Chapter 1
Gladmane was a very proud businessman. Ever since he built his first casino in Las Pegasus, he knew nothing but success. He always knew how to get the right connections to entertain his guests with parties and shows and various other attractions that brought people all over the country. By his mid-thirties, he opened his first casino outside of Equestria in Griffogriffia. Through that, he gained attention from other countries and began opening casinos that were partially owned by the government. By the time he reached fifty, Gladmane had casinos in Saddle Arabia, the Crystal Empire, Aquastria, Griffonstone, and beyond. Not many people in the world had wealth like his. That's what made him the perfect person to steal from.
It was on a clear night that Gladmane decided to host a big event at his casino in Yakyakistan. Many influential people, including the country's ruler, Prince Rutherford, who co-owned the establishment with him, were attending. The resort was crowded with people playing slot games and card games, laughing, and drinking fine champagne as they gambled. Business people sat on booths to talk about their wealth and smoking cigars while their spouses and lovers gossiped. Others were at the buffet, gorging themselves in some of the finest food known to man.
Usually, Gladmane watched his customers squander their money, much to his greedy pleasure, but the grayish persian blue-skinned man was at the casino's auditorium where Prince Rutherford and his family were watching a trapeze show from a reserved balcony. The royal family "ooo" ed and "aah" ed with the rest of the audience as the trapeze artist performed daring tricks, the likes that they have never seen before. Gladmane grinned as he made his way up the reserved balcony just as the trapeze artist did her final trick. Prince Rutherford and his family clapped and cheered louder than anyone in the auditorium, and Gladmane waited until the curtain was closed to enter the balcony.
"Good evening, Your Majesty. Uh-huh-huh," Gladmane said. "Did you enjoy the show?"
"Me wowed by lady on stage," the prince replied. "Me never seen anything like it."
"I'm glad to hear it," Gladmane said, used to the way the prince spoke in broken sentences. "Why, I requested that lovely trapeze artist and her charming director to come here and entertain your beloved family myself. Uh-huh-huh."
"Is that same for magic act?" Prince Rutherford asked.
Gladmane's proud demeanor turned into a look of confusion, and he asked, "Er, what magic act?"
"Magic act coming next," Prince Rutherford answered. "It on paper."
The Yakyakistan prince handed a program bulletin to Gladmane, and he looked at it to see that there was indeed a magical act called "The Phenomenal Act of Sorcerer Magnifico." Gladmane looked at the bulletin skeptically, having never heard of the act nor approved to have it go on that night. Prince Rutherford raised his eyebrow, wondering if something was wrong, which Gladmane instantly noticed and gave him a fake grin.
"Oh, yes. Yes, of course, I requested the magic act, too," he lied. "Why, Sorcerer Magnifico and I go way back when I was just a humble businessman in Las Pegasus. You'll never find a magic show more phenomenal than what you are about to witness tonight."
Prince Rutherford smiled and said, "Good. It been many moons since me seen a magic act. Me hope to be very wowed."
"Well, then you're in for the magic show of your life, Your Majesty, or my name isn't Glad Winston Mane. Uh-huh-huh," Gladmane claimed. "Matter of fact, do you mind if I watch the show with you? It's been far too long since I've seen Magnifico at work."
Prince Rutherford nodded and pointed at a chair, saying, "Sit." Gladmane bowed to the prince before sitting down, but underneath his proud demeanor, the man was pondering what the magic act was doing in his show. He made a mental note to speak with the director, figuring he added it to the show without consulting him. Most likely, he would fire the director after that, depending on how the prince reacted to the show.
Just then, the curtain opened again, and smoke covered the entire stage. Everyone watched as a purple man with an orange goatee dressed as an acolyte appeared from the smoke with his hands clasped together.
"Greetings, one and all," the man said. "My name is Votary, for my life belongs to one of powers beyond comprehension. What you are about to witness is a mere display of my master's abilities. He has traveled from worlds where the very air you breathe is full of magic, and he has returned to his homeworld to entertain you. It is my privilege to introduce you to the supreme lord of magic, Sorcerer Magnifico."
Votary moved a few feet to the left before a flash of light appeared with a loud pop. Audience members screamed in alarm before their eyes adjusted to see a hooded figure on center stage. The figure removed their hood to reveal a bald amber man with a bushy gray beard that covered half of his face. He scanned the area before he lifted his hands in the air and spoke in a low voice.
"Welcome, my friends," he said. "For centuries, I have been away from home, and yet here I stand on a stage as if I never left."
Gladmane raised his eyebrow, wondering how long the performers were going to continue their bravado. Then, Supreme Magnifico clapped his hands, held them in front of his face, and took a deep breath before he spread his arms open, and a ball of fire came out of his mouth. The audience yelped as the fire flew over their heads before they smiled and applauded. Gladmane began to ease up as Prince Rutherford, and his family happily joined in the applause.
"And now for my next trick, I require one of my most powerful items," Supreme Magnifico said as he took off his cloak. "Votary, my staff."
"At once, my lord," Votary said.
The assistant took out a stick underneath his cloak, and with the press of a button, it expanded into a large staff. Votary handed the staff to Sorcerer Magnifico with a bow, and the magician held it up in the air before chanting in a made-up language. Then Magnifico held the staff like a duel weapon and started to dance while spinning it. The audience watched him closely as he moved around until he slammed the staff into the ground, and a beam of electricity shot up from the tip and exploded into the air like a firework. Everyone gasped in awe as the magician shot more beams from his staff, creating more fireworks in various colors. When he finished, the audience applauded again, while the performers took a bow.
"This magic show most entertaining," Prince Rutherford said, clapping energetically. "Your magician has exceeded expectations, Gladmane."
Gladmane grinned and said, "You don't know how happy I am to hear that, Your Majesty. I tell you what."
The prince smiled and nodded at his host before looking down at the stage again. Gladmane secretly sighed in relief, feeling confident that this new act would keep his special guest in a happy mood. After the applause died down, Sorcerer Magnifico and Votary walked opposite sides of the stage, and the magician raised his hands in the air.
"And now, for my next trick, ladies and gentlemen, I need to summon something containing great wealth," he said.
Everyone in the audience looked at each other, curious about what Sorcerer Magnifico was talking about. The magician and his assistant faced each other and started chanting while smoke emerged from the stage again. The smoke was so thick that the audience could barely see the performers. Everyone in the auditorium waited patiently until the smoke cleared up to reveal a seven-foot-tall safe. At that moment, Gladmane's feeling of surety disappeared, and he leaned from his seat when he saw that the door of the safe had three gold coins and three white stars.
His cutie mark.
"What you see here, ladies and gentlemen is one of the most advanced and secure safes in your world," Sorcerer Magnifico said. "Where this safe came from is a mystery, but I can sense that many have tried to break it open and steal its contents to no avail. But fear not, my dear audience. Not even the most secure safe known to mankind is any match for my powers. I shall retrieve the treasure inside this safe from the inside."
Gladmane's eyes widened, and his pupils shrunk. A part of him hoped that these two performers would fail to take the contents of his safe, but for all he knew, they might have stolen it already. Without bothering to ask the prince to excuse himself, he got up from his seat and rushed out of the balcony, taking out a walkie talkie from his coat.
"All security teams, get to the auditorium now!" He hissed.
Gladmane could hear Prince Rutherford calling out to him, asking where he went, but he didn't listen. All he could hear in his mind was Sorcerer Magnifico chanting from the stage as he hurried down the stairs. By the time he reached the exit, five of his security officers had arrived, and he signaled them to follow him while taking one of their guns. As the magician continued to chant, Gladmane stormed down the aisle with his men, guns at the ready.
But before they were halfway down the aisle, Sorcerer Magnifico shouted his last chant out loud and thrust his staff into the ground. The staff broke into pieces, creating a flash of light, forcing everyone to cover their eyes. As Gladmane tried to adjust his eyes, he heard the sound of a woman laughing maniacally from the stage. After a minute, everyone recovered from the flash, but the performers had disappeared, and the safe was still on the stage unopened.
"What is this?!" Prince Rutherford roared from the balcony. "Where magician go?!"
But Gladmane gave the prince no answer. He raced to the stage with his officers and looked around the safe to find the outside undamaged. There were no holes used to steal its contents, and the electronic door was intact. Gladmane signaled his officers to surround the safe while he typed the password on the keypad on the safe to unlock the door. He pulled the door open, and his heart sank as he saw that the safe was empty. There was no giant hole on the bottom where the thieves could have taken his money from underneath the safe. It was merely empty as if it had never been used. Gladmane then noticed a piece of paper taped on the back of the safe door. He took it out to find it was a picture of a red and yellow sun. The entire audience watched in confusion as Gladmane crushed the piece of paper and yelled out a name with his face barn red in anger.
"SUNSET SHIMMER!!!"
***********************************************************************************************
Outside of the casino, a yellow slug bug car was driving away. The car was stuffed from top to bottom with dollar bills, while two women in their mid-twenties dressed as Sorcerer Magnifico and Votary were laughing. The purple woman dressed as Votary had dark purple hair with blue streaks, while the amber one dressed as Sorcerer Magnifico had fiery red and yellow hair. As the amber woman drove the car, the purple woman moved her arms around as though she was playing with a pile of leaves.
"Hey, quit it, Starlight. I can't see the road," the amber woman said.
"Sorry, Sunset, I can't handle it," Starlight replied. "I've never seen so much money in my life, and we're practically bathed in it. Just look at us. Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer: billionaires. I just wish we could have seen the look on that old man's face. Heck, we can probably buy his casino if we wanted to."
The purple woman laughed again while hugging a pile of money. Sunset smirked at her friend's enthusiasm before turning back to the road. But as she drove, she glanced at one of the rolls of dollar bills lying above the speed meter and gave it a peculiar look. She turned on the car light to get a better look, which caught Starlight's attention.
"Something up, boss?" She asked.
Sunset picked up the roll of bills with her free hand and carefully ran her fingernail down one of them. She then took another roll and ran her fingernail with another note. She repeated the process with two more rolls before her face turned sour.
"It's counterfeit," she said. "All of this is fake."
"What?" Starlight asked. "Come on, Sunset, you're pulling my leg, right?
"Check some of the bills from your side," Sunset said. "These are all counterfeit. High quality too."
Starlight stared at Sunset in disbelief before she did what she was told. Sure enough, the note felt slightly different from the paper used from a real dollar bill. Starlight stared at the bill in disbelief before she angrily threw the roll at the front window.
"Well, this is just fantastic!" she growled. "All our hard work wasted on fake money! Do you think Gladmane knows about this?"
"Not likely," Sunset answered. "He's too proud to intentionally have a safe full of fake money rather than having earned it through his casinos."
"So, somebody scammed him?" Starlight asked before she thought about it and shook her head. "No, that wouldn't make sense. The Yakyakistan government partially owns that casino. That prince is more proud of handling things in his country with honesty than Gladmane is with his casinos."
"That's true," Sunset said. "So, what is a large safe full of fake money doing in a legitimate casino? That doesn't make any - wait."
Starlight tilted her head in confusion as she watched her partner pick up another strap of bills. Sunset squinted her eyes and examined the strap itself closely. She looked around it until she saw an orange and yellow sun at the center and then checked the other straps to make sure they all had the same thing. With her question answered, the amber woman's face became downcast, which made her partner even more curious.
"What's the matter?" Starlight asked.
Sunset was silent for a moment before she answered, "I know where these bills came from."
"Really? Where?" Starlight asked.
"Take a look at the stamp on some of the straps," Sunset said.
Starlight stared at Sunset before she looked at some of the straps. When she spotted the symbol, she was dumbfounded as she said, "That's the crest of that small country, Everfree?."
"Yup," Sunset said. "These are the legendary Horse bills that some people in the underworld say are made in Everfree."
"So what?" Starlight asked. "We can just find out who is behind this and take over, problem solved, right? What's wrong with going to Everfree?"
But instead of answering, Sunset kept staring at the road, looking dejected as she drove. Starlight grew worried as she saw her friend looking disconnected from what was happening in the world. Eventually, she gave Sunset a nudge on the arm, which brought her back to reality.
"Sorry, Starlight," Sunset said. "I just...had a little bad luck in Everfree."
"Bad luck? Like you're wanted all over the country kind of bad luck?" Starlight asked.
"Uh, not quite," Sunset answered. "Let's just say it's private stuff and leave it at that."
Starlight frowned disapprovingly. In the few years that the two women have stolen and cheated together, Sunset has never shown to keep secrets from her friend. She considered digging further into it, but she wasn't sure Sunset would tell her anything more. After a moment of debating with herself, she decided to drop it and change the subject.
"Hey, if you don't want to talk about it, that's cool," she said. "But, do you think that bad luck would interfere with trying to take over the counterfeit operation in Everfree?"
Sunset squirmed and thought about it before she hesitantly said, "No, it wouldn't."
"Then there's nothing to worry about," Starlight said. "So, the only option is to go to Everfree and become the billionaires we were born to be. Think of it this way: if this counterfeit operation is what's making the legendary Horse bills, then taking it over will be a challenge worthy of your talents."
Sunset said nothing for a moment, making Starlight nervous. Then the amber woman sighed and smirked at her partner.
"You're right," she said. "This will be the challenge of my career. All that matters is we do this last job, and everyone will acknowledge the genius of Sunset Nicole Shimmer."
"There you go," Starlight said.
Sunset smiled at Starlight, appreciative that she cheered her up. But then suddenly, the two women heard the sound of guns firing. They looked at their side-view mirrors to find three black cars behind them, with men firing their guns at them from their car seat windows.
"Speaking of acknowledgment, it looks like Gladmane's security found us," Starlight said.
"Yeah, well, we're the only car driving away from the casino, so it shouldn't have been hard," Sunset said. "Still, they got to their cars quicker than I thought."
"Yeah, that tends to happen when you steal in front of everyone," Starlight said. "Remind me again why we couldn't just steal the money from Gladmane's office unnoticed?"
"Because it's more fun, and I'm a woman who loves taking risks," Sunset answered unashamedly.
"That's right," Starlight said, rolling her eyes. "So, how do we get rid of them, boss?"
"Simple," Sunset said. "They're chasing us because they want the 'money' back, right? Let's give it back to them."
It took a moment before Starlight realized what Sunset was saying and grinned as she said, "You got it, boss." The purple woman then opened the sunroof, stood up from her seat, and started throwing the fake money at their pursuers. The paper covered the front windows of the cars, and they swayed back and forth until two of the vehicles crashed into each other, and the other hit a lamppost. With the fake money gone and the security team out of commission, Starlight closed the sunroof and went back to her seat, satisfied.
"That'll piss off the old man even more," she said. "Anyway, next stop, Everfree."
"Next stop, Everfree," Sunset agreed.
With that, Starlight reclined her seat and decided to take a nap while Sunset drove the car. But as soon as Starlight's eyes were closed, Sunset became downhearted again. She checked to make sure Starlight was napping before she reached under her shirt and took out a necklace wrapped around her neck. Hanging on the silver chain was a ruby necklace shaped like a rose. It had black lines to show the edges of the petals and small emeralds on the short stem and leaf at the bottom. She rubbed the jewel with her thumb and let out a heavy sigh before holding it to her chest.
"I guess I'm going back," she whispered to herself before she put the necklace back under her shirt and drove through the night.
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well this is certainly inspired
Believe it or not I never heard of lupin the third until watching the Castle of Cagliostro and I loved it
10420865
Neither did I. I tried watching the show, but it was a little too much. Not exactly as family friendly ish as the movie.
10420881
Yeah I guess but it's still cool