Lemon Hearts watched the clock, as the final seconds of the class ticked down. It was almost lunchtime; she couldn’t wait to reunite with her friends. Finally the bell rang and the whole class stood up without missing a beat.
“Hey, where do you think you’re you going?” Mrs. Harshwhinny barked at them. “Class isn’t over until I say it’s over!”
A silent choir of groans and whispered cursing ensued, as the students fell back into their seats. Lemon Hearts didn’t even move, just slank deeper into her seat. Mrs. Harshwhinny wasted a few more seconds glaring at the students, before continuing the lecture nobody was paying attention to. About three minutes passed and she let the students out, who rushed the door as if there was a fire.
Lemon was among the last ones to escape. “Yes, that was so much more important than lunch.” she grumbled to herself. “Thank you Mrs. Harshwhinny.”
She briefly passed in front of the band room. The Rainbooms could be heard playing inside.
“Just typical, they get to skip class.” She complained further.
She finally got to her locker and threw her backpack in like it was a bag of thrash and began to rummage through her stuff. “I bet Lyra and the others are already there; They get to have Ms. Hibiscus. She doesn’t mess with lunchtime.” She continued fuming.
Her attention was briefly pulled away. She could see Sunset Shimmer walking with three girls whom she’s never seen before.
“That's the science lab. Computer lab is in there.” Sunset showed the new girls around cheerfully, pointing at various doors, before stopping at a nearby poster. “Oh! We're having a big musical showcase this weekend! The whole school is pretty much rallying around it.”
Lemon went back to searching her closet. No one else was around, so the sounds of Sunset’s little tour of the school reached her ears.
“A musical showcase?” Gasped one of the new girls, who had big curly orange hair, her deep voice drawling from years of sweet talking.
“I’m sure since you're new,” said Sunset Shimmer, “Principal Celestia would let you sign up if you're interested.”
“We have been known to sing from time to time.” Said the other girl in a raspy monotone voice, who had purple hair in long pigtails.
“Uhh… Hello?” The third one interjected with a lively energy that directly contrasted her associates; she wore her long blue hair in a ponytail. “We sing, like, all the time! It's how we get people to do what we want.”
The other two girls whipped their heads around and fired some real nasty glares at her. “Wha-What did I say?” She asked, completely unaware of where she went wrong.
Lemon finally found the guitar pick she was looking for and happily put it in her pocket, before realizing what she had heard. She stayed at her locker and began to eavesdrop; now on purpose.
“What she meant to say was,” the orange haired girl corrected, “that being in a musical showcase sounds like a great way to meet other students.”
“Ohhhh, yeah. Th-What she said I meant to say. That's what I meant... To say.”
The purple girl scoffed. “And what you would have said if you weren't the worst.”
“You are!”
The orange girl turned to Sunset with unwarranted confidence. “You’ll have to excuse them. They're idiots.”
A few seconds of silence passed. Sunset noticed the guitars on two of the new girls’ backs; they were enormous, with at least eighteen strings running across.
“Wow, cool guitars!” Sunset broke the silence. “Where did you-“ She reached out and the orange haired girl grabbed her wrist immediately.
“Sorry.” She quickly let go of Sunset’s arm. “These are one of a kind. We'd just hate for anything to happen to them.” They then tried to walk away and pretend it was a normal exchange. The blue one lingered behind and stared at Sunset obliviously, until the other two pulled her away.
Lemon Hearts saw the three girls walking her way, so she quickly turned back to her locker, hoping that the three girls would pass by without suspecting a thing.
“There you are!” She exclaimed and pretended to put the previously found guitar pick in her pocket and closed her locker as the trio passed her by.
Thankfully they were too busy quietly bickering to notice anything. Well, the blue girl was briefly distracted and glanced at her, but her attention was quickly pulled back into their heated whispering.
As soon as they turned the corner, Lemon ran after Sunset. “What was that all about?” She asked once she caught up.
Sunset looked deeply puzzled. “I’m not sure...” She said.
“They were acting awfully strange.” Lemon continued with a look of concern.
“Do you think that maybe...” Sunset hesited. “Maybe they know about how I used to be?”
“I-it’s probably not that.” Lemon avoided directly answering that question. “Something tells me they’re up to something.”
“That’s probably true as well.”
“I’ll keep an eye on them for you. And don’t worry about your past Sunset, you’re cool in the present.” Lemon assured.
“Thanks!” Sunset smiled. “It’s… It’s good to hear that from someone else.”
“No problem!” Lemon Hearts gave a friendly punch to Sunset’s arm.
The two of them finally arrived at the cafeteria. Lyra enthusiastically waved at Lemon from across the room. Twinkleshine and Sweetie Drops were there as well.
“Go and warn your magical friends about the new girls.” Said Lemon to Sunset.
“Will do.” She replied and they parted ways.
Lemon Hearts weaved her way through the packed lunch crowd towards her table and sat down at the seat her friends had reserved for her.
“Hey, guess who’s going to ace Mr. Cranky’s class.” Lyra greeted Lemon.
Lemon said nothing as she took her seat and stared at her food with a perturbed expression.
“This gal!” Lyra answered her own question, proudly pointing at herself.
“Yes, we get it.” Sweetie Drops sighed.
“I’m sorry Sweetie, you helped me a lot. All credit should go to you.”
“No, I have to give you credit ,” Sweetie Drops added, “you didn’t have to look at my answers this time.”
Twinkleshine paid no attention to that exchange. She saw that Lemon was too focused on the thoughts in her head.
“Lemon?” She put a hand on her shoulder. “Is something wrong?”
“N-no... It’s nothing.” She tried to assure her friend before asking: “Do you know anything about the new girls in school?”
“New girls?” Lyra yelped in surprise and turned to Sweetie Drops. “Have you heard anything about that?”
“Nuh-uh.” She shook her head. “You’d think the gossip girls would be all over that, but nope.”
“Well I was heading to my locker to grab my pick,“ Lemon explained, ”when I noticed that Sunset Shimmer was showing around three girls... They must have been new in CHS.”
“Well, that’s nice of her.” Twinkleshine commented naively.
“Are they good looking?” Lyra grinned.
Lemon rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you’ll find out.”
“Is there something wrong with them?” Sweetie Drops asked. “I mean there must be if you were more worried about them than Sunset Shimmer.”
“Well, kinda... They acted a bit strange.” Lemon Hearts tried to explain.
“What kind of strange are we talking?” Lyra asked. “The Pinkie Pie kinda strange, or the ‘somebody-most-definitely-will-go-missing-while-you’re-here’ kinda strange?”
Lemon thought for a moment. “The latter. They seemed like...” She stopped, when she heard some clicking and buzzing coming from somewhere.
“What’s that noise?” Twinkleshine pondered.
The noise sounded like the electric buzz a guitar makes when it’s plugged into an amplifier. Soon, it was followed by the sound of slow drums and the three new girls barged into the cafeteria, singing eerie melodies. Everybody stopped eating and talking. Some were so surprised that they forgot to swallow the chewed up food in their mouth. They all directed their attention to the unexpected performers.
The purple haired girl played on a portable drum machine with another device on the side, which two guitars were plugged into. Those guitars were held by the other two and they had a ridiculous amount of strings on them: The orange one had eighteen strings, while the blue one had twenty! Tapping the neck of their stringed monsters, they played a quiet, complex melody.
A seductive smile loomed over the orange one’s face and she started singing:
We heard you want to get together
We heard you want to rock this school
We've thought of something that is better
Something that changes all the rules
Why pretend we're all the same
When some of us shine brighter?
The purple haired girl turned a knob on her device and those many-stringed guitars bellowed out sounds that would make an earthquake cry. But their synchronized vocal lines were flawlessly harmonious, impeccably blending with the savage pulse of the music.
Me and you, you and me
Why don't we see who is better?
We don't have to be one and the same thing
Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?
I'm going out and winning the audition
They went around the cafeteria, occasionally lifting one hand off their instruments, to touch members of their audience. A hair-stroke here, a meaningful tap on the shoulders there. One of them went up to Lyra and with a single look conveyed that she understood exactly what Lyra wanted from the showcase. Meanwhile, the air started to feel heavier, as it got filled with a sense of malice between the students.
Gradually, students started getting very aggressive with each-other. They were all claiming to be the ones to win the showcase and defeat the others. Scornful looks turned into boastful yelling; even Lyra joined in, but Sweetie Drops pulled her back down into her seat.
Battle! We wanna win it
Let's have a battle, battle of the bands
Let's have a battle, we'll go all in it
Let's have a battle, battle, battle
Battle of the bands!
As the strings and drumbeat died down and the music seamlessly transitioned into the loud arguing of the student body, Lemon Hearts and her friends stared in bewilderment. Unrestrained glee in Lyra’s case.
After the bell rang the end of the last class, the Steel Unicorns, along with Sweetie Drops, went to Sugarcube Corner again. They were having an argument and it was just starting to get heated.
“I still don’t get why you’re so opposed to a little excitement?” Lyra complained to her worried friends.
“Did you forget what we were talking about just yesterday?” Lemon replied.
“No!” Lyra answered frustrated. “But it’s not like we can’t be friends while also getting into the spirit of things.”
“While, I sort of agree with Lyra,” Sweetie Drops interjected, “there was definitely something about those girls that seemed off.”
“Yeah,” Lyra commented, “those guitars looked more like dining tables than instruments!
“No, not that.” Sweetie Drops continued. “Don’t you think it’s weird how everybody got so aggressive after that song they sung? Not even Sunset Shimmer was ever able to cause a school fight like that with JUST her words.”
“Yes! Finally someone else noticed!” Lemon exclaimed.
“Wait,” Twinkleshine stopped slurping on her drink, “are you saying they were using… Magic?” She whispered.
“Wouldn’t be the first time, would it?” Sweetie Drops asserted.
“Exactly!” Lemon blurted out. “We finally had one proper Fall Formal; we wouldn’t want some power-crazed lunatic ruining another event.”
Lyra pouted and lowered in her seat. “But we’ll let boredom ruin it, I guess.”
Lemon Hearts sighed at Lyra’s disappointment. “Just... Promise us that you’re not going to make it about the competition. We’ve all been looking forward to the Musical Showcase just having fun together.”
“Besides,” Sweetie Drops added, “you guys are pretty much the only band in the line-up worth anything. Even if you don’t win, you will definitely turn some heads... I’ve heard the Trotting Stone magazine may cover the event.” She winked at Lyra.
“Yeah, alright… I promise.” Lyra grumbled. “But promise me one thing too. This matters to me and I would love it if you all at least pretended that it matters to you too.”
Lemon Heart placed a hand on Lyra’s shoulder “Hey, you matter to me, and our music matters to me as well. But if it means that much to you I promise to try and get you pumped for this.”
“Thanks Lemon.”
“Uh girls, hold on.” Twinkleshine raised her hand, “Shouldn’t we be worried about the whole evil magic thing?”
Suddenly, on the other side of the cafe, somebody started making a racket. They turned their heads to the disruption and it was Rainbow Dash, fighting the air for some reason. Applejack swiftly and effortlessly brought it to an end, by catching one of Dash’s flying fists.
“We’ve got nothing to worry about, now that Twilight’s back!” Applejack’s drawl could be faintly heard over the normal chatter of Sugarcube Corner. Her whole group nodded along with her with unflinching confidence.
“See?” Lemon Hearts grinned. “Looks like the professionals are already on the case. Means we have more time to practice.”
Lyra smirked and leaned back in her chair. “And leave the winning to the winners. We’re still going to that party tonight, right?” Lyra asked.
“I don’t see why not.” Lemon replied.
“In fact,” Sweetie Drops added, “that may be a good opportunity to find out what kind of magic they’re using.”
“Not the kind that can resist the power of speed metal!” Lyra exclaimed.
Sweetie Drops said nothing. Lemon said everything with just a blank stare.
“Come on, dude, you were supposed to pump me up.” Lyra whined.
“Oh, sorry, you’re right.” Lemon then jumped out of her seat. “Yeah, go Steel Unicorns! Woo!”
Lyra jumped up along. “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!”