Second Chances II: Love and Courage

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 3: Back In Ponyville

The cleanup for the show in Canterlot had taken a little longer than he had hoped, but after two days, Josh had finally gotten everything back to Ponyville. He stood on the train station platform, watching as a few unicorns offloaded the sound equipment.

“Careful with that board.” he said, pointing to the soundboard in a yellow unicorn stallion’s magical grip, “It’s already been banged into a wall once. I’d prefer we not have to have that happen again.”

“Couldn’t we just teleport all this stuff back to your studio?” asked one mare who had just set down a mixer.

“Afraid I don’t trust teleportation, otherwise we would.” said Josh simply, “Don’t worry though. Applejack and Twilight are gonna drop by and help move all this stuff back. You’re all off the hook once it’s all out of the train.”

His words made them work a little faster, and in no time at all, every piece of equipment they used in the Canterlot show was on the train platform. Just as they finished, Applejack pulled up one of her larger apple carts, setting it next to the platform so Twilight could set it all in the back.

“Howdy, Josh.” she said, waving to a few of the unicorns at they departed, “Is this everything we’re takin’ back to your place?”

“Yup.” Josh peered around, “Where’s Twilight?”

“Ah don’t know.” said Applejack, loosening herself from the cart and looking all around for the purple unicorn, “She was right behind me when Ah last checked.”

Almost on cue, Twilight ran up to the two of them, panting and sweating. She stopped just short of Josh and Applejack, collapsing to the ground.

“Sorry… I’m… late.” she panted, peering up at Josh and Applejack from the ground.

“Where’d ya go?” asked Applejack, walking over to help Twilight up.

“I… forgot to… grab the… instruction manual… for the… equipment…” she replied, still struggling for air.

“You don’t need that, Twi.” said Josh, smiling at the unicorn sympathetically, “Vinyl and I are gonna get everything set up once we get back to the house. I just need you to help load and offload it all.”

Twilight just stared at Josh, her mouth agape. The human smiled sheepishly back at Twilight and shrugged.

“Speakin’ of which, where’s Vinyl anyway?” asked Applejack, breaking the now awkward silence that had settled.

“She’s back at the house right now.” he replied, “I got up earlier than here this morning, and I didn’t want to disturb her. She’ll help offload all this once we get it back to our house.”

“Works for me.” said Applejack, “So, what’re we movin’ first?”

“Just get as much as you can in the back.” replied Josh, walking over and grabbing his own controller and soundboard, “Twi, you okay to help out?”

Twilight still had her mouth open in shock as Josh addressed her. Upon hearing his voice, she snapped back to reality, shaking her head.

“Oh. Yeah, I’m alright.”

Together, Josh and Twilight loaded everything in the back of the cart in only twenty minutes. Applejack hooked herself up to the cart once they were ready and together, the three friends made their way back across town towards Josh and Vinyl’s home. Along the way, Josh talked about the next show they were supposed to do in Las Pegasus in two weeks.

“I’ve only been to Las Pegasus once.” said Twilight, “My mom and dad took my brother and I there once when we were little.”

“We did a show there not too long ago.” said Josh, thinking back to the event, “Vinyl ended up drinking a little too much before the show and got kinda drunk.”

Both Twilight and Applejack burst out laughing at that. They both knew full well how technical the job was that Josh and Vinyl did, and the idea of the unicorn trying to work a soundboard drunk was unbelievably hilarious to them.

“Surprisingly, she wasn’t that bad.” finished Josh, earning another loud roar of laughter from the two ponies.

“H-how did she use the board or mixer?” asked Twilight, wiping a tear from her eye.

“That’s a mystery I have yet to solve.” said Josh as his home came into view.

Vinyl, who had heard the approaching cart, stood outside with Sweetie Belle, both of them smiling at Josh and the others as they approached.

“Hey there, sexy.” she said, walking out to Josh and jumping up on her hind legs to give him a kiss.

“Hey sweetheart.” said Josh, hugging Vinyl and feeling a tug on his pants leg, “And hello to you, my other sweetheart.”

Vinyl jumped down from her coltfriend and allowed him to bend down and pick up Sweetie Belle. She giggled loudly as Josh cradled her and tickled her little white belly. The cream colored unicorn mare smiled at the cute sight. Josh would make an unbelievable father she thought.

“What brings you around here, Sweets?” asked Josh, placing the little white filly back on the ground.

“I came over to see if you were here because I wanted to ask you something,” she began, almost jumping up and down with excitement, “but Vinyl said you were at the train station getting all your stuff.”

“She was gonna go get you, but I told her she ought to wait for you here.” finished Vinyl, making her way over to the cart to help offload its contents, “So, I helped her with her magic a little.”

“That’s awesome! Can you show me what you learned so far?”

Sweetie Belle nodded, then turned to a small rock nearby and closed her eyes in concentration. Her horn was enveloped in a jade colored aura as she focused on the rock. It took a little while, but eventually the rock was surrounded in the same aura and began to levitate a few inches off the ground.

“That’s amazing, Sweets!” exclaimed Josh as Sweetie broke her concentration, “You’re really making progress.”

Sweetie Belle beamed up at Josh, who knelt down and patted her head.

“So, Sweetie,” said Vinyl, setting a speaker down nearby and turning to address the unicorn filly, “do you want to ask Joshie your question now?”

“Oh. Yeah!” she replied, remembering the original reason for her visit, “We’re having show and tell tomorrow at school, and I was wondering if you’d wanna be what I bring in to show everypony!”

“Well, I don’t know Sweets.” said Josh, looking back to the cart full of equipment, “We’ve got a lot of stuff to do with all this.”

Sweetie suddenly changed her face to be the most adorable thing in all of Equestria. Her lower lip trembled in a pouty way and her eyes became huge. It was a look that Josh had failed to ignore the first time Apple Bloom had used it on him, and he still fell for its cuteness every time. He looked to Vinyl, who simply smiled back at him.

“I’d love to, Sweetie Belle.” he finally said, unable to resist the little filly any longer, “I’ll be there bright and early, just for you.”

“Yay!” said Sweetie, bouncing up and down around Josh like Pinkie Pie would have, “Thank you, Joshie!”

“Anything for you, Sweets.” he said, chuckling a little as she encircled him once more.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” she called, bouncing off in the direction of Carousel Boutique and waving to Josh behind her.

“That’s hardly fair.” said Josh, walking over to help Vinyl and Twilight offload the cart.

“What’s that?” asked Vinyl, picking up a mixer.

“She knows I can’t resist that face. It’s just too goddamn adorable.”

“I couldn’t resist it either.”

“She used it on you?”

“Yup. Once she got here and I said you weren’t here.” she replied, setting the mixer down, “I couldn’t fight that look, so I invited her in and helped her with her magic.”

“That’s real sweet of you, baby.” said Josh, placing his own controller down before walking over to Vinyl to hold her, “She’s a fast learner. Just like you were.”

Vinyl blushed at that, remembering back to when Josh first started helping her become a successful producer. She remembered their first “date” they ever went on to the lake. She remembered the first time he helped her make her own solo mix, which also lead to their first kiss…

“I guess I just rubbed off on her a little.” she replied, a little short of breath at the memories flooding her mind.

Josh smiled at her blush and leaned to kiss her once more.

“I love you so much, Vinyl.” he said as they broke apart, “I don’t know what I’d ever do without you anymore.”

“I love you too, Josh.” she replied, nuzzling his neck as they held each other.

After a few moments of standing there, Josh broke the silence.

“We’d probably better get this stuff back into the studio.”

“If you insist.” Vinyl chuckled, jumping down from her coltfriend and grabbing several things in her magic to take inside.