Twilight and her friends could hardly believe it. They had auditioned for a Hearth’s Warming production of “Pony on the Hearth” and to their surprise, when the casting was decided, the gang was amazed that they were going to perform at Trottingham! Soon after weeks of rehearsing, the cast and crew took a train and then jumped on a boat with Pip and his family to the famous isle.
Pip was running up and down the deck excitedly. He said, “I’m so excited to be traveling back to Trottingham! What’s even better is that I’m traveling with two princesses and their friends!” He then said to Twilight, “I can’t wait to show you all of Trottingham!”
Twilight chuckled, “Well, we should save the sight-seeing until after the play, but I suppose we could see some of Trottingham before we perform.”
Pip ran off, shouting, “Yippee!”
Just then, Twilight heard retching. She turned and saw Shining Armor crouching over the railing with green tints on his cheeks.
She walked over to him and said, “This trip’s not going well for you, huh?”
Shining Armor wearily replied, “Sorry. I’ve never been much on sea travel.” He gagged before he continued, “I think this is what Cadance went through when she was pregnant.”
Flash Sentry then walked up to the siblings and said, “Hey, Twilight. I…” He then saw Shining Armor vomiting over the railing. He asked warily, “Is your brother okay?”
Twilight answered, “He’ll be fine. He doesn’t travel by sea often.” She walked with the Pegasus to another part of the railing and looked out on the sea.
They both admired the view in silence until Flash asked, “Uh, Twilight?”
She looked at him and asked, “Yes?”
The guard was stunned by how radiant her face was by the sea and the reflecting ripples of sunlight in the water. He stood stunned for a moment before he shook out of it and said, “I…Do you…remember when I had to take over the role of Edward Coltum?”
Twilight chuckled, “Of course. How could I forget?”
About a week into rehearsals, the stallion cast as Edward Coltum had dropped out. Luckily, he had an understudy. Flash only thought that he was just trying out for the heck of it, but he was shocked when he learned that he had been assigned the role full-time! He had never gotten into acting much and like Fluttershy, he was a bit shy on stage. One day, Discord was helping Flash get the hang of acting.
“No, no, Flash!” Discord told him. “You need to have more oomph! More pizzazz! Here, repeat after me.” He cleared his throat and assumed a dramatic pose. He recited, “’If I, if I were king!’”
Flash weakly imitated, “’If I, if I were king…’”
The spirit of chaos face-palmed as he grumbled, “You’re going to ruin this play for all of us!”
Twilight then walked in and said, “He’s trying!”
Flash said, “But even if I try, I’m still no good at it!” He sighed, “Let’s face it: acting’s not for me.”
The alicorn princess then smiled and levitated the script towards him. She said, “I’ll help you.” She sat beside him as he opened the book. She pointed to the description of Edward Coltum and asked Flash, “Okay, who is this?”
Though confused, Flash answered, “Edward Coltum.”
“Right. And what’s he like?”
“He’s kind, caring, loving, secretive…”
“Right! And as an actor, you need to pretend you have those traits.”
“But I do have some of those traits.”
“Exactly. The problem is you’re trying too hard. You need to be yourself, but pretend to be another pony at the same time.”
“Huh?”
“Remember those games of make-believe you played as a colt. You’ve pretended to be anything you wanted to be, haven’t you?”
Suddenly, it dawned on Flash and he nodded, “Yes. Yes! I think I have!”
“Mm-hmm. That’s exactly what acting is. You’re playing out a story as a character. Here…” She turned the pages and reached Edward’s first lines. She continued, “Let’s start with this…”
Back in the present day, Twilight told Flash, “You know what I think? I think that you are the more perfect pony to play Edward Coltum than Silver Screen.”
This caused Flash to blush until they heard the bell ringing incessantly. They turned to see Discord in sea captain attire and on the top of a pole as he rang the bell.
He called out, “Land ho! Land ho!”
The real sea captain walked towards him and said in an annoyed tone, “Are you quite done?”
Discord answered, “Yes.” As he slithered off the pole, he added, “Thank you.”
Pip gasped gleefully as he saw his home island coming into view. He jumped up and down in excitement and shouted, “We’re back! We’re back! We’re back! We’re back!”
Soon, the ship docked at the harbor and the cast and crew of the Hearth’s Warming play went straight to the theater. While everything got set for the production that night, several of the actors went on a tour of Trottingham.
Discord, most of the Mane Six, and Pip were walking down the street while the draconequus was snapping photos. The Lord of Chaos remarked, “I must say, Pip, this is a lovely place you used to live in. So why did you move away?” He took a selfie with two random ponies before the ponies ran off in fright.
Pip answered, “My father needed a job, so he took up an offer in Ponyville and then my family and I moved there.”
Fluttershy asked, “Do you miss living here often?”
“Well, yes, but then I remind myself of the wonderful times I had both in Trottingham and Ponyville. Both of them are really great. I don’t know if I’d ever choose between them.”
Discord said, “If you’d like, you can come live in Chaosville with me.”
Just then, a bell rang as the door to a shop opened. Rarity walked out and Spike grunted as he carried her packages.
The dragon asked, “So, where to next, Rarity?”
The unicorn answered, “Well, let’s see. We still have to stop by the chocolate shop, the crafts store…Oh! And we should definitely pay a visit to the antiques store!”
Suddenly, Spike yelled as he fell backwards and the packages fell on him.
Discord scolded, “Rarity! Is that any way to treat the leading actor? Honestly, I thought you of all ponies would be more careful with talent like him. Why, if I had the lead role-“
Twilight said, “Well, you don’t, okay?”
“Well, yes, but I was making a point that he is a star, and he has to be treated as such.”
Rarity said, “Oh, you’re right, Discord.” She removed the packages from Spike and apologized, “I’m so dreadfully sorry, Spikey. You are the star and I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”
Spike smiled, “That’s okay, Rarity. I don’t care if I’m the star. I just like running errands with you.”
Discord then thrust his face against Spike’s and exclaimed, “But you’re the star!” He pulled back from the dragon and continued, “How can you be the star if you don’t act like one?!”
“Look, just because I’m playing the lead role doesn’t mean I get to be some overdramatic diva.”
Rainbow whispered as she nudged her friends, “Like somepony else we know.”
The girls all giggled and Discord sneered, “Very funny.”