Hungry as a horse (no pun intended), Flash Sentry trudged back into his house after his rehearsal with Bronycorpse. Though the rehearsal went really, really well, with Flash proving that he was in fact a highly proficient and powerful black metal musician, the grumbling of his stomach that had been permeating within him ever since they finished rehearsal had pushed that thought to the back of his mind, in favor of the thought of getting something to fill his stomach before it ate itself.
"So how'd rehearsal go?" Flash's father asked him upon his arrival.
"Really well!" Flash beamed. "I nailed all their original songs without missing a note."
"That's great, honey!" Flash's mom exclaimed. "But you haven't told us about this band yet. Like, what are you called, and what type of music, and stuff?"
"Uhhh..." Flash hesitated uneasily. What would his parents think if they found out he was playing in a black metal band? Would they forcibly remove him from the very first band he ever played in? Worse, would they forbid him from ever playing in a band of any kind ever again? Pummeled by these thoughts, Flash came up with what he perceived to be a little white lie;
"It's...uh, a soft rock band called...uh...Blooming Apples. It's like completely kid friendly and stuff."
For a second, Flash's parents looked at each other, unsure of what to make of Flash's answer. Yet at the same time, he'd never before given them a reason to distrust them, so Flash's dad decided, "For now, we'll play along. And we'll look forward to seeing you guys live."
"By the way," Flash's mom chipped in, "your lunch is waiting for you on the kitchen table."
"Alright, thanks, Mom." Not willing to dig himself in a deeper hole than he already might have been in, Flash dashed into the kitchen, where a giant peanut butter sandwich, green-leaf salad and cup of apple juice waited for him. He gulped them down as quickly as he could, and spent the rest of the day relaxing at home, albeit uneasily; he'd lied to his parents about Bronycorpse, and they were looking forward to seeing them live... and Bronycorpse would be performing at the school at the end of the next school week! The answer was easy, Flash thought. He'd just not tell them about the show, that's all! But what if one of his friends squealed about it? And then what would his parents think, not only about the band, but about the fact that he lied about them...?
After that, the rest of Flash's weekend went by quite uneventfully. The subsequent school week that followed was also quite typical, with Flash doing his work in and out of class, rehearsing with Bronycorpse for their upcoming show after school each day, and of course, dealing with Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer fighting over his affections. Which posed Flash another haunting question; what would the girls think? Flash really did want to get with one of them at some point, whether it be Twilight or Sunset, but would playing in this kind of band put them off him forever...?
...
Either way, that Friday, exactly one week after Flash Sentry successfully auditioned for Bronycorpse, was when the band was set to play their show at Canterlot High School, at the end of the school day. Flash's final class of that day was band, that of course, being the school jazz band. But as soon as the instructor marked Flash as being present, he promptly dismissed him.
"Really? Why?"
"Hey, we all know that new band of yours is performing here today. We wouldn't want you to go in unprepared, now would we?"
"Uh, OK, thanks. Wish me luck!"
And so Flash left the band room, guitar in hand, and from there promptly went to the auditorium, where Bronycorpse was scheduled to perform at the end of the school day. Stage hands were already there, rigging the sound systems, as well as fixing up the band's instruments. Flash, meanwhile, after handing his guitar to them, so that they could set the EQ and the tuning to where it was correct, went into the backstage area, where he saw Hest Endetarm, Satanik Pervertor, Tartarus and Discordia, already there, already gearing up for their gig.
"Flash! You mades it!" Hest beamed upon seeing Flash entering the room.
"What can I say?" Flash shrugged. "I can't wait to do this show, I'm so excited!"
"Yeah, us too," Tartarus concurred. "And with you on board, we're gonna me more powerful than EVER!"
Flash simply grinned bashfully. Pervertor then walked up to him, saying "But first things first; you're gonna need some of this," and promptly handed him...
"A makeup case?" Flash asked incredulously.
"Dimwitt, that's corpse paint!" Discordia exclaimed. "All the great black metallers use it, and we do, too."
"And yous best wears it, toos," Hest advised, "lest yous sticks out likes a sores thumbs."
"Uh... OK." And so with that, Flash retreated into the wardrobe that was marked for him, opened the case of corpse paint and read the instructions. Applying the basic design seemed to be easy enough; the areas around the eyes and the lips were to be black, and the rest of the face, along with the neck, were to be white. To accomplish this look, the case was equipped with a white base, a white powder to prevent smudging and/or melting, plus black eye shadow, black eyeliner, and to top it all off, black lipstick. Very carefully, in front of the mirror in the wardrobe, Flash started with the white base, covering the entirety of his face and his neck, except for his eye sockets and lips, and then applied the powder over the entirety of the base to keep it from smudging. He then applied the black eye shadow to his sockets, starting with his left eye, and then his right, keeping the eye that he was working on closed to keep from hitting his eyeball. He then applied the eyeliner to the areas right outside of his eyeballs, and finally, the black lipstick; it made him feel a bit awkward and feminine, but if it was the black metal look, it was game.
In time, Flash got his corpse paint on. It was a simple design, with no fancy artwork whatsoever, but it seemed to get the basic look down pat. When he emerged from the wardrobe, he saw Hest, Pervertor, Tartarus and Discordia waiting for him; they'd already gotten their corpse paint on their faces, and were using much more complex designs with the black to boot.
"How do I look?" Flash asked, unsure of whether or not his bandmates would roll with it.
"Like a corpse," answered Tartarus, giving two thumbs up. "It's perfect!" The rest of the band nodded their approval, as well. Flash, however, was still not sure that he'd fit in; the rest of the band weren't just wearing corpse paint, they were all dressed in baggy black jeans, with spiked gauntlets on their lower arms, and bullet belts on their waists. But what they weren't wearing were shirts; all of them had such defined physiques and prominent muscles that they figured they didn't need shirts on stage, especially Discordia, being the behemoth of the bunch.
"Uh, guys?" Flash asked nervously. "I don't have to take my jacket and shirt off, do I?"
"Uh... I don't think so," Pervertor said haltingly. "Why?"
"Because I'm a twig!" Flash confessed. "Schoolwork and the guitar don't do much for the muscles, you know."
"Fine, keeps your shirts on, stringsbeans," Hest laughed, making Flash roll his eyes.
"But it's not like anyone's gonna care what you look like!" Tartarus pointed out.
"Well then why are we wearing this corpse paint?" Flash asked, which plunged the band into an awkward silence before Discordia finally spoke up; "What we're trying to say," he said, "is just kick some ass on that guitar out there, alright?"
"You got it, guys!" Flash winked. And with that, Bronycorpse was pretty much ready to go; all that was left to do was to not do anything that would cause them to lose their focus, forget their setlist, or any of those little things that could throw a band off balance in no time flat...
Shortly after the last class period ended, students were quickly filing into the massive auditorium. The curtains were still closed, so that the scenery of the stage might remain hidden from view until the band was ready to start playing, allowing them an element of surprise, so to speak. Additionally, in the spirit of this being a metal concert, though it was normally not allowed, students were allowed to stand in the area between the front row seats and the stage itself; equivalent to the general admissions area present in the typical rock music venue, where moshing, crowd surfing and stage diving often took place. At the front and center of this area were Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, acting more like they were at a One Direction or Justin Bieber show than a black metal show. Also in the mix were the rest of The Rainbooms—Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie—plus the Cutie Mark Crusaders—Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo—amongst others. And in the two center front row seats were none other than Flash Sentry's parents, totally oblivious to the shock that they were about to see...
When everyone was situated and everything was set, a stage hands stuck his head backstage. "Alright guys, we're ready to go on."
"YES!" Flash exclaimed as he, Hest, Pervertor, Tartarus and Discordia all took to the stage, which contained extremely grotesque decorations quite reminicient of the ones found in the band's rehearsal space. Even so, it was still quite fitting for the music, Flash thought as he and bandmates got in their positions - their instruments had already been plugged in and tuned, and their amps and PA systems had also been dialed in as well, so all that was left for them to do was wait for the curtains to open;
On the other side of the curtains was where Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna stood before the cheering crowd. Without further ado, the pair of them announced together;
"Now, will you please welcome the most extreme band that Canterlot High School has ever welcomed... BRONYCORPSE!"
"Bronycorpse?" exclaimed Flash's dad. "I thought his band was called Blooming Apples!"
"I don't believe it," Flash's mom replied. "Flash lied to us!"
The curtains opened, revealing quite a sinister-looking set to the audience indeed. Two giant pentagrams and two giant inverted crosses made to look like bone hung on the wall in the back, and on the front edge of the stage was a line of paper mache horse heads impaled on stakes. These heads, however fake, were made to look realistic, and did so so well that some in the audience thought they were actually real.
"They would do THAT to innocent animals?!" Fluttershy squeaked. "How barbaric!"
"Relax, Fluttershy," assured Rainbow Dash. "I'm sure it's just paper mache, or something like that."
"And ya gotta admit," Applejack added as she took note of the band members' bodies, "them guys are pretty hunky!"
"Yeah," affirmed Rarity, "in an I'm-gonna-slit-your-guts kind of way!"
And Sunset, noticing that Flash still had his shirt and jacket on, cooed, "Aww, why is Flash not showing off his bod?"
"Shut up, Sunset!" Twilight snapped. Sunset was about to snap right back at her, but before she could, the band had started playing, causing the audience to gasp at what was for many of them the most ghastly and abrasive sounds they'd ever heard from an ensemble of guitars and drums.
"He told us this was soft rock!" Flash's parents exclaimed. "What the hell is this crap?!"
The song that Bronycorpse chose to start off their setlist was "Celestia Overthrown," a song that Hest wrote as his way of expressing his opinion of the school's principal. It started off with Flash and Pervertor playing a heavy riff in the key of A minor, while Tartarus plodded along on the bass, Discordia played an incredibly fast blast beat on the drums, and Hest headbanged along in a circular fashion, making his hair whip around in circles as if it were the blades of a windmill. Many in the audience headbanged along as well, flashing the sign of the horns with their hands. Then, after several bars, the music slowed down to a more medium pace in the key of E minor, while Hest snarled these words;
Sitting on her throne
The tyrants laughs maniacally
As her slaves bow down before her
Cutting themselves as penance
The tyrant licks her chops
Strong is her lust for blood
Unbeknownst that an even bigger tyrant
Hungers for her kingdom
As the song quickly sped up again, a circle pit began to develop on the floor below, with students slamming into each other relentlessly as the music blasted furiously above. As Discordia continued to blast on the drums while Tartarus, Pervertor and Flash played their axes in E minor, Hest shrieked these words from his bowels;
Celestia will be overthrown
Her reign shall die with her
In the wake of her blood
A new Reich shall arise!
The song then went to a rather slow pace, with the drums slamming unmerciful. Normally, this would cause the audience to bang their heads like mad, but instead, as Tartarus and Pervertor riffed in the key of A minor, all of their eyes were on their lead guitarist, Flash Sentry. While the solo he played was not too overtly flashy or technical, the tritone notes he played on the harmonic minor scale sent shivers down the audiences spines and caused goosebumps to develop on their skin, while at the same time making Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle both scream with glee.
"Well you have to admit," Flash's dad acknowledged. "He is really good on that guitar."
"But I STILL can't believe he would lie to us!" Flash's mom exclaimed.
Then suddenly, as Flash ended his solo, the band went crazy; Discordia broke out into a lightspeed-sounding hyperblast on the drums as Flash, Pervertor and Tartarus played some of the most chaotic scales their guitars could puke out, while Hest screamed;
Celestia lies dead
Beheaded by the axe
Drowned in her own blood, left to fester
Left for demonic vultures to feast on
THE NEW REICH HAS ARISEN!
And with one more, loud, menacing 10-second shriek from the bowels of Hest's lungs, the song was over. Applause and cheers erupted from all over the audience, even from Sunset and The Rainbooms and Crusaders. Though neither of them were metalheads even the tiniest bit, they had to admit that Bronycorpse, terrifying as they were, did exhibit some impressive musicianship - especially on Flash Sentry's part.
Then, after taking a brief moment to recuperate, without even bothering to acknowledge the audience, the band kicked into their next song, "Nightmare Moon." Discordia thrashed his drums in a very fast and very heavy 2/4 beat while Flash, Pervertor and Tartarus played a seriies of tremolo notes in the key of E, and on the harmonic minor scale. For many bars, the band played like this, with Hest doing his windmill headbanging all the way; then as the drums kept going as they were, the guitars moved up to the key of F# minor as Hest began to rasp;
A new moon shines this night
A moon of ultimate evil
Doom is spelt to those immersed
In the glow of the Nightmare Moon
This moon hypnotizes all
Who gaze into its menacing glow
It leads them into the pit of fire
To burn for the Nightmare Moon
Their flesh is burned, their skin is peeled
Their entrails are consumed to nothingness
Their remains are but a sacrifice
For the Nightmare Moon
In Hell dwell the souls of the sacrificed
Burning eternally, torn asunder
For worshipping not the bastard Christ
But instead the Nightmare Moon
Then, as the guitars moved up to the key of G# minor, Hest, instead of going back to headbanging, promptly took one of the paper mache horse heads, tore it off of its stake, and then ripped it apart, causing a bucket full of fake blood and fake brain matter to ooze out. Of course, even though it was fake, it looked so realistic that some in the audience thought it was indeed real. Before anyone had time to react, Hest was already throwing the head, fake entrails and all, into the audience. And all of it just so happened to end up on Apple Bloom.
"AAH! GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!" Apple Bloom moaned as she writhed around in shock, covered from head to foot in what she thought was real horse guts. Immediately, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo took her towards the far side of the auditorium and herded her towards someplace where she could get cleaned up. Meanwhile, Applejack was seething;
"Ah'll teach that bastard to mess with mah sister!" And before she could stop herself, Applejack pulled her way up onto the stage, and swiftly sucker-punched Hest right in the face. Without fully knowing what just happened, Hest, seemingly undeterred, jabbed Applejack in the gut in retaliation.
The hit was so hard that Applejack nearly collapsed off the stage. But even as she groaned in pain, she quickly drew on the toughness that came from being a country girl, came right back and punched Hest in his gut. Hest responded with a takedown, and the brawl continued on the ground, with Hest jabbing Applejack on any and all pressure points he could think of while she yanked at his long black hair.
Everyone in the crowd, save for Sunset and The Rainbooms, began to cheer like mad, chanting "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" as the two continued to grapple. The rest of Bronycorpse, however, continued to play the song as if nothing was happening; Discordia still blasted on the drums, Tartarus still plucked his bass, Pervertor still riffed on his guitar, and Flash was in the middle of a shredding solo; naturally, they were too far into The Zone to look up and notice the brawl that was taking place on their stage.
This of course, was the perfect spectacle for this audience; heavy, brutal, raw black metal and a fight! But then suddenly, as Flash Sentry was going into a sick vibrato on his guitar's whammy bar... the auditorium immediately fell silent, save for the grunts coming from Applejack and Hest, who were still grappling and striking each other on the floor of the stage. The rest of Bronycorpse continued playing for a second before they finally realized that no sound was coming out, and then, before they had time to wonder what went wrong, onto the stage stormed Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna. They had pulled the plug on Bronycorpse, and were furious over how out-of-hand their show had gotten.
Celestia rushed over and with her great strength, grabbed Applejack and Hest Endetarm by the scruffs of their necks, separating them and breaking up the fight. Even so, they continued to grab for each other in blind rage as Celestia growled, "You two! To the office! NOW!"
At the same time, Luna yelled out to the audience, "This massacre-fest is over! Out! OUT! EVERYBODY OUT!" With that, the rest of the students all hurriedly made their way out of the auditorium before any of them could get detentions or worse; Celestia dragged Hest and Applejack out towards her office; Satanik Pervertor, Tartarus, Discordia and Flash Sentry all quietly unplugged their instruments and slipped backstage... and Flash's parents stalked after them, both hellbent on confronting their son...