//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: This is the Life // Story: A Dramatic Turn of Events // by moviemaster8510 //------------------------------// Petrucci awoke feeling as rested as he did the previous morning on the train. However, it was still relatively dark out. He rolled over to a small bedside table where he saw a clock. It read 5:56. John felt too rested to fall back asleep and wait for the sun, so he got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom for a quick bath. As he drew water from the faucet, waiting for it to get warm, he felt his stomach grumble. He then remembered how little he actually ate the previous night. He had only eaten a particularly large slice of cake at the party, which, come to think of it, wasn’t even the least bit nutritious. He didn’t particularly want to wait for the vendors and markets to open. That’s when it hit him. Applejack worked on her farm. If he knew any kind of farm on Earth, she and her family would get up at the crack of dawn and begin working. Surely, they could provide him with a couple of apples to eat. That’s when it hit him again. Petrucci was an avid bodybuilder when he wasn’t practicing, writing, or performing. He had already thought a couple of times about finding a gym in Ponyville where he could spend some time during his now prolonged stay. If he could assist Applejack and do some work on the farm, he’d be able to spend some time with his friends, AND he’d be able to work out a little. He was killing two birds with one stone. Petruci slipped into the now warm bathwater, quickly lathering his body with soapy suds and cleaning his hair with shampoo. He didn’t feel the need to thoroughly clean his body, as he’d be sweaty and dirty by the time he was down. After drying himself off, Petrucci slipped on his old clothes from the night before, along with his shoes. He didn’t want to waste clean clothes (especially ones made for him) just to get them dirty almost instantly. Just in case he needed them while he was out, he packed a roll of bits in his back pocket. Finally, after writing a short note explaining his whereabouts and pinning it to the outside of his cottage door, John took a jog to Sweet Apple Acres. It was still relatively dark out, but Petrucci could still easily tell the path that he needed to take thanks to the soft, orange glow from the eastern horizon. That’s when he noticed a sliver of bright light coming off the eastern hills. It looked like the sun was rising, but what struck him odd was how fast the sun was rising. Petrucci couldn’t be help but stop in his tracks and look at the bright celestial body rise over the hills. He was amazed as he watched the lavender night sky be eradicated by the cyan blue within a matter of seconds, all while the ground was showered in the warm glow of the sun’s rays. John had honestly never seen a more beautiful sunrise in his life. He found it very… inspirational. Another idea clicked. “I’m going to have to remember that one,” Petrucci muttered to himself, jotting down a possible future melody in his head. Suddenly realizing that he was not moving towards his destination, he turned on his heel and headed back towards Applejack’s farm. Once Petrucci came across the groves of apple trees, his hunger began to kick in again. He found it more and more difficult to resist taking an apple for himself, although he knew how wrong that could be. I’ll ask her if I can have one when I get there, thought Petrucci. After what felt like an eternity on an empty stomach, he was relieved to see the red barn in the distance. It would be just another ten minute walk before he could finally get to the entrance. Petrucci instead decided to cut that time in half by jogging there. Sure enough, in five minutes, he was at the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. He waited a bit to see if any of Applejack’s family was up before he knocked on their door. Thankfully, he saw Applejack come out of the barn entrance at the front of the house with an empty bucket in her mouth. Petrucci made a wave to her once she caught a glace at him. She spat the bucket on the ground and greeted her friend. “Howdy, Johnny,” she said with a smile. “What brings you to Sweet Apple Acres on such a fine morning?” “Well,” answered John, “there’s two things. I was wondering if I could just buy an apple from you for breakfast. Also, I’d like to help you out on the farm if you need any help.” “Well, ain’t you the sweetest thing? I’m going to have to decline on the apple part, Johnny…” Petrucci was about to drop his jaw in disbelief until Applejack finished her statement. “…because you’re going to have breakfast with us, Apple family style!” “What? No, I couldn’t impose.” “It’d be no imposition at all. As a matter of fact, after how well you played last night, it’d be a privilege to have you dine with us.” John wanted to continue to decline, but he felt like Applejack would continue to reject his rejections until they ended on a rather hostile stalemate. “That’s very kind of you,” Petrucci relented. “Thank you.” “Now, about that help…” “Yes?” “How’s about you help me get some eggs from the coop?” “Eggs? What’s a pony supposed to do with eggs?” “Why, you joker, we eat ‘em!” John felt very confused at this point. “What’s wrong, sugar?” asked Applejack, her head tilted to the side with her ears drooped. She was worried that he had offended him. “Do ponies not eat eggs where you come from?” “…No, they don’t. Their diets consist entirely of plants.” “Well, Johnny, do they talk, throw parties, or run their own barns?” Petrucci couldn’t believe he was outsmarted by an equine. “…Point taken,” he admitted. “Hehehe. Don’t sweat it. Let’s just get those eggs.” John took an indifferent sigh and followed Applejack to the chicken coops. ______________________________________________________________________________ Mike woke up to the sun beaming through his blinds. Upon looking at his clock, which read 6:30, he figured it was just as good of a time as any to get up and going. As he moved from his bedroom to the bathroom, he thought about what he could do today. He thought about spending some time with his human friends and practicing. He also considered hanging out around Ponyville some more, quite possibly with Rainbow Dash. He considered his options as he slipped into the bathwater. He was a stranger in a strange world, and he would like to feel safer around the company of his human friends. On the other hand, the inhabitants of Ponyville had proven to be quite kind and accepting towards him and his other bandmates, especially Rainbow Dash. He did only have a few days in this odd, but pleasing world, and he finally decided that he wanted to have as much fun here as possible. He got out of the bath and slipped on another set of his new clothes that he had received from Rarity. He walked out of his cottage to see if his other bandmates were awake so he could tell them that he was going out. His cottage was right next door to Petrucci’s, so he figured that he’d check him first. However, Mike found the note that Petrucci left on his door. It read: Gone to help Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres. -JP “Good idea,” muttered Mike. He went back inside his cottage to write a letter as well. His was very similar to Petrucci’s, saying: Hanging with Rainbow Dash. -Mike That’s when Mike thought of something. During the tour yesterday, he had never been shown where Rainbow Dash lived. “This might be an interesting day,” sighed Mike. ______________________________________________________________________________ Jordan woke up feeling very energized. Upon taking a bath and clothing himself, he made his way towards the banquet hall. Upon walking inside, he could see the post-apocalyptic aftermath that the party left. There were spilled liquids everywhere, popped balloons and streamers scattered all over the ground, and the snack and punch table in complete disarray. However, the only thing that he needed was his iPad, which was still attached to his keyboard setup. After taking it out of its case, he put it in its video camera function and decided to make a video log (vlog). On Earth, Jordan had a YouTube channel which he used to make videos of him walking and strolling around the cities he visited on his tours, him practicing before a show, and various apps that he made, programmed, and/or enjoyed. Jordan figured that upon returning to Earth, if he needed evidence of where he and his bandmates had been, he’d have some. Plus, it’s not like they’d be able to travel here to raise hell as some humans would. Once Jordan got outside, he hit record and began his first Ponyville vlog. “Hey, everypony,” he greeted, putting emphasis on the “pony” part. “If I told you where we all were right now, you’d never believe us, so instead, I’m going to show you instead.” Jordan took the camera off of his face and slowly panned out over Ponyville, catching many of the buildings, and thankfully, the populace of pastel ponies to make his point clear. He caught a couple of pegasi, a unicorn, and a couple of earth ponies. “Right now, you’re probably thinking, ‘Jordan, where the hell are you?’ The answer is, we are in a town called Ponyville, hence the ponies that I just showed you, in a country called Equestria. This is where we ended up following the incident at the Boston show around a day and a half ago. But, the important thing is that we’re alright.” Jordan looked beyond his tablet to see Twilight Sparkle trotting towards him. “In fact,” said Jordan, “here’s one of the new friends we made.” He turned the iPad camera so it was now facing Twilight. “Hello, Twilight.” “Hello, Jordan,” she spoke. “What are you doing?” “I’m making a vlog.” “Vlog? What is that?” “Think of it as a visual journal entry that you share with others.” “Share? You mean with your other humans?” “Exactly. We have a technology where we come from that allows others to share and watch videos, and I like to share my videos in the form of these vlogs.” “Sounds fun. Are you you free this morning?” “Not really. Why?” “Rarity and I were going to get breakfast at the local café. Care to join us?” “I dunno, I’d like to wait for my other members to get up—” As if on cue, both Myung and James came out of their cottages, fully bathed and dressed. Jordan focused his camera at his bandmates as Twilight addressed them. “Great timing!” exclaimed Twilight. “Would either of you like to join Rarity, Spike, and me for breakfast?” “I’d love to,” said Myung, “but I’m going to see Fluttershy and play for her.” “Suit yourself,” said Twilight. “How about you, James?” “Wait,” interrupted Jordan. “Where’s Petrucci and Mike?” “Maybe you should read the notes on their door?” she mentioned with a giggle. Jordan looked and read each of their notes. “Oh…” “In that case,” said James. “I’d love to have breakfast with you.” “That’s great to hear. Let’s get moving.” “Alright,” confirmed Jordan. “Bye John!" Myung responded with a wave. Jordan, James, and Twilight walked into the town while Myung went to the banquet hall to get his bass. “Alrighty,” continued John, pointing his tablet’s camera back towards himself, “we are going to go get some breakfast, and I will meet you all there.” Jordan stopped recording and followed Twilight to the café with James by his side. ______________________________________________________________________________ Petrucci left the Sweet Apple Acres house feeling stuffed as a Thanksgiving turkey. His breakfast included pancakes, hash browns, eggs, toast, fruit salad, and freshly made apple juice. He almost felt a little guilty that he was fed so much. Petrucci wanted to make it up to her by working double. Petrucci was followed outside by Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, who had stayed the night at the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse. Applejack wasn’t too far behind them. “I’m really glad you came over, John,” said Apple Bloom. “I can’t believe I’m going to be hanging out with a talented musician!” “Don’t get your tail in a tizzy, lil’ sis,” said Applejack. “John ain’t here to play games or hang out. He’s coming over to help us out. Speaking of which, John, is there something in particular that you’d like to help us with?” “Uh,” thought Petrucci aloud, “is there anything that involves heavy lifting?” “You could help Big Mac with replacing the hay in the barn. How’s that sound?” “That sounds great. Thanks.” “Alrighty, let’s get to it. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, yer comin’ with me.” As Applejack rounded up the fillies to assist her, Petrucci turned around and walked forward, only to literally run into Big Macintosh. The large red stallion looked at John in his usual flat demeanor. “Sorry about that, Big Mac,” apologized Petrucci. “Eeyup,” said Big Macintosh. His tone seemed strangely apologetic. “About yesterday, that’s just water under the bridge, right?” “Eeyup.” “Great. Let’s get too it, shall we?” John patted Big Macintosh on the side of his neck as he made his way towards the barn. “Eeyup.” ______________________________________________________________________________ Mike headed to Sugarcube Corner. As well as looking for something for breakfast, he figured that Pinkie Pie would know more than anyone where his rainbow colored friend would be. Upon opening the door to the gingerbread-looking structure, a bell rung, alerting its two owners of his arrival. “Oh, hello Mike,” greeted Mr. Cake, recognizing the human in front of him. “What can I do for you?” “Have you seen Pinkie Pie around?” asked Mike. “As a matter of fact,” cut in Mrs. Cake, “Pinkie is upstairs right now entertaining the foals.” "You have kids?” “As a matter of fact, we do. Would you like to wait for Pinkie?” “Yeah, that’s fine. While I wait, I’d like to get one of those cinnamon crumb muffins right there.” Mike pointed to the display case. “Alright, then.” Mike watched as Mrs. Cake opened the display case and picked out a muffin with her teeth, placing it on the counter. Mike felt a bit disgusted by that, but considering that she didn’t have hands or fingers, and her hooves (which touched the floor on a near constant basis) would have been a nastier alternative, he decided to accept it the way it was. “So how much is it?” asked Mike. “Oh, please,” Mr. Cake said, “this one’s on the house.” “Nonsense. I want to be treated like everyone else who comes into your store, and I want to pay as much for this muffin as any pony would. Now, how much is the muffin?” “That will be three bits,” said Mr. Cake in a more respectful tone. Mike took out his roll of bits, ripped the paper holding them in place, and took three of the coins out, placing them on the counter. “Thank you very much, Mike,” bid Mrs. Cake. “No, thank you.” Mike stood around and waited for Pinkie Pie to come down, eating his delicious muffin in the process. Thankfully, it was only a few minutes until Pinkie Pie came galloping down the stairs. She seemed very happy to see Mike, as told by her wide smile and loud drawn out gasp. She leapt from the staircase and onto Mike, giving him a big hug. “Hi, Mike!” she squealed. “What are you doing here?” “Hi, Pinkie. Do you know where Rainbow Dash is?” “Well, of course I do! Let’s go!” Before Mike could even react, Pinkie pulled Mike by his waist out of the bakery with unnatural speed. ______________________________________________________________________________ Jordan, James, and Twilight had arrived at the café with Spike and Rarity. It was a pleasant enough day that they could all sit outside. Jordan and James both ordered large glasses of orange juice, Twilight and Rarity had blueberry tea, and Spike had a foal’s size milk. Jordan resumed his vlog while they waited for their meals. “Here we are at a local café,” commented Jordan on his iPad camera, “with my good friends, James, Twilight, Spike, and Rarity.” Jordan panned over the group of people, dragon, and ponies sitting at the café table. “We are about to have breakfast on our second day of being here. James, would you care to tell us what you ordered?” “I decided to get the apple pancake,” answered James. “Awesome. Just awesome. Ladies?” “Well,” spoke Twilight. “I ordered the daisy and mushroom omelette with a side of fresh-cut strawberries.” “I decided on the eggs Florentine with tomato,” answered Rarity. “What a coincidence,” commented Jordan, bringing the camera back towards himself. “I ordered the same thing, except with a side of hash browns. What about you, my main man?” asked Jordan, bringing the camera back to Spike. “Oh, hey everyone,” said Spike, unprepared for the interview. “I just brought some gemstones from home. There’s really not much here for dragons.” Spike took a handful of rubies, emeralds, and sapphires from a bag on the floor next to him and placed them in his mouth, making a loud crunch as he chewed them. “Your dental bill must be astounding,” said Jordan with a feigned lack of enthusiasm. Spike nonetheless, giggled at Jordan’s comment. “Anyways,” the bearded keyboardist continued, “our food should be arriving any minute, so I shall end this video, I’m having a great time here, and as usual, I hope to see all of you…” Jordan pulled the camera close to his mouth. “…on the road.” Jordan stopped the recording and resumed his wonderful morning with his friends. ______________________________________________________________________________ Fluttershy was dusting her house for Myung’s arrival. She certainly didn’t want her guest to be playing in a dirty environment. Many of Fluttershy’s animal friends did what they could to help as well. Several squirrels brushed the floors with their tails, a badger wiped off the kitchen counter with a rag, and a plethora of different birds helped change the blanket’s and rugs around the house for cleaner ones. There was a white rabbit lounging in his bed doing absolutely nothing. However, he was quite content being in this state of relaxation. “Angel,” Fluttershy requested of her white rabbit, “would you mind cleaning the windows for me?” Fluttershy gave Angel a cloth to do the chore with. The rabbit promptly wadded the cloth into a ball and threw it at Fluttershy’s face, hitting her in the nose. “Angel, please don’t make a fuss,” begged Fluttershy. “I’ll make you that salad you like for dinner if you do this for me.” The bunny thought of it for a second, before plopping himself back in his bed. “Oh dear,” whined the yellow pegasus. She was just about to clean the window herself when a knock was heard at her door. “Oh my. I didn’t think he would be this early.” Fluttershy opened the door to see John Myung, in the flesh, with his bass guitar strapped over his shoulder on his back. John looked over to see all of the animals with cleaning supplies. “Did I come at a wrong time?” he asked confused. It isn’t every day, after all, that he would see a bunch of woodland animals cleaning a house like a Disney movie. “No. It is after breakfast after all. It’s just I didn’t think you’d come so soon. I just wanted the house to look nice. I’m sorry.” “No need to apologize. I was the one who came early. Do you need a hand or anything?” “Oh no. I wouldn’t expect a guest to help clean my house. Please take a seat on the couch. I’ll be with you soon.” Myung walked inside Fluttershy’s dainty cottage. Angel was sound asleep when Dream Theater first came into Fluttershy’s house, so Myung was the first human that the rabbit ever laid eyes on. In its soft bunny voice, Angel shrieked and ran upstairs for shelter. “I take to it that your rabbit doesn’t like me very much,” commented Myung. “Oh, it’s alright. He’s just never seen anything quite like you before. I’m sure once he realizes that you mean no harm, he’ll warm up to you.” Upon that statement, the little rabbit came charging downstairs in miniature football gear, carrying a broom like a lance. “Oh boy,” was all Myung said. ______________________________________________________________________________ Petrucci heavily surprised Big Macintosh with how much work he put into the barn. The red stallion expected to be waiting for the human most of the time, but Petrucci was up to speed with his new work buddy the whole time. While Petrucci baled hay into large piles with his hands, Big Macintosh would pull it out to the dump. By the time Big Mac returned, Petrucci had another bale ready to go. Big Mac was amazed at how aptly this creature worked. Once the barn was cleaned out of old hay, the two began moving in new hay. Big Macintosh cut the ropes holding the bundles with his teeth while the both of them spread the hay bales out evenly over the barn floor with their hands, feet, and hooves. Within twenty minutes, the barn was completely refurbished. Petrucci and Big Mac were quite content with themselves. “Looks like we did a good job, didn’t we?” asked Petrucci. “Missed a spot,” responded Big Mac. Petrucci turned around to see another tied bundle of hay launched in his direction. He didn’t have any time to react, and the straw knocked Petrucci down onto the floor. He rolled the bundle off of him and stood back up. “Really?” he asked in a faux annoyed tone. “Eeyup!” happily responded the red stallion. “Alright, let’s see how you like it!” John picked up the bundle by the string and tried to whip it at Big Mac. However, even for as strong as Petrucci was, he didn’t have enough strength to toss the hay hard and fast enough to hit Big Mac, who easily dodged Petrucci’s attack. The human then chased after the red pony, which also proved to be a challenge. Big Mac was content with being able to outrun the human, but upon looking back to see how far behind his chaser was, his hoof tripped on the extra bundle of hay, sending him tumbling onto his side. Petrucci used all the strength in his legs to get Big Mac before he could get back up. With a large bound, Petrucci landed on top of Big Macintosh and began to wrestle with him. Big Mac could have easily overpowered the smaller human at any point, but he was enjoying playing with Petrucci for now. As Petrucci pushed, rubbed, and at times lightly beat Big Mac’s body, Big Mac would merely challenge him further by rolling around and making it more difficult for the human to try and have power over him. Nonetheless, they laughed the entire time. “What in tarnation is all of this ruckus?” asked Applejack, walking into the barn upon hearing the commotion. She watched as Petrucci was pouncing on Big Macintosh like a kitten while her brother rolled around in an effort to avoid him. The two finally stopped when they noticed Applejack as she stood in the doorway, snickering at their childish antics. They both got up and brushed as much hay off of themselves as possible, trying to look professional in front of her. Applejack snickered again as she saw the hay still stuck in Petrucci's beard and long hair, as well as in her brother's blonde mane. “Nice job on the barn, you two. Come on, I think y’all deserve an ice cold drink.” Upon her walking away, John and Big Mac looked at each other, smiled, and shared another laugh. They both exited the barn soon after, Petrucci’s one arm wrapped around Big Mac’s neck in a brotherly embrace. ______________________________________________________________________________ Mike followed Pinkie Pie to the outskirts of Ponyville where they came across a house seemingly made of clouds. Mike wasn’t exactly impressed by the fact that he was witnessing a house of clouds. In this world of talking unicorns, pegasi, and dragons, he felt that it was only natural to see a house made of condensed water droplets at some point in time. What Mike marveled over, however, were the waterfalls and streams composed of rainbows that flowed on the clouds like water. “Now that’s cool,” said Mike. “Hey, Rainbow Dash!” yelled Pinkie Pie at the top of her lungs. Mike was worried that she wouldn’t be home, but was soon relieved to see the blue mare with the Roy G. Biv mane come out of her door. She let out a large yawn that was even noticed by Mike and Pinkie. “We didn’t wake her up, did we?” asked Mike with concern in his voice. “She’ll be fine,” assured Pinkie Pie. “She likes to nap throughout the day anyways.” As Pinkie predicted, upon seeing her friends on the ground, a smile grew wide upon her face and she swooped down from above to greet them. “Hey, Pinkie,” she said. “Hey, Mike. What’cha doing over here? Did you want to see some of my awesome aerial stunts?” She flexed her forearms as she spoke, giving the impression that she was a very cool pony. “Yes, actually,” said Mike. “I mean, unless it’s too early for you…” “What? Pffft. There’s no such thing as ‘too early’ for Rainbow Dash. Just sit down and watch!” Mike sat cross legged on the grass next to the dirt path to watch Rainbow Dash do her thing. Pinkie Pie was sitting in a lawn chair with a red and white box of popcorn, both of which seemed to come from absolutely nowhere. Pinkie dug her face into the box as Mike watched Rainbow soar through the air as majestically as an eagle. Mike himself felt very relaxed. The air was acceptably cool for a summer morning such as this, there were hardly any clouds that he could spot, and the sky was a beautiful light blue that he’d never seen in his life. Mike forsook sitting down and decided to lie down on the grass, seeing nothing but the blue sky and the cyan pegasus performing for him in it. “I could get used to this,” sighed Mike. ______________________________________________________________________________ Jordan took the last bite of his eggs Florentine. Thankfully, they had silverware for unicorns who could use them with their magic, so Jordan and James both didn’t have to resort to eating with their hands. Needless to say, Jordan’s eggs and James’ pancake were among the best that they had ever had, which felt odd to them, considering that their meals came from a quaint little dive in a small town rather than a five-star, high end restaurant. “So,” said Twilight. “How were your meals?” “Absolutely delicious,” answered James. “Best eggs I’ve ever had,” said Jordan. “That’s great to hear,” chirped Twilight. Their waiter came by their table. “Have we decided on anything else?” he asked. “If you could get our checks, that would be great,” said James. “Checks? Darling, please. I shall cover breakfast for you.” She then motioned towards the waiter. “If you could bring just one check, please.” The waiter went back inside to print it out. “Rarity,” spoke Jordan in a condescending tone, “you make us new clothes, and now you’re just buying us breakfast? You do know that Luna gave us those bits for a reason, right?” “But of course. It’s just that I love to cater to very esteemed and talented ponies such as yourselves. Plus, I feel bad for not compensating you for such a wonderful performance last night.” Any attempts that Jordan had to try and reason with this white unicorn over splitting the bill were dashed. It seemed that Rarity was simply a very generous pony, and she was quite adamant on making sure she took care of her friends. “Alright,” relented Jordan. “Have it your way.” Jordan downed the last of his orange juice. All of a sudden… “There he is!” Jordan heard the words as if they were being directed right at him. He turned around to see two mares approach from behind him. One mare was a snow white unicorn with a spikey mane and tail with stripes of light and dark shades of blue. Along with a cutie mark of a reversed double quaver, another defining feature of hers was a pair of sunglasses with a purple tint. She was followed by a light grey earth pony with a brushed, dark grey mane and tail. She wore nothing but a white collar with a pink bowtie. She also had a cutie mark depicting a light purple treble clef. “Sorry if I’m interrupting anything,” said the white unicorn. “No,” said Jordan, “it’s okay, we just finished actually.” “Excellent. Let me introduce myself. My name is Vinyl Scratch. This is my partner Octavia.” Jordan shook the hooves of both ponies before he spoke to them again. “I’m guessing by your cutie marks, you are both musicians.” “I told you he was sharp,” told Vinyl to Octavia, who continued to sport a calm, expressionless face. “Anyways, from what I gather, your show last night at the cottage banquet hall has been the talk of the town all day. I heard that you were the keyboardist for your band, am I right?” “No, you’re right. May I ask why you’re asking me this?” “You see, Mr. ….” “Just call me Jordan.” “Jordan. Anyways, we have heard nothing but great things from last night, and we want to make you an offer. You see, Octavia and I make music combining classical and electronic music and tour around Equestria. We’re having a show tomorrow at the Ponyville Theatre, and I’d be honored if you wanted to perform with us.” Jordan was shocked that he was receiving such an offer. Of course, he wouldn’t just take any offer given to him on a silver platter, so he had to make sure he could do it. “Do I need to learn any music for this?” “There are a few songs with riffs just so the crowd can identify it, but for the most part, we improvise all of our music. That is, if you can improvise.” Feeling that her statement sounded more like a challenge, it was becoming very difficult to decline her offer. “Tell you what. Come back to the banquet hall in about an hour. I’ll play a little for you, and you can tell me if I’m good enough to be in your concert. Sound good?” “Excellent. I shall see you then, Jordan.” The two walked away, leaving Jordan to resume the rest of his breakfast time with James, Twilight, Spike, and Rarity. They continued to talk about Jordan’s offer until Rarity covered the check. ______________________________________________________________________________ Angel’s football gear was laid over the floor. Fluttershy just hovered in the air, shocked at the sight that she was seeing. Myung continued to sit on the couch with Angel strewn out over his lap. Myung rubbed the rabbit’s back as the mound of white fluff smiled in pure content. “I don’t believe it,” said Fluttershy. “I’ve never seen anypony be able to do that to Angel ever!” “Is he usually that mean?” asked Myung. “Sometimes he can be a bit hard… but… he’s really sweet once he gets to know you. I just don’t think he’s ever let anypony give them a chance.” “I can see that.” Myung carefully scooped Angel up in his hands and placed him into his bed, the rabbit falling asleep as soon as his body hit the cushion. “Now that that’s out of the way…” Myung picked up his bass and tuned each of the strings. Hearing the musical notes, despite how simple they sounded now, the woodland animals who were still in the house gathered around Myung, knowing that he was going to play. Once he was set up, he placed the left edge of the instrument on his right knee and began to play a soothing melody. It seemed that as the first notes of the song were played, each animal, including Fluttershy, was lulled into a calm and serene state. For a large portion of the song, Myung simply tapped the fretboard with his fingers, which not only looked impressive, but gave the song a very distinctive sound. Fluttershy walked over to the couch, leading Myung to scoot over while he continued to play. Fluttershy hopped up on the vacant spot and curled up beside the bassist as he played. Myung couldn’t help but crack a smile by the tenderness of the moment. ______________________________________________________________________________ Rainbow Dash continued to flip and zip through the air, much to the entertainment and enjoyment of Mike and Pinkie Pie. During a particularly low fly-by of her two-piece audience, Mike and Rainbow Dash connected their gaze at one another. Mike’s look seemed to say one thing: “Do it.” Rainbow Dash understood perfectly. She climbed up as high as the sky could take her. “She’s going to do it!” shrieked Pinkie Pie, shaking Mike like a ragdoll. “She’s going to do it!” Using her upward momentum, Rainbow Dash did a hard back loop and nosedived towards the ground. As she got faster and faster, a white cone began to form around Rainbow Dash’s front section. Mike was amazed by this pony’s speed, causing him to stand up in complete awe. Rainbow Dash was watching his reaction, and she was heavily anticipating what he was about to witness next. With a final burst of energy, Rainbow Dash burst through the cone, which erupted in a rainbow colored ring. The cyan pegasus continued to fly with rainbow colored contrails behind her. That’s when Mike noticed the wave of the sonic boom’s force make its way through the trees and towards him. “Oh, shi—” Mike’s exclamation was muted by the blast of Rainbow Dash’s signature move, which managed to knock Mike and Pinkie Pie over onto the ground. ______________________________________________________________________________ Petrucci heard the sonic boom all the way from Sweet Apple Acres as he shared a cool drink with Big Macintosh and Applejack. “What in the holy mother of God was that?” asked Petrucci. “Rainbow Dash,” spoke Applejack with a smug grin. ______________________________________________________________________________ Jordan, James, Twilight, Rarity, and Spike were making their way back to the cottages when they heard the explosive sound of Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom. They all swiftly turned their heads to the source of the sound to see the rainbow ring form off in the horizon. “Wow,” was all Jordan and James could muster. “Yeah,” agreed Twilight, knowing exactly what it was. “Wow.” ______________________________________________________________________________ John was continuing to play when the rainboom’s blast slightly shook Fluttershy’s cottage. The movements, despite how small they were, nonetheless caused the timid pegasus to squeak in fear and wrap her arms around Myung for safety. Myung quickly put his bass down next to him and tried to comfort his friend by gently stroking her back and assuring her that everything was fine. He took a peak out the window to see the rainbow ring. “What in the world…?” wondered Myung. ______________________________________________________________________________ Mike watched in shock and sheer amazement as the ring expanded across the sky. He could easily watch Rainbow as her contrails painted their way through the sky and back towards him and Pinkie Pie. He couldn’t help but applaud at such a magnificent feat. Rainbow Dash saw Mike’s act of appreciation and glanced slightly away, blushing all the while. Mike giggled at Rainbow Dash’s prideful bashfulness. “Now this,” commented Mike to himself. “This is the life.”