Canterlot First Annual All Foal Hearths Warming Pageant! (Info in Ooc thread)

[QuickLime]

Info here

Reno sighed as he stood backstage, fixing his costume, playing the role of Clover the Clever, strapped to his head was a prop unicorn horn, he had read her lines the best so he had gotten the part, despite not being a unicorn..or a filly for that matter, but he was pretty proud to be getting a lead instead of Tree#5! Not that there was anything wrong with being a tree but he would much rather get more lines other than "Rustle Rustle Rustle"! He soon had his costume on and secured, moving to take the script, sighing as he sat down to read his lines again "Now we're soon to be as cold as our hearts!" He read from the script before hugging a nearby mannequin .

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom had never been an actress before! Well, she had been given parts like trees or shrubbery or the random mail pony, but this time she was a main character! Big time, big lights in the small town. She had initially been a bit skeptical but then realized she could get a cutie mark in actressing and got a bit excited. Of course she initially wanted to play the same role that her big sister had when they played their parts at the official pageant in Canterlot, but the director had looked her over and decided Princess Platinum was who she'd play. It seemed a bit silly since she wasn't a unicorn, but a little bit of glue later- they couldn't get the band around her mane- and she was the proud owner of a horn. Then she was in her costume which was cheap but effective and well boy howdy she had memorized her lines unlike Reno.

"Y'all ready there?" She asked the colt whom she was still not entirely fond of, "Ah reckon we'll be goin' pretty dang soon if whoever is runnin' this wants ta get it done in time," she finished, removing her crown and fixing her mane. It would prove to be an annoying foe with endless ways of digging at her but she didn't seem to have much choice in terms of what sorta fashion she wore to this. It woulda been better if she could have kept her bow on but nope, needed the crown and her mane was down instead of up and geez louise was it not just the most annoying little spat. Oh well. She'd get hr cutie mark in actressing and be a super famous pony so a little bit of annoyance was a worthwhile sacrifice.

[Pretzelparty]

This was unexpected. Bebop had originally auditioned for the part of Chancellor Puddinghead as a joke. Wasn't it a surprise that her audition actually got her chosen despite her inability to speak any lines. She wasn't sure what exactly was going through the teacher's head when she chose her. Bebop had been on the stage only once before, when she was barely a filly and her parent's wanted to show off her off during a concert.

Despite her reluctance she wanted to give the best performance that she could, her grandparent's were in the audience and the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint them along with her classmates.

She had already memorized her lines for the play, it wasn't that different from memorizing the sheet music she was always trying to play on her harmonica. It seemed somepony hadn't fully memorized all his though. After Applebloom asked the colt if he was ready she poked the earth pony's shoulder and smiled slightly nervously while her notepad she set beside her read,"Are you ready to go , your highness?"

[Bellosh]

Theatre wasn’t something Babs Seed ever thought she’d do anytime soon. Until now, she had been content with doing nothing more than watch big-spectacle Manehattan stage productions and sing a couple of songs along with the rest of her class during her school’s annual Hearth’s Warming Pageant. But this year, one of the filly’s cousins told her she should try out for that super-important Canterlot Pageant; she’d get a acting cutie mark, they said… among other things.

After some contemplation, Babs decided to try out for the role of Commander Hurricane. Out of all the mane six characters in the play, Hurricane was the one Miss Seed felt like she resembled the most. Babs and the Commander; forceful ponies of action who didn’t take nonsense from nopony. It was a tough battle, but the natural tough-flavored charisma of Babs Seed won out over the refined talents of proven foal actors, ensuring Babs actually got the role!

The night of the performance came, and Babs had just finished dressing up in the fake armor she’d use to portray Commander Hurricane. She did her best the past few days to memorize her lines, but given the distractions of the holiday season, the Manehattan filly did not do as well of a job as she arrogantly supposed. Filled with impatience for the upcoming event that would start shortly, the “Commander” tapped her hoof as she griped; “When will ‘dis show start already.....?”

[QuickLime]

Reno glanced over at AppleBloom and just frowned softly, going back to his script "Yeah I'll be ready.."He didn't forget their class field trip, so now he wasn't too fond of AppleBloom either since she had purposefully tried to get him to mess up! But there was no time to focus on that now, they were going to be part of the biggest production of the Hearths Warming play! They'd be seen by thousands of ponies!...Reno felt his knees shake a little bit as he got his hood on, checking his horn...a stage pony helping him with his make up..the horn was easily attached with a nylon band, like with a party hat, he felt a little weird but looking in the mirror he struck a pose and smiled, it reminded him of his Auntie dearest Miss Fortune..

"Ready as I'll ever be!"

[Blueblood]

In almost every theatrical production played mainly by foals, there usually is one role played by a slightly older actor, more as an on-stage supervisor than any actual character in the story. The tradition was probably started by this very play, as it was the oldest on record that young ponies regularly were cast in. In any case, the Narrator of the Heart's Warming Pageant was generally there to move the story along if lines were forgotten, clarify events if the blocking was muddled, and other such tasks as generally came up when plays had few rehearsals.

The only scripted lines the narrator had were his cues, the rest, by necessity, generally had to be ad-libbed. For this, a ready talent for quick, natural-sounding improvisation was the key factor in casting, and so, this year, the role had fallen to one Wordsworth Psmith, who came in now like a spy from the cold. The lavender unicorn slipped in through the backstage door, stamping to warm up his hooves as a light dusting of snow was shed from his black overcoat and top hat. Shedding the coat, he came in through one of the stage entrances, announcing himself by trolling out a traditional carol of greeting:

"Blessings on this house and all ponies young and old,

Who open doors to travelers to come in from the cold!"

With a flourish of magic, he swept his hat in an extravagant gesture, and bowed deeply to the young actors and actresses. "And greetings to you all, my thespian comrades! The cry goes 'round the castle walls, from east to west we have assembled the finest young theatrical talent from all across Equestria to enlighten and entertain, in this, the tale of our founding harmony!" He looked around the room, expectantly. "Well, what do you think? Does it quite strike the right note of greeting? Of warmth and holiday cheer? The impression first, that is everything in a performance."

And so it might have dawned upon the gathered foals, with creeping horror, that their narrator had arrived.

[tacobob]

Wind Walker was not a happy pony. Once again, like last year, she had tried out for the coveted role of ‘Commander Hurricane’ for her school's version of this play, but she ended up being picked for the good Commander’s subordinate, just like before! Not only did she lose, she lost to an earth pony! While she sort of liked Apple Bloom’s cousin, the Pegasus pony considered her a bit of a party-pooper and an tattletale. After spending time to relearn her lines, she was sized up for her stage armor. While the Private was rather lame, she at least had an interesting set of armor. After getting help from one of the teachers, the little filly was able to slide into her 'armor', which looked like metal, but was actually made of a thick cloth.

The blue pony paused to admire herself in the mirror and practiced her emotes. While the much braver Hurricane would require an actor to show an assortment of heroic and brave faces, the Private would be quite the opposite. After trying out a few whimpers, whines and cringes, the little pony decided she was ready! Wind took a moment to watch her fellow performers. There was a cute colt who apparently really liked one of the dressing mannequins. She spied Apple Bloom and couldn't help but be amused by the idea of seeing the heroic little earth pony as she played the arrogant and buffoonish Princess Platinum. The pony who played Chancellor Puddinghead was a true surprise! It was the sweet and shy little filly she had met during an trip through the recently uncovered crystal mines under Canterlot. While she dared not to ask, Wind wondered how she would play such a role. Would she try pantomiming the silly Chancellor's lines, or would she stick to her trusted notepad? Whatever she did, the filly was rather proud of the girl. And of course, there was Babs Seed, playing the role Wind was born to play!

The filly's bottom lip drooped a little and she quivered. "Ooh! That's perfect!", she caught the rather pathetic look she was giving herself in the mirror. That was something she believed was known as 'method acting'. Her brother, Moon Walker would be proud. Once she was more than sure she was really-really ready, Wind Walker made her way towards the others, "Well guys, this is it!". This was certainly it. Not only were her parents, brothers and other assortment of relatives out there in the audience, her school friends were there too! Thankfully she beat ol' Mister 'Stage Fright' years ago during her very first play, but then there wasn't that many ponies watching back then!

She glanced towards Wordsworth Psmith as he made his dramatic entrance. "Oh-oh.", she thought to herself. This guy should meet her brother, Moon Walker. Both were major stage-geeks. They'd get on like a house on fire. Normally, the filly would have a clever response to throw back at the colt, but she was too nervous to speak! Blasted jitters!