//------------------------------// // Chapter 32: Bad Counter-Spell // Story: The Other Journal // by Ganondorf8 //------------------------------// Day: Friday Weather: Chilly Time: 10:41am Princess Twilight figured out that in order to defeat the Dazzlings and save everyone from their dark magic, a counter-spell was needed in the form of a song. It was a very sound idea, although Her Highness had the displeasure of informing the rest of us that she knew no such songs. That meant we were relying on her to complete one by tomorrow. Pinkie invited us all over for a slumber party later that night, my very first one, and it was a chance for us to relax after what happened earlier. Well, relaxing became the last thing on my mind, as I confronted Princess Twilight in the kitchen. We both had much to say about our respective problems. My opinions on her changed that night after our discussion. I know now she wasn't trying to take my friends away from me. The next morning was when the Rainbooms began to practice for the Battle of the Bands. It wasn't what I would call the best session out there, because tensions would flare up. Such tensions threatened to ruin their chances of victory against the Sirens. The Other Journal By Ganondorf8 December 24, 2015 Chapter 32: Bad Counter-Spell. Twilight wasn't sure what to make of my previous statement. Princess Twilight had managed to write down a counter-spell to use against the Sirens, but I acted as though it wasn't an exciting moment. Truth was that it wasn't. Her Highness was clearly capable of handling something as simple as a counter-spell. Yet, I knew she was struggling because of all that pressure weighing her down. " What do you mean?" Twilight asked. " If our friends had sung what she wrote in front of the Sirens, the Sirens wouldn't have stopped laughing before blasting them with their magic." I answered. That was actually the least insulting way I could describe how terrible her song really was. " You see, she would write a counter-spell after I went to bed that night. But the stress had really started to affect her confidence. The others were pinning their hopes on her success, and the result was something none of us were expecting." " Was it really that awful?" Twilight asked. " I wouldn't even call it a song. Rather, it sounded more like an abysmal effort in caterwauling." I answered. " Are you sure you're not exaggerating?" Twilight asked. " Trust me, Twilight. I was watching them perform her song. No one particularly liked the lyrics, and there were awful sound cues. If I could say one positive thing about the whole experience, it was that it didn't last very long. We even came up with an appropriate name for it: The Bad Counter-Spell Song." I answered, trying hard not to laugh. There was another thing I learned from what happened. I should have brought some headphones with me and worn them to tune out the horrible music. To be fair, though, at least Princess Twilight tried to come up with something. Under normal circumstances, most would have admitted defeat right away because of the pressure. She chose to stick it out, however. I admired Her Highness for never giving up, no matter how overwhelmed she was. I learned that the hard way when I tried to ridicule her around the time of the Fall Formal. " Shall we continue on?" Twilight asked. The tone in her voice indicated she wasn't liking all this talk about how we were insulting the hard work Her Highness had written that night. " We might as well." I answered. Twilight then turned the page, and something almost fell out of the journal, but she managed to catch it just in time. She unfurled it, as it had been folded up a few times. I tried to recall what it was, but my mind was drawing a blank. Once Twilight had unfolded the paper, she began combing over it. She then turned her face towards me, her eyes widened in shock. " What is this supposed to mean?" Twilight asked. " I don't follow." I answered. " This piece of paper has the lyrics of a song written down. Well, partial lyrics, as the piece of paper is missing the bottom half." Twilight said. " Can you describe one of the lines?" I asked. " The writing looks terrible, as though whoever wrote this had never used a pen, but I should be able to find at least one line that is readable." Twilight answered. She then resumed glossing over the piece of paper in her hand, and I continued trying to remember what was important about it. " Ugh! Just reading through this makes my head hurt!" After a few more minutes, Twilight came up with something. " Okay! Here's one line that can be read. 'Yeah, we're really different, but we still get along, so hey, hey, listen to our song.' I guess you weren't exaggerating about how bad the song was after all." Now I remember what that piece of paper meant. After the Rainbooms finished their performance, Princess Twilight gave up on the song and ripped the page from Fluttershy's journal before ripping it in half and throwing it in the garbage. I managed to salvage the top half of the paper and keep it on me until I placed it into this journal as another memento. " It definitely wasn't her best." I said. " I'm still surprised at how her handwriting hasn't improved." Twilight said. " Considering she's only spent a week in this world total, she never got used to using fingers. In fact, she often clenches her hands into fists and turns them downward in a manner that's similar to pony hooves. No one else has ever mentioned it; they just assume it's just an unusual quirk. I, of course, know better, as I'm a pony like her, and I went through the same experience when I first came here." I said. " Couldn't she have fine-tuned this song to make it sound better?" Twilight asked. " The Battle of the Bands was beginning that afternoon." I answered. " No wonder you mentioned that time was against you all." Twilight said. " All bands had to check in at around lunchtime, otherwise they were disqualified. They would then perform a rehearsal in front of Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna who would write down some comments which they revealed to the bands afterwards. Once the rehearsals were over, bands would be placed into a tournament-style bracket where they had to defeat an opposing band to move onto the next round. Think of it like a tennis tournament." I said. " Why would the Sirens arrange it like that?" Twilight asked. " They didn't. The two sisters came up with the competition's format, and we all had to quickly get used to it." I answered. My midnight encounter with Princess Twilight lead to some unexpected revelations between herself and me. We were both suffering under immense pressure as we struggled to prove ourselves to those around us. Her Highness wanted to please our friends by creating the solution to the problem at hand. I wanted to please everyone by proving I had reformed. I also concluded that she wasn't trying to take my friends away from me. Why would she? She was known as the Princess of Friendship, according to Spike, and she would never do something that would go against her creed. At the same time, she had learned more about me than before. I was certain she learned some parts of my past from Princess Celestia before coming to this world initially. She would have needed to learn about the pony who had stolen her crown or run the risk of not knowing what I was capable of. Underneath my former bravado was a frightened child struggling to figure out who she was. I still felt that way, although now I had insecurities rather than bravado. Despite how tense our conversation got, it had proven to be most effective, as we both needed to vent out some frustration. We even had a moment of good will when Pinkie Pie's older sister Maud Pie came into the kitchen without either of us suspecting. Princess Twilight was starting to become much more than just a princess whom I would serve were I to return one day to Equestria. She was becoming a friend, something I used to scoff at in my younger days. My other friends were still on the fence because of how they ignored me, all because I couldn't live up to their expectations. Maybe... maybe going back home to Equestria wasn't a bad idea. Could I go back, though? After all, I stole an ancient artefact, which was punishable by being exiled to the desolate wastes. I might have changed my life for the better, but the past did have a way to come back and haunt a person when they least expected it. I suppose all I could do was wait and see where the dominoes fell. If I were to be sent to the desolate wastes despite my reformation, I would accept my punishment with dignity. Perhaps I should talk to Princess Twilight about this to see what she thought about it. Before, I wouldn't have been able to, but now, the only thing stopping me was my own indecision. After everyone had woken up, gotten dressed, had breakfast, and gotten themselves tidied up, we made our way over to Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie's family wasn't too keen on music, so they wouldn't appreciate having to listen to a band performing a practice session. Luckily, Applejack's residence had a barn that wasn't connected with the main house, so we decided to use it. Everyone looked positive that things were going to work out, yet Princess Twilight looked extremely nervous. " Shame your folks aren't fans of music." Applejack said. " That's okay. Their loss." Pinkie Pie said. " Well, we've got the barn here to use." Applejack said. " It's certainly roomy." Pinkie Pie commented. " It won't take us long to get set up, Twilight. You can start singin' that counter-spell you wrote last night after that. Still can't believe you stayed up that late working on that there spell and aren't strugglin' to stay on yer feet." Applejack said. Princess Twilight simply gulped heavily, sweat dripping down her brow and her body shivering from time to time. I would have walked over and comforted her, but I chose to keep my distance in case one of the others would do it instead. My conversation with her last night may have exposed us both to the truths about each other, yet there could still be some leftover tension. It didn't take long for the Rainbooms to set up their instruments, although there was a brief moment of tension between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Both had collided with one another and spent a good three minutes just staring at each other with such cold expressions, everyone else merely froze while they had their spat. Honestly, those two never ceased to amaze me with how juvenile they behaviour could get at times. Princess Twilight then took her place behind a raised microphone, where she looked down at Fluttershy's journal before she waited for Pinkie Pie to give her the signal. Was she seriously just going to read from it? I thought she would have at least memorized some parts. Well, maybe it would sound better than it did written down, given how Her Highness' handwriting was abysmal. Me? I wasn't going to just stand there and be their audience. Instead, my job was to adjust the sound in order to reduce the feedback. Rainbow Dash had given me the general gist of what I had to do, so I knew when to make the adjustments so that they sounded good. She had also promised to teach me how to play the guitar later on, myself having asked her about it a couple of days ago. It seemed that the Element of Loyalty had a problem with procrastination. Soon after Pinkie gave the signal, the Rainbooms began to play the song Princess Twilight had written, and right away I could tell it would become a disaster. " Hey, hey, listen. We've got a message for you. We're not all alike. But our friendship is true." Princess Twilight sung. Not only was she singing off-key, but the lyrics made little to no sense. Was this what she had written down after I went to bed last night? I looked at the rest of my friends, and based on their reactions, they clearly weren't impressed. Even Pinkie looked bored while seated at her drums, and it was almost impossible for her to feel that way. No doubt that this song was a nightmare. If my friends were cringing at this song, the student body at CHS would likely be covering their ears in agony. Eventually, the song finished, and Rainbow Dash told everyone to try it again to make it work. The problem, though, was that the chances of this song actually working were slim to none, and that was being friendly about it. Princess Twilight looked as though she didn't like the idea of singing her creation again, but she knew there was no choice in the matter. The lives of everyone at CHS were on the line. And so the Rainbooms tried playing her counter-spell again, with the same results. Her Highness then tried to alter her pitch, making her voice sound like she was younger than she really was. " You may think you're in control. But we're here to prove you wrong." That didn't work either, and neither did their next two attempts. They tried playing with a faster tempo, which proved too fast for Fluttershy and Rarity. Next was seeing if they could switch some band members around to see if a change of position would help fluctuate the music. On their fifth attempt, Rainbow Dash attempted to turn the song into a solo performance, playing her guitar loudly while Princess Twilight was still singing. " Gonna stomp our feet, Clap our hands. With the magic of friendship, Gonna stop your evil plan!" The mood in the barn was pretty evident. No one wanted to play Princess Twilight's song for a sixth time. It didn't matter what slight alterations could be made. The fact was that her song just didn't work, period! I had taken note of the fact that Rainbow Dash started to pony up towards the end of the song, but nothing materialized, which was another reminder of how bad this song was. I knew Her Highness had been struggling to come up with something, yet I didn't think it would be this bad. " That went... well." Rarity said meekly. " I thought we would have gotten it together on the fifth run-through." Princess Twilight said. " No point in tryin' to hide the fact that the song is terrible." Applejack said. Both Rarity and Princess Twilight sighed. They knew the song was bad, so trying to defend it was pointless. When it came to honesty, Applejack doesn't hold back for any reason. " Sorry, I didn't mean to put down your hard work, Twilight, but y'all must admit that this just ain't workin' out for us. I mean, some of the lyrics do sound really solid and could be used for a better version of the counter-spell, but the music definitely needs improvement. In certain areas." Applejack then coldly stared at Rainbow Dash, which hinted to me that she was accusing her of being problematic. " Why are you looking at me like that?" Rainbow Dash asked. " You know darn well why." Applejack answered. " Nope! No idea! In any case, I think it's pretty obvious what's wrong with the counter-spell." Rainbow Dash said. " It's obvious to me, too! You're taking control of the song by turning the chorus into a five-minute guitar solo. Why?" Applejack asked. " Since I'm not lead singer anymore, I have to pick up the slack for the stragglers." Rainbow Dash answered. Her response drew the ire of everyone else present, and she merely scoffed it off, waving her hand like she didn't care. I could sense tensions were beginning to flare up again between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. I thought what happened earlier would be an isolated incident. Now I'm not sure what to think of it. In fact, I had been noticing other tense moments come up whenever everyone practiced. They were extremely minor occurrences, so I never paid any attention to them. Maybe I should have, as now, I feared things could get worse before the competition was over. Again, I chose to keep this insight to myself, as I didn't want to jeopardize my friendships. " Maybe we should try it again." Princess Twilight suggested. " Why bother?" Applejack asked. " I mean, sure the previous five attempts were bad, but at least we know what works and what doesn't. Ha! I'm sure we can get it to work properly. Come on! I know it will work this time." Princess Twilight answered, her voice growing more nervous by the moment. I'm not sure why she wanted to try for the sixth time. Everyone else looked at each other, disdain clearly on their faces. They had no desire to play something so horrible again. Was she trying to hide the fact that she had failed them after they had praised her before? It was a possibility, or she really was stressed out from wanting to meet their expectations. " I think we should take a break, darling." Rarity announced. " When we're this close?" Princess Twilight asked. " Close? Pardon me, Twilight, but we've never been close since we started practicing. Your counter-spell most likely worked in your head when you were writing it down last night, but it's obviously clear that it doesn't work as intended. I know you're eager to keep on going until we've mastered it, but continuing down this path is sure to be horrible for your health. I mean, look at you. You're a nervous wreck! What say we all practice later on when you've gotten a more productive spell?" Rarity answered. " I have been pretty stressed, lately." Princess Twilight said. " Alright! Onto more important business!" Rarity announced. She then walked towards the entrance of the barn, before reaching out into the shadows. At first, we had no idea what she was doing, but when she walked back with a mobile rack with various dresses hanging on it, we quickly got the picture. Not sure how she managed to get those in here while everyone was setting up, but I learned one should never question Rarity on how she did things like that. " These are some costumes I've selected from my repertoire. There are plenty of them, so by all means, take your time. I personally like this one right here, which is why I'm keeping it aside for myself." Rarity then pulled the rack in front of her. She then pushed the rack back to its previous position, and she stood before us wearing a rather bright dress. For some reason, it reminded me of something I once read in history class about fashions from the 1960s. " I suppose if this doesn't work we could always go with something more modern." " What are you doin'?" Applejack asked. " I already told you, darling. I'm showing off potential costumes that we could wear during the competition." Rarity answered. " Are you serious?" Applejack asked. " Quite." Rarity answered. " We're trying to save the world here from power-crazed lunatics who enslaved our entire school! Enough with the costumes! It's not like we need to wear anything fancy during the Battle of the Bands, anyway." Applejack said. " Oh, you can never have enough costumes!" Rarity said. Somehow, she had suddenly changed costumes and was now wearing a yellow jumpsuit that covered her entire body from head to toe. She was also wearing black boots, but it was the helmet that struck me as the most unique aspect of her attire. It looked like it was a modern bike helmet. Yet the flashing lights that came from the visor when Rarity spoke told me that it was some kind of futuristic style. I may have lived in this world for over three years, but I still didn't quite understand the point of fashion. Turning to my right, I noticed Pinkie Pie looked miserable while sitting at her drums. I knew she and the others had gotten fed up with playing that awful song numerous times, yet she seemed even grumpier than the others. " What's wrong, Pinkie?" I asked, walking over to her. " This is getting so frustrating." Pinkie Pie answered. " How so?" I asked. " Why is Applejack being so mean to Rarity? I mean, she only wants to make things more fun. Those costumes look really fun and I'd like to give them a try." Pinkie Pie answered. " I've got to admit that Rarity did do a pretty good job on them." I said. " Applejack is taking things way too seriously, and she's been lashing out a lot, lately. Isn't being in a band supposed to be fun? I think so, but it looks like some of us have completely forgotten about that." Pinkie Pie said before playing a rimshot on her drum in an angry fashion. Pinkie was the kind of girl who would rarely get annoyed by anything, but it looked like her patience had been wearing thin. I decided to take a look at my watch to see what time it was. After so many blundered performances, my friends could all do with a lengthy break. It would also ease tensions, which were getting worse. Looking at the time, I knew that wasn't an option. If this was correct, things were about to become even more hectic. " You don't have time for any of this!" I shouted, causing everyone to turn towards me. " What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked. " I just checked my watch, and you're supposed to check in at the Battle of the Bands in fifteen minutes!" I answered. " What!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. " There's no time to do anything right now! You've all got to get over there right away, or you'll be disqualified before you even start." I said. My friends then began running around like headless chickens. I never knew how disorganized they could be sometimes, but I suppose all of that tension blinded them to the constraints of time. I wasn't affected by such constraints as I wasn't a member of the band. I could have, in fact, taken my sweet time while they made a mad dash, but I didn't want to come off as not being supportive of their actions. " It's not ready!" Princess Twilight announced, causing all of us to suddenly stop. " We already know that." Applejack said. " I'm well aware, Applejack, but it's a lot worse than I previously thought." Princess Twilight said. " How so?" Applejack asked. " If we play our counter-spell in the first round and it doesn't work, the Sirens will know what we're up to and make sure we don't get a chance to play it again! In other words, we only have one chance to do this. That's why I was insistent that we continued practicing. I thought we could have made enough adjustments to make it perfect. I didn't realize that time was so against us." Princess Twilight answered. " How long do you think it will take you to figure it out?" Rainbow Dash asked. " We don't necessarily need to have it ready for the first round, so that does give me some extra time to work out the kinks. I'll try to see if I can get it ready in time for the second round of the competition. If I can't, then I'll get it ready as soon as possible, which could mean it won't be finished until the finals. I'm not sure how we can buy ourselves enough time for me to finish the spell." Princess Twilight answered. " Buy ourselves time?" Applejack asked. " How do you propose we do that?" Rarity asked. " We compete in the Battle of the Bands for real! I was hoping it would come to that. I can take over lead vocals again throughout the competition until either we get to the finals or Twilight has the counter-spell ready. We'll need to stay alive, so that means everyone has to bring their A-game. Come on! We've got a Battle of the Bands to win!" Rainbow Dash answered. " That sounds fair, I suppose." Princess Twilight said. " Will you have the spell ready?" Rainbow Dash asked. " Of course she will." Spike piped up. " Twilight Sparkle's never met a problem she couldn't solve. Right, Twilight?" Princess Twilight nodded in response, a nervous look on her face, and it had me thinking about what happened when her companion brought up her impressive skills after we left the gym last night. Spike had a lot of confidence in Her Highness' abilities, but perhaps he was bragging about it to the point where she felt incapable of living up to such hype. Or he could be giving her unwarranted pressure. He meant well, surely, yet maybe he should have just kept quiet about it. In any case, we had to leave, or else the Rainbooms would be disqualified. I wanted to speak to Princess Twilight, but she was ushered away before I could get a chance. Maybe things would get better once the competition started. I knew that the other bands weren't going to give my friends a warm welcome. This was especially true after their failed attempt to use the Magic of Friendship to free them from the Dazzlings' control. What Applejack said about the Rainbooms being the band to beat was about to become a reality, as everyone else was determined to beat them. Anything could happen during the competition, and the two sisters were powerless to stop it. They, too, were under the Dazzlings' control and were most likely to ignore anything that happened unless it had to do with my friends. Rainbow Dash may have thought it was going to be easy to win, but I had a feeling it was going to be the hardest challenge of their lives. " Tensions were really starting to flare." Twilight observed. " It's because everyone was stressed over the Sirens and how they had been able to get away with so much. Well, that and our friends arguing with each other over petty things. Applejack and Rainbow arguing over anything was a given, as those two had often found themselves struggling to tolerate the other. They're much better now, but back then, there were times they could have ripped the other apart. Applejack also had issues with Rarity because she cared a lot about appearances. Applejack, on the other hand, was more about getting down and dirty and not caring about how she looked." I said. " Applejack seems to be the cause of a lot of tension." Twilight said. I had long suspected as much even before I became friends with Applejack. During my days as the bad girl on campus, I had often seen Applejack arguing with other students over different things. I ignored such things back then, as they weren't important to me. I should have paid more attention and perhaps done something. I wouldn't say that her farming heritage was the cause behind her stubbornness. That would just be stereotyping. No, I'd say it was more deeply rooted than that. All of our friends had their share of problems, but how they handled them varied from person to person. " Does she still have that stubborn streak?" Twilight asked. " She got over it." I answered. " Whatever happened during the Battle of the Bands must have been something to have everyone change for the better." Twilight said. " It brought us closer than ever, although there was one incident that I'll tell you later that tested that resolve. In any case, the Rainbooms were off to compete with so much on the line. The other bands were determined to make sure the Rainbooms had no chance of moving on to the next round, and that meant relying on sabotage in order to ensure things didn't go well for anyone. At the same time, I would be facing my own challenge when the Sirens revealed that they knew about me." I said.