> Vinyl's New World > by Bleuv > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Leaving home. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vinyl Scratch was asleep in her room as the clock stuck six o-clock. The alarm rang and Vinyl slowly opened her eyes and yawned, as a new day was about to begin. She got out of bed and trotted over to the window and opened the shutters. It was a glorious day in the little town of Ponyville, all the ponies running their daily errands. Vinyl herself didn't exactly like going outside, as she preferred to stay in and work on music. She walked downstairs, where her roommate Octavia was already making breakfast. "Morning, Tavi!", Vinyl said happily as she sat down at the table. "Good morning, Vinyl", Octavia said calmly. "How did you sleep?" Vinyl replied, "I could've slept better. That stupid alarm clock ruined a great dream I was having.." Octavia laughed as she flipped a pancake in a pan, "Well, it's important we get up today. I got us tickets for something i'm sure you'll love." Vinyl, the type of pony who loves surprises, replied, "Oh my gosh, what is it?! Is it a a band concert?" "No", replied Octavia. "It's a machine that harnesses magic, sort of like a Unicorn's. I'm guessing it'll be able to perform spells of sorts." Vinyl already had a horn, so she wasn't really impressed. Though in her mind, the thoughts of what this machine could do fascinated her, so. Maybe for flight...or changing day to night..or maybe even to reverse time itself. Both ponies eventually sat down to eat after Octavia had finished cooking. They ate until Octavia said it was time to go. Both ponies walked to the train station and boarded a train that was headed into Canterlot. Vinyl said, in a bored tone, "Tavi, I've been wondering..what if this is going to be super boring? I don't want to head all the way up to Canterlot just for something boring and dumb." Octavia replied, "Oh Vinyl, don't be so melodramatic." Octavia laughed. "I'm sure it'll be fun! We get to see a new technology ponies have never seen before. When I was in line buying the tickets, all the other ponies seemed so excited. It'll be an adventure for us!" Vinyl, however, was still not impressed. Sighing, she said, "Well, I hope you're right, or else you owe me a dinner somewhere..like last time." Octavia sighed, then smiled and responded, "Alright, though i'm sure you'll be impressed somehow. You love technology." The train roared on threw the land, the wheels clicking underneath as is passed over the tracks towards the capitol city. As the city approached, the tall, detailed buildings started to get more into view. The city seemed to have an obsession with white, as most of the buildings were painted in a bright white. Vinyl had to psyche herself up to be able to not crumble under her assumptions the machine will not be worth the watch. The train slowly stopped at Canterlot station and the ponies all started to get out of the train. Vinyl and Octavia exited the train carefully. They both proceeded to walk down the sidewalk leading out of the station. They walked with most of the crowd going to a large building, the Canterlot Exhibit Center. Octavia looked to Vinyl and said, "This place is pretty nice inside. It was only made last year, I think." Vinyl nodded, as she looked around the building. The interior was very modern, lot's of technology and artwork. Vinyl was impressed: This is something she could perform in. She was so intrigued at the architecture, she didn't hear Octavia talking to her. "Vinyl?", said Octavia. "Huh? Oh, sorry. I was really...impressed at this building", Vinyl responded to her. Octavia laughed lightly. "Well, we have arrived at the room we need to go into." Octavia double checks the ticket again. "Yep, room 6A. This is where we need to be." Vinyl smiles at Octavia and the two friends walk inside the room. Inside the room, there are barely enough seats. Vinyl and Octavia find it difficult to squeeze threw the crowded rows and get to their seats. As the lights dimmed, it hinted the presentation was about to begin. As the presentation of the machine began, Vinyl got very interested. The machine did things unlike what a unicorn's horn could do in any way. It not only could perform spells, average magic, and tricks, but it could also do things that only the mythical Alicorn Amulet could do, such as gender changes. The test that interested Vinyl the most though was when they took a can and sent it off to some other universe. This made Vinyl interested. "Dang..there has to be some way I could test this thing out myself", Vinyl thought. She wondered about it all the way until the end of the show. As the two were leaving, Vinyl told Octavia she had to go to the bathroom. As Vinyl was walking, she quickly ran back out into the auditorium. She then jumped up onto the stage and went over to the machine. "Hey, stop that pony!" said a Guard, who was running twards Vinyl. Scared, Vinyl started pressing at some buttons trying to get the machine to do some task. As the guards started to surround her, a bright blue light was emitted from the machine. It quickly surrounded Vinyl. All the of the guards backed away, knowing this could be dangerous. Suddenly, there was a bright and violent flash that made all the guards blind for a moment. Once they regained their vision, Vinyl was not where she had been at all. She was gone. > Starting from Scratch > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vinyl woke up laying in the grass. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Well, this is at least better than waking up to an alarm clock", she said as she stood up, shaking the grass off her back . She looked around, noticing she was in a forest environment, as trees were all around her. "Am I in the Everfree forest?", Vinyl asked herself. "It's not as dark or dense." She walked around a bit, not seeing anypony as she explored. She started to get confused, as she has never seen any forest anywhere in Equestria that was like this. As she continued to walk, she noticed a cloud of smoke rising into the air from the distance. "Huh?", Vinyl said as she noticed the cloud. She looked at it, as the thoughts went threw her head. "FIRE!", she screamed and ran off. Then she stopped herself. Maybe it wasn't a fire. Perhaps it was the lighting of the many fireplaces down in Manehatten. Perhaps she had simply switched locations as a result of the machine. So she started to gain up courage and started to walk threw the forest. Vinyl trotted through the forest as she made her way to a clearing, so she could clearly identify the smoke cloud. Vinyl had never been in a forest before. The only reason she knows anything about forest's is from Octavia, who sometimes has to go threw them to get to a Cello recital. "Man, this is such an adventure", Vinyl said to herself happily, trotting threw the forest with a skip in her step. Then she stopped and thought to herself about the possibility of there being spiders. Vinyl hated spiders. So then Vinyl steadily slowed down as she continued to make her way threw the forest. After roughly forty minutes of walking, Vinyl was finally about to see a clearing. She ran threw the rest of the dense forest, as she was eager to see what this cloud could be. Perhaps she had gotten close to a dragon's lair and this is his smoke. Or maybe it could, as she would've thought, Manehatten. But as she stepped into the clearing, what she saw in the distance made her question her times in the city, as this looked nothing like Manehatten. "What the hay is this?", Vinyl said to herself as she looked at the city. "Is this really what Manehatten looks like, now? I don't remember any of this." Ahead of her was a tall, elegant city with large office and civilian buildings. The London Eye was rotating slowly, as it does threw-out the normally for the people of the city. Big Ben's clock tower rang as it stuck twelve PM. Vinyl questioned her memories of the city as she looked on. "Perhaps I should get a closer look", said Vinyl, as she started to trot down a path. She questioned her motives as she walked down, but thought that the possibility she was still in her world was high. If this really was an alien planet, wouldn't the lack of Oxygen kill her, as she remembers the Sci-Fi books she loved to read as a filly. Vinyl shook the thoughts out of her head, thinking this maybe be some Griffon city. She would just walk up and ask them to send her back. Simple as that, she thought to herself. So she cleared the thoughts of a new world out of her mind as she walked down the path. As she approached the city, she came across many odd creatures on the street. Vinyl paused, as she looked at them. They stared at her back. They seemed to be some kind of hairless ape, as their skin was visible and had no fur at all, only on their heads and occasionally their faces or legs. "Uh..hey, guys", Vinyl said awkwardly, as she tried to smile at the creatures. Suddenly, one of the female creatures screamed and ran off. The other creatures just slowly walked away from her. "Huh", she said to herself, as she continued walking. This was going to be an odd occasion. As Vinyl walked, the thoughts of a new world came back into her head like an explosion. Tons of different ideas played out in her head of the situation, and she couldn't pinpoint an exact one. Vinyl was slowly starting to freak out, since what if she was in a new world? There might be no way to get back to Equestria. Or her friends. Or Octavia. She sighed and continued walking. "What are these creatures?", Vinyl thought to herself as she walked. She felt so alone out here; an outsider, somepony who doesn't belong. She sighed, as people along the streets either stared at her in confusion, or muttered about themselves. As the day started to wind down, Vinyl walked down into an alley. She came across an old, beat up couch with holes in it. "Well," she thought, "I suppose this'll be better than sleeping on the ground." She climbed up onto the couch and laid her head on her fore-hooves as she stared up into the sky. Would she be sent back? Will she ever seen Ponyville and Tavi again? "The ponies would have to know of my disappearance", she thought to herself, "I'm sure Celestia and Equestria are already finding some way to get me out." She smiled to herself at that thought, then it slowly melted away, as homesickness surrounded her in a sheet of sorrow. She curled up on the couch to get warm and closed her eyes as she descended into sleep. > Day of Exploration > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vinyl awoke the next morning to the seven AM bell chime of Big Ben. She yawned as she got off the couch. "I guess I should take this time to explore the city a bit more", Vinyl thought to herself. She stretched and looked around. "Though..what will people think of me? I've only been threw what seems to be one percent of this whole city.." Vinyl thought this over and over in her head, debating on whether she should go out from the safety of the dimly lit alley way. Then she suddenly got a whiff of a smell coming from a dumpster; a putrid, nasty smell. "Well", she said to herself, "Look's like I'm going out." She trotted out of the alleyway and down the sidewalk. As she walked, a small little girl with her Mother caught Vinyl's eye. The child looked over at Vinyl. "Look, Mommy! A pony!", the child said joyously and excitedly. The Mother looked over at Vinyl, causing a very confused look onto her face. "Honey..don't touch it..", the Mother said to the girl. "Why, Mommy? She's pretty!", the girl responded, in a tone of frustration. The Mother pulled the child away from Vinyl and they continued down the street. The child waved at Vinyl as she left. Vinyl waved back, smiling happily at the girl. "Well"", Vinyl thought, "It seems I have positive and negative reviews so far." Vinyl continued down the street, people constantly asking her questions, giving her weird looks as they did. When Vinyl would respond, a surprised look would come over their faces. Most of the time, they would walk off casually, as if to keep away from her. Though some others were not so eager to get away and would keep asking her questions. This would please Vinyl, and she would happily respond. So far, however, most of the people she met treated her with negativity. "Let me take you to the pound!", one yelled at her angrily. She lowered her head to try to ignore him and continued walking. As Vinyl walked, she thought about her current position in society. She didn't care how she was being treated poorly, the main thing she was worried about was her financial issue. Back in Ponyville, she made money making music and selling it. Though, at the current moment, she had no income coming her way. This made her think about how she could start making money. "Maybe I should try and get a job", Vinyl thought to herself. As she pondered that thought, she again brought back the thought of the people's negative view towards her. "Could I even get a job?", she thought, "I mean, so far it seems most people don't seem to enjoy me around here." This worried her, as she did not want to end up begging. She was also getting very hungry, and needed some money. "Dang it", she said to herself, "I need a job now. Right. Now." She then started walking threw the city, looking for some store that dealt with music. After a long walk threw the city, and many interesting words coming out of people's mouths she had never heard before, she arrived in front of a store with guitars and other musical equipment displayed inside the shop's windows. The shop's name was London Music Supply. Vinyl looked up at the name of the store, and looked inside. She smiled to herself, as she used her magic to open the door and walk inside. As she walked threw the store up to the front desk, she saw all of the musical instruments and albums all across the shelves and walls. She saw records, tape recordings, CD's, instruments, posters; basically anything music related was in this store for sale. As she approached the front desk, a young man in his mid twenty's walked out of the back room and stared at her. "Hi!", Vinyl said happily. "I'm here for a job position." The man looked at her, pondering in his head why a talking pony was in his store. "Uh..", the man said, "I..I don't think we have a job opening.." "Oh come on, you have to have something open", Vinyl said. "You're the only employee I've seen threw out this entire shop so far." The man continued to just stare at her, his mouth open, but no words coming out. "Uhhh...", the man said, in his temporary state of disbelief at the talking horse wanting a job position. Vinyl tilted her head at him. "Look, I don't need a big position. I just want to make a bit of money so I can buy food." The man rubbed his head, getting out of his current shock. "Look, I suppose I could ask my manager if you could stock the shelves and stuff for money", the man responded. "Great!", Vinyl said happily. "I'll be perfect at this job, don't you worry!" "Look", the man said, "You don't have the job yet. Just uh..be patient. I'll be right back." Vinyl nodded, as her mind raced at the opportunity of getting a job here already. The man walked into the back room, likely to go talk to the manager. Vinyl walked around the store a bit more, surveying the large range of musical items. She was fascinated by all of the artists and genre's. Back in Equestria, where seemingly all ponies were talented at singing, there was only a handful of actual record recording artists. Vinyl studied the names of some of the artists as she walked. She would definitely try to listen to a some of these artists, to see how music was in this world. Likely not much different then in Equestria, but worth the listen, she was sure. After a little while, the man walked back out. "Alright", he said, "You have the job. The manager printed out for you your dates and times for working." The man hands Vinyl the job time sheet. She looks over it and smiles. "Thank you", she says happily. "Not a problem", the man says. "You start right now. There are boxes in the back room of new albums of music. Just fill them in the correct order. The back room is threw that door, there." He points to a door. Vinyl nods enthusiastically and starts walking over to the door. "Wait", Vinyl says. "What's your name? Also, why didn't I have to fill out a job application?" "I'm Chris", the man responded. "Also, we don't actually give out job applications here. You basically just show up and get payed at the end of each day. Though, what's your name? We'll have to register it into the computer." "I'm Vinyl Scratch", Vinyl responded happily. Vinyl holds out her hoof for a handshake, or hoofshake. The man looks down at the hoof and fist bumps it. "Eh, close enough", Vinyl said as she walked towards the back room. Her new job has begun. > New Responsibilities > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vinyl levitated albums for sorting around her. She puts them in alphabetical order, perfectly straight and right side up. This was her third day at her job, and so far no complaints from Chris or the manager, which she considers a success. So far Vinyl still has no place to live, besides the couch in the alley way, which despite the smell is surprisingly very comfy. But Vinyl is happy, since she gets to constantly be around her favorite thing: Music. As Vinyl is nodding her head to the sound of music coming from the store stereo, Chris walks over to her. "Vinyl?", Chris taps her shoulder. "Yeah, Chris?", Vinyl responds. She looks up at him. "You've been doing a surprisingly good job", Chris said. "I was kind of worried you would be a waste of our time..no offence." "I understand", Vinyl smiles. "I would probably think the same if I were you." Chris smiles. "Anyway, I thought I would just tell you that. Just keep doing what you're doing, and maybe you'll get a promotion soon", Chris says. "That would be fantastic!", Vinyl says enthusiastically. Chris walks back off to work at the front desk. Vinyl continued stocking the shelves for the remainder of the work day. As the end of the day came, she clocked out and walked outside onto the sidewalk. People who go past this place often have begun to just accept Vinyl and not bother her. Though, that doesn't mean people still don't walk past her, glaring at her. Vinyl continued to walk down the sidewalk as she heads home after a productive workday. As she enters her apartment, Vinyl falls onto her bed. She takes a few moments to think about her day, and what she'll do tomorrow. As she closes her eyes, she retreats to a deep sleep.