“Are you out of your mind?!” Scootaloo screamed after hearing her friend's crazy idea.
“I agree with Scoots! This is insane!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed with a squeak.
Apple Bloom sighed. “Listen girls, Ah know this sounds crazy and ya’ll have every right to feel this way, but it’s the only way!”
Scootaloo shook her head rapidly. “No way! Forget it! I may be daring and I do stupid things sometimes, but even I wouldn’t go that far to go out and break into that jewelry store!”
Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement. “Yeah, plus it’s illegal to break into a building we’re not supposed to be in.”
“We’re not breakin’ into a building, we’re sneakin’ in,” Apple Bloom argued.
“It’s the same thing!” Scootaloo exclaimed.
Apple Bloom shook her head. “No it ain't! We just get ourselves inside without breakin’ anythin’. ‘Sides, we’re sneakin’ in to return all the diamonds. That’s the honest thing to do! Now will you two help me?”
“NO!” Both Scootaloo and Sweetie yelled in union.
“Oh come on guys!" Apple Bloom cried. "Ah need you two! Ah can’t do this by myself!”
“We’re gonna get caught!” Sweetie Belle argued.
“We won’t get caught!” Apple Bloom reassured.
Sweetie Belle eyes narrowed. “That’s what you said the last time before we got caught after we borrowed Sunset's Harley, just to see if we have a talent for motorcycle racing!"
Apple Bloom cringed. “T-that was different!" Apple Bloom then cleared her throat and got back to topic. "We’re just gonna sneak in and put the diamonds back we’re they belong so my sister won't go to jail.”
“Maybe your sister won’t go to jail if she haven't stolen those diamonds in the first place!” Scootaloo yelled harshly.
Apple Bloom flinched. “Girls please Ah…”
Apple Bloom slumped over with her hair covering her eyes.
“Ah can’t lose Applejack, Ah just can’t!" Apple Bloom whispered. "She’s not just my sister…she’s like a mother to me too. I’ll be devastated if I ever see her behind bars. How would you feel if you found out Rarity or even Rainbow Dash turned out to be a Diamond Bandit? Would you want to see them in prison?”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle cringed when Apple Bloom brought up about their respectable sisters. Apple Bloom lifted her head at her friends, reveling her teary eyes.
“Please girls," Apple Bloom choked. "Ah’m beggin’ you. Please...help me.”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other with concerned frowns, feeling conflicted. As much as Apple Bloom's words pained them, they knew that she was right. They wouldn't deal with seeing their sisters in jail either and would do everything to save them from that horrible fate. But would they go that far to the point of breaking the law? Their minds tell them it wasn't a good idea and stay out of trouble. But from their hearts, especially after seeing their friend broke down into tears, told them that they should help their friend.
Sweetie Belle turned to Apple Bloom.
“Okay Apple Bloom…I’ll help you," she said quietly. "A Crusader should always watch each other’s back!”
Apple Bloom sniffed. “Thanks Sweetie Belle…”
Apple Bloom turned to Scootaloo.
“Scoots?”
Scootaloo was still conflicted as she was staring at the ground. She really thought this was a bad idea. And that was coming from herself! However, she didn't want to leave Apple Bloom hanging, especially for the fact that she begged her for help. At situations like this, she closed her eyes to think about her surrogate sister then asked herself, what would Rainbow Dash do?
Finally, she let out a loud gruff and turned to face Apple Bloom.
“Alright fine, I’ll help you! But only to keep you out of trouble!”
Apple Bloom blinked. “Scoots is comin’ along just to keep me out of trouble? Pinch me I’m dreamin’!”
“Very funny!” Scootaloo deadpanned but barred a smile.
Apple Bloom chuckled as she wiped her tears away.
“Seriously, thank you girls! This means a lot me!”
“You can thank us after the deed is done," said Scootaloo. "We still have a problem though.”
“What’s that?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Security," Scootaloo answered simply. "They probably make that more effort now that they know about the thefts.”
“Yeah, if any of their system’s went off, we’ll be caught before we even stepped foot inside the building!” added Sweetie Belle.
Apple Bloom had a thoughtful look. “Hmm, that would be problematic...”
Apple Bloom pondered for a bit as to how they should pull this off. After a minute of silence, she then formed a grin on her face.
“Alright girls, gather around!" said Apple Bloom as they formed into a huddle. "Ah think Ah have a plan…”
Apple Bloom was pacing the floor in their Secret Crusaders Clubhouse on the tree of Sweet Apple Acres. She already formed a plan with the others on how they'll prepare to sneak into the jewelry store tonight.
With Scootaloo, she'll pretend to shop around the store, but really she's checking around the store to pin point any security to avoid, locate the safe they saw on T.V. and picked up any information about the store that will help them when they sneak in tonight.
Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle went to her sister's boutique to ask her for some dark clothing for their 'camping sleepover' tonight. Hopefully, Rarity will make their outfits dark enough to hide their profiles as they made their way into the building without asking a lot of questions.
As for herself, she already gathered the necessary items she needs for their heist. These items are, a flashlight, rope, screwdrivers, gloves and some jelly donuts.
Hey, a gal's gotta eat, right?
Anyway, she's been waiting for the other Crusaders to show up in their clubhouse for about a half hour now and she gets more anxious by the minute.
Every once in a while, she took a peak in the sack (that she secretly swiped from Applejack's hiding spot from earlier) to see if those offending rocks are still there. She cringed and quickly looked away when she saw that they were still there.
Apple Bloom groaned loudly as she continued to pace around the clubhouse.
“Where are they?” she asked herself out loud.
“Hey Apple Bloom!”
Apple Bloom yelped from a voice that suddenly came out from nowhere. Apple Bloom turned behind her to see a snickering Scootaloo who was slipping in from a window with her backpack over her shoulder.
Apple Bloom huffed in annoyance. “Don’t scare me like that Scoots! Why can’t ya use the door like everyone else?”
“Because going through the window is cooler!" Scootaloo answered as if it was obvious. "As Rainbow Dash once said, ‘an awesome gal always makes an awesome entrance!’”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Whatever, what did ya find out about the jewelry store?”
Scootaloo approached to their small table as she was speaking. “Well, I was pretending to look through all the jewelry and then I overheard Mr. Rich talking to the maintenance guy about the cameras. They removed all the cameras in the store and they’re going to install new ones tomorrow. So if we’re really going to do this, tonight is our chance.”
“Are there any kind of security we should look out for?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Mr. Rich said that only one guy is patrolling the store tonight but we can sneak by easily without him knowing.” Scootaloo answered.
“But we still need to get in to the room where the safe is," Apple Bloom pointed out. "It’s not like we go right up to the front door and say, ‘hey there mister guard, my sis may have stolen your diamonds fer two weeks and now we’re returnin’ them so she won't get arrested. Can ya point us to the safe?’ Yeah…that’ll go well!”
Scootaloo waved off Apple Bloom's concern. “Chill out Apple Bloom, I have just the thing that will help us!"
Scootaloo opened up her bag and then digged into it. A few seconds later, she found what she was looking for and pulled out a long, bent, rolled up paper.
"Tada!” Scootaloo cried with a smile as she unrolled the paper, reveling a blue paper with details of the bird's eye view of every room in the jewelry store in every detail.
Apple Bloom eyes were as wide as saucers. “Scoots, that’s the floor plans of the store! Where and how did you get it?”
Scootaloo let out her sly smile. “Well…I may have cause a diversion to make that maintenance guy leave the area for a moment so I can…help myself for one of the copies.”
“You stole their floor plans!?” Apple Bloom shrieked in shock.
“I didn’t steal it, I’m just borrowing it…without their knowing.”
“What difference does that make?” Apple Bloom argued.
Scootaloo huffed. “Look it’s only temporary and they got lot of copies. I doubt they’ll make a fuss over one missing copy. Now do you want to prevent your sister from going to jail or not?”
Apple opened her mouth to argue but then she relented with a long sigh. “Fine, so what can you make out with that floor plan?”
Scootaloo examined the floor plains. “We’ll according to this, the only sure way we can get in is to go on the roof—”
“The roof!? Why the roof!?” Apple Bloom interrupted.
Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom her annoyed look. “I’m getting to that!"
After Apple Bloom gave Scootaloo her sheepish smile, Scootallo turn her gaze back to the floor plan and explained as she pointed certain areas of the map.
"Anyway, we’ll go on the roof with the fire escape ladders and then we’ll crawl silently into the vents, that way, we’ll avoid the guard from the entrance. After we make a few turns, we’ll be above the room where the safe is. We’ll use a rope to get down, then we’ll open the safe, put the diamonds back to where they belong, go back the way we came, and then we’ll be back to our headquarters before breakfast. Most importantly, your sister will be off the hook.”
Apple nodded, impressed with Scootaloo's detailed plan.
“That sounds pretty solid, but are ya sure that’s gonna work? Can we fit into the vents? And how are we going to open that safe? It’s as tight as a fort knox!”
“It'll work!" Scootaloo reassured. "I already measured the vents; we should fit in easily with our size. As for the safe, I picked up this neat trick from a spy movie once and I think this will work.”
Apple Bloom gave Scootaloo her deadpanned stare.
“Scoots, not everything you seen in movies are real or possible, especially if it was a spy movie staring Tom Hooves.”
Scootaloo looked offended. “Hey, those are really good movie series…except for the second one.”
Apple Bloom still looked doubtful. “Well let’s say they don’t work, then what?”
“Then I’ll do what Rainbow Dash does…I’ll improvise!” said Scootaloo in her cocky attitude.
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. Not noticing Apple Bloom's reaction, Scootaloo continued.
“Anyway, I also got the tools for the operation. We still need a dark outfit to hide our identities just in case.”
Apple Bloom nodded and turned to make her way towards the clubhouse's door.
“Ah know, Sweetie Belle was supposed to get them fer us. But she hasn’t return with them ye—”
Suddenly, the door burst open and knocked an unsuspecting Apple Bloom to the floor. Sweetie Belle rushed in with a large clothes bag in her hands.
“I got the goods!" Sweetie Belle announced.
Sweetie Belle blinked, then looked down to see Apple Bloom lying down on the floor, moaning in pain.
"Why is Apple Bloom on the floor?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“Never mind that," said Scootaloo. "You got our outfits from Rarity?”
“I did but—”
“Then let us see it!”
Scootaloo took the bag from Sweetie Belle as Apple Bloom stood up from the floor and approached to the other Crusaders. Sweetie Belle looked very nervous.
“Hold on girls, there’s something you need to know—”
“What Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo grunted as she was unzipping the bag. "What is it you were going to—”
Scootaloo stopped talking when she fully opened the bag and saw the clothes they got from Sweetie Belle. Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were stunned for a minute, making Sweetie Belle more nervous than before. Finally, Scootaloo looked up and gave Sweetie Belle her unamused stare.
"What…the heck…are…these?” Scootaloo said slowly through her gritted teeth.
Sweetie Belle gulped. “T-they’re outfits for our heist.”
“I get that...but why the heck are they PINK?
Scootallo dumped the contents from the bag on the table, reveling that all the clothes were indeed, pink.
"You’re supposed to get these outfits in black!" Scootaloo bellowed as she went up to a terrified looking Sweetie Belle. "In case you forget, we’re trying to sneak into a jewelry store, not Barbie’s dream house!”
Sweetie Belle raised her hands defensively. “Hey, it’s not my fault! I did tell Rarity we wanted black, but Rarity said to me and I quote,"
Sweetie Belle cleared her throat before spoke almost the exact impersonation of her sister.
"‘Black is such a dark and dreadful color for girls like you! Pink is a much better fashion sense than black. Besides darling, black would make you girls look like a bunch of cat burglars!’"
Sweetie Belle then reverted back to her own voice with a deadpanned look.
"…end quote.”
Scootaloo facepalmed. “UGH! And she wonders why I never buy clothes from her store!”
Apple Bloom sighed as she gathered her own set of pink clothes. “Well, Ah guess those will have to do.”
Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom as if she's gone crazy.
“You can’t be serious! You don’t expect me to wear these girly clothes do you? I wouldn’t be caught dead while wearing these outfits!”
Apple Bloom sighed and gave Scootaloo her side-glance. “We don’t have enough money to buy a different set of clothes to replace ‘em, so we don’t have a choice."
Once Apple Bloom gathered her outfit, she was heading out to the door.
"Scoots, fill Sweetie Belle in about our plans, I’ll get everythin’ ready.”
As Apple Bloom stepped outside and used the stairs, she felt nervous, yet determined. Tonight, she and her friends are going to return the stolen diamonds to set things right and so her sister won't be thrown in the slammer.
Even if they looked ridiculous in their pink thieving outfits.