The Cutie Mark Crusaders had been taken out of their seats, and escorted into the lobby of the large cinema. A frowning unicorn stallion with a greying mane held a flashlight in the air with his magic,slowly casting its light over each one of the fillies in turn. The children cringed and turned their eyes away from the blinding light, unable to meet his gaze.
"Now I don't want any more roughhousing," he said sternly. This was directed at all of them, although he was looking at Sweetie Belle when he said it. The unicorn smiled sheepishly. The stallion did not return her smile, and Belle's shrank into a defeated pout.
"One more altercation, one more, and I will remove you four from the theater without hesitation," he concluded. He let this hang in the air for a moment. "Am I understood?"
"Yes, sir," Sweetie and Scootaloo echoed in unison.
He turned to Babs and Apple Bloom. Babs scoffed and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes with a puff.
"What are ya gonna do, call our parents?" She mocked. Apple Bloom kicked her, and Babs relented. "Alright, alright, we're sorry," she said. "We'll be quiet."
"See that you do," the stallion said, and let them back into the viewing area. He gave them a stern look as they left, as if to indicate that he was onto their shenanigans.
"We weren't gone that long, we should be able to catch the last preview or two," Scootaloo whispered, as the fillies took their seats.
The preview had already started, and the shaking camera was overlooking a small, quaint looking home. Pictures dotted the walls, and the camera spun around, revealing it was being held by a white unicorn with neon blue headphones around her neck.
Babs gasped. "That's Vinyl Scratch!" She whispered excitedly.
"So, this is like, our new house," the unicorn went on. "Not much going on here, just me and my sister. Say hi, Octavia."
She spun the camera around again onto an annoyed looking grey earth pony, who had curlers in her mane and was in the middle of brushing her teeth.
"Get that out of my face, Vinyl," Octavia deadpanned. "We talked about this."
Vinyl took over the camera again. "She's just tired from moving," the unicorn explained. "She'll get into this whole documentary thing soon enough."
"Vinyl, quit messing with that and help me unpack! And leave all those electronic noisemakers of yours in the basement, I don't want you blowing out the windows again."
"Coming! Gotta go," Vinyl said, and the camera clicked off.
Night #1
The screen was cast in a light green hue, the camera idling lazily over a bedroom with paintings of classical composers mounted on the walls. A large cello rested silently against the far wall, and the single bed was occupied by a snoring figure.
There was peace and silence for several seconds, which was broken only by an enormous crash in the distance. The figure sat up, and Octavia had awoken with a startled scream. She grabbed the bow of her cello and held it in her teeth like a weapon, running downstairs to confront the intruder.
Vinyl stood in the kitchen, an embarrassed expression on her face. "Sorry, sorry, that was me. I dropped the bass again."
Crying out in frustration, Octavia smacked Vinyl with a dish towel.
"I don't get it," Scootaloo said.
Octavia and Vinyl stood side by side in bright afternoon sunlight, carefully waiting and watching as a zebra stallion covered in tribal markings examined several instruments he presumably had brought into their home. His large blue eyes flashed with worry.
"My instruments indicate high levels of energy," the zebra said. "And it's been getting higher since my arrival. Something doesn't want me here."
"That's ridiculous," Octavia said.
"Perhaps, but look at me heat signature display. It's indicating four sources of energy in this room right now."
"So?" Octavia asked.
The zebra looked grim. "So there's only three of us here," he said.
Standing in the bedroom, Vinyl Scratch was headbanging to music blaring from her speakers. Octavia slowly walked up and stood framed in the doorway, not speaking, not moving, just watching the unicorn. This went on for almost twenty seconds. Octavia eventually walked away without a single word, and the door slammed shut on its own, sending the entire screen into blackness.
Paranormal Disturbances
Coming Soon
"That was the dumbest thing ah've ever seen," Apple Bloom said.
"So you wanna go see it?" Sweetie whispered.
"Buck yeah ah wanna go see it!" Bloom whispered back.
Following this, the lights dimmed even further, and Sweetie Belle squeaked in excitement. "Finally!" She said. "It feels like we've been waiting for days!"
The screen brightened, and a large white unicorn ran across the screen in a field of grass.
"Aw, don't tell me it's a nature documentary!" Scootaloo complained.
The unicorn leaped into the air with its horn illuminated, and froze in mid-jump. Underneath, words scrolled across the screen.
Hornspark Films
"Thank Celestia," Scootaloo said.
The Wonderbolts were flying across the sky now, in perfect formation. They swooped upwards in a graceful arc, never breaking rank.
"Huh. Maybe another trailer for a biopic?" Apple Bloom whispered.
The Wonderbolts soared towards the screen, freezing just as they reached the edge, the hue darkening so only their silhouettes were visible.
Really Fast Pony Productions
"Aw, come on!" Apple Bloom hissed.
Violent rain poured down as lightning crashed in the background, two earth ponies standing in the downpour on their back legs. They looked worn and battered, and were clashing back and forth with swords attached to their forelegs, expressions of serious focus on their faces while the swords clanged, blade against blade.
Sweetie Belle squealed excitedly. "Yes, The Princess Bridle! Now THAT'S more like-"
The screen froze once more.
Swordfight Studios
All four of the fillies cried out in exasperated anguish, and threw their boxes of popcorn at the screen.