Ch. 4: Disaster in the Theatre
That evening, everyone in Coco’s neighborhood arrived at the Midsummer Theatre Reopening. Catrina and Rep are taking tickets until they see Celestia arrive in her royal carriage.
“Princess Celestia! So glad you can make it,” Catrina said as she and Rep bowed.
“I’m glad to be here,” Celestia said, “Applejack, Coco, and Rarity did well at helping with the Midsummer Theatre Revival.”
Celestia walks in with her two guards, not knowing she’s being watched by the clowns from earlier as they watch her from the bushes.
“Good. The Princess has arrived,” said the Pegasus clown.
“When she sees what’s about to happen, we’ll finally get even with Discord, Rarity, and their friends,” said the Earth clown, “Now fly me to the catwalk backstage. We can’t have anyone find our hoof prints.”
The Pegasus Pony flies his friend to the backstage entrance, and they both trot in quietly.
****
Outside the theatre, everyone sat themselves down in front of the stage, including Fluttershy and Discord. Thorne looks upon them with jealousy as he and Scorpan scout the seating.
“That should be me sitting next to Fluttershy!” he grumpily says.
“Thorne, she promised Discord before she met you,” Scorpan says, “At least she’ll be impressed with how you’re helping Coco Pommel out.”
“I suppose. Maybe I’ll get to sit with her on the ride home.”
“Either way, we gotta make sure Ahuizotl doesn’t cause. Who knows why he’s here in Manehattan.”
****
Coco sits herself between Rarity and Applejack when Celestia arrives.
“Princess Celestia!” Coco bowed, “I’m pleased you could come.”
“The pleasure is all my mine, Miss Pommel,” she said, “I’m very proud that you revived the sense of community Charity Kindheart brought to Manehattan.”
“Applejack and Rarity deserved most of the credit. They helped me when I had trouble.”
“Yes, but you are the one who took a stand first, Coco,” Rarity said, “Charity would be proud.”
****
Backstage, Megan and Rara are getting ready for their act. Rara had on a nice, diamond-colored dress while Megan had on the white, shoulderless dress Rarity made for her.
“Rarity really went all out with this dress, Megan,” Rara said.
“She really did,” Megan said, “She has a good eye for detail.
Megan looked at herself in the mirror that was displayed backstage. The dress Rarity made for her was really gorgeous, and she owed it all to her.
"I wonder what Ahuizotl would think if he saw me in this dress?" she thought to herself,
She couldn't help but think what kind of reaction Ahuizotl would give to her. If she knew him from the last time they encountered each other, he would be head over heels for her. With a shake of her head though, she snapped out of it, as she didn't think there was enough time to think about it.
We better get ready. We’re on in a few minutes,” she said.
Megan and Rara get to their positions.
Watching them from above is the mysterious earth pony clown. His Pegasus friend flew in.
“Did you set the foot prints up like I planned?” asked the earth clown.
“I did,” said the Pegasus clown, “Good thing Trixie has various props.”
“Good. Now we just need to cut the sandbags, and then our plan will be complete.”
****
The show starts as the curtain opens for Megan and Rare and the spotlight shines on them. Rara takes center stage as Megan plays her guitar.
Rara sings the Equestrian Anthem:
Equestria, the land I love
A land of harmony
Our flag does wave,
From high above
For ponykind to see.
Equestria, a land of friends
Where ponykind do roam
They say true friendship never ends
Equestria my home!
Megan taps the triangle like they rehearsed. Everyone got up from their seats and cheered for the two. Rara bows to the crowd when Megan noticed bits of rope falling onto her. She looks up and sees the clowns from earlier cutting a huge sandbag. The sandbag snapped and fell.
“Look out, Rara!” Megan yelled as she pulled her away, causing the bag to miss her.
“Thanks, Megan,” Rara sighed with relief.
Megan noticed a small rip in her dress.
“Oh, Rara. I’m so sorry about ruining your dress,” Megan said.
Rara noticed the tear on her sleeve, but she also noticed a rip in the seams on her skirt.
“Megan, you didn’t rip it,” she said.
The dress suddenly fell apart, leaving Rara to nervously cover herself as she slips offstage. Every other performer noticed their costumes ripping apart as well. A young foal screams when a snake pops out of her bag of popcorn.
“Mommy, there’s a snake in my popcorn!” she cried.
More ponies scream and panic as more snakes pop out of the popcorn. Everyone ran to the gates, except for Twilight and company. Twilight unleashes a freezing spell on the snakes. Fluttershy carefully picks the snakes up and puts them in the garden.
“Is it a good idea to put snakes in the garden, Fluttershy?” Rarity asked.
“They are just harmless rat snakes,” she said, “They’ll keep the rats away from the flowers.”
Coco is in panic and stress seeing everything broken and wrecked from the riot.
“The Midsummer Theatre is ruined!” she yelled in horror, “What could have done this?”
“You mean “Who could have done this?” Zesty said as she came in, “I saw what happened, and it all looked very chaotic. I think our culprit is quite obvious.”
Zesty points at Discord, who was floating in the air, and using his tongue to eat the fallen popcorn off the ground. He stopped though when he sees everyone glaring at him.
“What? he asks with confusion.