The entire town was empty and the town was quiet. The only thing that you could hear was nothing but the sound of the wind while an occasional tumbleweed floated by. All the shops were empty and the only sign of life was at the Rainbow Bright House were the Mane 7 was watching television. The reason why there were no ponies out and about was that everypony was glued to the screen and was watching a popular TV show called Maretime Bay’s Got Talent. The name of the show says it all and everyone was tuning in.
However in the show, there was a problem; there was almost no winners and the ones that did get on made the show boring for everyone one. The only thing good about the show was the preliminaries were everyone actually got a chance to perform. Little did everyone know was the show was about to get worse. When it was time for the show there were several acts, a singer, a juggling act and a ventriloquist. When it was time for the first contestant to come on, the singer’s voice was decent but barely got a chance to sing due to being voted off by the judges very quickly. The next act was the jugglers who were clowns who were just goofing off with the balls in the end only to be voted off as well.
The last act was the ventriloquist who was barely able to say a few lines before being kicked off the stage. In the end there was no winners. The reason for this was because of the judge Mean Streak. The purple pegasus stallion lived up to his name and was known for never giving anypony a chance. Still, it was an exiting show and when a rare change of somepony actually getting the chance to actually perform came on, it was like playing a game of chance. The act was either really entertaining where ponies would talk about it for months or the act would be so boring that everypony would fall asleep.
The reason why the show was so popular in the first place was because of a judge named Mean Streak. Mean Streak was a purple stallion pegasus who wore a fedora and lived up to his name. The fact that this judge was mean was the reason why the rating were so high. Still, the Mane 7 couldn’t help but dislike this particular judge. Once the show was over, Megan groaned in a annoyance and even asked somepony to turn off the TV while the rest of the group agreed. Ironically, the Mane 7 hated the show for the very reason why the ratings were so high.
“I feel bad for the other acts. I mean seriously, why is this show popular again? There were some acts that I would have loved to see. ” Said Megan who was a bit disappointment. “I swear people love shows with a trashy person. I guess the same logic works for ponies.”
“I know those clowns were so much fun and the way the clowns handled those balls was so funny. Seeing them mess with those balls while watching them trip and fall a lot made it even better! I mean seriously how can somepony not like clowns.”Izzy replied disagreeing with Megan.
“Some ponies just don’t like clowns. I know that I don’t. Too much make up and there were way too many horror games about them that I played as a colt didn’t help either.” Hitch said as he shivered just thinking about the memory.” That was when Hitch heard the microwave go off and that was when he remembered that it was time to feed Sparky. Once Hitch left, the group began to chat amongst themselves.
“Well, I for one would love to see a talent show that would except any and all kinds of talents no matter how weird or outrageous they may seem.” Said Pip and that was when she had an idea.
“You know, I would love to show off some tricks.” Said Zip who also seemed to like the idea.
“I wanna do what those clowns did.” Said Izzy who was excited about the idea as well. “Now where did I put that make up?”
“You know that would actually be fun and I can even recite the police hoofbook without looking.”
“I would like to show ponies how to remove a cavity but I don’t think that would be the best idea since last time I did that there were a lot of angry parents when foals tried to do it themselves but heck I am going to just put out one of those professionals only disclaimer and do it anyway.”
“I know, why don’t we host our own talent show.”
“That is a great idea Pip.” Sunny said while the rest of the group agreed. “I have a large following and I can get my Pipsqueeks to show off their most unique and weirdest talent. It would be so much fun.”
“Yeah and I’ll even let my customers at the smoothie stand know about it too. Izzy, once you are finish with whatever you said that were going to do, how about you go and make some fliers.”
“Sure thing.” Izzy said clearly excited as she bounced merrily on her way.
“Minty would you mind if we borrow the theatre?” Sunny asked and Minty quickly agreed as she ran off to find Sprout. When Minty finally found Sprout, he was busy doing some construction. Last time when they met, he made a mess off things so he said that he wanted to take responsibly by fixing that hole that was still on the stage. Sprout was so focused on his work that he didn’t realize the sudden appearance of Minty.
“Guess who?” Minty said startling the red stallion in the process.
“Minty, warn me the next time you decide to appear out of nowhere.” Sprout was breathing heavily as a result.
“I see that hole is finally being taking care of.”
“What do you want Minty?”
“I was wondering if we can borrow the stage as soon as it is fixed.”
“Why are you asking me? This place is pretty much yours.”
“Well, you did say that you wanted to be in charge of the theatre stuff so I thought it would only be fair if I asked you first.”
“Any reason why in particular?”
“Let’s just say that my friends and I want to teach a certain mean judge a lesson.”
“Will there be humiliation involved?”
“Yes.”
“I’m in. The repairs should be done in about a week.” Said Sprout. As it turns out, Sprout hated the judge as well and wanted nothing more than a chance to humiliate him. While the theatre was being repaired, word has spread out fast. The fliers were made and ponies from all three towns were excited to audition for the show. The only pony who was not happy about the idea was Mean Streak because that meant that his show had some competition.
“You there.” Mean Steak said to a poor unsuspecting pony in a demanding tone and it was clear that the random worker was nervous. “What this about a new talent show in town.”
“Nothing sir and I am certainly not trying to sneak out and try out for an audition.”
“Never mind that, what my main concern in wether or not this other talent show will have any standards and is willing to save other ponies from embarrassment. The reason why I do what I do is that I want to make sure that no pony would have to go through what I have when I was a colt.” That was when Mean Streak had a flashback of his younger self auditioning for a talent show called Pony TV. When Mean Streak was young he, was very passionate about playing the tuba. However, when he passed the audition, it was the day of the primaries the week after. When his turn came, he ended up being a complete laughing stalk once he realized that he wasn’t actually good and that everypony in the audience laughed at him. The pegasus growled in anger scaring the poor employee off once the flashback was over.
Meanwhile back in Maretime Bay, there was a long line at the local theatre where Minty and her friends normally hung out at. The first thing Minty had to do was to convince Sprout since he was now in charge of the theatre stuff. Luckily, it didn’t take much since as it turned out, the red earth pony hated the mean judge on the show as well. To say that the auditions were long was an understatement. Some auditions were interesting while other were down right boring but they all passed regardless since the Mane 7 wanted this to be a show that celebrates all talents. Sunny, Megan and Pip were the judges and while all of this was going on and all three were still fighting to stay awake as a result.
“So how many more acts do we have to watch?” Sunny asked who looked as though she hadn’t slept for days.
“Twenty, I think.” Said Pip with a groan while Megan did the same. As if on cue, Mean Streak showed up and he was not happy as he bust the entrance open while at the same time shoving every pony who was there for the audition out of his way. This startled the three, especially Pip, who was already in danger of falling asleep.
“Who’s in charge here?” Mean Streak demanded.
“I’m awake.” Said Sunny who was now covered in coffee. She had ordered some not too long ago and the fact that her face was over the cup explained a few things.
“Oh, so you are the one in charge. Why aren’t you criticizing everyone who is auditioning today.” Once Megan was fully awake and heard thing, she was angry and began to defend her friend.
“Hey, what you do on your show was not showing criticism. In fact, you were being a troll.”
“Listen here girlie, I am doing every pony else a favor by saving them from embarrassment and since you three are in charge, I would advise that you all do the same.”
“This isn’t a contest to show that you are better than everyone. On our show, all talents are celebrated.”
“Yeah!” Both Sunny and Pip agreed. The duo were also angry as a result. Once the incident was over, the trio went back to watching the auditions. In one audition there were the clowns from before while in another there was a pony who had a gross but cool taken where he could squirt milk out of his eye. However, there wasn’t much to say about the last one was just some questionable dancing. Once the auditions were over, the trio of judges were relieved that the auditions were over.
“Finally, I thought that I was going to die. I want hibernate and wake up, never.” Said Megan who passed out while Pip was about to do the same. The one who was the most awake, just so happened to be Sunny who called Hitch to give them a ride home before passing out. Little did they know was that they were being watched. Once the trio got some rest, they saw that every pony in town was excited for the show and was showing each other some tricks with there friends.
There was defiantly some hype for the show since there would be no winners and it was a chance for each pony to be themselves. The day before the show, the Main 7 were having a little get together before the big day.
“Wow, word catches on fast.” Said Hitch who was actually impressed with how well put together everything was despite the little chaos that was going on outside. Not only was Hitch impressed but he was surprised to see that Sparky was excited for the show too after watching the baby dragon attempting a few tricks or two.
“You know, I changed my mind about showing off one of my talents. Who knew that my talent would stir up so much controversy.” Said a disappointed Minty.
“Yeah that was probably for the best. It sounds painful.” Said Sunny cringing at the idea. The thought was kind of sad but for a moment they were distracted by a young filly performing dangerous stunts in the air. That was when they saw Mean Streak who rushed towards the young filly right on time.
“Thank you mister.”
“It was no problem but please do not attempt any more dangerous stunts ever again until you are fully trained for them.”
“Wow, I had no idea that the stunts I was doing were dangerous. I think I am going to take your advice and wait until I am older and have more experience. I think I want to be a stunt puny when I grow up.”
“I think that is a wonderful goal to have. I heard Zip’s Flight School is now accepting young recruits.”
“Thanks mister. I think I’ll ask my parents.”
“It’s no trouble at all.”
“Hey, aren’t you that judge from Maretime Bay’s Got Talent?”
“Why yes I am.”
“I am glad that I have met you and I don’t think that you are as bad as everypony says.”
“Why thank you young one.”
“I can’t wait to tell all my friends that Mean Streak saved my life.” The entire time, the Main 7 was impressed of how Mean Streak’s personality changed a 180 degrees. Sunny was especially impressed because it seemed that Mean Streak took her advice to heart. Little did the rest of the Main 7 and Mean Streak know was that Sunny ran towards the judge and was staring at him with a large and creepy smile.
“Yes, Ms. Starscout?”
“That was awesome, why weren’t you like this when you were at your show.”
“Well I have to admit that my judgement was clouded.” The stallion then stared at Sunny nervously and literally swallowed his pride before saying,”I was wrong.” Sunny then squealed in delight and bounced around showing that she was happy for him.
“This is great, I have to tell everypony.”
“Sunny, slow down. I am still new to this whole constructive criticism thing and I don’t think other ponies would be as forgiving as your friends.” It was obvious that the pegasus was a bit disappointed.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I am sure everypony would love you once they see this side of you.” Mean Streak reluctantly agreed. As soon as the montage began, everypony was scared of the judge once they saw him. It didn’t help when a video of Sunny standing up to him went viral. While they walked through town, it seemed as though karma was begining to kick in for the stallion when the duo realized that when they saw ponies who were not afraid, tended to give him the cold shoulder but were friendly towards Sunny.
“What is the point? Either everypony hates me or is afraid of me.”
“Don’t give up, I am sure that we’ll find somepony who sees you for who you are.”
“Thanks Sunny but I think I want to be alone for a while. I guess some ponies are just too quick too judge.” Sunny then did what she was asked and even felt bad for him. The moment when Sunny was gone was also the moment, Mean Streak was corrupted by the smooze. Meanwhile, Sunny was heading back to her friends who were wondering where she went. Once Sunny returned, they were all relived and even gave her a hug.
“Where were you?” Hitch asked, clearly concerned. “We looked everywhere.”
“Oh, I was with Mean Streak. It turns out that he can be really nice once you get to know him.”
“Woah, really?” Said Megan who was a bit impressed. The get together was then interrupted once the sky turned dark. The group then went outside to see what was going on only to see ponies running and screaming. That was when the entire group turned around to see what was causing all the ruckus. It was then that they realized that the latest victim was Mean Streak who was currently on a rampage. That was when Sunny’s cutie mark began to glow. Not only that but the townsfolk cutie marks began to glow to and they even came in to help.
“Are you ready for this Sunny.”
“Let’s do this.” That was when she, along with Megan and Minty ran towards Mean streak while at the same time. It was if time stood still when Sunny and the rest of the town apologized. As if on cue, Mean Streak was hit by an in coming rainbow before returning to normal.
“I am really sorry everypony. I don’t know what has come over me.” Said Mean Streak.
“No, we should have been the ones who are sorry. We judged you without trying to get to know you first.” Replied a random pony while every pony else agreed.
“Hey did you know that I play the tuba? I can show you if you would all let me but I have to warn you that I am a bit rusty.” That was when every pony became excited and wanted to hear him play so he did. Even though, Mean Streak was terrible at it, all the ponies still enjoyed it all the same. After that, the ratings for his show went down a little but it became more fun to watch as a result.