//------------------------------//
// That's Some Play 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Starlight followed along with her friends as they trailed after Saffron, more for the sake of sticking together than because she was curious about the play. Made-up or not, she wasn't extremely interested in Meltdown's history, already knew all about moon glass and had never even heard of half the ponies mentioned. If anything, the flashy ending Saffron had complained about was the least noteworthy part for her. She had heard about what it looked like when she used the harmony extractor and stopped Ironridge's windigoes. Strong magic was probably just fond of light shows.

"Well, hello there," Nimble Step greeted, extending a hoof and tapping with Randorf, Pierre, Shill and Saffron. "Friends, and friends of friends." He nodded to everyone else. "I take it you all were our guests of honor?"

"Yep." Valey brushed back her mane. "Nice special effects, dude."

"Nimble Step..." Shinespark's brow creased. "I feel like I've heard of you before. Has your troupe ever visited Ironridge?"

The stallion shrugged. "From time to time, though not terribly recently. We did have a gig in the Stone District a few years back, but it's not the most jubilant place to visit after that business twenty years ago, and a few of us have been around long enough to have some bad memories associated with that day." He nodded to Valey. "And I'm glad it was appreciated. We had to throw it together in a somewhat hectic, show-must-go-on last-minute affair. It's fortunate our special effects artist is talented."

"Yeah, I could sorta tell..." Saffron rubbed an ear, averting her gaze and looking like she was broaching an uncomfortable topic.

Nimble's posture lost some of its pomp. "That many holes in our routine, eh? Well, it's a valuable litmus test. Not that we had a lot to work with, but at least we got a significant applause."

"What happened to the old routine?" Pierre asked, lifting a talon. "I assume you had to censor it due to recent political events?"

"Indeed." Nimble sighed. "The play's been rewritten three times since you last saw it. First, our writer wanted to focus more on single years rather than a spread-out survey. Fewer timeskips, better tension, more coherency, assorted things the audience will only spot with an education yet matter anyway. Then that explosive news happened with Prince Gazelle in Stormhoof, and since the situation is still unfolding, we thought it would be best to write him out of the story altogether. Now Meltdown's adjutants are running around telling everyone with a voice who can influence public opinion that it is our civic duty to shore up the citizenry, build morale, and promote solidarity in the face of the country fracturing again."

Valey raised an eyebrow. "If the news is that explosive, aren't you just a little bothered by me being here?"

Nimble gave her a sympathetic look. "Err... no? Should I be? I didn't grow up in the Empire and have little attachment to the species sentiments of this continent, if that's what you mean." He flicked his ears. "If you're talking about that business with Gazelle and Stormhoof, I don't think anyone in their right mind would blame you for that."

"Really?" Valey tilted her head, then quickly glanced back to her friends. "Wait, what does everyone here think happened?"

"Have you not picked up a newspaper over the last few days?" Nimble's eyes widened. "Only Prince Gazelle breaking down laughing during a public testimony before the Council of Lords about how he goaded you into attacking Stormhoof by foalnapping one of your friends and messing with the guard rosters so no one there could put up a fight. You can be reasonably sure everyone here knows who you are by now, and no one wants to mess with you."

Valey bit her lip, flapping her wings and hovering. "...Huh. He didn't even try to blame me for that?" She glanced at everyone. "Bananas, that's weird. I suddenly have some, uh, stuff to do. I'll meet you all back at the ship."

Starlight blinked as she flew away. "Bye..."

Gerardo looked up. "Should someone go after her?"

"She's probably fetching a newspaper." Shinespark shook her head. "We were talking about the play?"

Saffron sat down on the front bench, giving a careful look to the stage. "I mean, given the circumstances, it's a lot more understandable. I just wish you hadn't glossed over so many important parts. You want a moral about sticking together? Try giving Lighthooves and Meltdown more than a few seconds onstage so the audience can learn to care about them a little."

"And say what about them?" Nimble Step shrugged. "I'm sure they will once we've had more time to reform the act, but the truth is rather inconvenient. Telling the audience they had been around for two years and were Temperantia's friends before he died makes them considerably less heroic, and their powers-"

"Who does not love a story about avenging fallen comrades?" Pierre cut in. "That is what they did, was it not?"

Nimble loudly cleared his throat. "As I was saying, a story in which salvation miraculously descends from above is slightly more in line with what we were begged to inspire the citizenry to look for than a story glorifying vengeance. Far from perfect and perhaps a little sketchy, but Meltdown's image is having issues enough with the power crisis this last month and we made the judgement call to display her as an angel rather than a teenager who was around for two years and only put her ridiculous powers to work helping the continent when it got personal. Same for Lighthooves, though he isn't here anymore." He wiped his brow with a kerchief. "There's also the matter that both of them claimed powers from somewhere other than Garsheeva, so we didn't want to elaborate too terribly when the whole point is to restore faith in our good goddess..."

"Sounds complicated," Shill lamented. "For what it's worth, I liked the play and don't blame you."

"Who even was Lighthooves?" Amber asked. "I've never heard of him before."

Saffron instantly perked up. "Lighthooves was my old mentor. Took me under his wing when I first came across the border. He's gone, now. Won the tournament, got himself a Writ of Harmonic Sanction, and headed off in the name of bigger, grander adventures. Sure do wonder how he's doing..."

"He is a much more interesting character to write about when we're performing further to the west," Nimble sighed. "Being from Ironridge, you all are likely familiar with the legend of Blazing Rain? It's not a story often told around here, but back west, you can catch quite a few ponies' attention by talking about a pegasus with magical powers. He was from Yakyakistan initially, even."

"Huh," Shinespark said, glancing up at her horn. "I wonder how well we would have gotten along. I know a thing or two about having a similarity to Blazing Rain. What could he do, and how was he able to do it?"

Amber nodded. "And what was he like?"

"He fought with hoofstrikes that could burn you with this radiant light. Hence the name." Saffron sat back, waving a hoof as she talked. "Unforgettable appearance and demeanor. He talked larger than life, going on about special moves and silly things, had so much energy and enthusiasm, and he just loved... well... loving things. It was never, 'this is good' with him. Always 'this is the best'. Spoke exclusively in superlatives. Could drink anyone under the table, too. But you'd never see him happier than when he was appreciating things. His favorite thing was talking about how great things were. Of course, he was still a pony. Still had other emotions too. He was wise, mature... great at reading situations. Knew exactly when to slow down and help others catch up. He just had this fiery spirit you don't ever see in creatures, a spirit to go along with his hooves, and he kept up even when times were tough."

Everyone had quieted as she rambled, and Amber slowly grew a knowing smirk. "Sounds like someone has a crush."

Saffron instantly turned beet-red. "No! I mean, maybe a little. But there's no shame in that. He was great. Just... had wings, and was bound for places I couldn't follow. The world's a big place, though, so there's no use thinking about what could've been when you could be doing instead. Besides, I've got enough fond memories to last a lifetime."

Amber grinned, waggling her eyebrows.

"It was you who got me talking about him," Saffron huffed, stubbornly holding her head high. "Acting like you've never seen a little crush before. Hmmph. How many colts have you ever had eyes for, missy?"

Nimble Step coughed. "If we're done discussing my play, I'm going to speak with my stagehands. Good luck with your more frivolous matters." He quickly, discretely stepped away.

"See ya." Amber waved him off, focusing on Saffron. "And sorry. Old habits die hard. Believe me, I've had more flings than you can shake a stick at." She stretched. "So, anyone want to follow that up with lunch? I'm famished..."

"I would," Shill volunteered.

"Certainly sounds appealing." Gerardo got up, ruffling his wings. "I wouldn't mind seeing more of what this city has to offer."

"Are we waiting for Valey?" Starlight asked, glancing back towards the exit.

Shinespark shook her head. "She said she'd meet us back at the ship. I don't think she wanted us to wait around."

"Lunch, then," Maple hummed. "And maybe it will finally stop raining..."