//------------------------------// // Battle of The Bands // Story: Equestria Girls: Ninjago Rocks // by Digi_Verse //------------------------------// In a bedroom whose yellow walls have clusters of balloons and stars painted onto them—Pinkie’s room at home, no doubt. The thirteen teens are arrayed about in various sleepwear: two-piece pajamas for Jay/Zane/Twilight/Fluttershy/Sunset, one-piece “footie” pajamas for Applejack and Lloyd, nightgowns for Pinkie, Nya and Rarity, a long cloud/lightning-bolt T-shirt and sweatpants for Rainbow, and tank top and shorts with their element symbol for Kai and Cole, All but Applejack and Lloyd wear slippers. As for activities: Twilight sits on the bed, writing in Fluttershy’s notebook; Applejack, Kai and Rainbow are playing video games; Fluttershy and Jay pet Spike; Pinkie types at her laptop and Cole watches; Rarity checks her cell phone while Sunset and Nya watch, Lloyd and Zane are using his hologram eyes to look at a map of this world. “Status update—“okey-dokey-lokey”!” Pinkie said as she typed in her computer. She then looked up at what Zane and Lloyd were doing. “Can the rest of you do that?”  Which caused everyone to raise an eyebrow at her. “Ohh yeah, Zane’s a nindroid, forgot we never mentioned that.” Cole explained. “Don’t worry, he’s not a soulless robot, he actually does have feelings, unless he turns it off.”  The girls found the statement weird, but they guessed it made sense, as long as he was on their side. Twilight definitely wanted to study him at some point though, as she had never seen a “nindroid” work so well, with real human feelings!  Fluttershy, Nya and Sunset gather in close around Rarity, she taps her phone and aims its screen toward the three of them. A flash, and she has snapped their picture—herself and Fluttershy smiling, Sunset and Nya sporting a broad grin, and Spike half-winking and holding up a dog biscuit, while it seems that Cole has jumped from his spot to stick out his tongue in the background. Rarity grimaces mightily upon taking a good close look, then aims an icy glare in the canine and the ninja’s direction as the other three snicker silently. Spike smirking as best he can around the half-chewed biscuit in his teeth and Cole covering his mouth to laugh, receiving a “You are such a child” from Rarity, which he rolled his eyes at. Meanwhile, the video game showdown continues apace; even without being able to see the screen, it quickly becomes clear that Applejack has gained the upper hand. Rainbow and Kai’s frustration builds to the point that the light blue girl smacks the console, instantly breaking the connection and clearing the screen, while the spiky haired ninja fist bumps her in the back.  “Hey, I was about to beat you two!” Applejack complained about their stupid antics. “We doubt it.” The two replied as they spun their controllers on their fingers. “So Twilight, how is that counter-spell coming up?” “Huh? Oh, uh, good. Great. Thanks for letting me use your notebook, Fluttershy.” Twilight said as she quickly covered the book with her arms.“I really like the song you wrote for the Rainbooms,” “Thanks. Hopefully one day we’ll get a chance to play it.” Fluttershy sighed. “I’m sure we will, as long as those two don’t hog everything.” Cole pointed to the front of the room.  A bray of laughter comes from Rainbow and Kai, having snatched away Applejack’s controller and throwing it between each other out of the incensed farm girl’s reach. “Hey!” Rarity hops up to sit next to Twilight “Twilight, I think I speak for all of us when I say I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t come back to help us.” She complimented as Twilight hid the book between her knees. Everyone seemed to agree with the statement, even the Ninja who were certain she could get them their powers back, and maybe even back home.  The sound of the doorbell gets Pinkie on her feet in a tick. “Pizza’s here!”  In less time than it takes to say “chow down,” there is a massed rush out the bedroom door that leaves Twilight alone on the bed and Lloyd sits on the floor. she glumly lays the notebook on the blanket, open and face down, and lets her legs drop over the side. After a moment, she picks it up for another look tilting down along one page. It is covered with musical notes and staves, some scratched out, a few other random scribbles, a doodle of herself singing lightning bolts toward Adagio, and a small scribble of the ninja using their powers on the dazzlings while music notes come from their mouths. “I’m guessing you don’t eat either?” Lloyd spoke up towards her. “No, I’m just- it’s nothing.” Twilight stuttered. “You can’t think of anything can you? I know how that feels.” Lloyd thought back to the Crystal King’s attack, where he only defeated the overlord due to luck.  “I just… these girls are dangerous, and I’ve never faced anything like this before…” Twilight sighed. “Well, I’m glad all of us are in this together, gives us a fighting chance, you know?” Lloyd gave her a small smile, which she returned.   She sighs heavily and lowers the book; a clatter of running footsteps interrupts her blue funk just before Pinkie leans back into the room. A slice of pizza is clamped between the teeth of the slumber party hostess. “Don’t you guys want any pizza?” That gets a smile and nod, but the burst of enthusiasm lasts only until Pinkie and Lloyd have dashed back out into the hall. Another dispirited glance at the pages, and she opens a nightstand drawer to put the notebook away. A partially eaten donut, a lollipop, and several candies and jellybeans can be seen inside before she closes the drawer again and walks out. In the now-darkened bedroom, Night has fallen, and a crescent moon hangs large and bright. Soft snoring drifts up from floor level as Twilight sits up, looks cautiously around herself, and gets up to vertical. The rest of the group are sprawled out everywhere, on the bed and under sleeping bags, Fluttershy nestling Spike, and she has a real chore to tiptoe her way to the nightstand without stepping or falling on any of them. Applejack still wears her hat, and Rarity has curlers in her hair and a sleep mask over her eyes, Kai is sprawled out, while Rainbow lays on his chest. At the drawer; Twilight eases it open and retrieves the notebook. In the kitchen. A single overhead light casts a pool of incandescence over the sleepless spell-weaver, who has taken a seat at the central “island” counter and is poring over her notes. Tellingly, she has her pen clamped between her teeth and is holding the notebook open under her fists. She scrawls a little something, eyes it critically, then lets disgust run over her whole face and shakes her head vigorously. The pen is spat off to one side. “No, that’s not gonna work.” “Hey, Twilight.” Sunset’s voice hit her in the ears. That startles her back to the present moment; pan quickly to her former rival lounging at the kitchen entrance. “You’re up late.” She walked in as Twilight hastily covered up her drawings, as she was embarrassed she hadn’t got far, or anywhere for that matter.  “Just looking over the counter-spell. We only get one shot at this. It has to be perfect,” Twilight responded nervously.  “We really are lucky you’re here.” Sunset opened the refrigerator, surprised to see tons of whipped cream cans, as Twilight sighs behind her. “That’s what everyone keeps telling me…”  “Who could possibly need this much whipped cream…?” Sunset looked to the other side and saw it in the door as well. “Must be nice to have everyone looking to you for answers to their problems… instead of wating for you to cause a problem.”  “Just because everyone expects something from you, doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen.” “But that doesn’t stop them from expecting it.” “Which only makes things harder because the last thing you want to do is—“ “Let everybody down.” On these last three words, a deeper voice joins them, Lloyd has come in, each mired in gloomy thoughts of what their past has brought upon them in the here and now. They look up as one, seeing each other’s wide-eyed surprise, and trade a pair of lopsided smiles—common ground between the other dimensional beings. Sunset puts the whipped cream can away and closes the fridge, no longer with a glob on her finger; the door’s movement exposes the edge of a figure standing a short distance behind her. When she pivots to face across the room, the newcomer is fully exposed—it is the human counterpart of Pinkie’s stolid older sister Maud, dressed in a plain white T-shirt and dark gray shorts. Sunset cries out in shock and recoils from the unexpected sight, but Maud’s deadpan expression and monotonic voice remain firmly in place as she holds up a small gray rock. “Boulder was hungry.” Reaching up to open a cupboard, she brings out a box of crackers and proceeds to pour the contents over Boulder, “feeding” it. Sunset backs gingerly up to the island, and she, Lloyd and Twilight watch uncomprehendingly as Maud walks off, still dumping and scattering the food. The next two lines are delivered in whispers. “I still can’t get over the fact that she’s related to Pinkie Pie!” “You and me both.” “They’re related?!”  The older sister has left the kitchen by this time. “So, how long have you been eavesdropping Blondie?” Sunset turned around and smirked at the green skinned boy behind them. “You two are loud… or maybe I can just hear very well?” Lloyd chuckled and shrugged. “I really understand where you’re coming from.” “It took a long time for the ninja to really see me as part of their team, or even as a leader… I started out bad too, but  once I became the green ninja, everyone had this idea of who I was supposed to be. I never wanted to let them think I couldn’t.” Lloyd sighed.  “And yet sometimes the pressure gets too hard to where you just can’t.” Twilight continued. “I’m not sure how you’re going to get home yet, but I hope this counter-spell is enough to do it.”  “Thanks Twilight.” The two shared a smile. “I better get some sleep. Good luck with the counter-spell! This must be nothing compared to the stuff you’re expected to deal with as a princess in Equestria.” Sunset yawned and began to walk off.  “Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight’s voice made the girl stop at the door, but Twilight can get no words out. Instead she gives and big smile and waves herself off. “Nevermind. It’s not important.” “If my luck wasn’t so terrible when it came to-” Lloyd turned around to notice Twilight staring at him with a smirk on her face. “When it comes to what?”  “Came to saving the world! Night Twilight!” Lloyd quickly rushed back to the room, knowing he had been caught.  “No. I have to be able to do this. I have to.” Twilight thumped her fists on the table shortly after Lloyd zoomed off.  In the morning, she is standing at a microphone with Fluttershy’s notebook under one arm. She is back in her school clothes, as is everyone else. They are practicing the counter spell that… didn’t sound like much of a song… Hey, hey, listen (She winces at a squeal of feedback.) We’ve got a message for you Her and the other Rainbooms, are set up and playing in a small room. The apple pattern on the stained-glass panel above the window points to this location being part of this world’s equivalent of Sweet Apple Acres. None of them are feeling the groove. Spike sits on top of an amplifier; Sunset squats alongside him, and Lloyd leans against the corner, wincing.  We’re not all alike But our friendship is true More feedback sends the dog diving into Lloyd’s arms for cover, while the girl tweaks a knob and claps hands to ears. Yeah, we’re really different Fluttershy begins to showboat a little, but stops playing at a sidelong look from Rainbow. But we still get along So hey, hey, listen to our song The tambourine starts up again at Rainbow’s frantic wave. Applejack and Rarity, start to manifest hints of their pony ears, and Cole feels something start to come up out his head, but more feedback wipes these out and makes them wince. Pinkie and Jay have gotten so bored that they stop playing and juggle their sticks between each other.  You may think you’re in control But we’re here to prove you wrong They resume upon finding green, red, brown, and blue-eyed glares fixed on them.  On the outside of this building—the barn next to the house on the Sweet Apple Acres property, and Granny Smith walks past, stuffing an apple core into each ear to block out the noise. In the friendship of our music She tries to sing into her microphone while squinting at the notebook and Fluttershy cringes at the result. With the power of our song  Rainbow and Kai stand up into view for a duet; one pony ear begins to emerge for them. Gonna stomp our feet, clap our hands With the magic of friendship Neither Pinkie, nor Zane, nor Nya, nor Cole, nor Applejack, nor Rarity is enjoying this. Gonna stop your evil plans Now the other pony ear peeks out from the dynamic duo’s hairs, and Kai’s hand gives off a small flame; they look around, get nothing from the other nine, and sullenly lets the last note die out and the ears wink away. “Uh…that sounded way better than the…last five times you played it.” Spike chuckled as Applejack’s older brother walked past the window. “Nope.”  “I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going wrong with this counter-spell.” Rainbow started, but was quickly interrupted by Applejack. “You and Kai turnin what should be the chorus into a five-minute guitar solo?” She said, slightly annoyed. “You’re supposed to be helping each other’s volume, not helping each other’s ego.” Cole added on.  “We‘ve got to pick up the slack somehow! I mean, are you guys even trying?” Rainbow defended herself and her companion. “I’m trying!” Fluttershy whispered from behind her. “Not hard enough apparently! I could barely hear you.” Kai rolled his eyes, causing both Fluttershy and Nya to glare at him.  “It’s Fine! One more time from the top!” Twilight nervously chuckled, clenching the notebook.  “Or, perhaps we could take a short break—try on some of the wardrobe choices I’ve put together?” Rarity pushed past Applejack and wheeled in a rack of bagged garments in front of herself, and began to rummage through them. “I’m particularly fond of this one.” A shove sends the rack away and exposes the hot pink drum-major jacket she has put on. Nya facepalms and points to it. “If we’re going to be beating up bad guys, why is it so girlish? Don’t you guys have superhero costumes?”  “Uh, of course we could always go with something a bit more modern.” Rarity tried to hide her embarrassment from the fact of Nya not liking her suit. “Does it really matter? We could save the school in this…” Cole rolled his eyes. “Cole’s right, we’re trying to save our school here, enough with the costumes!”  Rarity returns in a new outfit: a yellow full-body jumpsuit, edged in dark gray at sleeve/pant cuffs, with black gloves and a helmet that covers everything from the neck up except for her hair streaming out the back. Her face is hidden by an electronic screen that displays a scrolling pattern of the three diamonds from her skirt. She utters an incredulous little scoff, her voice slightly amplified/distorted by the helmet’s sound system. “You can never have enough costumes!”   She just wants to make things fun. Isn’t that what being in a band is supposed to be?” Pinkie groaned with Jay nodding to agree with her. “Fun is normally not what gets the job done. We would know that from our last battle.” Zane countered her argument, gaining a glare from the two drummers.  “You don’t have time for any of this. You’re supposed to check in at the Battle of the Bands in fifteen minutes!” Sunset pointed out the door. “This isn’t like any of our guys back home! If you’re late now, we’ve already lost!” Lloyd picked up Cole from his sitting spot on the floor.  Varied gasps and exclamations from the 11 musicians, followed by a disorganized rush toward the door. Rarity is out of her jumpsuit. Only Twilight keeps her feet rooted to the floor. “But…but it’s not ready! If we play the counter-spell in the first round and it doesn’t work, the Sirens will know what we’re up to and make sure we don’t get a chance to play it again!” Twilight worried.  Everyone slams on the brakes and turns back to face her. A long pause; then Applejack smiles. “Then we’ll have to buy ourselves some time so you can keep workin’ on it.” “And how do you propose we do that?” Rarity asked. “We compete in the Battle of the Bands for real. I take over lead vocals again, and we stay alive until the finals, plus I’m sure the ninja are ready now. We unleash the counter-spell then.You’ll have figured it out by the finals, right?” Rainbow proposed a solution.   “Of course she will. Twilight Sparkle’s never met a problem she couldn’t solve. Right, Twilight?” Spike went up to Twilight and patted her legs.  “Right!” “Then let’s go win us a Battle of the Bands!” Rainbow Dash yelled. The group ran outside as Twilight stayed behind, nervously smiling and waving off to the others, then looking down at Spike with an unsure face, to which he responded with a smirk, and she looked back up with the same nervous smile… Stopping the Dazzlings, and getting the ninja back home? She was really feeling the pressure now.