With the bell having rung some time ago, the students of CHS had largely taken to the cafeteria for their lunch-time, and as such, there was a great buzz of chatter from that building that was heard all the way around the immediate area. As such, many who happened to be nearby could very easily hear just how crowded and noisy it was in there right now. But, for those who had taken to going outside for their lunch, in was a different matter. Here, things were a lot calmer, with fewer people and, quite frankly, just a nice bit of sunshine to brighten up their day. Upon the school steps, all close together, was one such group that was enjoying this lovely weather; CHS' school band. Their leader, Baton Twirl, was hard at work at her namesake skill, twirling her baton with great vigour while her band-mates watched. Many of these latter students were busy with their respective lunches, but one, the boy sitting beside the tuba, soon broke the silence between them.

"Don't you ever get tired of practicing, Baton?"

The red-headed girl simply snorted to that.

"Pfft! Nope! Gotta keep it up if you wanna stay good, Scott. Heck, you play a tuba, remember. I'd have thought someone who actually had an instrument would appreciate that."

Scott rolled his eyes, but said nothing as another of his colleagues, the girl with the trumpet, spoke up instead.

"She's right, you know. Given all the times we're call on around here, we can't afford to let up."

Baton smirked as she regarded her friend.

"Thank you, Mary. At least somebody agrees with me."

Afterwards, it was now the turn of the boy with the largest drum to add his voice to matters.

"Do...do you guys ever feel like there's not much call for us? At least, not as much as there used to be?"

A remark like that earned him looked from all the others, with his fellow drum-player, albeit with a somewhat smaller drum, responding soon afterwards.

"What do you mean, Mike?"

Mike turned to face him, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"I don't know, it's just..."

He sighed.

"Look, James, we've all been at this for years now, practicing and loving what we do. But..."

He paused, looking around the immediate area to all the other students who happened to be passing them by.

"...have you ever noticed that a whole lot of music and song has been happening recently? Like, ever since that Princess girl came along a few years back?"

Pondering that, the boy with the trombone nodded slightly.

"Yeah...it does seem that way, doesn't it? I mean...it really does seem like, whatever day we're on, there's a whole bunch of music and singing going on. Like, completely out-of-nowhere singing and music."

Mike pointed to him.

"Thank you, Tony! That's exactly what I'm talking about! I mean, what point is there in a group like us, if a whole bunch of awesome music is just going to start up willy-nilly whether there's anybody with instruments or not?"

Baton, now sitting upon the stairs at last, considered that, tapping her baton against her chin as she thought on the question.

"Huh...you know...I hadn't actually thought of that."

After having heard everybody else, it was, at last, the turn of the girl with the flute to speak up.

"Well...I can't speak for all of you, but I can safely say that, whether all that weird stuff happened or not, I'd still be wanting to do all of this."

The eyes of all her band-mates was upon her, prompting her to carry on explaining herself.

"No, I mean it! Ever since I first joined, I've been having so much fun with you guys! Getting together, practising, plus all the stuff we do together outside of school. Besides..."

Slowly, she glanced down to her instrument, putting on a warm expression.

"...when I first started, I honestly never thought I'd be good at this. But with you all there to encourage me...well..."

Blushing slightly, Mike, scratched the back of his head in a nervous way, then spoke up, albeit with a tone that expressed clear hesitation.

"Well...you've gotten really good at that flute, Jessica. I don't think I've heard anybody play it quite as well as you since I came to this school."

Though taken aback by her colleague's compliment, Jessica smiled, even matching his blush. While the two smiled at one another, their friends all smirked, giving each other knowing looks as that awkward moment played out. At the end of it, however, Baton let out a sigh, leaning back slightly and, once more, twirling her baton in her hand.

"Yeah...it's been pretty great, I'll admit. I mean, sure, all the songs and random music coming out of nowhere can make our line of work seem pretty...what's the word?"

James looked to her.

"Pointless? Superfluous? Unnecessary?"

Baton looked to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Wow...way to just suck the joy out of the moment, James."

James, naturally, simply stayed quiet after that, much to the amusement of some of his other band-mates, but they too stayed silent as their leader carried on.

"But yes. As unnecessary as our group may be at this point, I'd still not trade it for the world. Heck, the rest of the school may not think we do much these days, but that hasn't stopped us from still being needed from time to time."

A smirk returned to her lips.

"Heck, remember that one time Rainbow called us up before the Friendship Games? That was pretty neat, right?"

Mary raised an eyebrow at that.

"Um...didn't you pretty much hog the spotlight during all that?"

Baton blinked slowly a few times, then cleared her throat a little bit.

"Yes...well...we all pitched in, and that’s what matters!"

Of course, the group all had a look of "are you kidding me" about them at those words, but they let it slide for the time being. Instead, and after letting out a long sigh, Mike once more broke the silence.

"Well, I think what Baton was trying to say is that...it's still pretty neat being around you guys, doing all of this."

Baton snapped her fingers, then pointed one straight at him.

"Yes! That! What he said!"

Mike shook his head, then looked to his other musicians.

"So, before we get back to classes, anybody got any ideas on inviting Octavia to be part of the club?"

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Dude, we've been inviting her for years and she always says no. It ain't happening, buddy. Let's just look to someone else, like...Trixie, maybe?"

Jessica shook her head.

"Nope. Guitars don't really fit with what we've already got."

Pinkie?" Tony suggested instead.

James raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me? We've already got two drum people, remember?"

Tony just grunted at this point.

"See, it's stuff like this that's kept it as just us for the last few years. We've gotta have somebody new at some point, guys!"

A silence fell over them at that, and when it was over, it was Baton who spoke.

"Well, push comes to shove, we could always just ask Vinyl."

Slowly, Tony looked to her.

"Um...don't you think her particular brand of music is a bit...well...at-odds with ours?"

To that, Baton shrugged her shoulders.

"Hey, I don't even do music at all, and I’m in the group, remember?"

The others all looked to one another for a moment, then collectively looked back to her.

"Okay, fair point," Tony conceded.

Giving her baton another twirl, the girl took on a smug look.

"Hey, it's me, remember? Of course it's a good point!"