We're standing way at the back of the crowd, waiting for Songbird's performance to begin. I'm still surprised Olivia wants to do this. Something happened that caused her to lose her voice, and with how she was restrained, I was so certain she'd want to get the hell out of here as soon as possible. Maybe I've helped her get stronger than I realized.

"Flare!"

I look up. Twilight flies over to us.

"Hi, Twi."

"I'm glad to see you two are alright."

Olivia clears her throat. "'Alright' is relative."

"You're not hurt, is what I mean."

"Yeah, they didn't hurt us," I say.

"I'm so sorry for getting you wrapped up in this!"

"It's fine," Olivia says.

"Like you said," I say, "this type of thing is rare. It sucks that it happened and I was separated from Liv, but we all made it through." Olivia and I kiss. "We also professed our love for each other, so it wasn't all terrible."

"Say, uh... Twilight?" Olivia asks. "Can you..." She clears her throat again. "Do you think you can use your... princess privileges to get us closer to the stage?"

She chuckles. "I don't have that kind of power. I can get you better seats, though." She flies above Olivia. "Mind if I give you a lift?"

Olivia looks up. "Uh... I don't know..." she nervously says.

"Don't worry," I reassure her. "She's carried Pinkie Pie much further without dropping her." I lean close to her ear. "And Pinkie's probably heavier than you, if she eats as many sweets as our Pinkie does," I whisper.

"But our Pinkie's not fat," she whispers back.

"Just trust me," I whisper.

She sighs. "Okay." She looks back up to Twilight. "Whenever you're ready."

I start flying, and Twilight grabs Olivia from above. She lifts Olivia off the ground and starts carrying her the same way she did for Pinkie. She flies toward the stage, and I follow. She returns to the ground directly in front of the stage. Her friends, the pirates, Capper, and Princess Skystar are there.

I land. "Hey, all."

"Hey, Flare!" Rainbow says.

"I take it you made up with Twilight?" I ask.

"Of course we did! We're not gonna let one argument ruin our friendship!" She looks at Olivia. "Is this your girlfriend from CHS?"

"Uh-huh."

Olivia clears her throat. "Hello." She clears her throat again. "I'm Olivia Frost."

"Are you alright?" Applejack asks.

"I'm fine. I'm just losing my voice."

"She doesn't want to talk about it right now," I say.

"There isn't a spell to de-stress someone's vocal chords, is there?"

"Unfortunately, no," Twilight says. "You'll have to wait for them to heal on their own."

"Didn't think so." She looks at the others. "Uh... Who are your other friends?"

"This is everyone who helped save Equestria," Twilight says. She motions to each of them from our left to our right. "Princess Skystar, Capper, Lix Spittle, Boyle, Captain Celaeno, Squabble, and Mullet."

Hm... "Squabble, huh?"

Squabble squawks.

I'm still gonna call him Squawks. Hopefully he doesn't mind the nickname.

"Are you guys... pirates?" Olivia asks the birds.

"Aye, lass," Captain Celaeno says.

"We actually prefer the term 'swashbuckling treasure hunters'," Mullet says.

Olivia chuckles. "Parrots as pirates. Sure, why not?"

They're... parrots? How did I not pick that up? I mean, I knew they were birds. Just not what type.

She clears her throat. "Well, I guess I owe all of you a huge thank-you." She leans to my ear. "Where the hell did you go?" she whispers.

"It's a long, long story," I whisper.

Rainbow walks behind Olivia. "So this is your fake leg... How'd you get it?"

"I... don't like to talk about it..."

"Why not? Was it embarrassing?"

"It's on a need-to-know basis," I say.

"Right," Olivia agrees, "and nobody outside of my family and doctors needs to know. And... the man I love."

Did... she just say what I think she said? I look at her. "Really?"

She looks at me and smiles. "When we get home, I'm telling you..." She pauses, appearing to be lost in thought. "...everything that happened that day."

Why the hesitation?

Spike clears his throat. "Fillies and gentlecolts!" he announces over the PA system, "get ready for a little..." With a fanfare, the spotlights move to the front of the stage, where Songbird is waiting. "...Songbird Serenade!"

Everypony cheers. Olivia stays quiet. Guess she doesn't want to do more damage to her voice.

"And now," Songbird says, "to celebrate the fact that we're all still here in one piece, give it up for Princess Twilight and her friends!" She points to us and a spotlight shines on us. Olivia and I step out of the light. She was locked up the whole time, and I just tagged along until I eventually gave up. If I didn't follow them when this started, I doubt anything would've changed.

That's how I feel about everything since the Battle of the Bands. The sirens didn't need me, I contributed nothing to our Friendship Games team that someone else could've done, I only got in the way when Gloriosa went mad with magic, and now this. It feels like I've just been along for the ride. Take me out of the picture, and the results are the same. I love spending time with my friends, but it feels like I'm a burden to them when crap hits the fan. If a zombie outbreak occurred next week and they had to leave somebody behind, no doubt I'd be their first choice.

The lights turn off. Eh, I'm pretty sure I'm just paranoid. If I was a burden, they would've said something. Still...

Music starts playing.

I know you, you're a special one

Finally, a song moment that actually makes sense!

Following the intro verse, several backup dancers with the same hairstyle join her on-stage. I wonder if this Songbird does have a younger stand-in. Or is that just for the music videos?

Both verses kinda sound like how I expected Olivia to get after all this. I look at her. She seems to be looking on in amazement. I guess she can't believe she actually gets to see Songbird in concert.

"Having fun?!" I yell to Olivia during the instrumental break

"You bet! This is hella fun! Totally worth the wait!"

I chuckle. If this is 'hella fun', I can't wait until we go to that Cheese Sandwich concert.

There's an explosion above us. I look up. Somepony set off a group of three fireworks, each repeatedly going off one after the other. Not bad, Trixie.

I can see a rainbow in your tears as they fall on down

Pinkie stands on the end of the stage. "Nice touch, Tempest!" Tem... Tempest?

I look behind me. Twilight and Tempest are standing next to each other. Um... Why?

No... You're kidding! They forgave her after all she's put us through?! I sigh. Why are these girls so forgiving...?

It's probably best I keep Olivia away from her. Even though Liv seems to be fine, that could change the instant she sees Tempest.

I return my attention to the stage. Much like the first verses, the third sounds like something I would say to get Olivia to cheer up. Although the line 'I'm tellin' you you cannot escape' is very out-of-place. Unless she's supposed to be quoting what somepony is saying to the listener, which is still quite a stretch.

At least Olivia is having fun after... whatever she went through.