The Nightwatcher Chronicles: Hunt Turned War

NI ran towards the woods that were behind the school. As I ran through the woods, branches and briars scraped against my body. I plowed through a dead tree, which hurt like crazy, but I didn’t care. I ran right into a live pine tree.

I bounced off the tree and collapsed to the ground. My chest and abdomen were screaming with pain. I punched the ground with all of my might. I forced myself off of the ground and started punching the pine tree I had run into. There was no form or precision to my punches; I was straight striking the tree.

Slowly, the bark began to fly off the tree. The tree turned red from my bloodied knuckles. My fists felt like Daniel had set them on fire, but I kept punching the tree. After a while of rage-punching the pine tree, I calmed down and sat on the bank of a small, nearby creek. I began sucking the blood off of my knuckles.

I did this for a good ten minutes until I heard footsteps behind me. I quickly stood up and turned around with my knife drawn. The blade was pointed at Fluttershy’s face. To my surprise, she didn’t flinch.

“You dropped this,” Fluttershy informed me. In her hand was my pistol.

I didn’t even realize I had dropped it. I remember putting it in my hidden jacket holster after running out of the emergency exit. The pistol must’ve flown out when I ran into one of the trees.

“Thanks,” I mumbled as I took back the pistol. “Where was it at?”

“I saw it laying by a knocked-down tree,” she replied.

“How did you know I came out here?” I asked.

“When everyone was running around and screaming, I noticed you ran backstage and I remembered there was an emergency exit door back there. I went out the door and saw you running into the woods. I decided to follow you.”

“That’s not creepy,” I said sarcastically.

“And you sneaking into Pinkie’s house wasn’t,” Fluttershy countered. She put her hands on her hips.

“That was for interrogation. It was necessary.”

“The interrogation, maybe. Putting Pinkie's dad in the hospital and shooting up her kitchen? I don't think so.”

"For the record, it was Devin who kicked her dad. Also, I didn't plan on shooting out her lights. I see your point, though."

Then, Fluttershy’s phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her skirt pocket. It was a text from Rainbow Dash. I was happy that it wasn’t an angry text. She told Fluttershy about what happened after I shot the amp.

Dalton managed to wipe the incident from everyone’s mind. Including Twilight and Spike. The people's memory he didn't wipe was the Rainbooms and my group. However, he passed out after performing the memory wipe. The only thing that didn’t get wiped was Sunset Shimmer tackling Rainbow Dash. Now everyone went back to hating her. What was extremely strange was the Rainbooms advanced to the finals and would face the Dazzlings. Rainbow Dash said that the Sirens manipulated the principal’s minds to let the Rainbooms advance to the finals. Sound checks would be at 3:00 pm and the main performance would be at 5:30 pm at the Wondercolt Theater.

I didn’t know what the Wondercolt Theater was. Fluttershy showed me a picture on her phone. It looked like one of those amphitheaters from Ancient Greece.

“If you have to be at soundchecks at three, what time is it now?” I asked.

“It is-” Fluttershy said as she looked at her phone “-almost 2:30.”

“Where is this Wondercolt Theater?” I asked.

“It’s about two or three miles away,” Fluttershy responded.

“Okay. I may show up. My group is probably mad at me for almost blowing our cover again. Your band is probably mad at me for shooting your amp."

“Rainbow Dash is madder at Sunset Shimmer than she is with you.”

“I don’t see how. I shot her amp and her connection cord.”

"If I'm being completely honest, I don't know how either. At least, she isn't mad at you."

"That's true."

Then, there was that awkward silence.

"Hey, I've got to get going. See you at the finals?"

“I don't know. My friends might not let me. Either way, I hope your band wins tonight.”

“Thank you. I'll tell the rest of the girls.”

Flutter shy left to go back to school while I sat back on the bank of the creek, thinking about how I was going to apologize to my friends. Apologizing wasn’t an easy thing for me to do, especially for my friends and my sister.

Ever since our powers surfaced, I have put my friends constantly in danger. Revealing our identities was a big no-no, especially for us. Getting arrested is another one of them. That almost happened when Brody, Dalton, and I went to take down a drug ring in Rio de Janeiro.

Eventually, I left the creek and returned to the apartment. As I walked in, everyone looked at me. Dalton was lying on his cot, but he looked like he was asleep. Eric glared at me as I shut the door.

“Where have you been?” Eric asked, sounding reasonably angry.

“I was in the woods,” I replied, as I closed the door.

“Do you have any idea what we had to do to fix the huge problem you caused?” Jessie asked.

You know it is bad when your girlfriend is mad at you. The only other time that Jessie got mad at me was when she made a 20/100 on a test review that I helped her with.

“Yes, I do. Dalton wiped everyone’s memory. I had no idea he could do that. I guess telling him to push his limits worked.” I didn't know if that made my predicament worse.

“Yeah, see where that got him,” Jessie said as she pointed at Dalton.

“Look, everyone. I’m going to come right out and say it. I’m sorry for what happened at the school. There’s no excuse for what I did. I need to stop thinking with my trigger finger,” I said.

“We'll forgive you for that. Although, one more incident like that, I’m going home,” Eric said.

"Honestly, I don't blame you for wanting to leave, Eric. I screwed up pretty badly in the last few days. Even though I've screwed up, I'm glad you guys forgive me."

"We're family. A messed-up family, but we are family," Justin added.

I smiled and went to lay on my bed. I watched a movie on my laptop. My favorite movie genre, rated-R war movies, was all on my hard drive. The gore in those movies was nothing to what I had seen. Despite the unrealisticness of the majority of the movies, I enjoyed myself.

About thirty minutes into the second movie, I saw Brody walk into my room. He had a distressed look on his face. I paused the movie and removed my earbuds.

"Hey, BK. What's up?" I asked.

“We have a problem,” Brody said.

“What kind of problem?”

“Come and take a look,” Brody replied.

I set my laptop aside and walked into the living room. Spike was in there with a girl dressed like a DJ with him. If I remember correctly, her name was Vinyl Scratch.

“Spike, what are you doing here?” I asked. “I thought you were at the finals with the girls.”

“That’s just it. They aren’t there,” he replied. He seemed extremely frantic and panicky.

“What are you talking about, mi perro amigo?” Levi asked.

“It was Trixie and her band. She opened a trapdoor and the girls fell through. They have been under the stage for hours. Trixie and her band performed instead of the Rainbooms.”

“That scheming, self-centered, asswipe,” Orange Bunny said as she walked into the room.

“I KNEW there was a rabbit in Levi’s backpack!” Spike exclaimed.

“About fucking time you figured it out,” Orange sneered.

“What role do you play in this mess,” I asked the girl.

She shrugged and continued to stand there.

“Couldn’t you have gotten her to rescue the Rainbooms?” Eric asked.

“I thought you could help us out. You helped them out at the Sweet 16 round.”

“We didn’t have a choice. Now we do,” Daniel said.

“Who cares if you have a choice. You helped us out because you wanted to,” Spike said.

What Spike had said bounced around in my head. He was right. I helped out because I wanted to. That was true for all of us. Besides, this dimension’s future was at stake. I couldn't let it fall into the hands of Hamato and the Sirens.

When my friends were first learning to use their powers, I helped them out. The time I could have spent hanging out with Jessie or training myself, I took to help my friends. I helped them out because I wanted to.

“He’s right, guys. I want to help them out. No matter the cost,” Levi said.

"Oorah,” Justin agreed.

“As much as I don’t like the idea, I’ll help out,” Eric said.

"Alright, let’s go save our friends,” I announced.

We left the apartment and got in our vehicles. Hannah drove the band van. Eventually, we arrived at the Wondercolt Theater. All of us parked at the parking lot which was behind a tall hill. Spike led us to the side of the stage, where we weren’t visible to the crowd.

There was a door about seven or eight feet below the stage. Justin walked over to the door. He pressed his ear against the door as if he was trying to hear what was going on inside the room.

"They are definitely in there," he informed.

Then, there was a soft thud against the door. It sounded like they were trying to knock the door down. My eyebrows furrowed as I heard sounds of straining. Vinyl Scratch didn't seem to notice the sounds, but everyone else did. I assumed it was our enhanced senses.

"Justin, jiggle the doorknob," I said.

Justin nodded his head and jiggled the said doorknob. The door opened and the Rainbooms fell to the ground. They were wearing costumes. I guess they were getting ready when they got trapped under the stage.

Vinyl Scratch face-palmed and shook her head. I had to admit that they could have checked if the door was unlocked.

"Are you serious?" Rainbow Dash groaned as she stood up. "The door was unlocked the whole time?"

"I feel really stupid," Applejack announced.

A couple of us chuckled.

“Thanks for saving us, guys,” Pinkie Pie said.

“I was beginning to think you weren’t coming,” Rarity added.

“It was Spike who came to us. We just opened the door,” Levi said.

"As much as we would exchange pleasantries, but the Sirens are almost at full power. We have to stop them," Twilight announced.

“There’s a hill behind the amphitheater. You guys can play from there?” Devin suggested.

“That sounds good, but how are we going to get up there quickly,” asked Rainbow Dash.

"Run as fast as you can. Unless we can…” Justin said as he looked at Dylan, more than likely wanting Dylan's teleportation powers

“Oh, no. We are not doing that. You can forget it. I’d rather run,” Dylan objected.

“But I hate running,” Rarity complained.

“Do it anyway. I’ll carry you if I have to,” Devin ordered.

Everyone took off in a dead sprint. Well, Rarity looked like she was barely jogging. Being a guy of his word, Devin ran back, picked Rarity, and carried her over his shoulder. That was funny to watch. That got the majority of us to laugh. Eric and Lance pulled out their phones and began recording. Rarity didn't seem to enjoy it, though.

When we made it to the top of the hill, we had another problem: there weren’t any amps. The Rainbooms and my group began to panic. I thought we were screwed until Vinyl Scratch pulled up in her car.

You may be wondering how her car could help our predicament. Here’s the catch:

After she pulled up, she pressed a button, and her car transformed into a DJ’s turntables and a soundboard that had subwoofers attached. All of us were amazed. Even Orange Bunny was amazed. That typically doesn’t happen.

“Holy fuck. This shit is amazing.” Orange Bunny said.

Twilight and Vinyl Scratch looked down and stared at Orange Bunny. I had forgotten Orange had gone with us. A gave Vinyl Scratch a nervous grin. Her presence would end up me being interrogated by Twilight. The tables have turned, as the saying goes.

"Matthew, why is there a talking bunny," Twilight asked.

"I'll explain later," I replied, cringing as I said that.

Then, I saw a flash of red that came from the stage. I turned my head towards the stage. The Sirens did the same magic, levitating, the pony-transformation thing that Rainbooms did when they sang. However, they looked extremely different. The Rainbooms looked pony-like, but the Sirens looked like fish people like a Greek Siren would with wings. My eyes grew wide as I looked at my team. They had the same facial expression.

We connected the girls' instruments to the turntables and soundboard via HorseTooth. Equestrian's version of Bluetooth, if you didn't catch on. Then, the Rainbooms decided to interrupt the Sirens' winning streak.

The Rainbooms played a song called I’ve Got The Music In Me. It was written by Fluttershy. Quite frankly, the entire music score was written by her. I was very impressed. Then Adagio Dazzle said something that sparked a literal Battle of the Bands.

“The Rainbooms want a battle of the bands? Alright, then. Let’s battle.”

The Sirens sang a single line. There was a single bright red flash, then, they "projected" what I guess what they looked like in Twilight's dimension. Which happened to be fish ponies. They flew around us a few times. All of the Rainbooms looked frightened, save for Rainbow Dash. My group got ready for a fight, some even drew knives that I didn't know they had one of them. However, I ordered them to stand down. The projections stopped about 300 feet in front of us. They charged forward. My group braced for impact but the Rainbooms counterattacked.

Pinkie Pie took a drum solo and began drumming. What looked like rainbows flew from the subwoofers. It caused the Siren projections to scatter and attempt to avoid the rainbows. Rarity took her solo on the keytar. Diamonds flew from her keytar and at the Sirens. The Sirens were stopped and got hit. Fluttershy rattled her tambourine, along with a well-placed twirl. Butterflies flew from the tambourine had the same effect as Rarity's diamonds. Twilight vocalized and stars flew forward. This time, the Sirens counterattacked. The Sirens localized, and red arches pushed back Twilight's stars. The Rainbooms were pushed back a little. Twilight's face went from a focused look, to angry. The Sirens vocalized and red arches hit us and the Rainbooms fell to the ground, overwhelmed by the power of the Sirens.

Sunset Shimmer and our group were the only ones standing up. Vinyl Scratch and Orange Bunny had ducked under the soundboard and were poking their heads up.

“Sunset Shimmer, we can’t win without you. We need you,” Twilight said as she struggled to get up.

Sunset Shimmer shook her head and replied, “You don’t need me. You need them.”

She pointed at us. All of us were shocked that she said that. I was confused.

“Hold up. Why do they need us, Sunset?” Eric asked.

“Yeah. Why?” Lance added.

“Earlier this week, you said your God is the most powerful being in the universe. Maybe if you helped us out one more time, your God could help us,” she replied.

“We don’t get to choose how God helps us,” Levi informed.

I had a different idea. I remembered Jesus told me we could fight an enemy using “unorthodox methods”. The Sirens were that enemy, and using music to defeat them was the unorthodox method.

“I believe that God wants us to play,” I announced.

“Huh?” Brody asked.

“We’ll fight the Sirens.”

“How? We don’t have our instruments and you know how you hate going back on your word,” Hannah said.

“That doesn’t matter, now. I believe God is wanting to fight them, and I know just the song. Orange, do you have your computer?”

“Always,” Orange said as she held it up.

"Hook it up to the soundboards. Play the Despairintro when I tell you."

Orange Bunny gave me a thumbs up.

“Are you sure God wants us to fight them?” Brody asked.

As if to answer Brody’s question, God changed our clothes to our concert clothes.

The guys’ clothing was white, slightly skin-tight slacks. A white, short-sleeved dress shirt with a black and blue tie and vest. We had black shoes to go with it. Hannah’s clothes were blue, white, and black dresses, with black and blue boots, and blue leggings. The funny thing was that we didn't bring the concert clothes. Along with our concert clothes, our instruments and microphones appeared, as well. Everyone, including me, was amazed. Probably because magic wasn’t used at all.

“Ready to give up, yet?” asked Adagio Dazzle in a “we’ve won” kind of voice.

“Not yet,” I replied. “The Teens Of Christ Band have officially re-entered the Battle of the Bands. Hit it.”

Orange Bunny pressed the button on her computer and the intro to the song, Not Gonna Die. I remembered in my dream earlier that week that I heard the band playing Not Gonna Die. That’s why I chose it.

As the intro played, I decided to give the band a pep talk before the performance.

“Alright, guys. This is the biggest performance of our career. What we do here determines if Hamato takes the victory. Play well and play hard. Let’s do this.”

As the intro ended and Lance and Daniel started to play, I decided to say something to the Dazzlings. I felt it was well played in the song.

“You want a real Battle of the Bands, you got one. Get ready because WE’RE NOT GONNA DIE!” I yelled into the microphone.

The music rang through the amphitheater. Everyone in the amphitheater began to get into the song. This Siren’s projections were pushed back. I guess they thought we'd take turns exchanging musical blows but we didn’t give them a chance to vocalize again.

When we got to the bridge of the song, I saw the clouds open up. A glowing face, who I assumed was Jesus, appeared. That was pretty legit, compared to meeting the Avengers in person. Then the guitar solo of the song came.

That guitar solo was the best one in my life. The sound of the solo filled the amphitheater. I saw some rockers in the crowd start to headbang. As I was playing, I saw my parents in one of the clouds. I saw Mom tapping her toe and bobbing her head, and Dad did the “rock on” sign and jammed out.

When we played the chorus for the last time, I heard my entire band singing. The Rainbooms sang with us, as well. The entire amphitheater was singing along.

Then, out of the clouds, a large glowing had extended. It stopped underneath the projections. The projections looked below themselves and looked at each other. Their faces had looks of defeat. We had won the fight.

As the last chord rang out, the hand clenched its fist. The Siren’s projections shattered into a thousand pieces.