Coltifornia.

One of the greatest regions on the equestrian map. The area is home to some of Equestria’s greatest cities, claiming locations like Los Pegasus and the surrounding Neighvada desert and stretching all the way up to the tip of the White Tail Woods and even a small portion of the infamous Ghastly Gorge.

But perhaps most importantly, and definitely the city of interest for my visit. Applewood! Also known as the great Equestrian dream factory. The central hub of all things cinema.

“All off for Applewood! All off for Applewood!” A zebra called out from beside me, a navy blue conductor's hat placed atop their head.

I took a step out of the train station and looked around me, taking in the beautiful sights of Applewood. The glittering lights, the curved palm trees that lined the road. Amongst the buildings were a collection of theatres and billboards, each one displaying one of the many newly released films, and even a couple of the more popular classics. I noticed one billboard displaying a personal favorite of mine, ‘The Third Mare’ by Horse N’ Welles. Far in the distance I could see the famous hill housing the large white letters that spelled out Applewood.

“Ah! You must be the columnist from the Applewood Reporter?!” A grey buck with a white mane and dark black turtleneck exclaimed joyously, gesturing me over as I stepped out of the train station fully. “The one who is doing the article on my newest film?”

Giving a small smile, I trotted over to the pony. “I am. And you must be Mr. Horsehooves? The acclaimed director behind many of Applewoods most successful recent features, as well as your most recent works, ‘A Princess’ Diary’?”

Horsehooves smile grew as he lead me towards a taxi parked on the side of the road. “I am. You cannot begin to understand how honored I am to have you here. Please follow me.”

The taxi driver quickly ducked out of the wagon and opened up the back seat for us as we approached. I gave him a quick thanks as I moved into the wagon myself. “And I am honored to be here. I cannot express how thankful I am that you wanted to meet me at the station and drive me to the premier yourself.”

“Think nothing of it,” Horsehooves whinnied with a small wave of his hoof. He pulled himself into the back seat of the taxi wagon next me. “I figured we could have a few moments to do your interview before all the craziness of the premier begins.”

I gave a small nod in response, as I pulled out my notebook to jot down what I knew was going to be a rather important interview. Slowly, the taxi began to move off into the slow moving traffic.

“Yes, well I suppose I shall start by asking you some simple questions,” I started, quickly looking over the list of questions I had prewritten the night before. “Would you mind giving just a quick rundown about what your movie is about?”

Horsehooves nodded. “Of course. The film follows the misadventures of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends. How they met, the obstacles they had to overcome, and of course the beginning of Twilight Sparkles reign. It’s a film about Friendship, and its importance to us as ponies. A message I feel we could all learn from a little bit.”

I nodded thoughtfully, writing down his words furiously as he spoke. I glanced back up at him as he finished. “I was also curious about what inspired you to once more take the reins of your film ‘A Princess’ Diary’? If my memory serves, you worked on the original film back when it came out a few years ago, but dropped the project. What caused this change?”

Horsehooves gave a thin smile. “I was quite passionate about the project when it was first pitched to me, but when the opportunity to have Twilight and her friends direct the film themselves landed at my hooves, I simply couldn’t stand in the way of such a raw connection to the story they must have all shared,” He paused and glanced out the window as we passed one of the many billboards displaying advertisements for his own film. “Of course, they chose to create the film as a comedy, which I must admit was quite a unique idea. However, with Twilight having just taken Celestia’s place on the throne and Equestria finally reaching out and making peace with many of the surrounding kingdoms, I felt the message my vision for the film had was more important than ever before.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I concurred, jotting down his last few words. “I even heard that you pitched the idea by Twilight herself while in the writing process. Is that true?”

“I did. Primarily to get her whole account of the story, but also because I was interested in her views on the new peace between the other kingdoms,” Horsehooves replied, tracing his hoof along the side of the taxi wagons door. “Film has had a rather rocky history in regards to hatred with non ponies in the past. Equestria’s first feature, ‘The Birth of an Empire’, was a bad start for the world of cinema. Film is a powerful medium, and if used in the wrong hooves, it can be very dangerous. That’s why it was imperative to me that the first film of the new Equestria was one that promoted peace, love and tolerance.”

“Alright, I think I have only one more question before we get into the more nitty gritty questions,” I said. “I was curious about your choice to premiere your film in the FlickerSilhouette Theater? For a film as popular as ‘A Princess’ Diary’ I would assume you could have premiered it in any theatre in all of Equestria, why choose to only show it in a small theatre on the outskirts of Applewood when bigger places such as Palomino Theater would have shown it in a heartbeat? Certainly it would be more financially beneficial?”

Horsehooves stared at me for a few seconds, his eyes looking me over as if trying to figure out how to proceed. Finally he gave a small chuckle. “It is true that it might not have been the most financially sound decision, but I’m a nostalgic sort, and the FlickerSilhouette Theatre is perhaps the most rich theatre in regards to cinema’s history.”

I looked over the edge of my notebook at him at that remark. “It is? I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of this before?”

Horsehooves looked almost offended at the comment. “Well, aside from it begin where I watched my first film, which I suppose is more of my own nostalgia than anything else, it also was the theatre that Flicker Light owned back before Applewood was considered the Equestrian Dream Factory!”

I scrunched up my muzzle as I tried to place the name. I do confess to not being quite as film literate as I should have been for a columnist from the Applewood Reporter. “Flicker Light… That was the pony responsible for that film about the moon, right? Where a spaceship crashes into Luna’s eye?”

“Yes, that’s the one,” Horsehooves said with a smug grin. “He of course made more films than just that one, though that is his most famous work,” He took a deep breath and looked up at the roof of the taxi wagon, his face reminiscent of an age long past. “You see, back before Luna had returned from the moon, the streets of Coltifornia were not as friendly as they are now. Back then, film was seen as little more than an expensive sideshow at the circus, a silly magic trick. That all changed with a pony by the name of Flicker Light. Please, if you wouldn’t mind indulging me, let me tell you his story…”

Author's Note

So I've wanted to make this for a while, and I finally decided to get around to it.

As a filmmaker myself, I have always found cinema's history to be very interesting, and it got me thinking of how it might have all played out in Equestria. I couldn't find any other stories on fimfiction that even remotely touch on cinema in Equestria, so I figured "Why the heck not, let's start something new!"

This story takes lots of inspiration from actual history, but it's in no way accurate to what really happened, so don't worry, I have no intention on writing a textbook.

With all that said, I hope you all have a wondrous day!