//------------------------------// // Experience // Story: Equestria Girls: Tool Edition // by Acoustic Pulse //------------------------------// The band awoke the next morning. They looked around and realized they were still in this Equestria place. Maynard sat silently, zoning out from deep thought. "Maynard?" Danny looked over at him. Maynard wasn't paying attention, Danny waved his hand in front of his face, "Hey, man, snap out of it." He looked up and all around him, he then turned to Danny, "Hey, bro, I've been thinking." "About what?" he asked. "This place we're in, we're not the first to have this happen to us," Maynard remembered. "What do you mean?" Danny was confused. "You remember that time we went to Ozzfest?" Maynard scratched his head. "Yeah, of course. That show was a blast," Danny smiled, remembering it fondly. "Well, when I was there, I was backstage. Ozzy was hanging with me back there, he was telling me that he was performing at a concert and that a lightning bolt struck the stage. He said him and the band woke up somewhere completely different. He said the people were colorful like this. I dunno why it took me so long to remember that, but I'm wondering if people who disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle end up here or in other worlds," Maynard rambled. "I hadn't heard about that. I don't know if it's true, they acted like they'd never seen our kind before. But we don't look that much different from them," Danny replied. "Dude, this is random, but I been thinking about other stuff too, like you know how all of the girls from that band wear those crazy thigh high boots?" Maynard asked. "What about them?" Danny laughed. "I used to think thigh high boots were sexy, but now they fuckin' terrify me, man. Their entire body is their legs, like there's no divide between their torso and their legs," Maynard said. "Those boots look heavy as hell too, I don't know how they walk in those things," Danny agreed. "I don't either," Maynard shrugged. Adam walked over to Danny and Maynard, "What's up, guys?" "Talking about those people from yesterday with the crazy looking boots," Danny answered. "Oh, yeah, the girls from that little garage band, those kids got potential. I feel like they'd be alright here. Smaller children would probably jam to that shit all day," Adam said. "Yeah, dude, every little girl's dream is to be a rock star or a pop star. Some sort of singer," Maynard generalized randomly. "Oh, I know, look at you now! You're all grown up," Adam roasted. "Hey, shut the fuck up. You know what, that's fighting words right there. Square up," Maynard jumped up. "Oh, shit, chill, I was playing," Adam tried to diffuse the situation. Danny pulled Maynard back and held him, "Calm down, man, damn. It ain't that serious." Maynard relaxed and Danny let go of him. He patted Adam on the back, "I was just fuckin' with you, man. That comeback was actually hilarious." Justin walked over after the debacle had settled down, "What's the game plan for today?" "I guess we can go back and explore some more. This place reminds me of the Southern US in a way. Small tight-knit community where everybody knows each other," Danny suggested. "Alright, let's see what we can get ourselves into," Adam agreed. Maynard and Justin followed them out. They walked down the street, not really having a planned destination. They heard a familiar voice call to them, "Hey, guys." The men turned to see Featherweight approaching them, they stopped and let him catch up. When he got there, he spoke again, "I got another interview with another band if you're interested in tagging along, maybe you can make fun of them like you did to the Rainbooms because that was actually funny." "Oh, you heard a little of that, did ya?" Danny laughed. Featherweight nodded, "This band only has 3 people in it, they're sisters. They call themselves The Dazzlings. We call them The Sirens though." "Sirens? Like the evil seductive bird sluts or the loud beeping things?" Maynard asked. "The first one," Featherweight laughed. "Neat, I am interested to hear what they've got to say," Maynard replied. "Now are they a rock group as well?" Adam chimed in. "No, I think they're pop, they act like total divas," Featherweight said. "Oh, well, we'll see what happens," Justin added. Featherweight took the lead and the members of Tool followed him. When they got to the house, three girls were standing outside. One had yellow skin and orange hair, another had blue skin with blue and purple hair, the other had lavender skin with purple and blue hair. Adam recognized one of them as the yellow girl with orange hair he saw when they first arrived in this land. It didn't take the others long to connect that dot either. "Hey, uh, Featherweight right?" the orange haired girl asked to clarify. "Yes, that's me. I'm here to conduct the little interview, I've only got a few questions," Featherweight replied. "Okay, shoot," the blue haired girl stood waiting. "First, could you introduce yourselves?" Featherweight asked, sticking to the same style he interviewed the Rainbooms with. "Alright, I'm Aria Blaze," the blue girl replied. "My name's Adagio Dazzle," the yellow girl waved. Lastly, the purple girl introduced herself, "Hey, I'm Sonata Dusk." "And your group is called the Dazzlings, correct?" Featherweight asked. "Yep, that's us," Sonata confirmed. "Okay, I just have one question for each of you, I'll throw them down on the school paper. Whoever's interested will read it, sound good?" Featherweight broke things down. "Yeah, bro, we got you," Adagio shrugged. "Okay first question is for you, why do you want to turn the little talent show thing into a Battle of the Bands?" Featherweight asked. "I figured it would make things a little more interesting. It'll be fun and chaotic," Adagio answered. "Alright, Aria, next question's for you, what inspires the three of you to make music?" Featherweight asked. "Well, popularity, I guess. We want to be the ones everybody listens to and is like, 'Hey, I like that group. The Dazzlings are pretty cool.' and then we can get like record deals and release albums. It'll be fun if we can pull that off," Aria explained. "Alright, last question is for Sonata, do you three ever fight for the lead spot?" Featherweight asked the final question. "We're sisters, we fight over almost everything, but no. Usually, Adagio is lead and Aria helps me with the backup vocals. It sounds better when Adagio's up front, she admittedly has the best vocal range out of the three of us," Sonata explained. "Alright, neat. That's all I needed, thanks for your time," Featherweight turned to leave. "Wait, don't you want to hear a demonstration?" Adagio coaxed the little guy. He thought for a moment, "Okay, I don't have anything better to do. I guess I'll stay and listen for a little while." "Okay, here we go. Aria, play the beat," Adagio commanded. Aria ran into the house and returned with a little stereo. She hit the play button and the instrumental started playing. They began singing, it sounded like this: While they were singing, the necklaces the Sirens were wearing began to glow this bright red color, sort of like the lights on the tops of cell phone towers. "Woah, what the hell's going on?" Maynard tiled his head in confusion. "I dunno, but it obviously looks sinister," Adam observed. "Never would have guessed," Justin said sarcastically. "Look over there," Danny pointed at the girls. This green dust cloud started forming. Bystanders across the street started arguing with each other. Other people in the surrounding area began to fight as well. The streets erupted in a sort of riot, they were completely entranced by this song the sisters were singing. "Why isn't it affecting us?" Justin asked. "I dunno, maybe it only stirs up the people of this world?" Danny guessed. "We need to stop them before shit gets any worse than it already is," Adam pointed out the obvious. "Yeah, from the looks of things, they have to be singing for the spell to work, so if we can get them to shut their traps, maybe everyone will chill out," Maynard figured out. "Alright, I'll cause a diversion, you three bum rush 'em or something," Justin said. "Sounds good, be careful, brother," Adam threw up a mock salute. Justin returned the salute and then stepped toward the sisters. The sisters didn't stop the song, but their eyes were fixed on Justin, which provided the perfect opportunity for the others. Adam, Maynard, and Danny had flanked around to their side. Maynard crept up to Aria. When he was within striking distance, he charged and hiptossed her to the ground. He overdid it and she smacked her head on the cement driveway. The blow didn't knock her out, but she was probably concussed. "Shit, I didn't mean to do that much," Maynard winced when she hit the ground. When Aria stopped singing, the spell weakened a little. Adagio and Sonata didn't break song and continued singing. Justin ran toward them and they flinched. That little bit of hesitation was enough to break the spell. Adam had walked up behind them. He grabbed the sides of their heads and smacked 'em together. They both dropped. Danny wanted no part of hitting basically defenseless girls, so he walked up after everything was done, "Get some ice on them, they're gonna be seeing stars for a while." "Okay, they're gonna want some revenge for this, so expect them to try this voodoo witchcraft again," Adam warned. "We'll worry about that when the time comes," Justin replied. "Their door is still unlocked, let's just take them in and leave them. Are they bleeding?" Danny asked. "Nah, they're not bleeding," Adam answered. They took the Sirens into their house and into what they assumed was their living room. They sat the sisters down on the couch and looked for their kitchen. They found some sandwich bags and filled them with ice. They laid the ice packs on the girls' heads and left. "That did not go as planned. I kinda feel bad," Maynard sighed. "Well, they were brainwashing people, they kind of asked for it. It's not like we killed them or anything," Adam retorted. "Fair enough," Maynard agreed. "Let's get out of here before they start singing again," Danny took up the front and started heading back toward the studio. Adam, Maynard, and Justin followed him. When they got there, they were met by Featherweight. He had a couple bruises and his shirt was ripped, but he was fine. He greeted the band when he saw them, "Hey, fellas." "What's up, little man? You okay?" Danny asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," he answered. "Good. I don't know how we're going to stop that the next time. We had to physically attack them in order to break that spell they were putting over everybody. I feel like that just pissed them off though, they'll probably be back looking for vengeance," Danny explained to him. "Oh, well they're already trying to sabotage the little talent show that the Rainbooms helped set up at school. I don't know if they'll try that again or not, I'm expecting it too though," Featherweight confirmed Danny's suspicions. "Yeah, this shit was wild, dude. I can see why everyone got hypnotized though, that song was catchy as hell," Maynard joked. "It was really repetitive though, it's like they ran out of ideas, so they just repeated the chorus. Truth be told, when she started off with that 'Blindsided by the by the beat, clapping your hands, stomping your feet', that part was so offbeat that I was like 'Ok, this is terrible,' but other people liked it for some reason. I don't think it was the song that made them mosh like that though, it was those necklaces," Adam rambled. "It was your average run of the mill pop song, what did you expect?" Justin laughed. "That's the first negative thing I've heard you say since we've gotten here, buddy," Adam teased. "I don't really have a lot to say, I'm still surprised that we even ended up here, I also feel like I'm the one to blame for all this because if I didn't plug my bass guitar into that amp, none of this nonsense would have happened," Justin lamented. "Hey, it's alright though, we're making it here just like we made it in the States. I'm willing to bet that no matter where we are, our sound will reign supreme and people will love what we do," Danny encouraged. "Yeah, that's a good way of looking at it. I appreciate it, mate," Justin felt a little less guilty. "That's what we're here for, man," Danny replied. An idea sparked in Featherweight's mind as he listened to them talk, "My dudes, I have a plan." "What's up, Feathers?" Danny turned his attention back to Featherweight. "What if your band competed in that band battle thing?" he suggested. "So you expect a bunch of 50-somethings to just walk up in a school like, 'Hey, let me compete against children?' I don't know if that's fair to them honestly. There'd be no comparison. It would be like trying to put 4 sharks into a fish tank," Maynard laughed. "I guess, but maybe since you guys are immune to the Sirens' magic, you can stop them again. I expect them to perform the same song at that show. Everyone who goes to that school will be confined into a small space and it would be the perfect place to unleash that kind of chaos again," Featherweight deduced. "Smart thinking, little man, maybe we could. There ain't no telling how that's gonna play out. What other bands will be there? I expect there's a lot since the whole school's going to be there," Adam inquired. "We got the Crusaders, three freshmen like me, they're okay. We got Octavia rolling solo with a cello recital. Lyra and BonBon will do a piano duet, Trixie's got a three piece rock group, this Flash Sentry guy's got his band too, I forgot what they were called. That wall eyed girl has a band too, but they probably won't get far. There's also a rap duo named Snips and Snails. Last band that I know of will be the Rainbooms we met prior to all this," Featherweight explained. "Were you planning on interviewing everybody before the competition?" Justin asked. "Yeah, but I won't be able to get that done in time. I only got to the two bands that I know will be finalists in this competition. The rest of them are average at best. Also it's only 9, if your group joins it, there'll be an even number," Featherweight answered. "I mean I guess we could give it a shot if they let us. It won't hurt to try. Besides, if it seems like we're gonna lose, we'll just unleash Maynard and he'll abuse those kids again," Danny joked. "It wasn't abuse, they were the aggressors in that situation with that crazy magic stuff. I only did that to diffuse the situation and I really did not intend to hit her that hard. As soon as her head hit the pavement, I was like: 'Oh shit get some ice.' It was a heat of the moment thing, I overdid it a little bit," Maynard defended. "I know, man, I was just giving you hell. They'll be fine, it's not we killed them or anything," Danny diffused the situation. "So, are you guys in? I can put in a good word to the Principal and Vice Principal, they're the two judges in the competition, I'm sure they'll allow it. They're strict sometimes, but they're usually super lenient," Featherweight offered. "I mean if you think it's a good idea, little man, we'll roll with it," Adam left it up to him. The other three nodded in agreement to make it unanimous. "Alright, cool, I'll go there tomorrow and get you guys a spot. What was the name of your band again?" Featherweight asked. "Tool," Maynard reminded. "That's it, it'll be fun, trust me. I'll see you guys around," Featherweight turned to leave. "Alright, Feathers, take care," Danny waved. "You too!" he called back. The band opened the door to the studio and went back inside. When they got back in, they started talking amongst themselves again. "Now I really feel like I'm in a cartoon, man. It's like we're the random good guys from another planet that gain the trust of the locals, the Sirens are like the little comic villains that want world domination, and now we gotta defeat them. I swear you could probably throw all this into a 30 minute cartoon. Or a sequel that was slightly better than the sub-par first film," Maynard joked. "You think of the most random shit, man," Adam laughed. "Hey, it's a possibility," he replied. "I suppose so, nothing's logical anymore, they got instruments that project amp-like sounds without amplifiers," Adam agreed. "Something tells me that little contest thing is gonna be some sort of elimination bracket type scenario, we'll probably have to pick out a whole setlist like a concert," Danny replied. "Oh, right, we agreed to that. What are your suggestions? We'll be in a school so we'll have to keep it clean somehow," Justin replied. "I was thinking Vicarious or The Grudge could be two options for us," Danny suggested. "If there's multiple rounds, we can do them both. Featherweight said there would be 7 other groups. That means there's probably going to be three rounds, so we need a third song possibly," Adam answered. "Alright, what do you guys want the third song to be?" Danny asked. Maynard thought for a moment, "We could play Lateralus or Forty Six & 2." "We could take it back to '93 with Intolerance," Adam suggested. "Oh, that's such a good idea," Maynard laughed. "Alright, I think the setlist for this little thing should be Forty Six & 2, Intolerance, and The Grudge," Justin suggested. "Sounds good, man, I'm down," Danny agreed. "Me too, brother," Adam added. "This might actually be fun, we'll see what happens," Maynard made it unanimous. With the setlist in mind, the band decided to call it a night. They had no clue what tomorrow would bring them, they were just glad today was over with. End of Chapter 3!