Rainbow Rocks: Another Story

by ArcanaMaverick7

The Semifinals

As the Battle of the Bands continued, only three bands remained in the contest as Vice Principal Luna crossed off Flash Sentry's band from the running. Flash was angry and stormed off as he saw the Dazzlings, Trixie and the Illusions, and the Rainbooms take the last spots. She turned to her sister and spoke to her about the remaining contestants. "This is becoming a close race."

"It seems that way," Principal Celestia mused as she looked over the notes for the three bands. "It all depends on the semifinals."

Meanwhile, the Rainbooms and Fragment Hunter were talking in a corner of the gymnasium. Sunset Shimmer and Sunset Blaze changed back into their regular clothes after Fragment Hunter was defeated by Flash Drive and Shimmer was psyching up the Rainbooms. "This is it! Last round and you're in the finals," Shimmer said to her friends before turning to Twilight. "Unless you think the counter-spell is ready to be played now."

Twilight was still unsure about how the counter-spell would work because of her struggles to write it and clutched the notebook to her chest. Applejack turned back to Twilight and spoke up. "Don't worry, Twilight. Finals aren't until tonight. We'll get in a little more practice before we're supposed to hit the stage. We won't let you down!"

The other Rainbooms offered words of encouragement as well, but Twilight wasn't sure of their faith in her. Looking away, Twilight mumbled to herself as Azalea and both Sunsets looked worried for her. "You won't let me down..."

Layla also picked up on Twilight's doubts and placed a hand on the princess' shoulder. "Even veteran heroes can have their doubts. Just make sure that they don't take over and do what you can," she said. Twilight smiled at the kind words before flipping through the notebook for what seemed like the hundredth time during the time she was here.

"Um, I was just wondering. We haven't played any of my songs yet," Fluttershy mentioned in hopes of getting a say in the band, but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

"It's the semifinals. We gotta do 'Awesome As I Wanna Be'," the guitarist declared.

"Wow... Great name," Rua dryly commented. "What's it about," she asked with a sarcastic smile as Rainbow Dash walked off.

"Don't know why I even asked," Fluttershy muttered to herself. Azalea caught onto this and hugged Fluttershy to try and cheer her up.

Onstage, Trixie and her band were finishing up their song and went with a flashy end with bright lights and Trixie flicking her guitar pick onto the Principals' judging table. The sisters were impressed by the performance and applauded. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, wasn't very impressed by Trixie's performance. "Hmph. You're never gonna top that performance, 'Rain-goons'," Trixie taunted as she confronted her opponents backstage. "You shouldn't be allowed to when you have such a big advantage over the rest of us."

"My superior guitar playing and off-the-charts awesome singing voice," Rainbow Dash said as she stroked her ego.

"An ounce of sanity," Sunset Blaze sarcastically suggested.

"More than one song, you one-trick pony," Rua said as she taunted Trixie back.

Trixie glared at Rua before explaining what she meant. "Oh, don't be ridiculous. I mean her," she said as she pointed at Twilight. "If you were really all that, Rainbow Dash, you wouldn't have needed to bring in some magical ringer to have half a chance. Everyone's talking about it," Trixie taunted Rainbow.

"Ha! Puh-leeze! I could win this thing as a solo act and everybody knows it," Rainbow Dash declared. As her friends heard this, the Rainbooms glared at the egotistical girl while Fragment Hunter all slapped their heads.

"Sure you could," Trixie scoffed before throwing a smoke bomb onto the floor. With white smoke obscuring everyone's vision and filling their lungs, they were distracted from Trixie's disappearance.

"She's gone," Pinkie declared before noticing her drum kit on the stage. "Oh wait, there she is," Pinkie pointed out as she gestured to Trixie hiding away behind the drum platform. Seeing that she didn't hide well enough, Trixie sped off the stage as the P.A. sounded off.

"Next up, the Rainbooms," Principal Celestia said.

"Knock 'em dead, Rainbooms," Spike said as the band went onto the stage.

"Guess we'll just wait here until our turn," Sunset Shimmer said as she and Fragment Hunter looked on.

As the Rainbooms took the stage, they started to play a song that sounded like it was dedicated to Rainbow Dash's ego. With Pinkie starting the song with a wild drum solo, spotlights shined down on each member before Rainbow Dash started to sing the lead vocals. During the song itself, Rainbow Dash kept showboating and taking everyone's spotlight as she moved around the stage.

Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Awesome as I wanna be
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Awesome as I wanna be

First you see me riding on a sonic boom
Got my guitar shreddin' up my latest tune
There is nothin' you can do to beat me
I'm so good that you can't defeat me

Yeah, I'm awesome, take caution
Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be
(Yeah!) I'm awesome, take caution
Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be

Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

While Rainbow kept continuing with a guitar solo, Sunset Shimmer and Fragment Hunter saw that the guitarist was about to transform and give away what they were planning to do with the Sirens. Panicking, Sunset Shimmer went onto the stage and tackled Rainbow Dash to the ground to stop her. However, the crash let to the two girls knocking into Twilight and caused a chain reaction that knocked the other Rainbooms down. In the chaos, their instruments either fell to the ground or even broke each other as Applejack's bass punctured one of Pinkie's drums.

As the lights turned back on to show the calamity, everyone saw the ruined stage and that Sunset Shimmer was the cause of it. Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were surprised at what happened and the former started to write something down. The audience however, all started to jeer after Flash Sentry spoke up. "Now that's the bad girl we love to hate!"

As the students all shouted disapproval at Sunset Shimmer, the girl was trying to explain what was happening. Unfortunately, she couldn't get a word in while everyone jeered at her and the Dazzlings grinned evilly at the audience. "No, it isn't like that," Shimmer tried to say. Before she could say anything else, a loud and reverberating crack was heard from in front of the stage. Everyone turned to see that the judge's table was broken into pieces and a large crack appeared on the wooden floor underneath a boot.

Seeing who was responsible, everyone's eyes widened at Azalea as she stood up straight and glared at everyone. "Remember what I can do? I suggest that you leave. My friend. Alone," Azalea said as she popped her neck and cracked her knuckles. Remembering what the girl did to the Dazzlings at the party and seeing what she just did now, the student body were all silenced immediately.

Returning backstage, the Rainbooms confronted Sunset Shimmer about what she did. "What was that," Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"You were showing them your magic. I-I didn't know what else to do," Shimmer explained what she did.

Rarity snapped at Sunset and listed what else she could've done. "Close the curtains? Unplug her amp? Give us a chance to deal with the situation?"

"It was fight-or-flight," Rua stated. "She did the first thing she could think of when confronted with a problem. How would you respond if you saw somebody being attacked by a Grimm?" This left the Rainbooms speechless as they considered the idea of Sunset Shimmer rushing in and trying to deal with a demonic monster to protect someone. "That's what I thought."

"Still, none of this would've happened if you weren't tryin' to show off like you have been since after the first round," Applejack said as she prodded a finger into Rainbow dash's chest.

"Good show, 'Rain-brooms'," Trixie said as she walked up to the group. "I especially liked the part where Sunset Shimmer, in a fit of jealous rage, knocked out Rainbow Dash mid-guitar solo!"

"IT WASN'T A FIT OF JEALOUS RAGE," Sunset Shimmer shouted at Trixie as the girl was getting on her nerves. However, she realized what she was doing and the Rainbooms all awkwardly looked away as Shimmer demonstrated her anger at Trixie.

Trixie herself only smiled smugly as her point was proven. "If you say so," she said before noticing the principals looking over their notes. "Ooh! Looks like they've already decided who'll be moving on to the finals! I'm guessing it wasn't too difficult a decision."

As Celestia and Luna went over their notes, the doors behind them opened and the Dazzlings came up next to them while they sang. Sunset Shimmer and Fragment Hunter noticed this and were curious at what they were doing while the Rainbooms were caught up in their own conversations. "What can we do? There isn't gonna be another opportunity for us to play. And I had the most gorgeous outfit for the finals," Rarity lamented.

"Yup, 'cause that's the real tragedy here, Rarity. That you won't get to play dress-up," Applejack replied with annoyance.

Rarity and Applejack got in each other's faces as Rarity spoke up again. "You know perfectly well that is not what I meant!"

Rainbow dash broke them apart as she explained that the next finalists were being announced. Fluttershy moaned that it obviously wasn't going to be them because of the disaster of a performance from earlier. "The band that will be joining the Dazzlings in tonight's finals... The Rainbooms," Principal Celestia said.

Everyone who heard the announcement was in complete shock as it was the Rainbooms being selected for the finals. As Pinkie questioned why they were chosen, Trixie was livid and stormed off in rage. While the Rainbooms were congratulated for advancing, the audience was angry at the girls who the Dazzlings claimed wouldn't be able to win made it to the last round. The Dazzlings joined them onstage and Adagio spoke up. "See you at tonight's big show, Rainbooms. We are really looking forward to it."

"Well... not as much as we are," Rainbow retorted before hearing more jeering from the audience. As the Rainbooms and Sunset Shimmer made their way out of the gym, Fragment Hunter stuck around and wondered what was going on. While the twelve left through a different exit and went to think, Trixie was shown to be the most upset about the results.

"This is a travesty! A travesty," she exclaimed dramatically as the Dazzlings walked up to her.

Adagio placed her hand on Trixie's shoulder as she spoke with false sympathy. "It really is! The Rainbooms don't deserve to be in the finals. Not when your band was so much better in the semis," Adagio said.

"And wanted it so much more," Aria mentioned as she leaned next to Trixie.

"Alas, this is the way it's going to be. Dazzlings vs. Rainbooms," Adagio mentioned.

" Unless, of course, the Rainbooms don't manage to make it to their set or get held up for some reason," Sonata voiced. "Oh, but if you or the Rainbooms don't make it, who would take your place? Fragment Hunter, maybe?" Hearing the first part of what Sonata said, Trixie smiled sinisterly as she thought of what to do.

---

As the Rainbooms set up their equipment, they were still wondering what was going on with the results. "This doesn't make any sense. We were awful. Doesn't anybody else think it's strange that we're the ones that made it to the finals," Fluttershy mentioned to the others.

"Very strange," Trixie said as she approached the Rainbooms with her bandmates.

"What do you want Trixie? I'm pretty sure that the losers join the audience in the cheap seats," Rainbow Dash said as she pointed to the stands.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is the most talented girl at Canterlot High. It is I who deserves to be in the finals. And I will not be denied," Trixie said as she snapped her fingers. At the signal, one of her band members pulled a lever that activated a trapdoor underneath the Rainbooms. As the Rainbooms and Sunset Shimmer fell down, so did all their equipment and a few other supplies that they brought. The only one left after Trixie had the trapdoor open was Spike and he was shocked at what just happened. "See you never," Trixie said as she laughed evilly and had her band close the trapdoor.

Seeing his friends locked away, Spike ran off to get help from Fragment Hunter or anybody else unaffected by the Dazzlings. The Sirens themselves were looking out onto the stage and Adagio smiled at the results of their manipulation. "Told you someone would give them a shove," Adagio chuckled.

"But, she didn't push them. She pulled a lever," Sonata mentioned.

Adagio facepalmed as Aria rolled her eyes at Sonata's clueless behavior again. "Just go back to sleep, Sonata. You need to rest what brain cells you have before tonight," Aria said. Sonata only glared at Aria in response, but followed the others as they left to prepare for the finals.

Author's Note:

Okay, next up is what Fragment Hunter was up to while the Rainbooms were preparing for the finals. During that chapter, we'll also see the setup for the last round of the Battle of the Bands.

Remember, you can ask me whatever you want about my OC's.