Author's Note

Resume: Sunset Shimmer gains a V.I.P. pass to the music festival's backstage area and uses Twilight Sparkle's selfie drone to film a tour of the various rooms.

“How to Backstage”

Sunset Shimmer on a covered outdoor stage and zoom in slowly. She is alone except for a security guard, and a couch stands near the entrance to the backstage area on one side. She is wearing a dark gray leather jacket with magenta trim and a yellow-orange chevron stripe on each sleeve; a sparkly, dark magenta pants with her cutie mark down one leg and rolled-up cuffs; a shirt shading from yellow-orange at the collar down to deeper orange at the waist and marked by a grid of red triangles; a magenta/yellow-orange hiking boots; a pendant stone serving as a belt buckle. Bracelets and wristbands of varied hue, style and quantity are in abundance among the seven, Sunset kneels over a drone to make a few adjustments. Once done, she stands up and the device rises toward her eye level; cut to its camera-eye perspective of her, which frames the badge hanging on a lanyard around her neck. She waits to speak until the autofocus has kicked in.

Sunset waves to the drone. “Hey, everybody! Sunset Shimmer here, your MVP with the BTS look at the VIP life. Translation?” Holds up badge. “I got a backstage pass!”

“BTS” = “behind the scenes.” The drone follows her past staff members as she approaches a lounge area well back from the hubbub.

“Need a break?” She anwsers.

Zoom in quickly on some of the hanging light fixtures, then out to frame the entire space as she walks in. Tables and chairs, a few of them occupied with people taking a break; U-shaped counter set with snacks, drink dispensers, giveaway items, and decorative plants. Sunset grins to the camera before it shifts to highlight the bags and boxes; she pops up in the fore.

“First perk of the VIP treatment? Swag, swag, swag, swag, swag!” She slowing pan across the items; she continues o.s. “I’m talking foreign chocolate, instant cameras, noise-canceling headphones…”

She reaches into view and takes a bag on this last; cut to her reaching inside, eagerness slowly giving way to befuddlement.

Sunset pulls out a pair of socks. “…or…socks.” Drops the bag; drum up enthusiasm. “Rock on! They must be to keep bands from getting cold feet.” She makes a lame chuckle. “I guess I’ll just, uh…put them on!”

Another chuckle precedes her lurching, off-balance attempt to do so while standing up.

“VIP coming through!” Sunset said.

And then she says hello to the floor. Cut to her walking through a different passage and toward a doorway, still seen through the drone’s camera.

“Check it out! The world-famous green room where all the bands hang out before the show! Any guesses on who we’ll see?”

The view shifts away from the drone’s view to within the entrance as she steps in (now barefoot, wearing nothing and no boots) and it hovers behind her to capture the moment. A few bits of gear are laid out here and there, along with a couch off to one side, and a road crew member is keeping an eye on the proceedings. Sunset stops short, mouth falling open in shock; cut to her perspective, panning slowly across the area. More roadies are attending to instruments and lighting setup.

“Are you kidding me?” Back to Sunset. “This…is…amazing!”

Camera-eye perspective; she steps into view as one fellow adjusts a microphone.

“You’re looking at the guy who invented pickup-only reverb!” Sunset said, he gives her a thumbs-up; now she steps toward a lighting technician on a ladder. “Ever wonder who does Post Crush’s light show?” Focus shifts to this one. “She runs a four-gel hot swap!”

The focus returns to Sunset in time for an excited scream.

“This is the best day of my life!” She said excited as the tech shows up again.

“Did you want to meet the band?” Lighting tech said.

The yellow-orange teen turns wonderingly away from the ladder. Cut to a close-up of the bottom of a flight of steps, not seen through the drone’s camera, as three pairs of legs descend. A zoom out frames one man and two women looking on with cocked-eyebrow smiles. The band has just entered the building. One of the women, a blonde, speaks up with an unusually deep voice.

“Cool feet.” Blonde said as she looks at Sunset Shimmer's yellow-orange bare feet.

Sunset laughs as the lighting tech climbs down and the drone circles around the group.

“Thanks.” She slights embarrassed, holding up her cell phone. “Can I get a picture?”

All three members strike poses, but are not quite prepared for her to hand the phone to the male member and back up. They laugh, and she lets out a giddy little squeal while clustering in with the roadies—four in all—and the drone. A shutter click and flash, and the camera zooms out slowly from the resulting photo, rotating slightly at the same time.

“And that’s how you backstage.” Sunset voices over.