//------------------------------// // Where Everyone Benefits! // Story: Permanent Vacation // by Apple_Crack //------------------------------// “Permanent Vacation” Where Everyone Benefits!         Currently, we are sitting in Vinyl’s recording studio, waiting as Vinyl puts the finishing touches our second album titled On The Rocks. Hell, we even got a request from the famed Sapphire Shores to appear on her upcoming album. Naturally, I agreed on the conditions that she join us for a song of our own and that I pick what song I perform with her. Her first response was to disagree, but after hearing what song I wanted to perform with her and vice versa, she did a complete one eighty in her decision.         I’m idly flipping a bit through the air when I snatch it in midair and lean forward. “Hey, guys, I just had a brilliant idea. What if we hold a benefit concert to increase sales and our public image?”         Lyra looks up from her snacking on some chips. “And who needs benefitting that we need to hold a concert for them?”         I smirk. I want them to figure this out on their own. “Well, it’s close to home and can shape many lives of the younger generation…”         Mac raises an eyebrow. “The Ponyville schoolhouse?”         I shake my head. “Getting closer, but it’s more of a place of housing than education.”         Spike snaps his claw. “I got it! You’re talking about the Ponyville Orphanage!”         I point at him. “Bingo.”         Vinyl glances at us before returning to her work. “Sounds good to me. What’d you have in mind?”         “We charge people a small fee to see us, play a couple of our latest songs, and then Sapphire and I will perform our songs to end the show. That is, if Sapphire will agree to take part in this.”         Vinyl chuckles. “Heh, I don’t think she’d pass up a chance to perform. I’m all for it if you guys are.”         “Eeyup.”         “Our first actual concert? Of course I’m gonna go along with it!” Spike says, Lyra nodding in agreement since she’s too busy stuffing her face with chips again.         I nod my head. “Then it’s settled. Vinyl, I’ll leave the logistics and planning up to you. In the meantime,” I go to leave, “I’ll head over to the orphanage and talk things over with the owner.”         “Whatever you negotiate, I want us receiving at least forty percent of the profits!” Vinyl yells to me.         “Will do!” Descending to the shop, I head outside into the bright and cheery Monday morning. I gotta hand it to the weather ponies around here. They were smart enough to leave a few clouds lingering around for ample shade from the sun.         “That, or Rainbow Dash was too lazy to clear them all and is waiting till the last second to do it.”  I look up and snicker at the sight of a rainbow tail hanging over the edge of a cloud.         I head towards the orphanage, whistling a happy tune to myself the entire time. As I near the orphanage, the sound of laughter fills my ears. Colts and fillies run around the building, playing with toys and just enjoying the sunny day. I smile at the sight of them. Oh, what joy this concert will bring to them. A couple of the kids notice me and start to follow me. This draws the attention of a few mares watching the children. One of them, a light green mare with a long flowing teal mane and wearing jean shorts and a grey tank top, walks over to me. “Hello, and welcome to the Ponyville Orphanage. Is there anything I can help you with?” Her voice sounds so tender and caring, able to ease the burden of anyone who talks to her. I nod my head. “In fact, yes. I’m looking for the matron of the orphanage.” The mare holds out her hand. “That would be me. I’m Sea Swirl. Nice to meet you, Mister…?” I shake her hand. “Blake Quinter, but please call me Blake.” “Well then, Mister Blake, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” I look at the children and smile at them before returning my gaze to Sea. “I’m here with a business proposition.” Sea crosses her arms. “I’m sorry, but I’m not selling the orphanage at this time. Please tell your boss that if I ever do, I’ll contact him.” I raise an eyebrow and notice some of the children leaving, shaking their heads. Things must be worse than I thought around here. I will give them credit, they can put up a nice front though. “Selling the orphanage? I’m sorry, but this is the first time I’m hearing this.” Sea gasps. “Oh, I’m sorry! I thought that you were here to try and convince me to sell the building and land!” I chuckle. “It’s alright. But I’m curious as to why you would be selling this place? It looks to be in very decent shape as it is.” Sea sighs. “I’ll tell you, but not out here. Please follow me inside.” She turns around and leads me inside, but not before I catch a couple of glares from some of the mares. Entering the building, she leads me behind the front desk to a door with her name and title on it. Going inside, she sits down behind a desk and motions for me to take a seat in a plush red chair. Doing so, I idly glance around her office at the rows of filing cabinets along the wall and pictures drawn by the orphans here. I grab one off her desk and look at it. While very crude, I can tell that’s Sea tenderly cradling a filly, the words, “Thank you for being my new mommy. I love you,” written across the top of the paper. “Dammit, am I crying?!”  Sea sighing snaps me back to reality. “This orphanage, this sanctuary, is the last place many fillies and colts have right now. For years, I’ve watched over them, making sure their lives improved. And in those years, I’ve stood strong against all obstacles that faced this orphanage. And now, I fear I’ll lose it all to debt.” Sea looks up, tears in the corner of her eyes. “I can’t afford the upkeep anymore. These fillies and colts need this place right now and I can’t do a damned thing to save it.” I nod my head. “And that’s why I’m here. I’ll do everything in my power to help you.” Sea smiles. “How? Unless you can magically create bits, I don’t see how you can help.” I chuckle. “Ever hear of the All-Equestrian Rejects?” Sea nods her head. “I’m the lead singer of them.” She gasps. “You’re in the All-Equestrian Rejects?! I love your music! I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize you!” I laugh and wave my hand at her. “Nah, it’s cool. I’m fine with not having my image plastered everywhere.” “This… This is amazing! A real celebrity here at the orphanage! Why are you here?” I smirk. “Well, we’re going to be releasing our latest album soon and we all decided that a benefit concert would increase our sales and public image. And I could think of no other place to hold a concert for than the Ponyville Orphanage.” Sea closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths. She opens her eyes and clasps her hands together, laying them on the table. “We would be honored to have you perform here. You could even set up the stage in the field out back.” Well, that was convenient. Looks like Vinyl has one less thing to worry about. I nod my head. “Thank you for the offer, which I’m sure we’ll agree to.” I clasp my hands and lean forward. “Now onto the more business side of this talk. We are going to donate seventy percent of ticket sales to the orphanage. Is that acceptable?” “But Vinyl said—” “Fuck what she said. This place needs the money more than us right now. Lose a little bit of money or save a beacon of hope. Not hard to see where I’m tossing my chips.” Sea holds out her hand. “That is more than acceptable. Do we have a deal?” I smirk and shake her hand. “Yes, yes we do.” We both stand up. “Before I go, I have another question that I need answered.” She raises an eyebrow. “Yes?” “You’re doing it, aren’t you?” “Which of your members are up for adoption?”         One week later         “Five minutes till show time!” A stagehand yells as he opens the door to the dressing rooms.         “Got it!” I yell back as my makeup artist finishes applying… Ya know, I have no idea what it is. Some stuff that’s supposed to make our skin shiny or something. I nod my thanks to the mare as she wanders off. Spinning around in my chair, I look around the room. I gotta hand it to Vinyl. She was initially peeved that I negotiated less than she wanted, but changed her tune when I told the story of the orphanage going under. She immediately got to work on contacting her, well, contacts about the event. Within days, a full stage was set up on the field behind the orphanage and grandstands erected, along with the entire staff and crew to pull this thing off. Vinyl must have more influence in Equestria than I thought.         On that note, Sapphire said that she would be more than happy to perform with us and donate to the orphanage. I’m pretty sure that’s why we got so many ticket sales, just because Sapphire Shores is performing.         “That is an insult to us. You know that, right?”         “Yes, but if the money is going towards something worthwhile, then I’m happy. Just think of the PR this will bring though!”         “Yes, the astounding Sapphire Shores and the All-Equestrian Rejects performing for one night only. The press will eat that shit up!”         The mare in question gets up from her own makeup session, nodding to me before heading back to her dressing room. I can’t even begin to describe her outfit as she saunters to the door. The only thing I have to say is that if the outfits of Lady Gaga and the voice and body of Beyoncé had a love child, Sapphire would be the end result. I look over at Spike, sitting in a chair to my right. The makeup artists felt he didn’t need any touching up, so he got a free pass. Lucky bastard. “So, ready for our big performance?” Spike smirks. “You know I’m ready.” I look over to my left at Lyra and Mac with their own makeup artists. Lyra is sitting there with her arms crossed. I smirk. “Do you feel pretty yet, Lyra?” She huffs. “Go to Tartarus.” We all laugh. “Oh, don’t be like that now. It’ll all be worth it when we’re performing.” Lyra smirks. “Yeah, I know that. Doesn’t mean I can’t be grumpy every now and again.” “Two minutes to show time!” The stagehand from before yells. We stand up and file out the door behind the stagehand, grabbing our instruments (Except for Spike, of course) from other stagehands. Vinyl is standing by the left stage entrance, waiting for us. She smirks and nods to us. “Knock em dead tonight.” “Hey, how many ponies showed up?” Spike asks. Vinyl shakes her head and chuckles. “All of them. We sold out.” Mac whistles. “Damn…” I raise an eyebrow. “Not enough info there, girl. How many tickets did we have?” Vinyl nods her head. “Smart question. We had one thousand tickets for either air or ground seats, not counting the six you gave out for free.” Lyra and I whistle. “Damn!” Vinyl laughs. “And just think, this is only the beginning. Wait until you’re playing for crowds up into the ten thousands and higher!” Vinyl glances behind us. “I gotta get set up to introduce you guys. Good luck!” She yells as she walks off. I turn around, holding my hand out. “Hands in, everyone.” Spike, Lyra, and Mac places their hands on mine. “On three, All-Equestrian Rejects. Ready? One, two, three! All-Equestrian Rejects!” We throw our hands up and shout out our name. “Alright, alright, alright! Please welcome to the stage, The All Equestrian-Rejects!” Vinyl’s voice projects from the speakers. We calmly walk out onto the stage waving, cheers drowning out all other noise as we take our places. Looking out, a sea of fans greets my eyes from both the air and the ground. The grandstands couldn’t hold everyone so a large chunk of the crowd is in the space between the stage and the grandstands. I glance at the girls in the front row, cheering for us. “Hello Ponyville!” I yell into the mic, receiving even more cheering from the crowd. Once the noise dies down, I continue. “Before we begin, I would like to personally thank everyone for coming out tonight in support of the Ponyville Orphanage. All the money we raised tonight is all in part because of you guys! So let’s hear it!” Another wave of cheering comes from the crowd. “Let’s get this party started! Hit it!” We jump into our playlist for the night, consisting of Youth Gone Wild, War of Change, The End Is Where We Begin, and Living on The Edge. Once we finish and the crowd settles down, I motion for everybody to leave the stage. “Alright, now we’re gonna take a short break. Until then, please enjoy the musical stylings of the great DJ Pon-Three.” Vinyl’s music blares out of the speakers as I head backstage as well, waving to the crowd. Once there, I head over to the band and high five each of them. “Way to go, guys! Why don’t you all take a break while I get ready for Sapphire?” “Eeyup.” Spike shrugs his shoulders. “Sounds good to me.” He glances at Lyra as a smirks plays across his face. “So, does this mean that we need to visit the makeup artists again?” Lyra crosses her arms and huffs. “Do we really have to?” Mac nods his head. “Eeyup.” I laugh and nudge her with my elbow. “Come on, you gotta look pretty for Bon-Bon.” Lyra blushes and looks at the ground, punching me in the shoulder. “Sh-Shut up!” We all laugh. “Alright, you three go rest up.” They head back to the dressing room while a makeup artist runs over to me for a quick touchup. Once she finishes, I yell out to the general area, “What do I have to do to get some water around here?!” A stagehand rushes up to me with a bottle of water. I eagerly drink it, tossing the now empty bottle back to the stagehand. As Vinyl’s mix ends, I walk back out to the stage as Sapphire’s band follows me out. They take their positions as I head up to one of two microphone stands set up. “How is everybody?!” The crowd yells back. “Good! Now, give it up for the one, the only, Sapphire Shores!” I motion to my right as Sapphire saunters out, everybody clapping and cheering for her. She takes her place in front of the other mic stand, glancing over at me. “Honey, you ready to blow their minds?” I smirk. “Minds? Baby, I’m going for the full body treatment!” Sapphire looks back at the crowd. “Ponyville, get ready to hear some fine ass music!” She snaps her fingers, her band going right into the song we rehearsed, On The Floor. Of course, I had to reword some of the lyrics to fit Sapphire and Equestria since this is ‘her song’. There isn’t much for me to do, save for the opening lyrics, so I get pushed aside for Sapphire’s backup dancers to come out and dance with her. Seeing Sapphire move like that probably has every man here hot under the collar, I included. “Hot damn, I love this place! Get some fine ass mares in this joint!” “As much as I want to be upset with you, I can’t right now.” “You too focused on other things?” “…Possibly.” The crowd goes wild as we finish. Sapphire’s dancers and band leave the stage, allowing Spike, Lyra, and Mac to come back out and retake their positions onstage. Once the crowd dies down, I snatch the mic and point at Sapphire. “I gotta say, you put on one hell of a show for the stallions here.” Sapphire puts a hand on her hip and snaps her fingers. “You know it, baby.” I smirk and point at Mac. “Well, I think it’s only fair we put on a show for the mares. Isn’t that right, Mac?” “Eeyup.” “Well then, shall we?” Mac nods his head. We both slowly take our shirts off, to the wild cheering of the mares in the crowd and the flashes of cameras. Afterwards, I ball my shirt up and toss it into the crowd as Mac does the same. I know I’m not the most muscular guy around, but I catch the looks from the mares around town. And I’m pretty sure Mac gets his fair share. Sapphire acts like she’s fanning herself. “Woo, now you’re getting me all flustered!” “Isn’t that the point?” Mac asks, a small smirk on his face. I put my hands up, motioning for everyone to calm down. “Alright, alright, we still got a show to close out. So if you’re ready, Sapphire?” She nods her head. “Then let’s end this with a bang!” I sway my hips from side to side as we go into our final song of the night, Moves Like Jagger. We end the night, like I said, with a bang. The cheering crowds, the photo op with the orphans (Minus Scootaloo, possibly wanting to hide that she's lives there), the autographs, the happiness of Sea when we handed her the money. Damn, it feels good to actually be doing something good for once.