“So.” Twilight looked over at Octavia, her eyes full of dread.
Octavia folded her forelegs across her chest. “Mm-hmm,” she agreed.
“Are we really going to do this?” Twilight asked shakily, though the answer was obvious. The empty theatre, still thrumming with the power of the last performance, now echoed with the terrible weight of that question. “I told you about the time she came to Ponyville. That's what we're dealing with here.”
“I don't think we have a choice,” Octavia replied flatly. “Not after an audition like that.”
Deathly silence fell over the two mares as they contemplated the full extent of this decision's consequences. Twilight took a deep breath, then let it out very slowly before saying those fateful words: “It's decided, then. The lead role of Miss Reverie will be played by Trixie Lulamoon.”
Octavia was staring at the backdrop. She cleared her throat. Sighed. Didn't look at her co-director when she finally spoke. “Twilight?”
“Uh huh?”
“I'm very sorry about this.”
“Me too, Octavia,” Twilight sighed, hanging her head. "Me too."