//------------------------------// // Video Blog #1 // Story: Rara's Reality // by Gear Works //------------------------------// Rick and Rara finally returned from their music session for the day, already tired after working on the entire album. Rick went straight to his laptop with a small camcorder in hand, while Rara went and grabbed a change of clothes and went straight to the bathroom. Rick started to check on the camcorder, only to find that the batteries were dead. “I guess Coco forgot to turn it off like I told her to.” He went to take the rechargeable batteries out and placed them in the charger. Then he took out the memory card and inserted it into his laptop to find the video files and transfer them. As the transfer took place, Rara came out of the bathroom, fully changed. “I’m going down to Coco’s room to chat for a while.” “OK. It’s going to be a while before I finish editing this,” Rick replied. “I think Coco was still a bit new to this.” “I’ll say,” Rara replied. “I’ve never seen a camera recorder that small and advance in this world.” “Oh, we still have those old tools for movies. But they have evolved to some degree. Some still keep the old tools as a part of history in the film industry.” “I would stay and listen, but I don’t want to distract you with your work.” With that, Rara made her way out of the room and went downstairs, leaving Rick to himself. “Alright. Let’s see how well you did here.” The video opens to Rick’s face. “OK. You understand how this works, right?” “I think so,” Coco said from off view. “Hey. Those replacement drum heads came in. Think you can help?” Rick looks away for a moment. “Yea. Coming.” He walks away from view. The scene starts to move. “OK. My name is Coco Pommel. And I’ll be taping the, what’s he called it… oh, behind the scenes tour of Rick and Rara. They’ll going to be recording their first album in this studio, which Rick says that it’s a bit old from his world. I’m sure you humans would understand.” The scene moves into the studio and up to where there’s a stallion with orange fur and a blue-green bowl cut hair behind the keyboard. He was wearing a white shirt, black pants, and a black vest with a patch of purple shades, which he was also wearing. Another stallion was working on the other side of the keyboard, connection cables. He had mint green fur and a purple small mo hawk, and was wearing a worn out white t-shirt and blue jeans. “Now here we have our keyboard player, Night Shades, and our tech expert, Star Dancer.” “Well, hello there,” Night Shades said with what sounded like a British accent, lowing his shades so he could gaze into the camera. “Just so you know, I am single and ready to mingle.” He winks. “Don’t listen to him,” Star Dancer said as the scene turns to him. “Every time he tries to flirt, he gets punched in the face by the mare’s coltfriend.” “That was just that one time, Star. That one time.” “I recall it being more than that.” “Shut up, Disco,” Night Shades replied. “Let’s move on.” The scene moves to the drum set, where Rick is working with a stallion with lavender fur and a black buzz cut. He was wearing a black tank top and blue jeans with holes in the knees. “This is our drummer, Beat Box.” “What’s up,” Beat Box replied. “Nice to be back with the group again.” Both of them are working on one of the tom-tom drums. “May I ask what you are doing?” “Replacing the old drum heads with some new ones,” Beat Box explained. “Haven’t played them in quite some time.” “There were cracks in some of the heads, so they needed to be replaced,” Rick added. “You must have done this before, haven’t you?” “Back in high school and college, I played bass drum in marching band,” Rick explained. “I played the bigger bass drums, and helped out in tuning and replacing the heads when our percussion instructor brought new one to have them replaced. I learned how to tune this kind of stuff before I put my focus on guitar.” “No guitar in marching band?” Beat Box asked. “Guitars were used for small bands like this group. You couldn’t hear them out on a big field.” “Might have to see them one day.” “You should see the winter drum line competitions. That’s where the real energy comes from. But it’s been decades since I was a part of them, so there’s no telling what’s changed.” The scene then moves over to two stallions, each on guitar. One was Disco Fever, who had a slick, black guitar. The other had pink fur and slick pink hair, and was wearing a blue button-up shirt and black jeans. He was tuning his wooden bass guitar. “And this is Rock Blast on bass, and Disco Fever on lead. Disco also works on the lyrics for the album.” “Nice to be playing once again, doesn’t it Rocky,” Disco Fever said. “Better than ever,” Rock Blast replied. “Been dying to play this baby once again.” “Is everyone ready to play?” The scene quickly turns around back to the entrance to the studio room where Rara just came in, wearing her signature countess outfit like before, along with Applejack next to her. “Just about,” Disco Fever said off screen. “AJ. Didn’t expect to see you here,” Rick said off screen. “Visiting my Aunt and Uncle Orange for a few days. Figure I make a visit and see how the album is coming on.” She looks straight into the screen. “What in tarnation is that?” “It’s Rick’s camcorder. He wants to do a… What’s it called?” “A video blog.” Rick replied off screen. “A video blog?” Applejack replied. “Something to display in the human world?” “Yep,” Rick replied off screen. A voice came on the speakers. “If we’re about ready, I want to do a sound test before we begin.” The scene moves towards the door, with Applejack and Star Dancer already walking through it first. The scene moves into a sound booth where Prance and another stallion with blue fur and purple spiked hair, wearing a purple t-shirt and blue jeans. “And this is the last of the staff. Prance, who is in charge of the band, and Style Lights, who also works on some of the tech and makeup work.” “Um, hi there.” Style Lights nervously smiles and waves on the screen. “It’s been a while since I’ve done this, so I’m getting a refresher with Prance’s help.” “Since the group is about to record, I need to stop recording so that we don’t spoil anything about the new album. I think it’s… um, where do i-” “I think I know where it is,” Star Dancer said off screen before the scene starts to shakes and is then cut off. “Glad that you could help, Star.” Rick went on the next clip that was listed. “I think this was when we took a break for lunch.” The scene opens with the band and guest in the break room having lunch. Rick is at the stove cooking a grill cheese sandwich. Rara and Applejack are leaning on the counter eating their own sandwiches. Rock Blast, Star Dancer, Beat Box, and Night Shades are sitting around the table having their lunch, with Night Shades reading a magazine. Style Lights is next to the wall with a putter in his hands, playing some putt-putt golf. “Alright. We’re taking a lunch break so that Disco and Prance work on what’s been done while we refresh ourselves.” “And so far, we have made good progress,” Style Lights added. “Good? We’re doing better than before,” Rock Blast corrected before leaning back in the chair. “This is what we should have been doing all this time.” “I’ll say this. You sure know how to make some real music,” Applejack explained. “Not that flashy stuff that I first saw when you came to town.” “Hey Rick. I hear that there are different kinds of music in your world,” Star Dancer said. “Did they have anything flashy there?” “Depends of the era,” Rick replied, glancing back at the guys for a moment. “If you look into the late 1970s and the 1980s, they would have that kind to add to their music. Mostly with the keyboard, which is right up your alley, Night Shades.” Nights Shades looks up and towards Rick. Rick continued. “The electric keyboard was started to be new to the music world, with the arrange of sounds that it could create. And the most popular group would be Electric Light Orchestra, which you could hear it in their music. They were even able to have their music in the movie, Xanadu, which is a cult classic in my world.” “Xanadu sounds like a magical name to have,” Applejack said. “Well, that’s because the story was magical,” Rick explained. “Takes places in the early 80s where the only way to get your music noticed would be from the cover art of each vinyl record that was sold. And people would like to spend their summers near the beach on roller skates. But the story focuses on on a designer artist and his encounter with a lady muse from another place, who wants to make his dreams come true. It’s a really interesting movie, that’s for sure.” “If it’s more of a love story, then I don’t mind,” Rock Blast said. “But I wouldn’t mind a bit of action, that’s for sure.” Rick turned off the stove and took his grilled cheese sandwich and placed it on a place. “If that’s the case, then allow me to throw a curve ball at you. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. He’s a special scientist, test pilot, and rock star all in one. And his band mates also help him out with his work. They make a device that can allow anyone to cross other realms. But it gains the attention of alien outsides that have to be stopped. To have a group of scientist who also plays as a rock band would be interesting, don’t you think?” “Now that would be something that I have to watch,” Rock Blast said. “You might as well start making a list of movies for us to watch when we start going on tour in your world,” Beat Box said. “If we do have a tour there.” “I’m sure that could happen months from now. I was told that one of those music groups from the human world is working with Sapphire Shores to help produce this world’s music to be sold in that world. If sales go well over there, they would work on a U. S. tour layout sometime next year.” “Really?” Rick said. “They have to take in which buildings to host the shows. We have a few locations in Nashville that can host concerts. One holds an outdoor sports team, which is rarely used unless it’s a huge crowd. Another is used for indoor sports teams and concerts, which would be common, but I don’t think we would need that many seats for our shows. The one location I could think of would be more for music events, which is The Ryman Auditorium. It would have to be places like that one to perform at. Not too big, but not too small. Something in the hundreds. The other places would be in the thousands, which we might not have the fan base to start with.” Applejack looked over to Rick. “The Ryman. Was that the big red building next to Legends Corner?” “That’s the one,” Rick said. “The big building across the corner is the arena that holds thousands, which is where the big acts perform. I just don’t think we would be needing something that big to perform, that’s for sure. So the Ryman would be more suited for us, if we have a U. S. tour. “Well, if there’s a tour in the works over there, then I hope we all get to see the sites in the process,” Style Lights said. “I want to see what your world has to offer.” “Including the ladies,” Night Shades added. “Good luck trying,” Rara said. “If you can’t hit it off with a mare here, then I doubt you have any luck in the human world.” Everyone laughs before the scene ends. “Going to have to teach Night Shades about the ladies in our world. Don’t want to damage relations in the process.” Rick started decided to go to the last clip that was filmed. The scene opens with Rara on the screen inside the studio room. Applejack could been seen at the edge of the screen, while others are busy putting away their instruments in the background. “Alright. This is Rara speaking. My real name is Coloratura, but Rara has become easier to go with. We just finished recording our album, which we won’t reveal any details at the time. We had to redo one of the songs that we recorded earlier today that somehow didn’t sound right with the stallions in the booth. But we feel that this will be an album that you all will enjoy. “Now we did talk about a tour in the human world. Most likely in the U. S., which is for Rick’s benefit. But we do plan to start a… revival tour in Equestria, which would be a starting point for us. But it will be a few months before that happens, and we want to get some feedback from the human world about our music before we start exploring those options. “So…” Rara clasped her hands. “I… guess that’s it for now. I know this is our first video that Rick plans to upload when he gets the chance. And I thank you for watching. Bye.” The scene shakes before it goes black. “That was quick.” But Rick noticed that there was more to this clip. And it was all in black. “Is it off?” Rara asked. “I think so this time,” Coco replied. “Good. Can I talk to you girls for a moment?” There was a sound of three ponies walking until a sound of the door was shut. “This must have been when they walked out while we were putting the gear away,” Rick thought. “OK Rara. What you want to talk about?” Applejack asked. “It’s… Rick.” “Nothing wrong between you two?” Applejack asked. “Oh no. It’s been fine,” Rara replied. “It’s just… I don’t know how to explain it. “Explain what?” Coco said. “You not in heat, are you?” Applejack said. “If she was, Prance would have caught on to it before anyone else,” Coco explained. “And how would he know?” Applejack asked. “He would let her and Sapphire Shores know so that proper action is taken care of,” Coco explained. “He’s a unicorn and can catch on to it before it goes into full gear.” “Girls! Will you let me explain!” Rara said. “It’s… about us. I mean, I like him… a lot. But it’s just that… we’re different species. He’s human. I’m equestrian. I just… don’t know how to… really come up to him about my feelings for him. I mean, yes, we have been leaving together for quite some time. And there have been moments where… I felt this spark between us. But something keeps interrupting us in the process.” “Like that time Prance and Disco showed up at your home?” Coco said. “Yes. That was one of those times. The reason is that… I don’t even know what moves to make without screwing up. What if our mating cultures are different than theirs. What if I do something that he dislikes. What if-” “Now hold on there,” Applejack said. “If that’s your problem, then let me tell you something that Twilight told me in case this came up. Just be yourself. Be up front and honest. I know Rick is new to this world. But he’s one who’s willing to understand our world the same way we’re trying to understand his. So if you’re ready to confess your true feelings about him, then just say it. That’s all you have to do.” “OK. I understand,” Rara replied. Rick stopped the clip. “So that’s why she’s been acting that way.” Rick got up and walked to get his coat. That was when Rara came back from downstairs. “Everything OK?” “Yea. Just… going out for a walk. Want me to get anything while I’m out?” “Can’t think of anything. Are you sure you’re OK?” “I am. Just need to get own on my own for a while. I should be back in an hour.” “Alright. Don’t be out too long.” Rick left the room and made his way downstairs and out of the building. As he started his walk, he started to think about what Rara just said in the clip. “I should have known that she would have those feelings for me. Because I’ve been feeling the same about her. And I still don’t know about the differences between both our worlds, so I really don’t want to screw this up. Maybe I should talk to Applejack while she’s still in Manehattan.” Rick was able to learn where Applejack’s aunt and uncle was living at and made his way to the located building. Once he went inside, he was able to find the room that Applejack was staying and knocked the door, only to be met by Aunt Orange. She was quick to catch on and knew that he was here to see Applejack. Once she came to the door, she stepped out and closed the door so that they could talk outside of the room. “So what brings you here?” Applejack said to Rick. “It’s Rara.” Applejack had a feeling she was about to go through the same thing again. “I was able to hear what you, Rara, and Coco were talking about after we finished recording.” “Did Coco forget to turn off that device?” Rick nodded. “It was able to catch what you three were talking about.” “And?” “And… she’s not the only one in this state.” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Say again.” “Not only does she have feelings for me, but I also have feelings for her.” “And let me guess. You don’t know how to confront her about it, right?” Rick nodded. “And it’s because she’s a pony, and you’re a human, right?” Again, Rick nodded. Applejack sighed and shook her head. “No doubt Twilight knew this was going to happen.” She looked at Rick and said, “Alright. Twilight is still new in learning about… inter-species relationships. The best that to do is just be yourself and just go with it. If you like her, and she likes you, I’m sure you can work it out. Sure you going to be learning new things with each other. But that’s what we all do in life, right? So, just tell you how you feel about her, and I’m sure everything will be alright.” “If that’s the case, cane you ask me one detail.” “Shoot.” “What happens when you go into heat?” Applejack covered her face, saying, “Can’t believe I had to ask if she was in heat.” She removed her hand from her face and looked at Rick. “When a mare goes into heat, it means they want to… mate.” “As in… what a married couple would do to have children,” Rick said. Applejack blinked for a moment. “Wow. You catch on real quick. The only thing to worry about is that mares could get very physical around stallions. Plus, we do emit a… certain smell.” This got Rick worried. “But it’s nothing for you to worry about. Only stallions can pick up on this scent, but Prance and Coco already have this covered for later on. So we can leave it to them to deal with this issue… if it comes up.” “What if she was to just… rub her nose on my cheek while we’re asleep?” Rick asked. “Now that’s just a sign of affection. That’s all.” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “She’s already done that in bed, right?” Rick nodded. Applejack rolled her eyes. “Should have seen that one coming. I think that should be proof enough that she really likes you. All you need to do is be up front with her, and I’m sure she would do the same.” Rick started to feel a sigh of relief. “Thanks.” “No problem. Now you get back there and make it work with her, ya hear.” Applejack gave a light punch on Rick’s arm, causing him to flinch. “Sorry. Forgot that we can be a bit stronger than humans.” “You don’t have to remind me,” Rick said, pointing to his nose. Rick made his way back home so that he could confront Rara and tell her how he felt for her. But by the time he went into their room, he already saw her on his laptop looking at the videos. When he closed the door, it got Rara’s attention. “Rick! You’re… back. Did you have a… good walk?” “I… did,” Rick replied, scratching the back of his head. “Were you… looking at the videos from earlier?” “I was. And it was… well…” Rara was trying to find the words, but had to come out with the truth. “I guess you heard about what I was discussing with AJ in private.” “I did. And I guess we are having the same problem with us.” “Yes. About that. I-” She stopped for a moment. “Wait. Did you say… we?” Rick nodded. “Yes. You’re not the only one who’s trying to understand about having a relationship with the other species and going to AJ for help. I mean, I also have feelings for you as well. We work together on music, cook, play games. Find ways to enjoy each other. It’s just… I’m one of those guys who has a hard time trying to find out where that spark is between someone. Romance hasn’t been one of my strong suits.” Rara giggled. “That would make two of us.” “So… how do you feel about taking this couple thing to the next level?” Rara went up to Rick and placed her arms around his next. “Is that what they say in your world?” “Is it working?” A smile came across her face. “Kinda. But I’m ready if you are. Just one step at a time. I’m sure we don’t want to rush it so fast.” “That makes two of us,” Rick responded with a smile. “Oh, I hope you didn’t get into the ‘heat’ discussion with AJ, did you.” Rick looked away for a moment. “Maybe. But she said that it’s nothing to worry about.” “Good. Because she has been worried that her little sister will enter that phase soon. I keep telling her that she’s got a long way before that would happen, but she never listens. So, what do we do next?” “Well, I do plan to head back to my world and take care of extending the rent back home. Turns out that it’s going to take longer to get our new home built over there. And I want you to come along with me. Get a chance to see more of my world. Plus, I need to get upload those videos, once edited, for the world to see.” “Just as soon as you delete the last part. I don’t want anyone knowing about what just happened, alright?” “I’ll get on it tomorrow.” “Good.” Rara let go of Rick and started to make her way to the bathroom. “I’m going to get a shower. Care to… join me?” She looked back and gave him a wink. This almost got Rick a bit red on the cheeks. “You’re not going to punch me in the face again, are you?” “That was an accident. Bad reflex, OK? This time, it’s for real.” Rick ran up to Rara. “Well, at least we get to save on the water bill for once.” Rara laughed. “You have a bad way of making an excuse for something. But I’ll let it slide for now.” Both of them made their way to the bathroom, closing the door behind them.