//------------------------------//
// Epi(c)logue 
// Story: The Ballad of Hearthswarming 
// by The Dimension Diver 
//------------------------------//

	“And that should about do it!” Twilight beamed from ear to ear, lowering the script and glancing at her good friends. They all displayed varying levels of discomfort, except for Rainbow Dash, who had her shades pulled over her eyes and seemed to be part way between stone-bored and drooling-asleep. For a moment, the purple mare just grinned, waiting, pleading for someone to say something. Her grin soon became a bit strained, and the uncomfortable silence dragged on.
“Well? What do you think?” she managed at last.
“Ah… Twilight,” Rarity hesitantly spake, “I think the play is very fabulous, and so very full of… ah… culture, and is really a magnificent piece… But…” She fidgeted with her hooves uncomfortably. “Oh, how do I say this politely?” She glanced expectantly to the other mares and the small dragon seated about, but no advice was forthcoming. “I… uh… don’t think we really have the time necessary to learn all those lines, don’t you think?”
Twilight blinked in confusion. “You don’t have the time? But why not? This should be easy! It isn’t that hard when you get down to it. It’s all in rhymes and meter and learning it should be a piece of cake. It couldn’t possibly take more than a couple hours for each character! I’d only be worried about the narrator, and Spike had his lines weeks before.”
Spike nodded confidently, dropping a couple marshmallows into his mug of hot chocolate. “No need to worry about me,” He jabbed a claw at his scaly chest, “I’ve got this one covered.”
“Now hold on a moment there sugarcube,” Applejack interjected, “Nopony said that we couldn’t memorize all those lines. We just don’t all have that mighty fast brain o’ yours. We need plenty o’ time to finish this, and the play’s tonight. And we’re almost at Canterlot.”
The train jostled as if on cue, nearly spilling Spike’s drink. Twilight looked about as the realization dawned on her that they were indeed out of time. She held her grin, but the worry was clearly visible in her eyes; a lone hair curled up like a loaded spring, breaking away from her flawlessly groomed mane. Her lower eyelid twitched involuntarily. “You all were aware that we were doing this particular performance, right? I announced this to you when I got word that we had the star roles… right? Right???”
Rainbow dash let out a snore. Applejack gave her a swift kick to the shins, snapping her awake with a start. Rarity and Fluttershy gave blank stares. Pinkie Pie bounced over, a little less enthusiastic than her normal self. “Actually, Twilight, We all just assumed you meant we’d be doing the short version. We’ve always done that one in Ponyville, ever since I came here, and that was buckets of fun! Then we’d have a Hearthswarming celebration with cookies and eggnog and all sorts of surprises… but it was different back at home. I didn’t even know that there was a Canterlot version until you read it to us right now.”
Twilight whimpered. “So none of you have even looked at your lines?”
“Um… I have,” Fluttershy raised a hoof, “but it was for the short version. I have them all memorized, but, um, if you really want to do the official Canterlot version…”
Twilight threw her hooves up in despair. “Et tu, Fluttershy?!”
“Yeah… what are we talking about?” Rainbow dash lifted her sunglasses and rubbed her eyes. “‘Cause I was totally paying attention, but all that poetry, like, turned off my brain and I missed, like, the last half hour…”
“Did you memorize your lines, Rainbow Dash?”
Dash waved a hoof dismissively. “No sweat. I can get the lines down in five minutes flat. I can finish them in the dressing room before the audience even arrives! Unless… do you mean that poetry?”
Twilight nodded solemnly.
Rainbow nearly choked. “Ack! Really? That stuff is so boring and flowery and dry! You can’t expect me to ramble on in verse onstage! It would crimp my style!”
Twilight sighed in defeat. “Spike?”
Spike cleared his throat. Feast your ears. ‘Before the Princess raised the sun, or Luna raised the moon, the… uh… the candy colored ponies played around the… the…”
“Dreamscape…” Twilight prompted.
“Ah! Yes! The dreamscape room.”
Twilight buried her head in her forehooves and sobbed.
“All in favor of ditching the poetry play, say ‘neigh,’” Rainbow called out blatantly. A chorus of ‘neigh’s followed. “Democracy has ruled. We do the short version.” She replaced her shades and settled back down into the seat. Applejack passed Twilight her copy of the Ponyville Traditional script. “Here, you can use mine. Ah’ve learned ‘em already.”
Twilight accepted the papers and groaned. “Princess Luna will not be pleased. She’ll probably throw me in jail! Or yell at me! Or banish me to the moon for a thousand years! Or-”
“Hey! Don’t get all grumpy,” Pinkie burst in. “If you go to jail, we’ll all be going to jail with you! So you’ll still have your friends! So cheer up!” She shoved a dozen cupcakes into Twilight’s mouth before she could say a word. “Let’s enjoy the ride! And the show! And the celebrations afterwards! Oh boy, do you think they’ll have eggnog? Or cake? Lots of cake! Princess Celestia will be there, so there must be mountains of it! Or maybe…”
The train whistled and rattled on its merry way with its merry band of actors. As well or ill prepared as they were, they would nonetheless enter the stage in the spirit of Heartswarming as the bearers of harmony and unshakeable friends.