A bright new day, and a bright new mood for Trixie as she readied herself to face the horror of what she had come to know as her class of theatrical arts. However, she now had a plan. Over the past few days, she had not only had some time to gather some valuable information on her pupils that was sure to help her out, but she had also been able to work out a deal that would surely motivate them to work harder.
“A trip aboard the S.S. Blueblood?!” Diamond Tiara shouted at the top of her lungs. “That’s like, the second-most luxurious air cruise that flies over Equestria!”
“They serve the types of tea that we’ve only dreamt of tasting,” Silver Spoon added. “And the finest art on display for all to see.”
“The Wonderbolts are always guests on that thing!” Scootaloo shouted, her wings shooting out of her sides as she thought about the idea of potentially meeting the greatest flyers in all of Equestria.
“Rarity would probably faint from shock if I turned down a chance to fly on the S.S. Blueblood,” Sweetie Belle muttered to herself.
Apple Bloom and Babs Seed, however, did not look very interested. “How would ya even afford somethin’ like that?” Apple Bloom asked. “Isn’t a lack of money why y‘all are doin’ this class thing in the first place?”
“Never you mind the details,” Trixie said, deciding to stay silent about the fact that she had forged a letter to Princess Celestia in Twilight’s hornwriting. She was actually surprised it had gone off without a hitch; she had planned for the Princess to inquire about the strange hornwriting or the oddity of her request, but it seemed that Trixie had underestimated her own abilities.
Celestia looked over the guest list for the upcoming cruise aboard the S.S. Blueblood, giggling to herself as she came across the names of eight ponies in particular: one showmare with a flair for theatrics, and seven fillies from Ponyville, four of which she had come to learn from her student had a tendency to cause a ruckus everywhere they went.
“This will certainly be a cruise to remember. For once, I can’t wait.”
“All you have to know is that Cheerilee and Trixie will only take you on this trip if you can pull your acts together, and actually take this class seriously!”
“Miss Cheerilee?” Alula asked. “What’s she got to do with this?”
“Your parents and guardians would not agree to Trixie taking you on a trip outside of Ponyville without another caretaker with her,” Trixie said with a shrug. “Trixie cannot see what possible reason they could have for that. The Great and Powerful Trixie is one hundred percent reliable and trustworthy!”
“Miss Trixie,” Babs Seed called out, raising her hoof. “I hafta use the bathroom.”
“Hold it in. Trixie is not finished yet.” Trixie used her magic to pull out a small wooden sword from a nearby chest. “Now, because your families are all such sticks in the mud, the Great and Powerful Trixie is sad to say that you shall have to resort to wooden props for your show. Apparently metal is too dangerous or something… Personally Trixie doesn’t see what the problem is. When Trixie was your age, she was eating swords and breathing fire inside lion cages whilst tying to magically defuse a bomb that was on a timer. In fact, Trixie remembers this one time where-”
As Trixie continued to share her life story with her students, Scootaloo grabbed the sword and turned to Alula. “Wanna go practice our sword fighting scene?”
Alula thought about it, and then shook her head. “Nah, I’ve gotta practice my lines more. But I’ll be happy to watch, if you want me to.”
“Cool. Let’s go over there.” Scootaloo pointed over to a large empty space, and the two fillies walked over to it. Trixie was too busy describing how she had once defeated a pack of hungry tigers in front of an entire audience with nothing but her own wit and ingenuity (and magic) to notice.
“Hey blank flank, come on,” Diamond Tiara said to Apple Bloom, who turned to her with a confused look on her face.
“Uh, what?”
Diamond Tiara simply huffed and grabbed Apple Bloom’s tail. “Let’s go!” she shouted as she started pulling. “I’m getting that trip aboard the S.S. Blueblood, even if it means working with an uncouth blank flank such as yourself!”
“Leggo of me! Ah don’t care about some stupid airship trip!”
“Stupid?!” Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon shouted incredulously in unison.
“Look, I don’t care whether you care or not!” Diamond Tiara shouted, taking a step towards Apple Bloom and giving her a threatening glare. “I’ve been waiting for a chance like this my whole life, and you are not going to mess this up for me!”
Apple Bloom took a step back and looked around for her friends. However, Scootaloo was too busy fencing with the air, Babs had already ran off towards the restroom, and Sweetie Belle was too engrossed in Trixie’s stories to notice anything else going on around her.
“If you understand, then let’s get to it!” Diamond Tiara pulled on Apple Bloom’s tail again, dragging the worried filly with her towards an empty corner of the room. “We have a lot of work to do to hammer that hick accent out of your brain!”
Apple Bloom groaned as she was carried away by the now-enthusiastic pink filly, and Silver Spoon decided to get to work learning the ins-and-outs of backstage working. Since Trixie was still busy describing to Sweetie Belle how she had defeated an entire group of sirens with own beautiful singing, Silver Spoon decided to go ahead and familiarise herself with the backstage area and equipment.
Babs returned to her much needed bathroom break to find that all but Sweetie Belle were now working on something productive, and frowned as she watched. Feeling a little left out, Babs picked up her own script and took it somewhere away from the others to practice her lines.
“And that is when the Great and Powerful Trixie-” Trixie stopped after realising that she had at some point gone off on a tangent, and looked around the room to find that everypony was working hard with something to do with the play. “Huh… Well then, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall leave you all to it then. Do not hesitate to ask if there is anything you do not understand.”
Trixie saw a white hoof shoot up into the air, and looked down at Sweetie Belle, who was sitting on her haunches in front of her. “Miss Trixie, can you teach me how to jump through rings of fire whilst juggling knives?”
Trixie put a hoof to her chin and thought about it. ‘That’ll probably lead to a lawsuit.’ Trixie shook her head. “No, but what Trixie can do is teach you how to use magic to enhance your singing performance during the show.”
“You can? Cool!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she sprang up to her hooves.
Trixie decided to take Sweetie Belle backstage to help her practice. “It should not take long. Surely you already know the fundamentals of magic at your age.”
“Uh… not exactly,” Sweetie Belle admitted with a frown and a blush.
Trixie bit her lip and looked ahead of herself. “Oh… W-Well, no problem. The Great and Powerful Trixie is an expert, after all…” ‘This might be a problem.’