Golden Prize
Admiral Biscuit
I decided that I'd just wander around Manehatten for a little while, and maybe look at some of the shops. I didn't have a specific destination in mind, so I just flipped a mental coin when I got out to the street and started walking.
The streets were a mix of shops and apartments, with a few carts here and there on the sidewalk or the street. Between the residents and the ponies who were shopping or commuting, it was crowded, but not uncomfortably so. It reminded me of what New York or London must have looked like at the turn of the last century—streets full of pony-drawn carriages and wagons, foals playing on the sidewalk or even out in the street, and some tourists walking around looking at everything while the locals seemed to be more interested in getting to their destinations than beholding the wonders around them.
I went a few blocks north, and then I turned towards the east. I thought that it might be nice to get a look at the bay, since I wasn't all that far away from it. Some sentimental part of me really liked seeing all the sailing ships in the harbor.
This road was a little bit wider, and it even had traffic signals on some corners. They seemed kind of pointless to me—I didn't think that the ponies were pulling their wagons fast enough to collide. But I knew that they took them seriously: on my second day in the city, I'd ignored one and I'd only made one step into the street before I felt teeth in the back of my shirt and I had to endure an explanation of traffic signals from a young stallion. I would have blown him off, but he was so earnest.
After the signal was in my favor, I crossed the street and made it another couple of blocks before I came upon the mare. She was sitting on her haunches on the sidewalk right up against the road. Her head was down, and when I got closer I could see a damp patch on her cheek.
She was right in front of a bank, so my first thought was that she'd been turned down for a loan or something. I couldn't decide if I should talk to her or let her mope in peace. The ponies seemed to generally want to comfort each other, but as far as I could see, everybody was avoiding her.
I decided to hedge my bets, and instead of approaching her right away, I went around her, but I kept my eye on her back all the way around. There wasn't anything that struck me as dangerous about her, so I finally sat down next to her.
It took me a little while to draw her out of her funk—at first, she just ignored me completely, occasionally looking up and down the street, but for what I couldn't say.
That gave me a little bit of time to study her. She had an ash grey coat and a dark mane—it wasn't black, exactly, but it was close. I finally figured out that it was more of a deep purple.
I couldn't make much sense of her cutie mark. It looked like some kind of sack with a mask laid across it, at least that was the best I could figure. Her tail was curled along her side and it obscured the bottommost part.
Finally, I couldn't take just sitting there anymore, and when she sniffled and wiped her nose, I asked her what her name was.
“Oh, um, it's Golden Prize,” she said.
“Golden Prize?” I held out my hand. “I’m Joe. You look kind of sad—bad news in the bank?”
“I guess you could say so,” she said, and looked back down at the ground again.
I didn't think that she was going to say anything else, but she finally scraped her hoof across the concrete and looked back over at me. “I tried to rob the bank.”
Had I been thinking better, there were a lot of questions I could have asked at that point, but my mind went on a temporary lockdown. Being a bank robber wasn't something that you'd expect someone to confess to a few minutes after you met them, especially if they were still in front of the bank in question..
“I . . . see.”
“It's my special talent.” She sniffled again, and then shifted around her tail so that I could see all of her cutie mark. “Only, this time I got caught.”
“When?” Maybe she was trying to get back on her feet, and I could help out.
She turned back and looked at the clock on the wall. “Um, let's see, it was about ten minutes ago.” She sighed. “I wonder what's taking so long?”
“If you got caught, why are you still here?”
Golden Prize perked her ears up. “'Cause I got caught. I was coming out the door and a policepony was coming in and he saw that I had a mask on and a sack of bits in my mouth, and he told me to take off the mask and spit out the bag, and when the teller told him that I'd robbed the bank, he told me to go sit on the corner and wait for a paddy wagon.”
Wow that is an interesting sign that this is how the criminal element is in Equestria. When caught they do as they are told and don't try and fight it.
8588397
Ponies do seem to be generally quite law-abiding.
Fascinating. This will be fun to see where this exploration goes.
Support Your Local Bank Robber justice.
Sorry, but the jail is being painted. Can you come back later?
A cutie mark that explicitly presents a criminal act seems a bit counterintuitive for avoiding suspicion. Has Golden considered investment banking?
In any case, this looks like it's going to be quite the fun stranger-in-a-strange-land story. I look forward to seeing where you go with it.
Is this going to be as epic as silver glows journal ?
A moral dilemma. Does Joe suggest that she run away? With the way cutie marks work, it honestly may never have occurred to her.
Of course the robbery may have been nothing more than carrying a sack, wearing a mask, and telling the employee they are being robbed. Did she wait in the queue for her turn? Make small-talk with the other customers?
8588412
Most likely off the rails pretty quickly, at least for our poor wanna-be anthropologist (ponyologist?). This story is an exploration of some of the weirder ideas and headcanons I've had, so. . . .
8588437
Bank robbers have needs, too.
I could totally see that being a thing in Equestria.
There's probably be a song, too.
8588458
Hey, a mare can't help what cutie mark she gets.
TBH, sometimes that strikes me as less legit than just robbing the joint.
It's gonna be something, I can promise that.
8588493
Not even slightly.
8588507
Well, it's probably more of a moral dilemma for Joe.
I could see being arrested on occasion being one of those things that happens when a pony has a bank-robbing cutie mark. Hopefully, they'll let her go with a slap on the fetlock.
Well, yeah, she wouldn't have gone in there shooting up the place or breaking kneecaps or whatever. That's not polite at all.
Of course she did. Probably told anypony in line that asked that she was about to rob it, too.
"What brings you out to the bank today?"
"Oh, I'm going to rob it."
"That sounds nice, dear. Good luck."
Manehatten Paddy Wagon is pulled by Troubleshoes cousin Clyde?
When Clyde throws the long arm of the law at someone, they generally dont realise they been hit, until they wake up in a nice white bed some days later?
Then theres Mr turnip, All Johnson, and One Big River?
Lol
This is going to be beautifully hilarious
Not the tone I was expecting, but hey! Sound funny.
Ponies - Bank Robbing Made Adorable.
8588702
Clyde is a very sensible pony, so he'd be a good choice.
In Equestria, wouldn't it be the long leg of the law?
8588787
Just you wait. I've already got the next chapter queued up.
8588803
Joe is in for some interesting times, let me tell you.
8588832
Fixed that for you.
8588834
Well that's disappointing. I think any character can be interesting, given some effort. And sure, Equestria's supposed to be shining weirdness here, but to not expand on his character somewhat seems lazy and a wasted opportunity to me. I'm all for Equestrian weirdness, but if I can have a quirky and/or interesting character to go along with? Then the journey is even better.
8588847
8588857
I probably will wind up expanding on him somewhat--after all, he is the narrator, and the bulk of the story is going to be told through his eyes. But Joe's not really meant to be the star of the show.
I think in some ways, you could compare it to what Studs Terkel did. While Studs was a character in his own right, his interviews with the common man weren't about him; he was just the guy who asked the questions.
Here's a link to some of his interviews.
It begins again!!
About that picture, writing with a quill pen... I've tried to do that, and it isn't easy.
Ancient arts and skills, lost to history and all like that.
As for having a bank robbery cutie mark... Y'know that you don't have to take those marks literally, don'cha Golden Prize?
8588995
My sister is a PhD in Old and Middle English and could talk your ear off about the fading traditions of illuminated manuscripts.
I've tried to get her to read The Watchmen on several occasions.
I really want to give Golden a hug, just to cheer her up.
I wonder what the sentencing is like, does she just get a few days public service?
This is a concept I have been pondering a lot: Cutie marks as an inherent right of ponykind.
Ponies would try to accommodate for any criminal, self-destructive or obsolete cutie marks, while minimizing the havoc they might cause to society... even if that is not always possible. Still 'My cutie mark made me do it' would be a valid plea in any pony trial, as long as it can be justified.
First offense would probably be the day she got her cutie mark, and probably wouldn't have been caught later if the proof of her guilt wasn't stamped in her flank. It would be clear that her cutie mark influenced the crime, so the case would go to a special accommodation board, in order to find how that problematic mark would fit in pony society.
First, they would try to find an alternative, peaceful interpretation of her mark. If that wasn't possible, they would try to find how can the cutie mark be satisfied, while minimizing any possible harm to anypony. I would guess that, in Golden Prize's case, they would allow her to try to rob banks as long as she doesn't harm anypony, doesn't cause any havoc (Like a chase would cause), and if she returns the loot afterwards even if she were successful. As long as she abides to these rules, she would only get a slap in the hoof for robbing a bank, and maybe even a small stipend for testing bank security. I guess that her sadness in the chapter would be caused more by the fact that she failed to rob the bank, rather than the fact that she is being arrested.
I imagine the special reformation board as an asylum of sorts, where ponies with cutie marks that have been led astray, or that doesn't fit pony society, can learn how to fit in. Some cases would have standardized solutions, like thieving cutie marks, but others would have to be more of trial and error, and hoping for the best. And then there are the cases where they can't actually make them fit at all. Truly disruptive cutie marks, and the saddest cases of them all. If the pony's talent would be accepted in another society, they would be banished there. And if none would... I still ponder about that. Perhaps hibernation, in order to wait until their talent would be acceptable again. Who knows.
8588437
I can see that happening to Jailbird
(...or being proclaimed by Jailbird. He kind of runs that jail )
Glorious
Hah.
Wait. What?
Goddammit, Biscuit
This girl needs some assistance from Flim and Flam, in the art of sleazy getaways, stat!
For some reason I am recalling the plot to “The Invention of Lying” and wondering if Joe is about to start a nearly unstoppable crime wave by the simple mistake of asking her why she doesn’t just walk away...
8588397
It's only fair, right?
8589388
Um, no. In "Marks and Recreation" show stated that cutie mark can't force you to do anything nor it block you from doing things that not connected to your cutie mark.
8589622
Yes, a pony can do things not connected to its cutie mark, but a pony forbidden from using their cutie mark at all would be in a miserable state.
8589388
I like this explanation. She's got a legitimate place in society.
Still, that would mean she isn't doing her job very well if she just walked inside with bag and mask.
That cop will come back out, wrap a foreleg around her and ask, "Hey, what's wrong? Your heist are usually so much better constructed than that."
"I'm just not feeling up to it today." :(
"Awww, why's that?"
And they have a little heart to heart, cop and robber.
8589751
I doubt it. Keep in mind that some ponies don't even know what their curie mark mean! And not like they suffer that much. Or take DT and Coloratura who more or less work against her cutie marks for years and never have any significant problems. I'm sure that this "ponies who don't use thier cutie mark suffer" are fanon.
8589760
First, I certainly concede that this is all fanon. Still, the two examples you used don't actually contradict my fanon, as both of them were unhappy because they didn't actually follow their cutie marks. If you can point me to an example where a character doesn't use their cutie mark at all, and lives a happy and meaningful life, that would be the perfect counter.
8589792
Problem is that A) pool of characters about which we at least know something are small and b) some cute marks vague as hell. If I say that Silver Spoon don't use her cutie mark and live happily - can you really debunk that claim considering that don't even knows what her cutie mark mean?
8589388
Actually, they have a cure for that now, even if it is kinda horrific... Starlight Glimmer's cutie-mark jarring spell. Then again chemotherapy ain't exactly fun either and we still use that, and if Starlight, Twilight and Sunburst can modify the spell so that it just leaves them blank-flanked (without the soul-crushing and magic-stealing effects of Tirek's spell), rather than reduced to the lowest common denominator, it might be an option.
I think there was a rapist several years back who requested castration rather than a long prison sentence. Don't think the request was granted, but returning a mark is a one time thing with no side effects that I know of, as opposed to testosterone patches which can't return fertility, are an ongoing thing, and may have other drawbacks I don't know about.
Come to that if Dash got older and less tough and got grounded for 6 months with shattered wings I could see her being offered that option by her doctor, just for completeness. Then Dash tells her Twilight has a contingency plan, namely Scootaloo teaching her hoof-propelled scootering.
Come to that that version might be an established, if obscure, medical spell, that Starlight created a variation of, either via research or the same uncontrolled type of event as dragged Rarity to the geode in her cutie-mark story.
To rob a bank is to rob everyone having an account there, and I don't see that going over well in Equestria. Maybe Golden should look into some other line of work that involves sneaking into places and taking stuff. Maybe Daring Do could use an assistant?
8589810
No, I can't. Therefore, the 'not following your cutie mark can only lead to unhappiness' theory is only fanon, as I already agreed. Plausible, but fanon.
Oooooooh!
I don't know how far you plan to take this (edit: even if it's not an arc so much as a collection of vignettes), but I've learned to set my expectations high either way.
(Also, pony criminals are adorable. )
8589288
Much worse: She has to write "I must not rob banks" a hundred times, and apologize to the clerks.
8588948
It's not going to be another Silver Glow's Journal, so don't get your hopes too high.
8588995
About that picture, writing with a quill pen... I've tried to do that, and it isn't easy.
I used to take class notes with a fountain pen. Not the same as a quill, of course (and it was the kind that carried an ink canister), but once I got used to it, it wasn't so bad.
Yeah. That's why I think re-creational history is important. There are a lot of things that you can only learn by doing--questions like why did some trebuchets have wheels weren't answered until modern people started building them.
Well, yeah, but where's the fun in not doing what your cutie mark is telling you?
8589288
Y'know . . . probably what 8590341 says. I like that.
Robbing the bank is a serious crime...but if it's her destiny, does she really have a choice? Feels like that one episode of Futurama where Bender didn't get sent to jail on account it was in his programming to rob, and it ed him off.
8589441
The comment I live for.
Can she have a proper sleazy getaway without somepony to play accompaniment to her escape song?
I feel in Equestria, that's actually a legit question.