Across town, Babs and everyone else were making their way towards the Castle of Friendship. Whatever happened had shifted the mood a little. Causing slight worry. Rainbow pushed the door open first and walked in after the younger mares did. Then turned to Babs and asked, "So Bright knows?"
"Yeah," Babs sighed. "She was havin' suspicions and ordered us to tell her. She is very intimidatin'."
Sweetie shivered and made some signs that Apple Bloom translated. "'Her eyes melted my soul.' Jeez, Sweetie. So dark. What was that, a poem?" Sweetie Belle nudged Apple Bloom then blew her a raspberry while Apple Bloom laughed and shared a nuzzle. Then focused back on the conversation. "But yeah, Bright was in fact really intimidatin'. Her eyes were on fire."
"Filled with fury," Babs added. "She said she wouldn't tell Magenta, but that she would be watchin' us. So I'm not going to get on her bad side. Not to mention... Her headaches."
Rainbow turned her way with a questionable expression. "Headaches? What are you talking about?" She asked. Then pushed open the door for the library. The remaining Elements of Harmony were in there eating a breakfast of pancakes.
"Magenta's been complainin' about headaches whenever Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are around." Twilight started choking on her pancakes, putting Pinkie Pie into rescue mode.
She gasped and reached into her mane, pulling out a rubber mallet. "Don't worry, Twilight! I'll save you!!" She pulled back and swung it directly into Twilight's stomach, forcing out the marshmallow that got stuck in her esophagus, which landed on the crystal flooring and rolled to a stop in front of Diamond Tiara's hooves. She glanced down at it, then up at Twilight who was doubling over after being pretty much sucker punched in the gut. Spike had his head bobbing with a pair of Magenta Streak signature headphones in the corner, not even registering what was going on.
"Ugggh," Twilight moaned with her face to the table. "For future reference Pinkie... Never use a mallet on a choking pony. It hurts. A lot."
Pinkie shrugged and replied, "What? I use it on Limestone all the time and she never even flinches."
Rainbow glanced to the side and muttered sarcastically, "I wonder why. So I take it Twilight knows why Magenta's getting headaches all of a sudden?"
After recovering from pretty much a hammer to the stomach, Twilight sat up straight and took a deep breath. Then nodded and answered painfully, "Yes. Magenta's memories could in fact be returning to the surface. And those would be a lot of memories. So it would make sense for her to start getting headaches. She could possibly pass out when they do finally break through from an overload and possibly be down and out for a few hours. Or even days. Those are a lot of memories, which will be added alongside her current ones when she first arrived in Manehattan to when it finally happens."
Diamond Tiara gulped and muttered, "So... She'll remember everything."
Silver Spoon tuned in and added, "Including the incident and what happened. It'll traumatize her."
"Maybe," Rarity replied. Then grabbed a drink and took a sip before stating, "Her getting her memories back could in fact hurt us in a few ways. Especially me if she becomes really angry. Remember... She's a Manehattan Elite. We all know what that means."
Pinkie cowered down and whispered, "She could take everything away from us with only a few words."
"This must be a pretty great place to live," someone out in the hall announced loud and clear, catching everyone's ears. They turned to the door when it opened, letting in Bright and Magenta look around with a camera. Magenta pointed to the ceiling and said, "Ow wow, is that a tree root? Pretty awesome!"
"Yeeeaaaah.... Ohhh, sis? I think we interrupted something." Bright used her wing to move Magenta's head down towards the table of mares talking, and one dragon bobbing his head in the corner, reading a comic book. An awkward silence followed along before Bright said quickly, "We asked a pony if it were possible to just look around the castle."
"They said yes," Magenta added just as fast.
Twilight looked to the others who in turn looked back. Then turned back to Magenta and responded, "It should be fine. Just don't break anything."
"Awesome!!" Magenta cheered. Then walked towards the table with the camera. "Hey, can I get a picture with you? I always wanted to meet you but never got a chance since you know... Can't leave Manehattan." Twilight shrugged, giving Magenta an answer. She and Magenta turned to the camera with a grin when Magenta finally took the photo. After reviewing it, Magenta turned to Twilight and eagerly shook her hoof. "It is such an honor meeting you! I mean the idea of Net was utter genius! Without it, me and Bright wouldn't be where we are right now!"
Bright walked over with a grin and nodded hard. "Definitely!" She agreed.
"OH MY CELESTIA, SHE'S IN THE CASTLE!!" Everyone turned towards Spike who had thrown off his headphones and flew straight over to Magenta, grinning hard. "Can I please take a picture with you?! Please?!" Everyone turned to Magenta for her known smiling face. But were quite surprised to see it replaced with a terrified frozen expression.
Bright cleared her throat and muttered, "Three.... Two... One...." Magenta took in a deep breath, jumped up, and screamed loud, making everyone's ears ring before she turned and left a dust trail when she bolted out the door, leaving them all with a windswept mane. No one moved for a few seconds, letting her scream take root. Then turned to Bright.
After fixing her mane back into it's signature ponytail, Bright smiled and answered their unasked question. "Don't tell anypony, but... Magenta's extremely scared of Dragons."
"WHAT?!" They all asked, including Spike. He quickly fixed his scales and asked, "What? Why though?"
Bright rubbed the back of her neck and answered, "Well... It's common knowledge now that Magenta was subjected to something sharp that ripped out her wings, and pretty much cut her to pieces. When we were foals, she decided to keep away from sharp things. Scissors, knives, anything that's really sharp. And Dragons are naturally born with the tenacity to fight, eat, and bite anything. You guys have sharp fangs, tails, the whole package. It's like you're a walking bag of sharp and hot knives. And she doesn't want to get cut. So when a dragon comes around, she goes maybe three hundred feet away. Probably behind that door we just walked through."
"Oh don't worry about Spikey Wikey," Rarity cooed while running her hoof through his scales. He moaned and sighed in relaxation. "He's so innocent it's adorable."
Bright took a seat then shrugged. "Be that as it may, Magenta doesn't want to get hurt anymore. So she likes to keep her distance. Nothing personal, Spike. But it's just her biggest phobia ever since we met and she first saw that dragon land in Manehattan. Large sharp teeth, huge scales, long claws. She took a look at herself underneath the clothes, then at those claws. Next thing you know, I blink and Magenta's way down main street, leaving me behind screaming about a dragon going to kill her. Hey, I'll get her to sign that autograph though. She just doesn't want to be near you, but would be happy to sign."
Spike shook his head and responded, "No, it's okay. I'm not going to force it on her if she's scared of dragons. I'll take a picture with you though, if that's okay. You look really nice. Super nice."
Bright blushed, then shrugged and responded, "Okay." Spike zipped over and held up his phone for them to take a picture, grinning with Bright Snow. After he reviewed it, he smiled at Bright and responded, "Thanks. So... Can I put my number in your phone?"
"...er...." Bright glanced to the door. That was a perfect way out. Turning to Spike, she answered, "I have to go check on my sister, so...." Bright turned around and quickly walked to the door, leaving the others with Spike.
After the door shut, Apple Bloom giggled and stroked his scales. "Sorry, Spike. I don't think Bright Snow's into ya'."
Spike shrugged, then walked towards his headphones and beanbag so he could continue his reading among all the chuckling from the mares. "Eh, her loss," he responded. Then grabbed his headphones and jumped back on his bag. The door to the room opened, once again grabbing their eyes. Bright walked back into the room while Magenta stayed on the opposite side of her, casting fearful glances towards the dragon reading on the opposite side.
"I should bring my coat more often," she muttered before stopping in front of the Princess. Leaning in, she whispered, "Why is there a dragon in here, Princess?"
Twilight smiled and responded, "That's Spike, my assistant. I raised him when he first hatched from his egg nearly twenty years ago. He's been raised by ponies and completely harmless. The worst he could do is scratch you and that has never happened to anypony. Even his fire's harmless. I promise."
Magenta peeked over her sister's back at Spike. "He won't hurt Bright?"
Bright laughed and answered, "We just took a picture then he tried to get my phone number." Magenta grinned, already coming up with a few things she could do with that bit of information.
"Whoo~, Brightlight's starting to pull dragons now? Jeez, tone it down some, sis. Let me have a stallion at least once."
Bright shrugged and walked away, prompting Magenta to follow along. She didn't forget about that scary dragon in the corner not even paying attention. Too busy reading and listening to music. "Sorry, Maggy. My secrets on grabbing a pony is just that. A secret. But I will give you a hint. It involves my braid." Bright swished her head from side, swinging her braid back and forth. Spike immediately lowered his comic book and focused on it as it moved, grabbing all the mares' eyes. Magenta immediately ducked down behind her sister while Bright giggled and whispered, "See?"
Magenta rolled her eyes and answered, "Yeah. Now all I need to do is put my hair in a braid... That's actually a good idea." Sweetie chuckled and pulled out her own phone to look at a few things, leaving them to their conversation. YouHoof has great videos, she thought before browsing through. But one of those videos caught her eyes. The one with two hundred seventy thousand views that were uploaded maybe fifteen minutes ago. About Magenta. She nudged Apple Bloom, getting her attention. Then motioned to her phone. Apple Bloom peeked in and looked at it a little.
Without taking her eyes off the thumbnail, she called, "Uhhh, Magenta?" Magenta stopped playing with her mane and turned to them. "You may want to come over here." Magenta let her mane go and briskly walked over with Bright.
"What's up?" She asked. Bright walked over to stand beside Sweetie Belle, who pointed at the video on her phone.
Shaking her head, Apple Bloom answered, "There's a video about you. And it don't sound very nice." Magenta and Bright shared a look before motioning to the video. Getting the hint, Sweetie Belle pressed the thumbnail, getting it to load. After a few seconds and an ad starring a movie, it started. The first thing Magenta noticed was the host. The Vlogger. She heard about this mare. Covered Scenes. A critic in the entertainment industry. She lives in Cloudsdale and reviews a majority of the most famous ponies in Equestria for around ten minutes, then leaves them a star review between one and five. She's ranked as number five on the YouHoof charts while The Gold Sisters were number two.
She was seated behind her "Newsdesk" that was decorated with a few items while the area behind her was displayed with her own logo. Yellow coat with a silver and blue mane and tail, yellow eyes focused on the camera. Smiling, she greeted, "Hello, everypony. And welcome to a Flash News Report." A cheesy animation of "Flash News" cut into the video before it shot back to her. An image of Magenta Streak at a concert with her hood on popped in beside her head. "Our subject today?" Covered Scenes sighed and answered far less than enthusiastically, "Magenta Streak. I don't know if anypony's noticed, but in case you didn't I'll let you know. She's a millionaire and the number one top performing artist in Equestria. Let me repeat. Number One." An image of a hashtag with the number one appeared on Magenta's image. "According to her known history, she climbed the charts on YouHoof after her street performance with a bunch of Indie Artists years ago in Manehattan and displaying her expertise in pulling at the puppet strings of everypony in Equestria with strong Hardcore, the many genres of House, Dubstep, Nightcore, Drum 'N Bass, and many more EDM sub-genres that get everypony to dance. She was signed with Starfire Records a few weeks after her music video Ready For Love took off six years ago, grabbing a maximum of four hundred million views across the country after a few days. She and Bright Snow have signed a one hundred million bit contract with Starfire Records and now work closely with Songbird Serenade..." A video of Songbird at one of her concerts many years ago popped up with her hovering over the crowd on a bunch of clouds. "...Sea Creature..." Another clip popped up, this time with Sea Creature at her own mega show of three thousand ponies. And a final clip showed up of different artists under Starfire's management. "And a few more artists, dancers, painters, and more that are currently signed with them. All of them have a lot of money and fame, ranging from the average twenty million listeners on Glow Sounds, Equestria's top listening platform to three hundred million. But none of them compare even close to Magenta Streak."
Everyone in the castle looked over to Magenta, who shrugged as if it were no big deal when Covered Scenes continued. "Songbird Serenade's song titled Rainbow reached two hundred million while Magenta's tracks average out to about three hundred each time a new one is released. Whether through YouHoof or Glow Sounds. Not to mention, Magenta Streak and Bright Snow's YouHoof channel titled The Gold Sisters has a whopping one hundred million subscriber count, and are ranked the second top channel on the platform, right behind Carolid, the wild Vlogger who interviews pretty much everypony about everything and has three hundred million subscribers. Now get this. Bright Snow and Magenta Streak are both millionaires, and became millionaires when they were really, extremely young. Bright I believe was thirteen, and Magenta sixteen. Making them the fastest growing celebrities in Equestria's history. And like I said, they were signed with Starfire Records for a one hundred million bit contract after a decade of being their client. For both of them. In case nopony has registered..."
Covered Scenes leaned into the camera and deadpanned, "That. Is a lot. Of money. An average house in Equestria costs maybe two hundred bits a month and at a sum cost about ten thousand after it's entirely paid off. A standard chariot costs maybe seven hundred bits. Necessities in life are in the hundreds. Magenta Streak and Bright Snow are both getting one hundred million bits. Each." The ponies in the castle all dropped their mouths and turned to the two sisters who continued watching the video as if it were no big deal. Something was up. "Now the reason I am making this video is because by now, that amount of bits won't even matter really. I don't know what it feels like to wake up one morning with an estimated two to three million bits in my bank account when the night before I had maybe seventy thousand. I usually wake up with ten thousand after a month. These are big numbers. But the question that is running through my head is...." Covered Scenes took a deep breath and yelled, "How the buck is Magenta Streak making that many bits so fast, and what exactly is she doing with them?!
"Let's go to a few past events. A few weeks ago, Magenta Streak finally revealed to the world about who she is, and what is underneath that coat and hood." A clip of Magenta's Ponyville Megashow popped in, playing the part five seconds before she flipped off her hood from an angle that must've been one of the news cameras that were trained on her. Then again when it showed her taking off her suit and flinging it out into the crowd that was released with all of the lights, fires, and effects. The video cut back to Covered Scenes who was in a position as if she were going to shrug. Then said, "I admit, it was pretty brave when she took off her suit and told everypony what had happened to her. Or what didn't anyway. Remember this. That concert held over four thousand ponies, including the Princesses of Equestria."
An image was slapped onto her desk that the camera cut to of Twilight with a hoof to the air, cheering. Everyone with Magenta turned to Twilight who had suddenly found the roots above her interesting to stare at.
"Now I checked with YouHoof about Magenta's earnings from that concert. Because not only was that concert in pony, it was streamed live on YouHoof. She was paid by Starfire, and YouHoof from that concert, her and Bright. Along with Starfire. Who in total gained a total of ten million from this Equestria-Wide tour.
"But once again... What is Magenta doing with this money? Let's do a history of music everypony, and how exactly record labels work and their way of payment.
"When an artist first starts off, they have to be good. Bucking legendary. Magenta had impressed Equestria with her voice, not with her skills in music. She was discovered singing, not playing an instrument. That's how she became so famous just like that. After she became famous, she introduced everypony in the world she could also mix, and produce. That alone is highly desirable by any record label. If I were the CEO of a label, I would lock down Magenta Streak and protect her like she was my daughter. In all honesty, she's incredibly good, I'm not going to lie. But let's chop up these numbers.
"An average musician like Magenta Streak shouldn't be able to play this well and make over three hundred million views. Equestria isn't that big, at most she should be making around eighty million. Three hundred million means that ponies are playing that one song at least more than three times a week. Ready For Love reached a whopping two billion just the other day. And guess what? Since that song is monetized, she's still getting paid possibly one hundred thousand bits a week off that track alone.
"Alone! Off YouHoof! That's not even counting Glow Sounds after it was released on the platform!! In an estimated total, Magenta is getting paid five hundred thousand bits a week, that's over two million bits a month for her! Not even Bright Snow, just her. Bright gets about a few hundred thousand a month—nearly a million—because she's a dancer. Equestria lives off of music, not dancing. But she has some pretty good moves and gets everypony else to dance. And from what I heard, she also makes music. Not sure what type because it's extremely rare to hear her tracks. But she does.
"Now with the knowledge that Magenta makes over two million bits a month off of Ready for Love, let's look at her other tracks." The scene changed from Covered Scene's desk to The Gold Sisters' channel. It was a recording of it scrolling down Magenta Streaks songs, the views circled red. Covered Scene's voice continued to speak.
"Look. All of her videos. Are in the millions. Letter M, letter M, letter M. One after the other. All two hundred fifty three of them. Including her more older works." The scene changed back to her desk. "I don't know how, but they are. Now on Glow Sounds, only maybe one hundred fifty of her works show up there because she was signed to Starfire Records a little after her older ones were published on YouHoof, and she never distributed through them.
"Now remember, all of those tracks are in between two to four hundred million views by this point. Not counting Ready For Love. Those are a lot of ponies listening. Now the way labels work is they distribute, promote, and provide copyright. Then after a little while, provide payment to the artist after taking a cut. A percentage for their services. It's in their contracts. Golden Records, a record Label in Canterlot take a ten percent cut each time a distribution is made, a tour is scheduled, a show is booked, an interview, all of that. Now that's just the label. You have the manager who also takes a cut, and the distribution service they distributed to. So if I made a track that had a Net Payment of five thousand, I would make maybe one thousand by the time all those cuts are taken out. And get this. Golden Records take a ten percent cut. Starfire takes a twenty percent. Yet each time Magenta makes a distribution, she gains another million. Can you see where I'm going here?"
Everyone slowly turned to Magenta Streak in shock once again. Including Spike in the back who could hear the video loud and clear. Covered Scenes took a deep breath, then thrust her hooves out and yelled, "Magenta Streak is loaded with Starfire alone!!! YouHoof also takes a cut, but it's five percent! Same for Glow Sounds! Now the next part I want to get at is that YouHoof and Glow Sounds have a payment system. A majority of streaming services do. Called PPCs. Pay Per Clicks. Everypony partnered with them get paid in two ways: Streams, and PPCs. Ads. Each time somepony clicks on an ad that's attached to that artist or Vlogger's content, that Vlogger who's content it's attached to gets paid maybe a single bit. But if you're an official partner with YouHoof, each time somepony watches your video, you get paid zero point zero five bits per view by the end of that week. And Magenta is partnered with YouHoof. Now lets do the math. Ready For Love is currently at one billion, two hundred twenty-five million, seventy-five thousand, eighteen views on Youhoof. This week, it was viewed over five million times. We're going to multiply that by zero point zero five. What do we get?"
I'm going to destroy this pony, Magenta thought before the number popped up on the screen, pulling a gasp out of everyone except, once again, Bright and Magenta.
"Magenta, this week, had gained two hundred fifty thousand bits. Now we're going to multiply that four times, which is a month in Equestria. That's one million in a month at that rate. She made around one million this month off that track. And she didn't even really do anything. Remember, all of this is from YouHoof. And YouHoof alone. No managers, no shows, just straight music with a graphic image as the video with it playing in the background. Her other songs had around the same range. each month, if not more. All from YouHoof. Now we're going to look at the shows, concerts, Starfire Records' payments... All of which with no collaborations might I add since Starfire is extremely exclusive. I want everypony in here to think about how many in-person shows Magenta has done so far ever since she was signed to them. Around maybe forty or fifty right? Fact check?" Covered Scenes threw another image of Magenta Streak into the scene with a big number on it. "Over the past six years? Forty-six. Magenta Streak has done a total of forty-six shows in... Manehattan. And only Manehattan. That's in person. On YouHoof, it's around one hundred something, I know that. Those shows average out at about the same views like her songs on YouHoof, since it's streamed live there and in-person. Now interviews? Around two thousand. Concerts, three thousand. Total? Magenta Streak has done a total of one hundred and eighty-something shows that average out at about three million views per month that begin to slow down after awhile.
"After the math, Magenta Streak received one hundred seventy five thousand bits this week, and will probably receive seven hundred thousand bits at the end of this month just from YouHoof. But overall from her songs which get viewed millions of times a month? Nearly two hundred million a month!! Total!! Boosting her already towering bits over every single artist in Equestria that are forever stuck with the realization that they will never reach the status of Magenta Streak.
"I was recently informed by a reliable source that said Magenta Streak is finally reaching her first one hundred million."
A sound effect of a clock buzzer with an X on the screen cut in. "WRONG!!" Covered Scenes yelled, then fell out of her chair. She jumped back up and pointed at the camera, yelling, "Magenta Streak has already made her first one hundred million not even a year after she took off! By this point in time, she should be reaching her first billion off of YouHoof in a few months!! All of her songs max at out about two million views a week up there! And there are over two hundred fifty three! Over two hundred fifty three!
"Magenta Streak, proven with straight math, is reaching her first eight hundred million in a few weeks!!!!! All off of her music playing over three million times a month on YouHoof! After taxes and YouHoof's cuts! She is past a multi-millionaire and soon, really really soon, will be reaching her first billion!! Which would make her the most sought out and expensive Celebrity in Equestrian history, if she isn't already! Let alone the richest pony and first billionaire!! Magenta, at this time, is holding a max of over eight hundred four million, eight hundred thousand bits. But...what exactly is she doing with that money?"
Magenta rolled her eyes. This pony was starting to irk her. And it took a lot to irk her. An image of Magenta walking down the street with no clothing was slapped on. Then her personal chariot, clothes, mansion, neighborhood she lives in, all of it from her myStable page. It made Magenta concerned about where she got those photos.
"Her chariot is about seven hundred thousand bits, complete with bodyguards who pull it. Her mansion is about ten million bits which is the biggest in Manehattan Unique and actually the biggest home in Equestria, let alone Manehattan.
"Next, she is seen in these images with a bunch of instruments that are used to create her music that makes everypony in Equestria dance. All of them here being synthesizers that cost around two hundred thousand bits each, while we recently learned from her YouHoof interview that gave her around three million more bits is that she can play piano, guitar, violin, and the drums, boosting her Net Worth with just those few words. It makes sense really, a few of her songs actually include complex guitar sounds, pianos, and it of course explains her intense playing at the Ponyville Megashow, showing her playing a song on the large XS4500—which cost three thousand bits—that has yet to be released.
"All of those songs Magenta played there were never released yet. Including the one Bright herself played, which we believed was a song made by Bright Snow herself that Magenta streak added to her set, who holds a large candle with Magenta Streak's status with bits.
"But what separates Bright Snow from Magenta Streak is that she has told us countless times over and over again through her social media account on myStable that she was saving up to be able to go to college for a degree in Corporate Management so she can become Founder and CEO of her own private dance academies in Equestria. She has posted plans, images, and even recorded videos of her actually touring schools while still a freshman in High School. Plans, goals. She has around three hundred million in her name and has a net worth of four billion at the age of sixteen, but has proven that she was actually going to do something with it. But Magenta Streak?"
An X crossed over Magenta Streak's logo. "Not. A single. Thing. She is literally getting paid millions a week and is doing absolutely nothing with it to benefit Equestria or help these starving artists out here that are possibly working even harder than her. Has over four hundred million dollars in her name and is worth over nine billion. With absolutely nothing planned after her contract with Starfire is closed which will give her one hundred million more bits. As a matter of fact, I bet she wakes up each day to nearly a million in her bank account. All from her old songs.
"She has made music, gone on tours... All of it's hard work, yeah. But...what is she working towards? Last time I checked, Magenta Streak is sticking with Starfire for another four years, getting paid millions before each Annual Restitution Period. Technically, that's the period when all management for major brands give you a tax return. Your rightfully deserved amount of bits. So those cuts all those companies did for your release? They give all that money back during the beginning of fall. Don't know why, but they do.
By the end of next month or two, Magenta Streak will officially be the richest pony in Equestria at this rate. Doing absolutely nothing with those bits that are sitting in her bank account under around a thousand locks and keys rusting away that are completely getting added to by the thousands each day. She could sit back in her mansion watch a movie with surround sound, then take a nap, wake up, and have four million deposited into her bank account. And does absolutely nothing with it for a very long time. While many artists are out here starving and hoping for those lights, cameras, and all that action, Magenta Streak has reached that already and is not even giving any other artist a chance to shine. She is hogging our bits and stealing our ears away from artists that probably shine way more than she does. That's why I urge you, Equestria, to stop listening to Magenta Streak."