Music Sounds Better With You

by Proswagonist

Chapter 02 - The Universal Greeting

Chapter 2

As suddenly as the rumbling had started, it stopped. Alan opens his eyes to discover the lights have all turned off, and in their place, sunlight streams through the basement's tiny window. The light of the sun at noon. "It worked.... mother of twelve bastards, it WORKED!" Rushing to the window, Alan is greeted with a strange sight, indeed. His house was now in the middle of what appeared to be a medieval village... inhabited by multicolored ponies, the tallest of which seemed to come up just above his midsection. "Holy hell. That's a lot of ponies." The rational part of Alan's brain told him there were too many of them around for them to simply be loose livestock. As well, many seemed to be talking and wearing at least some form of clothes to keep them warm.

"I'd better make myself look presentable before I meet my new neighbors, I suppose." He chuckled. Rushing upstairs, he sprints to his closet and proceeds to put on a pair of carpenter jeans, a blue t-shirt featuring his favorite transformers character, Soundwave, a green hoodie, his red converse sneakers, and lastly, his lucky Doctor Who scarf. He picks up his olive messenger bag and pauses, looking at where he stashes his candy. "That's not a bad idea. This could work," he says as he starts pulling out a bag of his favorite sweets.

A minute later, he is at his door. Pausing again, he closes his eyes and clears away his remaining jitters with a deep breath. You only get to make one first impression when meeting an entirely new species, afterall.

---

Outside, a rather large herd of ponies have gathered to gawk at the very out of place modern-yet-run-down home which appeared out of nowhere. At the front of it all, Vinyl Scratch stands closest to the front door, contemplating knocking. There is a click as the doorknob turns, Vinyl's ears twitching involuntarily as it creaks open. Every pony assembled holds their breath in anticipation as it opens slowly, revealing a shaded figure just inside the doorway of the darkened house. Stepping out into the light, he reveals himself. A six foot tall alien, nearly hairless save for his short mane of dark hair on the top of his head. He stands on his hind legs, and in place of forehooves, he has strange five-fingered appendages, which move gently as he sweeps a few stray hairs of his mane back from his ice blue eyes.

Moving slowly to try and keep from startling everypony too badly, he holds up one of his hands vertically and speaks.

"Bah weep Graaaghna weep ninnibong"

This is followed by the assembled ponies looking to eachother, some repeating his words, others quietly saying things like what the buck does that mean? or I hope that means he's friendly.

Vinyl Scratch steps closer to him, looking into his eyes before saying "Bah weep Graaaghna weep ninnibong?" The creature smiles, nods, and begins pulling some small, round, red and black objects from his bag. He holds his hand out to her, as if telling her to have some. She picks one from his hand with her hoof, sniffs it briefly, and pops it in her mouth before giving it a good chew. The delicious mixture of peanut butter and candy shell coating assault her tasebuds nearly instantly. "Whoa! These are GOOD!" She says, taking another one.

"Oh thank god, you speak English." Alan says giving a relived sigh.

"Actually, we're speaking Equestrian, but whatever floats your boat, dude." Vinyl replies, still chewing on the last couple pieces. "So, where do you come from, alien guy?"

Relaxing his voice as well as his shoulders, Alan says "Well, if there's a bright center of the universe, I come from the planet that it's furthest from. A little ball of saltwater and dirt called Earth. And yes, before you say anything, that IS like I just said," He pauses, making a comically straight face and deepening his voice for effect "I come from planet Dirt," he chuckles, hearing most of the ponies close enough to hear his quip give a small laugh as well, especially the electric blue maned unicorn infront of him. "My name is Alan Ryves. It's a pleasure to meet you. All of you."

The mare infront of Alan gulps, finishing the last couple of pieces Alan had offered. "And I'm Vinyl Scratch. Put er there, buddy," she says, her apple-red eyes meeting Alan's ice blue eyes as she puts her right forehoof forward for him. Smiling again, Alan takes her hoof in his hand, giving it a good shake.

"So, uh, this land doesn't happen to be named Avalon by any chance, does it?"

A nearby tan colored stallion steps forward, a mark shaped like an hourglass adorning his flanks "I'm afraid not, my good fellow. You're in a humble berg called Ponyville, in the land of Equestria." He smirks before adding "Lovely scarf by the way." Before Alan can comment, a pink blur tackles him to the ground, emitting a stream of words he barely manages to comprehend.

"OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHImPinkiePiehellonewnotponythingguyIveneverseenanyponylikeyoubeforeyoureprettyneatlookingdoyoulikepartiescauseimgonnagiveyouthebestestbestwelcomingpartyever!"

"Hey, whoa whoa, I love parties, but next time could you rethink the bowling the new guy over part? I've got something of a bad knee."

"Whoopsie, sorries!" Pinkie responds, hopping off of him and somehow picking him up by the foot and setting him down upright before he has time to blink. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"No worries. Just, you know, be careful. Also, how did you do th... and she's just run off." Alan says the last few words realizing Pinkie has already bounced off at top speed, presumably to set up a party.

"That's just Pinks being herself man. She's the town's resident party animal. Half the time, I'm making her parties bump." Vinyl Scratch says before realizing her current situation, her features visibly drooping. "Or at least, I was till today."

"Why, what happened?" Alan asks.

"Well, you see, I kind of... well, blew up my pad when I was trying to invent a spell to make my beats more kickin. It worked a little too well. You see where your house is?" Alan looks behind him and nods. "Well, That's where my house used to be till a little before sunup today. The spell kind of exploded it. And almost all of my gear. All I got left is a box with a couple records, an amp, some wires, and a crappy headset. I've been outside all day in the cold picking up what's left."

Without hesitation, Alan takes off his hoodie and puts it on Vinyl's shoulders. "Then you must be pretty cold out here. I'll let you borrow this. As for the other things, I've got a pretty huge spare bedroom, and my brother left me a lot of his dj equipment after he... well, he left me his stuff. What do you say?"

"Dude, seriously? You don't even know me, and you're already giving me beat machines and a bed?" Vinyl cocks an eye at Alan. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. I had a bad day too, once." He says smiling. "Come with me, I'll show you the stuff. I just hope you can use it."

---

The citizens of Ponyville, long since used to weirdness, quickly went about their business once Alan had assured them he'd give out the answers they wanted of him at the party later. Shortly after figuring out there was no longer any electricity running through the house, Alan grabbed an electric lamp and guided Vinyl to the doorway down into the basement. "I assure you, I'm not leading you into some creepy BDSM dungeon where I plan to tie you up or anything. The place really needs a good coat of paint all over, so it just looks a little..."

"Like the den of a madpony who cuts off others' faces and puts them on his own?" Vinyl grinned, watching her step down the creaking steps.

"Bingo. And here we are. I really ought to see about getting the electricity hooked up. You guys do have that here, right? Please say yes." Alan grins while opening the door at the bottom of the basement steps.

Vinyl laughs, answering "Of course dude, how do you think I've been spinning my tunes the whole time? Magic can do a lot, but nopony can keep a house lit all day without good old electricity."

Hanging the lamp from a hook on the ceiling, Alan walks over to the pile of boxes his brother left him. "Good. I just hope I can work out a deal with the village's utilities department soon, or else I've got a lot of food that's about to go bad." Sorting through the junk takes a while, and much of it is fairly heavy. "HERE we are. This should give you a good start." Alan says, setting aside a lengthy box which reads 'Access Virus KC' picturing a combination keyboard/synthboard.

Looking it over, Vinyl can't help but let loose a whistle. "Damn dude, this is some heavy duty stuff. This is the first thing you've pulled out for me and I already feel like I've been playing in the minor leagues. You said this belonged to your brother?"

Alan slows his search a bit, a memory coming to his mind briefly. "Yeah. He was super serious about his gear. Heh, he spent pretty much the entirety of his college tuition on getting his setup for being a bigtime techno musician." Alan stops for a moment before starting to pull out a dual spin table, groaning slightly with the weight. "This is only half of what he had. This stuff here was his spares. He... was mugged after a show. Bastards stabbed him and took off with his truck that had all his show gear in it." Alan looks down, taking a deep breath and swallowing the memory.

"Oh... Oh damn dude, I didn't mean to bring up such a bad memory." Vinyl slumps slightly, putting a comforting hoof on Alan's back. "I see what you mean by having a bad day once, now. Are you sure you want me to have all this?"

Alan smiles, turning around to look her in the eyes. "I'm certain. It's just taking up space down here, as it is. And I'm sure Steve wouldn't mind. Just promise me you'll watch your back after you do your shows from now on."

"Ponyville is as safe as a place can get, but I understand why you'd ask me, so yeah, I promise. It will still be at least a couple weeks before I have new music to play, but without what you've given me here, it would be months at the very least. I owe you a major solid. Or 100."

Alan smiles "Well, if you want, we could have a chat over some lunch made on the grill, tell me a little about the area. I think I've got everything I need to make a veggie kebab for you, and if I don't use it now, I've got a really awesome steak that won't last long without a fridge."

"You eat meat?" Vinyl says, cocking her head slightly as she looks at Alan dead on.

"Yeah, but I have a personal rule that I won't eat anything that can perform basic math." Alan chuckles a bit, then scratches his head. "That reminds me, I'd better go hook up my garage freezer to the camping generator I have. Why don't you see if there's anything else in this pile here you can use while I get our lunch started?"

"Alright. Leave the light for me, k?"

"Sure. See you in a few." Alan says, tossing her a casual wave as he heads upstairs.

Vinyl Scratch looks over the pile of equipment, smiling to herself. "I guess I lucked out today."

Author's Note:

EDIT: DERRRRP, re-added and re-wrote the lost section to the end of this chapter. My bad, guys.

Comments

[Ninjahzzzz]

Well.....I wont say this is cliche free,But i still adore it,With only a slight amount of guilt compared to the pleasure

[Sonson-Sensei]

3442246 Does it look like it's heading that way? Don't really want to read, if it's just going the jump the shark like that.

[Blue Spark]

As soon as I saw the title I thought of the universal greeting from Transformers, and I was right! :D
Anyway, I'm surprised that he hasn't realized that he's in the wrong place, thought he'd start panicking...
He's also not surprised that they have magic though I guess that makes sense since he's a wizard or something like that.
Either way this is turning out great!
I can't wait for Vinyl to realize that the entire scene was like the one her father told her as a kid, love to see that reaction.
Can't wait for the next chapter!!!

[Raistlin]

"Ponyville is as safe as a place can get, but I understand why you'd ask me, so yeah, I promise."

Did Alan note how the sudden apparition of a building with an alien inside in the middle of the town was quickly dismised as another daily occurrence? That should have him a clue of Ponyville´s concept of "safety".

[SuperMarioDemon]

3427446 Really? I was thinking of this version.[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRXlyoVlWTs]

[Proswagonist]

3451735
I'll go ahead and address this now.

The circlet will make an appearance, but if it's used at all, it will be in one of the optional clopfics I may write on the side, so it will have no real impact on character development.

[Fugly Duckling]

it's going too fast

[Proswagonist]

WHOOPS! Just now noticed that a big chunk of the end of CH2 I did this morning I'd forgotten to save. Feel free to point and laugh, guys.

[Rune Flash]

3451735 well, i honestly can't say but if it turns out that it'll be that way im this story, even if it's as awesome as it may seems.

[Proswagonist]

Will start working on Ch 3 soon. Probably done within the week.

Nevermind on the question I had here before. I will be doing the lunch scene.

Next time on MSBWY: Cultural Awareness

[Raggedviking]

As soon as I saw the Universal Greeting I knew this was going to be the best thing I ever read.