“So how soon can we get to Canterlot?” asked Sketch.

“Actually, we can go there today,” said Twilight. “The next train leaves at twelve.”

“That’s a half hour from now,” said Lightning Star. “We’d better get moving!”

The three ponies made their way to the train station, and when they got there, they saw Applejack carrying a cart of apples with her. She must have just gotten a new shipment.

“Howdy, y’all!” she said.

“Hey, Applejack…” Sketch said nervously.

“So, where are y’all headed off to?” she asked.

“Oh, we’re headed off to Canterlot,” said Twilight. “We’re going to see if the library over there has a book that we’re missing.”

“Oh, well will ya be back soon?” asked the cowpony. “Ah was hopin’ that Sketch an’ I could hang out again.”

Lightning grinned and wrapped an arm around Sketch’s shoulder. “Don’t sweat it, AJ,” he said. “We’ll have him back in no time!”

“Alright, then,” she said with a blush. “Ah’ll see y’all later.”

After Applejack said goodbye and left, the trio of ponies purchased their tickets and made it on the train before the final boarding call. They all sat in a booth and prepared for the ride ahead. Twilight said that the ride was about forty-five minutes long, but the two stallions were okay with it. As the alicorn was watching Sketch draw in his book, she looked up and noticed something that Lightning Star was doing. He was in a meditative stance, and was floating in midair without using his wings.

“How is he doing that?” asked Twilight.

“Oh, that?” said the unicorn. “It’s something that he learned to do recently. Probably a product of his ninja training or something.”

“You think he can hear us?” asked Twilight.

“Yes, loud and clear actually,” said Lightning with a slightly annoyed tone. “Oops. Sorry,” Twilight said with a blush.

The rest of the ride was spent in relative silence, until the train came to an abrupt stop. “Fillies and gentleclolts, we have arrived in Canterlot.”

“Well, here we are,” said Twilight as she and the two stallions got off the train. “I’m gonna go get a snack. You guys want anything?”

“Just a soda will be fine,” said Lightning.

“Same here,” said Sketch.

The alicorn nodded her head and trotted over to the snack bar. Meanwhile, Lightning Star and Sketch looked at all the ponies in the city. They were all wearing fancy clothes and the sight of it all made the two stallions feel outclassed and intimidated.

“Dude, we are totally not dressed for success,” said the pegasus. Despite the fact that he felt nervous he felt the need to make a joke.

The unicorn rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter, Lightning,” he said, trying to sound like he didn’t care, when in reality, he did. He just wanted to sound confident for the sake of his friend’s comfort. “We’re here on business. We’re not here to see who’s the best dressed. We shouldn’t feel ashamed of our looks.”

“Well, you should,” said somepony. “Those rags are atrocious!”

Lightning and Sketch turned around to see a white unicorn mare with a pink mane and tail approaching them. The recognized her as one of the background characters on the show, but couldn’t put a finger on her name.

“And you are?” said Lightning, offended and annoyed.

“I am Fleur de Lis, wife of Fancy Pants,” she said with a pompous attitude. “I must ask: what on earth are you two wearing.”

“Just normal clothes that normal ponies wear,” said Sketch. “Sometimes simple is better.”

“Not in this case,” said Fleur. “Those outfits are utter atrocities!”

“Oh yeah?” said Lightning, getting agitated. “Well you look like a-”

“Hey you guys! I got your sodas,” Twilight interrupted.

“Oh, thanks Twi,” said Sketch.

Fleur de Lis gave the two stallions and incredulous look. “Wait, y-you two know Princess Twilight Sparkle?” she asked.

“Yes,” says the princess. “They’re good friends of mine.”

“Now if you’ll excuse us, Fleur,” said Lightning, “we have someplace to be.”

The three ponies continued their walk through Canterlot, looking for the library.

“We should be there in about five minutes, guys,” said Twilight.

“Okay, cool,” said Sketch, when his phone suddenly rang. “Hello?” he answered.

“Sketch, darling! It’s Rarity,” said the pony on the other line. “I was wondering if you could work late on Monday. One of my deadlines got pushed to an earlier date, so I’ll need your help get my designs ready.”

“No problem, Rarity,” said the stallion. “You can count on me.”

“Oh, you’re a lifesaver, darling!” said the mare. “Bye!”

“Bye,” he said, hanging up the phone. All of a sudden, Sketch, Lighting, and Twilight hear a loud alarm, followed by screams of fear and the sound of hooves hitting the ground.

“Stop! Thieves! Come back with my jewels!” somepony yells, and the trio turns in the direction from where the voice was coming. They saw a middle aged earth stallion standing outside a jewelry store. They assumed that he was the owner.

A duo of masked stallions was running away from the store with large sacks of stolen jewelry in hand.

“Guys! We’ve gotta stop them!” said Lightning.

“Don’t be stupid, Lightning!” said Sketch. “This isn’t a TV show where you can stand up to thugs and not get your ass kicked! Even if we’re not really from here, this is still real life, not to mention the fact that we can’t attract too much attention to ourselves.”

“Well, you can stand here, but I’m gonna do something!” sad the pegasus.

Sketch sighed and looked at Twilight. “Let’s go. If he goes solo, he’s bound to do something stupid,” he said. The alicorn nodded her head and followed him. “God, this is so cliché,” thought Sketch.

Lightning flew as fast as he could, but even though the thieves were carrying huge sacks of cash, they were quick on their hooves. Realizing that his friend couldn’t catch up, Sketch took out his drawing book and drew a picture of a manticore with incredible speed. He then used his magic to bring the beast to life, and it was able to close in on the two criminals, who stop dead in their tracks at the sight of the creature.

With his targets frozen in fear, Lightning was able to catch the two thugs and pin them to the ground. Twilight had to catch up on foo because she hadn’t gotten used to her wings yet. She casts a spell that paralyzed the two thieves, allowing Lightning to get off of them.

“There,” said the pegasus. “All taken care of.”

“That was simply amazing, you three!” said the store owner, who was running towards the three heroes.

“Oh, it was nothing,” said Sketch, not wanting to attract any more unwanted attention. “You don’t need to make a big deal out of it.”

“Au contraire, my friend,” said the owner, “you three are heroes! You all deserve a handsome reward.”

“No, really, it’s not-”

“Don’t mind my friend,” Lightning interrupted, causing the unicorn to glare at him. “We’d happily accept your reward.” The pegasus followed the store owner into his shop, while Twilight put a hand on Sketch’s shoulder.

“Come on, there’s no avoiding this,” she said. “We might as well make the best of this.”

“What about these guys?” he asked, referring to the still paralyzed thieves that were helplessly lying on the ground.

“We’ll take care of them,” said a stallion from the royal guard, who had just arrived with several other guards. He took a moment to bow to Twilight before he and his colleagues proceeded to take the criminals away.

Twilight and Sketch walk into the jewelry store, where they saw lighting wearing a platinum wristband. “Check it out, guys!” he said. “We all get to pick out one piece of jewelry to keep for free.”

“It’s the least I can do,” said the store owner. “My name is Luster, by the way.”

“Well, thanks regardless, Luster,” said Twilight.

“No problem, princess,” he said with a bow.

Twilight ended up picking out an onyx encrusted ring, while Sketch was still browsing the store. He wasn’t much of a jewelry guy, and he was looking for something that wasn’t too flashy. Then again, he was in Canterlot, so what were the odds of finding something like that here?

His eyes then focused on a necklace towards the far end of the store. The necklace had a charm on it that was a reddish-orange color. Sketch started to think about Applejack, and how good this necklace would look on her, but then he remembered that AJ wasn’t a jewelry type of pony (which, coincidentally, is another thing that she had in common with him). He thought about it for a minute and decided that even if she didn’t want the necklace, it wouldn’t be that big a deal since it was free.

“Excuse me, Luster,” said Sketch.

“Yes, sir?” he answered, quickly trotting over to the unicorn’s side.

“I’d like to get this necklace,” he said. “It’s a gift for somepony.”

“Is it a special somepony?” Luster asked.

“No, just a friend,” the unicorn said with a blush.

Luster chuckled and retrieved the necklace form is glass casing. “Whatever you say,” he said.

Once all three ponies made their purchases, they thanked Luster once again for his generous reward and proceeded to the door, only to be shocked by what they saw out the window.

A crowd of reporter ponies was outside, anxious for Lightning, Sketch, and Twilight to exit the building and bombard them with questions.

“Fuck,” Sketch said under his breath.