“We were great, you know. We were at the top of the world, the queens of Equestria. Then why are we in this bottomless piece of shit? We don’t belong here. It’s time Coloratura, it’s time.”
Rara was brushing her mane while her face looked at the mirror, the dressing room was full of important things for her like a country guitar, some clothes, a radio and two pictures: one with her former manager Svengallop, taken before her concert in Ponyville some months ago, and one with Applejack, taken shortly after the concert. From behind was a leather couch and a framed poster from her old alter ego, Countess Coloratura, promoting the last hit “The Spectacle.” Rara sighed, confused about the possible future of her career. She left the brush on the mirror desk and recharge the shoulders on the piece of furniture. A knock was heard on the door.
“Come in,” she said.
From the door appeared the designer Coco Pommel. “We’re ready for your first theatrical trial.”
Rara stood up from the chair, heading to the main stage. It was Bridleway, the same place where Hinny of the Hills had been shown. Now it was time for Rara to make her mark, moving away from the music industry for a moment and trying in a foreign territory for her: a monologue played by herself. Coco remained on the backstage, the entire place was empty and at the front was no other than the Lord of Chaos himself Discord, serving as director and producer of her show, although she didn’t know about the Lord part. Pony holograms were fulfilling the seats.
“Lights!” the chimera shouted and the lights from above illuminated the scenery and pointed at the singer. “Audience!” the holograms’ eyes began to glow. “Action!”
Approaching to the center and holding a sheet with said monologue, Rara began. “Everypony’s always quitting on me. My whole life... all the ponies I get to know... quit. I never do. I’m loyal. I stay. But they all leave me. Started with my dad... he–”
Suddenly one of the main lights fell to the stage, it crashed almost on Rara but she managed to evade it. Astonished about the incident she complained to Discord. “What was that?!”
“It should have been an accident. How inconvenient…” the holograms vanished. “Oh well, we now have to replace it with a brighter one.”
“What?” Rara was surprised for the wrong reasons.
“I said–”
“No, no, no. A light almost landed on my head and you’re more worry about the object than my own health?!”
“Listen, my lady!” Discord stood up from his seat and flew towards her. “All I’m doing is make sure everything goes well. Everything has to be perfect. According to the plan, errors are not allowed here!”
Coco ran to the stage to interfere between them to prevent a fighting. “Stop!” Both Rara and Discord focused on her for a moment and the arguing ceased, Coco sighed frustrated. “The premiere is in three days, the posters for the promo are wrongly done, the costume isn’t ready yet and both of you have been complaining for the same issues all this time. Could you please get along with each other for a minute?”
The entire theater felt empty for a moment. Finally Rara spoke. “If you need me, I’ll be in my dressing room.”
“Bu-but you’ve just arrived.”
“I don’t care, I have to order my thoughts right now,” the singer retired but as she traveled through the corridor she could hear the conversation between her dresser and producer.
“I’m losing my mind with this girl.”
“But she’s right. You care about details of the stage than what is in front of you. Maybe you’re putting the money, but I’ve been with her for a while now. I’m not only her dresser but her marketer as well.”
“Why does that even matter?”
“I have know her better for around three or four months. She has been... delicate since I met her, now there’s no doubt: she needs a specialist to control her mind.”
“Mind? You mean she got nuts?”
“No, what I mean is that she needs to put herself together and order her ideas. I’ll go out to search for a doctor, would you come with me?”
Discord sighed. “If it’s for her health, I’ll do it.”
“By the way, how long have you met her?”
“Since yesterday.”
Rara finally got into the dressing room and closed the door. To clear her mind, she turned on the radio and sat down on the leather couch. It received the signal of an interview program. What she hadn’t expected was who the announcer was interviewing.
“Welcome to our program ‘Writings on the Wall’, where we explore the past, present and future of the stars for three days. Here’s in our study the famous pop artist Sapphire Shores. Let us know: with the release of your latest album many critics have been praising your performance and your work, your career has a new breath of air and you’re even nominated for the Music Awards of this year. How could manage to be on the top once again?”
“All I can say is when you hit rock-bottom there’s only one way to go.”
“Come on, there has to be something else. You wouldn’t tell me you became who you are by magic.”
“Actually… yes. It’s called effort, which is something most of the ponies nowadays lack. They think by, like you said, magic, dreams will come true. It’s pretty clear they still live in a fantasy world.”
But everything was interrupted when the voice came back. “Listen to her. That bitch is twice your age, doesn’t even have half of your talent and yet she’s more recognizable and gains more than you. Meanwhile, you’re rotting in this secondhoof dump trying to do something you are not capable of and trying to prove something you are wrong about. I’m telling you this: there’ll be no Applejack to save you from this. You’re alone and will always be alone.”
“Leave me alone.”
“Why? We’ve already had this conversation before.”
“I said LEAVE ME ALONE!”
She yelled at the top of her lungs. In her rampage Rara grabbed the radio and threw it at the framed poster falling to the floor, the frame was ruined and pieces of glass spread throughout the room.
“No, no, no,” Rara tried to fix it up, some of the pieces got into her clothes and, when she tried to pull them out carefully, her dress got ripped. “I didn’t mean it.”
“Why did you do that? I loved that photo.”
A knock on the door was heard again. “Come in,” she said. This time the one who appeared was a blue-coated unicorn wearing a jacket, probably for the cold outside.
“Are you the famous singer Coloratura?” she asked questioning the surrounding environment.
“Yes but please call me Rara. Sorry about the mess,” Rara stretched her hoof with her.
“...Sure,” the unicorn said as she lifted her head up to observe the room. “I’m Minuette.”
“Excuse me but what are you doing here?”
“Oh...” Minuette continued looking through the place from top to bottom. “Miss Pommel found one of my advertisements on the street and contacted me to watch out your health while you’re here.”
Rara showed surprise. “That must be quick. I mean, it’s already difficult to hire somepony for a specific job she was able to do it in minutes.”
“Minutes you say?” Minuette paused as she observed how Rara was suiting and putting in place the mess of the dressing room.
“Yes, I’m surprised Coco could do it. She’s a very nice and trustful pony,” Rara continued cleaning, Minuette couldn’t help but noticed the poster on the floor.
“So... when do we start?” Rara asked joyful. “Because I’m in a hurry right now.”
“How about in this instant?” Minuette asked, Rara nodded. “First of all we’ll make a diagnosis about the feelings and thoughts plaguing your mind. Lie back on the seat and then we will start.”
Leaning on the seat, Rara reposed. Minuette took the chair from the room, sat down and pulled out a notebook and pencil out of her jacket. She removed some of the glass pieces from it.
“I’d like to start with a simple words test. Just tell me the first word that pops in your head. Understand?”
“Yes,” Rara continued looking at the roof as Minuette began the process.
“Outstanding.”
“Important.”
“Success.”
“Fame.”
“Picture.”
“Remembrance.”
“Precious.”
“Soul.”
“Change.”
“Metamorphosis.”
“Parallel.”
“Personality.”
“Shadow.”
“Mask.”
“Instance.”
“Offering.”
“Spectacle.”
In the moment that word was pronounced the entire room fell into silence. No buzzing or breeze was listened. Minuette, thinking the pop star didn’t hear, repeated the word.
“Spectacle.”
The silence prevailed for a while.
“Done,” Rara stood up and massaged her head. “Sorry to waste your time but I don’t know if this is the correct way.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll come back to check out on you. In the meantime though I’d like you to think about them so we can continue, see you tomorrow. Nice to meet you Rara.” The unicorn stretched her hoof, Rara closed the deal by holding hers.
“Same to you, Minuette.”
“Wow, that was rushed. You don’t want to spend more time with her because you think this is a waste of time, like everything else in your life. How pitiful. This is going so well.”
The blue unicorn left the room, but as soon as she did, Rara followed her steps to the main entrance unnoticed. There, Coco Pommel and Discord were waiting for the results, meanwhile Rara listened to the conversation hidden.
“And?” Coco asked Minuette. “What is the diagnosis?”
“My diagnosis is that she craves for her past.”
Both the dresser and the producer were astonished and their pupils expanded. “What do you mean?” Discord asked.
“I believe I can manage to put her on the right track if you can help me, I mean we made the deal eight hours ago and she believed it was just a minute ago. But don’t put more pressure on her, for now give her a rest, I’ll come back every day to check her until the premiere. Thanks, Mr. Discord and Miss Pommel, see you tomorrow.”
Minuette walked away. Coco frowned and muttered. “Stupid bank, stupid City Hall and stupid rent check.”
“What was that?” Discord asked looking at her.
“Nothing.”
As she observe how her main supporters were heading to the door Rara sneaked herself until she reached the main stage. She remained there, still until both Discord and Coco arrived.
“What are you doing now?” asked Discord.
“Oh, I was visualizing how am I going to appear when the show starts,” Rara lied to them but she had no better excuses for now.
“Your dress...” Coco said preoccupied. “It’s all ripped.”
“It was only an accident.”
“Bu-but it’s your favorite,” Coco approached her to check her dress. “I can suture it for your big presentation.”
“Don’t worry about that. For now I need my outfit,” she then directed to Discord. “Listen, Discord, about what happened–”
“Don’t worry about that, it was my fault. When I have the chance I’ll repair it, BUT with my fingers and not my magic, AND it will be brighter like I said.”
Rara and Coco didn’t know how to react to that comment, they looked at each other confused. “You had magic all the time and you never told us?” Coco replied. “Can you imagine how much time we could have save?!”
“I’m trying to develop my manual skills. Let’s just quote... a friend of mine,” he cleared his throat and imitated the voice of his friend the best he could. “You are too dependent of your magic, you can’t rely on it all the time, you have to learn how to be practical because I’m not going to be with you forever so I’ve decided a plan specially designed for you: here’s a ticket to Manehattan and 50 bits in case you’re hungry. Try to find another hobby that doesn’t involve chaos or anything like that and find your place in the world, learn how to be useful, make new friends and remember that I love you,” he finished and facepalmed instantly, followed by a deep sigh. “Making friends has been difficult to me ever since and now it’s even worse since because she’s no longer here to support me. Physically here, I should say, and that was months ago. Sometimes I wondered to myself if the rest of the ponies are ready to accept me because of my... nature. Yeah, let’s call it like that... even high society have a hard time with me. I accepted your offer job because... I thought... I could redeem with myself and prove to Equestria I can be useful in other way. I just want this to be perfect, like both of you. You’re perfect.”
“No, we aren’t,” answered Coco.
“Yes, you are. You seem to be so unconcerned and acquiescent with your life. I mean sure, we all have our dairy problems but we manage to stand up and face them. It’s not like our shadow is going to appear right here and manipulate us in forms we never wanted to.”
Discord and Coco chuckled while Rara kept quiet. Instantly, there was an uncomfortable silence. “That was nice of your part,” said Coco. “I guess it’s time to go now. It’s late.”
“Go ahead,” said Rara. “I have a couple of things to do. Thanks for that, Discord.”
“No problem Rara but remember: the owner will close at ten o’clock.”
She accompanied her producer and dresser to the entrance. After watching Discord and Coco departing, Rara retired once more to the dressing room, which was still a mess despite the cleanliness she did previously. While thinking about the method Minuette recommended her before and picking up her main things, the voice came back.
“What was with all the chit-chat? Do you really care about that freak after what he has done to you?”
“He only wants to fit in, to do something different, to feel... relevant... like me.”
“Relevancy is like a plant you have to water every day, you know? Yours must be dried up at this moment.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You tell me, Mrs. Neglected.”
“Could you please stop harassing me?”
“You already know I can’t do that. No matter where you go I’ll always be there.”
Rara closed the doors and left Bridleway. On her way home, none of the ponies in the streets noticed her, whether it was the low light or her damaged dress, she felt alone. Suddenly her tummy rumbled, she was hungry. To fit in the standards of fame she must remained slenderly built, but this time she had overreacted the situation: she hadn’t eaten for several days and water was her only nourishment, at this time all the restaurants and stores were closed, not even a food cart was in the offing and her apartment wasn’t exactly nearby, it would be hours before she could taste a flower salad in her mouth. She reposed on the floor next to a garbage can and hunger was unbearable.
“Command that these bags become apples to satisfy your hunger.”
Her eyes observed how one of the bags from the garbage can transformed into a shiny apple, resting on her hooves. Knowing the effects the voice had in her head, she just threw the apple away, stood up and continued her way home.
“Ponies shall not live on apples alone.”