It was the final day of the Battle of the Bands, the day the Rainbooms had been waiting for. Tonight, they would compete directly against the Dazzlings.
Outside, Rainbow Dash was flying a few laps around the Abbey to get herself psyched up. She was passing by the window of the Dazzlings' room when she happened to turn her head and look inside. And she saw them turn into their Siren forms!
She couldn't stop herself from gasping. The Sirens heard her. They changed back into animals again, but it was too late. "She saw us," Sonata said hysterically. "She saw us!"
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "What the heck are you guys?"
"We'll have to kill her now," said Adagio. She turned back into her real monstrous self and smashed through the window, charging at Rainbow Dash!
Rainbow Dash dived through the window of the room directly below the Sirens' room, which was Samkim's. All of her fellow band members were in there.
"Rainbow, what's wrong?" Mara asked, putting down her keytar.
Before Rainbow could answer, the Sirens came crashing through the window, all in monster mode. "Time to retreat, wot!" Joshy cried.
They all ran out into the hallway. The Sirens chased them down the hall until they came to the door which led to the Abbey cellars, where barrels of wine and cider were stored. Samkim threw open the door and the Rainbooms ran down the stairs.
But the Sirens didn't follow them down there. Instead, they turned back into a mouse, squirrel, and otter. Adagio slammed the door and bolted it shut.
Rainbow Dash flew back up the stairs and pressed her eye to the keyhole. She looked out at the Dazzlings. "Why did you do that?" she demanded.
"Terribly sorry, but we can't take the chance of you beating us tonight," said Adagio. "There's too much at stake."
"So long, Rainbrooms!" said Aria. All three of them laughed. Then they left.
"This can't be happening!" said Rainbow Dash. She tried to kick the door down, but it held steady.
"Let me try," said Mara. She climbed up the stairs and threw her considerable weight against the door, but it did not move even one centimeter and she fell back onto a pile of barrels, knocking them every which way.
"Now my band is never gonna win!" Rainbow Dash wailed.
"Your band?" Samkim said furiously. "If it's anyone's band, it's mine!"
Rainbow Dash flew over to him and got right in his face. "I came up with the name and wrote all our songs!"
"I write songs too!" Joshy said. "You just never use 'em!"
Samkim rounded on him. "Your songs are terrible, Joshy! That's one thing Rainbow Dash is right about. They're all just lists of food!"
"Hurr, does anybeast amember fun?" Arula said. "Oi'll give ee a hint. It's ee exact opposite of being in ee Rainbooms!"
"I wish I'd never asked any of you to be in this band!" Samkim shouted.
"Well, Oi wish Oi'd never agreed to be in it!" Arula shouted back.
"Me too, wot!" Joshy shouted.
"STOP!" Mara yelled louder than any of them. They all stopped arguing and turned to look at her.
"This was supposed to be fun," she said. "But we've been getting competitive with each other and letting little things bother us. That's what the Dazzlings want. They've turned us against each other just like they did to everyone else."
"I guess I have been getting kind of a swelled head," Rainbow Dash said. "I'm sorry, guys."
Joshy put on his best hare manners. "No, no, madam. The fault was all mine, wot."
"I'm sorry too," said Samkim.
"An' Oi too," said Arula. They all did a group hug.
"Now, how are we gonna get out of here?" said Samkim.
"I know a spell to open doors, but I left my wand upstairs," said Joshy.
Then Arula noticed a door behind the pile of barrels Mara had knocked over. "May'ap this bees ee way out of yurr."
"Look, there's a key lyin' on the ground," said Joshy. "I'll wager it fits this door." He tried it and it did.
They went through the door and came out in an underground tunnel. "Where do you think this goes?" Samkim wondered.
"Well, it has to lead up to the surface," said Mara. "It's slanting uphill."
"Let's go!" said Rainbow Dash.
They followed the tunnel until they came to a place where it split in two. "The trail leads on an' on, eh?" Joshy said. "Two blinkin' ways!"
"Which way do we go now?" asked Mara.
"Oi'm a-knowing 'bout holes," said Arula. "Oi'd say ee right fork bees more loikely to bring us'ns to ee surface."
They started to go that way, but hadn't gone very far when they came to a deep pit in the middle of the path and had to turn back. They went back and took the other trail, but found it blocked by a boulder at the end.
"Now us'ns ull never get out!" Arula said. "We'm stuck here furever!" She began to cry.
Joshy put an arm around her. "There, there, old gel. Don't fret. We won't be down here forever, just until the oxygen runs out an' we suffocate."
"Well, that's really gonna cheer her up," said Rainbow Dash.
"Just tryin' to be realistic, wot wot!"
Suddenly, the boulder at the top started to move. The five friends could see a sky filled with stars.
A purple unicorn with wings appeared at the entrance to the tunnel. It was Rainbow Dash's friend Twilight Sparkle!
"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash burst out of the hole and hugged her friend. "How did you know I was here?"
"The Map of Friendship called me," said Twilight. "It told me there was a friendship problem at Redwall that I had to fix."
They all climbed out of the hole and onto the good firm earth. They were in the middle of Mossflower Woods.
"Good old terra cotta, wot!" Joshy exclaimed, kissing the ground.
"Can you help us?" Samkim asked. "Redwall is under attack by these three girls that put everybeast under a spell with their music, only they're not really girls, they're some kind of monsters…"
"I know what they are," Twilight said. "They're called Sirens. I met them once before in another world."
"Do you know how to defeat them?" Mara asked.
Twilight smiled. "I sure do. Let's get back to Redwall. There's no time to lose!"