//------------------------------// // Episode 14: Pimp Our Castle // Story: My Little Pony: Sparkling Harmony: Season Three // by Captain_Cosmos //------------------------------// It was bright and early on a beautiful summer day in Equestria. Sparkler smiled as she carried a large crate that was just delivered in her magic. “Finally, it’s all here.” She said as she trotted into the kitchen where her lovely fiancée was drinking her coffee. “Delivery! The wiring from Pony Wire arrived!” She announced as she placed the crate on the floor. Twilight beamed. “Perfect! Now we have everything we need for a complete tech makeover of this castle!” She exclaimed excitedly. “Intercom system, a better radio broadcast solution, finally wiring up the stage room.” Sparkler listed off their planned upgrades. “And we can see if your converted radio dish works for our phones.” Twilight beamed in excitement. It had been months in the making, but at last, everything arrived to improve the castle. Her personal favorite upgrade was a radio Dish that she tinkered with to be able to essentially ensure, in no uncertain terms, that the phones that Sparkler and the kids brought from the future actually worked as intended. “Not gonna lie Sparkler, when you guys brought back phones from the future, I was excited because it meant I had a chance to FINALLY experiment with a popular communication medium in the bipedal world.” Twilight explained. Sparkler giggled. “Too bad you couldn’t duplicate my phone with the same functionality intact.” She said. The minute everything calmed down when they got back from Detroit, Twilight tried to clone Sparkler’s phone so that their whole family would have them. Twilight smiled. “May not have been able to replicate the phone, but I have other means at my disposal.” She said as she lit her horn and summoned something Sparkler wasn’t expecting, a lavender phone that had Twilight’s Cutie Mark on it. Sparkler blinked before her mind caught up with her. “How did you get that?” She asked. “My friends in the Bipedal World were very helpful.” Twilight responded. “And my counterpart over there gave me a very detailed rundown on phones and how they work.” She explained. Sparkler blinked. “Oh…” Sparkler remembered recently when Twilight left for the Bipedal world. “Is that why you went there?” She asked. “Partly. I also just wanted to visit my friends there.” Twilight responded. “Did you meet my counterpart there?” Sparkler asked. Twilight shook her head. “No. And I did ask. Nopony knows your counterpart.” She said. Sparkler nodded. A bit disappointed, but she wasn’t expecting a yes. After all it was one in a billion chance. “Well then, maybe that’s the first thing we should do.” She suggested. “Set up your little experiment. “Yes!” Twilight responded, fluttering her wings cutely. “Let’s go set up the first cellular network in Equestrian history!” Sparkler chuckled as she and Twilight opened the crate to get at its contents. And so they got to work. Thanks to magic, they didn’t need to do anything special to jam the wires through the castle walls and run them all over the place. In time, Twilight found herself in the breaker room while Sparkler hovered near the tippy top of the castle to ensure everything was good with the cellular dish. “Thank goodness you DIYed your music studio Sparkler.” Twilight said through the walkie talkie. “That experience is gonna come in handy now.” “I just can’t believe you never found the breaker room until yesterday.” Sparkler responded. “You lived here for how many years now?” “In my defense.” Twilight responded. “I had no reason to look for it until now. In hindsight, probably should’ve found it earlier. Faust last night was tedious.” Sparkler chuckled over the walkie talkie. In preparation for this project, Sparkler and Twilight located the breaker room of the castle, which conveniently was also in Sparkler’s house’s basement, and spent the whole evening mapping it out. Which took even longer now that both the castle and the house shared the same breaker box. “It was worth it though. Because now we know exactly where every electrical circuit goes.” “Plus we have extra slots open for things like this cellular network. You ready up there Sparkler?” Twilight asked. “Ready Twilight.” Sparkler responded. “Let’s light this candle.” Twilight nodded and flipped down her safety goggles. After securing them, she held up a pair of wires and touched them together. There was a spark, and then a powering up sound. She smiled. “So far so good.” She magically summoned her phone and checked. Much to her delight, she saw that she had full bars. “Full bars, that’s a good sign.” She dialed Sparkler’s number and it rang. After a second, Sparkler picked up the phone. “You are a go for chat.” Twilight heard Sparkler say. Twilight smiled and hung up. She lit her horn and teleported to where Sparkler was, hovering in front of the cellular dish. “It works! It really works!” She exclaimed. Sparkler smiled and put her phone away before hugging Twilight. “This was a good idea you had Twily!” She said. “We have a reliable method of communication over long distances now.” Twilight and Sparkler hoof bumped and Twilight whipped out her phone again. “Let’s call the kids.” She said. After dialing Melody’s number, they were delighted to see that the signal went through. After a nice video chat with the kids, and after meeting their sons’ cabinmates, Sparkler and Twilight resumed wiring up the castle, shifting their focus to the intercom system. Starlight helped with this project. Eventually, after testing every single intercom unit, they moved on to the last planned project, completing the ball room they had converted into a performance room for Sparkling Harmony Records. There were lights, some smoke machines, mics, speakers, and there were film cameras just in case Sparkler’s clients wanted to make a short film. Just like the cellular dish was Twilight’s pet project, this performance stage was Sparkler’s. After a bit, Sparkler hooked up the final light, and she, Twilight Flash Starlight and Flappy, his kids, and Maddy stood back. Sparkler held her breath as she raised a remote. “Ok. Wiring’s done. Let’s see if this works.” She said. “Squawk! Let’s make it shine. Squawk!” Flappy said. Sparkler nodded, and pressed the button. The stage lit up as the speakers blared to life. The lights reacted to the beat and overall everything was working as intended. Maddy barked happily as Flappy’s kids smiled widely. “Crow! It worked! Crow!” Flapperina exclaimed. Maddy and the kids raced onto the stage and started to dance. Flappy smiled at Sparkler. “Squawk! Looks like we got another service to offer our clients. Squawk!” He said. “Yeah!” Sparkler responded excitedly. Twilight smiled, happy that her fiancée was happy. She listened to the music a bit and had an idea. “Hey Sparkler, wanna get up there and give the stage its inaugural performance?” She asked. Everypony smiled and voiced their agreement. Sparkler smiled sheepishly, before agreeing. “Oh alright.” She said as she trotted up to the stage, summoning her guitar. “Let’s rock this castle! 5 4 3 2!” She started jamming on her guitar, putting SHR's newest expansion to good use. To be continued…