//------------------------------//
// Actors Needed 
// Story: A New King 
// by spectrobe18 
//------------------------------//

	I was awoken by Eclipso who was jumping on my back.
“Wake up! We’re here.”
I stand up and stretch. It seems that we have just pulled into the station because other ponies were gathering their stuff then leaving. 
“Thanks for waking me.”
I walk off the train and Eclipso follows.
“I need to go to the castle now and feel free to come visit me while I’m there. Also look out for that play later this week.”
“Ok bye-bye.”
“Bye.”
I set off at a brisk pace towards the castle and I reach it in like ten minutes. I see Shining outside the doors. He must have been waiting for me, but there was another pony yelling at him. I walk closer and I can hear what they were saying.
“Sir please calm down.”
“Are you the one who came up with that ridiculous plan?!”
I go and stand next to Shining.
“He didn’t. I did the one who wants to help your kind. Now go and tell your friends so they stop harassing my buddy here.”
He nods while backing away. He then turns tail and runs. Shining laughs.
“It certainly has its perks being a creature no pony is familiar with.”
“Its been good for intimidation so how many others have been like that?”
“I’ve been getting a few every hour thanks to your plan.”
“That’s it? I rushed over here because you made it sound urgent.”
“It was as you could tell we had to get you here as fast as possible, so we can prevent it from happening. Also if you want to help them we’re going to have to do more.”
“Actually I have an idea thanks to a changeling child I met on the train.”
“Really? Come then we’ll discuss it once we get Celestia.”
He leads me into the castle and we find the princesses. We go to her room for a meeting and Celestia starts it.
“It appears you have another plan. Will you kindly tell us?”
“Yes, I know that both ponies and changeling enjoy plays. They’re public events that seem to be very popular here where both species can come enjoy a show. My plan is to put a play on at the end of the week it’s called Romeo and Juliet. Have you heard of it before?”
“No, what is it about?”
“It’s about two rivaling families whose children fall in love at first sight. The families come to a breaking point and family members from both sides are killed. One is exiled the other plans to fake her death then reunite with her beloved afterwards. It was a shame because he didn’t know. He went out bought poison and killed himself on her coffin, but a few minutes later she awakens to find him. She takes his dagger and kills herself. It’s a tragedy for any parent to lose their child so the families put an end to their horrible rivalry.”
“That seems like a bit much for everypony.”
“I know I was going to tweak the story to where no one would die.”
“We still don’t have the script for this play. The actor wouldn’t know what to say or do.”
“I have the script.”
I pull out my phone.
“While I was in school we had to read the play. There weren’t enough scripts for the entire class so I got it on this. It just needs to be transferred to paper.”
“You do know the play might not be enough to convince everypony.”
“I’m not finished yet. All the actors must be well known to draw in a bigger crowd and they must be changelings, but the biggest part will come at the end of the show. They will reveal themselves. The idea is to get changelings who are loved by many to put on this amazing show that is against these horrible rivalries. It will be a lot to take in, but I’ll prepare a closing speech to help with that. In the end it will be up to the ponies, but if we convince a good portion to accept this the rest will soon accept it as well.”
“Alright we’ll do it.”
“Ok first is there a way to send my phone to Twilight. She can translate the script while we scout for actors.”
“Yes, I can do that.”
“Good let me write a note how to use it first.”
She levitates some writing material to me and I write down the instructions for Twilight. Then Celestia uses her magic and sends it. 
“Now that’s done we need to find actors.”
Shining put a scroll on the table.
“I kept track of the changeling residents and I personally know two we could try to convince.”
“That’s a good start lets go.”
He nods. We leave and he leads us to a house I’ve been to before. We’re at Iron Hoof’s and I now know what his secret was. He was busy making some armor when we approached him. 
“Hey Iron Hoof.”
He stops what he’s doing and looks up.
“Oh hey nice to see you again. Are you here to take a look at your armor?”
“What?”
He smiles.
“Shining didn’t tell you did he?”
“No.”
“Well after seeing your fighting ability he came here and requested this to be made. He gave me the measurements that he got from a pony named Rarity. When I was finished with the legs I already knew who it was for.”
Now I will have a suit of armor I’m not going to use, but I’m not going to tell him that. 
“Well we’re not here for that, but I was wondering if you would like to perform in an up coming play.”
“The only thing I had planned this week was to work on this, but if you don’t mind getting it later then sure.”
“Ok now let me tell you the plan that goes with the play.”
I fill him in on why we are doing the play.
“You want me to reveal myself at the end. Are you crazy? Doing this would strip me of everything.”
“Doing this could gain you something you really want.”
“Yea what is that?”
“Fluttershy.”
“You’re lying.”
“No I’m not. Here let me go over some likely scenarios. Number one you never get into a relationship and just watch from afar as she slowly falls for someone else. Number two you do get into a relationship and she finds out you’re a changeling. The first thing that would come to mind would be you lied to her and depending on how long you’ve been together she would question every little thing you’ve ever told her. Scenario one leaves you heartbroken while number two will cause you to lose her trust and leave both of you heartbroken.
Now if you do show yourself at the play it tells everyone that you’re tired of having to lie about whom you are and you want to be loved for who you really are. It my come as a shock at first, but with how much she loves you she will accept you.”
He stares at the ground for a few minutes before looking back up.
“O-ok I’ll do it.”
“Great rehearsals start tomorrow at the castle.”
Shining and me leave and we head over to a training field that was made for the wonder bolts. Apparently their newest member was a changeling. His name is Skycatcher and he was easy to pick out from the others. He had the same blue outfit with the lightning design, but he was the only one with the fake wings. Shining wanted to handle this one him-self. He calls Skycatcher over then they walk out of my hearing range. It didn’t take very long before Shining came back over.
“So did he agree or not?”
“He agreed.”
“Wow what did you do to convince him?”
“He owed me a favor because I enchanted the wings he uses.”
“Nice now who’s next?”
He pulls out the scroll and starts looking through it. After a minute he rolls it back up before setting off at a brisk pace.
“Whoa what’s the rush?”
I take off after him.
“The next suitable changeling goes by Rainy Day and she’s very busy being the head of the cloud crew, but she should be on break soon. She apparently has a favorite café she goes to everyday for lunch and at this pace we should arrive a little bit before her.”
“Ok what is she most known for?”
“She destroyed a clock tower.”
“And how is that good?”
“It needed to be replaced anyway and everyone loves her still.”
“Alright if you think she can do it we’ll try.”
We soon reach the café and it was nothing fancy, but it was still nice. Shining goes right in and I was going to follow, but I was interrupted. A pony flew into the building then fell on top of me. We both hit the ground and it was obvious that I cushioned the fall because the pony got back up immediately. 
“I’m so sorry are you alright?”
It was a girl. I stand up and dust myself off. I quickly glance over the pony. Her coat is a grayish blue and her nose is white. Her mane and tail are short, pure white and she has a big red bow in her hair. 
“I’m fine.”
I open the door for her.
“Ladies first.”
She nods thanks and when she enters the pony at the counter calls out to her.
“How was your landing today?”
“It wasn’t one of my better landings.”
The pony chuckles.
“Well miss Day your order is already done.”
“Thank you.” 
She gets her food and drink then takes a seat at a table by a window. Shining starts to head over there, but I shoo him away before I head there myself.
“Um are you Rainy Day?”
“Yes I am.”
“It’s nice to meet you I’m Dillon and I’m looking for ponies who are willing to participate in an upcoming play. You seem like an eligible pony for one of the main roles. Would you be interested?”
“I don’t know I’m really busy with being part of the cloud crew.”
“Well if you do take the part you could help your entire kind out.”
She perks up.
“Yes, I know what you are and I’m trying to help out your kind.
I explain to her the plan and she sits silently for a while thinking it over. When she was doing this I noticed something I didn’t catch before. She’s missing part of her ear and I must have been staring because she noticed.
“When I was younger I ran into a manticore and it ended up biting a part of my ear off. Now I despise those creatures.”
“We have something in common.”
I lift my pants leg to show the dark blue web on my leg.
“My first day in this world a manticore jabbed me with its tail. Now to get back on topic. Have you decided?”
“Who else in participating?”
“So far we have Iron Hoof and Skycatcher.”
She blushes at Skycatchers name and I could use this.
“You know there is a kissing scene and if you were to take the part you could probably be the main female character. Skycatcher being a wonderbolt he would probably get the main male role.”
She quickly stands up which knocks the table over. Her hot drink burns one of my legs while the table collides with my other leg, which causes me to fall over. She’s blushing madly then she looks to me.
“I’ll do it.”
I stand back up.
“Good rehearsals start tomorrow at the castle.”
I leave before any more of her clumsiness causes me any more pain. Shining looked at the scroll when I was talking to Rainy Day so he already knew who to go for next. The next pony is a female called Moondancer, but Shining wouldn’t tell me any more. He wanted to go to a talent show that she was running and participating in so I assume she’s good at something.
Thanks to Shining we got in free of charge, but the show didn’t start for another hour. To kill time Shining was talking about what it’s like to be head of the guard. He then started to joke that he could take on our forces. I shut him up when I told him we have weapons that can level entire cities. We then had about twenty minutes left, but that passed by quickly.
The show started and ponies started with their performances. None of the first few acts caught my attention. Everything they’re doing I’ve seen humans do before. Now we are midway into the show and I saw something I liked performed by a Dj Vinyl Scratch. It was close to the end of the show and a pony is actually going to do magic tricks.
She went by a title of the great and powerful Trixie. I will say her magic abilities were decent, but she got annoying very fast. She wouldn’t stop bragging about herself and she talked in third person. Apparently another pony found her to be unbearable because she stormed onto stage. The pony is a unicorn and she has a grayish blue coat with a bit of cyan on her nose. Her mane and tail are dark blue, but her mane has some cyan in it. She was also wearing a cape with a star design.
It seems what really ticked this pony off was that Trixie claimed that she could defeat an ursa major. I see the pony smile. She must have a plan for Trixie. 
“You really think you can take on an ursa major?”
“Of course Trixie can.”
“Alright then you’ll just love my pet.”
There was a puff of smoke that filled the entire building and it quickly cleared to reveal a giant purple bear. It was so big it had to stand over the audience. Trixie took one look at the bear before bolting for the nearest exit. The room then fills with smoke again then the bear disappears. I now know for a fact that this is Moondancer and now it’s time to put a show on of my own. 
I get up from my seat and walk onto the stage.
“That was a great performance so great I would like you to join my upcoming play.”
She glares at me.
“Now’s not the time to be asking that. I’m trying to put on a show. Know what I’ll tell you now no.”
“I knew you would say that. That’s why I wanted to propose a bet.”
“A bet?”
“Yes what you did to scare Trixie off vs. my own show. If I win you join my play. If you win I’ll do whatever you like until you release me of duty. To make it fair we’ll have the audience decide.”
“I could use somepony to do some of my work so I can have time to practice and develop new spells. I’m also interested in what a creature like you could do. You’re on.”
“Great, do you have a something I could fit inside of and it has to be something you’re not willing to keep because it will be destroyed.
There was a puff of smoke that revealed a large rotting wardrobe.
“That works. Now keep a note on this I’m about to show you something that will always catch the crowds attention.”
I open the wardrobe and step inside.
“And telling you now I don’t know the teleportation spell.”
I close the wardrobe and now I finally get to test my new magic. I coat the inside with so much ice I have to crouch down and I have little room to move. Now that preparations are complete its time to start the show. Using the electricity ring I make a giant lightning bolt come down form the ceiling and strike the wardrobe. It caught fire and using my  fire ring I make it burn stronger than it would have normally. I now concentrate to keep the ice around me as ice. I start counting and once I hit two minutes I assume the audience suspense has hit its peak. I then use the telekinesis spell to cause the wardrobe and ice to explode, but I also had to make sure it didn’t fly into the crowd. The last thing to do was melt the peices of ice before anyone spotted it. I look through the crowd then bow.
All the ponies were wide eyed and then suddenly the place was full of applauding. I feel a sudden weight on my head and I pull whatever it was off. It was Eclipso. 
“Hey what are you doing here?”
“I came to see my sisters show and speaking of her here she comes.”
Moondancer comes over to me.
“You win and that was a nice trick you pulled. Not many ponies are willing to risk their life to put on a show for others. So when do rehearsals start?”
“Tomorrow at the castle.”
Eclipso starts to bounce around.
“Can I be in the play too?”
“Sure why not.”
I step off stage.
“See you tomorrow.”
Shining and I leave to head back to the castle. When we arrive it was later in the day and we go eat in the dinning hall. Celestia meets us there and showed us that Twilight had finish translating the script. She also gives me my phone back. I browse through the script to see it was already changed to something more appropriate for the ponies. Now I need to ask Celestia something while she’s here.
“Hey Celestia can you invite Fluttershy to the play?”
“Yes of course.”
“Wait let me rephrase that. Fluttershy must be here for the play so the ending runs a smoothly.”
“Alright I’ll make sure she comes.”
“Good, thanks.”
I finished eating and Celestia shows me to the guest bedroom where I’ll be staying for the week. I enter the room and I could care less what it looks like as long as there is a bed. I go strait over and jump in bed. I know for a fact that this group of ponies are the best choice for the play, but preparing them for the play will be a different story. I might as well go to sleep now so I can be prepared for tomorrow’s chaos. I lay there for a while before I finally doze off.