The sound of the school bell ringing through the campus was enough to make the students break out to the final period, knowing they would be one step closer to going home. For Midnight Rider, he was looking forward to band tryouts but first he had to take care of sports where Rainbow Dash was in charge of the soccer team or as the Americans called it, football. Midnight had played soccer with his sister before back in Australia, It was their favorite sport next to cricket.They had good times passing the ball around and even now they were still close She always kicked my ass at soccer he chuckled to himself. He traveled down the corridor thinking about what was that nagging feeling about Adagio at the back of his mind, was it really love or something else? Whatever it was he pushed the thought away for now, sports was waiting and it was going to be fun, but not as fun as the band tryouts for Flash Drive after school
Just after passing the cafeteria, he met up with Rainbow Dash who seemed to be waiting for him. She was tossing her soccer ball up and down with her athletic legs and stopped to carry the ball under her arm. "Hey, Midnight." she greeted in her trademark scratchy voice "Football is about to start, I hope you can keep up" said Rainbow dash sporting a competitive smirk.
Midnight gave her a look that said he was up for a challenge"I'm ready for anything," He said giving Rainbow a fist-bump after she made the gesture "I don't think we introduced ourselves, my names Midnight Rider"
"Rainbow Dash" She introduced herself spinning the ball on her finger " I'm in charge of every sports team in Canterlot High" She added with a flair of arrogance. The two shared a good laugh. Rainbow could tell midnight was athletic, well toned and built for endurance, he'd be handy on her team. Midnight looked ready for a good game, he wasn't in it to win it, he just saw these things as an opportunity to have fun. The two made their way through the hallways and onto the sports oval talking about the dazzling's
Rainbow looked him in the eye and asked him straight out. "Hey, midnight, why did you help the dazzlings?" She was confused as to why he would help those three girls who tried to take over the school "They nearly brainwashed the entire school" Midnight looked at her with his blue-green eyes and thought of a response, why did he help them? Why did he give them the benefit of the doubt? Perhaps he saw the good in them or because he had a kind heart. Whatever compelled him to help he stated his reasons
"Because." he hesitated for a second "Adagio told me everything, but I feel like their is good in them" He smiled as he remembered the day he took them in, a million thoughts going through his mind. "Why did I help them? Its because they can't be on the streets, it would be callous to turn them away" Rainbow Dash did not trust his judgement at all, she decided she would let it slide for now. She had already picked her team mates including Applejack, Sunset, and Midnight, she was looking forward to this game of soccer. The sun was shining bright and golden with a heated glow, and there were no clouds to be seen, it was the perfect weather for physical activity. Shortly after the teams had been picked, the coach, whose name was Iron Will, strutted down onto the oval, he was a large and beefy man who was referred to as over assertive in his methods by the students. The massive coach claimed he served two tours of duty in Afghanistan,though the students who were currently with him on the oval all believed he was just blowing out hot air, especially Rainbow Dash in particular who was trying to stifle her giggling after Iron Will said he had gone to war but had no medals to prove it.
Turning to face the students, Iron Will brought out a dodge-ball letting them know what sport they would be playing "Alright, listen up." He bellowed in a voice like Hulk Hogan or Mr T "Today, you doormats will be playing dodge ball, I pity the fool who thinks this is just child's play" turning to face them, he divided the two teams. This was going to be fun for him, watching the students compete and show their assertiveness in a very rough sport. Rainbow dash wanted to complain but the glare that Iron Will gave her before she could silenced her On his mark he blew out a shrill whistling sound on his coach whistle signalling the beginning of the match. the first three students picked up the balls that they could pick up and threw one at Derpy who dodged it with relative ease. her friends even nicknamed her the chameleon for being able to see in two different directions. In retaliation Rainbow tossed a ball to Derpy who got it from Midnight and threw but this was also a weakness. Terrible aim. So terrible the target caught the ball sending Derpy to the bench.
Midnight saw a student getting ready to throw a ball at Sunset Shimmer from behind as she was picking up the ball. "Sunset, behind you."
He shouted, and got her attention. With split second timing, Sunset used the ball she picked up and neatly deflected the thrown projectile with speed that could rival the fastest man in the entire world. She quickly threw her own ball at her sneaky attacker and successfully hit her mark, turning to give Midnight a two fingered salute in gratitude. "Thanks for that heads up, Midnight." she thanked him gratefully. Cherry Crash took a moment to find Midnight on the opposite side of the field and threw a very hard ball at midnight who was taken by surprise and went to the bench with Derpy.
The match went on for the entire session and only Sunset was left against the entire opposing team. It all came down to this, if Sunset wanted to turn the tide, she would have to catch one of the many balls that were going to be thrown at her. That would not be an easy challenge, she would have to catch one ball and not get hit by one before that happened. Cherry gave her team the signal "your going down, Shimmer" said cherry as she threw her ball towards Sunset Shimmer. As the first ball sped towards her, it looked as if she was thrown out of the game. but to cherry and her teams dismay, Sunset had caught the ball, meaning Cherry had thrown herself out, fuming with anger she went to the bench as Sunsets team was brought back to the playing field, effectively turning the tide of the match and winning the game. But there was no time to celebrate, the final bell had started to ring, signaling the end of school, and the beginning of after school activities
*
It was time, Midnight was nervous about his audition for Flash Sentrys band, who had named it Flash drive Sounds like he might have an ego if he's named it after himself he thought humorously. He decided to give it a go and opened the door to one of the music rooms. Once inside he saw Flash and his band working on their instruments , tuning them to the right tune that each one would make except the drmmer who didn't need to tune his instruments. Midnight then decided that he would take the initiative.
"Hey mates." Midnight greeted while giving a wave. "Are you the band Sunset Shimmer told me about?"
Flash took this opportunity to smile at the new arrival, Sunset had told him all about a certain Australian and how he was interested in trying out for the lead singer position.
"Yes we are."
Flash finished tuning his fender stratocaster and got up to shake Midnight's hand. "Flash Sentry," he introduced himself while shaking his possible new singer and finding out that the Aussie immigrant had a firm grip almost crushing his main hand. "lead guitarist for Flash Drive, man you have a really strong handshake" he added trying to ignore the fading pain in his strumming hand. Midnight put his hand behind his head awkwardly. Laughing in a humorous chuckle.
"yeah I get that a lot." said midnight with a smile, showing off his incredible pearly whites. Flash and his friends figured that he never had a cavity in his life, not one single cavity. "So anyway, its a pleasure to meet you guys, who are your friends?" A buff teen came up followed by a teen that midnight thought that he was somewhat of a beatnik with his goaty and sunglasses.
"Brawly Beats." the big guy announced with vigor
"Ringo." said the beatnik like teen with a stoic expression.
"So?" Flash began while leaning against a pillar in the room " whats your name?" Asked the spikey haired guitar picker."Sunset never told us your name other than your the only Aussie here at the school."
"Midnight Rider." He responded simply and took off his hat, putting it on a stand, Flash immediately noticed that without his akubra hat, Midnight certainly looked like an 80s glam rocker, now Flash was an 80s kind of teenager, he was into motley crue, poison, bon jovi, WASP, Sweet and KISS in fact this was the type of look he wanted his new singer to look like but can he sing? Flash thought.
"Well," flash said getting an instrumental of Kickstart my heart. " If you can sing this particular song without missing a beat, we will think about it. " He motioned to Brawly to set up the microphone and connect it with the speakers. Midnight got himself ready to sing, using his breathing exercises to be better prepared to hopefully earn his position as the singer of Flash Drive. Ringo took the instrumental compact disc and put it into the sound system. As soon as it was inserted, the pounding guitar riff of Mick Mars began to rev up like the engine on a motorcycle, afterwards the main riff started up, Midnight knew this song very well and began headbanging to the bass line and kept within the drums rhythm. Now the song was really beginning to crank up giving him an enormous amount of adrenaline and then came the sound of a singer whose voice would be envied by everyone, it was none other than midnight sounding like Ronnie James Dio mixed with the vocal shrieks of Ian Gillan of Deep purple fame.
When I get high i get high on speed, top fuel funny car's a drug for me my heart, my heart, kick start my heart always got the cops coming after me custom built bike doing one oh three my heart, my heart kick start my heart. Oh are you ready girls, yeah are you ready now? whoa! Yeah! Kickstart my heart give it a start, whoa! yeah! baby!
Immediately the instrumental was stopped and Flash Brawly and Ringo were so impressed that their jaws very nearly hit the floor. Midnight was just standing their giving off an exuberant smile that just sold them, soon after they began clapping and Flash came up to him with a look of awe plastered on his face "Whoa, Midnight not only have you got the perfect voice for flash drive, you have the charisma that could take us straight to the top" Midnight couldn't believe what he was hearing, he got the lead singer position, he couldn't wait to tell the dazzlings who he didn't know were planning to stage a heist to steal the gem shards from whoever it that was keeping a very close and watchful eye on the shards.
"Thanks flash, so I got the job?" He asked already knowing the answer.
Flash gave him a curt nod and smiled at his new lead singer, ensuring the band had become a quartet, a singer, a guitarist, a drummer and a bassist. Things were finally looking up for Midnight, he had friends his sister and for some reason he just couldn't get Adagio out of his mind, he knew he needed to get the shards but who had them. He would find out sooner or later if he didn't his first three new friends would be turned to dust, and he vowed not to let that happen. No matter what. Because his loyalty is his greatest defining trait.