Valiant

by Four Crazy Stallions

Rating: everyone
Tags: Romance, Adventure, Tragedy, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 13212

A group of showponies enter Ponyville and everypony begins mysteriously losing their magic.

We are very sorry, this story just doesn't seem worth it. Better things to do!

Published 2012-07-28 04:54:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-11 06:13:31 UTC

Chapter 1

“Stormspell’s Spectacular Showponies”

The poster was plastered everywhere, at least twenty of them scattered around Ponyville.

“A Night You Won’t Soon Forget!”

Even as the posters was being read, more were being put up.

“Games, Talents, Performances!”

It was as if they had just sprung up overnight.

“One night only, don’t miss this chance!”

The bright blue and gold poster drew the attention of all who passed by it. One pony in particular couldn’t tear her eyes away.

“Ooh, what’s this?!” Pinkie Pie queried as she pulled the poster from the wall. She squinted at the bright print covering the poster from top to bottom.

“Oh my gosh! A circus is coming to Ponyville? I haven’t been to one of those in like, forever! And this one looks even more amazing than the last one!”

Pinkie chirped as she rolled up the poster and placed it into her saddlebag. She happily continued trotting along her way. She was going to the meadow where her friends were gathering for a picnic.

Images of performers danced through her mind, as she thought.

‘But last time I went, I couldn’t talk to anypony about it since I went by myself! I don’t want to be by myself again for this one! I should invite Rainbow Dash! I don’t know if she’s ever been to a circus before. And Twilight too! Even Rarity! Actually, I have the bestest idea ever! I should just invite all of my friends!!! We could all go together and watch the play and laugh and smile and eat cupcakes and have a super, duper time together!’

Her eyes wandered every which way, as she made mental calculations. Shows like that always made great memories, and every happy memory is better with friends! Pinkie definitely wanted her friends to share these memories with her. She also wanted some cake, but that would have to wait until the picnic.

At the thought of cake, her stomach growled. Unable to contain her glee, she broke into a bounce to spread the news to her friends.

***********

“Gah! I can’t stand it anymore! Can we eat yet?” Rainbow Dash groaned as she fell back onto to picnic blanket.

“We don’t have any food yet, Pinkie offered to bring it all. You’re just going to have to wait for her to arrive.” Twilight replied. She knew how dramatic Dash could be when she wanted something enough.

“My stomach is killing me!” Rainbow whined.

“Well, we're all hungry too, but you’re just gonna have ta’ wait like the rest o' us.” Applejack retorted.

Rainbow Dash decided she had enough. She leapt up and flared her wings for takeoff. Without a word to the other ponies, she flew towards the the top of the hill that hid Ponyville from the friends.

Fluttershy gave a concerned, but barely audible warning, “Wait!”

Rainbow Dash flew low as she zoomed up from the meadow. As she reached the peak where the land flattened out, a pink pony conveniently sprung into view. Rainbow Dash barely had time to gasp before she slammed into Pinkie Pie. Both ponies let out a yelp and crash landed a few dozen feet away with a loud “CRUNCH”. When the dust settled, Rainbow was on top of Pinkie. Pinkie was on top of the food.

“Hey Dashie! Didn’t see you there! That was fun! Can we do it again?”

Dash grumbled inaudible words to herself as she rolled off Pinkie and looked longingly at the crushed bag of food. Desperately hoping for something salvageable, she pulled the bag from under Pinkie and shook out its contents. Cakes, pies, cupcakes, pastries of all shapes and flavors, all crushed into a blob of boxes, crust, crumbs and various fillings. Rainbow looked at the pile of “food” on the ground for a few seconds and sighed. Then she smirked, “Oh, What the hay?” and dug in.

Pinkie giggled, and happily joined her without a second thought. As the others climbed the hill,Twilight shouted, “Rainbow! Pinkie! Are you ok-”

Her question cut off as she looked down at her friends. After processing the image, she broke into hysterical laughter. However, Rarity was none too thrilled. Keeping her distance from the mess, she ranted, “Rainbow Dash! Look at the mess you’ve made! If you would have just waited for Pinkie Pie like Applejack told you, this would have never happened! Now the food is ruined! What do you expect us to do now? I say Rainbow Dash gets to prepare the food nextmmph!-”

Applejack cut off Rarity by shoving a clump of cake into her mouth. “Aw, quit yer complaining! It’s still good eatin’!”

Applejack joined Rainbow and Pinkie in eating the crushed, but still tasty meal. Rarity slowly swallowed the mouthful of crushed cake, mumbling something about it not being “proper” to eat ruined food. Twilight slowly recovered from her hysterics. Fluttershy sat and smiled her friends’ antics, only to be distracted by a grasshopper, who she quickly befriended.

As Pinkie Pie reached for another hoof-full of crushed cake, she grabbed the poster that was in her saddlebags with the pastries. Remembering the other reason she came to the picnic, she lifted her head out of the feast. She unraveled the poster and held it up for all to see, squealing with excitement, “Everypony! I forgot that I brought this poster! LOOK! There’s a circus coming into town tomorrow, and I think we should all go!”

Rarity closed her eyes and lectured the pink mare, “Pinkie Pie, need I remind you that we are full grown mares? We don’t attend such childish events.”

Pinkie tried to reason with the white mare. “Rarity you silly, it’s not for just fillies! There will be stunts!”

At the word stunt, Rainbow Dash drew her attention from the feast.

“Contests!”

Applejack followed suit, tilting her head in interest.

“And a performance you won’t want to miss!”

The last bit caught Rarity’s attention. She opened her eyes, intrigued.

“Performance? Like a... Play? Like in Canterlot?”

Pinkie Pie’s mind made up truths as she went, assuming the very best from the unknown group. “Of course like in Canterlot! It’s so good, they have to go around and share their performance with everypony!”

Rarity’s mind raced in thought.

'Perhaps these ponies were widely known? Perhaps Ponyville was extremely lucky to even get to see the show!'

She didn’t want to let her friend down, and perhaps this show would be as amazing as Pinkie described!

“Well, I suppose it could be quite the opportunity… I would indeed regret missing such a performance. I’ll be there, Pinkie Pie!”

Rainbow Dash moved in front of Rarity and asked a question of her own. She squinted at Pinkie, and asked in an uninterested tone. “Stunts?” Rainbow yawned obnoxiously loud and boasted, “I’d just like to see them try and impress me! What could they do that I can’t?”

Pinkie thought for a moment, then confidently replied, “Kumquat!”

Rainbow, completely baffled, could only reply, “What?!?”

Pinkie’s mind, having already moved on, was equally confused. “Huh?!?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at Pinkie and sat down. She had tried dealing with Pinkie Pie being herself before and decided it wasn’t worth asking. “Yeah, I guess I could stop by. I'd be surprised if they have a stunt pony half as awesome as me!”

Pinkie bounced with delight, excited to see her plan coming together. Twilight had stopped finally stopped laughing and with a smile on her face, she stepped towards Pinkie and said, “Of course I’ll come! I haven't seen a play in a long time. Oh, what fun it’ll be hanging out together! I take it we all learned our lesson from the Gala?”

The friends broke into a laugh, remembering that terrible evening. Applejack sat on the ground, rubbing her filled stomach. “Ah reckon a day off from the farm wouldn’t do me any harm. Those contests sure sound fun! Ah’ve yet to meet a pony who can beat me in a pie eatin’ contest.”

Pinkie Pie was shaking with excitement. Almost all of her friends had agreed to come with her to the circus. It was looking like one of the bestest days ever! Only Fluttershy had to accept her invitation. She closed her eyes in delight and turned to her yellow friend.

“Well, Fluttershy? What about you? You want to have a FANTASTIC time?!”

The group turned to Fluttershy and stared. After a moment’s silence, Pinkie burst into a fit of laughter at the sight of her friend. Fluttershy was surrounded by grasshoppers, and was having a quiet conversation with them. Fluttershy noticed her friends and blushed in embarrassment. All six of the friends began laughing. Twilight decided to repeat the question eventually, asking through her laughter,

“W-well Fluttershy? The rest of us are going, do you want to join us?”

Fluttershy dismissed the grasshoppers and asked concernedly, “It’s sounds... nice... B-but I won’t have to perform for anypony, will I?”

Applejack walked over and comforted her timid friend, “Of course ya don’t, Sugarcube! Not if ya don’t want ta’.”

Fluttershy smiled and stood up, closing her eyes with delight, “If it means that much to you, then of course I’ll go!”

The friends laughed and headed back to their picnic sight. Rarity stopped short and exclaimed,

“We still don't have anything to eat!!!”

It was late at night, and Princess Celestia had gone to sleep, Princess Luna having taken over the night. She set a bright, quarter moon high in the night sky which illuminated the land in its soft pale glow. The stars twinkled in the pure silence, watching the world move slowly and calmly.

“Truly beautiful…” Rarity gazed longingly at the sky, entranced by Luna’s creation. When suddenly, a smirk of brilliance arose on her face. “In fact, I think this display has given me inspiration for a new hat!” Rarity stepped away from her window, smiling as her mind began conjuring up ideas. She made her way over to her desk, her horn glowing a bright blue as various objects flew around the room. A dark blue cloth spread itself across the table. Gold and translucent crystals placed themselves in orderly fashion on top of the cloth, followed by scissors, needle and thread.

Rarity stood back, looking at the neatly organized components that were soon to be a hat. Her eyes wandered to the night sky again as a yawn overcame her. “Well, I suppose it is getting a bit late… My hat will just have to wait until tomorrow!”

She left her supplies on the table as she made her way to her bed. Unrolling the covers, she rolled over into a comfortable position, and magically spread the large, thick blanket back over herself. She levitated a sleeping mask onto her face and magically swithced off the lights.

The silence and peacefulness of the night embraced Rarity as she fell into a light slumber.

Peace…

Quiet…

DING

Rarity fell out of her bed, startled by the sudden noise.

DONG

The doorbell. Rarity kept her thoughts to an inaudible grumble as she groggily trotted to the front door. Not exactly herself so late at night, she opened the door and began complaining, “What could be SO important that I have to be INTERRUPTED from my BEAUTY SLEEP in the middle of the night?!?”

Pinkie Pie smiled, as if nothing was odd about her ringing Rarity’s doorbell late after everypony else had gone to bed.“Oh, sorry Rarity! I thought about earlier, and since you seemed so excited about the showponies, I was thinking we could go out and meet them as they came into town!”

Rarity’s eye twitched, and she snapped, “You want me to go greet a bunch of circus freaks in the middle of the night!? Are you insane, Pinkie Pie?! Furthermore, I was the LEAST excited out of everypony at the picnic today! Why are you coming to ME with this?!”

Pinkie hopped up and down with excitement, “Silly Rarity, they’re not coming right now! They’ll be coming in tomorrow afternoon!”

Rarity inhaled, about to yell something, but gave a deep breath, realizing yelling was a waste on Pinkie Pie. She gave in, just wanting to be done with the conversation. “Ok… Fine, I’ll wait for the showponies with you tomorrow."

She couldn't help but ask, "Why me, though?”

Pinkie looked like she was explaining a complex math equation as she replied, “Well, first I went to Rainbow Dash, but I couldn’t reach her in her cloud house, and she’s a really deep sleeper! I shouted and shouted and shouted, but she didn’t wake up! Then I went to Applejack, but she gave me her honest opinion on my timing and locked the door! So then I went to Fluttersh-”

Rarity, with no desire greater than to just go back to sleep, cut off the conversation.

“That sounds lovely, dear. Now, why don’t you remind me of the event tomorrow, and we can wait for the showponies together. Alright?”

Rarity proceeded to close the door as she talked until only her mouth was sticking out.

“Alright! Now, goodnight Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie looked offended at the closed door for a moment, then hopped away with a large smile on her face, “Perfect! This is going to be so funtastic!”

Chapter 3

“Now, try not tah hurt yerself, Sugarcube. If y’all can’t keep up with me, ah understand!”

“Silly Applejack! Pies are for eating, not hurting!”

Applejack and Pinkie sat at a long table covered with various flavors of pies. The rest of their friends stood on the sidelines, cheering. Applejack closed her eyes confidently and reassured her friend,

“Y’all know what ah mean, jus’ don’t eat more than ya can handle.”

Applejack positioned her head over the apple pie in front of her. Pinkie smiled and picked out a strawberry pie for her to eat first. The referee, a red pony with a white mane and mustache, paced back and forth in front of the wide table as he announced,

“The pony who eats the most pies shall win a V.I.P. seat to our performance tonight. There will be no sabotage of any kind, including pushing, shoving, kicking, pie throwing, pie licking or pie stealing. The most important rule is that everypony must enjoy themselves! On your marks!”

Apple jack placed her hooves on the pie, ready to shove it in her mouth.

“Get set!”

Pinkie Pie sat staring at her pie, licking her lips.

“Go!”

The ponies began eating away! Applejack started chomping away at the apple pie she picked out. It tasted familiar, and if she weren’t in a contest, she would savor every bite. In a few seconds, she finished her treat and set the empty dish to the side. Grabbing the next pie in front of her, she proceeded to take a large bite. A look of repulse crossed her face.

“Yuck! Who could ever like Blueberries?”

Biting through the bad taste, she made sure to keep away from pies with dark colored filling. As she finished the blueberry pie, Applejack looked over at Pinkie to see how she was doing. Her mouth dropped open to see that Pinkie had already eaten five pies! Pinkie was sucking them in like a vacuum.

Six!

Seven!

Eight!

Applejack returned focus on her own pie count. She pulled over two pies and swapped bites between them, emptying both dishes in a few seconds. Sweating, Applejack pulled over the next two.

“Aren’t these pies good, Applejack?!”

Pinkie began making conversation with Applejack, but Applejack ignored her Pink friend and continued demolishing the pies to the best of her ability. That didn’t matter to Pinkie Pie, naturally.

“I think they’re stupendous! The cherry ones are the best, I think!”

‘Six pies down’, Applejack thought as she pulled up another two. She was starting to feel a little full.

“Well, I’m glad I have someone like you to compete with! Most of the other ponies are only on their third pie!”

Applejack had just finished her eighth pie. Annoyed, she turned to Pinkie.

“Ain’t you supposed tah be eatin pies?!”

Pinkie burped and turned to her stack of empty trays.

“Oh, I’m full! I didn’t feel like eating anymore after eleven!”

‘Eleven? Hah! I can beat that number any day!’, Applejack thought arrogantly. She turned to the pies and ate them one at a time until she had eaten eleven pies, each pie harder than the last. Her stomach seemed to be filled to the brim, but she continued eating, remorseful of every bite.

There was only half of a pie more until she had eaten twelve pies and beaten Pinkie. She felt nearly ready to throw up. Her body seemed to be clenching to Applejack as she looked at the last bit of pie. Swallowing her pain, she ate another bite. There was still a fourth of the pie left. She looked at it, and gave in, laying her head on the table. The other contestants had stopped eating as well. The red and white stallion trotted over and observed the empty dishes in front of both Pinkie Pie and Applejack. He turned to the crowd confused,

“Well, I suppose there is a tie this time around! Both of these two mares have eaten a whopping eleven pies!”

The crowd cheered, and then gasped after hearing a large belch from one of the contestants. Pinkie Pie burped up one of the dishes! She scratched her head and looked at the spit covered dish.

“Huh! So that’s where that pie went!”

The crowd cheered for Pinkie. Applejack groaned and slowly walked away from the table. Pinkie joyfully hopped beside her, as if she didn’t just eat twelve pies. Their friends gathered around them, quite impressed.

“Wasn’t that fun, Applejack!?”

“That was amazing!”

“How did you eat the entire dish without noticing?!”

Applejack grumbled to herself and kept walking.

“Well, I reckon it wasn’t really fair, with her bein’ Pinkie Pie and all…”

Stormspell’s Spectacular Showponies were hard at work. It was in their nature to not disappoint the crowd. The second their caravan stopped, they began unloading tons of carnival games to immediately entertain the curious Ponyville citizens. Right in front of everything, a small ticket booth, with an older unicorn manning it. The Pie Eating contest was more of a distraction for the crowd while the rest of the circus was set up. All it took was a large table and a bunch of pre-made pies. Pinkie and Rarity saw the entire thing unfold, since they had been with the group as they entered town.

As the table was moved away, the area behind it was filled with booths, tents, and all kinds of fun activities. The six friends stood together and looked at the quick, but professional setup. Pinkie decided to lead the charge.

“Come on! We’ve only got four hours before the show starts!”

The friends ran to go make the most of their four hours, except Applejack, who groaned and slowly walked behind them.

Rainbow Dash trotted through the paths, looking for something interesting to do. 'Whack-a-duck? Maybe when Fluttershy isn’t so nearby. World’s Largest Giant? After some of the adventures I've had, that doesn’t sound very interesting. World’s Smallest Giant? Why does that sound like a rip-off?'

Rainbow Dash trotted along, until she saw a circle of ponies looking up at a Pegasus. The Pegasus was white with long, sky blue hair. She twirled and spun as she soared through the air. The audience was applauding her.

For what?!?

‘Big deal!’ Rainbow thought. The Pegasus wasn’t doing anything half as awesome as the things she did. Rainbow joined the crowd, and looked bored up into the sky.

‘Done that… Did it… How was that impressive?’ Rainbow’s mind conjured insult after insult, comparing the two’s flying abilities. Trick after trick, nothing seemed to impress her.

Off to the west of the circus, just behind the area where Soaring Sky was doing her stunt presentation, the other half of Stormspell’s Spectacular Showponies were setting up the stage for the performance that night. Muscular Earth ponies pulled large wooden pieces out of the caravans and formed it into a decent sized stage. Pegasus ponies set up a large backdrop behind it, with a detailed picture of a meadow. Stormspell and a few other unicorns touched horns and made a spectacular burst of green, blue and purple magic. Rows upon rows of comfortable, royal red chairs formed in front of the stage.

Foresight rolled out a large, polished piano from one of the caravans with help from some of the other ponies. It was in a U shape, the keys varied in rows above, below and beside one another. Unique valves, levers and handles extended from many spots around the piano. It looked like a very complex machine. Foresight pushed it out until it was in front of the stage, off to the far right. He pulled up a stool and sat down at the machine. He spread out his wings and laid them among various keys, then, in simulation with his hooves, Foresight began moving the four body parts along the piano, creating a beautiful, yet unique sound. One could tell the sound came from a piano, but it had a ring to it, a slight hum, with some keys giving the sound of bells and flutes. The showponies seemed to slow down at the sound, as it pleased them. Then the majority of them cringed as the piano played a horrid note.

“Cut that out! We’re still unpacking!”

Stormspell knew all too well of how easily Foresight’s piano could slow down productivity, and he had slammed his hoof on the keyboard. Foresight silently rolled his eyes and walked away to get materials for polishing and fine tuning his instrument.

Behind the stage, Spotlight and Prancer were rehearsing their lines for the performance. The golden stallion spoke with a tear jerking happiness to the silver mare.

“I told you I would always come for you… why didn’t you wait for me?”

Prancer made herself shed tears as she smiled at Spotlight.

“Well, you were dead.”

Spotlight stepped closer to Prancer until they were only a lip’s distance away and said romantically,

“Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.”

“I will never doubt again.”

“There will never be a need…”

Spotlight stared into Prancer’s eyes, almost identical to the eyes of one who had actually fallen in love. He then dropped the act and stepped away.

“For Celestia’s sake! Is this really the mush that comes out of Novelty’s mind?! Nopony’s going to enjoy this lovey dovey dialogue!”

Prancer closed her eyes and stated her opinion.

“Well, complaining about it won’t do you any good and I’ve yet to see one of Novelty’s plays disappoint the crowd. You colts are so insensitive. I kinda like it!”

Spotlight trotted away, sticking his nose rudely in the air.

“Of course YOU would enjoy this, Prancer. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m taking five!”

Spotlight went to the very back of the line of caravans, where a small station was set up for water breaks. He filled a glass and magically placed it in front of his mouth and sipped it slowly, going over the lines in his head.

‘There will never be a need? Hmm, I think I should modify that a little, to make it more appealing for our male audience. That’ll show Prancer! Let’s see…’ Yeah, you better not doubt my skills again!’ No, that doesn’t sound like West Leaf. Maybe ‘Excuse me, we're in love!’ That’ll work, but I need to say the excuse me bit perfectly! ‘ExCUse ME!’ ‘excuse ME.’

“Um… Excuse me?”

Spotlight blinked a couple times.

“Hmm? No, it needs to be loude-“

Spotlight turned around to see a bright yellow pegasus standing behind him. She hid most of her face with her pink, long mane. He stammered for a second and tried to professionally ward off the wandering fan.

“Oh my! It seems you’re lost! The circus is back that way, I’m sure a smart, beautiful mare such as yourself couldn’t miss it!”

Fluttershy blushed slightly and softly replied,

“Oh, no. I’m not lost. I was just wondering if I could watch some of the crew set up, if that’s ok with you…”

Spotlight saw no harm in allowing Fluttershy near the set-up. He pointed his hoof towards the stage. In his always flirtatious mood, he calmly said,

“It’s more than fine by me if you stay here. I wouldn’t mind getting to know a pretty little thing like you!”

Fluttershy, shifting uncomfortably, began trotting away as she quickly spoke, trying hard to not offend Spotlight.

“Oh, no… It’s fine, really. I’ll just, um… I’ll just be going then. Thank you.”

Spotlight frowned and continued to sip his water,

‘I should have tried some of those mushy play lines. ‘My dear, not even death could stop our love! You will never have to doubt that we were meant for eachother!’

Spotlight snorted at his thoughts, and refilled his water cup.

‘Mares...’

Rainbow Dash had enough. She marched to the center of the open circle, surrounded by a small
crowd of ponies. She looked up and shouted to the flying mare,

“Hey, I could do tricks at least 200% cooler than the ones you got!”

This riled the crowd, eager to see a faceoff. The Pegasus floated gracefully in midair, looking down at the colorful challenger. Treating her as another fan, she began another trick as she replied,

“Dearest, please stay on the ground and let the professional work. Questions can be asked after the performance.”

Rainbow Dash took to the air, expertly hitting one of her wings, causing Soaring Sky to spin out and catch herself. Rainbow Dash zoomed by again, a small rainbow trailing path.

“Listen here, Missy! I do the cool stunts around here! You can’t perform for my crowd unless you can prove yourself!”

Rarity saw the scene taking place a few dozen feet away. She trotted over and shouted at Rainbow,

“Rainbow Dash! Come down from there! You know better than this!”

Rainbow ignored her sensible friend and continued her challenge.

“So, what’s it gonna be? Think you got what it takes to beat me?!”

With an actor’s arrogance, Soaring Sky grinned and nodded her head.

“Alright, kid. I’ll humor you. Show me what you got.”

Rainbow Dash opened by flying up near a long, thin cloud. With a centuple back flip around it, she caused it to whirl out of control and split in two. The crowd went wild at the slightly impressive stunt. She flew confidently in front of the white Pegasus.

“Your move, Big shot!”

Soaring Sky hid how impressed she was, and desperately tried to keep the crowd in her favor. She sped up to the skies, and made a complex series of loops and twirls, which made onlookers dizzy just to watch. She gracefully flew back down, and eyed Rainbow Dash with a smile. The audience applauded and cheered. With a defiant smile on Rainbow’s face, she flew down into the crowd. With expert precision, she zoomed around and in between the watchers. The ponies, while in slight shock cheered louder and louder as Dash made loops and twirls around them. With an expert backflip, Rainbow Dash emerged from the crowd and floated, her face daring Soaring Sky to try and top her feat.

Soaring Sky thought for a moment, and nervously floated for a moment, what she had performed before was her best trick. Improvising, she tried to get Rainbow to chase her, knowing her dexterity would show during the hunt.

“Catch me if you can, kid!”

She took off directly upward. Rainbow Dash broke into a wide smile and zoomed upwards. Shocked by her opponent’s extreme speed, Sky dived to the side, narrowly avoiding the collision. Rainbow Dash made a swift turnaround and thrusted herself towards her fleeing opponent.

Rarity couldn’t bear to watch the unfolding disaster. Dodging one way, Soaring Sky gave a laugh as Rainbow tried to tackle her. She moved around buildings, stooped low into the grass, and hid behind clouds, but Rainbow Dash always stayed just out of reach. Pushing her wings to her limit, a devilish idea came across Sky’s mind. She rushed to the area where the theatre was being set up. Rainbow saw her opening, and she began pumping her wings as fast as they would go. With a direct line to her target, she began closing the distance. At the last second, using her fantastic agility, Soaring Sky moved up. Rainbow Dash then saw that she was moving top speed towards a blue Pegasus, who looked up at her with shock. In desperation, Rainbow tried to bring herself to a stop and move out of the way at the same time. The Blue Stallion predicted perfectly where the Pegasus would land and backed up. Time seemed to slow for a few seconds. Rainbow yanked herself to the right and slammed into a thick wooden object with just enough precision to push herself off to the side and tumble onto the grass.

Foresight called out with fear,

“Help! Somepony!”

His grand piano shifted slightly at the impact. While it was thick enough to take minimal damage from Rainbow’s impact, it began to tilt. It was going to fall over and surely break. Some ponies tried to run towards the piano, but none were close enough. Foresight braced himself to try and support the falling piano by himself, but doubted he was strong enough. He then felt a presence next to him. A soft yellow Pegasus stood braced for impact. With a creak, the piano collapsed onto the two’s heads, and shook in mid air. Foresight and Fluttershy struggled to support the massive, wooden machine. They forced their heads upwards with all of their strength, but felt tire approaching quickly. The burden then felt much lighter as three other crew members helped lift the piano back into its original position.

Soaring Sky felt both guilt and pleasure at the near destruction of Foresight’s precious piano, as she flew back to the crowd. She smiled, and looked down. Realization overtook her as the crowd booed, having witnessed the entire thing.

Stormspell was furious, having seen the whole incident. He galloped over to Soaring Sky, where the crowd was and tried to contain his anger long enough to dismiss the onlookers.

“Alright, everypony! Nothing to see here! Show’s over!”

He glared up at Soaring Sky and used his magic to disable her wings. He brought her down to his level, her head hanging in shame. Speaking right through her ‘I’m sorry’ face, Stormspell crammed a two hour lecture into a couple sentences, packing the same amount of guilt and disappointment into each word.

“You’re on clean up duty for the next five shows. If this ever happens again, I’m gonna replace you with somepony half as talented as that poor Rainbow kid over there! It’ll still be an improvement!”

Almost in tears, Soaring Sky galloped away. Stormspell knew the talk was necessary if that filly was ever going to grow up.

Fluttershy sat on the ground, rubbing her aching neck with her hoof. Foresight looked over his piano. There were no obvious injuries on it besides a large dent on the side with a slight crack in the center. After inspecting the piano, he figured he should at least go thank the Pegasus that helped him save it. He walked over to her, and said meaningfully,

“Err… Thank you for your help, I guess. If it weren’t for you, I might be in a hospital right now.”

Speaking with actual emotions was difficult for Foresight, as he rarely had them. Fluttershy smiled and looked up at the stallion. The recent event seemed to relieve her of some of her shyness.

“Oh, it was no problem! I’m just happy I was so close when it happened.”

Foresight smiled at the kind pony. It wasn’t often Foresight met somepony who showed kindness so openly. She didn’t even know him! He was slightly intrigued.

“So, what’s your name?”

Fluttershy stood up and moved one of her front hooves over the other.

“I-I’m Fluttershy. And… you?”

Foresight looked over Fluttershy’s shoulder and saw a black unicorn in a purple cloak. He decided it was time for the conversation to end, despite how pleasant it was.

“I’m Foresight. It was very… nice to meet you. Hope you enjoy the show tonight, Fluttershy.”

With that, Foresight trotted off. Fluttershy took little offense to the rushed Pegasus and looked around at the nearly complete theatre, intrigued at the lights and actors.

The circus provided memory after memory for the friends to enjoy. Eventually, all of the games closed down and the showponies directed the crowds to the rows of seats in front of the stage. The six friends had regrouped and were moving towards their seats. Rarity gave Rainbow Dash a scolding look.

“I say it again, Rainbow Dash. I think you deserved your crash after so vulgarly challenging that stunt pony!”

Rainbow closed her eyes confidently and trotted along,

“Stunt Pony?! Those twirls she did could barely be considered stunts! I think the audience liked me waaaay more than that other mare!”

The ponies decided to sit in the third row from the front. As they sat, Pinkie Pie turned to the pony behind her, holding a golden ticket she received for winning the pie eating contest. She was a lone, orange mare, patiently waiting for the show to begin.

“Hey! How would you like to sit in the V.I.P. seat over there? I don’t want this ticket if I can’t sit up there with my friends, even though it would be super duper fun! At least somepony can have the super duper fun seat! What do you say?”

The pony smiled and nodded, taking the ticket and trotting away.

Twilight looked around. She was sitting on the end, and could see slightly behind the stage. A blue Pegasus was talking with a mysterious black unicorn in a purple cloak. After a few sentences, the unicorn trotted away, and the Pegasus looked around cautiously. Twilight peered at him, and then gave the stage her attention as a light blue unicorn introduced himself.

“Greetings, citizens of Ponyville! My name is Stormspell, and welcome to Stormspell’s Spectacular Showponies. Tonight’s performance for you will be “The Princess’s Pride”! A sad story of true love and how nothing can stop its force! Thank you all for coming to see our show! You won’t regret seeing this once in a lifetime performance of Equestria’s finest actors! Now sit back and enjoy the show!”

Twilight immediately recognized the older stallion, and leaned over to Rarity, who was sitting next to her. She whispered into her ear, “Hey! That’s one of my old professors from when I went to school in Canterlot! He taught conjuration and illusion spells. He’s one of the smartest stallions I’ve ever known!”

Rarity nodded in interest, “Perhaps we can talk to him after the show! Speaking of which, it appears the show is starting!”

Pinkie Pie was shaking with excitement, a giant bag of popcorn in her lap. The whole audience could hear her as she exclaimed,

“ohboyohboyOhBoyOhBoyOHBOYOHBOY!!! It’s starting!!!”

The lights turned out, and the night sky overtook the outdoor theatre.

Chapter 4

A loud, but deep note came from some instrument off to the side of the stage. The audience seemed confused, but then delighted at the odd music. Following the note, a melody of wind instruments and piano notes filled the theatre, setting the mood for the play.

Rainbow Dash was sitting between Rarity and Pinkie Pie. She scanned the outskirts of the stage for the source of the beautiful music. She then recalled the incident earlier that day, and directed her attention towards the ground off to the right. A blue pegasus with a slicked back purple mane sat in front of a large, wooden piano, which almost surrounded him on three sides. She peered at the rapid movements he was making. His hooves and his wings struck different keys with speedy precision, creating a wondrous sound.

Blushing at the embarrassing crash earlier, she was glad the piano was still usable. She leaned over to Rarity, who was listening to the peaceful music, and whispered,

“You know, I think that stallion over there should have done the stunt performance instead. I hate to admit it, but that looks hard even for me!”

Rarity took note of Foresight’s technique, but was more concerned with the piano itself.

“Indeed. That’s a Royal Canterlot Piano. It takes years to learn, let alone master. Only a Pegasus can be truly proficient at such a device, however.”

Intrigued by the music, Rarity closed her eyes and went back to listening. Rainbow Dash watched the skilled stallion play. It was seldom that anything impressed her, and she soaked in the bittersweet feeling.

Foresight had been playing for two minutes, and his opening bit came to a close. As the curtains opened, he relaxed and slowed down the tempo, playing a quiet, background music. He had seen this performance more than a few times, and didn’t bother looking up at the stage, even though he very easily could.

A spotlight struck the stage with a brilliant beam of light. Appearing instantly under the bright ray, a young colt lay in an old bed, reading a book. He appeared ill, from the makeup he had on. He coughed a few times, and generally made the audience feel bad for him.

Offstage, Spotlight sat in front of a mirror. A young mare was putting on the finishing touches of makeup on him. He stood bored, and looked himself over impatiently. Novelty approached Spotlight quickly and warned him,

“Spotlight, you’re on in two!”

Spotlight rolled his eyes, having been through the routine many times. Only once had he been late for his cue, and he was never going to live it down.

“I’m aware, Novelty…”

Thinking himself perfectly able to go onstage, he hissed at his makeup assistant.

“Really, Grave Danger? Really? I don’t think five coats of makeup are necessary!”

Trying to dab one last eyelash on the inconsiderate colt, the assistant tried to keep him still for only a moment longer.

“Please, Spotlight, hold still!”

Spotlight decided for himself that he looked perfect, and knocked Grave Danger’s hoof out of the way. He trotted to the area offstage, just outside view of the audience, behind the curtain. He watched as the opening scene proceeded along,

“Back when I was your age, books were called stories! And this is a special story. It was the story my father used to tell me when I was sick and I used to tell it to your father. And today, I’m gonna tell it to you.”

The grandpa was played by Deep Blue, a middle aged stallion.

“Does it got any sports in it?”

The colt was actually played by his son, Red Hot. Spotlight mouthed out the rest of the scene, having the entire play memorized.

“Are you kidding? Fencing, Fighting, Torture, Revenge…”

Spotlight closed his eyes and got into the mindset of his character, West Leaf.

‘Perfect lover. Determined. Wise. Young. Adventurous. I got this.’

Spotlight opened his eyes as the curtain closed. The father and son trotted offstage as the crew rushed in and out, switching the scene from a bedroom to a small farm. Spotlight positioned himself exactly in front of the fake tree, like always. He looked over at Prancer, who was dressed as a young, but beautiful farm filly.

She whispered in a barely audible, but clear voice, “Break a hoof!”

Spotlight didn’t say anything, simply not feeling like returning the favor. He took a deep breath, the curtain opened back up, and he became a completely different pony.

Pinkie Pie’s eyes were glued to the stage, she watched with intensity as ponies she had met only this morning were performing for all of Ponyville, and acting like completely different ponies as well!

Spotlight and Prancer, to be referred to as West Leaf and Butter Cup, were going about their peasant duties, hanging clothes, and farming.

'Butter Cup was raised on a small farm in the country of Trotten.'

The audience jumped simultaneously in shock as a voice spoke in each of their heads. Backstage, Deep Blue and Red Hot stood by a unicorn, who was casting a spell that made their voices appear in the thoughts of everypony in the audience. Stormspell, who was watching the play from behind the audience, chuckled at the always interesting reactions.

'Her favorite pastimes were running, and tormenting the farm colt that worked there. His name was West Leaf, but she never called him that. Isn’t that a wonderful beginning?'

By now the audience understood that the voices were part of the performance. Except for one mare in particular, who clenched her yellow head at the sounds that shocked her out of her shyness.

“Wh-what’s happening? Why am I hearing things?! I-I don’t know what’s going on!” Fluttershy panicked.

It took Fluttershy a few extra moments to figure out what it was, and sunk into her chair, feeling the eyes of nearby ponies on her. After a few minutes, she sat back up and tried to not draw any more attention to herself.

The play continued on its way, the audience quite pleased at the performance.

“You seem like a decent fellow, I hate to kill you.”

Spotlight drew his rapier with his front hoof and pointed it at Rusty, one of the lesser stage ponies. Not to Spotlight, however. Right now, he was West Leaf, and Rusty was Indigo Mountain. With a kind grin, he replied,

“You seem like a decent fellow, I hate to die.”

The two stallions had their weapons drawn. They waited for a cue. With an intense opening note, Foresight played a steady rhythm. Aligned with the music, Spotlight and Rusty had a well rehearsed duel. All over the scenery, the two ponies danced, lunged and parried. Both of them were attached to a pole above the stage by a thin, but strong rope.

Pinkie Pie sat in awe as the two actors duked it out. Suddenly, her body started vibrating violently.

Spotlight thwacked at Rusty’s sword, and sent it flying across the stage. Rusty leaped through the air, using the rope to do a backflip before landing. An impressive feat for an earth pony. Above the stage, two pegasi were pulling Rusty along the pole, letting him move through the air as he performed his flip. Spotlight waited for his piano cue. He noticed the music had stopped. Keeping tempo, he then leaped from his spot after his opponent. He began moving through the air as he started a double front flip.

A few things happened at once.

There was a bright flash, and all of the lights shut off immediately, and the audience gasped, but then waited for something to happen, as if it were part of the show.

Soaring Sky, who was pulling Spotlight’s rope, felt her wings give out beneath her. With a scream, she fell twenty feet onto the pitch black stage. Landing with a thud, her legs went numb and she blacked out.

Spotlight continued moving across the stage, and he slammed into some of the stone structure scenery. He received a well deserved thump on the head as he hung in midair.

When the lights came back on, Soaring Sky was laying on the ground, unconscious. Spotlight was dangling on an invisible rope, rubbing his head. Foresight had gone missing, and Stormspell was galloping to the front of the theatre to address the crowd. Stagehands ran onto the platform to help Sky and the other actors. The crowd broke into a panic. Stormspell desperately tried to calm the situation.

“Folks, please! Remain calm; there is no need to panic! I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to cut the show short tonight!”

Novelty, angered by Stormspell’s untraditional decision, ran up to him.

“But, what about ‘The show must go on’?!”

Stormspell gave him an angry glare, and continued to speak. The crowd continued to question and even boo Stormspell and his performers.

“Please, please, folks! If it weren’t such a tight scheduled business, we’d reshedule it some other day! Now! If you’ll all calmly and quietly exit the theatre…"

The crowd angrily got up and began leaving. Twilight and her friends talked as they left.

“Well, that there was a rip off,” Applejack stated.

“I thought it was nice…” Fluttershy commented.

“I LOVED the ending!!! What a twist! Who would have thought it was just a play all along?!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight reasoned, “Guys, I don’t think that was a normal accident! That mare was unconscious!”

The group looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Rainbow Dash had a different theory, though. Fondly remembering her victory earlier that day, she questioned Twilight’s thoughts.

“I dunno, guys. That was the same mare from the stunt show today. I think she just tripped over her own wings and fell. “

Twilight’s mind raced as the pals left the theatre.

“Then why was there a flash? And why did the lights go out? I think something serious has happened here, girls!”

Rarity butted in on Twilight’s curiosity,

“Twilight, darling, I understand your reasoning, but this simply isn’t your business!”

Twilight gave Rarity a determined look, a spark of adventure in her eyes.

“It wasn’t my business to question Cadence when she was acting differently before her wedding! What if there’s more to this than meets the eye? I’m going to find out what went wrong or my name’s not Twilight Sparkle!”

“Ah reckon last time we didn’t listen ta Twilight, we ended up lookin like a bunch o’ fools. Ah’m with her on this ‘un.” Applejack thought out loud.

“Guys, it was just another boring old play! It just so happened that one of the crew was the worst flier in Equestria!” Rainbow Dash scoffed.

Rarity moved closer to Rainbow and scolded her, partially with her stare, and partially with her words.

“Rainbow Dash, I do wish you would quit bullying that innocent young mare!”

Rainbow pushed aside the words of wisdom and continued speaking to Twilight.

“Look, I’ll come along with you on your investigation. But just so I can be there when you find out I was right the whole time!”

Fluttershy decided it was a good time for her to speak,

“Excuse me, um… It sounds reasonable... but I have plans tomorrow… Sorry…”

Twilight shrugged, and Rarity declined the investigation as well.

“I apologize as well, Twilight. I don’t have time to run around questioning circus folk tomorrow.”

Finally, Pinkie Pie gave her baffled response.

“Guys, are you loco in the coco?! That was the best ending I’ve ever seen! My Pinkie senses barely picked up the twist ending in time!”

Twilight looked concernedly at Pinkie,

“You sensed a doosie right before that happened?! Why didn’t you tell us?!”

Pinkie giggled.

“Oh, Twilight! You’re so silly! It’s not polite to talk during a performance, especially during a scene as crazy fantastic as that one! Did you see how West Leaf dodged Indigo’s-“

Twilight cared little about the play itself at that point. She knew what she must do.

“If Pinkie sensed a doosie, then something is definitely wrong here. Tomorrow morning, Applejack, Rainbow and I will go over to talk with Stormspell.”

"Bu..." Fluttershy began to mumble, scared for anypony to hear her. As soon as she made a sound, her friends listened close. With all eyes on her, she finished her thought. “B-But the circus… Won’t they be gone by then?”

Twilight looked back at the circus, and smiled upon seeing Soaring Sky being carried away in a hospital wagon.

“They can’t just leave her in our hospital like that. I think the showponies will be stuck in Ponyville for a while…”

“Mother of Celestia, what did you idiots do this time?! You clowns are always making me look bad in one way or another! Incompetent crew members, all of you!”

Spotlight walked up and down the stage, ranting after the crowd had left. Meanwhile the crew was taking down the outdoor theatre. Stormspell, stressed out and not in the mood to deal with Spotlight, silenced him.

“Spotlight, I swear to Luna, if you complain about one more thing, you’ll be finding a new group to act for! Nopony knows what happened, so shut your trap! Has anypony seen Foresight?!?”

Novelty, who had been following Stormspell, had a response.

“Foresight is backstage; he was the one who turned the lights back on. He got there surprisingly quick, though.”

Stormspell’s mind went through a timeline of the events that had occurred. He looked towards the sky and mumbled some things to himself. Foresight’s disappearance didn’t add up.

‘I know he’s called Foresight for a reason, but there’s no way he could have predicted such a random disaster!’

Foresight, almost as if mentally summoned, trotted in from backstage. He looked as if the play went uneventfully. Stormspell moved to him and stood eye to eye with the pegasus. Foresight did nothing more than blink at his superior, even through his anger.

“Foresight, I’m sure you’re aware of the disaster that just occurred!”

Foresight nodded, and then grinned for a brief moment.

“I saw that! I don’t know what you did, but you were conveniently away from your piano when the lights came back on. They came back on pretty fast if you ask me!”

Foresight nodded again, and nonchalantly stated,

“Well, that’s because I was the one who turned on the lights. I could tell somepony would have to turn them back on, and I could also tell nopony was going to do so in a timely manner.”

Unable to make any realistic arguments against Foresight, Stormspell stammered. Spotlight took Stormspell’s side with another complaint,

“And you actually stopped playing the music right in the middle of the song. Why can’t any of you just be competent enough to run a simple play!?!”

Foresight moved his eyes towards Spotlight, and remarked,

“Oh no. Did I upset the Studio Drama Queen? Why can’t you just be civilized like the rest of us?”

Stormspell didn’t believe Foresight’s fantastic poker face.

“I don’t know how you did it, but I know you have an awful grudge against Soaring Sky. I have cause to believe you’re guilty, mister; and because of you, we’re going to have to stay here until she recovers!”

Spotlight and Novelty exchanged looks. Foresight seemed confident in his beliefs, and didn’t shake one bit under Stormspell’s rant.

“I doubt there’s any way to convince you I’m innocent, so believe what you want.”

Foresight closed his eyes, and turned away from Stormspell. Spotlight and Novelty both spoke at the exact same time,

“We’re staying in Ponyville?!?”

This had never happened before in the history of their show. The showponies were always on the move, and this was going to be an entirely new scenario for them. Some of the other crew stopped and stared at Stormspell for an answer after hearing about them staying. Foresight stayed to listen to what would happen next. Stormspell lowered his head and spoke to the ensemble.

“Yes, we’re going to have to stay here until they release Soaring Sky from the hospital. It’ll take some getting used to, I know. Just keep your heads, get a temporary job and you should be fine.”

Spotlight was not pleased to hear the last bit.

“A job? Are you kidding?”

Stormspell was at about his limit with Spotlight. Raising his head, he turned and looked the actor dead in the eye.

“Yes, Spotlight… A job. We don’t have enough food to sustain us for more than a week, and we need the money we earned tonight to make posters for our next show. If you can live off your share for tonight’s show, then you’re fine. Otherwise, you’ll need some sort of income.”

Spotlight rolled his eyes, and trotted away, no longer interested in the topic. He just wanted the day to end.

“Well, I’ll see you all tomorrow in labor land!”

Stormspell ignored the colt’s dramatic comment and decided to send everyone to bed.

“You know, we’ve got a while to clean this up… Why don’t you all take the rest of the night off?”

Nopony argued with their ring leader. Everyone went to their wagons and fell asleep. Some ponies decided to sleep out under the stars. As was tradition, Novelty, Foresight and a few other stallions stayed up late to play a game of pony poker after every show. Tonight was no different.

Foresight walked into the wagon late. It was like a small room, a wagon with four walls and a ceiling. Novelty sat at a pentagon shaped table with three other stallions. The first was a large, dark blue pegasus with a ruffled lime green mane named Tranquil Thought. The second was a bulky earth pony with a pale red coat of fur, and a short, white mane named Overheat. The final was an older earth pony, with gray fur and a ruffled black mane named Ideal.

An empty seat was waiting between Novelty and Tranquil Thought as always. This was all five stallion’s favorite way of relieving stress from the showpony business. They met after every show and had a friendly game of pony poker, using poker chips, never real money.

Tranquil Thought looked up and pulled Foresight’s chair out.

“There he is! Better late than never, right?”

Foresight smiled as he trotted towards the table. This was the one place he felt comfortable and welcomed in his crazy life. He trusted these ponies with his emotions, and allowed facial expressions to appear on his face.

“Yeah, just wanted to put my piano near my wagon before coming.”

Foresight sat down in his spot as Overheat shuffled the deck. He playfully laughed at Foresight as he passed the cards out.

“Haha, Foresight, you’re obsessed with that instrument!”

Ideal chuckled and watched his cards stack up in front of him.

“Well, I imagine it cost more than you make in a year!”

The friends laughed as the game began. Overheat reached over and placed the top card right side up. Tranquil Thought set his cards down immediately.

“I’m not even going to try with this hand, haha!”

Novelty smiled and looked at his cards which he laid down.

“Surely there’s some philosophy about never giving up, no matter how bad the situation?” Novelty inquired.

Tranquil thought for a moment, then smiled as he replied,

“Yes, but there are also many about knowing when you’ve been beaten.”

The group laughed again. Tranquil normally talked with philosophies and included the advice in his sentences. Foresight decided to move the game along.

“Well, I’ll go ahead and bet fifteen.”

Overheat’s forehead wrinkled as he eyed his cards. Nopony could really tell when Foresight was bluffing, since he practiced his poker face all day, every day.

“Ha! Ok, I’m feelin lucky!” Overheat challenged.

Ideal shook his head at his cards and placed them on the table.

“I fold. The best of luck to Foresight. You need it most.”

Foresight looked up, with a more serious face. After an awkward silence, Ideal continued his thoughts.

“Did you really do it?” Ideal asked curiously.

Foresight looked around, everypony watching him. He sighed, and kept his feelings concealed.

“I won’t say why I was backstage while this happened, and I know there’s no way of saying it without sounding suspicious, but I didn’t do it. You’ll just have to believe me.” Foresight said matter-of-factly.

The friends glanced around at each other. Novelty put his hoof on Foresight’s shoulder.

“Foresight, we’re your friends. There’s nothing you can’t tell us.”

The four friends looked happily at Foresight and nodded in agreement.

“We’re here for you!”

“What are friends for?”

“We won’t tell nopony!”

Foresight looked at the ground. He thought for a moment, and then sighed again.

“I… I just can’t. It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just not time yet. It’ll sound crazy.”

Tranquil Thought knew his friend well enough to know he wasn’t going to speak. After a moment’s silence, he put his hooves together.

“Well then, let’s get on with this round so I can get a better hand!”

Foresight smiled at his understanding friends. While they were different in many ways, and he wasn’t very good at conversing with them outside of their poker games, he was grateful for what he had. The friends enjoyed themselves for a good half hour before calling it a night. They had a long day ahead of them.

Chapter 2

“Are we there yet?” A voice from inside the brightly colored caravan called.

A light gold colt stuck his head out of the window, his light brown mane flowing behind his head as he looked out at the grassy fields. He squinted at the bright sun as the caravan shook and rattled along the dusty road.

“What was the answer when you asked ten minutes ago?” The bright blue unicorn holding the reins quipped back at the young actor. “Honestly, Spotlight! Just relax. You’ll have your audience soon enough.” With that, he turned away, knowing that Spotlight’s complaints were far from over. Spotlight pulled his head back into the caravan, knocking his horn on the way in. He gave a small “ouch”, expecting sympathy from somepony near him, but receiving none.

The travelling band of showponies was on its way to yet another town for its next show. As always, tensions were high wiith the fast schedule that Stormspell enforced as he drove the long line of caravans and carriages down the dirt road to fame and fortune. Two large earth ponies pulled the large front caravan, which was decorated in shades of red, blue and gold and had “Stormspell’s Spectacular Showponies” plastered on all sides.

It didn’t take long for Spotlight to stick his head out, yet again. Stormspell sighed, knowing exactly what he was going to say before Spotlight even said it. “I’ve been cooped up in this caravan for seven hours now, and Prancer is getting on my nerves!”

Stormspell mouthed out the words as Spotlight said them, only missing the word “seven”, seeing as how they had only been travelling for five hours. Stormspell slouched back and groaned, trying to mentally block out the noise behind him.

“EXCUSE ME! I’m right here!” yelled a mare from inside the caravan, “If you didn’t want to hear about my entire life story, you should’a said something!”

Spotlight and Prancer were the two main actors among the group. While they had been in many romantic scenarios onstage, they were not very fond of each other in real life.

“I tried to, dear Prancer…” Spotlight said tragically, and then continued angrily “But you couldn’t hear me over the sound of your own voice! Stormy! Help me out here!”

Stormspell gritted his teeth. He hated being called “Stormy”. Not being called by his full name just grated on his nerves. Storm was bad enough, but the extra ‘y’ at the end made it that much worse. Every time he heard Spotlight call him “Stormy” he had to try to hide his anger. “That’s Stormspell to you, Mister!” The blue colt demanded, and then returned his attention to the road.

A low, serious voice came from behind the caravan,

“Why don’t you get off your high horse and walk like the rest of us if it’s so bad up there?”

Spotlight rolled his eyes and turned to look at the dark blue pegasus. His mane was thick and purple, and he held himself with confidence, despite his dreary appearance. He was giving Spotlight a cold glare, like always.

Spotlight turned away and exclaimed in his best drama queen voice,

“Must we go over this again, Foresight? I’m not a simple work pony like the rest of you. I need to maintain my handsome appearance for my audience!”

“Can’t lose what you never had…” Foresight said casually.

The ponies pulling the caravan chuckled at the insult. Stormspell cracked a smile, but decided to stay out of this argument. They seemed to happen about twice every hour.

A smaller, white unicorn with a brown mane peered over the edge of the caravan. Novelty was always there to defend Spotlight, even though Spotlight would never do the same for him. He looked down on Foresight and protected his arrogant friend. “Don’t insult Spotlight! Without him, our show wouldn’t be worth coming to!”

Foresight sighed, as once again Novelty played middleman,

‘I’ve always admired him for that, but why he looks up to Spotlight, I’ll never know.... I’d like to believe that Spotlight is a good pony deep down, but it’s hard to tell through his thick ego.’

“I still don’t know what you see in Mr. 'High and Mighty' over there, but I guess you’re right. I shouldn’t stoop to his level.”

With a satisfied nod, Novelty retreated back to the roof of the caravan, where he had a small stack of papers and some pencils. Novelty was the show’s main writer, and had spent most of the trip to Ponyville writing a new play. Jotting down a few more words, Novelty levitated the stack of papers and trotted over to the front of the caravan, directly above Stormspell.

Novelty looked down at the stallion, who was deep in thought.

“Hey, Stormspell, when we get to Ponyville, I have another play for you to look over!”

Stormspell snapped to attention and looked up at Novelty. He grabbed the papers from him with his own magic and gave a small smile.

“Shoot, I’ll read it right now. Anything to distract me from all the horsing around back there!”

Spotlight stuck his head back out the window. “I HEARD that!”

Stormspell just rolled his eyes.

The caravan of actors and stageponies continued to progress down the road, only two hours from Ponyville. Stormspell’s Spectacular Showponies was still growing its name, and had to start in small towns where they could gather a huge crowd easily. Having only heard of the town from a showmare who performed there, Stormspell didn’t know much about where he was leading the group, but if there was anything wrong, his assistant, Duskstride would have come back to warn the group by now. Duskstride always went ahead of the caravan and set up posters in one town while they were doing a show in another.

A rare grin crossed his face as he thought, ‘Duskstride isn’t back yet, so we’re good to go. There’s something different about this town. I can feel it...’

“I’ve never seen you with a smile that big…” Foresight noted while catching up to the front of the caravan.

As soon as Foresight mentioned it, Stormspell’s grin vanished and was replaced with his usual poker face. Stormspell didn’t bother looking down at the stallion who spoke to him as he replied, “I’ve never seen you act like you care about anything so much…”

Foresight gave an uninterested snort and trotted alongside the ringleader. Foresight could tell Stormspell was thinking of something important. He wasn’t called Foresight for nothing. He could read most ponies like a book. Most being a key word.

‘He’s hiding something, he always is. If only I could figure out what!’ Foresight thought.

Foresight let out a sigh as he remembered all of his failed attempts to figure out Stormspell.

“Hide your secrets long enough, they’ll find ways to leak out…” He said half-heartedly.

Stormspell brushed away Foresight’s comment with ease. He was the immovable object, Foresight was the unstoppable force. Only one would come out on top, and Stormspell intended to do just that. He watched from the corner of his eye as Foresight fell back to the second wagon. ‘Another battle won.’ He thought as he let the smile retake his face. ‘He’d be better off just letting it go.’ The string of caravans continued on to Ponyville.

“I think I see something!!!”

Pinkie Pie sat on the tallest apple tree in Sweet Apple Acres, looking out to the dirt road. She placed her eyes onto the small circles on her binoculars and jumped up and down. Rarity sat under the tree on a picnic blanket, reading a book. She replied to the pink earth pony without looking up from her novel.

“Hmm? Oh, yes, of course.”

Pinkie leaped from the tree and started hopping up and down in excitement, ranting in a quick, squeaky voice, “Come on, Rarity! They’re here! Let’s go meet them right now! Oh boy, showponies! I just LOVE it when showponies come into town; it’s always such a blast! Except for when that Trixie pony came into town but THAT’S BESIDE THE POINT! These ponies are new and they need a warm welcome-” Pinkie stopped mid-thought, as a thought hit her. "I should throw them a party! Will they think it’s weird? Nopony doesn’t enjoy a surprise party! Except Fluttershy, maybe, but those showponies aren’t Fluttershy, right Rarity!?!”

Looking up, Rarity saw Pinkie watching her expectantly. She had sort of tuned out Pinkie’s rant, and only heard select words like “Showpony”, “Party” and “Fluttershy.” Nonchalantly, she replied.
“I don’t think Fluttershy would make a very good showpony, darling…”

Pinkie, for a split second, felt a bit of annoyance with Rarity, but it quickly turned back into happiness. “Of course she wouldn’t, well unless they have an animal act! OH! I wonder if they DO have an animal act! That would just be FANTASTIC! I wonder if they have alligators like Gummy! I want to see some animals! Come on, Rarity! Let’s go meet them right now!!!”

Pinkie Pie grabbed the corner of the blanket Rarity sat on and started pulling it through the apple filled acres. Rarity gave a small scream and caught herself before she fell onto the grass. In a state of panic, she froze up and allowed Pinkie to drag her, not wanting to damage her coat of pristine white fur. She set her book down next to her and tried to shift more towards the middle of the blanket-made island. Pinkie had little difficulty dragging the unicorn as she trotted through the fields towards the dirt road. She kept talking, even with the blanket in her mouth.

“Oh boy, I wonder what the showponies will be like? I bet they love talking, since that’s what they do for a living! I’m not one for talking much myself, but that’ll give the showponies PLENTY of time to talk! I wonder what they’ll think of me? I think I make a pretty great fan! I cheer for Dashie all the time when she does tricks and stuff, but, these ponies are used to such bigger crowds! I’m sure they’ll love me, though! I’ve yet to meet a pony who’s refused an offer to be my friend! Donkeys are a different story, however! HAHAHA! Oh, my! I wonder what play they’re going to-“ Muffled?

“Pinkie Pie?” Rarity asked politely.

“-perform? I hope they don’t perform The History of Equestria, I’ve already seen that one-“

“Pinkie!” She exclaimed, with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“But I guess I wouldn’t mind seeing it from the audience’s spot! Ooh, what if they let me see it from-“

“PINKIE PIE!!” Rarity yelled, knowing she had no other choice than to raise her voice.

Pinkie stopped in her tracks and turned to Rarity. Speaking in a completely happy and carefree voice, she replied. “What’s up?”

Rarity stepped off of the blanket and began to fold it with her magic. She wiped herself off and gave Pinkie a friendly look. “Why don’t we play a game while we walk?”

Pinkie, her eyes the size of dinner plates, began jumping up and down excitedly. “OOH!! I LOVE GAMES!!! We could play I spy or tag or freeze tag or zombie tag or have a race or-”

Rarity quickly cut her off and said in a lady-like voice, “I was thinking something along the lines of The Quiet Game!”

Pinkie bounced even higher, “Alright! It’s on, Rarity!!!”

Rarity placed the blanket on her back and went back to reading her book, as the friends trotted through the fields towards the long line of caravans, in the peace and quiet...

“I LOSE!!!”

Rarity gave an agitated yell as Pinkie continued to rant her thoughts.

The caravan pressed on, only a half hour away from it’s destination. Approaching them from down the road was a light gray pegasus with a short, orange mane. He flew gracefully and waved to the travelers. Foresight grumbled to himself and slowed his pace to create distance between the caravan and himself.

Soaring over the procession, Duskstride made a wide U-turn and landed casually on the ledge of the caravan above Stormspell. He peered down at the ringleader and happily reported, “All is well in this town, in fact, some of the ponies seemed quite excited for the show! Maybe this’ll be our ticket to fame!”

As with most traveling shows, ‘Stormspell’s Spectacular Showponies!’ spent most of their time and money establishing a name for itself. Unfortunately, they had not been the most successful.

“I know there are some famous ponies living in this village. I heard they saved Equestria from destruction a couple of times or something. Maybe they’ll come to the show!” Duskstride added hopefully.

A white Pegasus with a long, bright blue mane flew up to Duskstride and landed gently beside him, leaning up against him. Duskstride put his foreleg around her and continued his conversation. “Maybe if they like us, Princess Celestia may have reason to see our performance!”

Stormspell was intrigued at the thought. If Duskstride was right, though unlikely that the groups’ visit would get them to meet Celestia, they could get recommendations from ponies with influence.

There was only one problem, he didn’t know much about Ponyville.

‘How can I get more information about this town? Nopony in the group seems very concerned or knowledgeable about anything but themselves, let alone small towns. Except maybe... Foresight. He always reads the newspapers in every town we visit, however odd it may be...'

Even when in a bad mood, Foresight had the sense not cause trouble when he talked with Stormspell. He called out to him,

“Foresight, come up here. Let’s talk.”

Foresight looked up at the conversation taking place up front. Stormspell, Duskstride and… Soaring Sky.

'Of course.'

Soaring Sky glanced back at him, and looked away with an uninterested expression.
Foresight had a rough history with her. She was his marefriend only a few months ago. She was always sticking her snout into other's business, and Foresight just couldn’t stand it. After all, he was the kind of stallion who focused on his own business (except for Stormspell, but that was different).

Foresight thought back on his tumultuous relationship. The aggressive flirting, the giving in, the happiness...

'What are you doing, Foresight?'

'...I'm done.'

'What?!'

'I'm sick of your lies.'

'What lies?!'

'Don't give me that, Sky. We're through.'

'I didn't even do anything, you insensitive colt!'

'This was a disaster from the beginning and you know it.'

'...You're right. There are far better stallions than you!'

'What am I? The tenth pony you've dated in this group? Frankly, Sky, you're just plain desperate for a coltfriend.'

'And what am I, your first? Stay away from me, you creep...'

and all the sadness that followed...

Foresight was happy to have broken up with Sky, but it pained him to see the exact same thing happening to Duskstride, a pony he normally respected. Sky didn’t love him, she just wanted attention.

Foresight picked up his pace and indifferently lifted his head to look at Stormspell. He let out one simple word, summing up every emotion he had at the moment:

“What?”

Stormspell smirked. “You know anything about Ponyville?”

‘Of course I do, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked.’ Foresight thought, holding in the know-it-all remark.

Foresight had read about Ponyville in many newspaper articles, all published recently. “Rainbow Dash saves Wonderbolts”, “Discord Defeated”, “Princess Luna’s Return” There seemed to be quite a few adventurous and heroic ponies living there. Out of sheer annoyance, he looked back at the ground and simply said,

“Ponyville is home to the Elements of Harmony, they have saved the world more than once.”

Stormspell, satisfied with the response, dismissed him, “Thanks. You can return to your lurking now.”

Unoffended, Foresight did just that. He slowed his pace and moved back behind the caravan. Foresight returned to thinking,

‘Was I in the wrong? I never seemed to care about anything or anyone. Was it my fault? If she was worth it, I might have cared more… I can’t believe we went so far as to-’

“HELLO!!!”

Foresight concentration shattered, and he stood bolt upright and looked to his side. A pink earth pony was hopping alongside him, with a giant smile on her face. She was talking so quickly he could barely separate the sentences between the pony’s words.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, I’m a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE fan of showponies! I think it’s one of the COOLEST jobs ever! What do you do in the circus? Acting? Stunts? Music? Everything? Personally, I would-“

Foresight saw exactly where the pony’s rant was going, and she wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, nor would she say anything productive the entire time. Knowing to act professional and happy for fans, he put on a grin and cut her off, “Woah, woah! Slow down, theatre goer! I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but I’m very… busy at the moment.”

Pinkie Pie looked at Foresight confusedly, then cheerily responded,

“OH, I see! Sometimes I get lost in thought too! Like the time I couldn’t decide whether to put green sprinkles or red sprinkles on my cupcakes this morning! I thought and thought and thought, but then I just decided to use both! Are you memorizing lines? I LOVE memorizing things, especially songs! There’s the one about cupcakes and-”

Foresight tried to drown out Pinkie with his own thoughts, but the noise doubled. Looking up, he saw Spotlight walking on the opposite side of Pinkie. Foresight struggled to keep a peaceful mindset.

Spotlight always knew a fan when he heard one, and he couldn’t get enough of the praise they offered. He had leapt from the caravan and was begining to introduce himself.

“Greetings, Ponyvillian! I am Spotlight, the most talented actor in Stormspell’s Spectacular Showponies!”

Overhearing this from the front of the group, Stormspell let out a harsh laugh.

Ignoring the mockery, Spotlight kept gloating. “I do it all! Action! Adventure! Romance…” he finished, shooting Pinkie a wink. Pinkie started giggling a tiny blush working over her cheeks.

“Pinkie Pie, you didn’t have to leave me back there!” Rarity chided as she trotted up to her friend.

“Well, a fine afternoon to you, good sir. Who’s your friend, Pinkie?” She asked as she gave Spotlight a once over.

Pinkie, still giggling, replied, “This is Sp-“

Spotlight cut her off, knowing no introduction would be a great as his own, and said, “I am Spotlight, the most talented actor in Sto-“

“Give it a rest, Spot!”

Duskstride and Soaring Sky had moved over to the conversation and sat on top of the wagon. Foresight kept his head low. Duskstride began laughing as well, “Don’t scare away our first fans from Ponyville!”

Rarity gave a small laugh, seeing some of herself in the golden stallion, as Pinkie began talking, “Oh, there’s no way you guys can scare me off! I can’t wait to see you perform, and I also want to see the stunts and win all the games!!”

Soaring Sky cut in, “Trust me, Spotlight will find a way.”

Foresight snapped. All of his built up anger at Spotlight’s ego, Soaring Sky’s attitude, Stormspell’s secrets, and everything else just overflowed.

“NOPONY CARe…s...“

Foresight felt the eyes of everypony on him. He had never embarrassed himself so much in all his life! Getting angry around a fan was unacceptable.

Foresight mumbled something and trotted away, off to the other side of the wagon and a good distance away from the rest of the group.

Rarity, looking concerned, asked “Is there something wrong with him?”

Duskstride and Soaring Sky shot each other a glance. Foresight was always very mature, and that had come from seemingly nowhere. Duskstride started to apologize on Foresight’s behalf, but Sky cut in before he could.

“He’s always been a little loopy in the head…”

Duskstride glared at Soaring Sky for the blunt lie she just told, but she pretended not to notice.

Rarity continued the conversation, “Well, I guess that explains that. Anyway, Pinkie Pie and I came to get a sneak preview of the stageponies we’ll be seeing tonight, and to wish you good luck! I can tell who the lead is going to be. Would you be so kind as to introduce us to the rest of the cast and crew?”

Spotlight burst into animated speech, pointing every which way, singling out various ponies
.
“First off, we have myself. The lead role. Most important pony in the entire show! Then we have the other actors and actresses, most of them are in that caravan back there, but the female lead is snoring away in this caravan next to us!”

Spotlight moved in front of the small group and began walking backwards with expertise, pointing to ponies in the string of caravans and carts. “There are make-up artists, stage hands, clowns, strongponies, stuntponies, musicians, set up, clean up, light specialists, security guards!”

Spotlight looked to the lonely blue Pegasus walking by himself, seeming to be scolding himself through thought.

“That stallion you met does the music. He messes up my sound cues sometimes, but I must say his ability to play a canterlot piano with his hooves AND his wings impresses even me!“

Spotlight looked up on top of the caravan, gesturing to the two pegasi, and Novelty, who had sat next to them. “Soaring Sky does stunts. Duskstride sets up posters in towns that we’re about to play in, and Novelty up there writes most of our shows!”

Rarity cocked her eyebrow at Novelty’s introduction. She took out the book she had been reading and sure enough, there was the name of the author “Novelty” She butted in and looked up at the white unicorn, “Excuse me, pardon my interruption, but… Do you happen to be the Novelty that wrote this book? The marvelous romance writer?”

Novelty, just as shocked, sheepishly replied, “Oh, they actually published that?! Yes, I am the Novelty who wrote your book.”

Rarity gave a squee of joy, and began chatting away with the author. As the introductions and conversation died down, most of the crew returned to their places as the convoy slowly came into town.