A good paced paper route to keep his mind busy, Jamie going all over town on his bike to get the papers, letters, and packages delivered. Equestria may have had their own bit of short comings throughout this entire venture, but that didn't really mean Earth was completely gone and out of the picture during this whole endeavor. This "fallout" of magic was still as strong as ever, even if the effects were not as persistent or noticeable. Much like in Equestria's skies, the skies above Earth were starry all day long, and even more so all night long. Jamie only needed to look up into the sky to remind him that they were in the middle of some great Everstorm, though admittedly he tried not to think about it too much. Everstorm means while no magic would bother them, it also meant no Crystal Gems to protect them, or at least come into town. It was a good thing though, at least in its own way, that this Everstorm was not permanently placed over their heads. That didn't mean the wait was anything comfy though.

"How long did they say this is happening again?" Jamie thought as he continued along. "It's so LONG. How long does everything have to be normal?!"

Panicked on the sudden voice, Jamie hit the breaks on his bike on the spot, almost falling off even. He wasn't in drama mode, but being daydreaming was still an issue for him. It was good that he stopped when he did, otherwise he would've hit into a street light. The route by this point got him nearby Fishstew Pizza, and he soon saw Jenny Pizza waving over to him. Business had been slow for Fishstew pizza, so Jenny had some free time on her own hands sweeping the front.

"Catch you daydreaming again, huh?" Jenny joked, placing the broom aside for a moment as Jamie caught his breath.

"Oh, Jenny, hey. You have a talent of bringing surprise out of others," Jamie said.

"Nah, just you. So did it come in?" Jenny asked, excitedly. Jamie checked his mailbag, looking through what there was in his bag for a little bit.

"... You got a lot of celebrating to do!" Jamie announced, pulling out Jenny's package. Jenny was psyched to see the package, and immediately opened it up. The package contained the new iPhone, and Jenny was beaming with excitement.

"I know, right? It blows that my other phone got wrecked after it fell into that delivery box. All that sauce and cheese fried it right there," Jenny said.

"I can imagine," Jamie commented. It would teach Jenny to not bring her iPhone to work, especially when it was her turn to deliver pizza. As they were talking though, Citywalk Fries was also a bit slow in its own days, yet the two began to hear a sigh at the front. Ronaldo Fryman was at front (unfortunately for him), and he looked just … bored. Very. Very bored. And for Jamie, it was Ronaldo's package next so it was a fifty-fifty. It was then Jamie and Jenny heard Jamie's stomach growl.

"Eh, it's okay. I think I'm fine after finding a screensaver next to my pepperoni."

"It's fine, Jenny. Have a good day."
So, after visiting Jenny at Fishstew Pizza, Jamie went right off next door to Citywalk Fries for Ronaldo's delivery. Even if he didn't lose any magic off his person, or suffered any huge loses , Ronaldo still felt completely at odds with himself ever since the Everstorm started, as everything Ronaldo would find interesting (anything weird) was no longer much in evidence. At least there was some hint of it before to keep the drive going, but now there was nothing left at all.

"Um … hey, Ronaldo. I got your package," Jamie said. All he got in response was a moan from him. Jamie placed the package on the counter for him, nudging it a little so it would touch him, but that didn't bring him around either.

Still nothing. Ronaldo had been looking forward to the deluxe edition of the Koala Princess DVD, but it seemed there was more on his mind than just that. Jamie went right up to him, and gave him a few pokes to bring him around. One more poke to the head and … well …

"I GOT NOTHING TO REPORT, OKAY?! YOU HAPPY?! Did you get the information you want-ed?!"

Jamie was almost stumbling over his own bike, he was so surprised, Ronaldo catching his breath after his crazy outburst. Many could probably guess that so much nothing and "normality" would bum out Ronaldo, but on what level was a bit unknown to Jamie. Trying not to set him off again, Jamie moved back over to him.

"It's not fare! I was working on my revolutionary breakthrough, the BIG WEIRD THING above all weird things, and suddenly everything just stops! Nothing's weird anymore, I got nothing to update my blog with anymore. How am I gonna give a follower's special now?!" Ronaldo flopped down onto the counter again, in complete defeat. Jamie was shocked that Ronaldo actually had enough followers for any special on his blog, but Jamie was not a man to judge anymore (mailmen were never judgmental). If there was one judgment Jamie could give, it was that Ronaldo wasn't paying attention at all to the sky above. All those stars glistening in the sky, and Ronaldo for some reason DIDN'T notice it? Really.

"Ronaldo? You do know that there's stars in the day lately, don't you? Look," Jamie said, pointing up to the sky. Ronaldo looked up to the sky, seeing just a few of the stars he was talking about. It was intriguing to him, but not by much, so Jamie decided to amp up the playing field. Nothing a dash of "drama" can't fix. Jamie cleared his throat before speaking again, leaning against the counter.

"Such a phenomenon unheard of by so many before. I mean, this could very well be an Earth-changing event. Since when before in all of history has the stars ever aligned during the sunshine over the moonlight? Magical phenomenon?"

"GAH! How could I be so blind?! The weirdest thing in existence is happening above my head and I haven't did a thing about it!" right away, Ronaldo was back in action, rushing out to the boardwalk in front of him, and got his footage right up to the sky, getting good photos of the numerous stars above him.

"I got to get this in STAT! Thanks Jamie, I owe you one!" and with that, Ronaldo rushed off to get his own conspiracy mind to work on these stars, and what they could mean. Citywalk Fries may have been cut down another worker for the moment, but at least Ronaldo was not so bummed out anymore. Jamie then heard Jenny laughing, having heard everything.

"Good one, man!" Jenny congratulated, thumbs up to him. Jamie chuckled, and went back over to his bike. He still had his route to take to finish up his paper route for the day. After getting the wheels turning, Jamie was off.

So, as the day went on, he continued going around his route around Beach City, both giving letters to the residence, and checking in on the daily happenings. The Boardwalk was just the starting point of his route going about the place, and this gave Jamie plenty of time to go from house to house and getting updates on whatever there was in town. Not exactly snooping in, but it was the easiest to check in on some things if he ever so wanted to. In this case, as he went around the northern area of Beach City, he was on his way to the Barriga family. Out of all the updates, this place was probably the most important to him, since technically the "revival" of Lars would be the sign that the Everstorm's fallout phase would be over, and the Gems would come back. Good thing he got their own mail to deliver, otherwise it would just be snooping in on them.

"Well, here we go. Hope Ms.Barriga's in a good mood today," Jamie told himself. Getting some more of his confidence, he went on over to the front door with delivery in hand. It was just a few letters this time, so he wasn't sure if this was a good enough reason to go up to the front door, and not just put it in their mailbox. That, and given the situation it probably wasn't the best mood for any of the family. Jamie got his nerve up, and was just about to knock on the door, but at this point it'd become more of a habit, and Martha Barriga already went to answer the door.
She did not look her best. Jamie did not want to point it out, but Martha looked just awful, as if she never slept once since the Everstorm started … which was probably not far from the truth. Any parent would be having trouble with their kid in a coma, basically, and waiting to hear just when or if their child would finally wake up.

"Hi, Jamie. Got more mail today?" Martha asked in a tired voice. Jamie gave her the letters, but seeing how rough she looked it just was too hard to ignore. Though, he can confirm that Lars probably wasn't up just yet, and Martha had to go out to get some groceries anyway so she went passed Jamie.

It really didn't help anyone that Jamie and Martha looked up and found that there was actually a vulture on top of their roof. They both had some idea that Lars was not going to permanently die, but seeing a vulture of all things just sitting on the rooftop was NOT encouraging to Martha.

"Not again. Get lost!" Martha shouted, reaching into her purse to pull out a baseball (much to Jamie's fear), and threw it right at the bird! The Vulture squawked and flew away before it could get clocked by the ball. The scent of death lingered inside this house, and the Vultures weren't ignoring it, much to the dismay of the family inside. The baseball didn't hit the bird, but did strike the house wall, Jamie taking cover behind his bike and mailbag just in case. Lucky for him, the baseball just landed down in Martha's yard. Martha picked it up, and placed it back into her bag.

"I-It's okay. … I guess he's not awake yet, huh?" Jamie said, getting a cold shiver for a brief moment. Martha sighed.

"No. Not yet. This Everstorm's taking forever, I wish it'll just end so my Laramie can come back," Martha replied gravely, before going off on her way. Jamie knew too well what kind of feeling that is, and glancing back up to the front window into Lars's room, Jamie had to wonder what it was like in there. Was Lars still doing alright in there? Not many people except for Priyanka were allowed in there, and that was only because Priyanka was a hospital doctor. Others were discouraged from going in, or just weren't allowed until Lars would come back, in worry something were to happen to him while he was "sleeping".

Though, this did remind him of one more stop he had to get to once his route was done.

Peddling through the sand towards the next destination, and with his mailbag light as a feather by this point, Jamie wasted no time in getting away from the typical Beach City route, and off towards the beachside Crystal Temple. Ever since this Everstorm started, no one really took the time to go by the Crystal Temple house, and as odd as it was, the "Beach House" itself was missing again. The house was brought back only by the magic from the Crystal Temple itself, so with the magic gone, so was Steven's house. Again. Well, the least they could say it wasn't sabotaged or taken away by a particular White Diamond this time, but that didn't mean it was still rough to find. At least the mailbox was still there, so he could still deliver letters and packages to the place if he ever so needed to.
And by this point, Jamie brought another, singular letter to the Gem estate, and proceeded to put it inside the mailbox. It was the last part of his route, and he had only the letter to deliver this time. After getting the letter in the mailbox, he decided to go and look on into the Crystal Temple cave. The only thing that still remained was the Warp Pad in the center of the room, and the Gem door off in the back, though there were no lights present within it. It was like they were never living there to begin with. As with Martha with her son, Jamie was just waiting for the one moment, that one point, when they would all just come out of there and see what they had missed once again.

"Hey, mail kid," a voice suddenly said. Jamie turned around on the voice, and it turned out he wasn't alone in stopping by the Crystal Temple today: Buck Dewey. And by the looks of it, Buck was seemingly waiting for Jamie to show up, having little else to do and what he did have to do, he wanted Jamie in for.

"Love letter? What love letter, I don't have any love letters, who said any love letters?!" Jamie said, in a for of mad blushing and stutters. Buck smirked, and went over to check the mailbox Jamie just dropped off. Jamie was completely flustered when Buck opened the mailbox. There was not one, but about ten different letters, and all of them were from Jamie with the exception of one "sweepstakes" letter, and a pen pal letter from Vidalia to Amethyst.

"I … may have delivered one. … Or two. …" Jamie clammed up, but lucky for him Buck Dewey was never the judgmental type on anyone, let alone Jamie. Buck smirked, and Jamie covered his face, completely red. Love can really make people do some rather questionable things, but no one can really blame him for being in love. Buck could read him like a open book.

"Invite me? Uh, where?" Jamie asked. Then Buck Dewey showed Jamie something in his hand, which was a similar invitation to a similar sounding RAVE going on soon.

"There's going to be a RAVE party soon back at the old warehouse," Buck explained, "It was such a success before, so we decided to revive it again. We're embracing both the past and the future with this present-day celebration. You know, for the heck of it. I want you to come."

"Oh. … Um, well, I don't know. I've been very busy with my paper routes lately. I mean, the paper doesn't deliver itself," Jamie insisted. Buck could see what this was about right away.

"Jamie. You're just distracting yourself from the situation befalling your friends. If you're planning to do that, wouldn't you rather do it on something enjoyable?"

"... Is it really that obvious?" Jamie asked meekly. Buck just needed to point back to the mailbox to get the point across. All of his hard work was just distraction, some of these deliveries he didn't even have to do to begin with, but went and did anyway. He was working crazy, and since this RAVE was gonna happen later on tonight according to the invitation he probably could go. No one was expecting mail at night anyway.

"See you there," Buck said, and he began to head off on his way. Jamie took some moments to consider what happened, seeing the RAVE invitation in his hand. Did he just get invited by the coolest kid in Beach City to a RAVE party? Jamie wasn't dissimilar to going to one of these parties, but it was extremely rare for him to ever get the time to do so, and in a way a rarer thing to be asked directly by those taking charge of it. Eventually, Jamie did begin to walk off towards his bike further down the hill, and back to his bike.

Daytime may be a bit more pretty with the sparkling stars, but nighttime was showing a completely extravagant display of the stars, so many of the stars shining and sparkling up in the sky for the world below to see. In the night though, there still was a lot of activity going on over at the warehouse, most notable due to the distant thumping of the music and plenty of colorful lights going off inside.
The RAVE was well underway, with loud music and plenty of dancing going on inside. The DJ was kicking it on the music, a good sort of old-school 8-bit with some modern electro mixed in. Buck Dewey did say they were celebrating both past and future, so the music had to fit somehow. Many of the partiers were kickin it in this party, either chatting the night away or getting down with the music. Out of all of them though, Jamie was a bit bummed out. Seeing a number of couples scattered about this party didn't really help him out that much either. It would've been great to have Lazuli come by with him, but nope. Jamie felt pretty alone in this RAVE party.

At least the punch was good. It was no alcohol beverage, but Jamie could drink his cares away with it regardless. He never drank anyway, so there was that. Seriously, it was like being alone at a prom or something, and just as bothersome for Jamie. All he could do was just sit there and watch the others dance the night away. Well, at least the night looked lovely outside, which was where he kept much of his gaze to.

"Oh my love. So close, and yet so far off into the night," Jamie sighed, his hand reaching out to the stars, only to find nothing. It was a dramatic moment for him again, which means …

"EEK!" Jamie caught off guard again. The one interrupting his "Drama zoning-out" was Jenny Pizza, dressed more casually this time for the party at hand. Jamie regathered himself.

"Geesh dude, you need to be more alert. You ok?" Jenny asked. Jamie just sighed, chugging down what remained of his fruit punch.

"You're not gonna find anybody over here. Come on, have some fun, and let's shake it on the dance floor," Jenny offered, shaking her hips a bit. Jamie didn't feel up for dancing though.

"I'm not a good dancer," Jamie replied. He went to drink some more fruit punch, only to find his cup empty. Groaning, he tossed it over to a nearby trash bin (which had several fruit punch cups, by the way). Jamie waved a finger for another cup to be given to him, though the one behind the punch bowl was a little bit hesitant. He did give him one, but Jenny quickly snatched it, chugged it down, and tossed it aside just like that.

"Seriously dude, why don't you take your mind off of it for a bit? It's a party," Jenny insisted. Jamie was still stuck on the moment when she chugged the fruit punch to actually listen at first. Though, he did snap out of it after a few seconds.

"I'll go out in a minute," Jamie decided. Jenny wasn't too convinced though, especially when Jamie got another fruit punch for himself this time. Jenny can't force him though, so she just went off back to the party. Jamie was going to need a lot of fruit punches before he could get enough buzz to go back to dancing, though the night wasn't gonna give him the chance. Namely, when a set of footsteps went over towards him.

And then he saw who actually showed up. And no, it wasn't Jenny. She didn't look familiar at all for that matter, clearly not a resident from Beach City. She looked in her prime when it came to age, about in her late teens. Her skin looked very light, pale yellow, with her hair very poofy and down her back in a luminous, vivid orange with a brilliant yellow streak amongst the curls. Her hair was held back by a headband with spikes on it. Her eyes, a brilliant raspberry color, locked to Jamie's eyes with a sort of seductive, "bedroom" expression. The outfit of this girl was a clear look of a punk: a gold-lined belt around her waist, a purple one-piece and lavender leggings, high-heel violet boots with similar spikes to her belt and headband, lavender shoulder pads with open-fingered lavender gloves, and a necklace with a notable red gem on it. A similar mark of a gemstone was on her belt, and a small "pin" on her hip with a musical symbol on it.
The colors on this girl might be odd for a human, but then again it could just be the lights messing with him. What wasn't a trick of the eye though was this girl's advances; her hand on the bar table next to him the other hand on her rather notable hips, and her leaning in towards him.

"Hey, babe,~" she cooed, her voice as sweet as it was soothing. Jamie though didn't feel either when seeing this bombshell just show up out of nowhere. He wasn't sure what this was about: the sugar buzz from the juice? Her being on a buzz from the juice? Or was she legitimately interested in him?!

"Good thing you're cute," she joked, her finger playfully curling his hair. "Why waste your time over here? Let's have some fun.~"

And before Jamie could even have a word in edgewise, this mystery chick took his hand, and suddenly he found himself in the center of the dance floor. He was left with a blank mind, and at this point stiff as a board, and not moving. This chick had no such problem though, and she already began to make her moves. Most of these a bit … seductive. And sexual. Jamie kept still, but this girl began her dance with a few smooth hip sways, her arms waving side to side in an almost belly-dance like display. She took this dance a step further, and she was right next to him, barely leaving an inch of space, as he felt her hip-bump him. This gave him a shiver, and only got even more notable when she made a spin passed him, and locked eyes with him, a wink following such. These dance moves were less party dance and more like a sort of dazzling, erotic tango.
A tango that was soon starting to take notice of the crowd around them after a bit. Jamie couldn't believe what situation he somehow got himself into. Not coming out with Jenny got himself suddenly with this sexy siren, and while Jamie did try a little bit to get out of this, this gal wasn't gonna let this fish get away from her net.

"Y-Yeah. Ok, you have your own time in the light of the audience, I'll just be over here," Jamie said, smiling and walking backwards. Only to suddenly feel someone bump behind him.

"And I'll be over here," said the chick, her arms slowly moving from his shoulders to his hands. Jamie was at her mercy, and was brought back to the floor again. Now it was back to the tango, Jamie stuck in her grip and unable to escape. As their dance continued though, he began to feel more and more … well … weird. Anyone like him would have dreams of being out with a girl like this, and suddenly Jamie was caught up in the same dream. Too bad his heart was already for someone else. Too bad for the girl.

"I-I gotta go!" Jamie said, and in a cold sweat, Jamie finally broke away and got out of there, leaving this chick alone on the dancefloor.

Boy did he feel like an idiot. He finally got himself home, tired and lucky to be home in one piece, but to leave someone like her on the floor alone was not suiting him well. He wasn't raised to be like that. He was in his bedroom, left pondering over the events that happened at the RAVE.

"Jamie, you fool," Jamie told himself, "The one chance to finally separate the anxiety of the world, and you go ahead and just drop it all! And all because of a lone siren tried to advance on you. … Ok, maybe it's not that bad of a reason. But still, you came there for a good time, and you worked away from it."
His monologuing stopped for a moment, his hand over his heart, when he glanced over to a picture over by some lit candles, showing one of his many moments with Lapis Lazuli. It wasn't too fancy: Lapis and Jamie out on one of his paper routes with Lapis wearing his mailman hat. It still brought a smile to his face though.

"Know what? It's not so bad. After all, your heart is for another. Just because she's not here for now, doesn't make that love any less real. Your true love will return one day, Jamie ol' boy, you'll just have to wait."

He glanced outside his window to the night sky. He saw starry skies, but the Everstorm made it look all the more beautiful, mixing real stars with illusion sparkles. His smile disappeared and replaced with a depressed frown.

"Waiting hurts. It hurts a lot," he sighed in defeat. Over a week going by already and he still hadn't any clue how much longer he'll have to go for. Lapis surely wouldn't want him being so sad, but she sure wouldn't like some girl taking him away from her either. Love didn't work that way, and he knew it. With that in mind, Jamie got himself off to bed, getting comfy in it, and tucking himself in.

"I just need a good night sleep and I'll be greeted with a new day," Jamie told himself. And soon, he was down and began to go to sleep …

Jamie could barely hear the voice, but ever so slowly Jamie began to come around again. He was still in bed, naturally, but he wasn't the only one in the room. Looking ahead, he could've sworn there was someone in front, beginning to come up onto bed with him, though he needed a few minutes to actually realize that this was Lapis in bed with him! He suddenly wasn't so sleepy anymore, bolting up in bed seeing her like this.

"sssshhh," Lapis hushed, her finger over his lips. "Let's not question anything. I know you've wanted this.~"
Jamie was beside himself. Lapis began to move closer to him, and while he might be a bit welcoming at first, the more times he blinked, the more Lapis Lazuli started to change into someone else. The voice didn't sound much like Lapis either now that he thought of it, and after about five blinks, Jamie suddenly found himself in the company of that same siren from the party! What was going on?!

"Just take this.~" the girl said, readying her lips to meet with his own. Jamie had to think of something, anything! Time to initiate Dream kicker: pinching himself in the side.

Thank the cosmos it worked. His heart was racing like crazy, his hands grabbing the blanket in a vice grip, his breath in pants, and his eyes wide open. It was still night time looking outside, twilight morning probably, but Jamie was more uncomfortable than ever now. How can his dream shift gears so fast? AND WHY THAT GIRL OF ALL PEOPLE?!

The next morning came by quick, which was pretty good for some people, and in no time at all Jamie was up and about Beach City. Today was a day he would go off of work, and since there wasn't mail to deliver now, Jamie was left with just his thoughts on what the heck even happened last night. Dreams like that don't just happen, and especially not after a one-night meeting like Jamie and this dazzling siren. Boy, he didn't even know her name, and he ended up with a dream of such high advances - it was crazy! What did that girl do to him? Or, on that matter, who even was that girl? He never really got her name the time he was there, and to get his mind all stuck with this chick whoever it was, did leave him baffled if anything.
But that was yesterday, and that girl was probably long gone by now so he didn't let that continue bothering him all that much. Besides, his heart was already sent for someone else, and having another girl on the brain might leave the wrong impression towards that particular someone. So what is a young actor to do now?

Well, have some fun. As Buck told him, if he wanted to distract himself from the situation, he might as well go and enjoy what he liked to do to pass the time. And today, he went towards the one place anyone could have some enjoyment no matter who they are: Funland. Early summer was a primetime to go off to Funland for anybody, and as the day looked pretty good, Jamie began to head off that way. It was still a bit of a walk to get there, but he wasn't in that much of a hurry.

"What a night that was," Jamie thought. "that girl really left an impression on me. Her amber hair. Her vivid eyes. Her dazzling demeanor …" suddenly Jamie began to trail off in thought on this women, staring off into space with a sort of "dreamy" expression. … What was wrong with him?! Jamie had to wake himself up from this dream state to remind himself what actually happened, shaking his head to do so. He didn't have feelings for this girl, he had feelings for Lapis! Don't he? He wouldn't even bother leaving letters in their mailbox otherwise.

"Don't think like that! Love is not something one can throw from a hat. My heart is for her," he told himself, and he REALLY wanted to keep it that way. Lapis Lazuli was his love, and he will not be swayed to think otherwise.
So, with that in mind, he strolled onward towards Funland. And a fairly good timing on his part, as there was quite a bit of commotion going on with a group listening to the town mayor Nanefua.

"So it is decided," said Nanefua, "We will have our contest within Funland."
A decision many had agreed on, especially the one in charge of the park. What better way to bring people to the park than to hold a contest inside. Jamie himself didn't involve too deeply in this stuff, so while he overheard it he walked around the group and went right off into Funland.

The place was up in full swing as Jamie went around Funland, it all open and active for a lot of the summertime primetime. Plenty of people, local or visiting, trying out all sorts of rides and booths for a good time. Jamie wasn't really sure where to even start, though eventually his eyes took some sight on a old classic: milk bottle knock em' down. Jamie went on over, seeing a particular Mr. Smiley up by the front and ready to go.

"HEY, Jamie! Didn't think you'd be coming by, good to see ya," said Mr. Smiley, in his usual cheery way. It was hard to stay down with someone like Mr. Smiley around to lighten the mood.

"Hey, Mr. Smiley. So, what's the game for today?" Jamie asked, a bit more cheery this time.

"I decided to get out an ol' classic this year," said Mr. Smiley, "Think you're strong enough to knock em all down?"

So, after paying up, Mr. Smiley gave him a good five metal balls to use on these milk bottles. Mr. Smiley made sure to step aside and out of the way, as Jamie locked in his target and picked up one of his ammunition. The rules to this were simple: knock em all down with whatever you got left. Jamie rallied up his arm, gearing up for the most important throw of the whole park, and …

… it was like throwing a fly at a truck. Jamie had a few more to use, but unfortunately, they ended up pretty much the same way. The ball would fly, but barely make the bottle budge an inch. He got the top bottle off, but that was about it. One. Two. Three balls flew in the air, and no such result got him the full score. He did have more focus on this though, which was good. He reached down to grab one more ball for the final throw, but somehow he didn't have another one to use.

*BAM* all of a sudden, the stack of bottles were knocked right down to the ground. Jamie and Mr. Smiley saw all the bottles fall down hard.

"YAY! I win!" shouted a cheery voice.
And who was the won to win the big prize today? Not someone Jamie knew, that was for sure. Again. This girl though was not the same as any typical human being (and no strobe lights tricked his eyes this time). Her hair, in a long singular ponytail with a striped mix of arctic blue and Persian blue, and her skin too was that of a pale arctic blue. Her outfit, much like a particular punk girl from the RAVE, also sported a sort of punk design: hot pinks and violets coming up to the design. She had a different design of course, wearing a lavender skirt with wristbands of arctic blue spikes, and knee-high hot pink boots and knee-high socks. She sure looked happy for the victory, jumping in place with her fist to the sky with each jump.

Oh sweet!" she beamed. But then, as she was given a alien plushie for her troubles, Jamie then suddenly saw the girl's eyes. The same raspberry coloration the first girl had, and just as eye-catching. Jamie suddenly felt his heart race like crazy on seeing those eyes, and since he didn't have and fruit punch, nor was he at any RAVE, this reaction was not only more prominent but even more troubling. He shouldn't be acting so freaked out around another girl. Jamie readied to move off, but this other girl caught sight of him first.

"It is called funland," Jamie thought. Well, if this girl was at least acquainted with the first, at least Jamie could say she wasn't trying to have her way with him and just having a good time. However, then the girl glanced him a sort of "seductive" gaze, which made Jamie shiver. Whether she meant to or not, he wasn't sure, but then he noticed something around her neck: a red gemstone. Exact match to the first girl's gemstone at the RAVE. In the end, Jamie just had to ask.

"Uh, did we? … OOHH! You're must be that butler guy! How'd you get here from that big city by the sea so fast?" she asked, legitimately confused.

"There you are, you dunce," said another voice.
and now Jamie's heart was going so quick it was skipping beats. One gal he didn't recognize, but when he saw the same girl from the RAVE standing there, he thought he was gonna lose it. So, she didn't leave town after all, and it seemed she brought company.
Next to her was another punk girl of fuchsia skin and a lot of deep violet for much of her design. Her hair, which was two ponytails instead of one like the blue girl, had the most contrast of colors with dark purple and brilliant aquamarine. Much like her companions, this girl was also punk in outfit with a green overcoat with "torn" sleeves, a light tan shirt with brilliant hot pink pants, and a star belt.

"Oh, it's you from that RAVE party. Funny seeing you here again," the gold girl noted.

"Wait, so he's not the butler from that big city?" asked the blue girl. This did cause some irritation from the other two girls, as the purple one just dragged her back behind the gold one. Guess the gold girl was the leader of the two.

"We're gonna be hanging around for a while. Especially with word of that little contest coming up this weekend," the gold girl said, feeling pretty confident in the show coming up.

"Like, all the time," said the blue one, "It's how we get people to do what we want!"

This off-handed comment brought alarm from the leading girl, who immediately glared to her, hand cutting across her throat as a signal to shut up. The blue girl didn't get the idea right away, still smiling, but looking a little perplexed.

"What's she talking about?" Jamie asked. The leading girl had to rethink a little bit.

"What she meant to say was that being in a musical showcase sounds like a great way to meet the locals. Right?" the leading girl corrected, a little bit more forceful to the blue girl than anticipated. Jamie could tell from a mile away there was something not being said here, he was not stupid, but with his heart a bit fuzzy he didn't say anything. He was still shocked she was hanging around town anyway.

"... Right. I'm just gonna go on my way," Jamie said, slipping by her again and starting to walk off from the scene. His legs were moving, but the rest of him was just stuck still, extremely troubled all over again. The trio didn't actually feel too rough about this.

"Woooow, Adagio," said the purple one, "And you said you had him wrapped around your fingertips."
Adagio was ticked hearing that, but regathered herself quick as they walked along.

"Shut up, Aria. At least my charm got someone in this town," Adagio remarked smugly.

"Sonata shut it, you almost blabbered our whole plan," Aria snapped, "What do I expect from being with the worst person ever?"

"SHUT UP, both of you," Adagio demanded. Aria and sonata did so, a bit reluctantly, as Adagio looked on towards the crowd off nearby. This place was pretty big and plenty of people were about. Adagio smirked.

"I-I'm going crazy. My heart's acting where I don't want it to," Jamie thought in panic, "I need an expert."

Jamie felt like a complete nut. With the presence of not one, but three of those sirens in town Jamie's mind was all over the place. Well, it was a good thing he had a backup plan if this were to happen, or at the very least if his thoughts were getting too muffled to work out a proper answer. And with Adagio, Aria, AND Sonata in town and staying around, he had to get his stuff together. And the best person to talk to this about was someone who went around the block a few times more than he did. Someone who had his heart for someone like Lapis before.

Someone who cleans up cars. And that particular someone who, by the time Jamie arrived to the carwash, had finished up washing up Onion's boxcar … which he proceeded to spur out of there without paying.

"Hey wait, you forgot to - … eh, I don't care, I'm rich," Greg shrugged. what was the harm in just one customer going away when he got so much money from a bunger commercial, he didn't have a clue what to do with it?

"Oh, hey Jamie. Nah, I just finished up another car for a satisfied customer," Greg replied, going back and hanging up his hose. Jamie stayed quiet at first, finding a seat over by Greg's van. By said van, Jamie saw young Gem dog Blue just laying there, looking … basically how Jamie had been feeling about Lapis - sulking, and waiting for his master to come back home. Jamie surely can relate. He just sighed, as Greg went over to them both.

"Well … sort of," Jamie replied. Greg stretched, and placed down his washing sponge and bucket.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Greg said. "I still wonder how Steven's holding up in Equestria. I just hope he's okay, without magic and all that. Guess Blue's been feeling the same way too since he left." Blue just whimpered a little bit, as Jamie rubbed his head. It only made sense though for Blue and Greg to worry about Steven; one Steven being the master, and the other Steven's father.

"I know they'll be back. … But actually, that's not what I wanna talk to you about," Jamie said.

"Oh! Well, that case, what's on your mind?" Greg asked. Jamie needed to think a little bit about it before trying to explain himself.

"Well. Yeah, sure. Why? Having love trouble?" Greg replied. A bit curious that Jamie would bring that kind of question up, but if there was anyone in town Jamie could get advice about this situation on, it would be Greg. So, Jamie went on for it.

"Maybe? … Well, say your heart's set on a Gem. You like her a lot, and you knew her for a long time, and you might, or might not even dreamt about her."

"But then this other girl shows up out of nowhere, not a Gem, and … suddenly you think your heart might be betraying you for her instead of the Gem. … Yet, you want to be in love with the Gem, but your heart is swaying to someone else. … What should I do?" Jamie finally asked. Greg needed a while to actually think about this. Basically, his mind told him his love was Lapis, but his heart kept forcing him away. Love between a Gem and a Human, and Jamie just couldn't think of what to do.

"I don't know, should I be? I only met with this siren just last night: orange hair, vibrant eyes, a knowing smile …"

"Well … I can't say that didn't happen before," Greg admitted. "Your body's just trying to lean towards what it knows is normal."

"I know, I know! But I love her! … D-Don't I?" Jamie asked in a panic. Greg had to calm him down a bit, hand on his back.

"Jamie, Jamie, easy. Look, being in love with a Gem's no different than being in love with anyone else. I mean, you love her, and she loves you, right? It's just gonna take a bit more commitment to make it work, that's all."

"Jamie, I've been with a Gem since I dropped out of college and stopped playing as a roadie Rockstar. Trust me, it's gonna be a bit tougher than it normally is. I mean sure you got the typical problems: how to break it to her, finding out what she likes, telling her how human instruments work. But as long as you're up for the challenge, I know it'll all be fine," Greg reassured him. Guess this was good of proof and reassurance Jamie was going to get. Greg wasn't going to lie that there were times when he too had been a little bit questionable when it came to love over a Gem to, as his cousin would say, "an American" (take that how you will). But in the end, his heart stayed with Rose, and had always been that way since. Jamie just had to keep his mind focused on who he really wants. Before this conversation could go any further, they began to hear someone else come over: Sour Cream with his own car. He just parked his car into place, getting the attention of Greg and Jamie off nearby. When he came out though, Sour Cream actually had some shades covering his eyes.

"Yeah, sure, thanks. If you can buffer up my ride, that'd be great," Sour Cream replied. So, as Greg got to work, Sour Cream found a seat over by Jamie, waiting it out.

"... So … how'd the RAVE go last night?" Jamie then asked. Sour Cream groaned.

"... That means, it went bad," Sour Cream corrected. Jamie felt guilty for not usually getting the "street" lingo Sour Cream usually used. Not that he didn't understand it at all, but it was still a little sketchy for him. Hearing the RAVE went bad though was a surprise.

"Bad? How'd it go bad? Your parties don't usually go -" to answer Jamie's question, Sour Cream then removed the shades over his eyes. It turned out, those shades were not just for looks after all, as removing the shades showed Sour Cream's nasty-looking black eye! Jamie cringed on seeing it, and Blue was alarmed seeing it himself, his head bolting up on seeing the injury.

"No idea, dude. not long after you left, things just took a downhill slide. First thing I knew I was killin' it on my DJ booth, and the next I'm on the ground with this shiner," Sour Cream explained. Jamie never really considered Sour Cream as anyone to actually start a brawl with anyone, let alone be the guy to gain an injury like this? Jamie didn't want to admit it, but him leaving so soon might've been a lucky break after all.

"No she's fine, but I want to apologize to her. when the fights started, everything just got a little bit fuzzy. But apparently she and I were going at it for whatever reason," Sour Cream explained.

"Hense the black eye?" Jamie figured. Sour Cream felt his black eye, which was still a bit sensitive since the initial hit. Black eyes usually were.

"Guess so," Sour Cream figured. It was just a bit sketchy for him to work out, his memory a little fogged up from last night. Whatever happened though, whatever the case may be, the least Sour Cream could do was apologize to Jenny for it. Jamie wasn't sure what exactly happened down at the RAVE, though he didn't consider anything until now outside of the girl from said party. He might have one idea to find Jenny though, but it was a bit of a stretch.

"Her, Mr. Universe? Mind if I take Blue for a walk?" Jamie offered, looking to Greg as he was washing off sour Cream's car. Jamie didn't notice until now, but the car actually had a decent-sized dent on the front head light. whatever happened at the RAVE must've gone REALLY south.

"Oh, if you want to sure, the leash is in the van. and hey, if you got anymore problems, feel free to chat with me," Greg replied. Jamie nodded, and looked over to the Gem dog. The Gem dog didn't look very up to just go off for a walk right away, so Jamie needed to think about what to get him up.

Soon, Blue was fetching the leash for Jamie. nothing like some snacks to get the Gem dog cheery again.

So off they went from the carwash, heading towards the Pizzas house. Jamie would know where Jenny lived, namely for his many deliveries to her place. Of course, Jamie did stop to get some biscuits for Blue first as promised, the happier Gem dog chewing away at his favorite treat. Although one was happy, Jamie and Sour Cream were stuck wondering about Jenny's situation. What would've happened last night to drive Jenny away like this? No, wait, what would drive Kiki away like this? Kiki would've needed something very important to just go off from work with Jenny. Eventually they got just about across the street, though whatever happened last night did make Sour Cream a bit more nervous on just walking right up to see Jenny.

"Yeah, sure," Sour Cream replied. Jamie might as well hear both sides of this story before just pushing sour Cream into it. so, giving Sour Cream the leash, Jamie walked over to the front door. All Sour Cream and Blue could do was wait it out at least until Jenny would calm down. He didn't have any other reason to stop by Jenny's house though, so, this might either so good or bad. time to throw caution to the wind, and he went on to knock on the door. Turned out, Kiki was there to answer. While sour Cream didn't exactly hear what was going on (and it didn't help that Kiki made a glare towards him), Jamie was eventually allowed inside with Kiki's permission. After explaining a little bit, Kiki brought Jamie up to Jenny's room, knocking on her door.

"Jenny you've been locked up in there all morning, at least come out for some breakfast or something," Kiki said. Jamie began to hear some groaning, and eventually Jenny did finally come out of her bedroom. Though, the girl didn't really look her best at all. She wasn't hurt physically like Sour Cream outside, but Jenny still looked like she was exhausted from last night … and in pretty baggy clothing too, which included a pretty baggy sweatshirt, and sweatpants. Standard signs of depression, or at the least a very bad night.

"Morning, Jenny. … You uh … ok?" Jamie asked. Jamie didn't need to really ask that though, just seeing her looking the way she did told him last night was not exactly the best time of her life. Nor did she want to talk about it right away, as she just walked passed him, heading downstairs. Again, not the best night ever. Jamie and Kiki went off downstairs too, and as Kiki began to make some food for them, Jamie and Jenny sat down in the living room.

"Well, no, I just didn't see you over at Fishstew Pizza, so I wanted to check on you," Jamie replied. Get the obvious out of the way first. He knew Sour Cream was waiting off outside, so he can't take too long in here. Jenny sighed.

Jenny kind of figured much. Why else would the one guy who didn't stick around the RAVE come by here to check on her?

"AH, ok, ok, ok, I get it, don't get colorful in your speech please," Jamie quickly pleaded. He didn't need to hear a pounding of curses, and they were sure it wouldn't make things any better either. Jenny calmed down, though was still fuming a bit.

"Like, what even happened, you know? That RAVE was going along just fine and suddenly everyone started going at eachother's throats. I don't even know what started it!" Jenny griped.

"How bad did it get anyway? And what happened with you and Sour Cream? Last I saw him he got a black eye," Jamie said, pointing to his own eye for emphasis. Jenny huffed.

"Serves him right, for what that - … jerk said to my face. You know what he said?"

"Um … no? What?"
Jenny readied to say it, but with Kiki right there she just saved the exact details in a whisper instead. Jamie went a bit closer, and Jenny whispered exactly what he said to her, to him … and Jamie looked frozen. How could Sour Cream say THAT to her?!

"I KNOW!" Jenny said, "Who's he to snap like that at me! I mean, COME ON, what'd I even do?!"
Jamie wasn't too sure, but perhaps Sour Cream could hear the yelling from outside at the level Jenny was going on about. Jenny sure sounded like she didn't agree with Sour Cream on his insult, but with her dressed up it might've had a bit more of an affect on her than even she realized. She would at least look normal, and not in drag.

"Oh boy, this is getting out of hand. Come on, Jamie, think of something to lift her spirits," Jamie thought, trying to figure out what'll work and what will not. Jamie cleared his throat, getting some words together. Maybe this'll work, maybe not, but it was worth a shot either way.

"Jenny, believe me you're not a … well, what Sour Cream said. You look as good as you always do," Jamie said. Short, sweet, and he gave a thumbs up for her too. Jenny knew Jamie was just being nice (he never was mean to any women if he could help it), but regardless this did perk her up just a little bit.

"Well, in that case, I'll be right back," Jenny said, getting up and heading off towards her room again. Jamie had to wonder if he did say the right thing or not. Jamie looked over to Kiki in the kitchen, his eyes asking if he was doing good or not. Kiki found this good so far, and didn't give him a look of discomfort at all.

"Yeah, I can't believe Sour Cream said that about her. I thought the two were pretty close," Kiki commented.

"I dunno, I wasn't at the RAVE party," Kiki answered, "But I don't know what could trigger THAT out of Sour Cream. … How bad did he look, by the way?"

"Well, aside from the black eye, fine. … Actually he wanted to apologize to Jenny. … He's just outside."
That last part alarmed Kiki. That guy, after what he said, was just outside their house?! Kiki stopped her cooking for a brief moment and looked out their window, only to find him standing just across the street with Blue, checking his iPhone. What were the odds of that happening?

"Not much time to chat about that, here she comes," Kiki replied. Kiki went back to cooking, and pretty soon, Jenny came back down, this time in her usual outfit instead of such drag. As opposed to Sour Cream's insult, she might as well get another opinion.

"WHERE'D THAT COME FROM?!" Jamie thought in horror. Naturally an insult deep about Jenny's weight (or any girls' weight) would leave them a little more self-conscious. So, Jenny might as well see if she did look like the same insult Sour Cream had said, though Jamie was left … scared. Really scared. Jamie looked over to Kiki with a look that just said "Kiki, help me.". But Kiki couldn't help him out here. Eventually he just repeated himself.

"Oh Jamie," Kiki thought. she tried all morning with this already, and a answer THAT quick and urgent was just asking to get caught on to. Jenny eye-checked him for a second before it just confirmed her suspicions.

"You being real, or is that a trick question?" Jenny asked. Jamie was in a cold sweat at this point.

"Then why're you freakin out so much?" Jenny questioned. Jamie really didn't know what to do. Here he was already getting his mind scrambled thanks to Adagio, and now he was stuck with the hardest questions a man could even answer properly. … Without making the other angry, of course. And considering he was trying to make her feel better, it was a very precarious road to tackle. Jamie had to come up with something, and finally had a reasonable answer.

"Well, what do you think? It's your body, you should be where you feel most comfortable with yourself," Jamie replied. Not exactly answering it, but still gave it some more insight to think about. Jenny knew it was a question dodge, but the more she considered, and more she checked herself, the more she realized Jamie had somewhat of a point.

"I know, nevermind that. How do you feel about it?" Jamie reminded again. Jenny did so, and after some more checking, Jenny began to actually relax a bit. She really didn't look that bad at all.

"... You know what? I'm feelin pretty alright. And I'm still workin it pretty good," Jenny concluded. Jamie did blush as Jenny showed off a bit, but at least Jenny was feeling pretty good with her body again. Better than she was a few minutes ago anyway. At this point though, they began to hear some bit of barking coming from outside, just loud enough to get their attention. Kiki and Jamie may have found their key.

"Oh yeah, did I mention that?" Jamie replied, as he began to head over to the front door. Soon as Jamie got to the front door …

And suddenly, ol' Blue jumped on Jamie. The signal was made, and Blue was right on the nose with it, albeit a bit over-energetic. Jamie was met with a few good licks, though as Sour Cream had been dragged over here, basically he and Jenny were right in front of eachother. What were they supposed to say now? Jenny wasn't expecting this to happen so quickly, and Sour Cream was hoping for a less embarrassing approach than laying on the ground by Jenny's feet.

"Oh. Hey," Jenny simply said, though she did not look very pleased to see Sour Cream at all as the guy got to his feet.

"Bird jerk? I don't look like a bird," Sour Cream questioned, feeling insulted.

"Hey, you label my body, I label yours," Jenny snapped. The insults started to go back and forth with eachother, and suddenly it almost seemed like both sides forgot what else they were doing. Sour Cream's apology and Jenny's body acceptance were just thrown out the window after just half a minute, and insults were just being thrown back and forth for seemingly no reason other than for the sake of arguing.

"STAY OUT OF THIS JAMIE!" Sour Cream and Jenny snapped. Jamie felt a severe coldness in both of their words, and it made him back up in shock. Sure, they were mad in their own way, but what even happened here to take it that far? Jamie, Kiki, and Blue were getting concerned with all of this, yet while Jamie and Kiki were focused on the two people, Blue was checking out with his nose, following a particularly odd scent away from the scene. This was a strange scent, and the more he sniffed it, the more he felt an urge come over him.

"HEY!" Kiki snapped, getting their attention, "What's gotten into you two? He came here to apologize."

"Mind your own business, sis!" Jenny demanded. Kiki couldn't believe her ears. Kiki was upset, but she was more level-headed as she tried to confront the two.

"HOLD IT!" Kiki shouted, getting in between the two this time before any blows were made. "Sour Cream, Jenny, this is getting ridiculous. Sour Cream came here to apologize, and here you are tearing him up for it!"

"I said mind your own business, girl, or do you want some?" Jenny warmed, hand turned fist. Was … was she threatening to hurt Kiki?

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the situation escalated far too high. Jenny panicked and found her arm was being bit into by none other than Blue! But this wasn't just Blue. Blue looked savage, angry, and his gemstone somehow had turned from blue to green. All that anger was suddenly replaced with fear, and Jenny quickly got Blue off of her. All the anger from the just disappeared right then and there, seeing Blue having it all and was loosing it on them. Strangely too, after making that bite and a few barks, the color slowly returned to blue, and … it just stopped. Just like that. The anger subsided, and Sour Cream, Jenny, and Blue were calmed down just like that.

"WHOA, what just happened? I think I blacked out for a second there," Sour Cream asked.

"Uh … no? I just saw Sour Cream, and suddenly Blue bites me and that's it," Jenny replied.

"Magic," Kiki and Jamie concluded. As crazy as the idea even sounded now with the Everstorm and all, what other reason would there be for them to be this deadly with eachother and for Blue to suddenly just jump like that?! Jenny and sour Cream looked to one another, but this time they didn't plan on attacking eachother, as Blue tried to recollect himself again. But while that did sound like the answer, then came an even bigger question.

"Look you two. So you had a bad night. You're good friends, you shouldn't let that just cut it short," Kiki advised. Sour Cream and Jenny were a bit quiet at first, though Jenny did feel a bit guilty for just snapping. Even if she didn't remember it all too well. Sour Cream went first.

"Yeah, man. And sorry for clocking your eye," Jenny replied, blushing a little bit. Sour Cream put his hand to his eye, and just smiled.

"Don't sweat it. Didn't know you had just a killer left hook," Sour Cream commented. Jenny looked to her left hand, chuckling a little bit. Well, glad the two at least were a bit better about things.

"Good to see someone's recovering. Nice show of emotion," said another voice, strolling over.

Buck Dewey. And much like sour Cream, he looked like he'd seen better days, only a little bit worse off. He got himself bandaged up around his face, leaving it a bit casted up to one side. Clearly someone got in quite the fight.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" gasped Jenny. Buck didn't seem to troubled with his injury though.

Funland was not looking all that fun anymore. While Jamie was there, it was all smiles and, well, fun. Now though, the situation has severely escalated to insults and yelling all across the way. Whoever was around the meeting with Nanefua just moments ago were now stuck with spitting venom at everyone around them (figuratively speaking of course). It wasn't exactly any alien invasion, or natural disaster, but it still was a bit of a problem that Buck unfortunately got himself stuck with. Lucky for them, they weren't as affected as they were just moments ago, though Blue made sure to keep as far away as possible just in case something would set him off.

"The power of politics was too much for them to bare … apparently," Buck figured, though it really was anyone's guess. The insults being shot at eachother were almost inconsistent, and as with Sour Cream and Jenny just earlier, it almost seemed it was arguing just for the sake of arguing.

"Politics from Nanefua? nah, she's been doing great. What'll she say that would tick them off?" Jenny said.

"Hold up … hey Jamie, think magic might be in this too?" Kiki asked. Jamie scratched his head.

"Might be, but all magic has been gone for weeks. The Everstorm up there had drained it all away, so there shouldn't be any magic left," Jamie said, pointing up to the sky and seeing the "stars" still evident in the sky. So long as those stars were still there, the Everstorm was still present, and magic was still gone … right?

"Who're they?" Kiki asked. The group then looked off nearby, and who did they see standing there?

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata. The trio were standing off not too far away, hidden out of common-sight but still not that far from the raging crowd. The three either didn't notice or didn't care that a huge yelling fest was going on just a few meters away. They didn't seem effected much by the arguing, and were heading off from the situation. Peculiar they would be around during this mayhem, and NOT in some crazy fight. Soon though, Sonata stopped walking when she saw the group standing off aside. Aria and Adagio turned to get sonata, but soon saw the group too. Buck Dewey started to walk over to them.

"OOOOO, cool guy incoming," Sonata said as he came over to them. They completely ignored his injury, which buck took note of himself. Checking out Buck Dewey, Aria actually stepped in front of Adagio. Adagio already got her man, now it was Aria's turn to go fishing for his heart.

"Hey. You three wouldn't happen to know what's the deal here," Buck said, glancing back to the others in the bigger crowd nearby. Aria was more interested in Buck though, pretending that the conflict wasn't even happening.

"Not really … you know, you look really hot with that scar," Aria said. Buck looked down, and soon noted the gemstone on her chest. Very peculiar. He did have a theory going in his own mind, though he needed to test it first.

"Where'd you get those?" Buck asked, his hand reaching for the gemstone. almost as an instinctive response, Aria quickly grabbed Buck's hand and forced it away. This was a bit more aggressive than needed, so Aria had to quickly recover.

"They're very valuable to us. We'd hate to have anything happen to them," Aria said. Pretty basic answer, and since Buck didn't seem fazed by the confusion, they felt it was good enough. Adagio followed Aria on her way, though Sonata just stood there for a bit, admiring Buck Dewey's looks before she was grabbed and dragged away.

After that short talk and after getting the fight sorted out the best they could, Jamie, Jenny, Buck, Sour Cream, and Kiki went off from Funland and got themselves over at Fishstew Pizza. Buck Dewey didn't need more than a few minutes to talk to them to figure out what the actual deal was with these "fights" exploding in town. With all the commotion going on in Funland, not too many were around the Boardwalk. So, as Jenny and Kiki were making up for lost time in their work, Sour Cream, Buck, and Jamie were sitting off nearby thinking over what this was all about.

"Not much. They tried to hit on me, and threatened to snap by hand for touching their pendants," Buck replied. As if his injuries weren't rough enough already.

"Wait, the dazzlings? That's really them?! No way!" gasped Jenny, mentally slapping herself for not recognizing them sooner.

"Dude, the Dazzlings had been hitting in the popularity polls for months," said Kiki, "Their music's been really kicking it lately. Like "Battle of the Bands"."

"Well, I guess. But they wouldn't be appearing each time these fights started for no reason," Jamie reminded.

"... I prefer show tunes," Jamie admitted. what else did they expect? Still, they didn't go there just to talk over the music selection, they had more trouble on their minds.

"Anyway, so, you're thinking they might be starting somethings in town?" Kiki asked, getting them back on the subject.

"They are the something in town," Buck concluded, "They practically said it to me."

"No. But they didn't need to," Buck said. Seeing them in the same spot NOT infected by this strange magical disturbance, and their reaction for him trying to even touch their pendants had all but confirmed that they had something to do with this problem. Jamie thought about this, and realized the connection himself.

"Their leader met me at the RAVE. That siren must've brought forth her charm to cause all that disturbance last night," Jamie realized.

"It's kind of why I left in the first place," Jamie answered.
Well, with that revelation, they were about half way there: the Dazzlings were indeed somehow making these riots happen in town. However, they still weren't sure why, or even how they were even doing all of this in the first place. That, and this "magical" substance going about too was something to look into, not to mention Adagio's abilities on Jamie's heart. No normal women would have this kind of power so quickly.

And what timing for Buck Dewey to point this out. Just at this point, they caught just enough of a glance of a particular blue ponytail to tell them their quarry was not too far away. How the heck they got over here was anyone's guess, but heck with it. Guess the Dazzlings had a similar idea to the others, finding this more isolated spot more suitable for discussion on their next move. Quietly, Jenny went right up to the door, just enough so she could hear them loud and clear.

"Lunch?!" Sonata asked, excitedly. They hadn't had too much to eat yet, but Adagio was more focused away from that.

"Oh. Right."
Aria just rolled her eyes at Sonata's comment, not at all amused by the airhead's lack of common sense.

"Even with our magic weaker than before, clearly we're still able to make these humans go at eachother. It's just the ticket we need," Adagio explained, obviously referring to both the RAVE, and Funland.

"So we're just gonna do what we always do?" Aria questioned, unamused, "Cause some trouble and feed off the negative energy? Some plan Adagio."

"It won't be the same as before," insisted Adagio, "Rumor has it they've had ponies visit here. Equestrian ponies. If they've really been here, that means there is Equestrian magic here - OUR magic, that we can regain again!"

"Fine, but we can't gain anything out of the riots if our pendants won't work," Aria pointed out, holding her own pendant in her hand. Sure, it got them fighting, but that was as far as it went.

"Not yet," corrected Adagio, "I've overheard that Jamie character say something about an "Everstorm" blocking off use of almost all magic. It'll have to subside eventually, and by the time it does, we can easily make more than enough negative energy to feed off of for weeks. And once we're able to gain all that, it'll give us the power we need to make this entire world do our bidding."

"But we can have lunch after, right? It's a stuffed-crust special today!" Sonata asked excitedly, seeing a specials sign on front of Fishstew Pizza's window.

"Just follow my lead," Adagio stated firmly, making sonata humbled a little bit.

"Or my lead," Aria figured. Adagio was NOT having it, and immediately grabbed Aria by the collar, locking her gaze with her fellow siren.

"MY. LEAD," Adagio corrected. Aria stayed a bit quiet, not even bothering to try and defy the siren all that much, before Adagio released her and began walking away. They still got time to work out what to do for the upcoming show, and plenty of "practice" to do it. Sonata wanted to laugh, but kept her mouth quiet. Aria knew she was enjoying this though thanks to her big grin, and the trio just walked away. Unaware that Jenny overheard everything.

"WOOOOOW, they just blabbered out their whole plan like it was nothin," Jenny revealed, not believing her ears. This was probably the first villain they've met that was THAT much of a blabbermouth.

"Don't worry. Give me until tomorrow morning, and I'll get us the best magical expert there is. He'll be more than willing to help us," Buck promised.

Night came by again. While much of the others had gone off home already and into bed, it took some extra time for Buck Dewey to get himself off to sleep, finishing up a bit of a "meeting" with his "client" over the phone. Buck was the patient one over the phone, while his client was going on and on about all sorts of ideas behind this situation. He honestly couldn't wait himself over this.

"Buck is pleased. See you tomorrow," Buck finally said once he had finished. With the meeting confirmed, he placed his phone down by his bed, and began to relax a bit more. These three arrivals were going to be a bit of trouble if this was going to keep up, but if this all works out, then they'll have it all taken care of most likely by contest's opening. They just needed an understanding of what they were dealing with first before doing anything. Of course sleep was a priority first. With the meeting planned, Buck placed his glasses by his bed and went right off to sleep.

Now what? Buck Dewey took a bit to bring himself around, but in this dream the voices of a group of sirens was drawing him awake. He was no longer in his room, but instead found he was outside somewhere along the beach. Buck also found his outfit was a bit different too, his usual outfit being replaced with something like a Greek god would wear. Odd, but also something caught his eyes just off shore.
How fitting too: three women. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata. However, as with dreams, they didn't look the same as he saw them earlier, looking a lot more like the literary sirens rather than metaphorical. In short, they looked half women, and half fish, each girl singing their venomous quire to draw Buck Dewey in.

"How peculiar," Buck thought. All it took was just one blink of his eyes, and the sirens were suddenly in front of him. All three were "interested", to say the least, Adagio especially with her gleaning eyes locking with his. Buck knew a seductive look when he saw one, and her intentions grew even more so when she brought her hand to his chin, gently lifting it so they were in perfect level with eachother. What now? …

Buck quickly broke away, and did the one thing to break this dream for all of them: he rushed by her … and it was Aria who got her kiss, right on the lips.

And just like that, the dream was over. Buck was awake in bed, all by himself again. Whatever beach, siren, or otherwise was completely gone from the area. Buck Dewey was back in reality, calm as a cucumber, and he was about ready to make a phone call. It was morning anyway, so at least he could get the "meeting" started up before anything else and it wouldn't look too shady. The first person he called up was Jamie.

"Huh? Hello, who's this? You know how early it is?" Jamie asked in a tired tone, not even trying to put in his usual drama string he usually had in his voice.

"Yes. You're about to go on your paper route. How's about delivering a voice message for me?"

Few hours later, and soon the message was brought out to the respected party. Buck, Jamie, Jenny, and Sour Cream all met up with Buck after Jamie's information got to them. The message itself wasn't too complicated; just meet up at the Lighthouse and go on from there. And honestly, they were of mixed minds on this. Sure, they had an expert, but on the other hand -

It's Ronaldo. Yep, THAT'S the guy Buck thought would help them out with the situation they were in. It was good too that Ronaldo wasn't too angry with them, magic influence or otherwise.

"He's cool," Buck said, "and if there's anyone non-Gem celled that knows anything, it would be him."

"Not that I doubt your decisions, Buck, but … you sure about this? I mean, it's Ronaldo, man," Sour Cream said. Ronaldo acted like he didn't hear that.

"None better. Prepare to have your eyes blown wide open," Ronaldo said, as they began to hear inside. It really wasn't too much of a thrill for much of them, as Ronaldo always had the habit of over-blowing whatever weird thing he would happen to find. Jenny would know, given how many phone calls Ronaldo would give since being given that telescope. But Buck Dewey did have a point either way, he was the conspiracy nut and studied up on all sorts of things in some way. And with the Gems, Ponies, and others out of commission and out of dodge, it was the best chance they were gonna get.
The group was brought right up to the main room of the lighthouse, Ronaldo's workspace as messy and as full of theories as ever. And recently, as Buck hoped, there were some focused information regarding the arrivals of the trio of Sirens, along with the Everstorm going on.

"So this is what you do all day, Ronaldo? You got … quite the initiative," Jamie said, checking out some papers pinned to the chalkboard.

"I know, it's great. And I got you to thank for turning my gaze to the stars," Ronaldo replied, pointing up to the sky and seeing the stars still up there.

"Jamie mentioned you owe him one, by the way. So perhaps you can give us the laydown," Buck said.

"Way ahead of you," Ronaldo replied, rushing over to get his work out. He got some good photos and good connections with each, most of which were involving either the angry crowd or the sirens themselves. One even had an angry Kofi Pizza almost punch the camera in his rage, something Jenny could REALLY see her dad doing when his blood would boil over.

"One good thing about taking photographs is to have good reflexes," Ronaldo replied, acting as if that was something to be proud of. Out of all the pictures though, there was one particular one that Sour Cream saw that really was interesting. This one, for a start, was shown in an infrared coloration which was sweet, and it showed what they actually saw just yesterday: the fight at Funland.

"Hold up … what's that green haze stuff?" Jenny asked, pointing to the particular bit of it in the picture. Ronaldo took the picture from them.

"THAT'S my big revelation. Any of you notice how these fights happened only AFTER these three showed up?" Ronaldo asked, as he pinned the picture up on the chalkboard. Considering at least one of them kept showing up just before these brawls occur, Ronaldo might actually have something there for once.

"Well, any of you know WHY these fights happen when they show up?" Ronaldo said, honestly trying to regain himself.

"We wouldn't be here if we knew," Buck stated. Now it was time for Ronaldo to show his stuff, ready to get the goal up and recognition. He adjusted his glasses, giving off a "cool" sheen to them, before explaining.

"SERIOUSLY?! What about them being from Equestria, did they tell you that too?!" Ronaldo asked, now getting upset. Here he thought he was on a breakthrough, and the ice was broke before he got there.

"Thank goodness," Ronaldo thought. Guess some ice still needed to be broken after all, lucky him. Keeping the infrared picture up, he also brought out a earlier picture of one of their pony friends (namely Rarity) using some magic to levitate what looked to be a soda from the Big Donut. The greenish haze coloration was also present all over the cup, matching the coloration used with the sirens' gemstone magic shenanigans. Infrared cameras had common views on everything, and magic had a greenish heat apparently. He also made sure there was no confusing by showing other pictures of other versions of heat, one including a flamethrower (best they don't ask).

"Okay, here's the scoop: see how the unicorn magic matches exactly to the magic used here? We got a Unicorn using magic here, and these three using magic here. What does that tell us?"

"THAT they're using magic?" Sour Cream asked, almost deadpan in tone, just to be spooked by Ronaldo's voice again.

"NO, that this magic is from the same world! Here's magic used by the rock people to prove it," Ronaldo confirmed, holding up one more infrared camera image of a training session with Steven using his shield, blocking off Peridot's metal attack. By all rights, that shield should've had that kind of magic too, but this one gave off a cooler blue color instead of green.

"I got it!" Ronaldo suddenly cut in. He didn't want any other surprises he had in store spoiled already, so he had to make tracks. Opening a drawer by the desk, he then pulled out a particular object. It was nothing more than an old amulet, but where it came from was important. Ronaldo brought out some infrared goggles too, which he grabbed from a box on the floor.

"Check this out," Ronaldo insisted, holding the amulet up for them all to see. Jamie did it first and took a look. Turned out, much to his surprise, the Amulet still had some remanence of Equestrian magic on it! It was very small, and a little hazy, but still Equestrian magic all the same.

"So to recap: magic from their homeland in Equus is able to cling onto its original object. The Dazzlings have magic, just not all of it," Jamie concluded.

"Good enough for me. I don't wanna think about those three at full max if they can still do this much," Jenny said.

"Sure, but that still doesn't tell us how to stop this thing. Got anything for us?" Sour Cream asked. Ronaldo looked ready to speak, but found he had no words.

"Give me a break! I'm amazing, but if I knew everything I wouldn't be here!" Ronaldo yelled.

"We can't just do nothing," Jamie insisted, "As long as they're here, Beach City is going to be the big arena of angry friends and family, all toiling with eachother in a mad daze! I don't think we can risk another catastrophe, not with the Gems and Ponies all gone."

"Jamie. Those three just explained their entire plan to us just from casual conversation with themselves. I'm not one to judge anyone for their behavior, but, that isn't really good planning on their part."

"Yeah, they were pretty chatty," agreed Sour Cream, "And that blue one's not good at keeping quiet either."
The more they thought about this, more they realized that they were off lucky. Most antagonists that entered their town had a bit more complicated plans and mindsets than that, and threw them for a loop once or twice. Yet, these three didn't seem that complicated of trouble to tackle, especially since their main "attack" was during a big show.

"I'll get the answer living, don't worry. Ronaldo, see if you can keep an eye on them for us."

"... Point taken. Need some more evidence," Ronaldo said, getting his stuff together before starting to go on out.

"Like all the best plans in the world, it's simple: we're gonna beat them at their own game."

The events sure had been jumpy: they began this craziness in injuries and grudges, and suddenly here they were ready to perform a song for the upcoming contest. If there was a way to handle a group of sirens, it's to fight fire with fire. The timing was fairly decent, since it still was a bit before the next contest so they had time to prepare. Sour Cream provided the main base of operation as it were, the group getting together to get this band all set up. They brought their own instruments to this dig: Sour Cream with a portable beat box, Jenny with a guitar, and Jamie … with a violin. Missed a memo he did, but heck it was something. That, and he knew well how to play one too, while Jenny was probably the only one with a little bit of trouble with hers, still working out the odds and ends of it. Only one without an instrument was Buck Dewey, who was looking like he was just supervising or something.

"Elaborate again why singing a song for the show will get rid of the Dazzlings exactly?" Jamie asked, feeling the most nervous about this.

"They're a band that summons the negative flurry of emotions. We can counter it with our own positive vibe," Buck Dewey said.

"You underestimate the power of music. The magic of any song can bring forth any and all emotion in a beautiful force, and the power to make your heart move."

"P-Pure poetry," Jamie thought in amazement. Buck had his own sense of drama, which he deliberately threw into the explanation to get the point across.

"So, what do you think will work better? Beachcore style or rap-a-billy style?" Sour Cream asked at one point, trying to figure out a proper sound for the show. Jenny took a little bit to think about it, working off what kind of music she was familiar with.

"This audience is gonna be at this contest to have fun, let's give the crowd somethin they can dance to. SC, give me a beat!" Jenny said. so, Sour Cream began to make out a catchy beat, something they could dance along with. Jenny was digging the beat, same with Buck and Jamie, but then.

"Yeah, and maybe some …" and suddenly Sour Cream began hitting a few keys that sounded like screeching, completely throwing off the beat.

"But this is gonna bring positivity. Maybe if we try …" Jamie brought out his violin to begin playing, and he started playing a somber tune with it. Not as modern or upbeat as your typical pop or electro, but it still was a good sounding hit.

Here we are. Our hearts combining. Music and Friends. Our souls aligning -

"Hold up, Jay," Jenny suddenly cut in, "I all down for friendship is magic and coming together, but they're just gonna fall asleep if you play like that," Jenny pointed out.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Jenny said, not wanting to insult him, "But we're going up against one of the top poll pop stars of the century! We gotta step up our game if we're gonna be up on stage."
Jenny started to show her point by trying out the guitar … but she really didn't know what she was doing, and was just playing with the strings. In fact, she actually got her finger hurt from being too rough with the strings on her fingers.

"You really don't know how to play? I thought you had that guitar game you play all the time," Sour Cream pointed out.

"Duh, cuz THAT had buttons, not strings," Jenny replied. It'll be some time still before she could get this down pact, but with the contest just this weekend, they really didn't have the time to actually make this work. One player not knowing how to play, one not into pop music, and the rest still unsure what their sound should be.

"What we need is an expert. someone who knows the flow of music better than any of us," concluded Buck.

"Got a clue who, man, or did you only call Ronaldo?" Sour Cream asked. Buck didn't answer, so that just confirmed his answer anyway. THIS one though, lucky for them, they didn't need to think about for too long as Jamie started to ponder a little bit on it.

"Mr. Universe! You in?" called Jamie. Greg was just chilling out in his van for the afternoon when Jamie found him, the man himself conveniently listening to some music. Greg didn't hear them at first, but Jamie got his attention with a firm knock on the van door. The door did have a "knock first" sign on it after all.

"He told you about that? Well, yeah, in my youth I went all over the place. Mr.Universe flying through the cosmos," Greg said. It was a long time ago since he went all over the place as a big Rockstar of the day.

"Whoa, NO WAY! Our own roadie right in town, and we never knew it!" Jenny beamed.

"Actually, yeah. We're gonna perform for the contest this weekend, but we weren't getting anywhere on our end, so I figured since you already did this, you can give us some pointers?" Jamie asked. Well Greg did say he could talk to him if he needed advice on anything. That, and this was a pretty good bit of expertise he can lend them.

"Uh … nothing. We can't even figure out a song yet," Jamie admitted. A bit discouraging to hear that they were THAT far from reaching their quota.

"I got nothin. Been killing it on a guitar video game I got at home, but that was about it. Can't work out the strings," Jenny replied. Greg got up, not finding it too big of a problem.

"It's not that bad, you just need a different instrument. Hmm … Hey, how does Keytars sound to you?"

"Don't worry about it, this is for your show. Go big, it's on my tab!" Greg insisted. Clearly he was up for helping them out with their gig if he was offering this much for them.

"So it begins," said Buck, "Our road to saving Beach City. The beginning of stardom, followed by the inevitable fighting, and creative disagreements that'll tear us apart in a beautiful explosion of emotions."

As one band was getting its act together, another was getting themselves some more dinner preparations. Out by the boardwalk, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were causing yet more trouble. This case, the main trouble was being done to Citywalk Fries, the magic haze getting to Mr. Fryman and an angry customer, along with next door and the looming anger inside Fishstew Pizza. In fact, one customer stormed out after tossing some fresh pizza down into the boardwalk, much to Kofi Pizza's severe anger.

"WE DON'T NEED YOUR CHARITY ANYWAY!" Kofi shouted. A good appetizer, but it was mainly just causing a meaningless fire if they couldn't take any of it in. It was still fun to watch them go at eachother though, especially when Mr. Fryman and Kofi started going at eachother.

"Really? Because I think this place is horrible," Sonata said, the sarcasm flying over her head. Much to the annoyance of the other two.

"Don't start arguing all over again. I hate it here, and being here with you two doesn't make this any easier," Adagio snapped, "now keep with my lead."
Aria really wasn't digging this plan. Honestly, it really was no different from what they've been doing for however long they've been stuck here. She didn't see any Equestrian proof or evidence anywhere here, so far as she was concerned, this was just another spree on their part.

"Yeah. Look at them isn't that just so silly?" Sonata encouraged, seeing them still bicker and snap at eachother.

"Seen it once you seen all of them. Just tell me when we're done here," Aria decided, finding a seat on a nearby bench. She would normally find this a thrill but today it just wasn't suiting her. Sonata knew her fellow siren, and she would never get tired of seeing people fight eachother … unless …

"S-Shut up, no I'm not!" Aria snapped … although her face was blushing red, and her fists were trembling. Dealing with such a sly player, none of them expected that swift kiss to even happen, and that memory (dream or not) was bugging Aria to no end and leaving her high-strung.

"Sonata, leave that hot mess alone and come on," Adagio informed. No that didn't help Aria any better, fuming and blushing even more so. It was a mix of anger and embarrassment, written all over her face. Being kissed for her was nothing new, but this was a different scenario: he kissed HER first, leaving HER speechless. It was never fun to be on the victim end of any prank or operation. Murmuring to herself, Aria got back up and just followed sonata and Adagio, quiet for the rest of the time. She'll get her own back on him, just let him try to think otherwise.

In fact, what was she waiting for? She knew where he lived. So, as sonata and Adagio continued going off, Aria took the moment and slipped away. If she was gonna get even with this guy, she wasn't gonna wait for Adagio's word. Good thing for her as well, Adagio and Sonata didn't really notice the third in their party slipping away, which was good for Aria herself. Last thing she wanted or needed was those two breathing down her neck again. As she started to go though, her eyes took a glance over back to the other two, only to find -

One of the locals was on the offensive. A bit more extreme than normal, naturally. While many of the people were arguing, one of them caught in the green haze had a far more physical approach to show his anger, and she found that Adagio and sonata were confronted by the "little devil" Onion. And he was well armed with a steel bat. Thanks to the green haze emitted by the gemstones, Onion was out of his mind, and had a look that would give Tirek himself shivers (it's Onion, what'd you expect?). Even more so, the hit was on Adagio, not Sonata.

"Hey, if you're gonna hit someone, hit Sonata's head. She doesn't use it anyway," Adagio said.

"Yeah! … HEY!" Sonata snapped. Onion couldn't give less of a hoot about it, and just clocked Adagio in the head a good five or so times before she finally fell to the ground in a big daze. Sonata kept her distance, hands up in submission so she wouldn't be targeted next. Adagio herself, in order to save her pretty face, had to actually remove the haze off of Onion to make him stop. All this looked like was a snap of the fingers, but the green haze was soon gone from all over the area. It was like the gemstone was a vacuum cleaner, and soon everyone calmed down a bit. Onion shook his head, and saw the steel bat in his hand, as Adagio got herself back up.

"Wish I didn't have to do that. OK, kid, you can leave us alone now," Adagio said. ...

*BONK* that just made Onion hit her again. Guess it didn't matter if he was in a haze or not, this runt was dangerous!

"Celestia, thanks for letting me watch this," Aria thought, trying to control her laughing behind her hands. Nothing was funnier than seeing someone like Adagio get the flank kicked off of her by some tiny kid with a bat. Satisfied, Aria then went off away again, this time for sure, no longer feeling as upset or flustered as earlier. They may have to hold off the haze to stop him, but she'd be lying if she said it wasn't the funniest thing ever.

And watching from afar with his infrared goggles, she wasn't the only one observing. And he took this moment.

And suddenly Sonata and Adagio found Ronaldo Fryman jumping out of his hiding place, goggles still on, and aiming an accusing finger directly at the two. Aria didn't stop to watch this confrontation however, so it was just the two of them.

"Ronaldo, there you are! Where have you been, you've missed work for two days," Mr. Fryman asked, as Ronaldo's little brother Peedee watched on from inside. Kiki was seeing the trouble herself from not too far away, concerned for the parents too.

"Oh no, here we go," Peedee thought in dismay. This wasn't the first time he did this, and those present weren't too troubled at first.

"Ronaldo, don't start that propaganda, you got work to do. Now come on," Mr. Fryman instructed.

"Not until I tell you about the sirens in your midst," Ronaldo insisted. Adagio and sonata silently screamed when they heard that out of him. How did he know about their true nature?!

"Shut your trap, you're running off my customers!" Kofi shouted. Mr. Fryman didn't appreciate the shouting, and got his fist grabbing Kofi by the collar. THAT was more than Kiki and Peedee could take, yet Kiki got there first, pushing them both back.

"What're you doing? Did you two think WHY you two are fighting in the first place?" Kiki questioned.

"Naturally, we - …" Mr. Fryman suddenly was cut short. He tried to think of a reason for spitting venom at Kofi Pizza's face, and Kofi admittedly tried to think of the same answer, but for some reason nothing was being said.

"Man, I knew it," Kiki said, disappointed in both parents, but looking to the remaining Dazzlings with an expression of angered disappointment of her own. Ronaldo found this the perfect moment.

"There you have it: THESE TWO ARE CONTROLLING OUR MINDS TO KILL EACHOTHER!" Ronaldo announced.

"... Yeah, that's pretty much it," Sonata suddenly blurted out. Adagio suddenly clocked Sonata in her temple, knocking her off her feet in a daze.

"Don't listen to her, she's an idiot," Adagio said with a smile, though leaving a very dizzy Sonata laying on the ground. Normally Aria would do something like this, but since she was not there (something the two FINALLY noticed) Adagio had to make it work herself. Before they could look into this any further, Adagio dragged Sonata away from the scene, leaving the crowd a bit confused. Except for Ronaldo, who felt very good that one of his theories was proven correct after all.

"Hey, Ronaldo," said Peedee at one point, "W-what was that you said about mind control?"

"After studying those two, I've confirmed that they've been using Equestrian magic to control our minds and take over this town. Like a twisted organization through music," Ronaldo explained, and to prove his theory was right to them, he even gave Peedee the goggles so he could see the green haze. Sure, there wasn't as much as before, but very tiny fragments were still evident, leading back to the two sirens who're still leaving the scene. Normally these theories weren't much to consider, but this one actually had the proper evidence for once. Peedee took it off, looking terrified.

"What?! Let me see!" Kofi said, taking the goggles and seeing it himself. They weren't familiar with magic as much as the ponies or Gems, but there was no denying that there indeed was a good amount of green haze around Adagio and Sonata, and the small bits still around the area.

As time moved closer towards the contest itself, the working band was actually starting to work out their quirks and talents in this band of theirs. Jenny, Sour Cream, Jamie, and Buck all were doing fairly decently in their craft thanks in part to the experience by Greg. They had pretty good luck so far, and with Greg's directory on what makes a song actually work, they began to handle their song and got it into better motion. The Keytars given to them also made the song even more catchy in tune and visually interesting. How many bands would use a Keytar anyway? For the moment, they were practicing at Sour Cream's house again, with Greg and Blue watching from off nearby.

"Man, I'm really digging the vibe," Jenny said, feeling WAY better about this, "This Keytar's just the thing we need."

"And it gives our sound a profound mixture of future tech, and past callings," Buck agreed, playing some of the keys on the Keytar. The music screamed a future electro feel from the 90's, which was what buck just loved about it. Plus, as he played his Keytar, it actually made Jamie's violin playing flow a bit better than rock n roll guitar, Jamie tuning his violin a little bit.

"This is very good actually. It's going to be so grand," Jamie said, who also felt confident about it. This was followed by some agreeing barking from Blue.

"Dude, what if we customize our instruments? I can get some of my glowsticks to create a starry look," Sour Cream suggested.

"I like that idea. I actually did that once in one of my own shows, and it was a killer. You can still offer some glowsticks to the crowd like you do, Sour Cream, it'll give everyone something to remember," Greg said.

"We'll meet up tomorrow morning to make some final touches before the big event. Goodnight everyone," Buck said, as he started to head off on his own way.
So, with everyone saying their goodnights, everyone went off home and Sour Cream went on inside. They were feeling pretty good about things, and with the show tomorrow night, it felt like they will be more than enough to get this to work, and to show up the Dazzlings at their own game. Just one more practice tomorrow and they were good as gold.

… Too bad that competition was fierce. After about an hour into the night from everyone's work, the garage was left isolated with everything the band would need, from instruments to special effects, to the script. Not exactly the best place to actually handle the equipment placement, but it wasn't the worst idea ever either. With everyone gone or in bed though, this left one particular person with just the ticket to make this her personal stomping grounds. Getting in was no problem, as the household did lack a important thing called a garage door, only blocked off by a few curtains.

"Oh dear, look what we have here," Aria said to herself, sounding concerned, but really pleased to find everything in one place. It was pretty clear what she was here to do. Aria took a look around the place a bit, first eyeing the instruments themselves. The only thing not inside a box was the boombox set Sour Cream would use. The Keytars and Violin were put together by the boombox, so Aria targeted them first.

"You think you can toy with me, assault me, and get away with it?" Aria thought. She targeted the violin first, which was easy to handle. All she had to do was use the bow for the violin, and she slipped it between the strings. All she needed was one pull back, quick and hard, to make the delicate strings snap. Jenny's Keytar was next, and using the same bow, she actually started to pop out the keys one by one. Aria would just smash it if she could, but she didn't want to wake anybody up while doing this. It would make the whole point of doing this worth nothing. Then her eyes saw the big boombox. Simple enough: open the back of it and screw around with the cords with the bow again. Funny how so much could be used with the bow of a violin to sabotage everything.
Then her eyes met with Buck's keytar. OH BOY did she want to break it. She wanted to smash it to pieces, and make sure Buck had nothing to use. To see Buck's defeated face when he would come and find his expensive instrument left in nothing but a wreck. Yet … something wasn't feeling right with that thought. Aria held his Keytar, flashes of that kiss still going through her mind as her face grew flustered again. She could smash it to pieces, she would too if it was for anyone else … but should she?

"W-whatever. He'll still not have anything to play with," Aria told herself, moving the Keytar over by the exit instead of smashing it up. Aria continued going through the area and sabotaging whatever was available to her without waking up anyone around. After the instruments, she went to the script to their song, which she took the fun to just scribble, and draw out so it wasn't able to be read. The special effects she made sure were unusable too by finding some good cans of paint inside the garage and dumping it all over until they were completely soaked. nothing wrecks equipment of any sort better than some colorful paint. Once Aria was complete, she took a few steps back to look at her work: instruments wrecked, special effects soaking wet, and script illegible. With a smug grin, Aria strolled off out the garage, but not before taking Buck's Keytar away with her too.

Aria almost jumped out of her boots on the sudden loud bark, turning around only to see Blue standing there. How he got there, she had no idea, nor did she care all that much. He was just some dog, after all.

"Mind your own business, dog," Aria said, ready to pass. Blue however knew a thief when he saw one, and rushed right over to the house. Suddenly Blue started barking and hollering like a madman.

"No, no, shut up! Shut up! I-I'll give you a biscuit or something, just shut it!" Aria pleaded, covering her ears. But Blue didn't stop barking his head off. Eventually, the residence finally came outside, opening the door from the garage, and showing it was Vidalia. … just to throw a shoe at Blue to shut him up. Blue was knocked off his paws, landing on his back in a daze.

"DANG IT, dog, can't you be quiet?" Vidalia groaned, tired from the crazy barking. It took a little bit before Vidalia saw Aria standing there with Buck's keytar still in hand.

"You loudmouth mutt!" Aria thought. Aria had no choice but to bolt for it, but not before finding the nearest garbage can, tossing it upward, and using the keytar to whack it at Vidalia! Blue tackled Vidalia to the ground, the garbage can landing by the door before Aria bolted off. Vidalia got up just to see the garbage all over the place.

That morning was immediately met with shock when the band, and their mentor checked what happened to all of their equipment. It looked like a complete mess, and none of it look remotely usable now. Jamie felt heartbroken to see his poor violin and its strings cut off, and Sour Cream couldn't even get the boombox working at all. A few clicks of the dials and all he got was sparks and smoke.

"I'll tell ya what happened," Vidalia then said, still fuming, "Some random chick came in here and tore up the place. She nearly clocked me with my own garbage can. My garbage can! Seriously, I pay twenty bucks for that thing!"

"I don't trust public cans. If I'm gonna throw garbage, I do it myself," Vidalia replied. Buck Dewey went over towards the special effects equipment, trying to pull one of the pieces out. However, the paint made it not only a bit sticky, but hard to move. Once he got a piece out, it was completely soaked from top to bottom with paint.

"I'm not digging this," Buck sighed, placing it back in its place, and finding a cloth to wash off his hand with. Jamie cradled his violin in his hands.

"I promise I will avenge you, dearest," Jamie said, drama mode activated as he was looking to his violin. What a tragedy to wake up to so early in the morning.

"Hey, Universe, you wouldn't happen to have bought a spare of … everything. Would you?" Sour Cream asked. Greg was a bit guilty though in that question.

"I can try to get some more. Don't know if shipping will make it by tonight though," Greg admitted. NOT the best news they wanted to hear. This was really the worst case scenario, and just before the show too!

"Now this just bites, man. We just got our song together, how're we gonna drive the Dazzlings out without our gear?" Jenny asked, picking up her keytar just for the remaining keys to fall out of it.

"The Dazzlings had been making fights happen all over the place. It's one of those Equestrian magic deals, and if we don't do anything they're gonna control the whole town," Jamie explained. Vidalia got alarmed, but then quickly it turned to anger.

"OH NO, I'm not going through that again," Vidalia made clear. "But how's making a band gonna make em go?"

"Destroying them at their own game, of course. … Though, it looks like we'll have to resort to Plan B," Buck concluded. with everything he was seeing, one item remained missing. One item he needed one tracker to go and look around for.

"Blue, think you can give me a hand?" Buck asked. Blue, while unsure a little, but agree and followed buck off outside.

So what was going to happen now? The Dazzlings, now without competition to bother them as far as they were concerned, had to only wait for tonight to make their big impression. The secondary band REALLY needed to get their act together, and even if they did end up getting their own band back in strength, they were missing their own big effects and script. Just because they had the instruments didn't mean they were a band. The instruments themselves weren't too hard to fix however: Jamie needed some new strings, and Jenny needed some new keytar keys, though Sour Cream's fixing was a bit harder to handle with his boombox, as he needed exact wiring for his boombox to be back into shape. The special effects and script however were NOT the easy fix, and the script had to be redone as the special effects … well, were out of the question. All they could salvage was some star effects, but that was about it. and even then, it was by pure luck alone, and nothing else.

And almost before everyone knew it, the show was in sight. The second band made it, but it was the Dazzlings who were given the first chance to go. The preparations were all set up for the contest to begin. It was a bit of a disappointment though to say that not too many had actually put themselves in this contest, but for the Dazzlings themselves, they took this in stride as it meant only less time to put themselves into it. Adagio, Sonata, and Aria were ready for their big show. All of the town was present save a few, though with all of em there it was more than enough for a good boost.

"Remember girls, this is the big gig. Let's show them what we can really do," Adagio instructed.

"But we're not at our full power remember?" Aria pointed out. Adagio shrugged it off.

"We got enough to get these humans going. We just gotta keep em that way til our full potential returns. Hardly a challenge," Adagio replied, their gemstones giving off a shimmer of glow. This was it. THIS was the big show they worked to get to, and all they got to do is get their music to work.

and they began the second they stepped out of the gate.

(MONSTER ✧by YusukeKira✧ 😈 Cover【rachie】(parody))

"Let me introduce myself.~"

The song began off nice and steady, a decent beat for a modern pop song. Much of the crowd was giving the three their attention, either from curiosity or influence, just as the Dazzlings wanted. Aria and Sonata continued the beat as Adagio went on singing again, all three swaying in unison to the music.

Adagio; You didn't think I was done
did ya?
No, we've just began having our fun
baby.~

Aria+Sonata; some creatures live for attention
or play the victim.

Dazzlings; but baby, we were born to do the killin!~

It wasn't the most positive song ever thought up, but with the ones singing it, it fit them like a glove. And just as well, the effects were becoming more and more apparent. Everyone in the crowd was more and more focused on their singing as the effects slowly were kicking in. The next verse amped up the music, making sure everyone in Beach City heard them loud and clear.

Dazzlings; I see!

Adagio; How you're gettin crazy!
Always thinking of me.~

Dazzlings; Babe on the daily!~

Aria; Feed me
your negativity.~

Sonata; Talk some more about me!

Adagio; I know that you love me.~

Dazzlings; LOVE ME!

Now they were in the thicket of their song, and with what magic they got left going for them, the effects were starting to kick in. Waves of red started to suddenly appear from behind them, which while a very small kind of magic, was easily mistaken for some kind of visual effect. That probably was why no one actually ran off when it spread out into the crowd.

Dazzlings; Funny, how you think we're bothered
No, we're nothing like the others
You shouldn't have messed with us, cuz we heard
that you're afraid of monsters, MONSTERS!

After their song, they were left with a very angry crowd all around them. Their magic, or whatever had remained from their powerful artifacts, had made the entire crowd go into an angry mob on eachother, with the soul exception of the secondary band off just out of the way. It didn't matter what someone would be arguing about, they were shouting insults and fighting it out even. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata all watched on with a victorious feeling over all three. They may not be strong enough to drain and gain the hatred into their magic, but once the Everstorm would finish, they will have more than enough to get a awesome boost.

"What do we do now? No one's gonna listen," Jamie said, scared to step out into the field. They were out of the way of the sirens' magic, but none of them could go out into the field without being affected by the magical hatred. Buck Dewey tried to think hard on this, but then he got a particularly unorthodox idea in mind …

"Hey Blue, mind taking one for the team?" Buck asked. Blue wasn't sure what he meant, but before the Gem dog could realize what was what, he was suddenly pushed out into the field.

"Buck, what was that f - mph!" Jamie was kept quiet when Buck covered his mouth, so that Blue wouldn't hear them. as for the Gem dog, the effects of the magical haze started to get to him. At first nothing seemed to happen, but Blue began to feel more and more rage slowly start to come up. His fir started to stand on end in threat, his teeth were barred, and a nasty snarl emitted from his muzzle like a rabid coyote. Not exactly rabies, but just as good of a danger. Most of the others weren't sure what was going on, but Onion began to catch onto this sort of danger a bit quicker. It would be something he would do anyway. So with that in mind, he grabbed some rocks, and tossed them over in the direction of the stage, Blue jumping and barking angrily, soon catching sight of the sirens on stage.

"Exactly," said Buck. "The sirens will be in such a danger, that they'll have to stop their magic in order to save themselves."

"Seriously? I expect that more from Onion. … No offense, Onion," said Jenny. Onion just shrugged. He'd been called WAY worse.

And this plan seemed to be working. As everyone else watched, Blue went right up onto the stage, drooling out of the mouth like a starving beast, and soon came the mad barking. Ronaldo's special goggles could see that the haze had full effect on Blue, the hazy green emitting from his eyes as he honed in on the Dazzlings. The trio didn't notice the dog at first until the barking started, cutting off the singing for a brief moment as the barks were both loud and potent.

"Does our magic affect animals?" Sonata asked, scratching her head. Adagio and Aria weren't so bothered though, even if the dog was angry at them for no reason.

THAT was more than enough to trigger the Gem hound. Blue charged forward in a blind rage, and like a savage fighting dog, jumped up and tackled Aria Blaze. His teeth sank down into one of her ponytails, and forced Aria off her feet and onto the ground. Aria Blaze immediately panicked as the animal aimed for her throat, and his teeth biting air inches from her face. Adagio and Sonata looked to Aria, and they didn't even get the chance to push blue off before the dog growled at them. Adagio was targeted next, and Blue jumped off Aria, slamming Adagio to the ground. Sonata meanwhile was freaking out, keeping her distance from the rabid dog (probably the smartest move she did since she got here).
It was such savagery coming from such a normal dog, it was as if Blue was possessed by an angry spirit. Which in of itself probably wasn't that far off from the truth.

"SHUT UP AND HELP ME!" Adagio demanded, just as Blue sank his teeth into her arm, making Adagio scream. Sonata went over to try and help, but Blue snarled at her, and suddenly threw Adagio at Sonata, knocking them both down.

"What's with this hound? Our magic doesn't affect dogs! … Right?" Aria asked, as Adagio and Sonata got up, seeing the savage animal in front of them again. Only then did they see the green haze covering the dog's eyes, showing without a doubt that it was under the same hatred magic as everyone else in the crowd.

"Don't look at us, we're just following your lead," Aria commented. Before Adagio could combat back, Blue rushed forward again, forcing the three to scatter and avoid the teeth of this dog. Sonata, in her panic, tripped over her own feet trying to get away, leaving Sonata at the mercy of the dog. Blue would never try to kill a human otherwise, but in his rage, logic was easily thrown out the window. Sonata found the dog grabbing her throat, and as she tried to make Blue let go the Gem dog got his jaws around Sonata's gemstone.

In one yank, the gemstone was broken. Shattered into a mess of shards inside Blue's mouth as the dog shook it out and scattered it all over the stage. The Dazzlings weren't confident at all anymore, and there was one final bit of magic coming out of this little effect: if one of the three break, the two must follow. Adagio and Aria looked to their own gemstones, seeing them shutter and suddenly break completely. Whatever magic they had left was now gone, and the green haze began to slowly seep away. The arguing amongst individuals began to slow down and stop altogether, and Blue's mad snarling stopped too. Blue shook his head, not remembering what just happened.
Once all that was over, the second band went out to see the results, now safe from the magic the Dazzlings once had. A whistle from Jamie got Blue's attention, and the now much happier dog went right over to them. The Dazzlings were in a bit of trouble, and made a bit more apparent when Buck ushered them to continue with their gig. You know what they say: the show must go on.

Funny, how you think we're bothered
No, we're nothing like the others
You shouldn't have messed with us, cuz we heard ...

LORD, did they sound horrible. This was beyond simply lip-synching to already good music, and without those amulets all of their singing was just off-key. It didn't help that Blue was howling good and loud during the singing either, him covering his ears. It didn't take long until the crowd began to turn on them, Martha arming up with a tomato and throwing it on stage. Others soon followed, and all three of them quickly had to run off stage.

"Now we know what those amulets were for," said Jenny, picking them up off the ground.

"Nothing but special effects and lip-synching. They won't be causing any trouble now these are broken," Sour Cream concluded. The trio were NOT welcome here anymore, at least not for their music. Aria, Adagio, and Sonata were cast out at least to the back of the stage's bleachers, out of the line of fire from the booing crowd. Sonata peeked up, just for Adagio to quickly pull her back down before she could be hit again. Whelp, their act was over.

"Without those amulets, they're no more of a threat than any of us are," concluded Jamie, looking over to them. Adagio was upset, but she didn't even dare go back onstage with the crowd all riled up. He did look to them, but before he could do much, he was then given his mended violin by Buck Dewey.

"DUH," said Jenny, "Sure, we got rid of the Dazzlings, doesn't mean we can't celebrate. Time to kill it!"

Jamie smiled. Not since the escape from the White Diamond Space Station escape did he feel such a victory come over him, and now that he stopped the Dazzlings from taking over the town, he might as well give the crowd a good show to celebrate. Again, the show must go on. Plus, it was their turn anyway. Seeing them get ready though, Adagio began to feel a smirk coming on.

"They're still going without their gear? This should be good," Adagio said smugly. Even if they didn't get their gig to work, at least the satisfaction of seeing this band fail would still be theirs. After all, after taking their song away, what could they have left? But then, there was one little surprise, especially when they heard barking from nearby. Buck Dewey's keytar! Blue threw it onto the stage, and Buck caught it, and got it worn mid-air. Coolness engaged!

(Daniel Ingram - Under Our Spell [Aurelleah&Orange B Remix] (parody))

Their song started off slow, Buck Dewey playing out the tunes on his keytar. A strong force of the future in the musical play, mixed with some string by Jenny's guitar for some extra sting to the notes. Sour Cream added bass to it with his DJing skills, adding just the right amount of 8-bit with the electro. Then the singing started.

Jenny; Flowing on with the beat
Through the cosmos, come fly with me
onto the stars known so well

Jamie+Buck; Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh

Jenny; Casted off right to outer space.

Jamie+Buck; Oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh

Jenny; Perfect for our galactic chase

Jamie+Buck; Oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh

MUCH BETTER. The crowd was enjoying this tune well over the first performance, much to the Dazzlings' annoyance. How were they suddenly SO GOOD?! Blue, as if he too wanted to kick up the performance over the Dazzlings, went off behind stage and started up what remained of their special effects, shining stars now spinning on stage. what better way to describe the galaxy?

Jamie+Buck+Jenny; We got the music
Make you move it
got the song that makes you lose it
No galaxy star too high
Put your arms up to the sky!

We got the music
Make you move it
got the song that makes you lose it
No galaxy star too high
Put your arms up to the sky!

Sour Cream then brought out his signature glowsticks, tossing them out to the crowd. Many of these glowsticks were caught by many a person in the crowd, even Blue catching one in the air. Nothing like a bunch of shining, cosmic glowsticks to add some extra pizazz to the party.

Jamie+Buck; Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh

Jenny; Onto the stars, you had fell

Jamie+Buck; Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh

Jenny; drawn to the galaxy's spell

Jamie+Buck+Jenny; Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh
Onto the stars, we had fell
Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh
drawn to the galaxy's spell

This song everyone was digging to, either cheering to the band, or dancing along to it. Some waved their glowsticks to the sick beats, others just danced with them in hand, adding some extra glow to the night show. No one was arguing during this song this time, and for the Dazzlings, this was the exact opposite of what they wanted. This was basically insult to injury. Yet while Aria and Adagio were annoyed at this defeat, this was just more embarrassing when they actually saw Sonata Dusk dancing to the song herself. Well, one of them was enjoying it at least. Besides, with such a catchy future beat, how could sonata not dance to it?

"You're right Adagio, this is really good!" Sonata beamed.

Adagio just banged her head on the side of the stage.

There's no doubt that they were beaten at their own game.

~~~~~~

Well, the contest came and went, and Jamie was going off on his own routes again. It really didn't seem to matter too much to him who exactly won said contest, but with the Dazzlings now gone and out of town, he felt more secure with the future of Beach City. It did seem a bit abrupt with their defeat and all, but so long as Beach City was in one piece, who was to argue? Jamie went along his route as he would every day, checking in on things as he went along too, and also having some unique information on magic for a few Ponies and Gems once they come back to life, whenever that may be.

"Well, that's that. Beach City's secure, situation's neutralized, yep. Just gotta deliver one more thing to the house and it'll be all good for today," Jamie told himself, having not a letter but a package for Steven. This order was a while coming admittedly, and there was quite a lot in the bunch too. Jamie stopped by the mailbox, as usual, seeing the mailbox still full of his letters to Lapis Lazuli.

"Oh, Lazuli. I wish you'd return soon, I got much to tell you," Jamie sighed. With no one to sign the papers though for delivery, Jamie could only go on to drop off the actual packages onto the ground by the mailbox. He was sure they'll see it whenever they would come back around. After placing the bags by the mailbox, he took a look off towards the Temple once again. The home was still gone, so Jamie was sure it'll be sometime yet. … Maybe. With magic just being used, he wasn't so sure. Jamie's eyes then looked up to the sky again. for the past couple of weeks, the skies had looked pretty much starry throughout. But today, something was a little different. The stars up in the sky didn't look as prominent as they were before. Sure, they were still there somewhat, but compared to the days prior, they were fading away fast.

And suddenly something else happened that made Jamie's heart jump. It started off a little bit slower than a typical regeneration, but Jamie became witness to the Temple's magic at work. The cave, which had laid dormant for a long time, had started to come alive with a white glow.

"Whoa, what's happening, what's happening?!" Jamie stuttered, keeping his distance. But the light wasn't there to harm him, but instead it began to morph and shape a bit just outside of the cave. Soon as the form was complete, the light disappeared, revealing the ultimate sign of the fallout phase finishing. The Beach House was back!

Jamie … didn't know how to process this. He turned, and started walking away awkwardly, ever slowly the implications starting to come to him.

"Ogheuurghwuh-Tsehuuaw!- (He begins to flap his arms like a bird.) Whop!- Whop!- Whop!- Whop!- Whop!- Whop!- Whop!"

My Little Universe: Supernova

by EquestrianKirin

Fallout (Earth)