Adventures in The 6ix

by Wiz Ahmad

Chapter 31: Breezy Reveals the Plan

XAVIER POV

TORONTO STREETS

“Thank you, Breezy,” Tempest said with a smile and a bipedal hug – and large ones at that.

“And thank you for keeping a good composure,” I replied, returning the favor, as we walked out of the legal services building. The people there were kind enough to give Tempest a chance at getting a form and other papers to confirm her start of community service.

“So… where do you plan to carry this out?” Joyce asked as we drove home.

“I honestly don’t know,” Tempest confessed. “But I do believe I need some fresh air, and so I’ll be heading out tomorrow out of the city.”

“Where to?”

“Whereever I feel high and dry, but also tranquil and unbothered.”

“Ah, all the same with muscular ol’ Fizzy. Still a loner, eh?”

“If there’s one whose company I wouldn’t mind for a while, it’d be a respectful mid-size beast of nature, or Grubber – when he behaves himself. Or… you.”

I had to blush at that: she actually enjoyed my company. It was better than sulking over the pain of her past alone, after all.

As we turned onto our home street, I noticed quite a few figures outside.

Pinkie was on her bike, trying to do a handstand over the handlebars, but kept flipping forward. Spike, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were playing catch with a ball, and Rarity was… wait a minute.

Skystar’s eyes were as wide as mine as we took in the reality of the sight before us. Rarity, the fashionista who hated dirt and unrefined items of uncouth ugliness, was dancing around on one of my boards. A quick glance at the deck revealed it wasn’t my Element, nor Tempest’s 9-ply. It was a signature white ZERO deck with a skull and blood-streak graphic, purple Thunder trucks, and white-and-blue Spitfire wheels. She’d even painted her cutie mark on the grip tape.

“Did you approve of this?” Joyce asked flatly.

“Absolutely not,” I confided. “But it’s too badass for me to care. She just needs to be reminded not to use items without permission.”

I parked on the opposite side of the street and walked over, still in my handsome getup. Almost immediately Rarity stopped and walked over, flipping the board on its side to stop it rolling away.

“Oh, hi Xavier. You-you’re back. What’s the verdict?” she asked rather hurriedly. I had to smile as I could literally see the hearts in her eyes. I must’ve looked like some sort of heavenly being of sorts to her. But I had a point to make.

“Why did you take my skate parts?” I asked crossly. “This is the second time I’ve caught one of you using property without permission.”

Before Rarity could say or do anything in return, Twilight teleported in a flash right in front of me and hugged my legs tightly.

“Xavier! Xavier I’m so sorry! Please… I was looking through your collection and I remembered watching you setup your board… so…”

“So you decided to try it yourself, huh?” I huffed, glaring down at her. “Without asking.”

“Yes… I’m sorry, Xavier! Please don’t leave me… please don’t leave us.”

I simply lifted my head and shot an accusative look at Rarity. “And then you got carried away with the finished product. Didn’t you!”

Rarity simply nodded, and I sighed. “Twilight, get off me please and get inside.” I turned to Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Spike. “You three too. Where’s Fluttershy?”

“She’s inside watching some animal videos,” Spike answered.

“More the merrier,” I muttered, tightening the grip on my folder of files and documents as I walked up to the door.

---

HOME

Skystar, Tempest, and I changed into casual clothing, and we had a long talk. I explained what happened in court and the truth of the outcome, as well as a few of my plans for the coming month. But the burning question came back again.

“Will we be able to get home?”

“The answer to that is beyond anyone’s grasp. It can only be uncovered by investigating and observing. I plan to do that later today in the evening, during the gap between the rush hour and sundown. We’ll begin right where you all started. But you have to promise me that you won’t touch anything in my room – besides the blanket and bed, of course. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Mr. Xavier,” everyone replied (except my mom, of course).

“Good. Now, for today, let’s have some fun outside. You can head to the park and enjoy yourselves before sunset, or join me as I attempt to assemble, refine, mix, and master the song recordings we did earlier.”

“Thank you, dear,” Rarity said with a smile. I lifted her front hooves onto my knees and smoothly caressed her neck, taking care not to damage her well-kept mane.

“You’ll always be special to me,” I whispered. “And so are your friends. Cool design scheme you did on that board setup. I actually got that deck as a freebie from an old friend. The graphic was rather unique, so I kept it as a collector’s item. Honestly it’s rather too big given your size as a pony. But you can have it, if you want.”

“Thank you, thank you!” Rarity squealed, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing her cheek against my knobby ab packs. I wasn’t sure how to respond to it but it sure felt good.

While Joyce watched Twilight and the others outside, I moved my laptop, keyboard, and drum pad to the bedroom, slipped on my headphones, opened up a few tutorials, and got straight to work on my music.

I began with the recordings of the song Twilight and her friends had sung together. Chopping the vocals. Tweaking the vocals. Pitch correction. Applying EQ. Mixing them so everypony sounded correct with my piano sequence. Using VSTs wasn’t too hard, as I knew how to tweak drums and lead synths very well. After some searching, I found the final melody and started lining things up. It really was a lot of work. I had to take breaks and drink water, walk about a bit. But I wanted it done, even if it wouldn’t generate a single dime of income – because it was done by my new best friends. They were the ones who gave me hope and motivation to continue learning about music production, and helped me stop being a bum. And as a result, I was filled with new ambitions and ideas.

By sunset, I was close to finishing the nitty-gritty details. Given that some of the vocals were not precise, keeping some of them as background chorus helped provide a unique depth and feel to the song.

I sat back and listened in as I adjusted the mixer pad one last time. Just as Twilight, Rarity, and the others entered, I unplugged my headphones and hit PLAY.

Right away, the sound of galloping hooves were heard, and within minutes they were all by my side, crowed around the bed.

“Is that how it really sounds like?”

“Why does it sound like we were in a cave?”

“Such a good symphony…”

I let the song finish, then hit the STOP button to explain.

“I chopped the vocals, then refined each chop and synced it to all the instruments, which I individually picked and adjusted to fit the vocals properly. Finally, I equalized and mastered the whole composition. Took a couple hours but here we are. The vocals where all of you are singing together was too complicated, so I fixed the pitch and EQ, then simply added an echo effect to make it sound like a concert hall chorus of sorts, while still keeping in tune with the instruments.”

“Keep this up and yah could be workin’ with Coloratura,” Applejack remarked.

“Who?”

“Coloratura, or Rara. She’s a good friend from summer camp and a well-known singer in Equestria. But she’s humble, friendly and loves to help out others.”

It was a far-fetched thought, but I went for it. “What do you play your music on?”

“Well, DJ-PON3 typically uses wireless headphones powered by her magic, and she mixes using thin black discs.”

“LP records, I believe,” I corrected. “Cool. Mix of old and new school. Because I wanted to save some of my music to a format that you could enjoy when you return.”

“You serious? That’s… really nice of you,” Spike commented, plopping into my lap. I gave him a little head-rub, and he returned the favor with a hug.

“I enjoy sharing my love of creative music with others, even if I’m not the best at it,” I replied, rubbing my sore, scraped knuckles. God, Spike’s scales were tough. Not likely to stop a .40 SW round, but could definitely leave a school bully regretting a thrown punch.

With the song complete, I gave it one final listen before exporting it to several formats. While Rarity took a shower, I printed out a few concept maps, diagrams, and schedule charts (which somehow turned Twilight into a little filly on her birthday watching her presents being opened). I calculated how much money I had left, re-evaluated my wish list, checked my automotive expenses, and filled in what I had accomplished so far in music and what I had to learn next. Finally, I unrolled a sheet of large paper – about eighteen inches wide by two feet high, and began drawing.

“What is this?” Twilight asked inquisitively, although I could still hear the excitement in her voice.

“It’s a plan for how I plan to help you return you home. Bit of what would be considered ‘sci-fi’ or ‘absurd fantasy’ in our world, but given your abilities, I call no horseapples.”

Applejack giggled and nudged my shoulder. “Catchin’ the Apple Family lingo, eh pardner?”

“Aye,” I replied. “Somewhat. Now, here’s how this is gonna work. For inter-dimensional and inter-universe travel to work, there has to be a powerful enough beam of energy – or magic, in your case - to be able to break through the set balances of time, matter, energy, and space to be able to transport it through that rift. Now, realistically speaking, the fastest you can go in such a case would be 186,300 miles per second, which is as fast as light itself. I know, don’t try to comprehend that too much.”

“Now, I want to trace back to exactly the area where you crash-landed in Toronto, and thoroughly search a 2-mile radius. Given how far away Equestria possibly is, it’s likely to have dispersed the Elements of Harmony upon impact. Rationally but theoretically speaking, there’s no way that magic crystal mirror of yours can be that powerful upon malfunction except with a booster of sorts. And what better ones than the physical, living, representatives of the Elements of Harmony themselves?”

“I…I…” Twilight looked like her head was about to burst as her words died in her throat. So Applejack did the talking.

“Are ya sayin’ that the Elements of Harmony are responsible for bringing us to your world?”

“Indirectly, yeah. But there’s still a burning question: did the physical gems that hold the power of the Elements of Harmony also get transported here? Because if they can generate that much power to send you all to other world far, far away, then they can also do so the other way, and return them back to Equestria. Kind of a way of reverse magical engineering. There’s one catch, however.”

“Which is?” Twilight pressed, her eyelids twitching nervously and her eyes so wide I thought I’d been teleported into a scene from Psycho.

“Hang on, let me grasp this…” I turned away from her zombie glare for a moment, and slapped my face to regain my thinking conscience. “…there needs to be a receiving signal first. From Equestria. That signal must be equal in its design, strength, and capabilities to reach out into time, space, and matter to pick up on anything it finds similar, which should be the Elements of Harmony. Once that happens, a bond is formed, and the rift can open, allowing for super-fast travel between realms. However, the ‘pulling force’ from Equestria has to gain the same, if not more power, than what the crystal mirror had when it malfunctioned. There are a zillion parameters for glitches, but only a few hundred thousand for total error.”

“It’s a rather long shot, but it’s still plausible. Better to try than to not do anything at all, right?” I concluded.

Everyone nodded. Everypony that is, except Twilight.

“Oy, Miss Purple Psycho Freakout Brain, stop overthinking it!” I snapped, hitting the bedside table with my fist with a BANG!

That got everyone’s attention, and I immediately refined my serious face – the one I used at work when a customer was being a snowflake. “We can do this, and we will succeed. We just need to take it one at a time, and plan it out properly. This is a rough draft. If you can cooperate, I’ll be able to tweak it and narrow it down to a more plausible and low-risk structure. Okay?”

“Yes, Breezy!” everyone replied in sync like soliders – even Twilight.

“Good. Now let’s get some sleep. We’ve got more to discuss in the morning.”

Author's Note:

Quick filler before Tempest's adventure (you have no idea lol)