A Dramatic Turn of Events

by moviemaster8510

Chapter 2: As I Am

Petrucci woke up to the feeling of something nudging into his ribs. He groggily opened his eyes to find his vision blurred, though all he could make out was a purple mass pushing its head into his side. Upon rubbing his eyes, he found Twilight staring at him with a blank face for a second, and in the next, it quickly turned to a smile.

“Hello, John,” greeted Twilight. “Did you have a good night’s sleep?”

“Yes, actually,” replied Petrucci. “I can’t remember the last time I slept so well.”

“Morning, sunshine,” said Mike to Petrucci. Dream Theater's guitarist turned to see his other four bandmates wide awake.

“Morning, guys,” responded Petrucci.

“Anyways," spoke Twilight, "I was just letting you guys know that we’ll be arriving in Ponyville Station in about 20 minutes.”

“Okay. Will we need to worry about what the other townspeop– ponies will think about us?”

“I thought about that waking up this morning. I sent a quick letter to Princess Celestia asking about that. She said she’ll have the mayor greet you at the station.”

“Can she do that on such short notice?” asked James.

“Of course. It’s not that big of a deal, especially when five alien beings are showing up in her town. No offense,” she finished, ears drooped and looking rather sheepish again.

“None taken,” quipped Jordan.

“You shouldn’t need to worry. Everypony in Ponyville is very nice, and they’ll do their best to accommodate you.”

“Wait,” interrupted Mike. “'Everypony'?”

“Well, yeah. That’s how we refer to everypony here. Do you find it offensive?”

“No, not at all, it’s just we’re used to saying everybody.”

“Alright. You don’t mind if I continue using the term then, do you?”

“Not at all,” said Jordan.

"I'm gonna go wake Spike up now. Could you all please be ready for when we arrive?"

“Alright. Thanks, Twilight.” After responding with a smile, she left the car.

“I really wish we were taking the train during the day,” said Petrucci, looking out the window. “The countryside is beautiful.”

He then looked out over the hills to see a town comprised of white buildings with thatched roofs. There was also some other defining buildings as well, including a barn, a windmill, and a large carousel-shaped building in the center of it all.

“I’m guessing that’s our stop,” spoke Myung.

Twilight entered the car again with Spike riding on her back.

“Morning, guys,” greeted Spike. He certainly looked to be in high spirits.

“Good morning,” said the whole of Dream Theater in unison.

“Are we almost home? I’m starving.”

“We’ll have breakfast when we get there,” said Twilight in an almost condescending tone. Suddenly, the thought popped into her head. “I never even asked you guys. What’s in a human’s diet?”

Petrucci answered, “Well, I’m guessing since this world is inhabited by ponies, you’re all vegetarians. I’m sure we could be fine on that for now.”

Twilight seemed immediately unnerved. “Wait, so humans eat meat?”

“Not ponies! Not ponies.”

“What kind of meat do you eat then?”

“We normally eat fish.”

Petrucci felt a little guilty about giving Twilight a half truth. However, if he told her that they ate meats such as beef, chicken, and pork, all from animals which could be sentient in this world, her trust in them might have flown out the window. He figured fish would be the least likely animal to be sentient in this world that they could actually eat. Thankfully, he was right.

“Alright then. I can see what Fluttershy can do for you there.”

“Fluttershy? Is that one of your friends?” asked James.

“Yes. Speaking of, I want to tell you that her personality is very much like her name. She’s very shy around strangers, so don’t be offended if she flees from the sight of you.”

“We’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” said Jordan sympathetically.

“Also, as you probably might have guessed from what Princess Celestia said before, unicorns ­and pegasi exist here, and my several friends are just that. They’ll actually be greeting me at the station when we arrive, which should be any minute.”

“For the record,” asked Mike, “are there any ponies besides unicorns and pegasi?”

“If you’re referring to earth ponies, then yes, there are. I have two of them for friends too. Just freak out as little as possible and you should get along great with them.”

“I don’t think its us freaking out that’s going to be the problem,” said James under his breath.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the town of Ponyville, the day was just coming to its usual beginning. The various carts and vendors were just opening for business. Foals were playing in the streets while the older mares and stallions walked with their friends, conversing about what a beautiful day it was. Little did they know, that today was not going to be like any other day.

At the Ponyville Train Station, there were five mares standing there waiting for the overnight train from Canterlot to Ponyville, the one that Twilight and Spike were on. One of the mares was an earth pony that was orange in color, had a blonde mane and tail banded in a ponytail. Another was a white unicorn with a curled purple mane and tail.

The third was another earth pony, but almost everything about her was pink, from her coat to her frizzled mane and tail. The fourth was a pegasus with a roughly cropped rainbow-striped mane and tail. She was cyan in color. The other pegasus that stood next to the cyan one was yellow with a long flowing pink mane and tail.

“Is she here, yet?” asked the pink pony in a bright peppy voice, jumping up and down excitedly.

“No,” moaned the cyan pegasus, her voice raspy for a mare.

“Is she here, yet?”

“No.”

“Is she here, yet?”

“No.”

“Is she here, yet?”

“PINKIE PIE!” she finally exploded.

“Okay. Got it.”

Another pony walked at the station, standing close to the quintet of mares that wer waiting for their friends to arrive. She looked much older than the other five ponies standing next to her. She had a grey, wavy mane and tail, a sand colored coat, a pair of glasses, and a white collar with a puffy green necktie.

“Mayor?” responded the white unicorn in a British accent. “What are you doing here?”

“Good morning girls,” replied the mayor. “I’m expecting to meet some very special guests on the train from Canterlot.”

“Guests?” wondered the yellow pegasus in soft, quiet voice. “What kind of guests?”

“To be honest, I’m not too sure. Princess Celestia sent me a letter saying that they are inhabitants from another world, but they are very friendly. She then said I’d need to treat them with respect while they were here.”

The yellow pegasus’ voice began to tremble. “So, they’re aliens?”

“Fluttershy,” scolded the orange earth pony in a southern accent, “there ain’t no such thing as aliens.”

“Judging from the letter I got from Princess Celestia,” said the mayor, “that’s exactly what they are. But she ensured me that they are harmless.”

The train was visible from the station, and it looked like it would pull in any second.

“Don’t worry,” said the cyan pegasus, “if they even think of causing trouble, I’ll buck them back to whatever ‘world’ they came from.”

The train finally reached the station, slowing down ever-so-easily.

“Well you can’t kick them out until I’ve thrown them a party first!” cheered the pink pony.

Once the train stopped, a door opened from one of the front cars. Twilight’s friends, along with the mayor, walked to the open door to see Twilight and Spike.

“Twilight,” called the cyan pegasus, “where are these ‘aliens’ I’m hearing about?”

“Aliens?” asked Twilight, clearly offended. She just sighed and pounded the car that held Dream Theater inside it. After a few seconds of tense waiting, the door opened. Petrucci was the first human to step out. His appearance alone was enough to cause the jaws of the six unfamiliar ponies to drop. Their shock only grew when Mike, Myung, Jordan, and James filed out of the car.

“Guys,” began Twilight, “these creatures are called humans. They were brought here from another world last night by accident. They’re stuck here until Princess Celestia can conjure enough magic to send them back. In the meantime, I thought it would be nice to introduce you guys to them, as they’ll be making their temporary residence in Ponyville. Well, have at it.”

The ponies still continued to stare. In an attempt to break the awkward silence, Petrucci was the first to speak.

“Uh… Hi.”

Upon John’s speaking, the pink pony literally sprung from her group to introduce herself to this stranger.

“Hi,” she said with a great smile. “I’m Pinkie Pie. What’s your name?”

John was surprised by her eagerness, but answered anyway. “My name is John Petrucci.”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “That’s such a silly name. I like you, Mr. Tooshie! Would you like to be my friend?”

John would have normally brushed this pony off if she was a human, having all the mannerisms of an obsessed fangirl on crack. However, she acted more like a child than an adult, so he figured it was just best to humor her as such.

“Please, call me John. And sure, I’d very much like to be your friend.”

“YAY!” she cheered, wrapping her arms around Petrucci’s torso. She then felt herself being pulled off by the orange pony.

“Don’t mind her,” said Applejack. “She’s always like that. Anyways, my name’s Applejack. You wouldn’t mind introducing us to the rest of your posse, would you?”

“Sure,” vouched Jordan. “You’ve obviously met John. Anyways, I’m Jordan Rudess.” The others then introduced themselves.

“I’m Mike Mangini.”

“James LaBrie.”

“John Myung.”

Pinkie was staring at Jordan with a bright smile.

“Can I help you?” asked Jordan.

“Oh nothing,” chirped Pinkie Pie, “I just really like your beard.”

“Oh, thanks,” he chuckled awkwardly.

“Hi there,” said the cyan pegasus, flying up to Petrucci and extending her hoof. “Name’s Rainbow Dash; don’t wear it out.” Petrucci shook her hoof before Rainbow Dash hovered to the other band members to introduce herself. The white unicorn was next.

“My name is Rarity, fashion-designer extraordinaire,” she stated, allowing John to shake her hoof.

“Fashion designer, huh?” pondered Petrucci. He then joked, “You wouldn’t mind making us some new clothes while we’re here, huh?”

“But of course,” responded Rarity, “You come here with nothing but that shirt and those pants? Laundry will be a nightmare for you, darling! Tell you what? Come to my shop today and I’ll make some measurements for some brand new clothes for you all.”

“Are… are you serious? Do you know how long that would take?”

“Don’t be silly, it will be a cinch. Plus, I’ve always wanted to design clothes for a species other than a pony.”

“You don’t need to do all that work for us. What we have with us is fine.”

“Nonsense. The pleasure is all mine. Now what do you say?”

“If you’re really set on doing it, I guess my hands are tied.”

“Excellent. You shall not be disappointed.”

Rarity then made her way to the other members. John looked behind Twilight, where a yellow and pink mass was huddled behind the purple unicorn.

“Let me guess,” said John. “That’s Fluttershy.”

“I’m sorry,” apologized Twilight, blushing profusely.

She then jumped behind Fluttershy and pushed her towards Petrucci. Fluttershy looked up to see Petrucci staring at her. The only thing the bashful pegasus could do was squeak and bury her head under her arms.

Petrucci couldn’t help but feel sorry for this pony, but he didn’t know how to approach her in fear of frightening her further. Mike, Myuing, James, and Jordan then looked to see Fluttershy cowering in front of John. The first person to do something was Jordan, who knelt besides the scared pegasus, and lightly pet her down her back.

Jordan was slightly saddened by the pony’s trembling, but found it becoming less and less violent the more he stroked her. His comforting seemed to do the trick, as she was able to look Jordan in the eyes and break a small but noticeable smile.

“Hi, Fluttershy,” he cooed.

“Hi, Jordan.” She whispered. She jumped happily onto him and wrapped her arms over Jordan’s shoulders and around his back. Seeing Fluttershy come out of her shell, Jordan’s four other bandmates circled around him as they introduced themselves again to Fluttershy, to which she was much more comfortable doing.

“If I may,” interrupted the mayor. Everyone gave her their undivided attention. “I haven’t gotten to introduce myself yet. I am the mayor of Ponyville.”

“Oh,” exclaimed James. “You’re the mayor.” All five humans shook the hoof of the mayor.

“Yes, well, I was hoping you would join me for a brief moment.”

"What’s going on?” asked Mike.

“You see, I wish to reveal yourselves to the whole of Ponyville, so they can see that you are all harmless and friendly."

“That’s all well and good, Ms.,” said Petrucci, “but that would take hours.”

“You’d be surprised. Follow me.”

Twilight’s friends followed Dream Theater, who followed the mayor to the town hall.

Rarity noticed the last two cars as they were being unloaded into several large carts. She noticed that Petrucci’s guitar and Jordan’s Korg OASYS were loaded into the carts.

“You never told me you were musicians,” Rarity told Petrucci with interest in her voice.

“You’re right. Where we come from, we’re actually a famous rock band.”

“Yeah,” jumped in Spike. “They’re called Dream Theater. Isn’t that awesome?”

“A band?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Aw man, I gotta’ hear you play.”

“Perhaps when we’re settled—”

It was too late. Twilight’s friends bombarded the five human’s with excited praises and hopeful wishes to perform. The commotion even caused ponies in the streets to turn their heads towards the large group. They were undeniably shocked at the sight of the bipedal aliens. Petrucci tried to make as much peace as he could by waving to the ponies that looked at him and his bandmates. The townsfolk stood still, completely petrified.

“I think we should hurry this up,” said Mike to the mayor.

After an uncomfortably awkward walk to the town hall, the mayor asked Dream Theater, Twilight and her friends to sit on the town hall steps while she assembled the populace.

“So,” whispered Rainbow Dash to Petrucci, “how good are you?”

“If you really want to know, and I’m not blowing smoke up my ass about this too, we’re considered one of the greatest progressive metal bands of all time.”

“Progressive metal?”

“You know, metal. Fast and/or heavy riffs and solos. Progressive. Odd time signatures, poetic lyrics.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Petrucci like he was speaking a completely different language.

“It’d be best if I just showed you.”

“Okay.”

The mayor had pulled up a large podium with a microphone that was connected to a loudspeaker at the top of the town hall. After tapping the microphone a couple of times with her hoof to check the sound, which seemed to be working, she addressed her town.

“Good morning, everypony. Some of you may have seen five strange bipedal creatures walking around town within the last hour. For those who haven’t and for those who have, your assembly at town hall is greatly appreciated if you want to know more about this. Thank you.”

Within just a few moments, hundreds of ponies formed around the town hall, only to stop in their tracks upon sighting the humans. Once the town was assembled to the mayor’s liking, she spoke to the populace.

“Now, I know you may shocked or even frightened about these alien beings, but you have not only my word, but the princess’ word that these creatures, who call themselves humans, are not harmful.”

The crowd didn’t seem convinced. That’s when Petrucci walked up to the podium and grabbed the mike.

“Hey everyone,” he said. “Sorry, I meant everypony. I’m still new at this. The point is, we didn’t come here to cause you any trouble. Hell, we didn’t come here of our own free will at all. All we’re waiting for is for the princess to have enough magic to send us back home.

“You might be frightened by our appearance, and you have every right to. I mean, five strange creatures just show up out of the blue? What reason do you have not to be scared? All we ask for is a chance to show we’re good guys. If there’s anything that we can do to prove ourselves, shoot.”

The ponies shouted something along the lines of, “Give a Pinkie Pie promise.”

“What’s a Pinkie Pie promise?”

“Here,” intervened Pinkie Pie, going through the poem using the motions.

Cross my heart, hope to fly,
Stick a cupcake in my eye.

“Really?” asked Petrucci in a whisper to Pinkie Pie.

“Come on,” egged Pinkie Pie. “It’s really easy.”

“And if I do this, they’ll trust us?”

“They’ll have to. Nopony breaks a Pinkie Pie promise.”

Figuring it a better option than being a pariah for however long they were stuck, Petrucci chose to do the Pinkie Pie promise. He drew an x over his heart with his fingers, shot his flat hand out in front of him, put his hand into a fist, and placed his fist over his eye.

Myung, Jordan, Mike, and James made the same motions as Petrucci. However silly it was, the crowd’s faces of shock and terror were replaced by light smiles and pleasant chatting amongst each other. Petrucci talked through the mike again.

“So, are we good?”

The ponies nodded their heads in agreement.

“Thank you all so much. All we ask is that we be treated like normal citizens. So you can go along your merry ways. Once again, thank you everypony.” He then pointed out his other bandmates as he spoke. “By the way. My name is John Petrucci, this is John Myung, Jordan Rudess, Mike Mangini, and James Labrie. Thanks.” The mayor then took the mike from Petrucci.

“Alright, everypony. This meeting is adjourned.”

The crowd began to disperse, murmuring and chatting about their new guests.

“Thank you so much for doing that,” said the mayor to Dream Theater. “I guess I can be the first to say—”

“Shhh,” hushed Pinkie Pie, closing the mayor's mouth. She then rushed away as a pink blur.

“What the hell was that all about?” asked Jordan.

“Oh, it’s just Pinkie being Pinkie,” answered Twilight. “So now that you are official citizens of Ponyville, how’s about we give you a tour of the town?”

“That sounds great, actually,” responded James.

Before they could get started, Pinkie Pie wheeled in an ornate fuchsia and white wagon and placed it about ten feet from the five humans.

“What is she doing?” asked Mike.

“The welcome wagon,” answered Applejack.

“Welcome what?”

Pinkie Pie pushed a red button on the front of the wagon, causing the top doors to slide down, revealing an assortment of cupcakes and pies on four shelves with a small oven in the center. A multitude of flags and horns popped out, the latter sounding off music. Pinkie then broke into song and dance.

Welcome, welcome, welcome,
A fine welcome to you.

She placed large black party hats with orange visors on each of the humans heads, as she continued to sing and dance. The members were extremely confused with what was happening, but it was nonetheless entertaining to be greeted in such an over-the-top manner.

Welcome, welcome, welcome,
I say, “How do you do?”

Mike and Jordan seemed to be enjoying their little musical number the most, lightly bobbing to the music and its beat as Pinkie continued.

Welcome, welcome, welcome,
I say, “Hip hip hooray!”

Welcome, welcome, welcome,
to Ponyville today!

Pinkie Pie slid on her knees in a finale, but the music seemed to stop before the last note.

“Wait for it…” she said.

Upon the last note, a cake flew out of the oven straight towards the group. No one amongst the humans was expecting something like that, and merely watched as the cake flew straight into Jordan’s face. The only reaction that Jordan could muster was to close his eyes as the pastry splattered over him. It was then that the band members jumped in surprise.

Then, confetti blasted from tubes that were on the cart, and showered over the band members, many of which stayed stuck on Jordan’s frosting-caked face. Mike couldn’t help but laugh hysterically, while the others giggled at Jordan’s expense.

“Do you have any idea how silly you look right now?” asked Mike.

Jordan wiped as much cake and confetti from his face and beard as possible. He looked very bemused.

“I need a shower, like, now.”
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I'd like to give thanks to my wonderful editor, Sabre. Feel free to check this person's page.

Comments

[gun hand]

All I can say is that this cannot be updated fast enough you are doing a great job

[creepykiller99]

i relly wish it could be updated relly quick so i see what will happen next

[Morose_Weirdo]

Mike and Jordan seemed to be enjoying their little musical number the most, lightly bobbing to the music and its beat as Pinkie continued.

Absolutely spot-on characterization. All throughout, actually, but especially that moment.