You are invited to the PARTY BARN in the town of Tall Tale because Hi Celly, it's Pinkie Pie I really really want you to come to this party because it's really super duper important that you come! I know your schedule is free and I invited Twilight and the rest of my friends too, because I know you want to see Twi really really bad! Gimme a call to tell me if you can come! This party will be held on the date of 6/14! Please RSVP as soon as possible!
PARTY BARN: WHERE PONIES COME TO PARTY!

This was the third time that Celestia had read the note. She checked the date again; it remained June fourteenth, the same day that she was to perform at the very same Party Barn with the band, under the guise of "Sunny Sky" of course.

She couldn't imagine what her bandmates- no, friends would do if they found out that Princess Celestia, former Diarch of Equestria, was a member of the band. Celestia could bet that if they ever were to find out, Regolith would have something witty and funny to say about it afterwards.

Celestia took the invitation, and folded it into a paper airplane with her magic. Using her telekinesis, she gave it a toss and it flew across her room to land on her dresser.

Even though Celestia was no longer a ruler of Equestria, she was still a princess, and still had her room in the castle. She had tried staying elsewhere, but it took only a few hours for Celestia to get sick of the constant barrage of questions from the media.

Yes, Celestia would much rather reside in the castle, where she was safe.

Not wanting to think of the media, Celestia turned her attention to her weekly schedule. At ten-o-clock she was to go visit wounded soldiers who were brought back to Canterlot General Hospital from the front lines. Then, at three in the afternoon, she would be meeting Sharp at a café in Tall Tale to give him relationship advice. After that, she was to have dinner with General Crushed Egg and a few randomly picked soldiers. Celestia was looking forward to the dinner because it would be an opportunity for her to talk with Luna about a few things.

And then she had to figure out how to decline Pinkie's invitation to the party that Celestia would already be at.

Since she had some time before she had to leave for her hospital visit, Celestia thought about sending a return letter apologizing for having to decline the invitation. She could claim that she had something else she was doing, but then Pinkie Pie would just have to spy on her and discover her secret.

Not that being in a band was a horrible thing, because that was not what Celestia was worried about. No, it was the media. If they found out that she was "wasting her time" in a band... She shuddered at the thought.

After ten minutes of deep thought, Celestia had not come up with a way to decline the invitation without gaining the interest of Pinkie Pie.

Celestia left her room with a tired smile on her face. She planned to figure out her plan later. Right now, she had some soldiers to cheer up.

//*********************//

Flare Bear was not a very "sporty" pony. She preferred a good book or a broken terminal to fix over jumping hurdles or catching balls in baskets.

She was not very good at buckball or hurdling anyways.

What Flare was good at was delicate magic. Magic which was used to play her bass guitar. Magic that was used at her weekend job at an arcanoelectric repair shop which was owned by her father, Magnesium Flash.

While Flare didn't have very strong magic, she was oddly good at it. She had passed all of her basic magic classes with almost full marks, and was planning to take Advanced Magic I in the fall once school started up again.

In the advanced class, Flare would be able to focus her studies on whatever she wanted to do. With her simple red heart cutie mark, Flare's future could go anywhere.

Lost in her daydream of being a famous movie actress, Flare ran horn-first into a tree.

After giving the tree a dirty look, Flare continued on her way down Straight street towards Western Equestrian Academy, which was closed for the summer. Flare politely greeted everypony she passed, except for Tin Cannon, who was busy being a jerk to a store owner.

"I told you, I can't refund your baseball bat just because you broke it! You didn't even buy it here!" The light blue unicorn seemed nervous.

Tin Cannon snorted, and Flare stopped a few steps behind him.

"If you can't give me money for my bat, can I just get a new one?" asked Tin.

"Oh yes! Of course! They are actually on sale right now for a real steal! Ten bits!" The store owner seemed relieved, but it didn't last.

"Oh, it's definitely a steal!" Tin laughed, and pushed past the store owner. He disappeared into the store while the owner looked around, confused.

Flare stepped forward. Y'alright, Mr...?"

"Deal. Green Deal. Is everypony around here like... like that pony?"

Flare raised an eyebrow.

"O-oh I meant besides you! You seem like a nice filly."

"You're new here, aren'tcha? We're generally pretty nice. Tin Cannon's a bit of a jerk though. School bully and all that. Speak of the devil..." Flare looked towards the store's door.

As if on cue, Tin Cannon came bursting out of the front door. He turned and trotted off without any acknowledgement of the two ponies standing just outside. Flare noted that there was a baseball bat sticking out of his saddlebags.

"Did he pay for that?" Flare asked, a little worried.

"Let me check, young lady." Green gave a smile and stepped inside the small store, his moss-green tail swishing a little behind him. Flare followed him in but stopped at the storefront. There was just so much stuff! spotting an arcane electronics display, she hurried over to have a look. 'Get your very own custom PipBuck model here! Only Five-Hundred bits! Fabrication may take up to one week. Comes with a two-year full replacement plan!' Flare re-read the advertisement, and then turned towards the front register.

"You make custom PipBucks?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute. I think that punk didn't... yup. That pony didn't pay for the bat! All he did was leave his old one behind!"

"Aw man I wish I had five- Wait what? Tinny stole it?" Flare walked over to the register.

"Son of a..."

"Mr. Deal, Mrs. Cannon is a very nice pony with a horrible son."

"...Sorry..."

"No, It's ok. You didn't know."

There was a short, awkward silence before Flare started heading for the door. "Well... let me see what I can do."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"I mean that Tinny's gonna be back 'round with an apology and fifteen bits." Flare said as she opened the front door with her magic.

"But... but he's huge! I'll just call the police."

Flare stopped in the doorway and turned towards Green Deal. "Then you're going to have to deal with an angry Cannon."

"Why are you even doing this, miss... I never got your name!"

Flare sighed before saying "My name is Flare. Don't worry, Tin Cannon will be back within the hour." Then she stepped out the door, letting it close behind her.

Looking across the street from the store, Flare could see Sharp sitting in a booth with another pony at Poné Café. He was talking to her very animatedly, too. Squinting, Flare recognized the other pony as Sunny Sky.

This is perfect. I don't need to go face Tinny alone! I can always use a little help from my friends.

With a small smile on her face, Flare started to cross the street before almost getting run over by a wagon.

"HEY, I'M WALKIN' 'ERE!"

//*********************//

Green Deal was very, very worried. There was no possible way that the poor filly could ever take on the ginormous earth pony that was Tin Cannon. The poor girl wasn't even as tall as Green himself, and she thought she could take on Tin Cannon? The thought gave him chills.

Green was too busy worrying to notice that somepony had entered the store.

Somepony really really big.

"Um, excuse me?" Asked the really large blue pony, jolting Green out of his thoughts and back into reality.

"How may I-" Green cut himself off, ending the sentence with a squeak.

"I came back to... to apologize. And pay for the bat. And... ask for a job?" The huge blue stallion gave an embarrassed and hopeful smile to Green Deal. Green couldn't help but shiver.

"A... job?"

Tin Cannon dropped fifteen bits on to the counter. "Flare gave me a new perspective on things. Either I... either I shape up or-" his voice dropped to a whisper "-or she'll tell my m-mother."

And with that, Green Deal fell out of his chair.

Author's Note

Imagine Celly doing windmill legs.

OH THE MAJESTY!