Despite the previous night, Fleur had managed to sleep quite soundly in the guest room she was in, having dozed in a deep, dreamless state for the remainder of the night. When the birds began to sing outside her window, it did not register deeply with her.
When it finally did, a warm ray of light began to creep in through her window and shined directly on her face. Even then, she didn’t really wake up, but laid there, groggy and oblivious to the world. Peacefulness enshrouded her completely.
The moment, however,was gone before she could properly register it. The scream of a stallion echoed from the room above her, followed shortly by a loud thud.
What in Celestia’s name was that?!
There was some more shuffling from above. Through the ceiling, she could hear voices muttering.
“What’s wrong?”
“A roach was crawling on me! I’m telling you, this place gets worse and worse every day!”
“Don’t raise such a fuss Emerald...”
“Don’t you tell me not to raise a fuss! I’ve been here for months now, and you still haven’t got it under con- THERE IT IS!” Another slam, this time with enough force to knock a few kernels of ceiling popcorn onto her sheets.
Fleur groaned as she rolled over to look back at her window, trying to ignore the ponies above her. But it proved harder than expected as the sound of furniture flipping and galloping continued just above her head.
“Quick, don’t let it escape! Stomp it!” One of them whined.
“That’s disgusting! I haven’t any shoes on!” Another slam followed by gallops.
“Quit being a priss Steam and use your hooves! That broom isn’t going to help- Quick! There it goes!” Another set of hoof falls, then silence.
Ah, back to how things should be… Fleur sighed in relief as she faced the ceiling, her eyes sliding closed.
“I can’t believe it went into the floorboards.” One of the stallions admitted defeated.
“It will come up somewhere. Roaches always do...”
The words barely registered with Fleur as she tried to fall back asleep, finding it more and more difficult by the second.
Maybe I should just get up already, I could go get some coffee, maybe a bite to eat.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a light tap to the end of her muzzle.
No… Oh nonononono, I’m not going to open my eyes. There is definitely NOT a cockroach on my nose.
The small weight on the end of her nose suddenly moved the top of her muzzle, and she could feel the small hooks in it’s legs pulling on the fur there.
No, don’t be there when I look, please oh please don’t be there…
She opened her eyes, and was greeted by a roach staring straight into her very soul.
“AH-HAH-HAH! Get it off!” The covers flew off in a flurry of white as she jostled herself about the bed, trying to fling the bug off of her muzzle.
The scream did not go unnoticed. It’s sharp, melodious sound instantly brought Noteworthy in, a can of bug spray locked and loaded in his hoof. “Don’t move missy, I’ve got it!”
“Get it off, get it off, get it o-o-off!” She whined in her prissy, fashion-pony way.
Noteworthy quickly pressed down on the top of the bug spray cap with his chin, quickly dowsing the bug in deadly chemicals, unfortunately doing so as it was still atop of Fleur’s muzzle. She coughed and gagged a few times before the roach fell away to it’s carpet-ly doom below, and she began waving a hoof to shoo away the cloud of chemicals. “What are you trying to do, kill me or ruin my voice?!”
“A voice so out of practice hardly needs to be ruined,” Noteworthy said with a sniff. “Besides, that stuffs organic, I doubt it would even make you a little sick.” With a casual toss over his shoulder, the can bounced off the floor before landing neatly on a shelf in the other room. “Breakfast is ready for you sunshine, at your leisure.” He said in a matter-of-factly tone, then exited the room and shut the door. Fleur was left in the resounding silence.
She sat in the bed for a few seconds, just staring at the door. Not even the sound of chirping birds could be heard anymore. “Why? That’s all I want to know... Why me?”
With no one to answer, she had no choice but to lumber out of the bed. Her body ached from the recent wake-up call. Profit numbs the pain… She thought to herself.
With a resounding crack of her back, she stretched long on the floor before exiting to the main living space to be greeted by the pristine room with a table set for a meal. “Hm, glad to see you’re out of bed.” The stallion grabbed a tray and lay it down on the table with precision and smiled with satisfaction. “I can’t make a great meal, but I do pride myself with presentation.”
Fleur trotted slowly to the table and saw what had to be the most beautiful set up for breakfast that she’d seen in a very long time. There was a tall crystal glass filled to the brim with orange juice, and a matching bowl sitting next to it, waiting to be filled with its contents. There was however, no food to be seen. “So, where’s the eggs and pancakes?”
“Eggs? Pancakes? Oh my, no. I’m sorry, but no eggs. I do, however, have some cornflakes I got from the food shelter last week, and the milk’s fresh… Ish?”
Noteworthy was interrupted by a joyous pony below. “CORNFLAKES? Oh that’s good!” The pony continued, chanting out as if praying to the cereal gods for its stale, corny goodness.
His response was to slam a hoof down on the floor and shouted, “NO! It’s not for you!”
Fleur stood frozen, lips quipped, before Noteworthy cleared his throat. “Sorry, this place has notoriously thin spaces between apartments. Anyway, please help yourself, but remove the parsley garnish before adding the cereal… That would taste weird with the milk.”
“Thanks for the tip.” Fleur drooped her head, grasping the cereal box in her aura. It was gonna be a long day, but not having any food in her system would simply make it drag on for an eternity.
After the pair had breakfasted, brushed up and started to mill around the living room, it wasn’t long before a messenger came by with a message from Darius. After reading that the telegram simply told the pair to meet up at the Arcadian Theatre, the pair rushed out the door for the appointment.
It turned out to be a much older venue, located on the old south road near the edge of Canterlot. The theatre looked like it was a glamorous place, a fine palace of the arts overlooking the country from the edge of the mountain city. However, it also looked as if nopony had maintained it for at least a decade.
“Wow. Does anyone even own this place?” Fleur asked incredulously before wiping a spot clean off of the door, then wiping the dust onto Noteworthy’s coat.
“I’m afraid I own this place,” a familiar voice said, followed closely by the smell of cheap whisky and expensive cigars. “Hello Noteworthy, good to see you,” Denarius said with a smile as he puffed on his cigar. “And Fleur, marvelous that you could actually wake up before noon today.”
“The pleasure is yours, I assure you,” Fleur said with a sniffle as she took more shallow breaths around her manager. “So why are we here? This old palace doesn't look like it’s seen a crowd in…”
“Eight years, three months, two weeks and three days,” Denarius said with a casual tone of voice. “Yes, the old Arcadian has seen better days, and I expect you three to make more for her soon.”
“That’s like asking us to- Wait, what do you mean by ‘you three?’”
“I believe that he means you two and I,” a voice greeted them. Another unicorn waltzed up to the pair in a staccato of hoofbeats, craning her head to show them both a welcoming, but overly excited smile. “Lyra Heartstrings. A pleasure to meet you both.”
Fleur was dumbfounded, yet Noteworthy seemed to have had a part of his mind tickled by her sudden appearance. “Hey, I know you! You were there for the last Winter Wrap Up in Ponyville-”
“We do not speak of ‘that’ outside of Ponyville.” Lyra’s lips quivered, and that joy-filled smile was nearly wiped off the face of Equestria.
“Err, right… But what are you doing here? I thought you had a shop to run in Ponyville?” Noteworthy asked.
“Oh, but I do! Bon Bon’s filling in for me.” Lyra stated matter-of-factly.
- Meanwhile in Ponyville… -
Bon Bon stood firmly behind the cashier’s table, looking about the pony-less room of instruments and musical doodads for the musically gifted. She smiled as she stared blankly at the front door, waiting for something to happen.
I have no idea what I’m doing.
Her smile never wavered as the thought went through her candy-coated brain.
- And now back to your regularly scheduled story! -
“I’m sure everything’s just fine…” Lyra sighed contently, only for her sense of relief to float away with the impatient taps of Denarius’ hoof.
“Is story time over now?” The bit-headed stallion groaned, waiting to finally give his first assignment to them.
The trio nodded in unison.
“Good. Now that I have your attention, you’ll all be prepping the Arcadian for tonight’s opening act.” Denarius puffed his cigar into Fleur’s face and awaited their protests.
“Wait a minute! Why are we ‘prepping’ instead of doing, oh I don’t know… Performing!?” Fleur threw the order back into the ring leader’s lap. Denarius chuckled to himself and gave the cigar a gentle roll with his teeth.
“Cause twelve bits for hungry ponies makes for a sound investment instead of hiring professionals. Hop to it.” With that, Denarius tossed the trio a playbill for the evening and left them to their will: a closet full of cleaning supplies and an old Canterlot relic looking to be the gleaming light of a past era of entertainment.
“We’re screwed, aren’t we?” Lyra said as her smile flickered into nothingness.
Noteworthy examined the playbill Denarius had left for them. “According to this playbill we will if we don’t have this place shimmering by sunset.”
Lyra and Fleur looked to each other, tears brimming in their eyes. “What are we gonna do!?” They whined together.
“Don’t worry girls, we can do this if we work together!” Noteworthy rallied the troops. When he realized that no props or hoof-bumps would be given, he took it upon himself to study the map of the theatre on the back of the playbill. ”Right, so anyway, I’ll take the lobby and guest passageways. Fleur, you’ll take the stage and seating area.”
“I’ll do no such thing!” Fleur pouted.
“And Lyra, you’ll work on getting the entrance and street area cleaned up.”
“What?” Lyra questioned in confusion.
Noteworthy smirked. “You know, make the ‘outside’ of the building look good.”
“Oh, right!”
“I still refuse to clean the stage area!” Fleur stomped her hoof down in protest.
“Fine,” Noteworthy said with a casual tone. “You can go home and forget about your fifteen minutes in the limelight.”
“... Oh alright, I’ll go get a mop…” she shuffled away in defeat, leaving the other two to their own devices. She entered the massive grand palace of the arts and was taken aback by the sheer size of it all.
“Mother of Celestia…” Fleur gawked in awe. “I have to clean all of this…”
The longer she waited, the less time she would have to earn the bits for the day. Without another moment to waste, she began searching for the supply closet.
To her luck, what very little there was now, she managed to find it all too quickly on accident. Meaning, the first door she opened ejected its contents violently in a torrent of S’all Pine®, mops, rags, and a hefty number of MagiSquares™.
Fleur was nothing less than a furry ball of sweat an hour later. She’d managed to get the stage swept, and dusted off the curtains for the stage. She even used her magic to help her broom and mop anywhere that ponies would have walked.
That being said, there was still a few thousand seats, a chandelier, far too many brass fixtures, and all the lights needed to be scrubbed and in some cases polished.
“There’s no way I’m going to be able to finish all this before we open tonight,” Fleur moaned as she scrubbed the first of many red velvet chairs.
The velvet proved difficult as she soaked her rag in the soapy water and began scrubbing the wood and velvet. "Maybe I should ask for some help," she muttered to herself before throwing the rag down into the bucket, causing a small slosh of water to spill out onto the recently mopped floor. She winced slightly, but only a bit before drying up the spill and moving on to the foyer in search of Noteworthy.
From the moment that she stepped out into the room outside the main auditorium, she was blinded by a golden light that seemed to flood out from everywhere. "What in the," she held a hoof up to block out some of the light as her eyes adjusted. Chamber music suddenly seemed to be playing from nowhere. It wouldn't have taken long to find the gramophone that was set up, if it weren't for the fact that the room had taken all of her attention.
The walls marble face shone with a gleam, enhancing the golden light that shone brightly from the highly polished brass and glass fixtures that were mounted all about the walls. The stairwell that she had previously assumed was wood, was in fact more of the marble, with brass and oak railing that lead down to the main floor of the lobby. Flanked on either end of the stairs banisters stood gracefully sculptured brass statuettes holding a jet of flame encased in an opaque globe.
A clock ticked from somewhere above her, and she looked up to see that every detail of the pegasi that fawned over the face of the clock gleamed as if brand new. Crimson and gold curtains hung from above, covering the doorways to other areas of the lobby for either guests, or crew to abscond to before or after the show. The fact that it was all perfect only brought attention back to herself, and the fact that she was caked in dust mixed in and sticking to her own sweat.
"You had better have a good reason for standing in my clean lobby looking like that," Fleur turned to her left and saw Noteworthy, perfectly clean and casually leaning against the wall as he took the needle of the player. "After all, you do seem to be quite attracted to filth."
"Ha. Ha. It is to laugh," Fleur said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "Look, I need some," she stumbled for the right word before continuing. "Advice on how I should go about cleaning the seats."
"Well," Noteworthy said as he made his way over to her. "What have you tried so far?"
"Scrubbing of course," she said with a slight sniff.
"Well I hope that you have the brains to realize that adding water to dust is just making mud," Noteworthy said with a frown. "Didn't you see a vacuum cleaner? Or did you try brushing them clean?"
"There's just so much to do," Fleur said as she looked down. "I have yet to still do the chandeleer, and the other lights around the room, and all the chairs."
"Alright, keep calm," Noteworthy said with a wave of his hoof. "I'll be there in a jiffy to help with the lights and polishing the brass, it's one of the things I'm good for." He started to head toward her, before pausing and heading outside. "On second thought, let's see how Lyra is doing, I'm pretty sure that she might be done by now."
"She had the whole of the outside to do," Fleur said as she descended the stairs the rest of the way. "What makes you think that she's done?"
Once she was outside, it was clear how anypony in her position could be done quickly. Lyra stood a small distance away from the building, standing on her rear legs and holding a very large hose. "Just a few more minutes," she said with a smile. "The grime from the building's just gotta go down the drain."
Sure enough, the building was much cleaner, but the black grime from years of filth had to go somewhere. Currently, it was on the sidewalk, swiftly being pushed down a sewer grate. Lyra hummed along to herself as she waved the hose left and right, making small waves of water and chasing it down until all of it was gone down the hole. "There, I think that will do iiiiieaaach! What in Equestria happened to her?"
Noteworthy looked from Lyra to Fleur and gave a small grin. "Well, it looks like the pony with the horn forgot about magic while cleaning."
"Ha ha. Again," Fleur deadpanned. "Look, I just need some help with the auditorium and we can get this over with before tonig-" she was suddenly and rather rudely interrupted by a strong blast from Lyra's hose.
"You're not going back in until you are at least clean enough that you don't track dirt all over our own work!" The hose blasted her a few more times, leaving Fleur sputtering and coughing water away from her mouth.
With all three of them tackling the auditorium, Noteworty taking the brass lamps and the chandeliers while Fleur and Lyra took on the chairs, it wasn't long at all before they noticed that they were done. "I think that's it," Noteworthy said with a small exhausted smile. Lyra looked ready to take a nap, but Fleur herself felt ready to faint. She had managed to somehow get through without getting too much dirtier than she was before. But even then she was truly rather filthy, and was in desperate need of a shower.
The clock in the lobby chimed twice, Fleur's ears twitching with each chime. "I can't believe it's only two," she muttered.
"Believe it," Lyra said as she cracked her back. "Well, I'm pretty sure that the restrooms for the staff are downstairs right?"
Noteworthy gave a nod as he pointed with a hoof. "Back there and down the flight of stairs, there's a few dressing rooms, each with a restroom with a shower shared between two rooms. But I didn't get around to cleaning any of them yet," he said with a frown. "If you want to shower now, there's the locker rooms just past the private dressing rooms, but you won't get any privacy really."
Lyra gave a shrug and headed off to clean herself while Fleur thought it over. "I'll just wait until she's done." Fleur said with a smile as she and Noteworthy headed behind the stage.
"That's fine with me," Noteworthy said as he started for the stairs. "But I'm going to the Stallion's lockers, so why don't you keep an eye open for Danarius until one of us comes out of the shower, he's supposed to run the ticket booth," he paused to think about it before adding, "and probably a few more acts now that I think about it."
Fleur gave a nod and turned back to the lobby, quickly grabbing as many of the cleaning supplies as she could along the way to the closet in the lobby they belonged in. That was when she heard something. It was only three notes, but they sounded remarkably like a pipe organ.
Fleur paused to listen, but hearing nothing more, shrugged and continued to the closet. After dropping off the equipment, and barely getting the door shut again, she grabbed her Gucci saddlebag, her favorite tan ones with fringes, and pulled out a set of songs she knew to look them over. "Hmm, what to do tonight."
As she thought it over, she heard Lyra's voice call out to her. Fleur stopped reading the songbook's list as she put it down. "Coming!" She smiled as she thought about how tonight would be the start of her big comeback. "Everything's going to be perfect," she said as a small chuckle escaped her throat.