Back on the Zeppelin, Poni was just sitting there in his cell waiting for Star and Wing to return from questioning. As Poni was laying on the mattress catching some zees, he hears a screech from one of the other prisoners next door.
“Mobsters return! They kill us all!” the voice next door yelled. “Please don’t take me! It was just a debt! A debt I tell you! Is it worth taking somepony’s life over! I have so much of my life I still need to do! I can give you passes to the VIP lounge in my club! Just please! Please don’t hurt me!”
“HEY!” Poni yelled as he knocked on the wall. “Will you pipe down in there?! It’s bad enough I have to suffocate in this small dark room waiting for my enemies to gain power and my organization to lose power! The last thing I need is to hear whining!”
“Quiet, hater!” the voice yelled.
“Shut up!” somepony in the room yelled. “I agree with him, dawg! You need to pipe down!”
“Yeah, holms!” another voice said.
“Well sor-ry!” the first voice yelled. “I don’t need one of my ex-manager’s gangster friends to make me feel worse than I already feel!”
“Ugh!” Poni groaned. “Why do I have to be next door to a bunch of babies?!”
“I heard that!” the first voice yelled.
“Yeah, fool! Want me to mess you up!?” the second voice yelled.
“SHUT UP! The boss is trying to rest!” Star yelled from outside.
“Yeah, buddy! You just askin’ for somepony to be sleepin’ with the fishes!” Bright yelled.
“I love fish though.” The first voice said. “I mean, I love them as pets in bowls, but not to sleep with them!”
“All of you be quiet!” a mobster yelled from outside as he opens my cell door and he throws Star and Bright back inside Poni’s cell. “You stay here and stay quiet.” The Marmellata mobster ordered us. “I have to deal with your neighbors first.”
“By all means, take care of them.” Poni insisted.
“JERK!” the first voice at the next cell yelled as she pounded the wall. Or at least I think it was a she. Sounded like a she.
“Ugh…” Star and Bright both moaned in pain.
“Star! Bright! What happened?” Poni asked as he helped them to the mattress.
“The… the… the Sharks…” Bright stuttered. “They… they…”
“Shh, shh, rest.” Poni insisted.
“Boss! We’re… s-sorry.” Bright said in pain.
“What did those haters do to yous?” Poni asked worringly.
“They… they… tried to… make us talk.” Bright stuttered. “They… wanted us… to do something… we didn’t… want to… AAGH!”
“Bright!” Poni cried.
“They wanted us to tell them Friendship Mob secrets.” Star said in pain. “B-but… we didn’t… we didn’t tell them a thing… except to… go… STUFF IT!”
“Yeah, you tell ‘em, Star!” Poni said as he smiled.
“No matter what happens, boss.” Star said as he coughed. “What we do… we do for yous!”
“I know… I know… you boys do a great job.” Poni said. “Right now, just rest. Your duty is done. If they want to torture somepony, they torture me!”
“Oh but this is torture to you, Cipriani!” my pop said mischievously as he walks inside the cell. “It’s torture seeing your closest associates in pain.”
“Go away, Leafhorn. This is your doing.” Poni said angrily at him as he comforted Star and Bright.
“Hey it wasn’t JUST me, Cipriani.” Pop informed him. “There was also Mela, and Penna, and Fraterno… the whole Commission is against you and your organization now, my friend.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Poni said.
“They know your plan.” Pop said. “They know you’re trying to convert them, but really, all you’re doing is trying to make yourself look better. You think you’re the best mob Equestria’s ever known. You’re trying to take over the Commission, and by extension, the kingdom. The Friendship Mob must be dealt with.”
“You just don’t understand the good we’ve done.” Poni said.
“The good, huh? HA!” pop laughed. “Is that what you tried to do in your LAST organization?” Poni didn’t say anything. He did not know what to say. “The great Poni Cipriani, trying to make a change, when he all he’s doing is just causing his own downfall. Seeing his old associates suffer his own consequences. You think you could just undo all you’ve done, but quite frankly… you just went full circle.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore!” Poni yelled.
“Oh but you don’t have to talk, but listen…” pop whispered. “Shhh… listen, Cipriani. Listen to those little voices in your head. Who are they? Who are those voices?”
“Shut up!” Poni yelled as he held his ears. “Just… SHUT UP!”
“Think about it, Poni! Who are they?” pop asked with an evil grin.
“Lalalalala, can’t hear you! Lalalalala!” Poni ignored him.
“Ah, yes, Cipriani, yes!” pop nodded. “Those voices… they’re your old associates. All of them… gone. All gone. They left you. Some of Alberto Palma’s curse somehow rubbed off on you it would seem.”
“SHUT UP!” Poni yelled. “SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!”
“YOU SHUT UP!” the voice next door yelled. “YOU SAY I’M TOO LOUD! LISTEN TO YOU!”
“Th-that’s enough Leafhorn!” Star said in pain. “Y-you know how sensitive he is in that subject!” He then lays back down on the mattress.
“Of course, how silly of me.” pop said. “I’ll cut him some slack for now. He’ll be really feeling the guilt once his organization crumbles to shreds! My son and his friends are on their way here to once again prove themselves to the Commission. Pffft! Like he has a chance! Once they’re defeated, I’ll have my son back, your organization will be disbanded, and we’ll once again have the peace that we deserve! Isn’t that what you wanted, PC?”
“Oh yeah, he has the initials of that.” Wing nodded and laughed. “That’s funny and the same initials as Princess Celestia too!”
“Wait… they’re here?” Poni asked. “Herb, Annabelle, and the others are here?”
“They are, so you better pray for them.” Pop said mischievously as he chuckles and backs out of the cell. “You better pray for them!” He then closes the cell door.
“They can’t do this. They’re going to get captured too!” Poni said. “We need them to run the organization out of my absence.”
“B-but perhaps it…it’s for the best, boss!” Wing said. “We’ll be rescued.”
“This zeppelin is too secured.” Poni said. “They won’t make it!”
“Have confidence in them, boss!” Star suggested as he coughed.
“Yeah… you’re probably right.” Poni agreed. “I hope they know what they’re doing… for all of our sakes.” I hope so too, and I know the answer. Well, not then, but now when I’m making this.
Back at the hideout, I walked over to the briefing room where Turnip and Sunflower were preparing our plan to raid the zeppelin. Blueprints, photos, and notes were all over the board. “Ah, good, Herb! You’re here!” Turnip said. “We’re in need of our temporary leader in an effort to rescue Poni.”
“Temporary leader?” I asked shockingly. “Wow… I… don’t know what to say!”
“Hey all you friends seem to speak highly of you, so for now, I’ll trust you to lead us too.” Sunflower agreed.
“Oh please, y’make me bloosh.” I said as I blushed.
“Bloosh?” Sunflower asked.
“Don’t question my way of saying things!” I demanded.
“Don’t yell at me, punk!” Sunflower yelled.
“CALM DOWN!” Turnip yelled. “Both of you! How can we fight the Commission when we start fighting amongst ourselves?”
“You’re right, Turnip.” I agreed.
“Sure, whatever.” Sunflower said annoyedly as she glares at me and moving her hooves toward her eyes and to me hinting that she’s watching me.
“Yeah, you have nice eyes.” I said.
“Alright now pay attention Herb, because, umm, Sunflower and I looked at the plans very carefully and I see we have two options.” Turnip said.
“Lay ‘em on me.” I insisted.
“Ok, look over here.” Turnip said as I walked over to the board and looked at it. “Now, the zeppelin spends a majority of the time in the air to avoid trespass. It overlooks the city. The zeppelin disguises itself as an advertising blimp that flies over the Manehatten Huges’ hoofball stadium for most days or nights if there’s a sporting event on. During the night hours, the zeppelin bases at the airport. The Commission paid off officials to have clearance to land there every night for refuel. Unfortunately, the airship will be locked down every night with heavy security, and with airport security to deal with too, there’s no way we can sneak inside in time.”
“That’s too bad.” I said. “I was hoping for a sneaky ninja stealth raid.”
“Well that might still happen.” Turnip said.
“Not at night though.” I said.
“Hmm, well then.” Turnip continued. “So we’re going to have to raid the airship while it’s in the air. Most of the families are going to be out on business though, unless there’s going to be a meeting going on. I would assume all the dons are going to be there since they’re going to be monitoring us while we’re fighting their families on the streets, but hopefully they won’t spot us when we attack. This will require something that flies though to get to the airship.”
“Fly? Aren’t they going to spot us?” Sunflower asked.
“That is, if you’re going.” Turnip teased. She glares at him. “So, anyways, for them not to spot us, we’re going to need to get something they won’t suspect a raid from. The mobs use cargo helicopters to move their families to and from the airship and ground level in case the airship is in the air. Heh, I guess that’s why they call it an airship. Anyways, we’ll need to take one of these cargo helicopters in order to gain access to the ship without getting spotted.”
“But the mobs check their choppers before they’re able to let anything out and wander about the ship.” Sunflower added.
“Which brings me to the choices.” Turnip said. “But one more thing on the helicopter subject: we’ll need to take one of them without any of the families knowing that we got them. We’re going to need to be swift in order to take the helicopter, so when they drop off some of their families, we’re going to capture them all and disable their radios. All but one though. We’re going to use one of their radios to ask for a pickup. Once that’s done, we’ll capture the pilot on that chopper, and then commandeer it. Ok, now those choices!”
“How difficult are they going to be?” I asked.
“It depends actually.” Turnip said. “Are you better at being swift, or are you better at stealth? More or less, both of these choices are going to be similar. They both involve getting on the ship and not getting spotted. Now we’re only there to rescue Poni.”
“Not Star and Bright?” I teased.
“No, leave ‘em to rot.” Turnip teased as well and we both chuckled.
“Yeah, sure, laugh at your suffering friends.” Sunflower complained.
“So as I was saying, Herb, you’re only there to rescue Poni. We’re not trying to start a fight with the Commission.” Turnip informed me. “We will have to defend ourselves, but we’re not trying to take over. We have to prove to the Commission that we are useful, and that way they’ll let us back in, and the Sharks will once again be kicked out.”
“I know, but… if my pop is going to be at the airship. I might as well end things with him there and then.” I said.
“No, don’t let your grudge against him distract things.” Turnip instructed me. “Leafhorn Senior will fall, but the Commission is going to do that, not you. Don’t let revenge get in the way, ol pal of mine. We’re not just trying to stop your father, but we’re trying to reform the Commission.”
“Uh huh.” I nodded. “I understand. But what about the FDA? What are they going to do?”
“No idea.” Turnip said. “They may join in at assisting us, but I hope it doesn’t have to come to that. Let’s just focus on rescuing Poni, and then getting out of there. There should be plenty of cargo choppers in the hanger. That is, unless they lock everything down, but don’t worry. If it comes to that, we’ll find a way inside and rescue you using our chopper.”
“And if things go wrong from there?” I asked.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Turnip said.
“How about the choices?” I asked.
“Right, right.” Turnip remembered. “So I see two choices: the left door or the right door. The zeppelin’s got two doors, one on each side, both leading to different areas of the ship. Those doors are the less secure entrances, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem. I mean unless somepony opens the door and spots you, or if somepony faces the door when you go inside, or there’s a ton of them in there or somethi-“
“I think he gets it, Turnip.” Sunflower interrupted.
“What about the security cameras?” I asked.
“I was about to get to that. Can you be patient please?” Turnip complained.
“Sor-ry!” I said defensively.
“So I’m going to be hacking the security cameras from the chopper. Rely on a signal relay.” Turnip explained. “But I’m not disabling them. No, no. I’m going to be freezing the security footage monitors, so the guard covering the monitors would think nopony’s in the room, but I’m only doing a few cameras at a time to avoid suspensions. Oh, and nopony has to be in the room in order for me to temporarily freeze the monitors. If the monitor freezes and somepony’s in there, the guard will get suspicious and raise the alarm. If the alarm goes off, you’re finished.”
“So… the only choice you’re giving me is which door to go in?” I asked.
“For now. You can choose what equipment you want to bring as well.” Turnip said. “Each door is going to lead somewhere different. The left door is going to lead to the meeting room, and the right door is going to lead to the communications room. I’d tell you to study this map, but… umm… you know…”
“Yeah… I know.” I agreed.
“So I’ll talk you through it.” Turnip said. “But whichever path you choose, you may end up at the same area, but perhaps going a different path. It depends. So… which path do you want to take? Left, or right?”
“Can I choose when we get there?” I asked.
“No, because I have to know what supplies to bring.” Turnip said. “Just choose and we can get on with it!”
“Anypony coming with me?” I asked.
“Yes, you will have Annabelle, Angel, and Clay with you the whole time.” Turnip said. “If Angel keeps quiet he won’t be a problem.”
“I HEARD THAT, BOY!” Angel yelled from the other room. “I’ve been quiet this whole time you were talking!”
“What about you?” I asked Turnip.
“I’ll be at the chopper looking after you boys.” Turnip said. “Now all you need to do right now is choose a side to enter in, and we’re done.”
Alright, readers, you help me out with this. I’m not good at choosing. Since Flare and Jerry did this in their stories, I might as well do this too. So choose a side for me to enter in, and later I’ll be actually doing it, and I’ll show the possibilities.
CHOICE A: Right Side
“I choose the right side.” I said.
“Alright, I’ll look for some tools that’ll help you.” Turnip said. “I’ll need to get some different choices of tools for you, help you study the maps so you can choose the tools, and we’ll be set to go. After we’re done here I’ll debrief the others while you rest, and after a good night sleep we’ll be ready to take on the Commission!"
“Let’s go to Denny’s for breakfast tomorrow.” I suggested.
“If you really want to, we’ll do it.” Turnip said.
CHOICE B: Left Side
“I choose the left side.” I said.
“Alright, I’ll look for some tools that’ll help you.” Turnip said. “I’ll need to get some different choices of tools for you, help you study the maps so you can choose the tools, and we’ll be set to go. After we’re done here I’ll debrief the others while you rest, and after a good night sleep we’ll be ready to take on the Commission!”
“Let’s go to iHop for breakfast tomorrow.” I suggested.
“If you really want to, we’ll do it.” Turnip said.
Whatever choice you choose will affect the story later. So after I studied the maps and chose my tools with Turnip, I’m ready to get some rest so we can head out. Turnip was discussing the plan with Angel, Annabelle, Clay, and the rest of Sunflower’s gang. I was lying down on one of the bunk beds, thinking about the fact that I may meet up with my pop and I could finish this. But Turnip did said he’s already going to create his own downfall. All we have to do is prove ourselves to the Commission.
Meanwhile, outside the hideout, some dark shadows sneak through the dark sewers. It was one of the families. Which one, you’ll find out. One of them whispered to the rest of them, “It’s clear, let’s go!” The rest of the shadows looked like they were bringing in something big. They bring it through the passageway where our hideout is located. “Is the device charged?” one of the shadows asked.
“Yes. These ponies won’t know what hit ‘em!” another shadow said.
“Hey does anypony smell that?” another shadow asked.
“Yeah I smell it too. Yuck!” the first shadow complained. “Well, it’s a sewer, what can yous expect?”
“I don’t think it’s a normal sewer smell, boss.” The third shadow said. Just then, the corpsey zombie monster that scared us before scared these mobsters.
“WHAT IS THAT?!” the second mobster cried.
“KILL IT! KILL IT WITH LASERS!” the first mobster yelled. So the mobsters immediately fire the cannon at the scary and quite disturbing distraction, and the fake zombie monster explodes with cotton flying everywhere. We all immeditaly heard it from inside.
I suddenly woke up, bumping my head on the bottom side of the top bunk. “Ow!” I yelled.
The others from the other room heard it too. “What was that!?” Clay cried.
Back outside, the first mobster, the capo, got pretty angry. “Great! We wasted energy on a distraction! Now we have to recharge it!”
“Well that’s a bummer, boss.” The third mobster said.
“DON’T TALK! RECHARGE!” the capo demanded. So they began to recharge the device.
I ran to the briefing room to ask what happened, and then Sunflower said, “It’s the Commission! They sent one of the mobs to attack us early!”
“Is it morning yet?” I asked.
“No! It’s only 2:14 AM!” Sunflower said. “Ugh! I hate it when ponies call back on their word!”
“Technically that is still morning.” Clay informed us. “Just saying.”
“WHATEVER!” Sunflower yelled. “We have to get out of here! We’re putting our plan in affect right now!”
“Which family is it outside?” I asked.
“Judging by the tough-looking laser weapon they have outside, it’s the Mela Di Legnos.” Turnip said as he observed the security footage of outside. “Yep, definitely the Mela Di Legnos.”
“Ok, so that means they mainly rely on their technology to do the job for them.” Clay said. “The family themselves aren’t that strong in the physical sense.”
“How did they find us anyway?” Angel asked. “We below the streets. Waaaay hidden below the streets.”
“Why aren’t they firing again?” Annabelle asked.
“Trying to jinx it, Annabelle?!” Sunflower yelled.
“It’s a recharge weapon.” Turnip said. “I feel we have approximately five minutes to get out of here.”
“Well, we can’t get out the front door. There’s too many of them.” Sunflower said.
“Do you have a secret passageway out of here, Sunflower?” I asked.
“No! How stupid of us!” Sunflower said angrily as she bucked herself on the head. “Stupid! Stupid!”
“Hey, HEY!” I yelled as I ran over to her and stopped her. “Calm down!”
“NEVER tell a girl to calm down, Herb!” Sunflower yelled at me. “You’re just gonna get the opposite of what you want!”
“I know we’re in trouble now, but we can go through with it.” I said. “I was once at the same position as you. I lost all hope of redeeming myself to society, until I joined the Friendship Mob. All I want is peace, and we can’t get that peace if we’re going to panic. Do you trust me, Sunflower?”
“I told you I did before.” Sunflower reminded me.
“Then you know where I’m getting at, right?” I asked.
“I…” Sunflower looked down and thought about it. “I… I guess.”
“Turnip, you think you can do something about their weapon?” I asked.
“Not remotely, but I have a device that may short-circuit it if I can get to it.” Turnip said.
“We don’t have time to wait around, boy! What should we do?!” Angel yelled.
“Cause a distraction. Lure the mobsters away from the weapon, and I may be able to get to it.” Turnip instructed us.
“And how do you suppose we do that?” Clay asked.
“Use your imagination of course!” Turnip said.
“That’s your answer for everything, man.” Angel said.
“And that’s how we get stuff done!” Turnip said.
“I can create a smoke screen, T, if that’s good enough.” Annabelle suggested. “It’ll give us the advantage to ambush them.”
“Good call, Annabelle!” I said. He smiled.
“Alright, if we have this planned, let’s do this.” Turnip said.
“C’mon team! Let’s help ‘em out in defending our headquarters!” Sunflower instructed her group. So we all headed over to the front entrance and prepared for our attack. Sunflower then instructed her group, “Ok, Annabelle, Angel, Clay, Herb, I’m going with you outside to take care of them. The rest of you, protect the headquarters and make sure Turnip has a clear path to their device.”
“Is everypony ready?” I asked.
“Ready when you are!” Sunflower said.
I took a deep breath, and then I said, “Unlock the doors.” Sunflower starts unlocking the doors and opens the hatch, and right when she opens it, Annabelle throws out a smoke grenade.
“HEY!” the Mela capo yelled.
“Yeah, hey, amigo!” Annabelle responded.
“Hey, hey, heeeeeey!” the Mela capo panicked as the smoke screen started blinding him and his guys.
“GO, GO!” Sunflower yelled as the five of us ran outside to ambush the Melas.
Once the smoke cleared, we attacked the Melas, but when Angel suddenly socket punches one of them, he yells, “YeeeeeOW- boy.”
“What the?!” Sunflower gasped in surprise.
“Is that Black Adamant armor?!” Clay asked in surprise.
“Yep! You should think twice before messing with those with the ARMOR baby!” one of the mobsters yelled as he pelvic thrusted. “Now it’s our turn!” So the mobsters started to attack us. They were a bunch of weaklings. They didn’t know good enough moves to stop our defensive blocking, but attacking them back is a challenge.
“You’re a buncha wimps! Take off your armor, boys!” Angel dared them. “Give us a fair fight!”
“Yeah we don’t like to fight ponies that don’t have honor!” Annabelle said.
“How shameful. We like to fight ponies who are easy to beat!” one of the mobsters said as he punches Angel in the head and knocks him out instantly.
“A!” Annabelle cried as he gets knocked out too. They were about to knock me out as well, but as one of them was about to punch me with both of his hooves, I blocked using mine, and I started grunting as I pushed against his metal hooves. He wasn’t struggling; he seemed to be going easy on me. Either that or I’m stronger than I thought. My physical strength might make up for my ment-
“CLAY, HELP!” I yelled, interrupting my own narrative.
“Don’t worry, brother! I got a little something for them!” Clay said as he sits down on the ground.
“Yeah, ok, I don’t think that’s helping.” I said.
“Shhh, trust me brother.” Clay insisted.
“Trust you? I trusted you not to get the last piece of cake at Annabelle’s birthday! Last time I trusted you I said!” I said. Ooo, I said it twice. Ooo, now three times! Clay didn’t say anything back in return, but the Melas thought he was an easy target so they went over to him fast.
After they surrounded him, one of the Melas said, “We all punch him… together! On the count of three. One… two…” Just then, Clay uses his hooves and his wings to place EMP devices on all of them Melas’ armor, and they started to short circuit. “WHAT THE?!” one of the Melas cried.
“I can’t move! I can’t move!” another Mela yelled.
“See, brother?” Clay asked mischievously. “You can’t rely on technology all the time. They just fail out on ya.” The last Mela I was fighting, the capo, got distracted over Clay’s performance, and I so happened to have an EMP device in my pocket, so I placed it on his armor and he short circuited too. He started to vibrate as his armor was shutting down.
“Huh. Why didn’t I think of that?” I asked.
“WOO!” Sunflower and I both clapped our hooves.
“That was amazing, Clay!” Sunflower said.
“Yeah, I did not see that coming!” I said excitedly.
“I did.” Sunflower said.
“Ugh!” Angel and Annabelle both moaned as they rubbed their heads.
“What’d we miss?” Annabelle asked.
“WE MISSED SOMETHING?!” Angel yelled angrily. “Boy! Do that again! I wasn’t paying attention!”
“Too bad, so crying.” I said as I helped Annabelle up, and Clay helped Angel.
“Isn’t it too bad so-“ Sunflower was about to correct me.
“Nopony likes a square, Sunflower.” I interrupted her.
“Hmph… I suppose you’re right.” Sunflower agreed with an attitude as she blew on her hair.
“Well then, it would seem after Clay’s performance, I don’t have to sneak through to plant this charge.” Turnip said as he walks over to the device and shuts it down with his own EMP, which was different from ours.
“Yeah, I’m like that.” Clay said. “Sometimes fighting ain’t necessary. Sometimes I just gotta sit down, and wait for them to come to me. The Melas are idiots. They’re no trouble.”
“We heard that!” the capo complained.
“Ok, now that that’s done, there is no doubt more will be coming after hearing that the Melas aren’t checking in.” Turnip said. “We should get moving, right now.”
“But we barely rested, T.” Annabelle said.
“Do you want to still be able to gain a chair in the Commission? Or do you want to end up taking the easiest way to the Commission in a prison cell being laughed at by Herb Senior?” Turnip asked.
“He does make a good point.” Clay nodded.
“What about these boys?” Angel asked as he pointed to the Melas.
“What is there left to do to them? They’re trapped.” Turnip said.
“Wait, Turnip, what about the plans?” I asked. “They’re still in the hideout.”
“I burned them.” Turnip said. “No need to have these ponies eavesdrop on what we’re trying to do.”
“I am impressed.” The Mela capo said. “You are a smart bunch. Smart and effective. No doubt you’ll soon have Don Di Legno’s vote on having you back on the Commission.”
“Yeah, we’ll hear him personally when we have his vote.” Clay said as he leaned over to the capo’s face. “What if there’s more to come? Hmm? Hmm?”
“I’ll let the don know of your actions in this battle.” The capo said. “Also get off my face.”
“I dunno, this is comfee.” Clay said as he sat on the tip-top of the capo’s glass helmet.
“Let’s go, Clay.” I said as we all started walking out.
“I left some stuff in there.” One of Sunflower’s ponies said upsettingly.
“We’ll come back for it after this.” Sunflower promised.
“You always say that when we move hideouts.” The pony whined. We escaped the sewers and returned to Meadow Songs Park. It was pitch black out. Luckily there was a full moon, but unluckily, fog started coming in.
“What’s with this city in fog?” I complained.
“So where are we going now, T?” Annabelle asked.
“It’s too dark to do anything; the zeppelin is still at the airport. We’re not going to be able to get to it.” Turnip said.
“So we’re going to find a new place to hideout until morning.” Sunflower said.
“Is that wise? Wouldn’t the families… y’know… find us?” I asked.
“Which is why we need to be extra vigilant.” Turnip said. “We have to stay on the alert. Any of the families could be hanging around out there. Like… THAT PONY THERE!” Turnip yelled as he shined his flashlight on a pony sleeping in a box.
“WHAAA?!” the pony yelled. “Mother?!”
“That’s just a hobo, T.” Annabelle said. “They’re not going to be a problem to us.”
“You may think so.” Turnip said as we all kept walking through the close to empty Princesses streets.
The hobo then took out his communicator and said, “Boss, they’re at Fashion Drive.”
As we kept walking, a carriage rides beside the sidewalk we were walking on, and they drive through a puddle and wet Angel and Clay. “WHOA!” Clay yelled.
“YOU COME BACK HERE AND DO IT TO MY FACE, TOUGH GUY!” Angel yelled.
“He did do it to our faces though.” Clay corrected him. “And our bodies, and our legs, and our clothes!”
“And even my cousin’s necklace!” Angel said as he looked at the lyre necklace around his neck. “I have the feeling he did that on purpose! Putting these strange streets against me!”
“Calm down, A. It was an accident pretty sure.” Annabelle explained.
“An accident?!” Angel asked angrily.
“Nah, dude, the water was too close to the curve.” Clay said. “I’m pretty sure I agree that what that jerk did was on purpose.”
“Ok, well… karma’s gonna bite ‘em in the flank for it.” Annabelle said. “No need to put our grudge out on some poor sap like him.”
“That’s the spirit, Ann!” I said excitedly. Annabelle smiled with his teeth and squeed.
“Hmph, karma my flank.” Clay mumbled to himself.
“Yeah fo’ sure.” Angel whispered. As we walked through the Fashion District, it was nearly dawn already. We wandered around for a long time, and moved pretty slowly because we were exhausted.
“Can we have breakfast?” Clay complained.
“Yeah, how can we move along without having energy in our systems?” Annabelle asked.
“There’s a 24-hour donut shop nearby. Why don’t we give that a try?” Sunflower suggested.
“Who would want a donut in the middle of the night?” I asked.
“Thank you, my dear friend.” Princess Luna said to the shop owner nearby. “I really need that energy in my system. I’m about to go lower the moon.”
“Any time, princess!” the donut shop owner said as the princess took off.
“Ah, makes sense.” I nodded. So we walked over to the donut shop and headed inside. There was only one other customer inside the shop. It was a beige one with blue hair. She was wearing some kind of blue collar with a red ribbon.
“Donuts for breakfast? Are you sure?” Annabelle asked.
“Might as well.” Sunflower said. “You kept complaining that you’re hungry.” So we all took a seat at a big round booth so we can all fit.
“Is it ok if I sit at the end?” I asked as we all sat down while I was sitting on the left end, and Sunflower was on the right.
The manager walks over to us and asks, “Anything to drink? Coffee, I assume?”
“Decaf, please.” Sunflower said.
“I’ll take a Dr. Hooves please.” Clay said.
“Diet Dr. Hooves for me.” Annabelle requested.
“I heard diet soda is worse for you.” Clay said.
“Iced tea for me please. Half and half.” Angel requested.
“Same.” I said.
“I’ll take a cappuccino.” Turnip said.
“Coming right up!” the manager said as he walks back to his counter to get his drinks.
“Always like to be unique, huh Turnip?” Clay asked.
“Of course! How else did you think I thought of this plan?” Turnip asked.
Sunflower saw that some of her ponies were giving pretty angry looks. “You guys ok?” she asked.
“Are we just part of the background or something?!” one of Sunflower’s gang members complained.
“Yeah! We didn’t place our orders!” another one complained.
“It’s a good thing they invented a great way to show waiters you’re dissatisfied.” Sunflower said. “Know what that is?”
“To just walk away since we’re the Friendship Mob?” one of them asked.
“Dock their tip! Duh!” Sunflower reminded them. “Ain’t it obvious, fools?”
“Yeah, fools!” Angel said.
“Shut it. Only I can talk to them that way, Angel.” Sunflower informed him.
“And you think it’s ok to talk that way to us.” Angel said.
Sunflower sighs and facehooves herself as a bunch of stallions start walking inside the shop. “Please, don... please don’t test me, I didn’t have my decaf this morning yet.”
“So what are you pones thinking of getting?” Annabelle asked.
“It’s a donut shop. What else is there to get?” Clay asked.
“Hey as long as they make an egg white omelet, boy, I’m alright with it.” Angel said. “Gotta save these pecks to save the streets.
“Pecks? You’re 230 pounds!” Annabelle reminded him.
“And?” Angel asked.
“If you don’t know by now, A, I’m not saying it.” Annabelle said.
“Hmm.” I thought to myself.
“I’m big boned, boy!” Angel informed her.
“Hmm.” I said again, still thinking to myself.
“HA! Whatever helps you sleep at night, holms.” Annabelle said.
“HMM!” I said a little louder.
“We can hear you, Herb. We just don’t care.” Angel said.
“FREEZE!” the customers that walked inside the shop yelled at us as they aimed jelly squirters at us. We all raised our hooves up.
“See what happens when you don’t care?” I asked my friends teasingly.
“Ah, nice ambush.” Turnip said impressively. “You must be the Fraterno family.”
“Smart kid!” the Fraterno capo said. “But not smart enough to notice our little… err, planned out… surround… hit.”
“You could just say ‘trap’ y’know.” One of the Fraterno mobsters suggested.
“I know, but we’re cleverer than that!” the capo said mischievously.
“I hope you realized you’re outnumbered by three ponies.” Turnip informed the capo.
“So it’s a good thing we’re here after all!” one of Sunflower’s ponies said happily. So quickly we stood up and we all took out our weapons and aimed them at the Fraternos.
“Well thought out plan?” Turnip asked mischievously. “I think not!”
The Fraterno capo was a bit nervous, so he went to Plan B. He takes that one other costumer that was in here and puts her in a headlock. “Put your squirters down, or this pony GETS IT!”
“Gets what, without being too violent?” Clay asked.
“Umm…” the capo thought it out. “Hmm… not too violent, huh? Umm… how about-“
“If they don’t do what you say you’ll squirt that jelly squirter in my mouth and keep squirting until I get a stomach ache?” the pony suggested.
“Good idea!” the capo agreed as he puts the squirter in her mouth. “What’s it gonna be, Friendship Mob? What say ya this?”
“What I say is where’s my drink. My parched!” Clay complained.
“Here’s your drinks.” The manager said as he steps out of the kitchen with our drinks, just noticing the commotion. He then awkwardly puts the tray down on the counter and walks back into the kitchen. With the Fraternos distracted, this gave Annabelle a chance to punch the capo in the face, and freed the pony from distress. With the capo unarmed, Annabelle picks up the squirter and aims it in the capo’s mouth.
“Do the right thing if y’know what’s good for him.” Annabelle suggested.
“Ok, ok, we don’t want any trouble.” One of the mobsters said about to lower his squirter. Just then the capo suddenly shoves Annabelle’s squirter on his face which forces him to release it, and the capo grabs it again.
“Ah ha! Not so smart now, huh?” the capo asked mischievously.
Annabelle then punches the capo in the face and takes his squirter as he was vulnerable, and aims it at him again. “Heh heh heeeeh! Now the horseshoe is on the other hoof!”
The capo then steps on Annabelle’s hoof which causes him to yell and hold his hoof in pain, and then the capo grabs the squirter again. “Now the horseshoe is back on the first hoof!” he said.
“Oh what’s that over there?” Annabelle asked as he pointed behind the capo.
“I ain’t falling for that!” the capo said.
Just then, Clay punches the capo from behind and takes his squirter. “Now the horseshoe is on the third hoof!” Clay said mischievously. Just then, he got curious as he asked Annabelle, “Wait, how many hooves do we have again?”
Just then, one of Fraternos kicked Clay in the butt and took his squirter. “Looks like I’m in charge here now!”
Afterwards, I smacked the Fraterno in the back of the head and took his squirter. “Budda-been budda-boom! Hey, Boo-Boo! I smell a picnic basket!”
Just then, Angel knocks me in the head with a cup and takes the squirter. “The streets, boy!”
“WHOA, dude! Same side!” Clay said.
“Sorry I got confused!” Angel confessed. “I am so sorry, Herb!”
“Ow!” I said painfully as I rubbed my head. “That really hurt, man!”
“I am so sorry!” Angel said worriedly.
“Really? You’d hit him in the head with a cup? What is wrong with you?!” the capo asked Angel. “You might give him a concussion!”
“Am I gonna die?” I asked worriedly.
“No, no, just take a seat, H.” Annabelle informed him as he and the capo helped him to the booth.
“I’ll go get you some ice, Herb.” Angel offered.
“I think you done enough helping for today.” Turnip said.
“No I insist.” Angel insisted as he ran over to the kitchen to get some ice. “Stay right there, I’ll be back.”
“Alright, H, alright. Just sit down. Relax. Angel will be back with the ice.” Annabelle informed me.
“Ok.” I said as I rubbed my head. “Ow!”
“Yeah I didn’t expect this to happen.” The capo said.
“None of us did, P.” Annabelle said.
“Yeah.” The capo agreed as Turnip gave me a bottle of water.
“Hey wait, why are you helping us?” Annabelle asked the capo.
“C’mon. I’m a pony of honor.” The capo said. “He’s in no condition to fight right now. He was just banged on the head with a heavy object. C’mon, that’s not fair.”
“You got that right.” I agreed.
“Are you sure you’re in any condition to go on, H?” Annabelle asked.
“Of course I am.” I said. “Just let me take a break.”
“I’m back with the ice.” Angel said as he gives the ice to Annabelle so he can put it on my head.
“Thanks, A.” Annabelle said.
“I apologize again for doing this to you.” Angel said. “I got overly excited, and I wanted to be part of the action.”
“Don’t worry, Angel, but… maybe next time you should focus on making sure you aim for the Fraternos, or any other member of the Commission we’re fighting.” I suggested.
“And no cups.” Annabelle added.
“Right.” Angel said. “Here, to make it up to you, I’ll… I’ll give you an hour of silence from me.”
“Coming from you, that means a lot.” I teased. Angel then nodded.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” the other customer in the shop that was the first hostage asked.
“Yeah, just stand over there by the bar. We need to do a restart.” The capo instructed her. “I need you to be my hostage again.”
“No, wait, that’s not where we were before.” Turnip said. “Last we left off, Herb had the squirter and aimed it at the mobster.”
“Or technically, Angel has the squirter now.” Clay added.
“No, no, that was a foul.” Turnip said. Angel then shrugged. “Yeah so, Herb’s got the squirter.”
“Ok.” I said as I stood back up. “I’m ready for us to continue.”
“Are you sure?” Annabelle asked.
“Sure, I’m sure.” I said. “I’m not feeling nauseous, so it was just a bump in the head.”
“Ok, so we ready to continue?” Sunflower asked. We all nodded. “Ok, so if I recall correctly, Herb, you were over here with the squirter gun.”
I walked over to the spot Sunflower asked me to go and I held the squirter. “Over here?” I asked.
“Not like that.” Sunflower said as she walked over to me and aimed my hooves a little lower. “You were a bit lower. Riiiiight, here. Ok, you’re good. Now you, goon, you were on the floor here in front of him.” The mobster that I knocked the squirter out of walked over to where we was last and he laid on the floor. “Your hooves were a little higher, buddy. You have to be laying like you’re a turtle on its back trying to use its legs to get back up.”
Just then, a bunch more Fraterno goons started arriving at the donut shop to ambush us. “Hold it there, Friendship Mob!” one of them yelled.
“No, no! We’re not ready yet!” the capo said to his reinforcements.
“What’s going on, boss?” one of the reinforcement goons asked.
“We had a bit of an accident. We’re not ready yet.” The capo said. “Just go back out, and I’ll let you know when we’re ready.” The Fraterno reinforcements went back outside and awaited further instruction.
“Do you still need me in this?” the customer hostage asked. “Because I need to be at work soon. Suri’s going to kill me.”
“We’ll get this done as fast as we can, just hang on, missy.” Sunflower said to her.
After 20 minutes of Sunflower directing where we were last, we were finally back to where we were before. So… as where we left off, I have the squirter now. “Alright, everypony!” I yelled. “Let’s handle this like gentle ponies. Free the hostage, now!” I instructed the capo who still had the other customer hostage.
“Alright, alright.” The capo said as he released the hostage from his grasp. The hostage coughed as she stood back up.
“Are you alright, miss?” Clay asked as he helped her.
“I… I’m fine.” She said.
“What are you doing out here so early anyway?” Clay asked.
“I have to be at work really early to help my boss out with her outfits for the next Bridleway play.” She said.
“Well we’ll make sure you make it there quick.” Clay said. “What’s your name?”
“C-Coco Pommel.” She said.
“Sunny, can you send some of your ponies to take Coco here to work fast?” Clay asked.
“Of course.” Sunflower said as she orders one of her companions to assist with Coco.
“Be safe now.” Clay said to her.
“T-thank you!” Coco said happily but still feeling a bit spooked.
“Don’t thank me, thank the entire Friendship Mafia!” Clay said. “Well… technically I am part of the mob, so you’re thanking me AND them.” So after Coco leaves with the escort, the rest of the Fraterno ambush rushes inside and surrounds us.
“Aaaand here’s the rest of them.” Turnip said in a suspecting tone.
“Well, they win this round.” Sunflower said as we all dropped our squirters.
“You may have beaten the Melas, and the Pennas, and the Sharks many times, but you don’t have the determination and skillful actions that the Fraterno family holds!” the capo said to us. “But you are willful opponents, and you put the faith in other ponies before your own. Perhaps we’d learn a thing or two from you. Stand down, boys.” He ordered his goons.
“Wait… what?” Sunflower asked curiously.
“Of course you couldn’t beat us in this battle. We completely had the upper hoof.” The capo said. “But you do admit defeat, and you make sure other ponies are safe from harm before all else. There is no better honor than that. You’re not any ordinary ponies. You get defeated like horses, and coming from our species, that’s a huge compliment.”
“Wow… thanks!” Sunflower said.
“Yeah, never thought of it like this.” Annabelle said.
“You have our vote for the Commission.” The capo said.
“So… that means we’re in now?” I asked.
“Not yet.” The capo said. “You still have one other thing to do. You can sure defend yourselves against ponies as strong as the Commission, but will you be able to set up ambushes for yourselves? Will you be able to get us by surprise? Can you take something from us without us even noticing? It all depends on your determination. If you can handle yourselves in that category, then maybe, just maybe you’re ready for the Commission!”
“So… what do we do now?” I asked.
“You’re asking your opponents a question only you can answer.” The capo said. We all nodded in agreement. “See ya around, Friendship Mob. I’ll let the others know about your progress.” The Fraternos then turn around and exit the shop.
“I suppose you all understand what we need to do now.” Turnip said.
“Time to find a cargo helicopter.” Sunflower said. “But where can we find one?”
“The Commission is probably dropping off families all over the city. They could be anywhere.” Clay said. “We’ll ambush them, sabotage their communications, and we’ll arrive at the airship before they notice it’s gone missing.”
“Too risky.” Turnip said. “They’re all expecting us to attack them. The Fraternos, the Pennas, the Melas, the Sharks, all of them. All… but one though.”
“Wait, what about the Marmellatas?” Annabelle asked.
“Exactly!” Turnip said. “The Marmellatas are not participating in this test. They are the family to least expect us to ambush them. If we can find a cargo chopper somewhere in the city that drops off Marmellatas, we can ambush them, and use that to raid the airship.”
“But how are we going to know which chopper is for who?” I asked. “All the choppers and all the families look exactly the same.”
“Before this mission even started, even before we met with the Commission with Poni, I’ve been researching the other four families, and what I picked up is that every one of the families own a number of fronts around Equestria.” Turnip explained. “The Marmellata family owns a museum in the Manehattan Island somewhere, and every morning, a squad of Marmellata mobsters show up at the building to open it for business. Some of them even stay there for security measures. The chopper that drops the security off even stays in the helipad at the side garden, so we can wait until security gets dropped off and we can ambush the pilot and take the chopper for our own.”
“Doesn’t sound so bad.” I said.
“Don’t jinx it, Herb.” Turnip said. “We’re not there to go sightseeing, and that museum is heavily secure. Let’s head over there and see what we can pick up. The chopper usually arrives at 6 AM.”
“That gives us just an hour in a half to get there and plan everything.” Clay said.
“Yes, Clay, you know math, well done.” Turnip said sarcastically. “Now let’s get moving, and if we can move fast, we can beat the morning traffic.”
“Alright, let’s get outta here, before the store owner comes back.” Sunflower suggested. We all agreed and ran out of the store the same second he comes back furious at the mess we left the place in.
“Could’ve at least paid for your drinks.” The store owner complained. Oh that’s right, we didn’t even have breakfast yet. Well hopefully there’s something close to the museum if we have time.
We got ourselves a cab, or, more like two cabs because we couldn’t all fit in one. I mean there is one of those van cabs, but we didn’t find any, so we had to rely on the regular ones. When we got to the museum, Turnip and Sunflower scouted the area for a strategy, while we got some breakfast at a Denny’s nearby. When we were done we brought Turnip and Sunny back some breakfast. Sunny did obviously complain about hers of not having enough butter and such.
When Turnip got his meal, he started to explain the plan to us. “Ok, so, the helicopter is going to land over on that helipad behind that fenced area in the garden. It should be arriving any minute now. When it lands, we wait for the security to go out. The helicopter is going to wait there until some of the security comes back. We have to be swift and silent. That fence has a camera watching the helipad. Luckily, I have a technique here that I’m also going to be doing when we infiltrate the airship. I’m not so much is to shutting off the camera, more like, I’m going to be freezing the footage. This is a moving camera however, so we hope the security doesn’t notice.”
“Why don’t we just play over an old recording in the security room?” Angel asked. “Also, my hour’s up.”
“I like that idea, but that would involve being in the security room and replacing tapes.” Turnip said. “It might be useful in a future raid, but for now we’re sticking to this.”
“So when is the chopper coming?” Annabelle asked.
“There it is!” Turnip pointed as a biker on a chopper rode by.
“Hahaha, you stink.” Sunflower said sarcastically to him.
“There it is.” Clay pointed up to see the helicopter was coming right to them.
The helicopter was flying overhead and it began to land at the helipad at the garden, but as that was happening, there was a carriage moving extremely fast towards us. We knew it was towards us because it parallel parked right in front of us, just like in those action movies, that carriage puller was not afraid.
“Wow that was amazing, brother!” Clay said.
“Thanks.” The driver said. “We’re here, agents. Come on out.” The carriage door opened, and immediately stepped out was a beige earth pony in some sort of green ponytail. I looked at her jumpsuit, and I saw she was an FDA agent.
“Howdy!” the agent said.
“Uhhh… hiiiiii.” I said awkwardly.
“Agent Fritter, FDA.” She said as she showed us her badge.
“Sorry to tell you this, boys.” Another agent popped out of the carriage, and this agent was actually one of the agents that I talked to a while ago back at Poni’s place. “But we have this area… oh it’s you guys again.”
“Again?! I don’t recognize you one bit!” Angel said.
“Oi, Herb Leafhorn.” A third agent popped out of the carriage said. “I knew you we’d meet, but I didn’t think here.”
“Jerry Jam. How are things with the local gangs?” I asked.
“Pretty well, mate. Pretty well.” Jerry said as he removed his sunglasses. “You must be the rest of the Friendship Mafia. How are things with the Commission?”
“We need to get that helicopter that just landed on that helipad over there.” I pointed. “We need to get the Commission airship, and that’s our best way of doing it.”
“So you’re going to steal a helicopter to get there?” Jerry asked.
“It’s a complicated story.” I said.
“I see.” Jerry nodded. “Agent Fritter, Agent May and I need to sneak inside this museum. We hear that Mr. Marmellata is in there, and he’s got some explaining to do.”
“That must be why the Marmellata family is too busy to deal with us.” Turnip said. “We’re dealing with the other four families right now, but the Marmellata family had no part in what we’re doing now.”
“Yes, the Marmellata family is mainly after me.” Jerry said. “We need to get inside the museum and see him.”
“Maybe we can help eachother out.” Agent May suggested.
“In what way?” Annabelle asked.
“We can help you with security.” Agent May suggested.
“No need, I have everything all planned out.” Turnip said. “I have all the equipment right here in this case.”
“Ooo, is that an F24 Quad?” Agent Fritter asked curiously.
“F24.5, I made some upgrades.” Turnip said.
“Niiiiice!” Agent Fritter nodded. “You should show that to mah stallionfriend. He, like me, is an expert in electronics.”
“Really? You look like an Appleloosan type pony to me.” Clay said.
“What gave that away?” Agent Fritter asked.
“Your accent mainly.” Clay said. “I’ve been to Appleloosa before.”
“Eeyup!” Agent Fritter said.
“Anyways, good luck with Mr. Marmellata. At least one of us is dealing with him.” I said. “Me… I’m going to deal with my pop, Herb Senior. He made me into the pony I didn’t want to be back in school.”
“Ugh!” Agent May groaned. “Flare told me everything.”
“Flare? As in Flare Gun?” I asked.
“No, Stormy Flare.” Agent May said sarcastically. “Of course Flare Gun! He’s the sweetest, funniest, and most awesome pony anypony could ever want!”
“Really now?” I asked. “Are you and him…” I whistled.
“Yeah I was wondering that myself, love.” Jerry said to her.
“Don’t we have things to do right now?” Agent May asked impatiently.
“Right, right.” Jerry nodded. “Anyways, best of luck to you, Herb. If we don’t see eachother again during this mission, hope to see you again in the future.”
“Same to you, Jerry.” I said.
“And Herb, if you see your dad…” Agent May started calmly, she then angrily went up to my face in a threatening tone, much like how Trevor Philips would talk, and said, “…you tell him… that if he EVER… tries to ruin the life of my Flarey again… oooo… he’d be begging for mercy. His mercy would be begging for mercy! Even after he passes away he’ll be begging for mercy! Because Flare deserves MUCH BETTER!”
“Whoa, whoa! Ok, ok!” I said defensively and feeling a little uncomfortable. “Easy! Alright? I’m going to be teaching my pop a lesson, but I ain’t trying to be brutal to him.
Agent May then takes a deep breath. “You’re right. You’re right. My apologies.” So as the agents went on to the museum entrance, it was time for us to sneak inside and steal their chopper so we can rescue our friends.
“So what’s the story, Herb?” Clay asked. “What do you know about those ponies we just met?”
“I used to go to school with that purple one.” I said. “I don’t know who those other two are.”
“Did you know it’s not right to call ponies by the color of their coat?” Clay asked.
“Something puzzles me though. If Flare might have a thing with that pink haired one, what happened with Crèmepop?” I asked. “Did those two not hit it off after the situation with Swinebutt?”
“I dunno, H.” Annabelle said. “But for now we gotta focus. T, what’s the plan?”
“We’re going to be sneaking in by going through this gate lock.” Turnip said. “I’m going to see if I’ll be able to hack the lock without triggering the alarm.”
“Well, hurry it up, Turnip.” Sunflower complained. “I’m not sure how long it’ll be until anypony sees what we’re up to.”
“Just keep an eye out for the Marmellatas.” Turnip instructed us as he took a look at the lock. “Or the police.” Turnip starts hacking the digital lock by connecting his laptop he had to it, and the desktop pops up. He accessed ‘My Computer’, and then he clicked ‘External Device (E:)’ There were two little icons in the file. One of them said HackConnect.exe and the other was BruteForce.exe. He clicked on HackConnect.exe and there were a bunch of numbers that popped up in the screen.
“What is that program you’re using, boy?” Angel asked as he looked over.
“I can’t concentrate if you’re breathing down my neck. I need to find the correct numbers on the program that match the network’s IP. I only have one minute to figure it out so hush!” Turnip explained.
“And you spent half that minute explaining this to me.” Angel teased.
“SHUT UP! If I don’t do this the alarm will trip!” Turnip yelled.
“Alright, alright. I’ll leave you be. Startiiiiiiiiiiing… now.” Angel said.
“Gee thanks. Now I have 30 seconds left.” Turnip said sarcastically.
“Then quit talking and do it, boy!” Angel demanded.
“I am!” Turnip yelled as he had a few seconds left to find the matching order of numbers. At the very last minute, he finds it. “There. Found it! Next time, Angel, if you interrupt me while I’m trying to hack something, if the alarm goes off, I’m smashing your head on the lock so it’ll break.”
“A little comeback for after the cup thing, huh boy?” Angel asked.
“Alright I’m connected to the software. Now I have to unlock it using the BruteForce.exe.” Turnip said as he clicks on it. There were rows of letters scrolling down pretty fast. Some of the letters in the program were red, which was the letters Turnip had to click to stop a row from scrolling. There were nine rows of letters scrolling down and each row had a red letter that Turnip had to choose to get the password right. The M on the first row was red, so he clicked on the M and the row stopped scrolling, but the other rows on the right of it were still getting scrolled. He eventually got the other red letters chosen, and the word it spelled was ‘MAGICWORD’. The gate mechanism goes offline and the gate unlocks. “Perfect!” he said as he opens the door and walks inside. “Were any of you watching?”
“Did we have to?” I asked as we followed him inside the garden.
“Hey, boy! I thought you said you wanted space?” Angel complained.
“Yeah, from you.” Turnip said. “I hope some of you were watching. You’re taking the little device that’s plugged into my laptop to the airship with you. You’re going to use it to hack the mainframe. You’re going to be doing the same procedure I just did, only the IP numbers and the password is different.” My friends and I were all silent because we had no idea what he said. Except for Angel though.
“Yeah, the IP hack would work better if we froze time and searched for it, boy.” Angel said.
“Well, that answers my question.” Turnip said as he unplugs the External Drive from his laptop and tosses it to Angel, and he catches it. “Angel, I’m trusting you with this device since you’re the only one that actually watched and probably knows how to use it. More than the others anyhow. DON’T lose it!”
“I’m the streets, boy. I don’t lose anything!” Angel said.
“I hope so.” Turnip said as we were close to the helipad. “There’s the helipad with the chopper in it. The pilot’s still in there and left the motors running so that’s good.”
“How about the camera?” Clay asked.
“I got a device that works just for that!” Turnip said as he takes out radar gun and gives it to Clay. “Hold this. Aim that radar gun towards the camera.”
“Like this?” Clay asked as he does so.
“Yeah. Hold completely still.” Turnip instructed him as he takes out his phone.
“Does that including blinking, breathing, and talking?” Clay asked.
“No, you can blink and breathe, but… sure, let’s add don’t talk to the list.” Turnip teased and Clay grumbled. Turnip starts up a Camera Freeze app on his phone, matches the frequency to the radar gun, and he was just about to press the button that turns it off.
“Can I move now?” Clay asked.
“Not yet.” Turnip said. “Although… perhaps would’ve been the better time to start not moving. I had to set this thing up first.”
“Oh you are kidding me!” Clay complained.
“Luckily that was a good test for you. Now for real, hold still.” Turnip instructed him. He presses the button on his phone and the text pops up on his phone screen that says ‘Camera Froze’, and the font looked like it was frozen. Even had little icicles on the bottom. “Ok. Clay, continue not moving a muscle. Keep the radar gun aimed right at the camera to keep it frozen. Don’t move or it’ll unfreeze. Everypony else, let’s get in there and take control of that chopper.”
“Ok let’s do it!” Sunflower said as the rest of us ran over to the chopper, snuck up on the pilot and Sunflower knocked him out by bashing his head on the steering wheel.
“Well done, Sunny!” Turnip said. “Tie up our little friend, and- wait… one of your goons is a trained pilot right?”
“So he tells me.” Sunflower said. She turns around and calls out one of her ponies. “Brown Fog? Brown Fog? You said you’re a trained pilot right?”
“I didn’t say that.” Brown Fog said. “I said I was a pilot, but I didn’t train to become one. I was self-taught.”
“Close enough.” Sunflower said.
“But that was for an airplane, not a cargo helicopter.” Brown said.
“Flying a helicopter is just as easy as a plane. You’ll do fine.” Sunflower said as she pats him on the shoulder.
“No it’s no- oh nevermind.” Brown said as he sits on the pilot’s seat, and the other one of Sunflower’s ponies sits on the co-pilot’s seat. We all headed inside the helicopter and Turnip quickly began to set everything up.
“Wait a minute, what are we doing with Clay?” Annabelle asked. “He’s still outside.”
“Oh right I forgot about him.” Turnip admitted. “Ok, go out there and tell him that it’s his turn to come in, but tell him to go very slowly while still aiming the radar gun at the camera to keep it frozen.”
“I’m on it.” Annabelle said as he runs outside to tell him.
“Brown! Get the engines started up quickly.” Turnip instructed Sunny’s ponies. “Once Clay hops inside the chopper, the camera will unfreeze, and security may be on its way.”
“If security is on its way here, it may be a good distraction so Jerry and his agents will be able to get to where they need to be.” I presumed.
“Either that or the whole museum would lockdown.” Sunny added.
“For a runaway helicopter?” Turnip asked. “Nah, I don’t think they would.”
“Runaway? We’re flying away, T.” Sunny corrected him.
“I never took you for the humorous type.” Turnip said surprisingly.
“I don’t know how long I can keep this up!” Clay said painfully as he slowly strafes towards the chopper while still holding on to the gun.
“Just hang in there, C. You’re almost there!” Annabelle called out as he jumped back into the chopper.
“The engines are on, we’re ready to take off!” the co-pilot called out.
“Good!” Turnip said. “Clay! Jump in, now!” Clay did so, and the camera unfroze. When Clay jumped in we immediately ascended. When we got up to 100 feet, we started to get a call from the museum on the radio.
“Museum Control to Bird 3, where are you going?!” the security asked on the radio.
“We have your priceless artifacts and we’re heading out of town.” The co-pilot said on the radio. “Come and catch us, boys!” He then shuts off the radio and both pilots start to laugh.
“Good call!” Sunflower nodded pleasingly. “Perhaps they’ll think we’re trying to leave town with some of their priceless artifacts. Well, if they’re stupid enough to believe that. What do you think, Turnip?”
“I just hope they don’t suspect us raiding the airship.” Turnip said. “I’m setting up my equipment right now, so just fly around for a bit, we’ll look for the airship and we’ll be ready to go.”
“Needle Stack would’ve loved this mission.” Brown Fog said. “But nope, you had to use him to escort that poor mare from the donut shop home.”
“Relax, Brown, he wouldn’t be much help. There’s no more room in the chopper for him.” Sunflower said. “Turnip and I will be handling the devices while you two handle the chopper, and the rest are going down to the airship to rescue the don.”
“I suggest now would be a great time to relax.” Annabelle said. “If you need me, I’ll be catching some zees.” Just then, my cell phone started to ring. I took it out of my pocket and saw who it was. “Who is it?” Annabelle asked.
“It’s Autumn.” I said as I answered it. “My bro! How’s the high life?”
“So the other families seem to be impressed on what you’re doing, bro.” Autumn said. “I must admit, I am quite surprised.”
“Aren’t we all?” I asked. “The Friendship Mob is going to be taking the seat in the Commission, dude, so you better give up while you can.”
“You think you’re doing the right thing by getting the Friendship Mob a seat in the Commission?” Autumn asked. “You think you may be doing right by doing all this just for Poni, but he’s not the pony you think he is.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Time to face the facts jack.” Autumn said. “He’s been lying to you. Lying to you all. Poni Cipriani is a criminal; a criminal that lost his ways.”
“He’s not a criminal, Autumn. I won’t listen to the lies pop tells you to tell me.” I said.
“Pop is not a liar, Herb.” Autumn said. “He may be a criminal, but he’s not a liar. Pop has been truthful to you every step of the way. At least you know who pop is. Poni, on the other hoof, he’s not just a criminal, he’s a lying criminal. He tells ponies what he does is good but all he does is do bad. He wants to take over the Commission.”
“No he doesn’t. He just wants to convert the families.” I said.
“Yes, convert them to doing his bidding!” Autumn said.
“I had enough to say to you.” I said.
“Whatever, man.” Autumn said. “Just think about what I said. I’m just trying to be a good brother and save you from doing things you’d regret.”
“If you say so, bro. Bye.” I said as I hung up. I knew for a fact what Autumn told me wasn’t true, but why do I have the feeling that there’s a possibly of what he’s saying is the truth? Nah. It can’t be… can it?