"By my calculations, we should have enough food for all the guests in time," Twilight said the next afternoon, examining some of her notes on the long scroll before her. "Rarity has finished doing the preliminary work for the decorations and Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are ready to start decorating. And Fluttershy is arranging some music for the birds in the garden to perform." She rolled up the scroll. "I hope I haven't forgotten anything; the Festival is tomorrow night!"

"Don't worry about it, Twilight," Spike said through a full mouth, having helped himself to one of Applejack's apple mooncakes. Twilight gave him a disapproving look for talking with his mouth full. He swallowed before continuing. "Do you need me to do anything else?"

"Not right now," Twilight smiled, giving her number one assistant an affectionate pat. "Why don't you go see if Rarity needs some help?" At the mention of his crush's name, Spike immediately ran off in search of her. Twilight smiled at his retreating back before returning to her list.

Her train of thought was slowed by a knocking at the door of her quarters. When she opened the door and saw who it was, the train was derailed entirely.

"Flash! What are you doing here?"

"I, uh, came to see you," Flash stammered, wondering why the Princess' face was suddenly turning red and why his throat had gone dry.

"Oh, that's, er...that's nice," Twilight said, shuffling her forehooves and examining the carpet. "You...ahem...look nice."

"Thank you," Flash grinned, noting that his heart had fluttered in his chest at her compliment.

"So, um, what did you need?" Twilight asked.

The part of Flash's brain responsible for intelligent thought had suddenly taken a break. It took him a moment to respond, his face flushing. "I need to talk to Phillip. Do you know where he is?"

"He's at a hotel. I can take you there."

"And boom, down he went?" Flash asked as they ascended the stairs of the hotel. He stared at Twilight, enthralled by her tale of how she and her friends had defeated Tirek.

"Yup," Twilight nodded proudly. "Tirek never understood just how powerful friendship truly is, and we were able to use that against him."

"Lucky for the rest of us," Flash said. "I remember when he came to the Crystal Empire and drained all the magic there." A distant look came into his eyes and the smile faded from his face, replaced by a fearful look. "I was one of the first who charged him, but he just laughed and..." He shivered as he remembered that terrible day when he and his fellow Guards lay helpless at the cloven feet of a tyrant.

Twilight, wishing to comfort him, reached out a hoof to his shoulder, but Flash shook himself out of the memory and she retreated. "Well, he's not coming back anytime soon," she reassured him.

They had reached the floor that Phillip was residing on. "Is he as good as they say he is?" Flash asked Twilight.

"Most definitely," Twilight smirked, opening the door. "And I'm sure he'll be eager to take on a case."

"No, no, no!"

Twilight and Flash looked up, and immediately ducked to avoid being struck in the face by a flying newspaper, which hit the wall opposite.

"Course he's not the foal's father!" Phillip shouted at no one in particular from his chair, having apparently not noticed their entry. "Am I the only one who looked at his collar?!" He slumped in his seat, staring straight ahead apathetically.

Twilight and Flash glanced at each other, then entered, moving around into Phillip's field of view. He glanced up at them before continuing to stare at the wall. "What is it?" he grunted.

"I wanted to see you, sir," Flash said, sitting down opposite him. "I think we may need your help."

Immediately, Phillip sat up straight, his expression changing from apathy to interest. The gray eyes glittered with expectation. "The burglaries?"

"Yes, sir." Flash reached into his saddlebag and pulled out several files, which he laid on the table before Phillip. "There have been eight over the past two weeks. The burglar, or burglars, don't leave much evidence. At each scene, they took some money and valuables, and something else."

"Something else?" Phillip said, already perusing the files.

"At one scene, they took some alarm clocks," Flash explained. "At another, they stole some electrical wiring. Then they stole fertilizer from a farm supply store, fuel from a stove and supply store, and some soup thickener from a kitchen. On the other scenes it was something random; some china plates, a bunch of old books, some tools."

Phillip nodded, glancing through some of the papers. Twilight though she saw concern briefly flash in his eyes. "Yes. I see why you came to me, Private. Did you tell anypony else about this?"

"I tried," Flash sighed. "But the commanding sergeant didn't believe me. Neither did the other Guards; they just think it's different burglars. You'll notice that there were different MO's on each of the scene, and differing evidence. I think that it's one pony who's faking the evidence, but they don't..." He paused as if collecting his thoughts, then sighed. "None of them take me seriously; I'm just the BNP."

"What's a BNP?" Twilight asked, still wondering what was it about this case that attracted Phillip's attention, or made Flash believe that his intervention was necessary.

Phillip, without looking up from the case files, replied, "Bucking New Pony. It's what they call new guards or transfers."

Flash looked down at the floor, sighing again. "They always stick me with the boring or lousy jobs. The sergeant and the other Guards push me around just because they can." He paused for a moment, then added in a soft tone, "Sometimes I think everypony hates me."

Without even realizing what she was doing, Twilight instinctively reached out to comfort him. Her hoof wrapped around his. "I don't hate you," she said softly.

Flash looked up at her, blue eyes meeting lavender. He returned her soft smile for a beat before they simultaneously looked down at their intertwining hooves as if suddenly becoming aware of each other's touch. They both retreated, blushing and examining the opposite walls.

Phillip appeared to not have noticed this exchange, as he was still looking at the case files. He looked up at Flash over one of the papers; the younger guard, sensing his gaze, looked up.

"I was a BNP myself once, private," he said, his voice unusually soft. "Keep your chin up, mate; they're just testing to see how tough you are. You'll show—"

He froze, his head snapping up to face east as his eyes narrowed. A shiver traveled up and down his spine.

"Crime?" Twilight asked urgently, recognizing Phillip's crime sense.

"Apartments on the east side," Phillip said, grabbing his hat and swinging his vest over his shoulders as he headed out the door. Twilight and Flash followed.

Author's Notes:

What about those burglaries is so important? You'll find out soon...