//------------------------------//
// Just Get It Off My Chest 
// Story: What I Got 
// by Gpizano 
//------------------------------//

	Now, this may come as a total shocker to anyone who asked, but Poppy was feeling a bit pissed off. Granted she tended to at least look annoyed or indifferent since most of the time she either had a scowl or neutral look on her face, but for those who knew her, they could pick up on the nuances. 

Like right now, if she weren't pissed off then she would just have a scowl as she set up her drums on the stage in preparation for the Pony Breakers to put on their best for the first round of the competition. But as she checked on everything to make sure it was in place and nothing would fall apart, there was a crease in her brow and a sharpness in her eyes as she had to get out yet another piece of duct tap to fix up one of the drums. 

No, the drums weren't making her angry. Her kit had never done her wrong and she did her best to treat it with tender loving care until the day she finally made enough money to get a slightly less shittier drum set. No, what was currently boiling the magenta haired woman's piss was the tension in the air, coming from two certain individuals in the band. Namely Sunset Shimmer who was off to the side glaring at nothing in particular most of the time since her mood seemed further soured after the talk with that Adagio chick with the super big fluffy hair. The other individual being their lead guitarist Jackie Vibrato who was now reciting her very own 'guitarist's prayer', normally uttered when she was very nervous. And judging by the fact it looked like there was a level ten earthquake going on in her right knee, the blue haired woman was indeed, at that point.

"Oh lords of music, who rock in heaven or upon Earth,
Hallowed be thy names,
Thy kingdoms that have come, 
Thy wills who have and will be done,
On Earth as it is in the plane of music!

Give me my daily muses,
And forgive my tresspasses into pop!
As I should forgive those
That tresspass against me!

And lead me not into the temptation of selling out
but deliver me from becoming the music flavor of the month!

For you have built a kingdom! 
A legacy of power and glory!
To live on forever and ever!

A-FUCKING-MEN!"

Believe it or not, she took an actual prayer and worked it into that, along with a second one when she wanted to give praise to those she considered the 'gods of rock', a.k.a. the musicians she loved and idolized. Normally Poppy found it harmless enough, about as annoying whenever Jackie brought a backpack to a place that gave out free food or all you can eat and tried to make off with an entire tray or two. Right now though it was as annoying as whenever they got into arguments about the Jem cartoon and Jackie said the Misfits were the best thing about the show. Which she CLEARLY was wrong about because Jem and the Holograms were fucking fabulous and had the best songs!

The point being right now because Sunset and Jackie were on edge, it was effecting both her and Tino as well. The poor guy was just standing around awkwardly, not saying anything since there was clearly something going on. Poppy had at first thought that it was because of what Jackie said on the beach but with how heavy and tense things were, it had to be something else.  Not that there was much else that could be done about it, they only had five minutes before they had to perform and she was pretty sure there was no way to get those two to hash it out before then.

So with a sigh and a sense of dread, Poppy had finished checking and fixing her drum kit and glanced over to Tino.

"Let's get this over with. Maybe if we're lucky it'll be a quick death."





Meanwhile, in the crowds around the stage, the gang from CHS and Los Pegasus had managed to muscle their way up near to the front so that they could get a better view of their friends about to perform. Between Rainbow Dash and Aria, they had gotten up there with little to no trouble, only running into a snag when a hipster looking asshole tried to get lippy, but immediately wilted and stepped aside when Aria, arms crossed, flexed, making the muscles on her already toned arms stand out further as she shot the guy a glare.

"Dang, nice guns!" 

Complimented Rainbow Dash, grinning as she cleared a bigger space for Fluttershy since the girl seemed to be struggling some in the crowds. Although she tried to put on a too cool to care attitude, there was the slightest twitch in the corner of Aria's mouth.

"Thanks. Training to enter the MMA circuit."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah. I mean come on, I get paid to beat people up. What's better than that?"

Adagio, who had easily slipped through the crowd, gave a soft sigh and lightly ruffled her sister's short hair.

"I do wish you hadn't gotten rid of your hair though. It completely throws off our aesthetic."

"Hey, not like we're a band anymore. Besides, seemed like it'd be too big a pain in the ass to keep tying it up for training or a match."

"I think it looks cool!" 

Aria jumped when suddenly Pinkie Pie appeared to her left, Sonata appearing to her right at the exact same moment.

"Yeah Ari! You look all tough and butch and stuff!"

That last quip made Aria scowl and pinch her sister's nose hard between her thumb and forefinger. Not enough to seriously hurt but enough that Sonata started whining and trying to pull the other's hand off.

"Lettgo! Ohdagio!" 

"Now, now, play nice girls."

With a 'tch', Aria let go of Sonata's nose, the blue haired siren pouting and rubbing it to get rid of the slightly numb feeling. The rest of the group had all settled in, with the exception of a certain blonde farmer that did not go unnoticed by Twilight.

"Hey, where'd AJ go?"

"She said she saw an old friend and went to go speak with her."

While speaking with someone who was essentially her from another world did put the human Twilight off kilter, Sparky seemed to adapting fairly well. Plus, it was cute seeing both their Spikes interact! Right now both dogs were silent in their arms, understanding it probably wasn't the best idea to start talking in the middle of a crowd. Her own Spike's newfound intelligence had come a long way and it had been fun teaching him things.

Eventually a silence fell over the crowd as the MC, Sugar Hay, got up on stage and introduced the three judges, which included a former bassist for the band Sublime, a producer who hadn't produced a good selling album in years, and the biggest name on the panel, Sapphire Shores. When that was done, the Pony Breakers were introduced, the crowd cheering and some members of the group like Fluttershy and Twilight, sharing worried looks since the mood coming from the band still seemed pretty down.

While they started off fine at first, Jackie playing the first chords the rolled into the lyrics, when Sunset Shimmer began to seem it almost seemed as if the two were at odds for each other. Sunset would give Jackie a look, it would effect Jackie who would start to play more aggressively that was a bit off putting for the tempo. None of them would say it was a bad performance but it certainly wasn't good either, which left most of the group holding their breath as the judges tallied the scores. Said breath was released when it was announced that the Pony Breakers had scored high enough to pass... barely. Twilight rubbed her temple as she watched, concerned as she saw Sunset stalk off the stage with Jackie immediately following after her.

'I really hope you guys fix this...'



	

"Just what the hell is your problem Sunset?!"

Not in the mood, Sunset just kept on walking, trying her best to ignore Jackie as the woman scrambled to put her guitar away into it's case, leaving the rest of the clean up for Tino and Poppy as she chased after the red-head.

"Why don't you just leave me alone?!"

"Hell no! You've been jerking me around these past few days and I'm sick and tired of it! If you're still mad about what I said yesterday, I'm sorry! Okay!? I didn't mean for it to go that far but I've just been really frustrated with this!"

Sunset just kept on walking, down the beach, not noticing they were getting further away from the crowds and other people. They were starting to enter a part of the beach that had little to no one around, as most people were either at the music contest or had gone off to get an early dinner now that the sun was creeping closer to the horizon line.

"So what?! That's no reason for you to go traipsing off with Adagio for the whole night and not answer your phone!"

"Alright, so I'm sorry I didn't answer my phone- wait, traipsing?"

"Right, I bet you were so busy checking out Adagio's mouth that you couldn't check your damn phone!"

"Okay, that's more shocking than someone actually using traipsing in a sentence. What the fuck are you talking about?"

At this, Sunset had to stop and turn around, throwing her hands up and giving Jackie a disbelieving look.

"Oh come on! You let her kiss you yesterday and you sure as hell looked like you enjoyed it! I bet you were just all too eager to spend the night with her after that!"

"Okay. WHOA. And slow your roll, Sunshine!"

Jackie had stopped and held up a hand for emphasis.

"Yeah I went back to her place. AGAINST MY WILL. Serious! Those three kidnapped me! I almost didn't fall asleep on their couch that night because I was so nervous they'd like, do something! I mean, I would've locked myself in their bathroom if I wasn't sure Aria would hulk out and rip it off it's hinges! And second, yeah Adagio kissed me yesterday and that kiss... I mean Jesus, Sunshine, you'd have to experience it to know why I stood no chance."

The sharp look from Sunset made the guitarist quickly raise a finger to halt whatever the other was about to say.

"BUT! But, I was not interested in doing anything with her, alright? I mean come on! I don't sleep with someone just because they kiss me!"

"Riiiight. So I just imagined that's what we did Thursday then?"

"Oh... right."

With an annoyed huff, Sunset turned away and contemplated continuing her trek down the beach but a frustrated Jackie had other plans.

"Dammit, why are you getting so angry with me? I mean, I didn't do anything! And you haven't tried talking to me about what the hell that was all about when we had sex!"

"It's not like you tried talking about it either!"

Sunset shot back, crossing her arms as she turned back to face Jackie, the guitarist also looking fairly pissed off and her hands clenched into fists as she spoke up.

"Well I tried talking to you about it yesterday before freaking Adagio assaulted my mouth with hers!"

"Yes, I could tell you were really trying!"

"Oh get off your fucking high horse and cut the bullshit! Erm, pun not intended if that counts as one! Cause you know, you're actually a you know and-ugh! Not the point! The point if you haven't been talking about it either and you're the one who freaking initiated! So what am I supposed to think cause it sure as hell seems as if you didn't give a flying fuck!"

"What, so if I said I wanted to get together you'd just go along with it even if you didn't feel the same way?"

"What? That's stupid! Why would I do that?!"

"Because you're so damn nice! I mean god damn Jackie, you've done so much for me already! Why wouldn't it be possible to think you'd just go along with it to spare my feelings!?"

"I... okay maybe! But you still could of just said something! You could of said that to take the pressure off and then it wouldn't of been a problem! So what the fuck kept you from doing that so we could talk about this shit!?"

"Hey, I could ask you the same thing! Just what the hell kept you from talking about it?!"

"Well excuse the fuck out of me if I was scared and had no idea how to handle this!"

"Scared!?"

"Fuck yeah! Sunshine, you're gorgeous! You're amazing and smart and I love being around you! And you've got a guaranteed future with you going off to college where you're probably going to get some fancy degrees and some high paying job! And then I'm just some dumb ex-drug using party chick with a lot of skeletons in her closet that just barely passed high school, whose only good at playing guitar and who has to bust her ass to barely make a living until hopefully one day her band makes it big! And with you not saying anything I thought that you weren't serious and there was no way you'd even consider a relationship with a loser like me!"

"You're not a fucking loser, Jackie! And what, you thought I wasn't scared either?! I acted on an impulse because I got caught up in wanting to live in the moment and wanted to go for what I wanted because you're so sweet and cute and I care about you a whole hell of a lot! But afterwards I started thinking about college and the distance! The fact that I'm actually a unicorn and that one day maybe I'll go back to Equestria and I'll never even see you again! What if there's more magical crap that pops up around me and you get hurt again!? And on top of all of that I worry that my issues aren't all gone and one day I'll just wear you down so much because you always want to be there for me and I'll either wear you down or you'll get sick of it and leave!"

"Well then I guess we both have issues!"

"Obviously!"

"SO IF I'M RIGHT AND I THINK WE BOTH FEEL THE SAME WAY, WHY ARE WE STILL YELLING?!"

"I DON'T KNOW!!!"

By the end of it, both were slightly red faced and panting, having finally put all their cards on the table and just letting the situation sink in. Then a small snicker, a snicker that turned into giggling and chuckling until finally both gave a few, short, sad laughs. Jackie running her fingers through her hair as she gave a weak smile to Sunset.

"God... we're both really messed up, huh?"

"Mm... we're both pretty dumb too."

"Yeah... well you're pretty dumb. I'm more handsome dumb."

That caused Sunset Shimmer to give a soft snort of laughter as a slightly triumphant grin came to Jackie's face.

"You're such a dork."

Stuffing her hands into her swim trunk pockets, Jackie mosied over to Sunset Shimmer, a soft, affectionate look in her eyes.

"Yeah... but I'd like to be your dork. If you still want to give this a shot."

"... yeah, I'd like to give it a shot."

With that said, Jackie leaned in and pressed her lips to Sunset's, the red-head slowly closing her eyes and enjoying the moment. They kept going for a little longer with Sunset's hands moving to rest on Jackie's shoulders while the guitarist's hands were at her waist, the view around them perfect as the sky was just beginning to change to it's warm colors of yellows and reds as the setting sun cast it's glow over the world. When they broke apart, the two were slightly breathless but smiles were firmly in place, Jackie's turning goofy as she suggestively waggled her eyebrows "So uh, wanna find a nice secluded spot and-?"

Rolling her eyes, Sunset lightly slapped her palm against Jackie's chest, making the guitarist start laughing as she backed up a bit. Yet she was stopped when Sunset reached out and gently took the other's hand, linking their fingers. 

"How about we just head back? I'm sure the others are wondering where we are."

"Ooo, eager to show off the trophy rock star girlfriend, huh?"

"Totally." 

"That's some pretty heavy sarcasm there, Sunshine."

"Really now?"

Sunset had a playful grin on her face as Jackie bumped their shoulders together, the two beginning a leisurely walk back to where the Beach Band Battles were being held. After all that yelling and joking, it was just nice to quietly enjoy each other's company now that they had made it clear how they felt. When they finally made it back, they saw Jackie's friends, the two Twilights, some chick with dark hair in ringlets and who was wearing a hat and sunglasses, and the Sirens, but now the rest of their friends were missing. And it could have been Sunset's imagination, but without looking at the band on stage and only hearing their last notes, the song sounded familiar.  Jackie was more interested in finding where the other's had gone.

"Hey Twilight, Sparky, y'all. Where's-"

"THANK YOU LOS PEGASUUUUUUS! Let us Rainbooms know how awesome you think we are!!!"

Both Jackie and Sunset's eyes immediately snapped to the stage, eyes wide as they saw Rainbow Dash standing at the forefront with arms raised as the crowd cheered. 

"Thank you! And let's give a round of applause to two people who made this possible! Sapphire Shores! A good friend of our keytarist Rarity who was gracious enough to help us sign up at the last minute!"


A loud cheer as Sapphire Shores stood and waved.

"And our bassist's good friend for wrangling us some equipment last minute!"

"Who could of done that?"

Questioned Sunset, wondering until Twilight tapped her on the shoulder, motioning to the young woman in the hat and whispering into Sunset's ear.

"Her. That's Rara! Formerly known as Countess Coloratura! Oh! And you holding Jackie's hand means you've worked things out, right?"

That... was certainly some coincidence. Ignoring Twilight for now, Sunset slowly looked over to her girlfriend, who appeared to be in a state of shock as she stared on stage at a band who not only knew someone who had gotten them replacement equipment in time, but ALSO was now in a competition where a judge was friends with one of their members.

".... Jackie?"

".... Rainbow Dash you mother FUCKER!!!!"