Not famous anymore.

by Phoenix Quill

Performance

The Arcadian Theatre
Presents
Canterlot Review

We here at Denarius Productions are proud to present to you, an evening of entertainment that is surely one to be remembered. Here at the historic Arcadian Theatre, you shall witness such things as never before seen by Equine eyes. There's the Great and Powerful Trixie, to astound you with pyrotechnic feats, and stunning illusions as the opening act.
Noteworthy and his soulful guitar shall follow up.
An intermission for 10 minutes before we present Cirque Phantasm, showcasing an amazing stunt spectacular that will surely never be forgotten.
Followed up by Lyra Heartstrings on the Lyre, for a one time only performance.
And lastly, Fleur Dis Lee in a comeback performance that will make you say years from now, I was there.
Please, refer to the seating chart, and theatre map for restroom locations, and restricted areas. Please be kind, and refrain from smoking in the auditorium, or using cameras with flash bulbs. Thank you, and enjoy your evening with us.

Fleur looked at the very basic playbill with a frown. "It doesn't even say what I'm going to do here tonight," she muttered.

"That's because you failed to tell me what you were planing on doing," Denarius said before taking in another drag of his cigar. "Then again, I suppose that with what little time I had to do this," he grumbled to himself as he began to pace. "Well I'm sure you'll think of something."

"You may as well go home," a smug voice said from off to the right. "For surely not any one of you could top, the show stopping ability, of the great, and POWERFUL TRRRRRIXIE!" The unicorn then reared up as sparklers went off behind her.

"Are you her agent?" Fleur asked with a tilt of her head. "Because I'm pretty sure that nopony talks in third pony." Trixie's cheeks turned red as she came back down to her hooves.

"No, I'm her agent, as you could probably guess," Denarius said with a growl. "It's in her contract that she gets," he sighed before saying, "Top Billing."

"But, I thought that was in my contract," Fleur said with a frown.

"It was in your contract," Denarius said with a grin. "Before you let it expire, now it's in her contract, and you're going to respect that as a part of your new contract. Is that clear?"

Fleur scowled but gave a nod anyway as Denarius began to walk off. "I'll be in the ticket booth if you need me sweetie," he said as he passed through the curtain and off to the front of the house.

"He probably wanted to make sure he got his grubby little hooves on the cash box so he can have a bigger cut of the ticket sales." Lyra said as she continued to tune her Lyre. She then looked over at Fleur and gave a small smile. "Nervous?"

"Me? Nervous?" Fleur said with a hoof to her own chest. "How dare you insult my integrity." She gave off a very regal pose as she flipped her mane. "I've been in much bigger theatres than this hovel. With twice as many creatures in the seats than it was supposed to hold!"

"Are you talking about the time that you played in Cloudsdale," Noteworthy said as he dropped a box down in the wings of the stage. "That place is mostly full of flyer types you know. It's not hard to believe that there would be a lot of ponies flying instead of seated."

"Be a dear and shut up," Fleur said with very sweet, yet sarcastic look on her face. "Last I checked, out of everypony here, not including miss magicpants over there," she pointed a hoof at Trixie. "I was the one with the most experience between us all." Noteworthy gave a deep frown at Fleur and looked as if he was about to say something before he shrugged, and turned away.

Fleur felt something bump into her from behind causing her to jump and turn around to see Trixie was pushing a very large box on stage. "The great and powerful Trixie demands that you move out of her way!" She said in a voice that reminded Fleur of something between a sports mother, and a Canterlot elite having a tantrum for not being recognized.

"Oh I'm sorry, oh great and powerful opening act," Fleur said in a voice that dripped with enough sarcasm that if it were physical, it could have caused an oil spill on the floor. Trixie for her part put her nose in the air and continued to set the stage for herself.

Fleur then walked away from the wings of the stage and headed off to where the dressing rooms were located. "I'll be in my dressing room!" She shouted to nopony in particular. "Getting ready!" She then opened one of them at random, looked to see if it were empty. Satisfied, her horn lit up and she threw her saddlebags into the room, grabbed a paper star from it, and tacked it onto the door.

---

The curtains were closed to the audience, but that was fine. Trixie did fine, as was expected. Her big trick for the show was an escape from a giant buzzing saw. Everypony in the audience oohed and ahhhed at just the right moments, and even gave her a standing ovation.

Fleur came out to the wings to see the ending, and tried her best to suppress a groan. It was obvious that there was not just a trap door, but a series of them. Letting her slide her head, hooves, a bit of lace ribbon, into the boxes as they shuffled about on stage. The impressive bit, was that she was able to control the boxes sliding about, while using fireworks to flash the audience, making them blind for just long enough for her to move about. Invisible to the audience, but obvious to Fleur where she stood.

Next, Noteworthy came out in front of the closed curtains. He sat down and began to tune his guitar. "Hello folks, I'm Noteworthy." There was some polite applause for that, but nothing more. "I'd like to sing a few songs for you," He stated as he strummed a clean note. "And maybe tell a tale or two."

He quickly strummed a few notes on the guitar, and brought everypony in with a rendition of Orange Blossom Special, playing the guitar and blowing on a harmonica that was mounted around his neck so he could easily play without dropping the guitar.

After around ten songs, and cracking a few jokes in between, he finally took a bow to applause. "Thank you everypony! That's my time, goodnight!" He then walked passed Fleur and gave a sheepish grin. "Are you almost ready?"

Fleur gave a very confident smile and pointed to just behind the curtain where Trixie was still moving things off the stage. "As soon as she's done, I'll have just enough time to set up." She paused and then held a hoof out to him. "You did good, they seemed to like you."

"Yeah, well," he muttered and rubbed a spot behind his mane. "I guess you just have to know your audience," he said with the same sheepish grin. Trixie gave an audible heave as she pushed a box of spent fireworks into the opposing wing, and doused them with a bucket of water. The audience was all talking amongst themselves.

Ten minutes later, and Lyra took the stage, the curtains still closed. This was a good thing for Fleur, because while she didn't have much to do to prepare, there was a few things she had to do.

---

Taken from the pages of Equestria Daily. Page five, the arts section.

The Arts Devo
... and in more local affairs, there was a surprise showing at the Arcadian Theatre last night. The opening act, a magician called The Great and Powerful Trixie, wowed audiences with several illusions, and spectacular fireworks. However, the next three acts were all musical in nature.

Noteworthy, and Lyra Heart Strings both managed quite well in front of an audience made up of Canterlot's working class. Singing songs about the desire for more, travel, adventure, hard times, and good times. The closing act however, seemed to be a failure at the start...

The following is a segment of the transcript taken from the reporter that was made as a means of recording the events of the evening. She was using a transcript spell on a scroll, and it has been edited for clarity.

Audiences muttering...
Pencil Lead: There's tension in the air, as the closing act has yet to show herself after Lyra left the stage. It's only been a few minutes, but at least three ponies have left the theatre.
The audience has started to chant "We want the show," while stomping their hooves.
Pencil Lead: It's getting ugly in here, somepony had better do something soon or, oh! The lights have just dimmed.
The curtains are still shut, but a spotlight had lit a single circle of light. They are now opening, and Fleur Dis Lee is standing center stage. She's opted to wear some sort of evening dress.
Fleur: Hello Canterlot!
The audience did not react.
Fleur has a nervous smile on her face, and has given a small cough.
Somepony in the audience stood up and shouted "DO SOMETHING!" this was followed by laughter.
A set of pipe organs has begun to play, Fleur is now on her hind legs, and now it seems she's going into an opera peice.
The audience is not moved.
She's gone into some sort of flight movement, singing while floating over the stage. A pony has decided to practice their aim on her.
The opening act (Trixie) has come back out on stage, now she's throwing smoke bombs at the audience and cursing.
Security seems not to exist in this theatre, a mob seems to have broken out.

---

Fleur was on the verge of tears as the audience continued to pelt her with a variety of snacks they must have snuck into the theatre. She finally hit her breaking point when a cigar smashed into her muzzle. "HEY! THERE'S NO SMOKING IN HERE!"

Trixie was now laughing manically as she was dragged off stage by Lyra, "Come on, are you trying to kill your career?" Lyra cried out. As she was dragging her off an explosion went off from a thrown firework, blinding everyone in the theatre. It was all too much for Fleur, and she fell to the floor crying.

"Hey princess, get up!" She did, and saw Noteworthy holding a hoof out to her. "This is no way to make a comeback!" He said it for her to hear, loud enough to be heard over the riotous crowd. But in doing so, the audience silenced. "Do you know any vaudeville?" He hissed at her. Fleur gave a soft nod and stood up. "Well Fleur, that's about the worst thing I've seen hit the stage since prat fall!" Noteworthy said mugging to the crowd.

"Prat Fall?" Lyra Called out from the edge of the stage. "What's that?"

"Not what, Who!" Noteworthy said as he made an obviously purposeful trip and fall on his face. "You remember him, right Fleur?"

Fleur knew she was being fed a queue and knew to take it in stride. "Remember him? Last I saw he went down hard on the up escalator at the Canterlot plaza, was last month wasn't it?"

"Fell down an up escalator?" Lyra asked. "Sounds like a long way down, how far did he fall?"

"I'll let you know as soon as he hits the bottom!" Fleur said with a smile as the audience laughed. "Say Lyra, where's Trixie? Last I saw, you looked like you were trying to tame the lion!" More laughter from the audience peeled out.

"Oh, she's tied up," Lyra said nonchalantly before pulling Lyra out on one of her sliding platforms, tied up. More laughter came from the audience as she was carted off stage.

"Now that was nice to see you both here with me," Fleur said with a smile. "But I have a song to sing!"

"A song to sing?" Noteworthy said with obvious shock on his face. "Why I thought you needed help!"

"H-help?" Fleur said with a fake falter. "Don't be a silly boy, I can handle this myself."

"That's right," Lyra said as she strummed her lyre. "We girls got it covered." She then leaned up against Fleur and plucked a few strings.

"Ooooooooh!" Fleur paused and pushed her away. "Spread out, I'm a solo act!"

---

And so it went, for the next half hour, Fleur, Noteworthy, and Lyra all played off each other adlibbing jokes, slapstick, and singing goofy songs that were made up on the spot. Near the end, Trixie even got in the act when she set off some fireworks to go with the trio's rendition of the Equestrian national anthem.

As the theatre emptied out, three out of the four performers were all taking a breath back stage. Trixie instead opted to quickly gather her equipment, and left in a hurry saying she was late for an appointment in Appleoosa.

The three remaining ponies, decided to go ahead and enjoy each other's company with a drink. Winding down, and laughing at how closely they dodged the slings and arrows of misfortune. "I honestly did not expect that kind of an audience," Fleur admitted. "It's been a while since I performed, but I guess I expected Canterlot's elite, not the working class."

"Well," Lyra said as she downed her glass and stood up. "I've got to get back to Ponyville. Who knows what condition Bon Bon left my shop in.

---

Meanwhile... IN PONYVILLE!

Bon Bon stood alone in the dark shop. There were no lights, no instruments, and no displays left in the store. But at least nothing was on fire. She sighed as she pushed a button on the cash register to take out the days earnings, only to have it explode, showering the room with more bits than anypony had any right to have.

The room now glistened and gleamed like a golden money bin, and Bon Bon stood there, and sighed. "I still have no idea what I'm doing."

Comments

[Iron Comet]

Bon Bon should become a manager. If that is not knowing what your doing, she is winning!