Sitting high above Equestria’s surface, the pegasus capital of Cloudsdale was bustling with activity. The city was in full swing for the second day of JAGFest: Equestrian Masquerade, with all sorts of events and activities that celebrated the ways of itself and all things pegasi. If it was anything related to aerial mastering, weather conducting and competitive spirit, it was made to happen.
The Team JAG Band, the Mane Six, and all their accompanying friends from Mobius and Ponyville arrived the afternoon prior, and nopony was more excited for the festival than Rainbow Dash. As she was happy to go back to her and Fluttershy’s hometown, she was more than excited to see everything that would take place, but a conversation on the train ride put her at ecstatic level Pink – for Pinkie Pie – when Nyx asked Twilight who was hosting the day’s events. The moment Twilight said who it was, Rainbow’s jaw dropped to the floor and then turned into the biggest grin possible; the Wonderbolts were hosting her hometown’s JAGFest.
But as fun and exciting as getting to Cloudsdale was, there was a setback that nearly drove the main event surface bound. Once the festival had officially begun, the ponies offered to give all the interdimensional travelers a tour of the city. Since only Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Scootaloo, Twilight and Nyx were capable of walking on clouds naturally, the latter casted a spell to allow everyone unable to fly to walk on clouds, but only for one full day. The cyan mare, acting as the main tour guide, took them to explore the weather factory and see how all the seasons are prepared, and walk-bys at a familiar training camps and the Wonderbolts’ Cloudsdale headquarters, the only one in Equestria considered more important than the one in Canterlot.
Their last destination came at the Cloudstadium, an open Olympic-styled arena used for the annual best flyers competition, but rebuilt and expanded for JAGFest. A look inside revealed enough seating and standing area to accommodate far more attendees than just Cloudsdale’s population; the size could invite all winged creatures as far as an aerial eye can see. It was very nicely designed, even with having a single cloud mass allowing pegasi to stand if not hover, and a private section specifically for honored guests and hosts. The stage section, an open break in the arena facing southeast, currently sat as open space until the band’s handy stage crew could assemble things.
However, there was one vital error to everything the pegasus construction crew couldn’t do.
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“What do you mean you have no support clouds for the stage?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. The moment she heard that news from a pegasus who worked on the stadium’s remodeling, she and Twilight lead the group on a hunt. They searched for and found the chief engineer, who was fortunately and conveniently on site making a final inspection.
“I mean we couldn’t do it,” the engineer said, with an annoyed and disrespectful tone to the cyan mare. “We got the weight amount and what was gonna be built, and we tried as many times as the sleepless night I had trying to find a way to make it work. There was nothing that worked.”
“And you couldn’t have told us this BEFORE TODAY?!”
“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said sternly, “that’s enough!” The pegasus looked over at her friend, snorted to let out some frustration, and then stepped back. The princess turned her attention to the engineer and, in a more respectful voice, said “I’m sorry if the demands were too great, but my friend is right. You didn’t inform anypony and have the message relayed to us. I’m afraid I’ll have to ask for a brief audience with your superiors before my friends and I leave tomorrow afternoon.”
“I understand, Your Highness,” said the engineer, trying not to grunt. “I’ll let them know at once.” He then flew off, but nobody held high hopes for him managing to relay the message. Regardless of that, the more important issue still had to be dealt with.
“This isn’t good,” Ron Stoppable said. “How are we supposed to play in a city of clouds if there aren’t any clouds to play on?”
“I don’t know. The show is mere hours away, and if that rude pony was correct, Cloudsdale doesn’t have the means to support a stage,” said Rarity.
Sonic, scratching his head with a finger, half-jokingly half-seriously commented with “I can imagine ponies that can fly can have their heads in the clouds, but that guy’s thinking cap was as hard as a rock.”
Silence fell for a few moments; some trying to ignore the terrible use of puns the blue hedgehog had just made, and most thinking of some sort of solution. Applejack suggested looking for decent land to use and move the concert down there, but Rainbow Dash argued that it wasn’t the Cloudsdale way, and the two ended up quarrelling back and forth about the topic. Even Apple Bloom and Scootaloo got involved, defending their big sisters’ statements and ended up fighting with each other as well. They didn’t even consider how Fluttershy was the one in a rare amount of pegasi who preferred being on the ground rather than the air, and it took her to get between the two and break up the fight.
Following that was more silence, but much briefer than before. Tails and Cosmo, both just smiling and waiting for things to calm down enough, stood next to their solution, who all were right by Twilight, Spike and Nyx. They waited until the two alicorns of the group, after much deep thought, turned their heads to the answer to their unforeseen dilemma.
“Phineas & Ferb!”
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JAGFest was proving more and more successful as the hours passed by. Everypony enjoyed the festivities that were offered, and some got to meet the interdimensional travelers and ask about worlds beyond their own. At long last, it came down to the final portion of the night, and that was the Team JAG Band taking the stage.
Pegasi from all around Cloudsdale, and many from all across Equestria, flew right in and took their respectful seats in the stands or space on the cloud-made floor. Twilight and most of the group of friends had already gathered in their private sitting area, awaiting for the band to perform. They did so by looking down at the stage, and the marvel that it stood as with some updated technology, thanks to the band’s stage managers/engineers. Phineas and Ferb made a quick return to their home dimension to collect parts from the hovering superdome they built for their hometown’s JAGFest just days ago, and used the same technology for the stage itself. Now the structure stood high above the ground below, at the perfect levels for ponies to view and fully prepared to use.
But it still had to wait a little longer, for as part of their agreement to host, the Wonderbolts were given time and airspace to make a performance. Once they saw the sun at the 7pm position, they began their routine. Spitfire led Soarin, Fleetfoot and four other Wonderbolts in a routine that paid tribute to one of the original flight squads of their well-known military. Rainbow Dash, who was down at the backstage area with Cosmo and Nyx, watched the performance with much joy as she still thought of earning her place with them in the skies rather than a sideline Reserve, as she had begun to think about. Nyx, however, had seen the Wonderbolts perform during private shows for royalty and honored guests when tagging along with her mother on Canterlot business trips, and instead spent her time with Tails and Cosmo, helping the former prepare for the concert by asking question after question about his instrumental setups, warm-ups, and performing ‘secrets.’
Along with that, she learned of another secret regarding the show that evening, and why the Master Four had asked the Wonderbolts to not invite a certain flying champion to join them during the routine.
The hosts’ routine was ended when a blinking light came down from Ferb, who used the lights of the main control panel as a bright beacon to bring the pegasi down. Following one last lap around the arena, the Wonderbolts landed on the stage and Spitfire walked up to a microphone stand she was promised would be waiting for her use. The plan was for her to make an opening speech as the band made their last second preparations, and when they were done they’d swoop around and offer Cosmo and Nyx a flight to their common destination, the private suite.
“Alright, Cloudsdale, are you ready to rock?!” Spitfire said, in a commanding tone just a few degrees short of her military command voice. The large audience of pegasus ponies cheered for the military icon, and she went on to speak more.
Meanwhile, the band had gathered together backstage for the annual huddle. The challenge they had at that moment was to see if they could beat the hype they got from huddle in the Crystal Empire, and each show coming up would have to beat the one prior. As always, the challenge was accepted as they began, and also knowing a certain little filly who was trying to poke her head in.
“Guys, we had a close call with the stage being set in place, but lucky enough we solved that problem,” Tails said to start things off. Since he and Cosmo were the first ones to find Equestria, the band had asked him to start off each huddle during their Masquerade run. “Phineas, Ferb, we owe you guys big time for what you pulled off today, but right now we have the city of Cloudsdale waiting to see what we got. Who’s ready to give them that, and all of the more?”
“All that we’ve got, we’ll give,” Ash said, on behalf of everyone.
All the others nodded in agreement and said in unison “Right,” with determination and drive.
“Then hands in,” said the fox, and each one put a hand in the center. “Tonight, we will send sonic booms of music throughout the skies of Equestria. Let’s make Cloudsdale shine so bright that we’ll become one of Princess Luna’s stars of her night sky. I want to make heavy metal thunder loud and proud! Heavy Metal Thunder on three. 1… 2… 3!”
“HEAVY METAL THUNDER!!!”
And with that, the huddle had broken apart, with Nyx stumbling down. She tried to reach her hoof up and join in the hands-in part, but she couldn’t reach far enough. Tails helped the filly back up and said to her “And next time, you can just ask to hop on my back and look over my head.” He then rustled his hand playfully in her mane, chuckling while she laughed and nodded. “Now, I could use one more thing to get this show going…”
“Well, here’s one,” said Cosmo, who had walked up next to the two in order to lean down and peck a kiss on his cheek.
“And here’s another,” added Nyx, who raised her hoof up for a fist/hoof bump, which he gladly returned. “Now go break a leg.”
“Well, not quite yet,” said the fox. He got back up and added “You get ready to go back to you mother and the others. There’s one more thing we need to do before the Wonderbolts finish with their speech.” He then turned his head to call out “Hey, Rainbow Dash, you got a second?”
The cyan pegasus trotted over to them and said “Sure, what’s up? The Wonderbots are almost done out there.”
“We know, but the band and I were wondering if you did us a favor later. You see, towards the end of our set, we wanted to give you this signal, and when you see that,…”
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THE SUMMER SUN CELEBRATION – William Anderson/audio introduction
BULLETS – Creed/Jason/Tails on rhythm guitar, Aelita on symphonic keyboard/triple-length intro
CREEPING DEATH – Metallica/Gohan + rhythm guitar
THE SOUND OF TRUTH – As I Lay Dying/Ash/Dan on rhythm guitar and clean vocals
MY OWN HELL – Five Finger Death Punch/Gohan/Yumi on rhythm guitar
“HOW ARE WE DOING TONIGHT, CLOUDSDALE?!” Jason yelled to the crowd. Everyone cheered loudly and most raised hooves as their answer to him. “In case some of you don’t know where you at, allow me to address that… WELCOME. TO. JAGFEST!” He paused to allow the crowd to cheer once again, looking up at all their in-crowd friends doing the same, with a few clapping or whistling instead. “It’s an honor to be here and perform for you guys tonight, so much so that we picked a special variety of songs, just for you. There are three phases to this show, and right now we’re in the first one, but more on that later. I don’t want to hold up this show for too long, I don’t want to be stopped, because I… Am… UNDAUNTED!...” With that last exclamation, the band began to play the next song of the set.
UNDAUNTED – Adrenaline Mob/Jason/Ron on rhythm guitar
WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE – Kill Devil Hill/Yugi
WHERE WILL YOU GO – Evanescence/Yumi with Gohan lineup/Gohan on rhythm guitar, Jason on male vocals, Tails on piano/keyboard/samples, Ami on drums
CHANGES – 3 Doors Down/Yugi/Tails on lead guitar and co-vocals
SIMPLE MAN [LYNYRD SKYNYRD] – Shinedown/Yugi/only with Tails on acoustic guitar
“So, Cloudsdale, have you been enjoying your day of the Equestrian Masquerade?” Tails asked, standing at his microphone stand and with one of his favorite Les Paul guitars. The audience of pegasus majority cheered happily in return before he continued with “Well, I couldn’t ask for anything different. So, like Jason said earlier, there are three phases we have for each set we’ll be playing, and this first one is special because it’s comprised of songs we practiced and rehearsed before several shows from a couple years ago. These were songs that really drove us to actually do JAGFest in the first place, including this next song. We hope you like it as much as I do. This song is called ‘Anastasia…’”
ANASTASIA – Slash/Jason/Tails on lead guitar, Dan on acoustic guitar intro
LIMELIGHT – Rush/Yugi/Tails on keyboard/synthesizer
ERUPTION – Van Halen/only with Jason on lead guitar, Kim on bass guitar, Ron on drums
INTOXICATED – Lacuna Coil/Yumi with Jason lineup/Jason on rhythm guitar and male vocals, Tails on keyboard
BURN IT DOWN – Linkin Park/Ash/Dan on lead guitar and co-vocals, Tails on keyboard/synthesizer, Yumi on bass guitar, Aelita on keyboard/programming/samples, Jason on turntables/MIDI pad
GET UP! – Korn/Yugi/Dan on rhythm guitar, Tails on keyboard/synthesizer, Aelita on turntables/programming/samples
As the band was lining up for the next song, Gohan stood at the center front of the stage, a microphone in his grip to use. “Alright… I think it’s time we throw in a real special treat for you guys now,” he announced to the filled arena. “Where we’re from, there are two bands with very unique identities, but a rivalry formed from their fans. For us and for what we do, we play both bands’ music as often as we can, because both are equally important and influential, and they go by the names of Slipknot, and Mushroomhead. Before the second phase of the set begins, we’re going to show you some epic goddamn metal performed with every bit of energy we got, but to do this, we need you to show us the same energy. WILL YOU DO THAT FOR US?!” He allowed the entire crowd to cheer, which they did and held for a few moments, and concluded with “Then let’s get this going with one of our favorite songs for the Filthy…
“’Solitaire… Unraveling.’”
SOLITAIRE/UNRAVELING – Mushroomhead/Ash on Jeffrey Nothing vocals, Gohan on J-Mann vocals/Jason on drums, Tails on lead guitar, Yumi on rhythm guitar, Ami on bass guitar, Yugi on synthtar, Aelita on keyboard/synthesizer, Dan and Ron on custom percussion, Aelita on turntables/samples
THE HERETIC ANTHEM – Slipknot/Jason/Tails on rhythm guitar, Dan on keyboard, Ami and Yumi on custom percussion, Aelita on turntables/samples
[ONE MINUTE INTERMISSION]
HEAVY METAL THUNDER – Saxon/Ash/Yumi on rhythm guitar/audio storm intro
CALM BEFORE THE STORM – Saxon/Ash/Yumi on rhythm guitar
HAMMER OF THE GODS – Saxon/Ash/Yumi on rhythm guitar
STRONG ARM OF THE LAW – Saxon/Ash/Yumi and Kim on rhythm guitars
“You are awesome tonight, Cloudsdale! Make some noise!” Ash called out to the audience, and they responded with a long, loud round of cheering. “Come on, ponies, I know you got more than that. I SAID MAKE SOME NOISE!” He paused again and allow the stage to be crashed by a wave of the loudest cheering they’ve heard from the audience that far into the night. “Welcome to the second part of tonight’s set, where we pay tribute to a band that has really put a spark in our motivation, and tonight, just for you, we pay tribute to one of the original forgers of heavy metal: SAXON! But before we go on any further, I want to dedicate this song to all the fillies and colts here tonight, especially those in search of their cutie marks. Like our little friends from Ponyville, who are in attendance tonight, you are all… Crusaders.”
CRUSADER – Saxon/Ash/Yumi on rhythm guitar, Ami on acoustic guitar, Aelita and Tails on symphonic keyboards
RAINBOW THEME – Saxon/Ash/Yumi on rhythm guitar
REQUIEM (WE WILL REMEMBER) – Saxon/Ash/Yumi on rhythm guitar
Ash took another brief turn to speak to the audience before the band continued. “Alright, so we have a few more songs coming up before the third phase of the set, and the more I think about these next songs, the more I’m thinking of all you pegasi out there. We got to know quite a bit of your history from Princess Twilight and her daughter, not to mention everypony we met around the festival today, and the more I learned, I thought of three things. #1- I can see that you take your stand at fight at the moment’s notice. #2- When you succeed, you hold that pride you’ve earned greatly. And #3- Rainbow Dash may be the biggest amongst you, but Cloudsdale as a whole are all motherfucking METALHEADS!” As the audience began to cheer once again, the band automatically got right back into performing.
METALHEAD – Saxon/Ash/Yumi on rhythm guitar
STAND UP & FIGHT – Saxon/Ash/Yumi on rhythm guitar, Dan on extra rhythm guitar and guitar solo intro
POWER & THE GLORY – Saxon/Ash/Yumi on rhythm guitar/outro jam
[ONE MINUTE INTERMISSION]
SANGRE POR SANGRE (BLOOD FOR BLOOD) – Hellyeah/Gohan/Dan on rhythm guitar, Ron on megahorn vocals
BLOODDRUNK – Children of Bodom/Yugi/Yumi on rhythm guitar, Tails on keyboard
BOUND BY THE MOON – DevilDriver/Jason/Yumi on rhythm guitar
THE AGE OF HELL – Chimaira/Ash/Yumi on rhythm guitar, Tails on keyboard/synthesizer/extended outro
NEVER ENOUGH – Epica/Ami with Ash lineup/Ash on rhythm guitar and growl vocals, Aelita on symphonic keyboard
SHOUT [TEARS FOR FEARS]/DEIFY/HAUNTED/WARRIOR/INTOXICATION (MEDLEY) – Disturbed/Gohan/Kim on rhythm guitar
ESCAPE [METALLICA] – Hatebreed/Jason/Dan on rhythm guitar
VAGABOND – Hey Ocean!/Kim with Jason lineup/Jason on rhythm guitar, Ron on Shad K vocals, Tails on keyboard, Ami on flute
The stage began to clear, where all but Ron left as Aelita and Dan made her way out to join him. The former decided to talk to the audience for a moment before a very special introduction would be made. “Cloudsdale got it going on tonight!” he declared, bringing up another uproar of cheering from the crowd. “So we have a little treat for our new friends from the Wonderbolts, who were real cool with hosting everything today…” He had to pause himself as the name of the aerial military was mentioned and celebrated with, inarguably, the loudest cheer of the night. “We’re gonna give you some Wonderbolts 101 before kicking these back in our full gear. Aelita, you may have the honors…”
Aelita, who stood at the stage’s DJ setup, used the nearby microphone to say “We invite out one of our best friends from Ponyville, and one amazing musical intervention machine. Show some love for the Element of Laughter herself- MC Pinkie Pie!” Just then, a familiar pink earth pony slid out onto the stage, wearing an outfit that nopony’s seen her wear since last spring. The crowd did not have a moment to cheer this time as the band kicked right into the next song…
THE RAPPIN’ HIST’RY OF THE WONDERBOLTS – My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic/Pinkie Pie/only with Aelita on turntables/samples, Ron on backing vocals
REMEMBER THE NAME – Fort Minor/Dan with Ash lineup/Ash on rhythm guitar, Ron on Ryu vocals, Pinkie Pie on Tak vocals with own voice, Ami and Yumi on violins, Aelita on turntables/samples
WALK THIS WAY – Aerosmith/Ash/Dan on rhythm guitar
IT’S MY LIFE – Bon Jovi/Yugi/Ami on rhythm guitar, Aelita on keyboards
YOU KNOW MY NAME – Chris Cornell/Jason/Ami on rhythm guitar, Tails on symphonic keyboard
MR. CROWLEY – Ozzy Osbourne/Ash/Kim on rhythm guitar, Tails on keyboards
STILL REMAINS – Stone Temple Pilots/Gohan
ROMANTIC DREAMS – Deftones/Ash/Aelita on turntables/samples
Yugi stood on the stage’s highest riser and looked over the sea of pegasi standing on the one massive cloud, and all the spaces for seating filled. He then put his sights towards the private area where Cosmo, Twilight and everyone were currently at. He waved a hand towards them, but the rest of the crowd it was meant for everypony, and returned it with cheers and waving their own hooves in the air. After having a small laugh, he took his turn to speak with the audience.
“We’re coming down towards the end, just to give you all that fair warning. Before we go on, I need you all to do me a favor and make some noise for our stage engineers, who managed to keep this show going at the last minute. Show some love for Phineas and Ferb, come on!” Cheers and applause filled the air as fans, friends, and band showed the brothers their well-earned respect, to which they just gave the Master Four a couple thumbs-ups (a gesture nopony can still understand). “To show our gratitude, we made a last second change to tonight’s set, and we’ll be playing the two’s favorite song, from a band called Breaking Benjamin. We hope you enjoy it as much as they do, so let’s start bringing today to its close…”
THE DIARY OF JANE – Breaking Benjamin/Yugi + rhythm guitar
SUICIDE NOTE, PT. 1 [PANTERA] – Zakk Wylde/Gohan + lead guitar/Yugi and Jason on acoustic guitars, Ash on acoustic bass guitar
AMARANTH – Nightwish/Yumi with Jason lineup/Jason on rhythm guitar, Tails and Ron on keyboards/synthesizers
WONDERBOLT – dBPony/Ash/Tails on rhythm guitar, Kim on keyboard
DEVOID/POSSIBILITIES OF AN IMPOSSIBLE EXISTENCE – Whitechapel/Jason/Ami and Yumi on rhythm guitars, Tails on piano
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ENCORE:
HANGIN’ WITH DRAGONS – William Anderson/audio instrumental
SPECTRUM (RAINBOW DASH’S THEME) – AcousticBrony/instrumental with Ash lineup/Ash and Tails on co-lead guitars with Gohan
“CLOUDSDALE, YOU’VE BEEN FANTASTIC TONIGHT!” Ash called out to the crowd. As he allowed them to cheer for a moment, he took a quick glance up to find a certain pegasus. Once he saw what he needed, he spoke again with “We have had an amazing day with you this JAGFest, and we can’t wait to keep this going! For all of the out-of-town travelers from Manehattan, tell them we’re coming for them next! This is our last song, so let’s ROCK THIS SHIT!”
PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT – Saxon/Ash/Yumi and Tails on rhythm guitars/extended outro
Once the final note of the last song was made, it happened; a Sonic Rainboom appeared over the stadium, casting its vision across the upper rim of the arena before a rainbow was casted in the dark, starlit and moonlit night sky. This was all thanks to Rainbow Dash, who was asked to do this for the band to give the pegasi of Cloudsdale a true Equestrian way to close the day’s events. Now, another JAGFest was done, and the Masquerade was making its way to the city next.