Now it was Tuesday afternoon at Canterlot High School. There were just five days, including today, left before the Battle of the Bands between Bronycorpse and The Rainbooms at Canterlot Concert Hall. It had become evident that not only had the Concert Hall agreed to hold this battle, but that the battle itself was something very much looked forward to by the other students at the school.
This might have been, in large part, because this battle was just the main event of the show, and not the whole thing; there would also be a musical showcase in which a menagerie of bands from the school would serve as the opening acts, giving them a great opportunity to strut their own stuff, as well as a more laid back type of entertainment for the other students before the much more serious battle took place.
All-in-all, things seemed to be going well for The Rainbooms. Thus far, throughout the day they'd gotten heaps of praise from other students school-wide, wishing them luck against the twisted, demonic black metal machine that was Bronycorpse. It wasn't until lunchtime that The Rainbooms, along with Sunset, got a moment to chat amongst themselves privately without getting barged in on.
"So the Principals got the show booked," Rarity said to Twilight.
"Yep," replied Twilight. "From what I understand, the whole school's gonna be at the Concert Hall this Saturday. A lot of opening acts and a lot of other students to see us defeat Bronycorpse!"
"Um, speaking of that," Fluttershy spoke up timidly, "the police are gonna be there to take Hest down... right?"
"Well, they did say that Saturday would be when they'd get the arrest warrant," Twilight explained. "Plus, I told that detective that they should go to the Concert Hall that night when they do get the warrant. So as far as I'm concerned, we're all set."
"YAY!" squealed Pinkie Pie. "We're gonna beat the bad guys and get the girls! WOO-HOO!"
"Uh, Pinkie," Applejack said flatly, "we're the girls!"
Pinke blushed. "Oh."
"Actually, we're not gonna beat the bad guys with what we have," Rainbow Dash broke in, with a most urgent tone coloring her voice. "You're forgetting that we'll be disqualified from the battle unless we do black metal; so the only way to beat them will be to play black metal that's somehow better than theirs. Don't get me wrong, I'm still looking forward to beating them at their own game, and while I'm pretty sure most of us could hit the notes right, what about the sound? Did you even hear them when we saw them play last Friday?! Their guitars were so heavily distorted, and their drums were so brutally fast and heavy at the same time!
None of us are equipped to sound anything like that! Suddenly, I'm not so sure if we can do it."
The other girls exchanged glances. This was not like Rainbow Dash at all; she was always so determined and confident. Now, she had backpedaled on that and was actually letting some pessimism show through. Surely this wasn't something they thought she'd ever let show through.
Sunset, however, was not fazed. "Hey, if you can hit the notes right, you should have no problem playing raw black metal," she grinned. "You just need some little, uh, 'additions' to your rigs, if you catch my drift." She winked.
"What kinda additions?" asked a curious and intrigued Applejack.
Sunset shrugged. "Well, I figured you wouldn't catch on right away, seeing as how you girls don't use guitar effects pedals or anything like that. All of the metal bands, including Bronycorpse, use these pedals in their guitar rigs to add that heavy distorted sound, amongst other things. But the distortion is all that's really needed for black metal... and the double bass pedal. You ever try your hand at a double bass pedal before, Pinkie?"
"Nah!" Pinkie shrugged. "I'd need a third foot to work the hi-hat cymbal."
"So just hit the hi-hat with your stick or use the ride cymbal," Sunset urged. "Because you're gonna need that double pedal in order to do those super-fast bass drum parts... and I'm pretty sure not even your feet are quick enough to do the job single-handedly."
"Uh-huh. And how are we supposed to get all of this stuff, exactly?" asked an unsure Twilight.
"Well, if I'm not mistaken, that music shop that Vinyl Scratch works at sells stuff for metalheads," Sunset explained. "I'll take you girls there after school today, and we can browse and hopefully get some good new metal gear for you. Whaddya say?"
The other girls looked at each other for a second of collective urgency. Though neither of them had bothered with these so-called effects and double bass pedals, as they seemed like more trouble than they were worth, what other choice did they have in this case? Sunset did, after all, seem like she knew what she was talking about, and they needed all the help they could get in order to change their sound from girly pop to blistering black metal.
So, seeing no alternative, they all nodded their heads.
"Great!" Sunset smiled, just as the bell rang. "And it sounds like class is about to start back up. See you girls after school!" And with that, she parted ways with The Rainbooms, for the time being...
Later that afternoon, as the other students were boarding the school buses for their rides home, neither Twilight, Sunset nor the other Rainbooms got on board, for home was not their destination at the moment. Today, they were walking into town, to Vinyl Scratch's music shop, where maybe, just maybe, they would obtain the means to play the black metal that would bring Bronycorpse to their knees;
It was a bit of a walk, but they eventually managed to arrive at the shop.
"Hey, it's The Rainbooms!" beamed Vinyl Scratch enthusiastically as she ran out from behind the cash register to greet them. "I've been hearing all about that battle you've got going on with that black metal band; the whole school's looking forward to it! I was actually kind of hoping you girls would show up; don't get me wrong, I think you'll do just fine, but I've been thinking you might need some help takin' on a real honest-to-God black metal band!"
"Actually, that's exactly why were here," Sunset said in the most serious tone she could muster. Getting close to Vinyl, she said rather inconspicuously, "Don't tell anyone else, but, uh, Bronycorpse's lead singer has imposed a stipulation for this battle that The Rainbooms have to do black metal also, or else be disqualified. I was hoping you'd have some distortion pedals and a double bass drum pedal that would help us get that sound?"
Needless to say, Vinyl was not expecting such a stipulation. Luckily, though, her shop was equipped with anything for any kind of music.
"Yeah, I have some of those," she said. "But I'm no metalhead, so I couldn't make any specific recommendations. You look metal enough to me to figure it out, though."
"Hopefully," Sunset replied with a sheepish chuckle. "Well, I guess we'll just browse then. Thanks."
Vinyl said nothing; she simply gave everyone a thumbs up as The Rainbooms all dispersed to various corners of the shop to browse through gear.
Sunset herself accompanied Rainbow Dash over to a long shelf on the wall towards the end of the shop, where the effects pedals were kept on display for potential customers. It turned out that Vinyl Scratch had a butt-load of different kinds of pedals stockpiled, most of which Rainbow Dash had never even heard of before, including wah-wah pedals, compressors, chorus effects, flangers, phasers, pitch shifters, reverb and delay pedals...
"Over here!" Sunset suddenly called out to Rainbow Dash. "I've found it!"
Eagerly, Rainbow Dash trotted a few feet over to where Sunset was, at which point Sunset showed her what she had found; the Boss ML-2 Metal Core distortion pedal. It was small, black and rectangular in shape, with the words "Metal Core" written in white on the footswitch at the bottom. On both sides were jacks labeled "Input" on the right and "Output" on the left, and on the top were four knobs, labeled, from left to right, "Level," "Low," "High," and "Dist."
"So you think that's gonna get me my black metal sound?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Of course," Sunset assured her. "I know for a fact that Boss's Metal Zone pedal is by far the most popular distortion pedal amongst metal guitarists, but the Metal Core pedal is their most extreme! It should have no problem getting you that sound that's gonna have Bronycorpse shakin' in their boots!"
"Alright, I'll take it," Rainbow Dash said with approval.
"Oh mah God, Ah gotta get me this!"
Sunset and Rainbow Dash suddenly sped over to where Applejack was as soon as she made that aloud declaration.
"What have you gotta have?" Sunset asked.
"This, o' course!" Applejack grinned as she showed them what she was holding in her hand.
It was the Ibanez Bass Tube Screamer; an overdrive pedal for the bass guitar; something Applejack, and especially Rainbow Dash, would never have figured had effects pedals made for it. The Bass Tube Screamer was slightly larger, physically, than the Metal Core pedal. It was green, with a silver footswitch that had the word "Ibanez" engraved on it in blue. On the top were five knobs; a Drive knob on the upper-left, a Level knob on the upper-right, a Bass knob on the lower-left, a Treble knob on the lower-right, and a Mix knob in the middle.
"Oh, no way!" Rainbow Dash snarled as she snatched the Tube Screamer from Applejack's hand. "There's no way you should be messing around with these stupid pedals. You're just the bass player, remember?"
"Hey, Ah'm not gonna jus' let ya shut me outta the mix this time, partner!" Applejack snapped as she snatched the Tube Screamer right back. "Ah'm gonna be heard this time, whether ya like it or not!"
Rainbow Dash was certainly spoiling for a fight now, but Sunset, sensing this, quickly jumped in front of her before she could do anything rash.
"Just let her have the pedal," she urged. "This is for the good of the band, and for the sake of your battle with Bronycorpse. Besides, bass distortion is actually quite popular in metal, and I'm sure Bronycorpse uses it also, so you'd do well with it too!"
"Alright, fine," Rainbow Dash grudgingly conceded. "But only for the sake of the band!"
"Thanks a bunch, R.D.!"
Applejack and Rainbow Dash were about to hug when they suddenly heard a stream of low-end heavy beats sounding off at a rapid pace from an adjacent part of the store. Sunset, having a hunch, led Rainbow Dash and Applejack to the source of the sound, which was coming from where the drums were.
There, sitting at one of the pre-assembled drum kits, was Pinkie Pie, beating away on the bass drum at what sounded like a supersonic pace, using a double bass pedal just as Sunset suggested; a PDP 502, to be exact. She beat that bass drum pedal so hard and so fast with her feet that it looked like she was going to punch a hole in the bass drum at any moment.
"I... freaking... love this pedal!" Pinkie panted as she caught her breath.
"I think our work here is done," Sunset grinned.
With that, the entire gang regrouped and headed up to the counter, where they paid for Rainbow Dash's distortion pedal, Applejack's bass overdrive pedal, and Pinkie Pie's double bass drum pedal. Then they left the shop, eager to try out their new gear, with Vinyl Scratch wishing them the best of luck as they walked out...
Some time after that, the girls all found themselves inside Rainbow Dash's garage; The Rainbooms's unofficial rehearsal space. Pinkie Pie had just swapped out her old single bass pedal and put her new double pedal in its place, Applejack had just hooked up her Bass Tube Screamer to her bass and to her Fender Rumble bass amp, and Rainbow Dash had just hooked up her Metal Core pedal to her guitar and to her Peavey Valveking II amp. In short, they were all raring to go.
"Alright, Rainbow Dash," Sunset signaled. "Let's see what that thing can do!"
"With pleasure…" Rainbow Dash played a single E power chord. It was just one, simple chord, but with her new distortion pedal on, her guitar had a new, demonic scream added on to its sound, like a sinner being cut in half by a flaming buzzsaw.
"Oh, I'm diggin' this pedal already!" Rainbow Dash smirked. She then played a positively evil tremolo riff in the key of E, on the minor third scale, moving up from the E note to F# for a couple of bars, and then up to G for a couple more bars, and back down to F# for a bar, then back down to E for a bar, and then down to D for a few bars before playing the riff through once more.
Without effects pedals, said riffing surely would've sounded rather dry, but not with the Metal Core pedal in her rig.
"That... was the most evil thing I've ever heard from your guitar," Sunset mused. "It's perfect! It's sure to make Bronycorpse shudder with fear!" She smirked after taking in all the satisfaction. "Now let's see what your Tube Screamer sounds like, Applejack."
With her Bass Tube Screamer engaged, Applejack played mostly the same riff Rainbow Dash played - a minor third riff in the key of E - except that it was plucked in half time. By itself, this bass line would've sounded ominous enough. But her newly acquired overdrive pedal added an unmistakably vicious growl to her sound, making her instrument sound like a cold-blooded monster whose stomach was hungry for the flesh of human carcasses.
"Ah, yes, that's textbook!" Sunset said with a sinister smile. "So heavy, it'll probably bring down the Concert Hall... plus, you might actually be heard!" Applejack couldn't help but grin at this remark, and Rainbow Dash, being the dominant instrumentalist, rolled her eyes in response.
"Ooh! Ooh! Me next! Me next!" Pinkie Pie squealed. Then, immediately after she said that, she tapped 1-2-3-4 on the hi-hat... and then, she let it all out. She went into an all-out assault on her drums, hammering rapid, machine gun-like low-end 16th notes on her bass drum with her new double bass pedal while at the same time hitting simultaneous 8th notes on the snare drum and the hi-hat cymbals. The result was a sound that wasn't as rhythmic as it was sonically violent, but for black metal, it had all the brutality the band would need.
As Pinkie continued to blast away on the drums, Sunset looked at Rainbow Dash and Applejack and said, "C'mon, play along!" And they did.
They both played the same ominous guitar and bass riffs they played before, and in perfect timing with Pinkie's drumming, as well. The result was something that one would've never before expected The Rainbooms to be capable of; pure, raw, unadulterated black metal that might've even impressed the old-school hardline black metallers from Norway.
After playing about 16 bars, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all stopped, panting slightly to catch their breaths.
"That... was amazing!" Sunset commended them. "You actually did it... uh, I mean I knew you could do it. Bronycorpse will be begging you for mercy!"
Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie couldn't help but blush a bit.
"Excuse me, Sunset," Rarity spoke up. "I'm in this band too, you know."
"Sorry, Rarity, I just… kinda got lost in the rhythm."
"That's alright, dear. Meanwhile, just last night I was experimenting with the sound palate on my keytar, and I think I've come up with something really, truly ghastly. Observe!"
Rarity then went on to play a series of long, minor chords on her keytar following the same general pattern as Rainbow Dash and Applejack, except she was playing in the key of B, which would form a perfect 5th harmony with their instruments. As it so happened, that ghastly sound she said she'd come up with was, in fact, that of a giant pipe organ from the old European cathedrals. Nothing alien about it at all, but still very eerie and foreboding nonetheless, leading her other bandmates, and Sunset, to give her thumbs-up.
"Um, well I think I'll just play my tambourine in the background," squeaked Fluttershy. "I, uh, don't wanna get hurt… or seem offensive, or anything."
"Hey, sis, don't worry," soothed Rainbow Dash, as she walked over to place a hand on her shoulder. "If Hest ever tries to come at you again, he'll have to go through me first."
"Fair enough," shrugged Sunset. "But now for the hard part; if you girls are really gonna do pure, raw black metal and beat Bronycorpse at their own game, then you, Twilight, need to do those gnarly black metal screams like what Hest does. That's one main ingredient we'll require; otherwise, we won't stand a chance against them."
"What are you nuts?!" Twilight protested. "I can't do those screams! I'll blow my throat out!"
"Fine! Be that way!" Sunset said. It was clear now that she would try and provoke her somehow. Then she had it. "Guess we'll be disqualified from the battle, and we won't be able to save Flash." She switched to her more romantic drama queen voice; one that might put Rarity to shame. "Oh, my poor Flashy! I'm really, truly gonna lose him forever... Never will I ever get the chance to kiss him again, to hold him, to make love to him..."
That last part was just too much for Twilight to brush off. With a growl, she lunged at Sunset with all of her might, grabbed a hold of her neck with one hand, and then screamed as only she could into the microphone she was holding with her other hand, "FLASH SENTRY IS MINE, DO YOU HEAR ME?! MIIIIIIIIINE!"
She threw Sunset to the ground, and then stopped herself to catch her breath, panting heavily. Sunset, however, was actually not deterred at all by Twilight's attack on her. In fact, she was happy. The way Twilight screamed at her was so ghastly, so gnarly, and so powerful. It was perfect! Just the kind of scream that would complete The Rainbooms's own black metal formula!
"Do that last part again, Twilight!" Sunset exclaimed as she stood back up.
"MIIIIIIIIINE!"
That was it. Sunset wasn't sure at first that she could, but Twilight had done it. With a little provocation, she had nailed that black metal scream!
"Yes! Yes! That's it!" Sunset cheered. "That's just the kind of sound we're looking for. That's how you need your black metal vocals to sound, right there. "Alright, now you do that scream one more time, and everyone else play along this time. C'mon! One, two, three, GO!"
Once again, Twilight screamed, "MIIIIIIIIINE!" as gnarly and powerfully as she could. And as she continued to belt out this scream, Pinkie Pie played her blast beats on the drums, Applejack plucked her E minor third riff on her bass, Rainbow Dash picked her E minor third riff on her guitar, Rarity played her B minor third pipe organ chords on her keytar, and Fluttershy tapped along on her tambourine in the background, keeping in half time with the drums;
Somehow, in some way, Twilight was able to keep up her screaming for a grand total of about thirteen seconds; a kind of power no one would've ever thought she had in her! And in that time, the rest of the band managed to squeeze in a total of 32 bars played, all in a 2/4 time signature. And as soon as they all stopped to catch their breath, they knew that they had all done it.
They had solved their black metal formula, they had found their black metal sound, and they all knew that now, they most certainly had a good shot at putting a certain other black metal band to shame.
"We did it, girls!" Sunset commended them all. "We're now a black metal band!"
As The Rainbooms all exchanged high-fives, Sunset then said in a more serious tone of voice, "But we still have a lot of work left ahead of us. We have to learn one or two, preferably two, complete songs for the battle this Saturday – I think that bit you all played just now might be the foundation for one of those songs. What do you think?"
"Definitely!" winked Rainbow Dash. "But we have time, and I'm so relieved that we've found our sound... I think I'm ready to take five. Who's up for some cupcakes and fruit punch?"
"YAY, CUPCAKES!" Pinkie Pie squealed as she dashed back into the house for some treats. And with grins all around, the rest of the girls all eagerly followed, all very much relieved to have overcome one major hurdle towards their upcoming ordeal, and now licking their chops for a moment of some much-needed refreshment...
Meanwhile, over at the old abandoned garage – that is, Bronycorpse's rehearsal space - the music was just as tense as ever.
Deceit!
Intolerance!
Despair!
Malevolence!
Disgrace!
Black magic!
BEHOLD THE ELEMENTS OF DISCORD!
And with one final bloodcurdling scream, Bronycorpse capped off their song "Elements of Discord." They had been rehearsing nonstop all afternoon, whacking away 110% on all of their material. They were all working really hard so that they might be at their best for their musical showdown with The Rainbooms, and none of them wanted it more than Hest did.
"So fars, I'd say wes all have dones excellents," he mused. "Buts always keep dis in minds; nevers be satsisfieds wit where yous currsentlys are. Always be strivsings to bes even betters in de futures dan yous are in de presents. We alls need to bes in as tops of a forms as wes can get tos in orders to defeat dose Rainbooms on Satsurdays. Ands we will defeats dem! Yous all can quotes me ons dat!"
"Honestly," Flash broke in, "I just hope I'm still on good terms with them all after we're done. Even Sunny…"
"Huh?" Pervertor raised an eyebrow. "Sunny?"
"Sunny, as in... Sunset Shimmer?" Discordia chipped in.
"Um… yeah." There was no way Flash could deny it. He'd let it slip. Might as well face the teasing.
"Why would you, of all people, address her by that kind of a pet name, anyway?" Tartarus jabbed.
Flash suddenly began to sweat bullets as his bandmates all stared at him intently, eager to hear what he had to say for himself.
"W-w-well," he stammered. I... kinda, sorta, used to, uh... date Sunset. I broke up with her because she was just using me for social status, but she's reformed since then, and and I'd developed a… thing on Twilight. But now I'm thinking there's a chance I might want to get back with Sunset, and…" He paused, his face a deep shade of red. "She used to call me 'Flashy.'"
"Flashy? Really?" Hest burst out. "Dat's a laughs! Wow. Even today, she must sounds really pathetic. No wonders you dumpsed her ins de firsts place."
There was something about that comment that set something off within Flash. Even he wasn't exactly sure what it was. But before he could contain his sudden spark of anger, he suddenly made a mad rush at Hest, backing him into the wall, almost impaling him on one of the many horned devil heads that adorned the walls of the garage.
"Listen, Hest!" he snapped. "Sunset may not be perfect, I know! But she's a hell of a lot closer to it than she was before - and yeah, I'd like to either get back with her or get with Twilight, but that's none of your business which one I choose! If you're smart, you'll never… ever talk about Sunset that way again!"
Hest looked as though he had just been through an Olson Twins movie. He couldn't utter a sound. His face turned palely white. He was breaking a cold sweat.
"You understand me, pal?" barked Flash. "DO YOU?!"
"Alright, lay off, already!" Discordia pleaded as he yanked Flash away from Hest by the back of his leather jacket. "You've made your point, now calm down. The last thing we need is to be fighting amongst ourselves; that'll leave us in no condition for our battle with The Rainbooms.
"Yeah, you're right," acknowledged Flash as he caught his breath. "I'm sorry. But surely you guys would understand. You've all had girlfriends before... right?"
Pervertor, Tartarus and Discordia said nothing. They all just looked at each other for a second. Then, they all collectively hung their heads, with the most ashamed facial expressions that Flash had ever seen on another person's face.
It was Discordia who broke the silence. "There was this girl I dated once," he muttered. "The hottest chick I ever met. We were made for each other. And she dumped me for a sax player. I hate jazz…"
"I messed up real big with a girl from my science class," groaned Pervertor. "I was gonna ask her out during an assignment. One step on the slippery floor while holding dangerous chemicals and she spent a whole month in a biohazard isolation room…"
"I tried to impress this babe at the nearest nightclub," confessed Tartarus. "Wanted to get her attention. So I played my bass as loudly as I could while doing a song I wrote in her name. Maybe a little too loud… Lucky thing I didn't get sued for giving her that hearing aid afterwards."
"Man," gasped Flash. "Sorry, guys. I… didn't know."
Hest, however, just rolled his eyes in apathy. "Excuse mes, I needs to gos vomit," he scoffed. "Now cans we please just get backs to business? I wanna wins dis battles, you knows!"
"Actually," Pervertor said as he turned off his amp, "I feel like throwing in the towel for today. We've been at it for, like, so long, my fingers and my back are getting stiff."
"Yeah, mine too," Tartarus noted as he turned off his bass amp, with Flash following suit with his own amp.
"Fine, whatevers," Hest shrugged. "But come straight backs here after schools is out tomorrows for rehearsals ASAP!"
"Alright," Flash said half-heartedly. He packed up his guitar, pocketed his pick, high-fived his bandmates and walked out of the abandoned garage, starting back for home.
All the while, his earlier outburst on Hest was swirling around in his mind. The way he freaked out when Hest spoke ill of Sunset made him start to wonder; between Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle, Flash still couldn't decide whom he should hook up with. But, as crazy as it might sound, maybe, just maybe, his heart had just made that decision for itself...
He was so lost in thought he didn't notice Hest watching him from a distance, his teeth clenched. His face distorted with quiet rage. His eyes filled with envy, wounded pride, and a desire for payback.