The Nightwatcher Chronicles: Hunt Turned War

Every one of us was shocked that Orange Bunny had attacked Fluttershy. As I mentioned before, Orange will attack anyone that supposedly threatens her. The problem was that Fluttershy didn't threaten her in any form.

"I'll fucking kill you, you ugly sack of horseshit," Orange screamed.

Orange tried to stab her. I stepped in and threw her against the grand piano. Her knife clattered to the ground along with Orange Bunny. The Rainbooms rushed to Fluttershy's aid. Everyone else holstered their guns.

"Of course, no one gives a fuck about the mutant rabbit who got flung across the damn room," Orange remarked.

"You've gotten thrown off a roof, fell off Matthew's motorcycle going 80 miles an hour, and hit by a baseball bat. Do I need to go on?" Hannah said.

"No one asked you," Orange retorted.

"Can someone tell me who the raging and talking rabbit that tried to kill me is?" Fluttershy asked as she sat up.

"Rainbooms, meet my jerk of a sidekick, Orange Bunny. She is a mutated rabbit that is our computer and tech whiz and the brains behind our equipment," I announced, gesturing my hand to Orange Bunny.

"Nice to meet you," Orange said sarcastically as she picked up her knife. Then, she gave the girls her equally famous double middle finger salute.

"When you said she was a jerk, you meant it," Rainbow Dash stated.

Suddenly, a timer went off. Devin drew his trench knife. Like one can assume from a trained assassin, his knife hit its mark. The timer fell to the floor with the knife protruding from it. Dylan, Eric, and Lance laughed. Devin grabbed his knife and put it back in his sheath. He cracked a half-smile and shrugged his shoulders. That's his way of showing embarrassment.

"Well, we have to move our stuff to the gym. Trixie's band has to use the room now," Applejack said.

"Way ahead of you," Hannah announced.

Hannah used her super speed to move all Rainbooms' instruments from the music room to the gym. The only thing you could see was a neon green blur moving back and forth through the space. Within a few seconds, Hannah finished moving all of the Rainbooms equipment. Rainbow Dash gave Hannah a knuckle bump. Then, Principal Celestia's voice came over the PA system.

"Sunset Shimmer, please report to the main foyer," Principal Celestia said.

"I've got to go," Sunset announced. "I volunteered to show three new students around the school. Matthew, you and your friends can come along,"

My friends and I decided to wait until later. Primarily, we didn't want to overwhelm Sunset Shimmer. Even though Sunset claimed it wouldn't be a problem.

After Sunset Shimmer left, the Rainbooms and my group went to the gym. Orange hid in the backpack Levi brought.

Since Orange Bunny is practically the brains of our group, she studies a lot. Levi is a chemist, by interest, of course, so he kept chemist and alchemist books in his backpack.

Then, we made our way back to the gym. The gym was less crowded than before. A few bands were still there. I saw a hippie band sitting on top of the stands on the left. They were playing a few bongos and a sitar. Flash's band was in there, as well.

There were a few chairs in the gym. We set them in front of the stage, so my friends and I sat there. Pinkie Pie asked us to judge how they did. Since we had nothing to do, we agreed.

I hated judging because I had to judge a play in high school. I gave my honest opinion, and the cast wanted to jump me. Now that I think about it, the play wasn't written very well, so I couldn't entirely blame them.

The Rainbooms began to argue about what song to play. Fluttershy wanted to play a song she wrote. Rainbow Dash ignored her and suggested playing a song called Awesome As I Want To Be. The rest of the band groaned and got their instruments.

I thought the song was very indulgent and full of pointless guitar solos played by, you guessed it, Rainbow Dash.

Most of the solos were around fifteen to twenty seconds long. I could tell the girls, who didn't have exciting parts, weren't motivated to play the song. I couldn't blame them. Only Rainbow Dash did magic, transformation thing. She seemed like the "take all the glory and look good doing it" kind of girl. Finally, the song ended. A blessing, if I'm being honest.

"What did you think?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say that song sounded self-indulgent," Dalton replied.

"Self-what now?"

"It means being self-centered. That sort of thing."

"I still don't know what that means."

"What they are trying to say is that the song was only about you," Rarity said.

"Well, because I am awesome. I am the captain of every sports team here at CHS. I've won many trophies and other awards."

"I can guarantee no one gives a shitty rat's ass about how fucking awesome you are! Only you do!" shouted Orange from Levi's backpack.

Her shout was muffled enough to where no one in the gym could hear it but us and the Rainbooms. I didn't agree with Orange's choice of words, but I had to agree with her.

Rainbow Dash didn't say anything in retaliation and turned to her band. This time, the Rainbooms agreed to a song. This went on for a couple of hours. Sunset Shimmer showed up about an hour into this miniature concert. She looked somewhat concerned. Jessie asked what was wrong, but Sunset said it was nothing.

When the bell rang for lunch, we had to wait until the Rainbooms put up their instruments. The rest of us made it there and found an excellent spot to sit. Some people were a bit ticked that we all took up an entire table.

Finally, Sunset Shimmer explained why she was concerned. The three new students that she showed around acted strangely.

"They just acted off. Normally, new students don't act like that," she said.

"Like this kind of off," Pinkie asked.

She had two carrots sticking out of her mouth and a piece of lettuce over her eyebrows, forming a unibrow. I had no clue how Pinkie managed to pull that stunt off. Dalton must have found it ridiculous because he used his telekinesis to remove the food from her face.

"No, they didn't look strange, Pinkie, but they acted like it. Maybe someone had already talked to them and told them what I did. So much for a first impression," Sunset Shimmer said.

"Uh-huh," Fluttershy said.

Everyone glared at her. The looks were more of a "what the heck is wrong with you" or a "not the time." Fluttershy realized the reason we were glaring at her.

"That's probably not it," Fluttershy corrected herself.

I picked a carrot from Pinkie's plate and handed it to Levi. He asked who the carrot was for. I told him it was for Orange Bunny. Levi opened his backpack and gave it to him. To thank him, Orange flipped him off.

All of a sudden, the cafeteria doors burst open. Three girls came in and began to vocalize. Sunset Shimmer's eyes widened. My eyes did the same thing but for a different reason. These girls were the civilians from the empty lot next to Sugar Cube Corner! Except they were wearing clothes that looked like punk rock stars would wear. I began to pray that they wouldn't recognize my group since I beheaded a Black Snake terrorist in front of them.

They were vocalizing, then one of them, who I assumed was the leader, began to sing. I found it odd that it seemed natural for them to burst into song. She sang it was alright to have a little competition; it didn't matter who you hurt as long as you were trying to prove you were the best—that sort of thing.

Eventually, the song morphed into trying to convince the students to have a battle of the bands instead of a friendly musical showcase. What was even worse was that the students were going along with it. They turned against each other and began to fight.

The song ended with people yelling and arguing. It was awful.

As that was going on, I saw the light green gas-like stuff hovering above the floor. I opened Levi's backpack and got Orange Bunny to look at it. She pulled out a test tube. Orange Bunny got some of that green stuff in the test tube and returned it to the backpack. No one else noticed that Orange had captured the green stuff.

"Oh, that kind of odd," Pinkie said.

I motioned for the group to leave to avoid any more trouble. The Rainbooms came with us. We stayed in the hallway and waited until the bell rang.

What surprised me was that the principals didn't show up to shut down the fights. I think everyone thought that, too because a couple of us began to ask about Principal Celestia and her sister.

Finally, the bell rang for lunch to end. People were pushing and shoving to get to class. Somebody even a punch was thrown.

"What do we do now?" Hannah asked as we walked down the hall.

"Beats me," Lance replied.

"We could go to Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna and tell them what happened," Brody suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea. Once they find out about this, these girls will be kicked to the curb in no time," Applejack said.

There was a teensy problem with our plan. The principals had been affected by the girls. The new students had talked to the sisters to let them have a battle of the bands and sang them a song. The principals thought a battle of the bands would be a good idea.

I told the principals that my band was no longer a part of the showcase-turned battle of the bands. Jessie tried to object, but I made sure that it was clear that TOCB was not for competition.

The Rainbooms went back to the gym to practice a little. I saw them walk in the other direction of the gym. Our group went to the library.

The library was big. It had two floors with a glass rotunda on top. On the bottom floor, there were at least seven expensive-looking desktops. They looked similar to the iMacs® of our world. We went to the top floor and found some comfortable beanbags. Orange poked her head out of Levi's backpack.

"I think I speak for everyone when I ask, 'What the heck happened in the lunchroom?'".

"I don't know. All this magic crap is giving me a headache," Levi said.

"What went down in the cafeteria was weird, even for me," Dalton remarked.

"Those three girls seemed familiar," I announced.

"How so?" asked Eric.

"When I fought that Black Snake terrorist at Sugar Cube Corner, I got a glance at the civilians. Those girls were the civilians that the terrorist was talking to."

"Well, that makes things interesting. Magical evil freaks are in teaming with Hamato," Devin grumbled.

"I think those singing magic bitches loosely resemble certain characters from the story, The Odyssey," Orange Bunny announced.

"Who?" Hannah asked.

"The Sirens."

"What the heck are those?" Brody asked.

"The Sirens were dangerous female creatures that lived on an island at sea. They lured nearby sailors, with their enchanting music and voices, to wreck their ships on the rocky shore. In a sense, the sailors were put under a deadly spell," Orange Bunny explained.

"I don't think those girls are trying to lure high school students to their deaths," Jessie said.

"I think that they are using the spell to manipulate them. The Siren-like girls manipulated the students into wanting a battle of the bands. Also, they manipulated the principals to allow the battle of the bands. It is kind of smart," Dalton said.

"How are we going to stop them, Matthew?" Brody asked.

"I don't have the slightest idea," I replied.

"I thought we were here to catch Hamato, not to stop singing, magical freakshows?" Lance asked.

We spent the next three hours trying to figure out what to do about the Sirens. Later, the librarian, Ms. Cheerilee, kicked us out. The reason was we were supposed to be in class and not lounging in the library.

I heard Orange Bunny say, "Fuck you" to the librarian. I'm glad Ms. Cheerilee didn't hear that.

The school was close to the end so we decided to at least sit out front but not leave the campus. The group and I went out and found the Rainbooms sitting on the front steps of the school. I saw that there was another person with them and a dog.

The girl had light purple skin and regular purple hair. Also, in her hair was a pink stripe and a dark purple stripe. She had on a light blue button-up shirt and a purple skirt. The girl had on purple high tops, as well. This girl was a big fan of purple like Mom was. The dog had purple fur and green fluff on his head. The dog also had green fluffy ears. He looked like a Yorkshire Terrier or something like that.

"Look who showed up," Rarity said. "Twilight, this is a new group of students that came in. Guys, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you," Twilight said.

I introduced the group to Twilight. The group made sure I kept my mouth shut about our true intentions in Canterlot. Although, at the same time, Jesus told me she was one of the people I could trust and the dog.
The dog walked up to the steps and started sniffing Levi's backpack, which he set down.

"Is there a rabbit in there?" asked the dog.

"Holy crap. A talking dog!" Justin shouted, trying to sound amazed.

"Spike, don't scare them," Twilight ordered.

"I'm not scared, it is a freaking talking dog. You don't see that every day," Justin said.

"As I asked, is there a rabbit in there?" Spike asked.

"I don't think so. I accidentally left my backpack outside last night and a rabbit may have slept on it," Levi lied as he picked up his backpack and put it on.

About half of our group tried to stifle a laugh, and the Rainboomslooked at me funny. To be quite honest, Levi's lie was more or less unbelievable.

Sunset Shimmer walked over to me, as Twilight chatted with our group, and asked why Levi lied to Spike. I told her that I don't think I need to tell her about what we were doing in Canterlot City, where we are from, or about Headhunter and the Black Snake. Sunset Shimmer gave me a thumbs up.

Then the bell rang and the students came barging down the steps. They were still pushing and shoving. Many of them were still arguing about who was the better band. The Rainbooms and our group moved away to avoid being trampled.

Our group started walking back to our apartment when Fluttershy ran over to us. She invited us to hang at Sugar Cube Corner with them. I had to explain to the Rainbooms what happened yesterday and told them Mrs. Cake would call the police on us. Then, Daniel came up with a great idea.

"Dalton, can you remove the memory of an incident with your magic?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, I can, but there is a tiny problem," Dalton responded.

"What is it? It can't be that bad."

"Yes, it could. My eyes roll back in my head and the sclera of my eyes will glow light green. Plus, I might levitate a little."

"Wait. You use magic?" asked Fluttershy.

"Benefits of absorbing energy fired from a hero who uses powers gained from a powerful stone," Dalton said.

"How close do you have to be to remove a memory?" I asked.

"I have to be able to see her, and the closer I am the quicker it will take," Dalton replied.

"How does standing outside the cafe sound?" Justin asked.

"That sounds good but what about my eyes?"

"Hannah, grab my sunglasses out of the top dresser drawer," Daniel ordered.

Hannah ran to the apartment. In under three seconds, she was back with Daniel's sunglasses in her hand. She handed them to Dalton. He slipped them on. To be truthful, he looked better in the sunglasses than Daniel did. Even Daniel admitted it. We walked with the Rainbooms the two and a half miles to Sugar Cube Corner.

Twilight was much nicer than most royal people. Some of them were snobs and self-centered. Apparently, in Twilight's dimension, which is a pony parallel dimension of the one we were in, she was the Princess of Friendship. Spike, on the other hand, was a baby dragon and the assistant to Twilight. It was hard to see that out of a small dog.

The Princess of Friendship part made my group laugh because of how stupid it sounded. Surprisingly, Twilight understood why we thought that.

When we got to Sugar Cube Corner, Dalton and I stayed outside the building while the rest of the group went inside. We saw Mrs. Cake serving a couple of kids. Then, she spotted my group while she served the Rainbooms. She began eyeing us suspiciously.

"Dalton, it's now or never," I said.

"Alright, make sure I don't pass out," Dalton replied.

"Huh?"

"One time passed out when I tried to remove memory from my Aunt Shelli."

"You could've mentioned that earlier, Dalton."

"Sorry. I didn't think about it until now,"

"Whatever. Just go on with it."

Dalton's hands had a light green aura around them and his back stiffened. He made a strange gurgling sound and groaned a little. Even with the sunglasses on, I could see Dalton's eyes glowing light green. Finally. Dalton was finished with memory extraction. He looked down at his glowing hands. There was a blue orb in the middle of his left hand. I assumed that was the memory. Dalton clenched his fist and I heard the shattering of glass.

"The extraction is complete. She won't remember us leaving, gunshots, or calling the police. She'll remember us, though," Dalton informed.

We walked in and sat with the group. I glanced over at Mrs. Cake. She waved at me, no longer looking suspicious. I waved back.

The group was sitting in a booth/table sort of thing. Random conversations were going on. Mainly, the Rainbooms trying to get to know us. I was happy that Rainbooms didn't ask about our intentions in Canterlot. I noticed that Spike was still staring at Levi's backpack.

Finally, Applejack brought up the Sirens. I had been trying to do that for about forty-five minutes.

"What are we going to do about the new girls?" Applejack asked.

"I say we give them a good butt-kicking," suggested Rainbow Dash.

She did a few karate moves and ended with a final punch that Daniel caught mid-flight. Going a bit overboard, he quickly stood up, twisted Rainbow Dash's hand, and used his free hand to push her head against the table. The Rainbooms gasped at Daniel's actions, including everyone in the cafe.

"That's what happens when you are impulsive. You get the butt-kicking. You have to make a plan," Daniel sneered.

He let Rainbow Dash go and she stood up. She stared at him with fury in her eyes. I saw the beginning of an annoying rivalry.

"I want a real fight. We'll see who's better," Rainbow Dash challenged.

"Name the time and place," Daniel replied.

"Next Tuesday, 6:00 pm, high school student parking lot,"

"You're on. It seems like the Sirens aren't the only…"

"Both of you, cut it out. Everyone is staring at us," Jessie hissed through her gritted teeth.

The two new rivals sat down and exchanged glares. I thanked God that the situation ended before anything else happened.

"On a more positive and non-violent note, a certain blue-haired guitar player was just asking about you, Twilight," Applejack informed.

"Flash Sentry asked about me!!" squealed Twilight.

Then Twilight blushed and gave that girlish I-have-a-crush-on-somebody grin. To be quite frank, that grin always annoyed me.

"No offense, Twilight, but are you sure you a princess from a different dimension, and rocker wanna-be are a good match? It makes for a good low-budget kids movie made by corporate overlords but not in real life," Justin said.

"In theory, Justin, in theory. But some theories are proven wrong. In this case, the theory is proven wrong. 'How?", you may ask. Look at Matthew and Jessie, for example," Dalton said.

"Us?" asked Jessie.

"Matthew is a heavy metal rocker and you are a shy, bassoon player. They are complete opposites, yet they have been together since freshman year. Point made," Dalton explained.

"I hope Flash wasn't affected by Siren's spell," Twilight sighed.

"I would assume so since I saw him arguing with Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings after school," Fluttershy said quietly.

The Rainbooms resumed discussing how to defeat the Sirens. All of the suggestions or ideas were bogus or bad in general. It was very pathetic and very amusing at the same time.

Then, Pinkie Pie suggested using the Magic of Friendship to stop the Sirens. That suggestion got us laughing our heads off. Not literally of course.

Fluttershy mentioned a party in the gym that was originally to get everyone psyched for the music showcase. Then, Rainbow Dash said they could use it there. Daniel said he would take his chances in a rap battle with Levi, Eric, and Dalton.

To avoid another fight between Daniel and Rainbow Dash, Rarity asked our group and me to join them at the party. Before I could turn them down and said we needed to do something at the apartment. Thankfully, Twilight and Spike believed the lie. The rest of the Rainbooms knew we were lying.

The group and I told the Rainbooms, Twilight, and Spike goodbye and walked home. I was honestly glad today was over. Later, I would realize that the day was far from over.