Chapter 1
The last fashion season didn't turn out good for Rarity. The collection she created wasn't received so well like it's normally the case when she has sewn new masterpieces.
Exactly, the audience of the fashion show she had organized to introduce her new collection, was completely unimpressed. Some ponies even criticized some of her design decisions harshly.
Yes, it really didn't turn out good.....
As a consequence, she was in financial trouble now. Only a few ponies bought some of her pieces, barely enough to prevent her from starving.
But now, the money she had was almost gone and the next fashion season was still some months away. Her only hope was to antedate the presentation of her new line and so, she worked twice as hard as usual, allowing herself only a few hours of sleep per day.
She had organized a new fashion show that should go down today and had invited Hoity Toity as well as Sapphire Shores to it, in hope that their high opinions for her designs would have a positive impact on the rest of the audience.
She also made sure to avoid the design decisions that were criticized at her last fashion show and she hoped that her line will impress the critics this time. Rarity sighed and stood up from the chair, she was sitting on now for a few minutes already, buried in thoughts.
The start of the fashion show was only a few hours away and she still had to check some things. She trotted over to the stereo equipment, that she had rented for that day to provide the necessary background music for the fashion show, and turned it on to check if everything worked. The speakers made a crackling sound as she turned it on. "Good, the speakers work properly.", she thought. But, when she started to play the music, nothing happened. She tried it again.
Silence.
Her heart began to race. She switched off the whole unit to try it again. She waited a moment and made a deep breath. Then she switched it on again and tried again to play the music.
Nothing.
Rarity began to panic. Without music, the fashion show would be already a disaster before she even began! And she hadn't the time anymore to organize new equipment or to let it repair by somepony! Her thoughts raced through her head to find a solution for this unexpected problem.
The door bell rang suddenly.
"Hi Rarity, I'm back from school!", Sweetie Belle's soft voice sounded in her ears. Rarity smiled. Sometimes, she thought, life offers you a solution very quick. She trotted over to Sweetie Belle, who had just took off her saddle bag and laid it on the table.
"Sweetie Belle, I need your help with something today."
Sweetie Belle smiled. She was always happy when her big sister allows her to help her with something.
"Sure, what is it?", she asked excited.
"The music player for my fashion show today isn't working anymore! And I can't make a fashion show without music! I need you to sing for me today!"
"Singing? You mean, on the stage? Beside the models?" Sweetie Belle crouched back a little.
"Yes. It's the only way, I can't organize new music equipment anymore before the show starts!"
"But..... I can't.....", Sweetie Belle began, but Rarity interrupted her.
"Oh, Sweetie Belle, it's only for one time!"
"But I'm afraid of singing on a stage!" Sweetie Belle crouched back more.
Rarity grabbed her on her shoulders and pulled her closer. "But you're my only hope! My last fashion show was a disaster and when this one turns out as a disaster too, I'm FINISHED!" Sweetie Belle just looked at her with fear and big, watery eyes and doesn't gave a answer. Rarity didn't saw the tears that began to form in her eyes.
"What? Don't you want to help your big sister when she's in need?", Rarity asked her in a harsh and disappointed tone.
"I..... I.....", Sweetie Belle sniffed.
Suddenly, she broke free from Rarity's grasp and ran into the direction of the front door. But Rarity turned round and grabbed her at her tail. "Sweetie Belle, don't dare to go now! I need your help and you know well that you're the only one that can help me now, missy!" She pulled her closer a little, while Sweetie struggled and tried to get her tail free. "I'm your big sister and you have to do what I want!"
"Ow! You hurt me Rarity!", Sweetie Belle cried out in pain.
The outcry of her little sister brought ber back to sanity again. She released her tail. "Oh, Sweetie Belle, I'm so sorry, I didn't know what's gotten into me....." Rarity said rueful.
Sweetie Belle turned round to her. "Why have you done that? Why have you hurt me?" The tears were streaming down her face now, while she tugged her tail protectively between her legs. "I..... I HATE YOU!" With this words, she left Rarity behind her and ran out of the boutique.
She never saw Rarity acting like this before. And Rarity especially never hurted her. Sweetie Belle didn't understand what happened. She only was disappointed of her big sister. And a bit feared.
While she was gallopping away from the boutique, she suddenly heard a voice from the left reaching out to her. "Oh goodness, what happened?"
Sweetie Belle ignored it and just gallopped further. She saw a yellow shadow flying past her through her teary eyes and then, landing in front of her. She couldn't stop anymore and ran into it. She looked up and saw Fluttershy in front of her. Sweetie Belle leaned against her, silently crying.
"What does make you so distraught?", Fluttershy asked worried. Sweetie Belle looked up to her again and rubbed away her tears with one hoof.
"It's because of Rarity.....", she answered. "She.....", Sweetie Belle sobbed. "She attacked me and hurted me! I never saw her like that before! She grabbed my tail and didn't wanted to let me go!" She cried again.
"Oh my, why did she do that?", Fluttershy asked shocked and her expression became more worried.
Sweetie Belle sniffed. "She..... she wanted that I sing for her at her fashion show. She said the music player isn't working anymore and that I'm the only one that can help her." But I just can't sing on a stage! I'm too afraid of it....."
This sounded familiar to the yellow pegasus. "I'm also".
Sweetie Belle looked surprised at her. "What?"
"I'm also afraid of singing on a stage.....", she added with a shy tone in her voice.
Sweetie Belle looked to the ground. "Actually, I want to sing for Rarity. But I can't get rid of my fear.....", she said sadly.
Fluttershy pulled her closer a bit and gave her a hug to comfort her. "I understand.", she said. "Maybe if we go together to her and explain her everything....."
Suddenly, a thought came to Sweetie Belle and she interrupted her. "Or, we sing! We could try to overcome our fear together!"
While Sweetie Belle felt that she could overcome her fear when Fluttershy would sing with her, Fluttershy wasn't so sure about that. "I don't think that's a good idea....."
"It is! We just need something to give you more confidence! And I know who can help us!" Without awaiting an answer of Fluttershy, she grabbed her hoof and raced away with her. Her destination was the hut of Zecora in the Everfree Forest. When they reached it, Sweetie stormed inside and told her for what they are there.
"Zecora! We need a potion from you!" Zecora looked surprised at her. She hadn't expected such a sudden visit.
"A potion is it you need? For what deed?", she asked.
"It's..... I just don't think I could sing in front of an audience.", Fluttershy answered for her.
"And me too!", Sweetie Belle added. "But if you give Fluttershy a potion that can help her, we can sing together at Rarity's fashion show!"
Zecora frowned a little. She told them that she had indeed a potion that could help them. A potion that can suppress the nervousness of the pony that drinks it. But the potion was a new creation of her and she still was in her testing phase. But Sweetie Belle was persistent and after some argumentations, she managed it to convince Zecora to give them something of her potion. Sweetie Belle gave the bottle to Fluttershy. "When you drink it, you will have more confidence! Then we can sing together!"
Fluttershy hesitated. "But..... how should this help me to overcome my fear, when I can only do it thanks to the effect of this potion?"
"Maybe you don't need it anymore after your first performance! When you sing today, you maybe get used to it and then you can sing also without the potion!"
"Do you really think so?"
Sweetie Belle nodded excited. Fluttershy gave in and drank the potion.The effect came quicker than she expected. She suddenly felt strong and like she could do everything! "I..... I feel better now!", she said surprised and with an unusual confidence in her voice. "Come on, let's go to Rarity!", she said cheerfully. This time, it was her turn to grab Sweetie Belle's hoof and to race away with her.
When they arrived at the boutique, they were greeted by a desperated and crying Rarity. Rarity still felt guilty for what she did earlier today and was sunk down on the table. She didn't pay attention to the ringing door bell. Her thoughts just circled around the question how she could do that to her beloved little sister. Suddenly, two small, white hooves clasped around her neck and hugged her from behind. "Hi!", Sweetie Belle said happy.
Rarity looked up. "Oh, Sweetie Belle!" She snatched behind her and pulled Sweetie Belle into her arms. "I'm so terribly sorry!", she said sobbing. "I don't understand how this could happen to me! I don't wanted to hurt you!"
"It's okay, I know that!", Sweetie Belle answered softly. She snuggled her head in her chest. "And I can sing for you now! Fluttershy says she will sing together with me! If she helps me, I can do it! Is it okay when Fluttershy sings too?"
Rarity looked to Fluttershy, surprised to see the yellow pegasus here. "Fluttershy? But she has a problem with singing on a stage too!"
"Not at the moment!", Fluttershy said cheerfully. "Zecora gave me a potion that suppresses my nervousness, I can sing on a stage now!" Fluttershy was happy. She enjoyed this unknown feeling of big confidence.
Rarity was still not sure about this potion, but she agreed. "Okay, then let's do it! We have to hurry! The fashion show will begin in less than an hour!"
Sweetie Belle and Fluttershy helped Rarity with the last preparations for the show. They just got ready with everything as the first guests appeared. Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle stood behind the stage curtain, ready for it to accompany the fashion show with their singing. Rarity stepped over to them. "Only five more minutes! Is everypony ready?", she asked nervously.
"I'm ready! Woohoo!", Fluttershy answered, with the exact opposite of feelings than Rarity. Unfortunately, Sweetie Belle couldn't share this confidence anymore. She thought that she would be able to sing together with Fluttershy, but now, so short before their performance, her fear became too big again. She looked at Rarity, both with nervousness and guilt visible in her expression.
"Sweetie Belle, dear, what is wrong?", Rarity asked with a sense of foreboding.
"I..... I think I can't sing!"
"Oh, Sweetie Belle, we already had that! Please don't bring me into trouble! You can't blow everything now!"
Fluttershy stepped over. "That's not the right way, Rarity! Try it with a little bit more kindness!" She turned to Sweetie Belle. "I know how hard it is to sing on a stage, but together we can make it!" She gave her a comforting hug. "I know you can do it!" She let her go and looked asking to Rarity.
"What? Oh, sure!", Rarity answered a little bit slow. "I'm also sure you can make it, Sweetie. You are such a good singer, they all will be impressed by your voice!"
"Do you really think so?", Sweetie Belle asked hesitantly.
"I'm sure! Everypony will love your singing!" She gave her a hug too. "Now go out and show them what you've got!"
This had finally the necessary effect on Sweetie Belle. "Ok, I will try it!" She answered the hug. Then, she and Fluttershy got outside. The show began.
Sweetie Belle was hesitantly first, but then, when Fluttershy began to sing, she joined in, and with every line she sang it became easier for her. At the end of the show, the audience did not only applaud for the models, but also gave them an extra applause for their singing.
Behind the curtain again, Rarity came over to them and told them that she show was a complete success. Everypony liked her new collection and she told Sweetie Belle how everypony praised her singing. And she also thanked Fluttershy. "You really have proven true kindness today! I should have acted like this to Sweetie Belle before, then everything would have been easier! And your singing was praised too, you sung magnificent!"
Fluttershy smiled at her.
Later that day, Fluttershy was at home again, she looked on a little microphone, a present from Sweetie Belle. She smiled and then turned away to go to bed. She couldn't see anymore that the microphone suddenly glowed in the colors of the rainbow.....
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An interesting idea of how the episode might have played out.
Have a favourite and an upvote.
5035316
YAY, thanks!
The only I thing I regret is that it's so rushed, especially at the end.
But I couldn't help it, I wanted to get it out before the episode so badly!
Glad you still like it!
I was curious...
Ouch... talk about dark.
It was a placebo, wasn't it? I was surprised to see you never clarify that point in the story.
And no cutie mark... well, it makes perfect sense now, but I wonder why you decided not to make it appear back when you wrote that story. It would have made perfect sense (and I thought the whole time it was the goal of the story).
And there was the moral in the end: kindness over brute force. More efficient and more moral. Also brought me back in the days of season 4. Seems so far away now, but those are good memories. Filli Vanilli was a great episode and you got a good story out of it.
The potion looks like a deus ex machina to explain why Fluttershy would accept to come on the stage though. I feel like you wanted it to be a placebo (and therefore show that Fluttershy had it in her all along, which would be normal after Filly Vanilli), which is why I'm surprised you never mentioned it again.
As it is, the structure of the story gave me the following impression:
- Money crisis, Rarity risks to go bankrupt
- Sweetie Belle has to sing to realize it's her special talent
- Fluttershy takes a placebo to overcome her stagefright
- Kindess is better than brute force
It's a lot to digest in a short amount of time.
In the end, I'll admit what I liked the most about the story was that simple part:
it's a bit cheesy, but it's so positive it made me feel really great. As in "ponies really are nice creatures".
Also, the picture fits the story way too well for it to be a coincidence... (and is a big part of why I chose to read that story in particular). I' guessing you found the picture before you wrote the story?
6611406
What a coincidence that this scenario fits to your fic that I just read, huh?
I honestly had to read through my own story again to remember..... Sometimes I could slap this brain for being so forgetful.
But it's probably just because I rushed this story so much. Wrote it literally a few hours before the episode, completely spontaneously.
Anyway, no, actually not. It's a real, working potion and it had the intended effect.
Making it a placebo was too uncreative for me, so I decided to went into a different direction and to make the potion actually work.
That's something I thought about a lot, though.
The point here is, Sweetie Belle did not sing alone. Until up four weeks ago, when it still looked like her special talent is singing, I was always aware of it that, if she wants to realize her special talent for singing and get her cutie mark for it, she has to overcome her stage fright first. Which is why she would have been the last one of the Crusaders who gets her cutie mark if their special talents would be what we all thought they are.
Here, she did overcome her stage fright, but only with help from the outside, by someone singing with her together to give her the necessary confidence to do it. She was not singing alone, however, and thus didn't overcome her stage fright completely. She only suppressed it, basically. If she would after this try to sing alone on a stage, she would once again not dare anymore to enter it.
And stage fright doesn't miraculously disappear, it needs time. And with her stage fright still being intact, she couldn' realize the full potential of her talent for singing and thus, no cutie mark.
That's the only thing in this story that I really gave thoughts on, despite being in a hurry with it, because it's so major and I did not want to create a plothole.
I completely forgot that I wrote it that way; that Fluttershy got her key from Sweetie Belle and that Sweetie Belle is one of the Guardians of the Keys. Yeah, that was a nice idea I had there. Got it on the fly, during writing.
The only thing where it falls flat, that's something I realize now, is, that the Mane Six got the keys for the box from the ponies they had inspired or taught something, because that's what magically made those items the keys in the end, that they inspired other ponies with their element.
So, Fluttershy should have gotten her key from Rarity here, not from Sweetie Belle, because she inspired Rarity to be more kind.
But that would have been a little weird too, because Rarity is herself one of the Elements of Harmony, so, I wrote it a little strange there. xD That's what happens when you write a pre-episode fanfic last-minute.
"Out of it", yes, if it wouldn't be for the fact that I wrote it before the episode aired. But, here's a Fun Fact:
This fanfiction was actually inspired by this teaser picture for the episode:
http://i.imgur.com/BdFR4Re.png
I saw it, read the sentence and upon realizing that Fluttershy has stage fright too, I immediately thought on Sweetie Belle and her stage fright. I said that the episode will maybe turn out that way that Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle sing together and that they support each other in overcoming their stage fright. And I hoped this would happen, cause I knew immediately that it would be wonderful to see Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle sing together.
When I then got up on Saturday, after sleeping for too long, I suddenly had the urge to still write a fanfic for the episode to detail my theory how the episode will be. And I desperately wanted to get it out BEFORE the episode airs so that I, in case my theory turned out right, could say: "I predicted it!"
So, I sat down to write, without breakfast, without anything, and wrote furiously, completely stressed that I won't make it, and then submitted the fanfiction a few minutes before the episode began, copied the URL (I didn't wait anymore until it was approved) and slapped it into a comment under the Episode Streams & Discussions news for "Filli Vanilli" on EQD and quickly explained why I wrote it.
Then I rushed to catch the episode on Bronystate.
And because the teaser picture inspired the fic, I have directly built in Fluttershy's sentence that was on it and expanded it with what I thought she's going to say:
"It's..... I just don't think I could sing in front of an audience.", Fluttershy answered for her.
Strangely, I just found out now, upon looking into the episode again, that she didn't even begin the sentence that way and that The Hub has not printed what she's actually saying on the teaser pic, just something similar.
Anyway, the teaser pic inspired me, so I wanted to symbolize that in the fic.
That's what it did to me too now, after reading over it. Season 4 is the first season I watched right from the first second on.
I have the desire to watch it again now and I would do exactly that if we weren't during Season 5 right now.
Right so. That's exactly what it is.
I don't mind what people describe as "cheesy" in my stories. On the contrary, it's a vital element.
NIce things like that only feel cheesy to people, because the trend on Earth goes more in the opposite direction of being nice most of the time, so much even, that a lot of people deem being too nice as something negative and kitschy, hence why they call it "cheesy".
Therefore, "It's cheesy." is something I don't deem as valid (constructive) criticism on my stories.
Not saying you criticized it, but it's something you read often (I even hear bronies say about the show often that something in it is cheesy, while it's clearly not, but just positive) in the fandom when someone criticizes something and this is my stance on those kind of "criticism".
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
A good cover is never chosen out of coincidence. And neither is this one.
No, I didn't know it before (and I just checked and found out that I haven't even downloaded it after writing the fic, I was so much in a hurry that I completely forgot to do that!), I went on Derpibooru before I began to write (the first time I wrote a story directly here on FIMFiction.net, not in an extra document, by the way) and typed in "Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, singing" and then I found this picture in the results:
https://www.derpibooru.org/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&sbq=Sweetie+Belle%2C+Fluttershy%2C+singing
Happened to fit perfectly, so I used it.
6611921
It's true it would have been a cliché.
This is a great anecdote
and in a way, you can say "you predicted it", as just as you did, the episode tried to show how stage fright takes time to be overcomed. I didn't realize or imagine the fic had been written "before" the episode. It's impressive. Not just that you got so close to the actual moral they went with, but also that you were able to make such a fic in such short time under such stress.
If I were to think that something "cheesy" was bad, I wouldn't be watching mlp. As you said, we call it "cheesy" because it has that "unrealistic" feeling to it, but that's what makes it positive. Cheesy is normal for Equestria. And Cheesy can be very good. Even in real life (tested and confirmed).
Just to make the reference from another show:
"You're Steven, you love Schmaltz"
Lucky you. It's usually such a pain for me to find a picture that fits
.
6613156
My exact thoughts were that it's done often, so I didn't and made it a functionable potion.
But I have nothing against using clichés. The perception of what is cliched and what not differs and is very subjective, depending on it what kind of stories has one read in the past. I, apparently, have read too many stories involving placebos. xD
Clichés are a good story tool like everything else and are good for a story if used correctly.
Well, not really, that was coincidental. The only thing I was predicting is that Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle will sing together, which didn't happen unfortunately.
But I'm holding out my hope that we will see them singing together one day!
Can't really see it that way, it could be so much better if I would have taken my time with it.
And I'm actually tempted to rewrite this story one day, with enough alterations and fresh things so that it can qualify as a new story here and be published as such, cause I wrote it so rushed and it could be much better if I wouldn't have had to do that.
6614148
Many things are coincidences. Some aren't. Who knows?
That would be nice. As long as it isn't "99 buckets of oats on the wall". Actually, even that would be nice, in another weird way.
6614547
Well, authors who wrote the story usually know if it's a coincidence or not.
But I understand what you mean.
That's a great song! Or, at least it became a great song because Sweetie was singing it.
Sweetie Belle can't sing bad, not even when she's exhausted because of carrying Rarity's cart miles through the woods.
If I made a comment on this it would be the same as on the earlier story, so I'm not going to leave a comment.
So what is this then? A non-comment comment.
11649467
Then let's see if we can un-paradox the paradox.
Writing skill aside, what are your thoughts on the story itself? Particularly, Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle hanging out and working on fixing a shared problem?
11649790
Here's my mini-review of the story
I leave you this review it bullet-point form as I don't feel like spending time formatting, contemplating and editing my thoughts on this tale, please accept my apologies for my laziness today.
The concept for the story is a solid one and Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle bonding is something nice to see. This is definitely a story worth revisiting if you ever feel that inclination.