The Ponyville theatre house, opened recently in an attempt to draw some revenue into the town, was holding its first class for young foal actors that day. The theatre house was started by one Trixie Lulamoon, funded by Princess Twilight Sparkle after the two had cut a deal.
The deal included Trixie helping Twilight out with her important ‘friendship studies’, and whilst this made little sense to the showmare, it essentially meant that she had a job she could enjoy doing, and all it would take to keep that job was to hang out with Twilight Sparkle and her friends a few days out of the week. And as Trixie was an actor of the highest calibre, such a task was foal’s play.
The theatre mostly held shows put on by Trixie herself, but she also allowed ponies to book time slots to perform their own shows, or hold meetings, since the town hall was always overbooked. And Trixie also came up with a great idea to increase her income even more: she would set up classes for foals over the summer, to teach them the fine art of theatre!
This summer was the first of her classes, and she had received seven application forms from foals wishing to take part. To her surprise, those two colts who never left her alone weren’t among them. She wasn’t complaining, though. She was just happy that she didn’t have to spend an entire summer with Snips and Snails.
And so, the Great and Powerful Trixie sat with what was to be her class for the next eight weeks, and shot them a smile. “Well then, how about we start with introductions? No doubt you all know of the Great and Powerful Trixie?” Most of the fillies nodded, but one of them shook her head. “Really? Well, perhaps you might consider watching one of her shows sometime? Trixie assumed that you would all know of her, so she didn’t prepare her own introduction.” Trixie turned to face the first filly: a pink filly with a tiara Cutie Mark. “Now, how about you go first?”
“… Diamond Tiara,” the filly said. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and she looked unhappy to be there. “I’m only here because daddy says I need to show ponies more respect if I want to be a successful business pony. He said I could either go camping with Miss Fluttershy to learn how to be kind to ponies, or come here to learn how to act kind to other ponies.”
Trixie nodded. “Yes, quite right. Acting is a skill that can be used in every profession. Why, even the Princesses have to act nice whenever they meet a VIP, no matter what their mood may actually be.” Trixie turned to the next filly: a grey filly with glasses, and a spoon for a Cutie Mark.
“I’m Silver Spoon,” she said. “And I’m here to make sure Diamond isn’t stuck with these losers all summer.”
“… Not very enthusiastic about theatre, then?”
“I’ve been to some operas before, but they always, like, bored me to sleep.”
“Well, let’s give it some time. The Great and Powerful Trixie will show you beauty that is the theatrical arts! Next!”
The next filly was a yellow Pegasus filly, with a white feather for her Cutie Mark. “Alula, ma’am!” she answered with a salute. “I’m here for the same reason as Silvs, but I’m also pretty excited to get started!” The filly jumped up and ran over to Trixie, to whisper to her: “Hey, any chance DT and I can play the Prince and Princess?”
Trixie picked the filly up with her magic, and levitated her back to where she was sitting. “We’ll see,” she said. ‘Great. This one looks like she’ll be a hoofful.’ Trixie turned to the next filly, who was sitting in-between the two groups of three, and opposite to the showmare herself. “And you?”
“Uh, hi,” the filly said, her eyes shifting between the two groups. Or rather, at the pink filly on one side and the yellow filly on the other. “Uh, my name’s Babs. Babs Seed. And I, uh… am feelin’ pretty uncomfortable right now.”
“Don’t worry,” Trixie said. “We’ll beat that stage fright out of you.” Babs seemed to get even more tense at this, so Trixie corrected herself. “An expression. We’re not going to actually beat you.”
“O-Oh… right…”
The next filly in-line was a white Unicorn filly with a curly mane. Next to her was an orange Pegasus filly with a scruffy purple mane, and finally, a yellow Earth Pony filly with a red mane decorated with a large pink ribbon.
“Next,” Trixie said, to which the other four fillies covered their ears. She raised an eyebrow at that, before seeing the three fillies stand up together.
“We are: THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” they shouted in unison, the force of their joint-shouting causing Trixie’s mane to become dishevelled. “And right now, we’re CUTIE MARK CRUSADER ACTORS! YAY!”
Trixie summoned a brush with her magic and fixed her mane, her eyes wide as she stared at the three fillies in awe. “W-Well, you certainly have the right… volume…” she said, earning proud grins from the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’. “However, Trixie was looking for individual names, if you don’t mind.”
“Oh, right!” the yellow filly said. “Ah’m Apple Bloom!”
“I’m Scootaloo!” the orange filly added.
“And I’m Sweetie Belle,” the white filly finished. “We’re hoping we can get our Cutie Marks for being actors. Which is why we’re eager to get started right away!”
Trixie nodded. “Yes, yes. All in good time. Well then, how about we get started with some basic terminology?” Trixie used her magic to pull a blackboard over to the group, causing them to groan and sink their head. “Yes, Trixie knows that lectures and theory work are boring. But do not fret. The Great and Powerful Trixie has worked out a schedule to minimise the amount of lectures and maximise the amount of practical work we do, and there shall be no tests on any of this stuff!”
The filly’s heads seemed to perk up at that news, and their face lit up a little bit. “So let’s just get through this and then jump right into it! Oh, but you will need to take notes for future reference.”