The Dazzlings Were Better?!
If one were asked to describe the current atmosphere of Canterlot High at this very moment in one word, that word would undoubtedly be "busy". It had only been a few days since the infamous Battle of the Bands had ended, and all throughout the school, there was never-ending activity from the student body. Aside from all the cleaning up there was from the literal battle that took place that night, there was also the task of having to dismantle the stage and get the school back to normal. No small matter by any standards, and yet, the students themselves did their tasks well, having been united recently thanks in no small part to the efforts of their resident heroines, the Rainbooms. And speaking of whom, those very girls were now spending time with one another in one of their favourite hang-out spots, the school's music room. Aside from tending to their instruments, there was just general chatter amongst them, and from Rainbow Dash especially.
"I tell ya, girls, I can't tell ya how great it feels to be called heroes like this. It's...it's..."
"Awesome?" Sunset finished for her.
The two girls looked to each other for a moment, before both smiling and chuckling in response to that. That they could be this friendly with Sunset, a girl who, only a year ago, had been a bitter enemy, was once unthinkable. But now, they couldn't imagine their life without her. But, her past deeds were exactly that, in the past, and right now they had other things on their mind. Namely, there was the matter of them needing to get to their next class, as they only had a few minutes left, as shown by the nearby wall-clock. Having safely packed away their instruments, they all headed to the door, with Rainbow still talking.
"I mean, can you blame them all? The way we sang that night? And our music? I just...even I didn't think we could be that good!"
As the group finally began to leave the music room, Applejack nodded at that.
"Eyup. We were pretty good. It was real nice for all those classmates of ours to go on clappin fer us like they did."
Rainbow gave a quick snort.
"Just clapping? AJ, they loved us! It's like we're a bunch of celebrities now or something."
Rarity turned to her friend to add her own voice to the mix.
"Well, while I may not share Rainbow's exact bravado, I will say that it was nice to feel appreciated like that."
There was a general nod of agreement amongst the group, as they began to walk into the more populated parts of the school, passing by a number of their fellow students on the way to their classes. Rainbow, still feeling quite pleased with herself, looked around, almost as if she were scouring the crowd for someone in particular. In the end. Her eyes widened slightly and she broke out into a smile, reaching forward and stopping one of the students, a boy, who had been walking in the opposite direction to them. He looked to her, as did her friends, and only now did they regard the fellow. He was wearing a set of headphones, listening to some kind of music, which he took off to speak to Rainbow.
"Um...can I help you?"
Rainbow smirked slightly before nodding.
"I'll say. You look like you really know your music. So tell me, those songs we played during the music contest. They were awesome, right?"
Immediately, many of her friends slapped their foreheads with exasperation, with Sunset walking beside Rainbow and speaking to her in a hushed manner.
"Really, Rainbow? We're asking random strangers for their opinion on us now?"
Rainbow looked to her with a raised eyebrow.
"We I can't keep praising our music myself all day, can I? So I figured I'd just an outside opinion."
Although Sunset couldn't exactly fault Rainbow's logic, she nevertheless joined her friends in slapping her forehead after hearing it. Turning from her, Rainbow looked to the guy, who was still thinking over his answer.
"Well?" she asked.
After a few moments of silence, the guy simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Eh...it was okay."
Instantly, Rainbow's smile faded, and her friends looked to her with some measure of surprise, as that had not been the answer they'd expected to hear. Standing there in silence for a few moments, Rainbow eventually got some words out.
“Just...just okay? That's it?"
The guy nodded.
"Sure. I mean, you were good, don't get me wrong. It's just...the Dazzlings were better."
The moment he'd said that, he put his headphones and was preparing to continue walking down the hall. However, before he did so, his arm was grabbed onto by Rainbow, the shock of which knocked those headphones right off his head again. Turning to her, he saw her looking back at him with an utterly flabbergasted expression, as if he'd just slapped her in the face or something.
"What...did you say?"
The guy looked to her friends, some of whom seemed just as confused and shocked as their rainbow-haired colleague, albeit with less willingness to confront him about it. After weighing his options somewhat, he spoke, though in a carefully-thought manner.
"Well...I don't mean to offend you, but..."
At that, Rainbow glared angrily at him.
"You don't meant to offend? You just said our music wasn't as good as the very people who tried to brainwash and take over this entire school! How could we not be offended at that?!"
The guy looked to the other girls, almost pleading with his eyes for them to come over and save him from Rainbow. Fortunately for him, Sunset was in a far calmer mood than her friend, and walked over to her to speak in a much softer tone.
"Rainbow...the guy has his tastes in music. That's not a crime."
Rainbow turned to her with a frown.
"But he said their songs were better! The freaky evil siren songs! You don't see that as a problem?"
Sunset opened her mouth to speak, only to stop when the guy cleared his throat, getting both of them to look at him.
"I'm sorry if this upsets you, but that's just how I feel about the matter. Yes, they were evil. Yes, they tried taking over the world. Yes, they brainwashed everyone, myself included. But you know...I just really, really like their songs."
Finally letting go of him, Rainbow put her hands on her hips and gave him an accusing look.
"Oh yeah? What was it about them that was so great, if you don't mind my asking?"
The guy looked away from her, thinking to himself how best to answer.
"Well...aside from the fact that they had perhaps the most beautiful voices I can remember hearing, their songs were also very memorable. I mean, Battle, Under Our Spell, Welcome to the Show? I'm still humming those songs to myself even after everything that happened. Plus, it's pretty rare for me to actually remember individual lyrics from songs most of the time, but with their songs, I can pretty much recall them word-for-word."
Looking back to her, the guy decided to do just that.
"Me and you, you and me. Blind-sided by the beat. Your time is running out. It's all there, playing over and over in my head. And that, coupled with their rather...erm...theatrical presentation just made their songs...well...awesome."
Rainbow gasped at her favourite word being used to describe the music of her enemies, and soon enough, she frowned right back at him, raising her hand and gesturing to her friends.
"And what about us? The heroes of the school? You don't think our music is memorable too?"
At that, the guy looked to the other girls, only to shrug his shoulders a little.
"Look...I like you girls, I really do. I and everyone else owes you a lot from what you did the other day. But...I'm sorry, your songs just didn't seem as good to me. For one thing, they were far less memorable. I mean..."
Before continuing, he looked to Sunset.
"...I can just about remember your "you're never gonna bring me down" line...but that's about it."
Sighing, he looked to the group as a whole.
"Look...your songs are good, and you'll never hear me saying otherwise. I know you put a lot of effort into them, and your voices were amazing. But...to me...the Dazzlings' songs were just...better. And no amount of attempted take-overs or general evil-ness on their part is going to make me change my mind on that."
Silence fell over the group, and Rainbow looked to her friends, who seemed just as deep in thought over the matter. They huddled together, whispering to one another over what had been said to them, all while the guy just watched them. In the end, he saw them part from one another, with Rainbow approaching him with her arms folded, looking rather hesitant about something.
"Well...okay. I guess we can understand that. We don't agree...but we understand. Your tastes are your tastes. And if you say you like their songs better...I guess I can live with that."
Seeing the honesty in her face, the guy smiled.
"Thank you, Rainbow. That means a lot to me."
She afforded him a reluctant smile at that, giving a quick pat on the shoulder.
"Yeah...well...you'd better get out of here, ya know, before I change my mind."
Chuckling at that, the guy put his headphones back on, walking away from the group and down the hallway again, all while Sunset looked to Rainbow with pride.
"That was a big thing you did, Rainbow."
The girl shrugged her shoulders at that.
"Yeah, well...to each their own and all that."
Sunset smiled, and then opened her mouth to speak, only to be stopped when they heard a familiar voice from down the hallway. Turning, they saw it was that guy again, who was calling to them from a distance.
"Oh? And making it so they can't sing anymore? That was seriously not awesome!"
At that, he ran off as fast as his legs would carry him, leading to Sunset turning to look at Rainbow, who, as one might expect, was staring at where the guy had been with anger blazing in her eyes. In the end, Sunset let out a sigh.
"Should've quit while you were ahead, buddy."
Turning to the hallway, Sunset folded her arms and gave a final command to her enraged friend.
"Sic em."
