//------------------------------// // Honestly, It wasn't for Anything // Story: Spike Writes A Play // by Hungrybear //------------------------------// For a good minute the two, Everpony stood silent, all their eyes focused on the Purple dragon, now play-writer apparently, Nopony was quite sure what to say, Or how they should react. Plays weren't something common around Ponyville. In fact the last time any of them ever remember being in a play, was when they were in school. But could they really complain? Not like there was much else to do anyway so they might as well hear the little guy out. Twilight optimistic as always, took the initiative and began. "Spike...I-uh....I-I think It's great that you wrote a play. It's always good to get your creativity up and running. Celestia always said If you have a good idea in your mind, It'll always look better on paper. Right everypony," Twilight said, turning her attention towards everypony behind her, hoping they had found some nice way to respond by now. Applejack decided to follow Twilight into the conversation and found some response that wouldn't hurt Spike's feelings. "Uhhh....Yeah, you're right Twi. ya'kno that whole Idea paper and what not you were talking about. Good job Spike, We would all be honored to read your play, right Rainbow," Nudging the cyan mare, signaling to prompt a response. "Oh! Umm....Yeah...honored. Heh..heh.. Let's see it Spike," Rainbow Dash said. "Yeah. It can't be all bad, even for your first write." Fluttershy said, trying to add some positive feedback. "Yeah! It can't be all bad! It must be a really fun play! Is it about dragons like you? Is it about dragons dressed as dragons? Is it about Ponies who dress up Dragons? Oooooh, I can't wait to hear it," Pinkie Pie added. "Gee... I thought for sure you guys would say it was a dumb thing of me to do and would shoot it down without even giving it a chance. Thanks a lot guys. Well, I won't be selfish, here take a look," Spike said smiling, clearly oblivious to the fact that they all probably did think it was a dumb thing of him to do. He slid the bundle of papers over to them on the other side of the table. They bunched together in order for all of them to read it. Twilight read the text out loud for them to hear, while everypony else skimmed the words through. "Spike...It's called, The Magnificient Adventure of Spike the Suave ?" The lavender unicorn asked, perplexed. "Yeah. It took me about an hour to come up with a title for it. Sounds good right," Spike replied happily. "Ummm...yeah," "Well go on! don't let me hold you up. you can start reading it over." Twilight began reading out loud the first page of script, occasionally glancing over at Spike, eagerly awaiting her review after she read each page. "This is the story of a Tough, Cunning, Powerful, and Handsome dragon, but mostly handsome, who vanquished a great evil from the land of Equestria using his bare two claws. And the really awesome Lance he had, And saving Equestria from Eternal chaos, and saving the beautiful, Princess Pristine from the evil clutches of Discor...Err I mean. Disorder!" Twilight stopped. "Well uhhh...It sounds good so far! heh heh," She nervously chuckled. Spike grinned with glee, happy to know his friends admired his work. Twilight continued her reading. "This dragons name was Spike, but he wasn't just known as Spike, Oh no. He was Spike...THE SUAVE! He was known from coast to coast, From Ponyville to Canterlot, as the most toughest and most heroic dragon that was ever born. And when Discor- I mean Disorder awoke from his granite prison, and began to wreak havoc across the land, Princess Celestia chose him as the one to liberate them from the villain's evil clutches!" Twilight flipped to the next page, after the reading the other predictable lines on the first page, quickly glancing at each of her friends to see if they were still following along with her, or haven't done anything to give away that they didn't like Spike's Play. Or so she thought. They were enthralled by just hearing the first page, How could anypony think this was any good? "Cmon Twilight! Go to the next page already," Rainbow Dash said eagerly. "Ah'm itching to see what's next myself Twi," Applejack added. "It does sound interesting," Fluttershy said in her usual calm tone. "Go Twilight! Read the next page! I wanna see the ponies dress up the dragons," Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Twilight sighed and flipped the next page, reading the text once more. This page included lines the Princess Celestia in the story was to say. "After Spike the Suave ran a hundred miles an hour from Ponyville to Canterlot Castle to search for Princess Celestia, he arrived there in like 10 seconds, And got to talk to the Princess." "Help us Spike the Suave. You're our only hope. Only you and your smoking hot muscular figure can save us from the wrath of Disorder, and save Princess Pristine! Clearly no pony is manly enough as you are to do this, you clearly work out more than anypony in Equestria and totally deserve to be with Princess Prisitine, and she'll totally marry you when you rescue her." "Yes, Rescue her I shall, Celestia, I will ride my mighty steed, Sun Streak, through the horrors of the haunted Everfree Forest, all the way to the bottom of Ghastly Gorge, where the fiend resides, And then I'll absolutely beat the living crap out of him, because I'm Spike the Suave, and as it has already been previously established, I'm clearly the greatest warrior in all of Equestria!" The tacky and Mary-sueish banter and cliche that is Spike's Play continued for about twenty more pages up until the Protagonist and Disorder battle in what is described as "The greatest fight ever in the history of forever, and then some." and as would have probably been guessed, Spike win's and marries the Damsel in Distress. With each page, Twilight began to also fall victim to its allure, despite the overused elements used, she couldn't help but feel eager to read on. Maybe it's just one of those things even someone as smart as her can't explain. Even her friends managed to get into the spirit of it all and were even more excited with each turning page, and mostly the ending. She swallowed any thought of scolding Spike for ever writing what she first thought as a atrocity to theatre, Any sense of what she had believed to be good Literature, or Playwrites flew out the window today. She donned a smile, faced Spike and Digressed her review. "It was amazing Spike," she exclaimed. "Really?" Spike asked, unsure if his mentor was being truthful. "Yeah! I can honestly say it was a true work of art, a regular masterpiece I can say," Twilight continued, trying her hardest to compliment his work, though over-exaggerating it's actual value. "Yeah, Spike. I thought it was gonna be lame, but you outdid yourself! I love how awesome you made the hero, he reminds me so much of...Well, me," Rainbow Dash added onto Twilight's claims. "Ah don't know much bout none of this fancy playwright schmuck, But it was real interesting! Kept me eager for more each page," Applejack said. "Oh- I like it too... I really like when he puts out the fire on the forest animals home, It was really nice." Fluttershy added. "Well, there wasn't any dress-up like you said. But the fighting was awesome! It was all Pow! Boom! Bang! Swoosh! And then the bad guys were all "Ahhhh! Ouch! Ooph," Great work Spike! Hee hee," Pinkie Pie exclaimed bouncing up and down. "Heh. Well, I am glad you all liked it. I was hoping you would, because there's something else I wanted to tell you all. I spoke with Mayor Mare before I got here, and she said that She would lend me Town Square for tonight to do a live performance of my Play. And I want you all to star in it," Spike proposed, hoping his friends would say yes. For a few seconds, they were awestruck, well excluding Fluttershy, who was a bit surprised, and was unsure if she would be able to help at all with being one of the actors. "Ah would honored to Spike." Applejack began. "Heh. Guess I won't be bored anymore after all! Count me in too Spike," Rainbow Dash said. "Me too! I'm ready to start whenever you are," Pinkie exclaimed. Twilight pondered to herself while her friends were giving out their answers. Now that she thought about it. Why did Spike write a play to begin with, she had forgotten to ask him when he first came in. contemplating, he also decided to present it to them, while Rarity wasn't with hanging out with them today. Today she was busy, out around Ponyville buying thread she needed to make a dress for a sudden client in Canterlot and was scheduled to have it done by today, before nightfall. "Spike, I forgot to ask you something when you told us you wrote a play." Twilight began. "What's that?" Spike responded. ".....Why did you write a play?" Spike's happy disposition transitioned to a nervous grin and he began to slightly sweat. "Wha- huh- Wh-what do you mean, Twi," Spike said nervously. Twilight was perplexed by his response. "Nothing. I'm just curious why you wrote a play and wanted us to perform in it. Not only that but Rarity isn't here and you still pitched it to us. It all seems a little sudden is all," Twilight proclaimed. Spike tried to compose himself, but was still having stutter issues, and still nervously smiling. "Wel- Bu- I mean cmon, Twilight, that doesn't have anything to do with. I mean I booked the town square for today, It's not like I knew that Rarity wasn't gonna be hanging out with you all today," He stated. "Are you sure? this all seems not like you Spike, to go out your way for something your not really expecting anything from," Twilight continued bombarding the dragon with questions. "Heh. well- uh- I-I mean cmon, yo- a Dragon needs a reason to write a play now and days? heh heh- umm I- Uh, Well, I think they're done setting up the stage at town square, so I'll see you guys later!" And with that, Spike scurried off from Sugarcube Corner in a flash, leaving Twilight pondering why he was acting so nervous. After about twenty minutes or so, the mane six arrived at Town Square to see a crowd of ponies in a commotion, their eyes fixated upon the stage, standing in front of town hall. Everypony was abuzz with questions amongst each other, until the town guard came to dissolve the crowd. "Alright, Move along everypony! everything will be ready by tonight for the performance. Cmon, cmon, get going." The town guard captain said sternly, but loudly, motioning with his front hoof for the crowd to leave, with which they complied. After, the mane six saw Spike on stage, along with seven other ponies he was addressing. They got up on stage as well to approach Spike "Hey, Spike! Well, we came just like you asked," Twilight said to Spike. "Oh, good! Looks like I was right, The stage had just finished up being set just now, I also managed to make you all a copy of the script." Spike said, giving each pony their own script. "Uh, Spike. Why does this here script look a little different than the one you showed us at Sugarcube Corner," Applejack asked. "Oh. Heh heh...See I just made a few edits to the script I showed you guys, but it isn't anything too big," Spike replied. "Oh, I almost forgot. Lemme introduce you all to your co-stars! They'll be helping us out with the backstage work and music." Spike said, turning to face the other ponies. "You all already know Miss. Cheerilee don't you? Well, she is a genius when it comes to Props and Decorations, so she'll be handling that department," Spike said pointing to Miss. Cheerilee. "Hi girls! Nice to see that I'll be working with familiar faces," Cheerilee said with a smile. "And over here is Carrot Top. She'll be handling the wardrobe of the play." "Afternoon gals," The yellow earth pony mare with the carrot orange mane greeted. "And here we have our two music composers, Vinyl Scratch along with Lyra Heartstrings," "Hey, how's it going," Vinyl Scratch, the white unicorn mare with the blue streak mane greeted. "Hiya!" Lyra replied, the turquoise unicorn mare with the light green, and white mane happily replied. "And over here is Derpy Hooves, and her temporary associate, Colgate, They'll be doing the Backstage work, Prop placement, lighting, pyrotechnics and such." "Hey! Hoping We'll all get along just fine," Colgate, the blue unicorn mare with a blue and white mane greeted. "Hello," Derpy Hooves, the wall-eyed, gray pegasus greeted, fumbling around with the wiring of one the stage lights, before getting tangled up too much and falling over, "Uh oh! Ooph," She exclaimed as she fell to the floor, Colgate looking at her with dismay. "And lastly, we have our leading lady, Miss. Fleur de Lis." "Charmed, I'm sure," The white unicorn mare with the flowing glossy, light pink mane greeted. After all the formalities were accounted for, Spike decided to assign each of his friends their role in the play. "So who's gonna play the Hero, Spike," Rainbow Dash asked. "I thought you might make the best fit to play the main character of the story, Rainbow Dash, so naturally, you'll be playing Spike the Suave," Spike answered the cyan mare. "Fluttershy, I assigned you to play Disorder, if that's fine with you." The thought of playing the main villain of the story didn't set well with Fluttershy. As her name vaguely implies, she has incredible stage fright. "Spike, Umm- Do you think I can do a different role," The yellow pegasus asked. "Hmm...Oh! Now that I think about it, we don't have any of the forest animals for the scene at Everfree Forest, Do you think you can get some of your woodland pals to help out in the play," Spike responded. "Oh. Of course, I'm sure they wouldn't mind at all," Fluttershy said. "Great. So then, Pinkie Pie, you'll be playing the Ghost of Everfree Forest. You can handle that can't you?" "Pshh. Can I ever. Just watch Spike, I'll be the best ghostie-pony thingy you have ever seen," Pinkie Pie said reassuringly "And for Applejack, I got a really special position for you." "Aw shucks, Spike, you don't have to get all flatter-" "You'll be playing Sun Streak!" Applejack remembered what role Sun Streak was. The 'steed' that Spike the Suave rode into battle with. "Wait. How is that a special role, Spike?" Applejack demanded to know. "What do you mean? You're second to none when it comes to character importance," Spike reassured the orange mare. "That would've sounded nicer if it weren't only six actors in this play. But that ain't what bothers me about." "Then what is it?" "Well, because! ya'kno, Ah have to...Well," Applejack said, trying to avoid the point. " "Well" what?" Spike asked. "Yeah, Applejack, what's wrong with being the steed," Rainbow Dash added. "Grrr...Fine! I'll do it, but I won't like it." Applejack said, disgruntled. "Okay then...That just leaves you then Twilight! Since all the other roles are taken, and Fluttershy is reassigned..." "Then I have to play the villain right," Twilight said, completing Spike's statement. "You guessed it. Don't worry I'm sure you'll do fine." "I don't know Spike, are you sure there's no other role for me to play?" Before Spike could answer, Rainbow Dash started laughing at the mere thought of someone like Twilight playing a epic villain in a play, It was just hilarious to them. But to Twilight she was kind of offended. "What's so funny," Twilight demanded to know. "Bahaha! Oh, uhhh...Nothing..hehe.. Twilight. I'm sure you'll make a great vill-bahaha," Rainbow Dash exclaimed, trying to keep herself from bursting out into laughter, but to no avail. "Heh heh... Boy oh boy, Twi. Are you sure you don't wanna play a different role, like Spike the Suave's secretary? Ahaha," Applejack said mockingly, joining Rainbow Dash in the hilarity. "Hee hee. Twilight, maybe you should play a different role, maybe you can be the Haunted Book in the Everfree Forest! Pahaha," Pinkie Pie said, with the ocassional snort in between her laughter. It began to agitate Twilight how much her friends believed she could never pull off the role of being a Villain. But she did have some doubt about it herself, the role didn't quite fit her persona. Disorder was portrayed as a very unorganized and messy kind of villain, a polar opposite from herself, but that was the beauty of being an actor. To portray something you aren't. It was motivation enough for her to prove her friends wrong. "You know what Spike, forget I asked. I'm gonna be the best villain you all have ever seen just you watch!"