Today was an impressively packed Saturday, the first day of a three day weekend, which had the city of Canterlot bustling with activity. But it was a few miles outside of Canterlot, in a small town was where something different was happening. It was a school, which was having a special fund raising garden party on its sports field. It had all the usual fund raising activities, such as multiple food booths, tons of different games and a large stage where many different bands would be playing throughout the day.
Behind this stage was the Royal Knights, all preparing to go out in play. "Everything looking good?" Heather asked as she took her keyboard case out of the trailer Iron had towed there in his car.
She turned to First and Flash, both busy tuning their instruments. "Guitar's set," Flash replied as he strummed his electric music maker.
"So is the bass," First added as he did the same. "All we need to do is set up the drum kit that Iron brought."
"And I could use a little help with that," Iron grunted as he hoisted a long stand out of the trailer. "You gonna lend a hand or what?"
"You've already got a paw helping you out," Flash chuckled as they looked down to see Springer pushing an amp out of the trailer. "Good boy." He gave his guitar another strum, then turned to Heather. "It was nice of your aunt to let us preform here."
Heather's aunt was president of the PTA at this school, and just happened to be visiting when the Royal Knights were practising at Heather's house. Hearing them play, she was impressed and promised to get them a gig at the festival. "It's lucky one of the bands had to cancel," Heather responded, "Too bad you had to miss your special tour though."
Flash shrugged, thinking of the tour Heather was talking about. At this very moment, the Rainbooms would be arriving at the film studio currently producing the live action adaptation of the first Daring Do Book. Flash had never really been a big fan of Daring Do, but he had been looking forward to seeing the film studio. But that had gone out the window when the band got their chance to play, so he had told the girls to go without him.
"Wonder if they're there yet?" Flash commented before taking out his phone. "They better get me some souvenirs…" He hit Twilight's name in the contacts and after a few seconds, Twilight's face appeared on his phone.
"Hey Flash. How's the gig?"
"Well, we haven't started yet," Flash replied as his friends gathered around and Springer hopped onto his lap. "We were just wondering how things are going over there."
"They're fine," she responded, "The place looks amazing, and they're gonna start film in a few minutes-"
She didn't get to finish as Pinkie's face suddenly showed up on the screen, "Flash!" She happily cheered, "How's the party over there?! Remember, you gotta get me a slice of cake from there!" The other Rainbooms then squeezed onto the small screen, all smiling and giving them their own forms of hello.
"Wow," Flash chuckled, "You all look excited. Wish I could be there, but with great musical talent comes great responsibility."
"Whatever dude," Rainbow rolled his eyes, "Have fun at your garden party while we get the watch the ultimate movie ever being made." Flash gave her a deadpan stare, only for the girls to hear something that made them look away from the screen.
"They're about to start filming," Twilight chimed in, "Sorry. Gotta hang up."
"Don't worry about it. We need to get to work too, so have fun and I'll talk to you later." The girls all nodded and gave their goodbyes before Twilight hung up, the phone's screen saying her's was now in refusal mode. The mode was an app Twilight had made that stopped any calls from going through, so no vibrate or ringtone while Twilight was somewhere that needed absolute silence.
"Come on," Iron told Flash. "We've still got a lot of set up and not a lot of time to do it." They all nodded and started getting everything up, Springer helping out wherever he could by handing them wires or pushing equipment with his head. As for how he did this, it was something all but Flash questioned, the teen saying 'He's just that smart' before the dog agreed to stay offstage when the band were ready.
The Royal Knights started off with one of their best songs, getting the attention of everyone who was there and quickly hooking them. They played their hearts out, the audience loving every minute of it. But after five tunes, they were allowed to take a break, new musicians coming on as they headed offstage to get a drink and a bite to eat.
As they did this, Flash checked his phone and saw Twilight had turned off refusal mode. He called her again and when she answered, the girl seemed to be looking around. "Hey there, how's the movie going?"
"It's amazing," she replied, only for Rainbow to appear beside her, "There were a few issues..." she shot the athlete a glare. "But I think this movie's gonna be amazing. We've all split up right now to do our own thing."
She and Rainbow then gasped, "Wow!" Rainbow exclaimed as Twilight turned the phone to show some objects they were looking at. "These are the three Altoriosa Relics!" They ran up to get a closer look, Flash for a moment looking at Twilight's shoes.
"The Staff!" He heard his girlfriend cry.
"The Sword!" Rainbow spoke up.
"Don't forget the Arrow of Altoriosa." That voice wasn't one Flash recognised. Twilight spun around and Flash got to see the image of a yellow skinned girl with dark and light blue hair, wearing glasses, a purple jacket and a black shirt. "You're from Canterlot High, right?"
"Uh-huh," the girls replied.
"I'm Juniper Montage," the girl responded, "Canter the director's niece." She pointed at the props behind them, "What do you think?"
"They're awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed, Twilight nodding and moving the phone so Flash was staring at a set building.
Flash was about to speak up, but Juniper spoke up before he could, "A. K. Yearling is very hands-on when it comes to the sets and props for the movie."
"Have you met her?" Twilight asked.
"Just once when she came to check out the relics," Juniper replied before leaning in close and Flash got a good look at her shoes. "I did get her to sign a copy of the latest Daring Do book, though." She squeed and Twilight was so excited that she almost dropped the phone.
"Sorry Flash," she whispered while Flash just laughed.
"No problem. I know how you fan girls get when you meet up."
"Oh please," Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Like you don't get the same way when you meet someone who loves the same bands as you." Flash grumbled back, only for Twilight to look back at Juniper, "So what do you do here?"
"Mostly, I bring my uncle coffee and help get everything ready for shooting." She went on about how she had been on the set for all her uncles moves and knew practically the entire set. "I tried to convince him to cast me as Daring Do, but..." Her next words went into a bitter tone, "He really didn't go for that." She then shined a big grin, "Hey!" She clapped her hands, "Have you seen the set for Caballeron's secret lair?" Rainbow gasped at this. "They usually lock the door to that set, but I've got keys that open just about every door in this place. Come on, I'll show you."
They began to walk and Twilight turned to phone toward her. "Sorry Flash. Kinda got sidetracked there."
"Don't worry about it," Flash replied before noticing the time. "I need to get ready for the next set, so I'll call you later. Have fun." Twilight nodded and they hung up, Iron rushing backstage as he put his phone down.
"Come on! We're wanted back onstage." Flash nodded and grabbed his guitar before following the drummer. The crowd was more than excited to hear more, and as the band played, the whole field was paying attention to them. Flash wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, a bad thing because none of the booths were being used, but quickly forgot due to just having too much. So much fun that during the end of one of their songs, he started glowing, looking like he was about to pony-up.
His band-mates saw this and went wide-eyed, only for the song to come to an end and Flash's glow started to vanish. "Thank you!" Heather called out before Flash could ask if the audience wanted an encore, "You've been a great audience! I hope we've inspired you to help the school raise the funds it needs to give these kids a great education!" The crowd all cheered as Heather quickly grabbed Flash before he could do anything to blow his magical cover.
"Hey!" He yelped once they were offstage, "What gives?"
"You almost grew pony ears and wings!" First exclaimed, "How many time do we have to tell you to be careful? It is fine to pony-up during practise, but not during an actual show."
Flash blushed at this, "Oh...sorry. I didn't know I was doing that. I'm still getting used to this whole ponying-up when I play music thing."
"Well why did you wear that then?" Iron asked, pointing to Flash's geode necklace.
"That isn't what causes it," he instantly responded, "I left this at home once during practise and I still ponied-up. I asked Sunset and she has no idea why it happens. Says its just magic and to go with it."
"Right..." Iron rolled his eyes. "We're just lucky you didn't blow your cover and get carted off to be dissected."
"Alright, alright." Flash moved over to his bag with Springer sitting beside it, "Message received." He pulled out his phone. "But now that the gig's over, we can enjoy the fair ourselves." The three nodded as Flash checked to see if Twilight had called, she hadn't, but her phone was also open for calling. "Wonder how the movie shoot's going." He placed the call and waited...and waited...and waited. "Huh, not like Twilight to leave a call-" He didn't get to finish as the call was answered. "Hey...Twilight?" He raised an eyebrow at the sight of Twilight, who was heavily panting and appeared to be running. "What's going on?"
"Someone stole the relics!" She cried, "We think the main actress is trying to stop the movie!"
"And that's why you're running?" Iron asked.
"We saw someone in a cloak we think might be the..." She stopped talking, leaning over and panting.
"Thief?" First asked, getting a nod from Twilight as she, Applejack and Rarity came to a stop.
"I can't believe I lost them!" Rainbow's voice called out, "My geode gives me super speed, but I guess being awesomely fast doesn't help when the person you're chasing knows their way around better than you do."
Twilight turned the phone to Rainbow, as Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Spike stepped out from behind a screen. "Hey girls," Sunset told them.
"Any luck findin' Chestnut?" Applejack asked.
"We couldn't find her," Sunset sighed before Pinkie pulled something out of her hair.
"But we did find a cupcake fountain!" She threw the cupcake into her mouth and chomped down on it.
"Then we got lost and somehow ended up here," the bacon-haired girl continued, "What have you all been doing?"
"We spotted this super-suspicious cloaked figure, but they got away." Rainbow sighed, crossing her arms and flicking her eyes from side to side. "They're here somewhere."
"There you are!" A new voice called out and they turned to see a stage hand staring at them, "W-W-Where are your costumes?! We've got to hurry! I-I-I'm so gonna be fired if you aren't ready." He ran up to them, "The director wants to shoot in three minutes!" Before Flash could say anything, the stage hand started pushing the girls somewhere and in the confusion, Twilight accidently cut the call.
"Wait!" Flash yelped, but it was too late. "Twilight! Augh! What the heck is going on over there?!" He tried calling Twilight again, only to get no response. "Twi..."
"I guess the studio set was the more interesting place to be today," Heather commented.
Flash let out a sigh at this, "Well, it's not like I can do anything. We're an hour and a half away from that place without traffic."
"So what are you gonna do?" First asked, Flash shrugging.
"I guess I'll just have to keep trying to get through," he called again, but got no response. The others headed off at this, deciding to go have some fun while Flash and Springer continued to try and get through. But no matter how many times he called, the call wouldn't go through.
The teen soon gave up, deciding Twilight would call him when she could, so he and Springer got up to go check out the fair. They were happy that the place allowed dogs, the two getting to enjoy a bunch of different games, some delicious treats and even watched a puppet show. After laughing their heads off at Punch hitting Judy, Springer's bark sounding just like a laugh, they started looking around, only for a voice to call out to them.
"Excuse me!" They spun around and saw a blue skinned man with black hair, wearing clothes that were about ten years out of style and shades. "My boy," he told Flash. "You're one of those kids that was playing earlier."
"Uh...yes?" Flash nodded, "What about it?"
"Name's Smash Hit." He held out a hand, "I run a music store and recording studio." Flash shook his hand, "And kid...you're music's something special."
"Err...thanks, I guess."
"You kids ever record yourselves?" Smash asked, Flash shaking his head. "You're wasting your talents. If you kids made your own album, you could sell it and make a fortune."
"Really?" Flash raised an eyebrow at this, "I don't think we're that good yet..."
"Of course! You guys could be the next PostCrush. You could have everything you ever wanted if you just let me get you out there." He slid up besides Flash and put an arm around him. "Imagine it. You and your friends on the cover of every magazine, getting to fly first class to gigs and concerts all across the world. Hordes of screaming fans, wanting a piece of you and waiting hours just to get your signature on something. Girls wanting to be with you. Boys wanting to be you. It can all be yours."
"That sounds...interesting," Flash replied, "But my friends and I don't really plan on going pro with our music. This is just something we do for fun. Actually, my band-mates already know what they want to do in the future."
"I'm guessing those plans require going to college," Smash countered, Flash nodding, "College is expensive kid. Spending a year or two as a musical superstar could go a long way to helping pay for it." Flash blinked at this, Smash chuckling at his response, "Just think it over," he held up a card that Flash took. "Call me if you guys decide to do business." With that, he walked off and disappeared into the crowd.
Flash looked down at the card, wondering what might happen if the Royal Knights did try to make it big and sell CDs. But before he could give the idea a proper thought, his phone went off, the teen quickly answering, "Twilight!" he stared at the screen, "What happen-" His eyes went wide, "What are you wearing?!" Twilight was dressed in a rouge bodysuit with a goggled mask over her face. "Wait..." he squinted his eyes, "Are you...dressed as the Masked Matterhorn?"
"Maybe," Twilight blushed, "Sorry I hung up earlier. I just noticed all the missed calls."
"You can make it up to me by letting me see your full outfit." Twilight blushed even harder at this before glaring at him, Flash rolling his eyes, "Oh, come on. How often am I gonna get to see you in something like this?" Twilight sighed, but then used her magic to lift the phone into the air and move it away enough for her entire form to be seen by the camera. "Wow..." he whispered, "Looking good." It was then that an idea popped into his head, one which made him smirked like the grinch, and the teen pressed a button on his phone.
This caused it to make a snapping sound and the image on the screen froze for a moment, capturing the picture and storing it into his album. Alas, this didn't go unnoticed by Twilight.
"Did you just take a picture of me like this?"
"Maybe," Flash chuckled, Twilight going fully wide-eyed.
"Delete it."
"Nah," Flash shook his head. "I think I'll make it my wallpaper."
"Flash!"
"After I send it to Shining."
"No!"
"And Cadance!"
"You're so dead when I get home!"
"And your mom and dad."
"FLASH!" Flash couldn't help but laugh at his girlfriend's plight, needing to wipe tears from his eyes.
"So what's going on?" He asked, "Were you able to find whoever stole the relic props?"
"No..." Twilight sighed again, "Whoever it is caught us in a net and Rainbow ran off."
"But don't worry," Pinkie's voice told him. "She left a trail of pudding!" Flash raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what the heck Pinkie had been eating on that studio set. "There's no more pudding here, which means she must be nearby!"
"Hello?" Twilight called out, "Is anyone here?"
"Rainbow Dash?" Applejack added, "Where are ya?" Flash was about to ask why they didn't just try calling her, but he was interrupted by the rattling of a door. He then heard a voice, but it was muffled.
Twilight pointed the phone toward Fluttershy, Flash snickering at the sight of her and the others in their Power Ponies costumes as she placed an ear to a pair of doors. "Hello?" She asked. "Rainbow Dash? Are you in there?" There was another muffled cry, "It's okay Dashie. We're here." Fluttershy tried to open the doors, but she couldn't pull them open.
"I'll go find somebody with a key," Sunset responded, only for Twilight to speak up.
"Wait." The phone moved as Twilight gave it to Sunset, then stepped up and pressed her hand to the door. Flash watched as Twilight grabbed her geode, activating it with her hands now glowing.
"That's my girl," Flash chuckled as he heard the door click. A moment later, the door shot open and Rainbow leapt out and tackled Twilight to the ground.
"Boy am I happy to see you!"
"Did you just make that lock unlock itself?" Rarity asked as Twilight and Rainbow picked themselves up.
"Nice!" Sunset added as she handed Twilight the phone, Applejack speaking up next.
"Thinkin' maybe we should all start wearin' our geodes around. Never know when our new magic might come in handy."
"That's what I always do," Flash told them.
"How did you find me?" Rainbow asked, "I gave up banging on the door five minutes ago."
"Pudding never lies," Pinkie giggled as she took out a large tub of the brown treat before tipping it into her mouth.
Flash was about to ask what she meant by that, but Sunset spoke up first, "Hey," She pointed to a brown dress Rainbow was holding, "Is that the costume that went missing when we first got here?"
"Yeah," Rainbow handed it to her. "But I didn't see the person who locked me in, and there's still no sign of the relics."
"Huh..." Applejack replied, "Ah say we head back to the scene of the crime. Maybe there's somethin' there that could lead us ta dah relics."
Twilight chimed in at this, "Or, we could let the culprit lead us to them!"
"How?" Rainbow asked, "I just told you I didn't see who locked me in here."
Flash couldn't see it, but he was pretty sure Twilight was smirking at this moment. "I've got a pretty good idea who our thief is. But we're gonna need Canter Zoom's help to catch her."
"Who is it?" Flash asked, only to hear a beeping sound. "What's that?"
"Oh," Twilight looked down at her phone. "That's my battery. I knew I forgot to do something last night. It's about to die."
"What?!" Flash yelped, "You gotta be kidding me! I can't miss out on this!"
Twilight let out a laugh, "Payback for for that photo you took. Now you have to suffer from FOMO." The others laughed while Flash moaned, "Don't worry, I'll tell you all about what happens...if you promise to delete that photo." But before Flash could reply, Twilight's phone died and the screen went blank.
"Oh, come on!" Flash cried, Springer letting out a whine. He tried calling the others, but either they had their phones on silent or Twilight had told them to ignore him. He wouldn't put it past her to do that. Since he couldn't find out what was happening, he headed over to the stage again, now seeing the fair was beginning to come to an end. Here he spotted his band mates, all enjoying candy they had gotten while Heather was cuddling a teddy bear.
"Hey!" Heather waved at him, "Managed to get in contact with Twilight?" Flash smirked back, showing them the image he had captured. The three ended up laughing for five minutes before Heather said, "Please send me that."
"No way," Flash replied as he put his phone away, "I'm in enough trouble taking it. If it somehow spreads around school...well, I like being in a relationship." He then took out the card from Smash Hit, "Also, you'll never guess what happened earlier." He showed them the card, all three going wide-eyed.
"He wants us to record our songs onto a CD?" First asked, Flash nodding. "Incredible."
"He seems to think we've got potential," Flash responded, "What do you guys think? It could be a great way to make some money before we head off to college."
"Yeah," Iron smirked, "I'm liking this. It's not like we'll be able to play as well as we can now forever. Maybe making a CD is a good idea."
The other two nodded, Flash slightly frowning at this. But before he could say anything, Heather spoke up, "Say, why don't we think it over and come back to it another day? Maybe talk it over with Twilight and the rest of your family. Ask them what they think."
Flash nodded back, the Royal Knights soon packing their things up. And as they headed back to Canterlot, lash's mind burned with so many questions. Who was it that stole the props? What would Twilight and the others say when he told them about his unusual offer and if they did decide to sell some CDs, how much would they actually end up making? Those thoughts alone kept him occupied, not responding as they went down the road.
That evening...
Twilight and Spike had finally gotten home from the studio, the shoot taking even longer thanks to Rainbow's constant interruptions while filming. In Twilight's opinion, it had been a pretty good day. They had gotten to solve a mystery, save an awesome film from being ruined, and even got to have small roles inside the film. She couldn't wait to see it when it came to the big screen.
And as the two walked into the house, they were greeted to the sound of her parent's laughter. It was here she instantly remembered what Flash had done and ran into the dinning room, now spotting Flash with his phone out, along with her parents. When he noticed her, he gave a coy smile, confirming to her what her parents had just seen. "FLASH!" She screamed, but Flash ran away, the two soon playing a nice game of cat and mouse around the house until Velvet stopped them. It was at this point Twilight remembered her magic, using it to grab Flash's phone.
"Hey!" He tried to grab it back, but Twilight quickly deleted the image. "Party pooper," Flash sighed before Twilight threw the phone back to him. Twilight smirked and headed back to the dinning room, completely missing the smile on Flash's lips. He had backed it up onto his laptop.
The four, six including Spike and Springer, all sat down to dinner and Twilight explained everything that had happened at the studio. Turns out, the director's niece Juniper had been the thief. She had been trying to delay the film so that the lead actress would quit and she could be cast as Daring Do. Obviously, she hadn't gotten away with it and had unfortunately been fired from the set.
"Well that's what you get," Night Light commented as he dug into some meatloaf. "You can't go around risking people's jobs for your own self interests."
Velvet nodded before turning to Flash. "So how was your day? Did the concert go well?"
Flash nodded as he swallowed his food. "Yeah, it went really well. The audience really liked us. In fact..." He stopped himself, not sure what to say next.
"In fact what?" Twilight asked, Flash remaining silent for one more moment before taking a deep breath and telling them about Smash Hit, the three gasping.
"You should do it!" Night exclaimed, "This would be great for you. You might even end up being world famous one day."
"But I don't wanna be famous," Flash replied, "And it's not like we can really become a real band. Iron, First and Heather are all gonna become cops when they graduate."
"That gives you a few years to be famous," Velvet added, "Lot of famous singers and celebrities retire after a few years so they can do something they really love. This is just a good way of building up a little nest egg for yourself."
Flash nodded as he continued eating, then turned to Twilight to see what she was thinking. "I don't see any harm in you making CDs," Twilight responded, "If they sell well, that's great. If they don't, at least you tried. And if you do start getting offers to go big...well, you can cross that bridge when you come to it."
Flash nodded, and after a few more minutes of thought, he decided he was gonna make the CDs. And when dinner was over and the plates were all washed up, Flash headed up to his room with Springer. Once there, they laid on his bed as Flash texted his friends and told them he was in. They quickly messaged back, all agreeing to meet up and call Smash tomorrow.
And when the last message was sent, he heard a knock at his door and Twilight looked inside. "Hey," she moved over and laid next to him, "You call the others?" Flash nodded and told her his plans. "That's good." The two then laid there, enjoying the comfortable silence. "Flash?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you actually considered what you're gonna do after you graduate? I mean, you never talk about your plans for the future."
"Mostly because I have no idea what I want to do in the future," Flash replied, "I've always been more focused on living in the now, you know. The furthest ahead I usually think is a week."
"Flash..." Twilight sighed, "You need to decide what you want to do. Graduation is not as far off as you think. If you don't decide what to do, you could end up flipping burgers for a living."
Flash rolled his eyes at this, "Alright miss smartypants, do you know what you're going to do when you graduate?"
"Of course. I'm going to apply for every college in the country with a strong science program. The one I really wanna get into is in in San Francisco."
"You wanna go to a college on the other side of the country?!" Flash asked, Twilight nodding her head against his chest. "That sounds...far."
"Maybe...but it's only for a few years. I'll probably come back after college, or maybe I'll travel someplace else and do some more studying. I'm not sure yet. But I know for a fact what I want in my life. To continue to pursue the world of science and help find a way to improve the world through it."
Flash chuckled at this, "That sounds like you." Twilight nodded again, the two falling into another comfortable silence. As they laid there, Flash thought about what Twilight had said and wondered what his future goals should be. He had never really thought about it, the only thing he had ever focused on being helping Twilight in whatever way he could. But he also knew she was right, knowing he needed to start thinking about the future.
But as he thought this, a simple question entered his mind that made him smirk, 'I wonder if San Francisco had any school I might enjoy attending?'