Second Lesson- Planning a Show!
"I'm extremely grateful that you and the girls came here to help us, Cadence!" Silver Swirl whinnied. "I don't know how we would be able to pull off this performance without you."
The two princesses were seated in an upstairs room in Silver Swirl's manor house, drinking tea and discussing Bright Valley's current situation. Silver Swirl was extremely pleased with the alicorn's arrival, and was really hoping that she and her students could help carry the burden of this problem that confronted the town.
"Think nothing of it, old friend." Candence whinnied, levitating her tea up to sip it. "Now, tell me, what do you need for us to do?"
"As you know, our city was founded by the survivors of the destroyed Ponyland Republic." The unicorn mare replied, sipping her own tea. "Princess Luna granted the earth pony refugees a city where they could live apart from the other tribes."
"And they made your family the rulers of their city, as a sign of goodwill to the other tribes." Cadence finished. "But what does that have to with-"
"There is still much pride in this city... pride for a nation where earth ponies lived free of the influence of the other tribes," Silver Swirl whinnied sadly. "As a sign of good will to our subjects, the royal house is expected to put on a founder's day pageant for our subjects. And because every pony has a right to watch the play, we have always recruited performers from the other Ponyland kingdoms."
"But with the announcement of our visit to all the kingdoms, the city's guilds are demanding the famous 'harmony bearers’' perform for them." Candence nodded, having an understanding of Bright Valley politics. ""Having such prestigious ponies perform for the city would be a major political boost!"
"My hooves are tied, Cadence!" The exasperated Princess collapsed into the chair behind her desk. "We still use currency here in this city, and that means the power flows from the guild masters! They make few demands on my rule, so to deny them this would have disastrous political and economic consequences!"
"Don't worry about it, Swirl." The alicorn smiled at her. "The girls and I are here to help you. They will be more that happy to play the parts in the play for you!"
"Thank you, old friend!" The unicorn princess smiled at her. "I'd be in hot tar right now if it weren't for you!"
"Excuse me, your highness?" It was at that moment that Bright Eyes, Silver Swirl's royal adviser and secretary, trotted into the room. "You have a meeting with city council at six, and your husband and daughter are expecting you for dinner at seven."
"Thank you, Bright Eyes!" The unicorn princess told the jewel-eyed mare. "Could you come over here, and help me with those invoices, please?"
Princess Cadence stared at the blue earth mare with the blonde and orange mane. As Bright eyes went over some paperwork with Silver Swirl at her desk, the unicorn couldn't help but notice how much the twinkle-eyed pony with the alarm clock cutie mark unnerved the alicorn.
"Here, your majesty, let me go get- Oh!" Bright Eyes tripped over the rug on her way out, causing her gemstone eyes to go flying out of their sockets with a loud *pop!* The two jewels sailed across the room... and landed right in alicorn's tea.
"Errgghhh..." The Princess grimaced, as Bright Eyes pulled herself back up.
"Oh! Your highness! I am so sorry!" Bright eyes exclaimed, picking her gemstone eyes up out of the tea, and snapping them back into her hollow eye sockets. "Please, forgive my clumsiness, Princess Cadence! I really need to get back to my duties elsewhere!" The embarrassed mare quickly galloped out of the room.
"Oh, that Bright Eyes! That pony always makes sure I get where I'm supposed to be. " Silver Swirl chuckled. "She comes from a long line of intelligent ponies from Coltonville, you know."
"Yeah..." Cadence shivered, looking at the door. "Wonderful..."
"Twinkle-eyed ponies remind you of your former subjects, don't they?" Silver Swirl noticed. "Oh, Cadence, I'm so sorry!"
"Those... those genetic abnormalities have nothing in common with my former subjects, Swirl!" Cadence snorted. "My loyal ponies looked like they were crystal, they didn't actually have parts of their bodies that were real crystal!"
"Apologies, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Silver Swirl replied with a sigh. "It must be so hard for you and Silver Rain, to have lost Shining Armor after so long."
"Thank you, Swirl." Cadence replied with a smile. "But as you are well aware, my beloved Shining is with me still..."
...
"So that's the situation, girls!" Butter Pop told them with a smile, as she showed the girls around backstage. "You'll be expected to use these sets and props to perform the refugees building a metropolis out of the wilderness!"
"These costumes are simply fabulous, darling!" Glory whinnied, wrapping a feather boa around her neck. "But while I can coordinate the costumes and sets, I'll need somebody to do the sewing and design work."
"Leave that to me!" Bow Tie grinned. "I've had some experience with sewing, and I can handle these costumes!"
"And I can handle the music." Nightshade replied, putting on a jacket from one of the racks. "The singing for this play will be amazing!"
"You'll need catering and food during the performance." Applejack added, looking at the menu. "That didn't use to be my specialty, but I think I can handle it now."
"I can help with the floral decorations." Posey chimed in gently. "We can make this theater glow with the prettiest flowers."
"I've read over this archaic script, and I think it could use a bit of tweaking to bring it into the twentieth century." Twilight noted, following the Dream Valley custom of using the human calendar.
"Ohhhh! I could help you touch up the comedy!" Surprise trotted up, looking at the script twilight has levitating. "No offense, Twilight... but you couldn't make a hyena laugh!"
"That sounds great! I'll even pitch in, too." Butter Pop chimed in. "And what will you be doing, Firefly?"
"I'm not gonna be in it!" The Pegasus scowled, crossing her hooves. "This cruddy play ain't fer me!"
"What?" Twilight frowned, looking at her friend. "But why? Is something wrong?"
"I'll say something's wrong! We're all going to be playing earth ponies!" The filly hissed. "Surprise and I are gonna hafta strap our wings down, and Twi and Glory are gonna hafta hide their horns! It's degrading!"
"Now Firefly, be reasonable!" Aj protested. "It's only a play!"
"Sorry girls, nothin doin!" The stubborn filly flew out of the dressing room. "This pony is Pegasus, and proud!"
"And what's wrong with being an earth pony?" Bow Tie snorted. "That filly has a lot on nerve!"
"Don't worry girls, I'll go and talk to her." Surprise flew out after her friend, while the other girls reluctantly went back to talking about the preparations. It was at that moment that Glory's delicate nose sniffed at the air, and she suddenly frowned.
"Butter Pop, darling..." The unicorn trotted up her. "I don't mean to be nosy, but when was the last time you had a shower?"
"Well, it was...hmmm, I think it was right after..." The mare thought for a moment, then shrugged. "... By golly, I actually can't remember! Why do you ask, Glory?"
"Well, I don't mean to be rude dear, but..." She ran her hoof through the strands of Butter Pop's greasy mane, gobs of slimy butter dribbling down to the floor. "But the air of buttered popcorn hangs about you, and it's actually rather rank!"
"Oh dear. I guess I've been hanging around my theater's concession stand a bit too much!" Butter Pop replied sheepishly. "Well, I guess that would explain why my boyfriend wears that clothespin on his nose!"
...
Firefly had flown all the way to the city park, where she now stood at the top of Cascade's Waterfall, mulling to herself.
"Those stupid, stupid fillies!" She snorted aloud. "How can they possibly expect me to degrade myself like that! There is no way I'm gonna play an earth pony!"
"You don't have to degrade yourself, Firefly!" A white Pegasus flew up beside her. "All we want you to do is take part in a play with us!"
"And do what, Surprise? Hide who I am?" She looked over at her friend. "Pretend ta be something I'm not?"
"And you can't bring yourself to play an earth filly?" Surprise snorted. "Do you really think that lowly of their kind? My great-several times back grandma Pinkie Pie was an earth filly, ya know!"
"No, it's not that I think that lowly of them! It's that I think that highly of them." She gestured over to the statue of Cascade. which was standing right next to the falls. "What do you know about this mare?"
"Cascade? I know she was the founder of Bright Valley!" Surprise chimed in, remembering the script both she and firefly had read. "She's the brave earth pony who led the refugees to this very waterfall, where she gave a speech that inspired them to start building the town!"
"Yeah... and when I discovered her in the script, I found an adventurer pony, just like me." Firefly replied, looking over at the statue of the yellow earth mare with the green mane. "How can I possibly sully her legacy, by strapping my wings down and pretending to be something I'm not, when there are good earth ponies like Bow Tie and Butter Pop could play her!"
Surprise stared at her friend for a moment, before replying. "Golly, Firefly! I had no idea you felt that way!" She smiled at her friend. "I kinda understand, though! I'm sure we could find a spot for you as a Pegasus guard, or something!"
"Thanks fer understanding, buddy." Firefly grinned at the white Pegasus. "Now, why don't we get back to the others?"
"Sure thing! Twilight has gotta whole lotta planning she wants to tell you about!" Surprise squealed, as the two took to the air. "she wants ta cast Cadence as Princess Luna in the play!"
"WHAT?!?!" Firefly shrieked, as the two headed back towards the theater.
....
"All right, old witch! We got your summons!" The Pink Lion snorted. "What's the job you wants ta hire us for?"
As the trio entered her main chamber, Hydia scowled at the trio. She hated lowering herself to hiring mercenaries like this, but they had the muscle better suited to the task at hand than her worthless daughters did.
"It's very simple, ladies!" Hydia smiled, cockroaches crawling out from between her teeth. "Merely go to Bright Valley, and ruin their founder's day play there!"
"Sounds easy enough!" Kingsley, the pink-maned lion, snorted. "Especially with as much as youse are offerin ta pay us!"
"Yeah, this'll set us up fa life!" Spunky, the blue camel with the purple mane, agreed. "We's won't have ta pull dem jobs no more!"
"And believe me Hydia, it'll be good not havin ta turn ponies in ta grease stains no more!" Creamsicke, the yellow giraffe, agreed.
These three were the ironically-named ‘pony friends’, a trio of mercenaries who had once been ponies themselves. They had sought out more powerful forms to do their sinister deeds, and had stolen and drank a Zebra alchemist’s potion to achieve the desired result. (Though it did leave them as the only lion, camel and giraffe in the world with cutie marks!)
“Don’t worry about the platy, we’ll makes sure it gets broken up, real good!” Creamsicle snorted.
“Yeah, youse just make sure youse can pay us after we is done!” Kingsley added, flexing her claws.
“Now don’t you ladies worry!” Hydia assured them, clapping her wrinkled hands togther. “By the time you all get done, you’ll have well earned the reward that is coming to you!”