The Ridiculous Robbery
The Ridiculous Robbery
Morning had arrived on a rather special day in the Winter Village. It was now close to the end of the holiday season, and while several holidays of numerous cultures and beliefs had already come and gone, it would soon be time for the biggest and most widely celebrated holiday of them all: Christmas. That very special holiday was tomorrow, which meant today was the final day to complete all preparations for it. The last of the lights and decorations were put in place, pantries were fully stocked in preparation for the upcoming feasts, and the last gifts were purchased before all the shops would close until next holiday season.
At one of the cabins, a group of seven best friends known as the Equestria Girls were eagerly looking forward to tomorrow’s celebrations. Throughout the last few days, they had already set up their holiday decorations, mailed in gifts to friends and family back home in Canterlot City, received packages from friends and family back home, and completed all other preparations for Christmas. As far as they were concerned, today was a chance for them to simply relax before the big holiday arrived.
Knock, knock, knock!
All seven girls immediately stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards the front door. None of them were expecting any visitors anytime soon, so they were all confused and curious about who might be at that door.
It was Sunset who decided to make her way to the door and opened it. She was somewhat astonished to see standing before her was a rather short person with a green uniform, red scarf, green conical hat, pointy ears on the sides of his head, and a joyful smile on his face. The little individual didn’t say a word as he handed an enclosed letter to Sunset, tipped his hat to her, then turned and walked away.
Sunset watched the unexpected visitor leave, then she stepped back inside and shut the door.
“Who was it?” asked Fluttershy.
“I’m not sure,” replied Sunset as she turned back to face her friends. “He kinda looked like an elf.”
Pinkie gasped and excitedly exclaimed, “You mean like one of Santa’s elves?!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Pinkie,” muttered Rainbow Dash as she rolled her eyes.
“Actually,” noted Twilight as she adjusted her glasses, “Santa’s workshop is located on top of a tall mountain not far from the Winter Village, so it might not be that farfetched to see some of his elves wandering around here.”
“Well, whoever it was, he gave me this letter,” Sunset pointed out as she held up the envelope in her hand.
“Then ya might as well open it an’ read it to us,” suggested Applejack.
Sunset tore open the envelope and removed the letter inside, then tossed aside the empty envelope. She unfolded the letter, then read aloud, “To the Equestria Girls. The seven of you have done such a wonderful job of protecting the Lego World against all kinds of magical threats, and in gratitude, I have decided to offer you a very special Christmas gift. Since you happen to be in the neighborhood this year, I would like to invite all of you for a tour of my workshop, a privilege that very few from outside the Winter Village ever have a chance to witness. I look forward to meeting you. From, Santa Claus.”
As soon as those final words were spoked, Pinkie immediately let out a loud — almost deafening — squeal of joy and literally bounced around the room as she cheerfully shouted, “A letter from Santa! And he wants to give us a tour of his workshop! This is the bestest day-before-Christmas gift any of us could ever ask for!”
“Some of us might beg to differ,” muttered Rarity under her breath as she and the rest of the girls ducked and dodged to avoid being hit by the bouncing ball of pink energy.
Applejack reached out and grabbed the overly enthusiastic Pinkie Pie by the ankle, causing the ecstatic party girl to hit the floor flat on her face. “Easy there, Pinkie,” Applejack spoke up with a chuckle. “Ah don’t think we’ll get much of a tour if you’re gonna be jumpin’ an’ hollerin’ all over the place.”
Pinkie rolled over to look at Applejack, then giggled in embarrassment before she stood up and responded, “Sorry about that. I’ll try my best to keep my cool so we don’t get kicked out.”
“A tour of Santa’s workshop?” questioned Rainbow Dash. “I didn’t think the guy or that place even existed.”
“Oh, it’s real, alright,” assured Twilight. “Santa Claus just prefers to keep his existence and the true location of his workshop a secret so as to avoid any unwanted attention. In fact, the only reason I even know that much is because the old Shadowbolts organization was very thorough with gathering all kinds of information — especially classified intelligence — so the fact that I don’t know much more about Santa and his workshop really demonstrates just how good he is at keeping his secrets.”
“And yet, he seems to trust us enough to have given us directions to his workshop,” Sunset pointed out as she held up the letter, pointing specifically at the short list on the lower part of the paper.
“And since tomorrow is Christmas,” noted Fluttershy, “he’ll have to leave later tonight so he can deliver all of those presents. If we wanna go on that tour, we should probably get there as soon as possible.”
“Then what are we waiting for?!” declared Pinkie cheerfully. “Let’s go!” She then rushed towards the door and began throwing on her winter clothes.
“Wait!” Sunset spoke up. “If I’m reading these directions correctly, we’ll never get there on foot before nightfall, which means we’ll need to use a vehicle.”
“All we’ve got is that one snowmobile,” Applejack pointed out, “an’ it’s only got one seat.”
“Maybe we could build and attach some sleds to the back so we can all right along,” suggested Twilight.
“Given our limited time and resources, I supposed that should suffice,” agreed Rarity.
“Leave that to me!” declared Rainbow Dash confidently as she rushed to the door and began quickly putting on her winter clothes. “I’ll have it done in ten seconds flat!”
“Ah’ll give ya a pint of cider if ya can do it in less,” challenged Applejack as she held up a stopwatch.
“You’re on!” accepted Rainbow with a huge grin before she threw the door open and zoomed outside, immediately followed by the rapid clicking noises of Lego parts being assembled.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-click-clack-click-clack-click-clack!
“Done!” declared Rainbow as she stuck her head back in through the doorway.
Applejack checked her stopwatch, then let out a long whistle and remarked, “Nine-point-nine.” She shook her head in disbelief, then tossed aside the stopwatch as she walked towards the refrigerator. “Well, a deal’s a deal.” She opened the fridge, took out a bottle of cider, and tossed that bottle of cider to Rainbow Dash before closing the door.
Sunset chuckled in amusement, then began grabbing her winter clothes as she stated, “I guess I’ll drive, since I’ve got the directions.”
The rest of the girls responded with various words of agreement as they all put on their winter outfits and prepared to head out.
Later that morning, the Equestria Girls were on their way along the snowy trail up the mountains to the north of the Winter Village. Sunset was driving the snowmobile which was dragging along three sleds — Twilight and Rainbow Dash rode in the front sled, Rarity and Fluttershy rode in the middle sled, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie rode in the back sled. The trail through the conifer forest was rather smooth and straight at first, which allowed Sunset to drive the snowmobile at high speed without much to worry about, but as they reached the mountains, she was forced to slow down in order to safely navigate the winding, uphill trail.
“Why would Santa build his workshop on top of a mountain?” asked Applejack as they reached approximately halfway up to their mountaintop destination. “Ah always thought he lived up at the North Pole.”
“First of all,” explained Twilight, “the North Pole lies in the middle of a frozen ocean. That sea ice is constantly shifting around with the ocean currents, so a permanent structure would never last more than a few years in a place like that. And secondly, if Santa is really serious about keeping the location of his workshop a secret and difficult to reach, then it would absolutely make sense that he would place it on top of a mountain that’s far away from almost any settlement.”
“And don’t forget,” added Pinkie Pie, “Santa’s sleigh is pulled by flying reindeer, so when it’s time for him to head out and deliver all those presents, he won’t have to worry about going up or down this trail at all.”
It took almost another hour for the girls to finally reach the end of the trail at the top of the mountain. Unlike most of the surrounding mountains, the top of this mountain had a significantly large flat area, providing just enough room for a rather modest cabin-like structure with a steep roof. There wasn’t much in the area surrounding the building aside from some pine trees, a couple snowmen, and a fully decorated Christmas tree.
Sunset brought the snowmobile to a stop in front of the building and shut off the engine. She and her friends then climbed out of their seats and approached the front door. With the invitational letter in her hand, Sunset walked up to the front door and knocked on it a few times.
A few seconds later, a tiny window in the door slid open, exposing only the eyes of whoever was on the other side.
“Hey, uh, we’re here for that tour we were invited for,” stated Sunset as she held up the letter.
The person on the other side of the door looked closely at the letter for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the girls as he cheerfully responded in a rather high-pitched voice, “Sure thing! I’ll send for him right away!” He then shut the tiny window in the door.
The seven girls waited patiently outside the front door. As several seconds passed in rather awkward silence, their gazes began to wander around. Eventually, Pinkie couldn’t resist running over to the nearest window and taking a peek inside.
“What do you see?” asked Fluttershy
“It’s just like I always imagined it!” replied Pinkie cheerfully with a grin on her face as she continued to stare through the window. “All the elves are busy building toys for all the good boys and girls!”
“In this tiny little building?” asked Rainbow Dash skeptically as she glanced up and around at as much of the structure as she could see.
“I must concur,” stated Twilight as she also looked up at the rather small building. “Unless if there’s some highly advanced spatial dimensional folding occurring on the interior, I find it hard to believe that a team of elves in a facility of this size could possibly supply several toys to every child in the Lego World. If anything, I’d argue this would be barely enough for just a single neighborhood.”
“You do raise a valid argument, darling,” acknowledged Rarity politely. “I suppose we shall receive a definitive answer, soon enough.”
Less than a minute later, the front door opened, and out stepped a minifig with the standard yellow skin, red on his torso, arms, and upper legs, black on his hands, lower legs, and around his waist, a white strip along his wrists, collar, and down the front of his torso, a red and white festive hat on his head, and a large white beard piece attached around his neck. “Ho, ho, ho!” he greeted with jolly laughter. “Merry Christmas! And welcome to my workshop!”
Pinkie gasped in shock, then excitedly squealed, “IT’S SANTA CLAUS!!” She then rushed forward and immediately embraced Santa with a huge hug. “I can’t believe this is really happening!”
Applejack stepped forward and practically had to use her magical super strength just to pry Pinkie’s arms off the jolly old man. “Sorry ‘bout that,” she apologized.
“Oh, not a problem,” assured Santa. “I expected it.” He then slyly added, “After all, I am always watching.”
Twilight and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other with looks of concern, then turned their attention back to Santa. “What kind of surveillance method are you utilizing?” asked Twilight.
Santa responded with some of his jolly laughter and answered, “Oh, no need to feel alarmed. Let’s just say it’s thanks to a special form of magic that’s unique only to me.”
“Thank goodness,” remarked Rarity with a breath of relief. “I would rather not imagine anyone besides you possessing such capability.”
Sunset stepped forward as she cleared the throat and spoke up, “Anyway, we got that letter you sent us, so I guess this means we’re ready for that tour you offered.” She then held out that letter to Santa.
Santa Claus glanced down at that letter for a moment, then smiled and stated, “Indeed, you are correct.” He then gestured into the workshop. “Please, come on in so we can get started. There is a lot to do to prepare for tonight, so I don’t have a lot of time to spare.”
As Santa turned and walked back into the workshop, the seven girls followed him with mixed feelings. Pinkie was absolutely thrilled, though Applejack remained skeptical, while Twilight couldn’t help but feel slightly apprehensive, and Rainbow Dash felt simply unimpressed.
The interior of Santa’s workshop was remarkably similar to what most would have expected. The room just past the front door was a living space similar to most cabins in the Winter Village, complete with a stairway towards the bedroom on the floor above. What made this a workshop rather than just another cabin were the several rooms that branched out, each of which had a small group of elves hard at work creating all kinds of simple toys. In one room, some elves carved chunks of wood into shape, passed them onto other elves who hammered the pieces together, then passed them onto other elves who applied coats of paint to finish the products. In another room, some elves were busy sewing all kinds of fabrics into dolls, blankets, and various clothing. There was even a room with a forge, where some elves either poured molten metal into molds or used hammers to pound heated metal objects into shape, then quenched the finished shapes into water to cool them off before passing them over to receive some finishing touches.
With so many elves working in such a limited space at every corner, it was difficult for the visitors to see how a proper tour could be done. In fact, the presence of the seven Equestria Girls was making this workshop feel a little crowded at the moment.
“I sure hope we’re not getting in anyone’s way,” muttered Fluttershy worriedly as she glanced around at the various work rooms. “I’d hate to think we might ruin Christmas for some poor children just by us being here.”
“No need to be concerned,” assured Santa. “None of the elves you see around us are here against their will. They know very well that working in these rooms involves very little space to operate and very little time to get it all done. They wouldn’t be doing any of this if they didn’t think they could make a difference at bringing Christmas joy to little boys and girls all over the world.”
“Admirable work ethic, to say the least,” remarked Rarity with her attention focused on the sewing room.
“Hard to argue with that,” agreed Applejack as she watched the assembly line process running smoothly in the woodworking room.
“With all due respect, Mister Claus,” Twilight spoke up, “I’m still struggling to understand how this tiny little workshop could realistically manufacture a worldwide supply of Christmas gifts, even with a timeline of an entire year to accomplish such a feat.”
“And besides,” Rainbow Dash pointed out, “I hardly ever got anything for Christmas that was even close to the stuff I’m seeing being built here. What about all the cool things like action figures, or RC cars, or video games?”
Santa simply gave the doubtful girls a knowing smirk and stated, “Oh, this tour has only just begun. You see, most visitors only get to see this much, but I’m about to let you all in on a very special secret.” He then walked over to a seemingly empty space on the wall beside the fireplace and pulled a wall-mounted lamp like a lever, causing that empty wall to slide aside to reveal an empty space that was seemingly not really attached to the surrounding wall.
“A secret elevator,” noted Sunset with a smile. “This just got more interesting.”
As Santa gestured at the revealed elevator, the seven girls stepped inside. Santa followed in after them, then pulled the lever on the inside of the elevator, which made the secret wall slide back into place to hide the elevator once more. However, unaware to anyone inside the workshop, two figures had been watching them through the nearby window.
As the elevator began its descent, Rainbow Dash asked, “You’ve got a basement in your workshop?”
“Oh, it’s much more than just a basement!” responded Santa with jolly laughter.
It wasn’t long before the surrounding elevator shaft ended and the elevator — which turned out to be transparent — continued descending into what appeared to be a very immense underground complex occupied by thousands and thousands of elves. Everywhere the girls looked, they could see elves either wandering the corridors, operating all kinds of machinery to manufacture practically anything, or simply relaxing in some of the lounges.
“Whoa,” muttered Rainbow Dash in astonishment. “Sure wasn’t expecting this.”
“Incredible,” remarked Twilight with a smile. “A facility of this scale would definitely be more practical to achieve a global delivery run.”
The elevator soon reached the floor at the bottom of the glass shaft and the door slid open. As everyone stepped out of the elevator, Santa gestured for them to follow.
“We have a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time,” stated Santa, “so we’ll be riding in this for most of the tour.” The group approached what resembled a small train ride similar to those typically seen at an amusement park. The chain of red and green cars were open on top with the seats arranged in single file, two for each car with the exception of the front car, which had control levers sticking out and was shaped to resemble a steam locomotive.
While Santa went straight for the front car, the seven girls all climbed into the trailing cars. There were just enough seats available for all of them across the four passenger cars, with Sunset taking the front seat just behind Santa, and behind her was Twilight, followed by Pinkie, then Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow, and finally Fluttershy with the only remaining empty seat right behind her.
Santa pulled a long lever on the front car and soon the miniature train began to roll forward along the tracks. As the ride began, he explained, “I’ve been around since the early days of Ole Playwell himself. Quite a highly talented craftsman, I must say. Back in those days, that little workshop you saw atop the mountain was enough to fulfill my Christmas deliveries. But as the decades passed and new regions were established all over the world and beyond, my elves and I had no choice but to substantially expand our operations, and the only way to keep all of this secluded was to simply hollow out the mountain beneath my original workshop.”
“Impressive,” remarked Sunset as she and the rest of her friends glanced around at their surroundings. The mini railroad traveled along the middle of the main corridor, which was open to all of the floors of this underground facility. Each and every floor had rather high ceilings, which provided plenty of room to build and move around all kinds of items in various shapes and sizes.
“This first area we’re passing through is the manufacturing sector. While some areas are merely additional space for traditional crafting like you saw in the classic workshop, the vast majority of these floors are dedicated to creating and assembling the more modern kinds of toys that kids these days frequently ask for. We’ve got plastic molding machines for all things made of plastic, precision machining for high quality goods, electronic components for devices, and so on.”
Because much of the manufacturing activity was being done at a distance away from the central corridor, the only examples the girls could see was on the bottom floor where they currently were. To the right was a large furnace from which some elves wearing safety goggles carefully extracted molten metal and poured it into several molds that were then set aside to cool off. To the left was an assembly line where each elf would attach one specific part over and over, at the end of which completed bicycles were rolled off and placed into large crates that would then be picked up by a forklift and carried off.
It wasn’t long before the mini train moved on past the manufacturing floors and soon went around a curve as it reached an area that consisted of several rooms enclosed by transparent walls, within which numerous elves appeared to be testing out all kinds of various things, such as working through patches of dirt with gardening tools, baking and cooking with kitchen utensils, and playing video games.
“This is the quality control department,” continued Santa. “If anything is at risk of not working as intended, then any potential failures will be identified here, and all necessary repairs or replacements shall be dealt with right away.”
In one particular room the mini train passed by, the girls watched one elf climb to the top of a ladder to reach a basketball hoop. Once he reached the top, he then glanced over to another elf below who stood nearby with a clipboard in his hands. This inspector elf gave a nod of approval, and the elf on the ladder nodded back in acknowledgement before he leaped off the ladder and grabbed onto the hoop, as if doing a slam dunk. However, only a second after that elf grabbed onto the basketball hoop, it suddenly snapped off the backboard, sending the unfortunate elf plummeting to the floor and landing hard on his back.
The inspector elf winced from the impact, then flatly muttered, “Yup. That’s a fail.” He then marked off that item on the checklist with an X.
The mini train continued ahead along the track as it went around another curve and soon began to pass by a new area where dozens of elves were seated at tables as they focused on wrapping up all of the toys and other finished objects that were delivered to them.
“And right here is perhaps my favorite part of the entire process,” continued Santa as he gestured at the surrounding workspace. “Giftwrapping the Christmas gifts! This is the special place where all these items and products are finally packed away and wrapped up in all that special giftwrapping, ribbons, and bows to turn them into Christmas presents.”
As the worker elves were busy wrapping those gifts, a few manager elves would occasionally walk by to make sure everything was running smoothly. One of these managers suddenly swiped a gift from a worker who had just finished wrapping it. “How many times do I have to remind you?” scolded the manager. “Never use the same color of ribbon as the wrapping!” The manager elf then tore off the wrapping paper and ribbon, then placed the now unwrapped box back on the table in front of the worker elf, who moaned sadly in response.
“Good to know those managers properly understand the atrocity of clashing colors,” muttered Rarity.
Santa began to slow down the mini train as it went around one last curve and passed by what appeared to be some office rooms that were divided by walls with only the front wall being transparent. While most of these offices were occupied by elves, one particular office on one of the upper floors seemed to be occupied by an elderly woman minifig who was busy typing away on a keyboard as her attention was focused on the computer on her desk.
“Is that Mrs. Claus in that office?” asked Twilight as she pointed at the office in question.
“It sure is,” confirmed Santa. “She doesn’t sit around all day and occasionally bake cookies, you know. She actually does a wonderful job of handling all of my logistics. I may be the one who decides which of my two lists everyone should be placed on, but she’s the one who organizes them so that I can complete my Christmas deliveries as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
“That makes sense,” acknowledged Fluttershy. “There’s only so much anyone can do on their own, so it’s nice to have a helping hand from someone you can really trust.”
Within her office, Mrs. Claus glanced up from her computer and watched the mini train as it slowly rolled by. Santa noticed that and smiled as he waved at his beloved wife. Mrs. Claus smiled and waved back in response, then held down a button on her desk. “A pleasure to see you, Equestria Girls,” she greeted through a speaker just above the door to her office. “I wish I could come out and chat, but I have some last-minute adjustments that need to be taken care of as soon as possible.” She then immediately turned her attention back to her computer.
“Completely understandable,” remarked Santa to his passengers. “Tomorrow does happen to be Christmas, after all.”
As the Equestria Girls continued riding in that mini train, Applejack glanced ahead past Rarity in front of her and over to Pinkie Pie. “You’ve been awfully quiet, Pinkie,” she noted in confusion. “With how jumpy you were when we first got here, Ah’d expected ya to be squealin’ an’ hollerin’ all over the place.”
“I just don’t know what I can say,” confessed Pinkie. “There’s so much to take in that I never could’ve imagined in even my wildest fantasies. And I love everything about it!”
After listening to that conversation behind her, Sunset turned to Santa and asked, “How much more of this place is there left to see?”
“Only one more stop left to go,” assured Santa, “and I think you can all guess what it will be.”
The mini train soon came around one more curve in the track and arrived at what appeared to a hangar with the massive door that presumably led outside currently closed. However, some details quickly made it obvious this was no ordinary hangar. On one side was a row of stables, with each of the nine stalls housing a reindeer that some elves tended to. On the other side was a conveyor belt that led to a separate massive area where countless Christmas presents were sitting in storage under some kind of organized system under constant inspection by some other elves. And sitting in the middle of this hangar space was a single large red sleigh.
Santa pushed the large lever on the engine car and the mini train slowed to a stop not far from that sleigh, then he climbed out of the mini train and began walking towards the sleigh. The seven Equestria Girls also climbed out of their seats on the mini train and followed Santa.
“So this must be it, huh?” remarked Rainbow Dash with bemusement. “The one and only magical sleigh you ride in to deliver all those Christmas presents.”
“Not quite as magical as the flying reindeer who pull it aloft, but yes,” confirmed Santa.
“Forgive me for trying to apply logic,” Twilight spoke up, “but while this facility certainly has enough scale to prepare enough Christmas gifts for everyone in the world, I fail to see how this one little sleigh could possibly carry such an immense supply for a journey that leads quite literally all over the world.”
Santa let out his typical jolly laughter and replied, “Christmas Magic does much more than allow me to watch everyone and judge their behavior. It also allows these reindeer to fly while pulling this sleigh and for me to fly up through the chimney once my delivery at each house is complete, but perhaps the one usage most people probably wouldn’t even consider is that the bottom of my sack leads directly to that loading dock over there.” He pointed at the end of the conveyor belt, where there was a platform with what appeared to be a seemingly bottomless hole that covered much of its surface. “The elves assigned there must send all the presents through that one-way portal in the correct order provided by Mrs. Claus so that I can deliver them to the correct houses every single time.”
Among the three elves currently inspecting that loading dock, one of them smiled as he turned to the girls and waved, then he turned back to the loading dock and jumped straight into the dark pit. Only a second later, the seven girls were startled as the seemingly empty sack in the sleigh suddenly shifted around a little until that same elf freed himself from within, then he smiled and waved at them again.
As that elf climbed out of the sleigh and returned to his assignment, Twilight had a blank stare on her face as she muttered, “Suddenly, my Jump-Gate system doesn’t seem quite so special anymore.”
Clang!
“AAAHHHHHHHHH!!”
Crash!
The series of unexpected noises caused everyone to immediately turn their attention towards the storage area for all the presents, but due to how high many of the storage compartments full of presents were, they couldn’t see any of whatever had just occurred.
“What was that?” asked Rarity worriedly.
It wasn’t long before they began to hear a bunch of various clattering and thumping noises coming from within the storage area, soon followed by the screams of elves as they suddenly fled the area in panic.
“What is going on over there?” asked Santa in confusion.
One of the fleeing elves stopped in front of Santa and fearfully reported, “Some burglars just dropped in through an air vent in the ceiling! They’re taking the presents!”
“Burglars?!” asked Applejack in shock.
“That better not be who I think they are,” grumbled Sunset as she frowned.
The commotion in the storage area lasted a few more seconds, followed immediately by the rapid clacking of footsteps at a running pace. Finally, two robbers came charging out of the storage area and into the hangar, both of whom carried a large sack full of stuff slung over their shoulders. Both of these robbers wore dark grey pants, black and white striped prison shirts, and black beanie hats, but one of them also wore a grey jacket over his shirt while the other had the sleeves ripped off his shirt. As soon as the two robbers rushed into the hangar, they suddenly skidded to a stop when they noticed the group of seven girls standing in their way.
“Rocky and Mugsy,” stated Sunset in displeasure as she crossed her arms. “What are you two brick-heads doing here?”
“We’re here to steal all these presents, that’s what!” declared Rocky forcefully, speaking in a gravelly gangster voice.
“Yeah!” added Mugsy excitedly, speaking in a deeper dimwitted voice. “Why wait for Christmas when we can just take it all right now?!”
“All the presents?” asked Twilight skeptically. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s far more Christmas gifts in this facility than the two of you could possibly carry away on your own.”
“Then we’ll just grab what we can an’ take off with ‘em!” Rocky shot back.
The two incompetent robbers then split up and ran around the gathered group on opposite sides until they both reached the sleigh. They tossed their sacks full of stolen presents into the sleigh, but they both overshot it and ended up getting hit and knocked over by each other’s stuffed sack. They both scrambled back to their feet and again tossed their sacks over the sleigh. This time, those two stuffed sacks collided into each other above the sleigh and then dropped down into the backseat. With that loading job dealt with, the two robbers then hopped into the front seat of the sleigh.
“Thanks for giving us this getaway ride, big guy!” remarked Mugsy.
Santa turned to the Equestria Girls and desperately requested, “You must stop them at once!”
Rainbow Dash smirked and quipped, “Compared to what we’ve been up against, these dummies are barely more than just practice!”
“Besides,” Applejack pointed out, “without any of those reindeer hooked up, those nincompoops won’t be goin’ anywhere with your sleigh.”
“Oh, but we will, thanks to these rocket boosters we just found!” boasted Rocky as he and his partner in crime each pulled out a large rocket motor and stuck them onto opposite sides of the sleigh. “You sissies will never catch us!”
As Rocky quickly powered up the rocket engines, Mugsy waved at the onlooking group and tauntingly shouted, “Bye-bye, sissies!”
SHOOOOOOM!!
The rocket boosters ignited, sending the sleigh swiftly skidding across the hangar floor until it smashed through the massive doors and took off into the air outside the mountain.
Back inside the hangar, Santa and the Equestria Girls had barely avoided getting scorched and blown over by those rockets thanks to Rarity using her magic power to quickly summon a wall of diamond shields to block the fiery exhaust. Once the rocket-propelled sleigh had taken off, Rarity dispersed her diamond shields and muttered, “That was unexpected.”
Rainbow Dash turned to Santa and asked, “How come you didn’t see that coming?”
“I don’t have foresight,” Santa pointed out. “I only know a person’s recent behavior, allowing me to determine on which of my two lists they rightfully belong.”
“Well if they weren’t on the naughty list before, they sure are now,” grumbled Applejack.
“But how are we gonna catch them?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“Maybe they can help us,” suggested Fluttershy as she pointed at the reindeer in the stables.
Meanwhile, the stolen sleigh continued shooting through the sky over the winter woodland, its rocket boosters still firing at full thrust. With no fins or stabilizers anywhere around those rockets or the sleigh itself, the flying contraption began to sway around in all directions. The ride had already become so uncontrollable that the two incompetent robbers could do nothing but hold on tight as they screamed in terror.
It wasn’t long before the rocket-propelled sleigh began flying directly towards the Winter Village. As it approached the outskirts of the village, the airborne sleigh suddenly swerved downward and came very close to the ground before it suddenly leveled off again. However, the sleigh was now flying so low that it had to maneuver along the streets between the buildings. Since the robbers still had no way to control the sleigh, they inevitably collided left and right with practically every other building they flew past. With each impact, some of the stolen presents spilled out and various decorations were torn off the buildings. The wild ride finally came to an end at the village’s main square when the sleigh slammed directly into the big Christmas tree, the impact and the continuous thrust from the rockets causing it to topple over. When the tree and the stolen sleigh crashed to the ground, the rocket motors broke free and independently took off upward, but didn’t get far before they finally ran out of fuel and then simply plummeted back to the snowy ground right beside the fallen Christmas tree.
Thunk. Thunk.
Within the crashed sleigh tangled up in the branches of the fallen tree, Rocky and Mugsy groaned as they struggled to regain their bearings. By the time their vision began to clear, they saw standing over them amidst the carnage was a police officer glaring down at them.
A few minutes later, as the villagers wandered around to assess the damages, they began to hear the distinctive jingling of small holiday bells. They looked around for the source of that noise and soon noticed eight reindeer flying towards the village, and riding on their backs were Santa Claus and the seven Equestria Girls. The reindeer flew low over the village and followed the trail of destruction, then finally landed at the main square at the center of the village where they found the stolen sleigh partially embedded within the branches of the fallen Christmas tree.
As the group dismounted the reindeer, Sunset asked, “Have these reindeer ever had anyone ride on their backs like this?”
“Certainly a first, so far as I know,” confirmed Santa.
While Fluttershy immediately focused on looking after the reindeer after that flight, the rest of the group glanced around at the surrounding carnage. Applejack placed her hands on her hips and muttered, “Sheesh. What a mess.”
“Where’d those brick-heads go?” asked Rainbow Dash, mildly irritated.
“Got ‘em in cuffs right here,” reported one of the nearby police officers as he pointed at the fallen Christmas tree, where a few other police officers struggled to pull the two incompetent crooks out of the tangled branches of that huge pine tree, but weren’t yet having much success.
“Of course it had to end right there,” grumbled Sunset under her breath as she rolled her eyes.
“Ho, ho, ho,” muttered Santa sadly as he facepalmed. “This is a complete disaster. My sleigh is wrecked, the village has been extensively damaged, and two sacks full of Christmas presents have been scattered all over the place.”
“I know a lot of things look bad right now,” Twilight spoke up, “but I think we can still salvage this.”
“Have you seen the scale of this devastation, darling?” asked Rarity skeptically. “How could we possibly resolve all of this in time for Mister Claus’s departure?”
“We’ve dealt with plenty of tough situations before,” responded Twilight. “If we can utilize our talents and work together as a team, then we have a realistic chance to not only recover and restore everything essential to Santa’s Christmas gift deliveries, but also clean up and repair the village while we’re at it.”
“Twilight’s right,” agreed Applejack with determination. “If we could defeat evil magic several times before, then cleanin’ up after a couple of pathetic robbers shouldn’t be that hard.”
“It’s a pretty big to-do list, though,” Sunset pointed out. “We’ve gotta lock away those robbers, pull the sleigh out and repair any damages to it, recover the looted Christmas presents and reorganize them back into the system, re-erect that Christmas tree and put the fallen ornaments back on, fix up several damaged buildings all over the Winter Village, and replace the destroyed hangar doors at Santa’s workshop.”
“And get it all done before sundown?” asked Rainbow Dash. She then grinned and confidently remarked, “Then what are we waiting for?”
“Come on, girls!” declared Pinkie Pie excitedly. “Let’s save Christmas!”
It didn’t take long for the Equestria Girls to come up with a plan for how they would help clean up and restore everything that had been wrecked by that ill-conceived robbery attempt. The most immediate task was to free the sleigh and the two incompetent crooks that were still tangled up in the branches of the fallen Christmas tree. Rainbow Dash used her magical super speed to quickly build a simple bridge over the toppled large tree. Twilight climbed up to the middle of the bridge — which allowed her a good view down into the impact site inside the tree — and used her magical power to push several branches aside at once, levitate the sleigh and the robbers out of the tree, then gently set the damaged sleigh down on some open ground while she flung the dimwitted duo over to Rarity, who had used her magical power to summon a construct of large diamonds in the shape of a small cage within which she caught the crooks and then sealed up the opening. Rocky and Mugsy, both of whom were now covered in twigs and pine needles, groaned in defeat upon being locked away inside that shimmering cage.
While Sunset helped Santa inspect the damage to his sleigh, Pinkie Pie used her magical power to toss some candy canes onto the bridge, quickly blasting it to pieces. With that bridge now out of the way, Applejack tied a cable around the middle of the tree’s trunk, then ran over to grab the other end of the cable — which was looped through a pulley attached to the corner of a nearby rooftop — and used her magical super strength to begin pulling the massive tree. It was quite a struggle, even for Applejack, but with encouragement from all of the gathered villagers, she eventually managed to single-handedly pull the huge Christmas tree upright. Finally, while Pinkie Pie quickly reused the bridge pieces to secure the base of the tree, Fluttershy used her magical power to instruct some birds to gather up the dropped ornaments scattered where the tree had fallen and then fly up to hang them back on the tree.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash — using her magical super speed — rushed around the village, gathered up any Christmas presents she found scattered all over the place, and dropped them off close to where Twilight stood. With Santa’s assistance, Twilight was able to contact the elves back at the workshop to obtain a complete list of the Christmas presents that were not accounted for after the break-in. With that list now in her hands, she inspected the tag on every present Rainbow brought to her, then checked them off the list as she placed them into the sacks.
After Rarity dropped off the captured brick-heads at the only jail cell in the village, she then set out to help clean up some of the minor damages done to the village. With her magical ability to utilize her summoned diamonds like levitating tools, she made quick work of various delicate tasks, such as hanging lights and wreaths back where they belonged. Once Applejack had finished hauling up the tree in the main square, she pitched in with repairs to any buildings that had a window smashed or a chimney toppled over.
As all of that was going on, Sunset carefully readjusted the arrangement of Lego parts to restore Santa’s sleigh back to its proper structure. When that was finally taken care of, Fluttershy was then able to help the eight reindeer into the harnesses attached to the front of the sleigh. Soon after that, once Twilight was certain that every lost present was finally accounted for, she levitated the filled sacks into back of the sleigh. Finally, Santa climbed into his sleigh, grasped the reigns, and guided the reindeer to take flight, allowing him to return to his workshop with the recovered presents.
By the time Santa departed, the Equestria Girls had completed most of the repairs to the village, and the villagers who watched them had now volunteered to help finish the few small tasks that remained to be done. Since it turned out that Santa’s workshop also served as the headquarters facility for the Winter Village’s branch of the LEGO Team, Twilight was able to use her Jump-Gate return device to access the gateway located there, allowing the girls to instantly return there.
Now that they were back at Santa’s workshop, the Equestria Girls had only a few more tasks left to complete. While Twilight, Rarity, and Sunset helped Santa’s elves organize the recovered presents back to where they belonged in the storage area, the other four girls searched through the sector that was dedicated to LEGO Team activities and soon found another hangar where some relatively standard vehicles were stored. Rainbow Dash decided to take the cargo helicopter, and once the retractable roof of the hangar was opened at the base of the mountain, the four girls climbed into the helicopter and flew outside in it.
Riding that helicopter made it easy for the four Equestria Girls to quickly locate the two massive doors from the hangar of Santa’s workshop that had broken loose and fallen down the mountainside. With Rainbow Dash piloting the helicopter and Fluttershy operating the winch cable, Applejack and Pinkie Pie slid down the dangling cable to safely reach the ground close to where those hangar doors had landed. By tossing some more candy canes, Pinkie used her magical power to quickly blast away any debris of rocks or trees that were blocking access to those doors. Once the fallen doors were cleared away, Applejack attached the cable to one of the doors, then she and Pinkie ran over to the other door as the helicopter flew over there. Once that second door was also attached to the winch cable, Applejack and Pinkie Pie rode atop those doors as Fluttershy winched them up above the trees, then Rainbow Dash flew the helicopter up the mountainside to where the gaping hole left by those doors was located. Thanks to some careful maneuvering by the two girls in the helicopter, the two girls riding those doors were soon able to simply step off into the hangar, then they hauled the doors onto the ledge within the doorway and finally detached the cable.
While Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew off to return the helicopter to the LEGO Team hangar, Applejack borrowed a sledgehammer that she used to beat the warped doors back into shape, then she helped the elves fit those doors back into place. Despite those repairs, one task the Equestria Girls unfortunately didn’t have enough time to accomplish was restoring the rocky mountainside camouflage that covered the exterior of the hangar doors to keep the true scale of Santa’s extended workshop hidden from view, but Santa assured them that the elves would take care of that after Christmas was over.
Finally, as dusk began to settle over the Winter Village, virtually every disruption caused by that pathetic burglary attempt had been undone, and just in time for the completion of the final preparations for Santa’s Christmas Eve gift deliveries.
As all the elves cheered in celebration, Santa gave his typical jolly laughter and praised, “Well done, girls! You truly have gifted us all with a real Christmas miracle!”
“What can I say?” remarked Rainbow Dash with a shrug and a smile. “The Magic of Friendship can make anything possible.”
“We’re just happy we could help out,” added Applejack.
Pinkie Pie squealed in excitement and exclaimed, “I can’t believe we actually helped Santa Claus save Christmas! This is like a childhood fantasy come true!”
“Not to mention, we were privileged to gain an inside look at the true scale of Santa’s Christmas operation,” noted Twilight.
“I just wish the tour hadn’t been interrupted by those two brick-heads,” grumbled Sunset. “I swear, it’s like they always seem to follow us around wherever we go.”
“Oh, don’t you worry, Sunset Shimmer,” assured Santa. “The way I see it, everyone deserves to have a merry Christmas, this year.” He then leaned in close and quietly added, “And I do mean everyone.” He then gave Sunset a subtle wink as he held out a small envelope to her.
Sunset looked down at that envelope, glanced up at Santa in confusion for a moment, then turned her gaze back to the envelope before she gently took it from his grasp.
“Ooh! A gift from Santa?” asked Pinkie eagerly as she and the rest of the girls gathered around Sunset. “What is it?!”
Sunset looked closely at the envelope and noticed the written note on it that said, “For Sunset Shimmer Only”. That underlined word confused her, but with all of her friends eagerly looking over her shoulders, she responded, “Whatever this is, I think I’m not supposed to share it with anyone. Call it one of Santa’s secrets, I guess.”
All six of Sunset’s friends collectively moaned in disappointment.
Santa laughed heartily at that, then stated, “Well, thanks again for all the help. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must now ride off into the night.” He then walked over to his sleigh and climbed into his seat at the front. As he grasped the reigns to his reindeer, a small group of elves pulled open the hangar doors that led out of the mountainside.
Finally, the moment Santa and his elves had prepared all year long for had arrived. With a final smile and wave to the Equestria Girls, Santa cheerfully said, “Merry Christmas!” He then whipped the reins and the nine reindeer pulled the sleigh across the hangar, out the open doorway, and out into the night before Christmas, just as some light snowfall began to descend.
Within seconds, Santa and his sleigh flew over the Winter Village. As happened every year, the villagers gathered outside to watch as he departed on his worldwide Christmas deliveries. As he heard the cheers and joyful shouts below, he cheerfully cried out, “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!”
Christmas Day had come and gone, and as night fell after the conclusion of all the festivities, it was time for all the visitors to once more board the Holiday Express and depart from the Winter Village. The seven Equestria Girls had certainly enjoyed their month-long stay in the village, but now they were just as eager to finally return home to Canterlot City. As they rode the train though the nighttime wintery wilderness, they took this time to reflect on their recent experiences.
“I have to admit,” Fluttershy spoke up, “we all sure had a good time in the Winter Village.”
“Absolutely,” agreed Rarity. “Our near-calamitous arrival a few weeks ago sure demonstrated the importance of remembering to carry our luggage with us.”
“I was finally able to deliver my holiday soufflé to Rarity while it was still fresh,” remarked Pinkie Pie.
“Sunset and I got an opportunity to befriend Emmet and Lucy from the city of Bricksburg,” stated Twilight.
“I made up for a past wrong by giving away the secret stash I left behind years ago,” Sunset pointed out.
“We all shared some awesome gifts with each other,” noted Rainbow Dash. She then sheepishly added, “Even though I kinda got mine ready at pretty much the last minute.”
“An’ we even saved Christmas from a break-in burglary attempt,” added Applejack with pride.
“Best holiday season ever!” declared Pinkie ecstatically.
Twilight then smirked and remarked, “And you know what makes this even better? We finally made it through our entire planned vacation without once ever confronting anything bad caused by Equestrian Magic.”
“A vacation that wasn’t ruined by Equestrian Magic?” quipped Rarity. “Now there’s something worthy of our celebration.”
“Cider’s on me when we get home!” offered Applejack contently.
“Awesome!” cheered Rainbow Dash excitedly.
Sunset Shimmer remained silent while her friends celebrated the realization of such a major accomplishment. Although she was just as thrilled as other girls about finally not being faced with evil Equestrian Magic for once, she alone knew there was still one more task left to complete before she could officially declare this vacation a total success. She pulled out her phone and glanced at the time, then put away her phone and got up out of her seat.
“Where are you going, Sunset?” asked Fluttershy.
“I’m just gonna check on something real quick,” replied Sunset vaguely as she began to walk towards the back of the train. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The six other girls watched Sunset walk away, then they all looked at each other with confused looks on their faces. Although baffled by Sunset’s vagueness, her assurance that she would return soon was enough for them to simply shrug it off and resume their friendly chatter.
Sunset passed through two more passenger cars before she arrived in the first storage car. As she made her way around some stacks of crates, she quickly found what she was looking for. Sitting in the middle of the car was a large cage, and locked inside were the two incompetent crooks, Rocky and Mugsy, on their way to a more secure prison than the barely effective one the Winter Village had.
Mugsy noticed Sunset’s arrival and spoke up, “Hey, Rocky. Look.”
Rocky turned to where his dimwitted partner in crime was pointing, then groaned in irritation and grumbled, “What do you want, sissy?”
“I’m just here to follow a special request,” responded Sunset as she pulled out the envelope that Santa had given to her. “If you want a happy ending from all of this, then you’ll follow the instructions I’m about to give you.”
“An’ if we refuse?” asked Rocky irritably.
“Then you two will stay in that cage until we arrive and you get transferred to an actual prison cell,” replied Sunset bluntly.
Mugsy turned to his snappy partner in crime and argued, “C’mon, Rocky, whatever it is can’t be any worse than what we’ve got right now.”
Rocky stared at his partner in crime for a moment, then turned back to Sunset as he sighed and grumbled, “Alright, what’s the deal?”
“There’s more to this than just breaking you out,” replied Sunset. “If we time your escape just right, you’ll get more out of this than just a free ticket out of jail. I’m gonna open that cage, then I’m gonna open the door out of this car, and at the exact moment I tell you to, you’re gonna jump out of the train. From that point, you’re on your own.”
“But how are you even gonna get us outta this cage?” asked Mugsy.
“With this,” remarked Sunset as she pulled a key out of the envelope from Santa.
Rocky raised an eyebrow and asked, “Where’d ya get that key?”
“Let’s just call it part of a little Christmas gift,” Sunset cryptically answered as she inserted the key into the lock. She turned the key, then pulled open the cage door.
The two pathetic robbers were initially hesitant, hardly believing that their escape could really be that easy. They watched Sunset as she walked a few steps over to the side of the car and then grunted as she pulled aside the heavy door outside to the cold and dark winter night.
As the pathetic duo continued to stare at her in disbelief, Sunset quipped, “Remember all those times I used to bust you dummies outta jail whenever I had need of you? Think of this as doing you that kind of favor one last time.”
Rocky and Mugsy both glanced at each other, then they both simply shrugged and walked out of the cage and stopped beside the open door out of the train car.
Sunset pulled out her phone and held up her hand as she stared at the time indicator.
The two failed robbers were itching to make their getaway at once, but they were gullible enough to believe that the one who used to help them out a lot would do so again, at least for this one last time.
Sunset continued starting at the time, silently counting down the seconds. When the instructed moment of escape finally arrived, she swiftly dropped her free hand and shouted, “Go! Jump!”
With the signal given, Rocky and Mugsy both immediately hurled themselves out of the moving train and began to tumble down the snowy slope away from the railroad track.
Sunset chuckled in amusement as she watched them fall away. She waved back at the freed incompetent robbers and playfully cried out, “Happy holidays, you dirty brick-heads!” With a smile on her face, she then slid the train car door closed.
Rocky and Mugsy continued tumbling uncontrollably down the snowy slope until they eventually landed near the shore of a frozen lake. Already shivering from the cold, they quickly rolled themselves out of the snowbanks they had unwittingly created and struggled to stand up. Since they were out in practically the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, it was very dark. Not only that, but there was also some significant snowfall coming from the sky, though thankfully there was hardly any wind to speak of.
As the brick-head duo worked to regain their bearings, Rocky halted as he suddenly spotted something red only a few steps out onto the icy surface of the lake. “Hey, Mugsy,” he spoke up as he pointed at that mystery object. “You see what I see?”
Mugsy followed Rocky’s gaze and quickly also spotted the red object resting on the frozen lake. “What is it?” he asked.
“Let’s find out,” replied Rocky as he immediately began trudging through the snow and out onto the ice, with Mugsy following right behind him.
As the two failed burglars slid and slipped across the ice in various awkward movements, they eventually realized the object they were approaching was a large sack that appeared to be full of something. Once they finally skidded to a slippery stop in front of that sack, they noticed there was also an envelope tied to the opening of the sack, and it had their names written on it.
They both glanced at each other in confusion for a moment before Rocky grabbed the envelope, opened it, unfolded the sheet of paper inside, and held it out so he and his dimwitted associate could read what was written on it.
It’s true, I am always watching, and just like many years before, the two of you definitely belong on my naughty list once again. Normally, I would give you piles of coal for your misdeeds, but after all of those shenanigans you’ve endured with absolutely nothing to show for them, I figured that you two deserved to finally catch a break for once. The contents of this sack are yours to keep, but take care not to lose or break any of them, as this will likely be the only time I’ll be this generous to the likes of you.
Mugsy turned Rocky and asked, “Did this come from Santa?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” grumbled Rocky dismissively as he tossed the letter away. “Whoever wrote that didn’t even bother to sign their name, so it could’ve come from anyone.”
Mugsy then turned back to the mystery object and asked, “So, uh… what’s in the sack?”
Rocky didn’t bother responding as he immediately reached forward and pulled open the top of the sack. He dug around inside and soon pulled out what appeared to be a black smaller sack that was full of some heavy stuff that clattered around a little, though it was hard to tell what exactly it was due to the darkness. He felt around and soon managed to find an opening on one side, so he reached inside and the first thing his hand bumped into caused a bright light to suddenly flash right in his face. He instantly shut his eyes and winced in pain. Once his eyes stopped stinging, he swiftly pulled out the offending object and discovered that it was a flashlight. Now that he had a source of light, he aimed it at the object he was holding and soon began to grin.
“No way!” Rocky cried out excitedly. “It’s a professional burglary kit!”
“No! Even better!” exclaimed Mugsy as he reached into the big red sack and pulled out an identical bundle of objects to the one Rocky held. “Two professional burglary kits!”
“Now this is what I call a holiday miracle!” declared Rocky triumphantly.
“Looks like Sunset was right!” remarked Mugsy in delight. “We did get a happy ending outta all this!”
With the flashlight in his hand, Rocky soon caught sight of the discarded letter. He quickly noticed there was something else written on the back side of that sheet of paper, so he picked it up and looked more closely at it. It turned out to be a crude map, indicating the railroad track, the frozen lake, and what appeared to be a settlement on the other side of the lake. He gazed out across the icy surface and, sure enough, he noticed a faint glow on the horizon that could potentially be a sign of civilization.
“C’mon, Mugsy!” stated Rocky as he hefted his unexpected Christmas gift over his shoulder. “We’d better get goin’. It’s a long walk to the nearest town.” He then began marching his way across the ice.
“Right behind ya Rocky!” responded Mugsy as he also hefted his gift over his shoulder and followed after Rocky.
It was very rare for those two incompetent crooks to ever have anything work out well for them. A life of crime was never easy for anyone, but for these brick-heads in particular, it was as if they were perpetually doomed to never obtain any success, no matter where they went or what they wet after. Robbers like these pathetic goons would never believe in anything silly like holiday spirit, but it was hard for them to deny just how uplifting this incredible miracle had been for their attitudes.
It had truly been a happy holiday for everyone.
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Merry Christmas!
A grand Christmas final with the two best characters getting a happy end for the very first time, yeah that's totally the best way to finish this collection. I still expect to see those two in the next stories Rocky and Mugsy are too good to just lie down.
A very nice ending for the Girls, and a new hope for the dirty pair? Or is the town they are aiming for, the Thieves Guild residential training area and retirement complex?
10592745 I've always given those two incompetent crooks at least one cameo appearance in each of the main stories, and although I've yet to determine the details, I intend to maintain that trend for the remainder of this fanfiction series.
10595132 No, it's just a random nearby settlement from which they'll likely hitch a ride to one of the bigger cities, where they'll probably try to put their Christmas gifts to good use for yet another petty crime (although chances are they'll once again get away with nothing, no matter what they try).