It was good to be a producer on Bridleway. Granted, as the cliché would have it, it was good to be in any profession with high enough jurisdiction over other ponies, but for Mosely Orange, this was no trite statement. What he’d done before he’d gotten into showbiz was fairly unknown even to the most knowledgeable ponies in Manehattan, and like anything else, it was the stuff of rumors more so than actual truths. All most ponies knew about him was that he’d come from old money, married into even more with the Apple family, and still managed to keep a decent fortune even after his divorce. Had he the opportunity or the interest to engage with the town gossips, he would make two things immediately clear.
Item number one: he quite liked being surrounded by mystery, liked to be talked about. If his secrets were ever revealed, nopony would take an interest in his life anymore and he would quickly fade into obscurity. As such, he actively avoided answering anything that could be construed as being “too personal,” even if the pony asking it had only intended to make small talk.
And number two: he had never stopped loving the mare he’d once been married to, even for a moment. To him, it wasn’t for money or business deals, but out of genuine respect for his ex-wife. Those who knew him would say that it was almost as if he’d loved her with such intensity that he had no room to feel any emotion beyond his usual coldness to anypony else. As such, the divorce was as much of a shock to him as it had been to everypony who’d heard about it. It’d certainly been a surprise to the Manehattan elite to have seen him with another mare, much less somepony outside his class.
Suri Polomare may not have been the replacement for his estranged wife he’d initially looked for; in fact, the two couldn’t have been more different. His current flame was wild and often catty, while his lost love had been demure, elegant, perhaps too kind for her own good. As such, he still wasn’t quite sure how he felt about the other mare in his life; he cared enough to pull strings to get her in his production, but other than that, he was ambivalent. But, he reminded himself, both had a certain honesty to them that had gotten him out of all sorts of trouble, and it was especially saddening to know that he could now trust the often unpredictable Suri over the stallion he’d thought had been his tried-and-true director.
That was perhaps what made the particular post he held so great, in his opinion. As he cantered towards his office with an enviably cool calmness, he realized that he’d never have to be in the situation he had so often placed his coworkers in. He’d never have to receive a lecture or a warning, only give them to others and upbraid them for not doing their job quite right. Some ponies would say such thinking could lead to a power trip, but he couldn’t disagree more. Power meant safety. Only the law could reach him, and last time he checked, he was far from being the most corrupt pony at this theatre. Dragging others down to the police wasn’t necessarily the politest way of staying out of trouble, but as long as he wasn’t the one being caught, it was fine by him.
Today will be a great day to be Mosely Orange, he thought to himself as he prepared himself to press the red intercom button, the one that would bring the latest offender to his office, likely oblivious to having done anything wrong.
Today will be a terrible day to be Scene Stealer.
****
For once, Suri Polomare seemed to have kept her word. Scene hated to say it, but he was thankful to have the producer’s girlfriend as an ally. Seeing as Mosely hadn’t made any snide remarks to him in the last few days it’d been since he’d left work to help Coco, the director couldn’t help but feel a little relieved at the situation. The play was running smoother than ever, the costume department had gotten back on schedule now that Coco’s depression had evened out, and for once, he was left to appreciate how utterly peaceful everything was. He’d almost forgotten what it was like to not have any work-related stress or drama, believe it or not, and now that he finally had what he wanted ever since this play’s beginning, he was soaking up every second. Yet, even he knew that it could only last for so long.
There was a reason why the theatrical profession and everything associated with it often fell under the name of “drama.” Scene had staged plenty of dramas on the stage and had seen his fair share of them enacted when the audience wasn’t even there. He had perfected the difference between enhancing the drama ponies saw on stage and trying his best not to cause it in real life, when it was pointless and drove actors away from each other. There was a reason, however, for the umbrella term: there could not be faked drama without its very real counterpart. Throughout his years of directing, he had taken pride in the fact, however, that he had never once been the one to cause it himself. He had always been a mediator and nothing more.
Even with this current tranquility, he still kept his eyes peeled. There was still a voice whispering within his head, telling him to get back to the way he’d directed before, that if he went on too long like this, he’d end up losing his touch. And yet, somehow he still didn’t listen to it, in spite of all his expertise and knowledge of what would happen if he didn’t.
The message on the intercom that day should’ve come as a given, something that was inevitable. He’d been the one to deliver the message all too many times, that an actor or actress was distracted, causing drama, whatever the case may be. The thought that, for once, he could be the one causing it had been inconceivable at that time, and to some extent still was. One could chalk these feelings up to being so used to sticking to the safe side that Scene had ended up forgetting what the consequences really were, but in actuality, he knew them all too well. As with many cases in life, his obliviousness towards the situation was nothing more than a symptom of that all-too-common ailment called love.
Prepping himself for his usual nitpicking from his producer, Scene audibly sighed and levitated the latest copy of the play’s script out of his saddlebag. Without much context for why he had to meet Mosely, he just as soon assumed that it was because, just as the director had dreaded, the musical’s concept alone was already a lightning rod for controversy. Even though pains had been made to ensure that earth ponies and pegasi would still be considered for roles, the production was still largely made up of unicorns and hinged on a concept of a spell-casting competition—one that would have been a hit on Canterlot’s off-Bridleway district, but one that wasn’t quite palatable to Manehattan’s huge population of earth ponies. It hadn’t gotten to the point of rioting yet, but there had been a few angry letters to the theatre penned by a mysterious “Pink Lady” that Scene frankly couldn’t care less about. For all he knew, Pink Lady could’ve been little more than some actress trying to blow off steam or even a prankster from a competing production. All he really cared about was that he finally had a chance to say “I told you so” and though he would likely get fired on the spot for doing so, the temptation was still very much there.
But he’d been through so much production trouble that personally, this was barely an issue, even if the mysterious mare was real and chose to picket outside the door. If anything, it’d just bring more curious ponies over to see what the fuss was about. So long as Scene could get in and out of Mosely’s office without being chewed out too much and still manage to have time to actually do his job decently, he didn’t see why such a meeting would have to be a problem. Besides, it was a fairly common practice for a boss to check up on his workers…right?
Thoughts and nerves continued to well through his head with each hoof he placed towards the office until Scene noticed a certain somepony blocking his way. Somepony he’d always thought he could ignore until she shoved her way into his life once more. For once, she’d actually bothered to do it in the most literal fashion possible.
Suri Polomare always had a way of sneaking up on him, even when it should’ve made perfect sense for him to encounter her in a particular situation. In this case, it could’ve been as mundane as just her going to see her coltfriend. But, by now, Scene knew better than to assume anything she did was predictable.
“With all due respect,” he spoke, not truly meaning it in any sense of the phrase, “I have a meeting to get to and I really have no time for any of your distractions, shenanigans, or anything of the sort.”
“Do you ever have time for me?” Suri answered playfully. “Because you certainly seem to make time for Coco when she comes around.”
“That’s different and you know it,” he replied. “I’ve just about run out of patience with you, and don’t you dare say I never gave you a chance.”
“Then let my chance be now, okay? You can’t go in there, Scene. You just can’t. If you care anything for your job or your life as you know it now, don’t open that door. I know what Mosely’s up to better than anypony else. Let me be the one to help you.”
“Yeah? And what would be in it for you? Hurting Coco again right after she’s finally at her happiest?”
“Who says anything has to be in it for me? I messed up, and I want to help you. Can’t things ever be as simple as that?”
“Not with you around,” Scene whispered. “Besides, if helping me out means going against the one who gave you this job in the first place, you ought to be smart enough to know that he won’t tolerate that. He barely even tolerates me.”
“So now you start looking out for me?”
“Not for you, for all the foals out there you could mess with if you lose this gig. Just know that I will work with you on a business basis, but the minute I step outside here and move onto my personal life, I will consider you an enemy that I would never willingly consort with. As for what the future brings…stay on Bridleway all you want, but don’t get too used to working on Stealer-Orange collaborations. No bits your coltfriend may give me will ever convince me to work with you again.”
“The future doesn’t matter,” Suri replied, her voice growing ever more pleading. “Neither does the past, okay? All I’m concerned about now is you not losing your job, and…”
“Losing my job? That’s your new plan, isn’t it? To get me on your good side by making me think I’d throw away everything otherwise? Look, I may not trust my producer that much, but I trust him enough that your scheming isn’t going to work on me this time. That’s considering I was ever fooled, for that matter.”
“This time I’m telling the truth, I swear. I—I may have just messed things up for you in ways that you may never be able to completely fix on your own.”
“That much wouldn’t surprise me.” Bitterness crossed his voice, not so much irritated at speaking with Suri anymore as he was frustrated with her very existence. “I’d be more willing to believe that than trust you to say anything close to the facts. Now, I’m already late for my meeting, so—“
With every inch of progress he made, however, Suri continued to trail him. In any other circumstance, he’d wonder just what was making the usually callous and uncaring mare so persistent in pursuing him, but at the moment, he just felt weary of everything. He willed himself repeatedly to ignore her, to go to the meeting as planned, to forget anything had happened here, to be satisfied once more, to be happy, to be happy…
That much was all he could do to make it through this troubled production with his sanity intact.
“Scene, wait,” Suri whispered just as he was about to place his hoof on the door, too exhausted with everything to even come to the realization that he could just as easily open it with his magic. “Can you promise me something before you go in there? That’s not too much to ask, is it?”
In that tiny second of time, an equally miniscule flicker of sincerity began to go off between the two. He had known her only a few weeks, but he was acquainted with her enough to recognize how rarely, if ever, her voice had that tone. He’d never actually heard her speak to anypony with such desperation; it almost made her sound like she had nothing to hide. Everything within him knew better, but in that quick assessment of the situation, he almost didn’t have a choice. Anything else would leave her to hound him more. And, perhaps, even lead him to question what was making the fakest mare in Equestria sound so…real for once.
“Whatever,” he sighed. “Let’s get this over with. If it’s anything too hard—“
“It isn’t,” she answered, her expression appearing to be a strange mixture of regret and satisfaction. “All I want is for you to fully listen to me about one thing. One tiny thing, okay? Just give me your full attention, and I won’t be on you again. You’ll be rid of me, at least for today. You can go back to your meeting and have your few moments of security before you get the bad news.”
“Fine—wait, what?! What bad news do you mean? Why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?”
“I tried to,” Suri admitted. “If I would’ve gotten a chance, you wouldn’t have believed me anyway. You’ll just have to find out about it on your own, because that’s not what I really intend to tell you now that I know I have your attention. No matter what you hear in there, there’s something you have to remember above all. And before you ask what it might be, I’ll tell you: Mosely isn’t all he pretends to be. In the short time I’ve dated him, I’ve found out…things. Not too much in the way of details yet, but maybe that’d be better for the both of us. Especially for me.”
“I thought you wouldn’t stop singing his praises,” protested Scene, still trying to find a grain of truth in what she was saying. “Not too long ago, you were telling me how he cared when nopony else ever did. Nopony can have a change of heart that quickly, so don’t go telling me that you don’t care about him anymore.”
“I never said anything like that. I go back and forth these days. There’s a part of me that tells me to be disgusted by what I hear, but at the same time, there’s something urging me to go to the ends of Equestria for him. Especially when I tell myself that I’m really no worse than him, that we ought to be perfect for one another. Except we aren’t. He doesn’t want me to change, because he likes having somepony as bad as him around. I don’t know why I even keep loving him because there’s somepony much better around, somepony who I feel can actually give me a new life.”
As he finally opened the door, those last few words of hers would echo throughout his mind more than anything else, blurring themselves into patterns and sentences that didn’t even make sense. Even those pieces of gibberish attaching themselves to his mind would make more sense than what she actually said, would be better to remember than the actual facts that made the least sense of all.
“I’ve come to hate Coco even more in the past few days. Because, out of all the times she’s taken what I’ve really wanted, this is the absolute worst. She can fill all the jobs in the world and leave me out on the streets for eternity, and it still wouldn’t hurt as much as it does now, knowing that you love her.
“Because, Scene Stealer, hate me as you might…I still can’t stop my feelings for you.”