Luna stared.
The idea had been straightforward. She had greatly hurt the arts with her reviews, and many theaters had closed down. Therefore, she decided to finance a large production, with the aim of bringing interest back to the theatre. The only provision, which she had felt was fair, was that the play had to be done up to her own standards.
It wasn't as though it was unreasonable; after all, she understood what had been wrong last time. She knew theatre well, she knew what ponies liked (reasonably) well, and yet every time she reached out to a director they were unavailable. Or out of town. Or in one special case, had disappeared entirely.
Luna been forced to expand her search past Canterlot, but the few that had been interested hadn't been willing to travel to put on her show. She'd been close to expanding outside Equestria when she'd received a positive answer, from a group that had agreed to meet with her at the train. There's been frustratingly little information about the troupe (and the lack of information was interesting in itself) and she planned on getting answers from them in person.
Luna stared at the person at the train platform. It didn't help.
"Wow," he said as he stared up at Luna. He was short, blue, and had an odd nose. There were a great many other odd features, but her mind was too confused to note them. "This is so exciting! Prose looks weird, we're barely in books and things. I think we had a comic a while ago. I played Sherlock Holmes— Oh!" With an odd glee, he lowered himself onto one knee before her. "Cool!" He said. "Getting us to kneel on TV is kinda hard because you have to cut around... Well, we don't like to talk about them. But we're just words here so there's way more options. Hey." And there was a gleam in his eye that reminded her of Rainbow Dash. "What kind of stunts can I do here? I wish this wasn't just a flash-fic—"
"HOLD ON!"
The small whatever-it-was's eyes widened in fear as a voice thundered from behind him. Luna considered herself to be something of an expert at shouting and was impressed that such volume could come from something so small. The short blonde thing emerged through the doors, stormed up to Luna's small friend, and shouted "Are you kidding me? Appearing in fan-fiction is bad enough, but this isn't even a real Estee story?"
"You want to be in an Estee story," said a mare who felt as though her skepticism was personally justified.
"But of course," said the pig-like actress. "You know what I get with Disney? Romantic lead. Every. Time. But in an Estee story, there'd be drama," and she actually turned to the side and put a hand to her forehead, performing to an unseen audience. "I'd have some kind of tragic backstory about how my parents didn't support my passion, so I went on the road and became a showgirl, only for a dashing host to realize my potential and give me my own skit which led to our whirlwind romance. Then my parents find out about how famous I am, and then they'll beg my forgiveness because I'm just so famous and pretty."
Luna went back to just staring. It fell upon her new shorter friend to speak up. "Gee, that doesn't sound very sad."
"Well, of course it's not sad" the actress snapped. "I don't want to read a sad story. I. Want. Drama!"
He thoughtfully nodded, but Luna stepped forwards. "You wish for your story to be darker?"
"Like you!" she unwisely continued. "You've got all this baggage and everyone loves you! I just want a little bit of that."
Luna slowly nodded. "Then I shall grant you your request."
There was a flash of light, and the pig was gone.
Her smaller friend hesitantly poked the air where she'd gone. He had an odd way of moving; his arm swung out as if something pulled it, but there was clearly nothing moving it. "Did you disintegrate her?"
Luna shook her head. "She wished for the same kind of... 'drama' that I had endured. I merely gave her an opportunity to claim it."
He stared at her for a moment, and then at the full moon.
"Not so far away— Ah. Here she comes."
A small screaming bundle of rage and terror smashed through the roof of the train and lay still. Luna politely knocked on the door. "Now," she said, "if I understand you... people correctly, you can emerge from this door injured in a manner that is funny, and have said injuries forgotten in the next scene. But if drama is truly your desire, then you can allow yourself to be more greatly harmed."
Her small friend was staring at her with wide eyes. She wasn't sure if it was fear or awe.
"The choice is yours," Luna finished. She waited.
After a long moment, the door slid open. The actress's eye was black and one arm was in a cast, despite the lack of medical supplies in the car. She pushed past the two of them, grumbling under her breath. Luna nodded in satisfaction. "Now," she said to her short friend, "you will help me locate your leader. I believe I have been somewhat misled as to who precisely I am in business with..."
"Right here!" came a reply from inside the car. The door slid open, revealing an angular green person staring at the pig-shaped hole in the ceiling. He visibly shook it off and turned to the princess. "It's very nice to meet you, Your Highness."
"And you as well," Luna said, "and I hope this doesn't come across as rude, but what are you people!?"
"He's a frog!" Her short friend said happily, "And I'm... well, not an alien. Past that nobody knows..."
Luna closed her eyes. "This is Equestria," She said. "A specific and, yes, dramatic version of Equestria. We do not normally have talking frogs and talking... whatevers. Let alone talking puppets!"
They both stared at Luna, waiting for the thunder to stop booming. "Woah!" The blue one said. "She'll fit right in with us! It's like being back with the Count! Oh, Kermit, try bowing! You'll love it—"
"Gonzo," came an incredibly patient reply that reminded Luna of her sister, "can you give me a few minutes?"
"Sure!" He exclaimed happily. "Oh, by the way, she teleported Miss Piggy through the roof of the train, so you're gonna have to talk to her about that later. Have fun!"
Luna watched the green amphibian turn to look in the direction "Miss Piggy" had gone and visibly swallowed. It was odd because she was very sure he didn't have a throat. "Okay, look," he said, "I know all of us—some more than others—can be a little hard to get used to. But if you give us a chance, I promise we'll give you a show-stopper you'll never forget."