Second Chances

Second Chances
By Hero541
Chapter 19: Watch What You Say

Josh and Vinyl walked through town. They had decided to take a break from lessons today, as Vinyl was really getting the hang of the equipment. The first time she tried to use anything, she’d made a noise at such a high frequency that it shattered the window in the shed. Since then, she’d managed to make her first bar of a song. Now, the two of them were simply strolling through town, window shopping as they went along.

They entered Sugarcube Corner at about noon, both very hungry for lunch. As they sat down at a nearby outdoor table, Pinkie Pie bounced out of the store wearing a bright white and pink apron.

“May I take your… Oh, hey Joshie! Hey Vinyl!” she said, smiling at the two patrons.

“Hey Pinkie,” said Josh, smiling at the exuberant party pony, “How’re you doing?”

“I’m great! The Cakes are away on business to Canterlot today, so I’m running the shop for a day! It’s been really fun.”

“Have you had much business yet today?” inquired Vinyl.

“Not yet. But, the lunch rush’ll be here soon enough. I’ll have my hooves pretty full for a while…”

“You need any help Pinks?” asked Josh, looking to Vinyl, “Vinyl and I can help you out if you need us to.”

“I’d love the help! I’ve already got Applejack coming over a little later to lend a hoof too. It can be like one big work party! Maybe I can get Twilight and Spike and Fluttershy…”

Pinkie trailed off, beginning to name pretty much every singly pony in Equestria, leaving Josh and Vinyl to just stare at her. Eventually, she seemed to remember that she had two customers sitting before her.

“Oopsie. Sorry.” she said, pulling a notebook and pencil out of the apron and giving them a sheepish smile.

*****

After a delicious lunch consisting of hay fries (which Josh had taken a liking to) and a daisy sandwich, Josh and Vinyl walked back into the store to see Pinkie. She was in the kitchen, mixing up some batter for cupcakes.

“Okay, Pinkie. We’re ready whenever you need us.” said Josh.

“Okie Dokie Loki! Here. “ she handed them two aprons, “You may want these.”

“Uh, Pinkie?”

“Yeah Joshie?”

Josh simply held the tiny apron up to his body, showing that there was no way in hell that it would fit him.

“Uh…” Pinkie said, examining the small garment against the tall human.

Vinyl snickered at the sight.

“Here.” she said, grabbing the apron in her magic.

Vinyl’s horn glowed as she focused on the apron. Soon, it was enlarging itself to fit Josh’s body.

“Wow,” he said, taking it back and examining it, “I didn’t know you knew any enlarging spells, Vinyl.”

“That’s just a standard spell a lot of unicorns can use. It helps sometimes to be able to enlarge or shrink things.”

Josh tied his apron just as Applejack walked in the kitchen.

“I’ll be!” she exclaimed, walking forward to greet the human and unicorn, “I didn’t know ya’ll would be helpin out me and Pinkie today.”

“We took the day off from lessons and came down for a little lunch. Pinkie mentioned she could use the help, so we volunteered for a little while.” said Josh, handing Applejack her own apron.

“Sounds good to me!” said the orange earth pony, “We need all the help we can get.”

“Here they come, everypony!” Pinkie called from the front.

In only a few minutes, Pinkie, Applejack, Vinyl, and Josh were each bustling about at a frantic pace in an effort to keep up with the large flow of customers. Josh and Vinyl handled taking orders outside, while Pinkie and Applejack alternated between the front counter and kitchen. Most ponies by now knew Josh and greeted him warmly as he took their orders. A few foals out with their parents even greeted him by his pet name of “Joshie”, which seemed to be sticking rather well between Pinkie and Sweetie Belle.

Over the course of an hour or two, business again died down to its previous state. Despite that fact, Josh and Vinyl remained on duty, taking the orders of a few customers outside. As Josh headed out the door once more to check on customers, he was stopped by two mares and a stallion walking by.

“Hey! You’re Xploshun, aren’t you?” called the stallion, a large gray one with a blue mane and tail.

Josh turned at the sound of his stage name to see the three ponies walking up to him, each with a huge, excited smile on their respective faces.

“That’s me.” said Josh simply, “Can I help you?”

“We just wanted to say that show you did that one time was totally awesome!” exclaimed one of the mares, who had a red coat and light pink mane.

“Well, thanks for that,” said Josh, “but I really shouldn’t have done what I did. It kinda... hurt somebody.”

Almost on cue, Vinyl walked out of the confectionary, headed towards Josh.

“Pinkie said that she and Applejack could handle the shop for the rest of the day.” she said, “We can go.”

“What’re you hanging out with this loser for?” said the other mare, one with a green coat and black mane.

“Excuse me?” said Josh, turning back to the trio of ponies before him.

“I asked what you’re doing hanging out with this pathetic loser of a DJ.”

Josh felt a rage build in his mind as Vinyl pressed her ears flat against her skull and backed away from the group. He looked to the mare to see a single tear roll down her cream colored cheek.

“I don’t appreciate you talking to my friend like that.” he said, trying with all his might to resist the urge to yell at the three ponies standing in front of him, “And I certainly don’t appreciate you doing it directly in front of me.”

“Huh?” said the stallion, looking taken aback, “Did you just say she’s your friend?”

“Yes, I did. And I’ll guarantee you that she’s one hundred times the DJ you’ll ever be. You have no idea what she's capable of, and I don’t see you up on a stage busting your ass to entertain people. Therefore, you have no right to talk about her abilities when you probably don’t even have the testicular fortitude to showcase your own.”

Josh was shaking with anger, holding back the urge to be profane in public. He glared daggers at the three ponies before him, obviously beginning to intimidate them, as they were now doing the same thing as Vinyl.

“Now, I’d suggest you get out of here. I’m not afraid to start shit in public with anyone, least of all a few ponies who don’t have any respect for someone who works harder than anyone to do what she loves. But first, I want to hear you apologize to Vinyl.”

He turned to the unicorn behind him, his eyes softening as she met his gaze.

“S-sorry V-Vinyl. W-we didn’t really mean that. Honest.” said the green mare, not taking her eyes off of Josh’s large form.

“Let’s get the buck outta here!” said the red mare, and all three ponies turned tail and ran away from the shop.

Josh was still shaking from anger as he watched them run away, the stallion stumbling a little before rejoining the two mares. What fucking right do they have to judge Vinyl? he thought, They have no idea how hard she’s been working these past few weeks! They haven’t seen the leaps and bounds she’s made in that time! They haven’t heard any of what she’s made, yet they stand there, right in front of me, and insult her!

As he continued to fume, he turned back to Vinyl and peered down into her face. Her eyes were still pouring tears, but she had a huge smile on her face.

"Are... you okay, Vinyl?" he asked, concerned.

She walked forward and stood on her hind legs, wrapping her forelegs around his midsection and holding him tightly.

“Th-thank you, Josh.” she said through her tears, “Thank you so much for that.”

Josh hesitated for a second, feeling Vinyl's tears penetrate his shirt as she pressed her head against his chest. Eventually, however, he smiled wide and returned her embrace in full, resting his head on top of hers just to the right of her horn.

“You're an incredible producer, Vinyl.” he said, rubbing her back as she cried into his chest, "One day, they'll see that, and nobody'll ever talk to you like that again. I promise."

“YAY! WOOHOO! Way to go, Joshie! You tell those meany mean pants ponies!”

Josh looked back to the door of Sugarcube Corner and saw Applejack and Pinkie smiling down at him, the excitable pink pony jumping up and down in glee. Applejack tipped her hat to him as Pinkie continued yelling praises of the human. After a few moments, he and Vinyl separated and looked at each other.

“You wanna head back?” said Josh, pointing in the direction of Octavia’s house, “I’ll bet by now Tavi’s figured out we’re not at the house.”

“Sure.” said Vinyl, wiping her eyes with a hoof and taking her place beside the human.

*****

Josh and Vinyl arrived at the front door of Octavia’s house, both stopping and looking at each other.

“I hope you had a good time.” said Josh, looking down into Vinyl’s crimson-magenta eyes, “I know that what those ponies said probably didn’t help the situation…”

“I had a great time, Josh. I really really did.” she said, smiling widely up at him, “Nopony’s ever stood up for me like that.”

“Not even Octavia?”

“Tavi’s never around when ponies say things like that to me. Plus, she just has a way of... making the situation worse.”

Josh thought back to when the gray mare rushed into Rarity’s home and punched him in the face. That little incident certainly didn’t help the situation, that’s for sure…

“Well,” said Josh, rubbing the back of his head nervously, “I guess this is goodbye for now.”

“At least till tomorrow.” said Vinyl, giggling a little.

“HEY!”

Both Josh and Vinyl jumped at the sudden shout from nearby. Two colts ran up to them, one short, with a dark blue coat and a yellowish mane, the other taller, with a light orange coat and dark teal mane.

“Oh, hello Snips. Snails. Can we help you?” asked Vinyl, watching the two colts as they stopped in front of her and Josh.

“Aren’t you Xploshun?” asked Snips, trying to catch his breath.

“Yes, I am. Can I help you?”

“Yeah!” said Snails goofily, “We want you to do another show!”

“Another show? Like a music show?”

“Yeah! We thought your last one was totally awesome, and we were wondering if you’d do another one!” said Snips.

“Well…” said Josh, trailing off

He looked at Vinyl, silently wanting to get her opinion on the idea. Her face had fallen a little.

“Sorry, guys.” said Josh, looking back to both the colts, “I’m afraid I’m not comfortable doing another show. The last one I did wasn’t exactly the best thing to do at the time.”

Both colts groaned in disappointment. Josh felt a hoof touch his arm and looked to Vinyl.

“Are you not going to do one because of me?” she asked.

“Well… kinda.”

“For the record, I don’t mind if you do one at all. In fact, I’d kinda like to see you perform a little myself. I didn’t stay around for long the last time, and I’d love to see you onstage.”

“You sure Vinyl?” asked Josh, a nervous look painting his face, “If you’re at all uncomfortable, I don’t wanna make you feel worse.”

“Go for it, Josh! Give them the best show they could ever ask for!”

“Okay then.” he turned back to Snips and Snails, “Looks like you two’ll get your show after all.”

“Yes!” they shouted in unison, “We’ll get as many ponies as we can to come and see it too! There’s been a lot of others that wanna see you do it again.” said Snips.

“Okay then. You two go do that.” said Josh, smiling at the two colts.

“When should we tell everypony to come?” asked Snails.

“How about… two weeks. I’ll need a lot of time to get everything ready between now and the show.”

“Sounds good to us!” they shouted.

They took off like bullets, heading into town to tell everyone they could about the upcoming performance.

“They certainly seem excited.” said Josh, watching them run off.

“They’re the town fanboys. You should’ve seen them when Trixie came through here last time.”

Both Josh and Vinyl jumped once more as Octavia rounded the corner of the house, a smile on her face.

“Did you two have a good day in the town?” she asked, opening the door.

They both nodded. Vinyl followed Octavia inside, stopping in the doorway.

“I guess I probably won’t see you tomorrow then.” she said, a little sadness in her eyes, “You’ll probably be busy getting ready for the show and stuff.”

“Well, considering you have the only studio capable of making music around here, I think I’ll see you at some point tomorrow.”

They smiled at each other once more before Vinyl said goodbye to Josh and closed the door. Josh made his way back to the boutique, a smile painting his face as he thought about how the day had gone. Then, as he walked away from the house, he looked back to the shed. Fuck he thought I’ve got a show in two weeks.