I awoke to two hooves playing a catchy beat on my bed.  The hooves belonged to Vinyl, obviously.  I didn’t have to open my eyes to make sure of this fact.  She created a melody of made up of ‘ba’, ‘da’ and ‘dum’ as she drummed.  I opened an eye and looked over at the clock on my bedside table.  Ten o’clock?  Okay, that’s acceptable.  I thought to myself.  It seems that I wouldn’t have to chastise Vinyl about waking me up early for no reason this morning.  That’s unusual.  I wonder what inspired her act of kindness.

“Ah good, you’re awake.  Breakfast time bitch, come on, get your flank outta bed.” She said as she stopped her singing and drumming.  Oh, that’s what inspired it.  Hopes of breakfast other than cereal, I see how it is.

“I don’t have a flank; I have a butt or ass, please refer to it properly.” I replied groggily putting my face into the pillow.

“Okay then, get your dumb ass outta bed.” Vinyl replied flatly putting her trademark shades over her eyes and giving me a hard prod on my ‘dumb’ ass “You’re still making me breakfast, so get up already.” I groaned and got up following Vinyl down to the kitchen.  I opened the fridge and observed its contents.

“Okay Vinyl, whaddya want?” I asked, she pushed me over slightly and looked through the fridge.  She laid her eyes on one of the apple pies.  Her eyes widened as did her grin and a blue aura surrounded the pie as she took it from the fridge and sat down at the kitchen table munching away.  I was displeased to say the least.

“Wait…  You just called me out of my comfortable bed so you could come downstairs and take an apple pie out the fridge?  Really Vinyl?” I asked with an irritated tone.  Vinyl gave a weak smile and chuckled nervously.

“I…  Guess…?” She said like a nervous filly about to sing on stage for the first time “… So?  What’re you gonna do?” She asked regaining her normal composure.  I opened my mouth to speak, but there was no use arguing.  I was already awake, it didn’t matter, I wasn’t going back to sleep because I had spent enough time inside recently.  Yesterday wasn’t exactly an indoor day, but I did want to go to a local pub to drown most of the memories of what had happened to me prior to Rarity’s party.  Fucking Colonel Sanders…  I used to like KFC…  Oh God, why…?

“Helloooo?  Jimmy?  You there?” Vinyl said waving a hoof in front of my face.  I snapped out of the memories and looked at the white unicorn flailing a hoof in front of me “Good, thought I lost you.  Were you in a war or something?  You looked like you were having a flashback to some mortar blast killing your war buddies or something.”

“Oh…  No, just…  Agh, never mind, it wouldn’t make sense no matter what I told you.” I said sitting down at the table with Vinyl.  She levitated a fork over to my side of the table and then levitated her own fork and cut herself a slice of apple pie with it.

“Right, now that we’re eating, I needed to talk to you about something.” Vinyl stated as she took a bite of her pie.

“Which is about something other than food?” I replied with a smirk.

“Surprisingly…  Yeah.” She said pausing between her words to take another bite of pie.  She put down her fork “I want to get a gig somewhere, for all of us.” She stated.

“Sounds great, but where?” I asked taking a bite of pie.  She paused.

“I don’t know yet.  When I say all of us I mean I have my DJ stuff and then you have a separate gig with Octy and the guys.”

“Of course.”

“Right, so, I’d be more likely to get something at a club obviously, but you guys wouldn’t.  You guys would be most likely to get a gig at a restaurant or bar, my chances aren’t that great for that.  That’s mainly because ponies don’t want to have a rave at a regular bar or restaurant.  If there was such a place that would be bitchin’ awesome, but I doubt it exists, especially in this town.”

“Indeed, so, what do you want me to do exactly?” I asked stabbing my fork into the pie in front of me and leaving it there.

“Well, just go get a gig for you and Octy and the guys.  If you could get one for me, that’d be cool too.  But mainly focus on your group.”

“Why focus on just ‘my’ group?” I asked, Vinyl sighed.

“Alright look, I’m gonna have a little bit of a heart-to-heart with you now, and I’m probably gonna sound like a little bitch, but just hear me out:” She stated taking her glasses off and putting her hooves and glasses on the table “Octy hates when she’s not performing.  She’s okay when she’s playing her music with you guys and whatever, but she needs to get out there and play for a crowd.  When she doesn’t have a gig, it’s like she’s got nothing to live for.  Haven’t you noticed she’s been a lot quieter recently and a lot less talkative?  Haven’t you been seeing her a lot less as well?” My thoughts went to the story Matt had told me last night and I held back the urge to say ‘Tavi being quiet?  That’sh not what Matt shaid about you two when you were in the kitchen with her lasht night.’

“Come to think of it, I’ve hardly seen her all week.” I replied.

“Exactly.  You know why?” She asked, I shook my head “Because she’s been in the basement playing her cello in a little basement apartment like some kind of fricking hermit.  Sure, I’m there for her and I listen to her play and I support her, but all she’s been playing is all these sad symphonies for hours on end, she doesn’t bother playing any of the songs you gave her to learn, or even songs of mine I’ve asked her to make a part for.  She comes up here on an afternoon and plays the piano, but that’s just the same couple songs she’s been trying to learn for the past month or so.”

“I see.”

“Just try to get her a gig somewhere, please?” Vinyl said choking on her words slightly “I just…” She paused and looked down at the table trying to compose herself for her next sentence “I just want my Octy back…” A single tear came from her right eye as she looked up at me.  I got up from the table and walked over to her and gave her a hug.

“Alright Vinyl…” I whispered “I’ll get your Octy back.” I said with a smile, she threw her hooves around me and embraced me tightly with tears streaming from her ruby red eyes.  I returned the embrace in a slightly softer fashion than Vinyl.  Mares…  Sometimes all they gotta do is let it out and a few buckets later, there’s no way you’d know.

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Twelve o’clock.  It was time to go out and look for a restaurant or bar that host live performances.  There was just one problem, I didn’t know anything about Ponyville’s popular restaurants or bars as far as music went.  Or even as far as how good the food at the restaurants was.  The only one I did know about was the one Fluttershy suggested that day however many weeks ago.  Every day we’d be eating at home or on the odd occasion; at Sugar Cube Corner if enough of us had a sweet tooth that wouldn’t go away.

I took my iPod from my room as well my ‘jacket’ which was really just a green dress shirt I liked wearing over my t-shirt and went downstairs.  As I reached the bottom of the stairs, a sound of glasses clinking loudly came from the kitchen along with a loud thud on what must have been the kitchen table.  I was about to dismiss the sound when the sound repeated itself again.  Damn it Vinyl, I don’t want to pick your drunk ass up and carry you downstairs again.  It’s fricking midday for Christ’s sake.  I thought to myself as I walked into the kitchen.  What I was met with in the kitchen was the last pony I expected to be completely drunk off their flank.  Octavia.

“Octy?  Are you okay?” I asked rhetorically.  Her mane was incredibly messy as though it hadn’t been brushed for several days.  Her trademark bowtie was crooked and dirty, hanging loosely from her neck.  Her eyes had huge dark circles underneath them that reminded me of how my eyes looked before I ended up in Equestria.  It was obvious she was crying hard.  She held an almost empty bottle of brandy in her hoof.  She looked up at me slowly with a look of irritation and sorrow.

“…  Do I really look okay to you?” She said flatly.  I wasn’t sure what to say, I would have asked her what the problem was, but I already knew.  But whether she knew that or not was yet to be seen “…  Well?”

“Not really, no.” I replied.  I sat down at the table with her and held out my hand, she pushed the bottle over to me and I took a swig from it.  I didn’t mind the dry feeling it left, nor the cherry aftertaste, which in fact, was quite refreshing “Wanna tell me what the problem is?” I asked pointing to her and putting the bottle on the table.  Wow, two over-the-kitchen-table talks in one day?  I’m like the house therapist now or some shit.  Thank God the guys aren’t so unstable.  I thought to myself.  She sighed.

“I…  Jimmy…” She managed to say before tears started bawling and burying her face in her hooves “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore…  I had a regular show once a week where I would be able to play for an audience…  A somewhat small one, but…  It gave me something to do that was worth it…  And then I just…” Her crying got the best of her again and she wasn’t able to finish her statement.  Well, that was fast.  I thought to myself.  In a way I’m glad that this is what she’s upset over rather than it being something about her wanting to break up with Vinyl.  That would be the LAST fuckin’ thing I’d want to deal with.  I got up from my seat and gave her a hug.

“Octy, please don’t cry.” I said quietly “Listen, today I was going to look around for a restaurant or bar that hosts music acts.” Her ears perked up suddenly.

“What?  Are you serious?” She asked wiping a tear from her eye while her face quickly turned from a frown to a wide and opened-mouth smile.

“Of course I’m serious.” I replied, before I could say more Octavia grabbed me and pulled me against her embracing me as tightly as she could, which I must add, was quite painful.  She gave me a peck on the cheek.

“Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!” She said excitedly as she got up from her chair and pranced around the room, she gasped “Can I come with you?” She asked with puppy dog eyes.  I must say, she did look very cute like this and on a regular day she would have won me over, but there was one tiny problem with her request.

“I would say yes, but…  I think you might want to spend today, err…  Fixing up, if you know what I mean.” I said as I gave a gesture with my hands.  Octavia thought for a moment and she pretended not to subtly sniff her messy mane in a manner that I surely would not notice with her only two feet away from me.  Her face when the scent met her nostrils was only one that could be described as shock.

“Oh…  Yes…” She said nervously “Well, um, I’ll leave you to finding us a place.  Good luck, and umm…  I’ll just be…  Going…  Downstairs…  Now…” She inched her way out of the kitchen and I heard her break into full gallop as she ran down the stairs to the basement.  I chuckled to myself slightly.

At least she’s feeling better now.  I thought.  Hell, maybe she’ll go have happy sex with Vinyl rather than sad sex!  Not that I’d know the difference between any kinds of sex…  I thought as I shrugged off the ever so irritating reminder of my fully intact virginity that had only been attempted on once by one particular Princess of the night.  I decided not to call any names on that subject and quickly moved my mind on to better things.  It was time to leave the house.  I put back on my shirt-jacket-thing, made sure I had my wallet and keys and headed out the door into the streets of Ponyville.

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This is fucking HOPELESS!!!  I thought to myself.  I left the frickin’ house at twelve o’clock for Christ’s sake!  TWELVE!  It’s now SEVEN and I’ve been to every God-damned restaurant and bar in this fricking town and not a SINGLE ONE has a music night!  Honestly, don’t these ponies like music?!  I’ve only seen one dance club and it looks like shit!  I ranted in my mind.  It was sunset.  I came across a bench and sat down.  I had tried every restaurant and bar I could find.  Not even Vinyl could find a gig out here, being only one dance club that apparently was not frequented by many ponies.  I buried my face in my hands.

What the fuck am I gonna tell Octy?  I don’t want to lie to her, especially after I got her all excited like that.  Fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucckkkkkkk…  I thought.

“La-lala-lala, la-lala-lala~” I heard a cheerful voice sing.  It belonged to none other than Pinkie, I looked up to see her floating in mid-jump as she turned to face me “Hey Jimmy, how ya doin’?” She asked with a smile.

“Not that great, Pinkie.” I replied flatly, I wanted to sound at least a little cheerful for her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  She jumped onto the bench and sat next to me.

“What’s wrong?” She asked “Was somepony being mean to you?  Cuz if they were, you know about my basem-”

“No, nopony has been mean to me.” I replied interrupting her “Well, not directly anyway.”

“Then what is it?” She asked.  I then proceeded to tell her about the events of this morning being Octavia’s depression and our household’s general need and desire to perform.  I could swear every now and then when I would glance away, I would see Pinkie with a notepad and fancy glasses on taking notes on what I was saying.

“…  Every place I’ve been to doesn’t have a music night, nor are they willing to create one.  Or if they do have one, their spots are all filled.” I said finishing my recount of today “Man, I can’t go back home to Octy and tell her I didn’t get us somewhere to play…  Ugh, what do I do Pinkie?” Pinkie stroked her non-existent beard in deep thought.  I honestly was expecting a beard to randomly appear on the pink pony’s face for a moment or for her to go get a costume beard just for this occasion, but neither happened.  Suddenly Pinkie sprung up from her seat and gasped loudly.

“Did you try The Clop Bar?  They’re always looking for music acts!!” Pinkie asked enthusiastically.

“The…  Clop Bar?” I asked “No, I didn’t try there.  I thought it was some kind of really small and crappy strip club.  The fact that there’s a brothel a couple buildings away on the other side of the street didn’t really help me think otherwise.”

“Of course it’s not a strip club silly!  Do you know how difficult that would be to have a strip club in there?” Said Pinkie, I immediately had to push the idea of pony strippers out of my mind.  That was something I really didn’t need to think about.

“Are you sure Pinkie?” I asked.

“Of course I’m sure, now come on!” She said as she hopped down the street.  Oh boy, here we go.  Hopefully this place isn’t a total shithole.

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This place is a total shithole.  The bar was a tiny building in between two big ones.  On one side was a shady looking convenience store and the other was an abandoned apartment.  On the outside of the bar was large purple neon lettering that spelled out ‘The Clop Bar’.  A couple circular tables along with about four chairs each sat outside the bar, accompanying those were three wooden picnic tables.  Each table had a large umbrella set in the middle of them.  Nopony was sitting outside, which was odd for such a pretty night.  Must be a bad neighbourhood, Pinkie giggled in excitement as I looked at her with my ‘woman I trusted you, what the hell is this fuckery?’ face.

“Come on!” She said pushing me inside the bar.  The doors were wide open, letting breeze into the very tiny bar.  There was music playing over what seemed to be a transistor radio.  It wasn’t anything horribly bad, it wasn’t at all, the music was just something I was expecting to hear in the 40s or 50s.  At the entrance to the right was an open area with a PA system set up that sat on the thin wooden ‘bar’ that seemed to follow the wall wherever it could.  To the left was a long bar with about ten or fifteen stools along the bar.  At the end of the bar was another mostly open area with a pool table.  Huh, I didn’t know Billiards existed in Equestria.  Good to know.  At the bar sat about seven or eight ponies.  Pinkie skipped happily over to the bar and took the second seat.  She patted the seat on her left giving me the cue to sit down next to her.  I took a seat and the barpony came over to us.  I actually couldn’t tell at a first glance whether it was a colt or a mare.

“Hey Pinkie, haven’t seen you here in a long time!” Said the barpony with a feminine voice, inside something told me this she was not really a she.

“Well, it hasn’t been that long!” Pinkie replied “It’s only been 57 days since the last time I was here!” The barmare chuckled.

“So, who’s your…  Err, friend here.” She asked looking me up and down.  Well, you don’t exactly look too normal yourself, bitch, looking like a guy and shit.  I thought to myself.  Her coat was grey and her mane was black with some streaks of a dark red in it.  Her mane and tail were cut short, giving her a boyish appearance.  Her more masculine face didn’t help show her true gender either.  Her cutie mark was simply a martini glass, very fitting indeed.

“This is Jimmy!  He teleported here from the past about two months ago, he’s been living here for a while now, I’m surprised you didn’t know about him.” Pinkie said as if it was the most common thing on Earth.  The barmare raised an eyebrow at Pinkie’s explanation.  I held out my hand.

“Nice to meet you.” I stated a little bit coldly, I was still slightly mad about her looking me up and down like how she did.  She took my hand in a hoof and shook it.

“Name’s Cherry.” She replied “What can I get you two to drink?”

“I’ll have a cider if you have.” I said.

“Ooh, me too!  Me too!” Said Pinkie waving a hoof wildly as Cherry turned to get the cider.  I only now noticed that Cherry was an earth pony.  I suppose I figured that her profession would be more suited to a unicorn rather than an earth pony so I made the assumption she was without actually checking.  Cherry returned with our cider, I gave a ‘thank you’ and took a large gulp of the cider leaving the mug half-empty.  Pinkie motioned her head to Cherry who nodded and Pinkie got up from her seat.

“Pinkie, should I come outside too?” I asked.

“Oh no, that’s okay, you can stay here.” She replied as she trotted outside with Cherry.  I sighed and took another sip of my cider.  I looked around the bar.  The green and white décor, the cramped feeling of the place, it was all so familiar.  Too familiar…

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It was a calm night.  The air blew softly giving a nice chill to the night that made it cool rather than blazing hot like it was every day.  This place looked like a dump.  It was cramped and looked pretty old.  There were some guys playing music across from the bar.  A tall and rather slim man with dark skin named Garvie was singing and playing guitar.  He wore glasses and a beret.  He sounded just like Tracy Chapman during this song.  Then again, it was a Tracy Chapman song, Fast Car.  The bass man had decided to quiet down for this song as there wasn’t much for him to do and simply waited for an opening to play while drinking a beer.  The guy on the djembe kept a quiet beat that fit well, making the beat a bit heavier when the song called for it during the chorus.  At the bar sat Jen.  She was the new lead singer of my band who had invited me to come listen to her sing with Garvie.  She got up from her seat at the bar and gave me a hug after calling my name in mock surprise.

“Hey Jen, how’re you?” I asked returning the hug.

“I’m good, I’m good.” She replied “What about you?”

“I’m alright, what songs are you doing tonight?” I asked.  The idle chit-chat continued for a while as we waited for Garvie to call Jen up to come and sing some songs with him.

I had a crush on this girl.  Something about girls who could sing or had musical talent really got me going.  She was no exception.  From the first time I heard her sing, she put me under a spell.  She wasn’t any incredibly fantastic singer, but she was good at rock songs, and her voice gave her the ability to sing songs such as Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana and Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace.  She was a pretty average looking girl; I give her a six out of ten.  She had wavy brown hair that passed her shoulders slightly and she wore rectangular glasses like everyone else in her family.  Boobs were a bit on the small side, still alright though.

After a while, Garvie called up Jen to play with him.  They went through one of her original songs and Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey.  Jen then asked if they could go through Holiday by Green Day.  After a bit of hesitation over the song due having to play the song in E instead of the original key of F due to Garvie not having a capo on hand, they started an acoustic version of the song which worked very well.  Every time a point in the verses came which required a loud 'HEY' or 'AMEN' I took great pleasure in shouting it for them from where I stood as I bobbed my head in time to the song.  They reached the solo of the song and Jen pointed to me and gestured for me to come over.  I walked over into the ‘stage’ and Jen handed me the microphone.

“Since you know the words to this part, you can sing it!” She half-yelled over the music, I grinned and nodded in compliance.  The guitar solo had finished leaving the bass and drums the only two instruments going.  Let’s do this.

“Ksssshh, the representative from Canada now has the floor.” I said into the mic, Garvie did a slide signalling the start of the bridge.  Don’t fuck up the lyrics!  Was the only thought that crossed my mind.

“Sieg heil to the president gas man, bombs away it’s your PUNISHMENT!” Everyone who was playing an instrument including myself shouted the last word of the line “Pulverize the Eiffel towers who criticize your GOVERNMENT!  Bang, bang, goes the broken glass and kill all the fags that DON’T AGREE!  Trials by fire setting fire, is not a way that’s MEANT FOR ME!” The guitar came back into the song “Just cause…  Just cause, because we’re outlaws YEAAAAAAAAAAH!” I finished the bridge and quickly handed the microphone back to Jen who wrapped up the song.  I clapped heartily at the end of that song.  That was my jam, and they did it in a slightly different style which made it sound great.  That was my first night at the Gap Bar, nearly a year ago.  Rather, nearly two thousand and one years ago…

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It’s another night at The Gap Bar.  Something’s different this time however.  This time it’s OUR night.  It was a Wednesday night and nearly ten o’clock.  Matt, Paul, Jen, myself and our bass player Jamie were setting up our equipment and getting ready for our ‘gig’.

We were in a very, very small scale Battle of the Bands type contest.  We were in the first round and we were on first.  Our amps were on, instruments were tuned, set-lists taped to the floor and minds were on the music as we waited for the go-ahead to start playing.  This was our first proper performance with Jen as our lead singer.  Our set-list contained songs we had known before Jen came along as which took up a little more than a quarter of our list, the rest of the songs we had learnt within the couple weeks prior to the contest.  The set-list taped to the bottom of my microphone stand read:

HOLIDAY   -   (Green Day)

BOULEVARD   -   (Green Day)

TEEN SPIRIT   -   (Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana)

WTH!   -   (What The Hell – Avril Lavigne)

ANIMAL I HAVE BECOME   -   (Three Days Grace)

BRAIN STEW   -   (Green Day)

DIARY OF JANE (TURN OFF OVERDRIVE)   -   (Breaking Benjamin)

JAM!! (TURN THAT SHIT ON!!)

ROCK STAR   -   (Nickelback)

CHRONICLES   -   (Chronicles of Life and Death – Good Charlotte)

PAINT IT BLACK   -   (Rolling Stones)

SEVEN NATION ARMY   -   (White Stripes)

STATIC AGE   -   (Green Day)

GOOD (fuckin’) RIDDANCE   -   (Green Day)

I looked over to Jamie who was practicing her parts for the newer songs.  I prayed that she wouldn’t mix up Chronicles of Life and Death with Rock Star or something like that like she had been doing during practices.

Needless to say, at one point I had a crush on her.  She was the shortest and youngest in our group.  She had long blonde hair which Paul and I had made blonde jokes about her every time she broke or knocked over something or when she asked a silly question.  She didn’t mind (that much).  She was a very pretty girl, but the kind you can take home to mother.  She turned me down flat multiple times because she saw me as more of a big brother.  I was turned down multiple times because I wouldn’t take the bloody hint because I was a persistent bastard.  I stopped having a crush on her when she got a boyfriend.  As did Matt.

It was time to start the gig.  Time to show how much more awesome we are than everyone else.  I gave everyone a fist bump just before we decided to open up the night.

“Hello, hello, hello everyone, how are we doing tonight?” I said into the microphone, cheering and clapping was heard from the audience in response.

“Come on, I can’t hear you, you’re making it sound like it’s a bad night or something!  Now tell me, how are y’all doing tonight?!” I asked again, the audience responded louder this time.  Not as loud as I would’ve liked, but close enough.

“Okay Jimmy, that’s enough pestering the audience.” Jen said into her mic.

“Aw, but it’s fun to pester the audience!” I replied with a chuckle.

“Anyway,” Jen said trying to move on “We are CrossRoads, that’s Paul on the cajon over there, Matt on the saxophone, Jamie, back here, on the bass,” She said, pointing to each member, having to lean to one side in order to point at Jamie who was sitting on a stool behind her “That’s Jimmy over there on guitar,”

“Sop.” I interjected.

“And I’m Jen.”

“And you’re an alcoholic.”

“Jimmy, shush.”

“Okay…”

“Alright, this first song we’re gonna do is one by Green Day,”

“Yaaaay Green Day!” I shouted away from the microphone while turning away from the audience “Alright, someone likes Green Day!” I said turning back to the mic.

“Other than you?  That’s a first.” Jen replied “Anyway, before any more interruptions, this song is called Holiday.” I felt like saying something into the mic to annoy her, but I wanted to start playing just as much as she did, so I didn’t bother.

Here we go…  I thought as I held down the opening chord…

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I was outside The Gap Bar.  I stood across from Jen who had called me, Paul, Jamie and Matt outside to tell us something.  I had just spent the entire summer away on vacation.  I missed everyone.  I missed having band practice and playing at this crappy old bar.  It was a place I treasured now.  I had waited so long to come back to my band, but something had changed.

“Okay, guys?” Jen started, she looked very nervous “I have to leave the band.” What.

“What?  Why?” I asked in shock.  No fucking way.  You’re kidding me, right?  This is some kind of early April Fool’s joke, right?

“After you left, I was given a recording contract.” She stated.

“Oh Jesus fuckin’ Christ!” I exclaimed as I sat down in a chair behind me.  Matt looked down at the ground in disappointment.  Jamie just looked plain hurt while Paul shared my expression of anger and upset, but not my words.  I thought for a moment thinking of what to say to Jen.

“Yeah…  So…  I’ve got a new band now with Garvie and Jermaine and those guys.” She said as if everything was sunshine, lollipops, rainbows and fucking unicorns.  I stood up.

“Jen, when the hell did this happen?” I asked.

“I don’t know, mid-July?” She replied.  How in fu- What is this shit?  You can’t remember the fuckin’ day you were given a RECORDING CONTRACT?!  Are you insane?

“Then why the hell didn’t you tell any of us?  Jamie was down here, Paul was down here, what was stopping you?!  We’ve got e-mail and Facebook and shit like that!  I’ve been messaging you all summer and not once have you replied!” She stood in silence “Jesus Christ Jen, the entire fucking summer I’ve been sitting on my ass counting the days on the frickin’ calendar until I get to play with you guys again!  So we can start doing original songs and start getting somewhere!  And you couldn’t even say a bloody word to us about any of this shit until just now?!  You’d think that you would tell your band members who are also your friends that something like that happened!  Wouldn’t you?!” She was still speechless.  I could see she had realised that it was a bit stupid to withhold that information for so long.

Before she could say more to me, I left the bar.  I didn’t want to have to hear any more shit.  I didn’t care anymore…

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I looked into my mug of cider.  It remained untouched from when I last took a sip however long ago it was.  I had roamed my memories too long.  The anger from my last memory was seeping through into right now.  The fact this place was just like The Gap Bar in almost every way wasn’t helping anything at all.  I sighed and put a hand to my head.

That world doesn’t matter anymore.  I said to myself.  Just let it go, it’s not like Jen mattered anyway.  You can do better than her, come on.  Let her go, it’s been forever.  I wanted to let her go, I really did.  But I couldn’t even think of my old band without thinking of her.  Every time someone mentioned something she was doing or anytime someone’s parents said something about her, I would get incredibly pissed and…  Jealous.  I was jealous because I had been telling myself that that should have been me with her.  I was angry because she didn’t tell me about what had happened until it was far too late.  It isn’t like it would’ve mattered.  I’m so much better now than I was a year ago, my past self can’t compare to what I can do now.

I hated being jealous of her.  I hated being angry at her.  I considered her my friend.  But that’s not what she considered me as.  She didn’t have to tell me that in person for me to see it.  I was just a stepping stone to her.  But I doubt she would ever want to admit that there was a point in her life where she was ‘at my level’.

There we go again, off on some fuckin’ tangent about how you hate her after saying you hate hating her.  I thought.  Just stop thinking about the bitch.

Who do you suggest I think of instead then?

I don’t friggin’ know, think of Pinkie Pie or something.  I don’t give a fuck, I just want you to shut up about her so we don’t have to go through another night of you crying like a whiny bitch about how you should be where she is.  Especially now, since she’s fucking dead as of two thousand years ago along with everyone else save for you, Matt and Paul.  Get. The. Fuck. Over. It.

You’re right, you know.

Of course I’m right.  Now shut the fuck up and drink your cider.  It’s probably warm by now thanks to your 'feelings time', dumbass.

I took a sip of the cider.  Yep, warm.  It wasn’t horrid when it was warm, but cold was infinitely better.  Anyway, I was right.  She doesn’t matter anymore.  She’s long been dead along with everyone else.  None of their shit mattered.  The only shit that mattered was my own and the ones who are still here that I care about.  I finished off my mug of cider and Pinkie and Cherry came back inside.

“Alright Jimmy, Pinkie’s been telling me you’re some kind of musician and that you’ve got a band that wants to play here, that right?” Cherry asked.

“Yeah, that’s right.” I replied.

“Well, you can take the Tuesday and Friday nights.  We don’t have anypony playing during those nights, so those are yours.” Winning. “Now, as far as paying y’all goes, to be quite honest, I’m hardly holding up this bar as it is, considering the amount of customers we get.  So until we get more business, we can't pay you.” Not so winning. “But if you still wanna do it, you can.  On Fridays we get a nice amount of business most of the time, so you should have a pretty good audience.” Bi-winning. “Sound okay?”

“Yes, that sounds excellent.” I said putting down my mug and holding out my hand to her “Thank you very much, Miss Cherry.  So, we start this Friday then?” I asked.  She took my hand in her hoof and shook it.

“Yep, you start Friday.” She replied “So, bring your band and some friends and whatever else so we can start you off on a good note, alright?”

“Of course Miss Cherry, thank you.”

“Alright, enough with this ‘Miss Cherry’ crap, come on, just call me Cherry.”

“Sorry, Cherry.” I smiled sheepishly.  I don’t know where the hell that ‘Miss Cherry’ crap came from either to be honest “Alright, well, thank you for the opening.  I’ll be here Friday night at…  What time?”

“Ten p.m.”

“Excellent.  Thank you.” I replied.  Cherry walked down the tiny hallway to get back behind the bar after giving me a smile “Thank you so much Pinkie.” I said wrapping Pinkie in a hug that she didn’t seem to expect, she returned it happily.

“Aw, it was nothing Jimmy!  That’s what your auntie Pinkie Pie’s here to do!” She replied cheerfully.

“Anyway Pinkie, I wanna head back home now, I’ve been out all day and I just wanna go home and tell Octy I got us a gig, you can come with me if you want.” I said breaking the embrace.

“I’d love to come over but I can’t, I have to get back to Sugar Cube Corner and do some prep for tomorrow morning.” She replied with a sad tone.

“Aw, oh well, no matter.  Anyway, I’ll see you on Friday Pinkie!” I said as I put some bits on the bar for our drinks and headed out of the bar.  I stopped.  I came back inside for a moment “Pinkie?” I asked.

“Yeah?  What’s up?” She replied.

“Could you try and advertise us playing here on Friday?  Like, to everypony though, not just Twilight and Rarity and stuff?” I asked.

“Of course I could!  I was gonna do that anyway!” She replied cheerfully.

“Thanks Pinkie, alright, gotta run!” I said waving goodbye as I went out the door again and headed home.

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I opened the door to the house and everything was quiet.  That certainly wasn’t usual for a Tuesday night, or any night for that matter.  I looked at the clock on my iPod, only nine o’clock.  Where the hell is everyone?  Before I could respond to myself I was tackled by a grey blur from my left.

“JIMMY!” Octavia half-but-not-so-half-more-around-thirteen-sixteenths-yelled as she pinned me to the floor, she cleared her throat “Well?  What happened?” She asked in her indoor voice this time.  These ponies are gonna be the friggin’ death of me if they keep doing this shit.  I thought to myself.  I’m getting too God-damned old for this.

“I got us a gig!” I exclaimed; Octavia’s expression turned blank for a moment.  Her mouth grew into a weak smile, then a regular smile, then a wide smile and then a creepily happy smile and suddenly she jumped onto her hooves prancing around in joy.  As I got back onto my feet she hugged me and even gave me a kiss.

“Thank you so much, Jimmy!” Octavia said hugging me tightly.  I saw Vinyl leaning against the wall of the hallway grinning as she watched us.

“You’re welcome Octy.” I replied returning the hug.  After a few seconds, she broke the embrace giving me a big smile and skipped off down the stairs.

“Good job, buddy.” Vinyl said poking me in my arm “You got my Octy back.  Thanks.”

“No problem, Vinyl.” I said patting her head “I needed my Octy back too.” I turned to her and smiled.

“Practice tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“What time am I waking you?”

“You’re not.  You owe me that at least.”

“Okay, fine.  I’ll go wake Matt up instead.”

“That sounds much better, thank you.  You should wake him instead of me every morning.”

“Nah, he’s no fun.  You’re way more fun to wake up.  Especially because of the tickle fights and all that crap I get you into.”

"Ehh...  They're not fun for me..."

"Aww, but they are for me!"

"How's that?"

"They make me sooo wet!"

"...  Remind me never to tickle you again."

"Awwww pleeeeeease?  I promise I'll only have sex with Octy!"

“If you insist.” I chuckled as I started walking up the stairs.

“Night Jimmy.” She called out.

“Night Vinyl.” I replied

After closing the door to my bedroom, I didn’t even bother undressing.  I just fell flat on the bed and went to sleep…

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Or so I thought.  All I could see was white.  Out of the white nothingness came a certain Princess of the night who trotted over to me.

“Hello Jimmy, it has been a while, has it not?” She asked.

“Hey Luna, indeed it has…”