After everyone left Pinkie's house in the morning, Fragment Hunter and the Rainbooms left for Applejack's home, Sweet Apple Acres, for rehearsing what Twilight could come up with for a counter-spell. However, it was going very badly for them. Everyone was out of sync, Twilight's singing was off-key, and the feedback from the amp was hurting everyone's hearing.
While the Rainbooms kept trying to play and transform, Spike, Sunset Shimmer, and Fragment Hunter tried to withstand the failed practice. Eventually, the song ended and everyone was confused or disappointed at what happened. "Eh, that sounded... way better than the last... five times you've played it," Spike said as he tried to lighten the mood.
"Nnope," Applejack's brother said as he walked past the window of garage.
"What he said," the majority of Fragment Hunter brutally admitted.
"Seriously, if Blake or Velvet were here and listened to that, they would've ripped all of their ears off," Rua stated.
Spike only whimpered at the answers while the Rainbooms started to discuss what happened. "Well, I think it's pretty obvious what's going wrong with the counter-spell," Rainbow Dash said.
"You're turnin' what should be the chorus into a five-minute guitar solo," Applejack criticized as she and Rarity glared at the guitarist.
"I have to pick up the slack somehow," Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Are you guys even trying?!"
"I'm trying," Fluttershy meekly stated as she tried to avoid further conflict.
Twilight nervously laughed as she tried to calm things down. "It's fine. It'll be fine. One more time from the top," she declared and began to sound a little unhinged from the stress. Everyone began to stare at Twilight because she was starting to worry them a little.
"Or, perhaps we can take a short break and try on some of the wardrobe choices I've put together," Rarity proposed as she pulled out a rack of clothes for everyone to check out. "I'm particular fond of this one," she said as she instantly changed into a sparkly band outfit that looked like it belonged to a rock band from fifty years ago. "Eh, of course we could always go with something a bit more modern," Rarity admitted as she modeled the outfit.
"It's really pretty," Azalea admitted as she and Celadon started looking through the costumes for themselves.
"We're tryin' to save our school here. Enough with the costumes," Applejack said as she was exasperated by Rarity's suggestions for wardrobe.
"Oh, you can never have enough costumes," Rarity said like she was insulted. Applejack just stared at Rarity as the latter was now wearing a gold jumpsuit with a futuristic helmet that filtered her voice to sound robotic.
"She's right. Bands tend to have style in order to show off and get the crowd excited," Celadon said as she was now wearing a green version of Rarity's first costume from the rack.
"She just wants to make things fun," Pinkie said as she slumped over her drum kit. "Isn't that what being in a band supposed to be," she muttered as she played a rimshot on her drums out of boredom.
"You don't have time for any of this," Sunset Shimmer exclaimed. "You're supposed to check in at the Battle of the Bands in fifteen minutes!" Gasping and panicking at the mention of the time limit, the Rainbooms began to quickly packed up their gear and get ready to head out to the school. However, Twilight was the most worried out of them all because of the unprepared counter-spell.
"What? But it's not ready! If we play our counter-spell in the first round and it doesn't work, the Sirens will know what we're up to and make sure we don't get a chance to play it again," Twilight stated. When everyone heard what she said, they screeched to a full stop. Looking at each other in worry, Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms were admittedly distressed about the whole thing.
"You'll just have to buy time until Twilight can figure out what to do," Rebecca voiced.
"How do you propose we do that," Rarity asked.
"We compete in the Battle of the Bands for real," Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "I take over lead vocals again and we stay alive until the finals! We unleash the counter-spell then," the lead guitarist explained before she turned to Twilight. "You'll have figured it out by finals, right?"
Azalea, Sunset Blaze, and a few other Fragment Hunter members saw that Twilight looked worried about what she had to do. "Of course she will. Twilight Sparkle's never met a problem she couldn't solve. Right, Twilight," Spike said with complete confidence in his friend.
Twilight, on the other hand, wasn't feeling so confident with all the pressure building. After answering Spike, the Rainbooms all grabbed their stuff and got ready to head off. "Let's go win us a Battle of the Bands," Rainbow Dash declared as the other girls in the band followed her. Twilight was nervously waving and stayed behind for a few seconds before giving a nervous smile to Spike.
As Fragment Hunter went off to Canterlot High School, Sunset Blaze went to talk with Sunset Shimmer and Azalea went to say something to Twilight. "Don't be afraid to ask for help. Even if you are a princess, nobody can do everything by themselves," Azalea said before she grabbed a spare pair of drumsticks that Pinkie Pie left behind in the rush. "Come on, Twi. We have some Sirens to beat," Azalea said as she twirled a stick in her fingers.
In the school gymnasium, students were sitting in the bleachers and were listening to Principal Celestia. "Welcome to the first ever Canterlot High School Battle of the Bands," Celestia greeted. "I believe I speak for everyone when I say it is by far the greatest thing we have ever done here at this school!" The students began to cheer in anticipation for the contest before Celestia continued. "We are so glad our three newest students encouraged us to turn this event into something exciting," she said as she gestured to the Dazzlings in the bleachers.
The three all basked in the praise of the students cheering when Principal Celestia mentioned them. However, Celestia seemed to notice that the three girls were bruised and had trouble sitting without wincing in pain. "Did something happen to you three? Where did you get those bruises," the principal asked as she raised an eyebrow at the girls.
"They fell down some stairs," all of Fragment Hunter collectively and simultaneously lied. "We all saw."
Celestia kept her eyebrow raised, but she didn't question any further as Fragment Hunter were able to snap her and Vice Principal Luna out of their trance. Vice Principal Luna then stepped forward to explain about the changes from the original plans for the Musical Showcase. "As this is now a competition, we can only choose one winner," Luna stated and caught everyone's attention. "Who is it going to be?"
As the students under the Dazzlings' influence began to argue, green mist from their negativity began to fill the room and the Sirens absorbed it into their necklaces. As this happened, their bruises faded completely and the lingering pain from Azalea beating them down disappeared. "You feel that, girls? Our true power is being restored," Adagio said to Aria and Sonata. The two giggled as they saw everyone arguing and giving them power. As the Rainbooms and Fragment Hunter walked inside, Adagio signaled for her bandmates to stop. "And that's before we've tapped into the strongest magic here," Adagio sinisterly continued as she eyed the large group.
"But the Rainblossoms, or whatever they're called, and those Hunter punks aren't under our spell. How exactly are we supposed to get to their magic," Aria questioned.
"The Rainbooms and Fragment Hunter are just as capable of falling apart as anyone else," Adagio explained. "They just need a little... push in the wrong direction. I have a feeling everyone here is going to be lining up to give them a shove."
After the first few performances, Fragment Hunter was preparing for their turn onstage. However, Blaze was talking to Shimmer about something backstage while the latter held a guitar in her hands. "Okay, did you remember the songs," Blaze asked.
"Yeah. I memorized the notes and the lyrics. But, that was just a few minutes ago. What if I can't do this," Shimmer asked.
"If you look nervous, let the others take over or I can give you a little mental help," Blaze said as she tapped her temple to indicate she would be using her Semblance to guide Shimmer if needed. "But, I'm sure that you can handle a three minute song for the first round. I have faith in you," Blaze said as she gently placed her hand on Shimmer's shoulder.
"One last thing," Shimmer stated. "Was it necessary that we swap our clothes for this to work? I know you wanted me to take your place in the band to give me a confidence boost, but I don't feel like the belt is me."
"I have a second reason for this 'Prince and Pauper' plan," Blaze explained. "Just trust me."
Sunset Shimmer looked hesitant, but nodded at Blaze's idea before joining Azalea, Silver, Slate, Celadon, Lapis, and Vinyl. Seeing Azalea on drums, Slate on bass, Silver with another guitar, Celadon with a keyboard, and Vinyl with a turntable borrowed from her own blue-haired doppelganger in the school, a girl by the alias of DJ Pon-3. "Ready, Sunset," Lapis asked with a wink as she stood next to a microphone.
Looking around, Sunset Shimmer saw that the other members of the current band lineup were showing that they knew of the switch. "Ready, guys," Sunset Shimmer said as she started to open the song. As Fragment Hunter joined in, the principals and audience started to enjoy the rock song they were playing. While Shimmer kept playing, she got into the lyrics and guitar work with a lot of passion and was enjoying herself.
"Wow. They're pretty good," Rainbow Dash admitted as she saw the members of Fragment Hunter playing their song. "But, not as much as me, though," she boasted.
"Don't you mean 'us'," Applejack asked in slight annoyance.
While the song was playing, a few students decided to try and sabotage Fragment Hunter from the catwalks. As they chuckled to themselves, they didn't notice that there were already three girls waiting for them. "Hey, come here often," Vixen asked as she leaned against the closest rail. Before the students could do anything, a few saw that Rebecca and Layla were behind them. Using their Semblances, the three rookie Huntresses managed to subdue the would-be saboteurs and place them back in the crowd without anyone knowing.
After the song ended, everyone applauded the band and the principals wrote down how well they did and began to consider them for the next round. As Fragment Hunter got off the stage, the Rainbooms approached them and gave their congratulations. "Least we know one group that might be getting to the finals," Applejack said as she tuned her bass.
"Yeah. So we should get ready to meet up with them," Rainbow Dash said as she got her guitar ready. "Let's get ready to rock!"
Before they took the stage for their number, Pinkie noticed that one of their group was missing. "Wait! Where's Rarity?"
At that moment, Rarity came into view wearing a heavy outfit. "Oh! Here! I'm here," she said as she panted from her rush. Everyone just stared at her in confusion after she fixed her hair. "We will be performing in front of an audience. I'm not going to wear something fabulous," Rarity said rhetorically as she showed off the metal fringes on her sleeves.
While the Rainbooms and several members of Fragment Hunter rolled their eyes or facepalmed at Rarity's insistence of wearing a costume for the song, some where more vocal with their opinion. "You look like a shiny hippie," Rua and Layla commented.
"I did base this ensemble off of outfits worn during music festivals decades ago," Rarity admitted. "But, modifying a retro look for the occasion just felt right to me."
"It doesn't matter. Let's just get onstage and play," Applejack said as she and the other Rainbooms walked away. But just as the farmer turned, she noticed Rebecca right next to her and panicked. "AHHH! You startled the livin' daylights outta me," Applejack exclaimed to the ninja.
"I need to test something," Rebecca said as she walked toward Rarity. As she activated her armguards, Rarity's sleeves suddenly got caught on Rebecca's arms. "Magnetic... Next time, be careful of what you use. When our band was playing, some students tried to sabotage us from the catwalks," Rebecca warned. "I'll head back up and keep watch in case anyone else tries the same with you. Any of you coming to help," she said to her friends. Rua and Azalea joined her as the three snuck their way back up into the catwalks.
"You think that they'll be able to handle it," Twilight asked in concern.
"Oh, they'll be able to handle it," Silver said with a smirk.
As the Rainbooms took the stage, the audience was a bit irritated at them for what the Dazzlings convinced them of what the Rainbooms meant at the party. "Remember, we have to be good enough to make it through but not so good we let the sirens see the magic within us. They could realize we plan to use it against them," Twilight reminded.
"Got it! Be cool enough to win, but not so cool that we end up showing off the whole ears and tails and rainbows thing. Sooo... about twenty percent less cool," Rainbow Dash summarized in her words. After Pinkie counted down, the Rainbooms began their song.
We've just got the day to get ready
And there's only so much time to lose
Because tonight, yeah, we're here to party
So let's think of something fun to do
We don't know (we don't know) what's gonna happen
We just know (we just know) it's gonna feel right
All our friends are here
And it's time to ignite the lights!
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
While playing the Rainbooms continued, Rebecca, Azalea, and Rua saw that another band was on the catwalk with them. Positioned above Rarity, two girls held out magnets attached to marionettes for the their leader to make a fool out of the fashionista. "Told her not to go with a magnetic material for this very reason," Rebecca said as she snuck towards the band she recognized from the roster as 'The Snapshots'. As the magnets attached to Rarity's sleeves, Photo Finish tried to control how Rarity moved around the stage. Unfortunately for the saboteurs, Rebecca managed to knock out the other members of the Snapshots with some well-placed strikes to their necks. "Ready to give up," Rebecca asked Photo Finish as she prevented the the other two girls from falling off the catwalk.
"Nein," Photo Finish exclaimed as she started to jerk Rarity around the stage, which had her bump into her bandmates several times. Annoyed by the girl under the effects of the Dazzlings' songs, Rebecca grabbed a handful of shuriken and threw them precision to sever the strings from the marionettes. As Photo Finish looked at the ninja arming herself with more throwing stars, she dropped the control bars and started to run away from Rebecca.
So what you didn't get it right the first time
Laugh it off, no one said it is a crime
Do your thing, you know you're an original
Your ideas are so funny that they're criminal
Ohhh-ahh!
Meanwhile, the audience wasn't amused by the Rainbooms' performance like they were with Fragment Hunter. As they stared at band in boredom or with judgmental looks, Pinkie Pie thought that she could get everyone to enjoy the song when she kicked one of her floor toms. As the drum fired confetti, the Rainbooms were confused as they kept the song going. While Twilight sang before the chorus, a piece of confetti got caught in her throat and Fluttershy had to dislodge it by hitting Twilight's back with her tambourine.
We've just got the day to get ready
And there's only so much time to lose
Because tonight, yeah, we're here to party
So let's think of something fun to do
We don't know (we don't know) what's gonna happen
We just know (we just know) it's gonna feel right
All our friends are here
And it's time to ignite the lights!
Azalea looked down at Twilight and Fluttershy from the catwalk before seeing where Twilight was looking at. Seeing Flash Sentry with a judgmental look on his face, Azalea immediately knew that Twilight was worried about how he was acting because of the Sirens. "Hey, look," Rua said as shook Azalea's shoulder and pointed to Snips and Snails approaching a spotlight. Snickering to themselves, the two boys shined the light on Fluttershy and everyone turned their attention to her. Freezing up, Fluttershy saw the crowd looking at her and tried to slink away from the spotlight. However, the ones controlling the spotlight kept pointing it at her.
Azalea and Rua nodded at each other before they approached the boys. Catching their attention, Rua cracked her knuckles with an evil-looking smile to signify what she would do if they didn't back away from the light. The boys only shined the light in Rua's face before Azalea used her Semblance to counter it. By bending light around herself, she could normally turn invisible. But since she was using it with a light shining at her, it bounced off her body and blinded Snips and Snails. "AHHHH!!!! These sunglasses don't help at all," they exclaimed as they covered their eyes. Rua took her chance and grabbed the two before teleporting down to the audience. Releasing them from her grip, Rua warped back to the catwalk to keep watch for anything else while the song continued as Fluttershy came out of hiding.
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight!
As the song ended, the principals applauded for how well they performed despite all the distractions. As the Rainbooms went backstage, Fragment Hunter joined up with them. "Rarity, were you trying to make us lose out there? You kept bumping into us for the first half of the song," Applejack complained.
"Magnets got on on my sleeves and kept moving me around, Applejack! It wasn't my fault," Rarity defended herself as she gestured to the magnets still on her outfit. "Somebody was trying to sabotage us like Rebecca said."
"Yeah, well, whoever did this couldn't have done this if you didn't insist on dressin' like... like... this," Applejack complained as she gestured to Rarity's outfit. "We need to sound good! Is there some reason that concept seems to escape you?" While this was going on, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight, and Spike all looked concerned as their friends were arguing.
"And what was with the confetti, Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash asked as she snapped at the drummer. "How am I supposed to shred if there's paper stuck in my frets?!"
"It was pretty distracting. Twilight nearly choked," Fluttershy quietly said.
"Ugh! Says the girl who was running from a light the whole time," Pinkie exclaimed. "A light!"
"Being in a group is different than being in the spotlight," Fluttershy timidly tried to defend herself.
"Girls, just focus," Sunset Shimmer said as she tried to calm the Rainbooms down. "You still sounded much better than most of the other bands. I'm sure you'll make it to the next round. But it won't matter if you don't have that counter-spell ready," she reminded. Twilight looked nervous about making the counter-spell, but only the members of Fragment Hunter noticed. "You all find a place to practice where the sirens can't hear you. I'll keep an eye on things around here," Sunset explained as another band took the stage.
"Come on," Twilight said as she and the Rainbooms left for a new practice spot.
As Sunset Shimmer and Fragment Hunter stayed behind, Sunset Blaze stepped forward. "They aren't the only ones who need practice," she said to Shimmer as she handed her some sheets of paper. "Go and practice the other songs to be safe. I'll look out for anything screwy by myself." As Fragment Hunter and Sunset Shimmer left themselves, Blaze stayed behind and looked at the roster. After 'Trixie and the Illusions', Blaze saw that they Dazzlings were after them and left to search for the Sirens.