//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: You Didn't Know That You'd Fell // Story: Sunset Boulevard // by Mani-Roar //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle looked out over the stadium filled with cheering, adoring fans. Everyone was completely entranced by the allure of the spectacle in front of them. Everyone was facing the opposite direction of Twilight and her friends. “How are you going to get your musical spell to project over the Dazzlings?” Sunset stood among the six close friends. She was the only one without an instrument or a microphone. As soon as she asked her question, Vinyl Scratch pulled her oddly short convertible up behind the recently re-banded musicians. They watched as the car, in a seemingly impossible manner, transformed into full sound system complete with a mix table and amplifier towers. Twilight smiled at Sunset and put her hand on her shoulder. “Looks like our resident DJ has that covered” Sunset gave a crooked smile back at Twilight as she clutched her own elbow with her right arm. “Don’t worry Sunset Shimmer, nothing can get in the way of our friendship now.” Our friendship  “Listen Twilight, I never got a chance to tell you before how sorry I am that I…” she was hushed when Twilight put her finger over Sunset’s lips. “It’s ok, I know you are. You've really changed and everyone can see that now.” Sunset pulled her face away from Twilight’s hand. “Not everybody” Sunset grabbed both of her elbows as if the wind was colder than it really was. A flash of light behind her caused everyone to look over to the Dazzlings on stage. Their power was more intense than ever and they were nearing the climax of their song. “Well, hey, look at me getting in the way again. Listen, you girls rock ‘em dead ok? I’ll be cheering for you.” Sunset moved off to the side of the band and took a knee next to Spike. The mane six, tuned and primed for action, were ready to unleash their fury upon the tyrannical Dazzlings. They led in with a drum fill by Pinkie Pie. Oh, oh, oh I got the music in me Oh, oh, oh Suddenly flanked by multiple sources of music, the crowd snapped out of their drooling trance and turned to look at the Rainbooms. The Dazzlings were caught off guard enough to pause in the middle of their song. Adagio grinded her teeth hard enough to feel the pain. “Twilight Sparkle,” Adagio’s voice was full of hatred and bile. “Yeah, she’s like, the new girl and stuff. She’s kinda good at magic if you hadn't noticed.” Aria seemed almost bored with the situation on stage. Adagio turned to snap at Aria. “I know who she is, you moron. If we don’t do something to stop her, she could ruin everything.” she pointed directly at Twilight across the crowd. “I dunno, I kinda like her singing voice.” Sonata tapped on her cheek. “Shut up, shut up both of you and listen.” Adagio balled her hands into fists. “Do you think we've recovered enough power to open a dimensional portal?” “Like, I don’t know, I guess we have.” Aria flipped her hair with her hand and sneered. Sonata’s face lit up with excitement. “Oh my God, for realzies? Are we finally going home?” She started bouncing in place. “No” Adagio looked at the ground. The tone in her voice got a little more bitter. “Starswirl made sure of that. But we aren’t the ones going through the portal.” “Then like, who is, Adagio?” Aria was inspecting her nails. “Just get ready to cast it on my signal.” Adagio turned back to the Rainbooms and grinned. “If they want to have a real battle of the bands, then so be it.” What we have in store All we want and more We will break on through Now its time to finish you The trio moved together in graceful unison as they sang their counter attack. Astral projections of the Dazzlings true forms rose into the sky and flew after the Rainbooms. Rarity played a key-tar riff that shot flying diamond crystals which held Sonata’s spirit at bay. Applejack fingered a bass line that created a sound wave thick enough to cause Aria’s spirit to veer off and fly away to protect itself. Rainbow Dash shredded a solo so fast it caused her fret board to heat up. The solo sent a rainbow lightning bolt straight into Adagio’s spirit, piercing it through the chest. “Argh” Adagio clutched her chest and nearly dropped to her knees on stage. Twilight tried to take advantage of Adagio’s incapacitated state and belted a high note. Her note resonated over the DJ speakers and launched a spiraling sound wave toward Adagio’s spirit siren. Adagio smirked. “So you think it’s going to be that easy, Sparkle.” Adagio’s draconic essence opened its mouth in tandem with Adagio. She released a screeching high note that managed to drown out Twilight’s sound wave. The backlash knocked Twilight on her butt. Rainbow Dash and Rarity quickly helped her to her feet. All three siren spirits joined together and blasted a dissonant chord down at the struggling Rainbooms. They covered their faces and braced for the impact. Just as the triple note wave was about to hit them, Rainbow dash managed to dime the volume setting on her guitar and hit the distortion foot switch. She struck a power chord that was just enough to parry the blast and keep the band on its feet with the exception of Rainbow Dash. Not having enough time to prepare for the blast and play the power chord cost her her stance and sent her face first to the floor. Twilight ran over to pick her up. "Dash, are you ok?" Twilight reached under Dash's arms and helped lift her to her feet. "Thanks egg head. I've for sure been better." Dash smiled and wiped a stream of blood from her mouth. She felt something jabbing into her abdomen. Looking down, she saw that her guitar was snapped where the neck meets the body. The broken edge was dangling in front of her, held together by the strap. "My guitar!" Dash hopeless grabbed the pieces of her late instrument. She started hyperventilating. "It was like a part of me." "Dash, this is no time to lose faith. We need your direction." Twilight put her hand on Dash's shoulder. Rainbow took in a deep breath and loosened her guitar strap, allowing her dearly departed axe to fall to the ground. "Rarity, you're gonna have to play lead parts now. The runs will be really hard but I know you can handle it." "Right," Rarity practiced a few scales in preparation of her new role. "Applejack, you're pulling double duty on rhythm and bass now. Try adding the 5th of the chord to make the sound fuller when you play the bass line." "I'm on it, sugarcube." Applejack switched her fingering from a slap style to finger plucking chords on two strings." "Ok, pinkie, lead us in again. We'll go straight to the chorus." Dash pointed right at Pinkie Pie. Pinkie lit up with a fiery rage as she lifted her sticks to the sky. "We're the Rainbooms, and we're here to talk about friendship and make you happy and stuff, 1, 2, 3, 4!" Pinkie attacked the toms on her kit and the Rainbooms came in on a cymbal crash. Let it break down Set myself free, yeah Let it all go Just let it be, yeah Find the music in your heart Let the music make you start To set yourself apart The Rainboom's speakers emitted a wash of colorful sound that resonated over the entire stadium. Everyone's eyes were on Twilight Sparkle and her band of technicolor teenagers, leaving the Dazzlings all but ignored. "This is bad" Adagio looked over at Aria and Sonata. Both girls seemed perplexed as to what to do. Adagio knew that their success, once again, depended all on her. "I need an insurance policy." She scanned the crowd looking for just the right subject for her experiment. Her eyes came across Flash Sentry and she made a crooked grin. "Twilight Sparkle's new darling and Sunset Shimmer's old toy. You're gonna be the perfect pet for me." Adagio starting singing a melody without queuing the other girls. They looked at her shocked, not sure if they should join or just watch. "Uh Adagio, do you want us to..." Aria began but stopped when Adagio shot a burst of energy behind her that smacked Aria in the face. "Alright geez, you could have just signaled." Unlike their combined attacks, Adagio's solo traveled in a straight line as a single beam of energy. Flash Sentry literally had no idea what hit him. His body felt warmer than usual and he felt the insatiable urge to look at the stage. When he saw Adagio singing directly to him, his heart beat accelerated. He felt a yearning sensation the likes of which he had never experienced before. If someone had asked him about Twilight Sparkle in that moment, he wouldn't even have remembered who she was. Flash’s legs involuntarily moved toward Adagio. He knew he had to go to her and would have fought through anyone who tried to stop him. Adagio lifted her hand, indicating for Flash to stop. She winked at him and put her finger to her lips like she was telling him to hush. Flash obeyed and stopped in the middle of the stadium crowd. He gave Adagio a dorky looking smile and stood with his shoulders slumped towards her.   “Now’s our chance girls. Aria, move your essence behind the band. I’ll go above them and Sonata will come at them directly over the crowd. On my signal, we attack them together from all sides.” Adagio balled her fists as she laid out the battle plans to her singing mates. “How come I’m always the one who attacks from the front?” Sonata looked up and tugged her chin the way she usually did when she was trying to process something. “Because the one that attacks head on is most likely to absorb all of the enemy’s attacks.” Adagio dismissed Sonata and looked out toward the Rainbooms. “Oh, ok that makes sense.” Sonata nodded and flipped her hand at the wrist. “Wait…” she looked confused again. “Never mind that, we attack.” The Dazzlings flexed their transparent wings and levitated over the stage. Their eyes glowed bright red as they sent their essences out toward the Rainbooms again. The green mist that covered the stadium was so thick that the crowd below was almost completely obscured. “Fluttershy look out!” Applejack was barely able to warn her in time. Fluttershy just avoided Aria’s essence as it zipped past her. “They’re surrounding us” Dash watched as the Dazzling encircled her band. Without her guitar, there wasn't much she could do except shout directions at the others. “We need to cast a defensive spell. If I had my horn, I could just surround us in a force field.” Twilight barely got her sentence out before she had to start her next verse. We shall overcome you With the magic of friendship “Great, so how do we cast a force field then?” Dash’s confidence was returning to her as she balled her hand into a fist. “I don’t know. How are we doing these magical musical attacks in the first place, darling?” Rarity was furiously making runs up and down her keyboard to fill in the lead parts. Her wrists felt like they were about to fall off. “I have no idea. And I don’t think Twilight is solid on it either.” Dash looked around at how her band members were positioned. “Everyone tuck in tighter. We’re gonna do a bunch formation.” “A what formation?” Rarity raised an eyebrow, still focusing entirely on her key-tar. “Just stand really close to each other and play in sync more; less individual parts.” The girls huddled up as close as their instruments would allow them. They stood right in front of Pinkie’s drum kit that was housed on Vinyls speaker platform. They started playing playing chords together in the same rhythm so that it sounded homo phonic. Twilight and Fluttershy sang a beautiful harmony just a 3rd interval apart from each other. Applejack’s bass line copied Rarity’s base notes an octave down. It was a true symphony of harmony. As their music style tightened, a glowing bubble surrounded the girls. The Dazzlings unleashed a fury of sound onto the Rainbooms. Their three beams clashed against the dense force field that protected the young pony tailed musicians. Every time Twilight took a breath for the precious air required to produce her resonant vocals, the shield buckled a little bit. It looked like her singing was the key to keeping the field in tact. However, her voice was beginning to feel rasped and tired. She felt a tension in her throat and jaw that was making it harder to stay in tune without aching. Sunset Shimmer and Spike had been forced to take refuge inside the force field. She clutched the helpless hound to her chest as she sat against the side of the speaker platform. “Twilight’s starting to lose it.” Spike looked up at Sunset. “She has to hold on, the Dazzlings can’t win or everyone will be trapped in their spell.” Sunset looked at Twilight. The bravery and audacity that Twilight brought to every battle was still present on her face. It was the same determination that Sunset saw when she was defeated by her. No wonder Celestia picked her. She really is someone worth following. But none the less, Twilight was beginning to waver. “We won’t get another chance like this. The Dazzlings know what these girls are capable of. We’ll never catch them off guard again.” Sunset watched in horror as Twilight’s voice cracked causing her to pause and clutch her chest. The force field fell and the three Dazzling blasts hit Twilight at same time. They had exclusively aimed for her. Twilight shrieked and fell to the ground. The microphone jettisoned from her hand and rolled next to the foot of Sunset Shimmer. The band girls stopped playing and rushed to aid Twilight. Sunset looked down at the microphone by her feet. “Sunset Shimmer, we need you!” Twilight’s voice was hoarse and weak. Sunset felt a wave of fear crawl up her spine. She looked down to Spike who nodded in agreement with Twilight. Sunset gently set spike on the ground and stood up. She threw her leather jacket off, revealing a light purple evening top with her cutie mark embroidered on the front. She picked the microphone up off of the ground and stood front and center between the Rainbooms and Adagio. Dash nodded to Pinkie Pie who led the rhythm section in again. Sunset’s voice rang out across the stadium. You’re never gonna bring me down You’re never gonna break this part of me My friends are here to bring me around Not singing just for popularity Sunsets words of clarity and truth were already beginning to lift the green fog over the crowd. Flash Sentry looked away from Adagio for the first time since she had sang a song just for him. He saw Sunset Shimmer pouring her heart out on stage. She looked gorgeous and completely in her element. It filled him with rage. Who was she to condescend to everyone? Not after all she had done to the school. Not after all she had done to him. A red light flashed over his eyes. He pointed to Sunset and screamed so that the whole crowd could hear him. “Hey look, it’s the raging she-demon. Don’t let her get near any magic, she might turn into a monster again.” Some of the crowd laughed at Flash’s remarks. Others started booing the Rainbooms. “What? No, I’m not like that anymore.” The boos were getting louder. Sunset tried to hide her face with her hand. “No please, stop it. I’m different now, please.” People started throwing dirt clumps and concession trash at Sunset. She dropped to her knees crying. The crowd was jeering so loud that no one could hear Sunset’s pleading anymore. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Why won’t you forgive me? What do I have to do?” She sat on the ground and buried her face into her knees. Adagio cackled from the stage. “Well, well girls, it’s looks like we win this one after all.” What we have in store All we want and more We will break on through Now It’s time to finish you The Dazzlings shot another tandem blast. This time they hit Vinyl’s digital set up. Her speakers exploded and sparks flew out from her mixing board. She and Pinkie Pie jumped off the platform to avoid the flames. The Rainboom’s set was done for the evening. “Sunset” Twilight moved in front of Sunset and tried shield her from the errant objects being thrown at her. “Sunset are you ok?” “What is the point, Twilight?” Sunset was profusely sobbing into her hands. “What is the point of having friends if nothing ever changes? If everyone sees you the same way no matter what?” “Sunset, friendship is always worth it. Don’t every give up on it.” Twilight was about to say more but was cut off by Adagio’s booming voice. “Twilight Sparkle,” Adagio’s voice was projected by her dragon like essence. “I think you've lingered in this world long enough.” Lightning scraped across the sky and the clouds grew black and gathered together. They swirled like a funnel cloud faster and faster until it looked a giant hole had been torn in the sky. “It’s a portal, they've opened a portal to another world.” Twilight and Sunset watched fearfully as deafening thunder and lightning flashes roared from the perimeter of the portal. Twilight screamed as she was suddenly levitated into the air. “Twilight!” Sunset grabbed Twilight’s arm and tried to pull her back down. Twilight grabbed onto Sunset’s arm with her other hand. “Twilight, hold on to me. We need you. I need you.” “I can’t hold on,” The other girls ran over to help pull Twilight back down but they were too late. Sunset had lost her grip of Twilight. All they could do was watch as their great and fearless leader was swept up into the air and tossed through the portal like a shirt thrown into the dryer. The remaining girls held each other, afraid that one of them may be sucked into the portal next. The Dazzlings laughed in unison as their essences flew around the girls, taunting them. Sunset wasn't sure if it was from a magic attack or exhaustion, but at some point she passed out. When she opened her eyes again, she couldn't believe what she saw. ****