The Calm Before the Storm
Jason watched Dash disappear into the early afternoon sky. He sighed, before taking to the sky and heading towards her house, albeit a little off balance, due to the equipment strapped to his sides. He thought about what she said about basically fortifying the house, hoping that she hadn't gotten into a storm that she couldn't handle. He touched down at the house soon after, and unloaded the equipment near his work table.
He set about trying to figure out how the amp and overdrive unit worked without electricity, before a warning label got his attention. "Do not overpower this amplifier unit with too much magic, because it may run the risk of spontaneous combustion." Jason chuckled, and sent a small trail of magic into the amp, creating the sound of some feedback. He plugged the overdrive unit into the amp, and then plugged his guitar into that. He put it around his neck, sitting upright in a chair. Looking at the neck of the guitar, he quickly felt a pang of remorse over realizing that he no longer had fingers. He could depress the strings with magic, sure, but it didn't have that same feeling to it. Maybe now he could attempt harder songs, or at least play the easier ones better. At least he could still strum the guitar effectively. He turned up the amp, and decided to test it by playing one of his favorite songs.
Having played out the final few measures without even a single mistake, he looked at his new guitar, and smiled. At least he still had one thing in common with his old life, and was happy that they had guitars here. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the realization that he had neglected the things that Dash had told him to accomplish. He bolted for the door, and took to the air, gathering all of the nearby clouds. He carefully pushed them into the windows, accomplishing what was, he assumed, like boarding up a cloud house. He then swooped under the house, and found his job of hoisting it upwards to be easier than he thought. Once the house was up at a 'safe' distance, he returned inside, and picked his guitar back up.
He grinned. Complicated. What was the most complicated thing he could think of? He grinned wider, having come up with another song.
This was great, he decided. The songs that he had previously struggled to complete, he could now play almost flawlessly, and he had to admit to himself, he couldn't wait to show off to the town, or at least Dash. One more song, he decided, then he had to go find something to do with himself. He thought for a moment, before deciding on another iconic song.
Having finished his last song, he pulled the guitar off of his neck, and set it down on the table, cutting off the flow of magic to the amp. He walked out the door, ears still ringing, and started to descend to the town, not really sure of what to do. He landed in the middle of one of the streets, and was greeted by the staring of most of the ponies on the street. "What?" he looked at himself, and finding everything in order, no changeling parts, looked back. A pony walked up to him, apparently the first to gather his composure.
"Was that you playing that music?" He asked.
"Um, yeah."
"What was that? I've never heard anything like it before."
"That was just a smattering of rock music, but normally I guess it would have had drums, a bass and a singer at the very least."
"I could get stuff set up for you if you want to preform a song or two, on the condition that you play it inside my restaurant, so as to draw in customers." Jason considered his proposition. It seemed fine by him, it's not like he really had anything to do.
"Can I get a few bits for preforming?" He figured the least he could do was try to make up for the money he had been mooching from Dash.
"Sure, my good man, I can give you one hundred bits." Jason's jaw dropped. That was more than he had spent on everything in his time here. He quickly agreed, shaking the businesspony's hoof. "I'm glad to see that you want to help me out. Come by in about ten minutes, and I'll have a microphone and an amp set up. Guitar, I assume?"
"Yep." he bid goodbye to the restaurant owner, and took off to grab his instrument. He flew for a few minutes before arriving and trotting in to grab his stuff. It was slightly easier to cart the equipment around now that he didn't need to bring the amp. He skipped tying the equipment to himself manually, and instead used magic to tie it up. He trotted back out of the house, and dove off of the cloud. He arrived back in the square to see the pony from before, who was now smiling ear to ear.
"I see you're eager about doing this." Jason nodded. He knew that he wouldn't be able to do the most complicated stuff, considering he had to use magic to hold down the strings, and that would obviously give away his disguise, unless he used very small amounts of it, or used his hoof for simple things like power chords, however that would work. He would have to insist on dim lighting.
"Sure thing, I can't wait." The pony smiled again, and led Jason into a restaurant that looked fairly fancy in appearance. The pony gestured to the stage, and wandered away, leaving Jason to his own devices. He realized that there were no lights, given the fact that there was no electricity and all, just oil lamps, and the sun was setting, so he should be fine. He looked over the amp that had been provided, and turned up the volume. He plugged in the overdrive unit and his guitar, which he then set down in the guitar stand. He walked over to the owner.
"Is there anyone that can power your amp? I can't really do it, not being a unicorn and all."
"Oh sure thing my good sir, I'll get someone right one it."
"Tell them not to overpower it. It only needs a little energy."
"Will do, sir. When do you think you can preform?"
"After the Amp is set up? Five minutes. Oh, and could you dim the lights a little?"
"Sure thing. I'll leave you to it then." He walked away. Jason walked back over to the stage, and picked up his guitar. He experimentally strummed it a few times, knowing that the Amp was not turned on. A unicorn walked over, and Jason shook his hoof. "You're the guy that gets to power the amp, I take it?"
"That's me," he responded.
"Just don't over-power it, okay?"
"Yup. Can't wait to hear what you have in store for us, bro."
"Oh, you have no idea." The lights dimmed, which Jason took as his cue to say some words into the microphone, and then start the show. "Hey there, everypony, you probably don't know me, because I just moved here, but my name's Alternis, and hopefully you enjoy the music I'll be playing for you tonight." He took an experimental strum of the guitar, confirming that the amp was indeed plugged in, and started his first song.
(music around 40s.)
As the final chord faded out, Jason waited expectantly for something to happen for an agonizingly long time, before the crowd mercifully burst into applause. Jason cracked a smile. This was too easy. As soon as the applause let up, he lead into the next song.
The crowd burst into more applause, and he started another song.
The song ended, and there was yet more applause. Jason smiled, and took in the attention. Then he noticed a filly pushing through the crowd to the side of the stage. Scootaloo jumped out of the crowd and ran up to Jason, with tear stained cheeks. Jason dropped his smile.
"What is it Scoots?"
"It's--It's---It's Rainbow Dash, she's in the hospital."