After ten days of rigorous rehearsal, the cast and crew now found themselves periodically peeking out the curtains at the massive audience before them. Opening night was upon them. The play was about to begin. Crystal Clarity looked over her script in the back corner, her face alternating between strokes of horrid villainy and moderated self-disgust. Starburst practiced her facial warm-ups a few feet away, occasionally stopping to strike a valiant salute to an invisible superior. Anthea stood at the gap between the curtains, poking her eye out at the mass of blurs and blobs. She pulled back and looked at the tan and pink blur beneath her.

"...That's a lot of ponies, isn't it?" she questioned.

Pixel Bit nodded. "Yeah... like, a huge amount. I don't even recognize most of them. Must be a few from Canterlot, and the Apple family is probably visiting from Appleoosa."

"Hey," interjected a raw country accent. Golden Delicious's orange figure stood close behind them. "Have any of y'all seen Candy anywhere?"

At the back corner of the stage, behind a fortress of cardboard scenery, Cotton Candy was rolling herself back and forth in the fetal position. Her wavy mane was clenched between her teeth and her pupils were wide with terror. Your friends need you! she heard herself think. You can do it, can't you? For them! Candy paused in her rolling. The image of the stage, mid-performance, entered her mind. She could feel herself, standing at the off side of the stage, waiting for her cue. She'd cartwheel out, dressed in her jester's hat and colorful jacket, turn her head and see... unfamiliar--so many unfamiliar faces--watching her and everything she did, everything she was going to do, they'd be watching! Her teeth nearly cracked themselves as she bit down harder and reentered her rocking with increased fervor.

"Ah coulda swore I saw her come in," sounded Del's voice from beyond the cardboard. The clip-clap of four tiny hooves followed behind him.

"We don't have time to look for her!" cried Api. "We're about to start! If she doesn't show up, we'll just have her understudy take over. Hey, Cloudy!"

Cloudy Skies jumped, losing her grip on her script and quickly tripping as she attempted to pick it up. "Er... yes?" she answered from her awkward position on the floor.

"Candy might not make it! If she doesn't, we need you to play the jester in her place, okay?"

"Y-Yes!" Cloudy responded, picking herself back up. "I mean--I'll do my best!"

Cotton Candy chewed away at her mane. Cloudy... her little sister. She knows the lines through and through, but all the blocking and the acrobatics... combined with her bad luck and massive guilt complex... Cloudy will end up torturing herself if anything goes wrong. Meanwhile, her sister remains cowering behind a wall of unused cardboard. Candy slowed her rolling to a halt. Trembling, she planted her front hooves down beneath her and pushed her posterior up to an uneasy stand. She could feel the eyes bearing down on her. All those strangers, watching, staring. Cloudy couldn't be subjected to that!

But... Candy thought, her hind legs failing her and dropping her to a lonesome sit. I just... can't. I'm sorry Cloudy. I can't. I just can't! Her eyes fell to the cold flooring beneath her. ...I just can't...

"Actors! To your positions!" shouted Pixel Bit. "The first scene starts in one minute!"

Beyond the curtains, the crowd chatted away endlessly, their individual conversations blending together to become a mess of indecipherable noise. Contributing to this mess in the front row 'VIP' section were the mane six, with Spike laying beside Rarity atop the special padded flooring along the right isle. Rarity's hooves clapped together excitedly. "Ooh!" she said, looking down at her husband. "This is going to be simply marvelous!"

Fluttershy tilted her head lightly out past the slumped over Rainbow Dash. "Annie told me the costumes you made were amazing!" she said in her saccharine voice. Rarity raised her chin with a dignified smile, which quickly broke as a soft but sudden kick was dealt to the back of her chair. She turned, finding a cross-armed but smiling Sweetie Belle behind her. "You didn't make them too amazing, did you?"

"Of course not," Rarity rebuffed, returning to her dignified manner. "I wouldn't want to steal Pixel Bit's thunder. Sometimes, it is necessary to act with a certain level of restraint."

Rarity and Sweetie Belle faced each-other again, and both broke out laughing. Spike smiled from the padding beside her. He replayed the past week's events in his mind; all the times he had to break Rarity of her creative focus and remind her to keep things relatively simple. Letting out a content sigh, he raised his head to rest against Rarity's shoulder, whereupon Rarity smiled and rested her head against his. Fluttershy turned back to Twilight. "And she told me that Starburst is a natural actress. Really committed to the role."

"That's the first I've heard anything about it," Twilight replied with a sheepish grin. "Every time I'd ask her, she'd just smile and say, 'It's a secret.'"

"Better than what I got," Rainbow Dash grumpily added. "Prism wouldn't tell me anything! I'd press him about it, but nothing. He'd just mutter something about it being embarrassing then fly off!"

She crossed her arms against her chest and slumped further. Then, she found herself gripping her armrests as her seat began shaking emphatically. Pinkie had just found her seat between Twilight and Applejack, and her legs vibrated so excitedly the entire row felt like it was taking on turbulence. Applejack put a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "Y-Y-Y-O-O-U-U A-A-L-R-I-G-H-T T-T-H-E-E-R-E S-S-U-G-A-R-P-L-U-M-B?"

"Oh, sorry!" said Pinkie, gripping her legs and forcing them to a halt. "I'm just sooo excited! I mean, all our children are going to be doing a show together and Sweetie Belle's daughter is going to be directing--super excited for her by the way--and Candy's going to be-hrmf!"

"Shh," said Twilight, holding her hoof against Pinkie's mouth. "The play's about to start."

Pinkie nodded, and once Twilight removed her hoof, she zipped her lips, attached a lock and threw away the metaphysical key.

The lights dimmed. The noise hushed. Silence returned to the theater. The stage lights drew on as the rest of the room darkened. The curtains rolled back, revealing a starry night background and a castle structure standing fairly tall over a fog covered stage. Half of the castle was gone, exposing the innards to the audience. A lovesick prince stood at the outside balcony overlooking right center stage. He raised his head, taking his cue to stare off into the distance as if searching for a long lost home. He could see no such vision, and solemnly returned to the inside of the castle. There, he found a villainous queen, who exited the shadows and slowly approached him.

"Oh... My dear, dear brother..."

Wow, thought Anthea, listening from behind the off right wing in her messy servant attire. She's good. She's really good. She smiled as Turquoise began his lines. And those vocal lessons with Sweetie Belle are really paying off. Pixel Bit poked her from the right side.

"As soon as this scene is over, we'll close curtain and set-up the next one. Last time in rehearsals we managed it in just under a minute. You ready to go out?"

"Certainly," replied Nidra, suddenly appearing at Anthea's left. Anthea narrowed her eyes competitively and nodded her head.

"I'm ready," she responded. Pixel Bit nodded in turn and levitated an open script in front of herself. She checked off the roles 'Princess' and 'Blind Servant'.

"That just leaves Starburst. I'll check with her on the opposite side. Break a hip!" she cried at a moderated volume before trotting off past the fog machine. Anthea looked to her left, attempting to gauge Nidra's general form. Though it was fuzzy, she appeared to have her neck raised, gazing upward at the two performers. Anthea looked up as well, noticing a splotchy green blur in the midst of the blurring greys and blues. She flinched as that green blur suddenly fell to the grey with a thud, then, looking back up at Nidra, wondered if she'd done the same. A maniacal laugh permeated the theater, and the crew set about the scene change.

Within forty-five seconds, the curtains reopened. A pleasant township greeted the audience, with impressively painted rural cardboard houses intermixed between and behind minor stretches of cardboard bushes. Out from the right wing walked a blue haired princess, her smaller blonde servant at her side, tucked away beneath an outstretched wing. The two regarded the scenery with bittersweet sentimentality.

"Ah, my dear, sisterly servant," bemoaned the Princess, gazing off into the painted, bright blue sky. "I wonder still of my love's condition. So many weeks ago he left to negotiate a treaty with his terrible sister, and we've yet to receive a return letter nor any news of his whereabouts."

"I understand your concerns, my fair Princess," responded the servant. "But we must remain strong in these troubled times. In moments such as these, I know the Prince would say--oomf!"

Anthea recoiled out from Nidra's wing as her muzzle met the edge of a cardboard rock. The crowd burst out laughing, though Fluttershy and the rest of the six cringed at the impact.

"Oh, are you alright, my dear servant?" the Princess began in a sincere tone. "I apologize. Sometimes, I suppose I just... lose my way, as it were."

Anthea could guess the smirk working its way across Nidra's face. Anthea lifted her head, and smiled.

"Yes, as I recall, your navigational skills always were terrible. Sometimes, I have to wonder which of us is the blind one."

The crowd hollered and hooted. Nidra's lower eyelid twitched. Anthea grinned as she returned beneath Nidra's wing. "Shall we continue along our promenade? Lest I have to remind you where it is we're going."

"Princess!" came a blood curdling cry. The Princess and the servant returned their focus ahead. A small orange guard pony ran wearily from the left wing, her body tattered in made-up bruises and cuts. She'd nearly reached them, when she collapsed and fell to the ground, short of breath. They quickly approached her side, the servant kneeling down to cautiously feel out the wounds. She turned her head to the Princess. "She's badly injured, my Princess. We'd best carry her home so she can rest and heal properly."

The Princess nodded her head, but the guard slammed a determined hoof down. "N-No, these matters are... urgent!" She began putting weight on it, slowly lifting herself to a resolute stand. The guard breathed hard, but upon composing herself, bowed a sore bow to the Princess. "My Princess, forgive me for not arriving sooner. The Prince, as well as my fellow guardsmen, have fallen into the Evil Queen's clutches. She has trapped them, and plans to do the same to you to preserve her dominion over the throne. I was... the only one to escape; ordered by the Prince mid-battle to abandon combat and return to you with this news. If only I had stayed and fought, perhaps he could have been here instead..."

The Princess rested a hoof on the guard's shoulder. "Do not blame yourself, noble guardswoman. It as you said, dear servant, regarding what the Prince would say in moments such as these."

"...You mean 'oomf?'" Anthea answered. Nidra blushed.

"N-No! Not 'oomf'!"

The guard raised a hoof. "It is unlikely the Prince would state such a word under dire circumstance."

Nidra huffed a quiet but frustrated huff.

"I realize; what I meant, dear servant, was with regards to what you were going to say about the Prince's diatribe in moments such as these."

The servant smiled. "In moments such as these, we must remain hopeful and strong. Only when hope dies, does our future truly fade."

"Exactly!" exclaimed the Princess. She returned the hoof to the guard's shoulder. "We mustn't give in to despair! The Prince and your comrades are not beyond saving, nor is this realm. If we mount a rescue, we can save them. We can defeat the Evil Queen and her minions and finally restore balance to this tortured land!"

To this, the guard bowed a second time. "I would be honored to accompany you, my liege."

"As would I," said the servant, bowing her head in a similar manner.

The Princess looked over her friends and somehow managed to shed a surprisingly natural tear. "Thank you; the both of you. With our friendship, I am certain we will succeed. Now, let us return home. We shall pack provisions then set out at the crack of dawn!"

With that, the actors gallantly marched into the off right wing, and the curtains closed in preparation for the next scene.

Author's Note

Don't ask me where the rest of the mane 6's spouses are. They're probably on the moon or something.