//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: The Truth Comes Out // Story: A Shattered Rainbow Rock // by FourShadow //------------------------------// As the night kept going, the Battle Of The Bands continued to wage on. The final players in the battle were now starting to meet the final rounds. All that remained were the Dazzlings, the Rainbooms, Song Of The Sea, and one other band that they couldn't name. All of the girls were gathered behind the stage, ready to go on in a few minutes. "Okay girls, lets do this. Win this round, we'll have a chance to face the Rainbooms." "Uh... question." Vinyl asked. "The Dazzlings are going to have to face off with them before moving on. What if they win and beat the Rainbooms? Then they'll have to face us." Adagio had never thought of that before. She didn't even think of what would happen if the two were going to face off against each other. "Look, lets just stay calm. If we do end up winning, then we'll have to make sure the Rainbooms will NEVER get their hands on that trophy. Knowing their ambitions, they'll want to claim it for themselves no matter what." Adagio said. "Are we clear?" Everyone nodded. "Excellent!" Adagio's hands clapped together. "So get on there and show them what you're made of." Adagio, her sisters, and Trixie stepped off the stage, allowing them to prepare. With no time wasted, everyone got their instruments ready to play. "Okay, lets make this good girls." Vinyl said, looking at everyone. Lyra held her flute up, Octavia had her guitar gripped tightly, Amethyst raised her key-tar, and Bon Bon's hands were twirling the drumsticks. Vinyl smiled at her friends around her, and she held her violin up, ready to play. "Lets do this!" The curtains opened up, with all five of them ready. As soon as the spotlights turned on, the girls began to play for the crowd. While Vinyl and her band-mates started performing, Trixie found herself an unoccupied room. It was their practice room, but with no one around... plenty of time and space to herself. She smiled. Now's my chance! She took out a sheet of paper, and read it carefully. After setting it back down, she cleared her throat, and I am here and I see your pain Through the storms, through the clouds, the rain I'm telling you you cannot escape "Trixie?" Trixie screamed and panicked. Without even thinking, she grabbed one of the chairs and tossed it towards the source of the noise. No one was hurt, but instead the chair just slammed against the door and hit the ground. Trixie looked up to see who had called her name, seeing a face she didn't want to see right now. She picked up another chair, raising it high. "Sunset Shimmer... what are you doing here?" "Trixie, I just came to talk--" "If you're thinking of persuading me to join you, its not gonna happen! If you think I'm going to leave my friends, its not gonna happen! If you think I'm gonna start joining a cult and wear an equal sign on my butt, ITS NOT GONNA HAPPEN!" No one knew how to respond to that. So random, so weird, no context. "Um... Oookkkaayyy, but I'm not here to do any of those things, I just wanted to talk to you." Sunset said, in the most calm voice she could muster. Trixie still didn't let her guard down. Her nostrils were flaring up, and she looked like she was about to transform into a raging bull. "About what?" "I just thought you might want to know some interesting information about your dazzling, friends." Trixie still didn't let up. "Look, I'm not going to waste your time, seeing how we have to go on in a few minutes but... I thought you may want to see these photographs." Sunset laid the pictures on the desk in front of her, and she left with the rest of the Rainbooms. Not another word was said, not another moment was wasted. Trixie looked down at the stack of photos and images. Curiosity enticing her, she picked up one of them. She squinted her eyes, reading the text that said 1917, and stopped. She saw a black and white photo that had the three sisters together in a group with some soldiers. Trixie violently shook her head, making sure she wasn't imagining things. Was she seeing things right? Were those same girls, the same three girls in that picture? In World War I? And still young? There was no doubt about it, the three sisters looked exactly the same as they did now. But how was that possible? No, no it couldn't be possible. That had to be some trick on a photo editing program. It couldn't have been... could it? But wait. Their singing. The attraction of the crowds. Everyone stuck in a trance. Streams of flowing mist. Their hypnotic tones. Trixie felt herself breathing a lot faster. She started hyperventilating, and she got louder. "No, no, no, no! No it can't be! No, no, its fine, its fine, this isn't real. But... the Rainbooms..." Trixie glanced back and remembered. The Amulets around their necks. "No, no, no! This isn't real, I'm just seeing things, that's all! I uh, uh, didn't get enough sleep, that's it! Stayed up waaay too late, that's it." She gulped. "I hope..." After the final notes were played, the crowd applauded for Vinyl and her team. No doubt in their minds they had succeeded. Once they had finished, they stepped off the stage, giggles and smiles around. They left the stage and off into the hallways. "That was fun! Lets do it again!" Lyra cheered. "Hey, we'll have to see when we get there." Bon Bon replied, patting her wrist. "Girls!!!" The group turned around to see a frantic Trixie gunning straight towards them. Her face was terrified, and it looked like her eyes were about to pop out of her head. "Trixie, lass, calm down! You look like you're about to collapse!" Octavia said, trying to hold her still. "Girls, I... I have terrible news!" Trixie panicked. "What? What happened?" Bon Bon asked. Trixie could only stuttered her more. "Dah, uh, Dazzlings, World War, Vietnam, China, Japan, Great Depression, young, immortal, Ancient Greece, Middle Ages, d-d-d... SIRENS!!!" Everyone was at an awkward place. "I'm sorry, what?" Amethyst asked. Trixie held her stomach and breathed in and out. She looked at all of them with a panicked face, but she was still calmer than before. "I didn't want to believe this, but its true! The Dazzlings aren't from around here!" "Well, I think that's kind of a given, they did just move here--" "That's not what I mean Vinyl!" Trixie snapped. "I... I don't know how to say it, but these girls, they've been around longer than we thought! World War, the Great Depression, Ancient Greece, they've been here for hundreds of years!" "Trixie, how exactly do you know this?" Octavia asked, rubbing her temples. Trixie handed them photos and the papers that had been given to her prior. "The Rainbooms came by and copied all of these for me. These aren't something they made up on the spot, these are in official books and online websites. And I checked!" Each one of them looked at a single picture at a time. There was some of them shown on a painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware, in Ancient Greek paintings, Egyptian sculptures, and one in particular of interest; the three of them looking enraged and standing before King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. "Trixie, this can't be--" "Think about this. Remember what happened last year, the Rainbooms showed off...", Trixie looked around for anyone who could be watching her, "you-know-what?" Everyone nodded. "That was real! And these are in official documents!" "Come on, this can't be true, can it?" Trixie looked at Vinyl with a sad look. "If the Rainbooms can gain power and control... then I think the Dazzlings can be here longer than we have. And think about this; their singing, how everyone's entranced by them... their eyes glowing?" Vinyl's heart sank into the pits of her stomach when she listened to her. She didn't want to believe it, but, in some twisted and dark way... she was right. The other girls had similar faces too. It all started to become clear now. These girls weren't human. There was no way. No way any of this could have been the work of a human. And if these were dated way beyond their time frame... The girls looked again, and looked at another photo that caught their eye again. This time of a much clearer image. There was a stilled picture of Adagio, Aria, and Sonata all standing together in the courtyard of Cloudsdale High. But this was no regular picture. All three of them were infuriated, fires all around them. Their eyes were as red as blood, but there was another detail amiss. There were wings... aquatic-like wings sprouted from their backs, and there were pony-like ears on their heads. The girls looked back up, all of them sharing looks of anger, sadness, and disappointment. How could they not have told them? How come they never came clean about this? The fact that all of this was in front of them had left them lost in thought. Just at that moment, they found the same three girls coming around the corner in the hallway, approaching them. Adagio had a little gift wrapped up in a neat little bow. "Oh good, you girls are here. Excellent! Sorry we took so long, we got stuck in the locker room for a second, jacket got stuck, you know." None of the girls gave Adagio and her sisters welcoming faces. All they were giving her was looks of anger and hatred. "Girls? Are you all okay?" Adagio asked, sounding concerned. "You didn't let those Rainbooms get in your head, did you?" "Oh, no we didn't... siren." Adagio was sent back. "What? What are you talking about?" "STOP LYING!" Amethyst yelled. All three of them were shocked from her yelling. "Amethyst, calm down, what's wrong?" "What's wrong is that you all have been lying to us all this time!" Adagio and her sisters remained confused. "Adagio, care to explain this?" Octavia raised up a picture of her and her sisters facing off King Arthur and his knights. Adagio and her sisters eyes all bulged out of their heads. Adagio's face crept with a nervous smile, legitimately worried. "Oh, that, uh... well, um..." "AHA! So it is true! Is it not!?" Bon Bon shouted. Adagio and her sisters looked at each other. They had been found out. No hiding now. They had the proof, and they themselves had just proved them right. Adagio sighed, feeling defeated. "Yes. It... its true." The girls gasped. "Why did you lie to us Adagio? Aria? Sonata?" Lyra asked, her eyes tearing up. "Girls, you have to--" "No, we don't have to understand! I thought we were your friends, I thought we could trust each other! You come in here and give us all this hooey about being friends and trusting each other, when you can't even trust us! How are we supposed to trust you if you can't even trust us!?" Octavia screamed. Adagio was now taking steps back. "Girls, wait, come on--" Aria tried to say. "I don't want to hear it Blaze! In fact, no! Get out of here!" Octavia screamed. "I don't know what you all are, I don't know who you all are, I don't care what you are! I'm done with you all!" "Me too!" "Me three!" "Same here!" "Beat it!" Sonata's lips were practically quivering, and she could see her sisters having watery eyes. "But--" "GET OUT OF HERE!!!" All of them yelled. Adagio couldn't hold back anymore. She couldn't help it. Tears pushed out her eyes, and she sniffled. "What, you're gonna try and force sympathy out of us now? You don't deserve it you freaking liar!" Amethyst snarled. "Girls, please..." Adagio whimpered. "No, get out of here! You all are nothing but... but..." "Please..." "Monsters! That's all you are, you're immortal... horrible... disgusting, monsters!" Vinyl screamed at the top of her lungs. "I never want to see you again!" Adagio felt more tears pushing past, and without a second glance, she turned away from them. Not even thinking anymore, she dropped the gift and started running, tears running right past her. Aria and Sonata followed too, not even looking behind them. The ones that they grew to care for, had cut them off. No more were they friends. Now they were back to outcasts, freaks, monsters... nothing. The group tried to calm themselves down, and they could hear each other's slow breathing. "Come on girls. We don't need to need to talk to them anymore. We better tell them that they're out." Octavia said, gathering the girls together and going back into the auditorium with red faces. Trixie watched as the band went their own separate ways. She couldn't even bring herself to talk to them. She couldn't even go and try and chase the Dazzlings down. She slowly hung her head, and held the gift that was given to her and her friends, walking away from the auditorium doors, leaving the empty hallways. What was once colorful and bright had turned dark and somber. She couldn't bring herself to open it up. Now wouldn't be the time. Unbeknownst to Trixie, Sunset Shimmer watched as she left the wing. "We finally destroyed the bonds of their friendship. Now with the Dazzlings out of the way, we can face off against the rest. And as soon as we win... we'll get the final piece of our power. Now come on. We better see what Principal Luna has to say." She went into the auditorium. The other girls began to descend into the auditorium as well, but one girl still stood in the hall; Fluttershy. She watched Trixie leave in a depressing state, and for some reason, she felt something. Something inside her snapped. She actually felt bad for Trixie. Was what they did right? Did they have to destroy their friendship to gain their power? But now wouldn't have to be the time to ask herself. Focused on her mission, she walked into the auditorium with the rest of her Rainboom friends.