Chapter Text
After the show, all the Muppets were gathered backstage, having a post-show meeting to discuss the box office for their show and talking about what parts of the show the audience seemed to enjoy.
"I gotta say, it was great to perform again," Beard said.
"Yeah, I haven't seen an audience that liked our music that much since our Jim Henson Hour days," Charlie admitted.
Then Flash mumbled something, which Clifford translated, "Flash says, 'hopefully my old groupies haven't taken notice that I performed again. I was actually a little happy to be free from them'."
"Don't worry, Flash, we took precautions in case that were to happen," Kermit told the saxophonist. "I told everyone to not invite any women they don't know into the theater."
"And you're sure that'll keep the groupies out?" Digit asked.
"Positive."
Meanwhile, Aria was walking around by herself near the back exit, when she heard a bunch of murmurs from outside the door followed by a knock at the door. She opened the door slightly to see who wanted entry.
She saw a small group of female Muppets she couldn't identify, who all seemed very excited to be at the theater. One of them noticed Aria had opened the door and said, "Oh look! Someone opened the door for us!"
"Aww! She's so cute! I wonder if that's someone's daughter!" another woman squealed.
"Would you mind letting us into the theater, sweetie. We need to speak to someone," another girl asked.
Aria wasn't sure who these women were and she was about to shut the door when one of them pulled a few chocolate bars out of a handbag she had with her. "I'll give you these candy bars if you let us in."
Aria looked at the candy bars. Nobody has ever given her candy before, especially not as a reward for doing what she was told. She decided that maybe these women didn't mean any harm and opened the door.
The woman gave her the candy and asked, "Do you know where Flash of Solid Foam is?"
Aria nodded and pointed down the hall to the backstage area where the Muppets were having their post-show meeting, where the women bolted off. One of them asked the woman who gave Aria the candy, "Why'd you have all those candy bars?"
"I was thinking they'd have the bear security guard they had on Muppets Tonight on guard. I heard he can be easily bribed with food," the lady answered.
Aria shrugged off the girls' antics and went to find Robin, Bean, Betina and Belinda to share her newly acquired candy.
Back with the Muppets, Kermit was talking about how the Electric Mayhem would be back on Sunday, but he wasn't sure if they would want to perform for the show next week since they'd done shows for almost a whole week, when they heard excited squeals.
Before anyone knew it, Flash was mobbed by a group of girls! "The groupies!" Flash audibly hollered.
"Uh-oh! Someone let the girls in!" Clifford exclaimed.
"Girls! Girls! You're not permitted backstage! We'll have to ask you to leave!" Kermit told the girls, but they didn't seem fazed by Kermit's words. They were more interested in Flash.
"Help!" Flash shouted.
"Don't worry, Flash, we got it," Charlie said before she and the rest of the band began pulling the groupies off of Flash and taking them out through the other exit in the theater near Kermit's desk.
After a couple of minutes, all the fangirls were out of the theater, leaving a very frazzled Flash. He mumbled something with what seemed like an annoyed tone, where Kermit asked, "What'd he say? That didn't sound happy."
"He said 'so much for your precautions'," Clifford stated.
"I'm so sorry, Flash. I have no idea how they got into the theater. As far as I know, everyone in the theater is present right here so I don't know who let them inside," Kermit said.
At that moment, the 5 Muppet kids walked into the room, eating the chocolate bars Aria was bribed with. "I don't know where you got this chocolate bars, Aria, but it was nice of you to share them with us," Robin said.
"Chocolate bars? Piggy, did you buy candy earlier today?" Kermit asked his girlfriend.
"Yes, but it wasn't plain chocolate bars. It was a bunch of Milky Ways," Piggy admitted.
Clifford walked up to the kids and asked, "Where'd you get that candy?"
"Aria got it, but we don't know where," Bean answered.
Clifford nodded and looked over at Aria, "Did someone give you that candy?"
Aria nodded.
"Was it a lady?"
Aria nodded again.
"Was she with a group with other women?"
Aria nodded for the third time. Upon this, all the adult Muppets groaned in annoyance, causing her to look around frantically, wondering what she did wrong.
"I guess I should've told the kids to be aware of the groupies. I thought they'd be more wary of strangers, but I guess I was wrong," Kermit sighed.
"See, what'd I tell you! Might cause trouble!" Darci stated.
"Can it, Darci!" Yolanda snapped at the Goth woman.
"What! Aria did something wrong, didn't she? She let those weird groupies into the theater," Darci said.
"She didn't know who they were," Annie Sue said.
"Still, she let them into the theater and they attacked Flash, right after Kermit said that it wouldn't happen. Aria needs to be punished for this," Darci said.
As soon as Darci said "punished", Aria began shaking and whimpering, on the verge of tears. What were they going to do to her?
Seeing Aria in distress, Clifford looked back at Darci and said, "Come on, Darci. She didn't know who those women were. I don't think we need to punish her for this."
Darci groaned, "Oh come on, don't tell me you're going easy on her just because she 'might' have come from an abusive home."
"She probably did!" Clifford argued.
"Yeah, but we don't know for a fact if she did."
"Well, she looked ready to freak out when you suggested we punish her. I'm pretty sure she got that treatment a lot wherever she came from."
"And for all we know, she got punished a lot because she's a troublemaker!"
Seeing the two Muppets argue, knowing that it was about her, made Aria more afraid than she already was. Would she get punished for what she did or would she not? Was she really a troublemaker?
Miss Piggy, seeing the little Muppet's scared demeanor, turned towards Clifford and Darci and snapped"Will you two knock it off! You're making Aria freak out!"
Clifford looked at Aria, seeing that the pig diva was right, and said, "Sorry Aria. Didn't mean to scare you."
Darci just grumbled, "Oh for Pete's sake, does this kid get frightened by everything?"
Flash then mumbled something to Clifford, who said, "Flash said that he's not mad at Aria over the groupie thing so he forgives her for her mistake."
"Oh good," Kermit said, glad that Flash was the forgiving type. "Well, it's been a long day. I think we better all get home."
"Good idea, but I think with the chocolate the kids just ate, they might have trouble falling asleep," Scooter said, motioning at the five Muppet kids now all jittery from ingesting their sugar-filled treats.
"Oh boy," Kermit groaned.