Hooves of Fire

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight Sparkle yelled at the pegasus who was currently flying towards the open window, holding Twilight's album in her hooves. "What are you doing with my album?"

"Mine!" yelled Rainbow Dash again, and she flew out. After doing so, however, Twilight heard a scream and a shout of "Come back here with my album!". None too pleased, Twilight ran out the door and saw Rarity, having used her magic to pull the record away from her, galloping away with it.

"Rarity!" yelled Twilight, but then she saw Pinkie Pie fire her party cannon at Rarity, who fell over in surprise, and Pinkie lunged and grabbed the record from Rarity with her mouth. Groaning, Twilight followed Pinkie Pie, noticing the others following Pinkie as well. Just then, a lasso came out from behind the trees, grabbing the album away from Pinkie's mouth. Twilight saw Applejack running away from behind the tree with it.

Great, now I have to follow Applejack too! thought Twilight. She galloped forward much faster, but was too busy looking at the other ponies chasing after the album to look ahead, causing Twilight to crash into Applejack. Both fell to the ground. As Twilight was getting up, Applejack approached her.

"'Ere's yer album, Twilight."

She placed A Hard Day's Flight next to Twilight. Surprised, Twilight asked, "What, don't you want it like all the others?"

"Nah," said Applejack, smiling. "Ah'd like you t' have it. You bought it, after all."

Twilight was happy that Applejack was returning it to her, but she still had a suspicion.

"You didn't take the album out of its case, did you?"

"No!" said Applejack. "Honest!"

Checking to make sure, Twilight found A Hard Day's Flight safe and sound in its case. Twilight was happy that Applejack was honest once again, but just then, she saw that all the other ponies, including Fluttershy, had surrounded them and were slowly creeping in.

"Uh-oh!" said Applejack. "Looks like you've got a problem!"

"What is the meaning of this?" yelled Twilight.

All the ponies stopped creeping in and said "Sorry" as they hung their heads in shame.

"We really wanted that album," said Rainbow Dash. "That band is about 20% cooler than any other music I've heard! When I arrived at Vinyl's store, there was a huge mob and I saw you running away with one of the new Hooves of Fire albums. But when I finally made it through the crowd, all the albums had sold out! So I flew up to Cloudsdale to see if their record store had any left in stock, but they had all sold out too! I was so depressed that I decided since I saw you had one, I'd steal yours!"

"And I was at the spa," explained Rarity, "when Lyra Heartstrings ran in and screamed that the new Hooves of Fire album was out. I think that band is simply fabulous, so I just had to have it! But when I arrived, sadly, there were no more."

"I wanted that album too!" said a hyper Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down. "One of the songs is called 'I Want To Party With You,' and you know how I just love parties!"

"Twlight?" Everypony heard a voice. They turned in the direction of the voice to see Apple Bloom standing there.

"Oh hey, sister Apple Bloom," said Applejack. "What d' ya need?"

"I wuz just wond'ring what you were talkin' 'bout," said Apple Bloom.

"The new Hooves of Fire album," said Applejack. "Twilight has a copy."

"Oh," said Apple Bloom. As she walked away, she muttered, "Hooves of Fire?" Not hearing what Apple Bloom had said, and therefore not feeling the need to explain, Twilight then turned her head to Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, why did you want that album?"

"Oh, I didn't want the album," said Fluttershy very shyly. "I was only approaching you because I wanted to borrow some grain for my animals. Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry--"

"It's okay," interrupted Twilight. "I just thought you wanted the album."

"Well, I do think that they are a nice band," said Fluttershy, "but I already bought a copy of their album."

At this, everypony besides Fluttershy, Applejack and Twilight gasped and surrounded Fluttershy, asking questions.

"You have the album?"

"Where is it?"

"Can I have it?"

With the amount of questions Fluttershy was getting, she started to squeal in fear.

"Guys!" yelled Twilight. Everypony turned to her, then glanced at Fluttershy and backed away.

"We're sorry, Fluttershy," said Pinkie.

"We didn't mean to scare you," said Rarity.

"Yeah, we just wanted your album, that's all," said Rainbow.

"It's okay," said Fluttershy. "You can borrow it anytime you want."

"Hey!" said Twilight. "You can borrow my copy of the album too! You didn't have to tackle me! You just had to ask!"

"Really?" asked Rarity, Pinkie and Rainbow.

"Yeah!" said Twilight. "You can borrow it whenever you need it!"

"Cool!" said Rainbow. "Can I have it?"

"Not today," said Twilight, shaking her head. "I need to listen to it so I can find out what all the craze is about."

"Yes, ya should!" said Applejack. "The Hooves o' Fire 're cert'nly th' bes' band I heard in a while! An' I can hones'ly say, for a while I wuz tem'ted to steal yer album fer myself!"

"Well, then I'd better listen to it then, shouldn't I?" said Twilight.

"You really should!" said Rainbow. "Hey, could we, per chance, come over and listen to it with you?"

"Sure!" said Twilight. "But keep your voices down. I don't think I'll be able to hear it if you scream through it all."

The ponies all laughed as they walked back towards the library with A Hard Day's Flight.

...

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom had heard everything they had said about the album since she had walked away, for she was hiding behind a tree listening the entire time. Now that she saw them walking back towards Twilight's library, the filly turned around and started skipping through the town. Then she turned off a side road and skipped into the woods. She paused and looked down to see scooter tracks leading down the road. Smiling, she followed the scooter tracks to a nearby treehouse and started climbing up the stairs.

"Sweetie Belle!" she called. "Scootaloo!"

When she entered, she saw Sweetie Belle sitting back in a chair in the middle of the room, and Scootaloo standing next to her scooter, which was parked off in one of the corners of the treehouse. Scootaloo took off her helmet, implying that she had just recently entered.

"Hey, guys," said Apple Bloom, "Ah jus' saw Twilight an' th' others arguin' over a record!"

"Would it happen to be A Hard Day's Flight by the Hooves of Fire?" asked Scootaloo.

"Why yes," said Apple Bloom, surprised that her friend knew. "How'd you know?"

"I was speeding by the record store," said Scootaloo, "looking for Rainbow Dash, when I saw a huge crowd of ponies gathered around the entrance! When I found Rainbow Dash there, she said that she couldn't talk, because she needed that album!"

"And I saw Rarity obsessing over it back at home," said Sweetie Belle. "She ran in, her face was all red, and she then ran out, saying that she saw Twilight with a copy of the album!"

"Wonder why everypony's obsessing over that album," asked Scootaloo.

"Well, there's only one way t' find out!" said Apple Bloom. "When we wer' Gabby Gums, we learn'd t' be invest'gative journalists. So why don't we take our skills as invest'gative journalists an' use 'em to find out why ev'rypony loves that album so much!"

"Yeah!" said Sweetie Belle, getting up off the chair. "First stop, the record store!"

"Actu'lly," said Apple Bloom, "when Ah heard mah sister talkin' 'bout it with 'er friends, somepony mention'd that it sold out in th' stores, so it wouldn't be there."

"Oh," said Sweetie Belle.

"But maybe they got another shipment!" said Scootaloo, putting her helmet on.

"Yeah, maybe!" said Apple Bloom, more enthusiastically.

"Alright, let's got the the record store!" said Sweetie Belle.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders each held up a hoof and did a three-way brohoof.