As another day began at Canterlot High started, Pinkie Pie was skipping through the front door with her usual smile on her face, but that smile quickly disappeared as she looked behind herself and saw that the girl who was previously following behind her was now hiding by the door jam.
Pinkie Pie poked her head back out saying, "Come on Fla- I mean 'Bright Lights,' you said you liked this outfit. We even restyled your hair to go with it, and I dug up a pair of matching sneakers for you since you said high heels was a step too far."
Flash leaned by the door saying, "Yeah, I know. But wearing it over at your place and looking at myself in the mirror is one thing... but wearing it here at school."
"Well it's not like anyone here knows who really are," began Pinkie before she glanced at some of the students coming and said, "plus Sunset should be here any minute and you don't want her asking why you're just sitting by the door and not going in."
"Uhh, fine," said Flash before she stood up and walked through the door, revealing her new look to the whole school.
As Flash walked down the hall blushing Pinkie looked at her and said, "Oh come on, you look cute."
Flash nervously chuckled before saying, "Thanks, and I am at least OK with the majority of this outfit, due in no small part to the fact that it reminds me a certain holographic singer. It's the skirt that I'm still struggling with."
Pinkie slyly smiled as she said, "Didn't you say last night that you 'enjoyed the breezy freedom'?"
Flash blushed more as she said, "Admittedly, yeah I do a little, but I also feel kind of.... exposed."
At this Pinkie took on an uncharacteristically serious tone as she looked at Flash and said, "You aren't are you? Because I know I gave you some-"
Flash raised her hands defensively and blushed more severely before Pinkie could finish as she said, "Oh no no no, I didn't mean literal. In fact I'm even wearing shorts underneath here as well to be safe."
"Oh," said Pinkie before chuckling and saying, "Well between those and your knee socks, you might as well still be wearing pants."
"I guess... it still feels weird," said Flash as her blush deepened.
"Well, that makes sense. Not all girls are comfortable in skirts at first, and some never," began Pinkie before saying, "I'm surprised Dashie didn't switch to pants sooner."
"Wait, someone as confident as Dash was just as uncomfortable as I am?" said Flash.
"Yup, if not more so," said Pinkie.
At this Flash smiled before becoming confused as she said, "But wait, why would Dash wear a skirt for years if she didn't like them?"
"Well... it wasn't actually her idea. You see she used to just wear her black athletic shorts to school, but Rarity was all like 'My word Rainbow Dash, can't you have at least some femininity' and gave her a simple violet and white stripped skirt from her clearance bin to wear," said Pinkie.
"Huh, that explains why it didn't really match the colors of the rest of her outfit," said Flash.
'Yup, anyway Dash walked around feeling just as embarrassed as you are now, but in time she ended up getting used to it," said Pinkie who then leaned into Flash's ear saying, "and don't tell this to anyone but she actually ended up liking it more than pants."
Flash chuckled, not nervously this time, at that before saying, "But wait, if she's cool with it then why did she switch back to pants?"
"Oh, it's just so she can maintain her sporty girl image. But trust me, next time Rarity makes us clothes for some kind of event, she's either going to be wearing a skirt or a full on dress saying 'it's a special occasion'," said Pinkie before they both began chuckling at all this.
Flash, now with most of the blush gone from her face, said, "I guess I can get used to this then," before going into the bathroom only to be greeted by a screaming Bulk Biceps before rushing back and realizing that she had gone into the men's room, again.
"Looks like that's not the only thing you still have to get used to," said Pinkie Pie.
Meanwhile Sunset Shimmer observed this as she was trotting through the hall.
She thought to herself, "First the locker room and now the bathrooms? I guess her old school must have been all girls or something for her to keep making these mistakes. It looks like Pinkie's trying to help her out though which is good... but why Pinkie though? I mean of course she is willing to help anyone but me and Twilight are both on the welcome committee for new students so this is kind of what we do."
Before Sunset could go deeper in thought though she was interrupted as from seemingly nowhere, ironically one of her first fully successfully appearing acts, Trixie was now standing in front of Sunset with a panicked look on her face as she said, "Sunset, we've got a problem!"
Sunset immediately became concerned at seeing one of her most confident friends worried as she said, "Oh my gosh, what's wrong?!"
"The singing comedian who was supposed to go on before us in our magic show on Wednesday had to cancel because apparently his 'cheesie sense' as he called it had to take him somewhere else," said Trixie as she began freaking out.
Sunset on the other hand just looked confused as she said, "Oh um.... I don't understand what that means."
At this Trixie became slightly agitated as she said, "It MEANS! That Iron Will doesn't have enough talent scheduled for that day to make up for his drink to table ratio and is going to have to cancel next weeks show."
At this Sunset became somewhat relieved as she said, "Oh, that doesn't sound so bad."
"NOT SO BAD!" said Trixie.
"Well I mean, missing one show isn't gonna ruin your reputation or anything, and from what you've told me all your debts have been paid off, and I'm pretty close with mine and thankfully I don't have any time constraints," said Sunset trying to reassure her friend.
Trixie then blushed as she nervously laughed and said, "Yeah, about that..." before trailing off.
Sunset caught onto what she was trying to say as she said, "Trixieee?"
Trixie's blush then deepened as closed her eyes and belted out, "I GOT A NEW BILL!"
Several students glanced at the, louder than necessary, confession while Sunset face hoofed and said, "Darn it Trixie, I thought you said you were over this?"
Trixie raised her hands trying to defend herself as she said, "I am, it's just I felt I deserved a little treat after paying off my last bill, and I saw this absolutely adorable broach."
"Oh, Trix," said Sunset as had seen way to many reality shows, as spending a few years as a vindictive friendless manipulator had given her a lot of free time after school, and she knew that one little thing was all it took to fall back into an addiction like this.
Trixie seemed to take notice of Sunset's thought process though and continued saying, "But the broach is all I bought, and my normal paycheck would be more than enough to cover the bill."
"Oh," said Sunset pleasantly surprised at how her friends choice was no where as bad as she initially thought.
"But if I don't pay it off by next Friday the interest rate will DOUBLE!" said Trixie as she once again started freaking out.
Sunset, now on the same page, began freaking out a little too as she said, "Oh, man. What kind of place would have a rate that steep?!"
Trixie then looked even more embarrassed as she said, "The Flim Flam Brothers' Everything Under the Sun Emporium."
Sunset's expression briefly went flat as she quietly said, "Should have figured," before returning to her concern for Trixie as she said, "Well what can we do?"
"We have to find a new group to go on before us before Iron Will makes the schedule on Sunday," said Trixie before looking hopeful as she said, "Hey, can you and The Rainbooms could perform?"
"Unfortunately no, Pinkie's got a big catering thing with Mister and Misses Cake, Applejack has to help her family prepare for the Zap Apple harvest, and Fluttershy has her weekly tea with Discord that day and I mean I know she'd probably cancel it to help but I don't like taking advantage of her kindness like that. Plus with at least two band members down I'm not sure what we could do," said Sunset.
"Oh, I see," said Trixie before she began freaking out again saying, "What am I gonna do then?!"
Sunset, wanting to calm her friend down, came up with an idea as she said, "Well their are plenty of talented people at this school... I know, you go to theater class and I'll go the choir. I'm sure we can find a few people willing to perform with us after school."
Trixie instantly perked up as she said, "Of course, thanks Sunset," before her usual confidence returned as she said, "After all, who wouldn't want to perform with THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE... and her Lovely and Charming assistant."
Sunset smiled at this as Trixie threw a smoke bomb to the ground and vanished, to the end of the hall where Sunset could see her sprinting away. Sunset then began walking to the choir room but as she turned the corner she saw the CMC all sitting on the ground looking miserable as she said, "Hey girls, what's up?"
Applebloom looked up at her with sadness in her eyes as she said, "Oh it's just awful Sunset."
Scootaloo then chimed in saying, "It's plain terrible."
Finally Sweetie Belle added in, "It is the WORST POSSIBLE THING!" From there she pulled an extra long fainting couch from the door next to her and all three of them went from laying on the floor to laying on it.
Sunset thought to herself, "Looks like all that time learning how to sew their anime costumes from Rarity has impacted them more than expected." She maintained her concern though as she said, "Oh no, what is it?"
"Principal Celestia recently amended club requirements, and the new minimum for after school clubs is now five," said Applebloom.
"So if we don't get some new members by the end of the month she'll have to dissolve our club," said Scootaloo.
"And we already asked everyone in our grade and they either can't join or don't want too," said Sweetie Belle.
"What about Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? I though you girls had been pretty close ever since you helped reform those two," said Sunset.
"Unfortunately they don't have the time," said Applebloom.
Scootaloo then became annoyed as she said, "Yeah, Diamond's stupid mom got wind that some big important couple in the city just go engaged and, even though she doesn't even know who the couple is, she is dead set on making Diamond take cotillion so she'll act 'proper' at the wedding and Silver is doing it so she doesn't have to do it alone."
"And as much as she might want an excuse to try and get out of, we could never try and force Silver to leave Diamond's side... she was her first friend after all," said Sweetie Belle.
"Oh, well I would be happy to join your club, and I'm sure your older sisters would want to do it too," said Sunset as she smiled trying to calm the girls down.
"I wish it was that easy, but unfortunately since we originally wanted this club to be just us we registered under the Freshman schedule to limit the amount of people we might have to turn away," said Scootaloo.
"Oh," said Sunset as she was now saddened by the fact that it looked like the CMC didn't have a way out of this.
"We did find one loophole to try, but unfortunately it didn't work out," said Sweetie Belle.
At this Sunset perked back up as she said, "What's the loophole?"
"Well, apparently people who aren't attending Canterlot High are allowed to sign up for any club regardless of grade," said Scootaloo.
"Wait really?" asked Sunset as that seemed like a very odd loophole.
Applebloom then reached into her bag and pulled out a school bylaw book as she said, "Yeah, apparently it was originally created so that students in middle school could join and get a little early experience in high school, or so people who recently graduated could go back to their old clubs to continue the fun and help out the younger kids if need be." She then held up the book to Sunset showcasing several picture of that, the most notable of which was one of a preteen Celestia staring with wide eyes and a huge grin at the culinary clubs latest cake, and then one of a twenty something Celestia doing the same thing. She then continued saying, "But there was never was any added rules stating that they had to have ever been enrolled at Canterlot High, so technically anyone can join."
"So we spent the past few days handing out fliers in front of Sugarcube Corner and Carousel Boutique trying to get people interested, but unfortunately we haven't had any takers," said Scootaloo.
Sunset thought on all this information for a bit before being interrupted as Sweetie Belle said, "If only we could have some sort of stage show after school to showcase our club to a whole bunch of people... I mean between all the moves and stuff we've practiced from shows I think we could come up with a good show in no time."
Applebloom then looked at Sweetie as she said, "Now how in the name of apples are we gonna get a stage show that fast?"
Sunset just smiled at this as she now saw a way to fix two problems at once and said, "I think I know how."