Vignettes Arc - Fun Raising
June 25 - B.B.S.C.H.H.
Pinkie Pie was both in heaven and in hell at the same time, and for a few reasons. Under her command, she had organized the biggest bake sale in Canterlot High's history. It was the largest by a very wide margin. She was in heaven because of all the sweets, while also being in hell because she had to sell them, with no taste testing allowed. It was also heaven because she had so many people volunteer to make stuff for her, but with it came the other hell side, because so many had helped, she was lacking the customers to sell her massive supply to.
It was still early on a Saturday morning. The sale was about to start, they were scheduled to open at 10am, but the line waiting for it to open wasn’t that long. They were routing all traffic through the gym’s double doors closest to the parking lot, not the main building. Pinkie Pie was realizing that her classmates were wanting their stuff to sell and most likely they had spent their money on the supplies to make the goodies, leaving none left to buy other people's goodies.
She had no idea how to overcome that. She didn't want it to go to waste. The Cakes had donated a truckful of cakes, cookies, multiple pies, and also an assortment of brownies. The cookies were in bags of six, twelve, and twenty-four, while the brownies were bagged individually, in a half dozen, or as a dozen. The Cakes were her biggest supplier for the fundraiser and having the cookies and brownies already bagged for them was appreciated. The customers, the few they had, would appreciate professionally bagged cookies and cupcakes.
Besides the girls, the other volunteers working the bake sale were Micro Chips, Lyra Heartstrings, Sweetie Drops, Sandalwood, Big Macintosh, Toe-tapper, Torch Song, and Bulk Biceps. Everyone who had donated things to sell was appreciated, but they only needed those extra pairs of hands to help sell this. Their volunteer sellers were crucial to smooth operation and their success. Lyra and Sweetie Drops usually helped Pinkie with any bake sales the school needed to have put on. Their trio was so well known for pulling off successful bake sales, that organizations they were not personally associated with would ask them to come in and help them organize their own fundraisers, either asking the trio fully lead the bake sale or helping the organization lead it.
Sunset was walking by after checking on something. Pinkie grabbed her, pulling her close.
"I have too much to sell and no buyers!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Everyone spent their money baking things for the bake sale. They don't have the money to buy other people's things! Most of them left after they dropped off their donated goodies. I've never had this happen before! WHAT! DO! I! DO!"
"First, you let go of me," Sunset kindly said. "And remember the talks we have had about appropriate and inappropriate ways to invade someone's personal space."
Pinkie obliged. "I just…I'm good at what I do, but apparently too good. This is a scale I've never done before."
"Keep it together," Sunset said. "Don't give up just yet. This thing hasn't even started. We still have seven minutes before the doors are opened. Applejack and Dash are guarding the door. We canvassed the area, spreading the word, we have signs up. You made a bunch of rock candy necklaces, right?"
"Mhm," Pinkie Pie nodded.
"That's just sugar, string, and water," Sunset said.
"And food coloring," Pinkie Pie added. “Plus the secret ingredient, but I can’t tell you that.”
"Yes," Sunset said, rolling her eyes. "The point is, you didn't spend much making them. Most of your cost was the time required to grow the rock candy crystals. You should give a necklace to each of your baking sellers who are here. As an appreciation gift, and it might help spark an idea or something you missed. Plus, it will hopefully entice the buyers more if they see the sellers wearing the necklaces. No one knows bake sales better than you, but this is larger than we ever expected. The other hurdle is a logistical one. Your other bake sales have been during school or right after school. Even the Saturday ones were during the school year. The school year has ended and been done for a few weeks.
"Last week our Saturday car wash was a literal washout and Sunday's 'pampered pet plash,' was a slow drip that didn't get us far either. It was no one's fault. I'm not blaming their organizers, but we have to remember that we are trying to do things outside of our usual fundraising times and reach the bulk of our target crowd that we can no longer easily reach, which makes it harder. At least we had plenty of people donating things. That is better than not having enough."
"What do we do?" Pinkie asked. "You are clearly the better general planner and problem solver. My mind is stuck on sugar and cotton candy."
"I wouldn’t say better," Sunset said. "Especially with this being a bake sale, your forte. We need a way to bring in more customers. That is step number one. Actually, step number one is to find out who is lined up and how many. Then we will know if we need to bring in more customers. I'll go check. Stand by. We are about to open those doors and it might get crazy. Hopefully it will."
Pinkie moped around as Sunset went to check on the line. They had so much to sell. Two thirds of the gym had tables on it for the bake sale. The loaded down tables were set up in groups, depending on the baked goods, with each item clearly marked about what it was so that no one was left guessing. The cakes were in all together, the same with the cookies, pies, brownies, breads, and then the miscellaneous items that only had one or two donors in small qualities. That includes fudge, toffee, licorice, and Pinkie's very own rock candy necklaces, to name a few in that category. The rock candy wasn’t the only thing Pinkie had made, but it was the only rock candy at the sale.
Dash and Applejack were their "bouncers," tasked with securing the line outside the door and keeping tight control on the number of people inside to prevent the sellers from being overwhelmed. Everyone else was manning a station with a buddy. The cake sales were being taken care of by Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps; the cookie hoard was being led by Twilight and Micro Chips; the pie tables were manned by Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops — who always made an absolutely amazing sales team, which was needed since pies were typically not the best sellers. Pinkie needed experts she could trust to man the pie sales — brownies were manned by Toe-tapper and Torch Song; the breads were covered by Big Mac and Sandalwood; and Sunset was doing the miscellaneous table with Rarity. Pinkie pie would float around and help where she was needed, but her job was the organizer, not a seller, and that was what the sellers and bouncers needed. Someone to keep things steady and on course throughout the sale.
The organizational layout was designed by hers truly, Pinkie Pie. It was a layout perfected over multiple bake sales, most of them having been a good to great successes. In her mind, it was a better layout than lumping them together by the baker. The problem with that method was that most bakers only made a small amount; usually a single item, maybe two. Anything was appreciated and the donations always added up quickly. Today the donations had gotten out of control, which as Sunset pointed out, was a good thing. Some people, such as the Cakes, had boxes or bags with their store emblems or names on them. The Cakes didn't have anything else to package them in, but people would see it and trust their goods better than an unnamed one. By organizing them by type, people who were only interested in cookies could easily find all of the cookie options, without the cakes or pies getting in the way of their search.
Principal Celestia came over to Pinkie Pie. "Are you alright?" She was dressed like she always was, in a pastel pantsuit, despite it being a Saturday and summer break.
"No?" Pinkie said, unsure of the answer. "I feel like I'm going to throw up. I never saw this getting so big and I don't know how we will have enough customers to sell it all."
"Well, if anyone can problem solve that, it is you and your friends," Principal Celestia said. "I wish I had advice or wisdom to give you, but you are a master at running bake sales. I am not. You should be proud though, because this is by far the largest bake sale we have ever had at CHS and the largest I have ever personally witnessed."
Sunset joined them. "There is a decent line," she reported. "The doors open in two minutes. I don't know if the people in line will be enough or not to sell most of what we have. We have signs out front too, inviting traffic to stop by. I don't know what else to do at this moment, but I'll pass the word along to see what solutions we can come up with. In the meantime, let's get the sale started and see how things progress. We can make adjustments as needed."
"Are the goods marked as suggested prices or fixed cost?" Principal Celestia asked.
"The bigger items, like the cakes and pies, are clearly marked with suggested prices to donate for them," Pinkie explained. "The price is significantly cheaper than if you order it from a bakery. Smaller things, like the bagged cookies, are a flat price. Red stickers are fixed prices, while yellow ones are donation suggestions. A white sticker above or below a yellow one is the retail value, which is only used for the big things that people donated and when I know the rough sale price. That way people can see the discount. Everyone coming through the door is getting a paper explaining the colored price tags and the layout of the categories."
"We should pull your rock candy and give it out free to the people as they enter," Sunset added. "I know it is a switch from my earlier suggestion, but it will be a nice incentive. Door prizes always are and with how cheap they are, it isn't a big loss. It should help encourage more sales, a long-term gain for a short-term loss."
"Alright, you take care of that," Pinkie said, taking in a deep breath before letting it go. "Delegation for running an operation like this is key."
Sunset went off to pass the word around about getting more people to come and set up the door prizes. It stalled them from opening the doors by two minutes, but it was worth it as Sunset handed them out. People absolutely loved getting something free, just for showing up. It brought a smile to their face. Smiling and happy customers were more likely to buy something. It didn't matter to them that it was the cheapest item, it was a free and fun gift.
After their first group was inside and browsing, Sunset passed the job of giving out the door prizes to their two bouncers. Sunset was needed at her post. They could only handle a set number of people inside at a time. The bouncers had to keep track of the crowd inside so it didn't get too crowded.
After an hour, no one else was in line. The handful of people left were deciding what to purchase.
Pinkie pie gathered her friends while the other volunteers helped the final customers. "We have sold a quarter of our goodies. That is an optimistic estimation. Now we are out of customers. How do we get more people to come?"
"We can extend the hours," Rarity said. "That will give us time to sell more. Say Five-pm, instead of Three."
"That's a great idea, Rarity!" Pinkie exclaimed. "How do we get more people in though? Extended hours don't really help if no one shows up."
"During the lulls, I have been blasting the news all over social media," Rarity added. "Most of my followers live outside Canterlot and can't make it, but they send their good wishes for our success."
"That's good news," Pinkie said, giving Rarity a thumbs up. "Thanks for taking that initiative. Good wishes are better than bad wishes or no wishes. Anyone else?"
"The shelter already had posters and fliers up," Fluttershy said. "I don't know how they could help us any more than that, especially since we already started."
Twilight sighed. "I'd say post stuff on the bus route so people can see it, but we haven't gotten permission from the company and they don't take too kindly to unapproved ads, even short-term ones. I think that option is too late to help us, even if we risked it by putting up fliers."
"Well, that is eliminating an option, which helps narrow things down," Pinkie said, trying to stay positive.
"We should have hit up social media more," Sunset suggested. "Outside of Rarity, the bulk of our followers live in town or nearby. We can take some pictures and do that right now. We should do it on the Rainbooms' page as well, not just our personal ones."
"Let's get to it!" Pinkie declared. "Meet back here in five minutes. Rarity can take care of the Rainbooms' account."
It didn't even take them three minutes to snap the photos and post the invite to their social media accounts.
Principal Celestia joined them. Vice Principal Luna had not been present at any time during the bake sale, even when they had started setting up. Since it was a Saturday and school was on summer break, both Celestia and Luna would be off today, but someone had to be here to unlock the gym and lock it back up after they were done. Most of the faculty could have done it, but Celestia had clearly decided to do it herself. She seemed very interested in their endeavor, beyond it being the biggest bake sale in the school's history, and despite having disappeared for a while.
"How is it going?" Celestia asked.
"Not too good," Pinkie admitted. "Our first wave is over and we sold only as much as you can clearly see. We just blasted our social media accounts, again, but we should have been pushing it all week. We have no other ideas on how to get more people to show up now that it has started. I wasn't prepared to counter the fact that it isn't the school season like my other bakes sales. It's a challenge I've never faced before, but should have been thinking about and ready to overcome. I guess I was so confident we would have a lot of customers because of the huge number of donors we had."
"Bake sales can pay off, but they can be difficult to get people to do more than donate," Principal Celestia said. "You have a good set of volunteers too, so be happy about that. Often these fundraisers are understaffed, even the successful ones, which forces people to wait to pay. That is never good. You seem to have kept that process short, another positive."
Celestia's phone buzzed and she read a text message while they all chewed on her words or thought of ways to get more people to show up. They were both encouraging and discouraging words.
"We could do this again tomorrow," Applejack suggested. "Maybe use the big city park where more people are likely to stop by since they were already visiting. Everything should still be fresh."
"That's an option," Pinkie said. "I always used the school and didn't think about other possible locations. We use the school for almost everything."
"I think we need a permit," Twilight said, pulling out her phone. "I'll check." She typed away, searching for the city park. "Yeah, we do. If we had done this a week ago, we probably would have gotten permission. On a Saturday, no staff will be present in the office to give us permission."
"The school is still a good location," Celestia said. She was done with her phone and slipped it in her pocket. "At least for today. If things don't turn around by the time you are done, we can talk about doing it here, again, tomorrow. For now, you have two new customers."
The girls turned around to find an older couple coming over. They were not senior citizens, but neither were they young middle aged. A little older than most of their parents, by a decade or so.
"Welcome to the B.B.S.C.H.H,” Pinkie said, greeting them. “The Biggest Bake Sale in Canterlot High History!"
"We heard this was a fundraising event or charity," the man said. "Tell us more."
Pinkie looked at Sunset, passing the question to her. Sunset took the lead, explaining the exchange program, why they wanted to go, how hard it had been to get accepted, and finally the fundraising requirements and reasons for those requirements. She tried to keep it short and simple, but the couple was unfamiliar with foreign exchange programs. She had to explain a few things in more detail than she wanted to, which took time. They didn't seem to mind though.
"I'm an old alumnus of CHS," the man said. "It sounds like you girls are real Wondercolts. I'd like to help out. Where are the cakes and the cookies?"
Rather than going back to her assigned spot, Sunset helped them because she had been the main one to connect with them. Pinkie Pie let her take care of them as more people started to show up. She shifted everyone back to their posts and tried not to hover as the couple made their purchase, but she paid attention.
They were an interesting couple who seemed quite interested in who the girls were and like the idea of the exchange program. They donated the retail value of the cake, thanks to the wife's quick eyes and light insistence, and they bought a total of three dozen cookies. He was going to bring the cookies to his business on Monday for his employees.
Another group of six, three couples, came in and Pinkie Pie happily greeted them. They appeared to be age old friends. They also wanted to know a lot more about what was going on. Sunset was now free, so Pinkie sent the group to hear it from her since Sunset appeared to have the magic mojo. They needed the same magic to happen again.
A more constant stream of people started to come in. They helped them as quickly as possible, but most wanted to also know more about the program. Most of them were also middle aged or a little older. Sunset was busy so Pinkie Pie had Twilight give the spiel, because she could do that as concise and confidently as Sunset while also having an air of business etiquette about it. Also, because Rarity was the other person stationed at the miscellaneous goods, and Sunset was tied up, so it was better to send them to Twilight who was free. Sunset and Twilight would have to pass the mojo back and forth.
That became the new flow. If the newcomers wanted to understand what the bake sale was for, they were sent to hear either Sunset or Twilight nail the sales pitch before they decided what to buy. The two of them had the mojo to hook their listeners into wanting to help out as much as possible.
In between helping Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps who were overloaded selling cakes, Pinkie Pie noticed a group laughing and talking with Principal Celestia like they were old friends, which was possible. Celestia was an alumnus and so were a good number of the people coming to the bake sale. Luna still hasn't hadn't shown up, which was perfectly acceptable, just suspicious. It was odd to only see one of the sisters. They were constantly together, but they did deserve their off days and down time to relax.
By 1 pm, three hours after they had opened the doors, they had sold half of what they had. It was a stark contrast compared to after the first wave and before the alumni started to show up.
Dash and Applejack were greeting people at the door and watching the numbers inside. They got close to capacity, but never had to enforce the limit. The people were coming and going pretty quickly, with most spending the majority of their time talking to Sunset or Twilight, not browsing the variety of items for sale. They were people with a pretty clear idea of what they wanted.
Everything slowed down by 3pm. By that time, they had sold almost everything.
Principal Celestia approached Pinkie. "Well done, Pinkie Pie," she praised. "You not only hosted the biggest bake sale in our school's history, but one so big that it will be hard to top by anyone else. Plus, it was successful. It had a slow start, but it didn't flop."
"I don't know," Pinkie said. "I feel like something was off about the whole thing, but I can't put my finger on it."
"Well, I think it was a great success and so did the people I spoke with," Celestia said. "Your supreme organization of the products made everything efficient. The hardest part for most people was trying to decide what specifically to get, not what type of baked goods they wanted. Your organization made their search and decision a whole lot easier for them, making the experience more enjoyable. It also helped you not reach capacity again, which is another great accomplishment."
"That is true," Pinkie slowly admitted. "Something still feels off about it, but we did pull it off."
"May I make a suggestion?" Principal Celestia asked.
"Of course!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I always want to hear good feedback. It's the best way to grow as a person, but it can't help you grow taller, only smarter and wiser."
"You had a good batch of volunteers today," Celestia said. "Volunteers who made this bake sale run smoothly. I don't know the actual total for funds raised, but I think you hit your goal and probably even went past it. When you finally close, you should let the volunteers take home some of the extra stuff left over as thanks."
"Sunset said something similar before we started," Pinkie mused. "About giving them rock candy necklaces. Then we ended up using them as door prizes and quickly ran out and I made a lot of necklaces. I used like fifty pounds of sugar to grow them. Anyway, that is a great idea! If there is a cake left, I want it so I can celebrate with my friends!"
"That is fair," Celestia said with a grin.
A woman came over and greeted Celestia. Pinkie could tell they were old friends. Before she could slip away so they could talk, Celestia introduced Pinkie Pie to her friend, Lavender. She was an alumnus from the same class as Celestia. Lavender was impressed to meet the person heading up such a big fundraiser. She wished she had been able to come sooner, when the selection had been better.
She also wanted to hear about Pinkie's hopes for the exchange program, as well as what she was most concerned about. Pinkie was an open book. She was excited to go someplace new and see the sights and visit a city that was not Canterlot; one that was significantly bigger than Canterlot. As much as she loved Canterlot, she was excited to explore a new place. Pinkie was most concerned about sitting in classes and listening to Japanese all day. She was confident in her ability to talk and hold a conversation with anyone, but sitting in Japanese class for an hour, studying the language, was much different than going to school most of the day and having various subjects being taught all in Japanese.
"Those are good things to look forward to," Lavender said. "And also a wise concern. I know that school will be different, but I don't believe they would have approved you for the program if you didn't have what it took to go through each subject in Japanese, for the whole school day. They believe in you, now it is time for you to believe in yourself. Look at what you have done here today, with this bake sale. It was a huge accomplishment. I remember our bake sales and they never were even half the size of what you pulled off. Besides, as I understand it, the best way to learn a language is through immersion. You know what you need to know about the language and culture, so immersing yourself entirely in it will help you rapidly grow in your ability to use it. I think that you will quickly adapt to spending all day in school only being taught in Japanese."
"Thank you, Miss Lavender," Pinkie said, bowing to show respect like they did in Japanese class and would be while in Japan. "I appreciate the encouragement."
Pinkie slipped away to let Lavender and Celestia talk. When Lavender was done chatting, she went to Pinkie to get the rundown of what was left and help make the decision on what to get. She settled on a peach pie, the last pie left from the Cakes. She didn't pay the suggested donation price or even the retail value. She paid twenty dollars more than the retail value.
Lavender was their last customer. It was fifteen minutes past 3pm and no one else was outside or in the parking lot, so Pinkie ordered Applejack and Rainbow Dash to close the doors to officially end the bake sale.
Pinkie Pie grabbed the biggest of the last two cakes on the table, stashing it with her backpack, before she called everyone to gather around. Celestia watched from the sidelines.
"Thank you everyone for helping pull off the B.B.S.C.H.H. the Biggest Bake Sale in Canterlot High’s History!" Pinkie said, jumping with joy. "And a really big thanks to our volunteer sellers, who had no stake in this, but still chose to give up most of their day to help."
"Wondercolts forever," Sandalwood said.
"Yeah!" Bulk Biceps exclaimed.
"Do we have a final tally?" Pinkie asked.
"Yes," Micro Chips said. He had helped Twilight run the books. "You exceeded your goal by nineteen percent."
There was a round of high fives between everyone for the success of the day
"We turned it around, y'all," Applejack said. "Great job. And again, thank you to our extra hands."
"It was fun," Lyra said. "It's kind of what Sweetie Drops, Pinkie Pie, and I are known for around the school, in a good way.
"I really love helping Pinkie with bake sales," Sweetie Drops added. "I guess in the fall, any bake sales will fall to me to organize and run."
"You can do it!" Pinkie encouraged. "As a special bonus thank you to our amazing volunteers, please, help yourself to what is left over. There isn’t much left and we certainly can afford to give away the extras. I already grabbed a cake to split with my best friends, so have at it! We had just the right amount of donations to make this day a success."
Their extra volunteers thanked them and went to choose their treats.
"My place after we clean up?" Applejack asked. "We just squeezed some fresh apple juice."
Everyone agreed. Pinkie invited Principal Celestia to grab something left over before the girls did. After all, she had spent the day she had off to keep the school open for the sale. She deserved something too. Celestia chose a bag of a dozen snickerdoodles and the remaining cake. There was still some stuff left over, which the girls then split.
Cleanup was easy and quick. The tables had to be put away and the floor swept, but that was all. They hadn't made a big mess.
Since they were done, they headed to Applejack's farm. The apple juice was refreshing and the double chocolate cake from Sugarcube Corner was divine. It felt good to relax and eat after the day's success and to celebrate their first successful fundraiser event.
As they enjoyed their cake, Fluttershy paused eating and spoke up. "Did anyone else find the sale odd after the new group came?"
"In what way?" Applejack asked. "Dash and I were at the door."
"I was doing the cakes with Bulk Biceps," Fluttershy prefaced before explaining what she had observed. "Almost every sale I made with the second, older group was higher than the suggested donation price. Most were sold for the listed retail value but plenty went above it. Nothing too crazy, but they still intentionally paid more than what they were listed for. It's their right to, that is how bake sales work, but I found it odd how often it happened."
"Well, they were all alumni," Sunset said. "I think. Everyone I talked with was either with an alumnus, usually married, or they were alumni."
"Yeah, but something was off about it," Pinkie said. "I still can't put my finger on it."
"I think you are looking for where they came from," Twilight said. "I know nothing official, but like Sunset, I was talking to groups. They were the same for me, alumni or with alumni. A bunch of alumni showing up out of the blue is rather odd."
"Why's that?" Dash asked.
"Because being alumni doesn't magically mean they know what is happening at the school or about our bake sale," Twilight clarified. "Most didn't actually know more than a bake sale was happening. It's not usual for a school bake sale to have a bunch of people show up who don't have a clue about what is going on, outside of the type of fundraiser. They usually know who the fundraiser is helping and have a general knowledge about the reason for it. A lot thought it was a charity, but they didn't have a problem that it wasn't. In fact, I would say they liked it better that it wasn't for some random charity. They could see and talk to the seven of us."
"What are you saying?" Pinkie asked.
"I think with how we stalled out, that Principal Celestia mass emailed the alumni," Twilight stated. "That is the only explanation I can come up with to explain why all of them suddenly started showing up. Unless the school sends an update, most alumni have no way to keep up with current events of their old high school."
"She did seem to know a lot of them," Pinkie said.
"Okay," Applejack said with a shrug. "Why is that important?"
"It's not exactly," Twilight said. "What matters is that we made our goal and then some, which makes up a bit for our other failures. It's just trying to sort out how we did it when we had run out of options to bring in more customers."
"I wouldn't ask her about it," Sunset said. "If she wanted to share, she would have. What matters is that their arrival was the boost we needed. Sending out an email to let alumni know or even asking for their help certainly isn't against the rules. We still did our best and worked for the money we earned. She did disappear for a while, a few times. Not that I was keeping track of her or that she had to be present the whole time. Also, an email letting alumni know that we had hit a pretty bad wall explains why they were consistently paying above the suggested donation price for certain items. They had answered a call to action and were there to help a younger generation of Wondercolts out."
"Well, if she did, I'm mighty thankful for it," Applejack said. "I just did my job, watchin' the door and how many people we had inside so we didn't overload y'all."
"Same," Dash said. "If she did, that was pretty cool of her, especially since they were really pitching in to help us."
"So, what's next?" Pinkie asked.
Everyone looked at Sunset and Rarity, who had yet to lead an event. Fluttershy and Twilight had spearheaded the pet wash, Applejack and Dash organized the car wash, and Pinkie had just led the bake sale.
"Well, I have an idea," Rarity said. "Honestly, I'm not sure if it will be very profitable, but we seem to be out of ideas.”
“Tell us,” Dash encouraged.
“I could organize a fashion show,” Rarity said.
"That sounds good," Twilight said. "Definitely unique. Unique in a good way that will draw people's attention and help bring them in."
"Will you have time to do it?" Sunset asked. "We would have to do it in two weeks. We're getting close to having to send in our first payment. We don't have a lot of time."
"Darling, two weeks is more than enough time for me," Rarity said. "I have a line I have been working on, two actually, which are almost done. It would be a good time to debut them. I know some other high school and college students who are into fashion and in the area. I'll reach out to them to see if any of them are interested in showing off their designs and have the time to make or finish a line."
"Just let us know what you need us to do," Sunset said. "We can organize and set up whatever we need to for you."
"I'll get you a list tomorrow," Rarity said.
"A fashion show it is!" Pinkie declared.
"How will it raise money," Applejack asked. "I can't figure that part out."
"Oh, that's simple," Rarity said. "Probably the easiest part of the whole thing. A tried-and-true method is the show being free, but having a suggested donation price for the ticket, so to speak. People will donate what they can afford. Depending on the suggested price, some won't be able to donate that much while others will donate more. The donations will add up quickly."
"Tried-and-true sounds good," Sunset said. "I really like that method. It is flexible. Flexibility is good. It's similar to the big items in the bake sale."
"That is likely where the method developed out of," Rarity said. "I think this can work."
"Sunset, do you have an idea?" Dash asked. "You've been quiet in each planning session. You haven' even pitching a single idea for us to discuss."
"Yes," Sunset nodded. "Well, that is, I think I do. It's complicated though and might be too much. That's why I haven't said anything yet. It's all I have and I haven't solved some issues with the idea. I’ve been slowly building on it in my mind."
"What is it?" Twilight asked. "More minds to share the burden and solve those problems is a good thing."
"Well," Sunset said, dragging out the word as she weighed the pros and cons of telling everyone. If she told them, it would give them a heads up so they could work on some ideas in their head, but it also might distract them from the fashion show, which could be disastrous. "Look, I don't want to shift our focus from the fashion show. We only have two weeks to pull it off and make sure we nail the advertising this time. We can't have repeats of the car wash, pet wash, and almost the bake sale."
"We promise we’ll keep our focus on the fashion show an give it our full attention an effort," Applejack said. Pinkie made her do a Pinkie Pie swear, including the gestures.
"Alright, just so you can mull around the idea in your head if you have any spare time," Sunset said. "Like I said, it's a complicated event to correctly put together and I'm still coming up a bit short in some areas. We have a band, the Rainbooms, and I really think we should use it to put on a show. I'm talking as big of a show as we can, with more songs. We typically don’t play very long, so we would need to do a lot more. Rarity’s suggestion for the fashion show’s ticket sales is exactly what I needed to know for how to raise money with the show, so we would do that. The biggest hurdle is that this show would require us to go all out. We would need a big enough setlist to make sure people feel like they got their money's worth out of the donation they gave. It wouldn't be easy, not by a long shot."
"But we could do it," Dash said. "After all, we are the Rainbooms, champions of CHS' battle of the bands. I can't believe I didn't think of that!"
"It would be complicated," Twilight said. "A lot of moving puzzle pieces that we would have to problem solve beforehand or we will fail and embarrass ourselves. We don't want that, especially since it's a fundraiser."
"What moving pieces would we need to grab for our puzzle?" Pinkie asked. "We already have our instruments."
"For starters, we'd need some volunteers to run sound and possibly lights," Sunset explained. "That means we would need to reach out to people who know that stuff and directly ask for their help. We haven't done that yet for any of our fundraisers. When we notified people we were going to do a bake sale, people started volunteering to make stuff and some to help sell. Asking other designers to help put on a fashion show is a little different too, because they get something out of it by displaying their designs. People are free to say 'no', but we would have to ask some people with special skills to volunteer their time. They get nothing out of it, other than helping us, which some people really enjoy doing, but someone who can run sound for us might have a paying gig at the same time.
"And when I say more songs, I'm talking about a setlist of like twenty songs, to make it worthwhile for the audience. A ten song setlist is about a half hour show. That is too short. I feel like that cheats them out of their money for our purposes. For them to feel they got their money’s worth, we need to be on stage an hour and fifteen, or longer. By bigger, I mean we will have to be super energetic and pull them into the music. That is no small feat, especially with a show over double the length we have ever done. It’s going to exhaust us if we do it right."
"We don't have that many songs," Fluttershy said. "I'm not sure I could write even ten new songs in the time we have."
"We would have to cover songs from other artists," Sunset clarified. "Like the crowd pleasers that have topped the charts. We can use some of our original songs, the school favorites we already know, but to make that large of a setlist, for our small time, still relatively new band, we would need to cover other famous artists' songs. Bands do it all the time. There are whole bands that just do covers of other songs. A mix of original songs and covers would be fun for the crowd."
"Posters and fliers," Twilight added. "I agree with you about the setlist size, show length, and energy required. We would have to really, really, really work to promote it. We don't want the effort you are talking about to go to waste; to end up playing for a small crowd and not raise much, if any, money."
"We could ask for volunteer promoters," Pinkie suggested. "While we learn the songs, they could make sure everyone in Canterlot knows. And I mean everyone in Canterlot."
"That is a good idea," Sunset said. "We would have to work out promotional materials for them to use if we are going to that scale. Maybe a poster making day?”
"A theme," Rarity said. "We would need a theme and outfits to match it, which would obviously fall to me to make. The theme should be on the posters too."
"Family friendly would be nice," Applejack pitched. "Also not goin' too late for the families with young kiddos who can't stay up too late. They would have to leave early and we don't want that. I'm thinking we'd want to provide a show that can be considered quality family time, while also bein' enjoyable for all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life. If we cast a wider net, we'll catch more fish."
"A summer community event would be a good promotional pitch too," Fluttershy said. "Along with the family friendly part. It would be nice to reach a wide audience, not just our fellow students."
“I did say everyone in Canterlot out loud, right?” Pinkie asked. “Because that includes families and all other kinds of people, not just CHS students.”
"Yes, Pinkie, you did," Sunset said with a laugh. "We just were clarifying the demographics we would target with our advertising. Like I said at the start, a musical show would be a complex operation. We need to focus on the fashion show first and give that our energy. If we need to, we go big on the show."
"Not to be a raincloud on a sunny day, but we will need it," Applejack said. "We failed two of our fundraisers. I'm not sure any fashion show we can organize could make up for that. Not like we need it to. The music show probably ain’t gonna cut it either. We’ll need more if we want to raise the full cost of the program."
"I'll certainly give the fashion show a run for…" Rarity paused to think for a moment. "I was going to say a run for its money, but that doesn't quite work for a fundraiser. You all know what I mean."
"Fashion show fundraiser first," Sunset said. "That's the plan for our focus."
Everyone agreed.
July 10 - Creating Chords
The morning after the fashion show, the girls rallied at Pinkie Pie's house. It was looking like it would be a slow Sunday, which wasn't entirely bad, considering how hard they had worked on the fashion show. A day of rest, calmly planning the next fundraising move, was a welcomed relief. The fashion show was a success, however, it was a minor one. No one was celebrating. The show only brought in twenty percent of what their event goal was. It had gone smoothly and been a good show, with seven lines from four designers, but they learned a hard truth; while it was for a good cause, most people were not interested in attending a fundraising fashion show.
Tomorrow was the deadline for their first installment for the foreign exchange program. Between the bake sale and the fashion show, they had just enough to cover it. The first installment was for twenty-five percent of the cost for the program. They still had to raise twenty-five more to meet the fundraising minimum. They were running out of ideas to bring in the money they needed to raise, let alone their personal goal to fully fundraise their time in Japan.
As they sat around the dining room table to plan, Rarity opened her laptop. She had launched their joint social media account, “Wondercolts in Japan,” the week prior. Because they each had pushed it out on their own social media accounts, almost, if not all, of the CHS student body was already following the account. They had picked up over a thousand followers in a week, which was a lot more people than they had in the school. Rarity really wanted to use the platform to also push out information about upcoming fundraiser events. Using the account to publish those updates would help their followers to remember to keep an eye on the account so they didn't miss anything the girls posted while in Japan.
It took only seconds, once they started discussing it, for the seven of them to reach a consensus. They would put their energy into a music show, like Sunset had pitched two weeks prior. Since it was her idea and she hadn't organized an event, it was up to her to be its organizer. She had “lead” on this fundraiser. As much as she would need a consensus at times, especially for big decisions, Sunset knew there would be times when she would have to make executive decisions.
Time was now against the girls for raising enough money. The earliest they thought they could be ready for a show, knowing that they would need to learn more songs, was three weeks. They settled on a Saturday for the event. Rarity worked out the post. It was going to be just the basics.
NEXT FUNDRAISER:
EVENT: The Rainbooms will put on the biggest and longest show they ever have performed.
COST: “Free,” using a "donate what you can" policy for the tickets. The suggested donation per ticket TBD.
DATE: Saturday July 30 – Evening – specific time TBD
Everyone approved of it and Rarity posted it.
They started to go back over what they had been throwing around after the bake sale. They quickly all agreed with Applejack's suggestion to make it an event that was family friendly and wouldn't go too late. That way, families could attend the concert for a fun evening together, getting in important quality family time, and parents with younger children wouldn't have to worry about leaving early to meet bedtimes. The end time was set at 8pm. Making it family friendly also meant that parents wouldn't have to worry about any of the songs having inappropriate content for children. It still meant they could have plenty of fun, they just had to be wise about their song choices. The other goal they settled on was to make the concert available to everyone as a community event. The wider the net they cast, the more people who would hopefully attend, which would drive up their donations.
The next step was to sort the moving pieces required to run the concert. Once they knew the roles they needed, they could approach people with the correct skills. The open laptop chimed. The joint account had a direct message sent to it. Rarity went to read it as Sunset's phone buzzed. It was a text from Flash Sentry.
Hey, the rumor is that the Rainbooms are putting on a fundraiser concert. The band agreed and Flash Drive is available for the posted date to be a supporting act, if you need us!
Sunset sat there, rereading it a few times. She couldn't believe the offer. They hadn't really given out any information and they hadn't posted the update that long ago. Their conversation had been slow because they were tired, but not even a half hour had passed since Rarity had posted that little bit on the joint account. Flash most likely didn’t have any of the other’s number, but it was interesting that he chose to text her, rather than DM the account. Texting was more direct.
The laptop started chiming nonstop. Everyone looked at Rarity. Her eyes were wide in panic. She looked at them as her laptop kept chiming.
"We are getting a flood of inquiries about helping out for the concert," Rarity explained, trying to not panic. "They just keep coming in. I don't know who to answer first!"
"We don’t have to answer their messages right away,” Twilight said. "Even if that is the instinct. First we should finalize the roles we need to make this work. Once we have that list, we can start to reply with our specific needs, and put names by those roles.”
Applejack got a text. "Uh, yeah, about that. The Crusaders want to try being 'roadies.' I don't think they know exactly what a ‘roadie’ is."
"Stagehands might be useful," Sunset said. "Also, Flash Sentry texted me, saying Flash Drive is available to be a supporting act, if we wanted them."
"Say yes," Dash exclaimed, almost begging. "Having another band playing with us will help give us that length you want, plus it will feel more like a full concert, not a music show. If you go to see anyone play, the headline act usually has two supporting acts that each play for a half hour or so first."
"Speaking of supporting acts," Rarity said. "I have a message from Trixie. Trixie and the Illusions are also offering to be a supporting act."
"Then this just went from a show, to a concert," Sunset said, not needing to think any further on it. "Like Dash just said, a real concert has two supporting acts. If we want to give the audience the best we've got, we can't turn down their offers."
"Replying and accepting," Rarity said.
Sunset typed a response to Flash, officially accepting their offer and thanking them. She added that more details the band would need to know would be sent as soon as they had worked them out. Flash's response was a thumbs up emoji.
Sunset made the next executive decision. "AJ, tell the Crusaders they are officially our roadies slash stagehands, since we are not going on the road." The Crusaders were little sisters of two of the Rainbooms' members and a de facto sister of a third. She couldn't say 'no' to their reasonable request.
"I've got another good one," Rarity said. "Vinyl Scratch wants to run the sound for the concert, but she has to do it as DJ-PON3."
"Absolutely!" Sunset exclaimed. "We need a sound technician. She is who I had in mind to ask."
"Replied!" Rarity said as she continued to screen who was sending messages to them.
“This is faster than expected, but good,” Sunset said. “Our volunteers are ahead of us, we are tired, but we can push through and do this. What other special roles do we need to pull this off?”
"Lights," Dash said. "And someone watching our timing. That is even more important now that we have supporting acts. They could also manage the stagehands, like ensuring they are ready to move stuff on and off stage as bands switch. Really, we need a show director, someone we can set the plan with and then give them the authority to run it for us. They would coordinate all of the moving parts; lights, sound, stagehands, the acts, and everything else.”
"Got the lights," Rarity said. "Micro Chips is volunteering his expertise with anything technology related that we might need help with."
"Tell him we are glad to have him on board," Sunset said. "To at least run the lights. Also that Vinyl has the sound covered. Now, what else?"
"Posters," Twilight said. "Posters and fliers. If we have any digital artists offering to help, we need to take them up on it. The more professional the promotion material looks, the more it will catch people's eye and convince them to come."
"Good call," Sunset said. "Speaking of posters, it sounds like we have a lot of people who are volunteering who may not be the most well suited for what we need during the concert. Two weeks ago, Pinkie floated the idea of having promoters. If we have people promoting for us in the weeks, really days it’s so close, leading up to the concert, we can focus more on learning the new songs we have to. It’s an invaluable role, albeit probably not what they have in mind."
“It doesn’t have to be on a set schedule,” Pinkie added. “It can be whenever they are free.”
“Flexibility is good,” Dash said.
"That brings up the theme question," Rarity said. "Having one is a wise idea. For the supporting acts, 'family friendly community event' should be all they need. I really don't care about what they wear and honestly, I don't think I will have time to make them anything."
"We need to focus our efforts on learning the new music," Sunset said. "We don't have long, so anyone volunteering we need to snatch up to help relieve anything we can from our shoulders. We have some time today before we need to respond to most of their inquiries, so let's use it to make sure we have the details ironed out as much as possible before we let them know what we need."
"Anyone got a theme?" Applejack asked.
Fluttershy slowly raised her hand. She had been quiet all morning. She hadn’t even spoken a word, only nodding in agreement a few times. Sunset had figured it was because she was tired. They all were.
"Yes, Fluttershy," Sunset said, calling on her shy friend. It felt weird to call on her, like Sunset was the teacher and Fluttershy was an elementary student, but she had politely raised her hand, leaving Sunset no other option.
"I've been thinking about themes since you first pitched the concert," Fluttershy explained. "I couldn't help it. The best one I came up with directly ties in with why we are even doing this fundraiser in the first place. It's simple too, only one word. The theme is 'Japan'."
Rarity perked up, ignoring the laptop, which was still occasionally chiming. "That is an interesting proposal. It's loose, yet refined. Very appropriate too. When you said it, I instantly saw Japan's national flag flash in my mind, which gave me ideas for white outfits, accented with red. It's a good patronage to the country's flag. One of us needs to be the accent to the rest of us. I'm afraid that with seven of us, too much white on stage will wash us out as a band because of how bright the stage lights are. I can reduce that possibility with the accents on the clothes, but we need someone to offset the other six in white by running the colors in reverse."
"I'll do it!" Pinkie said.
"You are already separated from us because you are on the drums," Rarity replied while thinking it over. "Making you the accent member isn't a bad idea. Depending on how long we actually make this setlist, we might be able to get a wardrobe change in. I know, I know, a wardrobe change means more work for me when I already have so much on my plate."
"That's not a bad idea," Sunset said. "If we can work it in, yes. The crowd would love it. We will need to ensure we have good pacing to play as long as we are planning. We are used to putting out a lot of energy over a short setlist, but we will need to calm down at points to rest while still performing. Sliding a break into our setlist would be beneficial, but I don't want downtime where no one is on stage."
"Maybe a supporting act could come back out for a few songs?" Dash proposed.
"Or," Applejack said, preparing her counter proposal. "Since we are the headline act, most people, if not all of 'em, will have purchased their tickets by the time we get on stage. We'll be able to know how much we raised. Someone could update everyone on how we did."
"That's better," Twilight said. "By doing an update, it gives the audience members a second chance to donate if we don't hit our goal. We have never had the opportunity for people to go back and donate more in any of the other events. Well, the fashion show, but not many people showed up.
“Fundraising ventures often give an update to the people present. Since it is our break, we need to be sure that we trust whoever comes out to talk. They need to build everyone up, thanking them for us. That is really important if we are short on reaching our goal. We don't want to make people feel bad, especially if they couldn’t match the suggested donation we set. That would discourage everyone from donating a second time.
“Something I observed from working ticket sales last night, we need to have some form of visual aid at the table to gauge the goal we have set for the fundraiser. The other fundraisers didn’t have a place to make use of it until last night. It would help people visualize what their donation is doing, compared to our goal, as they are deciding how much they can donate for the ticket. If it could be brought on stage to show the crowd the tallied progress that would be even better.”
“Thermometer,” Applejack said. “It’s used all the time for fundraisers and it's easy to see cause it's red.”
"Then we go with that," Sunset said with a nod. "Keep it simple. About the donation update, who do we trust to do that and also makes sense to be able to speak for us?"
"I know who I trust," Fluttershy said, speaking up this time instead of raising her hand. Sunset nodded to her to continue. "We have a lot of great faculty at CHS, but out of them all, I really trust Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna. They have been watching us closely as we fundraised and were involved in the discussion with the committee about each of us for the exchange program. They have been very supportive too. They also have been taking care of what we earn. I know it is required by the program, but they have been very involved in the entire process. I would even say more involved and attentive than they have to be and more than they typically are in school organization fundraisers. They know the seven of us well and could easily speak for us. The crowd would trust them too.”
"Celestia did come in on a Saturday to open the school and chaperone the bake sale," Pinkie said. "Any faculty member with keys could have done that. She was very helpful at times and also very encouraging to me when I needed it. She mostly watched from the sidelines, but I felt like she wanted to do more than just watch."
"They would be appropriate people to speak for us," Twilight said. "When I state that, I'm not factoring in the requirement for the school to take charge of the funds we raise. That is a separate matter; a smart logistical failsafe, so we don't accidentally do something stupid with the money. The cost is high for one person, it's a lot of money to hold onto, but even more so for seven friends working together. The school’s account is much more logical and safer. The point is, as our school principals, that makes them the optimal people to give that type of announcement."
Twilight started to write something in the notebook she had but then stopped. "Another thing to consider. We have always had extra hands during an event, allowing one of us to receive the donations. This time, all seven of us will need to be backstage. If we ask them to also work the ticket booth, they could directly accept the donations, making control of money per the rules easier to maintain. Plus, anyone who is considering donating more than the suggested amount will be more likely to do so because an adult is accepting the donations for us. They will be seen as mature and trustworthy, while one of us, or another student volunteering, would not be seen to the same degree of maturity and trustworthiness. It's a good, subtle message to send and possibly will coax some higher donations out of people. We already saw at the bake sale that alumni are willing to drop some good money to support us, and interestingly enough, Celestia was there and visible. She wasn’t at the other events.
"I'm working out the math right now for the optimal prices we would need to set to make our goal, the other half we technically have to raise, not the full cost of the program."
“Oh!” Rarity exclaimed with sudden inspiration, clapping. “We could give them an actual ticket when they donate. It could have the information needed to follow the joint account. Big and bold so they can’t miss it. It could be the sole purpose of the ticket. Also, at some point in the night, we could announce it to ensure they absolutely know about it, probably during the update.”
“That’s a great idea,” Twilight said. “Everyone has smartphones, so they could do it right away if they wanted to. The account connects us with donors. We need to make sure we are constantly updating it while in Japan. At least daily because there are seven of us. It doesn’t even have to be a particularly special update, just the stuff we are doing, experiencing, and especially anything ‘Japanese’ we don’t have here in Canterlot. Even the most mundane things in Japanese culture are foreign and therefore almost assuredly exciting to those following us.”
“We can absolutely update it at least daily,” Dash said. “We also should snap and post pictures of us getting ready for the concert, so people don’t see a dead page. Having a history is a good thing to show our commitment to posting.”
"Twilight mentioned alumni," Sunset said, shifting the topic so she didn’t forget to bring up her thoughts. "I'll check with Principal Celestia tomorrow to see if we can send a mass email to them, inviting them to come out if they are available. Or if she will send it for us. As long as a well written email goes out with the invitation, that is what matters."
"I like the email plan," Applejack said. "Anything we can do to promote the concert is good. We saw what they were willin' to do at what appeared to be a spur of the moment notice. If they had more of a heads up, more alumni would probably be able to attend."
Fluttershy spoke up. “All of the big donors for the animal shelter are older. I’ve met many of them. Their kids are grown up and their longer careers have moved them into higher pay positions. With more income and no kids at home, they can finally give to the shelter like they always wanted to. They are the demographic typically capable of donating more to fundraisers and where we could make up for our failures.”
Fluttershy let out a tired sigh. “At the bake sale, selling to the alumni, I learned that they liked having a way to easily connect their money to who and what it was going to. They saw it sort of like an investment into our lives. The social media account will easily allow them to stay connected with that investment. As Twilight pointed out, there are seven of us, so we should be able to update everyone daily, which will really make them feel connected to their donation. Dash made a good point about ensuring we don’t have an account that looks dead by the time of the concert.”
"Well said, Fluttershy," Applejack said. “A family of four has to buy four tickets, compared to the older alumni who have to buy one or two. People are more willing to donate more when they have to buy less.”
“Those are good points,” Sunset said. "I think people will struggle to put a value on the concert that they can translate into a donation, especially if they don’t know us or our skill. To fix that, we need to make sure the crowd knows three things. First, that we really just want to have everyone come out and give what they can. Second, that we value the donations equally. And third, that we are going to give them our absolute best.”
“Larger donors will balance out those who can't donate the suggested amount for whatever reason,” Twilight said. “Besides, I am certain CHS, from time to time, sends requests to the alumni asking for donations. That is pretty common for schools to do. It's really no different than what we are hoping to do, except they get to see and know the exact student their donation is going to. Oh, and they get the show out of it. Most donation requests to alumni don’t come with anything. It’s about school pride and keeping the traditions going."
Rarity interrupted with an important update. "We just got a message from the digital arts club at CHS asking if there is anything they can do! I’m already starting the conversation with them about what we are thinking and our theme. I know you are doing the math still, but I think it would be beneficial to list the suggested price on our fliers and maybe the posters. Those might be better off with something like 'donate what you can, but free to attend'."
"Keep on that," Sunset said to Rarity. "We don't have a lot of time for them to put stuff together. I know art takes time and we all want to see them help us with their unique talents, but we are very short on time."
"It's the whole club," Rarity added. "Which, if I recall correctly, is eight members, maybe nine, to split the work between. They said turnaround time for the poster is two days max, so tomorrow since it is still early, at least for the first design. I'm talking through some design aspects with them and making sure we highlight what we need to, like the family friendly attitude, the end time, and our supporting acts. They seem to have a similar vision as I do." Her laptop dinged with another message. "Oh, they just suggested starting with the fliers, which are quicker to design and that will make it easier for them to step up to the poster and have it match our vision on the first go. The fliers can have the details, while the posters will need to run the highlights."
"I don't actually have a vision for the posters," Applejack stated. “Or the fliers.”
Sunset shrugged to her cowgirl friend, to let her know she wasn't the only one unable to see the vision Rarity was crafting.
"So, who do we have onboard so far?" Dash asked. "And what are they doing? It's getting strung out. I'm tired and losing track."
"Me too," Pinkie added, yawning.
"No worries," Sunset said as Twilight handed her the list she had been keeping. "We could all use the recap. We have DJ-PON3 on sound, Micro Chips on lights, the Crusaders as stagehands, Flash Drive and Trixie and the Illusions as supporting acts. The graphics club is going to be designing the fliers and posters we will use to promote the concert. We are hoping to get Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna to do two things that night: work the ticket table and also give the crowd an update on how well we reached our goal as we switch sets and take a short break. Also, we are going to ask if we can contact the alumni to invite them to come out. And by we, I mean me, since I’m lead."
"We have a lot of the moving parts covered," Applejack said. " Any other critical ones missing?"
"Yeah, one," Sunset said. "A director for the show. They need to balance the timing for the acts, lights, sound, presenters, and direct the stagehands. Between the three bands, I'm certain the CMC will be critical."
"Another question," Applejack said. "Where are we hosting the concert?"
"Dang it!" Sunset groaned, putting her head in her hands. She knew she was skipping something important. She was tired, everyone was tired, and today was supposed to be planning the simple stuff, like the venue and theme, while they recharged. The explosion of support from the announcement post had changed everything from light planning into work.
"I know!" Pinkie exclaimed. She whipped out her laptop and began typing away. "Just as I suspected," she finally said. "It is available. Very suspicious. The Canterlot Amphitheater, where the battle of the bands finale took place, is available to be booked for the thirtieth. It’s in a good location for people from all over the city to attend. It’s a Sunday, so no one is in the office today, but we can reserve it right now, online. All we need is a deposit of fifty bucks."
Despite how casual she had been about the deposit, it was clear Pinkie Pie didn’t have that much in her account. No one spoke for a minute. No one dared to make the first admission about their finances.
Dash finally broke the silence. "We have been spending a lot of money on stuff for the fundraising events. I don't have that much in my account. I'm guessing they don't allow us to split the cost between a few cards?"
"Nope!" Pinkie replied, still not worried about the deposit.
"I'm almost out," Fluttershy said.
"Tapped out," Rarity said. She let out a heavy sigh. "I'm going to have to borrow from my parents, again, to make our show outfits. It won't be a problem; I borrow from them all the time to cover the cost of materials. I usually make four times more than the loan in sales and pay them back with interest. They are nice about it and supportive, but I do hate borrowing from them. Apparently, a lot of small businesses are forced to borrow money each quarter, just so they can afford the stock for the next quarter, and then sell it to pay off the loan, only to have to turn around and borrow again because they are out of stock and money. That’s fine for when I am on my own, it’s business, but with my parents, I feel like I am taking advantage of them."
No one knew how to support Rarity. She was most likely being accidentally extra dramatic about the situation because she was so tired. With her added talk about business, they were left without any idea what their fashionista friend needed for support.
Applejack finally moved them on with a shrug, "I’m dryer than a desert well."
Sunset sighed. Her account was well below the deposit cost too. "Not enough either."
Twilight stopped writing and grabbed her backpack. She pulled out her wallet and wordlessly gave Pinkie Pie a silver card. Twilight went back to writing like nothing had happened.
"Wait, this is a credit card!" Pinkie exclaimed after examining it closely.
"So?" Twilight asked, not stopping her work.
"Well…how do you have one?" Pinkie asked. "Also, why do you have one? You’re not an adult. Right?"
Twilight sighed as she paused her calculations. "I’m not an adult, but my parents are. They got it for me a while ago. It's for emergencies. Like everyone, I don't have much left in my checking account. I think this situation counts as an emergency. We need the amphitheater if we are to pull this concert off properly. I can justify it to them if I need to. 'Emergency' is a term that can allow for some looser interpretations. I'll have to tell them when I get home, because I don't want them to be surprised when they get the bill, however, in all the time I have had the card, I have never once used it."
Sunset almost laughed. She could tell that Twilight was extra annoyed. She wanted to do the important calculations they needed and she didn’t like being interrupted in the middle of her work. What annoyed her even more was having to explain the credit card.
"Okay," Pinkie said, shrugging as she let it all go. She began to type in the information into her computer. "And it's ours!" Pinkie exclaimed. "From six in the morning to midnight. That will be plenty of time to set up and tear down."
"That's great," Sunset said, relieved that they had made it over that hurdle. "Alright, any other key logistics we are missing?"
“Speakers,” Dash said. “Like, big ones. Our amps won’t cut it at that venue. And we may need longer cables than what we have.”
“Included with the amphitheater,” Pinkie explained. “Also, included are mics, stands, soundboard, lights, and switchboard. What do you think the school used for the battle of the bands?”
“That solves that,” Dash said. “Anything else?”
"Is there anyone else of immediate importance for unique skill sets who has contacted us?" Sunset asked, clearly asking Rarity.
Rarity sighed. "The graphics team is running a sketch up right now for the fliers. I've got at least twenty more new DMs I haven’t looked at, plus people commented on our post. Plenty were just excited over the update, others were asking how they could help. I think we have everyone, but the graphics club will need an open line as they work."
"Okay," Sunset nodded.
“What exactly are they doing?” Dash asked. “We don’t have your vision.”
“We discussed the theme, so they know what they are working with,” Rarity explained. “And they know what we are going to try to do for promoting the concert. I know they have split up the work and that colors, font, sizing, layout, and such all are different layers and pieces they will design separately and then simply snap together for the finished product. Color Wheel, their president, is working on a ‘Rainbooms’ name graphic. That’s all I really know.”
“Are we doing anything more than just the colors for our theme?” Fluttershy asked.
“No,” Rarity said. “They thought it was best, and I agree, if we don’t unveil the theme of our concert until that night. We need to push the concert and fundraising, not splash images of Japan. Most people won’t understand why it's there if we and the music are the focus. We don’t want to confuse them or drive them away because of a miscommunication through the design of our flier.”
“We cannot confuse people with the posters,” Sunset said with a nod. “I trust them and their expertise and you, Rarity. Keep on it as they update you. In the meantime, we have a few volunteer positions to fill. I think we just need someone to direct the concert’s timing and the promoters. The promotion team doesn't have a size limit or any special qualifications."
"We probably could use a few more stagehands," Dash added. "They can easily wind up split up from each other and find themselves on the wrong side of the stage, especially when they are inexperienced. Not that I would necessarily do any better. Three can run out really fast since there are seven of us on stage."
"Now that you mention it," Rarity said, turning back to her laptop. "Snips and Snails both contacted me about helping. Let me read their messages." They waited patiently for Rarity’s update. "Yes, both want to help somehow during the concert. I don't think they would make good members of the promotion team, but they probably could handle being stagehands. At least as well as the Crusaders. They all are young, energetic, and willing to try just about anything, but they often rush when they shouldn't, and they get a bit clumsy because of it. If they just slowed down, they would not be so clumsy."
"The director also has to be someone that they would respect," Sunset said. "Someone who can slow them all down and help them be professionals."
Rarity looked back at her computer. "You know," she mumbled as she checked the messages. "Yes!" Rarity exclaimed. "Octavia Melody asked in the comments if her concert expertise was needed. It is all classical music, but she has more stage experience than the seven of us combined. I am certain she knows how things need to be coordinated between the stage crew and the acts, and she should be able to lead inexperienced stagehands.”
"Send her a direct message, asking if that is something she is confident doing," Sunset said. "Make sure to add who the stagehands are, so she knows who she would be in charge of. I can understand it if she doesn’t think she could juggle their needs with the rest of her job. We might need a separate manager just for the stagehands, but hopefully not."
Rarity typed away with impressive speed and then they heard the sound of the DM being sent.
"I also just thought about my fellow Wondertones singers, Torch Song and Toe-Tapper," Rarity said. "Neither of them has reached out yet, it still is early, but if Octavia isn't available, one of them might be."
"Alright, then we have two backups we can ask," Sunset said.
Pinkie Pie's mother, Cloudy Quartz, came into the dining room. She was wearing a green plaid skirt and matching top. She had a tray with mugs on it and a few other things. "I know you girls have all been working hard and running on little sleep.” She set the tray down as close to the center of them as she could. "I brought you all coffee, with sugar cubes and cream available to suit your individual tastes.."
Cloudy Quartz departed to let them continue. They all grabbed mugs and mixed in their desired amount of cream and sugar, or none in some cases. Pinkie Pie also decided to suck on sugar cubes.
"I don't have a plan for music just yet," Sunset prefaced. "I really want to hear your thoughts for the setlist, but I do have a vision for the concert as a whole. I want us to smoothly transition from one song to another, without there being a full stop of all the instruments. I want something to be logically playing at all times the Rainbooms are on stage. I think it looks and feels better when the music flows like that. It might add a fair bit of extra work and burn some more energy, but I think it will be worth it."
"I don't like full stops either," Twilight said as she slipped on her coffee. It was almost as white as the cream. "I understand why bands have to do it, but if we can run transitions, even just a few strums of a guitar to keep it going while everyone sets up for the next song, that would be great. You set the goal of us doing a performance bigger and better than anything we had done before, and smooth transitions with no downtime fits the bill. The little details like that matter when you go big. It would really give the crowd a different energy vibe from us. A positive, energetic vibe that there is no stopping us."
Applejack was in agreement. Fluttershy was neutral since she didn’t play a major instrument. Rainbow Dash didn't think it mattered and didn't want the extra work. For someone who loved a challenge, Dash could be really lazy at the most random times. Pinkie Pie had no opinion. She could keep playing or stop. A drummer could do a lot to create great transitions. She just needed to know what to do: play or not. Rarity was engrossed in something on her computer, typing a response to someone.
Applejack's phone buzzed. She checked her texts. "The Crusaders are asking if Babs can also be a roadie."
"Yes," Sunset nodded. "Tell them yes, but also point out we are using the term stagehand since we are not going on the road."
"I already said it a few times, but I'll do it again," Applejack said while she typed. "That gives us six stagehands."
"Six is good," Sunset said. “Trixie’s band has three total and the Flash Drive's are four. For us, six stagehands would almost give us one for each Rainboom, which would probably work out if someone split their responsibility between Fluttershy and Twilight, although I’m not sure what the two of them would need. Also, I know Pinkie will have a stock of sticks with her kit in case she breaks one, so I don’t know if a designated stagehand would be beneficial for her."
“Mics could go out,” Dash said. “Either needing a new one or a simple battery swap. Depending on what Rarity has us in, a possible wardrobe malfunction. Fluttershy’s tambourine could break. Those are not as cheap as people think. The point is, stuff can go wrong, but six should be more than enough. Unless Pinkie breaks a drum head or worse, I break a string.”
"That’s why you bring your old guitar," Applejack said. "As a backup to easily switch. If Pinkie breaks a drum head there ain’t nothin any of us can do about it. Except her, being careful.”
“Hey,” Pinkie Pie shrugged. “I’ve only busted one and it was during a practice. I was in the process of replacing it anyway. All my current drum heads are solid.”
“Except we’ll be doin’ a lot of practicin’ in between now an then,” Applejack pointed out. “Also, there really is a lot for people to do for us during the show, isn't there? We ain't just filling slots."
"We are not just filling slots," Sunset confirmed. "I've been thinking through this plan since before we all were accepted. It started out really small, like us in the gym with just our amps, but I slowly continued to build the frame into the massive project it has become. I got the frame finished on my own. Now, together we are putting the walls and roof on this house of music and decorating it. Which I guess we already have the decorations planned with Fluttershy's theme."
"Ah yes," Rarity said with a content sigh. "I can see our outfits now. Color coordinated, while also reflecting the person wearing it. The white and red on Japan’s flag is bold. The white makes for a great base that really pops the red, even small bits of trim. And Pinkie Pie being in all red with white accents to contrast us will be the cherry on top."
"Can I wear a hat?" Pinkie asked. "The stage lights can be blinding. I need to be able to see what I am hitting."
"I can add a red hat to your ensemble," Rarity said with a nod.
"I've got some ideas to trick out my drum kit to match the theme," Pinkie added. "It's still its original blue. I’ll have something better for the show.”
"Speaking of that," Sunset said as she grabbed her phone. "I should update Flash Sentry, and we also need to notify Trixie, about their theme, to confirm the location, and let them know about the other supporting act."
“On it,” Rarity said, turning back to her laptop.
Sunset typed the message to Flash and sent it. She sipped on her coffee as she looked around at her friends. This was getting exciting. It was still early in the day and they hadn’t even started planning their setlist.
Rarity was once again typing on her computer, responding to someone. Sunset felt like she should say something, to keep the planning session rolling, but she was tired. It was okay to take a moment to breathe and adjust after the explosion of support.
Sunset got a response back from Flash.
Sounds great! I love our theme and the family idea. That is a great goal for the concert. I know a lot of the families in my neighborhood will appreciate it and I’ll spread the word. Flash Drive is looking forward to playing with both bands and to seeing the Rainbooms’ special theme. You will get Flash Drive’s best.
"Alright," Twilight said, sitting upright. "I've done the calculations and I think I've found the optimal donation suggestions, with two other possibilities. Thankfully, the website gave the number of people the amphitheater could accommodate. I've stuck to whole numbers and easy ones for donations. That way, cash, check, or card, people will easily be able to remember the cost and calculate their final tally if they need more than one ticket. Honestly, thank goodness for portable card readers that can turn a regular smartphone into a cash register and for the school having some the student organizations can borrow.”
"Hit us with it," Sunset said, suddenly getting nervous. The volunteers were important, very important, but setting the "price" would likely dictate the turnout and the turnout would certainly impact their donations. They had to have a good turnout to meet their fundraising goals. They had learned that the hard way last night at the fashion show.
Twilight explained her methods as she flipped her notebook around for them to read. "For simplicity's sake, I used 'price' in my calculations. You all know what I mean when I say 'price'. Also, these calculations are assuming everyone pays the same amount.
"I'll start with what I think is the least favorable of viable solutions. If we set the price at twenty, to reach our goal for the evening, we only need to fill the amphitheater to thirty-five percent of its capacity. That is the lowest number of people attending out of the three options. In the middle with a price of fifteen a ticket, we need to fill up the amphitheater to fifty percent capacity. The most optimal, in my opinion, is also probably the riskiest. With a price of ten a ticket, we need to get the amphitheater to seventy percent capacity."
"It's a tradeoff," Rarity said. "A gamble with real stakes. We could win big or we may go home broke. The higher price means we have an easier quota to hit, however the higher price will also be harder to entice people to come. On the other side, the headcount quota is harder to achieve, but the price is more enticing and obtainable for people, which hopefully will increase the number of people who come to attend."
"This is all based on everyone paying the same price," Twilight reminded them. "You are right, Rarity, it is a gamble. All of this is a gamble. The question really is, ‘to the average person we want to attract, how much do you think we are worth?' Yes, it is a fundraiser, but we are not a famous band. Canterlot is large city. Many people who don’t have a connection to CHS haven’t heard of us, so they don’t know our skill, or the supporting acts. Fundraiser shows are great and they can attract people to attend just to help out, but it all comes back to the same question, ‘do they think we are worth the price we are setting for ourselves?’”
"How we set up the posters and fliers will impact that too," Sunset said. "We will probably want to put the names of our supporting acts on them, somehow, making it easy for people to catch at a glance while not overpowering our name or the suggested donation price. We also need to, somehow, promote the community and family friendly atmosphere. We can leave that for the artists to spatially solve as they lay it all out. By promoting our supporting acts, we will make more people feel like they are getting their money's worth, since they get to see three bands perform, not one. I'm really excited and grateful to have them joining us. They are fleshing this whole event out for us in a way we never could do ourselves."
"So am I," Dash said. "It’s a real concert thanks to them. To cut to the chase, I think we gamble hard and go cheap. People can donate more, they know that, and I think we will get more people donating above the ticket price if we keep it lower. Yeah, we have to put more butts in the seats and the amphitheater is big, but I think we can do it."
"I gotta agree with Dash," Applejack said. "Lower price, more for their buck, and no matter how we slice the price pie, it's up to us to ensure that we get enough butts in the seats. Us and our volunteers. This also doesn't calculate what we know and the audience won’t; exactly what we are going to do to rock their world. They ain’t necessarily gonna know we are doin big and long, just our best. Not knowin’ our plans adds hidden value to each ticket. That's a good thing. If we hit our goal, or heavens to Betsy if we surpass it by a good margin, we are going to want that hidden value as extra thanks.”
"That is a good point, AJ," Sunset said. "That hidden value is important. We need to ensure that people know we are going to rock as hard as we can for their enjoyment, that puts butts in seats, but we also want to have a good amount of hidden value in the tickets to give them that extra thanks, no matter where we land on donations. I also think ten is our best strategy."
"I think we can market it as being a great value, but not cheap," Rarity said. "People don’t want cheap live music, they want live music at a great value that doesn’t hurt their wallets. As long as we convey that in our promotion strategy, I too think we are better off with the price at ten."
"Okay," Fluttershy nodded. "I was thinking ten before you all made those arguments. They are all good points, very good points, but it's not how I see the question. I don't want people to turn away because they feel obligated to pay more than they can afford or want to pay. With a goal of it being a community event that is family oriented, we need to look to our lowest financially capable demographics to set the price. That is families and students. To get them in seats, our strongest move is ten."
"Well said, Fluttershy," Twilight said as everyone looked at Pinkie Pie.
Their drummer was sucking on yet another sugar cube. She shrugged to them. "I'm the drummer. My sole opinion is whatever lets me hit things as loud as I can while keeping you all timed correctly for the songs. I get to do that at whatever price we set."
"Well,” Sunset shrugged. “We already were at six votes for ten. That will be the price.”
Rarity's computer chimed. As she went to look at the sender of the new message, she asked her question. "Should I update the info or make a new post with the suggested donation price? Or leave it where it’s at, no update yet?"
"Do a new post and also edit the other one," Sunset decided. "Let's start pushing the price and location out now, so that while we are waiting for fliers and posters, people can spread the word verbally."
Rarity made a new post, updated the previous post, and finally looked at the new message. It was from Octavia. She was very happy to join the stage crew as the director and felt confident in handling the stagehands. Rarity announced the good news to everyone.
"I guess we should sort out the promoter team," Applejack said. "I know we are waitin' on the digital graphics club for materials, but I'm afraid that if we don't do it now, before we tackle the setlist, we’ll forget. We should get the team psyched up to help us as soon as possible, so they can mentally start to plan out how to execute everythin’ as they’re waitin’ for the posters and fliers. Then we can relax and plan the setlist."
"I agree about the order, but it won't be relaxing," Dash said. "If you really think that the setlist will be easy and fun to organize, you are in for a shock. We have seven people in this band. Seven very different people with different approaches to music and who each do something different in the band. Together we are the Rainbooms, but we are going to argue over what songs to cover. Accept that now, before we start. We will all love and hate different songs and for different reasons. It's only going to be harder because we are not picking five songs to learn, or even ten, but twentyish."
"We could rotate," Fluttershy suggested. "We each pick one and cycle through."
"And what if the song you pick, the guitarists can't play?" Dash asked. "Or the drummer can’t keep us on beat? It's a fine idea and great sentiment, but choosing cover songs gets complicated and messy fast. We each need to be confident that we can learn it and put out the right energy, otherwise we need to toss that option into the trash. We don't have time for a long debate either. Not with the amount we have to learn, costumes to make, and some of us really should help the promotion teams get kickstarted."
"Dash has some good points," Sunset said. "If Dash could pick, we would be playing stuff like punk and metal, which won't go over well for Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight. They are loud, fast, and sometimes screaming songs that are also not built for the keytar to play."
Rarity sighed. "Okay, point made about the music. We can think about how we want to approach the setlist after we settle the promotion team."
Rarity focused on her computer. They started to go through all of their volunteers, sorting them. Some people would not be good fits for the promotion team, so they were skipped. They didn't want to say they didn't need them yet, in case they were needed later. It was too early to write them off without being concerned they would have to recant the sentiments sent.
Bulk Biceps was an automatic pick because of the energy he brought to whatever he was doing. Not everyone had to be energetic. They needed people who could also talk smoothly and explain to others the basics of the concert and exchange program.
Twilight started writing points down to help them "train" the promotion team members with the information they needed to be able to answer. They would be approaching businesses, asking if they could put up posters or leave fliers for customers. That required some charm by a steady person who was confident, not someone who was a bouncing ball of energy.
A total of twenty-six promoters were chosen. They knew most only in passing. The ones they knew well, besides Bulk Biceps, were Lyra Heartstrings, Sweetie Drops, Amethyst Star, Blueberry Cake, Raspberry Fluff, Pixel Pizzaz, Roseluck, and Violet Blur. By the time they had screened everyone, a few others had messaged them. Torch Song and Toe-Tapper were among the new requests and were added to the list. There was the potential, since it was still early, that other good candidates would offer their time. It would be easy to add them to the list, especially if it was before the orientation they were planning.
They sent out a form acceptance message to the chosen volunteers. Rarity wrote it as elegantly as she could, but everyone was adding suggestions to ensure it was a well-rounded message that didn’t miss something. There was too much to say and explain in order to keep their volunteers’ interest. Most people were expecting to help on the day of the concert, not the weeks before, so the importance of the role could not be undersold. The Rainbooms really had to rely on promoters in order to get the headcount they needed to meet their goal.
With the messages sent, Rarity sent the third update for the morning, officially letting everyone know they had added the two supporting acts. She added a public “thank you” to the bands for volunteering. She also updated the first post.
July 11 - Favors
It was weird for Sunset Shimmer to walk into Canterlot High through the front door. Weirder than going to school on a Saturday. It was mid-summer and school had been out for a while, making going inside feel wrong. It didn't help that it was a nice, sunny day that wasn't too hot. Another factor was knowing that she wasn't going to be walking these halls in the fall semester. They would not be her halls to walk until January. Next year.
Yes, Sunset had been on school grounds since summer break had started, but that was typical. The school grounds were a central meeting place for many of CHS' students, no matter what time of the year it was. She had been inside the gym too, but they had entered through a side door and left the same way. She also stayed in the gym the entire time, not going near the main building or the classrooms, like she was right now.
What was really different was that she was there on a very specific mission. It was a two-pronged mission, maybe three, depending on if Pinkie Pie was measuring and what system she was randomly using. How Sunset felt was exacerbated by the warzone at Sweet Apple Acres.
Yesterday they had planned the bulk of their upcoming concert. The moving pieces had been locked in place because of their bountiful volunteers. Things turned sour after that and they were quickly made worse by how tired they all were.
Dash has predicted it; the setlist was a hotly contested topic. However, Dash had come up short on exactly how bad it would become. Sunset was glad she had to leave for a bit to complete this mission. They were often researching songs on their computers, headphones on, listening to them to decide if it was one to pitch to the group. More songs could be examined if they worked individually rather than as a group.
That isolation had a dark side. Backroom deals were being made to trade support or disapproval for songs. At least a dozen formal alliances had been formed between bandmates and all had been broken up by backroom deals that caused someone to stab another member, or members, in the back. Sunset absolutely wasn't blameless. She had taken part in several alliances and spearheaded the destruction of two. She was currently in one with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, but without her there to defend it, the alliance probably wouldn't be standing once she got back from her mission.
Fluttershy could be a fierce fighter when tested and when she wasn't afraid to get personal. It was a very different side than they had ever seen from her. It was vastly different from how she got angry. Fluttershy knew how to destroy enemy alliances and she had stabbed her own allies in the back more times than anyone else had. It was pure manipulation with a noble goal: to produce the best concert they could. Sunset had a sneaking suspicion that Fluttershy was “shy” more so because she knew how easily she could destroy someone's self-esteem, except she was too kind hearted to do it under normal circumstances. Her kindness let her see the vulnerabilities of others, which could be exploited. At one point, Sunset would have exploited them, but she was not that person anymore.
The mission mattered more than losing the alliance did. It was time sensitive, somewhat more so than the raging setlist battle. Yes, they had less than three weeks until the concert, and they needed to decide on the new songs and learn them, however, they could battle all night if they needed to. Even if things went longer than that and looked like they wouldn't be able to start practicing in time, or the rivalries and backroom deals started to affect the core of their friendships, instead of the aggressive but still good natured state they were in currently, as lead on the concert Sunset could put her foot down and make a final executive decision on everything if she had to. Principal Celestia wasn't in her office all night. Sunset had a much shorter window to speak with her and hopefully get some things rolling.
Celestia's office door was wide open, something that Sunset had never seen before. During school hours, it was always closed. That didn't mean you could not approach her, but she kept it closed for a variety of reasons. Sunset heard a familiar voice laughing with Principal Celestia. Vice Principal Luna was in the office, which made her mission a lot easier. It absolutely was not a three-pronged mission now.
Sunset knocked on the doorframe and was immediately beckoned in by a laughing Celestia. When she got a hold of her laughter, she asked a question Sunset wasn't ready for, gesturing for her to sit down with them. "How is the concert planning going?"
Sunset had to reset from the question as she took the second chair facing Principal Celestia's desk. "Actually, that is why I'm here. I'm surprised you know about it."
"I've been a follower of the joint account since the day after it was launched," Celestia explained.
"Me too," Luna added. "I actually introduced her to it."
"I'm surprised, that's all," Sunset admitted. With the two of them already following their joint account, it removed some pressure on Sunset. They at least knew the basics of what was happening. "It went well yesterday, for the first half of the day.” Sunset paused as she yawned. “We are all tired, working hard, so I hope I don’t ramble or over explain things, I just want our plans to make sense when I ask the questions I have for you.”
“Luna and I would be happy to hear your plan to make sure you are not missing something,” Celestia said.
“Thanks,” Sunset said, flashing a smile as she felt unexpected relief from hearing those words. “Honestly, yesterday backfired. The plan to relax and only do light planning after a tough two weeks putting the fashion show together. We thought we were wise to put out the pure basics, to start hyping people up, but if only we had waited another day."
Sunset sighed. She was tired. Tired of the arguments, tired from the effort put into these fundraiser events, and tired of failing. "Our classmates are amazing. After a handful of minutes, we were getting offers from so many people wanting to volunteer, we had to choose how we proceeded wisely. We didn't even have time to sort out the roles we needed before the offers began to pour in. We have the moving pieces secured with some things to finish out, but we are out of ways to use the volunteers. Having two bands with us is amazing.”
"That will certainly help how the concert is viewed by prospective audience members," Luna stated.
"We didn't ask, they offered," Sunset stated. "And those offers were just as fast as the others were. We are very happy and grateful to have them on board. The concert has a goal, outside of fundraising. We want it to be an accessible community event that is family friendly, able to be attended by everyone of all ages and to end before eight that night for the kids. That includes making sure song content is appropriate to a six-year old. Promoting it is going to be key and we are getting the team finalized.”
"That is an admirable goal," Celestia said. "I like it. It should help draw in a large crowd. I read on the account that it's being held at the Canterlot Amphitheater?"
"Yeah, we booked the Amphitheatre about halfway through getting everything else sorted out," Sunset explained. "So not the school this time. We won't need someone to unlock it and watch over the event."
"It's a much better location than anywhere at the school," Luna stated. "Especially to bring in a crowd like you want."
"Exactly," Sunset nodded. "Which brings me to why I am here. The concert was my idea, so I'm lead on it. We have a few favors to ask both of you." Both Celestia and Luna perked up at this. "The first thing is, we were hoping you would send out a mass email to CHS alumni, inviting them to come out?"
"Sure," Celestia nodded. "I can do that. Send me what you want sent and I will take care of it. That way it comes from my school email address, which they already know. That increases the likelihood they will open it. Most of our alumni live in Canterlot or the surrounding area."
"That's perfect," Sunset said, smiling. That was one thing down, but it was the easiest thing to ask. "I'll have an email for you by Wednesday. We currently are in…discussions about the setlist. We have to expand our song repertoire to cover the time we want to be performing. Bigger and longer is one of our goals. We want the concert to be seen as a great value, not cheap. People don't like cheap live music, and our fliers are going to be designed to reflect that. They will also have the suggested donation price but that it’s 'donate what you can'. Flexibility for everyone's financial situation.
"Anyway, my point is, there will be at least one moment where we will need to take a step back for a breather, however, we want to have the crowd to always be engaged. That downtime is for us and may be crucial as we change sets. Instead of bringing out a supporting act for a song or two, we decided the better idea is to have someone give the crowd an update on our progress for reaching our goal for that evening. We still want to fundraise all of the cost of the program, but the goal for the evening is the other twenty-five percent we are required to. We will have a thermometer gauge for people to see with the goal that can be filled in.
"Our other fundraisers have not allowed us to update donors because we didn’t know until the event was over what our tally was. The supporting acts really help here too. By the time we do the donation update, everyone will have been in their seats for a while, allowing us to know exactly how much was raised. It also will give them the opportunity to donate more if they want to."
"I suggest that you have the gauge also show the total needed for full coverage of the program, individually and as a group,” Luna said. "You are correct, you have not had the opportunity before this event and doing the update is wise. That flexibility for them to donate again is an opportunity you can't waste, even though you are not directly asking for a second donation."
Sunset nodded and continued. "We will add that. We need someone, or a pair, we trust and who knows us well enough to properly speak for us when giving the update. Also, someone that the crowd will find appropriate. We know you have been keeping track of our progress and it seems like beyond what the program requires of you. You also know us very well and are our principals, plus this is a fundraiser for an academic program. So, to make it plain and straightforward, we are asking you both to come out on stage when our break is planned and give the crowd the update. Will you do that for us?"
"I look forward to the concert," Celestia said. "I think we can do it. Luna?"
"It would be an honor to represent seven of our finest students in such a manner," Luna said.
"With that answered, I have one other thing to ask," Sunset said. This one was the hardest, but there was hope from their response to the previous question. "This event will require us to be backstage from the start. Before, we always had enough hands that one of us could receive the donations. The bake sale worked a little differently, but we were still very much present and not far away if we were needed. Someone has to run the ticket table taking the donations. If the two of you could do it, it would send a powerful message to the donors. They would trust you more than a student. You are mature adults."
"While your volunteers are children," Luna finished. "That extra trust may help some people donate more."
"We considered that," Sunset said, nodding and then yawning. "We want everyone to be comfortable with donating whatever they can. The suggestion is just that, a suggestion. We never thought people would try and shortchange us, but they might go really low if we don't give them a recommendation for how much the concert is worth. How much we are worth. Plus our supporting acts really add value to the ticket. It should serve as a great way for people to judge our performance and if they got their money's worth. Again, we want it to be seen as a great value, not as being cheap."
Celestia nodded. "With the price at ten, and knowing your skill and your supporting acts, I don't think you will have a problem with leaving people feeling like they wasted their money. As you indicated, it will take a lot of proper promotion to bring in the crowd you need, but we have never seen you girls take the lazy way or not put the effort in required. I think the suggested donation is a very good choice, but I am curious about what your other thoughts on the price were?"
"Twilight ran the calculations," Sunset explained. "She kept the prices simple so people could remember them and easily calculate the cost of multiple tickets. The other options Twilight highlighted were twenty, which needed thirty-five percent capacity, and fifteen, which needed fifty percent capacity. Ten needs seventy percent capacity to meet our goal. Not bad, but we thought the other suggestions would drive people away or discourage them. Especially if they can't afford those suggestions. I think the concert is worth twenty, but I don't think we can get enough people to come at that price. We've noticed people seem to feel embarrassed or ashamed if they donate below the suggested amount. We would much rather have someone donate a dollar and come than not come. People are free to donate more if they want to. That is the beauty of 'donate what you can’ strategies.”
"I think it's a great price," Luna said. "Maybe a little low, like you said, but you are right about people feeling ashamed or embarrassed if they donate below the price. At ten, it is low enough that people who donate below are less likely to feel embarrassed. Twenty would almost certainly make them feel embarrassed if they could only donate ten."
"I'm honored you thought of us, for both," Celestia said. "That you trust us to represent you and to take the donations. I'd be honored to also run the ticket table."
"Likewise," Luna said. “Will we be giving out actual tickets?”
"Wonderful!" Sunset exclaimed, finally having some relief off her shoulders. "Thank you so much. We are actually going to have tickets. They will have our joint account information on it so donors can follow us while in Japan. With seven of us, we want to have at least one post a day while in Japan.”
“Those are good tickets to give out,” Luna said.
“Anything else you need to ask?” Celestia inquired?
“One other,” Sunset said. “We also would like to once again check out the school’s portable card readers for the show."
"We will make sure to bring them," Celestia said. "Sunset, you seem…more than tired. Care to talk about it?"
Sunset shrugged. "We expected more rest yesterday, but that wasn't possible with the flood of volunteers, which is better than no one wanting to help. We were expecting to ask specific people to volunteer, once we had sorted out what we needed done, so we are happy we don't have to now. That's all good stuff. Positive.
"But then we moved onto the setlist. We are going to have to cover songs. We don't have time to write enough new ones. Saying it became a warzone is appropriate…but also an understatement. Everyone wants the same end goal; the best concert we can put on for the crowd…except that we each see a different way to obtain that goal. We can't agree on the music. The fighting has become…fierce."
Sunset yawned again while rubbing her eyes, "It's certainly been fueled by our exhaustion. As lead, I have a lot of executive power, but this is something that we need to decide as a group. I can set goals for the night and approve of themes and other things, but I don't want to force the others to learn to play music they may not be able to or don't like if I don't absolutely have to. It would mean we have the wrong energy on stage. I just wish I had some…direction to steer us."
"I don't have advice about figuring out the music," Celestia said. "But I do have advice about the situation. Take a break. You said you need one. You will be no good if you don't step back and recharge. Put the music aside for another day. Pick it up on Wednesday. You all love listening to music. You know a lot of great bands and songs to cover. By stepping back, you can calm down this unexpected storm and perhaps someone will have a breakthrough as everyone gets the rest they need."
"That is good advice," Sunset said. "You're right. We're rushing ahead because we don't have a lot of time, spurred on by the jolt we got with volunteer offers, but we are tripping, badly, because of it.”
Sunset pulled her phone out and sent a group text. "I'm following Principal Celestia's advice and ending the setlist discussion. We need to recharge, so I'm making an executive decision. Work on the setlist in to be immediately dropped. We will finish tonight's orientation, but then we will rest. On Wednesday we can start again, this time with calmer heads and maybe someone will have thought of a solution. All alliances and pacts are hereby voided. Any songs agreed upon will be revisited again."
"Alright, I texted them," Sunset said. "We are at Sweet Apple Acres. It's a bit of a drive to get there, so I didn't want to wait. I just hope they see it."
"Good luck," Luna said. "We have confidence you can do this with the right rest and clear thinking."
Sunset stayed for a while longer with the sisters, ironing out more of the details for their roles as ticket masters and fundraiser announcers before she bid them farewell and began the trip back. They had been in the barn and still were, but they were thankfully not arguing.
"We stopped," Dash said as she entered. "How did it go?"
"They are on board," Sunset said with a relieved sigh. "Fully. Celestia will send the email so it comes from her trusted account, they both are happy to give the update, and they both are thrilled at the idea of running the ticket table. Also, they will bring the card readers."
"Well done," Twilight praised.
"Has anything important happened while I was gone?" Sunset asked.
"Yes," Rarity said. She was sitting on a hay bale and working on her computer. "The graphics team just got us the poster. I'm downloading it right now."
It took a bit to download due to the large size of the file and the weak wi-fi signal this far from the Apple's house router. The image opened up on the laptop, but it was very slow to load.
“What size is this poster?” Sunset asked.
“This is designed to be printed at twenty-four by thirty-six inches,” Rarity explained. “Which is basically the same size as a movie poster. If the design is good, they will properly scale the images to other standard poster sizes. eight-and-a-half by eleven, eleven by seventeen, and eighteen by twenty-four. The poster sizes add or lose a little height between the sizes. Poster scaling is only by the width. You will gain or lose the bottom if you scale wrong, so they are going to send us files that account for that and can be printed at any of the sizes. They say it won’t take them but a few minutes to make those adjustments.”
“Honestly, that’s a bigger poster than I was thinking,” Sunset admitted. “I was thinking of just printing on a regular printer on basic paper. That’s going to be bad, won’t it?”
“How often do home printers streak?” Rarity asked. “A big issue is the paper, which is pretty thin. Trying to print a full colored image on it…you just end up with it soaked in ink. Wrong paper and wrong method of applying the ink. That doesn’t even cover coatings. Simply put, all paper is not the same.”
“Are any of y’all wonderin how we're gonna' pay for this?” Applejack asked. “Ain’t these gonna' be expensive to print?”
“I didn’t think this through,” Sunset admitted, sitting down. “Or rather, I thought I had, but the artists have taken this to a whole different level. I don’t want to not use them, after their hard work…”
“Color Wheel, the president of the graphic arts club, has been elusive about that,” Rarity said. “I asked her the same questions you asked, which is why I know all of that, and more, about paper and printing. Something is going on, but I can’t get an answer from them. They are aware of our limitations. The fliers we agreed on yesterday are sized as a ‘rack card’, which is four by nine, and double sided. You saw them and loved them. I don’t think any of us have a printer that can do double sided.”
“Our home printer can,” Twilight said. “It's becoming a common feature. It won’t be able to print those fliers, not to the quality they designed, but it is a nice feature for printing double sided documents, saving you some paper.”
“Color Wheel is going to be coming to the orientation tonight,” Rarity added. “Maybe some of the others in the club too. She…sort of invited herself, which isn’t a problem. While trying to understand how we were going to push the concert so the fliers could be designed correctly, I explained our tactics with using promoters, and she said it would be a perfect time to meet face to face, which, I of course, agreed as well.”
“I’m glad she is coming,” Sunset said. “We will be able to personally thank her and figure out the printing.”
“Picture’s up!” Pinkie exclaimed.
They looked at the poster. The bright red center faded to a thin edge of white, with more on the corners to round it out. The seven of them were standing in a V line, in an outfit they had worn while performing. Rainbow Dash was front and center with her guitar and Sunset and Applejack on the wings, with their guitars. They had used the guitar players to frame the band. Pinkie Pie clearly had a drumstick, in her left hand, and Rarity’s keytar could barely be seen from the pose. Above them said “RAINBOOMS” in the sparkly rainbow color emblem the team had designed. Under their feet in gold was “Fundraiser Concert” and below that, “With Flash Drive and Trixie and the Illusions.” The next two lines were “Saturday July 30 – 5pm to 8pm” and then “Canterlot Amphitheater.”
There was no mention of the suggested donation, but the poster was running out of room without making it look cluttered. The fliers would hopefully be nearby and the Rainboom’s social media account was easy to find. The account had all of the concert’s information pinned at the top.
“What is the gold thingy behind us?” Pinkie asked.
“That would be the outline of Japan’s imperial seal,” Twilight explained. “The chrysanthemum, although it isn’t just the imperial seal. Usually, it’s filled in, not an outline. Almost all of it is blocked by how we frame it and it is missing the second layer of petals behind it. That’s why you don’t recognize it.”
“It’s a subtle geometric pattern,” Fluttershy said. “It gives the poster a level of depth that it would otherwise lack. It pushes us out from the background, almost as if we are stepping out of it.”
“It does add an extra level of depth,” Sunset admitted. “The posters will look amazing, if we can get them printed. They certainly won’t look good using my printer.”
“Not even the school’s would do the job,” Twilight said. “Theirs are basically larger, faster versions of a home printer that can carry more paper. Or rather, our home printers are simplified versions of the office ones. The office ones came first.”
“We can solve the printin' later, y’all,” Applejack said. “It’s gettin' close to orientation time. We need to set up.”
“That I can agree with,” Dash said. “What do we need and where do we get it?”
“We keep the extra tables and chairs in here,” Applejack said, heading to a door. “For family reunions and all.”
Everyone went about setting up for the orientation. With seven pairs of hands, plus Big Mac and Apple Bloom, everything was set up with ease. They still had an hour, so the snacks and drinks would wait until they got closer. They didn’t want the cold stuff getting warm.
Without the setlist being discussed, they found themselves sitting around a table, waiting. It was good to have the rest before the orientation. It had been too long since they had chit-chatted as a group.
A knock came at the open barn door. Standing in it was a slender, baby-faced woman in dark blue jeans and a graphic T-shirt. Her bob was dyed a pastel rainbow. Her backpack’s strap framed her shirt’s graphic, a cloud beside a pine tree.
“Color Wheel, Darling,” Rarity said, hopping up.
“I hope this isn’t too early,” Color Wheel said.
“Nonsense,” Rarity replied. “You’re fine. It will give us the chance to talk. Come on in and sit down.”
Color Wheel beckoned to someone outside. A middle-aged man with a strong family resemblance to Color Wheel and wearing black jeans with a red polo that had an old-fashioned printing press embroidered on it stepped into view.
“Rarity, this is my father,” Color Wheel explained. “Type Set.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir,” Rarity said, reaching out to shake his hand.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” he said as he shook her hand. “My daughter has a lot of positive things to say about you and your friends. You have made quite the impression on her and it sounds like at your school as well.”
“Thank you, sir,” Rarity replied. “We do our best to be our best for everyone. Please, come in and sit. No sense standing up, right?”
They joined everyone at a table and introductions were made.
“So, you seven are raising money to go to Japan?” Type Set asked. “For a whole semester?”
“Yes, Sir,” Rarity nodded. “We are really lucky all of us got accepted. We were not just competing with students at CHS, but internationally as well. I don’t know of anyone at CHS who applied this year, but others have before us. There are only so many slots in the program. You also have to meet the academic requirements and possess the language skill necessary for having class in whatever country you are going to. The program has a lot of schools in all participating countries connected to it. We had one last fall from Japan and this fall four are coming to CHS.”
“I would imagine getting into the program includes an impressive resume of extracurriculars and letters of recommendation,” Type Set said.
“Yes, Sir,” Dash said. “I was the last to get my acceptance letter. We’re pretty sure that is what got me to squeak into the program. My grades are solid, but nothing too impressive. I’m the captain of every sports team at CHS. I have to have good grades or I can’t play. I have to set a good example too. Anyway, I had great letters of recommendations, we all put in our essays about going as a group, and during our video interviews they asked us about each other. That also set us apart from other applicants. The committee knows we will have support while we are there. Best friends level support.”
Type Set nodded. “I played ball in high school, so I understand the requirements the school must enforce for its players to be eligible. You don’t have to graduate summa cum laude to get your diploma. You remember that, all of you, the grade isn't necessarily a good judge of the knowledge you have learned from the class, especially when there is only a limited number of questions you can ask on a test.
“I had a friend in college, his thing was history. He knew that subject so well, but he failed the first test. If it had been an essay test, he would have nailed it. What the teacher thought important were details his mind didn’t. Two approaches to the same set of facts and lessons that had radically different results when it came to the test. He now teaches history at the collegiate level and he tells his students that story on the first day of class. It also helped him shape his tests to be better judges of their knowledge.
“You girls certainly sound like you will take this opportunity to heart and ultimately use it to better the community. Color Wheel showed me some of the videos of your band. I’m impressed. You have skill. Music is something I enjoy, but was never good at making. I’m sure your concert will go well, if you have the right materials to get the word out.”
“That’s the big question,” Sunset admitted. “At the top of the hour we will be meeting with the volunteers we are hoping will join the promotion team, but honestly, I’m not sure how we are going to be able to get it done with what your daughter and the rest of the graphics art club has put together. It is amazing artistry, but printing them is going to be a problem. None of us have printers that can handle their details, let alone the size of the posters. We don’t want to waste their effort, so we are trying to sort out how to overcome that hurdle.”
“I thought you would say that,” Type Set said with a nod. “Yesterday morning, when I got up, I found my daughter at my computer, fully engrossed in a project. That’s nothing out of the ordinary, especially on the weekends, as the computer is used for rendering art. It's the only one powerful enough in the house to run the software and it has a drawing tablet. What caught my eyes was that she wasn’t drawing. It was texts and messaging while at the computer and that breaks the rules for its use. It is my work computer and those tasks are what she has her laptop for. When I enquired what had her so preoccupied, that’s when she explained she was trying to help you by volunteering her art skills. Then I learned who you are and why you need to fundraise. Quite frankly, I am impressed by the seven of you and I am happy to have my daughter using her talents to help others. Good art is worth a lot of money and many artists don’t have a way of knowing who they can help. Many charities and nonprofits have need of it, but never ask because they either don’t think of it, or like you said, printing gets expensive. If they can’t print it, why bother getting the artwork donated.”
Type Set nodded to his daughter and Color Wheel grabbed something from her backpack. She laid the flier that had been designed on the table. It was a high-quality print. Rarity was the first one to gingerly pick it up and look at both sides before passing it to Sunset on her right.
“That looks absolutely gorgeous and eye-catching,” Rarity said. "Everything about the fundraiser was spot on, our social media account info looked good, and the framing was perfect."
“I’d like to help you girls out,” Type Set said. “If you look on the back side at the bottom, you will see my mark. I own a print shop in town and I saw an opportunity.”
“Printed by Type Set Graphics,” Sunset said, reading the bottom. “In support of the Rainbooms' fundraiser.” Sunset looked at Type Set. “Are you saying you want to donate the fliers so long as it has your mark on it to advertise for you?”
“I’d love to help you without any strings attached, but it sounds like this job will be massive,” Type Set explained. “The only way I could justify doing this is if the posters and fliers have that added to them. It’s out of the way, doesn’t detract from your information, and I can justify it as advertising costs. Honestly, I need to do more advertising for the business, but it is something you have to constantly manage, so it usually gets put on the backburner. Your volunteers are about to plaster the city with posters, so why not?"
“That’s a tiny string to be attached,” Sunset stammered. “A thread really. It’s…” Sunset was at a loss for words.
“Absolutely!” Rarity exclaimed, accepting the offer since Sunset was speechless. “Sir, it would be an honor, really our pleasure, to use the designs of your daughter's club and your fine services.”
“I’m at a loss for words,” Sunset admitted. “Thank you doesn’t seem like enough.”
“Add in five tickets to the show and we will call it even,” Type Set said.
“Done!” Sunset exclaimed. “With these designs, we can really make this thing happen. We are not going to let the crowd down when we perform.”
“Wonderful,” Type Set smiled, extending his hand to be shook. As lead on the project, Sunset shook it first, then Rarity for her work with the artists, followed by everyone else. “I don’t doubt that you will put on a performance of a lifetime. I also don’t doubt that you will have the time of your life in Japan, while also learning a lot."
“Color Wheel, Darling, I can’t thank you enough,” Rarity said. “The designs are gorgeous. The club did such a great job.”
“Thank you,” Color Wheel said, blushing a little. “We were thinking simpler until my dad made his inquiry. He is the one who came up with the idea of having the shop print them and told us to go big or not at all. He wanted to meet you all to properly discuss it before we moved forward.”
“That’s why you kept it from me,” Rarity said. “I admit, I was getting worried from our talks and seeing what you were making, but you clearly were holding something back. The others were not until they saw the poster and realized how big you had gone. This is better than I ever could have dreamed. And you, Sir, thank you, again. I’m very glad you thought of the idea. We are indebted to you."
Type Set let out a laugh. “I’d love to say Color gets her art from her mother, but the woman can’t draw even a half decent stick figure. She can cook though, boy can she cook.”
“Um, Mr. Type Set, Sir?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yes, Fluttershy?” Type Set replied.
“Color doesn’t have any siblings, so why did you ask for five tickets? If you don’t mind me asking?”
“I don’t mind at all!” He said with a laugh. “The other two are for my two employees who will be doing a lot of the leg work on the actual printing process. Actually, it’s technically one employee and an unpaid summer intern. I have a few big designs I have due this week for customers, logos and such, so I won’t be in the shop much.”
“We will be very glad to have them come,” Fluttershy replied. “And grateful for the work they will be putting in.”
Type Set stood up. “Well, I know you girls have an orientation to do here shortly. Color has some more fliers with her and can cover anything else. The ones she has are drafts, of us making sure the color and coating was good, so a few are bad prints. That happens, but they are perfect for tonight's training. We will have the first set ready on Wednesday. I came separately from Color. I came from the shop and have to go back there for a bit, then home to work on those designs I mentioned. You all have a good evening. It was a pleasure meeting you and I am happy that I can be helping you out in this way.”
They bid him farewell and thanked him again.
Sunset turned to Color Wheel. “Color, your dad is cool. Amazing really."
“Thanks,” Color Wheel said. “I was explaining who you were and such while I worked on the first draft of your name emblem. I knew we could use the outline no matter what we printed it on. That was when he said that he would love to help, depending on how many you would need printed, and then it all clicked for him. He is good like that, a quick thinker, on top of being an artist.
“He went to school for art, but the market for what he likes to do is…well basically it's non-existent. He needed a stable job after the degree and stumbled into working for someone who did signs. He made so many horrible signs because people didn’t know what they were doing. Out of that pain, and necessity, he decided to open his own graphics studio. Having the printing services along with designs allows him to do most things for customers, and plenty of people come in for printing needs that don’t require him to make graphics. The people who just need his copiers are the bulk of his business.
“Still, I know it takes a lot for him to operate and he doesn’t have much of a profit margin. Otherwise he would have another employee or two. His biggest issue is competing with the big business print shops that are popping up. There used to be a handful of print shops and sign makers in the city. Now it seems like every package delivery service does printing as well. They can undercut his costs for printing on a lot of things, pulling away his main customer base."
“And that’s where people think of first,” Rarity finished. “I know how that feels. Boutique fashion has the same problem. Quality works of art trying to compete with mass production. When you have to spend all of your time working on the art, you can’t advertise like you should. You also typically have to flip that profit back into the business for supplies, not advertising.”
“Exactly,” Color Wheel nodded. “I love doing art, specifically working with pastel chalks, but there is little market for that. I’ve seen my dad do them, but I have never done emblem graphics before. I enjoyed doing yours and playing with the colors. Once I had the design, I came up with a dozen different color schemes. A few were gold, to fit with the rest of the lettering, and I was playing with the lighting angle. The others were rainbows, but then you start asking questions like pastel or bold colors for the rainbow? Sharp or blended color transitions? What angle for the rainbow? Does the rainbow repeat? If it does, how many times? Where is the light coming from? How much sparkle? How do you not let the red in the rainbow blend into the red background? I think you get the picture.”
“I do, I do,” Rarity nodded. “Wonderful work on it. I really do love it. You can’t tell it was your first one. There is just enough sparkle to it, without it being glitter.”
“Thank you,” Color Wheel said. “I’ll make sure to send that file to you, all of them, for you to use. With my dad owning the graphics company, and how much I enjoyed doing the emblem, it really made me think about following in his footsteps. It’s not something I had really considered, outside the fact that it would be fun to work with my dad, but now I see where I could be doing more than running the copiers for him.”
“If either of my parents were in the fashion industry, I absolutely would follow them,” Rarity said. “Of course, they would have to be into fashion in the first place.”
“Rarity,” Sunset said. “We have to finish setting up. Everyone will start arriving in about ten minutes. No need to stop talking with Color. We can cover it. And thanks, Color, we appreciate it. All of it.”
"Ah yes," Rarity sighed. "Orientation. I look somewhat forward to that. It will be much better having these copies of the fliers. I'll be busy making our outfits while they canvas the city. We still haven't settled on a setlist and the war over songs caused Sunset to put us in a timeout to cool down and rethink the approach to that problem."
"You have solved so many others, I am certain you will figure it out," Color Wheel encouraged. “The whole school is behind you because we believe in you. We know you will come up with something amazing.”
It’s music time and the Rainbooms had to learn a good deal of new material! The vignette is detailed well, but I needed to build their setlist to properly write it. I’m not putting lyrics in the vignette, so in case you don’t know the songs and want to listen, I put together a Ruby Palace Playlist on YouTube. The playlist is purely supplemental. The songs are in order of their appearance in the story. I did my best to find uploads with lyrics on the screens, but that wasn’t always possible, however, if you set YouTube to play English CCs, sometimes it will add the lyrics to the videos.
July 30 – Schoolhouse Rock Ruby Palace Playlist on YouTube
Sunset watched from the sidelines as Rainbow Dash rocked out on stage, supported by Pinkie Pie on drums, Twilight on secondary vocals, Rarity on the Keytar and backup vocals, and Applejack on bass guitar and backup vocals. Right now, it was just the five of them out on stage, rocking out for the crowd as they played their usual songs. The first and second setlists required the band to be split. Now that the Rainbooms had wireless mics, Dash could use the full stage to perform. She didn’t have to be back at a mic stand when it came time for her to sing. Her only limitation was her guitar’s cable.
Tonight was the big night. Music filled Canterlot’s Amphitheater to raise money for their semester abroad. It was a nice, mid-summer, Saturday evening. The sun was basically down, but it would still be light out for a few more hours. The concert had been marketed as a family friendly community event, suitable for all ages. By starting at 5pm and ending by 8pm, families with younger kids would be able to stay for the whole concert. Since the idea for the concert had been Sunset’s, she was their organizer and leader for the event and all of its preparatory stages.
The concert was “free,” but they were asking for donations for each “ticket” to go into their fund for the foreign exchange program. It wasn’t only the Rainbooms performing tonight. They were the headline act, but Trixie and the Illusions had started the evening, with Flash Drive, Flash Sentry’s band, playing second. The Rainbooms were very thankful the two bands had volunteered. It expanded the fundraiser from a music show, to a full concert, and was a better value for people’s donations.
They had a solid volunteer stage crew too. Octavia Melody was their director, helping time the stage crew and ensuring the acts stayed on the Wondercolts’ schedule. Vinyl Scratch was running the soundboard for them, as DJ-PON3. Micro Chips was on lights and some other things. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Snips, Snails, and Babs Seed were their volunteer stagehands; all six were wearing the obligatory all black outfits of stagehands to blend in whenever they had to do something on stage. All of the stage crew were plugged into a separate communication channel. Only Octavia had a microphone, the others were only wearing earpieces to hear her directions. Although she was not a member of the stage crew, Photo Finish was a volunteer; capturing the entire event for the girls with her camera.
People from all across Canterlot had come to the show. Their promotion team had canvassed as much of the city as they could in sixteen days, getting permission from businesses to leave fliers and sometimes put up posters in their shops. Some businesses had passed out the fliers while others decided to leave them in a place for customers to see and decide if they wanted to pick up one. Either strategy was fine and appreciated. Principal Celestia had even sent out a mass email for them to the alumni of Canterlot Highschool with an electronic copy of the flier attached.
With the suggested donation price, they needed to fill the amphitheater seventy percent to hit their donation goal for the night, but they were far from seventy percent. It was packed as tight as it could be for the seats and the standing room in the front was also full. They were at full capacity, basically ensuring they had hit their goal. From what Sunset had been able to see of the crowd, the bulk of people attending were their classmates and many had brought their families with them, but a lot of families without kids attending CHS had come out for some summer fun and there was a significant “older crowd” without kids in attendance as well. The diversity was thanks to their promotion team, CHS’ graphics arts club who had designed the professional fliers and posters they used, and Color Wheel’s father, who printed the fliers and posters for the small “fee” of having his shop’s info on them as an advertisement.
The Rainbooms’ supporting acts wore what they wanted, but Rarity had made the Rainbooms outfits that matched the theme: “Japan.” It was a bit of a loose theme, allowing for Rarity to design them each an outfit that matched both the wearer and the theme. The outfits were white with red accents, with Pinkie Pie as the “accent member” wearing the opposite as everyone else.
Pinkie also was the only one in a hat, to help block the bright stage lights so the drummer could see what she was hitting. It didn’t help that her drums were on a tall platform so her kit could easily be seen by the crowd. She had turned it into the theme. Her kick drum had Japan’s “Rising Sun” flag on the head and there were several other mini flags sticking off of the top of the hi-hat and her cymbal stands. She had switched the color of her drum kit from blue to white and red. Pinkie was even using drum sticks that had red shafts and white shoulders, heads and butts. If the crowd could see them, they looked amazing as Pinkie played the drums or twirled them during one of Dash’s guitar solos.
The stage also had two standing Japanese flags flanking it. They were planning to project on the backdrop later, so they couldn’t hang the flags up, but it looked great having them on stage. All of those details, big and small, came together to add an extra, deeper, layer to their performance. It would only get better when the seven of them finally performed together.
Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were helping too. They were the ones at the table for the ticket “sales”. All of the Rainbooms had to be backstage getting ready, making them unable to collect the donations. Having students volunteering would have been fine, however having the two adults, already trusted to run a high school, sent a subtle message to donors that they could be trusted with the money. That was an especially important message if they had any large donors.
Sunset’s vision had the Rainbooms with no downtime. Everything was supposed to flow smoothly once they had started their first setlist. Someone would either be on stage entertaining the donors, or playing a transition while they changed songs in a set. There would be no silence in between songs. Even the transition between supporting acts were very short. Dash had started playing before the Flash Drives were even off the stage.
As the five of them finished the last song on the playlist, Snips and Apple Bloom brought out microphone stands and mics to center stage. It was a smooth transition between the musicians and the two principals who were coming onstage to update the crowd. Vice Principal Luna was carrying the board with their thermometer donation gauge on it, which was currently covered until they did the reveal. The switch was so short, the audience was still applauding the performance.
“Thank you, everyone,” Principal Celestia said, which quieted the crowd. “The Rainbooms will be out again shortly. They are changing sets. In the meantime, we have an update for you about the donations received. I know we have plenty of people attending who know nothing about the girls or the foreign exchange program. We are so happy to have community members from all walks of life in attendance and are thankful for your support of the girls. For those who do not know me or my sister, I am Celestia, Principal of Canterlot Highschool, and Luna is our Vice Principal. Canterlot High is a public school serving our city. It has been a joy to have Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle attending CHS. The Rainbooms is the name of their band.
“For those who don’t know about the girls or the fundraiser, participating students in the foreign exchange program get to spend a semester in another country, going to school there, learning the culture firsthand, and experiencing all that the place has to offer. They will live with their ‘exchange family’, people who have opened their homes to have an exchange student stay with them for that semester. The program also requires accepted participants to fundraise at least half of the costs. The program is competitive and has high entrance standards, most students who apply get denied, yet all seven members of the Rainbooms were accepted to go to Tokyo, Japan for the upcoming fall semester.
“Raising funds helps the participants take ownership of the program and their own success while they are studying abroad. So far, to raise money, the seven of them have done a car wash, pet wash, fashion show, and the largest bake sale Canterlot High has ever seen. Outside of the fashion show, they have been your typical fundraising event. With how skilled at music the girls are, I am so glad to see them taking advantage of their band to put this concert on. It is a unique fundraiser many students can’t do, and as principal, I love seeing our students come up with unique fundraisers and school events. The girls have certainly been working hard and everyone’s support has been amazing. It has been a real pleasure to watch the community come together and support them in this endeavor. As their principal and vice principal, we want to personally thank all of you for your donations and support. Each of you gave what you could and you have made a big impact on their lives. I know they won’t waste this opportunity.”
Luna presented the thermometer board to the crowd. It was still covered. Sunset couldn’t see how filled the thermometer was from where she was standing, off the stage. None of them could. They all had to wait for Principal Celestia to announce it.
“As you may have seen while getting tickets, their suggested donation per ticket would have filled the meter halfway,” Principal Celestia said. “Thanks to all of you.” Luna pulled away the sheet and held the board high for the crowd to see, “They have exceeded that mark and made it all the way to not only a hundred percent, but well above it! Tonight, you broke the thermometer!”
The crowd cheered for their collective success in breaking the thermometer. The Rainbooms couldn’t cheer, because they didn’t want to be heard while backstage. They ended up just hugging each other and high fiving. Sunset had her acoustic guitar on, so she could only high five her friends.
“Because of everyone’s generosity,” Principal Luna said, pausing to let the crowd quiet down and hear the announcement. “They didn’t just exceed what they were hoping for tonight, but now they have each raised enough money to go without having to pay anything out of pocket! Your donations mean that they are on a nonstop flight to Japan!” Luna was forced to wait as the crowd roared in celebration. “As a school and their principals, we will miss them in the fall and look forward to their return for the spring semester so we can hear all about their adventures. However, the girls have set up a social media account you can follow to get their updates while they are in Japan. It is a joint account, so they will all be posting stuff to it as much as they can. The information on how to find it and follow them is on your tickets. Thank you everyone!”
The girls had some issues with their early fundraising events, setting them far behind their goal. Reaching their final goal tonight was unexpected and it really put the pressure on Sunset Shimmer. She knew she wasn’t alone in feeling that pressure. They now had to make sure this was an epic concert which everyone in the crowd would all remember fondly. They had a good shot at meeting that new goal because of their supporting acts and what the Rainbooms had in store.
Sunset turned to Fluttershy who was beside her. “This is it, almost time for us. Come out after I do the transitional talk, setting the crowd up for the next set. I will specifically introduce you and call you forward.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy nodded.
The second setlist was just Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy. Delaying Fluttershy’s arrival on stage kept her out of the spotlight as long as possible. She didn’t need to be on stage, in front of everyone, while Sunset spoke to the crowd. The less time that Fluttershy was in front of people without performing, the better to combat her stage fight. What she was about to do was big and Fluttershy wanted to push herself. It had been her suggestion to help her succeed. They were fighting her stage fright smartly, not with brute strength. I would also make her entry even better.
Principal Celestia gave the transition. “Now it’s time for some more music! Give it up for the Rainbooms!”
The crowd applauded as the two school principals left the stage and Sunset walked out to the center. The crowd was clearly on the edge of their seats in anticipation for what was coming. Sweetie Belle and Snails had been ready for the principal’s exit and brought out a tall stool, setting it just off center on the stage, on a blue painter’s tape mark on the floor that the crowd couldn’t see. Then the two of them took away the microphones as Sunset got to the center of the stage. It was a flawless transition facilitated by Octavia.
Sunset sat on the stool and pulled the cable off of where it had been taped to the underside of the seat. DJ-PON3 turned Sunset’s mic on and Sunset saw her flash a thumbs up to let her know she was live. Sunset’s acoustic guitar was part electric, meaning it could be fed into the sound system without losing its iconic acoustic sound. She plugged the cable into her guitar.
“Thank you everyone,” Sunset said to nicely silence the applauding audience. She began softly strum some notes for background music while she spoke. “The Rainbooms have some special things planned for tonight. The others came out as Flash Drive finished, kicking off their entrance with as big of a bang as they could, immediately launching into Rainbow Dash’s favorite song, ‘Awesome as I Want to Be.’ So, please forgive the short speech I would normally have done during the transition between bands.
“For those who don’t know me, I am Sunset Shimmer and the lead organizer for this event. In the Rainbooms, I typically am playing rhythm guitar and am a secondary vocalist. I see a lot of faces I don’t recognize, which is awesome to know that we succeeded in reaching out across the whole city to touch each of you and that we have all of your support. We wanted everyone and anyone to feel comfortable coming to the concert and it looks like we achieved that goal."
Sunset shifted her strumming from random notes to a simple arpeggio in C Major, “A semester in Tokyo, Japan will not be easy, so knowing we have your support is crucial to our success. I know it was just said, but the donations really mean a lot to us. Saying thank you just doesn’t cut it. I hope the rest of the concert we have planned will convey our gratitude. Before we move into our next setlist, I wanted to take the moment to publicly thank our volunteers."
The arpeggio took on more complexity, adding another octave and additional ups and downs in the middle of the ascending and descending chords. “As soon as we let our classmates know we were putting this on, we had a bunch of people wanting to volunteer. We were swamped with requests. Our final volunteer list has too many people on it to name them all, but we are very grateful for everything done to help us tonight and make this show more than we could do alone. From designing the fliers and posters, to the people promoting the concert, or our amazing stage crew and supporting acts, they really took this concert to the next level and we are very thankful that we can provide as much as we can to our audience. The same for Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna helping tonight. The two of them have been a big positive influence in all of our lives."
The arpeggio evolved again, adding sharps and flats as her fingers traversed the fretboard. “I also wanted to take a moment to highlight someone else special in the seven of our lives, our Japanese Language teacher, Sakura Sensei. I see her out there, sitting in the crowd! She has been supportive of each of us and really put a lot into helping some of us reach the required proficiency in Japanese to be eligible for the program. Without her help, all seven of us would not have been eligible for the program. Going together as best friends was what would make the exchange program extra fun and special. I don’t know if we can ever fully express our gratitude to you, Sakura Sensei, for all you have done to prepare us for the program.
“There were rigorous academic requirements we had to meet to ensure that we can handle the switch. The last thing we need to be worried about is failing our classes. If we are, we can’t take advantage of the rest of the unique opportunities we will have presented to us on this four-month exchange. There will be enough challenges to overcome. We don’t need to have academic ones, that could have been averted, added to the list. We look forward to facing those challenges, overcoming them, and growing through the experience, both individually and as best friends. We also look forward to sharing those experiences with you on the social media account you heard about."
The arpeggio evolved a final time, the entire down progression shifting up two octaves. “But onto the reason why you are really here; the music. The Rainbooms had to learn new songs for this concert. A good number of new ones and what’s next is one of tonight’s gems. Since we are going to be in Tokyo, the theme for the Rainbooms has appropriately been ‘Japan.’ As you probably noticed, the others were wearing white and red and so am I, the same colors as the national flag of Japan.
“The seven of us are more than bandmates. We are best friends and we decided as a group, while we were picking classes for our junior year, to work hard and try to get into the exchange program, so we could go to Japan together. To be eligible, we needed to have taken at least a year of Japanese. This isn’t a vacation. Our entire school day will be in all Japanese, so we had to become proficient in the language. Pinkie Pie and I started Japanese our sophomore year, before we even considered the exchange program, while everyone else had to start taking it their junior year.
“That is, except for Fluttershy. Fluttershy started taking Japanese freshman year because that is how much she loves Japan and Japanese culture. She is probably the most excited out of all of us for this exchange program, although you would never guess it. She hides it well. All seven of us are proficient in the language while Pinkie Pie and I are considered fluent in Japanese, but Fluttershy is smooth; exceptionally fluent. It is second nature to her.
“I say that to preface the next music set I’m about to start. Speaking in a language is different from singing in it. While singing, you often have to do things with syllables in each word to match the song, like holding a syllable for the exact timing of an extra-long note. Hitting each note in Japanese isn’t easy either. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity currently can’t sing in Japanese. They just need more time with the language and the exchange program will give them that time. Pinkie Pie is a drummer who can’t hit the right notes in any language.” The crowd laughed at the friendly poke at the red headed drummer. It was commonly joked that drummers were only drummers because they couldn’t sing or play the guitar. “As for me, I can’t consistently hit the correct notes while singing Japanese lyrics. At least, not enough to sing a full song, only short lines and bits. However, Fluttershy can absolutely sing in Japanese.
“So, to fit with the theme and at her own suggestion, Fluttershy is going to come out and sing some of Japan’s biggest acoustic hits, which are also some of her personal favorites. We know listening to songs in a foreign language you can’t understand can take away from the experience, but we’ve got you covered. On the stage’s backdrop, we will be projecting the artist’s name, the song title, and the lyrics in both languages, so you can follow along and fully enjoy the music."
Sunset built the arpeggio into a crescendo, matching the notes to her words and accompanying the final syllable with a strum of the entire chord that reverberated and resonated throughout the entire amphitheater, “Without any further ado, making her debut as a soloist, give it up for Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy walked out to the center of the stage to stand beside Sunset. Her cheeks were beet red because of the crowd’s cheering and certainly some of it was nerves. The bright stage lights made her red cheeks more obvious. The crowd was not only cheering because of how special the upcoming set was going to be, they were also loving Fluttershy’s outfit.
Fluttershy was wearing a komon, a women's casual kimono. The one she was wearing was made of cotton and was dyed a sharp sapphire blue with some strings of white flowers patterned around it. Fluttershy had gotten the kimono for Christmas and it had been special ordered from a company in Tokyo who specialized in making kimonos for both domestic and international sales. This was the third time she had worn it; the first being on New Year’s Eve and the second being her birthday party. Not many people had seen her in it. It was a treat that fully immersed the concert goers in the theme and took the upcoming set to a whole new level.
Sunset didn’t wait for the final resonating chord to quiet before she began to strum her guitar again, this time the melody for the next song. This was a huge step for Fluttershy to take and they didn’t want to give her a moment where her usual stage fright might take over. They had to keep things flowing so Fluttershy could focus on the songs and didn’t overthink the rest of what was happening. Overthinking sank all of their boats at times and Fluttershy couldn’t afford to sink right now.
Fluttershy had been the one to suggest doing some songs in Japanese to fit their theme. The only problem was as Sunset said, none of them could learn to sing the foreign language lyrics in the short time they had. That was why Fluttershy decided to take this big step. She wanted to do this for the crowd and for herself, more than she feared being in the spotlight.
“The first song is by TORi and is called ‘In the Rain’,” Fluttershy said. She closed her eyes so that she could make it through the song without freaking out. To her, it was like she was singing just to herself, but her voice was crystal-clear as she sang each note perfectly.
The lyrics on the backdrop helped everyone in the crowd. They would have been lost otherwise. Sunset lightly tapped the stage with her foot to signal to Micro Chip when to change the lyrics.
Sunset transitioned into the next song, “Stella Rium” by Kano. Then it was onto the faster paced song, “Daybreak Frontline,” Kano’s cover version. Sunset played a longer transition to allow Fluttershy to regain her breath before she started playing “Futariboshi” by ShounenT and then she flowed into “Yūhisaka” by Chōcho. Sunset was proud of Fluttershy for literally stepping out into the spotlight. It was amazing to be physically beside her friend as she made such a big, personal step in her life. It had been huge just to have her on the stage singing backup and none of them had ever expected to see her intentionally step into the spotlight. Fluttershy had come a long way and the crowd was loving the experience she was giving them.
Fluttershy’s eyes were still closed, but her voice was gripping as she sang everything with a voice that was full of passion, yet still crystal-clear. The crowd only saw her in her kimono and heard the passion in her voice, not that her eyes were closed. Sunset transitioned into the last acoustic song, which was a longer song at a little over five minutes in length. It was a slower love song, “Kanade,” by Sukima Switch. As Fluttershy sang it, the rest of the Rainbooms slowly and quietly came out, taking their positions on the stage. Any instruments were also plugged in.
As the final guitar note ended, Pinkie Pie began a fast beat with her kick drum. Sunset stood up, unplugging her guitar before swapping it with Scootaloo for her electric guitar. Snails got the stool out of the way. Having stagehands, and ones being given great commands by a director, made everything flow so much smoother. They couldn’t be even half as smooth as they were without them.
As Sunset plugged the cable into her electric guitar, she spoke to the crowd, mustering all of the energy she could to pump them, and herself, up. “No concert with a theme of ‘Japan’ would be complete without some J-pop songs! That’s right! The Rainbooms have a surprise setlist to play for you!” The crowd cheered and Sunset strummed out a power chord on her guitar, holding the note as she continued to address them. She didn’t have long to transition the crowd without messing up their rhythm. Pinkie was still pounding out the same quick beat on the kick drum. First, Sunset had to introduce the members for all of the people who didn’t know who they were. It mattered a lot more than usual since these people had just donated their hard-earned money to them. Each member would wave when Sunset introduced them. “On drums is Pinkie Pie; on lead guitar is Rainbow Dash, who also is usually our lead vocalist; bass guitar is played by Applejack; rocking the keytar is the beautiful Rarity who also makes almost all of our performing outfits; and last but certainly not least, on backup vocals is Twilight Sparkle. Everyone, we are the Rainbooms!”
Sunset let the crowd cheer for a moment, but then she had to run a quick explanation for their next setlist. “For those of you who don’t know anything about Japanese pop music, the songs often are a fusion, using English lyrics at times for a variety of reasons. Rock and pop music has a special place in Japanese culture, but is seen as a western thing they imported into their culture. Using any English words in a song is a powerful connection that boosts a performer’s image. Fluttershy is going to cover essentially all of the Japanese lyrics in the songs for us and, like before, the lyrics and such will be displayed for you to enjoy.”
Dash knew that was the last thing Sunset would say and immediately began with some lead guitar power chord riffs, which became a short guitar solo, all the while Pinkie kept the same quick beat going on her kick drum. The solo hyped the crowd up like the Rainbooms wanted. Since Twilight didn’t have an instrument, she was in charge of the small remote to change the lyrics. It was easier than having Micro Chips try and balance the light show and the foreign language lyrics he didn’t understand.
The backdrop changed to show Miyavi’s song, “New Gravity,” which started off in English. Rainbow let loose, jumping into the song. As Rainbow played and sang, it gave Fluttershy the time she needed to reset her mind for the big shift in music styles. “New Gravity” was a “blistering rock track” that had almost a minute and a half of singing and playing by Rainbow Dash before it switched to Japanese lyrics, where Fluttershy seamlessly took over.
Rainbow Dash always loved power rock songs and Sunset enjoyed using her pedals to distort her guitar’s sound to match the original song as best as she could. Applejack was rocking out with her bass guitar, literally rocking to the music while she played their bass rhythm. Rarity was more reserved as she stood back-to-back with Twilight, who had no instrument and wasn’t singing backup. It was why the remote was in Twilight’s control, but she still had to look good on stage.
All of the Rainbooms had worked hard to learn the songs. The notes were not hard to learn. The tough part was also the most important. The songs originally were performed with instantaneous switches between the two languages that flowed smoothly. To the artists, the song was essentially in one language. The Rainbooms had to be just as fast and smooth switching between whoever was singing lead and Fluttershy.
During the third set, they were not doing any background singing or switching the English lyric singer in the middle of a song. Instead, with the exception of Pinkie Pie, they each had picked a song to learn to sing with Fluttershy. It gave each Rainboom a moment to shine in front of the crowd, although they had to share the center stage spotlight with Fluttershy.
Fluttershy had the most difficult job. Not only because of the fast changes, but because the songs were covering a variety of genres. Japan’s pop music scene was full of boy bands and each song had a different beat and feel. Fluttershy had been amazing while singing the acoustic songs, but she began to shine even more as the beat was kicked up and she truly lost herself in the music. The kimono didn’t fit with such upbeat music, but no one watching cared. The crowd liked seeing her in a kimono.
Rarity sang after Rainbow, having chosen Daichi Miura’s song, “Be Myself.” The song was mostly in Japanese and heavy on the electronic sounds, which was perfect for Rarity’s keytar. Rarity had chosen the song because it gave her the opportunity to leave her usual spot in the back and come out to the center stage.
Applejack had picked Fantastics’ song, “Time Camera,” because it was a synthetic beat that was better on the keytar than the bass guitar. The song allowed her to pass her guitar to a stagehand, so she could focus on singing lead, which wasn’t normal for her. She too had fun taking the opportunity to be in the spotlight for once. She even danced a bit.
Sunset chose to go with a J-pop love song by King & Prince, “Cinderella Girl”, because she could sing the Japanese parts in the chorus. She too passed her guitar to a stagehand to focus on singing. The chorus for “Cinderella Girl” often flipped every other word between Japanese and English, which couldn’t be sung smoothly if they switched singers for single words. Sunset didn’t want to split her focus between the guitar and singing. She needed to be focused entirely on her vocal lines. Sunset nailed her dual language chorus and Fluttershy flawlessly covered the verses for Sunset. Even when Fluttershy had to flip to English words, she was as smooth as the original artists were.
Twilight picked the song “Paprika”, which was such a hit internationally that it was covered by another Japanese artist, Foorin team E, who recorded an all-English version of the song. The lyrics had been professionally translated for the band’s cover so that they still fit with the song’s melody with some minor adjustments to account for the differences in the two languages. Even being sung in English, the song still had the distinct J-pop feel to it. It gave Fluttershy a much-needed break from singing.
With Twilight singing in center stage, Fluttershy exited the stage, disappearing into the back. They had been unsure how long Fluttershy could be in the spotlight. It had been a shared spotlight, which helped, but as excited as Fluttershy was, as much as she wanted to push herself, she had made it clear she was unsure how long she could last in the limelight. That was why they had broken up their master setlist into a few setlists. It allowed them to be fluid and adjust the master setlist on the fly, if necessary, in order to support Fluttershy.
Fluttershy hadn’t left the stage because she couldn’t take the spotlight anymore. They had a fourth setlist to play and Fluttershy hadn’t signaled that they needed to cut anything. She had only left to change into a new outfit that was better suited for the fourth set than her kimono. It might have been a casual kimono, but the crowd saw it as special and the equivalent of black-tie attire. Plus, it was impossible to dance to pop music in a properly fitted kimono. With Twilight’s song being last, it gave her the time to change. Fluttershy was ready on the side of the stage before Paprika was over.
As their Japanese lyric singer, Rarity had designed something fitting to make Fluttershy pop from the rest of them. Fluttershy was now in a red tracksuit accented with white and sporting an extra-long jacket that she left unzipped, exposing her red tank top. The back of the jacket had Japan’s “rising sun” flag on it, outlined in gold to separate it from the red fabric. The jacket reached all the way down to Fluttershy’s knees. It was loose enough to allow for modern dance movements, and the fabric would also have a delay to any pops and smoothly flow as she danced. Whenever Fluttershy’s back was to the crowd, the “rising sun” flag would be displayed, loud and proud, covering for her. With her back to the crowd, Fluttershy could take the moment to outsmart her stage fight if it popped up. It would look planned; not like she was covering up her fear or recomposing herself.
With Fluttershy ready and the crowd cheering them on, they once more kicked the concert to the next level. Fluttershy came back out to center stage while the others launched into the song which started in English, and turned her back to the crowd to intentionally show off the flag. Snow Man’s song, “Snow World,” was an energetic, bouncy song which was chosen because it started with the English lyrics: “Let’s go, We are “Snow Man.” So we are gonna make a story! So let’s go, We are Snow Man, So Let's show you how we party.” The lyrics were a perfect match for their upcoming trip. Plus, they had been able to smoothly swap the band’s name, Snow Man, for Rainbooms. The projected lyrics had “Snow Man'' crossed out with “Rainbooms” written above it in a different font and color so that the crowd knew they had changed it and what the original lyrics were. Minus Pinkie and Fluttershy, the rest of the Rainbooms sang the English opening. Fluttershy spun around to face the crowd as she began to sing the Japanese lyrics. The crowd cheered at the dramatic vocal entrance by Fluttershy.
After the song finished, the Rainbooms moved into “Backwards” by Daichi Miura. The Rainbooms slowed down after the second song. They had gotten a great jump on the fourth setlist, but now they needed to conserve their energy for the upcoming finale. They had six more songs planned in between, starting with “Kami Wa Saikoro Wo Furanai” by Meguru Meguru and then “Born to be Wild” by JO1. The other four were by Dizzy Sunfist: “Into the Future,” “So Beautiful,” “Diamonds Shine,” and “Summer Never Ends.” The songs were not slow paced, but the Rainbooms calmed their on-stage energy while still putting on a good show. They knew slowing down a bit would pay off during the finale.
Dizzy Sunfist was a three-person, girl led rock band who produced songs that were much closer to the Rainbooms’ normal repertoire. It was easier to cover them without worrying about how they sounded since it was a female singer; compared to the other songs that originally had male singers. Since they were covering the songs, they could and did add their own flair, but they also were introducing the audience to these bands and J-pop. They wanted to give the artists and the genres their due. They had skipped plenty of amazing songs and bands because they couldn’t do them justice, especially with Fluttershy being their only Japanese lyric vocalist.
The songs chosen from Dizzy Sunfist were written by the band entirely in English, allowing Fluttershy to step back, out of the spotlight, and take a well-earned breather and rest her voice for the finale. Rainbow took the lead with Sunset, Twilight, and Rarity providing backup vocals. Every Rainboom needed the mental break from switching between languages as they prepared themselves for their finale. Even if they were not singing, ensuring they were playing together required them to follow the lyrics as they switched between both languages, which was an extra strain on their minds. It was fun to cover a Japanese band that did songs entirely in English. It was also nice because everyone in the amphitheater could easily enjoy and fully appreciate those songs.
“Grandeur” was their “finale” for the concert and where they had to put the bulk of their energy. It was an electro swing dance song with fast lyrics and beat, by the Japanese boy band, Snow Man. It had a lot of flipping between blocks of Japanese lyrics and English lyrics, giving the Rainbooms plenty of opportunities to switch singers during the short burst of English lyrics, in an attempt to mimic the nine-member boy band. They “simply” had to match the energy of the dance song, which wasn’t an easy feat after everything they had played.
Since it was their finale, they were going big, but the Rainbooms needed some help to pull the finale off. As Rarity started “Grandeur” on her Keytar, they were joined by Run-CHS, Canterlot High’s resident modern dance experts. They cartwheeled and flipped out onto the stage to start dancing. Rarity had the five members — the twins Pop and Lock, Moonwalk, Rhythm, and Party Machine — in red hoodies, white sweatpants, and white ball caps. Run-CHS would be providing the bulk of the dance energy for the song, the exact boost the Rainbooms needed.
As a bonus, Run-CHS could do the complex modern dance moves the Rainbooms couldn’t. Modern dance with instruments was basically impossible and the Rainbooms had different levels of ability when it came to modern dance. Run-CHS was not on stage to be backup dancers. They were a critical part of the choreography for the finale. They often were in front of the Rainbooms so the crowd could enjoy their amazing, flowing, popping and locking, moves. They gave the crowd and the Rainbooms everything they had.
The Rainbooms were not leaving all of the dancing to Run-CHS. At different points of the song, they each handed off their instruments to a waiting stagehand so they could dance center stage for a segment, often working with one of the members of Run-CHS. Even Pinkie Pie left her drums for a brief dance. Fluttershy snuck her dance in during the first chorus’s drawn out English lyrics. It had taken a lot of time to learn the choreography that Run-CHS had planned for them. For their individual showcase dances, each Rainboom danced within their comfort zone, but gave it their all. The crowd loved watching the Rainbooms be fully immersed in the song.
The last verse had a big chunk in English, but none of the Rainbooms were going to sing it. The original two singers had a deeper voice with an aggressive edge. None of the girls could make the lyrics sound right. They could do a lot with the seven different voices in their band and they had specifically picked songs they could pull off covering with their range, however, “Grandeur” was a song they couldn’t pass up. Because of the lyrics and energy, it was the perfect song to cover for a finale.
The song slowed down, shifting pace before it rose to where it would explode into the climax and where the last block of English Lyrics would have to be quickly whipped out. As the music peaked, Flash Sentry slid into center stage, in an all-white outfit and a microphone in his hand. On cue he rapid fired the final English lyrics to the beat: “I'm gonna survive, I wanna catch my dream. So, let's get it started with you. We can fly, unbreakable. I can show you my brightness.” The crowd roared, loving Flash Sentry’s bonus moment. Flash Sentry had nailed the lines and the tone. He was gone as quick as he appeared while the Rainbooms and Run-CHS finished out the song.
The last bit of dance choreography was while Pinkie Pie and Rarity finished playing the song out. There were no lyrics to be sung and they only needed the drums and keytar, so the rest of them danced in a line at the front of the stage, in tandem with a member of Run-CHS. It wasn’t too complicated of dance moves, but it was a perfect finish to the song. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were kneeling in the back, holding their guitars for them so they could dance freely.
They were all tired, outside of Pinkie, but they had a “going away song” planned for after their finale. That way, they didn’t have to worry about doing an encore. “Grandeur” was the perfect finale, but it was not a good song to suddenly end on, at least not without an encore. They knew they wouldn’t have the energy for a proper encore if the crowd called for it, so the “going away song” was their planned sort of encore to finish out the night, while not distracting from their big finale.
Their “going away song” was an inspirational J-pop song full of great motivational messages. As planned, Run-CHS stayed out with them, this time truly dancing backup for them. “Stop for Nothing” by Fantastics was chosen to let everyone know that despite the challenges they would face in the exchange program, as the lyrics said, they would “stop for nothing.” It also gave Dash a final guitar solo which she ensured was epic. Like in her earlier song with Fluttershy, Sunset was able to cover some of the chorus lines that flipped back and forth between languages, reducing the load on Fluttershy.
The song had an abrupt end, which was a good thing. Because of their flowing transitions between every song, it was clear that the Rainbooms were done for the night. Run-CHS made a quick exit to keep the focus on the Rainbooms. The crowd gave the Rainbooms a standing ovation with a louder roar than they had gotten all evening, which was impressive considering the noise the crowd had made several times over the concert. DJ-PON3 had cut their instruments and mics off from the speakers, so they didn’t have to worry about them making unwanted noise. The Rainbooms quickly lined up at the front of the stage and bowed together, three times, to thank everyone as they were applauded. They needed to get off the stage quickly, without looking rushed.
As they moved to exit the stage, Flash Sentry came out, microphone in hand, to cover their exit with some closing words.
“Thank you everyone, for coming out,” Flash Sentry said. “I know the Rainbooms had fun, to put it lightly, and so did the supporting acts. As I am sure you noticed, or maybe you didn’t because they did such a great job, the Rainbooms are exhausted. They gave it their all for you with a significantly longer setlist than they have ever played before! With the effort they put out tonight, I gladly took on the responsibility of saying their closing words for them.
“First of all, a special thanks to all of you, their amazing donors who not only got to the concert’s donation goal, but exceeded it to the point that they now have their exchange program fully funded! Also, a big thanks to all of the volunteers who helped pull this off. That includes the surprise dancers for the finale, Run-CHS!
“Remember, the girls have a social media account where they will be posting updates while they are in Japan. If you want to follow them, that info is on your ticket or you can find it by searching for the Rainbooms’ social media page. I’m happy to say that we finished a few minutes before eight. That was the Rainbooms’ goal, to make the concert available to everyone, including families with little ones who go to bed earlier. They wanted you all to be able to stay for the whole concert and have good, quality time and fun as a family. Regardless of age or who you are with, it sounds like everyone had a great time. That’s all the Rainbooms had for me to say. Have a good evening and safe travels home!”
July 30 – Afterparty
Off stage, with their equipment properly set aside, Rarity was the first to squeal out of joy before they all brought it in for a group hug. They posed for Photo Finish so she could snap several group photos before she wrapped up for the evening. That final group image would be a good one to post to the joint social media account with another “thank you” message to their donors.
They didn’t know what to say for a bit. They had worked so hard over the past three weeks, daily and for hours each day, to learn the new songs and choreography, but now it was over. All of that work had come down to less than two hours on stage. They just stood there as best friends, arms around each other, while they tried to regain their breaths and calm their rapidly beating hearts.
Saying it was “fun” didn’t do the evening justice. It was a thrill that would be tough to beat. On top of everything, and certainly adding to their endorphin high, they now had what they needed to cover the entire cost of the exchange program. In one epic move, they had made up for the failed fundraisers. That was a very good feeling.
An “afterparty” at Sugarcube Corner was scheduled. It was a reward for their volunteers for their hard work making the evening a success. It wasn’t just the stagehands and supporting acts, but everyone who had volunteered. The promoters had done so much legwork before the concert, that it was as much the promoters' victory as any of the volunteers on the day of the concert. And the promoters wouldn’t have had the fliers or posters they needed without the work put in by Canterlot High’s digital arts club. Run-CHS was not being left out either. The only volunteers not going were Celestia and Luna. They had kindly declined the invitation.
“Congratulations, Rainbooms,” Trixie said, as everyone who had helped tonight gathered around them. “Trixie is happy you exceeded your goal and loves that she and her band was able to ensure the concert was a success!”
Everyone gave a round of applause for their success tonight.
As the clapping and cheers finished, Principal Celestia joined them. Vice Principal Luna was with her sister, but it was Celestia who spoke for them both. “Congratulations, everyone, for the successful concert. Luna and I were very impressed. We have seen each and all of you do amazing things as Wondercolts, but, once again, we were left stunned at what our students could do. Our current student body is very talented. We got to see so many people shine tonight as you pulled together for an event that will be hard to top. Future generations of Wondercolts will find it difficult to beat today’s success.”
“And with no demons or screwy magic messing it up!” Pinkie Pie added. “All one hundred percent sugary good memories!”
“Absolutely!” Sunset said, grinning with pride from their accomplishment. No magical catastrophe was a very nice change of pace.
“It was nice to not have an interruption,” Celestia said with a laugh. “The way you all pulled together was special compared to any other event CHS has put on. Most events support the school or student organizations, which impacts all of the students at CHS. After all, every student organization is open to anyone who wants to join. Today was distinctly different though, because only seven of you had a stake in the concert, yet a sizable percentage of our student body joined them in order to make sure it was successful and I know a lot more volunteered who were unfortunately unable to be used.
“I know you all want to celebrate and the night is certainly still young enough to do it, but Luna and I need to speak with the Rainbooms, privately.”
The others went to start packing up their equipment. Some people would be dropping stuff off at home before going to the sweetshop so they didn’t have to worry about expensive equipment being in their vehicles. Not everyone could drive or had a car and they were sharing rides with bandmates or friends.
Sunset looked at her phone to check the time. It was barely past eight. Five to eight had been the promoted time for the concert. It was early enough still that the true summer night hadn’t fully set in. They pulled off making the concert available to everyone, including families with younger kids.
Everything had gone perfectly. Better than perfect.
“First off,” Celestia said, once the final volunteers had left and they were alone. “It was a great pleasure to be at the ticket table, taking the donations and talking with different people. So often, we are on the sidelines, watching the students run the fundraisers, as we should be, but it was fun being a direct part and to see how the community beyond our school came together to support you. I am glad you asked us to help because I know it helped ease the mind of some of your bigger donors.” Celestia held out a piece of paper. Sunset took it because she was the closest. “That is a list of the people who spent at least fifty on an individual ticket. I listed how much they spent per ticket and the total tickets bought. There are quite a few names on the list. I only brought it up because, from my experience, you would be wise to send them a special thank you on top of everything you already did during the show. They are not expecting anything extra, but you would still be wise to send something personal. As much as you did tonight, it was for everyone. It is courteous to not single donors out in a public performance, but, if you can, it is also courteous to follow up with the special ones.”
“And this list is the ‘can’ in your statement,” Sunset said with a nod.
Sunset looked at the paper. Fifty wasn’t a lot for a ticket to a full concert, especially for some of the famous performers, but they were not famous and more importantly that was five times what they were asking to be donated for each ticket. The Rainbooms, specifically Twilight, had crunched the numbers before they set the suggested donation at ten. They appreciated every donation, no matter what the size. They knew some people would be able to donate more and others who couldn’t donate the suggested “price” for various reasons, but they also knew that the donations would quickly add up if they got a lot of people to come. That was the beauty of having the event be free, but asking for some form of donation for a “ticket.” It was flexible to meet the financial situation of everyone attending, while also raising the funds they needed.
However, spending five times the suggestion was a big shock. Sunset had expected a big donor to be someone who spent twenty on a ticket, twice the suggested donation. The people on the list either really believed in the girls or in the exchange program. They saw a value in the fundraiser that went far beyond getting to hear live music. There were names on the list that had spent ten, fifteen, or twenty times the suggested donation and even a few who spent up to fifty times the suggested donation per ticket. The list was proof of how they completed their total fundraising goal, not just the goal for the evening.
Sunset began to regret not pushing the idea of the concert at their first planning session. Then she remembered that a huge part of their success tonight came from lessons learned at the previous ones. The idea of inviting alumni came from meeting them at the bake sale and they still didn’t think to invite them to the fashion show. They spread the word so aggressively to ensure they would have people show up, unlike other events. The same with having it open to a much wider audience, including families. The whole point of the program requiring them to fundraise was to learn the lessons they did along the way, from both their successes and failures.
“Oh!” Rarity exclaimed, clearly having a great idea. “I know what we can do! Photo Finish was taking pictures all night. I know she got a great group shot of the seven of us right after we finished. We can pick the best and have them made into a custom postcard to send to our special donors with a personal message written on the back. Like people do with Christmas cards. Or maybe something like an adjusted wedding invitation, with a layout that has a main picture and some smaller ones. We can figure that out later, but there are a variety of designs available to pick from and adjust to our needs.”
“That is a wonderful idea,” Luna said. “I recommend that you pick one of you all performing together but before Run-CHS joined you. The finale was amazing, to say the least, but for a custom thank you card, you will want the photo to be just the seven of you since you were the focus of the night. If the design you choose has more than one photo slot, you can pick what you want for the extra photo slots, but as much as the supporting acts were a huge help to you, I still suggest choosing ones that focus on the Rainbooms. The other acts were there to support your headline act as much as the donors were there to watch it. This night was all about you and it is you who will be sending the cards, not your volunteers.”
“I’m bringing my computer to Sugarcube Corner,” Sunset said. “Photo Finish will be downloading copies of what she took to it while we celebrate. I understand she has a new digital camera that can take Four-K photos, but that they also are big image files and can be slow to transfer. Four-K means what she got will have a very good image quality and that is better when making custom cards.”
“That is great,” Celestia said. “You couldn’t have guessed you would need them for this.”
“We almost didn’t have her here,” Rarity explained. “She didn’t contact us about photos until last week. We didn’t think to ask her because we were a little busy trying to not just handle the logistics of the concert, all while also learning the new songs. I still can’t believe we learned that many in less than three weeks.
“Scrambling this together felt like it was more last minute than it was. Still, I barely had time to make the outfits necessary. I actually didn’t do anything except the outfits and learn songs. I’m so happy Fluttershy had that kimono because it really brought the whole theme together, more than anything I could make, especially since the second setlist was acoustic and slower. I took a look at it and kimonos are quite complicated to sew. The irregular shape takes a special set of skills to learn how to properly form it and that one is a simpler style. I never would have had time to make one and it was the best thing to have her wearing on stage for that setlist.”
“It all looked great,” Celestia said. “From the cleverly coordinated outfits, to the stage set up, and the choreography. It didn’t look like three weeks of preparation; more like three months. Fluttershy, I was aware that the Rainbooms had some Japanese songs in the setlist, but I didn’t know it was your suggestion until Sunset said it on stage. That was a great idea. The second setlist was very unique and special. Splitting up for the first half was a wise move. The show had great pacing and you gave Fluttershy the breaks she needed. It was very well organized and executed.
“Playing songs with both languages in the lyrics…” Celestia smiled coyly. ”Well I know it couldn’t have been easy for any of you, but bringing an element of Japanese musical culture to the people who just donated to your upcoming trip there made the concert extra special. Talking with some of your big donors after, they expressed how impressed they were that the Rainbooms pulled off singing in two different languages. It doesn’t matter if you personally only sang in English, or not at all in Pinkie Pie’s case, what matters is that you did it as a band. People were very impressed.
“Also, Fluttershy, it was good to see you step into the limelight for once. You did an amazing job in it. You owned the stage, like you belonged there. I hope to see you doing more in the future, perhaps even giving Rainbow Dash a break from lead vocals when you perform as a band.”
“Thank you, Principal Celestia,” Fluttershy replied, blushing. “It was a lot of fun singing in Japanese. Wearing my kimono was also fun and more importantly, it helped give me the strength to be able to do it. We chose to fight my stage fight smartly, rather than trying to muscle through it. We did a lot with the organization of the setlists, and in other ways, to give me those moments where I could fight smarter, not harder. Personally, I just had to close my eyes and forget I was singing in front of other people. I had to sing for myself. Well, until the fourth set when I was on a roll and nothing could stop me. Then I was singing for the crowd more than I was singing for myself or the Rainbooms. Maybe I will challenge Dash on lead vocals.”
“Hey, let’s not get too crazy and take away my spotlight just yet,” Dash playfully shot back. “I’m the awesome one people come to see. You all are there to help me look good.”
Everyone laughed. Dash was obviously joking with the over bloated ego talk.
“Well, Fluttershy, your smart tactics worked,” Luna said. “No one knew that was what you were doing. The people that know you were impressed and happy to see you taking such a big step. Public performances are not easy, but you made it look easy. That is what counts. All of you, you all made it look natural and second nature, which fully immersed everyone in the music, giving them an amazing experience. One they will surely remember.”
“Sunset laid down some seriously awesome double language lines,” Rainbow praised. “I mean, before you did the second set, you knocked yourself down about not being able to sing in Japanese. Plus, we all were practicing together and we saw you make a lot of mistakes, even two days ago in our final practice before we rested our voices. Honestly, I wasn’t sure going into the concert if you were going to try, or pitch them to Fluttershy, but then you seriously nailed it out there.”
“Thanks,” Sunset said, feeling her cheeks flush as she smiled. “I just had to let go and go with the beat. I know the lyrics backwards and forwards, my problem during practices came from trying to be perfect. About when I was talking to the crowd, I had to build Fluttershy up some more so they were extra hyped for what we had planned. They needed to understand that it wasn’t easy to do and why we would have to rely on her so much.”
“And you did just that,” Celestia said. “We will leave you to pack up and then go celebrate. Again, congratulations on the concert’s success and on meeting your total fundraising goal. We are proud of each and every one of you.”
They bid Celestia and Luna goodnight and got to packing. They each had plenty of stuff to break down and pack up, but that was also what their stagehands were for. That and almost everyone else from the other bands were still around. A few had to bolt since they were rides for others and getting to the afterparty on time meant they needed to leave sooner. Everyone available helped the Rainbooms pack up so they all could get to Sugarcube Corner sooner. As the saying went, “many hands make for light work.”
Sunset took her guitars home before she headed to the afterparty. She didn’t bother to change. She was enjoying the outfit she had performed in, even if she was a little sweaty. No one would care and they probably wouldn’t even notice.
It was just before nine when she got to the sweetshop. The door had a sign that read “closed for a private event.” The Cakes had to rely on their already limited staff during the concert so they could attend and then they “closed” early, on a Saturday, just so they could host the celebratory afterparty.
The Cakes were not losing money though. Twilight’s parents, Night Light and Twilight Velvet, had found out just how big their volunteer base was and how much effort they were putting into the concert. Without telling them, they set up the afterparty so the girls couldn’t pass on it. The cost couldn’t have been cheap, but they had wanted to do it so that the volunteers were thanked for going above and beyond like they had. Now that the trip was fully covered, they didn’t have to pay anything to send Twilight. The afterparty couldn’t have cost anywhere near the other half of the exchange program.
The Cakes had been really kind to them, not only for letting them put up posters, but they were handing out fliers with every order and putting one on each and every delivery they made. Every day they delivered a lot of orders all over the city. The Cakes had been crucial for spreading the word.
Sunset looked around the shop, doing a quick count. Not everyone had arrived yet, which didn’t surprise her. Sunset walked over to Photo Finish and pulled out her laptop. She unlocked it and the photographer pulled out her camera's SD Card and a USB card reader to begin uploading the photos from the evening.
Vinyl Scratch came over and handed Sunset a CD case. She lifted her glasses and winked. Then she was gone, back to where she had been sitting with her ice cream sundae and laptop. She was probably mixing some tracks.
Sunset looked at the CD. On it was written “The Rainbooms: Exchange Program Fundraiser Concert (Live).” The sly disk jockey hadn’t spent the night simply running the soundboard; she had recorded the concert. Having a recording of their performance was an amazing gift. There was a good chance they were not going to perform the songs they had learned for the concert again because they had Japanese lyrics. It only worked for tonight because of the appropriate theme. There was one possible exception: the songs by Dizzy Sunfist because they were written in English. Sunset hadn’t asked about recording the concert because she knew recording live music could be very tricky and required special equipment to capture it. Equipment that wasn’t cheap. There was a very good reason why most things were recorded in a studio, where they could account for every sound, but apparently their DJ friend had the equipment and skills to pull off recording a live concert, while simultaneously running their sound.
Pinkie Pie hopped into Sunset, wrapping her in a hug for greeting. “Whatcha lookin at?”
“Vinyl recorded the concert,” Sunset, showing Pinkie the CD.
“Wow!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “I’m going to go thank her!”
Pinkie Pie hopped away and Sunset went to get a malt while the computer did its thing. The Rainbooms were going to say a few words once everyone had arrived, but there was no reason not to get something before then. While she was waiting for her order to be made, Sunset replayed the highlights in her mind. She didn’t notice Flash Sentry join her side as he waited for his order.
“Hey, I see Vinyl gave you a copy of your performance,” Flash said, pulling Sunset back to the present. “She gave me one too. I had no idea she had the equipment for that.”
“Neither did I,” Sunset said with a grin as she picked the malt Misses Cake set in front of her. “But I am thankful she did.” She looked around. They were down Applejack, Apple Bloom, Rarity, and Sweetie Bell. Otherwise, everyone else was there.
“Care to join us?” Flash asked as he picked up his banana split. “At least for a bit.”
“Sure,” Sunset shrugged, following Flash over to the table where his bandmates, Brawly Beats, Ringo, and Sandalwood, were chatting with Micro Chips, Octavia Melody, and Color Wheel. It was fun hanging out with a group that came from radically different backgrounds and talents, yet could still be friends.
“Sorry we’re late, y’all!” Applejack said, extra loud from the doorway. It caught everyone’s attention. “Is anyone missing?”
Sunset saw Rarity, Sweetie Bell, and Apple Bloom by the counter. Sunset was sure everyone was there and no one spoke up.
Applejack continued. “Well then, y’all, I know that as organizer of this event, Sunset would like to say a few words.”
Sunset stood up and moved to the middle of the sweetshop, malt in hand, where she could see everyone. The Rainbooms gathered together near the counter.
“I think saying that today’s concert was a success is an understatement,” Sunset said. “Each of us wants to thank each and every single one of you. We had the donors we had and they felt confident in donating what they did because of you. This party is for you. If you missed it, we exceeded tonight’s goal so much that we also reached the point where our semester abroad is entirely covered!”
Everyone clapped. Cheering inside the shop would have been too loud.
Sunset continued. “As I look around the room, I recognize everyone, but I don’t know you all. CHS is large enough that even as much as we have come together as Wondercolts, we may not really know everyone in the school. Especially when a new batch of underclassmen join us every year. That is what makes our Wondercolt bond so amazing. It doesn’t matter if we directly know each other or not, we all share that bond. I know that the school in Japan won’t have a mascot or school teams to rally to. That’s not part of their school system. It’s hard to compare the somewhat radically different systems, but I can confidently say that having a mascot for the student to rally to is a strength we have with our system.
“A strength that directly gets reflected in the numbers. Unlike a dance or other fundraisers, the only ones with a stake in the success are the seven of us. Club fundraisers still help the student body because CHS clubs have an open-door policy. Our numbers, just for this event, was a total volunteer count of fifty-seven!” Sunset let them clap for a bit. “Breaking it down; we had nine in the stage crew, seven total for our supporting acts, twenty-six designated promoters, and another fifteen in other roles. That isn’t counting people like Type Set, Color Wheel’s father who donated the promotional materials or the Cakes, who added our fliers to their deliveries.” Sunset turned around and saw both of the Cakes standing behind the counter. “Thank you, Mister and Misses Cake, for all you did.”
“Oh no worries, dearie,” Misses Cake said. “It was no trouble, and fun!”
Sunset nodded back and continued. “Those numbers also don’t include Principal Celestia and Vice principal Luna, who we are very appreciative of the direct role they played in the event. The numbers are impressive, but I wanted to go past that. We had volunteers who worked before the show and then a separate set that were during the show. It was said to the crowd, so they knew the volunteer support we had, but it wasn’t said by us to you. So, thank you, each and every single one of you, for all you did. We got to bow to the crowd as they showered us with applause, you didn’t. So, the Rainbooms wanted to applaud you all for your hard work.”
Sunset clapped and so did the rest of the girls.
Flash Sentry spoke for his band, “It was a blast to be a part of it. We all have watched you each work so hard; first with the grades and classes, then in the fundraising. How could we not want to help out our fellow Wondercolts with our best skill, music, while you put on the concert of a lifetime?” His bandmates echoed his sentiments.
“All y’all’s help is still very appreciated,” Applejack said. “Wondercolts or not, well, bein’ Wondercolts helpin’ each other is what makes it so special. We have an amazin’ community. We are glad y’all had fun helpin’ us.”
“I never had time to say it before, but you guys rocked the house,” Rainbow added. “Both bands. Seriously, I was afraid that we had bitten off more than we could chew and that the people would be left wondering why either of you weren’t headlining while we supported.”
Everyone laughed at Dash’s admission.
“The stagehands did a great job,” Octavia added. “I know I made the six of you nervous when we had our talk a few days ago, going over the expectations and commands, but tonight you all were sharp and listened well. You were invisible yet always present, just like professionals.”
It was clear that Octavia’s words meant more to the six of them than thanks from the Rainbooms. That was perfectly fine. They had ended up working much more for her than they did for the Rainbooms.
“Everyone rocked their roles!” Moonwalk exclaimed. “I’m just psyched we could be a part of the experience. Since Run-CHS doesn’t sing, we usually get left out of the musical stuff. The Rainbooms may have been low on energy, but you still had enough beat left in your steps to rock the ending.”
“We had no idea you had that many Japanese song’s planned,” Pop added. “Even after working almost daily with you for the last week and a half on the finale, we had no idea you had kept so much hidden from us. We knew you were doing some other J-pop songs, but it was jaw dropping what you pulled off.”
“That was the plan,” Rainbow said, winking. “We couldn’t show anyone our full hand. Or rather, we didn’t want to show anyone our full hand. Octavia, Micro Chips, and Vinyl needed to know for timing, so they were exempt from that rule.”
“It would have been groovy if we had been able to dance for you in a few of the earlier songs,” Rhythm said. “But I get why you wanted to reserve us for the finale. It was the right move.”
“It was a lot more epic having you come out at the end to surprise the crowd,” Sunset said. “We were already wowing them enough as we started the J-pop setlist. It would have blunted how amazing you were if you had joined us earlier, but I agree, it would have been fun if you could have been out there longer with us. Especially after all the hard work you put in to help us.”
“We really needed your energy for the finale,” Rarity added. “The same with your help, Flash, delivering those lines. Of course, the concert was more than the finale. It was sort of the finale to our fundraising. A finale in which you all participated and performed your roles phenomenally. We appreciate everything done to help us.”
“To everyone, for our success,” Sunset said before lifting her half-finished malt up high. “I raise my malt to you! Enjoy the afterparty!
Quite a few people laughed at Sunset’s closing pun. The Rainbooms split up, going to hang with a variety of people. Sunset went back to Flash and the others. The night was still early. She would celebrate with everyone before it was finished.
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It’s pretty amazing at the efforts they were able to do for their fundraising and the generosity of the donors. But now it’s got me dreading how the donors and all of CHS are gonna feel when SAO starts up and they find out they all were trapped.
11570101
Yes. It will be tough. They will all feel bad.
This was AMAZING! I honestly wish we could see this whole concert animated. But we can't so I'll just settle for looking up all these songs!
Although, in that Playlist you gave us the link for, it looks like one of the songs got deleted. What was it?
Wow, that was sure a lot. Clearly everyone cares about the Rainbooms to help them with their fundraising. They are probably going to feel second-hand guilt when SAO happens.
11571190
It was "In The Rain" by TORi. I fixed it. The playlist is updated. Not sure what happened and then I had to read through the vignette to make an account of them all. lol.
11571966
It's going to be the last thing on their mind. lol.
This was a great read to this point! I didn't actually realize it was 35k words long for this chapter until partway through. Either way, while I didn't read the actual song part, I read everything else, and it was all well done!
11580585
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I didn't realize it was as long as it was. They were very, very long blogs. Lol.
wow this one was long XD I am re-reading the vignettes before i get to the main story XD this almost made me forget its technically the prolouge to the Ruby Tower.
11604216
It was never supposed to be the prologue. That is the pilot episodes. Lol
Wow. The vignettes were honestly a good enough story on their own, time to see what comes next