//------------------------------// // Let's Get Rocked (Battle of the Bands VII) // Story: The Phantom of Canterlot High // by Lucky Seven //------------------------------// It was finally time. For Danny and Ember, it was time to end this threat once and for all and get back home. For the girls, it was time to prove to everyone that Sunset Shimmer had changed. Of course, neither of those tasks were going to be a cakewalk. On the bright side, they’d have plenty of time to rehearse since their band was going up last. The rehearsal hall was quite a large area, and the many bands that had entered had plenty of room to themselves to practice their music. “So… Ember… You know what song you’re gonna play first?” “Yep,” she replied with a yawn, clearly tired of waiting. “Got a favor to ask, though.” “You? Asking a favor from your worst enemy? I never thought I’d see the day,” Danny chuckled, much to the ghostly siren’s chagrin. She did her best to ignore it, but the look in her eyes let him know not to do it again. “Mm, it makes me sick just thinking about it,” she hummed. “I can’t summon my band while I’m here,” she began explaining, a small frown making its way onto her face, “so I need a drummer.” “And you think I can drum?” “Hah! Don’t make me laugh, twerp. No, I’ve seen that pink girl play, and she’s better than anyone I’ve ever heard,” Ember smiled. A small smile, but it let Danny know that she was confident. “I want you to ask her if she’ll help me.” “Um, I don’t think you’re allowed to be in two bands for this tournament, Ember…” “Just do it.” Danny sighed and left his spot to go look for Pinkie Pie. At this point, he just didn’t want to do anything to tick off Ember. Luckily for him, finding his new friends didn’t take long, and he spotted her through the crowded hall. She was with Rainbow Dash and Twilight, seemingly discussing what songs they’d be playing during the show. “Hey!” “Oh, hey Danny!” Pinkie shouted, waving in his direction. As he made his way through the crowd, he waved back. By the time he reached her, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were staring at him as well. “Hey, girls. I had a question.” “What is it?” Twilight smiled. “Are students allowed to be in more than one band?” He asked. Ready for any questions they may have had, he continued, “Ember needs a drummer, and she wanted to know if Pinkie Pie could help her.” “Oh. Hm…” Twilight put her hand to her chin, deep in thought. She was about to reply, but found herself cut off by Rainbow Dash. “No offense, but why does she even need a drummer? I heard her playing earlier, and I doubt even a full band could outshine her.” “She wouldn’t tell me, but I’m guessing it’s important to whatever song she wants to play first,” Danny reasoned. It certainly made sense in theory, but what Rainbow Dash had said was also true. But hey, he came here to find answers, not contemplate what Ember may or may not be planning. “Well, Twilight?” “It doesn’t say in the rules that you can’t, but I’d ask Principal Celestia if I were you. After all, we wouldn’t want Ember to go up on stage and then be told it’s against the rules.” “Right,” Danny nodded, turning to look at Pinkie. “What do you think, Pinkie?” “I’d love to help Ember, let’s go ask the principal!” she exclaimed with a grin so wide he was surprised it didn’t tear her cheeks off. With speed quicker than he could process, she took off towards the principal, and Danny laughed. “Heh, guess I oughta follow her. Thanks for not putting up a fuss, Rainbow Dash,” he chuckled. The rocker just gave him a thumbs up and a smirk as he ran off. By the time he finally caught up to her, she was already talking to the principal, but her smile seemed to be wavering. ‘Uh oh, that’s not a good sign…’ As the two came within earshot, he could just make out a bit of what Celestia was saying. “I’m surprised you would ask, Pinkie Pie. You know how strict my sister is when it comes to events like these.” “But she really, really, really wants my help!” “I’m sorry, Pinkie Pie, but she’ll just have to find another--” “Wait!” Danny shouted, grabbing Celestia’s attention. “Ah, the new student. Danny, right?” “Yeah,” he replied curtly. “Listen, I know you said Vice Principal Luna is strict about this sort of stuff, but can you please make an exception? You see, Ember’s new here, so she doesn’t really have any friends. Pinkie Pie is the only one that’s willing to help her out,” he bluffed, hoping she’d buy it. For a few moments, Celestia looked entirely unmoved by his plea. Eventually, a smile made its way onto her face, and she looked back to Pinkie Pie. “Alright, I’ll make an exception just this once.” “Yay!” Pinkie shouted, throwing her arms around Celestia in a hug. To her credit, the principal didn’t seem too fazed, and simply pushed her back a bit. “Now go. Ember’s set is about to begin, and she’ll need you there,” Celestia smiled. As the two gave their thanks and walked off, she muttered, “Luna’s going to kill me…” “She said it’s alright.” From her spot against the wall, Ember pumped her fist in celebration. “Awesome. I’ve only seen you play a few songs, but I noticed you didn’t use sheet music,” Ember raised an eyebrow in Pinkie’s direction. “Why is that?” “I guess I just don’t need it,” she giggled. “My dad taught me to play with my ears when I was a little girl!” “What’s that mean?” Danny asked, looking to Ember for his answer. “It means she hears the music and reacts. She's a virtuoso.” “So you hear what the other members of the band play and react to it?” Danny looked back to Pinkie for confirmation. She gave a quick nod, and his eyes went wide. “Wow, that’s pretty darn impressive!” “It’s also why I needed her,” Ember revealed. “My set starts in a couple minutes, and there isn’t any time to learn the song I’m going to play. Think you can follow my lead, Pinkie Pie?” “Yep! All I need to know is how many measures the first part of the song lasts so I can prepare!” “Four, and the drums don’t pick up until the middle of the second measure,” Ember replied. The music they could hear through the wall finally seemed to be coming to a stop, and Ember gestured in the direction of Pinkie’s drum kit. “Let’s go get your drums set up on stage, the band we’re facing is finishing up their song.” Danny couldn’t do much but watch as the two rolled Pinkie’s drums towards the doorway leading on stage. At this point, the curtains had closed on the other band’s performance, and the lead singer sneered at Ember as they walked by one another. “What are you looking at, kid?” “Just wanted to get a nice look at the loser,” he grinned. “I seriously hope you’re not expecting to win with that guitar. It looks like a kid’s toy.” ‘Well, he’s finished…’ Danny thought, laughing at the scene unfolding before him. “Hmph,” was the only sound Ember made, that is until she and Pinkie made it onstage. Then he could hear her laughing outright. Not one to miss a good show, he decided to make his way backstage and get a better look at the two girls playing. “Alright, everyone give a big hand to Lightning Strike and his band, the Thunderbolts!” Vice Principal Luna exclaimed to the many watching students. She was still hidden behind the stage’s curtain, but the applause seemed to be quite remarkable. “Next up…” Luna paused for a moment, and he heard a sigh, followed by a very quiet, “I’m going to kill her… “Next up, we have a new student, Ember McLain. Helping her out on drums will be Pinkie Pie.” With that, the curtains flew back, and the students gave a gentle applause. “Miss McLain, what song will you be playing for us tonight?” Ember cleared her throat, and walked up to the microphone. “This song is called, ‘Alive’.” With a nod in Pinkie’s direction, the drummer led her off with a few taps of her cymbal. As soon as Ember started playing, all eyes were on her. Her playing was slow, and carried a faint screeching. After a few seconds, Pinkie span her drum sticks around and they came crashing down over and over, signalling that her part of the song had begun. It was surprising. Just like she had said, it was as if she could read Ember’s mind, and she was playing the drums in a way that perfectly complimented the guitar. Danny made a mental note of telling the Rainbooms how lucky they were to have this girl as their drummer. Soon enough though, four measures had passed, just as Ember had said, and the guitarist strummed a few quick notes and paused, letting Pinkie Pie finish up the intro herself. Ember re-entered the song with the same melody, but it was much quieter. This was clearly meant to be an emotional song, and the many students that had gathered to watch were mesmerized as the song entered its first chorus. Her hands swiftly slid down the neck of the guitar, and she began playing in a much higher octave. Then, just as quickly as the chorus had started, it was over. For the next few moments, the song simply repeated itself more, and Danny found himself wondering what was supposed to be so special about this song. That’s when the song slowed down, and the plucking of Ember’s guitar was all that remained, along with occasional humming into the mic. This led into the chorus once more, but Ember appeared to be grinning. Shooting a look back at Pinkie Pie, the rocker ran her hand down the neck of the guitar and started playing a solo. “Oh, that’s what’s special about it,” Danny chuckled to himself. It was just like Ember to hog the spotlight with a long, drawn out solo. As her guitar came screeching back to life, he grinned. How was anybody even going to stand a chance against this? Meanwhile, off in the hills behind the student bleachers, another group of students were equally impressed by what they were hearing. “Dang, that’s a really killer solo.” “That it is, Aria,” Adagio agreed. “This girl may pose a problem for us after all.” “I mean, how are we supposed to beat that?” Sonata shouted over the guitar’s whining. “That girl is, like, way too good at the guitar.” “Not to mention we haven’t even heard her voice yet,” Aria groaned. “And if it’s anything like her skill with that guitar, we’re in big trouble.” “Not to worry, I think I have a solution to our problem,” Adagio smirked. “Look at the guitar, girls.” “What about it?” Sonata prodded, not noticing anything particularly off about it. “Her pick is on fire,” Aria pointed out for her comrade. “What does it mean, Adagio?” “It means,” Adagio chuckled evilly, “that her guitar is magical.” “I think that was made obvious when she literally blew us away two days ago,” Aria facepalmed. “Ugh, don’t you two get it?” “Um. No?” Sonata giggled. Adagio groaned at the stupidity of her comrades, tired of having to explain everything. “She’s a siren. Which means we can convince her to work with us.” “Ohhhhh,” Sonata laughed. “That makes a lot more sense than what I was gonna say.” “Not to put a damper on things, but I doubt she’ll work with us if she’s already helping the Rainbooms,” Aria spoke slowly, and Adagio considered what she had to say. “We’ll just have to give her the right motivation, then.” As the song came to a close, and Ember’s guitar started to fade away, the students gave a raucous applause, easily ten times louder than they’d given to the previous band. The decision was pretty easy to make, and Luna made her way over to the mic with the judges’ score cards. “And the winner of the first round contest between the Thunderbolts and Ember McLain is, by unanimous decision, Ember McLain!” Her voice came through the loudspeakers in the rehearsal hall, and Ember’s opponent seemed none too pleased, rushing onto the stage right towards Luna. “That’s outrageous, Vice Principal Luna! She cheated!” “How so?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy. “All of the playing came from the two of them.” “Pinkie Pie is already with the Rainbooms, so she shouldn’t be allowed to help the new girl!” “Your complaint is duly noted, Lightning Strike,” Luna replied, and Lightning stuck his tongue out at Ember, thinking he had gotten his way. She simply smirked back at him as Luna continued. “However, the fact that you waited until the battle was decided to come to me with this complaint tells me that you didn’t have a problem with it until you lost. You need to show Miss McLain and Miss Pie more respect, and stop being such a sore loser.” At that, the entire crowd broke into a chorus of “Oooh’s”, and Danny and the Rainbooms were laughing their butts off as they watched Lightning Strike go red in the face, obviously embarrassed at having been told off by Luna in front of everyone. One of the students shouted out “You just got wrecked, kid!”, and he stormed backstage. With that taken care of, Luna turned back to the audience. “Once again, please give a hand to Ember McLain and Pinkie Pie for their song, ‘Alive’,” Luna herself even clapped a bit as the two girls walked backstage. As soon as they were back in the rehearsal hall, Rainbow Dash was right in front of Ember. “That. Was. AMAZING!” “Heh, thanks. I’m sure you’ll knock ‘em dead, too,” Ember smirked at her. If there was anyone Ember respected out of the Rainbooms, aside from Pinkie Pie, it was her. “Your guitar playing is pretty good.” “Well she better, because we’re up next,” came Applejack’s voice. “It’s a good thing Pinkie remembered that, or she woulda had to move her drums again,” she laughed. The farm girl slapped her hand on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder, and grinned. “You ready, R.D.?” “Always.” “Next up, we have the Rainbooms,” came Luna’s voice over the loudspeaker. “Let’s go, girls!” Rarity squealed with excitement, running towards the stage. The rest of the band followed, except for Sunset, and Danny gave her a look, as if to ask what was up. “I’m the backup singer.” She shrugged,wearing a small smiler. “The first song only needs one singer, but I’ll be out there next time.” “Is it time, Adagio?” “God, stop asking that, Sonata. You’ve only asked like twenty times in the last two minutes!” Ignoring their bickering, Adagio rubbed her hands together as her plan played itself out in her head. “Alright, girls, I think it’s time we go have a talk with Ember McLain…”