Element of Love

Chapter 9- The Rainbooms

The party was eerily tense. There wasn't any socializing and having fun like the posters advertised. Instead, there were intense glares and snarky remarks loudly made to the people next to them.

Twilight accidentally bumped into Flash. He caught her by dipping her.

"Twilight?" Flash questioned.

"Bumped—Into—Always—Doing," Twilight stammered, making me giggle.

"What are you doing here? You came back for the big competition, right?" Flash guessed.

"Something like that," Twilight said shyly.

"Not that there's gonna be any real competition. No one here wants this as bad as my band does," Flash explained as the Dazzlings walked in.

Rainbow threw a chocolate chip into Twilight's hair. Twilight brushed it off, turning to us. Rainbow turned her head to the Dazzlings. She excused herself and we walked toward them as a group.

The shouting seemed to get louder and louder after the Dazzlings arrived. Remarks were made that I'm sure they didn't mean, insults were thrown, and eyes rolled. It must've been the Sirens' magic. They're the ones causing all of this fighting.

"There isn't going to be a Battle of the Bands! We're gonna make sure of that!" Twilight said confidently.

Twilight took our hands and completed a line. I felt nothing. No burst of magic when we did it. Not even a spark of my transformation. I was almost embarrassed, and not to mention humiliated in front of the entire school.

"Uh, weren't there rainbows and lasers and stuff last time?" Rainbow asked.

Twilight frowned. "I don't understand. We're all together again. Why isn't this working?"

"We need to regroup," I decided, wrapping an arm around her.

"Talk about throwing down the gauntlet! This group is obviously serious about winning!" the girl with the yellow hair said. "A little cocky, though, aren't they? Claiming there won't really be a battle. It seems they think they've got this thing all locked up."

"Not if the great and powerful Trixie has anything to do with it!" she protested.

"Whatever, Trixie. We're the best band at CHS!" Flash snapped.

"No! The Crusaders are gonna win!" Apple Blossom retorted.

The arguing ensued. We stood there, shocked. The yellowed-haired girl knew how to twist her words. She smirked, knowing what she had done. She was obviously the leader.

We ran out of the gym, obviously trying to get out of there. We sat on the steps, thinking. Twilight stood in front of us, pacing for a moment. What other plan could there be?

"It doesn't make any sense! I should've been able to create the spark that would break their spell. That's how it worked before!" Twilight explained.

"But to defeat me, you drew magic from the crown I was wearing. The siren's magic comes from their music, so maybe you have to use the same kind of magic to defeat them!" Sunset theorized. "Or, maybe not."

"No, no, you're onto something," I said, looking at Twilight.

"It's when you play music that you transform now, right?" Twilight asked.

"Yep. Ears, tails, the whole shabang," Applejack confirmed.

"So, maybe the way to use that magic to defeat the Sirens is by playing a musical counterspell," Twilight realized.

"You mean, like a song?" Fluttershy asked.

"Uh-huh. And in order to free everyone who's been exposed to the Siren's spell, we'll need them all to hear it," Twilight explained.

Rarity gasped. "The band competition! That's the next time we can be certain everyone will be in the same place at the same time."

"Guess the Rainbooms are the band to beat," Applejack said, smiling at Rainbow.

"And I believe you two, Twilight and Ruby, just became the band's newest members," Rarity added.

The girls gathered around us excitedly. I smiled at their giddiness.

"So, what do you want to play? Triangle, sousaphone, theremin?" Pinkie played the theremin and had a dreamy look in her eyes. "So magical."

"I think I might take too long to learn how to play with these. Ruby and I will just sing," Twilight explained.

"Like, as in lead singer? Because that's usually my gig, being my band and all," Rainbow explained.

"It's our band," Applejack corrected her. "And of course, they're lead singers. They're the ones with the magical know-how to help us pull this thing off."

"I'll actually harmonize. I help... I sing a lot, let's just say that," I explained.

"Okay, yeah, that's cool. I'll just use this as a chance to hone my already insanely good lead guitar skills," Rainbow said, playing an air guitar.

"It's only temporary. And we don't have to win the Battle of the Bands. We just have to perform during the first round of the competition," Twilight explained.

"So let's get to learning that musical counter-spell!" Rainbow said determinedly.

"Well, that's just it. I don't know any," Twilight explained. She looked at me.

"I've gone through a lot of books, Twi, and I have never seen a counter-spell that involves singing or any instruments," I explained. "But I'm sure we can figure out how to write one."

"Totally! They can write a spell like it's nobody's business! That's pretty much how they got to be princesses in Equestria," Spike explained.

"Technically, we helped finish a spell," Twilight corrected him. "And there was a little more to it than that, Spike."

"Yeah, whatever," Spike sighed.

"We've got this," Twilight assured them. "Come on."

"Where are you going?" Applejack asked as Twilight was about to head up to the school.

"Well, last time we were here, Spike and I spent the night at the library," Twilight explained.

"Are you crazy? We're besties now! Slumber party at my house!"