//------------------------------// // Easy as stealing candy from a foal // Story: Sly Cooper: Enemies In A Strange Land // by k00l //------------------------------// Sly began to wake up, he was laying on his back and he had a massive headache. The last thing he remembered was a bright flash and then nothing. He rolled over onto his stomach, and slowly got to his knees. He sees that he is in a field of grass, he was taken back by that fact as he knew this place was a far cry compared to where he once was. "What in the world? But wasn't I just in a volcano?" Sly soon stood up and got to his feet, that's when he noticed something even worse. "Wait, where is my cane!?" Sly began to look all around him, seeing if his cane was nearby, it was not. He reaches for his pouch to pull out his Binocucom so he could scan the area for it, but... "My Binocucom is gone too! What's going on here!?" Sly began to panic, without his cane and Binocucom, he was vulnerable. If things couldn't get any worse, one more detail caught his notice. "Not only is my gear gone, but so isn't my gang! Bently! Murray!" Sly began to shout for his friends, but it was no use, there was no response. Feeling alone and unsafe, Sly began to observe his surroundings to try and get a foothold of where he was. In the distance he could see a small town. If there was a good place to begin looking for his friends, it would be there. With much reluctance to move on without his cane, he had no choice but to try and seek some help. It wouldn't take him long to get into town, the sun was setting, giving him plenty of cover. He quickly climbs on top of a nearby roof and begins to analyze the  town underneath him. There was hardly anyone out as it began to grow dark. However, Sly was a bit taken back when he did notice someone, or something. It looked like a horse, a brightly colored orange horse with a stetson hat. She appeared to be breaking down a market stand for the night. Sly raises an eyebrow as he noticed she walked on four feet, it wouldn't be all that weird if she walked on two, but she was on all four. Sly then notices a smaller one with her, with yellow fur and a big red bow in her hair. He was seconds away from hopping to the next roof top when he caught wind of their conversation. "Hey sis, what did y'all do with that weird stick ya found?" "Ah did the honest thing to do Applebloom, ah turned it in. Hopefully the mayor will give it back to the pony it belongs too." Sly was interested in their conversation. He places his finger and thumb to his chin as he soaked in their words. "Weird stick huh? I think I might know who that belongs too." Sly said to himself with a smile. He was thinking about jumping down from the roof and asking where the mayor may be. But where's the fun in that? "Aweful strange it was found in one of our appletrees. When Big Mac bucked the tree, it fell right on his head. Left a pretty big welp on his head." "Yeah, but Big Mac's tough, he'll get over it. Ah just wonder who would ever make a stick like that?" "Should have kept it, finders keepers!" "Now Applebloom, that wouldn’t be honest of us. You know that. " "Yes Sis." "Good. The mayor has it in her office, hopefully whoever lost it gets it back soon, looked real important." "If I was the mayor, where would my office be?" Sly thought to himself before coming to a quick conclusion. "It would be at the courthouse. I need to find someplace higher up so that I can scout this place out."  Sly begins to look around his surroundings for the tallest building in the town. He quickly spots a clock tower, figuring that was the tallest he was going to get, he begins to run along the rooftops. He makes quick and silent work getting to the tower. He sees a gutter pipe that goes all the way to the top of the tower. Sly is quick to notice the blue auras, something that a master thief is trained to see and quickly begins to climb up the gutter. Once her makes it to the top, he takes a knee and looks over the entirety of the town. As the sun dipped lower into the horizon, he could see more of the four legged ponies going into their homes for the night. "More of these four legged creatures. Just where the heck am I even at?" Sly begins to recall his last memory. He remembers that generator glowing a bright light, the next thing he knew he was in this strange place, with the rest of his gang missing. Just truly what was going on here? Sly was pulled out of his thoughts when he notices a circular building, directly in the center of the town. "Ten bucks says that's the courthouse." Sly said to himself as he began to slide down the gutter pipe that led him up the clock tower. After hopping along a few more rooftops, he makes a giant jump and lands on the roof of the courthouse. He checks a nearby window, and it's unlocked. He opens it and steps inside. He appeared to be in the attic of the courthouse, a perfect hiding spot. He got down low and he could see a bunch of cracks in the floor. He peeks through one of them and sees a few ponies wrapping up their work for the day. He listens in on their conversations seeing if he can get any at all important info from any of them. He listens for a good ten minutes, getting incredibly bored, but his patience quickly rewards him as he sees two ponies begin to make their way down the hall under him. "Oh deary me. Of course I would allow you to access our criminal files Ms. Sparkle. I already know how close you are to the princess even without that badge." "You don't know how much I truly appreciate that Mayor. But I want to do everything as professionally as possible." "Mayor! Bingo." Sly smirks  as he approaches the attic hatch. He opens it very slowly and quietly. Dropping down onto the ground as quietly as he could. He closes the hatch, eliminating all evidence of it ever being opened. He tiptoes down the hallway where the two ponies went. He sees an open door and presses his back against the wall. He could hear them talking more inside. "That's a weird looking stick Mayor, where did you get it?" "Your friend Applejack turned it into me earlier today. Said it was stuck in her apple tree and that it must belong to somepony. We hope to give it back to whoever owns it tomorrow." "That's... Interesting. Anyway, no time for that, do you have that file I asked for?" "Of course Ms. Sparkle, here is the file that covers the entirety of the Fiendish Five." WHAT!?" Sly thought to himself. He covers his mouth with his hand to keep himself from saying that outloud. "How do these four-legs know about the Fiendish Five!? I need to know what they know! Sly could hear them approaching the door, he looks around for a place to hide. There wasn't any good hiding spots for him. He looks upwards, he jumps up as high as he could and spreads his arms and legs out to where they were touching both walls on the side. He presses his arms and legs hard to keep him suspended above the hallway. He sees the ponies walk out, a tan one with gray hair, and a purple one with dark hair. He prays silent, hoping neither of them would look upwards and blow his element of surprise. He could see the police file sticking out of the purple one's saddlebag. Can't get that yet till he gets his cane. He notices the tan one lock her office before they walk down the hallway. Sly drops back down silently and tries the office door.  "Yep, definitely locked." He looks to the side to see another window. Surely if the first one he entered was unlocked, perhaps maybe this one? He approaches it and it opens just fine. He steps out the window and steps out on the thin ledge. He presses his back against the wall and side steps to the next window. He looked inside, it had to be the Mayor's office, because on her desk was Sly's cane. He smirks before opening that window as well and stepping inside. He can't help but think of this being as easy as getting into Inspector Fox's office. He grabs the cane and gives it a hug.  "Safe and sound." Sly approaches the door and thankfully it was only locked from the outside. He steps back into the hallway and looks down. "I gotta get those files off that purple one. Once I find Bentley and Murray, and we find a way back home, we are back on the Fiendish Five's trail." Sly quickly but silent treks down the hallway. Thankfully the two ponies were sauntering casually as they were talking to each other. He tip toes right up to them and with his cane, he fishes the files right out of the purple one's saddle bags. He pulls them back and takes ahold of them. He smiles at noticing that these files were thicker than the one Carmelita had. However, the silence was broken by an ear piercing scream behind Sly. "Rodent! Who let that rodent in here!?" Said a female pony, prompting the two in front of sly to turn around. Both of their eyes widen and they make multiple steps back away from him. Sly looks at the pony who screamed and raises his eyebrow at her. "Rodent? That's a bit offensive don't ya think?" "H-Hey! He has the police files! Give those back!" Sly turns to see the Purple one glaring at him with gritted teeth. He smirks at her before tipping his hat to her. "Sorry, but no can do, these are more important to me than they are to you." Sly wastes no time in sprinting a right at the two ponies. He jumps and does a front flip right over them and sprints down the hallway. "Somepony stop that thief!" Sly could see that the purple pony's yell caught the attention of another pony at the end of the hallway. He stood in Sly's way and dug his fore hoof into the ground. The pony charges him, but Sly quickly side steps him and uses his cane to pull out one of his front hooves, tripping him. The pony falls face first into the ground. "Watch your footing." Sly smirked at his own witty comment before turning a corner in the hall. He quickly shoves the files into his back back before running through a pair of double doors and ending up on a balcony. The balcony was on the top floor, which overlooked the main corridor of the courthouse. A few ponies look up at him, many pointing with their hooves and at him and talking amongst themselves about what they were seeing. Sly hears a few hoof steps behind him, prompting him to turn. He sees the purple pony glaring at him with a very angry expression. "Give me those back!" She was very angry, and Sly could see a large horn on the top of her head begin to glow. He held up his hands in mock surrender. He didn't understand why she had a horn, or why it was glowing, but he knew it didn't mean anything good. He looked back behind him, on the opposite end of the courthouse, he could see another window, and hanging from the ceiling was a chandelier. He smirks again before looking at the purple pony. "If you want these so bad four-legs, you're gonna have to catch me!" Before the pony could react, Sly turns and leaps off the balcony, he uses his cane to grab a hold of the chandelier and attempts to swing himself towards the window. However, luck was not on his side as Sly heard a loud crack. He looks up and sees the Chandelier break loose from the ceiling. His eyes widen as he and the chandelier begin to fall. Sly and the Chandelier fall to the ground, a loud crash and a sickening thud. Sly quickly falls unconscious from hitting his head on the hard tiled floor. Sly begins to wake up for the second time that day. His head ached even worse, and his back was sore. He tries to rub the back of his head where he landed, but found himself unable to. He opens his eyes and finds himself handcuffed by his wrists and feet to a chair. In front of him was a table sitting in the middle of an all white room. On the wall in front of him he could see a tinted window, he could just barely see some dark figures on the other side. Before he could register anything else, a door leading into the room opens. Walking into the room, was the same purple pony he stole from. She looks at him with a very upset expression. She approaches the table and glares at him. "Name?" Was all she said to him. "...Name?" "What is your name!?" She said much louder. Sly let out a long sigh as he prepares himself for a long and tedious interrogation.