Second Chances

Second Chances
By Hero541
Chapter 20: I’ve Got A Lot Of Work To Do

The next week for Josh was the most hectic he’d experienced since coming to Equestria. He knew what songs he was going to do (they were all on his everlasting iPod), but now he had to set up the entire event pretty much by himself. The mayor had cleared him to do the performance, but he now had to find a crew to set up the stage, including all the equipment, speakers, and lights. He felt like his head was going to explode from all this stress.

There was one bit of silver lining to all this though, and that was that he still got to see Vinyl pretty much every day. She would come out to the shed/studio and bring Josh something to eat. They would just sit and talk from there, mostly about whatever was going on with Octavia or Rarity and Sweetie Belle. From time to time, Josh would play a song for her, showing her how he set up everything, and allowing her to try her hoof at playing it. At first, she’d get a little flustered at trying to keep up with the beat and mix the song as well, but she could now do so at a pretty basic level with no problem.

Twilight and the others would even stop by as well to see their human friend. All had agreed to help in any way they could, which Josh soon realized he may need to take them up on that offer.

“Hey, Rainbow.” he said one day after completing another song for the setlist, “can I ask you something?”

“Sure, Josh. What ya need?” she asked, setting down her book she'd been reading.

“I’m really short handed to get this whole thing set up.” said Josh, absentmindedly fiddling with a knob on the mixer, “Do you think there’s any way I could get you and the other girls to help me out?”

“Are you kidding? We’d love to help you! You ought to know that!”

“I just didn’t want to bother you guys is all. I know you’re all pretty busy.”

“Josh,” said Rainbow, smiling at the human, “it’s not a problem at all. We’d do anything for you. You know that.”

Josh smiled back at the multicolored mare. In a matter of only a few hours, he was sitting down with Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow and assigning them duties for the show.

“Rarity, since you have a pretty discerning eye for detail, I’ll have you hook up all the equipment. Don’t worry,” he reassured the mare, seeing the look of concern on her face at his words, “I’ll give you a set of instructions for how it all goes together. Applejack, you’re pretty strong, so I’ll probably have you help move equipment around and get it set in the right place. You think you could talk Big Mac into helping too?”

“He’d be happy to, sugarcube.” replied Applejack with a smile.

“Okay then.” Josh continued, “Twilight, I’ll let you handle the lights and stage effects. Once I’m set up and have everything running, I’ll rehearse the set a little and you can sync up everything then. Pinkie, you can help with decorations, since I know that’s your forte.”

“Okie dokie loki!”

“Rainbow, you can help mount lights and anything higher up on the stage. And Fluttershy…”

All eyes fell on the shy pegasus. She hid behind her mane a little as Josh’s gaze went to her.

“You can… set up floral decorations!”

“Y-you really need floral decorations for something like this?” she asked.

“Sure. It adds a nice touch of color to the stage that I can’t achieve with lights and things like that.”

“O-okay. If you’re sure…”

“I am.” he said, smiling warmly at her.

“Thanks again everyone for helping me with this.” he said, addressing the assembled ponies, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“No problem, Josh.” said Rarity, walking up to him and embracing him, “Anything for you darling.”

With that, every other pony stood and joined Rarity, each one hugging Josh tightly. He choked back tears as he felt them all around him, holding him lovingly. This is gonna be the best show ever.

*****

Josh stood before the nearly completed stage, a smile on his face. In one week, he’d managed to get every song he wanted done, and now was overseeing the progress of the physical setup. He’d had a group of unicorns come by one day and move all the equipment he needed out of the shed with their magic. Applejack insisted that he allow earth ponies to do it instead, saying it’d get set up faster that way. Josh pointed out to her that, though it may be faster to allow earth ponies to do it, he’d rather it arrive at it’s destination safely than quickly.

“Rainbow!” he called to the pegasus, who was helping hang the large floodlights up above the equipment platform.

She swooped down towards him.

“You need somethin, boss?” she asked, saluting him.

“Yeah. Could you go check and make sure Derpy Hooves didn’t break anything while she was moving the speakers? I think she dropped a sub earlier, and I just wanna know if I need to fix it or not.”

Rainbow nodded, then flew away to check the speakers on the side of the stage.

“My my. It seems like you have every pony in town working on this little show.”

Josh turned to see Octavia making her way to stand next to him. She had become much less hostile towards Josh in recent weeks, not even yelling at or threatening him once she heard he was doing this show without Vinyl.

“Pretty much. I’ve needed all the help I can get.”

“And you didn’t ask me to assist you? I’m a little insulted.”

“Heh. Sorry, Octavia. I didn’t know you were so eager to help out.”

“At least things seem to be running smoothly.”

“Yeah.”

The two simply stood and watched as other ponies worked on setting up the stage, some hanging lights, some setting up decorations, and some taking a break to chat for awhile.

“Vinyl told me about how you stood up for her the other day.”

“She did?” asked Josh, turning to face Octavia.

“Yes, she did.”

The two just stared at each other for awhile, Octavia wearing a grateful smile all the while.

“You have no idea how much that meant to us both.” she finally said.

“It was nothing.” replied Josh, turning back to the stage, “I was just doing what any friend would have done.”

“It was everything to her.” said Octavia, turning to the stage as well, “She thinks the world of you, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“It almost makes you want to stay here instead of going home, doesn’t it?”

Josh said nothing to that. He hadn’t thought about going home in a long time. For him, right now, this place was home. However, the more he thought about it at that moment, the more he began to wonder what had happened in the time he’d been gone. One thing bugged him slightly about the whole thing though: he wasn’t all that homesick.

Sure, when he’d first landed in Equestria, he wanted nothing more than to return to his life, to the fame and debauchery that came with his job. But being in this world had changed his views. He genuinely felt guilty for the things he’d done in the past, the lives he’d probably ruined or broken beyond repair. By going home, he could probably continue from where he’d left off, but that didn’t change the fact that he still had the ghosts of his past to haunt him day and night. But here, in this beautiful and magical place, he could start fresh, make a better name for himself…

“I’ll see you, Octavia.” he said, walking away from the mare, “I’ve gotta go check the progress of everything.”

“Josh,” called the mare, making Josh stop and turn around to her once more, “I… I didn’t mean to upset you with what I said just now. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Tavi. You didn’t upset me. You just… gave me something very important to think about.”

With that, he turned and continued towards the stage. The most important thing to think about he thought.

*****

Josh stood up on the stage for the show, his headphones to one ear, listening to his songs and playing with the mixer to achieve different effects. He was bobbing his head and swaying to the beat as he twisted dials and turned knobs. He was so heavily invested in what he was doing, that he never saw Vinyl walk up onto the stage and stand behind him, watching as he played with the mixer. The unicorn reached out a hoof and tapped the small of his back. Josh stopped the track and turned to face his “student”.

“Hey, Vinyl.” he said, setting down his headphones, “I didn’t even see you there. How’re you doing?”

“I’m good.” replied the mare, smiling at him, “How about you? You think you’re ready for tomorrow?”

“I’d certainly like to think so.” he said, “At this point, the only thing I can see as a potential issue would be if the stage were to collapse on me during the show.”

Vinyl giggled at that. Josh smiled at her. She was kinda cute when she did that.

“Well, let’s hope that doesn’t happen.” she said.

“Thanks, Vinyl.”

"I just dropped by to say good luck tomorrow.” she said, blushing a little, “Not that I won’t see you tomorrow or anything…”

“You not coming to the show?”

“I’m coming. I just don’t really know how much of a chance I’ll get to actually talk to you tomorrow is all. I imagine you’ll be pretty busy.”

“Yeah. Probably pretty busy.”

“I guess I’ll let you get back to it then.” she said, turning to leave.

“Hold up!” called Josh, making Vinyl stop and turn around.

“Yeah?”

“I was kinda hoping you’d wanna stay for a quick lesson.” said Josh, gesturing behind him, “Since it’s all set up and everything.”

Vinyl beamed at him, “Sure! I’d love to.”

The two of them walked back to the mixer and took their places. Vinyl stood in front of the board as Josh stood behind her.

“What’re you doing?” she asked, peering at him, “Aren’t you gonna mix this one?”

“Not tonight, Vinyl.” he said, loading up a song on the monitor, “I’m gonna help you in a different way this time. You ready?”

“I think so. I still don’t know what you’re…”

She was cut off as he grabbed her right hoof gently in his hand. She blushed hard at his touch.

“You trust me, right?” he asked, preparing to start the song.

“Of course.”

“You know I’d never steer you wrong, right?”

“Yes, Josh. I trust you. I don’t know what that has to do with this though.”

“Just trust me, and you’ll see. Put the headphones to your left ear. Let me take care of the rest once the song starts, okay?”

She nodded, placing one speaker to her left ear. The music began, a simple bass kick and snare beat with a synth lead in the highest register. As it started up, Josh began to move her hoof all around, making her push buttons and turn knobs to make different effects. She smiled wide as the sound fluctuated from her touch and movements, feeling the music flowing through her body and soul. Soon, she found herself in a trance as the bass and synth ensnared her, sending a euphoric feeling flooding though her mind.

After awhile of losing herself in the sound of her own mix, the song ended, and she came back to reality. She stepped away from the mixer, still feeling the effects of the music. It was only then that she noticed that Josh wasn’t holding her hoof anymore. She turned and looked to see him standing behind her, leaning against a wall, a smile on his face as he looked at the stunned unicorn.

“Whe-when d-did you…”

“When I saw you were starting to get into it more. I can always tell when someone is beginning to lose themselves in the music.”

“So… that means that I…” she stammered, realization washing over her.

“That’s right.” he said, walking towards her, “You successfully mixed your first solo song.”

Vinyl smiled wider than ever before, the squeaky noise sounding. She jumped onto Josh, tackling him to the ground. They both laughed as they went down, Vinyl hugging Josh tighter than she ever had so far. As Josh lay on his back, she climbed up onto his chest, still laughing excitedly at the thought that she just mixed her own song. Eventually, they stopped laughing and simply chose to stare into each other’s eyes.

“Thank you, Josh.” she said, resting her head on his chest as he stroked her blue mane gently, “For everything you’ve done for me. You have no idea what this means.”

“It was my pleasure, Vinyl.” he said, feeling her soft mane beneath his hand, “I’m glad I could help you.”

Vinyl looked up and into his eyes once more, focusing intently on the beautiful blue orbs which twinkled softly in the stage lights. He stared back at her crimson-magenta eyes, feeling himself being drawn closer and closer to her by the incredible sight. Slowly, Vinyl made her way up his chest, till their faces were only inches apart.

“Perhaps it's time for me to properly show you just how much I appreciate everything you've done for me." she said, her eyes fluttering closed as she moved her face closer to his own.

With that, the distance between their mouths was finally closed and their lips met. Josh, who already had a hand on Vinyl’s head, pulled her in closer, passionately kissing the beautiful unicorn on his chest. Both human and pony savored this wonderful moment, praying it would never end. Wave after wave of warmth and happiness shot through Josh’s body as he felt Vinyl’s tongue caress his own, making his brain shut down momentarily.

After what seemed like an eternity, they broke the kiss, looking into each other’s eyes once more.

“Vinyl… I-“

She placed a hoof to his mouth, smiling sweetly at him.

“You don’t need to say anything, Josh. I think that little moment there said it all.”

“I was gonna say that I want you onstage along with Sweetie Belle and all the others tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“I want you to see what things are like from my perspective up there. I want you to see how much I get into it and how much the crowd gets into it.”

“I think I can do that.” she replied, scooting up his chest further and nuzzling his neck.

She planted small kisses all around his neck and settled her head under his chin, her eyes closed and her forelegs wrapped around her new coltfriend. Josh held her close, occasionally planting a small kiss on the top of her head. They simply lay there till the force of sleep overtook them, and they drifted off in each other’s loving embrace.