It's been two weeks since Mike and Rara had been living together, and while they have been enjoying each other's company, it's had its pros and cons. For Mike, it was having to live without meat based foods, and he humans like him can't eat the herbivore based food ponies eat, as things such as hay, is poisonous for humans. He was lucky to have brought some chicken with him, otherwise he wouldn't be improving his protein. As for Rara, it was trying to understand human technology like Mike's laptop. She wasn't used to working with the music program that Mike had installed, like iTunes, Spotify, and such.

However, it has also helped them open up to each other. They already have 5 songs made, but they still had a long way to go. Not helping was the fact that both of them continued to encounter roadblocks on creating more songs. Finding inspiration to write was hard, and that bothered Rara... a lot.

"No, no, no, no, NO!!!" Rara scribbled out the lyrics that didn't connect, crunched up the paper, and threw it in the trash bin. "Ugh! Why can't I come up with anything good?"

Mike was working on possible music to add to their 5th complete song, but kept getting distracted by Rara's outbursts. "Rara, we're halfway through the album. I'm sure you'll come up with something soon."

"I'm trying, but I'm running out of ideas. This is stressing me out... a lot."

Mike then closed his laptop. "That's it. We're taking a break from this." He got up and grabbed his box of DVD cases. He then started to make his way out of Rara's room. "Well? Come on, I know something that can help you relax."

Rara just gave Mike a serious look. "Really? Do we even have time for that?"

"Well, there's comes a time when you have to relax and enjoy life. And this is one way of doing so."

Rara just sighed, got up, and went to follow Mike. The two went downstairs to Coco's living room where her TV was. The DVD player that Pinkie Pie put on the counter when Mike moved in has since been plugged in. Mike put the box down and looked at Rara.

"So, what do you wanna watch?"

Rara looked inside the box. Inside were the same DVD cases that she saw when Mike moved in. She couldn't help but be curious about the ones that are titled, 'Thomas & Friends' at the top of the spines.

"Um, I think I want to watch the ones that say 'Thomas & Friends' at the top of the spines. I really want to see what that is," Rara replied.

Mike was surprised. "Really," he said. "You wanna watch that?"

"Yes," replied Rara. "AJ has told me a lot about it and how Twilight always goes crazy over it. So, I wanna see why AJ and her friends like it so much."

Mike chuckled. "Well, Twilight going crazy would be an understatement. But if you want to, then I'll guess it'll do no harm."

Mike then turned on the TV and the DVD player, set the TV to the DVD player, and took out a case from the box. "I think it's best if we watch the show in order." He then showed Rara the DVD's front cover. "This was the very first volume, containing the show's first 7 episodes."

Rara couldn't help but be startled at she was seeing. On the front cover, the 'Thomas & Friends' logo was at the top. Under it, was another title in a different font, which read, 'Thomas Gets Tricked'. And then there was the cover itself, which is what startled Rara. On the cover, was a train. It was blue and looked very disproportioned. It also had a face, and said face looked to be a terrified one.

"Uhhh... okay," Rara stammered. "Well, put it in."

Mike smiled he then opened the DVD player's disc tray. Rara watched in amazement as the tray slid out of the DVD player. Mike then opened the DVD case, put the disc on the tray, and pressed the open/close button, which caused the tray to slide back into the player. Rara watched as the tray disappeared into the DVD player, now with a disc on it. Mike then grabbed a remote and sat on the couch. He then patted the area beside him and said, "Well, come on. Get over here." Rara sat next to him and watched as the screen suddenly went black.

After a few logos, trailers, and a DVD menu, the volume began. First, a logo came up on the screen. It was a red, yellow, and blue children's block on a white background, with the letters H, I, and T on the top, left, and ride sides respectively. Underneath the block it read; 'HiT Entertainment'. The logo then disappeared and then, a purple background came up on the screen as a signature tunefully wrote itself on the screen. When it was finished, a title appeared right in the middle of the signature, which read; 'Britt Allcroft Presents'. The signature disappeared and in its place, a shot of a windmill in the middle of a swampland showed up on the screen as the same blue train from the cover appeared in the background passing it with 2 orange coaches. While that was happening, a catchy theme began playing.

[5:36]

After the theme song ended, the first episode played. The blue train from the cover was now smiling at the camera, on the bottom of the screen, some yellow titles read; 'Thomas Gets Tricked'. Then, a male narrator began speaking in a Trottingham accent.

Mike and Rara spent the next few hours watching Thomas DVDs. Mike was shocked at how much Rara wanted to see. Every time a DVD ended, Mike could see that Rara wanted more. So, he decided to give her more. Now, they were watching a DVD from Season 4, which according to Mike, is one of the best seasons of the entire show. The DVD was titled 'Henry and the Elephant', though originally, when it was on VHS, it was known as 'Gallant Old Engine'. The DVD contained some of THE best episodes ever, from Season 4; 'Gallant Old Engine', 'You Can't Win', and 'Fish'. Speaking of Fish, that was the episode they were currently watching, and it was the last episode on the DVD.

Rara was very impressed with how the show was filmed. From the very little time that she saw Coco watching TV, it was either with human actors, or with animation. Thomas & Friends, on the other hand, was filmed in a way that was more suited for theatre plays. Everything on camera; the trains, the buildings, the machinery, the people, the animals, and the road vehicles, everything, was a prop. The model trains functioned like real trains, the road vehicles moved like actual cars and trucks, and the character, Harold, who was a helicopter, functioned like a real helicopter. There were no animated effects or CGI, it was all modelwork. Even the crashes and destruction, were done by the crew actually destroying the set or deliberately crashing the model trains. 'I wonder how much money it took to make this show.' Rara thought to her herself. She decided to put the question at the back of her mind and continued to watch the episode.

"Henry made good progress.

When they reached Edward's station, his driver stopped the train beyond the platform. Then Henry gave a special signal.
'Peep, peep, peep, peep! I need help please!'
'Peep, peep!' replied Duck. 'I won't be long.'
Duck buffered gently up to Henry's train, he was not coupled on. Henry would then able to run on without stopping when they reached the top of the hill.
'Ready!' whistled Duck. And off they went."

This was another part of the show that Rara was impressed with. There wasn't a group of voice actors voicing the characters. It was all a single narrator doing all of the voicework. Telling the story like an audiobook.

"Soon they reached Gordon's hill.
'Push hard, push hard!' puffed Henry.
'We're doing it, we're doing it!' replied Duck.
Henry was pulling his train harder than he realized.

Duck felt the weight on his buffers lacking, then Duck noticed something else.
'There's no sign of a taillamp!' he puffed. He whistled, but there was no reply. Meanwhile, Henry had noticed something too.
'My train's getting heavier,' he thought to himself. 'I'm slowing down.' Then there was trouble.

CRASH!!!

No one was hurt, but a strong smell of fish hung in the air.

Next day, workmen found the broken taillamp at the bottom of the hill.
Sir Topham Hatt spoke kindly to Duck.
'The accident wasn't your fault. We should have checked that this taillamp was fixed on properly. We'll soon have you in working order again.'
'Thank you, sir,' said Duck sadly. 'Thomas told me to be careful about fish. They got me in a right pickle didn't they?"

With it being the last episode, the final nameboard sequence played, resulting in a song; "Really Useful Engine".

Rara really enjoyed the songs that played at the end of each DVD. At first, she found the songs adorable, given that they were sung by children, but as the songs went on, she saw that they were more than children's songs. She could easily say that "Really Useful Engine" was one of her favorites.

With it being the last thing on the DVD, the end credits rolled. Once they finished, Mike stood up and took out the disc from the DVD player. He put the disc back in the case, and put the case back in the box.

"So, what do you think of it?" asked Mike as he turned off the TV and DVD player and sat back down next to Rara.

"I love it," exclaimed Rara. "No wonder your friends go crazy over it. The show is pretty much about friendship."

Mike smiled. "Well, I'm glad you liked it."

Rara started to stare at Mike and said, "You've probably just gotten another pony hooked in that show."

Mike stared back at her. "Maybe I did."

Both of them continued to stare at each other before they started to smile and let out a laugh. After all that had happened, Rara started to lay back and lean on Mike's shoulder.

She let out a contented sigh and said, "Maybe you were right. I needed a break from what I was doing. Think we can watch more of this show another day, maybe the next volume in line."

"If that's the case, then we might try out one of the Season 5 DVDs. Alec Baldwin is the narrator of that season."

"Alec Baldwin! Really?"

"Yup. Or maybe we can watch something else. Like Star Wars or Harry Potter. I did bring LOTS of movies and TV shows with me."

"Really. Is watching movies and TV shows all you like to do, aside from racing cars?"

Mike let out a sigh and said, "Only because my chances of getting a music career off the ground failed. I just stick with my regular job and spent nights and weekends trying to relax or have fun. Aside from my racing teammates, I don't have anyone to hang out with long term, and everyone I knew in high school and college had families to take care of."

"Is that why you have a hard time out there? You know, trying to fit in. Maybe finding a girlfriend to spend your nights and weekends with instead of being alone?"

"Well, that's been the story of my life," Mike replied.

Silence filled the room. Rara was still leaning on Mike's shoulder and started to rub her other hand on his arm. He caught on and started to look at her. As they both stared at each other, they began to close the distance between them. Rara closed her eyes as his lips were close to hers.

But unfortunately, the moment was completely ruined by a knock at the door.

"Mike. Rara. You both there?"

Both of them knew who that voice belonged to. Rara opened her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. 'Damn it, Prance. You sure know how to ruin a moment,' she thought. She yelled, "Coming," and got up from the couch and went to the door.

When she opened the door, she saw Prance and another stallion. He had a yellow coat, a blue greased up mane and tail, and was wearing a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a cream vest, and white pants.

"Well this is a surprise," Rara said. "I thought you were with another artist on tour."

"Heh, we actually just finished the tour a few days ago," said the stallion. "So I decided to catch up with Prance here. I also heard about you as well."

"Well come on in," Rara replied as she opened the door. As they made their way to the living room, Rara turned to Mike and said, "Mike, this was my lyricist and one of my backup dancers, Disco Fever."

"Sup," Disco said.

Mike gave him a handshake. "It's nice to meet you."

"Same here," Disco replied. "Been hearing that you're working with Rara with her upcoming multi-dimensional tour."

"You could say that," Mike replied.

Disco looked around and saw pieces of crumpled paper near the door of Rara's bedroom. He walked up the stairs and went to the bedroom. When he did, he found a huge pile of crumpled papers in the trash bin. The pile was so huge that the trash bin was overflowing. He picked up one of the balls of paper that fell to the floor, straightened it out, looked it over, and said, "Hmmm, seems like you two are having problems with the new music."

"We're already halfway done with the album, but... well as you can see, we still have a long way to go," Rara replied.

"Care if I take a crack at it?" Disco asked.

Mike and Rara looked at each other then back at Disco. "Be our guest," Mike replied.

Disco then took some of the papers and began to look them over. While he was doing this, Rara decided to explain to Mike what he was doing.

"What he's doing is looking over what I wrote and get an idea of what song I'm trying to sing. Then he'll try to help fill the gaps that I need to make this song work. He can also fine tune how the song sounds to make it better. It's like he has the rhythm and going through his head. He's helped me improve a lot of the songs I've performed in the past, but Svengallop never gave him credit."

Like the bastard even cares. He just didn't want to complain, otherwise, he would have lost his job in the process," said Mike.

"I just told him to just go along, and just let it all play out," said Prance. "We all knew that karma would bite him in the ass when he least expected it."

Disco finished what he was doing and handed a sheet of paper to Rara. "Well what do you think?"

Mike, Rara, and Prance looked it over before they gave their answer.

"It's perfect!" Rara exclaimed. "Thanks, Disco."

"No problem," Disco replied. "But I think I'll have a better idea when I hear some music to go with it. But we don't have to do that right now."

"Well, I'm still working on the music on the last one," Mike said as he pointed to his laptop.

Disco looked at it and said, "So this is one of those human technologies that I've been hearing about. But it can't beat the machines that we have at the studio."

"Well, if it's like the stuff that was around on Earth decades ago, then I'm sure it'll work," said Mike. "I'm just working on the template for now. It'll be better once we have a band."

"So I've heard," Disco replied as he took a seat next to Rara's nightstand. The others decided to do the same.

"I've been telling him about what's been going on and getting updates on the rest of the crew," Prance explained.

"Then you know some of the changes that we're making with our usual music," Rara explained. "Think you can help us out?"

"Well, if you don't mind having another lead guitar in the group." Disco looked at Mike's guitar. "Oh man, I've been itching to play one again. May I?" Disco asked hopefully.

"By all means," replied Mike.

"Awesome." Disco got up and went over to the guitar. He picked it up and checked the tuning. Then he started to play a song that Mike knew well.

"Hmm, now that's a bit new from you," said Rara.

"It's something I've heard when I was in Las Pegasus with the group. It's pretty catchy," Disco explained.

"Sounds like you've been doing fine with the artist that they assigned you to," said Rara.

"Well, I've seen lots of movies when me and the artist I toured with visited Earth," Disco said. "And one of those video game based ones became my favorite." He then began singing.

While Disco was singing, Prance began to reenact Jim Carrey's dance moves from the Sonic Movie.

When Disco finished singing and Prance finished dancing, Mike and Rara looked at the 2 stallions with impressed looks on their faces.

"Well, you seem to love the Sonic Movie," said Mike.

"I know right," said Disco. "It's awesome."

"Sonic Movie?" Rara asked confused.

"It's a movie based on a video game called 'Sonic The Hedgehog'. Basically, it's about this hedgehog that can run at supersonic speeds and tries to save the world from an evil human scientist called Dr. Eggman," explained Mike.

Rara tried to keep herself from laughing at the bizarre villain name.

"Well anyways, one of the humans had that song on a small device that he was carrying," explained Disco.

"It's called an iPod," said Mike. "It's like my cellphone, but smaller and only has music on it."

"Well, your world has some interesting stuff that we have yet to achieve. Yet, we have magic that you don't have," said Disco.

"Which is why my childhood friend, Applejack, and her friends are working on bringing both worlds together," Rara explained. "But we went very off topic here. You think you can help out?"

"Well, I was able to reach out to the others, and they are willing to help. Night Shades already returned from his tour a week ago and he's trying to get some rest from all the traveling. Or should I say flirting." Disco chuckled. "He could help out on the keyboard. Rock Blast and Beat Box should be back from their tours next week, so that covers bass and drums. Star Dancer and Style Light still have a couple of more weeks before their tours end, but they are willing to help out as well. Star Dancer can back us up if needed, since he works on the stage while the team is setting up. And I'm sure Style Light can help Prance out at the studio and maybe on tour if that was to happen."

"Sounds like all of us are getting back together," said Rara.

"Well, I figured that we'd fill you in on all that," Prance said as he got up. "Just let me know if you need the studio to work in, and I'll see if I can help free it up."

"And you know where I live at if you two need any help," said Disco as he got up and put the guitar back to where it was located. "I would like to learn more about that machine of yours, Mike, and how you can make music from it."

"Sure thing," Mike replied.

"Just make sure you tell Night Shades to lay off on the flirting. I hate to see him get slapped in the face... or worse," said Rara.

"I'm afraid it's too late for the worse part," said Disco. "But I doubt he'll ever learn from that."

Disco and Prance went downstairs and left the apartment. Rara followed after them, locked the front door, and came back up the stairs.

"Well he's a cool guy," said Mike. "He just might be able to help us out."

"You'll love the others when you meet them. Especially Beat Box. You two have something in common," Rara explained.

"I guess it involves drums," said Mike, which Rara nodded. "Well, I was in percussion back in high school, so that should be interesting."

"Good," replied Rara. "You know what? I feel a lot better after all that just happened. Watching that show about talking trains was one thing. But seeing my old friends who are willing to help us made it even better."

"Well, I might as well get back to creating the music from the song we were working on. Going to start another song?" Mike asked Rara.

"Not today. I think it might be better to make sure that what we have is ready so that Disco and Prance can look it over before we start our next song. Besides, it looks like Celestia is starting to set the sun, so I might as well start fixing us dinner."

"Really?"

"Well, I do owe my husband a treat after what you did for me earlier. I'm sure a grilled cheese sandwich will do for tonight. What do you say?"

"Sure."

Rara began to walk down the stairs to the kitchen, while Mike went back to his laptop to finish the music for their 5th song. Rara took a moment to look at Mike and almost remembered that one moment between the two.

'Maybe one day, I can do something special for you, after all you have done for me.' Rara thought to herself as she continued to walk down the stairs.

To Be Continued.

Author's Note

If you guys want to watch the Thomas episode 'Fish' in full, all you have to do is go on YouTube and search; "Fish Season 4", and it should be the first result.