes were on Vinyl. She looked at me and I gave her the thumbs up and she winked at me, and slid her glasses on.
"Are you ponies ready?" She screamed into the mic.
Red and I sat in awe at how much control she had over the audience as they erupted into a choir of yeah's and woo's.
"Sweeeet!" She said and the crowd replied to her.
"Groovy" They said and Scratch giigled into the mic.
"I love you guys" She said as she used her magic to place the needle on the record and beats started to pump through the speakers.
A few songs later, Vinyl spoke up.
"For this next song, I'd like my very good friend Jackson to come up and sing" She said with a smile and everypony turned to look at me. Everypony was silent until I got up on stage, and they started cheering. I knew many of the ponies here, they were at my party that Pinkie thre for me when I first came to Ponyville. I even spotted Ditzy Doo at the back.
I turned to see Vinyl smiling at me with intense respect. "Ready?" She asked as a stage pony brought out a microphone on a stand and placed it infront of me. I nodded and Vinyl hit a button on her turntable.
Familiar music started to play. 'Just like rehersal Jackson' I thought to myself to calm my nerves.
Seconds later, it was time for me to sing. Ponies were alraedy bobbing their heads to the beat that Vinyl had created.

'Stamp on the ground
Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump
Moving all around
Tep tep da dow
Stamp on the ground
Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump
Moving all around
We're jumping all around

Düp düp düp düp düp

Jumping all around'

As I finished my verse, Vinyl sang into the microphone.
'DROP THE BEAT'

While all the ponies started to dance and feel the song, I sang during the beat.
'We're jumping all around

Düp düp düp düp düp'

It was time for the next verse and chorus. By this time I was fully relaxed.
'We're sending out an invitation
To everyone in every nation.
But don't sleep get on the run
Stop thinkin' and have some fun!

Stamp on the ground
Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump
Moving all around
Tep tep da dow
Stamp on the ground
Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump
Moving all around
We're jumping all around

Stamp on the ground
Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump
Moving all around
Tep tep da dow
Stamp on the ground
Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump
Moving all around
We're jumping all around

Düp düp düp düp düp'

Vinyl sang into the mic again.
'DROP THE BEAT'

I went down into the crowd and started to dance with the ponies. I didn't have much time, but it was worth it.
I stood infront of the crowd, and the copied my dance as best as they could. I had started a bus.
I was stamping on the ground with all the ponies copying, and soon I was clapping and dancing around before I had to go back up on stage.

'So come and join our love foundation
Go feel the heat, the sweet vibration
'Cause we are about to ignite
And we wanna go out tonight!

Düp düp düp

Jumping all around'

'DROP THE BEAT' Vinyl sang one last time.
Another barrage of beats hit the ponies who cheered and stamped while I danced up on the stage. I managed to gesture Red to come up and join me. We were dancing with eachother infront of everypony and the next lot of singing began. Red finished the song with me.

'Jumping all around

Düp düp düp düp düp

Jumping all around'

The audience burst into applaud as Red, Vinyl and I stood next to eachother on stage. We all bowed and Vinyl spoke through my mic.
"Thankyou Ponyville! That was AWESOME!" She screamed like a crazy filly.

The last thing I remember was walking home with Vinyl and Red. We had gotten a little tipsy before we had left.
We couldn't walk straight, so we had to lean on eachother to move.
When we were inside Vinyl's house, the two ponies helped me to my room where I passed out almost straight away, joined by Vinyl and Red. They didn't even bother going to their own room.

We were becoming a small family.

A/N:
The song used at the nightclub scene that Jackson sang was not owned by Vinyl nor I, it was owned by the Italo Brothers.
There was also an OC in there called Tumbleweed.