//------------------------------//
// Part 4: Heist of the Horses 
// Story: My Little Pony: Once in A Lifetime 
// by BoCpony 
//------------------------------//

PART 4: HEIST OF THE HORSES


Day 11

"Guys, it's one AM. Can't we just rest? My hooves are covered in dirt and some wierd sticky stuff I got caught in on our way here."
"Rarity-we're here."
"Oh."
Nick passed out the corresponding weapons.
"Alright. We sneak in, find the ponies, and get out. Avoid battles."
They busted through the door. The room was filled with dusty pots and angel statues.


Phoenix made the I'm watching you gesture on and waltzed right into a suffed bear.
He let out a girl scream as the bear fell on top of him.
The bear's head tore off, and cotton poured out.
"Aw man! That's gonna haunt me in my dreams," Phoenix complained.
"Anybody know the way in the secret lair is?"


Rarity reversed, parkouring every dead mouse on the floor. Her rear pressed against a pot, and the pot flew backward, bring her with it.
There was a mechanism underneath it, and a door flung open.
"Hey look, I solved a puzzle too! This will earn me some bragging rights back in Ponyville."
The rescuers snuck in the door and found themselves in a room filled with cages containing flamingoes, toucans, kangaroos, tigers, penguins, and zebras.
But none of them had ponies, let alone ponies from saturday morning cartoons.
"Let's search," Nick ordered.
The kids split up through different halls.
Nick peeked around a corner with with pellet gun at the ready.
Two guards walked straight past him, unaware of his lurking in the shadows.
"There are MORE?"


Mike was reading a magazine. Dr. Drew barged in.
"What's the matter?"
"It's those kids, sir!"


Erik hid in a trash can.
A guard turned his radio on.
"We have some kids roaming around. They're not just any kids, either. They're smart masses that are after those ponies. If you see one of them, shoot. Ask questions later."
"Aw crap," Erik cried.
"No they're shooting at us?!?"


"I don't think we should do this," Amy told her brother.
"You, shut up and follow me."
The two stopped at a corner. They saw a guard, with yelping coming from inside the door.
"They must have Fluttershy. Or they're watching Twilight."
"What are we going to do?"
"If Max Payne taught me anything, it's that if you're going to save something, then you'll do it in style."


Erik leaped to the side and showered the guard in pellets.
But not one of them scored.
The guard seemed ticked.
But Erik shot at the guard first, knocking him out.
"I probably shouldn't do that."
"You don't say?"


They waited out the door and listened to the conversation.
"Eh, what should we do with them ponies?"
"I didn't want to be here. I just wanted to go to Gamestop to get Vice City until that creep brought me here."
"Well, what do ya think? Should we kill em? I think it's a good idea."
"Actually I think it's kinda cute."
"It won't be once I get ma hands on dat piece of gawbage."


Erik kicked the door open. It swung open, and the doorknob hit one of the guards' backs. The guard fell foward, while the other guard tripped and slammed his head on the countertip.
The two rushed in and untied Fluttershy. She instantly glomped both of them.
"It's so nice to see you! You won't believe what Twilight showed me!"
Fluttershy flashed the pictures.


Rarity and Applejack climbed through the airvent. They stared down at two guards patroling the area.
"Alright, I'll do anything as long as it doesn't involve getting my mane ruffled."
"Then we're never gonna get this done! Do you want our friends to be safe, or your mane to stay neat?"
"Well.......maybe we can find a way to do both?"
"It is so hard working ya!"
"Ditto!"
"Wait.....the girls have been pretty quiet......"
"........."
"Apple Bloom?!?"
"Sweetie Belle?!?"


"Do you see anything yet?" Sweetie Bell whispered.
"Nope."
"Good. That means the coast is clear."
The Cutie Mark Crusaders jumped out of the trash can.
"This place is HUGE!"
"How are we ever going to find our friends?"
"We need a map!"
"Yeah!"

Scootaloo walked around a corner.
"I think I see a booth over there! Maybe I can get do it!"
"Alright, but be careful! You don't wanna get caught!" Apple Bloom warned.
"I'm not getting caught!" Scootaloo turned the corner and left Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom waiting.
"She's been fone forever! Where could she be?"
"Let's check."

The two followed Scootaloo's path and gave surprised looks when they were overwhelmed by the shadow of a guard holding Scootaloo and gunpoint.
"Come with me," he smiled.
"Let me show you a fan fiction that you'll love."
"A.......what?"


Pinkie Pie sat in her cage.
"Can I please go?"
"No."
"I can't believe my friend turned on me like that."
"Your friend wasn't your friend. She always hated you. She was using you."
"You're right. She never liked me. Wait......what?!?"


Pinkie Pie's tail twitched violenty.
"Hey, stop that!"
"I can't control it! It's my Pinkie senses!"
"What the hell is that?!?"
"It means something surprising is going to happen!"
"Stop doing that or I'm going to to shoot! You're scaring me!"
"Enough with the guns! I pretty sure whoever is reading this is disgusted by your use of firearms!"


The cieling dropped on the guard. His remains were covered by the tiles of the cieling. Rarity and Applejack were upon the rubble.
"Wow! That IS surprising!"
"Pinkie Pie!" Applejack and Rarity chorused.
"I'm so happy to see you guys! Glad for you to drop by!"
Rarity focused her horn on the padlock.
The padlock exploded, setting Pinkie Dianne Pie free.
"YAY! I'M FREEEEEE!"
"Pinkie Pie, I'm so glad to see you safe!" Rarity sighed.
"More glad than Applejack."
"Hey, I know where we can see the rest of this evil lair!" Pinkie Pie beckoned the others to follow her with her tail.
"Follow me!"


Lucy sat down on a chair in the patrol station. She placed her hands in her hands.
"Why am I doing this?" She asked herself.
"I failed them. I failed them all. Especially Pinkie. It's too late to apoligize. It's not like she'll bounce through the door."
Pinkie Pie bounced through the door, and to her dismay, she saw Lucifer.
"Pinkie?"
Pinkie snorted.
"Oh. It's YOU."
"Pinkie Pie, I just wanted to-"
"Make fun of me more? I know. But I'm not letting you! I'm here to help my FRIENDS! And I don't want to talk to YOU!"
She looked at the cameras.


Lucy flopped back down on the chair.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry."
"Sorry about what?"
"About being a jerk. I didn't know you were just trying to be my friend. I was just acting stupid."
Pinkie Pie turned around.
"You really mean that?"
"Yes. I would be more than happy to be your friend if you give me one more chance."


Pinkie Pie beamed.
"Of course!"
And for the first time in years, Lucifer smiled.
Pinkie Pie released a freakishly huge grin. Her mane poofed back up, and she cheered.
"Are we going to save our friends?"
"Yes we are!"


Erik and Amy escorted Fluttershy to the restrooms.
Erik sat back and rested, while Amy checked Fluttershy for any injuries.
"I'm fine," Fluttershy assured.
"Are those.....footsteps?" Erik wondered.
Amy gasped and shoved Fluttershy into a stall, jumped in the stall, and pulled Erik in.


A couple of guards walked in.
"Hey, maybe we should just split. I'm tired of this dump."
"Yeah, I agree."
"Wait, why do I smell....daisies?"
"I smell them too."

They kicked open a stall. Nothing.
They kicked open another stall. Nothing.
They kicked open another stall. Amy.


A guard pulled Amy out.
"Hey! Look what I found!"
"Please let go!"
"Hey, it's a girl!"
"You don't want to hurt me!" Amy warned.
"I-I'm not alone!"
"Shut up!" the guard slapped Amy. She landed on her back.
"Say goodbye little girl."


A stall door flew forward and smashed a guard into a mirror.
It was Fluttershy.
Fluttershy bucked the other guard hard enough to make him slide three feet.
"LEAVE. MY. FRIENDS. ALONE!!!! OR I'M GOING TO FINISH YOU!!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!?!!?"
The guard nodded weakly and went limp.
Fluttershy turned to Amy and Erik.
"Amy! Are you alright?"
"I'll live."
She gave a soft smile.


Nick peeked through a door window. He saw Twilight Sparkle sitting with he head bowed, turned against a corner of her cage, with a cut across her leg.
Nick shot the padlock to the door and broke in.
"Nick?"
"Twilight!"


He shot the lock on Twilight's cage and she walked out.
"I can't believe you turned on me like that," she whispered.
"I never did anything."
"You never told me I was a fictional character in this universe. And you look at sick pictures of me."
"Those just showed up. I don't like them in any way whatsoever. Same with those videos."
"Why didn't you just tell me I was a cartoon in the first place?"


Nick was speechless.
But Twilight hugged Nick.
Nick hugged back.
"I thought you'd never come for me."
"Why would you think that?"
"Not now. Our friends are in trouble, and we have to find our way to them!"



Rarity and Applejack trotted through the maze of hallways.
"APPLE BLOOM!!!!"
"SWEETIE BEEEELEEE!"
"There's no hope, Rarity. We searched everywhere!"
"I'mm not giving up my search for my dear sister! You can, but I'm not!"
"There's nowhere else we can look! Every room in these here hallways are the same!"
"Maybe because we've been WALKING IN CIRCLES?!?!?"
"......I was wondering why I've been seeing that candy bar in every trash bin I saw."
Applejack murmered to herself.
"That doesn't matter. All that matters is that we must find our sisters. AND Scootaloo!"


Applejack heard a clang.
Next thing she knew, Rarity was lying on the floor, knocked out.
"Rarity? You alright?"
She turned and saw a huge shadow looming over her.
"Aw Nilly......"


Phoenix slid passed a couple of guards.
"Where did all these people come from?" he asked himself. He dashed to a room where he heard screaming.
He peeked through the window.
"Aw hell no......."
He kicked open the door.
The CMC were ropebound, forced to watch a animated adaption of Sweet Apple Massacre.


A once happy guard sped towards the angry Phoenix.
You could probably guess who won.
Phoenix untied the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They all embraced him, which teary eyes and huge pupils.
Phoenix hugged back.
"Phoenix,"
Apple Bloom looked her cutest.
"Ma big brother wouldn't do that to us......would he?"
A single tear escaped Phoenix's eye.
"No. No he wouldn't. That's just to scare little fillies like you. Come on, let's find your siblings."
Phoenix let the Cutie Mark Crusaders out the door.
Phoenix whacked the guard with his baseball bat before leaving the room.


Fluttershy kept a guard down with her hoof placed on his chest.
"Tell me where you're keeping my friends! I mean, if you really want to......"
The guard snapped bavk with an obscene remark.
Fluttershy gasped.
"You are SO rude! I can't believe you even CONSIDERED saying that!"
"I'd rather die than tell you where I'm keeping the others!"


Fluttershy's eyes widened with a threatening look in them.
She was using her infamous stare.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"Listen, if you don't tell us where my friends are, I'll have to make things ugly!"
"Fine! They're in every corner of the chamber! But they're all on the loose! They csn be alive or dead it's a fifty-fifty chance! PLEASE LET ME GO!!!!!!"
Fluttershy let the guard go, and he split faster than a bananna.
"Come on guys, nobody's getting my friends! Pony OR human!"
Fluttershy galloped through the halls.
Erik and Amy shared glances, shrugged, and ran off.


Nick and Twilight heard screaming from the roof of the shelter.
"Applejack! Rarity!"
Twilight cried.
"Come on Nick, we have to go!"
"But.....my legbrace."
"What are we going to do with that?"


Nick was considering riding her, but she was  barely as big as a small bear. He would break her back.
Twilight got an idea.
"Hold on!"
Nick grabbed Twilight, and they both vanished.


Phoenix, Henry and the CMC pelted through the halls.
"Do you hear that?" Henry asked Phoenix.
"Screaming!"
"Let's move!"


Erik and Amy ran through all the doors Fluttershy rammed down.
"Looks like somebody's going on a killing spree," Erik commented to Amy.


Lucy and Pinkie Pie focused on the cameras, struggling to keep track of the others.
But she saw the inevitable on the roof. She turned the lights off and turned on the lights to the roof access.


Nick and Twilight climbed up the stairs.
Mike was waiting there, saying something to Applejack and Rarity, who were hanging over the fifty foot high roof, with Drew holding them up.
"Mike! Let them go!" Nick demanded.
"Aw, looks like somebody actually likes you!" Mike taunted.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Why not? It's fun, and it'll make me RICH! When I show those scientists these bones, they'll want more, so I'll give them the surviving ponies! How fun will that be?"
"You're killing innocent animals!"
"For millions of dollars!"
"It's all about the money, isn't it?"
"Yup."


Twilight gritted her teeth, holding back an unnamable insult.
Nick stepped closer, but Mike stopped him.
"One step, and these ponies go bye-bye."
"What do you want?"
"I want the others. If you give me the other ponies and leave, I'll PROBABLY let them live. But don't count on that."
"That doesn't help at all, Mike!"
"Who cares? You're going to lose either way."


Without warning, Fluttershy burst up the stairs with Erik and Amy.
Fluttershy lost the manic mood when she saw Applejack and Rarity.
"Oh no!"
Drew grabbed a lighter and lit it.
"If I burn this rope, these two ponies will drop."


Appljack and Rarity slowly opened their eyes, and went in a huge panic.
Phoenix, Henry and the CMC caught up.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were just as terrified as their sisters.
"Let our sisters go!"
Sweetie Belle demanded.
"Yeah! Or we'll get 'em ourselves!" Apple Bloom joined in.
"Ugh. There's more?!?" Mike groaned.
Lucy and Pinkie Pie made it to te party.
"What? This is isn't a party. This is a tense situation! I know parties, and this isn't one!"


Mike laughed.
"Who are you talking to?"
The moment was tense.
Lucy, Nick, Amy, Henry, Jennifer, Phoenix, Erik, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom stood frozen in place, anticipating Mike's next move.


"Wait..........." Drew broke the silence.
"Why are we threatening to kill the ponies if they try to stop us.......if we're going to kill them anyway?"
"Drew! Shut the hell up! Just go with it........."


Rarity silently called out to Drew.
"Shut up, animal."
"But Drew! I need to talk to you!"
Drew rolled his eyes.
"What do you want?"
"I feel quite......uncomfortable......in these ropes. Perhaps, instead of letting us fall to our deaths, um, maybe you can let us go....."
"Not a chance."
"I know you're doing this for money, but, what I can do to you will actually last. A looong time......."


Rarity winked at Drew, who untied the two ponies.
Almost instantly, Rarity bucked Drew's head.
Drew fell foward, hitting the ground with a huge thud.
"I TOLD you it would last a long time,"
Rarity brushed Drew off, but succumbed at the sight of Mike's gun.
"I didn't need him anyway," he shrugged.
"I don't need you either."


Rarity and Applejack backed into the crowd.
Mike smiled.
"Isn't it funny? You guys came to rescue these ponies, but ended up bringing them to me! It's hilarious!"
"I don't find it very funny."
"Shut up Pinkie Pie!"

Guards ran up the stairs and stood on the roof.
"Oh PLEASE!!!!!!!" Nick complained.
"What do we do, Nick?" Twilight asked.
"We fight?"
Without warning the whole roof went into a rumble. Fists were flying along with metal bars used with magic.


Among the chaos Twilight got whacked with a metal bar. She gasped and toppled over. She flippedjkj around and dodged Mike's axe hit just in time.
A guard tripped over Twilight and fell off the roof.
Twilight ignored the event and kept backing away from Mike's slashes.
"You're going to be mine, whether you like it or not," he growled.
"I'm going home, thank you." Twilight used magic to hold a piece of wood as a shield to the slashes. She tried to whack Mike with the bar, but his swift moves ultimately destroyed the wood.


Guards continued tripping over Twilight, but she could barely feel it over the tension. Eventually she stopped at the edge.
Twilight cursed.
Mike advanced on her.
"You really ticked me off now!"
Mike swung his axe at Twilight, who let out a startled scream as she fell back and dropped off the edge.
She fell about four feet until she slammed against a pipe and used it to keep her up.
She tried her best to think up of something to save herself with, but the pipe had other plans; it bent ever so slightly, and Twilight started sliding.


Phoenix  peeked over the edge.
"Twilight!!!!!" he yelled.
"Phoenix!!!!!"
"GRAB MY HAND!!!!!!!"
Twilight stretched her hoof out at Phoenix's hand. Twilight successfully  grasped his hand. Phoenix pulled
"No!"
Twilight slid faster and faster as guards kept keeping Nick from coming to the rescue.
She accepted her fate and let go. She plummeted down the tall building, dissapearing in the darkness.

Nick pulled from the guards' grasp and saw Twilight's last second in the light. The guards pulled him back and propped him up. Mike approached him in a dry matter, a dry look.

Mike shrugged.
"This is going to be easier than I thought."
The group all closed their eyes, preparing their final moments.

BANG!

Nick opened an eye.
Mike was gone.

The others opened their eyes and gasped when they saw Mike wrestling no other than Rainbow Dash.

"LOOKS LIKE YOU FORGOT SOMEPONY! AND THAT SOMEPONY ISN'T VERY HAPPY!!"
Rainbow Dash rammed Mike into a wall, then throwning him near the edge of the building.
"You want to rethink that plan of yours?"
Rainbow asked with her eyes narrowed.
Mike swallowed.
"...........fine. I give up."
Rainbow Dash and the others flinched as they heard helicopters from above.
"CRAP!" Nick yelled.
"WE CAN'T LET THEM SEE YOU GUYS!!!!!"


Erik pointed to the trash bins under the roof.
"How about we jump through there?"
"Are you crazy?!?" Rarity yelled back.
"I came in this world covered in garbage and I'm not leaving it covered in garbage! I just got my mane groomed....."
"LEEROOOOY JEEEENNKKIIIINSSSSSSS!!!!!" Phoenix bellowed before cannonballing down the fifty feet and landing in the garbage bins.
The others followed.


Rarity remained at the top, cursing to herself, staring down at the bins.
Mike grabbed her leg.
"If I die----YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!!!!!" Mike cried to Rarity.
Rarity screamed and smacked his head with her hind leg.
"I better get all of Equestria kissing my hooves for doing this!!!!!"
Rarity plummeted into the garbage bins.

Nick opened his eyes. Everybody landed safely in the dumpsters. As he got up he heard a groan. It was Twilight!
Nick quickly jumped up and started looking for her. After a minute or so of searching, he found Twilight sitting against a tree, holding her arm.

"Twilight!!" Nick shouted in relief before running over and hugging her. She winced slightly at the pain in her foreleg, but she wrapped her good arm around Nick's shoulder.
"Twilight, I'm sooooo sorry! I didn't mean for any of this to happen!"
Twilight simply smiled.
"It's fine, Nick. Better than camping in a forest filled with dinosaurs."
"What?"
"Nevermind. Are your friends okay?"

Nick got up. The helicopters were focused on the roof of the building, so they paid no mind to what was going on under. He looked forward and saw his friends crawling out of the dumpster, and checking to see if any of the guards lying on the floor were dead.

"Well, on the bright side, they're all okay, so we won't have blood on our hands or anything like that," Phoenix said.
"But we gotta split before the police see us or the ponies."


Day 12

The kids and ponies rested the entire day, but it wasn't all relaxing.
Nick and Twilight explained the dark secret the kids have been keeping them from the past twelve days.
That they were a Saturday morning cartoon.
The ponies were shown episodes, fandubs, fanfictions (Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash both freaked out over Cupcakes and Bittersweet), and finally fan art.
It was pretty awkward, but they managed to do it. When the ponies were satisfied, everybody talked about what they saw, showered, ate, and got ready to leave after Twilight Sparkle got a message from Princess Celestia.
The heroes rode to Castle Park at night, resting on the hill.
They waited patiently, and before they knew it, the princess appeared.
"I want to thank you for protecting my faithful students." Princess Celestia announced.
She knighted the seven kids and backed up.
"If you like, you may say your final goodbyes. You have ten minutes."


The seven bronies said there final goodbyes. But Nick and Twilight had the longest.
"So I guess this is it?" Nick asked.
Twilight lowered her head.
"I'm sorry I brought you into our own fight," Twilight muttered.
Nick sighed.
"It's not your fault. And besides, it was fun, wasn't it? Fighting bad guys, thwarting illegal animal trade......."
Twilight let a tear drop into the grass and form a cartoon puddle in the middle of a realistic patch of grass.
"I'm going to miss you Nick."
Twilight flung her front legs around Nick.
Nick jumped, startled. But he wrapped his arms around Twilight.
Twilight set herself free.
"There's always next time......" Twilight replied with a quaky voice.
Nick smiled.

The six ponies gathered around Princess Celestia.
"Thanks again, children. You went through a lot, and I admire you for doing so."
Celestia raised he head up to the sky and formed a beautiful aura, and they dissapeared. Just like that.

The kids stood there for a moment. They mounted their bikes and went home.


Day 13

The ponies zapped into their home world and into the library.
Twilight Sparkle landed on her bed, along with Applejack and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie landed on a pile of books. Rarity landed on a pile of garbage.
"Ugh! I'm in EQUESTRIA and I can't keep myself from falling into GARBAGE!" Rarity complained.
"Wait," Twilight interrupted.
"What's a pile of trash doing here?"


Spike waltzed into the room and gave a startled scream.
"Oh, I didn't expect you guys to be back so early!" Spike nervously smiled, failing at hiding a big tub of ice cream.
Twilight narrowed her eyes.
"How long have we been gone?"
"Twelve......hours......." Spike ran for the door, but was stopped by Twilight.
"You aren't going anywhere, Spike." Twilight scolded.
"You, are going to clean up this mess."


Spike groaned and grabbed a mop.
Twilight smiled and looked up at the night sky.
"I'll see you again. Soon........."


Day 14

Nick, Jennifer, Amy, Lucy, Phoenix and Henry all sat at the lunch tables at school.
Buck approached the table and pulled Amy up.
"Hey sweetheart," he harassed.
"Wanna give me money?"
Phoenix got up.
"You leave her alone!"
"Shut up or I'll beat you again!" Buck threatened before punching his stomach.


Amy gasped at Phoenix buckling to his knees. Now she was angry.
"You shouldn't have done that!" Amy scolded.
"What you gonna do about it? Cry on me?" Buck laughed.
Amy thrust her fists into Buck's stomach.
He bent down and Amy knees his face.
Amy then pushed Bucked into a garbage bin.
"You do NOT HURT MY FRIENDS!!!!" Amy yelled.

The other five kids watched in awe at Buck getting pwned by the pwned. He apparently got arrested a couple hours later for the shooting.

Henry finished the apple pie Applejack and he baked. He loved apples.

Phoenix halted his fighting habits and brought them out by playing Bully and Grand Theft Auto. Though he's still anticipating the moment he has to use them.

Lucy got out of the shower and dried her hair. When she took the towel off her face, she saw her reflection in the mirror. She wondered why she was so depressed in the first place. Pinkie Pie practically saved her. She smiled, a tear dropping into the sink.

Nick looked up at the stars. He recalled every moment with Twilight. Meeting her, losing her, and reuniting with her. Nick knew Twilight was looking at the stars too, and he learned that he, out of seven billion people, was given these opportunities that were only dreamed of and shown in movies. And he was lucky enough. He was lucky enough to learn that he should cherish these moments, for they may only happen once. Only once. Once in a lifetime.

The End