Cheerilee finally got back to her spot in the prompt's corner, still giddy with excitement. She stared at the stage without really seeing it, and it took her a few moments to notice that she hadn't started paying attention to the play at all yet; she was still just savouring Scootaloo's last moments in her mind's eye.
She shook her head a few times to get a grip, and focused on the stage in front of her. Once she did that it didn't take her long to figure out what scene they were currently on, and Cheerilee had to suppress another rush of excitement as she realised her next playtime wasn't all that far off.
She saw Silver Spoon (in her black noble's outfit) and Diamond Tiara (in the dark-purple gown of the Royal Advisor) approach Reginald's cottage. Based on where this scene fit into the story, that meant Cheerilee had missed the scenes involving Lance-a-lot's broken lance being delivered back to the Royal Court, as well as the ones where the king decided who to send next. Cheerilee didn't mind having missed these at all; they didn't interest her, she only cared about what was to come next.
The pink mare was very happy with the set pieces that formed Reginald's cottage, considering them to be very nicely made. Instead of an actual closed-off building, only the back wall and the left wall had been put into place, giving the audience a clean view of the building's interior. She didn't want to aggrandize her own work, but she was quite proud of the way in which she'd made this all fit together through her plans and instructions.
"... With care and caution, my dear Diamas," the grey filly with the silver mane said. "That's the only way to deal with a pony like him... if you want to harbour any hope of coming out on top, that is."
The white and purple maned filly nodded thoughtfully. "But of course Silver Tongue, I am well aware... And of course in our case, even more thoughtfulness is required... we're not simply telling him to stand down, after all..."
The two ponies exchanged a grin as they walked down the path towards Reginald's front door, which was placed in the wall on the right side of his house. Of course, the wall itself hadn't been built on stage, but the audience got the idea behind it easily enough. The two fillies nodded back and forth in front of the door, until Silver Tongue finally leaned forward with a sigh and knocked on the door.
The audience could see a small door open at the back of Reginald's house, as the antagonist himself stepped through it into his living room, carrying a teapot which he put down onto the table in the centre of the room, next to three cups that were already there. "Visitors at this hour of night? I wonder who it could be," the villain said louder than was perhaps needed, with a fourth-wall breaking wink at the audience.
He strolled over to the door and opened it, but he left the door chain in place. "Yes?" he asked while peeping through the small opening he had created, "I wasn't expecting any visitors today!"
"Forget the pleasantries, Reginald dear-" the silver-maned filly said.
"-we know you know who we are," Diamas finished the sentence for her companion.
Reginald's frown was clearly visible even to the people in the back of the theatre "Then why knock? Surely you don't believe I'd let you in just so you could apprehend me?"
The pair of fillies laughed. "Apprehend you? No my dear you have this all wrong, we don't want to apprehend you.."
"We want to work with you..." "To take care of the king..." "Once and for all."
The fillies remained silent for a moment before Diamas added. "We know you're a reasonable guy, Reginald... This will be beneficial to you as well."
Reginald closed the door and took the chain off before opening it fully. "Alright, come in," he said as he walked to the table in the middle of the room. He grabbed the teapot that stood there by the ear, carefully pouring tea into the three cups on the table. "Let's hear what you have to say then," he said as he started sipping from one of the cups.
The other two gathered around the table as well, each in front of one of the other two cups, which they stared at with suspicion. "How exactly do we know you haven't poisoned these?" Silver Tongue demanded to know.
"How do you know I didn't poison the tea I prepared without knowing you'd come and that I'm drinking myself?" Reginald mockingly replied.
The other two seemed to relax at this train of thought, sipping from their mugs slowly. It had been a rather long trip, and as ladies of style they did enjoy their daily cup of tea.
Diamas opened her mouth to start negotiations, when she suddenly fell silent and stared at the cups on the table. Three cups. "If you didn't know we were coming, why are there thr-" she started, before pressing a hoof up against her head as she took an unsteady step back from the table.
"Oh stars! You... you did poison us! But... you drank... how?" Silver said shakily as she sank to her knees.
"It was in the cups, not in the tea," Snips descried as he took another sip.
The two fillies were swaying about theatrically now, until Diamas suddenly blurted out. "Wait... my head... It was REALLY poisoned!" before both she and Silver toppled over onto the ground.
"Ehh... yes... I erm... really poisoned it?" Snips said in confusion. That wasn't in the script!
He walked over to a metal ring in the floor and grabbed it between his teeth, pulling it up to reveal a trapdoor.
He dragged the perfectly still fillies to the trapdoor one at a time, throwing them into the hole before closing it again. "And there they'll rot... Reginald doesn't deal with traitors, they're too... traitorous," he mused as he exited the stage through the door in the back of his house, the stage lights slowly going out.
By the time the curtains closed and the lights above the audience went on to signal the half-show break, Cheerilee was already long gone from her seat in the prompt's corner, making her way to an unknown destination under the stage...
