Bitter Memories and Sweet Music

by Bookpony579

Chapter 1

It's a new day in Canterlot, and we find our heroes seated with the rest of the school in the gymnasium.

"What do you think this is about?" Twilight asked her friends. They were seated on bleachers that were only used for big gatherings.

"Celestia said she had 'Big News' for the school." Sunset recalled.

"I wonder what it is?" Fluttershy wondered.

"I hope it's 'All you can eat candy day!'" Pinkie jumped in her seat.

"I highly doubt that darling." Rarity, scooching away from a bouncing Pinkie.

"Besides: I think you have enough sugar in your system as it is." Rainbow said as she pressed down on her Pink friend's head, getting her to sit still.

"Here she comes!" Twilight pointed at the stage, where the Principal and her sister were approaching the mic.

"Attention everyone!" Celestia announced, silencing the chatter in the students. "I have some very exciting news for you all! As you recall, our 'Musical Showcase' had some....unforeseen turns. Namely; the Dazzelings." Everyone looked at one another, recalling the siren's attempts to turn everyone against each other to try and take over the world. "Now, this has caused several citizens to become nervous about musical competitions for fear of attracting more sirens. In response to these worries, the Mayor has organized something to ease the public's worries and show that music is here to unite us as well as raise money for the education department."

Celestia took a deep breath before continuing.

"A city-wide school band competition!" This caught the interest of all the students, who leaned in closer to hear it. "Schools from all over the city have been invited to enter one student band to enter the competition and compete against the other bands from other schools, and our school was one of the first to be invited!" The student body cheered excitedly at this. "In addition to that, the winning band's school wins a cash prize!" This evoked even more cheering.

"This is so awesome!" Rainbow whispered. "CHS is going to win for sure!"

"Now, each school can send either the official school band, or a student formed group. This is where the best part comes in!" Celestia nodded to Luna, who, along with a few other teachers, began passing out scraps of paper and pencils. "Since we have several of the latter, we have decided to let the student body decide who to send. On each scrap of paper is the school band along with several other student bands. Just check the box next to the name of the band you want to send and we'll count up the votes! In any case, I believe any one of these choices have a great chance of winning and will do a great job of representing the school!"

With that, there were a few moments of silence as students passed around papers and pencils and checking off their choice of band before passing the notes back to the teachers.

"We've got this in the bag!" Rainbow gloated before checking off the Sonic Rainbooms.

"What does she mean by 'other schools'?" Twilight asked nervously as she looked at the piece of paper.

"Probably other schools in the city." AJ explained, checking off a name. "Like the magic school, or Canterlot Magnate school-"

"-Or even Crystal Prep Academy!" Pinkie exclaimed, folding up her vote.

"Oh..." Twilight's shoulders dropped.

"Are you ok Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, noticing her friend's change in mood. "I know you used to go to Crystal Prep..."

"I still can't believe you went to that jerk school." Rainbow said, passing down her ballot.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity scolded.

"It's true! Crystal Prep Academy is filled with nothing but uptight snobs who think they're better than everyone else!" Rainbow noticed Twilight looking away. "Uh...no offense."

"It's alright." Twilight said. "That's....a pretty accurate description of it."

"Exactly! They're our biggest rivals! Imagine their faces when we take the prize! Not to mention the bragging rights when we meet again for the Friendship Games!" Rainbow exclaimed

A few nearby students cheered at Rainbows words. It was no secret that CPA and CHS had a bitter rivalry spanning several years, as CPA managed to best the CHS students at pretty much everything, with only a few minor victories on CHS's side. So the though at beating the upperclass school at something as big as this hyped up the excitement.

"Do you guys think Crystal Prep will be part of the competition?" Twilight asked nervously.

"Considering they're one of the best and most prominent schools in the city, I would say it's a definite that they are going to be there." Rarity said as she passed her ballot down. "You'd better hurry darling, everyone is already starting to send in their votes."

Twilight quickly glanced through the list before checking one off and sending it down.

"Has everyone sent in their votes?" Celestia asked. Not hearing any objections, she continued. "Alright then! We'll just take a few minutes to count up the votes and then we'll announce the winners!" With that, Celestia and Luna collected the basket and went behind the curtain, leaving everyone to talk with their friends about the competition and who they voted for.

"I wonder who's going to win?" Sunset asked.

"I hope it's us!" Pinkie said.

"Duh!" Rainbow said, leaning back. "Of course it's going to be us! We're the best band in the school. Besides, we killed it at the Battle of the Bands!"

"Hey girls." The group looked to see Flash Sentry walking up the steps before taking a seat next to Twilight.

"Hey Flash." Twilight greeted friendly.

"So...the competition sounds pretty cool right?" Flash smiled nervously at Twilight, who seemed oblivious. "I voted for your band. You girls are great."

"Thanks!" Twilight smiled back casually. "I voted for the Flash Drives to go. You guys are great too."

"Well I voted for the school band. I think they're pretty good." Fluttershy said.

"What!?" Rainbow gasped. "Why didn't you guys vote for our band!?"

"Because, Rainbow, it is simply not classy to vote for yourself." Rarity pointed out. "I too, voted for the school band. I believe they have sufficient sophistication and rhythm to compete with the other bands."

Rainbow simply pouted at that.

"Aw come on Dashie!" Pinkie said, patting Rainbow on the head like a small child. "I think all the bands in this school are super good!"

"And part of me hopes we don't win." Fluttershy shuddered. "Just imagine performing in front of all those people. Performing for the school is one thing, but the whole city? All those eyes.."

"Me too." Twilight mumbled under her breath.

"Aw come on girls!" Sunset spoke up. "This is going to be fun!"

"Yeah! If we can take down a bunch of mind controlling sirens with our music, there's nothing our band can't handle!" Rainbow stated.

Soon enough, Celestia and Luna walked back out on stage, a piece of paper in hand.

"Thank you all for the wait." Celestia said as she held up the piece of paper. "We have counted the votes and with a landslide win, the band who will represent CHS in the competition will be-"

Everyone listened in anticipation.

Not the sonic Rainbooms. Not the Sonic Rainbooms. Twilight prayed as she crossed her fingers.

"THE SONIC RAINBOOMS!"

Of course it is.

The crowd cheered as the Rainbooms stood up and waved, all eager to be part of the competition.

.....Wel, except for one member.

Comments

[BoltSlayer]

This ought to be interesting to read

[Comickook]

Excellent work on the start of the new story. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all well done in all the right places. I particularly like the thought of Rainbow using a possible win against Crystal Prep as a pre-Friendship Games morale booster (as if them saving the world three times in less than six months wouldn't ALREADY be enough of a morale booster) .

And, yeah, I can see where Sci-Twi might have some issues facing some of her old bullies.

Rainbow: Come on, Twi. We've got this. There is NO WAY these Shadowbolts jerks are as bad as Discord, and we already beat HIM.

Twilight: Point taken. But, this isn't some ancient evil we can blast with the Elements of Harmony.

Rarity: Perhaps not, but we still have the talent and resources to win this.

Rainbow: Rare's right - and just think about how good it's going to feel to get some non-violent payback on some of your old bullies.

Twilight: You know something? you're absolutely right. We CAN do this. After all the adventures we've already had - the Dazzlings, Chrysalis and Discord just to name a few - Crystal Prep is nothing compared to THOSE. I just have to think positive.

Sunset: You are right. You just need to think positive. (whispers) and thanks for NOT lumping me in on that "'past adventures'" stuff.

Of course -

Your choice of Shadowbolts: You think you girls are so hot just because you saved the world a few times? Okay, I'll admit that IS pretty respectable, but still, we're not intimidated by your fancy new powers.

Another one of your choice of Shadowbolts: Yeah. We beat one of Discord's monsters ourselves. And we did it WITHOUT magic.

Still another one of your choice of Shadowbolts: Indeed. It was a wide mixture of brought-to-life chemicals in our school lab that was invulnerable to impact attacks and capable of shooting out powerful solvents and adhesives, but we beat it by means of some of us distracting it while others got it from behind with some electrical wiring.

First of your choice of Shadowbolts: Yeah, what she said. We beat it on nothing more than courage, teamwork and some basic high school science knowledge.

Rainbow: Whatever. We're STILL going to win this thing.

Sorry about that. Got a little carried away. (sheepish grin)

At any rate, I will very definitely be looking forward to more of this.

[Snowdrifter]

This is a travesty! A travesty!