Author's Note
Yes, I wrote another SNL inspired story. I have a problem, but I don't care.
Tanoshinde!
Needs More Cowbell
The Canterlot High music room was alive with sound as the Rainbooms practiced. They were just finishing a run-through of Shake Your Tail when Vignette Valencia walked into the room.
“Sounding great as always, Rainbooms,” Vignette complimented the group.
“Thanks, Vignette,” Rainbow Dash replied as the group took a short break.
The Rainbooms had recently decided to make Vignette their manager. The social media celebrity had been desperate to make things right with the group after her actions at Equestria Land, and when she offered to manage them they couldn’t refuse. After all, having someone as high-profile as her represent them could open some serious doors.
So far, Vignette had proven herself to be a very competent manager. She’d helped the Rainbooms book three amazing gigs in just four weeks, as well as drastically increased their brand awareness.
“If it’s alright with you girls I’d like to get a few recording of your practice while I’m here,” Vignette politely asked, “I was talking to my friend, Hoity Toity, the other day and he said he was throwing a big party for his birthday in a few weeks, so naturally I mentioned how I represented this totally amazing band, and he said he wanted to see what you’ve got.”
“THE Hoity Toity?!” Rarity asked in astonishment, “As in the creator and editor of Fashion Today magazine, that Hoity Toity?!”
“The one and only,” Vignette confirmed.
Rarity looked like she was about to faint before Twilight came over to calm her down.
“Breath, Rarity, breath,” the adorkable girl gently instructed her.
“Well if that’s the case then of course you can record our practice,” Applejack said as the rest of the group nodded in agreement.
“Great!” Vignette exclaimed as she held up her phone in a horizontal fashion, “Wherever you’re ready girls.”
“Alright, let’s do Awesome as I Wanna Be,” Rainbow Dash said.
The rest of the Rainbooms weren’t all that enthused with Rainbow’s song choice (or the fact that she unanimously chose it), but no one objected.
The group started playing but didn’t get more than fifteen second into the song before Vignette put her phone down.
“Wait, wait, wait!” she shouted, causing the Rainbooms to stop playing.
“Something wrong, Vignette?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“It’s just, Fluttershy’s tambourine doesn’t seem to fit with this song,” Vignette explained, “I think she needs a new instrument.”
Fluttershy looked down at her tambourine, not wanting to give it up, but not wanting to disagree with Vignette more.
“Um, okay,” she conceited, “w-what should I play then?”
“I have just the thing,” Vignette stated as she started rummaging through her bag, “hold on a second.”
As Vignette searched through her bag the Rainbooms couldn’t help but wonder what she was looking for. What instrument could she have in there that Fluttershy could play?
“Ta-da!” Vignette pronounced as she pulled a cowbell and drumstick from her bag.
No one made any comments about why Vignette thought a cowbell would be better than a tambourine for playing Awesome as I Wanna Be (or why she was walking around with a cowbell in her bag in the first place).
“I know it’s a bit unconventional,” Vignette admitted as she handed the cowbell and drumstick to Fluttershy, “but I think it’ll really give the song a big boost.”
Apprehension filled the room as the Rainbooms gave each other looks of uncertainty, not knowing what to say to Vignette.
“I guess we could try the cowbell,” Sunset Shimmer finally spoke up, “as long as you’re okay with it, Fluttershy.”
“Y-yes, I’m okay with it.” Fluttershy meekly replied.
“Splendid,” Vignette professed as she once again got her phone ready to record, “From the top then girls.”
The Rainbooms once again started playing Awesome as I Wanna Be, only this time Fluttershy began beating the drumstick against the cowbell, producing a *bonk, bonk, bonk* noise in rhythm with the tone. She wasn’t hitting the cowbell especially hard, however, but hard enough that it could still be heard.
All the girls took occasional glances at Fluttershy as she played her new instrument, both because the cowbell was producing such a seemingly out-of-place sound and because Fluttershy looked a bit uncomfortable playing it.
“Okay, stop, everyone stop!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she stopped playing just before heading into the first verse, causing everyone to stop playing as well.
“What’s wrong, Rainbow?” Vignette asked, genuinely surprised, “That was sounding really good.”
“Are you sure that was okay? I mean, nothing sounded…off…to you?” Rainbow inquired, clearing hinting at her displeasure with a certain aspect of the run-through.
“Well, yes, I thought it was fine,” Vignette answered, “however, if I’m being 100% honest, it could have used a little more cowbell.”
All of the Rainbooms involuntarily gave expressions of bewilderment. Did they hear Vignette correctly? She wanted more cowbell?
“Fluttershy,” Vignette continued, oblivious to the obviously befuddled state of the group, “I want you to explore the performing space more, I mean really explore it.”
“Um, o-okay,” Fluttershy said, not really understanding what Vignette meant.
“Great, let’s run it again,” Vignette said as she prepared to record once again, “I just know this one’s going to come out perfect.”
And so, once again, the Rainbooms started playing Awesome as I Wanna Be. This time though, Fluttershy beat the cowbell harder, producing and even louder *bonk, bonk, bonk* noise. She also started to walk randomly around the room, believing it was what Vignette meant by ‘explore the performing stage more’.
“Stop, stop!” Rainbow shouted again as Fluttershy began invading her space.
The band stopped playing and Fluttershy backed up a few steps, giving Rainbow a bit more personal space.
“Oh, what now, Rainbow?” Vignette asked with a bit of annoyance, “That was even better than the last one.”
“Seriously?!” Rainbow asked in frustrated astonishment, “You don’t see anything wrong with the cowbell? Am I the only one who has a problem with the cowbell?”
“It is kind of distracting,” Sunset commented.
The rest of the Rainbooms simply nodded in agreement.
“Listen girls,” Vignette strongly stated, “I have a fever, and the only prescription...is more cowbell.”
“What does that even mean?!” Rainbow asked, completely dumbfounded.
“Hm,” Vignette pondered, ignoring Rainbow’s question, “Maybe we just need to try it with someone else, no offense Fluttershy.”
“None taken,” Fluttershy defeatedly whispered.
“How about you, Applejack,” Vignette suggested, “You grew up on a farm, you know all about cowbells, right?”
Applejack gave Vignette a deadpan look with a single raised eyebrow.
“Oh, yeah, I know all about them,” she dryly, and somewhat sarcastically, replied, feeling a bit slighted by Vignette’s stereotyping of country folk.
“Applejack can’t play the cowbell, we need her on bass,” Rainbow bluntly pointed out.
“Oh fine,” Vignette relented, “How about you, Twilight?”
“Me?” Twilight asked, surprised that Vignette had chosen her.
“Just give it a try, please?” Vignette pleaded as she handed the cowbell and drumstick to Twilight.
“I-I guess I could give it a try,” Twilight said as she took the cowbell and drumstick from Vignette.
“Oh, for the love of…” Rainbow Dash started to say before Sunset put her hand on her shoulder.
“Calm down, Rainbow,” the fiery haired guitarist whispered, “Vignette really seems to want the cowbell and we can’t afford to lose her as our manager.”
“So you’re willing to ruin the band just to appease Vignette?” Rainbow whispered back.
“Of course not,” Sunset clarified, “But maybe we should let her get one recording with the cowbell, just to make her happy, and then we can do the rest like normal.”
Rainbow Dash thought about Sunset’s idea for a moment. The idea of using the cowbell for even one recording wasn’t appealing to her, but she knew Sunset was right about needing Vignette. She’d been too much of an asset to the band to risk losing over something as trivial as a cowbell.
“Alright,” Rainbow relented, “one recording, but that’s it.”
“Ready to go when you are girls,” Vignette announced as she held her phone up for another recording, “And Twilight, don’t be afraid to really use that cowbell.”
Rainbow Dash gave an internal sigh as the group started playing Awesome as I Wanna Be again, cowbell and all. To Vignette’s credit, Twilight did seem to be doing a better job than Fluttershy, but the *bonk, bonk, bonk* noise still seemed out-of-place. Somehow though, they managed to make it through the whole song.
“Wonderful!” Vignette declared as she finished recording, “Great job everyone, especially you, Twilight.”
“Hehe, thanks,” Twilight sheepishly replied.
“Okay, you got a recording with the cowbell, now can we get rid of it?” Rainbow pointedly asked.
“Well, the other recordings won’t be as good without it, but as long as we have the one it should be fine,” Vignette stated.
Each Rainboom gave a small sigh of relief.
“Okay, how about doing Photo Booth next?” Vignette suggested.
“Sure,” Rainbow happily agreed as the Rainbooms continued their practice.
A week later, the Rainbooms were once again practicing in the CHS music room when Vignette walked in.
“Great news, Rainbooms,” she proclaimed, “I brought along a friend!”
The band members looked at one another in confusion until a well-dressed man with sunglasses and a light gray ponytail walked into the room.
“HOITY TOITY?!” Rarity blurted out, a bit louder than she meant to.
“Yes, I am Hoity Toity,” the well-dressed man confirmed, “And I’m here because they dear friend Vignette showed me some recordings of your practice and I wanted to ask if you’d perform at my party next week.”
“YES, YES OF COURSE WE WILL, RIGHT GIRLS?” Rarity continued to blurt.
The other band members nodded their heads ‘Yes’, but couldn’t help but feel a bit confused. While most of the recordings Vignette took seemed fine to them, they were certain that the one with the cowbell would’ve made Hoity Toity want to pass on booking them.
“Did Vignette not show him the one with the cowbell?” Rainbow whispered to Applejack.
“I guess not,” Applejack whispered back.
“Just out of curiosity, Mr. Toity,” Rarity spoke up after calming down a little, “What was it that made you decide to choose us?”
“Why it was that delightful song with the cowbell,” Hoity Toity answered, “I simply loved how the cowbell brought out all of the emotion of the song; so raw, so powerful,” he continued in a dramatic fashion, “ I do hope you’ll play it at the party.”
The group of girls was speechless.
“Of course they’ll play it,” Vignette assured, “It’s practically their favorite song.”
“Splendid,” Hoity Toity enthusiastically expressed, just before taking a quick look at his pocket watch, “Well, I have to be going now. See you next week, Rainbooms.”
“Goodbye, Hoity,” Vignette said as her friend left the room.
Just as Hoity Toity was out of sight, Rainbow Dash fainted backwards and hit her head on the floor, making a small *bonk* sound, not unlike that of a cowbell.
