Blueprint for Disaster

That night, just before she was about to go to sleep, Sunset Shimmer noticed her journal was glowing. A message from Twilight Sparkle.

Remember, wrote the Princess of Friendship. Magic is sometimes in the places we least expect.

Had Sunset somehow been wrong about the Sonic Rainbooms and their hidden abilities? Or was she not thinking about magic in the right way? What did Twilight Sparkle mean? Magic is sometimes in the places we least expect. Where did she least expect to find magic? What was the secret ingredient? She’d been reviewing the data from Rainbow Dash’s wrist monitor, but it still hadn’t shown anything special—nor did the color-change photos of Rarity that she had studied. Still, she was determined to solve this problem. She liked hard problems. Where wasn’t she looking? It hit her!

Fluttershy. Of course.

The shyest, sweetest member of the Sonic Rainbooms. She didn’t perform fancy guitar riffs or sing foot-stomping solos, but maybe, just maybe… could it be that as she quietly tapped her tambourine on the side of the stage, she was generating the powerful magic? That must be it! Why hadn’t she thought of it herself?

She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text. “Hey, Fluttershy! Can I come help you at the animal shelter tomorrow?”

“Yes!” came the immediate answer. “Can’t wait.”

Sunset Shimmer thought about Fluttershy. It made sense, really, that with her love of animals she would have the most access to Equestrian magic. She just didn’t know she was a powerful magician. But with Sunset Shimmer’s expert guidance, she might be able to release her true powers. Then Fluttershy would admire her as a magic investigator—and be grateful to have her as a friend.

Fluttershy was cleaning out the hamster cages when Sunset Shimmer arrived at the shelter the next day. She had a laptop, a camera, and a whole series of notebooks.

“Be sure to shut the door carefully behind you,” said Fluttershy. “We don’t want any escapees,” she told her friend. “I’ll just finish this up, and you can cuddle some of the new kittens that just arrived. They need lots of reassurance. Would that be all right?”

“Sure!” agreed Sunset Shimmer as Fluttershy placed three purring balls of fluff in her lap. Magic could wait when there were kittens to pet.

“Can I ask you a question?” Fluttershy spread new cedar chips on the floor of the hamster cage.

“Anything,” said Sunset Shimmer.

“What do you miss most about Equestria?”

“What?” Sunset Shimmer was stunned. No one ever really asked her about her old life.

“Do you miss your pony friends there?”

“My friends?” Sunset Shimmer hadn’t really had friends there. Mostly she’d been focused on figuring out the secrets to Celestia’s magic so she could be the supreme ruler of the pony world. “Not really,” she said. “I was different then.”

Fluttershy nodded. “I just know that when my rescues come in, it can take a while for them to get used to being here.”

Sunset Shimmer paused. “It’s been a learning experience, but I think I’m doing okay for a rescue.”

“Of course you are,” said Fluttershy sweetly. “I love your fashion show idea. I’ve made replicas of Rarity’s uniforms for the animals to wear in their parade. It’s going to be so cute. You want to see how they model them?”

“Absolutely!”

Fluttershy took out a whistle, which made no sound when she blew into it. Still, the kittens hopped out of Sunset Shimmer’s lap. The puppies bounded over, and even the hamsters got in a line.

“How did you get them to do that?” asked Sunset Shimmer, amazed.

“Animals can hear sounds at frequencies that we can’t detect, so I use special whistles and clicks to communicate with them.”

“Twilight Sparkle was right!” exclaimed Sunset Shimmer. “You are magic.”

Fluttershy blushed. “No, just patient.”

Sunset Shimmer paced as she came up with a new experiment. “It’s just possible that you are generating a series of magical notes that—if we could detect and work into our song—would increase the magical force field.”

“Why would we want to do that?”

“Magic is a force for good in the world. Think if the Sirens showed up again. We’d want to know how to use our full powers, right?”

“That makes sense,” said Fluttershy.

“Would you mind if I hooked that whistle up to an amp when we are practicing this afternoon?”

“I don’t think there would be a problem with that.”

“I think it’s going to be very exciting,” said Sunset Shimmer breathlessly. “I can’t wait to try it. Maybe we could go over to the auditorium right now. This is going to be the experiment that breaks everything wide open. People don’t realize that magic investigators sometimes have to make a lot of mistakes before they have a breakthrough.”

“Okay,” said Fluttershy. “Right now?”

“Hurry!” said Sunset Shimmer. “I want to try this out as soon as possible.”

Fluttershy poured some food into the animals’ bowls and turned out the lights. The two girls hurried out of the shelter together. It was only when they were partway to school that Sunset Shimmer realized she’d left her laptop and phone behind. She could be such an absentminded scientist, but she needed to keep track of her ongoing investigations.

“I’ll go back and get them for you,” said Fluttershy.

“No, you go on ahead and set up the instruments. I need some time to think about the adjustments for this experiment.”

Lost in thoughts of wattage and electricity, she barely noticed the animals weaving in and out between her legs at the shelter. She gathered up her things and hurried back out the door—forgetting to shut it behind her when she left.