After one of them listens to a new album, the Rainbooms are shocked to see that the singer on its cover may be one of the Dazzlings.
After one of them listens to a new album and looks at its cover, the Rainbooms are shocked to see that the singer may be one of the Dazzlings. Meanwhile Aria Blaze is a relatively new rising star, complete with a rivalry of sorts.
Takes place between Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games. (Note: Despite the Mane 6 Humane 7 tag, there is no Twilight Sparkle in this story. I would've gone with a Humane 5 tag if we had one. There's not enough space to tag them individually/tagging them individually would overstate their role.)
It was a cool summer’s day. Music was playing on a laptop in the background as a teenage girl sewed outfits in her bedroom; Rarity had recently purchased an album to listen to on a whim and this was her first time listening to it, she had to admit that she was liking what she was hearing.
“Oh what is the name of this singer again?” said Rarity, mostly to herself, “Her voice is positively divine.”
She finished up the stitching on her last dress of the moment and got up to put everything away. As she went to take the CD out of her laptop she took the opportunity to look at its case.
“Aria Blaze,” said Rarity as she read the artist’s name, “That’s a good name. I think I’ve heard plenty of my classmates talking about her, now that I think of it.”
Then something caught her eye. The singer was visible on the cover and she saw...
“Is that one of the Dazzlings?!” said Rarity.
The next day at school, Rarity sat in her first period history class. She couldn’t really pay attention to what the teacher was saying throughout the class.
“Rarity?” said Applejack.
“Oh it simply must just be a coincidence,” mumbled Rarity, “I’m sure that plenty of people look like one of the Dazzlings.”
“Rarity! Hey Rarity!” said Applejack.
“Hm?” said Rarity as she snapped out of distraction, “What?”
“First period’s over, Rarity,” said Applejack.
“Sorry,” said Rarity, “something that I saw yesterday has been distracting me since then.”
“Shucks, what’s troublin’ ya?” said Applejack as the two girls walked out of the classroom.
“Well…” said Rarity, “you remember… the Dazzlings?”
“Uh… what about ‘em?” said Applejack.
“I think that I might have seen one of them on an album cover,” said Rarity.
“Really?” said Applejack, “I guess we don’t really know what happened to them after the battle of the bands, do we?”
“But it’s not like I just saw her on the album cover, Applejack,” said Rarity, “I looked up the artist, Aria Blaze, online later and she definitely looks like one of the Dazzlings. The fuchsia one.”
“What-sha?” said Applejack.
“The pinkish purplish one,” said Rarity rather flatly, “Her hair was styled differently, but the colors and her face, it’s just too close to be a coincidence.”
“Oh, well it’s not like it can really be one o’ the Dazzlings,” said Applejack, “They all lost their voices when we defeated them remember?”
“Yes, Applejack, I remember,” said Rarity as they neared a door.
“Wait…” said Applejack, “you don’t have next period with me.”
“Oh dear! I mustn’t be late!” said Rarity right before quickly going off to her next class.
An apparently teenaged girl was sitting in her room in a mansion. She had her head between her hands and her elbows resting upon a desk. She was definitely not stressing about anything.
“You can do this,” said Aria Blaze, “You’re the ffffffffff- the best, the best at singing.”
Aria Blaze breathed out violently, or at least in an aggressive sounding way.
Knock Knock, a knock knocked upon the door.
“Ya okay in there?” said Sapphire Shores from behind the room’s door.
“Yeah! Just fantastic!” said Aria Blaze.
Aria Blaze punched the wall and made a loud THUMP.
“Ya don’t sound so ‘fantastic’,” said Sapphire Shores, “I’m comin’ in.”
Sapphire Shores opened the door and found an annoyed looking Aria Blaze disgruntledly glaring at her.
“It’s nothing… it’s stupid,” said Aria Blaze trailing to be quieter as she spoke each word.
“Lemme guess,” said Sapphire Shores, “you’re nervous about your concert later this month, right?”
“NO!” said Aria Blaze with insistence, “That wouldn’t make any sense, I’ve sang at plenty of concerts.”
“This is your first time headlinin’ though. That’s gotta be a bit stressful,” said Sapphire Shores.
“I’m FINE!” said Aria Blaze, “I’m going to be fine.”
“Yeah,” said Sapphire Shores as she patted Aria Blaze on the back, “I know, kid.”
“Whatever,” mumbled Aria Blaze.
The six girls who made up the band known as “The Rainbooms” walked together towards their homes or respective means to drive/be driven home as the school day had ended.
“So the singer, Aria Blaze, looks like one of the Dazzlings?” said Sunset Shimmer, “But we took away their magic when we last saw them. They weren’t able to sing after that.”
“Well it’s not like anyone has been mind controlled listening to her music, darling, at least as far as I can tell,” said Rarity, “I’m guessing she might have retrained her voice to make it good again.”
“Maybe it’s like Filli Vanilli!” said Pinkie Pie.
“What now?” said Rainbow Dash.
“Oh it was, um, a band that, um, used lip-synching to a recording instead of actually singing,” mumbled Fluttershy.
“Oh I just wish I could investigate it,” said Rarity who then flipped back in an overly dramatic pose, “Oh if only there was a way!”
“Well…” said Applejack, “Ah was talkin’ on the phone about it earlier durin’ lunch with mah friend Rara and it seems like she was actually signed onta the same label as this Aria Blaze. Maybe she can get us tickets to one uh Aria Blaze’s concerts. Maybe backstage passes if that’s possible.”
Everyone went silent in confusion.
“Um, excuse me Applejack,” said Rarity, “but whatever do you mean?”
“Yeah, who’s Rara?” said Pinkie Pie who then gave Rarity a suspicious look, “Rarity, have you signed a record deal without telling us?”
“No, Pinkie dear,” said Rarity, “I would never do such a thing.”
“I guess y’all’d probably know ‘er better by the high falutin ‘moniker’,” Applejack made air quotes, “of ‘Countess Coloratura’. A bit ridiculous for her if ya ask me.”
“WHAT?!” said Rarity, “When, pray tell, were you going to tell us this little tidbit? Hmm?”
“I dunno,” said Applejack, “is there anything particularly interestin’ ‘bout it?”
“Is there-?! Is there something interesting about it?! Applejack!” Rarity grabbed Applejack by the upper arms, “Countess Coloratura is perhaps the most famous new talent to rise in recent times! People are saying that she’s going to overtake Sapphire Shores as THE Person of Pop any day now!”
“Wow really?” said Applejack, “Ah guess Ah should congratulate her or somethin’. Never really thought about it.”
“Never?! Never thought about it?! Applejack!” said Rarity as she shook her friend vigorously, “You are not treating this like the big deal it is!”
“Woah Nelly!” said Applejack, “Ya don’t have to shake me so hard, Rarity.”
“You do seem to be more casual about this situation than most people would be, Applejack,” said Sunset Shimmer.
“Yeah, I’m not exactly a fan, but I know how freakin’ big a deal The Countess is,” said Rainbow Dash.
Everyone aside from Applejack murmured in slight agreement that Countess Coloratura was a pretty big deal.
“Shucks, Rara’s just an ol’ summer camp friend that Ah got back in touch with on one uh them socialism websites.”
“Um, I’m pretty sure you mean social networking,” whispered Fluttershy, “not socialism…”
Rarity took a deep breath in through the nose and a long breath out through the mouth.
“I suppose I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” said Rarity.
Sunset Shimmer gave her a bit of a look.
“Ah mean Ah can’t really guarantee that Rara’ll be able to get us tickets to Aria Blaze or anythin’...” said Applejack, “but Ah mean it can’t hurt to ask at least.”
“Very well, Applejack,” Rarity snootily turned her head to the side, “but we are going to have a long conversation about this later!”
It was a few days later from when Rarity had first brought up her curiosity about Aria Blaze up. After school Applejack gave them the news.
“Well Ah asked Rara ‘bout gettin’ tickets to Aria Blaze and she said she’d love to support her fellow musicians,” Applejack held up six laminated cards, “Apparently she got all six of us backstage passes.”
“That was nice of her,” said Fluttershy.
“Yeah, very generous,” Pinkie gave Rarity a suspicious look.
“What?” said Rarity.
“Oh nothing,” said Pinkie Pie.
“So… what exactly is the plan?” said Sunset Shimmer.
“Can’t we just, like, ask her if she’s one of the sirens?” said Rainbow Dash.
“That’d be a little… awkward,” said Rarity.
“Actually,” said Sunset Shimmer, “it might not be that bad of an idea.”
“Excuse me, Sunset,” said Rarity, “but are you sure you haven’t lost it?”
“No, think about it. The two worst things that could happen is either Aria Blaze does turn out to be one of the Dazzlings or it turns out that she really is just somebody who happens to look a lot like one of them; I don’t think she’d be able to do anything too dangerous if she is one of the sirens, nothing we can't handle at least, and she probably won’t be offended if we ask her if she was in a band we knew and she isn’t,” said Sunset Shimmer.
“Huh, Ah guess that the simple solution is the right one,” said Applejack.
“Oh come on, it must be more complicated than that!” said Rarity, “We’ve got to do some sort of more intense detective work, shouldn’t we?”
“Oh Rarity,” said Pinkie Pie, “it’s not like we’re in a Shadow Spade novel.”
“Well it should be…” grumbled Rarity.
Later once again, this time the day of the concert. People filled the room, it was not absolutely packed but only because of the relative newness of the artist.
“Well, this is it,” said Aria Blaze right before she set out and got on stage.
Her music encompassed the entire room. The visuals were expertly designed to enhance the experience. It was a bright sparkling shining in a dark room. The staff had managed to make it seem like everything had gone perfectly. The fans enthusiastically roared in joy. Aria Blaze’s voice was different. Aria Blaze’s voice was beautiful.
Soon it was over and it was time for attendees with backstage passes to have a meet and greet with Aria Blaze, something her mentor Sapphire Shores had recommended Aria to do.
“That couldn’t have been her,” said Fluttershy as she tried to continually curl herself inward in the crowd, “Her singing voice was too good.”
“Yeah, and it sounds real different,” said Pinkie Pie.
“Does she?” said Sunset Shimmer, “I don’t think we really got to hear the sirens’ individual voices all that well. Except for maybe the poofy haired one anyway.”
“I’m still not convinced Aria Blaze isn’t one of the Dazzlings,” said Rarity.
“We’re about to face her, girls,” said Applejack, “we can figure it out soon.”
“Yeah yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, “Let’s go!”
Backstage Aria Blaze met her devoted fans in small groups at a time so as to be more personal.
“Yeah, bye, thanks for coming to the show,” said Aria Blaze, who was trying her very hardest to sound appreciatory, “Send in the next group!”
The Rainbooms entered the room.
“We’ve got a question for you!” said Pinkie Pie, “A real big one!”
“YOU?!” said Aria Blaze, “What the heck are you people doing here?!”
“Well I guess that answers our question, Rarity,” said Applejack.
“Darling, you seem to be on your way to becoming one of the top popstars in the nation,” said Rarity, ignoring Applejack, “You couldn’t possibly think that we wouldn’t notice that happening to one of our most dangerous enemies at some point.”
“Yeah! And your songs are playing all over the Radio! It’s pretty much just you and Countess Coloratura on most stations right now!” said Pinkie Pie.
In a dressing room, Countess Coloratura was getting ready for a promotional photoshoot.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
“Hold your horses! Countess Coloratura has to look her best before being seen by anyone,” said Svengallop, Coloratura’s manager, “Put on your veil, Countess.”
“Let me in, you hate-farters!” said Aria Blaze as she continued slamming against the door, “I’ll eat your hate!”
SLAM! THUMP! THUNK! THUD!
“I hate you even more than I did before, Countess Coloratura!” said Aria Blaze.
“Let her in, Svengallop,” said Coloratura.
Svengallop reluctantly opened the door, complaining under his breath.
“COUNTESS COLORATURA!!” said Aria Blaze.
“Aria Blaze, how are you? I heard that your concert went well,” said Coloratura, “It was really hard to buy those passes for AJ, I was so lucky to get enough for her and her friends.”
Countess Coloratura picked up a stamp and pressed it to Aria’s cheek, “Heartsies!”
Aria wiped the resulting stylized heart off her face as quickly as she could, a slight smear of it remained on her face, “I have a bone to pick with you! We are not friends!”
Svengallop put himself between the two popstars, “You are bothering the Countess, ma’am, I suggest you leave.”
“Shut it, you jelly-legged ninny!” said Aria Blaze.
“Excuse me?” said Svengallop.
Aria Blaze menacingly pointed at Countess Coloratura, “You sent my greatest enemies after me!”
“Who?” said Coloratura, “AJ and her friends? She wanted to see your show and meet you so badly.”
“Probably to laugh in my face or something!” said Aria Blaze, “They’re the reason I stopped being able to sing!”
“But your voice is beautiful, Aria,” said Coloratura, confusion evident on her face.
“Well… I got better, sorta,” said Aria Blaze, “I’m still mad at them!”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” said Coloratura, “I’m sure they mean well.”
“We need to settle this,” said Aria Blaze.
“Settle what?” said Coloratura.
“Who the next Person of Pop REALLY is!!” said Aria Blaze, “That little visit you set up kindled my anger enough to challenge you!”
“Challenge? What kind of challenge?” said Coloratura, “Besides, I’d love it if you became the next Pers-”
“Ah ah ah, let’s not get too hasty here, Countess,” whispered Svengallop as he slid closer, head by head, to the Countess, “Your image is of the utmost importance.”
Aria Blaze glared intensely at them both, “I don’t know, the kind of challenge I can beat you in!”
“Oh! I got it!” said Coloratura, “How about a charity concert for needy children!”
“Countess…” said Svengallop.
“It’s sure to be great for my image!” said Coloratura.
“So whoever sells the most tickets wins?” said Aria Blaze.
“Uh… sure!” said Coloratura.
“You’re going down, Countess,” said Aria Blaze.
Coloratura grabbed Aria’s hand before she could walk away, “Oh we have SO much planning to do together!”
Aria Blaze struggled in her grip.
It was a few weeks later, the Rainbooms were on their way out of school and had mostly stopped worrying so much about the fact that former Dazzling Aria Blaze was a rising popstar. She seemed to be merely that and not perhaps a demon bent on world domination, well not the kind of domination where she makes the laws anyways.
“Rarity, Ah can’t get you tickets for every concert Rara has,” said Applejack.
“Are you sure? Are you completely sure about that?” said Rarity, “I’ll still be paying full price, please reserve them for me, that’s all I ask.”
“Well… Ah really don’t wanna bother Rara too much,” said Applejack, “That an’ Ah’d kinda feel like Ah’m takin’ advantage of our friendship an’ all.”
Rarity pouted.
The day had been like most days until...
“Hey! I have a charity concert for something coming up this weekend!” yelled Aria Blaze who then mumbled, “Countess Coloratura is also a large part of the concert.”
Aria Blaze was right in front of the horse statue outside of Canterlot High School. Quite a few students had gathered around her. Many were trying to buy tickets from Aria or her entourage, but most were just trying to see a celebrity up close and in person.
“Aria Blaze!” shouted Rainbow Dash.
“Oh,” Aria Blaze sneered, “If it isn’t the Rainboots.”
“Rainbooms!” said Rainbow Dash as she forced her way to be face to face with Aria, “We’re the Rainbooms.”
Rainbow Dash pointed at Aria Blaze as intensely as she could manage, “What are you planning in front of the school?” While she had stopped worrying as much, she still didn’t trust Aria Blaze.
“I’m planning to win at charity,” said Aria Blaze.
“Er, what now?” said Applejack, she and the rest of Rainbow’s friends having followed her in her mad dash.
“Countess Coloratura and I have a bit of a competition,” said Aria Blaze, “so buy tickets and leave. I barely have any left.”
“Wait, it’s a concert of both Aria Blaze AND Countess Coloratura?” said Rarity as she purchased her tickets from one of Aria’s entourage, the information seen on the tickets themselves, “Oh I simply can’t miss this.”
“Don’t come, also no refunds,” said Aria Blaze, “Probably only interested in the Countess anyway.”
“My no,” said Rarity, “ your voice is beautiful, Miss Blaze.”
“...Thanks,” awkwardly said Aria Blaze, “Now leave.”
“Hey!” said Rainbow Dash to the crowd, “Aria Blaze sure looks one of the Dazzlings, doesn’t she?!”
“Rainbow Dash!” whisper shouted Rarity, “What are you doing?”
“Just watch,” said Rainbow Dash smugly, she just knew that Aria’s plan was probably something evil and that this would stop it in its tracks.
Murmurs went on in the crowd until a girl who had hair that somewhat resembled a watermelon and a red beret said, “Maybe?”
“Yeah, we didn’t see all of them that well,” said a girl with poofy orange hair and a white scarf around her neck.
“I don’t remember a fuchsia one honestly,” said the beret wearing girl.
“I remember a fuchsia one, but Aria Blaze’s hair is more like the blue one’s anyway,” said the white scarf wearing girl.
Aria gritted her teeth, a bit miffed despite how convenient it was for her not to be remembered and noting to herself to change her hairstyle again.
“OH COME ON! How can you guys not remember the Dazzlings?” said Rainbow Dash.
“Honestly the whole battle of the bands thing is pretty foggy memories-wise,” said the beret wearing girl, “I guess I remember throwing vegetables at the Dazzlings.”
“I’d rather forget most of the parts I remember,” said the white scarf wearing girl, “I can’t believe how angry I got.”
Rainbow Dash slumped over in defeat.
“We’re out of tickets, Miss Blaze,” said one of Aria’s entourage members.
“Finally,” said Aria Blaze, “I’ve sold every ticket I had. Choke on that, Countess!”
With that Aria Blaze walked away, having to be protected from being hounded by CHS students by her entourage.
“I hope that’s the last I see of her,” said Rainbow Dash, “Good riddance.”
“So..” said Rarity, “does this mean you don’t want one of the tickets I bought?”
Rainbow Dash looked at Rarity with a raised eyebrow.
“I sort of bought enough tickets for all of us, Sweetie Belle, and her friends,” said Rarity.
It was the day of the charity concert. It was completely sold out. The Rainbooms were there as audience members along with Rarity’s and Applejack’s sisters and their friend. People from all over the area were attending the concert. Sometimes this resulted in rival school related skirmishes, but mostly people were just excited for the double billed concert.
“I hope Aria does her cover of ‘Serves Her Right’,” said Scootaloo.
“Yeah, for some reason she just seems to put so much more emotion in it than Sapphire Shores,” said Apple Bloom.
“Rarity, I thought you said this was a musical,” said Sweetie Belle.
“I said that it was going to be musical, Sweetie,” said Rarity.
“Aw man, you always get me with that,” said Sweetie Belle, “Grah!”
“Considering how much it’s happened, you think you’d catch on by now,” said Scootaloo.
“But sometimes it IS a musical, Scootaloo,” said Sweetie Belle, “Sometimes!”
“Don’t remind me,” said Scootaloo who then looked up at Rainbow Dash as if she was seeking approval for some reason.
She got a head pat and a hair mussing up. She got the biggest grin on her face.
“Settle down y’all,” said Applejack, “the show’ll start any minute now.”
Applejack’s cellphone suddenly rang.
“Applejack!” said Pinkie Pie, “You’re supposed to silence your phone during a show!”
“It hasn’t started yet, Pinkie,” Applejack answered, “Hullo?”
“AJ!” said Coloratura, “Our opening band… got sick and I was thinking... you have a band, right? Aria told me that all of the Rainspoons would be here.”
“Land’s sake, that girl is either hard of hearin’ or doin’ this on purpose,” muttered Applejack, “Our band’s ‘The Rainbooms’, Rara.”
"Heh, I know, but I had to share that one," said Coloratura, "That aside, you’d probably only have time for one or two songs, but… you can play right?”
“Uh…” said Applejack, “Ah don’t know, we kind of brought my sister and her friends with us…”
“Um, what are you talking about, Applejack?” said Fluttershy.
“Rara wants us to replace the opening band”YES!” said Rainbow Dash very abruptly, smooshing her face against Applejack’s phone side in an attempt to make her voice heard by Countess Coloratura.
“Easy there, Dash,” said Applejack as she pushed her friend off of herself, “As Ah said, Rara, Ah don’t wanna leave my sister and her friends in this crowd.
“Don’t worry, AJ, there’s nothing stopping you from taking Apple Bloom and her friends with you,” said Coloratura, “and we can even get you all better seats after you’re done performing. I already bought you tickets before I found out that Aria sold some to you.”
“That’d still leave out our sisters,” said Applejack.
“Okay, I may have bought an entire row just in case,” said Coloratura.
“Er… right,” Applejack looked to her friends, “What do y’all think?”
“I think we should do it,” said Sunset Shimmer, “Opportunities like this rarely come up, even if we don’t think our band will last forever this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
“Yeah, and our band is totally going to last forever so we need to take this opportunity while we can!” said Rainbow Dash, “Or it’ll never happen again!”
“Not quite how it works, Rainbow,” said Sunset Shimmer.
“But it’s still like an urgent emergency to do this!” said Pinkie Pie, “It’s an urgency! ...Wait let me try that again.”
“Fine fine,” said Applejack, “We’ll be your opening band, Rara.”
“Oh finally!” said Coloratura.
“Finally?” said Applejack, "What exactly do ya mean by that?"
“See you backstage! I’ll have someone escort you there soon,” said Coloratura as she hung up.
“Well…” said Applejack, “that happened.”
The Rainbooms and their accompanying trio were backstage.
“These are seedless grapes!” said Svengallop, “I said grapes with the seeds removed! Now go get some or I am pulling the Countess from this concert.
“Yes sir, right away,” said a panicked man.
“What’s with that guy?” said Rainbow Dash.
“Rara says it has something to do with technical errors,” said Applejack, “I’m pretty sure her manager isn’t doin’ it right though.”
“I’ll say,” said Rarity.
“I can’t believe we’re backstage with Countess Coloratura AND Aria Blaze!” said Apple Bloom.
“I know, right!?” said Scootaloo.
“I’m glad I’m no longer in that crowd,” said Fluttershy, “Hopefully I won’t be too nervous in front of it…”
“Relax, Fluttershy,” Pinkie Pie clasped an arm around her friend, “If worse comes to worst you can just hide behind my drum set.”
“I’m surprised you packed that,” said Rainbow Dash.
“I’m more surprised that she packed all of our instruments,” said Sunset Shimmer.
“I had a feeling…” said Pinkie Pie, “and we needed to go in two cars anyway so there was space!”
“I still think you should have put your drums in Applejack’s vehicle,” said Rarity.
“Yeah, hindsight is twenty/twenty,” said Pinkie Pie.
Just then, the Rainbooms were approached by a threatening figure.
“Rainbooms!” said Aria Blaze.
“It’s Rainblooms!” said Rainbow Dash, “Oh gosh dang it!”
Aria smirked.
“I don’t think you have what it takes to go out there,” said Aria Blaze, “in front of that crowd.”
“Ah don’t really think we do either, honestly,” said Applejack.
“Aria Blaze, I bought all of your albums!” said Scootaloo.
“I only have two albums, kid,” said Aria Blaze.
“That admittedly makes it easier,” said Scootaloo.
“Can you sing showtunes?” said Sweetie Belle.
“Sweetie Belle!” whisper shouted Apple Bloom.
“What?” said Sweetie Belle.
“I mean, I guess I could,” said Aria Blaze, “Pop’s my focus though.”
“Can you… sing a showtune right now?” said Sweetie Belle.
“Sorry chump, I’ve got to save my voice for the concert,” said Aria Blaze.
“You’ll note that hasn’t stopped her from yelling at us,” said Rarity.
“What was that?” said Aria Blaze.
“Nothing,” said Rarity.
A silent moment passed.
“They should have your equipment ready by now, so get on stage then leave,” said Aria Blaze.
“Hey, uh, Ah really like your cover of ‘Serves Her Right’,” said Apple Bloom while she had the chance.
“...I’ll keep that in mind,” said Aria Blaze.
It was amazing and maybe a little bit frightning, but the Rainbooms were able to get through two of their songs in the time allotted to them. Fluttershy did end up having to hide behind Pinkie Pie towards the end though.
Shortly after the Rainboom’s surprise performance Aria Blaze and Countess Coloratura performed, alternating who sang with each song. Aria Blaze sang as if she was somehow dominating the words to each song which, with how upbeat Aria’s songs generally sounded, was an uncommon but not unwelcome experience. Countess Coloratura was closer to how popstars usually sound, but she was uncommonly good at what she did. No one would probably hear something like this concert for a good while.
Before anyone was really ready, the concert ended with Aria and Coloratura in a somewhat aggressive duet, though it sounded a bit lighter on the Countess’s end.
After the concert had ended, the Rainbooms and accompanying trio went backstage to greet with Aria Blaze and Countess Coloratura. Backstage passes had not been sold for this concert to prevent rioting, so the aforementioned accompanying trio felt like the luckiest girls alive at that point.
“I’m only here to show you how much I hate all of you,” said Aria Blaze.
“Heartsies!” thrice said Coloratura as she stamped the faces of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.
“Your singing was amazing!” said Sweetie Belle to Countess Coloratura.
“Aw, thank you,” said Coloratura.
Aria Blaze grumbled.
“Heartsies!” said Coloratura as she stamped Aria’s face.
“Gah!” said Aria Blaze before she frantically wiped the small bit of ink on her face off her face, it smeared, “Don’t ever do that again.”
“Ah’m really happy you sang ‘Serves Her Right’,” said Apple Bloom.
“Me too,” said Scootaloo.
“Yeah, well… I like when I sing that song too,” said Aria Blaze, soon looking off to the side after saying that.
Coloratura smiled.
“So, Rara,” said Applejack, “somethin’s been botherin’ me.”
Rara froze.
“What is it, AJ?” said Coloratura.
“Ah’m mainly bothered by the way you said ‘finally’ right before ya hung up on me,” said Applejack.
“Er…” said Coloratura.
“Are ya hiding something from me, Rara?” said Applejack.
“It’s…” said Coloratura, hesitating.
“You know how I feel about lying Rara,” said Applejack.
“You never agree to be an opening act for me, AJ! I just… I just wanted to perform with you, AJ, even if we didn’t really perform together. I’ve asked you so many times since I found out you joined a band. So I lied about what happened to our opening band. I didn’t actually have any opening band and hoped that the pressure to replace one would make you agree,” said Coloratura, “Are you happy, AJ? I’m not…”
“Wait…” said Rainbow Dash, “You never agreed to be an opening act for an artist THIS big?”
“Ah just didn’t think we were ready for it yet,” said Applejack.
“Honestly, Applejack, you should’ve at least let us have some say in this,” said Rarity.
“Yeah!” said Pinkie Pie, “This was a really big opportunity for all of us!”
Fluttershy nodded in agreement.
“I’m sorry AJ, I didn’t even really think that the plan would actually work, but I was sort of happy when it did,” said Coloratura, “I won’t ask you to open for me again.”
“Woah woah woah, let’s not get hasty now,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Rara, Ah…” said Applejack, “Well Ah guess ya didn’t really do much wrong, Rara. After all, Ah’ve been unfair about this situation too and Ah honestly still coulda backed out. Heck, even if my friends didn’t, ya still got a bassist or two for this concert and we got some songs with really simple bass lines. Ah don’t think ya even need ta be sorry.”
“Oh thank you!” said Coloratura as she squeezed Applejack in a tight embrace. Applejack awkwardly patted her friend on the back.
The rest of Applejack’s friends joined the hug briefly
“In the future...,” said Sunset Shimmer as the Rainbooms disengaged from the hug, “we should remember discuss any opportunity we have like this as a group.”
“Yeah, Ah get it,” said Applejack, still being held by Coloratura, “You can let go now.”
“Oh, of course,” said Coloratura as she released her friend.
Aria retched, “You guys are going to make me vomit.”
“I’m kinda at my limit too,” said Scootaloo.
“Aw don’t be such a wimp about this, Scoots,” said Apple Bloom.
Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom an angrily annoyed look while Apple Bloom couldn’t help but be a little smug. Sweetie Belle snickered at her friends.
“And, as long as I’m coming clean about things,” said Coloratura as if she had just remembered something, "I rigged it so that Aria would win our competition.”
“What?” said Aria Blaze flatly.
“I think that you should be the next Person of Pop, Aria. So I made sure that my ticket sales would only be one row and left the rest to you.” said Coloratura, “I think you’ve done more to earn the title.”
“Wha- the- buh- IT DOESN’T COUNT IF YOU LOST ON PURPOSE!!” said Aria Blaze.
“Oops?” said Coloratura.
Aria Blaze steamed and then screamed her rage to the sky.
“COUNTESS COLORATURA!!” raged Aria Blaze.
“Yes?” said Coloratura.
“Shut up, you’re ruining it,” said Aria Blaze.
Coloratura stood still for a bit, not sure what to do.
“Heartsies!” said Coloratura as she stamped Aria Blaze on the side of her face.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!” said Aria Blaze.
