Ch. 4: Setting Up

The next day, the team started practicing the counterspell in the old barn next to Applejack's house, but Twilight was singing so far off-key that the others had to hide and cover their ears, not to mention that Rainbow Dash was the only one that sprouted her ears, and even then, they vanished in a white pop after a few seconds.

"Eh, that sounded… way better than the… last five times you played it," said Spike, trying to be nice.

"Nope," said Big Mac, who was walking by, lugging a bucket of apples.

"Yeah, that's putting it mildly," said Sonic. "No offense, but that sucked every time."

"I think it's pretty obvious what's going wrong with this counter-spell." said Rainbow.

"And here we go…" said Silver.

"You're turning what should be the chorus into a five-minute guitar solo?" asked Applejack angrily.

"Called it." said Silver.

"I had to pick up the slack somehow," said Rainbow. "Are you guys even trying?"

"I'm trying," said Fluttershy.

"Yeah, I don't think she cares about you." said Sonic, tuning his guitar.

"It's fine," said Twilight, giggling hysterically. "It'll be fine. One more time from the top,"

"Earplugs ready?" asked Sonic.

"Yep," said all the others.

"Or perhaps we could take a short break and try on some of the wardrobe choices I've put together?" asked Rarity, pulling a clothing rack out of seemingly nowhere.

"Where do you keep those things?" asked Shadow, a bit disturbed.

"Where does Pinkie Pie keep all her toys and gags?" she asked back.

"Point taken." said Shadow.

"I'm particularly fond of this one," she said, rolling the rack away and wearing a bright lilac band uniform with gold details.

"Yeah. Not bad," said Silver.

"Of course, we could always go with something a bit more modern." she said, diving behind the rack again.

"We're trying to save our school here. Enough with the costumes," said Applejack.

Somehow, Rarity was wearing a gold suit with a helmet that looked like it belonged to Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo from Daft Punk. She scoffed inside the helmet and turned away. "You can never have enough costumes."

"Uh, Rarity? Daft Punk? Really?" asked Sonic.

"She just wants to make things fun," said Pinkie. "Isn't that what being in a band is supposed to be?" Then she did a rimshot before Sunset started freaking out.

"You don't have time for any of this," she said. "You're supposed to check in at the Battle of the Bands in fifteen minutes." Everyone gasped.

"Oh shit," said Shadow as everyone raced around to get ready to go. Twilight just stood, paralyzed.

"But… But it's not ready," she said. "If we play the counter-spell in the first round and it doesn't work, the Sirens will know what we're up to and make sure we don't get a chance to play it again." Once she finished saying that, everyone stopped in their tracks.

"Twilight, freak out later. Right now, we gotta move," said Sonic.

"She's right, though," said Shadow. "They find out what we're up to here, we're fish in a barrel. Any ideas?"

"We'll have to buy ourselves some time so you can keep working on it." said Applejack.

"And how do you propose we do that?" asked Rarity.

"We compete in the Battle of the Bands for real," said Rainbow. "I take over lead vocals again, and we keep our heads above water until the finals! We unleash the counterspell then. You'll have figured it out by the finals, right?" she asked Twilight.

She was about to speak when Spike leaped up. "Of course she will. Twilight Sparkle's never met a problem she couldn't solve! Right Twilight?" he asked.

"Right," said Twilight unsure.

"Then let's go win us a Battle of the Bands!" said Rainbow.

"Shadow, our ride?" asked Sonic. Shadow nodded and held up the green Chaos Emerald.

"Everyone, stay close," he said and held it over his head.

"Try your best to hold down your lunch," said Sonic. "This is kinda freaky for first-timers."

"What is?" asked Applejack.

"Chaos CONTROL!" shouted Shadow and they all disappeared in a bright green flash. Then they reappeared backstage at the school, and all the girls looked a little green and off-balance.

"That," said Sonic. "You okay?"

"I'll tell ya when the spinning stops," said Rainbow, her eyes spinning in her skull.

"What was that?" asked Fluttershy.

"Chaos Control, my favorite technique," said Shadow. "I harnessed the power of the Chaos Emerald to warp the space-time continuum so we appeared here."

"So… we teleported?" asked Twilight, holding her stomach.

"Essentially yes." said Shadow.

"How long did it take?" asked Sunset.

"It didn't. It was instantaneous," said Tails.

"You guys don't look so hot," said Knuckles. "You sure you're okay? Most first-timers' bodies have trouble keeping up with the warp."

"We'll be fine," said Sunset, standing up. "I just need to go for a walk."

"I can keep you company if you want," said Shadow.

"Yeah. Thanks," she replied, blushing. Shadow walked over and took her hand.

"Can you set up while I'm gone?" asked Shadow.

"Don't sweat it, man. We got this," said Sonic. After walking the halls, Sunset told Shadow about everything that happened leading to the Fall Formal.

"Can't say I was any better," said Shadow. "After my escape pod from the ARK landed on Mobius, I got amnesia and went on a massacre."

"Sheesh. You seem even worse than I was," said Sunset.

"Thank you. I needed that," he said and let go of her hand.

"Just kidding," she said. "Y'know, for someone so dark, you seem pretty nice, Shadow." Hearing that made the Ultimate Lifeform smile and blush a bit.

"You want some water?" he asked.

"Yeah. That'd be great, thanks," she replied. Shadow smiled more and turned on his rocket boots, hovering in place. "How do you do that?"

"Rocket thruster boots. Professor Gerald built them for me to increase my speed," he replied before he raced off like a speed skater. Soon he found a vending machine with water bottles in it and screeched to a stop. He stood up and saw that a water bottle cost $3.50.

"Geez, that's outrageous," he said. Then he had an idea. He looked around to make sure no one was looking, then he snapped his fingers. When he did, one of the bottles teleported out into his hand. He chuckled. "I love doing that." Then as he was walking back to Sunset, he heard someone behind him. Quickly, he turned on his heel and drew his pistol, pointing it at Flash.

"Whoa! Hey! Take it easy, man," he said, putting his hands up. Shadow looked at him, before he stood down, spinning the gun on his finger and sliding it back into the holster.

"Sorry. Military training back home. I get an itchy trigger finger sometimes." he said.

"It's cool," said Flash. "I just wanted to wish you and your friends luck. You're gonna need it."

"I doubt that, but thanks anyway," said Shadow. Then he noticed his eyes flash green, realizing he was under the Sirens' spell as well. "Uh, the others and I are due to go on in a minute, so I'd better go." He tried to make it seem like nothing was amiss, and Flash fell for it.

"Okay. See ya," he said and walked off. Shadow breathed a sigh of relief.

"I hope you've got that counterspell ready, Twilight," he thought. "We're gonna need it."