I yawn as I, slowly, wake and stretch, causing my back, shoulders, fingers, and neck to all pop, forcing me to let out a satisfied sigh. I look at the clock to see it say 6 o'clock in the morning, or if you want it military style, at zero-six-hundred hours, and got up to get ready for my day.

First I get my towel, my soap, my shampoo, and my toothbrush & toothpaste, then left towards the showers. I had set my stuff down beside the shower curtain, turned on the water to the very warm setting, and started cleaning. As I showered I hummed the beat to the song Seven Nation Army, and I remembered some of my time back on Earth when I was but a magg- err... child... I was hanging out with my best friend, hanging out with my family, and talking with some of my co-workers. Those were the simpler times indeed, I turn the flow of the water to cold, and let the water flow over my body as I brushed my teeth for a few moments, then turned off the water, rinsed my mouth, grabbed my towel out from the other side of the curtain, and dried myself until figured I could leave without creating a swamp with every step. I left the showers for my quarters and got dressed in my 'casual' attire, consisting of the Flakcatcher and the Spook Specs, checked the time: zero-six-twenty-three, and then headed for the kitchen to get some breakfast, specifically the equivalent of an actually healthy McGriddle.

I got into the kitchen area and noticed that Engineer was in there brewing coffee.

"Hey there Engi," I greeted, he looked towards me and I noticed he wasn't wearing his goggles, so I could actually tell where he was looking at the moment.

"Mornin' Soldier," Engi replied groggily, then looked back to the coffee, tiredly waiting for the coffee, and started humming the same song that I hummed while showering.

"You have that song stuck in your head too?" I asked, "I was just humming that song earlier."

"Huh?" Engi asked, then started rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "oh, yeah... it was playing in my head at the time, and I was bored waiting for the coffee, so I decided to hum it, I guess."

"I wonder if the others will hum as well," I pondered, "and have it be the same song as well."

"That'd be quite strange," Engi stated, then shrugged, "but... it wouldn't have been the strangest thing that has happened to us."

Everybody was up and about around now, and several times and Engi noticed that at some point one of the others or one of us was humming the song again.

"OK," Engi said suddenly getting everyone's attention, "is it just me and Soldier, or have all of us started humming a portion of the exact same song at some point or another?"

"'Seven Nation Army'?" asked the other seven mercs at the same time, who in turn then looked at each other with wide-eyes for a moment, then back toward me and Engi.

Engi looked thoughtful for a moment, who then looked like he had a light-bulb appear above his head and leaned towards my ear and whispered.

'How does setting up a band with instruments and everything sound?' he asked.

I smiled, looked at him, and nodded, "Yes!"

"Alrighty then," Engi said, as he walked off towards the storage room, leaving everyone in the room to look at me.

"What?" I asked, "If you want to know, well to bad, it's a surprise." I then walked off to go help Engi.

We have finished making all of the instruments: two basses, two guitars, a drum-set, a keyboard, and three microphones. Me and Engi looked to each other smiling and high-fived each other and looked back to the instruments.

"Well, that'll do," Engi stated, looking at the instruments.

"So," I started, scratching my heading, "who will play what?"

"Well," Engi then looked to me, "I play guitar more often than the rest of us, so I should be lead guitarist, and you'll be one of the backup singers.

"We will figure the rest out later," Engi stated.

"Alright," I said, "let's go." I then grabbed the guitars and basses and carried them out of the room, Engi trailing behind with the three mic stands and keyboard.

After we had gotten the equipment to one of decently-sized, unused rooms of the base, we had set up the position of the equipment, the speakers, and lights.

"OK, this looking good, REAL good," I stated, then looked to Engi, "should I get the others or...?"

Engi seemed to think about this for a moment, then nodded, "Go right on ahead pardner."

I smiled then walked out of the room, leaving Engi to make some final adjustments on the equipment.

"So what's the big surprise, militia-man?" Scout asked.

"You'll see, we're almost there," I answered.

"Patience Scout," Spy said, placing a hand on Scout's shoulder, "I may be curious as to what these two have been brewing up, but I know that if we're told we'll see it, then we will to see it, not hear it."

I stopped at that and then started chuckling.

"...and what from that statement was so amusing?" Spy asked, confused.

"The- the irony, heh," I said, catching my breath a bit, "you won- won-t get it until you see it." I then cleared my throat, and proceeded to move forward. We finally entered what me and Engi have dubbed the 'Stage Room'. The was a large platform with curtains all around it, and just when Heavy was about to say something, a loud series of notes were played, the sound of someone shredding a guitar. The curtains lifted to reveal Engi there with a guitar in hand similar to that of a Les Paul.

"Oh my god," said Scout in awe.

"Indeed," said Spy more calmly, yet still obviously in awe.

"Is nice," said Heavy, with a look of approval.

Demo just stood, looked to his bottle that he was holding, then back to the stage, and then to us and said, with a slur, "'Mm I thee onlay one thaat seez de instrements or iz dat an illustion dat ah'm seein' 'cus ah'm dru- *belch*- unk?"

Pyro claps happily, "HMHMHMMMM!"

"We all see it ya blok," Sniper said looking at the instruments with curiosity.

The Medic popped his knuckles and says in a hushed tone, "Let's go practice some music."

"Ya'll ready?" Engineer had asked as he checked the sound systems.

Me and the other seven gave a chorus of, "YEAH!"

Then Engineer, to get us in tune with the beat, said, "One and-a two and-a ready and-a GO!" At which Sniper started off first as the lead bassist.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2QdDbelmY

After Sniper played the same measure of music twice, Heavy joined in with the drums.

After almost two measure Spy joins in with the lyrics.

Spy: "I'm gonna fight 'em off,

a seven nation army couldn't hold me back,

they're gonna rip it off,

taking their time right behind my back."

Then Heavy adds another bit to his drumming.

Spy: "And I'm talking to myself at night because I can't forget.

Back and forth through my mind behind a cigarette."

Now Sniper and Heavy both change to a different beat.

Spy: "And the message coming from my eye says leave it alone."

Sniper and Heavy switch back to the original beat while joined by Engineer, as the lead guitarist, Medic, as the pianist, and Demo as backup bassist, following their rhythm.

After four measures, no-one but Sniper, Engineer, and Heavy goes to the other beat that was played. Then, everyone except Sniper is quiet as he plays the original beat again. After two measures, Heavy once again joins in. After about two measures, Scout and Soldier join in on singing for certain parts.

Spy & Scout: "Don't want to hear about it."

Spy & Soldier: "Every single one's got a story to tell."

Scout: "Everyone knows about it."

Scout: "From the-"
Spy & Scout: "Queen of England-"
Scout: "to the-"
Scout & Soldier: "Hounds of Hell."

Spy & Scout: "And if catch you coming back my way I'm gonna sell it to you."

Spy & Soldier: "And that ain't what you want to hear but that's what I'll do."

Once again, Sniper and Heavy switch to the other beat.

Spy, Scout, & Soldier: "And the feeling coming from my bones says find a home!"

Yet again, Sniper and Heavy revert back to the original beat with Engineer, Medic, Demo, and Pyro, who is the backup guitarist, who does a version of the beat with a more techno-sound to the guitar. After four measures, again, only Sniper continues to play the beat with Engineer playing a note at the fourth and eighth notes of the first two measures Sniper plays. Heavy joins in after the second measure.

Spy & Scout: "I'm going to Wichita."

Spy & Soldier: "Far from this o-per-a forevermore."

Soldier: "I'm gonna work the straw."

Scout & Soldier: "Make the sweat drip out of every pore."

Scout: "And I'm bleeding-"
Spy: "and I'm bleeding-"
Soldier: "and I'm bleeding-"
Spy, Scout, & Soldier: "right before the Lord."

Spy & Soldier: "All the words are gonna bleed from me-"
Spy: "and-"
Spy & Scout: "I will sing no more."

Sniper and Heavy switch to the other beat.

Soldier: "And the stings coming from my blood-"
Spy, Scout, & Soldier: "tell me go back home!"

Sniper and Heavy, for the last time, revert back to the original beat as all the others join in again. After to measures of this, nobody except Sniper, Engineer, and Heavy play one note, wait for about 4 seconds, and hit the finishing note.

"Holy crap," Scout said, slightly out of breath, "we played one of our favorite songs without a hitch."

"We all did pretty darn good," Engi agreed, "I wasn't sure how well I'd actually do playing an electric guitar, guess I did learn something from grandpappy after all."

Me and the other looked at him curiously, until Spy spoke, "Ah, right... Pépé is what we called him, yes?"

"Da," Heavy said in agreement, then furrowed his brows, "...what does 'pépé' mean, I don't remember what it was..."

"Grandpa, grandfather, granddad, and grandpapa," Spy answer without hesitation.

"Mhmm," Pyro nodded, agreeing with Spy.

"Anyways," Spy said, moving onto something else, "I've had an idea, where we could possibly do a performance for the ponies... after we get introduced to Equestria."

Me and the other seven agreed with this idea.

"I have an idea," Scout proclaimed suddenly, "how about we practice other songs that we know both from home and from Equestria."

"And make some of our own too," I suggested, the getting some nods.

"Alright, alright," Engi said, trying to calm us, "we can do all of these things, but we need time do even do all of this. We still have somethings, to work on, specifically, the Respawn Room."

I and the other nodded, finding no fault in the logic.

"Another thing we gotta do," Engi stated, "is introduce ourselves our neighborhood's friendly zebra."

Author's Notes:

Oh my god, FINALLY finished this god-*squee*-ed *squee*-ing chapter.

Jesus guys I apologize and thank those who were patient enough to wait this *squee*-ing long.

My life has been kicking my *squee* for a few months and I've finally got the chance to finish it up. The next chapter should hopefully be out within a week or two at most, a couple days at least.

Guess we are going to meet our rhyming friend next chapter, hope I make it good enough to cause some laughter.

Edit: Got a PM about what I forgot to save... sorry 'bout that folks.