Chapters It was hot in the dark rainforests outside the border of Equestria. The air was thick with humidity, making the leaves sweat. Long claws cut through the dense foliage along with a poisonous buzzing. A group of changelings cut a pathway through the forest. Following them was their queen, Chrysalis.
"Keep searching.” she hissed. “It has to be around here somewhere!"
"Show me what you've found.” Chrysalis ordered.
"Excellent. We've found it."
"I'll go in alone."
"It should be around here somewhere, but where? Where?”
"At last, I've found it. And its power is mine! Mine! MINE!!!!"
Meanwhile in the human world, Rush, Canada's world-famous rock trio, were finishing a performance in Montreal, Quebec, with the final concert of their latest tour. As always, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart gave an amazing show to legions of cheering, loyal fans. They hit the last chord of their final song to rousing applause. The three of them stood up to take a bow.
"Thank you all so much!” Geddy addressed the crowd. “We'll see you all next time. Au Revoir."
"Amazing show guys," said one assistant. "I don't know how you do it."
"Neither do we," joked Alex. "Must be those nails I eat for breakfast."
"Do you take milk with your nails?"
"No, I swoof it down dry with a cup of hot molasses," replied Alex.
"Dry nails and hot molasses," Neil laughed. "There's a combination."
"Hey picture this new ad."
"Iron, Puts hair on your chest."
Celestia rose the morning sun into the sky, covering Equestria in a beautiful sheet of golden amber. In Ponyville, the yellow rays lit up the Victorian structures of the village. The ponies of Ponyville rose to greet the day; opening up the shops and cafes and setting out to mingle in the streets.
At the cottage near the EverFree Forest, the sun's rays shone through the upstairs window waking a sleeping Fluttershy from her slumber. Fluttershy sat up in her bed, yawning as she gave her hooves and wings a stretch. Looking out the window, she took a deep breath from the fresh spring air and sighed.
"Ahhh, what a wonderful morning."
"Oh, good morning Mr. and Mrs. Robin."
"Yes, I remembered the flying lessons for your children. After I have breakfast and feed my critters, I'll be right over."
"Mmmm sweetened oats, Apple family apples, and a glass of fresh orange juice from my orange tree. My favorite way to start the day."
At Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack threw open the doors of her barn and took a deep breath of the fresh spring air.
"Ahh, just smell that sweet, sugary air. The smell of the first apples of the season waitin’ to be bucked off their trees."
"Applebloom, ya'll ready?"
"I'm ready!"
"Big Mac?"
"Eeyup."
"All righty then, let’s give these apples a good buckin."
The team trotted out to the apple fields.
At Carousel Boutique, Rarity was at her sewing machine sewing together pieces of a new hat.
"Just a few more stitches and...perfect!!"
"Oh Rarity, your creative intuition has exceeded your expectations again!!!!"
"This gold sequin hat looks just marvelous, and when combined with this blue and satin dress, it goes from marvelous to simply divine!!! Haa!! I need a stroll around Ponyville right now. This is simply to perfect an outfit to keep indoors."
“Lalalalala!!” Pinkie Pie pranced about the kitchen at SugarCube Corner, preparing baking pans and measuring spoons.
“A perfect day to bake the best new cake Ponyville’s ever seen Gummy!”
“It’s a new recipe I made up myself, and what makes it even more special is my extra special secret ingredient…Glitter!!!”
“Thanks for sharing my enthusiasm Gummy, you’re the best!”
She kissed Gummy on the forehead, getting glitter on her lips.
Inside Golden Oak Library, Twilight was practicing a new spell on Spike.
"Ready Spike?"
"You bet, give it to me."
"Okay. Here we go."
"Wow!! Check me out!"
"Whew," Twilight wiped sweat off of her mane. "Muscle spells are always a tough one."
"But the results are awesome. Ohh wait till Rarity gets a look at these babies. Hey Rarity. What? I look different? Oh yeah, I've been workin out. Check out my bis, and my tris, my lats, and my pects."
"Oooh man I'm pretty."
"Sorry Mr. Bravo." Twilight giggled. "Although you make quite a hunk, those muscles need to go."
"No wait..."
"Aughhh, I was really digging those muscles."
Rainbow Dash…wasn't doing anything. She was sleeping on a lone cloud above Ponyville.
The Apples reached their first bucking spot in the field.
"Just look at those apples. Plump, juicy, bursting with fruity goodness. This has gotta be one of the best crops we've grown. All right ya'll, grab a tree and get kickin’."
"Golly Big Mac!" AJ tripped up. "You don't have to hit it that hard."
"Lan’ sakes, ya'll tryin to kill that tree?"
"Eenope."
"For the last time, stop..."
"I take it that wasn't you makin’ those noises."
"Eeyup."
"Golly, there's not supposed to be any rain today. What in tarnation is causing those booms?"
"Look!"
They all looked up and gaped at what they saw.
The booms in the sky startled Fluttershy, making her spill her juice.
"What was that?"
"That's funny, there's not a cloud in the sky. How could there be thunder?"
"Harry? What's the matter? Shouldn't you be at the beach?"
"You were on your way there, but turned back because of loud noises and a scary cloud approaching? That's silly, it’s probably just..."
"Oh goodness!
"Whatever is the matter?
"There's a big scary dark cloud covering the sky?"
"I'm sure it’s nothing to be scared of. It's probably just a last minute thunder show..."
Looking up to the sky outside her door, Fluttershy's pupils shrank up. She turned a paler shade of yellow...and screamed.
Ponies all over Ponyville looked up to the sky. A dark grey cloud was covering up every corner of the sky. In trance-like states, the ponies watched motionless as the cloud spread over them. Twilight came outside.
"What's going on? What's everypony looking at...Oh my gosh!"
"What's happening?" Spike quivered. "What is that?"
"I don't know, but it doesn't look like anything good."
"Oh no!!" Rarity shrieked. "My hat isn't shining anymore!"
"Forget about your hat, Rarity!" shouted Applejack. "Something’s clouding over the sky."
"AAUUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!" Pinkie Pie screamed. "All the glitter for my glitter cake isn't glittering anymore. I spent all my bits just for this glitter too."
"Where's Rainbow Dash?" said Applejack.
"Where she usually is right now." replied Twilight.
"Rainbow...Rainbow Dash...Rainbow Jennifer Dash."
"Shoot, her middle name always gets her. Anypony got a pebble or somethin?" said Applejack.
"I've got something better."
"Hey! What's the big idea zapping me when I'm napping?"
"Sorry Rainbow, but we've got a weather related problem."
"Whoa! You don't say."
"Can you do something about it?"
"No sweat. We'll have clear sunny skies lickety-split."
"Once I get above it this baby will be...OW!"
"Rainbow! You okay?"
"I'm fine."
"That's no cloud. Clouds you can fly through, but this thing is rock solid."
"Wait," said Twilight. "I think I know a spell that could work. Let me try it."
"This isn't good at all," said Twilight. "That cloud isn't weather and it’s not responding to magic. Whatever is causing it, I can bet it's something bad."
"Oh no, Tank's up there!"
"You okay buddy?"
"Twilight dear," said Rarity. "Maybe we should think about getting to the princess?"
"Yeah," said Applejack. "Discord could be loose again or something."
In Canterlot, Celestia and Luna hovered above their palace firing magic at the cloud to try and break it up. Luna, sweating hard, fired more magic from her horn.
"Sister, we've tried all the magic we have. Nothing is working!"
"There has to be something." said Celestia.
"Celestia! Luna!" called Twilight running up to them.
"Twilight!"
"What's going on?"
"What's this thing that's clouding over Equestria?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.
"I don't know," Celestia panted. "I've never seen anything like this before."
"We have been trying to destroy it for hours." said Luna. "We've used all of our magic and nothing has worked."
"Where's Discord?" said Rainbow Dash. "If that creep’s stirring up trouble again..."
"It's not Discord." Luna interrupted. "This is too plain for him."
"And besides," added Pinkie. "He's right where we left him."
"So what else could it be?" asked Rarity.
"It's something you little ponies can't defeat!"
"I'd know that voice anywhere," said Luna.
"Chrysalis!" Celestia gasped. "Show yourself!"
"We should have known it was you!" Celestia shouted.
"Guilty as charged."
"What are you doing here?" Luna demanded. "What are you doing to Equestria?"
"Covering it in eternal darkness. Something you, the princess of the night, once tried to do yourself."
"How are you causing this?!" Twilight shouted.
"Twilight Sparkle,” the changeling hissed. “You disappoint me. Surely a staunch student of magic such yourself has heard of…the Grey Crystal."
"The Grey Crystal?!"
"Oh no, it's very much real. My changelings and I found it in the jungles beyond Equestria. I’ve activated it by charging it with my changeling powers, and it's creating the cloud of dark energy you see blocking out the light of your beloved princess. By midnight tomorrow, the dark energy will have spread to every corner of Equestria, covering it in an eternal darkness.”
"Just you wait!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "We'll find a way to destroy it..."
"Oh no you won't, no magic of this world can destroy the cloud or the crystal..."
"Not even the Elements of Harmony."
"You won't get away with this Chrysalis," Celestia challenged.
"But I already have, Princess. Next to the Elements, the magic of you and your sister is the most powerful in all of Equestria, and the two of you couldn't even make a dent in it."
"Enjoy your world while you have it my little ponies, for soon it will belong to me!!!!"
"What do we do Princess?" Twilight asked.
"I'm sorry my little ponies, but there's nothing we can do."
"Eternal darkness?” Rainbow Dash quivered.
The Mane Six tore through Twilight's library, throwing books off the shelves, and going through them one by one.
"Has anypony found anything yet?" called Twilight
"Nothing," replied Rarity, paging through a book with her horn.
"Nyet, Nada, Zip!"
"I won't believe for a second that the grey crystal's magic is indestructible."
"What if it is indestructible?" Rainbow Dash welled up. "There’ll be no sky to fly in, and my house is up there. Where am I going to live?"
"I need sunlight to grow my apples.” Said Applejack, “How in the hay am I supposed to grow apples with no sun? It just don't add up."
"Hey! Where's Fluttershy?"
"Fluttershy!" they called. "Where are you?"
"Wait a minute," said Twilight.
"Fluttershy? Are you in here?"
"No," whimpered a soft voice.
"Isn't there any pony in here?" she asked nonchalantly.
"Nopony," Fluttershy squeaked back.
"There must be somepony, because somepony had to say...no pony."
"Fluttershy, what are you doing in my bed?"
"What do you think I'm doing?" Fluttershy whimpered. "I'm hiding."
"Come on..Fluttershy...we need you..."
"I'm sorry Twilight," Flutters cried, "but the thought of everything covered in unending darkness is just unbearable to me."
"It's alright darling. We're all scared."
"Ooh," Pinkie fretted. "It'll be no fun having parties with no sun. Come to think of it, with no more sun how will we ever be able to have fun again? Everypony will probably turn into sad ponies and never laugh or smile ever again! And there were so many things in life I’ll never get to do.”
xeroxing her butt on a photocopier.
….“ISN'T THERE SOME WAY TO DESTROY THE CRYSTAL!!!"
"Hey! Ponies! I found a book about the crystal, and there is a way to destroy it.”
"Gimmie that book!!!"
"Woah!"
"Maybe wait ‘till I let go of it?"
"The Grey Crystal. An ancient relic of dark magic, it produces a supposedly indestructible grey cloud of energy that covers the land in eternal darkness. Discovered by Star Swirl the Bearded on one of his many quests beyond Equestria’s border. Terrified of its power, Star Swirl hid the crystal away in the cave he found it in, and then spent years researching a way to destroy it should the magic ever be used.”
"Yeah yeah, we know that already." Rainbow piped up. "What's the way to stop it?"
"It turns out, the crystal’s weakness is exposure to a consistent really loud sound, specifically music."
"Music?!" Pinkie shrieked. "Why didn’t you say so!"
“It’s…not…working.”
"Not that kind of music, Pinkie."
"It says that rock music is the kind that the crystal is most vulnerable to."
"Rock music?" Rarity deadpanned.
"That shouldn't be hard.” said Rainbow, “We'll just get Sapphire Shores, Maredonna, or the Rusty Shoes to play..."
"But there's a catch," Twilight read. "It’s immune to music made by ponies. Its weakness is music that's not of this world and made by the bond of a strong friendship."
"So it can only be destroyed...with rock music...made by friendship...that's not of this world?" Fluttershy scratched her mane in confusion.
"And I thought my brain was loco in the coco."
"So where in tarnation do we find this rock and roll music made of a friendship bond that's from...someplace else?" asked Applejack.
"I think I know where we can find out."
A few hours later, the ponies were back in Canterlot running up to Princess Celestia's palace. The Princess paced in the main hall.
“Princess Celestia!” called Twilight. “We’ve found a way to destroy the crystal.”
“How?” asked the princess.
“Well…it’s kind of a funny thing, and I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Rock music from another dimension made by a strong musical bond,” said Pinkie Pie.
“Princess Celestia,” Twilight continued. “Do you know anything about other dimensions…if there are any?”
“Follow me.”
Princess Celestia led the ponies to a shelf in the palace library.
"During his elder years, Star Swirl mounted expeditions to explore and study different dimensions than our own. His findings were all recorded into research volumes."
"Here it is."
"I kept all of the volumes on his expeditions here in this chamber."
"How did I not find this! I mean I've read every book in this library, I can’t believe I never stumbled into this room!! These shelves are just oozing with new information. WooHooHoo!!!"
"Whatever you're looking for to defeat the crystal," Celestia continued, "you'll most likely find it in here."
"Come on girls, we don't have much time!"
The ponies and dragon pored over the books on other worlds and dimensions, going through each volume in groups and trying to find a record of the type of music that would help them.
"Has anypony found anything yet?" called Twilight.
"No, nothin." Applejack answered.
"It's hard to believe,” said Rainbow “but it looks like other dimensions have no concept about music at all, let alone rock and roll. Seems Equestria is the only one that does.”
“Why did it have to be rock and roll?” she grumbled. “It could of been nice classical concertos, an operatic aria, or maybe even show tunes, but rock and roll? Ickhhh. Nevertheless if it’s what takes to save Equestria.”
"Ughhh!!" Twilight groaned. "This is so frustrating."
"Hey girls,” said Pinkie cheerfully, “How did the ponies save Equestria from eternal darkness?”
“Pinkie, this is hardly the time for jokes.” Twilight grunted.
“I agree Twilight,” the pink mare replied. “That’s why I’m asking the question.”
“Okay, I’ll bite,” Twilight replied sarcastically. “How?”
“By finding a whole shelf of rock and roll bands from another universe!!”
“Pinkie? How did you find this shelf?”
“Easy peasy! While everypony else was pouring through every other book, I used my neatly weetly Pinkie knowledge to find this one…
~Flashing back to a few seconds before, Pinkie just went eeny meeny miny moe on a random wall and happened to pick the right one.~
Twilight deadpanned at the smiling pink pony.
“I won’t even ask.”
“Wow, there are tons of rock bands in here. Lots of them, from A to Z.”
“What kind of world is this?” Fluttershy asked.
“It’s a universe made up of a type of creature called a human”
"Human?" said Rainbow Dash. “What’s a human?”
"That's a human."
"What a strange looking creature," said Applejack. "Never seen anythin that walked on two legs and had long claws."
“Well,” said Rainbow. “No matter how strange they look, they’ve got rock music.”
"There's so many of them, there's bound to be a band in here that can help us." Twilight pulled down the first book from the shelf. The ponies gathered round Twilight to read with her.
"Let’s see here,” Twilight began. “Starting in the 'A's; here’s ABBA, A four piece band of two married couples from the country of Sweden. Known for chart topping songs like Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, and Take a Chance on Me, they had a big following all over the world and their music is still loved..."
"Wait,” read Fluttershy. “It says down here they haven't played in years and they're all divorced."
"Okay, umm AC/DC."
"They look pretty cool," said Rainbow Dash. “Produced some of the best known hard rock songs.”
"But wait," said Applejack. "The first lead singer died."
“And what kind of respectable creature dances around in skimpy shorts anyway.” Rarity quipped.
"Aerosmith?" said Pinkie.
"Oooh, how bout the Allman Brothers?" said Applejack.
“Maybe Asia?” said Fluttershy.
The ponies kept reading through different bands of the human world one by one…
"Hey! This one looks pretty cool! The Beatles," said Pinkie Pie. "Says they made some of the most popular music of their time and were all really good friends."
"Not them either," said Twilight. "It says down here they broke up after eight years together, and two of the members are dead."
"Shoot," said Pinkie, "and they even had a song about a walrus, too."
"Keep reading," said Applejack. "There has to be some band in here."
“Boston,” read Fluttershy “A super group of six very talented musicians. Known for complex music with positive messages like More Than a Feeling, and…
“They changed members and the lead singer's dead.” Applejack moaned.
Undeterred, the girls continued on reading…
"These guys look cool," said Rainbow. "Kiss."
"Ughh!" Rarity gagged. "They look like freaks!"
"They're not even friends anyway," Twilight replied, reading the next few sentences on the page.
"How bout these fellas," said Applejack. "They call themselves Led Zeppelin."
“They might do,” said Twilight. “They all stayed friends, never changed line up members, and are known as one of the godfathers of rock and roll.”
“Sounds like we found our guys.” Rainbow Dash squeed.
“But wait…”Twilight read. “The drummer died, and they haven’t toured or made a record since.”
“Gosh what is wrong with these bands,” Rainbow Dash groaned. “Is rock and roll really this lame in other universes?”
“I think it’s lame no matter what universe.” Rarity huffed till Rainbow glared at her.
“Though, everypony has their own tastes.”
"How does a blimp made out of lead fly anyway?
They read through some more bands…
"Maybe Pink Floyd?" said Fluttershy.
"Cool!" said Pinkie. "Any band with Pink is my kind of band."
"Which one is pink?"
"No, they've split up too," said Rainbow Dash.
"I don't like the looks of this, girls," said Twilight.
"Keep readin’ sugarcube," said Applejack. "We're only down to Q"
"This band looks promising," said Rarity. "Queen."
"They might do," said Twilight. "They're bonded by a strong friendship and made very popular music."
"Bohemian Rhapsody. That sounds divine."
"But the lead singer died," said Fluttershy
"Ughhh! I don't believe this! We've looked through every rock band in this world, and every single one of them are either broken up, have changed members, or an important member is dead. I give up!!"
"Hey girls, have a look at this!”
"Right there at the bottom of the page."
"This band looks interesting. Rush, A rock power trio from the city of Toronto in the country of Canada. Composed of the combined talents of Alex Lifeson..."
"Lifeson?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Who came up with that name?"
"...Neil Peart, and Geddy Lee. This trio is well known for their dynamic, complex music writing, electrifying high-energy concerts, and a devoted following of fans around the world."
"Sounds awesome," said Rainbow Dash. "Like the name too. Rush. They must be fast."
"What is it darling?"
"Girls, listen to this. Rush is a rarity in the music world as not only have they retained the same lineup for over 30 years, all three members are bonded by a strong family-like friendship!"
"That sounds too good to be true!" said Applejack.
"Could they be the ones we’re looking for?" asked Rainbow.
"They have to be," said Twilight. "I mean we looked through so many other bands from their world and most of them have either broken up, lost members, changed line ups, or something, but they haven't. If we have any chance of destroying the crystal, I'd say Rush are our best hope."
"They better be," said Spike. "You should have seen the bands after them, there was one group who like to smash pumpkins, and another that with a fear of tears."
"Then what are we waiting for!" Rainbow shouted. "Let's go tell the princess!"
Rainbow flew out of the chamber while the others galloped behind her.
The group of ponies burst into Celestia’s throne room.
"Princess Celestia!" cried Twilight. "We've found a band that could help us."
"You have?"
"Yes, a band called Rush."
"It says they create music produced through the bond of a strong friendship, which is what we need to destroy the cloud and the crystal. If we bring them here, and have them put on a show in the Satin Stadium..."
"That crystal is done for!" said Applejack.
"Well done, Twilight," said Celestia.
"Um, girls," Fluttershy interrupted, "How are we going to get Rush here?"
"Fluttershy's right," said Rarity. "How do we transport this...Rush group from their world to ours?"
"Princess Celestia. Do you think we could use the Elements of Harmony to teleport them here?" asked Twilight.
"Yes Twilight, you may,” replied Celetia. “Although I don't approve of using the Elements for such an act, the dire circumstances of our world come first. Do what needs to be done, my little ponies."
"Let's get the Elements and get back to Ponyville."
"You sure about this Twilight?" asked Applejack. "I mean I know we need the help of these Rush things, but is it right to just, ya know, swipe ‘em like this?"
"I’m just as unsure as anypony Applejack, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Rush are our only chance to save Equestria. Let’s hope they can help us."
Twilight opened the chest that contained the Elements of Harmony and levitated the necklaces onto the necks of her friends. She placed her Element crown on her head.
"Are we ready?" she asked.
"Ready."
"All set."
"Alright."
"It's on."
"Let's get Rushed!" said Pinkie.
"What?"
"Okay, phase one."
"Well what’ya know, there they are,” Applejack commented. “What strange creatures.”
“Oooh look!” said Pinkie Pie. “The skinny ones got a mane like us.”
"And these three are some of the best musicians of their dimension?" asked Rarity.
"How ‘bout we stop stalling and get them over here. Equestria's getting darker by the minute."
"Okay girls, here we go."
"Phase two."
A strange ball of pink light appeared in Geddy's baseball room. Geddy put down his dusting rag to investigate.
"What the heck is that?"
"What's going on!?"
Before Geddy could react, the rainbow engulfed his body and with a flash of light he vanished into thin air.
Out on the golf course, Alex was at the tee about to take a swing at the 14th hole. Just as he reared up, the same pink light ball appeared. Alex was transfixed by the ball.
"Wow. This is pretty cool."
"Hey! What the…" in a flash, Alex was gone. His golf club fell onto the green.
Out on the cliffs, Neil was taking a few more shots of the view from his vantage point.
“Just perfect."
"Whoa, that’s weird."
"Never seen anything like this."
"Whoa!!!"
The rainbow surrounded him and he vanished in a flash of light. The camera fell onto the grass.
The three balls of light raced through a long rainbow tunnel leading toward a light. They grew closer and closer, and in a big flash Geddy, Alex, and Neil were lying unconscious on the floor of Twilight's library.
"I think it worked," Twilight sighed.
An Explanation & An Encounter
Geddy, Alex, and Neil lay on the floor of the library. The teleportation to Ponyville had knocked them out cold, but they were starting to come to.
"Oh I hope they’re okay," said Fluttershy meekly.
"My, their fashion sense is so plain,” said Rarity.
"That's the biggest nose I've ever seen!" said Pinkie Pie.
"Quiet Pinkie," Twilight admonished. "Don't startle them."
"Oh man, what a headache. What the hell was that thing? And, where am I?"
"Boy I’m dizzy."
"Oh, hey Ged,"
"Geddy?!"
"Alex?!"
"Neil!"
"Guys?"
"What happened?" asked Neil. "What are you doing here...wait, what are we doing here?"
"I don't know," said Alex "Where are we?"
"Looks like a library somewhere?" said Geddy.
"This is really weird," said Neil.
"Maybe we're dreaming," said Geddy. “We have to be dreaming."
"Uhh, guys,” said Alex. “Are those horses?”
“They are horses,” said Geddy.
“And is it just me or are they staring at us?”
"Maybe you should say something," Spike whispered to Twilight.
"Uhh...Hi!"
"Awkward," Spike shrugged.
"Oh dear," squeaked Fluttershy. "I hope we didn't startle them."
"Well. You'd think they'd never seen ponies before!" Rarity commented.
"Well they obviously never seen the likes o' us before." replied Applejack.
"Hi again!"
"No, No, It’s okay!” said Twilight. "We're friendly.”
"What's going on here?" said Alex.
"I can explain everything. You're probably wondering where you are."
"No kidding," said Geddy. "And who are you?"
"Oh, how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm a pony, well a unicorn pony. And these are my friends, Rainbow Dash,"
"Applejack,"
"Rarity,"
"Pinkie Pie,"
"Fluttershy,"
"Um, Hi."
"And my assistant, Spike the Dragon."
"Hey!"
"Okay," said Geddy. "But you still haven't told us where we are."
"Why that's simple," said Applejack. "Yer in Equestria."
"Ponyville, to be exact," said Rarity.
"And we're ponies!" she winked.
"But how did we get here?" demanded Alex.
"We brought you here with our Elements, and with my magic. It's a long story, but we're in kind of a situation."
"You see, normally our home, Equestria, is a bright and shiny place. Big blue skies, warm sun, gorgeous nights, you name it. But now there's this crazy changeling queen, Chrysalis. She looks like us except with dragonfly wings and hooves that look like rotten cheese."
"She's using this thing called the Grey Crystal to cover Equestria in an indestructible grey cloud."
"It's clouding over all the light and plunging our world into unending darkness."
"The only way to destroy this thing is with music made by a powerful friendship."
"There's nothing in our world capable of enough of destroying the cloud."
"So we brought you here so you can use your music to try and destroy the crystal," Twilight finished.
"Basically what we're saying is...WE NEED YOUR HEEEEELLLLLPPPPP!!!!"
"Whoa, this is crazy,” said Geddy. “This is definitely the weirdest dream ever."
“This isn’t a dream,” said Twilight. “It’s quite real.”
“And if this was a dream,” Pinkie took a deep breath. “How could the three of you be having the same dream, while being in the same dream, and being in one another’s dream all the while dreaming each other’s dream all at the same time while still being in your own dream?”
She paused, grinning goofily with a squee.
“Guys,” Said Neil nervously. “As crazy as it might sound, and believe me it sounds crazy, I don’t think this is a dream.”
“So we’re actually in another universe populated by multicolored magical ponies?” asked Alex. “Weird.”
“So let me get this straight...” Geddy said to the group of ponies “You need our music to defeat some evil witch and destroy some kind of dark cloud?”
"Pretty-much." Said Pinkie.
"I don’t understand. Why do you need our music?"
"Because you guys have one thing other bands of your world don't have," said Twilight. "Your music is produced with the magic of friendship."
"This book told us all about you three.”
“Gee, they have a book about us too?” Neil shrugged.
“It said how you've been the best of friends for over thirty years, and wrote some of the best rock music ever. Many bands haven’t come close to what you guys have done. It's not just your music, we need the power of your friendship to help us."
"That's very flattering," Alex said. "But honestly our friendship is nothing special. It's great you guys like our music, but it’s just music. I really doubt it would do anything."
“We’ve actually never heard your music, and only heard about you an hour ago.” Pinkie ranted.
"So you're saying you can't help us?” asked Fluttershy.
"Sorry ponies," said Geddy, "but you've chosen the wrong guys. We appreciate that you think we’re awesome and all, but if you could send us back?”
"I guess you're right. Come on girls, let’s send them back."
"What's that?" asked Neil.
"Mind if I crash this party?"
"Who is that!?" asked Geddy. “What is that?!”
"Remember we told you about the changeling queen?"
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
"Get out of my library, Chrysalis!" Twilight ordered.
"These are who we found to defeat you!" said Rainbow Dash. "Turns out your crystal's power can be destroyed by rock music, and we brought Rush here to stop you."
"I thought you were sending us back," Alex whispered nervously.
“Keep with it don’t ya!”
"You know what's really rich about this whole thing? Nothing in Equestria is powerful enough to defeat me, so the six of you had to go to all the trouble to find creatures from a different universe to come to your pitiful aid, and the best you could do are these hideously ugly things."
"What do you mean ugly?!" snapped Alex.
"I mean ugly. Just look at the three of you. One skinny, the other tall and bulky, and the last short, fat, and not to bright."
"Why, the three of you would be no match for my power.”
"Hey! Back off you overgrown window smudge!" exclaimed Rainbow.
"Don't believe me hmmm? Well I'll just show you."
"Hey!”
“Put me down!"
"Stop it! Stop it right now!" said Neil.
"As you wish."
"Hey!!!" Shouted Geddy. "That's our friend!"
"Then why don't you two join him?"
“Geddy! Neil!” shouted Alex. “Hold on!”
"Just you wait, you horrid witch. These three have made some of the best music of their world. They'll take care of your crystal..."
"Oh shut up."
"Fluttershy!" screamed Rainbow.
“No!!”
"My muzzle! My muzzle!" Fluttershy sobbed.
"It's all right dear." Said Rarity. "It's all right."
"Why you haggish...whatever you are...!" Geddy shouted. "How dare you hurt her like that!"
"Just who do you think you are?" Neil backed up. "You can't assault other people...err ponies!"
"I can do whatever I want." Chrysalis hissed. "And by midnight tomorrow, none of you will be able to stop me. By then, the crystal will have spread its power all over Equestria; nothing will be powerful enough to destroy it. You three better leave while you have the chance."
"And you ponies better get used to my way of doing things..."
"You'll be living with them for a very long time. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"
"Is she okay?" asked Alex.
"She's fine," Applejack answered. "Her muzzle ain't broken, thank goodness."
"Wow, this really is serious."
"No kidding!” Rainbow Dash angrily hovered in their faces. “Now do you see what we're up against!?"
"Rush, we really need your help," said Twilight. "You're our only hope in stopping that horrid creature."
"You're not scared of her? Are you?"
"Give us a minute," said Geddy. "Rush huddle."
"Guys, we gotta do something," said Neil. "You saw what she did to that poor pony.”
"I know," said Alex. "But what can we do? How is our music supposed to help them?"
"Wait," said Geddy. "Twilight said they didn't just need music. They needed music produced through a strong friendship."
"Yeah?" said Alex.
"They could have picked any other band to help them,” said Neil. “but they picked us. Obviously they noticed the three of us have something special. Even we’ve seen how other bands have split up or gotten new members, but we’ve stayed together.”
"Exactly." replied Geddy. "We gotta help these ponies. What do ya say?"
"I'm in."
"Try and stop me."
"Well?" asked Twilight.
"We've talked it over and made a decision." said Geddy.
"Let's rock this pool ponies!"
"You mean you'll do it?!" asked Pinkie.
"We will." said Geddy.
"Woooooo Hoooooo!"
"All Right!!"
"Yee haw!"
"Yay."
"This is gonna be the greatest thing ever!” Pinkie screamed.
"Come on guys." said Twilight.
“Let’s do it!”
Author's Note
Rush are one of my favorite bands. Not only are they amazing musicians and performers, but the three of them have an amazing friendship with each other. I was inpsired to write this story after seeing a PMV of one of their songs, having them use their spirit of friendship to help Equestria.
This is also a tribute to the them now that they are retiring.
A Mission to the Real World
Applejack opened the doors to her barn and led the band inside.
"Come on in Rush fellas, ya'll can jam in ma barn."
"Thanks Applejack," said Alex. "It's perfect."
"Did I say that right? Jam, or play, or whatever ya’ll do?"
“You guys are okay playing in a barn, right?” Twilight asked.
“Oh sure.” Said Neil. “We wrote some of our best music in a barn.”
"We're gonna need some instruments." said Geddy.
"I got a banjo in my bedroom closet." Applejack responded.
"We're a rock band, not a country band," said Neil.
"You know, Spirit of Radio would make a great bluegrass song," Alex whispered.
"But seriously, we can't make much music without instruments," Geddy continued.
"Got you covered, boys. I know a spell that will make any instrument you want appear out of thin air. So what do you need?"
"Bass and keyboards," Geddy stated.
"A guitar," Alex answered.
"A drum set," Neil gestured the size of his drumset. "A really big drum set."
"Comin’ right up," Twilight declared.
"Ahh man, this is awesome!" exclaimed Alex. "I wish setting up was this easy when we toured back home."
"Now we'll get to see if they're worth bringing down here," Rarity whispered to Twilight.
"They'll do fine. Trust me," Twilight reassured her friend.
"Whad'ya say guys?" asked Geddy. "A little YYZ?"
"Sounds good," said Neil.
"This is odd. These drums won't make a drum sound."
"Yeah. This bass doesn't sound bassy at all."
"This is the weirdest guitar I've ever heard."
"This is great! Make more! Make more!" Pinkie laughed as she hopped in the air. Spike was laughing too.
"Some band, Twilight."
"Uh Twilight?” Rainbow whispered. “What's wrong with these guys? I thought they were going to be amazing players."
"I don't know," replied Twilight. "I've never heard anything like this."
"Twilight, I have a hunch at what the problem is."
"What's that, Neil?"
"Well I think the reason these instruments aren't working is because they're made for ponies. Since we're not ponies, we need instruments meant for creatures like us."
"Yeah," said Geddy. "We're going to need our instruments. From our world."
"Twilight," asked Alex, "can you send us back to get our equipment?"
"I don't think I can. The teleportation spell can only be used to teleport here and back once. If I send you guys back, I can't bring you back here again."
"So what do we do?"
"Panic?" said Fluttershy.
"We could make them a Polka band," said Pinkie Pie.
"Pinkie, they're a rock band,” said Twilight. "I don't..."
"It'll be fun. I know lots of Polka."
"What's she doing?" asked Alex.
"Being Pinkie Pie," sighed Rarity, slapping her hoof to her face.
"Pinkie? Pinkie...Pinkie...Pinkie...Pinkie...PINKIE PIE!!!!!!"
"What if you guys go into our world to get our stuff for us?" Geddy asked.
"What?!" said Rarity. "Us ponies into your world?"
"Well, yeah."
"Uhhh," Alex scratched the side of his face.
"It's okay, she does that a lot." said Twilight. "And you know what, that sounds like it could work."
"So what you're saying..."Pinkie Pie reasoned, "is you want us to teleport to your world, break into your homes like sneaky thieves, steal all the things you need to perform your supposedly “totally awesome music”, and come back here faster than Rainbow Dash doing a Sonic Rainboom crossed with a double inside out loop?"
Geddy had no idea what Pinkie was saying but somehow it made sense.
“I guess you could put it that way."
"We'll do it," said Twilight. "Just tell us what you need."
"There's quite a few things," said Alex.
"Spike," called Twilight. "Take down a checklist."
“These are some crazy ponies.” Alex whispered to the other guys.
“They’re cute though.” Neil laughed.
Later the ponies and humans were in Applejack's kitchen sitting around the table. Twilight reviewed their list of equipment.
"Okay so we’re getting guitars, basses, two drum sets and a platform, cymbals, amplifiers, keyboards, synth pedals..."
"Apple cider and apple pie, guys?" she offered.
"Oh, thank you." said Alex.
"My pleasure."
"Wow!" said Neil. "This apple pie is amazing. What's your recipe?"
"Aw shucks. That's an Apple family secret."
"Guys, I'm doing a final check on your equipment."
"Sorry Twilight," said Alex.
"Please proceed." said Neil.
"Make sure you get my Fender jazz basses, my Rickenbacker, and my Wal bass," Geddy added. “Haven’t used that in a long time.”
“MmHmm.” Twilight nodded.
“There’s a whole bunch of guitars I use,” said Alex. “Les Paul’s, Paul Reed Smiths, an acoustic, and my white Gibson. Never tour without that one.”
"Don't forget my practice drum set," Neil chimed in.
“Oh, let’s give you the addresses for our houses as well.” said Alex
"Got it. Well I think that's everything. Are we all set to go ponies?" Twilight asked.
"You bet we are," said Rainbow.
"Oh, one last thing," said Geddy. "Find some dryers, at least three of them."
"Some what?"
"Dryers. Ya know, you dry clothes in them," said Geddy.
"Do ya'll mean to tell me that you do laundry on stage?" asked Applejack.
"Boys,” said Rarity, “take it from a pony who takes fashion seriously. There's a better time to make sure clothes are clean."
"We don't do laundry on stage," Alex said with a smirk.
"Then why ever would you need dryers with you?" asked Rarity.
"It's hard to explain," said Geddy. "But make sure you find some."
"Sure," Rainbow huffed, rolling her eyes.
"Bless you," said Fluttershy. She then jumped. They all looked at the door to the next room.
"Somepony’s behind the door," whispered Fluttershy.
"Applejack," said Twilight. "Slowly open the door."
"Applebloom! Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle!"
"Hi sis," said Applebloom sheepishly.
"You three know better than to eavesdrop!"
"Sorry Applejack," said Sweetie Belle. "We just heard strange voices and..."
"Wait,”
“What...or...who are these things?”
"Oh, well..." said Applejack, "They're new friends of ours. Cutie Mark Crusaders, we'd like ya’ll to meet Rush."
"You guys are all named Rush?" asked Scootaloo.
"No," Geddy laughed. "We're a band. Our band's name is Rush. My name is Geddy."
"I'm Alex."
"Neil."
"What are ya'll doin here?" asked Applebloom.
“And what are you?” asked Sweetie Belle
"We're human beings, and we’re here to help you guys," said Geddy.
“How are you going to help us?” asked Applebloom.
“We’re going to play a special show of our music which should destroy the cloud that’s covering up your world.” said Neil.
"You're really gonna do that!?" said Sweetie Belle excitedly.
"We hope they can Sweetie Belle." said Twilight.
"Okay girls, let’s get a move on. We've got a lot of equipment to gather.”
"Where ya'll goin?" asked Applebloom.
"We have to go get the band's equipment," said Fluttershy. "So they can put the show on for Equestria."
"So we're going to Rush's world to get their things," added Rarity.
"Oh guys," said Applejack. "Could you do us all a huge favor?"
"Sure AJ," said Geddy. "Anything."
"Could you watch these three while we're gone?"
"Are you serious?" asked Geddy.
"Yes sir, these three fillies can get a little mischievous, searching for their cutie marks and all. Just keep ‘em entertained. Ya'll have handled kids right?"
"Well yes, but..."
"Splendid! You three be good for our guests now."
"Spike, you stay here with the band and give them a claw."
"Me?" said Spike. "Why me?"
"Because you've handled the Crusaders before.”
"But Twilight . . . !"
"Tell them that joke you know." she winked.
"Fine.”
"Come on ponies."
"We'll be back soon."
"So Spike, what is that joke you know?" asked Neil.
“Uhh, there…”
"So you guys are a rock band?" asked Scootaloo.
"That's right," said Geddy.
"Could you maybe show us how to play?"
"Sure! Why not?"
Back at Golden Oak Library, the girls got ready to teleport to the human world.
"Okay girls, here's the plan."
"Geddy and Alex live here in Toronto, Canada. Neil lives here in California. We'll split up into two teams to fetch their equipment. Rainbow, AJ, and I will go to Toronto. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie will go to California.
“Twilight, where did you get that?” Rainbow asked.
“I took it from the Canterlot library for my own research.”
"Um, Twilight?" asked Fluttershy.
"Yes?"
"How exactly are we going to bring their stuff back here?"
"Simple," said Twilight.
"Twilight,” said Rainbow, shaking her head in exasperation, “that's just a bag."
"Yes. How will we possibly transport all that equipment in such a small bag?" added Rarity.
"I didn't even show you what I'm going to do yet."
"Fluttershy, hold that book for me."
"Where'd the book go!?" inquired Pinkie, sticking her head in the bag.
"How'd you do that?” asked Rainbow. "I've never seen anything like that."
"I saw this spell in a movie when I was little, and I loved it so much I replicated it."
"Got one word to say Twilight," said Rainbow. "Cool!"
"I wanna be small too. Do me Twilight! Do me! Do me!"
"Later Pinkie. We have to get moving. You stand over there with Rarity and Fluttershy."
"The packing spell is here on this scroll. When you’re all finished, use the other spell on here to open up the portal and come back to Equestria.”
“Got it.”
“Are we all ready?"
"Ready!" declared the ponies.
"Okay.”
“Whoa nelly!” Applejack gasped.
“Here we go! Good luck everypony!”
“Maybe I could just…”
A pink hoof reached out and pulled her through with a shriek.
It was late at night in Toronto. Bars and clubs in the downtown area were busy with drinking and partying customers. Two friends were on a bar crawl and just coming out of one of the clubs.
“Where’s the next bar?” Said one of the guys. “I’m only just getting tipsy!”
“Down this way, bro.” said the other.
“What the heck is that sound!?”
“Dunno, could be aliens or somethin.”
“Whoo-wee. Am I seeing spots before my eyes?" said Applejack.
“Sup!”
“Maybe that’s enough beer for tonight,” said the first guy.
“Yeah, I’m seein colored ponies.”
“Hey wait, come back!” Rainbow called. “We wanted to know where...”
“Rainbow Dash!”
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Asking those guys directions. What did you think?”
“You were really going to ask directions from two random beings in another universe?” asked Twilight intensely.
“Yeah so?”
“Oh right, it’s not every day a talking blue pegasus appears out of thin air and says ‘Hey could you tell me where to find the houses of two hometown celebrities?’.”
“And your point?”
“All I’m saying is we have to be smart about this. You know, blend in, so we don’t raise any eyebrows.”
“And how do ya’ll suggest we ‘blend in’ Twilight?” asked Applejack.
“Over there.”
...and came out in three different outfits: Twilight in a denim jacket, and thick square glasses, Applejack in a pair of overalls and a baseball hat, and Rainbow Dash in a Rush T-shirt, sunglasses, and blue jean vest and pants, which made her back legs move awkwardly.
“My tail is being squished.” Rainbow moaned.
“Buck up Rainbow.” said Applejack. “I ain’t a fan on these overall thingies either, but it’s all to save Equestria.”
“Here we are girls,” said Twilight. “Toronto, Canada.”
“It’s just like Manehattan, only with no ponies.” said Applejack.
“Check out that tower!” Rainbow pointed to the CN Tower. “That’s gotta be the tallest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Okay, Geddy and Alex live around here somewhere.”
“This place is so big,” said Applejack. “How in the hay we gonna find their houses?”
“It can’t be that hard.” said Twilight. “All the streets are named just like in Equestria. We just have to find the right street.”
The girls walked through the streets of the city, looking for the right street to Geddy’s house.
“Is this the one?” Applejack asked.
“No, this isn’t it either.”
“It’s definitely not here.” Said Applejack. “You’d think Geddy and Alex would’a gave us directions.”
“Let me fly up and find it.”
“No flying. This ain’t Equestria, remember.”
“Well then how else are we going to find these places?” Rainbow quipped.
“Let’s go to the top of that tower.” said Twilight. “We should be able to find something up there.”
“Whoa!” said Rainbow. “You can see everything from up here!”
“Just look at all those lights!” Applejack added.
“What are those things?”
“Is it just me or are they ponies.”
“The streets all look the same.” Said Twilight. “This is no help, let’s go back down.”
“Must be more tired than I thought.”
Clopping through the streets, the ponies were getting frustrated.
“Twilight!” Rainbow complained. “This is stupid. We’ve gone through every part of this city, and still haven’t found Geddy or Alex’s house.”
“We have to be getting close.”
“You’ve said that I don’t know how many times, and we’ve gotten absolutely nowhere.”
“I agree, Twilight.” Applejack added. “We’re getting nowhere faster than a lone apple in a hayfield. We need to try something else.”
“What do you suggest we try?”
“How bout asking for directions?” said Rainbow. “Like I tried to do fresh out of the portal.”
“We can’t ask for directions!” Twilight defended. “It would be too awkward.”
“Is it not awkward enough to be traipsing around a two legged universe dressed like this?!” Applejack shot back.
“Come on Twilight!” Rainbow shouted. “Let’s just ask for directions, and we’ll be there likety split.”
“No we can’t!”
“Twilight!! You're being unreasonable!”
“I’m not being unreasonable!”
“What’s going on with them?” said the girl.
“Sounds like they’re arguing over directions.” Said her boyfriend. “Must be from out of town or something.”
“They’re different colors and walk on all fours.” Said one of their friends. “Maybe they’re street performers.”
“Whatever they are, they sound lost. We should help them.”
“Come on Twilight!” said Applejack. “Stop being so stubborn!”
“Oh look who’s talking! The pony whose middle name is stubborn!”
“Do you folks need some help?” asked the boyfriend.
“No, no help at all.”
“Sounds like you do, you were arguing about where you were going. Where are you headed ey?”
“It’s really okay. We don’t need…”
“They’re offering to help us sugarcube. I suggest we take it.”
“Yes, we do need help. We’re trying to find this address.”
“Oh, I know this street.” He replied. “Straight ahead about five blocks, can’t miss it.”
“Thank you, thank you very much!” said Applejack.
“A fellow fan, ey?”
“A fan?”
“Rush, you’re wearing one of their shirts.”
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow laughed nervously. “A huge fan.”
“Presto, that's one of my favorites. My dad took me and my sister to that show when I was just six.”
“Was it awesome?” Rainbow asked.
“Awesome as always.”
“Girls, we should get going. Thanks for the directions.”
“You’re welcome, Ciao!”
“Who were those girls?” Asked the best friend. “They walked on all fours, and looked almost like horses.”
“That’d be cool if they were.” Said the boyfriend. “My friend, Chuck is a brony. He would have gone nuts.”
“What’s a brony?” asked the girl.
“Oh, it’s the weirdest thing ever! You’d never believe it!”
The three ponies reached a house at the end of the block.
"This looks like the place," said Twilight.
“How do we get inside, Twilight?” asked Applejack.
“Doesn’t look too different from doors in Equestria.” Twilight replied. “It’s got a knob, hinges, and a lock, I bet if I…”
“Here we go.”
“Finally!” Rainbow fussed. “Those leg things were killing my flanks.”
“Must be a light switch somewhere.”
"Whoa, Geddy’s got a nice place!" said Rainbow Dash.
“Where’dya think his basses and stuff are?” asked Applejack.
“Let’s find out so we can move on to Alex’s house and get back,” said Twilight. “We should split up and look.”
“I’m gonna look over this way,” Rainbow whispered.
“I’ll look down here,” Applejack replied.
“I just found the coolest thing, and you have to come see this!!!!”
Rainbow led the others to the room she found.
“Check this out!”
“Whoa nelly!”
“What are these things?” Applejack asked, looking inside one of the cases.
“I don’t know,” said Rainbow, “but Geddy’s got a lot of them. They look like the balls for some type of game.”
“What kind a game ya’ll think this is?”
“Looks like a game where they hit balls like those with that wooden stick.”
“Must be popular is this universe.” Said Applejack. “Look at all the teams who play it.”
“Wow!” said Rainbow. “These names are awesome; Cubs, Mariners, Dodgers, Red Sox, Blue Jays, bet Fluttershy would love that one. Geddy’s gotta to tell me more about this game. It just looks so cool.”
“What did you want to show us Applejack?” Twilight asked.
Applejack led Twilight and Rainbow down a staircase to the basement up to a wooden door.
“What in the world would Geddy keep down here?” Rainbow whispered to Twilight.
“Take a gander at this.”
“Whoa!” Rainbow’s jaw dropped. “Is this cider?!?”
“Looks like cider.” Said Applejack. “And he’s got lots of it.”
“There must be several thousand in here.” Said Twilight. “Geddy’s got so much stuff, his house is like a little museum.”
“Rainbow, what are you doing?”
“I just want to look.”
“There’s some weird writing on this bottle; Ca..ber…net…Sau…vig..non…two..zero..zero..two.”
“That’s some strange kind of cider.” Applejack commented. “Never heard o’ cider havin such a fancy name as such.”
“Let’s try it.”
“Rainbow!” Twilight admonished. “This is Geddy’s cider. I don’t think he’d like us vandalizing his stuff.”
“We’ll just have a sip and slip it back. I’m sure Geddy won’t mind.”
“Funny, doesn’t smell like cider. Wonder what it tastes like.”
“Ughh!!!”
“Gosh Rainbow, never seen you repulsed by cider.”
“This isn’t cider!” Rainbow choked. “I don’t know what this is, but it tastes awful.”
“Let me try that.”
“Ickhhh! This is like no cider I’ve ever made. It’s so strong. Must be fancy stuff or something.”
“Put the cork back in, and put it back.” Said Twilight.
“It’s not going in!” Applejack worried. “Geddy’s gonna notice it.”
“There, nopony will ever notice it. Now back to those basses and keyboards?”
“Twilight,” said Applejack. “Didn’t you want to show us something too?”
“Oh yeah! Come look at this.”
Twilight showed them a glass case in Geddy’s living room.
“What are these?” Rainbow asked confused.
“Monocles. Cool huh?”
“Monocles, you know, eyepieces? Star Swirl the Bearded had a large collection of them.”
“Oooooh,” Rainbow pretended to be intrigued. “That’s…really cool.”
“It’s not really that cool.”
“I’m with ya there.” AJ whispered back.
“Look at this one.” Said Twilight. “It’s got a gold inner rim. And this one next to it, a silver inner rim. Oh! This one’s got a crack in it. That crack must be many years old.”
Rainbow, bored with Twilight’s dorkiness clopped away, before noticing another door.
“Hmm, haven’t looked behind this one yet.”
“Hey girls,”
“Did we ask for a little extra bass?”
“Lan Sakes!” said Applejack.
“Look at all these!” said Rainbow. “These basses are awesome!”
“But wait,” said Applejack. “He told us to get fenders, and bumperbackers, and such. How do we pick the right ones?”
“Aha!” Twilight beemed. “Look, at the top by the tuners. This one’s a ‘Fender’. And that one’s a Fender too.”
“Why do they call em a bass?” Applejack asked. “What’s the difference between a bass and a normal guitar?”
“Easy,” said Rainbow. “A bass has four strings, a guitar has six; and the strings are thicker making a deep low sound. Let’s pull one down and try it.”
“I don’t know Rainbow,” said Twilight. “These aren’t made for ponies.”
“Give it a whirl AJ.” said Rainbow.
“How do I ‘give it a whirl’?”
“Pluck the string with your hoof.”
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Silly me, we have to plug it in.”
“Oooh!”
“Love this sound. If I ever had hands and fingers like the guys, I’d surely play one of these.”
“Let’s jam AJ!”
“Oh yeah! Awesome!”
“Girls? Stop. Girls! We have too…”
“Hey! What happened!?”
“Twilight!” Rainbow shouted. “What’s the big ide...
“Sorry girls. As much fun as rocking out on a bass guitar may be, the longer we sit here, the greyer Equestria gets.”
“Good point.” said Applejack putting the bass down. “Let’s get these packed up.”
The girls laid out the basses, keyboards, and synth pedals on the floor.
“Okay, that’s all the fender basses, the keyboards, amps, and pedals.” said Rainbow.
“Wait,” Twilight looked over the list again. “We still need the Rickenbacker and the Wal.”
“Rickenbacker…” AJ rubbed her chin. “Wonder what that one looks like.”
“I think I found Ricky.”
“And I found the Wal.” said Rainbow.
“Geddy will probably need this too.”
“What’s Geddy’s favorite headache?”
“His what?” Twilight responded.
“He’s got something here called his favorite headache.”
“Oh I could relate to that.” Twilight said dryly. “I’ve know exactly what mine feels like.”
“Okay, time for some magic.”
“And just like that.” Twilight finished.
Back out on the street, the girls were dressed in their human disguises again. Twilight closed the front door and locked it up.
“Okay, Geddy’s stuff is done. Now we need Alex’s.”
“Can we ask for directions this time?” Rainbow intensely suggested.
“Yes.”
Sometime later, the girls reached Alex’s house.
“It was sure nice of that guy to give us directions,” said Rainbow. “Though he must have been sick or something. He fainted right after we left him.”
“Something’s wrong, the door seems to be stuck.”
“Oh gosh!”
“What’d we break!” Applejack worried.
“Nothing.” Twilight replied, “We just knocked over this really large bag…”
“What are these?” Rainbow looked around the funny looking clubs.
“The sticks for some other kind a game I guess.” Said Applejack. “Like what Geddy had back in his house.”
“Come on girls.” Twilight whispered. “We’ve got a bunch of guitars to find.”
“Geddy’s house is cooler.” Rainbow moaned. “He’s got lots more stuff.”
“Who’d ya’ll suppose Victor is?”
“A friend of Alex’s maybe.” Twilight answered.
“I guess, though this guy, Victor looks just like Alex.”
“I bet they’re down here.”
“Whoa! Awesome axes!”
“Axes?” Applejack went cross-eyed. “I thought these were guitars.”
“Axe is a slang word for a guitar.”
“This is great.” said Twilight. “All the guitars Alex needs are lined up right there in front of us.”
“Oh wow, this guitar is amazing. This neck is so light and this body.”
“Oh nelly, never heard a guitar sound so grand.”
“Double neck!? There’s a double necked guitar here! But where?”
“Where are you?”
“Come to Dashie.”
“There’s that’s everything.”
“Not quite everything.” Rainbow answered.
“What’s that?”
“A double necked guitar! Two guitars in one. One six string and the other a twelve string. Always dreamed of holding one.”
“Sounds amazing too!”
“Lan sakes, how do you guess Alex plays somethin like this?”
“Let’s get it to Alex so we can find out.”
“That’s everything for us girls. Great job.”
“Wonder how Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie are getting on?” Said Applejack.
“Oh I bet everything’s going just great for them.” Twilight replied.
In California, the night street was quiet and calm. Not a sound or hint of motion. Pinkie Pie, sporting a black spandex mask popped her head out from behind a letter box. She tip hoofed down the sidewalk on her stomach, ducking behind a fire hydrant, and pulled out a walkie talkie.
“Party Pink to Diamond Flanks, come in Diamond Flanks.”
“Stop calling me that!!”
“Honestly Pinkie Pie, do you really have to…”
“What do you think you’re doing Diamond Flanks. We’re in the middle of a Hooves 13 heist."
“My pink party-minded friend, how could this be a heist when the one we’re heisting from told us where his house was, Hmm?”
“Party Pink to Yellow Belly, do you read me Yellow Belly?”
“Could I have a different name?”
“Destination is up ahead. Let’s move.”
“Um, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked nervously. “There are so many houses along this street, what if somepony were to see us?”
“I doubt somepony...or somebody would dear. It’s the middle of the night here. Everypony’s probably sleeping.”
“Something’s coming.”
“What do we do?” Fluttershy trembled.
“Act natural.” Pinkie whispered.
“Moooo!”
“That was close.” said Fluttershy.
“Keep moving girls.” said Pinkie Pie.
“Here we are,” said Rarity. “Casa de’ Peart.”
“Time for phase one of infiltration.”
“Pinkie,” Rarity continued. “Neil gave me…”
“The code to the gate.”
“Phase one complete.”
“Now for phase two. We sneak inside, quiet as mice.”
“How do we get inside?”
“Simple darling.”
“Neil gave me the keys before we left.”
“As Applejack would say, easy as apple pie. No need for a silly complicated escapade out of the movies.”
“Ooh, what a lovely place!” Rarity cooed. “For a rock and roller, Neil certainly knows style and chic.”
“What’s that?” Fluttershy jumped.
“The sound of Mission Imponyable.” Rarity snorted.
“Quiet as a mouse!” she said happily.
“What’s that thing!?” Fluttershy pointed to something.
“AAAHHHH!!!! Neil’s got a monster in his garage!!”
“This isn’t a monster.” Rarity observed the object. “Don’t know what this contraption is.”
“Looks like something to ride on,” said Fluttershy. “It’s got a seat, and two wheels, like a large bicycle.”
“But it has a motor,” said Rarity. “Looks dangerous.”
“Wee Hee!! Let’s try it out!”
“Pinkie, we have a job to do. We’re only here to gather Neil’s equipment, not toddle around with his personal things.”
“Shoot, this thingy looked super fun.”
“Come on girls, we have to find Neil’s drums.”
“Nothing in this room.” Said Fluttershy.
“Not this one either.”
“Oooh!” Pinkie cooed.
“Did you find them?” Rarity got excited.
“No, no drums in here. I just loved the pattern on that wooden table.”
“Definitely not in here.”
“How about upstairs?” asked Fluttershy.
“Sure.” Rarity followed her up the stairs. “Pinkie, keep looking down here.”
“Okey Dokey Lokey!”
“Rarity, look at all of these.”
“These pictures are amazing. Looks like Neil rides around on that two wheeled thing in the garage. Look at all these interesting places he’s been.”
“I love this one.”
“It’s beautiful, but how bout we find those drums.”
“Maybe in this room?”
“Oh dear!” Fluttershy gulped realizing they had stumbled onto a sleeping child.
“Shhh, don’t wake her.”
“Sorry,” Fluttershy whispered.
“She’s such a sweetie,” said Rarity.
“She’s so precious,” said Fluttershy. “She sleeps like a baby pony.”
“We’ll have to be extra quiet in here.” said Rarity. “We don’t want to wake anypony up.”
“Fluttershy darling,” said Rarity. “We’re clopping around in circles. Think with me. If I were a set of drums, where would I be?”
“Well, drums make a lot of noise, so you’d want them in a place where the noise wouldn’t bother other ponies.”
“And where would that place be?”
“Maybe in a basement?”
“Of course!”
“Oh Fluttershy, I love the way you think.”
“Happy to...help.” Fluttershy blushed.
“Pinkie?”
“Right here.”
“Mmm, so good.”
“Pinkie, what are you eating?”
“Brownie, want one?”
“Where did you get that?”
“From the fridge, they’re nice and cold too.”
“Pinkie!” Rarity berated under her breath. “I don’t think Neil would like somepony eating his food!”
“It was just one piece, I’m sure he won’t mind.”
“And that’s another thing, Neil’s family is in the house.”
“Great! Let’s say hello!”
“No! No! No! They’re sleeping, so we have to be very quiet!”
“Oh!! I see. Very Very quiet.”
“Come on.” said Rarity. “We have to find a door to a basement. That’s probably where the drums are.”
“We haven’t looked behind this door yet.” said Fluttershy. “Maybe the drums are behind here.”
“Where’s the light?”
“This is definitely not the basement.”
“Neil’s like no rock and roller I’ve ever heard of. Lives in a nice house, has his own artwork, and has shelves and shelves of books.”
“Good thing Twilight didn’t come here.” Pinkie commented. “I don’t think we’d get her to leave.”
“What do you suppose they write about here in the human world?” Fluttershy inquired.
“Some really odd things.” Rarity replied. “Look at all these titles: Henderson the Rain King, The Book of Ten Nights and a Night, Every Third Thought...”
“Wow! I keep a list of every third thought I’ve ever had.” said Pinkie.
“Listen to this one.” Pinkie giggled. “Things Fall Apart.”
“I think the six of us know about that a little too well.” Rarity grumbled.
“Rarity?” asked Fluttershy. “What are you doing?”
“Searching, I have a hunch Neil keeps his drums in a secret room behind his bookshelf. He’d want to keep them soft and hidden wouldn’t he?”
“I guess.”
“There’s always a trick book or something that opens...I think we found it. Why would you have a lone copy of Green Hills of...Africa on a shelf of National…Geo..graphic.”
“Open sesame!”
Nothing happened.
A dumbfounded Rarity opened the book, turned a couple pages, and put it back.
“Where could the door to Neil’s basement be? Every house must have a basement.”
“Maybe he doesn’t have one?” Fluttershy answered shyly.
“Oh this is hopeless! We’ve searched all through this house, and have not found Neil’s drums!”
“Why don’t we…”
“If we don’t find his drums, who will we ever save Equestria from Chrysalis and that crystal!
“How bout we just…”
“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity snapped. “You have less than helpful the entire time we’ve been here. What useless distraction in that party minded head of yours do you have for us now!?!”
“Maybe we should look behind the door that says Drums.”
“How’d we miss that?”
“Pinkie darling, I’m sorry for doubting.”
“It’s a…a mountain of drums!!” Fluttershy awed.
“Celestia!” said Rarity. “If Neil’s got a drum set this enormous, he must be amazing!”
“There are so many.” Said Fluttershy. “How do we get them all back?”
“Ooh! Rarity!” Pinkie jumped. “Try Twilight’s packing spell. I bet we can move it all in one piece.”
“I’ll try, I don’t know.”
“It’s way too big. I don’t know how we’ll ever get it back to Equestria.”
“Wait a minute,”
“How bout we try this?”
“Fluttershy, what would we ever do without you! Let’s get to work girls.”
“Don’t forget the electronic set.” said Fluttershy.
“Of course.” Rarity answered. “Pinkie, could you take apart the electronic set behind me?”
“Pinkie! What are you…”
“What?” Pinkie whined. “I just used the spinnyness of the chair to spin myself around and take each drum and cymbal apart.”
“Why don’t you take the kit apart Pinkie Pie.”
The girls had taken the whole drum kit apart, and were left with only the kick drum and the platform. Rarity and Fluttershy lifted the drum to the floor with the others.
“Whew.” Rarity sighed. “That’s the last one.”
“What about the platform?”
“It comes apart. Get on that side.”
“On three, lift. One, two, three.”
“Great.” Fluttershy sighed. “That’s everything.”
“Wait,” said Rarity. “We still need the practice set, and he also said something about a sweat cap.”
“Over here girls.”
“Found this funny little hat too.”
“I’m never doubting Pinkie Pie again.” Rarity whispered while Fluttershy giggled.
The mares got every piece of drum equipment laid out on the floor.
“That really is everything.” said Rarity.
“Vroom Vrooom!!”
“Pinkie, what have you got there?”
“A red barchetta.”
“A what?”
“A barchetta, this little toy on the cabinet.”
“That looks like that moving thing that passed us outside.” said Fluttershy.
“But this little model looks so much classier.” Rarity added.
“These weird Rush paintings on the wall are pretty cool too!”
“These must be their albums.” said Rarity. “Fly by Night, Permanent Waves, 2112, Farewell to Kings, Moving Pictures…”
“I love the one with all the bunnies.” said Fluttershy.
“This one with the naked dude on the brain.” said Pinkie.
“This one is nice, with the statue of stones. Rainbow Dash would love the fireball.”
“Look at this one with the red balls.” said Fluttershy. “Just like our cutie marks.”
“It is!”
“Seems Neil changes drum with the theme of each show. Look at these bright red sparkly drums, and these purple drums.”
“Okay, time for a little magic. I should get it this time.”
“WeeHee!!”
“TaaDaa!”
“Whew, that’s the hardest I’ve ever pushed my magic.”
The ponies came out into the main hallway from the library door.
“Great job girls, we’ve got all the drums. Let’s make our way back.”
“What are you doing out of bed?” she asked cheerfully.
“AHH!!” Olivia yelped with a fright.
“Ahh!! Yourself,” Pinkie giggled. “But that doesn’t answer my question silly.”
“We’ve got a visitor.” said Fluttershy.
“Well hello there, You must be Neil’s little girl. What’s your name?”
“Olivia.”
“That’s a lovely name,” said Fluttershy.
“You’re ponies! You’re really real ponies!”
“Yes, we are. My name is…”
“Fluttershy,” Olivia answered. “And Rarity, and you’re Pinkie Pie!”
“That’s me!! And…wait!! How did you know our names?”
Olivia led the ponies into her bedroom.
“I have your toys!”
“Toys?” said Fluttershy.
“Here. Rarity, Fluttershy, and you Pinkie.”
“Look at me girls!!” said Pinkie. “I’m a toy! I’m a toy! Ooh look, dolls of Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash too!”
“How does this universe have stuffed animals that look like us and have our names?”
“I’m just as stumped as you, dear.”
“Look girls!”
“There’s a pony in the house, and there are ponies in the house, Hahaha!”
“Oh Pinkie, you’re my favorite.”
“Thank you for inviting us up here darling,” Rarity patted Olivia on the head with her hoof, “but we really have to be going.”
“But wait,” said Olivia. “What are you doing here?”
“Well you see darling,” Rarity explained. “There’s a big concert happening back home in Equestria, and your daddy and his band are going to play.”
“They are!?” Olivia couldn’t contain her excitement.
“Yes,” Fluttershy added. “And well, your daddy needed his drums so we had to come here to get them.”
“You’ll love my daddy’s band.” said Olivia. “They’re amazing.”
“I’m sure they are dear.” Rarity answered. “Now, it must be way past your bedtime. Will you be a good girl and go back to sleep.”
“Can’t go to sleep without one of these.”
“Tell my daddy to have a great show.”
“We certainly will, dear.” said Rarity. “Goodnight.”
“Wait,” said Olivia. “Fluttershy, before you go, could you sing your song?”
“My song?”
“Your lullaby.”
“Of course, just for you.”
“Such a sweet thing.”
The three ponies tip hoofed back downstairs, and out the front door. Rarity locked it up behind them.
“There, just as we left it. Let’s open up the portal and head back to Equestria.”
“I hope we got everything.” said Fluttershy.
“We must’ve,” said Rarity. “What could we have forgotten?”
“The Dryers!!!”
“Where in Equestri….I mean where prytel are we going to find three dryers?” Rarity panicked.
“Girls, follow me.”
Inside a 24 hour laundromat, a man had just loaded up a dryer with dress clothes and underwear. He dropped coins into it and started it up. Turning away to fold more clothes he heard a loud thud.
“What the hell was that?”
“I can’t believe it! Pink aliens stole my clothes!”
Rush In Equestria (Set 1)
Author's Note
(Disclamier: All music is property of Rush and their respective record companies.
The show is modeled after Rush's R30 tour in 2004 (I saw them on that tour). The setlist includes the highlights of every album except for Clockwork Angels.
To hear the music, right click on the links to YouTube. Make sure to open in a new tab. This way you can hear the music, and read the story. Use headphones for a better music experience.
On 'Circumstances' set the video to 0:20 to go straight to the music. On 'War Paint', set at 0:07.
Enjoy Rush In Equestria!
Rush In Equestria (Set 1)
It was 20 minutes before show time. The stage was ready, amplifiers on, levels were set, lights, lasers, special effects were primed and ready to go. Rarity loaded the dryers with clothes, and started them up.
Rainbow hovering above the stadium saw some ponies coming up to the gates.
“Ahh yeah! Here come the crowds!”
“Uhh, here for the…Rush…show?” said a nervous white stallion.
“Come on in!” said Applejack. “Next!”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were selling Rush merchandise in a stand.
“Who wants a Rush T-shirt?!”
“I want a Rush T-shirt!”
“Who else wants a Rush T-shirt?!”
“I want a Rush T-shirt!!!”
It was 5 minutes before the show, but only a couple hundred ponies showed up, filling barely half of the floor section.
“Golly,” said Applejack. “I thought everypony in Equestria would be here.”
The band came up dressed and ready to play. Geddy and Alex had their guitars, and Neil twirled his sticks through his fingers.
“Showtime!” said Neil.
“Hey,” said Geddy. “What’s the matter, girls?”
“Excuse the pun,” Alex added. “but why the long faces?”
“There’s hardly anypony here.” Rainbow Dash moped. “We were hoping the stadium would be filled, but there’s only a few hundred out there. After all the work we did to get the word out about it.”
“Talk about sour apples.” AJ added.
“This is nothing girls, we’ve played way worse audiences than this.”
“Really?” Fluttershy asked.
“Sure,” he continued “In fact, in our early days as a band, we did a whole ‘down the tubes’ tour. The record we made wasn’t well liked, and we were playing sleazy places you’d never want to be in, with hardly anybody there.”
“Why did you keep playin’ then?” asked Applejack.
“Because we loved playing.” said Alex. “The three of us loved music and playing together so much, audience numbers never mattered.”
“Besides,” Geddy added. “You brought us here because of our friendship remember?”
“Yeah?”
“We wouldn’t care if there were only ten ponies out there, or even less. We’d still play, and play our absolute best.”
“Everypony, to your stations. We’ve got a show to do.”
Out in the crowd, the ponies who did show up talked amongst themselves.
“What do you think this’ll be like?” said Caramel to Sweetwater and Berry Punch.
“Whoever thought of a rock concert to destroy the cloud?”
Shining Armor sat down with Cadence.
“I don’t know about this.” Cadence worried. “I mean, creatures from another universe playing rock music?”
“It doesn’t make sense to me either sweetie, but Twilight says it’s what has to be done. She did say this band was unbelievable.”
Cranky and Matilda entered the stadium.
“I can’t believe you talked me into this.” Cranky grumbled is his usual way. “You know I hate rock music.”
“Maybe so dear,” Matilda patted him on his toupee. “But we should all do our part to save Equestria. You do look adorable in that shirt.”
“I’m so excited!” Minuette beemed. “I mean I love rock concerts anyway, but it’s so fun to hear a new band.”
“Never heard of this band.” Lemon Hearts responded. “Where are they from?”
“I heard they were from another place, like not from Equestria.” said TwinkleShine.
“Where?”
“Somewhere called Canada.”
“Canada, hmm. Sounds like a cool place.”
Twilight took to the stage, levitating a microphone to her muzzle.
"Hello..."
“Turn it down! Turn it down!”
"Check, Check, 1...2...Is that better? Okay, as I was saying...Hello Everypony! Welcome all to this very special concert event to destroy the Grey Crystal! But first let’s welcome the rulers of our land, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!"
Celestia and Luna flew in from above the stadium and sat in respective seats in their private box.
"This concert plan better work," Luna whispered to her sister. “I’m not too sure about it.”
"I'm sure it will. I’m nervous too sister, but I have faith in Twilight. Let's try to enjoy the show."
"I hope this music is good." said Luna.
Twilight continued to speak.
"And now, it is my great pleasure to present to Equestria, a truly amazing rock band. Music unlike anything heard by ponies before. Coming to us all the way from another world, and a land called Canada, stomp your hooves for . . . Rush!"
Twilight left the stage with little fanfare from the ponies below.
“What’s with the clothes dryers?” Lyra commented to Bon Bon.
Twilight took her spot off stage.
“Everypony ready?”
The stage went dark, and a movie appeared on the screen.
A single ice cube appeared, joined by a swarm of other cubes that all came together to form the word RUSH in the style of the first album. A metal ball shot at the center of the cubes scattered them in all directions.
The scene changed to a fly-over of a barren sandstorm landscape up to an old unicorn standing on his hind legs. A crack of thunder from behind the pony caused him to jump. Turning around, he gazed out to look at an ocean and storm clouds overhead. The stallion looked down to see a snake hissing around his hooves. He picked the snake up and coiled it around an arrow. Drawing a bow, he fired the snake & arrow out over the ocean and through the clouds.
The snake and arrow flew through the thick clouds, lightning striking all around it until a hoof reached up and caught it. A peach unicorn mare standing on a brain grasped her hooves on the snake-coiled arrow. With her magic, she transformed both into a top hat, flinging the hat onto the head of a smartly-dressed pony. Suddenly, a huge, golden-eyed owl swooped down and snagged the hat off the pony's head.
The owl flew toward the screen then away, and dropped the hat on top of a grey hill. The hat began to bounce and jumped up into the air, where a large pack of rabbits poured out and down the hill. The scene of the rabbits began to distort and jump, pulling back to reveal it to be an image on a television. Next to the television, a yellow pony sat in a dark room next to an open window. Lightning flashed through the window, lighting up her bones and transforming her into a fire hydrant. The walls of the room fell backwards, revealing green grass. A Dalmatian approached the hydrant and sniffed the base of it.
The top bolt of the hydrant suddenly blasted off with a bang, going high in the sky to the edge of space. It floated in midair where an opposite floating nut screwed onto it. The nut and bolt fell back down to earth, landing on top of a building, demolishing it.
A beautiful unicorn mare with a poofy mane walked by, shrugged, and smiled. She looked down to find a pony's skull on the ground. Picking it up, she rolled the skull over to a jester pony sitting motionless on a throne amongst more demolished structures. The jester pony shattered like glass.
The scene zoomed out revealing it to be a picture in a frame. It and a train of other pictures were being carried down a facade of stairs by mover ponies in red coveralls. Two of the ponies sat down a painting of a red star and left. The same peach unicorn from before appeared and used her magic to stretch the picture to the entire screen. She then jumped onto the star which lit up to a guitar chord fanfare. The lighted star shorted out with the pony still on it and the fanfare died like a stopped record.
The image fell backwards with a crash revealing a giant stone Inuksuk in a snow swept landscape. The same metal ball from earlier hurled toward the statue and blew it apart.
Three round stones landed smoking in the snow, melting it. The melted snow changed the scene to bright red, and the three stones changed into three red balls. The balls ignited and spun around each other. They hit each other, exploding into a fireball. The fireball flew down to a map of Equestria, into Canterlot, and onto the stage at the Satin Stadium. The sound of the explosion woke up a sleeping Pinkie Pie in a Rush T-shirt.
“Whoa! What happened? Who put that in my punch? Where is everypony? Did I miss the band? The whole show? Where’s Lerxst, the goof who plays the guitar, and the skinny guy with the tight tonsils? Who am I forgetting, oh yeah the new guy. I hope they play Tai Shan. Okay boys it’s show time, get on stage, chop chop chop, let’s go, let’s go! Let’s RUSH!!!!!”
With a big loud strum of a guitar chord, Rush appeared on stage.
Rush In Equestria Overture
The ponies in the audience were stunned to see such strange creatures on the stage playing instruments.
“What…who…are these things!?” Junebug gasped.
“I don’t know!” Berry Punch answered.
“Whatever they are,” said Lyra. “They sure can play!”
“Look at them go!” said Bon Bon.
Ponies started stomping, jumping up and down, and cheering for the band.
Vinyl Scratch at the sound table picked up her cellphone with her horn.
“Octavia, Put down your cello! You’ve got to come see this!”
In the streets of Canterlot, other ponies heard the sound of the music
“What is that?”
“I don’t know, but it sounds really cool.”
Ponies from all over began pouring into the stadium. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had their hooves full selling merchandise.
“Here you go!” Applebloom shouted excitedly. “Rush T-Shirts! Get your Rush T-Shirts! Can’t enjoy the concert and destroy the crystal without a Rush T-Shirt!”
“I’ll take one!” said Cheerilee.
“We’ll take four!!!” shouted Mr. & Mrs. Cake with Pound and Pumpkin.
Up in the royal box, Princess Luna stared blankly at the band onstage, not knowing how to feel.
“This music is so...peculiar. It’s like, I don’t even know how to describe it.”
“It may be peculiar, sister,” said Celestia. “But it sure is fun.”
The stage lit up with multicolored lights spewing in all directions as the band began their first song of the night.
The Spirit of Radio
The ponies of Equestria couldn’t believe what they were seeing and hearing. The lights and sound dazzled their eyes and ears.
“Amazing!”
“Unbelievable!”
“What kind of band is this?”
“It’s Rush!” screamed another pony.
Lights danced around to the beat of the song’s chorus'.
“Oh Yeahh!!!!”
“You’re right sister!” said Luna “This really is...fun!!”.
During the ending reggae and Alex’s solo, Pinkie shined white lights out over the crowd. To everypony’s surprise, the stadium was completely filled.
The band finished off the song. All through the stadium, ponies from all parts of Equestria were cheering for them.
“Everypony in Equestria is here.” said Applejack.
“Oh my stars!” Rarity gasped. “I’ve never seen so many ponies.”
“Would you look at that.”
“Rush,” Twilight spoke to them. “Give them a show they won’t forget.”
“Let’s do it.”
Limelight
All the ponies in the crowd were entranced by the music. AJ, Rarity, and Rainbow held their sisters close, watching with the band play.
“Just unbelievable.” Rarity sighed.
“It’s like magic.” said Scootaloo.
“I know I hate rock music, but I do like this.” Said Cranky.
Several ponies were imitating the band, trying to airplay the notes and sing along.
“Dude! How awesome is this band!?” said the Peter pony.
“Awesomely awesome awesomeness!” replied the Sydney pony. “to the power of infinity times infinity plus one!”
Luna leaned into Celestia.
“Sister, do you feel this song speak to you somehow? Like how we relate to our subjects?”
“Yes. In a funny sort of way, it does.”
“Such deep lyrics” sighed Moondancer.
The ponies were even more enchanted by Alex’s guitar solo.
“Never heard a guitar sound like that,” Lyra told Bon Bon.
“Such an amazing player.”
“They all are.” Luna agreed.
The band finished off the song to roaring stomps and applause.
"Helloooo Equestria!!!" Geddy shouted.
Animate
Ponies in the crowd stomped and bobbed their heads to the tune. Backstage, the ponies rocked out in their own unique way.
“Awesome!!!”
“Woo hoo.”
“So much music, and there’s just three of them.” said Lyra.
“And they’re so tight.”
Images of cutie marks, and corresponding talents appeared one by one on the screen for the bridge.
“This song feels like it relates to cutie marks somehow.” Applebloom whispered to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
“How so?”
“Just the whole thing symbols and special talents.”
“You’re right, counterparts.”
Mixed in were photos of Pinkie Pie making a goofy face, Rarity screaming after ripping fabric, Twilight with her horn stuck in a wall, another one with her tongue stuck on a pole, and a toddler Sweetie Belle crying after wetting her tail.
“How’d that get in there!!”
“Must’ve been in the roll of film we used to take all these pictures.” Pinkie giggled.
The last image in the chain was a lone silver bolt. With the second part of the bridge, it starting spinning in a black void, among other nuts and bolts. A nut floated into the space underneath.
Throughout the final verse the nut and bolt creeped toward each other. Blended overtop displayed: “Polarize” “Sensitize” “Criticize” “Civilize” “Compensate” “Animate” “Complicate” “Elevate”, “Complicate” “ELEVATE”. As the nut and bolt screwed together, cutie mark symbols flashed around them. The two screwed tight with the word ANIMATE finishing off the song.
Time Stand Still
A gold watch appeared on screen ticking up to the hour of 12. After about a 45 seconds of ticking, it was suddenly smashed by a yellow hoof, stopping it dead.
For each chorus, the inside of a ticking clock appeared, the gears and cogs clicking and turning to the beat. Rarity and Fluttershy’s images sang ‘Time Stand Still’.
“This song,” Doctor Whooves murmured, “…somehow it summarizes everything about my life in such a profound way. Astounding!”
A long white tunnel with different kinds of clocks appeared for the bridge. Backstage, Rarity and Sweetie Belle sang the accompaying harmony. Building up to the final chorus, different style clock faces flashed one by one. Neil leaned into toward his camera mouthing 'Time Stand Still'
The song finished with a clock striking 12.
"Hello Equestria!” Geddy shouted. “Canterlot! Look at all you ponies out there. Earth ponies, Unicorns, Pegasi, cutie marks of all kinds, and you all look very animated out there. It’s pleasure for the three of us to be here. As you may know, we’re here to destroy the ominous looking...thing above us, and with everypony’s help we can make it happen!"
The crowds of ponies cheered in agreement.
"We've got 6...bazillion songs to play. Since this is a special show, we’re going to do an extra special set of songs. Some favorites and some we haven't played in a while. Let’s get to it with a song from our Power Windows album, this is Grand Designs."
Grand Designs
Multicolored abstract mosaic and fractal patterns danced across the screen.
“Twilight,” said Applejack. “Never knew you could do patterns like these.”
“Not mine, they’re Rarity’s”
“They’re amazing!”
“When I heard they had a song about grand designs, I just couldn’t resist.”
Pinkie Pie went to town on the lighting board.
“Wild Kinetic Dreams!!”
The Analog Kid
“Thank you! How’s everypony doin out there?”
“We just decided, since this is a world hooves, muzzles, and manes, ought to change gears a little, and play some music that suits every pony.”
They started playing a slow cloppy country/western melody.
“Yes sir, country western music. Music to clop your hooves, swish your tails to, and mosey on down with. And right now, we gotta a good old country tune for ya’ll, a little song we like to call...EarthShine.”
EarthShine
“Yeah!!!!” Bulk Biceps screamed.
"Something else from Signals!" Geddy called to the audience. "New..World..Man!!"
New World Man
Bright spotlights flashed one by one in sync with the bass synth, while shades of green slowly lit up the band.
"That's some bass line!" Applejack commented.
"Love this one!" said Scootaloo
"We should make this our theme song!" Sweetie Belle squeed. "And do all the things this man does."
"Yeah!! We could be new world mares!!" Scootaloo replied. "Now that would be a cutie mark!"
“Now’s the time in our show where we check in with our old pal, Mr. Lerxst.”
“Mr. Lerxst? YooHoo?”
“Uhh, over here.” Alex casually gestured.
“Where?”
“Over here.”
“Where, I don’t see you.”
“Turn to the right.”
“Oh there you are! Hello Lerxst.”
“Hello there Dirk, long time no see.”
“Where’ve you been all this time?”
“Oh, you know, around.”
“Why don’t you say hello to everypony in Equestria.”
“Hello everypony in Equestria. Can I have your autograph?”
The crowd of ponies laughed.
“Who wants to hear a joke? So there we were in the...place where we live. I was knocking balls into holes on a big lawn...it's just something I do. Dirk was getting lost in his own museum, and Pratt was doing...whatever Pratt does. And all of a sudden, we disappeared, were swallowed by a rainbow and woke up here, in Equestria! Best day ever!! It’s not everyday you’re kidnapped out of your own home, together with your best friends. Hey guys, shouldn’t that have pissed us off.”
“Nahh.” Geddy shrugged.
“Nothing important over there anyway.” said Neil behind the drum set.
“I thought you never talked.”
“Hey, you’re right.”
“Oh, I said I’d tell you a joke.” Alex continued. “So there’s this nasty ol’ bug queen somewhere out there who thinks she can sap the magic from this beautiful land of yours...and she thinks she can win.”
The ponies and band cracked up. The girls backstage giggled too.
“What a set of circumstances.”
A single die appeared onscreen in a black emptiness. Next to it, other dice all showing different numbers slowly emerged from the shadows. More and more dice emerged from the darkness, slowly zooming out showing them to be part of a much bigger object. Slowly the object emerged from the shadows, revealing itself as a pony skull.
Roll The Bones
A skeleton pony pixeled together and sang the rap, doing crazy dance moves.
The pony skull appeared, mouthing ‘Because We’re Here’. It was smashed by an anvil to the final chord. Geddy came back up to the mic.
"What’d you think of that?"
"This next song is one of our very favorites. Back where we come from, we have these things called cars. They're these cool machines you get in, start up the engine, and you can drive to interesting places in them. This song is about a special kind of car, a red car, a Red Barchetta."
Red Barchetta
Overtop the harmonic intro, a dark object appeared on the screen. Turning in a circle, it slowly showing its features: a red metallic body, chrome highlights, hubcaps which shined in the light, a red vinyl dashboard and seats, and sparkling headlights. The object revealed itself to be a real Ferrari Barchetta.
“That looks just like the model from Neil’s drum room.”
“It is,” answered Pinkie. “I snuck it into the bag.”
The Barchetta turned to face the audience. Amber headlights flashed on at the stroke of the opening note.
Heading into the bridge the Barchetta’s engine flared, tires screeching. In a flash, the scene changed to the car racing along a road in the countryside, swerving around curves, through tunnels and fields at high speed.
“I gotta get me one of these Barchettas.” Rainbow squeed.
“Oh, I can just smell that scented country air.” Rarity agreed.
Celestia leaned over to Luna.
“Remember when we used to take daddy’s wagon out, without telling him.”
“Oh yes.” Luna sighed.
On the road ahead, the bright headlights and flashing sirens of two Alloy air cars approached. The car spun around, tires screeching, and took off down the road, the air cars chasing in hot pursuit. The Barchetta raced as fast as its wheels could take it, while the air cars swerved along side trying to push it off the road. Finally it zoomed across a one-lane bridge, leaving the alloys behind.
The Barchetta raced toward the audience, screeching to a halt in a cloud of dust. All through the ending notes, the image panned around the car showing off its glittering features. With the final note, the headlights switched off, and the Barchetta faded into darkness.
"Thank you so much." said Geddy. "We'd like to do a woodsy song now. This one is a light tribute to the great icon of Equestria, the EverFree Forest, this is called The Trees."
The Trees
Beautiful watercolors of trees in the EverFree Forest displayed on the screen. One watercolor was of a tree that bore a likeness to Fluttershy.
“Who did the paintings?” asked Applejack. “They’re really something.”
“They’re Fluttershy’s.” Twilight answered.
“Wow darling, you painted those?”
“I did.” Fluttershy blushed. “Neil said they’d be great for this song.”
“Sure hope ma apple trees don't have such troubles.” Applejack thought to herself.
YYZ
Spotlights and mosaic lights flashed on and off in the shape of ‘YYZ’.
“Alright! My favorite!” Rainbow Dash squeed.
The crowd was astounded by such a fast moving complex song. Everypony jumped and stomped along with the beat of the song.
“Gosh,” said Minuette. “How do they do it?”
Geddy and Alex came down the edge of the stage, making and faces back and forth, pretending to challenge each other.
Octavia, next to Vinyl at the soundboard, listened in awe.
“Just…so many notes.”
The song finished off with lights on the screen flashing ‘YYZ’.
Entre Nous
Twilight suddenly got misty-eyed.
“What’s the matter sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“I’ve just never heard a song speak this deeply about us.”
“Us?” Rainbow tilted her head.
“Our friendship; being so different but joined by slender threads.”
“You’re exactly right darling.”
The Big Money
Equestrian Bit bills exploded on the screen, floating around and fanning out: Celestia on the 1, Luna on the 5, Cadence on the 10, Princess Platinum on the 20, Chancellor Puddinghead on the 50, and Star Swirl the Bearded on the 100. The image of Star Swirl turned the audience and winked with the drum roll. The image changed to Equestrian coins and dollar bills being printed, minted, and counted with the beat; stock tickers counting, trading ponies shouting.
The outro featured bags of money being stacked, conveyor belts of Bit bills and coins, gold bars being poured and stamped, stock graphs crashing, a bank teller pony shutting her booth, finishing with a pony piggy bank being smashed by a hammer.
An image of a closed eye appeared. Suddenly it opened and the iris closed. A red dragon awoke, stretching its wings and claws.
“Isn’t that the same dragon that was smoking up Equestria?” asked Rainbow. “How did we get him in this movie?”
“Fluttershy.” Spike answered.
“Good one, Spike.”
“It’s true.” Said Fluttershy calmly.
“But…how?!?”
“He agreed as soon as he saw me.”
The dragon came out from his cave, and suddenly his eyes perked up. He saw a girl dragon laying on top of a giant mound of gems. Cooing for attention, she enticed him with Rush backstage passes. The dragon ran for the love of his dreams, only for her, the gems, and the passes to vanish into thin air. Surprised and angered he looked around, before noticing the audience. Smoke snorted from the dragon’s nostrils as he growled at the crowd. He took a deep breath and hurled fire at the audience, engulfing the scream in flames.
One Little Victory
Tall plumes of fire erupted around the stage. A fireball swirled on the screen overtop fire and smoke. The image switched to show the band dissolved behind flames, sparks, and refracting air. The flames, red light, and shadows gave the band demonic looks.
The fires flared up again at the end. Pinkie Pie roasted marshmallows in one.
“Who wants S’mores!”
“Dude, that was intense!” said one stunned audience pony.
Closer To the Heart
Unicorns lit up their horns, speckling the stadium with spots of color like a starry night.
“Isn’t that beautiful?” said Twilight.
Neil turned to his electronic keypad to play the bells. Offstage, Pinkie Pie, with a mallet in her mouth, hit a row of bell chimes and smiled with a squee. Neil jokingly shook his fist and continued the song.
“Twilight was right.” Cadence whispered to Shining Armor. “This band really is unbelievable.”
“We’re so fortunate Twilight found this band.” Said Celestia. “It really is music made through a pure friendship.”
Way up above Canterlot, a small piece of the cloud broke away and vaporized.
Natural Science
At her station, Twilight goofily sang along with the lyrics, bobbing her head side to side.
"I love a song that speaks to my intellect."
Chrysalis observed the show hidden behind a tower overlooking the stadium. Suddenly one of her changelings buzzed down and hissed in her ear.
“What?! How is that possible?”
“By venom, that purple unicorn wasn’t joking. Their music actually could destroy my crystal! We’ll have to sabotage the show.”
“And I know just how to do it.”
A changeling appeared in the darkness at the side of the stage. Using its magic, it unscrewed the cap to Geddy’s water bottle and poured something in. The bottle glowed red for a second before going back to normal. The changeling screwed the cap back on and snuck away, unaware of being watched by a pair of glowing eyes.
Rush finished off the first half of the show to rousing applause from Equestria's ponies.
"We're going to take a little break right now, the three of us need a tune-up. Pratt's blown a gasket, my radiator is steaming, and Lerxst needs a triple overhaul."
"Make that a quadruple. We'll be back."
Chrysalis watched from her outpost. One of her changelings buzzed up to her and whispered in her ear.
"Excellent."
“That was some great playing there, boys.” said Applejack.
“Don’t mean to be cocky,” Alex said as he took a drink. “But I think that was one of the best first acts we’ve ever done.
“Definitely.” Geddy agreed. “All those favorites back to back.”
“Scuse me.”
“Can’t wait to the second set.” Said Neil. “With the old songs we dusted off and our epic medley, it’ll be a great moment in Rush history.”
Geddy coughed a few more times.
“Ged? You alright?”
“I think I need some water.”
“Feel better?” asked Rainbow.
“It’s so weird. All of a sudden, my throat feels so raw.”
“Ged, you sound like you’re losing your voice.”
“No! I can’t be losing my voice! Not now!”
“What about the rest of the show!?”
Rush In Equestria (Set 2)
Twenty minutes had passed since Rush finished their first set. The crowd of ponies was growing restless, eager to hear the next half. They stomped their hooves, cheering and chanting "Rush! Rush! Rush! Rush! Rush!"
Backstage, things didn't look good. Geddy’s voice had become low and gravelly, eliminating his ability to sing.
“What do we do now?” Neil asked nervously.
“I don’t know,” Geddy responded in his new low pitched voice. “But we gotta think of something.”
“Could we play everything in a lower key?” Asked Alex.
“We’d have to go pretty low.” Geddy responded.
“What if ya'll played a different kind o’ music?” Applejack suggested. “Like country, soul, or blues or somethin’?”
“We rehearsed only for our stuff.” said Neil. “We couldn’t do something like that on the fly.”
“I could take over for Geddy!” Pinkie broke in.
“Pinkie, I don’t think…”
Pinkie suddenly showed up dressed like Geddy, with a long wig, sunglasses, a goatee, and similar clothes, holding his Rickenbacker.
“How hard could it be?”
“Pinkie!” Neil interrupted. “Although it’s a valiant effort, you were never part of the band so it wouldn’t work if you did it. We can’t do it without Geddy.”
The clothes and wig deflated, sliding off of Pinkie.
Panicking, Twilight began pacing around the room.
“Oh this is terrible! Of all the things that could possibly go wrong!”
“Twilight,” Spike interrupted. “remember about your blood pressure?”
“Forget my blood pressure!”
Twilight started to freak out.
“I mean…we all went to all this trouble, taking an enormous gamble putting on this concert to prevent endless eternal darkness, and this is what happens! Of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE...WORST....POSSIBLE...THING!!”
Rarity raised an eyebrow.
Rainbow Dash shook Twilight wildly.
“Twilight Sparkle!!! Get ahold a yourself!!”
“This is no time to go crazy on us! We have to solve this!”
“You’re right.” Twilight panted. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, where’s Zecora when you need her?” Rarity fretted.
“That’s it! Zecora! She’ll know a way to help us. Rainbow, fly to the EverFree and go find Zecora.”
“On it!”
But before Rainbow could take off, a cloaked pony appeared in front of them.
“Fly to the forest you won’t need to do. For the zebra you seek is here, to help you.”
Zecora pulled down her hood to reveal herself.
“Who is this?” asked Alex.
“Zecora, the zebra.” said Twilight. “She’s our oracle and shaman. If anypony can help Geddy it’s her.”
“Zecora!” Pinkie wailed frantically. “Geddy’s voice has gone from all high and springy and nice like my voice to low, gargley, and not nice, like Fluttershy on poison joke.”
“Don’t remind me.” Fluttershy grumbled.
“To stop the music and victory, a changeling came down and poisoned Geddy.”
“Poisoned!? gasped Rarity.
“But how?” Rainbow demanded.
“I saw the whole thing with my own eyes, the poison they used was no surprise.”
“Of course, I read about this one. It’s like poison joke, but much more potent.”
“Had a feeling this was a sabotage.” Neil commented.
“Gosh, Chrysalis must be really scared if she went this far to stop us.” said Alex
“Zecora,” said Neil. “Is there a way to cure Geddy?”
“If the key to the music is the voice of Geddy, I knew there had to be some remedy. Back to the forest I flew like a flash, and searched all the potions I held in my cache. Through brewing and toil, a cure was did made, an antidote that would help in your aid.”
“Does she always talk like that?” Alex whispered to Rainbow.
“Yup.”
“With flowers, leaf oils, and hairs from a mane, drink this down Geddy, and you will sing once again.”
Geddy stared at it hesitantly.
“You really think this’ll work?”
“It’s your only chance buddy.” Said Alex. “Unless we start playing Barry White songs.”
“Well, okay.”
Geddy drank Zecora’s potion. Alex, Neil, and the ponies held their breath.
“Come on Ged.” Neil murmured.
After a few throat clearings, Geddy sang a few notes…
“Hey! My voice is back!!”
The guys and ponies were elated.
“Not only that,” Neil added. “It sounds amazing!”
“Wow! I haven’t sounded this good since we recorded Counterparts.”
“Could we finally play Fly By Night again?” Alex asked excitedly.
“Maybe not that one, but I can certainly do Hemispheres, in key.”
“Zecora, I don’t know what we’d have done without you.”
“It is my pleasure to help save the band, but a task more urgent is still at hand. A crystal of grey remains to be gone. To defeat Chrysalis...”
Zecora took off her cloak revealing a Rush t-shirt.
“...the show must go on!”
“All right!” Geddy fired up. “Second Set! You guys ready?”
“You bet! said Alex.
“Let’s do it!” Neil answered.
“Ponies?”
“Yeah!!”
“Lets kick that changeling's ass!” said Neil.
“Rush and Pony On!!”
“Wait!” said Pinkie. “Why would we want to hit some poor donkey?”
The stage darkened, the lights pointed toward the screen and the opening video for the second set began.
A sandwich board read "The Great & Powerful Trixie Pinkie Pie". A purple curtain rose on a stage revealing Pinkie Pie in a magician's costume, with a top hat on her head. Pinkie took a bow and topped the hat off with her hoof.
Striking a dramatic pose, she showed the hat to be empty and placed it on a small table. Pulling a magic wand out of her coat, she waved it around the hat. Sparkles and harp music danced around the hat, finishing with a puff of smoke, making her cough. She stuck her muzzle into the hat, and pulled out a potato in her teeth. She cringed and spat out the potato. Undeterred, she stuck in her muzzle again, pulling out a trout. Surprised, she threw the fish away.
Sweating nervously, Pinkie stuck her hoof inside the hat, fishing around for the rabbit. With a snap, she tearfully pulled out a mousetrap stuck on her hoof. Shaking off the trap, she reached deep down into the hat again. She pulled out a pineapple, a bowling pin, a picture of her dancing in a bikini, making her blush. She reached in and pulled out a chain, which seemed to never end. She pulled and pulled and pulled, until something big got stuck inside. Climbing up on the table, she gave three big heeves, thrusting out an anchor which hung in the air before clanging on her head.
Pinkie quickly recovered, reached in the hat again, and proudly presented...a stick of lit dynamite! Freaking out, she tried to dispose of it, then threw it back into the hat and sat on it.
There was no explosion. Pinkie got up and looked inside. A big explosion of soot blackened her face.
Finally, two white bunny ears rose out of the hat. Pinkie excitedly grabbed hold of the ears with her hoof and pulled out the rabbit with a big TaaDaa!!!!!...only it wasn’t a rabbit, but Fluttershy wearing bunny-ears. Pinkie looked back to Fluttershy, who just smiled and blushed with a squee. Pinkie’s jaw dropped, eyes rolled back, and she fainted onto her back, lying on the floor with her tongue hanging out and her hooves sticking straight up, twitching occasionally.
Fluttershy wriggled her way out of the hat. Taking the magic wand in her mouth, she waved it at the hat. In a sparkling pop, the hat twirled in midair, coming to rest with the brim facing up. A purple/magenta light glowed from underneath as the music built up. Suddenly a bow-tied bunny rabbit appeared out of the hat.
Show Don’t Tell
In a burst of color and sound, Rush was back onstage.
Force Ten
On the screen in black and white, ponies dressed in vintage clothing boarded and loaded luggage onto a train. Rarity, dressed as a dame, conversed with Spike, dressed in a trench coat and hat.
“Rarity, my dear. I don’t think I can do this. I can’t leave you.”
“Spike darling, If you don’t get on that train you’re going to regret it. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but soon.”
“Bangkok is so far away. Won’t you join me? You’re going to miss all those sweet Jamaican pipe dreams and golden Acapulco nights.”
“Golden Acapulco nights! Why didn’t you say so! Where’s my ticket!” Rarity leaped aboard the train taking Spike with her.
“The Thailand Express leaving for Acapulco, Marrakech, Kathmandu, and Bangkok!!! All Aboard!!!” The whistle screamed and the train chugged out of the station.
A Passage to Bangkok
Alex played is Gibson ES 335, Geddy played his Rickenbacker.
With the solo, the screen showed footage of the Friendship Express steaming down the track with close ups of its pistons and boiler. Blended overtop were scenes exotic dancers, lush tropical landscapes, food and tropical fruit drinks, and smoke from pipes. Mixed in were shots of the Mane Six and Spike smoking a hookah. The smoke brought high a happy reaction to Twilight, made Rainbow hold her muzzle, Applejack puff out her cheeks; Rarity was repulsed; Fluttershy coughed on the smoke; Pinkie Pie took a big whiff, and drunkenly rolled her eyes, hanging her tongue out while the smoke seeped from her ears.
Neil began playing a steady drumbeat as Rainbow gave Alex a blue PRS guitar, and Applejack gave Geddy his Wal bass. Geddy came up to the mic.
"Thank you! How's everypony doin’ out there? Welcome to the second half of our show. We've got lots more music to play. We're going to do a few songs we haven't played in a really long time. Let’s get fired up with something from our Hold Your Fire album, this is Prime Mover!"
Prime Mover
The stage glittered with lights from all directions, as three large red balloons inflated overtop the front rows.
"Lan sakes! Never seen balloons that large!"
"They are just on fire!!" said Spike.
"Anything can happen!!" Sweetie Belle cheered. "Anything!!!"
Building up to the outro, the ponies hummed along with the low choral voices. Suddenly with a snare roll, the balloons were released into the crowd. Ponies everywhere bounced the balloons all over the stadium. Rarity let out a high pitched "WoooooHoooooHooooo!!!!!"
"Well, you all seemed fired up. We'd like to do another song now that we haven't played in ages. This one from our Presto album. A song about vanity, this is War Paint."
War Paint
Two giant inflatable rabbits rose on either side of the stage. Every other chord change, bright lights lit them up in magical colors.
For the first chorus, an image of Rarity appeared onscreen looking in a mirror. Her reflection changed to illusions of her as a glamorous movie star, then as a grinning school teacher, a construction worker which made her jump, on a beach in a bikini, as a corporate executive shouting on the phone, and last as a famous supermodel. Her supermodel fantasy exploded in the mirror leaving her staring at herself in a mope while her image faded away.
For the second chorus, Spike looked in the mirror. First he was shown swimming in a pool of money, then stepping out of a limousine in a tuxedo with Rarity by his side, as a hot shot fighter pilot, a wise guru in a lotus position, a celebrated hero for stopping a wagon from crashing, in a spa bed being pampered by spa ponies, and last in his big muscles from the muscle spell. He flexed them while grinning to the audience before his muscles popped, leaving his normal reflection. Spike pouted as he faded off the screen.
For the final chorus, Rainbow appeared as a Wonderbolt, Applejack winning a contest for a prized apple, the CMC showing off fancy new cutie marks, Fluttershy being massaged by a bear, Twilight spreading a pair of wings, which then melted away. Pinkie Pie bursting out of a cake in a skimpy outfit.
The outro featured the ponies and band morphing one by one into each other singing the lyrics, until Pinkie Pie dowsed the mirror in black paint finishing off the song.
Leave That Thing Alone
The rabbits bounced up and down to the music, slowly deflating.
Silhouettes of the Mane Six appeared one by one the screen, dancing to the song in their own unique way. Each body was black save for a mane, tail, and cutie mark and lit up in a respective aura. Some frames showed only a hoof stomping, head banging, tail swishing, flank swaying, or mane thrashing.
"Thank you so much! Before we play the next song we just wanted to say what an amazing world Equestria is. To see all different kinds of ponies with different gifts and talents living together in harmony. It's a magical thing to see. We hope one day, our world can do the same. This song is from our Test For Echo album, this is Half the World."
Half The World
An animated sunrise rose on the screen, the warm red and orange glow lighting up a giant inuksuk. The time of day and weather slowly changed around the stone statue. Blended on either side, ponies acted out the emotions in the song’s lyrics.
Luna suddenly teared up.
“Sister, are you alright?”
“What he sang about a torn up photograph,” Luna sniffed. “It just got to me. That long time when we were…”
“Not torn up anymore.”
Luna wiped her tears away and smiled, then clopped her hooves with the mid-song applause.
Distant Early Warning
Blue lights lit up the stage, changing with the guitar licks. Lasers and red lights shot across the stage with the keyboards. The screen displayed in red 'Red Alert', 'Incomplete', 'Obselete'.
Mystic Rhythms
Wavy lights and lasers draped the stage in aurora like patterns. The screen showed multi-colored ripples in water.
"Oooh! Mystical!!" Pinkie squeed.
Chrysalis hovered back to her vantage point.
“Drat! How could they have an antidote to the voice poison!”
“We’ll have to stop the show another way.”
They hovered away.
"Thank you! You ponies are an amazing audience. This next song we pulled out at the last minute just for this occasion, as a tribute to the two royal sisters, Celestia and Luna.”
The princesses eyes lit up.
“This is called Between the Sun and Moon."
Between The Sun & Moon
The screen showed beautiful stained glass images of Celestia and Luna, chronicling their alicorn powers and relationship as sisters and princesses.
The songs’ lyrics brought tears to both Celestia and Luna. When the song finished, they clapped their hooves a little louder. Alex, Neil, and Geddy looked up to the royal box, and smiled. Celestia and Luna smiled wide, and nodded back to them.
In a barren dystopian CG landscape, a tough looking stallion pony put on leathers, spiked gauntlets, and a helmet. He climbed onto a motorcycle and revved it up. A backfire burst out of his tail pipe as he took off down the road.
An explosion went off onstage with the backfire.
Driven
Geddy came down to the edge of the stage for his bass solo. As he played, Alex did a goofy dance behind him. Geddy stopped playing, looking back. Alex stopped dancing. Geddy played again, Alex danced again. Geddy stopped, Alex stopped. Geddy played some more, and turned around, jokingly pointing a finger at Alex. With a slide of the bass, they went into the second part of the song.
The image focused onto the stallion’s eyes. His look grew more intense, fires burned in his pupils. In sync with the drums and guitars, fires burst from beneath the ground. Through the second movement, the pony sped down a windy road, dodging plumes of fire, hot ash, and brimstone.
Twilight muzzled around backstage where the power cables were. She took down a chart and paged through it. Applejack spotted her.
“Twilight? What are you doin back here?”
“Spike told me there was something wrong with the power. Thought I’d take a look.”
“Fair enough.” said Applejack. “Be a might drag if the lights went off.”
Twilight, reviewed a chart on effects for the next few songs.
“Guess there was nothing wrong with power huh?” AJ commented.
“What are you talking about?”
“You said there was somethin wrong with the power cables. I just saw you back there.”
“Applejack, I was here the whole time.”
“If you’re here then who was…”
The band finished off the song.
*Bang!*
The stage flashed into darkness as ponies all over the stadium stomped their hooves in applause. What they didn’t know was that the sudden lapse into darkness was not part of the show.
“What happened!?” Neil gasped.
“The lights are all off.” Geddy replied.
“Twilight? Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie? Can anypony hear me?”
“Yes Geddy,” Rainbow responded. “We hear you just fine.”
“Girls, the lights just went off.” Neil spoke. “What’s going on back there?”
“We’ve got a hoot’n’nanny of a problem back here boys.” Said Applejack. “The main cable that powers the lights has been cut.”
“Cut!?” Alex gasped. “How?!”
“One of Chrysalis’ changelings got back here n’ cut this wire like a hot knife on a hot apple pie.”
“What about the lasers?” said Alex.
“They’re out too.” Rarity answered.
“Well this is a tight spot guys.” Alex commented.
“Is there anything being done about it?” Neil asked.
“Affirmative.” Twilight answered. “Shining Armor and Big McIntosh are fixing it right now.”
Shining Armor used his horn like a welding torch to fix the cables. Big Mac, wearing a welding mask, directed him.
“How long will it take to fix?”
“They said about five to seven minutes.”
“We can’t wait that long.” Said Neil.
“What do we have that works?” Geddy demanded.
“The camera for the screen still works.” Said Fluttershy.
“Girls, the lights and lasers are critical for the next song. We've gotta do something.”
“I’ve got an idea, but everypony’s going to need to help.
A minute later, the guys were wondering what was going on.
“Ponies, what’s happening back there?”
“One minute boys.” Twilight answered. “We’re just about ready. Okay everypony knows what to do?”
“You bet!” said Rainbow.
“We’re ready.” Said the CMC.
“You sure about this darling.” Rarity asked worriedly. “I don’t know if my magic can do this.”
“You gotta try Rarity.” Twilight responded. “It’s the only way.”
“Go for it Rarity.” Spike encouraged “I know you can do it.”
“Thanks Spikey-poo. Let’s do this thing!”
“Rush, we’re ready.” Said Twilight. “Start playing.”
Red Sector A
The stage flashed red in time with the bass tempo. On a lighting rig above the stage, Applejack shined a red spotlight while Rainbow flapped her wings in front of it. Pinkie and Fluttershy did the same thing. Neil counted off with four beats on his kick drum.
Lights and lasers from off stage lit up the space above the band. Off both sides, the CMC each shined rows of colored flashlights through prisms to light up the stage. Hidden behind and below, Twilight and Rarity fired laser-like beams from their horns. All together, the efforts of each pony produced a spectacularly improvised light show.
The ponies changed the patterns to the guitar and synth notes, growing tired as the song went on.
I’m getting too pooped to flutter my wings.” Fluttershy whimpered.
“I can’t hold this much longer.”
“Keep going ponies!” said Rainbow Dash.
“If we don’t keep going, Chrysalis wins.” Twilight urged.
For Alex’s solo, Twilight lit up her horn and created a dazzling display of magic, matching each guitar note. Twilight pushed her magic as hard a she could, intensifying the magical patterns. The guys and ponies were amazed. In a flash of light, the patterns swirled around as Twilight reignited her laser beam spell.
“Way to go Twilight!” Spike cheered.
The ponies pushed even harder till they reached the end of the song, and dimmed back into darkness. They collapsed exhausted.
“I hope I never have to do that again.” Rarity panted.
Geddy and Alex left the stage.
“Girls, that was amazing!” said Alex.
“That was the most spectacular show of effects we’ve ever seen.” Geddy added. “You really did a great job.”
“And Twilight,” Alex continued. “Those patterns were incredible!”
“Thanks.” Twilight panted taking a drink of water. “They were all improvised.”
“Cable is all fixed.” Shining wiped sweat from his forelock. “We’ve got power again.”
“Thanks big brother.”
“I should get back in the crowd. Great show you guys. And my wife sends you a shoutout. She thinks you’re the best.”
“Thanks Shining.”
“What’s so funny?” Rainbow enquired.
“Throughout our career we’ve been thought of as a guy’s band. Girls didn’t always dig us.”
“Well ponies certainly dig you.” said Pinkie cheerfully. “We did you deep!”
“Thanks Pinkie?”
“Where’s Neil?”
“Still on stage.” Geddy answered. “He’s going to do his solo.”
“Ponies, you have to see this.” Said Alex. “Marvel at the Professor.”
Neil’s voice spoke over the PA.
“Drum soloing is like running a marathon, and solving equations at the same time. You have to practice…and trust yourself.”
Der Trommler
Spotlights lit up the drumset as Neil began his solo.
Everypony in the stadium watched in amazement as Neil banged away on the drums. Some ponies air drummed along with him.
The ponies backstage were also amazed.
“He’s...like, he never misses a single beat.” said Fluttershy.
“You know girls,” Alex commented. “Ever since Neil first drummed for us at his audition, he never ceases to blow us away.”
“No wonder he beat Pinkie in the drum off.” Rainbow whispered to Twilight.
During later part of the solo, Rarity got onstage to change the clothes in the dryers. At a rest, she tossed Neil a towel. He wiped his face off and tossed it aside.
With a fast snare roll, Neil launched into a big band melody. On-screen in black and white, vaudeville dancing ponies and jazz player ponies played along with him. With a gong crash, he finished to roaring applause.
A pair of doors appeared on the screen, revealing a dark spiral staircase. Down this staircase was another door. Behind this door was a blurry purple figure surrounded by thick smoke. The figure turned out to be Spike wearing a big turban, and waving his claws around a large crystal ball.
“Welcome to the chamber of inner sanctimony. Please have a seat. This is the place that holds all the answers to everything you want to know about your innermost emotions. The spirits of your emotions will tell you. To hear their words, gaze into the mystical orb of Fate’s Destiny. Look deeper, deeper, deeper…”
~Twilight appeared in the ball dressed in monk like robes.
“I’m foresight. I know everything there is to know about everything. I know that the square root 546 is 23.36664289109, and I know how to factor Pi down to the last micro-digit. Not only do I know everything, I also foresee everything that happens to you. Remember when you stubbed your hoof on the bed last week, I saw that coming like a freight train. And I can see you falling into a well on your next birthday. There isn’t anything I don’t know or foresee.”
“Did you know or foresee this?” said a voice that sounded like Alex.
“What?” Twilight was pied in the face.
“Never saw that coming.” ~
The image backed away from the orb.
“Okay,” said Spike. “That was a little weird, but your other emotional spirits may have better answers. Take a look.”
~ Rarity appeared in the ball with sinister looking green eyes and a snake body.
“Ooooh, I’m envy. I’m so full of contempt, I’m practically green with envy. You think you’re so cocky with all your stupid accomplishments. I barely passed the entrance exams to Kindergarten.”
She hissed a forked tongue.
“I deserve everything you have more than you, and I can’t wait for you trip a hoof and have it all come crashing down!!! HAHAHAHAHAA!!!!!!”~
“Still no answers?” Spike asked. The image turned away.
“No! No! Wait! Wait! Wait!!” He pulled the image back toward him.
“Please, just give this one more chance. You’ll find answers if you just try hard enough. Trust me.”
~The orb image staticed like a television. First Rainbow and Applejack appeared with Rainbow pulling AJ like a stuck mule.
“I’m ambition,” said Rainbow. “And I’m trying to get somewhere!”
“I’m stubbornness,” said Applejack. “And I’m staying right here!”
Second, Neil appeared sitting at a type-writer.
“Mundaneness.” He threw a coffee mug at the camera.
Sweetie Belle appeared gushy big eyes.
“Aren’t I just the cutest thing!!”
Fluttershy appeared from behind a door dressed as a flower.
“I’m meekness, and I’m kind of busy right now.”
Pinkie Pie appeared as a ditzy cheerleader.
“I’m excitement, and I’m just so excited! Are you excited cuz I’m excited I’ve never been so excited, except for all those other times I was excited but now I’m more excited then I’ve ever been more excited…” Pinkie inflated like a balloon until she exploded.~
“Well,” said Spike. “it seems this experience is a far cry from what you’ve expected, but take one last look into the orb, and you might find what you’re really looking for…”
The image slowly zoomed into the ball, falling into complete blackness.
Far Cry
In an instant, Rush was back on the stage. Two giant inflatable snakes coiled around arrows emerged above the stage, with piercing red eyes and fangs wide open. Throughout the song, their neon skin and eyes changed color. At one point, sparks flew from the snakes’ open mouths followed by a sudden white bang!
La Villa Strangiato
Pinkie produced a bag of popcorn at her lightboard.
“Great! The goofy song!”
Out in the crowd, many ponies were starting to get tired.
“How long has this show been?” Asked Minuette.
“Almost three hours.” Lemon Hearts replied.
“Three hours!” exclaimed Twinkleshine. “And they don’t even look tired. How do they keep going?”
Everypony laughed with Alex as he did his mid-song antics.
The guys touched their ear pieces.
“Everypony ready back there?” asked Neil “It’s time for the big epic to destroy the cloud.”
“We’re ready boys.” replied Rainbow.
“Give it all you got.” said Twilight.
“Time to show Chrysalis the power of our friendship.” Alex said to Geddy and Neil.
2112
A starfield appeared on the screen; planets turning, shooting stars swooshing, and a galaxy slowly turning.
White spot lights lit up the band with each chord and rest in the intro.
An abstract shape slowly emerged from the darkness. With the opening note of the overture, a green 'StarPony' logo flashed onscreen.
All over the stadium, ponies jumped and shouted along with the music. Backstage, the Mane Six, CMC, and Spike were also rocking out.
For the chorus’s to Temples of Syrinx, a large eyeball (similar to Twilight’s) looked down on the band and audience.
Up at her vantage point, Chrysalis seethed with rage.
“Nothing seems to be stopping this...trio of miscreants.”
“Bring the crystal out. That’ll stop them.”
At the end of the Grand Finale, Twilight appeared in a sci-fi empress gown, bathed in smoke, lipsyncing the final words. The image zoomed in on her mouth.
Geddy swapped his red Fender with his regular one, Rainbow gave Alex his twin neck.
Xanadu/Hemispheres
Fog flowed over the stage, courtesy of a spell from Twilight. A soft blew light lit up the band from behind, making them appear as shadows. The light slowly changed overtop Alex’s long guitar notes. As he played faster, lasers lit up in sync with the notes. The lights changed faster to the bass and drums.
While Neil played the chimes on his keypad, Alex rested his elbow on the guitar, and looked at Neil pretending to be bored. He signed a goofy ‘hurry up’ sign with his hands. Neil made a silly face and thumbed his nose at Alex, then hit the drums back into the song.
Lights and lasers danced around with the second movement.
In the third movement, the pages of a book were turned by a purple hoof. The pages showed pictures of a beautiful turquoise river, an ice cave, a table of sliced honeydew, and a giant glass of flowing milk. The hoof turned the pages and found a map with an icon named “Xanadu”. From a first-pony perspective, the traveller scaled a tall snowy mountain. Reaching the top, a giant mystical dome came into view.
The fourth movement, the traveller waded her way into the dome. Inside was lush green grass and trees. Coming up to Kubla Kahn meditating on a throne (Rarity in an Oriental gown and headdress.) The Khan shook hooves with the traveller (Twilight dressed like Marco Polo). Khan showed the traveller the sacred river, and caves of ice, presented a table of honeydew, and a gold cup of flowing milk.
Pinkie Pie was suddenly eating a melon at her station. Fluttershy and Applejack turned and stared.
“What?” her mouth was full of melon. “Dining on honeydew, like the song said!”
Twilight took a big drink from the cup of milk. In an instant, her eyes widened…
Synched with the opening sound for Hemispheres, the image zoomed into her pupils, and down a blue lit tunnel. A brain appeared, flashing colors with the notes. Applejack appeared on one side, dressed in a suit and hat. She rigidly tapped a cane to the beat of the drums. On the other side, Fluttershy danced gracefully, her mane and tail flowing freely in the wind.
Fluttershy suddenly blushed, and hid behind her lightboard.
“What’s the matter darling?” asked Rarity
“Everypony...just saw me. I’m a little embarrassed.”
“Oh don’t worry dear. You’re quite a beautiful pony. ”
“You really think so?”
“Of course. And besides, it’s not really you, it’s just a dazzling image of you.”
“Never imagined myself as...dazzling.”
Blue light lit up the back of the stage under the screen, while blue and green lights and lasers darted around to each note.
Twilight looked up to the cloud with binoculars. Green fissures were appearing in the cloud, and growing with every note.
“It’s breaking up!”
“Ahh yeah!”
“Guys, the cloud’s breakin up. Keep playin, you’re doing it.”
Geddy belted out the vocals as high as he could push it. The crowd roared in applause. The loud music and shrieking vocals made bigger cracks in the cloud.
“We’re gonna do it!” beamed Rainbow Dash. “We’re actually going to destroy it!”
Suddenly with the last note of the song, a booming voice called out.
“STOP THE MUSIC!!!”
Author's Note
These songs from Hold Your Fire, Presto, and Test For Echo are some of my favorites. The band hasn't played any of these songs live since their release.
Chrysalis and her changeling minions hovered above the stadium, the Grey Crystal suspended in the queen's magic. They lowered the hideous jagged rock onto the stadium grounds with a thud. Arcs of green energy sparked up towards the sky, re-sealing the cracks made by the music.
“You three and your pony friends have put on quite a show, but it’s all been futile. As you can see, your music is no match for my crystal. You have failed!!”
“Oh no!” Fluttershy cried.
“Looks like all this work was for nothin.”
“Ponies, we’ve got an idea.”
“What is it Geddy?” Twilight responded.
“Chrysalis has the crystal directly exposed. I bet if we hit it now, we can destroy that thing for good.”
“How?” Rainbow Dash added in.
“It just so happens we’re at the last song in our set; the one song that has always defined our musical friendship.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Oh mighty Changeling queen, we can see that despite our best efforts we’ve been horribly defeated. But before you commence in your conquership of Equestria, we ask if we could play one more song...just one.”
“I don’t see why not.” She hissed. “I’ll let you get away with one last fling.”
“Ponies, get ready.” said Neil. “You’re about to be blown away.”
On the screen appeared a yellow kick drum with a sign reading C-Rushhh written in crayon taped on it. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were dressed up as Rush from the 1970s, with wigs of long hair and kimono-like robes. Applebloom was on the drums, Sweetie Belle was on the guitar, and Scootaloo was on the bass and keyboards.
“All right everypony!” said Scootaloo. “Time to Rock and Roll!” Applebloom counted the girls off on the hi-hat.
“And a one, and a two, and a three and four…” The girls started playing a really sloppy version of Tom Sawyer. Scootaloo sang the words.
“Tom Sawyer is a guy with a mean mean story, a modern day warrior with mean keen stride, as he floats down a river with a lean bean pride!” The girls messed up the notes and got the rhythm wrong. Applebloom sweated nervously struggling to play the drum part. Scootaloo continued to sing, trying to sing really high like Geddy.
“You know his mind it’s not too spent, he’s neither meek nor arrogant, his defence’s a quiet reserve, you know these words are so absurd….the river!!!” The girls kept playing until Sweetie Belle halted the song.
“Hold it! Hold it!! Stop!! Stop!!” They awkwardly stopped playing the song.
“What the hay was that?!”
“I thought we were playin’ Tom Sawyer.” said Applebloom from behind the drums.
“We were playing Tom Sawyer.” Scootaloo answered. “We were just getting to that cool keyboard riff.”
“That sounded terrible!” said Sweetie Belle. “That was nothing like the real song.”
“How are we going to sound like the real Rush?” said Scootaloo.
“Maybe we just need different outfits?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Yeah, that’ll do it.” said Scootaloo. “Who would play in these robes anyway?”
The image side-walked to show the Crusaders dressed up as Rush from the early 80s: Scootaloo had big bushy hair, and they all were wearing skinny ties with bowling shirts.
“This oughta do it.” said Sweetie Belle. “Let’s try it again.” Applebloom counted off again.
“And a one and a two and a three and four…” They played Tom Sawyer again, but it was still sloppy.
“Hold on! Stop! Stop!” said Scootaloo. “It still doesn’t sound good.”
“New outfits?” Sweetie Belle grinned.
The image side walked again to the Crusaders dressed as Rush in the late 80s, with Applebloom wearing a skin tight black tank-top, Sweetie Belle with a new-wave style mane cut, and Scootaloo with her mane in a mullet.
“Okay this should really do it.” Sweetie Belle said excitedly. Applebloom counted the girls off again, but was much less enthused.
“And a one, and a two, and a three, and four…” They played Tom Sawyer once again, and it still sounded bad.
“Ughh!” Scootaloo moaned. “We’re never going to get this right!”
“Hold on girls,” Applebloom got up. “How ‘bout we stop worryin’ about how we look and just play the song.”
“Yeah,” said Scootaloo. “Rush doesn’t worry about how they look.”
“Alright.” said Sweetie Belle. “Enough with the cheesy outfits.”
The image side-walked again showing the Crusaders normally.
“Okay, let’s do it right.” said Scootaloo.
On stage the band secretly turned the volume on their equipment up to 12 and nodded to each other. The ponies watching from off stage plugged their ears.
“Here it comes.”
Applebloom counted the band off.
“We’ve got sour apples all on the ground, and now it’s time to squash them down. One, Two, Three, Four!!!”
Tom Sawyer
A pulse of sound thundered through the stadium. The stage glowed white from the power of the band’s friendship.
Green cracks reappeared in the cloud.
“It’s working!” Rainbow screamed.
“They’re doing it! The crystal’s breaking apart!!”
“No!!” Chrysalis screamed. “It’s impossible!!”
“It cannot be!!”
Rush played the song harder than they ever had before. Every note, chord, and drumbeat sent the Changeling queen further toward defeat.
They finally blasted the closing chord, sending a pulse of friendship energy out from the stage.
“No!! No!!!”
The stadium erupted in applause, everypony screaming in celebration.
“They did it!!! They did it!!!”
“I can’t believe it. We actually did it.”
“That was awwwwweesooomee!!!!” Rainbow loop-de-looped.
“You guys did it!” Twilight cheered. “You really did it!”
“No, not really.” Said Alex casually.
“What ya’ll mean?” Applejack’s eyes widened.
“We all did it, Everyone of us.”
“Thank you Rush.” Fluttershy teared up.
“Thank you ponies.” said Neil. “We couldn’t have done it without each of you.”
“Oh Yeah!!! That meanie old crystal is gone! gone!! gone!!!” Pinkie bounced excitedly. “Time for a party!!!”
“We’ve got something better.” Alex replied. "More music!"
They grabbed their instruments again, and headed back onstage. Geddy came back up to the microphone.
“Thank you Equestria!! We’re going to celebrate our victory over Queen Chrysalis and the Grey Crystal with some more music. But before we do, let’s all extend a big round of applause to the group of incredible ponies who made this occasion possible! Twilight Sparkle!”
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Applejack!”
“Rarity!”
“Fluttershy!”
“Pinkie Pie for her amazing show design!”
“Applebloom, Scootaloo, & Sweetie Belle; The Cutie Mark Crusaders!”
“And last but certainly not least, Spike!”
“Let’s hear it for this amazing group of ponies!”
“And now without further ado…”Geddy continued. “Time for a grudge match in Tobes of Hades.”
By-Tor & The Snowdog
In a wrestling ring lit by torches, Rainbow Dash, as By-Tor, was dressed in goofy Greek-like armor squared off against Rarity, the Snow-Dog, with floppy ears, a dog snout mask, and white snowflake armor. They humorously fought throughout the song, doing many silly things to each other. At one point, Rarity sat on top of Rainbow and tickled her hoof with a feather. Rainbow screamed like a filly.
The ponies laughed while Rainbow blushed. Rarity whispered to Twilight.
“Rainbow doesn’t want to admit it, but she screams like a little filly.”
Cygnus X1
Freewill
With one long chord, Rush finished off the concert. All through the stadium, under a beautifully restored starry sky, ponies stomped and cheered for them. Up in the royal box, Luna clapped her hooves, Celestia whistled.
The three guys took the clothes out of the dryers and tossed them into the crowd. Coming down to the edge of the stage, they hugged each other, then smiled waving to all the cheering ponies. They joined shoulders and took a bow. Neil threw his sticks into the crowd. Lyra and Bon Bon pushed each other trying to catch the sticks, but Derpy flew up and caught them. Neil laughed and waved at Derpy, who waved back.
“Thank you all so much!” Geddy called out. “Thank you for being an incredible audience, and making this show in this extraordinary world as magical as it was! Farewell!”
Pinkie Pie came back on the screen.
“You’re all still here? The show’s over. They didn’t play Tai Shan.” The screen irised out into darkness.
The guys stood in the throne room among the Mane Six, the CMC, and the Princesses themselves.
"Geddy, Neil, Alex,” said Celestia. “We can’t thank you enough for saving Equestria."
"You’re very welcome, Your Highness." said Geddy. "We were really happy to do it.”
“Your music was absolutely amazing.” Luna added. “That song about the...Barchetta was my favorite.”
“Thanks, but these ponies deserve the real thanks.” Alex added. “They put every piece of the show together. It was with their help that made the show extraordinary."
The mares and fillies smiled bashfully.
“Yes.” said Celestia. “They are all amazing ponies. I’m very proud of all of them.”
“I sure hope you come back and tour Equestria again.” said Luna.
“We’d be glad too.” said Geddy.
“Do ya pinkie promise?!” Pinkie squeaked.
“Cross our heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” The guys replied.
“I’ll bring my motorcycle next time too.” said Neil.
“Before you return home,” Celestia continued. “We have something to show you.”
Spike pulled open a curtain revealing a stained glass window of the band on stage destroying the cloud with a shining “Star Pony” symbol.
“This is in tribute to your amazing music, and the power of your friendship.”
“Oh this is amazing!”
“Forget the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!” said Geddy. “This is so much better!”
“Next to the Order of Canada, this is the greatest honor we’ve had.” said Neil. “Thank you so much.”
“Do you guys have time for a photo?” asked Scootaloo.
“Of course. We always make time for that.” said Geddy.
“Everypony say Rush.”
“Rush!!!!”
“Perfect!”
“Before we go home, we’ve got something to say.” Geddy spoke.
The three of them knelt down to talk to the ponies.
“We really enjoyed being here. The three of us feel honored that you brought us here to help you, and that we’ve all become great friends. We’ve shown how the power of friendship can literally save the world.”
“We’ll sure miss you guys.” said Applebloom.
“Rainbow,” said Geddy “good luck with Ponyville’s baseball team. And Applejack, all the best with the farm.”
Alex spoke to Pinkie Pie and Rarity.
“Pinkie, keep being the biggest goof you possibly can be. And Rarity, keep being absolutely fabulous.”
“Twilight,” said Neil. “All the best with your magic studies. That display you made for Red Sector A was killer.”
“Fluttershy?” Neil pulled her close to whisper in her ear. “Your shyness is your greatest strength. Always remember that.” Fluttershy smiled as Neil stroked her mane.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Geddy continued. “Keep crusading. You’ll get your cutie marks very soon.”
“Spike,” said Alex. “You’re one awesome dragon.”
“Thanks!”
“We better get going.” Said Alex “Our families will be wondering where we are.”
“Hey Neil,” Applejack pulled him close. “No pony knows this, but I snuck the apple pie recipe in your bag.”
“Awesome, thank you. My family will love it.”
The Mane Six strapped on their elements, as the guys picked up their bags of equipment.
“Are you ready?” Twilight asked.
“Rush and Pony on.” Said Geddy.
The ponies closed their eyes and concentrated. The jewels in their necklaces glowed and shot their colors toward Twilight’s crown. Eyes glowing white, Twilight fired the rainbow energy from her element. The rainbow swirled around the three men and in a flash, they disappeared.
The ponies clopped through Canterlot back to the stadium.
“That was so much fun.” Said Applejack. “What a swell bunch o guys.”
“They were so funny.” said Pinkie. “I could’ve taken a few random goofiness lessons, especially from Alex.”
They all looked up at the beautiful night sky.
“And best of all.” said Twilight. “We’ve got our sky back.”
“Hey crusaders,” said Applebloom. “Bet you can’t wait to get back to practicin.”
“Yay!” Sweetie Belle squeed. “Rock band cutie marks!”
“Say Spike,” Twilight asked. “What did they think of your joke?”
“I never got to tell it. Something always cut me off.”
“Well, if it’ll make you feel better,” Rarity cooed. “You can tell it to me.”
“Really?” Spike got sparkly eyed. “Okay, there...ahh nuts, I completely forgot it now!”
The ponies couldn’t help but giggle softly.
“I must admit it.” Rarity commented. “Though I’ve never been one for rock and roll, Rush are now my exception. Can’t wait to see what creations I make with Moving Pictures on my record player.”
“Ahh Yeah!” Rainbow squeed. “I’m gonna throw Signals on my walkpony and start planning Ponyville’s baseball team.”
“Yes” Twilight sighed. “Let’s all get back to our normal lives. Just after we…clean up the stadium.”
Geddy appeared back in his baseball room, right where he had been teleported before.
“Ged? I’m home. Are you here?”
“In here, Nance.”
“Hey hun, how was your trip?”
“Wonderful. What did you get up to this weekend?”
“Oh, you know, the usual stuff. Watched baseball, kept the house in order, played a concert for magical ponies.”
“Cool. Didn’t know ponies were fans of Rush.”
“Oh, Rush is popular even beyond this universe. How bout some wine for a welcome home treat?”
“Sounds great. Would love to taste the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon you got recently?”
Alex arrived back at his house in Toronto.
“Char? I’m back.”
“Did you have a great time with your family?”
“Best as always! Hey, did you read the papers?”
“No, what are they saying?”
“Sightings of colored ponies here in Toronto. Downtown, and the Aga Khan, and even up at the CN. One of them even had a Presto shirt.”
“Now how could that have happened. Hmm.”
Neil rolled into his driveway on his motorcycle. Carrie and Olivia were waiting for him.
"Daddy! Daddy!"
"Hey, how's my sugarcube doing?"
"Hi hun, how was your trip?"
"Great."
"How was the concert daddy?"
"Liv honey, daddy wasn't at a concert. Liv has been telling me how you, Geddy, and Alex went to play a concert for lots of little ponies."
"Really." Neil laughed.
"She even said she saw three ponies come into the house last night to gather your drums."
"She's got quite an imagination."
"Let me guess, you saw Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, didn't you."
"Mmmhmmm."
"Well, since I don't think anyone will believe us, we'll just make it our little secret."
"By the way, the show was the best we ever played."
"Say ladies, who wants some apple pie."
"Mmm I'd love some." said Carrie.
"Well come with me. I'm going to make the best apple pie you've ever tasted."
Author's Note
I wanted to extend a big round of thanks to everything that helped make this story possible.
To Test4Echo and ShadowOfCygnus for their great editing help, and story ideas. They really helped make this story great.
To the rest of the Brony community.
To the great team at Hasbro & DHX who make My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic as magical as it is.
And lastly, the amazing musical talents of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart, and their 40 years of making incredible music together.
Rush & Pony On!!
Back in Applejack’s barn, Geddy, Alex, and Neil were showing the Cutie Mark Crusaders how to be a rock band.
“If you press the strings like this,” Alex instructed Sweetie Belle. “You can make many chords quite easily.”
“Ooh!”
Geddy helped Scootaloo around the bass and keyboards.
“Wait, you play bass, keyboards, and sing lead vocals?”
“I do.” Geddy answered. “All at the same time.”
“How do you do that?”
“I have no idea.” Geddy joked. “And I’ve been doing it over 30 years...I’m kidding. It’s a lot of practice, and muscle memory.”
“Muscle memory?”
“You practice each part really hard so the muscles in your fingers...er hooves, and brains, know exactly where to be and what to do.”
“Awesome! Maybe I’ll grow my mane long like yours.”
“Yeah,” Geddy laughed. “You’d look pretty rad with long hair.”
Neil showed Applebloom how to play the drums.
“So how you really want to hold the sticks is like this, and swing with your wrists…or ankles in your case. You’ll have much better control over how you drum.”
“Like this?”
“Yes! That’s perfect. You’re a quick learner, Applebloom.”
“All right!” said Scootaloo. “Rockband cutie marks here we come!”
“Cutie what?” Geddy enquired.
“Cutie marks.” Applebloom answered.
“There these symbols ponies have on their flanks that signify their special talent.” Scootaloo explained.
“Oh, is that what those are.” said Neil.
“But ponies aren’t born with them.” Sweetie Belle continued. “Our flanks are blank. And we’re on a crusade to discover our special talents and earn our marks.”
“Wow,” Geddy laughed. “You’re quite a determined group of fillies.”
“The philosophy of the cutie mark might make an interesting song.”
“Cutie Mark Crusaders Rock band!!” Sweetie Belle screamed.
“And a one, and a two, and a one, two, three, four!”
“Stop! Stop! Stop!!”
“That wasn’t music, it was just noise.”
“You know it wasn’t that bad.” Alex commented.
“That was worse than our act at the talent show.”
“Oh! I’ve got pictures of that!” said Spike.
“Spike! No!” Scootaloo whined. “Don’t show them....”
“It was hilarious. They literally brought down the house.”
“And I thought my raccoon hair was bad.” said Geddy.
“We’ll never be a band.” Sweetie Belle moped.
“Oh come on girls,” said Alex. “That was only your first time playing. Have you ever even practiced an instrument before?”
“Well…not really.” Applebloom answered. “Unless you count spoons as an instrument.”
“Well there you go.”
“Really girls,” said Neil. “Don’t feel bad if your first attempt at playing didn’t sound good. None of us sounded good when we first started. With a lot of practice and determination, you’ll be a great rock band.”
“Could we be like you three?” asked Applebloom.
“Sure you will.” Geddy answered.
“By the way Spike,” said Neil. “You never told us your joke.”
“My what?”
“That really good joke Twilight said you know.”
“Ohh, that one. Here goes, There...”
“We’re back.” Twilight panted. “And we got all of the stuff you needed.”
“We even found three dryers, just like you wanted.” Said Pinkie. “One’s even complete with clothes inside.”
“Great! Thanks a bunch for doing that.” said Geddy.
The band was all set up to play. Alex’s amplifiers were turned on and he was tuning up his guitar. Geddy was tuning up one of his basses.
“So what are the dryers for again?” asked Applejack confused.
“They’re really kind of a joke.” Geddy answered. “I don’t use amps anymore and I needed something to fill my side of the triangle. We did dryers on a tour years ago and I thought it’d be fun to bring them out again.”
“But, why dryers?”
“Applejack,” Pinkie put a hoof around her neck. “Take it from me, just go with it.”
Rarity helped Neil put his drum set together, placing the last cymbals in their stands and screwing the bolts on to hold them. Suddenly she remembered her idea.
"Neil darling, I saw all your pictures in your drum room and noticed how you use different drum sets for your tours.”
“Yeah, I do like to resonate the theme of a tour with my drums.”
“Well in keeping with tradition, would you mind if I...well, resonate your drums for you?"
“Resonate?”
“You know, style them.”
"Uhh, sure. I guess?" Neil answered hesitantly.
"Oh wow! What a gorgeous drum set!"
"You like it?"
"I do, these are beauties!"
Finally, Geddy and Alex were tuned up and ready to play for the ponies. The three of them took their respective places.
"Let's hope they can play this time." Rainbow whispered to Twilight.
"So what do you want us to play?"
"Play something awesome." said Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah, something awesome!" Scootaloo beamed.
"Okay, how about this one?" said Geddy.
The ponies watched the guys play. The sounds of thick guitar chords, a melodic bass line, impossibly complex drum patterns, and a catchy keyboard riff permeated through their bodies. The boys hit the last chord of the song.
"So," Alex smiled. "What did you think of that?"
“Maybe they didn’t like it?” Neil whispered.
"That...was...AWESOME!!!"
"That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen," said Twilight.
"I’m sorry,” said Rarity snootily, “but rock and roll is not really my thing. I prefer classical.”
“Oh come on Rarity!” Rainbow snapped.
“Lan sakes girl!” Applejack added. “Ya’ll always have to be a prissy party pooper?!”
“Let me finish!” Rarity rebutted, “As I was saying, I normally prefer classical...BUT THAT WAS JUST AMAZING!!!!!”
"Play more songs!" Sweetie Belle beamed. “You must have more!”
"Oh, many many more," said Geddy.
The band launched into Limelight, then played The Spirit of Radio, and Red Barchetta. The ponies could not believe what they were seeing and hearing…
“Boy, these guys keep getting 20% more cooler.”
“Lan sakes, he can sing really high.” Said Applejack.
“I love the lyrics.” Said Fluttershy. “They’re so deep.”
“I love the lyrics too.” Twilight agreed.
They then played YYZ, and the ponies were amazed even more. Pinkie’s pupils darted back and forth watching Geddy’s and Alex’s fingers and down the necks of their guitars, and Neil doing impossible fills on the drums.
“How can they do that?” Scootaloo gaped. “That’s just…I don’t know.”
“Super powers?” said Sweetie Belle.
“Or somethin.” Said Applebloom.
Rush played several more songs: The Trees, Subdivisions, Force Ten, Closer to the Heart, and La Villa Strangiato. During La Villa, Alex went up to his mic and did one of his comedic monologue rants.
“Whoa, that triple espresso went right to my head. Hello everypony, my name is...Stinky Cheese, and my cutie mark is...well I don’t know, I never got one. I come from a faraway place where ponies slide down cheeseburger mountains into lakes of thick molasses. Oh it’s a lot of fun. Isn’t it something a pony would never get tired of? Well I did. I hated it. So I packed my saddlebags and mozzied off into the sunset like this, Lalalalalalalalalalalalala…. don’t know why nopony noticed I was gone.”
“Gosh,” Pinkie thought. “I could take some goofiness lessons from Alex.”
“So there I went on my own little pony way…” Alex continued. “minding my own little pony business, wandering to all the parts of Equestria. And then through the entirely, unexpected, unpredictably, utterly stupendous chance, of getting gum on my shoe, I met these two strange looking equines from nowhere, and we started the band you see before you. Let’s meet them. On the drums, a pony who can’t seem to do anything else but bang on cans, and read a book occasionally, the indomitable Can Kicker!”
Neil laughed from behind his kit.
“Now Can Kicker, show us what you do.”
“Nah do something better than that, more like on that schmaltzy heart song.”
“There, how’d you like that...it sucked. He’s really not that good. And then there’s this guy. Yeah, him; this dude with only four strings on his guitar. Found living in a dumpster in Ponyville, where he’s been since he was 7 years old…oh he had it rough I’ll tell ya, Long Hooves McGee! Let’s hear him play one of his signature tunes, take it away Long Hooves...”
Geddy played a few bent tuned lines on his bass, then went back to the melody.
“Well, I guess all that’s left is me. Little old Stinky Cheese, and here’s all that I do.”
“Yeah,” he shrugged. “It’s not very much I know, but someday I’ll get there. Maybe in the next 200 years.”
“Well time for my send off. You know how everypony would send me off? ‘Hey Stinky! Cut the Cheese!!!”
“Incredible!!” Applebloom squeed.
After a few more measures of the song, the band hit the last chord and stopped.
“Bravo! Bravo!! Bravo!!!” Rarity clapped her hooves.
"You three are amazing," said Fluttershy. "How are you able to make so much music with just the three of you?"
“And how are you able to play those bass lines, the keyboards and sing all at the same time?” said Pinkie. “I play who knows how many instruments all at once and even I can’t sing at the same time.”
“And how do you play that mountain of drums!” said Applebloom. “And never miss a beat! It’s like you all got super powers or somethin.”
“Oh, it’s not super powers my little ponies.” Neil smiled twirling a stick his fingers.
“It’s all made by a love of music.” said Geddy.
“And a great spirit of friendship.” Alex grinningly added in.
"Now I'm really glad we found you guys,” Rainbow added excitedly. “With music like that, the crystal is done for!”
Twilight corralled the group together.
"Alright ponies...and people, we have a lot of work to do to put this show together. We have to make it the best show possible. Let’s get down to it. Rush, put together a set of your best, most powerful songs. We’ll need at least three-hours-worth of music."
"We can do three and a half, easy," Neil sneered.
"Pinkie Pie, you're the best at putting on parties in a short amount of time, gather the best stage decorations and special effects you can find. Also help me do the movies.”
"Yes sir ma'am sir!"
"Rainbow Dash and Applejack, spread the word about this event. Make sure everypony whose anypony knows about it.”
"Ahh yeah."
“You got it Twi!”
“Rarity and Fluttershy, we’re going to need some merchandise. Start sewing together T-shirts.”
“Of course.”
"We go!"
"What do we do?" asked Scootaloo eagerly.
"Yeah," said Sweetie Belle. "We wanna help too!"
“Of course you three are helping,” said Geddy. “In fact the three of us have an idea I bet you’ll love.”
“Really?!” the Crusaders beamed with excitement. Geddy called them closer and whispered in their ears.
“Oh wow!” said Applebloom. “We’re really doing that!?”
“Right,” said Twilight. “Now, let’s move!”
“Rush and Pony on!!” cried Pinkie Pie.
“Huh?!!”
“What? That’s our battle cry! Every team needs a battle cry.”
“You know,” said Alex. “I like the sound of that.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow added. “It’s awesome!”
"Rush And Pony On!!!"
Preparation Music
The team got busy on their respective jobs for the show. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Scootaloo posted posters all over Ponyville and Canterlot reading Rush: Tomorrow night at Satin Stadium, Canterlot. Come and help destroy the Grey Crystal!
They posted the posters on every blank wall they could find, even directly over signs that said ‘Post No Bills’. Scootaloo handed out flyers to curious ponies.
“A rock concert to destroy the cloud?” said a baffled Berry Punch…
…“Sure, we love rock concerts, don’t we Lyra.” Said Bon Bon.
“You bet best friend!”…
“I guess I’ll come.” said one stallion hesitantly.
Meanwhile, Geddy, Alex, and Neil rehearsed in Applejack’s barn, going through their set list over and over again, practicing each song until they were just right.
“Lets do a few from both those albums.” Said Neil.
“Yeah, we haven’t played any of those in ages.” Alex added in.
“Woah boy,” Geddy shook his head. “This is gonna be the biggest set we’ve ever done.”
"It's all for the ponies!" Alex joked. "For the Ponies!!!"
In Rarity’s sewing room, Rarity and Fluttershy went through different designs for T-shirts. Fluttershy drew the designs on paper and showed them to Rarity for approval. They went through several designs: A pony juggling red balls, a spotted pony next to a fire hydrant, three pictures of hooves in different poses, a scary looking dragon breathing fire, pony shaped gears and cogs. Rarity shook her head at all of them. Finally, Fluttershy drew an image of a pony in front of a star (like Twilight’s cutie mark). Rarity smiled and nodded her head. The two friends got busy sewing and stitching one shirt after the other.
Twilight used her magic to make patterns of colors and shapes in the air, which Spike filmed with a camera.
Pinkie Pie was filming the Cutie Mark Crusaders doing something.
“You sure about this Pinkie Pie?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously.
“Of course I’m sure! You three look absolutely adorable!”
“We look absolutely ridiculous!” said Scootaloo.
“This mustache is itching my muzzle!” Applebloom whined.
“Geddy said you’d have a special part in the show, remember. And this was their idea.”
“Yes, but do we really need to do it like this?”
“Come on Crusaders!” Pinkie beamed. “Turn those frowns upside down, and start playing!”
“Well...okay?” said Sweetie Belle nervously.
Building The Lighted Stage
At Canterlot’s Satin Stadium a huge banner reading, RUSH -- The Most Amazing Music Ever! Tonight, One Night Only! hung over the arched entrance.
Inside, the ponies were getting the stage ready. Applejack and Rainbow rolled out a giant carpet with the show’s “star pony” emblem over the stage.
Twilight directed Shining Armor to place the dryers in position. Shining strained trying to hold the dryer in his magic.
“Come my way more. Little to the left…no my left. Okay, set it down.”
Shining let the dryer down with a thud, and wiped the sweat off his forehead.
“Wow, that thing weighs a ton.”
“Thanks for coming to help us set up Shining. Sorry it had to cut into your honeymoon.”
“No problem Twily, Equestria comes first. Though, I’m not sure about all this. I mean, a rock concert with creatures from another universe?”
“Sounded crazy to me too, but it’s what we gotta do. And trust me, this band is unbelievable. There are two more dryers.”
Shining deadpanned with a snort.
Sweetie Belle dusted Alex’s amplifiers with her tail singing and humming Limelight.
“Is that one your favorite?” Asked Applebloom.
“Sure is.”
“Hey, maybe by helping out in the show, we’ll get roadie cutie marks.” Said Scootaloo.
“Yeah!”
“What’s a…roadie?” asked Applebloom.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders!! I’m a priestess of the temples of Syrinx, and I’ve have assumed control!”
“Pinkie Pie!”
Geddy and Alex came on stage.
“How’s everything going girls?”
“Great.” said Rainbow Dash. “We’re almost ready.”
“Looks fantastic.”
“What kind of stuff have we got for the show?” Alex asked.
“Everything!” said Pinkie. “Lots of Lights,”
“Lasers,”
“And even flame throwers!”
“Everything you need to rock and roll!”
“Amazing!” said Geddy. “How did you all do it?”
“Pinkie Pie did most of it.” Applejack added. “She got all the equipment, stage stuff, and lighting set up.”
“Pinkie Pie, How did you do all this in such little time?”
“Gary Lee Weinrib, when the fate of all ponykind rests on putting on the most awesome rock concert anypony has ever seen…”
She stretched her neck up to Geddy’s eye level.
“You…make…the…Time!!!”
“How big is this stadium exactly?” Alex asked
“It’s for polo and hoof ball games,” Rainbow answered. “it can hold 500,000 ponies.”
“500,000!!” Geddy gasped. “This’ll be the largest show of our whole career.”
“The princesses are coming too.”
“Princesses?”
“Celestia and Luna.” Twilight answered. “The rulers’ of Equestria. They’ll be sitting in that box up there.
“Woah,” Alex sweated a bit. “This’ll be our first time playing for royalty too. I hope we practiced enough.”
“Geddy, Alex, this is my brother, Shining Armor. He came to help us set-up.”
“Pleasure to meet you.”
“I beg your pardons, but I’ve never shaken a…”
“…hand before.”
Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike were setting up Neil’s drums, tightening the toms and cymbals, and rubbing down the finish until it shined. Rarity breathed onto a cymbal and polished it with a cloth until she could see her reflection.
“Aha! Perfect!”
“Hello ponies.”
“Neil!” said Applejack. “Where’ve ya’ll been?”
“I was rehearsing, and having a great chat with Big Macintosh.”
~Neil did rolls and fills on his practice set with Big Mac sitting across from him.
“So from what your saying, the universe is just a field of apple baskets, and our course in life depends on which basket we get bucked into?
“Eeyup.”
“Wow, that’s an amazing perspective.”
“Eeyup.” ~
“Really?” said Rainbow surprised. “He hardly says anything.”
“Oh, if I know Big Mac,” Applejack replied. “and I’ve known him all my life, wind ‘im up and he’s a real chatterbox.”
“Your drum set is all set darling.” Rarity. “We polished everything with my exquisite secret recipe polish. I use it to shine brass on my creations. Do you like it?”
“I certainly do.” Neil grinned. “A drum set is ready when you see a good lookin guy in the cymbals.”
“We got a new drummer by the way.” Alex joked. “The dragon.”
“After all I’ve done for you the last four decades?” Neil pretended to tear up. “For shame.”
“What kind of songs are you going to play?” Rainbow inquired.
“Way too many.” Geddy laughed tuning his bass up. “We’re doing an extra special set of many favorites.”
“The whole second set is ones haven’t played in a while.” Neil added.
“And were going to finish it off with a big epic of four songs that define our musical friendship the best.” Said Alex excitedly. “It’s sure to give that change-ma-thing something she won’t forget.”
“This is gonna be So Awesome!!!” Rainbow squeed. “Are you gonna do that airfield song you played before?”
“You bet!” Said Geddy.
“Well we’re very fortunate we found the three of you.” Said Rarity. “You should have seen some of the other bands we found. There was this one band, Kiss. They looked hideous.”
“Oh we know Kiss,” Alex responded. “We used to open for them. They were awesome.”
“You did?”
“Sure did. Back when we all had hair like Fluttershy.”
“But you’re such a nice bunch of boys, why would you open for a band like them?”
“Simple. We were young, green, and none too bright.”
“Okay boys,” said Twilight. “Time for a sound check.”
“Sound Check!!” screeched Pinkie. “What sound are you checking for? A tiny pin dropping?! Or the crash of a cymbal?!”
She then darted to the opposite end of the arena.
“OR THE SOUND OF AN ECHOooooooooooooo!!!!!!”
“No Pinkie,” said Twilight. “A sound check is where they play a song to set the amps, monitors, and microphones so they sound good for the show.”
“Oooohhhh.”
Twilight levitated the guys’ three pairs of ear pieces.
“Here, use these ear microphones to talk to us backstage, that way we’re in constant contact throughout the show.”
She teleported down to the soundboard out in the seats, and placed a headphone to her ear.
“Geddy, give me some bass.”
“And the synths.”
“Alex, some guitar.”
“And some drums.”
“Alright Rush, give me a tune.”
The band played a long medley of songs including Limelight, New World Man, Scars, Stick It Out, and Digital Man. Twilight set the faders and knobs to their proper places.
“Excellent!”
She teleported back to the stage.
“Well, the levels are set, the stage is ready, I’d say were set to fly. We’ve got a couple hours before the show.”
“Great, more time to rehearse.” Said Neil. “I want to make sure I play my absolute best for the princesses.”
“Hey Neil! How about a drum off.” Pinkie slyly challenged.
“You think you can out drum me Pinkie Pie?”
Pinkie squinted her eyes, bending the aspect ratio.
“Oh I bet I could, I’m perfectly capable of doing many impossible things all at the same time.”
“You’re on my little pony.”
“Hey Geddy,” said Rainbow. “Tell us about the game.”
“Game? What game?”
“That game you’ve got so much stuff about. In that room in your house.”
“Oh, baseball. Sure, what do you want to know?”
“Absolutely everything.”
Later, Alex and Geddy were in the main dressing room. Alex practiced on his acoustic guitar, while Geddy explained baseball to Rainbow and Applejack.
“And so, if a player slides into base, he can shave seconds off his time, and that can make all the difference between safe and out.”
“Awesome!” Rainbow squeed.
“Sounds like an amazing game.” Applejack added.
“It is amazing.”
“We saw all the teams that play it on your wall.”
“There are so many, and there were also many great players. I’ve got balls signed by many of them. One of the best was Babe Ruth, often regarded as the greatest baseball player who ever lived.”
“Oh, once we get rid of that cloud, I’m gonna start a team for Ponyville! The Ponyville Rainbooms!”
“Rainbooms?” Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“Can’t you let a girl dream?”
Neil came in twirling his drumsticks.
“How’d the drum off go?” Applejack asked.
“Great! I won, but Pinkie Pie was great too.”
“I don’t know how Neil does it.”
“Are the bolts and hinges loose enough?” Geddy joked to Neil.
“Oh yeah,” Neil rubbed his elbows. “Extra oiled to for royalty.”
“Just don’t forget your head again.” Said Alex. “What’s a professor without his head?”
“Not a very bright one.” Neil laughed.
“Hey Neil,” said Twilight. “Rarity told me about all your books. Thought I’d bring you some of my favorite titles.”
“This one’s an all time fave!”
“Life and Times of Marori the Maneless?”
“Feel bad for the guy.” Alex commented. “Spending all your life with no hair.”
“I've have you know gentlemen," Twilight rebutted, "though he had no mane, Marori was a great philosopher of magic, even inspring my personal hero, Star Swirl the Bearded.”
“Imagine the songs that come out of that stack.” said Geddy.
"Say, Twilight." said Neil. "I was curious to know a bit more about your cutie marks."
"Oh, well there's nothing much to them. They're just symbols that represent what makes everypony unique."
"I get that part of it, and that's wonderful thing. But what I was curious about was what if a pony gets a cutie mark representing his talent, then feels like he/she might want a different purpose."
"I don't quite understand, what would that have to do with a cutie mark?"
"Well, would having a symbol on your body in anyway inhibit your course in life?"
"Come again?"
"You're destiny or freewill."
"Well, I don't see how that would happen as a cutie mark doesn't come until you realize your purpose, but I've never thought of it like that."
“Hey Spike, what about your joke?” said Alex.
“Yeah, let’s hear it.”
“Okay, there…”
Fluttershy and Rarity burst into the room with a cart carrying two steaming pots.
“Here’s your soup boys.” Said Rarity. “Tomato and chives, and mushroom, garlic, potato. Fresh and steaming hot!”
“Darn it!!!” Spike complained.
“Oh perfect!”
“I hope you like it.” Said Fluttershy meekly. “I made it myself.”
“Delicious. Thank you Fluttershy.”
“Aren’t you all going to have any?”
“Oh I don’t think….”
“Come on girls, have soup with us.”
The ponies and band all sat around the room with bowls of soup. Alex was keeping everyone laughing with jokes.
"And so, he gets home to his wife. She asks. 'What's the extra money from?' and he answers 'That's for what he left in my pants.'
“I’ve got a mushroom caught in my teeth.” Rainbow fussed.
“Those are great to sleep on.” Geddy joked.
"So are cake beds!" said Pinkie. "I sleep on one every night."
“It’s funny.” said Applejack. “Never thought of a rock band being such a pleasant group of folks. So many even here in Equestria have problems or are into...ya know, naughty stuff.”
“Yeah,” Geddy replied. “We’ve always kind of been a band that did things differently.”
“And the lyrics to your songs.” Twilight added. “How do you write them?”
“I’m the mind behind that.” said Neil. “I’ve written all the lyrics to our songs.”
“The lyrics we heard were all about interesting stuff; stories, metaphors, and big thinking.”
“That’s what happens when you’re a big thinker. You should have seen the first song I wrote lyrics for?”
“Beneath Between & Behind, still a mouthful to sing.” said Geddy.
“Um Neil,” said Fluttershy. “I just wanted to say...I really love the words to Limelight.”
“Thank-you Fluttershy.”
“It kind of spoke to me on a deeper level somehow.”
“How so?”
“I got thrust into a modelling career not long ago. Suddenly my face was all over Ponyville, and it was awful. Everywhere I went, ponies wanted something from me.”
“I know that feeling all too well Fluttershy. Total strangers who want a part of you. I’m naturally a shy person, and I have real trouble dealing with fans. Limelight was expressing that feeling to the outside world.”
“Oh, it’s so nice to know somepony, or somebody who understands that feeling.”
“So boys,” Rarity started. “Tell us about yourselves.”
“Yeah.” Pinkie added excitedly. “Tell us a soup story.”
“Okay,” Alex smiled. “There once was a bowl of hot tomato soup, that was gulped down and never seen again. The end.”
"That poor bowl of soup."
“But really,” Twilight continued. “Tell us your story. The book we found only gave us so much. We, well especially me, want to know, how do three human beings stay together for so many years.”
“Well,” Alex started. “Geddy and I lived in the same suburb in Toronto, and we met in Junior High School…”
“What’s a suburb?” asked Applebloom.
The three guys told the mares and fillies their story of their entire career. The ponies listened, laughed, and shed a few tears.
“So that’s the story of Rush.” Said Geddy. “We’ve been through a lot, the three of us: doubts about our directions, trying many different things, even some personal tragedies, we stuck together through all of it.”
“Amazing.” Said Rainbow.
Twilight was writing down notes in a notebook.
“Twilight, what are you doing?” Rainbow whispered.
“Taking down notes. I figured since the princess wants me to study friendship, I might as well research friendships of other-dimensional beings too.”
“So tell us about yourselves girls.” Said Alex.
“Oh,” Rarity blushed. “What would you like to know?”
“Oh you know,” Neil coyly responded. “How did all of you come to be?”
“Well, uh for the longest time, we knew of each other but weren’t much in the way of friends.”
“We were all kind of doing our own thing.” Rainbow continued. “I was dreaming of being a Wonderbolt.”
“I was working the apple farm.”
“I was building my fashion career.”
“I was taking care of animals at my cottage.”
“And I plan every party that’s waiting to be planned.”
“And the three of us were searching for our cutie marks…” said Sweetie Belle.
“Separately.” Scootaloo added.
“And then one day,” Applejack continued. “Twilight and Spike came to town. She was sent here by the Princess to learn about friendship. She kind of brought us all together. And through many awkward, humorous, and sometimes hair-raising adventures, we’all discovered that we had lots in common with each other.”
“Plus the help of my sonic rainboom.” Rainbow Dash brashly grinned.
“Of course.” Said Applejack dryly. ”None of us could forget that.”
“And we’ve been together ever since.” Said Fluttershy. “When you think back on it, it’s hard to imagine us not being together.”
“Wow, you’re an amazing group of ponies.” Said Alex.
“Okay it’s 45 minutes to showtime.” said Twilight. “Everypony group up.”
“This show is our only chance to destroy the Grey Crystal. So we all have to do our parts the absolute best we can. Geddy, Alex, Neil, are you guys ready to play?”
“You bet Twi.”
“Let’s go over every pony’s job. Applejack, your Geddy’s tech. You supply him with his basses.”
“Got it.”
“Rainbow Dash, you’re Alex’s tech, help him with his guitars.”
“Ahh yeah!”
“Rarity and Spike, you’re helping Neil.”
“You mean I get to work with...Rarity?”
“Spike…”
“What?”
“You know what your job is right?”
“Yeah, help Rarity help Neil with his laundry...I mean drums.”
“Pinkie and Fluttershy, you’re on lights, lasers, and stage effects.”
“Yes Maam!” Pinkie saluted.
“Got it.” said Fluttershy.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders, you’re selling merchandise, and assisting your sisters.”
“I’m going to coordinate the show.”
“Who do we have running the sound?” Geddy asked.
“The best in Equestria, Vinyl Scratch.”
“Sounds like we’re ready to roll.” said Alex.
“Yeah, that cloud’s lookin pretty menacing.”
“Oh, and boys,” Rarity jumped in as she pulled out a box. “I almost forgot, I took the liberty of putting together some things I’m sure you’ll absolutely love.”
“What could that be?”
Rarity presented three caped sequined robes.
“Costumes!!!”
“Costumes?”
“Now come on boys, you simply must try these on.”
“Now they may be a bit snug. I had to retrofit my dress molds to work for two legged creatures like yourselves. Don’t you love it?!! You look super dashing!”
“We look super stupid.” Geddy complained.
“It’s the kimonos back from the dead.” Neil joked.
“Okay, maybe these sequin robes aren’t your style. But I’ve got lots of others.”
“Rarity hold…”
But the fashionista unicorn already had them behind the drape. She dressed the band in many different outfits:
Lumberjacks in red flannel shirts,
“No.”
“No way!”
“Unh uhh”,
“Definitely not!”
“Rarity,” said Geddy. “We appreciate your efforts, but seriously these costumes aren’t working for us. Do you have anything a little more plain?”
“And not quite as…showy.” Neil added in.
“Well, just for an idea I did develop these clothes.”
“Perfect!!”
The guys proudly put on the plain clothes: Geddy in a white t-shirt, jeans, and light maroon vest, Alex in a dark blue button-down with leather pants, Neil in just a black shirt and tights.
“Boys, I’m positively puzzled.” Rarity scratched her mane. “These clothes are almost no different to your regular clothes. You must have an image to present to Equestria.”
“Not us.” Said Neil. “We tried many different looks but found that we didn’t need one.”
“But surely, every band has an image, don’t they?”
“Rarity, sweetheart, trust us on this,” said Alex. “We don’t need costumes.”
“Well if you insist. Though, I think you’d look rather divine in the sequined robes.”
Author's Note
The soup joke is actually real. I read in Neil Peart's book, Roadshow that the guys have soup for dinner every night before a show.
