We spent mornings in rehearsals down in the basement, that being the best time for all to be awake and ready. Twilight, Starlight and Strike came up with a way to ‘record’ my memories on a crystal and play it back for Low Note to ‘hear’ and transcribe. It also came with a memory booster, so I can remember the complete songs, not just fragments. It was useful, but it gave both me and Low Note headaches while using it, so we kept its use to a minimum. I did recover the one song I wanted to do for Fluttershy, the ‘Talk to the Animals’ song from ‘Doctor Doolittle’. We practiced that song about an hour a day until we got it down to my satisfaction.
Low Note also kept busy writing music, cranking out about two songs a week. He also taught me how to read the music properly, how to see the page, yet only notice what I needed to notice, ignoring the rest. I wish I had a music teacher like him back in junior high- I may have stayed with instruments, rather than relegating it to a hobby.
After Hearthswarming, all of us were invited to Canterlot Castle for what can best be described as a Command Performance. The princesses wanted to hear our music live, not off a record. We timed the trip to combine it with a stop at Topspin Productions, not only to drop off the monthly ten, but to do the ‘Talk to the Animals’ song for Fluttershy. Setting up was tedious, and it did take much of the afternoon to record, what with Topspin being a perfectionist, but that’s why he is tops in the music field. We got the song done and pressed, but only a dozen copies. I did not feel ready to release this yet, and this is special, my gift to Fluttershy.
That evening, at the castle, I presented Fluttershy with the recording. I have never seen the little pegasus more excited in my days in Equestria than when I put the record in her hooves. Her reaction to the first play was beyond description. If pure ecstasy could be personified, I saw it right there. I never saw a thestral blush before, but all four in the band did at Fluttershy’s thank you.
Next day, I walked to Topspin’s with Strike and Low Note as escorts to do the ten per month obligation. We were unmolested, but there were a couple of nasty looks from some potential ne’er-do-wells, which we noted down, but did nothing about. Looks were just fine. Thoughts are just fine. Actions can have consequences.
The Command Performance is being held in the Castle, with a number of notables attending, including Blueblood and his clique. We really had no way to keep them out, because nothing could be proven to implicate any of them. The band had spent much of the day doing setups while I was at the studio, so we could be ready for the after dinner show.
The performance was all we had hoped it to be, doing fifteen songs live and in pony. The applause was thunderous after every song, the Princesses radiating approval from their box seat. In this case, yes, ALL the Princesses were there, including Princess Cadance, whom I have heard about, but never met. Didn’t have any cause to go to the Crystal Empire.
Once the show was done, we all cleaned up and changed before heading out to mix and mingle. When somepony tried to thank me, I deflected the praise to the band. After all, without them, I would not be worth much on my own, right?
Blueblood worked his way over to me late in the party. “Your music does have its attractions, but I still intend that you will lose the bet,” he said haughtily.
“Gee, I don’t know, Blueblood, it looks like you’re way behind already. Do take a look at the sales figures being recorded at the First Canterlot Bank and tell me I’m not having a positive effect on society,” I told him, not backing down from his stare.
“I am not responsible for the foolishness of the common pony, Tristan. You can be assured of losing, because I always win.” Blueblood sniffed.
“Not this time, dandy,” I said to his face before turning and walking away, leaving him spluttering.
I had not gone ten paces when I heard, “Nice move, Tristan. Put him in his place, yes?” It was a voice I was not familiar with. Turning to look, I saw Princess Cadance there looking at me, smiling. How did I know it was Princess Cadance? Simple- it was an alicorn I had not seen before. Knowing there are only four alicorns, and I was friends with three, that sort of narrowed the field. Her regalia closed the deal.
“I do try, Princess. I try to get along with every pony I meet, but he seems determined to put me down beneath his hooves. I refuse to allow it. Can you blame me?” I said in reply, bowing slightly.
“Not in the slightest, Tristan. My compliments to you and your band. Such music was unknown until you came along. I have all your music that has made it to the Crystal Empire so far,” she said to me.
“Well, while here in Canterlot, you can catch up with what you don’t have. Want an autographed copy?” I asked her, combining eagerness, innocence, and admiration all at once, or so I hoped.
“That would be delightful! Which song will it be?”
“I don’t know, Princess. I have yet to pull one out of a box. I have to get the whole band to sign it before me, because without them, I will be nothing,” I said gallantly.
“As you desire, Tristan. Also, you will be nothing without a special somepony in your life. You have one near you. Don’t ignore her. I will be leaving in an hour. Will you have the record by then?”
“Yes, Princess. It should not take that long,” I told her before moving out of the ballroom, going to where I knew the Princesses kept the records, Inky Spot trailing me.
“I wonder what Princess Cadance meant about a special somepony,” she said to me as I dug up a record.
I shrugged. “Damned if I know. Who would want to hook up to somepony like me? I’m always under a microscope, as well as being in somepony’s crosshairs. Nopony would be that foolish,” I said, heading out of the storage room.
Inky Spot let out a small giggle as we walked back to the ballroom. “I would not be that sure, Tristan…”
“Why do you say that, Inky?”
“Well, she IS the Alicorn of Love…” she said as we got back to the ballroom. I gathered the band to autograph the record’s dust jacket, and we, as a group, presented the disc to Princess Cadance, who accepted the gift in a matter befitting a Princess. I noticed her gaze lingered on Silver Strings and I.
“My blessings be on you all for your fine music,” she said to us, tucking the record under a wing. We all bowed to her, then the formality vanished and we chatted for a while, not with a princess, but with a fan. A refreshing change, for all involved.
It was not until we got back to our suite of rooms when Strike approached me, his phone copy in his glow. “Plan A is in effect,” he said bluntly.
“Do you know who lifted it?” I asked, checking my pockets. Sure enough, my decoy phone is missing.
‘That’s your job,” Strike told me. “You know how to work it, not me.”
I took his dummy in my glow and put in the access code, which, I hasten to add, is NOT the real access code. The display lit up, and I called up the data for Decoy One. It showed when the phone was taken, where it currently is, and the status of traps, currently quiescent. I tried the camera function, but all I saw was black, and the audio did not tell us much of anything, either. “Captain Strike, I need first a map of the Castle, then of Canterlot. After that, assemble the band. Alert the Solar and Lunar guards. Once the trap has been sprung, we shall pounce.”
“Yes, sir!” he said, saluting before heading out. Brave pony, he is, galloping inside the castle. If I tried that, I would be wall pizza at the first turn. I paid attention to the screen. It showed slow movement, like it is being carried by a walking pony. I had vector description of its location, but Google Maps never made it out to Canterlot, so I have to wait on paper maps of the area. While I comprehended navigation, I’m not what you call practiced at it. I was a stores keeper, not a quartermaster!
When Accurate Strike returned with the maps and a representative of the Solar and Lunar Guards, the rest of my guardians had gathered with me in the sitting area of the suite. Vectorex, the other female thestral in my group, took the maps and dummy phone two, putting them on the coffee table. She looked back and forth for half a minute, then pointed to the city map. “There it is. What you would call the high-rent district of Canterlot. Nobles live there, nobles high up the list,” she reported.
“Someone like Prince Blue balls?” I asked.
Vectorex pointed to another part of the map. “No, he lives over here. Once it stops, we can get a better fix.”
The captain of the Lunar Guard, a senior thestral named Bold Stroke, looked at the map and at the phone. “I can have a detachment shadowing any movement and report in to me,” she said in her commanding voice, which got my attention, for sure. How could a female thestral have such a voice?
I nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me. They have not tried anything with it, so we’re safe for now. Once they input the wrong code, they are in a rude surprise,” I said.
“What sort of rude surprise?” Bold Stroke asked.
“The device will detonate, spreading a quantity of fluorescent dye over everypony and everything within twelve feet. INDELIBLE fluorescent dye. The only way to remove it is with a counter spell that I don’t know. The Princesses do.”
Bold Stroke chuckled, something that made the thestral members of the band look at her in surprise. “Oh, I like that! That is so sneaky!”
“I have to give credit to the inventor. I like it too,” I said as I watched the vector numbers change on dummy two. Looking back and forth from the map to the dummy, I started to figure out where dummy one is. Does not help much when you’re not familiar with the city OR vectors in a strange place. Bold Stroke left to issue orders. I really must get with Twilight and work some more on my radio idea…
Within forty-five minutes, we had surveillance in place, a squad of thestrals circling in the darkness over the heads of a small knot of ponies walking along a prosperous boulevard. The knot was seen entering an upscale apartment dwelling, where they took station on neighboring rooftops, watching all sides.
In our command center, a dozen ponies were trying to watch a four and half inch screen. Never comfortable. Then again, I never like being in a crowd. I was watching when a light glowed on the screen of dummy two, which told us we had an image. Hurriedly, I activated the video feature.
We all saw a group of ponies, mostly unicorns with an earth pony in the mix. The picture only lasted a few seconds before it turned off, the last sight being of a unicorn who I knew but could not put a name to. “Bold Stroke, alert your troops, the trap has been sprung. Look for fluorescent pink ponies trying to make an escape. Also do what you need to do to get inside and find out which room they tripped the phone at,” I said, but the thestral commander had started acting before I finished, taking off and out to do the deeds herself.
“Who wants to come with me to let Princess Luna know what’s been going on?” I asked sarcastically. Just as I expected, everypony in my guard force said they would. Good ponies, all of them. “Well, let’s go secure an audience, shall we?”
We went into the throne room in wedge formation, with myself at the point, Silver Strings and Accurate Strike behind me, the rest of the day crew behind them, and the thestral contingent bringing up the rear. We got Luna’s attention very quickly. When told to, I gave the full report, as I knew it up to the time of Bold Stroke’s departure. “You have done well, Tristan, you and yours. Allowing the malefactors to steal what they thought was your music box and trapping it. Very smart of you,” she said from the throne dais.
“Don’t thank me, Your Highness. I didn’t build the thing. You know who did,” I said with a polite bow.
Luna nodded, having caught my subtext not to mention just who DID set this all up, namely Time Turner. We were not alone in the throne room, and who knows who is on Blueblood’s team? “That I do, Tristan. I will order that thou beist informed of the capture shortly after I find out the details. I know it has been a long day for thee, so go and get some sleep, both you and your loyal followers.” When she used the Royal Canterlot voice pattern, I knew it would be senseless to argue.
I bowed, deeper this time. “By your command.” I droned in my best Cylon voice, which drew some shocked gasps from the Night Court courtiers, but a smile came to Luna’s eyes but not mouth.
“Thou art dismissed,” Luna concluded. In a choreographed move, all ten of us pivoted in place, and we inverted the triangle as we walked out, to put me back in the lead of the formation. Hell, yes, we like to show off! Especially to an appreciative audience! Even my missing the door handles to the throne room, leading me to walk into the doors, did not spoil the effect one bit. I hope nopony noticed the combined glows of Strike and Strings keeping me upright as we marched out of the room. I didn’t regain consciousness until the second flight of steps. Good thing with my shades on, nopony can tell if my eyes are open or shut. I was put to bed once in the suite and was told in no uncertain terms to get some sleep, that Strike will take reports from The Princess. For once, I did not argue.
In the morning, I found out who all got splattered with pink dye. A total of seven nobles, all part of Blueblood’s clique, along with Blueblood himself and the earth pony who was carrying the decoy after somepony light-hoofed it from me during the party. Questioning lasted through the night, but confessions were not exactly forthcoming. Neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna decided to remove the dye just then, telling the ones foolish enough to be near that they should come back in a week, because the counteragent to the dye would have arrived by then. Celestia is not malicious, she is stern. Luna, I’m told, did not stop laughing for a good five minutes after the perps were released. Celestia just smiled.
Ten days after the command performance, word arrived via D-mail that the pickpocket had finally been identified, the clique breaking down and confessing when told the ‘shampoo’ to remove the pink dye ran into sudden unexpected delays. That noble I knew was a fan of my music, but I did not know she was a member of Blueblood’s clique. Goes to show, innocence can hide a lot of things.
I also received an unexpected item in the mail from Canterlot, a letter from Blueblood. To sum up what he said, he admitted I was right, that I have been a force for positive change in Equestria, enclosing a check for fifty thousand bits. Mind you, the admission was couched in a whole lot of noble look-down-your-nose-ese, and some words I had to go to Twilight to figure out what they meant. Apparently Blueblood and I share a common trait, using obscure words and languages to cover up our true feelings. I did send him a nice letter back, thanking him for his donation, and asked if we could meet socially on my next trip to Canterlot. That was three weeks ago, and I’m still waiting for a response. I know Derpy isn’t that slow in delivering mail! I have an intact copy of the main Canterlot paper secure in my safe, with a picture of a pink Blueblood placed right in the middle of page one above the fold, in full color. The negative publicity and ridicule is still going on, for all I know. The bits I donated to the Ponyville school, to get updated materials and building repairs. For three days, every foal I encountered hugged me, some more than once.