//------------------------------// // Let's Battle! // Story: Deafened // by Crayonpaste //------------------------------// Your head is still pounding from that caffeine crash you had earlier, which combined with the fact that you guys are up next really makes you feel uneasy. Those six cups of coffee might have made it so that you could learn the guitar, but damn you're paying the price for it. A feeling of nausea begins to overcome you, and you can also feel something terrible building up in the back of your throat. "Anon, are you alright?" Fluttershy looks down at you with concern. "You look like you're about to throw up." "Actually..." You groan, getting up from your seat. "I think I might...Say, can you do me a favor and tell the others to wait for me before we go on stage?" "S-sure...just take care." Fluttershy says. You give Fluttershy a thumbs up, and leave the auditorium with one hand clutching your stomach as you jog through the now empty hallways of the school. Another turn to the left, and you find yourself at the entrance of the boy's bathroom, which you quickly enter and walk up to a nearby sink. "Come on..." You say to yourself, leaning over. You can feel the wave of nausea getting stronger, and stronger. "Come on...just do it already..." Finally you feel your throat beginning to lurch forward, and you let out a burning torrent of rancid, brown mush. You grasp the edges of the sink as a second stream comes out and continue facing down in the pool of your own gunk until you're 100% confident that you got it all out. The headache still persists, and you can feel the vomit burning away the back of your throat, but at least the worst part, the nausea's gone. You quickly reach for the water bottle in your bag, guzzle down the remaining contents to wash out the stomach acid, and take a sigh of relief as the nasty, sour taste is no more. "Fucking caffeine..." You cough, throwing the now empty bottle into a nearby trash can. "Why do you have to be such a bitch?" As much as you want to shift the blame to someone else, you know it's completely your fault; nobody sane would ever consider downing six cups of coffee all at once. And not to mention you put like eight bags of sugar into each of them. You turn on the sink, to try to wash out the remains of your breakfast, but it doesn't really do much since the sinks at CHS are those motion-sensor activated ones that only let out a really weak stream of water. After a couple seconds, you give up, and make your way to the door. Immediately upon leaving the bathroom however, you hear the school's loudspeakers go off. "Attention: The next band up is now The Rainbooms!" Vice Principal Luna's voice booms through the hallways. "The next band up is now The Rainbooms!" "Fuck!" You shout, sprinting full force back to the auditorium. The distance from the bathroom to the auditorium in all honesty isn't really that long, but the desperation of the moment makes it feel like you're running a god damn marathon. You turn the corner, and see the entrance of the auditorium right in front of you, prompting you to run even faster. 'Did Fluttershy forget to tell everyone to wait for me?' You think in your mind, as you stop at the auditorium's entrance. 'If so, it's going to be really awkward just bursting in like that while they're playing...' You cross your fingers for a brief moment, and lock the door's handle in a death grip before shoving it open, only to feel some resistance on the other side. "Ooof!" You hear a girl cry out. You take a peek, and see none other than Fluttershy lying on the ground. "Oh no, I'm sorry Fluttershy!" You cry out. But before you can do anything, a random guy who gets up from his seat and points a finger at you. "Hey, look!" He shouts. "Anon just pushed Fluttershy to the ground, and didn't even apologize!" "What do you mean, I just did!" You yell back, holding your arms up innocently. Your voice however, is drowned out as the crowd descends upon you in a flurry of booing, and even death threats. You look around, and see a thin cloud of green mist coalescing around the auditorium. "I......sorry about that, Anon." Fluttershy apologizes, getting back up on her feet. "I shouldn't have stood there..." "No, it's my fault for knocking you down." You shake your head, doing your best to ignore the jeering crowd. Meanwhile, your eyes trail around the auditorium, looking for any traces of the Dazzlings, and their red ruby jewels. So far, you still haven't spotted them once since you arrived at the school, which makes you feel even more paranoid. Giving up your search, you follow Fluttershy as the two of you walk down the auditorium. On top of the stage, you see the rest of the Rainbooms waiting for you two, along with Sunset Shimmer sitting by the side talking to Twilight about something. You clear your throat, and the Rainbooms all stop what they're doing as they look down at you expectantly. "Sorry for keeping you girls waiting." You say, climbing onto the stage. "So...how's the situation?" "We're still waitin' on Rarity..." Applejack says, with a clearly irritated tone in her voice. You look around, and see that she's in the backstage, applying eyeliner on her face. "Will you hurry it up?!" Applejack complains, stomping her foot in frustration. "We're goin' in five minutes!" "WHAT?!" You hear Rarity scream in terror. "I didn't even start my left eye though!!!" "Then just wear an eyepatch, or somethin'!" Applejack shouts back. "If you don't get your bum down here in five minutes, we're starting with or without you!" "Stop for a moment, and think about the ABSURDITY of what you just said, Applejack!" Rarity retorts. "We're performing in front of an audience; we need to keep some standard of appearance..." You take another peek at the backstage, and it still doesn't seem like Rarity's coming out anytime soon. Shrugging, you take your guitar to the side of the stage, secluding yourself from the rest of the band. If Rarity's going to be taking this long, you'll might as well use your time productively, and see if your guitar needs any tuning or whatever. You begin strumming away, and you're about to adjust one of the strings, before you spot something moving towards you from the corner of your eye. You turn to your left, and spot Sunset Shimmer walking towards you. "Hey." You smile. "What's up?" "Hi Anon." She returns the smile. "And by the way, you don't have to touch that guitar; I tuned it up for you while you were gone." "Oh! Thanks, Sunset!" You exhale in relief, putting the guitar down. "You have no idea how hard it is for me to tune these things; I always end up snapping the strings, and stuff." "Don't worry, it was nothing." Sunset shakes her head. "But...where were you though?" "Just regurgitating out my breakfast." You reply, patting your stomach. "Caffeine really starts to show no mercy once you hit the five cup mark..." "I still can't believe you did that..." Sunset facepalms. "Six cups; what the heck were you thinking?" "Hey, put yourself in my shoes for a moment." You say defensively. "I had like what, five hours to learn an instrument I never even touched? How else was I supposed to do it?" Sunset's about to open her mouth to retort, but pauses. She sighs in frustration, and just shakes her head. "Exactly." You say triumphantly. "But hey, I still think it'll be worth it when you see me shredding away on the stage." Speaking of the stage, You look back and see Rarity has finally emerged. She's wearing this strange hippy dress with metal bars, or whatever those things are on the ends; it looks...good, you guess? But personally, you feel like it's overkill for just your first performance; it looks more like something that should be saved for the final round, or something. You're about to join them, but feel Sunset Shimmer place a hand on your back. "Anon...?" Sunset says nervously, as she locks eyes with you. "You think you'll be okay up there?" "What do you mean?" You raise an eyebrow in confusion. "I've been practicing for five hours straight; 'course I'll get this song down." "That's not what I mean." She says as she looks back at the audience. "I'm talking about the crowd. You're not worried about them at all? Do you really feel fine about the fact that you're about to play in front of a bunch of angry teenagers who all hate your guts?" You stop to think for a moment about what Sunset just said...come to think of it, she makes a really good point... "I actually never gave it that much thought until now..." You admit, picking up your guitar. You take a good look at the crowd, and Sunset's right. They're not too bad right now, but every now and then, you spot someone pointing at you, or glaring at you in disgust. You can't help but imagine how aggressive they'll be when you actually start playing... "Well at least Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna are here, so they won't be throwing soccer balls at me..." You say optimistically. "I should be fine." Just as you get up and begin making your way to the stage, Sunset Shimmer stops you again. You're slightly taken aback when you see a look of utmost concern on her face "Seriously Anon..." She says. "Don't feel like this something you have to put yourself through...I...I can talk to Twilight! She can-" "Sunset..." You cut her off. You take a deep breath, before looking straight into her aquamarine eyes. "I'll be fine." "I'm choosing to do this..." You smile. "In case you haven't noticed, the whole reason this entire situation with Dazzlings getting out of control was my fault; it's my mess, and I'm cleaning it up." Sunset's eyes widen for a moment, and she seemingly freezes in place before she takes a deep breath, and nods understandably. "Well then..." She gulps, looking down at the ground. "If that's the case..." Suddenly, she rushes forward and pulls you in an embrace. You don't know why, but you feel your knees start to wobble violently to the point where you almost fall over when she locks her arms together around you. Her grip tightens, but not to the point where it hurts as she leans over towards your ear, and whispers. "Good luck, Anon." She steps back, giving you a reassuring smile, and walks off the stage. You respond with a thumbs up, and make your way towards the stage where the rest of the Rainbooms are waiting for you. As expected, the second you step into the spotlight, the crowd immediately starts murmuring, and you hear hushed whispers, that quickly erupt into booing. The students point at you in scorn, and some people in the back even begin flipping you off. However, you don't let any of it faze you; you look over to Twilight Sparkle, who nods, and gives Pinkie Pie the signal. "One, two, three!" Pinkie shouts, smashing her two drumsticks together, and you all break into song. Just as you guys rehearsed before, Twilight takes on the lead vocals, backed up by Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy while you tackle the lead melody with your guitar. You focus, and push out all other feelings from your mind, concentrating solely on hitting all the right notes. You regret not writing down everything on a music sheet beforehand, but you're sure you can still still wing it, and just play it all by ear; your hearing's been improving recently anyways. 'So far, so good.' You think to yourself. You've only dropped one note, and the crowd looks like they didn't notice it anyways. The chorus begins, and you begin to synchronize your melody with Applejack's bass guitar. You tap your foot along to Pinkie Pie's drumbeat as you begin to lose yourself to the happy beat of the song. All the sudden though, you don't hear Rarity's keytar anymore. You don't remember her taking a rest during this part of the song...You mentally shrug; probably just your hearing aid going whack. You shift your attention back towards the guitar, and without warning, hear a comical pop. Immediately afterwards, confetti begins raining down everywhere. 'That's a pretty neat effect...' You think to yourself, smiling. You continue playing, and strum the A string, only for it to give off a horribly out of tune noise. You look down in horror, realizing that the confetti is getting itself stuck in between the frets of your guitar. Panicking, you begin to start blowing on the strings to get it out, then you look to your right, seeing Applejack's having the same exact problem as you. Rarity for some reason, still isn't playing and is just waving her arms around like zombie now. Meanwhile, Twilight started choking from accidentally inhaling in a piece of confetti, and Fluttershy also stopped playing her tambourine and is now running away from this random light that keeps chasing her. Sweat begins to form on your brows as you watch Twilight's lips starting to turn blue. Applejack drops her bass guitar, and rushes over to Twilight to perform the Heimlich. The band is now in complete disarray; you and Pinkie Pie are the only ones playing right now, and the audience starts booing you guys. Your mind races, and you can feel your own nerves starting to get to you too. No. Now's not the time to be shitting your pants, Anon. You need to find some way to salvage this performance. You look around, and grab Rarity's microphone that she's not using then step forward, straight into the limelight. Everybody, from the crowd, to the Rainbooms , to Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna all look at you, wondering what the heck you're doing and to be honest, you're not too sure yourself. The feeling of everybody staring at you is nearly palpable, and you can feel yourself sweating up a river. You ignore Applejack, who's mouthing 'What are you doing' and without a second thought, break into a guitar solo, concentrating on landing every note as you play faster, and faster. At first, you botch a few notes, causing the crowd's booing to get even louder, but you see Sunset Shimmer on the side, staring at you with a look of bewilderment in her eyes. Just the sight of her...for some reason...you feel yourself becoming reinvigorated. You're suddenly hit with a new wave of determination, and speed up your guitar solo, playing faster, faster than you've ever done before. Pinkie Pie, who's still somewhat confused as to what you're doing, starts following along with you, until the two of you actually start sounding okay. The booing quenches down, and you look at Principal Celestia, who's actually starting to tap her foot along with the beat. 'Come on, Anon...' You exhale, clenching your teeth. 'You've got this...this is just another Guitar Hero game....this is just Guitar Hero....this is just Guitar Hero..." ****** "Ruined!" Rarity weeps in despair as she holds the teared remains of her dress. "Absolutely ruined!!!" Your t-shirt is soaked to the bone by your own sweat right now; everything feels wet, and you can feel your fingers sore from going so hard with that guitar. Somehow...you don't know how, but you guys still were able to advance towards the second round. In fact, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were actually clapping towards the end of the song, but you're sure it's probably because they just felt bad for you... "Rarity, were you tryin' to make us lose out there?!" Applejack demands. "That was not my fault!" Rarity shoots back. "You saw those magnets hanging above my dress; this was an act of sabotage!" "She's right." You try to reason with the two girls. "I saw those magnets too, but Applejack also has a point; if you just dressed normally, those magnets never would've done anything." "Oh, and I suppose you would know everything about sabotage now, wouldn't you?" Rarity crosses her arms. You feel her words sink into you like a hot knife through butter, and you're about to say something back at Rarity before you're cut off by Applejack. "And you, Anon!" You turn, seeing a very pissed off country girl advancing towards you. She's not nearly as scary as Sunset Shimmer, but that's like saying you'd rather be mauled by rabid wolf instead of a rabid grizzly bear. Both suck. "What in tarnation were you doin' as well?!" She demands. "That three minute guitar solo?! We're part of a band; you can't be doin' your own thing!" "I...I...I panicked!" You reply. "First Rarity and Fluttershy stopped playing, then Twilight started choking on the confetti, and then you stopped to help her......what was I supposed to do?! Just stand there, and let our performance flop?!" "Speaking of confetti, I never remembered that being part of our song..." Fluttershy looks at Pinkie Pie. "I hope you know just how distracting it was for the rest of us, and plus, it almost killed Twilight!" "Yeah, big words coming out of the girl running from a light the whole time!" Pinkie Pie throws her arms in outrage. "A light!" "You know I'm afraid of crowds!" Fluttershy argues. "I can't help it!" "Hey, hey let's all just take a deep breath, and calm down." Sunset Shimmer steps in, trying to defuse the situation. "Yeah, things could've gone a lot better, but we still made it past the first round, and that's all that matters!" "Sunset's right." Twilight says. "However, I did a rough estimate of the magical energy output our song gave out, and this is still nowhere near enough to beat the sirens. If my calculations are right, we need to play at least three times better if we even want to stand a chance against the Dazzlings!" "Three times?!" Rarity gasps. "We...we barely made it past the first round though!" "And it never would've been this bad if somebody didn't give them sirens so much negative energy..." You hear Applejack grumble. "Hey!" You point a finger at her, feeling anger starting to boil up inside of you. "How the heck was I supposed to know that those three girls were magical sirens who-" You catch yourself. You want to say more, you really do, but you know trying to argue with Applejack it's like trying to teach a rock how to play fetch. Well...Pinkie Pie's sister Maud Pie claims she can actually do that, but that's not the point; the point is, nothing good is going to come out of arguing with your bandmates. You just give Applejack one last glare, and walk away. You exit through the backstage doors, and begin looking for a nice, quiet place to blow off your steam without ruining your relationship with the Rainbooms. You find a empty classroom and take a seat at a nearby table. In an attempt to ride out the wave of emotions, you close your eyes and try to meditate, concentrating on a peaceful place as you take slow, but deep breaths. However, your thoughts immediately trail back to what Applejack just said about you... You seriously can't believe the audacity of that girl. Firstly, her calling you out on the crap that happened to you with the Dazzlings was totally uncalled for! And second, if you didn't do what you just did, you guys would've been eliminated for sure! They should be grateful that you saved their asses, instead of bitching about you 'doing your own thing'! And not to mention, how the hell did Principal Celestia not see that your performance was being sabotaged?! Well whatever; at least you were still able to advance to the second round like how Sunset said....even if it was by the skin of your teeth. All you know is that you'd better prepare for the second round though; 'MC Snips' and 'DJ Snazzy Snails' aren't here to give you a free win anymore. You take out your phone, remembering that you took a picture of the Battle's tournament roster. Your eyes trail through the bracket, as you take a look at all the competing bands. You know Flash is advancing to the first round as well, so you cross out the logo of the band he beat...you continue crossing out all the losing bands to see who's left, and begin connecting the remaining bands together in a new bracket. 'So Trixie's band beat Lyra and Sweetie Drops, and the Dazzlings are probably advancing no matter how good their opponents are...' You think as you draw out a new bracket on the table. You take a sigh of relief when you realize that the only possible way you guys are going to be facing the Dazzlings is in the finals. Well, that takes a lot of stress off your plate...but real question is, who are you going to be facing next round? You continue connecting the remaining bands together, and upon adding the Rainbooms to the roster, your heart sinks when you come to a horrifying realization. You guys are facing Flash Sentry next round. Well that's just great; you may have avoided the worst competition, only to get matched with the second worst possible option for you; your bro Flash has been playing the guitar for over five years now, or something crazy like that; just how the heck are your five hours gonna match up to that? No...there has to be a solution to this; you're just not thinking hard enough. In the middle of your thinking however, the door suddenly opens. You look up and see Sunset Shimmer walking into the classroom holding a brown bag in her hands. "Hi, again..." You mumble. "Hey." She smiles. "I brought you something, Anon." You look up, and you see Sunset pull an apple out of her bag, and hands it to you. "Oh, thanks!" Immediately, you take a huge chunk of the fruit, and let your taste buds take in the fresh, juicy goodness. Just now, have you realized how freaking hungry you are right now. Probably because you "lost" your breakfast earlier this afternoon. As you continue wolfing down on the apple, Sunset takes a seat next to you. "Nice job on that guitar solo, by the way." Sunset compliments you. "You really went all out there." "Thanks..." You reply with a mouthful of food. "If only the rest of the Rainbooms were as appreciative as you..." "They are." Sunset says. "I talked with Twilight; she said she's really glad you were able to step it up while everyone else was falling apart." "Oh really?" You raise an eyebrow. "Then why were Applejack and Rarity acting so bitchy to me then?" "Well, think about it." Sunset replies. "You're in a band with your friends, alright? Later, your best player gets injured and can't play anymore...then all of the sudden, the very guy who hurt her wants to join up? Wouldn't you feel a little uneasy about that situation too?" "They wanted me to join though!" You argue. "It doesn't matter." Sunset shrugs, reaching into her bag and pulling out a banana for herself. "You need to understand that the rest of the Rainbooms still probably feel really uncomfortable with you being in their band, let alone having you suddenly take a lead role, and start showing off." "How was I showing off?!" You spit out an apple seed. "I was just doing what I had to do to make sure we wouldn't lose!" "I'm not saying you're in the wrong here." Sunset holds her hands up innocently. "I'm just trying to help you understand their point of view..." "But still..." She continues, peeling her banana as she speaks. "What you did probably single-handedly won us that round. I'm sure that deep down, the Rainbooms are all glad you're in the band, despite not openly saying it." Sunset stares at the banana in her hands for a moment, then quickly glances in your direction. She then begins snaking her tongue around around the fruit, before slowly enveloping it in her mouth. Just now you begin to realize you haven't taken your eyes off of her this entire time. You try to look away from Sunset as she eats her banana, but your eyes are unresponsive to your orders; your brain also begins going rogue, thinking thoughts it really shouldn't be thinking right now and- oh shit, she's turning your way. The two of you stare at each other in awkward silence, each with mouths full of food, before Sunset finally swallows first, and gives you a curious look. "Is... something wrong?" Sunset asks, leaning closer to you. Her leather jacket brushes against the bare skin of your arm, as you start feeling things quickly going south; and by south, you mean blood rushing down to Anon Jr. You quickly cross your legs to hide the bulge in your pants, swallow your food, and open your mouth to respond. "I was just......thinking." You quickly lie, backing away from Sunset Shimmer. "Yeah. Thinking. That's all. I was just looking at the roster, and that found out who we're facing off against." "Oh." Sunset looks down. You could've sworn there a hint of disappointment in her voice, but who knows? That could just be the hearing aid. "Who is it?" "Flash Sentry." You say. "To be honest, I'm kinda worried this time...he's really good at the guitar; much better than I'll ever be...and not to mention, he's my best friend! It's gonna be so awkward facing off against each other like this!" "I know." Sunset nods. "He's been playing the guitar for like five years or something crazy like that." "Yeah; not sure how I can top that off-" Your head perks up for a moment, as you feel like something's off. "Hey! Wait a second! How did you know that about Flash?!" "I dunno." Sunset rolls her eyes. "Maybe 'cause I used to date him???" "I was-" You catch yourself, realizing she's right. What was supposed to be a sassy comeback that comes out of your mouth, leaves you awkwardly staring at Sunset Shimmer. You don't know why, but never before have you felt more uncomfortable in your life than you are right now. "What?" Sunset raises an eyebrow. "Flash never told you?" "No." You shake your head. "That's not it. I...uhm...I...just forgot." You're mentally screaming at yourself; how the hell could your dumb ass could ever forget about Sunset and Flash?! He's your best friend! You seriously don't remember the emotional shitstorm he went through after he got dumped? Those crazy ploys Flash thought up to get her back, some of them so absurd they'd make a Tom and Jerry cartoon look realistic? Or what about those three hour long phone therapy sessions where he was bawling into the speakers so loud, your parents thought you were having sex in your room? "He's a nice guy though, isn't he?" Sunset blurts out, interrupting your train of thought. "Flash Sentry?" "He is." You agree. "He's the only one who stuck with me after......well...after what I've done to Rainbow's game..." "Which is also why I feel even worse about facing off against him in the next round." You grimace. "I...I seriously don't know what I'm going to do, Sunset." "I could convince Twilight and the rest of the Rainbooms to let you sit out next round." Sunset says. "No..." You shake your head. "There's no way that's going to work...." "I'll tell them about how you feel about Flash Sentry and everything." Sunset explains. "I'm sure they'll understand you not wanting to go up against your own best friend, and battling-." "No, that's not what I mean." You cut her off. "Who's going to be the lead guitarist then if I bail? Our chances of winning against Flash are slim enough as it is." "Well then you're not really giving yourself a lot of options..." Sunset crosses her arms. "Exactly." You say. "And that's what's driving me crazy." You slide down your chair, and start staring at the ceiling. Is there anything you can do about this? You know for sure that your stomach won't be able to handle another caffeine binge session; the nearest Starbucks to CHS is twenty minutes away anyways. Your brain is going through every possible loophole you can realistically think of, but no matter what, you still can't come up with anything. "Fuck." You think out loud. "I can't think of anything. And I know we'll lose for sure if we try to take on Flash's band head on..." "Maybe we could try sneaking into Principal Celestia's office and try to change the roster, so we can get matched with a different band..." Sunset suggests. "I dunno..." You shrug. "I don't think we can afford getting caught; both of our reputations here at Canterlot High are shitty enough as it is. The last thing you and I need is another reason for the school to hate us..." "That's...that's actually a really good point." Sunset admits, before sinking down into the table. She reaches into her lunchbag again and rummages through it for a while before pulling out a ziploc bag full of multicolored candy. "Skittles?" "Nah, I'm good." You shake your head. "That apple was enough for me." "Suit yourself." Sunset says, before popping a couple into her mouth. You keep your eyes transfixed on Sunset's bag of Skittles for a moment, the multicolored bits of candy reminding you all too much of a certain girl... While Flash Sentry's amazing at guitar, you've also heard stories of Rainbow Dash being pretty killer as well; you've never actually heard her play, but everyone else always rambled on and on about how she could easily become a rockstar, or something. Well too bad you sent her to the hospital, right Anon? You find that as time goes on, you find more and more reasons to regret what you did that night at the soccer game. You begin to feel yourself wallowing in guilt again, as your memory starts replaying that painful split she did. The thoughts of those three siren girls' pulsating red necklaces than invade your mind; their blinding, blood red flashes enveloping your vision as Adagio's laughter rings through your ears. No...no... stop Anon, stop. You shouldn't be thinking about that right now; instead, you should be thinking about how the hell you're going to beat Flash Sentry's band. You shake your head, and go back to the mental drawing board of your brain. Like how you said before, you can't beat him head on, and there's no way in hell you're ever going to try and sneak into Principal Celestia's office; you've done enough sneaking around as 'Anna Fourchen' for the rest of your lifetime. "I seriously can't think of anything right now." You slam your fist onto the table in frustration. "How about trying to find someone else to join the Rainbooms?" Sunset Shimmer suggests "But...everybody is under the Dazzlings' spell, so...." "Wait a second!" Your head perks up, startling Sunset. "Sunset, you're a genius!" "What?" "YOU!" You point a finger at her. "YOU can play in the next round with us, Sunset!" "M-me...?" She stutters, wearing an expression of shock on her face. "Are you-" "If you're good enough to teach me how to play guitar, you've gotta be good enough to give Flash a run for his money!" You say excitingly. "I'm so stupid, why didn't I think of that before?! We'll definitely have a chance if we play with you by our side Sunset! And plus-" "That's CRAZY!" Sunset shouts hysterically. "T-t-the entire school hates me! How am I going to perform in front of them and-" "Well why don't you ask one of your bandmates how it's like?" You point a finger at yourself. "It's not that bad; all you gotta do is just ignore the crowd, and do your own thing!" "What do you mean bandmate?!" Sunset shouts. "I never even agreed to anything yet!" "Oh come on, Sunset!" You press on. "If I can do it, so can you! If you-" "Attention: The second round of the Battle of the Bands begins now!" You hear Principal Celestia's voice over the loudspeakers. "All remaining bands please report to the auditorium to check in!" You stare at your phone's clock for a second. It's beginning already?! You thought you had like thirty minutes or something to rest! Well, if you guys get disqualified for something as dumb as not showing up to check in with Principal Celestia, Applejack's going to smack you into a new dimension. "It's beginning already?" Sunset raises an eyebrow. "I thought we had way more time." "I know." You say. "Well, let's get back to the auditorium before they change their minds again." The two of you begin making a run back to the auditorium. You look back at Sunset Shimmer, noticing that as she's running, her face holds a look of utmost seriousness and her eyes begin rapidly moving around. Probably deep in thought; probably contemplating about joining the Rainbooms, or not. You seriously hope she does though; you highly doubt you can take on Flash's band alone... When the two of you reach the auditorium, you wade through the crowds of people, and finally find the rest of the Rainbooms waiting in line to check in with Principal Celestia, who's holding a clipboard and rapidly jotting down names. "Oh, there you are!" Twilight says. "I was beginning to think you..." "Ditched?" You finish her sentence. "...To be honest...yeah..." Twilight admits. "Sorry Anon, I-" "No worries, Twilight." You say reassuringly. "I wouldn't dream of doing that at all; not in a million years." "But what we should be worried about..." You look over, seeing Flash Sentry and the rest of his bandmates in a corner, setting up their instruments. He notices you, and your bro shoots you a nasty glare before going back to tuning his guitar. "Is our competition..." "Next!" Principal Celestia calls out. You and the rest of the Rainbooms walk up to the folding desk Principal Celestia and set up, and look up to her; even when sitting down, Principal Celestia is still almost half a head taller than you. You remember you and your friends always joked around, claiming Celestia used to be a former NBA star or something, but none of you ever had the guts to actually ask her. "Please sign the name of your band on this clipboard along with the names of all members along with the lineup and, or instruments being played." She says before handing you all a pen. Each of the Rainbooms all quickly jot down their names on the clipboard, and when Rarity finishes her name, she hands it to you. You begin writing your own name, then turn around, handing the clipboard to Sunset Shimmer behind you. "If I can do it, so can you." You whisper before giving her the pen. You walk off to the side, waiting for her to sign her name on the clipboard. However, she's just standing there, completely motionless as she stares at the pen. This prompts Principal Celestia to clear her throat, and rise from her seat. "Sunset Shimmer." She says, with a hint of disgust in her voice. "Are you done signing your name on the clipboard?" Sunset stares at the seven foot tall woman in fear. "I...I'm sorry." She says, before looking back down on the clipboard. "I was...thinking about something." She grasps the pen with a shaking hand, then looks desperately back up to you, which slightly takes you back; never before have you seen Sunset Shimmer, the meanest girl in Canterlot High look so terrified in her life. You regain your composure, and give her a slow nod. Her eyes widen, and she looks back down on the clipboard. Sunset Shimmer takes a deep breath, and grasps the pen, before scribbling her name away and hands the clipboard back to Principal Celestia. You look back up at Sunset Shimmer, and see a grin slowly forming on her face as she walks up towards you. You hold out a hand for her, and smile back as she takes it. "Welcome to the Rainbooms, Sunset." You say.