//------------------------------//
// Go Go Power Ponies! 
// Story: Movie Magic: the EM2 cut 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

The Rainbooms, Juniper, and Canter all gathered on the Mareapore set, looking closely at the box that had contained the relic props. To say there was an atmosphere of panic was something of an understatement. The lid was closed, alright. But the relics were nowhere to be seen.

Rainbow Dash was trying to explain to Canter what she had seen, all the time gesticulating wildly as she spoke. "I wanted to check them out again up close, and they weren't there!"

Twilight leaned in more closely to look at the box. "The lid is in the down position," she observed, "but there's no sign of the attached padlock being forced or broken. In fact, it looks as though somebody unlocked the padlock, took the relics out, then closed it again. However, they either lacked the time or skill to relock the padlock, which is why it is open."

Canter's face was an expression of horror. "Who has the keys here?" he asked, glancing at Juniper. "As far as I'm aware only one person has the keys on them at all times!"

"I got here after Rainbow Dash did!" Juniper protested. "I'd just come back from a coffee run, then heard Rainbow yelling and came to find out what the fuss was about!"

"I can back her up on that one," Dash replied. "She entered from stage left after I did, and they were gone when I was here."

"Should we check the security cameras?" Twilight suggested.

"We don't have any covering this section of the set and most are down for maintenance," Canter admitted. "Argh, whose idea was it to display the relics with no security? This can't be happening! What are we gonna do?!"

"Couldn't you just get the prop department to make new ones?" Sunset, ever the pragmatist, suggested.

"The missing relics were personally approved by A. K. Yearling!" Canter explained, sweat trailing down his face. "We could  have new ones made, but we can't use them until Miss Yearling has given them her official stamp of approval! You think it'd be easy to reach someone who is always holed up in her office writing, but Miss Yearling is a very difficult woman to track down."

Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, had a look of worry in her eyes. "I-It'll be okay, though, right?" she asked, seemingly on the verge of tears.

Canter shook his head. "Things couldn't be worse. Chestnut's contract with us is almost up, and with Mount Vehoovius  collapsing, and now this, I fear we'll have to stop production altogether, or worse cancel the film altogether!"

"But- but you have to finish this movie!" Rainbow Dash stammered. "Think of all the Daring Do fans who'll be so disappointed if you don't!"

Twilight began asking a question. "Are you sure there's nothing you can do to-" Suddenly, an ear splitting crash interrupted her.

Canter looked over in a panic. "I'm so sorry. Please excuse me. Juniper! We need to run damage control!" As they walked away, Juniper suddenly said something very odd.

"I did suggest to have backups made, but that wasn't approved for some reason."





Twilight put her hand to her chin. "Hmm... There was trouble with one of the costumes when we first arrived.  A set that was fine yesterday just collapsed. And now, the most  important props in the movie have been stolen. I don't think these are just coincidences."

"Me neither," Sunset replied, looking around the set as she did so. Her hand rang along the top of the glass lid of the relic prop box. "All the things that have gone wrong on set have put production on hold. It seems to me like someone is going to a lot of trouble to make sure this movie doesn't get made, which is made easier by the complete lack of security around here."

"Who would want to-?" Spike began to say, before Fluttershy cut him off.

"Oh, dear! You don't think..."

Rarity then cut her off. "Oh, no no no no. Certainly not!"

"What are you getting at, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"When Rarity and I followed Chestnut Magnifico to her trailer, we overheard her saying something about shutting down the movie..."

Rarity interrupted again. "Yes, but she said she wanted something shut down. We don't know that she was talking about the movie."

"Besides," Twilight said, "as far as we know she doesn't have access to the keys, making it impossible to open the box and take the relics. As I said, there appears to be no sign of forced entry."

"Maybe she's just really mad that they're always running out of her imported butter praline crunch bars."

Pinkie's comment caused Sunset's eyes to light up. "Bon Mot butter praline crunch bars?" she suggested, taking out the discarded wrapper she had picked up earlier. "But this one has the letter J on it, and Chestnut's name begins with a C, which would... oh no."

"Those are the ones!" Pinkie explained.

Spike looked sheepish. "We, uh... may have tried a few ourselves. Heh," he said quietly.

"Sunset," Twilight asked, "what are you getting at?"

"We found this on the Mount Vehoovius set right before it collapsed," Sunset said. "This one has a J on it, which would suggest it belongs to Juniper. If my thinking is correct, that would make her responsible for the set collapsing. There are only two exits for that soundstage, one of which results in you arriving from stage left on the Mareapore set. If Juniper had unlocked the case and moved the relics, she would've had ample time to sabotage the volcano set and then appear as if she had only just arrived!"

"And she's the only one we know of with the keys," Twilight noted. "It sure seems like all signs are pointing to Juniper as the one causing all the problems around here."

"I don't know who's behind this or what's going on," Dash exclaimed, "but the first thing we need to do is find those relics so production can resume!"

"I agree," Twilight answered. "The relics were here earlier, and if Juniper is behind this, then they must still be around here somewhere. If they vanished shortly before Dash got here, that would mean that they are still on the lot!"

Yes darling," Rarity interrupted, yet again, "but what does Juniper have to gain from jeopardizing her own job by disrupting production? I find it implausible she would do something so dramatic, as it would leave her unemployed!"

"Trust me," Sunset snorted, "back in Equestria I saw nobles do far more stupid things for utterly petty reasons."

"Well, she might do somethin' like this if she was tryin' to get out of workin' on a movie she didn't want to do." Applejack had been completely silent up to this point, but her comment suddenly made them think.

Twilight, in particular, had the cogs in her head turning so fast steam was coming from her ears. "Wait a minute," she said. "Juniper is a Daring Do fan, so her not wanting to work on a Daring Do film makes no sense!"

"Why don't Fluttershy, Pinkie, Spike, and I follow Juniper, figure out where she's gone, and see if we can find anything out?" Sunset asked.

"Let's do it!" Pinkie cried. "We're certain to find the cupcake fountain that way!"

Most of the girls just looked at her in disbelief. "Not our biggest priority right now, Pinkie!" Dash exclaimed.

"In the meantime," Twilight continued, asserting control over the conversation, "we should look for the relics."

"Where do we even start?" asked Applejack. "Life ain't like Scooby Doo. It's not like there's some mysterious, thievin', cloaked figure we can chase after and say, 'Hey, tell us where you're keepin' the relics'!"

"You mean, like that one?" Rarity asked. Leaning against a wall on the back of the set was a figure dressed from head to toe in black, wearing a hood. They suddenly seemed to notice them, and sped off.

"Do you think that's-" Sunset started, but Rainbow Dash was ready to go into action.

"Hey! Stop right there!" she shouted. Activating her geode, she thundered away, leaving a rainbow trail behind her and a group of frazzled students.





Rainbow Dash flew down corridors and skidded around bends, trying to keep up with the mystery person up ahead. But no matter what she did, she didn't seem able to keep up with them, as they kept vanishing. She skidded to a stop in the centre of an access corridor, puffing and panting as her friends caught up.

"I can't believe I lost them!" she exclaimed angrily, grabbing her geode as she did so. "My geode gives me super speed, but I guess being awesomely fast doesn't help when the person your chasing knows their way around better then you do."

"We know how your geode works," Sunset said, appearing from around a corner.

"But those audience members who didn't see Legend of Everfree wouldn't," said Pinkie.

There was an awkward silence as everybody stared at her. Then Applejack broke the silence. "Any luck findin' Juniper?" she asked.

"We couldn't find her," Sunset replied, annoyed.

"But," Pinkie said excitedly, "we did find the cupcake fountain!"

"Then we got lost," Sunset continued, "and somehow ended up here."

Rainbow Dash glanced over at her. "We saw this super suspicious cloaked figure, but they got away." She sighed. "They're here somewhere."

Suddenly, a nervous production assistant appeared, with blue hair and pink skin as well as a blue shirt and khaki slacks. "T- there you are!" he exclaimed. "W- where are your costumes? We've got to hurry! I- I- I'm gonna be so fired if you aren't ready! The director wants to shoot in three minutes!" And he bundled the girls off before any of them could protest.