Author's Note

Sorry it’s been a while, and this chapter is pretty choppy, things will be better moving forward!

After the Thrill is Gone (Lightly Reworked)

Jared slowly awoke, birds were singing loudly outside, he stretched and yawned, his back ached. He had to double check he was really awake, and really still in Ponyville. He slowly sat up, feeling much better than he had yesterday. His pent up frustrations he’d let out in last night’s dream, and the resounding tears. To say he felt weak, was an understatement. He was mad at himself, for getting that worked up. At least nobody was there to see him cry.

He forced himself up, and sat on his desk. Slipping his boots on, he heard a knock at the door. He reached over and opened it as he pulled them on. Luna walked in.

“Good Morning!” She smiled. "I'm so sorry if I overstepped last night, you seemed to be in such distress..

He paused, blinking. “What?”

“I didn’t figure how my magic may effect you..” She replied.

“Wait, fucking what?” He held up his hands. “Are you telling me, that you saw all that?"

“Of course!” She replied nonchalantly.

He went quiet, not looking at her. "I'm not like that. I don't want to be like that. But I won't back down from a confrontation." His gaze slowly met hers, she had a soft smile on.

"I know. It's okay. Would you like to go to breakfast with me?" She asked.

"I don't have any money and I'd rather not rack my bill up more." He replied.

"Come, it's an invitation, a gift." She insisted.

"Alright.. Well let me change my shirt, I think I have one of my favorites in here... He slowly stood to his feet, unzipping the backpack against the wall. He dug around until he found a black polo, he pulled off his stained white tee and slid on the polo shirt. It fit him well.

"I love these shirts."

"I can see why, it looks soft" Luna replied. He looked away, grabbing the 1911 he'd set on the desk and sticking it in his belt, behind the right side of his back. He saw movement through the office window and quickly entered the shop.

His knee hurt, and he walked with a slight limp as he confronted the ponies.

“G-goodmorning, Jared!” Twilight called, a few others in labcoats surrounded his plane.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” He asked, clearly upset.

“Just examining your aircraft is all!” She smiled nervously.

“Out.”

“What?” she paused. “b-but you can’t-“

“It’s fuckin-“ He checked his watch, and stumbled over his words. “7 In the morning, I’m tired, and woke up to strangers s-f-l-e-GAH. Words. Examining my property. Out.”

Luna entered through the office in surprise, watching him as he sighed.

They nervously filed out the door, he walked to the wall and slumped his head into it with a ‘thump’. “I can’t take this.” He slowly meandered to his bench as the door opened. He held a piston head, setting it atop a book on his bench.

“Jared, I forgot my book, is it alright if I..?” She asked. He quickly moved the piston head and with greasy hands, handed her the book. She looked at it in distain, as the back now had a coffee-stain like ring of oil. In a puff of magic it was like new. He stood, leaning away from his bench.

“What was that.”

“A spell of restoration for the book, I just restored it to the condition of about a month ago!” She smiled. “Thats how I keep all my books brand new!”

"That's... Nice." He replied. He paused as she was walking out the side door. “Twilight.”

“Yes?” she perked up

“You like to read, then?” He asked.

She grinned, nodding aggressively.

“What do you like to read?”

“Mainly historical and nonfiction material. I love to learn!” She replied, grinning happily.

Jared slowly walked to the mound of miscellaneous things beside the remains of the plane... He dug through the pile of equipment and found two flight bags. He opened the one to find his logbooks, spare headset and such. He dropped several things onto his bench, before handing the bag to her.

She took it in her magic, confused. “In there’s the FAR AMT and 43.13., that should keep you busy for a while. They should let you better understand aircraft if you really want to know, take good care of them. I got back from a job for a friend out in Kodiak Monday and had a bunch of stuff with me for professionalism and laziness sake. Good thing for me.” He looked over the overhaul manuals on his toolbox.

She gingerly held them. “T-thank you!” Twilight beamed. Jared smiled lightly, rolled his eyes, and shook his head. He turned back to his airplane, looking at the noseart as Twilight walked away.

"Luna, I'm gonna take a raincheck on breakfast. I think I'd like to be alone for a bit." He stated after a moment of silence. She bowed her head gently.

"Of course, another time. Farewell."

Jared watched her disappear out the door, and hung his head, placing a hand on the cowling of the Beaver.

Jared stepped back, looking at the motor of the destroyed airplane.

He sifted through the pile of stuff by the plane to find two smashed wooden speaker boxes. They were already worn, crackling fairly bad, when he took them out of his pickup down in the states for new ones. He set them on a workbench and walked over to his airplane. He reached up, fishing under the dash for a moment before pulling out and unplugging a small box from the wires. It was an amplifier he’d installed to broadcast auxiliary input into the cabin.

Jared turned the box, looking into the plugs for a moment, then at the wires, remembering which ones were power, input, and output wires. He sat it gently beside the speakers, and walked into the office. He grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket, as well as his aux cord. He held the power button. The screen lit up black with a white apple logo, though cracked in several places. Jared walked back to his contraption and finding dikes in the toolbox, delicately cut the cord in the middle. He stripped the shielding of the wires, and after some finesse, managed to attach the speakers to the amp, and the phone to the amp.

He looked at his now alive phone, and logged into it. It read 79%. He knew he could use the alternator of the plane and build a crank for it if worse came to worst, so he didn’t mind using the battery. He carefully plugged in his phone and opened iTunes, tapping ‘shuffle all’. The sound of The Eagles, After The Thrill Is Gone, called out over the speakers. The sound of guitar caught Jared off guard. He slowly, almost shocked, stumbled back for a moment. Familiar, yet totally foreign. He turned up the volume of his phone. The speakers were loud enough to hear from across the hangar, but not deafening. Jared smiled gently. It sounded like playing a record with the speakers busted, but that was music to his ears.

“What can you do when your dreams come true, and it’s not quite like you planned?” the lyric rung out, hitting Jared in the feels. He sighed gently, and hung his head for a moment, before sifting through the toolbox, finding a marker. Jared walked along the fuselage, marking sections that needed to be drilled out or replaced. He inspected the plane. He’d seen worse, but they’d never been his. If he didn’t strive to fly, he’d give up altogether.

“Hey, let go!”

Jared peeked up over the cowling to see Twilight dragging Dash into the hangar. Twilight dropped Dash and zipped over to look at the speakers.

“Did you do this?!” She asking, looking intently at them. Rainbow slowly walked up, curious.

“Yeah?” He replied. “What’s she doing here?”

“Community service, remember?”

“Damn. Alright well, hope you like The Eagles. If not, you will. Get a screwdriver, pull the panels on the wings.” Jared turned back to his motor, his soul now soothed by the music as he set to work continuing to disassemble the engine, careful not to get grease on his nice polo.

“Jared, would you mind if I brought a few ponies over, I think they’d enjoy your music..” Twilight asked, Dash sighed and picked up a nearby screwdriver, trying to take off wing panels.

“Nah, go for it.” He shrugged. She beamed, and teleported away. Jared paused. “Wait-. Shit.. How many is a few...?” He looked to Rainbow, who shrugged. Jared slung his shotgun over a hook on the back of his toolbox, just to get it off him while he worked.

“Where’ve you been lately?” Jared sung to the music unceremoniously, proceeding to air-guitar. “DUH NUN NUNNN, New kid in town.”

Dash looked at him and shook her head. “Weirdo.”

“No you.” Jared shot fingerguns at her, setting cylinder parts in order on the table. Jared had stripped most of the accessories off the motor, and Dash had just finished the wing panels. It had been hours. The sun was low in the sky. Twilight hadn’t come back.

“Alright Rainbow. I won’t keep you all day. Thanks for the help, go on.” Jared nodded toward the hangar door. She shrugged and dropped the screwdriver and zipped off. Jared stood slowly, snatching up the screwdriver off the floor, putting it away. He leaned on his toolbox and stared at the mural on the cowling. “Your baby’s gone, and you’re all alone, and it looks like the end...” Jared sung softly. His phone died a short time ago.

He spent the next fifteen minutes attempting to rig up a crude wiring system to his lightning cord, but was too lazy to sit and turn the alternator on the contraption. He sighed and jumped up, sitting on the table, quickly spinning the crank. After about half an hour the phone came back to life, claiming 52%. He signed back in, and opened iTunes. Immediately, Aerosmith’s Sweet Emotion poured over the speakers. Jared hopped back down, looking at the airplane. He sighed.

“Jesus I’m too young to feel this damn old..” He groaned, his back aching. He slowly strolled out onto the pad in front of the hangar, looking up.

“Swee-eeeet emoo-ootion.” called out into the cool night. It was a beautiful night out, the stars twinkling above. He tried to make out constellations and failed, before noticing the gleaming moon above, it was fairly large. It appeared larger than the Earth's moon. He slowly sat in the gravel, leaning back on his elbows to look at the night sky.