Skipped Vignette - B.B.S.C.H.H.

SHAME ON ME! So, yeah, it's crazy in my life the past few months, meaning I skipped a Vignette!

It gets referenced, but apparently I never released it (none of y'all asked about it). Happening after "Sister Time" but before "Creating Chords," B.B.S.C.H.H. is the bake sale fundraiser. I even had the above image waiting to use for this vignette, so here it is! If you haven't read the one I released yesterday, Schoolhouse Rock, then read it after this one.

June 25: Saturday

Pinkie Pie was both in heaven and in hell at the same time, and for a few reasons. Under her command, she had organized the biggest bake sale in Canterlot High's history. It was the largest by a very wide margin. She was in heaven because of all the sweets, while also being in hell because she had to sell them, with no taste testing allowed. It was also heaven because she had so many people volunteer to make stuff for her, but with it came the other hell side, because so many had helped, she was lacking the customers to sell her massive supply to. 

It was still early on a Saturday morning. The sale was about to start, they were scheduled to open at 10am, but the line waiting for it to open wasn’t that long. They were routing all traffic through the gym’s double doors closest to the parking lot, not the main building. Pinkie Pie was realizing that her classmates were wanting their stuff to sell and most likely they had spent their money on the supplies to make the goodies, leaving none left to buy other people's goodies. 

She had no idea how to overcome that. She didn't want it to go to waste. The Cakes had donated a truckful of cakes, cookies, multiple pies, and also an assortment of brownies. The cookies were in bags of six, twelve, and twenty-four, while the brownies were bagged individually, in a half dozen, or as a dozen. The Cakes were her biggest supplier for the fundraiser and having the cookies and brownies already bagged for them was appreciated. The customers, the few they had, would appreciate professionally bagged cookies and cupcakes. 

Besides the girls, the other volunteers working the bake sale were Micro Chips, Lyra Heartstrings, Sweetie Drops, Sandalwood, Big Macintosh, Toe-tapper, Torch Song, and Bulk Biceps. Everyone who had donated things to sell was appreciated, but they only needed those extra pairs of hands to help sell this. Their volunteer sellers were crucial to smooth operation and their success. Lyra and Sweetie Drops usually helped Pinkie with any bake sales the school needed to have put on. Their trio was so well known for pulling off successful bake sales, that organizations they were not personally associated with would ask them to come in and help them organize their own fundraisers, either asking the trio fully lead the bake sale or helping the organization lead it.

Sunset was walking by after checking on something. Pinkie grabbed her, pulling her close. 

"I have too much to sell and no buyers!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Everyone spent their money baking things for the bake sale. They don't have the money to buy other people's things! Most of them left after they dropped off their donated goodies. I've never had this happen before!  WHAT! DO! I! DO!"

"First, you let go of me," Sunset kindly said. "And remember the talks we have had about appropriate and inappropriate ways to invade someone's personal space."

Pinkie obliged. "I just…I'm good at what I do, but apparently too good. This is a scale I've never done before."

"Keep it together," Sunset said. "Don't give up just yet. This thing hasn't even started. We still have seven minutes before the doors are opened. Applejack and Dash are guarding the door. We canvassed the area, spreading the word, we have signs up. You made a bunch of rock candy necklaces, right?"

"Mhm," Pinkie Pie nodded.

"That's just sugar, string, and water," Sunset said. 

"And food coloring," Pinkie Pie added. “Plus the secret ingredient, but I can’t tell you that.”

"Yes," Sunset said, rolling her eyes. "The point is, you didn't spend much making them. Most of your cost was the time required to grow the rock candy crystals. You should give a necklace to each of your baking sellers who are here. As an appreciation gift, and it might help spark an idea or something you missed. Plus, it will hopefully entice the buyers more if they see the sellers wearing the necklaces. No one knows bake sales better than you, but this is larger than we ever expected. The other hurdle is a logistical one. Your other bake sales have been during school or right after school. Even the Saturday ones were during the school year. The school year has ended and been done for a few weeks.

"Last week our Saturday car wash was a literal washout and Sunday's 'pampered pet plash,' was a slow drip that didn't get us far either. It was no one's fault. I'm not blaming their organizers, but we have to remember that we are trying to do things outside of our usual fundraising times and reach the bulk of our target crowd that we can no longer easily reach, which makes it harder. At least we had plenty of people donating things. That is better than not having enough."

"What do we do?" Pinkie asked. "You are clearly the better general planner and problem solver. My mind is stuck on sugar and cotton candy."

"I wouldn’t say better," Sunset said. "Especially with this being a bake sale, your forte. We need a way to bring in more customers. That is step number one. Actually, step number one is to find out who is lined up and how many. Then we will know if we need to bring in more customers. I'll go check. Stand by. We are about to open those doors and it might get crazy. Hopefully it will."

Pinkie moped around as Sunset went to check on the line. They had so much to sell. Two thirds of the gym had tables on it for the bake sale. The loaded down tables were set up in groups, depending on the baked goods, with each item clearly marked about what it was so that no one was left guessing. The cakes were in all together, the same with the cookies, pies, brownies, breads, and then the miscellaneous items that only had one or two donors in small qualities. That includes fudge, toffee, licorice, and Pinkie's very own rock candy necklaces, to name a few in that category. The rock candy wasn’t the only thing Pinkie had made, but it was the only rock candy at the sale.

Dash and Applejack were their "bouncers," tasked with securing the line outside the door and keeping tight control on the number of people inside to prevent the sellers from being overwhelmed. Everyone else was manning a station with a buddy. The cake sales were being taken care of by Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps; the cookie hoard was being led by Twilight and Micro Chips; the pie tables were manned by Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops — who always made an absolutely amazing sales team, which was needed since pies were typically not the best sellers. Pinkie needed experts she could trust to man the pie sales — brownies were manned by Toe-tapper and Torch Song; the breads were covered by Big Mac and Sandalwood; and Sunset was doing the miscellaneous table with Rarity. Pinkie pie would float around and help where she was needed, but her job was the organizer, not a seller, and that was what the sellers and bouncers needed. Someone to keep things steady and on course throughout the sale.

The organizational layout was designed by hers truly, Pinkie Pie. It was a layout perfected over multiple bake sales, most of them having been a good to great successes. In her mind, it was a better layout than lumping them together by the baker. The problem with that method was that most bakers only made a small amount; usually a single item, maybe two. Anything was appreciated and the donations always added up quickly. Today the donations had gotten out of control, which as Sunset pointed out, was a good thing. Some people, such as the Cakes, had boxes or bags with their store emblems or names on them. The Cakes didn't have anything else to package them in, but people would see it and trust their goods better than an unnamed one. By organizing them by type, people who were only interested in cookies could easily find all of the cookie options, without the cakes or pies getting in the way of their search.

Principal Celestia came over to Pinkie Pie. "Are you alright?" She was dressed like she always was, in a pastel pantsuit, despite it being a Saturday and summer break.

"No?" Pinkie said, unsure of the answer. "I feel like I'm going to throw up. I never saw this getting so big and I don't know how we will have enough customers to sell it all."

"Well, if anyone can problem solve that, it is you and your friends," Principal Celestia said. "I wish I had advice or wisdom to give you, but you are a master at running bake sales. I am not. You should be proud though, because this is by far the largest bake sale we have ever had at CHS and the largest I have ever personally witnessed."

Sunset joined them. "There is a decent line," she reported. "The doors open in two minutes. I don't know if the people in line will be enough or not to sell most of what we have. We have signs out front too, inviting traffic to stop by. I don't know what else to do at this moment, but I'll pass the word along to see what solutions we can come up with. In the meantime, let's get the sale started and see how things progress. We can make adjustments as needed." 

"Are the goods marked as suggested prices or fixed cost?" Principal Celestia asked.

"The bigger items, like the cakes and pies, are clearly marked with suggested prices to donate for them," Pinkie explained. "The price is significantly cheaper than if you order it from a bakery. Smaller things, like the bagged cookies, are a flat price. Red stickers are fixed prices, while yellow ones are donation suggestions. A white sticker above or below a yellow one is the retail value, which is only used for the big things that people donated and when I know the rough sale price. That way people can see the discount. Everyone coming through the door is getting a paper explaining the colored price tags and the layout of the categories."

"We should pull your rock candy and give it out free to the people as they enter," Sunset added. "I know it is a switch from my earlier suggestion, but it will be a nice incentive. Door prizes always are and with how cheap they are, it isn't a big loss. It should help encourage more sales, a long-term gain for a short-term loss."

"Alright, you take care of that," Pinkie said, taking in a deep breath before letting it go. "Delegation for running an operation like this is key."

Sunset went off to pass the word around about getting more people to come and set up the door prizes. It stalled them from opening the doors by two minutes, but it was worth it as Sunset handed them out. People absolutely loved getting something free, just for showing up. It brought a smile to their face. Smiling and happy customers were more likely to buy something. It didn't matter to them that it was the cheapest item, it was a free and fun gift.

After their first group was inside and browsing, Sunset passed the job of giving out the door prizes to their two bouncers. Sunset was needed at her post. They could only handle a set number of people inside at a time. The bouncers had to keep track of the crowd inside so it didn't get too crowded. 

After an hour, no one else was in line. The handful of people left were deciding what to purchase. 

Pinkie pie gathered her friends while the other volunteers helped the final customers. "We have sold a quarter of our goodies. That is an optimistic estimation. Now we are out of customers. How do we get more people to come?"

"We can extend the hours," Rarity said. "That will give us time to sell more. Say Five-pm, instead of Three."

"That's a great idea, Rarity!" Pinkie exclaimed. "How do we get more people in though? Extended hours don't really help if no one shows up."

"During the lulls, I have been blasting the news all over social media," Rarity added. "Most of my followers live outside Canterlot and can't make it, but they send their good wishes for our success."

"That's good news," Pinkie said, giving Rarity a thumbs up. "Thanks for taking that initiative. Good wishes are better than bad wishes or no wishes. Anyone else?"

"The shelter already had posters and fliers up," Fluttershy said. "I don't know how they could help us any more than that, especially since we already started."

Twilight sighed. "I'd say post stuff on the bus route so people can see it, but we haven't gotten permission from the company and they don't take too kindly to unapproved ads, even short-term ones. I think that option is too late to help us, even if we risked it by putting up fliers."

"Well, that is eliminating an option, which helps narrow things down," Pinkie said, trying to stay positive.

"We should have hit up social media more," Sunset suggested. "Outside of Rarity, the bulk of our followers live in town or nearby. We can take some pictures and do that right now. We should do it on the Rainbooms' page as well, not just our personal ones."

"Let's get to it!" Pinkie declared. "Meet back here in five minutes. Rarity can take care of the Rainbooms' account."

It didn't even take them three minutes to snap the photos and post the invite to their social media accounts. 

Principal Celestia joined them. Vice Principal Luna had not been present at any time during the bake sale, even when they had started setting up. Since it was a Saturday and school was on summer break, both Celestia and Luna would be off today, but someone had to be here to unlock the gym and lock it back up after they were done. Most of the faculty could have done it, but Celestia had clearly decided to do it herself. She seemed very interested in their endeavor, beyond it being the biggest bake sale in the school's history, and despite having disappeared for a while.

"How is it going?" Celestia asked.

"Not too good," Pinkie admitted. "Our first wave is over and we sold only as much as you can clearly see. We just blasted our social media accounts, again, but we should have been pushing it all week. We have no other ideas on how to get more people to show up now that it has started. I wasn't prepared to counter the fact that it isn't the school season like my other bakes sales. It's a challenge I've never faced before, but should have been thinking about and ready to overcome. I guess I was so confident we would have a lot of customers because of the huge number of donors we had."

"Bake sales can pay off, but they can be difficult to get people to do more than donate," Principal Celestia said. "You have a good set of volunteers too, so be happy about that. Often these fundraisers are understaffed, even the successful ones, which forces people to wait to pay. That is never good. You seem to have kept that process short, another positive."

Celestia's phone buzzed and she read a text message while they all chewed on her words or thought of ways to get more people to show up. They were both encouraging and discouraging words. 

"We could do this again tomorrow," Applejack suggested. "Maybe use the big city park where more people are likely to stop by since they were already visiting. Everything should still be fresh."

"That's an option," Pinkie said. "I always used the school and didn't think about other possible locations. We use the school for almost everything."

"I think we need a permit," Twilight said, pulling out her phone. "I'll check." She typed away, searching for the city park. "Yeah, we do. If we had done this a week ago, we probably would have gotten permission. On a Saturday, no staff will be present in the office to give us permission."

"The school is still a good location," Celestia said. She was done with her phone and slipped it in her pocket. "At least for today. If things don't turn around by the time you are done, we can talk about doing it here, again, tomorrow. For now, you have two new customers."

The girls turned around to find an older couple coming over. They were not senior citizens, but neither were they young middle aged. A little older than most of their parents, by a decade or so.

"Welcome to the B.B.S.C.H.H,” Pinkie said, greeting them. “The Biggest Bake Sale in Canterlot High History!"

"We heard this was a fundraising event or charity," the man said. "Tell us more."

Pinkie looked at Sunset, passing the question to her. Sunset took the lead, explaining the exchange program, why they wanted to go, how hard it had been to get accepted, and finally the fundraising requirements and reasons for those requirements. She tried to keep it short and simple, but the couple was unfamiliar with foreign exchange programs. She had to explain a few things in more detail than she wanted to, which took time. They didn't seem to mind though.

"I'm an old alumnus of CHS," the man said. "It sounds like you girls are real Wondercolts. I'd like to help out. Where are the cakes and the cookies?"

Rather than going back to her assigned spot, Sunset helped them because she had been the main one to connect with them. Pinkie Pie let her take care of them as more people started to show up. She shifted everyone back to their posts and tried not to hover as the couple made their purchase, but she paid attention. 

They were an interesting couple who seemed quite interested in who the girls were and like the idea of the exchange program. They donated the retail value of the cake, thanks to the wife's quick eyes and light insistence, and they bought a total of three dozen cookies. He was going to bring the cookies to his business on Monday for his employees. 

Another group of six, three couples, came in and Pinkie Pie happily greeted them. They appeared to be age old friends. They also wanted to know a lot more about what was going on. Sunset was now free, so Pinkie sent the group to hear it from her since Sunset appeared to have the magic mojo. They needed the same magic to happen again.

A more constant stream of people started to come in. They helped them as quickly as possible, but most wanted to also know more about the program. Most of them were also middle aged or a little older. Sunset was busy so Pinkie Pie had Twilight give the spiel, because she could do that as concise and confidently as Sunset while also having an air of business etiquette about it. Also, because Rarity was the other person stationed at the miscellaneous goods, and Sunset was tied up, so it was better to send them to Twilight who was free. Sunset and Twilight would have to pass the mojo back and forth. 

That became the new flow. If the newcomers wanted to understand what the bake sale was for, they were sent to hear either Sunset or Twilight nail the sales pitch before they decided what to buy. The two of them had the mojo to hook their listeners into wanting to help out as much as possible. 

In between helping Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps who were overloaded selling cakes, Pinkie Pie noticed a group laughing and talking with Principal Celestia like they were old friends, which was possible. Celestia was an alumnus and so were a good number of the people coming to the bake sale. Luna still hasn't hadn't shown up, which was perfectly acceptable, just suspicious. It was odd to only see one of the sisters. They were constantly together, but they did deserve their off days and down time to relax.

By 1 pm, three hours after they had opened the doors, they had sold half of what they had. It was a stark contrast compared to after the first wave and before the alumni started to show up. 

Dash and Applejack were greeting people at the door and watching the numbers inside. They got close to capacity, but never had to enforce the limit. The people were coming and going pretty quickly, with most spending the majority of their time talking to Sunset or Twilight, not browsing the variety of items for sale. They were people with a pretty clear idea of what they wanted. 

Everything slowed down by 3pm. By that time, they had sold almost everything. 

Principal Celestia approached Pinkie. "Well done, Pinkie Pie," she praised. "You not only hosted the biggest bake sale in our school's history, but one so big that it will be hard to top by anyone else. Plus, it was successful. It had a slow start, but it didn't flop."

"I don't know," Pinkie said. "I feel like something was off about the whole thing, but I can't put my finger on it."

"Well, I think it was a great success and so did the people I spoke with," Celestia said. "Your supreme organization of the products made everything efficient. The hardest part for most people was trying to decide what specifically to get, not what type of baked goods they wanted. Your organization made their search and decision a whole lot easier for them, making the experience more enjoyable. It also helped you not reach capacity again, which is another great accomplishment."

"That is true," Pinkie slowly admitted. "Something still feels off about it, but we did pull it off."

"May I make a suggestion?" Principal Celestia asked.

"Of course!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I always want to hear good feedback. It's the best way to grow as a person, but it can't help you grow taller, only smarter and wiser."

"You had a good batch of volunteers today," Celestia said. "Volunteers who made this bake sale run smoothly. I don't know the actual total for funds raised, but I think you hit your goal and probably even went past it. When you finally close, you should let the volunteers take home some of the extra stuff left over as thanks."

"Sunset said something similar before we started," Pinkie mused. "About giving them rock candy necklaces. Then we ended up using them as door prizes and quickly ran out and I made a lot of necklaces. I used like fifty pounds of sugar to grow them. Anyway, that is a great idea! If there is a cake left, I want it so I can celebrate with my friends!"

"That is fair," Celestia said with a grin. 

A woman came over and greeted Celestia. Pinkie could tell they were old friends. Before she could slip away so they could talk, Celestia introduced Pinkie Pie to her friend, Lavender. She was an alumnus from the same class as Celestia. Lavender was impressed to meet the person heading up such a big fundraiser. She wished she had been able to come sooner, when the selection had been better. 

She also wanted to hear about Pinkie's hopes for the exchange program, as well as what she was most concerned about. Pinkie was an open book. She was excited to go someplace new and see the sights and visit a city that was not Canterlot; one that was significantly bigger than Canterlot. As much as she loved Canterlot, she was excited to explore a new place. Pinkie was most concerned about sitting in classes and listening to Japanese all day. She was confident in her ability to talk and hold a conversation with anyone, but sitting in Japanese class for an hour, studying the language, was much different than going to school most of the day and having various subjects being taught all in Japanese. 

"Those are good things to look forward to," Lavender said. "And also a wise concern. I know that school will be different, but I don't believe they would have approved you for the program if you didn't have what it took to go through each subject in Japanese, for the whole school day. They believe in you, now it is time for you to believe in yourself. Look at what you have done here today, with this bake sale. It was a huge accomplishment. I remember our bake sales and they never were even half the size of what you pulled off. Besides, as I understand it, the best way to learn a language is through immersion. You know what you need to know about the language and culture, so immersing yourself entirely in it will help you rapidly grow in your ability to use it. I think that you will quickly adapt to spending all day in school only being taught in Japanese."

"Thank you, Miss Lavender," Pinkie said, bowing to show respect like they did in Japanese class and would be while in Japan. "I appreciate the encouragement."

Pinkie slipped away to let Lavender and Celestia talk. When Lavender was done chatting, she went to Pinkie to get the rundown of what was left and help make the decision on what to get. She settled on a peach pie, the last pie left from the Cakes. She didn't pay the suggested donation price or even the retail value. She paid twenty dollars more than the retail value.

Lavender was their last customer. It was fifteen minutes past 3pm and no one else was outside or in the parking lot, so Pinkie ordered Applejack and Rainbow Dash to close the doors to officially end the bake sale. 

Pinkie Pie grabbed the biggest of the last two cakes on the table, stashing it with her backpack, before she called everyone to gather around. Celestia watched from the sidelines. 

"Thank you everyone for helping pull off the B.B.S.C.H.H. the Biggest Bake Sale in Canterlot High’s History!" Pinkie said, jumping with joy. "And a really big thanks to our volunteer sellers, who had no stake in this, but still chose to give up most of their day to help."

"Wondercolts forever," Sandalwood said.

"Yeah!" Bulk Biceps exclaimed.

"Do we have a final tally?" Pinkie asked. 

"Yes," Micro Chips said. He had helped Twilight run the books. "You exceeded your goal by nineteen percent."

There was a round of high fives between everyone for the success of the day 

"We turned it around, y'all," Applejack said. "Great job. And again, thank you to our extra hands."

"It was fun," Lyra said. "It's kind of what Sweetie Drops, Pinkie Pie, and I are known for around the school, in a good way.

"I really love helping Pinkie with bake sales," Sweetie Drops added. "I guess in the fall, any bake sales will fall to me to organize and run."

"You can do it!" Pinkie encouraged. "As a special bonus thank you to our amazing volunteers, please, help yourself to what is left over. There isn’t much left and we certainly can afford to give away the extras. I already grabbed a cake to split with my best friends, so have at it! We had just the right amount of donations to make this day a success."

Their extra volunteers thanked them and went to choose their treats.

"My place after we clean up?" Applejack asked. "We just squeezed some fresh apple juice."

Everyone agreed. Pinkie invited Principal Celestia to grab something left over before the girls did. After all, she had spent the day she had off to keep the school open for the sale. She deserved something too. Celestia chose a bag of a dozen snickerdoodles and the remaining cake. There was still some stuff left over, which the girls then split.

Cleanup was easy and quick. The tables had to be put away and the floor swept, but that was all. They hadn't made a big mess. 

Since they were done, they headed to Applejack's farm. The apple juice was refreshing and the double chocolate cake from Sugarcube Corner was divine. It felt good to relax and eat after the day's success and to celebrate their first successful fundraiser event.

As they enjoyed their cake, Fluttershy paused eating and spoke up. "Did anyone else find the sale odd after the new group came?"

"In what way?" Applejack asked. "Dash and I were at the door."

"I was doing the cakes with Bulk Biceps," Fluttershy prefaced before explaining what she had observed. "Almost every sale I made with the second, older group was higher than the suggested donation price. Most were sold for the listed retail value but plenty went above it. Nothing too crazy, but they still intentionally paid more than what they were listed for. It's their right to, that is how bake sales work, but I found it odd how often it happened."

"Well, they were all alumni," Sunset said. "I think. Everyone I talked with was either with an alumnus, usually married, or they were alumni."

"Yeah, but something was off about it," Pinkie said. "I still can't put my finger on it."

"I think you are looking for where they came from," Twilight said. "I know nothing official, but like Sunset, I was talking to groups. They were the same for me, alumni or with alumni. A bunch of alumni showing up out of the blue is rather odd."

"Why's that?" Dash asked.

"Because being alumni doesn't magically mean they know what is happening at the school or about our bake sale," Twilight clarified. "Most didn't actually know more than a bake sale was happening. It's not usual for a school bake sale to have a bunch of people show up who don't have a clue about what is going on, outside of the type of fundraiser. They usually know who the fundraiser is helping and have a general knowledge about the reason for it. A lot thought it was a charity, but they didn't have a problem that it wasn't. In fact, I would say they liked it better that it wasn't for some random charity. They could see and talk to the seven of us."

"What are you saying?" Pinkie asked. 

"I think with how we stalled out, that Principal Celestia mass emailed the alumni," Twilight stated. "That is the only explanation I can come up with to explain why all of them suddenly started showing up. Unless the school sends an update, most alumni have no way to keep up with current events of their old high school."

"She did seem to know a lot of them," Pinkie said. 

"Okay," Applejack said with a shrug. "Why is that important?"

"It's not exactly," Twilight said. "What matters is that we made our goal and then some, which makes up a bit for our other failures. It's just trying to sort out how we did it when we had run out of options to bring in more customers."

"I wouldn't ask her about it," Sunset said. "If she wanted to share, she would have. What matters is that their arrival was the boost we needed. Sending out an email to let alumni know or even asking for their help certainly isn't against the rules. We still did our best and worked for the money we earned. She did disappear for a while, a few times. Not that I was keeping track of her or that she had to be present the whole time. Also, an email letting alumni know that we had hit a pretty bad wall explains why they were consistently paying above the suggested donation price for certain items. They had answered a call to action and were there to help a younger generation of Wondercolts out."

"Well, if she did, I'm mighty thankful for it," Applejack said. "I just did my job, watchin' the door and how many people we had inside so we didn't overload y'all."

"Same," Dash said. "If she did, that was pretty cool of her, especially since they were really pitching in to help us."

"So, what's next?" Pinkie asked.

Everyone looked at Sunset and Rarity, who had yet to lead an event. Fluttershy and Twilight had spearheaded the pet wash, Applejack and Dash organized the car wash, and Pinkie had just led the bake sale. 

"Well, I have an idea," Rarity said. "Honestly, I'm not sure if it will be very profitable, but we seem to be out of ideas.” 

“Tell us,” Dash encouraged. 

“I could organize a fashion show,” Rarity said.

"That sounds good," Twilight said. "Definitely unique. Unique in a good way that will draw people's attention and help bring them in."

"Will you have time to do it?" Sunset asked. "We would have to do it in two weeks. We're getting close to having to send in our first payment. We don't have a lot of time."

"Darling, two weeks is more than enough time for me," Rarity said. "I have a line I have been working on, two actually, which are almost done. It would be a good time to debut them. I know some other high school and college students who are into fashion and in the area. I'll reach out to them to see if any of them are interested in showing off their designs and have the time to make or finish a line."

"Just let us know what you need us to do," Sunset said. "We can organize and set up whatever we need to for you."

"I'll get you a list tomorrow," Rarity said. 

"A fashion show it is!" Pinkie declared. 

"How will it raise money," Applejack asked. "I can't figure that part out."

"Oh, that's simple," Rarity said. "Probably the easiest part of the whole thing. A tried-and-true method is the show being free, but having a suggested donation price for the ticket, so to speak. People will donate what they can afford. Depending on the suggested price, some won't be able to donate that much while others will donate more. The donations will add up quickly."

"Tried-and-true sounds good," Sunset said. "I really like that method. It is flexible. Flexibility is good. It's similar to the big items in the bake sale."

"That is likely where the method developed out of," Rarity said. "I think this can work."

"Sunset, do you have an idea?" Dash asked. "You've been quiet in each planning session. You haven' even pitching a single idea for us to discuss."

"Yes," Sunset nodded. "Well, that is, I think I do. It's complicated though and might be too much. That's why I haven't said anything yet. It's all I have and I haven't solved some issues with the idea. I’ve been slowly building on it in my mind."

"What is it?" Twilight asked. "More minds to share the burden and solve those problems is a good thing."

"Well," Sunset said, dragging out the word as she weighed the pros and cons of telling everyone. If she told them, it would give them a heads up so they could work on some ideas in their head, but it also might distract them from the fashion show, which could be disastrous. "Look, I don't want to shift our focus from the fashion show. We only have two weeks to pull it off and make sure we nail the advertising this time. We can't have repeats of the car wash, pet wash, and almost the bake sale."

"We promise we’ll keep our focus on the fashion show an give it our full attention an effort," Applejack said. Pinkie made her do a Pinkie Pie swear, including the gestures.

"Alright, just so you can mull around the idea in your head if you have any spare time," Sunset said. "Like I said, it's a complicated event to correctly put together and I'm still coming up a bit short in some areas. We have a band, the Rainbooms, and I really think we should use it to put on a show. I'm talking as big of a show as we can, with more songs. We typically don’t play very long, so we would need to do a lot more. Rarity’s suggestion for the fashion show’s ticket sales is exactly what I needed to know for how to raise money with the show, so we would do that. The biggest hurdle is that this show would require us to go all out. We would need a big enough setlist to make sure people feel like they got their money's worth out of the donation they gave. It wouldn't be easy, not by a long shot."

"But we could do it," Dash said. "After all, we are the Rainbooms, champions of CHS' battle of the bands. I can't believe I didn't think of that!"

"It would be complicated," Twilight said. "A lot of moving puzzle pieces that we would have to problem solve beforehand or we will fail and embarrass ourselves. We don't want that, especially since it's a fundraiser."

"What moving pieces would we need to grab for our puzzle?" Pinkie asked. "We already have our instruments."

"For starters, we'd need some volunteers to run sound and possibly lights," Sunset explained. "That means we would need to reach out to people who know that stuff and directly ask for their help. We haven't done that yet for any of our fundraisers. When we notified people we were going to do a bake sale, people started volunteering to make stuff and some to help sell. Asking other designers to help put on a fashion show is a little different too, because they get something out of it by displaying their designs. People are free to say 'no', but we would have to ask some people with special skills to volunteer their time. They get nothing out of it, other than helping us, which some people really enjoy doing, but someone who can run sound for us might have a paying gig at the same time.

"And when I say more songs, I'm talking about a setlist of like twenty songs, to make it worthwhile for the audience. A ten song setlist is about a half hour show. That is too short. I feel like that cheats them out of their money for our purposes. For them to feel they got their money’s worth, we need to be on stage an hour and fifteen, or longer. By bigger, I mean we will have to be super energetic and pull them into the music. That is no small feat, especially with a show over double the length we have ever done. It’s going to exhaust us if we do it right."

"We don't have that many songs," Fluttershy said. "I'm not sure I could write even ten new songs in the time we have."

"We would have to cover songs from other artists," Sunset clarified. "Like the crowd pleasers that have topped the charts. We can use some of our original songs, the school favorites we already know, but to make that large of a setlist, for our small time, still relatively new band, we would need to cover other famous artists' songs. Bands do it all the time. There are whole bands that just do covers of other songs. A mix of original songs and covers would be fun for the crowd."

"Posters and fliers," Twilight added. "I agree with you about the setlist size, show length, and energy required. We would have to really, really, really work to promote it. We don't want the effort you are talking about to go to waste; to end up playing for a small crowd and not raise much, if any, money." 

"We could ask for volunteer promoters," Pinkie suggested. "While we learn the songs, they could make sure everyone in Canterlot knows. And I mean everyone in Canterlot."

"That is a good idea," Sunset said. "We would have to work out promotional materials for them to use if we are going to that scale. Maybe a poster making day?”

"A theme," Rarity said. "We would need a theme and outfits to match it, which would obviously fall to me to make. The theme should be on the posters too."

"Family friendly would be nice," Applejack pitched. "Also not goin' too late for the families with young kiddos who can't stay up too late. They would have to leave early and we don't want that. I'm thinking we'd want to provide a show that can be considered quality family time, while also bein' enjoyable for all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life. If we cast a wider net, we'll catch more fish."

"A summer community event would be a good promotional pitch too," Fluttershy said. "Along with the family friendly part. It would be nice to reach a wide audience, not just our fellow students."

“I did say everyone in Canterlot out loud, right?” Pinkie asked. “Because that includes families and all other kinds of people, not just CHS students.”

"Yes, Pinkie, you did," Sunset said with a laugh. "We just were clarifying the demographics we would target with our advertising. Like I said at the start, a musical show would be a complex operation. We need to focus on the fashion show first and give that our energy. If we need to, we go big on the show."

"Not to be a raincloud on a sunny day, but we will need it," Applejack said. "We failed two of our fundraisers. I'm not sure any fashion show we can organize could make up for that. Not like we need it to. The music show probably ain’t gonna cut it either. We’ll need more if we want to raise the full cost of the program."

"I'll certainly give the fashion show a run for…" Rarity paused to think for a moment. "I was going to say a run for its money, but that doesn't quite work for a fundraiser. You all know what I mean."

"Fashion show fundraiser first," Sunset said. "That's the plan for our focus."

Everyone agreed. 

Comments

[Phara_mine]

[Si1verHunter]

Each out of this only makes me want Ruby Palace to start sooner all the more.

[Mindrop]

5672648
I've been working on chapters when I can!