Before the pair continued on with the story, Twilight returned to Maria and Brandon's house. A menu displayed on the computer upstairs.

"I put in a sound test mode in case you wanted to hear the music. You can see the names of each artist below the test number."

"Play that shit!"

Twilight selected a band she knew Rainbow hadn't heard before: a long-dissolved hardcore outfit dubbed 'Ides of March'. Rainbow listened intently to the lyrics.

"SERVICERS OF AN ENTIRE POOR WORLD DROWNING IN DEATH, NO LONGER FREE TO MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICES! YOU ARE NOW CONSIDERED PROPERTY OF THE SYSTEM! IF OUR GREED FOR POWER AND CONTROL CONTINUES ON, OUR DESIRE SHALL BRING OUR WORLD TO ITS END!"

"Holy shit! These guys are so heavy I'm worried they're gonna crush my windpipe from here!"

"Back when this kind of stuff was coming out, the phrase 'metalcore' wasn't being thrown around yet. This was considered straight-up hardcore despite the obvious metal influences."

"Better be a battle theme. That's all I'm gonna say."

"It's for the second half of the game. I put the whole demo in, actually."

"What about stuff like Catharsis?"

"I put them, Chalice, and Shortage in along with a few others. You heard Hand over Fist earlier. Obviously I had to include Frailty of Words and Until the Day Breathes and the Shadows Flee."

"Endgame?"

"Best place to put the melodic stuff."

"True that."

"Anyway, we've done everything we can for now. Let's rescue Em."

"Shouldn't we grind first?"

"We don't have to at this point. The enemies here are easy regardless of difficulty."

"If you say so."

"Don't worry: I got your back."

Rainbow smiled.

"I know."

Author's Note