Parodies Of The Past

Sweetie Belle recieved her script from Miss. Cheerilee. A quick glance at the papers told her that she had gotten a major part in the school's Hearth's Warming play for friends and family. Which wasn't exactly what she wanted. She probably should've auditioned for the role of "Tree One," or maybe even joined the cast. But no, she had auditioned for "Rarity" and had, unfortunately, gotten the part.

With a soft groan, she crawled back to her desk and skimmed some of her lines. It was everything she had expected: She just had to use a fancy voice and be generous. At least she got to sing the song she liked. As the last filly had gotten her part, the bell rang and dismissed all the school ponies. "Remember, tomorrow is going to be our first rehersal," Cheerilee shouted as everypony rushed out of the Ponyville Schoolhouse.

Sweetie Belle sulked outside and noticed Applebloom and Scootaloo waiting for her outside. As she walked over to them, Applebloom noticed her friend's glum expression. "What's wrong, Sweetie Belle?"

"Oh, I just got a part in the play that I didn't really want," Sweetie Belle explained, showing her friends the script.

Applebloom smiled as she read the paper aloud. "Rarity. That's great! We'll all be together for most of the play!"

Scootaloo nodded in agreement as she and Applebloom handed Sweetie Belle their scripts. "And the best part is," Scootaloo added, "we'll all be playing our older sisters! Well, our essentially big sisters, in my case."

Hearing this, Sweetie Belle cheered up a little bit. "I guess it'll be fun to do the play with all of you." She wasn't exactly excited to play a Guardian of Harmony, but Rarity got to sing a pretty song in the play. She was looking forward to that, and it was even better that she got to walk around with her friends on stage.

As they walked towards the clubhouse, Applebloom said, "I can't wait to see who the other Guardians of Harmony are going to be!"

Me too, Sweetie Belle thought to herself. And I hope I can work with them.

"We'll be having a guest performer in our play," Cheerilee announced. "Everypony, please welcome Spike! He'll be playing himself." As Spike walked into the classroom, everyone started cheering. Then, the class quieted down and Spike sat down in a corner of the room.

With that, Cheerilee started calling out the names of those who were in the cast. The Guardians of Harmony were first, and Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo had already been called and were currently standing with Spike. "Twist will be playing Pinkie Pie," Cheerilee announced, recieving applause from the classroom. "Our Twilight Sparkle will be none other than Zipporwhill!" After one more set of cheers, she announced, "And Coconut Cream will portray Fluttershy!"

Sweetie Belle looked back and forth between the other Guardians of Harmony. She wasn't close to any of them, but she knew they were all kind and would be easy to work alongside. She also knew that Applebloom used to be best friends with Twist, so that was a bonus. And the Cutie Mark Crusaders were decently close to Spike, as he often accompanied Twilight when she lectured the foals.

For the rest of the day, after Cheerilee finished announcing roles, each group of ponies practiced saying their lines and moving around as if they were onstage. Sweetie Belle was pretty happy with the way everything had turned out. She didn't fumble over any lines, she was a star to her classmates when it came to singing, and best of all, she had created a sort of bond between herself and Zipporwhill, Twist, and Coconut Cream.

With a smile, she headed home. She decided to hide any of this from Rarity, as she could give the spectacular performace to her as a gift—a surprise. At dinnertime, she steered the conversations away from anything related to the play. At night, she made sure Rarity was out of earshot before singing a song from the play as a lullaby. As anypony could clearly see, she wanted to keep the play, and her role in it all, a secret. Until Hearth's Warming Eve, of course. She couldn't wait until Hearth's Warming Eve, when she could show Rarity the play.

Cheerilee clapped her hooves as her students had finished a quick rehersal all together. "That was near perfect! All we need are the set, props, and costumes. And to think it's only been two weeks since we started!" She turned to Toola Roola, head of the designer crew. "How are we doing with those?"

"Well," she started, "We've already memorized our few lines and finished creating the props. We're almost done with the sets, too. All we need now are the costumes, and we were thinking that, if it's alright, Rarity could make the costumes for the play?"

Cheerilee smiled and nodded. "I think it's a splendid idea! Sweetie Belle? Could you ask Rarity if she could make costumes for us?"

Sweetie Belle was frozen there in a moment of silence. She didn't want Rarity to know about the play, but she didn't want to have the play turn out badly either. She nodded. "I'll ask her as soon as I get home."

Cheerilee and the designers crew smiled at her. "Thanks for doing this, Sweetie Belle," Toola Roola said with a smile. Sweetie Belle returned the smile but inside wondered how she was going to give Rarity the surprise of the play now.

Sweetie Belle knocked on her sister's bedroom door. After waiting for a response and not hearing one, she opened the door and peeked through. Rarity was busy sewing, and Sweetie Belle quietly slipped in. She flopped onto Rarity's bed, messing with words and figuring out how to break the news to her sister.

After a while, Rarity noticed her sister sitting on her bed. "Welcome home, Sweetie! Sorry I didn't see you there sooner. Did you need something?"

She bit her lip, then nodded. "So, our class is putting on a play. And, um, Miss Cheerilee was wondering if you could make the costumes for us."

Rarity smiled. "Is that all?" After a confirmation from Sweetie Belle, she inquired further, "What type of costumes?"

"I don't know," Sweetie Belle half-fibbed. She knew what her play was supposed to be about, but she wasn't sure what the costumes where supposed to look like. "You'll have to ask Miss Cheerilee." With a nod from Rarity, Sweetie Belle hopped off the bed and went into her room. The play was almost ready, and it was only going to be a week until she had to perform her play. Not to mention her big role. She sighed and fell asleep, awaiting the day of the play.