Equestria's Dark Shadow

by InTheStands

Front Row Seats

Chapter 21: Front Row Seats

The twins, Barnabas and Willie said nothing as they walked to one of the ushers and handed them their tickets. Immediately, they were welcomed in. The four men stood towering above the numerous ponies that stood in the music hall. The loud chattering was reduced to near-muted whispering as the equines realized exactly who was among them.

"Uh..." Bill started, clearing his throat and holding up a hand. "Hello there. I, uh, guess you knew we were coming?"

"Who didn't?"

The humans looked down to their side. Two white unicorns were walking up to them; a mare and a stallion. The mare sported a thin frame, pink hair, and three fleur-de-lis designs for a cutie mark. The stallion wore a gray suit, a monocle, blue hair with a moustache, and three gold crowns for his mark.

"Now Fluer, that's no way to talk to the guests of honor," He calmly informed his companion. He looked up to the four humans with a smile. "But yes. Word spread that the Princesses directed you to this little gathering of ours. The first humans in Equestria since....goodness, since time itself it seems." He chuckled. "Let me introduce ourselves. My name is Fancy Pants. This is the lovely Fleur."

Bill knelt down to shake Fleur's extended foreleg. "I'm Bill. This is Rick, my brother, Barnabas, and Willie. Me and Rick were actually sent to get these two, but...things came up."

"The best-laid plans," Fancy shook his head. "But enough excuses. We'll leave you to mingle with whomever."

The couple left, and the four men decided to split up and socialize with the other ponies in the hall. Barnabas and Willie caught up with Fancy and Fleur, Rick began a conversation with an off-duty Royal Guard, and Bill found a small group near the refreshments.

"Oh, look," A mare announced. "It's one of the humans the Princesses invited."

"I'm Bill," The man clarified. "So this is where the food is?"

"Indeed it is," A stallion answered. "Jet Set. And this is my wife, Upper Crust. A rather...strange name, Bill."

"Hm?" Bill turned from his plate. "Mine or yours?"

"Y...yours," Jet Set was confused for a moment.

"Oh. It's short for William. Named me after someone a few of my ancestors knew." He continued to grab several small bits of food. "More specifically, my father's side. My great aunt and her folks seemed to be the epicenter of history. Grew a huge fortune on top of that."

"Fortune?" Upper Crust repeated. "And yet you still go by that abbreviation of a name?"

"Yeah," Bill was quick to reply. "A lot of rich guys I know have simple names. You wouldn't expect a guy named Bruce to own one of the biggest companies in the damn country." He filled up a glass with punch and took a sip. "Besides, it's still been only a little while since the inheritance. I have a company, sure, but It's still rather new."

"Oh," one of the other ponies muttered, thinking Bill didn't hear him. "New money. He certainly looked the part."

Bill, still not turning away from his plate, said aloud, "And you look like someone who had their personality sucked clean out of them."

"Excuse me?" The pony, a unicorn stallion, narrowed his eyes.

"You heard me." Bill turned to glare down at him. "That suit. That mane style. I bet you didn't buy those by yourself. A magazine probably told you, or some high and mighty fashion designer."

"I'll have you know Hoity Toity is the finest in his profession!" The unicorn snapped back.

"Yeah...that didn't help," Bill folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "And you know what?" Bill knelt down to face the angry unicorn. "I'm proud of where I come from. I am not ashamed one bit of the work I did to get to where I am. You have no idea how many people like you I met - trying as hard as they could to fit in with the 'in' crowd and losing what made them them. It's sad, really. I don't have to worry about it whatsoever. You, though..."

"What?!" The stallion began to lose his temper. "What about me?!"

"Alabaster, calm down..." One of the other patrons whispered.

"No! I want to hear what he has to say! I want to know how he thinks he's so much better than me!"

"Well," Bill looked thoughtful. "There's what I just said...and the fact that staying the way I am led me to traveling alternate universes and seeing sights I could otherwise only dream of. Things money can never, NEVER buy. You on the other hand have to buy fancy clothes and sit through concerts and art galleries that you probably don't even like to feel even the slightest bit important."

Alabaster glared at the human for a second or two before he scoffed and walked away.

"Alabaster, wait!" Jet Set tried to call him back before narrowing his eyes up at Bill. "I don't know where you think you got the assumption to speak to someone like that, but it's stopping. Now."

"Tell your friends to drop the 'new money' stuff and it will," Bill looked at the other guests, who averted their eyes.

"What seems to be the matter here?" A familiar voice asked. Fancy Pants and Fleur walked up to the group.

Bill opened his mouth, but Jet Set spoke first. "It seems our guest has trouble keeping personal matters to himself. He unloaded on Alabaster and seems intent on doing the same to us!"

Bill opened and shut his hand in motion with Jet's speaking, but stopped when the unicorn turned to glare at him some more.

"I see," Fancy put a hoof to his chin. "Bill, would you care to join me and Fleur among the others, then?"

"If it means not being here..." The human took his food and walked away, following the stallion and mare unicorns.

"We heard a bit of your little spiel," Fleur finally told Bill, "And we understand completely."

"You do?" Bill grew incredulous.

"One needs to keep up appearances," Fancy elaborated, "And that, unfortunately, comes with interacting with those who believe themselves superior to those around them. Fleur and I have long accepted that."

"But that's it," Bill sighed. "You shouldn't HAVE to accept it. Nothing anyone can do can make these people happy!"

"What are 'people'?" Fleur asked, genuinely confused.

"I was just like you, my boy," Fancy sighed. "Then reality set in. The best one can do is lead by example."

Bill huffed. "They can accept a vampire but not someone whose money hasn't been sitting in a bank as long as they like. Guess our worlds aren't so different after all."

Fancy chuckled. "It would seem so. Here - we'll take you to a few patrons whose beliefs may be more aligned with your own."

"Thanks, I suppose," Bill nodded as they came up to a new group of high society ponies.

Rick, Willie, and Barnabas watched at the other end of the room. "Not a minute in, and already Bill's making guests angry," Rick shook his head. "He does this back home, too."

"Purposefully?" Barnabas asked.

"No. To anyone who doesn't watch what they say around him. They go around their whole lives meeting people with as much money as them, as much property as them, and the same mindset as them. And then they meet Bill."

Willie let out a wheezing laugh. "Sounds like fun."

"Not if it's a fundraiser, it isn't," Rick said. "I actually think we've been agents longer than we've been millionaires at this point. I can't really fault him for thinking the way he does, but there's a time and place for everything."

The lights in the concert hall began to dim. Guests all around them took their seats.

"Speaking of time," Barnabas gestured for the two men to follow him. "Let us find our places."

With all in attendance in their seats, the spotlights shone on the stage as the curtain rose.

In front of the audience stood a gray mare with either a cello (considering the size), or a double bass. Once the audience was quiet, she began to play. The piece sounded classical in nature, a tune none of the four humans recognized, but one they listened intently to anyway.

After a moment of her playing, a second spotlight shone behind her, revealing a turntable captained by a white unicorn mare with a jagged blue mane and opaque purple sunglasses. She began to play a beat in unison with the string instrument's song, combining the two as one.

"Isn't it something?" Fancy Pants asked Bill. "Such a refreshing combination of old and new."

"I suppose," Bill shrugged, having no knowledge of the music being played to come up with an inference of his own.

As time went on, and as the music grew quicker and bolder, not a single soul paid attention to the hidden figures strolling outside the main hall, knocking out guards, positioning traps, and maintaining positions. Three hooded ponies, one of them the leader, were left to walk into the hall.

Inside, Rick looked at his watch and looked to Willie and Barnabas. "I understand how important it is to be here, but is there any way we can speed this up? If we don't make a move, then David's going to."

As if reinforcing his statement, a loud shot echoed across the hall. The two musicians stopped playing, and several ponies in attendance began to panic.

"Now THERE'S a sound I recognize," Bill turned to the direction of the shot.

In front of the hall's entrance stood three ponies. Their appearance only caused some ponies to scream louder; They were completely disfigured. Facial scars, lopsided eyes, drooping mouths, and other twisted features could be counted among them. One of them stepped forward: A unicorn, bumps on his cheek and blind in one eye, carrying a human-sized pistol with his magic.

"Fillies and gentle-colts," He announced, brandishing the gun. "We're sorry to interrupt this little gathering...but there's someone here that needs to be dealt with. Tonight."

Several audience members - the humans included - turned to the only one they could be talking about: The vampire, Barnabas.

Comments

[VioletRose13]

Whoa, AWESOME STORY! I love Tim Burton's Dark Shadows!