Lost in Mysticia

“Alright! Cut!” A young pony’s voice exclaimed.

“Heh, better than practice last week!” Trixie added

On stage were props and walls to make it seem like the inside of an old wooden house. Jazz was curled up on the couch, pretending to sleep. She soon got up with a yawn. “Did I do good, Stardust?” Jazz asked.

”You did amazing!” The small white filly, Stardust, exclaimed. Next to her was Trixie, who was in charge of special effects. There was also a Pegasus stallion, a unicorn mare and a young, male yak named Tiny who were doing the cameras.

Pipp and Izzy joined Jazz onstage. “I’m liking this story so far!” Izzy exclaimed.

“Yeah, I love it how I escaped thanks to a friend!” Pipp added. “The skyters, slayels and leviters are pretty interesting...”

Jazz nodded, “Getting unicorns and kirin. Plus, working your friends from your original world to create the creatures was pretty fun.”

The trio got offstage. It was a very big area. In fact, the building itself was the old Canterlogic factory. It was perfect for the filming, props and acting! Stardust was excited from this whole thing! When she had a roll call thing, she was surprised when Pipp, Jazz and Izzy actually agreed to play their parts. Phyliss was not very keen on the whole idea, but Sunny convinced her that it was going to be okay. Besides, it hadn’t been used in a very long time.

“So, when will this new episode be released?” Asked Trixie.

”After a lot of editing, of course,” Pipp scoffed.

”Yeah yeah, we know...” Pipp muttered.

Ash was holding the filming camera happily. “I just love this story so much!”

Stardust went to her bag, she then took out all the script papers for the next episode and gave them to the actors with a big smile on her face. Izzy excitedly read over it. She knew the basic plot, but she still liked reading the scripts, mostly because she was excited about her next appearance! Well, Stardust did tell her that it would take a while since it was based on a cartoon from her original world. About someone who gets lost in a world of frogs, apparently, and has to find her friends and a way home.

But to avoid trouble, Stardust changed the lore, sapiens land and more. The plot had a few similarities, but it got more original as it went along!

So much of the script was pre-written, proofread and edited before they even started! So errors weren’t really going to happen. They came in a few times a month to practice on the new episode before coming in on the last day of the month to do it for real. There were obviously certain months when they weren’t gonna film or so much world on it. AKA having a break. Like in December, for example. One episode was released each month. But Stardust decided to go on hiatus over the weekend, so they could work on some more, to the point they could release two a month.

Pipp looked at her phone, smiling as she read the comments of their previous episode. They uploaded last month. It had plenty of new comments, and they just loved Pipp’s role! Hoping that she was going to get out of danger and reunite with the others soon. Meanwhile, Jazz was also looking at the comments, she had a slight smile, feeling happy for Pipp. Also, she felt happy for Stardust’s episodic play getting some good reviews and such.

Obviously, there were plenty of haters and all. Which was understandable since the plot was a bit rough as Stardust didn’t really plan much before writing.

“They really like your play!” Jazz exclaimed, “You do such a good job!”

”Hehe, thanks, Jay-jay.” Stardust giggled happily. She then noticed Jazz sigh a little. “Uh, why so blue?”

”It’s just that...” Jazz scanned through a lot of comments. Barely any mentioned her, sure it wouldn’t matter. But most of those that did clearly hate her role and felt she was hogging up the screen time. “How many more episodes until me and Pipp reunite?” She felt kinda hurt from those comments, she was trying hard, it wasn’t her fault. Besides, the episodes did cut to Pipp occasionally.

Pipp chuckles, “Aw Jazz! No spoilers!” But Stardust answered anyway, “This episode is the one where you meet Rebel and I think Reef and Galaxy’s father. Along with learning about the world a little more. Then after this one, you reunite with Pipp!”

”Spoilers!” Grumbled Pipp.

Jazz smile, “Don’t worry, Pipp! I won’t tell anypony!”

Izzy looked up, “But what about the readers!?” She shouted before meting muffled by Trixie

”Good point! Oh, well...” Pipp noticed the time, “Oh! We should get back to the salon!” Pipp exclaimed as she walked towards the doors with Jazz. “See you here next week, Stardust?” Pipp asked as Stardust waved.

”Yeah!” Stardust giggles.

”Oh yeah!” Pipp smiled as Jazz walked besides her.

Jazz looked st the filly, “I can’t wait until the next part! Your story is really great! I am having fun with it! Well... maybe besides how muddy I had to get before- Did it really have to be real mud?”

“Makes it better!” Stardust smiles, “Besides, you looked like a chocolate coloured jellybean!

“I did?” Jazz questioned, confused, since she never saw turquoise jelly beans. Or jelly beans covered in chocolate, in that case.

Trixie smiled as she watched them leave. “Heh, Trixie thinks she could have done better...”

Stardust smiled as Ethan, still the slug thing, sat beside them. “Silly Trixie!” Stardust chuckled as she went to go help the others pack up. Putting everything away, ready for next time.

One week later...

The whole cast except for one pony sat in the old Canterogic building. It had only been a few days since the incident tag took away a friend... but it felt like it had just happened. As a result, everyone arrived to practice, feeling glum. Everyone sat around quietly. Except for Ethan, who was nowhere to be found.

Trixie sat, facing away, wiping tears with her hoof. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this. Stardust sadly looked down at her book she wrote the plot in, along with information of the world of Mysticia. Now it was going to all go to waste because one of the stars of the show was gone... Because of some some selfish, greedy pony.

They were only there for like a minute, but it felt way longer.

”So... what will we do now?” Izzy asked softly as she looked around to see many glum faces. Along with expressions of sadness.

Stardust looked down at the script, she didn’t know what to say. She felt angry that all her work went to nothing, thanks to that selfish brat! “I-I tried...” She cried, “I tried finding a replacement but no-pony felt right, the script was written in a way to make it feel like it really happened...” She sighed, “And no one else is a manicurist at Mane Melody, so it’d be a hassle to change to somepony else!” She exclaimed.

“Yeah...” Pipp agreed as she sat down... “No other earth pony, besides Hitch and Sunny, were as close to me as Jazz... I just can’t replace her-“ Pipp felt angry about happened to Jazz. It was hard enough to say goodbye to her, she didn’t want to replace her. She felt irreplaceable.

“Maybe it doesn’t have to be a female earth pony, maybe we can use somepony else like Rocky?” GC, a purple griffin, asked.

“Yeah but...” Stardust sighed, “We already have a pegasus. Each of the trio needs to be a different race of pony...”

“We aren’t going to cancel, are we?” Izzy asked, really worried. She was so excited about her part in the story. She was loving it. She really didn’t want the story to go to waste after what happened.

“We can’t, the show has to go on!” Stardust exclaimed.

“But how?” Minty, a pink kirin asked. “I don’t think we can.”

Stardust looked around a bit, “Maybe we can ask Hitch or Sunny?”

“Hitch is extremely busy with other things...” Pipp explained. She then sighed, “It won’t be easy to replace her.

“Sunny?” GC suggested, shrugging.

Trixie shook her head in denial. “She and Stardust hasn’t been getting along since-“ Trixie then covered her mouth with her hoof as if she was keeping a secret.

“Since... what?” Minty asked.

Trixie looked to the ground, “I shouldn’t say...”

Everyone decided that it was something personal. It wasn’t the focus anyway. They needed answers on what to do next. Everyone felt mix thoughts of disgust, sadness and anger.

“What about Sprout?” Izzy asked. Hoping that he would be able to join in.

“I don’t think he’d be okay with this...” Pipp answered, “Also... he and Jazz didn’t have much in common.”

Stardust looked at Ash, “Maybe... Ash?”

Ash gasped, “No-no-no... no!” She was clearly scared. “B-besides! I’m not a manicurist at all! I can’t just replace someone like Jazz! Remember that I will have to play her part like nothing happened! I can’t just snatch that role from Jazz!”

Minty nodded, “Also. Since Jazz was playing as herself, I don’t think anyone would want to replace her. They wouldn’t fit.”

Pipp stood up, “She’s right! Stardust made that role for Jazz! No one else can play the part, it’s just so wrong!” She shouted, “I miss her, like every one of us, but that part was made special for her!”

“Maybe we have to rewrite everything... to fit someone else?” Minty suggested, looking glum.

“Still can’t believe Jazz is gone...” Izzy whimpered, ”I never thought a pony would have such thoughts to murder...”

Stardust sighed, “You’re right... maybe it’s best to put everything on hold... for now...”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Cancelling it seemed the best option... for now...