Chapter 20: Night at the Museum (Manehattan Mysteries Arc Part 4)
MidnightFMare
As you and your party enter the museum in the dead of night with Trixie and Rarity providing unicorn horn light and you with your night-vision Multi-Vision Goggles, you realize something,
"Wait a minute."
"What?" the group asks you simultaneously.
"In case things goes wrong, we need a plan in case the cops show up. Fluttershy, you and Babs are the hardest to notice in a crowd so use that to help lose the cops."
"Why am I the hardest to notice?" Babs asks, furrowing her brow at you.
"Because you're short." You reply as-a-matter-of-factly, "Trixie and I will stick together, the two of us being partners the longest." you turn to Applejack and Applebloom, "You two are the strongest so you two are going to be the ones who, if worse comes to worse, will charge through the police, carving out a path like a pair of apple bowling balls through badge-wearing pins."
"But ah stink at bowling." Apple Bloom points out.
"In that case just stick close to your sis."
Applebloom salutes and Applejack shoots you a sour look or distrust, but eventually nods.
"What about moi, darling?" Rarity asks, fluttering her eyes.
"Uh... Flirt, I guess? Distraction? I don't know, you're really just a pretty face and you can't really do magic on Trixie's level. You're kind of the 'Aquamare' of the team."
Babs giggles at this and you hoof bump each other.
"Anyway, now that you know your roles, here's the whole emergency plan..."
ONE EXPLANATION LATER
"And that's the genius plan!" you finish, holding up the picture of the plan.
"Uhm... you did it again..." Fluttershy coughs nervously
"Did what?" you ask.
"Ya didn't say anything ya nitwit!!" Applejack yells under her breath.
You roll your eyes "Honestly! Do you need me to draw you a picture? Oh, wait, I did!" you snark, "Just follow my lead, and there's a 20% chance Applebloom won't need to learn prison rules."
"What's prison rules?"
"Well first off, don't drop the-" (1)
"OKAY! Let's get going, shall we?!" Trixie yells in an obvious attempt to change the subject.
Kichi comment
"Okay, let's divide so that we can cover more space..." you say, "Trixie, me, and the foals will be Alpha Squad while Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack will be Beta Squad."
"Why do I have to be in a separate group from mah sister?" Apple Bloom asks.
"The teams are like this so that both teams are more or less equally powerful with one half having a great and powerful magician, a veteran with a particular set of skills, and two foals while the other has half the Elements of Harmony."
Plus it keeps me away from Applejack. you mentally add.
"Now wait a doggone minute," Applejack says, "Who put you in charge?"
"Because I was the first one to start giving out plans and orders and noling-er-pony bothered to challenge me. Plus I'm the one wearing the cool goggles." you say pointing to your Multi-Vision Goggles.
"He does make a good point there, darling." Rarity adds.
"Alrighty then, let's catch that thief and clear our names!" you declare.
Nodding, the party splits into two teams and begins to search the museum. Alpha Squad finds itself in the Ancient Saddle Arabia exhibit when you suddenly feel a hoof on your back.
"What is it Trixie?" you ask.
"What are you talking about? Trixie didn't say anything." she responds from further ahead
"Then who was that?"
You both turn to see a groaning pony wrapped in bandages right behind you.
"Gaaahhh!!! THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY!" you and Trixie scream before bolting off when you hear two voices yell,
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MUMMY CATCHERS, YAY!!!"
"Now's not the time!!!" you shout as you grab the fillies and run off.
"Let me at him, Mr. DeWitt!!! I wanna get my Cutie Mark in catching a mummy!" Babs protests.
5 MINUTES EARLIER
We see the elderly night guard of the museum walking out of the restroom reading a newspaper when suddenly he trips and falls into a stack of toilet paper rolls left behind by the janitor. Tangled and disoriented, the security guard stumbles around calling for help, but only groaning can be heard beneath the paper.
Suddenly he hears screaming which startles him into falling into an open sarcophagus that closes shut when he falls in. Trapped in an ancient coffin and covered in toilet paper he can only think,
I wonder if it's not too late to accept that job offer for Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange...
BACK TO YOU
"Okay... I think we lost it..." you pant as you catch your breath.
"Why'd ya do that Ritz? We could've gotten our Cutie Marks in Mummy Catching" Apple Bloom groans.
"Yeah, I don't think your sister would let me live if something happened to you girls... Anyway, where are we?" you ask as you look around and find yourself in the dinosaur exhibit.
BrownDog77 comment
You briefly believe that you see the giant Dinosaur Skeleton moving and looking at you, but when you turn to face it, it's all normal.
"Calm Down Ritz, get ahold of yourself." you mutter to yourself as your about to leave when you see Beta Squad enter your green-tinted night-vision view.
"Beta Squad, any luck?"
"No." Applejack respond.
"Alright, lets just head to the Forehoof Diamond display."
We now find all of you in the room where the Forehoof Diamond is the centerpiece.
"If I were a thief, I'd come down through the skylights... I'll keep watch up top," you tell them as you use your changeling abilities to climb up the wall and onto the ceiling.
"Everypony else, stay hidden, and be ready," you call out.
SOME TIME LATER...
You've lost track of time as it feels like you've been waiting on the ceiling for hours. You're currently ronching on a sugarcube to stay awake when you hear a scraping noise from your elevated position.
"The heck is that?" you wonder.
Listening closely, you find the source as the above skylight, where a silhouette is seen cutting the window. You're about to call out to the others when you hear the thief muttering to herself,
"Alright girl, just hop in, get the loot, then it's off to Las Pegasus to meet with that Buggy Fence. He better come through with the goods..."
Buggy fence? you think to yourself, being caught off guard, Does she mean a changeling? Are there others still out there? Did the Queen escape?
Unfortunately during your musing, Rough Diamond was able to rope down obliviously past your hidden form and is approaching the glass case where the diamond is. Snapping out of it, leap out for her from the ceiling and tackle the burglar.
"Hold it, ya sneaky varmint!"
But unfortunately the others charge in too and soon you find yourselves in a jumbled dogpile. You lash out and headbutt the thief in your grasp with your Bowler and you hear a cry of pain, but she manages to throw out a smoke bomb and wriggle out of your hooves in the confusion. You quickly dive forward and tackle somepony.
"I got her, I got her!" you say as you start throttling the pony in your hooves.
"Let... go... please..." wheezes a mare's voice
Then all of a sudden, alarms are heard and all the lights turn back on, the smoke clears, and you see you are actually strangling Rarity.
"What the? How'd you get here?" you ask to the mare who is quickly turning blue.
"Let go of her ya dingbat!" yells Applejack, who is tangled up in the alarm strings.
"Oh, right," you say as you let her go.
"GGGYYYAAAAGGGHHH!!!" she gasps loudly before coughing.
"Sorry, sorry! I thought you were Rough-*pow*" you try to apologize when Rarity punches you in the throat.
"You brute! You nearly crushed my windpipe!" she snarls.
"Guess we're even now." you weakly manage to cough-snark while clutching your throat, "But where did Rough Diamond go?" you ask before pushing up your Multi-Vision Goggles (night vision's no good in the light) and looking around. Aside from everypony being tangled up, she's nowhere in sight.
"Freeze Dirt Bags!"
You all look around and see the Police surrounding you.
As everyone starts surrendering, and blaming your group for this robbery, you notice one of the mare cops has a bleeding nose,
"Her! It's her! She's Rough Diamond!" you accuse pointing at her.
The mare herself smiles and says.
"Well that's pathetic, permission to use the restroom sir?" she asks Chief Stablemaker.
"Permission granted, Officer Fluffles."
With a nod, "Fluffles" walks away.
"NO! IT'S HER! I SWEAR IT! Look, her cutie mark is even messed-*WHACK*"
You are interrupted by a hard smack to the back of your Bowler, making you fall to the ground.
"A likely story scum. Attempting to frame an officer of the law, 5 years dungeon..." comes a cold scary voice.
You gulp and look behind you and see Dread Judge in full armor giving you a death glare,
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" you yell as you close your eyes and brace yourself and throw down a Thundercloud Orb which creates a blinding flash of light and a deafening crack of thunder which stuns and disorients the police as a dark grey cloud fills the area. You quickly put on your Multi-Vision Goggles, set them to "Thermal Vision", grab as much of your group as you can, and bark,
"Initiate emergency plan now!"
"WHAT!" they yell.
Realizing that your group is still stunned from that Thundercloud Orb, you quickly use the cover of the cloud to move the group into a line with Applejack and Apple Bloom in front and push them yelling, "CHARGE!!!"
1 Thundercloud Orb
Remaining
Quickly understanding what you mean, Applejack and Apple Bloom charge forward and smash through a trio of stunned Policeponies with the rest of you following close behind them. Your party is making some distance between you and the cops but you realize,
That cloud should provide enough cover to lose those co-.
"HALT PUNK!"
"BUCK!" you scream as you realize that Dread Judge is charging in behind your party and closing in fast!
Gotta slow her down, but how- Oh hello there.
Spotting a button near the hallway entrance where you and your group is charging towards you yell,
"Aquila Talon!" and throw your hoof forward ejecting your hookblade into the button which causes the reinforced steel door to start collapsing. As your party blindly runs forward on instinct (still disoriented from the flashbang) you quickly stop to Force Pull a nearby trash can at the charging Dread. The trash can just bounces off her helmet without stopping her, but it disorients her just enough to allow you to quickly dive and slide under the closing door just as it slams shut-
*THUD*
And you look back to see a pony-shaped imprint in the reinforced steel door Dread just smashed into. Snickering vindictively, you turn back to the girls only to see them in a pile smushed against the wall.
"What happened here?" you ask as you deactivate and push up the Multi-Vision Goggles.
"Well somepony threw down a Thundercloud Orb and had us just charge forward while still blind and deaf." Trixie snarks as the mares get up.
"Yeah, how bout a little warning next time!" Babs agrees as the girls shake off their disorientation.
"Oh, sorry about that but we needed to lose that psycho fas-"
"LOCK DOWN THE MUSEUM! THE FUGITIVES ARE STILL IN THE BUILDING!" you hear Chief Stablemaker declare.
"D'oh!" you exclaim.
"So what's the plan now, boss." Applejack snarks.
"Well the plan is..." you start when you spot Officer Fluffles/Rough Diamond running off.
"There she is! After her!" you yell as you all begin to give chase.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
(1) In Equestrian prisons, bathing is serious business so bars of soap should NEVER touch the floor. Failure to abide by this custom will result in ritualistic towel-whipping by the other inmates.
Now that Ritz is acquiring new items and clothes, the list is getting pretty long SO HERE IS THE LINK TO A FORUM THREAD LISTING YOUR (RITZ'S/815's) ITEMS AND ABILITIES
Looks like things are kicking into high gear now!
You have your group chasing master-thief Rough Diamond, the cops (including a relentless one-mare-SWAT-team) chasing you guys, and you're all in a major museum filled with MANY priceless and ancient exhibits and artifacts. Such a ripe environment for destructive action-packed shenanigans, don't you think? 
Next chapter is the concluding, closing, final finale of the Manehattan Mysteries arc so GIVE IT ALL YOU GOT!!!
Only a few guidelines;
1. Don't leave the museum. Let's keep the action in one building, m'kay.
2. No exposing Ritz as a changeling.
3. No killing, but remember that Dread Judge is a very tough P.A.I.N. unit (think a Judge Dredd-style armored supercop minus the guns) so she can take ALOT of punishment (so feel free to drop an entire machine on her, blast her with a giant firework, spill some soda so she slips, anything like that)
4. USE THE ENVIRONMENT! For context, try imaging you're directing an action sequence inside a museum. Collateral damage and destruction are HIGHLY encouraged.
5. Catch Rough Diamond!
Have fun!
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You turn to Applejack and Applebloom and sigh "I can't believe I'm saying this... Applejack, I need to throw your sister."
"You WHAT?!" Applejack yells.
"Look, I throw Applebloom with my Aqui- my hook, and she can use her crazy lassoing skillz to tie her up and stop her from getting away."
"You are not throwing my sister!"
"Me neither!" Babs shouts.
"Surrender and you will all be punished slowly." Dread Judge monotones, obviously getting ready to charge again.
You clap your hooves in realization "Rarity! I have an idea as to how you can help! I need you to embrace your stereotype! I need you to take Fluttershy and do your girly thing on Dread Judge!"
"Excuse me?" she asks indignantly.
Fluttershy whimpers "How will that help?"
"That's her weakness, girly things! Now when I open that door, I need you to clamp on with all that cuteness and Rarity, you distract them with your charm, use those hips and don't be afraid to turn some heads. Aquila Talon!"
Your hook opens the door, and Dread Judge charges straight at Fluttershy but the moment an errant hair touches her, she keels over, spasming "GAAAAHHH!!! It's too... cute..."
Fliuttershy darts over to Dread's side, trying to help her "oh dear! Oh dear! Oh my!"
Chief Stablemaker runs forward and pauses as Rarity sashays towards him and his guards "Oh boys and girls..." she coos, fluttering her eyes.
Trixie pouts "I can do sexy too..."
You shake out of the trance and notice that Rough Diamond had paused to stare at Rarity as well "Go! Applebloom! Use Head-butt!" you yell, picking up the stunned filly and turn your hat around like that one cool dude on TV does.
She shrieks and Applejack nearly backhoofs you but you dodge and she ends up tripping Fluttershy's tails and knocks herself out.
Applebloom lands on Rough Diamond and starts wrestling her to the ground "Stop that you insufferable hick!"
Babs' eyes twith "She ain't a hick you... whorse!"
Everyone turns to her and Rough Diamond shakes her head in shock "Such language..."
You shake your head in disappointment "I'd think that your parents would've raised you better. I mean, I'd expect that from Scootaloo, but not you. For shame..."
Babs blushes and charges at her but is repelled by a thrown Applebloom, knocking them both out, spirals where their eyes should be.
"Horrorshow..." you mutter before lifting Applejack's hat and pull out her lasso "Come on... I've seen guys do this hundreds of times..." you throw the lasso and...
Catch Trixie by mistake "Ulk!"
"D'oh!"
As you all run, Ritz and the team find the section about the wendigos and how the ponies get together in harmony and got the idea of hiding.
"Let's hide, act as statues and with luck they are not going to figure the true" Suggest Ritz as everypony take a pose and hide itself.
At first it seems to work, as the chief seems to pass around everypony and don't detect them, except after the chief see Ritz, as he can't take out the bandages without telling to all of them he is a changeling, Ritz is detected very easy in his hiding spot, and he is forced to run with the others that could only think about hiding with Ritz.
As Ritz and the team begin to flee as the chief and the others are chasing all of you, as you all run, you decide to try something, as you stop.
"Wait a moment!" You shout looking to the chief, everypony stop pursuing and look at you, Rarity and Applejack looking as if you are crazy, the foals looking confused and Fluttershy hiding behind her mane.
"Why are we runing? Did you not know who they are?" Ask Ritz pointing with a hoof to the mares with him
"They are the B*cking elements of harmony, they who take Nightmare Moon and restored Princess Luna, they who put in stone Discord, if it was not for them, Equestria could be in chaos or in darkness, they saved all your lives, and they are heroes, under the protection of Celestia, did any of you think what could happen if you touch even one hair of them?" At first Ritz seems to catch everypony attention as some of the ponies begin to whisper between each other and encouraged continue.
"What happened with Equestria? With the spirit of harmony and friendship? Is not this the land of friendship and love? Tell me! I was wrong by just hoping that we could get, friends with each other, give us a hug and forget about everything?" As Ritz say that he begin to recite the anthem of Equestria, as a couple of soldiers and the mares seems to drop a tear, but even when he appeal to that patriotism, the chief don't seem too much convinced, is then that you can hear official Fluffles voice.
"How can we know they are the Elements of Harmony? As far as we know, they could be changelings or use a disguise, also, I heared the Elements of harmony have a Princess and I don't see Princess Twilight between them and I think their colors are wrong" Say Fluffles as he try to destroy your argument
"Come on, in this time of crisis, are we really going to suspect about everyone? Did we fall back to the time of the tree tribes?" Ask Ritz as he try to think a way to flee, but with the museum closed he could not get out and his changeling powers still are not recovered.
The true was that the speech was simply something he listened time ago as he edited a couple of things, but he was hoping that with all of this, they forgot about him. As they begin to think, Ritz can hear Applejack talking about Rarity
"Psst, Rarity, can't you use your shmangy magic to find the jewels?" Ask Applejack to Rarity in low voice, but of course Ritz can listen to them
"Oh Applejack, darling, my spell detect all the gemstones and if you forgot, we are in a museum, full of jewels..." Comment Rarity.
Meanwhile Ritz look at the chief.
"Come on chief, you know is true, think about it, do you want to make Celestia angry and be sended to Griffonia? Not only that but something could be broken and we don't want that everypony here must pay anything that is broken with half of their pay for who knows how many years" Comment Ritz as he smile for himself at the look of most of the ponies face at the idea of Celestia angry or having to pay for something.
Find an ancient piano and drop it on top of "Dread"... Along with a safe, and a load of iron bars, and a enormous number of cannonballs. And then find Rough Diamond and take her down.
Dread Judge bursts into the room, ruining the patriotic moment, "Come quietly so I can punish you!" She yells as she charges.
You reach behind you to hopefully grab something cute and girly to stop her from advancing, "PUPPY-DOG EYES GO!"
A growling can be heard, "Let me go, varmit!" you realize you grabbed Applejack instead of what you hoped for. She wriggles out of your grip, turns around and delivers a mule kick to Dread, bowling her over into a wall.
You barely have enough time to register that before she punches you in the face, "Consider that payback"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hehe, just putting that there for 'kicks'... okay even I want to punch me for that.
You all run across the Ancient Neighsan section where Rough Diamond gears up with Samurai armor and a Naginata and charges at you. Unfortunately, all you can find off hand is the ancient fragile tea sets to which you keep throwing/using to block her attacks.
After dodging a vicious swipe, you stumble upon some Nunchucks
“Ah Sweet!” you yell as you start swinging them around, causing her to hesitate…that is until you hit yourself in the nards.
“EEEEEEE!!!!” you shriek as you fall to the ground cradling yourself.
She chuckles at this and raises the weapon above her head…before she is knocked back by a Kanobo wielded by Babs and Applebloom, which knocks her back into a pillar which falls into over into another pillar which falls into another, causing a domino effect which breaks a wall leading into the Dinosaur Exhibit.
Rough Diamond’s helmet is off and she glares at you before rushing towards all the dinosaur bones.
“Thanks girls, where are the rest?” you ask.
“There you are you bitch!” you hear Trixie’s voice in the other room followed by magic shots.
“My guess is there,” snarks Babs as you all run in and see the rest of your group.
After Rough Diamond breaks several priceless Dinosaur skeletons, which you try and fail to stop, she ends up on the back of a large long necked dinosaur of some kind, when Dread Judge bursts through.
“Destruction of Archaelogical findings, 12 years!” she yells.
“Oh give us a break!” you yell.
She starts stalking towards you, while the cops burst in from the back as your group is surrounded, and Rough Diamond laughs
When all of a sudden, a skeleton T. Rex head comes out of nowhere and snatches Dread Judge up in it’s jaws while epic music comes out of nowhere.
Everyone else starts screaming at this, but you just look up and shout, “I bucking knew it!” Until you see the blue glow all along the bones. You look at Trixie who gives you a wink.
Dread is thrown into the cops behind you, so you take this opportunity to climb up after the crook.
She climbs through a vent and into another exhibit and you follow her, ending up in the ancient Anugypt wing.
“Give it up, already!” you yell.
“Never, I’m not afraid of you! I’m not afraid of any-AAAAAAAHHHH!!!” she screams as the “Mummy” from earlier bumps into her, causing her to fall into an open sarcophagus which closes.
As she falls, she accidentally removes some of the head bandages, revealing an elderly stallion.
“Oh thank goodness, I can see again!”
“Good job old man!” you cheer.
With her caught, it’s easier to show the cops who she really is.
When Rough Diamond is being taken away, she struggles while screaming.
“Police Brutality, Police Brutality!” before being knocked out with one swift kick by Dread Judge.
“You have the right to remain silent…bitch…”
She then looks to you and your group and says, “Stay out of trouble,” before throwing her into the back of the paddy wagon.
As she is thrown, you see two slips of paper fall out of her pocket. As the cops haul her away, and the others talk to the cops and press, you pick up the two slips of paper and examine them.
One of them is an airship ticket for tomorrow evening to Las Pegasus, the other is a piece of paper that says, “Trackatomi Building, Friday Night 8:00 P.M., At the Punch Bowl.”
“What is it Ritz?” asks Trixie as she comes over and looks at your papers.
“It’s a ticket and instructions Rough Diamond had for getting to her fence,” you say. “The Buggy Fence,” you think to yourself.
“Oh, then perhaps you should give that to the police?”
“Nah, they don’t have jurisdiction, and it’s clear on the other side of the country,” you point out as you stare intently at the two slips of paper.
Trixie sees the look on your face as you stare at the ticket and note and says, “Oh…Ok…”
Have the party split up to hopefully catch Rough Diamond.
Run into the Dinosaur exhibit, run up the skeleton of a dinosaur to each the second floor, then Force Pull one of the leg bones out to cause it collapse and knock down the cops trying to follow.
Launch Dread Judge with a Trebuchet when she unwittingly steps on the sling. The PAIN unit also drops some Thundercloud Orbs when sent on her impromptu flight which you promptly grab
Use Force Pull to make a painting smash a cop in the face, tripping up his partner and allowing you to turn a corner, jump off a railing, and use Aqulia Talon to swing like Tarzan and tackled "Officer Fluffles" into a soda machine which causes soda to spill on her and expose her true Cutie Mark.
Once Rough Diamond is in custody, you become overjoyed when you hear that she has a large bounty on her... only to be informed by Chief Stablemaker that the bounty just matches the exact costs for all the collateral damage and fines you racked up.