Of Bands and Battles

Thunder Growl roared along with the brutal lyrics that crashed through the open-air concert venue.

"There's... nothing to save...

you're my slave...

burn the earth!"

He was not on stage this time, but rather was enjoying the savage music produced by Dethkolt, the greatest death metal band in Equestria.

Pour the gas,

light the match,

burn!

A stallion even larger than Thunder crashed into his side, sending him staggering several steps. Thunder turned around with a fierce grin and returned the favor, and within moments a bone-breaking mosh pit formed within the tightly-packed crowd. Some ponies backed off to make room while others threw themselves in with wild abandon

Pour the gas,

light the match,

burn!

A very familiar mint-green pegasus swooped down from the sky to join the party. Thunder cried out with delight at seeing Wing Beat, the drummer for his band, coming to mosh with them. He immediately welcomed her to the party with a full-force shoulder tackle, but she avoided the attempt by slipping around him to the side.

Pour the gas light the match *burn,*

pour the gas light the match *burn!*

Thunder frowned. That wasn't proper mosh pit etiquette at all. He tried again, but she caught him by the shoulders and shook him, breaking through his frenzy with her urgency.

Thunder at last realized that something was wrong. Wing Beat's eyes were wide and terrified and the hooves on his shoulders were trembling.

"Wing?" Thunder tried to shout over the deafening music. "What is it?"

Wing Beat shook her head and gestured away from the crowd, toward the more open and quieter space near the back of the venue. She couldn't hear him.

Thunder, his eyes narrowing with concern, pushed his way through the crowd and followed her out. Wing Beat was practically prancing as she walked, and her wings kept snapping open and closed, as if she wanted to avoid all of this trouble and take to the sky again. Thunder shoved his way between ponies a bit more roughly and finally came side-by-side with her.

"Wing, what's wrong?" he shouted into her ear.

"It's Bass!" she shouted back. Bass Groove was the bassist for their band.

Wing's eyes filled with tears even as Thunder watched, and Thunder's stomach twisted into knots. Something was very wrong here.

"What about him?" Thunder asked.

Wing Beat tried to speak but couldn't form the words. She just shook her head and motioned urgently for him to follow.

The two finally broke free of the crowd and trotted toward the back, near the entrance. At first Thunder thought that she meant to lead them straight out of the venue, but she changed directions a moment later and Thunder realized that their true destination was the nurse's station that had been set up nearby. Such things were a necessity at concerts like this; there was bound to be an injury or two from over-enthusiastic moshing, not to mention the possibility of alcohol poisoning. Thunder himself had been running a nice buzz, though it was now largely pushed aside by a flood of adrenaline and his concern for his bandmate.

Wing Beat pushed open the makeshift door of the nurse's station—it was no more than a piece of fabric draped across the opening—and led Thunder inside.

Thunder scanned the inside of the pavilion and quickly found the pony he was looking for. A deep blue unicorn lay unconscious on a bed in the corner, with a red unicorn sitting beside him. The blue unicorn was Bass Groove, and the red one was his brother Power Chord. Power was gently stroking his brother's hoof.

As Thunder drew nearer he saw that Power Chord's eyes were red and swollen, nearly matching his bright red coat, and the unicorn had dark, wet patches running down the sides of his face. He had been crying, and quite a lot from the look of it.

"Power Chord!" Thunder shouted. He immediately winced as nearly every pony in the pavilion shushed him at once. "Power," he asked again, more quietly, "what happened?"

"Bass, he—" Power choked out.

"He what?!" Thunder demanded. Bucked if he sounded angry, he was angry. He was angry because he was terrified and nopony seemed to want to tell him what was going on.

"Thunder." Wing Beat laid a hoof on his shoulder and gently but firmly drew him a few steps away. "I came to get you because Power Chord wouldn't leave his side. I don't blame him, either."

"Wing Beat, are you going to tell me just what the buck happened to our bassist?" Thunder asked quietly.

"He—" Wing swallowed hard. "He tried to kill himself."

Thunder's stomach plummeted. He felt like his innards had been replaced with ice. "He what?" Thunder asked softly.

"We were at the bar," Wing said, fighting back frightened tears. "He'd just finished a beer. I don't know what made him do it, but he suddenly just freaked out. He'd been acting weird for a while. He kept trying to talk about everything that happened with Cacophony, but Power and I blew him off, I guess. It was still too painful, you know? Anyway, finally he just flipped, said he couldn't take it anymore. He smashed the bottle and used it to... to..." Wing shut her eyes tightly closed and shook her head, the tears finally spilling forth as her body shook with sobs.

Thunder gently shushed her and pulled the distraught pegasus into a tight hug. It wasn't easy to comfort her when he was doing his best to keep his own feelings in check at the same time, but he had to do what he could. Thunder wanted to scream. He wanted to punch Bass Groove for trying to off himself and to punch Power Chord and Wing Beat for letting things go this far. Some part of him, however, knew that that was absolutely the wrong way to deal with this situation. Giving in to his anger wouldn't help anypony.

"Come on," Thunder said after a long moment, "let's go talk to them, okay?"

Wing Beat shivered and nodded slowly, and the two ponies went to join their bandmates.

"Hey Power," Wing Beat said shakily, "how're you holding up?"

"I'm... I'm good." Power tried to smile and failed. "They said he'll be okay, he just needs to rest. He," Power swallowed hard, "he lost a lot of blood. There's an ambulance on the way."

"Good," Thunder grunted. He stepped over to look down at Bass Groove. The unicorn was pale under his vivid blue coat and his left foreleg was elevated and wrapped tightly in bandages. Thunder gritted his teeth angrily as he looked at his bandmate. What the buck had Bass been thinking? He knew his friends had been a little off since being captured by Cacophony, but this was just way too much.

A nurse came over holding fresh bandages. "Are you this pony's family?" she asked Wing and Thunder.

Thunder shook his head. "We're his bandmates."

"I see. Could you please excuse us for a moment? I need to speak with his brother privately."

Thunder was a heartbeat from refusing, but he allowed Wing Beat to draw him away.

"How is he?" Power Chord couldn't help but ask again, as he had asked several times in the last half hour.

Gentlehoof, the nurse, was nothing if not kind and patient. "He'll be alright for now, I'm just concerned about what might happen down the road."

That was new. "What do you mean?"

Gentlehoof checked Bass's bandages and determined that they did not need changing just yet. "Has he ever had an episode like this before?" she asked.

"You mean has he ever tried to..." Power couldn't make himself say the words. The nurse nodded and rubbed his shoulder comfortingly.

"No. No, this was totally unexpected. If Wing and I hadn't stopped him, he'd have gone for his other foreleg too."

Gentlehoof squeezed his shoulder sympathetically. "You and Wing most likely saved his life today."

Power gave her a shaky smile. "So, what did you mean when you said you were worried about what might happen later?"

The nurse took a step back and met his eyes. "Power Chord, I am going to recommend, strongly, that your brother seek psychiatric help. Bass got lucky today. If he ever tries again... he might not."

Power swallowed and nodded. His stomach felt like lead. He wasn't sure if he wanted to cry or throw up, but if he didn't vent somehow he might go crazy. "I'll... I'll talk to him. When he wakes up."

A pegasus wearing a white coat pushed the entrance flap aside and stepped into the nurse's station. He glanced around quickly, and Gentlehoof waved him over.

"This is the patient?" the pegasus asked without preamble. The nurse nodded. The pegasus turned and waved to two other ponies whom Power hadn't seen come in, and they came over with a stretcher. It gave him a sharp pang to see them loading up his brother like luggage to be carried away, even if it was for Bass's own good. The three medical ponies departed, the pegasus already barking orders for supplies and an IV to replace some of the fluids Bass had lost.

Freed from the need to stay strong for his brother, Power Chord buried his face in his forehooves and surrendered once more to tears.

Wing Beat thought she might burst from the emotions pent up inside her. They'd all been having trouble coping with what happened to them inside Cacophony, but she never thought one of them would go this far. She was terrified for Bass, but she was also frightened for herself and for Power Chord. Nopony had seen this coming. What if next time it was one of them? What if the others weren't there to stop them? She was sad and frightened all at once, and she unconsciously hugged herself tightly with her wings as if to keep it all inside.

"Thunder Growl? Wing Beat?" a voice called from the sky. Thunder looked up in time to see a pegasus mailpony swooping down. She landed in front of the two of them. "There you are," she said to Thunder. "You're never home, are you? I've been trying to give this to you for weeks."

"I am not in the bucking mood," Thunder snarled at her.

"Woah, take it easy there." The pegasus held up her forelegs placatingly. "I just need to give you a letter, it's urgent. They told me to make sure I personally got it to you."

Thunder lowered his head and bared his teeth in rage. Wing Beat stepped in before things could get too ugly.

"I'll take it," she said. Her voice was choked, but she managed to get the words out.

The pegasus handed the letter over and looked at the two of them. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

"No, everything is bucking not alright!" Thunder shouted at her.

"Thunder." Wing put a hoof on his trembling shoulder. "Don't be a plothole, it's not her fault."

The pegasus had taken a step back when Thunder started yelling. She looked from the two of them to the nurse's station behind them. As she watched, Bass was carried out on a stretcher. The mailpony finally seemed to put two and two together.

"I'll," she said quietly, "I'll just..." She flapped her wings hard and disappeared into the sky.

Wing Beat watched her go, then looked longingly after the aerial ambulance that was carrying away Bass Groove. She wanted desperately to follow, but there was nothing she could do for him now.

As much to distract herself as anything else, Wing looked at the letter she had been given. She was surprised to see that it bore not only Thunder's name, but also her own, Power Chord's, and Bass Groove's.

"What is it?" Thunder asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Wing carefully tore off the top of the envelope with her teeth and shook the contents into her hand. Thunder stepped around behind her to read over her shoulder.

My Metal Pony is cordially invited to participate in the sixth annual Equestrian Battle of the Bands. Compete with bands from all across Equestria for fame, glory, and a 10,000 bit grand prize!

"Holy buck," Thunder muttered when he saw the number.

The first round of the Battle will be at the Pegadome in Manehattan.

An address followed, along with a date and arrival time for the competing bands. Wing gasped when she read it.

"That's a week from today!" The mailmare had said she'd been trying to find Thunder for weeks, she supposed.

Thunder shook his head. "Forget it. We can't do this now, not with Bass the way he is."

Wing Beat sighed. "Yeah, I know, but holy alicorns... ten thousand bits!"

The rustling of a tent flap caught their attention, and they turned to see Power Chord leaving the pavilion escorted by the kind nurse who had been tending Bass. She was speaking soothingly to the distraught unicorn.

"Your brother is alive right now because of what you did," she was saying. "Just make sure he gets the help he needs, and he'll be fine."

"Come on, Power," Wing Beat said gently, "let's get out of here. We can go visit Bass in the morning, alright?"

Power Chord nodded and wiped his eyes with a hoof. Wing Beat draped one of her wings over him and pulled him close.

"It's gonna be alright," Wing promised.

"Yeah," Thunder agreed. He set a hoof on the guitarist's shoulder. "We'll make sure of it." He firmly drew the unicorn along with them. "Come on, let's go."