a threat is made inside the Canterot operahouse and only two siblings can help a mysterious pony stop it
In a world without magic, Flash and Fluttershy are two new rising singers at the Canterlot opera house who decide to help a mysterious pony by doing two things: protect the opera house from a terrible threat made by a patron, and help write an opera with no story! While working on their part, they recall their last memories of the life they knew before they came to the opera house and try to solve a puzzle on whether or not the rest of their family is alive. Is my take on how POTO came to be...with ponies! There are a lot of people who inspired me and still do, so thank you! Cover art by ChaosQueen! Edit: rated teen for violence
In the moonlit streets of Canterlot, a Pegasus colt along with a filly and newborn foal wandered around the empty streets in search for shelter. The filly's gaze always shifted from the cobblestone street to the foal that rested in the colt’s one arm, then at the latter. “I miss mom and dad” she whimpered as tears started to form in her eyes. The colt turned to face the filly with a look of solemness and sadness, embracing her in a comforting hug with his free hoof “me too, Fluttershy. Me too.”
It was a cool autumn morning in Canterlot with ponies in the streets running their errands, but there were lots of ponies hard at work at the Canterlot opera house, the biggest structure in the city.
The opera house was bustling in the backstage area where performers were practicing their steps or their lines while the stage hooves were moving sets around the stage for the evening performance.
Two unicorn stallions walked into to the auditorium and were halfway down the aisle until one of the stallions noticed a mare with a white coat and bold pink eyes sitting in one of the seats while watching the staff hard at work.
“Uh… excuse me miss, but what in Celestia’s name are you doing?”
The young mare franticly turned to face the stallions giving her a questioning look. Dread, shock, and panic filled her bright eyes as the two stood there waiting for an answer.
They were about to ask again until she blurted out “You ruined it! you ruined all of it! And I worked so hard for this!"
She gave off an angry huff before galloping out of the auditorium, leaving the two flabbergasted. They had no idea as to what happened or what the young latter meant.
When they shrugged it off and proceeded to the stage, they noticed that three ponies were waiting there: a white earth pony, a blue and purple unicorn, and a pink pegasus.
The trio heard the outburst but decided to not talk about it. Instead, the earthpony, Sunny Day spoke up and asked the stallions “Is there anything we can do to help before the Performance starts?”
Fancy Pants, who was once a patron before becoming one of the opera managers, sighed before replying “apparently nothing, but I did receive a letter from a few critics saying that they would like to hear something more modern and, well…we told them that we would give them a sneak peek of a few opera pieces we are currently writing.”
His face shifted from one of seriousness to one of uncertainty. “I think that instead of having miss Adagio Dazzle singing the one of remembering someone, we should have someone else singing the main duet of the opera we don’t have a storyline for.”
“But we don’t have anyone who can sing it because most of the songs that were performed were solo, and we haven’t found two ponies who could sing it!” Shining Armour explained. He became the opera manager because he worked there longer than the other staff members and because the founder of Canterlot opera house elected him.
The unicorn, Constellation, raised a brow at this " surely there is someone who could perform the duet with miss Adagio? Or is there something amiss?"
"Well someone said that someone else should have a go at being in the spotlight and said that miss Adagio prefers to sing solo!" Fancy retorted while oblivious to the serious yet knowing looks the others shared.
"Speaking of," the pegasus, Cadence, who was married to Shining Armour, gestured "why don't you ask her about it yourself?
Stage hooves parted and dancers were shoved aside as an earthpony with big orange curls made her way to the center stage with two other mares following, each of them wearing a necklace with glowing red gem. The yellow pony turned her gaze to Shining and Fancy, a prideful grin on her face. "Shall we begin?"
Sunny Day and Constellation left the group to help the dancers while Shining Armour and Cadence got off the stage and both seemed to talk while wait for someone.
"Miss Adagio, I-I'm afraid we have a slight change of plans..." Fancy Pants tried to stay calm in front of the impatient singer. He gulped and continued to speak. What have I gotten myself into? he thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Cadence and Shining Armour noticed four unicorns entering the auditorium- one was a tall blue mare with a gold and copper mane and copper eyes, another was a mare with a gold coat complete with a white and lilac purple mane and violet eyes who held her head high with a stallion with a light grey coat along with a dark grey mane and sky blue eyes, and the forth was a white stallion with a gold mane and ice blue eyes.
These were four of the patrons. The blue unicorn was Sassy Saddles, owner of Canterlot Boutique and would either bring a few costumes or lots of fabric because the Opera house already had two designers( one full time and one part time). Jet Set was once a young athlete in the Equestria games, and his wife Upper Crust owns a jewelry store and provides costume jewelry. The white stallion was Prince Blueblood, the last living ruler of Equestria and the misunderstood prince, and he was a patron for reasons he wouldn't say.
"Welcome everyone, to the Canterlot Opera house." Cadence greeted as she looked upon each of them, her smile faltering slightly.
Shining noticed this and spoke the words that Cadence was asking herself, "where's Sombra?"
Sassy Sadles looked to the doors that led to a hallway with stained glass windows, then back to the group "he told me he had to run a quick errand before coming. He said it was quite urgent"
"Doing such things like...whatever he does, is a complete waste of time!" Upper Crust complied as she and her husband held their heads high in an awkward angle.
"And how would you know that if you never done it yourself, Mrs Crust?" The couple jumped at the voice as a unicorn stallion with a smoke grey coat, an ash mane, and kind green eyes.
Sombra was a patron from the Crystal Empire and was one of the most trustworthy ponies in Canterlot, but he became slightly untrustworthy when he suggested for Shining Armour and Fancy Pants to make the Flim Flam brothers the new managers of the opera house, and this was mostly because Sombra thinks that the founder needed to make better decisions.
Sombra gave a warm smile to the six ponies before continuing. " and may I let you know that I am helping the poor helpless ponies on the street."
Upper Crust and Jet Set were awe-struck when he said that, but Sassy was a little concerned, Shining Armour raised a brow, and Cadence and Blueblood were looking at Sombra with suspicion.
Sure, he does help others in need, but he never takes as long as it did today, after all, he was known a a gentlecolt to many.
Shining opened his mouth to say something to the patrons, but was interrupted by something on the stage, where Fancy Pants was still talking to Miss Adagio about the plans for the evening, and from the angle the group was standing at, they could tell that Adagio wasn't happy about the fact that she had to sing without her backup singers.
"...and there is no way I'm performing a duet! I only agreed to sing the solo because you told me that a solo would be a better option that to always have Aria and Sonata there as my backup singers!" She huffed before walking away as dancers came on
"Please Miss Dazzle!" Fancy called after her, hoping she would at least hear him out.
When she was at the center stage, she shoved a young pegasus dancer to the floor and was about to continue on until she heard something like a pulley spinning so fast, something something might crush her.
She stole a glance up to find a backdrop falling towards her and the group of dancers.
Everyone except for Adagio and the dancer she just recently pushed aside, ran to the sides of the stage to avoid the falling prop.
The two ponies were to terrified to move, as if their hooves were stuck to the ground, and many thoughts flowing through as the backdrop came closer. The ponies shouted at them and telling them to get away from the falling backdrop.
Adagio complied with their shouts and landed on her stomach as she took cover, but the pegasus dancer was still frozen in place.
Just as the backdrop came near, the young dancer was picked up and pulled to the front of the stage by a Pegasus stallion.
"What happened with the backdrop?" Shining Armour called to the stage hooves that were pulling the drop back up. He noticed Cadence becon to the side before turning and leaving.
"I think the rope broke!" A stage hoof replied as he examined the rope where it was broken.
"What? But the rope was replaced just last week!" Another hollered.
"What do you think happened?" Cadence asked out of earshot of every pony but one that was standing before her.
The figure was taller than an average mare by an inch, and hid behind the door to the auditorium so that no one would notice her and Cadence talking. "Well, it seemed that the rope wasn't broken, but cut. I also did a playback and noticed that it was a unicorn horn that cut it."
"So that means that all the unicorns that work here are victims?" Cadence questioned.
"No," the figure lowered her head and sighed. "The only evidence would be to find some pony who's horn is slightly curved at about four degrees."
"It would be hard to find the culprit." Cadence sighed. "Other than that, Adagio won't perform for the evening! There must be a reason why."
While she pondered on the thought, said diva stood up from her laying position and felt that something was different. She then realized that the red gem on her necklace was shattered to pieces from the impact.
She rushed to her posse with fear and embarrassment. "Quick! One of you! Give me your necklace!" She commanded to the two in a harsh whisper.
When neither complied, Adagio realized that Aria and Sonata wouldn't help her, so she stomped in frustration and galloped off the stage and out of the auditorium.
"...Make that two reasons." Cadence breathed.
The figure looked to the two backup singers, then she noticed the two pegasi that still sat at the front of the stage, the stallion comforting the shaken dancer, a thought came to mind.
"Now that Adagio is gone, why don't you see if those two pegasi could sing this." The figure nodded to the two as she pulled out a few music sheets and handed them to Cadence.
The title on the top read 'All I ask of you', and it read on the side that it was a duet.
Cadence raised a brow in concern. "Are you sure about this?"
The figure gave a small smile. "Trust me on this, Cady. Besides, was it said that Pegasi have angelic voices?"
Thunder was heard in the distance, the sky grey of smoke. A building was burning fiercely in the city, a scream was heard somewhere within the burning structure. The scene changed from the exterior of the building to the interior of a room.
There were three figures, stallions, that were surrounded by the dancing flames. One of the stallions was laying on loose floorboards, conscious yet injured and covered with sratches on his grey coat, his darker grey mane covering his eyes. The other two figures were apparently in the middle of a fight, both giving and receiving blows from the other. One of the figures was a unicorn, but it was hard to tell what he looked like with the flames surrounding him and his opponent, the only feature that could be seen from the unicorn was his deep red dragon-like eyes. The third stallion was a pegasus whose features were more visible than the unicorn's, for he had a blue mane and tail with an orange coat, teal eyes and a cutie mark of a blue shield with a thunder cloud in the center.
As the two were fighting, they didn't notice a fourth pony present in the burning room watching the two fighting figures with fear and horror as he stood there frozen.
The stallions seemed to be talking, perhaps taunting the other. Their battle going from scratches and bruises to more major injuries as the Pegasus had to dodge a blow by rolling to the side. The unicorn took his chance and stomped his front hooves on the pegasi's right wing.
A cry of agony and pain errupted from the pegasus as he attempted to shove his opponent off of his wing. He slowly recovered, shaking as he stood up to face the unicorn.
Before the unicorn could react, the pegasus swiftly turned and lifted his hind legs in a bucking motion. The unicorn had enough time to duck his down, but not fully as the hooves made impact on the unicorn's horn.
A snap was heard through the crackling flames, followed by a cry of agony and deep growl of rage.
The pegasus turned to face the unicorn, preparing to fight back, but something caught his eye as he turned back to see that one thing.
His teal eyes showed shock and worry as he stared at the form standing in the doorway, in a shaky and weak voice, he spoke one word.
"Flash?"
The pegasus wasn't even looking when the unicorn came and shoved him into a burning wall that fell on his impact.
The unicorn's burning red eyes turned to the doorway where the pegasus stared at, finding a young pegasus colt staring wide-eyed, noting that the colt looked like the stallion he was currently fighting.
A lightning bolt sparked, showing more features of the unicorn, mainly the teeth with sharp fangs and the horn that was broken,the tip coloured red from the blood in the horn, known as magic blood which sometimes stains a unicorn's horn.
Aside from those two features, the rest were forgotten right away!
The unicorn was about to approach the scared colt, but was shoved to the ground by the pegasus.
The pegasus looked to the colt before calling out to him. "Take Starswirl and get out, Flash!"
The colt opened his mouth to object, but soon obeyed his father's command and galloped to the unicorn that laid a few meters away from the brawling stallions.
Flash nudged at him, a low moan coming from the now conscious stallion. Flash crawled under Starswirl's left hoof so that he could drag the unicorn out of the building.
He made it a couple of meters until the old pony finally stood, a bit shakily and limped with young Flash supporting him until they made it out of the building, greeted by two earth pony mares.
One of the mares had tears in her eyes as she embraced Flash who looked back to the burning building. "What about dad?" He whimpered.
After talking to the mysterious figure, Cadence confronted the two pegasi.
It turned out their names were Flash and Fluttershy Sentry and that they were siblings when she had mistaken them for a couple.
She did ask if they could sing, and Fluttershy was nervous when Cadence asked that, but she assured the dancer that she can sing if both she and Flash were singing, which comforted Fluttershy more.
Flash was hesitant at first since it was a long time since he last sang, so Cadence asked for a preview of the siblings singing the song piece she had with her.
They complied, and by the time they reached the second verse, lots of ponies had been listening and watching them, and it was clear who the new opera singers were.
After the siblings were finished the song, they were showered by the applause of the stagehooves, the dancers, even the patrons.
After that, they were taken to a room in the opera house by a light orange unicorn with a mane and tail that resembled fire, later introducing herself as Sunset Shimmer. The room Sunset took the siblings to had one large area that was a living room and was supposed to lead to two separate bedrooms. In other words, it was huge and seemed really fancy.
Currently, Flash and Fluttershy were settling into their new living quarters, Fluttershy was chatting with Sunset while Flash opened a letter from their little sister who was in Ponyville.
"Dear Flash and Fluttershy, How is it at the opera house and Canterlot? I wish you guys weren't as busy so that you could come to Ponyville. Sweet Celestia, you missed a lot, 'cause I just got my cutie mark, so did my friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, 'cause we have the same cutie mark! I know it's only a couple of days 'til I come back to Canterlot, but family appreciation day is coming up and I was hoping one of you would come to Ponyville to be there, and maybe tell my classmates a story from the past? Because Applebloom's granny told our class of the founding of Ponyville. I'll see you guys soon. Scootaloo"
It was true that Scootaloo stayed at Ponyville on weekdays, but it was because the schools in Canterlot were expensive and the school in Ponyville was cheaper, and on weekends both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle take the train to Canterlot because Sweetie had an older sister that also worked at the opera house.
Flash immediately took out a roll of paper and a quill then, using his mouth, started to write a reply.
"Dear Scootaloo, It's amazing to hear that you finally got your cutie mark, and I can't wait to see it. As much as we'd like to come for Family Appreciation Day, I'm afraid we can't because we have some good news as well; your sister and I have become the newest singers of the opera house. So we might be busy, but I can still send you a story! Recently, I heard the legend of the two sisters and how they lived in Canterlot long before you were born, heck, long before your sister was born! I'll write it on a separate sheet for you. Sincerely, Flash."
So Flash got out another sheet of paper and wrote the story he promised, then he quickly gave it to the mail mare then returned to their quarters in what is his new bedroom. It had a large bed, a chair with a side table, a bookshelf that was full stocked on books, a door that led to a balcony ( he assumed his sister had a balcony in her room as well.), a closet with lots of tuxedos and a few jackets, and finally a full length mirror.
It would take a while for him to get used to the space of the new quarters. As he was thinking about that, he suddenly realized that Fluttershy and Sunset had gone quiet since he returned from his errand. He thought about going to check on the two mares, but assumed either they fell asleep or left the quarters.
What he didn't know was that the mirror was partially open and there was a note from Fluttershy that said specifically:
Flash, Sunset and I found a passage way behind the mirror and decided to investigate. We'll be back as soon as we find out where it leads. Fluttershy.
An earth pony mare sat in the Canterlot gardens, admiring the statues along with the scenery of the lands beyond. It was obvious that she wanted to get away from the city and live somewhere more peaceful.
The mare suddenly heard hoof steps and clanking armor, then jumped at the deep and gentle yet firm voice that came with it.
"Enjoying the gardens, Miss?" A pegasus guard stood a meter away from the recovering mare, his face showed no emotion yet his eyes glowed with curiosity. The mare was silent before turning away, feeling somewhat flustered for no reason.
The earth pony nodded, pulling her pink mane away from her face with a light yellow hoof. The guard could see she was debating on whether to say something to him or not.
Feeling a bit awkward, the guard hesitantly asked, "may I join you?"
The mare turned to face the guard with a look of shock and surprise. Why would some one want to join her, especially a royal guard?
"Don't you have duties to get to?" She asked as her green eyes met his teal ones. Both were silent for a moment until the pegasus broke it with genuine laughter. "I wish! The others pulled me out of it without a reason! And they said I deserved it!"
"So, may I join you?" He asked again. The mare was silent before gesturing to a spot next to her, which he accepted. The two sat in an awkward silence.
"...I'm Storm Sentry, by the way." Storm spoke as he held out an orange hoof to the earth pony to shake hooves. "Posey." The mare replied.
Unknown to the pair, two goddess-like figures were watching from a nearby window: a full grown mare and a little foal.
"Well done, Amore. Well done." The mare cooed to the foal.
"Fluttershy, we should go back right about now! They will start rehearsal without us!" Sunset complained.
Ever since moving to their new quarters, Sunset and Fluttershy got to know each other and instantly became friends, but while they were bonding, Fluttershy felt that a third pony was watching, but was surprised it wasn't her brother when she saw him writing something down, so she assumed that the third presence came from within her new room, and she felt it diminish when she was near the tall mirror. It was there that Fluttershy found the secret door, then took her chance and ran down the dark tunnels on the other side of the mirror, Sunset not far behind. Now the mares were currently walking down the haunting corridors.
"I know," Fluttershy spoke in a tone that was almost shaky. "But someone came through here and left. I just know it."
The mares suddenly froze in their tracks as a haunting melody drifted through the cold stone tunnels.
"W-w-what was that?" Fluttershy whimpered as she slowly backed away. "You were the one who wanted to find the stranger hiding here in the first place." Sunset sighed.
The melody suddenly stopped playing, alerting the two mares that they were discovered.
"W-we should get out of h-here" a frightened look started to spread on Fluttershy's face. The cream pegasus suddenly bolted down a tunnel with Sunset trailing after her.
"Fluttershy! Do you even know where you're going?!" Sunset called out as she finally reached the pegasus who stood dead in her tracks, looking down the many endless hallways.
Not far behind, a third pony seemed to start galloping towards their direction. Sunset Shimmer looked back down the tunnel the two mares came down just to find a cloaked figure running their way, a bright light glowing as the figure continued down. They didn't have much time!
"…This way!" Sunset shouted as she grabbed Fluttershy and started to gallop down one of the tunnels, turning sharply at every corner until they reached the end.
"W-we're trapped! It's a dead end!" Fluttershy complained as her eyes shrunk to the size of pinpoints. "Oh no we're not!" The unicorn simply replied as she pushed a brick on the wall that revealed the interior of the opera house. They quickly stepped through before the passage way closed.
Both mares were catching their breaths until Fluttershy spoke up. "H-how… did you know that was a secret passage way? And… does anybody else know about this? And who was that pony chasing us?!" Sunset was silent and looked around to see if any pony was around before answering Fluttershy's questions. "One: let's just say that I know more because I was here longer that you; two: aside from me, about five others; and three: that is some one who is important to the opera house. Look…as much as I would like to tell you everything, I'm afraid I can't!" The unicorn looked around again, unaware of a figure that was eavesdropping on their conversation.
"Do you know Starswirl the bearded? The founder of the Canterlot opera house?" Fluttershy nodded. "Well, he was the one that made sure that everything was in good hooves when he disappeared, and now somepony is trying to take control of the opera house. Starswirl always had hope for the future of the opera house. That pony that was chasing us? Starswirl knew that they would change the future of the opera house and Equestria!"
Sunset Shimmer took a breath before continuing. "Please don't tell anyone about this, not even your brother."
"O-okay, I promise." Fluttershy raised a hoof to prove it. Sunset gave a small 'thank you' before turning and leaving down a hallway. "Sunset?" Sunset Shimmer turned to face the pegasus. "I don't know how to get back to my new quarters and I'm still getting used to it." The unicorn rolled her eyes before gesturing for Fluttershy to follow.
Two pegasus fillies were playing tag with a pegasus and a unicorn colt. The group was running around and enjoying each other's company. A white earth pony was talking to another earth pony and a pegasus.
One of the fillies stopped abruptly. She felt that someone was watching her, so she looked around and found the source: a window with a visible silhouette on the top of a building, the figure was a light grey unicorn with a dark grey mane starting to turn white and watched the filly will emotionless gold eyes.
The filly was suddenly caught off guard when she felt a hoof tap her gently. When she turned around, she saw the pegasus colt run off. "You're it, 'Shy!" The colt called in a playful tone. "No fair! I was distracted!" The filly called back before looking at the window only to find the silhouette has disappeared.
"Here! Tag me and I will get your brother for you." The unicorn colt came up to the filly and held out a white hoof. The filly hesitated before complying. As her cream hoof touched his white one, the unicorn didn't waste any time to chase the other colt.
"Come on, Blues! Let Shy have a chance. Or at least get Sunshower instead!" The pegasus colt called as he tried to outrun the unicorn chasing him. "Don't you dare bring me into this, Flashlight!" The other filly shouted.
