Ch. 2: The Battle of the Bands Begins

They were at the town café that practically everyone at school hanged out at when they had time off their studies.

"Oh, I do hate that you've had to return in a time of crisis," said Rarity. "We have so much catching up to do."

"Fer starters, a certain blue-haired guitar player was just askin' about you." said Applejack.

"Flash Sentry was asking about me?" asked Twilight excitedly, blushing and fiddling with her hair. Then she realized what she said and acted normal. "Ahem. Isn't that nice?" she asked.

"Perhaps you could give us just the slightest bit of gossip from your world?" asked Rarity, taking a sip of coffee.

"She's got an official title now," said spike, miming a trumpet with his dog biscuit. "The Princess of Friendship!"

"Wow, that's really impressive," said Sunset. "Guess you really were Princess Celestia's prized pupil."

"She's even got her own castle," said Spike.

"A CASTLE?! You have your own castle?" asked Rarity, spilling some of Twilight's drink on her shirt. Quickly, she backed up and whipped it off. "Ooh, uh, lovely."

"What's new here? I mean, besides your school becoming the target of dangerous magical creatures from Equestria?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah, so that isn't exactly the only strange thing that's happened since you and the others left," said Rainbow and she pulled out her phone to show her a video of her playing the guitar. Then out of nowhere, her ears shifted into those of a pony, two cyan wings sprouted from her back and he hair extended into a tail. Twilight was surprised.

"Pretty sweet, huh? It happens to all of us when we play," said Rainbow, putting away her phone and putting her feet up.

"Hmm. My crown was returned to Equestria, but some of its magic must've remained here at Canterlot High," said Twilight. "Now that we're all back together, we can use the magic on the Sirens. Just like when we were able to use it on Sunset Shimmer when she turned into that horrifyingly awful winged monster." Then she caught what she said and looked at her. "No offense."

"None taken," said Sunset and she chuckled. "I'm used to it."

"They'll never even know what hit them!" said Rainbow doing some karate moves until Applejack caught one of her punches.

"We've got nothin' to worry about now that Twilight's back." she said.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I could find something to worry about," said Fluttershy. "But it won't be the Sirens."

"The sooner we do this, the better," agreed Twilight. "Any idea where the 'Dazzlings' will be?" Everyone shook their heads and shrugged until Pinkie Pie tapped her on the shoulder. Twilight looked at her, just as she finished her drink.

"There's a big party tonight for all the bands who signed to be in the showcase. That would include the Dazzlings," she said, a smudge of her drink landing on her cheek. Everyone smiled at the plan and Twilight wiped her face clean.

"Looks like we've got a party to crash," she said. That evening, practically everyone in the school was in the gym for the party, Twilight and the girls at the buffet table.

Sunset's former goons, Snips, and Snails were showing some challenging moves at Flash Sentry. He was just about to smack him until he grabbed a cup and sighed in frustration.

"I'm gonna get more punch," he said. Then he bumped into Twilight but caught her before she fell. He was kind of surprised that she was there. "Twilight?"

"Uh, bumped… into… always… doing." she stuttered and blushed.

Flash was crazy happy as he pulled her back upright. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "You came back for the big competition, right?"

"Something like that." she said.

"Huh. Not that there's gonna be any real competition," said Flash, smugly. "No one here wants this as bad as the Flash Drive does."

"'Flash Drive'?" asked a voice. "Last I checked, that was a primitive data storage unit. Kind of a lame band name." Everyone looked to the open door to the gym to see three familiar people.

"Sonic?" asked Twilight.

"And first prize for 'Who's that Guy in the Doorway?' is… Twilight Sparkle!" said Sonic, zipping over. "Good to see you again."

"And it ain't just us," said Manic. "We brought some extra company."

Then something that sounded like a small subterranean drill underground caused a minor earthquake but it stopped when it reached the broom closet. Then the door opened to reveal a young man with parmesan tan skin, grape purple eyes, bright red dreadlocks, and extremely well-defined muscles. He was wearing a brick red vest with a gold zipper, a garnet red t-shirt with a white crescent under the collar, white fingerless gloves with spikes on his hands, navy jeans, and red and orange shoes with silver tops and green socks.

Applejack couldn't help blushing, looking at his muscles, which were so bulked up, they might as well be made of pure titanium. No, pure adamantium.

"First up, the guardian of the Master Emerald and Angel Island, the brawn of my team, Knuckles the Echidna," said Sonic. Knuckles than ran to the center of the gym and showed off some boxing moves.

"Mess with me, you'll be lucky you still have your bones intact." he said, smacking his fists together.

"What's with the spikes?" asked Applejack.

"Ah, just an ancestral birth defect of my clan," said Knuckles, removing his gloves to reveal the spikes embedded in his hand. "Everyone in my clan was born with them."

"Whoa. That's kinda freaky," said Applejack.

"Eh. You get used to it," he said, replacing his gloves. Then Sonic saw someone on the sky light.

"And the tech element and aircraft pilot of my team, my adopted little brother, Miles Prower. But friends call him Tails," he said. Then his little friend opened the skylight and fell to the floor. He had apricot colored skin, orange-yellow hair and sky blue eyes. He was wearing a canary yellow jacket with his emblem on the back, a white shirt, carob brown pants, his red and white shoes, brown pilot's goggles, his arm cannon on his left arm, and two bushy fox tails sticking out of his back. Then he pushed a button on the cannon and it shrank down into a red metal bracer.

"Need anything complicated fixed, just talk to me." he said, pulling a wrench out of his jacket.

"What's with the tails?" asked Flash.

"Simple. Back home, I'm a fox. Plus, with these babies, I can do this." he said and spun his tails like helicopter blades, flying around the room.

"Whoa. That's incredible," said Fluttershy, blushing a bit. Then Sonic saw a cyan haze on the ground behind the girls.

"And of course, the psychic and time-traveler of the team, blessed with the power of psychokinesis and telepathy, as well as density shifting, I give you Silver the Hedgehog, the Hand of Time," said Sonic. Everyone looked around but didn't see him. Then an ethereal hand came up and tapped Rarity on the shoulder. She turned and was greeted by a glowing green face with gold eyes.

"BOO!" he shouted. Rarity shrieked and fell to the ground. Silver just broke into peals of laughter as he turned off his aura and landed on the ground. He had peach skin, but with a few burn scars on his cheeks, amber eyes, and white hair that looked very much like his hedgehog form's quills. He was wearing a gray jacket with white fur at the collar, a white t-shirt with a cyan design on it, cloud gray pants, his same black and cyan boots, and white fingerless gloves with cyan symbols on them, all of which were partially stained with soot. He still couldn't get his laughter under control as he walked over to the others. "Oh I- I can't believe you fell for that! That was hilarious."

"Silver, don't be an ass!" said Knuckles, punching him in the arm.

"Hey, I'm from a flaming apocalypse two centuries ahead of your time," said Silver. "It's kinda hard to keep upbeat when you're fighting giant fire demons."

"Wait a minute, you're from the future?" asked Twilight.

"Sure am. About two hundred years ahead of Sonic's era," said Silver.

"Well, that certainly explains your title," said Sunset.

"What, 'Hand of Time'? Pfft. Nah, I just came up with that when I was in the can." said Silver.

"Seriously?" asked Sonic.

"Okay, I got it because I'm a time-traveler. Plus, I can do this with my powers," said Silver, making two giant forms of his hands with his powers.

"Incredible. And might I say, your outfit is simply divine," said Rarity.

"Thanks. You'd be surprised what you can get from looting in the apocalypse," said Silver, brushing his sleeves. "Although I wish I could get this damn soot off." Then Sonic sensed a spark of Chaos Energy.

"And now, the most powerful of all of us, our weapons expert, genetically engineered by the grandfather of my archenemy fifty years ago and revived recently, the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog," said Sonic. Then Shadow appeared in a flash of green light. He had tan skin, blood red eyes, and jet black hair streaked with red. He was wearing a black leather jacket with red spikes on the sleeves, a white muscle shirt, black jeans, his same gloves, rocket boots and inhibitor rings. He also had a red gun holster strapped to his left leg with a black M1911 pistol in it. On the lapel of his jacket was the demonic red emblem of the Black Arms. In his right hand, he held the green Chaos Emerald.

"Whoa. He seems pretty cool." thought Sunset, blushing a bit. Then Shadow saw her and walked over next to her.

"Sunset Shimmer?" he asked. She nodded worriedly. "Sonic told me about you. You remind me of me when I was released from stasis. We should get along famously."

"Well, I should hope so," she said. Then the Dazzlings appeared. A group of three girls dressed like a band, but then Sonic noticed someone behind them.

The male had tan skin, green hair, blue eyes and red shades along with a black leather jacket with flames on the sleeves, green jeans and shoes. Behind him was a girl with red hair and blue eyes wearing black leather pants, top and gloves.

"Those guys look familiar, gang?" he asked.

"Scourge and Fiona. But how? I thought they were in Zone Jail." said Silver.

"Apparently not anymore." said Shadow.

"Who are they?" asked Twilight.

"My evil doppelganger and his girlfriend, Scourge and Fiona. Interdimensional criminals," said Sonic. "We locked them up a while back, but they must've broken out."

"Who are those girls they're with?" asked Silver.

"The Dazzlings. Well, at least that's their band's name," said Pinkie quickly. "They're actually a bunch of demons from Equestria."

"Wait, band name?" asked Sonia.

"Long story. Right now, we have to take them down," said Twilight, and she joined hands with her friends, and they formed a heart. "Friendship is Magic!" If there were any crickets nearby with a good sense of timing, they'd have chosen now to start chirping, because nothing happened. Silver looked at his watch, then back at them.

"So… Do you girls have some sort of power that's supposed to activate when you say that or what?" he asked. Rainbow opened her eye and saw he was right. Then she leaned over to Twilight.

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

"What?" asked Tails.

"Long story." said Sonic.

"I don't understand," said Twilight. "We're all together again. Why isn't this working?" Everyone in the gym just looked at them stupefied.

"You, uh, really need to go ahead and do that whole 'Magic of Friendship' thing now," whispered Spike.

"Working on it, Spike," said Twilight. "I thought this would help bring out the magic power we needed to defeat the Sirens. That's how it worked before." Then the doors opened another time and Principals Celestia and Luna stepped in.

"What's with all the ruckus?" asked Celestia. Sonic zipped up in front of her.

"I believe yours truly is the source," he said. "You remember me, right? Sonic the Hedgehog, multiverse-class adventurer and fastest thing on two legs?"

"Oh, Sonic. Glad to see you again. But what are you doing here?" asked Celestia.

"Just here to chill," said Knuckles. Luna was surprised to see them.

"Friends of yours?" she asked.

"Teammates," Sonic replied.

"Well, while you're here, why don't you participate in the Battle of the Bands?" asked Celestia.

"The what-now of the whats?" asked Manic.

"A contest. To see whose band is the best. I.E., mine." said Flash.

"Oh yeah. We'll see about that. What do you say, guys?" asked Sonic.

"Well, we did have a band in the war," said Sonia. "Why not?"

"Bring it. Just find me to bring the percussion concussions," said Manic, spinning his drumsticks.

"I'll take the bass," said Knuckles.

"I'll work on audio and volume," said Tails.

"Give me a guitar, and I accept." said Shadow.

"Same here." said Silver.

"All right," said Sonic. "Looks like the Sonic Underground is expanding." Then he turned to Celestia. "Need a demo?"

"If you'd be so kind," she replied. Sonic and the others quickly took the stage and grabbed their instruments and consoles. Then Sonic blew into the mic.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are the Sonic Underground and for our entry into this 'Battle of the Bands' you speak of, we'll be preforming 7-Seven- by the Japanese band team-up, Flow, and Granrodeo," said Sonic. "Hit it!"

"One, two, one-two-three-four!" Manic counted on his drumsticks.

(Play 7-Seven- by Flow & Granrodeo)

Sonic started things off with a strong few riffs on his guitar before the Underground started singing.

All: We're gonna glow in the night
We're gonna glow in the night
Get ready to light up the sky GO!

Then Manic whacked his face on one of his cymbals as they started rocking out. Then Sonic, Shadow, and Silver started singing in Japanese.

Sonic: Ittarikitari de ikidomari yo
Mihatenu yume wa korigori korigori yo

Shadow: Shosen konoyo wa ukiyo no sekai
Hiraki naoreba norinori norinori yo

All: norinori yooooo

Silver: Maki wo kubero tayasuna sono hi wo
Tsuki ugokasu mono wa sou kandou sa

Sonic: Mirai wa tada kagayaite kurete ireba iinda

All: Bokura wa Gan Gan abare MO-DO
Todorokasu Boon Boon nanatsu no oto
Bling Bling hikaru DAIYAMONDO
Mune ni Now we can fly high

Sonic: Mattari shitai tte itte mitemo
HON'NE saraseba Got it Got it Got it Got it yo

Silver: Tonari no shiba ga massao ni mieru
Sono ki ni nareba shiro-kuro-aka-midori

All: Jibun shidaaaaiiii

Sonic: Koi no Grapple aru no ka kime waza
Yume no Scramble te ni irero kandou wo

Shadow: Douse nando mo kujiketa tsuyoi HA-TO darou?

All: Minna de Jan Jan sawage motto
Obiyakase Doom Doom shikou no oto
Jin Jin itamu kizuato wa kimi to

Boku no atarashii mirai sa
Sore ga hora mabushiku uzukun da
Sing Sing utae kanki ni yotte
Tomo ni Now we can fly high

We're gonna glow in the night
We're gonna glow in the night
Get ready to light up the sky GO!

Then Sonic started an epic guitar solo, before Shadow took it over, then they started playing together, still as heavy and jaw-dropping as before, before they lowered the tempo a bit and Sonia played a few notes on her keyboard and they all started counting off.

(All: ONE) Silver: Shiboru chie wo
(All: TWO) Sonic: kawaranu ai wo
(All: THREE) Shadow: tagai ni sonkei wo
(All: FOUR) Silver: kenkyo sa o
(All: FIVE) Sonic & Shadow: Shoujiki na kokoro to mochi tsuzukeru yuuki de
(All: SIX) Sonic: Shinjitsu tazusaete tatakau koto wo tsumi to iu no?
(All: SEVEN)

Shadow: Bokura wa Gan Gan abare MO-DO

Silver: Todorokasu Boon Boon nanatsu no oto

Sonic: Rin Rin hikaru ashita e to susumou

All: Bokura wa Bang Bang HAJI ke MO-DO
Buttobasu Ran Dom SUTAIRU de ikou yo
Bling Bling hikaru DAIYAMONDO
Mune ni Now we can fly high

We're gonna glow in the night
We're gonna glow in the night
We're gonna glow in the night

Ikuze! Now we can fly high
Now we can fly high
Now we can fly high

Then Sonic ended it with one last sick riff as the whole band struck an awesome pose.

(Cut the music)

"Yeah, that's right, baby," said Sonic into the mic. "And that wasn't even our best work. You want our best? You'd better be ready to get kicked out of the contest in the first-round cause that's the only thing that's gonna happen."

"Course, if you want to spare yourselves the humiliation of losing to us," he continued. "I'd suggest you forfeit now."

"But if any of you think you can take us on in a musical duel, I only have three words for you; Bring. It. On! Drop the mic." he said and dropped the aforementioned mic on the stage before his band departed it. Then Sonic stood with Celestia, whose jaw had dropped, and crossed his arms.

"How's that for a demo?" he asked.

"Welcome to the contest." she said simply.

"You say contest," said Shadow. "I say slaughter." He was gazing out at everyone who was arguing about how was going to get to the finals with the Underground. Then Silver noticed something.

"Uh, is anyone else noticing a weird green haze coming from everyone?" he asked.

"Yeah. This is just getting weird," said Manic. Then they saw the haze drifting into the Dazzlings' ruby pendants. Then they noticed something; the girls and the Underground weren't affected by the haze.

"I think we may have found what we're looking for." said their leader, Adagio.

"More like it found us," said Scourge. The other two Dazzlings, Aria and Sonata were confused.

"Your power!" said Fiona. "Don't you get it? Everyone here is under your spell, except them. They must be special."

"Damn right they are," said Scourge, pointing at Sonic. "There's that rat that put me in the Klink. Time for some well-deserved payback."