A few old friends in the Canterlot Guard had pulled some strings to “loan" him a few companies of cocky young cadets and junior guards in need of some “practical training exercises”. A quick letter to his sister-in-law Rarity had put him in contact with the Manehattan Actors Guild, and with their help (and a few hastily worked out contracts) he had a population of "villagers" and "civilian bystanders", all working the union day rate. Best of all, thanks to Sunburst, he even had a village! It was an old ghost town in the foothills of the mountains that his Court Wizard assured him hadn't been inhabited in years. Something about it being the former headquarters of some kind of failed anti-cutie mark cult. The buildings were in disrepair after a decade of abandonment, but some plywood and a paint job was cheaper than fresh construction (and more importantly: there would be no one to complain about property damage).