Chapter I: Moving Pictures
The crypt was pitch black, the only light a small glow from the horn of a cream-coated unicorn stumbling through the darkness. The air was thick and stale, thousands of years undisturbed made every breath difficult. As the unicorn walked along, her hoof got caught on a crack in the ancient stone floor, sending her face-first into the ground. Shaking the fall off, the unicorn stood back up, coming face-to-board with a large, wooden coffin.
Leaning in closer to inspect it, she heard a creaking coming from within – scrambling backwards in fear, she watched as the coffin opened up, its ancient hinges squealing in protest. Standing within the coffin was a male unicorn, his white-grey coat giving him the appearance of a long-dead corpse. Stepping closer, she noticed two sharp fangs protruding out of his mouth. She also noticed his chest moving a little too late, a pallid hoof grabbing her by the neck with incredible strength.
"Who dares disturb my slumber?" the Stallion spoke in a voice like dry leaves, his eyes opening to reveal their blood red color. The mare struggled against his powerful grasp, desperately trying to escape the burrowing glare of his cold dead eyes. "Know that you tread upon sacred ground, child. The punishment for such brash trespass is -' he leaned in close for the last few words, putting his mouth right next to her ear, 'death." Rearing his head back he bared his fangs, biting into the mare's neck as she screamed in terror. The mare's struggles and kicks weakened as he drank, eventually stopping all together – the light of her horn going out as the stallion discarded her empty corpse, allowing it to be swallowed by the shadows.
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"AND SCENE! THAT MEANS STOP FILMING GUYS!" The directors voice boomed from off-stage as two sets of floodlights turned on, blinding the two unicorns. Blinking her eyes to adjust to the sudden light, the cream unicorn stood up as the director – a rather large grey-coated unicorn – ran over. "Fantastic work Sunny! That scream right at the end... perfect!"
Sunny blushed at the unexpected praise. "Are you sure everything was fine with the shot? I didn't mean to trip right before the coffin-" she started meekly before the director interrupted her.
"The trip? No, that was excellent! It wasn't scripted, but it happened at just the right time to give everyone a sense of how scared your character was!" the Director said enthusiastically, his voice still very loud.
"And the light I was casting? That was fine too?"
"Perfectly fine – wasn't the strongest light, but it fit the scene we were doing. Wouldn't have made sense to do a tense scene with a big bloomin' light coming off your horn, eh?" the large unicorn laughed.
"Alright, if you say so." Sunny coughed nervously, suddenly aware of the fact that the crew was looking directly at her thanks to all of the Director's shouting. "Ar-are we done for the day?" She asked hopefully.
The Director nodded. "Of course, we're all finished with your scenes for today. Star Struck, can you take her to her trailer while we set up the next scene?" he said, turning to 'Count Vampyris', who was busy attempting to take out his false fangs with only his hooves.
"Cthwertanwy cwan, Ulthricth -ahhait, gwimmeh ah secth" Star's horn glowed and the teeth slid out of his mouth, hovering neatly in the air besides him. "That's better." He stretched his mouth. "I certainly can, Ulfric." Nodding to the director, he turned to leave, motioning for Sunny to follow him with his tail. Sunny nodded quickly to the grey unicorn before trotting after Star, eyes flicking between Star and the ground to make sure she didn't fall over again.
The two moved along in silence until they were well out of hearing range of the crew, with Sunny breaking the silence with a sigh of relief.
"Little nervous back there, were we?" Star asked as they came out of the crypt into the open, bathed in the reddish light of the setting sun.
Sunny smiled at him weakly. "I wish I was only a little nervous, to be honest. I was so worried I'd stuffed something up and he'd chew me out for it..."
Star stopped and looked at Sunny before laughing. "You've never worked with Ulfric before, have you?" he managed to say after he'd finished.
"No, never. I mean, I've heard all about him, but I'm barely a month out of Acting School and Ulfric is THE Lord Ulfric von Hoofington, film-maker extraordinaire!" Sunny exclaimed, earning an understanding nod from Star.
"Well, I certainly know why you're so nervous now – but trust me when I say Ulfric is the biggest teddy-bear out there. He prefers to praise his actors when they do good and teach them when they do bad instead of yelling at them 24/7. Odds are he's left a present in your trailer for you just for being hired, he's that damn nice."
"So... I really did do good back there?"
"If you didn't do good, he wouldn't have been prancing around like that." Star paused. "Ok, maybe there would have still been prancing, just not as pronounced." Sunny burst out laughing at that, causing Star to smile. "There we go, I got a laugh from you. Much better than nervousness, don't you agree?"
Sunny nodded, a grin still on her face as they came up to her trailer. "Well, this is my stop – you'd better hurry back before Ulfric loses his prance."
"Yeah, that'd be a good idea." Star paused, a friendly look on his face. "And listen, if you ever need help with anything or need someone to help you with your nerves, just ask – I'll be happy to help out, ok?"
The two said their goodbyes before Sunny entered her trailer, leaving Star alone with his thoughts as he walked back to the set. Lovely girl, that one, he mused. Should probably invite her around for dinner sometime, introduce her to the wife and kids. Star smiled at the thought, starting to whistle as he moved along.
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Sunny leaned against her trailer door, listening to Star's whistle fading into the distance before breathing a sigh of relief. Walking over to her mirror and taking a seat in front of it, breathing steadily to calm her nerves. It was never the acting I was worried about, she thought, staring at her reflection intensely before rolling her eyes. Considering she was working with the most talked about and famous director of the last twenty years and she was still fresh out of Acting School, it was hard to not be nervous – doing a good job in one of Ulfric's movies could get her any acting role she could dream of, while doing a bad job... well, needless to say her name wouldn't be appearing in the credits of any movies, that's for sure.
No, the acting... wasn't the problem. The problem was the magic. It had taken her all week to practice that light spell – a simple, basic light spell any unicorn could cast with nary a thought. Focusing intently she began channeling magic into her horn, sparks coming off the end as it slowly lit up. Gritting her teeth, she gave the spell one last push, a brilliant ball of light blinding her momentarily as it burst from her horn. Blinking rapidly to clear the spots from her eyes, relief flooded her body as she saw the light from her horn dimming to a similar level to the one it was on stage. Thank Celestia, it wasn't a fluke.
Looking around, Sunny noticed a cup sitting on a nearby desk – feeling confident, she began channeling magic into her horn again, this time focusing on the cup. A light brown aura surrounded the cup as it lifted off, its path through the air towards Sunny, slow and shaky. Suddenly the cup stopped, the aura around it turning bright red as it began to crack. Sunny dived to the ground as the cup exploded, fragments of porcelain burying themselves into the trailer walls.
"Well, at least I can do something without causing it to explode or burst into flames." Sunny muttered to herself as she looked up to inspect the damage the cup had caused – the mirror had been shattered by a chunk of molten handle, a small hole had appeared in one of the walls where the shard had ripped straight through the metal and her desk, covered in scars and burn marks from prior levitation attempts, had gained a new scar in the form of a jagged gash nearly the length of the surface.
Letting out a long sigh, she lay her head on the desk, a forlorn look on her face. It was like her magic had a mind of its own – she'd tell it to do one thing, it'd do something completely different. Levitation would become explosion, light would become lightning, telekinesis would become transformation... it didn't make any sense. Releasing another sigh, Sunny noticed a small piece of purple paper flicking in the corner of her eye – picking it up out of curiosity, she saw it was a ticket, a note attached to it reading 'As a sign of friendship and goodwill, here's a little gift – signed, Lord Ulfric Von Hoofington'.
The ticket itself was for a large magical show called the 'Canterlot Magical Gala!', a week-long event showcasing some of the most prominent magicians and rising stars of the magical world. Sunny was impressed – her inability to cast a spell properly didn't stop her from enjoying the work of other Unicorns, at the very least. Since I've got the rest of the night off, she thought, inspecting her cloaks before grabbing the least singed one, I might as well enjoy myself.
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High above the streets of Canterlot a mare stood on a balcony, overlooking the world as night fell. Her long, pale-red mane swept across one side of her face, parted around her horn. A black gem-studded vest and thick purple cape covered her grey-blue body, with silver and gold bracelets on each of her legs. The sound of ponies enjoying Canterlot's night-life echoed up to her, her face twisting into a scowl as she glared down at the ponies beneath her. Such a vaste of time, these ponies. All they concern themselves with is parties and fun, losing sight of ze bigger picture, The mare thought to herself, shaking her head in disgust. I don't know vhy he keeps me here outside food and the occasional recruit.
Looking down from her perch, the unicorn saw a pair of Earth ponies sneaking into a back-alley, their loud giggling drawing her attention. Her scowl gave way to a smile, revealing two long, wicked fangs. Then again, it has been avhile sine I last ate, she thought, watching the couple disappear into the shadows, I might as vell enjoy myself.
