Cold, grey stone aligns the castle walls, standing tall above a set of vibrant green fields. Its many looming towers stab upward into the sky and block out the sun for any anypony unfortunate enough to call this prison a home. Atop the rugged balcony of one of these ugly monoliths sits a lovesick prince, his stunning green coat and tragic aquamarine eyes shining bright as beacons. He stares off into the distance; past the Deadly-Dark Forest and the Treacherous Mountain Pass, to his own city, now so far, and out of reach or sight. He casts his downtrodden gaze to the interior of his cell. A lavish set of decor, only availed to the most regal of captives.

The Prince marches past all the trifling furnishings and heads for the darkest corner of the cold, grey room, stopping just before a pair of radiant, blue eyes. "Oh... My dear, dear brother," begins a voice, stepping forward from the shadows. "Are you not enjoying your stay at my castle?"

"No," rebuffs the Prince, staring down the arrogant purple pony. "I'm not."

"Now really," returns the voice. "Is that any way to treat your Queen?"

"You're no Queen. When my beloved and I wed, we will ascend to the throne proper!"

"If you wed," says the Evil Queen. "I assure you, such a thing will never occur under my reign. My minions will see to that."

With a snap of her claw, the sound of a thousand flapping wings begins emanating from above the tower. The Prince runs to the balcony and finds a hoard of vile creatures flying in the direction of his city. He snaps his head back with a snarl. He lunges at the Queen, but she simply laughs and removes a colorful bottle from her dress. Before he can reach her, she tosses the contents at his open mouth, and he reels back, reflexively coughing at the strange powder he'd inhaled. A strange drowsiness overcomes him, and he feels his body slowly tumble to the floor. Each blink becomes heavier, and after each one the Queen's hooves get closer and closer.

"Sleep now, my dear, dear brother," she says, now standing over him. "Only true love's kiss may break this enchantment, and I fear your beloved will never arrive." A maniacal laugh spreads from out the lifeless stone walls and reverberates across the city. The Prince forces his eyes open one last time, before falling irrevocably to sleep...

"Hold on a second," said Turquoise Blitz, looking up from his script. "I spend the entire play... unconscious?"

"Yep!" answered Pixel Bit, her tiny brown and pink ponytail swaying as she turned to him. "Don't worry cuz. If there's anything you know how to do, it's sleeping." The tiny white and brown Api hopped across the wooden flooring of the stage, right past the rest of the cast, still setting up the painted cardboard scenery, and popped up in front of Turquoise. "It's not just sleeping! It is a sorrowful, eternal slumber from which you can never awaken! Unless your beloved's lips meet yours, and you embrace in a fit of love, and passion, and..." She danced on in her own little world, trotting feverishly across the stage. Pixel levitated another colorful piece of cardboard with her to center stage, and Turquoise returned his gaze to the script. "And here I was hoping to discover acting as my talent," he sighed quietly. A small, grey elbow nudged itself against his foreleg. Cloudy Skies stood next to him, presenting him her best reassuring smile.

"I think it'll be okay," she said. "The first and final scenes offer you plenty of dialogue. And acting unconscious is still technically acting! Although, I'm not sure if it's really difficult acting, or if it really offers you the scope of emotions necessary to prove any level of acting talent--"

Turquoise's hoof rested itself atop her head and playfully ruffled her mane. "I'll be alright, Cloudy," he said, smiling down at the young pegasus. "Like you said, I've got two scenes of solid acting. For the rest... I'll just have to add a little bit of drama to it." He lifted the back of his hoof to his forehead and fell to his back. "Oh!" he melodramatically cried with closed eyes. "What cruel fate has led me to this state of unconsciousness? To be trapped in this eternal slumber?! Oh, dearest me! Never before have I been so unconscious!"

Cloudy giggled at the display, not taking notice of the black Alicorn-Princess trotting pompously past her. The Princess stopped at center stage, right before Pixel Bit and the cardboard bush she'd just finished setting up. "You are Pixel Bit, are you not?" Princess Nidra demanded.

Pixel Bit nodded and bowed facetiously. "Yes, 'tis I, fair Princess. What be your qualm?"

Nidra squared her eyes. Pixel Bit kept her goofy expression. She'd spent enough time around Princes and Princesses to know that they're just like any other pony. Which isn't to say she saw them as normal, or really anypony as normal. Everypony is unique and has something that makes them special. For Princess Nidra, that was her attitude.

"My qualm," Nidra repeated, with a none-too-subtle undercurrent of irritation. "Is your awful casting choices!"

A script levitated from behind her back and slammed down at Pixel's hooves. "A servant?! You'd dare to cast me as a servant?! And, what's more, you give the role of Princess to... her..." Nidra's head and eyes shifted left, shooting daggers at the semi-blind, blonde maned unicorn sitting at the far end of the stage, scanning hopelessly over her script. Another pony approached from Nidra's peripherals: Turquoise Blitz, who sat himself directly beside her and began verbalizing the printed words. Nidra continued looking over the scene, her anger dissolving to sadness. A kiss scene would be the perfect chance. The chance to prove her love, beyond a shadow of a doubt! He'd realize from her sweet, saccharine lips, that true love was meant for them and them alone!

"You done fawning over my cousin?" interjected Pixel Bit. Nidra blushed deep red and veered her head back in shame.

"I-I apologize," stated Nidra, unable to make eye contact. "But, I implore you. Please allow me the role of Princess. I will give you my greatest performance if you do. I'll perform any soliloquy you ask! Please..." Nidra steeled herself, then met Pixel Bit's eyes. "Director Pixel Bit, please recast me into the role of Princess!"

Assuming a traditional, regal posture, Nidra bowed her head low beneath Pixel Bit's chin. For a short while, Pixel Bit simply looked on in surprise, before her sympathetic side slowly began eating away at her. It gnawed itself to her core, and she signaled over Api and Echo. "Hold on a sec'," said Pixel Bit. The three fillies quickly formed a tight triangle, jabbering back and forth so fast that the debate bordered on incoherent. However, after a near minute of unintelligible discussion, Nidra awkwardly standing beside them for the entirety, the trio finally reached a conclusion. Pixel Bit turned to the rest of the stage behind her and cupped a hoof to the edge of her mouth.

"Excuse me, everypony! Can I please have your attention?"

The rest of the cast paused in their duties and focused on Pixel Bit. "We have an important announcement! Princess Nidra and Annie will be switching roles! Nidra will now be playing the Princess, and Annie will play her servant!"

Most of the cast nodded in agreement and continued about their duties, excluding the three Pixel suddenly found walking up to her.

"Wait," said Turquoise, walking with Anthea beneath his right wing. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

Anthea squirmed herself from the confines of his wing. "T," she started, situated between a big green blur, which she knew was Turquoise, and a black and blue blur, which she assumed to be Nidra. "It's okay, really. I don't mind."

"But, Annie," Turquoise added, leaning his head down to her level.

"I have some concerns with the casting as well," stated Crystal Clarity as she stepped into the group. "Well, specifically, it's with my role, the 'Evil Queen'. I... I'm not comfortable with it. I don't want to accuse you, little cousin, but... I'm afraid you may be type casting."

"Type... casting?" questioned Pixel Bit.

"Yes. Type casting. Based on the fact that I am half-dragon, you cast me as the antagonist. You cast me as something dreadful! As something horrid! As something... you see as evil..."

An awkward silence followed, only stirring at Pixel Bit's forced cough. "Um... I-I'm sorry. I didn't think about--"

"Actually," chimed in Echo, reminding everyone of her presence. She paid the surprised faces no mind. "We didn't type cast you. Did all of you forget that we chose Turquoise for the handsome Prince? Or that we initially didn't pick any of the actual Princesses here to play the Princess? Seems kind-of obvious."

Everyone took a moment to process just how correct she was, at the end of which everypony sighed in relief. Everypony, that is, except Crystal Clarity. She wore a half smile as she showed her face to her cousin. "I'm relieved to hear this, I truly am, but I doubt anypony in the audience will see it that way. Turquoise may be the handsome Prince, but he spends the entire play comatose, in a bed, draped in sheets which cover most of his body. I, however, am constantly in the public's eye, saying things like--" She levitated Nidra's script from the ground behind her and brought it beneath her face, quickly flipping through the pages before stopping on an exact line. After clearing her throat, she inhaled deeply. "'Bwahahaha! My evil cannot be contained! All my subjects be warned! No pony who defies me shall survive this night!'"

The air became awkward again. The only sound to be heard was that of clapping, made by a tall white pony standing midway through the theater's entrance. "That was great!" she exclaimed, trotting down the center row and arriving at the incline of the stage. "Really, it was fantastic! Those are your lines, Claire?"

Claire nodded blankly at her friend, Creme de la Creme; the second friend she'd made back when she lived in Canterlot. Creme nodded her head with a proud smile. "You sounded perfect. Like a real Queen!" The other ponies exchanged glances, checking for any objections before feeling comfortable in sharing the sentiment. Claire blushed slightly behind her script. "T-Thank you," she started, considering the future of her relationship with Prince Illusion. "B-But you have to consider--"

"You don't want to be Queen?" questioned Creme.

"W-Well, I most certainly do... but, at the same time..."

Pixel Bit jumped in. "We could recast you, if you want. I didn't mean to make you angry..."

"No, no, it's quite alright, I just... I-- I--" Claire raised a hoof over her flushed face. "I... I'll do it. I accept the role. Now please, excuse me a moment. I need to get some air." Circling around the group to the edge of stage, Claire hopped down to the center isle and walked her most hurried, dignified walk to the entrance. Creme turned to Pixel Bit.

"I finished crunching the numbers by the way," she started, pulling out a small list and putting on her tiny pair of reading glasses. "Comparing the costs of cardboard, paints, ticket paper, and theater rental against the pricing of tickets and approximate audience size, I estimate the net gain to be about... two hundred bits in the first night; rounding down."

Everypony's jaw went slack. Echo was the first to pick hers back up. "W-Wait," she stumbled. "You didn't accidentally add another zero there, did you, Creme?"

Readjusting her spectacles, Creme double checked the final line. "No, two hundred point three bits opening night. Given that every ticket is four bits, that two Equestrian Princesses will be openly performing, that three Princesses will be attending, and that my own parents have already bought their tickets... gauging from the level of influence each of those factors will have, I approximate seventy attendees. Subtract the costs from that level of revenue and the gross income is about two hundred bits. Opening night, of course."

"Seventy...?"

"Yes, seventy in attendance. Opening night."

Echo's jaw descended yet again, as did everypony else's. This time, Turquoise was the first reconvene. "Annie," he said, meeting Anthea's eyes with his own. Despite her lack of sight, Anthea knew the concern in them. She began to second his feelings.

"Don't worry!" cried Api, hopping in front of them. "We've got a plan. Instead of your royal guard leading you around the set, now we'll have your kind Princess, with whom you share an intimate, sisterly bond, guiding you through the scenes!"

"So, in other words," Anthea found herself saying with some trepidation. "I'll be relying on... Nidra..."

Anthea couldn't see Nidra's face, but she didn't need to. She didn't even need a cursory check of the blur. She could feel the mischievous grin rising along Nidra's countenance. She gulped as she suddenly felt a wing descend upon her. It shared the same composition as Turquoise's, but it lacked the caring delicacy she knew him for. Rather, this wing grabbed her and forced her close its owner.

"My sweet, sisterly servant!" announced Nidra, glaring down at the prey trapped within her snare. "You need not worry. Your Princess will ensure the greatest of care for you! Although, if you are yet uncomfortable, you can always withdraw from the play. No pony would blame a poor little blind mare for getting cold feet."

Her last few words dripped from her mouth like acid. Turquoise pivoted toward Pixel Bit. "Why don't we just swap the roles again? If Annie can't be the Princess, maybe she could be the old wise mare? Or the merchant? Or--"

"T," interjected Annie, determination flaring in her eyes. "It's fine." She shifted her head back up to Nidra. "Oh, my pure, sisterly Princess... I hope you recognize the severity of our task. And though your beloved may await you, take care not to forget the hardships of your friends. If you do, they may just be your downfall..." Above their false smiles, their eyes waged a war of attrition; neither one budging nor receding. Api rubbed her hooves enthusiastically together.

"Then it's settled!" she shouted, throwing her hooves in the air. "Does anypony else have any objections to their roles?"

Starburst looked up from her script at the back corner of the stage, a twinkle glimmering in her eyes. "A royal guard...?" she mused to herself. "It's... perfect!"

Author's Note

Takes place before Anthea and Turquoise begin properly dating.

Any and all criticism is welcome!