After a string of unfortunate events, Vinyl Scratch makes a wish to be somewhere that she'll be appreciated. She never expects it to come true though, and when it does it leaves her trying to rebuild her self confidence.
I'm not a particularly special dude. Just a musician trying to make ends meet. But one evening I wind up meeting someone whom I thought was totally fictional. That character is Vinyl Scratch, but guess what? She's not a pony, but somehow had been turned into a human! She tells me her tale and I make it my job to help her regain her confidence as a musician.
(Marked 'teen' for language and some adult themes. I've seen plenty of 'pony becomes human'-style stories but I haven't really found any that involves everyone's favorite DJ, so I thought I'd try my hand at it. Also: A big thanks to bats for the cover art!)
The distant sounds of the odd car zipping by on a local highway were almost drowned out by the sounds of a gentle breeze rustling leaves and the occasional chirping of a cricket. Tonight was a rare night; cloudless, the moon was full and bright, and all was calm. Even with a light breeze the night was still fairly warm. I made it a point to take advantage of this perfect night and enjoy it as much as I could. Normally I hike during the day, but tonight I made an exception. I was out at one of my favorite, and rarely visited, places to go for a walk or small hike: Sandstone Ranch. The historic ranch was situated on the very eastern edge of town and its sizeable property included small cliffs, rolling landscape, numerous trails, and a creek. This was in addition to the actual ranch house itself, several small gardens, a barn, outhouse, ice house and well, and some more modern additions like a garage where power tools and ATVs were stored.
I had already been out pretty late on a small photo shoot in the nearby mountains. I don’t claim to be a professional photographer by any means, nor do I own any professional equipment, but photography in general has been a long time hobby of mine and I take every chance I get to capture anything that happens to catch my eye. Today I was out taking photos of mountainous landscape as the sun was setting, causing the land and everything on it to be bathed in a beautiful golden light, and while packing up to head home after the sun had set I thought it would be a good idea to go for a little hike and get some exercise. Goodness knows I could use it.
So after I had driven back into town I thought about the different places I could go for a hike. There was an extensive bike trail that lead along Left Hand Creek at the bottom of the hill in my neighborhood that I enjoyed very much as a child. There was also a path along several parts of the St. Vrain River in the southern part of town. But I dismissed those and decided on one that I hadn’t been to in a while: the dirt paths of Sandstone Ranch. I figured it would be just far enough away that at this time of day people wouldn’t be there but I wouldn’t have to drive halfway across the county to get to it. Though the funny part about that is that to get to Sandstone Ranch I have to cross a county line, even though it’s still within the city limits. Crazy city boundaries crossing county lines.
I had arrived at Sandstone Ranch’s upper parking lot where most of the trails were located to find it totally devoid of any human activity. Parking the car in a corner of the lot and stashing my iTouch and camera in the middle console, I climbed out of my vehicle and leaned against it, breathing in the clean night air. The night can certainly be a beautiful thing, and tonight was most definitely one such night. Light pollution from the city and the bright light reflecting off the moon made seeing a dark night sky impossible, but that didn’t really matter to me at the moment.
I shut the door and locked my car before heading to one of the trail heads. There I only looked out at the city I called home for nearly two full decades. A dull glow from the commercial strips along the major roads on the south end of town and the lights from the defunct sugar mill complex and silos were the most prominent features. I turned my attention away from the city and to the landscape in my immediate area. Everything was bathed in the clear moonlight, lending the landscape a bluish hue. It reminded me of all the camping trips I had ever gone on out across the Pawnee Grasslands and all the way out in Fort Robinson, a historic military fort in the northern part of the state of Nebraska, and for a moment I felt slightly nostalgic for those fun trips of years past.
Taking one deep breath and exhaling slowly, I began to make my way down the trail. I took my time since I didn’t have any particular time to be home, and as I walked I quietly observed the various plants and small formations along the way. Being a high desert plain, the landscape was covered with various very hardy species of grass and the occasional yucca bush. Various prairie dog mounds disrupted the otherwise smooth landscape. The trail I was on slowly began to descend into a very small and shallow valley that lead into the landscape immediately adjacent to the ranch house. Along the path were small marker posts that had descriptions of historic features or the general landscape. I paid little attention to these as I slowly made my way down into the valley.
I suppose maybe now would be a good time to introduce and describe myself. My name is Matt, though I go by several aliases. I suppose the best way to describe my appearance would be with the term ‘Aryan’. Tall, somewhat imposing though not very muscular build, slightly long blond hair, and grey-blue eyes. I moved to this city, Longmont, Colorado, roughly two decades ago from the military First Coast city of Jacksonville, Florida when I was only three. I didn’t have very many friends growing up outside of a few in my neighborhood until I got to high school. I met a few friends there that I kept through my high school career and beyond my college years, which admittedly were cut short. I had attended a university not far from here and made several good friends and accomplished a number of things there for the two years I attended, but a sudden realization of the direction my life was taking and an unfortunately timed illness caused me to drop out and move back to Longmont. That was about a year and a half ago now.
My immediate family had moved to Oklahoma a year ago but left me the house here so long as I could pay rent on it, and honestly the rate that had been given to me wasn’t even that high. For most of the last year I had been working at a warehouse packaging goods, but due to the nature of my employment as a contractor through an agency and as a result of a snafu in the management side of things, I was let go a few months ago with no notice. Since then I had been unable to secure a steady job and instead had to rely on day jobs and the occasional gig I could land with my band mates and high school friends Nathan and Kyle. I played the bass guitar and would provide vocals as needed and the pay was usually pretty good, but gigs were hard to land. This meant that always earning enough to pay my folks for rent each month without dipping into my savings was tough.
Tough to the point where I had begun to consider taking in roommates from my local online social ring. I knew most of the people in my online social ring personally so it wasn’t a matter of me not trusting any of them, but the problem arise when it came to most of them getting jobs in Longmont. Longmont, simply put, is a place where people travel to all the other cities around to work and do things.
But all of that was deep in the back of my mind. All I wanted right now was to enjoy the night and all its beauty in peace without worrying about any potentially pressing issues like rent or any other bills that I had to deal with. Utilities, insurance, and internet might all be paid for with the rent but I still had to pay for things like my phone and groceries, plus any incidentals.
Briefly I stopped and checked my watch. Even in the moonlight I could barely read it so I turned on the internal light for a moment. The digital display revealed that the time was roughly a quarter after nine, which I was perfectly okay with. It meant that I still had plenty of time to finish my hike and make it back home to peruse today’s photos and work on a new bass line I had written before it got too late.
Continuing on down into the valley I began to see everything open up in front of me. A thick wall of trees lined the creek in the near distance. A barbed wire fence ran parallel to the path all the way to the creek, and a single gate stood where the path crossed the fence. To the right were the small sandstone cliffs that lent Sandstone Ranch its name, and at the other end of this wall of sandstone was the ranch itself. To my left the land leveled out until it met with the creek. Everything seemed normal as I approached the gate and swung it open to pass, closing it after I was through.
Continuing along the path, which eventually led to the ranch house, I listened to the sound of the water running over rocks from the creek and the occasional cricket.
Then I heard something…off.
I stopped walking and looked around. The area was known for being frequented by foxes and coyotes, but what I heard didn’t sound like either animal. Instead it sounded like a groan of pain. I carefully scanned the area, but didn’t see anyone.
“Hello?” I called out. I heard the groan again, this time slightly louder but still soft and it sounded like it was coming from the cliffs.
All sorts of horrifying scenarios filled my head as I carefully made my way across the open area towards the cliffs. The last thing I needed right now would be to break my ankle or something by stepping into one of the prairie dog holes or getting attacked by a surprised fox or coyote.
Within moments I was only a few feet away from the base of the sandstone cliffs. It was fortunate that the moonlight was bright enough for me to see, because I didn’t have any kind of flashlight and the light from an antiquated flip phone just wasn’t going to cut it.
I slowly made my way along the base of the cliffs, calling out again. I didn’t hear a response, but I didn’t need to as I rounded a portion of the cliffs and discovered the source.
I didn’t wake up that morning expecting anything unusual or extraordinary to happen. Longmont just wasn’t that kind of city. Hardly anything odd, unusual, or extraordinary happened here, and usually when it did it was some whack-job getting into a standoff with the local authorities because he’s a meth head high on who knows what. Longmont is a commuter city; people lived here but worked pretty much everywhere else. That is, unless you happened to be in the IT or related fields because that industry is booming in Longmont.
So I suppose that saying I was shocked when I found someone, nearly unconscious, at the base of some sandstone cliffs at Sandstone Ranch at the edge of town in the middle of the night would be somewhat of an understatement. This kind of thing just doesn’t happen here!
Making sure it was safe to proceed, I quickly composed myself as I approached the individual, a female. She was lying at the base of the cliff, breathing softly. Her white t-shirt, which bore a pair of connected eighth notes, white shoes and shorts had minor dirt marks and scuffs, as if she had taken a hard fall. Her shoulder-length hair, which looked like had been dyed blue lay in a mess around her head, partially obscuring her face. I didn’t see anything lying around her person. Her breathing was light, and her arms and legs had small scratches and bruises.
I mentally berated myself for not thinking to bring even a small medical kit.
Kneeling down next to the girl, whom I judged to be about my age, I gently tapped on her shoulder. “Are you alright?” I asked, hoping to get a response.
Nothing at first, so I repeated the action, this time slightly more firmly and louder, and quickly ran my eyes over her various injuries, judging which ones were most serious. Thankfully none of them appeared to be very deep or large though I’d guess that they all stung plenty.
As I attempted to elicit some kind of reaction from her for a third time, I felt her arm stir. I immediately turned my attention to her face, looking for any change in expression. Her eyes twitched a bit before slowly opening. I inwardly breathed a small sigh of relief, because hopefully this would mean no trip to the hospital.
She blinked a few times before turning to look at me, and the second she did she shrieked and attempted to push me away while backing up against the cliff.
“WHAT ARE YOU?” She shrieked, pointing at me.
I was about to respond when my brain registered that she had said ‘what’ and not ‘who’. That one word threw my mental processes off and I stammered a bit in response, trying to make sense of it. It was also at that point that the girl noticed her hand and shrieked again, as if the appendage was totally foreign to her.
Confused, I attempted to calm her down. “Please calm down, miss, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help, and I need to know how you ended up here and how badly you are injured.”
As I spoke she tried to back away, only to find herself already pressed up against the cliff. ‘This is too weird.’ I thought to myself as I tried to make sense of her odd behavior. It was entirely possible that she had suffered some kind of head trauma, possibly from whatever caused her to be in this state.
“What. Are. You?” The girl repeated.
I blinked and just decided to go with it. “I’m a human. My name is Matt, and like I said I’m here to help.”
The girl looked down at her own body and examined it. “A human?” She said, starting to calm down. “Is that what I am now?”
Wait, ‘now’? “Yes, you are a human.” Suddenly the thought of seeking help from a mental institution seemed a very realistic possibility if things didn’t start making sense.
“Ugh…” She groaned and rubbed her head, which immediately made me wonder if she had in fact suffered some kind of head trauma. “Where am I? How did I get here?”
“You’re just outside of Longmont, Colorado.” I replied. “And I was hoping you’d be able to tell me how you wound up here like this.”
“Colorado? Longmont? Ugh. The last thing I remember…I had just got home to my apartment and I was having a bad night and then I fell asleep and…oh no. No no no no!” She suddenly worked herself into a panic.
“Calm down please!” I tried to calm her down. “Breathe deep.” She complied. “Now tell me, what is your name and where are you from?”
“I’m Vinyl, and I live in Trottingham.” The girl responded. She suddenly looked very worried and whispered, “Can you help me?”
I thought the name sounded odd, and the town sounded British in origin, or at least like it would be in New England, but it was definitely not a place around here. I ruled out the possibility of it being British; her accent was definitely American. I smiled and said, “Of course I’ll help you.” I stood, and extended a hand to help her up.
Vinyl looked cautiously at my extended hand, and slowly grabbed it with both of hers. I couldn’t help but notice that her skin was unusually soft and smooth. She wobbled a bit as she stood and tried to regain her balance, and I put my other hand on her arm to help balance her. Vinyl smiled back at me and then winced as if she was just now registering the various cuts, scrapes, and bruises across her limbs. As it turned out, Vinyl was fairly tall. Not quite up to my height, and I stand at over six feet, but she was definitely taller than most women I knew.
“We’ll have to get those cleaned and taken care of to minimize the risk of infection.” I commented. “Since there’s no telling how long you were out here or even how you wound up with them, we shouldn’t waste any time.”
Vinyl nodded and grabbed my arm with both hands to steady herself. I didn’t mind since it was clear that she was having some difficulty with basic motor function, and I led her back to the path. There were a number of questions that I wished to ask her pertaining to her unusual word choice, but thought that for now at least they could wait.
“So, Vinyl, do you have any friends around here or a place to stay?” I asked as we made our way past the fence and gate.
“I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.” Vinyl replied. “I’ve never heard of Longmont or Colorado before.”
Now I found that to be rather odd. I can understand people not knowing what Longmont is. Longmont may be a small or mid-sized city but it’s always getting overshadowed by nearby Denver or Boulder. But not knowing about Colorado? Okay, so I can understand that people tend to overlook Colorado outside of the ski season, but to have never even heard of it?
I tried not to let my confusion show. “I see. So then I take it you don’t have any friends nearby?”
Vinyl shook her head. I was almost starting to wonder if maybe she had been drugged and abducted.
“Okay, well until I can sort things out I would like to take you to my place and get you cleaned and bandaged up. Is that alright?” It was the least I could do to help, and I’d feel like a terrible person if I didn’t at least try.
Vinyl stopped walking and looked at me, worried. “You’re not going to hurt me, are you? How do I know I can trust you?”
I smiled back at her and shook my head. “I promise I won’t hurt you, and if at any time you feel like you are in danger then I won’t stop you from leaving. I can’t make you trust me or even believe a word that I’m saying, but since you seem to be in serious need of assistance I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try to help you.”
Vinyl looked me straight in the eye, and it was then that I noticed hers were a magenta color. I figured that she just had some kind of special contacts in and didn’t think much of it. “I’ll trust you for now…Matt, was it?” I nodded. “I’ll trust you for now Matt. You seem nice enough…and thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I replied and we began to walk again.
We were about to reach the parking lot when Vinyl asked, “So do you live close to here?”
I pointed over towards the city. “Just over there. We’ll drive.”
Vinyl looked at me quizzically. “Drive?”
“Yeah, you know, with a car?”
“What’s a car?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t have cars where you’re from?” She shook her head. “That is a car.” I pointed across the lot to my vehicle, a 2006 Chevrolet Maxx.
Vinyl blinked as she studied the machine. “It’s what we use as transportation.” I explained.
“Oh, so it’s kinda like a carriage or chariot!” Vinyl said.
Carriages? Chariots? Where on Earth was this girl from? “You could say that, but cars don’t require animals or other people to make them run.”
“Okay, so they run on magic then.” Vinyl replied as we approached the vehicle.
“Not quite.” I said, pulling out my keys and remotely unlocking the car. Vinyl jumped slightly when the head and tail lights flashed on. “We use gasoline and electricity to power cars.”
Vinyl blinked again, and gave me a look that said she had no idea what I was talking about.
“Vinyl, did you hit your head recently?” I asked, stopping in front of the car.
“I…I don’t think so.” She said, letting go of my arm and trying to balance herself, only to fall forward slightly. She propped herself against my car.
“Would you mind if I checked real fast?” I asked, and she gave her consent. I parted her hair as best as I could, looking for anything odd, and felt the contours of her head for any unusual bumps or features. After a minute of thorough searching I found nothing.
“Is something wrong?” She asked, nervous.
“Well I can’t seem to find anything that would indicate that you’ve suffered any kind of head trauma recently.” I said. “Now, do you think you can make it to the passenger side of the car and get in?”
Vinyl looked at where I was pointing and slowly made her way around the car. She fumbled a bit with the door handle but she managed to open the door and climb into the passenger seat. I climbed behind the wheel and gestured for her to close the passenger door as I stuck the key in the ignition and turned it.
The engine roared into life, lighting up the instrument cluster and the dashboard, startling Vinyl. I couldn’t help but grin a little bit. “Now, buckle up and try not to get blood on anything. It’s a real pain to clean stains out of these seats.”
Vinyl began to fumble a bit with the belt buckle. “Help?”
I grinned again and reached across to grab the belt. Unintentionally my arm grazed her breasts as I reached around her, but she gave no indication that she cared. I quickly pulled the belt around her and secured it.
I disengaged the emergency brake, but before I put the Chevy into reverse I pulled out my iTouch, which was plugged into an AM/FM transmitter, and resumed the playlist I had going. I put my hand on the gear shift as I looked at the song that was playing. It was a trance song called ‘Nostalgic’ by an artist on YouTube that called him or herself Vinyl Scratch.
Wait a minute. Vinyl Scratch. Vinyl. Immediately my head was filled with images of an animated alabaster mare with electric blue mane and tail and magenta eyes and a mark on her flank that resembled two connected eighth notes.
Suddenly, I got this crazy suspicion. I almost berated myself for not noticing the similarities sooner, but at the same time I had more pressing things to worry about and this suspicion was so incredibly far-fetched.
But it was worth a shot anyways, and if my suspicion proved to be correct, it would explain so much about this individual.
Vinyl’s head was bobbing slightly to the beat of the song. “I’m diggin’ this song.” She commented.
I looked at her and said, “You’re Vinyl Scratch.”
Vinyl froze and slowly turned to look at me. “How do you know my full name?”
I ignored the question. “You’re Vinyl Scratch, a dee jay unicorn from Equestria who goes by the stage name DJ Pon Three.”
Vinyl’s eyes widened in shock. “How do you know this?”
Well, now that definitely sealed the deal. Unless this person was some kind of crazy ridiculous dedicated cosplayer, then this was the real deal.
Okay, small confession time. During my last year in college I was in introduced to a cartoon known as ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’. At first I wasn’t sure what to make of the fanbase. The show was directed towards little girls, but for some inexplicable reason the show had caught on with men of all age demographics, though the primary age group associate with the fanbase seemed to be those who were in their late teens and twenties. Eventually I forced myself to watch the first few episodes, and before I knew it I was hooked. Yes, I was hooked to a cartoon whose main cast included a bunch of pastel-colored magical ponies. Never in my life did I ever think I’d be hooked on such a thing, but I was. The voice acting was of professional quality, the animation style was fresh and interesting, and what I appreciated was that the show sought to teach lessons that people learn through friend making and social interaction, and some of the lessons were actually pretty good ones. In fact this show is the focus of the online social ring I’m a part of.
One of the many background characters was named Vinyl Scratch by the fandom. This character was never given a name in the show, or even any speaking roles, but apparently it was all real because there was a humanized representation of that character sitting right next to me in my car!
Now came the awkward part…explaining all of this.
I sighed. “It’s…truthfully it’s a long story and I promise you I’ll explain it all, but I can’t here and we need to treat your injuries.”
Vinyl studied me carefully for a moment. “I trust you, Matt. But I expect an explanation.”
“Trust me, you’ll get one.” I said as I put the car in reverse and backed out of the spot before heading back to the highway to head home.
I can’t say that I’d totally blame her for suddenly being suspicious of me. After all if she truly was the Vinyl Scratch from the cartoon, and she suddenly she wound up in a totally unknown world but the natives there know of her, her being freaked out would be totally understandable. But it still left the question of how she got here in the first place.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Vinyl tense up as I hit the accelerator to get up to speed on the highway, engine revving. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.” I said. “That noise is just the engine working to get the car up to speed on the highway.”
I noticed Vinyl relax, but only slightly. “How does it work?” She asked.
“The engine works by using gasoline as fuel. It combusts in the engine causing pistons to revolve and move gears which propel the car forward. When I push on the acceleration pedal…” I pressed slightly on the pedal, and the engine responded appropriately. “…it causes more fuel to be used, the pistons to revolve faster, and the car speeds up. When I press on the brake pedal, disks on the wheels press against them causing them to slow down, thus slowing down the car.” I merged into the turn lane to get off the highway and turned onto the correct city street.
“It sounds really complex.” Vinyl responded.
“It can be.” I admitted. “Some cars take different kinds of fuel, and some cars rely only on electricity, and some use both fuel and electricity.”
“What’s electricity?”
“It’s what we use to power our machines.” I said, turning off the street and onto another. “You can say it’s like magic, but it can be very dangerous if misused.”
Vinyl sighed. “I guess it’ll take a while before I understand all of this.”
The conversation died as I pulled into my neighborhood and parked in the driveway in front of my house. On that note, why do we park in driveways and drive on parkways? I put the car in park and turned the engine off, killing the radio in the process. I took my camera and iTouch and pocketed them before climbing out and walking around to the other side of the car. I opened the door for Vinyl and unbuckled her when she couldn’t quite get the buckle to work, then hit the lock button on the door panel to lock the vehicle and helped Vinyl out.
Vinyl looked up and down the dark suburban street before looking back at my house. “Nice place.” She commented. Yeah it was a nice place, two floors and an attic plus a basement and two car garage. I rarely parked my car in the garage during the weekdays. Don’t ask me why, because I honestly wouldn’t have a response. It was just a habit.
“Thanks.” I said and led the way to the front door.
Moments later we crossed the threshold. I led Vinyl to the dining room table, flicked on the lights and offered her a seat at the end of the table. “Wait here a moment, I’m going to go get my medical kit.” I said. She nodded and I went upstairs to get what I needed.
I returned a minute later with a box of bandages, a small bottle of rubbing alcohol, several cotton balls, and a rag. I placed everything but the rag on the table and went into the kitchen to wet the rag. It didn’t take very long to get the water to lukewarm temperature, and I proceeded to soak the rag. I then wrung it out so that it was moist but not dripping and returned to Vinyl.
“I’ll start with your legs.” I said, and pulled out a second chair. “Would you mind putting them both on this chair for me?” I asked, and she complied.
I kneeled down between the two chairs. “Now this will probably sting some.” I cautioned and began to wipe the dirt, debris, and dried blood off the cuts. My medical training was screaming that I should be wearing some kind of glove as a sanitary precaution, but I ignored it as I worked. A few moments later I had every cut on both legs cleaned, and I returned to the kitchen to rinse and soak the rag again. Once I had done so, I returned and proceeded to work on the cuts on her arms.
“Are you going to tell me how you know who I am?” Vinyl asked as I worked.
“I will.” I said, finishing with her arms. “But I need something else to help back up what I will tell you. Now…” I tossed the rag into the sink from where I was kneeling and grabbed the rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball. “…I guarantee this will sting, but it will kill all the germs and bacteria that might have gotten into your wounds.”
Vinyl nodded and grabbed firm hold of the edge of the chair she was in. I poured some of the rubbing alcohol onto the cotton ball and began to rub it across the wounds. Vinyl tensed up every time the liquid made contact with her exposed and sensitive flesh. I tried to be as quick as I could while still being as thorough as possible.
Several cotton balls later I was finished with that, and moved on to covering with wounds with bandages.
“Are you done?” Vinyl asked, still clutching the chair.
“Almost.” I said as I placed the last two bandages on. “There! Hopefully we’ve prevented infection with this.”
Vinyl smiled at me. “Thanks, Matt.”
Then there was a new sound. I looked knowingly with a grin at Vinyl as she turned a light shade of red. “Hungry?” I asked. She reluctantly nodded.
“Alright then, I could do with something to eat so I’ll order some food.” I said.
“What exactly do humans eat?” Vinyl asked.
Crap. I hadn’t thought about that. Ponies don’t eat meat, so explaining that humans were omnivores would be an interesting experience.
“Well…” I started, looking through the delivery menus from local restaurants, picking one from the sandwich shop Jimmy John’s. JJ’s was good food, but for the same price I could go get more at Subway. However Subway doesn’t deliver and most of them would probably be closed at this hour anyways, whereas JJ’s was open until three in the morning. I flipped open the menu and sighed, taking a seat in another chair next to Vinyl. “Please don’t be alarmed, but humans are omnivores.”
“Omnivores? So humans eat meat.” Vinyl stated.
“Yes. Humans eat meat, but most humans don’t eat horse or pony meat, especially not in this part of the world.” I replied.
Vinyl simply stared at me, expressionless. Then she reached up to her mouth and felt the tip of a canine tooth. “So that’s what these are for then.” She commented after a moment.
“Correct.” I replied, setting the menu down in front of me. “Not all humans eat meat though. Some don’t even consume anything that comes from an animal, and that includes cheese, eggs, and milk.”
“I see.” Vinyl seemed to be taking this information quite well. I guess she had already come to terms with being in what would be an alien body, and she was willing to cope with whatever diet happened to come along with it.
“I personally am quite partial to bacon, however if you don’t wish to eat any kind of meat, this place has vegetarian options.” I passed the menu over to her for her to read.
“I can read this.” was the first thing that came out of her mouth. I blinked, and then realized that I hadn’t considered the fact that she might not be able to read English print. Sure apparently ponies speak English, but I had forgotten that their written language was totally different. It was something of a minor relief that I wasn’t going to have to teach the English language to Vinyl.
She pointed to the end of one of the items on the menu. “Is this the price?” She asked.
I looked at what she was pointing at. “Yeah, that’s the price. We use something called dollars in this country.”
“Is Colorado the name of this country? And how am I going to pay for this? I don’t have any money.”
“Don’t worry about paying for it.” I insisted. “And no, Colorado is what we call a state. In this country there are a total of fifty states that make up the United States of America. Most people call it America for short. Colorado is in what we refer to as the Mountain West. I’ll show you a map later.”
“Okay.” Vinyl returned her attention to the menu and pointed out one that she liked. I pulled out my phone and called the restaurant, placing our order and giving my address and card information to the employee.
I hung up a moment later. “It should be here within ten minutes.”
“Cool.” Vinyl relaxed a bit in her chair. “So what’s a dollar?”
I grinned a bit. There certainly was a lot that I was going to have to teach her. “The dollar is our form of currency.” I replied, pulling out my wallet. She gasped when she saw a depiction of her pony self on one side of my wallet with the initials ‘MLP’ in big white letters in a corner. Fuck, hadn’t thought about that. I pretended like I didn’t notice as I pulled out the cash in the wallet and put the wallet away, facedown to hide the pony on it. I spread out the different denominations of bills and coins on the table. I pointed to the single and said, “This is a single dollar bill. This is a five dollar bill, and that’s a twenty dollar bill.” I pointed to each as I mentioned them. “There’s also a two dollar bill, ten dollar bill, a fifty dollar bill, and a one hundred dollar bill. There are higher bills, but most are either out of print or not available to the general public. The two dollar bill is also officially out of print, but most banks still carry them and will give them to you if you ask for them.”
Vinyl nodded and pointed to the coins. “And those?”
“These represent fractions of a dollar. I have several pennies, a nickel, two dimes, and a quarter here.” I also pointed at each of these as I named them. “The penny is a worth one cent, or one hundredth of a dollar. The nickel is worth five cents, the dime ten cents, and the quarter is worth twenty five cents, or one quarter of a dollar. There is also a fifty cent piece, or half dollar, and it is the biggest coin. However it has not been minted by the government for a good while, and nowadays they are fairly rare. But we have developed a system that allows us to pay for things with a plastic card so long as we have funds attached to that card or otherwise in our bank account.”
Vinyl picked up a penny. “What are these things on the bills and coins? Are they famous humans and places?”
“They are.” I took the next few minutes to explain who each individual on each bill were and what they were important for.
“So in this country you don’t have a princess, but a government with hundreds of humans and a president?”
“That’s correct.” I nodded. “There are a few countries that still have a royal system of kings, queens, and the like, but most of those countries keep them for historical and symbolic reasons. There are no countries like that in this part of the world.”
Vinyl set the penny down and sat there, as if trying to digest the information.
I stood up and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I know it’s a lot to take in at once, and I don’t expect you to know or understand everything immediately. There’s still a lot more you need to learn if you are going to be living here for any length of time.” At this point there was no doubt in my mind that this person was in fact Vinyl Scratch, but I still needed to know how she wound up here, and how she became human.
“Yeah…wait, living here?” Vinyl looked at me, confused. “What do you mean?”
“Well you’ve got nowhere else to go, right?” I said. She looked down at the floor and didn’t respond. “Longmont may not be a bad place to live, but this world isn’t safe for someone like you.”
“Why not?”
“That will become clear once I explain how I know you.” I replied. “There are a fair number of very good humans living here, especially in this part of the world. But human nature tends to be violent. The history of mankind is riddled with wars and violence and all kinds of conflicts, and there are still some very unsavory people living out there.”
“So…if it’s not safe for me in this world, where will I stay, and how will I get back home?”
I sighed again. “I cannot answer that last question however I can offer you one of my guest rooms. It wouldn’t be any trouble, and you can stay here as long as you wish.”
Vinyl remained silent for a moment. “I guess I don’t really have much choice, huh? Stay here where I hope I’m safe or take my chances out there in world I know nothing about and hope it all works out.”
“If that’s how you wish to look at it.” I shrugged. At that moment the doorbell went off. “I’ll be right back.” I grabbed and pocketed my wallet and headed towards the door. It was the delivery man, who gave me a ticket to sign. I left a decent tip and thanked him for the food, and he was off.
“That smells pretty good.” I heard Vinyl comment as I locked the door.
“Jimmy John’s sandwiches are pretty good.” I replied and went back to the table. I gathered up all the cash and set it aside so there was room for the sandwiches. “Want anything to drink?” I asked before sitting down.
“Some water would be appreciated.” Vinyl replied and peered into the bag containing our food.
“One water, coming right up!” I went into the kitchen and filled a glass with ice and water and grabbed a soda for myself. I set the glass in front of Vinyl before sitting down and digging into the bag, pulling out Vinyl’s sandwich and then my own. “Dig in!” I unwrapped the paper around my sandwich, took a half and took a big bite out of it. Vinyl did the same with hers, inspecting the food before taking a bite.
I swallowed and said, “How is it?”
Vinyl attempted to say something through a mouthful of sandwich. Realizing she could not be understood, she quickly chewed and swallowed. “This is better than anything I’d ever had back home!”
“Haha, if that’s what you think then you’ve got to try some other places around here. JJ’s is good, but there’s much better around here.”
Vinyl looked at me as if what I had just said was impossible, before taking another bite. I laughed again and finished the first half of my sandwich before cracking open the soda and taking a swig.
“I’ll stay here.”
I barely caught the words as I finished my sandwich. “Pardon?”
“I said I’ll stay here.” Vinyl said. “If you really think that’s safest for me. But I trust you not to start any funny stuff. Besides, as much as I like free stuff, I think I at least owe it to you to try and repay you.”
I nodded. “Don’t worry about repaying me, at least not until we get things sorted out. But you can trust that I will respect you and your wish so long as you give me the same courtesy.”
“It’s only fair I suppose.” Vinyl replied, finishing off her sandwich. “Now then, how about that explanation you owe me?”
I took my soda and invited her to follow me into a room across the kitchen. I flipped the lights on to reveal what I called my office. Really it wasn’t much more than a large desk where I kept my laptop, router, and printer, along with other related supplies. I set my iTouch and camera on the desk and booted up my laptop. I offered Vinyl a chair as I sat into mine.
“So, in this world we have something called the internet.” I began. “The internet allows people to share files, text, sound, images, or pretty much any other digital medium almost instantaneously over places called websites. Think of the internet as a planet, websites can be like countries, pages in each website are like a city, and files we can download from those pages are like stores. A link between pages is sorta like a highway.” I logged into my laptop and opened up a browser using Chrome. “A web browser is the tool we use to access these pages. The internet, unfortunately, can be a very unsafe place to anyone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. You can accidentally stumble upon some very…disturbing and grotesque images or pages, or have your computer infected by a virus or malware that attacks it, sometimes resulting in complete destruction of your software. Software is what makes the computer and all programs run. You can also get caught up in a scam and have your private information stolen from you, and that’s only some of the not so good things that you can run into. Fortunately I know how to get around the internet and avoid these things.”
I opened a tab and went to Google and typed an image search for ‘Vinyl Scratch’, making sure that ‘Safe Search’ was enabled. I personally don’t really care about ‘disgusting images’, but I figured it would be best if Vinyl didn’t see that stuff right off the bat. Within seconds the whole screen was full of vectors and stills of the pony. I let Vinyl take a good look at the images.
“Now then, a few years ago a company called Hasbro contacted a woman by the name of Lauren Faust about the revival of a popular children’s cartoon known as My Little Pony…”
Vinyl continued to stare at the images in the Google search as I talked. “…so you see, in this world you are known as a cartoon character.”
Vinyl just sat there, staring at the screen. “A cartoon character.”
“Yup.”
“So I’m not real in this world, and neither is anypony else I know.”
“Correct…well, you at least appear to be real in this world now. Because you know, you’re here and not in Equestria.”
Vinyl remained silent for several minutes, eyes fixated on the search results. I had opened up YouTube videos that revealed where she appeared in the cartoon at her request, and she had remained silent through those as well. I didn’t say anything, and just let it all sink in.
Then I saw a tear roll down Vinyl’s cheek.
She buried her face into her hands and tried to suppress a few sobs. “I can’t believe any of this!” She exclaimed. “I’m homeless in a place I know nothing about beside the fact that I’m just a cartoon character, I have no friends, no money, nothing to make a living with, and no way to get home…”
My heart went out to Vinyl right then. I knew that I could never understand what she was going through, but it was clearly painful and even terrifying her. I got up and pulled her into a light embrace, or at least as best I could, what with an arm rest being in the way.
“I wouldn’t say you’re homeless.” I said. “You’ve accepted my offer to stay here, so you’ve got a roof over your head at least. As far as money goes, I may not be very rich but I’m not destitute either, so supporting you financially won’t be too much of an issue. Friends…well if you’re willing I might be able to help with that, and who says that you have no way to get home?”
Vinyl sniffled and looked up at me, eyes slightly red and tear streaks running down her face. “You can get me home?” She asked.
“Well it’s hard to know for sure without knowing how you wound up here.” I replied. “You can at least tell me how you got here right? I remember you freaking out about something not long after I found you.”
Vinyl sighed. “Yeah I can tell you how I at least think I got here. It’s definitely the least I could do.
“So in the past few months I had been working hard on a new album. I had received sponsorships from all kinds of clubs and everypony all across Equestria was looking forward to my sophomore album. Gig requests were rolling in like there was no tomorrow and I was starting to find it hard to book them all. Everypony in the studio I was recording for was so excited for my material, and they had all told me that they thought it was gonna be the next big thing. So I get a huge party planned in my hometown of Trottingham for the release of my album. I had been working on this thing for at least a year, and I was so excited to finally be able to release it, especially after these last few months of extra hard work and dedication! At my last gig before the release party, I played an unfinished teaser clip from one of the songs, and everypony loved it!
“So the night of the party comes, and ponies from all over Equestria had shown up. I even had some of the Wonderbolts show up. Guess they were in town and had heard about the party or something. Anyways, so I take my spot at the stacks and make a few announcements and shout outs. Everypony was cheering and excited and I was excited. I begin to play the first song and at first everypony’s really getting into it. Then the main part of the song starts and I couldn’t help but notice that the excitement kinda died down. The same thing happened with the rest of the new material that I played, and with each new song ponies were less excited, and some even left!
“So needless to say it was a disaster of a party, and my album had barely sold anything at the party. I tried to find ways to rationalize what had happened that night, but at the end of the week my producer came to me and told me that my album was the worst selling album of the year! He then told me that he was cancelling my contract and that I was dismissed…”
This story hit home with me. My project with Nathan and Kyle hadn’t quite made it to the stages of album production, but people weren’t exactly lining up to watch us perform at gigs anymore.
“…that night I went home, sick with depression and angry at my producer.” Vinyl continued. “I was angry with everypony, because I didn’t know what went wrong. Everypony seemed to like what I had released in the past, and my producer had said that my album was the best thing he’d heard in years. I was confused. Nothing made sense! So right before I went to sleep, I happened to see a shooting star in the night sky out of my apartment window. It was then that I wished out of depression that I could be someplace where my talents and my music would actually be appreciated. I guess my wish accomplished something, because the next thing I know I’m not a pony anymore, I’m covered in all of these cuts and stuff and you’re standing over me.” She buried herself into her hands again.
I couldn’t help myself but embrace her again. “I’m terribly sorry to hear about that.” I said. “And unfortunately I don’t know what I could do to help you get back home, at least not at this moment. But I can understand your pain to a degree.”
“Really now?” Vinyl replied, face still buried.
“I think so.” I stood up. “Just follow me.”
Vinyl waited a moment before getting up and following me back into the kitchen and through the basement door. I flicked the lights on downstairs and went around the corner to where the basement opened up.
Vinyl rounded the corner and came to a stop when she saw what was in my basement. “Oh my…”
I had set up the majority of the unfinished basement to be a recording studio. Against the far wall were thin drapes to help cushion the sounds. My amp and two bass guitars were set against another wall, and a pair of microphones and stands sat in the middle. Off to another side was a mixing board and recording equipment. On a shelf sat a stereo system, and next to the shelf was a smaller desk and chair.
“You have an entire recording studio in your basement?!” Vinyl exclaimed.
“My band hasn’t exactly gotten around to recording any actual material yet, but we were going to start doing so soon.” I replied.
“What sort of band is it?” Vinyl asked, carefully stepping forward to examine the equipment. She was really starting to get the hang of walking.
“Primarily we cover whatever it is we happen to like the most, but we want to be a metal band.” I said.
“Metal?” Vinyl sounded perplexed.
“It’s a genre.” I replied and went over to the stereo. I had conveniently left in an album by the band Bullet For My Valentine from the last practice session. I powered on the stereo and skipped to track number ten, which was a song titled “10 Years Today”.
I let the song play. It was a personal favorite of mine from Bullet, and I thought that it exemplified a lot of what made up the ‘metal’ genre. Vinyl simply stood, mesmerized by the song. The look on her face told me that she was trying to take in as much as she could, listening to each instrument carefully and analyzing them. When the song was over I hit the pause button so it wouldn’t go to the next track. “So, what’d you think?”
“That was…” Vinyl said, pausing to find the right word. “Intense. Nothing like what we had back in Equestria. Back home we mostly have classical and electronic music.”
“Metal is, oddly enough, a descendent of the classical genres.” I said. “Metal bands have a similar structure to the average rock band. That is to say, they have a drummer, a guitarist or two, sometimes more, a bassist, and a vocalist or two. Sometimes they’ll have an electronics player or employ classical instruments or in one famous case the whole band will play in a metal style but do so with a cello quartet! Metal as a genre is characterized by heavy guitars, often hard drumming and bass lines, and is usually associated with angry lyrics. Screaming or growling vocals aren’t necessary for a metal band, but they are also often associated with the genre and its many subgenres.
“My band doesn’t quite wish to play like the band I just showed you, but I think you get the idea. So far the band consists of me on the bass guitar and vocals when needed. Then there’s my friend Nathan on vocals and guitar, and my friend Kyle on drums. We’d like to get a rhythm guitarist for more dynamic, but there aren’t many out there that any of us know of that want to be a part of a committed project, especially one without any solid original material to show. Because I’ve been formally unemployed for two months, I’ve been using the money I earn from gigs with this band to help pay my dues, plus working the odd day jobs that I can find. It’s enough to get by, though I wish it were more.”
Vinyl continued to look around at the equipment. She spotted my two bass guitars and walked over to them. She leaned down and inspected the metallic red one. “What’s this?” She asked.
“That’s a small body bass guitar made by the company called Rogue. They are known more for their amps than their guitars.”
“Not that, this.” She pointed to a spot on the guitar’s body.
I walked over and looked at what she was pointing at. “Oh that!” I said, seeing what it was. Scrawled in silver sharpie was a fancy signature with three letters, ‘KFK’, printed underneath. “Last year I was fortunate enough to meet a living legend. This man’s name is Kerry King, and he is a co-founder and lead guitarist of the famous thrash metal band known as Slayer. His work with Slayer helped to define an entire genre along with the members of Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. I had this bass with me and I got him to sign it.”
“That’s really cool, Matt.” Vinyl said, staring at the signature. I knew she had no idea who any of these people are, but I got the feeling that she still understood when a high profile musician was being mentioned. “So do you guys ever plan on writing your own material?”
“We do. In fact later this week we were going to get together here and attempt to record a few demos.”
“That’s awesome. Well I wish you guys luck.” Vinyl said, standing up.
“Actually…Vinyl?”
Vinyl looked at me. “Yeah?”
“I don’t think my mates would object, so would you like to take up the spot as band dee jay?”
Vinyl stood for a moment, and then her eyes lit up. “You’re offering me a spot in the band?”
“I am. Most of my favorite bands employ some kind of dee jay, so I’d like to try that kind of set up with mine. We’d need to find a turntable though, and you can consider this repayment for staying here until we can find a way to send you home.”
I was nearly knocked over when Vinyl grabbed me and hugged me tight. “Thank you, thank you! I promise I won’t disappoint you!” She said.
“That’s great…but I can’t…breathe!” I sputtered as I struggled to draw a decent breath.
“Oh, oops.” Vinyl let go with a sheepish grin on her face. I rubbed my ribs for a moment before returning the hug.
We went back upstairs and I heard a yawn from behind me. “Getting tired?”
“Yeah just a little bit.” Vinyl replied.
“Alright, well then let me show you to your room.” I went upstairs to the second floor and went to the end of the hallway on my left. I rounded the corner and opened the door. “This is where you can stay.” I said and let Vinyl inside to inspect it.
The room was decently sized with a full closet just to the right of the entrance. On the far wall was a window. The room came equipped with a ceiling fan and standing lamp on a nightstand situated next to the twin-sized bed. A desk, complete with a chair and small television set, sat in the far corner that wasn’t occupied by the bed. There was also a shelf that stood against the wall across from the bed, but there wasn’t anything on it.
“This is very nice.” Vinyl commented and sat on the bed.
“Unfortunately I don’t exactly have anything in the way of female clothing or hygiene products, and since I don’t have anything planned tomorrow we can go around town and pick up some stuff for you. I won’t promise a full wardrobe, but at least several complete sets of clothing and some new shoes for the time being.”
“Alright then.” Vinyl said, getting up and exploring the desk. “But tell me, Matt, do humans wear clothing all the time?”
And here comes the awkward conversation. “In most parts of the world, yes.” I replied. “For as long as history has been recorded, mankind has always worn clothing. Originally people wore things to protect themselves from the weather or from harm. I’m sure you’ve noticed that the thin layer of hair on your arms and legs won’t do for protecting against the elements. However in recent centuries some cultures got the idea that the human body is something to be ashamed of and should be hidden away from public viewing. In this country it is actually illegal to expose one’s privates in public. There are plenty of people, myself included, who don’t really care if people expose themselves in public. After all, all males share the same set of parts and all females share the same set of parts and both genders know what the other has and it’s really not my place to say what someone can do with their body. But the idea still persists with a majority of the population that exposing oneself is indecent.” I shrugged.
Vinyl paused what she was doing for a moment and gave me a slightly playful look. “So, if I began to take everything off, what would you do?”
I shrugged again. “Unless for some reason I absolutely had to be present, I’d respect your personal space and leave. I have respect for women and wish more guys would stop thinking with their dick and start using their brain more. Besides, we do have that mutual agreement, remember?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Vinyl said. “Though I gotta say I definitely respect a guy who respects us girls.”
“Thanks.” I said. “Although, there is something that I’ve been curious to know…”
“Fire away.” Vinyl said and returned her attention to the desk, opening drawers to see what’s inside.
“Do you still have your cutie mark?”
Vinyl paused again and stood straight up. “You know, I actually don’t know.” Before I could say anything she began to fumble with the button on her pants and undid it. She then pulled out the waist of her pants on one side a little bit and inspected her hip. “Huh, looks like I still have it.” She pulled the top of her pants down just far enough to reveal two connected eighth notes on the side of her hip, but only that.
“Interesting.” I replied. “Well if I were you I’d try to keep that hidden for the time being. People have been known to have tattoos in odd places but, combined with your blue hair, that’d draw some potentially unwanted attention by anyone who knows about the cartoon.”
“Gotcha.” She pulled her pant waist back up and fastened the button.
I yawned. “Well, the bathroom is right around the corner and my room is this one here.” I pointed in the respective directions of the bathroom and my room. “If you need anything feel free to wake me up, but for now I’m gonna hit the sack.” I turned to leave.
“Alright, oh and Matt?”
“Hmm?” I barely had enough time to turn back around before Vinyl had captured me in another embrace.
“Thanks for doing this for me.” She said. “Nopony back home would have done all of this for me. I really appreciate it.”
I smiled and returned the hug. “I’m just doing what any decent human being would do, but you’re welcome Vinyl. Thank you for trusting me enough to let me do this for you.”
All I got in response was a slightly tighter hug. After a moment she let me go. “Good night Matt.”
“Good night Vinyl.” I said and left, closing the door behind me.
I went downstairs and put away the trash from the late dinner and shut off all the lights as well as my laptop before heading back upstairs to my own room, the master bedroom. I quickly cleaned myself up in my bathroom and changed into a pair of gym shorts before climbing into bed.
What an evening this had been. I find some mysterious girl while out on a hike who turns out to be Vinyl Scratch in human form, now she’s my roommate and dee jay for my band and tomorrow I’m going to go buy clothes and stuff for her so she can live here properly.
I was rudely awakened by my alarm clock, bright and early in the morning. I grumbled as I shut the alarm off and climbed out of bed. Too lazy to get changed I went downstairs in just my gym shorts.
“Now let’s see…what sounds good this morning?” I mumbled to myself as I perused my selection of breakfast foods. Cereal, pop tarts, cereal, some fruit, more cereal, a half empty box of granola bars...
Well, I guess cereal will have to do for today.
I reached into the fridge and pulled out a jug of milk. To my slight dismay the jug was nearly empty. Guess I’ll have to make a trip to WalMart or something to get more soon. Except…wait, wasn’t I already planning on going out today? My sluggish thought process grappled with the question for a few moments before I mentally shrugged the thought off and set the jug on the counter next to a bowl.
I poured out some Cheerios and drowned them in what milk I had left before tossing the jug into the recycle bin and putting the box back in the cupboard. Taking a seat at the end of the table I looked out through the glass door at the back yard. The far side of the yard was lined with spruce trees, and in one corner next to the shed was a dirt patch that used to be a garden that my dad would plant stuff in every year. There was also a plum tree that was supposed to not bear any fruit but suddenly one year started putting out plums like there was no tomorrow. A few years ago it had even spawned an offspring at the edge of the large wooden deck. Go figure. The grass was green and was mostly covered with morning dew that reflected beautifully in the morning sun. It was a sight that I used to love growing up but for a few years had switched to a more night-oriented schedule. It took a good while to force myself to become a morning person again, and even then I still had issues from time to time.
Absentmindedly stirring my Cheerios for a few moments I savored the sight before I began to eat. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Cheerios, but they’re still pretty decent, especially when I’m not in a particularly picky mood. I was about halfway through my meal when I heard the distinct sound of a door opening and shutting and then footsteps upstairs.
‘That’s strange.’ I thought to myself, eating another spoonful. ‘I don’t recall having any guests ov-‘
And then all of yesterday evening’s events rushed into my new fully awake state of consciousness.
I nearly choked on my food as I remembered that I now essentially had a roommate who used to be a pony from some other world or dimension or something but now ended up here because she felt like she was unappreciated and somehow being here would change all that…I dunno. Regardless, I now had someone else living here with me and, while I didn’t like to think about it now, I guess that meant that I somehow needed to find a way to financially support myself and Vinyl.
Oh, and I had promised to take her out to get new clothes and stuff today. Fun.
I heard Vinyl head down the stairs as I finished my breakfast. Getting up from my seat I grabbed my bowl and turned around just in time to see her arrive in the kitchen wearing only a shirt and panties.
I stopped, taking in the sight before me for a brief moment before raising an eyebrow at Vinyl, who simply gave me a confused look in return. “What? See something you like?” She asked.
I rolled my eyes. Guess I should probably get used to it. “Hungry?” I asked in return as I put my bowl and spoon away in the dish washer.
“What do you have?” She asked, looking around the kitchen.
“Granola bars, pop tarts, and fruit.” I replied, leaning against the kitchen counter and pointing at each item or items as I named them. “I’d also say we have cereal but unfortunately we seem to have just run out of milk. Unless you happen to like like dry cereal.”
“Hmm…” Vinyl tapped her chin with a finger as she considered her options before looking down at herself for a brief moment. “Would this be too much?” She asked, pointing to her current attire, or perhaps the near lack thereof.
“Don’t you mean too little?” I said with a smirk, and Vinyl rolled her eyes at the bad joke. “I suppose that’s fine. I’m just not used to living with someone in my own house of the opposite gender who isn’t a family member, and even then none of them ever did this.”
“You live here alone then.”
“I do…or rather, did, since you’re here now.”
“I see…well if this makes you uncomfortable then I can go fix that.”
I shrugged. “I’m actually gonna go slightly back on something I said last night. I actually don’t particularly care if you’re in the buff in this house. If being totally naked is more comfortable for you then go right on ahead and wear nothing, so long as there aren’t any other guests here. And no I’m not saying that just because I’m a guy. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I’m what we humans call ‘asexual’. That means that sexual appeal in regards to either gender means squat to me because I’m simply not mentally wired to like that kind of stuff.”
Vinyl blinked. “So you don’t really care if a girl looks good?”
“I do still have standards.” I replied. “I do have a certain set of standards that I like to keep to when I consider potential girlfriends. But I don’t really consider anything in regards to sex or other related factors because I’m just not into that kind of stuff.”
Vinyl smirked and tried to stifle a laugh. I blinked and then I realized what sort of pun had just flown from my mouth.
I deadpanned and continued. “Anyways, I’d much rather have a partner who is somewhat attractive and has a really good personality and a certain level of intelligence than someone who is insanely attractive and great in bed but leaves much to be desired when it comes to intelligence, personality, or both.”
“Well I guess I should get used to being clothed all the time anyways…” Vinyl walked over to the fruit basket and pulled an apple from it. “So…” She turned the apple over a few times. “…what do you think of me?”
I wasn’t exactly expecting that kind of question, but given the conversation so far I suppose I should have. “Well, I certainly can’t say that you aren’t attractive…” It was true; Vinyl wasn’t skeletal thin but certainly wasn’t even remotely close to being any degree of ‘fat’. She had a really attractive face and her magenta eyes contrasted quite well with her electric blue hair. “…but I can’t say I know you well enough as far as everything else goes.”
Vinyl continued to inspect the apple for a moment. “I appreciate the honesty.” She said with a small grin.
I shrugged. “I’ve got no reason to lie.”
“Sure you do.” Vinyl said. “I’m a total stranger to you, and honestly I have no right be living off your generosity, but you’re here allowing me a place to crash, food, and other things I’m going to need to survive in this world, and heck for all I know you could have decided that instead of going to get me clothes you’re just going to take me to the middle of nowhere and leave me there. There’d be a few ponies back home who’d offer some spare bits and maybe some food to somepony in my position, but none of them would show the same sort of hospitality that you have.”
“I guess you could say it’s just in my nature to be nice when I can.” I shrugged.
Vinyl fell silent for a moment before taking a bite out of the apple. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“I thought we agreed that we were going to avoid this territory.” I replied.
“I know.” She took another bite. “I’m just genuinely curious.”
Figuring that she was just genuinely curious, I responded, “I’m single at this moment. My last relationship didn’t end well and I haven’t exactly been rushing to get into a new one.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Vinyl replied and finished the apple, core and everything, before tossing the stem into the trash bin.
“Eh, in retrospect it was for the best.” I said. “Well I’ve got granola bars and pop tarts if you want to give those a try.”
“Actually I’m still kinda full from last night.” Vinyl said sheepishly. “I don’t normally eat that much food in one sitting.”
“Alright then.” I said. “I suppose we could head out now and beat the mid-morning store traffic.”
“Sounds good.” Vinyl said. “I’ll go get my shoes…and I guess putting my pants on would be a good idea.”
“Yeah that would be.” I couldn’t help but laugh a bit, and Vinyl laughed some as well as she headed back upstairs. I followed shortly behind and headed to my own room where I quickly changed into a fresh set of clothes. Grabbing my wallet, phone, and house and car keys I headed back downstairs to find Vinyl waiting for me by the front door, now fully clothed. How she managed to tie her shoes I wasn’t sure, but I figured if she could manage then kudos to her. On my way out I grabbed my iTouch from my desk.
Outside I locked the house up and unlocked the car as I climbed into the driver’s seat and buckled up. Vinyl still seemed to have slight trouble with the door handle but figured it out soon enough. I turned the car on, plugged my iTouch in and began to search for a song to play.
“Hey Matt?” Vinyl said.
“Hmm?” I continued flipping through songs as I looked up. Vinyl was pointing at the seat belt, which had somehow gotten all twisted around. I reached across to correct the issue, careful to not invade Vinyl’s personal space too much. Just because she didn’t seem to care too much doesn’t mean that I wasn’t going to at least try to respect it, but reaching across her from the other side of the car to mess with the seat belt certainly didn’t make that very easy. After struggling with the belt for a moment I eventually got it sorted and helped her buckle up.
“Can you play that song again?” She asked as I returned my attention to the device in my hand.
“Which one?” I asked.
“The one you played when we were coming here from wherever it is you found me.”
“Oh that one, yeah I can play it.” I flipped through the massive library until I found the song and selected it. The steady beat of the trance song quickly filled every inch of the car’s interior. Not that I was playing it very loud.
I put the car into gear and looked behind me to see if the road was clear to back up. “Oh, I hope you don’t mind that most of your clothes are probably going to come from a thrift store, which probably means that a lot of what they have will be second-hand.” I commented before backing out of the driveway.
“Nah.” Vinyl said. “I’m honestly not that picky, and not just because I’m used to not wearing anything. I just never really cared for looking very good.”
“Okay then, let’s go.” I switched into drive and took off down the road and headed to Main Street. “Oh, and try not to use ‘somepony’ or anything like that while out in public. Most people will think you’re nuts, unless they happen to know who you are and in that case we’ll draw a lot of unwanted attention from a lot of people who we really don’t need to know.”
“Gotcha. But what about my name?”
I made to say something, but realized that she had a valid point. “Umm…we’ll think of something.”
When I got to the exit of the neighborhood and checked my peripherals for traffic, I noticed that Vinyl was listening very intently to the song.
“You like this song?” I asked, pulling out onto 9th and heading west.
“I do.” Vinyl replied. “It actually reminds me of a lot of my work, specifically the work that led to my being here.”
“Ponies back home don’t like trance too much?” I asked.
“It’s not that they don’t like trance…” Vinyl said. “…I think it just wasn’t what they expected from me. Nearly everything that I had put out before was slightly faster paced than this, and sounded more distorted. I don’t know if humans have a similar genre, but back in Equestria we called it ‘Heavy House’.”
“Hmm…” I thought for a moment. “Well I don’t know if it’s exactly the same thing but here we have a genre known as dubstep. It focuses a lot on bass wobble, electro effects, and is somewhat fast paced. It’s become fairly popular in recent years, though I’m not sure why. Whenever I hear it I usually just hear a lot of the same noise, even between different artists, so I can’t say it’s a genre that I personally care for that much. I’ve got a few songs that could be classified as ‘dubstep’ but nothing that’s just pure dubstep.” I stopped in the turn lane at the red light on Main Street, blinker flashing.
“Huh.” Vinyl said. “Do you have a favorite band or song?”
“I’ve got a favorite band, sure.” I replied, turning north onto Main Street when it was clear. “As far as a favorite song I’ve got two contenders.”
“Can you play them?” She asked, looking out of the passenger window at the passing buildings.
I quickly flipped through the song list until I found ‘Blackout’ by Linkin Park and selected it. Vinyl and I listened in silence as the song played through the intro and first few verses. When the song reached the bridge, I said, “This part is not terribly far from being dubstep, but it is cleaner and more structured.”
“I like this song.” Vinyl said.
“Just wait until you hear the second part.”
The bridge ended and the song mellowed out considerably into an electronic rhythm. When the second vocalist began to sing, I glanced over at Vinyl, who appeared to be quite intrigued by the sudden change.
“Not really what you’d expect huh?” I said, stopping at a red light at Mountain View Avenue.
“Not at all.” Vinyl replied.
“When this song first came out three years ago it immediately became my favorite.” I said. “It’s unfortunate that the album wasn’t well received by critics or fans.”
“What do you mean?” Vinyl suddenly became very interested.
“This band is known as Linkin Park.” I replied hitting the gas as the light turned green. “Their first two albums had a much different sound than this. The guy who sang is known for his rapping and the guy who pseudo-rapped and screamed is known for singing and…well screaming. They started changing their sound with their third album, and people hoped that they would stop experimenting after that. Well then this album came out and it was totally different. It was far more electronic based than any of their previous work, but still retained a lot of what made Linkin Park originally famous, but people just focused on the electronic bits and called it shit.”
“That’s crap.” Vinyl replied.
“Tell me about it.” I replied. “Their last album that came out last summer was a combination of everything they had done so far, plus some minor influences from dubstep and traditional folk music. The other song I’m going to play is actually on that album and features some of that folk influence.” As I said that I switched through the song list and selected ‘Castle of Glass’.
Vinyl listened carefully as the song played. By the time the song was over we had reached the local Goodwill store in the north part of the town.
I paused the song right as it ended and stashed my iTouch in the middle console and turned the car off. “Another thing that they weren’t originally known for was guitar solos, which that song clearly had.”
“These guys are pretty talented.” Vinyl replied, unbuckling herself and climbing out of the car.
“They’re my favorite for a reason.” I said, also getting out of the car and locking it. “I’ll also play some stuff from their other albums so you can understand just how they’ve changed.”
“Sure thing.”
I started to head towards the store but noticed that Vinyl was too busy gawking at the 1st Bank building across the street.
“Wha’cha looking at?” I asked, standing beside her.
“It’s so tall!” Vinyl said.
I could barely contain my laughter. Sure this bank might be one of the three tallest buildings in town, but it only stood five floors high. Not exactly what I could classify as particularly ‘tall’.
“What’s so funny?” Vinyl asked.
“Nothing particularly tall back in Equestria?” I asked, attempting to regain my composure.
“Not even in our largest cities did we have many buildings over three or four floors.” Vinyl replied. “Except for Canterlot castle of course.”
“Heh, I oughta take you down to the state capital sometime then.” I commented. “What you’ll see where will blow your mind.”
Vinyl gave me a look that told me she wasn’t quite sure how to interpret that statement. I shook my head and motioned for her to follow me inside.
Once inside I pointed towards the clothing section. “Women’s clothes should be over there.” I said.
“Lead the way.” Vinyl said, and so I did.
Fortunately the store was mostly empty at eight in the morning. Vinyl took a moment to gaze across the warehouse store. From her expression I guessed that Equestria didn’t really have anything like this either. We headed to the women’s section and Vinyl began to look through the racks. “What should I get?” She asked.
“Well the hottest part of the year is about to arrive.” I said. “So as far as shirts go I’d get a few t shirts, like the one you’re wearing right now, for everyday use and maybe a plain one you can use when you’re working on something potentially dirty or messy. The weather here tends to be pretty unpredictable so we’ll try and find a jacket for you as well. Colorado can get really cold during the winters though, so maybe grabbing a sweater wouldn’t be a bad idea either.”
“Nopo…nobody controls the weather here?” Vinyl asked, pulled out a plain blue t shirt and looking it over.
“Nope.” I replied. “The weather here controls itself, and some days it can be a fickle fiend.”
Vinyl pulled out another shirt and inspected it. “What kind of pants should I get?”
“I’d get a pair of gym shorts like the pair I had on this morning, then a few pairs of both short and long pants, plus a pair you can afford to get dirty or scuffed.”
We walked up and down the ranks of clothing and Vinyl picked out what she thought looked nice enough and would fit. She even found a jacket that was her size.
“Alright then, I think I’m ready.” Vinyl said with arms full.
“If you’d like you can use the changing room right over there.” I suggested, pointing to the end of the clothing section.
“I guess that would be a good idea.” Vinyl replied and headed over to an empty booth and managed to open the door before looking back at me. “You coming?”
“I’d get into some trouble if I went into there with you.” I replied, taking a seat next to the booth. “Besides, it’d be really cramped.”
Vinyl looked inside the rather small both. “Yeah I guess it would be cramped.” She stepped inside and closed the door. I heard a latch that indicated she had locked the door.
I spaced out for a moment, just letting my mind wander wherever it wanted. Each thought that came to me either wound up leading back to Vinyl and the fact that she was now my roommate, which was a reality I still wasn’t sure I believed just yet, or how I was going to be able to afford having her as roommate. While I wasn’t exactly poor when it came to what I had in my savings, not having a steady source of income made things interesting sometimes.
A few minutes later I heard the booth door unlock and Vinyl stepped out, holding the clothes she had decided to keep. It looked like it was enough to last at least until the colder months set in.
We headed to the checkout counter and the cashier began to ring up the total.
“You’re in luck.” She said. “All of this is half off.”
“Really now?” I asked, pulling out my card. She pointed to a sheet of paper that stated “All green tags are 50% off!”. It just happened to be my luck that all the clothes bore green tags. “Sweet.” I said, and handed the card to the cashier. Goodwill was already pretty cheap compared to…well pretty much anything else in town, but I wasn’t about to argue with a half off sale that pertained to what I was buying since it meant I paid just under twenty as opposed to nearly forty.
Once the transaction was complete I pocketed my card and thanked the cashier. Vinyl took the bagged clothes and we left the store.
“Okay, so what about shoes or socks or these undergarments?” Vinyl asked as we headed to my car.
“Buying second hand underwear, bras, or socks is gross.” I replied, unlocking the car and opening the rear hatch. Vinyl watched as the hatch door opened and stayed open. “So I’m going to make sure you get new pairs of each. Your shoes look like they’ll last while, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a second pair and maybe some sandals.”
“Where are we going to do that?” Vinyl asked, setting the stuffed bag down in the back of the car.
“Here in America we have a superstore chain called WalMart.” I said, shutting the hatch and heading to the driver’s seat. “This store has damn near anything you could possibly want.”
“How far away is it?” Vinyl asked, getting into the passenger’s seat.
“There’s one just up the road on the edge of town.” I said, starting the engine and pulling my iTouch out. I thought about which song I should play next and decided on the one that originally drew me to Linkin Park.
“What’s this song?” Vinyl asked.
“This one’s called ‘In The End.’” I replied, and backed out of the parking space. “This song is on their first album and it’s what really made Linkin Park famous over a decade ago, and it’s what the band is originally known for; rapping, sung or screamed verses, some dee jay scratching…it all comes together in a genre known as nu metal. Unfortunately that genre died a few years ago, and most of the bands known for being a part of that genre have faded, gone their separate ways, or just went with something completely different. Linkin Park may have experimented with their sound over the years, but they’ve always kept to a few basic things that made them who they are.”
Vinyl didn’t say anything but instead leaned back into the seat and listened, eyes closed. To say that listening to this particular song brought back memories of when the radio still played good stuff and when I was first really starting to explore rock and metal more was an understatement.
I turned north into Main Street and headed to the WalMart at the end of town. With my luck I got stopped by red lights at all four controlled intersections between Goodwill and the WalMart, but it was enough to let the song play in its entirety before we arrived and I had found a parking spot.
“I think I’m really starting to like this band.” Vinyl commented as we both made our way into the WalMart.
“I’ll have to let you peruse through my large library of albums then.” I replied. “I’ve got several hundred albums by dozens of bands spanning all kinds of genres. Most of it is metal or rock but I’ve got some other stuff as well.”
Vinyl grinned at the thought of getting to listen to so much new music.
“Okay, so I’m going to head to the electronics department at the end of the store.” I said as we crossed the threshold of the massive store.
“Where am I supposed…to……go…?” Vinyl asked but her question slowly trailed off as her jaw dropped at the size of the super center. “This place is massive! Are all WalMarts this big?” She asked.
“Most of them are these days.” I said. “Now you should head to the clothing department in the middle of the store and find an employee. They’ll have a dark blue shirt, khaki pants, and a name tag. Tell him or her what you’re looking for and they’ll help you find everything you need. Meet me at the electronics section when you’re done.”
“Underwear, bra, socks, shoes…got it.” Vinyl said to herself and then headed off. I went back by the entrance and grabbed a cart before heading off to my destination.
It didn’t take me long to browse through their music and movie selection, and before long I was simply staring at whatever was playing on the dozens of flat screens against the wall. I placed my hand in my pocket and realized that I had put my iTouch there. I pulled it out and checked if I had a wifi signal, and once I had seen that I had I pulled up a browser and logged into my bank account to check my account balance.
I stared at the numbers in both my checking and my savings accounts for a few moments, mulling over what I should do. I had several thousand saved up for emergencies and several hundred still in checking. Eventually I decided to transfer half a grand into my checking before logging out. ‘That should be more than enough…’ I thought to myself as I pocked the device.
Some amount of time later Vinyl came walking up to me with everything that she had decided to get. “Where’s the shoe department?” She asked.
I gestured for her to put her new clothes into the cart. “Just over here.” I said and we walked over.
We arrived at the correct aisle and Vinyl began to look at the shoes on display. “What should I get here?” She asked.
“Well first we need to figure out what your shoe size is.” I said. “Do your current shoes feel comfortable?”
Vinyl nodded. “These fit perfectly.”
“Take one off then.” I said. Vinyl gave me a slightly confused look but slipped one off and handed it to me. I peered inside and read the tag. “Looks like you wear a women’s size eight shoe.” I commented and handed the shoe back.
Vinyl slipped the shoe back on and started looking for the right size shoe. So I guess she didn’t even bother to untie them. “So now what?” She asked.
“Well I’d find another pair like the one you have now and a pair of sandals, like these.” I pulled a pair of blue sandals off a shelf that were a size eight and handed them to Vinyl. “Try these on.”
Vinyl took them and sat down on a nearby stool and proceeded to slip her shoes off and the sandals on. “These are comfortable.” She commented, wiggling her toes.
“Normally people don’t wear socks when trying on sandals, but if you’re happy with them then I’ll get them for you.” I said.
Vinyl took the sandals off and handed them back to me. I took the box that they came with and packaged them up before setting them in the cart. Vinyl pointed to something on the opposite shelf and asked, “Can you hand me those?”
I took a look at what she was pointing at: a pair of black athletic shoes. I took a box and gave Vinyl the shoes after removing the stuffing inside. She slipped them on.
“These a little loose.” She commented, sounding slightly disappointed.
“Tie them up first.” I said, pointing to the laces. Vinyl looked down and took a lace from one shoe in each hand.
“How do I do that?” She asked.
I kneeled down in front of her and took the laces from her. She watched as I slowly tied a bow with the laces, and then proceeded to do the same with the other shoe. “How does that feel?” I asked when I was done.
“Much better.” She said, standing up and taking a few steps. “Yeah, I like these.”
“Alright then I’ll get them for you.” I said. Vinyl took the shoes off and slipped her old ones back on before handing me the shoes. I repackaged them and set them on top of the box with the sandals.
“Anything else I should get?” Vinyl asked.
“Aside from basic hygiene products I can’t really think of anything at the moment.” I said. “But we can grab those on our way to the check out. There’s some minor grocery shopping that I need to get done.”
It only took a few minutes to grab what I needed: milk, some wheat bread, a few bags of potato chips, a new twenty four pack of soda, and some stuff to make a vegetarian chili and corn bread tonight. I was going to force myself to adapt to a new lifestyle where meals with meat of any kind at the house were rare or nonexistent. If at some point Vinyl decided that she was going to eat meat then I’d change my eating habits accordingly, but for now I’d respect the fact that she was vegetarian.
As we approached the front of the store I made a quick detour to grab a toothbrush, toothpaste, some deodorant, dental floss, a bottle of shampoo, and some other products I knew she would need. I added these items to my cart and made my way to the self-checkout stands, which were fortunately empty.
Checking out didn’t take very long and once everything was paid for we made our way back to the car, and packed everything in the back. As I put the cart into a nearby corral I checked my watch. Not quite time for lunch yet, which meant that I could take Vinyl to our next destination.
I climbed into the car. Vinyl was already waiting for me. “So by my count you still have two more songs to play from this band.” She said as I buckled myself in.
“I do.” I said and turned the car on. “Their second and third album.” I pulled out my iTouch and switched to the music app. ‘Meteora is full of fantastic songs…’ I thought to myself as I looked over the album’s track list. ‘…I’ll go with this one.’
“Okay, so their second album sounded a lot like their first album, only it had slightly more electronic influence, but only slightly. But even back in their earliest of days they were experimenting and ended up releasing this song, which is among their most popular.” I selected ‘Breaking the Habit’ and made my way out of the parking lot and back to Main Street.
Vinyl definitely didn’t expect the canon at the very beginning of the song, evidenced by the fact that she jumped a bit when it sounded. It took some self-control to keep myself from singing along to the lyrics, but I managed to keep quiet as she listened.
“That was…wow.” Vinyl stated as the song ended. We were about halfway to where I wanted to take her.
“The music video for this song is also different than everything else they’ve done.” I added, flipping to the next song. “It’s entirely animated like a cartoon, as opposed to having live shots of the band.” The next song, ‘In Pieces’, began to play and I let Vinyl listen to it as we headed down Main Street.
Vinyl listened in silence as the second chorus played through, and as it ended the otherwise mellow song kicked into a fast paced and high energy guitar solo. As the song ended I pulled into the parking lot of Mister Money, a pawn shop at the edge of downtown across the street from a construction site.
“I think I can understand why their third album might not have been so well received.” Vinyl commented as we exited the car. “What’s that?” She pointed across the street.
“That’s going to be a brand new apartment complex.” I said. “It’ll be the most modern-looking building in Longmont. Right now we’re in downtown, and most of these buildings were originally constructed nearly if not more than a century ago.”
“Huh.” Vinyl stared at one of the cranes.
“Shall we head inside?” I suggested.
“Sure.” Vinyl replied. “But what are we doing here?”
“You’ll see.”
We headed inside the pawn shop, which had just opened a few minutes ago. Inside an entire corner was dedicated to musical instruments. Guitars of all makes and styles hung from the wall, pianos stood on stands next to a full drum kit. There was a smaller section dedicated to brass instruments, and two shelves were filled with albums and movies.
“Wow…” Vinyl mouthed as she stared at all the instruments. “This is so cool!”
“This is where I bought both my guitars.” I said. I wasn’t here for the instruments though. What I wanted to look at was on display at a counter.
I walked up to the cashier and asked to look at the two laptops they had. The cashier opened the display case up and pulled them both out for me to inspect. Fortunately both looked to have minimal wear and tear. I powered them both on and proceeded to check for any broken keys or if the mouse pad wasn’t working properly. One of the laptops had slightly sticky keys.
“Hey Vinyl, c’mere!” I called over to her. She put down the guitar she was looking at and walked over.
“What’s up?” She asked. “Ooo, what’re these for?”
“I’m buying you one.” I said. “You’ll need it.”
“Which one?” Vinyl began to get excited.
“I think…this one.” I indicated the laptop without the sticky keys. The other laptop had slightly better specs, but I was on a budget and sticky keys could point to other problems I couldn’t check for here.
“Matt you are awesome.” Vinyl said, hugging me. The cashier put the other laptop away, making a comment on how ‘cute’ of a couple we were.
“We’re not dating.” I replied and pulled out my card with a grin.
“No?” The cashier said, ringing up the laptop. “Maybe you should start.”
Vinyl let go and while I didn’t look her way I’d imagine she was turning slightly red.
After paying for the laptop we headed home and unloaded the car. I began to put the food stuffs away and Vinyl was busy digging through her new belongings.
“Hey Matt?” I heard her call my name as I was putting away the milk.
“Hmm?” I shut the fridge and turned around to see Vinyl holding up one of the ‘other’ products I had picked up.
“What’s this for?” She asked.
If I hadn’t been prepared to have that conversation it would have been really awkward. I waved for Vinyl to follow me to my desk and I booted up the laptop. I opened up Chrome and did a search for female reproduction. I pulled up an article that had basic explanations and illustrations and began to explain what was in the article.
Vinyl read the article as I talked, and when I was through she sat in the chair for a moment. “So let me get this straight…humans don’t go into heat but instead reproduce all year long, but once a month a female’s nethers just decides to give us these nasty cramps and then bleeds for days on end?”
“Pretty much.” I said, closing the browser.
Vinyl looked at the product in her hand as she began to understand what its purpose was. “That’s gross.” She said.
“Yeah it is.” I replied and went back into the kitchen to finish putting the food away. “You want some help carrying everything up to your room?”
“That would be awesome.” She said.
We dumped everything of hers onto the bed. “Okay, so I’m going to leave you to put everything away as you want. There are hangers in the closet that you can use to hang stuff on and a small dresser for everything else. You can put your toothbrush and stuff in the hallway bathroom, and your laptop can sit on the desk. There’s a plug down underneath the window that you can plug the power cord in. I’m gonna go downstairs and get you a hamper of some kind for you to put your dirty clothes in and a radio.”
“Alright.” Vinyl said, but hugged me again before I could leave. “You really didn’t have to do any of this.” She added.
I smiled and hugged her back. “I know, but I did anyways.”
I left and went to my laptop, opening iTunes and setting a playlist to play. Then I went downstairs and dug around for a basket or something. After some digging I was beginning to wonder if I only had one, but fortunately I found one buried under a mountain of paper towels and tissue boxes. Grabbing it I went to the studio and took the spare radio and power strip I kept down there and headed back upstairs.
I got to Vinyl’s room and found he had already changed into a fresh set of clothes and had most of her stuff already put away. I set the basket down by the closet and put the radio on the desk next to her laptop. I plugged the power strip into the socket and then plugged the radio and laptop into the strip and turned it on.
“Okay, so you should have pretty much everything you should ever need for now.” I said. “How about some lunch?”
I sat at my laptop browsing various online music stores as I munched on a mini pizza. After setting up Vinyl’s laptop and getting it connected to my wifi network, she had spent most of yesterday and so far all of today watching the My Little Pony episodes. She had said something about ‘needing to know what it was all about’ or something, so I let her be.
Today Nathan and Kyle were coming over in about an hour to work on some new material. I hadn’t told them about Vinyl yet; in fact I wanted her to be a surprise. The only issue is that Nathan doesn’t watch the show nor is he a part of the community. He doesn’t judge anyone for liking it, but just chooses not to get involved. Every time I pressed him about it he always insisted that he just didn't 'get it' or something. Personally I think he's trying too hard to understand since there's not really a whole lot to understand. Kyle has watched the show and is more or less neutral about it. He did claim to like what the fan base had created as far as art was considered, and truthfully the fan base could claim a fair number of incredibly talented artists of all kinds. It was something I was grateful for. I had a lot of older friends decide to slowly cut contact with me because of it, so to have these two long-time friends not give me any flak for it was something I appreciated immensely.
Either way, explaining her to them was going to be interesting.
I flipped through inventories looking for a new distortion pedal. The one I currently had was starting to go, so a replacement was in order. The only problem was that only cheap ones that I could find had ridiculous shipping costs, which effectively nullified any potential savings I could hope for. None of the music stores in town had what I was looking for, which meant I was going to have to head to a different city to pick one up. Oh well. It’ll give me an opportunity to show Vinyl around part of the state; she’d mentioned interest in seeing some other places outside of Longmont last night.
I closed the browser and finished my pizza. I heard activity coming from upstairs, and a moment later Vinyl came down the stairs.
“Hey Vinyl.” I greeted her, opening up iTunes and browsing through my library for something to listen to.
“Hey Matt.” Vinyl replied, heading into the kitchen. I couldn’t help but notice that something was…off.
“Something wrong?” I asked clicking on the ‘play’ button and letting shuffle pick for me.
Vinyl sighed. “That show…” She said somewhat quietly. “It is pretty mind blowing that you guys know about Equestria like that. It’s not all completely accurate, but it’s still pretty amazing. But I can’t help but feel really homesick and inwardly hate myself for putting myself into this situation.”
I got up and walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Vinyl I promise I’ll do what I can to help you get back home.” I said. “I know what being homesick is like; I haven’t seen my true home in nearly two decades. But don’t hate yourself for this. You couldn’t have possibly known that this was going to happen, right?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I was pissed and upset, and I’d never in a thousand years thought that making a wish like that would have resulted in something like this.”
“Right, so don’t hate yourself over it. In the meantime, you’ve got a place to stay, food, and a friend.”
“I guess that’s true. Things could be a lot worse…”
“Exactly.” I said, grabbing a soda from the fridge. “Now, Nathan and Kyle are heading over today and we’re gonna see if we can’t get some work done on our material. Since you’re going to be our dee jay you’re more than welcome to come down and participate in whichever way you’d like.”
“Do they know about me?” She asked.
“I haven’t told them yet.” I said. “Truthfully I’m not sure how they’ll react. I know they’d be pretty happy to have someone new in the group, but when I tell them who you are…I don’t know how they’ll react.”
“Do they know about us?” Vinyl asked, suddenly concerned.
“If by ‘us’ you mean Equestrians then yes, but only to a small degree.” I opened the can and took a drink. “Neither are huge fans of the show but they don’t hate it either.”
“So you’re going to tell them who I am.” It wasn’t a question.
“I can trust these two to not tell anyone else.” I said. “I’ve known Nathan for most of my life, and Kyle has proven to be a trustworthy individual.”
“I’ll trust you on this.” Vinyl said, grabbing an apple. “I happened to see some of the…no so nice things that you said humans tend to do and say while on the internet. You weren’t kidding; there are some real scumbags out there. While I’m not afraid to confront somepony if they got hostile, I’d prefer not to. And since I’m still unfamiliar with the customs and culture of this place, I trust you to make sure I don’t do anything stupid.”
“Understood.” I finished the soda. “I’m going to go set up the studio.”
I headed downstairs and after a minute I heard Vinyl join me. I plugged in my amp and tested it by playing a few bars with my practice bass. Everything sounded good, so I took a few minutes to set up the recording equipment.
“Need any help?” Vinyl asked.
“Umm…” I looked around the studio. “If you want to set up the mic stands that would be great.”
Vinyl set about getting the mic stands ready. “Hey, before your buddies get here, do you think you could play something?”
I looked up from what I was doing. “What for?”
Vinyl shrugged as she set the stands down. “I just wanna see how good you are.”
I quickly finished working with the mixing board. “Sure.” I said and walked over to my practice bass, slinging the strap over my shoulder and plugging it into the amp. “How about I play you the song we tend to cover the most?”
“Whichever you want to.” Vinyl said, taking a seat at the desk.
I played a few notes to find that the bass was perfectly in tune and stepped up to a microphone, switching it on. Producing a guitar pick out of my pocket and foregoing the use of my unreliable distortion pedal I began to play Nine Inch Nail’s “Wish”. It’s not a particularly difficult song, but it’s one that all three of us could really get into.
Funny thing…I don’t play the bass guitar like most people do. I talk to other bassists and they tell me that they play finger pick style. I, for whatever reason, can’t seem to make it work, so instead I play with a pick like most guitarists do. Personally I find it more comfortable and it fits the genres that I like to play just fine.
I played through the song without slipping up, but it did feel odd to play for someone and not have at least the guitar accompanying me. When I finished I took a step back from the microphone and rested the body of the guitar on my foot.
“That was a song called “Wish” by Nine Inch Nails.” I said. “Not the most difficult song out there but it’s one that we play at every gig. We usually use it as a finishing song because of how high energy it can be.”
“I see.” Vinyl stood up. “That was good, but did you stop playing while you sung because you can’t do both at the same time?”
“Nope, there just aren’t any notes during the verses.” I replied, turning off the microphone and the amp before leaning the guitar against the side of the amp. “It sounds a lot better when there’s a guitar playing and when I have the bass distorted with a pedal.”
“Distorted bass sounds like my style.” Vinyl said. “Why didn’t you?”
“Because I need to replace my distortion pedal.” I said. “It’s decided that it’s only going to work when it wants to, which is almost never at this point, so I think I’m going to go get a new one this weekend.”
“Cool. Are there music stores in town?”
“There’s a few, but none of them have what I want or they want way too much for it. I got my first one for fifty dollars a few years ago and until recently it’s served me just fine. I don’t need the top of the line gear, just something that works.”
“I hear ya.” Vinyl said, crossing her arms. “So where can you go to get one?”
“Probably the state capital city of Denver.” I replied. “There are a fair number of record stores in and around Denver and I know most of them sell equipment alongside music and related merchandise. I think I’ll go tomorrow, so would you like to come?”
“Absolutely!” Vinyl exclaimed. “Is Colorado big on music?”
“In the past decade or so there have been a fair number of groups that have made it to mainstream success and a few other bands relocated to Colorado to record. Bands like The Fray, 3Oh!3, The Flobots, and The Epilogues are all from Colorado and have all had mainstream success, Denver can claim Ivan Moody, who is the front man for the famous metal group Five Finger Death Punch, and famous punk and alternative rock band Rise Against records in a studio just up north in Fort Collins. Then there are some of the wicked underground scenes. Colorado has some really talented metal bands that just haven’t quite had their lucky break yet, especially here in Longmont.”
“That’s pretty awesome.” Vinyl said. “Does your group have a name?”
“Yeah, we’re called Hidden Underground.”
“Hidden Underground, huh? How’d you come up with the name?”
“Like I said earlier, a lot of Colorado’s rock and metal groups haven’t had their lucky break yet, so our name reflects that trend since we want to write material that would be classified as rock or metal.”
“That’s…actually pretty cool.”
We spent the next hour or so chatting and I occasionally played through a bass line I had come up with. Vinyl talked about some of the stuff she used to play or compose back in Equestria, and the more she talked the more I would have liked to hear some of it. Then I felt my leg vibrating.
I pulled out my phone and flipped it open to see that I had a new text message from Nathan that read “At your place.”
Signaling for Vinyl to stay in the studio, I went upstairs and to the front door, which I unlocked and opened. Nathan and Kyle were standing on the porch.
“What’s up dude?” Nathan said with guitar and amp in hand.
I ushered them in. “Not a whole lot, just been warming up for today’s session.”
“Good.” Kyle said. “I’d love to be able to record at least a demo today.”
“I plan on it.” I said, following them to the basement door.
Nathan has been a friend of mine since high school, but we knew each other since early elementary. He’s about my height with a large build. Not fat, just big. He’s gone through several genre switches since we decided to form a project, originally going with a post-grunge sound and eventually working our way into what we have now.
Kyle, on the other hand, is slightly shorter than the average adult male and fairly scrawny as well. I’ve also known Kyle since high school, though he was a year ahead of Nathan and me. Kyle is a big fan of jazz and classic and alternative rock, but is okay with playing drums for slightly heavier genres. He’s one of the best drummers I know, so I was pretty happy when he said he was willing to play metal.
I lead the way downstairs and rounded the corner into the studio where Vinyl was waiting.
“Hey Matt, did you get a girlfriend?” Nathan jeered.
I swear Vinyl turned slightly red but otherwise didn’t have any outward reaction. “No actually.” I responded coolly. “This is my new roommate and Hidden Underground’s new dee jay.”
“New dee jay?” Kyle echoed. “That’ll be really nice.”
“Yeah it will.” Nathan set his equipment down in the middle of the studio and extended an open hand to Vinyl, which she shook. “My name’s Nathan, nice to meet you.” He said.
“I’m Kyle.” Kyle added, waving from where he was standing.
“Nice to meet you guys.” Vinyl said. “The name’s Vinyl, and I hope that I don’t disappoint.”
“Vinyl?” Nathan repeated. “That’s an interesting name. Are you from around here?”
“Nah, I’m from Trottingham.” Vinyl replied.
I noticed that Nathan and Kyle exchanged an odd look. Kyle turned to me and said, “Hey, would you mind helping me unload my drum set?”
“Yeah sure.” I said. “You coming Nathan?”
“Yeah.” Nathan followed us upstairs while Vinyl elected to stay in the studio and play with the mixing board.
“So, who the hell is this girl, Matt?” Nathan asked once we got upstairs.
I sighed. “You guys probably aren’t going to believe me, but you gotta promise that you won’t tell anyone about her.”
Nathan and Kyle exchanged another odd look. “Sure, we won’t tell.” Kyle said.
“Alright.” I sighed again, thinking about how I was going to start. “So, a few nights ago I was out hiking over at Sandstone Ranch at the edge of town. I thought I heard someone in pain, so I looked around and saw her at the base of those cliffs at the ranch. She was barely conscious and all cut up and bruised, so I couldn’t help myself but try and help her. Long story short she’s the human form of a background character from My Little Pony.”
I could tell that Nathan was trying not to laugh and Kyle just looked at me like I was crazy. “I’m serious guys. I was skeptical at first, but the more I talked with her the more convinced I became that she’s the background character known as Vinyl Scratch. C’mon, I’ll show you.”
I took them into my office area and pointed to a printed still from the scene in the last episode of season two where Vinyl was behind a turn table with a certain pink pony called Pinkie Pie, goggles raised to reveal her magenta irises. Nathan and Kyle stared at the image for a moment.
“She does bear a striking resemblance.” Nathan conceded after a moment, and Kyle nodded in agreement.
“How do you know she’s not some kind of crazy god tier cosplayer?” Kyle asked.
“There’re certain mannerisms and phrases that most people would stumble over or get mixed up without years of training. You should have seen her when I first found her; she could barely function properly!” I pointed to the pony Vinyl’s flank. “See this? See this cutie mark?”
Nathan and Kyle said they saw it. “Well, she’s got this on her hip.” I said.
“You sure it’s not a tattoo?” Kyle asked.
“I’ve never seen any tattoo that looks like this.” I replied. “And I don’t mean that in the sense that I’ve never seen musical notes as a tattoo before. You know how tattoos have that certain look, like the edges are usually just slightly blurry and the colors just slightly off? Well this mark she has is pure black, has really sharp edges, and looks like it’s actually part of her skin, like she was born with it.”
Nathan scratched his chin. “So uh…how did you see it if it’s on her hip?”
“I asked her if she had it and she showed me.” I said.
They exchanged one last look. “Alright Matt. I won’t say I’m not still skeptical but I’ll go with it for now.” Kyle said.
“Yeah.” Nathan added. “There’s enough evidence that hints that she might be this pony you speak of, but I’ll reserve judgment until I know her better.”
I nodded. “Understandable, and thanks guys.” I had expected more resistance from them, but it would seem as though I was given a break.
“No problem.” Kyle said. “Now about that drum set?”
We headed outside to Kyle’s van and started to unload the drum set. Kyle picked up the case containing the bass drum. “So you said she’s your roommate?” He asked.
I picked up two cases containing snare drums and said, “Yeah. She’s got nowhere else to go, and so I offered to let her stay in one of my spare bedrooms.”
“Do your folks know?” Nathan picked up a set of stands and drumsticks. “And how are you going to afford this?”
“My folks don’t really care so long as the rent is paid for and I don’t wreck the place.” I said. “As for how I’ll pay for it…I’m not actually sure yet.”
We took everything downstairs and Nathan went back to Kyle’s van to get the last two snare drums and cymbals while Kyle unpacked and set everything up.
“So, what exactly can I do?” Vinyl asked, sitting at the desk.
“For today, all I’d like you to do is to listen to what we play.” I said. “I unfortunately don’t have anything like a turntable or keyboard for you to play, so for now just sit back and listen.”
“If you say so.” Vinyl leaned back in the chair and made herself comfortable.
A few minutes later everyone was set up and ready to go. “What sounds good for a warm up?” I asked, flipping my pick between some fingers.
““King Nothing” sound good?” Nathan suggested.
“Works for me.” Kyle said.
“Alright let’s do this.” I said and waited a moment before starting the intro bass riff. To date “King Nothing” is the only Metallica song I’ve ever been able to play well, and I made it a point to learn it and master it as best as I could. Nathan joined in soon enough with the guitar work and Kyle not long after with the drums. Nathan took over vocals for this song, and I only joined in for certain lines during the chorus. Our cover of “King Nothing” went really well, and the only way I could think of to make it better would to have had a second guitarist. Vinyl stood and applauded us as the final notes faded away.
“That was very good.” She said.
“Would be better if we had a second guitarist.” I said. “And if my distortion pedal was working.”
“This is true.” Nathan said. “But I was thinking…maybe we should record some of these covers?”
“Not a bad idea.” I said. “Vinyl, you think you could handle that?”
“Absolutely.” Vinyl walked over to the recording equipment, which consisted of a simple laptop connected to a microphone that hung from the ceiling in the middle of the studio and fiddled with it for a moment. “Okay, it’s ready!”
““King Nothing” again?” I suggested, and after everyone agreed I signaled for Vinyl to begin the recording. Once she made sure the computer was recording I began the intro bass riff.
Like with our previous play through we played the song as best as we could. It wasn’t the best but it was good enough that I think everyone present would agree that it was still a fairly decent cover. Once it was over I signaled for Vinyl to end the recording.
“How about another cover?” Nathan asked.
“I think “Wish” deserves to be recorded.” I said.
“Considering that it’s our staple for every gig we play, I’d say so.” Kyle said.
“Alright Vinyl, get the recorder ready and I’ve got vocals for this.” I said and she signaled me when it was ready. Kyle started off with the drums and Nathan improvised the backing electro sound with his guitar. I sung the verses with a slight growl and an octave lower than I normally sing to better fit the tone of the lyrics, but switched to my normal style during the chorus. During the song I couldn’t help but notice Vinyl’s wide grin and her head bobbing to the rhythm of the song.
As the final notes faded I signaled for Vinyl to stop the recording.
“One more?” I asked.
““Bleed it Out”?” Kyle suggested.
“Only if Matt’s the chorus and I’ve got the verses.” Nathan said, and I nodded and let Vinyl know to start recording again. Nathan started strong with the guitar intro and started to rap the first verse without missing a beat. Kyle and I both began when appropriate and I nailed the chorus. “Bleed it Out” was another song we liked to play at gigs a lot, and usually we used it as our opener, though not always.
We finished the song and Vinyl stopped the recording. I set my bass down and walked over to save and transfer the three recordings to a thumb drive.
“This is pretty great.” I said. “Now that we finally have some decent recordings we have something to show people who are interested in playing with us.”
“Yeah, and we can move on to more complex stuff.” Nathan said. “Now how about we work on some original material?”
Within an hour we had recorded several demos, mostly instrumentals, and decided to call it a day. Nathan and Kyle packed up and made their way out while I put my gear away and turned everything off.
“I’d call that a successful day, no?” I said to Vinyl as I made sure everything had been backed up on the laptop and transferred to the thumb drive.
“I’d think so.” Vinyl said. “You guys are really good, and I’m pretty happy that you’re giving me a chance to join Hidden Underground.”
“You happen to fit a role that’s really hard to fill these days.” I said with a shrug. “The only issue is getting you the proper equipment.”
We went upstairs and I set about making a stew for dinner tonight. “What are you going to do with those recordings?” Vinyl asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.
“I plan on making videos with the covers and uploading them to YouTube.” I said. “I won’t do anything with the demos for now, but you’re more than welcome to listen to them anytime you want.”
“I plan on it.” Vinyl said. “How else am I supposed to get an idea for what I can add if I can’t carefully listen to what you guys have?”
“Exactly.” I said, smiling at Vinyl. But instead of smiling back, Vinyl was looking at the floor, uncertainty dominating her expression. “What’s up?” I asked.
“I just hope I don’t disappoint.” Vinyl said quietly, a small quiver in her voice. Clearly the rejection she experienced was causing her some serious distress.
“I have every confidence in you, Vinyl.” I said, trying to cheer her up. “I know that you’ll do great.”
Vinyl suddenly gave me a cold look and said, “That’s exactly what my producer said before my second album dropped.” She then walked off and headed upstairs, leaving me dumbfounded.
Vinyl and I didn’t talk much for the rest of the week. I had only approached her once about what she had said to me after Hidden Underground’s recording session and my efforts were met only with a cold stare and a statement saying I should mind my own business. It annoyed me somewhat, and I certainly could have been the world’s biggest douche and pulled the ‘this-is-my-house-and-I’m-letting-you-stay-here’ card to get her to tell me, but instead I dropped it, figuring that if she ever decided to tell me she’d tell me when she was ready. I did feel somewhat guilty though, since this was set off by something I apparently said. I’m no mind reader but whatever it was it was clearly bothering her.
Today I was headed down to a studio in Denver to pick up a new distortion pedal. I was lucky and found one online for really cheap and they offered me the option to pick it up myself instead of shipping it. It gave me an excuse to get out of Longmont again.
I was busy digging through the pantry for something to cook for lunch when Vinyl entered the kitchen and headed straight for the fruit bowl. “If you’re hungry I can make you something.” I offered.
“I’m not terribly hungry.” Vinyl replied, picking up an apple and inspecting it.
“Suit yourself then.” I decided I was going to just make myself a sandwich and forgo cooking. Our conversations had become rather short like this, and as much as I disliked it, I wasn’t entirely sure of how to resolve whatever was between us without knowing what I did wrong.
Vinyl turned to leave the kitchen with her apple. “Hey, Vinyl?” I started before she left.
Vinyl stopped and turned to me, expression blank. “Yes?”
I sighed. “I don’t know what I did or said to upset you so much, but I’m sorry.” Short and to the point.
Vinyl’s expression softened slightly. “Maybe one day I’ll tell you why I was so upset.” She said softly.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” I replied before holding out a hand. “We cool?”
Vinyl looked at my hand and then at me before grasping my hand. “Yeah, we cool.” She said.
Instantly I felt the tension go away, and breathed a small sigh of relief. “Awesome. I’m actually headed down to Denver after lunch if you wanna tag along.” I offered.
Vinyl bit into the apple. “What for?”
“To go pick up that new distortion pedal that I’ve been needing.” I replied, getting what I would need for my lunch. “It’s cheaper for me to go and pick one up in person than it is to ship it, plus I won’t have to wait several weeks this way. I also told you I’d show you more of the state if you were interested, and this would be a pretty good opportunity to see what a world-class American city is really like.”
Vinyl thought for a moment. “Eh, I said I’d come along before and I’m not the kind of mare…er, girl, to go back on her word.”
I smiled. “Cool.”
Half an hour later we were on the road and headed towards Denver. I had some tunes playing through the car stereo like I always do, and Vinyl’s head was bobbing to the beat as she stared out the window at the passing scenery. On the freeway I was pleased to find that traffic was relatively thin for the time of day, meaning the 25 mile jog along the interstate to Denver proper wouldn’t be a hassle.
It didn’t take long to reach the northern end of the Denver metro. “Is this Denver?” Vinyl asked as the open fields quickly gave way to outlet malls and neighborhoods.
“Not quite.” I replied. “This is the Denver metro area, but it’s not the city of Denver.”
“Huh?”
“In many larger cities, especially in the Western world which is where we are, big cities will be accompanied by towns we call ‘suburbs’. These suburbs give all the benefits of living in the big city without having to actually live in the big city. Suburbs are often cheaper to live in because of this. This particular one is called Westminster, and it’s where I spent my first year in Colorado back when I first moved to this state nearly two decades ago.”
“So big cities have smaller towns around them so people can be close to the big city but not have to worry about the problems that come with them?”
“You can say that.” I switched lanes to get around a very slow moving vehicle. “Sometimes suburbs can by themselves be considered big cities. In fact a fair number of Colorado’s biggest cities are suburbs of Denver, and Westminster is one of them with over one hundred thousand residents.”
“Oh wow.” Vinyl said. “We certainly don’t have anything quite like that back in Equestria.”
“From what I do know of Equestria, I think it’s safe to say that our two worlds have very little in common.”
“Believe me, they’re totally different places.”
At this point we were just coming over a hill around the Thornton Parkway area, and as we crested the hill the Denver skyline came into view.
“What’s that?” Vinyl asked, notably stunned by the view.
“That is downtown Denver.” I replied.
“That’s crazy!” Vinyl said. “Sure we have cities like Manehatten and Fillydelphia that have some taller buildings like apartments and stuff but nothing like that! Even those shorter buildings have to be at least twice as tall as anything I’ve ever seen in Equestria!”
“Those three tallest ones are all around seven hundred feet in height. But if you think those are really tall then go to places like Chicago or New York City. There are plenty of cities in this country alone that have towers that dwarf what Denver has.”
“That’s insane…”
“That’s human engineering.”
By this point we had entered Denver city proper. If anyone wants to pass through Denver on Interstate 25, the main north-south freeway in the state, there’s two things that need to be known. There’s a stretch along the freeway that circles around downtown Denver that is always under some kind of construction and along this stretch the freeway is almost always clogged. Today was no exception. Once the freeway began to circle around downtown traffic began to slow down as vehicles darted across lanes of traffic to exit the highway and as vehicles rolled down the on ramps to merge with the interstate. We passed a number of local landmarks including Six Flags at Elitch Gardens theme park and the Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium. As we passed the stadium and reached the part of the highway that was being worked on, I pointed towards the south end of downtown. “See those two domed structures?” I asked.
Vinyl looked over where I was pointing. “I think so.”
“The one with the golden top is the State Capital building, and the other one is the city hall.”
“The city hall huh? Looks totally different from the one in Ponyville. But what’s a State Capital building?”
“It’s the place where the Colorado state government convenes to discuss policies and write new laws.” I explained. “Think of it like Canterlot Castle or any town hall but on a much bigger level; it’s where all the important people go to make sure that the state is properly run.”
“Have you ever been there?”
“Several times.” I moved a lane over to avoid a large pothole in the road. “I’ve even been to the top of the dome. Pretty good view from up there.”
“Not like the views from the top of those taller buildings I’d bet.”
“Oh no, nothing like the amazing views you can get from some of those taller towers.”
“Do you think we could stop by here on the way back?”
“Sure. Downtown has a lot to offer to visitors.”
“Like what?”
“For starters there’s a pedestrian mall named 16th Street Mall. It stretches from one end of downtown to the other and it’s lined with restaurants, retail stores, gift shops, banks, and plazas.”
“Do other big cities here have these malls?”
“A few, some more famous than others.” I replied, moving over for a stopped emergency vehicle. “There’s the Mall in Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital, but instead of having shops and restaurants along it, the Mall is just one gigantic strip of grass lined with trees and benches.”
“Sounds like something an Equestrian city would have.” Vinyl commented.
“I wouldn’t know. Now it’s not really a ‘mall’ per se but there’s also the Las Vegas Strip.”
“Las Vegas Strip?” Vinyl echoed.
“Yes, the Las Vegas Strip.” I said. “As the name implies, it’s a strip along a very busy road in the desert city of Las Vegas. This strip is several miles long and is lined with hotels, resorts, clubs, casinos…you name it, it’s got it. It’s one of the state of Nevada’s, and America’s, biggest tourist destinations.”
“Sounds like fun. Where is it?”
“The city of Las Vegas is a good half day’s drive to the west in the southern part of Nevada. The quickest way to get there is to drive all the way across the state of Utah and part of Arizona.”
Vinyl stared ahead for a moment before shaking her head. “I sure do have a lot to learn about this place if I’m gonna be here for very long.”
I laughed. “America just happens to be one of the biggest nations on Earth and it’s not uncommon for people who have lived here their whole lives to get confused about where some places are. Geography just happens to be something I’m fairly good at.”
“Speaking of, I still find it hard to accept that humans don’t have cutie marks like ponies do.”
I shrugged. “Humans are incredibly versatile creatures, plus there’s that certain lack of magic on this planet. Even something as small as a cutie mark would totally change the way human society functions as a whole.”
We chatted idly for a bit after that, and before long we had reached the exit we wanted. I carefully maneuvered the tricky off ramp that dumped traffic onto Colorado Boulevard and entered the correct turning lane. The intersection at Interstate 25 and Colorado Boulevard was home to a smaller, although much shorter, cluster of office towers and apartment blocks.
“Is this a different city?” Vinyl asked as we turned onto Colorado Boulevard and headed north.
“There is actually a really small town a few blocks up that’s completely surrounded by Denver, but no we’re still in Denver.” I replied. “Though this area does look like it belongs to a different city, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. You know, I couldn’t help but notice that this part of the city looks so much nicer.”
I laughed a bit again. “Yeah Denver’s funny like that. In American cities the parts of town that are often worse off are the southern parts, while the northern ends are usually better off. For some reason Denver’s got it backwards.”
“So the south end is wealthy and really nice instead?”
“Pretty much.”
I followed Colorado Boulevard up a few blocks from the freeway exit and turned off into a parking lot. One of the buildings had a sign that read “Guitar Center”.
Vinyl pointed to the sign as I found a place to park and stopped the car. “This is where we’re going?”
“Yup.” I unbuckled myself and got out of the car, locking it once Vinyl had also exited the vehicle.
We walked into the store and immediately Vinyl entered a state of awe.
“So many instruments in one place…” I heard her utter.
“Don’t have an instrument store back home?” I asked.
“Not like this we don’t.”
“Heh. Well feel free to look around while I go get what I need.”
Vinyl needed not be told twice. She immediately went over to a display that contained several turntables. I walked up to the counter and was greeted by the employee.
“Good afternoon sir.” She said. “How can I help you today?”
“Your website said that you guys have a distortion pedal here.” I replied, giving her the specifics.
“Ah, yes we do in fact have one of those in stock.” She walked in front of the counter and led me over to another display case. Reaching for her lanyard, she took hold of a key and unlocked the case. I looked at some of the other pedals that were on display as she took the one I was looking for.
“This is it.” She held the pedal out for me to inspect. I took it and carefully looked it over.
“Do you mind if I test it on one of these bass guitars?” I asked and gestured to a section of the wall dedicated to ‘used’ bass guitars and amps.
“Go right ahead, I’ll get a cable for you.” The employee walked back behind the counter while I walked over to the wall and selected a guitar and amp.
Just as I was adjusting the shoulder strap of my chosen bass guitar the employee approached me with a cable. “Here you go, sir.”
“Thanks.” I took the cable and plugged one end of the cable into the guitar and the other into the pedal, then took the pedal’s built-in cable and plugged that into the amp and turned the amp on. I played a few notes before making some adjustments on the amp. Once I was satisfied I activated the pedal and played a few bars on each string. I carefully listened to the sound for anything that didn’t seem quite right, but after a minute of playing I could not find anything to complain about.
Satisfied, I unplugged everything and put the guitar back where it belonged, then took the cable and pedal over to where Vinyl was drooling over some equipment. “Like what you see?” I asked.
“This is totally unreal! It’s just like what I use back in Equ-back home.” Vinyl caught herself before finishing her original thought.
I looked into the display case at the turntable that Vinyl was so interested in. It wasn’t particularly fancy or overly laden with technology, and in fact seemed fairly simple. “Huh...”
“Yeah…well I think I’m gonna go visit the little filly’s room before we leave.”
“Alright, just meet me out at the car.” I glanced rather quickly at the price tag of five hundred dollars as Vinyl walked to the back of the store before heading to the register.
“All ready?” The employee asked me as I handed the cable back to her.
I thought for a moment before responding. It would be outside of what I’d normally want to spend for one day but I convinced myself that it was worth it. “Actually, that turntable that my friend over there has been drooling over…” I pointed out the device. “I’d like to buy that as well as this pedal.”
“Of course.” The employee grabbed the turntable and within a minute I was outside and packing the pedal and turntable in the back of the car.
“We ready to go?” Vinyl asked me, just walking out of the store as I was just closing the hatch. Fortunately it didn’t seem like she had noticed the turntable which I was going to surprise her with later today.
“We are. Now I believe you wanted to see 16th Street Mall?”
“If you wouldn’t mind.” Vinyl replied, getting into the front passenger seat.
“Alright then, let’s go.”
I decided to just take Colorado Boulevard up to downtown Denver instead of dealing with the interstate. It didn’t take too long to find a spot to park near the REI sports store.
“This place is so busy.” Vinyl commented as we walked across a bridge.
“Well it’s starting to get into the late afternoon now and some people are just getting off work.” I replied. Indeed there was a fair amount of pedestrian traffic on this bridge and even more headed toward and from the shuttle stop at the north-western end of 16th Street Mall. As we walked I guided us towards the shuttle stop and we very quickly found ourselves in the middle of a stream of people, and before long we were standing in line waiting for the next shuttle. A few moments later one of the large shuttles drove up to the station and we boarded it.
As we picked out some seats next to the doors I addressed Vinyl. “We can stay on this shuttle for as long as we want. Look outside as we move and when you see a spot you want to get off at just say so.”
Vinyl nodded and the shuttle started to move. I leaned back in the seat and gazed out the window at the passing buildings and people. Vinyl sat down next to me and also looked out the window. “There’s so much going on here.” She commented.
“Well we are in the heart of the largest city for hundreds of miles.”
“Is Denver really that isolated?”
I nodded. “Colorado has another fairly large city called Colorado Springs. It’s about an hour south of here on the freeway, and it’s definitely not as large as Denver is, though it’s still a big city. I personally find it to be more scenic than Denver though. But anyways, the next biggest city of comparable size to Denver is a place called Albuquerque, far to the south in the state of New Mexico, roughly a seven hour drive and five hundred miles away.”
“Albuquerque? That’s a mouthful.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely not an English word. Albuquerque is a desert city. Pretty place, with mountains on one side of the city and an expansive desert on the other. Albuquerque, and New Mexico in general, is definitely a different place than Colorado.”
“Does each state have its own culture?”
“More or less. There are some states that share enough traits with each other to be grouped together, like the Great Plains states just to the east, and then there’re places like Colorado or New Mexico that are fairly unique in a number of ways.”
“What makes Colorado unique?”
“Colorado has a big focus on outdoor and winter sports and related tourism, plus we have a fairly high government presence compared to a lot of other states. Most other states tend to focus on things like agriculture and industry, while a few give their focus to things like tourism.”
“I see.”
We got off the shuttle after a few stops and began to walk up the pedestrian street, and soon we found ourselves at the Republic Plaza and tower.
“It looks so much taller in person…” Vinyl uttered as she craned her neck to look up the wall of the Sardinian stone-clad Republic Plaza tower.
“Yup.” I replied, looking up at the tower as well. “It’s just over seven hundred feet in height. The Republic Plaza is the tallest tower in the state of Colorado, and until recently it was the taller than anything in all the surrounding states as well.”
“This is incredible. What could possibly need that much room?”
“This building is inhabited by a number of different firms and banks, not just a single company. There’s also an underground level connected to this building here next to it that holds a food court and retail stores.” I point at a nearby staircase that led underneath the tower and the nearby multi-level strip mall next to it.
“Wow. I saw there were two other really tall towers. What are those?”
“Well just around the corner from this plaza is the Wells Fargo tower, primarily used by the banking company Wells Fargo. It’s a very distinguishable building because of its offset and curved roof. Then there’s the former Qwest tower, now called the Centurylink tower. That’s the tall brown one that stands slightly apart from this and the Wells Fargo tower. The Centurylink tower is the headquarters for the cable company Centurylink, hence the name.”
“Do companies name the towers they are based in?”
“Usually only if that is where their headquarters is. There’s another rather interesting tower not far from here. I forget what it’s called, but it’s unusual because it’s partially built around an old cathedral.”
“How far from here is it?”
“A few blocks. Wanna check it out?”
“Sure.”
We left the Republic Plaza and headed north towards this building. The walk took longer than I had anticipated, but hearing Vinyl’s reaction to seeing this building was worth it.
“This is amazing.” She breathed as the structure came into view. “It really is built around that old stone castle!”
“Not a castle, a cathedral.” I corrected her. “It’s a place of worship for one of Earth’s religions. When this tower was built, the community at large wanted to preserve this local landmark, and so instead of demolishing it, the contractors who designed the tower simply decided to incorporate it into the tower’s design.”
“That’s awesome. Is the cathedral still in use?”
“I believe so.” I glanced at my watch. “We should probably start heading back, unless there was something else you wish to see?”
Vinyl shook her head. “Naw, I think I’ve seen enough for today. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by all this.”
“Alright, then let’s go.”
The walk back to the car was relatively uneventful. Vinyl continued asking questions about different buildings or sights that she spotted along the way while I answered as best I could, and on the drive home she was content to listen to whatever I decided to play through the stereo.
I pulled into the driveway once we got back to my home and opened the rear hatch. Vinyl began to make her way to the front door.
“Hey, I want you to see something.” I called to her, and she walked over.
“What’s up?” She asked, before looking down into the trunk. The second she spotted the turntable she had wanted she gasped.
“I said I was gonna help you get back into making music, and I meant it.” I said.
Once again I found myself within a tight embrace. “Oh, I don’t even know what to say!” Vinyl exclaimed.
“You can stop crushing me.” I suggested. For how small Vinyl looked, she sure had some strong arms.
Vinyl loosened her grip some. “I’ll do whatever I can to not let you down.”
