//------------------------------// // Rainbow Rocks part 2 // Story: Prince Sonic the Hedgehog // by castroedgar316 //------------------------------// The next morning, we find Sonic having just returned from equestria after getting his guitar (which currently was in it's case) from his room in canterlot castle. After looking to make sure no one was around, Sonic quickly took off to sweet apple acers so that he could join in on band practice (they went there and began to set everything up before Sonic left to get his guitar). As he entered the orchard, Sonic stopped running and began to approach the garage. Upon arriving, he saw that the girls were just about to begin practice. "Hope I'm not late or anything." Sonic said as he entered the garage. "Actually, you made it just in time." Rainbow Dash said before noticing the guitar case Sonic had on his back, "Hey, is that your guitar?" "You bet it is." Sonic said as he got the case off his back and placed it on the floor before opening it, revealing the blue and red guitar within. (Imagine that it's blue while the center is red) "Whoa!" Everyone sans Sonic said in awe as they saw the guitar. "That's one nice guitar you have there, sugarcube." Applejack complimented. "Think we could trade?" Rainbow Dash jokingly asked as she raised her guitar, causing Sonic to chuckle before shaking his head in denial. "If you don't mind me asking, how would a guitar like this exist in equestria?" Sunset asked, "Unless technology took a massive leap since I was gone, this guitar seems too advanced than most things in equestria." "It's actually an experimental guitar." Sonic began to explain, "After showing how great I was at using a guitar, my mom convinced the ponies who made it to allow me to have one in exchange of me telling them how great it preforms and sending it to them so that they could tweak it at times to improve it's preformance and to add some new features to it. The latest feature that they added allows it to connect to a speaker with a cable with little to no issue." "After hearing that, there is absolutely no doubt that being royalty has it's perks!" Pinkie exclaimed. "From the looks of it, I believe it." Applejack said. "Well don't keep us waiting!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "Show us what you got!" "No need to be too hasty Rainbow Dash." Sonic said as he grabbed his guitar, "I was planning to do that anyway." With that said, Sonic strapped on his guitar, and began to play. To say that they were amazed was an understatement. Everyone was astounded about how well Sonic was able to play, and how every note he played sounded flawless. Although Sunset and the Rainbooms (mainly Rainbow Dash) thought the beat sounded familiar, they simply shrugged it off, thinking it was their imagination. Once Sonic finished, everyone clapped as he took a quick bow. "Wow Sonic, that was amazing!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "When you said you were great with a guitar, I didn't think you would be that good! Was that a song that is usually played in equestria?" Before Sonic could respond, everyone heard Pinkie say, "Hey, what's this?" Looking towards Pinkie, everyone saw the girl kneeling in front of Sonic's guitar case as she pulled out a few papers out of the case. "Huh, almost forgot about those." Sonic said as he walked towards the case and took out another paper, "These are several songs that I wrote." "You wrote your own songs?" Rainbow Dash asked with a lot of curiosity in her voice. "Yeah, ever since I got my guitar." Sonic responded, "While I didn't do it much, if I wasn't busy with anything and wasn't running around or taking a nap, I usually found myself playing my guitar and writing songs, including some that requires singing and others playing other instruments." "Cool!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "We should practice one of them and see if we could use it for the battle of the bands." "What about our songs and Twilight's counter-spell?" Fluttershy asked. "Don't worry about it." Rainbow Dash said, "We have plenty of time to practice those. We'll just practice them after trying some of Sonic's songs." "Whatever you say Rainbow." Applejack said as everyone prepped their instruments. "Don't worry guys, we've got this in the bag." Rainbow reassured, "Learning a couple more songs along with Twilight's counter spell should give us enough of an edge to stop the sirens." 'I hope you're right Rainbow Dash.' Twilight thought to herself before the group began practicing. It's been several hours after the group began, and they managed to learn and master several songs with little to no issues. When they began to practice Twilight's counter-spell however, things didn't go as well as everyone hoped it would. [Twilight off-key] You may think you're in control But we're here to prove you wrong With our friendship and our music With the power of our song Gonna stomp our feet, clap our hands With the magic of friendship Gonna stop your evil plan It was absolutely unbearable to hear, and the group (while they didn't say anything about it to each other), knew it. Once the group finished, none of them spoke a word, completely unsure as to how speak about the monstrosity of a song they just played. Deciding to break the silence, Spike awkwardly said, "...I'd say you all did pretty good." "Nnope." Big Mac said as he walked by the garage door. "Thanks for trying to cheer us up Spike, but it's clear that I still need to work on my counter-spell." Twilight said. "Well I think it's pretty obvious with what's wrong with the counter-spell." Rainbow said as she tuned her guitar. "You turning the chorus into a five-minute guitar solo?" Applejack asked disdainfully. "Hey, at least I'm trying to pick up the slack!" Rainbow Dash argued, "I'm the only one out of us who's at least trying!" "Okay, that's enough you two." Sonic said as he got between the two girls, "Fighting isn't going to get us any closer to stopping the Dazzlings, so let's just continue practicing in the meantime." "Actually, that's probably going to have to wait." Sunset said after checking her phone for the time, "We have to check in at the Battle of the Bands in fifteen minutes!" "What!?" Twilight exclaimed. "But the counter-spell's not ready! If we play it in the first round and it doesn't work on the sirens, they'll know what we're up to!" "Then it looks like we're going to have to buy Twilight some time." Rainbow said, "We'll try one of Sonic's songs while Twilight gets that counter-spell all finished up. And since the Dazzlings are sure to get to the finals, we have plenty of time until then. You can fix it before the finals, right, Twilight?" "Uhh, right," Twilight said, though her voice lacked confidence. "Then let's get going before we're too late!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Wait, which of Sonic's songs are we going to play?!" Applejack asked. "We'll figure that out while we're on our way!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "For now, let's just focus on getting to the battle of the bands in time!" Nodding, the group packed up their instruments and rushed out of the garage before going down the road to the school. Some time later inside the gym, the Battle of the Bands were about ready to begin as all the students were grouped up in their bands on the bleachers. In front of the stage was a table for Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, being the judges for the competition. Both adults made their way up onto the stage, Celestia with a mic in her hand as she prepared announce the start of the competition. "Welcome to the first ever canterlot high Battle of the Bands!" Principal Celestia announced, "I think I speak for all of us when I say that this is by far the greatest event we've ever done here at this school!" The students cheered in excitement, though still under the sirens' spell as they were ready to blow the rest of their peers away with their music. "And we are glad our three newest students encouraged us to turn this event into something exciting!" Principal Celestia said before gesturing towards the Dazzlings. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata waved to their victims, already feeling their adoration before the Battle of the Bands even began. "But, seeing as this is a competition, there can only be one winner," Vice Principal Luna added, which only sparked more negative reactions out of the bands. "Who will be the winner of this Battle of the Bands?" The students then began arguing, claiming their band will win over the others, throwing insults at their peers under the sirens' power. 'All this arguing is only making the sirens stronger.' Sonic thought to himself with much concern, 'Hopefully Twilight could finish her counter-spell before the sirens become too powerful to beat defeat without having to fight them head-on.' 'Make it stop!' Sonic screamed in his head. Not too long after Principal Celestia and Vice Principal's opening announcement, Snips and Snails had gotten on stage and began rapping with using beatboxing as their music style, and it sounded horrible! 'As messed up it be to say it, this sounds a LOT worse than what me and the girls did when we tried to practice Twilight's counter-spell, and that's saying something.' Sonic thought to himself. Once the duo had finished they dropped the mics to the ground, sending an ear piecing feedback as the foam mics clanged to the ground, causing everyone, even the sirens, to wince at the duo's mic drop. "Please do not drop the microphones," Principal Celestia scolded. The duo didn't heed their the warning as they cheered, "Yeah! In your face, Rainbooms!" "... At least we know one group we don't have to worry about beating in order to reach the finals." Sonic said a bit awkwardly. "Let's get ready to rock!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Just as the group were about to head on stage, Pinkie suddenly said, "Wait! Where's Rarity?" "I'm here!" Rarity called out, running up to them through the back doors behind the stage. Everyone all groaned in irritation as Rarity had made a sudden wardrobe change, wearing something that rockers from the seventies wore: a tan ribbon tied around her head like a bandanna, a loosely hanging jacket with sequins and metal fringes hanging over the sleeves and the hem of the tan coat, a longer purple skirt, and light gray furred sandals. "Sorry!" Rarity apologized, "I just had to wear something fabulous in front of the audience." "Why am I not surprised?" Sonic sarcasticly asked himself under his breath. "Good luck, guys." Sunset said as the group made their way on stage. "Ok, girls, remember that we have to be good enough to pass, but not too good that we let the sirens see our magic." Twilight reminded the Rainbooms as they set up their instruments, "If they realize what we're doing, we might not be able to use the counter-spell I still need to work on." "No sweat, Twilight," Rainbow said confidently, tuning her guitar, "Be cool enough to win, but not too cool and show off the ears and tail and stuff. Soooo, about twenty percent less cool." "Just to be on the safe side, I'll occasionally look around to make sure none of you end up activating your magic." Sonic said, "And if one of you do, I'll shock you with a little bit of chaos energy." "You can do that?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It's something I've been practicing." Sonic responded, "Mainly for distraction purposes but this should work as well." "It won't hurt too badly, would it?" Fluttershy asked. "Don't worry, it'll only be one small, quick sting." Sonic said. Once the group was ready, Pinkie tapped her drumsticks together and counted down. "One! Two! Three! Four!" [Sonic] Can you feel life movin' through your mind? Ooooh, looks like it came back for more! Yeah, yeah, yeah! Can you feel time slippin' down your spine? Ooooh, you try and try to ignore, yeah! [Sonic and Rainbow Dash] But you can hardly swallow! Your fears and pain! When you can't help but follow, it puts you right back where you came! [Everyone] Live and learn! [Sonic] Hanging on the edge of tomorrow! [Everyone] Live and learn! [Sonic] From the works of yesterday! [Everyone] Live and learn! [Sonic] If you beg or if you borrow! [Everyone] Live and learn! [Sonic] You may never find your way! As the song continued, Sonic looked around to make sure none of the girls activated their magic. While he did so, Sonic momentarily looked upwards and spotted three girls who somehow managed to sneak up above the stage. Two of them were carrying a magnet tied to something used to control marionettes for a show, and from the look of it, they were making their way above Rarity. Figuring that they were trying to sabotage their performance, Sonic created a barrier above the group, stopping the three girls from getting the magnets close enough to Rarity for them to affect her (the barrier was also high enough to prevent anyone else from seeing it). Not too long afterwards, Sonic heard what sounded like cannons going off, making him look around the stage in slight panic. Upon looking upwards, he saw confetti rain down on the stage. 'Pinkie must have set off one of her party cannons.' Sonic thought to himself worriedly, 'This might cause some problems.' Activating chaos control to freeze everyone but himself, Sonic quickly ran around the stage, causing the confetti to be blown away the gusts of wind that followed behind him. 'There, that should do the trick.' Sonic thought to himself as walked back to where he stood and deactivated chaos control. [Everyone] Live and learn! [Sonic] Hanging on the edge of tomorrow! [Everyone] Live and learn! [Sonic] From the works of yesterday! [Everyone] Live and learn! [Sonic] If you beg or if you borrow! [Everyone] Live and learn! [Sonic] You may never find your way Continuing to keep an eye on things, Sonic managed to see Snips and Snails messing with a spotlight that was above Fluttershy before they began brighten it. Knowing exactly what the two trouble-makers were up to, Sonic sent a small charge of chaos energy into the spotlight light, making it short-circuit before shutting it off completely. 'Hopefully that'll stop their shenanigans.' Sonic thought to himself as before continuing. [Sonic] Live and learn! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Live and learn! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Once the song was over, the group was greeted by clapping from the audience, causing them to smile and to bow. After the audience stopped clapping, the group made their way off stage. "Wow guys, that was amazing!" Sunset said once the group was off stage, "Without a doubt, you guys are gonna make it to the next round." "Thanks Sunset." Twilight said, "I'm just glad nothing went wrong." "If it weren't for me, I'm certain things would of been horrible." Sonic said. "What do you mean by that?" Rainbow Dash asked, thinking Sonic was bragging about the way he played and sang. "I'll tell you guys later, but trust me, it would of been a complete mess had I paid attention around the stage." Sonic said. Taking the former hedgehog's word the group (sans Sunset) began to make their way out of the gym. Noticing that Sunset was staying, Sonic stopped before asking, "Sunset, you're not coming?" Sunset shook her head before saying, "I'll stick around and see how the other bands are, along with the Dazzlings. You guys go ahead and practice the counter-spell, you're going to need all the time you can get." Nodding, the group made their way out of the stage just as Derpy began to play a musical saw. After exiting the gym, the group began to discuss where they could potentially practice the counter-spell. "Maybe we should practice in a classroom." Pinkie suggested. Sonic shook his head before saying, "I don't think that's a good idea. There's a chance the sirens could listen in on us and think of a way to protect themselves from the counter-spell." Before the conversation could continue, Twilight ended up walking into Flash, making the group stop. "We really need to stop bumping into each other like this" Twilight said as she let out a nervous chuckle. As if he didn't hear her, Flash turned towards his bandmates before asking, "Uh, you guys hear something? "Uhh-uhh." Said one of the bandmates. "Uh, nope." Said the other. Genuinely thinking that he didn't hear her, Twilight tried to say, "I said, we have to stop-" "There it is again." Flash said, cutting off Twilight, "So annoying." "Why are you acting like this?" Twilight asked, beginning to become upset. "I thought we were friends." "Yeah, and then you and Sonic decide to come back here just so you can beat me in the Battle of the Bands." Flash said coldly, making Sonic and the rest of the group (sans Twilight) to frown angrily at him. "I want this, Twilight, and you're trying to take it from me! Some friend." "That's not why-" Twilight tried to say before stopping when Applejack put her hand on the former alicorn's shoulder. "Come on Twilight, we've got things to do." Applejack said, knowing they were simply wasting their time. "You really think you're gonna help them?!" Flash asked with a smirk on his face, "Ha! I bet you have no idea what you're even doing!" Having had heard enough, Sonic ran right up to Flash before grabbing the teenager by his jacket and slamming him against a locker. After recovering, Flash glared at Sonic, but was only given an even colder glare (that admittedly made him a bit nervous) from the former hedgehog. "You have a lot of nerve talking to Twilight like that while I'm around." Sonic growled. Deciding to act tough, Flash smirked before asking, "So what if I do? What are you gonna do about it, beat me up?" Hearing that made Sonic let out a growl, along with making small sparks of dark energy appear around his body. Deciding to step in before got out of hand, Rainbow Dash walked up to Sonic placed her hand on his shoulder before saying, "Come on Sonic, it's not worth it. He's just saying that to get under your skin." Knowing Rainbow Dash had a point, Sonic quickly shot one last glare at Flash before letting the teen go and walked away. "Come on guys, let's go." Sonic said as he walked off, prompting the the rest of the group to follow him, but unknown to them, the Dazzlings saw the entire thing. "Did you girls see that?" Adagio asked, "Blue boy was releasing some sort of energy for a second there." "And from the looks of it, it comes out whenever he becomes angry." Aria added. "To admit, he's a little scary when he's angry." Sonata said. "I don't know what that energy was, but I think I speak for the three of us when I say we should get out hands on some of it." Adagio said. "How are we going to do that?" Sonata asked. Adagio face palmed before asking, "How else? We put him under our spell!" "But how are we going to do that?" Aria asked, "He and the Rainblossoms, or whatever they're called, appear to be immune to our spell." "He and the Rainbooms are just as capable of falling apart as anyone else." Adagio said, "They just need a little... push in the wrong direction. And as we just saw, everyone in this school is going to be lining up to give them a shove." With that said, the Dazzlings began to laugh wickedly, believing that absolutely no one will be able to stand up to them and stop their plans.