"We have a problem," Phillip greeted Flash two hours later. He guided the younger stallion into Lockpick's cottage. "I've been searching this place, but I can't find any of the loot he stole." He cut open one of the pillows on the couch with his pocketknife and started rummaging around within the goose feathers. "The coins he stole from the vault are a historical artifact. We've got to find them."

"Where have you searched?" Flash asked.

"I've checked his living room and the bathroom already," Phillip replied. "You start looking in his bedroom."

"All right," Flash said, heading upstairs.

He entered the bedroom, which was surprisingly sparse. There was a bed with rumpled sheets, a closet with a few clothes, and a few odds and ends and trash scattered on the floor and around the walls. A layer of dust on the floor was kicked up by Flash's hooves.

He divided the room into three horizontal sections—floor to bed, bed to closet and closet to ceiling—then started searching from the bottom up, moving around the room in a circle. Everything he encountered was closely examined, but he was unable find anything that looked like stolen loot. He checked underneath the bed, beneath the closet, tested the floorboards to see if any were loose and examined all of the knickknacks on the floor.

Sighing in exasperation as he set down a fishing pole, he was about to start searching the next section when he heard a click. Looking down, he saw that the sinker on the fishing pole was stuck to his armored horseshoe. Intrigued, he pulled it off with some effort.

It's magnetic? he thought.

An idea formed in Flash's head. Thinking back to Twilight's tour of Ponyville, he recalled that the closest body of water was the pond in the park.

"I don't think it's in the house," Flash called to Phillip, already heading out of the door. "But I think I know where it is!"

Twilight, Lyra, Bon Bon and Phillip watched as Flash walked along the bank of the pond, slowly trawled the fishing line back and forth across the still water. "Are you sure about this?" Twilight asked.

"I'm pretty sure," Flash said. "I saw some waterproof bags in his home, and...hold on." The line had suddenly gone taut. Flash pulled on the line, reeling it back up to the surface.

Out of the water came the fishing line, the magnetic sinker attached to a metal tag that was tied to a length of rope. The other end of the rope was tied to several waterproof bags. He placed the bags on the ground and opened one of them up.

Out of the bag spilled several jewels and gold bits. "That's from the jewelry store," Phillip said.

Each of the bags was opened, revealing Lockpick's stolen loot: money, jewels, clocks, silverware, and more. When Flash opened the last bag, out came several old coins.

"The coins from the vault!" Twilight said in delight.

Phillip took out his notebook and checked the loot on the ground against his list. "That's everything that he stole."

"Awesome!" Lyra shouted enthusiastically. "I always knew there was something fishy about the whole thing! Maybe it was his magnetic personality! We all fell for it, hook, line and sinker! Get it?"

Bon Bon laughed so hard that she had to lean against her wife for support. Everypony else just sighed and rolled their eyes.

A golden lyre, suspended in a golden magical aura, gently floated in midair. Music wafted from the instrument's plucked strings: one could almost see the notes floating into the air like a flock of paradisal birds, to be joined by a pair of other instruments.

Lyra, Flash and Phillip sat side by side in the living room of the Friendship Rainbow Castle. Lyra played her lyre, Flash strummed his guitar and Phillip played his sax. Bon Bon and Twilight watched, both of them allowing the music to carry away all outside thoughts. Tootsie Flute sat beside them, humming along.

"How's Sparkler?" Twilight asked Bon Bon.

"She's still upset," Bon Bon replied. "Mostly at herself: she can't bear to think about what might have happened if she'd left Tootsie alone with him. But that's understandable, I guess. Did I ever thank you for all your help?" Bon Bon asked Twilight.

"You don't need to," Twilight assured her.

"I lived in fear of Lockpick for years," Bon Bon said, watching her wife and daughter. "I was always terrified that one day I'd turn the corner and he'd be there, waiting for me. I buried that fear beneath everything else, refusing to acknowledge it." She paused for a moment while she gathered her thoughts.

"So when I got that letter, I was terrified. All I could think about was that he was watching me, what he was going to do to me. But then I saw you, Lyra, Flash and Phillip all doing what you could to help me..." She smiled. "And I realized that I didn't need to be afraid of him. Not with such good friends by my side."

The song ended. Tootsie Flute applauded. "Hey, fair play, boys!" Lyra said, raising her hoof. "Gimme five!"

Flash stared at the raised hoof in bewilderment. "Uh..."

Lyra looked at her hoof. "Oh, right. Uh, high hoof!"

Flash smiled and slapped her hoof, noticing Bon Bon shaking her head with a weary half smile behind Lyra's shoulder.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Tootsie said, reaching into her bag. She took out a hoofdrawn sheet and gave it to Twilight. It was a crayon depiction of Tootsie, Lyra, Bon Bon, Amethyst, Twilight, Flash and Phillip, all of them smiling. At the top of the picture were the words, "Thank you for helping my moms!"

"Aw, thanks," Twilight said. Tootsie hugged her around the neck and Twilight put a foreleg around her, allowing the filly to be comforted by her touch. Tootsie then ran over and hugged Flash, who chuckled and also embraced the filly. When Tootsie bounded over to hug Phil, he stiffened in shock and uncertainty, giving Twilight a "What do I do?" look as the filly put her forelegs around him. He eventually settled for awkwardly patting Tootsie on the head. The tension was obviously lost on her, as she smiled happily as she released him.

"Come on, me girls," Lyra said. "I'll make us some colcannon back at home."

"Nice playing with you," Flash called. "We should make that more common."

"Feel free to drop by the candy shop any time!" Bon Bon waved back as the family headed back outside to return home.

As they left, Phillip started to pack up his saxophone into his case. "I've got to go. I have an experiment waiting." He swung the case onto his back and started to head out the door. "By the way, congratulations on your promotion, Flash," he added.

"Huh?" Flash said.

Phillip nodded at the stack of unopened mail on the table. "Letter from the promotion board in there. You earned it, Flash; I mean that." And he left without another word.

Twilight fished the letter out of the stack and opened it up. Along with the typewritten letter of congratulations came a golden shoulder pin: the two chevrons of a corporal.

"Wow," Flash breathed, taking the pin. The golden sheen sparkled in the light of the room.

"Congratulations!" Twilight said. She magically lifted the pin. "Here, let me." Flash held still as she gently took the pin and attached it to his armor.

"Now, Corporal," Twilight said. "Would you care to come and watch the snowfall with me?"

"I would love to, Your Highness," Flash said, bowing. The two headed up to the balcony of the castle, Twilight taking the crayon drawing to put away with her other collections from her adventures.

Outside, the snow fell like stars upon the town, giving Ponyville the promise of peace.

Author's Notes:

And we've finished with this storyline! I'll admit that this may not have been one of my best, but I hope that you enjoyed my work and are looking forward to the next in the Phillip Finder series. I've been looking forward to the next few stories!