//------------------------------// // 26. Moonbutts Unite, part 2: No sleep 'till Broadhay (by Eyeswirl the Weirded) // Story: Sunny, Moonie, Twily // by Jetto //------------------------------// Some ponies did not sleep easily. At least, not during hours in which they were accustomed to being awake. Moon Sky, even (forcibly) excused from her duties as Princess of the Night, was one such pony. Have to make sure Tia isn't slacking off. Also, I'm hungry. Learning that her bags had not been packed with full, substantial meals, but many varieties of cookie, had made for an awkward, embarrassing situation when she sought sustenance earlier in the evening. Not that Moondancer was not pleased that the three of them had 'scored free cookies,' but the curious look Trixie had given Moon Sky made her want to crawl under a rock and curl up into a ball. Still, she was saved from damage to her nutritional intake by the existence of the 24-hour all-you-can-eat dining area near the lobby of the hotel. Fan Dance had not spared expenses in her invitation, a fact for which Moon Sky was most grateful as she made her way to the dining area. It was sparsely populated at this hour, but there were a few fellow night-ponies like herself up and about, though at varying levels of grogginess. It was as she was looking over her options that Moon Sky heard the voice of a middle-aged stallion. "Ey, which production you in, little lady?" She about-faced. "What?" He was a light beige with black hair, thinning a little on the top, but made up for in a bushy moustache. He was fully dressed, which was a little odd for a pony, but Luna understood that these were different times. He wore black pants and a white shirt with red suspenders, what she could see of his smile through the moustache friendly and welcoming. "Which show," he asked, "which gig you set to sing in?" Sing? "I-I know not what you mean." He blinked, taking another look at her and letting out a short laugh. "Oh, my bad! Thought you were one'a the back-up singers for this week's shows, ya definitely got the look for it." She was still confused, and possibly a little bit flattered. "Shows?" He nodded once. "Broadhay." He extended a hoof. "I'm the director'a the shows runnin' in this town, and thought you were one'a the performers. Sorry fer the mix-up." Heart did a backflip. "Broadhay?!" "Yes," replied Brain, "the big, musical productions that make you go all-" "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!" "Yes, the fifth letter of the alphabet to an unreasonable extent, now calm down. We'll likely be seeing one such performance soon enough, so-" "He thinks I look like a Broadhay singer!!" "Okay, I'm taking over now." Moon Sky quickly regained her senses. "It is no trouble," she said with a normal smile, "I am quite familiar with the business, and have attended many performances in Canterlot." The director smiled. "That so? You had a chance to see the newest hit to the stage? The Tragedy of Nightmare Moon?" Ah, yes, the only-partly-true story of my own demise and absorption by Nightmare Moon, made into song and dance for the enjoyment of all. It was too personal a matter that she not take it a little personally, so she only saw that particular production around four times. She had mixed feelings on Nightmare Moon's empowering villain song, but the opening theme of the second act was damn catchy! "Yes, I am familiar. The use of orchestra whenever the black monster appears is both emphatic, and memorable, though the rhyming drunkard and the wailing midwife are perhaps overexposed in their roles as comic relief. It only took to the third appearance before their time on stage grew grating instead of working to relieve the tension." The director blinked once. "Sounds like ya know yer stuff!" He chuckled. "Ya sure you ain't part of the show?" Smiling a little with pride, Moon Sky shook her head. "No, but I am familiar enough with the material, I think." "Hm." The director gave her a cursory glance before a flicker of a smile was seen at the corners of his facial hair. "'And so from on high, I shall look down...'" "'To gaze upon what is to be mine,'" Moon Sky continued with a giddy smile, this part having given her chills every time, "'to be mine alone to see in daylight for the last time, for from this day hence, this day shall be the last! And the night, will last, FOREV-'" She stopped, noticing that the other five ponies getting food at this hour were all giving her confused, wide-eyed stares, making her shrink back and turn red, offering them a sheepish smile. The director just chuckled. "Tell ya what, shame yer not part of the show, I think ya'd fit right in!" He didn't wait for her reply, turning to leave. "Name's Show Time, by the way. I gotta get to gettin', but you take care, alright, little lady?" Moon sky immediately focused on the nearest table of food, both to escape the stares still trained on her, and because she was still hungry. To relieve some of the tension in her mind at that moment, Heart was released from captivity, bounding and jumping and singing about having been confused for a Broadhay pony herself. --- When she returned to the hotel room, Moon Sky found Trixie with her purple cloak wrapped around her like a blanket, sitting in the near-complete darkness and staring out the window that dimly illuminated the room. Quietly approaching her from behind, Moon Sky could see that she was looking upward, her eyes on the stars. Celestia had done a good job tonight, it looked no different than how she'd have it. Trixie spoke. "Nice night." "Thank you." Trixie quickly turned to her, confused. "Hm?" "A-ah, I mean..." "YOU IDIOT," cried Brain, "WE TRAINED FOR THIS!!" She adopted a completely neutral face. "Thank you for sharing this thought with me. Yes, a nice night, it certainly is." Nailed it! Trixie hmm'd for a moment, then shrugged it off, returning her gaze to the twinkling heavens. This left an awkward silence, one Moon Sky elected to fill. "Do you make a habit of staying up like this?" "Not exactly. You know how the light of each star is visible no matter where you are in that part of the world? How such a tiny stream of individual illumination can be seen to the same degree from so many angles? Their arrangement forming the whole of a larger, more beautiful image? Trixie appreciates that, the way light can be directed so." "Hug her," demanded Heart, "hug her now!" "No," said Brain, "she likely finds us odd already, and we do not want Moondancer's friends to relay such findings to her!" Instead, a normal question, one that licked at Luna's vanity a little, but fit the situation perfectly. "You are fond of the stars?" Chuckling, Trixie held her cloak-blanket a little more into the light, making its nocturnal patterns more vibrant and noticeable. "You could say that. We should sleep, tomorrow brings further adventure and wonderment!" While she may not have quite held the same view of each new day, she couldn't help a little smile at Trixie's spirit as the two of them went to bed for the night. --- Meanwhile, in Canterlot, things were peaceful and productive in the dorm of the top three students of Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns! [youtube=uGjGu5Zc9J8] Page by page, writing out a thesis... Twilight wrote, working on her paper, so perfect, making sure her sources were correct, had her student record to protect! Always gotta keep the essay focused, if the paper rambles, A's are hopeless, in silence, Twilight wrote! Stroke by stroke, fussing on the details... Painting runes, making sure the stars line with the moons, Making a glyph prism was required, if this focused power she'd acquire, had to mind the intimate details, else the spell matrix would surely fail! In quiet, Sunset worked! Some say, 'forbidden,' but they're just scared of the dark. Sunset wasn't so spineless, limits must be pushed, and how else do you make marks? One more page, she was nearing fifteen! Quill and ink, would just one more hurt, you think? Shuffling the papers left and right, got to find the spot with the best light, tapping with her quill to concentrate, who cared it had gotten late? Quietly, Twilight wrote! Tap, tap, tap, pages turn, Sunset's eyes, start to burn, in the room, paper sounds, hard at work, all night- "Hey!!" Looking over her shoulder at Twilight, Sunset ground her teeth together. "Will you quit tapping your quill?!" Twilight sounded similarly irritable. "I'm tapping my quill to drown out your noisy breathing!" "What?!" "Normal breath should only reach around ten decibels, and yours has easily been in the range of fifteen!" "In case you need a refresher on anatomy, breathing is something you have to do to stay alive without outside help, unlike shifting in your seat every other minute!" Scowling as she turned red, Twilight spent longer than she would have liked to admit debating with herself whether to address the shifty-seat comment or the notion that she needed a refresher in anything. Sunset cut her off anyway, holding her forehooves to her temples. "Auuurgh, I can even hear the gears in your head clanking together too loudly!" This one, she could address right away. "They do not 'clank' together, my gears are part of a well-oiled machine!" "Too bad that machine is so noisy!" Twilight frowned. "Wow." Her mouth opening and closing a few times, Sunset sighed and shook her head. "I, look, s-sorry, I just-" she quickly glanced around the room, "I think maybe we've been in here without interruption for a little too long." With a quick glance at the clock, Twilight couldn't help giggling in mild embarrassment. "We probably should have gone to sleep a while ago, too." Sunset smiled a little. "Ahh, who could sleep with all this noise?" This made Twilight snort before giggling a little louder than before, Sunset trying to hide her own quiet laughter behind a hoof. Both started laughing louder when they saw the looks on each others' faces. Any peace in the room was shattered as Sunset rolled around on the floor and Twilight beat a hoof on her desk, both laughing wildly. Catching their breaths, the two looked one another in the eye and smiled, Twilight in her chair, Sunset lying on her back on the floor. Then both went limp, softly snoring where they lay. Twilight slowly opened one eye, getting out of her seat and telekinetically lifting Sunset to her bed to tuck her in. "You should really be more careful," she whispered with a smile, "sleeping on the floor is bad for your back." That Sunset didn't reply with more than nuzzling her pillow said Twilight could be quiet just fine, thank you very much! Tickled a little by her surliest friend's peaceful expression, Twilight stifled her giggles (still quiet!), moved to her own bed, and closed her eyes. Then she quickly sat up, scowling as she whispered to Moondancer's bed. "And this doesn't mean I'm into mares, so don't even-... Oh." Realizing she really had been up too long, Twilight flopped over and went to sleep. --- Rested and ready to go, our heroic, moon-flanked trio set out on day two of their Manehattan adventure. The previous day had been long, the walk exhaustive, and the musical number that accompanied running all around the city to see the sights, while catchy, proved similarly draining. They set out, no sign of spontaneous song and dance to lift their spirits thus far, but- "Moondancer," urged Moon Sky in an irritable tone, "please stop narrating the day." It was a little funny during breakfast, but enough was enough. "Indeed! Trixie finds such orations far more effective after the fact, both because the forging of the tale is undistracted by its undertaking and because there is more time to find the most effective word choice to ensnare an audience." Moondancer giggled, dropping her imitation of a movie theater voice. "Yea, yea, okay. Fan said in the letter that she'd be in the theater downtown this morning." She turned to her performer friend. "Since you showed us around yesterday, do you know the way to get there?" Trixie smiled confidently. "Right this way, fellow moon-bearers!" --- Huh. For some reason, Moon Sky was actually surprised that they found themselves at the theater not ten minutes later. It wasn't that she wanted to doubt Trixie, just that she was accustomed to things not going to plan when Moondancer was around. Perhaps a little too much so, if it made her so untrusting. She kept these treasonous thoughts to herself as they walked through the backstage doors, soon greeted by a white pegasus with a wild, fiery-styled indigo mane in her dressing room. She greeted them in loud sing-song. "GOOOOOOOOD, morn-in, everypo-ny!" Trixie approved, more-so because they weren't in front of an audience and she wasn't obligated to upstage the singer here and now. Moondancer smiled. "Hiya, Fan!" Chuckling, Fan Dance smiled back. "Well if it ain't my fav-orite cousin!" That might not have been a long list, but she still meant it! That in mind, she frowned a little. "Your momma ain't comin', Moon?" Moon Sky blinked, snapped awake by the sound of her name. Or alias. It was a tiny point of pride that she'd learned to identify herself by the lie so fluidly. "I-I, what, my wha-who?!" Giggling, Moondancer wrapped a forehoof around her stuttering friend's neck. "Sorry to mess up our first-syllable naming thing, Fan, but this is Moon Sky, whose mother probably won't be joining us today either." The second Moon turned pink as the actual, in-person Broadhay star giggled. At her! Luckily, a princess had the willpower to reign in unwanted squees. "Well, no helpin' it, I guess." She turned to the lighter-blue mare in the purple hat and cape, part of her wondering if she was involved in tomorrow's show. "And who might-" Grinning, Trixie threw out her cape with a flourish before extending a hoof. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is pleased to make your acquaintance!" Fan Dance shook her hoof without batting an eye. "Cool." Roping Trixie into what was now a group hug, Moondancer beamed, turning the group so that Fan Dance could see most of their flanks from one side. "And together, we are the Moonbutts!" Moon Sky tinted red and facehoofed, Trixie just nodded affirmatively. "Well," Fan Dance said with a giggle, "I'm pleased as punch for you three and your butt-based bonding!" She turned so they could see her own mark; a feather fan with each immaculate, white down slightly splayed, as though waving in the wind. "Though I don't think I'll be getting my own Fanbutt group any time soon." Moondancer grinned cheekily. "You're a big-time Broadhay star. You can't tell me your butt doesn't have fans." The four of them were silent for a long moment before Moon Sky, wiggling her way out of the hug, touched a hoof to her chin in confusion. "What are you talking abo-OH!" She went wide-eyed and smiled. "Fans of-! As in-! And her cutie mark is-! And her name-!" She pointed at the still-smiling Moondancer. "I see what you did there!" There was another short silence before Trixie started giggling, followed by everypony else, building into mutually contagious laughter. Moon Sky was surprised to find herself laughing so earnestly at such racy humor, but the wording got to her. "W-well," said Fan Dance, wiping away a tear as she caught her breath, "it may not be as big a butt fan-*snrk*-f-fanclub as Sapphire Shores', but I guess it'll do." She produced three tickets from a purse resting by the vanity mirror. "My next show's late in the day tomorrow, think you all can make it?" Accepting the tickets, Moondancer smiled. "Totally! Any chance we can do something together before then?" Fan Dance smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Sugarplum, but I've got a lot to prepare for. Maybe we can kick back after the show? You wouldn't believe how many kinds of wine they have backstage!" Then came the suggestive eyebrow waggle. "And how many kinds of stallions?" "This is Broadhay," said Fan Dance in complete deadpan, "most the bucks involved are gay." "DARNIT!!" --- Walking out of the theater, Moondancer sighed, which made Moon Sky just a little concerned. "You are truly so troubled that there were not..." she wouldn't have blushed, but that damn memory of the time with the cloaking sphere thwarted her, "st-stallions?" Smiling ruefully at her, Moondancer gave a half-hearted little giggle. "Nah, just a little bummed that we won't actually be around Fan all that much. Don't have a whole lot of family, y'know?" For just a second, Moon Sky was nearly stunned. The sincerity in Moondancer's eyes, the downcast expression, it was another rare instance of Moondancer not looking like Moondancer, a peek beneath the mask of- And then she smiled, eyes twinkling. "Besides, it's a big city, I'm sure there are loads of ponies we can have a good time with!" Well, so much for that, thought Moon Sky, though she did at least admire her recovery speed. Then the statement sunk in. "I beg your pardon, but, 'we'?" Giggling in earnest, Moondancer nodded. "Yep, if you're down for it, the three of us can-" "Trixie will have to pass on this opportunity." She straightened her hat in a poised, dignified manner. "While nopony doubts your prowess in finding mates, Fair Moondancer, Trixie's only loves are The Stage, and the Fellow with the Fabulous Fetlocks!" There was a long pause. "That one sounded considerably more magnificent in Trixie's head." It was probably for the best that he wasn't present to hear it, actually, but that was why she tested these things! Moondancer tilted her head a little, her expression curious. "You've mentioned this guy before, I think, but I don't remember a name." "And while Trixie would love to regale you with his splendor, she must be off, for Trixie has not had a show in Manehattan in some weeks and now are peak performance hours!" She wrapped her cape around herself like as though imitating Count Dragallop and- "Farewell!" -vanished in a puff of purple smoke.