Chapter 3: The Show Must Go On

The two mares trekked on the dirt road leading into the small town, their hooves dusty and grass stained from their travel. Only now did it occur First Light to wonder why they had taken a path through the woods instead of going by the usual roads. Both her and Trixie were tired from the long walk, so she didn't bother to ask. As the two mares padded their way down the road, they passed an old, weathered sign that read 'Mareford'. First Light was the current barer of the trailer, Trixie had been pulling it for a while before.

“We'll stop up there.” Trixie stated as she motioned to the town square. “We'll put the breaks on and get some lunch.”

“Lunch?” First Light looked up at the sky. “It's almost dinner.”

“No it's not.” Trixie shook her head. “First you have breakfast, then lunch, then dinner. Trixie did not have lunch, therefore Trixie will have lunch now.”

“When will you have dinner?” First Light asked.

“When I can afford it.” Trixie grumbled and pushed on.

First Light let the conversation die and proceeded as Trixie had instructed, stopping in the town square. They put some wooden blocks under the wheels to keep it from rolling away and took a moment to catch their breath. First Light unhooked from the trailer and fixed her mane, using a shop window as a mirror. Trixie fished through her hat to find some bits to pay for lunch. Satisfied that she could afford it, but unsatisfied that lunch was all she could afford, Trixie slipped the bits back into her hat and called the pink Alicorn over.

“I can afford lunch for us both.” Trixie noted. “But if you could contribute a little to the fund, it would help.”

“I spent everything I had on a train ticket.” First Light stated, embarrassed.

“Well...” Trixie looked back into her hat and did a recount. Popping it back on, she continued. “I can pay for us both, I suppose. But you'll need to work it off!” Trixie smiled. “How about you help set up and tear down my next show?”

“I can do that.” First Light nodded. “Maybe I'll get my cutie mark as a stage hand!”

“You remind me of some fillies I met once...” Trixie recalled a bittersweet memory of Ponyville and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “They really wanted their cutie marks.”

“Of course they did.” First Light began bouncing up and down. “Who wouldn't want a cutie mark? It's so cool! So personal! So unique!”

“It is , isn't it?” Trixie looked down at her own cutie mark and shook her flank as if her mark was a cape and would flow in the tiny breeze.

“Definitely!” First Light nodded furiously. “I knew this one pony who had a cutie mark with a lightning bolt rainbow on it, it looked so cool! Maybe mine'll be a lightning bolt too!”

“Rainbow lightning bolt?” Trixie sounded suspicious. “That sounds familiar.”

“Does it?” First Light thought aloud. “Maybe you met her too! Her name was-”

“Do you smell that?” Trixie sniffed the air.

“Smell what?” First Light asked, then quickly covered her nostrils. “Is it gross? Is it a nasty smell? If it is, I don't want to smell it.”

“No...” Trixie took a deep breath of air. “It's... It's... Intoxicating.”

First Light removed her hooves and took a whiff. “Mmm... What is that?”

“I don't know...” Trixie sighed. “But it had better be cheap.”

The two of them followed their senses to where the odour originated. It was a little mom-and-pop pizza shop. The smell from it was incredible to the two mares who hadn't eaten for hours. Trixie walked dreamily into the restaurant, while First Light fluttered in, caught up in the moment.

“How can we help you?” The stallion behind the counter asked, looking up from the register as a mare, presumably his wife, stepped out from the back room.

“Oh my!” She gasped as she noticed First Light and fell to a bow, motioning for her husband to do the same. “Princess! What can we do for you?”

“Princess?” First Light asked, looking over her shoulder.

“What are you talkin' about, eh?” The stallion cocked an eyebrow at his wife. “Princess?”

“Can't you see?” The mare growled. “That's Princess Cadance!”

“Cadance!” The stallion fell to a bow.

“Cadance?” First Light looked over at Trixie. “My old foal-sitter?”

“Pardon?” The mare asked sweetly.

“No, no, no.” First Light shook her head. “I'm not Cadance. I'm just another Alicorn.”

“Just another...” The mare was a little confused. The only Alicorns she had ever heard of were royalty. “Alicorn?”

“There you go again!” The stallion stood up angrily. “Makin' me look silly in front of paying customers.”

“Well!” His wife hissed. “You don't need me to make you look silly, you do that yourself!”

“Ah!” The stallion shook his head. “Get outa my face!”

“Bah!” The mare walked back to the kitchen. “I don't wanna look at your ugly mug anyway!”

The stallion stared angrily in awkward silence. Finally realizing that there were customers in the shop still, he faked a grin and turned back to them.

“So.” He coughed. “How can I help you tonight?”

The two mares stepped out of the restaurant after their wonderful meal and looked up to the sky. The sun was setting and it was almost time for the show to commence. First Light couldn't remember the last time she had had such a good pizza. In fact, she couldn't remember ever having a pizza. Suddenly, Trixie looked at her a little angrily.

“You could have played along.” Trixie frowned.

“What?” First Light was confused.

“You could have played along back there.” Trixie repeated. “When they thought you were Cadance.”

“I look nothing like my old foal-sitter.” First Light shook her head. Then she remembered that the fact that Cadance had been her foal-sitter was in her bio, and not a legitimate fact.

“I know that.” Trixie hissed. “And you know that. But they were completely sure you were Cadance. We could have gotten a free meal or ten out of them.”

“That wouldn't be right.” First Light shook her head. “That would be lying and wouldn't be fair to them.”

“Fair?” Trixie grumbled. “What has fair got to do with it? Was it fair that I was booed out of one show, and never lived it down? Is it fair that I go to bed hungry? First Light.” She turned to look First Light dead in the eye. “A fair is where you go to eat cotton candy and throw up on rides. There is nothing fair about life. The sooner you learn that, the better.” Trixie trotted off to her trailer to get cleaned up for the show. First Light sat in silence for a moment, thinking over what she had just heard.

“The show must go on, I guess...” She shook her head and headed back to set up with Trixie.

The two of them got to work immediately, rolling out the stage attached to the trailer and raising the huge bar for the curtains. They worked in awkward silence, performing their tasks without a word to each other. First Light felt as if she had done something wrong, as did Trixie, but neither one wanted to start the conversation. As they worked, Trixie tried to convince herself that what she had said was correct, and it would have been better if they had lied. But, for some reason she couldn't force herself to think it. In the past, she had easily been able to lie to herself and make herself seem like the victim in any given circumstance, but now it was hard. Ever since her trip to Ponyville, she had a difficult time convincing herself that she was perfect. Now, something about the pink Alicorn with the rainbow mane reminded her of Ponyville, and she was having an even harder time lying to herself.

Trixie bit her lip as the two of them worked to hang the massive curtain with magic. “Look.” She sighed. “What I said earlier. It was wrong. I shouldn't... I shouldn't have been so callous. It would have been wrong to lie to that couple. I'm s... I'm... So-” Trixie was having a little trouble with the last part. “I'm... I regret what I said earlier.” Trixie thought that was about the same thing as saying sorry. She looked over to where First Light had been, but she was nowhere to be found. “First Light?” Trixie finished with the curtain and looked around. “Hello?”

Suddenly, she was tackled to the ground and found herself in the most uncomfortable position ever. She couldn't move at all, she felt another pony's forelegs wrapped around her midsection in the tightest hold she had ever felt, and it knocked the wind out of her. She struggled against it, but it only got tighter. Like a python, it held on tight.

“Apology accepted!” First Light squealed as she held Trixie in the back-shattering hug.

“Need... Air!” Trixie gasped as she pushed against the overly-affectionate Alicorn wrapped around her.

First Light let her go and Trixie dusted herself off. She adjusted the hat on her head and checked for any more dirt on her clothes or body. She suddenly realized that a crowd had gathered, either because of the large stage that had been set up, or the commotion from the hug.

“The show must go on.” First Light smiled at Trixie.

“Curtain up in five minutes.” Trixie nodded and ran backstage. She hoped that the night would not be a total waste of her time as she prepared to give another stellar performance.