The next Monday morning, the school bus stopped in front of Canterlot High School, beginning another school week after the crazy weekend that had just transpired. For Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity, being back at school came with a strange sense of relief.
Phase 1 of this grand plan was setting up the Battle of the Bands that Bronycorpse and The Rainbooms agreed to, and for that, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna had to be brought on board to the idea. So, as soon as she got off the bus, without even acknowledging her friends about it, Twilight ran full speed ahead, into the building and down the hall.
Once at the door to the principal's office, she knocked at the door and was immediately buzzed in. There sat Celestia at her desk, with Luna standing at her side.
"Good morning, Twilight," greeted Celestia cordially and casually.
"What brings you here?" inquired Luna. "Not another review of some 'failed exam,' I hope." She did what she could not to laugh.
"Well actually, I need your help with something big," Twilight replied. "Hest Endetarm is up to no good, and we think we have a plan to put a stop to it, but for that, we need you on board."
"Seriously?" Both sisters were aghast – especially Celestia. "I suspended that troublemaker just last Friday!" she exclaimed. "And he's still up to no good? What's he done this time?
"Uh, well," began Twilight nervously, "he set a rabid raccoon on Fluttershy and stole a bunch of... sensitive media of Rainbow Dash; he planned to blackmail her, but we agreed to a battle between our two bands in order to distract him from that issue. But that's just a part of a bigger plan to bring him down and I need your help."
Celestia and Luna exchanged incredulous glances. Being in the positions of authority that they were, they'd thought that their power and influence was more than enough to set anyone straight when called for. But apparently, Hest had not been deterred – certainly not something that either of them were used to when it came to discipline – and considering how dangerous he was, they decided it might behoove them to play along with whatever Twilight had in mind. After all, Twilight was certainly the kind of person with the intelligence and cunning that was required to deal with creatures like Hest Endetarm.
"What can we do to help?" Luna asked eagerly.
"We need you to organize our Battle of the Bands," Twilight explained. "Actually, I was thinking; to get more of the students involved, the brunt of the event would be a musical showcase with various other bands from the school as the opening acts, so to speak. The Battle of the Bands between Bronycorpse and The Rainbooms would be the main event. But anyway, the idea is that Hest will be so determined to win, that he'll be so busy rehearsing with his band that he'll be too distracted from our plans. After school tomorrow, if not today, Rainbow Dash and I are going to the police; she's going to show them the e-mail that proves he harassed her, while I'm gonna show them a real dirty secret that'll have him and his family put away for a real long time!"
"What kind of dirt?" Celestia asked with intrigue.
"Uh... I'll save that story for later," Twilight said sheepishly. "Anyway, my idea was for you to see if you could rent out the Canterlot Concert Hall this Saturday evening and hold this event then and there. I know you're a bit reluctant on holding it here after what happened last time... plus, it takes a while for the cops to make those arrest warrants and junk. Oh,and if you hold it during the week, Hest won't be able to perform, because he's suspended, remember?"
"Quite right," acknowledged Luna. "But what about that raccoon attack you mentioned?"
"I'm afraid don't have any hard evidence of that for the cops. But we do have proof of the harassment; that and the dirt I've dug up on the Endetarms is sure to have them locked away."
"Yes, and it's a great way to get the students involved in something," Luna beamed to Celestia. "They, of course, will vote for The Rainbooms in the end, because your pop music is so much better than their noise... right?"
"Uh, well actually..." Twilight started. But before she could finish, Celestia broke in:
"We'll contact the Concert Hall and start getting this event set up straightaway!" she smiled. "Now you best be off, Twilight; I believe the first bell is about to ring."
"Thanks for everything, ma'ams." Twilight waved as she saw herself out of the office and on her way to her first class of the day. So far, so good; Celestia and Luna were on board.
The rest of the school day went by rather typically. Everyone went through all of their classes as normal, except that they could all breathe easier without Hest there to harass them. The other major difference here was that, at least for the time being, Sunset and Twilight were not obsessively arguing over Flash Sentry. There was no point in it, for this time, they both had a common goal, and that was to save Flash from the clutches and influence of Bronycorpse...
When school was officially dismissed, rather than get on the bus, Twilight and Rainbow Dash walked straight towards the Canterlot Police Department. It was good to get some exercise.
"I'm not gonna lie to you, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said in an uncharacteristically nervous tone. "I've, uh, never had to file a report with the cops before."
Twilight sighed. "I figured as much. And I know it isn't in your nature, but it would be best to act as distressed as possible. You know, hyperventilate, talk frantically, maybe even force out a couple of tears if you can."
"I still don't know... what'll happen to my street cred?"
"Look, do you want the police on our side, or not?" asked Twilight sternly.
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash answered somberly. "I do. Badly."
A few minutes later, the two arrived at the police station. Before they entered the building, they got their evidence ready; Twilight pulled the Endetarms' bank statement out from her backpack, and Rainbow Dash pulled up the racy e-mail on her smartphone, and then the two went in. Putting on their urgent faces, the pair went up to the front desk, saying that they had a report and a tip to file. Immediately, the receptionist called for two detectives, and shortly afterwords, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were escorted out of the lobby and into two separate conference rooms by Detective Bore and Detective Hogg, respectively.
"I have some evidence that'll blow your mind!" Twilight exclaimed to Detective Bore. "You know the Endetarm family?"
"Who?" asked a perplexed Bore.
"You know, Hest Endetarm, the crazed lead singer for that band Bronycorpse!"
"Uh, I think I've heard of them," Bore replied. "I heard they got a really awesome lead guitarist... but what's this gotta do with them?"
"Well, that's just it," Twilight explained. "I've discovered that Hest and his family are here in America for all the wrong reasons. They came here from Norway to avoid their high taxes, but they've gone way too far doing so. See for yourself."
Twilight promptly handed Detective Bore the bank statement. His eyes grew wide as he read what he saw on that paper; a black metal family, seemingly living in poverty as metalheads were known for, but were actually worth in excess of the equivalent of 700 million US dollars! And they hadn't had to pay a single dime in taxes, as all of that money was stored offshore in the Cayman Islands without them notifying the I.R.S; a clear and blatant violation of the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)!
"This is big!" exclaimed Bore. "This is some really serious dirt you've dug up. Just how did you come by this anyway?"
"It was, uh, inadvertently leaked to me by Hest's relatives," Twilight responded. If she had spilled the beans, she could be arrested for breaking and entering, as well as hacking. Not to mention the fact that if it was known that this evidence was obtained illegally, it would not be allowed to be used in court.
"Uh, OK," the detective shrugged. In all honesty, he didn't care how the evidence was obtained, as long as he got another bust for his quota. "Well, we'll get this evidence submitted, but it'll likely be the weekend before we can get the arrest warrant out, and-"
"Perfect!" Twilight said. "I know for the fact that Bronycorpse is performing this Saturday night at the Canterlot Concert Hall! You should drop by there and bust him then!"
"I'll make a note of that," noted the detective. "Well, thanks for the tip. I'm gonna go submit this evidence and get that warrant. You can go, now."
"Alright, thanks a lot, officer!" Twilight smiled as she exited Detective Bore's office...
"So what seems to be the problem, ma'am?" Detective Hogg asked Rainbow Dash.
"It's awful!" cried Rainbow Dash in a panic. "This jerk... Hest Endetarm... I don't know how he did it, but somehow, he got a hold of a bunch of embarrassing footage of me, and he's been threatening... he... He's been threatening to post them online! What if he actually does it?! I'll beruined! What the hell am I gonna do?!
She took one rushed breath before sobbing out, "You gotta heeeeelp meeeeee!"
"Ma'am, relax," Detective Hogg urged. "Now this man hasn't yet posted these images, has he?"
"No," Rainbow Dash answered as she started to tone down the blatant display of distress. "But he could at any moment, and I really don't know what to do!"
"Your evidence?" Hogg asked routinely, almost apathetically.
Rainbow Dash handed him her smartphone, which was already showing the incriminating e-mail. It didn't take long for Hogg to skim through the list of photos and videos. He looked as if his eyes were going to pop out.
"Now just who are you trying to attract with these sorts of crazy displays, anyway?" asked the detective as he tried like hell to not look the least bit aroused.
"Uh... this college freshman at, uh, Cloudsdale University," Rainbow Dash blushed nervously.
"Figures," Hogg scoffed. "I got me a daughter in college over in Manehattan who does this same sort of crap to try and win guys over! I try and tell her that that's not gonna land her a good man; it's only gonna land her a dirty pig. But she never listens."
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash became outraged. There was something about the seemingly disparaging way this detective was describing her methods of attraction that just set her off.
"Are you blaming the victim?!" she snapped. "Because if you are, then you're the pig here! And not because you're a cop, either!"
"Ma'am, relax!" Detective Hogg urged once more. "I'm not blaming you. I'm just saying that there are more reasonable ways to win over this boy."
"Well what the hell would you know?" Rainbow Dash scoffed defiantly.
"What I do know," Hogg replied firmly, "is that all you have to do is ask him out, already. The worst he can do is say no. But let's face it; when a girl asks a boy out, the boy is pretty much obligated to say yes. Right?"
"I guess so," Rainbow Dash shrugged.
Hogg winked. "Trust me, kid. He'd be a moron not to say yes to someone as striking as you."
"Thanks, I guess," Rainbow Dash said, trying to sound as reassured as she could.
Seemingly convinced, Hogg returned to the business at hand. "Now who did you say got a hold of these... wacky pics and vids?"
"Hest Endetarm," Rainbow Dash answered. "He's this creepy Norwegian guy, very muscular, long black hair, screams at the top of his lungs for that band Bronycorpse..."
"Oh, those guys!" Hogg affirmed. "Yeah, I know Bronycorpse. My son's a fan of theirs. I knew they were crazy, but I didn't know they were thatcrazy! Anyway, mind if I e-mail this to myself? We'll need it for evidence."
"Yeah, sure."
With that, Hogg promptly copied all of the racy pictures and videos, attached them onto another e-mail message, and sent that message to his own computer for evidence.
"Now it'll take some time to get an arrest warrant out," Hogg spoke in his most serious voice. "Likely, it won't be until this weekend. Just try not to provoke him into sending those pictures out; but if he does, you know who to call."
"Okay. Thanks, officer." Rainbow Dash walked out of the office to meet back up with Twilight in the lobby. She didn't notice that her memorabilia were still on Detective Hogg's computer screen, and that the detective himself had just unzipped his pants...
"So is Bore going through the files?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight.
"Yeah. He said the warrant would be out by this weekend, and I told him to be at the Concert Hall on Saturday night with that warrant ready. So how'd it go on your end?"
"Hogg bought my story. He also told me that I should just ask Soarin' out already. And you know what? I think I will! I mean, he is pretty much obligated to say yes, right?"
Twilight shrugged. "Well, that's what society programs us to believe. But even if it wasn't like that," she added with a grin and a wink, "I just know that he'd still say yes all the same."
"Aww, thanks, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash smiled as she hugged her.
"No problem," Twilight grinned back.
So with that, all that was left on the two friends' respective agendas was the walk back home, homework, and hitting the sack. Celestia, Luna, and the C.P.D. were all now on board with their grand plan to defeat Hest. But starting tomorrow, there would be a much bigger hurdle for them and the rest of the band to overcome. They hadn't forgotten about the fact that they still had to rehearse for this upcoming Battle of the Bands. Even more pressing was Hest's forced condition of The Rainbooms playing black metal, lest they wanted disqualification. Granted, it would be most ideal to use Rainbow Dash's idea of fighting fire with fire.
Even so, Twilight didn't seem like the type of girl to pull off those menacing shrieks, Rainbow Dash certainly couldn't produce that heavily distorted guitar sound with the gear that she had, and Pinkie Pie probably didn't even know what a "blast beat" was. Even so, they knew that regardless of whether or not the police followed through with the warrant in time, they still had to try their absolute hardest to prevail, for the sake of The Rainbooms' pride and credibility as a band, as well as to save Flash from Hest's dark, corrupting, and maddening influence.