Narrator's POV
Barb, Riff and King Thrash were riding on an angler bus as they were on their way back to their kingdom Volcano Rock City with the former King of Rock shouting "Rock and roll!" and then laughs as Poppy was inside locked up. It was a barren wasteland with a massive active volcano called 'The Rock Arena' at the center of it, spewing smoke, ash and lava.
Above the arena, Barb's fortress is a structural shaped skull and across the arena were all the different Trolls seated in different columns and the Rock Trolls were in the front as they were cheering.
Meanwhile in the Backstage
The Rock Trolls were setting up and preparing everything for the concert.
"All right, where do we put these things?"
"I need a circuit hookup"
Unknown to them from above, the Snack Pack and the two human girls had managed to sneak into the backstage before Biggie whispered to the ground "Okay, come on. Let's go, let's go, let's go" and they were sneaking in the shadows quietly but unfortunately Legsly's anklet made bell noises while they were sneaking, which caught two Rock Trolls attention.
"Hey, stop right there!" Sid ordered and this made the group immediately froze. "Legsly, I told you not to wear your anklet" Biggie whispered/yelled to her. "Only Rock Trolls are allowed back here" Sid said. "Well, it's funny you should mention that" Becky starts to say before Amber adds finishing her sentence, "Because we are genuine Hard Rockers" and then the group jumped out of the shadows to reveal their outfits while doing their best rock pose.
Legsly was dressed as a mime, Guy diamond had a sweater with a giant 'D' on it with glasses on and Tiny diamond had a black leather jacket on, Smidge had a huge pair of black glasses on, Biggie was dressed up like Elvis and Mr. Dinkles had a weird wig on, Satin and Chenille were dressed up as cheerleaders, Amber had a Pop star outfit on and Becky was dressed up in a purple ballerina outfit.
There was a heavy awkward tension of silence for a moment before Mr. Dinkles started singing a rock song while the group all started acting like crazy; like how the Rock Trolls do.
Mr. Dinkles in a deep voice: One, two, three, four!
Rainbows, unicorns!
Everything nice, yeah!
Sugarplums, fairy dust!
Everything nice, yeah!
Then Amber and Becky both joined Mr. Dinkles as they did a rock pose together.
Mr. Dinkles, Amber and Becky: Brush your teeth!
After a moment of silence, Sid just simply said "Cool" and then the group were each given an instrument as Biggie, Guy diamond and Becky got electric guitars, Smidge a tambourine, Satin and Chenille the drums with Legsly holding the drumsticks and Becky getting a keyboard as Sid adds "Hurry up! The show's about to start, man! Queen Barb's about to go onstage!" and then Mr. Dinkles got a double guitar, but it didn't stay on.
"We're screwed" Smidge said, making Becky have a tight smile on her smile while a vein popped as she said "Ya think?!".
Meanwhile inside Barb's Fortress
While everyone else was getting ready for the concert, Barb had taken Poppy to her fortress as the Queen of Pop was now getting dragged by Barb's friends while the Queen of Rock asked her "So, Popcorn, is being my best friend everything you could have ever dreamed of?" and then the two Rock Trolls threw Poppy into a cage as Barb and her friends laughed while the Queen of Rock put a lock on the cage and Poppy got up as she said with a glare "I am not your best friend. And where did you take Ruby?".
"Don't worry, your Protector will join us later. And you don't have to be embarrassed. I get it" Barb assured her as she walks off and looks out at her subjects, "Being queen can be kind of lonely".
"Barb! Barb! Barb! Barb! Barb!" the crowd was chanting for their Queen as Barb hugged herself before saying "There's all this pressure to be a great queen" and this caught Poppy's attention as she looked at the Queen of Rock. "And instead of real friends, you're just surrounded by people who just tell you what you want to hear" Barb says to her and this made Poppy look down with a down expression as she went into deep thought while it was quiet for a moment.
Barb looks back at Poppy and smiled as she said "You know, other than your terrible taste in music and clothing and general lifestyle, you and me are the same, Popsqueak" and this made Poppy scoff as she denied "Uh... No, we're not" and then Barb said "We're both queens who just want to unite the world" and this made Poppy say to her "You don't want to unite the world. You want to destroy it!".
"Nuh-uh. No way. No. I don't know who told you that" Barb said as she walks up to a case that two Rock Trolls were holding as it opened and revealed the ultimate power chord. "Music has done nothin' but divide us. Now that I have the final string, I can make us all one nation of Trolls, under Rock" Barb said as she took the Pop string out from her wrist before putting the final string in with the other five strings as its cheerful pink glow faded away as it turned into the same rebellious red as the rest of the strings.
Unknown to her, Ruby felt the Pop music fading away from her as the same chest pain came back again, making her groan while clenching her teeth to hold back a cry of pain as her head was down.
Barb takes out the electric guitar from the case and admires it while Poppy was also trying to look at it. The Queen of Rock then tosses the ultimate power chord into the air before it floats in mid-air, making Barb laugh in excitement as she grabs it. "What are you gonna do?" Poppy asked. "Play the ultimate power chord, and then..." Barb said before she chuckled and added as the platform that she was on began lowering down "You'll see!".
The music started and the crowd cheered louder as the platform jaw of the fortress was lowering down, Barb was standing on a tooth before she jumps down on the stage with a microphone as she's now wearing a completely different outfit as it is a torn white V-neck jumpsuit with spiked ankles and red wing-like decorations on the arms and alongside it is a black belt with a golden skull buckle and studs. A fan, who was standing on a rock symbol statue shouts "Queen Barb!" and dives into a lava pit with a spotlight pointing at him before Barb starts singing a powerful song.
Barb:🎶So this ain't the end🎶
🎶I saw you again today🎶
🎶I had to turn my heart away🎶
While former King Thrash played a keyboard and Riff playing the drums, a spotlight shines on the Snack Pack and the two human girls, who were in front of the drummer as they quickly pretended to play the instruments.
🎶Smile like the sun🎶
🎶Kisses for everyone🎶
🎶And tales, it never fails🎶
The crowd was grunting in unison to rhythm as they jumped up and down.
🎶You're lyin' so low in the weeds🎶
🎶I bet you gonna ambush me🎶
In the audience, a Rock Troll cried a happy tear and did the sign of the horns as he shrilled "Rock on!" and his teardrop did the same thing as it shouted "Rock on!".
🎶You'd have me down, down, down, down🎶
🎶Down on my knees🎶
🎶Now, won't ya?🎶
Barb stopped singing as she turned around and both the music and cheering stopped as a spotlight shined on the Snack Pack, Amber and Becky. There was a tense silence as Barb eyed them suspiciously about their appearance and their cover was almost blown when...
"BARRACUDA!" Biggie and Becky suddenly both screamed/screeched before smashing their guitars into pieces, shocking the group by their action and the music resumes and the crowd cheers as Barb fell for it and laughs "Ha, Ha! Bam!". Between the crowd, Cooper, Prince D and former King Peppy were being escorted to the front of the crowd by Barb's followers. Tiny diamond was pressing a certain key on his keyboard rhythmically as he said excitedly "Hey! Look, Daddy! I'm a rock star!" and this made both Guy diamond and Amber look at him.
"Uh, this is a little hot" the fan Rock Troll said as he was slowly sinking into the lava pit. Barb threw her microphone off the front and chuckled before raising her arms in the air as the crowd cheers. Then a loud and big lighting bolt appeared as it came down slowly with the ultimate power chord and Barb gets ahold of it. The Rock Trolls were still cheering and whooping for their Queen before Barb says as she gestures "Give it up for your former leaders! Funk, Country, Techno, Classical..." and then four spotlights pointed at King Quincy and Queen Essence, Delta Dawn, Trollex and Trollzart as they were all standing on a boulder.
"... And worst of all, Pop!" Barb finished as Poppy's cage turned around and a blinding light was cast on her, making the Queen of Pop cover her eyes before noticing all of the Trolls from the different tribes were here including her's as the Rock Trolls were booing at the other leaders. Former King Peppy saw his daughter in the cage as he was worried for her until Barb suddenly announced to everyone "But that's not all! We have a very 'special guest' with us!" and this made everyone confused and curious when they saw a trap door in the middle of the stage open as fog came out and then a silhouette figure was lifted up into view and two spotlights were pointed at the figure and then the fog cleared as Barb says "Give it up for the Protector of Pop!".
Trollex, Poppy, Delta Dawn, King Quincy and Queen Essence, the Pop Trolls, the Country Trolls, the Snack Pack, Amber, Becky, Hickory, Prince D, Cooper and former King Peppy all froze in shock and horror while everyone else was shocked to see it revealed to be Ruby, who had her head down and was chained to the ground before she slowly looked up as she was also gagged as well.
Ruby was slightly shocked to see that all the Trolls from the different tribes and she noticed Cooper, Prince D and former King Peppy were in the front as they were staring at her in shock and worry in their eyes. And then Ruby suddenly heard many voices shouting to her in worry "RUBY!!!" and this made the human girl turn her head and she noticed the other leaders were looking at her in horror as their eyes were filled with worriment. Ruby looked over her shoulder and noticed that the Snack Pack was looking at her in shock and worry before she noticed two familiar people were with the Snack Pack and when she took a closer, her eyes widened as she realized it was her two best friends.
Amber and Becky were both completely shocked and worried about their best friend as she was chained to the ground. Ruby then looks to her left as her eyes connected to Trollex's as he looks at her with regret and horror, but she simply gave him soft reassured eyes back to him before she looked forward when Barb removed her pick from the ultimate power chord and held it up in the air before asking the entire audience "Who wants to see what the ultimate power chord can do?" and the stadium roared with screams and cheers. Barb then directly aimed for Ruby, who simply glared at Barb as she showed no fear to the Queen of Rock.
"No, No!" Poppy shouts in horror while the others leaders including Trollzart (A/n: despite him barley knowing her) also shouted in horror "Ruby!!" and Barb began to play a rock riff before she chuckled and was about to fire when suddenly a familiar book landed on her face, making Barb grunt while distracting her from firing at Ruby and this made everyone scrunch their faces in confusion while Ruby's eyes widened in realization as she thought to herself 'Wait, is that–!' and then they looked up at the sky and a spotlight shines up to reveal Sheila B, who whoops and she was carrying Branch, Beatdrop, Coral Blush, Blaze, the K-Pop gang and the Reggaeton Trolls. "Ha! I guess a giant comprehensive manual does come in handy" Branch said while adjusting his hat and then Beatdrop says with a smirk "Sorry to rain on your parade, Barb!".
"Bla-dow! Just in time!" Tiny diamond says.
"Branch/Beatdrop/Coral!" Poppy, Trollex and two certain Techno Trolls exclaimed in happiness and relief while Ruby was stunned before smiling in relief despite being gagged. "Well, isn't that puke. Poppy's little boyfriend and Trollex's little button came to crash the concert. Too late, Branch" Barb said as she now aims the ultimate power chord at Poppy instead. "Wait!" Branch exclaimed right before Barb strummed the ultimate power chord, causing a red and white lightning bolt to come out and it was heading straight towards Poppy, making Ruby's eyes widened as she screamed through the gag. Without thinking and had to act fast, Branch jumped out of the hot air balloon and swung himself forward from one of the speakers onstage and took the hit that was supposed to be for Poppy.
"Branch/Mmm!" Poppy and Ruby both cried out in shock and horror before a lava rock forms around Branch and lands on the ground. The crowd was murmuring quietly while everyone else was left speechless either thinking this was the end or there's more to it. "No" a silent whisper came out from Poppy while Ruby was in shock before tears started to form as they fell down from her face.
Barb takes a few steps forward as she wanted to know what happened when suddenly the rock began to crack like an egg hatching as an orange light shines through the cracks. It burst open, revealing a completely different-looking Branch as he's wearing tight pants and spiked wristbands, his body covered in tattoos, multiple piercings in his ears and his hair was longer and more wild-looking. He had his eyes closed with heavy makeup on before opening his eyes as they glowed red.
"Branch" Poppy gasped and while Ruby's eyes widened in shock as Barb eagerly looked on. And after a moment of silence, Branch did the sign of the horns and bellowed "ROCK ON!" and this made the Hard Rock Trolls cheer while everyone else gasped in horror. "Oh, sick! Totally works!" Barb ecstatically said with amazement. "Who's ready to get rippin' tattoos everywhere but our faces in case we still need office jobs?! Rah!" Rock Zombie Branch asked, which creates more cheers from the crowd. "You're turning everyone into rock zombies?!" Poppy asked the Queen of Rock in disbelief.
Ruby somehow managed to get the gag off her face as she struggled before exclaiming at the Queen of Rock "Barb, Stop This Now! You Don't Know What You're Doing!!" but instead of listening, Barb simply replied to them "Yep! I can't wait to party with you, girls" and Sid comes up from behind and attached a harness to the end of Barb's outfit. The Queen of Rock grins while running towards the edge of the stage before jumping off as the other end of the rope was attached to a smaller angler bus that took Barb into the air as she plays the ultimate power chord while flying in the sky. Barb fires the same red and white lightning bolt at both King Quincy and Queen Essence first as they encased into a rock egg before it hatched revealing the two Funk leaders, who were now Rock Zombies and this shocked both Cooper and Prince D at the site of their parents.
Ruby started struggling hoping to get free from the chains but stops when she sees Trollex and Trollzart were both turned into Rock Zombies, making her shout in horror "NO!!" but then noticed Coral Blush, Beatdrop and Blaze were all heading towards her with a key in the baby red panda's mouth while Poppy starts working on the lock to her cage. Barb strums the ultimate power chord as Delta Dawn was turned into a Rock Zombie and had her head down before lifting it up and opened her eyes before doing the rock symbol and Clampers, who was also turned into a Rock Zombie as she was still in her Aunt's hair poked out and did the horns as she yelled "ROCK AND ROLL!".
Poppy managed to unlock the lock of her cage by using a hair pin and quickly opens the cage door before jumping out as she rushes to her human best friend to free her as she exclaimed "Ruby!" but unfortunately before she could even reach Ruby, Barb blasted Poppy as she got it and was encased into a rock egg as well. "POPPY!!!" Ruby screamed in horror by this before the rock hatched to reveal Rock Zombie Poppy. "N-No..." Ruby whispered in horror before the Rock Zombie Queen of Pop smirked before shouting "WHO'S READY TO ROCK?!". And that's when Barb lands on the ground between Rock Zombie Branch and Poppy while striking a pose and Riff slightly lifts up his beanie hat with his drum stick and says in awe "Dude...".
But then a small sound of a click was heard as this caught Ruby's attention and she noticed Beatdrop had used the key to unlock her chained wrists and they fell to the ground, catching Barb's attention causing her to turn around and sees that Ruby was free as she also noticed Beatdrop, Coral Blush and Blaze were with her. "Not so fast, Red" Barb said, making Ruby glare at her while standing protectively in front of the trio behind her as a spotlight shines at them. "Hey, boy toy! It's mullet time!" Barb said to Branch, making him look at Ruby, who flinched before quickly gesturing the three to run as she follows them but unfortunately for her, Branch strains and growls like an animal before getting down on all four and used his hair to grab Ruby, who grunts as she was lifted up into the air beside the cage that Poppy was locked in.
Barb began playing a rock riff as Ruby didn't know what to do and while unknown to her and everyone else, her necklace that Coral Blush was wearing began to glow before it shot out a small amount of magic towards her. At the same time, Barb fires at Ruby, who braced for impact as it hits the human girl before she and the cage both fall to the ground, causing a cloud of smoke to appear.
Everyone waited for a moment as Barb waited eagerly before the smoke died down and it revealed a now Rock Zombie Ruby, who had her head down as she's wearing a rockers outfit with her hair red and black as it was slightly longer and spiky.
( ↑This is what Rock Zombie Ruby looks like; artwork belong to the rightful owners↑ )
She slowly looked up before opening her eyes as they were glowing rebellious red too.
"No..." Amber gasped in shock as she and Becky were both shocked and stared in horror along with the Snack Pack and the Pop Trolls to see what had become of their beloved human/best friend. Beatdrop was shocked while Coral Blush was holding him while whimpering in fear. Cooper, Prince D and former King Peppy were also shocked by this. Ruby then did the horns symbol with both of her hands as she shouts with an eating-grin "KICK OUT THE JAMS... 'cause we live to rock!" and everything was silent for a moment before the Rock Trolls all burst into cheers as some of Trolls from the different tribes thought she looked wicked attractive.
Barb smirked and nodded in approval at her work on the human girl as she said "Nice~. Finish them off" and then tossed the ultimate power chord over to Rock Zombie Ruby, who caught it as ease before Barb gestures Cooper, Prince D and former King Peppy in the crowd as a spotlight shined at them.
They gasped when the Rock Zombie human girl began playing a sick rock riff as she made her way towards the edge of the stage until she was in the front of them and pointed the ultimate power chord at the last three remaining royals and the three Trolls could only stand there hopelessly as she pointed the neck of the guitar towards them.
But to their surprise, Ruby winks at them before pointing the ultimate power chord at Barb, who looks back at the human girl and she was taken back as she noticed Ruby's eyes were not glowing anymore while smirking at the shocked Queen of Rock.
"What are you doing? You're... supposed to be a rock zombie!" Barb said in confusion, but Ruby's smirk never left as she puts the guitar on her side and says with her arms crossed "I probably forgot to mention something to you. I'm from a different world; a different dimension where I listen to all music, including Hard Rock, so it has no effect on me" Ruby simply said and this made both Amber and Becky gasp in surprise and amazement before they shared a look and grinned before cheering at the same time.
"Way to go Ruby/That's our best friend!"
This angered Barb by this as she demanded while referring to her guitar "Give me that!" and this made Ruby step back while keeping the ultimate power chord away from Barb's reach as she yelled back at her "I won't allow you to do this to anyone else! A world where everyone is forced to look the same and sound the same?! That's not harmony! It never will be...".
"Hey, Barb?" a voice called, making Barb look over along with everyone else and saw it was Riff as someone shined a spotlight at him and waved at the crowd sheepishly while saying "Hi. Maybe Protector Ruby has a point. If we all look the same, act the same, dress the same, how will anyone know we're cool or something?" and this left Barb speechless, especially hearing the crowd murmuring as the Rock Trolls began thinking Riff may be right and they were also considering Ruby's words.
"A good queen listens" Ruby stated as her eyes darted to both Rock Zombie Poppy and Branch, specifically looking at the Queen of Pop. And then she shifts her attention to Rock Zombie Trollex, making her expression soften before looking at the Snack Pack as Biggie smiled and nodded her way while Becky and Amber also smiled at their best friend, making Ruby smile back at them.
"Real harmony takes lots of voices" Ruby said as she noticed Barb moved closer to her, making the human girl move back. Barb then launches herself at Ruby, who quickly dodged her before making a run for it as she exclaimed with an angered and determined expression "DIFFERENT VOICES!".
Ruby leaped into the air as she raised the guitar above her head with a yell before bringing it down and smashed the ultimate power chord on the ground as the impact sent out a huge shockwave of every color of the strings and everyone stood their ground to not get blown away. Suddenly the shockwave reversed, but this time sucking the colors out of every single Troll, including the three human girls into the destroyed guitar until...
... It was all gone and there was only silence.