//------------------------------// // World of Remnant: A Synopsis // Story: Rainbow Rocks: Another Story // by ArcanaMaverick7 //------------------------------// As Fragment Hunter and the Rainbooms walked into an empty classroom, Rainbow Dash was the first to question Cereza over what happened just a minute ago. "WHAT HAPPENED BACK THERE?!?! "Rainbow Dash, that is no way to act," Rarity scolded. "You're not the least bit curious about how my soccer ball ended up back in my hands with AJ's hat on it?! Or how we all suddenly got candy in our mouths," Rainbow practically shouted. Sunset Shimmer and the other Rainbooms failed to give a proper response as they were all confused as well. "Who are you," Rainbow aggressively asked Cereza and prodded her chest with a finger. "I said that we all need answers," Cereza said as she suddenly appeared behind Rainbow Dash. "So, it would be wise to listen to our story first. Vixen, we'll need some visuals." Vixen nodded and started to use her powers to show a small version of Beacon Academy. "This is our school, Beacon Academy, in the Kingdom of Vale," Cereza said as the six girls were transfixed by the illusion. "Kingdom," Sunset Shimmer asked before Sunset Blaze took over. "We're from another world called 'Remnant'. It's a big place filled with plenty of dangerous things, but life there is a little easier depending on where you live," Blaze stated as the illusion of Beacon Academy faded to reveal its emblem and three others. "Remnant consists of the four main Kingdoms. Vale, Mistral, Atlas, and Vacuo. There's also the nation of Menagerie, but it isn't considered a proper Kingdom." "The twelve of us are all from different parts of Remnant," Azalea said as Vixen created a map of Remnant. "While Vinyl, our Sunset, Silver, Lapis, and Rua are from around Vale, the rest of us are more spread out. Vixen is from outside of the main Kingdoms. Cereza was born in a town to the east of Vale called 'Notremodo'. Celadon and Rebecca were born around Mistral. Layla and Slate are from the desert city of Vacuo and I'm from a farm to the west of Mistral's continent, Anima." As Azalea explained this, the faces of each member of Fragment Hunter and their own personal emblems appeared in the proper areas. "How is it that these things keep showing up when you're explaining," Applejack asked as she tilted her hat up to get a better view. "That brings us to some of the dangerous parts of Remnant," Silver said as the map vanished and a shadowy creature with burning red eyes glared at the girls. Its body was similar to that of a werewolf, but it was covered in bony armor and spikes. "This is a Creature of Grimm. Monsters that inhabit our world and are a constant threat to humanity. There are many different types, but all of them can kill you when they have the chance," Silver said. Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms gulped at this while Fluttershy nearly fainted out of fear. Azalea helped Fluttershy to her feet and stood by her as the lecture continued. "Mankind has struggled against the Grimm for as long as history can tell us. One of the strange things is, they only attack people and their creations. They tend to leave regular animals alone unless they fight over territory," Lapis explained. "And a common theory is that they don't need to feed themselves, but they choose to. Makes them even more terrifying according to everyone." Fluttershy whimpered and nodded at the idea of monsters that chose to eat humans. "One of the worst things about them though, is that they are attracted to negative emotions," Sunset Blaze continued. "Fear, anger, sorrow, jealousy, rage, loneliness, envy, hatred... All of them attract Grimm and panic from them attacking just brings more. If any lived here, this school would become a graveyard with what those girls are doing!" The new information had all of the Rainbooms shaking in fear. "Fortunately, there are ways to handle Grimm and why the Kingdoms are the way they are now," Slate said as the illusion of Beacon appeared again and focused on the statue in the courtyard. "In each Kingdom, there is a special school that teaches students how to fight Grimm in order to protect the world from their demonic grasp. The Huntsman Academies of Beacon, Atlas, Haven, and Shade all train future generations of warriors like us to help defend the Kingdoms and other villages from threats such as Grimm, bandits, and other criminals." Sunset Shimmer heard what Slate said and looked at each member of Fragment Hunter again. "So, that explains the armor," she mentioned. "Yeah, I was wondering about that," Pinkie Pie said. "I thought that it was just for fun!" "I must say that it does give off a sense of style now that I understand you're all fighters," Rarity mused. "Back to the lesson," Celadon said as Vixen's illusion changed again to show a girl in a red hood slaying Grimm with a giant scythe. "Huntsmen and Huntresses are trained to fight with an assortment of weapons and, depending on your training before attending one of the four Academies, even somebody with two years left in a combat school can take on an entire pack of young Grimm by themselves." "In order to accomplish this, Hunters have trained to unlock their own soul as a means of defense," Azalea continued. "Rua, punch me," she asked before Rua quickly punched Azalea in the cheek. A flash of green appeared when Rua's fist made contact and Azalea was shown to still be standing. "A Huntsman or Huntress' Aura can protect you and even be used to help sense incoming danger. Think of it as a force field that covers your skin and clothing. As long as you've unlocked your Aura, you can withstand deadly attacks while you're conscious. It can even be used for offensive purposes by channeling it through your weapons or your own body to injure Grimm. Because they lack a soul of their own, a clean attack can kill most monsters." "Another offensive way of using your Aura is a Semblance. A manifestation of your Aura in a more tangible form that grants you a superpower of sorts," Sunset Blaze continued. "You've already seen Vixen's illusions and Cereza's Time Mirage that lets her slow down time around her to a certain degree. But, we all have our own special skills that can come in handy for fights." "Like what," Pinkie Pie asked in excitement. "Layla can move things with her mind, Rua can teleport, Lapis can scream loud enough to dent steel walls, Vinyl can shoot energy blasts, and a number of other powers," Rebecca listed. "That... is... AWESOME," Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "You guys must be real heroes where you're from," Applejack said with a smile. "I bet everyone knows how great you are." Azalea, Silver, and Vixen looked down at the floor before the freckled girl spoke up. "Not exactly everyone can agree," Azalea said as she started to untie her bandana. "You see, there are more than just humans, Grimm, and animals on Remnant," she began as she removed her headband to reveal her horns. As the Rainbooms saw them, they were surprised even further when Silver unwrapped his tail from his waist and Vixen ended the illusion on her own tail to reveal their identities. "There are also beings called 'Faunus' that look like humans, but have a single animal trait. Horns, tails, extra ears, claws, scales, and some even have color changing skin like a chameleon. Because of how we look, how we can see better in the dark than humans, and our status as a minority, humanity treats Faunus like lesser beings that were used as slave labor and other demeaning jobs. In the past, we were avoided like a plague and even hunted down as a threat," Azalea explained. "After some events that lead to humanity learning that Faunus aren't monsters like the Grimm, tolerance of them as a species began to change a little," Silver stated. "One of the few places that isn't prejudiced against the Faunus is Vacuo. If you're living and surviving in a harsh desert city, why would people hate you for being able to live in a deadly climate?" The Rainbooms and Sunset Shimmer took the information in and waited for Silver to continue. "After a while, Menagerie was given to the Faunus people as a reward for helping in The Great War eighty years ago. While it wasn't the best place to live, it eventually became a safe haven for all Faunus and it was there that the White Fang activist group was formed," he explained as he removed his jacket to reveal his tattoo of the White Fang's original symbol, a peaceful beast's head in a circle. "However, because of all the discrimination that kept continuing, the White Fang's new leader began a different approach," Azalea said as Silver put his jacket back on. "Rather than live in peace with humanity and be treated as respected equals, they began to attack shops that refused to serve Faunus and attack companies that used Faunus labor like the Schnee Dust Company after the founder's son-in-law took over. The new White Fang didn't want respect through peace, they were becoming known through fear and terror," Azalea stated as she began to grind her teeth and Silver growled in anger at the description. "Wow... this is a lot for all of you, isn't it" Fluttershy managed to voice while the others were quiet. "Yeah," Azalea said. "Silver's parents were killed in a White Fang attack when he was 12 or 13 and the founder of the White Fang was my father's best friend when they were growing up in Menagerie." "It must have taken a lot of courage to go through what you did in life," Fluttershy guessed. "It did, Fluttershy. I'll tell you this right now; you shouldn't stay locked up by your own insecurities. I've been bullied, mocked, and insulted for most of my life because of my heritage. I barely got along with kids my age growing up, I hid myself when I started to mature, and I would be nothing if I didn't try to step outside my comfort zone," Azalea said. "I'm tired of running away and hiding until somebody comes to help me. I can throw boulders at giant snakes that want to kill me and impale them with giant spikes made of ice and rock. I can withstand being beaten by a trio of thugs before slamming their faces into the ground. I can fight and I'll do it without letting fear control me! If people don't like you, show them that you are more than what they believe you to be," she declared as she listed how much she changed from the timid girl who first attended Beacon Academy. Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy were entranced by Azalea's words and took them to heart. Slate placed his hat on Azalea's head and the two smiled at each other before Sunset Blaze spoke up again. "Now that we've explained our side of things, how about you tell us why you gained ears, wings, and your hair grew longer," she asked and immediately caught the attention of the Rainbooms. "You saw that," Shimmer asked. "Kinda hard to when you've got good music like that and we show up wondering where it's coming from," Blaze replied. "Well, I suppose we should explain what happened back when Sunset Shimmer was ruling the school with an iron fist," Rainbow Dash said without tact, getting glares from Rarity and Applejack for it. "You see, Sunset Shimmer was kind of a meanie and kept everyone at CHS apart from each other because she didn't have friends of her own," Pinkie Pie began. "A few days before the Fall Formal, she went to a magical world called 'Equestria' that's filled with talking ponies and used to be her home. She stole a magic crown belonging to a princess there and planned on using the magic in it for her own bad guy plans. The princess followed her here and had to get her crown back by being voted the Princess of the Fall Formal. Sunset Shimmer wasn't going to let her get the crown back, so she tried a lot of dirty tricks to keep Princess Twilight from becoming popular enough to win. Eventually, Twilight won after getting the student body to be friends with each other and Sunset Shimmer puppy-napped her friend, Spike, to get the crown again. After we tried to keep the crown away from Sunset Shimmer, she managed to get it for herself and accidentally turned into a raging she-demon that tried to turn the whole school into her own personal zombie army to conquer the distant magic pony world. But, Twilight's crown still had some magic in it that gave us these cool magic powers that let us transform and defeat Demon Sunset Shimmer with a giant awesome rainbow laser whirlwind! After that, Sunset Shimmer learned that what she did was bad and we started to help her learn about friendship before Twilight went back home to Equestria." The members of Fragment Hunter were speechless at the entire story that Pinkie told in one endless breath. "Come again," Slate asked in disbelief. "Let me see," Sunset Blaze said before she grabbed Sunset Shimmer's head and used her Semblance to search through her doppelganger's memories. Seeing flashes of ponies talking and chasing her, attempts to sabotage a girl's attempts at becoming a winner in a popularity contest, and a sudden surge of pain before a flood of different emotions when a rainbow light enveloped what she saw, Blaze let go after seeing what she needed. "Wow... That's all true. Holy shit." "What just happened," Shimmer asked in concern. "That's my Semblance," Blaze said. "I'm basically able to see into someone's mind and even talk to others with my thoughts. Think of me as a comic book telepath." "Ooo! Fancy! Try me," Pinkie said as she stood in front of Sunset. "Absolutely not," Blaze refused. "You're as energetic as one friend of ours back at Beacon. I've seen the inside of her head before and I was freaked out by some of the things I saw," she said while staring off into the distance. "I'm afraid to ask," Rainbow Dash said. "Anyway, I think we should get back to the whole magic pony music thing," Azalea reminded. "Oh yeah, even after Twilight left with her crown, we can still transform with magic whenever we play music," Rainbow Dash said as she pulled out her phone. Showing a video of herself shredding on her guitar to Fragment Hunter, the Hunters saw her gaining the physical attributes she did when Sunset Blaze and Azalea saw them practicing. "That must be the craziest thing we've ever seen," Rua said as she saw Rainbow Dash growing wings in the video. "What about the cafeteria," Cereza reminded. "That's right," Sunset Shimmer said. "We think that those girls have some type of dark magic. You saw how everyone started to fight during their song," she mentioned. "If they're behind this whole thing, they might be more dangerous than a few teenage divas." "Well," Applejack asked as the Faunus teenagers disguised themselves again. "What are we waiting for? Let's go see Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna about those girls!" "Dark magic? I find that very hard to believe," Principal Celestia dismissed as she peered through the blinds in her office. "Those girls stopped by my office earlier and they were absolutely delightful." "They're probably suck-ups who want to stay on your good side," Rua wryly said. "You should've seen that hairball grab at Azalea when she just wanted to look at her pendant." "Perhaps Sunset Shimmer is just eager to make someone else out to be a bad element, so that her actions at the Fall Formal will become old news," Vice Principal Luna accused. "BULLSHIT!!! SHE'S NOT DOING THAT," Azalea shouted at the two women as she slammed her hands on the desk in front of her and shocked everyone. "Yeah," Rainbow Dash said. "We saw all this go down in the cafeteria, too." "Those girls started singing and after that, everyone started to argue with each other," Silver stated. "Yes, but aren't your bands supposed to be part of the Musical Showcase," Principal Celestia reminded. Rainbow Dash looked worried as she and Silver answered. "Yes..." "Perhaps you're all just worried that the Dazzlings will steal your spotlight," Luna said. "The 'Dazzlings'," Applejack asked after a few silent seconds. "I wonder who came up with that name," Rua asked sarcastically. "It's the name of their musical group," Principal Celestia said to answer Applejack's question while she ignored Rua's comments. "That's why they came by my office earlier today. The three of them wanted to sign up for the Showcase. Even sang a little song to Vice Principal Luna and I." "They did," Applejack and Lapis asked in concern. "Yes," Celestia replied. "And we think having a Battle of the Bands instead is a marvelous idea," she said as her and Luna's eyes began to glow green like Adagio's when she was singing earlier. As everyone looked worried or concerned, Sunset Blaze stepped forward. "I've got this," she said as she stopped in front of the sisters. "WAKE UP AND SMELL THE KOOL-AID," she yelled as she slapped both Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna across the face. As the Rainbooms gasped at the sudden attack, the principals' eyes returned to their normal colors after Sunset Blaze's hand made contact with their cheeks. "THEY ARE EVIL!!!! THEY BRAINWASHED YOU INTO AGREEING WITH THAT BATTLE OF THE BANDS!!!! The Musical Showcase was for charity! There's not even a prize for the winner! It's all some evil plot," Blaze shouted at the sisters as they came to. "What just happened," Fluttershy asked in concern. "Blaze's Semblance also has a few other abilities," Vinyl whispered. "She can snap someone out of a trance when she wants." "Did you have to slap us," Luna asked as she rubbed her cheek. "You two weren't thinking straight," Blaze stated. "Fair enough," Celestia said as she held a palm to her sore cheek. "Those girls do have some type of dark magic if we were brainwashed. But, what do we do? They would become suspicious if we cancelled the contest." "Which is why we're going to let it continue," Blaze said. Everyone was confused by what she meant until she spoke up again. "Right now, they think you're under their control like the students are. If we keep up the charade of having a Battle of the Bands, we can keep an eye on them during the competition and everything between." "I get it," Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "We're going to string them along like balloon puppets," she compared as she pulled one of the balloon designs from her skirt. Blowing it up, Pinkie shaped it into a pony and began to play around with it while the others stared at her antics. "Are we sure she doesn't have a Semblance that warps reality," Vixen asked. Fragment Hunter shrugged at the question because they didn't really know how to answer it. "Well, we still don't know anything about those girls," Applejack mentioned. "Or why we weren't affected by their singing." "Too bad we can't get help from Twilight," Rainbow Dash said. "But, the portal that she used to get here closed after the Fall Formal." "If we could get a message to her, she could help us find a way to break the Dazzlings' hold on the school," Rarity mentioned. "The princess," Rebecca asked. "The statue out in the courtyard," Layla asked remembering how they got to the school. "We came through that, so shouldn't there still be magic in it," she guessed. "Yeah, but we still can't talk with Twilight. I get the feeling that they don't have cell phones where she's from," Rainbow said. "Personally, I'm surprised ours work here," Celadon noted as she pulled out her Scroll. Sunset Shimmer was silent during the whole conversation, but was thinking of something that might help. Remembering something important, she gasped as she reached her epiphany. "I think I know a way to get a message to Twilight," she said as she ran out of the office. Curious, the group of teenagers followed her while the principals stayed behind to figure out the best way to continue the Battle of the Bands with the help from the Rainbooms and Fragment Hunter.