Author's Note

Finally found time to work on this story, be warned there’s a brief flirty sexual moment but no clop. I hope you enjoy it. Also check my newest blog because you’ll understand why I got rid of a certain scene.

Job hunting and gambling (minor rewrite.)

Joel stood there, looking at the purple dinosaur, of all things, he was not expecting Barney to be a real thing, not at the slightest.

“Um, no, my name is Spike, can I help you with anything?”

This broke Joel out of his thoughts, he felt kinda silly for thinking he was Barney the dinosaur, but he had a question to answer.

“Sorry, I thought you were someone else, so, Spike, is it? What are you exactly?”

“Well I know it’s not very obvious, but I’m a fire breathing dragon.”

“…a dragon? I thought dragons were supposed to be giant and scary, maybe how my people depicted your kind was wrong.”

“Nope, you are actually right, I’m a baby dragon, and dragons grow very slowly, so, what can I help you for?”

“Well, I’m looking for Twilight, a nice mare on the way here told me she lives here.”

“Joel, what are you doing here?”

Joel looked at the stairwell to see Twilight come down the stairs.

“Oh, hello Twilight, I’m currently looking for a part time job when I’m not on duty, you wouldn’t happen to know a site on a computer would you?”

Twilight ran back upstairs and didn’t take long to come back downstairs, an old school laptop in hand.

“Well, at least ponies and other races have created computers, wonder what else they have created, airplanes perhaps?”

“Okay, let’s see what jobs are currently available,” said Twilight as she searched.

There were actually quite a few jobs, more than he expected, but one really caught his attention. There apparently was a group of musicians for hire who played in very classy places such as restaurants, balls, and something called the… Grand Galloping Gala?

Joel was once a viola musician during his high school years, he hadn’t played for years but he still knew how, he just never decided to acquire one.

“Twilight, click on the one that says Equestrian musicians, I’d like to see where they are holding that competition.”

Twilight clicked on the link and he immediately grabbed a pen and a sticky note and wrote some stuff down.

“Twilight, do you know where I can get a viola?”

“There’s a shop at the edge of the town, Spike can take you there.”

He thanked Twilight and left the library with Spike.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Joel and Spike arrived at an eye-catching store with neon lights on some of the signs, and a few instruments were on display on the windows.

“Well, this is the place to get instruments, I’ll hopefully see you at the up and coming Grand Galloping Gala”

Joel was going to ask what this event was but discarded the thought as soon as it came and thanked Spike as he left.

Entering the shop, he looked at all the instruments and there were a ton of them, many ranging from antique phonographs, classical violins and cellos, to electric guitars.

Joel remembered what he came here for and took a look around until someone cleared their throat.

Joel turned around to see probably the most beautiful and alluring woman he had seen in his entire life, despite the fact that she was an anthro pony.

She had grey fur, purple eyes, and raven black hair.

Her accessories and choice of clothing were a fancy yet every day sleeveless suit jacket, two treble clef earrings, a white collared undershirt, and a pink bow tie.

Joel may have been staring for too long as she began to break the silence.

“Um, can I help you?” she asked, Joel noticed her thick British accent.

“Yeah, I came here for two things, one I need to know if you have a viola for sale.”

The grey earth pony thought for a while but then seemed to remember something.

“All the violas were sold, except for that one, but I’m pretty sure you can’t afford it,” she said, pointing to a very fancy black and white custom made viola.

“I could make you a deal, since this is my shop and my business, the Gala is coming up and I could lend you the viola, but you’d probably need to practice first.”

“No need, I’m a skilled musician and I played the viola during my years of school.”

“Well, if you're as good as you say you are, how about we test that.”

She handed the Viola to him and Sanchez tried to think of something he used to play, but before that, he asked for the lady’s name.

“Before I start playing, I didn’t actually get your name?”

“Oh, it’s Octavia, Octavia Melody.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Octavia, I’m Joel Sanchez, and the song I will be playing is something from back home called castle on the hill.”

As he played the instrumental parts of the song, Octavia looked very impressed and as Joel finished, she clapped her hands.

“I’ve never heard somepony play a viola that well, there are tryouts coming up and I suggest you should try it if you want this gig.”

Joel smiled and nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind, so, what do I use while performing?”

“You can use that viola in the meantime, and I might consider selling it to you If you do a good job and make the cut.”

“Thanks, Octavia, I better get back to my friend, he’s probably looking for me.”

“See you in two days,” she called out as he left.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Brandon was looking all over town for Joel, he didn’t tell him he was leaving so he decided to find out what he was up to. Before they got to work on the apple orchard, Joel said something about looking for a place of residence.

“Where the hell are you?”

Brandon was so focused on looking around, he accidentally bumped into someone.

“Oh, sorry, my bad, I should’ve looked where I was going.”

The pony In question turned around and he recognized her as the nurse from the hospital, she was currently in casual clothing, not in her work outfit.

“Oh, hello, Brandon, didn’t expect to run into you, all though you are the talk of the town,” she said with a giggle.

“Well I’m sure we are, a group of strange beings from another world somehow randomly show up here, I’m pretty sure my world would do the same if ponies like yourselves showed up.”

“Anyways, how’s your leg?”

Brandon looked down at his left leg and moved it around.

“Well, after a good rest, I think it’s doing alright, where are you off to?”

“Just heading home, despite working at the hospital, I live a bit outside of Ponyville, why do you ask?”

“I don’t want to seem like a burden to the Apple family so I’m considering becoming someone’s, I mean somepony’s roommate.”

Redheart nodded and began to think.

“You could stay with me, my house is typically the biggest house around ponyville, it used to belong to my parents but after they moved to Canterlot, they gave me the house.”

“If you are willing to do all this, I don’t see why I should refuse such a kind offer,” said Brandon with a smile.

Redheart and Brandon parted ways after she gave him her address.

“Now, where are you Joel?”

“I’m right here, and I heard everything you said to that nurse.”

Brandon turned around and saw Joel.

“Where the hell were you at?”

“Meeting up with a nice musician, I got a gig in two days, a job that you don’t need to get paid to do, unless you want to of course.”

“It’s nice to see you keeping busy,” said Brandon.

“Say, you want to find something to do tonight, like go to a bar or club?”

“You think ponies would do such things?” Asked Joel.

Maybe, it doesn’t hurt to check it out.

Apparently it was getting dark out, Brock would be on his way to Canterlot to help train the recruits, so they wouldn’t be seeing him any time soon.

“Ya boys are looking for a club you say?”

Turning around, Joel and Brandon saw Big Mac, three other stallions behind him.

“You can say full sentences?” Asked Brandon.

“When I want to.”

The two pilots just looked at each other before Brandon spoke.

“Yes, we are looking for some place to play cards.”

Brandon pulled some cards he had brought on board the helicopter before the extraction.

“We were just heading to a club not too far from here near the edge of town, care to join us?”

Certainly, I don’t think I’ve met your friends there Mac.

An orange stallion with brown hair walked up and extended his arm and hand for a hand shake.

“Pleasure to meet you, Brandon right?”

Brandon shook firmly. “Yes, sir, this is my friend and co-pilot, Joel Sanchez.”

Joel shook his hand.

“I’m Golden Weaver, but most just call me Weaver. I run a business here in ponyville, if you need any type of basket or material, my employees would gladly help you.”

“Thank you Weaver, I’ll keep that in mind,” said Brandon.

A very athletically fit charcoal grey pegasus with a light blue and teal Mohawk.

“I’m Thunderlane, put her there.”

Joel and Brandon shook his hand.

The last guy was a unicorn with brown fur who also had black hair.

“The name's Lucky.”

Once again, Joel and Brandon shook his hand.

“Well, if we are going to make it to the club, we better get going, said Thunderlane.”

Brandon nodded and followed Big Mac and the others to this club.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back on earth.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the center of a village in Afghanistan, four soldiers were on the move, running through the streets. The team leader took out a radio and began to talk into it.

“This is Taipan 6, where is our god damn transport!”

He got a reply soon.

“Your transport is closing in, hang in there.”

Taipan 6 looked behind him and saw a truck with a mounted heavy machine gun closing the distance. This was clearly a mission that went completely wrong, yet from above, a combat rescue Pave Hawk flew overhead, the crew chief manning a 50.cal began to fire upon the truck and any enemy forces that were on the soldiers asses.

Lowering itself, the helicopter landed outside of the town.

“Follow that helicopter!”

The team ran down a slope, trying their best not to trip.

They reached the helicopter, the crew chief gesturing them to come in. They gladly did so and buckled in.

“Anyone of you hurt?” Asked a flight medic.

“No, sir, we are fine, I do suppose we’ll get checked up on at the base later.”

The flight medic nodded as the chopper took to the sky.

“RPG!”

In minutes, the helicopter began to spin around the crew doing their best to hold onto anything firmly attached to the helicopter. The helicopter began to lose altitude and was heading straight for the ground, but a bright light somehow engulfed the chopper which made all the occupants close their eyes.

“Brace!” Yelled the pilot as everyone began to lose consciousness.

After a long period of time, Taipan 6 opened his eyes slowly, he was still in the helicopter and surprisingly was alive. He began to look around and noticed his team, the flight medic, and the co-pilot sitting at a small bonfire.

Walking over, they noticed him and told him that they were no longer in Iraq. One of the men handed him a radio.

Just in case there are any of our men nearby who can help us.

Looking back at the broken and bent remains of the chopper, Taipan 6 had to ask.

“What happened to the crew chiefs and the main pilot?”

The group looked down.

“They didn’t make it,” said the woman pilot.

Taipan 6 sighed and nodded, he decided to radio any nearby soldiers.

“Anyone injured?” He asked.

The woman raised her hand, she not only was having trouble breathing, but her leg seemed to be bleeding out just a little.

“Josh, what’s her status?”

One of the men walked over, probably the tallest guy in the squad.

“She’s been wheezing a bit, I think she’s got a broken rib and perhaps a punctured lung, I suggest we try to radio any units and hope for the best that they arrive in time.”

Taipan nodded and sat next to the group, the flight medic keeping the pilot stable as she lay on the grass.

“Where the hell are we?”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Joel and Brandon entered the club, it looked more like a restaurant but they didn’t really care.

A mare came up to them with a clipboard and greeted them.

“Hello, welcome to the Mystic moonlight tavern, how can I help you tonight?”

Mac decided to do the talking.

“We are looking for a large booth. There are six guys with me.”

“Okay, Follow me.” They followed her to a booth with a table and sat down.

“So, what are you guys into, poker, euchre, gin rummy?”

Thunderlane was about to say yes to gin rummy but a glare from Weaver made him lower his hand.

“I think we should avoid gin rummy due to a certain cheater in our group,” Said Weaver.

“How about a simple game of go fish?” Mac suggested.

“That’ll work.”

Brandon dealt the cards, while they were doing so, a waitress approached them, the only one who noticed her was Joel.

Joel noticed she was swaying her hips just enough to be noticeable, he knew this because back home he had never seen a waitress do it so seeing something was up, he tried to alert Brandon about this.

“Brandon.”

In a moment Joel, I’ll get your cards in a minute.

“Excuse me boys.”

The group turned their attention to the waitress in question.

Now Joel and Brandon had only been here for two days and had made some friends. They noticed most mares they had run into had normal breast sizes, some larger than others of course, but this mare was a different story.

To put things simply, her cup size was much larger than other mares they had seen in ponyville and Canterlot so far, her hips were no joke, they were wide as hell and Joel and Brandon dare not think about what she looked like from behind.

The stallions they were with aside from Mac were fidgeting and sweating profusely at the sight of the waitress.

Noticing her desired charm had no effect on the humans, she frowned and continued on with her work, yet trying to find a way to crack their stone expression.

“I’m Sugarcane, of course you boys know me,” she gestured to the stallions.

“What can I get you six to eat?”

Brandon and Joel knew she was probably very popular around town, they did their best to ignore her flirting, yet Joel’s face began to heat up. Sugarcane smirked at Joel’s broken facade.

Brandon focused on the menu she handed them and he looked at all the choices, surprisingly there actually was meat, such as chicken wings and fish but that was mainly it, Brandon could easily live with that. He also saw a few Griffons, probably passing through, yet one group looked rather sketchy.

They were looking at them every once and a while, while other Griffons were just minding their own business.

“I’ll take a bucket of chicken wings with some ranch dressing and this delectable sounding dark mountain cider.”

Sugarcane nodded and wrote it down and looked to Joel and gave him a wink.

Trying to mask his red face the best he could, he began to tell her his order.

“I’ll just go for a large salad and hard apple cider as well.”

“And could you tell the chef that humans, like myself can’t necessarily stomach dandelions and hay?”

Sugarcane nodded and asked the others what they wanted. After taking their orders, Sugarcane left, leaving the others looking at Brandon in shock.

What? Asked Brandon.

“You didn’t even blush or stutter when noticing or talking to Sugarcane,” said Thunderlane.

“Well, I’m not that kind of person to stare at one’s assets.”

With that, Sugarcane came back later with their foods as the group played go fish.

Brandon noticed when he ordered the chicken wings, Mac and the others didn’t cringe or anything unlike Twilight, so he had to ask.

“You know, when I placed my order, you guys didn’t seem to get grossed out by the fact of me eating meat.”

“This restaurant has Griffons working here too, most ponies won’t cook meat, and all kinds of customers come in, so we don’t see you as some terrifying monster,” said Mac.

“Well thanks, Mac, and it’s your turn.”

“Ya got any sixes, Brandon?”

Brandon looked at his deck of cards and shook his head.

“Sorry Mac, go fish.”

And that Mac did.

“Let’s just say whoever wins pays for dinner,” said Lucky.

“I can live with that,” said brandon.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After some time of playing cards, Brandon said his goodbyes to his new pals and Joel.

He noticed Applejack disassembling her empty stand where she usually sells her apples. She said it was a traditional thing in ponyville, even though some places had begun to sell things either online or in stores.

“Hey Applejack.”

Applejack turned to Brandon and smiled.

“Howdy Brandon, where did ya come from?”

“Oh, just playing cards with Big Mac and his friends down at the Mystic moonlight tavern.”

“Well ain’t that something, I but i have a feeling that’s not the only reason ya came over here for.”

“Alright, you got me, I came over here to ask you why Scootaloo always seems down at the end of the day, she gives me this look as if she admires me or something.”

Applejack sighed so Brandon prepared for whatever she was going to lay down.

“Scootaloo often feels down because she wishes she had a family like Apple bloom and Sweetie Belle, there’s an orphanage at the edge of ponyville, that’s where she lives.”

Brandon’s heart sank, orphanages were no longer heard of in America due to foster care and other alternatives, but he knew kids’ lives like hers were usually hell when living in an orphanage.

Brandon wanted to talk to Scootaloo after school and hopefully get to know her more, perhaps he could try to make her life a bit better.

“Thanks, Applejack, I’ll talk with her after school, and I also came over to tell you I have found a house and I’m going to be a roommate to that nurse at the hospital. She offered me a room to stay in so I thank you for taking me in last night.”

“It ain’t no problem, Brandon, the Apple family is always willing to help.”

The sound of flapping was heard and he looked to see a thestral guard land in front of him.

“Can I help you, sir?”

“I have news from the Princesses, sir, there is an emergency distress call near the border of the Griffon Kingdom.”

“Is Princess Luna awake at this hour?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell her I’m on my way.”

The guard nodded and Brandon left for the helicopter.

“Hope she still has some fuel in her.”