“Alright! ten minutes to the first shoot of the day!” a pony with a megaphone hovering in front of his mouth called out to the actors and actresses standing around, sending everyone into a frenzy. The shooting for the next My Little Pony Friendship is Magic episode was about to begin. The extras gathered around one another, discussing their roles and how they planned to react during their bits. Nothing special for them, they were simply an audience for Applejack’s and the Mayor’s speech. A few pegasasus ponies were testing out the collapsing roof to make sure it fell safely and didn’t risk harming anyone. Inside was a fairly complex system of gears and levers to allow for a quick reset just in case someone messed up their lines… which, a couple of the ponies thought would happen, considering who was getting her own lines for the very first time...
Speaking of whom, a grey pony with long blonde hair rushed into the studio, screeching to a halt next to the director, “I’m SOOO sorry! I-I didn’t mean to be late Mr Picture! I got caught up with something…” she blushed a little bit, her side job being a mail pony around town was a hectic one, especially with her eyesight problem. She got yelled at by one of the ponies she delivered to because she misread the address and caused her package to be late… she apologized to her profusely, but nothing she said seemed to stop her from giving her an earful. She recalled as she walked away she couldn’t help but hear a comment under the mare’s breath… something about her being retarded. It still twisted at her heart and caused her to feel hurt inside…
Motion Picture, the director of the series, just smiled at her, “Hey, don’t worry about it, kid, I understand, stuff happens… So are you ready for your bit today?”
Derpy blinked, she never usually had to worry about he bits, usually just her standing or walking around, nothing to be concerned about. “Uh, I suppose so… I’m just bouncing on a cloud in the background, is that right?” she shifted a bit and sat down, wanting to rest her legs after her long run.
Motion grinned, “You didn’t see the script, didja?” he reached over and shuffled through the papers, finding an extra copy and handing it to her. He seemed to have an excited look on his face, like he had a secret.
“Huh? Why do I need a script?” most background ponies didn’t even get a script. Their roles were minor and hardly took up a business card’s worth of dialogue. The biggest thing she had to remember was ‘Muffins’ during an early episode she was in. it was admittedly a great moment for her, having a speaking role in an episode. She felt giddy just thinking about it. Not to mention she was the focus of the camera for a brief moment during another episode where she dropped a bunch of objects onto Twilight head.
“You’re in the first scene after the opening song, and you got a couple lines.” He told her, still smiling.
“WHAT? I do? Where?” sure enough, she opened up the script and took a look at the paper. She flipped through the opening scene with Applejack and Applebloom talking to one another, and sure enough, right after the opening credits, it was her name in black and white, with the second speaking part in the scene . Her heart began to do back flips as she read through the script from the beginning. She forced her bad eye to straighten out, focusing on the words as she read them.
Rainbow Dash is putting up a banner with Applejacks face
[Rainbow Dash] Huh? (A bolt of lightning shoots by her, scorching her tail slightly) Now Careful! (RD flies over to Derpy, who is bouncing ontop of a raincloud, causing bolts of lightning to emit from underneath) You don’t want to do anymore damage than you’ve already done…
Derpy: I just don’t know what went wrong! (Derpy lands on the cloud once more, causing her to be shocked by the lightning. She gives a goofy smile before cutting to RD, who is nailing in another nail to keep the banner up)
RD: Yeah, it’s a mystery…
D: (flying backwards) Nice work Rainbow Dash! (D hits a support beam causing it to fall. RD rushes down in an attempt to stop it, only to be sent through the floor with pillar in tow. D rushed down and pokes her head into the hole) You okay Rainbow Dash? (camera cuts to inside the hole) Anything I can do to help?
(RD flies out of the hole, frantic at the idea of help from Derpy)
RD: NO! nothing! In the name of Celestia! Just sit there and do NOTHING!
(Derpy sits down quickly, causing the floor to give way, and sending her into the hole. RD just rolls her eyes and turns her attention to the crowd cheering for Applejack…)
Derpy looked up, unsure of how to feel, “So, I’m the one ruining town hall?” she asked, feeling like she was the bad guy here.
Motion shook his head, “nah, it’s old and falling apart… and you’re trying to help out Dash!”
Derpy frowned a little, looking back down at the script, “But… this makes me seem… stupid… like… I’m the butt of the joke…” she couldn’t help but think about how the pony from that morning treated her, and what she mumbled under her breath, “Like I’m retarded…”
Motion frowned at the comment. He walked over and put his hoof on her shoulder, “Derpy, you and I both know that’s not true… sure you can be a bit clumsy at times, but if it weren’t for that we never would’ve gotten that idea for that one scene in ‘Feeling Pinkie keen”! It was hilarious!”
She remembered it well. That day Twilight, Spike and Pinkie were all practicing their bits outside, while she was delivering a couple of packages. By some uncanny coincidence, as they were talking about pinkie sensing something falling, Derpy dropped a teddy bear out of her saddlebag and it bonked Twilight on the head. She felt terrible at the time for it, but Twilight just laughed it off. In fact everyone was laughing at the scene, including the director, who suggested they add something like that to the episode, including Derpy being the one to cause the accident. Ever since she had been a bigger background character, popping in from time to time in random spots for laughs. She enjoyed the comments of her that she saw online. Somehow she had a little fanbase growing and they all seemed to love her antics. Her smile returned to her face, thinking of all the ponies online who loved her and praised her.
“You’re our show’s loveable goofball, not to mention the most sweet and caring pony here… We think you’re great for who you are, and don’t let anyone tell you ANYTHING different.” Motion patted her shoulder once more, “Now why don’t you study your lines for a moment before we get started… I think Rainbow Dash is gonna be late again… you know how she just loves to make sure her hair is perfectly messy, heh…” Motion Picture walked away, getting everyone else settled in.
Derpy quickly turned back to the script. Reading through her lines, she noticed she had one last line after the speech from Applejack, “Go applejack! Woo!” she smiled a little at the idea that she had so many lines! Most background ponies didn’t get more than one or two lines! Her heart filled up with glee as she imagined herself on TV speaking, it felt incredible!
“Hey there Derpy! You ready for your scene?” Derpy’s head shot up, looking at the blue Pegasus she admired. The wonderfully colored mane made her envious; she was the coolest pony on the show and probably the whole world. Rainbow Dash smiled down at her, waiting for an answer.
Derpy felt herself staring until she realized she was waiting for an answer, “OH! Y-yeah! I mean, I suppose… I’m still looking through my lines though… I don’t want to mess this up…”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, waving her hoof at the issue like it was nothing, “Pfft, don’t worry about messing up, you know Motion Picture is cool with do-overs. Just relax and do your part, and if you mess up, oh well, we’ll redo it.”
“Yeah… but you NEVER mess up…” she wasn’t sure if she was just saying that as a compliment or if it was her paranoid side forcing her to make herself more nervous by devaluing Rainbow’s advice.
“Ha, seriously? Don’t you remember the Young Fliers competition? That act took two weeks to do! I kept slipping up or not messing up when I was suppose to… We all make mistakes, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.” She reached over and ruffled Derpy’s hair a bit, making her laugh.
“Heh, yeah, I suppose that’s true… alright, I’ll do my best!” she stood up, her wings spread out as she took a confident stance. However her bad eye was starting to stray to the side, and she new it…
Rainbow laughed at the adorable scene she was making, “Make us proud kid! We’re all rooting for you out there!” She headed off to get into place, while Derpy took one last look at her script, double checking her lines.
“Hey there Sugarcube!” Applejack trotted by, heading over toward the other end of the set where she would be. “you’d better hurry and get into position, Motion Picture’s almost got everything finished up!”
Derpy nodded quickly at her other idol. In fact, she looked up to almost the entire cast, even Applebloom and the other fillies. They were all so cool in their own ways, on and off screen. She was afraid when she got the job as an extra that everyone would be the exact opposite of their characters. She especially got scared of Pinkie Pie when she saw her acting in the first episode. She thought no one could be that cheerful, and that in reality she was an evil diva with a terrible personality, but even she was sweet and kind to everyone.
Derpy shook her head, realizing she was getting lost again and quickly made her way to the stage. She felt her legs getting more and more wobbly with each step. she tried to fly the rest of the way there but even her wings were shaking as she flew onto the set. She began to hear cheers behind her, along with a growing applause as the rest of the team realized what they were clapping for. “Go Derpy!” “Good luck out there!” “Break a leg!” She couldn’t help but smile, they all knew her name, and they all cared for her and loved her. She felt blessed to have so many people cheering for her, even though it was a small bit.
She took her place on the rain cloud, feeling the soft fluff between her hooves. She didn’t work with clouds often, so she wasn’t sure how exactly to go about working with it. She decided on giving it a little test bounce. Each bounce caused a little lightning bolt, making her worried she might ACTUALLY cause some damage. She was a klutz in real life, along with the show, and she knew it… she always seemed to have the worst of luck… but maybe not today… she was being given the opportunity of a lifetime! And she had every intention of doing things right today!
“Alright everyone! Positions!” Motion Picture called out through his megaphone, sending the ponies scattering to their cameras, boom mikes, and their other positions. Rainbow took her position by the building, giving Derpy a nod and a smile, hoping to give her one last bit of confidence. Derpy took a deep breath, focusing on her lines. She put on a smile, and looked down toward the director, waiting for his signal.
“Alright! Light! Camera!... Action in 5, 4, 3…” his hoof motioned with each number in the countdown, but went silent at the last two numbers along with the final cue.
As the script said, Rainbow pulled the banner up and set it into place, a little smile on her face. Derpy watched her as she did with every pony in every episode. She loved watching the others act out their bits, but the sudden realization that it was her turn to act now! She jumped up quickly and slammed her hooves down, hoping she didn’t mess up the timing. The attack on the cloud sent a bolt of lightning at Rainbow dash, who barely dodged it. The end of her tail singed, just as it was meant to do, although Derpy couldn’t help but feel that the bolt was much too strong because of her bounce.
Rainbow glared at Derpy out of the corner of her eyes. She knew that Rainbow was supposed to glare at her, but she couldn’t help but feel like it wasn’t just a product of her acting skill, “Now, careful Derpy…”
Her name; she heard Rainbow say her name right? That’s not how the script went! ‘oh no! I blew it! I knew it was too hard!’ in that split second she looked over at the director, who was sitting in his chair. He didn’t move a muscle, and didn’t call cut. Out of nervousness, she continued to bounce on the cloud as the script told her to do, much more gently now as Rainbow Dash approached her.
“You don’t want to cause anymore damage than you’ve already done…” Rainbow was continuing her lines… but Derpy couldn’t help but think that she didn’t say her lines right. She used her name; her name wasn’t in the script, at least not spoken in it anyway. She considered stopping to let her know of the error… but who was she to stop the show? She was just a bit part, she didn’t have the right to point out the flaws of a main characters lines… not to mention the director didn’t seem to notice.
She decided to keep her thoughts to herself and just speak her lines. However she noticed as she began to speak her throat tightened out of nervousness, making her voice a bit deeper than normal, “I just don’t know what went wrong…” with that the signal was given to send the shock her way. Although it kept her in midair for a brief moment, It wasn’t painful, and was mostly just show. The electricity singed her hair as it meant to, although the tingle it sent through her body made her legs weak, making her wobble and lean to one side. She felt a bit dizzy now, but she just smiled, the tingling feeling adding to her natural high of being a big part in the scene.
Rainbow Dash was already back at the banner, rolling her eyes, “Yeah, it’s a mystery…”
Derpy took the cue and flew over, turning backwards in midair. She was a pretty experienced flier, she could do a few tricks like fly backwards or a few simple flips… nothing like Rainbow Dash though; she was an amazing flier! Her moment of mental admiration gave her the extra courage to say her next line, “Nice work Rainbow Dash!” she had said this plenty of times before, but now it felt special, even with her nervous voice.
Her back bumped into the pillar, which signaled the engineering team to drop it off the edge of the building. Even being right next to it, it was hard to see the tiny wires lowering the pillar. Rainbow rushed down beneath it, setting herself up to be sent through the breakaway floor and onto a soft mat to break her fall.
Derpy rushed to her next position, two very thin lines marking where she was to stand. To her surprise, she landed on them perfectly. It was a great little feat for her since her eyesight made it hard to see things straight, but her little bit of glory had to wait. She poked her head into the hole and called out to Rainbow, “You okay Rainbow Dash?” She noticed the camera just behind Dash’s head, recording her every move. Rainbow had an encouraging smile on her face, giving her another brief moment of courage to help her get through her next line, “Anything I can do to help?”
Crack! She heard something to her left and looked over. A chunk of wood cracked off the floorboards, and fell to the bottom of the level underneath the set. She watched it fall, feeling her heart fall along with it, ‘oh no! I broke a piece of the set! I’m going to get fired for this! I ruined the entire episode!’
Rainbow saw the piece, as did the cameraman. They weren’t expecting it either, but Rainbow was more concerned about Derpy’s expression. She quickly shot out of the hole, hoping to continue the scene and get her mind back onto what they were doing. “No! Nothing! In the name of Celestia! Just sit there and do NOTHING!”
Her fear conjured up by the thought that she ruined the episode gave her the appropriate expression for the scene. In her mind she was still scared about losing this perfect oppertuniy, and Rainbow’s sudden demand struck fear in her heart; making her legs weak. She plopped back onto the other breakaway floor as she was supposed to, but her mind was no longer in acting mode. She was genuinely scared for her job. However the floor collapsed just as it was meant to, sending her falling. In a panic, she reached out and grabbed at Rainbow dash, pulling her down with her. They both landed with a light thud onto the other mat. The majority of the cast was shocked to see Rainbow disappear with Derpy, it was yet another screw up in the script.
Rainbow looked around, spotting Derpy. She was blushed brightly, “Oops… my bad…” she mumbled before turning away, ashamed at her reaction. She felt like she blew it, her first chance and she blew it… but a sudden noise caught her attention. Dash was laughing hysterically, as was the cameraman under the set. “Haha! That was hilarious! I wasn’t expecting you to grab onto me like that. You okay?” Dash helped her to her feet, still laughing hard. Derpy quietly nodded, still uncertain about how she felt about what happened. Rainbow helped her up onto the main stage, where she could see everyone laughing now.
The director was clapping his hooves together as he bellowed out his own laughter, “Oh man! That was brilliant! That is probably one of the funniest things I’ve seen this entire season!”
Derpy lowered her head, approaching the director, “I-I’m sorry, sir, I’ll do better next time so I don’t screw things up…”
The director grew concerned, his laughter dissipating, “Hey, don’t get like that…”
“Yeah, It’s okay Derpy!” Dash rushed to her side, putting a hoof around her shoulder, “I messed up too, I don’t know why I thought to say your name like that… I probably just haven’t gotten use to working with you on film… but you did great for your first shot! we’ll both get it perfect next time!”
Derpy’s face brightened, her grin spreading from ear to ear. One of her idols was praising her and reassuring her. She felt her heart shimmering with happiness, and a newfound confidence overwhelmed her. But before she could react to the feeling, the director spoke up.
“Well, I don’t know…” he said, looking over at a TV with a couple different angles replaying the film. First a brief second in time, Derpy’s fear of losing everything returned… she imagined him saying that they would replace her with someone new for now, and eventually just kick her out entirely. Her fears didn’t have much time to settle in and have an effect on her before he continued, “I kinda like how it went… Let’s see it once more…” Almost everyone in the room began to murmur to one another, curious about his decision. “Put it up on the big screen!” he called out, walking over toward the pony at the computers. Her fears had settled down a bit for a moment, and she began to grow more confident. If he didn’t just go and toss that run out the window, than it must’ve been… okay at the very least, right?
The computer whizzes got the recording ready and patched it through to the ‘big’ screen, which was actually just about 30 inches wide, hardly ‘big’ by anyone’s standards, but it’s what they could afford for now. The rest of the group gathered around; all the extras and the main cast, all watching with a deep interest to see whatever the director saw.
Of course it started with Rainbow Dash, putting up the sign. The lightning bolt shot through the screen, making everyone jump slightly. It certainly looked bigger than it should have been, but it seemed right. Rainbow said her messed up line, using Derpy’s name in a small flub. Derpy simply figured they get that out in the editing department. Then it was her big moment, her first lines… and she immediately hated them. ‘I just don’t know what went wrong!’ it didn’t sound anything like her, or at least how she thought she sounded, and she felt silly for sounding so off. She shook her head, feeling down once more. One of the stage hands poked her, catching her attention. She smiled reassuringly at the cross-eyed pony, hoping to get her to turn back to the TV.
She did as she was signaled to do and turned back, just in time to hear more of her horridly toned voice. She cringed at it, like it was nails on a chalkboard. The pillar fell as it was suppose to, and of course, Rainbow dash, her hero, rushed down to grab it. Even though it was scripted to fail, she couldn’t help but think that she failed magnificently.
Another line with her horrid voice went by, and then her big flub; knocking off a piece of the scenery. “sorry,” she said softly as it fell onscreen.
Motion quickly stopped the film, “What for? Did you see that? That was perfect! That bit of emotion you had when that fell, it was gorgeous! You looked just as you should have! Your character has done all she could to help but the poor thing felt like she only did more harm. That face, just look at it…” she took a look at her expression, and indeed it looked sad, but she didn’t seem to understand what he meant, “It makes me feel sympathy for the character, she only wants to help and she feels terrible… but I can’t help but think it looks adorable at the same time… you had the perfect expression for this bit.”
Derpy stared wide eye at Motion Picture, “you… You really think so?” her heart was aflutter, she was being praised for her work, something she didn’t even mean to do.
“I KNOW so! We’re not changing that bit at ALL.”
“R-really? But… My throat got tight… and I sounded funny…” she said softly, looking down, “I hate how I sound…”
Motion rolled his eyes, “Derpy, EVERYONE hate’s how their voice sounds… Heck, I bet Morgan Freemane hates how he sounds! It’s nothing to be ashamed of, you sounds just fine to me.” He finished his statement by starting up the video again. Rainbow dash called out to Derpy to sit and do nothing, and as such, she sat down hard. In that brief moment of desperation she latched onto Dash, bringing her down with her. The room lit up with laughter, even Dash was laughing. Derpy found herself chuckling alongside them, although she still saw this as a screw up.
“And THAT was the best unscripted bit I’ve EVER seen.” Motion Picture laughed hysterically, slapping his knee multiple times, “I think we’ll keep that in too, I don’t think we could get Dash to show THAT kind of shocked expression if we tried.”
Dash wiped a tear from her eye, “heh. Okay, so what about my line with Derpy? I should probably redo it so it sounds more natural.”
Motion Picture took a moment from his laughter to ponder this… he rewound the tape and watched it once more, listening to the words carefully, “Hm… Nah, I like it like it is… the lightning bolt looks too perfect… and besides, I’m sure Derpy’s fans will enjoy the nod to them, don’t you think?” Derpy brightened up even more at the idea, already feeling the love and acknowledgment from her fans coursing through her veins. “Any objections from anyone?” The crowd of ponies smiled, all shaking the heads to the question.
“Than it’s settled! We’ll do some tweaking with that scene later, let’s get your other scene done Derpy, and then we’ll start with your part, Applejack.”
The group began to break apart to take their places once again, Derpy felt a few nudges and pat’s on the back for her work, making her feel more excited. She trotted over to the hole once again, tossing herself inside to land on the mat. She took the moment of being alone to let out a squeal, kicking her legs into the air happily. She had to release some of her energy before she exploded with delight. She quickly composed herself and climbed up the step stool, taking her position halway out of the hole with Dash right beside her. “You ready for your next line?”
“Yup! I’m pumped up and ready!” she said with a big grin. She watched the director wave his hoof as he counted down to ‘action’ once again. As soon as she was given the signal she put her hooves to her mouth and cried out “YAY APPLEJACK! WOOO!” Her body tilted back as she yelled, and she suddenly felt a sense of falling. She was too happy right now to care, and she knew the mat would save her, so she just let it happen. She plopped down onto the mat once more, lying on her back. After a brief second, enough time for Rainbow to do her eye roll bit, she began to laugh, as did the rest of the cast. She kicked her legs excitedly once again, feeling the adrenaline of her excitement rushing through her.
“Hehe. Having fun down there, kiddo?” Derpy opened her eyes to see Rainbow Dash looking down at her, a bit smile on her own face, “I think that went great!” she looked up over toward the rest of the cast for a moment before turning back down to her, “And I think the others liked it too! Comes on out, let’s see what Motion Picture has to say.”
Derpy nodded and quickly bounced up to her feet, rushing out of the hole and up to the director, who was still getting over his little laughing fit, “Derpy, you’re amazing at improvising… I think you nailed it once again! I’ll take another look at your bits later, but honestly, I think you did a wonderful job here today.”
“THREE CHEERS FOR DERPY!” somepony called out amongst the group. Everyone quickly joined in as they called out, “Derpy! Derpy! Derpy! WOO!”
Derpy looked around at the cheering ponies, feeling her heart swell with pride in herself, such a feeling she hadn’t had in herself for so long. She felt happy, appreciated, accomplished, and most importantly, loved…