A message from Equestria found its way to Mobius, something Tails, Cosmo and all their friends happily awaited to happen. It was an invitation to a special event coming up for Rainbow Dash, being planned by Pinkie Pie, the pony the couple came to know as the best party planner in all of pony kind. The invite was titled as a ‘Birth-iversary Spectacular,’ leaving the couple that received it confused by exactly what it mean. One thought it was a special title for an upcoming birthday, and another thought it was more than one occasion going on at once.
Towards the bottom was a small paper taped under the request to reply with number of guests coming to the event. Cosmo took the paper and opened to find a small note Pinkie wrote with a particular request-
Hey guys!
I came up with an idea that blows all my other ideas away! It would be extra super special awesome if you guys and your band wouldn’t mind playing for Ponyville again! I hope you say yes, because Dashie LOVES the show you did before! Please RSVP ASAP!
-Pinkie Pie
They saw the date of the party being just a week away, and on a day both knew they could make the time to visit Equestria again. There was, however, the day following that made them question the Team JAG Band’s involvement in this party. After the band’s first show of the year, and allowing one of their members and his loved one some time back home before going ahead with it, they decided to spend a week keeping the fire that sparked going. The resulting idea would commence the day after Pinkie’s party.
“Do you think they’d be up for another event there?” Cosmo asked.
“Maybe,” Tails replied, “but I won’t know until I give them a call. If not, then there may be a sort of compromise we can make.”
/)∞(\
On the day of the party, Tails and Cosmo were the first to arrive back in Ponyville. They used their dimensional gate from home as means of travel, only bringing a couple bags, and one of Tails’s guitars strapped to his back. Little did they expect was to find themselves behind a crowd of ponies, or Twilight flying over them from the center. What they never expected was watching what started next- a Goof Off.
Neither could explain what was going on, but Twilight spotted them from above and flew down to greet them. When the couple asked what was going on, she explained about a new pony who came to town, named Cheese Sandwich, offering to make Rainbow’s Birth-iversary Extravaganza epic, but Pinkie has issued the Goof Off challenge to see who would host the event. As the competition progressed, the rest of the band arrived through a couple other portals near the trio, the alicorn princess explaining things for a second time when they all were grouped together.
The competition itself was a spectacle of chaos, being both playful and insane, as a pink mare and a golden orange stallion tried to impressive the contest’s judge – Rainbow Dash – with their antics. After so much, it ended after Pinkie forfeited. Not long after, the truth of Cheese’s motives were revealed to her, reaching an understanding that led the two to work together and create the cyan pegasus’s epic party a success.
It wasn't long before the ponies had set up the remaining party necessities, and about an hour before it would all begin, the band had finished setting up their equipment on the provided stage. The night’s smaller scale compared to the usual shows involved only using a certain amount of equipment, just enough to fit on the back stage and leave open on the front for performing. The one exception was adding two stands on opposite sides of the front so each could have a custom percussion setup. As for their other equipment other than guitars and microphones, they managed to fit two full drum kits on risers, and a DJ setup, a keyboard section and piano in front of that, all hidden behind the stage curtains.
While everypony else was still busy, Rainbow and Twilight spent a little time to bond with their returning visitors, particularly the couple that they found a month ago.
“I’m so happy that the spell you gave me worked,” Twilight said, referring to another message between the two worlds that was delivered. “Pinkie talked to me about inviting you all here as a surprise and asked if I was able to do it at the time. Glad to see that it made its way to you.”
“We pulled up all the known info about magical transport we could and found ones that we felt would work best with your magic. If anyone is glad it worked it’s us, because we knew you could pull it off,” Cosmo replied kindly.
“Hopefully you’ll manage to show the magic’s full extent soon enough,” Tails added.
“What do you mean…” Twilight started to ask, but began to get the idea in her head about what he meant. “Oh, of course. I’m sure that will happen when I get the right time to practice.”
Rainbow wrapped a leg around her friend to get her attention and say “There’ll be plenty time for that after my big blowout! This is going to become the most undeniably, unbelievably, unforgettable party of all birth-iversary parties!”
“Judging by what your two planners are cooking up, I’m willing to believe it,” stated Jason. He and Yugi were part of this conversation as well, but only speaking briefly as the conversation was mostly spent between the ponies and fox and flower. “But you still haven’t told us about what exactly that means.”
“What about what means?” Rainbow asked.
“I believe they mean birth-iversaries,” Twilight explained.
After a lengthy “Ohhh” from her, the cyan mare explained the meaning behind it. It led into conversations about birthdays of the past, including one of Tails’ birthdays being interrupted by a certain black and red hedgehog. She then expressed her excitement about having the band come back to play a show in Ponyville at her party, saying just how much cooler it was going to get with this. This brought up a topic that was surprisingly not addressed sooner.
“Actually, Rainbow Dash, about the show,…” Cosmo started to explain.
The ponies’ looked at their friends with a different glare than before. The tone they heard made it sound as if bad news was coming their way.
Yugi continued the explanation with “The thing is, and we swear Pinkie would have mentioned this to you, we’re not playing a full set for your party.”
“What?!” a surprised Rainbow Dash yelled.
“You see,” Jason said, “before we got the invitation, we made commitments in other places, starting in a different dimension with a semi-birthday celebration tomorrow. The way we mapped out our upcoming week, we knew we couldn’t go all out so much without running ourselves too ragged.”
Then Tails took a turn to say “So when I told them about it, we decided to make this a special shortened set just for your party. There will be songs we’ve never played before, and brand new bands and vocal styles we’re going to experiment with here. It’ll be the perfect warm-up night for our tour.”
“A tour?” Twilight asked. “You guys actually go out and do concert tours?”
“Well, technically no,” the fox continued. “Other than our festival or special occasions, we’ve treated a whole year’s worth of shows like a touring cycle. This is the first time we’re going out to play and label it as a tour.”
“And given that it’s a special day to you, Rainbow Dash, we decided to add a new commitment to help you celebrate, and prepare us for a fun week of traveling,” Yugi followed.
Twilight spoke before her friend and said “Wow, that was awfully kind of you. Birthday shows and a special tour, you guys really like to keep busy with music.” She shifted her eyes towards Tails and Cosmo to say “I must admit I seem a little surprised that you two would agree. Given your week spent here in Ponyville, I thought you’d spend more time at home first.”
Cosmo grinned and replied “We’ll have some nights at home during the week. This is just something to do before working on other things of our own.”
“But you guys are actually came here to my party, and to play a show at it… this is gonna be… So… Awesome!” Rainbow said, her last two words a little stammered and quite high-pitched. She picked her hooves up to squeeze the sides of her face in when her friend used a hoof to stop her.
“Take it easy there, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said. “You’re starting to get a little fangirl about this.”
“Yeah,” Yugi stated, scratching the back of his head. This was something the band as a whole began to see from the ponies, more so those they didn’t personally get to know better like the Mane 6. It was new to the band that they kept in conversations behind closed doors.
Just then, Phineas and Ferb called out to Jason and Yugi to help finish a couple things with their instruments, and help the ponies out with extra preparations. The remaining four enjoyed conversation amongst each other for a little while, before Pinkie called Rainbow over to get ready to start off everything.
The remaining three walked along to see how everything else was coming, and the purple alicorn mentioned how interesting it must be to travel like how the band, how Tails and Cosmo have done for so long. What she didn’t know was that the couple were already aware of this, and the fox made a suggestion about what to offer as a sign of friendship, and an equal extent, Rainbow’s birth-iversary gift.
/)∞(\
“Alright, everypony, are you ready for the big show or what?!” Pinkie Pie announced from an onstage microphone.
Since the party began in the early evening, everypony enjoyed the festivities the two party pony hosts created for the occasion. With so much epicness done and accomplished, Cheese took his leave to travel Equestria to provide parties for ponies who would need his expertise. At the same time, the band was preparing themselves backstage.
The crowd of Ponyvillians crowded in front of the stage, with Rainbow, Twilight and their friends at the front. When Pinkie spoke to them about the next big event, they began to stomp and cheer eagerly.
“Well now’s the time for super duper hard rocking action!” the pink mare exclaimed. “They’re back to help Rainbow Dash rock, because Rainbow Dash does rock! Welcome back, our best foxy buddy Tails, and all our friends from the one, the only-
THE TEAM JAG BAND!!!”
The crowd roared with an exciting cheer as the pink host jumped offstage and into the crowd, sent on a crowd surf before being put down with her best friends. Once she had jumped, the stage’s curtain opened to reveal the band’s setup for the evening, and showing the first lineup taking the stage right away. It was starting with Ash’s lineup, with Yumi walking out with a microphone in hand – a physical trait that the ponies grew accustomed to quite quickly – and getting to the front of the stage first.
“Hello again, Ponyville! Are you ready to rock out with us again?!” the purple-haired human asked the audience. Her answer came with energizing ‘yay’s’ and ‘neighs’ from all the ponies, especially the birthday mare. “Well let’s not waste any time! We are the Team JAG Band, and we’re here to rock out Rainbow Dash’s Birth-iversary! Alright, boys, let’s do it!!...”
/)∞(\
DISCORD – After Forever/Yumi with Ash lineup/Ash on rhythm guitar, Tails on keyboard/synthesizer
LEAVING ALL BEHIND – Cellador/Yugi/Tails on rhythm guitar
STALEMATE – Stone Sour/Jason/Tails on piano, Kim on rhythm guitar
YOU THINK YOU KNOW – Device/Gohan/Ron on rhythm guitar, Dan on keyboard/synthesizer/samples
THE SOUND OF TRUTH – As I Lay Dying/Ash/Dan on rhythm guitar and clean vocals
FIGHT OR FLIGHT – Fallen Captive/Ash/Yumi on rhythm guitar, Tails on keyboard/synthesizer
“You ponies still got some partying left in you or what?!” Aelita asked the crowd, walking around the stage with a microphone. She received a response of energized cheers from them, allowing it to go on until it started to fade, and made her way to the DJ setup.
“Here’s my deal for you – we learned how much you enjoyed our last visit here, but if you want to keep rocking out, I need you to keep the party up! Jump, trot, gallop, do whatever you want to move around and get this going even faster! Now let’s start it all off, with seeing your hooves in the air, and bounce! Come on and bounce!” She then put the microphone on a nearby holder and began to DJ the next song of the set.
WITH YOUR FRIENDS – Skrillex/only with Aelita on programming/turntables/samples
CROWN OF THORNS – Kill Devil Hill/Yugi
OMERTA – Lamb of God/Gohan/Yumi on rhythm guitar/audio speech intro
THIS FIRE BURNS – Killswitch Engage/Jason/Yumi on rhythm guitar
THE HEAD AND HEART – Overkill/Ash + rhythm guitar
With the Yugi lineup forming behind them, Ami and Yumi took the front of the stage, with the first speaking to everypony. “So, we were wondering something – how many ponies like a good duet?” she asked. Her response was a cheerful yell from them all, and some louder cheering from the star of the night. “Well, how about liking a couple duets?” The next cheer was much louder, including a certain cyan pegasus whistling loudly.
Ami continued with “Then we’ve got just the two songs up next for you. First off is me and Yumi, and we’ve got a really great song we know you’ll all love. Second, we’ll have Gohan and Yugi singing a song that’s taken a decade for the original band to perfect. Right now, let’s get back to things with a new song called ‘Paradise…’”
PARADISE (WHAT ABOUT US?) – Within Temptation/Ami with Yugi lineup/Yugi on rhythm guitar, Tails on piano/keyboard, Aelita on symphony keyboard, Yumi on Tarja vocals
THE DREAM IS OVER – Mushroomhead/Gohan on Jason Popson vocals and Yugi on Waylon Reavis vocals/Jason on drums, Ash on extra drum kit, Tails on lead guitar, Yumi on rhythm guitar, Ami on bass guitar, Dan and Ron on custom percussion, Kim on keyboards, Aelita on turntables/samples
GRACE – Apocalyptica/only Tails, Dan, Ami and Yumi on cellos, Kim on drums
RISE TODAY – Alter Bridge/Jason + rhythm guitar/small outro jam
“Ok, Ponyville, who’s ready for something brand new?!” Kim asked the crowd, taking the front of the stage next, and with a new guitar. After a positive response from the ponies, she continued with “Well since Ron and I are still new, we’re giving you a special look at what we’ll be doing in the near future. This is a song by a really cool band we like, and we hope you’ll like it, too…”
RED EYED ROMANCE – Stars in Stereo/Kim + rhythm guitar with Jason lineup/Jason on extra rhythm guitar
MY OWN SUMMER (SHOVE IT) – Deftones/Ash/Aelita on turntables/samples
“Alright, ponies, it’s time to get down with your bad selves, and learn to play a little rap game,” Ron said to everypony, exciting them for the next song. “This here’s my turn to debut some new rappin’ action, and with one of the coolest new songs out there. Gohan and his boys and girl are lined up, so let’s start this by Knocking. You. Out!” With that, the band went straight into the next song.
MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT [LL COOL J] – Five Finger Death Punch/Gohan/Yumi on rhythm guitar, Ron on Tech N9ne vocals
STRIFE – Trivium/Yugi + rhythm guitar
WHO WE ARE – Machine Head/Jason + co-lead guitar/Tails on rhythm guitar, Ami and Yumi on violins/audio children’s choir
THIRTY-SECOND INTERMISSION
ENCORE:
SONIC RAINBOOM – audio instrumental
GOOD FIGHT – Creed/Jason/Tails on co-lead guitar
THE CHAMPION IN ME – 3 Doors Down/Yugi/Tails on lead guitar and co-vocals
CREEPING DEATH – Metallica/Gohan + rhythm guitar/Kim and Ron on drum kits, Jason on extra bass guitar and Jason Newsted vocals, Yugi on Matt Tuck vocals for second verse as well as lead guitar, Tails on co-lead guitar
As the sounds of the next song’s intro began to play, Dan took the last turn to speak to the crowd for that show. He called out “Thank you again, Ponyville, for another amazing night for us! We’re about to embark on a week-long tour and all y’all got us hyped and ready to go! This is our last song for tonight, and we’re getting everyone in the band in on this. Let’s close this Birth-iversary party all out, and rock harder than nopony in Equestria has before! Let’s go!!!”
ONE STEP CLOSER – Linkin Park/Ash and Dan on co-vocals/Tails on lead guitar, Yumi on bass guitar, Ron on rhythm guitar, Kim and Ami on drums, Aelita on turntables/samples, Phineas on keyboard/synthesizer, Ferb on synthtar/Reanimation intro and bridge with Yugi on Jonathon Davis vocals, joined after bridge by Jason and Gohan on extra vocals with Ash/extended outro jam
/)∞(\
The entire band lined up across the stage to join in a single bow for their Ponyville audience, the Mane 6 cheering for them the happiest. The grin on Rainbow Dash’s face was priceless after getting such a musical treat from her friends. When the band took their bow, with Tails still having the guitar he used to play through the last four songs of the set, they all noticed something.
Ponies were perhaps the most energetic and out-there kind of crowd they ever performed for. The only exception was their anniversary concerts, because of their meaning and how the life from each year’s interdimensional attendees fueled their passion for their fun project. This new world and its citizens, they were showing them much love and support ever since their first show. It was as if a group of dedication fans had been born.
And to some, only those with the most well-trained eyes, could swear that there was another figure in the crowd’s front, standing very close to Twilight from time to time. It appeared to be a filly, but it was only seemed for brief moments. What was easy to spot it was her black coat, her wings, her horn, and a distinct pair of eyes. But now, she was gone.
For the time being, the band decided to close their role in the day’s epic event by having Cosmo appear on stage, waving for both Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle to join them on stage. Without disagreement, they both flew up and stood before the band. Tails used a microphone to give a quick speech.
“It feels so great to come back to Ponyville, even if it’s been just a short time,” he told the audience. “Cosmo and I, we came to love this great place, and we couldn’t pass on a great opportunity to come back. Rainbow, it’s been so much fun to be here celebrating your great birth-iversary with everypony else. As a gift, from all of us to you, we’d like to give you this gift – a one-of-a-kind guitar!”
He then took off the guitar he had and handed it to the cyan mare. This guitar was decorated to mimic her color schemes. The six strings were colored like her rainbow-colored mane, and the body was the same color as her fur. An image of her cutie mark appeared on the headstock, shining in gloss surrounded by nuts that matched the colors of their respectful strings. It also had a guitar strap that was a rainbow-oriented color scheme matching the coats of the Mane 6.
“OhMyGoshOhMyGoshOhMyGoshOhMyGoshOhMyGoshOhMyGosh!”
That was all the pegasus pony could speak as the crowd cheered happily for their favorite flying friend. At least she wasn’t so far gone in amazement that she acknowledged her friends there on the stage and thanked them, mainly Tails and Cosmo, by giving each of them a hug.
Commandeering the microphone from Tails, Ash made a turn to speak. “That’s not the only gift we have for you, Rainbow Dash. This next one, to put it in the best way that’s all pun intended, is out of this world.”
He handed the microphone off to Gohan, who went on to say “We debated about this earlier, and we decided to extend an offer to you, and Princess Twilight, and all your best friends if they choose. As you all now know, we’ll be starting a tour tomorrow that will have us visit five different worlds in a week’s time. It’s the first time we’ll be going out to do something like this, and we decided to add something more to it.”
Yugi was next in the handoff, who said “We want to really show what our band is capable of to our new pony friends, and what better way than a tour we named inspired by everypony’s cutie marks. That’s why we cordially invite the birth-iversary pony and her friends to come with us, and be our VIP guests for our upcoming week of touring – the Showing Our Marks Tour!”
Both the winged ponies on the stage felt their jaws drop in surprise, and their best friends standing just below acting the same. This band just invited them to travel to new worlds and discover what they would find at each one. For Rainbow Dash, it was the opportunity to see just how much more epic greatness could come from new places, and explore areas that the heroic fox and iconic Seedrian have told stories about.
For Twilight, however, there was a little more to it, and Jason’s turn to speak pointed that out. “Now we know that not all the ponies can come with us right away, but you’re all welcome to join us when you can. But Twilight, we want you to come with us right from the start with Rainbow Dash, and learn more about where we’re from. Your kind ruler Princess Celestia wishes to learn more about what we’re about, and if we may suggest, what better way than you getting a first-hand – or hoof, to properly correct myself – look at what we try to create and support every day.”
Cosmo tugged on his shoulder to have permission to ask her the more formal question regarding the thought – “Twilight, would you come with us and see a little look of Team JAG? And, if you choose to, become an ambassador of Equestria towards all the connected worlds?”
The answer to everypony came to mind quickly. Even though some had responsibilities that had higher priority than beings guests for an entire week, they could still enjoy the times they’d be available for. Each one sounded off with their answers, and for each answer they gave, the Ponyville crowd cheer escalated.
“Yeehaw! I’m in!”
“It’s such an honor! I’d love to go!... Just, nothing too loud, or scary please…”
“It would be my pleasure to go with you! Just in a couple days, of course.”
“YAH! SUPER INTERDIMENSIONAL MUSIC PARTY!”
“OhMyGoshOhMyGoshOhMyGoshOhMyGosh! I am so there!”
“That settles it. I’d be more than honored to join you! And, I’d be more than humbled to represent Equestria to all your other worlds!”
As the audience let out their excitement loudly – near Pinkie Pie levels – Tails and Cosmo hugged Rainbow Dash and Twilight. The purple alicorn whispered to her Seedrian friend “I am a little concerned about where we go and what we find, but I look forward to having time with you and Tails again to show me around. Thanks so much for this. You really are such wonderful friends.”
Author's Note
While I was making Taismo: Discovering Equestria, Pinkie Pride aired and inspired me to do more when it came to the music theme in my story. Plus with Rainbow Dash being the more rock and metal fan compared to the other ponies, which a certain film has confirmed as all you bronies heard about, it was a nice opportunity to put more focus between the interactions of the ponies and the Team JAG Band. I hope you enjoy this nice little installment of my series, and look forward for more stories like these to come.
On another note, I'll just make the claim that I own none of the hyperlinked music and do that in order to better support the story, and the music itself. I'd like to encourage any reader to follow the story by checking out each song as displayed for a more enhanced experience of what my fictional band does, and if you enjoy what you hear, check out the other music by those bands. Small warning: some songs have explicit language.
Lastly, before anyone gives negative comments on this, the title I used for the chapter is a play on the classic song by Nirvana, who was recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It's my little ode to their success and recognition, with a little pony humor of course
