As he pulled up into the driveway, Trent quietly opened the garage door and pulled his bike in, glad to be out of the rain. He pulled down the garage door and entered the house. He passed through the kitchen, setting his keys on the counter, and went to the living room. He sat Vinyl on the center cushion of the couch, making sure he didn't wake her, and went to find a blanket. He grabbed the comforter from his bed and went back to the living room, draping it over her. She snuggled into it and sighed happily.
He walked into his room and sat on his bed, thinking about what had happened that evening. I... I just can't believe this... I always dreamed of having a Vinyl Scratch... But I never thought I'd get to have a living one! He felt like jumping for joy, like shouting at the top of his lungs, but he didn't want to wake the sleeping filly in the next room. Instead, he just sat with a silly grin on his face, staring into space as he thought of all of the fun he could have with Vinyl. But, as he went through how fun it would be to live with his favorite pony, he started to wonder how he was going to raise her. Hell, I've never had a pet of my own, how am I going to raise a cartoon pony that I know nothing about!? He got up and started pacing back and forth, thinking to himself, I'm gonna need help. But who in the world can I call to help me? He suddenly stopped and slapped hist fist down into his palm, saying, "Lewis. He's watched the show longer than I have. He's got more pony stuff than me. He must know a lot more about the show than me... I gotta give him a call, see if he can help me."
He slowly crept into the kitchen, passing the couch as quietly as he could, trying to not wake the sleeping pony. He picked up the receiver and dialed Lewis's cell number, hoping that he would answer. A few rings, and he was about to hang up when he heard a groggy voice say, “Hello?”
Trent put the receiver back to his ear, saying, “Hello? Hey, Lewis, you there?”
He heard a groan, and then, “Trent? It's, like... 10 past midnight. Why are you calling this late, man?”
“W-well, I kinda need you to come over here, I got a little bit of an... emergency.”
“WHAT!?” Trent heard the phone hit the floor as Lewis got up and started getting dressed. He heard him pick up the phone again and say, “Don't worry, man, I'll be right over!” The phone line went off, and Trent assumed that he was running out to his car and would be there in less than half an hour. He hung up the receiver and walked out to the living room where Vinyl was. He sat down in a nearby easy chair and started to think of how he should reveal Vinyl to Lewis.
Shit... how am I going to show him and make him believe me? There's no way he will... And I don't want him to go crazy with excitement when he sees her... He got up and started to pace.
As he paced, Lewis pulled up into the driveway. He stopped his pacing and stared out the window. Well, this is it... I hope this was really a good idea...
A few seconds later, Lewis opened Trent's front door, running inside and asking, "OK dude, I'm here. Where's the emergency, what's wrong?”
Trent, who was standing with his arms crossed, said, “Just... just go look on the couch.” And motioned his head in that direction.
He ran around to the front of the couch and stopped, looking down at the sleeping filly. He put his hand to his face and asked, “Really, Trent? This was your emergency?”
“Of course this was my emergency, man!” Said Trent, trying to keep his voice low. “It's incredible, isn't it?!”
“I guess, but...” Lewis sat in the easy chair facing the couch. “I don't think that I needed to be woken up in the middle of the night for it. You could have just shown off your plush Vinyl tomorrow.”
Trent realized what was wrong. “Wait, you think this is a toy?”
“Yeah, well, isn't it?”
“Hell no, man!” He came around the couch and stood right in front of Lewis, pointing at Vinyl. “That is a real, honest-to-Celestia, living and breathing filly Vinyl Scratch!”
Lewis rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right, and I'm married to Pinkie Pie.”
“I'm telling the truth! Seriously, go take a closer look at her and tell me that I'm lying!”
Lewis sighed, and got up to go look. He walked over to the couch and knelt down, looking closely at what he thought was a toy. As he stared at her, he noticed that the blanket was rising and falling. “Nice, pal.” He said, turning to Trent. “But just because you have some little mechanism under the blanket her to make it look like she's breathing doesn't mean that you can fool me into believing that she's real.” He then turned back to the couch and grabbed the blanket, pulling it quickly away from Vinyl. He saw there was no little piston or anything like that under the blanket, and saw Vinyl's chest still rose and fell. But he still didn't believe Trent. “Wow! Where did you order this from?! That guy who made it for you must really be talented if he can build you a toy like this!”
“God damn it!” Trent groaned. “I'm trying to tell you, she isn't a toy! She's real! Why can you not comprehend that?!”
As he laughed, Lewis said, “Dude, you will never get me to believe that this is a real pony. There is no way in Hell that a living Vinyl Scratch could possibly exist in our world. This can only be a mechanical toy that you got to trick people. Heck, I bet it's not even that soft to the touch with all of that metal. I mean, how do you even hug something this uncomfortable?” And when he poked Vinyl in the stomach, he realized two things. The first was how soft that she was. The second was the fact that, when he poked her, she giggled and stretched out her legs and neck. She then sat up and yawned, and looked around at her surroundings. This made Lewis shout and fall backwards, which made Vinyl a little scared and she dove back under the blanket.
Trent ran over to the couch and picked Vinyl up, trying to calm the little filly down. Her tiny little heart raced as she buried her face in Trent's chest. “It's okay, Vinyl, it's alright, he's not gonna hurt you...” He said as he petted her head. He then looked at Lewis, who was still sitting on the ground, staring at Vinyl, and said, “I told you she was real.”
Lewis just sat there, shaking and stuttering, “W-wha...h-how...”
Trent assumed that he wanted to know how he got Vinyl. “Well, as I was driving down the road, I saw something move under this little hoodie, so I stopped to see if I could help whatever was under it and that's how I found her. But seriously, I don't know how she showed up in our world.” He saw that Lewis was still speechless, so he reached down to help him up off the ground. “Dude,” he said, “Calm down, start thinking straight, you're scaring Vinyl!”
Lewis grabbed his extended hand, slowly getting to his feet. “D-dude… this is… this is incredible… I-I can’t even…”
Trent just smiled and chuckled, saying, “I know... I never imagined that this could happen...” Just then, they both heard a little rumble, and looked down at the little filly. She looked up at Trent, who said, “Well, it sounds like someone is a little hungry.” He started walking to the kitchen.
Following right behind him, Lewis started going off. “Dude, this is so awesome! I-I mean, finding a real-life Vinyl Scratch is amazing! We've... We've got to tell all our friends! They'll be so jealous, and...”
“No!” Trent shouted as he set Vinyl on the counter.” No one else needs to know about this! You're the only other person, other than me, that can know about her. You're my best pal, Lewis, I trust you with this. I would have never called you if I didn't. Besides...” He sighed and petted Vinyl again. “I realized something while I waited for you to get here. I've never had to take care of any other living thing before, besides my younger siblings. How am I ever going to take care of something like a unicorn pony when I've never done anything like that? That's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about... I'm going to need some help taking care of Vinyl, so... Would you mind moving in with me as my roommate?”
Stunned, Lewis stood there for a minute, then said, “Well... I feel honored that you want me to move in with you to take care of something so important, but... What about my family? What about my parents and brothers that I live with? I mean, I can't bring something this big up so suddenly, my dad will never allow it.”
“Well,” Trent said as he opened the fridge and started to rummage inside for food for Vinyl. “Don't they always treat you like crap anyways? I mean, the only one that really was ever nice to you was your mother, but now, it looks like your dad's personality is rubbing off on her. Really, it seems like it would be a lot better for you to move in here with me and Vinyl.” He pulled an apple out and got a knife out of the dish drainer.
Shaking his head, Lewis said, “My dad will be really pissed if I bring this up, man. He'll think that I'm abandoning the family or something.”
Trent stood next to the counter Vinyl sat on, cutting the apple and saying, “Screw your dad, Lewis. He's an ass anyway. He hates that you've never played a sport, and instead like ponies. And why would he feel like you're abandoning the family when he's the one who's supposed to be supporting them? He has no right to guilt-trip you to make you stay there.” He handed him a slice of apple. “Besides, I need your help with Vinyl, which is really important.”
Lewis looks at the apple slice, and said, “I understand that. But dude, why did you hand me this?” He held up the slice. Trent motioned down to Vinyl and Lewis looked and saw the little unicorn staring at it. He held it out to her, and she took it and ate it, allowing Lewis to pet her. He stood there for a while, then said, “You know what? You're totally right. I can't let my dad control me anymore. And it probably WILL take two people to take care of something like Vinyl.” He turned to Trent, holding his hand out. “I'll go ahead and move in with you. My family may not like it, but they'll have to deal with my decision.”
Trent took his hand, shaking it firmly. “I really appreciate it, man. I bet Vinyl will, too.”
Lewis grinned. “No problem.”