The Pony Variety Show! Offseason

Chapter 2
The Cutie Mark Crusaders go Crusading
Part 1

It had been 3 days since the cast and crew of the PVS took a break, and Bobby was already bored.

“Come on, think,” he said to himself. “There's gotta be something I can do to pass the time.”

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. As Bobby opened the door, he was rather surprised to see Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo standing in front of him.

“Hi girls,” Bobby said. “What are you all doing here?”

“We're here to see if we can get our cutie marks in the theatre business,” Sweetie Belle replied.

“And we were thinking that maybe you could show us how to do all of that technical stuff,” Applebloom continued.

“Yeah!” Scootaloo said. “Maybe our special talent is sound mixing or lighting!”

Bobby remembered back to the last time he saw the 3 try to get their cutie marks. He was focusing lights for episode 4.

* * *

“How long do I have to stand here?” Rainbow Dash asked. “This is way too boring for me.”

“Just a few more minutes,” Bobby replied as he climbed the ladder above the stage. “It's kinda hard to get up to these lights without wings.”

When he made it to the top of the catwalk, Bobby looked down and saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders pull out a large cart with about 15 cans of paint.

“Alright, girls,” Applebloom said. “Are y’all ready to get started?”

“Yep!” Sweetie Belle responded as she laid out a large sheet of paper. “I can't wait! Scootaloo, would you like to do the honors?”

“Of course!” Scootaloo said. She cleared her throat and yelled the seven words that would eventually spell disaster. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER 30 MINUTE ART CHALLENGE!”

The three fillies dived into the paint cart and got to work. Applebloom grabbed a paint roller with her teeth, dipped it into a red paint bucket, and dragged it along the paper. Sweetie Belle used her tail as a makeshift paint brush, sweeping it for side to side. Scootaloo held a small brush in her mouth, but decided not to use that. Instead, she jumped into 4 paint buckets, one hoof in each bucket, and ran across the paper. Bobby tried to ignore the chaotic events below, and got back to work.

About 30 minutes later, Bobby came out of the break room to find most of the stage covered in paint.

“3... 2... 1... Stop!” Applebloom yelled. “Brushes down! Let’s see what we made.”

“Ummm... Where’s the paper?” Scootaloo asked.

They began searching the now multi-colored stage for any sign of the paper that they started with.

“Hey! I found it!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she pointed to a corner of the paper sticking out of the mess.She tugged on the corner and peeled the page off of the paint. They looked at it to inspect their “artwork”.

Applebloom was the first to speak. “I’m honestly having a hard time figuring out what we made.”

“Hmm...” Sweetie Belle concentrated as she examined all corners of the page. “It kinda looks like a manticore wearing a top hat, dancing with Applejack.”

“Who cares what it looks like?” Scootaloo responded. “It’s art. Let’s just sign it.”

Bobby was trying to figure out exactly what the Cutie Mark Crusaders had made, and he didn’t notice Twilight Sparkle walk up next to him.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STAGE?” Twilight loudly exclaimed. Bobby jumped in surprise.

“Don’t do that, Twilight. I almost had a heart attack,” Bobby said as he caught his breath.

“Bobby, why is half the stage covered in paint?” Twilight asked.

“Well, the Cutie Mark Crusaders decided to try to get their cutie marks in painting, so they did a 30 minute art challenge. Then this happened.”

“Alright, I'll need all hooves on deck,” Twilight said. “We've got 2 days until the next show, and this stage needs to be spotless!”

* * *

“So, what do ya think, Bobby?” Applebloom said. “Can you show us how you do all of that tech stuff?”

Bobby thought about his response. If he said yes, the Cutie Mark Crusaders could damage some expensive equipment. However, if he said no, the three would probably go into ‘cute mode’ and give him diabetes.

“Okay, fine,” Bobby replied. “But you have to promise me to be very careful. This equipment is very expensive. Do you all understand?”

“Yes, sir!” They said in unison.

“Okay, let's go. Follow me!”

The three ran to the elevator. As Bobby joined them, he thought about what he had just done.

“This is not going to end well,” Bobby said under his breath as the doors closed.