It had taken a large amount of cajoling, persuading, and finally bribery to convince the manager of the Royal Theater to allow Spear Shaker and Quick Chance to appropriate his venue for their productions. As the Canterlot Hearth’s Warming play was being held at an outdoor venue this year (among the guest performers were some of the finest weather pegasi in Equestria, who had sworn on their flight feathers that they could keep the weather under control on stage and not unleash snow flurries on the audience.)
That left Spear Shaker’s troupe free rein when it came to using the Royal Theater. It soon became apparent that Luna had unleashed a monster. She made it one of her nightly tasks to check in on the production and more often than not found changelings and ponies alike engaging in a variety of tasks that , to an outsider, looked like Discord had been unleashed early. There were loud arguments, set pieces that were in constant motion, props that disappeared and reappeared in the oddest of locations, lines that were dropped, improvised or forgotten altogether, and through it all a playwright who liked to make seemingly random changes in scene order. Princess Luna quickly realized that though Spear Shaker was the whirlwind of activity that kept the cast and crew busy, Quick Chance was the eye of the hurricane. She was always calm and unhurried, completing her tasks with a single mindedness and matter of fact attitude that Luna could appreciate. It was as if the production had two faces: the wild and spontaneous writer and director versus the planning and logical producer and manager. What intrigued the princess of the night the most was the fact that these two ponies never seemed to be at odds with one another. Quick Chance was tolerant beyond belief, and Spear Shaker could keep to deadlines—the one thing that Quick Chance absolutely put her hoof down on.
The Hearth’s Warming show came together quickly enough. After all, the props and costumes could be reused year after year, and with the changelings’ ability to shift forms to fit costumes, there was little altering that needed to be done. It was Spear Shaker’s plays that were taking more time and effort. When Princess Luna asked Quick Chance about the odds of her seeing one of Spear Shaker’s shows, the mare had looked at the princess with an imperturbable gaze and answered, “it may not appear as though we have made any progress, your majesty, but in truth we are actually ahead of schedule for A Hearth’s Warming Carol and on schedule for Once Upon a Winter. The traditional pageant is ready to go and we should be ready to open the former show within a week of Hearth’s Warming Day and the second about one to two weeks later depending on how everything goes.” Luna had looked at the mare in surprise; Quick Chance had shrugged, as if to say Well, you asked.
“That is ahead of schedule?” Luna had asked incredulously.
With a laugh, Quick Chance had replied, “well, your majesty, Spear Shaker has a bad habit of editing and rewriting every scene over and over again. We had one show that we premiered last year that he had been working and reworking for three years before we could even start with physical preparations and rehearsals. He is a perfectionist, but when he hits his stride with a show, the results are worth the wait. I have been with him long enough to know that.”
“How long?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“How long have you been working with him, and with the others here?”
“I joined up with Spear Shaker about seven or eight years ago, I think. The changeling hive joined our repertoire about five years ago, after a large number of our performers got sick right before a major performance. Queen Maricopa and her merry band of bugs had seen the show a few nights prior and had enjoyed it to the point that they had seen it every following night. When we ran into problems for the last show, Mari offered their services. Spear and I were skeptical at first, but after seeing the group change into forms that could have easily been our actors, including their mannerisms, we decided to take a risk. The show was such a hit that we decided to continue the partnership. You see, Princess, it is beneficial to both sides. Queen Maricopa and her people have a harmless way of feeding off a crowd that is freely giving them their emotions without endangering either party, and Spear Shaker gets an ensemble cast that he can rely on that is more flexible than any pony cast we could recruit.”
“What about you?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you have said how this benefits the changelings and Spear Shaker, but what about you?”
The mare had chuckled. “Well, first of all, it works well as a gimmick for our troupe. As far as I know, we are the only all-changeling cast performance troupe in Equestria, and we can bank on that reputation. Secondly, it is very hard to keep Spear Shaker happy. The changelings work hard enough and are flexible enough in form and attitude to keep him at least content, if not happy. When Spear is happy, I am happy. Thirdly, I have become good friends with all of our changelings, especially Queen Maricopa. She has a good heart and it is in the right place. I have never seen a pony who goes as far as she does to ensure the safety and comfort of everyone around her, whether they are members of her hive or not. During dry spells, I have seen her pass up feeding opportunities or give away most of her personal love to her own folks rather than eat her fill and let them fend for themselves. In addition, she has a really good feel for emotions, in both an audience and in our crew members. When someone gets bad news, she knows and is more often than not there to offer comfort and help, whether it is a warm blanket and hot cocoa or simply an ear to listen to what is troubling the pony. She is an absolute saint when it comes to stressful situations, and she has an uncanny ability to calm stage nerves. I have never seen anything like it before.”
Luna had sat in silence for a little while to ponder this. Quick Chance had sat in companionable silence beside the princess as she collected her thoughts. Both equines had sat in one of the balconies watching the rehearsal on stage. Queen Maricopa had not been in evidence, but a half dozen of her changeling actors had been on stage. This was the famous freezing scene in the Hearth’s Warming pageant’s final rehearsal. It would open the next night. To Luna’s surprise, no magic had been used on stage; rather, it appeared that the ponies who worked props and scenery used old style stagecraft. This had prompted Luna to change the subject away from Quick Chance’s relationship with the changelings.
“So why are your stage hooves not using magic for this?” She had asked as she watched set pieces that looked like frozen ice being hauled across the stage.
“Making ice indoors is expensive.” The stage manager had answered. “These pieces will be frozen over right before the show to keep it fresh and cold. We can not use it for every rehearsal, as even in pony form, changelings are vulnerable to cold temperatures. As to why we are not simply using illusions, that is Spear Shaker’s and Maricopa’s idea. They decided that since this is a very old play, the emotions would be stronger if the effects were more realistic. If ponies can see the actors on stage freezing with real ice, the sympathy in this building will be going through the roof. It makes the melting and end scenes that much more sweet and heartening.”
“Will the freezing harm the changelings?”
Quick Chance had shaken her head. “The ice we use for the actual freezing of Chancellor Puddinghead, Commander Hurricane, and Princess Platinum is not a full encasement. Rather, it is a half-dome that is visible to the majority of the audience, but is open on the backdrop side. To us out here, the actors appear frozen completely, but the actors on stage will be able to escape as needed and will not need to worry about being forced into a partial hibernation state.”
Luna had watched the rehearsal a bit more. “I had no idea that there was this much effort involved in the Hearth’s Warming pageant. Even though it has been done ever since before I was sent to the moon, I have never seen it like this.”
For the first time in a while, Quick Chance had smiled at the princess of the moon. “That is the idea, your majesty. We want this to be a show to remember. After all, everything is riding on this.”
Luna had departed soon after. On the one hoof, it was good that Quick Chance and the other members of the troop were aware of the stakes. It meant that they would work extra hard to ensure the show’s success. On the other hoof, Luna worried that it was all a sham, and that the whole event was going to fall to pieces before the curtain raised and that the strain would be too much, too soon. She waited the last few nights leading up to the opening on Hearths’ Warming with trepidation. Anxious, she wrote to Twilight Sparkle and her Ponyville friends asking them to come see the play with her and spend the holidays in Canterlot. She suggested they bring whatever family cared to join them as well; there was plenty of room.
Within a day, Twilight Sparkle replied that she would be attending, along with Spike, Rarity and her family, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash (and her “sister” Scootaloo), Pinkie Pie and the Cake family, and Applejack and her family. A few other select families in Canterlot also received invitations. Celestia and Luna would be there, of course, as would some of the nobles who had become patrons of the changeling artists’ colony. Luna was determined to give the performing changelings the best audience she could. Anything was worth the possible reward of having a resident hive in the area that she and Celestia could speak to for advice. After overseeing one night’s rehearsal, Princess Luna had asked Queen Maricopa Elytra to come aside with her. Luna had asked the young queen if she would be willing to act in such a role to the Equestrian diarchs. The queen had ansered in the affirmative, but had said she was not willing to stay in Canterlot if the reception she and hers received from these special performances was not appropriate. Luna was determined that they would not be.