The Golden Days

Chapter 2

Sweetie Belle laughed.

"That's a great joke!" Dancer said. "You should go tell the boss that one!"

"Woah," Soprano replied. "No way in hell are any of my jokes touching the boss' ears. That'd be bad for all of us."

Sweetie Belle nodded to herself. It was fun hanging out with her troupe. They sang, just like her. They sometimes danced, just like her. They were just the most well-matched group of ponies for herself. But yet, even though she had the perfect friends, she felt like something was missing; two things that she desperately needed.

She dropped the thought, instead focusing on the rest of her troupe. They were by far the most well-known group of singers in Equestria. They traveled from town to town, city to city, just to spread their melodious sound.

"Guys," Bass said in his deep voice, interrupting the conversation. "We should be focusing on preparing to get on stage. We've got twenty minutes."

"Don't be such a worrywart," Soprano said. "It's fine. Nothing bad's gonna happen if we don't practice. We've done this plenty of times. You know, talking until, like, ten minutes before?"

Bass grumbled under his breath and stalked off. Soprano watched him go, then gave a hearty laugh. He turned back to Sweetie Belle and Dancer.

"What's his problem? Can't stand social interactions?"  said Soprano.

"Well," Sweetie Belle said. "We do have to practice. What is we mess up cuz' we didn't practice?"

"Not gonna happen," Dancer said. "We're not gonna mess up. We're too damn good to do that."

Sweetie Belle sighed. Dancer and Soprano continued talking as she walked off.

'They really need to think of the top priorities at the moment,' she thought. 'Which don't involve talking.'

She walked into the dressing area, which nearly blinded her. The hundreds of dresses and suits were covered in sequins and metal pins, reflecting the room's light in every direction so the the entire room looked like the inside of a disco ball. She walked into the next room, the warm-up room.

Bass was already in there, and he looked angry. He was muttering to himself, and didn't seem to have noticed her. He was staring at his hooves, his eyes concentrating on a single point on them.

"Hey," Sweetie Belle said.

Bass jumped. He looked around and saw her standing in the room.

"Oh," he responded. "Hey."

He then reverted back into his muttering and staring at his hooves.

"Do you want to warm up together?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Bass jumped once more, swinging his head around wildly. His eyes settled on Sweetie Belle again.

"Huh?" he asked, confused. "Oh, okay."

He stood, and walked over to Sweetie Belle. They stood side-by-side, singing their different preparation tune; and then began to practice parts of their show tunes that sounded out of tune at times. There was a voice from outside:

"Time to go on stage!"

Sweetie Belle blinked.

'Wow, time flies when you're practicing!' she thought.

She walked out of the room, through the changing room, which now was empty, for the clothing was needed for onstage, and onto the platform before the steps that lead onto the brightly lit stage. She began to breath deeply, pushing down the nervousness that always appeared before performances.

The rest of the crew arrived, and they began their walk onto the stage. They walked on side-by-side, and Sweetie Belle was immediately met with thousands of screams, cheers, and hooves thumping on the ground. She looked out, squinting her eyes because of the lights now shining down upon them.

There were all sorts of ponies out in the crowd. There were teenagers drinking and smoking; one of them appeared to be doing drugs; there were little children, being kept in control by their mothers, and adults of all sizes and genders.

They stood side-by-side on stage and began the show.

******

They walked off the stage, thousands of screams echoing in their midst. They went into the changing room and removed their sparkling sequin suits and dresses. They went over to their seperate mirrors and began to remove whatever make-up they were wearing.

They finished after a half-hour, and began their walk into the open.

They left their sheltered building and began to walk through the roped-off area, hooves reaching over the edge, papers and pens flying everywhere, and the occasional extreme fan running out from behind the roped-off area into the pathway, only to be grabbed by policeponies, who knocked them out and dragged them off.

As Sweetie Belle walked, she noticed a pony following her through the crowd. She felt that the pony was familiar, and she was curious on who it was.

'It's probably just a hardcore fan who's gotten good deats at every show,' she thought. 'I've just seen them so much in the audience that they are familiar.'

Them pony then pushed her way up into the front row, and Sweetie Belle looked upon a face that brought back fleeting glimpses of memories. There was an orange pegasus in these glimpses, too, along with the pony in front of her. There were memories of ziplines and cannons; of a scooter and a bow.

The pony suddenly jumped the rope and ran foward with a cry of ,"Sweetie Belle!". She ran up to Sweetie Belle, faster than any police officer could run, and hugged her.

"Sweetie Belle!" she said, tears rolling down her face.

Sweetie Belle looked at the pony and felt thousands of questions rise in her throat. She almost blurted them all out, but only one came from her throat.

"Who are you?"