Cheerilee's Hearth's Warming Play

by Talon and Thorn

Chapter 1: The Plan

“So girls I know you’re all wondering why I asked you here tonight,” said Cheerilee, leaning back in her chair and looking around at her fellow element bearers. They all sat around a table in a quiet corner of Berry’s bar mostly relaxing after a long day's work. In fact none of them really looked all that interested at all.

“I thought you just wanted to have a drink,” said Trixie sipping her own borbon. “Something to keep out the chill.” She glanced out the window at the wintery scene outside, the weather patrol had been working overtime since the running of the leaves to blanket the town with snow.

“Well there is that,” said Cheerilee, sipping her rather more colourful drink, “but I was also going to ask you for a hoof with something.”

“How can I help?” asked Carrot Top, her ears perking up as she glanced up over the orange concoction in front of her.

Cheerilee smiled at her friend's enthusiasm, but inside winced a little. She knew of Carrot’s tendency to volunteer for things without thinking them through or considering her own responsibilities. She didn’t want to take advantage of her friend. “Well with Hearth Warming just around the corner I thought I’d put on a seasonal pageant! I’m sure the kids would love it, and it would be educational as well!”

“Oh, I used to love those, I remember we did them every year when I was a foal,” said Lyra, “Didn’t you play Smart Cookie one year?” she pointed at Cheerilee, “I remember you getting so excited over it you ended up throwing up just before it all started. Actually, thinking about it there hasn’t been one for a while has there? Why did they stop?”

“Miss Black Board was never much for the performing arts,” explained Cheerilee, “She was more about the three R’s, but I think the class could do with a chance to flex their acting muscles and I used to really enjoy them as a foal. I’ve asked the Mayor and she agreed we could put on a public performance during the Twelvetide. I just need a little bit of help, so what about it girls? There’s no business like show business!”

In a literal flash Trixie was standing, reared up on the table. “The Great and Powerful Trixie was born to a life on the stage,” she declared, “I’m a natural Clover the Clever! and in no way the reincarnation of Princess Platinum, regardless of what my cousin Sharpy might say!” She paused looking around, her friends were looking up at her with chargrined expressions and the others in the bar were looking rather shocked. She dropped back onto all four. “Uh, this is a play for the foals to act in right?” she asked deflating.

Cheerilee nodded. “But I’d welcome your help with directing, and maybe special effects. I’m sure the foals will love to have you helping them.”

Trixie’s desire to be on stage fought with her love of foals for a few moments. “Fine,” she sighed sticking out her lower lip as she took her seat again, “I'll help backstage,” she almost spat the word, “I'm sure my magic will make it the talk of Ponyville for many years.”

Cheerilee grinned and turned to Lyra. “And I thought you could help the school band put on the music.”

Lyra looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well it is too cold to play outside at the moment, but on the other hoof it would cut into my sleeping time,” she said with a wink, ”After all Bon Bon needs somepony to keep her bed warm this time of year... Ah, what the hay, I’m in!” she grinned.

“I could help with the sets!” suggested Carrot Top, “I’ve got some wood and paint left over from the last few fix up jobs on the farm. It’s not like I’m busy at the moment, not much farming in the snow. Plus,” she bit her lower lip nervously, “I know a scriptwriter who might volunteer his services.”

“Oh, would that happen to be Written Script,” purred Cheerilee as she grinned at the farmer, who blushed in return. Cheerilee knew her friend had her eye on him for a while, apparently that alternative her in the other world had been dating him. Obviously she’s just been waiting for an excuse to talk to him, good for her!

“Oh, um, well maybe,” stuttered Carrot Top, her eyes flicking around the room.

“Well, if you could ask him to help us, it would mean so much. It's for the children after all,” said Cheerilee giving puppydog eyes.

“Well, if it’s for the foals...” said Carrot Top.

“Good,” said Cheeriee, “now as for the rest of you...”

“I’d love to help,” said Raindrops sleepily, her eyes had heavy bags underneath them. Someone had handily arranged a curly straw from her drink so she could sip it without lifting her head from the table. “But Dash has got us working double shifts as it is, Hearth’s Warming is our busiest time, having to melt all that snow overnight.”

“Not a problem,” said Cheerilee, “I know you and Ditzy are busy, but maybe you could deliver some flyers or something while you’re about town?”

Raindrops nodded. “I could do that,” she mumbled.

“Me too!” exclaimed Ditzy Doo, Hearth’s Warming was a busy time for the postal service as well, what with the extra cards and presents. “Have you decided what foals will be playing the founders?” she said with undisguised interest.

“I’ve for a few idea’s, I’m sure Dinky will be a perfect actress, but I’m going to let them volunteer for the roles first, see who’s interested, hold a few auditions,” said Cheerilee. “We could really do with a sell out crowd this year, something beyond just the parents.”

“Why’s that?” asked Ditzy.

“Well since the um, incident, after the town fair things have been a little tight at the school,” explained Cheerilee. Her friends glanced around, not meeting each other's eyes for long, most of the town's population didn’t want to think about the shenanigans they had gotten up to while under the influence of the cursed booze at the fair.

“I thought the funds from the Night Court paid for all the damage?” asked Lyra cocking her head to one side.

“Well, those were for emergency damage, the school house wasn’t damaged that much but somepony, nopony knows who,” her eyes darted around the room, “Vandalised most of the textbooks, particularly, um,” she was glad her coat hid her blushes well, “the biology texts...” she rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof, “Really they’re much more informative now, just not entirely in line with the curriculum. Anyway we had to pay for replacements from our discretionary budget, and it’s more or less gone now.”

“What does that cover anyway?” asked Raindrops looking up at cheerilee.

“Things like school trips,” Cheerilee shuddered a bit thinking about the last trip to Canterlot, maybe there was a silver lining to this after all, “The play ground equipment, the occasional specialist tutor, Miss Bluenote used to help the school band for a few hours each week, the school band’s equipment comes for the same fund actually.”

“Well we can’t have the foals musical development retarded can we,” exclaimed Lyra, “Although if you need a hoof I’m sure I can help out occasionally.”

“Thanks,” said Cheerilee, “I’m sure with all your help the play will go off without a hitch.”

---

“I think that’s enough maths for today my little ponies,” said Cheerilee looking out at the suddenly joyful faces of her class. Her eyes darted out of the window towards the clock tower, a few minutes until class was due to finish, perfect. “Now, before I let you all go, I have a special announcement to make.” Most of her students ears’ pricked up in interest. “Can anypony tell me what special event is happening next month?”

A smattering of hooves were raised at the question. Cheerilee scanned the room, she was a little surprised to see that Snips’ was one of them, he didn’t often volunteer answers in class, still it was an easy answer. “Yes, Snips?” she asked.

“It’s the all Equestrian barber competition in Canterlot Miss Cheerilee!” he cried excitedly, “And my Mums said I could go if I do really well and pass my history test!”

“That wasn’t exactly the answer I was looking for dear,” said Cheerilee struggling to keep the smile on her face, “But it does have something to do with history. Yes, Silver Spoon.” She pointed to the grey filly.

“It’s Hearth’s Warming, Miss Cheerilee,” said the filly. The rest of the crowd mumbled amongst themselves as they were suddenly reminded of the upcoming season of presents and fun.

“That’s right Silver,” said Cheerilee with a smile, the question was actually a little more complicated that it sounded as the longest night and new years were also next month but they’d already talked about how the class was going to celebrate those two, “And do you all know the Hearth’s Warming story children, how the three tribes came together in friendship to drive off the Windigo and found Equestria?”

Every head in the room shot up and down rapidly. “Yes, Miss Cheerilee,” they all chorused.

“Good because we’re going to put on a Hearth's Warming pageant this year! All of you will get to play a part in the story, and almost the whole of Ponyville will be there to see you!” I hope, through Cheerilee.

The crowd of children suddenly exploded into babbling and hoof pointing, all wanted to give their opinions of this matter at once. “Miss Cheerilee! Miss Cheerilee!” yelled Scootaloo, “Can I play Commander Hurricane! Please! He’s awesome!”

“He was one of the best flyers ever, and you can’t even get off the ground!” pointed out Silver Spoon.

“Well at least I don’t have a spoon shoved up my bottom!” responded Scootaloo turning red in anger.

“Children!” examined Cheerilee, “Those are not acceptable things to say! Apologize now!”

“Sorry,” mumbled Silver looking down.

“Yeah, sorry,” mumbled Scootaloo.

“That’s better,” said Cheerilee giving the fillies a hard stare. “Now anypony can play any role in the play regardless of whether the original founder was a colt or a filly. I’ll be putting up a list of parts by the door and you can write your names next to any you’re interested in. Even if you don’t want to act you can help behind the scenes, or with music, or a bit part. Remember, there is no such thing as a small part, just small...” she looked down at the crowd of short ponies in front of her, “Never mind. That’s it for the day, children. I’ll keep the list about until the weekend to give you some time to think about it, auditions will take place next week!” She smartly stepped aside as the herd stampeded towards the door and the list next to it.

---

“So who do you want to be in the play Dinky?” asked Firelock. The class had been let out to play in the snow and the show had been the talk of the playground since their teacher's announcement yesterday.

“I don’t know,” said the purple filly looking up from the snowmare she had been building. She cocked her head to the side for a moment. “Momma always said that Private Pansy was her favourite, so maybe I’ll ask to be her?”

“Pansy? Really?” asked the unicorn in surprise, “I’d have thought the most popular filly in school would have wanted a bigger role than that.”

“Most popular filly?” asked Dinky in surprise.

“Sure, everypony’s friends with you, you even got your mark in being friends!”

Dinky glanced back at her flank, it was still a bit of a surprise to see the stars that now covered it, it had only been a few months since she was a blank flank. It was true, her cutie mark did show how easily she made friends. “Well I suppose so, but I don’t see how Pansy isn’t an important part, she made friends with the other founders after all.”

“Yeah, but she was Hurricane’s assistant, I’ve heard of lots of things Commander Hurricane was supposed to have done, but I can’t think of anything Pansy did,” said the filly ariely.

Dinky wracked her brain for a bit, she remembered something about Pansy helping to found the post office so all the ponies could talk to each other, and that was very important, her momma had said so. Still she knew that Commander Hurricane had formed the Equestrian armed forces, and he’d founded Cloudsdale, and he’d had lots and lots of children, it did seem sort of more exciting. “So you think I should ask to be Commander Hurricane? I thought Scootaloo wanted to be him?” she glanced over to where the orange filly was marching back and forth using a stick as a spear apparently giving orders to a bunch of equally armed colts and fillies.

“Well maybe not Hurricane,” said Firelock.

“Clover the Clever?” asked Dinky, she’d been a powerful mage, miss Trixie had said that if Dinky kept working on her magic she could grow up to be a mage to, if she wanted to.

“No!” said Firelock looking shocked, “No, I want to play her! She made a huge burning heart thing! So amazing!” Her eyes took on a glazed look for a moment before she shook herself. “How about you be princess Platinum? She must have had loads of friends, she was a princess!”

Dinky nodded, that made sense, there wasn’t anything better than a princess afterall. Then a thought struck her, “What about Alula? She’s like a princess, wouldn’t she want to play Platinum?” plus she was Firelocks best friend, if she was going to be Clover than it would make sense for her friend to be the princess.

Firelock’s head dipped a little as she looked over towards the hybrid who was sitting quietly at the corner of the playground playing with the snow around her, she used her wings to gather up piles of the cold white substance before using her horn’s magic to carve it into intricate structures. “I asked her, she said she'd get scared at having to act in front of all the ponies.”

“Miss Trixie says that it’s really fun to be in front of a huge crowd of ponies, having them all cheer for you,” said Dinky, she’d like to find out how it felt, another reason to want to play Platinum she was one of the biggest parts in the story.

“I’m sure Alula would love it, if she tried it,” said Firelock perking up a bit, “But you know she can be shy sometimes.”

Dinky nodded. “Yeah, but I think she would like it if she tried it, momma says that the best way to deal with being scared of something is to try doing it.”

Firelock’s brow furrowed for a moment as if deep in thought and then she leapt up as a spark literally leapt from her horn to burst over her head. “That’s it! We can stop Alula being scared by getting her a really big role!”

“Like Princess Platinum?” asked Dinky looking confused.

“No, the narrator! Think about it, there’s lots of lines, but she doesn’t have to do all that much, the audience will be paying attention to the founders rather than her. So she gets to get used to being on stage, and won’t feel too scared.”

“I think that makes sense,” said Dinky doubtfully, “but I’m not sure Alula would sign up to do that.”

“So we don’t tell her! We just sign her up, then she’ll have to do it, and she’ll find out she likes it so much she won’t be scared any more, just like your mother said,” exclaimed Firelock practically hopping up and down. “Let’s go do it now while everypony’s out of the school house.”

Dinky wasn’t entirely sure that was what her momma had meant, but her friends excitement was infectious and she found herself hopping up and down as well. Surely Alula would enjoy being on stage once she got used to it. “Ok! Let’s go!” she cried as they rushed towards the school house.

---

“Of course I’m going to be playing Chancellor Puddinghead,” announced Diamond Tiara to a small court of foals around her. “She was the leader of the earth ponies, and daddy says I’m destined to be one of the most important ponies in town. Silver can be Smart Cookie, as she’s one of the smartest ponies in class!”

The grey filly smiled at this and nodded with her friend. “Thanks DT, but I don’t really want to be on stage that much, my daddy says you can get so much more done behind the scenes. Helping with the costumes sounds more interesting to me.”

Diamond tilted her head in surprise. “Really! Don’t you want to be out on stage, showing everypony how important a pony you are with the other actors?” her eyes glanced over towards Scootaloo who was stabbing at an imaginary enemy with her ‘weapon’. “Come on, the two most important fillies in town have to be the two most important founders!”

“Well I guess so,” said Silver with little conviction.

“Now wait a cotton picking minute!” came a cry from nearby, Diamond turned to see Apple Bloom flanked by Twist approaching. “Puddinghead wasn’t just some fancy smancy type! She helped to found all the farms in Equestria! She wasn’t afraid to get her hooves dirty!”

“Oh puh-lease,” snorted Diamond, “Are you going to tell me that you think you’re going to make a better Puddinghead than me?”

“Well,” the filly stopped for a moment to think, “Actually, now you say it, ah think ah would be. ah’ve heard Granny Smith say that the Apples are descended from the old rulers of Earth, me and Puddinghead could practically be cousins!”

“The Apples, related to the Chancellor! Nonsense! If anyone should be descended from nobility it should be me!” cried Diamond meeting her enemy muzzle to muzzle.

“Yeah! Well ah got something you haven’t!” cried Apple Bloom in response.

“What!” growled Diamond.

“Ah got faster legs!” she leap over the pink pony and rushed towards the schoolhouse and the sign up sheet within.

“Wha...! Hey come back here!” cried Diamond Tiara running after the farm filly followed by a herd of excited foals.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the poor quality of much of this story, I ended up setting myself a rather tight deadline of Christmas for it, mostly because my recent writing has been dragging so much and I ended up meeting it, just. Still I think a lot of this could have used another few run throughs to smooth it out more.

Anyway, thanks to Emeral Bookwise, Rainbow Double Dash, Grass and Clouds and several others for their suggestions and improvements.

Comments are always welcome.

Comments

[Georg]

Somehow, I see Miss Cheerilee with an entire stage full of little ponies stuck in parts they didn't want.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

oh, Firelock. You're so damned creepy! :D