//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: Sugar Rush 
// Story: Lessons from Another Dimension 
// by HolyOrdersOtaku 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 9: Sugar Rush



I don’t mind you comin’ here, wasting all my time. Cause’ when you’re standing oh so near, I kind of lose my mind. It’s not the perfume that you wear. It’s not the ribbons in your hair. I don’t mind you comin’ here, and wasting all my time…I guess you’re just what I needed.


Bass walked at a brisk pace from the hospital. He rather liked that Rainbow was so selfless to do what she does, but at the same time he was inconvenienced. It was one of the few cases where he didn’t mind being inconvenienced, but he could still argue that he was inconvenienced. Not that he would argue, per se.
He digressed, and continued his trek to Sugar Cube Corner, trying to get their before somepony else dragged him away. And so, by only greeting ponies when they greeted him first, he managed to arrive in one piece at Sugar Cube Corner. 
But it was not to last.
Just as he was about to open the door, it flew open from the inside and a pink blur moving at untold speeds tackled him to ground. Is it International Take Bass Down Day? He thought.
A loud gasp was heard above him, which he couldn’t see through the stars floating around his head, and a loud voice followed. “Oh my gosh Bass you’re here I didn’t think you were gonna show up until I felt an Ear-Flop-Neck-Pop-Supermane-Seat-Grab-Backflip-Three-Sixty-Backwards and then I knew that Bass Chord which is you  was going to drop by to pick up his bass guitar that the town gave him but he forgot because I accidentally told everypony that he wasn’t a pony because I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret but no harm was done and you became bestest friends with everypony anyway!”
Bass shook his head to clear his vision and he saw Pinkie standing on top of him. “Uh, what?” he asked.
“Oh, you didn’t hear me? Let me repeat that then! I said…” Bass’s hoof was shoved into her mouth.
“Pinkie, I don’t know if you’ve ever had this said to you before, but shut up. You’re the third concussion I’ve experienced today, I’d rather not put a headache on top of it.”
He removed a hoof when she nodded. “What do you mean third? Shouldn’t you be at the hospital if you had a concussion?”
Bass smiled. “Just came from there, actually. Now get off. I would like to stand, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure!” Pinkie said as she hopped off and helped him up at the same time. “So, you ready for you bass, Bass?” She giggled at the repetition of the word bass. Bass nodded, and she presented him, out of nowhere, the bass guitar.
Now was the first time Bass actually got a good look at the instrument. Before he could only really tell how many strings it had and what color it was. It was black and four stringed; he noticed that the style was similar to one from his world. It was a type that he recognized instantly due to the fact that every time he got a guitar catalogue he drooled over the photos of this very guitar. It was a Rickenbacker 4003 bass guitar, and if what Pinkie meant was true, it was now his. “You’re kidding me,” he said.
“What, you like this model? I hoped you would. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to pick one out and take donations to buy it. It didn’t take long to get all two thousand bits, surprisingly,” she said with a smile..
“Two things, Pinkie. One; you absolutely did not have to do this, and two; I am going to come up with a word to describe your personality before the day is over with. Currently existing words do not do you justice.”
“Well, I thought it’d be cool to get it, and everypony else seemed to agree. Especially Twilight!”
“Twilight? What did she have to do with this? She was with me the whole time before the party.”
Pinkie smiled. “Was Spike?” Bass tried to remember if he was, and he recalled that for thirty minutes Spike was MIA. Or rather, there were thirty minutes where Bass would have never noticed Spike’s absence. “Me and Twilight used him for a bit to relay a few messages. She donated about two hundred of the bits that went toward the bass.”
“I’ll have to thank her for that,” Bass said. “Seriously, this is fantastic. But still, why?”
“Well, you see…” music seemed to be coming from no where.
“Wait, are you…?” Bass started to ask.

“Everypony needs a friend,
Even if they’re a stranger~!”

“You are, aren’t you,” he concluded.

“So you see we’re all just so kind,
Because none of us feel anger~!
You may feel like you are different,
And you may feel down.
But we’re all friends here, Bass,
And we don’t want to see you frown~!
I’ve said before that all I want is a smile,
So please just give me a grin~!
Once you start to laugh and you just can’t stop,
You realize then that you already win~!
So please, Bass, laugh with me,
And you will see that we’re all so fun~!
Show the world how wide you smile,
And they will see a light as bright as the sun~!
Come on, Bass, just laugh with me,
And we will have a good time~!
Now please forgive my bad ending,
Because I don’t have a rhyme~!”

Bass stared wide eyed at the mare. She had just come up with a song on the spot (seemingly), had music come from…honestly Bass didn’t know, and she even danced to the music. It was ridiculous. It was without a doubt one of the strangest things Bass had ever seen. To top it off, he was sure that she purposely ended the song the way she did, which is in and of itself untrue and ironic. For all of these reasons did Bass collapse on the ground hugging the Rickenbacker laughing his pony head off.
“See, we can have fun her, can’t we Bass?” Pinkie asked.
After catching his breath and wiping away tears of laughter, Bass finally stood up. “That was interesting, Pinkie. I’ll give you points for creativity and for making me laugh.”
“That’s what I’m here for, silly! I’m here to make you laugh. Well, not you specifically, but everypony! But, right now, I felt that you needed it more than anypoy else!”
Bass gave her a curious look while still smiling. “And why is that? Because I’m the new guy in town?”
Pinkie shook her head. “You’re homesick, aren’t you?”
Immediately Bass sobered up from his amusement and began to frown. “Is it that obvious? I didn’t think anypony had noticed.”
“Well, unless you’ve told anypony, I’m sure that I’m the only one who noticed. You see, I have these feelings, right? I call them my Pinkie Sense! Like when I knew Twilight was coming home early~!”
“You mean those weird symptoms that I could have sword were the signs of an epileptic?” Bass asked.
“Yeppy yep! You may not believe me, but take Twilight’s word for it! She didn’t believe me and I proved her wrong, which really wasn’t my intention and it sort of just happened and there really isn’t a good explanation as to how that happened and you just had to see that particular episode yourself but I digress!” she finished in a single breath. “The point is, I know when ponies are feeling down, and I don’t like ponies to feel sad. I want to make ponies laugh and smile and party!”
Bass was just amazed by Pinkie. Scratch that, now that he thought about it, he was amazed by all of the mares that were helping him. “Why are you six ponies so good? The six of you are nicer, more polite, and more helpful than most of the people I know back home!”
“Because we’re the Elements of Harmony! Or, rather, we’re the bearers of the Elements, but we still represent their spirits! Or something like that. I dunno!”
“The Elements of What Now?” Bass asked.
Pinkie took in a big, deep breath. “You see, a few years ago a big meanie called Nightmare Moon attacked and that’s when the five of us met Twilight and she wanted to stop Nightmare Moon so we decided to help and in the process we found out that we were the spirits of the Elements of Harmony Rarity is Generosity Fluttershy is Kindness Rainbow is Loyalty Applejack is Honesty I the amazing Pinkie Pie am Laughter and Twilight is Magic. After we found out about our new super awesome super hero powers we stopped Nightmare Moon who was actually Princess Luna under the control of the Nightmare Forces who were really big meanies and then a year later Discord broke out of his stone statue rock prison thing and made chocolate rain but most of us didn’t want chocolate rain because he also ruined our friendship for a but so we froze him rock again using the Elements and then we used them to break him free on purpose and Fluttershy became his friend but that’s a different story altogether any questions?”
Bass blinked. “Not only did I miraculously understand what you just said, which I will never figure out how I did, but I’m also surprised. I’ve been thinking about your ‘Elements’ all day without even realizing it.”
“We embody them, or whatever. I dunno. I just like to make people smile.”
“Laughter,” Bass echoed. “Makes more sense than it really should.” He laughed quietly. “Well, Pinkie, you’ve put a lot on my mind to think about. If you don’t mind, I would like to go back to Twilight’s house to rest a little bit.”
“Okie dokie lokie! Here,” she replied. “Take some cupcakes too! They’re leftovers from last night, but they’re still good!”
He thanked her and departed. It was now four in the evening and Bass was getting tired. Not sleepy, mind you, but exhausted to the point that he desperately wanted to just sit down with his new Rickenbacker and toy with it. He made his way to the library without any interruptions and he walked in. “Welcome,” Twilight chimed from her librarian’s desk. “Oh, Bass! You’re back. How was your day?”
“Holy hell,” he said. “It was a day, I can say that much.”
Twilight frowned. “Was it bad?”
“No, not really. Inconvenient at the worst, but I actually had a good day. But it felt long and exhausting. I’ll tell you about it later.” He strode up the stairs to the guest room. He stopped. “Hey, Twilight?”
“Yes?” she asked.
“If you still want to hear about my sleep last night, I’d be willing to talk to you.”
She smiled. “I would like that, Bass. We can talk after you’ve rested if you’d like.”
“Actually, I think now is good. Unless you’re busy, of course.”
“Spike,” she said, getting the Dragon’s attention. Bass didn’t even notice him. I’m bad for that, aren’t I? 
He was cleaning some shelves. “Yeah, Twilight?”
“Would you take over for me for a little while?”
“Sure, I’ll get right on that,” he said as he dropped a feather duster and sat behind the desk right after she left it.
Twilight followed Bass to his room where they talked about his nightmares from the night before. She had him pause early on to grab a notebook and quill and she began taking notes. He talked about his home, his pets, his family, and his hobbies. Everything he talked about at first revolved around his homesickness. He missed his dog, Troxell, and his cat, Little Dude. He missed his older sister and his friends. He missed the books he read and the music he listened too, as well as the job he worked and dreams for the future that may never come true now that he was stuck so far from home. Then the subject changed and Bass told her about his day. Omitting a few minor details such as his preserved canine teeth, he recounted the day’s events. They talked for what felt like hours until a knock came at the door.
“Twilight, you have a visitor,” Spike said from the other side of the door.
“Who is it?” Twilight asked.
“She said she wanted to surprise both of you, so I’m not telling!”
Twilight shrugged as she set down the paper and quill. “I guess we should see who it is, hm?” She stood up and headed for the door.
“Yeah,” Bass said. “Thank you for listening, and I’m sorry about how I responded this morning. I’m just the kind of person you can’t make talk about his problems. Most of the time I keep them to myself.”
“Well, if you ever want to talk about it again, you know where to find me.” They walked together down the stairs and Twilight stopped dead in her tracks.
“Hello, Twilight Sparkle,” said a calm and somewhat old fashioned voice. “Hello, Bass Chord.”
It took Bass a few seconds before it clicked. “Oh, you’re the mare who destroyed my ear drums when I first woke up!” he exclaimed.
Princess Luna blushed. “Yes, I apologize for that, but I had to make you understand that what you were experiencing was real.”
Finally Twilight managed to speak. “Princess Luna, what are you doing here?”
“Am I not allowed to visit?”
“O-of course, its just that this is so sudden. I didn’t have time to clean and reclean everything! I had no time to prepare for your arrival!”
Bass shook his head and interrupted. “So, you’re the one who stuck me with the name Bass Chord?”	
“Is it not to your liking? My sister said that you did not mind when you awoke yesterday morning.”
“Oh, I like it. Love it, actually. I was gonna say thank you for doing it in my stead. I would have probably named myself something silly and fantastically over the top like Solstice Dawnborn of Avent Embry of the Wolf’s Den or something.”
“Interesting choices, Bass Chord,” Luna said.
“Just Bass, please. I never liked being referred to ny full name, even on my world.”
“Why would you have picked those names, if I may ask?”
Bass smiled sheepishly. One thing he was in his world was a slight geek. Okay, maybe not slight, but he usually wasn’t very open about that. “I, uh, played a tabletop game called Dungeons and Dragons. Those were my two most used characters. One was a rogue, the other a wizard.”
“I see,” Luna said. “But, enough idle talk. I came here for a reason. Bass, it seems we have found something about your arrival in Equestria.”
“Have you figured it out?” Twilight asked.
“Not entirely. But we do know this; your world and ours were linked at one point, and that link may have begun to reconnect. Whether or not you are the first of many, or if you are a fluke has yet to be determined, but we are sure that there is connection somewhere within this world that should not be.”
“How will you know what it is?”
“Honestly I don’t think we will until something manages to be transported again. So, with that in mind, I come bearing bad news. You should probably prepare for a long term stay, Bass Chord. It may be that your visit may turn permanent.”
Bass slumped down. He didn’t even want to correct her about his name again. First, last, real, or fake; it didn’t matter now. Unless a miracle happened, he would be stuck in Equestria.