I'm just the man on the balcony singing "Nobody will ever remember me."
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Only Plugged In To Save Rock And Roll
I'm just the man on the balcony singing "Nobody will ever remember me."
Hey! My name's Patrick Stump. I'm the lead singer of the band Fall Out Boy. I lovehow waste anytime that I can tour all over Equestria with my best friends. Sure, they drive my crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Well, at least not again.
See, I made a huge mistake, and I'm here to tell you exactly what happened. Well, this one pony Starlight Glimmer, she- Holy smokes! Guess I should start from the beginning, huh? Heh. Anyway, here's what happened:
It was January 2010. The band had announced that we were going on hiatus for a while. We didn't want to disappoint all our loyal fans, but we all just wanted to take a quick breather from all that.
Most of us, not all.
I was talking to my best friend in the entire world, Pete Wentz. Sure, he was emo and wore eyeliner (or guyliner as he calls it), but I didn't mind. We were sitting in a coffee shop, talking about a decision I was thinking about making.
"Hey, Pete." I said.
"Yeah?" said Pete.
"I need your opinion on something." I said.
"Sure. What is it?" he asked.
"What do you think about me doing a solo tour?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I know that Fall Out Boy is on hiatus, but I still want to do something more. I respect that the rest of you want to take a break for a while, but I just kinda wanted to continue singing, you know?"
"Uh huh."
"But," I sighed. "I just don't want our fans to forget about me. I'm scared about leaving. What if no one cares about us when we come back?"
"I'm sure at least someone will remember you." said Pete, taking a sip of coffee.
"I guess."
We both sat silently at the table. So many thoughts were running through my mind at once. Maybe Pete was right. Not everyone would forget about me. But what if they just didn't care anymore? What would I do then? But I knew we were meant to be in the band. It was said by our cutie marks! All our our cutie marks had the Fall Out Boy symbol. The way our cutie marks were different, was next to the symbol, there was another picture next to it saying what we did in the band. For instance, my cutie mark is our symbol with a microphone, Joe's is our symbol with a guitar, Pete's is our symbol with his bat-heart thing next to it, and Andy's is our symbol with a drum stick.
"I mean, I think it sounds cool." said Pete. "It'll be really neat seeing you on T.V. Well, if you're tall enough so we can see you on camera. Ha."
I hated it when the band made fun of how short I was. At first I didn't mind, but now it's a thing that the band does constantly, and I'm really sick and tired of their crap. The thing I hate the most is that my best friend in the entire world was joining in with all this and just letting it slide like it's nothing.
"Stop it, Pete." I said.
Pete laughed, "Okay, okay."
The band made fun of me all the time. They used to pick on me because of my sideburns, and call me fat. No matter how many times I told them to stop, they just kept going. Now I'm skinnier and I shaved my sideburns off, but it still just bugs me.
"You know we're just joking, right?" said Pete, with a smug look on his face.
Sure doesn't seem like it.
"Whatever." I looked out the window. I heard Pete chuckle.
Once we were done, the band- er, me, Pete, Andy and Joe- all met up at my house so I could tell them about what I was planning on doing.
"Sound like a good idea?" I asked once I was done explaining.
"Sure." said Joe. "Just make sure you stand on a chair so we can see you."
Everyone laughed.
"I swear I will slap each and everyone of you guys." I said, growing irritated.
"If you can reach!" said Andy. Everyone laughed harder.
"Look at him!" said Joe, resting him arm on top my head. "He's the perfect armrest!"
I shoved his arm off of me and walked away. I walked into my room and just started reading. I used the magic from my horn to turn the pages of the book. Pete walked in a few minutes later.
"Come on." he said. "We're kidding!"
I ignored him, and Pete rolled his eyes.
"Whatever." he said. "Anyway, we're leaving now. See you later." Pete walked away and closed the door behind him.
I sighed and closed my book a few hours later. When were they just going to leave me alone? I looked at the clock. It was 7:00 at night. I decided to take a walk outside. I brought a notebook and a pen. I wanted to at least start writing songs for my solo album.
I walked through the streets of Equestria, looking for inspiration. Nothing. I tried thinking of things I saw in the past. Still nothing. I held my pen and notebook in front of me using the magic from my horn in case if I found something. It began to grow dark. I closed my book and started to walk home.
I looked around for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The band and I were really good friends with them. Since Scootaloo couldn't fly yet, Pete let her ride on his back while he flew to have her see what it's like. She tried to teach us how to ride a scooter in return. We protected them if Silver Spoon or Diamond Tiara tried to mess with them. Those kids were so sweet.
That got me thinking.
"What if the band never existed?" I said. "What would happen? Where would we be? I think I would be able to do my solo album a lot easier."
What I didn't know, was there was a certain unicorn that heard everything that I was saying. She stood right behind me.
"Hey!" she said.
I turned, and saw a light purple pony with purple and teal hair. She wore a black cloak and held a large staff that looked like an oddly shaped giant stick. She walked up to me, and i started to get nervous.
"Who are you?' I asked.
"I am the person who can grant your wish." she said.
"What do you mean?" i started to get more nervous.
"I'm Starlight Glimmer. I heard what you were saying. I know you want to leave that lousy band of yours. I know you want to know what would happen if your band never existed, and I can make that happen."
"How?" I asked.
A devious smile appeared on her face. She used her horn to pull out a book from the inside pocket of her cloak. She flipped to a page and handed me the book, telling me to read it. It read: "Wishing gem. This magical gem can grant only one wish per person. It gives the wisher anything he or she wants. The only catch is no one else has the power to reverse your wish. Anything you want, you'll get. No rules."
"Is this real?" I asked.
Starlight nodded. "This gem can give you anything you want."
I thought about this. "Where can you find it?"
"It's buried deep underground in the Everfree Forest. It is locked inside a chest. We'll have to sneak in and get it."
"What?! Are you crazy! We're dead if we get caught! Especially because of how powerful that gem is!" I panicked.
"Calm down." said Starlight. "No one ever goes there. We're sure to get it. Are you coming with me or not?"
"No." I said. "I'm not going to have any part in this."
"Whatever you say." she started to walk towards the Everfree Forest and I walked home and went to bed.
The next morning, the band and I met up at the Cutie Mark Crusaders' tree house to spend the day with them. I still thought about the gem and Starlight Glimmer. Was she really trying to get the gem? What would she do then? Would she come looking for me and make me make the wish?
"Hey Pete!" I heard Scootaloo say.
"Hey!" said Pete.
Sweetie Belle ran up to me. "Patrick!"
"Hey Sweetie Belle!" I gave her a hug.
"Hey there everypony!" said Apple Bloom.
"Sup kid?" said Joe. Andy smiled at her.
"What do you guys want to do today?" asked Pete.
"Come into the clubhouse and we'll show you!" said Apple Bloom. We all walked into the clubhouse.
Once inside, we painted pictures that we hung on the walls, Pete put eyeliner on Sweetie Belle (oh boy), and played board games. We listened to the music that my band made while doing so.
"Speaking of which," said Scootaloo. "why did you guys break up?"
"It's not a break up." I explained. "We're just taking a break for a while."
"Oh." Scootaloo went back to her painting.
We soon went back outside, where Scootaloo rode her scooter. Pete tried rollerskating, and fell down a lot. I thought about Starlight. I was terrified. What if she came back?
My thoughts were interrupted by Scootaloo offering me to ride her scooter.
"Sure." I said. She gave me a helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads. After I put them on, I began to ride. I was doing pretty well, until Pete came and pushed me off.
"Ow!" I said in pain. I scratched my arm, but Pete only laughed. Of course, it happened behind the clubhouse, so no one really saw what happened. Scootaloo heard me and came to help.
"Patrick! Are you okay?" Scootaloo helped me stand up.
"I'm fine." I said. "Thanks."
Sweetie Belle came over and saw the scratch on my arm. "I'll get you a band-aid." she ran into the clubhouse, and returned with a band-aid. She put it over the scratch.
"There you go!" said Sweetie Belle. "All better."
"Thank you guys." I said. I looked over at Pete, Andy, and Joe, who were sitting at a table with Apple Bloom.
I did my usual walk around town with my notebook that night. I was half way done with one song, but I wasn't able to find anything here. I turned a corner, and saw Starlight Glimmer standing right in front of me. This caught me off guard, so I screamed and dropped my book.
"I'm back." she said. "And I brought this." she pulled the wishing gem out of her cloak.
"How did you get that?" I asked in disbelief.
"Easy." she said. "I stole the key from the castle, dug up the box, and took the gem."
I blinked and stared at the gem. "This can't be real."
"Don't believe me?" asked Starlight. "Make your wish."
I just stared at the gem.
"Here." she said. "Take it."
Starlight handed me the gem, and I used the magic of my horn to hold it. I was too scared to hold it in my hooves.
"It's your choice." Starlight turned and walked away.
I couldn't believe this. Did she seriously just leave me alone with what could be the most powerful gem ever? One thing's for sure, I can't let anyone else see it. I hid the gem under my hat as I ran home as fast as I could.
Once I was home, I ran into my bedroom and took the gem out from my hat. What was I supposed to do with it? I panicked. What would happen if someone found it? I was screwed. I hid it at the bottom of a drawer that was filled with papers. I tried to get some sleep, but the fact that I had a gem like that hidden in my house kept me up all night.
It was all over the news the next morning. The wishing gem and the key to it had been stolen, but what they didn't know, was I was hiding the gem inside my own house. I was a nervous wreck. I was too scared to leave my house. What should I do with it. I should return it to the box in the forest, but I'll be dead if I get caught. Plus, Starlight will just bring it right back to me, so it was pointless. I began to cry of guilt. What now? I had to go to Starlight and give her back the gem. But I was tired of the band's crap. I couldn't take the pain anymore. It's gone on for too long.
That night, I thought about what I should do. I thought for a few hours, and then I made my decision.
I'm going to make the wish.
I grabbed the gem out of the drawer with my horn and held it in front of me. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
"I wish the band Fall Out Boy never existed".
