Shuffle

Rainbow Dash was pumped!

Tomorrow was her big day, her first tryout for the Wonderbolts. The first thing she did when she received a letter a week prior from their captain, Spitfire, asking her to attend the tryouts that'll be taking place at the Cloudisseum (besides the expected merry onslaught of "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!"'s) was begin training for her big break.

She spread the news to all her friends, and they all couldn't be happier for her. They had all given her some "Congratulations!" and "That's great, Rainbow!", but Dash herself didn't expect anything less. She knew it was only a matter of time before her idols would come and ask her to be one of them.

She woke up early that morning with the goal of getting her mind, body, and soul to nailing this tryout without a single hitch. Eating a breakfast that held all of the essential vitamins and minerals to get her body ready, Rainbow Dash set up a last-day training regime in her head, planning on perfecting the routine she had been working on for years in order to impress the Wonderbolts.

"Okay, Rainbow Dash," she began to her reflection in the mirror in her bedroom of her cloud mansion, "today's the last day for practice. Tomorrow will leave no room for slip-ups, so get you're head in the game!" She made some self-motivational poses, further preparing the determined rainbow-maned pegasus. After looking into her reflection's eyes for several seconds, she said, "Right!" Dash then casually trotted out of her room towards the front door.

Upon reaching it, she opened it to reveal the perfect day for staying indoors. It was raining cats-and-dogs, preventing any sort of outside exercise to take place. Rainbow Dash stood in the door frame, her body cold with shock, her eyes tearing up with disappointment.

"Wha--? I-I...NO!" She screamed at the unfair sky. "Why the hay is it raining? Nopony told me about it, and I'm one of the hoofing Captains of the Weather Teams!"

The rain ignored her, its infinite pattern of falling unimpeded hissed into Rainbow's flopped-down ears. The cyan mare, on the other hand, continued to sling verbal abuses at the rain, the sky, and the other pegasi, who had scheduled an unexpected downpour right before Rainbow Dash could complete her final day of training.

Rainbow Dash, conceding, turned around and slammed the door at the rain outside, tears slowly making their way past the lower curve of her ruby eyes. Her head was filled with all sorts of negative thoughts.

What if I fail the tryouts, tomorrow? Oh Celestia, this rain is gonna cause me to flunk everything! My hopes, my dreams, gone! All because of this bucking rain...

She began to trot to nowhere in particular, head hung low in misery, when a knock on her door made her stop after ten steps. The pegasus slowly snailed back to the door and opened it. No one was there, except the taunting rain.

Confused, she stuck her head out and look ahead, left , and right of her. Empty. She was about to go back inside, about to mutter some more silent curses at whoever played "Knock-and-dash" with her, when her faze fell to the little brown box on the porch. She approached it cautiously, still assuming that someone was playing a prank on her, (possibly Pinkie Pie, since she loved doing stuff like that), and picked it up in her forehooves.

It wasn't very heavy. It was just a small, brown, cardboard box, slightly soaked from the spray of the rain. Rainbow Dash shook it experimentally, and something inside bounced around freely. Her guard going down, she noticed a flap on one side of it that opened to reveal the box's contents. Taking one last look around the porch, and confirming that no one was indeed around, hovered back inside, closing the door with a rear hoof upon entering.

Rainbow Dash made her way to the couch in her living room. Despite the cloud mansion's impressive exterior, climbing four stories into the sky, the interior was plain, unimpressive, something that Dash appreciated whenever she wanted some alone time. Other than the occasional Wonderbolts poster or picture featuring her and her friends, the rest of the house was filled with little furniture. The rain outside made tiny pitter-patter sounds against the windows.

Sitting on the cloud-couch, Dash flipped open the side of the box and slid its contents right next to her. It wasn't much, just a small note, a white cord with two buds at two ends that branched off one-third along the cord's full length and a metal plug at another, and a small, light-blue, cubical object. She first brought up the note to her face. It only said,

Plug the pole end of the white cord into the hole on your iPod Shuffle. Then insert the corresponding ear-buds into your ears to listen to the music. In order to play and pause the music, lightly press the center of the white ring. Press the "+" and "-" symbols to increase and decrease the volume, respectively. If you would like to skip a song, then gently press the double arrow symbol pointing to the right. But if you would like to replay a previous song, then simply press the pair of arrows pointing in the opposite direction.

Enjoy!

After studying the instructional card, (and noticing that there was no name, or anything else on the card, for that matter), Rainbow Dash followed the instructions, hoping to satisfy the curiosity that had begun to grow when she first took that box. After testing where to insert the silvery pole of the white cord, Dash finally plugged it in a hole located on the top-left side until she heard a *click*. Then, she held the opposite ends of the cord in her hooves. On either bud was a small "L" or "R", indicating which ear the respective bud be place in. After doing so, she brought up the light-blue rectangular prism. On one side, presumably the front, was a white ring with the appropriate symbols the card described. On the back was an image of what appeared to be an white apple, with a piece of it bitten off. After a bit of apprehension, Rainbow Dash's curiosity wouldn't allow any more hesitation, and she softly pressed the center of the ring.

The ear-buds exploded in a strong, yet controlled guitar riff that was backed by the sound of mimicking drums. The sudden clamor of sound made Rainbow Dash flinch, but after several seconds, her head began to nod to the music's beat and rhythm. It was loud, sure, but she didn't bother to turn the volume down. She could tell it was hard rock, something she already enjoyed, so, in her mind, it sort of had to be loud.

After several more seconds, a loud and obnoxious voice shouted,

"BACK IN BLACK!"

Rainbow Dash jumped at the aggressive male voice that came out of nowhere, and after scanning her surroundings and searching for a possible intruder, she realized the voice was in the music. She relaxed, and began to listen again, her head continuing to nod and her mane lightly bouncing off her forehead.

"Cause I'm back!

Yes I'm back!

Well I'm back!

Yes I'm back!

Well I'm ba~a~a~a~ack, ba~a~a~a~ack!

Well I'm back in black!

Yes I'm back in black!"

Rainbow couldn't help but bang her head in the air harder as the song progressed. Even though it was a little difficult to understand whatever this guy was saying, it only made her more eager to head-bang. Her heartbeat increased with every drumbeat. Her hooves unconsciously tried to mimic the electric guitar, even though she had never head this song before. But she definitely wanted to listen to it again as soon as it was over.

Around the one minute fifty second mark, as well as on the three minute thirty-five second mark, the guitar debuted its electrifying solos, something that Dash will love hearing for the rest of her days.

The song ended a little after four minutes, and Dash couldn't wait to play more. She lifted the iPod Shuffle from where it landed after it bounced to Rainbow Dash's rhythmic thrashing. But before she could do what the card had instructed in regards to playing a previous song, a totally new one began.

This new song began with a more hesitant guitar riff, something that Dash appreciated since she could warm up to this song more intimately. Close to thirty seconds, the song really kicked in with a more engaged bass and drums, and at forty seconds, the first lyrics started.

"All you women who want a man of the street,

Don't know which way you wanna turn?

Just keep coming, and put your hand out to me,

Cause I'm the one who's gonna make you burn!"

This song lasted longer than the first, and Dash loved it just as much. She had no idea who made these awesome songs, or who delivered this amazing little gadget to her doorstep, but she didn't care.

With the rain's taunting drowned out by the exhilarating music coming from the ear-buds and Rainbow Dash's earlier tragedy utterly forgotten, Rainbow continued to bounce and dance and head-bang to the hard rock for the rest of the day.