Twilight Sparkle walked through the streets of Ponyville on a Thursday afternoon twelve days after the royal wedding of her brother and Princess Cadence. Using her unicorn powers to lift a scroll, she looked at her schedule.
"Let's see... I just finished helping Fluttershy with her animals, so that's done."
She lifted a pen and made a check mark on the paper.
"Now," she began to herself, "I agreed to go to the salon with Rarity, but that's not for another hour. And I don't have anything else of immediate urgency to do, so my time is basically free!"
Twilight's time being completely free was a very rare thing to occur. Because of this, she decided she would take the time to do something of her own choice.
She continued to the local record store, "Vinyl's Picks." As she entered the building, she saw a white unicorn with a blue mane sorting albums behind the front desk. The nametag she wore read "Vinyl Scratch."
"Welcome to Vinyl's Picks," said the unicorn. "How may I help you?"
"Well," began Twilight, "I have an hour of free time, so I'm just going to browse your newest records."
"Sure!" said Vinyl. She began pulling out a poster of "Stevie Wonderbolt," a blind singer who was beginning his popularity.
"Hey," said Twilight, "you're that DJ from the fashion show two years ago, aren't you?"
"The one and only!" laughed Vinyl. "I also was at the royal wedding in Canterlot twelve days ago. Most people don't recognize me as DJ Pon3 without my sunglasses, though."
"Oh."
Twilight looked through the many isles of records. She walked past the classical, jazz, blues, etc. Finally, she came upon the isle in the back marked "New Stuff."
Her eyes darted from one side of the shelf to another. There were many selections there: Eric Clopton, the Gratefoal Dead, Celestian Airplane, Coltsby, Stalls & Nash.
A lot of this music is from that new "sound," she thought. What she meant by that was that rock and roll had not exactly become mainstream, and was a fairly new style of music.
As Twilight was looking, someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Excuse me."
Twilight looked and saw it was Vinyl. She was carrying a box with her magic.
"Oh! I'm sorry. Am I in the way? I'll move."
Twilight moved out of the way and Vinyl set the box down. Twilight looked inside and saw it was filled with more records.
"A shipment just came in today of a new album," Vinyl said as she started putting the albums on the shelf in between the G's and the I's.
"Wow," said Twilight. As Vinyl stacked one of the albums, Twilight looked at the cover.
It showed four stallions, all in grayscale, with identical haircuts and wearing identical black turtlenecks. One of them was an earth pony, one of them was a pegasus and the other two were unicorns. The title read A Hard Day's Flight.
"Excuse me," asked Twilight, "what is this?"
"That?" said Vinyl. "Oh, that's just the new album from the Hooves of Fire."
"Hooves of... wha?"
"They're a new band. They're all up in that new sound, y'know?"
"I see. Can you play me a sample of their older stuff?"
"Sorry, no can do. They had two albums before this, but they got sold out almost immediately."
Twilight was shocked by how quickly the albums had sold. "Wow, they must be really good!"
"Oh trust me, they are. Why else would they have become so popular?"
"I'm actually considering buying one of their albums right now. Should I?"
"Yes. But do it soon, because if I know from their previous albums, these things sell out more quickly than you could say..."
"AAAAAAA!"
Twilight looked behind her to see Lyra Heartstrings screaming outside the window. "It's the new Hooves of Fire album! AAAAAAAAA!" Lyra then ran away, most likely to get Bon Bon.
"I see what you mean," laughed Twilight, picking up one of the copies of the album with her magic. She carried it to the front desk. "How much?"
"Fifty bits."
Twilight pulled out the money, asking "That's priced an awful lot for one album, don't you think?"
"For a normal album, maybe," said Vinyl. "But these are... well, you'll see in about five, four, three, two, one..."
At that moment, around twenty female ponies ran in to the store. Twilight recognized a few of them as Lyra, Bon Bon and Derpy Hooves.
"You have the new Hooves of Fire album?"
"What's it called?"
"It's called A Hard Day's Flight I think!"
"Wow! That is such a cool name!"
"Screw the name, they're sexy!"
"I think Roger's the sexiest!"
"No, it's Spark!"
"Are you kidding me? It's obviously Pierce."
"You must be thinking of Sterling!"
"Can we buy the album?"
"Yeah! Can we?"
"How much does it cost?"
Twilight ducked under the crowd and slowly made her way to the door, but just then, another fifty ponies ran in, and one of them noticed her.
"Ohmigod! You have the new Hooves of Fire album!"
"Give it to me!"
"No, I want it!"
As the ponies fought over A Hard Day's Flight, Vinyl yelled to Twilight, "Save yourself!"
Twilight gripped the album with her magic and galloped out the door as fast as her hooves could carry her. As she looked back, she saw more ponies run in, most of whom were of the female gender. She thought to herself, Now I know what Vinyl meant. All I have to say is, this better not have been a waste of my money, because it took a heck of a lot of effort to get this.
She ran into her library and slammed the door shut behind her, thankful that the mob was gone. As she walked up the stairs to get to her room, her assistant Spike was standing on a ladder stacking books onto the shelves, but he fell off the ladder when he saw Twilight.
"Twilight!" yelled Spike. "What happened?"
Twilight set the album down on the desk. "What do you mean, Spike?"
"Well, look at you!"
Spike pushed a mirror up to Twilight. She looked in it and saw that she was covered with dirt and dust.
"Oh, yeah," said Twilight. "That. There was a big mob at Vinyl's record store."
"You went to the record store?" exclaimed Spike, surprised.
"Well, yes. I didn't have anything else on my list, so I went over and bought the newest Hooves of Fire album. Turns out that numerous other ponies, specifically those of the female gender, also wanted to buy this album."
"Hooves of Fire, eh? Never heard of them."
"Yeah, me neither, until today. Apparently they're a newish band. They are experimenting in this new sound that many ponies refer to as 'rock and roll'."
"Rock and roll?"
"I don't know, I haven't heard much of it. I'm still hoping this album wasn't a waste of money-- it cost fifty bits, you see."
"Ah. Well, there's only one way to find out!"
Spike picked up the album and headed over to the record player, but as he was about to take the album out of its case, a rainbow came in through an open window and he was tackled to the ground. The album was quickly swiped away from him and Rainbow Dash flew away with it towards the window.
"Mine!"
"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.
