Twilight's fascination with the world of heavy metal began when she was very young. Her parents would always have bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Rush, and others like them playing over the Radio. When her brother Shining Armor was a little older, he consistently rotated punk rock records between The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, etc. She quickly became accustomed to studying with their music in the background.
Around the time Twilight was six years old, her logical comprehension and motor skills had improved enough to travel through town on her own. The very first place she visited was, naturally, the record store. On her first trip there, she carried her allowance around in a little white bag. She had saved enough from chores and homework to buy her first record. While browsing through the aisles, she stumbled across a band which she believed had an interesting connotation to them. They called themselves "Judge". After going over the track list and lyric booklet, she found herself intellectually stimulated. It was her first introduction to the concept of being straight edge. She purchased it and took it home. When Shining left to study or go on dates, she would analyze the instrumentation and vocal patterns using his stereo. By this time, the album had been the heaviest thing she'd heard so far. It would be another two years before she discovered the band that would cement her love for heavy music.
Spike came around after Twilight had already become a hardcore punk enthusiast. While she continued her studies at Celestia's institute for the gifted, she continued to develop her knowledge of the heavier genres of music. Eventually, she came across the band Death. While their first three records focused on darker, horror-based lyrical content, they had evolved into a more philosophically-rooted group by their fourth release "Human", which ended up playing a key role in helping her pass psychology in her first grade year.
In second grade, when she was eight, Twilight took Spike on one of their usual trips to the record store when she saw two cassette tapes sitting next to each other. Both of them had unique cover art. The first case had a tan cover showing off the band members and track list. It was a self-titles demo under the name "Crawlspace". The second displayed a frightening image of an anguished vampire screaming in a shadowed over environment. The band called themselves "Disembodied", and the subtitle in the lower right corner read "Existence in Suicide". What really struck her was the names of the members. Both bands had most of the same people in them. Unable to resist their intriguing nature, she bought both of them. When she played them in her room that night, a whole new world blending metal and hardcore punk opened up. It was as though an angrier version of death had collided with Judge to create a masterful wreck of morose, rage-filled anxiety. From then on, she was hooked.
Twilight's later childhood and adolescence were marred by extreme emotional pain. Her solitary nature made her the target of ridicule, and school became more and more monotonous the older she got. To top everything off, Shining Armor, who had treated her like nothing more than a nuisance since they were children, up and left to join the military. She became resentful of her family, and viewed them as ignorant to how cold and unfair life seemed to her. All the same, she hid it well, and as a means of exacting revenge, she treated Spike with as much affection and love as she possibly could. While the remainder of her time at school proved to be her darkest period, she was able to get through it with the help of Disembodied, Converge, Cave In, Norma Jean, 7 Angels 7 Plagues, and other metallic hardcore acts who were producing bone-crushing music during that era.
Twilight pursued associate's degrees in several fields after high school. She mostly did it as a front to keep her true personality from coming into view. By the the time she was twenty-one, she had saved enough money to get her own place. She and Spike moved to the outer suburban area of Neo Ponyville as a means of continuing to develop themselves without distraction. Social media had begun to explode, and Twilight was ready to find people with similar interests to talk to. Her life mainly consisted of four subjects by then: metal, video games, writing, and art. Her improving skills would be more than enough to sustain a livable income, and she was content with her situation.
About a year after moving, Spike and Twilight were headed out to eat when they accidentally slammed into another pony - a blue mare Pegasus to be more precise.
"Sorry," Twilight apologized.
"Don't sweat it," the Pegasus replied, "Shit happens."
The flier opened her eyes. She was stunned to see Twilight in front of her.
"Wait a minute...Are you that goth chick that posts a bunch of crazy shit online!?"
"You've heard of me?"
"Heard of you!? Me and my friends fucking worship you, man! There's a whole community of artists and musicians dedicated to you!"
"There is!?"
"Everybody knew you were a big shot when you bought Bleeding Through's record 'This is Love, This is Murderous' the same day it came out last year! You and your dragon buddy were two of the first alternative internet icons!"
"This is Spike."
"Hey," the dragon greeted.
"I had no idea you guys lived in the same town as us! This is ridiculously cool! Were you guys coming here?"
"Yeah."
"Tell you what - I'll pay if you come meet my friends."
Twilight and Spike stared at each other for a moment before nodding.
"Deal."
"What's your name," Twilight asked.
"Rainbow Dash. I'm mostly a sports geek, but I got involved with the alternative scene in high school. What about you?"
"When I was six."
"Damn! You got started early. No wonder the cyber world's always talking about you."
"I started with Judge and Death. I found Disembodied's first releases when I was eight, and I've been into metalcore ever since. The bands this year just aren't sounding as heavy though."
"Year of Desolation is coming out with new stuff soon. It's supposed to be pretty raw from what I've heard."
"I'll look into it."
"Have you ever thought about starting your own band?"
"I'm more of a listener than a creator."
"Fair enough."
Rainbow led Twilight and Spike to her room. She turned on the black light screwed into the ceiling.
"You like these things, too," Twilight commented.
"Hell yeah I do. Really ups the ambiance, don't you think?"
Rainbow dialed the first number. She called Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack.
When the rest of the party arrived, they showed Twilight some of the art that had been done of her. Her favorite piece was a scanned paper drawing of her as a vampire sucking blood from a demon's ripped out heart. There were clear signs that whoever drew it was a huge fan of Poison The Well.
"This stuff is cool, Twilight," Spike mentioned.
"Yeah, it is," she agreed.
The purple unicorn had an idea. She smiled confidently.
"Come with me, guys. I think it's about time we upped our popularity."
