In the busy city of Manehattan, ponies stay as busy as ever, hoping to achieve their dreams that they were destined to do. One of them was Rara, or as others would know her as Countess Coloratura. Ever since the Svengallop Scandal came to light, thanks to her friend, Applejack, and with the help of a friend of hers, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Svengallop lost all of his clients in the process. And while she was able to perform at the Helping Hooves Music Festival, she was left without a manager to keep her career going.
But luck would have it that another famous singer, Sapphire Shores, would be willing to act as her new manager. This was due to the fact that her music career had to be put on hold due to her voice showing some “wear and tear”. But since she heard about the aftermath of the scandal, she decided to act as a manager to Svengallop’s former clients, knowing that she has experience in the field, and the fact that Svengallop came close to destroying the music industry with his own greed.
Rara now lives in a small apartment complex with another pony that Applejack knew from her past visits. As she looks out from her balcony on the third floor, wearing only a white tank top and black shorts and holding a cup of tea in her hands, she sees the park across the street as it has been reborn since the Midsummer Theatre Revival took place. She sees the stage in the park and thinks about getting her career going again. As she is thinking about this, she hears a knock at the door followed by a voice.
“Rara? It’s me, Coco.”
Rara ran straight to the door and unlocked it, opening it to reveal Coco Pommel, Rarity’s fashion assistant and friend. She was in a slight mess as she was wearing a simple white blouse and lavender skirt, which she wears to work. She was holding a folder of designs, a small notepad with a pen attached to it, and a measuring tape.
“Sorry I’m late. One of the workers at ‘Rarity for You’ was out sick today, so I was extra busy,” explained Coco.
“Oh that’s no problem, Coco. I know Rarity put you in charge of the store since it opened, and it has been busy ever since,” explained Rara as she closed the door.
“I know.” Coco placed her folder of fashion designs on the coffee table in the living room and got her notepad and measuring tape ready. “Shall we begin with your measurements?”
“Of course.” Rara placed her cup in the kitchen and returned to the living room where Coco was. She stood straight and held her arms out to her sides as Coco started to get her measurements and wrote them down in her notepad. Once Coco was done, she put away her measuring tape and placed her notepad on the table next to her designs. “Do you want anything to drink?” she asked as she was walking to the kitchen.
“Oh, just some water will be fine,” replied Coco.
Rara returned to the kitchen to fix a glass of water for Coco and a cup of tea for herself. She brought them to the living room and handed the glass to Coco, who was sitting on the couch. Rara sat next to her so that they could look over the designs that she had made.
“OK, so I was looking at your design that you once wore and came up with some designs of my own, plus a few that Rarity was able to mail to me earlier this week.” Coco spread out the designs that she had with her. One was the old one that Rara used when she was working under Svengallop. Others were new designs that adapted to her original hair instead of the fancy hair she once had attached to her original hair. She was able to make out the one that Rarity came up with after Svengallop left her and still needed something to perform in.
“I’m not sure about this one, Coco,” as Rara pointed to the one that Rarity had designed back then. “I was in a real panic when wearing that.”
“Oh she told me about that,” said Coco. “I’m thinking about removing the diamonds in your mane and tail, as well as some of the extra shinny things on the jacket. I think the color design looks nice on you anyway.”
“Well, if you say so.”
As they were looking over the designs, another knock came at the door.
“Who is it?” yelled Rara.
“Sapphire Shores.”
Rara’s eyes lit up. She got up and ran to the door, opening it. “Sapphire, you came. Tell me you have some good news for me.”
“I do,” replied Sapphire as she walked in and sat down on the chair near the couch. Rara closed the door and sat back down on the couch. “I was talking to some others in the industry and came up with an idea. A music talent show.”
“OK?” Rara was confused to the idea.
“We find you a partner to perform with, someone who wants to try their luck as an artist as well. And you get to be one of the judges,” explained Sapphire.
“But don’t you have several artists that you can pair me up with,” asked Rara. “I know there are some ponies that need help with their careers as well.”
“Well, maybe it’s someone new,” said Coco. “I hear that Rarity’s sister, Sweetie Belle, has been working on signing some more.”
“No, no, no. I mean a human artist.”
Now Rara was really confused, but Coco was able to catch on and explain.
“Of course! Rarity told me that there were several artists on Earth that have made it big over there, and some that are trying to make it big as well. This must be to help with human/pony relations. Rarity and her friends have been hard at work in doing this.”
“Now you’re thinking,” answered Sapphire. “Plus, you can start touring on Earth as well.
“I don’t know,” Rara replied with some concern in her voice. “I know our friends had a part in creating the bridge way to Earth, and I’ve seen some humans here on business, but I don’t know anything else about these humans and their lifestyles. What if it doesn’t work out?”
“I know. Why don’t you call up Applejack and ask her about the idea,” asked Coco. “Both her and Rarity are part of the Council of Friendship and have been to Earth.”
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt.” Rara got up and pulled out her crystal communicator from the cabinet and placed a call to Applejack. She made sure that Sapphire and Coco were there to listen in and explain Sapphire’s plan.
The deal was to have a music contest with the humans on Earth and see who would be willing to perform with Rara later on as a duo. Both of them would work on new music together and tour together in both Equestria and Earth. Rara will be one of the judges, along with a few human and pony judges to help.
“Well, when you think about, it sounds like a good plan,” answered Applejack on the communicator. “In fact, I know someone that I met on Earth who’s been trying his luck in the music industry. He’s a nice guy who lives close to Nashville, Tennessee of the U. S. of A. If you can get some fliers made up for this contest, I can hand him one and see if he wants to give it one last go.”
Rara asked, “He’s done this before?”
“Eeyep. Something about ‘The Voice’ or something like that,” explained Applejack.
“Oh, I know what you’re talking about.” Coco explained, “It’s a music competition that’s held there where four judges pick future artists based on their voice alone. Rarity told me about this during one of her visits.”
“Well, if they have shows like this, then I guess it’s worth a shot,” Rara said, still with a hint of concern in her voice.
“Don’t worry, Rara. I’m sure that it will work. I think word about you and Sapphire Shores has reached the U. S. of A. on these videos call YouTube. So if you were able to do this, I think you will get a big response from the humans over there,” explained Applejack.
“So, should I go forward with this?’ asked Sapphire.
Rara agreed. “By all means.”
“Sapphire Shores, if you need any help with this, just let me, Rarity, or even Twilight know, and we’ll be happy to help,” said Applejack.
“I’ve already got that covered, but I’ll keep you girls in touch if I need any help,” replied Sapphire.
“Thanks.” And the communicator was cut off.
“I hope you know what you are doing,” said Rara. “I want this to work out without any problems again like last time.”