Where is Carmen Sandiego?

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter 7: Where is Carmen Sandiego?

On the ancient computer screen, Twilight stared at the most confounding part of this entire misadventure. A message from Carmen asked for a password. Five letters long, and there was no hint as to what it could be. Indeed, even the previous clue didn’t seem to help at all. If she was honest, it didn’t make any sense. “Everything has to start at the beginning.” Along with the clay cylinder, it looked as though there was no link anywhere.

“The beginning of what?” Twilight muttered.

Over by the chalkboard, Ocellus looked over all the notes that were on it. The clues that were written, the items stolen, where Carmen had gone to. For whatever reason, it felt as though they were missing something. A vital clue that would point them in the right direction.

“You know what’s really odd about all this?” Spike asked aloud.

“What?” Twilight asked.

“What Carmen said. What does she mean by: The packaging is just as important as the information?”

Over by a beanbag chair, Silverstream sat up, “Hey, I’ve heard that before.”

Gallus closed the dictionary, rubbing his tired eyes he asked, “How?”

“Well, growing up in Seaquestria, not a lot of Seaponies know how to read because there isn’t much to write anything down with. So, to pass down our knowledge, culture, stories, histories, and such, what we do is that we show them. Acting them out as perfectly as we can so the next generation would learn about it. Even when I did learn about reading from my aunt, I asked her once why we couldn’t just put everything down in writing. She told me that while we could, the experience of seeing something is just as valuable, how something is presented could make a world of difference. She said that sometimes the packaging is just as important as the information.”

Ocellus’s ears perked up. “You know what… what if I’m looking at this wrong?”

“Huh?” Sandbar tilted his head. What do you mean?”

“At first, I thought maybe the password lies in these clues. But what if it isn’t? What if we’ve been given the password already in plain sight? Here, let me show you what I mean.” Going over to the computer, she moved the mouse and clicked on a few buttons. “Remember when it started to play the thefts in real time that they had words that showed what everycreature was saying?”

“Yeah?” Smolder folded her arms, “What about it?”

“I didn’t think of it at the time, but I’ve noticed something odd. Here,” she clicked on the first scene in the Dragon Lands. “Pay close attention to the words here at the bottom and see if anything stands out.”

As her friends, Twilight and Spike gathered around, Ocellus replayed the events from this morning. They watched as Carmen stole the Bloodstone Scepter, and Ember called out for her to stop.

“There! Thief is spelled wrong. Why is it spelled with an A?”

“Maybe it’s a glitch?” Twilight wondered aloud.

“A what?”

“An error on the game’s part.”

“Yeah, but look at the rest of this, everything else is spelled right except for that word.”

“Yeah, but why focus on a single misspelling?” Spike asked.

“Because it wasn’t the only time that happened.” Ocellus clicked to the next theft. “Pay close attention to this, as well.” They watched for a bit, showing the hive before a couple of Changelings entered in. “There, crafts is spelled wrong. Everything else is fine but that word is clearly spelled wrong. It’s almost like it was done on purpose.”

Yona’s eyes widen. “It’s not mistake.”

“What?” Spike asked.

“Maybe that is what thief meant. What might be unimportant, or mistakes might be planned out.”

Twilight looked at the screen, the gears turning in her head. “Is the misspelling from every robbery?”

“Not with Griffonstone, but otherwise, it’s there.”

An idea popped into her head, “Oh! Oh, that’s clever!”

“What is, Headmare?” Sandbar asked.

“It’s a cipher. Those misspellings weren’t an accident at all – they were intentional! And look, a password of a five-letter word, but you said that there are mistakes in all except one? Well, six minus one, that’s five! Carmen is subtly showing us the password!”

Whipping the chalkboard clean, Twilight grabbed out a piece of chalk. “Let’s go through this one at a time.” She scribbled on the board. “Thief is supposed to have an E, not an A. Crafts are supposed to have an R, not a V.” She jotted the words down, placing the correct letter underneath them. “Okay, what else?”

Ocellus showed the scenes from Seaquestria. “Silverstream is missing an I.”

Then in Canterlot, “Should is spelled with a D, not a B.”

And then Yakyakistan. “There’s no double O in through, but a U.”

Out of this deduction, a word appeared.

ERIDU.

Twilight stood back and repeated, “Guessing where I’m going next shouldn’t be that hard, everything has to start at the beginning.”

“Eridu?” Gallus tilted his head, “Who or what is Eridu?”

“It’s the name of an ancient Marespotanian city, said to be one of the very first cities in history.” Twilight put a hoof to her chin, “That also explains the clay cylinder. It might be a reproduction or an artifact of a Marespotanian seal used for imprinting on clay tablets. And that must mean that the bull depicted must be the Bull of Heaven that was mentioned in the Epic of King Gilgamesh, the oldest story ever written.” With a smile, she confidently went over to the keyboard and typed in the password.

E R I D U

A moment later, there was a loading screen that weighed in the answer. And then, there was a ding.

Password Correct.

The screen went black for a moment before showing a map of the whole world, and there was a single red dot that hovered over the northern part of Saddle Arabia; in a place between two rivers.

“It makes sense now.” Twilight said, “She’s in northern Saddle Arabia, in the part that used to be Marespotania. In particular, the city of Eridu.” With confidence swelling up inside her, she turned to her students. “I think that this game is just about over for Carmen. Besides,” she added with a smirk, “let’s not make it easier for her to escape either.”

---

In the desert of shifting sands dunes, ruins of mud bricks lay the foundations of a once mighty city. Where once there was life of bustling streets, squeaking wheel carts, and the noise of livestock, now only the silent whispering winds are heard in Eridu. In the center of the ruined city, a ziggurat stands with its many bricks crackling and tumbling but keeping its overall shape. At the very top of its many steps, on a pile of rubble, a wooden throne sat with Carmen on it.

With the Bloodstone Scepter in her hands, she waited. It was rather disappointing that her detectives had correctly guessed most of the clues. After all, it would have been quite a sight. A midnight crown on her head, a magical pearl for a necklace, the scepter in one hand, the Idol of Boreas in the other, sitting on a throne in the center of a mighty fortress on top of the oldest palace in the entire world. It would have been poetic and magnificent, but then again, her game, her rules.

Out from the horizon, underneath the heat of the scorching sun, a figure appeared in the distance, flying towards the city. Carmen raised an eyebrow, she had expected there would be far more, considering that she had stolen a couple of royal treasures. It was rather underwhelming if she was honest, but then again, an audience of one is still an audience.

Soon it became clear who exactly it was. Princess Twilight drew closer to the ruined ziggurat.

“Well, hello there, Detective,” Carmen called out when Twilight was close enough, “I half expected that everyone else would be here.”

“I’m going to give you one last chance,” she said, “Surrender now, and give those back, or be put behind bars for a very long time.”

Carmen sat back, amused, “Adorable, Detective. But who’s going to make me? It’s only just you.”

Twilight landed on the top of the steps of the ziggurat. “I’ll admit, today has been stressful, but in the end, we’ve beaten your game. Now give those back.”

“Oh?” Carmen stood up from the throne, a smile on her face, “You and what army?” Suddenly, a large hawk swooped down and snatched the scepter. “What?!”

Looking up, the hawk climbed up to the sky before halting. A green flame enveloped the bird before giving way to Ocellus, holding the scepter. “We will.”

Carmen circled around, at every side Twilight’s students climbed up over to the top, including Smolder behind the throne. Overhead Gallus and Spike flew down, blocking her from going upwards. Sandbar, Silverstream, and Yona cornering her from each side.

“Give it up, Carmen,” Twilight warned, “you have nowhere to run.”

“As a great philosopher once said, ‘Even when trapped, there’s always a way out.’”

“What?” Twilight tilted her head, “Which philosopher said that?”

She smiled, “Me,” and with a stomp of her shoe, she fell through the floor and into the tunnels of the ziggurat. As soon as she hit the floor, she made a run for it. Rushing into the dark with nothing but a flashlight. However, just as she was turning a corner, she came face to face with Ember and dozens of dragons.

Carmen ran the other way, towards a staircase that descended downwards. Down past arches in the walls that held ancient statues, but as Carmen was running, she realized something. “Those weren’t there before!” And indeed, they weren’t. From behind her the statues busted into green flames and were replaced by colorful changelings that too chased after her.

Reaching into her red trench coat pocket, she tossed a few smoke bombs behind her, hoping to disorient them long enough for her to get away. She rushed towards the bottom of the steps, towards the outside where her getaway vehicle would be, a hovercraft that would zoom out of Eridu. However, as soon as she stepped out, she found her vehicle being crushed and smashed to pieces by rather angry yaks.

With escape options running low, and hordes of creatures barreling towards her, she decided to make a run for it through the ancient streets. Running past the remains of mud brick ruins and drifting sand as fast as she could, she had thought that she might just make it out unscathed. However, just as she was reaching the dunes, all around her the sands shifted, and out popped hippogriffs and ponies, throwing the blankets to make it appear they sprung out from the ground. And this time, from land and air, she was truly surrounded.

By the time Twilight, Spike, and the students had arrived, Carmen Sandiego was put in cuffs. Surrounded by the creatures she stole or attempted to steal from. Among them, Ember and Thorax were there.

“I think this belongs to you, Dragon Lord,” Ocellus said, handing the scepter back.

“And the throne?” Thorax asked.

“Safe,” Twilight told him, “And I’ll help return it to its rightful place.”

Thorax thanked her for that.

Twilight moved through the armies that surrounded Carmen. In cuffs and chains so that it made it impossible for her to escape. “I suppose I should congratulate you on capturing me, Detective.”

“I knew we would capture you in the end. But there’s still one thing I never fully understood. Out of all the things you could have stolen, why did you steal what you did.”

Carmen smiled, “For your students' benefit, Detective. As Sir Francis Bacon once put it, ‘Knowledge is power.’ By the looks of it, they were at least able to outsmart me. You should be proud of that.” She tipped her hat towards her, “See you next crime.”

And to everycreature’s amazement, Carmen Sandiego's pixilated form went fuzzy, blurred until within a moment, she disappeared with the chains and cuffs falling into the sand.

One of the hippogriffs went over to the spot where Carmen was, and felt around for a while, “Where did she go?”

“I think we did it.” Twilight said, “We’ve finally beaten the game.”

---

It took a long time for Twilight to teleport everyone where they needed to be. After thanking everyone for catching Carmen, and returning the Blood Scepter to the Bad Lands and the throne to the Changeling hive, she, Spike, and her students returned to the school’s library.

On the screen, it showed the menu, asking the player to continue or play a new game. Twilight instead chose to eject the CD out and shut the computer off.

“I’m so sorry that things didn’t go what I hoped would be.” She said to her students.

“Well, not gonna lie,” Sandbar told her, “Except for it being real, it was rather fun solving it.”

“Yeah,” Silverstream nodded. “I’ve learned a bunch of stuff today.”

“Never thought we would be this good at solving puzzles.” Smolder smiled pridefully. “Besides, Ocellus came through with a lot of things while the rest of us were stuck.”

“It was nothing.” Ocellus blushed.

“What are ya talking about?” Gallus questioned. “None of us would have figured out where Carmen was half the time if it wasn’t for you.”

“Everycreature did,” Yona nodded. “Even Yona.”

“Besides,” Smolder added, “it was really exciting to catch a world-class thief like Carmen, solving clues and stuff that I would play again – as long as nothing in the real world isn’t stolen.”

“Really?” Twilight blinked, “You all mean that?”

Sandbar shrugged, “I mean, we’re still in summer school, right? If we’re gonna learn, I’d rather do that. Minus all the… ya know.”

“Right,” Twilight nodded, noticing the time. “And again, sorry for holding you all for so long, it’s already getting late. So, for a treat, we’ll have no class tomorrow, but we’ll start up again the day after.”

Everyone agreed to the idea. After bidding Twilight goodbye and leaving the library, she turned to Spike who asked, “So where did you get that crazy game anyway?”

“I asked Discord to modify it so it could be playable and teach Eques’s history, geography, etc.”

“Oh… That explains a lot. Ya knows I could have told you that would be a bad idea.”

Twilight frowned, “I’m very much aware of it. If anything, tomorrow I’m going to find Discord to give him a piece of my mind.”

“Oh Twilight, you should know better.” Discord said, his tail swinging in front of her face, “You don’t come looking for me, I come looking for you.” Turning around, Twilight found Discord overhead in a red, orange, and yellow vest with an exaggerated white collar and a big bushy afro on his head. “Also, congratulations on completing the game, gumshoe! At this rate, you might land yourself as a real ACME Detective.”

“Discord! Why didn’t you tell me that you made Carmen real? I asked you to change the game to teach my students.”

“And I did. But I also asked you to let me give my special flare to it.”

“But you never said that!”

“You didn’t ask,” Discord stuck his tongue out. Twilight sent a blast of magic at his head, but Discord ducked out of the way in time, however his afro was vaporized, leaving a noticeably smoldering hole. He frowns, “Touchy, touchy.” He took off the wing. “Still, you must admit, it was rather awesome to chase after a rather cool thief and outsmart her. That gang up at Eridu was a nice, satisfying touch, would you say?”

“Yet it almost sent the world into panic.”

Discord raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, you’re right, I should have seen it coming. But still,” she held up the CD in her aura. “Except for making Carmen real, even I think this would make a good teaching tool. It did exactly that. So how about this? Why don't you replace a certain element in this.”

“What do you mean?”

“That instead of making Carmen Sandiego real, why not change the plot of the story every time they restarted the game? That way none of us would know what Carmen might go after next, and it would broaden the spectrum for my students as well. Even if it’s not on the test. So, what do you say?”

Discord hummed, his lion’s paw stroking his goat beard. “You know what, why not? But in exchange, I want my OC cheesy Henchmen that she hires, and to turn your bedroom into a theme park for a whole afternoon.”

“Deal.” Twilight handed the CD over to Discord which he took into his protruding tooth and spun it around until it glowed before handing it back.

Discord turned to Spike, “So, are we still up for Guys’ Night on Thursday?”

“Uh-huh,” Spike nodded, “And don’t forget to bring chips with you. We’re gonna need lots of it.”

“Way ahead of you. See you around you two.”

In a burst of confetti, Discord was gone.

Brushing away, Spike asked, “You didn’t ask what kind of theme park Discord is going to turn your bedroom into.”

“Whatever it is, I bet it couldn’t top what happened today.” Twilight set the disk near the old computer. “Still, I’ve had a long day and I’m starving. So, let’s go out to eat. I could really go for some burgers and hayfries right about now.”

“Oh! Can I get a milkshake too?” Spike asked as they headed out of the library.

“Why not?” Twilight shut off the lights and closed the door behind them.

Author's Note:

The End!

I can't express how glad I am for finally getting around to finishing this story.

Firstly, I want to apologize for taking so long to finish it. With college taking a good chunk of my time and working on other projects these past few months, I'm just glad that I'm finally able to at least see this completed before the year's out.

Secondly, I want to thank the readers, for not only following the story but actively trying to solve the puzzles and clues I've laid out. I knew that if this were to be a faithful Carmen Sandiego adaptation, the best way to get people invested in the story is for you to be able to figure out where she was going and what she was after. If anything, it was rather interesting to see how all of you were able to solve it.

And thirdly, I simply want to say thank you for reading.

... Until next crime.

Comments

[Auta5tic]

Listened to this while I read:

[MDCommissioner]

Well, there's only one thing left to say...

DO IT ROCKAPELLA!

[Night_Moon60606]

[Sudrian Engineer]

11786329
I WAS HOPING SOMEONE WOULD POST THIS!

[Sudrian Engineer]

The thing I find funniest about this whole story is that I only discovered Carmen a bit before this story was posted, so it was almost like perfect timing, and I loved it!

AMAZING STORY!

[Joe Toon]

That was a sensational and engaging read. Literally in every sense of the word.
Added to the Completed file

[BestinDworld]

i got ask dear writer if carmens voice was the same one from the famous cartoon the original not the reboot other than that i wished she looked like as she did in the cartoon instead of pixilated i mean carmen was a looker not mention stunning in appearance and the brains to back it up

[CrackedInkWell]

11786461
In my head, yes. Carmen in this is similar to the cartoon from the 90s. I had before writing this rewatched the show to get a better understanding and characterization.

[Sudrian Engineer]

She sneaks around the world from Prance to Fillydelphia