//------------------------------// // Intermission // Story: A Moment with Dr Wolf Goes Wrong // by Light Heart101 //------------------------------// As the curtains closed, the cast quickly ran over to help Doc, moving the now broken props out of the way.  “Doc! Are you okay?” Kirouac asked as he started to lift the wall back up with Skies. “I… I think so.” He said, hugging himself as he tried to calm down after that near miss. “H… how’s Twilight?” “Sleeping like a baby.” Quill explained with no emotion whatsoever. “Thanks to the two brutes over there.” “Hey! We had no clue she was over there! Lay off!” Kirouac scolded the monotone pony, looking frustrated at how little he seemed to care.  “Of course, your highness.” “The crown is off. I don’t need to be at my best to cut the fat with you and your wise cracks.” The monotone pony held up his hooves before anypony else could address him. “Hey, I’m not the one who poorly organized this play.” “Cut it out, Quill!” Skies barked out, starting to get seriously irritated by him. Before an argument could break out, Golden Flare cleared his throat. “Um… now may be a bad time to ask, but do you think Twilight will be back for the second act?” He asked nervously, looking worried about whether she'd be okay with continuing. Quill shrugged before looking towards the two stronger stallions. “I highly doubt she’ll wake up before the show ends. So now we’re down an actor down, and even with the stage partially taken down, there is no way that we can carry on without covering her role. So, I suggest we start cleaning this mess while Light practices his apology speech.” He said as he turned to the alicorn, who looked stunned by how this was essentially the perfect storm of catastrophes. As everybody had their eyes on Light, Shubberry tugged at Light’s wing, drawing his attention to the two worried fillies. “Mr Heart? Are you really going to stop the play?” Linda asked, looking worried at the idea that their hard work had gone to waste. He looked nervous for a minute, making the others worry about if he was going to break, especially Doc. He knew more than the others the mental toil how so many failures could make a pony fall apart, even Twilight herself. However, he seemed to swallow his anxiety for a moment as he put on the most forced smile any of them had ever seen. “No. We’re not done yet.” The group all looked at each other as the more skeptical ones spoke up. “Light, your stage fell apart…” Light held up a hoof before Elytra could continue. “No problem whatsoever. We are shifting to the party set. We don’t have to worry about the props that have broken. Let’s move quickly and get the next set ready while Quill and I handle the Twilight situation.” Doc cleared his throat as he walked over the rubble to talk to him. “Light, are you really sure that this is the wisest option?” He could easily see that Light’s hooves were shaking, and his keen ears could hear his heavy breathing as he was doing everything he could to try and stay standing. “Yeah, Doc. The show must go on.” Light said as he grabbed Quill’s tail walked further backstage to talk. Dr Wolf turned around to the rest of the group, who all looked nervous, but still willing to go on for now. The canine could only sigh as he gave a small shrug. “Well, things can’t get any…” “DON’T SAY IT!!!” Everybody barked out at the same time. As Light dragged Quill to where they would normally get dressed, he just rolled his eyes at the alicorn’s naive nature. “Look Light, I don’t know what’s going through that head of yours, but unless Twilight has a twin sister, we aren’t pulling this off. Also, don’t even think about asking Starlight. In my mind, she doesn’t count.” He gave a frustrated sigh as he started looking through some of the large cans they had lying around. “Tell me, what do normal theaters do?” “Hire professionals. Plan things thoroughly. Quit while they’re ahead. All options for a pony in your...” “They have understudies to take over if something happens to the other actor.” He said sternly as he got out a large can of purple fur dye out.  Quill showed no sign of emotion in his voice, and yet Light felt like he was being belittled by the unicorn. “Light, if you were smart enough to get one, then you’d be covered. However, I believe that the current state of this play reflects your leadership skills and intellect. Now, where are we going to get another Twilight?” “Well, luckily we have a pony who knows everything about acting and constantly boasts a perfect memory.” He said as a cruel grin came over his face. “First of all, it’s photographic. I never used other words to describe it in front of you. Second, you know that I am a lousy actor. Something about my emotions.” “It’s your lack of it.” Light explained as he started walking towards him with gritted teeth. “Now you have the chance to pretend to play someone who actually has emotions.” The thought of a lack of wings came into Quill’s head as an easy out, but he already knew that Light would cover that quickly. “Light, I did a lot to help you with your struggling play, but this…” “QUILL!!! All you have done is point out every flaw in my play, my cast, my timetable, let alone causing problems by not showing Derpy how the soundboard works…” “At least I did it right.” Light stomped his hoof as he backed him into a wall. “Now you’re going to help me do something constructive for once! Now, either you can put the fur dye on, or I’ll dump this bucket on your head and throw you on stage. Make your choice.” He said sternly as he held up the bucket. Quillian kept staring at him for a few minutes, holding the best poker face in the world as he was looking at an angry alicorn. After a moment of holding that stare, he slowly took the can from Light’s hooves. “Welp, the play is already a bust. Might as well join the others in the chaos.” As everypony was taking their seats, waiting for the intermission to end, they saw Light walking on stage, under the right spotlight this time. Too bad Derpy turned on the left one. “Awe, come on!” Everybody giggled at how the acoustics of this place could let them hear his frustrated muttering as he got to the light. “Ahem. Ladies and Gentlecolts. Welcome back to act two of tonight’s play, Dr Wolf, A Helping Paw. I assume that most of you have returned given the fact that this is an outdoor theater and the next train doesn’t leave for two hours.  Now, some of you may have noticed a few small slip ups in our play, however, I can assure you that these small errors will not affect the rest of the play… kinda. Our leading mare, Twilight Sparkle, has been unexpectedly indisposed for the time being. Luckily, we have an understudy who has taken her role for the time being until she can hopefully rejoin us.” Before he could go any further, Doc poked his head out of the curtains. “Give us an extra minute. We’re running behind.” He said quickly before poking his head back in. “Oh, um... I would also like to point out that these little errors are common in many plays… including ours. Like in one of our early plays, Journey to the Center of the Earth, when a certain unnamed pony ended up packing his bags for the trip. Then there is our Nightmare Night production of the Mummy, which was interpreted as an hour-long lecture about childcare.” As Light was trying to ignore the crowd’s laughter, Derpy ran up to him with a worried look. “Um, sorry for interrupting, but I tripped over the cables for the wire rig and the soundboard, and I don’t know how to plug them back in.” “What? That this is a prototype! You know that they will…” Before he could finish, he remembered that a lot of people were still watching him. “Um… we’ll have this small error fixed quickly… Derpy, keep them company.” He ordered before running to the soundboard. The walleyed mare froze in shock before turning to the audience. “Um. Hi… I want to thank the ponies who let me try being a sound-mare, namely all of the people who passed it up so I could offer, like Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Bon Bon, Lyra, Luna, Gary, Angel bunny…” “Derpy…” The mare yelped as she turned and saw Kirouac walking up to her. “Oh… your highness…” “You’ve been doing a great job, but we found a loose bolt and were wondering if you could look over the wire rig for Schuberry? I figured since you worked with it before you’d be able to tell.” “Oh… um… I’m not an expert, but I can try my best.” Derpy agreed before looking at the audience. “Um… may you…” “Of course. I’ll handle the stage for a while.” He agreed with a nod, making the mare blush a little before she ran off. The king cleared his throat as he addressed the people with a smile. “Greetings everybody. I am Kirouac, the currently off-duty king of MoonRacer. You know, I have never done anything like this before, but it’s not as hard as I thought it would be. I would like to also mention that the Twilight incident was an accident, and I have already prepared my apology… for whenever she wakes up.” The king explained as he was trying to think of something to say, not wanting to bore them with a speech or anything like that. “Um… three ponies walk into a bar…” Before he could finish, Linda gently tugged at his wing. “Excuse me, but Golden needs your help with hanging some of the metal lanterns.” “I thought we were using paper ones?” “You burned them after a sneeze, remember?” Kirouac blushed as he remembered the drawback of him being half dragon. He gave a small smile as he waved off the crowd. “It’s alright, it’s not allergy season… and I take pills for that.” He explained before turning to the kid. “Um, where is Golden right now?” “Under the lanterns, trying to get them off of him.” “Ah, he needs to work out.” he admitted before starting to walk off the stage. “I’ll leave the audience in your capable hooves.” “Whose?” She asked in confusion before realizing that she was alone on stage. “Oh… hi… um… Doc’s pretty nice, isn’t he?” She asked, getting a few cheers as she tried to think about what to do. “So… um… how about that Babylonian Tupperware?” As she was struggling to find something to talk about, she noticed Schuberry coming on stage, dragging an electric keyboard from backstage. “Oh! Hey! What’s…” She paused as she saw the other child beginning to play her music.  The mute girl went with a more upbeat melody, doing her own variation of the classic Entertainer. Linda had a hard time telling what she was thinking at the moment, but the slight grin on her face suggested a bit of a mischievous intent, playing off of the atmosphere that was unintentionally set. Linda looked amazed as she sat down next to her. “Wow… that’s amazing! Although I never saw these buttons before…” She admitted as she gently pressed one, Queuing the chaos. In a split second, the classic piano music changed to synthesizer music. The mute child’s eyes widened as she kept playing, trying to understand the new music style. As she started to play with a more upbeat rhythm, Elytra appeared on stage, having somehow found a mariachi costume backstage, along with a pair of maracas as she started dancing her heart out and singing with the music. “They call me Cuban Pete. I'm the king of the rumba beat. When I play the maracas I go chick-chicky-boom, chick-chicky…” *Squeeeeeee…* *Boom* Both girls were taken aback as they saw Elytra surrounded in a bright gold glow before being dragged off stage magically, slamming into some dusty old boxes before Kirouac took stage again, coughing a bit as he helped switch the keyboard back to piano mode.  “Ah… sorry girls… you know how… hungry she’s… been… ah… ACHOO!!!” The dragon hybrid sneezed out a burst of flames, lighting the piano on fire as the two kids started panicking at the sight. Linda instantly ran off stage while Schuberry started trying to pat the fire out. In spite of the chaos and panic from the others, the audience did believe that this was the best cover of ‘Great balls of fire’ that they had ever heard someone play. As Kirouac was trying to think about what to do to help with the fire, Golden ran out with a fire extinguisher. “I’ve got it!” He yelled as he started slamming the tank into the keyboard, breaking it into several small pieces while somehow also putting out the flames. As the Schuberry was looking at the broken instrument in front of her, he simply tossed the extinguisher aside. “Wow… who knew that plastic was that flammable?” Kirouac nodded as he picked up the remains of the keyboard and turned to Vinyl, who owned said equipment. “Um… I’ll get you a new one… once I find a way to trade for it.” He assured her, for once regretting ruling a nation with no currency. “Um… come on Schuberry. Let’s get you hooked up to the wire rig. Golden, mind talking with the audience?” “Of course.” He agreed as he sat down on the stage, saying absolutely nothing as he stared at the audience with a blank expression.  He kept silent for a minute before Skies came on stage. “Dude, why aren’t you talking to them?” Golden looked at him obliviously before shrugging. “I don’t know.” “Why do you keep doing this?” He thought for a minute before shrugging again. “Instinct. And I love plot twists.” Skies gave a long sigh as he tried to get him off stage. “Just go… er… don’t go backstage and help the others?” He nodded before getting up and leaving the stage, causing the speedster to give a long sigh before noticing the audience. “Oh… hey… um… What should I do?” He asked, looking for a little help with this. “Do a stunt!” Dash’s voice called out. “With the curtains down? I don’t have room for it.” Skies explained as he bit his lip. “Which leaves my day job, which won’t work out. Then there is either the unicycle trick with the marshmallow and the flaming torches… but we have no marshmallows. So that leaves burping the ABCs.” He said, looking bashful about the last talent that came to mind. ”I wonder if all the stars started that way…” “Don’t do it!” Light yelped as he ran back on stage frantically.  “But it’d be entertaining.” “To some of us, someplace else. Just get backstage. We’re ready to get going.” “But what about the lanterns?”  “They’re set up. Just go!” The alicorn yelped as he shooed him off stage. As he turned to the audience, he wiped the sweat off of his forehead, praying that he bought them enough time. “Well, I think we should get back to the play. Now, put your hooves together for act two of Dr Wolf, A Helping Hoof… I mean Paw!”