Twilight Sparkle set her quill down. She'd just finished writing her latest list of books she needed to pick up at the Ponyville library, conveniently on the back of the same piece of paper that listed the books she needed to return. Conserving paper was important.
"Ooohhh," Spike groaned behind her. "Oooooohhhh."
"Is something wrong, Spike?" Twilight turned to him and asked.
"I don't know... I've been feeling like this all morning." The dragon lay on his back, clutching his stomach on the floor of Twilight's study. It was still very early and Twilight had been wondering why her assistant hadn't had breakfast. She walked over to him.
"Is it your stomach?" Twilight asked as she approached.
"I think so..." Spike said, his voice pained and groggy. "It's real bad."
"You did eat a lot of cheese last night," she reminded him. The young dragon enjoyed an amount of culinary experimentation and last evening's dinner had been nothing short of experimental. Cheesy cucumber quesadillas, a recipe Spike found on the back of a comic book. While the meal had been simple enough to make, Spike had found his creation too tempting and had gorged himself on more than his fair share. Twilight wasn't surprised he was experiencing some digestive distress seeing as how much he'd eaten.
"I don't think I'm going to make it, Twilight." This was the third time this week her young dragon assistant had managed to paralyze himself with some sort food concoction.
The purple mare rolled her eyes with a smile. Dragon drama queen, to think he could be incapacitated by five different types of melted cheese. "Is there anything you need me to get you, Spike?"
"Tell Rarity I-"
"I'm going downstairs, Spike. I'll bring you up some water," Twilight said, exiting her study.
"Twilight, wait!" Spike sat up and reached a claw out to her.
She turned to him. "What is it, Spike?" she asked, slightly irritated.
"Could you bring me another one of those quesadillas?"
The mare sighed and shook her head as she descended the stairs. Spike would probably be up in a few minutes and could take care of himself. Twilight crossed her living room and approached the door when somepony knocked on it from the outside. It was a little early for visitors, maybe it was one of her friends.
"Who is it?" Twilight asked, opening the door. Standing just in front of her doorway was a brown colt wearing what looked like one of Rarity's berets and a pair of sunglasses. The earth pony smiled at her.
"Twilight Sparkle! So happy to finally get a chance to meet you!" the stallion proclaimed in a loud voice.
"Uh, hi?" Twilight replied, confused.
"Visionary filmmaker/director Michael Hay!" he said, grabbing her front hoof and shaking it. "You are not an easy mare to reach, Twilight. My assistant spent half an hour looking in the phonebook directory to find out... you're not even listed!"
Twilight just noticed another white colt behind him, this one with a dark brown mane and no clothing. He sighed and remained quiet.
"I... don't really have a phone," Twilight admitted. Nopony in Ponyville had one that she knew of. It was a small town, everypony knew each other and the post office took care of most needs. There wasn't really a need for phones.
Michael Hay paused for a second. "Well, that explains that. I was expecting to call you and arrange a meeting when you got my letter but since we're already in Ponyville, why not just swing by?" the brown pony turned around. "I love the feeling of this town, it just feels so... quaint. Simple, rural. I love it!"
"Um, who did you say were again?" Twilight asked, still confused. This was a lot to take in at once, especially in the morning.
He turned back around. "Michael Hay! Surely you've heard of my movies? Trotsformers, Pearl Haybarn, Apple Gettin'?" he listed. "And this is my assistant, Barro. As we said in our letter, we're in town shooting our latest production and we're looking for local talent."
"Yeah, hi," the white colt said, moving to his side. "We've actually met before. In Canterlot? In the back of that carriage last week?" Barro reminded him.
"Really?" Michael asked. "Well, fantastic! And I'm sure she's heard of my films."
"I don't really watch a lot of movies," Twilight admitted. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she'd even been to a theater. Twilight read books, loved books. Movies just didn't interest her. Not to say she wouldn't be interested if her friends invited her to a show, it's just it had never come up.
"I... see," Michael said, disappointed. "Well... I assume you got our letter? Princess Celestia said she sent it herself."
Twilight shook her head. "I haven't received any letters from the Princess... not about any films, anyway."
"My goodness... so, we're dropping in completely unannounced?" Michael asked.
Twilight nodded awkwardly. "Well, it might be because my assistant Spike has been having... stomach problems lately. I get most of my mail through him and when he's sick, sometimes the mail gets backed up."
"Ah," Michael said. "Well, my associate and I are here now and we would love the opportunity to discuss our project with you."
Twilight looked behind her. "I guess s-"
"Fantastic! All right," Michael began. "Now, the news in Canterlot has been all about the recent 'giant pony terror' we had last week. And of course, everypony knows that you and your friends were right in the center of it." Technically, Twilight Sparkle had been responsible for it. Just last week, she had tried a little experiment of her own with size-altering magic. While at first it hadn't seemed like it worked, soon she discovered she'd accidentally gigantisized her friend Fluttershy.
After nearly destroying Ponyville, Twilight finally returned her friend to normal size and they'd helped fix up the town. The events seemed like they'd occurred months ago. Part of Twilight just wanted to forget they'd ever happened.
"My friend Barro here just so happens to have witnessed the whole thing and wrote a story about it. He and I think the perfect way to raise awareness and funding to fix the damage would be to produce a movie based on the story!"
The white pony stepped forward. "For the record, I just wanted to have a bake sale. Sell some pastries and get the community involved in fixing up the town."
Michael turned to Barro. "Except, we don't know how to make pastries. We make movies, so we're pretty much doing the same thing."
"Oh yes," Barro said sarcastically. "Taking the opportunity to film the town while it's covered in debris instead of clearing it is the perfect way to raise awareness."
"It will be when we get the whole town involved," Michael said proudly. "And that's where you come in, Twilight. You were part of it, we want you on board this production, you and your friends. What do you say?" the colt asked, a huge smile on his face.
Twilight thought as she looked at the two strange colts. She did want to help Ponyville. This could be a good project for her and her friends, a way to fix up the town after what happened.
"I... would love to," Twilight said, trying to sound enthusiastic.
"Great, that's great!" Michael said, shaking her hoof again. "We've set up filming in this small corner on the edge of town."
"Sugar Cube Corner," Twilight informed him. Clearly, they were from out of town.
"Right, so we'll see you and your friends there around noon today?"
"Sounds good!" Twilight said, forcing a smile. "I'll be there!"
"Great! We'll see you soon! Hope your assistant gets better!" Michael said as the two departed. Twilight realized she'd almost forgotten about Spike. She turned around to see him descending the staircase.
"Who was at the door, Twilight?" he asked, rubbing his eyes with one claw and belly with the other.
"I have no idea," Twilight replied. "But I think I'm going to be in a movie."
"Wow. Sounds pretty cool," Spike said.
"Yeah... cool," Twilight said, walking back to her kitchen. She fixed herself a glass of water; her own stomach was starting to feel uncomfortable.
