Not famous anymore.by Phoenix QuillChaptersDown and out on the hard streets of Canterlot.The ArcadianPerformanceDown and out on the hard streets of Canterlot."What do you mean I'm broke?!" The mare shrieked in sheer surprise, shattering a crystal rendition of a prestigious high society awards that sat directly behind the target of her rage. Denarius simply shrugged as best as he could from his office chair, not even bothering to act like he cared about the shattered trophy. "It's just like I said, you haven't got any more assets." He opened a folder and showed it to Fleur Dis Lee. "Look here, you wired me seven years ago that you were going to marry Fancy Pants. Instead, you've been hanging off his arm with an engagement ring and spending bits like they were gonna be melted for the war effort if you didn't." "But that's not fair!" Fleur whined. "You were supposed to help me with this!" "Look kid." Denarius took another pull on his cigar. "I'm an agent, I'll take that credit. Finances, sure I help many of my clients with those, you included." He then leaned forward in his chair and continued puffing on the sickly sweet smelling cigar before blowing the smoke in her face. "But I'm not'cher full time foalsitter, and I ain't responsible for your finances once you go out and spend them against my advice." He leaned back in his chair and grunted as it leaned back too far, and he threw his considerable amount of weight to keep from falling. "I mean, what in the name of Tartarus did you think? That his money was yours? Or that you wouldn't need to save your own money anymore? Take your time, I've got all day for you." Fleur stared at him with her mouth open and face turning red. "Uh, bu, de, what? GAH!" She stomped down with her hoof suddenly and turned away from the desk. "What's the point of even talking to you if you're not going to help me?" Denarius rolled his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other and clopped his front hooves together as he thought things over. "I never said I wouldn't help you," he finally said with a frown. "Heck, you were my first big star, least I can do is help out." Fleur's demeanor picked up immediately as a smile spread across her face, and was about to thank him when she was interrupted. "I Ain't done yet," he said with a frown. "I'll put you up in a room for a few days, and I got a friend that owes me a favor, he'll have work for you to start with. But you gotta wait if you want to start performing again." Fleur looked at the desk without blinking, she looked left and right between different objects before asking, "How long?" "A few weeks, months, could take as long as a year," he said with a frown. "It all depends on who wants to see you perform." He leaned forward to pour himself a drink, while he did, he continued talking through his cigar. "I won't lie," he said with a dull tone. "You might have to join another acting troupe, or sing at smaller venues." Fleur looked at the brown liquid, and almost asked for some herself before shaking the thought out of her head and asking, "How small? Like a thousand ponies small? Or a few hundred ponies?" "Unknown," he said before taking a long draw from the glass. "We're talking public venues, carnivals and such." Her face instantly scrunched up at the word ‘carnivals’ as the thought of performing in such a venue flashed through her mind. Rodeo ponies everywhere, dropping requests for country songs she couldn’t stand to hear, let alone sing. The smell of fried foods that would clog anypony’s heart for decades to come, and ponies stuffing their faces with treats that would surely be the death of them… “Can’t I get something a little better than a carnival?” Fleur nervously bumped her hooves together. “You can’t be serious…” The unwavering look on Denarius’ face said it all. He leaned back in his chair once again, this time managing to tip it over. A short shout of surprize was followed with a hard thud and puff of his cigar smoke before he answered, “I am serious, and you should be thankful I can manage that!” Fleur winced, but the true realization began to set in. If he hadn’t have done what he already had so far, what would she do? She couldn’t go crawling back to Fancy Pants, and she surely couldn’t put on a venue by herself. All she could do was accept his help. “Thank you, Denarius.” She sighed in defeat. “So, where exactly am I going to stay tonight?” Denarius got up from the floor, brushing off his shoulders with a deadpan stare and taking a puff of his now-bent cigar. “You’ll be staying at an apartment with another of my clients. He’s a nice guy, but a bit green still.” He quickly grabbed a pen and paper and began writing down the address before he spat out the useless remains of his cigar. “Like I said, good guy, but you might want to make sure he locks up at night.” “Aren’t you going to tell me his name?” Fleur shot back as he handed her the slip of paper. Denarius sneered as he yanked his desk drawer open for his ciderwood cigar box. “Like I said, he’s a nice guy. If you’re gonna get anywhere, you’ve gotta dig deeper and find things out for yourself.” He smirked as she barely kept herself from leaping over the desk and replacing his horn with one of his workplace awards. She could feel her face was starting to grow red, and gave a short snort before grabbing the note with her magic and stuffing it into her purse. “I would thank you for all that you’re doing, but I’m starting to wonder if I could have done better on my own.” “I doubt it,” Denarius said with a smirk. He then took a long draw of his drink before lighting the fresh cigar. “I’ll wire you as soon as I get something.” Fleur responded with a huff as she stuck her muzzle in the air and stomped across the room to the door. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, missy.” “Haha, very fun-” Fleur groaned angrily as the door slapped her out of the frame. Before she could charge back into the office and stuff his cigar where the sun didn’t shine, a golden aura enveloped the door lock. Click. Her face was redder than ever. “I really should’ve went through with it…” She looked at the door for a few more seconds as the gears turned in her skull. Finally, after giving a sigh of defeat she finally trotted away from the door and headed down stairs. Her hooves clopping on the hard wood echoed loudly against the bare stairwell walls, and she winced slightly as the sound of her own steps sent a sharp pain into her skull. The night that awaited her was dry, yet flooded with the sounds of the Jewel of Equestria. Despite her changing circumstances, this was something that would never change for her. The squawking of new couples cantering to and fro from the many restaurants and nightclubs of the upper districts was normal in her ears. The music in the city hall brought back a wave of memories of her earlier years being with Fancy Pants… Oh, dear Fancy Pants… She looked down the road and saw a large group of mares laughing as they stumbled out of a club that was blaring music from a big brass band. Tch, what is the world of music coming to? No singers, no strings. Just all this brass and woodwinds screaming to these swinging ponies. She continued walking down the road before she looked at the directions she had stuffed in her bag. Let’s see, head south on Castle View until you reach Sunset. She looked up and rolled her eyes as she realized that she had been walking in the wrong direction for almost half a block. “This would’ve been a lot easier if-” Fleur cut it off then and there, simply turning around with a flick of her mane. Nights were weary for the soloist, as is true in nature. She would have to come to terms with it if she were going to get her life back. But how? The question furled her eyebrows, her eyes merely glazing the cobblestone ahead as she began to lose herself in thought. There was a small crowd of ponies gathered around the corner, but she barely registered them in her mind as she walked past them on the far side of the street. They were gathered around a poster outside of the recruitment offices for the Royal Guard. “Can you believe it’s really come to this?” Fleur raised an ear to the voice that managed to cut through her own fog, and something registered in her mind. Who in their right mind just hangs around a recruiting station all night? A turn of her head brought her face-to-face with a golden-eyed pony of a ripe age. The moment he opened his leathery wings into the night air, she was completely sure of it. “Aye, do ya think I could get m’self into the day guard, missy? I’m sure they could use a seasoned aviator like me out in the front.” Fleur’s jaw gawked in silence, mostly from the fact that the old stallion’s breath reeked of hard cider and stale cigars. In her mind, though, she commended his drunken bravado.”Ahh, well,” she smiled as well as she could muster past the stench coming off of him. “I don’t know much about those things, but I’m sure you can try?” She winced at how what was supposed to be encouragement, turned into a question at the end. The older stallion didn’t seem to notice however and smiled. “Eh yeah, I’m sure that they’ll take me on!” He then turned away from her and headed past the younger ponies and into the office. Fleur tilted her head, curiosity getting the better of her as she walked up to the rest of the group of ponies and waited with them to see what would happen. Moments later, the same drunken wretch came out of the recruiting offices with a big smile on his face, a hiccup of cider bubbles accompanying an open scroll in his hoof. “I-I’m in!” He hiccupped victoriously, waving his acceptance paper around for all the younger soldiers-to-be to see. The small crowd erupted into chanting, and Fleur took the new conditions to slip away into the Canterlot night. The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful for a while. It was nice to walk through the nice neighborhoods and public parks on her way to her new home. It wasn’t until she turned the corner onto Smart Cookie Drive when she noticed that the buildings here were a lot less decorative, and much more practical in nature. To be specific, they were brick rather than the more fancy white stone found only a block away. “This… is ‘home’?” The mare looked around her, the setting unfamiliar to her. The only thing that welcomed her was a pool of dark, murky water that she’d stepped in while not paying attention to the ground below. “Ugh, really?” She looked around for a source of water that it might have come from, but found none. Her face scrunched up slightly before stepping around it and continuing down the road. The brambling along the uneven surface finally brought her to the address that Denarius had penned out for her. Like the rest of the street, the apartment before her seemed rundown and uninhabitable. But somehow, she was able to witness shadows moving around in the lit windows of the night-owls. Out of the corner of her eye, she barely caught on to the sight of the building’s name. The Broken Wing Apartments. “Sounds as if the Canterlot Mafia used to own this place…” Fleur murmured beneath her breath, ducking her head down and scanning the street for any shadowy figures. The last thing she wanted to do was end up like those unicorns that had their horns filed off for not paying their “protection fee”. She pushed on the door, only for it to fall to the ground. A sigh of exasperation escaped her as she looked at the instructions, and saw that she was going to room 204. Well, at least it’s only one floor up. She entered the dimly lit front hall, and saw that there was some graffiti on the walls, and a mysterious stain on the floor. Charming… Carefully, she stepped around the stain, and headed for what looked like was once a rather ornate stairwell. Unfortunately, the ornate steel had gone for a long while without any sort of cleaning, and was beginning to show signs of rust where the black and gold paint was chipping away. The steps echoed in the chamber, despite her cautiously light steps, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the second floor. Finally, she thought to herself. Now to find room 204. The first door she looked upon made her face turn sour with an inequine amount of hatred. You’ve got be kidding me! Room 901. The world just seemed like it was out for her in Fleur’s mind. It made her stomping mad, so much in fact that she blindly reared her hind legs at the door. The blaze of rage soon turned into a cowardly plea for help when the door opened to an angry-faced gryphon. “HEY! What do you think you’re doing?!” “U-Uh…” Fleur shook in her hide as she backed herself into the opposite wall. “Look, I don’t want a-any trouble, mister…” The gruff creature kept his death glare fixed on her as he stomped a fleeing rat, only to stuff it in his beak. The tail hung out like a strand of angel hair pasta that she was so accustomed to, but it was sucked up in the iconic, foalish fashion that she remembered as a young filly. “Move on.” With that, the gryphon stepped back and slammed the door, his heavy paw falls fading into nothing within a few moments. Fleur was still shaken, even after the silence had settled back into the hallway. She looked at the door with trepidation for a few moments as she quickly made her way back to the stairs, and said a silent prayer that they wouldn’t collapse as she ascended to the ninth floor. Fortunately, it turned out that Fleur would collapse long before the stairs would. However, that meant that she crumpled in a heap on the ninth floor landing. “Sweet Celestia…” She croaked to herself, staring down the same hallway of filth that she’d seen the eight other times. All she wanted to do now was wake up from this horrid dream, but the stench of old carpet reminded her that this was her reality now. “Why did I have to be so young and dumb?” “Aren’t you like, almost ten years older than me?” A pair of warm, golden irises readily greeted Fleur. For once, she didn’t have to stumble upon the riff-raff of Canterlot, but this stallion sure looked like he didn’t belong here. “W-Who are you?” Fleur asked innocently, despite continuing to lay in a heap of tired pony. “Ah, where are my manners,” the pony then made an exaggerated mock bow before introducing himself. “Noteworthy, at your service. Welcome to Chateau Du Falling Apart at the Seams.” “That’s not Prench,” Fleur said with a groan as she got up from the floor, and nearly vomited at the black dirt that now stuck to her underside. “Tell me that you have a shower that works in this place.” “Well of course, madame! If you’d care so as to follow me, you’ll have ‘some’ of the accommodations that you’re so very used to.” With that, Noteworthy about-faced and began marching down the hallway, mocking Fleur’s aloofness all the while. “If you keep moving like that, the dirt’ll stick to your hide.” That was the kick in the flank that she needed, and the two hastily made way to the apartment that they would be sharing for… She honestly didn’t know how long. It was the last thing she wanted to think of in her current situation, though. She could feel the crumbs of earth trying to settle beneath her coat, and it simply gave her the hibbie-gibbies. EE-YUCK! Noteworthy grabbed the door with his hoof and turned the knob, he pushed, only for it to not move at all. “Heh, sorry about that. Sometimes you just gotta…” he gave the door a hit with his forehoof and it swung open with a loud creak, revealing a clean, but sparsely decorated room. “Sorry about the mess, I wasn’t expecting anypony this evening before the wire arrived.” Fleur paid his words no mind as she quickly trotted in and looked around. The “mess” consisted of an unwashed coffee cup on a table, and a guitar on a couch. “It’s alright, I think I’ll survive. Now, you said you had a shower?” “Yes, it’s just to the right. I’ve got a spare towel and toothbrush out for you, and there’s plenty of soap and shampoo. Do you like sugar?” “Pardon?” “In your tea, do you like any sugar?” “Oh,” Fleur blinked a few times before she started to walk into the bathroom. “Uh, no… I like honey if you have it though.” “Sorry hun, but we can’t have that stuff in the apartments, especially after there was an ant infestation not a week ago.” Noteworthy shook his head as he went to fetch the sugar dish in the kitchen. All Fleur could do was frown after excusing herself to the shower. It’s never going to end, isn’t it? There was one thing to be grateful for, however. Hot water and fragrant soap helped to soothe her day’s sorrow, and it gave her a glimpse of just how grateful she could be for something she used to think was so mundane. Nevertheless, she was happy to be clean of all the filth that she’d acquired over the course of the night, especially the dirt that she swore to Luna was trying to get into her hide. “Did you wash that dirt off completely?” She heard a holler from the main room. “Squeaky clean!” Fleur managed with a reluctant smile. “Good, cause that wasn’t dirt on your underside,” he said as he passed her a hot cup of tea. Fleur’s eyes inflated twice in size. The ArcadianDespite the previous night, Fleur had managed to sleep quite soundly in the guest room she was in, having dozed in a deep, dreamless state for the remainder of the night. When the birds began to sing outside her window, it did not register deeply with her. When it finally did, a warm ray of light began to creep in through her window and shined directly on her face. Even then, she didn’t really wake up, but laid there, groggy and oblivious to the world. Peacefulness enshrouded her completely. The moment, however,was gone before she could properly register it. The scream of a stallion echoed from the room above her, followed shortly by a loud thud. What in Celestia’s name was that?! There was some more shuffling from above. Through the ceiling, she could hear voices muttering. “What’s wrong?” “A roach was crawling on me! I’m telling you, this place gets worse and worse every day!” “Don’t raise such a fuss Emerald...” “Don’t you tell me not to raise a fuss! I’ve been here for months now, and you still haven’t got it under con- THERE IT IS!” Another slam, this time with enough force to knock a few kernels of ceiling popcorn onto her sheets. Fleur groaned as she rolled over to look back at her window, trying to ignore the ponies above her. But it proved harder than expected as the sound of furniture flipping and galloping continued just above her head. “Quick, don’t let it escape! Stomp it!” One of them whined. “That’s disgusting! I haven’t any shoes on!” Another slam followed by gallops. “Quit being a priss Steam and use your hooves! That broom isn’t going to help- Quick! There it goes!” Another set of hoof falls, then silence. Ah, back to how things should be… Fleur sighed in relief as she faced the ceiling, her eyes sliding closed. “I can’t believe it went into the floorboards.” One of the stallions admitted defeated. “It will come up somewhere. Roaches always do...” The words barely registered with Fleur as she tried to fall back asleep, finding it more and more difficult by the second. Maybe I should just get up already, I could go get some coffee, maybe a bite to eat. Her thoughts were interrupted by a light tap to the end of her muzzle. No… Oh nonononono, I’m not going to open my eyes. There is definitely NOT a cockroach on my nose. The small weight on the end of her nose suddenly moved the top of her muzzle, and she could feel the small hooks in it’s legs pulling on the fur there. No, don’t be there when I look, please oh please don’t be there… She opened her eyes, and was greeted by a roach staring straight into her very soul. “AH-HAH-HAH! Get it off!” The covers flew off in a flurry of white as she jostled herself about the bed, trying to fling the bug off of her muzzle. The scream did not go unnoticed. It’s sharp, melodious sound instantly brought Noteworthy in, a can of bug spray locked and loaded in his hoof. “Don’t move missy, I’ve got it!” “Get it off, get it off, get it o-o-off!” She whined in her prissy, fashion-pony way. Noteworthy quickly pressed down on the top of the bug spray cap with his chin, quickly dowsing the bug in deadly chemicals, unfortunately doing so as it was still atop of Fleur’s muzzle. She coughed and gagged a few times before the roach fell away to it’s carpet-ly doom below, and she began waving a hoof to shoo away the cloud of chemicals. “What are you trying to do, kill me or ruin my voice?!” “A voice so out of practice hardly needs to be ruined,” Noteworthy said with a sniff. “Besides, that stuffs organic, I doubt it would even make you a little sick.” With a casual toss over his shoulder, the can bounced off the floor before landing neatly on a shelf in the other room. “Breakfast is ready for you sunshine, at your leisure.” He said in a matter-of-factly tone, then exited the room and shut the door. Fleur was left in the resounding silence. She sat in the bed for a few seconds, just staring at the door. Not even the sound of chirping birds could be heard anymore. “Why? That’s all I want to know... Why me?” With no one to answer, she had no choice but to lumber out of the bed. Her body ached from the recent wake-up call. Profit numbs the pain… She thought to herself. With a resounding crack of her back, she stretched long on the floor before exiting to the main living space to be greeted by the pristine room with a table set for a meal. “Hm, glad to see you’re out of bed.” The stallion grabbed a tray and lay it down on the table with precision and smiled with satisfaction. “I can’t make a great meal, but I do pride myself with presentation.” Fleur trotted slowly to the table and saw what had to be the most beautiful set up for breakfast that she’d seen in a very long time. There was a tall crystal glass filled to the brim with orange juice, and a matching bowl sitting next to it, waiting to be filled with its contents. There was however, no food to be seen. “So, where’s the eggs and pancakes?” “Eggs? Pancakes? Oh my, no. I’m sorry, but no eggs. I do, however, have some cornflakes I got from the food shelter last week, and the milk’s fresh… Ish?” Noteworthy was interrupted by a joyous pony below. “CORNFLAKES? Oh that’s good!” The pony continued, chanting out as if praying to the cereal gods for its stale, corny goodness. His response was to slam a hoof down on the floor and shouted, “NO! It’s not for you!” Fleur stood frozen, lips quipped, before Noteworthy cleared his throat. “Sorry, this place has notoriously thin spaces between apartments. Anyway, please help yourself, but remove the parsley garnish before adding the cereal… That would taste weird with the milk.” “Thanks for the tip.” Fleur drooped her head, grasping the cereal box in her aura. It was gonna be a long day, but not having any food in her system would simply make it drag on for an eternity. After the pair had breakfasted, brushed up and started to mill around the living room, it wasn’t long before a messenger came by with a message from Darius. After reading that the telegram simply told the pair to meet up at the Arcadian Theatre, the pair rushed out the door for the appointment. It turned out to be a much older venue, located on the old south road near the edge of Canterlot. The theatre looked like it was a glamorous place, a fine palace of the arts overlooking the country from the edge of the mountain city. However, it also looked as if nopony had maintained it for at least a decade. “Wow. Does anyone even own this place?” Fleur asked incredulously before wiping a spot clean off of the door, then wiping the dust onto Noteworthy’s coat. “I’m afraid I own this place,” a familiar voice said, followed closely by the smell of cheap whisky and expensive cigars. “Hello Noteworthy, good to see you,” Denarius said with a smile as he puffed on his cigar. “And Fleur, marvelous that you could actually wake up before noon today.” “The pleasure is yours, I assure you,” Fleur said with a sniffle as she took more shallow breaths around her manager. “So why are we here? This old palace doesn't look like it’s seen a crowd in…” “Eight years, three months, two weeks and three days,” Denarius said with a casual tone of voice. “Yes, the old Arcadian has seen better days, and I expect you three to make more for her soon.” “That’s like asking us to- Wait, what do you mean by ‘you three?’” “I believe that he means you two and I,” a voice greeted them. Another unicorn waltzed up to the pair in a staccato of hoofbeats, craning her head to show them both a welcoming, but overly excited smile. “Lyra Heartstrings. A pleasure to meet you both.” Fleur was dumbfounded, yet Noteworthy seemed to have had a part of his mind tickled by her sudden appearance. “Hey, I know you! You were there for the last Winter Wrap Up in Ponyville-” “We do not speak of ‘that’ outside of Ponyville.” Lyra’s lips quivered, and that joy-filled smile was nearly wiped off the face of Equestria. “Err, right… But what are you doing here? I thought you had a shop to run in Ponyville?” Noteworthy asked. “Oh, but I do! Bon Bon’s filling in for me.” Lyra stated matter-of-factly. Meanwhile in Ponyville… - Bon Bon stood firmly behind the cashier’s table, looking about the pony-less room of instruments and musical doodads for the musically gifted. She smiled as she stared blankly at the front door, waiting for something to happen. I have no idea what I’m doing. Her smile never wavered as the thought went through her candy-coated brain. And now back to your regularly scheduled story! - “I’m sure everything’s just fine…” Lyra sighed contently, only for her sense of relief to float away with the impatient taps of Denarius’ hoof. “Is story time over now?” The bit-headed stallion groaned, waiting to finally give his first assignment to them. The trio nodded in unison. “Good. Now that I have your attention, you’ll all be prepping the Arcadian for tonight’s opening act.” Denarius puffed his cigar into Fleur’s face and awaited their protests. “Wait a minute! Why are we ‘prepping’ instead of doing, oh I don’t know… Performing!?” Fleur threw the order back into the ring leader’s lap. Denarius chuckled to himself and gave the cigar a gentle roll with his teeth. “Cause twelve bits for hungry ponies makes for a sound investment instead of hiring professionals. Hop to it.” With that, Denarius tossed the trio a playbill for the evening and left them to their will: a closet full of cleaning supplies and an old Canterlot relic looking to be the gleaming light of a past era of entertainment. “We’re screwed, aren’t we?” Lyra said as her smile flickered into nothingness. Noteworthy examined the playbill Denarius had left for them. “According to this playbill we will if we don’t have this place shimmering by sunset.” Lyra and Fleur looked to each other, tears brimming in their eyes. “What are we gonna do!?” They whined together. “Don’t worry girls, we can do this if we work together!” Noteworthy rallied the troops. When he realized that no props or hoof-bumps would be given, he took it upon himself to study the map of the theatre on the back of the playbill. ”Right, so anyway, I’ll take the lobby and guest passageways. Fleur, you’ll take the stage and seating area.” “I’ll do no such thing!” Fleur pouted. “And Lyra, you’ll work on getting the entrance and street area cleaned up.” “What?” Lyra questioned in confusion. Noteworthy smirked. “You know, make the ‘outside’ of the building look good.” “Oh, right!” “I still refuse to clean the stage area!” Fleur stomped her hoof down in protest. “Fine,” Noteworthy said with a casual tone. “You can go home and forget about your fifteen minutes in the limelight.” “... Oh alright, I’ll go get a mop…” she shuffled away in defeat, leaving the other two to their own devices. She entered the massive grand palace of the arts and was taken aback by the sheer size of it all. “Mother of Celestia…” Fleur gawked in awe. “I have to clean all of this…” The longer she waited, the less time she would have to earn the bits for the day. Without another moment to waste, she began searching for the supply closet. To her luck, what very little there was now, she managed to find it all too quickly on accident. Meaning, the first door she opened ejected its contents violently in a torrent of S’all Pine®, mops, rags, and a hefty number of MagiSquares™. Fleur was nothing less than a furry ball of sweat an hour later. She’d managed to get the stage swept, and dusted off the curtains for the stage. She even used her magic to help her broom and mop anywhere that ponies would have walked. That being said, there was still a few thousand seats, a chandelier, far too many brass fixtures, and all the lights needed to be scrubbed and in some cases polished. “There’s no way I’m going to be able to finish all this before we open tonight,” Fleur moaned as she scrubbed the first of many red velvet chairs. The velvet proved difficult as she soaked her rag in the soapy water and began scrubbing the wood and velvet. "Maybe I should ask for some help," she muttered to herself before throwing the rag down into the bucket, causing a small slosh of water to spill out onto the recently mopped floor. She winced slightly, but only a bit before drying up the spill and moving on to the foyer in search of Noteworthy. From the moment that she stepped out into the room outside the main auditorium, she was blinded by a golden light that seemed to flood out from everywhere. "What in the," she held a hoof up to block out some of the light as her eyes adjusted. Chamber music suddenly seemed to be playing from nowhere. It wouldn't have taken long to find the gramophone that was set up, if it weren't for the fact that the room had taken all of her attention. The walls marble face shone with a gleam, enhancing the golden light that shone brightly from the highly polished brass and glass fixtures that were mounted all about the walls. The stairwell that she had previously assumed was wood, was in fact more of the marble, with brass and oak railing that lead down to the main floor of the lobby. Flanked on either end of the stairs banisters stood gracefully sculptured brass statuettes holding a jet of flame encased in an opaque globe. A clock ticked from somewhere above her, and she looked up to see that every detail of the pegasi that fawned over the face of the clock gleamed as if brand new. Crimson and gold curtains hung from above, covering the doorways to other areas of the lobby for either guests, or crew to abscond to before or after the show. The fact that it was all perfect only brought attention back to herself, and the fact that she was caked in dust mixed in and sticking to her own sweat. "You had better have a good reason for standing in my clean lobby looking like that," Fleur turned to her left and saw Noteworthy, perfectly clean and casually leaning against the wall as he took the needle of the player. "After all, you do seem to be quite attracted to filth." "Ha. Ha. It is to laugh," Fleur said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "Look, I need some," she stumbled for the right word before continuing. "Advice on how I should go about cleaning the seats." "Well," Noteworthy said as he made his way over to her. "What have you tried so far?" "Scrubbing of course," she said with a slight sniff. "Well I hope that you have the brains to realize that adding water to dust is just making mud," Noteworthy said with a frown. "Didn't you see a vacuum cleaner? Or did you try brushing them clean?" "There's just so much to do," Fleur said as she looked down. "I have yet to still do the chandeleer, and the other lights around the room, and all the chairs." "Alright, keep calm," Noteworthy said with a wave of his hoof. "I'll be there in a jiffy to help with the lights and polishing the brass, it's one of the things I'm good for." He started to head toward her, before pausing and heading outside. "On second thought, let's see how Lyra is doing, I'm pretty sure that she might be done by now." "She had the whole of the outside to do," Fleur said as she descended the stairs the rest of the way. "What makes you think that she's done?" Once she was outside, it was clear how anypony in her position could be done quickly. Lyra stood a small distance away from the building, standing on her rear legs and holding a very large hose. "Just a few more minutes," she said with a smile. "The grime from the building's just gotta go down the drain." Sure enough, the building was much cleaner, but the black grime from years of filth had to go somewhere. Currently, it was on the sidewalk, swiftly being pushed down a sewer grate. Lyra hummed along to herself as she waved the hose left and right, making small waves of water and chasing it down until all of it was gone down the hole. "There, I think that will do iiiiieaaach! What in Equestria happened to her?" Noteworthy looked from Lyra to Fleur and gave a small grin. "Well, it looks like the pony with the horn forgot about magic while cleaning." "Ha ha. Again," Fleur deadpanned. "Look, I just need some help with the auditorium and we can get this over with before tonig-" she was suddenly and rather rudely interrupted by a strong blast from Lyra's hose. "You're not going back in until you are at least clean enough that you don't track dirt all over our own work!" The hose blasted her a few more times, leaving Fleur sputtering and coughing water away from her mouth. With all three of them tackling the auditorium, Noteworty taking the brass lamps and the chandeliers while Fleur and Lyra took on the chairs, it wasn't long at all before they noticed that they were done. "I think that's it," Noteworthy said with a small exhausted smile. Lyra looked ready to take a nap, but Fleur herself felt ready to faint. She had managed to somehow get through without getting too much dirtier than she was before. But even then she was truly rather filthy, and was in desperate need of a shower. The clock in the lobby chimed twice, Fleur's ears twitching with each chime. "I can't believe it's only two," she muttered. "Believe it," Lyra said as she cracked her back. "Well, I'm pretty sure that the restrooms for the staff are downstairs right?" Noteworthy gave a nod as he pointed with a hoof. "Back there and down the flight of stairs, there's a few dressing rooms, each with a restroom with a shower shared between two rooms. But I didn't get around to cleaning any of them yet," he said with a frown. "If you want to shower now, there's the locker rooms just past the private dressing rooms, but you won't get any privacy really." Lyra gave a shrug and headed off to clean herself while Fleur thought it over. "I'll just wait until she's done." Fleur said with a smile as she and Noteworthy headed behind the stage. "That's fine with me," Noteworthy said as he started for the stairs. "But I'm going to the Stallion's lockers, so why don't you keep an eye open for Danarius until one of us comes out of the shower, he's supposed to run the ticket booth," he paused to think about it before adding, "and probably a few more acts now that I think about it." Fleur gave a nod and turned back to the lobby, quickly grabbing as many of the cleaning supplies as she could along the way to the closet in the lobby they belonged in. That was when she heard something. It was only three notes, but they sounded remarkably like a pipe organ. Fleur paused to listen, but hearing nothing more, shrugged and continued to the closet. After dropping off the equipment, and barely getting the door shut again, she grabbed her Gucci saddlebag, her favorite tan ones with fringes, and pulled out a set of songs she knew to look them over. "Hmm, what to do tonight." As she thought it over, she heard Lyra's voice call out to her. Fleur stopped reading the songbook's list as she put it down. "Coming!" She smiled as she thought about how tonight would be the start of her big comeback. "Everything's going to be perfect," she said as a small chuckle escaped her throat. Author's Note After years of delay, I'm happy to say that I finally got back into the writing groove. I never did stop, the only issue was, and is that finding the time to write without interruption is truly difficult at the moment. Between work, family obligations, and trying to keep up with demands from many others, I feel like I'm often being stretched to the breaking point! However, I do manage one hour of writing time a day. What you have just read, this last chapter, was almost four years of on and off again attempts to finish this chapter, and redefine the direction I want to take with the story. Unfortunately, Dusty had dropped out of the writing of the story, but has been there for moral support when I could reach him, and was excelent for spearheading ideas back and forth. Coming as soon as I can get the time together, we will re-join Fleur and her new list of acquaintances in the Arcadian at Sunset, where we can see the acts, and what Fleur chooses to do to impress the crowd! Performance The Arcadian Theatre Presents Canterlot Review We here at Denarius Productions are proud to present to you, an evening of entertainment that is surely one to be remembered. Here at the historic Arcadian Theatre, you shall witness such things as never before seen by Equine eyes. There's the Great and Powerful Trixie, to astound you with pyrotechnic feats, and stunning illusions as the opening act. Noteworthy and his soulful guitar shall follow up. An intermission for 10 minutes before we present Cirque Phantasm, showcasing an amazing stunt spectacular that will surely never be forgotten. Followed up by Lyra Heartstrings on the Lyre, for a one time only performance. And lastly, Fleur Dis Lee in a comeback performance that will make you say years from now, I was there. Please, refer to the seating chart, and theatre map for restroom locations, and restricted areas. Please be kind, and refrain from smoking in the auditorium, or using cameras with flash bulbs. Thank you, and enjoy your evening with us. Fleur looked at the very basic playbill with a frown. "It doesn't even say what I'm going to do here tonight," she muttered. "That's because you failed to tell me what you were planing on doing," Denarius said before taking in another drag of his cigar. "Then again, I suppose that with what little time I had to do this," he grumbled to himself as he began to pace. "Well I'm sure you'll think of something." "You may as well go home," a smug voice said from off to the right. "For surely not any one of you could top, the show stopping ability, of the great, and POWERFUL TRRRRRIXIE!" The unicorn then reared up as sparklers went off behind her. "Are you her agent?" Fleur asked with a tilt of her head. "Because I'm pretty sure that nopony talks in third pony." Trixie's cheeks turned red as she came back down to her hooves. "No, I'm her agent, as you could probably guess," Denarius said with a growl. "It's in her contract that she gets," he sighed before saying, "Top Billing." "But, I thought that was in my contract," Fleur said with a frown. "It was in your contract," Denarius said with a grin. "Before you let it expire, now it's in her contract, and you're going to respect that as a part of your new contract. Is that clear?" Fleur scowled but gave a nod anyway as Denarius began to walk off. "I'll be in the ticket booth if you need me sweetie," he said as he passed through the curtain and off to the front of the house. "He probably wanted to make sure he got his grubby little hooves on the cash box so he can have a bigger cut of the ticket sales." Lyra said as she continued to tune her Lyre. She then looked over at Fleur and gave a small smile. "Nervous?" "Me? Nervous?" Fleur said with a hoof to her own chest. "How dare you insult my integrity." She gave off a very regal pose as she flipped her mane. "I've been in much bigger theatres than this hovel. With twice as many creatures in the seats than it was supposed to hold!" "Are you talking about the time that you played in Cloudsdale," Noteworthy said as he dropped a box down in the wings of the stage. "That place is mostly full of flyer types you know. It's not hard to believe that there would be a lot of ponies flying instead of seated." "Be a dear and shut up," Fleur said with very sweet, yet sarcastic look on her face. "Last I checked, out of everypony here, not including miss magicpants over there," she pointed a hoof at Trixie. "I was the one with the most experience between us all." Noteworthy gave a deep frown at Fleur and looked as if he was about to say something before he shrugged, and turned away. Fleur felt something bump into her from behind causing her to jump and turn around to see Trixie was pushing a very large box on stage. "The great and powerful Trixie demands that you move out of her way!" She said in a voice that reminded Fleur of something between a sports mother, and a Canterlot elite having a tantrum for not being recognized. "Oh I'm sorry, oh great and powerful opening act," Fleur said in a voice that dripped with enough sarcasm that if it were physical, it could have caused an oil spill on the floor. Trixie for her part put her nose in the air and continued to set the stage for herself. Fleur then walked away from the wings of the stage and headed off to where the dressing rooms were located. "I'll be in my dressing room!" She shouted to nopony in particular. "Getting ready!" She then opened one of them at random, looked to see if it were empty. Satisfied, her horn lit up and she threw her saddlebags into the room, grabbed a paper star from it, and tacked it onto the door. The curtains were closed to the audience, but that was fine. Trixie did fine, as was expected. Her big trick for the show was an escape from a giant buzzing saw. Everypony in the audience oohed and ahhhed at just the right moments, and even gave her a standing ovation. Fleur came out to the wings to see the ending, and tried her best to suppress a groan. It was obvious that there was not just a trap door, but a series of them. Letting her slide her head, hooves, a bit of lace ribbon, into the boxes as they shuffled about on stage. The impressive bit, was that she was able to control the boxes sliding about, while using fireworks to flash the audience, making them blind for just long enough for her to move about. Invisible to the audience, but obvious to Fleur where she stood. Next, Noteworthy came out in front of the closed curtains. He sat down and began to tune his guitar. "Hello folks, I'm Noteworthy." There was some polite applause for that, but nothing more. "I'd like to sing a few songs for you," He stated as he strummed a clean note. "And maybe tell a tale or two." He quickly strummed a few notes on the guitar, and brought everypony in with a rendition of Orange Blossom Special, playing the guitar and blowing on a harmonica that was mounted around his neck so he could easily play without dropping the guitar. After around ten songs, and cracking a few jokes in between, he finally took a bow to applause. "Thank you everypony! That's my time, goodnight!" He then walked passed Fleur and gave a sheepish grin. "Are you almost ready?" Fleur gave a very confident smile and pointed to just behind the curtain where Trixie was still moving things off the stage. "As soon as she's done, I'll have just enough time to set up." She paused and then held a hoof out to him. "You did good, they seemed to like you." "Yeah, well," he muttered and rubbed a spot behind his mane. "I guess you just have to know your audience," he said with the same sheepish grin. Trixie gave an audible heave as she pushed a box of spent fireworks into the opposing wing, and doused them with a bucket of water. The audience was all talking amongst themselves. Ten minutes later, and Lyra took the stage, the curtains still closed. This was a good thing for Fleur, because while she didn't have much to do to prepare, there was a few things she had to do. Taken from the pages of Equestria Daily. Page five, the arts section. The Arts Devo ... and in more local affairs, there was a surprise showing at the Arcadian Theatre last night. The opening act, a magician called The Great and Powerful Trixie, wowed audiences with several illusions, and spectacular fireworks. However, the next three acts were all musical in nature. Noteworthy, and Lyra Heart Strings both managed quite well in front of an audience made up of Canterlot's working class. Singing songs about the desire for more, travel, adventure, hard times, and good times. The closing act however, seemed to be a failure at the start... The following is a segment of the transcript taken from the reporter that was made as a means of recording the events of the evening. She was using a transcript spell on a scroll, and it has been edited for clarity. Audiences muttering... Pencil Lead: There's tension in the air, as the closing act has yet to show herself after Lyra left the stage. It's only been a few minutes, but at least three ponies have left the theatre. The audience has started to chant "We want the show," while stomping their hooves. Pencil Lead: It's getting ugly in here, somepony had better do something soon or, oh! The lights have just dimmed. The curtains are still shut, but a spotlight had lit a single circle of light. They are now opening, and Fleur Dis Lee is standing center stage. She's opted to wear some sort of evening dress. Fleur: Hello Canterlot! The audience did not react. Fleur has a nervous smile on her face, and has given a small cough. Somepony in the audience stood up and shouted "DO SOMETHING!" this was followed by laughter. A set of pipe organs has begun to play, Fleur is now on her hind legs, and now it seems she's going into an opera peice. The audience is not moved. She's gone into some sort of flight movement, singing while floating over the stage. A pony has decided to practice their aim on her. The opening act (Trixie) has come back out on stage, now she's throwing smoke bombs at the audience and cursing. Security seems not to exist in this theatre, a mob seems to have broken out. Fleur was on the verge of tears as the audience continued to pelt her with a variety of snacks they must have snuck into the theatre. She finally hit her breaking point when a cigar smashed into her muzzle. "HEY! THERE'S NO SMOKING IN HERE!" Trixie was now laughing manically as she was dragged off stage by Lyra, "Come on, are you trying to kill your career?" Lyra cried out. As she was dragging her off an explosion went off from a thrown firework, blinding everyone in the theatre. It was all too much for Fleur, and she fell to the floor crying. "Hey princess, get up!" She did, and saw Noteworthy holding a hoof out to her. "This is no way to make a comeback!" He said it for her to hear, loud enough to be heard over the riotous crowd. But in doing so, the audience silenced. "Do you know any vaudeville?" He hissed at her. Fleur gave a soft nod and stood up. "Well Fleur, that's about the worst thing I've seen hit the stage since prat fall!" Noteworthy said mugging to the crowd. "Prat Fall?" Lyra Called out from the edge of the stage. "What's that?" "Not what, Who!" Noteworthy said as he made an obviously purposeful trip and fall on his face. "You remember him, right Fleur?" Fleur knew she was being fed a queue and knew to take it in stride. "Remember him? Last I saw he went down hard on the up escalator at the Canterlot plaza, was last month wasn't it?" "Fell down an up escalator?" Lyra asked. "Sounds like a long way down, how far did he fall?" "I'll let you know as soon as he hits the bottom!" Fleur said with a smile as the audience laughed. "Say Lyra, where's Trixie? Last I saw, you looked like you were trying to tame the lion!" More laughter from the audience peeled out. "Oh, she's tied up," Lyra said nonchalantly before pulling Lyra out on one of her sliding platforms, tied up. More laughter came from the audience as she was carted off stage. "Now that was nice to see you both here with me," Fleur said with a smile. "But I have a song to sing!" "A song to sing?" Noteworthy said with obvious shock on his face. "Why I thought you needed help!" "H-help?" Fleur said with a fake falter. "Don't be a silly boy, I can handle this myself." "That's right," Lyra said as she strummed her lyre. "We girls got it covered." She then leaned up against Fleur and plucked a few strings. "Ooooooooh!" Fleur paused and pushed her away. "Spread out, I'm a solo act!" And so it went, for the next half hour, Fleur, Noteworthy, and Lyra all played off each other adlibbing jokes, slapstick, and singing goofy songs that were made up on the spot. Near the end, Trixie even got in the act when she set off some fireworks to go with the trio's rendition of the Equestrian national anthem. As the theatre emptied out, three out of the four performers were all taking a breath back stage. Trixie instead opted to quickly gather her equipment, and left in a hurry saying she was late for an appointment in Appleoosa. The three remaining ponies, decided to go ahead and enjoy each other's company with a drink. Winding down, and laughing at how closely they dodged the slings and arrows of misfortune. "I honestly did not expect that kind of an audience," Fleur admitted. "It's been a while since I performed, but I guess I expected Canterlot's elite, not the working class." "Well," Lyra said as she downed her glass and stood up. "I've got to get back to Ponyville. Who knows what condition Bon Bon left my shop in. Meanwhile... IN PONYVILLE! Bon Bon stood alone in the dark shop. There were no lights, no instruments, and no displays left in the store. But at least nothing was on fire. She sighed as she pushed a button on the cash register to take out the days earnings, only to have it explode, showering the room with more bits than anypony had any right to have. The room now glistened and gleamed like a golden money bin, and Bon Bon stood there, and sighed. "I still have no idea what I'm doing."
Down and out on the hard streets of Canterlot."What do you mean I'm broke?!" The mare shrieked in sheer surprise, shattering a crystal rendition of a prestigious high society awards that sat directly behind the target of her rage. Denarius simply shrugged as best as he could from his office chair, not even bothering to act like he cared about the shattered trophy. "It's just like I said, you haven't got any more assets." He opened a folder and showed it to Fleur Dis Lee. "Look here, you wired me seven years ago that you were going to marry Fancy Pants. Instead, you've been hanging off his arm with an engagement ring and spending bits like they were gonna be melted for the war effort if you didn't." "But that's not fair!" Fleur whined. "You were supposed to help me with this!" "Look kid." Denarius took another pull on his cigar. "I'm an agent, I'll take that credit. Finances, sure I help many of my clients with those, you included." He then leaned forward in his chair and continued puffing on the sickly sweet smelling cigar before blowing the smoke in her face. "But I'm not'cher full time foalsitter, and I ain't responsible for your finances once you go out and spend them against my advice." He leaned back in his chair and grunted as it leaned back too far, and he threw his considerable amount of weight to keep from falling. "I mean, what in the name of Tartarus did you think? That his money was yours? Or that you wouldn't need to save your own money anymore? Take your time, I've got all day for you." Fleur stared at him with her mouth open and face turning red. "Uh, bu, de, what? GAH!" She stomped down with her hoof suddenly and turned away from the desk. "What's the point of even talking to you if you're not going to help me?" Denarius rolled his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other and clopped his front hooves together as he thought things over. "I never said I wouldn't help you," he finally said with a frown. "Heck, you were my first big star, least I can do is help out." Fleur's demeanor picked up immediately as a smile spread across her face, and was about to thank him when she was interrupted. "I Ain't done yet," he said with a frown. "I'll put you up in a room for a few days, and I got a friend that owes me a favor, he'll have work for you to start with. But you gotta wait if you want to start performing again." Fleur looked at the desk without blinking, she looked left and right between different objects before asking, "How long?" "A few weeks, months, could take as long as a year," he said with a frown. "It all depends on who wants to see you perform." He leaned forward to pour himself a drink, while he did, he continued talking through his cigar. "I won't lie," he said with a dull tone. "You might have to join another acting troupe, or sing at smaller venues." Fleur looked at the brown liquid, and almost asked for some herself before shaking the thought out of her head and asking, "How small? Like a thousand ponies small? Or a few hundred ponies?" "Unknown," he said before taking a long draw from the glass. "We're talking public venues, carnivals and such." Her face instantly scrunched up at the word ‘carnivals’ as the thought of performing in such a venue flashed through her mind. Rodeo ponies everywhere, dropping requests for country songs she couldn’t stand to hear, let alone sing. The smell of fried foods that would clog anypony’s heart for decades to come, and ponies stuffing their faces with treats that would surely be the death of them… “Can’t I get something a little better than a carnival?” Fleur nervously bumped her hooves together. “You can’t be serious…” The unwavering look on Denarius’ face said it all. He leaned back in his chair once again, this time managing to tip it over. A short shout of surprize was followed with a hard thud and puff of his cigar smoke before he answered, “I am serious, and you should be thankful I can manage that!” Fleur winced, but the true realization began to set in. If he hadn’t have done what he already had so far, what would she do? She couldn’t go crawling back to Fancy Pants, and she surely couldn’t put on a venue by herself. All she could do was accept his help. “Thank you, Denarius.” She sighed in defeat. “So, where exactly am I going to stay tonight?” Denarius got up from the floor, brushing off his shoulders with a deadpan stare and taking a puff of his now-bent cigar. “You’ll be staying at an apartment with another of my clients. He’s a nice guy, but a bit green still.” He quickly grabbed a pen and paper and began writing down the address before he spat out the useless remains of his cigar. “Like I said, good guy, but you might want to make sure he locks up at night.” “Aren’t you going to tell me his name?” Fleur shot back as he handed her the slip of paper. Denarius sneered as he yanked his desk drawer open for his ciderwood cigar box. “Like I said, he’s a nice guy. If you’re gonna get anywhere, you’ve gotta dig deeper and find things out for yourself.” He smirked as she barely kept herself from leaping over the desk and replacing his horn with one of his workplace awards. She could feel her face was starting to grow red, and gave a short snort before grabbing the note with her magic and stuffing it into her purse. “I would thank you for all that you’re doing, but I’m starting to wonder if I could have done better on my own.” “I doubt it,” Denarius said with a smirk. He then took a long draw of his drink before lighting the fresh cigar. “I’ll wire you as soon as I get something.” Fleur responded with a huff as she stuck her muzzle in the air and stomped across the room to the door. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, missy.” “Haha, very fun-” Fleur groaned angrily as the door slapped her out of the frame. Before she could charge back into the office and stuff his cigar where the sun didn’t shine, a golden aura enveloped the door lock. Click. Her face was redder than ever. “I really should’ve went through with it…” She looked at the door for a few more seconds as the gears turned in her skull. Finally, after giving a sigh of defeat she finally trotted away from the door and headed down stairs. Her hooves clopping on the hard wood echoed loudly against the bare stairwell walls, and she winced slightly as the sound of her own steps sent a sharp pain into her skull. The night that awaited her was dry, yet flooded with the sounds of the Jewel of Equestria. Despite her changing circumstances, this was something that would never change for her. The squawking of new couples cantering to and fro from the many restaurants and nightclubs of the upper districts was normal in her ears. The music in the city hall brought back a wave of memories of her earlier years being with Fancy Pants… Oh, dear Fancy Pants… She looked down the road and saw a large group of mares laughing as they stumbled out of a club that was blaring music from a big brass band. Tch, what is the world of music coming to? No singers, no strings. Just all this brass and woodwinds screaming to these swinging ponies. She continued walking down the road before she looked at the directions she had stuffed in her bag. Let’s see, head south on Castle View until you reach Sunset. She looked up and rolled her eyes as she realized that she had been walking in the wrong direction for almost half a block. “This would’ve been a lot easier if-” Fleur cut it off then and there, simply turning around with a flick of her mane. Nights were weary for the soloist, as is true in nature. She would have to come to terms with it if she were going to get her life back. But how? The question furled her eyebrows, her eyes merely glazing the cobblestone ahead as she began to lose herself in thought. There was a small crowd of ponies gathered around the corner, but she barely registered them in her mind as she walked past them on the far side of the street. They were gathered around a poster outside of the recruitment offices for the Royal Guard. “Can you believe it’s really come to this?” Fleur raised an ear to the voice that managed to cut through her own fog, and something registered in her mind. Who in their right mind just hangs around a recruiting station all night? A turn of her head brought her face-to-face with a golden-eyed pony of a ripe age. The moment he opened his leathery wings into the night air, she was completely sure of it. “Aye, do ya think I could get m’self into the day guard, missy? I’m sure they could use a seasoned aviator like me out in the front.” Fleur’s jaw gawked in silence, mostly from the fact that the old stallion’s breath reeked of hard cider and stale cigars. In her mind, though, she commended his drunken bravado.”Ahh, well,” she smiled as well as she could muster past the stench coming off of him. “I don’t know much about those things, but I’m sure you can try?” She winced at how what was supposed to be encouragement, turned into a question at the end. The older stallion didn’t seem to notice however and smiled. “Eh yeah, I’m sure that they’ll take me on!” He then turned away from her and headed past the younger ponies and into the office. Fleur tilted her head, curiosity getting the better of her as she walked up to the rest of the group of ponies and waited with them to see what would happen. Moments later, the same drunken wretch came out of the recruiting offices with a big smile on his face, a hiccup of cider bubbles accompanying an open scroll in his hoof. “I-I’m in!” He hiccupped victoriously, waving his acceptance paper around for all the younger soldiers-to-be to see. The small crowd erupted into chanting, and Fleur took the new conditions to slip away into the Canterlot night. The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful for a while. It was nice to walk through the nice neighborhoods and public parks on her way to her new home. It wasn’t until she turned the corner onto Smart Cookie Drive when she noticed that the buildings here were a lot less decorative, and much more practical in nature. To be specific, they were brick rather than the more fancy white stone found only a block away. “This… is ‘home’?” The mare looked around her, the setting unfamiliar to her. The only thing that welcomed her was a pool of dark, murky water that she’d stepped in while not paying attention to the ground below. “Ugh, really?” She looked around for a source of water that it might have come from, but found none. Her face scrunched up slightly before stepping around it and continuing down the road. The brambling along the uneven surface finally brought her to the address that Denarius had penned out for her. Like the rest of the street, the apartment before her seemed rundown and uninhabitable. But somehow, she was able to witness shadows moving around in the lit windows of the night-owls. Out of the corner of her eye, she barely caught on to the sight of the building’s name. The Broken Wing Apartments. “Sounds as if the Canterlot Mafia used to own this place…” Fleur murmured beneath her breath, ducking her head down and scanning the street for any shadowy figures. The last thing she wanted to do was end up like those unicorns that had their horns filed off for not paying their “protection fee”. She pushed on the door, only for it to fall to the ground. A sigh of exasperation escaped her as she looked at the instructions, and saw that she was going to room 204. Well, at least it’s only one floor up. She entered the dimly lit front hall, and saw that there was some graffiti on the walls, and a mysterious stain on the floor. Charming… Carefully, she stepped around the stain, and headed for what looked like was once a rather ornate stairwell. Unfortunately, the ornate steel had gone for a long while without any sort of cleaning, and was beginning to show signs of rust where the black and gold paint was chipping away. The steps echoed in the chamber, despite her cautiously light steps, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the second floor. Finally, she thought to herself. Now to find room 204. The first door she looked upon made her face turn sour with an inequine amount of hatred. You’ve got be kidding me! Room 901. The world just seemed like it was out for her in Fleur’s mind. It made her stomping mad, so much in fact that she blindly reared her hind legs at the door. The blaze of rage soon turned into a cowardly plea for help when the door opened to an angry-faced gryphon. “HEY! What do you think you’re doing?!” “U-Uh…” Fleur shook in her hide as she backed herself into the opposite wall. “Look, I don’t want a-any trouble, mister…” The gruff creature kept his death glare fixed on her as he stomped a fleeing rat, only to stuff it in his beak. The tail hung out like a strand of angel hair pasta that she was so accustomed to, but it was sucked up in the iconic, foalish fashion that she remembered as a young filly. “Move on.” With that, the gryphon stepped back and slammed the door, his heavy paw falls fading into nothing within a few moments. Fleur was still shaken, even after the silence had settled back into the hallway. She looked at the door with trepidation for a few moments as she quickly made her way back to the stairs, and said a silent prayer that they wouldn’t collapse as she ascended to the ninth floor. Fortunately, it turned out that Fleur would collapse long before the stairs would. However, that meant that she crumpled in a heap on the ninth floor landing. “Sweet Celestia…” She croaked to herself, staring down the same hallway of filth that she’d seen the eight other times. All she wanted to do now was wake up from this horrid dream, but the stench of old carpet reminded her that this was her reality now. “Why did I have to be so young and dumb?” “Aren’t you like, almost ten years older than me?” A pair of warm, golden irises readily greeted Fleur. For once, she didn’t have to stumble upon the riff-raff of Canterlot, but this stallion sure looked like he didn’t belong here. “W-Who are you?” Fleur asked innocently, despite continuing to lay in a heap of tired pony. “Ah, where are my manners,” the pony then made an exaggerated mock bow before introducing himself. “Noteworthy, at your service. Welcome to Chateau Du Falling Apart at the Seams.” “That’s not Prench,” Fleur said with a groan as she got up from the floor, and nearly vomited at the black dirt that now stuck to her underside. “Tell me that you have a shower that works in this place.” “Well of course, madame! If you’d care so as to follow me, you’ll have ‘some’ of the accommodations that you’re so very used to.” With that, Noteworthy about-faced and began marching down the hallway, mocking Fleur’s aloofness all the while. “If you keep moving like that, the dirt’ll stick to your hide.” That was the kick in the flank that she needed, and the two hastily made way to the apartment that they would be sharing for… She honestly didn’t know how long. It was the last thing she wanted to think of in her current situation, though. She could feel the crumbs of earth trying to settle beneath her coat, and it simply gave her the hibbie-gibbies. EE-YUCK! Noteworthy grabbed the door with his hoof and turned the knob, he pushed, only for it to not move at all. “Heh, sorry about that. Sometimes you just gotta…” he gave the door a hit with his forehoof and it swung open with a loud creak, revealing a clean, but sparsely decorated room. “Sorry about the mess, I wasn’t expecting anypony this evening before the wire arrived.” Fleur paid his words no mind as she quickly trotted in and looked around. The “mess” consisted of an unwashed coffee cup on a table, and a guitar on a couch. “It’s alright, I think I’ll survive. Now, you said you had a shower?” “Yes, it’s just to the right. I’ve got a spare towel and toothbrush out for you, and there’s plenty of soap and shampoo. Do you like sugar?” “Pardon?” “In your tea, do you like any sugar?” “Oh,” Fleur blinked a few times before she started to walk into the bathroom. “Uh, no… I like honey if you have it though.” “Sorry hun, but we can’t have that stuff in the apartments, especially after there was an ant infestation not a week ago.” Noteworthy shook his head as he went to fetch the sugar dish in the kitchen. All Fleur could do was frown after excusing herself to the shower. It’s never going to end, isn’t it? There was one thing to be grateful for, however. Hot water and fragrant soap helped to soothe her day’s sorrow, and it gave her a glimpse of just how grateful she could be for something she used to think was so mundane. Nevertheless, she was happy to be clean of all the filth that she’d acquired over the course of the night, especially the dirt that she swore to Luna was trying to get into her hide. “Did you wash that dirt off completely?” She heard a holler from the main room. “Squeaky clean!” Fleur managed with a reluctant smile. “Good, cause that wasn’t dirt on your underside,” he said as he passed her a hot cup of tea. Fleur’s eyes inflated twice in size.
The ArcadianDespite the previous night, Fleur had managed to sleep quite soundly in the guest room she was in, having dozed in a deep, dreamless state for the remainder of the night. When the birds began to sing outside her window, it did not register deeply with her. When it finally did, a warm ray of light began to creep in through her window and shined directly on her face. Even then, she didn’t really wake up, but laid there, groggy and oblivious to the world. Peacefulness enshrouded her completely. The moment, however,was gone before she could properly register it. The scream of a stallion echoed from the room above her, followed shortly by a loud thud. What in Celestia’s name was that?! There was some more shuffling from above. Through the ceiling, she could hear voices muttering. “What’s wrong?” “A roach was crawling on me! I’m telling you, this place gets worse and worse every day!” “Don’t raise such a fuss Emerald...” “Don’t you tell me not to raise a fuss! I’ve been here for months now, and you still haven’t got it under con- THERE IT IS!” Another slam, this time with enough force to knock a few kernels of ceiling popcorn onto her sheets. Fleur groaned as she rolled over to look back at her window, trying to ignore the ponies above her. But it proved harder than expected as the sound of furniture flipping and galloping continued just above her head. “Quick, don’t let it escape! Stomp it!” One of them whined. “That’s disgusting! I haven’t any shoes on!” Another slam followed by gallops. “Quit being a priss Steam and use your hooves! That broom isn’t going to help- Quick! There it goes!” Another set of hoof falls, then silence. Ah, back to how things should be… Fleur sighed in relief as she faced the ceiling, her eyes sliding closed. “I can’t believe it went into the floorboards.” One of the stallions admitted defeated. “It will come up somewhere. Roaches always do...” The words barely registered with Fleur as she tried to fall back asleep, finding it more and more difficult by the second. Maybe I should just get up already, I could go get some coffee, maybe a bite to eat. Her thoughts were interrupted by a light tap to the end of her muzzle. No… Oh nonononono, I’m not going to open my eyes. There is definitely NOT a cockroach on my nose. The small weight on the end of her nose suddenly moved the top of her muzzle, and she could feel the small hooks in it’s legs pulling on the fur there. No, don’t be there when I look, please oh please don’t be there… She opened her eyes, and was greeted by a roach staring straight into her very soul. “AH-HAH-HAH! Get it off!” The covers flew off in a flurry of white as she jostled herself about the bed, trying to fling the bug off of her muzzle. The scream did not go unnoticed. It’s sharp, melodious sound instantly brought Noteworthy in, a can of bug spray locked and loaded in his hoof. “Don’t move missy, I’ve got it!” “Get it off, get it off, get it o-o-off!” She whined in her prissy, fashion-pony way. Noteworthy quickly pressed down on the top of the bug spray cap with his chin, quickly dowsing the bug in deadly chemicals, unfortunately doing so as it was still atop of Fleur’s muzzle. She coughed and gagged a few times before the roach fell away to it’s carpet-ly doom below, and she began waving a hoof to shoo away the cloud of chemicals. “What are you trying to do, kill me or ruin my voice?!” “A voice so out of practice hardly needs to be ruined,” Noteworthy said with a sniff. “Besides, that stuffs organic, I doubt it would even make you a little sick.” With a casual toss over his shoulder, the can bounced off the floor before landing neatly on a shelf in the other room. “Breakfast is ready for you sunshine, at your leisure.” He said in a matter-of-factly tone, then exited the room and shut the door. Fleur was left in the resounding silence. She sat in the bed for a few seconds, just staring at the door. Not even the sound of chirping birds could be heard anymore. “Why? That’s all I want to know... Why me?” With no one to answer, she had no choice but to lumber out of the bed. Her body ached from the recent wake-up call. Profit numbs the pain… She thought to herself. With a resounding crack of her back, she stretched long on the floor before exiting to the main living space to be greeted by the pristine room with a table set for a meal. “Hm, glad to see you’re out of bed.” The stallion grabbed a tray and lay it down on the table with precision and smiled with satisfaction. “I can’t make a great meal, but I do pride myself with presentation.” Fleur trotted slowly to the table and saw what had to be the most beautiful set up for breakfast that she’d seen in a very long time. There was a tall crystal glass filled to the brim with orange juice, and a matching bowl sitting next to it, waiting to be filled with its contents. There was however, no food to be seen. “So, where’s the eggs and pancakes?” “Eggs? Pancakes? Oh my, no. I’m sorry, but no eggs. I do, however, have some cornflakes I got from the food shelter last week, and the milk’s fresh… Ish?” Noteworthy was interrupted by a joyous pony below. “CORNFLAKES? Oh that’s good!” The pony continued, chanting out as if praying to the cereal gods for its stale, corny goodness. His response was to slam a hoof down on the floor and shouted, “NO! It’s not for you!” Fleur stood frozen, lips quipped, before Noteworthy cleared his throat. “Sorry, this place has notoriously thin spaces between apartments. Anyway, please help yourself, but remove the parsley garnish before adding the cereal… That would taste weird with the milk.” “Thanks for the tip.” Fleur drooped her head, grasping the cereal box in her aura. It was gonna be a long day, but not having any food in her system would simply make it drag on for an eternity. After the pair had breakfasted, brushed up and started to mill around the living room, it wasn’t long before a messenger came by with a message from Darius. After reading that the telegram simply told the pair to meet up at the Arcadian Theatre, the pair rushed out the door for the appointment. It turned out to be a much older venue, located on the old south road near the edge of Canterlot. The theatre looked like it was a glamorous place, a fine palace of the arts overlooking the country from the edge of the mountain city. However, it also looked as if nopony had maintained it for at least a decade. “Wow. Does anyone even own this place?” Fleur asked incredulously before wiping a spot clean off of the door, then wiping the dust onto Noteworthy’s coat. “I’m afraid I own this place,” a familiar voice said, followed closely by the smell of cheap whisky and expensive cigars. “Hello Noteworthy, good to see you,” Denarius said with a smile as he puffed on his cigar. “And Fleur, marvelous that you could actually wake up before noon today.” “The pleasure is yours, I assure you,” Fleur said with a sniffle as she took more shallow breaths around her manager. “So why are we here? This old palace doesn't look like it’s seen a crowd in…” “Eight years, three months, two weeks and three days,” Denarius said with a casual tone of voice. “Yes, the old Arcadian has seen better days, and I expect you three to make more for her soon.” “That’s like asking us to- Wait, what do you mean by ‘you three?’” “I believe that he means you two and I,” a voice greeted them. Another unicorn waltzed up to the pair in a staccato of hoofbeats, craning her head to show them both a welcoming, but overly excited smile. “Lyra Heartstrings. A pleasure to meet you both.” Fleur was dumbfounded, yet Noteworthy seemed to have had a part of his mind tickled by her sudden appearance. “Hey, I know you! You were there for the last Winter Wrap Up in Ponyville-” “We do not speak of ‘that’ outside of Ponyville.” Lyra’s lips quivered, and that joy-filled smile was nearly wiped off the face of Equestria. “Err, right… But what are you doing here? I thought you had a shop to run in Ponyville?” Noteworthy asked. “Oh, but I do! Bon Bon’s filling in for me.” Lyra stated matter-of-factly. Meanwhile in Ponyville… - Bon Bon stood firmly behind the cashier’s table, looking about the pony-less room of instruments and musical doodads for the musically gifted. She smiled as she stared blankly at the front door, waiting for something to happen. I have no idea what I’m doing. Her smile never wavered as the thought went through her candy-coated brain. And now back to your regularly scheduled story! - “I’m sure everything’s just fine…” Lyra sighed contently, only for her sense of relief to float away with the impatient taps of Denarius’ hoof. “Is story time over now?” The bit-headed stallion groaned, waiting to finally give his first assignment to them. The trio nodded in unison. “Good. Now that I have your attention, you’ll all be prepping the Arcadian for tonight’s opening act.” Denarius puffed his cigar into Fleur’s face and awaited their protests. “Wait a minute! Why are we ‘prepping’ instead of doing, oh I don’t know… Performing!?” Fleur threw the order back into the ring leader’s lap. Denarius chuckled to himself and gave the cigar a gentle roll with his teeth. “Cause twelve bits for hungry ponies makes for a sound investment instead of hiring professionals. Hop to it.” With that, Denarius tossed the trio a playbill for the evening and left them to their will: a closet full of cleaning supplies and an old Canterlot relic looking to be the gleaming light of a past era of entertainment. “We’re screwed, aren’t we?” Lyra said as her smile flickered into nothingness. Noteworthy examined the playbill Denarius had left for them. “According to this playbill we will if we don’t have this place shimmering by sunset.” Lyra and Fleur looked to each other, tears brimming in their eyes. “What are we gonna do!?” They whined together. “Don’t worry girls, we can do this if we work together!” Noteworthy rallied the troops. When he realized that no props or hoof-bumps would be given, he took it upon himself to study the map of the theatre on the back of the playbill. ”Right, so anyway, I’ll take the lobby and guest passageways. Fleur, you’ll take the stage and seating area.” “I’ll do no such thing!” Fleur pouted. “And Lyra, you’ll work on getting the entrance and street area cleaned up.” “What?” Lyra questioned in confusion. Noteworthy smirked. “You know, make the ‘outside’ of the building look good.” “Oh, right!” “I still refuse to clean the stage area!” Fleur stomped her hoof down in protest. “Fine,” Noteworthy said with a casual tone. “You can go home and forget about your fifteen minutes in the limelight.” “... Oh alright, I’ll go get a mop…” she shuffled away in defeat, leaving the other two to their own devices. She entered the massive grand palace of the arts and was taken aback by the sheer size of it all. “Mother of Celestia…” Fleur gawked in awe. “I have to clean all of this…” The longer she waited, the less time she would have to earn the bits for the day. Without another moment to waste, she began searching for the supply closet. To her luck, what very little there was now, she managed to find it all too quickly on accident. Meaning, the first door she opened ejected its contents violently in a torrent of S’all Pine®, mops, rags, and a hefty number of MagiSquares™. Fleur was nothing less than a furry ball of sweat an hour later. She’d managed to get the stage swept, and dusted off the curtains for the stage. She even used her magic to help her broom and mop anywhere that ponies would have walked. That being said, there was still a few thousand seats, a chandelier, far too many brass fixtures, and all the lights needed to be scrubbed and in some cases polished. “There’s no way I’m going to be able to finish all this before we open tonight,” Fleur moaned as she scrubbed the first of many red velvet chairs. The velvet proved difficult as she soaked her rag in the soapy water and began scrubbing the wood and velvet. "Maybe I should ask for some help," she muttered to herself before throwing the rag down into the bucket, causing a small slosh of water to spill out onto the recently mopped floor. She winced slightly, but only a bit before drying up the spill and moving on to the foyer in search of Noteworthy. From the moment that she stepped out into the room outside the main auditorium, she was blinded by a golden light that seemed to flood out from everywhere. "What in the," she held a hoof up to block out some of the light as her eyes adjusted. Chamber music suddenly seemed to be playing from nowhere. It wouldn't have taken long to find the gramophone that was set up, if it weren't for the fact that the room had taken all of her attention. The walls marble face shone with a gleam, enhancing the golden light that shone brightly from the highly polished brass and glass fixtures that were mounted all about the walls. The stairwell that she had previously assumed was wood, was in fact more of the marble, with brass and oak railing that lead down to the main floor of the lobby. Flanked on either end of the stairs banisters stood gracefully sculptured brass statuettes holding a jet of flame encased in an opaque globe. A clock ticked from somewhere above her, and she looked up to see that every detail of the pegasi that fawned over the face of the clock gleamed as if brand new. Crimson and gold curtains hung from above, covering the doorways to other areas of the lobby for either guests, or crew to abscond to before or after the show. The fact that it was all perfect only brought attention back to herself, and the fact that she was caked in dust mixed in and sticking to her own sweat. "You had better have a good reason for standing in my clean lobby looking like that," Fleur turned to her left and saw Noteworthy, perfectly clean and casually leaning against the wall as he took the needle of the player. "After all, you do seem to be quite attracted to filth." "Ha. Ha. It is to laugh," Fleur said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "Look, I need some," she stumbled for the right word before continuing. "Advice on how I should go about cleaning the seats." "Well," Noteworthy said as he made his way over to her. "What have you tried so far?" "Scrubbing of course," she said with a slight sniff. "Well I hope that you have the brains to realize that adding water to dust is just making mud," Noteworthy said with a frown. "Didn't you see a vacuum cleaner? Or did you try brushing them clean?" "There's just so much to do," Fleur said as she looked down. "I have yet to still do the chandeleer, and the other lights around the room, and all the chairs." "Alright, keep calm," Noteworthy said with a wave of his hoof. "I'll be there in a jiffy to help with the lights and polishing the brass, it's one of the things I'm good for." He started to head toward her, before pausing and heading outside. "On second thought, let's see how Lyra is doing, I'm pretty sure that she might be done by now." "She had the whole of the outside to do," Fleur said as she descended the stairs the rest of the way. "What makes you think that she's done?" Once she was outside, it was clear how anypony in her position could be done quickly. Lyra stood a small distance away from the building, standing on her rear legs and holding a very large hose. "Just a few more minutes," she said with a smile. "The grime from the building's just gotta go down the drain." Sure enough, the building was much cleaner, but the black grime from years of filth had to go somewhere. Currently, it was on the sidewalk, swiftly being pushed down a sewer grate. Lyra hummed along to herself as she waved the hose left and right, making small waves of water and chasing it down until all of it was gone down the hole. "There, I think that will do iiiiieaaach! What in Equestria happened to her?" Noteworthy looked from Lyra to Fleur and gave a small grin. "Well, it looks like the pony with the horn forgot about magic while cleaning." "Ha ha. Again," Fleur deadpanned. "Look, I just need some help with the auditorium and we can get this over with before tonig-" she was suddenly and rather rudely interrupted by a strong blast from Lyra's hose. "You're not going back in until you are at least clean enough that you don't track dirt all over our own work!" The hose blasted her a few more times, leaving Fleur sputtering and coughing water away from her mouth. With all three of them tackling the auditorium, Noteworty taking the brass lamps and the chandeliers while Fleur and Lyra took on the chairs, it wasn't long at all before they noticed that they were done. "I think that's it," Noteworthy said with a small exhausted smile. Lyra looked ready to take a nap, but Fleur herself felt ready to faint. She had managed to somehow get through without getting too much dirtier than she was before. But even then she was truly rather filthy, and was in desperate need of a shower. The clock in the lobby chimed twice, Fleur's ears twitching with each chime. "I can't believe it's only two," she muttered. "Believe it," Lyra said as she cracked her back. "Well, I'm pretty sure that the restrooms for the staff are downstairs right?" Noteworthy gave a nod as he pointed with a hoof. "Back there and down the flight of stairs, there's a few dressing rooms, each with a restroom with a shower shared between two rooms. But I didn't get around to cleaning any of them yet," he said with a frown. "If you want to shower now, there's the locker rooms just past the private dressing rooms, but you won't get any privacy really." Lyra gave a shrug and headed off to clean herself while Fleur thought it over. "I'll just wait until she's done." Fleur said with a smile as she and Noteworthy headed behind the stage. "That's fine with me," Noteworthy said as he started for the stairs. "But I'm going to the Stallion's lockers, so why don't you keep an eye open for Danarius until one of us comes out of the shower, he's supposed to run the ticket booth," he paused to think about it before adding, "and probably a few more acts now that I think about it." Fleur gave a nod and turned back to the lobby, quickly grabbing as many of the cleaning supplies as she could along the way to the closet in the lobby they belonged in. That was when she heard something. It was only three notes, but they sounded remarkably like a pipe organ. Fleur paused to listen, but hearing nothing more, shrugged and continued to the closet. After dropping off the equipment, and barely getting the door shut again, she grabbed her Gucci saddlebag, her favorite tan ones with fringes, and pulled out a set of songs she knew to look them over. "Hmm, what to do tonight." As she thought it over, she heard Lyra's voice call out to her. Fleur stopped reading the songbook's list as she put it down. "Coming!" She smiled as she thought about how tonight would be the start of her big comeback. "Everything's going to be perfect," she said as a small chuckle escaped her throat. Author's Note After years of delay, I'm happy to say that I finally got back into the writing groove. I never did stop, the only issue was, and is that finding the time to write without interruption is truly difficult at the moment. Between work, family obligations, and trying to keep up with demands from many others, I feel like I'm often being stretched to the breaking point! However, I do manage one hour of writing time a day. What you have just read, this last chapter, was almost four years of on and off again attempts to finish this chapter, and redefine the direction I want to take with the story. Unfortunately, Dusty had dropped out of the writing of the story, but has been there for moral support when I could reach him, and was excelent for spearheading ideas back and forth. Coming as soon as I can get the time together, we will re-join Fleur and her new list of acquaintances in the Arcadian at Sunset, where we can see the acts, and what Fleur chooses to do to impress the crowd!
Performance The Arcadian Theatre Presents Canterlot Review We here at Denarius Productions are proud to present to you, an evening of entertainment that is surely one to be remembered. Here at the historic Arcadian Theatre, you shall witness such things as never before seen by Equine eyes. There's the Great and Powerful Trixie, to astound you with pyrotechnic feats, and stunning illusions as the opening act. Noteworthy and his soulful guitar shall follow up. An intermission for 10 minutes before we present Cirque Phantasm, showcasing an amazing stunt spectacular that will surely never be forgotten. Followed up by Lyra Heartstrings on the Lyre, for a one time only performance. And lastly, Fleur Dis Lee in a comeback performance that will make you say years from now, I was there. Please, refer to the seating chart, and theatre map for restroom locations, and restricted areas. Please be kind, and refrain from smoking in the auditorium, or using cameras with flash bulbs. Thank you, and enjoy your evening with us. Fleur looked at the very basic playbill with a frown. "It doesn't even say what I'm going to do here tonight," she muttered. "That's because you failed to tell me what you were planing on doing," Denarius said before taking in another drag of his cigar. "Then again, I suppose that with what little time I had to do this," he grumbled to himself as he began to pace. "Well I'm sure you'll think of something." "You may as well go home," a smug voice said from off to the right. "For surely not any one of you could top, the show stopping ability, of the great, and POWERFUL TRRRRRIXIE!" The unicorn then reared up as sparklers went off behind her. "Are you her agent?" Fleur asked with a tilt of her head. "Because I'm pretty sure that nopony talks in third pony." Trixie's cheeks turned red as she came back down to her hooves. "No, I'm her agent, as you could probably guess," Denarius said with a growl. "It's in her contract that she gets," he sighed before saying, "Top Billing." "But, I thought that was in my contract," Fleur said with a frown. "It was in your contract," Denarius said with a grin. "Before you let it expire, now it's in her contract, and you're going to respect that as a part of your new contract. Is that clear?" Fleur scowled but gave a nod anyway as Denarius began to walk off. "I'll be in the ticket booth if you need me sweetie," he said as he passed through the curtain and off to the front of the house. "He probably wanted to make sure he got his grubby little hooves on the cash box so he can have a bigger cut of the ticket sales." Lyra said as she continued to tune her Lyre. She then looked over at Fleur and gave a small smile. "Nervous?" "Me? Nervous?" Fleur said with a hoof to her own chest. "How dare you insult my integrity." She gave off a very regal pose as she flipped her mane. "I've been in much bigger theatres than this hovel. With twice as many creatures in the seats than it was supposed to hold!" "Are you talking about the time that you played in Cloudsdale," Noteworthy said as he dropped a box down in the wings of the stage. "That place is mostly full of flyer types you know. It's not hard to believe that there would be a lot of ponies flying instead of seated." "Be a dear and shut up," Fleur said with very sweet, yet sarcastic look on her face. "Last I checked, out of everypony here, not including miss magicpants over there," she pointed a hoof at Trixie. "I was the one with the most experience between us all." Noteworthy gave a deep frown at Fleur and looked as if he was about to say something before he shrugged, and turned away. Fleur felt something bump into her from behind causing her to jump and turn around to see Trixie was pushing a very large box on stage. "The great and powerful Trixie demands that you move out of her way!" She said in a voice that reminded Fleur of something between a sports mother, and a Canterlot elite having a tantrum for not being recognized. "Oh I'm sorry, oh great and powerful opening act," Fleur said in a voice that dripped with enough sarcasm that if it were physical, it could have caused an oil spill on the floor. Trixie for her part put her nose in the air and continued to set the stage for herself. Fleur then walked away from the wings of the stage and headed off to where the dressing rooms were located. "I'll be in my dressing room!" She shouted to nopony in particular. "Getting ready!" She then opened one of them at random, looked to see if it were empty. Satisfied, her horn lit up and she threw her saddlebags into the room, grabbed a paper star from it, and tacked it onto the door. The curtains were closed to the audience, but that was fine. Trixie did fine, as was expected. Her big trick for the show was an escape from a giant buzzing saw. Everypony in the audience oohed and ahhhed at just the right moments, and even gave her a standing ovation. Fleur came out to the wings to see the ending, and tried her best to suppress a groan. It was obvious that there was not just a trap door, but a series of them. Letting her slide her head, hooves, a bit of lace ribbon, into the boxes as they shuffled about on stage. The impressive bit, was that she was able to control the boxes sliding about, while using fireworks to flash the audience, making them blind for just long enough for her to move about. Invisible to the audience, but obvious to Fleur where she stood. Next, Noteworthy came out in front of the closed curtains. He sat down and began to tune his guitar. "Hello folks, I'm Noteworthy." There was some polite applause for that, but nothing more. "I'd like to sing a few songs for you," He stated as he strummed a clean note. "And maybe tell a tale or two." He quickly strummed a few notes on the guitar, and brought everypony in with a rendition of Orange Blossom Special, playing the guitar and blowing on a harmonica that was mounted around his neck so he could easily play without dropping the guitar. After around ten songs, and cracking a few jokes in between, he finally took a bow to applause. "Thank you everypony! That's my time, goodnight!" He then walked passed Fleur and gave a sheepish grin. "Are you almost ready?" Fleur gave a very confident smile and pointed to just behind the curtain where Trixie was still moving things off the stage. "As soon as she's done, I'll have just enough time to set up." She paused and then held a hoof out to him. "You did good, they seemed to like you." "Yeah, well," he muttered and rubbed a spot behind his mane. "I guess you just have to know your audience," he said with the same sheepish grin. Trixie gave an audible heave as she pushed a box of spent fireworks into the opposing wing, and doused them with a bucket of water. The audience was all talking amongst themselves. Ten minutes later, and Lyra took the stage, the curtains still closed. This was a good thing for Fleur, because while she didn't have much to do to prepare, there was a few things she had to do. Taken from the pages of Equestria Daily. Page five, the arts section. The Arts Devo ... and in more local affairs, there was a surprise showing at the Arcadian Theatre last night. The opening act, a magician called The Great and Powerful Trixie, wowed audiences with several illusions, and spectacular fireworks. However, the next three acts were all musical in nature. Noteworthy, and Lyra Heart Strings both managed quite well in front of an audience made up of Canterlot's working class. Singing songs about the desire for more, travel, adventure, hard times, and good times. The closing act however, seemed to be a failure at the start... The following is a segment of the transcript taken from the reporter that was made as a means of recording the events of the evening. She was using a transcript spell on a scroll, and it has been edited for clarity. Audiences muttering... Pencil Lead: There's tension in the air, as the closing act has yet to show herself after Lyra left the stage. It's only been a few minutes, but at least three ponies have left the theatre. The audience has started to chant "We want the show," while stomping their hooves. Pencil Lead: It's getting ugly in here, somepony had better do something soon or, oh! The lights have just dimmed. The curtains are still shut, but a spotlight had lit a single circle of light. They are now opening, and Fleur Dis Lee is standing center stage. She's opted to wear some sort of evening dress. Fleur: Hello Canterlot! The audience did not react. Fleur has a nervous smile on her face, and has given a small cough. Somepony in the audience stood up and shouted "DO SOMETHING!" this was followed by laughter. A set of pipe organs has begun to play, Fleur is now on her hind legs, and now it seems she's going into an opera peice. The audience is not moved. She's gone into some sort of flight movement, singing while floating over the stage. A pony has decided to practice their aim on her. The opening act (Trixie) has come back out on stage, now she's throwing smoke bombs at the audience and cursing. Security seems not to exist in this theatre, a mob seems to have broken out. Fleur was on the verge of tears as the audience continued to pelt her with a variety of snacks they must have snuck into the theatre. She finally hit her breaking point when a cigar smashed into her muzzle. "HEY! THERE'S NO SMOKING IN HERE!" Trixie was now laughing manically as she was dragged off stage by Lyra, "Come on, are you trying to kill your career?" Lyra cried out. As she was dragging her off an explosion went off from a thrown firework, blinding everyone in the theatre. It was all too much for Fleur, and she fell to the floor crying. "Hey princess, get up!" She did, and saw Noteworthy holding a hoof out to her. "This is no way to make a comeback!" He said it for her to hear, loud enough to be heard over the riotous crowd. But in doing so, the audience silenced. "Do you know any vaudeville?" He hissed at her. Fleur gave a soft nod and stood up. "Well Fleur, that's about the worst thing I've seen hit the stage since prat fall!" Noteworthy said mugging to the crowd. "Prat Fall?" Lyra Called out from the edge of the stage. "What's that?" "Not what, Who!" Noteworthy said as he made an obviously purposeful trip and fall on his face. "You remember him, right Fleur?" Fleur knew she was being fed a queue and knew to take it in stride. "Remember him? Last I saw he went down hard on the up escalator at the Canterlot plaza, was last month wasn't it?" "Fell down an up escalator?" Lyra asked. "Sounds like a long way down, how far did he fall?" "I'll let you know as soon as he hits the bottom!" Fleur said with a smile as the audience laughed. "Say Lyra, where's Trixie? Last I saw, you looked like you were trying to tame the lion!" More laughter from the audience peeled out. "Oh, she's tied up," Lyra said nonchalantly before pulling Lyra out on one of her sliding platforms, tied up. More laughter came from the audience as she was carted off stage. "Now that was nice to see you both here with me," Fleur said with a smile. "But I have a song to sing!" "A song to sing?" Noteworthy said with obvious shock on his face. "Why I thought you needed help!" "H-help?" Fleur said with a fake falter. "Don't be a silly boy, I can handle this myself." "That's right," Lyra said as she strummed her lyre. "We girls got it covered." She then leaned up against Fleur and plucked a few strings. "Ooooooooh!" Fleur paused and pushed her away. "Spread out, I'm a solo act!" And so it went, for the next half hour, Fleur, Noteworthy, and Lyra all played off each other adlibbing jokes, slapstick, and singing goofy songs that were made up on the spot. Near the end, Trixie even got in the act when she set off some fireworks to go with the trio's rendition of the Equestrian national anthem. As the theatre emptied out, three out of the four performers were all taking a breath back stage. Trixie instead opted to quickly gather her equipment, and left in a hurry saying she was late for an appointment in Appleoosa. The three remaining ponies, decided to go ahead and enjoy each other's company with a drink. Winding down, and laughing at how closely they dodged the slings and arrows of misfortune. "I honestly did not expect that kind of an audience," Fleur admitted. "It's been a while since I performed, but I guess I expected Canterlot's elite, not the working class." "Well," Lyra said as she downed her glass and stood up. "I've got to get back to Ponyville. Who knows what condition Bon Bon left my shop in. Meanwhile... IN PONYVILLE! Bon Bon stood alone in the dark shop. There were no lights, no instruments, and no displays left in the store. But at least nothing was on fire. She sighed as she pushed a button on the cash register to take out the days earnings, only to have it explode, showering the room with more bits than anypony had any right to have. The room now glistened and gleamed like a golden money bin, and Bon Bon stood there, and sighed. "I still have no idea what I'm doing."
