With A Little Help From My Friends

The furniture and music supplies we had bought throughout the day were transported to the castle by some of the Royal Guards who had been dispatched to help us. It was a little bit odd that it was the Royal Guard, but no one complained. The majority of the items we bought were put in storage except for the music equipment.

When we got back to the castle, we were escorted to the castle theatre. The equipment we had bought earlier today was already being set up by some ponies on the stage. Something was telling me this performance was going to be for a few more ponies than just the Princesses and Twilight. We were told to do a sound check as our performance was going to be in two hours. It was 8 pm by that time. After our sound check was finished, one of the ponies who was in charge of the light show came up to me. He was a turquoise unicorn pony with stage lights as his cutie mark.

“Hey pal, you’re Jimmy, right?” He asked.

HIS VOICE SOUNDS LIKE MY HEAD VOICE FOR DETECTIVE GUMSHOE!!!

“Yeah, what’s going on?” I replied.

“Listen pal, whaddya want done with these here lights?”

HAHA! HE EVEN SAYS ‘PAL’ A LOT!

“Erm… Aren’t we just performing for the Princesses and Twilight?” I asked. The unicorn started laughing to the point where he was struggling to stand up.

“Pal…” He said, trying to hold back more laughter “How did you not see the signs outside? This isn’t a private performance pal; this show is for nearly four thousand ponies!” My eyes went wide with fear.

Oh God.

The only practice we had was just now as a sound check. In front of FOUR THOUSAND PONIES!?!?!? ROYALTY INCLUDED?!?!?

“Umm… Uhh…” I tried to think of what direction to give him. I could only think of basic directions being ‘turn on/off the lights’ much like the directions Billie Joe Armstrong gives during certain songs when performed live. “Well… What do you usually do?”

“Usually it’s just improv for shows like this. Unless you got some special stuff you wanna tell me about, then I’ll just do my thing.” He replied.

“Okay, well, I’ve only got two simple directions: Turn on or off all the lights. Other than that, improvise, do your thing.”

“Alright pal, you got it.” He said as he turned to walk away.

Oh shitshitshitshitshitSHIT…

I walked over to Paul and Matt who were standing by the drum kit talking.

“Hey Jimmy, what was that about?” Paul asked.

“He was just asking if we had any direction for the light show.” I replied with a higher pitched voice than I had intended.

“Light show? Aren’t we just playing for the Princesses and Twilight?” Matt asked.

“Umm…” I paused, this was gonna be a shock to them “They’re not the only ponies we’re playing to…”

“Who else?” Paul asked.

“Umm… Four thousand other ponies…” I replied. Matt and Paul’s jaws dropped.

“FOUR THOUSAND?!?!?!” They yelled.

“… Yeah…” I replied.

“When did you find that out?!” Matt yelled.

“Literally a minute ago when I was talking to the light guy.” I said. Suddenly, a pink blur knocked me onto my back.

“JIMMY!!!! OHMYGOSHTHISISAMAZINGYOUHAVEYOUROWNCONCERTFORLIKEABAZILLIONPONIESAREN’TYOUEXCITEDIWOULDBEEXCITEDTHISISSOEXCITING!!!!!!” Pinkie said hugging me tightly.

Jesus fucking Christ can I go two days without being knocked down by a pony?!

“Pinkie…” I said in a strained voice “You’re… Crushing… My… Lungs…” She jumped up and hugged Matt tightly without knocking him over.

“MATT!!!! HOWAREYOUIHAVEN’TSEENYOUINLIKETWODAYSHOWHAVEYOUBEENHOWMUCHSTUFFDIDYOUBUYDIDYOUBUYANYTHINGPINKIBETYOUBOUGHTLOADSANDLOADSOFPINKSTUFF” Pinkie looked to Paul who was still standing there with his jaw about to fall off.

“HEY!!! WHOAREYOUIHAVEN’TMETYOUBEFORETHEREFOREYOU’RENEW!!!” Pinkie gasped “IKNOWWHOYOUAREIKNOWIKNOWIKNOW!!!! YOU’RE PAUL!!!!” She then proceeded to tackle Paul sending him over the drum kit and onto the floor behind it with the pink pony holding him down “OHMYGOSHMATTANDJIMMYTOLDMESOMUCHABOUTYOUTHEYSAIDALLKINDSOFNICESTUFFABOUTYOUANDTHATYOU’REANAMAZINGDRUMMERANDALLKINDSOFREALLYCOOLSTUFFANDTHATYOU’RELIKETHEIRBIGBROTHERWHO’SLIKEANAWESOMEBROTHERNOTLIKEABIGMEANIEMEANIEPANTSBROTHERBUTLIKEAREALLYNICEANDAWESOMEBROTHER!!!!! Can we be friends?” Paul was overcome with joy. He was being hugged by Pinkie Pie. The only thing that would make him happier at this moment in time was if the rest of the mane six were to hug him now. He answered Pinkie with gibberish, but that was good enough for Pinkie Pie. “Yaaaaaay!!! Now I’m friends with everyone in your group Jimmy!!!”

“Well, almost everyone.” I replied.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Well, if the others who were in my group are here, you haven’t met them yet.” Pinkie gasped loudly.

“There were MORE people in your band?!!?”

“Yeah, we had a singer and a bass player as well.” I replied, remembering my old band and what had happened to us, I quickly perished the thought however, now was not the time for memories “Tell me, where’s the rest of the gang?”

“Right here!” I heard Rainbow Dash say. I turned to find the rest of the group standing right behind me. We all exchanged greetings and introduced Paul to the rest of the mane six. He wore a huge, almost creepy, fan-boy-ish smile the entire time.

After the greetings and meetings had finished, the gang left the stage to go to their booth. I was now trying to figure out how I was going to manage doing a full-blown concert with one guitar, one saxophone and one drummer. I needed another instrument. A keyboard or a bass or something. A white hoof wrapped itself around my neck and pulled me backwards.

OH GOD PLEASE DON’T PUT IT IN MY ASS.

“Guess who?” Spoke the voice. It was Vinyl’s voice.

OH GOD PLEASE DON’T PUT IT IN MY ASS.

“Hey Vinyl,” I said as she let me go. I turned to face her and Octavia.

“Vinyl, must you greet everyone like that?” Octavia asked her.

“Well, why not? It’s fun, ain’t it?” She said nudging me.

OH GOD PLE-

OUR ASSHOLE IS SAFE NOW SHUT THE FUCK UP.

I looked to the grey mare and suddenly a light bulb in my mind turned on.

“OCTAVIA!” I semi-yelled “I NEED TO TALK TO YOU! NOW!” I said pulling her back stage.

“Hey! That’s my mare!” Vinyl shouted to us “I’m kidding, I don’t mind. Use protection!” She said laughing.

“Okay, why did you pull me back here exactly?” Octavia asked.

“Octavia, listen, I know this is really, horribly short notice but… Could you play with us tonight?” I asked her “Please? I really need a bass going on during our performance!! PleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseprettypleasepleasePLEEEEEEASE?!?!!?”

“Of course,” She replied smiling, I sighed “as long as you have sheet music.” I gulped.

Oh God, I can’t write up sheet music for all the songs we’re playing in the next couple hours!! What do I do?! If only I was Pinkie Pie who could pull this stuff out of thin air… Wait. Pinkie Pie. THAT’S IT!!!!

“Be right back! Stay, there, don’t move!” I said running off the stage and to Pinkie’s booth. After five flights of stairs and three wrong booths, I found Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie…” I said as I gasped for air “Pinkie… Sheet… Music… Songs… Tonight… Octavia… Bass… Please?” Everypony gave me a puzzled look.

“Ooh! Yeah! I have the sheet music for your songs!” Pinkie Pie then pulled a book with many pieces of paper sticking out of it seemingly out of thin air and handed to me.

“Th…” I still didn’t quite have my breath back yet “Th… Than…”

Screw it.

I hugged Pinkie in gratitude. I waved to everyone and turned to the door.

Now, to go back down the… Five flights of stairs… Oh boy…

“Uh, hold up there sugar cube.” Applejack started “We’re not sending you back down all those stairs again.”

“Whuh?” I said, still not fully capable of speech.

“Rainbow? Could you fly Jimmy down to the stage?” Applejack asked turning to Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, sure, come on Jimmy!” Rainbow Dash jumped out of her seat and stood in front of me “Hop on!” I hesitated for a moment because I was worried my weight might be too much for her.

“You… You sure?” I asked.

“Yeah, I can carry you, come on!” I jumped on her back and she flew down to the stage in what couldn’t even have been two seconds. I jumped off and thanked her. She saluted and flew back up to her booth.

“Is that the sheet music?” Asked Octavia who walked out from back stage.

“Yeah… Yeah, this is it.” I replied.

“Are you alright?” She asked “You look very… Tired, to say the least.”

“I’ll be… I’ll be fine.” I said “I just need… Water… Now…” I said stumbling off back stage to my dressing room to get ready for tonight.

“Wait, Jimmy!” She shouted, I turned around “Which songs am I doing?”

“All the songs under section one!” I shouted back as I continued on my way to the dressing room.

“Oh dear… These are far different than anything I’ve played before…” She said. She ran after me and was able to find me. I just about to close and lock the door to my dressing room when I saw her. “Jimmy, I’ve never heard any of these songs before, is there some way you could show me them so I know what I’m doing?”

Oh bugger it, let her in.

“Yeah… Yeah, come in, I’ll show you.” I said opening the door more for her to enter.

The dressing room walls were a solid light blue colour with the carpet a darker shade of blue. There was a large mirror opposite the door that was surrounded by light bulbs. Two more mirrors were on the walls to the left and right of the door of the door respectively that reached from the ceiling to the floor. In the center of the room were two couches facing each other with a glass table between them. On the table sat a pitcher of water, my laptop and a bowl of fruit. I booted up the laptop and went into a playlist I had on iTunes that contained the songs we would be playing tonight.

“Sit down.” I told her, she sat on the couch opposite the one I was on. “Now, the order that the songs are in the book is the order they are in the playlist. Just try and follow the notes you see on the paper with what you hear so you have an idea of what you’re doing, okay?”

“I can do that.” She replied. I pressed play and turned the laptop to face her. I poured two glasses of water and set one on the table for her. I then decided it was time to get dressed for the show as it was hardly an hour and a half away. I also needed to get my vocals sharp. The run I took up the stairs to the girl’s booth did a number on me, so I had to go shower before anything could be done. I warmed up my vocals in the shower so I wouldn’t disturb Octavia who was concentrating on the sheets of paper intensely. When I had come out of the shower, I opened the bathroom door to find Octavia standing right in front of it. I jumped and let out a little yelp.

AGH! GREY PONY!

“I’m sorry about that, Jimmy. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” She said. I noticed the music was not playing.
“It’s alright, what’s going on?” I asked her walking out of the bathroom and sitting down on the couch in my towel.

“Well, there’s a bit of a problem…” She replied.

“What happened? The sheet music is inaccurate?” I asked.

“No, no the sheet music is fine so far, it’s just… Well, I don’t have my cello here and… It would be difficult for me to play without it, as you can see.”

“Oh God… Dammit, what do we do?” I said burying my face in my hands “Wait! I bought another cello! Yes! You can use that!” I sprang up from the couch and opened the door to the dressing room. I yelled for a guard and asked him to bring the cello from out of storage. “See? No problem.” I said sitting back down.

Jesus Christ you are a nervous wreck.

“Why did you buy a cello?” She asked.

“Well, I kinda wanted to learn how to play it you see. I was hoping you could teach me how.” I replied smiling. There was a knock on the door. The guard had the cello which was in a large black case. I thanked him and rested it on the couch. Octavia took it out and started tuning it and playing along to the songs as she listened to them.

After a little while, I noticed I was still in my towel. I decided it was time to get dressed. I took off the towel and hung it on the chair in front of the make-up mirror. I went over to my suitcase and rummaged through it looking for some underwear. Octavia looked up and hit a very bad note on the cello and stopped as the song continued playing. I turned to face her.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“Oh, err, umm… Nothing…” She replied, trying to look away, blushing bright red. I looked down and noticed that I was indeed naked and thought that might be the cause of all this.

Yeah baby, you like what you seein’?

I am not saying that.

Aw, why not?

“Yeah, sorry, should’ve kept on the towel. Ha ha… Sorry.” I said “I guess I kinda figured since it wasn’t normal to wear clothes around here you wouldn’t feel uncomfortable, my bad.”

“It’s alright…” She replied. Obviously, that was not the case.

I finally found a pair of underwear and put them on along with a vest and socks. I took out the outfit I was going to wear tonight which consisted of a green short-sleeved dress shirt that I would wear as a jacket and regular blue jeans. Surely I have a better outfit, I'm performing, I’m going to need something more than that. I noticed I hadn't packed any of the clothes I would have liked to perform in. I sighed. It looks like I'll have to use what I got. There was a knock on the door. I opened the door to find Rarity standing there.

“Hello Rarity, what brings you down here?” I asked.

“I have shirt for you~!” She said in a cheerful voice. She levitated a folded outfit off of her back and unfolded it in front of me. The outfit was a long sleeved black dress shirt with a pocket on the chest that was adorned with a star that was made out of a topaz. The back of the shirt had a much larger star on it made with many topaz gems as well as five lines of gems that came off the tips of the stars two lines of which were emeralds, two lines were rubies and one line was sapphires. “Do you like it?” She asked.

Nigger this shirt is bedazzled with gemstones and I love it. I want to have sex with this shirt. Right here. Right now.

“I love it! Thanks Rarity, this shirt is awesome! I’m gonna wear this for our performance for sure! Thank you so much!” I said hugging the white unicorn. “I know I said I don’t like clothes that are… Bedazzled, but, I’ll make the exception just this once, because this is awesome, thank you!”

“No problem my dear!” Rarity said as she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek “Good luck out there!” She said as she left the dressing room. I quickly put on the shirt and looked at myself in the mirror wearing it.

I look sexy. I would totally do me right now.

I finished dressing in my black jeans and my regular sneakers with the neon green laces. I was ready. Octavia finished going through the set one last time making sure she knew everything she needed.

“Now, Octavia.” I said as we were leaving the room “I’m gonna need you to watch me for some changes. For example, in Paint It Black, keep playing the intro until you hear me start singing the verse, okay?”

“I can do that.” She replied “Anything else?”

“Well, that was just an example of what I want you to do. But watch me, just in case, okay?”

“Sure.” She said smiling. We found Matt and Paul at the door leading to back stage.

“You guys ready?” I asked, jumping up and down, getting pumped.

“Ready?” Matt started “Ready… Doesn’t… Even… Fucking… DESCRIBE IT!!!!”

“Alright!! That’s what I like to hear!” I said high-fiving Matt. “Ringo, you ready to go?”

“Oh yeah, I’m ready!” He replied smiling, spinning both his sticks in his hands.

“Octavia, you ready?” I asked.

“I’m ready.” She said.

I opened the door to hear the MC warming up the crowd for us. The crowd was insanely loud. We were surprised we didn’t hear them from back-stage. I was convinced that this was indeed the most ruckus crowd this theatre had ever seen. We walked out on stage and got ready to go. The drums had several microphones adorning the each drum and several were set a few inches away from each cymbal. A small clip-on microphone was being used for Matt’s saxophone. A microphone was set in front of Octavia’s cello. My amplifier was hooked up and was ready to go. One sole microphone was present on stage for vocals. This microphone stood just behind my pedals and just in front of the stage monitor that had a piece of paper stuck to it with the set-list written on it. The MC was wrapping up his intro.

“Are you ready Canterlot?” The MC asked the audience. The crowd cheered loudly “I still can’t hear you, I said, ARE YOU READY CANTERLOT?!!?!” The MC repeated, the crowd cheered even louder “Give it up for CrossRoads!!!” He said as the curtains were moved away to reveal us on the stage. The crowd went completely insane, somehow I was able to hear Pinkie Pie over the rest of the crowd, even though she was still in her booth and not right at the front where I would be more likely to hear her.

“HELLO CANTERLOT!!!!” I yelled into the mic, the crowd responded with even louder cheering, I wasn’t even aware that was possible. I decided not to ask the question if they were ready, as it seemed, ready, really, did not even fucking describe it. I started playing the riff to Paint It Black. The drums followed once I finished my small intro. The cello came in two bars after the drums. Then the guitar burst in after four bars of just the rhythm section. Finally the vocals cued everyone to start the verse after two bars of almost all instruments playing. The saxophone accompanied the vocals playing the legendary riff.

The set was considerably larger now. It now contained three of my original songs along with these other songs.
Holiday, Hitchin’ a Ride, Basket Case, Macy’s Day Parade and Whatsername all by Green Day

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin

Use Somebody by Kings of Leon

Fire and Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix

Twist and Shout by the Beatles

Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes

The Green Day songs were spread as evenly as possible throughout the set-list. Stairway to Heaven was the finisher as it should always be. The crowd enjoyed every song fully. They even asked for an encore set which contained:

Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry

Kryptonite by Three Doors Down

Wake Me Up When September Ends and Minority by Green Day

After Minority finished, I decided to go out and do a few songs by myself which were simply The Scientist by Coldplay as well as Last Night On Earth and Good Riddance by Green Day. The crowd went wild as the last song finished. Pyrotechnics were set off along with many lights and other stage effects when I finished Good Riddance. The four of us took a bow and left the stage, with the crowd still screaming for us.

The concert went on for an hour more than it should have. I did not mind, and neither did anypony else. They certainly got their money’s worth out of the concert, so no one complained. There was an after party, but I was far too tired to go to it and instead decided to head to bed. But not after talking to Pinkie Pie and Twilight and the others first. They were going back to Ponyville the same day I was. I guess that means tomorrow will be spent with them.

I entered my room and took off my shirt which was quite sweaty from all my jumping around on stage and such. I walked out onto my balcony to look at the stars before I went to bed. The after-party could be seen in the courtyard below, some music could still be heard faintly from my room. I looked up to the moon and stars. The moon was a bright crescent and the skies were adorned with many stars, many more than I had ever seen on a single night.

Tonight was fucking glorious.

Indeed it was.

And a fitting night sky to suit, eh?

“This is a really beautiful night.” I said out loud, smiling at the sky.

“Do you really mean that?” A voice asked. I looked around to see who it was. I dismissed it as my imagination and looked back out at the moon. I saw Luna hovering in front of me. She landed on the balcony next to me and looked out at the night sky with me.

“Yes, I did mean it.” I replied “I’ve never seen a night like this before. I’ve never seen so many stars like this, the only time I have was… Well, every night I’ve looked up at the stars since I’ve been here. I bet you make far more amazing night skies than your sister could.”

“Oh, you’re just saying these things…” She replied.

“No, I mean it. This sky; is really incredible. There’s a reason you have the moon and stars as your cutie mark, y’know?” I told her, I can guess that she blushed when I said that to her.

“Your performance tonight was spectacular.” She said “I really did enjoy it.”

“Why thank you, Princess.” I replied.

“Please, just call me Luna.” She said.

Well excuuuuuuuse me, Princess!

“As you wish; Luna. Tell me, what was your favourite song?”

“Well, I’m not really sure. I did like that one you did before your last song. It was the love song.”

“Ah, Last Night On Earth. Yeah, that’s a great song. Oddly enough, I was thinking of you when I was singing it.”

lol nigger no you weren’t.

“Really?”

Nope.

“Yeah, I’m not really sure why, you kinda just popped into my head the whole time I was playing it.” I said as I smiled at her.

“Jimmy… You wouldn’t mind playing me that song, right now, would you?” She asked. She gave me a look, it was a look I really couldn’t say ‘no’ to. She was too happy right now for me to say no to her. Also, she looked quite adorable when she asks for things.

“Of course, Luna.” I said as I walked inside and picked up my acoustic guitar and brought another chair outside. We sat down and I played the song again. She applauded happily at the end of it. We spoke for another hour or so, just about anything that came to mind. I played some video game music that I had arranged for guitar like Zelda’s Lullaby and the Fairy Fountain theme while we spoke just to pass time. I enjoyed talking to Luna, I really did, but I was dozing off, I had to go bed.

I’M TOO TIRED FOR THIS SHIT. GO TO FUCKING SLEEP.

“Luna…” I started.

“Yes Jimmy?” She replied.

“I’m sorry, but, I’m really, really tired, I’m going to have to go to bed now, I’m really sorry. Can we talk again tomorrow?”
“Of course.” She said smiling “I could tell you were dozing off a little bit.” She giggled.

FUCK SHE’S ONTO US!

That seems to happening a lot. Ponies knowing what we’re thinking.

THIS IS NOT GOOD.

“Oh shoot, I’m sorry.” I chuckled “Good night, Luna.”

“Hold on, Jimmy.” She said. I turned to face her again “You don’t… Think I’m evil… Do you?”

YES YOU’RE EVIL AS HELL YOU EVIL EVIL EVILY EVIL PONY EVIL I don’t even know…

“Why would I think that?” I replied.

“Because of what happened a thousand years ago when I was imprisoned in the moon.”

Oh yeah that lol, yeah, that shit was funny.

“No, I don’t think you’re evil because of that.” I replied “I actually understand why you did what you did. You were fed up with no one appreciating what you could do. I understand exactly what you felt.”

“But… Still… Ponies still think I’m evil and they still fear me…”

“Luna… Remember what you told me about Nightmare Night?”

“Yes…”

“When you showed everypony that you are a pony just like them and there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore, they’ll start warming up to you more. If you just… Stay out of the spotlight, if you get what I mean. You’ll never be able to change anything. You have to make the change happen. Even though some ponies can’t be changed, don’t mind them. Just care about the ones who do like you. Don’t bother with those who hate you, if you care about them, they win. You understand?”

“Yes… I understand.” She smiled “Thank you, Jimmy.” She came closer to me, very close. A bit too close.

Then she kissed me. I kissed her back, I didn’t know what to do, it was wrong in my mind, but I couldn’t push her away, that wasn’t right either. She smiled at me.

“Good night.” She said as she teleported away.

Dude… What…

I stood there for a moment.

Oh God. This won’t end well.

No it will not.

I lay down in my bed.

I don’t know what to do. I broke the rule I had made for myself.

Yes you did. Yes, you did, Brett.

I couldn’t have helped it though. What was I to do? Push her away and say ‘sorry bitch, I don’t swing that way’?

You tried to fuck her. And Luna don’t like being fucked by nopony except Missus Wallace.

But nothing can come of it, right?

You read the bible, Brett?

I mean, she’s a princess. I’m no royalty of any kind. She couldn’t possibly have a relationship with me. It would never work. I couldn’t allow it.

Well there’s this passage I got memorised, sorta fits this occasion…

I hope she can’t read my mind. Oh dear God. What do I do now...?

Ezekiel 25:17; the path of the righteous man is bes-

That’s enough from you.

I buried my face in my pillow and fell asleep.

I really hope nothing comes of that kiss…