Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves

by Blackdrag-rose

Epilogue: Returning Home

A week had done by since Gilda and Derpy's return to Equus, where they found that their old lives had been suspended until their return from whatever 'adventure' they had been on, though what the two of them and the gang found out was that Derpy's old lift consisted of being one of the worst mail carrying ponies of all time. From what they could tell it was all because of her eyes, since they had been going two different directions and apparently made her job incredibly difficult, but at the same time she guessed that she could thank Clockwerk for destroying one of her eyes like he had, because on her first day back she was able to get the job done in about an hour. Of course part of her speed was because she could fly faster than she could before they were taken to Sly's world, despite everyone else gaining that ability when they went through the Ascension Process, but at the same time a few of her tricks came into play and allowed her to chart her own course through Ponyville, allowing her to beat all the other mail carriers in the process. She mostly did it because she wanted to see what her old life was like, but her cane remained on her back at all times and she found that she didn't even need it anymore, as there weren't any hooks for her to use and no enemy guards to steal loot from.

Diz, upon accepting that he was the heir to Discord's golden throne, did what his father did the moment he came into contact with the ponies that used to command the Elements of Harmony, he made friends with all of them at Pinkie's party, surprising his father in the process, since it had taken some time and some doing to get even one of them to be his friend. Ponies found that, while he did contain a smaller level of Discord's desire to prank others, Diz was more series than his father was and that some of his pranks were actually funny, as they weren't the ones that had to suffer as he used his pranks against his father, who was stunned and surprised at the same time. What surprised Diz was that his father didn't own his own place to live, since he was used to crashing at Twilight's castle while he worked on keeping track of the number of ponies that had been displaced, the worlds that they had been sent to when he figured out where they were, and a handful of other aspects that he didn't want to know about, as he was just fine knowing that his father's work was almost over, since there was only one pony left that hadn't returned home yet.

Trixie was right, as the moment Twilight Sparkle and Star Swirl crossed paths, which had happened outside the party, Twilight had shocked and jumping for joy as she freaked out at the mere thought of her meeting her idol, a pony that many had looked up to over the years. Star Swirl was pleased to hear that she was happy to meet him, and expressed some surprise when she mentioned the spell that she had finished some time ago that was one of the ones he had written about, but at the same time that just showed that Twilight had a talent for magic. His meeting with Celestia and Luna, who showed up maybe an hour into the party, was an interesting one as they stared at each other for a few moments, as if they weren't actually seeing each other, before the sisters smiled and walked towards him, where the three of them headed outside and had their own private conversation that would likely stretch on for hours and go into the morning, but what Gilda and Derpy noticed was that both of the royal sisters had tears of happiness in their eyes.

Their family enjoyed themselves during the party, especially Elizabeth and Daniel since they were young and full of energy, and when it came time for them to turn in for the night Twilight let them use some of the rooms in her castle, since she had a lot and didn't use all of them... and there was one room, the room of Sunset Shimmer, that they weren't allowed in, so they nodded their heads and turned in for the night, as there was more for them to do to settle into the lives that Derpy and Gilda were returning to.

When morning arrived Gilda learned from both Rainbow Dash, and her own previous set of memories, that she lived out in Griffonstone, with the rest of the griffins, but upon arriving in the area she found that it was sort of rundown and that it would take a good portion of the Cooper Clan's vault to get it back to what it had been like in the past, something that she decided not to do since it wasn't her treasure anyway. Of course many of the other griffins that she encountered, as the majority of them stuck to their original forms while some went through the Ascension Process, were surprised to see her return, especially since they hadn't been told anything about what happened to her and had sold her old place to someone else, but she was fine with that. Fortunately Gabby, an arctic bluish gray coated griffin that had gone through the process, had taken it upon herself to make sure that some of Gilda's possessions had been moved to Ponyville, or more specifically Rainbow's house, who kept the items carefully packaged and in pristine condition for her return. Once she made that discovery she returned to Ponyville and found that the items they were able to save were just some pictures of her and her friends, which was great since the rest of her belongings were trash anyway, so she was fine with just having these saved and stored in the van.

Despite Equus being their home world, the place where they grew up and formed all their previous memories, Gilda found that there weren't any big gangs like the Klaww Gang or the Fiendish Five, meaning no big time robberies for her and the others to clean up, and whatever minor ones occurred were finished by the local guards, who did a very good job keeping order in the streets. As such Gilda had come to the conclusion that she would grow bored of living in this world without anything major happening, so she had told Sly and the others that she was definitely returning home with them, to continue the great name of the Cooper Clan and take out whatever gang rose to replace Le Paradox.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here?" Rainbow asked, as while she and Gilda had buried the hatchet during the party, because in the past Gilda had been a jerk to a few of her new friends and recently apologized to all of them for her past actions, she had been hoping that her friend would stick around and enjoy the life that she was coming back to, especially with Derpy and Diz living nearby.

"Rainbow, it's nice to visit our home world, it really is," Gilda replied, as she had been dreading this the moment she decided to head back to the world that she and Derpy had been sent to so long ago, even though she wondered if it had been to find and retrieve Diz and not for their own benefit, "but to be honest, I think living in Equus would be kind of dull after some time. Living in Ponyville would be interesting, since you guys deal with monsters and a number of other things every day, but there's nothing for a thief that steals what was wrongfully stolen to do in this world, not when the guards can figure out what happened on their own. Look, I even asked Discord to enchant a small part of the van's interior, so it has a shorter shortcut than the one we took to get here, so I'll be able to come and visit you guys when I want to relax and take my mind off of whatever my family is doing at the time."

That part was true, as she had asked Discord if it was possible to enchant a door with the power of his shortcut, and that had caused him to test her question out for himself and used a pair of double doors that were inside the van, no doubt taken down by Murray before they even started their mission against Le Paradox, as his test subject. Their test had worked, as the door was now a personal gateway to Equus, and Gilda intended to install it somewhere inside the gang's safe house, that way if she was too stressed out after a mission she could come back here and relax, or at least spend time with Derpy and Diz. The only reason she didn't mention this to her siblings, even if they weren't true siblings, was because they both looked happy to be back in their old lives, even if all of this was new for Diz since he didn't have any memories of this world like she and Derpy did, and she wasn't about to force them to come with her.

"Now who said you could leave without us?" a voice asked, to which Gilda and Rainbow turned their heads to the side and found both Derpy and Diz standing near them, both carrying their packs and their canes on their backs, like they were planning on leaving as well, though she could tell that it was Diz who had spoken.

"Derpy, Diz... aren't you guys happy with your new lives?" Gilda asked, because she never thought that they would actually come seek her out when she tried to leave, especially since both of them seemed to be happy with what they had discovered recently.

"Of course we are, but it wouldn't be the same without you." Derpy said, to which she and Diz walked toward the van and set their packs inside, showing that both of them were committed to heading back to the other world that they had called home, "Discord told Diz what he did for you, since he figured there was no harm in telling his son about what you had planned, and Diz apparently set up a schedule that he'll abide by to continue to learn what he needs to learn for his eventual takeover as the God of Chaos."

"Dad says that I have a lot to learn before that happens." Diz added, to which he smiled for a moment, showing that he cared more about being with them than being with the being that was his father, though he was happy to hear that he wasn't intentionally abandoned at that orphanage like he, and everyone else, originally thought he was, "And to be honest I like being the 'Prince of Chaos'... being the 'God of Chaos' sounds like too much work and not nearly enough fun, though it seems that my decision to do this might be for the best, since he's so good at what he does."

Gilda did have to admit that Discord was good at being the God of Chaos for their universe, even if he had revealed that he had accidentally knocked both her and Derpy to Sly's world when he was tinkering with the magical mirror that Star Swirl had left behind, the same one that Sunset had apparently gone through at one point in the past. She guessed that Discord was happy to have found a replacement for him, so he could eventually retire when Diz reached the point where he would take on the mantle of the God of Chaos, and it seemed like he agreed with his son's actions, since he wasn't even trying to stop them. In the end, however, she eventually sighed and realized that there was no stopping her siblings from changing their minds and staying here, as they were committed to heading back to Sly's world with her and weren't going to take no for an answer, though she was happy to have them beside her once more. Together the three of them climbed into the back of the van, after making sure that Rainbow knew that all three of them were leaving this world for a time, before surprising the rest of their family with their decision.

Once everyone was ready Discord appeared in front of the van, which was still parked outside Ponyville, and opened another tear in reality, one of his shortcuts, before heading inside, showing them that he intended to make sure they arrived at their destination before coming back to Equus, to which Murray smiled as he drove the van into the tear and headed back to the world they had come from.

---

It didn't take a long time to get through the shortcut, mostly because taking forever would have defeated the purpose of calling it a shortcut and the fact that Murray knew what he was doing this time around, before they arrived outside the museum that Le Paradox had owned, which seemed to be in the process of having things moved out of it. Upon their arrival Discord bid them farewell and dived back into the tear that they had come out of, which sealed behind them and disappeared like it had never been there before, though the gang paid it little mind as Murray drove them back to their safe house. The plan was to contact Secretary Sen and tell him the news, since he had to be surprised by the sudden arrival and disappearance of Nefarious, and then, once their contact knew that Gilda, Derpy, and Diz were staying with them, for the most part, Sly and Carmelita were going to head home and try to return to their ordinary lives until the Cooper Gang was needed. Fortunately the safe house was nearby, meaning that the drive to the building was quick and Murray was able to park them in the safety of the parking area that came with the building, before he turned off the engine and they headed inside the building, finding that it was intact and that nothing had been damaged.

As such Bentley and Penelope went to work making sure their communicator, which would allow them to chat with Secretary Sen face to face, was still operational, though Sly found that the Thievius Raccoonus, which had been entrusted to their contact once Carmelita's parents had been kidnapped with the kids, had been returned to them, causing him to smile before the lights dimmed and contact was made once more.

"I was wondering when I was going to hear from you again, Cooper Gang." Secretary Sen said, though while his tone suggested that this was going to be a serious conversation, like every other time he talked to them in the past, but at the same time the gang knew that he was happy to see that they were alright, "How was your vacation?"

"We learned about the place that we came from, who Diz's father is, and a number of other things." Derpy replied, as there were some bits of information that they would share with Secretary Sen, and some bits that they definitely wouldn't share with him and the others, but at the same time she noticed the telltale sign in their contact's eyes, a sign that Sly and Carmelita recognized as well, "Did something happen since we left?"

"It seems that there is one other inmate that escaped during Le Paradox's mission to break out Neyla and Arpeggio, someone that you all have a history with." Secretary Sen stated, to which the image expanded and a picture of the Contessa appeared in front of them, causing Sly to frown and Carmelita to growl in annoyance, "It appears that she's on the move in Prague once more, and this time she's formed her own gang, the Black Widow Gang, who have already done a number of crimes in Prague, the United States, and a number of other locations, stealing a number of priceless treasures... ones that are sorely missed by their rightful owners. And, following the tradition of most criminal gangs having five or six members, there are five other targets, lesser criminals that she's enlisted to aid her in her crimes, that will need to be taken out so we can understand what sort of plan she's trying to set in motion this time around."

"Wouldn't put it past her to try and hypnotize an entire city so she can rule over it, or something like that." Carmelita remarked, because that was what Arpeggio had wanted to use her frequencies for, so he could create a hypnotic light show of hate to empower Clockwerk's seemingly lifeless body for his own purposes, before they grew serious as Bentley and Penelope started picking their stuff back up, "Okay, where's the first member of this Black Widow Gang?"

"Lady Nokara, one of the few remaining sphinx in the world, was last seen in Cairo, Egypt." Secretary Sen replied, to which the gang raised their eyebrows for a moment, as the mention of a sphinx was an interesting one, especially since there might be some magic involved at the beginning of their newest adventure this time around, "Don't worry, I'll be sending Inspector Hopps to the area as well, so she'll be ready to arrest her target when your operation is successful and you've secured whatever treasure she's stolen."

Sly and the gang smiled as they accepted the assignment, or unofficial mission as it was more commonly known as, before the connection was terminated, though as they started heading back to the van Bentley and Penelope started receiving all the information that Secretary Sen had on their first target... and as they drove away from their safe house they were happy to be back in business, to show the Contessa that she shouldn't underestimate the Cooper Gang, while both Gilda and Derpy were happy for what the future held.

Comments

[Tower of gray]

Another great story. But again you mentioned Judy but not Nick, what's up with that?

[Xarmar13]

Now that only Sombra's story remains, what does your update schedule look like? Will it be 2 off days per 3 day period or will it be double Bleach per 3 day period or alternating off day and Bleach?

I'm sure you knew SOMEONE was going to ask that.

[Mourningmist]

9353718
What could be worse than being cursed with eternal crushing torment.

[DJScales]

That was epic.

[Kamen rider yokai]

I just got some of the references you used in previous chapters. How did I miss them at the time I will never know.

[Silent_Knight]

Havent started thus yet but i can say for certain im all bout that derp yay derpy

Derpy is 2nd best for me only cause i picked fluttershy 1st :) i didnt kno the Dawww factor derpy had b4 hand D':

[Discordkeeper122]

Wow. Contessa has escaped and formed her own gang. That’s crazy. Would love to see a story that connects with the coopers taking her down.

[KnightGomora1994]

10407030
A mistake that they will not repeat again.

[Blackdrag-rose]

10408522 Technically speaking, a different studio made Thieves in Time, as Sucker Punch made the first three in the series, so that's why some things in the fourth game are different from the first three, we just blame it on the studio that made the last game.

[KnightGomora1994]

10408931
Oh I intend to... but never the less, amazing work with this chapter, and the story.

[Blackdrag-rose]

10410111 I'm glad you enjoyed the story, I really am.

[KnightGomora1994]

10413448
Right, well, no big deal, its all good.

[KnightGomora1994]

10413382
Ah, I must have read passed that, I almost mistook him for a Dragon, but good choice.

[schorpioen007]

Good story ^^