The Rainboom Thieves

by KingJoltik

The Chains (Part 4 of 8)

Around thirty minutes ago...

Fluttershy descended onto a street in Canterlot. She then quickly ran up the street and then tapped her hoof on another pony's shoulder. “Rarity.”

Rarity immediately turned around and saw Fluttershy. “Fluttershy? What are you doing here?” she asked and then Rarity scanned Fluttershy's face. “You found Twilight?”

Fluttershy nodded up and down. “Yes.”

Rarity looked around and then grabbed Fluttershy by the shoulder, “Let's move somewhere else and talk.”

“Okay.”

A few moments later, Rarity and Fluttershy were talking to each other in a place with a little less ponies around. “Fluttershy, where's Twilight?”

“She's at that hospital I checked first. There were all kinds of guards there, even on the roof.”

“I see...” said Rarity as she stood there for a second. Then an idea popped in her head. “Fluttershy, new plan. I need you to go to the restaurant and reserve us some seats. I'll meet you and Applejack there later.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I'm going to go meet Twilight.”

“What?”

“Don't worry,” said Rarity as she used her disguise ring to change her disguise to something else. “They won't see me, Luminous Pearl coming.”

The Present...

“It's good to see you again darling.” said Rarity as she entered Twilight's hospital room. Rarity quickly scanned the room as she saw Twilight's family. She then saw that Twilight had her bag with her. 'Her disguise ring must be in there.' thought Rarity.

“Hey Pearl, it's been a while hasn't it?” said Twilight with a small smile on her face.

“Indeed it has darling. Are these your parents?”

“Yeah, they are.”

Rarity then bowed to them, “It is a pleasure to meet you all, I am Luminous Pearl.”

“It's nice to meet you.” said Twilight Velvet.

“Nice to meet you.” said Night Light.

“Indeed, also it an honor to meet you, your highness.”

“Please, no formalities.” said Cadance, “If your Twilight's friend, there's no need to be so formal. Just call me Cadance.”

“Very well.” said Rarity as she the turned to Twilight. “So, how are doing Twilight dear?”

“Not the best Pearl, not the best...” said Twilight as she then looked directly at Pearl. “Did you bring anypony else with you?”

“Well, I did, but they aren't here right now, I'll be meeting up with them later. Maybe after that we can all come here and they can see you. That is, if the guards don't kick us out.”

“Sorry about that.” said Shining Armor.

“It's fine.” said Rarity while putting on the most innocent smile she could put on.

“Pearl.” said Twilight in a monotone voice.

“Oh, yes Twilight?”

“Thanks for coming, but...” said Twilight as she slowly got up, “I'm not healing very fast, so I'm going to be stuck here for a while.”

“I see.”

“Hopefully I'll leave in the morning and there won't be so many guards...That reminds me...” said Twilight as she put her hoof to her chin. She noticed that she was no longer in any pain. “Cadance, what's going to happen to me when I get better?”

“Twilight...well...” said Cadance as she was trying to find the words, “Celestia will probably take you to the castle.”

“I see...so I'm definitely going to the castle...Sorry Pearl, but it sounds like I may not be able to see everypony for a while.”

“I understand dear, though I must admit. I was rather surprised to see that you know both princess Cadance and princess Celestia.”

“I just met Celestia...” said Twilight as she laid back down. “Sorry about this Pearl.”

“Well, it was good seeing you again Twilight, but unfortunately I have to cut this visit short. The guards wasted so much time that I'm now on a timetable.”

“You got to meet the others huh?”

“Yes. I'll bring them later.”said Rarity as she began to leave the room

“Okay, make sure to bring them all here.”

Rarity then waved bye to the rest of the ponies in the room and left. Twilight's family then began commenting on Pearl.

“Well, she seemed nice. It's too bad she left so soon.” said Twilight Velvet.

“Pearl moves around a lot mom.” responded Twilight.

“Huh...say Shining, are all your men incompetent like that?” asked Night Light.

“Um...no.” said Shining, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Meanwhile, Rarity left the room and went to the nearest bathroom. There she went into a stall and pulled a notepad and pencil from her bag she brought with her. She quickly wrote down several notes as her eyes began to widen and then she said to herself, “Well, so that's what you were trying to tell me...okay Twilight...thanks to this, I got a good grasp at what I should do next...”

Some time later at a certain restaurant in Canterlot...

Applejack and Fluttershy began to eat their meal, tired of waiting for Rarity. Rarity slowly entered the place in a new disguise and sat down. “Hello girls.”

“Took you long enough.” said Applejack with a hint of anger, “What happened to the 'gather all the information you can' plan?”

“I'm not in the mood to argue Applejack.” said Rarity as she pulled her notepad out of her bag. “Just take a look at this.” she said as she put the notepad on the table. Applejack and Fluttershy looked at notepad and the notes Rarity had took. Their eyes then began to show signs of surprise.

“Rarity...this is...” said Fluttershy.

“Yes. It's exactly what you think it is.” said Rarity in a monotone voice, “Now, I'm going to order myself some food.”

The two kept looking at the notes. The notepad read:

not healing very fast = already healed
stuck here for a while = must get out immediately
I'll leave in the morning = need to leave at night
won't be so many guards = many guards
may not be able to see everypony for a while = need to see everypony as soon as possible
make sure to bring them all here = don't bring others right now

“Remember the code she told us to do Applejack?” asked Rarity after she order her food.

“Yeah, I sure do pardner.” said Applejack.

Almost two years ago...

It was one day after the Rainboom's first heist. Twilight called a meeting and everypony went to the meeting room.

“Good work yesterday everypony.” said Twilight with a smile.

“I know, weren't we awesome?!” said Rainbow Dash.

“We sure were pardner. I still can't believe we pulled it off.” said Applejack.

“I agree darling.” said Rarity.

“Alright, that's enough.” said Twilight, “I have a different reason for calling you here today. I need to talk to you about what we should do if we get caught.”

“Uh...shouldn't we have talked about this before our first heist Twi?” asked Applejack in confusion.

“No, I knew we could pull that off. My calculations showed little error. I'm talking if somepony gets suspicious or we end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“You mean if we end up in jail?” asked Pinkie.

“Technically no, but that could be used as an example.” said Twilight. “I'm saying if we're in situation where we can still at least speak to at least one of us.”

“You mean, like we’re going to speak in code?”

“Yes.”

“Awesome! We'll be like spies.” said Rainbow.

“No we won't, but that's besides the point.” said Twilight in a huff. “Now, if we are in situation where we're caught but can still at least speak to at least one Rainboom...We'll say the opposite of everything we mean.”

“The opposite? Isn't that a little too easy?”

“Ain't that lying?” said Applejack with anger in her eyes.

“Not if you really mean it Applejack, as for the easy part...Most ponies won't catch it. Just say things in a more positive or negative tone depending on the situation.”

The Present...

“Twi, she told you all these things?” asked Applejack.

“Yes.”

“Great...how we going to get her out of there?” said Applejack in a hopeless tone. “According to what she told you, there's a bunch of guards and we have to go at night or else! We're only half the team!”

“Stop being negative Applejack and look at the positives Twilight gave us.”

“What positives?”

“She says she's already healed. The other ponies don't know that.”

“How does that help us? Unless she can teleport out of there, I don't know what to do.”

“First, she can't teleport. She once told me the spell for teleportation doesn't work for her. Second, it means all we need to do is provide her with a signal.”

“Are you saying she can take them all by herself?”

“What did the scene where Twilight and Celestia fought look like?”

Applejack paused for a second. She wasn't sure what words to use but her mouth opened anyways, “It looked like a whole bunch of explosions happened. Like a full scale battle.”

“Then the plan is simple Applejack.” said Rarity in a simple tone. “We only need to do two things, signal Twilight and provide an exit for her. That, and probably go ahead and reserve a train out of Canterlot.”

The other two looked at each other and then looked at Rarity as she said, “Well, are we all in agreement?”

“Ain't got a choice pardner, I'm in.”

“So am I.”

“Alright.” said Rarity in a direct tone, “Tonight, let's go save Twilight!”

Author's Note:

The next chapter is when the fun really begins.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Comments

[BatPonyBrony]

Dang, Applejack is really a bitch in this story, isn't she? All she does is whine and complain and snap at everyone else without being able to offer anything constructive on her own, at least when Twilight isn't around.

As for Twilight, she is behaving pretty dumb here. If her plan is to get away, it would make much more sense to appear like she was willing to cooperate, instead of being snappy and confrontational. Get everyone to lower their guard a bit and make sneaking away easier as result, she is just making it harder for herself and her friends.

So she can't teleport here, huh? I wonder if that's because she didn't have Celestia as a teacher, or any formal magical schooling at all - too complex to master on her own while being busy with the heist stuff all the time?

Anyway, I'm rooting for Twilight and her friends to get out of there - sounds like Celestia intends to keep Twilight no matter what, in which case screw it, Twilight should just fight for her own freedom rather than accept going to the castle against her will.

[cosmicobubisi]

Go breakout plan!

[KingJoltik]

5737017 One, Twilight has not been thinking straight due to the recent situation. Second, Applejack said a few chapters back that she isn't into the thief life. She would rather be bucking apples. That and I know I'm being biased with my writing but my least favorite of the Mane Six is Applejack. (My favorite's Fluttershy)