//------------------------------// // Reality // Story: Equestria Girls: Tool Edition // by Acoustic Pulse //------------------------------// "Why do I feel like I've seen this before?" Maynard was confused. "I dunno, man, I feel like I'm in a cartoon," Danny couldn't help but laugh. "That's kind of what it looks like," Maynard laughed with him. Adam brushed past a guy on the street, he turned and tapped his shoulder, "Hey, man." "Oh, excuse me, I'm sorry," the guy apologized. "No, it's fine, shit happens. Can you tell us where we are?" Adam asked him. "Uh, yeah, you're in Canterlot," he answered. "Canterlot? What state are we in?" Adam continued to interrogate the random bystander. "Equestria. I take it you guys are new around here?" the guy answered his question with another question. "Yeah, you could say that," Adam nodded. "Hey, man, what planet are we on?" Maynard walked up and asked jokingly. "Equestria. Canterlot, Equestria, Equestria," the guy answered. "That's fuckin' wicked, we're not even on Earth anymore," Maynard already expected this. "What?" the dude was confused. "Bro, we're not from this Equestria place. We got shocked by an exploding amplifier, which hurt like hell by the way, and then we passed out from the smoke. We woke up here," Maynard clarified. "That sounds crazy, do you know how you're going to get back?" the guy asked. "Oh, do you not want us to stay? I see how it is," Maynard turned and walked away, pretending to be offended. Adam, Danny, and Justin watched him, wondering where he was going. "What? No, I didn't mean it like that, dude, I'm sorry," the guy was confused. Maynard turned back, laughing, "I know, buddy, I was just giving you hell. What's your name, man?" "Featherweight," the guy answered. "Alright, Featherweight, I'm Maynard James Keenan," he extended his hand. Featherweight shook it, "Three names, huh? That's interesting." "Danny Carey at your service," he introduced himself. "Name's Adam Jones," Adam shrugged, not really sure why everybody was introducing themselves. "I'm Justin. Justin Chancellor," the bassist was the last to introduce himself. "Well, it's nice to meet you guys. I was just about to go visit some friends. I write for the school's newspaper, so I was going to do a report on music. They're a band called the Rainbooms. It was just going to be like a little interview and stuff. If you want, you guys can tag along," Featherweight offered. "You know what, we might as well. You seem to know your way around this place, so I'll humor you," Maynard was a little uncomfortable, but decided to roll with it anyway. "Alright, I guess we can head there now," Featherweight shrugged. The four men followed Featherweight to the garage that the Rainbooms were practicing in. The members of Tool were not entirely sure what they had gotten themselves into, but it must have been amusing watching four grown men follow a little kid around. "So what grade are you in, little man?" Danny asked him. "Oh. This is my first year in secondary school, I just got up to their level," Featherweight said. "Ah, a Freshman, huh? I'd give a lot to go back to those years," he laughed. "Oh, how old are you if you don't mind me asking?" Featherweight inquired. "It's no problem, Feathers, I'm 57," Danny answered. "Oh. Feathers. I like that nickname," Featherweight laughed. He stopped and the members of Tool looked at the house. It was a decent sized two story. They looked toward the garage door as it opened. Seven girls exited, Maynard saw this as an ambush and squared up. "James, relax," Adam held him back. "Oh. OH, that's the little band. I dunno what the hell my problem is," Maynard shook Adam off, and turned away embarrassed. Featherweight pretended he didn't see that and pointed towards the 7 girls, "Here they are. The Rainbooms." "Hey, Featherweight," the purple one waved. "Hi, Twilight. Is the band ready for the interview?" Featherweight asked. "Yes, we're ready for your questions," Twilight replied. "Okay, can you introduce yourselves? I know y'all already, but the other students might not," Featherweight explained the obvious. Twilight nodded, "My name is Twilight Sparkle. I provided lead vocals, but I now provide backup vocals." A blue girl with multicolored hair approached, "I'm Rainbow Dash. I now provide lead vocals and I play lead guitar." A blonde girl with a big cowboy hat walked up, "Howdy, Featherweight. My name's Applejack, I play the bass." A ghostly white girl with curly purple hair joined the girls already grouped up in the driveway, "I'm Rarity, I play the keytar." A frizzy-haired pink girl ran up to them, extremely energetic, "HEY, FEATHERWEIGHT! You already know who, I am, silly. It's Pinkie Pie! I'm the drummer," she imitated the arm movements of a basic drum fill. Maynard silently laughed and tapped on Danny's shoulder. Danny looked over, Maynard motioned him to come here. Maynard whispered in his ear, "You think she's any good at drumming?" Danny shrugged, "She's good at eardrumming, that girl's loud." Maynard lost control and laughed, "Eardrumming, why is that funny?" He stopped when he realized everyone was staring at him, "Oh. Sorry, continue the interview." Featherweight waved it off, "It's cool, Maynard. No worries. Okay, next band member please." An orange girl rocking a leather jacket sauntered out. When she stopped, she crossed her arms, "Hey, I'm Sunset Shimmer. I play rhythm guitar and I also provide backup vocals." Maynard winced and pretended to be hurt by something, "Ow, shit." "What's your deal?" Adam raised an eyebrow. Maynard put his arm around Adam's shoulder, "Dude I just got cut by all that edge, am I bleeding?" Adam shook his head, laughing,"Why are you belittling these girls? They've done nothing to you." Maynard sighed, "You're no fun, man." Adam patted Maynard's bald head, "Take it easy, brother." Maynard lightly shoved him off, "Okay, chill, quit massaging my scalp, that shit feels weird." Everyone erupted in laughter. Maynard looked around for a second, then took a bow, "Thank you." Featherweight scanned the driveway, "Wait, where's Fluttershy?" A little yellow hand raised from behind the other band members, "I-I'm here." "Poor thing, she's so timid," Justin whispered to Danny. Danny nodded in agreement, "Yep." "What instrument do you play?" Featherweight asked her. Fluttershy mumbled, barely above a whisper, "Tambourine." "A tangerine is not an instrument, that's a fruit," Featherweight giggled. Fluttershy raised her voice, but not by much, "No, not tangerine. Tambourine." "OH, TAMBOURINE! Sorry," Featherweight wrote that down. "So, who are your friends, Featherweight?" Twilight asked. "Oh, right. This is Maynard," he pointed at the bald guy. "That's Danny," Featherweight motioned toward the long haired blonde man. "This is Adam," he gestured to the long haired bearded guy. "And that's Justin," he looked over at the short haired bearded guy. "Nice to meet you!" the Rainbooms said in unison. Maynard was dazed, "Dude, what the fuck? They all said it at the same time. That was wild." "So what do you guys do?" Featherweight asked. "Oh, well, we're a band too, actually. We call ourselves Tool. I'm the singer, Adam's the guitarist, Justin's the bassist, and Danny plays drums," Maynard answered. "Really? That's cool. Do you wanna jam with us after this interview?" Pinkie offered. Maynard turned to the other band members. They nodded approvingly. He turned back, "We might as well." "Awesome! Looking forward to it," Pinkie went over to join the rest of the Rainbooms. "Twilight, the first question is for you. What inspires you to create music?" "It's fun. It's even more fun since I'm with my friends. I really enjoy spending time with them, they're like sisters to me. I would say fun and togetherness inspire us," Twilight beamed. The other girls smiled back, supportive of their friend. Featherweight scribbled her answer down, "Next question is for Rainbow Dash. Why did you take the lead vocal spot from Twilight? Was there a fight over it or was it a mutual agreement?" Rainbow Dash nodded, "Good question, we agreed upon it. Twilight's not from here either, she had to go back home. We agreed I would do lead vocals until she came back. When she came back though, she just let me keep the lead role and took up backup vocals." Featherweight jotted down her answer, "Okay, next question is for Sunset Shimmer. Coming in as the outsider, do you feel welcomed to the group?" Sunset nodded, "Yeah, of course. They're such an inclusive bunch. After those ridiculous stunts I pulled and after I was so mean and hateful toward everyone, I'm surprised they were so forgiving, but yes, I'm grateful I can call them my friends instead of my enemies and I'm happy to be a part of the group." Featherweight copied that down, "Okay. Last question is for Pinkie Pie. Are you excited to jam with the newcomers?" Pinkie Pie nodded, "Of course! I wanna see what they're made of." "Okay, that wraps everything up, thanks you guys!" Featherweight closed his notebook and walked away. The Rainbooms waved goodbye to him. The members of Tool stood quietly. They had waited for the little interview to end. Pinkie Pie approached them, "Okay, let's jam! You guys can use our instruments since you didn't really plan this and don't have yours with you." "Alright, we'll take good care of them. That was a kind gesture," Danny replied. Danny walked over and sat at Pinkie Pie's drum kit, "Only one bass drum? I'll make it work. Thanks again." Adam walked over and looked at Rainbow's guitar. He strummed a couple times, he changed the tuning and strummed again, "Alright, much better." Justin was the last to enter. He walked up to Applejack's bass. He picked it up and plucked the string with his finger. He left it like it was because he liked how it sounded. Maynard stood at the microphone, "Which track do you guys feel like playing?" Danny thought for a moment and then suggested, "Jambi?" "We could do Parabola," Adam offered. "What about Schism?" Justin played the bass riff. "Damn. Alright, we'll flip a coin," Maynard reached in his pocket and fished for a coin. He found a quarter and took it out. "But there's 3 options," Danny raised an eyebrow. "I know, just let me do my thing. Parabola and Schism were the last options so we'll flip between them first. Adam, heads or tails?" Adam shrugged, "Uh, heads." Maynard flipped the coin, caught it, and flipped it onto his other hand. He uncovered it, revealing that heads was the right call to make. "Alright, Parabola lives. Schism's out of the question. The next flip will decide between Jambi and Parabola. Call it, Danny. Adam, you flip it," Maynard tossed the quarter to him. "I'll go with heads," Danny knew the fact that heads had the slight 51 to 49 edge over tails, rather than the common misconception that it was half and half. Adam flipped the coin. Instead of catching and flipping it, he just caught it between the back of his left hand and the palm of his right. He looked at it, "Yeah, heads, Jambi it is." They tuned to the right settings and began to strum a few notes. The Rainbooms silently watched everything unfold, not entirely sure what to think or say. Adam and Justin started with the opening riffs. After a couple repeats, Danny put in some drum fills. Shortly thereafter, Maynard began to sing, the end sounded like this: When they were done, the Rainbooms were too stunned to really speak. "This is by far the smallest crowd we've ever performed for," Maynard laughed. The other band members laughed along with him. "They don't know who we are here, remember?" Danny laughed. "Wait, guys, can you play that transition where it gets quiet for a second and then starts up really heavy again? That was so cool!" Rainbow requested (Timestamp 3:55 if you want to hear it again). "Alright, y'all ready?" Maynard turned to them. They played the breakdown again. "That is so AWESOME!" Rainbow giggled. Sunset Shimmer found herself singing along, "Shine on forever, shine on, benevolent sun. Shine on upon the broken, shine until the two become one." Rarity smiled, "I thought it was sweet that he said he'd wish everything away to keep the person he was singing about." Applejack nodded, "Yeah, I just loved how groovy it was, that's some mighty fine workout music right there, lemme tell ya." Pinkie giggled, "The drumming hasn't been mentioned yet, wasn't it great?" The other girls nodded in agreement. Twilight added, "That song was very technically sound. They definitely put a lot of work into it. Composing is an underappreciated art." Fluttershy stayed quiet. She liked the song, but the 'beg like a hooker' line made her feel awkward. "What did you think, Fluttershy?" Rarity turned to her. "Oh, it was uh, it was fine. I liked the message," she mumbled. "Me too, darling," Rarity smiled. The members of Tool put the instruments back on the stands and walked outside. "Hey, do you wanna hear us play?" Rainbow offered. "Well, since you listened to us and since you let us borrow your instruments, sure. We'll listen," Danny agreed. The other three obliged to make it unanimous. The Rainbooms assumed their respective positions and tuned their instruments. They began to play a song of their own, which sounded like this: Maynard was confused by what he had seen, "Dude, you grew wings. That was wicked." "If I may be honest, I am impressed that you could play without an amplifier and it still sounds like it's plugged in. How did you do that?" Adam raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I didn't even realize I left it unplugged. I don't really know," Rainbow shrugged. "I also want to say that your guitar solo was pretty good. You've got potential, kid," Adam added. "Hey, you already know!" Rainbow Dash was grateful for the ego boost. "This kinda sounded like a nasally impression of Hayley Williams from Paramore. It wasn't terrible, but it was kind of average. I feel like younger audiences would love it though," Maynard offered the backhanded compliment. "Paramore?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Oh, they're another band from our world," Maynard clarified. "Cool," Rainbow laughed. "The drumming was actually decent, I approve. It isn't quite playlist quality, but I wouldn't skip it if it came on the radio or something," Danny tried to keep it positive. Justin didn't have anything to say, he didn't like how the bass sounded. He also didn't like how arrogant and showboaty the lyrics were, but he simply held his tongue. "Dude, you were awesome, maybe if I keep playing, I'll be that good," Pinkie laughed. "That's the spirit, don't ever give up," Danny encouraged. "I won't," Pinkie promised. It was starting to get dark. Pinkie looked up at the sky, "Hey, do you guys have anywhere to stay?" Maynard shrugged, "We woke up in an empty studio when he got transported here. I guess we could go back there." "Really? I thought that place was abandoned," Pinkie was confused. "It was definitely empty when we got here," Danny confirmed. "Well, I guess we'll see you around then," Rainbow waved. The members of Tool headed back to the studio they woke up in. They had no idea what the next day was going to bring them, but they concluded that this place was not nearly as bad as they thought it would be. End of Chapter 2!