Gerry deflected my retort and leaned in, cupping his hoof by his mouth. “Do you mind if I ask you colts to stick around afterward? I’d like for you to meet the band and let the dragon know yourself about his playing problem.”

Alex looked at me worriedly before looking back at the band manager. “W-Well, I don’t know-”

“Nonsense!” Gerry remarked cheerfully. “You get to meet the band, after all. Quite an honor, if I do say so myself!” The band manager was beaming, and I decidedly shrugged toward Alex. Alex took a few moments to let out a long sigh before nodding slowly. “Perfect! I’ll see you two back here in about one hour.”

The band manager started to leave for the back as I got off my chair to stretch. Alex then slipped off his and called out to him. “Hey, Mr. Gerry? Do I, like, need anything with me?” Alex asked.

Gerry flashed him a grin, turning his head to look Alex in the eyes. “If you got a guitar, I suggest bringing it. If you’re going to convince anycreature back there with your music background, you’ll first need to prove yourself worthy of being listened to.” The stallion left without another word, leaving Alex and me stunned by the series of events.

“Come on! We gotta return to the castle quickly!” Alex declared, waving to me. As he jogged past, I started to gallop after him before nearly choking on my spit, remembering something.

“If you find Alexander Walkerson, please bring him back to the castle and to my private study. Luna and I would like to have a quick word with him, Specialist Swift.”

Princess Celestia’s words rang out in my mind as I stopped. “Wait, Alex!” I called out. The human stopped and turned around. “We can’t go back to the castle!”

Alex looked at me in disbelief. “What do you mean? We gotta go back! That’s where my guitar-”

“Nopony knows where you are except me!” Alex looked perplexed before realizing what I was saying, his head hanging back in despair as I groaned. “The princesses are looking for you. Said they wanted to talk with you privately about something and I needed to find you. If anycreature sees you in there-”

“They’ll report me to the princesses. Fuck, I can’t go back….” Alex agreed, solemnly walking toward the bar again. “They’d have a million plus one questions about what happened…a-and that’s something I don’t need right now.” I sat there and looked at Alex, his head hanging as he sat in defeat at the bartop. His keys hanging from his belt jingled, giving me an idea.

“What if I go get it, Alex?” The human turned to look at me, his eyes slowly widening.

“Swift. Do you think you can carry-”

“Please,” I confidently said, brushing it off. “It’ll be a piece of cake. You’ll barely realize I was gone.” Apparently, that was all it took to convince Alex as he unhooked his keys and gave them to me.

“This long key is what you’ll need, Swift. Go to my room and look underneath the bed. It should be a black-leathered case with a sticker of a red guitar on one side. It has two code-dial locks on either side and one central one by the handle,” Alex described. I saluted him and nodded.

“Without a problem, Mr. Alex,” I stated before bolting for the door.

“Grab that one, and then the other guitar, Swift! It’s sitting by my desk!” I skidded to a stop as my mind registered that. I slowly turned around to look at the human, tilting my head and staring at him in shock.

“...Y-You have another one?”

“...”

========================================<>=========================================

click!

huff! “Goodness me,” I huffed out. I put a hoof on my chest and heaved. “I might need a break after that sprint.” heave!

After Alex had given me the instructions on where his ‘two’ guitars were, I raced to his tower room, doing my best not to be caught by the other guards. Unfortunately for me, Trent just had to stop me in the halls and was talking at length about his day-

“Yeah, sorry! Don’t have time to chat, Trent!” I politely shouted, galloping down the hall. “Talk to you later!”

groan! “I have to apologize to him later,” I grumbled, trotting toward Alex’s bed. “Now then, where is this guitar?” I bent down and flipped the blanket hanging from the bed upward, exposing the underside. There, as the human had described, was a black leather case.

Bingo. I grabbed it with one hoof and yanked it from its confines. The case slid out from under the bed, and near one of its corners, a sticker of a red guitar was plastered. I nodded confidently before turning my head to look over my left shoulder.

“...” Another case was near the desk, just as Alex had described. My eyes blinked a few times before I sighed heavily.

sigh “One of those days, I guess,” I muttered. I placed the black guitar case atop the bed and prepared to gather the other one. Its tannish leathery exterior was intriguing, and the locks were, well, locked. The mini locks were made of a crystal-like gem, and I wasn’t about to let curiosity ruin my friendship with the human. I wondered if these locks were the same as the ‘gift’ he got from the Crystal Empire.

“Hmm. I’ll ask him about it later,” I idly thought aloud. Lifting the guitar case and making the arduous trek to the other side of the bed was painful, but I was relieved when I disposed of it from my back. A dramatic fwoomp! escaped into the air, as well as a shiver of relief from me as I closed my eyes.

After getting both guitars out, I took a few moments to breathe easy. It had been one haphazardly long day, and if I just got through this next half hour, I would have an easy night hanging out with Alex. My eyes opened, and I peered toward the open door. My brain churned out the biggest dilemma I was about to face, and dread made me feel weak at the knees.

How was I about to get these two guitars down a long flight of stairs, through the Canterlot castle halls, and to the restaurant…while trying to make sure nopony stopped me?

“Here. Take this. You might need it when lugging them back here.”

My mind rattled numbly as Alex’s words made sense. One word softly escaped from my mouth as I peered back at the ropes tied around my waist, with the ends connected to form hooks.

“...Buck.”

========================================<>=========================================

grunt! “Why are these so heavyyy?” I strained in exhaustion. “Oof!” The two cases beside my barrel crashed against my sides as I limped into the ‘X-Perience Music Bar.’ Only a few ponies were left inside the restaurant, and most of the staff was gone. Alex, meanwhile, was waiting beside the bartop before noticing me, nearly falling out of his chair at the sight.

“Don’t move any further, Swift!” Alex yelled. I did just that and stopped, my legs shaking from the weight bearing down upon my body. The human ran over to me in two seconds flat, grabbing the first case on my left side. I tried keeping a firm stance as he unhooked the strap, setting it beside him while I groaned from the right case’s weight.

“Sorry about that, Swift,” Alex apologized, moving around me toward the right side. “I know they are heavy, but it’s much easier for me to carry them sinc-”

“Why DO you have ‘two’ guitars, Alex?” I asked in annoyance. The human stopped talking as he fiddled with the rope holding the case’s handle. groan! “It seems impractical to me….”

sigh “Well, the red guitar was the one I showed you a couple months ago, remember?” Alex reminded me. I nodded in agreement as he removed the second guitar from the right side of my body, allowing me to ease myself back onto my hindlegs and sit. “As for the second guitar, it’s custom-made.”

“Custom…made?” I repeated in confusion.

“Yup! It’s a replica of the guitar I own in my world. That’s a guitar I only use for shows and gigs,” Alex nodded proudly. I pondered the statement before shaking my head.

“...Wait. So you got somepony to help you ‘make’ another guitar?” I asked. Alex nodded again and explained in further detail.

“Every guitar sounds different. No two guitars in the world should ever produce a similar sound, with different models, shapes, sizes, and so on.” Alex lectured me as I stretched my back. I grimaced in pain before hearing a loud pop! in my back, which alleviated some of the stress.

sigh “Oooh, okay,” I exhaled. “So they are unique in their own way to each other?”

“That’s correct, Swift,” Alex answered. “For instance, when Twilight helped me put this guitar together, she lent me her acoustic guitar and showed me how it had cracked. Those guitars don’t require an amp to amplify their sound, but a crack in the body can affect their sound quality.”

My eyebrows raised as I stared at the human. “Ooooh, so you got Princess Twilight to ‘help’ you make another guitar?” I teased. Alex realized his mistake and deflected my question.

“And YOU didn’t get anypony to help bring these guitars here? Say, for example, a unicorn who can magically levitate objects?” Alex replied. I shook my head, trudging for an open barstool.

“McDuffy wasn’t available to help me,” I lied. “Plus, there’s no need to ask for help when I can do it all by myself.” I confidently puffed out my chest before spitting out what I shouldn’t have told him. “Although, dragging them both down the stairs was an issue….”

Alex stared at me as I covered my mouth. He did a double-take as he picked up the guitar cases, looking at them worriedly. “...You know? I’m just going to pray to God nothing bad happened to them on the way here….”

“Well, come on now! They don’t got all night to stay up and wait for y’all!” Gerry, the band manager, trotted from behind the back curtain and motioned for us to follow him. I groaned as I got up from my seat while Alex grabbed both guitar cases and walked before me.

We strolled after the stallion, passing through the backroom curtain and past the stage. The backstage was large, with the stage darkened. The silhouettes of some instruments were visible to us as we passed the staircase leading to it. I looked at Alex, who stared ahead, rounding a blind corner and proceeding through a smaller corridor. It twisted to the left and abruptly ended at a double door with a split star, with some names I didn’t recognize etched across its surface.

“Wait one moment, son,” Gerry cautioned. “I’m just gonna introduce you to them, but I need to address something first, yeah?” We both nodded as he smiled, disappearing into the room and closing it nearly all the way. He may have purposefully left it open, allowing us to hear the conversation.

“Thank you all for being patient with me,” he remarked. “Now, I would like to introduce you all to two very special guests. But, first, I must address a matter with one of you.” The room fell quiet as Alex and I stood there anxiously.

“Riff?” Gerry interrupted. “I’m taking 20 bits from your pay for today.”

“Wait, what?!” the supposed ‘Riff’ yelled back. “Why me?! What did I do this time?!” I nudged Alex, who looked down at me, grimacing.

“Everything oka-”

“Now, now. Let’s not get hasty, Riff,” Gerry calmly reiterated. “This has to do with your playing tonight…again. This time, however, somecreature confirmed what we already knew, and you will need to hear them out. Understood?”

snort! “Really?” the creature replied in annoyance. “Well, whoever it is-ooh. Hoh hoh! This better not be another damn ‘critic!’ For Lord Ember’s sake, every time a supposed ‘critic’ comes along and listens to us play our show tunes, it’s always ME that gets targeted!”

Alex’s shoulders slumped as he shook his head, leaning toward me. “Seems like it has been an ongoing issue,” Alex whispered. “This may not be a good id-”

“Well, let’s hear them out real quick, shall we?” the band manager replied. I noticed the door starting to open, making me gulp. Alex gripped his guitar cases tightly, taking a deep breath. The creature continued to rant on, unaware of what was coming.

“I am SO SICK of these so-called ‘critics’ coming up here! They always come up with newer ways to diminish our music abilities, ME in particular!” ‘Riff’ commented angrily. “Well, I want to know who this creature is this time! I want to hear WHY they think that so I can give them a piece of my mind! I wanna know who exactly they arrrrrre….”

“...”

Four creatures were sitting around the room, all eyes trained on Alex and me as we entered. ‘Riff’ was in the center of the room, standing up before stepping back. Their eyes widened in surprise as Alex set his cases down, causing me to move more toward the right side. The band manager grinned, waving his hoof toward us.

“Band? I’d like you to meet Mr. Alex, the ‘hyu-man,’ and his guardpony companion, Mr. Swift Wildshadow.”

========================================<>=========================================

“...”

“...”

cough!

“...”

Nocreature said anything. It was so quiet that I actually heard crickets sounding out from outside the establishment. It was…awfully quiet.

“So, is no one gonna say anything about the obvious, or what?” the stallion sitting nearby asked. He had his hooves crossed and was staring at the dragon in the middle of the room. The rest of the group stayed silently still as the band manager scoffed.

“Hmph…Riff? Why so silent now?” the stallion asked, staring at the dragon with a grin. The dragon looked at Gerry before staring back at us. He looked directly at Alex, straightening himself up and rolling his shoulders back before opening his mouth.

“...” No words came out. The room remained quiet. Alex decided to break the silence, stepping toward the bewildered dragon.

“I assume you’re the guitar player, correct?” Alex asked politely. The dragon didn’t budge, but he silently nodded as Alex shrugged. “I couldn’t help myself, but I was listening to you perform and-”

“Yeah? What of it?!” Riff snapped. His claws clenched as smoke huffed from his nostrils. The band sat back silently as Alex held his right hand up.

“I don’t want no trouble, Mr. Riff. I just want to make a suggestion, if I may,” Alex conceded. The dragon didn’t say anything. “See, I’m also a guitarist, and I heard you missing some notes and key chord fingerings in some of the songs. That made me think you weren’t able to hit th-”

“Wait a second!” The hippogriff at the back of the room sat up in his chair. “Let me guess. You are going to say Riff needs ‘thinner strings?’” Alex nodded, and surprisingly, the hippogriff flew up into the air. “Yes! I called it!” the hippogriff cheered. “Haha! You ALSO owe me 20 bits!”

The band quickly dissolved into a fit of laughter, the dragon leaning his head back. He did his best to cover his face, but we noticed the blush of embarrassment creeping onto his cheeks. As the laughter finally died down, Riff pinched the bridge of his nose before the hippogriff grabbed the dragon’s shoulder.

“Sometimes, you gotta trust your bandmates, Riffy,” the hippogriff teased, shaking the dragon.

“Get off me, Darius!” Riff angrily shot back, his arms folding as the hippogriff landed in front of him. I took in his appearance as he approached Alex. His blackened fur was smooth, laced with bits of white feathers tracing down from atop his head and down his neck. He had a long white tail wrapped with a bandage, but his hazel eyes shone in the light as his beak creased into a grin.

“Sorry about little Riff here. He can get cranky when others criticize him,” the hippogriff teased, his claw extending toward Alex.

“I DO NOT!!” Riff shouted in protest. The hippogriff shook his head before chuckling.

“Anyway, my name is Darius. Darius Hawkins,” the hippogriff introduced himself. “I come from the Hippogriffia Isle down south but have played all over Equestria...oh! Yeah, I’m the drummer of the band too!” Alex shook his claw happily, which made me tilt my head in surprise.

“Well, there’s something you don’t see every day,” the griffon sarcastically stated, getting up from his seat. “Mr. Alex, right? I’ve seen you somewhere before…wait. You work at the local supermarket, don’t you?” Alex’s shoulders slumped as he nodded, which made the griffon’s smile widen.

“Heh, at least you’re putting bits in your pocket. Name’s Jay. I play keytar,” the griffon replied, extending his claw out. He almost resembled a snow leopard with his vanilla-like fur, but without the spots across his body, save for one. His hair was slicked back into a mohawk, which exposed a dark gray spot that extended across the side of his face and down to his neck. For some reason, his dark brown eyes dilated as he noticed Alex’s guitar cases. “So, what kind of guitars you got?”

“Magic-powered, right?” the unicorn on the left pointed out. Alex nodded while slightly wincing as the light-blue pony approached. “Jake Tenuto’s the name, and playing piano is my…specialty. Sorry.” His hoof retracted after shaking Alex’s hand, probably intimidated by his size.

“None taken,” Alex replied. “And as for the guitars, they’re battery-powered. They only run on magic in case of an emergency power outage.” Some band members were left scratching their heads, but the unicorn understood it.

“Like a reserve of energy,” Mr. Tenuto responded. “Smart idea. I’ve only heard of those, but I’ve never seen one up close. Probably because Riff is too afraid of them-”

“WHY ARE Y’ALL PICKING ON ME?!” the dragon yapped. The unicorn’s shades hid his eyes, but I knew he was annoyed due to his sigh. Speaking of which, the unicorn’s long blonde hair extended past his forehead and near his shades, while the back end extended toward the body. He wore a vest with sleeves at the front of his body, and a red bowtie completed the outfit. Mr. Tenuto adjusted his magenta-tinted shades and looked back toward the earth pony.

“K. G.” Mr. Alex and I watched as the earth pony near the back-right sat upright. The stallion said nothing as he observed the human with a sharp eye. I heard Alex audibly gulp! before the earth pony stood first on two hooves, then dropped to all four. He moved forward, and the other members backed away, letting me get a good look at him.

The earth pony was taller than me by a slim margin, his black mane disheveled compared to the band manager. The sand-like color of his body fur appeared wet, most likely from the sweat of playing music earlier. His trained eye on the human beside me made me tense up, the backs of his brown eyes boring past him. The cut beneath his left eye was also a scary sight, but I did my best to stay composed.

“I’ve definitely seen you before…but I can’t quite put my hoof on it. You’re not from around here, are you?” The earth pony’s scruffy low voice said. He waited as Alex scratched the back of his neck, sharply inhaling before a deep exhale exited his mouth.

sigh “You’d be correct,” Alex answered sheepishly. “If you wanted to know where I am exactly from, it’s a place called ‘Earth.’” I knew this was true and nodded along with him. Then, the stallion’s eyes lit up as he smiled.

“So you’re the creature who randomly appeared in Equestria that one day?” the earth pony deduced. The entire band nearly did a double take as they stared at Alex, who nodded slowly. Alex laughed at their reactions, a mixture of amazement and surprise filling the room. The earth pony began to quiet them down as Alex explained.

“Yep, that’s me,” Alex said. “Still don’t know how I got here, but…I’m here.”

“And we’re glad to meet you, Mr. Alex,” the pony commented, extending his hoof for Alex to shake. “I’m the band leader of ‘The X-Perience,’ Kyle Growl. I play bass and sing the main vocal lines. It’s nice to meet a fellow musician here in Canterlot.”

“Likewise,” Alex replied nicely before retracting his hand.

“Hmpf.”

========================================<>=========================================

Riff stood a ways away, still in the center of the room. Kyle realized he hadn’t introduced him, which made him walk over and put a hoof over his shoulder.

“This here’s Riff. Best guitarist out of the Dragonlands,” Kyle encouraged. “He’s had some trouble recently because of his distaste for ‘critics,’ but we all have had our fair share of critiques from older, snobby musicians. Ain’t that right, guys?” A collective sound of agreement came from the others, which only made Riff cross his arms and pout.

“It’s annoying, that’s what!” the dragon complained.

“Well, Riff. Maybe we should hear Mr. Alex out on this one,” Kyle persuaded. “If this guy can figure it out just by listening to one performance…speaking of, how did you know?”

Alex pointed at himself and awkwardly grabbed his arm. “I-I…For me, that’s the first thing I usually look at,” Alex stammered. “Trust me. I get my fair share of criticism all the time. I am a firm believer that, in any situation, restringing your guitar will improve your playing tenfold. If you don’t mind me asking, what gauge strings do you use? I-I mean, how thick are the strings?”

“Gauge 12….”

The dragon mumbled, which made me squint. The bassist surely was frustrated, considering he let go of the dragon’s shoulders and tried to match his height. “Riff-”

“See, that’s the thing, Mr. Riff. Those are too thick for your playing style, and your performance is suffering because of it,” Alex disagreed. The band fell silent as Alex flipped his case over. Unlatching the locks, he opened it to reveal a black cloth covering his guitar. The human opened a compartment toward the bottom left side, with many supplies inside.

“Sheesh! That’s a lot of guitar supplies,” Jay commented.

“Thanks,” Alex smiled before looking back at the dragon. “Listen. I get that the tone quality is really good with thick strings, but sometimes, you hit different strings on specific notes, and that causes the note to change. Or it just adds an overtone, which is unnecessary. My suggestion? Thin them out. A gauge-10 should do you good.”

“You can’t be serious?” Riff pessimistically repli-

flick!

“Gah!” Something flew toward the dragon, causing him to put his claws up. Riff caught it and stared at it, then toward us. I looked over at Alex and saw him deadpan staring back.

“Mr. Riff. I’ve played guitar since I was a little kid,” Alex explained. “It’s been almost 20 years since I first picked up a guitar, and so I can say, with great confidence, I know when it’s time to change your strings.” I watched as Alex removed the cloth covering the red guitar. The drummer pointed at it with a surprised expression on his face.

“Hold up! That guitar looks sick, dude!” Darius commented. All Alex could do was smirk and shrug his shoulders. He removed the strap from the case and began attaching it to the guitar when Kyle brought his hoof up in thought.

“I’ve never seen that kind of brand before. What is it?” the bassist asked.

“It’s a PRS,” Alex answered.

“What in Tartarus is a ‘PRS?’” Riff rudely shot down.

“You don’t know what ‘PRS’ stands for?” Alex fired back. The group remained stagnant as Alex slowly smiled. “Stands for ‘Paul Reed Smith.’ It’s a type of guitar manufacturing company. Very high-quality stuff, if I do say so myself. Hey, you got an amp I could borrow?”

The group turned to look at Riff. The dragon hesitated before grumbling and marched over to the opposite side of the room. He grabbed a medium-sized amp from what looked like a cubby hole there. Meanwhile, Alex walked over with his guitar, the dragon plugging it in.

“This one’s got a bad sound. I rarely use it,” Riff said. The dragon handed Alex the chord for it, which Alex took and plugged into-

BZZT!!

“Shit!” Alex yelled. We all covered our ears as Alex turned down one of the knobs to his guitar. The ringing from the severe attack on my eardrums stayed, which only heightened the headache I was still enduring.

“Sorry about that,” Alex apologized. “Didn’t realize it was all the way up. Let’s see here….” Alex fiddled around with some of the knobs on his guitar, adjusting them until he turned to look at the amp. “How old is this thing?”

“Brand new, actually,” Gerry answered. “Got that for Mr. Riff about a month ago. Unfortunately, he’s complained about its distorted sound and how loud it is. Nearly blew out the speakers on the trial run, as a matter of fact.” My eyebrows raised as Riff shook his head in annoyance.

“I think I see why, but I’m not trying to waste anyone’s time, so I’ll just adjust-”

“Already have.”

Alex stopped mid-sentence and turned his head, staring at the dragon. I had heard the response from standing near the door, but Alex’s wide-eyed stare was…scary. His mouth remained open, and his eyes remained fixated and unblinking. Ever since I was first assigned to him, he had only done that two other times…and both outcomes were not pretty.

“...” The room was quiet. Really quiet. Nocreature seemed like they were breathing. Eventually, the stalemate was broken when Alex turned his head away to readjust another volume knob. The bassist moved the dragon back with his hoof toward me, Gerry, and the other band members congregating nearby.

“Riff….”

“Kyle, I don’t want to hear it.”

“You need to grow up,” Kyle shot back under his breath. The dragon said nothing, turning his head away to look at the wall. “You’re acting like a foal right now. At least show some respec-”

Revvvv!

========================================<>=========================================

From nothing, the room filled with this revving sound. I looked at the source, as did everycreature else and watched as Mr. Alex started playing ‘Kickstart My Heart.’ The way the notes were bending, it seemed he was casting magic spells because we watched with our jaws open in awe.

The way Alex’s fingers pressed down on the strings, moving across the neck of the guitar and repeatedly coming off to planting right back on the same note. His calm and collected demeanor evaporated into this headbanging and carefree attitude, which caught me by surprise. But his singing got our attention, his conviction and mouth emphasizing the tune’s lyrics.

Almost as if…this is what he wanted them to hear. I looked at the group of musicians, whose expressions told the whole story. Gerry had a smug smile on his face while Jay the griffon and Darius the hippogriff were digging it. Jake was nodding to the beat, loving every bit of the performance Alex gave them.

Kyle, on the other hoof, was standing next to Riff, who…had a look of fear on his face. It confused me why he would be afraid of what he was listening to, but Kyle’s watchful eye glanced at me before looking at the dragon. He wrapped his hoof around him and lightly punched the dragon in the side, laughing as he spoke up.

“Okay, Mr. Alex! I think you proved your point!” Kyle exclaimed. Alex opened his eyes and looked up as he stopped playing. The feedback from the extra noise of the amp filled the room’s air, making Alex turn to the amp and shut it off. “Heh. Seems like you know that one all too well, considering you were hitting the notes with your eyes closed.”

Alex slightly blushed and grinned. “Let’s just say, the music you all play…I know them.” His admittance made the band look at each other and nod in approval. However, their band manager moved over toward Riff and called our attention to the pair.

“Well, I do believe that Mr. Alex here is a ‘fine’ musician, don’t you agree?” Gerry asked the other five creatures. Jay, Darius and Jake were in agreement, while Kyle gave Alex a hoofbu-uh, fistbump before trotting toward Gerry and Riff.

“He sounds excellent, Gerry,” Kyle replied. “And, honestly, he may be the best guitar player I’ve ever heard.” In my mind, I was shocked by the stallion’s admittance, especially since he was saying it right before the dragon guitarist.

Speaking of which, Riff stared between the two ponies and sharply inhaled. For the first time, the dragon’s once cocky demeanor turned into a worried expression. gulp! “Uhhh…I-I’m not getting re…replaced, a-am I?” Riff shakily asked.

“What? No! Riff, why would I replace ‘you?’” Gerry responded. “Music is a fantastic art that all of us in this room are excellent at. We take pride in our work and strive to improve daily through practice and performance. You have shown since day one that you had potential, Riff. And, as far as I’m concerned, you haven’t reached it yet.”

The dragon’s shoulders slumped as his head drooped. sigh “Sure feels like i-”

“Riff, I am simply adding another sound to this star-studded lineup here!” the band manager proclaimed. “Besides, you boys have been selling out show after show, night and night out, and have put so many hours into building this chemistry…this may not be a bad idea. I think a new face would make for an interesting challenge and a great addition to the band! Especially since he’s so unique, this is the perfect opportunity!”

“Once-in-a-generation type talent, if I may add,” Kyle complimented. His head turned toward Alex, who was putting his guitar away. The human stopped and noticed it, and my chest began to thud as my mind started putting two and two together. I-Is he…did I just help Alex get-

“Mr. Gerry, I think he would fit in well with us,” Kyle added, smiling at Alex. I stood there, unsure what to do, and waited as Gerry nodded. The bass player turned his attention back to the dragon, who looked ashamed of himself. “However, some conditions need to be met first, which include you, Riff.”

“...”

“Riff, I’ve known you since our last band together,” Kyle lamented. “Remember? We discussed making this new band together, and Darius was our first call. From there, he recommended this griffon out of GriffonStone, and then we heard about Jake Tenuto from Las Pegasus. We’ve added so many different sounds and unique styles over the past few years, which is why our journey to this moment has not gone to waste.”

“...” The dragon continued to stay silent as Kyle sighed, shaking his head.

“Dammit, I’ve had all our past fans give me crap for everything I ‘supposedly did,’ and I know you’ve received a ton of hate since. More recently for your play, but that’ll always happen…only IF you allow it to happen,” Kyle emphasized. “You know what you have to do in that case?”

“...Practice.”

“Exactly. That’s number one,” Kyle explained. “Number two, you are ‘definitely’ going to need to restring your guitar. Every single string needs to go and be replaced with those gauge-10 strings Mr. Alex politely donated to you. And that’s the third condition….”

Riff looked up at the band leader, who smiled at the dragon. “You and Mr. Alex are going to be working together,” Kyle finally said. “So, from now on, I expect you to get to know this creature, talk with him more, and share your background. Please get along with this guy since you two will make this work...one way or another. Get what I’m saying, Riffy?”

“...” Riff didn’t say anything but solemnly nodded.

“If I may ask for one thing from you now, Riff,” Kyle said, “is for your input. What do you think of this guy? You think Mr. Alex is good enough to join this group?” My hooves started shaking as I trotted toward Alex’s right side. He had both guitar cases situated and ready to go, but his surprised look told me he was hearing everything correctly. You bucking did it! my mind shouted.

“...Yeah. M-Mr. Alex does sound good,” Riff admitted. sigh “He’s got a nice guitar, too.”

Oh, sweet Celestia! He did it!

“Then it’s settled!” Gerry remarked, trotting toward us. I watched in glee as Alex’s face devolved into a slow smile, the band manager going to shake his hand with his right hoof.

“Mr. Alex? Welcome to ‘The X-Perience!’”

Author's Note

There's a reason why Alex has two Bachelor's Degrees...just saying.

As always, feedback is appreciated in the comments below. See you in the next one!

-Harpy