What If: My Second Life

CHAPTER 12: Crunching the Numbers

I awoke again in the same way I did yesterday, in pain. I let out small growls of pain as I sat up again, breathing a bit hard. I looked next to me and saw the Vinyl wasn't there. I shrugged it off and got up slowly, the pains hurting like they did yesterday.

So, let's go over yesterday. Playful Vinyl, smack on the ass, shower, meeting Coal, really nice fangirl, walking around a bit with Coal, and then going home for the rest of the day to cuddle with Vinyl. Yup. Typical Wednesday for me at this point. I chuckled to myself, but that made my pain grow a bit. I hope it was just me healing.

Putting some pants on I walked downstairs, without a shirt. I looked around for Vinyl but couldn't seem to find her. Then I heard the drop of a bass from the den. I did a 360 spin and gaped at what I heard. “Is that Skrillex?” I dug into my pants and pulled out my I-Pod. Still there. What in Celestia's name? I walked into the den and saw Vinyl mixing the Skrillex song. I blinked and walked up behind her, quietly. I wrapped my arms around her and she yelped when I did. He glasses came off and she turned to punch me square in the jaw. “Is that anyway to greet your lover?”

She sighed and kissed me on the lips. “Don't do that Jace! I hate being snuck up on!” She said with a pout. “You mind helping me with this song? I thought of it just in my head and I'm trying to get it to work out. I need someone to modulate the heavy bass lines.” I nodded and started to mix the song using the headphones. I turned some knobs here and there and then I got it. I knew what the song was, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites by Skrillex.

“Hey Vin, I didn't want to freak you out but, I have this song on my Ipod... It's a song from my world.” She raised a brow and shook her head, chuckling. “Don't believe me?” I turned on the song and put the headphones in her ears. She went wide eyed and listened to it.

“T-This is impossible!” She stuttered. “How...Wha...Mi...” Her lip quivered. “Jace.. I'm scared..” It was my turn to laugh. I had thoughts about this, and the fucking games that Coal got me into. OH MAN. THAT'S GONNA FUCKING SUCK ABOUT LIVING HERE. I wanted to 100% Skyrim! Dammit, oh well. I have it made here anyway.

“Honey, just let it slide. It's just coincidence. No pony has heard this song anyway. In fact, I got a song for you...” I plugged in my Ipod and moved to With Your Friends the softer version. I sped up the tempo a bit and added in some extra things into it. It was a sad song with not having any heavy modulated bass moments. It was song Skrillex made fifteen minutes after his mother died. I almost cried first time listening to this song. But now actually listening to the song, I had to turn off the bass and the other instruments. I couldn't do it. I fell on my knees and looked down, tears now rolling down my cheeks. My mother was dead. This was a fact that I never wanted to think about again. I had been lying to myself all this time. I looked up at the ceiling with my eyes closed, still crying. I could now feel the warm embrace of Vinyl from behind me. Her coat was so silky to the touch. I put my hand over her hooves and leaned back, my head now resting on her shoulder.

We sat there for about a good ten minutes, just sitting there enjoying each other. I kissed her on the cheek and Vinyl smiled. “May I ask what's wrong?” I looked down and sighed, mustering up all my strength to stand up again.

“Well, this song was made by the creator to honor his mother. He made this song fifteen minutes after she died and.. I remember listening to this around fifteen minute after MY mom died. It was really weird when I learned that he did the same thing I did. But, playing that song gave me time to think and I remembered that little tidbit. So, I broke down crying remembering my mother. I..I just need to go think for a few. Maybe go see Coal. He's probably working at the orchard. I'll be back and take you out to lunch. My treat!” Vinyl smiled at thins and hugged my waist.

“Love ya big guy! Get out there and have some fun!” She said with a cute little smile. I kneeled down and kissed her, gathering up my Ipod and running upstairs to get the rest of my clothes on. I had to get a beanie from Rarity one of these days. Hey! It's on the way there! Maybe I should talk to her!

* * * *

I walked outside in the chilly fall air. I loved this cold though. It was something that I grew up around up north when I used to live there. The colors were just absolutely gorgeous. The yellows and oranges were the same as home. I looked up and saw a rainbow colored tail hanging off the side of a cloud. “Morning Dash!” I yelled up with a smile. I saw two purple eyes look at me from above and then a full happy face from Dash.

“Morning Jace! Good to see ya again! Last time I saw ya was in the hospital. How you feeling?” She had made her way down to the ground as she talked. She was now standing next to me and I started walking again.

“I'm feeling fine.. Just the past two mornings had me waking up to sharp pains in my chest. That's probably the healing on ribs though.” Rainbowdash looked up at me and smiled.

“Well, that's good! Oh! I totally forgot the Wonderbolts are in town! I gotta go see them! See ya Jace!” Dash said, speeding off into the air. I could only chuckle to myself. I continued walking and was soon in town square. All ponies would look up at me and smile, say hello, good morning, or just give me a wave. I liked this. No longer am I being stared at for being different. It felt like I was home.

I walked up to Rarity's boutique and looked inside, knocking on the door. What answered the door was a sweet little filly with a pink and purple mare. She was white like Rarity. But when she looked at me, she just screamed and ran for Rarity's room. I could hear the conversation.

“BIG SIS! COME QUICK THERE'S A MONSTER AT THE DOOR!” I tried to suppress my snickers. But resistance was futile. I could hear Rarity sigh and I saw her open the door and look at me with a smile.

“I'll be right with you darling!” I nodded and walked inside, closing the door shut behind me and leaning against the doorframe. After hearing some talking from behind the door, Rarity came out with a sad Sweetie Bell.

Sweetie Bell jumped off her Sister's back and looked down, twiddling her hooves. “I-I'm sorry Mr. Jace... I didn't mean to call you a monster.” I smiled warmly at her and picked her up, getting a gasp from Rarity. All I did was hug her close.

“Awww, your such the sweetest little thing! I forgive you! It was your first time seeing me after all. If you see another man walking around, that would be my friend Coal. Just a fair heads-up.” Sweetie Bell was now smiling and she nodded.

“Will do Mr. Jace!” I think my heart exploded from cute when she put her head up to my chin and nuzzled me. IT WAS SO DAMN CUTE. I set her down and she calmly walked towards Rarity.

“Now, Jace, what was it that you wanted?” Rarity asked, a smile on her face. She looked happy to help. I was surprised that she wasn't busy with orders at the moment.

“Well, I was looking to get myself a winter hat.” I scrolled through the pictures of me on my Ipod and showed her one with me wearing a hat with the three trademark lines in Skrillex. She smiled and nodded.

“I will have that done for you in about a day tops!” She said with a stamp of her hoof. “You have my word!”

I smiled and embraced the white unicorn. “Thank you Rarity! I owe you five!” I said with a smile. I heard a small laugh from Rarity as she returned the gesture and then we both parted ways.

Man I just so full of energy today! I just had to run! So, I did. I started taking off at a sprint towards the farm. I slid under the same fence I always did, and hopped into the same tree I always did, jumping over Big Mac and gave him a “Hi Big Mac!,” as I did. He just looked at me dumbfounded as I stopped and walked calmly over to him. “You know where I can find Coal?”

“Eeeeyup! He's in the office getin' our paperwork all filled out, and, Ahm mighty sorry what I did ta ya Jace....It was ahll mah fault..”

Jace walked over and put a hand on Big Mac's shoulder. “I'm not mad Big Mac.. You had a clear reason why you did it. I wanted to protect my friend is all. Hope we can start over and be friends.”

“Eeeeyup!” Came the response. Jace nodded and ran off into the house.

“Coal! Were in Equestria are you man?!” I was looking all around the house and soon came to an office. “There you are!”

“Oh hey Jace! Fancy seeing you here. Don't you have to be with Vinyl?” I shook my head.

“Naw, I left to get some air. Had to order something from Rarity and then come see how you were.” I walked voer and looked at the paperwork and raised a brow. “Freshmen grade work?” I asked him, looking at him with a 'that is so easy' look.

“Yeah, sad thing is that I can't really remember the stuff that I learned my Freshmen year of High School!” He sighed and dropped the pencil, leaning back in the chair. I snickered a little and picked up the pencil, starting to write down things. I soon dropped the pencil and Coal looked at the paper amazed. “How?!”

“You remember how good I was at math right? I used to be like, 'When is this ever going to help me in life?!' and the teacher told me someday. Well, guess it's paid off!” I leaned back on the desk and smiled at Coal who was still going over the numbers. “Oh quit your unbelieving and let me do this!” I moved Coal out of the chair and I started to get to work. Coal was just staring at me like I was a goddamn wizard or something.

* * * *

“Well, I can see something really wrong here...” Coal walked over and looked at the paper. “The Apple family had to refund money based off of bad apples. Which is actually where most of the problems were. The towns were asking for the money back for the price of individual apples. Not the discounted price for buying barrels. If you bought a barrel; it was 10% cheaper than if you bought a barrel's amount of apples individually. I'm not sure if the Mayor knew about this, or even if she had a hoof in it at all; but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I went over these numbers for each town's apple shipments and found that the Apples have lost thousands of bits by returning too much.”

Coal clapped for me and a took a bow. “Thank you thank you..Now get in that damn chair and look smart! Your gonna impress AJ. I know you like her mate..” Coal blushed brightly and I chuckled as he took his seat.

“I owe you twenty man..” Coal said, looking at all the papers. I looked at my iPod and rolled my eyes at the time. Three fucking hours to do my 'math homework' UGH. In school, I had at least thirty problems with twenty minutes. Having a photographic memory is nice at times when you have to do notes. The only paper I took out of notebooks was to hand in my assignment.

I got asked by the teacher one time, “How are you able to not write down anything, and just write?” I would smile up at him and tell him of my photographic memory. He would go wide eyed and tried to test me once. He gave me a calculus question, taught me on it when the rest of the class was working, and gave me a sheet. I finished it in five minutes and he was dumfounded. I was really thankful for that memory of mine.

“Uhh.. Jace? You alright man?” I was staring off into space again. I shook my head to snap myself out of it and looked up at Coal. I was just now realizing his new clothes.

“Wow man. You look like a cowboy in those! Get along little doggy~” I was of course making a sexual innuendo. I think Coal caught on. “Now all you need is some assless chaps and Big Mac'l come runnin!” Coal punched me on the shoulder.

“Shuttup man!” We both laughed a bit and saw Applejack come into the room.

“Well hey there sugercube!” She said, then saw Jace. “Err, Cubes! When did ya get here Jace?” She asked, looking up at him with a grin. “Not that Ah'm complainin' or anythin'.” I smiled at her.

“I just stopped by to say hey to Coal. He got the paperwork done while chatting with me so...” Jace looked over at Coal with a wink that was really well hidden.

Coal smiled at AJ. “And I've got some news for you! I've gone over all the numbers, and I found a huge problem with your return policy. You have been returning the money for bruised apples based on individual price. Not on the discounted price for buying by the barrel; which is what every town goes by. You've lost thousands of bits over the past five years because of this."

Applejack went slack jawed. "Ah can't believe this! How could we have been so stupid! Thank ya so much for findin this out Coal!" She gave Coal a big hug and I gave him a thumbs up, but she quickly pulled back with a shocked look on her face and an apologetic smile.

"Heheh, don't worry about it Applejack. There isn't going to be any way to get your money back, but as long as you aren't returning by individual price anymore; the farm should make more of a profit. I'm a little curious though...how do all these bad apples get in the barrels anyway? I saw Applebloom sorting them when I arrived today."

"Oh those are fer the applecart. It would take too long ta' sort fer all the apples that go through here. So we just have each town keep track and send us a report."

"That is another thing Applejack. I know this world isn't like mine, and that ponies are probably a lot more honest, but....how are you sure that they aren't fudging the numbers any?" (Fudging the numbers? Too much Skyrim maybe? Cause I did that all the time.)

"We have them send back the bad apples with the report. We count em up and then send back their refund."

"Good thinking. Anyway Applejack that's all I've got for you today. I'm calling it good. I'll be back tomorrow to get back at it."

Applejack nodded and said her goodbyes. Coal was a little disappointed she didn't ask him to stay for dinner, but Jace was there to cheer me up. He asked if Coal wanted to go over to Vinyl's house for dinner. He happily accepted but went back to thinking about Applejack. He thought she may get used to him again with time, but it probably won't be soon. We stopped by Twilight's house to say that we were going to Vinyl's for dinner and she said it was fine. As we were walking, I looked over at Coal and smirked. He knew what I wanted to do. We stopped and got down in a running position. “Ready...Set...GO!” I sprinted down the dirt road, Coal catching up with me. I jumped on a metal rail, grinding across it like I used to. I saw the back of a building come up and I smirked. “Hey Coal! Check this!”

My adrenaline kicked in right there. Time seemed to slow down for me and I jumped up off the ground, making contact with the wall. I let my hand touch the brick as I ran across the flat wall, keeping up the speed. Everything seemed to turn for a bit as I ran, making everything sideways look upwards. I'll tell ya, it was mind blowing. When I neared the end of the wall, I leapt off and landed on my feet, then stopped, gasping for air. I took out my inhaler and put it in my mouth, getting the medication again. Coal ran up to me and patted me on the back. “Nice man! I remember seeing you do that a long time ago! Good to see your getting to be your old self again!” I nodded and put my hands on my head, I think I have a cramp. We walked the rest of the way there, getting greeted by a now well groomed Vinyl.

“Hiya sweetheart!” She called out to Jace. “Is your friend going to be staying for dinner?” She asked, a smile on her face.

“It's cool Vi, I've told him all about you!” Coal nodded and reached out to shake her hoof.

“Nice to meet you Vinyl. Or should I call you DJ?”

She shook hands with Coal and shrugged. “Meh, either works for me! Now get your flanks in here so we can all have a nice dinner!”

Coal smiled at me when Vinyl left us. “Thanks man. I needed this. Can I spend the night too?” I nodded with a smile and walked into the house. Man was it good to be home.

Author's Note: No I don't have photographic memory and I absolutely hate math. I did however do parkour for a bit. Till that metal pole incident. I do a little bit of it, but nothing to crazy. I remember doing that wall run back in about 7th grade. My friends dared me and I did it. But instead of landing on the ground, I landed in a dumpster. OH WELL