"Yeah, Broken Crown Halo is definitely one of my favorites. They took everything they did right in Dark Adrenaline and kicked it up to the next level."
Behind the counter at a second-hand music store, a perky-goth cashier evaluated the top few selections of a customer's sizable stack of CDs. Lacuna Coil was one of her personal favorites, so she jumped on it first as she rang them up. But the rest, well... The place was known for its variety, sure, but this was something else. Lecrae's Anomaly, on top of New Jersey by Bon Jovi, with the latest Red album, Of Beauty and Rage, beneath.
"Wish I could tell you more about the rest, but..."
"No, no, it's fine, my tastes are all over the place. But that's what I like about this place, the selection. Puts Target and Best Buy to shame, I'll tell you that."
He pulled a leather wallet from his windbreaker, and from that a credit card to pay with. She swiped it, only to watch the transaction go through at incredible speed, especially for their low-budget computer system. Handing the man his card back, she cut the stack of CDs up into small groups and began to bag them. Too bad she didn't earn commission, she would've made bank off this guy!
"That, and it's close to home," he added as he grabbed the bag and started toward the door. "Well, thanks for your help, have a nice day!" The man stepped outside, walked to his black Hummer H3, then jumped in and started up the engine.
A soccer mom having a particularly unpleasant morning trudged along in the parking lot, looking for that elusive opening in the sea of cars. But when she took a second look at the row to her right, she saw a conveniently-located space just waiting for her. Pulling her Suburban in with downright joy, she put it in park, then wondered to herself: wasn't there a Hummer here before?
The suspension took a jolt as the Hummer's wheels dropped to the hangar floor. The rip engine always brought him back an inch or so too high, but still, better too high than too low. Jack stepped out, combing through his new acquisitions with delight. While they were uploaded to the computer, he could unload the bulk order of groceries from the trunk.
"Jack! Hey, Jack! There you are!"
Unloading groceries would have to wait, apparently.
"Pinkie, what are you doing down here?"
"Looking for you, of course! Whatcha got there?"
"Just some new music from home, nothing too terribly interesting. But what do you need?"
"Oh, it's not me who needs you, it's Twilight! She says she wanted your help with something."
Guilt and self-doubt ripped into him. "Are you sure? I mean, sure, I'd be happy to, but after what happened with Tirek..."
"Oh, phooey on that! It's a brand new day in Equestria, and the past is gone forever. Besides, I promised you a villain song, and I'm going to deliver on that promise!"
What? How did she...? Oh wait. It's Pinkie, of course she'd know.
"What the hay, you talked me into it. Computer, rip these CDs for me, and take care of the groceries as usual, please and thank you." Jack moved to his central computer and began typing in orders. "Let me just program the rip engine for another trip..." As the calculations went through, he pulled each disc from its case and fed them one-by-one into a slot on the control panel. Pinkie was already at his side, ready for the trip. "That's that, and... here, we, go!"
A portal opened beneath them, and they fell through to the crystal floor of Twilight's throne room. Well, at least Jack hit the crystal floor. Pinkie, on the other hoof, made it to the crystal ceiling. "Whoops! Got my directions mixed up again." A quick personal gravity inversion brought her back down to earth. Around them stood the rest of the mildly-confused Mane 6.
"Jack! Glad you could make it," greeted Twilight.
"Sure, it's about time I got out for some fresh air. Now then, what have you got for me?" Jack clapped his hands together and steepled them, almost ravenous for a new challenge.
"I got a message from Sunset Shimmer, it appears we're needed back at Canterlot High."
"Remind me to pack my genetic stabilizer. What's the situation?"
"I was just telling everypony else, it looks like we're dealing with sirens..."
Having gone back home to pack, Jack arrived just as Twilight powered up her magitech creation. A mission briefing later, the group assembled in front of the mirror gateway. He was sporting a new look, a black leather jacket over olive-green undershirt, and dark blue jeans beneath. With a voluminous black backpack slung over his shoulder, he certainly looked ready.
"Do you have your genetic stabilizer, Jack?" Twilight asked. Pulling his right arm out of his jacket, Jack showed off his new design; instead of the circuit-board sandwich, this one was a band of synthetic fabric going around his bicep, with four long, half-oval pods spaced equidistantly around it. Their metal shells were rimmed with blue fluorescent light.
"Thanks to the Rani's tutelage, rebuilding this thing turned out to be a breeze. No more big scary nails or exposed wiring."
"And thanks to the spell I rigged up, now we can go through the portal as we please."
"Perfect. I may want to come back later, pick up supplies depending on what we find. But for now, I suppose I'm ready as I'll ever be."
And with a quick sharing of farewells and good-lucks, Jack, Twilight and Spike made for the portal. "So this is a battle of the bands, you said?.."
The Humane 6 (Sunset Shimmer now included) had gathered at the base of the statue in front of CHS, hoping their message had made it through. Each was dealing with boredom in their own way, but as friends, they were unified in that boredom. And they were unified in excitement when Twilight and Spike came charging through the portal at breakneck pace. "Twilight!" But they were also unified in shock and fear when Jack stepped through behind her, far more controlled.
"It's the Master!" Sunset shouted. "Twilight, the Master followed you through the portal!"
"I got him!" Rainbow Dash charged and leapt up into a flying kick. Barely having time to recognize that he had been misidentified, and that the wardrobe change was indeed for nothing, Jack reacted to the attack on instinct. Locking his right arm out, he met Dash's heel with his palm, seeming to hold her in midair for a split-second. He then threw her backwards and to the ground, losing his icy-fury expression as the blood-red color faded from his eyes.
"I'm afraid we weren't properly introduced after our last encounter, but I am not the Master. At least, not anymore."
"This is Jack West, he's a friend from Equestria," Twilight affirmed, stepping to his side. "Remember, I told you about how the Master had taken over his body." They nodded, with unequal levels of understanding, but indeed remembering Twilight's older gentleman friend who liked to live dangerously.
"Glad to know I made such a memorable first impression."
"I can relate," Sunset replied quietly, with just a hint of bitterness.
"But anyway," Twilight continued, "yes, we're back, and I'm afraid I have some bad news about those girls."
"Quick, to the Shake Shack!" declared Pinkie, to the rest of the group's surprise. "What? Bad news always goes down better with a good milkshake, right?"
"Yes, well, it's been a pleasure, ladies," Jack interrupted, sensing it was time for him to fly. "I'm going to go inside and try to ingratiate myself with the faculty. I'm obviously too old to pass for a high school student, but a charming young teacher? A much easier stretch of the imagination, wouldn't you say?"
"Oh, most certainly," replied Rarity dreamily, somewhat charmed herself. But she was able to snap herself out of it before anyone else caught on. "There's a social tonight for all the bands competing, in the gym at 6. We can meet you there."
"Sounds like a plan. Oh, and just to keep up with naming conventions, I'll be going by Jack of All Trades, cool? Good. See you then." And spinning on his heels, Jack made for the front doors, eyeing their newly-replaced locks with a chuckle.
Jack strolled down the halls of Canterlot High with his usual own-the-place confidence, exploiting the natural human aversion to making trouble; if he acted like he belonged here, no one would question him. His mind, however, did not reflect his body language, as a million questions ran through his head. Passing as a teacher had been his plan for a cover when he first visited this world, but things happened too fast and he never needed to break it out. Precious details of the story were still left unfilled.
Teacher of what, exactly? Have to teach something particular, some subject. Where am I from? Let's see, Canterlot High School, so there must be common ground with Equestria's geography, that's good. Can't say I'm from Canterlot, they'll expect me to have local knowledge, pick somewhere else. Hmm...Fillydelphia, yeah, keep it simple. How long have I been here? Mmm, a year, yes, a year. Not old enough they'd expect to have met me by now, but any sooner and they'd be suspicious. Got to
"Excuse me, I don't believe I've seen you around here. Are you a teacher?"
Oh crap, it's Celestia! Just run with it, stay calm and confident.
"Yes, actually, name's Jack of All Trades. I teach shop."
"I didn't know Canterlot High had shop classes. Do you teach anything else?"
"Yes, um, computer science, and a bit of engineering."
Principal Celestia was hesitant, on the edge between acceptance and suspicion. All she needed now was a good shove in the right direction. "I feel like I've seen you somewhere, but I just can't put my finger on it. Do you do anything else?"
What else do teachers do? Hmm... Coaching! Yes, extracurriculars add depth!
"I'm a coach for the Canterlot High swim team."
"Canterlot High doesn't have a swimming pool," Celestia deadpanned.
Crap. Couldn't have seen that one coming. But you know, Jack West was so smart and so slick, he thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick. "Final project for my shop class! I'm giving bonus points to the student with the highest high-dive. We're practicing off-campus until it's ready."
Celestia gave him an odd look for such a convenient explanation, but it settled into a pleasant expression shortly after. "Well, good luck to your shop class, and to the swim team. I'll have to come out to a meet sometime." Her voice was an unnervingly calm monotone; ironically, now Jack was the suspicious one. That really should've come crashing down on me at several different points, but she was so easy to persuade. Too easy, in fact.
The next few hours passed uneventfully, as Jack explored the school and gained a sense of what was where. His favorite stop in the self-guided tour was the science wing, where a lab near the end of the hall was still taped off and boarded up. Ahh, memories. But otherwise, it was simply observing and collating information, along with making a few introductions to curious staff members. He arrived at the band social fashionably late, switching from location-study to people-watching. The hostility between groups was very thinly veiled, and honestly excessive for a high school battle of the bands; must be the sirens, then.
The next sight that caught his eye was the Humane 7, with Spike in tow, gathered in the center of the room. Jack started to wade through the crowd to reach them, but he saw Twilight's attention go to three other girls entering the party. They were certainly over-dressed, and at least half of their body composition had to be their massive hairstyles. Twilight started to talk to the others, causing the group to shift around and giving Jack reason to pause. What was she doing? Spike and Sunset Shimmer backed away, and before Jack could say or do anything the rest of them took hands.
"There isn't going to be a battle of the bands!" Twilight declared proudly. "We're going to make sure of that!" What?! They're just going to have at it, right now? Part of Jack felt snubbed for not having been at least consulted, but the rest of him was getting a bad feeling about the entire situation. It reeked of too quick, too easy. Something was going to go wrong.
"Alright, girls, let's do this! Friendship is magic!"
Jack didn't know what he expected. Maybe the same magical rainbow vortex that had spelled the end of the Master, maybe not. But at least, when the whole thing turned out to be a dud, he wasn't quite as shocked as his friends. The awkwardness of the moment was almost overpowering.
"Talk about throwing down the gauntlet! This group is obviously serious about winning!"
That was the leader of the three odd-looking girls from before talking; definitely a siren, based on how easily she bred even more hatred from the situation. Beyond a facepalm, and sharing empathically in his friends' collective embarassment, Jack suddenly felt a flash of rage. These witches had to be dealt with, and if the magic of friendship wasn't going to do it, he had something under his jacket, over his left breast pocket that would. It would be so easy, just pop, pop, pop, get out of there and close the portal! Problem solved, easy as that! No, no, Twilight wouldn't approve of that. No lethal force, give her time to figure this out and she would get it right. With subdued frustration, he pulled out his phone and started snapping pictures of the three. Observe and collate, Jack, observe and collate. At least make something worthwhile out of this fiasco.
"It doesn't make any sense! I should have been able to create the spark that would help us break their spell. That's how it worked before!"
Jack caught up with the girls on the steps of a side entrance to the building, as they tried to figure out just what had gone wrong. He was smart enough not to immediately broach the subject.
"So those were the Dazzlings in there? Those three with the crazy hair?"
"Yes," answered Sunset Shimmer. "Adagio Dazzle, the one who spoke up, is their leader, Aria Blaze is the snarky purple-and-green one, and Sonata Dusk is the ditzy blue one."
"Hmm, with names like those, they're dead ringers for dark musicians. Remind me of the Hex Girls."
"Who?"
"Another band, similar style, doubt you'd know them. Anyway, what are we going to do about these three?"
Twilight and Sunset resumed their conversation about magic and music, with the rest of them listening along intently. When Twilight was inadvertently welcomed into the Rainbooms as a new member, Jack shifted over to the steps, taking a seat next to Sunset Shimmer. As a reformed villain, he was definitely interested in making her acquaintance.
"Guess we can start the 'Not in the Band' club, eh?"
"You want to be a Rainboom?" she asked in mock-surprise.
"Oh, of course not. It never goes well for token guys in all-girl pop bands. Besides, I'm not particularly proficient at any instrument, and my vocal talents probably wouldn't agree with their style of music. You?"
"I'm pretty good on guitar, and I guess I can sing as well as the next girl. Did a solo act at last year's showcase, actually."
"Nice. We may not be Dazzling-beating caliber, but maybe we can have a jam session or something when this is all over."
But the rest of the group's conversation had turned to the possibility of a slumber party, which sucked Sunset Shimmer back in. Jack simply understood it meant he had somewhere to bunk down for the night, instead of going back through the portal or stowing away somewhere inside CHS. Digging around inside his backpack, he pulled out a ball of synthetic fabric labeled ENO, and followed the group toward Pinkie's house.
Apart from sharing the pizza, Jack left the others to their girl-time while he hung out in the back yard. He had strung his hammock up between two trees, and wrapped in a forest-camo poncho liner with headphones on and tablet in hand, he built a digital file for his newest enemies. As the one least magically in-tune, the job fell to him to come up with a magic-free backup plan should Twilight's counter-spell fail. They use their magic to influence and control others, then feed off their hatred. I've heard of the hypno-music schtick before, but never actually had to go up against it. Nothing I can't do, though, music has power to it, no reason I can't just turn that power back on them. But how?
As Twilight and Sunset ended their late-night conversation and snack run, Twilight went back to her notebook, hoping for a visit from some magical, musical muse. Sunset elected to go back to the living room, in case there was any leftover pizza to be had. But only seconds after she managed to get her hands on an untouched piece of pepperoni, a small flash of light came through the windows from the backyard, no bigger than a pen-light. It appeared to be some sort of signal. Wolfing down what was left of the slice, she slid open the back door and walked over to Jack's hammock.
"Hey, what's up, fellow night-owl?"
"Working, trying to come up with a plan of my own in case Twilight's doesn't do the trick."
"Cool, how can I help?"
"You said you heard the Dazzlings singing in the cafeteria the other day; tell me about their music. What were they singing, what did it sound like?"
"You know, it's funny, their song basically was nothing but how they wanted to have a battle of the bands. There was all these lines about 'Me and you, you and me, why don't we see who is better?'"
"So subtlety isn't their strong suit?"
"Exactly. You just had to listen to their words to know that something bad was going on."
"Very interesting. Well, that gives me an idea or two, thank you." Jack suddenly rolled out of his hammock, pulling off the poncho-liner and slipping his hiking shoes on.
"No problem... what's up now?" She followed as he walked toward the house, very confused.
"Going back to the portal, I need to make a supply run." As he jumped over the wood fence, he stopped to sit at the top and look back. "Don't worry, I'll be back before dawn."
Jack woke up late the next morning to find the girls had vacated Pinkie's place, going out to Applejack's farm for some day-of band practice. The note left on the back door for his convenience included a map, but with less than two hours until check-in for the battle, it just didn't make sense to try and drive out there. Spreading out his poncho liner on the grass and unpacking his gear onto it, he began to pick and choose just what he would need for his part in the day's events.
The Rainbooms should have that counter-spell ready, let them do their job and play it. I just need to be sure they get the chance to.
Jack started with the basics: iPhone, wallet, keys and Walther P99. He loaded it with a clip of taser-dart ammunition, then slid another magazine full of hollow-points into a leather sleeve beneath the holster, and a silencer below that. His attention then went to his jacket, sliding a spybug surveillance drone (the kind Celestia had destroyed in her throne room) into one pocket, and funneled numerous flashbang pellets into the other. These ones were from a special batch he had made the night before, with both the flash and the bang toned down, and some carbon-black powder for smoke effects in their place. In short, instant pyrotechnics. He then spread the sleeves out; on the bottom of each was a velcro-attached hidden flap running from cuff to elbow, and each flap was lined with three compacted razor-discs. Quite literally, tricks up my sleeve. The rest of it was pretty basic: Leatherman multitool and laser pen in his back pocket, watch with built-in grappling hook, et cetera.
That should take care of me for the day; I can improvise around anything else. Oh wait, the backup plan! Pulling a small drawstring pouch from his backpack, Jack looked inside to find an input wire and small, curved metal chip, then cinched it up tight and pocketed it. He then dumped the rest of his gear back into his backpack, then hung it from the handlebars of the motorcycle he had brought in, which leaned against the inside of the wooden fence. Now to get to the school and find a nice, dark place to watch the show.
The Rainbooms, Sunset Shimmer and Spike burst into the gymnasium, desperately afraid of being late. Much to their relief, they weren't, and Principal Celestia checked them in with her usual good cheer. Twilight scanned about the room, finding almost the entire student body already present. That included the Dazzlings, and somehow just a look at them managed to capture their incredible levels of passive-aggressiveness. But as Pinkie wheeled in her drum kit, Sunset got a text from an unfamiliar number. It was a picture of them as they entered the gym, obviously taken from a very high angle; it was almost top-down. Included was the caption:
Got the high ground covered
What? Who could... Oh, wait. When she thought about it a bit, who else could it be?
Jack?
At your service
Well, at least there's someone looking out for us.
Unfortunately, Sunset had forgotten that that 'someone' was very prone to boredom. Decidedly unimpressed by MC Snips and DJ Snazzy Snails, Jack had taken to field-stripping and reassembling his handgun to pass the time, occasionally looking down to check on his friends. Each time they proved to be just fine, and each act proved to be just as uninteresting as the last. No Rainbooms, no Dazzlings, not even the Glam-Rock Crusaders. Otherwise known as nothing worth my time. Spybug will get it if anything weird goes down, I just need to remove the trigger guard from...
'Shake Your Tail' was certainly more upbeat and well-played than the numbers preceding it, so when Jack heard the first verse start up, he recognized the music and looked down to see the Rainbooms on stage. They were playing well, everything seemed to be fine, though Rarity's tassels stood out a bit compared to the others' street clothes. Wait, the counter-spell is... a song they'd already written? Maybe Sunset could sort that part out for him.
This is the counter-spell?
Twilight needed more time to write it, so they're stalling until the next round
Good to know
Well, it was a change in plans, but if Twilight needed more time, nothing much Wait, who's that? Jack spotted a group of figures who had joined him in the rafters; it looked like Photo Finish and her bandmates. Crap, this can't be good. Hurriedly working to reassemble his gun, he swore at himself for not catching them sooner. The Walther was back in one piece shortly, and as Jack screwed the silencer onto the barrel, he took aim at them, only to stop when he saw what exactly Photo Finish was doing. The tassels on Rarity's sleeves had been caught by two magnets suspended from above, and now Photo Finish was yanking her around like some cheap marionette, making da magicks by interfering with the rest of the group's performance.
There is so much wrong with the physics of this situation. But with a better plan in mind, Jack sheathed his P99. He then brought his left arm up, reached into its hidden pocket and drew a razor-disc. Flicking the wings open in his right hand, he made a banking throw from the left shoulder. The disc spun quietly through the air, curving left and slicing through both ropes before sticking itself to the wall by the pointy end. Photo Finish felt the sudden loss of tension as Rarity got back to playing, took one look at Jack and realized the proverbial jig was up. The three of them quickly made a break for the nearest ladder.
"Oh no you don't!" Thinking quickly, Jack dropped to a knee, drew his P99 and fired. The pigtailed girl at the front of the trio took a dart to the knee, the discharge of electricity bringing her down and causing the other two to trip and fall on top of her. Before he could move to apprehend them properly, his phone buzzed.
What's going on up there?
Photo Finish tried to pull a Dick Dastardly on us
?
She cheated. Under control now
Thx
Is something up with the lights?
What was she...? And then he saw them. MC Snips and DJ Snazzy Snails had also come up to the catwalk, and were fooling around with one of the spotlights, giggling all the while. Jack looked to the stage to see that Fluttershy was practically being chased by the beam. Those scumbags... Drawing and taking a two-handed grip, he fired straight at the light. Though its angle was not conducive to the dart causing an explosive blowout, it did short the thing out, and what voltage was left threw Snails back into the railing. And in the time it took Snips to respond, Jack had already drawn another disc from his sleeve.
"That's whack, dawg." His nasally voice registered the appropriate level of fear for what was coming; the disc beamed him right in the forehead, knocking the poser out cold. It bounced up as he went down, and Jack sprinted along the walkway, then used the railings as support to dropkick the recovering Snails, before catching the disc as it came back downward. He then turned his attention back to Photo Finish's group; she and her ponytailed friend had managed to disentangle themselves, and were once again trying to escape down the ladder. This angered Jack very much. With a cursory glance at the rope-and-pulley rigging overhead, he gave his disc another throw, and shortly after a very heavy sandbag came down on the bandmate's head, eliciting a yelp of pain. Suddenly, Photo Finish turned, shouted something very angry in very thick German that Jack could not for the life of him hope to understand, and charged.
You little fool... As soon as the photographer got within an arm's reach of him, Jack held up his right hand, freezing her in her tracks. His fingers were hooked forward, like he was ready to claw her to pieces, and his face once again bore that snarl of controlled fury. Scared right out of her wits, to say nothing of her counter-attack, Photo Finish tried to turn and run, but none of her muscles responded. She was held in place, absolutely unable to move, at least until Jack gave her the forehand face-slap of her life. As she recoiled, he brought up his left arm and twisted the bezel on his watch. A small grappling piton emerged from one side, and he quickly yanked it out to reveal a thin wire trailing between it and the watch. Jack wrapped it twice around Photo Finish's waist before tying it back into itself with a quick knot. Recovered, she attempted to grapple with him, but he shoved her away, hand to face. This next part was going to be tricky.
Relatively speaking, 'Shake Your Tail' finished on a high note. Although Rarity had magnets dangling from her arms and Twilight's throat still hurt from coughing up confetti, they made it through more or less in one piece, which Rainbow Dash had already assigned herself the credit for. But just as the Principals started to applaud politely, the moment's spotlight was stolen by Photo Finish, screaming as she fell from the rafters. She managed to stop just before hitting the judges' table, to everyone's surprise, until suddenly she was yanked back up, and Jack descended behind her. He touched down at the front of the stage with much more grace, before driving his left hand down hard. The cable he had descended upon snapped loose and retracted into his watch swiftly, and Photo Finish dropped on the same trajectory as before with yet another scream, this time taking out the judges' table entirely.
Celestia appeared unmoved by the whole turn of events. "Could someone please get us a new table?"
"Whatever he was doing, at least Jack was trying to help us not look like complete idiots!" shouted Applejack. Though a potential crisis had been averted through the intervention of their guardian fallen-angel, the ensuing argument and blamecasting had not.
"You know as well as I do I was not to blame for this!" Rarity replied, holding up the magnets to make a point. "This was sabotage! The confetti cannon, on the other hand..."
"Oh, so now it's my fault!" sneered Pinkie. "Excuse me for trying to have some fun!"
Twilight, who normally held herself above these kind of disputes, simply couldn't let that one by. "Yes, because choking on a bit of tissue paper midway through the song really is my idea of a good time! And speaking of bad ideas..." But she was cut off by an amplified tapping on Principal Celestia's microphone.
"With Photo Finish and the Snapshots now unable to perform for medical reasons..." Rarity smirked a bitch had it coming kind of smirk, unable to help herself. "...our roster now has a vacancy. This would give the Dogs of War a bye for the first round, unless someone else would like to fill in the opening."
"Yes, that would be me!" The shout came from surprisingly close to the Humane 7, and they looked around to see that, even more surprisingly, it had come from Jack. "You don't object to faculty participating, given the circumstances, do you?"
Celestia raise an eyebrow of really?, but looked to Adagio in the stands before saying anything. "Miss Dazzle, this competition was your idea, what is your opinion?"
"Why not? The more the merrier!" Adagio replied haughtily, in that faux-friendly tone she had practically trademarked. Sonata snickered uncontrollably, while Aria just maintained her devious smile.
"Very well. Jack of All Trades will be taking Photo Finish and the Snapshots' position in the Battle of the Bands! Who else will be performing with you?"
"Solo act, Principal Celestia, though I do have background music I'd like hooked into the speakers."
"What should I put down for your band name?"
"...'West of Eden' will do." Jack turned to walk backstage, approaching the rest of the group and their shocked expressions.
"Jack, what are you doing?" asked Sunset.
"This is the backup plan!" he whispered back. "Now we have two shots at winning Battle of the Bands instead of one."
"What plan?" demanded Twilight. "You just going up there and singing won't do anything! You don't have any magic, Jack!"
"Sunset, remember what you told me about the Dazzlings, how they just sang what they wanted people to do and they did it?" He was dumping out his pockets, hiding any unneeded equipment away behind an amplifier. What stayed were the phone, the drawstring pouch and his small pool of marble-sized flashbang charges.
"Yeah, so?"
"So, they were telegraphing their message. What if I just do the same thing, but with a message so twisted up in imagery and wordplay it seems like complete nonsense? They'll try to find meaning in a song they don't understand, and the shock to their subconscious might just snap them out of the spell the Dazzlings have them under." He split the pool of marbles into two handfuls, then dumped them into his front jean pockets.
"...That actually might work." Twilight admitted
"Now performing, in place of Photo Finish and the Snapshots, West of Eden!"
"Well, that's my cue!"
"But, Jack," Rainbow Dash felt obliged to ask, "can you even sing?"
He pulled the silver chip from his bag and pressed it against his throat, where it stuck. "Now I can!" After plugging his phone into the soundboard backstage and cuing up the song he needed, Jack rolled his shoulders back, took a deep breath, and cut loose. This was going to be fun.
Practically strutting onstage to the bouncy opening guitar riff, Jack snatched the mic from the stand like it belonged to him. "Say my name and his in the same breath, I dare you to say they taste the same." He danced about as he sang, imagining with delight how these little high-schoolers would take their first exposure to the enigmatic musical phenomenon known as Fall Out Boy. But this is just the first verse, not time to bust out anything too out-there. Just establish stage presence. "These friends, they don't love you, they just love the hotel suites, now!"
Jack hit the first chorus with cockiness and gusto, his handy neck-mounted chip keeping him in pitch. "I don't care what you think, as long as it's about me! The best of us can find happiness in misery." Oh, how confusing this must be to them! They should be glad I didn't pull out Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet... But now that the chorus was ending, it was time to step it up, put a real point on what he was saying. Looking out into the crowd, he saw that past the shock of hearing pop-punk for the first time, the audience was giving him a combination of bored and disdainful looks; he was the competition, after all. So what harm was there in livening things up a bit?
"Well take a chance, let your body get a tolerance, I'm not a chance, put a heat wave in your pants." Bonus points for innuendo! Jack marched in time with the drums, off the stage and into the crowd. His first victim was Diamond Tiara: exploiting a great vertical advantage, he stared her down, then flicked her tiara off with a brush of his fingertips. A playful pat on the head concluded her humiliation, as Jack moved on to dispatch his own brand of social justice. Trixie made it easy for him; with her iconic hat pulled down to her nose, a gentle shove was all it took to put her on her back. Using a wide arm-swing to get the Illusions out of the way, he stepped over her body as the second chorus began, then made for his last target: Flash Sentry. The wannabe rock star was practicing his shoegazing, trying his best to look unconcerned by the spectacle. So Jack put two fingers to Flash's chin, bringing his head up to face him with a smug grin between phrases. Then, flattening his palm and flicking from the wrist, he gave the kid an infuriating double bitch-slap.
"I don't care what you think, as long as it's about me!" Time to drive the point home. Leaving Flash steaming with rage, Jack located the Dazzlings in the stands and took aim at Adagio with an accusatory pointed finger. Satisfied that he had their attention, he spread his arms out at his sides, calling the Dazzlings out with the same here-I-am gesture he had given Tirek. She just smiled back conceitedly, even though such a direct challenge against her was concerning. This one was different...
Jack weaved through the stunned crowd during the musical interlude, slipping back on-stage after hitting a few switches to kill the lighting. Only center stage was left illuminated, and that was exactly where he went, nocking the microphone back into its stand and calming things down. He repeated the first line of the chorus, with the intensity building every time. Now hands-free, Jack dug into his pockets, and sandwiched two flashbang pellets under each thumb in preparation. The audience clearly wasn't going to be friendly enough for the call-and-response section to work, so he just sang the former and left the latter to Pete Wentz on the backing track. At least, until the last punctuated "I! Don't! Care!" The music toned down for the chorus to return, but Jack compensated for that.
"I..." His left hand drew up to his right shoulder, then shot out diagonally in the opposite direction. This triggered a micro-explosion of light and sound, and a rolling wave of smoke in the same direction.
"...don't..." The right hand did the same diagonal throw, and a similar burst occurred on the opposite side of the stage.
"...care..." Now both hands came up at the wrist, then snapped back down, resulting in a double-shot of flashbang right at Jack's feet. "...what you think, as long as it's about me! The best of us can find happiness in misery!" Now he had wrenched his hands onto the mic, screaming at the crowd with utter vocal fury. But something told him he was standing on a trap-door, which the Great and R-Trilling Trixie was about to trigger. Well, can't have that, now can we? Jack quickly bounced into a much wider stance, feet landing just outside the treacherous flooring as it opened downward, and he kept singing like nothing had happened. But reaching into his right pocket, he pulled out another flashbang pellet, then hurled it at Trixie without even looking; its concussive thunderclap practically threw her away from the lever.
Straining his vocal cords as far as they could go, Jack charged into the final chorus, bringing the mic stand with him as he stepped back from the opening. He briefly toyed with the idea of bending the thing over his knee, as a final act of social deviance, but elected not to, since he still needed both hands free for his finisher. Extending the short-i sound in "misery" to a ridiculous but necessary length, he pulled every flashbang he could get a hold of from his pockets, cupping them in both hands. And on the powerful finishing guitar note, he hurled them out into the gym, creating a momentary fireworks display and slightly longer-lasting panic in the crowd.
Principals Celestia and Luna took down notes apathetically. In the wings, Twilight was giving Jack an obligatory lecture for his edginess and provocative antics (even if this Alicorn Amulet-less Trixie had it coming). And Sonata was getting very worried.
"Why did he call us out like that? I thought they all loved us here, I thought they'd do whatever we said!"
"Like you're even worth listening to," Aria scoffed.
"Be quiet!" interrupted Adagio, as per usual. "There seems to be a new player in our little game. He claims to be a teacher, but the company he keeps suggests otherwise." She pointed a finger at him and the Humane 7, having a spirited conversation.
"Then who is he?" asked Aria.
"My guess? He's from Equestria just like Twilight Sparkle. Probably her bodyguard, based on that little stunt he pulled with Photo Finish."
"What do we do?" Sonata begged panickedly, imagining herself as the next one to take an involuntary stage-dive from the rafters.
"What we always do, Sonata." All Adagio got in response was a shrug and a blank look. "We sing! West of Eden can fall under our sway just as easily as the others did. Now come on, we're almost up." She beckoned to the others, stepping down from the bleachers and toward the stage.
Just as Flash was about to really tell Twilight off for standing in the way of his band, Jack stepped into the hall from backstage, having collected and reorganized his other tools. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I not hit you hard enough the first time?" This was enough to send Flash storming off, cheek (and pride) still stinging. Jack hung back as the Rainbooms continued to search for a practice space, only to notice Sunset Shimmer had hung back with him. Not only that, but as Principal Celestia announced Trixie and the Illusions, the Dazzlings approached from the other end of the hallway.
"Well, well, if it isn't Canterlot High's least wanted," Adagio mocked.
"You're never gonna get away with this," replied Sunset.
"Why? Because you didn't? We know all about you, Sunset Shimmer, you've got quite the reputation.."
This seemed like a good place to cut in. "What about me?"
"You certainly aren't as well-known as Sunset, Jack of All Trades, but then again the henchman never is."
Well, they've certainly pieced more together than I had expected. But she said 'Jack of All Trades', not 'Master', so there must be gaps missing.
"I've changed! I'm in a much better place now!" Sunset hastily rebutted, causing Jack a mental cringe. No, no, don't get defensive, that's exactly what they want!
"Waiting in the wings while your friends have all the fun?" chimed in Aria. Adagio was about to follow up, but Jack interrupted once again. "Ooh, look, I've still got one!" He had pulled a small marble from his pocket, examining it in a delighted, Doctor-esque fashion. This called Adagio's mind back to his rousing performance of "I Don't Care", and she switched targets. "You had some pretty bold moves out there, Jack. Too bad it couldn't cover up for you being completely out of your depth. You don't belong on a stage any more than she does!"
Jack stared back at her for a few moments, very seriously, like he needed a moment to really process what she had said. She smirked, assuming she had really gotten through with that one. At least, she thought that until he burst out into a spasm of uncontrollable laughter. It lasted a few seconds, until Jack caught his breath and took his composure back. "You really didn't think this through, did you?"
"Didn't we?" Adagio responded with contempt.
"Nope! See, if you really know that much about us, you'd know how much better we were at this than you. When Sunset here took hold of the Element of Magic, she literally snapped her fingers and had the entire student body under her complete control. You've had, what, three days? And you really haven't done anything more than stir them up against each other." Jack's voice was still cheery, almost amiable, but that belied a definite sense of menace in his tone. Sunset, on the other hand, was visibly affected at the mention of her past.
"Hey, none of that!" Jack turned to her encouragingly, with a trust me on this wink. "You impressed me last time! You may have been bad, but you were good at it! Unlike them..."
"We can hear you!" objected Sonata obliviously.
"No kidding! And as for me, I didn't go by Jack of All Trades back then. No, if you really know me, you'd know I was usually referred to as the Master." The word came off his lips with relish, even pride, like he preferred the title. "Wasn't completely me, sure, but oh boy, I was bad! You can't see past the walls of this school; I was looking to conquer all of time and space!" Crimson had returned to his eyes as he raved triumphantly. "And do you know the best part? The Elements of Harmony beat both of us! So before you go talking a big game, remember you're not just facing them, but them and their two most dangerous enemies. Personally, I don't like your odds."
Adagio rolled her eyes calmly. "Are you done?"
"Oh dear me, I've been monologuing, haven't I? Don't worry, almost done. Now then, if you remember my performance, which by the way I enjoyed very much myself, so I really could care less what the critics say..." He held up the marble again. "...You'll remember what this little guy does. If it hits the ground, you will be blinded and deafened, if only for a moment, and in that moment I'll show you just how much fun I can have back here in the wings." The implication was obvious, forcing the Dazzlings to acknowledge their own physical vulnerability. Until the marble went back in Jack's pocket.
"But please, keep going. Build yourself up as high as you'd like, because in the end it's just that much farther to fall. And you will fall." He stepped to the side of the hall, bowing and beckoning them onward. "Now then, I believe you're on." All that Adagio could think of to take back the situation was her customary smirk, and even that wasn't entirely convincing. She walked past them toward the stage, followed by a scowling Aria, and Sonata, who was obviously somewhat shell-shocked.
Jack turned back to Sunset and smiled. "Well, that was fun. Let's go see them play!" He strolled off, rather pleased with himself, but she did not share his calm. The way he complimented her villainy, and reveled in his own; it wasn't just to throw the Dazzlings, he was proud of it. And she thought back to the gym with grave concern. He says he's on our side, but the way he acted on stage... There were too many similarities between Jack of All Trades and the Master for Sunset to ignore. But still, she reminded herself, he had warmed up to her almost immediately, unlike most, and with him around she didn't feel like an outlier in the group. At least, not the only outlier. He deserved a chance, but still... Who is this man?
Standing alone in the audience, Jack watched the Dazzlings take the stage. As Sunset came to join him, the music started up, seemingly of its own accord. "Oh woah-oh, oh woah-oh, you didn't know that you fell, oh woah-oh, oh woah-oh, now that you're under our spell." Well, they get no points for subtlety. But they are pretty catchy... Jack winced involuntarily. No, not again! There was a voice in his head that wasn't his own, background chatter behind his thoughts that he couldn't drive out for more than a moment. But unlike the Master's influence, these voices were feminine, and far more simple. Instead of snippets about drums and hatred and glory, all he could pick out them saying were single words, along the lines of adore, follow, and, most concerning, submit. Jack's first instinct was to get the hell out of there, the obvious physical solution to a mental problem. But his conscious self restrained him, refusing to show weakness in the face of the enemy. Come on, Jack, he told himself, block it out! You beat the Master, you can beat them! These sirens have nothing on a Time Lord!
That confidence seemed to suppress the new voice's murmur, but a third voice was rising to take its place. No, not a third voice, just his own, but with much more force behind it. Yes, I did! I beat the Master! He doesn't even deserve the title, now that I've mastered him; I just might co-opt it. And who are these impudent fools to challenge me? Wow... Must be the confidence talking, he decided. But his confidence had more to say. Them and their paltry 'battle of the bands'... Ha! This is no battle! With the music and technology at my disposal, I could easily run roughshod over every band at Canterlot High! And just to show the Dazzlings exactly who they've had the misfortune of coming up against, I think that is exactly what I shall do!
To Adagio's great surprise, by the end of the song Jack had regained his composure, and was giving her a self-assured, venomous grin.
With the Glam-Rock Crusaders finishing up the final round, the principals posted the results only minutes later. Of course, the Rainbooms, Dazzlings and West of Eden had advanced, drumming out some of the more generic bands. The Rainbooms were still trying to come up with a counterspell in an empty classroom, so it fell to Sunset to report the good (if expected) news.
"Who do we get to thrash in Round 2?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Bulk Biceps and his violin... I think we can safely call this one locked up. What about the counter-spell?"
Twilight forced out a few awkward laughs. "Yeah, not so locked up..."
"Don't worry, you have plenty of time before the finals!"
"What about Jack?" asked Fluttershy.
"Oh, um, yes, he made it too. Actually, Twilight, I wanted to ask you about him..."
"What's up?"
"It's just..." Sunset struggled to find the right phrasing. "After his performance, we ran into the Dazzlings backstage. They tried to harass us, but Jack completely lost it on them."
"He can be rather verbose, especially if he feels challenged," Twilight noted matter-of-factly.
"That's not it, it felt like he was, well... lecturing them on being villains. He brought up the whole Master thing, but it was almost like he was bragging about it. And for how far he went during that song..."
"I see..."
"Yeah, Twi, that was botherin' me too," Applejack interrupted. "Of course we trust you, but how much do you trust him?"
This forced Twilight to think for quite a long moment. Sunset was right, Jack had gone overboard with the stage antics during his performance, and what she had just told her was even more troubling. But it did ring of what he had done to himself to beat Tirek, and even through all of that he had proved his heart was in the right place. And this was the same Jack who had put his life on the line to protect them from Trixie, Discord, and the Master...
"His methods may be extreme, but he's always fought for what's right, and I trust he's doing that now. When the Dazzlings are beaten, I'm sure he'll..."
"Up next, West of Eden," echoed down the hall. All of them started, but Sunset made it to the classroom door first, stopping the others.
"You keep practicing, I'll keep Jack in check." They nodded at her confidently, but as she paced down the hall to the gymnasium, she realized that keeping Jack in check was much easier said than done.
"West of Eden, it has been requested that you not leave the stage during your performance.... West of Eden? West of Eden, you're on..." Celestia asked the empty stage, then the crowd, receiving no response. What? He's not here? Sunset was relieved: maybe Jack had decided not to go on with this crazy back-up plan of his. But much to her surprise, that possibility was shot down by a rapid-fire volley of piano notes. But where's Jack? That question would be answered a few high-pitched power chords later.
"Fear me, you lords and lady preachers! I descend upon your earth from the skies..."
Suddenly, two spotlights cut through the open air above the student body, intersecting to illuminate Jack. His arms were out to his sides in a semi-sacrilegious manner, and he hovered down toward the stage like he was riding some invisible escalator. But as he descended, Sunset saw why: thin wires at his wrists and back connected him to three small quadrotor drones. After touchdown on the lip of the stage, the wires came loose and they flew away, allowing Jack to turn and face the stunned crowd.
"I command your very souls, you unbelievers!" He turned his palms up, and from them shot solid blue flames of energy. "Bring before me what is mine! The Seven Seas of Rhye!"
Sunset shivered. This is not good.
"What exactly is this plan of yours, Jack? And how does it justify a stunt like that?" Twilight was tired of being the trusting one while her "friend" and his ego trip ran rampant about Canterlot High, putting numerous high school students in the hospital in the process.
"Haven't we been over this? I'm going to blow the Dazzlings out of the water by winning the Battle of the Bands, thus breaking their hold on the school. My subconscious static idea didn't work, but I'm on track to take on the Dazzlings in the semi-finals; if I can keep them out of the finals, they won't get another chance to sing, and you can play your counterspell unopposed."
"Jack, the Dazzlings feed on negative emotion! All you're doing is stirring the pot, getting everyone even more riled up and giving them more power!"
"So what? No matter how much power they have, they don't have any sway over us! The Dazzlings have influence because they are confident and charismatic; if I'm going to fight that influence, I need to be even more confident, beat them at their own game. That's basic psychology, Twilight."
Oh, that tears it, he's lecturing me now! "Basic psychology doesn't excuse you acting like an arrogant jerk and a downright... villain!" She struggled to use the word, and it clearly had an impact on him. Jack narrowed his gaze, then turned and stormed away from the Humane 7. Light from the windows of the darkened hallway played off his jacket as he departed.
"If you don't like my methods, I'm more than comfortable working alone." But Sunset wasn't quite as ready to give up, running up and grabbing him by the collar. "Jack, wait, we can..." And with a savage cry, he spun on the ball of his left foot, left arm raised up with fingers clawed out, each digit tense enough it looked like it might snap. A tinge of crimson had formed about his hand as Sunset was violently thrown backward into the others. His eyes followed her, and the glow vanished as his mind computed exactly what had just happened. Hand balling up into a tight fist as it came back to his side, he sighed in frustration, then turned away once more.
"Never played well with others..." Jack muttered as he walked off, his walk soon becoming a run.
The rest of the competition was permeated by a sense of utter dread.
That night, after a halfhearted second-round performance of Friendship Through the Ages, the Rainbooms returned to Pinkie's place, only to find Jack had cleared out. As concerned as they were, they understood that chasing after him would be pointless, and so the band returned to their rut. Twilight continued to shake behind her mask of confidence (and Spike's endless braggadocio) as she tried to dream up a musical counterspell. But no matter what ear-splitting melody she put before the band, Rainbow Dash always managed to twist it into an epic guitar number, bringing out her Equestrian magic almost on cue every time. Relegated to a background role as far as the actual music was concerned, Rarity checked out, mentally designing wardrobes instead of playing her keytar. Both of these factors aroused the ire of Applejack, who was all too happy to make something of them every chance she got, while Fluttershy, Pinkie and Sunset tried to stay out of the crossfire.
"I said I, don't, care, doot-do-do, dat da da da-about me..." Improvising where she couldn't remember the words, Sonata sang that catchy song from the first round to herself as she and the others walked back to their apartment in East Canterlot. She had been doing it since they left the school, and a seventh chorus was more than enough to push Adagio over the edge. "Enough!"
"What?! It's not my fault that song's so catchy, it's stuck in my brain!"
"If you actually had one," Aria groaned, causing Adagio to stop and glare at both of them. "If you two don't shut up, I swear I'm going to..." A proper threat eluded her. Aria grinned sadistically, unable to resist the chance to egg her sister on. "What?"
"Aaargh... just give it a rest between you, okay? We have much more important issues to be worried about."
"You mean West of Eden? We got him during the second round, remember?"
"Oh yes, yes, we got him," Adagio replied sarcastically, "which is why he spent most of our song shooting an evil eye at me! Didn't you smell the magic on him?"
"So what? He's from Equestria, of course he'll have magic on him."
"Ooh ooh, I smelt it, I smelt it!" Sonata piped up with delight.
"And did it smell like the Rainbooms?" Adagio asked condescendingly, to which Sonata furrowed her brow in thought, then frowned.
"Not really... Theirs is more sweet, his was like habanero spicy!"
"Exactly. Something is protecting him from our power, but it's not ordinary Equestrian magic. No, he's worlds away from the Rainbooms. At least we know where we stand with them; he, on the other hand, is a wild card."
"So what do we do, huh? It's not like we can turn him on himself!" Sonata was once again imagining the many cartoony, over-the-top ways this devil in human form could end her. Right now, he was twirling his mustache and cackling as he tied her to the railroad tracks.
"No, no, him being alone is a weak point for us. And we can't get Principal Celestia to force him out, he'll just come back anyway, rules or not..." Ideas cycled through Adagio's mind. "Aha!"
"What?" asked Aria.
"We have two sources of Equestrian magic to deal with, right? So why fight them both, when we could let them fight each other..."
Having beat out Brad Flash Sentry's band through nothing if not sheer force of showmanship, Jack had found himself a spot in the semifinals, going head-to-head with the Dazzlings before the Rainbooms and Illusions faced off. While the sirens had performed an upbeat little number about "It" being "the Pop", he was fine-tuning a Gibson Flying-V guitar he had acquired since the last round. True, he had told Sunset he couldn't play an instrument, and at the time that was true. But he had recently had a stroke of inspiration for a way to top Seven Seas of Rhye, and it required him playing a guitar. So he went back to Equestria, made some upgrades to his vocal chip, then downloaded to it a crash-course in guitar-playing, along with the chords of the song he had in mind.
When he took the stage, to very little applause, Jack plugged in his guitar, wired up his music and began.
"Hurry, we can't let him go on!"
Twilight was sprinting through the halls of Canterlot High, the rest of the Humane 7 close in tow. Realizing the semifinals had already started while they were practicing, they made a desperate rush to the gym.
"Even if he's got his own plan, even if he thinks we're wrong, we can't let Jack keep feeding the Dazzlings!"
"After his last two performances," Sunset thought aloud, "this one will probably be..."
Eerily quiet. As they burst through the back doors, they were stunned to find Jack strumming calmly on a stool, eliciting little reaction from the crowd. Except the Dazzlings, of course, who were just as surprised as the Rainbooms. "If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?..." Jack's battle song to take on the Dazzlings was a ballad? It was absolutely logic-defying, and if the other students weren't so stupified by competitive fervor, they would no doubt be equally shocked. Mystified, the Humane 7 stood by and let Jack play. Maybe he had been listening to them after all...
"Cause I'm as free as a bird now, and this bird you cannot change."
As Jack launched into the second verse, Rainbow Dash stepped forward and edged toward Twilight. "Think this is some kind of trick? Y'know, calm before the storm?" Twilight took a moment to consider this. "I honestly don't know. It could be, but at the same time..."
But Sunset, who was standing on the other side of Twilight, had noticed something, and stepped forward to join in their little conference. "Hey, look at the guitar he's using..." Dash quickly glanced at the stage, then nodded in affirmation. Twilight, however, was not so quick to pick up. "What about it?"
Rainbow pointed to the Flying-V. "That's definitely not the kind of guitar you play ballads with, Twilight." And almost in response, the second chorus picked up speed and energy, as Jack stood up from his perch. "Lord help me, I can't cha-a-a-ange! Looord, I can't change, won't you fly free, bird?" Then the shredding came very hard and very fast.
"Calm before the storm," Twilight repeated. Now the crowd was drawing toward the stage, mystified. Even Sunset looked on with a subdued smile, hiding the fact that she was impressed by his skill. But then she noticed how rambunctious the students were getting, jostling and shoving each other around. Flash grabbed Trixie by the shoulder and pushed her aside to move closer, only for Trixie to come back from behind, grab his left shoulder with both hands, and fling him to the ground before taking his place. While Jack was still simply playing onstage, rocking out with passion visible in his hands, he seemed to be soaking it up.
And as a particularly rapid-fire riff began, the first punch was thrown. Like they had just been given a green light to cause mayhem, the others followed suit, turning a tight-packed concert crowd into a chaotic brawl.
"Ahhh-ah-ahh, ahh-ah-ahh," the Dazzlings murmured, attempting to feed from their relatively safe spot up in the bleachers. "What?" Adagio cried in shock, "Where is their negative energy?" Her sisters could do little more than shake their heads in reply. "Look at all that hatred! Look how vicious they are, this should be like a banquet for us!"
"Maybe... maybe someone's getting to it before we are?" Sonata volunteered meekly, pointing at Jack.
Soon, the original battle lines were forgotten, as students bounced about, trading blows with whomever they encountered. "Oh my..." Twilight was stunned speechless.
"Reckon we should exit stage left, sugarcube!" Applejack was already making for the back doors.
"No, look!"
Suddenly, Jack's fingertips left his guitar, which rose up to float in front of him. Each string was tinged in scarlet as it plucked itself, never missing a note. Meanwhile, Jack rolled his shoulders back and dropped his arms, letting his leather jacket slide off smoothly. Beneath he wore a simple dark-grey sleeveless shirt, but on his arm was a familiar black metal band, with a blood-red diamond at the center of a phoenix-like crest.
"The Alicorn Amulet," Sunset whispered, utterly stunned.
"You know about the..." Twilight started to ask.
"Of course! I spent some time looking for it myself."
"We have to get it off him!" Suddenly, Twilight was off, ducking through the chaos as she made a break for the stage. Rainbow Dash wasn't far behind, and Sunset followed her. Jack had taken his Flying-V back, and was charged with the power of the Amulet as he played, still shredding with incredible intensity.
Twilight had to leap over a sliding body before contorting her way around a football player who had tried to tackle her. In close pursuit, Rainbow Dash had the reflexes and presence of mind to duck, unwilling to impede a flying nerd on his way out the gymnasium window. And in the confusion, Sunset ran into a punk chick who had particularly gotten on her nerves ever since they'd met. She threw a punch, which Sunset nearly sidestepped before throwing her out of the way by her face. It was then she saw Twilight clambering up onto the stage, rushing Jack headlong.
"Stop, Jack! Don't do this!"
He didn't even acknowledge her, strumming furiously, until a telekinetic force hit the lever Trixie had been stationed at in Round 1, opening a trapdoor for Twilight to stumble right into. Fortunately, her hands caught the edge of the opening, and Rainbow Dash was already on her way to make the save. Sunset, on the other hand, saw an opening and made for Jack from the side, eyes scanning for trapdoors in her path and seeing none. She jumped at him, but only bounced off a crimson-red force field as he played on. By the time she was back on her feet, she saw Dash pull Twilight up and out of the pit, then made her way to them.
"Come on, there's nothing we can do for Jack! We need to get out of here before this riot gets any worse."
In the crowds, Principals Celestia and Luna were calmly dodging every attack sent their way, crippling any assailants with efficient, precise strikes. Bulk Biceps used their table as a battering ram to knock Snips and Snails off their feet, then pin them to the ground with him on top. And having popped a window at the top of the bleachers, the Dazzlings were crawling out, abandoning the festivities entirely.
"He's sucking them dry of their hatred and anger before we even have a chance!" Adagio noted with disgust.
"How original," Aria replied.
Twilight, Rainbow and Sunset weaved back through the pandemonium, helping each other dodge blows and bodies. They scrambled out to find Applejack holding the rear door open, by which all four of them escaped the gym.
When all was said and done, and every student of CHS (minus a few) lay bruised on the floor, Jack sat back down on his stool, smiling contently. Celestia and Luna, who had survived more or less intact, dusted themselves off and returned to their judging table (or at least where said table used to be).
"So... how did I do?"
"So the one who finally found the Alicorn Amulet was your world's Trixie? Wow, that smarts." Sunset Shimmer had just finished recounting her own attempts to locate the artifact, shortly before her falling-out with Princess Celestia.
"She used it to try to get revenge on me and Ponyville," Twilight replied, "then Jack took it from her. He said he was going to lock it down in his vault, but I guess he must've taken it for himself." The Humane 7 had made a panicked, hasty escape to Pinkie's place, with no idea how to handle both the Dazzlings and a corrupted Jack West. Now the two resident experts on Equestrian magic were trying to figure the situation out, as the others followed along quietly.
"But Jack doesn't have any magic, how can he use the Amulet at all?"
"It's got to be this world. We know it has strange effects on magical artifacts, so maybe coming through the portal unlocked its power for him. It would also explain why it's only now started to affect his personality."
"When I left the Princess, we weren't even sure the Amulet existed. Are all the rumors about it true?"
"I expect so." Twilight turned to open up to the rest of the group. "The Alicorn Amulet can amplify a unicorn's magic to incredible levels, but at the same time it makes its user more arrogant and aggressive. And it can only be taken off if the user is willing to give it up."
"So how do we get it off of him?" Fluttershy asked.
"That... is a good question."
Sunset thought for a moment. "How did you get Trixie of all people to part with it willingly?"
"Well, we didn't. Jack had a gun with him that fired these dart-things, and each one he hit Trixie with gave her a powerful electric shock. The way he explained it, there was so much voltage running through her that she lost consciousness, and the Amulet couldn't tell it was attached to something with a brain at all, so it just came off."
"But," Sunset asked hesitantly, "wouldn't that have killed her?"
"It almost did," answered Twilight, "but Jack used his last shock dart to defibrillate her heart. Even then, he said we got lucky."
Rarity was either the first to draw a conclusion, or the first to speak it aloud. "So you're saying that the only way we can separate him and this Alicorn Amulet is to...?"
Suddenly, a banjo ringtone cut into the tense moment. Applejack pulled out her phone, flipped it open and put it to her ear, smiling sheepishly. "Uh, hey Big Mac... yeah... mmhmm... gotcha, thanks for the heads-up." She closed her phone and pocketed it again. "Big Mac said they've cleaned up the gym, and they're goin' on with the semifinals. We oughta get moving, we're due up in less than an hour!" The girls scurried into action, finding and tuning their instruments in preparation, except for Sunset. She was still stirring over the idea that in order to save Canterlot High, they might have to kill Jack...
Spybug, Mark V, online Commence full system bootup Full bootup complete Commence system tests Optical resolution test Pass Audio pickup test Pass Mobility and navigation test Pass Coutermeasures test Pass Wireless transmitter test Pass All tests complete Ready to receive commands
At this point, the spybug received a standing "observe and transmit" order, and as Jack flipped it over and lowered it through an opening in the metal-grate platform, a more advanced AI subroutine took over. Its six legs magnetically grabbed hold of the underside of the grating, and it scuttled off toward the stage. He pulled out his iPhone, and soon the screen was relaying a live feed from the bug's forward-mounted navigational camera. A few seconds later, it paused, locked itself in place, and with the silent uncovering of a much larger lens on the top of its body, it switched to a much higher-resolution image. This camera then trained itself and its accompanying directional microphone on the stage. Wish I could get hi-def audio, but it appears I've misplaced my headphones. Oh well. He could hear just fine from his perch anyway.
"And that was Trixie and the Illusions, performing, for the third time, Tricks Up My Sleeve. Next up, the Rainbooms..." As Celestia transitioned between the acts, Jack zoomed in on the wings to see Trixie and Rainbow Dash arguing. Ahh, such fierce rivalry, so much pride, so much contempt. Absolutely delicious... Then, with a puff of smoke, Trixie pulled a not-quite-disappearing act, which he couldn't help but laugh at. Leave it to the professionals, kid. Then the Rainbooms took the stage, but Jack's eyes were held on Sunset.
"I'll be here! Just... watching..."
Her forlorn look tugged at him in a way he wasn't used to being tugged at. But those thoughts were banished by the ensuing startup of a boisterous surf-rock beat. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Awesome as I wanna be!" Center-stage was Rainbow Dash, shredding like it was nobody's business. She certainly exuded confidence, but lacked any sense of showmanship; even the song title was almost vulgar in its obvious braggadocio. Nowhere near my level. He watched with a smirk as Dash pranced about the stage, seemingly going out of her way to annoy her bandmates. But then the guitar solo was where it really got interesting.
All lights went front and center, converging on Rainbow Dash at the expense of anything (or anyone) else on stage. Suddenly, the camera picked up glare near her ears; it's supposed to automatically filter that out, what's wrong? But through the white glow he could see what looked like... turquoise pony ears? Equestrian magic! But then this spectacle was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a wild Sunset Shimmer, who used Tackle on Rainbow Dash. It was super-effective; Dash collided with Twilight, who fell back like a domino into Rarity's keytar. This sent her face-down toward the stage, and her boot up into Applejack's base, sending it careering into the air. From whence it landed, neck first, in one of Pinkie's tom-toms. This startled poor Fluttershy into silence before screaming and running off, and brought the song to a complete stop. Oh dear. What a contrived coincidence.
"Now that's the bad girl we love to hate!"
The awkward silence was broken by Flash Sentry, leading the crowd in harassing Sunset Shimmer. Jack watched her startled expression, then as she started to stammer an explanation, only to realize it was no use and walk off-stage in shame. Why, that little fuck. Jack started typing.
Close surveillance lens Complete Drop attack subroutine activated Target located Proceed at full mobility Proceed Proceed Overhead proximity confirmed Drop trajectory projected Accuracy test Pass Redundant accuracy test Pass Deploy countermeasures Complete Commence drop
The device plummeted from the rafters, landing right in Flash's mess of blue hair. "Aughh!" This manly cry of courage drew the attention from Sunset Shimmer to him, and even she paused to see what was going on. And in the time it took for all eyes to be on him, the spybug crawled down the back of his head and pressed its underbelly against his neck. This forced three small, electrically-charged barbs into his flesh, as Flash felt the spybug's bite. But then another subroutine was activated, and the bug, hanging off its victim's neck by the prongs, wrapped its legs around his jugular and began to squeeze. Flash collapsed to the floor, too preoccupied by the electric shock to try and pull the thing off his throat as it strangled him. Fortunately for him, quick-thinking Sunset Shimmer was there with her large, insulated leather boots, and she used one of them to crush the spybug and kick it away.
"Still love to hate me?"
She shot him a quick look of disgust, before transferring it up to the rafters, then walking away through the stunned crowd.
Before the final round that night, the Humane 7 had retreated to Pinkie's place, hoping to salvage their dignity before going to the amphitheater to get ready for the main event. Sunset had tried to explain what had happened with Flash Sentry and the spybug, but the others were too caught up in their own concerns to give her the time of day. As Twilight frantically pored over her counterspell notes and the others recharged their batteries and did some individual practice, Sunset went out to the backyard, in hope of some fresh air. She knew it was a slim chance that Jack had left his hammock behind, but she went to the trees where he had been set up anyway. No hammock.
"Oh, Jack, why did you have to... Hello there..."
As she slumped back against one of the trees and sat down, her eyes caught something in the grass nearby. It was a pair of black over-ear headphones, sitting on top of what she then discovered was a tablet computer. Jack's tablet, to be precise. Hope suddenly welled up, as she flipped open the cover, only to find it was passcode-locked. Well, so much for that... Unless... Sunset saw that while there was very little she could do without unlocking the tablet, she did have some control over the music Jack had been listening to. The screen showed he was just at the end of "Free Bird" by some singer she'd never heard of named Lynyrd Skynyrd.
"No way, it can't be!"
Sunset turned the volume to a safely low level, then put on the headphones, skipped back 30 seconds into the song and hit play. Sure enough, she recognized the same howling riff he had been playing as she escaped the gym earlier that day.
"Hey, Sunset! What're you doing?"
Her listening session was interrupted by the appearance of Rainbow Dash at the patio door. "I found something of Jack's! Maybe we can use it to find a way to help him!"
Rainbow Dash had barely been paying attention when they had discussed the Alicorn Amulet earlier, and it was evident she did not grasp the threat posed by someone of his capabilities possessing an artifact of that much power and malevolence. "Yeah, well could you maybe do something more useful, like get the sound equipment at the amphitheater ready for us?"
An argument would've been useless. "Uh, sure, I'll do that here in a little while."
Satisfied if not entirely pleased, Rainbow Dash went back inside. Practically hiding behind the tree now, Sunset put the headphones back on and skipped to the next track.
"Music is at the heart of this problem. Maybe it's also at the heart of the solution."
"Oh, what is this feeling of power and drive? Dat-da-da-da, I feel alive..." Jack half-hummed, half-sung as he combed through electrical wiring and circuitry, doing a final check on his work. Finding everything as he wanted it, he withdrew his head from the subwoofer and pressed the side of the thing back into place, before telekinetically screwing it on tight again.
"How did I know I'd find you here?"
Eyes glaring red at the unexpected interruption, Jack turned to face the stairs to the amphitheater stage, only to see Sunset Shimmer approaching. His anger faded quickly, and his voice held its usual amiability. "Oh, come now, you didn't think I would just let them force me out of the competition, did you? It's obvious the Dazzlings had unfair sway in the judgement process; I'm just evening the odds."
"By?"
"I'm glad you asked. Take a look at this!" He pulled a small circuitboard out of his pocket, wires hanging from two sides. "It's an input override chip. Each speaker has a wireless receiver that connects to the stage mics; by piggybacking off of their transmission, I can signal these chips remotely. When they're activated, anything that's going to come through these speakers has to be transmitted through them, on a frequency of my choosing..."
"...Giving you complete control over the sound system at the flick of a switch," Sunset finished. She had enough technical aptitude to understand what he had explained, and she had to admit it was clever. "Clever. And you just happened to have these chips lying around?"
He chuckled. "No, actually I had to visit another science lab, cannibalize another computer or two. At least I didn't blow it up this time."
"Jack, we have to talk. I found this..." She approached and held up his tablet.
"There it is! I've been looking for it all..."
"Not that it will do you any good, West of Eden!" The interruption came from the other side of the stage, and Jack turned to see Trixie and her backup band. Crimson suddenly took his eyes, as an instinct not his own came over him. "I presume you are also here to eliminate the Rainbooms and take their place in the finals. But that place belongs to the Great and Powerful Trrrixie! You cannot be allowed to interfere!"
"You!" Jack suddenly declared, in a booming, I-am-Legion-like voice, cutting off Trixie before she could actually do anything. "You displease us! All of our power, all of our majesty at your disposal, and all you could think of was petty revenge!" He was two feet above the stage now, bathed in blood-red energy. "You were not worthy to wield our might! Such folly must not go unpunished!"
With telekinetic force, the Illusions were thrown clear of the stage, skidding across the grass before turning and fleeing for their lives. Trixie, however, was held immobile, and with a wave of Jack's hand she was drawn up to his level. Sunset was absolutely terrified; everything he was at that moment reminded her of what she had become when she was at her worst. A raging he-demon, as it were. He was about to clamp his open palm shut, a signal of the unimaginably painful suffering he meant to cause Trixie, when Sunset called out to him.
"Jack! Stop this!"
He craned his neck to face her, looking slightly confused. Then, with another wave of his hand, he hurled Trixie toward the cheap seats and descended. The aura of dark magic was gone, as was his deathly glare, like the entire incident had never happened. "I'm sorry, what were we talking about?" he answered, in the most amicable voice possible.
"Ugh, if you want something done right..." Yet another interruption from stage-right. Jack turned, only to find the Dazzlings waiting for him this time. Adagio stood where Trixie had once been, with Aria and Sonata behind her. "Aria!" she called out, and the siren yanked on a lever at the side of the stage. Suddenly, the bottom dropped out from beneath Jack and Sunset and they plummeted into darkness below. Twisting and landing face-first, Jack was momentarily stunned; more fortunately, Sunset fell backwards, landing on her rear.
"Sorry, but feeding on negative energy is our thing!" Adagio was crouched at the edge of the pit, looking down. "Nothing personal, we just couldn't let you stand in our way." Sonata then waltzed over, imitating her sister's pose.
"Too bad, so sad! Bye bye!"
Adagio then pointed to Aria, and the trap doors sealed up even more quickly than they had opened.
"I hope Sunset's ready for us, I wanna get everything I can out of this before we go on tonight!" Rainbow Dash, guitar hanging from her shoulder, led the group as they approached the CHS outdoor amphitheater.
"It's more important that we know the counterspell," Applejack chided, "ain't that right, Twilight?"
"Uhh, yeah, sure!" she replied nervously.
"Rainbooms?" Just as they had reached the pavilion gates, three young men had appeared in front of them, all of grey skin and various heights. The smallest was the one who had spoken.
"Yeah, we're the Rainbooms," Rainbow Dash replied.
"We're here to escort you to your dressing rooms." His tone was dull and unexcited, almost unnervingly so. "Dressing rooms?!" Rarity cried with excitement.
"Umm, okay. Thanks, I guess." Dash was hesitant about this whole thing; she wanted to be on stage getting ready, not in some frou-frou dressing room. But these were the guys who had helped Rarity move her Baby Grand when they were just starting, so she supposed she could trust them, right?
As they walked across a field toward the nearby football stadium, none to the Rainbooms noticed their escorts' green-tinged eyes.
As soon as he was decently conscious, Jack's first reaction was to snap back. He was about to punch straight through the trap doors and go find himself some revenge, except that someone else caught his attention first. "Jack!" Sunset Shimmer called out to him, calmly but forcefully. He stood up and looked to her; the whole room was bathed in the red glow of the Alicorn Amulet, exposed on his arm. In the tinted light, he could see her standing at the side of the room, next to two cylinders of what was presumably propane, fuel for the pyrotechnics. She looked panicked.
"Sunset, what are you doing?"
"Jack, you need to take off the Alicorn Amulet."
"What? Why? I'm going to use the Amulet to get us out of here!"
"And then what? Get your revenge on the Dazzlings? Like you were about to do to Trixie?"
"It's not like that, Sunset, I have this thing under control..."
"No you don't, Jack, no you don't!" Sunset was practically in tears. "That's what it wants you to think, when really it's controlling you! I know, because that's what the Element of Magic felt like! Remember that?!"
It was then that Jack saw there was another source of light in the room, albeit a small one; a single flame, near the top of the propane canister, seeming to come from Sunset Shimmer's hand. "Sunset, what are you doing with that lighter?" Now his voice was very quiet, almost meek.
"If I twist this valve," she stammered, "the flame jet will kill you in seconds. Twilight said that the Amulet can't work if the brain of the user doesn't work; that's how you got it off Trixie, wasn't it? And I don't think your brain works if you're dead."
Any kind of meekness disappeared from Jack's voice, and the glow took over his eyes again; now she was talking to the Amulet. "A good plan. But what if I were to put up a force field, like this?" He smiled scornfully, as a translucent barrier of red surrounded him. But Sunset was unfazed.
"To keep the fire out, your force field would have to be airtight. But your host still needs to breathe, doesn't he? The second it comes down for a breath of fresh air, I twist the valve."
His smile faded, and the barrier came down. "I could rip the device from your hands."
"I've got a spare, and don't even try to find it; if I feel it move at all, I turn on the gas."
He frowned. This isn't working. There's surely some option she can't counter, but perhaps another approach... "That flame jet would be very, very hot and consume a very large amount of oxygen, even more so if I catch on fire myself. And in a sealed room like this... Do you intend to survive killing me?"
"Not at all," Sunset replied adamantly, much to his surprise.
"You.. you would kill yourself, just to defeat me?"
"Absolutely. I know just what you're capable of, and I know how important it is, to both Canterlot High and Equestria, that you don't walk out of here wearing that Amulet."
There was something touching about that, something that drew enough emotion in Jack to break the Amulet's hold on him. His face contorted in pain. "Don't do it, Sunset! I can fight it, but it's not worth your life!"
But Sunset did not answer. Instead, she reached over to his tablet, which she had set on top of a speaker after they fell, and tapped play on the screen. A slow piano melody played, and she quietly sang along when the words began. "You spend your life in a dream, that you can't escape, 'cause you live your life in a coma, you're never awake."
To her great surprise and hidden elation, he answered back, "If you'd open your eyes, then maybe you'd see what's at stake. You're sleeping, you're sleeping..."
Then the beat picked up in tempo and intensity; Sunset did her best to follow along, but it really was all Jack now. His mind had gripped onto this song, and there was no way he was letting go. "You make a lotta money and you live in a mansion and pretty much got everything that you could ever imagine. But you feel like even though you got everything in the world, you got nothing so what you do then is you start going backwards..."
She had never seen anything like it before. It was a far cry from his crowd-displeasing turn at pop-punk and even further from his theatrical classic rock performances. All that was moving was his mouth, and it was spitting words with sincere, honest fury. It was something to behold.
"So you put everything that you have into what you do, hoping that one day maybe you don't have to feel like you're empty. But as you get older a lot of weight on your shoulders is getting heavy, then you look back and you start to regret things."
The chorus came around quickly, and Sunset jumped in there for as long as she could, trying to offer support. But she knew full well that she couldn't feel Jack's catharsis for him, and so she receded for the second verse and let him have at it.
"You wake up in the morning, but you feel like you never got up and go to work, and you feelin' like you ain't got a purpose. And you're tryin' to get motivated but everything you do turns into a mess, like you ain't nothing but worthless."
Singing was starting to give way to screaming. A fire of pure passion was welling up within, and try as it might, the Alicorn Amulet simply could not suppress it.
"And, yo, you look around, a lot of these other people you lookin' at, to you, you describe as perfect. So you point a finger at God and tell him to do his job and fix your life up 'cause NOTHING IS WORKING!"
With those words, the whole room shook. Sunset wondered if they could even feel it on the stage above. "And you might try to hide and make it seem like it's nothing, but really you feel like everything is crashing around you. And you develop a problem in trustin' in other people which later became an issue that would mentally pound you! You only get one life, but every time you look into yours, you feel like all you ever see are mistakes! And the problem and the reason you could never move forward in life is because you were never awake!"
And at that point, some kind of electromagnetic interference caused the tablet to go silent. The glow from the Amulet ended abruptly, and with Sunset's lighter long since put out, the room was plunged into darkness.
"Wake up."
There was a clink of metal as the Alicorn Amulet hit the ground, followed by the thud of a body. Sunset herself quickly went the same way, collapsing in relief and exhaustion.
"Let us out!" Rainbow Dash hurled herself against the door again, but only succeeded in injuring her back.
"I knew this wasn't a dressing room the moment we set foot in here!" Rarity decreed. "What dressing room smells like... ughh, used gym shorts?"
"The wrong kind," answered Applejack, "and will ya quit bellyaching? We're not getting through that door, and nopony can hear us anyhow!"
Dash listened through the door to the music from the amphitheater. "Yeah, thanks to Trixie! Guess what song she's playing? I'll give you a hint: the only one she knows!"
"At least she probably got to write it," muttered Fluttershy.
"What was that?" Dash demanded. And so it continued, the arguing, bickering and back-biting, with sides taken and lines drawn in every argument, only to be redrawn as new issues arose. This served as a wonderful pre-show refreshment for the Dazzlings, who were confident everyone not in their power was out of the picture.
Jack awoke to the hum and gentle yellow glow of maintenance lights, which Sunset had managed to find the switch for. As soon as he stirred, she rushed to his side, helping him roll onto his back and sit up. "Jack, thank goodness, you..."
He put a finger to her lips. "Thank you. There's a lot of my past I don't admit to, and a lot of it involves a me far different from the me you know. But that song, it, it spoke to who I used to be." After a bit of stretching and limbering up, he was back on his feet. "We need to get out of here, don't we?"
She nodded. "I can hear Trixie performing above us, so it looks like the only way out is through there." She pointed at a wooden door on the other side of the room.
"Trixie? That means they must've gotten to the Rainbooms too..." Jack was already attacking the lock with his knife, using the tip as a makeshift screwdriver. With the top two screws removed, he grabbed the faceplate and ripped the bottom two clean out. Pulling apart the internal mechanism of the thing was child's play from there, and the door swung free seconds later. "Let's go!"
"We need to find the others!" Sunset advised, but Jack had already vaulted onto a backstage platform above them and retrieved his Flying V from a guitar rack. Jumping back down, he handed it to her. "Here, we might need this later." As they ran toward the open field to get their bearings, they saw a small purple creature approaching at breakneck pace.
"Jack, Sunset, come quickly! The girls are trapped!"
"Lead the way, Spike!" Sunset replied. He brought them to the door of a building beneath the bleachers of the CHS football stadium, which had a chair wedged under it. Jack quickly un-wedged it, only to find the door was also locked.
"Look out, girls, I'm coming in! On three, one, two..." With a solid kick, he powered through the lock and the door flung open.
"Yes!" cheered Rainbow Dash, "Now we can play!"
"We?" Applejack challenged. "I thought you were talking about going on as a solo act?"
"Listen!" Sunset quickly forced her way inside, where all of them could see her. "This is exactly what the Dazzlings want, to drive you all apart so you can't threaten them! That's why they locked me and Jack up; they couldn't turn Jack against himself as a solo act, and they knew I would see what they were trying to do." It was clear her experience beneath the stage had invigorated her confidence.
"I didn't want to say anything before because I didn't think it was my place, me being me and all. But you can't let little things fester, or they'll turn into big things. You've got to see the other person's side of things, then work it out together, like friends! That's the only way the Rainbooms will survive, and it's the only way we'll beat the Dazzlings: together, as friends!"
After a brief pause, Rainbow Dash noted, "Well, it is our band."
Jack left them to their friendship moment, while he tried to figure out a next move. He found it in the form of a pale girl with blue hair, grooving along to the beat of her headphones and clearly not under the sirens' influence. Now there's a natural immunity for you. "Hey, excuse me!" He somehow managed to get her attention, and she stopped her music. "We're trying to fight the Dazzlings, can you help us?"
She nodded enthusiastically, pointed to a small hill just before the entrance to the amphitheater, then ran toward the parking lot.
"Ooo-kay. See you there, then."
After a few costume changes, having told the Humane 7 about the girl he met, and finding out from them that she was Vinyl Scratch, the most musically in-tune girl in the school, Jack led them in a sprint to the hill where he hoped they were going to meet her.
"Jack, are you sure you're free of the Amulet's influence?" Twilight asked. In response, he showed her his bare arm, where the artifact had once been.
"Absolutely. Sunset and I had a friendship moment of our own, which we can tell you about later. In fact, I owe all of you an explanation, which can also wait until later. For now, priority one is stop the Dazzlings." They reached the top of the bluff; which overlooked the crowd; the Dazzlings were already in full stride with their final number.
"Our time is nowww, your time is running out..."
"How are we supposed to play over them from up here?" Rainbow Dash wondered aloud, and was answered by two honks from behind. Vinyl drove her car up to them, put it in park, and in a Transformers-esque sequence, turned it into a stationary DJ booth and bass cannon. "Yowza!" Pinkie exclaimed.
Jack pulled a bundle of AV cables from the side. "Quick, plug in. It's your show now, Rainbooms!" He then jumped up to where Vinyl was, leaning in over the edge of her DJ booth. After whispering a string of numbers to her, he instructed "Transmit all their sound on that frequency, as well as through your own hardware. When the time comes, I'll pump us into the stage speakers."
"Feel the wave of sound, as it crashes down! You can't turn away, we'll make you want to stay!"
Jack and Sunset weaved throughout the group, checking everyone's connections before stepping back to either side to let the Rainbooms play.
"Oh-whoa-oh oh oh, I've got the music in me! Oh-whoa-oh oh oh! Don't need to hear a crowd cheering out my name, I didn't come here seeking infamy or fame. The one and only thing, that I am here to bring is the music, is the music, is the music in my soul!"
Their interruption turned the crowd away from the sirens, and as they finished the first verse, the Rainbooms had their Equestrian magic on full display. But the Dazzlings were not going to give up without a fight.
"What we have in store, all we want and more. We will break on through, now it's time to finish you!"
This brought the crowd's attention back to them, and with a brief soundwave connecting their amulets, each of the sirens' eyes glowed red. The music, correspondingly, got very heavy and intense, as Adagio, Aria and Sonata channeled their power to create energy avatars of their true, serpentine forms. These creatures swarmed towards the Rainbooms, encircling them, but the girls kept playing; Vinyl turned up the volume, launching polychromatic waves of sound at their enemies. Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight even managed to summon en masse manifestations of their Equestrian cutie marks, then launch them at each of the sirens.
"Whoa-oh-whoa-ohhhhh!" Adagio was the first to strike back, countering Twilight's starburst with a blast of blood-red soundwaves. "Ahhhhh!" Her sisters then joined in with dark, almost operatic voices, overwhelming the Rainbooms with a single, combined attack. Realizing what was going on, Jack dropped to a knee, drew his P99 and opened fire on the serpents, albeit to no effect. Even together, the girls could not withstand their attack, and it forced them to the ground, but not before flinging Twilight's microphone clear of the group. And landing it right at Jack's feet.
He picked it up, realizing what had to be done, then nodded at Twilight to affirm that he was going to do it. He then looked at Rainbow Dash, and with an angled nod pointed her attention to Sunset Shimmer, who had his Flying-V in her hands. Taking the hint, Dash unplugged and tossed her AV cable to her. He then looked to Sunset herself, with an expression that affirmed that he needed her help on this one. He flicked a rudimentary switch in his pocket, activating his override chips, then mouthed to her: "It's My Life". Sunset hit twin power chords, followed by a lighter melody, then repeated.
"This ain't a song for the broken-hearted, no silent prayer for the faith departed. I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd, you're gonna hear my voice when I shout it out loud!"
Though he lacked any drones or pyrotechnics, Jack hammered into the lyrics, and his confidence spread to Sunset as they launched into the chorus together with gusto.
"It's my life, and it's now or never; I ain't gonna live forever! I just wanna live like I'm alive, it's my life. My heart is like an open highway, like Frankie said I did it my way! I just wanna live like I'm alive, cause it's! My! Life!"
Then Vinyl changed up the beat, and sensing what was happening, Jack tossed the mic to Sunset. Setting the guitar down, she threw off her leather jacket and took center stage (or center hill, you might say).
"You're never gonna bring me down, you're never gonna break this part of me! My friends are here to bring me round, not singing just for popularity!"
Now the Rainbooms were back on their feet, ready to play, and Twilight and Sunset joined together to share vocals.
"We're here to let you know, that we won't let it go, our music is a bomb and it's about to blow! And you can try to fight, but we have got the light of friendship on our side!"
The siren avatars charged, but the beat was only getting louder and stronger. Jack quickly realized that Vinyl had sampled Sunset's guitar-playing from before, and was working it into the mix, so he joined Sunset and Twilight around the mic for what promised to be an epic mashup.
"Got the music in our hearts, it's my life! Here to blow this thing apart, it's my life! And together, we will never be afraid of the dark! My heart is like the open highway, like Frankie said, I did it my way! As the music/I just wanna, of our friendship/live like I'm, survives/alive! It's my life!"
The trio released a blast of rainbow energy that broke the Dazzlings' hold on the student body. But as they finished this chorus, Sunset was lifted up into the air, and suddenly gained pony ears and elongated, mane-like hair; it was what Jack would later go on to call her 'Anthro' form. They repeated the chorus, and the newly expanded Rainbooms supplied the magic of friendship while Jack supplied the hard rock. The seven of them fired magical energy up into the clouds, which began to swirl rapidly before sprouting wings. Eventually, this ball grew into a majestic turquoise alicorn, an energy avatar much like the sirens'. But at the climax of the second chorus, it fired a beam of energy down from on high, vaporizing the serpents and destroying the Dazzlings' gems.
As the music came down, the three of them tried to repeat their own chorus, evidently in a desperate bid to regain control. But this time, they appeared to have been struck remarkably tone-deaf, and were run off the stage. Jack let the girls make for the stage while he stayed behind, then took out the small switch device from his pocket, flipped it back, and crushed it in his palm. "Well, that went better than I expected."
The next time they met was at the portal the next morning, where Jack delivered his promised explanation, more to Twilight than anyone else. "So when I was preparing to fight Tirek, I was looking for any possible advantage I could get. I had hoped that using the Alicorn Amulet might give me some rudimentary magical abilities, or at least protect me from the magic Tirek had stolen."
"But that didn't work, did it?"
"Well, in a way it did. The most I could really use it for was force fields, which I guess was just the Amulet protecting itself. But once that ordeal was over, I never got around to taking it off. And once we came here, it was like some kind of barrier was lifted, and it really started to work for me."
"But it also started to affect your mind, as well."
"Exactly." He handed Twilight the Alicorn Amulet, which was now protected inside a small glass-top case. "I'd feel better if you were to hold onto it, Twilight. Probably best for everyone."
"Sure wish you could stay longer," offered Applejack, changing the subject.
"Me too," Twilight answered. "But I have responsibilities in Equestria that I have to get back to. Its citizens need me. But now, I can go through the portal whenever I need to. This isn't goodbye. It's just goodbye 'til next time." She looked to Spike. "Ready?"
"Ready!" he replied enthusiastically. The two of the stepped through the portal; Jack was close behind, but Sunset stopped him.
"Jack, you'll be coming back too, right?"
"Of course. It's nice to be around other humans for a change, and besides, you still need a token male bandmate, don't you?" And with a wry smile, he slipped into the portal and back to Equestria.
"But, but, but you were depowered!" Snips stammered.
"Yeah, we saw it! You sounded awful!" followed Snails. The two of them had been leaving the concert, on their way home to East Canterlot, when they were snatched and dragged into an alley. Surrounding them were three girls in drab-colored hoodies.
"Awful, were we?" answered one of them, while the others hummed melodically in the background. "Maybe just a bit too awful?" All this elicited were blank, confused looks. "Ugh, it's called a wounded-gazelle gambit, you idiots."
One of the others piped up sarcastically, "Did you really think we'd just forget how to sing?"
"We're sirens, singing is what we do!" chimed in the third one, much more perky than the others. Then they went back to humming that enchanting little melody, and their leader spoke again.
"Those gems were like batteries for us; without them, our power is limited, but not gone entirely. They'll reforge themselves eventually. But in the meantime..." She smirked.
"No one at Canterlot High would believe we're any kind of threat anymore, so they won't be looking for us, nor will they suspect that we aren't finished with them yet. But they have seen our faces; that's where you boys come in. We've got a little... project for you."
"Project..." Snips murmured, enthralled by their charms. "Sounds fun..." echoed Snails.
"Oh yes, I'm sure you'll simply adore it." And with that, three sinister laughs swept through the alleyway and out into the streets of an unsuspecting city.