Author's Note

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Knock 'em Dead

Silver Spoon smiled as the audience in the main room cheered and the floor rumbled with the beat of applauding hooves. It was a great crowd tonight; ponies from across Equestria had gathered in Canterlot for the latest Friendship Summit. Despite the night’s heavy rain, a significant number of them had come to the Big Reveal for their evening entertainment. Out of towners always made for good tips, and the fact they’d be trying to impress each other was even better.

She just hoped they didn’t spend it all before she got out there.

The door to the main stage opened, and the noise briefly became louder as Silver put the final touches on her makeup and started to put on the final layers of her costume.

“Hey Sil, I’ve got ‘em all riled up for ya!” A pale blue pegasus stallion stepped in, shaking his shaggy yellow mane back so that he could strap it into a rough ponytail “Watch out for the Appleoosan table though; one of the delegates is getting a little handsy. Brick had a word with him.”

“Which means he probably won’t be there any more when I get out,” Silver laughed. “Thanks for the warning, Dewy.” She rolled her ponytail up into a bun, hiding it beneath a wide-brimmed hat nearly covered with feathers, silk flowers, and fake songbirds, all resting against a powder blue brim that matched her classical ballgown. She turned her face from side to side, critically adjusting the positioning of her collar and the hat, trying to get the perfect blend of flirtatious and demure.

“So,” she asked the stallion behind her, “how do I look?”

“The spitting image of Mareie Antoinette,” he reassured her. She glanced back into the mirror, seeing the back of his head as he removed his own makeup.

“And how do I look if you actually look? I have a reputation to uphold!”

Dewy rolled his eyes and turned his chair, giving her a quick once-over.

“Like I told you already. Come on, Silver, you’ve done this routine a thousand times, and you’re still knocking them dead with it. Sometimes I’m surprised you don’t wake up and find out you’ve put your show makeup on while you’re sleeping.”

“Sometimes a filly just wants to be appreciated,” Silver Spoon smirked.

“Well, you’ll get that tonight,” Dewy said, his face becoming more serious. “Your ex is in the audience again. Brick’s already spotted her, and says to give the nod if you want her out.”

Silver thought about it, then shook her head.

“She never sticks around for me to actually get on stage. If she does… well, as long as she doesn’t make a scene, let her see what she’s missing. If she’s going to blow up, this is where I want her to do it, where I’ve got a half-dozen bouncers between us.”

“She’s been here a week running, Sil,” Dewy reminded her. “She might not stick around, but that means when she does, it’s gonna be big.”

“It’s sweet that you’re worried about me, Dewy,” she smiled, getting up and turning around to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, leaving behind the imprint of her lipstick. “But I’m a big filly, and I know how to handle Diamond Tiara.”

“If you say so,” Dewy shrugged, turning back to keep taking his makeup off. “Break a leg!”

“If I do, you have to cover the rent on your own!” She teased, stepping out into the hall and quickly trotting over to the hollowed out prop cake she was supposed to come out of. She tucked herself in, gathering her layers of skirts around herself, and gave the stagehands a nod. They closed the faux-dessert around her, and wheeled it into place behind the curtains on the stage. The murmur of the crowd, already muffled through the cake, went quiet as the background track started to pick up, a classical arrangement that was at odds with The Big Reveal’s rowdy atmosphere. Silver counted the beats, listening for her cue; when it hit, she stood, triggering the latch at the top that let the cake fall away from her.

She paused for a moment, posing for the full effect, gesturing imperiously with her hooves as she stepped away from the cake and one of the unicorns backstage magicked it out of the way. Instinctively, her eyes scanned the audience and… there.

Just as she expected, a white and purple tail was disappearing out the front.

Coward, she thought to herself, before falling into the routine that she could almost do on reflex by now.

Now was the time to knock them dead.

Outside, Diamond Tiara gathered her coat around herself, quickly starting to shiver as cold rain poured down, battering at her hat and soaking through her fur anywhere it could get through. The young mare stood up on her hind hooves, leaning back against the wall of the club.

Why do I even keep trying? She asked herself. She reached into a pocket with trembling hooves to pull out a pack of cigarettes. She glanced over at the doorman, wondering if she should ask him for help lighting it, but decided against it and just put the pack back.

It would probably just get put out by the rain anyway. One more thing she couldn’t do right.

There’d been a lot of those, over the last few years.