Ch. 9: Fuel to the Fire

Soon the Rainbooms were backstage getting ready.

"This is it," said Sunset. "Just get through this round and we're in the finals." Then she turned to Twilight. "Unless you think the counterspell is ready to be played now." Twilight started sweating and got worried.

"Don't worry Twilight," said Applejack. "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 others agreed and Twilight grinned at them, but then got worried.

"You won't let me down." said Twilight.

"Um, I was just wondering," said Fluttershy. "We haven't played any of my songs yet, and-"

"It's the semi-finals," said Rainbow. "We gotta do 'Awesome as I wanna Be'."

"Don't know why I even asked," Fluttershy said to herself. Shadow was suddenly serious.

"Look. For now, just stick to the plan. Don't transform until the finals. If you do by accident, then start messing up. Once the Sirens see your power and get what we're up to, bam! The element of surprise is lost." he said.

"He's right. So no showing off, Rainbow," said Sonic.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Now let's do this!" said Rainbow as Trixie's band left the stage. When Trixie ran into the Rainbooms, Rainbow had a very unamused look on her face.

"You're never gonna top that performance, Rain-goons," said Trixie. "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?" asked Rainbow.

"You two are made for each other." Silver whispered to Sonic, but the blue blur just punched him in the side, knocking him to the ground.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," said Trixie. "I mean her." Then 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."

"HA! Puh-lease. I could win this thing as a solo act and everybody knows it," said Rainbow, getting the rest of the Rainbooms kind of ticked off.

"Sure you could." said Trixie before she threw down a smoke bomb, blinding everyone and making them cough profusely.

"Ugh, I hate it when people do that," said Sonia. When the smoke cleared, Pinkie was shocked.

"She's gone!" she said, then she saw something. "Oh wait. There she is." Everyone looked behind the drum riser and saw Trixie peeking out from behind it.

"You call that a disappearing act?" asked Silver. "This is a disappearing act." Then he glowed cyan and phase-shifted through the ground then reappeared behind her. "See that? That's how a pro does it." With that, Trixie raced off.

"And she was your rival where you come from, Twilight?" asked Sonic. "I find that rather hard to believe."

"You and me both," said Twilight. Then Celestia turned on the P.A.

"Next up, the Rainbooms," she said. Everyone walked out onto the stage as Shadow whispered to Rainbow not to go crazy, but she ignored him.

"Knock 'em dead, Rainbooms." said Spike.

"I'll be here," said Sunset. "Just… watching." She remembered what the Sirens had said to her and Shadow earlier.

"Relax Sunset, I told ya not to let it get to you," said Shadow. Then the Rainbooms started performing.

(Play "Awesome as I Wanna Be" – Original movie)

All: Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Rainbow: Awesome as I wanna be

All: Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Rainbow: Awesome as I wanna be

First, you see me ridin' 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 beat me

All (mostly Rainbow): 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

All: Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Then Rainbow started gaining her ears. Quickly, Sunset raced onto the stage and knocked Rainbow to the stage, cutting the song short, and starting a domino effect, knocking everyone down.

"This is only gonna end in disaster." thought Sonic as the lights went up. Quickly, Fluttershy ran backstage to hide behind Tails.

"Oh yeah, this is going well," he said to himself. Then everyone started shouting at Sunset, convinced she hadn't changed. But she was too late. The Dazzlings had already seen Rainbow's power and knew that all the others had the same, so they had to get them into the finals, if not to beat them, then for Trixie to get jealous and ignite the final spark of hate they needed from the Rainbooms to get their power back.

"What was that?" asked Rainbow once they were backstage.

"You were showing off your magic," said Sunset. "I- I didn't know what else to do."

"Uh, close the curtains? Unplug her amp? Give us a chance to deal with the situation?" asked Rarity.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to help," said Sunset.

"Yeah well, you didn't." said Rainbow.

"None of this would've happened if you weren't trying to show off. As usual," said Applejack, getting up in Rainbow's face.

"Good show, Rain-brooms," said Trixie. "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!" shouted Sunset.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that was." Silver whispered to her. She realized he was right and turned to the others to see faces of uncommitment.

"If you say so," said Trixie, noticing Celestia and Luna talking about something. "Ooh! Looks like they've already decided who'll be moving onto the finals." Then she flipped out a small mirror. "I'm guessing it wasn't too difficult a decision."

"Go sit on a cactus," said Shadow. Then the door behind the Rainbooms opened and the Dazzlings walked in, with Scourge giving Sonic the stink-eye.

"Don't think I forgot about you throwing me in Zone Jail, Blue." he said quietly.

"I haven't," replied Sonic. "And once this is all over, you're going straight back."

"We'll see about that." said his dark copy. Then after vocalizing in front of the principals, Adagio whispered something to Celestia.

"What can we do? There isn't gonna be another opportunity for us to play," said Rarity. "And I had the most gorgeous outfit for the finals."

"Yep. Cause that's the real tragedy here, Rarity," said Applejack. "That you won't get to play dress-up."

"You know perfectly well that is not what I meant!" said Rarity.

"Ladies, ladies, calm down." said Sonic.

"Yeah. You guys wanna keep it down?" asked Rainbow. "They're about to announce who's moving on."

"Who are you kidding?" asked Fluttershy. "You know it isn't gonna be us."

"Maybe not, but life is full of surprises." said Tails as the principals walked out onto the stage.

"The band that will be joining the Dazzlings in tonight's finals;" said Celestia. "The Rainbooms!" Everyone was shocked.

"What?!" they all asked.

"Did they just say the Rainbooms?" asked Pinkie.

"Either that or our hearing's on the blink." said Manic, pointing to his ear.

"Told ya so," smirked Tails. Trixie was furious as she walked off.

"This isn't over." she said angrily.

"Go soak your head!" Sonic shouted after her. The Rainbooms then walked out onto the stage and looked out worried.

"Congratulations girls," said Celestia. "You deserve it."

"Seriously? We didn't even finish our s-" Pinkie Pie began, before Rainbow elbowed her to shut up.

"See you at tonight's big show, Rainbooms," said Adagio as the Dazzlings walked out onto the stage. "We're really looking forward to it," Then they left.

"Yeah well, not as much as we are!" Rainbow shouted after them until she heard the crowd booing them. Sonic clenched his fist as he saw Scourge smirk at the girls.

"Sometimes I just wish I killed him on Moebius." he said.

"You and me both," said Tails.

"What's with the crowd?" asked Knuckles.

"Probably ticked that the girls are going to the finals," said Shadow. Quickly the Rainbooms left the stage, with Sonic and the others hot on their heels. Trixie was watching them incredibly angered.

"This is a travesty. A travesty, I say!" she shouted before Adagio walked up next to her.

"It really is. The Rainbooms don't deserve to be in the finals," she said. "Not when your band was so much better in the semis." Then Scourge walked up next to her.

"Listen, babe, you and your band wanna perform against us?" he asked. "You gotta get rid of the competition."

"What? I can't kill them," said Trixie.

"Ya don't have to. Just lock 'em up somewhere, say they got stage fright, and bada-bing, bada-boom, you're in the finals," said Scourge. After hearing that, Trixie knew what she had to do.