This story is a sequel to The Prisoner of Zebra
When Octavia's priceless cello is stolen by a greedy dragon, it's up to Flash Sentry, along with a ragtag crew of musicians, scoundrels, and special agents to get it back! Just another day's work for Flash Sentry, "Hero" of Equestria-- that is, until a certain princess gets involved ...
Volume Four of the Flash Sentry Papers.
I question Carrot Top's
sanitydifficulty assessment when she says he has the easy job.This type of pretty pony princess duplicity is something she must have picked up from cadence! I love how gracious she is here "Your friend" "thank you". She wouldn't ever lie to us.
Yep, this is the true story right here. The show where they meet twice and blush is just sparkle approved red herring propaganda.
This.
This is going to be good.
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Oh god, this is going to end with him fighting Timber Spruce to the death above a ravine, isn't it?
- anyone who knew Carrot Top's nom de guerre
This gun' be sooo good .
Oh dear.
OK, where is this going?
Smart move.
OHO! This is gonna be fun.
Of course, of course.
So, actual crying.
You can never win, can you, Flash?
As an ex cellist, this hits right in the heart.
Uh, there there?
Oh, you two know each other?
I think you delight in torturing poor Flash.
What makes you think this is the EASY part?
You seem to be missing the last half of this paragraph.
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Man, you can just feel the snark and the hurt in there. I hope Celly already stopped that. And genuinely asked for forgiveness
Who am I kidding, she'll laugh her plot off when she reads that
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Probably.
Needless to say, this volume will not mention any of the regrettable events of the Gloaming Rebellion or the following so-called Cakeless Decade.
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To be honest, this is from the series time. When she was but a geeky librarian who did crazy world-saving shit with her friends and just recently got a pair of wings. Maybe even a virgin. It SHOULD be easy for the hero of equestria...
Now, easy doesn't mean sane. Even if you disconsider his girlfriend just ask him to seduce a princess (but said nothing about bedding her), we're talking about Sparkle here. To hurt her emotionally would be to have the entire equestrian royalty (blueballs doesn't count) as your eternal enemy.
Basically, Flash is fucked, no matter what.
On the bright side, more Flash papers!
Edit: oh, and "should be" accounts for, among others, the possibility she plays for the other team. Or that she's actually extremely freaky in the bed and terrific at hiding her dalliances. Or, you know, standard Flash fare of shenanigans and mind numbing terror.
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I say it'll be difficult because of how utterly oblivious she is.
And so we see why Twilight summoned the author. Good thing he accepted, or she probably would've opted for a more literal summoning.
In any case, a Sentry Papers heist story? You most certainly have my interest.
My biggest question is, will Carrot Top be upset if the seducing goes too according to plan? Because I ship FlashTop.
...
CarrotSentry.
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I am entirely too pleased at someone coming up with a shipping portmanteau for those two, especially given the Flash Sentry Papers are the only fics that actually feature the two of them in the same story.
Now, if the artisty people could start drawing fanart ... ;)
I admit that I haven't read any of the other Flash Sentry stories you've written, but I get the impression that a lot of Flash's "genuine" charm is a bunch of embellishment, what with him being the one who writes it all.
Either way, the story itself is far more charming than Flash could be, whether he actually is or not. Quite entertaining for something with which I'm so unfamiliar.
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I highly recommend reading from the beginning of the series as it really does a good job of presenting flash's character in a way that dose't make him immediately likable but still an actual fleshed out character.
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Dude, read them. You have no idea what you're missing
8400142 The names are CarrotSentry for the fluff and FlashTop for the clop. Hopefully you can understand why.
A dragon. Oh dear.
He has a point. This is crazy.
He may be roly poly, but he can also belly flop into lava and be just fine, can breathe fire and can chomp through gems.
Why doesn't that surprise me?
I'm with Flash here, this is nuts.
He has a point.
Don't do it, Flash.
Perhaps it'd be wiser, Flash, to just say NO and damn the consequences one of these days.
8400547 Oh, no. What actually happened is he became a "hero" at the changeling invasion, and it all spirals downwards (or upwards, if you're talking about his unwarranted reputation) from there.
It's quite hilarious, you should read them. I've compiled a list (in order) here.
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Thanks. I'm something of a fan of Tumbleweed's work, especially his Equestria Girl fics, so I'm kind of surprised that I haven't given these a chance; it's probably just my initial lack of interest in Flash Sentry. I'll suck it up and give them a shot.
So, Bon..I mean Sweetie Drops and co.are planning to use a child as decoy in order to infiltrate the fortress of the equestrian closest equivalent to Lofwyr from Shadowrun so they can steal from his hoard?
Ok, this is not merely criminaly insane, this is cruel. Have they stopped to think about what Diamondback will do to Spike if/when the gig is up? Or what Twilight will do to them if the dragon doesn't finish them first?
Oh dear. I can imagine all kinds of reasons why Flash will come to regret not paying attention for the rest of the briefing, and that's saying nothing of Twilight potentially expecting him to be identical to his naked ape counterpart. This could go wrong in so many hilarious ways, and that's before we even factor in the dragons.
That ending gave me a Team Fortress 2: Expiration Date vibe.
Flash: "Hey babe, I got a bucket of chicken-"
Carrot: *slaps Flash* "I'm not one of your fried chicken tramps! I'm a princess. I like my men dangerous, mysterious. You want to be my lover? Earn it. Seduce me!"
clicks the next chapter button only to realize it's not there
Huh? What do you mean I've caught up on the Flash Sentry Papers? That's ridiculous, I just started yesterday!
There has to be more... there has to be! This is one of the only decent Flash Sentry stories I've read!
Seducing Twilight shouldn't be too difficult. I'm sure nothing will go wrong.
Okay, but the purchases are all completely legal. It doesn't matter if they are just for a collection. This entire operation is blatantly illegal and immoral.
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Maybe, maybe not... Red Dragon with chequered past and a reputation for 'legal on paper' business dealings... no guarantees.
True in an absolutist way... but it may depend on what their solution to the issue is.
They cannot simply 'steal' the cello because there would be 'consequences'. I would look on to see what the plan is... or at least what the result is after the plan inevitably falls apart because Sentry is involved, before passing judgement on the crew.
Also, plenty of individuals will argue that having unique and priceless items in a private collector's hands is a crime against humanity (ponydom?) in general and therefore possession which leaves the public unable to enjoy these artworks or items is 'illegal' and 'immoral' in its own way.
That said, remember, we are dealing with self-confessed spies and a scoundrel... their definitions of 'immoral' and 'illegal' will differ from ours!
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Yeah. A lot of what's going on feels off. Carrot still treats Flash like crap (wouldn't be surprised if she still hits him but it's okay cause he's a guy, even if she's repeatedly stated to be much stronger than him), Bon Bon treats him like crap, they're planning to do several somethings immoral and illegal and they don't have Equestria's interests in mind.
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Diplomatically and legally, Diamondback could even sue the Equestrian government: Flash is at this point a famous, condecorated hero and Spike is easy to identify as Princess Twilight 's assistant.
Celly wouldn't be happy to learn about this.
Bringing a mail mare? Really! This is a Mickey mouse operation
So ditzy is the embodiment of the mail service ethos. Cool.
Flash's fucked, though
Nice, really loving this right now. Though, last time i checked, wasnt Ditzy Do's name Derpy Doo?
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i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy302/zeframmann/Facepalm/ccfacepalm.jpg
Seriously, even Flash admitted any plan involving him was doomed to failure, and Bon just had to add the Flim Flam brothers and Ditzi to the team?!
This is like watching a train in a movie speeding up before the inevitable wreck.
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Agreed. It was nice seeing Twilight stand up for her brother and take Carrot to task for once, that happens far too little. Because Flash is right, it's mostly his life on the line, he's being blatantly manipulated, and even if things don't go horribly wrong, he has a life outside secrecy that might end up destroyed. I hope Twilight keeps on commenting on Carrot Top's attitude about things.
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Don´t forget Celestia is aware of Carrot and Bon Bon´s secret identities for obvious reason, and is canny enough to finding out what happened. North Yakyakistan may not be far enough to keep hem safe from her reach (and wrath).
I predict the group will find (and foil) enough illegal activities in the Spire to more or less justify the operation and make Flash look like a hero, again. Not that will be enough, however, to prevent Celly giving them a kindly warning about putting similar shenanings ever again.
I'm a bit surprised that Shining's still acting as captain of the guard given his status as Emperor-Consort. Still, the scene works very well.
Be advised that horizontal rules and side-mounted footnotes do not play well together in Fimfiction's formatting.
Twilight, crass manipulation was pretty much the bedrock of that relationship. From both ends, with varying degrees of crassness.
Still, Flimflams aside, I have a good feeling about this team.
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Not a mailmare. The mailmare. Neither rain nor sleet nor season finale will stay that messenger from her appointed rounds.
Though I admit, I may be biased.
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That's what I thought as well. It's not exactly good logistics to have the captain of your city's guardforce stationed so far away, especially when there's not even telegraph lines yet. Unless Celestia thinks the guards are so useless, it makes no difference XD
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That, and I expect what happens won't leave Twilight particularly heartbroken. She doesn't seem to have that dim a view of Flash, even after all this. But yes, Celestia needs to rein in her secret service agents, it seems. They're not overstepping their bounds, they're leapfrogging them.
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Minor note: the Crystal Empire is to all effects an Equestrian protectorate, right?
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Protectorate, or vassal state, yes.
Good luck, bucko!
Whatever strings needed.
Come again?
Of course it is.
Which one?
Ah. That.
A very good one at that.
Oh. Oh dear. Flash, don't fuck up.
I frankly doubt that, but, hopefully you're right.
Eh, more or less.
I don't doubt that there was a certain amount of mind control/hypnosis involved.
Toldja.
I can imagine.
The Flim Flam brothers and Ditzy/Derpy? This is, unexpected.
... I think it's Flam.
I adore these two.
Fairly certain it's Doo.
Who is no doubt sharper than she looks.
... Fair enough. She's got my vote.
I cannot blame you.
Flash, good luck. You will need a lot of it.
OMflowy-manedG, this is going to be good!
Uh Oh, what's going to happen to Flash now with Twilight glowing like that, also Twilight should have asked Flash if he knew the name 'Sunset Shimmer' it would have been cool to see that Flash did know her and how he would react to Twilight asking him that.
Holy carp! I'm loving the annotations!
Cutie map call?
Loving the new commentator.