The Twilight Child

by Detectivefish

Like a Soldier, to the Stage

The night passed with very little in the way of issues, aside from a bout of bickering between Rarity and Trixie, and Twilight suggested everypony go to sleep early so as to wake up early for the dress rehersal the next day.
Midday awoke, gently rousing herself out of the bed, which in the manner of all foreign beds she had found much easier to get to sleep on. There was probably some reason for that she was no aware of. She slowly made her way downstairs, and she did she heard voices.

"While it is nice to see you again dear, your friends are a bit... strange." Midday smirked at what appeared to be as good an entrance line as any.
"Strange? Strange, indeed. And here I was hoping for eccentric" she said, walking into the kitchen-dining room, nodding politely. Both Twilights and Night Light were sitting at the kitchen table. She walked over to the fridge.

"If you're looking for-" Twilight Velvet started.
"'S alright," Midday said, "Twilight's got the same arrangement in the fridge back in Ponyville." She lifted the little glass bottle of milk out. She was aware as she looked for breakfast cereal that Twilight Velvet was probably staring at her.

"Excuse me, miss... Eclipse, was it? But I wondered if you would mind telling me what it exactly is you do?" Velvet asked, her voice just barely edged with disapproving concern.
"Well," Midday smiled as she floated her breakfast over to the table, noticing that past-Twilight was sitting in the exact same usual chair she'd alway sat in back when Midday was younger, "I was an accountant, not an important accountant, more a minor functionary, that sort of thing, and then... things happened."

"Things?" Twilight Velvet said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well... yes. Things." Midday lifted her spoon and started eating.

"Which I am not really allowed to talk about, and as a result I got sent to Ponyville to stay with Twilight on 'paid vacation'."
"Sent by who?" Night Light chimed in.

"Princess Celestia." The royal blue unicorn muttered.
"I see."

Midday hoped that the others would show up, and fortunately after a few awkward moments there was the distinctive sound of Pinkie Pie bouncing down the stairs. She appeared to be humming.
"Good morning Twilight Sparkle, and Mister and Missus Sparkle and Midday Eclipse." The pink bouncing ball said as she too opened the fridge. She was followed soon after by Applejack, Rarity, Trixie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who looked like she needed an extra few hours sleep. Rarity had a look of almost manic proportions, her mind probably brimming with ideas relating to costume design.

"Ah, good morning girls." Twilight Velvet said, unsteadily. There was a chorus of replies, each slightly different, from Fluttershy's whisper to Rainbow Dash's gutteral noise, which earned her a sharp jab in the haunch from Rarity.
"G' m'rng" The mutli-coloured mare said, inbetween an epic duel between her willpower and her eyelids. Rarity looked irritated, but decided not to press on. Rainbow Dash was not a morning pony.

"So, what are you going to be doing today then?" Night Light asked
"Well..." Twilight Sparkle smiled, "We're going to inspect the theatre where we'll be performing the Hearth's Warming play, then we'll begin rehearsal and dress rehearsal and blocking the play, followed by general revising until tomorrow night."

"Twilight, where did you learn this? Did somepony give you a..." Midday looked straight at Rarity, who's face was a mask of innocence.
"Of course she did. I'm not even surprised" Midday said to herself.

"I would rather not leave room for error, is all" Rarity smiled. Midday looked at her, and considered this, and the general lifespan of any plan or scheme that came near Twilight and her friends.
"Good thinking" she said between another mouthful of cereal. Pinkie sat down a rather large bowl inbetween Applejack and Trixie, which was filled nearly to the brim.

"What?" She said at everypony staring at her (Rarity looked like she was about to burst into flames out of shame), "I'm gonna need a big breakfast."
"She's right," Twilight Sparkle said, "We've got a lot of work ahead of us and- ... Where's Spike?" She looked along the table, and gave an irritated sigh, before slipping off her seat and walking towards the stairs.

Once everypony, and Spike, had been suitably breakfasted, they prepared to set off, Rarity checking and re-checking the contents of her saddlebag. They set out the front door, and hurried out onto the busy street of Canterlot.
Twilight Velvet closed the door and turned to Night Light.

"I think we should go see the Princess, soon" she said.
"Yes" Night Light nodded.

"Ask her about that Midday Eclipse girl."
"Yes, dear."

*****

Inside Canterlot Castle, some twenty minutes later and seven ponies (and Spike) stood upon the stage facing towards a small theatre. Rainbow Dash made a small noise that sounded remarkably lacking in enthusiasm.
"Problem?" Midday asked. Rainbow Dash looked at her, irritation all over her face.

"It's a barn" she fumed.
"Pardon?" Applejack glowered at the pegasus, who looked like she'd been kicked again. Midday was certain she just felt the temperature drop slightly.

"It's just really small, and... kinda lame."
"I must admit," Rarity sighed as she slid her saddlebag off, "I was expecting somewhere more... well, impressive, lavish even, not a common community theatre."

"Well, this is where Princess Celestia chose to show it" Twilight Sparkle interjected, giving Rarity and Rainbow Dash slight glances, "And it has a long and varied history. Many great actors have begun their careers here, performing for her."
"And ended their careers, I'm sure." Rarity didn't-quite-mutter. Midday rolled her eyes.

"What do you want, Rarity, the Canterlot House of Opera?"
"That would be nice."

"Well..." Midday had to admit that performing there would be more impressive than in a small, cramped, little room in a barely-used wing of the palace. Then she reminded herself she wouldn't be performing. She walked over to Fluttershy.
"Hey, Fluttershy, could you just stand at the edge of the stage for a moment, please?"

"Why?" the pegasus asked.
"I need your help to prove something."

"-Dating back to over seven hundred years ago, when-" Twilight continued lecturing, although Pinkie was the only pony paying attention to her.
"Okay, good, you don't have to stand on the exact edge, 'Shy. Now, can you just sing a note or something?"

"Which one?"
Midday shrugged.

"They're all the same to me. Whichever one you feel comfy with."
Fluttershy nodded, paused, and then let out a long note. There was moment of utter silence, save the reverberation. Everypony turned to stare at her.

"Thanks, Fluttershy." The pegasus flitted away from the stage edge and Midday turned to Rarity.
"Well, it's not the C-HOP, but the acoustics in here are pretty rocking, huh?"

"Y-yes... that was... how did you know Fluttershy could do that?"
"It's Fluttershy. She can make orchestras of bird-song, I figure she'd be helpful in doing a sound-check on the room wouldn't hurt. Especially since somepony wanted the C-HOP."

"You could probably be sitting right at the back and still hear everything whoever was on stage was saying" Trixie said in awe.
Suddenly a brown-coated stallion rushed onto the stage. He looked almost like that crazy Doctor from Ponyville, but his coat was a few shades darker and his hair had streaks of grey. He also looked incredibly irritated.

"Whatth thith?" He said, and Midday's face sank. Either that was an actual lisp, or he was doing that thing many actors did of pretending to be flamboyantly campy and lisping.
"Who do you ladieth think you are, barging onto my thtage and thinking you can do anything you like on it?" He stomped his hoof down.

"We're here to perform the Hearth's Warming play?" Twilight Sparkle said, meekly.
"Well, you can thorget that. I don't know where Thelestia hired you, but you can thorget acting on my stage. You think you can just barge in, not tell me you're here and thart acting? No. No, no no. Thith is my thage! Mine, MINE! ALL OF IT! MINE!"

Midday took a few steps back. If anypony had been looking at her face, they'd have noticed concern and slight terror just recognisable on it.
"Who's stage?" Rainbow Dash grinned.

"MINE!"
"That ain't helpful, Dash."

Midday siddled up to Twilight, and nudged her.
"I'll deal with him" she whispered. She walked up to the stage manager, who was still stamping his feet and complaining.

"Rarity!" She announced, her voice suddenly cold as Purgatory. A grin creapt along her face.
"Sic 'im!"

Rarity slid in front of the amazingly campy stage director, nudged Midday to the side, and batted her eyelashes.
"Now, really? You'd say that to us? The ponies Princess Celestia herself chose to perform this, the most important play of the season? The bearers of the Elements of Harmony themselves?"

He blinked, and when he spoke again his voice was surprisngly deeper, and absent the lisp. So it was an affectation, Midday yelled to herself. Thought that did explain why he'd been lisping so much, at least.
"Y-you're the Elements of Harmony?"

"Well, 'cept for Midday and Trixie, yes, but they won't be performing, I can assure you of that."
"(Assure? That sound like an insult to Trixie if I ever heard one.)" The magician sulked.

"(Just go with it, she's on a roll.)" Pinkie whispered.
"Well, if you are the, ah, Elements of Harmony, it's just... you probably should have informed me you were here, that is..."
He stopped, and blinked, and stared straight at something. Everypony looked at him, and then followed his eyes to what he was staring at. Fluttershy.

"Oh, carp" muttered Applejack.
"Is... is that... Fluttershy?" He whispered, with the sort of reverance once saved for angry gods (and their grandmothers). He zoomed over to her and bowed.

"It is an honour and a delight and a privilege to meet you, miss Fluttershy."
"Now this is more like it." Rainbow Dash said.

He quickly rushed over to Rarity.
"And you must be the lady Rarity, who makes dresses for the stars, and that must be Rainbow Dash, who teaches the Wonderbolt themselves!"

"What." There was the distinctive thud of pegasus back-bone colliding with the floor. Rainbow Dash had been too startled to fly.
He grovelled before Rarity, who was glancing about nervously.

"Well..." The mare looked awkwardly to the laser-like stares of Applejack and Twilight (and a little from Rainbow Dash), "You're only a pony. Arise, slightly strange one."
"Of course, use whatever you need, my theatre is entirely at your disposal."

"(Oh, buck!)" Rainbow Dash muttered.
A grin spread across Rarity's face.

"is it, now?"
She placed a hoof on the stallion's shoulder.

"Then show me to your wardrobe, my good man."
As the two walked away, Twilight coughed.

"Okay, girls. While Rarity is doing that, we'll get started with rehearsing and blocking" she looked about.
"Of course, Midday and Trixie will fill in for anypony who may be occupied with costume fitting."

"As long as nopony asks me to sing" Midday said, jovially.
"What, you don't like singing?" Pinkie asked.

"It's... not that I don't like humming a tune every now and then, it's just... well..." She coughed.
"You weren't that bad the other day" Applejack offered.

"Oh? Fluttershy, what would you think of my singing?"
"It was good?"

Midday stared at the pegasus for a few moments. Fluttershy winced.
"Well, maybe your voice did tend to have problems with a few notes and your tuning was all over the place, and it did break completely in one or two moments, especially the chorus."

"Thank you. See, this is why you should never room with a musician in university."
"Did you?" Asked Pinkie, "I'd love to share a room with a musician, it'd be so much fun, we could jam all night and all day and parties would be super-awesome because of our hit combo."

"Anyway!" Twilight declared, "Rehearsal!"
The ponies died down as Twilight opened the script.

"Now then, Spike's monologue is on first a-"
"NO!" everypony looked up at the sound of Rarity's voice.

"NO! NO! NONONONO! Were your costume designers even trying?!"
Everypony looked at each other.

"It begins..." Applejack muttered.
"Shall I just go see what's going on?" Midday asked.

"Please" Twilight said tersely.
Midday walked through the backstage, where several previously unseen ponies were fleeing. She walked past and around fleeing ponies.

"Oh, hello, Ditzy. Nice to see you again."
"Hello," The mailmare said, looking completely unsurprised, as one could expect from anypony who'd lived in Ponyville.

"Who let Rarity into the wardrobe?"
"She did." Midday sighed. She walked on, and found Rarity standing in a massive room full of clothesracks, various bits of costume laying next to her in a heap while the stage manager standing next to her, apparently too terrified to move.

"Did you just buy these costumes from some Nightmare Night store? Look at this! Look at it! It's hideous! No amount of acting can save your productions if the actors have to wear these beastly garments." Rarity threw it down and sighed. She looked at the stage manager.

"I do apologise, in my haste and excitement this morning I forgot my wake-up tea, so I am feeling more than a bit crabby." She looked around the room.
"I'm going to need sowing equipment, some material to work with, a pot of tea and if at all possible some biscuits."

The stage manager stomped his hoof. For a moment it looked like he was going to stand up to Rarity, a dangerous thing to do to a tea-deprived fashionista. Midday suddenly felt a slight rumble and knew there were several ponies behind her.
"Do as she says." The unicorn bowed to him, then sagged.

"I might as well examine the rest of these... things to see if there's anything salvageable within." She turned to Midday.
"Would you be a dear and help me?"

Midday nodded.
"Just bearing in mind what happened the last time I tried to be helpful" she said darkly.

"Don't worry, I can remember."
The two carefully worked their way through a rack of clothing, Rarity occasionaly tutting or making noises of displeasure at what she found.

"How could anypony think something like this was suitable for professional acting? Unbelievable," Rarity muttered, tossing one inoffensive-looking garment over her head. After several minutes of this Rarity made another sigh, and announced
"That is it. I cannot stomach looking at these crimes against fabulousness any longer. I shall go see how the girls are getting on." Midday watched as she left, and then saw a small box at the back of the room. She walked over to it, and opened it. It contained crowns, or rather fake crowns. She doubted anything like a real crown would be in the box, since there were no secret kings or queens or princes or princesses running around Canterlot. Though most ponies tended to forget that Cadance was a princess, despite her height, beauty and grace, because she was so humble and polite, except when she was around Shining Armor, of course. Midday looked at the box of fake crowns.

"Things trying to look like things look more like things than things." She muttered. And she'd just been thinking about Cadance as well. And from thinking about Cadance led to thinking about...
She quickly slammed the lid of the box shut, and walked out of the room with it, very quickly. Rarity would want to see the false crowns, she told herself.

*****

She found Pinkie attempting her version of the famous 'Chimney' speech, and the party-planner had a truly distinctive flair for the speech. And the entire role, in fact. It was a bit alarming watching Pinkie go from the extremes of the Chancellor's madness to watching her returning to her normal cheerful self.
"Hey, Rarity, found a box of crowns back there."

The fashion designer walked over and looked at them.
"Goodness!" She breathed, "They're so... so..."

"Flashy?" Rainbow Dash sniggered.
"Well, they are meant for royalty, dear."

There was a cough from Twilight, who wandered over to look at the crowns herself.
"So? Princess Celestia and Luna don't wear anything nearly as... tacky as these." Twilight said.

"That's not... entirely true, Twilight." Midday said. There was a moment of silence.
"They do have rather flashy crowns that they save for Extremely Important Things."

"Like weddings?" Pinkie Pie asked. Midday shook her head.
"No. Slightly more important than life-changing vows, apparently."

"How do you know about these things?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I'm on a first-name basis with the Princess of the Night, remember?"

"Oh, yeah" Rainbow Dash didn't look entirely convinced, and shot Midday a suspicious Look.
Twilight was examining a rather large tiara, laden with numerous jewels.

"But why would they need to be this extravagant?"
"It's for the audience," Trixie said from the other side of the room, "They're so used to the storybook version of reality they get all annoyed when somepony says 'no, it looks like this', and they start yelling and complaining and throwing food."

She looked at everypony.
"Metaphorically speaking. Basically, 'reality is unrealistic'."

Several ponies nodded at that, though Twilight just looked irritated and confused.
"Well, thank you for the thoughtful idea, Midday. I'm sure one of these will be useful." Rarity said, glancing at one crown that seemed to be too gaudy even for her.

*****

Midday sat and watched as the mares began to practice, and she had to admit she got a laugh from watching Rainbow Dash being told to 'project' her voice more. Rarity meanwhile got into an argument with Twilight about 'artisic vision' versus 'historical realities', though eventually Twilight managed to convince Rarity to see things her way. Fluttershy meanwhile constantly broke character to comment on how mean she sounded, despite the fact that she was acting like Rainbow Dash on one of the speedster's good days. Midday also had to keep from thinking about what could go wrong on the night of performance, usually relating to having three powerful magicians in the same area performing a play.

Plays were stories, after all, and stories had power. She knew all about the ludicrous theories, that some stories were just waiting to get out in some form or another, acting through proxies with no idea what they were creating, and there was a certain... atmosphere to the room. It reminded her just a bit of the Everfree Forest, once she gave it some though, and more specifically like what was in the centre of the Everfree Forest, and how that place had felt. She shuddered, and noticed behind stage a mint-green pony conversing with Ditzy.
"Lyra, hello," she exclaimed. The mare looked at her and waved.

"What brings you to Canterlot?" she asked. The musician laughed.
"Well, I'm going to be providing musical accompaniment to the play, y'know, setting the scene, making the interludes slightly less boring, giving the impression that time has passed, the usual reasons."

"All on your own?" Ditzy asked. Lyra bit her lip.
"No, no, there are other ponies, of course. Can't rely on just one pony to provide scoring to a whole night's entertainment, obviously."

Both mares nodded at this. Lyra smiled brightly.
"Still, I wouldn't mind being the one to perform it. I bet it'd be fun."

"You'd have to survive massive Trixie exposure." Midday smirked. Lyra''s smile flickered.
"She's not that bad. A bit loud, insensitive, but she's hardly awful."

Midday considered this.
"She has improved. But I think she might just be behaving because it's Hearth's Warming. Or she's actually managed to make some friends."

"I like her" Ditzy said.
"You like everypony" Lyra noted.

"Well, yes, but what's wrong with that?"
"I didn't say there was anything wrong with that." Lyra blushed.

"So, Ditzy, if you're here helping out, where's your little assistant?"
"Dinky? She's with some friends on a guided tour of the castle."

"That sounds nice." Lyra chimed. There was a laughing noise from the front of the stage.
"Excuse me a moment, I think Rarity's getting on with the costume fitting."

*****

She found Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash giggling at Spike's costume, which was amazingly adorable.
"Now, now, Pinkie," Rarity said, a noticable malicious glint in her eye, "I wouldn't be so quick to laugh at Spike if I were you."

Midday saw that Twilight and Fluttershy were already in their costumes, a simple cloth cape and a soldier's uniform for Fluttershy (which looked suspiciously like a repurposed Roaman soldier's uniform, of all things), and Fluttershy was giving it an experimental walk-about. Twilight looked annoyed, and Midday walked over to her.
"Problem?"

"Only with the fabric. Ponies of Clover's era didn't wear fabrics like this, they used completely different ones. It's incredibly anachronistic."
"Nopony will notice except you. And me. And the Princesses should they be in attendance."

Twilight gave an irritated sigh, probably acknowledging that truth.
"Shame we couldn't include the later parts after the Hearth's Warming. Do you know, nopony in Ponyville's even heard of Mimic? A scandal! Mimic, apprentice to Clover, Mimic the Great and Powerful!"

"Sorry?" asked Trixie.
"Not you." Midday said. The blue mare quickly returned to a sandwich she'd been eating.

"I know about Mimic" Midday said, in the slight silence that followed (aside from Rarity and Rainbow Dash arguing. Midday could hear Rarity threatening Rainbow with pigtails and a bright pink dress if the pegasus made a single remark about percentages.)
Twilight's eyes lit up.

"Really?"
Midday nodded.

"Well, don't tell anypony, but I am in fact descended from her. On my father's side. Apparently it was kept quiet because his family likes being left alone and not doing anything."
Twilight looked confused, but seemed to eventually acknowledge this.

"There must be some interesting life stories in there."
"I'm sure there are." She said, looking about the stage. Then she turned to Twilight.

"You aren't even a bit concerned about tomorrow, are you?"
"No." The purple mare said. "Should I be?"

"Well, there's you, the Element of Magic, and Trixie, and myself, all in the same room, all quite powerful mares, performing a play."
"It's just a play." Twilight smiled, and sounding a bit too familiar for Midday's liking like she remembered, "No harm ever came from performing a play"

Midday stared at Twilight's innocent and completely un-ironic smile.
"Seriously? 'No harm ever came from performing a play'? What, did Celestia not teach you about this sort of thing? About the dangers of plays, especially near high concentration of magic?" She looked at the lack of comprehension of Twilight's face. No, Celestia wouldn't be that foolish. Twilight just didn't remember.

"Well, perhaps you're right. Perhaps nothing will go wrong. But if reality starts to warp, I'm out of here. And I'm certainly not going to be playing Mimic if you start thinking that." She coughed.
"I'd rather be nowhere near stages anyway. Last time I was near one was... weird."

"Weird?" Twilight asked, grinning slightly.
"Yeah. My university roommate got mistaken for an opera singer, and there was a land-cephelapod and it was just... I honestly don't even want to remember the concentrated weird of that night. I really don't."

"You've lived a charmed life" Twilight smiled.
Midday frowned. "I wouldn't have used those exact words, myse-"

"Pinkie! Stay still or I'll sew yours legs together."
"Hey, I look pretty good in armor" Rainbow Dash said, upon examining herself in a mirror.

"It suits you" Midday called. Rainbow Dash waved a hoof at her.
"You considered quitting your weather control job and becoming a guard-pony?"

"Gold? On me? That'd be incredibly uncool."
Then her expression changed, as she continued staring at her costume. "Although..."

Soon Pinkie Pie and Applejack's costumes were finished, leaving only Rarity.
"So, once Rarity's done with her costume, that'll be us finished for the day." Twilight looked concerned.

"I must admit that was faster than I expected."
"Well, we do know the script off by heart" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "We've all seen it since we were in diapers."

"Thank you, Rainbow Dash, for that lovely image."
"So, what do we do tomorrow?" asked Applejack.

"We'll rehearse a few more times, just to be sure, go over the blocking and then all that's left is the play itself, and here's hoping nothing goes disastrousl-" Midday quickly jammed her hoof in Twilight's mouth.

"Twilight, actors... professional actors tend to regard statements like that as idiotic and dangerous. Invoking good luck tends to cause the exact opposite, and before you rail on about how foolish and primitive that is, there are several examples where this tradition has been done away with to... disastrous effect."
Everypony turned to look at Trixie, who was reading a magazine.

"She's right. Do not hope for good luck, or otherwise something bad will happen, like I don't know... Ursa Minors rampaging about."
Twilight didn't respond verbally, but she did roll her eyes.

"Still," Trixie smiled, "This shall be entertaining for Trixie to watch. Mayhap I'll heckle you, let you see how irritating it is."
"Nothing left to do now but wait, then. And prepare, prepare, prepare."

"Be prepared!" Pinkie yelled, dramatically. Then she smiled.
"Ooh, I think I know a song about being prepa-"

"NO!" Six ponies and one dragon shouted at once.
They waited for Rarity to finish work on her costume, before she handed it over to the stage manager, who had been following her about like a puppy all afternoon, and then she suggested they all go for dinner, which everypony (and Spike) agreed to readily. They all felt prepared and excited for the play tomorrow, no matter what lay ahead.

Author's Note:

A Hamlet quote taken ludicrously out of context, if only to inject 0.04% more class into this thing.
It was either that or a bad pun. You take your poison.
(This was going to be the conclusion of the play thing, but... the next one for sure. Which will also feature Rainbow Dash facing her most cunning opponent ever.)

Comments

[Rhulain]

would that be a Lion King reference I spy? How delightful.

[RealityCheck]

[matt s0101745]

"So, Ditzy, if you're here helping out, where's your little assistant?"
"Dinky? She's with some friends on a guided tour of the castle."

"And this alcove is apparently used as a "nookie corner"."
"Princess Celestia, what does "nookie" mean?"

[Enderstorm]

"Twilight, actors... professional actors tend to regard statements like that as idiotic and dangerous. Invoking good luck tends to cause the exact opposite, and before you rail on about how foolish and primitive that is, there are several examples where this tradition has been done away with to... disastrous effect." Everypony turned to look at Trixie, who was reading a magazine.

Exactly.
Break a leg.