An Awkward Awakening

Meanwhile night had fallen on the battleground of the Graspop Festival but Harris was still around with a fair few others, determined to drink and have a good time. His experiences from the amazing day this day had to be processed and discussed and what place was better for that than a beer tent on the festival grounds? Nowhere is where!

He walked up to the bar and ordered himself a beer; golden, malty in flavour and pretty unhealthy, but still blissful. With his beer in his hand he walked to find a place to sit and just like that he found a place with a few others who stayed behind to get hammered and just have a good time while doing so.

The people at the table came from all stages of the festival; stories where told of the amazing shows of Avenged Sevenfold, Opeth and various other bands, but the one he was interested the most in was still Sabaton. He was eager to share his experiences, though he was a bit shy about it. He would just drink a few beers and the shyness would fade away, opening the gates to free conversation.

Harris sat there, taking in the other attendees' stories of the shows they attended until from the corner of his eye he saw something that made his night; a body with a military vest, cammo pants and a Rainbow Dash plushie looking out of one of the pockets of the vest. Could it really be Joakim? The faint Sound of Swedish banter confirmed his thoughts.

Slowly he walked over to the band and struck up a conversation; "Hey, Joakim! Great show tonight. I see you kept the plushie." Joakim looked a little confused at the sudden start of a conversation but Joined in regardless.

"Hey, nice that you enjoyed the show! As for the plushie... Do you know who threw that on stage?" Joakim was still a bit perplexed by the pony suddenly flying on stage but from the look on his face one could tell he found it very funny.

"Oh, the little Rainbow Dash was my idea. I thought from an analysis of her character in the show that she would love your music and decided to take her along. And she enjoyed her stay so much that she wanted to get on stage with you guys." Harris chuckled to himself. He was aware that this would sound very adventurous to anyone who didn't have an this extensive knowledge of the show.

Joakim looked at him with a slightly astonished look on his face. "So, you're telling me you analysed a character from My Little Pony and thought it was a good idea to throw it up on stage?" His face dissolved back into his usual wide smile. "Well then, I have to tell you, you are absolutely crazy. But in the best possible way. I mean, this is amazing and disturbing at the same time..." A questioning look formed on Joakim's face; "So, tell me, what exactly is so amazing about that kid's show for someone your age to enjoy it this much?"

Harris did his best to explain the references and easter eggs in the show that make it appealing to an older demographic over a few beers as not only Joakim but also the rest of the band listened keenly. A long time went by, a lot of beer and other alcohols was consumed and by the end of it all, the band were kind of enlightened in the ways of bronyism. The time had come for Harris to say goodbye and head out to sober up for his trip to the ferry the next day.

"This guy is totally crazy, but I can sort of get behind it..." Chris was definitely the most understanding of the group. He started identifying as sort of a sympathiser. He could grasp how someone his age could like a show like that and how everything sort of made sense. "I mean, everyone needs a time-out from the sadness of this world once in a while. For us it's music for others it's lovy dovy kid's shows."

Joakim still remained sceptical towards the whole thing. A man should be a little tougher than that. "Ponies may be nice to look at, and Rainbow Dash might be a perfect match for a Metalhead's personality but this goes a little far, doesn't it? I mean, where would we be if we all were like that?" He thought about his statement a little and then gave himself an answer. "We'd be jobless! There wouldn't be any war and people wouldn't care about atrocities of the past."

"A drink to that!" Pär was enthusiastic about the new perspective, but still wanted to continue making music the way they always had for the past 15 Years. He was too proud of the music they made to kick it to the curb and ordered another round of drinks for the whole band.

And so the drinking and partying continued into the early hours of the next morning. The band dragged themselves back to the tour bus and sat down on the couch together. "Well, I guess giving it a try can't hurt..." Joakim switched on the TV and went on Netflix to find them some MLP to watch.

"Oh, well... We can't just watch part one of a two part episode." Chris chuckled to the group. "That would be stupid! We have to watch at least two episodes if we start now."

Joakim looked at the Episode title hard and decided to give it a shot. "So, The Elements of Harmony Part 1 and 2 it is..." He selected the first episode and pressed play.

Not even half way through the episode all five members of the band were fast asleep and didn't notice a thing. The night flew by and nothing eventful happened... At least as far as the members of Sabaton would have known.