The Great Checklist Heist
Checklist Capers
By Nebula Star
***
“Where is it? Where is it!?” Twilight danced in place, becoming more and more panicked every moment she continued to search. Spotting the desk, she galloped over to it in order to search it once more in vain. “Where could it have gone!?” She almost wailed. “Oh, why did this have to happen when I already sent Spike out on other errands?”
She ran up to her bedroom to check it once more even though she'd already searched it at least twice. “I’m so behind schedule, I just know it!” She said then thought better of it. “Well no; I don’t know it! That’s what the checklist is for!”
She’d been searching for almost a half hour for her daily checklist of what she needed to get done, but to no avail. She could have sworn that she’d left it right on her desk just like she always did!
It wasn’t anywhere in the bedroom, she’d again checked all three beds; her own and the two basket beds. “Argh! Where is it!?” She exclaimed, dashing back down into the main room.
It was then that she heard the giggling.
Twilight turned toward the couch, where the sound seemed to be coming from, silently making her way around it. As she did, a dark indigo tail with a purple and red stripe came into view, followed by purple, unmarked flanks. The filly spun to face her, realizing she’d been caught. Her bright red eyes peeking out from under dark indigo bangs, and her mouth curved into a mischievous grin. Her horn was glowing and in her magic she held a single piece of parchment.
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Midnight! Is that my checklist!?”
The filly bolted, giggling the whole way, stolen checklist following right alongside her.
“Midnight, I need that!” Twilight called after her, but Midnight only giggled harder and galloped up the stairs to the bedroom.
“Get back here!” Twilight shouted, finally giving chase. She lost sight of her quarry halfway up the stairs and by the time she reached the bedroom she found it apparently empty. “Midnight, this isn’t funny, I need that checklist!” She said as she began searching all the most obvious hiding places.
She was checking behind the bed when she heard the sound of tiny hooves galloping for the door. Twilight reached out with her magic, her aura wrapping around the young filly just before she could escape and lifting her into the air.
“Gotcha!”
Midnight just grinned, then squeezed her eyes shut in concentration as the glow around her horn brightened. There was a bright flash and a loud pop, making Twilight close her eyes from the glare and when she opened them again, the filly was gone and so was her checklist.
“Teleportation… Since when can she teleport!?” Twilight exclaimed. She’d had a hard enough time keeping track of the filly before!
Loud giggling back down in the main room snapped her out of her stupor. She’d worry about how much more difficult raising Midnight was going to be later. For now, she needed that checklist!
She dashed out onto the landing at the top of the stairs and saw the little unicorn running for the door, checklist still in tow. “Midnight Star, you give that back this instant!” Twilight called, jumping off the landing and gliding after her.
Midnight’s giggles burst into outright laughter as she galloped through the door and took off down the street as fast as her filly legs could take her. Twilight took advantage of her wings to quickly gain on the checklist thief, but just when she was about to catch her, the glow around Midnight’s horn brightened and her speed more than doubled. Twilight stared, jaw agape as the filly left a trail of dust behind her, galloping at impossible speeds.
“How the heck!?”
“Hey, Twi, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked as she came up alongside Twilight. “Midnight getting into trouble?” she asked suspiciously.
“You could say that.” Twilight grumbled. “Could you help me catch her?”
“What did she do?”
“She stole my daily checklist and took off with it!”
Rainbow stared at her a moment surprised, having expected far worse. Finally she burst out laughing. “That’s all!?”
“I need that checklist! Without it I’ll get behind, or forget something or…”
Rainbow just kept laughing. “Sorry, Twi. I’m scheduled for a nap this morning. Can’t get behind…” she said then flew up to a nearby cloud where she settled down to watch the chase, much to Twilight’s annoyance.
Midnight had gained quite a lead with her mysterious speed technique. Twilight would definitely have to figure out how the filly was doing that later, for now, she needed to get that checklist back.
Putting on a burst of speed, Twilight quickly caught up, Midnight may have been galloping faster than any filly her age should ever be able to, but she still couldn’t compete with flight. “Midnight, give me back my checklist!”
“Nuh uh!” She shouted back, giggling, then changed direction, causing Twilight to overshoot her. Twilight threw her wings open, bringing herself to a stop before changing course and speeding after her adopted daughter once more.
Midnight glanced over her shoulder grinning as she saw Twilight hot on her tail. Without warning she turned again, heading down the market street at dangerous speed. Worried, Twilight decided she’d better end the chase quick. With a flash, she teleported in front of Midnight.
The filly’s eyes widened as she skidded to a stop, but it was too late and Twilight’s magic wrapped around her. “Checklist?” Twilight asked expecting Midnight to hoof it over.
Midnight had other plans. Grinning, her horn flashed and with a loud pop, she teleported out of her mother’s magic for the second time. Twilight face-hoofed at having forgotten she could do that so soon after discovering it.
“Did she just Teleport!?”
Twilight sighed, glancing at Lyra. “Yes… she learned how to rather recently, apparently.”
Lyra smirked. “Well, I don’t envy you having to raise a filly that can do that!”
Twilight blinked and looked over at Midnight where she had reappeared and was galloping down the street at full speed. “… I should probably apologize to my mother sometime,” she said then took off in pursuit once more.
Midnight wasn’t going to make this easy. Twilight quickly gained ground on her again, but the filly was entering the Ponyville market now, where there were far more obstacles to consider.
Midnight began weaving through the ponies in the marketplace, startling several and giggling all the while. Twilight was forced to stay well overhead so she wouldn’t collide with anypony. Her daughter didn’t seem too worried about it however, as she dove under one of the market stands.
Twilight landed, trying not to lose her, but even as she approached the stand she saw a flash of purple to the side as Midnight charged down the street in a different direction. Twilight launched herself again, determined to catch her. Midnight soon reached the edge of the marketplace and left the crowds behind. Without anypony in her way Twilight gained quickly on Midnight. She closed in, ready to grab her and prepared to suppress her magic as well.
Just as she was about to make the catch, Midnight turned hard right, Twilight tried to match her but was unable to make the turn at such high speeds. The next thing she knew, leaves and branches filled her vision as she crashed into a shrub.
Twilight groaned, as somewhere in the distance she could hear Rainbow roaring with laughter.
~~~
The door to the library slammed open and Twilight stumbled in. Her mane was a mess, tangled with twigs and leaves. Her coat was dusty and smelled of sweat, and numerous scratches and bruises covered her body. She’d lost Midnight almost an hour ago and had finally given up the search. The day was more than half over anyway and almost everything on that checklist would have to be put off to tomorrow anyway.
“That filly is in so much trouble when she gets home…” Twilight grumbled, using her magic to pick leaves out of her hair. She groaned as she sat down on a nearby cushion to work on extracting the floral debris from her tail. She’d crashed into three bushes and a tree during the chase, and her entire body was aching from the unexpected exercise. She also needed a bath. She sighed at the thought, a bath actually sounded wonderful just then.
Once her tail was free of debris, she forced herself to her hooves again and started up the stairs to the bathroom.
Some time later, she re-emerged from the bathroom feeling refreshed and a lot calmer. Oh she was still going to punish Midnight for her escapade, but now at least she was pretty sure she could avoid yelling at her daughter. Wondering if Midnight had gotten home while she was in the bath, Twilight headed down the stairs.
Somepony was home anyway, as Twilight heard sounds coming from the kitchen, she started toward the door only to come to a halt when she noticed a piece of parchment on her desk that wasn’t there when she’d gone up to take a bath. It was her checklist.
Her eyes narrowed, as she grabbed the checklist in her magic. If Midnight thought that returning the checklist now would keep her out of trouble…
Her thoughts cut off and she froze as her eyes reached the bottom of the list. There was one more entry added to the list, written in crayon and checked off with a bold green check-mark: “Fun.”
Twilight stared at that one simple word for several moments. Slowly a smile spread across her face. Suddenly everything else on her list for the day just didn’t seem that important. Her daughter had simply wanted to play a game with her. And she’d been too focused on her list, on her plans, to realize it. How often had she ignored Midnight in favor of her planned schedule? How often had she neglected her daughter; her greatest responsibility, in favor of other, less important matters? Could she blame Midnight for taking matters into her own hooves?
She set down the checklist as her eyes began to water. Slowly she made her way to the kitchen and opened the door. Midnight and Spike were both there, and seemed to be getting started on something for dinner.
“Oh hey, Twi.” Spike said glancing over as the door opened. “Midi and I were just going to make some soup and toast for dinner.”
Midnight froze then slowly turned, looking up at her with an expression that was both worried and hopeful at the same time.
Twilight just smiled, shaking her head with tears shimmering in her eyes. “You little rascal!”
A huge smile spread across Midnight’s face and she dashed across the room, leaping into her mother’s hooves. Twilight pulled her in, hugging her with both her hooves and wings and nuzzling her as Midnight giggled happily. After a time, Twilight finally set her down again and Midnight sat smiling up at her.
Finally Twilight gesture back into the kitchen. “Come on, let’s go help Spike with dinner.”
“Okay!” Midnight agreed happily and together, mother and daughter stepped into the kitchen to get to work.
~~~
Twilight blew across her daily checklist once more to make sure the ink was dry. She didn’t actually need it anymore, she had all the important items memorized, and it wasn’t complete yet anyway. But it was part of her routine. Setting it out on her desk, she turned away to get started on one of the first tasks for the day, re-shelving the books that had been returned to the library the day before, keeping her ears open as she did. It wasn’t long before what she’d been expecting happened.
There was a soft creak from the stairs, a tingle of magic, and then the sound of tiny hooves galloping across the room. Twilight turned just in time to see the door swing open in Midnight’s magic and she dashed out the door.
Twilight grinned, it was time for that final item she’d purposefully left off of her checklist. “Oh, I’ll get you this time, Midnight!” Twilight shouted after her daughter.
The only response was happy giggles rapidly fading as Midnight galloped down the road, stolen checklist in tow.