Lightning of The Axeby overlorrd53ChaptersBig StartFirst GigHitting It BigThe LabelThe AlbumCharity Show PrepThe Charity ShowTortureThe DuelThe ConcertEpilogueBig StartIt was a normal day in Ponyville, at least at the very moment, a few clouds dotted the sky, occasionally moving across the bright sun. Pretty much everypony was outside enjoying the weather except for four stallions that were in a cellar, all were part of the band 'Lightning of Royalty' and proud of it, the band was started a couple of weeks ago by their guitarist, Sun Storm, Sun Storm was an orange unicorn with a blue and white mane, he had a guitar that resembled an Explorer model, it was blue and had white streaks of lightning over the body, his cutie mark was an electric guitar that resembled the one he used, except black and had a sun behind it. He joined his three friends, Strummer, Steel Hoof, and Cloud Wave together and with that they had a band going. Strummer was their bass guitarist, he was a pegasus with a navy blue coat and a dark purple mane that matched up with the color of his SG style bass guitar, his cutie mark was a white bass guitar. Steel Hoof was the drummer of the band, he was an earth pony with light red coat along with a black and white mane, his drum set was a masterpiece of it's own, it had a double bass, eight toms, two snares, and twelve cymbals, all of the drums were colored in black and red, his cutie mark was two brown crossed drumsticks. Finally, Cloud Wave was their lead vocalist and a damn good one, the pegasus had a light gray coat and a burgundy mane, his microphone was modified so he could scream and not blow out the amps it was connected to, his cutie mark was a black microphone with orange and yellow flames around it. "Hurry up and secure that mic so we can get this practice going, I wanna play my axe before I die." Sun Storm complained. "I am trying okay! Jeez dude." Cloud Wave responded, rolling his eyes. After a few seconds Cloud Wave had secured the microphone to the stand, everything was plugged into something if it needed it and with that the very first practice of Lightning of Royalty was under way. They started playing a song that each of them pitched in to write, it was called 'Charge to Battle,' it was the very first piece of music the band had wrote as a team, it started off with a slow but complex riff as an intro and a few seconds after the melodic riff was done the song descended into a bass and electric guitar heavy song or "epic" as the members of the band called it about a soldier of Celestia's royal guard fighting off an unknown enemy and eventually wandering the Equestrian wasteland alone after the battle. Meanwhile outside some ponies that were frolicking in the sun stopped to listen to the song that was emanating from the basement. Everypony that was hearing the song gathered around the cellar door to listen to the lesser heard genre of 'metal,' " I hear! The screams of my men! They fall but I fight on!" Were lyrics Cloud Wave was singing that were captivating everypony, not many citizens of the small town had heard a darker take of lyrics but most were enjoying it. Once the ending happened, which consisted of fourteen structured hits on a snare followed by a slam on the lowest tom, the song stopped and the band heard cheers from outside, curious to what it was, Strummer opened the cellar door to find around twenty or more, ponies congregated outside around the cellar. "Um, guys, I think we have an audience." Strummer said, looking at the crowd. The other band members emerged from the cellar. "Uh... you guys enjoy that?" Sun Storm asked Everypony cheered aloud, all of the band members smiled, they never knew they'd find ponies that like their music! "Wanna hear more?" Sun Storm asked with more confidence. All of the band members hear the crowd yell a loud YEAH!! The four ponies trotted back down to the basement they had emerged from and picked up their instruments, chosing to play another song that the band had written during the three weeks of them not playing, they chose a song called "Chain of Fire", it was about two ponies that had known each other for as long as they could remember and one becomes corrupt with an evil soul, in the end the poor pony gets released from the grips of the dark soul after a long battle over his body with it but there is a twist, his friend had been badly injured because of the dark soul. After playing the five songs they had written the practice was over. "Sorry everypony, we're out of songs to play, practice is over." Sun Storm said to the now crowd of around fifty ponies. The band heard some crowd members sigh or make disappointed noises as the crowd disbanded. Sun Storm stood outside the cellar door and viewed as the crowd disbanded. "Hey! You! Guitar player guy!" An unknown voice said. Sun Storm turned his head and saw a dark grey pegasus with his mane sported in a Mohawk galloping toward him. "Oh hey?" Sun Storm said, hoping the pegasus wasn't asking for guitar lessons. "Do you guys play gigs? My birthday is coming up and I was wondering if you could play your stuff at it, you guys rock! Oh, my name is Thunder Lane by the way." The energetic pegasus said. "I dunno, if it's cool with my bandmates, when is it?" Sun said. "One week from now, so Tuesday of next week." Thunder Lane said, hoping he could get these ponies to play at his birthday party. "I dunno, lemme ask 'em. Hey guys! Wanna play a gig next Tuesday?!" Sun Storm yelled down the cellar. Three yeah's were heard from the bottom of the stairs and with that they had their first gig. "Yeah, looks like we can play, my name is Sun Storm by the way." Sun Storm said with a smile. "Yes! I can't wait to hear you guys' music again! Thank you guys so much!" Thunder Lane said, Sun Storm felt good knowing he had made someponys day. "I'll see you next Tuesday." Sun Storm said as he ventured back into the cellar. "Well everypony. We have a gig next Thursday!" Sun Storm hollered. His bandmates gave a hardy WOOO and with that they were ready for Tuesday. Their first ever gig. First GigLightning of Royalty had been practicing for their first gig all week, if there was an open moment to practice they would, they wanted to play the best gig anypony had ever heard. Sun Storm had gotten more skill in guitar playing, same with the rest of the band on their designated instruments. By Monday the band knew they were ready to rock everyponys face more than it had ever been rocked before. It was Tuesday or as Lightning of Royalty called it 'Gig Day', the band was setting up at Sugar Cube Corner, where the party was being held. "Is there anything we can help ya with?" Mrs. Cake asked in the usual happy tone. "No Mrs. Cake, we're fine, thanks for asking though." Sun Storm said smiling as he strummed his guitar or 'Axe' as enjoyed calling it. "Well just tell us if you need anything!" Mrs. Cake said cheerfully. Strummer gave a nod and the band carried on setting up. "Man, I'm getting pretty anxious, when do we actually play? Steel Hoof asked. "We don't go for another two hours but the party itself starts in about thirty minutes." Cloud Wave said. "Well, in that case I'm going up to Sweet Apple Acres, see if I can't buy a nice mug of hard cider to calm my nerves." Steel said "Don't get shitfaced man, we don't need a boozed up drummer playing inappropriate blast beats at random times throughout the show. Strummer, go with him, make sure he only has one mug." Sun Storm said, wishing Steel Hoof didn't drink to calm his nerves. Strummer and Steel Hoof trotted out of the door, leaving Sun Storm and Cloud Wave to sit and talk as they finished the final preparations for the show. As the two finished they saw two ponies step into the establishment, one Sun Storm recognized as Thunder Lane, but the mare he was with neither Sun Storm nor' Cloud Wave knew. "Hey Thunder Lane!" Sun Storm said. "Hey guys! Where're your bass player and drummer at?" Thunder Lane asked. "Our drummer, Steel Hoof, was getting anxious so he went to grab a drink from Sweet Apple Acres, I sent Strummer, the bass player, to go with him, y'know, to make sure he didn't get plastered." Sun explained. "Ha ha ha! Well anyways, the party'll be starting pretty soon, you guys ready to play?" Thunder Lane said. "Hell yeah, who all's gonna be here?" Sun Storm asked. "Eh, primarily just some friends from the weather team, Pinkie Pie will obviously be here too." Thunder Lane explained. "So you're the pony we're playing for?" Cloud Wave asked. "Yep, name's Thunder Lane." "Cloud Wave" "Who's your friend?" Sun asked, directing his attention to the pegasus standing next to Thunder Lane. "This is Flitter, a good friend of mine." Thunder Lane said. The group talked as they waited for the party to start, meanwhile Steel Hoof and Strummer were on their way back from the farm. "That cup o' booze put you at ease?" Strummer asked jokingly. "Hell yeah. I love myself a good mug of hard cider, the way it slithers down my throat and how the foam accommodates it well." Steel Hoof was too busy fantasizing to realize Strummer was giggling like a school filly at him for what he just said. Steel Hoof came to his senses and slugged Strummer in the side. "Dude. You know what you just said sounded pretty gay? Right?" Strummer said before chuckling more. "Yeah, yeah, shut up ya bastard. Let's just head back to Sugar Cube and not speak or that ever again." Steel Hoof said, rolling his eyes. The two continued walking to Sugar Cube and talking about nothing of any real significance to themselves or the show they were gonna be playing. The party was going well, the members of Lightning of Royalty were mingling among the guests, Strummer and Cloud Wave especially due to them being pegasi like the majority of the other guests. Steel Hoof and Sun Storm sat on the stage and chatted, Sun Storm was fingering or "hoofing", if you will, some notes and chords as they talked. "So that drink do ya well?" Sun asked. "Yeah, it was good." Steel responded. "Wanna describe it to me?" Sun Storm asked, hoping Steel would get what he was doing. "Yeah, it was... wait... Strummer told you about that?! Ah, what a dildo!" Steel Hoof said, laughing off the question. The two laughed aloud at the whole exchange of dialogue and continued talking until Pinkie came onstage. "Hey everypony! Is everypony enjoying the party?!" Pinkie said enthusiastically. The crowd gave a loud YEAH! which everypony knew made Pinkie feel good. "Well it's about to get better! We have some live music here for you! Let's give a warm welcome to... LIGHTNING OF ROYALTY!" Pinkie said. A loud cheer was heard from the crowd and soon after Strummer and Cloud Wave took the stage. "Thank you Pinkie Pie, for the amazingly enthusiastic introduction, we love it!" Cloud Wave said before continuing. "We're happy to be here for Thunder Lane's birthday, to honor his birthday and our first performance we are going to sing a metal cover of the 'Happy Birthday Song'!" The crowd gave a loud cheer once again. Sun Storm looked into the crowd and saw Thunder Lane's face light up. Sun Storm began playing the song on The Axe and soon Strummer, Steel Hoof, and Cloud Wave joined in with their musical talents to form the most metal birthday song ever! By the end of the song everypony was cheering extremely loud and wanted the band to play more, lucky for the crowd the band did, they played all of their original music they wrote as a band and did a few covers of other songs they knew. "Thank you all for being here to celebrate Thunder Lane's birthday and watch us play our music!" Cloud Wave said as it was the end of their show. The crowd was ecstatic, what the band wanted achieved was achieved, they had rocked everyponys face. While the band was putting away their equipment they were approached by Thunder Lane. "Hey guys, thanks for playing, actually, I can't thank you enough. Take these bits." Thunder Lane said as he held out a hoof that held a little bag that contained forty bits. Sun Storm, like the rest of the band, had never thought that they'd get payed for their musical services. "Uh... you don't have to pay us, keep the cash." Sun said. "I insist." Thunder Lane said, Sun Storm knew Thunder Lane wouldn't budge so he took the money. "Thanks man." Sun said with a smile. "No, thank you, you dudes rock hard! I hope to hear your stuff again! Your sound'll never get old to me!" Thunder Lane said, trotting out the door. "Did we just get payed for playing music?" Steel Hoof asked. "Ya know what, Steel? I think we did." Sun Storm said as a grin slowly came upon his face. "How much'd we get?" Strummer asked. Sun took the money out of the bag and counted it out. "Forty bits. Ten for each of us." After all of the money was divided equally and the equipment was put away the four ponies split and went home. Sun Hoof was now aware he could make money playing music and now that he knew he liked it. Hitting It BigAfter word of Lighting of Royalty's performance at Thunder Lane's party got out, everypony wanted to get the band to play, the band started charging forty bits per show, which was a reasonable price for how much they were enjoyed by everypony. The band had also written five more songs to make performances longer and to have the band learn more things about their musical talents. Due to all of the different gigs the band had played, everypony in Ponyville were at the least aware of Lighting of Royalty's presence. "Dude, I never thought we'd become this popular, y'know?" Strummer said, sitting against one of the cellar walls, sipping a hard cider. "I know, it's crazy. What have you guys been buying with your gig money?" Sun Storm asked. "I got myself some surround sound for my room, it sounds great." Steel Hoof said. "I bought a tux." Cloud Wave said. "I'm saving up for a new bass." Strummer said. "What about you, Sun?" "I've only bought one thing, a pair of aviator shades, other than that, I've been saving." Sun Storm said, using his magic to levitate a brown lensed pair of aviator shades out of his guitar case and sliding them on his face. They all sat relaxing until they heard the telephone ring. "I got it." Steel Hoof said, trotting to the phone and picking it up. "Hello?" "Hey, Steel, it's Pinkie!" "Oh, hey Pinks, what's up?" "The sky, silly! Duh!" The other three band members listened the best they could to the conversation Steel Hoof was having with Pinkie Pie but they all couldn't really figure it out until Steel Hoof told them. When Steel Hoof was done on the phone he walked over to his friends. "Hey guys, wanna play a gig Friday?" "Sure, is it one of Pinkie's parties?" Sun asked. "Yeah but it's one of her biggest parties she's ever planned and she wants to know if we'll play at it, she said everypony'll probably be there! She'll pay us a whopping three hundred bits!" Steel Hoof was ecstatically saying. Strummer spat out cider onto the floor and coughed. "Three hundred bits?! That's like... seventy five bits for each of us, right?!" "Hell yeah! Everypony in?!" Steel Hoof asked, you could hear every ounce of excitement in his voice. Everypony nodded and clunked their hooves together. This show was gonna be great! "We gotta practice hard for this, Friday is in two days." Sun said, levitating his Axe toward him. "Let's go!" Cloud Wave said. The band began to practice with more energy than ever before. This gig was only gonna get better for them. After two days of almost nonstop practicing, the band was ready for this show. "You guys ready?" Sun asked all of his friends. All said yeah and with that they approached Pinkie, who was putting up the final touches of the party decorations. "Hey, Pinkie!" Sun said, waving a hoof. "Hey guys! The stage is over there!" Pinkie said, pointing to a column-like obstruction that had to be at least fifteen feet tall. "Whoa... we've never played on such a tall tower." Steel Hoof said, looking at the top of the column. "Well, I thought the coolest band in Equestria deserves the coolest stage too! Did I mention the pyrotechnics?" Pinkie said, grinning. "Pyrotechnics! Oh sweet! How do they work?!" Strummer asked, exited for how cool this was gonna be but also scared because it was Pinkie who set up the fireworks. After a quick run down of how the fireworks were gonna work, forty five minutes of unpacking instruments, and an hour long practice session for good luck the band was ready to play. Guests had started to arrive and the band began to mingle amongst the ponies that were attending the gathering. Sooner or later the band realized that when Pinkie says "everyponys gonna be there" she really means it. The members of Lighting of Royalty saw so many ponies, Rainbow Dash, captain of the weather team, Applejack, the pony who runs Sweet Apple Acres and the band's supplier of hard cider, DJ-PON3, the biggest dj in Ponyville, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who tried to get their 'guitar tuning cutie marks' by trying to tune Sun Storm's Axe, Rarity, the biggest fashion designer in Ponyville and Canterlot, even Princess Twilight Sparkle showed up, not to mention many more, the band was amazed. "Well I dunno 'bout you guys but I'm gonna test my luck with Ms. Rainbow Dash." Strummer said as he walked in that direction until he was pulled back by Sun Storm's hoof. "Before we split ways until the actual show, I need you guys to keep an eye on how much you drink, no more than two hard ciders, you especially, Steel Hoof. We don't need plastered musicians not knowing what they're doing." Sun said to all of his band mates. "We'll watch it." Steel Hoof said. They all agreed not to drink more than two hard ciders and parted ways to talk to party goers. Strummer was trying to see if Rainbow Dash would go out with him but he was failing at it comedically, Steel Hoof almost immediately hit the bar to pick up his first cider, Cloud was off to talk to a couple of friends he recognized, and Sun Storm just kinda sat on one of the steps that lead to the top of the column stage they were gonna play on. Sun then felt a presence sit down next to him, he looked to his left to see that it was DJ-PON3. "Why're you just sittin' here? You should be out enjoying everyponys company." The pale yellow, almost white, unicorn said. "Eh, I don't usually start conversations with people. I ain't that kind of pony I guess." Sun Storm said "Well I am, anyways, why don't I introduce myself, I'm Vinyl Scratch, or as you may know me, DJ-PON3. What's your name?" Vinyl asked. "I'm Sun Storm, I like your music." Sun said as a smile formed on his face. "I like your music too. I wouldn't expect a metalhead like yourself to be into my genre. Then again I bet you didn't expect me to like your genre either." Vinyl responded "It's awesome to see that a pony like yourself like my bands music, especially since your pretty famous and all." Sun said. "Yeah, it's nothin'. Hey, want me to hook you up with my producer, he'll probably want you guys to be playing for his label, y'know, since you guys rock and all." Vinyl asked. "You'd really do that?!" Sun Storm said, jumping to his hooves. "Yeah!" Vinyl said before she was embraced in a hug from Sun Storm. "Oh, thank you so much Vinyl!" Sun said, almost in tears of happiness. "Any time dude, here's my number, call me up when you guys are ready to head to the label, I ain't doin' nothin' tomorrow so I'll be game whenever." Vinyl said as she was released from Sun's hug. It was finally time to play, the band walked up to the top of the stage. "So how did it go with Rainbow?" Steel Hoof asked jokingly. "She said she'd think about it." Strummer said feeling a bit bummed. "She'll probably change her mind after what I'm going to tell you after this show." Sun said grinning The whole band didn't know what Sun Storm was speaking of but they knew whatever it was it was probably important. Upon reaching the top of the stage and getting ready on their designated instruments the concert was ready to begin. "Mares and gentlecolts.... we are... LIGHTNING OF ROYALTY!" Cloud Wave metal-screamed into the microphone. That made the crowd erupt with cheers. "Now, Sun Storm. Start us off." Cloud Wave said. Sun Storm didn't hesitate, he began playing a guitar-only song he had written, it was fast, complex, and melodic, nopony would even think it was possible for anypony else to play, even the most skilled of guitarists. When the three minute fourteen second piece was over, everypony stood silent, jaws dropping in awe. Finally they shook themselves of the trance and began cheering. Nopony was happier at that moment more that Sun Storm. The rest of the concert went well as planned, they played all ten of their original song plus five cover songs and with that the show was over and everypony was cheering as the band walked down the stairs, each band member signed at least one autograph which was a first to Lightning of Royalty, they'd have excited crowds but never crowds that wanted autographs. "Hey guys, You know that thing I referenced as we were walking up stage?!" Sun yelled over the screaming fans. "Yeah! What of it?!" Cloud answered. "We have a meeting with a record label tomorrow! We might be famous!" Sun yelled once more. "Really?!" Steel Hoof asked. "Yeah, Steel, really!" Sun responded. "Woooooooo!" Strummer yelled. The band was so happy to finally have chances at being famous, all thanks to a mare named Vinyl Scratch. The band was the happiest they'd ever been. The LabelSun Storm had woken up early that morning, he was having trouble sleeping last night even though he had four ciders after the show and usually that would put him out cold but his excitement kept him up to a little after 1:00am. Sun called up Steel Hoof, who he knew was awake. Steel Hoof answered the phone with a lively "What's up?" "Not much, you get any sleep last night?" Sun asked. "Barely, too excited for today, the fact we could go pro made me flip. I had that feeling you get in your stomach when you know something awesome is gonna happen!" Steel said, expressing his happiness. "I know! You think the others are awake?" Sun inquired. "I hope, man, I'm ready to go. I guess Strummer got together with that Rainbow Dash and he got her to go to his house with him." Steel Hoof said, slightly laughing. "Ha! Are you serious?!" Sun said in a full laugh. "Hell yeah, dude!" The two spent some time talking about the highlights of last night, funny moments, how Sun Storm met Vinyl Scratch, joking about Strummer getting a possible marefriend. After joking around on the phone for fifteen minutes the two stallions agreed to meet at Sugar Cube and from their rally the other two band members from their houses. Steel Hoof was leaning against Sugar Cube Corner when Sun Storm approached him. "Sup, dude." Steel Hoof said, that being his usual form of 'hello'. "Yo. You ready to hit up Strummer and Cloud's houses?" Sun asked, knowing what the response would be. "Hell yeah. Let's go." Steel Hoof said, almost saying exactly what Sun had thought, which was a simple hell yeah. The two went to Strummer's house first, as they arrived, they saw Rainbow Dash leaving his house and Strummer in the door way, waving goodbye to the mare. The two trotted over to the door Strummer was standing in. "Hey dude. You ready to head to Cloud Wave's place?" Sun asked. "Hell yeah. Let's go." Strummer said, stepping out of the door. "How was Rainbow Dash, if you're catching my drift?" Steel asked jokingly. "Eh, we didn't really fuck, just kind of drunkenly made out a ton then went to sleep in my bed." Strummer said, a little bummed he didn't get any action. "Well, you'll have sex with something eventually, Strummer." Sun Storm said. "Yeah, you're righ- wait... something? What's that supposed to mean?" Strummer responded. All of them joked until they hit up Cloud's house. Sun walked up and knocked on the door, only to be greeted by Cloud Wave. "I take it you guys are ready?" Cloud Wave asked. "Yeah, let's go." Sun said. The four stallions went back to Sun Storm's house. Sun called up Vinyl, in three beeps she answered. "Hello?" The mare on the other end asked. "Yeah, it's Sun Storm, the guitarist of Lighting of Royalty. You told me to call you whenever so we could head up to the record label." Sun Storm said. "Oh yeah, head up to my place and we'll get ourselves a train ticket, tell everypony to bring their instrument." Vinyl said. "Got it. We'll be over in twenty minutes." Sun said and hung up the phone. "Come on, get your instruments and meet at Vinyl's house, it has a record on the front door, hard to miss." Sun said as he went to his room and grabbed is Axe and shoved it in it's case. Sooner or later, everypony was at Vinyl's house, then the train station, then on a train to Manehattan, where the label was located. "So, who exactly is this label head? Is he a douche?" Steel Hoof asked. "His name is Mr. Buck, he is harsh so watch what you say, I almost got fired on my first day because of something I said." the dj explained. "Anything else we should know?" Cloud asked. "If I had more useful info I'd tell it to you." Vinyl said. "We've arrived at Manehattan Station!" The train conductor hollered. Lightning of Royalty and Vinyl Scratch exited the train and began the walk to the label building. The band had Steel Hoof walk ahead of them though keeping behind Vinyl so people would keep out of their way due to the large carriage that held Steel Hoof's drums inside of it. Upon reaching the label building the four stallions realized that this building was huge, it had to be at least forty stories high! The five ponies entered the building. "Hello Ms. Scratch, who are these fellows?" The secretary asked. "They call themselves 'Lightning of Royalty', a metal band from Ponyville, there here for a meeting with Mr. Buck." The pale yellow mare said. "Oh. Well good luck!" The secretary said. The band nodded in thanks and continued to an elevator, it was a tight fit but still a fit. They were silent as the elevator went up, the only sound was the crappy elevator music. Finally, they reached floor thirty five, the floor where Mr. Buck's office was. Vinyl opened the door and they all walked into the office. It was ice white with pictures of the past owners of the label hanging on one side and on the other side were an assortment of gold and platinum records hanging on the wall, some of the bands the Lightning of Royalty members recognized as inspirations to their music, in the middle sat Mr. Buck at his desk. Mr. Buck was a white pony with a long black mane, his head was bald, he was also rather fat and wore a white tuxedo. "Hello Mr. Buck, this is that band I was telling you about. Lightning of Royalty." Vinyl said formally. Mr. Buck stood up from his desk and walked over to survey the musicians, he walked by them as if they were worthless but it didn't phase the band. "I hope they sound better than they look." Mr. Buck said, eyeing the band members. "Sir, I'll assure you we do." Sun Storm said. Mr. Buck led them to a studio where the band entered and began unpacking, as they were doing that Vinyl and Mr. Buck stood in the listening room and watched them. "Who are these ponies and why did you bring them here?" Mr. Buck asked the blue maned mare sitting next to him. "They are fantastic musicians, so good that they deserve to be heard by all of Equestria, not just Ponyville." Vinyl said, she really meant what she said, the members of the band were fantastic players of music and nice ponies overall Vinyl thought. Once the band was done setting up Mr. Buck told them to play a song, any song they had written, so the band decided to play the first song they ever played, 'Charge to Battle'. When the first notes from the guitar were hit, Mr. Buck was very much impressed and by the end of the song he had a grin on his face. "Uh... was that good?" Cloud Wave asked. Mr. Buck entered the room the band was in. "Good? That was great! Let's head back to the office and get you signed!" The entire band smiled in relief, looks like Vinyl wasn't completely right about this guy being so strict Sun Storm thought to himself and he was sure his bandmates were thinking the same thing. They headed back to the office, signed some papers, and with that, they were pro. Many opportunities had just opened up for the band, big ones. The AlbumThe band had been working on their first album since they got signed to the label and they were doing it by themselves, usually you didn't see that with band on an album in Equestria, let alone a first album. The four stallions had been working day in day out on this album, sometimes missing sleep and meals, to make this album rock. "Alright Sun, can you play that again, except this time louder, we're having trouble picking up the high notes on your guitar." Cloud Wave said, Cloud Wave was very sleep deprived, he had dark bags under his yellow eyes, which were bloodshot, and was pretty much surviving on coffee to keep him awake. "Alright, fine." Sun said, getting ready to play again, he and all of his friends were very tired. After two failed recordings of just the guitar, the band decided to give up on it and wait until tomorrow to work on it. They all needed sleep badly if they were gonna play well enough for the album. The four exited the studio and headed to their nice hotel Mr. Buck had bought them. "After a good rest I should be playing guitar better tomorrow morning." Sun Storm said. "I hope so. we can't have you going in there and making miscellaneous noises with those strings." Cloud said. When the four arrived in the hotel they parted ways to their rooms on the fourth floor of the hotel. Upon arriving in his room, Sun Storm set his Axe down on the bed next to the bed he slept in most, sometimes he'd just collapse on a random bed depending on how tired he was, he slumped onto the messy bed and gripped the TV remote with his magic. He turned on the TV to the news channel, which usually put him to sleep, but as he was drifting to sleep he heard some words that perked his interest and made him look at the TV, the words were "Lightning of Royalty". Sun kept watching the TV, wondering what was being said of his band. "Aspiring band, Lightning of Royalty, is now in the midst of making their first album, except they're doing it on their own, which is something not often seen in the music world. I've caught up with the drummer of the band, Steel Hoof. Mr. Hoof, would you like to say anything on the subject of the new album?" The news mare asked, Sun then saw the camera pan to Steel Hoof. "They must be in the building." Sun Storm muttered to himself, eyes still glued to the TV. "Well, I ain't gonna give away anything big, except that it's taking a physical toll on us all and that the album is gonna rock." Steel told the mare. "Anything else?" The perky navy blue and yellow maned mare asked. "Not that I can say on live television but I have one more thing to say overall. Mom, if you're watchin' this, hi, your son finally made it big." Steel Hoof said with a smirk as he went into his room. "Well, you heard it here, solo producing an album is hard but can pay off. Next on Celebrity News, is Sapphire Shores, the pop sensation of Equestria, selling out? Find out more next." The mare said, before Sun switched the television off. You did good, Steel Sun Storm thought before drifting to sleep. Meanwhile, twenty two miles away, a dark green pony with a brown and white mane along with a matching goatee just changed the channel from what he just watched to a metal documentary about his band, Thundersmith. "Lightning of Royalty, huh?" He said to himself "Won't take them long to just become another band in this city." Sun Storm woke up at 11:46am and had to rush out the door to get to the studio, he promised his fellow band mates he'd be to the studio at about 12:00pm, he arrived at 12:13pm. "Sorry I was late, I slept in." Sun Storm said, panting from his run from the hotel to the studio. "We don't care, get in there and let's record." Cloud Wave said. Sun went into the recording room, warmed up to play, and began playing through the song "Flaming Mane". When he was finished he exited the studio and was given a nod of approval from his fellow band mates. Once that was done they needed to record two more songs. A few days later the second to last song of the album, Child of The Land, was finished, and four days after that, the very last song, Lighting of Royalty, which was a personal favorite of every member of the band, was completed. They had gotten the album done before the deadline. They all went to the hotel happy on that last day, knowing that the album was completed with time to spare. Sun had gotten into bed that night and went to sleep quickly and ended up having a weird nightmare. He was in an all black space but he felt watched, he kept turning around uncontrollably, finally, a pony that was all white, no mane, facial features, clothes, anything, was all of a sudden in front of him, a mouth tore from the pony's face and let out an ear piercing scream that made Sun Storm jolt awake in a cold sweat. Sun got up and ran to the studio. we was gonna surprise the band in the morning with a new track to add as a bonus to the album. Sun Storm awoke to the sound of the studio door opening and slamming shut, followed by the voices of his three bandmates. "Uh, Sun, what're you doing here?" Strummer asked. "I had a nightmare, I was up all night writing and making a song for it, it's already recorded and everything, it's on the computer if you guys wanna listen, I like it." Sun said. After hearing the song, the other band members agreed it should be a part of the album, it was put as track five, right in the middle of the album. After a few days of playing around with some things and three re-recordings of some songs the album was complete, it was to be self-titled and the band chose to release it three days early. CD copies of the album sold out in just about every store in the first two days and raked in a lot of money online. Within a month, each member of the band had thousands of bits. Their dream had come true. They were finally successful. Author's Note Sorry for the wait! Charity Show Prep"It is official, Lightning of Royalty's new album, All Equestrian Party, has been released, stores are already getting raided for hopes of buying a copy of the album, that the band says "Is ten times better than the last one!"" The stallion on the news channel said before Oliver turned off the television "Well fellas, looks like the new album is a huge success like the last one." Oliver said. "Well, as long as the fans enjoy it, I'm happy." Strummer said. "How's the whole charity concert set-up going?" Sun Storm asked. "As of now it's going well, we've already raked in about two hundred thousand bits in ticket orders." Oliver informed the band. "Fantastic!" Steel Hoof exclaimed. "Anypony see Cloud anywhere?" Oliver asked. "He had a big night with a fan if you're catching my drift." Sun said jokingly. "I hope he doesn't plan on getting in a committed relationship with a fan, you guys know how that goes." Steel Hoof said. "Yeah, dude." Sun said. "Why is that bad?" Strummer asked. "Well... uhh... shit dude, I dunno." Steel Hoof responded. "Yeah. It's like banging somepony with "special needs", you don't know why you don't do that, you just know that you shouldn't." Sun said. "Oh. I see what you're sayin'." Strummer said. "Alright, well the concert is tomorrow so I suggest you be ready and NOT hungover like you've been the past couple days." Oliver said before exiting the room. "Well, we might as well get some practice in." Steel said. "But Cloud Wave ain't up yet." Sun Storm responded. "Fuck him. He won't be up 'til twelve-ish anyways, that is if our music doesn't wake him up." Steel said. "Good point. Alright, come on." Sun said, getting up and heading for the door. The band began playing some songs off of their new album. House Fire, Diamonds, and Party Song were the songs that were coming form the practice room. "Woo. That was some heavy drumming on House Fire." Steel Hoof said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Still, it was a good practice sesh." Sun said, strumming his guitar. Cloud Wave then walked into the room, still visibly tired. "You guys started practice without me?" He asked, still tired. "Yeah. You was up all night fucking and we weren't gonna wait for you to wake up." Steel said, shrugging. "Oh. Well, I need my coffee and if you guys are still practicing I'll join in I guess." Cloud said, walking off silently. When he left the practice room the entire band started laughing hysterically. "Dude! I've never seen him act like such a dope! That friggin' mare must've done some bondage-style stuff to him, man!" Sun Storm said, laughing harder than he ever has. "I know, man! Shit!" Steel said, doing the same. Strummer was on the floor laughing so hard that he wasn't making any noise. After a good ten minutes of solid laughter the three composed themselves. "Damn that's good." Sun said, wiping a tear from his cheek. "I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life, man." Strummer said. Cloud Wave walked into the room and all eyes were on him. "Hey dude. How'd you sleep last night?" Steel asked. "You know. How you feel after sex? That kind of sleep." Cloud responded, securing a microphone to a mic stand. "How was she? Who was she?" Sun asked. "She was... different-" Cloud got cut off. "Okay, we just wanna know how kinky she got. You were actin' like a dope and that's our first instinct when you act that way. How kinky they got." Steel said, no sugar coating on his statement at all. "Ha! REALLY kinky, man. You thought the dominatrix's were bad? This mare...woo. Crazy." Cloud said, making his friends erupt with laughter. "Alright, let's get practicing." Cloud said. The band began practicing, this time with all of them present. It seemed when the band was united as one they sounded more strong and powerful, with Steel Hoof and Strummers house-wrecking sound and the rhythm that Sun Storm and Cloud Wave made, they were all joined into a perfect combination of musical sound. "Uh... sir, since that new band, Lightning of Royalty, I think, has hopped into town, the album sales have dropped and you're making less bits than before." A grey-blue stallion with a white mane told lead guitarist of Thundersmith, Earthshaker. "What." Was all he uttered before standing up from a brown office chair. The scrawny pony shuddered as the significantly larger stallion he worked for walked past him. "Uh... sir? Is everything alright?" The scrawny pony asked. "No. I'm calling a band meeting about this, get the other members of my band so I can discuss this with them." Earthshaker said, leaving out of the door. After about twenty five minutes all members of Thundersmith were in a room with dark red walls made of velvet, on the walls, a pattern of gold and platinum records hung, in the middle was an elongated cream colored table with black office chairs on the sides and on one end was a chair that sat Earthshaker. "We're losing cash, guys. We started losing it when Lightning of Royalty came to town." He said. "What?! Really?!" The drummer of Thundersmith, Eddie Cobalt, who was a cobalt unicorn, said. "Yes. We need something done about it." Earthshaker said. "Indeed. Eventually we'll be broke." A male voice that composed a Canterlot accent said. This was a male pegasus known as White Rose, the lead singer of the band. "Exactly where I'm getting at. When is our next concert that features Lightning of Royalty?" Earthshaker asked. "Tomorrow at a charity event." Bass player, Boomer said. "Good. Here's the plan I have in mind..." The plan that Earthshaker had was insane. More insane than any other band could have thought of. The Charity ShowFinally it was show day. The biggest show the band had ever played, all of the members of Lightning of Royalty were excited for the show, they didn't stop talking about it until they arrived at the show grounds. "Alright, fellas, you know the drill, no getting drunk before the show, try to stay in the lounge." Oliver said. "Yeah, you got it, Olly." Sun Storm said as he and his band-mates made their way to the lounge where all of the mares and famous musicians hung out. Upon arriving into the room, the band was greeted with Earthshaker along with the other members of Thundersmith. "Hey, how's it goin', man?" Earthshaker asked Sun Storm. "Fantastic. How about you?" Sun responded. "Great." Earthshaker responded. The two talked for a while until it was announced that Thundersmith go onstage. "Hey before I go, I gotta ask, you still using that pick a gave you?" Earthshaker asked. "Hell yeah." Sun Storm responded back with a grin. Earthshaker then left the room to go onstage and play for the masses. Soon after them Lightning of Royalty headed out to rock the crowd. "Hey man, this shit's good." Sun Storm said drunkenly to a sober Earthshaker. "It's called Skull Kracker, it makes your brain feel like it's exploding." Earthshaker said. "Dang. I see why." Sun said. Everypony in Lightning of Royalty was totally shitfaced, Thundersmith's plan was going just as planned. They were gonna get the band drunk, let them pass out in their bus, and from there take them to 'The Dungeon'. "Hey guys, I think you've had a lot to drink, come on and lay down, we'll take care of ya until morning." Eddie Cobalt said, motioning to two large sofas. The band all crashed around the sofas. Finally Thundersmith relocated them to 'The Dungeon', which was under Earthshaker's house, and after about an hour of moving the passed out bodies of Lightning of Royalty to the underground torture chamber they went to bed. "Hey man, where the hell are we?" Cloud Wave said groggily. "Piss, man, I dunno, all I do know is that my back hurts like a bitch." Strummer said. "Uh... dudes? I don't think this is where we crashed last night." Steel Hoof said, sitting up and taking in the surroundings, he was good at handling hangovers due to the many he had in the past in the past. "Shit, dude. I think you're fuckin' right." Cloud Wave said. "Also, I don't think Sun Storm is with us." Steel added. The band looked around the dark room and found that Steel Hoof was right, Sun Storm was nowhere to be seen. "I'm checking to see if this door works." Steel Hoof said, wobbling up from his spot on the uneven stone floor. Upon reaching the door, Steel Hoof found it was locked. "Well. This son of a bitch is locked up. Looks like we're doomed." Steel said, shrugging and walking to the nearest corner to take a seat. "Can't be." Cloud Wave said. "I'm kicking this bitch down." Cloud being the biggest out of the four wobbled over to the door, reared up and bucked as hard as he could on the door in hopes of breaking it down. All that happened was a large echo of the door clanking as it was bucked throughout the halls of this dungeon-like area. Meanwhile, in a room down the hall from the four friends an orange unicorn hung by the hooves, chained to a wall with tape over his mouth and an anti-magic spell put on his horn. "Sounds like your friends are awake." Earthshaker said to Sun Storm. "MMMMMMM!" was all Sun said to Earthshaker. "Don't worry, I'll make your death long and painful." Earthshaker said softly into the ear of Sun Storm. Deep down inside Sun Storm was scared but at the same time all of this was happening, he was hatching an escape plan and he thought he had a really good one in mind. TortureEarthshaker walked over to a metal table that had a leather case that surgical instruments were stored in on it. He withdrew a small scalpel. This is gonna hurt Sun Storm thought to himself. "Alright, this is gonna hurt a lot. Be ready." Earthshaker said. The three centimeter medical instrument's blade was inserted halfway into Sun Storm's side, causing him to whimper and flinch. Earthshaker slid the blade down his side, making a five inch long incision on the side which caused blood to bead on the wound. Earthshaker walked over to the table and grabbed a large bottle of... alcohol? Sun Storm was confused by this until Earthshaker splashed some on the wound, causing Sun to make a noise that he didn't even know he could make due to the burning sensation it caused. Come on you crazy fuck, take the damn tape off of my mouth Sun Storm though as he eyeballed Earthshaker with burning hatred. "Oh. I see you're not enjoying this. Well making evil eyes at me won't make your death shorter or less painful, as a matter of fact it might make it more drawn out." Earthshaker said. A new tool was chosen from the bag, they were defibrillators. Earthshaker secured them to his hooves and rubbed them together for a good three minutes, as he was doing this, the two guitarists had a stare down. Finally, Earthshaker made his way to Sun Storm and forcefully pushed the defibs onto Sun's chest, causing a lot of electricity to course throughout Sun Storms body, he cried out in pain through out the minute long session of electric shock. "I'll give you a break for now, I've got other things to do." Earthshaker said as he stepped out of the room. Once Earthshaker was out of the room Sun Storm began to lick the tape, in hopes of peeling it off little by little and after a while, it worked, the tape was on the floor and Sun's mouth was free. Meanwhile in the other room, Steel Hoof, Strummer, and Cloud Wave were sitting in the middle of their cold and hard room. "Hey guys." A familiar voice said. All of them whipped their heads around to see Earthshaker behind the door they were locked in by. "Hey dude, where the hell are we?" Steel asked. "I dunno but you gotta come out here!" Earthshaker said, opening the door. They all ran out into the hallway only to be tackled by three large stallions. "What the hell?!" Cloud stuttered out. "Take 'em to different rooms, do what you want with them." Earthshaker said as the three Lightning of Royalty members tried to squirm free. Now, time to get back to Sun Storm Earthshaker said as he walked to Sun Storm's torture room. Upon entering the room he found Sun Storm had gotten his tape off. "Damn, now I have to get more tape!" Earthshaker said, walking over and slamming his hoof on the metal table. "I want to make a deal with you..." Sun Storm said, glaring at Earthshaker. Earthshaker perked his head up and glared at Sun Storm the same way he was being glared at. "Go on?" "You think you're the best guitar player alive?" Sun asked. "Wrong. I know I'm the best." Earthshaker said. "Well, how about a duel. I win, you let my band, if you have them, and me out of this place. You win... you kill me... deal?" "Hm... Alright. Sounds like a deal" Earthshaker said, confident in himself. "I'll get our signature guitars and then we shall begin." Earthshaker added. "I'll get somepony to get you down from those shackles." Earthshaker left. Deep down, Sun Storm wasn't sure about whether or not he'd win this battle. The DuelSun Storm was let down from his chains by two large stallions and escorted to a large empty room that housed a stage in the middle. The stage had two large amps, Sun Storm's Axe, Earthshaker's guitar, and Earthshaker himself. Sun walked onto the stage and plugged the guitar into the amp as his new found mortal enemy did the same. "Before we start, I have some ponies who would like to sit in on this." Earthshaker said and stomped his hoof on the wooden stage. Sun Storm heard hoof steps and he saw his three friends brought out, tied up and hurt. "The hell did you do to them?!" Sun Storm yelled. "I had these guys play with them a while, I was planning on brutally torturing them like I was gonna do to you buuut... I didn't have the time with your little proposition you made." Earthshaker said with a smirk upon his face. Sun Storm looked at his friends. "Don't worry guys... I'm gettin' you guys out." "We believe in you, brother!" Steel Hoof hollered. Sun gave them a smart-ass-like grin and looked down his opponent. "I'll give you the honors of starting." Earthshaker said. "My pleasure..." Sun Storm said. Sun began running the pick down the neck of the guitar and bolted to a powerful start, in which Earthshaker responded playing a similar part to Sun Storm's in a slightly lower key. They began playing aggressively against each other, soon two beams, one blue and the other dark blue emerged from the heads of the two guitars and fought against each other. The two beams eventually exploded with a burst of bright light as the two guitarists went down to the higher notes, the seven spectators were greeted with a classical song that would be played by an orchestra except put to electric guitar, if Sun Storm and Earthshaker had pinkie's they'd be raised. They began playing in unison to form an amazing melody that could be matched by nopony else until they began to go up the notes back and forth. The beams seen before emerged again as they were rising up the notes, Sun's beam was winning. Finally, Sun Storm's beam overtook Earthshaker's, causing him to play five or six sloppy notes, which indicated he had lost. Sun Storm had won. Then something boiled inside Sun Storm. He wanted to annihilate Earthshaker, he wanted revenge. A blue aura began to form around Sun Storm, his eyes then glowed a solid ultra blue color. He started at the low notes and slowly, increasing speed as he went, climbed to the higher frets and began to play with unmatched speed, power, melody, and sheer complexity. When he was finished, everypony in the room' jaws were dropped. Even Sun Storm's band mates who knew about Sun Storm's extensive guitar skill were awe struck. "Alright, Earthshaker. I win. I'm leaving with my friends." Sun Storm said. The anti-magic spell was lifted and he untied his friends using his magic. All of them left Earthshaker's house. They were forever changed after that day. Author's Note To get a good idea of the guitar parts that're being played throughout the guitar duel, look at this video (Sun Storm's parts are played by the blonde in all white and Earthshaker's are being played by the trashy brown haired guy (i.e. Skwisgaar and Toki)) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLUKhtyheV4 The salt on the wound part being played can be found here at 4:53 --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlaicBjFfVc The ConcertAuthor's Note Sorry for the delay, internet issues have kept me from writing another chapter. I hope you all don't hate me profusely! The Concert After making a lot of money and finally getting a band manager, Lightning of Royalty, was finally playing their first ever concert. It was gonna be nothing like their previous gigs in Ponyville, hell no, it was gonna be like that except ten times bigger, instead of about fifty ponies there would be over fifty thousand ponies packing the ground in front of the stage. At least that's what their manager told them, their band manager was named Oliver Trotland, he had managed many bands before Lightning of Royalty and he knew what he was doing when it came to the subject. "Alright guys, we have your first ever concert coming up in two days, this is nothing to go crazy about, considering your current popularity the fans will like to hear you live anyways." Oliver said. "We know." Strummer said, leaning back in his chair. "You guys aren't nervous?" Oliver asked. "Nope." Sun Storm said, fingering notes on his favorite guitar, The Axe. "Huh, well all of the bands I've worked with were at the very least a little nervous on their first concert. You sure you aren't nervous or scared in the slightest?" Oliver asked, only to be hit with a "yes" from all of the band. "In this case, band meeting over. Do what you want." Oliver said, leaving the room. "Any of you guys see the Wonderbolt Derby last night?" Steel Hoof asked. "Yeah." Responded Cloud Wave. Strummer and Sun Hoof shook their heads. "Ever wonder what other bands Oliver managed?" Sun asked, stopping his playing. "Yeah, I wonder if he managed any bands we look up to, y'know?" Steel added. "Yeah! Maybe like... Saber Hoof and The Studs or Iron Maneden!" Strummer said. "Damn right! Maybe even Wingpower or Thundersmith." Cloud Wave asked. "I almost forgot, Thundersmith's gonna be playing at that concert with us, plus a few other bands!" Sun remembered. "Oh dang! This concert's gonna be awesome!" Strummer said ecstatically. The four talked about the concert until they found it good a good time to hit the hay. The next day was devoted to all practicing and the day after was concert day. The band was ready. "Alright, to day's the day guys. Your first concert. Everypony ready?" Oliver asked. "We were born ready, Olly." Sun said playfully. "I hope, I as well as you don't wanna be messing up out there. How much have you all drink today? Oliver asked. "We've been clean." Cloud said. "Good. Let's get on the bus and get to the concert grounds to set up. You guys are on second." Oliver said, opening the door for them. Lightning of Royalty walked out of the room and boarded the bus to take them to the concert grounds, Oliver boarding soon after. The bus began moving at a moderate speed and the five in the back sat back and enjoyed. "So Oliver, what bands did you manage before us?" Steel Hoof asked. "Yeah. Was it anypony famous." Strummer asked soon after. "I'll tell you two of the bands I've managed. I've managed Iron Maneden and Max Speed. You should know them." Oliver said. "I knew it was Iron Maneden!" Strummer said, hopping up. "Didn't most of Max Speed die somehow?" Sun Storm asked. "Yes. Two of them OD'd and the third death was from a freak drunk flying accident with the lead singer. The other two split up and became part of different bands." Oliver explained. "I remember hearing about those deaths, it was on the news one night when I was like ten or something like that. What a sad thing to hear." Sun said. The rest of the ride was silent, the only noise was Sun Storm playing guitar quietly. The other listened to their own music. Finally the bus arrived and the band and manager got off, some roadies took the equipment from the back, Sun let none of them touch his prized guitar when they tried to get it from him. "Alright, remember that you guys go on at 2:00pm, don't get drunk. If you need me I'll be back stage conducting the roadies. Take some time to enjoy yourselves." Oliver said as he walked off. "Alright. Let's go see if any other bands are here yet." Sun said as he walked toward the back stage. Upon reaching the back stage area the band saw a door that read Band Lounge, they headed straight for it. Steel Hoof opened the door and was greeted with the sight of booze, attractive mares, and famous musicians. One stallion approached them. "I know you guys, you're Lightning of Royalty, congrats on your first album being a platinum hit. I would've never saw it coming." The stallion said. "By the way, I'm Shell Shoq." "Yeah, I know you! You're from Glare of Peace!" Cloud Wave said, Glare of Peace was his favorite band of all time. "I am a huge fan." He continued. "That's good, cause I'm a fan of your stuff too, you crush on them vocals!" The dark blue earth pony said. After a while, the band mingled amongst the celebrities that most of them looked up to musically. Sun Storm was grabbing a bottle of hard cider when a familiar looking pony walked over to him, he had a dark green coat and a mane colored brown and white. "Hey, you must be Sun Storm, the stallion everypony's talking about." The stallion said. "Yea--- wait? You're the legendary Earthshaker! From Thundersmith! I'm one of your biggest fans! You're the fastest guitar player on record!" Sun Storm said, he was awe struck that HIS biggest idol and inspiration approached HIM. "You're right. I've seen quite a bit about you on the news. Your record braking music sales are insane." He said. "Well uh... thanks." Sun Storm was once again awe struck. "Wanna hang with us?" Earthshaker asked. "Hell yeah!" Sun responded. Sun sat and talked with the band members of Thundersmith until it was time for the first band to go on, which was Thundersmith. "Good luck guys!" Sun said as his idols walked out of the door. Sun listened to the band play and especially at the signature guitar solo that they played at the end of every show, they always combined speed and complexity in the solos and that was something Sun Storm appreciated. Next up was Lightning of Royalty. As the band was waiting for their equipment to be set up Earthshaker approached Sun Storm. "Hey kid, take this for some good luck out there, keep it." Earthshaker said as he held out a hoof. When Sun saw what was in the hoof he almost shrieked like a school filly. "Your pick?! Are you serious?!" Sun said with intense enjoyment. "Yeah, keep that, I used that on stage by the way." Earthshaker said before walking back into the lounge. Finally, Lightning of Royalty went onstage, when they did, the audience got wild, more wild than when any of the other bands went on and played. When they were done playing it was more than safe to say that they had a successful concert. This was the first concert they had ever played and they looked forward to more after this. EpilogueAfter leaving the house of Earthshaker, Oliver contacted Celestia's Royal Guard and had Thundersmith thrown into a dungeon. Lightning of Royalty has released fourteen total albums, four going platinum, eight going gold, and five going super platinum. The band eventually moved from Manehattan back to Ponyville where they still live. A documentary was made about the band, and they are all multi-millionaires. Strummer and Cloud Wave married two mares, Steel Hoof and Sun Storm didn't care for marriage so they just dated some mares time to time. Eventually the band played for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna which helped the band's career. They inspired many bands to make metal, but nopony could compare to Lightning of Royalty. They still make music for Equestria and don't seem to be stopping soon. Sun Storm was dubbed the best guitarist to ever live. The lightning still lives on. Author's Note I kind of half-assed the epilogue.
Big StartIt was a normal day in Ponyville, at least at the very moment, a few clouds dotted the sky, occasionally moving across the bright sun. Pretty much everypony was outside enjoying the weather except for four stallions that were in a cellar, all were part of the band 'Lightning of Royalty' and proud of it, the band was started a couple of weeks ago by their guitarist, Sun Storm, Sun Storm was an orange unicorn with a blue and white mane, he had a guitar that resembled an Explorer model, it was blue and had white streaks of lightning over the body, his cutie mark was an electric guitar that resembled the one he used, except black and had a sun behind it. He joined his three friends, Strummer, Steel Hoof, and Cloud Wave together and with that they had a band going. Strummer was their bass guitarist, he was a pegasus with a navy blue coat and a dark purple mane that matched up with the color of his SG style bass guitar, his cutie mark was a white bass guitar. Steel Hoof was the drummer of the band, he was an earth pony with light red coat along with a black and white mane, his drum set was a masterpiece of it's own, it had a double bass, eight toms, two snares, and twelve cymbals, all of the drums were colored in black and red, his cutie mark was two brown crossed drumsticks. Finally, Cloud Wave was their lead vocalist and a damn good one, the pegasus had a light gray coat and a burgundy mane, his microphone was modified so he could scream and not blow out the amps it was connected to, his cutie mark was a black microphone with orange and yellow flames around it. "Hurry up and secure that mic so we can get this practice going, I wanna play my axe before I die." Sun Storm complained. "I am trying okay! Jeez dude." Cloud Wave responded, rolling his eyes. After a few seconds Cloud Wave had secured the microphone to the stand, everything was plugged into something if it needed it and with that the very first practice of Lightning of Royalty was under way. They started playing a song that each of them pitched in to write, it was called 'Charge to Battle,' it was the very first piece of music the band had wrote as a team, it started off with a slow but complex riff as an intro and a few seconds after the melodic riff was done the song descended into a bass and electric guitar heavy song or "epic" as the members of the band called it about a soldier of Celestia's royal guard fighting off an unknown enemy and eventually wandering the Equestrian wasteland alone after the battle. Meanwhile outside some ponies that were frolicking in the sun stopped to listen to the song that was emanating from the basement. Everypony that was hearing the song gathered around the cellar door to listen to the lesser heard genre of 'metal,' " I hear! The screams of my men! They fall but I fight on!" Were lyrics Cloud Wave was singing that were captivating everypony, not many citizens of the small town had heard a darker take of lyrics but most were enjoying it. Once the ending happened, which consisted of fourteen structured hits on a snare followed by a slam on the lowest tom, the song stopped and the band heard cheers from outside, curious to what it was, Strummer opened the cellar door to find around twenty or more, ponies congregated outside around the cellar. "Um, guys, I think we have an audience." Strummer said, looking at the crowd. The other band members emerged from the cellar. "Uh... you guys enjoy that?" Sun Storm asked Everypony cheered aloud, all of the band members smiled, they never knew they'd find ponies that like their music! "Wanna hear more?" Sun Storm asked with more confidence. All of the band members hear the crowd yell a loud YEAH!! The four ponies trotted back down to the basement they had emerged from and picked up their instruments, chosing to play another song that the band had written during the three weeks of them not playing, they chose a song called "Chain of Fire", it was about two ponies that had known each other for as long as they could remember and one becomes corrupt with an evil soul, in the end the poor pony gets released from the grips of the dark soul after a long battle over his body with it but there is a twist, his friend had been badly injured because of the dark soul. After playing the five songs they had written the practice was over. "Sorry everypony, we're out of songs to play, practice is over." Sun Storm said to the now crowd of around fifty ponies. The band heard some crowd members sigh or make disappointed noises as the crowd disbanded. Sun Storm stood outside the cellar door and viewed as the crowd disbanded. "Hey! You! Guitar player guy!" An unknown voice said. Sun Storm turned his head and saw a dark grey pegasus with his mane sported in a Mohawk galloping toward him. "Oh hey?" Sun Storm said, hoping the pegasus wasn't asking for guitar lessons. "Do you guys play gigs? My birthday is coming up and I was wondering if you could play your stuff at it, you guys rock! Oh, my name is Thunder Lane by the way." The energetic pegasus said. "I dunno, if it's cool with my bandmates, when is it?" Sun said. "One week from now, so Tuesday of next week." Thunder Lane said, hoping he could get these ponies to play at his birthday party. "I dunno, lemme ask 'em. Hey guys! Wanna play a gig next Tuesday?!" Sun Storm yelled down the cellar. Three yeah's were heard from the bottom of the stairs and with that they had their first gig. "Yeah, looks like we can play, my name is Sun Storm by the way." Sun Storm said with a smile. "Yes! I can't wait to hear you guys' music again! Thank you guys so much!" Thunder Lane said, Sun Storm felt good knowing he had made someponys day. "I'll see you next Tuesday." Sun Storm said as he ventured back into the cellar. "Well everypony. We have a gig next Thursday!" Sun Storm hollered. His bandmates gave a hardy WOOO and with that they were ready for Tuesday. Their first ever gig.
First GigLightning of Royalty had been practicing for their first gig all week, if there was an open moment to practice they would, they wanted to play the best gig anypony had ever heard. Sun Storm had gotten more skill in guitar playing, same with the rest of the band on their designated instruments. By Monday the band knew they were ready to rock everyponys face more than it had ever been rocked before. It was Tuesday or as Lightning of Royalty called it 'Gig Day', the band was setting up at Sugar Cube Corner, where the party was being held. "Is there anything we can help ya with?" Mrs. Cake asked in the usual happy tone. "No Mrs. Cake, we're fine, thanks for asking though." Sun Storm said smiling as he strummed his guitar or 'Axe' as enjoyed calling it. "Well just tell us if you need anything!" Mrs. Cake said cheerfully. Strummer gave a nod and the band carried on setting up. "Man, I'm getting pretty anxious, when do we actually play? Steel Hoof asked. "We don't go for another two hours but the party itself starts in about thirty minutes." Cloud Wave said. "Well, in that case I'm going up to Sweet Apple Acres, see if I can't buy a nice mug of hard cider to calm my nerves." Steel said "Don't get shitfaced man, we don't need a boozed up drummer playing inappropriate blast beats at random times throughout the show. Strummer, go with him, make sure he only has one mug." Sun Storm said, wishing Steel Hoof didn't drink to calm his nerves. Strummer and Steel Hoof trotted out of the door, leaving Sun Storm and Cloud Wave to sit and talk as they finished the final preparations for the show. As the two finished they saw two ponies step into the establishment, one Sun Storm recognized as Thunder Lane, but the mare he was with neither Sun Storm nor' Cloud Wave knew. "Hey Thunder Lane!" Sun Storm said. "Hey guys! Where're your bass player and drummer at?" Thunder Lane asked. "Our drummer, Steel Hoof, was getting anxious so he went to grab a drink from Sweet Apple Acres, I sent Strummer, the bass player, to go with him, y'know, to make sure he didn't get plastered." Sun explained. "Ha ha ha! Well anyways, the party'll be starting pretty soon, you guys ready to play?" Thunder Lane said. "Hell yeah, who all's gonna be here?" Sun Storm asked. "Eh, primarily just some friends from the weather team, Pinkie Pie will obviously be here too." Thunder Lane explained. "So you're the pony we're playing for?" Cloud Wave asked. "Yep, name's Thunder Lane." "Cloud Wave" "Who's your friend?" Sun asked, directing his attention to the pegasus standing next to Thunder Lane. "This is Flitter, a good friend of mine." Thunder Lane said. The group talked as they waited for the party to start, meanwhile Steel Hoof and Strummer were on their way back from the farm. "That cup o' booze put you at ease?" Strummer asked jokingly. "Hell yeah. I love myself a good mug of hard cider, the way it slithers down my throat and how the foam accommodates it well." Steel Hoof was too busy fantasizing to realize Strummer was giggling like a school filly at him for what he just said. Steel Hoof came to his senses and slugged Strummer in the side. "Dude. You know what you just said sounded pretty gay? Right?" Strummer said before chuckling more. "Yeah, yeah, shut up ya bastard. Let's just head back to Sugar Cube and not speak or that ever again." Steel Hoof said, rolling his eyes. The two continued walking to Sugar Cube and talking about nothing of any real significance to themselves or the show they were gonna be playing. The party was going well, the members of Lightning of Royalty were mingling among the guests, Strummer and Cloud Wave especially due to them being pegasi like the majority of the other guests. Steel Hoof and Sun Storm sat on the stage and chatted, Sun Storm was fingering or "hoofing", if you will, some notes and chords as they talked. "So that drink do ya well?" Sun asked. "Yeah, it was good." Steel responded. "Wanna describe it to me?" Sun Storm asked, hoping Steel would get what he was doing. "Yeah, it was... wait... Strummer told you about that?! Ah, what a dildo!" Steel Hoof said, laughing off the question. The two laughed aloud at the whole exchange of dialogue and continued talking until Pinkie came onstage. "Hey everypony! Is everypony enjoying the party?!" Pinkie said enthusiastically. The crowd gave a loud YEAH! which everypony knew made Pinkie feel good. "Well it's about to get better! We have some live music here for you! Let's give a warm welcome to... LIGHTNING OF ROYALTY!" Pinkie said. A loud cheer was heard from the crowd and soon after Strummer and Cloud Wave took the stage. "Thank you Pinkie Pie, for the amazingly enthusiastic introduction, we love it!" Cloud Wave said before continuing. "We're happy to be here for Thunder Lane's birthday, to honor his birthday and our first performance we are going to sing a metal cover of the 'Happy Birthday Song'!" The crowd gave a loud cheer once again. Sun Storm looked into the crowd and saw Thunder Lane's face light up. Sun Storm began playing the song on The Axe and soon Strummer, Steel Hoof, and Cloud Wave joined in with their musical talents to form the most metal birthday song ever! By the end of the song everypony was cheering extremely loud and wanted the band to play more, lucky for the crowd the band did, they played all of their original music they wrote as a band and did a few covers of other songs they knew. "Thank you all for being here to celebrate Thunder Lane's birthday and watch us play our music!" Cloud Wave said as it was the end of their show. The crowd was ecstatic, what the band wanted achieved was achieved, they had rocked everyponys face. While the band was putting away their equipment they were approached by Thunder Lane. "Hey guys, thanks for playing, actually, I can't thank you enough. Take these bits." Thunder Lane said as he held out a hoof that held a little bag that contained forty bits. Sun Storm, like the rest of the band, had never thought that they'd get payed for their musical services. "Uh... you don't have to pay us, keep the cash." Sun said. "I insist." Thunder Lane said, Sun Storm knew Thunder Lane wouldn't budge so he took the money. "Thanks man." Sun said with a smile. "No, thank you, you dudes rock hard! I hope to hear your stuff again! Your sound'll never get old to me!" Thunder Lane said, trotting out the door. "Did we just get payed for playing music?" Steel Hoof asked. "Ya know what, Steel? I think we did." Sun Storm said as a grin slowly came upon his face. "How much'd we get?" Strummer asked. Sun took the money out of the bag and counted it out. "Forty bits. Ten for each of us." After all of the money was divided equally and the equipment was put away the four ponies split and went home. Sun Hoof was now aware he could make money playing music and now that he knew he liked it.
Hitting It BigAfter word of Lighting of Royalty's performance at Thunder Lane's party got out, everypony wanted to get the band to play, the band started charging forty bits per show, which was a reasonable price for how much they were enjoyed by everypony. The band had also written five more songs to make performances longer and to have the band learn more things about their musical talents. Due to all of the different gigs the band had played, everypony in Ponyville were at the least aware of Lighting of Royalty's presence. "Dude, I never thought we'd become this popular, y'know?" Strummer said, sitting against one of the cellar walls, sipping a hard cider. "I know, it's crazy. What have you guys been buying with your gig money?" Sun Storm asked. "I got myself some surround sound for my room, it sounds great." Steel Hoof said. "I bought a tux." Cloud Wave said. "I'm saving up for a new bass." Strummer said. "What about you, Sun?" "I've only bought one thing, a pair of aviator shades, other than that, I've been saving." Sun Storm said, using his magic to levitate a brown lensed pair of aviator shades out of his guitar case and sliding them on his face. They all sat relaxing until they heard the telephone ring. "I got it." Steel Hoof said, trotting to the phone and picking it up. "Hello?" "Hey, Steel, it's Pinkie!" "Oh, hey Pinks, what's up?" "The sky, silly! Duh!" The other three band members listened the best they could to the conversation Steel Hoof was having with Pinkie Pie but they all couldn't really figure it out until Steel Hoof told them. When Steel Hoof was done on the phone he walked over to his friends. "Hey guys, wanna play a gig Friday?" "Sure, is it one of Pinkie's parties?" Sun asked. "Yeah but it's one of her biggest parties she's ever planned and she wants to know if we'll play at it, she said everypony'll probably be there! She'll pay us a whopping three hundred bits!" Steel Hoof was ecstatically saying. Strummer spat out cider onto the floor and coughed. "Three hundred bits?! That's like... seventy five bits for each of us, right?!" "Hell yeah! Everypony in?!" Steel Hoof asked, you could hear every ounce of excitement in his voice. Everypony nodded and clunked their hooves together. This show was gonna be great! "We gotta practice hard for this, Friday is in two days." Sun said, levitating his Axe toward him. "Let's go!" Cloud Wave said. The band began to practice with more energy than ever before. This gig was only gonna get better for them. After two days of almost nonstop practicing, the band was ready for this show. "You guys ready?" Sun asked all of his friends. All said yeah and with that they approached Pinkie, who was putting up the final touches of the party decorations. "Hey, Pinkie!" Sun said, waving a hoof. "Hey guys! The stage is over there!" Pinkie said, pointing to a column-like obstruction that had to be at least fifteen feet tall. "Whoa... we've never played on such a tall tower." Steel Hoof said, looking at the top of the column. "Well, I thought the coolest band in Equestria deserves the coolest stage too! Did I mention the pyrotechnics?" Pinkie said, grinning. "Pyrotechnics! Oh sweet! How do they work?!" Strummer asked, exited for how cool this was gonna be but also scared because it was Pinkie who set up the fireworks. After a quick run down of how the fireworks were gonna work, forty five minutes of unpacking instruments, and an hour long practice session for good luck the band was ready to play. Guests had started to arrive and the band began to mingle amongst the ponies that were attending the gathering. Sooner or later the band realized that when Pinkie says "everyponys gonna be there" she really means it. The members of Lighting of Royalty saw so many ponies, Rainbow Dash, captain of the weather team, Applejack, the pony who runs Sweet Apple Acres and the band's supplier of hard cider, DJ-PON3, the biggest dj in Ponyville, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who tried to get their 'guitar tuning cutie marks' by trying to tune Sun Storm's Axe, Rarity, the biggest fashion designer in Ponyville and Canterlot, even Princess Twilight Sparkle showed up, not to mention many more, the band was amazed. "Well I dunno 'bout you guys but I'm gonna test my luck with Ms. Rainbow Dash." Strummer said as he walked in that direction until he was pulled back by Sun Storm's hoof. "Before we split ways until the actual show, I need you guys to keep an eye on how much you drink, no more than two hard ciders, you especially, Steel Hoof. We don't need plastered musicians not knowing what they're doing." Sun said to all of his band mates. "We'll watch it." Steel Hoof said. They all agreed not to drink more than two hard ciders and parted ways to talk to party goers. Strummer was trying to see if Rainbow Dash would go out with him but he was failing at it comedically, Steel Hoof almost immediately hit the bar to pick up his first cider, Cloud was off to talk to a couple of friends he recognized, and Sun Storm just kinda sat on one of the steps that lead to the top of the column stage they were gonna play on. Sun then felt a presence sit down next to him, he looked to his left to see that it was DJ-PON3. "Why're you just sittin' here? You should be out enjoying everyponys company." The pale yellow, almost white, unicorn said. "Eh, I don't usually start conversations with people. I ain't that kind of pony I guess." Sun Storm said "Well I am, anyways, why don't I introduce myself, I'm Vinyl Scratch, or as you may know me, DJ-PON3. What's your name?" Vinyl asked. "I'm Sun Storm, I like your music." Sun said as a smile formed on his face. "I like your music too. I wouldn't expect a metalhead like yourself to be into my genre. Then again I bet you didn't expect me to like your genre either." Vinyl responded "It's awesome to see that a pony like yourself like my bands music, especially since your pretty famous and all." Sun said. "Yeah, it's nothin'. Hey, want me to hook you up with my producer, he'll probably want you guys to be playing for his label, y'know, since you guys rock and all." Vinyl asked. "You'd really do that?!" Sun Storm said, jumping to his hooves. "Yeah!" Vinyl said before she was embraced in a hug from Sun Storm. "Oh, thank you so much Vinyl!" Sun said, almost in tears of happiness. "Any time dude, here's my number, call me up when you guys are ready to head to the label, I ain't doin' nothin' tomorrow so I'll be game whenever." Vinyl said as she was released from Sun's hug. It was finally time to play, the band walked up to the top of the stage. "So how did it go with Rainbow?" Steel Hoof asked jokingly. "She said she'd think about it." Strummer said feeling a bit bummed. "She'll probably change her mind after what I'm going to tell you after this show." Sun said grinning The whole band didn't know what Sun Storm was speaking of but they knew whatever it was it was probably important. Upon reaching the top of the stage and getting ready on their designated instruments the concert was ready to begin. "Mares and gentlecolts.... we are... LIGHTNING OF ROYALTY!" Cloud Wave metal-screamed into the microphone. That made the crowd erupt with cheers. "Now, Sun Storm. Start us off." Cloud Wave said. Sun Storm didn't hesitate, he began playing a guitar-only song he had written, it was fast, complex, and melodic, nopony would even think it was possible for anypony else to play, even the most skilled of guitarists. When the three minute fourteen second piece was over, everypony stood silent, jaws dropping in awe. Finally they shook themselves of the trance and began cheering. Nopony was happier at that moment more that Sun Storm. The rest of the concert went well as planned, they played all ten of their original song plus five cover songs and with that the show was over and everypony was cheering as the band walked down the stairs, each band member signed at least one autograph which was a first to Lightning of Royalty, they'd have excited crowds but never crowds that wanted autographs. "Hey guys, You know that thing I referenced as we were walking up stage?!" Sun yelled over the screaming fans. "Yeah! What of it?!" Cloud answered. "We have a meeting with a record label tomorrow! We might be famous!" Sun yelled once more. "Really?!" Steel Hoof asked. "Yeah, Steel, really!" Sun responded. "Woooooooo!" Strummer yelled. The band was so happy to finally have chances at being famous, all thanks to a mare named Vinyl Scratch. The band was the happiest they'd ever been.
The LabelSun Storm had woken up early that morning, he was having trouble sleeping last night even though he had four ciders after the show and usually that would put him out cold but his excitement kept him up to a little after 1:00am. Sun called up Steel Hoof, who he knew was awake. Steel Hoof answered the phone with a lively "What's up?" "Not much, you get any sleep last night?" Sun asked. "Barely, too excited for today, the fact we could go pro made me flip. I had that feeling you get in your stomach when you know something awesome is gonna happen!" Steel said, expressing his happiness. "I know! You think the others are awake?" Sun inquired. "I hope, man, I'm ready to go. I guess Strummer got together with that Rainbow Dash and he got her to go to his house with him." Steel Hoof said, slightly laughing. "Ha! Are you serious?!" Sun said in a full laugh. "Hell yeah, dude!" The two spent some time talking about the highlights of last night, funny moments, how Sun Storm met Vinyl Scratch, joking about Strummer getting a possible marefriend. After joking around on the phone for fifteen minutes the two stallions agreed to meet at Sugar Cube and from their rally the other two band members from their houses. Steel Hoof was leaning against Sugar Cube Corner when Sun Storm approached him. "Sup, dude." Steel Hoof said, that being his usual form of 'hello'. "Yo. You ready to hit up Strummer and Cloud's houses?" Sun asked, knowing what the response would be. "Hell yeah. Let's go." Steel Hoof said, almost saying exactly what Sun had thought, which was a simple hell yeah. The two went to Strummer's house first, as they arrived, they saw Rainbow Dash leaving his house and Strummer in the door way, waving goodbye to the mare. The two trotted over to the door Strummer was standing in. "Hey dude. You ready to head to Cloud Wave's place?" Sun asked. "Hell yeah. Let's go." Strummer said, stepping out of the door. "How was Rainbow Dash, if you're catching my drift?" Steel asked jokingly. "Eh, we didn't really fuck, just kind of drunkenly made out a ton then went to sleep in my bed." Strummer said, a little bummed he didn't get any action. "Well, you'll have sex with something eventually, Strummer." Sun Storm said. "Yeah, you're righ- wait... something? What's that supposed to mean?" Strummer responded. All of them joked until they hit up Cloud's house. Sun walked up and knocked on the door, only to be greeted by Cloud Wave. "I take it you guys are ready?" Cloud Wave asked. "Yeah, let's go." Sun said. The four stallions went back to Sun Storm's house. Sun called up Vinyl, in three beeps she answered. "Hello?" The mare on the other end asked. "Yeah, it's Sun Storm, the guitarist of Lighting of Royalty. You told me to call you whenever so we could head up to the record label." Sun Storm said. "Oh yeah, head up to my place and we'll get ourselves a train ticket, tell everypony to bring their instrument." Vinyl said. "Got it. We'll be over in twenty minutes." Sun said and hung up the phone. "Come on, get your instruments and meet at Vinyl's house, it has a record on the front door, hard to miss." Sun said as he went to his room and grabbed is Axe and shoved it in it's case. Sooner or later, everypony was at Vinyl's house, then the train station, then on a train to Manehattan, where the label was located. "So, who exactly is this label head? Is he a douche?" Steel Hoof asked. "His name is Mr. Buck, he is harsh so watch what you say, I almost got fired on my first day because of something I said." the dj explained. "Anything else we should know?" Cloud asked. "If I had more useful info I'd tell it to you." Vinyl said. "We've arrived at Manehattan Station!" The train conductor hollered. Lightning of Royalty and Vinyl Scratch exited the train and began the walk to the label building. The band had Steel Hoof walk ahead of them though keeping behind Vinyl so people would keep out of their way due to the large carriage that held Steel Hoof's drums inside of it. Upon reaching the label building the four stallions realized that this building was huge, it had to be at least forty stories high! The five ponies entered the building. "Hello Ms. Scratch, who are these fellows?" The secretary asked. "They call themselves 'Lightning of Royalty', a metal band from Ponyville, there here for a meeting with Mr. Buck." The pale yellow mare said. "Oh. Well good luck!" The secretary said. The band nodded in thanks and continued to an elevator, it was a tight fit but still a fit. They were silent as the elevator went up, the only sound was the crappy elevator music. Finally, they reached floor thirty five, the floor where Mr. Buck's office was. Vinyl opened the door and they all walked into the office. It was ice white with pictures of the past owners of the label hanging on one side and on the other side were an assortment of gold and platinum records hanging on the wall, some of the bands the Lightning of Royalty members recognized as inspirations to their music, in the middle sat Mr. Buck at his desk. Mr. Buck was a white pony with a long black mane, his head was bald, he was also rather fat and wore a white tuxedo. "Hello Mr. Buck, this is that band I was telling you about. Lightning of Royalty." Vinyl said formally. Mr. Buck stood up from his desk and walked over to survey the musicians, he walked by them as if they were worthless but it didn't phase the band. "I hope they sound better than they look." Mr. Buck said, eyeing the band members. "Sir, I'll assure you we do." Sun Storm said. Mr. Buck led them to a studio where the band entered and began unpacking, as they were doing that Vinyl and Mr. Buck stood in the listening room and watched them. "Who are these ponies and why did you bring them here?" Mr. Buck asked the blue maned mare sitting next to him. "They are fantastic musicians, so good that they deserve to be heard by all of Equestria, not just Ponyville." Vinyl said, she really meant what she said, the members of the band were fantastic players of music and nice ponies overall Vinyl thought. Once the band was done setting up Mr. Buck told them to play a song, any song they had written, so the band decided to play the first song they ever played, 'Charge to Battle'. When the first notes from the guitar were hit, Mr. Buck was very much impressed and by the end of the song he had a grin on his face. "Uh... was that good?" Cloud Wave asked. Mr. Buck entered the room the band was in. "Good? That was great! Let's head back to the office and get you signed!" The entire band smiled in relief, looks like Vinyl wasn't completely right about this guy being so strict Sun Storm thought to himself and he was sure his bandmates were thinking the same thing. They headed back to the office, signed some papers, and with that, they were pro. Many opportunities had just opened up for the band, big ones.
The AlbumThe band had been working on their first album since they got signed to the label and they were doing it by themselves, usually you didn't see that with band on an album in Equestria, let alone a first album. The four stallions had been working day in day out on this album, sometimes missing sleep and meals, to make this album rock. "Alright Sun, can you play that again, except this time louder, we're having trouble picking up the high notes on your guitar." Cloud Wave said, Cloud Wave was very sleep deprived, he had dark bags under his yellow eyes, which were bloodshot, and was pretty much surviving on coffee to keep him awake. "Alright, fine." Sun said, getting ready to play again, he and all of his friends were very tired. After two failed recordings of just the guitar, the band decided to give up on it and wait until tomorrow to work on it. They all needed sleep badly if they were gonna play well enough for the album. The four exited the studio and headed to their nice hotel Mr. Buck had bought them. "After a good rest I should be playing guitar better tomorrow morning." Sun Storm said. "I hope so. we can't have you going in there and making miscellaneous noises with those strings." Cloud said. When the four arrived in the hotel they parted ways to their rooms on the fourth floor of the hotel. Upon arriving in his room, Sun Storm set his Axe down on the bed next to the bed he slept in most, sometimes he'd just collapse on a random bed depending on how tired he was, he slumped onto the messy bed and gripped the TV remote with his magic. He turned on the TV to the news channel, which usually put him to sleep, but as he was drifting to sleep he heard some words that perked his interest and made him look at the TV, the words were "Lightning of Royalty". Sun kept watching the TV, wondering what was being said of his band. "Aspiring band, Lightning of Royalty, is now in the midst of making their first album, except they're doing it on their own, which is something not often seen in the music world. I've caught up with the drummer of the band, Steel Hoof. Mr. Hoof, would you like to say anything on the subject of the new album?" The news mare asked, Sun then saw the camera pan to Steel Hoof. "They must be in the building." Sun Storm muttered to himself, eyes still glued to the TV. "Well, I ain't gonna give away anything big, except that it's taking a physical toll on us all and that the album is gonna rock." Steel told the mare. "Anything else?" The perky navy blue and yellow maned mare asked. "Not that I can say on live television but I have one more thing to say overall. Mom, if you're watchin' this, hi, your son finally made it big." Steel Hoof said with a smirk as he went into his room. "Well, you heard it here, solo producing an album is hard but can pay off. Next on Celebrity News, is Sapphire Shores, the pop sensation of Equestria, selling out? Find out more next." The mare said, before Sun switched the television off. You did good, Steel Sun Storm thought before drifting to sleep. Meanwhile, twenty two miles away, a dark green pony with a brown and white mane along with a matching goatee just changed the channel from what he just watched to a metal documentary about his band, Thundersmith. "Lightning of Royalty, huh?" He said to himself "Won't take them long to just become another band in this city." Sun Storm woke up at 11:46am and had to rush out the door to get to the studio, he promised his fellow band mates he'd be to the studio at about 12:00pm, he arrived at 12:13pm. "Sorry I was late, I slept in." Sun Storm said, panting from his run from the hotel to the studio. "We don't care, get in there and let's record." Cloud Wave said. Sun went into the recording room, warmed up to play, and began playing through the song "Flaming Mane". When he was finished he exited the studio and was given a nod of approval from his fellow band mates. Once that was done they needed to record two more songs. A few days later the second to last song of the album, Child of The Land, was finished, and four days after that, the very last song, Lighting of Royalty, which was a personal favorite of every member of the band, was completed. They had gotten the album done before the deadline. They all went to the hotel happy on that last day, knowing that the album was completed with time to spare. Sun had gotten into bed that night and went to sleep quickly and ended up having a weird nightmare. He was in an all black space but he felt watched, he kept turning around uncontrollably, finally, a pony that was all white, no mane, facial features, clothes, anything, was all of a sudden in front of him, a mouth tore from the pony's face and let out an ear piercing scream that made Sun Storm jolt awake in a cold sweat. Sun got up and ran to the studio. we was gonna surprise the band in the morning with a new track to add as a bonus to the album. Sun Storm awoke to the sound of the studio door opening and slamming shut, followed by the voices of his three bandmates. "Uh, Sun, what're you doing here?" Strummer asked. "I had a nightmare, I was up all night writing and making a song for it, it's already recorded and everything, it's on the computer if you guys wanna listen, I like it." Sun said. After hearing the song, the other band members agreed it should be a part of the album, it was put as track five, right in the middle of the album. After a few days of playing around with some things and three re-recordings of some songs the album was complete, it was to be self-titled and the band chose to release it three days early. CD copies of the album sold out in just about every store in the first two days and raked in a lot of money online. Within a month, each member of the band had thousands of bits. Their dream had come true. They were finally successful. Author's Note Sorry for the wait!
Charity Show Prep"It is official, Lightning of Royalty's new album, All Equestrian Party, has been released, stores are already getting raided for hopes of buying a copy of the album, that the band says "Is ten times better than the last one!"" The stallion on the news channel said before Oliver turned off the television "Well fellas, looks like the new album is a huge success like the last one." Oliver said. "Well, as long as the fans enjoy it, I'm happy." Strummer said. "How's the whole charity concert set-up going?" Sun Storm asked. "As of now it's going well, we've already raked in about two hundred thousand bits in ticket orders." Oliver informed the band. "Fantastic!" Steel Hoof exclaimed. "Anypony see Cloud anywhere?" Oliver asked. "He had a big night with a fan if you're catching my drift." Sun said jokingly. "I hope he doesn't plan on getting in a committed relationship with a fan, you guys know how that goes." Steel Hoof said. "Yeah, dude." Sun said. "Why is that bad?" Strummer asked. "Well... uhh... shit dude, I dunno." Steel Hoof responded. "Yeah. It's like banging somepony with "special needs", you don't know why you don't do that, you just know that you shouldn't." Sun said. "Oh. I see what you're sayin'." Strummer said. "Alright, well the concert is tomorrow so I suggest you be ready and NOT hungover like you've been the past couple days." Oliver said before exiting the room. "Well, we might as well get some practice in." Steel said. "But Cloud Wave ain't up yet." Sun Storm responded. "Fuck him. He won't be up 'til twelve-ish anyways, that is if our music doesn't wake him up." Steel said. "Good point. Alright, come on." Sun said, getting up and heading for the door. The band began playing some songs off of their new album. House Fire, Diamonds, and Party Song were the songs that were coming form the practice room. "Woo. That was some heavy drumming on House Fire." Steel Hoof said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Still, it was a good practice sesh." Sun said, strumming his guitar. Cloud Wave then walked into the room, still visibly tired. "You guys started practice without me?" He asked, still tired. "Yeah. You was up all night fucking and we weren't gonna wait for you to wake up." Steel said, shrugging. "Oh. Well, I need my coffee and if you guys are still practicing I'll join in I guess." Cloud said, walking off silently. When he left the practice room the entire band started laughing hysterically. "Dude! I've never seen him act like such a dope! That friggin' mare must've done some bondage-style stuff to him, man!" Sun Storm said, laughing harder than he ever has. "I know, man! Shit!" Steel said, doing the same. Strummer was on the floor laughing so hard that he wasn't making any noise. After a good ten minutes of solid laughter the three composed themselves. "Damn that's good." Sun said, wiping a tear from his cheek. "I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life, man." Strummer said. Cloud Wave walked into the room and all eyes were on him. "Hey dude. How'd you sleep last night?" Steel asked. "You know. How you feel after sex? That kind of sleep." Cloud responded, securing a microphone to a mic stand. "How was she? Who was she?" Sun asked. "She was... different-" Cloud got cut off. "Okay, we just wanna know how kinky she got. You were actin' like a dope and that's our first instinct when you act that way. How kinky they got." Steel said, no sugar coating on his statement at all. "Ha! REALLY kinky, man. You thought the dominatrix's were bad? This mare...woo. Crazy." Cloud said, making his friends erupt with laughter. "Alright, let's get practicing." Cloud said. The band began practicing, this time with all of them present. It seemed when the band was united as one they sounded more strong and powerful, with Steel Hoof and Strummers house-wrecking sound and the rhythm that Sun Storm and Cloud Wave made, they were all joined into a perfect combination of musical sound. "Uh... sir, since that new band, Lightning of Royalty, I think, has hopped into town, the album sales have dropped and you're making less bits than before." A grey-blue stallion with a white mane told lead guitarist of Thundersmith, Earthshaker. "What." Was all he uttered before standing up from a brown office chair. The scrawny pony shuddered as the significantly larger stallion he worked for walked past him. "Uh... sir? Is everything alright?" The scrawny pony asked. "No. I'm calling a band meeting about this, get the other members of my band so I can discuss this with them." Earthshaker said, leaving out of the door. After about twenty five minutes all members of Thundersmith were in a room with dark red walls made of velvet, on the walls, a pattern of gold and platinum records hung, in the middle was an elongated cream colored table with black office chairs on the sides and on one end was a chair that sat Earthshaker. "We're losing cash, guys. We started losing it when Lightning of Royalty came to town." He said. "What?! Really?!" The drummer of Thundersmith, Eddie Cobalt, who was a cobalt unicorn, said. "Yes. We need something done about it." Earthshaker said. "Indeed. Eventually we'll be broke." A male voice that composed a Canterlot accent said. This was a male pegasus known as White Rose, the lead singer of the band. "Exactly where I'm getting at. When is our next concert that features Lightning of Royalty?" Earthshaker asked. "Tomorrow at a charity event." Bass player, Boomer said. "Good. Here's the plan I have in mind..." The plan that Earthshaker had was insane. More insane than any other band could have thought of.
The Charity ShowFinally it was show day. The biggest show the band had ever played, all of the members of Lightning of Royalty were excited for the show, they didn't stop talking about it until they arrived at the show grounds. "Alright, fellas, you know the drill, no getting drunk before the show, try to stay in the lounge." Oliver said. "Yeah, you got it, Olly." Sun Storm said as he and his band-mates made their way to the lounge where all of the mares and famous musicians hung out. Upon arriving into the room, the band was greeted with Earthshaker along with the other members of Thundersmith. "Hey, how's it goin', man?" Earthshaker asked Sun Storm. "Fantastic. How about you?" Sun responded. "Great." Earthshaker responded. The two talked for a while until it was announced that Thundersmith go onstage. "Hey before I go, I gotta ask, you still using that pick a gave you?" Earthshaker asked. "Hell yeah." Sun Storm responded back with a grin. Earthshaker then left the room to go onstage and play for the masses. Soon after them Lightning of Royalty headed out to rock the crowd. "Hey man, this shit's good." Sun Storm said drunkenly to a sober Earthshaker. "It's called Skull Kracker, it makes your brain feel like it's exploding." Earthshaker said. "Dang. I see why." Sun said. Everypony in Lightning of Royalty was totally shitfaced, Thundersmith's plan was going just as planned. They were gonna get the band drunk, let them pass out in their bus, and from there take them to 'The Dungeon'. "Hey guys, I think you've had a lot to drink, come on and lay down, we'll take care of ya until morning." Eddie Cobalt said, motioning to two large sofas. The band all crashed around the sofas. Finally Thundersmith relocated them to 'The Dungeon', which was under Earthshaker's house, and after about an hour of moving the passed out bodies of Lightning of Royalty to the underground torture chamber they went to bed. "Hey man, where the hell are we?" Cloud Wave said groggily. "Piss, man, I dunno, all I do know is that my back hurts like a bitch." Strummer said. "Uh... dudes? I don't think this is where we crashed last night." Steel Hoof said, sitting up and taking in the surroundings, he was good at handling hangovers due to the many he had in the past in the past. "Shit, dude. I think you're fuckin' right." Cloud Wave said. "Also, I don't think Sun Storm is with us." Steel added. The band looked around the dark room and found that Steel Hoof was right, Sun Storm was nowhere to be seen. "I'm checking to see if this door works." Steel Hoof said, wobbling up from his spot on the uneven stone floor. Upon reaching the door, Steel Hoof found it was locked. "Well. This son of a bitch is locked up. Looks like we're doomed." Steel said, shrugging and walking to the nearest corner to take a seat. "Can't be." Cloud Wave said. "I'm kicking this bitch down." Cloud being the biggest out of the four wobbled over to the door, reared up and bucked as hard as he could on the door in hopes of breaking it down. All that happened was a large echo of the door clanking as it was bucked throughout the halls of this dungeon-like area. Meanwhile, in a room down the hall from the four friends an orange unicorn hung by the hooves, chained to a wall with tape over his mouth and an anti-magic spell put on his horn. "Sounds like your friends are awake." Earthshaker said to Sun Storm. "MMMMMMM!" was all Sun said to Earthshaker. "Don't worry, I'll make your death long and painful." Earthshaker said softly into the ear of Sun Storm. Deep down inside Sun Storm was scared but at the same time all of this was happening, he was hatching an escape plan and he thought he had a really good one in mind.
TortureEarthshaker walked over to a metal table that had a leather case that surgical instruments were stored in on it. He withdrew a small scalpel. This is gonna hurt Sun Storm thought to himself. "Alright, this is gonna hurt a lot. Be ready." Earthshaker said. The three centimeter medical instrument's blade was inserted halfway into Sun Storm's side, causing him to whimper and flinch. Earthshaker slid the blade down his side, making a five inch long incision on the side which caused blood to bead on the wound. Earthshaker walked over to the table and grabbed a large bottle of... alcohol? Sun Storm was confused by this until Earthshaker splashed some on the wound, causing Sun to make a noise that he didn't even know he could make due to the burning sensation it caused. Come on you crazy fuck, take the damn tape off of my mouth Sun Storm though as he eyeballed Earthshaker with burning hatred. "Oh. I see you're not enjoying this. Well making evil eyes at me won't make your death shorter or less painful, as a matter of fact it might make it more drawn out." Earthshaker said. A new tool was chosen from the bag, they were defibrillators. Earthshaker secured them to his hooves and rubbed them together for a good three minutes, as he was doing this, the two guitarists had a stare down. Finally, Earthshaker made his way to Sun Storm and forcefully pushed the defibs onto Sun's chest, causing a lot of electricity to course throughout Sun Storms body, he cried out in pain through out the minute long session of electric shock. "I'll give you a break for now, I've got other things to do." Earthshaker said as he stepped out of the room. Once Earthshaker was out of the room Sun Storm began to lick the tape, in hopes of peeling it off little by little and after a while, it worked, the tape was on the floor and Sun's mouth was free. Meanwhile in the other room, Steel Hoof, Strummer, and Cloud Wave were sitting in the middle of their cold and hard room. "Hey guys." A familiar voice said. All of them whipped their heads around to see Earthshaker behind the door they were locked in by. "Hey dude, where the hell are we?" Steel asked. "I dunno but you gotta come out here!" Earthshaker said, opening the door. They all ran out into the hallway only to be tackled by three large stallions. "What the hell?!" Cloud stuttered out. "Take 'em to different rooms, do what you want with them." Earthshaker said as the three Lightning of Royalty members tried to squirm free. Now, time to get back to Sun Storm Earthshaker said as he walked to Sun Storm's torture room. Upon entering the room he found Sun Storm had gotten his tape off. "Damn, now I have to get more tape!" Earthshaker said, walking over and slamming his hoof on the metal table. "I want to make a deal with you..." Sun Storm said, glaring at Earthshaker. Earthshaker perked his head up and glared at Sun Storm the same way he was being glared at. "Go on?" "You think you're the best guitar player alive?" Sun asked. "Wrong. I know I'm the best." Earthshaker said. "Well, how about a duel. I win, you let my band, if you have them, and me out of this place. You win... you kill me... deal?" "Hm... Alright. Sounds like a deal" Earthshaker said, confident in himself. "I'll get our signature guitars and then we shall begin." Earthshaker added. "I'll get somepony to get you down from those shackles." Earthshaker left. Deep down, Sun Storm wasn't sure about whether or not he'd win this battle.
The DuelSun Storm was let down from his chains by two large stallions and escorted to a large empty room that housed a stage in the middle. The stage had two large amps, Sun Storm's Axe, Earthshaker's guitar, and Earthshaker himself. Sun walked onto the stage and plugged the guitar into the amp as his new found mortal enemy did the same. "Before we start, I have some ponies who would like to sit in on this." Earthshaker said and stomped his hoof on the wooden stage. Sun Storm heard hoof steps and he saw his three friends brought out, tied up and hurt. "The hell did you do to them?!" Sun Storm yelled. "I had these guys play with them a while, I was planning on brutally torturing them like I was gonna do to you buuut... I didn't have the time with your little proposition you made." Earthshaker said with a smirk upon his face. Sun Storm looked at his friends. "Don't worry guys... I'm gettin' you guys out." "We believe in you, brother!" Steel Hoof hollered. Sun gave them a smart-ass-like grin and looked down his opponent. "I'll give you the honors of starting." Earthshaker said. "My pleasure..." Sun Storm said. Sun began running the pick down the neck of the guitar and bolted to a powerful start, in which Earthshaker responded playing a similar part to Sun Storm's in a slightly lower key. They began playing aggressively against each other, soon two beams, one blue and the other dark blue emerged from the heads of the two guitars and fought against each other. The two beams eventually exploded with a burst of bright light as the two guitarists went down to the higher notes, the seven spectators were greeted with a classical song that would be played by an orchestra except put to electric guitar, if Sun Storm and Earthshaker had pinkie's they'd be raised. They began playing in unison to form an amazing melody that could be matched by nopony else until they began to go up the notes back and forth. The beams seen before emerged again as they were rising up the notes, Sun's beam was winning. Finally, Sun Storm's beam overtook Earthshaker's, causing him to play five or six sloppy notes, which indicated he had lost. Sun Storm had won. Then something boiled inside Sun Storm. He wanted to annihilate Earthshaker, he wanted revenge. A blue aura began to form around Sun Storm, his eyes then glowed a solid ultra blue color. He started at the low notes and slowly, increasing speed as he went, climbed to the higher frets and began to play with unmatched speed, power, melody, and sheer complexity. When he was finished, everypony in the room' jaws were dropped. Even Sun Storm's band mates who knew about Sun Storm's extensive guitar skill were awe struck. "Alright, Earthshaker. I win. I'm leaving with my friends." Sun Storm said. The anti-magic spell was lifted and he untied his friends using his magic. All of them left Earthshaker's house. They were forever changed after that day. Author's Note To get a good idea of the guitar parts that're being played throughout the guitar duel, look at this video (Sun Storm's parts are played by the blonde in all white and Earthshaker's are being played by the trashy brown haired guy (i.e. Skwisgaar and Toki)) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLUKhtyheV4 The salt on the wound part being played can be found here at 4:53 --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlaicBjFfVc
The ConcertAuthor's Note Sorry for the delay, internet issues have kept me from writing another chapter. I hope you all don't hate me profusely! The Concert After making a lot of money and finally getting a band manager, Lightning of Royalty, was finally playing their first ever concert. It was gonna be nothing like their previous gigs in Ponyville, hell no, it was gonna be like that except ten times bigger, instead of about fifty ponies there would be over fifty thousand ponies packing the ground in front of the stage. At least that's what their manager told them, their band manager was named Oliver Trotland, he had managed many bands before Lightning of Royalty and he knew what he was doing when it came to the subject. "Alright guys, we have your first ever concert coming up in two days, this is nothing to go crazy about, considering your current popularity the fans will like to hear you live anyways." Oliver said. "We know." Strummer said, leaning back in his chair. "You guys aren't nervous?" Oliver asked. "Nope." Sun Storm said, fingering notes on his favorite guitar, The Axe. "Huh, well all of the bands I've worked with were at the very least a little nervous on their first concert. You sure you aren't nervous or scared in the slightest?" Oliver asked, only to be hit with a "yes" from all of the band. "In this case, band meeting over. Do what you want." Oliver said, leaving the room. "Any of you guys see the Wonderbolt Derby last night?" Steel Hoof asked. "Yeah." Responded Cloud Wave. Strummer and Sun Hoof shook their heads. "Ever wonder what other bands Oliver managed?" Sun asked, stopping his playing. "Yeah, I wonder if he managed any bands we look up to, y'know?" Steel added. "Yeah! Maybe like... Saber Hoof and The Studs or Iron Maneden!" Strummer said. "Damn right! Maybe even Wingpower or Thundersmith." Cloud Wave asked. "I almost forgot, Thundersmith's gonna be playing at that concert with us, plus a few other bands!" Sun remembered. "Oh dang! This concert's gonna be awesome!" Strummer said ecstatically. The four talked about the concert until they found it good a good time to hit the hay. The next day was devoted to all practicing and the day after was concert day. The band was ready. "Alright, to day's the day guys. Your first concert. Everypony ready?" Oliver asked. "We were born ready, Olly." Sun said playfully. "I hope, I as well as you don't wanna be messing up out there. How much have you all drink today? Oliver asked. "We've been clean." Cloud said. "Good. Let's get on the bus and get to the concert grounds to set up. You guys are on second." Oliver said, opening the door for them. Lightning of Royalty walked out of the room and boarded the bus to take them to the concert grounds, Oliver boarding soon after. The bus began moving at a moderate speed and the five in the back sat back and enjoyed. "So Oliver, what bands did you manage before us?" Steel Hoof asked. "Yeah. Was it anypony famous." Strummer asked soon after. "I'll tell you two of the bands I've managed. I've managed Iron Maneden and Max Speed. You should know them." Oliver said. "I knew it was Iron Maneden!" Strummer said, hopping up. "Didn't most of Max Speed die somehow?" Sun Storm asked. "Yes. Two of them OD'd and the third death was from a freak drunk flying accident with the lead singer. The other two split up and became part of different bands." Oliver explained. "I remember hearing about those deaths, it was on the news one night when I was like ten or something like that. What a sad thing to hear." Sun said. The rest of the ride was silent, the only noise was Sun Storm playing guitar quietly. The other listened to their own music. Finally the bus arrived and the band and manager got off, some roadies took the equipment from the back, Sun let none of them touch his prized guitar when they tried to get it from him. "Alright, remember that you guys go on at 2:00pm, don't get drunk. If you need me I'll be back stage conducting the roadies. Take some time to enjoy yourselves." Oliver said as he walked off. "Alright. Let's go see if any other bands are here yet." Sun said as he walked toward the back stage. Upon reaching the back stage area the band saw a door that read Band Lounge, they headed straight for it. Steel Hoof opened the door and was greeted with the sight of booze, attractive mares, and famous musicians. One stallion approached them. "I know you guys, you're Lightning of Royalty, congrats on your first album being a platinum hit. I would've never saw it coming." The stallion said. "By the way, I'm Shell Shoq." "Yeah, I know you! You're from Glare of Peace!" Cloud Wave said, Glare of Peace was his favorite band of all time. "I am a huge fan." He continued. "That's good, cause I'm a fan of your stuff too, you crush on them vocals!" The dark blue earth pony said. After a while, the band mingled amongst the celebrities that most of them looked up to musically. Sun Storm was grabbing a bottle of hard cider when a familiar looking pony walked over to him, he had a dark green coat and a mane colored brown and white. "Hey, you must be Sun Storm, the stallion everypony's talking about." The stallion said. "Yea--- wait? You're the legendary Earthshaker! From Thundersmith! I'm one of your biggest fans! You're the fastest guitar player on record!" Sun Storm said, he was awe struck that HIS biggest idol and inspiration approached HIM. "You're right. I've seen quite a bit about you on the news. Your record braking music sales are insane." He said. "Well uh... thanks." Sun Storm was once again awe struck. "Wanna hang with us?" Earthshaker asked. "Hell yeah!" Sun responded. Sun sat and talked with the band members of Thundersmith until it was time for the first band to go on, which was Thundersmith. "Good luck guys!" Sun said as his idols walked out of the door. Sun listened to the band play and especially at the signature guitar solo that they played at the end of every show, they always combined speed and complexity in the solos and that was something Sun Storm appreciated. Next up was Lightning of Royalty. As the band was waiting for their equipment to be set up Earthshaker approached Sun Storm. "Hey kid, take this for some good luck out there, keep it." Earthshaker said as he held out a hoof. When Sun saw what was in the hoof he almost shrieked like a school filly. "Your pick?! Are you serious?!" Sun said with intense enjoyment. "Yeah, keep that, I used that on stage by the way." Earthshaker said before walking back into the lounge. Finally, Lightning of Royalty went onstage, when they did, the audience got wild, more wild than when any of the other bands went on and played. When they were done playing it was more than safe to say that they had a successful concert. This was the first concert they had ever played and they looked forward to more after this.
EpilogueAfter leaving the house of Earthshaker, Oliver contacted Celestia's Royal Guard and had Thundersmith thrown into a dungeon. Lightning of Royalty has released fourteen total albums, four going platinum, eight going gold, and five going super platinum. The band eventually moved from Manehattan back to Ponyville where they still live. A documentary was made about the band, and they are all multi-millionaires. Strummer and Cloud Wave married two mares, Steel Hoof and Sun Storm didn't care for marriage so they just dated some mares time to time. Eventually the band played for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna which helped the band's career. They inspired many bands to make metal, but nopony could compare to Lightning of Royalty. They still make music for Equestria and don't seem to be stopping soon. Sun Storm was dubbed the best guitarist to ever live. The lightning still lives on. Author's Note I kind of half-assed the epilogue.
