The Legend of Rock

Introduction

Derek Strands stood behind the veil on the stage; his eyes closed tight, his Gibson Electric clutched within his hands. His ears were filled with the screaming and the cheering of the crowd; over fifty thousand voices chanting the same thing at once in perfect harmony, “STK! STK!” The cheers were pumping up his blood pressure and getting his adrenaline flowing faster and faster. Plus the booze already pumping through his veins were allowing the adrenaline to take a faster effect than it had before.

The cold air of Tennessee didn’t affect him in the slightest. Despite it being near freezing, the crowd was still loud and warm, and the stage lights were so intense, any ice in the theater was melted away. But Derek cared little about the winter.

Derek was in perfect pre-concert mode, buzzed and adrenaline fueled. And he never complained or tried to change it. It was good, it was rock! It was exactly what he wanted! His energy then surged when the PA roadie said, “Now ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the stage: S! T! K!”

The crowd’s roar reached decibels it had yet reached as another roadie gave Derek a microphone, to which he raised to his mouth. “Love is like a bomb!” he sang as his back up guitarist began a loud riff.

The smoke began to pour onto the stage as the riff continued and the speakers repeated that line a few times. The veil in front of Derek lifted and he walked out on to the stage. The crowd was chanting a mix of “Urgh” and “Hey” as he emerged under the smoke.

As Derek took his spot in center stage. The mike that was already there was perfectly set to reach his mouth as he sang, “Hey, hey!”

Then the drummer began the beat to “Pour Some Sugar on Me!” as Derek did the opening riffs. When the first verse began, Derek enjoyed the surge of his buzzed energy. He smiled evilly as he began, “Love is like a bomb, come on get it on. Living like a lover with the radar phone. Looking like a tramp, like a video vamp. Demolition Woman can I be your man?”

His backup guitarist smacked two riffs. Derek continued, “Razzle 'n' a dazzle 'n' a flash a little light, television woman let’s go all night!” Derek took a little notice of a row of screaming women in the front seats trying to reach for him with all their might, so he gave them a sexy wink, “Little miss innocent sugar me! Yeah.”

The whole five man band leaned towards their microphones and joined Derek. They began singing, “Come on, take the bottle, shake it up.”

Derek raised his guitar in the air when he sang, “Break the bubble, Break it up!” Then as the chorus hit, Derek dropped to a crouch placing his guitars but between his legs. “Pour some Sugar on me!” the band sang

“Ooh in the name of love,” Derek continued.

“Pour some Sugar on me!”

“Come on fire me up!” Derek smiled.

“Pour some sugar on me!”

“Oh I can’t get enough!” Derek screamed, “I’m hot sticky sweet! From my head to my feet yeah!”

Just then the guitar solo began. Derek rose to full erect as he shredded his guitar. By this point in his life, the notes came naturally; in fact he knew every chord in existence. This made him the best guitarist known to man kind, and it was this that was going to elevate him to rock god status. Plus Derek was dancing round the stage at every beat and chord

After a few power chords, Derek returned to his mike. “You got the peaches, I got the cream. Sweet taste, saccharine! Cause I’m hot, say what, sticky sweet. From my head to my own feet yea!”

The crowd began to roar loudly as the drummer sang, “Do you take sugar?! One lump or two?!”

The whole band got to their mikes and sang, “Take the bottle, shake it up.”

But Derek personally sang the loudest for, “Break the bubble, break it up!”

“Pour some sugar on me!”

“Oh for the name of love!” he sang completely in the moment.

“Pour some Sugar on me!”

“Come on Fire me up!” Derek continued, completely in the moment.

“Pour your sugar on me!”

“Oh I can’t get enough!” Derek shouted.

The song wound to its close as the band sang, “Pour some sugar on me!”

“Oooh in the name of love”

“Pour your sugar on me!”

“Oooh get it, come on get it”

“Pour that sugar on me!”

“Yeah! Yeah sugar me!” Derek sang as the song came to it’s close. The crowd roared and the chants of “STK!” returned. Derek stood on the stage, lights blasting behind him, completely content with the moment. He was totally content with himself.

Much later after the concert, Derek lay in his bed within the tour bus staring at the ceiling. On the floor were three bottles of Jack Daniels he had consumed earlier. The previous concert had been the biggest gig STK had ever done, and now they were on the rock’n’roll map. He couldn’t be prouder of how far he had come. This one night had made all the mistakes he had made worth the effort. And that called for a celebration.

Now he lay completely wasted on his bed, staring at the ceiling as the bus drove along. Derek in his drunken state was muttering some incomprehensible nonsense. Then a bright light filled the room. Derek’s eyes widened when he saw his long dead mothers face staring back at him from the ceiling. “Ma….Mom?” he asked, his voice very slurred.

His mother, looking the way she did when she was young, shook her head, “Still wasted Derek. A pity.”

“Mom?” he asked again.

“You were meant for so much more here.” She said.

Just then Derek felt the whole bus swerve out of control. He was launched from his room, and then impacted a dresser before blacking out.

*     *     *

Twilight Sparkle sat in her room reading another book from Star swirl The Bearded. Luna’s night had already taken over Ponyville and many were fast asleep in their beds dreaming dreams of fantasy. The same could be said for her eager young assistant snoring happily in his bed just three hooves from her.

Not the pupil of Princess Celestia. She had a lot she wanted to study for about a new conjuring spell. But learning the spell was taking a long time, especially processing it from another dusty book. Good thing she had her radio near her. The volume was loud enough to give the lavender unicorn something to listen to, but low enough as to not wake Spike.

Twilight sighed as she noised over another page. More reading, she thought, Great, hope this candle doesn’t die just yet.

Her focus was then turned to the radio station, which had just ended a smooth melody from Octavia’s Canterlot Orchestra. “And now all you listeners out there, we got a good rock’n’roll medley from Cloudsdale. I think all you hopeful lovers will enjoy this one, it’s ‘Gotta be somepony’ here on Midnight Pony.” The disk DJ said over the radio.

Twilight smiled and used her magic to turn up the volume on the radio. She enjoyed the genre of Rock’n’roll, primarily because Rainbow Dash over plays it whenever she’s practicing aerial stunts. But it wasn’t a popular enough Genre for her to like, and if it was, the poor pony wasn’t sure if she’d really like it because she knew nothing about it.

As the song began, Twilight got up and looked out her window. The moon was shining brightly in the night sky. The DJ was right; this song would be enjoyed by lonely lovers to be. Twilight had always wondered if there ever was a colt or a mare out there that would be right for her. And this song brought those feelings back out.

So she felt it best to sing along, “This time, I wonder what it feels like. To find the one in this life, the one we all dream of but dreams just aren’t enough. So I am waiting for the real thing.” She kept her voice low to appease Spike, but the unicorn was sure he wouldn’t even notice, “I’ll know it by the feeling, the moment when we’re meeting. Will play out like a dream, straight off the silver screen.”

With a smile, Twilight leaned out her window and let the breeze flow through her mane, “So I’ll be holding my breath, right up until the end. Until that moment when. I’ll find the one I can spend forever with.” Twilight took a deep inhale, “Because no pony wants to be the last one left. And everypony wants to feel like someone cares. Somepony else who feels the same some where. There’s gotta be some pony for me…out there.”

Twilight then crossed her hooves and rested her head on them. She stared out at the night humming the rest of the song until sleep over took her.