A Stellar Performance

by AppleJTZ

A little bit of Fame

One by one the remaining seats in the theatre hall were occupied. Murmurs and whispers were going through the audience – mostly the adults, as the students were busy reading or writing. Above them there was a small, but luxurious box hosting a handful of chairs. Only one of them was currently occupied, by a woman with a very strict and stern face. She looked down on the audience, her main interest lying in a certain man in the first row. While gazing downwards she could hear footsteps approaching from behind, followed by the sound of the entrance curtain being pushed aside. “I’m glad you could make it, too” the principal stated without turning her head.

Panting Dean Cadence sat down next to her. “I’m so sorry for being late” she apologized between breathes, putting her handbag under her seat. “There was a group of students who had gotten in a fight, so I tried to talk to them and find out what was the prob-“

“Did they use violence?” Cinch interrupted her.

The dean seemed a little irritated by the question. “Um, no, but-“

“If they didn’t lay hand on each other, there was no reason for you to intervene” the principal cut her off again, her voice full of coldness and discipline. She took off her glasses, at the same time pulling a small handkerchief from her pocket . “And even if things had gotten rough, all you would have needed to do was take their names and give them detention” she told her while cleaning her glasses. “That would hardly take more than a minute, don’t you agree?”

The dean gave her an odd glance. “Well yes, but-”

“It is not our job to meddle in the personal affairs of students, Miss Cadenza” the principal once again interrupted her. With a venomous look in her eyes she peeked towards the dean. “If they don’t get along with each other, we are not responsible to sort things out for them. Do you understand?”

Cadence frowned slightly, putting on a slightly more aggressive look. “Excuse me, Principal Cinch, but as a dean it IS my responsibility to deal with matters concerning the student body” she defiantly responded to her superior. “You may be the administrative head of the school, but you can’t tell me how I shall deal with the students!”

Putting her glasses back on Cinch glared at her for a moment. With a huff she turned her attention back towards the audience. “If you say so” she simply replied, crossing her legs while placing her hands on her lap. Cadence incredulously raised an eye-brow at the remark, but after a moment she also put her focus on the ranks below them. “Besides, a little bit of discord among the students isn’t necessarily a bad thing” the principal suddenly went on. “It can boost the competition, and help improve the grade point average.” Cadence gazed at the principal again, before sighing in silence.

The constant stream of people that was entering the theatre had almost completely ebbed off. Only occasionally a single person was coming in through the doors, hastily searching for their seat. Eventually everybody in the grand hall sat on their place. A slight unrest began to emerge. Then, within a few seconds the bright lighting in the theatre hall was getting dimmer. The conversations died off, all attention turning towards the stage.

The curtains rustled for a moment, before a woman stepped out between them. She walked towards the edge of the stage, hands behind her back as she faced the audience. Her appearance was a weird mixture of the general stereotype of a Crystal Prep teacher, with blazer, skirt and glasses, as well as elements of a theatre director with a scarf around her neck and beret on top of her head. She was welcomed with polite applause. Her gaze went through the ranks of the visitors, frowning slightly at the students who were barely looking up from their books, before she took in a deep breath as the applause ended.

“Good evening, and I welcome you all to the performance of the Crystal Prep theatre group” she greeted everyone in the hall with a loud voice, speaking in a rather up-high manner. “As someone who has graduated at this noble institution several years ago, it is my pleasure to present you tonight a theatre play about one of the greatest authors in all of history, which itself is one of the most dignified and excellent works of classic literature.”

Again polite applause, again mostly by the adults. Principal Cinch clapped slowly into the palm of her hand, while the dean put a tad more passion into it. In the front rank of the theatre, the reporter also clapped, but while doing so it looked like he was repressing a yawn. The director if the theatre group didn't notice him, watching the audience with a rather pleased smile. A slightly annoyed look suddenly hushed over her face, the woman clearing her throat.

“But" she stated, sounding like she had to force herself to sound interested "Before the excellent actors of our theatre group will entertain you with the main act, a small group of students OUTSIDE of the theatre group” – she seemed to put a great stress on the fact they were not part of her group – “will present you a short, unrelated play they have practiced.” She took a step to the side, lazily holding out her arm towards the gap in the curtains. “Please welcome the director of the group, who is also the author of the play: A student of this school, Sunny Flare.”

Again applause, but a lot quieter. On the box seats only Dean Cadence was clapping, the principal sitting calmly on her chair. For a moment however, the curtains remained still. The applause had almost ended when a girl finally stepped out between them. She was standing with a slightl buckle, nervously smiling and rubbing her arms as she sneaked towards the front of the stage. Looking over the full theatre her legs began to tremble, feeling like they could give in any second. She gulped, trying to ignore her pounding heart as she stood up straight, folding her hands in front of her. With a slightly more comfortable smile she looked at all the visitors. Seeing the adults stare back at her tightened the knot in her stomach, so she focused on the students who were still focused on their schoolwork.

“G-good evening” Sunny said towards the large hall. Her voice was a little hoarse, so she cleared her throat. “Um, the play we are about to perform has the name ‘Of Amazons and Amateurs’. It was written by me, but without the help of my friends, I couldn’t have done it. We put a lot of effort into this performance, so… I hope you enjoy it!”

Walking backwards Sunny waved at the audience, quickly leaving the stage through the curtains under quiet applause. Principal Cinch frowned. She pulled out a script from her handbag, setting her gaze on the front page. Reading the title she raised an eye-brow, before putting her attention on the curtains as they were slowly being pulled apart, revealing the stage.

The props, if one could call them props, were very simple: In the middle of the stage a wooden plate was lying, as if a small stage had been simulated on the big stage. On top of it three girls were standing. One was wearing a grey plastic armor, the second a white toga with striped sandals, and the third a black plastic armor alongside a pointy tiara. In front of the plate a fourth girl was standing. She resembled the leader of the theatre group as she also wore a scarf, glasses and a beret, but also a dark grey sweatshirt and black pants. Holding a clipboard in her hand she scribbled around it with a pen.

“All right” she chirped with a crystal clear voice, smiling as bright as the sun. She was facing the audience, pausing for a moment as she presented everyone her friendly face. ”So, we’ve been rehearsing this play a straight hour. To summarize the progress so far - YOU GUYS DIDN’T MAKE ANY!” she suddenly yelled, smashing her clipboard on the ground and stomping on it.

Surprised gasps echoed through the hall. Some of the students raised their heads from their books, looking a little irritated at the stage. Hiding behind the curtain on the edge of the stage Sunny looked over the audience. She scanned for somebody who laughed, or just grinned. But to her disappointment she didn’t find any signs anyone found the scene funny. If anything the visitors were shocked and confused.

“It is kind of admirable, I have to admit” Sour went on, again sweet as honey as she paced up and down in front of the mini-stage. “I mean you have such an ingenious, amazing script, a true masterpiece that would put many of the greatest authors in all of history to shame…” The corners of her mouth dropped, and her shoulders slumped. “…and yet you manage to turn it into a complete disaster” she grunted, knitting her eyebrows so far her glasses slid down her nose.

Quiet murmurs were spreading through the ranks. More and more students put their books aside to look at the odd spectacle. Biting her lip Sunny tried to spot any signs of amusement in the audience, but only found them to awkwardly stare at the stage.

The girl in the grey armor adjusted her glasses slightly. “A play about two amazons trying to defeat an evil warlord isn’t a masterpiece” she told her bluntly, speaking in a fast manner, but with a clear voice to the audience. “The only thing ingenious and amazing about it is how ingeniously ignorant you are at the amazing amount of clichés you used.”

On the other side of the mini-stage the girl in the black armor laughed – a very artificial, very fake and very over-the-top laugh. “I think YOU got it all wrong!” she called out to Sour, holding her head up. A big grin on her face she glanced down on Sour, although it was questionable if she even saw her as her face pointed at the ceiling. “It’s not the PLAY that’s great and the ACTORS that are bad…” She put a fist into the air, wrapping her black cape around herself with her other arm in an overly dramatic gesture. “It is YOUR terrible PLAY that hinders us to FULLY display our TRUE talent as superstars!” she grandiosely declared.

One hand on her hip Sour raised an eye-brow. She pushed up her glasses again, sighing. “I could be mad at you for being so ignorant at my genius” she cooed, clenching her teeth slightly. “But since we all are gonna get expelled if we don’t put up a play by the end of the month, I’ll just look over it – and instead polish your performance into something that could at least vaguely be accepted as acting” she snorted.

Still wrapping the cape around her body Indigo held her head even higher, looking behind her. “Say what you want, but MY acting is gonna knock out everyone in the theatre!” she declared, dramatically turning her shoulder to Sour. The arrogance in her look suddenly turned into panic as her foot gout caught up in her cape, making her stumble and fall flat on the mini-stage.

Sugarcoat peeked down on her. “Good start” she complimented her.

The hand of Sour hit her forehead, but she still put on a smile. “You know, I think I’ll let this one slide” she stated, before glaring at the girl in the toga. “Because at least you got that this is a theatre school and not a musical casting.”

Lemon shrugged. “Can’t help it” she said. Leaping forward she suddenly jumped off the fake stage, past the startled Sour, and slid on her knees to the edge of the real stage. “I WAS BORN TO ROOOOCK!!” she sang, smirking while playing the air guitar.

“THEN GO TO A FRIGGIN MUSIC CAMP!!” Sour shouted, again stomping on her clipboard. The impact was so strong her glasses slid off her nose, falling towards the ground. Startled Sour hastily tried to catch them, but lost grip of them. Slipping through her finger the glasses dropped down on the stage, the sound resonating in the dead-silent theatre.

In that moment, the four girls on the stage looked at the audience. Everybody was staring in confusion at them, seeming like they didn’t know how to react. Breaking out of their roles the actors stood uncomfortably on the stage, the irritation in the audience making them nervous. Almost in panic Sunny looked over the ranks, still seeing no signs anybody actually enjoyed her play. Slowly she shifted her gaze upwards, towards the box seats. Her breath stopped when her eyes met the principal's, seeming the very opposite of amused. Her heart sank into her knees, goosebumps crawling over her skin. Dropping her head she let out a long depressed sigh, slowly retreating her head behind the curtain.

Suddenly, somebody laughed.

It was a stuttering snicker at first, a quiet chortle blown out of the nose. As it contined it turned into a steadily growing chuckle, increasing until the sound of loud laughter echoed through the whole theatre. Jumping Sunny poked her whole torso out from the curtain, hectically searching for the source. In the middle of the theatre she spotted a girl around her age, having a rather heavy book on her lap. Holding her stomach with one hand she seemed to be bursting from laughter, wiping tears from her eyes with the other. Everyone around her was staring at her, more and more heads in the theatre turning towards her. From the edge of the hall another chortle suddenly erupted, this time coming from a male student. One by one then more students broke out into laughter. Like a wave it rolled over the theatre, eventually also infecting the adults - even the teachers couldn’t resist their chuckles any longer.

Slowly Sunny’s eyes were growing wider as she watched and heard how bit by bit the whole theatre was breaking out into laughter, the entire hall rumbling under their chortles. With each second the laughter continued the corners of Sunny’s mouth rose higher. A feeling of joy and pride overcame her, of a kind she had never experienced before. “They’re laughing” she whispered, her voice beaming with excitement. “They… they like it! They like my play!”

Hearing the laughter the tension was lifted off the actors’ shoulders. Sour, Sugarcoat, Lemon and Indigo sighing in relief, before continuing their performance. The mixture of cynicism, slapstick and absurdity made the audience cracked up at every single joke, no matter how dull or silly it may have been.

“I’ve got rock in my soul!” Lemon shouted.

“And stones in your head” Sugarcoat remarked.

“I AM THE MOST POWERFUL OF ALL!!” Indigo declared before stumbling off the fake stage.

“Please, everybody calm down AND STOP BEING IDIOTS!!” Sour yelled, losing her glasses again.

The flood of laughter wasn’t coming to an end. Sometimes it were just small giggles underlining the play of the girls, sometimes chortles so loud they had to make a small pause until things had calmed down again. All the students in the audience had raised their heads out of their books and put their pens aside, forgetting their school work for a moment as their attention was focused on the stage. With genuine glee shining in her eyes Sunny relished in the visitor’s amusement. Every giggle at a gag, every guffaw at a goof, every crack up at a comic relief, every whoop at a wit, every chortle at a joke and every snortle at a slip-up made her heart beat in happiness.

Time went by quickly, almost too quick. Before Sunny knew it the final scene had arrived: Indigo was lying on top of Sour, one leg on the fake stage with the other pointing up at the ceiling. Lemon and Sugarcoat were standing next to her. The former didn’t seem to take notice of the situation as she danced and sang around on the spot, while the latter simply continued to speak her text, so fast and monotonous however she could barely be understood. Beneath Indigo Sour tapped with her fingers on the floor, her glasses lying diagonally across her face.

“You know what?” she asked dryly. “Let’s just forget this greek drama stuff and try comedy.”

The whole hall burst off into frantic laughter and applause. Over the clapping and laughing one could hear books falling off from laps, some of the students, nearly falling off their seats. The adults were also rather cheerful, the parents more than the teachers, but everybody in the ranks seemed to have a good time. On the box seats things were a little more divided: While the dean heartily laughed into her hand the principal had a much more reserved look on her face, staring down at the stage as if she wanted to burn it with her gaze.

Luckily the four actors didn’t take notice. After the two girls on the ground got back up on their feet they all positioned themselves at the front of the stage, taking each other's hand. Standing at the side Sour turned her head to Sunny, who was still hiding behind the curtain. She held out her free hand towards their director, smirking as she nodded towards the stage. At first Sunny hesitated, but then confidentally ran across the stage. The moment she came out from behind the curtain the applause got even louder. One by one the visitors were standing up, some of the students putting their hands into their mouths and whistling. As she moved over the stage Sunny gazed over the ranks, the ecstasy of the people putting her in awe. Reaching Sour she grabbed her hand, and turned towards the audience. From the other end of the line Indigo leaned forward, grinning at Sunny.

“See?” the blue-haired girl in the black armor said. “Told’cha we’d be bathing in standing ovations!”

Sunny smiled back at her, before facing the wildly applauding audience again. The whole hall was on their feet, wildly clapping, cheering and whistling at the five girls. All of them took another step forward, almost standing at the edge of the stage. Tears of joy were forming in Sunny's eyes, eventually rolling down her cheeks.

She hadn’t created a literal masterpiece that would be remembered for generations, that was for sure.

But she had created something that people could enjoy and appreciate.

And as she bowed alongside her friends in front of her fellow students, the numerous parents and teachers, she found that wasn’t something so bad, either.

Comments

[DanceCentralPony2]

Looks like Sunny Flare's the Element of Laughter. I'm okay with this.

[BenRG]

Meanwhile, in the suburbs, in a shop named 'Sugarcube Corner', one Diane 'Pinkie' Pie briefly levitated off of the ground and shone with pink light. Because she always knew when a moment of true laughter was born.

Yeah, sometimes riotous comedy works (and it should be noted that it's likely that Shakespear's plays probably would have been originally presented in a similar way).

Future Scene:
LEMON ZEST walks on stage wearing a string of plastic tug-boats around her neck like a bizarre necklace.

LEMON: "Never before was there a tale of such woe! Than that of Othello and his Desdimono!" (('Stabs' herself with a tugboat)) "Oh Dezzie!" ((Falls over 'dead'))

SOUR SWEET: "Lemon, honey? What the heck are you supposed to be?!?"

LEMON: "I'm playin' Othello, okay?"

BEAT as the other four look at each other in puzzlement. Then SUGARCOAT slaps her forehead.

SUGARCOAT: "She's playing the 'Moor' of Venice."

(Cheap Shakespeare joke (c) The Reduced Shakespeare Company)

[Regreme]

Somehow, missed the alert when this chapter was put out. Glad I noticed in hindsight. This was a hilarious chapter.:D And a very heartwarming one as well.^^

[Tennis Match Fan]

That was so meta! Great job!

[ShadowLDrago]

Putting her glasses back on Cinch glared at her for a moment. With a huff she turned her attention back towards the audience. “If you say so” she simply replied, crossing her legs while placing her hands on her lap. Cadence incredulously raised an eye-brow at the remark, but after a moment she also put her focus on the ranks below them. “Besides, a little bit of discord among the students isn’t necessarily a bad thing” the principal suddenly went on. “It can boost the competition, and help improve the grade point average.” Cadence gazed at the principal again, before sighing in silence.

You bsessed motherbucker.

“I’ve got rock in my soul!” Lemon shouted.
“And stones in your head” Sugarcoat remarked.

[Animation Crusader]

That was really funny! I loved how Sunny wrote a new play that plays to the girls' personal strengths, and lampshades the trials of putting on a play with a set of new, beginning actors. They say you should write what you know, and I think Sunny did a great job at that. I can't wait to see what Cinch and the reporter think of it.

[Godslittleprincess]

So meta!

[Csquared08]

That was a solid back-up plan. Good show.