Author's Note
Don't take this fic too seriously. It's mostly just pure music worship. Just chill and have fun with it.
Secret History
Twilight and Spike sat alone in the purple unicorn's room. Twilight scrolled through her social media accounts. As per usual, her mix of Gothic and heavy metal aesthetics garnered much support from her followers. She stopped scrolling when the private message tone went off.
"Rainbow wants us to stop by. We should grab some food on the way," Twilight informed her dragon companion.
"I'm game."
The two headed out together.
After picking up a couple pizzas with sides and a drink, Twilight and Spike went directly to Rainbow's house. They would probably watch a movie later, so Twilight thought it best to bring a late-night snack.
"No way! The Twilight Sparkle at my house," Rainbow joked.
"Well, if it isn't my number one fan."
"Aw, sweet! You got grub. I'm starving."
Twilight and Spike followed Rainbow inside. Rainbow pulled a CD case from one of her shelves.
"There's a ton of stuff to choose from. I've got a bunch of albums still in their original cases over there."
"And I thought I was a collector."
"I also downloaded a few MP3 files on my computer. Just don't tell Metallica."
"My lips are sealed."
Twilight unzipped the case with her magic. She immediately recognized a number of metalcore albums - portrait of the goddess and sleeping beneath the ashes of creation to name a few. A few flips later, she started coming across records she was unfamiliar with.
"A jealousy issue? I've never heard of this band before."
"That's a good one. Has kind of a downtuned 7 Angels 7 Plagues vibe to it. Speaking of which, did you know the vocalist on Jhazymne's Lullaby was actually in End This Day when they recorded their demo?"
"Really!?"
"Yeah. He did the low growls. When the original 7 Angels 7 Plagues vocalist from Until the Day Breathes and the Shadows Flee left, he recorded with them while the lead vocalist of End This Day took over all the vocal duties for their last two releases: Only the Tears of Angels will Reveal our Sorrow and Sleeping Beneath the Ashes of Creation."
"I didn't even know End This Day split up."
"7 Angels 7 Plagues did too. I was at both their last shows. End This Day's set was funny as hell. Some crazy dude tackled the vocalist offstage and the vocalist jumped right back up like he was some kind of superhero. They dedicated the last song to the original bassist's mustache. The drummer said something about starting a two-drummer Christian band with one of the other members. It was insane. They even played a new song they never recorded. I think it was partially written for the guys in Compromise after that auto accident that killed two of the members."
"So it was basically a farewell feelsfest."
"More or less."
"Is there any talk of reunion shows or anything," Spike asked.
"Actually, 7 Angels 7 Plagues has a few planned between next year and the year after. As far as End This Day goes, though, I think they're done for good unfortunately."
"We should all see the 7 Angels show together."
"I was counting on it."
"Is this the new Martyr A.D. record, On Earth as it is in Hell? Didn't some dude rag on this one pretty hard?"
"You know critics. Check the others."
"I see it - Everything I Touch Falls to Pieces by Dead to Fall."
"They really changed their drumming and guitar style after that came out. It's still their masterpiece."
"You have Slaughter of the Soul too?"
"Interesting piece of trivia: everybody thinks that album was solely responsible for the creation of metalcore, but that's only a third of the truth. If you listen to Terminal Spirit Disease and Heartwork by Carcass, you'll start to see those three albums meshed together and all played an equal part in birthing second wave metalcore. Up until then, metalcore bands like Integrity, Earth Crisis, and Disembodied were more influenced by the hardcore punk and thrash ends of the spectrum. Another thing to note is the tuning. Bands that weren't using Drop D, D Standard, or Drop C over here actually tuned about a quarter step lower than Slaughter of the Soul, so they were actually in Drop B as opposed to B Standard. I'm not sure what tuning Disembodied used when they first started, but I know they went all the way to Drop A at some point."
"I just wanna' know how they didn't get sued for the Creeping Death cover on Psalms of Sheol."
"They either obtained a license from the distributor of the original or just got lucky enough for it to fly under the radar. With how erratic Metallica's behavior is, it's hard to tell whether they would even care if they did know about it. Seriously, I can't get over what a disaster that Napster thing was."
"A better way to approach it would have been for Metallica to reach some kind of sponsorship agreement with Napster or something along those lines. With how popular file sharing and audio streaming has gotten in the last few years, they could've been one of the first bands to push this stuff into more legal territories so artists and labels didn't lose as much money. Ironically, they might've lost out on more money in the long run because they were too concerned with the immediate effects."
"What are your thoughts on piracy, anyway?"
"It all depends. A lot of bands overseas don't see physical releases here, and a lot of old stuff is out of print. More than anything I consider it a necessary evil. Besides, people can pass CDs, vinyls, and tapes back and forth without paying anyway: same with games, books, and movies. It's like an extension of that. The key is balance."
"You really thought this out."
"Aside from Spike, you're the only person I've ever told this, but Death's Leprosy, Spiritual Healing, and Human tapes actually helped me pass philosophy."
"No way! For real!? I should've paid closer attention to the lyrics."
"If you look at metal and hardcore as a whole over the last 34 years, a number of educational themes have come into play - history, philosophy, science, math, and so on."
"I bet if schools incorporated that stuff into their lessons, kids would be acing tests left and right."
"College students could probably benefit from it too."
"See anything you're interested in?"
"I already have Poison The Well's A Tear in the Red, but it's so good I wouldn't mind a second copy."
"I hear you."
Twilight flipped to the last disc holder. There were only three records: The Automata's Through the Bandage Seeps a Whisper, They Came Burning's EP Cradled in the Arms of Agony, and their full-length, Where the Wild Things Were. A soft expression of both fondness and sadness overcame Rainbow's features.
"What are these?"
"Mementos. I had a close friend who was like a brother to me. He was a theater buff and was into all types of rock and metal. He had a heart condition that eventually blocked off his ventricles and caused his heart to burst. He gave those to me before he died."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't sweat it. It was two years ago. There was nothing we could do anyway, so I was already prepared for the worst case scenario."
"He really must've cared about you."
"Yeah. He did."
"Do the others know?"
"Nah. Didn't want to bring 'em down with my sob story. Everybody's got their own crap to deal with."
"Would it be okay if I ripped the files onto my computer?"
"Sure."
"Something tells me I'll be sleeping like a foal tonight."
"I'm with you," Spike agreed.
Rainbow took a couple more CDs off the shelf.
"Check these out too. They're Prayer For Cleansing's full album Rain in Endless Fall and Alove For Enemies' EP The Truth of Trumpets."
"I need to step up my game."
