" Honey, what outfit should I wear for Scootaloos play?" Tonight, my wives, sons, and I were attending a play that Sweetie Beiie was directing, and Scootaloo had a part. Right now though, Luna was going through the closet looking for the perfect dress to wear to the play. " What about this one dear?"

As any married man would know, their opinion toward their wife's choice of clothing will be taken into account, but only a fraction of what is said will be taken. So, it's best to be vague and supporting. Write that down. " It looks perfect, and do you know why?" I came up behind her while she looked over the dress she wore for the play in Manehattan and whispered in her ear. " Because you're the one wearing it."

" Hmph. Using honeyed words will only get you so far." She then turns and kisses me on the cheek. " But today, it gets you far enough." Works every time.

" Just pick something quick. The play starts in an hour." Jackie was wearing the dress she wore at the Gala before heading out the door. " Come on, let's go."

" You heard our southern bell." I snapped on my tux and went to the boy's room. " Come on you two, we don't want to be late."

" In a minute dad, I still have to get this stupid tie right."

" I don't see why we need to wear these things for a community play? I mean, everyone else is going naked."

" You boys quit fussing and get dressed. Your aunt and sister are doing their first play together with Sweetie and we're going to look our best. Plus, if you went around without pants, the girls would chase you for days."

" Hey, dad. We already got the girls chasing us, and we don't even need to take off our shoes." The minute Orion said that my head snapped to the both of them.

" First of all, don't back sass me, boy. Second, we'll discuss the birds and the bees when we come back. Finally, get your asses dressed, and let's go." I left their room and started for the front door. " Damn kids and their raging hormones and new age music."

I sat in the back of the theatre with my family, seeing how Luna and I were taller than most and waited for the play to start. As looked at the audience, I saw that we were the only ones to were something formal, or for that matter anything at all. " Great, I'm sweating in this monkey suit and the play hasn't even started." Luna heard my complaining and smacked me with her wing.

" That's enough. Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle have worked hard on this, so be on your best behavior." No sooner had she said that the lights dimmed and the play started. " Look it's starting, get out the recorder box."

" It's a camcorder, Luna." I pulled out the device and started to record.

The spotlight shone right on Applebloom and Scootaloo and I had to say, they both looked very nice in their costumes, even if they are a bit poofy. A second spotlight directed us to stage left where Sweetie Belle appeared. " Forsooth and anon. I cometh forthwith and post-haste with glad tidings, m'ladies."

" What the hell did she just say?" Jackie smacked Jack upside his head.

" What did I tell yall about cursing? Also, I have no idea."

" It's good to hear the old language again, but what she just uttered was entirely drawn out and not necessary."

" Sigh, this is going to be a long one." I reached around in my pockets, only to be disappointed. " I really need to start carrying a flask."

We waited in the lobby of the theatre for those three to make an appearance. I knew they were expecting a great review from us, but in all honesty, I wouldn't know what to tell them. " So... whatcha think of the play those three put together?"

" I thought it was droll and needed more planning than just fancy words Sweetie pulled from a thesaurus at random." We all stared at Orion in complete shock to hear him use fancy words and have a sophisticated taste for the arts. " Also, it stunk." There we go.

" I wish I was able to understand what they were saying."

" I agree Jack. The only thing about the play that was any good was the dresses, and I think Rarity was the one behind that. Look, just don't mention that to Sweetie Belle, she worked on this for three months."

A moment later, the crusaders came out with sunglasses on. Sweetie made sure we knew who they were. " Here we are, the stars of the show."

" You may now tell us how much you loved it." Classy Bloom, classy.

" Line starts here." Come on Scoots, I taught you better than that.

" You three did a good job." I came over and brought Scootaloo into my arms while Jackie hugged Bloom and Luna brought Sweetie into a hug. " I recorded the whole thing so we can watch it whenever we want."

Sweetie looked excited to hear that. " That's great! What did you like best about the play, the writing, directing, or acting?" Sigh, I guess it's time to do what I do best. Lie to a child.

" Well, to be honest, all three of those things were all equally great, it's just hard to decide."

" Same, though I do believe my favorite part was the use of the old language." Good job Luna.

" That's awesome. What did you think, Sis?" Jackie did her best to not say a thing, but she did smile and nod. Though Bloom and Scoots could see through that. " You didn't like it, did you?"

" Not true. I... I... I liked the dresses." The girls gave her a deadpan look, though Sweetie started to grumble a little.

" Didn't we just have this conversation?"

" Sweetie, you and I are good friends, but I have to be honest. I wasn't able to follow a single bit of that play. The dresses were the only thing that kept the audience's attention." I got to remember to teach Jack that he doesn't have to tell the whole truth.

" That's not true, I bet the whole audience liked the play for more than just the dresses." Sweetie went around the room asking every patron what they thought of the play. To her disappointment, they all commented on the dresses and on none of the other things. After hearing how all the attention was on the dresses, Sweetie stormed out with the dresses.

With her departure, I turned to the boys. " Lesson one when talking to a girl. Never be blunt with bad news. Believe me, I know from experience." This earned me a jab in the ribs from both Jackie and Lulu. " See what I mean?"

Later that evening.

I was sitting on Scoot's bed while I showed her the play from our view on the camcorder. At first, she was excited to see how she did. However, she started to see how bad the play was and even started to laugh at how bad it was. " Oh, brother. I can't believe we actually said those lines. You'll delete this, right?"

" Now why would I delete a video of my daughter's first play? After all, it's a pretty good comedy."

" It's not a comedy, it's a drama. At least, that's what Sweetie Belle said."

" Speaking of, how is she? Is she still upset about how everyone noticed the costumes more than the play itself?"

" Very. When I went to see if she was alright, I saw her yelling at Rarity, saying that she ruined her play by making the dresses so perfect." Damn. " I wanted to go and tell her otherwise, but she ran into her room and started ranting about different shades of red."

" Don't worry about it Scoots. I'm sure that she just needs to let out a little steam. When she's done, she'll see that Rarity was only trying to help, not humiliate her." I got up from her bed and kissed her forehead. " Alright, sleep tight. I'll see you in the morning."

" Good night daddy." I pulled the blanket over her and headed out of her room.

With all my children in bed, I went to my room to lay down with my wives. Hopefully, the events of today won't come to bite any of us, especially Sweetie and Rarity.

Realm of dreams.

I moved through the trees and brush with silent footfalls as I hunted my prey. As I neared a creak, I saw my quarrel, a massive boar with sharp bristles on his back and tusks the size of short-swords. I unsheathed my ax and got ready to finish the beast. " You may be ugly, but your flesh tastes oh so good." I jumped out of the brush landed on his back. The beast squealed and tried to shake me off, but I was determined to have him roasting over a fire, so I plunged my ax into his skull. The giant pig squealed one last time before the life from his eyes left him for good. " Hah, now to collect the hunter's delight."

I took out my bowie knife and sliced along the stomach of the beast, when suddenly. " Boo!"

" Gah!" I fell back on my ass and stared straight at the boar carcass, only to see Luna coming out of the cut from the beast's belly without a single drop of blood on her coat. " Luna! What the hell are you doing inside my kill?"

" I just wanted to give you a little fright." Her mischievous smirk then turned serious. " I also need your help with a dream our dear disgruntled friend is having."

" Who, do you mean Sweetie Belle?" She nodded confirming my suspicion. " Then there's no time to waste." I sheathed my ax and conjured my door leading to the dream realm. " After you darlin'."

Luna swayed out of the carcass and toward the door. " Thank you, dear." As she passed me by, she swished her tail along my body, giving me goosebumps. " You coming dear?"

" I almost did. Remind me to finish the job when this is over." I gave a pinch to her flank before following her into the dreamscape. We made our way down the hall of seemingly endless doors, looking for Sweetie Belle's door. It might have taken forever had the red mist not led us to it. " So, what do you think we'll be dealing with?"

" Most likely something involving the events of the play."

" Really? Scootaloo told me she was having a bit of a problem with Rarity. It might be a mixture of the two." I opened the door to see Sweetie sitting in the audience of an award ceremony. " Well, this doesn't look too bad."

" Don't be fooled. Many nightmares are born from award ceremonies. Let's take a seat and see how this plays out." We took a seat at the back and watched the ceremony unfold.

Two ponies, a mare, and a stallion walked towards the podium and the mare took out an envelope. " And the winner for the best writer, director, actor pony to put on a play with their awesome friends, goes to..." She paused for dramatic effect. " Sweetie Belle!" The crowd cheered as Sweetie went to go up and receive her award.

I leaned over to Luna as this whole thing went on. " This award ceremony is the biggest sham I've ever seen."

" What about the Emmy's?"

" I stand corrected." As we watched Sweetie accept her award, my heart dropped, knowing that the nightmare would soon begin, just when they seem the happiest. While she was hugging the trophy she believed she earned, a storm suddenly struck. Once the rain started, all the ponies in the audience ran for cover while Sweetie was left there standing with her trophy, and before or eyes, it started to melt. " Thing must be made of chocolate or something?"

" Now's not the time for jokes. There are more pressing matters to attend to." Luna pointed up to the clouds where they started to form in the shape of Rarity, and it was laughing at Sweetie mockingly.

Sweetie had enough and stood up to the cloudy Rarity. " You big jerk! Why do you have to ruin everything!?" This seemed to anger the storm cloud ahead.

The clouds horn lit up and I could feel a surge of electricity build. " Oh, hell no!" Just as the cloud fired off the bolt, Luna conjured a shield around Sweetie while I blasted the cloud with a toss of my ax. With the cloud gone, Luna and I went over to see how Sweetie was doing. " Sweetie, you alright?"

Sweetie got over the fact that she was almost electrocuted and looked to both of us. " Joe, Luna, what are you doing at my ceremony?"

" I wanted to see who would win best-supporting actress, but I can see Marisa Tomei won't be winning it this time." Luna then slapped my face with her wing. " I mean, we came to stop your nightmare and help with whatever other problems you have."

" Well, I appreciate the save, but I really don't think I have any more problems."

" I Don't know about that. 'Cause I could swear that cloud looked like your sister and I believe you yelled 'why do you have to ruin everything." Sweetie looked like a deer caught in headlights before looking away in embarrassment.

Luna came over and wrapped a wing around Sweetie. " Sweetie Belle, I know what it's like to have an older sister and feel like you're just in her shadow, but you need to realize that's not true."

" But she did it once at my fifth birthday and again for my play! How can I not feel like that?"

I decided to offer a suggestion. " Well, how about we see for ourselves?" I started up the spell that Luna showed me a while back, to turn back time in a dream to see one's memories. All three of us traveled to Sweetie's room on her fifth birthday, and we saw she was globbing on lipstick and wearing an oversized dress. " Well, I can see you went through a phase." This earned me a hit from Sweetie. " Okay, sorry."

We watched as the five-year-old Sweetie went out of her room and down to where the party was to be held. When we got to the top of the stairs, we were met with the sound of cheering children, all directed at Rarity and the party favors. " Wow, these party favors are the coolest." One of the guests said while blowing on the toy.

" Where did you get these?" One of the colts asked.

Rarity answered with, " I made them myself. And of course, you'll all want cake, won't you?" This caused all the kids to cheer.

" Who needs a birthday girl, when you've got the birthday girl's amazing big sister." That one remark sent little Sweetie into tears before she ran back to her room and cried her little heart out.

" See! She stole the spotlight from me, and on my big day. I learned that I should never try to shine while she's around." Damn, that sounds very sad. Though, maybe there's another side to this?

" As sad as the scene we just witnessed was, there may be another side to this." I used the spell to take us back to where we came in, though this time, we were in the living room. " Now, let's see things from the other side." I snapped my fingers and the memory started again.

" Where's Sweetie Belle?" We could see that the party guests were getting bored at having to wait for the birthday girl.

Rarity saw this and tried to reassure the guests. " Now don't you worry, I'm sure she's just about ready." This didn't convince anyone, even I had doubts.

One of the fillies on the couch yawned before addressing the room. " I'm tired of waiting. I say we get out of here before we keel over from boredom. Who's with me?" All the foals agreed and started for the door. " Poor Sweetie Belle, nobody will want to come to one of her parties after this fiasco."

" Who invited that little shit?" As I pondered that little thought, Rarity went to block the entrance.

" Wait, don't go, otherwise you'll miss out on the, um..." She brought over a brown box with her magic. " party favors." She placed them in front of the kids and started giving them out.

" These party favors are the coolest." The same colt said.

" Where did you get these?" Stop repeating!

" I made them myself. And of course, you'll all want cake, won't you?" I'm living in a cuckoo clock!

" Who needs the birthday girl when you've got the birthday girl's amazing big sister." Why that little punk, I'll give her nightmares for a week.

When little Sweetie ran back up the stairs, Rarity continued on with the explanation. " Actually, these were all Sweetie Belle's idea. I just helped with the execution." Heavy.

While we watched the truth come forward, Sweetie had a look of remorse on her face. Luna went to comfort her. " Now do you see? Your sister didn't want to outshine you, she wanted to help you shine for everyone else. That's what she did here, and for your play. Do you think you can forgive her?"

Sweetie sniffled before answering. " I do. But now I wonder if she'll forgive me?" What's this?

" Sweetie, I'm sure that whatever you said to Rarity can be easily forgiven."

" It's not what I said, Joe, it's what I did!" Now that warrants our attention.

" Sweetie, what exactly did you do?" I asked, hoping the answer didn't involve messing with a secret stash of sex toys that Rarity does or doesn't have. Spike may have let that one slip on our last bar-crawl.

" I was so mad at Rarity after thinking she ruined my play, I kinda wanted to ruin her work for Saphire Shores. So, I took out the stitching for the headdress." That's problematic.

" Sweetie, do you realize what will happen if Rarity brings her client a failed project? Not only will she lose an important client, but her reputation may also take a turn in the opposite direction." My turn.

" The seas will boil with blood, forty years of darkness, the dead rising from the grave, pony sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!" The two of them stared at me as if I'd grown a second head. " Alright, for our next movie night, we're watching Ghostbusters."

" Well, what should I do?"

" Just tell her what happened and apologize, and if there's any backlash, tell her that we talked with you." This seemed to put her at ease. " Okay, once you're done, come over and tell us." She nodded while we made for the exit. " We'll see you tomorrow then." We exited through the doors and back to the Dream Realm. " Alright, Lulu, I'll let you get back to it."

" Alright, and thank you for your help." We exchanged a kiss before parting, though not before she gave me a little warning. " Don't let me catch you poking into other ponies' dreams, especially if they're wet dreams!"

" That happened only one time, and it was Jackies." This caused her to giggle before disappearing into another door. I shook my head before going back to my door.

Waking world, early morning.

I was having my morning coffee while reading the paper when I heard a rapid knock on the front door. " I'll get it." I got up from my recliner and headed for the door. When I opened the door, Sweetie was waiting for me and she looked frantic. " Hey, Sweetie, what's going on?"

" It's bad, really bad. I tried to tell Rarity about the stitch, but she already left for Saphire Shores' studio in Canterlot! What am I going to do!?" Fucking perfect.

" Okay, don't freak out, I'll help you." I led her inside and went over to Luna, who was on the couch watching Dexter. " Luna, we got a small problem."

Canterlot, Saphires' studio.

The three of us walked up to the studio where the bouncer had a small freak-out before letting us in. We went through a maze of hallways before finding the right door. When we went in, Rarity was just about to unveil the tampered headdress. " And, here is the creme de la creme of the whole outfit. The-" Before she could ruin her rep, we intervened.

" Hold it, one moment please?" When we entered, Rarity as well as Saphire Shores and her posse were surprised by our entrance. " I don't mean to interrupt your wardrobe rehearsal, but this one needs a word with Rarity about the headdress." I patted Sweeties' head while giving a silent message to Rarity that this was important.

Saphire was the one to answer. " Oh, of course, take all the time you need." Rarity took the box and followed Luna and Sweetie into the other room, leaving me with Miss Shores, which made her very happy. " So, your highness. You ever listen to my music?"

" I've listened to a few. My daughter and sister-in-law like to sing along when their playing in her room. Though personally, and don't take offense, but I prefer to listen to the music from my world." Instead of looking offended, she looks intrigued.

" No offense taken honey, though it does pique my curiosity. Any chance you could let us listen to some, sometime?"

" How about, I do you one better and show you, and that sometime being now?" This got her and her posse to get excited. " Alright, here's a routine, done by one of the most famous pop singers that's still around. Beyonce." I conjured a screen for the whole group to watch and let it unfold.

( Single Ladies. In case it gets taken down.)

While they watched, I saw a guy in the back scribbling down notes, probably to record the lyrics and choreography, though they might need some tweaking. When it was done, I was met with applause from the pop star. " Mmm mm, now that was some great music right there. You got anything for a more mature audience, I want to see how I do with a more risque record."

" I think the Pussycat Dolls might help you with that, though you'll need a male singer for a few of the lyrics." Another screen, another chance to boost a singer's career.

( Don't Cha.)

When the video ended, a lot of the posse looked hot and bothered. " Whew, good thing this will just go on an album, otherwise the audience will start screwing right in the stands."

" Yeah, good thing." Just then, Luna, Rarity, and Sweetie came back in. " I take it you got everything down?"

" Yes indeed, and I believe we were even able to improve on the headdress as well." Rarity went over to Saphire while I went over to Luna and Sweetie.

" Ready to go home?" They both nodded and headed for the exit. While we were heading home, I couldn't help but feel like I brought two sisters closer together for the second time in my life.

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, work had me work non-stop and I barely had any time for myself. The next chapter will have the return of the Flim Flam brothers, and Joe takes a cue from his favorite show when fillies start disappearing.

Here's how Joe plans on dealing with whoever's behind it.

And here's a fun clip.